COVID Missionary Chronicles: The Little Things

¡Hola a todos!

I'm back with another week of adventures here in northern GA!! I hope everyone had a good week!! We have three birthday shout outs!! My aunt April, my grandpa Blackburn, and my little sister Morgan all had birthdays this week!! I love y'all som much and I hope your birthdays were as awesome as y'all are!

So this week was a slow one. We are exhausting ourselves trying to find people to teach or who are willing to hear our message! Perseverance was the word of the week. It takes everything out of Sister Grover and I to get rejected over and over and still wake up the next day and do it all over again. I was reminded this week of a quote by Thomas S. Monson that says, "Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I'll try again tomorrow.' ". This quote really got me through this week, because there were definitely times where I felt like I had hit a wall. It's the worst feeling in the world when you meet a family who you know can benefit from the gospel, and they still turn you down. The Lord is working to teach me perseverance, and I feel like I say this every week but I know the Lord's timing is perfect. Although it's really difficult for us right now, the Lord has a hand in this area. I know that one of these days we're going to find the most amazing person who wants to follow Christ! It's just a matter of waiting for that day to come! If you feel so inclined, we would love some extra prayers! Prayers that we can have the courage and strength needed to keep moving forward and that we will be led to those who the Lord is preparing.

This week wasn't all challenges though!! On Tuesday I officially hit three months of being a missionary!! It's already flying by so fast! On Tuesday morning I was awoken by Hermana Flannery who had a plate of French toast that she made for me to celebrate!! It really is the little things that make the difference! Next up, some of you might have seen on Facebook, but my dad was traveling through the mission this week! He decided to stop by my apartment and leave some love while we were out! It was so sweet and it made my day! And our big miracle of the week... WE HAD 4 PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! We were totally not prepared!! We had Antonio (who comes every week cause his girlfriend is a member lol), Rosa and Alberto, and our friend Ana Maria (who we teach English classes to)!! Talk about tender mercies!! It was so cool to be able to watch them all experience the sacrement. Especially for Ana Maria, as yesterday was her first time in church and her first time taking the sacrement! Seeing people experience the sacrement for the first time and seeing them interact with the Branch makes my heart so happy! Our Branch is hanging by a thread and we are trying so hard to get it moving! It's so awesome to see the members rally around any new people who come and join our meetings!

As far as Spanish goes, I have been spending every spare moment I have trying to better my language abilities. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but my english scriptures have been put away for about a week and a half now. This has forced me to only be reading the scriptures in Spanish. It's been super difficult but I'm beginning to notice little improvements. I'm starting to understand a little more and I feel like my pronunciation is getting better as well. At this point, I just need to find the confident to just talk to people. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have no problem talking to people, especially about the gospel. The mission has been a very humbling experience in that sense because it brought me back to square one, and I'm having to regain all of that confidence and ability to speak to people. We're getting there though!

And everyone's favorite...the funny moment. On Friday night, Hermana Grover and I had dinner with the Zurita family from the Branch. They are originally from Venezuela, but they also lived in Columbia for a time before moving their family to the States. Anyways, we had just sat down to dinner and their 13 year old daughter turned to me and said "Hermana Adams, you have really good Spanish" this definitely got the attention of Hermana Grover and I, but what she said next really got us laughing. I kid you not, she said "You don't even have an American accent"!! Guys, this actually killed us! Hermana Grover comments on my accent all of the time, so it was just soooooo funny that she said that. But who knows, maybe it's getting better lol.

Alright everybody, that's all I have this week. I hope y'all have a great upcoming week! Keep your heads up, and I'll do the same!! Love y'all!

Hermana Adams 

Pictures:

1. Thanks for the Taco Bell giftcard Dad

2. Three Months!! Featuring the best French Toast know to man

3. How we felt having 4 people at church