November 06, 2010
Zone Fireside
On Halloween, Sisters Stebar and Wang put together a fireside for the investigators and missionaries. We watched the Joseph Smith Story and then President and Sister Bunker gave their testimonies. All the missionaries (including us) sang a hymn and Phil and I gave the opening and closing prayers. It was well attended by the missionaries, but not too many investigators. We had LOTS of cookies.
Us
Well, we bought a new camera so we could try and get some pictures for this blog. I'll try and post pictures and a public journal on our preparation day. Sometimes that's Saturday, sometimes Monday. I'm keeping our personal contacts in a written journal "for our eyes only"- Unless they give permission to use their pictures and tell about them.
The saints in Santa Rosa are no different than any other. The economy is bad and people are out of work. We met one older lady who is living with and being taken care of by her daughter. They are both in terrible shape. Not enough money for basic needs, and definitely not any for enjoyment. It's really sad.
The ward we live in has a very good, humble and caring bishop, Bishop Preston. He has RA, but still takes care of others. His wife is a VERY talented piano player. The members who attend the ward are struggling with more positions than one. It's kind of like the 8th ward before we had so many young couples move in. So a lot of you understand. It is a spread out area with big numbers of members who haven't been to church in awhile. There is also a small Spanish branch that meets in our building, so we have joint meetings except Sacrament. We are getting out every day meeting the members, and also learning a small amount of what to do in the office. Elder Gordon Snow and Sister Sarah Snow run things there. They have some help in different areas, but it is a really big job, and very time consuming for the Snows.
We haven't made it to the beach, yet, nor to the Redwoods, but we will soon. We have seen quite a bit of the area as we've run errands for ourselves and the mission.
Elder Adamson rode with Elder Snow to the Oakland airport the day the San Francisco team came home to a parade. Our mission goes down to the Golden gate bridge and up to the Oregon border. To the east, it goes to the Sacramento area. President Bunker has a big area to cover.
The saints in Santa Rosa are no different than any other. The economy is bad and people are out of work. We met one older lady who is living with and being taken care of by her daughter. They are both in terrible shape. Not enough money for basic needs, and definitely not any for enjoyment. It's really sad.
The ward we live in has a very good, humble and caring bishop, Bishop Preston. He has RA, but still takes care of others. His wife is a VERY talented piano player. The members who attend the ward are struggling with more positions than one. It's kind of like the 8th ward before we had so many young couples move in. So a lot of you understand. It is a spread out area with big numbers of members who haven't been to church in awhile. There is also a small Spanish branch that meets in our building, so we have joint meetings except Sacrament. We are getting out every day meeting the members, and also learning a small amount of what to do in the office. Elder Gordon Snow and Sister Sarah Snow run things there. They have some help in different areas, but it is a really big job, and very time consuming for the Snows.
We haven't made it to the beach, yet, nor to the Redwoods, but we will soon. We have seen quite a bit of the area as we've run errands for ourselves and the mission.
Elder Adamson rode with Elder Snow to the Oakland airport the day the San Francisco team came home to a parade. Our mission goes down to the Golden gate bridge and up to the Oregon border. To the east, it goes to the Sacramento area. President Bunker has a big area to cover.
Zone Leaders
These are our Zone leaders, Elder Ryan Williams (who looks like Russell to us) and Elder Tim McCoig. I can't remember where they are from. Our zone is the Santa Rosa Zone. We have to make our own Report forms because our service is different from the other elders and sisters.
We were able to go to some other zones and do apartment inspections. That was an eye opener! Thank goodness we did the Sisters first. We're still trying to figure out how golf clubs and fishing poles were left in one of the apartments by other elders. The trend seems to be that when a transfer happens or it's time to go home, the missionary only takes what he/she can stuff in a suitcase. They leave everything else behind in the apartment where it accumulates - sometimes for a year. The incoming missionaries don't know what to do with the stuff, so they just put it in a bag in the closet.
We brought things back for "sharing" and the thrift store.
We were able to go to some other zones and do apartment inspections. That was an eye opener! Thank goodness we did the Sisters first. We're still trying to figure out how golf clubs and fishing poles were left in one of the apartments by other elders. The trend seems to be that when a transfer happens or it's time to go home, the missionary only takes what he/she can stuff in a suitcase. They leave everything else behind in the apartment where it accumulates - sometimes for a year. The incoming missionaries don't know what to do with the stuff, so they just put it in a bag in the closet.
We brought things back for "sharing" and the thrift store.
District Leader
Elder Brady Anderson, hails from all over, but his mom currently lives in Orem and his dad lives in Springville,is our District leader. He is a great teacher. We have District meeting every Tuesday morning from 10:30am-noon. Then we also have missionary correlation with him and his companion because we are in the same ward - Stony Point. Elder David Morrison from Arkansas is his companion. He has a twin brother who is on a mission in Uraguay.
1/2 Mission Conference
These are some of the missionaries at our 1/2 mission conference. I thought that meant it would only be half a day. After the laughing stopped, I was informed it would just be 1/2 of the mission attending. The other half would be held the next day. Elder Christoffel Golden Jr.from the Seventy and his wife came. It was very uplifting and helpful. We sat with them at lunch to introduce ourselves.
Elder Sproat and Elder Jensen from our MTC branch are in our 1/2. Also, Sister Anderson and Sister Fulton. We saw Elder Abercrombie in Vacaville the Sunday we were traveling here. We haven't seen Sister Nestman, yet. The other one that is here from our branch, sadly, went home - Sister Green.
Elder Sproat and Elder Jensen from our MTC branch are in our 1/2. Also, Sister Anderson and Sister Fulton. We saw Elder Abercrombie in Vacaville the Sunday we were traveling here. We haven't seen Sister Nestman, yet. The other one that is here from our branch, sadly, went home - Sister Green.
Santa Rosa Missionaries
This is Sister Stebar and Sister Wang. They are in our District here in Santa Rosa. They work with the singles branch. They brought an investigator, Robert, to our apartment to teach. He is a wonderful young man. A baptismal date has been set. He has been trying to help us get furn
iture for the apt.
iture for the apt.
MTC District
This is our "family" from the MTC. We had 3 couples in our District. The funny thing was, they are the ones we talked to as we were getting registered and stuff. The other couples are Melvin and Muriel Meredith from West Mountain, Utah going to Indonesia on a humanitarian mission, and Robert and Martha Kelly from Alamosa, Colorado going to Mexico City East Mission to be the Medical Director. Wonderful, great people. (And I'm not just saying that because they'll be reading this.).JPG)
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Our new mission van
The "Old Faithful Town & Country". We've already put it to good use. Thank goodness for stow'n go seats. The missionaries we've driven around seem to like it. And we brought our GPS from the truck. Wah! I miss my truck.
Our Apartment
We have a great 2 bedroom apartment. Phil and I can both fit in the kitchen at the same time! We bought a new bed when we got here, and finished the sparse furnishings with some thrift store buys and a few things from the mission storage unit.
I brought my bread maker and wheat grinder, only to find I can't get any wheat at the stores here. I'm hot on the trail of some now. I may have to have Sherm ship me some from Lehi Roller Mills if I can't locate any.
I brought my bread maker and wheat grinder, only to find I can't get any wheat at the stores here. I'm hot on the trail of some now. I may have to have Sherm ship me some from Lehi Roller Mills if I can't locate any.
October 28, 2010
Mission Update Monday Oct 25, 2010
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
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
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