Another week in the Big Apple

11-17-15

Oh my heck what is life? You'd think after being here for 18 months I'd have experienced it all....nope!! Everything has been super intense this week but I wouldn't trade a second of it!

We had a meeting with sweet Sister Reynolds and all the other Sister Training Leaders and used President Nelson's talk "A Plea to My Sisters" as a backdrop for our discussion. It's so important that both men AND women recognize that God has a great work for us to do! Mostly within our own homes. I am grateful to be a part of all this, full-time, now and forever. It's the best! The meeting went long and we missed our Zone Training Meeting ): but that's okay we had a great night of teaching anyways. 

On Thursday we finally had time to weekly plan! That almost never happens. Then we exchanged with the Chinese Sisters ha ha I was with Sister Johnson and we went to visit a Chinese family. I guess in their culture if they give you something you're expected to eat it...ALL OF IT. Well, they gave us this red bean paste over this plastic-y noodle stuff? I don't even know what it was, I just know that I choked on it for like 2 minutes straight and the old Chinese grandma was looking at me, laughing, and slapping my back so hard I wanted to cry!!
Friday we went to another Zone Training Meeting, this time we actually made it on time, probably because we had to give a workshop. Their zone was so dead! No participation ha ha good thing we know how to fix that...we got up and said "get together in your districts and whoever has the funniest picture on their iPad wins!" Well that woke em up haha they had some good pictures! And after that we had a great discussion about nightly planning. We also taught a new girl, Karen, who has been coming to church for a year! She already read the entire Doctrine & Covenants! We asked her if she knew who any prophets were and she was like "Joseph Smith...I mean, he's the main one right?" #yesss
I think the biggest miracle was teaching June, the lady who walked in last week wanting to be baptized. Actually the miracle isn't necessarily teaching her, but the person she is! She is so prepared! So on our first lesson Sister Lemmon asked if we could kneel for the prayer and she was kind of confused but agreed and we had an amazing lesson. Well on Saturday when we taught her again we knelt down and she said "can I tell you a secret?" "I haven't been able to bend my knee for 20 years...until last week when we knelt down to pray, and now my knee is fine!" This was an amazing fulfillment to a promise from our president that if we would kneel with our investigators on the first lesson they would progress. Not only is she getting baptized in 4 weeks but her knee is healed!
Something weird I saw this week: a lady on the bus curling her eyelashes with a spoon...? Haha don't ask me how cause I don't know lol. I also found a crisp $10 bill on the sidewalk, and this cool bracelet when we got on an empty train...it's my lucky week I guess! Oh AND, I was on the subway and this lady kept looking at me and then writing stuff down in this journal..she was kinda creepin me out. Well when I was walking off the train I took a quick look at her journal and she had sketched me!! I was so flattered guys, I can't even tell you! I'm pretty much a model now I guess. Hah.
So this week was pretty drama-filled with our lil investigators and it's probably not needful to give all the details but I have learned very deeply that the gospel is the happiest way to live our lives, and that Satan will always attack those who choose to follow the gospel path, especially during and around important moments in their conversion. As I have been reading 2 Nephi 2 I am more and more grateful for the opposition in my life and especially on a mission that has strengthened my commitment to Christ. I love verse 2: "Nevertheless, Jacob, my firstborn in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and He shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain." I might have lost a lot of things to come on a mission (weight not being one of them ha ha) but I know that what I gave from serving a mission has proven far more valuable than what I gave up. I love Elder Holland: "I want to give something back, but I never want it to be (in King David’s words) “that which doth cost me nothing.” I hope the service we give causes us to stretch ourselves and cling to the Lord in all we do. "All things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things." I love being a missionary here and it'll probably break my heart in half to leave next week, it's been the greatest time of my life.
I love you all!!
Sister Wadsworth

b

Brooklyn for life...

10-12-15

....or at least until I come home! Wow wow wow. I get to stay here for my last 6 weeks!! I'm so excited, I LOVE this area and feel super blessed right now.

