Wednesday, July 11, 2012

July 9, 2012

Hola mi familia favorita!
 
So, guess what?!?! I am STAYING here another transfer with Hermana Baird! We are so very excited!!!! That means that by the end of next transfer, I will be in Des Moines for half of my mission!!! Crazy right?! I am so very excited! I feel like the luckiest missionary in the world!  it is so amazing to me to see the hand of the Lord in this work! I love reflecting on the last 6 months and just thinking about how much this branch has grown and changed. It is so very, VERY exciting! I love it!!!! I know this is a really random side note, but since we are going to be here for Des Moines we will be able to go to the State Fair which we are both super-duper excited for!!!! haha! and i keep trying to download pictures, but the library computers aren't letting me for some odd reason. Sorry!
 
Anywhosers... It is going to be a great transfer, i can feel it! Even though it is going to be really sad to watch Hermana Draney leave. She is such an extraordinary missionary and i have learned so very, very much from her because of her example of love and hard work and really just everything she is as a missionary and as a daughter of God! I can tell that the mission has truly changed her because i have seen her change in the past 3 transfers i have been with her. (isnt that crazy?! I have been with her for almost 5 months!!!)
 
This past week came and went TOO FAST! But it was a good week! Nothing extraordinary happened. I have come to a conclusion about myself this past week. I met Sister Craner, well this was a while ago actually, and her husband Elder Dr Craner (he is the doctor for our mission) anyways, i felt like her and i were really the same person as far as personalities go. Well, Elder Craner said something like " I think we are all born a certain age and we just stay that age all of our lives" Well, i think that i am about 10 or maybe 12 still. haha! I am a responsible adult, but i have fun like a 10 or 12 year old. HAHA! Hermana Baird, for her birthday (which happens to be July 1st, like Mary) she got a bunch of MoTab CDs that we listen to in the car. Well, I dance to these songs and my companions get such a kick out of it. I love the simple things in life! Like pretending that i am on a merry-go-round. :) and i like skipping and stuff. haha! 
 
Oh, another thing that happened this week... Hermana Collazos, who is from Spain, came with Hermana Baird and I while her companion, Hermana McGrath and Hermana Draney went up to Ames to do exchanges! It was really fun to be with her. Well, on Friday night at about 6, Diana, who is a member in our branch, called me and asked me to give a talk at her sons baptism about the Holy Ghost! Oh man, i was so nervous! But Hermana Collazos helped me make sure that i translated my talk correctly, which i did! There were just a few grammar things i forgot. :) But anyways, we were there the whole day on Saturday preparing like: we filled up the font, prepared the special musical number and man! It was such a great day! There was such a sweet spirit there at the baptism! They also said that i did good on my talk too. It is getting me really excited for getting our investigators baptized! None of them have a date, yet, but IT IS SO COOL! There are no words to describe the feeling that you feel when someone is baptized. I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon which teaches us about the why of being baptized, the why of Jesus Christ being baptized! I just love this work so, SO much!
 
I have been studying a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This talk i just read this morning, I have read it before, but i think we should all read it. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/none-were-with-him?lang=eng And remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
 
I know that this Church is true! I know that this church is lead by God's Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it was written for us so that we could know the way to get back to live with our Father in Heaven. I know that families are eternal! I know that my Redeemer lives!  I am so very thankful for this opportunity i have to go around teaching this good news to the people here in Des Moines! 
 
I love you all and i pray for you every night! Thank you so much for the letters! I sure did love them! I will write you back as soon as i can! Have a great week!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Love, Hermana Wadsworth

Posted by at No comments:

