Photos

Ho Ho Ho

Hello Family!

You think your Christmas feels weird. I cant believe that its in two days... This whole year has been as a missionary... crazy. I don't feel like I have gotten to do my regular routine (of course) and so it just feels odd. not bad just odd. If the economy's low isn't enough to bring a low for Christmas sales... just think of the lack of shopping I did! HAHA! That should put a huge dent in things! lol

Yes, it is freezing here. It was funny we totally got stuck outside for the majority of the huge blizzard (go figure). But I actually find those moments really really funny for some reason. Sis Tai prob thought I went crazy but I couldn't stop skipping and laughing because if I didn't enjoy it a little I really would have gone nuts from the frigidness. haha.

So I am excited for Christmas because we all get together. I'm going to be singing a version of LET IT SNOW that I changed the words to WE WILL GO about missionaries and going out no matter the conditions.

O the weather outside if frightful
but baptisms are so delightful
so even if its freezing cold
we will go we will go we will go

we know that there are many lookin
and well find them as we're workin
so as long as God needs us to go
we will go we will go we will go

when we finally go in at night
our fingers may be purple and blue
but our eyes will be filled with light
cuz we know what we're preaching is true!!!

well never show signs of stoppin
cuz the field is ready for cropppin
we're gonna reap what we sow
so we will go we will go we will go


HAHA. I know its cheezy but I think it will be fun.


Well I have some things that happened this week but I figured I would save it for the phone call. Sorry blog followers ... they prob dont exist but ok haha!

Merry Christmas everyone. I am so grateful for my Savior. His example and His love. What a blessing it has been to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those here in New York. Yesterday we met with our sweet investigator. She is Buddhist and has started to read the Book of Mormon and coming to church with us. It's so exciting! During our lesson she stopped us and said "I feel God's love". It was such a neat moment because I know the spirit was testifying to her and the light of Christ was beginning to burn brighter within her heart. I love this gospel I love the opportunity to be a missionary and the trust God has put in my to do this. Merry Christmas. Merry CHRISTmas! I love Him!

Sister Kaitlyn Wadsworth

:)

Hello,

well... i am still here in Manhattan and sis tai is still here too... which means I will be here for at least two more cycles... because sis Tai goes home at the end of this cycle and because we cover a difficult area and have two wards ... they will almost for sure not white wash this area. It was a big surprise to all of us that this happened. Goes to show you ... that you never know whats happening. Even though I am totally baffled by it all I know that Heavenly Father is in control and it will all work out the best way possible.

So we had a great week. On Saturday we had two ward parties. It was fun to get our investigators there and mingling with the members. We made out like bandits with the leftovers. We got to take home 2 whole pizzas from the single's ward and then a bowl of gravy, a pan of mashed potatoes and one of corn, turkey, and two pieces of pie from the family ward. It was fantastic. It was fun to eat some yummy food and be with our awesome members. We really do have a great group of people to work with.

The best part of our week happened on Monday. O I AM JUST SO EXCITED! So we met with an investigator and he has decided be baptized on JANUARY 23rd!!!! Its so happy. He is such an amazing example to me. I am so blessed to have gotten to work with him. He is the pioneer of his family. I know his road will be difficult but I also know that he will be so blessed for his choice. He's going to be an amazing missionary too because of his experience. I am glad too that I get to be here when he gets baptized.

Last night we had our community choir concert put on by Sis Johanson and it was so amazing. I sang in the choir along with 3 of our investigators and some other members, missionaries and friends. It was really cool. The power of music is so amazing. What a perfect way to celebrate our Savior's life this time of year. I am grateful to share my talents to worship him. It was a really great experience. Especially because one of our sweeet recent converts had her parents come and they were really touched. It was all around wonderful thanks to the hard work of sis johanson. She really is an amazing musician.

So today Sis Johanson and Sis Ganaha and Sis Miller go home. All my companions are now "Dead" as they call it other than the one I am with now. Its weird getting to this point because I am going to be the oldest sister missionary when sis tai goes home in a few weeks. ITS SO CRAZY! And a little scary because there have been like no new English sisters coming in so we have a lot more weight to carry. Some of the current English sisters are having a hard time too and so that makes it even harder for the rest of us. Its going to be a challenging next 6 months but I am ready for it! I love a challenge and the mission president knows that and so does Heavenly Father so I shouldn't ever complain when things are hard because .. .hello I asked for it.

We just found out we get to spend Christmas all together as a whole mission. Its going to be a blast!

Well I sure love you all. Thanks for all the Christmas cards and gifts. Its so nice to know that I am loved and remembered this time of year... and because my birthday is this time of year too! I am so lucky to have each of my friends and family in my life!
LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!
TATERS

I love this month

for blog: I need Emily A and Sara D 's MTC address ASAP. So anyone who can supply those please send them to my mom by email (note from Katy's mom: my email is wadsjk@gmail.com) so she can forward them to me! THANKS LOVE YOU! MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I love this month
I love this month. I was for sure born in the best month of them all. Everyone is a lot happier around Christmas... maybe its actually because of my birthday and not all the presents. haha TOTALLY KIDDING!

It has been a pretty uneventful week. I don't have much exciting news to share either. We did have our first snow a couple of days ago YUCK... It was more like slush than snow. I got SUPER wet because I wasn't prepared. My feet were so wet they looked like little ole raisins. It was fun! :D I am so not looking forward to the frigidness again. I think Heavenly Father let me forget how cold it really gets so I wouldn't leave. haha.

Well life has been pretty busy. It seems like the Christmas season is even hectic (more than usual if that's even possible) for missionaries too. We have a lot of activities to go to (which is fun but not always as productive as I would like it to be). We have to make sure we still keep up with everyone and do all the additional things. So its fun and bad at the same time. I donno if that made sense but .. yea. So another thing about this time of year is ... the food. HOLY MOLY !!!! People love to give us food. Which is so kind and appreciated but wow. We have a large pile of sweets accumulating on our kitchen counter. We have already taken it and given the piles contents to elders, and homeless people but its already piled up again. haha. Its kinda a joke for our apartment to see who will be able to eat the most or not eat the most. Its a delight none the less.
So transfers are next Wednesday. Its going to be very interesting. So many people are going home. All the sisters I have served with will now be home (obviously other than my current comp). ITS CRAZY THOUGH! We will see what goes down. I have a feeling its going to be a crazy one. I am almost positive I am not leaving this area because President has been talking to me about it but hey you never know. :D I don't know what we are going to be doing on Christmas but no one has gotten their Christmas packages yet so I am guessing they are waiting till Christmas?? weird. The girls I live with and I have gotten so many random Christmas decorations that it looks like Christmas barfed in our apartment. Its seriously such a delight. Other than all the stuff makes me a little claustrophobic.

So we met with an investigator on Monday and he's decided to set a baptismal date for January. I am so proud of him and his amazing faith. Its going to be really hard now and in the future for him I already know but I also know Heavenly Father will protect him and bless him like crazy! All of our other amazing investigators are doing so great... the problem is with the holidays and finals it is soooooo hard to meet with them regularly or even at all. Singles wards are especially hard because everyone goes home for the break. Good thing Yoyo is from NY haha. We are just working to get them solid enough that even over the weeks they are gone they still read and pray and want to meet with us when they return.

Well I love you all thanks so much for all the letters, gifts and support! LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!
-KAIT

THANKSGIVING WAS AMAZING! I'm not going to lie it was exhausting though so today's pday was really looked forward to. So we woke up at 5 AM and went down to the parade and got FRONT ROW seats?.. no standing places more like it. We stood there for about 4 and a half hours and enjoyed every moment of it! Jimmy Fallon totally pointed at us missionaries and was like "WHAT?? HAHA" It was great! I was covered in confetti and the weather was SOOO NICE! It was so cool. Those balloons are WAY bigger than they look like on TV just for your info. It was a blast. Then we went to a members later that day for dinner. O it was DIVINE! Sis willes went to culinary school and has already signed up to feed us on Christmas too! WOOT WOOT! Then we went to another member's afterwards who knew we already had dinner but just wanted us to stop by... hmmm SHE TOTALLY FED US AGAIN! It was kinda funny though because she just insisted and insisted and we were like fine ... we will try the coconut rice... two minutes later we each had huge plates of food... all of her stuff. haha. It was fun to just have a day to celebrate. Def didn't have the same feel as a normal thanksgiving but it was fun to try something new.

So one last thing. Monday night there was this event called winter's eve at Lincoln center where they light all the Christmas decorations and then all the stores and places to eat around there have free stuff and there are bands and a bunch of crazy things going on and so we set up a table with free hot chocolate.... we gave out 1000 cups of hot chocolate and pass along cards with candy canes. How did we know it was that many?? because that's all we had and we ran out of them. IT WAS NUTS! You say free and people come running! It was really fun but made me really tired. I stood there for like 4 hours and it was cold too! But we reached a lot of people so it was FANTASTIC! There were six of us doing it and we wore santa hats and reindeer antlers and it was just such a joy!

Well we are off to china town to get Christmas presents! YOU ALL SHOULD BE SO Excited! HAHAHa! I cant wait to see pictures from thanksgiving. LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!

-TATERS

Hello Family!!!!!!

