June 29, 2015 - Adam's letter - three baptisms coming up, lotsa pics!

A ​less active member, Mwaya, who just moved to Brussels to be with his mom for a while. Cool guy, helped us teach Terrence, our investigator, who he helped us teach this day. Terrence is the one who took the picture. ​

ZUN ZUN GABER!! Check out that bad boy! I saw that on the street the first day here and I was like, "Dude, gabe's got to see that!"" Haha! 

After a run one day. Me and Elder Young try and run at least a couple times each week. 

This is in the big ole Catholic chapel right next to our house, or just down the street and around a corner, I should say. Really cool paintings inside, we got to go there and take a few pictures for last P-Day. 

WHOO BEAUTIFUL ORGAN IN FRANCE YEAHHHH

Elder Young reflects quietly on the meaning of life...

Elder Young reflects quietly on the meaning of life...

GUESS WHO

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Hey Mom! 

I read a very good talk just a couple days ago and today that when we really try and give our heart to the Lord's work, He blesses us. How great is that? How wonderful is it that I can give my whole heart and soul to this, in this time of opportunity and privilege? So I decided, to some degree, that, it's better to have the Lord's will be mine for a while, at least as far as serving a mission goes, because if i go throughout my mission doing good things but wishing i wasn't here, well, that's not going to do much good at all! so i'll try and be grateful for today and do my best; It really does feel good when I can look back and say I did my best for a block of finding time. I can't say that too often, but I hope that will become more and more often. 

Well, we have three baptismal dates coming up-- Terrence was going to be this last Saturday, but now we have Terrence, Serge, and Covalie all on the 18 July; That'll be great! We also have a cool exchange coming up with elder adams. Holy cow for some reason the keyboard switched to English and this is really tripping me up. Weeeird. Um one sec I'm going to try to change it back.

There we go that's better. So yeah, this week has been good. We had a good P-day last week, was uneventful, which is fine, I kind of like chill P-days myself, and today has been pretty chill too. Me and Elder Young are both pretty chill people. I think he'd like to go see stuff more on P-Day and that kind of thing, but we'll see about that next week I guess. :/ haha.

Tuesday, we had a great exchange, I was with our district leader, Elder Adams, who's been out just six weeks less than me, (by the way EIGHT MONTH MARK TODAY!! Crazy right?!!) was with me for a day, and it was fun. We went to a lesson that ended up falling through, but it worked out all right anyway, and then we were able to go porting, and we talked to this very nice old lady who talked to us for a very long time, about lots of stuff, but turns out she had just gotten home from the hospital earlier that day, and she had a very religious grandson and his family was all practicing and religious and stuff, and how she wished she could be someone believing, too. And so it was cool to share with her a bit our testimonies, Elder Adams took the lead and I was happy to follow. cool stuff, because he was really happy and really good at talking to elderly ladies, so it worked out perfect! Anyway fun times.

I've been feeling this week in general that i've been giving myself more fully to the Lord, which has been great. Good things await the people who do that. it's interesting, it's actually harder to be a missionary who does good stuff without his whole heart in it, as Dad has explained to me, than to be a good missionary who does good stuff with his whole soul. So I'm going for that second option now. Doesn't mean I'm going to be perfect at talking to every single person I should, doesn't mean i'll say everything or teach every lesson exactly right, but I can do my best. Grateful for the hand of the Lord in my life. May He help and bless all of you. I hope the Lord's blessings rest on you.

Wednesday morning, or maybe thursday morning, I was able to receive TWO GREAT LETTERS, one of whom came from my beloved brother HYRUM and the other of which came from my awesome Grandma Georgia!! You are so nice to send me those, I'm so grateful for your love and support! Thanks so much, sorry if it takes a bit of time for me to get back to you there, because I'm actually supposed to only write replies to letters on monday, P-Day. But yes, thank you so much.

