Missionary Chronicles: Welcome To Woodstock

¡Hola a todos!

I hope y'all had an amazing week last week! We don't have any birthday shout-outs this week, but I do have a few friends who entered the MTC last week and some who will be starting this week! Good Luck to all of our new missionaries! I'll be praying for y'all!

Well everyone, this week was kind of crazy! I packed everything up and left Coal Mountain. I absolutely loved my time in the Azalea Branch, and as my first area, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

I was transfered to the Marietta Zone, serving in the Cherokee Branch. My new companion is Hermana Crow! I love her so much and she and I are having a blast working together! I'm now living in Woodstock GA and let me tell ya, this place is so crazy haha. The little town of Woodstock just baffles my mind lol. We spend a lot of time downtown finding and we've met some really fun people. One guy in particular is named Nathan. Nathan works in a store downtown called Blue Frog. The best way I can describe this store is a scene from one of those "search and find" books. This store is packed to the brim with the most random things, but it's freaking hilarious. We talked to Nathan for a little bit. Hermana Crow and her last companion gave him a Book of Mormon a couple weeks ago, so we've just been trying to follow up with him about it. Nothing yet, but we're still trying haha.

There is also a huge amphitheater here in Woodstock and once a month they have a free concert there, and these things go WILD! On Friday they had a Queen Coverband come and do a concert and it was actually impossible to get downtown lol. This little town is just a party all of the time! 

We taught one lesson this week to our friend Nyah. She actually has a really cool story about how her upbringing led her to find Jesus and be "saved". Long story short, we had an amazing lesson with Nyah on Saturday! We taught her the Restoration and answered all of her questions! I got to share the First Vision and my testimony about it in English for the first time which was a super powerful experience. Unfortunately, Nyah texted us yesterday and basically told us that she's not interested in meeting with us anymore. Just another example of people having their own agency to accept the gospel. Even though it super frustrating, Hermana Crow and I did all we could to help Nyah. Hopefully someday down the road she remembers the seed that we planted.

The Cherokee Branch is super cool! It's kind of the opposite of Azalea haha. In Azalea we had like 30 members and they were all active. Here in Cherokee we have like 300 on record and only 40 people come regularly. So yeah, most of our work here is helping to find and fellowship in-active members. It's a different type of work than I'm used to, but it's been awesome getting to work so closely with the members here. Funny story, we had dinner with a lady from the Branch named Hermana Padron on Wednesday night. We go over and she just starts dumping food on our plates. This lady would not stop making us tacos lol. When she got tired of tacos, she started giving us pasta. We ate sooo much. To end off the night, she sent us home with ALL of the leftovers! I love the Latinos so much jajaja.

For the spiritual thought this week, I wanted to share a really powerful experience that I had during personal study on Thursday Morning. I was reading an MTC Devotional given by Elder Holland titled, "Missionary Work and the Atonement". This is a devotional that I've read once before, but before I left Coal Mountain, Sister Porter and my old District Leader recommend that I read it again. I guess my heart was in the right place on Thursday morning, because it really hit me. Last transfer was difficult, we didn't have a lot of work to do and some days is was hard to keep going. When I read this talk on Thursday, it reminded me of why I'm here and the growth that is taking place within me. There are a couple quotes that I loved that I'd like to share. The first is "It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary." This quote opened my eyes...this mission isn't just about me bringing souls to Christ, it also involves me experiencing a piece of what our Savior went through so I can become more like him. The quote that kind of changed my mindset was this, "When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known". This quote struck me to the core. As much as it hurts to be rejected and mocked, there is someone who experienced this same treatment...and he walks beside me everyday. I want to invite all of you to read this Devotional, especially my fellow missionaries! It's directed toward missionaries, but it's applicable to all of us! The Devotional is found in the March 2001 Ensign. I'd love to hear you're thoughts about it, so please shoot me and email once you've read it!

This email was super long, but I hope you enjoyed it and found something that uplifted you! I hope everyone has an awesome week! I'm praying for y'all! Thanks for the support! ¡Les amo siempre!

Hermana Adams 

Pictures:

1. Mural in downtown Woodstock 

2. I found Geese at the Park

3. Hermana Crow and I

4. At the Woodstock amphitheater

5. We love a good sunset picture 

6. The stairs in Blue Frog

7. The Marietta Zone