This will be a fun letter to write because I know you will probably actually read it (if you don't already) because mom will read it to ya cuz you are all home! I don't know how you are feeling about your first thanksgiving in 21 years without me there but you should be missing me a lot. haha. Let's just say I am glad I left on my mission when I did because I am so lucky to only miss one Christmas and thanksgiving! PHEWWW...

So its supposed to rain tomorrow... but I doubt that will stop the parade or us (a huge group of missionaries). haha. It should be fun no matter what. After that a member who is a chef (Well shes a mom now but she went to a legit culinary school) will be making dinner for us and a couple of other missionaries. It should be a party! She promised us she wouldn't let us miss out on anything. (Little does she know I will be missing out on my favorite pretzel jello). It should be an interesting day... prob way too crazy to enjoy but that's ok. I'm just not sure how we will get our laundry in. We are goin to leave the house early to save spots and do our studying on the street. haha. That will be super effective I'm sure. Then we will spend the rest of the day with members and less actives eating. WOOT!

So this Sunday was sooo cool! Our family ward had a few non members but our single's ward brought like 30 people! It was crazy awesome! Afterwards I had a massive headache from running around. Sis Tai had fun talking to all of our Chinese investigators. It was a party for sure! Now we have the duty of following up with all of of members to make sure it does not go to waste. I hope we can do it! The best part was that our rock star investigator brought a friend and he's not even baptized yet!

Tonight we have an appointment with our baptismal date and his parents are coming to meet us and ask some questions. YIKES! I pray it goes well. As long as the spirit is there, that's all that matters. Speaking of baptisms, I just found out on Monday that one of the guys I worked with on the east side is getting baptized! I guess he called the sisters in that ward now, kinda out of nowhere and was like... I want to get baptized!!! WHOO HOO! It's so cool to see people you worked with that maybe weren't ready at the time get to the point that they are. I know it will happen to pretty much all of them. I am just excited I get to go to his because I am still here.

So what is Kyle's position at INNOUT? Is he a cook or cashier? I still cannot believe that it's true. I walked past a place last week that is a totally innout knock off. Pretty much same menu with the same text and same colors... I didn't try it because I was so disappointed with them. haha. And because we don't have time just to stop and try things. lol.

We met with our new sweet investigator again this week. He said that hes going to read the whole Book of Mormon over Christmas break because he will have more time and because that is before his baptism goal. Hes very smart and is a law student. So its fun to get deep with him on doctrine because he understands the basics so quickly. Its amazing the wide range of people that we teach. You def have to be on your toes always changing it up and adapting to the needs of the person your teaching now. It's intense but fun.

I am learning a lot about the Atonement. I am really striving to use it to help me with the many things I cannot do on my own. I get so overwhelmed with my faults sometimes that its hard not to feel like a failure. But I have realized that I will be a failure unless I rely on my Savior and His Atonement. I am not supposed to do it all on my own. You can't reach perfection on our own that's where the grace (or enabling power of the Atonement) has to come into play.

Well I love you guys so much. I am so grateful for my family. I have been so blessed to have each of you in my life. I had an idea for Christmas to take pictures of things in the city that reminded me of each of you guys. I found a lot of things... everywhere. I had to give that idea up pretty quickly because I found myself thinking of each of you maybe a little too much. HAHAH. But I just really appreciate your love and support. I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY EVER!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow. It doesn't really feel like Thanksgiving to me so its kinda nice cuz I don't feel like I am really missing anything haha. Don't miss me too much. I love each of you to the moon and back!

-Sis Wadsworth

HULLLO...
I am also getting super excited for Christmas because they are starting to get things all decorated here. It is fantastic. We just found out that next week pday will be moved to Thursday (Thanksgiving day) so... guess who will be at the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade?? yep yep that would be me! So if you watch it look for me! haha. I will be wearing puffy my big black coat with a yellow hat and scarf.

So this weekend was stake conference and it was fantastic. So I donno if I told you this already but our stake is doing something so magnificent. So next week they are having a Sunday called "come and see" and every ward will only be having sacrament meeting and then a linger longer afterwards. There will be special speakers and musical numbers focused on gratitude for the gospel. The point of all this is that the stake president has told each ward to double their numbers. That every member bring a less active or non member. SOOO EXCITING. So during stake conference President Buckner and the other speakers just focused on missionary work. Three different speakers talked about how the members should put their trust in the missionaries. It was pretty cool but also a lot of responsibility. I found myself at the end as we were singing the closing hymn of "Because I Have Been Given Much" crying because I was so overcome with joy. I am just so blessed to be here in this stake and the wards that I am in at this time. I just knew that we were going to see miracles involving the members. And just since then we have gotten two more new investigators that are AMAZING member referrals. We are so blessed. It gets difficult sometimes because we get rejected SOOO MUCH. We are asked to talk to someone new every 3 minutes or as often as possible and even with all the people we talk to very, very, very few are willing to give us so much as a phone number. But I know that as I continue to be obedient, even if I am not getting the people I'm personally talking to, that this is God's work and that He will provide those who are ready. I donno if that made sense at all but hey .. .what's new I am not good at making sense. haaha. So just to sum up... I am glad to sill be here in the city even if its beyond stressful. haha. We are praying that this Sunday goes as well as we hope and that the trend of inviting friends is continued forever.

We had a cool experience this week to be with the ASL missionaries as they taught one of our less active member's sister. We found out that she had a sister who was deaf and so we got the elders to teach her. IT WAS SO COOL. The spirit was so strong during the silent conversation. It was also so cool to have our member bear her testimony so that the elders could interpret it to her sister. It was not something she was able to communicate to her before and it was so neat to hear her express her love for the gospel and for her sister and see how her deaf sister finally understood. It was such a neat experience. I just love those ASL elders. They are special witnesses of Christ.

We had multi-zone conference yesterday and as we were sitting down to start one of the APs ran down to Sis Johanson (a former comp of mine) whom I was sitting next to and said... we forgot to assign a musical number can you do something? And then she made me join her and so I dragged my roomie to do it too and it ended up being really nice. I am grateful for the talents that my Heavenly Father has given me to use. I hope that I use them enough to make Him proud.

I am so grateful for this gospel. Yesterday I had an interesting contact where a lady pretty much told me that everything I believed was wrong and that I was crazy to believe such things as Joseph Smith and the need for the Priesthood (this happens a lot but she was extra intense about it). It was difficult at first but afterwards I was just thinking about how I have seen the blessings of this gospel and the joy that has poured out continually from my Heavenly Father reassuring me that I am doing what is right. I know its true. I don't have to defend truth because it does it on its own. I have felt in a very real way the cleansing power and comforting power of the Atonement of my Savior. No matter how many people say I am wrong they cannot take away my experiences and the way I feel. No one can deny me of my own testimony. I know that this church is true and that it is guided by a living prophet who teaches us how to be like our Savior Jesus Christ and how to truly follow Him. What a blessing that is. What peace it brings. I know I will be standing strong whenever the winds of Satan come because I am founded on faith in my Savior Jesus Christ.

I love you all so much. Feel better Lauren, I feel so bad. I almost get ran over by crazy delivery guys on bike all the time but my missionary angels always protect me. Crazy.

Love you to the moon and back.
Taters

Still here...

TADAAAAAAAAAAAA
So transfers were today and we just got home at 3:00 which means I get a 3 hour pday so this will be a little rushed. So Sis Ganaha left to go upstate and it was hard to see her go. The longest companion I have ever had. My new companion is Sis Thai from Hong Kong! Whoo hoo... She is super cute. Pretty quiet but very kind. It will be fun to get to know her better. I am excited to be in the city at least for part of the holiday season. This cycle will end a week early in order to get the missionaries going home at the end of the cycle home before Christmas. They have already started to put up Christmas lights and stuff. o what joy it brings to my little missionary heart.

So this Sunday was AMAZING! We had 6 people at church. We are so lucky to have such amazing members who are helping the work move along. A couple of days ago I talked to a guy on the street who was nice but so not interested until I told him I was with the Mormon church and he was like "O I know so and so. Who is a member of that church" then from that point on he was willing to listen and actually wants to meet with us now. I just hope that I can be that kind of member someday that when people hear the name of the church they willing to listen because of the impression I have given them. I donno if that made sense but yea... So the main reason why this Sunday was great was because it was all on missionary work. AND our amazing investigator totally spoke in church. He's not even baptized yet and he did soooo great. Then sis ganaha and I sang "a window to His love" and our other investigator played the piano for us. It was fantastic. I felt like a proud mother. I couldn't stop smiling. It was super stressful that day because we had so many people to take care of but it all worked out and our members are a wonderful support.

Well I gotta get going. Due to the fact that it is veterans day (yea totally didn't know it was either) all the libraries are closed and so I am in an Internet cafe and the guy next to me was totally looking at porn... barf. I should have only paid for a half hour instead of forty five... lame o well. Well hope everything is going well for you guys. Sure love you!

Remember: God ALWAYS keeps His promises!

LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK
SIS WADSWORTH

Ask and you will recieve... when you listen

Ok...

first off: I am fine. So on Thursday the doctor called and told me that my blood work looked fine and I don't have mono. He said there was something a little strange with my immune system but whatever it was I had hit the climax and it was now fine. It was so interesting to see the miracles from this experience. When I got a blessing before I even called the doctors my blessing said I would not get worse but that I needed to take a rest and take care of myself. And because like I explained last week I am not good at slowing down I did get worse and at first (Silly me) I was confused because I was like ... my blessing said I wouldn't get worse.. then the slap in the face came when right as I did as Heavenly Father asked, and slowed down to take a day to rest, SURE ENOUGH I felt better. I learned a lot through this little experience that Heavenly Father is more than willing to work miracles but we have to be willing to do our part. I know that I was sick. Sicker than the doctor found but because I got a Priesthood blessing and listened to the counsel I received (even if it was a little slow) I was healed. I know the reason that the doctor could not explain my little blip in my immune system is because there was divine help given. So thank you for all your prayers. I know God hears our prayers :D
Thanks for your note mom. I'm sorry you had to wait all week to hear this anti-climatic story :D

So today has been a crazy pday. We went to the temple today (yay) and then to the new TJ Max they just opened here and now we are emailing. I seriously hate pdays because they are so rushed and stressful. But its all good. Last week because our surprise day got canceled (we found out we were going to be in the audience of who wants to be a millionaire but President said no) we just hung out at one of the churches and then went into the condemned convent that the church owns. haha it was sweet. Its a totally legit building that the sisters used to live in until the summer of last year. It was fun and chill.

So this week we had something exciting happen! One of the people we are working with set a baptismal date for December 5th. We are so excited! The ward is so excited! Our members are so amazing they are bringing their friends left and right. Singles wards rock. As a missionary at least. haha. I love our members they are so amazing. For the first time in my mission we get fed 6/7 days a week. CRAZY! It will never happen again but I love it... my weight doesn't but i do! haha. So last week we had a very spiritual lesson with our investigator and when I was teaching about the power of repentance the spirit was so strong. I am just so grateful for the cleansing power that we have access to through our Savior Jesus Christ. The Atonement is such an amazing gift that never runs out! We felt prompted to ask him how he felt about being baptized again and he was like ... yea I was wondering when my next date was. :D IT WAS FABULOUS!

Then later that night we had to go home at 6 because it was Halloween and people here get crazy. IT WAS A PARTY! The four of us (we live with two amazing Spanish sisters) dressed up like gangsters and ordered pizza and ate hot chocolate and donuts (yea no diet on Halloween don't judge me). We played a bunch of rounds of uno and around 9 pm realized we were exhausted. haha. We are so lame. We were so tired from just hanging. LOL. We went to bed early and called it a night. But it was so fun. I will send pictures.
O btw I can't believe that they are opening and in-n-out in orem, I donno how I feel about it. haha. But I guess if it helps kyle and he can get me free food (prob not) I am ok with it.

Well I love you all... I need a nap before we gotta go out again. Hope we have time! Love you! I'm working hard

love you to the moon and back
kait

God's mysterious ways

Well it never does fail, we had another interesting week. Here's the short simple version of the story: So a little less than a week ago I started having some health problems. Then on Saturday we helped at the mini MTC (I will explain in a bit) and ran around all day and afterwards I thought I was going to die. I was SOOOOO tired. Everyone was like what's wrong with you? Your lips are purple and you look depressed. haha. So the zone leaders told me that I needed to go home and rest buttttttt of course this I couldn't just go home. And of course in God's mysterious (or not so mysterious) ways He poses this challenge in front of me right after I promised myself I will work extra hard and do more everyday. Anyways... needless to say I finished the day up and then was knocked out when I got home. Sis Ganaha finally convinced me to call the mission president's wife and she told me I needed to call the mission doctor (eeks! not fun). So I called him and told him what was going on and he told me to do a few things and see what it felt like and then he told me to go to the doctors first thing the next morning and get some tests done and then to rest. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. So Monday I went to the doctor. Then told me to go home and rest!!! BLAH! What is it with people and this resting stuff? So yesterday I had to stay home ALLLLLL DAY! It was so boring! We reorganized our area book and cleaned the whole apartment and called every potential we could and had a really boring day. They told me that the test results wont be back for 3-4 days. So I just have to sit and wait. But I feel a lot better after resting yesterday. So we are def going in the right direction and so I am totally going back to work today. But I have become a lot more grateful for my healthy body. I have been so lucky to not have gotten sick on my mission so far. It is seriously torture to not be able to go and work. Sis Ganaha was making fun of me because I was stressing out about staying home and she said that if i didn't die from Mono I would die from a heart attack. ahaha. Shes funny. ANYWAYS... All is well in zion. I will let you know if anything exciting comes of this. I feel fine my body is just tired. So yea. Don't worry mom. All is well, all is well.

Soooo the mini MTC! So every other year the NY NY stake puts on a 5 stake event called the Mini MTC. And it is exactly what it sounds like. So they asked a couple of sets of missionaries to come teach at it and we got picked!!! We got to teach like 300 young men and young women about how to start a gospel conversation (AKA street contacting). It was soooo fun. They all got mission calls in the mail like a week before it and then they were split up into different districts depending on where they went. They had two teachers who were RMs from the areas they got their calls to. So pretty much half of our single's ward was there. I loved it! They were all dressed up and had name tags I really felt like I was back at the MTC. They learned how to street contact... then they went and did it!! IT WAS SO AMAZING! They learned how to teach a first lesson THEN THEY DID IT! Ward members pretended to be investigators and the kids had companions and they got to teach for 10 minutes. I was so blown away by the power of these kids' testimonies. They are truly a powerful generation. Their testimonies were so strong. It was so inspiring. I totally want to do this with the youth when I get home!!!

We had a great Sunday with 7 people at church (both wards together). It was such a miracle. Then on the train ride there I was talking to a guy and I invited him to come with us to church (usually they say they can't for some reason) BUT HE TOTALLY CAME!! He did have to leave early and he lives in Jersey but I know he felt the spirit and that something good will come of this. We have a new investigator that is a pianist at Julliard. SHES AMAZING! She volunteered to play the piano in relief society. Things are going so well. We had a super powerful lesson with another investigator last week. I know that he is on his way to accepting this fully. The spirit was so strong there and I know that it is through the spirit that we define our testimonies. We also have another investigator from Colombia who is doing fantastic. He came to church on Sunday too.

ok WELL sorry this letter was jumbled and confusing. That's how my brain feels right now. We were supposed to have a super cool zone activity today but its pouring rain outside so they called and canceled. So now we have no idea what to do... I'm sure we can find something.

I have really learned this week that I cannot do everything on my own. I will wear myself thin or just work myself to death. I am grateful for the power of the Atonement which enables us to overcome our challenges as we rely on our Savior's help.

Well love you all to the moon and back.
kait

Crazy Week

This week has been sooo crazy!!!!! So right after I sent my email to you last week my companion Sis Dantes gasped and said "my grandfather passed away..". I felt really bad for her because its always hard to be away from home at times like that. Then when we left the library she said "sisters you re going to have to reschedule sis lythgoe's birthday plans, I need to call president!". I was a little confused but figured she just meant she was going call her family and talk to them today. BUT... she called President and pretty much told him that she was going home. She was almost done with her mission too. It just makes me think about how inspired transfers really are because if she had only had one companion this would have been a much more complicated problem. For anyone that is wondering... that kind of thing doesn't really ever happen...

So in other news this week we went to see Gene our 92 year old recent convert on Saturday and he informed us that he had been asked to bear his testimony in church the next day and tell his conversion story. He decided to practice for us and o man it was soo cute. He is a military guy and so when he started he made sure to acknowledge all of those of "rank" as he said. So he said "Bishop Moe, Counselor Green, Counselor Herrera... it is a pleasure to be here with you today..." haha it was awesome! Sadly though the next day was soo cold and rainy that Gene could not leave his apartment. He can't go out in the rain because he gets sick every time that he does. SOOOOOOO instead guess who got to talk?? haha yep. Sis Ganaha and I. Sis Ganaha actually went first because she was so scared and ended up using almost all the time and so the bishop told me to keep it short. So I just said a short testimony and sat down. Sis Ganaha was so confused. It was great! HAHA.

Also on Saturday night we had a little adventure. We had a dinner at one of my favorite member's houses and the food was delicious and then I noticed that sis ganaha was not eating anything. Usually she eats a ton and so I knew something wasn't right. When we left she was like ... we need to find a bathroom now! So we went into Starbucks and she used the bathroom but she said she still wasn't feeling good and that we needed to go home. She was scared of barfing in front of people so we took a cab (which we never do because its expensive). She had a little grocery bag up to her face just waiting for the explosion... then when we finally got to our apartment she barely made it to the bathroom. That is THE WORST. O man... issues of the stomach... terrible! But shes ok now.. we don't really know what it was but she only threw up that once! :D

Then yesterday we had Elder Glen L. Pace of the quorum of the seventy come do a mission tour. So he came and told us what we could do better (which is a lot!!). I think Elder Pace has lit the fire again. I learned a lot about spiritual confidence. He explained how our biggest problem is not having confidence in God. We know He is all powerful and that He will work miracles but then we don't have enough faith or spiritual confidence in ourselves to let the miracles happen. I have seen that soo much in myself and I am working on connecting the dots and allowing my confidence in God to motivate the confidence in myself. I know that I can be an instrument in His hands, I just need to open my mouth and share what He has blessed me with.