Also, Wednesday morning, (or was it Friday?) I was able to get a great blessing of comfort from my companion, Elder Young. it was really personal and helpful, I won't say a bunch of details but it really helped me understand a bit of what I am doing and going through right now and why it's important, also that it's important to love, pray for, and write my family to stay in touch with you all, it's a good pattern and thing to keep for the rest of life, because let's be honest, life won't be much the same again! It's always changing, I'll have to get home, go to school, don't get me wrong, it'll be fun to have a bit of time at home working, too, but yeah, there you go; Thank you so muhc Mom and Dad for your support, physical and spiritual, in what i'm doing out here. I know there are people here the Lord prepared just for me, I'll be trying to find them this week. The Lord's ability to bless us and comfort us is very powerful through Priesthood blessings. We were able to go give one to a less-active sister two weeks ago, too, and elder Young gave it, and it was great. We went over with the sisters because they're the ones who visit the sister. It was good. She's been coming to church since. Lord bless all of you, in all your efforts to be good people and leave the Lord your whole heart, and do the right things He asks you to do. it's hard, it's scary, I'm still scared of it, but in the end, it's like jumping into a warm, slightly coolish pool--it's better if you just get your whole body in and start swimming around! You can't enjoy it until you do that. So there you go, that's it. Powerful lesson I've learned and am still learning. 

Sometimes, it's discouraging. I had a discouraging moment like that one of the nights this week, a couple nights before the blessing. We went out street contacting and nobody really seemed to want to talk to us, we talked to a couple people, but without much success; Sometimes, it's hard when people don't want to listen or don't treat you with much respect. But I'm grateful, too, because the Lord is there, He hears our prayers, and if we do our best, He'll bless us. I'm realizing that I want to be an "all-in" type of person like Dad is, thanks for your great example there, Dad. Good to get through moments like that. They can feel long, but then, before you know it, you're back in the apartment planning for the next day, and so life is all right. "ça va," as the French people would say. difficult moments are a part of life, and thanks to the Lord we have the scriptures, the Gospel, and the atonement to help us understand and become better people thanks to them. After all, without difficulty, where would be the growth? Without pain, where would be the muscles? And without initial questions or confusion, where would be final peace and understanding? So it's a blessing in the end. I'm just trying to figure out how to realyl be happy here. Happiness isn't a self-centered thing, you see. It's really just to have the bare needs taken care of and then to go out and serve the Lord and love your family and friends and do missionary work and go from there. Happiness comes from when you find something that's worth dedicating your life to and then you jump in with both feet. 

Anyway, we have a sweet soirée familiale, or family home evening, with a family in our ward tonight, in just a couple hours, for which I'm super excited. I hope that'll go well, we made a little paper to write down little services or missionary acts. It's fun. We're going to try and get the kids invovled, too. Fun stuff. Anyway, I hope the week has gone well for all of you, and before I forget,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!!! and to all the great grandpas and great-grandpas and even uncles and great examples I have in my life, thanks to my young mens' leaders Bishop Parker and Brother Barney and President cook, too. I'm grateful for them. YOU ROCK DAD!!! :D

Here are some pictures, hope you enjoy them; God bless you all!

Question: Mom, could you send me the albums of Nashville Tribute Band and also all the Motab albums we have? So I guess nashville Tribute, Motab, and then Handel's Messiah. That'd be so great! thanks so much! How's life for you all? Love you tons, talk to you next week! 

With the love of God,

Adam Edwards

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Hey Dad!!!

Great to hear from ya. yeah, in response to your question there, I am technically the older companion, Elder Young has been out three months less than I have (by the way, it's my EIGHT MONTH MARK today!!! Crazy, right?!!), but in our mission, we actually don't really have an assignment of senior companion and junior companion. I mean, you know who the older person is in the équipe, because they're on the left of the mission repertoire, but we don't really assign it like that. But yeah, I guess you could say that if you want. But to be honest, Elder Young is a leader in so many things, from planning to getting out the door and what we eat that he's really more of the leader! So yeah, I can't really take a lot of ego from that. But it is fun. President Babin actually likes to have two young missionaries like this a lot, it gives us the chance to grow and try and figure things out and that can bring lots of faith and miracles from the Lord, Elder Williams and I certainly saw that last transfer and we've seen a bit of that this transfer as well. But yeah, I'll keep you updated if I ever am made district leader or anything. Right now, I really want to train, I'm really excited to get a blue. But I'll keep you posted, it's likely that me and Elder Young will be togehter till august or so, which is fine, just probably what will happen.

