August 29, 2012

Hola familia! so this past week has been pretty good i guess. im getting more and more anxious to be in panama. the language is coming along fine i think. not really struggling with it but it is tough at times and i get confused which tense to use or dont congugate my verbs right but thats ok. ive been reading the scriptures alot since being here during like personal study and stuff and ive gotten about 1.5 times through the book of mormon. the sadest part of this week i think was saturday night we had to say goodbye to hermano doxey one of our teachers. he was such an awesome guy and i really loved him as a teacher. he quit because school was starting again this past monday and it didnt work out with his schedule. at the end of his last class he shared with us his testimony. i cried. ive become kind of a cry baby here in the mtc and the spirit was so strong in his testimony. first to have it make sense, i had been praying a lot to know that i could do this and to just be able to get an answer that i know i can do it and that heavenly father loves me. so hermano doxey begins telling us a story and we all kind of expected something funny but spiritual that happened to him and as he started he was like "when i was in the mtc i really struggled, i struggled because i didnt know if i could be a missionary, i didnt know if i wanted to be here or if i could last for 2 years. i have always known the church is true but the mtc was kind of a trial and a test to me to see if i really did have a testimony. it was really hard on my testimony because i doubted myself alot. i remember going to the airport heading out for chile and i had just gotten off the phone with my parents so i was pretty sad and it was hitting me that i wasnt going to be here for 22 more months. and i was seeing all these missionaries going up and talking to people before they head out and i was thinking man i wish i could do that but i dont know what i would say. i remembered praying to have there be someone i could talk to and right as i finished praying this lady caught my eye and i thought i should talk to her but i ignored it. a few minutes later she walked up and sat by me and said hi elder doxey can i ask you a few questions and i said of course you can and she sat down and started crying and asked me about the church. she explained to me that her sister had just passed away about 2 weeks earlier and she wanted to know where her sister was and if she would see her again someday. we had a nice chat and i gave her information to contact some missionaries and i shared with her the plan of salvation" he said this was absolutely amazing to him and exactly what he needed. he said his testimony was the strongest in that families can be together forever and thats exactly what heavenly father gave him the opportuntiy to share in that very moment. he said it was such a testimony to him that heavenly father was mindful of him and he could be a missionary with the help of heavenly father. that story hit me so hard and i had tears in my eyes the whole time when he was talking. it was an answer to my prayers that he shared that testimony with us. i have no idea why he decided to share exactly what he did but i needed to hear it. it reminds me of the scripture in alma where im pretty sure ammon is speaking and he says something along the lines of i will not boast of my own strength for i am weak but i will boast of my god for with him i can do all things. thats so true, we are all weak and need to realize that heavenly father sent his son jesus christ to die for us and we just need to pray and ask for help. jesus has already suffered for every single thing we have felt or done and thats so amazing. looking back on the past week that was probably one of my favorite things. to answer your questions, no not new people in my district. new people in my zone. so a new district in our zone. and like 8 of the 12 of them are going to tucson spanish speaking. its funny, theres even one from mesa who is going to tucson! can they even do that to you!! elder scott my companion is from stansbury park utah? i guess its near tuwilla? thats what he tells people but that doesnt help me at all we now have 9 people in our district. 7 elders and 2 hermanas. the hermanas are going to spain and waiting on visas. 3 some going to chile concepcion. one of them is a guy who sat right across from me on the plane to slc and i really like him hes from mesa. another in that 3 some is named elder auelua-filitaula. hes from alaska 22 years old and spent the past 2 years at the naval academy in anapolis. hes an awesome guy and i really like him. then theres elder bulloch and elder stegelmeir that are both going to panama as well and theyre really nice. they actually just got called to be the zone leaders so theyll officially take over on sunday. i really like our district and i love everyone in it. its gonna suck saying bye to all of them. oh and we had 2 other hermanas but they left a week ago for guatemala mtc. well i think that answers all your questions. not much else i can think of. oh ya, dad, congrats on the new call! your talk you sent me was awesome. im sure youll get alot more opportunities to talk now! i look up to you alot and thank you for everything you have done and are doing for me. te quiero! Elder Adam Price let me know if you got the pictures. also could you send me like compression shorts i can wear for gym time and maybe another smaller memory card or something so then i could send mine home or something so you can have all the pictures? i think there was something else i was going to ask for but i cant remember!

