First of all, it was so great to talk
to everyone!!! You are all awesome and I am so blessed to have the
best family ever! Still can't get over how big Don is...
On Monday we went to the Brooklyn
Bridge again except this time we invited like half the mission so
there were a TON on missionaries there. Wish I cared haha the only
one I wanted to see was my BFF Sister Cox. It was super hot...maybe
summer is finally coming? We also brought a recent convert with us
so that was a party as well. We did lookups and stuff all day
Tuesday and Wednesday, we also did some weeding at prospect park. We
told one of the volunteers about Mormon messages so if we go this
week I'm gonna see if she's watched any of them. Those things are so
cool and help so much with teaching.
Thursday was the BEST. The assistants
came and picked us up in Midwood and drove us to the mission home
for Zone Conference. President and Sister Calderwood's son just got
home from his mission in Russia and gave an excellent workshop on
prayer, along with the assistants who talked about extending
baptismal commits and listening. Every time we go to a training it's
not some new big thing. I think sometimes we get in the mindset that
when the next big thing comes out its gonna solve all our problems.
Like, we have iPads, we can baptize everyone in 2 weeks!! Nope. We
do the Lord's work but doing the small and simple things
consistently. We had a break for lunch and President busted out the
BBQ. Seriously the best burger of my entire life. President and
Sister Calderwood then talked about some more tools we can use to do
the Lord's work better. They challenged us to keep all of our
lessons under 30 minutes, which is really hard, but as we have done
it we have already seen the blessings. They are truly inspired and
I'm gonna miss them so much when they leave in July.
We had like 5 appointments on Friday
but every time we got to each persons house we would wait FOREVER
and then they would eventually call and cancel or not get back to us
at all. At the end of the night we went with a member to this
98-year-old woman's house for dinner. She stuffed us so full I still
don't know what to do with myself. We shared the message of the
restoration with her and she actually come to church yesterday!!!
Saturday was sooo packed. With lessons
and with food. I don't know why this happens but no one will feed us
for a month and then everyone wants to feed us on the same day. We
went to Juniors (the cheesecake place) with an investigator in the
morning and taught her, then went to a part-member family's house
and they had us pick up pizza on the way. Then we went to teach the
11-year-old and her aunt made us this ground turkey and dumplings
thing with like 4 cups of vegetables so at least it was
nutritionally dense, and then we went to play soccer. Well, we
watched with our investigators and less-actives we brought....the
elders played though!
Sunday is always a spiritual
experience. I remember in primary people would always say how church
"recharged" them every week and I didn't get what they
meant, but now I do! All the talks were about mothers, but they were
more focused on how motherhood doesn't mean having a children. I
personally know many women who have influenced me and aren't married
with kids. I am so grateful for ALL the women in my life. We handed
out roses to each woman on the congregation and there were some
leftover so my comp wanted to take them home. I remember when I got
flowers for prom and as they were dying on the countertop Brent and
Don would tease me and say "they're dying, just like his love!"
Haha I thought of that and told my comp I didn't want to take any
home, I wanted to give them out as we walked home. We passed many
different women, one sitting on the grass on the median of the road,
a Muslim woman pushing a stroller, and an old lady by the bus stop.
I gave them each a rose and wished them a happy Mother's Day. Seeing
the smile light their face was much better than having the roses on
my kitchen table. You never know which woman doesn't have kids to
say that to her, or who isn't able to see them because they are in a
different country. Giving is always so much better than receiving.
I taught the youth in Sunday School.
OH MY HECK. It was so funny. We were talking about prophets and I
asked this kid Elijah what he would ask Moses if he was on the earth
today. He was like "I'd have him call in a pizza" I was
like DUDE you have problems but that was so funny right now I
seriously can't handle it.
Sunday afternoon we taught a girl who
has had a baptismal date for 3 months but keeps putting it off
because she wants her grandma there. We asked if we could fast with
her that her grandmas health would get better. She burst into
tears-she is only 13-seriously, what a sweet little girl. So we are
fasting with her today and we hope her grandma will get better so
she can get baptized soon. Then of course we went to our favorite
Filippeano family's house for dinner and there were lots of people
there. They make the best food! And then it was time to Skype you
guys! It is always so good to hear from you because it reminds me of
what a blessing it is to be serving a missionary don to have a
family who supports me. I am so grateful for each one of you.
Congrats to Jared and Laurel on getting engaged and Jesse and
Whitney's wedding this week. So happy for you!
Something I learned this week was from
the bible. Whenever I had previously heard the story of the loaves
and the fishes I had always focused on the miracle that Christ had
performed. When I was reading it this time I thought more of the boy
who offered the small amount of loaves and fishes. Clearly they were
not even close to how many were needed, but he, with faith, came
foreword with his offering. And because he did, Christ made the bread
and fish enough. How often do we withhold what we had because we
feel it isn't enough, when if we would just offer our all, Christ
will MAKE it enough. I have seen Christ make me "more" many
times, and I am trying to not withhold any part of my offering to Him
here in the mission field because I know that by doing so He will
compensate for my inadequacy. It is the same in life. It is never
about how much we do but how much we rely--on Him. I
am so grateful for my Savior, "And Christ truly said unto our
fathers: If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient
unto me." I love this gospel and the joy and peace it offers in
these troubling times.
xoxo
Sister Wadsworth
1. My #1 girl Cox
2. At the Mission Home
3. PREZ & Sister C
4. Bus stop shenanigans
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