COVID Missionary Chronicles: Clearing A Yard...Latino style

¡Hola a todos!

How was everyone's week? I hope it was great one for y'all and that you saw the hand of God! We have a birthday today!! My cousin Anderson turns 9 today!! Happy Birthday buddy!! I love and miss you so much!!

This week was a great one! We got to talk to a lot of cool people and we did a lot of service as well. Here's how it went..

On Thursday we went back up to Blairsville again for District Council. I literally can't get enough of that area. It is one of the most beautiful places ever. Anyways, after District Council we went at got lunch at Jim's BBQ (because you can't drive through Blairsville and not stop there). After we finished eating, the Blairsville Elders said they wanted to take all of us to go and meet one of their investigators. Her name is Ms. Joy and she very well might be the cutest old lady in northern Georgia. First off, she lives in one of the prettiest places ever. As we were driving up there, all we saw was green hills and Mountains all around us. So gorgeous!! Ok, so here's a little about Ms. Joy. She is a school teacher, and after spending time in the Government teaching system she got tired of people controlling the way she taught. So what did Ms. Joy do, she quit the government system and built her own school house on her property. She now teaches a class of 11 kids ages 4-14. Her school house is one of the coolest things ever! It has a main classroom, a bird watching/nature room, a craft room, a reading room, and upstairs she has a music room/chapel. She loves the Lord so much and she is so passionate about what she does! I really hope she is someone who eventually gets baptized. She's not even our investigator but I want her to accept the gospel so bad!! She loves the missionaries and I'm thankful for the opportunity I had to meet her.

Teaching also went well this week. Luz's son had his surgeries, so we've been chatting with her throughout the week. We're are going to try and drop by again this week to visit her. We also saw huge miracle with teaching this week! Y'all know that our biggest challenge has been finding people to teach. Since I got here 11 weeks ago, we've been trying so hard to find one new person. Well, I believe that prayer has finally been answered!! We recieved a referral for a guy named Alvarado. We had our first lesson with him on Thursday night and it went so well!! He doesn't really have a religious background, so during our lesson we taught him how to pray. It was so cool to see how that knowledge impacted him during our lesson. We set up another appointment with him next week which means Alvarado is my first "New" on my mission!! We are so excited and hopeful that we can continue working with him! 

Now you may be wondering about the email title. This is a fun story haha. So y'all may remember my buddy Emilio (the one who taught me the word "coca" my first week here). Well, we've been helping him with his yard on and off for the whole time I've been here. On Saturday he called us and said he'd like our help clearing some of the brush and trees in the back of his property. We show up and this is what occurred:

Emilio: *has a machete in his hands*

Emilio: "Hermana Adams, ¿Sabes qué es 

esto?" (Do you know what this is?)

Hermana Adams: "Si, por supuesto"(yes, of course)

Emilio: *Hands me machete and point to woods full of trees and brush*

Emilio: "Cuidense Hermana" (be careful sister)

Let's just say I had the time of my life clearing those trees haha. And don't you worry mama, I didn't hurt myself lol. We worked for a good couple hours clearing the brush and burning it as we went along, but it was a great time. Man I love Emilio lol.

To end off my email I just wanted to share something that's been on my kind this week. Most of y'all probably know that this past Saturday, my family was able to go through the temple and get sealed to my brother Ian. Even though I couldn't be there I still feel so much happiness knowing that my family is eternal! How great is that knowledge! Through the sealing power in our temples we can be bound together as families forever! This is one of my favorite messages to share as a missionary because it truly does change people's hearts and the way the view God's Plan.

Alright y'all that's all I've got for this week! Sorry this was a long email, but I had a lot to fill y'all in on. I love y'all thanks for your continued support!! Have a good week!!

Hermana Adams 

Pictures:

1-2: Views driving to Ms. Joy's

3. Main classroom in Ms. Joy's school

4. Bird watching/nature room in Ms. Joy's school

5. A picture of the school house she built

6. A picture about half way through our job at Emilio's place 

7-9: Blairsville Georgia 

10: My beautiful family after the sealing

11: Holding baby chicks