Miracles!

MIRACLES!!!!!

That's been mine and Sister Wheatley's moto lately. This transfer is full of them and we know it will only keep getting better.

MIRACLES: Our investigator Dameon came to church last Sunday, Wednesday night, and the Sunday before that. He has been reading in the Book of Mormon, praying, trying to make new friends, and has a sincere desire to change his life. He has the Spirit with him and it is my dream to see the Atonement working in someone's life. His countenance is completely different from the fist time we met him. He is being fellowshipped so well by all of the members, and even though we probably shouldn't have favorites, he is my FAVORITE. I never want to leave when we are in lessons with him and I can't wait to go back. In our lesson last night about prophets and dispensations, he said "I know now that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, just like those other guys, Moses and Noah. And I think Nephi was a prophet too." He gets it. We set a baptismal date with him for Febuary 25th.

Last Sunday, we had a first lesson with a woman Ramona and her friend Reina. I can't remember if I wrote this in my email last week, but they both accepted baptismal dates in that first visit. Their family couldn't make it to church on Sunday because Ramona was sick with her diabetes but they even helped coordinate their own ride. They say they will be there next week. We know they will. Every time I see her son Augustine, I feel like I have always known him. I know we were meant to find this family, and that they are going to be baptized.

I felt prompted the other day to turn the car around to contact a woman on the street. As we were trying to turn around, we ran right into a couple of our investigators, Ricardo and Ana, who we dropped from teaching a few weeks back because they just weren't keeping any committments or progressing at all. We told them to call us if they wanted to be taught again. They asked us to come in and have a quick lesson, so we did. We invited Ricardo to go to church on Sunday since Ana has to work. He said he would. He always said that in the past but never did. Sunday, he was in church!! He also told us that him and Ana had read a whole chapter in the Book of Mormon out loud together. That NEVER happens. It was a miracle, and God placed him in our path to start teaching him again.

One family named Ortega-Paz came to church for the first time on Sunday. Their LDS neighbors in the branch all went over to get them up Sunday morning and let them follow their car. They were fellowshipped so well. Miracle. Coming to church is a HUGE steps for investigators. When someone comes, it's really incredible.

We had planned for 15 investigators to be in church this past Sunday! They all had rides and were ready to go. Three families ended up canceling, so only 5 total came. But that is amazing! We usually only have a couple come, if we're lucky. In the past sometimes it's been none. The work is taking leaps and bounds as we try so hard to have great faith and work "smarter."

We had dinner on Sunday with some members, and President Killpack and his wife came (our mission President)! Sister Wheatley and I were both SWEATING but it turned out so great. My heart was beating when we had to share the dinner message and all 4 families present gathered around, President included. But it was so awesome, we shared the First Vision and we all talked about all of the blessings we have from the gospel, and how everything we have has been given to us by Heavenly Father to share with others. We NEED to share this gospel with EVERYONE. It's so selfish to be "too busy" or too nervous to share the gospel. Our friends, neighbors, coworkers, familiy members will all ask us after we die why we didn't share with them what we had. Well I don't know if that will really happen but we talk about it all the time as having no excuses for not sharing the gospel with EVERYONE.

The stake's theme this year is missionary work, which is AWESOME. We have at least one member planned every night this week to come out to lessons with us. I know that members are the key to missionary work and that this fellowshipping will bring about baptisms.

Sister Wheatley and I have been working hard lately to work "smarter," to plan much better and use our time as wisely as we can. I've learned that when you do this, you're never overloaded. I don't think it's normal when people say "I was ALWAYS tired on my mission. You'll be exhausted EVERY day. Won't even be able to keep your eyes open during lessons. THAT's working hard." Ummm....that's not working smarter, that's wasting your energy with things that it doesn't need to be wasted on. We go to bed and wake up every day at the times that we are supposed to, exercise every day, and have faith, hope and focus. This keeps me going every day and we aren't those missionaries that say "I just can't take it anymore, I'm soooo tired. I can't do this anymore." It's not that we aren't working hard, we're just doing everything in order the way that Heavenly Father says too, and He blesses us with all the energy we need. I feel awesome. I really don't want to leave the mission. I want to do this for the rest of my life.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED:

Remembering that one day we will all stand face-to-face with Jesus Christ builds my faith incredibly. I love the quote that some general authority or apostle or someone gave one time when they said (not these words exactly, I can't remember it) "When I see Jesus Christ, I won't know any more then than I do now that He lives, that He is my Savior and Redeemer." I have always wanted to build up that kind of faith and say that for myself. I feel like now, I can. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live, that they have physical bodies of flesh and bone. I know that they watch over me every day and that we are only instruments in His hands. I love them both so much and I love the Holy Ghost. I know that when I am praying, I am speaking directly with my Father in Heaven. I know that He loves me and that I am His daughter, that if I am faithful He will lead me into paths of tremendous growth and exalt me after this life. I love being a missionary! I'm so thankful for this opportunity to prove my love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ through obedience and service. I know that I don't know everything, He does, and that if I always trust Him and do what He says, I can never go wrong.