This week started off with a lil sleepover at the mission home! A new sister missionary from China came into our Stake so her trainer, us, and the Assistants all went to pick her up at the airport along with President and Sister Reynolds. It was such a beautiful experience! And brought back so many memories of coming in on my first day, it's crazy how different I now feel after 17 months of serving here in New York! We spent the night writing some guidelines for newly called Sister Training Leaders with Sister Reynolds, I seriously love her so much! Our mission has been so blessed to have 2 great presidents and their wives lead it. Tuesday didn't slow down, we took the sisters to their new apartment and dropped into our district meeting just in time, taught a lesson, and then brought back groceries for the new sisters, and had some fun lookups for the rest of the night. 

So one morning I was studying and I realized that I needed to be a bit better at consistently being what I want to become as Elder Oaks says. I thought my language could use a bit of improvement, not that it's bad just a little immature especially for a missionary. So I made a list of different words I could use instead of what I was currently saying....well it's pretty cool when you try to be better because the Lord blesses you pretty hardcore! We had a lesson scheduled for the evening and some people to see throughout the day but nothing looked very promising. We ended up having 3 less-active lessons, 4 other lessons, and 2 new investigators! In the middle of the day we got a bible referral and when we looked up the address the lady lived in the same building as our appointment that night! We set up an appointment and SHE WAS INCREDIBLE. So in tune. It's not very often that you feel the spirit when you walk into a non-members house. As we were walking home I was chuckling a bit cause the Asians here do this weird thing where they go through the trash on the sidewalk at night to try and find things to recycle for money. My initial thought when I see this in action is "get a real job." Like how sad is it that you have to go through someone else's garbage. It reminded me of that Mormon Ad poster entitled "take out the trash" of the boy taking the trash out of his mind. These people going through the trash are looking for something of value, maybe it's gonna pay for their next meal. I don't know. But they don't have a choice of what they're gonna find in there, maybe a dirty diaper ha ha, maybe worse. It's the same with the Internet or on our phones, maybe our intent is to find something of value but more often that not we end up finding things that harm rather than help us spiritually. My challenge is to not go through the trash. If you go on the Internet, please have a purpose! The instant we go on without a purpose is the instant Satan has room to take over. 

So I went on an exchange with my favorite Sister Peterson, she goes home tomorrow and has had such a big impact on my mission! We were talking about what the personal result of our mission might be and I realized that if there's one thing I would hope has changed about me it would be that I am more humble. Can you imagine coming back from a mission and still being prideful? Seems like that would defeat the whole purpose if you came back and weren't humbled by the experiences you had on your mission. When I think of humility I always think of Job, it's crazy that he still trusted and held onto God through it all....what an example! I haven't gone through nearly as hard of things as him but we can all trust God no matter what we go through.

Ok so also when I was with Sister Peterson we taught a deaf lady and she couldn't read so Sister Peterson was signing to her and trying to help her read from the Book of Mormon Stories. It's so cool that this little old lady can be just as faithful as we can (probably more) when she is so unable to learn about the gospel. I hope we take advantage of everything we have, all the resources, to learn all we can about our Savior and His life. Isn't that why we're here on earth? 

The transfer ended SO GOOD!! We had 5 investigators at church and had many miracles and progress happen for each of them DURING the meeting! This area had like 5 investigators in all 3 pools and now our pools combined have almost 40! And we have about 8 people preparing for baptism...its been so cool to see the work hasten in this area. We talked to a member last night (she was teaching with us) and she said there was one branch in NYC 50 years ago, and now we have 4 stakes...how incredible is that?? I love being a part of the work in this area, it's the best thing of my life. 

Hope you all have a great week!

LOVE YOU,

Sister Wadsworth 

1. Some T-Bell sauce from a previous comp <3

2. Mission home with the new missionaries! Aren't President and Sister Reynolds picture perfect?!

3. I realized that I only have 6 more weeks of this pizza so we have been livin a little

4. I will miss this little hottie :'(

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

Missionary Summer !!!

Missionary Summer !!!

Another great week! Currently sitting on the Plunkett's front porch soaking in this beautiful Belle Harbor day. It'll probably always be my favorite part of New York.

