If you can drive a tractor, you can drive in New York!

Well obviously this week was so awesome! I love it here. 

I didn't realize how much I missed Belle Harbor until Stake Conference last week. When I left I had told one of the ladies that the next time she saw me I'd be with my husband coming back to visit! Well she walks into stake conference and (loudly) says: "where's your husband!?!" I just stood there super awkward like "what?" I had totally forgotten I had told her that. She was totally serious and a bunch of people were looking at me weird cause obviously I have my nametag on. It was so gloriously awkward. Cug. I miss that place and those people, and I'll just have more people to miss when I leave here (hopefully not anytime soon)! Tuesday was Transfer meeting but since we aren't getting transferred we planned to go see some people, none of which we actually saw because we spend till 5 pm driving people's luggage around. I am SO GLAD we have a car. It was sad to see some of our missionaries leave :( and the new missionaries always look so confused! Haha. We also went to institute and brought Neil with us! I could seriously make my whole letter about him, he is incredible. HE makes ME want to be a better person! I feel like it should be the other way around but seriously, he is such a good example to me. I feel like we are so lucky to be able to go to institute. At home it seemed like such a pain but now I can't get enough of it! We were talking about spiritual gifts and I don't want to write you the whole lesson but I loved this quote by Marvin J. Ashton: "the unexamined life is not worth living." It is so important to develop and share our talents. We talked about the Lord's storehouse, there is the temporal, or bishop's storehouse, and the Lords storehouse-our talents. We must use them to build up the church. Okay so this whole letter will probably be about Neil. He came to institute with us both nights and LOVED it. He texts us everyday and tells us how much peace he feels now as opposed to his past life. He wants to pay tithing and he isn't even baptized yet. He fasted before we even taught him about fasting. He is seriously golden. 

We started our own non-profit organization: Queens YSA Taxi Service! We aim to please. But seriously, we are the only ones in our zone with a car so everyone wants us to take them everywhere. Well obviously since we drive so much we have gotten in a lot of...um....accidents. None of which were our fault. Obvi. #1 the gate that opens into our parking lot goes up and down when we push the clicker. Well I was driving under it when all the sudden it just falls down on the car. Awkward. #2 there is roadkill pretty much every time we go out. First the squirrel. Then the pigeons. It'll probably be a chino next... #3 some guy in a Super Duty ran into us. That one was actually a big deal but I guess we're still alive so it's fine. So glad Pa made me learn to drive a semi in case I failed college. It's seriously so hysterical to drive with other missionaries. They don't know how to swing wide to park a car or check their blind spots (can thank raking for that skill) If you can drive a tractor, you can definitely drive in New York. 

Other than that, Elder Hallstrom of the 70 came but the meeting for all the missionaries was at the same time as a sealing for a family in Belle Harbor so I missed it. I was in a trio with Sis Cox 😍 and Sis Board. Sister Joseph went to the meeting and took Neil...he loved it! The sealing was so beautiful! 2 girls adopted into the family plus their own daughter. It was so sweet and the spirit was so strong. I love the temple! Can't wait to go on Wednesday for my 6-moth mark which was this past week. Time flies when you're having fun! 

I have been studying a lot this week about true conversion and although it takes faith I really think the key is real intent. I loved this quote: “Every unselfish act of kindness and service increases your spirituality. God would use you to bless others. Your continued spiritual growth and eternal progress are very much wrapped up in your relationships--in how you treat others. Do you indeed love others and become a blessing in their lives? Isn’t the measure of the level of your conversion how you treat others? The person who does only those things in the Church that concern himself alone will never reach the goal of perfection. Service to others is what the gospel and exalted life are all about." Being here has and is teaching me how to serve others and put them in front of myself. It is going to take a lifetime to master, but what better place to practice than out here in the mission field? I feel so blessed to be here and am so grateful for the restored gospel and the atonement and its power to help us change. Obviously the decision to go on a mission is the best decision you'll ever make. Thanks so much for your support and love! I have the greatest family on earth!

xoxo

Sis Wads

note from Mom- I will add pictures when then internet decides to work a little better:)

NY is a cold place...literally.

I don't usually like to get all sister mish on the first sentence but this gospel is so important to me! I cannot imagine what life would be like without it. I've been thinking a lot about the talk from general conference where he asked how you would feel if you had a personal interview with the Savior right now...obviously most of us wouldn't be ready for that. But there are a lot of things we can do to feel more ready as well as more comfortable in our Savior's eyes. Sister Joseph gave an excellent workshop on humility in District Meeting and I loved one question she used from Preach My Gospel, How can we recognize pride in ourselves? I have noticed that whenever I have feelings of anger, frustration, or annoyance they are usually a result of pride or selfishness. In other words, as we strip ourselves of pride, we become happier people. It's something I'm working on and would encourage you to think about that question as well, it's helped me a lot in this last week to realize my weakness and rely on the Savior more. 

