Miracles & Mainstream Missionary Werk

9-21-15

Hi Fam!! 

So glad everyone is still alive haha it seems like there is a fatality every week. My testimony this week is that God definitely watches out for us. 

The week went from ordinary to crazy on Wednesday when we woke up around 5 to meet at the mission home at 7:39 to have a pre-meeting meeting with Elder Randall K. Bennett of the 70. He and his wife are amazing!!! Of course we got lost in traffic but the Lord always watches out for His missionaries cause even though we made u-turns, got stuck in traffic, and took the wrong exit, we got there right on time!! I don't think I can quite go into all that was talked about in all our meetings but to sum it up I left the meeting feeling God's love stronger perhaps than I have ever felt it, and an insane desire to share the gospel with everyone I saw. As leaders we had a meeting from 7:30-9:30, the meeting with everyone was from 10:00-4:30, and then another MLC with Elder Bennett from 5:00-8:30. I was so stoked to get out and talk to some people but we had to get home! We were riding home with the Staten Island Zone Leaders and they had to fuel up so my companion suggested we invite the other people at the gas station to church that Sunday! So we did! So great. Ok now prepare yourselves for Thursday...

I woke up SO TIRED. Seriously praying for the spiritual gift of energy right now, I have never struggled so bad to stay awake during studies. But I KNEW if I did everything the way the Lord wanted we would see miracles. We had an appointment at 10 so we left the pad at 9:10. Before 10am we saw like 15 miracles!! We talked to EVERYONE and got 3 potentials, the lady we went to look up wasn't there but her sister said she would be back at 4 with some other family members. So we went a couple streets up and taught an investigator and had our best lesson yet with her!! We also had an investigator text us who we had lost contact with, she wants to meet again!!! 

We went across BK to exchange with the Spanish sisters, we immediately came back and had a MP lesson with Caroline, then we taught a less-active, then a recent convert, all amazing lessons. By this time it was 4 so we needed to go back to the lady from that morning. We walked the sidewalk up to the steps and this family of 10 kids (plus the parents) was waiting on the stoop for us! Might as well have been dressed in white jumpsuits my goodness they were all so prepared to hear the message. How often do you teach a lesson and have 10 people listen attentively to what you're saying the whole time? It was like Heavenly Father just dropped 10 new investigators into our area books before we knew what was happening! I showed them the family picture and they all thought I was mom!! They said we look like twins Ma so I guess when you got it you got it huh. The best part is that they were African and as we taught them they were passing around fried chicken--sharing every piece! It was so priceless. We only had 3 Book of Mormons but they all want their own and when we told them how the Book came to be and what it can do for them they were seriously in awe! We set up an appointment for the next day. At this point we were ahead of our schedule! Every train and bus came right as we walked up to the stop...like, was this for real? We went home and had a full dinner hour (rare)! And went back out to work before 6. We taught another less-active, 3 investigators, and another less-active, and then went to look up a potential. For Brooklyn, teaching 7 lessons is supposed to be impossible, but obviously with God, all things are possible!! It was the coolest day of my life. I always heard stories of missionaries working like this but I guess I kinda lacked the confidence hat I could do it, especially in Brooklyn with the transportation and everything but it's cool to know that you're capable of so much more than you thought you were! I know when we seek after the Lord He will help us SO much more with this work. 

As much as I wish everyday could be like this, I kinda knew it couldn't haha, but you can try to make it so! Friday I had a little foot appointment aka operation and got a big old fat swollen foot out of it. The Staten Island Sisters agreed to exchange with us again so I could be in a car for the day. We also went to Zone 1 ZTM so that took up a bit of time too. The podiatrist was a fun time! She stuck a huge needle into the bottom of my foot, waited for me to be numb, and then dug into it with a knife tool thing. Then after that she got this burner thing and burned the flesh around it so I smelled like a fat cow being branded. Came to Staten with Sister Tenney (my twin) and we had a great time...as great of a time as you can when one of you can't walk ha ha. We tried to go see some people but walking was a bad idea cause my foot started bleeding and it started coming through the bandage so we gave up on that. Sometimes ya just need to not for a day...