One other thing Elder Pace also talked about is how we should be more excited about what we have to share. So I just wanted to express to those who might read this my excitement because of what I know.
I know that God is real! I know that a young 14 year old boy Joseph Smith did see God the Father and Jesus Christ as two separate beings. This was an expression of God's love for us. He called Joseph Smith to be a prophet.. .like a modern day Moses to restore Christ's church, in it's perfection on the earth today! God didn't just send anyone to bring back that church. He sent John the Baptist, who baptized Christ himself to give Joseph Smith the power to baptize on the earth today. God sent Peter, James and John to give Joseph the priesthood power needed to administer the gift of the Holy Ghost. HOW COOOL IS THAT??? These are not unknown people these are the big shots!! I know that this is true and that we have a prophet to day. Living today! Guiding us and teaching us TODAY!!!!!!! SOOOO EXCITING!!!! I know that this is true because I asked God. I didn't just ask my parents or my friends or even a church leader. I went to the only one who knows the truth... God. I know that everyone can receive that same answer. So do it. Ask because if this is true you can be as excited as me because it is truly one of the most amazing things ever!!!

Don't forget how exciting this is. Be excited about the restored gospel because it is exciting!!!

OK enough of that I love you all to the moon and back!

Katie

Tests and Trials and funny stories?

It was interesting reading your story about a trial because a mission is chuck full of things like that. Tough situations where you just want so badly for a little relief but its usually not there and instead you can only turn to the Savior for His help. It's not a bad thing (if may feel like it at the time) but it has been such an amazing experience to have no where else to turn but to Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. I know that every difficult situation we go through is for our benefit and growth and learning. That being said it has been a tough week. haha. It's been interesting to see what challenges come about every day. But I am loving it and doing my best to take each trial for what it's worth and react in a Christlike way. WOOOt

Ok so enough about trials let's get to the good stuff. We had an amazing joint sunday school in the single's ward and I have decided that I will be a temple worker as soon as I get home! I am so grateful for the temples and the work that happens within it's walls. That we can know that we are helping those on the other side of the veil continue on their progression towards eternal life. I am also sooooo grateful for our knowledge of the plan of salvation. That we can know where we came from and what the purpose of this life is and where we are going. So much joy comes from God's plan.

So today is Sis Lythgoe's birthday. She is a spanish sister that we live with that I absolutely adore. Shes so amazing. So last night we were trying to decorate after she went to bed and it was so funny because we were blowing up balloons in our bedroom and one totally popped as I was blowing it up and there was no way they couldn't have heard it and so I was like ... "owwww my head" haha. Then I woke up early this morning and made her breakfast with our limited supplies. I think it was yummy ... we only had enough eggs to make one breakfast burrito so ... I didn't get to taste it. haha. We are going to go to our favorite bakery today and play volleyball with some other missionaries. FUN FUN!

Good news our former baptismal date has been calling us and wanting to come to church again! YAY! All the YW just love her so I hope everything works out.

So I feel like my letters have been lacking in my usual funny stories and so this week I specifically looked for things and wrote them down so I could share them soo...

#1 One night we were waiting for the bus to go to our next appointment and I don't remember why but we were all pretty giggly. Probably because it was freezing outside and we were trying to not be miserable. And so the three of us were sitting on the bench and sis ganaha was wearing this cute beanie she has and she was making a weird face at me or something so I pulled down her hat over her face. Then she made a cat noise, saying I looked like a cat clawing at her when I did it. Then this guy comes from out of no where and is like ... "did you hear that cat ??" He looked a little concerned. And we were like .... "uhhh... umm yea" then he was like " o man where did it come from??" then sis ganaha explained how she made the noise and then he asked what our tags were and we explained then he asked "so is making cat noises part of your missionary work?" haha it was too funny.

#2 So we were doing some look ups as usual and we were standing outside of a building and were just about to leave because no one answered the buzzer and so we all turn around and start walking away and this guy sees us a little short scrawny man, probably in his 40s or so. Anyways so he sees us and for some reason gets so scared that his eyes get huge as he stares at us and he starts walking diagonally away from us and almost runs into a car. We couldn't help but laugh our heads off as we walked a few steps away. Its funny how often that happens. I always wonder what people are thinking... we are just normal people but our name tags make us scary sometimes I guess. haha.

Last one:
So Sis Dantes speaks Creole which is broken down french and so we love to find other people who speak it and make her talk to them. So a couple weeks ago we were at an elderly less actives house and she told us she cannot communicate with her home attendant because her english is bad. She told us she was from Haiti and so we told her about sis dantes and that she would help. So this week we went to see this less active and when we got there the home attendant told us she was sleeping. So I decided to introduce sister dantes. So I excitedly said "This is sis dantes!! She's from Haiti!!!" The lady just kinda stood there and nodded and then Sis Dantes came forward and started speaking in Creole to her.... after like 30 seconds the lady just stared at us and then said ... "I am from africa...." hahahaha We were like ... "o yea of course you are" .... hahah. It was awesome.

love you all to the moon and back!!!

-sis wadsworth

Two Letters

Here are Katy's last two letters. Sorry I didn't get last week's posted earlier!
HEY HEY EVERYONE!

So it has been an interesting week. To tell you the truth I can't believe another week has gone by. It feels like this week flew by with conference and everything. I LOVED conference. I am always surprised how fast its over. I used to have a hard time lasting the whole two hours but not as a missionary. HAHA. I was so sad to see it end. We were so blessed to have so many nonmembers come to listen to the prophet. We had a huge portion of our investigators there. YIPPEEE! Our ward members are awesome in the singles ward. On Sunday they invited so many of their friends to come and then in between we went to central park for a picnic with all of them. I didn't get to eat because I was bouncing around trying to meet all of these people. I got to teach a restoration and give a Book of Mormon away instead of eating. Totally worth it! It was awesome! I love our Julliard and Columbia students. They are just the best!

So those of you who know me well know that I LOVE pumpkins. And something so cool about new york that I just realized is that because there are little markets everywhere there are pumpkins everywhere too!! It's awesome!!!!!! I love it. Then for the relief society activity last night they made desserts made with PUMPKIN!! O it was such a joy! Tender mercies from the Lord! Good thing for the pumpkins because mail has been so weird lately that I have only gotten two letters the last two and a half weeks. I did get your package though mom. I just picked it up from the post office and its sitting behind me waiting to be opened when I get home. Thank you ahead of time. You are always so thoughtful.

So sadly this week we had an appointment with an investigator and he told us he was not willing to give up certain things in his life that would enable him to be baptized. It was a very sad lesson for us. But I know that he will be ready one day. I read to him Ether 12:27 and just talked about how we all have weaknesses and that's how the Lord intends it. So that we can overcome them and grow. And that is possible because of the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ. Which is sufficient to save ALL souls. How blessed we are to know that! I am also learning a lot about my weaknesses and challenges. I know my Heavenly Father puts things in my path to help me to grow not just to watch me stumble. He has a perfect plan for me to become what He wants me to become. A refiners fire. Our challenges in life are not simple or easy but they are personally picked to be what we need to overcome our imperfections. The trick to use those challenges to grow rather than to shrink back and refuse to move forward. I am so grateful for the challenges I am given.

It is getting cold here. Everyday more and more layers are being put on. haha. Right about now it feels like Vegas winter weather. I remember when I thought this was unbearably cold. haha. oooo silly silly me. They say this is goin to be a rough winter. So I know how Kevin is feeling there in Idaho although we don't have snow yet. I was talking to the president's daughter who grew up in Rexburg about the winters there and comparing them to here. They are different in the fact that the humidity here causes the cold to CUT YOU TO THE CORE!!! burr... not looking forward to that buuuuuuuuuuttt thank goodness for thermal underwear and woolen socks!!! haha. Today is suuuuuuuper windy and we didn't know that until we were outside and sister ganaha and i are wearing very... flowy we will call it skirts. Pretty much I regret wearing this skirt. haha. We both were like running to the bus squealing and trying to keep our skirts down while sis dantes just laughed her head off behind us. haha.

So something super sweet this week.. WELL to me at least. Our ward mission leader's wife just had a baby and we went over for dinner and sis Petersen was in the kitchen cooking and bro Petersen was doing something else and the baby was in the crib screaming and so bro Petersen said ... Sis Wadsworth can you please pick him up for me...? I promise I wont get you in trouble. We are not allowed to hold children because of legal liabilities. SO ... I totally half way picked him up and let his feet touch the bottom of the crib so I wasn't really holding him. hahaha. It was so awesome though I miss really playing and being with kids.

Well it sounds like you guys had a fun conference weekend. Tell Devan and Kelsi I said congrats! That's going to be so fun for all of them.

So our companionship is going great! I am learning a lot and am so grateful for both of my companions. They are such great examples to me.

Well family and friends. I love you so much thanks for your love and support!

LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!
-KAITLYN

OOOOOOOOOOKAY

So here is the transfer details. So I am with a Sister who came to my area and I also get to stay with sis ganaha. YAY!! So I guess that means I have a lot to learn from them. It will be interesting but I know Heavenly Father is in control. Its going to be an awesome cycle. So ... keep sending mail to the same address! ! !

