01/25/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2016 1:12 PM
Subject: FARGO (week of Jan. 21st- Jan. 24th yes, it's shorter than a week)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was the bomb!! Thursday morning Elder Ashe and I drove to Stanley and then Minot from New Town and hung out with a few Elders there that were also getting transferred. It was hard saying goodbye to Elder Ashe:( We were together for 3 months! From there I drove myself and another Elder down to Bismarck. In Bismarck I got to talk with a whole lot of Sisters and Elders that I haven't seen in a while and it was truly so much fun!! I rode the transfer "train" from Bismarck all the way to Fargo and that drive was way fun. The assistants Elder Gardner (from Mesa) and Elder Jolley drove and I talked and reminisced with them a lot. We got to Fargo Thursday evening around 6 and I met Elder Jarman (my new comp) and Elders Hansen and Laws. They are all so awesome!! And almost everyone in this zone has been out just a few months! Thursday night we had our first dinner appointment and it was in Glyndon, Minnesota!! It felt so good to be back in that wonderful state after so long:) We rarely go to dinner appointments without being accompanied by the Elders and/or Sisters in our ward. Elder Jarman is from Bluffdale, Utah and is a big ball of energy! To make things easier, let me list of the things I love so far about this area:

• My companion and all the Elders AND Sisters in Fargo/Moorhead (Minnesota) are really nice, are great missionaries, and are way fun
• Elders look up to me as a zone leader and I can be a good example to them
• I get to go on exchanges to a lot of areas with a lot of great missionaries
• Elder Jarman is already really helping me talk with people a lot better than I have before
• Many people are prepared to hear the gospel
• Fargo has way more attractive women than any other place I've served
• We cover NDSU so we talk mostly with people our age, no one in our huge apartment building is over the age of 25
• We talk with cute college girls all the time, and a lot are athletes or dancers
• Fargo has seemingly endless places to eat and to shop
• the members are a heap of fun
• We get to eat at dinner appointments with other missionaries very often
• We live in a nice apartment
• there are people EVERYWHERE to talk with and teach
• all the houses are old-fashioned

I will probably include more things in the coming weeks:) Haha the other day we were tracting, which we do a lot, and we stumbled into these four nerdy looking college guys playing a board game in an apartment on a Friday night. I guess sometimes stereotypes prove to be true! I am so happy to be in Fargo in this position and I can't wait to continue doing missionary work here. 

That's my week! I love y'all!!

Elder Adair

01/11/2016

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 12:59 PM
Subject: Finally got cold (Week of Jan. 4th- Jan. 10th)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was great! We taught 19 lessons I think! I properly shined my everyday shoes for the first time and I can't believe the difference! We had Zone Training Meeting on Friday in Minot and that was pretty fun. We ate at the Cooks' house a few times this week which was very preferable. Haha we have so much fun with them. Sister Cook burned a cake in the oven and it looked pretty funny afterward. Bro. Cook also ordered me some of my new favorite cologne!! I am so excited to get it this week because it's amazing! Saturday it was actually cold and we almost had to stay in for the day. I think it got to -20 with the wind chill. But haha we went tracting that day anyway and found a cool potential investigator family!:D 

On Sunday we got a call from a less-active lady that wants her two kids to be taught and baptized! Yay! I taught the lesson in Elders' Quorum yesterday and it was great! Here is the sequence of events: I asked a simple question to the class. They gave answers and insights and personal experiences for about 5 minutes. I asked another simple, thought-provoking question. They class gave their insights for about 5 more minutes. I asked one more question. The class gave their insights for about 25 minutes, I shared my personal testimony for maybe a minute, closing prayer, done. Haha I hardly had to do anything but the class made the lesson great!

I love you all and I hope your weeks are going very well! I know that Jesus is the Christ and that He loves and cares about each and every one of you more than you can understand. 