Well, it's week 5 of the transfer so of course DEEP CLEAN!! And I thought I got out of clean checks when I graduated... At least North Gate didn't have cockroaches. I completely gutted the kitchen and found a million of them, so of course I sprayed them. Oh awk we had to leave the apartment because we were inhaling stuff that wasn't good for us haha. Anyway I got the place pretty spotless and was making some fajitas for dinner when a huge one crawls across the counter. I give up. Jk I pulled out my .22 and shot the sucker. I WISH. 

Oh so we did a flash mob on the subway. We just wore normal clothes and one of us would start singing and the rest would join in as the song went on. People liked the song but they didn't like us. Or me at least haha I get rejected every time I try and talk to someone on a train, no matter how persistent I am. It's usually funny so it's fine haha. They have asked us to attend institute so we go on Tuesday and Wednesday nights with the YSA, it's so fun I feel like I'm in college again except I can't get distracted by Pinterest now so I actually learn stuff! So glad I am learning how to study finally...would have been nice to know 3 years ago before I flunked out of college. 

Oh my goodness so we are in institute and we were talking about people in church history who apostatized like Symond Ryder cause they spelled his name wrong in a revelation (and later on his gravestone hah sucker). But it got me to thinking that they probably didn't leave the church because of that one thing, but that they probably let little things that bothered them build up and those "reasons" why they left the church were just the last straw. It is part of using the atonement that we continually fix things in our lives that are broken or unfair. If we let them build up they almost always end in tragedy, whether physical or spiritual. It reminded me of a speaker in the MTC, he said that his faith wasn't in people, he said even if the prophet fell away it wouldn't change his commitment or belief.  Another person who was converted by a miracle left the church and I couldn't help but thinking that he probably wasn't every really converted. We receive our testimonies by the spirit testifying to our hearts, not by "proof" that these things are true. If you want to know if the church is true, don't go around looking for this or that, simply pray about it. He will give you an answer. 

So this actually happened. The social drinker who broke my heart last week? Turns out the elders went over and she told them she doesn't like me because I was too bold with her. Oops. I told her she needed to choose between God and drinking and she didn't like that. Dude when your salvation is on the line I'm not gonna beat around the bush. Either you love God and are willing to obey the commandments or not. But anyway I'm trying to be a bit nicer and not so sassy to the investies. Can't remember if I told you about Nicole from last week but she came to church and is set to get baptized into the YSA on the 22nd! Also we got a referral from the Idaho Falls Visitors Center for another guy from Nepal and he will be getting baptized the same day as well! His story was incredible, he was atheist and was visiting Yellowstone and he found a Book of Mormon in the hotel room. He googled it and the IF visitors center was across the street! He went and visited it and started reading the Book of Mormon. The sisters there told him he had to stop drinking and smoking so he could get baptized. He threw away all that stuff, he said he started dressing more "respectable" so that people would know he was a good person. He has completely changed his life before we even met him! He is seriously the coolest thing ever. Oh we also had a less active break up with us over the pulpit in testimony meeting. The stake president had to tell him to sit down. I played the organ for sacrament meeting and I guess I messed up a song so this guy from the branch posted about it all up in my Facebook. Can someone please throw away Facebook and break my iPad? More trouble than it's worth. THE DRAMA. Whatever. The church is true.

I really love it here and I don't want to be transferred, but then again I didn't want to be transferred from the Harbor either so I know it'll be great whatever happens. Mostly I just know that all my stuff won't fit in my suitcases anymore because of winter clothes #sistermishproblems. Which, by the way, it is SO COLD here. Rexburg was a can of corn compared to this temperature. Anyway I better get lost, if you didn't watch the CES Fireside you should probably go watch it, it was the greatest thing ever. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here, it is the coolest thing of my life. 

Love you guys! 

Sister Wads

Pics!!!

1. Our district

2. During the flash mob..still trying to learn how to speak Spanish from these goofballs

3. Some NYC livin' 

4. Recent convert who is moving to the Netherlands...sad to see him go :(

5. We did service in the rain on Saturday and I came home and my toes were white and swollen and I couldn't feel them. It went away by that night but I could hardly walk all day haha is that what it feels like to be preggers?

The Cowboy and Indian in NY

What up Fam!

Monday we had all my little Belle Harbor besties come up and we hung out for the day. I love them so much! We also had the most awkward lesson of my life. I was trying to tell a less-active that we missed him at church and he kept being like "what?" But then he gets this creepy smile on his face and was like "oh! Like that...." Hard pass dude... I have a boyfriend. But he just stared at me with that smile on his face for the rest of the lesson. YSA problems haha. We taught him on Wednesday again...same thing. How do you tell someone you want them at church without them thinking that YOU want them at church? But oh how I love the YSA, it is so good to be serving here.

