This ship could stay in the harbor but that's not what ships are built for.

Yes, I am leaving. Time to sail! Can't even believe all that has
happened this week. But the highlight was definitely eating a whole
fish, eyeballs and all. Okay that wasn't the highlight, but it was a
top runner. I get little butterflies (or fisheys) in my stomach every
time I think about it. It completely ruined my appetite for Swedish
fish...like forever. But on a more real note, I have learned so much
this week about things that will help me for the rest of my time in
New York as well as the rest of my life. I have been studying a lot
about accountability lately and have felt a real sense of urgency for
this wok to move forward as well as the need to be more accountable to
Heavenly Father about how I spend every second, here and for the rest
of my life. Chapter 8 in PMG was mind-blowing, I loved this part: "the
attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of
your love towards your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect
for the priesthood." Well obviously I love Him and so I have been
trying to make my mission (and my life) a reflection of that love. It
is hard to always align our actions with what we are trying to
accomplish and with what God wants, but I know as we try we will be
blessed for having the faith to attempt.

We have met some awesome people this week! It's so crazy to me how
Sister Cox and I will set a goal with a certain person in mind and we
always reach our goals but it always seems to be with different
people! The Lord has put a lot of people in our path who are ready to
hear the gospel and that has been such a blessing for us. The lady who
got baptized last week was a perfect example of that. We have had a
lot of cool lessons about faith this week as well, it's weird how you
see different patterns in investigators as they progress towards
baptism. We are teaching an adorable couple who just had the sweetest
baby. Obviously it is a real struggle for me to restrain myself from
taking the little sweetheart every time we go over there. It is so
cool for me to see the faith of those who are investigating...I wonder
if I would have had that same faith if I was in their position.

We watched the Women's Meeting, the time difference was a real
struggle, it started at 8pm here and we had driven to Woodside to
watch it so like 40 minutes away. We were in the car during transfer
calls. *tears* *sobbing* *depression* This is my last day in Belle
Harbor for now. I don't want to leave but the good news is it isn't
about what I want so I'm just ready for wherever I go and whomever I'm
paired with and I know that that's where Heavenly Father needs me. I
was fine at first but as I started thinking about the people here it
just got harder and harder. I am so grateful for the experiences I've
had here and for the people I've come to love. This is getting fruity
so I'm just gonna stop at that. But I had to give a impromptu
15-minute talk which I ugly cried through the entirety of. Thanks for
that gene Pa (not the ugly part, the crying part). But I can't even
handle how much I love these people. They are my family and my life so
it's kinda hurting right now but I'll just eat a can of corn and I'll
be fine. And I will miss the missionaries here just as much. Sister
Cox has been sooooo great for me to have as a companion and I'm just
sad it had to end this soon. She's is all right that girl, let me tell
you what. Words can't go out as to how much I love and respect her.
But enough is enough so I'm just gonna throw in the towel and I guess
next week you'll know where I'm at!

So so grateful for this gospel and for the strength it's given me to
do what I need to do and strive to be the person I need to be. I'm so
grateful for the changes I've seen in others as well as we bring them
closer to Christ. If you're thinking about going on a mission, stop
thinking about it and start your papers, it is the best decision you
could ever make, no matter who you are.
Love you all so much!
Sister Wadsworth


Sorry for the pic overload, this isn't even half of them...
1. Favorite comp for lifeeeee
2. Trying to take a district selfie but Elder Voorhees wouldn't get in it
3. The Plunkett Clan
4. My girl Dia and Clinford, the one who introduced her to us!
5. One of our strongest families in the branch!
6. Can you tell they're for the philippeans? #giantswag
7. Some of the ladies from the branch...what a riot.
8. Ladies from the branch part II
9. My girl Eli
10. These two...no words can describe the love. John and Cathy.
11. Farewell cake from Steve & Terry for me and another elder who is
being transferred.

