We got to talk to Emily while she waited in the SLC airport to fly to Arizona. It was Memorial Day, and we were up visiting graves with my family. On our way to the barbecue at Grandma and Grandpa Taggart's, we got a phone call, and pulled into the parking lot at KMart to talk. We enjoyed talking for about an hour. I was feeling a little guilty that the elders had been waiting in line to use the pay phone, and we were enjoying talking on the track phone we sent Em. When it was time for her to board we talked while she walked. It was easier saying goodbye this time. She was excited to get to Arizona and to serve, and I know I will get to talk to her probably in 6 weeks when she is at the airport again before flying to the Philippine's. We said goodbye a little early so that she could let the elders call home quickly on the airplane if they were not able to get through the pay phone. It was such a blessing to get to talk to her, and to hear how excited and happy she is! Onto the next adventure...... I was grateful to receive these pictures and letter from the mission president the next day. They look so kind, and I love how they have their arms around her! Dear Brother & Sister Adams: We are pleased to welcome your missionary to the Arizona Scottsdale Mission. She arrived safely and anxious to begin her proselyting responsibilities. Sister Robinson and I look forward to serving with her . We recognize the great trust placed in us. We will do all in our power to love and teach her while she is in our care. The first few weeks in the mission field are a period of transition and sometimes very challenging. We will help Sister Adams make this transition as smoothly as possible. The frequency and type of letters your missionary receives will have a significant impact on Her mission experiences. We encourage you to write her once a week. Avoid saying things that may cause your missionary to unduly miss home and family. Encourage her to remember the covenants he has made and the great work of saving souls. Share with her your own inspiring experiences and love of the gospel. Enclosed is a picture of your missionary on the day of her arrival. As you can see she is surrounded by many who love her. The Arizona Scottsdale Mission is a wonderful place to serve. We have strong and supportive members, two temples, a visitor's center and many opportunities to teach the gospel. As your missionary serves diligently the Lord has promised, " I will go before your face, I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." (D&C 84:88) May the Lord bless you and your family for Sister Adams faithful service to the Lord. Sincerely, Marc B. Robinson President
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The elders gave us these shirts, so we wore them today. Sister Wilde (Dallas Texas), Sister Schenk (Syracuse, UT), Sister Thedell (Missouri), & Sister Zollinger (New Mexico) Maayong aga! This week has been a whirlwind of emotions. On Monday morning I woke up with the song, "I'll go where you want me to go" stuck in my head. I didn't realize until later how fitting that would be for my entire week. All of our Visas have been delayed, besides my companion's visa. I've been temporarily reassigned to the Scottsdale, Arizona Mission. Sister Schenk and Elder McNiven are also going there, us Utahns have to stick together haha. It's been hard but I really am excited to finally get out and share with others what I know to be true, whether that's in the Philippines or Arizona. It's funny how sad I've been thinking about leaving the MTC. I'm going to miss my zone so much. There is no doubt in my mind we were all meant to be with each other. We were visited by another Apostle this week. This time It was Elder Rasband, and just like the two other Apostles that came to speak to us, he talked about Revelation. It honestly was such an amazing devotional. Sister Thedell told us that she had prayed in her heart to hear something about reassignments. Elder Rasband got up and the very first thing he said was that "Every mission is perfectly assigned."... "Whether it be a missionary, senior missions or reassigned missions, it is done through Revelation." He seemed to be staring right at us, and of course we all cried. Later that day Brother Taylor, our branch president, mentioned that in all the years that he has been at the MTC, he has never once heard someone mention reassignments. We all feel at peace we're just sad to be splitting up and going different ways so early on. Sister Thedell-California, Irvine Sister Zollinger-California, Irvine Sister Schenk-Scottsdale, Arizona Elder Jarvis-Napa, Idaho Elder Burton-Napa, Idaho Elder Dekkard-Makin, Georgia Elder Tou'tu u- Reno, Nevada Elder Robinson-Las Vegas, Nevada Elder McNiven-Scottsdale, Arizona Elder Singleton-Salt Lake City East Elder Donahue-Las Vegas, Nevada Elder Covert-Reno, Nevada Elder Barranca-Makin, Georgia We have been speaking 100 percent Hiligaynon this week, I find myself thinking that maybe it will be a good thing I'm going to Arizona first, because it will help me get the hang of the mission life before being thrown into a different culture and language. The Philippines seems within reach, and I will probably cry when I do get to go. I hope in 6 weeks we will all be able to meet up again on our flight over to the Philippines. I asked her about her Branch President, Brother Taylor; "I seriously love him, he is just one of those super special old guys." Also tell grandma thank you for the letter it was seriously the sweetest thing and made me smile when I needed it! Last time at the Provo temple together. My companion, Sister Wilde, is the only missionary in my zone to receive her Visa. Sister Wilde will be traveling with some of the Tagalogs that got Visas. The Philippine's have just started to up their Visa laws. The 3 of us will be serving in the Scottsdale, Arizona Mission till our Visa's come. Me, Elder McNiven, and Sister Schenk. The last time at the Provo Temple with the sisters in my zone. I found this story on Sister Zollinger's blog, and it made me smile! It is sooo Emily My companions and I have gotten so close I am so thankful for them and all of the fun times we have. Yesterday we were walking with the other sisters in our zone and Sister Adams ran ahead of us to try and do a heel click but her foot was really sweaty and it fell out of her shoe and she just fell. It was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen and we all just fell over laughing. I laughed so hard I peed a little! haha I don't know why I'm telling you that but it was too funny not to share. Everyone was looking at us like we were crazy. :) A few random weird pictures.Sister Thedell and I found these bandanas in a box so we wore them around and got the weirdest looks. I love Sister Thedell so much! She is seriously like a long lost sister. our teachersSister Reed Brother Shumway
