Hello! Tori here! I'm taking over for dear Mary who is busy busy with school! We are sorry about slacking the last couple of months with posting Debs emails. If you have not been receiving them and would like to, please leave a comment w/your email address. If you would like to read her old emails between this email and the last one that we posted, comment with your email address and I will forward them to you. Thanks for supporting our sister! We love her dearly and couldn't be more proud! She's been doing amazing and will finish off the last 2 months with just as much energy and enthusiasm! 

Dear Family- 

I AM SO EXCITED FOR WILL!!! YAY!!!!!!! Just think, in a little over 2 years when you get back we can just chat it up in Spanish and no one will know what are are saying... MUAHAHAHAHAHA!! :) My heart is just so overcome with joy! I just want to shout it from the roof tops! The Lord has blessed our family in so many ways- I am so thankful to Him!!! 

This past Saturday was so great!!! As I am sure it was with all of you. Hermana Stroud and I headed back to good ol' Ottumwa to see Zeila get baptized! It was so awesome to see her in white! And in a couple of weeks she is going to go do baptisms in the Temple and I will be going to that too! :) YAY!!! Isn't this work so awesome!! There is nothing better than seeing people really come unto Christ and take upon His name!! Zeila was just beaming!! It was so cool!! Then, that night at about 10:20 President Jergensen called me and... I didnt think that I was in trouble or anything... It is just that President Jergensen is a very busy man and getting a phone call from him is just a very big deal. He started out by saying, "HELLO HERMANA WADSWORTH!! How are you doing?" I said, "Good President, how are you?". "I am good," he said, "so I just got off the phone with you Mom. She said that your brother got his mission call, but I am sad to say, it is not here in the Iowa Des Moines mission." I said, "OH man!! That is a bummer!! Where is he going?!" President then said, "well your mom said that if you want you can just wait until Monday when you email to find out OR I can tell you, but you are patient so would you like to wait till Monday?"... "WHAT?!? NO NO NO!! This is one thing I cannot be patient with, President!!" He then laughed at me and then proceeded to tell me where Will is going!!! AHH!!!!! WHAT AN AMAZING DAY SATURDAY WAS AND IT JUST WARMED ME UP!!!!! Such exciting news! I already looked to see when Chicuahua is... not tooooo shabby! It would not surprise me if you go right up to the New Mexico/Texas boarder!! YAY!!! I am so excited!!! Missions are the best thing EVER!!!!!! I love it!!! I think EVERYONE who can should go on a mission!! 

I am sorry that this email is going to be so short, but I wanted you to know how I took the whole thing... and how great the Lord is!! He really does bless us and know what our needs are!! I know that Jesus Christ lives and loves us!! I know that the Book of Mormon is true!! I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we will all be saved after all that we can do! That when we keep the commandments the Lord will bless us!!! I love you all so much!!! I am so lucky yo have a family like you!!!  

FAMILIES ARE FOREVER!!!!! 

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO 

Have a great week!!! 

--

Con Amor, 

Hermana Wadsworth 

September 17, 2012

Hello My Wonderful Family!

HOLY COW! Another week has FLOWN BY so fast.... Is time flying by to anyone else?! Cause it sure is going that way here in Ottumwa. Today is cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. I really hope that happens, because I heard that Midwest thunderstorms are AWESOME and i haven't experienced one, yet. :) I am really hoping that I will.

 

Alexia was baptized by her father on Saturday- how cute is that! They are so cute, the WHOLE FAMILY! I just love them all to pieces. I cannot believe how fast time is flying! AND Brittany is getting baptized this weekend!! We are so excited for her!!! AWE!!! And then the next week we have the Relief Society Broadcast and then General Conference. I am SO VERY EXCITED to be able to hear from our Prophet in the next couple weeks. Life is so good, isn't it?! I feel like we are just so very blessed to be here on the earth at this time. We have a Prophet who leads and guides the Church of Jesus Christ and we have the Priesthood on the earth again AND we have another Witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Book of Mormon. This is such an exciting time, I love it!