Rockin Rockaway Beach

Dear Family:
This week has been INCREDIBLE. Easily one of the best so far. It
didn't start off too crazy, we had zone activity, most of which Sister
Cox and I completely ditched cause we'd rather write our families than
play football, then we had a lesson with Dia, my favorite person in
Rockaway. As we were waiting outside her apartment a lady comes up to
us and askes if we'll teach her. Um, of course we will haha I'll take
free investigators any day! On Tuesday we had our usual district
meeting, which is always good. Elder Nugent served in Bermuda before
this so he brings his ukulele and we sing to that on the opening and
closing songs. Afterwards we went to this ghetto Chinese restaurant
called 5-star, but if I was gonna rate it it'd be called 1-star. We
had an enjoyable lunch there until a cockroach started walking across
the table. None of us said anything, we all just grabbed our food and
walked out...it was hysterical. Tuesday night I went on exchanges to
Lynbrook with Sister Beacher. We got there at like 8:30 at night and
then next morning we had to take their car into Forest Hills for a
recall so we chilled there and talked to people. We met a college-age
guy in Starbucks and actually had such a good conversation with him!
He was catholic but believed all the same things we do. I was on a
roll asking him questions that were getting him thinking and I think
he enjoyed our conversation. Yay for the plan of salvation. We were
walking down the street and this old man walks past us and then turns
around and just started SCREAMING profanities at us. It was different
that's for sure, I'm not sure why he was calling me all those things
but I guess it's a change from being asked if I'm a nun? I was trying
not to laugh cause he was so ridiculous and we just kept walking away
and were like dying laughing. But whatever, the exchange ended and
{once again} I realized how much I love being with Sister Cox here.

Wednesday we exchanged back and saw Dia again and planned her baptism
more, we also went and saw a sister in the branch...remember the time
I almost had to use my pepper spray last week? Well it was at this
place but this time there was a white guy sitting on the steps,
completely wasted out of his mind. I was trying to walk up the steps
but as I walked past him he tried to grab my leg but I slipped out and
ran up the stairs, flipping out of course. We had a wonderful lesson
with this lady and her beautiful kids, but when we came back out I was
scared out of my mind that we were gonna die. There were like 7 huge
black guys talking about their drug deals and we seriously jogged to
our car (I think they didn't see us cause it was dark). We locked the
doors and peeled outta there. Needless to say we are NEVER going back
there.

Thursday we took a sister in the branch to do baptisms for the first
time. Can't believe that's my 7th time going to the temple in 4
months. I'm super lucky. I was the team leader this time cause the
elders had never taken the ferry and you'd be surprised that most of
the people here in Rockaway have NO idea how to get around Manhattan.
I might have a pretty big head right now cause I got us to Manhattan
on the ferry, through the subway, and then walked to the temple
without getting lost! Never thought that day would come haha. It was a
beautiful day and such a good trip. The sister loved the temple and we
are going to get her in the temple class so she can prepare to go
back. That night we went and saw a sister in the branch. She and her 3
girls are the most hysterical thing I have seen in my life. They just
trash talked each other all day long. We seriously recorded them
talked because it's so funny. Oh and she made us the greatest dinner
EVER.

Friday we taught Dia again. She wasn't sure about Joseph Smith being a
prophet but luckily I (and by "I" I mean the spirit) told her to read
Alma 32 the last time we came, so she had read that and then we read
through Joseph Smith History with her and she was able to be
interviewed that night and she answered positively to all the
questions! Sister Cox and I started dancing in the pad, it is our
first person to go all the way from being found to being baptized! And
we freakin love Dia so obviously we were so happy. On Saturday we did
a stake day of service cleaning up around Rockaway so that was good.
I'm sure you saw all the ugly pictures on Facebook with my hair in my
face...story of my life.