Love,

Elder Adair

12/28/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net> 
Sent: Monday, December 28, 2015 11:14 AM
Subject: Last Christmas on the Mission (Week of Dec. 21st- Dec. 27th)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was wonderful! We went on exchanges this past week and it was amazing! So we had a fun time playing basketball most of the day in Stanley and then Elder Maxfield, whom I came out on my mission with, came with me to New Town Monday night. We spent Tuesday proselyting in White Shield and we decide to visit a

member's house. The member's less-active daughter was there and we got to talk a lot with her about her struggles and she agreed to come to church! And guess what! She did and it was the second time she had been to church in 5 years! Woohoo! That evening in White Shield we ate pizza and wings at a member's house whose son is getting ready to be baptized. We had a fun time there and with Elder Maxfield's expressiveness we were able to create a better relationship with the boy looking to get baptized. We went to Family Dollar that night to pick up a few things and this African guy came up to us and started asking us questions about the Church. He told us he might come visit sometime on a Sunday and as we were talking to him, another Family Dollar employee came up to us and told us he was a member from Utah. We got his number and invited him back to church and he said he might come sometime and bring his mom too! The roads between Stanley and New Town were super icy that night so we decided that Elder Maxfield would spend another whole day there! On Wednesday we were at the library and a lady came up to us and said she wanted to come back to church and bring her fiance and her step-kids! 

On Christmas Eve we had a good dinner at the Wilkinsons' house and had a fun time with them. We went back over on Christmas morning to open presents, eat a delicious breakfast, and Skype our families! I had a splendid time talking with my family and I can't believe it was already the third time on my mission! We then ate a big, delicious Christmas at the Johnsons' house:)

On Saturday this crazy guy came up to us on the street and talked with us about the good work we were doing and how awesome God is. He was super nice and seemed really spiritual. Haha then he mentioned that he was King James from the Bible and we knew he was crazy.

On Sunday only a few of the people we contacted that week showed up at church, but we have their phone numbers so we are hopeful for the coming weeks! 

I hope y'all had a splendiferous Christmas and drew closer to our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. Have a happy new year!

Love,

Elder Adair

12/14/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, December 14, 2015 2:17 PM
Subject: SNOW! (Dec. 7th- Dec. 13th)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week it finally snowed again! It was about 2-3 inches. And it got a little colder again. It was in the 50's for like a week! That is unreal for this area during this time of year. Now it's still pretty warm in the 20's.  

We taught some pretty good lessons this week and we have one, possibly two, people lined-up for baptism this Saturday! Woohoo!! We are pumped! 

We gave a baby blessing the other day! Haha the Wilkinsons' baby boy was sick so we him a blessing. And it healed him! :D

So since a lot of people have been absent from church lately, not including our investigators luckily, Elder Ashe and I were asked to talk in Sacrament meeting along with teaching the young adult Sunday School class. We were visiting the Wilkinson family Saturday night and while we were there they had to rush to Minot because Sister Wilkinson got super sick. They asked us if we could teach the adult Sunday School class for them on Sunday and we said we could if we could combine the adults with the young adults. So we were planning on having a lot of responsibilities in church yesterday, but when we woke up Elder Ashe was sick and we couldn't go! Haha I don't know whom the Branch Presidency was able to assign to talk in Sacrament for us or teach two Sunday School classes!

We had to say goodbye to the beloved Sabin couple this week because they are going back to Provo to go to school for a season. We will sure miss them and their food! But mostly them. :(

A member family in our ward that fed us on Thanksgiving fed us twice this week at a delicious restaurant AND gave us each a bunch of Christmas presents! 

Well that's my week! Merry Christmas, everyone! I love y'all! Thanks so much for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Adair

12/07/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, December 7, 2015 2:25 PM
Subject: Progressing investigators! (Nov. 31st- Dec. 6th)

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was the bomb! Unfortunately, Glenn's baptism had to be pushed back at least a week due to complications with receiving a guardian signature on the baptismal form. We taught Seth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was way cool! The lesson went very well and he was so interested! We definitely were a person instead of a lesson. We also taught Jada the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she was way interested too! Woohoo! We had four investigators and three less-actives at church this week! Sister Canyon might need to get re-baptized since the Branch Presidency can't find her records. We were able to bring her to church this week and hopefully she can get baptized this transfer. I am staying another 6 weeks in New Town btw! We knocked on this less-active ladies door and she let us in for the first time and we talked a lot about getting her and her grandchildren back to church. We got two new investigators using the "A Savior is Born" Christmas video too! We had a Zone Training Meeting in Minot and had a great time. 