This week was way busy, we had a tri-zone conference, Sis Anderson and I had to give a workshop on working with members so we invited one of our members to come and talk about how teaching with the missionaries has strengthened her testimony. She bore a really powerful testimony about how she and her husband moved here and they had no idea there were so many people here who needed their testimony. They have the cutest family, their daughter Sariah is like my little twin (: me and my comp also sang a musical number and I played the piano for the  thing so it was a really busy day and went by so fast! After the conference we did a double-exchange so I went with a companionship to their pool in Park Slope and Sis Anderson went with Sister Cox and her comp to Bushwick, not like I was jealous or anything haa ha. We didn't even have time to take our bags home because we had to go see Sister Dorskey, she makes us the most random food I love it! She is the lady who we have to basically scream at in order for her to hear cause she's deaf-ish. She is the definition of Italian Brooklyn, she has the accent and swears like, every other word. Sis Anderson tries not to laugh, I'm past the point of trying to hold myself back...I'm laughing the whole time! It's so great...there's no life like mission life that's for sure!

Pretty much all our appointments had cancelled but this member (the same one who gave her testimony) had let us put our bags in her house till the end of the night so we went to pick them up and proceed with plan b but her house was kinda a dump so we cleaned it and folded all their laundry. It was so fun! I miss cleaning and doing normal people stuff like that.

The next day we exchanged with the Midwood sisters, I got to go back to my old area with Sis Vandertoolen, she is the CUTEST. We had some sketchy experiences, as per usual in Midwood. This guy came up behind us as we were walking down the sidewalk. He had a boombox on his shoulder and was pretty clearly high on something. He yelled out to us (even though he was right behind us) "it's the elders of the Latter Day Saints! Ya'll look like Ruth and Naomi" Sister Vandertoolen didn't even hear him so I'm like "walk faster" under my breath and she's like "what??" Haha she'll learn...

Friday we had Zone Training Meeting, it was super good! I loved one thing from Dalin H. Oaks: "Would I be a lawyer who became an apostle, or would I be an apostle who used to be a lawyer?" I loved it cause I think we think of ourselves as our occupation or looks or accomplishments. We are first and foremost disciples of Christ, and we should shape ourselves to what He wants us to be.

Saturday and Sunday were massive miracles, an investigator who had dropped off the face of earth texted us and we had a lesson with her Friday and again on Saturday!! She is so cool! Then on Sunday we had a TON of people come to church!! The coolest thing at church was when we were sitting in gospel principals with 2 of our investigators: one has a baptismal date and the other was kinda on the edge. It was supposed to be about the sacrament but it ended up being about baptism. She raised her hand and said "on the way here I was thinking about baptism and now we are talking about this...basically, I want to be baptized!" We were stunned and I might have shed a tear or two, we have been teaching her for 2 months and she didn't seem like baptism was in her sights...and then this!!! It was the coolest shock ever! Later that days she texted and said "please don't beget mad for what I'm about to tell you" I was thinking "oh great she doesn't want to get baptized" she sent a second text saying that she was sorry but she gave her Book of Mormon away to a family member who was going through some difficult times and she knew it would help her! The most amazing part is that this investigator has struggled to understand and love the Book of Mormon, but her giving it away is a sign she knows how special it is! We were so stoked. We also had a way cool lesson with a woman who we knocked into last week...she didn't even freak out when we told her her baptism wasn't valid! Haa ha. We got soaked in the summer rain on the way home...I love being a missionary in New York!!

I thought this week was so cool. Last week was a bit of a struggle and Sister Anderson and I knew we needed to keep pushing and work even harder. The Lord was completely aware of everything we go through and He wants to help us! I know this gospel is true and I am so so happy to be here. The closer it gets to the end the more I treasure this special time to grow closer to God and to share the gospel full-time. Love you all!

Sister Wadsworth

1. Our double exchange

2. Tripleting it up

3. We have a popcorn obsession...

4. Sister Vandertoolen

5. Rockaway beach...we came in dresses and Terry made us put on her clothes haa ha.

Livin on a Prayer

It has been quite the week! There were many miracles that made it super great. Perhaps one of the best I have had so far here in NY. We had district meeting, MLC, Leaders Meeting, sisters conference planning, two exchanges, preparation to teach a workshop for mega-zone conference tomorrow, a musical number to practice, doctors appointments (my comp has foot problems too!) and trying to share the gospel to balance. Needless to say we could use some practice at the balancing part. By some miracle we got done all that we needed to, and even hit our goals we had set! The Lord is helping us out cause He knows we can't do it on our own. 