Monday, July 2, 2012

July 2, 2012

Hola Familia!
This past week was the BEST with Hermana Draney and Baird! Well, really every week is the best ever with them! Another transfer is coming to a close. It sure is crazy how much time has been flying by. Hermana Draney is going to be going home a week from Friday, it is really sad to see her go. She sure LOVES being on a mission and she has shown such a great example to me that when times get tough, you can look back on it and learn, laugh and move forward.
For example, this past weekend we did exchanges in Raccoon River and I have not done a lot of finding (formally known as tracking) I have probably gone finding a handful of times and most of them have been on exchanges. We went finding in the HOT! I have come to find something really interesting about humidity.... it is just sticky. In AZ you go outside and you start sweating bullets because it is so hot... here, you just feel really sticky. The best conclusion i can come to to relating to what it feels like is watered down gel- all over your skin! haha! While we were on exchanges it was really hot (95 degrees plus humidity) but we were laughing and enjoying ourselves the whole time. We met some pretty interesting people and also some mean but also some really nice genuine people. It was quite the experience but I did enjoy it! Because I am happy and the Gospel is true!
So, i wanted to relate a story and I hope that i am going to be able to finish it. Our  mission President shared this about service and if I shared this before bare with me because service is a good topic to talk about anyways... :) Ok, so... some Elders in our mission got word that a family member of a  member of the Church died. The lady wanted nothing to do with the Church, but the Elders offered to do service for this women because she owns a farm and now that her husband was gone she had to do double the work. So, she decided to take full advantage of the Elders.... she had them do everything from weeding, to building a garden, painting her garage and even cleaning out the house stalls (which i heard is a very tedious task!). She would watch them do this all day and after they had finished their chores they would write her a note and leave it on the door and they would come back the next day with a note on the door with the assigned chores as well.  This women started to see the love that these Elders had for her and in turn also what the Savior had for her. Well, one day, the Elders had finished their chores and went to put a little note on the door and she opened it and invited them in. She had a desire to learn about the Church because of the love and the example of the love of the Savior and of the women that the Elders had showed. I really hope that we are always looking for opportunities to serve our friends and family. We are all members of His true Church and we know that "when we are in the service of our fellow beings, we are only in the service of our God."
I am so very thankful for all that my family and friends did for me and my family during the hardest time of our lives. I will always remember coming into our home the day after dad's death and seeing Dani Foster and her daughter whipping down the walls at our house. Or Sister Chapman being there cleaning the kitchen and calling orders to everyone. Friends from the singles ward, like Andrew Payne or Tyson Anderson mowing/working on the backyard, or even Perla Turley helping me put away my laundry. And there are so many, many more examples. Kara coming and taking me to her home to eat food. Ted, Kristy and April taking me to Applebees while "screaming our lungs out"... my aunts being there for my mom. Lisa Thompson being there basically 24/7...:) Daniel Bowers cleaning the back of my dads truck for hours and really cleaning every one's car...  My Uncle Scott, Aunt Shirley and Haylee driving 24 plus hours to get to our side and give us big huge hugs! and there are so many, many, MANY more examples of people showing love and service to my family! How very thankful I am to my family and friends that served my family. you were all the hands of the Savior during that time!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I know that My Redeemer lives! I know that when we are in the service of others we are serving our God as well! I love you all so much! thank you for your prayers! I promise, i am working on writing letters to you all!
VAYA CON DIOS!
XOXOXOXOXOXO
Love, Hermana Wadsworth
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, June 25, 2012

June 25, 2012



Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 11:12:41 -0500
Subject: BUENOS DIAS!
From: deborah.wadsworth@myldsmail.net
To: rbwadsworth@msn.com

Hola mi familia!
 
How is everyone doing?! I hope everyone had a great week. I sure do love you all and pray from you daily. This past week has been a fun one for me and i will tell you why, I HAVE AMAZING COMPANIONS! They are seriously such amazing missionaries and i am so blessed to work beside them. This week went by so fast for us! Tuesday we had interview with President Jergensen, he is such an inspired mission President. I am so very thankful to be serving in Iowa with him as my mission President and his sweet wife, Sister Jergensen. They are such a strength to me!  It is amazing that even though I am away from the comfort of home and family and friends, i feel like i am home here as well. I am so very blessed!
 
This past weekend, we went to Ottumwa to do exchanges with the Hermanas that are assigned there. BOY! was that drive pretty! We saw TONZZZ of rolling hills of CORN! haha! It was so crazy to see. And we saw all these cute little barns and horses and dogs... it was really fun because i have been in the city my whole mission and to see farm land and open spaces... it was great. I wanted to go frolicking SOOOO BAD! But we had to get to Ottumwa. One day i will go frolicking through the fields, it is officially  on my bucket list. I seriously love it here!!! Ok, question for you... who is from Ottumwa on NASH or is it MASH?!?! I cannot remember.   
 
So this past week was awesome with teaching people! We went to go teach on of our investigators and he lives in this house that has been divided up into apartments (like the bedrooms are the "apartments", but they all share the same bathroom and kitchen) that is how Latinos do it! I love it! So anyways, he wasnt there so we went to ask all the guys that were outside if we could share a message with them. There was about 7 grown men ranging from 20 to about 50ish i would say. We call them "Los Hombres" haha! we love all of them, they are so great. Anyways, we sat down on this table they have outside and we all had a discussion with them. Our branch mission leader was there with us to so we felt extra confident being with a bunch of men... haha! but anyways, it was so cool to hear all of there different beliefs and their stories about how they have come to know Christ. Hermano Santiago, our branch mission leader, bore such a powerful testimony about the Book of Mormon and they if they would read it, they will receive an answer, by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true! It was so cool! A couple of them accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon!!!! SO COOL!
 
