Sending stuff to Jennie

Dearelder.com is FREE. Select "Philippines Iloilo Mission", and write your letter!

Anything else, (cards, packages, etc.) send to the mission home address.

Sister Jennie Adams
Philippines Iloilo Mission
Osmena St.
Arevalo
5000 Iloilo
Philippines

November 2010 - January 2011

Monday, September 27, 2010

What happened to September?

Hey Everyone!I totally forgot to tell you last week that we have a really easy address. Are you ready? Here it is:
Sister Jennie Adams
P.O. Box 43
Iloilo City 5000
Philippines

I know, it's REALLY hard... I hope no one is confused. ;)
President said to encourage the use of this because they pay a fee to the Post Office to maintain it. Everything can be sent there: packages and letters. The only thing you can't send there is a door-to-door service (like UPS?) Anyway, mostly, use this one. :D Thanks! (it will get to me if you send to the other one, but President said that this one is better.)
Well, this week, God reminded me that He is in charge of everything. And He also let me know that I really am doing some good. You see, all week we had appointment after appointment fall through. We taught lessons, but I was feeling a little down because no one seemed to be a progressing investigator. And none of the "returning members" (no more "less actives") seemed to say that they would come to church. Actually the entire time I've been in Roxas, I've struggled with the fact that not very many of those returning members that I've visited seem to want to return to church. I also found out on Saturday that one of our investigators won't listen to me because I'm American. And he won't listen to anyone who is American. (he's only 10, and his parents are members). I still have to figure out why he hates me... And in the middle of that day someone decided to try and teach me about their church. He was one of those people who are out to prove the rightness of them and the wrongness of you. He seemed nice, but I knew he just wanted to convince me that I was wrong. We are not to debate, it is neither missionary-like, or Christ-like. So I just told him to have a nice day and walked away. But I was really down at this point. By the time we got home and I texted the Zone Leaders to inform them so, I put a little smiley face at the end of the message (we're home now :-) ) He replied and said, I'm glad you're happy! Haha, I was only happy the day was over.
Well, Sunday was the day God decided to show me His power. In short, there were 4 recent converts (still going strong!), 3 investigators, 6 returning members (one that I've been visiting for 6 months, and hasn't come to church till yesterday), and 1 referral were at church. When the last one came in to the chapel, I cried. Then I said a little prayer of thanks.
I know that this is not MY work. This is God's work. And it is my privilege to be a part of it. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of the lives of these wonderful people, and especially to be a part of bringing the gospel to them, and them to the gospel. I know that I am not alone in my efforts to bring others to Christ. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Love Always,
Sister Jennie Adams

Friday, September 24, 2010

Leadership Training

So, the leadership training was on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was really cool actually. I learned a lot, and came home from Iloilo with a renewed feeling... like, "yeah, I CAN do this... even in Roxas."

Anyway, on Tuesday night, after we ate dinner, the APs said "we know how excited you all are to apply what you learned today, so now we will announce the split assignments and you can go work tonight." I was cool with that (well, I really wanted to relax and talk to Sister Carr, but applying what I learned was a much better idea...). So I went with the Sister that I was assigned to (there were only 4 of us at the meeting) and we headed to the house she had decided we could go to (she decided because it was her area). When we left the church, it was kind of raining, but not too hard, so I wasn't worried about the fact that I left my umbrella at the apartment. We climbed in a jeepney and it was still just kind of sprinkling, so I was thinking we were fine. Well, as we neared our destination, we could tell by the looks of the people getting on that it was starting to rain pretty hard now. Sister Arellano had an umbrella, but it was kind of small... but such is missionary work- sometimes you get wet. So when our stop came, we sighed and got off the jeep into the now-pouring rain. Under one umbrella. We both had our copies of Preach My Gospel and some papers that they gave us at the training since we didn't go home first... so here we were 2 Sisters walking down the street in the torrential down pour, huddled under an umbrella trying to protect our things from the rain. I had my WONDERFUL rubber shoes on, so I was fine when the street turned into a river. But Sister Arellano had just planned for a meeting, so her shoes were a little nicer. So because of that, we would stop for a second whenever we came to a speed bump (that wasn't covered in water) or anything else that was higher and big enough for us to stand on. I think the house was about 10 feet away when we stopped for the last time. At this point it had been raining so hard that the street was flooded so much that you couldn't tell where the pavement ended and the dirt shoulder began. As we stepped off of our "high ground" for the last time, we were surprised when we found ourselves falling in 2 feet of water. We had stood on a bridge over a drainage ditch, but it looked exactly the same as the street, so we just took the shortest path to our destination. Haha, it was hilarious (but only because I managed to get out of the water before my camera got wet). There was a deaf girl that saw the whole thing and apparently tried to warn us, but... well, I guess we didn't see the warning. Sister Arellano escaped without a mark on her, and I walked away with only a few scrapes on my knee. And we both walked away with a story to tell.