You all should watch the new video called "A Savior is Born" and share it with as many people as you can! It invites people to discover why a Savior was born. Then invite your friends to meet with the missionaries to learn more! 

11/30/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, November 30, 2015 12:15 PM
Subject: Thanksgiving! (Nov. 23rd- Nov. 29th)

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this was another fun week! 

A few days ago I gave myself a haircut for the first time, using scissors and the works, and it actually looks good! Cutting hair is easy haha;)

The weather has been in the teens and 20's this past week so it's not very cold yet. It has been a very mild Fall. There is some crazy fog in the mornings sometimes! 

I had a splendid Thanksgiving! We ate a bunch of wonderful food and played board games and even tag! It was awesome!! We were invited out to Makoti to eat with the Hathaway family. They are the bomb! Thanksgiving morning we tracted for about an hour trying to share a short Thanksgiving video with people, but it was to no apparent avail. One guy was pretty rude and was like, "Nope, nope, don't wanna hear it! No thanks! Save you speech!" To which I replied, "I don't have a speech, Sir. We were wanting to share a Thanksgiving video." He still didn't let us in. It made me angry then but now I just laugh thinking about it. Before dinner with the Hathaway's we also went to another family's place and had a decent-sized meal there too. After the Hathaway's we drove to Stanley and went "black Friday shopping" with the Elders there. All we had for options were a Shopko and a Cash Wise which are two little grocery stores basically. 

Last night we had a wonderful time with the Cook family. They are newlyweds so they are very young and don't have any kids yet. Brother Cook actually served his mission in Gilbert, A.Z. and got home last November. I definitely wouldn't complain if I was married, to the right girl of course, as soon as he was after my mission! They also let us hold their baby hedgehog and made delicious, huge candy apples with us:)

Saturday we were having a lesson with an old member lady in a wheelchair. She was babysitting her little granddaughter and the during the whole lesson the little girl was climbing all over us and throwing food at us! Haha it was rather humorous.

It finally snowed some and Tuesday morning we got to go running in the snow:)

We have a baptism coming up this Saturday for this 14-year-old named Glenn and we are way excited! He is very ready to make this big step in his life and he is very mature for his age:) Woohoo!

Today for P-Day we are in Minot to play basketball with some more Elders. We went to Denny's and I beat the restaurant record for most pancakes eaten in one sitting! Score!

Anyways, it was a great week and I hope everyone else's was also great! I love y'all! 

Happy Holidays and thank you so much for your prayers!

Elder Adair

11/16/2015

From: Ronald Adair <ronald.adair@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2015 2:05 PM
Subject: Week of Nov. 9th- Nov. 15th

Dear Family and Friend-People,

Another week has gone by and we're having fun still! Elder Ashe and I are getting good at teaching together so that's good! We are working hard to get all of the people we have on date for baptism sufficiently ready. Last Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Stanley Elders, Elder Trejo and Elder Brinkerhoff. I was in Stanley with Elder Brinkerhoff and we had some fun together. We also spent last P-Day with them and played basketball for many hours. It was one of the my favorite P-Days ever! I have been drinking a lot of different flavors of Martinelli's and Welch's Sparkling Cider and also a lot of flavors of egg nog. My favorite so far of the Martinelli's is Apple-Grape and my favorite of the egg nog is Pumpkin Spice. Running in the morning has also been a lot of fun. We are careful walking around at night because of the many dogs in New Town. There hasn't been a mean dog come try and do anything to us yet, but I keep my knife with me just in case.

I hope everyone's week was splendid! I love y'all!

Elder Adair