 

Alexia's baptism went so well! Ashley, who was baptized on the 6th, gave a talk on baptism and Sister Peery gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and she related it to having a big warm blanket that she can have with her always. It was so cute! Ashley shared with us a little parable or... i cannot remember the other word. Anyways, she related our life here on earth as a roller coaster. She said, "Life is like a roller coaster, but when you have Christ by your side on the roller coaster of life, you don't have to be afraid the steep hills with His sitting by your side." How true is that?! I have had my share of going down steep hills or loops in the roller coaster of my life. But I have realized, that with Christ by my side, I don't have to fear. He will be right there all the way.

 

I know that this Church is true! I am so thankful for this chance I have to be the Lords Servant and to be on His errand bringing souls unto Him. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I hope you all have a great week!!! I love you ALL!! And pray for you daily!

 

XOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXO

Love, Hermana Wadsworth

September 10, 2012

Hola!

Aloha!

O-Lo!

HELLO!

MY FAMILY!!!!

THIS PAST WEEK WAS AWESOME!!! ASHLEY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! WHAT-WHAT?!?!?! It was definitely a trying week for her up till her baptism. I must say, I feel like more and more I am learning why I was called her to Ottumwa. And I feel like, because of the Lord, I am able to do all these hard things. Well, at least I thought they would be hard, but they really aren't at all. All I do it put my trust in the Lord and He helps me through, I surely can depend on Him! Which I am so very, very thankful for.

 

Funny story of the week. So, the picture with me, Hermana Penrose and Sister Short has a lot of meaning to it. So, she asked us if for service, we would come with her to wash her dog. (she has a HUGE golden retriever- his name is Rusty) Of course we would love to! Especially since Hna Penrose and I LOVE DOGS! :) so, we loaded him up in her husbands truck and took him to the car wash that actually has a dog wash attached to it (pretty funny right?! i thought so at least..) Well, we get there and Rusty has pooped in the back of the truck... SO NASTY! It smelts so SOOOOOO BAD!!! BAH!!! No big deal though because we were at a car was and could rinse it out when we were all done washing him. Well, we did just that, we pulled into the car wash to wash the bed of the truck out. But, when we got done.... we couldn't find the keys to the truck... HAHAHA! They were locked in the truck... and the keys were in the ignition. HAHAHA! Lucky for us, Hna Penrose had our phone with her. She called Brother Short to bring her the spare keys. It was so stinkin funny! And little Brynn (she is 4) and Rusty and I went running around the parkinglot and just being goofy. It was so great!

 

So, have I told you about Brittany?! I dont think I have. Brittany is a referral from the family that got baptized on Sept 1st. She is actually Mary's age. (which is crazy because that is how old Ashley is too, they went to school together) Anyways, we have been teaching her and she is just eating everything up! She is getting baptized on the 22nd. She is so stinken excited! She told us about an experience she had with her Dad. So, after we invited her to be baptized, we could tell that she was really excited, but something wasnt quite right. She told us the next day why. She was really hesitant to get baptized because she didnt know how her dad would react to her wanting to join the church. And suprising to her, when she talked to him about it, he shared with her some concerns, but he was really happy for her. Well, after our second meeting with her she shared with us something really cool that happend. She said that her dad is a HUGE Glenn Beck fan and that he watches his shows all the time.. Well, on Weds or Thurs night Glen did a special episode about "Mormonism". She said that it resolved a lot of the concerns her dad had. She said that she knows that God knew that her dad needed to hear that and that she knows it was from God. I am so very thankful for her example to me of realizing the hand of the Lord in her life. It was so cool to see her just beaming from ear to ear saying "I know that God did that for me and for my dad!" How amazing is that?!

 

I know that Heavenly Father puts people or things in our way to remind us of how much He loves us! I know that He lives and loves us!

I love all of you and I hope you have a great week!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

Love, Hermana Wadsworth

September 4, 2012

Hello Family!

