08/08/2016 This is it!

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, August 8, 2016 11:30 AM
Subject: Well...this is it. (July 31st- Aug 15th)

Dearest Family an Friends, 

Wow...this is it. This is my last group email on my mission. It's been two years! I will be home a week from today!!

Let me start out with somethings that happened this past week:

We had some great visits with our Chinese investigators this week! We were talking with them and they told us that on Saturday night they were going to the bar to play pool. Elder Campbell had a great idea and invited them to come play pool at a member's apartment! We went too and it was a great experience and everyone had a great time! 5 of them came. We played a little bit of ping pong too...and, not that it fits a stereotype, it turns out that our Chinese investigators are very good at it! Haha! One of them also told us that she brought her Book of Mormon to work and showed it to everyone working there! She said that she started reading it and she wants to read more! She also said that she met some new friends that can't have children, so she told them she would pray for them and that she is friends with Jesus:) She and one of her Chinese roommates both came to church yesterday and they both gave their comments on prayer during Gospel Principles class! I will be sad to say goodbye to them. 

After our first session of church on Sunday (our ward is 8 11am, but we go from 3-6pm as well if our Chinese friends come) we had a great lesson at the church with a lady who lives out of town. She has been going through some rough times feeling like she's alone because she's the only one in her household who is a Mormon. She really opened up to us and the Spirit was able to really give her some comfort and guidance through us. It was a wonderful meeting and she's a wonderful lady.

 

I got to bear my testimony one last time in my ward on my mission.  It was a great experience. I'm so grateful for my mission. I will cherish it for eternity. I'm also so grateful for all the wonderful people I've met and built relationships with. How great and merciful our God is. 

So here's a basic outline of the coming week, otherwise known as...the last week of my mission:

I will keep proselyting by going to set appointments and visiting anyone else I think we need to before I go. I will also still eat dinner with members and say my goodbyes. Most of my other time will be spent packing and sending things home that I can't fit into my 50lbs weight limit for each suitcase. 

On Saturday morning I will leave Minot headed for Bismarck. That day I will eat lunch with the Chessmore's, the beloved family who took care of me my first 7 months of my mission in good ol' Cass Lake, Minnesota. That evening I will go through the Bismarck temple with the Elders I go home with (Elders Abarca, Melville, and Maxfield) and also the Chessmore's and President and Sister Hess. I will spend that night with the Assistants to the President. Sunday I will go to church in Bismarck and then have a departing devotional with the departing Elders and President and Sister Hess. On Monday I will fly from Bismarck to Minneapolis and then to Pheonix. 

My mission has a monthly "paper" and included in it are the testimonies of the "dying" missionaries of that month. Here is my testimony:

My testimony is that God lives. I know He does. He loves us. How beautiful of a thing that is. He loves us enough to watch us go through trials day after day here on earth so that one day we can become like Him and His Son. I have a testimony of the guidance God gives us through the scriptures, His holy prophets, and personal revelation. If we trust Him enough to follow His guidance and counsel, we will see our lives change in immeasurably positive ways. His plan for us is set up in our favor to succeed. He will never give up on us. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to Atone for the sins of the world, as well as bear all the burdens we face in life. Christ's Atonement is sufficient. The Restoration of the gospel is true. It was restored by God through the prophet Joseph Smith. Jesus Christ's church lives today because He, as well His Father, loves us. I am so grateful to have served a mission. It has been the best decision I have made in this life thus far. I testify of these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Y'all are the best!!! I love you!!!

Love,

Elder Adair

07/05/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 1:00 PM
Subject: The Zoo, the Miracle Dime, Awesome Asians, and a Few Other Things (June 27th- July 4th)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was crazy and cool!

We went on exchanges with the third ward Elders and I spent it with Elder Brush and Elder Bell. We had a great time! All the Minot missionaries organized a brunch that day together at the church to say goodbye to Elder Bell since it was his last week on the mission. 