Well, that was pretty much the funny story of the week! I hope you all enjoyed it!



Love, Sister Jennie Adams


P.S. Note from Naunie... Sorry, I spaced posting this letter on Monday. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes for Jennie!

Monday, September 13, 2010

It's raining, it's pouring....

but, don't worry, I don't usually hear old men snoring. ;)It's been a wet week. Every day (almost) it is SO hot in the morning. Then at about 2 or 3 in the afternoon (sometimes sooner) it POURS. I'm talking buckets. Anyway, it's kind of hard to find motivation to go out those days because it's not fun to do missionary work if you're soaked to the skin. But the rain usually only lasts a couple of hours, and then it's a nice cool temperature for the rest of the day.

Anyway, enough of the weather report...This week, we gave a baptismal date to a guy named John. He said he would prepare to be baptized on October 30, and I am pretty hopeful. He is in college and living away from home (but he's a lot like I was in college... and goes home like every weekend). So we just need to convince him to stay in Roxas for one weekend so he can experience church.... We're praying!

We had Mission Tour last week. On Wednesday, President Edwards came to Roxas. I got to meet a General Authority. He gave an awesome training about how to develop charity and humility (which wasn't even planned, he asked if we had any questions and 2 Elders asked about Charity and Humility). Then he talked about how to ask inspired questions... something that I definitely need to work on. Anyway, it was pretty cool to meet him and learn from him.

And today, I'm going to Iloilo for a leadership training. I get to travel with 4 elders. no sisters. (because it's for trainers and leaders only...) It's going to be interesting. But I'm SUPER excited for the training because it's all about the new curriculum. I'm ready to learn and come back and apply everything.

Well, I think that's about all for this week!

Love always,

Sister Jennie Adams

Monday, September 6, 2010

Happiness and Humility


So this week, I've felt a little stressed. Our investigators aren't really what I thought they were, so we have been trying to figure out ways to get more. The urgency to find new people to teach, coupled with the fact that I was feeling at a loss as to HOW, filled my heart with depression (Alma 26:27). But yesterday, my family (the one in the picture I sent last week
(see last weeks blog, the Llave family: Rose, Karen and Pabs)) worked with us. They brought their strong testimonies and their tricycle. It was an awesome experience. The lessons are so much more powerful when you have a local member to back you up. I went home feeling much better than I had all week (even though no investigators came to church). I have some fresh ideas and a fresh look on a fresh week. Things are looking up.
I also had a lesson in humility this week. To understand this, we must rewind my life almost a year (yeah, a
year). When I was in the MTC, there was one thing that they repeated over and over. No matter where we were, this piece of advice, commandment really, was repeated. Every day. And then in our last devotional, it was really stressed. Every time I heard this commandment, I thought, "duh, I know that... no worries here." This commandment is "Don't Do Stupid Things." Now, fast forward again to last Thursday. In the Philippines, there are frequent brownouts. It's normal, so to save on batteries, we keep candles on hand for light in case the brownout happens at night. Thursday, there was a brownout, so when we came home from work, we lit some candles and planned as usual ("no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing"). We finished planning and the power still wasn't on. I won't go into detail, but basically, because we were done planning, and I got distracted with an index card and the candle wax, the card ended up bursting into flames, and my right index finger came out of the ordeal with a giant blister on the end. It hurt. But I think it hurt my pride more than my finger. All I could think was, "thatwas really stupid. Didn't I listen in the MTC?" I kind of cried to myself, but not because of how painful it was. Because of how much work I felt would be effected by this small, simple, stupid act. I wondered how I would sleep that night (because it hurt pretty bad), how I would do laundry, how I would cook, how I would do pretty much everything a missionary needs to do. I tell you, you don't know how much you use your right index finger until you no longer have use of it. Anyway, before I went to sleep, I remembered that frequently repeated statement in the MTC. "Don't Do Stupid Things." But this time, the thought that followed it was much more humble than it was last fall, "Ok, I'll do all I can to never do stupid things again." So, in case you are all wondering, they aren't just talking to the Elders (sorry...) when they say "Don't Do Stupid Things." Also, in case you are wondering, my finger is doing quite well. It actually stopped hurting before I woke up Friday (which I am very grateful for), and it is well on it's way to recovery. But until then (and probably for a long while after that), every time I look at it, I will remember that very valuable lesson.
So folks, that's all for now. I love you all, Sister Custodia is doing awesome, and THANK YOU for your prayers,
letters and support.
Love,
Sister Adams

P.S.
I got a letter from Ann Moon (which I am in the middle of answering... just wait about 2 weeks for it to get to you)
and a letter from Jimmy and Taylor
and a letter from Grandma
THANK YOU!
P.P.S. Also, I want my cousin Elder Ward to know that I am sending a letter... and that he's pretty much the coolest missionary I know!