Tuesday, September 30, 2014

COSTA RICA arrival 9/29/2014

Costa Rica--I have arrived!

Hello! I made it to Costa Rica!!!! I could feel the humidity right when I got off the plane. Everything definitely looks different. haha! I woke up this morning and my shirt and the walls were kind of damp just because of the humidity. Everything is so green!! I'm at the Mission office for now and we will sleep somewhere across town that we walk to. I will meet my trainer tomorrow and go to my new area then, but as for right now I'm at the Mission office.   All is well!---both my luggage and all of our group made it safely to Costa Rican soil!  HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!


Oh and I found out don't send mail or packages by anything other than the US post mail!  Don't use UPS or Fed EX!   They almost always get lost and Dearelder does work here via pouch.  So that is good.  The deadline for pouch mail is Sunday night at midnight.  I get mail about every two weeks. Oh and they said to  tape up the package really well and put pictures of Christ on them. They don't know if it works but they said it wouldn't hurt to try!   


My mission home address is :  
                         Elder Caleb Marcus Adams___________
Misión San José, Costa Rica
             Apartado Postal 249-2010 Zapote
San José, Costa Rica






MTC week 5 (Sept 19-28)

Week 5 MTC (Sept 19--Sept 28)

Well things are winding down for my training here at the MTC.  Anyways there are so many cool experiences that happened this week!  Anyways so I went to the doctor on Monday and found out that I had a Respiratory Virus that had been going around. I have had it for about a week. My ears filled with fluid and that made it hard to hear and I got an infection in both my ears... but, on Monday I was able to get some medicine and I am feeling a lot better today so no worries! I'm glad that its getting cleared up before I get on the plane.
So Last week as I said we were able to hear from Elder Richard G. Scott and that was amazing. We were also able to participate in the Ogden Temple re-dedication

 and that was a really cool experience to sing the Spirit of God with all the Missionaries.

Then on this Tuesday We were able to hear from Elder Russel M. Ballard! It was a suprise because there were no teleprompters set up or anything. It was a really great talk. He started off by saying he didn't have a written talk and that he wanted to talk to us like a grandpa talks to his grandchildren. He told us many time "When I was 19 I did this concerning my testimony" or "If I were you I would" which are things that you don't usually get to hear from an Apostle. He talked about how the Missionaries are the #1 thing people seem to know about the church. The are the most common thing that people usually notice about our church. He stressed the importance of getting an education.... ....on your mission.   Which was interesting, because we all thought he was talking about after our missions. He shared many other things. He stressed the importance of planning and how the best companion ships and most successful missionaries are those who plan and set goals. I wish I had my notes so I could share more things that he talked with us about.
It has been amazing to be able to hear and see 6 general authorities and 2 apostles in my time here and the MTC for only less than 6 weeks. On Wednesday, after lunch my companion and I found out that we were assigned to be the missionaries to do the " How to begin teaching" meeting for all the new Spanish speaking missionaries coming in that day!  WOW!.


It was a really good experience. We went and taught some investigators in front of a large group of new missionaries, it was really cool because I can still remember when I was the new one. Weird to think it was just 5 wks ago that it was me being the one taught! Another companionship was supposed to be there as well to show another group but they didn't show up so we were the only companionship there and so we taught both. We would knock on the door and show the missionaries how we teach and get to really know the investigator in the first 5-10 mins. We then learned that we were the last missionaries to do that at the West Campus Chapel since things are slowing down here.

We have had some great district study time periods. I love my district and will miss them a lot. One thought I had come to my mind this week was about faith. Faith ALWAYS precedes the miracle.
Let me compare this to baking bread. With some kinds of bread there are a certain amount of ingredients that you have to add to make the bread. One of these things is yeast. When the proper amount of Yeast is added the bread will rise when cooked. Now it wouldn't make any sense to put all the other ingredients in the oven and after it had been in there a while, then to add the Yeast. The oven is similar to our trials and the Yeast is similar to our Faith. When we add the right amount of Faith in our lives. The Lord will help us to rise during are trials to help to become what he intended us to be.



Con Amor, Elder Adams


 PS: Thanks Jeb for the nice letter.  It is part of my wall paper for my room  :)



 PS:
 I have keeping a pretty detailed journal while I have been here and I thought I would share a page with you.


Costa Rica here I come! 

I fly out on Monday Sept 29, 2014.  I  get to be the travel coordinator over 11 missionaries and myself. We all ahve to meet at the travel office by 4:30 am on 9/29. 





Love you all!

