This week....? Fuhgeddaboudit

Dear Family:

Another monumental week here in NY! It snowed every day this week, we took someone to the temple, and the "restart" is now underway! Every night when I come how I am just in awe at how blessed I am to be serving here. It is unreal the way in which the gospel blesses me, our family, and the people here. 

Monday was a bit unusual because we got our hair done!! A new lady in the ward from Montreal, CA did it for us for free and she did an awesome job! The blessings of having a hairstylist called as a ward missionary. We were also able to get to know her and she is an incredible person! I love getting to know new people. We did the usual "run 5 different companionships to the grocery store" and then....we got to skype JeongAh!!!!! She's been back in So. Korea for a month now and it was so good to hear her voice! She is so precious, we were asking her about the church there and she said "I like it, the carpet is the same." Classic. I am grateful that we come to church for the spirit, because it is the same everywhere. I feel the same when I walk into the Woodside building as I did back at home. Something I have learned here is the importance of keeping the Lord's house clean. I hope we are all careful and mindful of the condition in which we keep our places of worship. 

Tuesday we had an awesome District Mtg, our district leader shared a video about the importance of the atonement in missionary work (and life) based on a talk from Elder Holland "Missionary Work & the Atonement", one of my favorites. I wish I could quote the whole talk here, but I loved this line "salvation is not a cheap experience." I think we too often get down on ourselves when times get hard or when things don't go like we planned. We forget that it is supposed to be hard. That's how we learn. President always says "stop trying to serve your mission with the companion you want, in the area you want, the way you want. Serve the Lord's mission and you will learn what you need to." It's the same in life. Do it God's way and you will learn what he wants you to. It is important that we don't take the atonement for granted--it should be a part of every day of our lives. I hope we don't waste this precious gift because if we are applying it properly, we will always be happy. 

Also taught the RS president and her brother how to make biscuits and gravy. Sooo presh. The brother was like "woooowww" the whole time, he couldn't believe how cool it was how they rose in the oven. 

Wednesday was the fateful day of no more Facebook! (Amen. I kinda hate Facebook.) we've been off it for like 5 days now and I seriously feel free as a bird! Should have done this sooner. It will be so refreshing to use it properly after we have been trained (and train ourselves) to do so. We got the new iPads and sent our old ones back to Salt Lake. We had an amazing multi-zone conference to kick off the restart, as well as launch all missionaries into the 12-program for technology. It's like we are at the beginning of our "technology mission." There were incredible workshops by President and the APs about teaching, fulfilling our purpose, and using Gospel Library andMormon.org. Dude check that website out the church has put a lot of effort into it. Also, a senior missionary gave a workshop about family history! I definitely learned some new things! Just because your family tree is complete doesn't mean you're done! You can go to your ancestors and complete their descendancy to find all your long lost third cousins! I know that family history is a commandment for all of us, not just old people, and that as we do it we will gain the power to resist the temptations of our day. After the conference we went and indexed with some members (how appropriate) our branch has a goal for each person to do 50 names each quarter. It's really easy and fun when you do it with others! Check that out too. 

Thursday it snowed alllll day. We had to cancel our lesson at the university with John because the traffic and roads were bad. We shoveled the walks at the church and weekly planned and then got on the train into Manhattan early because there were so many delays. We only missed one stop, and I can proudly say after 10 months that I can finally understand the subway map! Car areas ruin your ability to find anything or get anywhere without a GPS. Anyway so we got there early and met the members in the Family History Center inside the same building as the temple. The lady that worked there was Sister Hanson, from Fallon NV!! Haha what the heck we didn't know any of the same people so it was kind weird but it was cool to meet her! My companion printed off 57 family names and we did them all! She is no longer the only member in her family haha. We met a lady there who is a ballerina and was like 67 years old. She was so cool. Sister Pratt. It was a really good experience for the member, she hasn't been in quite some time, and it was a special time for all of us. Afterwards we went to this place called Shake Shack and it was sooo good. I love the members of this branch, they are so accepting of everyone and so kind. That is something I love about New York. Everyone is so different that you have to be accepting. There are no "black sheep" because the herd is every different shape, color, and size. There is no "normal." 

Friday we took one of the girls from the branch to do manis. We are helping her get back to the temple and she is the sweetest thing ever! She took us out to Subway and we had a really great lesson with her. There was also a Relief Society anniversary dinner that night and one of the ladies was supposed to do a musical number and she wanted me to "make up" an accompaniment for "As Sisters in Zion." Well I've been practicing this thing where I mess around with hymns and try to make them sound prettier, and the number actually turned out well! Especially considering it was kind of on the spot. My piano game has been pretty strong on the mission, and I know the Lord makes us more than we actually are when we are trying to do His work. Saturday was a HUGE women's conference with a ton of workshops and a blood drive and all this different stuff. The YSA girls did a beauty and fashion workshop and they said they wanted us to help out so we were like "ok yeah" expecting them to need help setting up chairs. Nope! We walk in and they're like "Sister Wadsworth, put on this dress!" And basically made a model out of me. Good thing I decided that was a good day to not wear makeup haha. And all the clothes they had were like size 0 so I looked like a heifer but it was really fun and I LOVE the girls in the YSA, they are all so down-to-earth and kind. We had a lot of investigators come too! It was a great turnout. Sunday we went to a members house and they had this furniture in boxes that's been sitting in their house since I met them and they still haven't put it together! They let me set it up and it was soooo great. I felt so at home. I felt like everything Pa taught me was finally being put to good use! It was probably the funnest thing I did all week lets be honest. 

I read a wonderful talk this week by President Packer from back in the day and he talked about how some of the pioneers went through that long and painful winter on the way to Salt Lake. One man said that the sun rose one morning and it was so bright and warm he practically forgot the horrible journey he had been on for the last 6 months. It is the same way with the atonement and forgiveness. No matter how long we suffer or how difficult it might be, when we feel Christ's forgiveness we can forget that pain and look to our future with faith and purpose. I am so grateful for the atonement and for God's love in our lives. He cares so much about each one of His children, I feel so blessed to be a witness of that every day. 

I am grateful to all of you for your support and love! (: 

xoxo

Sister Wadsworth

1. My beautiful trainer is going home this transfer! ): 

2. Fun snow day in Manhattan at the temple

3. Erica and Steven, probably the funniest people on the planet. 

4. Teaching some Filipinos how to make biscuits! (FYI her shirt says "don't be jealous just because I've been chatting online with babes all day) lol. She's never even seen the movie.