Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Week 5 in Paraguay

It was so good to talk to you all on Christmas and so fun to hear everyone´s voices again. I had a little weird moment while I was hanging up the phone though, it really hit me I was still in Paraguay and I knew I wouldn´t hear any of you again for 5 months, but don´t worry, I´m completely fine. The work is progressing, we´re hoping we can get a lot done this next week and in the next couple months. Transfers are on January 6 and we don´t find out if we both stay or not until January 4. We´re both pretty sure neither of us will go and I´ll end up being the last companion Elder Dennis has. It was kind of funny listening to parts of Elder Dennis´s call home because the whole thing was pretty much plans with his family on what they are going to do when he gets back. It´s a little hard because all of the missionaries I´m living with are going home soon. I´m keeping my focus though.
Since I just talked to you, I´ll tell you what happened the rest of this week.
On Christmas Eve we all got together at the zone leaders house, where we live still, and roasted marshmallows and watched all of the fireworks. Christmas after I called home the President called and told the zone leaders we all got 25 mil extra on our cards to go out to eat for Christmas so we all went out together to eat at this pizza place which was really awesome. After that we sent off the Zone leaders convert to go be a local missionary out in Yby Ya´u (that´s Guaraní and its pronounced really weird because a Y in Guaraní is pronounced like a U using a lot of your throut with your toungue kind of in the back of your mouth so its like ubu ju-u, its weird) with Elder Canales because his companion went into the mission office to go home because his two years are up. I don´t know if I told you about these converts. Elder Reid, one of the zone leaders, found him in his area on a division and the first thing Fernando, the convert, asked him was how do I become like you, I want to be a missionary. Elder Reid told him he first needed to be baptized and the Fernando told him right there he would and got a baptismal date. He started reading the Book of Mormon straight through and took all the lesson and was baptized in 3 weeks, which is the minimum here, with his brother Orlando and his sister Maricel, who is the girl I baptized. Fernando is so awesome though, he plays soccer with us all the time on P-day and is so good. He has already started trying to learn English on his own with us and can already respond to greetings and things. He even cut his hair so that he would look like us and then this last week for 3 days he was companions with Elder Canales only a week and a half after his baptism. Both of the zone leaders are going home before he can turn in his papers to go on a mission himself. I was talking with him and we´re going to work things out so I can go through the temple with him next year before he leaves on his mission, its going to be so awesome.
Anyway, so back to our area, we had a ton of people lined up to go to church yesterday and all of them looked pretty legitimate and then it rained. When it rains here people just don´t do anything, they stay at home asleep because all of the streets flood and you can´t really go anywhere. The streets flood very fast. Anyway, we left our house at 8AM to go to church at 8:30AM. We didn´t get there until 9AM because of all the flooding. When we arrived the only people there were the President of the Rama (Branch) and his wife, so we were leaving to go and get two of the girls that said for sure they were going to go to church, they called us and told us we should wait a while because it is raining, but we just went anyway, and brought them an umbrella. We picked them up and they went to church and then we left again just before Sacrament meeting to get some more investigators, these 4 boys ages 10-12 and their mom/aunt they live with, but they all couldn´t come so in church yesterday we had 5 people, the President and his wife, Dirse, this pretty awesome member lady we have, and the two girls we brought and no one else. In the Rama (Branch) six months ago they had over 40 people go every week. It is kind of sad we have so few, but we´re still working hard to build the Rama (Branch) again. I don´t know if I told you but we just opened up this area again this change. It was closed before because of a bunch of problems in the branch and all went inactive and they started to have just about no one go to church everyweek, so they closed the area and just added it to the zone leaders area. That is why we keep finding all of these less active members that have all these problems and they won´t go to church. We´ve have decided now to focus more on converts, kind of like baptizing a whole new Rama (Branch), so we are really pushing towards the finding right now. The only problem recently has been that the new investigator we get don´t want to do anything when we come back for return visits, but we have a new year ahead of us and a couple of people working towards baptism so I think we´ll start having some success really soon, hopefully.
We found another house this week, 800 mil and its a lot nicer than the other one we were about to get. Elder Brazier and his companion who are also looking for a house are going to live with us because it is big enough to fit us all and is super close to his area. It´s an upstairs apartment with a nice balcony and everything. The best part is it is brand new, we´re the first people that are going to live in it. I´ll send some pictures of it when I can, oh and speaking of pictures, I have a lot and I just need to copy them onto CD´s and I am going to send them out to you, probably next week. I was going to send them out this week but the CD´s I bought didn´t work so I´m going to buy more and try again next P-day.
Elder Dennis was telling me that they were having problems with Facebook last change so President has asked everyone to make it so you can´t get on it anymore, so if you could just change my password and stuff and then save it somewhere so I can get on when I get home that would be awesome. You´re not supposed to send anything from it to me anymore, so you can check it once and a while if you want, but for me it´ll be like I don´t even have one.
Hope I can start sending you some awesome conversion stories soon.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Week 4 in Paraguay

