After a Hard Fought Battle...

Madison will be coming home with an honorable medical release on Tuesday, November 12.  We are excited to welcome home our hero!

I saw two quotes today that made me think about our LDS missionaries.

The first was:

I don't know about never being missionaries, but I do know our LDS missionaries ARE messages!  They stand for truth and light in a world that is often clouded by sin and confusion. They are truly amazing!

The other quote is this:

I know we all wonder sometimes if our efforts really make a difference, and I hope Madison will take pride in knowing that hers have made a huge difference. Both in this life and in the next, for generations to come, I know the seeds she has planted will blossom. And I know she will continue to plant seeds in the future as well. We are excited to welcome her home after serving an honorable mission!  LOVE YOU MADDY!  WELCOME HOME! 

Oh Samson your handsome young pup with a lot fur

So the title of the email is a song that one of my investigators sang to one of her puppies. Its been a super good week with a lot of interesting things that have happened. I forgot my planner so I will write about what I remember to you all.

 

So my companion and I have become super good friends with the elders their hilarious and awesome. We have dinner with them at members almost every night and its super fun. and members really enjoy it and say its fun too. So the elders came up with a new dinner message which was pretty odd. So apparently if you turn a can on its side and smash it on your lower fingers it doesn't hurt. So they did that for the dinner message 2wice in a row and it worked so my companion and I had a brilliant idea. On Halloween we had dinner at a less actives house and they invited some recent converts to come over too so we told the member about it and we got a plan put together. At dinner the elders were doing the dinner message and so the member volunteered her hand for it. And the elders smashed the can on her fingers and she pretended that it hurt her really badly. And so she went into a corner and pretended to cry and the elders looked really scared it was really funny. And it was even better when she revealed that it didn't hurt at all. The elders decided to never do that dinner message again. It was super funny though.

 

So to finish about Halloween we spent the rest of the night with some ward members. They had a haunted house in their garage so we sat with them and we talked to parents of trick or treaters it was really fun and we got some good contacts.

 

So our first new investigator is named janet and shes a former investigator that the elders taught. Shes pretty awesome and she was pretty close to baptism but no one knows what happened, we are teaching her tonight and were hoping to get her on track to be baptized.

 

Our second investigator is a lady named Mirna. She owns a puppy mill and shes pretty interesting. Shes pretty odd. She showers about once a week. We think that she will be a super good member but we just need to get her to church. When we were there she asked us to sing her some songs. So we sang Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, Give said the little stream, and My heavenly father loves me. It was pretty fun and we got to hold some of her puppies (hypo allergenic by the way) And helped her take photos of them it was fun. The next day we did service for her and the elders came and helped, we put hay into her dogs dog houses for the winter and put clean water into their bowls. It was fun and it felt good to do service.

 

Our third is a boy named Nathanial hes a teenage boy whose friends with members. Hes super interested. He was adopted and is struggeling with details with that. But we taught the first lesson to him and it went really well. His mom was there and she felt the spirit but is sadly not interested. He also attended church it was awesome.

 

We also taught a part member family. The wife who is not a member became an investigator last week. Her husband tried to take his records out of the church in the 80's but it didn't go through and so we both know that hes still a member for a reason. We taught them the restoration and his wife accepted to read the book of Mormon. And also we could tell that the husband has a super strong testimony of the church but we know that theres a reason to why hes not coming to church anymore so we will be working with that to find out why hes not coming.

 

And those were the main people we visited this week. In total we taught 16 lessons which is really really good for week 3 of a new area so this area is spectacular and is going really well.

 

I look at the calendar and realized ive been out for 8 months *yikes* These 18 months are going by way to fast. Its now time to shine and make the rest of these months the best ever!!! Ive been trained, I know what im doing now, its time to get to work and find those who the lord has prepared for this gospel. I love you all and hope all is well :)

October 28th

Well my area is super awesome. Its like a non stop petting zoo. Ive petted a donkey, chicken, horse, and more its been super fun and my area is gorgeous!!!!! I seriously love my area!!!! So after I emailed you all last week we went to zone sports and I spent most of the time on the stage writing letters their all finished its just getting them sent off now. But afterwards we had dinner and the elders had the same dinner appointment so my companion and I were waiting for the elders when we saw a chicken at the church yard. My companion was bored so out of nowhere my companion started to chase the chicken it was hilarious. After dinner we tried a bunch of families but the hard thing of our area is most of it is dirt roads, with no address name and if you do find it none of the houses have house numbers so we tried a bunch of people but no such luck :(

 

Tuesday-  Super slow day :( We tried a bunch of people but literally no one opened their door it was super frustrating but we kept going we were able to share a message with a non member which was the highlight of the day but otherwise it was a super slow day.

 

Wednesday- Almost like Tuesday but better!!! We were able to go to a less actives house and share a message with the mom and while we were there her teenage daughter came home and talked to us. She was super cute and we found out later that the young women have been working with her to get her active again. But they were super fun and we found out that the daughter loves to cook so we working to find a way to help with that. On our way out we saw a guy outside so we stopped to talk to him but he turned out to be a bible basher  And he went on forever. We finally were able to get away but man he went on FOREVER!!!! We later went to a less actives house which was pretty interesting we had no idea what she was even talking about. She said her daughter was in the hospital but then her daughter walked in. We then found out that she has dementia and Alzheimer's which explained a lot. She talked about the Jehovah witnesses ALOT and told us that she said no to baptism with them. So it was pretty interesting... Later that night we saw a less active named Sister Hassel shes pretty awesome. we are going back for lunch tomorrow we are excited and we are hoping to get her back to church.

 

Thursday- So Thursday is set apart for planning but the elders showed up and asked if we could go with them to do service. We told them yes so we went with them to a less actives house. So we went and helped build a fence with them.

it was pretty fun. They had chickens, ducks, and horse that loves to follow you. I pretty much fell in love with their horse. After that we worked on our weekly planning for the rest of the day.But then we also saw a part member family. The wife who is not a member was really fond of us and told us to come back so on Halloween we will be teaching her the 1st lesson. Afterwards we went looking for some houses on our way we ran into people and were able to give out pass along cards it was pretty nice.

 

Friday- We had district meeting. My district leader gave us a topic and told us to talk about it. They gave the the holy ghost which luckily was my farewell talk so I felt pretty prepared but then our zone leaders and the assistants walked in. I was freaking out but it went well and they said I did a good job so phew. After that meeting we went and taught one of our investigators. Their names are Josephine and ross alredite. The elders found them 2 weeks before we came into the area. They told the elders that they are struggeling so the elders gave them priesthood blessings and they were super impress by it and have been doing better since then. When we got there ross had to sadly leave for work but we stayed and taught Joesephine the plan of salvation and she was super impress by it. She told us about her son who just got out of prison after 16 years!!!!! And she said that he wants to change his life and that might be the way so we are hopefully meeting her son this weekend. At the end we asked her about baptism and she said she wants to learn more before she decides.  Afterwards we went back with the member that went with us and she showed us her craft room and she shared with us her life story it was pretty cool. That night was pretty slow but overall pretty good day.

 

Saturday- was good. We had lunch with the RS president and we got info on our area. Afterwards we tried 2 less actives that let us in!!!! it was awesome it was the first time that we were let in everytime we knocked on the door. After dinner we went to a Halloween party where a bunch of less actives were and met and talked to them.