 

Sooo... this past week was AWESOME! David and Jessie were BAPTIZED!!!! AWWWW!!!!! It was so exciting and very comical at the same time. :) David is a hoooot!! He actually reminds me a lot of Will! Hermana Penrose and David are really into computers and video games and stuff and then there is me and Jessie. Her and I get along really well! She is a sweetheart. We are teaching their daughter Alexia too and she will be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks (hopefully by her dad!!- how cool will that be?!) We are super excited for them. ANDDDD!!! Jessie, being the amazing little missionary that she is,  gave one of her friends a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to the bapstism AND THEN she came to church on Sunday too! Her name is Brittany and we have a lesson with her tomorrow.  Also, on Thursday Ashley is getting baptized too! I dont remember if i mentioned this in the last letter, but her mom was less-active and came back into activity all at the same time Ashley was taking the lessons. Ashley's dad is not a member as of now, but we are really praying that he will come around soon. He is an amazing dad and he actually reminds me a LOT of my dad too! And Dereca reminds me of Tracy Moore (funny, right?!) hahah! Anyways, so there are a LOT of really good things happening in Ottumwa (the O-T-T is what people call it here)

 

GUESS WHAT?!?! So, every week we get an email from our mission President and all of the upcoming baptisms. So, it has the name of the person being baptized and also their baptismal date. THERE ARE 2 IN DES MOINES!!! I am so excited for the Hermanas down there. That Branch is really ready for another baptism and I am really excited that there are some coming up.

 

This past week was really just crazy! I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. We did seen a miracle though. So, there is this family (little hispanic family, and I just LOVE them) Well, he is a member and his wife is not. I met them once when we were on exchanges here like 4ish months ago. ANYWAYS, so,I was asking Hna Penrose about them and if they had seen them much and she said no and that it is now really hard to get a hold of them. Well, we prayed and decided to go stop by. We got there and she answered the door and just let us in right away. When we went there before we shared a video about the Temple Dedication for the El Salvador Temple because that is where she is from. She LOVED it and she forgot to save it to her desktop and wasnt able to find it. So, we happily showed her where it was at  and then showed her around the website a little more. We shared some of the Bible Videos that the Church has made. Have you seen them?! They are so good! And a really good missionary tool too ;). She really liked the videos too. We asked her if there is any service that she needs done or anything that we can do to help her family. She said that she really needed help finding a bedroom. So, this weekend (hopefully), one of our members who is from Mexico, will be helping us finish the room. We are so very excited to go serve them! I LOVE SERVICE!  

 

I am so very thankful for this Gospel. I have been thinking a lot about the scripture "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God". I feel Gods love for the people we serve and I know that I am doing exactly what the Lord would be doing. I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I love reading from its pages and discovering new things and just seeing how much Heavenly Father loves us. I know that Families are Eternal! I love you all!!! Have a great week!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Love,

Hermana Wadsworth

August 27, 2012

HELLO WONDERFUL FAMILY!!!

 

So, I have been transferred to the great City of Ottumwa, Iowa. It has been great! A little bit of an adjustment though... I must say. I spent half of my mission just working with Hispanics and, I am not going to lie, it is kind of hard for me to talk to Americans. Isn't that weird?! Anyways, it is a lot of fun! The town is really small compared to Des Moines and I feel like I am already starting to get used to getting around town. Oh, ALSO, fun fact! We drive a truck! I feel so legit! hahaha! I love it!

 

Guess what?! We have 3 people getting baptized in the next week and a half. Jessie and David are getting baptized on the 1st and Ashley is getting baptized on the 6th. I love them so much! Even though I haven't been a part of their teachings really, I have such a love for them all! 3 of my brothers and sisters are being baptized!!! It is so humbling to be around them. I can tell that they are happier people. I ask Hermana Penrose all the time about their stories and what brought them to this point and it is just amazing to me that as they have showed faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repented and prepared themselves to be baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost it has just been amazing to me! And we have more people well on their way to being baptized as well. :) I will send pictures next week for sure.

