The One Where Mindy Teaches Us That We Need To Follow Our Promptings

Shorter email this week, but that's okay :) hope you enjoy! 

"I tell them... Christ is better"

Hello Everybody!

I hope you had an incredible February. We had transfers this last week but I didn't get moved and I'm still with Sister Takahashi! Yay! The quote in my title is from an Recent Convert of ours. We were asking her if her friends and famiy had any questions or interest in learning more about her belief and she leans in and whispers (in Chinese), "They worship their ancestors." Then she leans back in her chair and says (in Chinese), "I keep telling them that worshipping ancestors has no use and that Christ is better!" It sounds even funnier in Chinese, I promise. Also, this is coming from a 70 year old Samoan Pohpo. She's hilarious. I love her to pieces.

This week was awesome! With the help of a member, Sister Takahashi and I had the opportunity of starting a new english class this week. We help moms who have no knowledge of english, learn english so they can help their kids do their homework. It was a success and we were able to share what our purpose is as missionaries. We were also able to chat with a few of them afterwards about our church a little bit more. We also exposed them to prayer and why we pray. I really think with time, this will be a really great finding tool for the "elect".

Sister Takahashi and I are starting a new story as we go around visiting members in the next couple of weeks. We are sharing the story of Abish. We try to focus on three key points to the story. 1. Abish was prepared by the Lord to be where she was at the time the Lord needed her to be there. It's so interesting that she was the only person who knew God in that household, but because of her pre-existent knowledge and faith, God was able to work miracles through her. 2. She followed promptings. She had never really had the opportunity to share the gospel before but when God gave her the opportunity, she acted on that prompting. We, too, need to act on promptings that God has given us and we need to be praying for opportunities to share the gospel. 3. Abish was there, once she had gathered everyone, to explain what was going on. Even when things didn't go the way that she wanted it to, she still followed God's prompting to touch the Queens hand and through her, thousands of people were converted and were able to hear the gospel. When we invite someone to church, or share our testimony, or a Book of Mormon things do not always go the way that we want them to. But no effort is wasted effort. As we continue to follow promptings and try to help people understand, we can change people lives and bring more people to Christ. So, we try to focus on praying for missionary opportunities, following promptings and supporting the people we invite. We also give them a list of things they can do that month to help bring more people to Christ. They have to pick at least two. We'll follow up with them every two weeks or so. We're really hoping to see some miracles as this plan unfolds.

That story is found in Alma 19 and I invite you all to read it this week and think about how you can better follow promptings and the reason why God might have prepared you to be where you specifically are today.

I love you all so much!

Sister Adams

P.S. tandem bikes are so fun!

isn't she the cutest? hahaha love this missionary so much!! 

The One Where Everything is Soaked in Alcohol

Here is this week's email from the awesome Sister Mindy Mint! we didn't get an email last week, so hope you enjoy this one!


Alcoholic Peanuts and The Miracles of Member Missionary Work

Hello! 

I hope that your weeks have been as amazing as mine! 

To start out, I want to share a well-loved scripture of mine. Helamen 5:12 reads, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his might winds (and he most definitely WILL), yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have NO POWER over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build THEY CANNOT FALL." When we have Christ as our anchor, as our foundation, as our light, WE CANNOT FALL. We WILL have trials and difficulties but we will have happiness in our trials and we will be able to be strengthened in our trails more than we ever thought possible. Christ is the ONLY foundation that will give us that happiness and strength. He is the only way. 

Sister Takahashi and I had some incredible miracles this week and some incredibly funny moments! This week, in every single lesson that we taught, we were able to have a member present! It was incredible! I made a promise to myself that I would help this ward grow to love missionary work, to help light that desire to share the gospel in their souls and it's amazing how quickly God has already shown me the blessings of that. Through member missionary work,  our ward's relationship with one another is becoming stronger, my personal relationship and love for my ward has been strengthened and we've been able to find more investigators to bring to church. Member missionary work is really the only way that we have success as missionaries and I'm really excited to see how this will help the ward in the future. 

