No public email this week - just pictures

Is anyone surprised by his pics at this point?

As happens from time-to-time, our missionary just needed some parental advice on some situations he is currently dealing with in the field.  Due to the nature of these concerns and the what they involve we felt it was prudent to refrain from sharing the email.  Needless to say, Elder Adair, is growing and maturing before our eyes and we are so very proud of him!  This email proved to me he is fully engaged and bought into his mission and he expects all around him to feel and act the same way.  We are all given challenges to help us grow.

I am posting this poem that he referenced a couple emails back because it truly applies now more than ever before:

Good Timber

The tree that never had to fight
For sun and sky and air and light,
But stood out in the open plain
And always got its share of rain,
Never became a forest king
But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil
To gain and farm his patch of soil,
Who never had to win his share
Of sun and sky and light and air,
Never became a manly man
But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:
The stronger wind, the stronger trees;
The further sky, the greater length;
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,
We find the patriarchs of both.
And they hold counsel with the stars
Whose broken branches show the scars
Of many winds and much of strife.
This is the common law of life.

- Douglas Malloch

Elder Adair is experiencing this first hand, and he will grow stronger because of this.  Heavenly Father prepares us for many things in this life and he gives us tests and challenges to see how we can handle them.  I am going to have to say that Elder Adair is passing them with flying colors.

Kings Do King Things

District's true colors?

Or is serious the way to go?

Hot Springs, Arkansas - a land of beauty!

Arkansas, Kai has arrived...I mean Elder Adair.

Hey guys!

This week was definitely new.  Hot Springs is gorgeous!  I love driving around and walking around cause it reminds me so much of Flagstaff!  Minus the mountains...they're just hills haha.  Nothing too big.  But since I got called to be a district leader, I'm now a leader of 5 other missionaries.

Just like Flagstaff...uh, Kai, you feelin' okay???

Contemplation...

Our car(s) broke down this week so that was fun.  We had one car that kept bugging o so we had to drive it to Little Rock (an hour away) and get a new car from the mission while that one is in the shop.  The new car given to us was worse.  It wouldn't shift gears and it kept turning off and over heating, so we drove it back the next day and got our old car back.  Needless to say I'm tired of cars haha.  But I love my district!

Elder Garn is in my district and so is Elder Goaslind!  They're sooo cool!  Sister Hyer and her greenie are in here too, but they're in the Glen Wood Branch.  Sister Hyer was Sister Fisher's companion when I got here.  She's so cool and her greenie is from Tonga!  Sister Feinga!

Done contemplating, now leave me alone!

It's a contemplative kind of vibe I'm picking up here.

The weather here is pretty good!  It started cool and then it rained and now it's warmer and humidity is starting to pick up.  Ugh.  The members are super cool!  They're so nice and came up and talked to me!  Brother Jordan is what we call a "black woman trapped in a white mans body" haha.  Brother Devoux is our ward mission leader and he's something else.


I love y'all and can't wait to hear back!!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Brother Jordan.

All good things must come to an end...only for others to begin!

6 months down and still...well, Kai.

Howdy!

Well first off to start, as y'all already know I'm being transferred!  I'm going to Hot Springs, Arkansas!  Elder Hoyle served there and so did Elder York.  They said it was awesome and that I'll love it!  So I'm pretty pumped!  So in other news, with all that being said, I fell into a situation that I don't want to be in lol.  I'm a District Leader now!  I'm not gonna lie, I'm really sketched out about it.  I just feel like it's a lot to take in right now.  But hey, God said so, so "I will go and do, for I know the lord giveth no [calling] unto the [missionaries], save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them!"

Burn baby, burn...

This week was good!  We found a lot of good people!  I'm sad that I am leaving because we found a couple investigators who are super cool!  One named Geraldine Green and one we met yesterday actually while saying goodbyes!  Geraldine was upset I was leaving and I had only really talked to her twice haha.  The other was Amonda Washington.  He stopped us asking "Is that the Jonas Brothers?!" And we proceeded to talk haha.  He's a super good artist!  He compares to dads drawing!  Like there amazing!  And guess what?  He likes to draw skulls too!  Haha.

Wish he had given me names.

We also started attending the English class the Spanish elders do for the Spanish members and investigators.  There's These 2 guys who come and want to learn Spanish so we do Spanish class so I started learning Spanish lol.  We had a lesson with Chikeda and she started crying when I told her I was being transferred.  She gave me a huge hug and told me to stay in contact.  Sharon and Dennis started crying as well!  I got pictures with them and a few members!

Mesa friends - Elder Janes and Sister Guthrie

I hit my 6 month mark on Friday!  I burned my tie with Elder Ogaard and Elder Hoyle burned his 1 year mark shirt (funny thing, he's been out 14 or so months and just burned it haha).  All of the Spanish elders are my homies so we were all bummed when we found out we're being split up!  It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm not gonna see the Taylors anymore, but hey, all good this gotta come to an end.