& my district- Standing; Elder Deckard (Brigham City, UT), Elder Jarvis (Portland, OR), Elder McNiven (Orem, UT), Brother Shumway, ME, Sister Wilde (Dallas, Texas), Kneeling; Elder Robinson (Madison Co. FL), Elder Burton (Pennsylvania), Elder Toetu'u (Alaska) Well it's been another great week here in the good ole MTC. It's crazy to think I've already been here for a month. I have a week and a half until they send us off to the Manila MTC for just one week to finalize our Visas. I'm SO excited to get out to serve and love the beautiful people of the Philippines. I never thought I'd say this, but I really am going to miss the MTC, because of the things I've learned and the people that I've come to love here. On Tuesday we sang "Let us all Press On" for a member of the Quorum of the Seventy. Elder and Sister Duncan spoke to us. Elder Duncan said, "The greatest tool of Conversion for others and ourselves is the Book of Mormon". The Book of Mormon brings so much Power into our lives and the blessings that come from reading it are amazing! President Russell M Nelson in one of his last talks promised that we would make better decisions, That the windows of Heaven would be opened, and we would be Immunized against the evils of the world. If that isn't enough motivation to read the Book of Mormon I don't know what is. I am so grateful to be a missionary, It is the best thing ever! I'm also grateful for all of you! Love and miss you all! People Em saw in the MTC this week I was able to see (high school friends) Isabelle Brockbank and Villi Wolfgramm... that's actually a way funny story because he hugged me on accident. Villi saw me and said Hey! I was really surprised to see him because I didn't know when he was coming to the MTC. He got up, because it was in the cafeteria and he put his arms out to go in for a hug, and I stuck my hand out for a handshake, so then he grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug anyway. it was so funny to see the looks on everyone's faces, and I'm sure my face too, because when he stepped back he said, oh sorry you can tell it's my second day, whoops! Teri Taggart, and Steve ran into Em twice on Tues. She gave her a hug both times, and texted me. I wish they could go with her to the Philippines! This is Em's email after lunch... We were all yelling and jumping for joy because we got our travel plans, but we noticed our flights were all different, and some people got two so we were all just super confused, so we went to the travel office to ask what was going on. What we found out: All of our visas haven't been approved, so we're all temporarily reassigned. They said in the next few days we should find out where exactly that will be. I feel like I have that same anticipation I had when waiting for my mission call. Sister Schenk asked the guy at the front desk what the likelihood would be of us getting them, and he said we should fast and pray. There is a chance they could still come in these last couple weeks but the chances are slim. We're all just trying to keep our heads up, everything happens for a reason, right? "Come what may and love it" Me and Sister Wilde in class. Sister Wilde's foot is great, and doing a lot better so she is still on track to going to the Philippines, which I'm so excited about! I wouldn't be able to imagine leaving her. The view from our classroom I hid like this in the sister's room and scared them half to death. They are probably sick of me trying to scare them. Lol Just us sister's at the temple this morning. This is the 2nd day at the MTC with my zone. It seems so long ago. This cute picture of Emily popped up in memories on Facebook on Mother's Day. I thought it was ironic! This was 8 years ago after Em's Shooter's team won the championship. Wow how time has flown! We got to talk to Emily for half an hour from the MTC. She called at 3:15, and we were in the car driving up north. We pulled over in Provo so we could hear her better. All of the missionaries in her zone were also calling at the same time, and we could hear them in the background. Emily sounds great and is very happy and excited to be going to the Philippines. She spoke to us in Hiligaynon reciting the missionary purpose. She thinks the language is fun! There are a lot of P words, and she sometimes thinks of the Jimmy Fallon show where they stuff their mouths with food, and say p words and spit it all over the place. :) It sounded like Chinese or Japanese to us. She told us that she will be leaving the Provo MTC a week earlier than originally planned. On May 30th she will be going to the Manila MTC for a week to make room for all of the new missionaries going to the Philippines that will be coming in. She is excited to get to see Manila and get to proselyte there. I don't know if she will find anyone that speaks her language, and maybe some will speak English. A half hour flew by so quickly!!!! It reminds me of this picture, where did the time go? There was a prompter on the phone telling us 2 min. We didn't want to say goodbye.... and Zach kept telling her she could stay on. ;) Soon everyone in her zone was off, and she really had to go. Yes I cried, (it's a tradition for me) only because saying goodbye is so hard, and I am so proud of her. I miss, and love her so much, but I am so excited for her adventures and growth in the Philippines! I am also excited that she will be sharing the joy and happiness, and truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with the Filippino people, and changing their lives forever in the most wonderful way!
