Sleep-deprived & Loving It

This week has been super great! I'm sorry these letters are always so long but so many things always happen and I have a hard time picking which things you guys would want to hear/care about.

Obviously this letter has to start off with Sister Joseph. She gets crazier every day. We were driving through a Jewish neighborhood the other night and we hadn't said a word in like 15 minutes. All the sudden she just blurts out "I wish they'd make a movie "Meet the Jews." I'd watch it." Ahahahaha Meet the Jews, I seriously died it was sooo hysterical. And then we got onto an on ramp and it kept spinning around, like it was a full 360 spiral, so after we'd been turning for a couple seconds she was like "this is like a curly fry from Arby's!" I'm pretty sure we are out of our minds and so I'm sorry that's probably not funny to anyone else, but I find her hilarious. I'm so glad she's my companion. After being the "designated driver" for 2 days she threw me the keys and was like "I've had enough, you're driving." Which is good cause she almost killed us like 4 times. What better way to die though than with someone you love? Haha JUST KIDDING. 

The YSA is good, I had to give a talk yesterday so classic Sariah ... I just gave the one I gave in Belle Harbor. I ain't no spring chickun anymore I can't be writing a new talk every week. Nah I wrote a new one, I'd attach it but it's just a bunch of random thoughts that make no sense. Basically I just talked about the commandments and why it is hard for us to keep them, I talked a lot about self-justification cause I'm pretty much an expert on the subject haha. I shared this scripture in Alma 18:5 "Now this was the tradition of Lamoni, which he had received from his father, that there was a Great Spirit. Notwithstanding they believed in a Great Spirit, they supposed that whatsoever they did was right;" cause I feel like we all profess to believe in God but we think that because we already believe we can do whatever we want. It was good, I learned a lot from preparing the talk. It's crazy that we know the commandments are there to protect us and make us happy, yet so often we try to get around, under, or over obeying them. I know that obedience brings blessings. 

We had Eduardo's baptism last night, he was supposed to get baptized last week but got sick. But the baptism was soooo good! Lots of fellowship action going on. I don't think members realize that nothing happens in missionary work until they do something. We literally cannot do effective work without the members. The covenants we make really are the most important things in our lives. 

Probably one of the funniest things here is the diversity. When we go out street contacting we get rejected in pretty much every language. I've wondered though, are they rejecting us because they don't like Mormons or because we can't speak their language? Both? I dunno. We have taught some interesting people...I actually have quite the list. My favorites so far have been the the model, the clown, the "exotic dancer", and the guy who runs The Today Show. There's a guy in the ward who works at the same Brooks Brothers where Abe Lincoln shopped. LEGIT. Anyway I never thought the hardest thing about spreading the gospel is that you can't spread it because you don't speak the same language. The elders are teaching us some Spanish so hopefully that'll help. So far I can say "I'm a missionary" and "free English classes at the church, here are the directions." And then I hand them a card and walk away haha. Also, I went on an exchange with the Spanish Sister Training Leader (STL)...AWKS. I sat through 5 lessons and a branch council, all in Spanish, and the only word I understand is "casa" which I think means "house" but I dunno why they said it so many times, I swear it was every other word. I felt super stupid for like 24 hours cause I couldn't say anything. Now I know what it's like to be dumb...literally. 

But yeah it was a crazy week, having 2 pools is really stressful just cause I can't keep the members or the bishops or the people straight so I'm always making really stupid mistakes. It's good to know that the Lord will accomplish His work whether I know what's going on or not, so I am just trying to keep up! I'm learning a ton and am so glad to be here. This gospel is absolutely amazing! 