So we did get to go to the relief society conference. It was so wonderful. We had to leave a little early so we could get home before 10:30. It was crazy to be out that late.haha.. i know woowww 10:30.. haha.I am sooo excited for conference this weekend. Its such an energizing experience. I love love love love love itttttttttttttttttttt!

Soo this weekend was amazing and also frustrating. Its always a roller coaster. So we started the week with sis smith (mission president's daughter). She was only with us for 3 days. Shes almost 25 and is only doin this until she figures out what she wants to do now that she is graduated. She is so amazing and it was a pleasure to see her. We got some great new investigators this week. One guy from Taiwan, one from Nigeria and one from China. Its so cool. We are also working with a girl from our service that is from Thailand. THIS IS THE COOLEST MISSION EVER!!! HAHA. One is a member referral and is so amazing. He is working on his faith in Christ but he loves the church and knows there is something different about us. He plays the violin at Julliard. We had dinner in the Julliard dorms on Saturday night. It was so cool to be with all these amazingly talented people. They are so humble too.

So because we weren't sure if one of us would be leaving we set an appointment with an investigator yesterday and he was SOOo excited that we weren't leaving. He is so great. He wrote us an awesome letter just expressing his appreciation for us and for the church. Then we had a lesson on missionary work and talked about when he could serve a mission and he is excited to serve! HOW AMAZING IS THAT??? He is not even baptized yet but he is already desiring to serve a mission.

It's getting cold here. I have already started to wear my lighter coat. My PUFFY hasn't come out yet. Hopefully that won't happen till the snow comes. I think I forgot how cold it gets here. ... I am not looking forward to that. BUT THE WORK MUST GO FORTH!
So a little info about my new comp. I actually lived with her in my first apartment. She is originally from Haiti and moved to Florida when she was a teenager. We have soo many people from Haiti in our area so it will be so great to have her with us.

Well I'm excited for what is to come this cycle. I expect to see so many miracles like we have been seeing. Keep praying for me like I know you do. I am so grateful to be part of this work. Even if things are hard or people let us down I know I can be happy because this is God's work and it will never cease to move forward. I am so lucky to be here and to be serving my Heavenly Father. How lucky I am that He trusts me enough to do this. PRAISE GOD! :D

Love you all to the moon and back!

Things have been crazy today. We had conference cleaning and trains were taking so long and all the computers are down at all the libraries and so it took forever to find somewhere to email. We are currently at the church's family history center.

Anywaysssssssssssssss
So this is what has gone down this week.

Gene had his 92nd birthday and so sis ganaha and I went and had some sugarless cake with him. It was fun! I can't believe how old he is but it was great to be with him. We wore party hats and he blew out his candles and everything.

So right now something kinda cool is that I am in a three person companionship until the end of the cycle with the mission president's daughter Dani. It's so great because we can go into any apartment. haha. Shes awesome too. So its a privilege to be with her. Yesterday we had our first appointment with her and we taught this lady I contacted what feels like forever ago. We have kept trying to teach her but something would always come up until yesterday. The spirit was so strong in the appointment and she accepted a baptismal date and committed herself to come to church. She loved the story of Joseph Smith because she said she felt like that too! I will let you know how it goes in the future.

We also had another appointment with our cute little Chinese investigators. THEY ARE SO AMAZING! We watched Finding Faith in Christ and I asked them how it made them feel to know that Christ did that for them and they said it really touched them. They are excited to come to church this Sunday. We are going to have such a great Sunday I know it... It will probably be my last Sunday in this ward (I'm praying its not) but looks like it might be with transfers.
Our investigators are doing well. They came to church on Sunday. They rock. We couldn't find one right after church on Sunday and so we were scared he got offended somewhere and left early. But when we called him that night he explained that he was just in the chapel waiting for the stake priesthood session to start. crazy huh? he is so amazing.

OK NOW ON TO THE COOLEST THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK!!!!!! Soooooooo Sunday night president called us and asked us to be at the church the next day from 3-6 for a special assignment. He wanted sister ganaha for something and so I thought I was just there for the ride butttttttttt long story short. Because the yearly opening of the UN was here in New York a lot of dignitaries were here. So the emperor of Palau (google it haha) was coming to the church to learn more about us. He wanted to go to temple square but time didn't permit and so someone from the seventy called our public affairs office and asked them to set something up. SOOO they asked me to sing for him. AHHH. I got to sing with Elder Butler who is the nephew of the Greens and another missionary from Hawaii. It was so cool. We sang Families can be together forever and I am a child of God. It was cool. The Empress totally cried!! The problem was we actually were there from 3-8pm. It was the first day (and hopefully the last) that I didn't do any missionary work (well the regular stuff). After the meeting they took us to dinner. It was so weird. I felt really sick pretty much the whole day and so I just kept trying to smile and pretend I was not feeling sick. Anyways it was really neat. There were 8 of us missionaries there. The companions of those of us who sang and then a few who answered questions. It was SWEEEEEEEEET! But I was excited to go back to regular life the next day.

We are seeing so many miracles and I am praying I get to stick around and see more this next cycle. I just found out that two of my last roomies got their mission calls. Both to the Philippines. How cool is that? Another one is going to Iowa. So now there are 4/6 of us on or going on missions. HOW COOL IS THAT???

I am so grateful to be serving. Things are changing a lot in our mission. We have not got any new English sister missionaries lately and in two transfers all of the English sisters but me and 3 others leave. I am really scared about what is to come but I know that whom God calls He qualifies. I can do whatever He asks of me. *DEEP BREATH*. :D I am so grateful for the blessings and miracles God places in our lives. This gospel is the greatest news and we must shout it off of the hill tops. Next email... we will see where I am. I love you all. Pray for me!!!

Trying to shine

Well, *sigh* this week has been tough. So I will just start by saying that all three of our baptisms have been canceled/postponed. That has never happened to me before and so its hard to not get discouraged. It has really been a humbling experience. It's hard sometimes to not get discouraged but I know that this is Heavenly Father's work and I am not in control of anyone but myself. So as I do everything in my power to follow him and be a good missionary I know that all will work out. Good thing its not all about numbers or I would be going crazy. LOL

So on to the more happy things about this week. I finally got to try pinkberry. O man it was delicious. But I cant believe how expensive it is. Luckily a member took us :D. I remember Jodi talking about it once and now I know why. haha. We got two awesome new investigators this last week. They are both from China and really have no concept of God or religion. They are both so excited to learn more about God and how to come closer to Him. We taught them about prayer and they were so excited to do it. They have so many questions and its so fun to teach but also so hard to get them to understand things that they really have never heard before. I found myself relating how the holy ghost feels to how it feels when we like a boy. HAHA. "You cant explain it ... its just inside of you". Lol. It's so cool being a missionary here because I feel like I am teaching the whole world. The new york new york north mission = the mission of the world. That's what one of our members told us because we teach people from all over. It's sweet.

Something also very sweet about being a missionary here is I get to meet and see famous people. Especially famous Mormons. So I was sitting with my investigator in sacrament meeting on Sunday and this boy walks by and I was like ..eeeeek... thats totally DAVID ARCHULETA!! haha. He was so cool. He was wearing a white shirt and tie and everything. Looked just like he did on TV. Just a very sweet guy. I'm not going to lie it was hard to focus during sacrament meeting. I kept thinking ... Hes totally sitting behind me... Hes totally singing this same song with me. hahaha. Anyways it was cool.

We are not doing anything fun this pday. We just took a long nap and relaxed because after this week I couldn't handle anything stressful. haha. Please continue to pray for me and for my investigators. I know that there will be miracles. I am excited to see what God has around the corner as we continue to move forward in faith. This is such an amazing work. I love this gospel with all my heart and I know that no matter the sacrifice we make for it, its worth it. I am grateful for the power of the Atonement and that no one is too far out of our Savior's reach. What an amazing blessing it is to have this knowledge and to have access to the Atonement through the restoration of the gospel.

Love you all to the moon and back..

So blah... I'm so flustered right now because we just went to get hair cuts and we went to a hair school that was giving away free hair cuts... should have known it was a bad idea. I knew they would be new and so I just asked for a trim... an hour later I find my hair less than an inch shorter... I was like .. ok that's good thanks. Then my comp had to go and she has about 1967969 times the amount of hair I do and she wanted layers... haha. 2 and a half hours later... she was also disappointed in her cut and we left. haha. Any whoo I am just glad its over. BUTTT BACK TO THIS WEEK

So we have been meeting with one of our investigators regularly and he is so fantastic. He is so excited about his baptism. We had an interesting lesson on Thursday though. So he lost track of time and was late for his appointment (which is so not like him btw). And so instead of going to our usual spot we decided to just teach him on a bench. So there we were just minding our own business when this homeless man came up and begged for money. We kindly declined but he was not ok with that. He yelled and was obviously drunk and or high and was like "you have bibles in your hands you hypocrites" blah blah blah. We tried to talk to him like a human being and asked him his name and he was not having any of it. He decided he wouldn't leave until we gave him something. He said "I do this for a living, you think I am amature? that you are the first people I have asked for money from? I have gotten money from celebrities!" Then he so sweetly named all the celebrities who had given him money. Mean while I looked over at our sweet little investigator and he was saying a prayer! It was so cute! Finally the member we were with was like fine, I will take you to buy something to eat. The best part about the story is that we were teaching about Tithing and Fast offerings and how you can be at peace knowing that the money you donate goes to people who really need it and its not given as handouts which foster dependency on other. It was ridiculous but nice to use as an example in our lesson. I wanted to point something out too that's pretty sweet. Our investigator is a student at Columbia university. And since he lives in the dorms there we teach him on campus. So... I TEACH AT COLUMBIA! Woot and Ivy League school .. at my age. Who woulda thought? haha. The campus is so beautiful. We also have Julliard in our area now. Those students are so great!