Well fam, I loveeeee you. I can't send my xD card until I get the new one in the mail, in case we have to take pictures. I'll get more pictures of our investigators so you can see who we are with every day.

It says in the white handbook (missionary bible/commandments) that we aren't to give out personal information such as last names, addresses, or sensitive information. I just stick to first names. I don't know anything about not giving out your companion's name. But I appreciate the heads up, I'll make sure to double check so that I'm not being disobedient.

I love you!

Hermana Wadsworth

Faith: Hope for things which are not seen

FAMILY!!!

Hello again. Sorry I didn't write yesterday, it was Martin Luther King day and all the public libraries were closed. Just know that whenever a holiday falls on a Monday, I will be writing Tuesday instead.

So....AWESOME WEEK!!!!!

It was hard but awesome at the same time. Sister Wheatley was sick all week, and I got a little sick, so our energy was really low some days. That really affected our morale. But we really boost each other up when one of us is having a hard time. One day during our lunch hour, Sister Wheatley told me to go take a nap while she made me Mexican food. She's that awesome. We make each other lunch and clean up after each other all the time. We're a really good team. When one of us is struggling, the other's positive attitude helps bring the other up until we can work through it. Missions are awesome.

I've learned on my mission that I'm OCD. I've always known that cleaning is my favorite thing to do, and it do it when I'm stressed, tired, happy, upset...no matter how I'm feeling, I love to clean. I really can't stand it if our apartment and car aren't perfect. Definitely a huge change from my high school days!!

Sooo, this past week or two has been all about developing faith, about understanding what having faith really feels like and realizing that it really can move mountains! Faith is incredible! It's amazing to me that "...it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth.....the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites....the faith of Ammon and his bretheren which wrought so great a mireacle among the Lamanites. Yea, and even all they who wrought mireacles wrought them by faith" (Ether 12:13-16). I thought WOW....is Heavenly Father telling me that if I simply expect that something will happen, it will? Even moving a mountain? Yep.

I realized that to have faith isn't to say to yourself "I believe I believe I believe I believe" in a self-deceiving kind of way, when you actually don't know if it will really happen or not. We have to 100% believe completely in our own hearts that the miracle really actually is coming to pass and we can be really excited for it to happen. Last Sunday, I knew without a doubt that our investigator Dameon and his brother and their friend would attend church. They are ages 17-20. Dameon has done a ton of drugs in the past, and he talks and responds differently than normal and has scars on his face. It's hard to understand his comprehension of the material sometimes but from what he responds we can always tell that he is understanding what we're teaching.. During one of our lessons he was trying so hard not to cry telling us about how he wishes he could feel love in his life again, how his life has become so cold. He is such a good kid and loves and takes care of his family, but has made bad decisions in his life. He has a lot of influence on his friend and brother. They both said "I'll go to church only if Dameon says he is going." Soooo, last week, I knew with all my heart that they would go. We stopped by on Sunday morning as they had just woken up and told them their ride was on the way. AND ALL THREE OF THEM WENT TO CHURCH!!! I was soooooo worried the whole time, I really wanted them to be welcomed into the ward and have a spiritual, uplifting experience. I was watching them all sacrament meeting to see how they responded. They were welcomed by what seemed to be everyone in the whole branch, stayed all three hours, and said that they loved it and are coming next Sunday, as well as attending mutal this Wednesday night!!! I couldn't believe it!!! It really was a miracle. Dameon's face was just beaming and he couldn't stop smiling and laughing. The other young men said they sat and talked with them for all the classes. It was a miracle.

Another miracle is that Dameon's grandmother, who said that she didn't care to change her religion at all, but wanted us to teach her grandsons, has reallyyy warmed up to us lately. She is always welcoming us inside and feeding us and during the lessons she is very concentrated on what we're saying. I think she is really happy to see a change happening in her family, but as she hears the truth, her own heart is softened.

We've been teaching a new family! The Silva family. They are so awesome. The dad is hilarious. The mom and daughter were the first ones we started teaching, and now the whole family grabs their Libros de Mormon and listens to the lessons. The 19-year-old son, Edgar, always participates and does the reading assignments and really thinks a lot about what we are teaching. We were nervous last week when we extended a baptismal date for Feb 11, but were blown away when the dad paused and said, ".......maybe." The rest of them nodded. They said they really want to learn more and need to know more but think the lessons are beautiful. Miracle.