Everything in Paraguay has been pretty awesome. I´m looking forward to Christmas, its coming up really fast. It really doesn´t even feel like Christmas at all though, it is so hot here I can´t even really imagine Christmas right now. My next Christmas in the mission is probably going to be worse too because the climate here in Pedro Juan is a little better than a lot of Paraguay. I guess we´ll see if that´s true in a year. I think it is going to be a pretty short email this week because I don´t have too much time left. I´m just going to go through all of mom´s questions and just explain how the call on Christmas is going to go down and then be done pretty much.
The five girls, they aren´t really progressing much. It was really sad too because we really thought one of them, named Liz, really got it. Two weeks ago we taught all about the fruits of the Spirit and how we can receive the answer that the Book of Mormon is true. All of them read and then told us they didn´t get any answer. We taught this lesson and it seemed Liz really understood what the Spirit felt like and even told us that she felt the Spirit. The next time we came over she had all these questions and doubt and told us she wouldn´t get baptized until at least February in order to give her enough time to receive an answer and learn everything. Now most of them aren´t even reading and none of them have gone to church in 3 weeks. Recencio´s son, Derlis, we actually haven´t really seen him much lately because he went and traveled somewhere last week and he works a lot. (he´s 10) His dad is going to church everyweek and doing what he´s supposed to so we don´t think we´ll have any problems with it. We do have to get over there and teach Derlis the rest of the lessons though before the baptism, but that won´t be hard.
More about Paraguay, I think I forgot to tell you about the fireworks here, everyone here has them and it is all about how loud they are. None of them do anything cool or anything, they´re all just really loud. We hear them going off all day everyday. We joke that we can´t tell if they´re fireworks or gunshots because Pedro Juan is known in Paraguay for smuggling drugs because it is the city right on the border with no border control. But don´t worry, I haven´t even seen anything and I´ve already been here a month.
I´m almost out of time so I´ll just explain the Christmas call. Here is how it works, the mission rule is 1 hour, which is actually pretty long. You are supposed to call me. We´re going to be at the church to do the call. You need to call me at 5:00 PM my time and it is a 5 hour difference, so noon your time. I´m also allowed a 3 minute call to finalize everything before Christmas so I´m going to call on the 22nd. That´s tomorrow, I´m going to call at 7:00 AM your time, so mom make sure you´re home, I know you´ll be awake, but don´t leave. I love you all and can´t wait to talk to you on Christmas!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Week 3 in Paraguay

I´m just about to 3 weeks now in Paraguay and it is pretty sweet. There was a lot of tough stuff that happened this week. It´s been a pretty hard area for us here. Well for Paraguay, probably anywhere else missionaries would love to be doing what were doing, but its been a little hard. We had 6 people with dates to get baptized this month and it looks like all of them are going to have to be pushed back and most probably won´t even get baptized at all, at least while we´re here. We had this family of 5 sisters all lined up to get baptized on the 18 of this month, but none of them are really excited now. When we first met them they seemed so golden, all of them went to church, they still read the Book of Mormon and pray everyday, but they just don´t seem to understand what they have to do to get an answer. Now it really just looks like they don´t want to change. They have a very Catholic family and there aren´t really any doctrinal issues, but they seem like they don´t want to give up their Catholic family traditions. Elder Dennis and I were a little sad about that one. We also had the 10 year old son of the recent convert we have, Recencio, we are planning on giving Recencio the priesthood this week and he was going to baptize his son on Christmas, but he didn´t bring his son to church because he said he didn´t have any clean clothes and converts have to have gone to church at least twice before they are baptized so we are going to have to push him back to New Years Day, I think we are going to see about if we can get permission from the president to baptize him because he is in a complete member family that goes to church and he is a young child, but it looks like the baptism is probably going to have to wait. Recencio´s daughter also turns 8 in January so he is going to get the chance to baptize two of his children within a couple months of being a member so we are pretty excited about that. We´re going to focus really hard in these next couple of weeks on getting some new investigators with baptismal dates so we can have a least 4baptisms in January. The biggest problem for us right now though is we don´t really have too many members who can help us out. We have these standards of excellence that the President gave the whole mission that our goals shouldn´t be lower than every week. The goal for lessons with members present is 23 per week and we had 10 members in church last week, so that is definately our hardest one every week, but the Lord really has been blessing us though, it seems like all the time we are finding these less actives that just pop out of nowhere that help us out and we are able to get our goals. It´s just like something one of my good friends from the Museum of Art sent to me in a dearelder letter this week, he told me while we are making goals we should keep in mind what the Lord´s will is and He will help us to accomplish the goal because it is His will. Well I thought about that and I realized that President Wade is a man called of God to direct this mission, and he has told us 23 lessons with member present is the Lord´s will for every area, every week, so if that is the Lord´s will, no matter where I am, it is possible and I can testify that has been the case. It seems as though we have been having a pretty rough time here these first couple of weeks opening the area, but the more I look at it the more I can see the Lord´s hand in all that we are doing here.
There is this huge family that lives adjacent to the same plot of land Recencio lives on with his family and so every time we go over to talk to him with Derlis (his 10 year old son) we meet and talk to this family before or after. We´ve all become pretty good friends and they like listening to us but it didn´t really look like it was going anywhere with them. They we´re just really genuine nice people. Yesterday we are walking down the road and Rueben, one of the boys in this family, stops us to say hi and tells us that his brother´s wife that was pregnant just gave birth to her baby and it had died it her womb. We went over to see how the family was and they all seemed to be alright. They had the baby there in a cardboard box in the house and the mother was still in the hospital. I don´t know how the got there and everyone was just kind of looking at it and touching it. They had some good questions for us and were really receptive to our message.