I love you all,

Sister Wadsworth

It's gettin crazy

Dear Fam,

Oh my goodness, where to begin? I should probably start with my companion, now that I know all her dirty secrets I can spill the beans. She's one of the coolest people ever. She has this black woman sass that just spills out on occasion and it seriously slays me every time. We'll have a song on in the car and she will just break it down so hard core, like she seriously is Shakira in the car guys. The next Beyoncé. When she gets mad at something she rolls up her sleeves and is like "hold me back sister" and I'll be like "calm down" and she'll be like "NO!!! Hold my earrings!" Dude I cannot even describe her, but hysterical could maybe begin to explain how my days are. She doesn't like to drive so she lets me. Except then the car supervisor made "designated drivers" a thing so now she HAS to drive and she pretty much kills us every day. I don't know why, but I've felt sooo scared this week. We've been in Brooklyn a lot and have just been around some creepy people. I just feel like we get jumped it's over cause I'm pretty much a hipster by now. I gave Sis Cox my pepper spray cause she was scared since I wasn't there to protect her. Pa if you could send me some? I've been eating spinach but I don't think that's gonna cut it.

This week was so exhausting. Monday and Tuesday we did straight lookups and had some appointments, all of which cancelled, and not a single person was home (get the pun, cause we're in the YSA...SINGLE. Okay I'll stop it wasn't funny). But Shakira would sing to me in between appointments so it wasn't too bad. We were tired of trying to find parking on Tuesday so we set out on foot across the wilderness of Long Island City. We walked 20 blocks to a house only to find it was in the projects and it was like 8 at night so we got to the street corner, looked at the sketchy, unlit buildings, stepped over all the crack addicts, and turned right back around and walked 20 blocks back to our car. Exhaustion set it and even scripture power couldn't keep me from nodding on the way home. That's when we ran into the fire hydrant. Okay just kidding, but we were soooo tired. And we've lost our car like 4 times, so maybe them taking it away wouldn't be such a bad idea. On Wednesday I had a new experience. I sang and an elder played the guitar to the people of New York on the streets while some other missionaries talked to people and we had a Mormon.org sign up. They have some crazy ways of finding new investigators here that's for sure. 

I keep finding cockroaches in and on my stuff. Does anyone know what to do to get rid of them? Like I kill them but that doesn't really fix the problem. Anyways that doesn't matter. What matters is that we went into Manhattan. On accident. You guys it was a bad day already, and we are driving to a meeting at the ward mission leader's pad when all the sudden we find ourselves on the triborough bridge. We would have enjoyed the nice view of the city, but we were too busy ripping the fur off our cats because of the $15 toll we had to pay. I've never seen Sister Joseph so riled up. Someone honked at her and she FLIPPED. She literally screamed SHUT UP!!!! She's always so calm so it was hysterical to see her upset. I love her. But then we went into Manhattan for real on Saturday to take Macy to the temple. We went with her and 5 of the guys in the branch. They are all cool kids, they took us out to dinner after at this SUPER good burger place. It was probably the best burger of my life.  I have so much to say about the YSA, but basically I feel like I'm just chillin with friends all the time. They treat us like people, not nuns so that's refreshing. I feel at home here and I love the Astoria ward as well. 

Elder Perry came so there was a special fireside. It was way cool. One thing I liked that Elder Hallstrom said was that "A temple recommend is not just an entrance ticket to the temple. It is a sign that we are living true to the covenants we have made." Elder Perry talked to us about a website faithcounts.net, it's to help us mesh with other religions. You guys should go check it out and post your favorite video on faithbook, cause Elder Perry said so. Oh and there's a link to a mormon message about a lady in our ward, she's the stake presidents wife..SO COOL. Anyway it has been probably the hardest, greatest week ever with trying to keep up with the 2 different pools, driving all over Queens and Brooklyn, and all the meetings we have. I don't know what I'd do without Shakira ... I seriously love her. Oh and we made this really good lasagna. Dude this letter is all over the place..but I guess that's how our week was so it fits! Thanks for all your support! I love you guys a ton!

xoxo

Love, Sister Wadsworth

I'm a Mormon, New York Mother, and Forgiving Daughter

Photos:

1. Couldn't stay away from my girl for a whole week...so we went back on P-day

2. I guess you could say this describes us..haha

3. ...or this.