Sunday was so awesome! Church was great, we taught gospel principals
and had a really great discussion. Last night was Dia's baptism! It
was seriously so perfect, it was on the beach at sunset and the water
was like glass. Too bad the elders didn't know there were jelly fish
on the ocean floor, Elder Jensen's face was straight money...not sure
if he got bit or what but it was stinkin funny. A lot of the branch
showed up to support her and that was amazing. So basically I love my
life and I am so grateful for the gospel, it is helping these people
so much and it's helping me so much too. Cross your fingers we don't
get any transfer/training calls this week!
Love ya all,
Sister Wadsworth

1. On the way to Manhattan on the ferry!
2. The one. The only. Sister wadsworth.  ...totally unplanned
3. Outside Francis's house wearing Steve's hoodie cause it all the
sudden got chilly.
4. Us with Shai (shy) ...wearing the dress Francis gave me from the 40s.
5&6.  Dia's Baptism!

 

Name of the week: Topramenisha

Say it slow {top-ramen-isha}
Okay I'm kidding but seriously, there are so  many weird names out
here. The baby name page in my journal is overflowing with names like
"Naquanna." Sorry Ma and Pa, your grand kids are outta luck. The power
went out, I almost had to use my pepper spray twice, and I almost got
my head shaved by some lady from Peru. Lotsa close calls folks. But
that's beside the point. So we got like 10 new investigators and we
were following up with them and got rejected by half of them at return
appointments after they seemed interested so that hurt because you
seriously get emotionally attached to people so quickly and then when
they don't want to keep learning about the gospel it's pretty
crushing. But that's okay because there are other people who are truly
prepared. We had 3 investigators at church! The family we are
teaching, and our girl Dia. I think the family was super weirded out
by our ward cause they come in and there are like 30 people, and the
talks were on self-reliance...I feel another drop coming on.

One of our new members brought a friend to church and we have been
teaching her all of this week. On Thursday night she asked us if she
could make an appointment to be baptized. I had the biggest smile on
my face, mostly because of the way she said it, but I just know that
baptism and this gospel will make her so happy and carry her through
her struggles. Oh wait let me back up ... We had a mission-wide fast
that each companionship could baptize 1 person and take 1 person to
the temple before the end of the month. We have 4 people who are
supposed to be baptized in the next 2 weeks but they all have some
sort of hang up with either word of wisdom, or they won't come to
church...whatever. But we had this fast and first of all we had 80
people at church which was a miracle in itself, but then this new girl
shows up and she's so ready to be baptized, it was just a crazy
testimony to me that fasting really does work!

We also went and talked to this sweet sweet lady, Joanna. Oh my
goodness she is absolutely perfect as far as the things of this world.
She has an impeccable, humongous house that is perfectly decorated and
a huge pool, she has a perfect body, hair, wardrobe, and her husband
is super jacked and a lawyer and makes lots of money and they drive
nice cars, but beside all that she has the biggest heart. You'd think
someone who looks like she does wouldn't be very friendly, but she is
constantly helping people on the streets and giving people help. We
talked with her for almost 2 hours about the miracle of forgiveness
and how she can live life to the fullest despite the temptations we
might face. I seriously don't know why she's not Mormon haha but she
is such a good example to me of the kind of person I want to be, she
would do anything for anybody. She's Greek and she gave us all this
Greek food which I'm obsessed with now. It's seriously so funny
though, people think we are perfect and never do anything wrong and
that we have all the answers to every question when really some of the
stuff she was saying helped me! I've just been thinking how crazy it
is, the things I learn from others on my mission.

I've actually been thinking a lot about education since everyone is
going back to school. Dude, I have two degrees, a lot of job
experience, and a pretty good resume. But seriously none of that
matters, because I have learned more in the last 4 months than I have
all throughout high school and college and all the jobs I've had, and
besides that the things I've  learned here actually MATTER! Please
don't let "education" get in the way of EDUCATION. Read your
scriptures, pray, get close to God. He will help you far more than a
tutor or a teacher. Don't take religion as an easy A, it can be of
real worth if you let it. I say all this cause I didn't do it, and I
can see the difference it would have made if I would have. Anyways,
sorry for being preachy.