 

Sunday- meetings, meetings and meetings but it was good and we tried a bunch of people but no such luck :(. But we are going to keep going this week and make it good. I love you all and hope all is well..

 

But I want to write some advice to you all to help those who are preparing for missions

 

Weekly Planning- That I absolutely HATE. But there are ways to make it fun so some advice that ive heard from missionaries to make it fun is. 1) Food. Either go get some fast food from somewhere near by, get ice cream, my companion and I bake some baked goods during lunch and then eat during planning. Have a picnic..., 2) play church music as you do it that way your not completely bored.

 

Teaching people- Be Visual as you teach. Have pictures, if your teaching the plan of salvation MAKE SURE that you have some sort of visual to make it more understandable for example drawing it having cards. ect. Also videos help to Mormon messages are awesome so if you can buy the Mormon messages, or any other video that the church or your mission president approves USE it!

 

Preparation day- Make it fun!!!! A lot of missionaries sleep on it but seriously do something fun. if your allowed to spend time with other missionaries do it! Play sports with them, go to a zoo, just do anything fun.

 

Also missionary work is not just sitting and teaching you can do other fun things with it. Missionaries have birthday parties for members or investigators, there were some sisters that had a movie night with an investigator they watched Legacy and had popcorn and candy. Get creative and fun on your mission. Even our prophet laughs and has fun. So have fun I love you all. and have a great Halloween.

 

Sister Worthington's New Area: Valencia

October 21

So last week when I emailed you all I told you that I was starting a new area somewhere with a new companion. I was terrified and finally by 5:15 the missionaries that were down in Texas arrived and my area was the last to be announced. :/ They announced that my companion is Sister Moulding (which shes pretty awesome by the way) and then they announced that we were going to a place called Valencia County which is right next to Los Lunas. So they gave us our car (no more biking!!!!!! yay!!!!) and we headed off. It was only 20 minutes away from Albuquerque and we got there and ites pretty much a farming village!!!!!!! I was super excited when I saw it. We found our house and we live right next door to goats, Chickens, and roosters. And our neighbors are super nice they came up to us and said hi and introduced themselves and they said that they watch over the missionaries that live here and make sure nothing bad happens to them. So we feel super safe here. But we go in and the sisters before us left the place a mess!!!! I was super ticked off and my anxiety was all over the place to go along with that. But then the elders called ( we cover the south part they cover the north) and they said they were heading over to meet us. So then when they got there because of mission rules they told us to follow us to the church. Once we got there I asked them for a blessing after the blessing I felt a lot better. Afterwards they explained the area to us and we met the relief society.  So later we were back home when we heard a knock on the door. The relief society showed up and helped us clean our house!!! Bless their dear hearts :). The rest of the week has been pretty busy. Meeting the bishop, our ward mission leader, lots and lots of meeting with the elders and others. We did service, we also have tried some less actives. And we also got 2 new investigators on our first week here!!!! So so far so good were pretty excited!!! And we have also become super good friends with the elders their names are elder reams and elder reading and their both super awesome! Im super excited for this area!!!! Love you all :) Also heres a pic of sister Tompkins and I back in my old area with the Carillo family :)

October 8, 2013

So seriously what a crazy week!!!! We had 5 investigators that dropped us due to different reasons, 2 moved out of the state very quickly, and others asked us not to come by :( but overall its been good.

Monday night we saw one guy who was struggeling and we think he was drunk.... but we talked to him anyways.

Tuesday- We were going to see a less active but we didn't feel good about going so we canceled and she got really mad and called the mission office to tell them were terrible missionaries OUCH! but the mission office told us not to see her again and not to worry. Later we saw Silvia and shes doing awesome shes becoming a really strong member of the church again their working on getting her a calling. Later that night we saw a referrel named Natalie she let us in right away and we set another appointment with her. We then saw a less active and it was super sweet she told us that we made her night by coming over to see her.

Wednesday- We went and saw a less active named lucia and when we were there she told us the real reason why she doesn't come to church anymore. It was really sad (for confidential reasons cant say why but) we later saw another less active and shes struggeling with a lot of things mostly with her kids 2 of them are most likely going to jail so we helped as much as we could.

Thursday- I woke up in ALOT of pain and i couldn't even move so we tried calling some missionaries some elders finally picked up and we asked what it could be they said possibly kidney stones so they drove over and gave me a blessing. Later the mission doctor called and said it was probually a pulled muscle so i grabbed the heating things from my slippers and put them on and we were able to go out that night. It was super painful but we did get to go to a rs activity where we learned how to make fry bread which is super duper good. I loved it :)

Friday- Felt LOADS better :)  so we went to zone training which was good. We saw a few people afterwards but the best part was that we went back and saw the referrel and we taught her the first lesson and she said yes to baptism!!!!!!!! Im super excited shes awesome.

Saturday- General conference was incredible. I loved president Uchdorfs talk i want to print it off so badly and give it to all the less actives. And also Elder Hollands was incredible. and also did anyone notice the fly during one of the talks it was pretty funny.

Sunday- General conference was super awesome again. :)

Monday- Seriously best day ever!!!! After 6 months was finally able to go to the temple. It was super powerful and the new movie incredible!!!!! After we went into the celestial room we went into the sealing room where President miller, sister miller and the temple president gave a devotional it was awesome. Afterwards We went outside and took photos and they gave us lunch. We afterwards went to desert book. then afterwards we were chosen to clean the temple so we cleaned it. Then afterwards they showed us all these cool things. We got to walk where the oxen are in the baptismal font, got to see the waiting room for the kids getting sealed to their parents it was super cute. They had all these toys for them and all these outfits for them. and then we showed the elders the bridal room. Afterwards we went to chick fil a with some elders. It was awesome i also found out that one of my past investigators in white rock is getting baptized im super excited. I love you all and will let you know if ill get transferred or not. till then... LOVE you all and hope all is well

You can tell you're in New Mexico when...

Sept 30

What a week!!! Its been awesome though! I have become a Green chile fan my favorites are chicken enchiladas with green chile and pepperoni pizza with green chile its the best thing in the world.

Monday-  We tried to see a less active and she forgot that we were coming and we couldn't find anyone to go out with us so we stayed home and did weekly planning... :(

Tuesday- We got a phone call from our investigator Erin the one that was going to be baptized she told us she didn't want to get baptized anymore and that she doesn't want the missionary disscussions anymore :( ive never been so sad. She had no reason the only thing I could think of is that satan got to her. We tried a bunch of people and no one was home. But we finally were able to see a less active named Leah shes really awesome. Shes a convert of 3 years and we taught her about tithing she said shes been lacking faith about tithing so we helped her with that.

Wednesday- A member picked us up and we got straight to work. We first saw a lady whose less active and when she opened the door and saw us she told us to go away and not to come back. The member we were with got really scared and didn't want to see anyone else but we reassured her that its ok and that it happens so we saw another less active and she let us in and we were able to share a message with her. after that we got dropped off and got picked up by another member and we saw Silvia whose my absolute favorite. Shes a convert from Germany shes really funny and crazy but shes improved soooo much. She brings up the prayer now and we are able to teach the lesson without a disruption its amazing how the gospel changes people. Afterwards we tried to see more people sadly no luck :(. That night we went to a less actives house where she has a neice that's not a member so we went over and talked about god. The nonmember Debbie said that she felt disappointed in her parents for not teaching her more about god so we askd her if we could help her come closer to god and she accepted. Afterwards we went and tried a few people but no such luck.