On Sunday, we taught a woman Ramona and her friend Reina for the first time. The Spirit was so stong in the lesson and both my companion and I had full faith that we had to extend a baptismal date, like we are supposed to in every first lesson. Both women accepted a date for the 11th of February and said they would need a ride to church on Sunday. We are teaching them again today. Miracle.

ROSA WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!! After studying with missionaries for almost two years, she finally made it happen. It was so awesome! One of our investigators, Filemon, came to the baptism. Our mission President came and brought his family, and President sat in on a lesson with us in the chapel afterwards with Filemon. We were both sooooo nervous hahha but the Spirit was so strong. We committed Filemon to pray about baptism in front of the President. Miracle.

What I want to learn is how to change my attitude when I'm having doubt or disbelief with one of our investigators. I remember in the Bible, when a man asks Christ to heal his epileptic child. He says, "Lord, help thee mine unbelief." When I'm not sure if an investigator will progress, I'm just going to pray with all my heart to Heavenly Father to help my unbelief, to help change those feelings to faith. Richard G. Scott says that every time we follow promptings of the Spirit, that is a manefestation of our faith, a "trial" of our faith, and our faith will be strenghtened by doing so. So, I'm going to do that to work on having more faith. Last week, as we were walking out of our apartment, I had a strong impression to invite our neighbor Ray to church. We went up and invited him, and he said that he really appreciated it and would try to go. As we walked out today, he caught us and said that he will know by tomorrow if he can get work off for SUnday. I really never saw Ray as wanting to attend church. Miracle.

Well time is up and I wish I could keep writing about all the miracles we've had but we have to go. I'm excited to see more miracles this week.

Grandma and grandpa, I'll have to print off your email and take it with me to read tonight. Your emails mean so much to me. Thank you!

Love you all!!!!

Hermana Wadsworth

Families are forever...so you'd better learn to get along!

Hellooooooo beautiful family!!!!

The subject line really doesn't have anything to do with you specifically, it's just a good thought. Haha. If you're stuck together for eternity, you better make your family relationships the absolute best that you can!

I'm SO sorry we didn't get to email last week. The day we were supposed to be emailing was transfer day, and we were sooooo busy that we didn't even get to go grocery shopping! We used up just about every last scrap that we had lying around in our freezer, fridge, or cupboards. Sure we could have gone to the store, but any time at all that we would have gone would have been during proselyting time, which is definitely NEVER okay, or during our studies, which is also definitely never okay. We really can't miss those. Sooo, since we knew we would have a lot of dinner appointments, my companion and I decided to be obedient and wait until the following Monday to go buy food. We knew that if we thought not where our food would come from, put the kingdom of God above all things, and trusted that the Lord would watch out for us for being obedient, that we could make it. I was worried at first, for we were out of bread, milk, ramen, and really all the essentials. But I seriously felt like shopping during our working hours was like breaking the Sabbath day, so we prayed the Lord would provide. And He DID! We had investigators randomly decide to send us home with food, less actives call us up to feed us lunch, and dinner almost every night. We made it through the week just fine. I know that if we strive to be obedient and keep the commandments of God, He will always bless us with what we need, and will always take care of us. Inasmuch as we are obedient, we will prosper in the land. And in our fridge. One of my all-time favorite scriptures that I always share with investigators is 1 Nephi 3:7 "Y sucedio que yo, Nefi, dije a mi padre: Ire y hare lo que el Senor ha mandado, porque se que el nunca da mandamientos a los hijos de los hombres sin prepararles la via para que cumplan lo que les ha mandado." I KNOW that Heavenly Father expects every single one of us to keep ALL of His commandments, and that He would never require anything of us that was impossible. I know that it's true: where there's a will, there really is a way. And if there isn't a way right now, God will provide a miracle to make a way.

Okay, so my NEW COMPANION....she's AWESOME. Her name is Sister Wheatley from Heber, Utah. She is so sweet and loving and her favorite thing to say besides "it's all good" is "whatever you need." She is always serving me and thanking me for being her companion. She has 4 months left in her mission. The other day she cried and told me that I'm an answer to her prayers, that she was losing her energy and getting burnt out, and that a greenie from the MTC is exactly what she needs right now. It kinda works out, cause what I need is someone with experience. So pretty much, we're perfect for each other. She is so loving and humble and willing to work with whatever everyone else wants, but is definitely not a push over. She stands her ground and takes equal part in lessons, planning, leading/following, teaching/learning.....she's legit. We work SO well together, WAY better than Sister Jeppsen and I. I miss Sister Jeppsen all the time, and she was the best I could have possibly been given, but because she was so dominant she would kind of take over everything and I feel like I couldn't really grow and learn and get better and stronger because I wasn't given really equal responsibility. Sister Wheatley and I have way better unity, and I KNOW this transfer is gonna be super awesome, that we're going to have success and see a lot of change in the work, that it's really going to pick up and progress.