Elder Caleb Adams







Sunday, September 21, 2014

MTC Week 4:

Things are going well here. We have started a thing where people in our district come up with investigators and then we teach them. So we are teaching about 4-5 lessons a day on average.  Which isn't that much. Oh yeah on Monday like I have said before we get to teach Members, well since we are getting closer to the field. We taught members on Skype! from people around the world. It was an interesting experience but it went pretty well. We taught about the gospel of Christ and it morphed into Service. Anyways my Spanish is coming along pretty well. I still have a long ways to go though. We taught our TRC or aka one of our "investigators" that we teach daily and usually the lesson goes well, but yesterday was crazy because she asked us a question in super fast Spanish. The bad thing was we thought we were answering it but she kept saying we hadn't and it basically just overloaded my brain with Spanish! haha For a second during that lesson, I think the translating part of my brain shutdown or had to restart or something... 
Anyways, I love the letters from everyone. They are really great. Thanks for all the Support!  Thanks Jeb for the letter. Dad, mom, Tayloranne and Hannah and others, THANK YOU! They were really great. I have been keeping a pretty detailed journal about the MTC life.  So basically on P-days, our schedule goes as follows:  First we go to the temple and do either sealings, initiatory, or endowments, then after that we either do laundry or emailing. Lately we have been walking over to main campus from the temple and emailing because then I can print off some of the emails I don't get a chance to respond to fully.
 I have been getting kind of sick, I've had a sore throat and cough but I think I'm slowly getting better. But  Oh WAIT! I almost forgot to tell you On Sunday's devo we were able to hear from Tad R Callister and it was awesome he talked about the Plan of Salvation and explained it really well. And then on Tuesday, there was a rumor going around that some one important was going to speak and then it just so happens that while waiting to enter the building we were standing in line next to an Elder Scott and he told us that his grandpa was speaking that night. So anyways we were able to hear from Richard G. Scott and it was really awesome. He gave a great talk about prayer and communication between us and god. He talked about how if we have done everything correctly and still haven't received an answer from god we should thank God because this means that he is trusting us enough to make the decision on our own. Anyways he said a lot of other really good things and the talk was broadcast live to all the MTC's around the world about 18,000 missionaries saw it or something like that. 





 Coca Bean cupcakes!!!  Thank you Aaron and Melinda Balsmeier!!!!  They were delicious!  We all enjoyed them!  Thanks for all the Support!
hanging note to help with the espanol. 

My rocking district!



My comp , Elder Rowley and our studly GQ looks.



                                                          I'm free!! Let it go!! :)
  We da bomb!!


Hanging out with Haden Acor, Keenan Wynn. and Caden Preece.  These are by far my favorite moments when I get to reconnect with friends I already know.  The MTC is sweet!
                                                      hahaha still taking selfies:)
Anyways we get our travel plans tomorrow and I will let you know whats happening. But as far as I know I am set to go. Tell the Family I said hello.  I leave on Monday Sept. 29,2014.  Woot woot!  :o)
Anyways Adios Por Ahora! 


Love--
Elder Caleb M. Adams

Sunday, September 14, 2014




MTC week #3
      So I have a question for you:  "Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?"  What will you do when the going gets tough and adversity steps or slithers in your way?  The snake and mantis in the pics are from a walk we took while studying our Spanish vocab.  Pretty cool huh?


        On Sunday night we went to the Devo and it was a great talk, the speaker had recent convert missionaries from the audience talk about how they were converted and why they were serving a mission. one girl said that she would study The Book of Mormon just to argue with people about it and was an atheist and then some how through experiences came to know it was true. Another girl's family was converted and she was not, and she was strongly against it, but through her friends and personal experiences she found the truth. And then there was a guy who was against the church his whole life until his best friend committed suicide and he talked about how that was so hard for him and he came to know of the truth that way and that his family didn't want him to serve a mission, but then he just basically bore his testimony and they said they were fine with it. 
        On Tuesday night we were able to hear from a member of the 70s. His name was Brother Sitati. He was from Kenya. He and his wife talked about remembering everything that we are, our potential, our blessings, and many other things. It was cool that I had the  "remember remember" key chain that mom gave me at the time. I have it attached with my card to my belt.
        This week we have been teaching 3 mock investigators.They have all gone pretty well. I have been able to understand the language fairly well since I got here but speaking it is another thing but this week I was able to speak it pretty good. We were able to teach some members on Monday night. I was able to have a great conversation.  One of the brothern asked us if we knew some Spanish before we came. I told him that I hadn't taken any Spanish before I came out and he was amazed! He even got a picture with me and my companion because he thought it was so cool.  He was in his 20's or so. 
       On Sunday we were able to watch "The Mountain  of The Lord" and it was awesome. I really liked it, especially because I had already seen it before with dad. :o) Oh and in answer to your dear elder letter about me and Darrell being a half a world apart: My answer is the "called to serve" song lyrics.  Pretty neat! 
        One other interesting thing I learned this week just when I was talking to another elder in district meeting was that when we wear our badge we carry 4 names: Jesus Christ, The church's name, The Title "Elder" and our last name. it's interesting that we carry our last name and not our first and we came to the conclusion that it is because we represent Jesus, the church and our families as well while we are on our missions. Family is pretty important.