Thursday- Back to weekly planning... icky and we now started a new way of weekly planning that we write down their commitment to follow up on, their next commitment, what were going to teach them, and how were going to get them to church. It takes FOREVER but it will be worth it in the end. That night we had the scariest dinner ever and im serious!!!!!! Shes this 90 year old lady who has completely lost her taste buds and has lost her mind. First she has this really scary dog that has sharp teeth and really scary eyes and it bites you every time you walk. Then for dinner it was this soggy broccoli and this really cold lasanaga and this jello with mustard on it. but I ate it all regardless of how scary it was. afterwards her dog was biting my companion and my companion started to kick it and the member couldn't see it and was telling us not to be scared of her dog that it only bites boys we both looked at each other and finally got out. We both felt sick after dinner but we went and saw a less active named Laura. Laura hasn't been active for 15 years. One excuse is that she doesn't have a dress to wear and the member with us said she would wear pants with her to church, so then she brought up that shes too tired to come to church so we told her about the later church but she still rejects them all its really annoying and we cant figure out the real reason. We then saw a lady named Laurinda shes less active and she comes to church every week but she struggles behind the scenes so we are helping her as much as we can.

Friday- We had district meeting and it was really good. One of the elders has a really rare disease called snails fever that he got from the Philippines so we said our goodbyes to him cause he went to slc to university of Utah to help treat it. so his companion is in a trio now so theres only 5 of us in our district but its really fun. Afterwards our district and the other district went to panda express for district lunch and this member that none of us knew paid for ALL of our meals it amazed us all. The total at the end was about 84.00 dollars!!! Afterwards we continued with weekly planning. That night we visited a referrel and she was really sweet she let us in and we talked for like an hour and she told me how much she loved Boise it really made my night she said that she might move there and I told her she should lol then afterwards we went and saw Debbie our new investigator we taught her the restoration and it was a very good powerful lesson overall.

Saturday-  We continued with weekly planning most of the day but saw people in between time. We saw an investigator named Robert hes a black guy from texas and hes seriously the coolest guy I have ever met. We answered a lot of questions about the blacks not having the priesthood, the role of a women in the church and more it was really tough but we made it through and we survived. Later we saw Silvia and we taught her the plan of salvation she couldn't remember what it was and it went really well. We then saw the relief society broadcast which was very very good. Silvia came and our investigator Debbie came and she cried the whole time and said she loved it :). Afterwards we went to a fireside of a man that is apart of the preach my gospel committee and turned out it was one of the assistants grandpa. To start out we sang called to serve and we were partially into the song he stopped us and told us we could do loads better so he had us stand up and sing as loud as we could. His talk really touched us all. It was a very strong talk that we all truly felt changed us all. Afterwards we sang Army of helamn which I absolutely love. We sing instead of we will be its we are NOW the lords missionaries. Afterwards I saw my mtc companion sister karl we both jumped up and down and cried and hugged each other. its been 6 months since I last saw her it was the best thing in the world to see her again. afterwards the sister got us home ass they were leaving we heard this skidding and we looked to see if they were ok. They luckily were we ran to see what was wrong. They ran over a milk carton and it got stuck. My companion craweled under the car and got it. I was pretty terrified for her to do that but shes ok. So something to laugh about. Oh also if any of you remember Debra that I use to teach that said yes to baptism but moved. I met the elders that are teaching her and they said shes getting baptized THIS SATURDAY!!!! I jumped up and down im seriously so happy to hear of one person that I have found is getting baptized.

Sunday- We went to church and it was good.  We continued with our weekly planning that night we tried a bunch of people we tried a potential investigator his mom answered the door and told us that their not Mormon and we told her we were looking for her son so her son came to the door looking terrified and he said one moment and closed the door and afterwards another girl came to the door and asked us to leave it was pretty akward.... Afterwards we saw a guy named Eugene. Eugene use to be a temple worker but he got married to a nonmember who is a pastor at an anti Mormon church. She stood at the door the whole time we were talking to him and she looked ticked but we continued on. Its really depressing to see him now. We tried others but no such luck.

Monday- this morning at the laundry mat there was this ugly bug and one of the sisters killed it with her shoe but for some reason it flew right towards me. It gave me quite the scare but a good laugh too.

This week will be awesome. Its hot air balloon season for Albuqurque so theres hot air balloons flying all over its really cool. And this weekend is general conference and my companion and I were chosen to clean the temple Saturday night which were both very excited for. And next Monday I get to go to the temple sooooooo excited. I hope all is well and love you all. oh heres a pic of my companion and I and sister mcshane and sister Rager at zone conference 2 weeks ago

Busy Week!

Well I officially have a year of missionary work left to do. And this week was super busy but good.

 

Tuesday- And it rained rained rained. My companion and I got caught in the rain. Then my bad broke :/ so we called the other sisters to find out where goodwill is. But they came over and got us so we got a new bag. Afterwards we came back and its pouring so we were sitting in the car waiting a little bit when this guy came to the car and he told us hes a member in my ward and we put their bikes in their garage and the sisters took us to our dinner appointment.  Afterwards we saw this lady named Tanya and her 3 girls. Tanya has a lot of health problems going on and in their last ward the ward wasn't nice to them. the elders gave one of the girls some ties and she started to wear them to church and people told their daughters not to talk to her. And so they have a hard time going to church. And the member we had with us with inactive for 25 years and told them her story and told them to not make the same mistake. it was a very powerful lesson. Afterwards we saw a recent convert on 3 years named leah. And leah has been hearing a lot of anti Mormon stuff lately so weve been working with her to keep her testimony cause she's struggling with it.

 

Wednesday- We saw a less active named Silvia. Shes seriously one of the craziest people I have ever met. I very much believe what elder Morris told me. Missionaries attract the weirdest people. Silvia doesn't take us being there serious at all, but shes really funny. We then helped a lady in our ward move. Were really sad she was like a mission mom to us. She always made our food requests and was always doing so much for us. Later that night we met with Erin the girl I told about last week. She asked us if she could get baptized!!!!!!!!! We told her yes. She then told us she looked up the requirements for baptism and she said she will quit coffee, and listen to music that is uplifting and everything else it takes to be lds. It was amazing.

 

Thursday- We saw a lady named Sherry and she has all these wild birds its really cool. I got to hold a dove :). We talked about having trust in god to help us in times of need. Later we saw a lady named Sister Puma she takes us coming over as social hour and not a time to learn so we sadly have to drop her and hand her over to the ward. We then saw a guy named Jimmy. He was baptized when he was little but due to things he hasn't been back since he has a huge heart and we are continuing to work with him.

 

Friday- We had an awesome district meeting about working with those that are in actual need of us. Later that night we saw erin again. We taught her the 1st vision and afterwards we asked her if she would get baptized on October 26 and she said YES!!!!!!!! She jumped up and down and told her parents and they wrote it on their calendar. So ERIN IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!

 

Saturday-  We saw a less active named angela. She hasn't been active in years and shes struggeling big time. She has a handicape son that just had surgery, she works full time, shes getting divorced, and she got robbed its really sad so we talked about god with her. Afterward we saw Silvia AGAIN... shes super funny and never fails to not make me laugh. Then we saw this crazy black lady named Betty who was mad cause we couldn't stay for over an hour... her daughters walk around the house shirtless and we were there for like an hour while we listened to her talk about tattoos and how beautiful they are... enough said about her. Later that night we had a ward pizza party and talent show Silvia and her roommate whose less active came and Erin and her parents came. We left before the talent show so we could stick to mission rules but we heard it was really good.