On Wednesday we and some of the other Elders did service at the zoo moving a bunch of hay bales. It was hard work! But it was way fun! We got really dirty. Afterward the zoo people let us walk through the zoo for a little while for free! We saw lions, a tiger, leopards, gibbons, zebras, and got to feed a giraffe! Later that day we and some more Elders went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Elder Bell for his last time on the mission. 

On Thursday morning we officially said goodbye to Elder Bell before he drove to Bismarck to fly home. It was a tender experience and we miss him dearly. Luckily he comes to visit the mission with his family at the end of July!

Later on Thursday something crazy happened! So we got our oil changed in our car and we had some spare time to walk around downtown. We walked over the river on a cool, old bridge and went to the Zone Leaders' apartment for a bit and then walked back. As we were walking back to the car place, this guy walked up to us and asked if we had 10 cents so he could buy some cigarettes. We both told him we didn't have any change so he said no worries and started to walk toward a gas station. Elder Beeson then takes one step toward the car place again and all of the sudden...a mystery dime falls from nowhere onto his shoe and then hits the concrete!!! We looked at each other and were like, "Whaaaat??" We knew it was sign from God but I didn't feel like we were supposed to go enable the guy to buy cigarettes, so we walked back to our car and sat inside it wondering what God wanted us to do. We saw that the guy had somehow bought cigarettes anyway so we decide we should walk up to him and tell him we found a dime and maybe it would start a good conversation. So we walked after the guy and found him smoking in an alleyway. We told him we found a dime and he said that he didn't need it anymore because he had bought the cigarettes. We told him we were missionaries and he told us he was Baptist and knows all there is to know about Jesus and church. The conversation ended with us giving him our number and him telling us he wanted to come to our church on Sunday! He lives in the third ward Sisters area so we referred him to them and hopefully they can contact him!!

We began teaching more young adults straight outta China this week too! We now teach 6. We are waiting for some Mandarin scriptures to come in the mail. They all say prayers in English for us and they are getting really good at it! Two of them sang "I Am a Child of God" and it was awesome and adorable! They are so willing to learn! 4 of them were able to attend our 4th of July ward breakfast yesterday at the church and they had a fun time!

We taught the Word of Wisdom to an investigator family of ours and they accepted to live it! They are doing really well and they gave us all of their coffee and tea! They also came to the ward breakfast for a little while.

On Friday I attended my last Zone Training Meeting ever! The time flies so fast!

At church there were a lot of less-actives that came so that was great!

We traded ties with the third ward Sisters the other day... Rather odd!

For the 4th of July we had a great time at the ward breakfast, ate lunch at Sonic with the Zone Leaders, went to a giant barbecue on the air force base, and had a great time at a ward party at a member's house on base. We gained a closer relationship with the members and had a really fun time doing it as well! 

We were allowed to be out until 10:30 last night so we went looking for fireworks so we could go try and talk with people. We thought we had found some fireworks because the fairgrounds were covered with cars...but as we walked up we found out that it was a legit rally car derby! We went and watched it for 10 minutes and then went home to make curfew but it was so cool!

Anyways...it was an exceptionally successful and fun week! Happy 4th of July yesterday! We are so blessed to live in freedom. Gordon B. Hinckley once said, "I am convinced that if we are to continue to have the freedoms which came of the inspiration of the Almighty to our Founding Fathers, we must return to the God who is their true author... May we look to him as the author of our liberty."

Love,

Elder Adair

06/20/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2016 12:07 PM
Subject: I'm Unmotivated to Think of Cool Titles for My Emails (week of June 6th- June 12th)

Dear Family and Friends,

Shout out to my trainer Elder Wendell who got engaged last week!:)

Here are some things that happened this week:

We got a new Bishopric! I'm excited because the new Bishop was the ward mission leader 

for three years and he's a great guy so he should be able to help the missionary work a lot.

We had a Zone Training Meeting (ZTM) and it was great. We learned about the law of increasing returns and how it relates to working with members. Sometimes blessing don't come for a long time, or a very long time, and the work is just a daily grind that seems to never yield fruit nearly equal to our efforts. But eventually something clicks and then the blessings just pour down from heaven and things just keep getting better and better at an increasing rate. I know that even though working with members can be difficult and seemingly pointless at time, but I also know that the Lord has commanded us to do so and He will not let our efforts go wasted. 

