Oklahoma City Auto Show (and old pictures of Elliot)

The Oklahoma City Auto Show opens this Wednesday at the Oklahoma State Fair Park.  Elliot would undoubtedly love to attend, as auto shows have been an Adair family tradition for many years.  The Adair boys (Keith, Elliot, and dad) eagerly anticipated the Los Angeles Auto Show every year.  When it finally arrived, we'd travel to downtown LA, park at dad's office, and walk down Figueroa to the Los Angeles Convention Center.  It was all about the cars.  We loved them all, but always spent a little extra time with the exotics.  After the show, we'd grab some lunch and head home with a bag of goodies and car brochures that would clutter the house for several days.  With the Adair boys now scattered near and far, the auto show tradition is one that may live on only in our memories.  But fortunately we do have some pictures and I thought it would be fun to share some of Elliot from the last auto show we attended, in 2008 while Keith was on his mission in the Dominican Republic.  We took dozens of pictures and sent them to Keith.  Enjoy them after the jump.

Elliot's February 28 email and pictures

Here's the latest from Elliot.  And he included three new pictures, which you can see after the jump.

Hello!

Say congrats to Alyssa for me! [Alyssa was accepted to BYU, starting this fall!] Three Cougars. Between us and Jimmer, BYU is the place to be! And that's awesome about Hawaii but not about getting sick.

I'm still doing just fine out here. I'm just continuing to work and trying to stay busy. We've been getting a lot of referrals lately especially from mormon.org so it's been good, but the only problem is some of the referrals are in towns that are far and it's hard to coordinate our schedule with those of others. But we've been getting some good work done and we're staying good and healthy.

Because of the short month and snow days we've had plenty of miles to spare so we've been able to be a little more fluid with where we go as opposed to being stuck in one town all day. We were even able to go to Corn, Oklahoma! It was pretty exciting, but a very, very small town. I'm getting accustomed to saying things like "y'all" and "fixin to" (for example: I'm "fixin to" play soccer after emails today, "y'all".) It's so fun learning two new languages out here; Spanish and Southern.

This past week was more or less slow. I don't know why but it just seemed like no one was home, appointments were falling through, and just things like that. And sometimes it can be a little discouraging feeling like nothing is happening. But that's where diligence comes in. We just kept on moving forward, tracting if that was all we had left. When the teaching pool gets thin that's what you gotta do. But we often have good experiences tracting. Just yesterday we tracted around a whole street and just got nothing except one potential, even though I think it was just a little old lady trying to be nice. I was still having a good time, it was a nice day and people were nice even if generally uninterested. But we just kept going until the last house which was pretty incredible. We both felt the Spirit like we walked into a wall when we came up to the house and we talked to this lady who told us about some of her problems she had going on like a son with a blood disorder and general sickness in the house. We didn't have too much time with her then, but she did take a Book of Mormon and told us to come back. I really hope that she reads it and acts on the promptings she gets. I don't really know what might come of us teaching her family but it was just another example to myself that I just need to keep moving forward no matter what, because God will put people in our path. So I just need to toughen up and keep doing what I'm supposed to do!

Well I love y'all and hope y'all are doing well! I'm looking forward to when me and Alyssa are in the same grade!

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Sports report: Elliot's Cougars win again!

We haven't had a sports report since the college football season ended so we're way overdue.  Today's report features Elliot's BYU Cougar basketball team, which is having a fantastic season.  Today, the Cougars, who are currently ranked no. 7 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, traveled to Southern California where they played conference rival San Diego State Aztecs.  Under the leadership of outstanding senior guard Jimmer Fredette, the Cougars beat the Aztecs 80-67.  Jimmer scored 25 points and added 9 assists, with strong support from junior guard/forward Charles Abouo, with 18 points and four 3-pointers.  Junior forward Noah Hartsock (of Bartlesville, Oklahoma) and senior guard Jackson Emery were big contributors also, tossing in 15 and 13 points, respectively.  The Cougars, with a stellar 27-2 record, lead the Mountain West conference by a game over the Aztecs and are primed for a high seed in the NCAA basketball tournament.  Jimmer is the leading candidate for NCAA player of the year honors and leads the nation with a 27.1 per game scoring average.  We'll keep track of the Cougars' progress through the end of the season and into the NCAA tournament.

For more on Jimmer, here's a link to a great video.

P.S.  The biggest BYU news this week has nothing to do with the basketball team.  Not even close.  The top story of the week is that Elliot's sister Alyssa was accepted at BYU and will be a freshman there this fall!  Led by Elliot's older brother Keith, who is there currently with his wife Kim, all three Adair siblings are now Cougars.  When Elliot returns to BYU fall semester of 2012-13, all three siblings will be reunited in Provo (and their parents will be hoping for scholarships!).

Elliot's February 22 email

Here is Elliot's (brief!) email.  Hopefully we'll get a letter soon.

Hello!

Sorry I couldn't email yesterday, and I don't have much time today, but how's it going?

I'm doing fine this week. We're gonna be fed just about every night from here on out. My new companion is Elder Kimber. He's from Brigham City, Utah. He's a really good guy and a great missionary but I don't know about his driving!