 

Sunday- Erin sadly didn't come to church :( But Sherry, silvia and ed all came to church after a very long time :) Then we took a girl in the mission prep class tracting one guy came out with a knife!!!!!! but then we saw a potatoe afterwards so phew. Then 4 people told us to come back which was awesome. We then went out with our ward mission leader and his wife we ran into a really scary dog, and 2 people screaming and hitting each other. (note to self don't go to that area at night) But we did see a potential investigator her kids were home and they said their mom was in the hospital so we gave them our phone number to call us so I call that a miracle that we came at that time. And that was our week Love you all

The Church is True

Hey everyone so a lot of you know this was a crazy week. I had a fever and some other stuff happened. But in the scriptures it promises that trials will only be for a small moment and that's so true. After the crazy week. We met this guy named Zach who was outside smoking. My companion went up and started to talk to him. He was busy so he asked us to come back in a few days. My companion and I rolled our eyes and walked away. We went back a few days later and he let us in. He lives with his parents and his sister. At first they left us alone with him.  a member with us by the way) And as we were telling him how this gospel would bless his life his sister came out and asked if she could sit in we told her yes. She told us that shes been looking for a church and that shes gone to other church but people have made fun of her and haven't been too nice to her. She said she has mental health issues and that people don't understand it that well. We told her that this is christs church and that everyone sees everyone as a son or daughter of god. I told her that we have 2 men in our ward that have autism and sing really really loud and that people love them to death. We gave both her and her brother a bom. The next day we went by and walked with them to church. They both LOVED it. Everyone came up and talked to them and asked them to sit with them. They felt very welcomed and loved. They asked about baptism and asked when they could. All the craziness from the week was worth it. They loved church. God truly loves all of his children.

 

Ive been out 6 months and ive seriously learned how much god loves his children. Including myself This church is the true church it has to be true. I have no doubt

 

Theres a song im listening to right now from an efy cd. The lyrics say "You are feeling the weight on your shoulders. turn it over. take the courage to take one step. someone is there to help with the rest. its something only you can do. Don't carry the burden as the years go. You don't need that crushing in your life. Have faith to pray to see this through. Theres one who knows you perfectly. he can take the hurt away. Healing starts within just let him in. and let in begin.

 

Its seriously my favorite song ever its amazing. I love you all :)

Hard times and Good times. Please keep the prayers coming!

So seriously what a week!!!!! So one of the sisters in the mission who is also a sister training leader (Sister Leondhart) only had a week left of her mission. And me and her have bonded very much on the mission. She grew up very similar with a mom with alot of problems and she struggled with self confidence and other things so i asked her how she has grown since the begging of her mission and how she has learned to forgive her mom. She told me and it amazed me. The next day she asked if it would be ok to do exchanges again. We said yes. We first started out with a less active named Rebecca. Rebecca has been struggeling alot lately and when we came in we could tell something was wrong. So we asked her and she said that everything was horrible. We talked and she said that shes been having probleems forigivng people including her mom. So we both talked about our experiences with our moms and we both felt inspired to ask her if she needed a preisthood blessing she said yes. So we told her we would get that arranged. Afterwards we went out to fro yo and talked about our past and about how she forgave her mom and she encouraged me to do the same. She gave me a picture of jesus holding a little girl and i cried. We then afterwards tried a few people but one we stopped by named Rose. Rose is a potential investigator. We went by and she told us that she had a heart attack but that she was ok. We talked to her and said a prayer with her and she asked us to come back. It was awesome. The next day was going fine but after our dinner appointment when we went to our bikes my bike was still there and my companions bike was GONE!!! Someone stole her bike. I called our zone leaders to ask what to do and a cop pulled over to ask if we were ok. he said that there was nothing he could do and left. As we were walking home the primary president saw us and picked us up and got us home. The next day some members bought my companion a new bike!!! What amazing members :). The rest of the week was pretty rough. I struggled alot with anxiety and depression and had alot of stomach issues along with it so for a few days the work was really slow due to that reason. Monday night was awesome though. We taught an investigator named Garret the first vision and the book of mormon. When we told him the 1st vision he freaked out!!! He thought it was amazing and he said he felt amazing when he heard the story. He said he wanted to refer all his friends and wanted his wife to hear it. It was amazing!!!!We also saw 2 less actives that are seriously impossible to get ahold of. it was awesome then we tried some investigators named mary and paula but right when we got there they were very drunk. So we left right then. So then this morning we went to Rebeccas house and again she looked upset but even worst. so we tried to talk to her but she wouldnt listen. So we said a prayer with her but afterwards she kept saying that its not worth us being here and that she diddnt want any human contact at all. So my companion asked her if she wanted us to leave and she told us yes. So we got up and as we were leaving she told us she was taking her reocrds out of the church :(. Were both really bummed but we know theres nothing else we can do. So that was my week. I love you all and I have one more year to do the lords work crazy how time goes :/ looove you all

Sister Worthington shared this beautiful video and said it really touched her heart...

http://www.mormonchannel.org/Im-a-mormon?v=1555743083001

August 26th, 2013 Sister Worthington's Monday Email

So one more week till I have completed 6 months of the mission!!! its crazy!!!!!!!!!!! I only have a year left and then im a normal person lol well this week has been good.

We saw Debra one last time before she moved. We taught her the atonement and she cried the whole time. Im so sad that she moved out of my area but she is and will be my first baptism and ill always be known as her missionary so it will all be ok.

 

Tuesday- pretty much all our appointments canceled :( but we did see 2 ladies named Mary and paula. Their sisters with a really bad alcohol and smoking problem so we went by and visited them and they were great. We are working to help them stop smoking,

 

Wednesday- We saw 3 less actives. The first was one named Jimmy. Jimmy has been less active for almost 20 years and was founded by other missionaries. He doesn't talk much but the spirit is always so strong when we are there and he gives very powerful prayers. We then saw another less active named silvia she smokes and just recently recovered from cancer. Shes a bit crazy but we enjoy teaching her. Then we saw another named Sister Puma shes way sweet she says that we are like granddaughters to her :)

 

Thursday- We saw a less active named Virginia. her grandson who was interested was there and he listened very well. We also had interviews with my mission president. It went really well. I was very open to him about things and he told me something that really hit me. He said he understood what I went through with my mom was really tough but he said he truly felt that what I wen through prepared me for this mission so that I can understand what people go through and tell them how the gospel has helped me. It didn't make too much sense to me till the next day.

 

Friday- as we were teaching I was feeling anxiety again :( and so I told my companion about it and told her how frustrated I was that I have an anxiety disorder and that I didn't get the childhood I should have. She told me to pray and pour my heart to heavenly father so I did. and afterwards we went to an appointment with some recent converts. Only mom and daughter were there but as we were talking the daughter Stevie Ray who is about 16 and seriously is the prettiest girl ever but her mom told us that she struggled with test anxiety and bullies. And I told them of my experiences growing up and everything. And as we talked the mom told me that I was an answer to their prayers and I told them the same thing. Ive become really close to them since that point.