Some cool prayer experiences from this week!! On Sunday night we went to teach one of our investigators and since I couldn't walk we asked a member to come pick us up and teach the lesson, well, first of all, the member got in a car accident on the way to pick us up so we waited outside for seriously 2 hours cause she kept saying she was almost there lol. It was entertaining though cause there was a Muslim wedding going on on the lawn outside our house so we just creeped on the wedding party and actually found a new investigator! Ha ha. So we finally get to the lesson at 8:15 and it was on prayer! So we had a quick lesson and went back to the car. The member had left her lights on so the battery was dead. Not her day eh. So we decided to say a prayer, and after we waited a couple minutes she tried again and the car still wouldn't start! Well, God is always listening to us so He had a member on the next street over that was prepared to come help us! All is right in the Lord's timing.

On the way home I flashed back to that morning at 3 am When I was jolted out of my sleep by a man screaming "get out of my car!" Like 10 times. Seriously, death was happening outside my window guys. I heard tires screech and footsteps on the pavement and then a couple seconds after the car was gone the guy let out this freakish scream like, Man From Snowy River status when Jim's dad dies. "Noooooooooooo!" I make it sound funny now but it was absolutely terrifying to a little sister missionary in her bed with an injured foot. I started having images of someone breaking into the house to kidnap me and since my comp is a heavy sleeper she wouldn't hear them take me and obviously they would take me to East New York and cut up my body into shreds and I would be helpless cause I can't walk. I couldn't get over the fact that this was happening in my neighborhood. We are supposed to be safe in our own home and I did NOT feel safe. So I laid in bed motionless for like 3 minutes crying and finally decided to wake up my comp. I shook her elbow slightly and said "Sister, I need you" she rolled out of bed and grabbed the phone and said "WHAT HAPPENED??" (I think she was gonna call the police lol) I told her what was happening and I don't know why but I was just wrecked from this whole thing and sobbing so she said a prayer asking for protection and then it was all good (after I moved my  mattress next to her bed ha ha). As she prayed I felt peace come over us like a blanket. I couldn't be scared anymore because I knew the Lord was protecting us. Obviously praying didn't change any of our surroundings or circumstances, but it did change how I felt in my heart. I know God care about us because He sent His spirit to be with us in times of distress. I am grateful for Christ because it is through Him that we can pray. 

I am so grateful to be here, this is the best mission on earth!!! Thank you for all your support, I love you!!

xoxo

Sister Wadsworth 

1. Exchanges with the lovely Sister Tarnasky...she looks like a ginger Cameron Diaz #cutie

2. After the Podiatrist

3. Zone 1 ZTM

4. With my cute compie (: 

Keepin It Real in the B-Hurst(2)

9-15-15

Hope you're ready for another episode of our classic (not classy mind you haha) NY South mission experience. It's a good one! 

Just a few typical stories to start off with. Picture this: me and my cute comp standing on a sketchy corner waiting for the light when this creepy van within which two guys start cat calling at us: "heyyyy supermodel" "I like your hair" and then (LOL x100000) one of them was like "I like the one in the dress" well congratulations bruh, we are both in dresses...#groundbreaking. People are so common these days. Then yesterday as we were waiting for a bus (in case you can't tell that's pretty much all we do is walk and wait) this group of guys walks up and one of them turns around and goes right up to Sister Anderson and stares at her tag for like 20 seconds, looks at her face, and laughs at her! We were seriously like "really??" People are so dang rude and it's like, funny but kinda disgusting that they get away with it! We also had a few more persecution experiences that I don't want to talk about cause I get mad haha but that kind of gives a flavor in your mouth for this past week...

On a brighter, more spiritual note, we had an awesome ZTM as well as 2 exchanges with some incredible sisters! I am so grateful to be able to be in this position, I learn so much going around with different sisters and watching them teach and be amazing missionaries (: I was with one sister who seriously brought SO MANY miracles to our pool. We had an amazing night of finding and teaching! You can really tell when people are living the right way because miracles ALWAYS follow those who are obedient.

