Hugs from Home

I'm kind of a sucker for all things corny.

And these little scripture tags 

are about as corny as they come!

I figured since my little missionary needed a little pick me up

I'd send her some food, 

that always seems to work in my family.

Besides, I've never lived outside the country,

but I hear things just don't taste the same elsewhere.

I sent sugar cookies to an Elder in Hong Kong once,

they were stale crumbs by the time they got there..

But I remember him saying they got spoons out 

and gobbled them all up

because it reminded them so much of home.

So here are some tags to go with some corny food,

most of the treats are just store bought (-even easier!)

and I thought I'd share them with you,

maybe your missionary could use a little pick me up too!

Lovins for the Greenie.

Mandy is such a perfectionist. 

So its easy to see why learning a whole new language

and not picking up on it right away is difficult for her.

From her emails it sounds like she could use a little support.

So I dug out my 

"MISSIONARY HUGS"

ideas for supporting your missionary

super awesome book.

I bought it when all my friends were leaving on their mission

I never thought I would need it for my little sis.

This is the "Greenie Poem"

If you really on top of things

you send it so it gets to the mission field before they do.

I'm only about a month late.

better late than never right?

Send a package filled with everything green you can find...

like green gum, breath mints, pens, stationery, 

soap, sponges, envelopes,

stickers etc.

You might even make green cookies to eat. 

Dollars are green too. 

and happy packages = happy missionaries.

Pictures from May 6th

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Email from May 6th

Okay first things first on mothers day..so this coming up sunday I am calling on skype ..somehow since i dont have one ..wait! I just made one. My name is Hermana.amanda.adams...look for me! I put chile for my country. yeah. so it will be 8 30 chile time so i think 5 30 but i will probably be on at like 9 30 because hermana woodmansee and camacho are going first. I only get 45 minutes. Experienced my first earthquake! it was awesome! It was in the morning and it was loud and the room started to shake! pretty epic haha. Oh hey if you guys have time will you send me black ped socks . Gracias When does Gar leave again? My spanish is still terrible. I am starting to get depressed about it..but its okay. I was at a members house for lunch and she had the news on and i saw the bombing in boston ! Crazy! When does grandma get to move into her house? I want to see pictures! Where is greggs rogers son going?um cluck...i dont know what the postal service is...please dont dishone me!! I hope you have a lot of fun!! Ellie I love and miss you too!! I am glad you love your shirt! I hope your guys calling is awesome! I know you two can do it if you do it together! Life is easier together! Thats how God intended us to live  this life and the life after as well. I love you mucho! Dad I will ask the president if i can come home for a week and wash all your laundry so you dont stink so bad..okay hahaha Eliie I am so proud of you going to Volleyball camp!!!!! That is so awesome!! How is it!? How is DHills ..pretty nice huh! Better then..whats the lame school called again...hmm..i feel like they have a lot of super seniors or something...mill...millcreeeeeekkk!! hahaha I actually was dying reading your guys letter. I loved it! It was awesome! Thanks so much for  it! I probably read it about ten times haha!Dad will you stop wishing that AJ and my cousin get hitched.. hahaha I love you guys so much. I think about you often! I miss you so much. and then i think wait its summer there and that means the farm...eh dont miss em that much hahaha just kidding. We have three baptims for 19 de mayo! Five investigators went to church yesterday! They loved it! Its amazing work. I have yet to give the old man in the street that always says he wants my eyes my book of mormon..someday ...someday i will give it to him haha. Somedays here I wake up and just want to go home but then I get off my knees and get to work. I feel better at night though. Oh my knee is better thanks for all the prayers! I am getting xrays on wednesday because a lady in the ward is a nurse and said i should . so yup. que mas..um.. I really do hope all is well in Utah..I miss it. but not to much. Love you guys so much! cant wait to talk you on Sunday!!! Dont be surprised to see a three hundred pound person okay? hahah love you!

Pictures from April 29th

 Pan Caliente...es da best!

 Happiest day of my life,
I bought a back pack, my purse was killing me!

 Graffiti isnt illegal here...so its everywhere.

Ward mission leaders wife and son

 put a collage up- tried to make it more homey.

 My Lovely MTC district

 My humble abode.

 My district! Only two elders...

2 MONTHS!

A letter from a loving brother in law

Wyatt sent this letter to Mandy about a week ago, I thought it was sweet and applies to so many missionaries everywhere so I thought I would share.

