Monday, June 15, 2015

We needed to turn up in BK




June 15, 2015
We had so many miracles this week! We have so many people to teach we had to start scheduling them on P-day so we get everyone taught! We had a lesson on 10am Monday with a new investigator and she told us about how she wants to know what the truth is and is confused about all the different churches. The First Vision is such an applicable story to anyone because we all have questions we need answered and I know those answers come through prayer. After that lesson we headed to Brooklyn Bridge Park to play some football and Rugby since a lot of people were getting transferred. We left early cause we had a lesson for 5 with a dear sister, she got baptized but some things came up and she hasn't been able to be confirmed so we had (seriously) THE BEST discussion with her...we've missed seeing her and I am so thankful to the Lord for softening her heart and letting us come teach her again. She wants to come back to church and be taught again!! SO HAPPY. 


Tuesday was Transfer Meeting but we didn't go cause we are both staying! So we had a lot of lessons and found some new investigators which was awesome! So quick detour, I don't think I've ever talked about a typical "lesson" in Brooklyn. It's usually in the middle of the street, on a stoop, or in a 1000-degree living room with plastic-covered furniture (just when you think life can't get more sticky from the humidity...it does). I think there is one main thing that makes it A LOT different: the distractions. If there isn't someone smoking weed it's a siren. If it's not a siren it's a little kid trying to download games on your iPad (which you obviously can't, so they get frustrated and try to throw it). It's cool cause at the first of my mission I would let these things distract me as we were talking to the person, but I noticed the other day that I don't notice them anymore. You can feel the stillness of the Spirit in a subway car, on the main drag in Brooklyn, or in a crazy Jamacian household of 14. Love it. 


We had a million lessons between Tuesday and Sunday night, the sad thing is that when I look back on the week the most memorable thing was that we were walking down the street by prospect park and there's two, brand-new pairs of shoes on the sidewalk. In NYC that means they're up for grabs. Happy Birthday to me, they were my size! Wow I'm a terrible missionary if that's all I remember. But on Sunday we went to deliver a bible to a lady and her and her roommate want us to keep teaching them!! We had such a great restoration lesson...it never gets old, just better. We all have questions that need to be answered and just like James 1:5 says if we ask God he will answer us. I have felt a lot of answers come for me personally the past few weeks and it is cool when we take the time to experience what we are teaching our investigators. One of the things I had been praying for was that I could find ways to be more obedient cause we all know Sister Wadsworth does what Sister Wadsworth wants to do and she needs to do what God wants her to do. I read D&C 123:16-17: 
"You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept workways with the wind and the waves. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." 
I loved that cause if you think about the ship the scripture is talking about it is "very large" but a small helm controls it! I felt like this was my answer: work on the small rules. "Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise." (Alma 37:6) I feel like if we are struggling to find the next step in our lives we can make our way to the Father by obeying the seemingly "small" commandments like keeping the Sabbath day holy or having daily prayer and scripture study. Small things make ALL the difference. 


Something cool I was also able to realize this week is the power we have in ourselves to change "how things are" by thinking, talking, (and even writing in your journal!) positively. I didn't think having negative thoughts mattered, cause they are just thoughts, but when you have focused, positive thinking you are able to control aspects of your life you didn't know you were in control of! Elder Holland: "I'm not a swearing man, but I come close when I hear people say "I can't change."" When we tell ourselves a situation is "the way it is" and we can't change it, we are limiting the possibility that it will change, and we are limiting ourselves from changing it. When we say we (or anyone else) can't change we are denying that Christ is real and this His atonement can have affect in our lives. I know He IS real and that we can all change who we are into the person we need to be BECAUSE of Him. I see this happen everyday and that is the miracle of the atonement. I love this gospel and I love missionary work. Thanks for your incredible support, I always feel uplifted after reading everyone's emails...ya'll are the best family in the world!!
Love, 
Sister Wadsworth  

1. Service!! I <3 Sister Barnes.
2. Thought I would throw in some eye candy from Australia
3. Kylie: "are you going to marry a guy with yellow hair since you have yellow hair?" Haha she is the cutest girl ever. She also told me I'm not to have 7 kids...I can only have 5. Her two front teeth missing seriously kills me. 
4. I guess billboards aren't cool enough anymore so they have to do this in the sky. 

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