So Monday was our typical p-day. The Elders wanted pizza so we made some for everyone and tried to write letters. I got like 2 letters written in 4 hours haha so better luck this week? Yep. At 6pm Sister Jones (from my MTC district!) came and picked me up for our exchange on Staten Island! It's beautiful there and Sister Jones is a total doll. There is a Ft. Wadsworth there we are a pretty big deal here in NY haha. We had such a great exchange. I feel like I used to hate talking about feelings but I have learned so much in this last week about counseling and working through problems. Sister Jones was seriously running herself to the ground so I took her down to the ocean for a bit and made her relax. She is such a great missionary. 

Tuesday we taught one of our investigators. She is from Islam and is so amazing. Everyone and everything seems to be against her joining the church, but she keeps pressing forward! She is super sassy, we were in Gospel Principals and she asked "if someone came to your door and wanted to tell you about a bible they had, would you listen?" Haha it really made everyone in the class think, it was pretty funny! I am amazed at the opposition some people experience, and even more impressed at how they continue forward regardless.

Soooo. More foot stories: we went to the podiatrist for my companion and I had the lady look at my foot. Not only is the wart still there but ever since I came to Bensonhurst the skin has been falling off my feet at an alarming rate. She said I got some kind of infection or disease from our nasty turquoise shower and she prescribed me some cream. The next day during weekly planning the guy from the pharmacy called and told me the cream would be $400, not insured. I literally laughed into the phone and told him I'll be good without it haha. 

We had MLC and it was SO uplifting. President asked what was wrong with the wards and stakes and then turned it on us and said if our zones and districts were stakes and wards, respectively, what would we need to work on? It was pretty intense and we had a very good counsel about how we can help the missionaries in this mission become the best people for now and the rest of their lives. We talked about patterns of learning and the pattern set forth by Elder Bednar is similar to the pattern I learned at LDSBC and BYUI but now it actually makes sense when put into a gospel perspective haha I didn't feel like it applied to school for some reason :) but the three steps he outlined were: 

1. Prepare to learn

2. Interact to edify 

3. Invite to act

I think these steps can help us follow the prophet's counsel to keep the sabbath day holy, if we prepare before church, go to church to help uplift others, and act on what we learn, we will have a much stronger conversion to the gospel. As missionaries we are used to receiving a lot of commitments or "action items" from things we attend. I know it won't be like that when I go home, so I am trying to look for action items everywhere I go--ways I can improve from what I learned. 

That night we got on a train to go home from our lesson. I was trying to talk to everyone but when we got on the train there were just a bunch of loud teenagers and a few drunk people. We sat across from a Peruvian family with 2 sleeping kids. I wanted to talk to them but I didn't have the courage to interrupt the parents as they seemed to be discussing something very important. I kinda checked out as people so often do on the trains. Then the father leaned forward and asked "sisters, can you help us?" He didn't say he was a member so I was confused why he knew to call us sisters. We got off at the next stop so I quickly asked what we could do. The family was from Albany and were worried they would miss the last bus upstate so they asked if we knew somewhere they could stay. I got their number and almost got squished by the closing doors of the train. We texted half the members in the ward and they gave us suggestions of hotels which we texted to the family. The next morning we woke up to a text saying: "thank so much sisters, we could arrive at time to take the last bus to Albany in port authority bus station, but we are so glad to know two sisters so friendly as you, we pray few minutes before to know you, so we know that God send to you for support us whatever. Thanks and blessings from us, a Mormon Peruvian family living at Albany." I feel like sometimes I am so caught up in receiving answers to my prayers that I forget that God needs me to answer the prayers of His other children. This was such a special experience to me and a testimony that God knows all of His children by name, and He knows your needs before you tell Him. 