4. Taking Macy to the temple

5. The cockroach situation is real

6. Nightly planning ... We ran out of chips and salsa :(

7. Who knows what we were doing.

Still in Queens...with a bunch of teens

Well it's a lovely day today here in Queens! This past week has been pretty wild but to start off, we had the greatest p-day of my life on the beach. It was literally a perfect day. The weather was perfect and being with the besties playing football and volleyball was a perfect end to a perfect area. Did I say perfect yet? But we go to transfer meeting, which was awesome, and they're calling out the areas and who is serving there and for some reason when they said Queens YSA: Sister Joseph and.... I just like said my name aloud as they announced it at the same time it seriously came out of nowhere but when they said it I just knew. Crazy. Anyway so we are in Astoria which is basically Forest Hills which is basically Rego Park (they all blend together if ya know what I mean), but we cover the entire borough of Queens. I'm only about half hour north of where I was in Rockaway. I'm with Sister Joseph, she is from West Valley, UT and it turns out we worked at the Lion House at the same time so that's way cool! She hit a squirrel driving our first night so she's already cool in my eyes. Haha jk I hope I can be good enough for her, she is awesome and a hard worker. The coolest thing about it is/are the roaches in the apartment! I instantly have become a big fan of closing everything I open cause I'm like paranoid that they'll get into my stuff. 

Wait rewind back to transfer meeting, we saw Meet the Mormons, even though it isn't out yet! Such a good movie, it's a big deal here so they wanted us to know about it. And it was great cause I got to watch a movie with Sister Cox before we were separated. Probably never gonna get over the heartbreak of that, just being honest. She is literally the greatest person I have met so far on my mission and I love her so much. *sniff* 

So Queens YSA. This is a whole different ball park, pretty much a different country than Belle Harbor. We teach all the young people in Queens. That's a lot of people guys. First thing we find out is that the other sisters in the Astoria are being blinded out and their pool is getting dumped into ours. #doubleduty so we are in charge of the Astoria Ward and the YSA Ward. Second thing I find out is that our area book and all the people in it keeps getting completely wiped (it's an app on our iPads) so we don't know where half the people live or who they are and Sister Joseph has only been here for 6 weeks so we are kinda lost (literally and figuratively speaking). I am assigned to one area and she is assigned to the other so trying to coordinate all that gets confusing. We spend most of our time driving cause with traffic it takes like 1/2 hour to get everywhere. And the APs just told us they're gonna take our car away? No clue how that's gonna turn out haha. It's hard to feel like we're getting anything done but the work is just different now so I'm trying to get used to it. Sister Joseph is like my mom, she keeps making me dinner and it's really good so I seriously feel so blessed to be with her. We laugh a lot together. She is half Hatian and has some real sass going on and a cool fro.

We went to visit a lady in the Astoria Ward to help her start progressing towards the temple. She was all set (we thought) and as we were leaving she offered us iced tea. Awks. Guess we'll have to postpone that trip haha. That took all afternoon, and then we drove an hour to pick up a member for a lesson and drove another half an hour to get to the lesson, and then taking her back and driving home took another hour and a half. So that's like 4 hours for one lesson. Haha. Welcome to our life! We also went teaching with a girl in the Ward who is a model. Pretty legit. I like the new district and Astoria is really pretty with all the trees and we have a beautiful view of the city. Being in the YSA makes me feel like I'm in normal life haha. We just spend our time with people our age and I'm already pretty good friends with a lot of them. It's a different kind of party than it was in Belle Harbor but I'm falling in love with it pretty fast! 

