08/31/15

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net> 
Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 11:25 AM
Subject: Two Investigators at Church!

Dear Family and Friends,

Salutations! This past week in Gettysburg was great! 

We went to Hoven twice and found a new investigator! He's a really loving and God-respecting man and was taught down in California by missionaries a bit ago. We need to help him stop smoking and drinking coffee and he should be ready to get baptized! He really wants to quit so we will do our best to help him. We talked with a lot of people in Hoven and even though they didn't quite accept us fully, I think a seed was planted in their hearts!:) 

Saturday we did service most of the day for some members. They live in Hoven but have a house a few miles away in Tolstoy as well (Hoven has about 500 people and Tolstoy has about 40). We helped them clean out a big shed and it was a lot of fun! One of the walls was tipping a little so we helped jack it up with some fun tools:)

We found an underground baptismal font in the Gettysburg church building! 

We caught yet another turtle! This one was the biggest so far. We let it go instead of eating it:)

Last Tuesday night we were walking around Gettysburg and these two young guys drove up next to us and asked if we were some Jehovah's Witnesses. We told them we were Mormon missionaries and they said,"Alright cool! Bye! I'm sure we will see you again later tonight!" A few minutes later we were still walking and we saw the two guys across the street and they actually asked us to come over and tell them what we're all about! What a surprise! We had a good conversation with them answering their questions and such and they liked everything we said about the Church. We hope to be able to teach them again.

Elder Griffeth and I taught a Sunday school lesson in the Gettysburg Branch yesterday about member missionary work. We invited everyone to share something about the gospel with at least one friend this week and the lesson went well!Member missionary work is so crucial so I hope it works out! 

We had two investigators surprise us at church yesterday! Woohoo!

We got back to Miller yesterday afternoon and we found some maggots crawling around in our sink!

A year ago already today was my last day in the beloved Provo MTC. Oh how I miss those days!

I love you all and I hope you all are faring swimmingly!

Elder Adair

08/25/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 11:34 AM
Subject: Why does the calendar say August 20th? I thought my mission started that day?

Dear Family and Friends,

Well we sure had a fun week! Nothing to exciting with the work= happened unfortunately, but I have faith that the efforts we are putting in are not in vain. At least some people are letting us inside and teach them! Saturday we helped out on Brother Jones' ranch pulling out old stalks of corn, weed-wackin', and putting up some shock wire so the cows couldn't get away into the corn fields. I can't believe it, but I actually really like farm work and wouldn't mind living on a farm for a while (with my own family of course)! Haha I thought I was a city boy through and through! 

On Friday we had District Meeting about talking with everyone and being persistent with people. I am so grateful for all the participation the district members have in the meetings or else the meetings would be so boring and short! 

Two nights ago we packed up our stuff and drove on over to Pierre to spend the night with the Zone Leaders before specialized training the next morning. We sure have a lot of fun with them! We all woke up at 6 the next morning and the Zone Leaders drove us all to Rapid City. It was so way great to see all these missionaries again that I hadn't seen in a while! And there are so many new greenies too! Haha I feel so old! Specialized training was superb andwe learned a whole lot of good things. We sure have a wonderful Mission President and Assisitants to the President.

After District Meeting and after specialized training we went to Pizza Ranch (one in Pierre and one in Rapid City). I tied my record for number of plates of food eaten and even though I wanted to puke afterward it was still worth it!

We finally got to go to the famous Wall Drug tourist attraction in Wall, S.D. on our way back from Rapid City! We didn't have a whole lot of time to spend there but it was TEEMING with souvenirs and things like that! It's a HUGE place! We spent the night again in Pierre and then drove back to Gettysburg today to start out a week here.

Members and nonmembers alike give us free sweet corn a lot and it tastes delicious raw!

We find and catch (and release) little toads all the time too!

Thursday the 20th was my year mark! How the heck did that happen?! I feel like I entered the MTC pretty recently! I burned a white dress shirt in traditional commemoration of the special occasion and it was great!

I love you all! I hope your lives are TEEMING with blessings like mine is:)

Elder Adair

08/17/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net> 
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 11:20 AM
Subject: 

Dear Family and Friends,

Greeting from South Dakota! This week we are in Miller. It almost feels like the Arizona summers here sometimes when it get to 100 degrees! But it's way more humid:/ 

Elder Griffeth and I are working very hard and definitely seeing some blessings. We spent two days in the little Catholic town of Hoven and found some nice potentials! We knocked on doors for about 3 hours with a bunch of immediate "not interested" remarks thrown at us. But we knocked on the door of a family and without much introduction they just invited us inside! They let us teach about the Restoration and they agreed to read The Book of Mormon! We also taught a brief Restoration lesson to a young guy working on a tractor and he seemed interested too! And then we taught this member's boyfriend briefly and answered his questions about how the our church is different from the Roman Catholic Church and he agreed to let us come by and teach him again! Woohoo!

Elder Thatcher and I were on exchanges last week and we found another turtle on the road! I decided to let it go this time:) We also got some sweet pics in the sunflowers! There are giant fields upon fields of sunflowers out here!

 When my son and I were in Hoven we walked around inside this GIANT Catholic church building known as The Cathedral on the Prairie and it was way cool! There was this statue on the outside of the building of the Ten Commandments. We read it and it's missing the 2nd Commandment about not making unto thyself any graven images! To fill in the space it split the 10th Commandment into two! Very interesting...