Wow, I liked all those cool pictures you and Mom sent me! That looked like a super fun trip! And I'm glad you don't feel as pressured to send me a great email every time, I understand when time is short or whatever, a shorter one is fine. But hey, it seems like you and mom really "profitéd" or enjoyed your anniversary trip, good for you. HAPPY FATHER4S DAY AGAIN to you, and I hope you have a great Fourth of July. In fact, I wanted to tell you, Dad, I'm doing better with putting myself aside a bit more. it feels better in a way. I mean, I'm starting to here, and i'm starting to for me, because I wnat to, too, and it feels good, it feels different, but it's still kind of scary! I mean, it makes sense, you go through 18 years of life and then you're kind of out on your own! I'm sure you know what I mean. But it's a good thing. It makes me sad to think of so many people who use their God-given agency to tune out all that is good and pure and wholesome by giving in to addictions and media drown-out and all the video games and terrible distractions of our day. But God bless us, we'll carry through all right; It's very important to have hope. President Uchtdorf's two talks from this last conference, which you reminded me to read, as well as a talk I read this week, two actually, one called "Missionary Purification" and the other called "The Fourth Missionary." Man it's really powerful, you could probably look it up online, I think you'd really like it. Don't worry too  much about me over here in France, life is good. Me and Elder Young are having some pretty good times together. It's a good time.

Other than that, I wanted to say that I love you, thanks for everything you do, and until next week. You're the best Dad!! By the way was that the Parisian restaurant in Salt Lake that you and Mom went to? Holy cow Mom is so fun to watch with all the Paris stuff. I love you all, enjoy the week, and the Lord's blessings, and GREAT JOB on the member missionary work you are doing with Kelly. You are so blessed to have followed through on that opportunity. I hope that all the extended family are doing well, tell them hi for me, and i'll talk to you next time! Au revoir!

Love, love, love, lots of love,

Elder Edwards

June 22, 2015 - Adam's letter. Loving new area, three investigators, and miracles!

That's so awesome, Mom! Thanks so much! You're the best and I love you tons!!

Okay that's super cool that you were able to have that experience wtih Kelly, by the way! I want you to know that that's the IDEAL situation ever in missionary work, that a member family befriends someone and brings them into the church, that's the most likely situation for someone to stay active, and I think it's also the most comfortable for the convert, so that's super good. 

Life is really good over here! I'm starting to feel more at peace with what's going on and I love the Lord. I love our members and our ward mission leader, or DMP. wow it's lots of fun and a great privilege to be serving the Lord above. It's hard sometimes, but boy, I bet it's going to be a great feeling of triumph once we are finished and it's done! But also, it's not something to be enjoyed just in the completion; Life, like President Uchtdorf explained, is also a very pleasant journey, and we need to be grateful for it and enjoy it every step of the way.

Please tell Dad I love him SOOO MUUCCHHHH and that I'm so happy he had a good little Father's Day yesterday. I decided not to listen to the tribute, that was super nice of you to think of me, but I think it would just make me too homesick, so I thought it might be better not to. Thank you so much for thinking of me though! You can send me stuff like that, no problem, sometimes I just need to let it go so I can focus and stuff. Love you tons, Mom and Dad! Happy anniversary on Saturday! Love you all tons! I've loved getting more emails from everyone like Malia Austin and Gabe lately! 

Okay I just wanted to say a little about this week. Thanks to lots of help from the Lord and lots of support from you guys, and I think maybe more than anything a the Lord's hand in my life and a gratitude for it, and maybe a bit of an attitude change on my part for my mission, I feel lots happier. I've noticed I'm lots happier when I don't give myself time to question things, but just be happy and busy and work and read and journal and stuff. it's not good to have TOO much time to think. I feel myself growing up and becoming a man, it's realyl good. 

Our amis, Terrence, Serge, and Covalie, are doing so good. Terrence needs a stronger testimony but ça va. it'll come. We have the baptismal date of July 11 for them.

