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