Here's a little spiritual nugget for your week: I have this bathroom bag that has a mesh cover and it has my toothbrush and stuff in it-stuff I wouldn't want cockroaches crawling over. Every Time I get something out I close it, even if I'm going to the bathroom real quick just to brush my teeth. It got old real fast so I was like "oh I don't have to shut it this time." Guess what was crawling over it when I got back? Yep. Roaches are like satan, they are ready and waiting to mess up your life, and the second you give them a chance, they'll jump at it (or crawl I guess). We can't for one second let our guard down or satan will jump right in and take the opportunity. He has no respect for our agency and will dance at every chance to wreck us (that rhymed)1 Peter 5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour". God on the other hand respects our ability to choose and will not step in unless we ask Him to. It is our conscious decision to choose to have God's influence in our lives. Hope everyone enjoyed conference, my favorite part was "selective obedience brings selective blessings." 

All my love!

Sister Wadsworth

Ps just calling it right now that Travis gets transferred...#prophecy 

1. Me and my new pal!

2. Still my numba one girl Cox, and some other girl who just stepped in our pic, I have no clue who she is.

3. Got all theses fresh fruits, veggies, and nuts at a super cheap stand for like $20!! 

4. It was Sunday and I realized I hadn't taken any pics this week so I took a selfie. Probs shoulda fixed my hair but that's what ya get. 

5. Went to a brunch at the church before conference, turns out the person in charge bailed, so we ended up making breakfast for all these YSA guys...hah never thought my mission would be that. 

6. Saying goodbye to these sweet girls last Monday was hard, I will already miss my Belle Harbor family!

This ship could stay in the harbor but that's not what ships are built for.

Yes, I am leaving. Time to sail! Can't even believe all that has
happened this week. But the highlight was definitely eating a whole
fish, eyeballs and all. Okay that wasn't the highlight, but it was a
top runner. I get little butterflies (or fisheys) in my stomach every
time I think about it. It completely ruined my appetite for Swedish
fish...like forever. But on a more real note, I have learned so much
this week about things that will help me for the rest of my time in
New York as well as the rest of my life. I have been studying a lot
about accountability lately and have felt a real sense of urgency for
this wok to move forward as well as the need to be more accountable to
Heavenly Father about how I spend every second, here and for the rest
of my life. Chapter 8 in PMG was mind-blowing, I loved this part: "the
attitude you have toward your mission experience is a reflection of
your love towards your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect
for the priesthood." Well obviously I love Him and so I have been
trying to make my mission (and my life) a reflection of that love. It
is hard to always align our actions with what we are trying to
accomplish and with what God wants, but I know as we try we will be
blessed for having the faith to attempt.

We have met some awesome people this week! It's so crazy to me how
Sister Cox and I will set a goal with a certain person in mind and we
always reach our goals but it always seems to be with different
people! The Lord has put a lot of people in our path who are ready to
hear the gospel and that has been such a blessing for us. The lady who
got baptized last week was a perfect example of that. We have had a
lot of cool lessons about faith this week as well, it's weird how you
see different patterns in investigators as they progress towards
baptism. We are teaching an adorable couple who just had the sweetest
baby. Obviously it is a real struggle for me to restrain myself from
taking the little sweetheart every time we go over there. It is so
cool for me to see the faith of those who are investigating...I wonder
if I would have had that same faith if I was in their position.

We watched the Women's Meeting, the time difference was a real
struggle, it started at 8pm here and we had driven to Woodside to
watch it so like 40 minutes away. We were in the car during transfer
calls. *tears* *sobbing* *depression* This is my last day in Belle
Harbor for now. I don't want to leave but the good news is it isn't
about what I want so I'm just ready for wherever I go and whomever I'm
paired with and I know that that's where Heavenly Father needs me. I
was fine at first but as I started thinking about the people here it
just got harder and harder. I am so grateful for the experiences I've
had here and for the people I've come to love. This is getting fruity
so I'm just gonna stop at that. But I had to give a impromptu
15-minute talk which I ugly cried through the entirety of. Thanks for
that gene Pa (not the ugly part, the crying part). But I can't even
handle how much I love these people. They are my family and my life so
it's kinda hurting right now but I'll just eat a can of corn and I'll
be fine. And I will miss the missionaries here just as much. Sister
Cox has been sooooo great for me to have as a companion and I'm just
sad it had to end this soon. She's is all right that girl, let me tell
you what. Words can't go out as to how much I love and respect her.
But enough is enough so I'm just gonna throw in the towel and I guess
next week you'll know where I'm at!