I´ll share a few things about Paraguay to end off, motocycles are like family cars here, we see 3 or 4 and sometime 5 people all on one at the same time. They are everywhere here, and speaking of driving, its no rules here. It literally is the definition of offensive driving. You can pass people whenever you want, no one stops at intersections, and J walking is how you walk around. Today we took two taxis to Shopping China, something awesome I´ll have to tell you about later. They raced there, cutting down back roads and passing each other with cars coming the other way. Oh, and its normal to have 3 cars wide on a 2 lane street, and I have never seen a speed limit sign here.
The most defining thing about Paraguay are the bugs, it is so loud here all the time because of the bug noises. I think I get about 5-10 new mosquito bites everyday, most of them being on my feet which are the worst.
If you´re out on the street here and you´ve got to go to the bathroom pretty bad, people just go out on the side of the road, everywhere here. In Asuncion I saw a guy going on a tree that was part of the landscaping of the road and that is totally normal, no one thinks it´s even wierd here.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Week Two in Paraguay

I´ve a whole two weeks here in the mission field and I am just loving it. The people are great and we get to teach a whole lot. I´m really grateful for that. Anyway, I´ll just answer you´re questions one by one. The plane ride was good and actually not too long because I just slept the whole way. The only long parts were actually in the airports, especially Argentina because we had to go and get our bags from the claim, get tickets and re-check them because we were on a different airline. It was pretty easy because there was this Argentinian lady, who spoke English that helped us out with everything. It was just long, the funniest part though was this one Elder that was with me in the MTC got really air sick and in the airport in Buenos Aires the lady that was helping him had him go to the doctor in the airport. I went with him to be his companion. The doctor checks him out a little and then just tells him to roll over onto his stomach and starts pulling the back of his pants down but couldn´t because of his belt. He was so confused but went along with it, she gave him a shot and then had him sign for it and we left. We still have no idea what was in the shot.
We actually don´t have an apartment right now, we´re living in this apartment that is built right behind the church with the zone leaders. It´s pretty nice for Paraguay, just a two room, bath and kitchen with four of us living there. We´ve been trying really hard to find a place in our area because it is about a 30 minute walk to where we do most of our work. We´re working on getting our own place. We found this really nice house right next to the members that wash our clothes, perfect size and everything, but it´s a little expensive, 1 million guaranies, which is about 200 US dollars. We´re trying to get the office to let us get it because everything is so expensive here. We are supposed to find something around 800 mil, 800,000 guaranies. It´s kind of cool how the money works here, everything is in guaranies and 5,000 guaranies is about one US dollar. You buy everything by the mil, which means thousand in Spanish. All the bills are 1 mil, 5 mil, 10 mil, and so forth, and 1 mil here is about equivalent to 1 dollar in the states meaning what it is worth to the people. The other day I bought a loaf of bread here for an amount about equivalent to 25 cents in the states and that is just normal here, especially in Asunción.
As for the rain, it feels like it rains just about everyday, we only really got soaked two days so far where we were just super wet. It rains a lot, but it has made it pretty cool. The heat really isn´t too bad here and I´ve been told that Pedro Juan is about the best place temperature wise. So hopefully I´m here all through the summer too.
It is true, there is a lot of dressing down by the people, because it is so hot. Its even worse when your closer to the border of Brazil because they have a pretty modernized culture. Some can even look pretty American. I think I already told you but our area is right on the border of Brazil, just today I could have thrown a rock into Brazil if I wanted to where we were shopping. Its really just two cities that mesh into one city but have different names because they are in different countries.
As for the food I actually really like it, the members here can cook some really good stuff. The culture here though is you have a small breakfast, a big lunch and then just like a small snack dinner if anything. It has been a little hard to get used to. The food here is just kind of bland, a definite lack of flavor, But I´ve been enjoying it, there has only been really one thing so far I really didn´t like and that was their pudding. It has a very different taste, but I´ll get used to it. As for the soda we do drink quite a bit. Our mission president doesn´t let us drink Coke. I´m getting a new president in July. We drink a lot of Fanta, Sprite, and Guaraná, and a lot of juice, lots of juice here. I think I miss milk the most though. The milk just isn´t the same, and I loved it so much, good thing I drank so much in the MTC! We never have dinner appointments, only lunch around 12:30 pretty much every other day. We only had 17 people other than us in church last Sunday though so for that I think it is pretty good, we´ll be getting more though, we´re working on it, it seems like everyday we hear about or meet some other less active member of the church. We taught a full lesson to a guy the other day just to find out recently he has already been baptized, that´s Paraguay for you.
Thanksgiving was just like any other day, we had a bunch of empanadas to celebrate but nothing big, nothing like home that is for sure. It was fun to hear about all the good times back home, keep me up on what's going on. The languages are going pretty good, I´m understanding more and more and we share pretty much evenly the time in lessons, Elder Dennis does a lot of the initial approaches though, just because understanding is my biggest problem right now, I can speak it just fine and people act like they understand me, but I´m just constantly working on more comprehension.
As for Elder Dennis he is great, its been pretty fun, he speaks Spanish super well and knows a lot of Guaraní so its fun to just ask him things for both languages. It´s still such a "tender mercy" I got put with him. I´m super grateful for it. He´s been a big help and I´m glad he speaks English. I think it would really be hard starting with a Latin companion like some of the other elders that came with me are doing right now. We´ve been working super hard and we teach tons everyday and we actually had our first baptism last week. His name was Recencio and he got married and baptized all at the same time. It was wonderful to watch, we´re trying to get him the priesthood now so he can baptize his daughter who is going to turn 8 in January. It was super awesome to see and to have a baptism so soon. I hope I can tell you about a whole lot more. Elder Dennis has baptized over 100 people here and 79 of them were all in one area so I think I´ll have a lot more to tell you about baptisms as the years go by.