Also miracle story:

we felt guided to go finding in a particular metro stop in a poorer area of town. It was way in the south of Nantes, past the river and stuff. If you know how the Spirit works, sometimes you feel a little directional push in your chest, like "Okay, Elder Edwards, I'm now teling you that you need to go this way, please follow me, go!" We were able to follow the directions of the Spirit, one step at a time, until we were in front of a building that, at first getting off the metro, we were not able to see. By the end of the experience of the couple hours, we had met to and talked to a man who was very kind and was a little interested in what we had to say, though at first he questioned our legitness and asked to see our cards of authority to do proselyting, but not only that, the Lord guided us straight to the apartment building of a refugee Syrian family who has been here in France only in 3 months. They're here to escape the danger in Syria!!! They're Christian, you see. It was dangerous for them over there. And so we've taught the dad, since the mom don't understand much French and maybe aren't too interested, twice, and we've given him a Book of Mormon in Arabic and we are super excited for them. If we could get this family baptized, it would be amazing. We have a rendez=vous or appointment with them Saturday and then the Dad will comme with his wife to church this Sunday . it's a change because they're Orthodox Christians, so they're used to a stricter style of church, but it'll be good if we prepare him well.

Just want you to know teh Lord prepares miracles, our DMP Arthur was FLOORED when he saw how many miracles hafve happened in our ward the past week or two in the missionnary meeting with him. It really is amazing to see hoa the Lord works. And you know what, it's okay that i'm far from you guys, and who needs tons of investigators when we've got three the Lord has alraedy prepared a lot? Plus a really super cool guy who served as a ZL for more than a year of his mission in the Caribbean was just caled yesterdray as a Ward Missionary!!!!!WOOHOOO!!!We've already taught with him before and he's really good. He's an RM of 23 years. So he's really cool. Anyway love you my family! Till next time and God bless! Loved the pictures! Talk to you next time! Never by afraid to send me a letter or email me! I've been loving that! thansk for the fasting and prayers and support! I've needed it! It's really sustained me, even if I've reliedon it a bit much lately. Please know the Lord is with you and the gospel is true. don't even give the devil the time of day to start thinking about doubts toward the gospel. Just get busy serving andh elping and loving the Lord, life is way happier. love you! Till next time!!

Lots of love my family! Happy Father's Day and Happy Anniversary!!

Love,

son and brother, Elder Adam Grant Edwards
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Thanks so much Dad! I love you so much. You're the greatest. I sent mom the longer email, I hope Father's Day was awesome. You're such a great dad to me, grandpas were too. Thanks so much. Great Anniversary to you. I feel like i'm growing up, becoming more independent, thansk for everything you and the family do for me! Thanks for putting those package together! Talk to you later!!

Holy cow, that's so cool with your little brother! Yeah it's important to share those little experiences in life, the Lord gives those little smile "tender mercy" moments so often, it's so great. I actually had a special moment in sacrament meeting, too, the bishop here has two sons who helped pass the sacrament yesterday, and they were both so small and sweet and carried themselves with so much maturity, and it made me think the bishop must be proud of his sons, and reminded me I bet my dad is proud of me. It was cool.

Just a little experience that reminded me of you yesterday. You're the best dad ever Dad! By the way I finally read all of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk on Grace and his other talk and they helped me tons! I actually understand how obedience to gospel and rules works, by LOVE and GRATITUDE now! So great!! thank you so much fory our wisdom! Sorry I think I might have exaggerated things in previous emails, but it was bad at times. Anyyway lovey ou, things are good, love you tons, talk to you next week:! You're thebest dad, never forget it!

June 15, 2015 - Adam's letter about his new area and companions (letter to a member of our ward)

June 15, 2015

Hello! 

Boy, we love you lots, I hope you know!! Thank you for the very kind and generous emails; I like hearing about the heat down there, whoo boy, that's really pushing the thermometer up there! It's interesting, because here in Nantes, it's not so hot, but it is also much more humid, so it's a little different. Mostly, it's pretty cool. But that might change. :D

I would be happy to give you some information! First of all, I need to tell you a little about my MTC companion, elder Johnson. He is a very strong, sweet character with a lot of love for Christ and a good sense of humor. He'd had very powerful experiences as a youth to give him a great testimony of the love of Christ that is truly there for each of us, and it's amazing to me now to look back and see his dedication he had, even at his young age in the mission, that he was just doing his missino for the Lord, and he didn't really need any other reason, you know what I mean? Other than that, he was a great guy, we had lots of fun times and laughs together, I look back on the MTC as a very positive experience. He was always pretty patient with me.

