Hi Fam!
I seriously don't even know what just happened. It's like a tornado
swept through NY between my last letter and now. I guess I'll just
start off with all the miracles and then move into our experience
with the General Authorities. This will be a long'un so get
excitedddd!
So there's a guy in the branch and
he's an INCREDIBLE cook. Like Alton Brown, Peruvian style. I had
kind of been hinting that he should feed us dinner for quite some
time now, and his cousin is here from Spain so there's another
woman in the house so it was legal! So we go over and his cousin
only speaks Spanish but we ended up teaching her (in Spanish,
that's how good I'm getting guys..haha), gave her a Spanish Book of
Mormon (yes we are that prepared) and on Friday we set a baptismal
date with her! So sick.
Tuesday and Wednesday were awesome
I'm sure, but honestly I don't really remember what happened on
those days.
THURSDAY. Oh my Panda Express it was
such a miracle day. So the morning was normal (for this week), I
woke up unable to breathe from my ear infection and other sickness
whatever they are, and attempted working out, studying, etc.
eventually gave up and tried to sleep. It's weird how disobedient
you feel when you're sick. You feel like because you didn't study
the full 4 hours nothing good can happen that day because you're
disobedient. Haha, not true I guess! I wouldn't recommend it
though. Anyways our zone cleaned the church because the General
Authorities were coming the next day and all the churches in NYC
are filthy, just like the rest of NYC. We spent 4 hours, some of
the elders were polishing the basketball hoops, just so you get the
idea. I sprayed air freshener all over the chapel so if we all got
high at the meeting it was my fault sorry not sorry. That place
smelled like a divine apple orchard if you ask me. Anyway it was
fun cleaning with like 20 missionaries, and people said that's the
cleanest they'd ever seen the church. Only the best for the Lords
representatives!
They we went and took a member to do
manicures with us at this place, seriously everyone here does nails
there are salons on every corner and manis are $5 and they give you
a back massage too which is awesome, but now we're getting
derailed. So we're talking to the member who moved here 3 weeks ago
and she's like, so stinkin cool. Well turns out she was inactive
before coming here and we drug her to institute one night and she
made a ton of friends there and now she loves coming to church! I
never would have guessed haha. I asked her if she prays and she
said that lately she had been and she just started bawling right
there and told us everything has changed and now she WANTS to be a
member and she loves coming to church! Well that was cool so we
asked her to come do a lookup with us.
We go to that family from Elko and no
one answered so we were like "dang, guess we'll go home"
but as we were walking away the door opened (best 2 years status
right there) and this new girl let us in! We hadn't met her when we
came the first time. We got to know her and her sister (the one we
had originally planned to visit) and it was super chill! They asked
of we could stay and we said we could stay till 9:30 but
only if we had a lesson. They agreed so we shared the "choose
this day" mormon message by President Eyring. We bore our
testimonies about God's love and it somehow turned into individual
worth and the girl started crying! It was an emotional day haha.
She had been inactive for like 10 years but she said she wanted to
come back to church. Well she came to the right people haha. And on
the way home we almost got in an accident and probably should have
died but we didn't so that was another miracle.
So our mission was one of the first to
get the iPads. They turned us loose with hardly any restrictions and
told us to figure it out (this was 6 months before I got here). That
was the "test" phase. We graduated to the "trial"
phase!! Now, instead of not knowing what the heck we are doing, we
get to be trained on how to be effective on Facebook and mormon.org,
family history, areabook (the app, not the book haha I've never had
a planner like other missionaries, it's all on the app), and
everything else!! But not just effective as missionaries...they are
training us how to be effective with technology and social media in
general, as people, so we can do so for the rest of our lives. No
more days of wasting hours on the newsfeed comparing yourself to
everyone else's "best side." The Lord has better purposes
for technology and he wants us to be the masters, not the servants
of it. The training we received was not on the iPads. It was on
becoming disciples of Christ in this age. The gospel is the pearl of
great price and we display it in a beautiful box (the iPad) but
sometimes we start admiring the box we forget WHY we have it! The
gospel is much more important than the way in which we share it.
There were SO MANY things said, but because mostly family members
will read this I will try and write things that will be beneficial
in helping families use technology safely and wisely.
When Elder Evans got up he held up a
pen and said "these devices should be no more distracting than
this pen. They are both simply tools to help us further the Lord's
work." Well I can guarantee I couldn't set my phone on the desk
for 10 minutes without at least THINKING about checking it or
something dumb like that before my mission. We are so attached to
these touch screens which, incidentally, make us lose touch
with the world around us. Whenever we get on technology we should
have a purpose. If we don't have a purpose, we are wasting our time.
And that's they way they designed it to be! Have you every seen the
round red badge on an app telling you of a notification, you click
on it, and somebody commented on a post you commented on that you
probably don't care about anymore but you click on it anyway and
then you go to someone's profile who also commented and you see
something on their wall and suddenly it's been 20 minutes before you
look up from the wedding pictures you were creepin on of your best
friend's roommate's sister? Congratulations, you just wasted a half
hour of your life. One of the great uses of Facebook will be to
prove in the last days that lack of prayer was not because of lack
of time. Anything that diverts you from your path to follow Christ
is bad, even if it is a good thing. There are a lot of "good"
things in this life, but if they keep us from eternal life with
God...I think they can go stuff themselves.