I have been thinking a lot about sacrifice. As I was reading a bit about it in the scriptures I found one in which David is conversing with Araunah, this guy is trying to convince David to offer a sacrifice that is not gonna cost him much and David says: "I (will not) offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." I thought that was so cool, if we are going to offer God something we shouldn't be afraid of the price. We must be willing to give him our all and not expect anything in return although, inevitably, he will ALWAYS give us more in return. A mission is an opportunity to give all that you can for the Lord and try not to worry about the pice. I have been blessed with so much more than I have given as I try to serve Him with all my heart. I love the gospel and am so grateful for the opportunity to be a minister of the truth! 

Love yous, 

Sister Wadsworth

1. I look like a dead dog in this pic but can we just appreciate that super talented people come play in the subway station and also that they take off their clothes? #securewithyourbody lol 

2. Had such a fun exchange with this blue-eyed beauty! 

3. Don't hate on the license plate

4. Our stinking amazing zone

5. The best selfies are the ones with nachos, cute comps, and the risk of losing your life to climb on top of the counter so your cheetah pants can be in the pic. 

Happy Labor Day!

9-7-15

Heyyyy!! It's been a great week, I love it here more every day. 

The wedding sounds like a crazy little time, I'm sad I wasn't there to see the cake get cut lol. 

Something cool happened last night! We have an investigator with a baptismal date who needs to get married before her baptism in a month. It was really stressing us out. As we were having a pretty awkward law of chastity lesson I testified that if they lived within the bounds the Lord has set for chastity they will be blessed and that they need to get married. She cut me off and said they had gotten married a month ago!! Such a tender mercy and a HUGE weight off our shoulders. She is on track to get baptized!

As I was studying about the importance of staying with your companion I realized that it is a pattern the Lord is trying to help us set for the rest of our lives. In place of a missionary companion our constant companion will be the Holy Ghost (He already should be) If we can be transparent with our companion and do everything "in the light" we will be more prepared to have the CONSTANT companionship of the Holy Ghost for the REST of our lives. I panic whenever I "lose" my companion from sight or sound, and I hope I feel that way about the spirit now and after my mission. My biggest goal is to have the spirit with me always as my companion for the rest of my life. 

We had a crazy MLC, the leadership of the mission under President's direction has decided we need to get back to the basics of PMG and the doctrines. It is so cool to see how the basic doctrines of the church are what we need to be happy in life. So much more happened than this but we are in Belle Harbor with the Plunkett's and it's too beautiful of a day to be staring at an iPad screen. 

The church is true ya'll! 

Love you!!

Sister Wadsworth

1. Our fav AP, Elder Odd(Elder Holland lol) finished his mission!

2. After transfer meeting, about 20 missionaries headed to the train

3. Another pair worn through!

4. Today at Belle Harbor with my Cox <3 

The Lord isn't Building His Church, He's Building Us!!

What a week to end this transfer with!! The major highlight was setting another baptismal date with one of our investigators! We are teaching a cute little family and although the Dad isn't quite ready yet the mom has set a date and he should be following soon (: we had a sister-wide exchange for the Brooklyn Stake to follow up on Sisters Conference and that was super cool as well!! 

On Wednesday Sister Reynolds had all the Sister Training Leaders come to her house for a follow-up meeting about the conference. We got there and instead of starting off the meeting she said "why don't we all go get pedicures?" I've never heard grown women (including myself) scream so loud and so long. The mission home probably hasn't had that much action in quite a while. So we loaded into cars and went to the spa! It was the best thing of my life, something I probably wouldn't have appreciated so much had I still been in a car area. Guys I seriously had no idea feet could be so nasty. Like I probably shouldn't be talking about this in an email home but oh my heck, walking areas straight slay me!! But yeah, Sister Reynolds is the coolest. We came back and had dinner and our little "meeting" and then President Reynolds walks in and Sister Reynolds was like "look at our toes!" So we all lined up and stuck out our foot And he was like "you're kidding me" he said it just like Pa says it and it was SOOO funny I was dying. Then Sister Reynolds drove us home and gave us advice about how to be a trophy wife and what to look for in a husband. It was so presh, I seriously love her like a mom. 