Now, my new information: our new address for our apartment is:

8 Rue Lamoricière-Villa Lamoricière

44100 Nantes

FRANCE

[Note from Becky: I'm inserting a map of the Paris, France mission from LDS.org. All the surrounding missions are also outlined in red. Adam's mission is just the big one in the middle. It covers the top section of France, part of Belgium, and all of Luxembourg.You can see Nantes, Adam's new area, on the southwest side.]

We are now in the zone of "Rennes-Angers," which means we're in the stake of the city of Angers, which is an hour or two north and a bit east of us, but our zone leaders, and our zone in particular, are separate, and we're stationed in Angers, which is maybe 30 to 45 minutes west of us, on the way to Paris, which is about 2 & 1/2 hours away from here. Nantes itself, the town, is about 45 minutes from the ocean, maybe 20 if you have a car. I believe you can get there by bus. Technically, we are allowed to go there until July, but I imagine that, given we're in France, it really isn't the best environment for a missionary to be at the beach in the spring/summer time. So, I think I'll avoid that. But it is fun to be so close to the sea, and to be in such a nice, cool, humid climate. (I say that knowing I may have just jinxed myself into a 95 degree constant week. Please pray that doesn't happen. Just kidding. :D) Our district is the district of Nantes, however, our district leader, Elder Adams, is stationed himself in Saint Nazaire, one hour north of hear, right on the coast.

My new companion, Elder Young, is a great guy. He has great dedication, and his strenghts lie in desire, obedience, and continally striving to do the right thing, even if it's hard, such as trying to contact people in the tram. He's been teaching me a lot about that, which has been good for me. I've been trying to do more of that, talking to people when we're just in the tram or bus, you know. It's fun, I guess. But yes, he has great dedication, to him, his mission is a gift to the Lord. He thinks a lot and very deeply. We've had a pretty easy week, he's very easy-going and very kind to me, sometimes even too kind, so we haven't had any big problems getting along. Now, the first couple weeks are always an adjustment, but I think we will be able to do great work if we focus on our objective, to serve Christ. I realize now that that dedication that some missionaries have, though completely internal and hard to describe or see, perhaps, is irreplaceable and invaluable to the people around them, and such people as Elder Young or Elder Johnson, my MTC comp, may serve their whole missions without ever realizing what they've done in such an importnat area as dedication to the Lord. I hope someday they get to read this.

Our members here in Nantes are fantastic. Truly, if we had more time, I could give you some names of people who are just amazing. I miss the people and ward in Charleroi 1, they were great, too. But i'm also happy to come here and meet all these new, amazing, strong saints. I love the part of French culture that is nice and strict, by the book, you know, whe, people try very hard to teach and run the Church the way it's meant to be run. I loved feeling that hard work, that effort here. Boy, and I met and talked to some great members on Sunday after church. We were able to even help them a bit by playing the piano for their choir performance. Now, it didn't sound very good, because they had a couple very challenging hymns that I had never learned completely, one of which I hadn't even heard before, but it was still good to be with the members and hang out with them for a while. Member work is a priority here, I think, and we talked to the bishop to see if we could get a weekly or bi-weekly or something to that effect meeting with him, so we could work in unity with him and the ward council. Also, we're going to start going to ward council as missionnaries, which should help the unity between members and missionaries increase. I really want to "kill," or do very good at, member-missionary work here. I feel like that could really bring us places. We have a HUGE number of missionaries here, six, just in one ville, which may not seem like much, but it really is! Plus one companiohship is the sister training leaders, so they'll probably baptize three people before we even know it! No, just kidding, but we're likingi t here in Nantes. I hope that's enough informatino to run on.

Joseph Warren Young is my comp's full name. He is now in his third trasnfer, he started his missino in February. We're in the Nantes Ward.