So so grateful for this gospel and for the strength it's given me to
do what I need to do and strive to be the person I need to be. I'm so
grateful for the changes I've seen in others as well as we bring them
closer to Christ. If you're thinking about going on a mission, stop
thinking about it and start your papers, it is the best decision you
could ever make, no matter who you are.
Love you all so much!
Sister Wadsworth


Sorry for the pic overload, this isn't even half of them...
1. Favorite comp for lifeeeee
2. Trying to take a district selfie but Elder Voorhees wouldn't get in it
3. The Plunkett Clan
4. My girl Dia and Clinford, the one who introduced her to us!
5. One of our strongest families in the branch!
6. Can you tell they're for the philippeans? #giantswag
7. Some of the ladies from the branch...what a riot.
8. Ladies from the branch part II
9. My girl Eli
10. These two...no words can describe the love. John and Cathy.
11. Farewell cake from Steve & Terry for me and another elder who is
being transferred.

Rockin Rockaway Beach

Dear Family:
This week has been INCREDIBLE. Easily one of the best so far. It
didn't start off too crazy, we had zone activity, most of which Sister
Cox and I completely ditched cause we'd rather write our families than
play football, then we had a lesson with Dia, my favorite person in
Rockaway. As we were waiting outside her apartment a lady comes up to
us and askes if we'll teach her. Um, of course we will haha I'll take
free investigators any day! On Tuesday we had our usual district
meeting, which is always good. Elder Nugent served in Bermuda before
this so he brings his ukulele and we sing to that on the opening and
closing songs. Afterwards we went to this ghetto Chinese restaurant
called 5-star, but if I was gonna rate it it'd be called 1-star. We
had an enjoyable lunch there until a cockroach started walking across
the table. None of us said anything, we all just grabbed our food and
walked out...it was hysterical. Tuesday night I went on exchanges to
Lynbrook with Sister Beacher. We got there at like 8:30 at night and
then next morning we had to take their car into Forest Hills for a
recall so we chilled there and talked to people. We met a college-age
guy in Starbucks and actually had such a good conversation with him!
He was catholic but believed all the same things we do. I was on a
roll asking him questions that were getting him thinking and I think
he enjoyed our conversation. Yay for the plan of salvation. We were
walking down the street and this old man walks past us and then turns
around and just started SCREAMING profanities at us. It was different
that's for sure, I'm not sure why he was calling me all those things
but I guess it's a change from being asked if I'm a nun? I was trying
not to laugh cause he was so ridiculous and we just kept walking away
and were like dying laughing. But whatever, the exchange ended and
{once again} I realized how much I love being with Sister Cox here.

Wednesday we exchanged back and saw Dia again and planned her baptism
more, we also went and saw a sister in the branch...remember the time
I almost had to use my pepper spray last week? Well it was at this
place but this time there was a white guy sitting on the steps,
completely wasted out of his mind. I was trying to walk up the steps
but as I walked past him he tried to grab my leg but I slipped out and
ran up the stairs, flipping out of course. We had a wonderful lesson
with this lady and her beautiful kids, but when we came back out I was
scared out of my mind that we were gonna die. There were like 7 huge
black guys talking about their drug deals and we seriously jogged to
our car (I think they didn't see us cause it was dark). We locked the
doors and peeled outta there. Needless to say we are NEVER going back
there.