Tuesday is not a fond memory for me. We were doing lookups and (once again!) the GPS took us through a $15 tunnel this time into Manhattan. You guys, my blood pressure goes up in Manhattan. I never wanna go there again. Except to the temple. But I don't wanna go there. We probably sounded like a bunch of idiots but we called a member and they told us a way to get back on a bridge that didn't have a toll. Not only that, but that the GPS has an option to avoid tolls! The fur was already ripped off my cat so I just quietly cried the rest of the home. So did Sister Joseph, so don't think I'm the only baby in this companionship. I've cried like 5 times this week, it's like this cool new emotional leaf I'm turning over. 

Ok let's just take a second here and talk about being a missionary. The only thing I can even closely compare it to is dating. You find someone you "like" to teach, you get super close to them after like 2 lessons, you come to love them and want their happiness, and you know that only comes from truly following Jesus Christ, and then BAM. They dump you. Except this heartbreak is 10 times worse than the "breakup" heartbreak because you're concerned about their salvation and stuff instead of that your wedding Pinterest board isn't going to come to life in the next 6 months. And then have that happen 4 times in one week. I feel like if I wasn't set apart to do this I would be in a sugar coma from the ice cream and emotional eating. But it's okay because as we understand the Plan of Salvation we know that they have their agency, and maybe we've planted that seed in someone that will be harvested by another member or missionary. In PMG it says that "discouragement weakens faith", and I can tell you that that is what Satan wants. He wants us to give up on ourselves and others and think that because we have already made so many mistakes, we can never completely change or repent. But I know that Christ's atonement reaches much farther than anything we could possibly do, and that he is ever ready to lift us back if we will just reach out a hand and show Him we want to be picked up. There is nothing more heartbreaking than seeing your brother or sister reject the gospel because of social priorities or personal habits that they are too comfortable to give up. Once again, selective obedience brings selective blessings! Man I am just so grateful for the knowledge I have and that I was able to grow up in this gospel. These people have no idea what they are missing out on! 

This probably shouldn't be funny, but we are working with a less-active to get her to the temple and I called her up a few days ago to see how she's doing. After I introduced myself over the phone she quickly cut me off by saying "I have decided I DON'T want the blessings that come from going to the temple." I probably shouldn't have been laughing, but it was funny because 1. She is out of her mind, and 2. It was kind of hysterical to hear someone say that. Usually people don't want to WORK for the blessings...they want the blessings though! Well, she didn't so that's that. 

We are kept so busy on Sundays. We go to the Astoria (family) ward at 9, the YSA branch starts at 11, then we teach gospel principals (our ward mission leader moved...haha), then since I've been here we've been practicing a song for stake conference and I have to accompany it so we practice that for an hour, and then they usually have like a mingle thing afterwards so we leave the church at 6 for prime time. It's good to be busy! The Astoria ward had their trunk or treat on Saturday night. It took real effort to restrain myself from holding all the cute kids. We were the Cowboy and Indian. Totes won a prize for our costume. 

Many other things have happened but I just wanted to share a part of what I was reading in the Book of Mormon. I was reading about Moroni and the title of Liberty and the part right after that was really crazy and it reminded me so much of how satan tries to trick us. So basically Amalickiah is a little fetcher and wanted all the power and to destroy the church so he went to the lamenites to try and join their army but their leader Lehonti got scared so he ran away to the top of a mountain to hide with his guards. Anyway Amalickiah sends his posse up there to tell him to come down the mountain to talk and Lehonti wouldn't come. This happened 3 times until finally Amalickiah went up almost to the camp on top of the mountain and says "just come down a little and talk to me." I feel like satan is smart enough to know that we aren't going to come down from the "mountain", but if he can get us to come down "a little" he has us. It says that after they made the agreement to merge their armies Amalickiah "poisoned him (Lehonti) by degrees". This guy is seriously satanic. We can't let ourselves go even a little or he will have us. I've seen this in a lot of people we are teaching, they want to just do one small thing that isn't in harmony with the gospel, and let me tell you, they are running down the mountain before you know it. We need to be so careful in the things we do or he will take over. We have to actively choose to be righteous every second every day. I know that righteous living is what brings us the most happiness. 

I love this gospel and I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon, that book will get you closer to God than any other book. I also have a testimony that this gospel is a gospel of application not lip service. The more you live it, the more you'll know it's true. 

I love you guys tons! 

Sis Wads

1. My little Sister Cox!

2. Downtown where we street contact a lot

3. Little Ryan, probably the most adorable little boy in the world

4. At the ward party

5. After the ward party, sometimes we are ADD when planning.

6. So sister Joseph likes to play with fire. I didn't know this when I bought the candle. But she was swooping her hair over it (she was probably chanting something) and she singed half her hair off!  I was like, what is that smell? She got the most childish grin on her face. I seriously died. What am I gonna do with her?

7. This kid is my little bro, we were in the MTC together. He reminds me so much of Betty and Don. So obvi I creeped on his selfie. 

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.