 

Saturday- due to my anxiety my companion and I got priesthood blessings from our zone leaders. They were amazing the one thing that stood out to me is that ill be able to conquer my anxiety and also that I should know that my family and friends are praying for me. And that warmed my heart to know that you all are praying for me no matter what. Also we got a new investigator named Tali. Shes 9 and due to her and her grandma not coming to church she didn't get baptized in time so we are teaching her

 

Sunday- the main thing of the day was splits with some girls in the pmg class so I took 2 girls tracting and it actually wasn't too bad. some guy gave us candy, 3 people let us bear our testimony on jesus Christ and we got some pass along cards passed to people. so not too bad.

 

Well I hope all is well and love you all

This Week's Email from Sister Worthington

Hey everyone so this week had its ups and downs but overall was an amazing week. Tuesday we found a less active at our apartment complex who has been struggling lately. She just survived breast cancer and has been really depress since then. So we taught her about the atonement and talked to her about it. We then saw 2 less actives that night and a rm named Bree came with us and they both went very well. The spirit was very strong there. Wednesday we went and saw an investigator. We taught her the 1st lesson and when we were telling her about the great apostacy (shes been apart of many different churches) she asked if the scriptures were different in every religion because of the great apostacy. we told her yes and we told her the first vision and she cried. We asked her if she would get baptized and she told us yes!!! We then saw a less active that night and she was telling us about her past that she was abused growing up and I told her about my experiences growing up and we connected very well and it went well.  Thursday we went and saw a lady with 3 daughters who are less active due to their last ward being not so nice to them. And it went really well her and her daughters came to church sunday. Friday I started to have really bad anxiety so we went to the elders and they gave me a priesthood blessing and it got me well prepared for the day. we went and saw the investigator who said yes to baptism she started to read the bom and she prayed about it and said she knew it was true and said yes to baptism on setember 14. We then went and saw a lady named nancy and her 2 daughters. Their from Iraq and the mom only speaks Arabic but we were able to teach the daughters which was a rough lesson. The member we brought with us brought her 2 year old son and she started to breastfeed him during the lesson!!!!!! It was so distracting and akward none of us knew what to do. But we survived. Then Saturday was looong, Nothing good happened. All appointments fell through, it was a long day of no one being home. Then yesterday at church our golden investigator came to church and she loved it. And then a lot of less actives came to church it was great. We ended the night teaching a less active and it went extremely well. And now heres to another week love you all

August 13, 2013

Its been quite a week!!!!

We have taught ALOT of less actives and i truly hope that things will go good for them and that they can find faith to come back to church.

The highlights of my week were exchanges. I went to another area and worked with sister Leondhart. We both have very similar backgrounds so it was so nice to work with someone who knows what ive been through. We started by teaching a man named Dave. Dave got into anti mormon stuff on the internet and so it was a big mess when we taught him. We told him that he needed to read the book of mormon and pray for himself if this church is true. He said no that he only needed the bible and that praying was lacking faith... so he got dropped :(. We then went and taught another lady the plan of salvation and the spirit was very strong!! On our way out we ran into a guy who said he got excommunicated at 1981 and hasnt been back since. So we talked to him and he said that they dont want him back. We tried to talk to him about the atonement but he told us to go away so we did. Later we taught another lady the plan of salvation. And shes amazing shes getting ready to be baptized on augest 29. She use to be obcessed with the band kiss and after hearing the gospel she got rid of everything about kiss and replaced it with stuff about god. Exchanges were amazing. The other highlight was sunday. My companion and i walked into stake confernece and were talking to members when out of nowhere Aunt Kate showed up and yelled surprise!!! I was speechless and couldnt beleive it. I hugged her and then saw Jedda, Daniel, their kids and uncle paul i hugged the girls and shooke the guys hands. We then took photos and talked a bit. It was amazing to see them. then yesterday for p day we played ultimate frisbee with my zone it was loads of fun!!! The elders are really really funny and were really nice and passing the frisbee to us sisters. And that was the best of the week. Some dissapointments have happened as well. My last area White Rock is now closed to missionaries. :( which im really sad about since i spent 4 months trying to keep that area from doing that :(. and then one of the girls in my mtc district went home for anxiety and stress :( and then a dog peed on my leg during joespeh smiths vision and i got flipped off by some teenage guys who were whistieling at me... but this week was definetly one of ups and downs. Love you :)))

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages#moments-that-matter-most

Sister Worthington shared the link above!
 

A Surprise Tender Mercy!

			Sister Worthington's aunt, uncle and cousins were on their way to Phoenix when they fell behind schedule and found themselves in Albuquerque on a SUNDAY!  So we got permission from the mission president to get Sister Worthington's ward info for them. It turned out to be stake conference, and after a bit of a wild goose chase, the Newtons found Sister Worthingon!  It sounds like Sister Worthington was in shock but happy to see her loved ones. My favorite part of the story: Her Aunt Kate gave Sister Worthington a hug and said, "You can do this!" I know Sister Worthington can and will continue to do a great job on her mission, and I know that this show of love and support will only help to strengthen her commitment and faith. We just had a fast for Sister Worthington last Sunday, and I don't think this just happened by chance.  Heavenly Father is so mindful of His children.  And I am so grateful to know He is watching over and helping our missionary!  What a blessing.

Sister Worthington Update and Latest Letter

I have long contemplated if I should share this information, but this is part of the story of Sister Worthington's journey that I think is important.  We all face adversity, and it is inspirational to see how Sister Worthington is working to overcome hers.

I won't go into a lot of detail, but over the last several weeks, Sister Worthington has struggled with some anxiety and sadness about some things that happened early in her life.  She has been meeting with the mission psychologist and has decided to stay on her mission and work through things there.  We are SO proud of her for making this decision and ask for prayers on her behalf. (Thank you to those of you who fasted for her with us on Sunday!) She has a great deal of faith and here's the really good news!!  This week, it seems she has made a turn.  It appears she has even begun to discover the blessings that have come from facing trials in her life!  After a few heart-wrenching letters, we can't even express the joy we felt at receiving this one on Tuesday!  The promises made to her in the priesthood blessings she has received lately, that if she stays she will touch lives and see people enter the waters of baptism, are truly beginning to come to fruition.

Here is her latest letter:

Hello so this week was amazing!!!!! so get ready for a long email and it will be out of order hahahaha. So we went to a less actives house and we were talking to her and she said she had been feeling lonely lately so i told her of when i was younger and how alone i felt and right then and there she started to cry and told me thank you it has amazed me how my experiences when i was younger helps me relate to people here alot and makes me care for them more. So then tuesday night my companion, a ward member and i were looking for a member that we had an appointment with. And we found out that she moved. So we tried calling her and others to find out where she was but no such luck. so we went to a backup plan so we went to our back up plan and right before she called us back. but we were right there and decided to knock on the door and a lady answered. She said shes had really bad diabetes and arthritist and she started balling and told us she felt very alone. So we told her we had to go but we set an appointment to go back. so we went back a few days later and talked with her and taught her about faith in christ and the spirit was very strong it was awesome. So then we taught another la (less active) and we taught her also about faith and i bore my testimoney to her and she also started to cry. and then she came to church on sunday after a year of not going!!!! it amazed us!!! And we found out from other missionaries that shes never cried before. the power of testimoney is amazing. It really converts people. So then we got a phone call from elders and they said that there is a new family in our ward that went inaactive due to some events in their old ward and that they were in our ward. So then a few hours later she called us and asked to talk to us. It amazed us all. So we went by and their amazing!!!! it was a single mother with 3 daughters. and they go to the temple to read their scriptures often and their testimonies are strong. So we talked with them and i had this feeling to ask them if they needed preisthood blessings and they all said yes. So we got them arranged and we wernt there but we heard they went extremly well. We saw her today and they are doing loads better and ward members have gone by to see them and their very excited to come to church sunday. we are very excited. So then we met with a jehovah witness that we met last week. And it was akward!!!! i have never felt the spirit of contention at a lesson. she tried so hard to convert us that we finally had to walk out of the house. So then our ward split and it got me very excited!!! ward splits means that the church is growing. we saldy lost the elders in our ward but now my companion and i cover the whole ward by oursleves. and at that meeting there was a deaf guy so i signed to him. and he got really excited and hugged me (akward!!!!) and then asked me for my fb info, phone number everything it was really funny and really sweet that i made his day. Then we helped a member move and her mom who wasnt a member told us how amazing we were and asked if we could start to teach her we told her yes!!! so thena few days later we were talking to sisters and we found out that she use to yell at missionaries. And we have been over to help her daughters soooo much that her heart had changed. so we taught her last night and it was amazing!!!! and the miracles and amazing stuff go on!!!! I love you all and hope you all had a great week!!!

Sister Worthington's two latest letters!

We had a cool fireside with Elder Echohawk one of the area 70's. It was a very good fireside. We had 6 out of 9 zones there. We sang an incredible song. I learned so much from the spirit. Love you all very much!

Faith in Every Footstep
A marvelous work has begun to come forth
Among all the children of men.
O ye that embark in the service of God,
Give heart, mind and strength unto Him.

For prophets have spoken and angels have come
To lift the world from sin.
That Christ may reign over all the earth
And bless His gathered kin.

With faith in every footstep,
We follow Christ, the Lord.
And filled with hope
Through His pure love,
We sing with one accord.

If we now desire to assist in this work
And thrust in our sickle with might;
If we will embark in the service of God
To harvest in fields that are white,

Our souls may receive the salvation of God,
The fullness of His light,
That we may stand, free of sin and blame,
God's glory in our sight.

With faith in every footstep,
We follow Christ, the Lord,
And filled with hope
Through His pure love,
We sing with one accord.

And filled with hope
Through His pure love,
We with with one accord.

 SECOND LETTER:

Dear family,

So Monday a really cool miracle happened. So on the 4th a member came up to us and said that she might have an investigator for us. She volunteers at a thrift store and she met a girl who is pregnant. She felt prompted to let that girl live with her. The girl accepted and then the member had to go to SLC to pick up her son so she invited the girl to come along. She took her to church and then to temple square. The sisters there gave her a BOM and pamplets. She loved it so much she did not want to leave. So then Monday my companion and I planned oddly and ended up in their neighborhood. We saw her son who said she'd be back any time. So we talked to members near by and then we were deciding what to do next we had planned to see a less active but she was quite a ways away. So we prayed what to do and right then and there they pulled into the neighborhood. So we met her and she's really sweet. The member told her about the church including modern revelation. And the girl truly believes she's being put into the church and God is leading her to it. It's amazing how God prepares his children. I love you all.

Sister Worthington

July 8, 2013

Monday- after p day an active family asked us to teach their family a fhe lesson my companion and i decided on the 10 commandments. When we walked in we saw that they invited their less active brother, his non member wife, and their cousin whose not a member. My companion and I changed our minds and changed the lesson to the restoration. The spirit was very very strong it was amazing.

Tuesday- We met our new mission president President and Sister Miller. Thier amazing!!!!! I already love them. Their so funny and their great people. Afterwards we did exchanges with the rio rancho spanish sisters. I stayed in White Rock and sister Cruz came with me to WR. We went and visted tons of less actives. Sadly only one let us in :(. and apparently she has pet wolves. :O i had no idea until a member told us. Its crazy. We also helped a kid chase down his dog lol.

Wednesday- we exchanged back and did weekly planning. Nothing too exciting

Thursday- 4th of july. the wr ward has an amazing carnival and parade that they host and almost all of the town goes to it. It was loads of fun. Afterwards we did studies and we did some prosletying on the streets as people walked to the fireworks. We then went home and watched the fireworks from our house.

Friday- We had zone training it was a really good meeting. And then having district lunch with my district was loads of fun.

Saturday- We taught our investigator Melinda. Sadly shes not progressing. :( But our bishop asked us to be patient so we are.

Sunday- The santa fe Elders baptized a family and they moved to our area. Now sisters are in their area so my companion and I spent all of yesterday doing tons of paperwork so that he could receive the preisthood. Its been a crazy week!!!

Week of the 4th

Dearest Family,

So the work is literally growing everyday. Due to miles we walk everywhere. So people see us walking everywhere. Plus it's easier to approach people so we've been handing out a lot of pass-along cards. Our investigator Melinda is growing and progressing every day. She's making tons of friends with the members, and she's attending every week. It's really exciting. Tuesday was a really cool day a family asked us to come by and teach a non-member family about God's love and the spirit was really strong. We have no idea how interested they are but we hope they will someday. Also an awesome miracle happened. My last companion and I received a referral of a less active and so we tried to contact him but his gate was always locked. So we finally counted him as a contacted. Well the ward gave us a list of 23 less actives to see and he was on the list. So we went by and his gate his gate was unlocked and he was home! So we were able to get his number to schedule a time. It was amazing!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Worthington

p.s. Also I was over at a member's house and her mom and sister were there and they live in Meridian!!! So they will be bringing a box of stuff to you guys!

More Valuable Advice from Sister Worthington!

Mission tips for all missions

1) comfort items. Every night when i come home from the work I wrap myself in a blanket and hug my stuff dog it makes me feel more comfortable and makes me feel more at home.

2) Extra money. You have to buy all cleaning materials,food for amonth, and personal hygene products, money goes by FAST!!! So have extra money to help for at least the first few months

3) love everyone and be careful what you say to others. There was a sister missionary that was in my area a year ago and i cant tell you how many times a day i hear about her and how much hurt she did to the area and the ward. Be careful what you say.

4) have pictures of family and friends. It reminds you that you have people loving and supporting you.

5) become friends with the ward members and the other missionaries. My district is like my family i have 3 sisters, 8 brothers, and 4 grandparents.

6) Your area and companion are very very inspired. You might not like your copmanion or area but i know it is inspired by god to the mission president.

7) Have dog treats. Theres tons of scary mean dogs in peoples front yards and on the loose keep dog treats so that the dog will warm up to you and like you. and you can get to the door.

8) you somtimes get a car but even with a car walk!!!! People see you and if their doing something outside its easier to approach them and talk to them. And ward members see you and respect you for walking.

New Mexico Albuquerque mission specifically and other missions

1) bring chap stick, lotion, sunscreen, and a water bottle. New Mexico is HOT and VERY DRY be prepared. I have to put lotion on multiple times a day due to how dry it is.

2) bring multiple shoes for meetings and tracting and swtich shoes every day.

3) bring church cds and movies. church cds for the car. And then the movies that can help teach investigators such as mormon messages and doctorine covenents videos that can help with investigators. And if your in my area where theres NOTHING to do on p days and the other missionaries are far away where we dont have
the miles to hang out togther.

