Adam Serving in Portland

Hi! I hope you all are doing well! This last week has been  full of mixed emotions, sad but also so good. Elder Shaw's two years was up and he  finished his mission on Thursday.  It was hard to say goodbye, but I am happy he is off to new adventures now.   After we dropped Elder Shaw off at the mission office I just went with my roommates (Elder Britt and Elder Spence) into their area for about 1 day. That was fun! We did some service, visited a couple people that we're teaching and just had a good time! all around a solid day. it felt just like an exchange. My new companion is Elder Nielson! He is awesome! He came out one transfer after me and is a super solid missionary! Oh yeah, he is also 6'10", so I'm feeling kind of short these days.   The most common first question we get asked is "how tall are you?"  Usually followed by "do you play basketball?" (neither one of us does) On Sunday our friend Jim came to church for the third time. He is su...

Hi everyone! It's been a great week here! We weren't allowed to leave our apartment until Friday due to the snow and ice on the road. After that things have just been absolutely crazy! We went to the temple today. It was Elder Shaw's departing temple trip. He completes his mission this Friday. The temple is amazing! It is the house of the Lord! No place is as holy or sacred as the temple. If you haven't been or haven't been recently, go! At least just visit the grounds. You will feel peace! We also had Stake Conference (a congregation from a larger area) for church this Sunday! That was awesome! A couple specific reasons why: -we got recruited to sing in the choir last minute -we had 3 of our friends come on Sunday -Elder McKay from the Quorum of the Seventy was there The biggest takeaway from this church was the importance of the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is as holy and sacred as the temple. We cannot let our activities on the Sabbath become commonplace. They sh...

Hi everyone! I hope you have had a great week! Things have been great here! It snowed a few inches here on Saturday, which may not sound too bad, but Portland does not know how to handle snow and it's stayed cold.   That means all that snow is still there from Saturday and it is snowing more right now, so that's exciting!  The roads aren't great and the mission has advised us against driving until it melts away, so missionary work has been a challenge.   We have been doing all sorts of phone calls, texts, and Facebook finding, which is great, but I miss being out and busy. Something that has been remarkable about all this, though,  is that we are still allowed to go out and walk around to visit with people nearby.   And the biggest miracle of this whole situation is that every time we step out of our apartment to visit and talk to people, we have found someone to teach! As missionaries we have been promised by a living prophet of God that " As you serve wi...

 Hi everyone! Super short email this week! It has been a great week though! I got to go on 3 exchanges. We also have been able to find quite a few new people to teach! All in all pretty awesome! One exchange was with Elder Spence, another with Elder Crum, my old companion, and the last was with Elder Nober. It was a lot of fun! All very solid Elders and good examples to me! We got to eat at President Botchway's house for lunch today. He made fufu and peanut butter soup. Very good. Also, as my spiritual thought, and something an invitation, BE OBEDIENT! Doctrine & Covenants 130:20-21: "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated— And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they...