Saturday was a rough one haha. I loved it! We stand outside the church every Saturday from like 1-3 and offer church tours, bibles and Book of Mormon, pamphlets, and eternal life. We seriously got rejected by every single person we talked to. Like, our whole district. It was funny but I can't say it doesn't get to ya. Then Saturday night the elder's investigator who is like, totally golden and supposed to get baptized yesterday told them he wasn't going to go through with it. Then on Sunday we only had 1 investigator at church, our other ones kinda broke up with us. After church Sis Anderson and I were just done so we went to Coney Island and knocked on 75 doors. We got two return appointments!! We also saw a less-active and as we were going to find some lost investigators at the projects this random guy stopped us and asked if we were Mormons. We were shocked but responded "yes". He asked if Joseph Smith is a prophet to which we also responded "yes". I asked his story and he said when he was 15 he was addicted to pornography and knew only Christ could help him overcome it. He didn't turn to anyone but Him. And he is now able to resist the temptations and he said he reads the bible and teaches others about repenting and coming to Christ, and he is 21!!! It was SO COOL. We have a lesson with him tonight to introduce him to the elders! And our investigator who DID come to church said she doesn't think it's boring anymore, she likes it! Miracles...

So yeah, there were a ton of hard times but as I was writing in my journal last night I had the thought that "there is nowhere else I would rather be than here, struggles and all." I know Christ is with us in the work. He is standing with us on each stoop as we get the door slammed and he hears all the profane things people scream at us. He feels what we feel, and therefore knows how to succor us in our infirmity. I am so grateful for a loving Savior whose thoughts are higher than our thoughts, and whose ways are not our ways--He always knows what's best for his children. He answers our prayers, I know that. 

Love you all, thanks for your support! 

Sister Wadsworth

1. Sister Jones and I!

2. Staten Island Pier

3. Our District

4. The closest thing I've seen to a "farm" out here :)

In Bensonhurst, we use Combines

Happy Birthday Sariah!  :)

August 3, 2015

The work is hastening! The world and the church are becoming more and more separate in their standard, and the truly prepared people are drawn to the wonderful gospel we have. We aren't just hand-picking people here in Bensonhurst, we are inviting everyone (the combine method) and those who are prepared and getting baptized! Last week was a little crazy as far as emailing and I want to try and explain this place a bit better, cause it's seriously so great! Bensonhurst is in southern Brooklyn and it's the "old Italians" here. The people with actual Brooklyn accents who say wada instead of water. It's a bit classier than Midwood, not so many Haitians but more Russians, Ukrainians, and people from east Europe. The ward is predominately white people which is different than the other 3 units I have served in. A lot of transient, younger families who go to NYU and the like. We just got a new bishop last week and he is super great! Our ward mission leader is incredible, he is super pumped about the work and he helps us so much! There is one family I like a ton, the Arnalls who just moved here from AZ. They are ranchers too so it's great to talk to them. The wife, Emily, comes teaching with us a lot which is great. So that's the area. The work is a lot different now that we have this calling to help the other sisters. We went on 3 24-hour exchanges this week, I felt like I hardly got to see my cute companion! But it was so cool to get to know some of the other sisters, and get bitten by some strange beg bugs in another sister's bed haha. I have learned a lot from the other sisters and it's so cool how just talkeing to other people about your struggles can help. That's mostly why we're here I think, is to help the other sisters learn how to work through their problems.

I have to tell you about my companion, cause she's amazing at working through problems. She will identify a problem and will literally talk herself through it while I sit there and listen. It's kind of entertaining! After she's finished talking it through, I just say "well, looks like you just said your solution!" And then we move on! It's the funniest thing ever, she is so great. I can't believe we've only been together 2 weeks, it feels like it's been 2 years. She lets me cook for her too so that's a plus. Our District Leader is from Italy so today we are making pizza with all the missionaries in the B-Hurst. Pics to come haha. Oh Sis Anderson and I also have killer workouts together which is so fun! My last few comps haven't been to into the whole exercise things to it has been so fun to get up each morning and run! We did some kick-boxing this morning it was so funny to watch Sis A punch stuff. I'm obsessed with her. 