On another note we drove past some construction and I saw a loader
using the quick-detach bucket and he just slid it right off and I went
off to Sister Cox for like 15 min about how much better Deere is than
Ford and how nice the quick-detach loaders are. You can take the girl
out of the country but you can't take the dang blasted redneck out of
the girl. It was seriously so embarrassed when I realized how much I
was talking about it. If I were her I would hard pass me but she loves
me for who I am so that's good. We have memorized all the lessons
together! Our teaching is so much more smooth as we build off the
points in our lessons. We have more comp flow and I have seen the
difference in the spirit as we teach because we are more prepared.

I love it here and am so grateful to be in Belle Harbor with Sis Cox,
she is the cats pajamas that girl. I know that the gospel is true and
that if we can live it it will bless our lives far more than we can
comprehend. I have also seen Satan working hard in the lives of some
of the people when he sees them about to do the right things. You just
gotta beat the satan bug guys he is real and he is smart, but if we
are on Christ's side we cannot lose,
I love ya all!
Sister Wadsworth


Pics:
1. District p-day, of course Sis Cox wasn't tall enough so I had to
lift where I stand.
2. Oh look, it's sister wadsworth when she doesn't do her hair and
make up! But we found this cool beach and I NEEDED a picture of it.
3. On second thought, I'll just take a pic of the beach by itself. Yay.
4. The gold chain was inspired by Mo Mo. It's all the rage here.
5. The Atlantic beach!
6. I couldn't get over the ocean on Friday, it looked like there were diamonds !
7. We came in for dinner hour and Sister Cox made pudding so of course
I had to teach her how to make cream puffs with it! She's a natural.

 

 

From the 718, with love

What up fam! This week has been soooo great, I love it more here every
day. When I first came on a mission it was probably my worst fear that
I would end up with a horrible companion. I've discovered that the
only thing that's as bad as that is ending up with a companion you are
best friends with, because it's so hard to not feel like you're in
normal life with your best friend. Sister Cox and I laugh constantly
and something is always funny. I can't even deal with her sarcasm
sometimes. Some of the stuff she says and does just straight slays me.
It makes the work fun and we find incredible happiness in teaching the
gospel together #blessings.

We have had so much success this week, The Lord has prepared so many
people to hear the message we have. We found 5 new investigators in 2
hours on the way to our lessons. One lady told us she had prayed to
God that angels would come and talk to her cause she was lonely and
she needed help raking her leaves and we came walking down the street!
Whoever said people in New York are rude didn't know what they were
taking about (unless they're driving, then they can get pretty messy).
I love the people here, they are the sweetest things ever! Oh except
for our Branch Presidents wife. We were at her house and I made a fat
kid joke and she looks at me and is like "it's okay you're only a
little chubby." Well I guess it's time to hit the gym kids. But the
best part was that she started telling me that no one would marry me
because I'm not fat ENOUGH. Lady. You're scarin me. She told us about
how if you wanna get married in Africa they put you in a "fat room"
for 6 months, they give you massages and feed you food and you just
sit there for 6 months and then after that you are ready to get
married cause you're squishy enough. Someone should tell that fat room
to go die.

We had exchanges...if you wanna know how to rip my heart out just take
Sister Cox away for a day. I seriously missed her, but with every
exchange comes a miracle, a traffic violation, and getting hit on so
it was a good day. We have had so many good experiences with our
members lately! We have two members that are seriously just straight
money when it comes to taking them to lessons. I am excited to be that
person for the missionaries when I get home. We had a mega-zone
conference on Thursday and we met with President Calderwood and
President Glass, our stake president. We talked about ways to hasten
the work. President Calderwood said that "every member should be a
missionary and every missionary should be a member." Sister Cox and I
have been given like 3 callings in the branch and we are kinda
supposed to be members and missionaries. We are supposed to visit
teach all the ladies in the branch and teach Sunday school and help
with relief society, plus meet all our goals as a district and zone so
it seems like a lot but I know that as we unite with the members we
will move the work forward faster and more effectively. I would
encourage all you members to reach out to the less-actives and
investigators and fellowship them. It is our responsibility to bring
everyone back to our Heavenly Father and we do that as we help them
participate in the ordinances of baptism and partaking of the
sacrament. I was reading a talk by the presiding bishop and he said
that "In our family we have an ancestor who joined the Church in
Europe in the early days of the Church. One son became inactive.
Sister Edgley and I have attempted to track the inactive descendants
of this ancestor. It was easy for my wife and me to conclude that
during the following six generations and with reasonable assumptions,
there could be a loss of up to 3,000 family members. Now project two
more generations. The loss could theoretically approach 20,000 to
30,000 of our Heavenly Father’s children." I just think of that
scripture that says "remember, the worth of souls is great in the
sight of God." Each person is so important in God's eyes, and they
should be in our eyes as well. I'm so grateful for the people here and
for their humility to listen to our message.

