Magandang gabi Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Demonteverde in Santa Fe. They had gotten a referral from the Elders a couple weeks before that so we decided to go looking for him. Along the way we almost got attacked by multiple dogs but we found his house in a rural area they had never been before. His wife was there and didn't seem surprised to see two sisters outside her house because her husband had told her missionaries would be coming. Not long after that Brother himself showed up and was so excited to see us at his house. We sat down and asked how he came to find the missionaries. Brother said he has been working construction for years. One day they were working on a house and in the house he found and picked up an abandoned Book of Mormon. He took it home and started to read it everyday even though it was an English Book of Mormon. He continued until last week he saw to Elders in a Jeepney and approached them asking if they had a Ilonggo Book of Mormon he could read. They must have been pretty shocked but they asked if he wanted missionaries to go to his home, he said yes and then a couple week later we were there sitting in his home. They were so receptive and I know God has been preparing them to receive the restored gospel. This week Sister Garcia and I also met a young man named John Paul. As we were searching for a person we had met and talked to the day before, we stopped at a little house thinking that it might be his. There was a young man standing in the door way leaning on some crutches. Thinking that he had a broken leg or a twisted ankle I abruptly asked him what happened? After asking he came fully out of the doorway of the house with a big smile on his face. What I realized then that I had failed to recognize earlier was that his whole leg was actually gone and the one leg he did have was shriveled and struggling to support his body. Even though I felt bad after accidentally asking so bluntly, The huge grin he gave us made me feel a lot better. He then sat us down and told us his story of being severely burned as a child on both his legs which later lead to cancer in his right leg, to stop the spread they amputated it last December. Despite all that and other challenges, I have never met anyone so happy and positive about the future. Something I've realized here more than anywhere else is that we can choose to be happy no matter what our circumstances are. It really depends on us. We are here to have joy. He continued saying he just finished college and is now looking for a job. We were both amazed. He looked at us and said, "Hey, may kamot pa"(I've still got hands) Now when ever there are hard times or we feel completely exhausted, Sister Garcia and I look at each-other and say, "My kamot pa kita, padayon lang ah!" The Jara family is still doing great. This week we were shocked when Rodney told us he wanted to be baptized...no longer clear in 2022 and hopefully with his family. For now we pushed back their baptismal dates for oct 19. His family all agreed they will help him stop smoking. This Sunday they all came to church again as a family. They make me so happy.
Well that's pretty much it for my week. Love you all! Halong kamo! Sister Adams
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Helloo Well it was another great and busy week. Wednesday we spent the whole day moving to a new house just in front of our old one. Missionaries had been living in our house before for a whole 8 years so to say the least it took forever to clean up and move everything out that had collected for 8 years. It was pretty gross lol. Now we live in a nice clean house. Thursday I got to go on exchanges with my baby Sister Blakeslee. It was so much fun to be companions again. I missed her so much. This week the entire Jara family came to church including Rodney!! For an entire four weeks we had tried over and over again to get Rodney to come to church, even if it was just once. I realized this week he reminds me a lot of my older brother Zach and finds fun in giving you a hard time and in contradicting everything you say because he enjoys it. We tried so hard for so long and then just this last week out of the blue he just decided to show up to church. I have never been so happy. As Rodney came strolling in behind his family, he tried to keep a straight face but last minute broke out in the biggest grin when he made eye contact with us. He keeps telling us that he will get baptized in 2022 ambot gid sa iya. Rhoda and their kids are doing great and are so bakod gid and are such great examples for Rodney. Other than that we were out finding a lot this week, and we met some great people to teach.
