Goodbye Palmdale

Hey everyone!

Transfers are Wednesday this time! And Elder Harden and I are both getting transferred! And neither of us know where or even if we're together still. So yes, it's a bad idea to send me any packages right now ;P Anyway, I wish I could have stayed here for a little longer so I could see Frankie's baptism and try to teach a couple more people that we've met. But it's alright. I like Palmdale, but God knows where we need to go, and who needs to be here. I guess we've done what we were entrusted with this area for.

Anyway, this week was real slow. We had more car trouble, and got our battery replaced on Tuesday, so that took a lot of time. The next days was cleaning inspections, and Elder Harden threw out his back making his bed, so we spent lots of time at the doctor's, too. They told him to rest for a few days and not do too much, so I've been stuck resting for a few days and not doing too much. I've actually read tons and tons of scriptures and Ensigns. So I was trying to be productive. To break the monotony and cover appointments, we went on exchanges with the other elders a couple times. I was running around with Elder Gold most of the time. We have... disagreements. But it's alright! We've worked it out some and I learned a lot about working with people who are hard to work with.

A couple cool things did happen to us! The other elders had a baptism and it was a neat experience! We taught the restoration while the baptismee was getting dressed, and there was this non-member on the first row who looked so astonished. I'm pretty sure the Spirit was speaking to her heart! And then this single guy in the ward came up and chastised us for a bunch of stuff after we were done with the baptism. He was trying to be "helpful" but he was just kinda rude. He got on our case that evening too, at the Spanish-English multicultural thing. We were sitting at a table with pamphlets and stuff while the other elders were out talking, and he came over and got on our case about being antisocial. We sure showed him, we placed like four copies of the Book of Mormon with nonmembers and taught a couple people the restoration with the help of the Spanish elders and members.

The multicultural event was so cool. The Spanish branch has such diverse origins and they had all this food and stuff from their countries. It was so cool. There was also music and dancing! Not that we danced. We don't dance or something like that ;P

I read lots of scriptures, and pondered a lot, and I feel like I've really learned a lot! This week I was really impressed by the faith of Amulek and Alma's kindness to him. When Amulek received Alma and Alma blessed his house, I'd always just thought that was because he was the prophet, but I've realized that really it's because he was a missionary, and that's our privilege and duty too. Alma also took in Amulek and comforted him after the saints in Ammonihah were martyred. It's implied that Amulek's family were among them, and his faith in holding fast to his beliefs during and after the tragedy is truly incredible. Alma took him into his own house afterwards, and "administered unto him in his tribulation, and strengthened him in the Lord." He set a really good example of mourning and comforting, even without the details. I hope I too can develop that much charity.

Thank you all for your support! Wherever I go, I'll always be thankful for your prayers and kind words.
Elder Adams