4) bring tons of deoderent and perfume. After all day of walking in a deseret you pretty much smell and need those things to help.

5) clothing is not as strict as it seems go to the website for ideas. T shirt materials are ALLOWED!!!! I wish i knew that before i came out on the mission.

6) get a priesthood blessing every transfer from your district leader or zone leaders. it really helps to get the guidance from the lord and the elders are really happy to do that for you.

7) read your patriartical blessing often i have found loads of things that were hidden that are about my mission

8)http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng Watch the special broadcast its amazing i have never felt the spirit so strong during any broadcast. and well bring the world its truth is the best i never cried so much literally. Espically when they were showing the missionaries getting their mission calls, being set apart, saying goodbye to their families to the mtc, and then of course being on the mission field

June 24, 2013 So happy to hear the excitement back in her voice. Multiple exclamation points are a good thing! :)

Hey sounds like things are loads of fun!!!! And sounds like things are going great. I wish i was there at johnny carinos with the elders their hilarious!!! So this week was CRAZY busy. My companion and i have been contacting referrel after referrel every day and we still have 12 more to contact. Then the ward gave us 23 less active names and asked us to go visit them and see what happens there. So this week will also be very very busy. My companion and I taught our investigator Melinda and it went very very well. Shes very close to being able to be baptized were both very very excited. Sunday was a really good day this family donated food to my companion and i and we felt like we did not need it at all. So we found out from a family that theres a less active family in our ward that has been struggeling. The father left a mother with 4 children. And their struggeling with money so my companion and I ding dong ditched their door with all this food. Their faces were priceless it was amazing. Afterwards we went to the missionary broadcast and it was AMAZING!!!!! Its so incredible to be on a mission during all of this amazing historical missionary stuff. And after the broadcast loads of members had referrels for us it was amazing.Afterwards his member came with us to do referrels. We contacted 3 of them and still had time with nothing left to do. We looked and saw two 18 year old boys sitting on their front step smoking and drinking but we all decided to go talk to them.So we did and the spirit was very strong never the less. We talked about god and family to them. They told us we had a light that they really liked and we explained it was the holy ghost. We gave them a pass along card with our number and hopefully we will hear from them again. This week is going to be just as busy contacting more referrels and saturday two area 70's are speaking to us. It will be a very very good week. I love you loads and so glad things are going well. Looooooooove you tons

June 18, 2013

So my email correspondence with Sister Worthington has gotten pretty choppy as we usually try to be on at the same time and have a conversation (which is so fun, by the way!)  So, I will probably have to start typing up her hand-written letters most of the time.

Here is her latest hand-written letter:

Dear Family,

So after spending all day in Albuquerque I finally got my companion and it's Sister Carpenter!!! She was in my mtc district and one of my roommates there. I'm really really happy! These last 12 weeks were really hard with my last companion. The members were angry and upset with her. So I'm really happy to have Sister Carpenter. We went and saw a former investigator and she asked us to come back. So we went back and we talked about God and his love for us. I had this strong feeling to ask her to be baptized. And she said YES!!!! Only problem is that she's going out of town for a month. And she wants her husband to get baptized with her so we will have to figure out how to win him over. Well I love you guys!  See you in 14 1/2 months!!

Love,

Sister Worthington

Just got a hand-written letter from Sister Worthington as well so I thought I might as well add it!

Hello family,

So guess what! I'm not training!  Yee ha. I was scared to death and did not want to train well not at least now. I want to know what I'm doing before I train. But I did have this feeling that whomever I'm suppose to be companions with is that we have success and that we are suppose to be with each other. My trainer/companion is training a new sister missionary. We have no idea whose getting transferred. Monday we met the elders who are taking over Los Alamos. Their awesome. Tonight we went to a missionary youth activity.  It was funny watching them tract families. The families did things that I see tracting. It was really funny.  Well I love you guys! Have a great week! :)

Love,

Sister Worthington

June 10, 2013

This is the letter we received from Sister Worthington today.  Sounds like lots of ups and downs, but she always remains determined to make the best of whatever comes her way!  Oh, and her first comment is in response to a question I asked her about the forest fire in New Mexico.

"We are luckily its not heading towards our area. So this week has been crazy!!! So the coolest miracle happened. My companion and I were at dinner at a members house when this bird flew into their window. We went outside and it was hurt. So we went in and they asked me to say the closing prayer. I said the closing prayer and in the prayer i prayed that the bird would be healed. We left and the daughter went outside to check on the bird and the bird got up and flew away. It gave me a testimoney that god loves all his children including his animals he truly does care for them. So my trainer/companion is training and being transferred and Im staying and getting a new companion. I was really really confused cause I thought i would be training but I think i know why god is doing what he is doing. For some reason the releif society presdient HATES missionaries. And shes now involved with Melinda and she wants to teach her herself but thats not allowed only missionaries can teach someone to be baptized. And yesterday my companion and her got into this heated arguement and she told us that were horrible missionaries that are pushy and all this other crap. we wanted to feel bad about it but an hour earlier the stake missionary leader told us that we were incredible missionaries that have changed the area tremendously so we are not going to listen to her. But I know that heavenly father knew that I couldnt handle our rs president and training a new sister at the same time. So i also gained a knowledge that god knows us and knows what we can handle. It was tough week. We diddnt get to teach any investigators. But friday I got your package and it was awesome!!! And dexter sent me a package and he literally spent over a 100 dollars!!!! He sent me vans (shoes) that are literally 50 dollar shoes, 5 bags of gummy candies, a stuff dog, and all these church cds it was awesome of him. We also got a new family in the ward that just joined like 3 months ago and their the cutest family ever!!! They have 2 little boys 2 and 1 years old. and the mom is very pretty and their the nicest people I have ever met so im really really excited to teach them follow up lessons. So thats the week. Tomorrow is transfers Im staying in white rock and getting a new companion so stay tuned. Love you!!!"

I am a Child of God

Sister Worthington asked me to share this.  It is a beautifully simple, yet poignant video.

http://youtu.be/JOrcqqpHCt8

June 2, 2013

lol so what a week!!!! So we are teaching Melinda and shes a golden investigator!!! She has come to church every week. She helps clean the church every saturday and shes been reading the bom every day!!!! Then friday we got news that there are 2 forest fires going on in our area so my companion and I packed up some stuff to be safe just in case we have to evacuate. So keep my area in your prayers everyone here is getting ready to evacuate pretty much. Then my mission president called that same night and told us that elders are being put into Los Alamos and that the sisters will strictly be in White Rock. So saturday we spent the day saying goodbye to our favorite members in the Los Alamos ward. Then yesterday I woke up with an inflammed stomach and a fever booooooooooo. But luckily by last night i felt alot better but to be safe we stayed home and we watched the district. So it was a crazy week and this week will be too. We find out wednesday if we are training and saturday if we are getting transferred so stay tuned to next week.

A snippet from one of Sister Worthington's emails today...

 "This week was incredible!!!! We have 17 referrals given by members that we are working on. We met this lady at the library who we are teaching now. I also asked an investigator if she would get baptized she said she think about it but I was so excited to finally have asked someone. Then I went on exchanges to Rio Rancho (next to Albuquerque) and it was spanish speaking!!! it was sooooo cool. I couldnt understand the people but it was a really cool experience. And it was loads of fun. And while i was out this lady called my companion and told her that she is ready for the gospel and she wants to know more about it!!! so she came to church yesterday and we also had 2 less actives come to church it was incredible. The work here is growing like crazy!!!"