Something cool that happened this week is that Thursday night the zone leaders called us and told us that we were going on a split with sis smith (the mission president's wife) the next day! I was super nervous but also excited because I always here about the miracles that the elders see when they go on splits and especially when with the president. It was her first time doing it and the reason she was doing it is because President Bednar told her that she needed to go out with the sisters and see what we go through, a King Benjamin approach. So she came to our appointment and we taught the Word Of Wisdom. It was a powerful lesson and I talked about Grandpa Tom and how amazing he was and I was getting super emotional and I got the feeling that I needed to extend him a baptismal date. And to this point he hadn't and skirted around the idea every time. But I followed my prompting and HE ACCEPTED!!!! Yay! He is now progressing toward his baptism and is excited about it! It was such a cool experience. It will be so good for both this young man and his recent convert father. So we got to see a miracle with sis smith. Shes so sweet too it was nice to get to know her better. Shes much different than sis searle. I would just describe her as fun and young and spunky.

So yesterday at service they were totally filming law in order at the church above the food pantry we work at. How cool is that? Too bad I have never seen the show before or maybe I would have recognized the celebrities. hahaha

So I got your package. Thanks a million. You are so sweet. I love the rice. I will live off of it. But now that we are in two wards we are getting a lot more meals. We got to go to this place this week called mamma mexico's. They make you fresh guacamole right at your table! So cool. We don't usually get to go out to eat but it was a nice treat!

We are excited for a baptism on Friday! She is so excited too. The whole Young Women's is also excited! That will make 6 yw now I think. Life is so different on this side of the country.

LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!

-taters

So Blessed

Wow... I'm super overwhelmed with emotion right now. Good e-mail... *sigh* Ok So this week has been so amazing! I am so overwhelmed with gratitude right now. Luckily I am at a church this time not at the library. I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father loves me enough to answer my prayers. Man I wish I could express what I am feeling. I just know that every prayer is heard. Im so grateful that He loves me enough to let me have joy in my life. We have been so amazingly blessed this week. The guy that I told you about last week who ordered a book of Mormon has already decided to be baptized! So this is how it went down:
So we had an appointment with him and a member who is amazing. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ (faith,baptism,holy ghost,etc). And while we were teaching I kept getting this prompting to commit him to be baptized. I was a little nervous because it was less than a week since we had even met him. But at the end of the lesson I asked him how he felt his relationship with our Savior had changed since we first met him (he didn't believe in Him then. He then pretty much bore his testimony about how he knew that Christ had Atoned for his sins and that He was his personal Savior. Then I asked him some more questions and then read a verse in 2 nephi 31 where it refers to baptism as a gate and I told him how he was waiting now at the gate and that our Heavenly Father is waiting on the other side of it with so many blessings and ... it's time to open the gate. So we extended the date of Sept 19th but he said he felt like he should read the whole Book of mormon first. Then our amazing member pipes in and talks about how you will never learn everything and that the blessing of the gospel is that it is an on going lesson. He also talked about how he would understand more as he had the companionship of the Holy Ghost which comes after baptism. BAMMM. So then I asked Will to pray and ask God if Sept 19th was the right date and he committed then our amazing member piped in again and said "well would you be comfortable if we did it now? Together?". My jaw dropped and that was def only something he could do as his friend (they go to school together). So right then and there we all got on our knees and Will said the most sincere and powerful prayer, pleading with His Heavenly Father for direction. Then after the prayer no one moved and we all just sat there feeling the spirit. At that moment I knew we had called down the powers of Heaven and I knew there was no way that the spirit would tell him it was wrong. Then Will sighed and looked up with a huge smile on his face and said "it feels good". It was seriously the most amazing thing ever. We have been meeting with him daily to prepare him to be baptized and he is so amazing. He is reading so quickly and has the greatest faith. I am so humbled by this opportunity to teach him. I feel so blessed that my Heavenly Father has trusted me to teach someone so amazing. I cant even explain the gratitude I feel in my heart right now. This is the greatest work ever!

Our other investigators are progressing well and our YW sweet spirit is so excited for her baptism. She loves young womens. So on to less exciting things... well sorta. One funny story. At the beginning of our lessons we sing a song and at one of our lessons I wanted to sing I need the ever hour... and I dont know what happened but I started the song soooooo low! It was terrible and our ward mission leader was there and he was belting out a very low bass line of the song. I felt terrible but I could not stop laughing... Just imagine trying to invite the spirit with that. It dosent work if you're wondering. haha.

So SUPER SAD NEWS..... ACTUALLY DEVASTATING!! The post office had a fit and decided they wouldn't forward our mail from the mission home anymore. So now I have to wait for the APs or zone leaders to bring it to us every once in a while! TRAGEDY!!!!! It breaks my little missionary mail loving heart. So those of you who write my I will give you my current address if you want to write me soon but if you're gonna take a while you might as well send it to the mission home just in case I move. But mom you can give my address to those you feel comfortable giving it to and I will do the rest. So its been a sad week and a half ... with no mail really. O well I guess it makes me more focused? ! ?

Well I sure love you all. I am so grateful for your support and prayers. Tell Sis Sanders thank you but I will send her a thank you when I get her address. That money is Heaven sent. This place is so crazy expensive but the members have stepped up on feeding us so that's nice (mostly because we are in two wards but we will give them some credit).

LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!
-TATERS

The Loaves and the Fishes keep on comin

Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a day when I don't cry in the middle of the library reading my email. Hahaha. It's not a bad cry, I just think that all the missing of people I have ignored during the week catches up with me on pdays when I read about home. I figure its the only time I can do it and still consider myself focused. haha.

I totally agree with you mom about worrying is a habit and a choice. Every reaction we have is. It is all in our head most of the time and if we rely on the Lord and ask for His help we can change our mind just like that!

I am super surprised that I didn't see Aunt Kenna but I guess the Lord knows best. It actually was best probably because sunday was so crazy amazing. I donno if I could have handled one more thing. So the two wards we now cover overlap by one hour. So we had 3 people at our first meeting then we had to teach gospel principles, but then we had to meet our other investigator right before church so he would feel comfortable... anyways It was nuts. Sis G and I ended up having to split up for a while so we could be everywhere at once. It worked out fine and I am just sooo grateful for the love that the Lord is pouring on us. We are seeing so many miracles already. SOOO... We only got one new investigator last week because we were working so hard to keep track of the 5 we got the week before and Heavenly Father knew that and soo he sent us a miracle investigator. He has a girlfriend who is a member of our church and so after she prompted him he requested a Book of Mormon online. Then we got the referral and met with him at the church where he proceeded to tell us that he knew nothing about God or Jesus Christ or anything about any church really because his family never taught it at home and he never had made the effort to look until now. It made me a little bit nervous to start clean slate but I thought to myself about who is at the head of this work and what I would be testifying of and my nerves were immediately calmed. Then he came to church on sunday and LOVED it! He has read through 1 Nephi 12 and is starting to read the bible also. He told us that he cant explain the way that he is feeling he said "I'm so happy. It just feels so good and soo right!" I could barely contain my excitement. He is truly manna from Heaven! HAHA. I feel overly blessed to be teaching him. The ward is so amazing too they support us so much and love to fellowship the new people. So lets just say that things have been fantastic!!!!

Another of our investigators is moving along well. She is coming with us on Saturday to clean the church with the Young Women in the ward. I asked her if she liked to clean and she said "Not at my house but I would at the church!" She is so great. She told us how last year in school she had to write a paper about someone who was your hero or and who had a big influence in your life that had passed on and she did hers on Joseph Smith. Mind you she had only been to church a few times as she went with her grandparent. She is so great and the young women are so excited to add another girl to there very small group of 5.

I have been working a lot on being more charitable. Not only in deed but also in thought. I have a motto of "refusing to find fault". I am working to look at the good in people rather than their faults which as humans we automatically notice first. It has been a challenge because our minds are such creatures of habit but I know with the help of my Savior my righteous desires will come forth.

So a couple of nights ago the sisters we live with were like ... WE HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU SIS WADSWORTH!! Then the proceeded to tell me that they got into an elevator with this guy in there and he smiled as they came in and said "do you know sis wadsworth?" and they were like yea we live with her. Then he responded "tell her David said hi" and my roomie was like well whats your last name so I can tell her and just like david would he said "Just say David, she will know who I am". SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO David Moncion was totally in a close by building. CRAZY!! HAHAHA. This city .... man its full of ...stuff. haha.