Mandy- 

He oido que sientes triste a causa del idioma. Entiendo que tienes el deseo de hablar perfectamente ahorita, pero ten paciencia. Si sigas estudiando y practicando sin fallar, por medio de muchas oraciones tandrás exito con el idioma. Don't forget that The Lord called you to this mission and knows what you're capable of. He knows that you will be able to learn the language, but it will also be challenging. If it comes to you too easily, then you won't appreciate as much. I promise you that as you keep practicing with your companions that you'll do just fine. I had un compañero Chileno, and he had to learn English while I had to learn Spanish. We had days where we would take turns speaking to each other and having personal and companionship study time in either language. If it was Spanish day, we couldn't speak a single word of English, even if I wanted to ask what a word was or something. Do that with your English speaking companions and you'll be the best Spanish speaker in the mission. 

My mission was at times the hardest thing I've ever had to do. The low feelings of rejection are the lowest, but the highs are the best you'll ever feel. That one person that lets you in for a discussion at the end of a crappy day makes it all worth it. 

There are two truths in missionary work that most missionaries have a hard time accepting:

1- It's not personal. They're not rejecting you. They might be rejecting you as the messenger, but not you as a person. Ultimately they are rejecting the gospel and will have to answer for it. Pray for those that don't accept your message, but don't let it discourage you. 

2- Sometimes a missionary's work is to plant the seed, and nothing more. Some of the most promising discussions with the neatest people on my mission ended up being dead ends. But the seed was planted, and it'll grow until ready to harvest. Sometimes you'll be the planter, and sometimes you'll be the harvester. Both jobs are equally important, but one feels more gratifying than the other. 

And remember that success is not measured in number of discussions taught, or people baptized. It's measured in how well you served The Lord and how dedicated you are to making yourself a better person and missionary. 

I'm falling asleep now, so good luck with everything. Your family is fine, they'll survive without you (but just barely). You are where you need to be. 

Love-
Wy

Email from 4/29

Hi! Thank you thank you thank you for all the emails!! It felt so awesome to get on and it say you have 27 emails hahaha ! Um well We have three dates for baptism! Its a family, a mom and her two daughters! They are so sweet and so amazing! I hope they actually go through with it! They mom said I know i need to be baptized to be happy. AHHH yes! We had the date set for  may 12 but they didnt come to church sunday so we are going to have to move it back ...but I love them! Well I have been contemplating on whether to tell you this or not but I had a doctors appt today. I went running in the morning on wednesday and later on in the day my knees began to hurt. I thought it was just because i was sore but it didnt go away. So i finally got a priesthood blessing from my bishop which i didnt want..i wanted them to fly my dad down instead..but after my knee began to get better but i made an appt anyway.The doctor gave me some instruction and things to do in the next two weeks but if it doesnt get better and it keeps popping i might need surgery. He said i had to problem before but i didnt walk so much and now with me walking so much it made it show up. I bought a real good knee brace today so we will see how that goes...yeah. Que mas...um Dont worry I am not starving in the least..they feed us so much...so much.its so terrible. i like die every lunch hour haha found a hair in my pasta the other day...about ralphed but finished eating it. We went to the doctor and the area where the doctor is is soooo nice.. and clean BUT! The people just arent as friendly as the people in my area are. We taught leccion 2 and I had to teach on adam and eve and our lives here on earth..i didnt know i was talking about adam and eve until hna camacho looked at me...i couldnt do i couldnt find the words to say..i just wanted to crawl into a ball and cry.It was terrible. The mission is great but hard. I love it but sometimes eh.ya know. Mom you will love speaking in sacrament! Just dont tell everyone the negative things i say haha Ellie can say En el nombre de jesucristo amen. (in the name of jesus christ amen) Language is still blah.hna camacho says i am learning fast but i dont know if i see it. I had a pretty neat experience in my language study. I prayed to heavenly father to give me a little more faith because i am lacking in mine. I always  thought i had this amazing faith but being here i see i have soo much more faith to gain.I then got up and pulled open my drawer and my conference notes were right there. I picked them up and uncle jeffs was on the top.His talk was for me. He mentioned to stand you ground with the faith you have, and if you lack in faith Lean on his. He assigned me my call, the Lord showed him exactly where i needed to be. He has faith that i can learn this language so if i need to lean on his faith for a little while thats alright. Then i opened up to jacob 3 or 4 i cant remeber but it said some more about faith. I know the Lord directed me in my personal study that day. I am so grateful he did.