We also went on an exchange with the Spanish Sisters in Dyker Heights, we sang a musical number in Sacrament Meeting, and about died haha ok that's an interesting story. I got a super bad headache after the exchange but we had people to see so when we got home we were both just wiped out. The next morning we went to help a lady in the ward move. Oh my heck, don't put 3 single, middle-aged Brooklynite women in the same house to pack. Whew. It was so entertaining, they were all giving each other so much sass, there was an unreal amount of dust, and SOOO many cassette tapes I could barely handle it. We got to talking about movies and music and the lady we helped move basically fell in love with me because I know who Gary Cooper and John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are. She seriously thinks I'm the most educated 22-year-old she's ever met. That's what homeschool is folks! We had a great conversation and I told her she needs to watch "The Quiet Man" cause she'd never seen it! Irrelevant. Anyways! We came home at like 3 and the dust had turned my headache into writhing pain/I passed out so we asked the elders to come give me a blessing. They came in and immediately went to our cupboards and ate half our food haha poor guys they never have food for various reasons that I won't state but that doesn't make me feel less bad when they are starving. Anyways Elder Syme gave me a blessing, he is like 18 and he just got called to train so he's like, growing up and stuff. I don't know how to describe him but if it gives you any idea he quotes James E Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie every other sentence. But anyways he gave me a really cool blessing and promised that I'd be better the next morning! I was trying not to be like "yeah right" because blessings work according to faith. So I was like okay! Well outside our house there was this rockin party on our lawn and we were trying to go to sleep early when the doorbell rang. It was our landlord Lenny (totes Brooklyn all the way) and he wanted to invite us to the party! He said everyone else in the house was there and we should come. 

So we got dresses on and went out. There was yummy food, lots of crazy people and...alcohol! Suprise! Haha I've never been offered it so much in my life. We were like "no, we're the sisters, we're Mormon" just kinda laughing it off. Like this is right outside the door of our deck! Reminds me of that Mormon message by Elder Packer talking about "protecting your nestlings" haha. We had a conversation with this lady and she doesn't believe in God cause she's "independent" I felt so bad for her. She basically thinks that religion is a crutch "for people who need it." She seemed so unhappy. Well, the party got a bit raunchy and there was "dancing" so we went back inside. It was a real wake-up call though (oh haha literally). Sometimes you just feel like you're a terrible missionary cause you don't talk to ALL the people you pass, you don't have a member at every lesson, you don't have the scriptures memorized (missionary probs) and then you get jolted back into the real world and see that you're doing a lot better than you think you were! Living in NYC is like living in an ongoing R-rated movie. What better place to put the "test" in testimony than somewhere where you are constantly being tempted and given the opportunity to stand up for what you believe. 

Anyways back to the blessing, the next morning I woke up and the headache was completely gone with no side effects! Like, you always know that the priesthood is real but when you see the proof of it it's SO COOL. I am so grateful for the blessing of the priesthood in my life. We had a cool experience on Sunday afternoon; we went to see a less-active we have been working with cause she is in the hospital. We had a visit and a short lesson with her and then prayed and were about to leave. As we hugged her goodbye she started crying and told us how much it meant to her that we were there for her during this hard time. I can't begin to tell you how great it was to hear that. We have knocked on so many unanswered doors, smiled and so many indifferent strangers, and held open so many unnoticed doors...sometimes you go home at night and wonder if you did ANYTHING to help the Lord with His work, and hearing it from her was worth all those other things. Isn't it so crazy? We can go through a trial or a test that seems to last FOREVER and when some small thing happens it makes it ALL worth it. If I did nothing else on my mission but learn how to use the atonement, it would all have been worth it. But obviously I have gained so much more than that. We cannot give the Lord a crust of bread without Him giving us a loaf in return. 

I love it here, I love the gospel, and I never want to leave my mission!! Thank you for the love and support!!

xoxo 

Sister Wadsworth

Oh PS I AM STAYING WITH MY COMP ANOTHER TRANSFER NO BIG DEAL !!!! 

1 & 2. Pedicures with Sister Reynolds 

3. This car ride was way too fun...EFY!!

4. Mega bed 2k15 #sicklife

5. Yana, our investigator, and Sister Arnall