They talked a bit about things that
are "wrong" about technology, and one of them is our
behavior when we use it. We ignore others, and often use it is an
escape mechanism from feelings of anger, boredom, anxiety, or (let's
be real) awkward situations. We program ourselves to pull out our
phones when we are at certain places or when we do certain things.
As missionaries we are going off Facebook so we can reprogram our
minds and our escape mechanisms. We shouldn't be using tools as
escapes. Just like the Liahona, our tools will stop working
*correctly* if we use them incorrectly.
Another problem is with pornography
and other forms of inappropriate entertainment. When we isolate
ourselves from our companion (or family, or spouse) we are crawling
to a dark corner with Satan. Visible screens bring trust and keep us
safe. I can think of nothing more unsettling than the "brightness"
setting, which allows us to darken our screens so no one can see
what we are doing. Like Ma always said "the devil works in the
dark." Even though we are probably all guilty of doing things
we shouldn't have, whether it be simply wasting time or a more
serious sin, I know that we can "restart" and that second
chance comes from repentance. Personally, I don't want to use these
principals just as a missionary. I feel like that's
putting a time limit on my righteousness. When we decide to repent
it must be forever. We cannot be truly faithful if we are not
first clean. It is not as often as we sin that we are
forgiven, but as often as we repent.
So here are some guidelines that have
been given to us (hallelujah) to help us be more effective in our
technology that (I believe) apply to all who desire to become true
disciples of Christ in this digital age.
Safeguard 1: be in tune with
spiritual promptings. President Packer said that "no member of
this church will ever make a serious mistake without first being
warned by the promptings of the Holy Ghost." We are so blessed
to have this protection.
Safeguard 2: be focused on your
purpose. Whether you are a missionary or a mom or dad or teen, have
a purpose in using technology. This helps avoid wasting time and
helps us use technology effectively.
Safeguard 3: be
disciplined. Handheld devices should be our servants, not our
masters.
Safeguard 4: be one. "I say
unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine."
Whether you take this to be one as husband and wife or as a family,
make sure everyone knows the rules and agrees to be open with how
technology should be used in your family unit.
What to do if you feel susceptible:
1. Be aware and acknowledge thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors. Understand how they can make you more
vulnerable to using technology.
2. Choose to act. Respond in
righteous, productive ways to what you are feeling.
3. Learn and improve. Use your
experiences to continue learning and improving for the future.
Learning to use technology may mean
changing former habits, and doing so is a lot more difficult
than saying you will do so. It's important to remember the
Savior's atonement and to rely on Him as we live the safeguards and
continue to change.
Some thoughts I had about how I want
to use technology when I have a family (the kids are gonna hate me):
-no devices allowed in rooms because
all evil happens in isolation. You wouldn't pull up certain images
on the big screen for the family to view together, but you would
view them in your room when you're alone. All screens facing where
everyone can see them. As missionaries we always have to be able to
see our companions screen, and although this is a bit unrealistic in
real life, you can make adjustments to fit your situation.
-along with no devices in the rooms I
was talking to President and he said that he has a "charging
station" where everything electronic goes after 9pm. It
reminded me of when I went to prom with Hubs and he said something
to the effect that "the Holy Ghost goes to bed after midnight."
I know if I was a teenager I would put up a fight on this one, but I
know the same principal applies.
-everyone knows everyone's passwords.
My kids will have mine so there is trust on both ends. The only time
people have a problem with this is when they have something to
hide.
-we don't delete history, we review
it. Together. (#awk if Ma and Pa did this I would have died and
cried and everything else 12-year-olds do, but I would have been
fine!)
-lastly, there will be filters. Not
the annoying ones that won't even let you go to YouTube, but filters
so that you will only see inappropriate things if you go looking for
them. You can set things like YouTube to only show PG-13 or better
if you go to "settings" at the bottom of their website.
However, all filters can be broken through. The only true "filter"
is the heart and mind of the person. I know that if we have a
personal testimony of Christ and His atonement we will never get
into trouble with technology. We will be protected from the
adversary because we know that "this is life eternal: to know
Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent."
The only way to truly fortify
ourselves against the adversary is to gain a witness of the
truthfulness of the gospel. We do this by reading the scriptures and
the words of the prophets and asking God to give us that witness. I
know He will. I am grateful for my testimony of the doctrine of
Christ and for the opportunity to be serving during this most
remarkable era in the history of the church..."the hastening
of His work." I will always be faithful to what I
know is true.
Love you all & thank you for your
constant support!
Sister Wadsworth
1. Gettin some Taco Bell after our
finding activity fail...we are the only ones who showed up haha.
2. On exchanges with Sister Paublo! I
love her.
3. Some subway action
4. Our new handbooks! (Note they still
say draft...we are so exclusive here in the NYNYSM...)
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