This week was great as always! I think I'll start by sharing a funny story that happened this week. On Monday Sister Wilde and I had a TRC lesson, where we teach local members who can speak Hiligaynon. We got to teach a cute filipina (I forgot her name) I was really excited because she is actually from Bacolod! We walked in and started to get to know her a little bit, she started to explain to us that she loved to garden but that it was a little difficult because she has sclerosis. While she was saying this I was just able to pick out that she loved to garden so I smiled, nodded my head and said maayo gid( that's so good) She looked confused, laughed and said indi maayo (not good), and then it just went downhill from there. Instead of asking if she could open with a prayer I asked her if she could read? This cute lady and I burst out laughing and soon tears were streaming down our cheeks. Sister Wilde just sat there waiting for us to stop but it took about 3 min before we were able to compose ourselves. After that I lost it and was having the hardest time teaching, when I usually do alright. One thing about filipino people is that they love to laugh and are extremely blunt, so when we came to the end of the lesson she turned to my companion and said in English, "You are so good! You will do great in the Philippines! She then turned to me and said in English again, "Oh honey, you'll be okay because you are pretty and make us laugh" I was like great, that's exactly what I wanted to hear lol. I tell people if they want to feel better about themselves to come talk to me now haha jk. It was a good humbling experience. On a more spiritual note we were visited by another apostle on Tuesday, and this time it was Elder Neil L Andersen. What was so crazy is that he also talked about President Nelson's talk again. Two weeks ago, Elder Christofferson also spoke about President Nelson's talk. it really made me realize how important it is to fully follow and listen to the prophets counsel, so if you didn't read his talk last week, do it this week.:) Some of his thoughts were, our Heavenly Father really wants to hear from us, He wants to know everything, our fears, concerns, weaknesses and the very longings of our heart! Prayer is a two way conversation and He speaks with us through personal revelation. After praying give Him a chance to communicate by listening, writing down promptings and then acting on them. We can know the principle of revelation by doing this. Wednesday was awesome, we were able to be hosts to the new missionaries coming in which was such a great experience. It was such a sweet tender mercy to get to host one of my good soccer friends, Sister Farris! We now have 30 sisters and elders in our zone. I've felt such a big responsibility because we got 7 new sisters speaking Cebuano going to the Cebu East mission and Sister Wilde and I are the STL's right now (she said STL stands for sister training leader's). I'm still loving the MTC! Palangga ko kamo! Thank you for all of the sweet emails! NEW MISSIONARY HOST! Em's Storm soccer coach Jon Farris sent me these sweet pictures, and the email that follows. This is his cute daughter Marjia that Em played soccer with. She will be serving in the Washington DC North Mission ; Karin, Yesterday we dropped off Marjia at the MTC. As we were getting out of the car we spotted Emily across the parking lot. We waved and then she ran over to us and gave Marjia a big hug. It was such a tender mercy for Marjia and for mom and dad to see her find a friend so quickly. Then the director had Emily be Marjia's escort to her room and then to her first class which was awesome. Emily looked great and seemed extremely happy!! I grabbed a few pictures of them and thought that you would want them. It is such a great thing that they are friends and got to see each other yesterday. I would have text you the pictures but I couldn't find your number. I hope all is well with you and your family. THE NEW SISTERS GOING TO CEBU, The seven sisters on the left will be serving in Cebu, and speaking Cebuano. They are now in her zone, and four of them are now in her dorm room. No more spreading out and using all of the closets for Sister Adams and Sister Wilde. They were the only sisters in their room for 3 weeks. THE ZONE Maayong aga! Well I've survived week 2! It's been a pretty solid week and the language is slowly (By slowly I mean very slowly) coming along. The days