Thank you so much for the great papers and quotes you've sent me, I have three or them right on my wall here in Nantes, and I enjoy looking at them every night, and even more often than that. They help elevate my thoughts, send as many as you want, i love them! Thank you so much Brother and Sister Hughes. Is the family doing well? Ih hope that the ward is, too. Boy how is the old organ, still working in good condition? I miss it. Yeah, you know, I might try and get to play an organ on P-day next week. Do you know where that big cathedral was? I think maybe we could find it, Elder Young should know where it is. But God bless you, Brother and Sister hUGEHS. May his blessings be with you always! Until next time! I'll be praying for you! Till next time!!

Lots of love, your good friend,

Elder Adam G. Edwards


[Note from Becky: Here are some pictures from Adam's roommate Elder Harris, that his mom posted on my Facebook page. They are from June 8, 2015. It looks like pics of their recent zone conference and a tour of Paris.]

Adam's letter - June 15, 2015 - First week in Nantes, France. Happy!

HEY Mom and Dad!! 

I love you tons Mom and Dad! I just wanted to say high and THANK YOU so much for the wonderful, kind love you've sent me. Thanks for your advice and I love you tons. I wanted to just say, yes, thanks for all the great ideas you gave me on how to keep my spirit high-energy and happy (it's harder in Europe, I think, haha) but I'm becoming more dedicated and I'm happy to just give this service to my Savior because I know he lives and loves me. Thanks so much for everything. I hope the family's doing well.

I would love the Raw Meal and fish oil and otehr supplement you were talking about, i'm sure that that would help me  a lot. thank you so much for being such great parents, yuo help me more than you know and it's amazing just to know I can talk to you about anything. I hear about elders who don't have supportive parents or whatever and  I just don't know how Ird do it.

Other than that, I really, really like Nantes! It's been a good week. Guess what?! We got 5 member presents!!!!  [Note from Becky: I'm guessing "member presents" means member referrals?] In last transfer ALONE we had 8 in Charleroi. SO Member work is ON FIRE here and I'm so pumped to do great stuff with that. 

Other than that, I better close pretty quick but I'll give a couple auick little things: Sorry that it had to be so short, I'll send you a card tonight!

• Wandered in Paris on transfer day for 20 minutes and found my way to the gare: 
• Had great time in Nantes so far, humid, but when cool it's actually very nice
• Learning how to talk to peopel in metro and bus, actually love the testimony I can give of people that Dad mentioned, that we have a plan in this life, we have a purpose, we just have to make changes to be in accordance with that plan
• The love of God and the power of the Book of Mormon are real. I'm doing the Book of Mormon challenge in English, I decided, but it's going well. Not up to speed, but loving it; Love Mosiah 12 through 15 too. 
• France is SUPER COOl, we have a GREAAAT DMP which is ward mission leader, and we have AWESOME missionaries in the ward, SO we're going to do work here! 

Love you so much Mom and Dad, I'll pray fory ou in the things you're doing this week, preay that the Lord will bless you. I need to let you go but I'll print out your emials and keep those things in mind this week. Till next time, I love you so much, sincerely,

Elder Adam Edwards
Love you SOOOOO much!! You're the best every!

My address is:

• 8 Rue Lamoricière-Villa Lamoricière
• 44100 Nantes
• FRANCE

June 8, 2015 - Adam's Letter - His first transfer is to Nantes, France!

The missionaries do this kind of picture on transfer weeks. The numbers represent how many weeks they have been in the mission field. 

Hey Mom and Dad! 

So I have to be really fast today, but I have a lot to tell you! 