I am so very thankful for the Book of Mormon. These last couple of days i have been studying about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I have been learning so much about it because of the Book of Mormon. i would like to invite you all to, while you are reading the Book of Mormon to see the changing and enabling power that comes from the Atonement.
 
I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I know that this is Christ true Church! I know that families are forever and that the grave is not the end! I love you all and i am so very thankful for your letters and prayers!!! I hope you have a great week!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
 
Love, Hermana Wadsworth
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, June 11, 2012

June 11, 2012


My Dear Family!
 
Another week gone! Time sure keeps flying by. I sure do love getting pictures of everyone. I cannot get over how much everyone has changed. I love getting letters from all of you too about what is all going on with everyone. I sure do love you all and I am so glad everything is going good at home.
 
This past week was a crazy one, but really good at the same time. A lot of our appointments fell through, people were not at home for one reason or another, but we do not let that get us discouraged. I have found that Heavenly Father never gives us things that we cannot handle. He gives us trials or hard times to test our faith in Him so that we can rely more on Him. There was a few times this week that I thought about the Sons of Mosiah and when "their hearts were depressed, and they were about to turn back, the Lord comforted [them]". It seems to always be when we think that we cannot go on anymore and we are just  feeling so discouraged for one reason or another that the Lord will comfort us. Sometimes, it is not in the way we expect and when we don't have our eyes open we might miss it. But the Lord keeps His promises! Keep walking, keep trying, don't you quit! This life is hard and we need our Savior to be able to get through those hard times, that is what the Atonement is for. Today I studied about Charity. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, has that pure love and He showed it by the Atonement. In Alma 7:11-13 we read about the Atonement and the Saviors purpose of doing it, I do not have it memorized so to sum it up, He performed the Atonement so that He would know, according to the flesh, how to help us. He put Himself in our place so that He would know how to help us. That is true love! That is Charity! Thinking of others, putting others before ourselves. I love the quote that President Monson says, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important then a person to be loved" and to kind of go with that, the second commandment is to "love thy neighbor as thyself". I can witness that when we put others first before all of our wants and desires, that we will be filled with that love of Christ. We will be a better disciple of Him by doing so.
 
I know that this Church is true! I know that the Book of Mormon is another testament of JesusChrist. I love you all so much! I know that Families are Eternal!
 
Love you all!!!
 
XOXOXOXOXOXO
 
-Hermana Wadsworth

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, June 7, 2012

June 4, 2012

MI FAMILIA!!!!!!
 
HERMANA BAIRD IS MY NEW COMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I GET HERMANA DRANEY AND HERMANA BAIRD!!!!! I AM THE LUCKIEST MISSIONARY IN THE WORLD!!!!!!! We have been working really hard and laughing all along the way, i love it! they are both such great missionaries and i feel so humbled that i get to work with both of them in my favorite area- DES MOINES!
 
I am sorry, today this computer keeps freezing on me, so it will be a short sweet letter. This past week we have the blessed opportunity to start teaching another investigator, her name is Laura and we all love her to pieces! She is the mother of 3 beautiful children and they are the sweetest children. We are teaching about 7 people now, not all of them are every week, but they all seem to be progressing on their own level. Being a missionary is so great! I love seeing peoples lives changing while they come closer unto Christ. We just keep meeting amazing people here in Des Moines and it makes me so happy!! There is nothing better!!!
 
I really wish I had a camera to take a picture of people from the first time i met them to now, it is beautiful! I love being a part of peoples lives and seeing them grow!
 
Oh, something really cool about being a missionary is you get to wear a little black tag that represents you family, the Church and Jesus Christ! AND NO ONE ELSE! I do not represent myself at all... that is why i go by Hermana. I am a sister to everyone that I come in contact with and I really try to live up to that in all that i do. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! 
 
I know that this Church is the only true Church on the earth today. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we can come even closer to Christ by living by its teachings. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is a Prophet of God that leads and guides this Church. I know that Families are Eternal!!! 
 
I love all of you and I hope you have an AMAZING WEEK!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOOXOXOX
 
Love, Hermana Wadsworth

Posted by at No comments:

May 29, 2012

Dear Family-
 
I am sure you are all anxious to know what is going on... well, here it is... **DRUM ROLL** I AM STAYING IN DES MOINES WITH HERMANA DRANEY AND WE ARE GETTING ANOTHER HERMANA!!! That is RIGHT! I will be in a TRIO!  Hermana Draney and I are both super excited. It's so funny because we are both so excited, but we want to prepare everything for her. Like make more room for her to put her stuff and we need to move our beds around and everything like that so we will be getting all of that done tomorrow on P-day. YAY! And then Thursday we will get her... I wonder who it is going to be.... stay tuned till next Monday.
 