Monday, November 30, 2009

My First Week in Paraguay

It is my first P-day (preparation day) in the country and we have been having a great time. I was glad to hear about the snow at home because it is so hot here, really hot all the time. It only gets hotter in December and January, but don´t worry, I´ve got sunscreen. I slept at the mission office Wednesday night in a little bunk house they have there for the new missionaries. We didn´t spend too much time there. Right after study time and breakfast we went to the church in Asuncion for changes. Its actually the church right next to the temple. It was wonderful to see the temple. You´ll never guess who my trainer is, remember how Haley Dennis has a brother serving here? Well, he´s training me, its pretty funny actually and he keeps on telling me about how crazy his family is going to respond to the news. He´s training me in a little city called Pedro Juan Caballero, its eight hours from the capital Asunción and right on the border of Brazil, literally on the border. Paraguay has three steps along the north border, I like to call it its back, and Pedro Juan is in the corner of the middle step. There are so many people here that speak Portuguese so it has been hard starting out with the language. My Spanish isn´t really bad at all, so people can usually understand me. Most of the people here speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Guaraní so I usually can´t understand them. If they just speak straight Spanish it is easier, I can´t understand everything but I get most of it. Yet almost always they speak Spanish with a Guaraní mix or Portuguese with a Guaraní mix so most of the time I just don´t know what is going on. It is nice people can understand me though when I speak Spanish. When we teach the people here need everything simply put so they can understand. I really feel the Lord has been helping me with the language. It is hard for me to keep up in lessons but it seems like when it is my turn to talk I can say everything I need to and I can pretty much answer questions directed to me. It is a little hard here to because we are opening a new area. We had eight people here already with baptismal dates but it looks like we only have about three that are super sure. This mission has a lot of baptisms. The first day we were here we were told by the AP´s (Assistants to the President) the goal for the mission for us to keep is a baptism every week, the goal is 4 per month. One baptism per week is pretty awesome, so pretty soon with the investigators we are teaching I should be able to write about some baptisms. The work is hard here but it is fun and rewarding. The people here are really nice. It gets frustrating sometimes though, for example, the other day we taught this lady and her neighbor the first lesson and set up a date to come back and the next day when we came back we could see the lady in the back of the house, she hid. Anyway, the city we are in right now isn´t as poor as the rest of Paraguay, but it is still pretty poor, but people still have some nice things. Everyone here has a motorcycle, I mean everyone, there are probably twice as many on the road or more than any cars at one time. Everything is going great, we had some investigators in church yesterday that are getting really excited about their baptismal dates. We´re teaching five sisters right now and they are just awesome. They all really have a desire to do what is right, they´re reading everyday and they´re praying and getting ready for the 18th when they´ll be baptized. Some are more excited than others, but I think we´ll have them all ready by the baptismal date we have for them. We are also teaching this Indian family where some of them only speak Guaraní. Most of the time we are there, Elder Dennis just says everything and I have no idea what is going on. The man has to get married to his wife before they get baptized, and we´re working on that right now. It seems no one gets married here. Everyone lives together and raises a family but very few we teach are married. They say they are husband and wife. Here in Paraguay if you want to separate it is a really hard process and you have to wait two years so people just don´t get married. We have been working really hard though, we have met a lot of good people and have been teaching pretty much all day everyday. We also have some awesome members in our branch here that love to go teach with us and that is such a big help. The branch is really small. We had fifteen people in church yesterday. Three were investigators. Elder Dennis and I gave the talks, said the prayers, and passed the sacrament, so it was special. We´ve already had one huge rainstorm and got soaked walking home, I don´t think we would have been more wet jumping in a pool.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

First Companion, Missionary Trainer, Elder Dennis


We have been so excited Elder Dennis is Ryan's first companion and trainer. Our family had many associations with his family while we lived in New York. Ryan even went on a fun double date with his sister, Haley, while in New York before he went to Brigham Young University. We knew Elder Dennis was in Ryan's mission and would only have a few months left before he returned home when Ryan would arrive in the mission field. We wondered when the mission call was received could there be any possibility the two could be put together on his mission?





Arrival in Paraguay

Elder Adamson in the arriving group of missionaries to the Paraguay Asuncion North Mission on November 25, 2009.

President and Sister Wade with Elder Adamson


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Week 8 in the MTC

I've now been here just about 8 weeks and I am so excited to be heading off to Paraguay soon, only 6 days left now! I leave Salt Lake City, Utah on November 23rd early in the morning and I will arrive in Asuncion, Paraguay on November 24th about dinner time. I've got at total of over 30 hours travel time with one sweet 7 and a half hour layover in Buenos Aires!

Anyway, just some business to go over, so they told me in the mailroom that any dearelders that come and we have already left just get thrown out, they don't get forwarded on because they don't have any postage, so anything sent to me after noon on Saturday, November 21st, I won't get. I'm pretty sure dearelder.com will work once I get into my mission but you will have to change the address to send those to my mission because the church has a pouch service for my mission. I've never been on dearelder.com so you'll have to figure that out, but just keep that in mind.

One main highlight of this week was when my teacher decided, which was a great idea, to have a little mach baptism to teach us all how to go through the interview questions with an investigator, and how to plan the whole baptism. My district leader was put in charge and we were all given roles to play and it turned out really awesome. My teacher was the investigator and we were all given different roles in the baptismal service. I was given the role of the investigator's best member friend and I gave a talk at the baptism about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Oh, and by the way, all of this was done in Spanish, which you probably already guessed. It was a super cool experience because of the spirit that was there. I could really feel the love that I had for this fake investigator and it made me think about all of the times I will be doing this for real people on my mission and it was just so cool to think about the Spirit being brought to the hearts of those I am going to teach in Paraguay. We were able to have a testimony meeting as a district too. I could really just feel the love that God has for all of us, it was one of the best experiences I have had here at the MTC. After all this we found out, Angela, the girl from San Antonio I was telling you about, meet with the missionaries and set her baptismal date for tomorrow, Angela our investigator from the Referral Center is going to get baptized tomorrow, how cool is that?! I just want to end with my testimony that I know without a doubt that this is God's work among men, I know this because of that Spirit I can feel so strong while I study and especially while I teach people about the truths of this gospel. I am so excited to get down to Paraguay and start touching the lives of the people there. I can't wait to tell you all about South America, con amor, Elder Adamson V