My advice that I have for all of you this week is to recognize that you CAN help the missionaries and we really truly need your help. I want to ask you all, after you do your personal scripture study, to pray for a name of someone that you can share the gospel with. I can truly promise you that God will give you a name. After you receive that name, I want you to realize that promptings from God are INCREDIBLY precious. If you receive a prompting from God and you don't act on it, how can God trust you with different promptings in the future? Follow these promptings, don't let Satan put fear in your heart or make you think that you are incapable of sharing the gospel. Something as small as giving someone a Book of Mormon, or sharing your testimony is enough. No effort is wasted effort. Even if that person doesn't accept it now, you've given them the tools and you've told them where they can find happiness. You've planted a seed and that's more than enough for God to work with. For those of you reading this that are preparing for missions, street finding is great, but member missionary work is amazing. Member missionary work is where we see the most miracles and where we see wards and stakes blessed. Focus your efforts on members and member missionary work and you'll understand what I mean. 

Funny story from this week, we were given some peanuts that had been soaked in alcohol as a gift. My companion and a few other missionaries ate some before a member told us that they had alcohol in them. Apparently it's not uncommon here in asia for things like chocolates and peanuts to have alcohol in them. We've been more careful since then and I've committed the character for alcohol to memory. 

I promise other fun, funny and incredible things happened this week but I'm very much out of time, so TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK! 

Love you! 

Sister Adams

The One Where Mindy Celebrates The Chinese New Year!

SOOOooooooo i'm a complete dope and i forgot to post last week's email on her blog!!! gahhh worst person ever, i know!! please please enjoy! :) i've also a lot of pictures from last week too. so make sure to look at them! she's such a cutie! 

"Hong Kong is a ghost town" and "the Gospital"

Happy year of the Monkey! 

I'm sorry it's been so long since I emailed but I promise I'm alive an well. Beyond well to be honest with you! It was Chinese new year and there was nothing open so we're having our P-Day on Thursday. 

Chinese New Year is awesome. The first morning of Chinese New year, we woke up and went out to exercise like normal, except when we got outside there was nobody else outside. It literally looked like an Apocalypse had occurred and that the missionaries were the only ones that survived. It was kind of an erie feelings NOT seeing a bunch of people everywhere because here in Hong Kong that NEVER happens. The rest of Chinese New year we spent in a meeting and celebrating with our ward. Chinese New Year lasts at least 3 days then the rest of the week people are still partying and yelling well wishes at one another. One of my favorite things about Hong Kong is that when big holidays come around the chinese have specific phrases that they say (yell) at each other in a greeting. You can say these greetings for almost the entire month of the holiday. Sister Takahashi and I have been wishing people a happy new year since January. LOL! 

My ward had a barbecue yesterday in celebration of Chinese New Year and I can honestly say that I have now roasted almost every kind of meat on a roasting stick. We met up at 9 in the morning and didn't come back from the mountain until 5 that evening. The ward that I'm in is fantastic at bringing their nonmember friends and relatives to activities so we missionaries had a great time not only building friendships with ward members but making new contacts with some potential brothers and sisters we can help bring back to our Father and our Savior. I am so happy that I have this opportunity to be a tool in Heavenly Fathers work. I wish I could put into words how important this work is and the happiness that it brings but my words wouldn't do it justice. I ATE AN ENTIRE STEAK that I had cooked over the fire. A whole steak. Cooked over the fire. And it was REALLY good. I am a fan of chinese barbecues. 

There's a quote that I heard this past week that I want to share. It's from the BYU talk by F. Enzio Busche called "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit". "In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But YOU make the decision of which road you take." This life is hard. This life has SO many challenges but the purpose of this life was to prepare us to become like God. The purpose of this life was to have trials, to overcome those trials through our Savior and to achieve eternal life. God has blessed us to live in a time when we have the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the plan and the path that we need to take to be successful. God has made it incredibly clear how we will be able to fulfill our purpose for this life. He's made it clear and SIMPLE how to have incredible peace and joy. Our job is to get over our pride and follow the path that is better for us. When we look at our lives through God's eyes, we understand that we can become SO much more with Him than without Him. SO MUCH MORE. 