1. I'm being transferred out of Charleroi! Wooohooo I'm so happy! I finally get to go live in France! Oh yeah I'm excited. And on top of that, it's in Nantes, clear over in the other side of the mission. It's very south and on the west coast--I believe by the ocean! That means I can go there on P)day! And everyone says it's a sweet ville! I'm really excited! 
2. Thank you SO MUCH for the package! it got here safely!
3. ​I will be leaving, of course, Elder Williams, but we've gotten along pretty well, and I'l grateful for the time we've had. 
4. Guess what?! They're closing the Charleroi 2 equipe of elders, so Elder Harris and elder smith are both headed to France with me! Crazy, right? Elder Williams has a lot on his back with his new comp, Elder Gomez! Charleroi is a HUGE area for one equipe, prayers on their part would be much appreciated! 
5. Still kind of going through a rough spot, but grateful for the great things in my life. I'm so grateful that you both write me every week, Mom and Dad, there are missionaries parents who don't, or only one of them does weekly! So thank sa lot!
6. Today for P)Day, we were able to go to Brussels and see the ANTONIUM! It's a huge monument slash sculpture made in 1958 and recently refurbished in 2006 that looks like a molecule BUT you can go inside of it, too! I will include a couple pictures. You can actually go inside the big metal spheres and all the white tubes have stairs or escalators in them! 
7. Thanks Mom for your voice recordings--it's always nice to hear you guys, you're really good to take such good care of me. Thanks again for the calendar and water bottle and the candy. We'll get the stuff to Michel and Frère Cockx! I hope he and his family love it. Also I had to say goodbye to Michel last night--sad! 
8. I'm doing the Book of Mormon challenge with you! Elder Williams and I have been reading in the Book of Moromn in French the last six weeks so it's been good preparation, I guess. I may kind of cheat and count that, but I'll pretty much be doing the same thing. Thanks Mom! i hope I have the time for it, I'll see I guess. 
9. Progressing investigators--Marc and Nancy--we haven't seen either of them for two weeks. I guess it'd be a good thing to see each of them a couple times a week. But I'll have to call and say goodbye to them, I'm sure Elder Williams will do well tehre. 
10. Loved seeing the family pictures, that's so great
11. Life sounds crazy but thanks so much for everything! Holy cow I wish we could just talk too but it's okay, life goes on. 
12. I need to go, I'm sorry I can't write too much more, but I love you all TONS, and I hope the Lord will bless you in all you're doing! Umm is there anything I can do for all of you? I hope you all feel my love, I'm doing my best out here, the Lord's blessing us. Stay strong, y'all! 

​Well I don't really know what else to say, it's been a good week. I love you all. I'm really excited to go to France.  Please keep praying for me, that I'll have angels with the Priesthood around me to protect me, and that the Spirit and angels will guide me to people who are prepared to hear the gospel. Love you all. 

Till next week! 

Elder Edwards​

A package we sent to Adam for him and the two families who let him Skype us from their homes on Mother's Day and Christmas. 

​

This is MIchel, we played a couple games of chess to say goodbye

June 1, 2015 - Adam's letter - He gives a good pep talk to us!

Elder Williams and Elder Edwards

Wow, it is officially June! That means that Elder Harris and I have both been on our missions for 7 months! That's pretty crazy! Love you both a lot! 

Thank you so much for keeping me in the loop. Mom, you're a trooper! You are too Dad! Thanks for telling me abuot the Father and sons's campout and the Lagoon Day and the baptism. Woohoo! WOOHOO! That's stellar member missionary work. 

So I wanted to just discuss a few things. I guess that one of the things that's been bothering me is how many people in the Church fall away or become less-active. That's a pretty big part of our missions, to help people who have stopped being active become active again. It's bothered me because I realize how imperfect I am, and how all of us are all imperfect, and it's hard sometimes to deal with that, because we're all pretty much little children of Heavenly Father trying to figure thigns out down here! But it's good, too. I think that the answer lies in the truth and undying, unchanging 100 perfection of our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. What a powerful team they are with teh Holy Ghost. it helps me have hope, even after almost being thrown out of a less-active home yesterday, that people can stay strong in the CHurch. We were able to visit a family who makes up a great part of the ward here in Charleroi, with their multiple generations, the Wéry Family, and were able to ask them what has kept their family so active. They said that they didn't know, they've tried to do what's right and keep their family the best they can and do family home evening. But I sense there's also something inner, something maybe they don't notice, that is a very strong commitment to the gospel. So Mom and Dad, or anyone else, do you have any response to that? 

But don't worry, I'm doing okay. I am very grateful for the tools Mom you sent me, and also for lots fo things I can do to engage myself deeper in the gospel. There's nothing better than being out here, serving the Lord, though it comes at a great price. Even going door-to-door, you can fnid people who are prepared, we found a new investigator on a very unlikely, hard-to-find road this last week. I'm not sure we could find it again without theh help of a map, but we found it the first time witht he help of the Spirit. 