Week 7 at the MTC

I can't believe how fast the time is going by now, its been 7 weeks now since I've been in the MTC and I leave here in 13 days. This last week was a super awesome week. The spirit has been so strong. We were able to do some work this week with real investigators. It has been pretty awesome. Last Tuesday the devotional was amazing. I remember exactly the things that were said and the way it impressed me. It was one of those moments when you are listening and thinking and the spirit is filling in the cracks and giving you impressions. I don't even really know how to describe it, but it was awesome and I could seriously feel the spirit telling me things and giving me revelation about the things that were being said about the atonement and about our role in the plan of Salvation as missionaries. It was just an awesome way to start out an awesome week.
The next day we found out that our TRC appointment for the week was going to be David. I don't know if I already told you what the TRC is, but it is our teaching at the end of each week to practice the things that we have been practicing. It's like the test at the end of the week at school. David is this inactive member of the church my teacher has been bringing for people to teach at the TRC. It was quite the experience being able to teach him. We got to plan and do activities and things specifically to the investigator, just like on the mission, and the lesson ending up going really well. David had started reading the Book of Mormon again because of a challenge given to him last week in the TRC. He had read 85 pages this last week. It was pretty amazing. During the lesson he was pointing out things he liked and things he didn't understand. David is well on his way, but I still don't really feel like he really understands how important it is to him. He knows that the church is good for him and can better his life, but I don't think he understands its real eternal worth. That is something that the other missionaries in our district are going to try to help him with this week, with a little of our help planning.
Also we had a couple of people we called from the Referral Center that are doing really great. We had this one girl, Angela, that lives in San Antonio, Texas. She is going to school there. We had been talking to her and found out she has been talking to a lot of other elders here too. We found out she has decided to be baptized and knows all of these things are true, but hasn't even met with the missionaries in San Antonio. She's just been talking to missionaries here in the training center via chat and calls and every other week with missionaries in her home town. We found all this out and we called her on Saturday and I got her to promise to go to church in San Antonio and meet with the Elders there and talk to them about getting baptized. When we called back to check on her on Monday it was so awesome. She just kept going off about how much she loved church, and how there were girls there her age, and she found out about institute and has started to go now. She is going to help out with a youth conference this weekend. She described how she could feel the spirit so strong during church and then when she left she could tell the difference, and she was excited because she met sister missionaries there and she was telling us and she said, "You know they have girl elders here?" She is so on track it is awesome. It was to be our last call, we were going to make sure she was set with the missionaries there and make it our last call so we could focus on other referrals. I told her we weren't going to call her back until the day before we leave here to tell her goodbye and she was so funny, she said, "Oh, don't worry, you can call me anytime that day, or anytime this week, or you can even call me everyday until you leave if you want." I reassured her and told her we would call again before we leave and made sure she would keep talking to the missionaries in San Antonio, so it was a pretty awesome call.
Then after that call we called a Spanish women living in NYC. She was one of the very first Spanish calls I made here calling to see if she got her DVD. She said she received a Bible but not the DVD she wanted. I told her I would re-send it and then call her again in about a week or two to check again. So I was calling to check again and she said she got it and was really receptive to all we had to say. She asked us what the difference between the Catholic Church and our church was and we went right into the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. We ended up teaching the first lesson for the first time to a real investigator in Spanish and it was awesome. I really could only understand about 50-75% of what she was saying, but I could get the gist of everything and the spirit was definitely there. She was very receptive and we were actually able to send a Book of Mormon and the missionaries to her house so I think our first time went pretty well.
I'm just going to finish with my testimony, I know this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is true and I know this is the Lord's work. The spirit is just so strong in the things we do here I can't even begin to doubt what I am doing. I love my Savior and I can't wait to be able to share this joy with the people in Paraguay in 13 days. Yo sé que Jesucristo es mi Salvador.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Week 6 at the MTC