So this week was cool! I went with one of the ASL sisters to Manhattan for the day and we taught some people in ASL! It was so cool, I can say a few things so I bore my testimony and it was the coolest thing to sit there and watch a new missionary handle a lesson all by herself in a language she hardly knows! I am so impressed with the new missions that come in. They are so prepared and ready. The other two exchanges I stayed in Bensonhurst and tried to find my way around like a newb haha it was fun. Remember the family we walked in on last week during their fight? #awkward but we went back to teach them last night and they are amazing! We had such a cool lesson and they were asking all the golden investigator questions so we are so pumped! We also had a lot of investigators at church! We are teaching 3 really cool ladies right now. One of them said she was going to go drink on Saturday night so she was with her friends and they were all totally judging her for not drinking but she knew if she had some she wouldn't be able to make it to church so she came home early, sober, and made it to church yesterday! People are so cool. When they grasp hold of the thought that they can change they really go for it! We taught gospel principals yesterday and it was on gifts of the spirit but there were so many investigators there it turned into a sort of Q&A session and it was SO GOOD!! Haha one of the investigators made the comment that he used to smoke weed and that's how he found Jesus. I and one of the other investigators seriously burst out laughing it was so funny! Like, sorry but hats seriously hysterical. Satan definitely uses counterfeits for all the good things that come from God. 

Mans I don't even know what spiritual thought to share from this past week, Sis A and I have so many good discussions I can't even remember any of them now, but I was really impressed by a young missionary who has been out for only a month or so. She told me about how she fasted and as she fasted she wrote down a list of things she needed to give up/work on and then every day for 40 days she would pray about the things on the list as she worked on them. I thought that was so cool! This young missionary already seeing the need to improve and then  DOING IT!! I've been reading a lot about consecrating ourselves to the work; giving to the Lord the one thing that isn't already His: our heart and mind. I know as we try to do the Lord's will we will be happier people. I am so grateful for the restored gospel. 

Love you all! 

Sister Wadsworth

1. This girl>>>

2. Birthday cheesecake from Val <3 

3. Steve and Terry had flowers sent to our pad!!

4. Compie pic (: 

The Dream Team Reunited : STL round 2

Well I didn't go far! I am still in Brooklyn but am in Bensonhurst, a little south of Midwood kinda close to Coney Island in the same zone and everything. Let me tell ya, I don't think I should be allowed as much fun as we are having here. I got put back with my MTC companion Sister Emma Andersen!!! (She's from Walnut Creek, CA) It's round 2 except we are WAY better teachers than we were in the MTC, and I'm twice as obsessed with her as I was back then. She is so great at everything! I could go on all day about her but I guess you can just look at the pictures cause her personality is as cute as she is. Packing was crazy, I am always surprised I can still fit everything into my 2 suitcases. We had to be to transfer mtg a little early for a meeting and the trains were jammed and haha I got kinda aggravated cause I didn't want to be late. I feel like I'm turning into a New Yorker? AHHH. So I get to the office and president told us who we were with. Of course there was screaming and hugs and freaking out. We are both seriously so happy. I went to get my packages and guess what was there? A package from Sylvia with plastic bags full of manure, tractor grease, sagebrush, alfalfa, and weeds. I was seriously dying, it was the greatest thing ever and probably made me more homesick than skyping the fam on Christmas haha. Thanks for all the letters and support. It seriously makes me so happy to hear from ya'll. 

Transfer meeting was awesome, we always say the missionary purpose in like 10 different languages cause our mission is so diverse, I know it in 4 languages now!...so cultured this kid. After Transfer mtg we had MLC, it was super great we talked about how the best leaders are those who give of themselves completely and selflessly. That is something I hope to be able to work on in the coming weeks. Some elders with a car were nice enough to bring my bags back to Brooklyn (kind of a bummer, I took them to Queens on a train for 2 hours only to bring them all the way back haha) but it allowed us to have enough time to see a recent convert, I actually know some of her family from when I was in YSA so that was cool! We had a really powerful lesson with her about the atonement and sacrament. Satan always tries to tell people they aren't worthy to take the sacrament or to even repent. That is never true. 