A Few Pictures!

August 22, 2012

hola familia! how is everyone doing? as for me, i think im doing alright! we started teaching 2 new investigators since last week. jose luis and abel. abel is tough because he says all churches are true and that all lead back to god so why does he need to come to our church. but i know what we need to share with him we just never have time because he always has to "leave". me and my companion have started trying to go in without any notes or anything and just teach from our little spanish we know. my companion has definitely been making improvement with spanish but he still has no idea what they are saying haha. yesterday we had TRC and our first guy was a native venzuelan that has only lived here in the states for 12 years and hes like 70 so he speaks really good spanish and he kept asking us questions and i would kind of get it but my companion wasnt saying anything at all so when we got to the end of the lesson and i asked if i could pray he said ya but that he (pointing to my companion) had to say something in spanish first haha and he still didnt understand that so i told him in english and it was pretty funny. one funny thing i did, we were teaching abel about the priesthood and so i was going to share the scripture in matthew 8 about jesus healing the lepur and kinda tell how he used the priesthood but it didnt really work out, i had him read like 2 nephi 32 or something about baptism and repentance and he was laughing cuz really its our teacher and he realized i had him read a completely off topic scripture. then when teaching about jose smith i thought oh i need to share james 1;5 with him because he was asking the same type of questions joseph smith was and i was scrambling through the bible for james and couldnt find it and he was just awkwardly staring at me and i finally was like elder scott where is james and he waas like its santiago remember haha so hermano roberts "abel" was just laughing and i couldnt stop laughing either! my companion is doing much better this last week and so that is good 2 of the hermanas in our district left yesterday for guat mtc. our district is pretty awesome though. one awesome thing that happened last night at our charla fogonera. Elder Neil L Anderson was the speaker. he gave an awesome talk and we sang happy bday to president monson with elder anderson directing us it was pretty cool. as soon as elder anderson and his wife walked in i felt the spirit so strongly and you could just tell he is a true witness of jesus christ. oh and another thing im not sure if i told you or not, im in the mtc choir which performs every tuesday night at devotional. last night we sang an awesome song. it was "behold the wounds in jesus hands" great song and i really liked singing it. other than that i cant really think of much. we get a new district in our zone today and like 10 of the 12 guys are going to tucson spanish speaking. i love you guys so much. tell everyone hi. oh and i hear seth and taylor got a puppy?! what kind. how come you guys didnt tell me? jared and jenna told me! Elder Adam Price

Such a great letter!

8/15/12
"On Sunday night we had a fireside and it was really awesome. A few things that stood out to me, the Lord is mindful of his children. Have faith and confidence he is there. Next, we can have sure faith through the Book of Mormon and prayer. We are promised so many times in the Book of Mormon that if we have sincere desires and sincere heart and faith that we can have knowledge of all things. One of my newly found favorite scriptures is Jacob 4: 6-7. We can have the power and strength to move mountains or waves of the sea through having hope and faith. How amazing is that! It just shows to me if we can do that through faith and hope, then why couldn't we do smaller things like missionary work for two years, or get answers to our little prayers.
Prayer is such a great habit to obtain. I have struggled in the MTC, but from my constant prayers, asking for strength and lots of other things, I have found comfort and I know that your prayers will be answered. I have noticed my weaknesses so easily here and without Heavenly Father I am nothing. If you have time read the talk, "Character of Christ" by David A. Bednar, it will truly change your life.
Testimonies are not enough. If we only have a testimony, when trails and challenges come up, we will fall away. We have to truly be converted to the gospel. "Who you are, far more important than what you say."
I know I have been called of God by a prophet and that there are certain people that need to hear my voice, and who are specifically prepared  for me to teach. I love the Lord and the gospel. It is so amazing and everyone needs to hear about it!"