For fun Elder Griffeth and I play "water chess" for fun at night sometimes. It's where you play chess and whenever one of your pieces gets killed you have to drink a glass of water.

We had a great Zone Training in Pierre this past Friday about getting the members involved in the work. I have a testimony that when the members do their part, the work exponentially increases. There are 11 places in the Standard Works where it uses the wording, "love thy neighbor as thyself." The first greatest commandment is to love the Lord they God with all thy heart, might, mind, and strength. The second is like unto it, which is to love thy neighbor as thyself. Seems pretty important. I think that when we love others we want to share with them the greatest things we have? What is the greatest thing we can share? The restored gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the easiest ways we can share the gospel starts with being a good example to those around us. Then they will be more open to accept when we simply invite them to meet the missionaries. Let the Spirit guide you!

Love, 

Elder Adair

08/10/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, August 10, 2015 10:34 AM
Subject: My boy is a champion!

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow, this week has been crazy! Elder Worthen and I spent a relaxed and boring P Day in Gettysburg and then went back to Miller last week.

by the Missouri River in Pierre

On Tuesday night we drove over to Pierre and spent the night with the Zone Leaders Elder Thatcher and Elder Dibble. We had a fun night with them and the next day I went with Elder Thatcher and worked in Pierre. We had a good time together. For lunch we went to Pizza Ranch which is the best buffet I have ever had!! Deliciousness. At 5 we said goodbye to Elder Worthen and Elder Dibble for the last time:( They had to drive to Rapid City and eventually to Bismarck so Elder Worthen could go home and Elder Dibble could go to Minot for his last transfer. I will miss both of them dearly! Elder Thatcher and I helped out at a food pantry for an hour which was fun and then we had dinner at a member's house. We then played a round of Frisbee golf with him and it was way fun! The next day Elder Thatcher and I went out and worked again in Pierre while we waited for the new Elders to get there. Friday morning we went to the church and just before District Meeting my son and the new Zone Leader Elder Bell got there!

 

Elder Griffeth my son!

I saw my son Elder Griffeth for the first time and he's a good-lookin' Elder! He must have gotten it from his non-existent mother;) But he is 195 pounds and way jacked! We had a decent District Meeting that I prepared about humility, diligence, and patience. There was a lot of great participation from everyone! Elder Griffeth then drove us to Walmart (I am still blackdotted) and then to Gettysburg to stay for the week.  Wow, he sure is a champ. He is one of the most consecrated, mature, loving missionaries I've ever met and he just got out in the field! Sometimes I feel like he is training me! We have been working very hard in Gettysburg these past few days and things will pick up sooner or later! If they don't pick up while I am here and we are just planting some seeds, things will definitely get going sometime after I'm gone! I love my Father in Heaven and I can tell that he has put me in this position for a reason. He has a Magnificent plan for each of us!!

I love you all and I hope you are having as great of a time as I am!:)

Love,

Elder Adair

08/03/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, August 3, 2015 10:55 AM
Subject: I'm going to be a dad!!! Week of July 27- August 2

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week was pretty cool! We decided to stay in Miller again so we could teach our two investigators here. Yesterday in church Elder Worthen and I bore our testimonies and had a great time. It was his last Sunday as a full-time missionary so I'm sure it was very special for him. I am definitely going to miss serving with him. He has had such a great influence on me and I am forever grateful for his loving example. The women better be watchin' for his plane to land in Salt Lake City this Friday because he's a boss and will make his future wife very happy! 

After church yesterday Elder Worthen packed his stuff and we drove to Gettysburg. Before we actually stopped in Gettysburg we drove a bit further to Lowry to visit a member named Sam. He goes back to Utah in a few weeks and he's a stud! We had a great time there and then drove to Gettysburg. 

Last Monday we got to watch our Branch President in Miller give us a giant presentation on Mount Rushmore and the history behind it. It was pretty sweet! I hope to go see Mount Rushmore someday. 

This past Wednesday we went to a ranch out in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE that belonged to a few people we met at the party we found ourselves at last week. We got to use all our strength to pull these giant weeds out on the pasture for about 1 1/2 hrs and had a great time! We then ate a nice meal in their house with them. We had planned to watch Meet the Mormons with them but unfortunately the man had to do some more work with his cattle, so we left the movie with them. 

The next day we went out to a member's ranch and helped get rid of little trees in the ditch by the road. Brother Jones would cut them down with his chainsaw and then I would grab the part he cut off and give it to Elder Worthen who would then give it to Brother Jones' son who would throw it in the back of a big truck. Elder and I got a little scraped up because we wore shorts and t-shirts but it was fun! We were then treated to a nice home-cooked meal and were given fresh vegetables from their garden to take home. 

So...today is transfer call day and we just recently got the call. Of course Elder Worthen is going home because his two years are up. And I am now being called to be the Disrtict Leader and also train a new missionary!! In missionary lingo I am going to have a son! I am so way excited and I can't believe it! Being a District Trainer will definitely be a challenge, but I am up for the experience and I am so grateful for the opportunity.

I love you all and I hope your lives are going swimmingly!

Elder Adair