Things are really looking up!  Yay!! So proud of Sister Worthington for pushing through a trial of her faith.  She is doing so great!

Janice Kapp Perry's New Verse for "As Sisters in Zion."

THE SISTERS OF ZION

The sisters of Zion are called to God's labor,
We willingly serve Him with spirit and might.
We go to the nations with truth everlasting,
We teach of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us,
We trust in his words and our purpose is clear.
The angels of heaven are walking beside us,
We'll share our glad message with all who will hear.

We go forth enlisted with Helaman's Army
In numbers much greater than ever before.
With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness
The heavens have spoken and truth is restored!

THE MOTHER'S DAY CALL! Hooray!!!

We got to speak to Sister Worthington on the phone yesterday! Her friend, Kalicia, joined us as well.  Sister Worthington cried when she heard our voices, and it was clear she's homesick, but she is doing well.  She said she loves her mission, and as hard as it is, she knows she is where she's supposed to be. She said she's in a VERY hard area.  Apparently, most of the people where she's at are scientists and mostly atheists. It's pretty hard to establish a common bond with people who aren't interested in religion at all.  This month has been especially hard because it's the end of the school year and people are so busy.  Sister Worthington did say that they have an appointment on Thursday with a part-member family.  She said they are going to spend most of this week getting to know the ward members. (Just today, she told me the ward is going to be split, and she's a little worried about how that will affect things.) I was grateful to hear that she is getting fed a lot by the members in her area.  She said she's almost getting too much food! Her area is split between two towns with a combined population of about 18,000.  The elevation there is somewhere around 6000 feet above sea level!  She said it took her about a week to get used to the high elevation, and that she feels like she's in a foreign country! Luckily, her health has returned, and it seems like her spirits have lifted as well.  She said that the priesthood blessings she's received have really helped a lot. It was wonderful to get to talk to her, but the call went by way too fast.  It's hard to believe we will have to wait until Christmas to talk to her again.  That feels so far away!  At least we have emails and letters to get us by until then.  We love that girl!  We're so proud of how hard she is working, how determined she is to stay positive and press forward and the faith she is showing. We know the Lord has a plan for her, and that she's making a difference even if she can't see it yet.  What an amazing example she is to our other kids and to us as her parents.

New letter from Maddy! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WRITING HER LETTERS!!! KEEP IT UP!

Hey Family,

Things are going. I was starting to struggle in my area so I got a blessing from the elders and it was an incredible blessing. I was told that Heavenly Father is watching over me, that my family (you guys) will be blessed, that I'm blessing the lives of others and more. After that blessing I felt very good and I have never been so energized to do the work. My companion and I get along a lot better now. We read the scriptures together every day, and we're trying to write down a miracle a day. So the work and my faith is growing. And you guys are doing great. My district was in shock by how much letters I'm getting and my poor companion doesn't get mail at all even from her fiancé so you guys are doing good. Well I loooooove you sooooo much.  Hope all is well.

Sister Worthington

May 8, 2012

So Maddy didn't get a chance to send out an email to everyone on Monday, and my correspondence with her was more like a choppy conversation....so I'm going to type up a letter we received from her yesterday instead.  It sounds like she's a little homesick, and she's in such a hard area right now, but her faith is strong.  Please keep her in your prayers and send her words of encouragement!  We are planning on doing a special fast for Maddy on Fast Sunday in June and would love for anyone to join us!

Dear Family,

So I have survived two months and 1 transfer of my mission. :) I'm really happy. Only 16 months left to serve the Lord so I'm trying to make the time count and go fast.  lol. It's tough going to families houses and wishing I was spending time with you guys but I know the work I'm doing is very worth it. So Tuesday was a very very long day. We spent all day looking for former investigators and members and trying to get referrals. We tried 14 houses and only 2 let us in.  But even though it was really hot, tiring and frustrating it was worth it. I have gotten 2 priesthood blessings on my mission (I'm trying to get at least one every transfer) and both of them Heavenly Father has said he loves me, he's proud of me, and he trusts me so I know what I'm doing is hard but it's all worth it to me. I miss and love you guys so much but I know I will see you guys again very soon.

Love you guys,

Sister Worthington

April 29, 2012

Sister Worthington had a tough week, but she left her dad and I with these words today...which brought us both to tears.

"Missions are no where near perfect but I feel good when Im on the mission field serving. I understand the atonement, the significances of families, God, love, and after my mission I know i will be better prepared to be a wife and a mother, I also feel more confident and have never felt so good about myself like ever. Missions are incredible I now understand a little why god wanted ME to go on a mission. I have been praying really really hard that Paisley will also serve a mission it does incredible things."

Maddy described her week as "bleh," but said it is getting better! Hopefully, things are starting to look up! She could probably use lots of love and letters this week!

Hey everyone so seriously what a week!!! So I was sick sunday all the way to Friday it was miserable. Then Wednesay night we got a phone call. The children we have been teaching the Palmers their aunt and uncle had court with their parents who are on DRUG CHARGES and the judge gave the kids back to their parents. So weve been asked not to teach them anymore cause its too hard on them :'( Ive never been so disappointed in a court judge in my entire life. The next day the lady we lived with almost had a stroke. So it was a tough week. But saturday we were finally able to go out and teach and work again and that felt great I also remembered Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not into thy own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.

This mission there is alot of disappointments and sadness but I also feel gods love for myself and others and I know good things are to come from this mission. I love you all and hope all is well. - Sister Worthington

Hello everyone so heres what happened this week... so we went looking for alot of former investigators, we taught the ballards, and the t family who are investigators, we taught seminary, went to a meeting in Albuquerque where we found out that there will be sister leaders amazing right!!! But now things are a little rough. Saturday I had a tickle in my throat i brushed it off and went on with the day. But then yesterday  I woke up with a horrible sore throat and I did not feel good at all. My companion felt my forehead and she said that I for sure had a fever. We were giving talks at church so we went to sacrament meeting. I honestly had no idea what I even talked about I was so sick but everyone was impress that I would give a talk when I was so sick. So after sacrament our ward mission leader and some other ward missionaries gave me a priesthood blessing. Afterwards we went home and I slept all day. The lady that was feeding us dinner brought dinner to us bless her sweet heart then we watched legacy and the Joesph smith movie. And today Im still very sick so we are emailing, getting a few things from the store and then staying home cause im still very sick. It stinks cause I want to do the work but I know in time that I will feel better and we will get back to work. I love you all and hope to hear from all of you guys soon - love sister worthington

Sister Worthington's District:

Sister Worthington's companion is Sister Clemens just right of Sister Worthington.

Mormon Message

Hey everyone so I watched Earthly father heavenly father the mormon message and I seriously started to ball. kind of embarrassing a library but I have felt heavenly fathers love sooo much on my mission. I have truly felt that everyone I have met is a child of god and that everyone has a purpose so I want to http://youtu.be/R5FxdCgD-qI you guys to post this on your fb page and bear your testimony of our Heavenly fathers love.

I know heavenly father loves you all soooo much. I have felt his love on my mission and he is incredible. This church is true and I know it, live it and love it.

Love you all soooooo much