seem so long but the weeks seem to go by fast. When I start to wish time would go by faster I have to remind myself that I'm in the MTC once and I need to enjoy every bit of it (: The lessons we teach have been really good lately. We teach lessons to our teachers and after one of the lessons Sister Read pulled us back in to talk about how we did in our last couple of lessons with her. Sister Read never fails to give me that boost of confidence I need, and right when I need it most. She told us that she believed we were almost mission field ready (I'm not sure if I believe her), but it's pretty insane considering we've only been here two weeks. It'll be cool to see what we will be able to accomplish by week 7! This Gospel is true and I love it. I know God has a plan for each of us and loves us so much. He sent HIS son to die for us so we could return to Him someday. They are in the very details of our lives, we just have to look back to find them, but without a duhaduha (doubt) they are there. D&C 78:17 "Verily, Verily I say unto you, ye are little children, and ye have not as yet understood how great blessing the Father hath in his hands and prepared for you" I am exactly where I need to be, doing the absolute best work on Earth. What more could I possibly want right now? Love you and miss you! May ara maayo simana! I asked her if she still loved her zone? She said, "They are seriously the best people! We all agree that it is no coincidence that we are together, and we are always together." She was explaining to me how brain fried she gets sometimes..... The other day I was so out of it, because of how many lessons and so much studying that my mind was not working. Everyone was making fun of me because I couldn't even speak English hahah. I don't know how I'm supposed to learn a language if I can't even speak english. Erika asked her what the funniest or most awkward thing that happened last week? I don't even know that pretty much just sums up my whole existence. Oh I know I spilled a whole bottle of soap on my mattress, and oooh we were sitting outside on Sunday with my whole batch just talking and having a good ole time. I was sitting by Elder Barranca, and all of a sudden he was like what's that smell? Everyone just sat there, and then under my breath I said, " I farted" I didn't actually fart, but for some reason it just came out of my mouth, and I was on the ground dying, because of the look that came onto his face. THE ZONE THE DORM PEOPLE THAT RAN INTO SISTER ADAM'S LAST WEEK. My cousin Steve Taggart and his wife Teri. He is a branch president at the MTC. Elder Jorgenson. He is leaving soon for India. He was on the Snow College men's soccer team. Sister Kaiser. Cassidy was on Em's competition soccer team for a bit. She just got to the MTC last Wednesday. She is going to Nicaragua. Heidi Wilkinson. Her daughter Jacie, and niece Shaylee are Em's friends. Sweet Shaylee sent me this text that her aunt sent her. So fun for me to see! PICTURES AFTER OUR 6:00am TEMPLE SESSIONS. THE CLASSES MISCELLANEOUS PIC. haha, the boys in the district are behind them, but they don't show up very well in the dark!
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Sister Emily Adams
Philippines Bacolod Mission April 18, 2018-October 2019 Mailing Address
Sister Emily Adams
Philippines Bacolod Mission Galo St. between Lacson & Mabini Brgy.22, Bacolod City 6100 Negros Occidental Philippines Archives
January 2020
Companions Provo, Utah MTC
#1 Sister Anna Wilde From Dallas, Texas Taylor, Arizona
#2 Sister Jamie Stuart (trainer) Pleasant Grove, Utah & #3 Sister Kendall Richards Idaho Falls, Idaho Show Low, Arizona
#4 Sister Brooke Casebolt Roy, Utah Manila, Philippine's
#5 Sister Perry Serving in the Iloilo mission from Fiji Sagay, Philippines
#6 Sister Lauren Schenk (Trainer) Syracuse, Utah Sagay, Philippines
#7 Sister Ashley Ellis Highland, Utah Pulupandan, Philippines
#8 Sister Andrea Camille Sales Isabela, Philippines Hinigarin, Philippines
#9 Sister Castillo Sta. Cruz Zambalis, Philippines. Hinigarin, Philippines
#10 Sister Natalie Miner Pleasant Grove, Utah Cadiz, Philippines
#11 Sister Kate Blakeslee Meridian, Idaho Bacolod, Philippines
#12 Sister Kalyx Christensen San Diego, California Bacolod, Philippines
#13 Sister Stephanie Garcia Pangisan, Philippines Bacolod, Philippines
#14 Sister Santa Barbara Marikina, Manila, Philippines Bacolod, Phililppines
#15 Sister Eliza Clark Corvallis, Oregon |