August 15, 2012

Buenos Dias! since last wednesday, we finished up teaching our first investigator and he turned into our teacher. his name is hermano doxey and he served in chile and hes from pleasant grove. hes a really nice guy and i like having him as a teacher. friday and saturday are the longest days here at the mtc, they go by so slow and then it seems like monday tuesday and wednesday go by way fast. sunday night our devotional was good it was by president heaton who is like the admin head here at the mtc and he taught us and told us to stop worrying. to stop worrying about what we say or if we have the spirit when we teach because he hasa witnessed the spirit is always there. everyone we teach we are teaching for a reason and they have had different experiences in thei lives or trials that have been preparing them for the missionaries. also he said hes talked with converts all over the world and they all say the same thing about missionaries, theyre intimidating, awkward, dont make sense, cant speak the language that well, but the reason they let them come back is because they feel something when they are there. we then got to watch a video which was a talk titled ªcharacter of christª by david a bednar. it was given christmas day 2011 here at the mtc and it was awesome. probably the single best talk ive ever heard in my life and especially at this point. i dont know if they have the mtc addresses available online to everyone but you guys should definitely look that up and watch it. it will change your life as it has mine. he laid it down on all of us and it was really inspiring. it talked alot about turning out as christ would instead of turning in like the natural man would. 19 20 21 are the epitomy of the natural man in our lives and im so greatful to be here learning how i can be coming closer to Christ while bring others unto him as well. i know its an experience that is blessing my life. i see it just like scriptures say, line upon line precept upon precept. the days are long and im exhausted but my testimony is growing so much. last friday and saturday my companion was really struggling and he was depressed. he would hardly talk to me and would walk behind me like 3 steps no matter where we would go and i was feeling super alone. like its going to be hard knowing that my companion isnt my good friend. he told me some things finally and he really needed help and i didnt know what to do. in my interview sunday with the branch president i told him the things he shared with me and he said he would talk to him. they had about an hour and a half interview and since then hes been doing alot better. on sunday night in our residence he asked for a blessing and we were like sure who do you want to give it...obviously i ended up getting chosen. i was nervous because id never done it before but i couldnt turn down the request and just shy away so i did it and it was awesome. i felt the spirit really strongly and my hands were like shaking but i know i said things that i wasnt thinking about at all. so it was cool and hes been doing better. makes me really believe the part in my patriarchal blessing where it says i will be especially effective with those that are downtrodden or poor in spirit. anyway, ya ive eaten better but the mtc food is still pretty gross sometimes. this place isnt for me. i feel confined but i know its necessary to grow and build up my testimony. surprisingly right now i dont think spanish is my biggest concern or challenge. i remember alot from high school and im feeling ok about it. definitely dont know alot but i feel okay about it. my biggest struggle is the homesickness and feeling alone. its weird not being able to choose who im with all the time or not be able to talk to friends whenever i want. i got a letter from cody actually the other day. that was cool! but ya im doing ok. hopefully you are all good! hannah get applied to college and pray about those decisions. i know you will then be guided. caleb work hard in school and get good grades. josh dont be a punk and be nice oh and read your scriptures. lydia i love you and thank you for your letter, i did get it. happy late bday hopefully it was awesome! also its awesome youre getting baptized. thats the first covenant we can make with heavenly father to help us live with him again! im happy for you and i know heavenly father is so happy for you too! Te Quiero, Elder Adam Price

August 2 2012

August1 2012

Today is the first day of Adam's Mission! We had a very early start today and sort of an emotional one as I woke Adam up! I am so grateful to him for taking the opportunity to serve a mission. He will be awesome! I know he would love mail and if you go to Dearelder.com you can acutally send him a letter and if it gets there before noon he will get it that day. Elder Adam Price MTC Mailbox 348 Pan-PC 1002 Regular Mail Address until October 2, 2012 Elder Adam Lorenzo Price MTC Mailbox #348 PAN-PC 1002 2005 N 900 E Provo, UT 84604-1793