Elder Kane and I sang a duet to How Firm A Foundation at ZTM and it was a lot of fun! He sang the bass notes while I sang the melody. After ZTM most of us Elders treated ourselves to Hibachi at N.D. Asia. Hibachi is where the chefs cook your food in front of you while doing a bunch of fancy tricks.

Elder Beeson and I started to sing a Hymn in comp study every day and it's pretty fun and humorous because it's really only a thing Sisters do:)

We had interviews with our mission President and that was splendid as always. My mission President is such a stud:)

We had a great lessons with our new investigator a recent convert and also another investigator this week! We are going to try and put our new investigators on date for baptism! 

Have a great week everyone!!

Love,

Elder Adair

05/30/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, May 30, 2016 12:15 PM
Subject: 

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was great! 

On Monday there was a YSA Family Home Evening held at the Nelson's house and a bunch of people showed up! I think everyone had a really great time and hopefully we can help get more of those nights to happen:)

On Tuesday we were asked to go out to the middle of nowhere to help someone move, which was fun:) It was also 50 cent corn dog day at Sonic so we each got 10:)

On Wednesday we went out to Garrison and had a great time! We contacted a referral for a guy who has been inactive for 25 years. He jovially let us into his house and we taught him the Restoration. He wants to come back to church! While we were there he called his Mom who is a stalwart member and told her the missionaries were at his place and she was so excited:) We also had a great scheduled lesson with a nine-year-old and his less-active parents in Garrison. They want to come back to church too and also get their son baptized! They are very fun people to be around and they gave us some jalapeno cheddar moose sausage when we left.

On Thursday I was on exchanges with Elder Gates in his area and had a good time. We almost caught a snake while picking up trash at a park. 

On Friday we a had a stellar combined District Meeting about hope and also said goodbye in case any of us were going to get transferred. 

On Saturday we and all the other Minot Elders participated in a service project painting some walls in downtown Minot. That was a lot of fun:) We also got a call from one of the Assistants to the President and he told us Elder Beeson is the new District Leader! 

On Sunday we had a good time at church and also had a fun meal appointment with some nice members. We decided after dinner to walk around the block once to get back to our car. We felt inspired to walk the direction that would take us past the Ortiz family's house. As we walked past their house Brother Ortiz called us over and we talked with him and his nonmember friend and actually ended up teaching his friend in the Ortiz' home! It was a great blessing. Brother Ortiz also generously fed us some spaghetti after the lesson:)

Things are still going well! Minot is a great place and I'm so grateful to serve here:) I hope y'all have a great week! I come home August 15th!

Love,

Elder Adair

04/18/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 1:04 PM
Subject: Transfers! (week of April 11th- April 17th)

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy birthday to my awesome Dad who turned even older yesterday!:)

This past Monday we were invited by a member in our ward out to a ranch by Hawley, Minnesota to do some leadership training with horses! I was a little squeamish around the horses at first but it was so cool to really get comfortable with them! And for anyone who may know the rules of our White Handbook, we did not ride the horses:)

This past Friday was amazing!! Our entire mission went to Minot for a Nashville Tribute Band concert! That entire day was so much fun! Our zone met at the church in Fargo and then drove up to Grand Forks to meet the missionaries of that zone at their church building. We all ate some pre-ordered pizza for a bit and then drove all the way 3 hours west to Minot. The band put on a separate show for just us missionaries before the big concert. Then came the real concert which was amazing! It was so cool to see and hear them play those songs that have become so dear to our missionary hearts! And they are great live! I loved seeing everyone in regular street clothes for a change! It was also wonderful to see so many missionaries I know and love:) 

After the concert we drove back to Grand Forks and stayed the night in the zone leaders' apartment. We didn't get to bed until 2:15. The next morning we drove one last hour down to Fargo. On the drive we got our transfer calls and I am getting transferred to Minot, N.D.! Wow, this will be my third time that zone! Minot is doing really well with missionary work right now and it's either the 2nd or 3rd biggest city in N.D. My new comp will be Elder Beeson. It should be fun! 