Thursday we took a sister in the branch to do baptisms for the first
time. Can't believe that's my 7th time going to the temple in 4
months. I'm super lucky. I was the team leader this time cause the
elders had never taken the ferry and you'd be surprised that most of
the people here in Rockaway have NO idea how to get around Manhattan.
I might have a pretty big head right now cause I got us to Manhattan
on the ferry, through the subway, and then walked to the temple
without getting lost! Never thought that day would come haha. It was a
beautiful day and such a good trip. The sister loved the temple and we
are going to get her in the temple class so she can prepare to go
back. That night we went and saw a sister in the branch. She and her 3
girls are the most hysterical thing I have seen in my life. They just
trash talked each other all day long. We seriously recorded them
talked because it's so funny. Oh and she made us the greatest dinner
EVER.

Friday we taught Dia again. She wasn't sure about Joseph Smith being a
prophet but luckily I (and by "I" I mean the spirit) told her to read
Alma 32 the last time we came, so she had read that and then we read
through Joseph Smith History with her and she was able to be
interviewed that night and she answered positively to all the
questions! Sister Cox and I started dancing in the pad, it is our
first person to go all the way from being found to being baptized! And
we freakin love Dia so obviously we were so happy. On Saturday we did
a stake day of service cleaning up around Rockaway so that was good.
I'm sure you saw all the ugly pictures on Facebook with my hair in my
face...story of my life.

Sunday was so awesome! Church was great, we taught gospel principals
and had a really great discussion. Last night was Dia's baptism! It
was seriously so perfect, it was on the beach at sunset and the water
was like glass. Too bad the elders didn't know there were jelly fish
on the ocean floor, Elder Jensen's face was straight money...not sure
if he got bit or what but it was stinkin funny. A lot of the branch
showed up to support her and that was amazing. So basically I love my
life and I am so grateful for the gospel, it is helping these people
so much and it's helping me so much too. Cross your fingers we don't
get any transfer/training calls this week!
Love ya all,
Sister Wadsworth

1. On the way to Manhattan on the ferry!
2. The one. The only. Sister wadsworth.  ...totally unplanned
3. Outside Francis's house wearing Steve's hoodie cause it all the
sudden got chilly.
4. Us with Shai (shy) ...wearing the dress Francis gave me from the 40s.
5&6.  Dia's Baptism!

 

Name of the week: Topramenisha

Say it slow {top-ramen-isha}
Okay I'm kidding but seriously, there are so  many weird names out
here. The baby name page in my journal is overflowing with names like
"Naquanna." Sorry Ma and Pa, your grand kids are outta luck. The power
went out, I almost had to use my pepper spray twice, and I almost got
my head shaved by some lady from Peru. Lotsa close calls folks. But
that's beside the point. So we got like 10 new investigators and we
were following up with them and got rejected by half of them at return
appointments after they seemed interested so that hurt because you
seriously get emotionally attached to people so quickly and then when
they don't want to keep learning about the gospel it's pretty
crushing. But that's okay because there are other people who are truly
prepared. We had 3 investigators at church! The family we are
teaching, and our girl Dia. I think the family was super weirded out
by our ward cause they come in and there are like 30 people, and the
talks were on self-reliance...I feel another drop coming on.

One of our new members brought a friend to church and we have been
teaching her all of this week. On Thursday night she asked us if she
could make an appointment to be baptized. I had the biggest smile on
my face, mostly because of the way she said it, but I just know that
baptism and this gospel will make her so happy and carry her through
her struggles. Oh wait let me back up ... We had a mission-wide fast
that each companionship could baptize 1 person and take 1 person to
the temple before the end of the month. We have 4 people who are
supposed to be baptized in the next 2 weeks but they all have some
sort of hang up with either word of wisdom, or they won't come to
church...whatever. But we had this fast and first of all we had 80
people at church which was a miracle in itself, but then this new girl
shows up and she's so ready to be baptized, it was just a crazy
testimony to me that fasting really does work!