I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us and that anytime, anywhere we can access his Atonement to overcome our weakness. Love you all so much and have a fantastic week! Love, Sister Adams HEY, It's the "ber" months so it's already Christmas here in the Philippines, which means we've starting singing Christmas hymns in sacrament meeting. The week went by so fast. The Jara family is doing so good. Their dad, Rodney has sat in on almost every lesson this week. Seriously such a miracle. He knows that his family knows the church is true, and now he wants to know more himself. On Tuesday Rhoda let us know that their neighbors have started to bash on their family for wanting to become "mormons," but I love how that has helped them gain an even stronger testimony. This week Julie Mae was also so excited to tell us that she had read the Book of Mormon with one of her best friends and that she loved it and wanted one for herself. She told us that she had the best feeling in the world sharing with her about the Gospel. The spirit was so strong as we talked about missionary work and what a blessing it is to be apart of This Great work. Cathy, Mark and Julie Mae all have the potential to serve missions in the next couple years if they have the desire to after their baptisms. Ah I love them so much. In other news Jeffery is back! Jeffery has been someone taught by missionaries for the longest time, and has the biggest desire to be baptized and start a new life. A couple weeks ago we got a text saying he quit smoking for good but then he disappeared and we couldn't find him anywhere. This week he texted us and we finally got to meet with him again. His desire and faith to stop has increased so much and hopefully within the next week he can overcome it. The Tuerca family is also doing so good. They are so Bakod gid. Allan and Tay Edgardo went to all three sessions of stake conference and then went to start indexing. I love them so much, and I'm so excited for them to receive the priesthood this next week. Sorry for the short, quick email. Love you all! Sorry no pictures I forgot my camera cord. (sorry mom) Below are some of the cute missionaries that stopped to talk to Em, and waved to us. :) I wish I would have gotten a picture of all of them. We also waved to Sister Schenk. These aren't the greatest pictures, but at least they add to the pictureless email. :) Maayong gab-i! I don't have much time and can't say everything..but all the pictures should help! This week was a good one. I can't believe another transfer has come and gone. I'm still here in Bacolod 2nd Ward and my new companion is sweet Sister Garcia. She is from Pangasinan, Philippines. We actually go home at the same time! This week we went to the Jara Family Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. I love them so much I wish it could be everyday of the week. We taught about the word of wisdom and found out Sister Rhoda drinks coffee everyday. We invited her to slowly try to stop, but told her it would take some time. The family came to church the next day, and we could tell Rhoda wasn't feeling very well. We asked, and she said she just had a little headache. When we got home, Sister Christensen realized that she had probably tried to stop drinking coffee cold turkey. We went later that night, and she was asleep in bed. Her son Mark told us she had been throwing up, and had an awful headache the whole day, because she didn't want to drink coffee. Sister Christensen and I were almost in tears. It was such a testimony to us that she knows this is true. We ended up teaching the family anyway, and extended baptismal dates to her 4 kids for Oct 5th! This week Allan and his dad Tay Edgardo were also baptized! It was such a happy day. Early in the morning we all went to go clean the Baptismal font. After we finished Allan stayed even longer, just so he could clean the Sacrament hall with Bishop Delatore. Allan, and Tay Edgardo both bore such sweet and strong testimonies of the Church of Jesus Christ. Afterwards Allan came up to me and said he didn't get to say everything he wanted to in his testimony, because he got so nervous. He is so Bakod. Bishop kept telling us he'll be a future leader of the church for sure :) I love this Gospel, and the change I get to see in people everyday as we teach them. Padayon land kamo ah! Palangga ta kamo man! Halong ha! Sister Adams So many pictures haha......... A couple of pictures from last week..... Howdy! It's September here in the Philippines, which means the Christmas season has officially started! This week was a good one and thank goodness not near as busy as last week! We had back to back exchanges again this week. I went on Exchanges with Sister Ellis and Sister Parinas. It was so much fun getting to go with another one of my past companions. Sister Ellis was my Second half trainer after she herself had just got out of training. I remember that the first week together we thought we were going to die haha. It was such a blessing to see the growth from where we once were to now. Just a good reminder how far we've come. Everyday this week we went to the Tuerca Family to prepare them for Baptism next week on Sept. 7th.(Gracee's Birthday just became an even better day) This Saturday we went over for their BIQ (Baptismal Interview Questions) THEY ARE SO READY. At the end we looked to each of them and asked why do you want to be baptized? Tay Edgardo looked at us and said he wants a new start and to become clean. Then we turned to Allan and asked. He looked at us and said, "Sisters I want to do what Heavenly Father asks, to live with Him again in the Celestial Kingdom" I'd be lying if I didn't say we almost started crying. We had tears in our eyes. Richie was very honest with us and said that he doesn't feel ready yet but still wants to be baptized. We know it will happen in the right time:) It's also been so cool to see the their excitement spread to the whole family. Now we are not only teaching Allan, Edgardo and Richie but their two sisters (Christie and Geraldine) and their families as well. It's been so cool to see them share their experiences with them and because of that their sisters hearts were opened to our message. I say it too much but boy do I love them! This week we also had the new couple missionaries, Elder and Sister Penrod come out to work with us. It was their first time ever going out to work with Missionaries and it was so much fun! While the Elders Interviewed Allan and Edgardo we went to the Morales family with them. It was the cutest thing when all of Karen Joy's kids started calling Sister Penrod their lola (Grandma). (I'll send pics next week tani, we forgot the adaptor.) We also had a really fun FHE with the Jara and Geroche family. (I will also hopefully send pics next week of that) Love you all! Take care and have a great week! Sister Adams Sister Christensen sends me (Em's mom) her emails each week. This made me smile..... "Funny things this week: We played basketball with some crazy Filipino boys that were shocked with Sister Adams skills. "Howdy!" -what an American man from Philadelphia said to us when we said "Maayong hapon" to him..oh joy..so funny :)" The Dolar family... They got baptized! Sweet notes from Marissa. I am so grateful for technology, and that she keeps in touch, so I can pass on to Emily. Em was so happy to hear about their baptism news! She cried tears of joy.
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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 |