Love you all and I love the letters and packages. In fact, some elders in my district asked me the other day if I ever get tired of getting so many letters each day haha so that's awesome.

here is some pics:

yes.... Jeb has #2.... that is a great number.... haha.  That was my same number when I played in 7th and 8th grade for the Trojans.  Wear it well!




Thanks Grandma Bendixsen.  These will come in handy.  :)
 
 This is our balcony!  We now have one due to we had a leaky pipe in one of the back rooms of our apartment,  so they moved us to a new apartment! 
I am still using my engineering talents with my retractable toothbrush :)
Are you Priesthood Worthy? 

Love you all!

Elder Caleb Adams

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Week 2
Hola!  Well, I am doing great and working hard!
Wow, first off I love dear Elder. It's awesome! I have loved getting letters and packages.  Thank you to all who have sent them! Tell everyone to use it, haha I love the pictures too. 




That's an awesome picture of dad! Thanks for the pictures of Cody and Karissa! Sister Call has been writing me a few letters and she also sent me a Costa Rica pin for my suit and cookies. She said the wedding was beautiful. Don't worry, I will write Grandpa a letter since he's feeling a little jealous.... haha :) Anyways so this week went well. It feels like we have already been here for a long time haha but yesterday was only two weeks. I have been able to learn a lot of Spanish and am able to understand it pretty well. I'm grateful for the gift of tongues. I am able to understand the language far better than I am able to speak it. So that investigator that I talked about early wasn't actually a real investigator, he was one of the teachers here that served his mission in Costa Rica and he was just pretending to be an investigator. Anyways so this week we received two more people that we are supposed to teach in Spanish and we have already taught one of them,his name is Mario, and It went really well.  I usually try to memorize/figure out what I'm going to say for the lesson and then try and bare my testimony and I think the lesson went well. The spirit was there. My Companion and I are slowly getting better at being effective teachers but I can tell that we have a lot to learn. So on Mondays we get the opportunity to teach members in Spanish. It went really great! the man we talked to was really nice and he spoke about half Spanish and half English so that made it easier for us. We taught him about the importance of faith and shared the story of the mustard seed and Nephi going to get the plates.
On Sundays and Tuesdays we get to go to the main campus for devotionals and meet with all the missionaries in the MTC and it's really cool when we get to sing Called to Serve. I love the schedule I have here. Sundays we have Devos, then Mondays are normal until we get to teach the members. Then Tuesdays we have service in the morning and a Devo at night and then Wednesday is normal and then Thursday is P-day!  Then Friday and Saturday are normal.  At the main Devo, is where I get to see some folks I know.  This is where I saw Elder Evan Peterson prior to his leaving the MTC.


On Sunday, we were taught about the importance of keeping a study journal and how God can speak to us through those and it was really great.  Then on Tuesday, we got to hear from Don R. Clarke. It was really awesome. He was a great speaker he talked about how people are praying for their families to be reactivated or converted and that God is sending us as the answer to their prayers.  He really stressed the importance of keeping people activated and converted because a lot of us as members have no idea how it feels to be a new convert. So we need to be there friend, give them a responsibility and they need to have the word of God in their lives.

I will try to write more when I have more time I just got done with the Temple .

For now:
This is what my shoes currently look like: prior to walking the roads the Lord has chosen me to walk.


I got to test my sewing knowledge.  Though I prefer to sew and harvest seeds. 

We have been blessed by many with night snacks.  

Here are a few silly pics of us as servants of the Lord just in case you thought it was                                           ALL WORK and NO PLAY!  Ha ha ha!

Adios por ahora



Love, 
Elder Caleb M Adams

Missionary Work and the Atonement | LDS Message ©
"Act in All Diligence" BY HENRY B. EYRING First Counselor in the First Presidency General Conference April 2010 | Priesthood Session. "Missionary Work and the Atonement" BY JEFFREY R. HOLLAND Of the…
00:09:27
Added on 1/19/14
P.S. watch this t if you really want to know what missionary work is about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spGtVY6L5jY

Love you ALL!