We had a zone conference last wednesday, and our zone leaders introduced changes that President Killpack wants us to implement. It includes things like how dinner appointments are done, how to work with the members to find and teach, how to strengthen the branch, all sorts of things. The whole meeting I was freaking out, I couldn't wait to make the changes and see a difference in the work. I have full faith that if we are completely obedient and do exactly what President tells us to do, the work will progress and we will see the desired success. I can't wait to get it all going. The members weren't super happy at first about all the changes but we just remind them that it's what has to be done, so they just kind of have to get over it......not that we ever said that, haha, but man these Mexicans get so dramatic! They like everything done their way, and there's always a ton of drama. But we're going to be obedient and we know that if we exercise our faith to follow President's rules, the work will pick up. I can't wait.

We met a family last week, the De La Rosa familia. The Elders in our ward were at the hospital giving a member a blessing, and the De La Rosas were in the same shared room with their dying grandfather. They asked for a blessing for him and the Elders ended up teaching a Plan of Salvation lesson on the spot. The family couldn't wait to hear more, so they started taking lessons from the Elders. The family was passed off to us to start teaching. Every time we've had lessons with them, we've got allllllll of the abuelas, tias, hermanas, hermanos, ninos, primos, y todos en la casa. They all grab their Books of Mormon and gather around and listen about Heavenly Father's plan for us, the resurrection, spirit world, and that families are eternal. It's so awesome. They told us they had to have car washes to raise money for a funeral because they had seriously nada. One day we got to help them out with the car wash, until Sister Jeppsen had the idea to see if they could have the funeral in our chapel for free. We worked with the branch presidency and auxiliary leaders and had a funeral for the family this morning. We had so many teary eyes thanking and thanking and thanking everyone for letting them do the funeral, and specific family members saying that even though they are Catholic they really like the church and want us to keep holding on to the family. There's going to be so many baptisms from this experience!!! I can see now all of them entering the temple and being sealed as a family. The sad news is that we found out they actually aren't even in our branch boundaries, and we have to pass them off to other Elders to teach them and bring them into a different branch. We are super sad but know that they are in good hands.

We have a baptism this Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if I told you about Rosa Correa. She is a single mom to a 2-year old Derric and is from Sonora, Mexico, which is where most of the people are from around here. There's even a "Sonora Branch," which is the branch we will have to send the De La Rosa family to. But Rosa has been studying with missionaries for over 2 years now, and is FINALLY stepping into the waters of baptism. We are so stoked, my first baptism in the mission!!!! I can't believe it's really happening. I can't wait. The problem is that Rosa always has to work on Sundays, and her boss where she cleans hotels never lets her have time off to attend church. So we are working with the Relief Society president to help her find work elsewhere so that she can weekly take the Sacrament and keep the commandments of God. Last we heard, the Marriot is hiring, and that they are always flexible with allowing their employees to attend church. I REALLY hope she gets this new job. The problem with Rosa is that she is super floja (lazy), so you kinda have to slowlyyyy PUSH her along to get things done. But she's doing it! The members already loved her and she is already fellowshipped well, so we know she will be okay.

At the funeral this morning, I remembered that this life is only a blip on the map, but that it is the time to repent and change to prepare to meet God. This morning for personal study I read Alma 40-42. It's awesome! Heavenly Father is so merciful for giving so much to us: bodies, an earth, families, and the gospel, so that we could have an opportunity to repent and grow. I kinda hate funerals but I also love them for helping me to remember what this life is all about. Sister Jeppsen said she liked to think of this life as being in a virtual reality, where we are given tests to see how we perform and one day we will wake up and be accountable for what we did with what we are given. I'm so thankful to have this knowledge to motivate me to be the best I can be. It also made me remember that death happens to all of us, that one day I'm going to be sitting in a room looking at the casket of my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, maybe siblings. The day is guaranteed to come. I need to let you all know how much I absolutely love you. I can't waste this precious time we have by not telling you what you mean to me, what wonderful parents you are and to let you know that you have raised me right. Grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles, I really wouldn't be anywhere without your amazing example. I love you all so much and I coulndn't make it through this life without you.

Well, we have to get back to the funeral to help with the food and cleaning up and everything. But just know that I am doing so well and am so happy! I have so much faith that this transfer is going to be absolutely awesome. I'm learning every day that you have to choose to be happy and positive, and that the Atonement makes it possible to have that hope every day of our lives.

If I can think of anything I need, it would be things to help our investigators, or we would LOVE Ensigns to read. We get them sometimes but we often take Spanish ones and give them away.

I loooooove you.

!Hasta ver!

Hermana Wadsworth