06/29/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2015 3:14 PM
Subject: Weekly Letter to Family and Friends

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been crazy! We got the call last Monday that I was getting transferred to Miller, SD and I left Williston on Thursday. Since Elder Walker was the Elder in our missionary district that can drive, he drove me and himself down to Dickinson, ND where I loaded all my stuff and boarded the "transfer train" (it's a 15-passenger van) and rode all the way to Bismarck.

 

There were four Elders with me in the van that were going home the next day and then three that were going home in 6 weeks! It was the trunkiest van I've ever seen (trunky means that you are excited to go home and figuratively have one foot in your luggage or trunk)! We got to Bismarck and there were so many missionaries waiting there to get transferred to different areas and it was great to say hello to so many people I knew. I also met an Elder that went to school with me almost my whole life so that was cool!

My new companion Elder Worthen drove us all the way down to Gettysburg, SD. We actually cover both Miller and Gettysburg and switch off every other week between towns. I haven't even been to Miller yet!

Gettysburg is a sleepy little town with about 1500 people. I haven't felt more in the middle of nowhere in my entire mission! Most of South Dakota is a lot like North Dakota with it's endless empty fields of grass...except South Dakota is even emptier and even flatter! 

The missionary work has gone very slowly in both Miller and Gettysburg for a long time, but Elder Worthen and I are going to get things movin'!! We went to church yesterday in a tiny little church building and there were 19 people there including us. It's a little different than what I am used to but they all have such strong testimonies. We only go to church for two hours. This is also the last district in the United States! For those who aren't aware, a district, not to be confused with a missionary district, is a group of branches. It's comparable to a stake, which is a group of wards.

We go shopping at Walmart on Friday's after district meeting in Pierre. My district is so awesome! We have two senior couples in our district and they are both so funny!

I'm in the process of killing Elder Worthen...which in missionary lingo means he is going home after this transfer. He's a tall, thin track runner from Syracuse, Utah and he is so goofy! He knows so much after his almost two years in the mission field and I'm going to milk all the knowledge and learning out of him that I can!

I love you all!

Elder Adair

06/22/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2015 10:16 AM
Subject: Goodbye Williston!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, I am so filled with conflicting emotions right now! This past Saturday Elder Bewall and I moved all of our stuff out of the infamous Williston house into our stinkin' nice new apartment! It's a brand new building and we are the only ones living there so far! It's probably the nicest apartment in the mission! Too bad I don't get to enjoy it much! In the clubhouse we get free soda and we can reserve the lobby for Bible studies with people and there's a sweet fire pit right outside with some nice grills! Right now I'm emailing from the computers that tenants are allowed to use whenever we want!

 

Yesterday at church we talked with a man in our ward and he gave us 3 referrals! Woohoo! Then we went and taught one of them last night with him and new people kept piling in the room one by one and we ended up teaching 5 people! Most were from Africa. I can just feel it...we keep meeting and teaching all these new people finally and we will probably have at least 2 baptisms this new transfer...but I won't be here for it!

We have been biking for the past few weeks because Elder Bewall's little accident got both of our driving privileges taken. Biking is way fun though!!

Today we had the possibility of getting a transfer call and surprisingly we got one!

I hit my 10 month mark the other day! Wow, this mission is flying by so fast it's ridiculous! Shout out to all of my friends and family out there on missions or preparing for missions right now! I really hope that one day when we aren't so focused full-time on doing missionary work that we can all reminisce with each other and catch up:) 

The Lord is real. I know that is true. I know that God has an unimaginably magnificent plan for each and every one of us. He loves us, and if we listen to the whisperings of the Holy Ghost we will feel His love every single solitary day. May we all press forward each day continually becoming more like our Savior and our Father in Heaven. It does not happen all at once. That is for sure. But I am a living witness that through our Savior's infinite and eternal Atonement our hearts really can be changed! He has paid the price! His grace is sufficient! Grab hold of it! Let it change you.

Btw, after just 3 short months in this beloved Williston, North Dakota, I am privileged to go to Miller South Dakota. I'm way excited:)

I love you all! You are all my brethren and sisters in the Lord. Keep up the good work and I'll see you sooner than we know it:)

06/08/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net> 
Sent: Monday, June 8, 2015 10:09 AM
Subject: weekly letter to family and friends

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was sweet! We had ZTM in Minot on Friday and it was very much a learning experience. The main trainings were about the importance of teaching the message of the Sabbath and keeping our surroundings clean, physically and spiritually, so that the Spirit can be with us. When we consider our activities on the Sabbath, let us examine our intentions and also what we are showing our Father in Heaven by participating in that activity. The Sabbath is the day that we take the most time to prepare to meet God, and if our actions on this day don't either give us rest or prepare us further to meet God, then we shouldn't do them. The Sabbath was created for mankind's benefit. 

To speak of keeping our surroundings clean, if we knew that the Savior were going to come to our house tomorrow, what would we do? I'm sure that we would all clean our house. Why? Because the Savior deserves to dwell in holy and clean places. Now chances are that the Savior won't physically be in our homes tomorrow, but His spirit can always reside there! If we keep our surroundings clean His spirit can reside there in more abundance. 

We found four new investigators last night and they are all recently from Turkey! They are interested to learn more about what we believe.

The weather here has been magnificent lately!

Love,

Elder Adair

06/01/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net> 
Sent: Monday, June 1, 2015 10:34 AM
Subject: Weekly letter to family and friends

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a lot of fun and it went by so fast! Unfortunately this week we had 10 appointments cancel on us!! We did a whole lot of tracting. We didn't see much success but I know the Lord will bless us for our efforts. It was pretty funny the other day! We had about 10 minutes before a baptism so Elder Bewall and I decided to go watch about 10 minutes of a baseball game that these 12 and 13-year-old's were playing. We stood by the dugout and during those ten minutes two of players came up to us and shook our hands and someone's mom told us she would take our pictures and send them to our mother's! Haha it was pretty unexpected! My Spanish nametags finally arrived in the mail so I was excited to receive those! My Spanish is coming along decently well. I can't say I'll be anything close to fluent when I get home but I'm trying!