I've got another week down in the MTC, it is getting pretty crazy how fast the time goes by now. I have been here a while. The weeks are just flying now, and then I'll be flying to Paraguay. Less than 3 weeks from now. It is kind of cool to think about it because now I'm one of the elders that all of the new missionaries look up to because it seems like I have years worth of wisdom when really I was just in their shoes. I still remember when I got here how all the elders in my zone seemed like they were years older than me when they were all really my same age.
I'm super excited for tomorrow because new missionaries are coming in and that is always awesome. I get to host this time so its going to be pretty sweet.
Big news, we had Elder L. Tom Perry come to the MTC last week, it was pretty awesome, I love the spirit that an apostle can bring to the room, and the wisdom he was able to bring us was amazing. It is even more amazing the Lord has picked me to wear the same title as those amazing men. I want more than anything to be and stay worthy of this great calling of being a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ.
I got my second haircut. A little update on my weight gain, I didn't stop eating whatever I want (I'm only here 3 more weeks, why stop now) and it seems I have hit my peak. I actually lost 1 pound this week which puts me at a solid 8 pound gain and if I'm lucky, like its looking, I won't gain any more. I really think I'll be alright though, I exercise for 50 minutes a day 5 days a week. Once I get on my mission I don't think I'll have to worry at all about gaining weight, plus I want to enjoy having this much food while I've got it.
My companion I've had for what seems like forever now, is from upstate California, around the Bay area. He's the oldest in his family of 3 children and is an awesome missionary. Sometimes he likes to goof around a little bit, but you can tell he has a sincere desire to do this work and he has a strong testimony of this gospel. He and I are actually a lot alike and so we get along really well. He had a job this summer selling motorcycles in California and so he always has these awesome tips on how to ask questions and how to get people to like you which I'm super grateful for because I've been able to learn a lot from him. I'm even more grateful though for his example with how much he cares about people.
For a couple of weeks, we have been a threesome companionship. My second companion, the one who lost his passport and returned to the MTC is a cool guy from upstate Nevada who did a year at the University there before he came on his mission. He doesn't really talk all that much. Sometimes it is hard. He really thinks about things before he says things, which I admire him for. This week especially there have been a few times when he just didn't want to do what we were doing and would sit and read his scriptures without saying a word to us no matter what we ask him. That has been hard, but I think it is getting better. I have been praying for the Lord to help me find ways to connect with him and maybe catch a little bit of what he is thinking sometimes. Other times he can be really funny, sometimes at night when we are going around he says some of the funniest things and we all have a really good time. I hope he can get back to the Domincan on time and his mission will be awesome for him.
My Spanish is coming along really well. We did the coolest thing this week, we killed Spanish! I spent a couple nights this week making a coffin out of cardboard and duct tape, it was sweet. It looks pretty legit too. I shared I bought an English dictionary and we ripped it all up and put it in the coffin. I had everyone in our district write their doubts about Spanish on some paper and put those in there too. Now that English is dead we only speak Spanish. Every night now I go up to the Latinos that live in my building and talk to them in Spanish. It's pretty fun and I've made some really good friends. They are all trying to learn English and I'm learning Spanish so we go back and forth talking to each other. So I'm not really worrying too much about my language. I know my Spanish will be okay by the time I leave here, and I'm super excited to learn Guaraní. One of the Latinos that lives in my building is actually from my mission and just got here last week so he has been teaching me some Guarani too.
I want to bear my testimony, I know this work is real and I know Jesus is my Savior and I know He is right here with me, helping me preach this gospel.

Week 5 at the MTC

This was the fastest week ever. First off, I've been weighing myself here in the MTC because of all the stories of how you gain tons of weight here, and I've just about gained 10 pounds since I got here and honestly I don't even know where it is. I don't feel or look (well at least I don't think I look) any different than when I left, but when I came I weighed in at 153.7 and I'm now 162.3, so at this pace I'll be over 170 by the time I leave here... I really don't look any different. I'm pretty positive once I get down to Paraguay and actually start moving more than just 50 min for 5 days a week I'll lose the weight again, hopefully not any more than I've gained but you never know.
This week is our first week teaching full lessons in Spanish, and it is pretty intense. We've tried it before but this week we have to do it in the TRC, which is the big test here at the end of the week with the real fake investigator they give us. Our class is going to have a funeral for English, I'm pretty excited about that, but at the same time it is going to be pretty intense. I bought a little cheap English dictionary for the ceremony and everything, but really it'll be a lot of help to really shift the focus to Spanish. We are supposed to now speak as much Spanish as we can, but it is going to be pretty intense to try to not speak English at all. I'm pretty sure we can do it.
A cool thing happened in class this week. Last Saturday my teacher, Bro. Alder, was sharing with us the Christlike attribute we should work on for next week. The attribute is patience. He told us about some of his own personal experiences he was having right now and it was just so cool how what he was saying applied so much to what we as a district needed to do and even cooler was how it applied to me personally. These past couple weeks have been a little frustrating for me because I really felt like I could be doing better than I was and that I wasn't really progressing much, I felt as though I had been really honestly trying as hard as I could and it seemed as though I was dormant and really not reaching where I knew I could be. When Bro. Alder talked about his experiences he was having and how studying patience had helped him it was like it was exactly what I needed and the Spirit was just so strong. I could tell he was being inspired and his life was even being directed in a way that he could personally relate to us. The story gets better, the next day was Sunday and in Priesthood our branch President was teaching us about all different things and then he pulled out his Preach My Gospel and said that he felt like something we really needed to work on and study, he said in his words that we need to "tear it apart studing it," is the section in Preach My Gospel on patience, and it was just so powerful, a second confirmation of what I had already received a witness of. Then in sacrament meeting one of the members of the Branch Presidency talked about Faith in Jesus Christ relating his talk to the talk given in the April General Conference about the 6 destructive D's. On Monday, in Bro. Alders class, we watched the talk in Spanish and really outlined the talk with an emphasis on how our faith in Jesus Christ can keep us out of pattern of the 6destructive D's. It was such a powerful lesson that again just really applied to how I felt and what I needed. I even asked Bro. Alder how often he talks to our presidency and he said he talks to them now and again but he hadn't seen them for a couple weeks and he never goes over lesson plans with them. I know the Lord is watching over us, he knows all of us individually and really is aware and cares about our needs. I see miracles happen all the time in this work, though they be small I cannot deny the presence of them here and I am forever grateful for the Spirit they bring. I know Jesus Christ is real and He is my power, my only hope in bringing souls back to the Father, including my own. I will put my entire trust in Him so I can do the work I have been called to do, because I can't do it without Him.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

So the big news this week was that half of our district left to go to the MTC in the Dominican Republic this week, we had a big testimony meeting in class the day the left and it was just so awesome. I know they are going to be awesome missionaries because of the testimonies they have in this gospel, I miss all of them already, but we're still having fun. One of them lost there passport on the way down there, made it to Puerto Rico, and had to come back, and guess what, he was assigned to our companionship. I'm in a three missionary companionship now. It's been pretty crazy, its a lot harder with three people. My companion and I have already left him in the cafeteria twice now, which I feel really bad about because of everything he went through. He ended up having to live in Puerto Rico for two days before the Church could get him some flights back, and he still doesn't have his luggage now, because that made it to the MTC in the Domincan. I'll make sure to tell you more about how that is going next week after we've all tried to teach together.
So more big news, I started making calls in the Referral Center in Spanish this week, and it is intense. I had one really nice lady from NYC that I called I was talking to and she started saying something super fast and I told her "Estoy tratando aprender Español pero no hablo muy bien, pueda halbar más despacio por favór?" and she replied back "do you want me to speak Spanish or English?" It was really funny, anyway, I told her to speak Spanish so I could practice and we had a really nice conversation and she wants me to call her back, man I just love Spanish people. Anyway, so things have been going really well.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Week 3 at the MTC

I am in a new zone and district and all my MTC box has changed, my address is still all the same but it is box # 86 now instead of 294, so send stuff to box #86, and I love letters, just throwing that in there.