I want to testify that I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I've read the Book of Mormon and it's changed my life. I get to watch it change other people lives every single day. Christ's TRUE and full gospel is on the earth again. This gospel, Christ's gospel, can heal souls. It can heal families. It can heal illnesses (including mental illness). "Through Christ all things are possible" and I know that to be true. I'm grateful for everyday that I get to wear Christ's name on my chest and beam at people while sharing how amazing our Savior is. I still have things that I need to improve and I'm not always the best missionary sometimes I'm terrified to open my mouth, but my burning faith in Christ gives me courage and it gives me hope to keep sharing and to keep pushing along. 

God knows us each personally and He has a plan SPECIFICALLY for each of us. Embrace Him and strive to understand your Savior. I can promise you that you will see miracles in your life. You really truly will. I love you all and I hope that you have an incredible week! 

Sister Mindy Adams

Sister Mindy Mint being a cutie

some grub at the Chinese New Year BBQ

Sister Mindy Mint and her companion Sister Takahashi

The One Where Mindy Teaches Us To Search The Book Of Mormon

Hello Hello! Another week down in Mindy's mission! I love how she teaches us in her emails to us. She's such a good missionary. Sounds like she is doing AMAZING! Love this cute missionary sooo much! I hope you enjoy her email this week :)



The Power of the Book of Mormon

Hallo!

I hope that everyone has had a fantastic week! My week was once again filled with incredible study hours, teaching appointments, finding opportunities, and lots of faith.

So, this week, my investigator become a recent convert! She received the gift on the Holy Ghost and was confirmed as a member of The Church of Latter-Day Saints. The first thing that she said to Sister Takahashi and I after Sacrament meeting was that she could feel the power go from their hands into her spirit and she was just speechless trying to describe what that felt like. The blessing was (of course) given in Chinese and so I know that she didn't understand much about what was being said, but she felt that power and she understands the difference that having that gift will have in her life.

One of my favorite things about teaching people about the Holy Ghost is mentioning all the different roles that the Holy Ghost has in our lives. The Holy Ghost is a comforter, He helps us to feel God's love and to strengthen us in times of need. The Holy Ghost is a protector, He warns us when situations are not okay and with Him by our side daily, we have nothing to fear. The Holy Ghost is a guide, He guides us in the paths that will lead us to success and lead us back to Heavenly Father and true happiness. The Holy Ghost is a testifier, He testifies of Christ, of God and eternal truths (things that we learned in the pre-earth life that are still true today). The Holy Ghost is one of my favorite gifts that God has given us because the Holy Ghost is tangible proof that God lives and that He loves His children. If it is good it is from God and the Holy Ghost is an increbily good thing. It's a gift that EVERYONE needs and that EVERYONE can recieve.

I've been studying the Book of Mormon a lot this week because of I had to give my first training in district meeting. My topic was "How to use the Book of Mormon to teach families". My focus was on setting a pattern for finding answers. When we introduce someone to the Book of Mormon, we tell them that they can find answers to their questions in the Book of Mormon. That suggestion that we give to investigators is the same suggestion that I'm going to give to you. YOU can find the answers to your questions in the Book of Mormon. I tesify it's true because my district and I put it to the test (not that the Book of Mormon needed to be put on trial because it's God word and has changed my life). How do I manage my finances? There's an answer (look up riches in the Book of Mormon topical guide) How do I strengthen my family? How do I help my rebellious kids? (THERE ARE SO MANY ANSWERS FOR THAT ONE). The incredible thing about the Book of Mormon is that it's true. It's truly God's word and it truly is a map back to Him. The Book of Mormon is timeless, as you change, it changes to fit your needs. The words stay the same but the meanings change. You CAN find answers to your questions. Set that as a pattern in your life. When you have a question, bring it to the Book of Mormon and study it out. I can testify that you'll find answers and that you will truly become a better person because of it.

Hong Kong is the best mission in the world and I'm seriously one of Heavenly Fathers most spoiled children to be here. Keep praying. Keep serving. And Keep loving!

I love you all,

Sister Adams