Again...sorry ladies, I have no names!

Hey Cort!  I'm proud of you bud!  Sorry no personal email today!  I'm shipping off and won't have a lot of time!  But I'm proud of your 400!!  I hated that run!  Lol it was AIDS to me!  But keep killing it!!  Oh and when you kissed your date, did y'alls braces get stuck?? [Editor's Note: There was NO kissing!]  Please tell me yes because it will make me so happy.

I emailed Elder Brinkerhoff today!  Sorry it was late, I forgot last week.  Better late than never!  I just told him how great a mission is and how it takes time to get better.

His family away from home - the Taylors!

It just seems surreal to me that I'm leaving!  I've been here for 6 months and starting to have some success and I'm gone.  I just hope I can carry my same enthusiasm to my new area.  I don't know why I'm called to lead, I don't think I am qualified, and I'm just nervous.  But I thought the same thing about training.  Hopefully I did a good enough job with Elder Sammons!

Brother Millar (the excommunicated member we have been teaching) texted me last night asking if I can come back and baptize him.  I took it pretty hard.  I just hope somehow it can happen.  He needs it and he wants it so bad.  I hope to see him at the temple.  I'm going to ask president if something can be done but I'm not sure if anything can be done.  It just tore me apart.

Uh...what is this Elder??? You better be poor!

Well guys, I guess I'm a razorbacks fan now lol.  Keep fighting that good fight guys!  This is a glorious world we live in.  THE GOSPEL HAS BEEN RESTORED!  I know that.  For myself, I know that.  I know that because I read the Book of Mormon.  I studied for myself rather than for other people.  And because I know the Book of Mormon is true, that's just evidence in itself that Joseph was truly a prophet of God.  How could he not be?  If he brought forth the Book of Mormon, and if the Book of Mormon is true, which it is, then he MUST be the prophet of the restoration!  It just makes sense!  And because I know Joseph smith was a prophet, THEN GOSH DANG IT THIS IS CHRISTS CHURCH ON THE EARTH AGAIN!!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church that it makes sense to be a part of!  And how do I know this...because I feasted upon the holy scriptures and asked god, the eternal father, if it was true.

Childhood friend, Elder Janes!

Now with this knowledge I only have but 1 obligation.  To share it!  Why wouldn't I want to??  I have something Gods children need.  I have their ETERNAL SALVATION!  So again I ask, why wouldn't I share this with everyone I come into contact with?  It just makes sense...I'm proud to Rep Christ's name on my heart every day and to give hope to these, my brothers and sisters, my Fathers Children.  Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us.

So like I said, fight that good fight and Go Buck Wild!  I love y'all!  Thanks for all your support and love.  It's been a rough little season, but I'm getting back on he horse!  When I fall, it just gives me another reason to get back up!  A poem I read this week during my studies has really helped me through my adversities (which are not few).  It's from President Thomas S. Monson's General Conference talk from October of 2013, entitles "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" (quote from one of my favorite scriptures Joshua 1:5-6, 9) and it's entitled "Good Timbers"

Love this text, it speaks volumes.

Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater the length.
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and men good timbers grow.

I love this because even though tough times will come our way, they're only for our benefit.
I hope something in this email made you smile!  That's all I want for now on is to make someone smile everyday, everyday, everyday!

Love Y'all to death!  Now tell me something good!

Kings Do King Things
Goin' Buck Wild

Classic Kai video.

Better late than never...maybe? Kind of an off week for Elder Adair.

Hey guys!  My week was pretty sound.  Like, actually quiet again.  We had a really really cool chapel tour with Ann and She loved it and said she wants to come back!  Sadly, she didn't come to church...but we did have The Harris Family come to Book of Mormon class!  That was cool because they got to meet brother Taylor and Triena (a recent Convert).  We're seeing them tonight.  Also remember Tonya?  The lady who said she wanted to "hook me"?  Well we sent the sisters over to teach her and she's all of a sudden not interested anymore...hmm I'm not sure if she was hearing us talk or watching us talk...

That's really all that happened this week...we had interviews with President Wakolo and they went really good!  It's been a tough week but it'll get better!

As for the Super Bowl, I was rooting for the Fellow Bird Gang, but sadly they couldn't clench it...Brother Helmer was sneaky and had the game on during dinner hahaha.  I got to see some but not a lot of the game.  I miss the yelling and fighting and accusing that we had going on for Super Bowls.  It just felt like a normal Sunday to me.

Utahrn in Memphis

Sorry this letter is so short, not much else really happened.

Not too many pictures either but we saw a truck with an interesting license plate that made elder Hoyle and I freak out.

Kings Do King Things

Elder Knievel showing off his mad skills, until he falls off doing the most basic maneuver - stopping.