Hi Everyone,
We just got the internet (a Verizon Wireless card) so I thought I would let you know that we are alive and doing well. Your mom will probably write something to each of you when she gets a moment, but here's a quick update until she writes:
As you know, we've been here in the mission field for a week now and are starting to feel more at home. Our apt was totally unfurnished as some of you know, so we found a thrift store nearby and bought some used furniture that we will make good use of. We had to buy a brand new box springs and mattress so we could sleep at night. The things that we brought with us like the pots and pans, dishes, silverware, a mixer, sewing machine, towels etc. will really come in handy. Because we haven't rented in 37 years, this is a new experience. We had to sign more papers to rent than we did when we bought our house in Washington. We had to sign a 13 month lease to get our apartment. In our area, the church makes sure all of the young full time missionaries have a place to live and that everything for them is signed in the name of the church, but for senior missionaries, we have to find our own. Some of you knew we had to find an apt before we left on our mission. We live in a place called Vineyard Gardens. At first, we were nervous about our safety here, but it has turned out to be OK. Here's the address: Elder and Sister Adamson, Vineyard Garden's, 240 Burt St. #267, Santa Rosa, CA 95407. That's so you don't have to send all of our mail through the mission home.
We have been assigned to the Stony Point Ward which belongs to the Santa Rosa stake. There are 8 or 9 wards in the stake with some really good people. They did their road shows on Friday and Sat and they were fantastic. Santa Rosa with it's outlying communities is probably about 250,0000 people in size. There is only 1 stake in Santa Rosa, but there are 8 stakes in our mission. We are in the Oakland Temple district. The mission goes north from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Calif/Oregon border. Then it goes inland east from the ocean about 50 to 75 miles. There are about 150 young missionaries in the mission and 2 sets of Senior Missionaries. The other couple run the mission office. We've had a wonderful opportunity to spend time with our mission president along with the Bishop of the Stony Point Ward and the Stake President here along with many of the members. The Bishop had us say a few words in Sacrament meeting yesterday. Your mom did really well.
We will be working with less active and part member families in the ward. We want to help them remember what it was like to feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost and feel the warmth of the Savior and his gospel in this troubled world. The list of less actives is long. So there is plenty to do in getting to know people and helping them. We will also be doing young missionary apt. inspections on a regular basis to make sure cleanliness is where it should be for them.
Last Thursday we had the opportunity to drive a companionship of sisters over to Woodland, just west of Sacramental so they could give a Chinese investigator the first lesson in Chinese. One of the sisters is from Taiwan and speaks Chinese. We drove through Napa Valley and saw all of the wine vineyards that everyone talks about. They were beautiful. We ate lunch at the home of a wonderful couple that own a farm and horses. They told us about their conversion to the Church from 9 years ago and how the spirit touched their lives to make the change. The sister is now the Relief Society President and he is the 1st Councilor in the bishopric. Even though they have given up much to be members of the church (their previous friends) they have never been happier and can see how much the Lord has blessed them in every area of their life.
We really enjoy feeling the spirit of the gospel here as missionaries and the opportunity of meeting some many wonderful people. The people here are a lot different than in Southern Calif. It's different than what I was expecting. The people that live here don't want to be in So Calif. Plus we went to a baptism last night for some of the missionaries and while there we met Joanne Able's room mate from college of many years ago. She is in one of the other wards. She said Don and Joanne have have stayed in her home here in Santa Rosa. We are grateful to be of service to our Father in Heaven and to be able to represent our Savior Jesus Christ. We pray each day for his blessings to be with each of you. We love each one of you and hope things are going OK. Rest assured that we pray for each of you every day.
Love,
Mom and Dad