We also went and talked to this sweet sweet lady, Joanna. Oh my
goodness she is absolutely perfect as far as the things of this world.
She has an impeccable, humongous house that is perfectly decorated and
a huge pool, she has a perfect body, hair, wardrobe, and her husband
is super jacked and a lawyer and makes lots of money and they drive
nice cars, but beside all that she has the biggest heart. You'd think
someone who looks like she does wouldn't be very friendly, but she is
constantly helping people on the streets and giving people help. We
talked with her for almost 2 hours about the miracle of forgiveness
and how she can live life to the fullest despite the temptations we
might face. I seriously don't know why she's not Mormon haha but she
is such a good example to me of the kind of person I want to be, she
would do anything for anybody. She's Greek and she gave us all this
Greek food which I'm obsessed with now. It's seriously so funny
though, people think we are perfect and never do anything wrong and
that we have all the answers to every question when really some of the
stuff she was saying helped me! I've just been thinking how crazy it
is, the things I learn from others on my mission.

I've actually been thinking a lot about education since everyone is
going back to school. Dude, I have two degrees, a lot of job
experience, and a pretty good resume. But seriously none of that
matters, because I have learned more in the last 4 months than I have
all throughout high school and college and all the jobs I've had, and
besides that the things I've  learned here actually MATTER! Please
don't let "education" get in the way of EDUCATION. Read your
scriptures, pray, get close to God. He will help you far more than a
tutor or a teacher. Don't take religion as an easy A, it can be of
real worth if you let it. I say all this cause I didn't do it, and I
can see the difference it would have made if I would have. Anyways,
sorry for being preachy.

On another note we drove past some construction and I saw a loader
using the quick-detach bucket and he just slid it right off and I went
off to Sister Cox for like 15 min about how much better Deere is than
Ford and how nice the quick-detach loaders are. You can take the girl
out of the country but you can't take the dang blasted redneck out of
the girl. It was seriously so embarrassed when I realized how much I
was talking about it. If I were her I would hard pass me but she loves
me for who I am so that's good. We have memorized all the lessons
together! Our teaching is so much more smooth as we build off the
points in our lessons. We have more comp flow and I have seen the
difference in the spirit as we teach because we are more prepared.

I love it here and am so grateful to be in Belle Harbor with Sis Cox,
she is the cats pajamas that girl. I know that the gospel is true and
that if we can live it it will bless our lives far more than we can
comprehend. I have also seen Satan working hard in the lives of some
of the people when he sees them about to do the right things. You just
gotta beat the satan bug guys he is real and he is smart, but if we
are on Christ's side we cannot lose,
I love ya all!
Sister Wadsworth


Pics:
1. District p-day, of course Sis Cox wasn't tall enough so I had to
lift where I stand.
2. Oh look, it's sister wadsworth when she doesn't do her hair and
make up! But we found this cool beach and I NEEDED a picture of it.
3. On second thought, I'll just take a pic of the beach by itself. Yay.
4. The gold chain was inspired by Mo Mo. It's all the rage here.
5. The Atlantic beach!
6. I couldn't get over the ocean on Friday, it looked like there were diamonds !
7. We came in for dinner hour and Sister Cox made pudding so of course
I had to teach her how to make cream puffs with it! She's a natural.

 

 

From the 718, with love

What up fam! This week has been soooo great, I love it more here every
day. When I first came on a mission it was probably my worst fear that
I would end up with a horrible companion. I've discovered that the
only thing that's as bad as that is ending up with a companion you are
best friends with, because it's so hard to not feel like you're in
normal life with your best friend. Sister Cox and I laugh constantly
and something is always funny. I can't even deal with her sarcasm
sometimes. Some of the stuff she says and does just straight slays me.
It makes the work fun and we find incredible happiness in teaching the
gospel together #blessings.

