- E. Adamek Mission Jan. 12, 2015

Ahoy!

The fog rolled in as an inversion settled across the land. I went on a companion exchange down to Melba and where the missionaries live there is upon the crest of a hill that slopes down to the south and opens up into a smaller valley that runs to the nearby mountain range. It would have been a spectacular sight to see had the fog not been there. As we were driving around in the morning, visiting people, we missed a turn and my companion slowed down and stopped in the road and started making a three-point turn. A mission rule that missionaries follow if they drive a car is that when backing the passenger missionary gets out and assists in the backing so that any accidents can be prevented. In this case, when we were in the middle of a road with dense fog, I swiftly denied my privilege of helping my companion back for my personal safety. As a result, we were able to get turned around much quicker.

I finally got my haircut this past week. The woman who did it has her business in a garage, but when you walk in there, you wouldn't know it was part of a garage. She and her husband are members of the Church, but haven't been out to services in a while. When they asked us if we had scheduled a hair cutting appointment with them just to get in their house, we looked at each other and said "Of course!" 

Made a call to the local newspaper office to see if someone from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be able to be included in the series of religious columns that the newspaper prints every week. The editor not only said yes, but that he had been waiting for a Mormon perspective for a while since there are a lot of members of the Church around here. Looking forward to exercising my journalism skills again to some degree!

We had a lesson this past week with a member of the Church who has a strong desire to come back and go back to the temple. We watched the Restoration video with her and we all felt the Holy Spirit really strongly. I know that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

We have an Friday night activity called Sports Night that we invite people to. We played soccer this past Friday. My team was playing against an all-Hispanic team, which meant that we were going to lose . . . BUT, I got a pass ahead and the goal was right there. I swung my left leg and several quick pops and a tear later and I was on the ground in a lot of pain. I gazed up at the ceiling as the pain subsided slowly and thought "So this is how missions end . . ." while people gathered around and gave me useless pieces of advice and comments that caused me to try really hard to rein in the natural man. Over the next couple days, I iced it, reluctantly took one pill of ibuprofen, and began using a cane. A physical therapist in our ward ran some tests and stretches on me and said that the meniscus might have something wrong with it. 

We weren't able to visit many people this past week because of the injury and the exchanges that I was on, but we were able to see one the Church's investigator's we are teaching. He noted to us that every Mormon he has met has been happy and that he wants to find that happiness more in his life. "If more people in my subdivision were Mormon, I wouldn't have to worry about gangs, graffiti, etc." The Gospel brings happiness into the lives of those who learn and apply it in their lives. He is recognizing that truth for himself and it's really exciting.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Love,

Elder Adamek