We were able to fidn 3 new investigators this week, which was awesome!!! We haven't been able to do that at all this trasnfer yet, so it was super cool! 

I'm grateful for the gospel, the scriptural promise that is given to us that if we wil live the gospel, we will receive "Peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come." I encourage everyone to make little scripture cards to write scripture references like that on them and just remind you of the truth and to refocus on your testimony in moments of difficulty and temptation. The word of God is powerful. He will sustain you if you keep your covenants with Him. 

Other than that, we will be working this week to try and keep meal times to within an hour. That's hard for me, because I really like to relax, but also, it's great to go and talk to people about the gospel. So it's good. We also had a great Zone Conference on Wednesday and I was able to talk with President, what a great blessing that was. We only get 9 or 10 of those per mission on average, so each one of those is precious! I've already had 3 of mine! 

Obedience is important. President Babin wrote me this week and said, "Elder Edwards, you'll feel much better about yourself if you start to be 100 percent obedient." So that's just a little thought for you all. 

I've noticed that in every situation, seemingly, when a member of teh Church falls away or is led away, it always starts with offense. And it always seems to be like they're looking for an excuse to leave, or looking for an easier path, e.g. it's easier to sleep than come to church, rather than something came up and truly suddenly uprooted there testimony. The only way possible for a good member who is reading the scriptures, praying, obeying the commandments, attending the temple if possible, going to church, doing Family Home Evening, etc. is if they let their concerns and worries get bigger than their faith. In other words, in the gospel, we have the choice to accept many great and beautiful truths, helps, and answers, esp. that of our Savior Jesus Christ, or the alternative of rejecting all this and choosing instead to base our lives off of a few wordly, clinging uncertainties. I think in this light the choice is clear. Read the Book of MOrmon every day. Join the challenge Mom is doing on Facebook. Don't let those things, those actions offend you. To be offended is a choice. NO ONE can offend you without your consent. If you choose to be considerably offended, it's because, whether in the moment or out, you chose to take it that way, and to take considerable personal harm to what was done, when the right way would have been to forgive them and keep on in the way of love that the Savior taught. 

It's imoprtant to give your best. Keep giving your best, my family! It's important to be obedient and do Famiyl Home Evening. How are you doing with that? I know that Monday night wasn't usually ours, but I invite you all to look into that, it's really something the prophets have asked us to do, and it may bring even more blessings than donig it Sunday night. 

We're trying to keep the Spirit with us all the time. Not always successful, of course, but it's going well. 

Thanks to everyone for the help with the rough spot I was going through the past few weeks, I appreciate it very much . THanks especially Mom, Dad, and family, Grandma Georgia and Brother Hughes. 

May God bless you all as you carry on in this blessed work. Be grateful every day for what the Lord gives you. Keep a daily journal, it'll help you bcome closer to the Lord and leave many valuable lessons for your posterity. Also, never be afraid to invite someone to hear the gospel message. And cling to the Savior with all your heart, might, mind, and strength. He will NEVER leave you, He will NEVER let you down. And I know this, you learn some thigns as His representative. Keep it up, keep your head up, and the Lord will help you with whatever problems you have. Talk to any priesthood leaders if necessary: that's not shameful, it's what the Lord wants! Start donig things the Lord's way: if you begin to focus on helping others, not yourself, and living the commandments, you have the recipe for happiness that billions of Father's children lack. Spread it to all the world. Go, go, go,! And we'll never quit until the great Jehovah shall say, "The work is done." 

God bless you all until next Monday! Sorry I didn't get to put in many stories, but I hope that will suffice. Also a efw pictures! 

No, I didn't get the package. Mom, you are so awesome to speak like that. Thanks for your support everyone! Zia is so cute! 

Love you, have a great week! 

[Note from Becky: I saved these pics from our mission Facebook page. They are from the Bruxelles, Belgium zone conference in Paris on May 28. Adam is sitting on the right side of the table, second from the back.] 

Adam is right in the middle on the second row.