Well we are goin to play soccer with 3 zones of missionaries(like 30 missionaries). It should be FUN! I love you all and cant wait to hear about what happens next week.

love you to the moon and back
-kaitlyn

More keeps coming

Well I am not going to lie this week has been amazing! It's the end of the cycle and so it always makes me nervous. So here is the down low. Miracle... Sis Ganaha and I are STILL TOGETHER!!! YAYYYYY!! BUT... we were asked to take over another ward... the SINGLE'S WARD!! So now we cover two wards and areas. Luckily the single's ward contains our family ward but wow! I feel like we were just getting the handle on our area and getting things really pumped up but I guess I need to learn that there is ALWAYS more! I am really humbled with the trust the Lord has put in us to do this. I don't know how long it will last but it will be intense. We will have to go to a lot of church on Sunday. Skip a lot of meals and travel a lot more. BUT I AM SOOO EXCITED for this challenge. It is so cool to contact everyone and to be able to teach anyone we talk to (that lives in our area) no matter the age! I have missed contacting singles and working with them. They are so much more receptive because truthfully most of them are still trying to figure out life and what they believe or what they want in life. SO woot sauce about that. The single's ward we are in covers Julliard. So we will be teaching some very talented people. I don't even know what to think about the situation but I am both scared and excited. But I know that Heavenly Father will help us out and that we will see many miracles from the small efforts we can do on with our free will.

So we had a ward picnic last Saturday and we had some investigators there. It was so fantastic to see the ward members fellowshipping. Some of our ward members are seriously super stars. I am so grateful for them. One of investigators brought his 4 year old son Ricky (Who we just found out that his name was ricky not wicky because of his dad's accent we thought it was wickie this whole time and so we called him that... terrible). Anyways so Ricky is really shy but we wanted him to have fun and so I used my little kid magic and was playing with him and I ended up running around the park with him for like an hour straight playing tag and throwing a ball. Needless to say I was soooo hot and sweaty. Sweaty is natural here. It's so humid everyone is constantly wet just from walking around... so I was really sweaty at this point. But he had fun. Then after the ward activity we had an appointment with an investigator and because there was no other lady with us we had to teach in a public place so we decided to go back to the park. It was getting late and it got dark as we were teaching and we were by a light and there were bugs all over the place and I kept feeling myself getting bit. O man it was gross... So then the next morning I counted....14 BUG BITES!!!!! All over my legs and feet and a couple on my arms. I didn't have any sort of bug bite cream and of course it was Sunday! It was miserable. Try having 14 bug bits and wearing nylons and then it being really humid and sweating all day. HAHA. It the worst. I have also realized I am extra allergic to mosquito bites. They get really red and really swollen. I took pictures so you will see. Everyone says I look like I have chicken pox on my legs. SO... yea. I finally got to buy calamine (?) lotion and some bug bite stuff on Monday but man I could not sleep that night. So since then I have been sleeping with long socks on to keep me from scracting accidentally in the night. When I am awake I can do a good job not scratching. Hopefully that didn't gross anyone out too much.

We have member I love who fell and cut her toe really bad a couple of weeks ago and so she has stitches and has to wear a big shoe thing. She is going to a school to become a nursing assistant since she lost her job as a seamstress. But for some reason the school told her that she could not complete the class because she couldn't wear the correct uniform shoes. So she had to go to the doctor to get a piece of paper saying it was a legit injury. But when she brougth it back to the teacher she said it wasn't legit because there was no stamp on it. So she went back to the hospital to get it but no one had any idea what she was talking about. (SORRY this is a long preface). So when she told us her story we asked her if we could help and she said well you can come with me to the doctor again so that we can find the stamp. So we prayed really hard that we would be able to some how find this stamp that no one could find before. Then we went with her and I kept thinking that the Lord has given us the power to help the people in this area and she needs this and our faith is strong ... we can do it. So we walked up to the nurses desk and explained the situation and she was like "no we don't have a stamp. I have no idea what you are talking bout". Then we felt prompted to have her ask the actual doctor and right as she asked the doctor said "of course I never leave my house without my stamp" and then stamped it. I know that was prob not as cool of a story as I was in person but I felt so at peace that my Heavenly Father knew our situation and heard our prayers and gave us something as small as a little stamp. I know that prayers are answered. No matter how small they are. He loves us and He wants us to succeed. Our joy is His joy. Our prayers may not be answered how we expect them to but they will be answered in the way they are supposed to be. The way that will make us happiest. I am so grateful for that knowledge.

Well I sure love you guys. I hope that everything continues to go well. Good luck all of you who are starting school again. I'm not jealous of that quite yet. HAHAH.

love you to the moon and back
-Sis Wadsworth

going and going and going

Hello Friends and Family,

So this week was a roller coaster (as a mission always is). Our baptismal date's mother decided they were going to go out of town this weekend at the last minute, preventing her from coming to church and thus preventing her from being our baptismal date. Just a little humbling reality check to keep us on our toes. But its ok she will make it when she is ready. We got some amazing new investigators this week but sadly we are finding the people who are not very committed. They get us all excited and then disappear. So we are trying to be more careful where we look for people to teach. We need Kingdom builders here for sure! haha.

We do have this super cool investigator. Anyways before our lesson this week we went and played H.O.R.S.E at a local park because he loves basketball. And Sister G was so amazing. She kept doing these crazy shots. One time she shot it with her eyes closed but the best was when she hit the ball into the basket with HER HEAD!!! Anyways we told him it was the holy ghost.. haha jk. It was cool though and we are just working on getting him to stop partying and come to church instead!

So two days ago sis g and I were walking to our dinner appointment and this guy was walking towards us and I was like "o snap... that's Tim Gun" and sure enough it was. HAHA. I was so scared though. If he wasn't who he was I totally would have contacted him. hahah. I tried to get a picture as he walked away but its not a good one. I thought you would be excited mom. It was hard to explain to sis g who he was because they don't watch project runway in japan. but then like 5 seconds later we walked passed a billboard and he was on it with heidi Klum. Anyways it was funny and pretty cool. I always see people I recognize but this guy I actually knew his name. lol.

SOO... the ward I am in now is known for being the tourist ward because its at a good time and its at the temple so its where all the tourists know to go. So I was walking out to find one of our investigators before church on sunday and I hear "gasp... KAITLYN!!" I was like ... woah .. that's my real name and then I turned around and saw my friend Alicia from the walk in center that I worked at at byu. Jason knows her too. It was so weird. Then she was like o I'm going to text megan and tell her. Then she said megan was freaking out... (kinda like i was). SOO.. the point of this story is that this is prob the most distracting mission in the world... Sis G was like... I am so glad I am not in my country. haha. Like all time there is music blaring that I love and billboards and advertisements EVERYWHERE for the movies coming out and books and concerts(Its like being on the strip 24/7). There are so many good places to eat and always little flea markets everywhere and fun stores to shop at. And I see people I know or people who know my family all the time. ALL OF WHICH I HAVE TO IGNORE!!! I am seriously learning major self control. I'm not saying in anyway that my mission is harder than anyone elses (they are all different and hard). But seriously. There are so many distractions. soo my little vent is over now. Its a good learning experience though.

So we had mission conference yesterday and the new mission president is going to be doing things a little different. I guess we aren't supposed to have mission conferences (?) and so we will be doing something different but he did say that we can take naps longer than 15 minutes now!! WHOOO!!! hahaha. They also told us that we will be getting a lot more sister missionaries in our mission. I don't know if its because he requested it or if there are just more sisters serving. I think its a little of both! WHOO SISTER POWER! But it will be exciting because he said they will be opening a lot more sister areas and so we can serve in more than 2 parts of our mission! YAYA!
So I am glad that everything is going well with the family. I show everyone I can pictures of Janson. He's already doing missionary work. haha. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been given to be a missionary. It is not easy at all but it is something I wouldn't ever give away. I hope I can live up to the standards the Lord has set for us so that we can be worthy of His blessings and the joy that I know comes from living a righteous life. I am so grateful for my ancestors who paved the path for me to be a missionary right now at this time and age. I think often of what the pioneers went through and how I am far from experiencing what they did and so I am grateful to be here to support what they did back then.

Well... I am off to .... .drum roll please ... the Yankee's game!!!! Don't be too jealous I will be melting while wearing my nylons.

LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK
-TATERS

PS.. transfers are next Wednesday... we are not expecting any changes but just in case you know the drill ma.

Photos - Finally

We have had scanner issues and have not been able to add any of the photos Katy has sent to us. This week she sent us a CD with a bunch of photos cause her photo memory was full, so now I can add a few photos! They are of her and some of her converts and in Central park and outside her old apartment. Thanks, Pauline




I seriously can't believe the summer is almost over (hartke has closed). It seriously blows my mind how fast time is going. The days seem long but the weeks fly by. Its a terrible curse.