This week has gone by so fast, it seems like it was just P-day and I was just sending an email. The language has been coming along really well, the intermediate class is really hard, the teachers only speak in Spanish to us, all the time, but it is really helping. Yesterday my companion and I taught our first lesson in Spanish. We managed to go the whole day only speaking in Spanish, that was really fun. We made a goal in our district to make Monday el día del español and it really helps. Every time we would talk to anyone that doesn't speak Spanish one of us had to say what we wanted in Spanish and the other one would translate. It really helps speaking and comprehension too. I've tried to learn some Guaraní also, but I'm really just focusing on Spanish right now. I'm going to need it but the only way to learn Guaraní is to speak Spanish so I think I am going to leave that mostly until I get there. Guarani is fun to learn though, it is a nasil language. The words are kind of weird to pronounce, and really hard, but it is so fun. The only thing I really know how to say right now is how are you, which is Mbe'échapa (pronounced em-by-eh-sha-pa), but I am trying to learn more. The Hermana here that is from my mission I told you about gave me a whole list of words I've been trying to use, but I think I'm just mostly sticking to Spanish now, once I master that Guaraní will be a whole lot easier.
This week has been a super spiritual uplifting week for me, we were able to go to the referal center a lot this week and make calls, and that is always fun. I actually had one really cool experience, I got three outgoing calls in a row calling to see if they received their Book of Mormons they ordered. All three people pretty much blasted me with how I would be condemned because of the things I was going to teach. I remembered many scriptures I learned in seminary but I didn't use any of them, all I did was bear a solemn testimony of the things I personally know to be true. All of them seemed pretty impressed with how open-minded I was with them and willing to listen. At the end of the conversations none of them wanted to change but there was definately mutual respect. Through all of this I was kind of getting discouraged, yet these people without even knowing were strenghtening my testimony. I found it so amazing how much truth they knew, and how much good they believed in, and how stubborn they were over one specific issue, and it seemed like the same for all of them, that Jesus couldn't be the son of God because only a sacrifice of a god would be good enough to save mankind. It was really hard to see such, what seemed like to me, good people so close to the truth and pushing so hard against it. It was frustrating. So I kept making calls and was just about to leave (most of the time people just don't pick up, this seemed to happen a lot after all this) and right when it was time to go I decided to call one more person. I called to see if he had got his Book of Mormon and he said he had and I just started to bear my testimony to him about the power the Book has and the peace we receive from it. The very first thing he said back was, "Don't worry, I think we are both on the same page, just give me a little time to read it." I was so excited, I just had person after person tell me how bad I am and was going to give up. Now I have an investigator I am going to call back at the end of this week to see how it went, and how he felt when he prayed. I am just so amazed by this work, at how real it is and the power it brings to me in teaching it. I wouldn't give this experience away for anything and I know without a doubt I am doing what is right. Teaching this gospel already has brought me closer to it and I can't wait to see the joy it will bring to others.

Week 2 at the MTC

Everything here has been so great. I had such a full week last week I don't even know where to start. My companion was having a really hard time here. Well it ended up being more than that and everything has just worked out so perfectly there is no way to explain it but to say that the Lord has been watching over us, but before I can fully explain that story, I need to tell another one...

The first Friday here, my teacher pulled me and another missionary in our zone out of class, we thought for sure he was mad at us or something. I couldn't understand why he would pull me out, I mean the other guy sure, but not me. It turns out he thought we were both way too good at Spanish to be in the beginner class so he had us both tested to test out and go to the intermediate class. He was super impressed because I used the future tense in class one day. We didn't hear anything for a long time so we just figured we didn't pass the test and were stuck in beginner Spanish, but then last Thursday the guy over all the Spanish pulled us out and told us that we were definately intermediate Spanish level. The reason he waited so long was because the class was already so big he was trying to figure out how to make room for us. To make a long story short, because I have very little time, I was put with this other missionary and we are both now in intermediate Spanish, we moved up last Friday.

I am totally convinced that the Lord was completely had His hand in my not moving up for that long for a reason. As I said, my first companion was having a super hard time here. Every night he would get super sad and I would have to help him and console him. I don't want to get into the details, but he would be so up and then down. I would just have to pick him up. Last Friday, the same day I was moved and switched companions, he was scheduled to see a doctor because they think he has a medical issue that is making him super sad sometimes. Anyway, the reason I tell the story is that I know that the Lord wanted me to be with him until someone could figure out what was going on with him. At the very same time as when he was in an interveiw scheduling to see the doctor, my soon to be companion was picking up our new schedules. The more I think about it, the more I can see how the Lord was involved. I knew I should have passed the test. I took the same test here as I did on the phone and I passed easily here. I really know that the Lord just was looking out for my first companion and me at the same time, so he put off what I needed just for about 10 days so that he could give my first companion what he needed. I am just so grateful I was able to help. It was pretty hard to leave our old district to go to the new class, but I know it was what was right and I know that the Lord is looking over all of us, all the time, even when we don't think about it.