This past week was a really great one! We met a couple new people. The biggest thing that happened this week that I love is that Hermana Draney and I got to put on our jeans and do service! We were going to check up on a few potentials in a trailer park (it is like a little Mexico) and we saw this family outside painting their brand new fence. We went up to them and really she didn't want us to help because we were in a skirt and all that stuff... after a few minutes of talking with her, she told us that we could help her. She handed me the paint brush and Hermana Draney the paint and we both painted until about 840 and then set up a return appointment to go back the next day. We were both so excited to be doing service!! So, the next day we went back and we all just had a blast. Talking to her and her daughters and painting... THE LIFE! We found out that she actually took the lessons from missionaries before. It was really nice to be will her more on a personal level. We also met a lot of other people because of that service project. The people that live in the trailer park now when they see us says hi and will talk to us more because of it. Service is the best way to meet people- LOVE IT! Oh, so, she has a little boy that is 3 years old that would follow Hermana Draney around. He totally had a little crush on her, it was super cute! When we were leaving, he shouted at us and said, "Bye Baby!" BAHAHAHA! It was so great!!
 
I guess the biggest thing that I learned this week is that the best way to show people that you love and care for them is to serve them. I cannot remember who said this, but someone said, that love is actually spelt T.I.M.E.... SO TRUE! The best way we can show each other our love is by showing it. Hermana Draney and I have done little Family Home Evenings with our members that have little kids about service. We do what is called the "service hand". We cut out a hand and give it to the parents and they give it to one of their kids. So, whoever has the hand looks for opportunities to serve someone in their family and once they do the service, they will leave the hand there and then the next person will do it and they all just keep it going. It seems like a lot of our members LOVE this and their kids are still doing it, which is awesome! 
 
This work is so good! I am learning so much through helping others. I know that this Church is the only true Church on the earth today and that we are lead and guided by a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who has been called of God to lead His church. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love reading the Book of Mormon, every time that I read it I feel closer to Heavenly Father and I learn so much about our purpose on earth. I know that families are forever!
 
I love you all! thank you so much for all of your support and letters! Have a great week!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
 
Love, Hermana Wadsworth  
 
PS- enjoy the pictures of my District and Hermana Draney and I!
 




:) :)
Posted by at No comments:

May 21, 2012

Hello Wonderful Family!
 
So, who else loves life?! CAUSE I DO!!!! Life is so great! I am so very thankful to a loving Heavenly Father that gives us this beautiful gift of life and being on this earth at this time.  There are so many opportunities that He gives us and really points us back to Him, it is so very wonderful.
 
This past week was a really good one. We have another new investigator, he is really sweet! We were referred to him by a member. (Just got to say it, member missionary work is the BEST form of missionary work) He is really humble and has a lot of questions. It is really awesome to meet all of these humble people who want to learn more about Jesus Christ and come closer to Him. It is really humbling to me to be a part of this process. I really want to share an experiance that i have been thinking about really ever since it happened.
 
Hermana Draney and i went 'ear' finding, we call it that because since our area is so HUGE and we only teach hispanics, when we go to apartment building to go finding, we listen for spanish. :) It is actually really fun! Anyways, so we were 'ear' finding and we knocked on this door and this man named Victor answered. We were getting to know him a little bit and he asked me where i was from, when i told him Mesa he FLIPPED! He was like "I LOVE MESA! I lived there 2 years ago off of Broadway and Main. It is so beautiful there." Then I said, "So, you know where the Temple is?!" His reaction was better then asking a kid if they like Disneyland. "I LOVE THE TEMPLE! I would go there during Christmas time and walk around to look at the lights, SO BEAUTIFUL! I feel so good there." Hermana Draney and I smiled from ear to ear! We then started to talk about the scriptures and how important they are. He then bore such a sweet testimony about the scriptures, " I love reading the bible! Whenever I have a long day and I sit down on the couch to relax and watch tv, i will pause and then remember that I hadn't read my scriptures. So, I turn of the TV and read the scriptures first." Oh MAN! What an example to me he is, he has his priorities straight. I have been thinking about how i was before my mission, I was not like that. He really puts the Lord first in his life. Do we all have time to read the scriptures and to put the Lord first in our lives?! I believe we do. I also know that when we do, our whole day will be better! I am so thankful for his example and raising the bar for me.
 
I know that this Church is the true Church of Christ on the earth today. I also know that the Book of Mormon is true and that we can become closer to God by reading and applying the teachings that are in them.
 
I love you all! Thank you for your support! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
 
Love, Hermana Wadsworth

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)