We have had a good amount of success this past week and we're staying busy. We got a new baptismal date with Mariabel! I think I mentioned her a few emails ago. Hopefully I can send you more info in a letter!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Fun facts about Oklahoma

We missed our weekly Monday email from Elliot today.  I won't get all excited this time and blame it on Somali pirates again.  But since we didn't get an email, I thought it would be fun to share some fun facts about Oklahoma.  I can't verify the truthfulness of any of these facts but since they are on the internet, they must be true, right?  Read the facts after the jump.

Mormon Messages: "Families Can Be Together Forever"

The Church has posted a new video on its YouTube channel, "Mormon Messages."  It is about the eternal nature of families and includes a brief message from President Henry B. Eyring.  Perhaps the most important message Elliot carries to the people of Oklahoma is that families can be together forever.  As we read in "The Family: A Proclamation to the World,"

the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children. . . . The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.  Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

Please enjoy the video after the jump.

Adair State Park in Oklahoma

Located within the city limits of Stilwell in northeastern Oklahoma is Adair State Park.  No, it was not named for Elliot.  He'll never even get to visit, since it falls outside his mission boundaries.  But we like having a state park with the family name in Oklahoma, even if we haven't been able to make a direct family link to the naming of the park (yet).  There are a bunch of pictures of the park and a couple of links after the jump. 

Elliot's second February 14 email with pictures!

Here's Elliot's second (brief) email of today, along with three pictures that you can see after the jump.

Here are three pictures too!

One is that -7 sign, another a text from President and his wife, and then me in Bessie. Bessie is so small it's awesome. We tracted about half of the whole town in around an hour and 45 minutes.

Elliot's February 14 email

Here's today's email from Elliot.  The weather has turned for the better, with temperatures no longer in the negative digits!  He'll get a new companion on Wednesday, Elder Kimber, but we don't know anything about him yet.  Hopefully we'll learn more next week.  I've posted some pictures of a couple of the Oklahoma towns Elliot mentions, Cordell and Bessie.  And I just got another short email from Elliot with some pictures.  I'll post those separately.  Enjoy Elliot's email after the jump.

29th annual Norman Chocolate Festival

They celebrated Elliot's birthday in a big way in Norman, Oklahoma (by Oklahoma City) on Saturday with the 29th annual Norman Chocolate Festival. Don't watch the video if you're hungry. But if you do watch it, don't miss the little girl with her hair in curlers (at :30) and the huge plate of chocolate chip cookies (at 1:40).

Elliot's February 7 email

Here's the latest email from Elliot.  It's been cold and snowy in Clinton and he was sick this week, but he was able to celebrate his birthday and even had cake, so all things considered it sounds like he had a great week.

Hey Family!

So it was really a pretty slow week in reality. Because of the snow our cars got grounded starting Tuesday and we couldn't go anywhere until Saturday. Snow on the mission=opposite of fun. And then I got sick to my stomach starting Tuesday lasting really until yesterday. Yesterday I weighed in at 149, the lightest I've been since I was a Junior. Kind of a rough week, but I did have a very fun birthday! We were able to get out and work and were able to talk to a lot of people. That's what makes the mission good; just doing the work. Meeting people and teaching. It doesn't get better than that. And then at night we celebrated my birthday with Josh and Lauren, our ward mission leader and his wife. We had a cake and everything so it was cool.

Glad to hear it's going good at home. A Prius would be sweet. My auto mechanic for a companion gives a thumbs up! And give Alyssa a high five for the second place for Sound Vibes!

So despite being under the weather and the weather being under, I learned a lot this week. I read like 300 or so pages (which is a whole lot for me) from Jesus the Christ which is awesome. President Taylor extended the challenge for all of us missionaries to read it before the end of the year along with the Book of Mormon. In Preach My Gospel there's a quote that goes something like "The more you learn about the Atonement the more your desire to share it with others will increase." It's true. I wanted nothing more after having read so much to go out and talk to people and see how those we are teaching are doing. We had a few awesome lessons too. We met with Mariabel, and investigator that I hadn't met before because she had been in Mexico for a month, and it was so cool. We read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and afterward she related a story about how she had helped a white lady pay for her medication because she was about a dollar short. The lady was very grateful and even in terrible Spanish said "Gracias" a few times. It reminded me of what I had read in the past week about gratitude in the story of the 10 lepers, and I told her that. In D&C 50 it talks about preaching the Gospel by the Spirit and verse 22 says "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." These are the best experiences where you feel that growth of understanding and knowledge along with the investigator. This was one of those experiences. Her charity and the example of gratitude from the other lady increased my faith and I'm sure hers (testimonies grow by the bearing of them), and because of her experience we were able to refer back to the Savior and His perfect example for us. Lessons like that are always incredible and I have a lot of hope for her and her family because of it.

Well I love you all and am grateful for everything!

Love,

Elder Elliot Adair

Happy Birthday, Elliot!

Twenty years ago today, Elliot Clifford Adair arrived in North Hollywood, California.  We can't share his 20th birthday with him but we wish him a very happy birthday and hope he got some cake.  Speaking of cake, after the jump you can see a couple of pictures of Elliot from 16 years ago, including one of him with his birthday cake and his Grandpa Munson.  Happy birthday, Elliot!

Newhall First Ward missionary newsletter

Here is the most recent Newhall First Ward missionary newsletter from Sister Connie Hollingworth.  We really appreciate her putting this together every month!  Enjoy the newsletter after the jump.