On Wednesday we went to service at Prospect Park. It was weird to go and be with all my old district but I'm not there anymore haha. Sister Andersen and I are having so much fun together! When we got back together it was like being put back with Rebekah or Val or someone I was already close to. BEST FEELING EVER. When we were at service one of our investigators called and said that she was in the hospital (in labor!) and wanted us to come have a lesson to comfort her. Haha I was not down to see childbirth but we went and it turned out okay. It really reminded me how much mothers go through to get their kids into the world. Moms are the best. Then, (this is my FAVORITE) we went to Sister Dorsky's house for dinner. She is older and pretty much deaf so you have to yell. I tried to talk loudly but she didn't hear me, like, you have to SCREAM. So Sis Andersen says the prayer and she's like THANK YOU FOR THE FOOD it was seriously SO LOUD and SO FUNNY. I was trying not to laugh. Sister Dorsky fed us some berry herbal tea and it made me super sick so it just added to the hysterical experience. We were able to see two less-actives that night and have super powerful lessons with them. We were early to one of the appointments so we sat at a park for a few minutes talking about how to help her and Sis Andersen had a really powerful discussion with each other about the atonement. Sometimes I feel like I learn way more than I give out here. I benefit so much for each gospel experience. Ever since being here with Sis Andersen we have both felt the spirit so strong and it has been a really cool experience as we seek revelation for our area and the sisters we are called to help. Transfer planning was one of the most revelatory experiences I have had on my mission. We both felt so guided as we made decisions about where to put people and with who for exchanges. The spirit is so central to all we do in life. 

Thursday we spent a lot of time planning and we had an amazing lesson with an investigator who we set a baptismal date with! The pool was a little dry when we came in but the work is really picking up and we hope to have lots of people with dates very soon! The lesson with Jaema was soooo good. She came and had already read the restoration pamphlet so she was prepared with questions and we had an amazing discussion about the Book of Mormon and the restoration. The members who taught with us were so cool, they testified at all the perfect times. It was the perfect lesson. We had it on a hill at a park with the perfect view of the city. SO GREAT!! 

Friday we met with Sister Reynolds to plan out the sisters conference for all the sisters in the mission. I am in charge of a health and fitness presentation which is right up my alley so I'm super pumped about that! People think it's hard to eat healthy and exercise but if you don't make time for it you'll definitely take time to be UNhealthy! It's so cool to spend more time with Sister Reynolds, she is "sweet above all the is sweet" in my opinion. 

Saturday we had an amazing thing happen. We went to see a les-active who didn't seem to excited to meet with us and she wasn't there when we first knocked. So we called her and eventually she came walking up the sidewalk with her non-member friend. We ended up reading Alma 32 with them and taught her friend who talked the less-active into coming to church on Sunday! We walked about 4 blocks when she called us up and said she didn't have any money. I had $2.75 in my purse, the exact amount for metro fare, so we went back and gave it to her for church. It worked out perfectly! 

On Sunday we had some miracles. We fasted together as a companionship and we had some great plans but as we were walking out at 6 they all fell through! We decided to go see these twins who just turned 21. They weren't home but their parents were and invited us in. Turns out they were having quite the tiff and we knocked right when it was about to blow up. We settled them down with some scriptures and a prayer and they said we could come back to teach them!! What are the chances of us getting there at such a perfect time?! God knows what He's doing. We just got back from grocery shopping at BJ's and a cashier asked us if we would come teach her! So cool. This week has been amazing. I love this area and I love being with Sister Andersen, she is such a hard worker. 

This week I have really seen the importance of the spirit in all we do. It's a lot easier to mess up when making decisions if we don't have the spirit. When we do have the spirit we can be enlightened to not only make good decisions, but to have the spirit to help us have crazy good ideas. I was reading a talk this morning by Pres. Hinckley and he was talking about how we should not even mess with sin. 

He spoke of an Indian boy who climbed a high mountain. It was cold up there. At his feet was a snake, a rattlesnake. The snake was cold and pleaded with the young man to pick it up and take it down where it was warmer.

The Indian boy listened to the enticings of the serpent. He gave in. He gathered it up into his arms and covered it with his shirt. He carried it down the mountain to where it was warm. He gently put it on the grass. When the snake was warm it raised its head and struck the boy with its poisonous fangs.

The boy cursed at the snake for striking him as an answer to his kindness. The snake replied, “You knew what I was when you picked me up” (“Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood,” Ensign, July 1989, 77). We should never even toy with sin, even if it seems harmless. God has given us commandments so that we can be protected. I know as we obey Him we can have the spirit to guide us. I love this church and am privileged to be doing this work. 

Thanks for your love! 

Sister Wadsworth

1. Transfer Day!

2. We were meant to be together

3. Pretty much what this world is coming to haa

4. Her name is Sariah too!