We have had so much success this week, The Lord has prepared so many
people to hear the message we have. We found 5 new investigators in 2
hours on the way to our lessons. One lady told us she had prayed to
God that angels would come and talk to her cause she was lonely and
she needed help raking her leaves and we came walking down the street!
Whoever said people in New York are rude didn't know what they were
taking about (unless they're driving, then they can get pretty messy).
I love the people here, they are the sweetest things ever! Oh except
for our Branch Presidents wife. We were at her house and I made a fat
kid joke and she looks at me and is like "it's okay you're only a
little chubby." Well I guess it's time to hit the gym kids. But the
best part was that she started telling me that no one would marry me
because I'm not fat ENOUGH. Lady. You're scarin me. She told us about
how if you wanna get married in Africa they put you in a "fat room"
for 6 months, they give you massages and feed you food and you just
sit there for 6 months and then after that you are ready to get
married cause you're squishy enough. Someone should tell that fat room
to go die.

We had exchanges...if you wanna know how to rip my heart out just take
Sister Cox away for a day. I seriously missed her, but with every
exchange comes a miracle, a traffic violation, and getting hit on so
it was a good day. We have had so many good experiences with our
members lately! We have two members that are seriously just straight
money when it comes to taking them to lessons. I am excited to be that
person for the missionaries when I get home. We had a mega-zone
conference on Thursday and we met with President Calderwood and
President Glass, our stake president. We talked about ways to hasten
the work. President Calderwood said that "every member should be a
missionary and every missionary should be a member." Sister Cox and I
have been given like 3 callings in the branch and we are kinda
supposed to be members and missionaries. We are supposed to visit
teach all the ladies in the branch and teach Sunday school and help
with relief society, plus meet all our goals as a district and zone so
it seems like a lot but I know that as we unite with the members we
will move the work forward faster and more effectively. I would
encourage all you members to reach out to the less-actives and
investigators and fellowship them. It is our responsibility to bring
everyone back to our Heavenly Father and we do that as we help them
participate in the ordinances of baptism and partaking of the
sacrament. I was reading a talk by the presiding bishop and he said
that "In our family we have an ancestor who joined the Church in
Europe in the early days of the Church. One son became inactive.
Sister Edgley and I have attempted to track the inactive descendants
of this ancestor. It was easy for my wife and me to conclude that
during the following six generations and with reasonable assumptions,
there could be a loss of up to 3,000 family members. Now project two
more generations. The loss could theoretically approach 20,000 to
30,000 of our Heavenly Father’s children." I just think of that
scripture that says "remember, the worth of souls is great in the
sight of God." Each person is so important in God's eyes, and they
should be in our eyes as well. I'm so grateful for the people here and
for their humility to listen to our message.

Church was the ultimate miracle, we had 80 people! Last week we had
like 60 so that was a huge jump, and 9 of our investigators came! And
they loved it, and fellowshipped each other, and cried, and left
feeling more welcome...it was just the happiest day of my life. Sister
Cox and I taught gospel principals. Every time that girl opens her
mouth I just want to bow down to her. She has the firmest testimony I
have ever seen, especially in a 19-year-old, and she teaches with
clarity and power. I feel like an idiot when we teach together cause
I'm all over the place cause I get really excited about the gospel,
and she is just calm, collected, and ready to move mountains. It was
seriously the best Sunday of my life.

On a lighter note, I got super tired of my hair so I went in the
bathroom and cut it. Probs not the best idea. You can't tell though so
I got over it real quick. And we got asked if we were actual sisters
so that was pretty great. And no one has called me a nun in like a
month so I'm pretty much super stoked on life right now. It's super
hot here, like disgustingly hot with the humidity, so we are kinda
excited for fall. Somebody in town saw a shark on the beach the other
day so that was fun. We are supposed to go the temple on 9/11 so if I
get killed or something while we're in Manhattan I'm sorry mom. Hope
you all have a great week, I love "yous guys!" (Brooklyn expression,
totally grammatically incorrect and redundant)

xoxo
Sister Wadsworth

Photos:
1. Cox&Wads❤️
2. District beach workout..our Saturday tradish
3. Me and JJ..so presh
4. Mixing up some quick set for the tile @ Friends of Rockaway
5. On our way to Rego Park stuck in traffic...not impressed
6. District pic at the zone thing