Yesterday morning we got an unexpected text from some of my recent converts from Williston! They were on their way to Fargo from Minneapolis. I got to meet them at the Fargo church building and teach their friend the Restoration with them and Elder Jarman! It sure was a blessing to see them:)

I am very grateful for my time spent in Fargo, N.D. I will miss these times with Elder Jarman. I know that God has a plan for me as well as all of us. It fun to gradually see how God puts us in situations that will best help us grow personally:)

Have a great week, everyone! Thanks so much for your prayers!

03/28/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2016 9:50 AM
Subject: Easter! (week of March 21st- March 27th)

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't really think of much to write about this week. The weather was really nice for a day or two. Then it's snowed hard for a day, and now it's back in the 40's. All in all it's nothing to complain about! We had exchanges with Elders Brush and Swensen on Friday and Saturday. We all had a good time. Elder Swensen and I met with a less-active in his ward whose family has been struggling with testimony. Elder Swensen and I were able to bear solemn testimony of the Restoration and the Spirit was able to help them out a lot! We also got some referrals out of the visit too! 

Yesterday we had a good time at church and we ate Easter lunch and dinner with with a few member families and all the missionaries in our ward. It was so much fun! At dinner we played a game about how well we know our companions...and Elder Jarman and I lost. :/

We should be having a baptism for a 12-year-old girl we have been teaching who recently moved down here from Belcourt, N.D. to live with her grandparents! She is way ready to be baptized and is a pretty cool girl!

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, the most important day of the year. May we all remember the beautiful REALITY of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He lives. He guides His people today. He wants us all to become members of His Church and discover the blessings found therein. The Holy Ghost is leading Heavenly Father's children to this Church. Because of the Resurrection, death has no sting and nothing negative has to have any lasting influence. We SHALL live again and we have the opportunity to inherit eternal life in the mansions of our Father.

Love,

Elder Adair

03/21/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 11:40 AM
Subject: Ballin' Hard (week of March 14th-March 20th)

Dear Family and Friends,

We had another great week! But it was somewhat of a struggle. But that's honestly what made the week even more worth it. We did a lot of tracting and we got yelled at by several very rude people. And people keep telling us we can't be in their building because they say we are soliciting! But whether we are soliciting or not, we are no one can legally kick us out of an apartment building that doesn't have a lock on the door. We are ordained ministers and we aren't selling anything and we have the freedom of speech given us by the First Amendment. That's my rant. The melancholy of getting yelled at is definitely lessened though when a beautiful college girl answers the door and talks with us:)

Yesterday was my 19 month mark! Sheesh this is going by quickly!

On Monday we balled hard with the Assistants and the traveling missionaries. The next day I was on exchanges with Elder Jolley in Fargo and we had some good success! We met some transgender... brothers (they were born with male genitalia) and it was very awkward when one of them said Elder Jolley had cute eyes. The whole situation was just sooo uncomfortable for many other reasons! When I was driving myself and him to Jamestown to go meet up with our regular comps, he fell asleep in he passenger's seat. So I decided to "be funny" and turn up country music on the radio really loudly until he woke up. He woke up about a minute later to me with a jokingly mischievous smile on my face and just calmly switched the music back to spiritual stuff. It was  funny experience:) 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We celebrated by having a little get-together with Elders Laws and Hansen as we waited to go pick up their new companion at midnight. We had a bunch of green soda and root beer and some good salmon that I cooked up. Their new comp Elder Campbell is from Springville, Utah and he's a cool fellow. 

We were walking around the other day and we saw these two young guys playing basketball so we asked if we could play too. It was way fun and the kids were way good! I think the 11-year-old was about as good as me! He was makin' hook shots and fade-away jumpers like no one's business! 

One last thing to say is that we were definitely flirted with by a 67-year-old lady last night. The kicker was that when we asked her how old she thought we were she guessed in the 40's!

I hope everyone has a beautiful Easter Sunday on the 27th and celebrates the miraculous event of our Savior's Resurrection. What a beautiful thing it is.

Love,

Elder Adair