Church was the ultimate miracle, we had 80 people! Last week we had
like 60 so that was a huge jump, and 9 of our investigators came! And
they loved it, and fellowshipped each other, and cried, and left
feeling more welcome...it was just the happiest day of my life. Sister
Cox and I taught gospel principals. Every time that girl opens her
mouth I just want to bow down to her. She has the firmest testimony I
have ever seen, especially in a 19-year-old, and she teaches with
clarity and power. I feel like an idiot when we teach together cause
I'm all over the place cause I get really excited about the gospel,
and she is just calm, collected, and ready to move mountains. It was
seriously the best Sunday of my life.

On a lighter note, I got super tired of my hair so I went in the
bathroom and cut it. Probs not the best idea. You can't tell though so
I got over it real quick. And we got asked if we were actual sisters
so that was pretty great. And no one has called me a nun in like a
month so I'm pretty much super stoked on life right now. It's super
hot here, like disgustingly hot with the humidity, so we are kinda
excited for fall. Somebody in town saw a shark on the beach the other
day so that was fun. We are supposed to go the temple on 9/11 so if I
get killed or something while we're in Manhattan I'm sorry mom. Hope
you all have a great week, I love "yous guys!" (Brooklyn expression,
totally grammatically incorrect and redundant)

xoxo
Sister Wadsworth

Photos:
1. Cox&Wads❤️
2. District beach workout..our Saturday tradish
3. Me and JJ..so presh
4. Mixing up some quick set for the tile @ Friends of Rockaway
5. On our way to Rego Park stuck in traffic...not impressed
6. District pic at the zone thing

 

Well shootsies, I'm pretty frazzled from this last week, mostly
because I actually have to do stuff instead of just stand there and
watch. No more nail painting during weekly planning lol. This week was
hysterical, but not in the way my weeks are usually a good laugh.
First off, we go to district meeting and pretty much get a major
chastisement for not committing people to baptism the first time we
meet them. I'm just not pushy and if someone tried to commit me to
baptism before I knew their name I'd tell them to jump in the bay! But
I believe that our leaders know what is best so Foxy Cox and I decided
to do our best. We've taught a lot of awkward first lessons, it's bad
enough when you're asking someone to be baptized when you can't
pronounce their name, and then you add the language barrier, the age
difference, the fact that I'm whiter than vanilla ice cream, the part
where they're pretty much on drugs, and the fact that I'm
homeschooled, and let me just say that leads to a pretty rad baptismal
commit! So far 1 was shot down and 2 were accepted but we have return
appointments with everyone so I am hoping that no matter how
awkward/bad of teachers we are the spirit will work on them and
they'll come to know it's true. Cug. Oh I guess I never explained the
cug to you guys. That'll probs have to wait till I get home, but for
right now just know that it is a term used when shiz gets awkward.

We did service for Francis again. We started playing this game where
if we like something we take it to her and we tell her how cool it is
and then she tells us to take it home. Okay it was mostly the elders
but I was pretty slayed by the whole thing and just hysterical the
whole time. Mom that "haste makes waste" sign came from her. You can
put it up in the kitchen in memory of her if you want but you know
that's going in my trophy wife house when we get married. Dude the
amount of stuff she has is seriously crazy. The contents of her living
room are probs worth a fortune. I will be a forever minimalist after
meeting her, bless her soul. We got this picture for our kitchen and
it's actually sooo classy I will attach a pic.