So my new companion is pretty cool, we were in the same district before so I already knew him so it hasn't been too hard. He's from California and went to BYU last year and is a lot like me, so we get along really well. We're actually in this little competition to see who can get more mail, and he is definately crushing me, so I could use a little help with that if that is okay... oh, and you are allowed to send me as many letters as you want mom, don't think you have to stop at one, I laughed when you asked that question...

Anyway, General Conference was so awesome, it was so nice to just relax for a little while, and it was crazy how much what the speakers were talking about was wrapped around what I am doing. We have been focusing so much on God's love for everyone and the importance of showing the investegator how to feel the Spirit and the importance of it. It seemed as though everyone said something about that, so that was just awesome how it applied so much to me.

I am soo excited to learn the Indian language in Paraguay, Guarani. There is this sister missionary here that is from my mission going to Salt Lake on hers, so she speaks English to me and I speak Spanish to her so we can both practice, and she has been teaching me some Guarani. I already know how to say some things like, How are you? and such.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Elder Adamson's First Letter September 29, 2009

Hello! This is Elder Adamson V,

(Must explain the Elder Adamson V, Ryan is our fifth son and our fifth to serve a mission. He was preceded by David, Chile Santiago North; Robert, Puerto Rico, San Juan: Joseph, Spain, Canary Islands; Gary, Argentina, Buenos Aires.)

I've been here now for just about 6 days and I am loving it here. It is pretty hard, but it is so much fun to be here. I just love all the people I am with. My companion is pretty awesome, he's an Oklahoma boy, a 6' 4" and a solid 265 pounds Oklahoma boy! He is solid, he played rugby for BYU last year, so he is pretty big and solid. It is so awesome being with him....

So get this, yesterday I had a conversation outside the main enterance with Elder Scott, yeah, Richard G. Scott, in Spanish, and I didn't even recognize who he was. We were walking outside bearing our testimonies to other missionaries in Spanish and he walked by and asked in Spanish if we spoke often in our mission language. I explained to him that we had only been here 5 days but we were trying hard to speak as much as we could, he complimented us and then walked into the building. Everything he said to me was in Spanish, I guess he comes to the MTC to learn more languages, and that's why he was here. He is already fluent in Spanish. We were walking away and the man we were with told us that it was Elder Scott, and it was so obvious to me I couldn't even believe I didn't recognize him.

EVERYONE SEND ME MAIL!!!! through dearelder.com. (Be sure to check on Provo MTC on the left---My Mailbox is #294, Mission code PAR-ASUN, and leave date 1123.)

DearElder.com is pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen. You go online to dearelder.com and then find me and you can write me a letter and they will print it and give it to me here. It's so awesome because I get it the same day and you don't have to pay anything, its free. And its better than email because I don't have to take any of my email time to read letters. I only have a half an hour to write emails. So put it up on my blog or something, dearelder.com, its completely free and so convenient for me, and I'm pretty sure you can do it my whole mission, when I leave here they can print them out at my mission office. I would love to get mail!.... Tell everyone about dearelder, and tell my brothers and sisters to use it too and leave their email in the letter so I can write them back that way. Oh, and if you could send me stamps, I only get 6 dollars on my card a week and stamps are pretty expensive, that would be awesome. (Stamps have been sent)
I love all of you and I hope everyone is doing alright, I know I am where I am supposed to be and even now I can see the work moving forward through my efforts. Last night I was chatting with a 16 year old boy online in the referal center for 50 minutes about Jesus Christ and the atonement and how He loves us, and he committed to pray last night to know if what we talked about was true, it was kind of sad though, because I ran out of time right after I told him we could have missionaries visit him or he could call me back and the chat disconnected, but I know he felt the spirit of what I was telling him and that he will come in his own time. I love my Savior, it is so real what he has done for us, and I can't wait to help more lives come to that knowledge. I love and miss you all, but I will see you soon,

Love, Elder Adamson V


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

September 23, 2009

Well today was the day, Elder Adamson entered the MTC about 12:45pm. For Dad it was hard to leave him, yet he was very happy knowing Ryan is embarking on the Lord's errand.

He and Dad accomplished Ryan's goal of going to 10 temples before he entered the mission field. They went to Logan, Ogden and Bountiful temples on Friday, September 18th and went to Uncle Craig's and Aunt MaryAnn's home to stay until he went into the mission home.

On Saturday they went to the Salt Lake, Jordan River and Oquirrh Mountain Temples. He had a wonderful visit with Joe, Codi, Ethan and Cole; and Robert, Liz, Emma and Kaylie.

On Tuesday they finished visiting all the temples on the way visiting the Draper, Mt. Timpanogous and Provo Temples.

Friday, September 18, 2009

September 15, 2009

Just to let everyone know this is Elder Adamson's Mom. We set up this blog to follow Ryan's mission and to post his missionary moments for all to read. He was set apart on September 15, 2009 by our stake president, President Brian Pitcher. Our Bishop, Bishop Blake Ballif was with him. The next morning, he and his Dad (his companion until he enters the MTC on Wednesday morning September 23rd) embarked on the trip to the MTC. They began by driving to Boise, Idaho. Elder Adamson's sister, Tiffany, lives there. They visited with her family. Tiffany made his favorite dessert, chocolate cake with chocolate icing, an early birthday cake for his 19th birthday, September 22. Scott, Tiffany, Elder Adamson and Dad went to the Boise Temple. His plan is to visit all the temples on the way to the MTC and get one last BYU game in before he leaves. Uncle Craig and Aunt MaryAnn were able to get some tickets to the BYU vs. Florida State game. His first P-day activity!