Anyways we have had such an amazing week. I am just constantly reminded of how aware our Heavenly Father is of each of us. Im sure you could tell from my emails these last couple of months that things in this area are tough. I felt like everyday we were just running in circles with no success. But I put my trust in the Lord because I know that no effort goes wasted when we are doing the Lord's work. So I would just tell myself... there is success around the corner.. I know it... I wont get frustrated. So needless to say this week has been amazing. We looked up a less active last week (I think I told you) who has two daughters 13 and 8. So we went to see them and then the 13 year old told us how much she loves the BOM and how she takes it to school to read during breaks. And pretty much shes amazing and she went to church with us and has accepted a baptismal date. She will get baptized at the end of the month!! MIRACLE!!! Then also this week we have gotten so many media referrals. People requesting free items or just a visit from us. So one was a lady name Yvette and she wanted a missionary visit because recently when she went to visit her uncle in Georgia she met the missionaries there who were teaching her uncle and he got baptized! So she was able to see his conversion and decided she wanted to also learn more. So we met with her last night for the first time. She is so cute and we had a relief society activity right after our lesson and she came with us and got along so well with the ladies there and loved it!! It was priceless. I couldn't stop smiling as I watched her talk with everyone and just bounce around meeting all the ladies. The ward was so great too to reach out to her and make her feel welcome! HALLELUJAH! So pretty much we are trying to stay humble and remember that we are not the ones producing these miracles. I am so grateful that my Heavenly Father has trusted me to work with these amazing children of God.

So on a sad note one of our APs who I actually was my first zone leader and I served around him my whole mission just went home and they told us two days ago that he has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It's been really sad but also such a faith builder. He is such an amazing missionary and so high spirited. Please keep elder evans in your prayers. They have said that he has a very high chance of recovering completely. We are so grateful for that. It has just been a very humbling experience. I know that our trials will never disappear completely but I am so grateful for the gospel which gives us the strength to not only overcome them but to grow and learn from them.

So funny story. We have been working with this less active Irene that I have mentioned before. She is so great and has been coming to church steadily. So this Sunday was testimony meeting and she got up to bear her testimony and it was so pure and sweet. Then during it she decided to do some shout outs... She said "I would like to thank Sis Ganaha and Sis Wadsworth for meeting with me to help me build my faith and not giving up on me. But I do wish I had one more thing. I have asked multiple times for home teachers and I have not seen them for over 3 years".... HAHA. So she pretty much called her home teachers to repentance. It was so funny though and everyone after her commented about it and it was really cute. The funny thing is her home teachers have been trying to see her they just get shut down by her daughter that lives there or cant get a hold of her. The 2nd counselor stood up and was like "man if everyone stood up and announced who hadn't been home taught yet this month I think we would get a lot more home teaching done so .. .starting next month we will do that... " haha. It was fantastic.

Also a funny side note. I have spent more time in Starbucks on my mission then I have in my whole life thus far. One because its free to sit in them and teach when people are not comfortable with us in their homes or to do studies. And second because they have public bathrooms. (Thank goodness for those bathrooms... they have saved me countless times). So if dad gets Starbucks cards this year for Christmas ... I call dibs on them for all the yummy desserts they have! I know weird huh?

So we are off now to go to Chinatown for a crazy day of fun. I don't really know what we expect to find but I'm excited to spend more than an hour lunch break there after a meeting running around thinking ... only ten more minutes ... hurry!

LOVE YOU ALL TO THE MOON AND BACK!!!

-TOOTS

The rain keeps coming

We just braved the pouring rain to get to the library. WoW i don't think it will ever end.

So this was a fun week. First off President Smith called and asked sis ganaha and I to teach a workshop for a youth conference. The youth from the cherrhill new jersey stake came to new york. It was intense and a lot of pressure. We had to teach 3 - 50 minute classes. It was really fun though. It was funny to see all the little cliques and stuff. Man I dont miss those years of life. hahah. But it made me really want to be an efy counselor. It was fun and was nice to have a change from the regular routine. I hope they enjoyed it and learned something. It also felt good to know that President already trusted us enough to do that!

So it was really funny a couple of days ago on the bus sis ganaha was on one end talking to someone and I was on the other end doing the same and then when we got out she was still talking to her contact and so I just walked behind them and man... something smelt sooo bad. I just figured it was something outside because it really smelt like pee. Then I realized when I stepped away from Sis G and her contact the smell would disappear. Then I noticed the lady she was talking to had peed herself. EEEKS! Right as I realized that I heard sis G say "Man it really smells bad out here huh?" hahaha... anyways.. guess you had to be there but it was pretty funny.

So a cool thing happened on pioneer day. We were walking across the street to find a bathroom and then eat dinner and this guy was like "sisters!!! What are you doin right now? " we told him we were about to eat and he was like well let me treat you. So this guy totally bought us chipotle (which is way too expensive for us). He is a BYU professor named Bro Neilson and he teaches religion: church history classes. He was here to talk to people of other faiths. He was so great!! So I know that you can find teacher's email address on the BYU website directory thing. So I was wondering if someone could find him and send him a thank you email for me! :D It really was so nice. I cant get over it. He also has a show on the new mormonradio thing. He was awesome!!!

So here is a tip I would like to share with the world about working with missionaries. If you ever feed them LET THEM SERVE THEMSELVES!!! o MAN... I cant tell you how many times I have gotten sick from trying to eat all that people give us. I blame the members for any weight I gain. haha. Sometimes I'm really hungry... sometimes I'm not.. so please let me choose how much I eat. lol!

I got the greatest pictures of Janson from Britt. O i just love them. Did britt cut her hair? I have been showing them to everyone.

So today we went to the temple. I love it there. sooo peaceful. My thoughts are always turned to my family past, present and future. What a beautiful thing we have to know that we can all be together forever. After we went to the temple sis g and our apartment mates went to two of the most famous NY bakeries. OOOOO MY O MY. Crumbs and magnolia's . I cant wait to take you guys... Heaven is what it should really be called :D.

The work is going really well. We had an investigator at church this week and it was her second time. She is so cute and says that she feels peace when she reads the scriptures. I totally agree with her. They always ease my worries. Scripture POWER!! woot!

Well I love you all so much! Don't forget that!
LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!
-SIS WADSWORTH

So this week has been ... interesting. Well I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your tape. I have had some things on my mind that have been concerning me. The reason I am not going into detail is because I have decided to not let this affect me. I am on a mission. This is my short period of time to give everything to the Lord. One night I couldn't really sleep and I was just praying for comfort and guidance. Then the quote by president Hinckley's father came to mind. "FORGET YOURSELF AND GO TO WORK". So I decided that is what I must do. It's interesting to be in a place where you really have no one to just talk to about your feelings or something that is bothering you. That is except the Lord. I am so grateful for the chance I have been given to 100% rely on the Lord. With no best friend or mother to cry to. lol. Anyways. I have already seen a difference in myself as I have made a strong effort to focus 100% of my thoughts and deeds on this work. The deeds part is easy... the thoughts part is a bit of a challenge. haha. I know that as I surrender my will and my dreams and my hopes during this time in my life to do only what the Lord wants done, I will find what will really bring me happiness. The work will be easier and my burdens will not be my burdens anymore. ANYWAYS... thank you for your support. Your tape was a tender mercy for sure.

So on to happier things. We helped a less active lady a couple of weeks ago pull up the carpet in her apartment and clean up the place a bit and so this week she made us dinner to repay us. She is from Belize and o man it was so delicious and yes... she taught me how to make some of it myself. Sweet plantains are now my specialty. haha. But the coolest part was after the lesson we taught her about the temple and during the lesson I felt prompted to promise her that if she prepared to go the temple and then attended regularly that her family would see a difference in her and have a desire to learn about the gospel (which they are not receptive to at this point in time). After I said it I thought WHOA... did I really just say that? Where did that come from? It was really awesome to feel the spirit teach through me and that I could make promises that God wanted for her.

So funny story: We were sleeping one night and I awoke to a noise but I was too sleepy to realize what it was. Then I kept hearing these cracks and pops and bangs outside of our apartment. Then I heard fire trucks. Lots of them. I was so delirious that I didn't quite know what it was until I smelt smoke and burning rubber. So I got up at like 4 am and looked out the window only to see nothing but dark smoke and the lights of the fire trucks shining though right in front of our apartment. I freaked out and yelled "SISTER GET UP OUR APARTMENT BUILDING IS ON FIREEEEEE!!!" She obviously jumped up and then followed me out to the other sisters room. Man I was panicked so many thoughts went through my head. one being "man I am glad all my clothes are ugly, I dont care that they will burn". haha. So I run into the other room and again yell "GET UP OUR APARTMENT IS ON FIRE!!" One of the sisters bolted up like we did and the other one laughed. Then she explained to me that she had been up for like the last hour watching what really had happened. A car had crashed into a truck in the street in front of our apartment. It was pretty intense but still ... no fire in our apartment. haha. The car had caught on fire and that's what I saw. Its funny what happens when you are half asleep and possibly high on rubber. :D

So the work is going well we are working on getting our ward members excited to share the gospel with their friends. We are going to try and do the pass along card thing that they did in our ward a while ago. One person gives a card away, then passes it to someone else to do. This week I did have the chance to bear my testimony about the family proclamation which I JUST LOVE. Especially with my major in school I am so glad to know what God expects from each of us and our families.

Keep sending me recipes mom. I like to hear quick little things I can make. Well I gotta rush off. We are going to the Holocaust museum on the bottom of the island. WOOt..

Love you all to the moon and back

I love being a missionary!!!
-Sis