Saturday we had a district birthday breakfast for Elder Baker's 21st
birthday! Sister Cox and I made these things where you get bread, cut
off the crust, flatten the slice with a rolling pin (didn't have one
so we used a can of green beans #thrifty), spread with Nutella and
throw some strawberries in, roll up, dip in French toast egg stuff,
cook on the griddle, rolling it as you cook, and then sprinkle with
cinnamon sugar. Let's just say it'll probably be the best birthday
he's ever had. But we made French toast bake with the bread crust
(once again, #thrifty) and I whipped up some apple pie filling and
strudel and we baked it right up...so YUM. Anyways enough fat kids
probs, we got fed a lot this week and it was good food so I'm not
complainin! Okay but wait there actually was a time when it was a
problem. So I'm like STARVING cause we go to Beyonca's birthday party
and we were supposed to eat at 5 and it was 7 so I'm just ravenous at
this point. Anyways I get sent into the house with Sister got to fetch
some spoons for the food. Well I'm dying and there's a Little Caesar's
pizza box on the counter from earlier so I'm like "oh I'll just grab a
piece!" Mmmm better not! There were cockroaches crawling in the box
and over the last crusty slice and then I look at the ground and
they're crawling all around our feet so we might have screamed like
girls, grabbed the spoons, and ran outta there like it was a dollar
van we were gettin out of.

Sister Cox had her first run-in with a cockroach a few hours previous.
Haha. We were sitting at a families' house with the elders and all the
sudden Sister Cox is pretty much sitting on my lap and grabbing my
arms. I'm like "what?" "what?" And I look over and there's this HUGE
cockroach crawling up her arm. The elders are such gentlemen, Elder
Voorhees smacked the thing with his iPad and then they traded couches
with us. I dunno why members do this, but they invite us over and then
leave us in the living room to talk to each other and then they do
whatever. Which is fine cause then when cockroaches come we don't feel
bad smacking them. Flashback to when one was crawling by my shoe but I
didn't wanna stamp on it in front of the lady, so I'm like freaking IN
instead of out as I watch it crawl back under the couch. Oh the
struggle.

Oh my goodness though, we went to see two of our favorite sisters,
they are besties and had just gone shopping and were on their way to a
party. We had tried to call ahead but they hadn't responded. So they
let us in and immediately started to cook us dinner even though they
were supposed to be to a party in Yonkers in a half hour. It takes
like an hour to drive there. So I ironed the sisters clothes while she
took a quick shower except it was hilarious cause she kept changing
her mind about what to wear so once I got one outfit ironed she would
change her mind and throw me another one. I was seriously hysterical
it was the funniest thing of my life. I think I ironed like 5 outfits.
The members take such good care of us I seriously freakin love them.

But on a more spiritual note, we found the most pure family in New
York and they committed to get baptized! I am seriously in love with
them. It's so weird how attached you get to people after just one
visit because you spend hours planning what and how to teach them,
scheduling them into your week, and praying over them. This place
really feels like home to me. Something I've realized is that no
matter where I'm at, the gospel is what brings me peace. Living the
doctrine of Christ is "home." As long as we are doing the right things
we can be comfortable with our lives...more importantly, we can be
comfortable with the spirit guiding us. This gospel has brought me
more joy & happiness than anything and it is such a blessing to be
able to share it with others. I love it here and am so happy to be
doing the Lord's work. Hope you all have a great week!
Sister Wadsworth


Pics!
Pics 1&2 The girls (got baptized a few weeks ago) and their lemonade
stand! Raising money to buy a dog...totes presh
3, 4, & 5 Byonca's 6th birthday!
6&7 just the life of the Belle Harbor Beach Bums
8. District Breakfast for Elder Bakers birthday! Don't mind the bed heads lol
9. District P-day building sand tunnels on the beach...classic
10. The trophy wife skills coming out..