 

This past week was such a whirlwind from everyone in the branch wanting to say goodbye to me and wanting us to come over to see them and stuff... and then coming to Ottumwa and jumping in with both feet and WOW! This past week really feels like a dream. Hahaha! :)

 

So, i know that i have mentioned in my emails before about "Los Hombres". Well, one of them is a less-active that we visit and on Monday night when we got done visiting them, i said goodbye to them and stuff and all of a sudden, this lady from across the street on the 2nd floor of this apartment bldg yells at us "HEY! ARE YOU JEHOVAH WITNESSES?!" i said, "NO, WE ARE MISSIONARIES FOR THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!" She said "OH, LISTEN I REALLY NEED TO TALK TO YOU, CAN YOU COME OVER!?!" I said, "YES!" So, we went over there. She just started telling us about her life story about how she has been abused by boyfriends and stuff, she has 3 kids, and how she has been a member of quite a few churches and stuff and how then at the beginning of this year, her daughter who was a heroine addict was hospitalized because i guess she had tried to commit suicide. And she just asked us, why, why did this happen to her and her family. If God loves us why does He let things happen to us. I had NO idea what to say, I just wanted to cry. But then I opened my mouth and talked to her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how we can receive that healing power and that God really does love us. She was looking so intensely in my eyes and she was like, I want to learn more about how you know that. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that He has provided a way for us to be happy in this life and I know He wants us to be. We just have to trust Him and lean and learn of Him.

 

I love being a missionary! I think I say that in every letter, but  it is because it is so true!!! It is well worth the sacrifice. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father sent me here to the Iowa Des Moines Mission! It really is the best mission in the world!!!

 

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!! XOXOXOXOXOXOX

 

Love, Hermana Wadsworth

 

 

 

PICS: Me and Hna Baird went to this YUMMY ice cream place. (I got a chocolate malt) YUMMMYYY!!!

MTC BUDDIES!!! That is Elder Spackman, he is a spanish Elder that came out with us! We love him!

ALL THE HERMANAS IN THE MISSION!!: Hermana Baird, Me, Hermana McGrath (she went to Des Moines), Hemana Collazos, Hermana Hunter and MY COMPANION, Hermana Penrose!

August 20, 2012

Hola Familia!

 

So, I am finally getting "the Boot" i will be transferred this week to a new area. I am having very mixed emotions about it, but i know that it is for the best. I had a great last Sunday with the branch too! This past week just was a really good one! We went to the Fair, moved apartments, found a couple really cool new investigators, learned a lot, ate a really good salad from the Marketplace... life was really good this week. :)

 

I am really sad to be leaving Des Moines though... I have been here forever and have come to love the people so much! I guess that is what happens, you leave the people at home you love to come on a mission, then you meet new people- love them! and then you have to leave. Good thing I will be coming back to visit the BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD!!! (which is Des Moines, Iowa for those of you who need clarification)

 

Holy cow! The fair was so fun! Everyone in our Zone was there including some other Zones AND President and Sister Jergensen were there too (my mission President) It was really fun! We enjoyed a really long corn dog, a deep fried snickers bar (SOOO YUMMY-PS) and a deep fried hot dog rapped in bacon. hahaha!!! Hermana Baird and I didnt eat for the rest of the day and went on a nice little jog the next day.HAHA! We also saw a lot of the animals. Hermana Baird got her horse fix... well, kind of, she said she really misses riding them. :) Anyways, it was a blast!

 

So, here is something that I have had on my mind a LOT this week! One of our new investigators is from Cuba. And if you know anything about Cuba, you know that they are a Communism country. Well, he was telling us how the people in Cuba have no idea really who Jesus Christ is. They cant read the Bible and if you hand out any kind of material about Jesus Christ, you get thrown into prison (which happened to him). When we introduced the Book of Mormon to him, he just kept saying, " I have never heard of this Book." We both testified that it really is what it says it is, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. He just ate it all up. We read the Introduction with him and he was just in awe about it all. He just had such a firm grip on the Book of Mormon and just thanked us over and over again about sharing this knowledge that we have with him. We both bore testimony again to the truthfulness to the Book of Mormon and that is why we invite everyone to read it and then to pray about it so that they can receive this witness for themselves. Because that is how we gained our testimony and knowledge of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  Then, we invited him to offer the closing prayer. In the back of all of the pamphlets that we hand out there is a little explanation of how we pray. He read it over, and than began his prayer. It was the most simple, heartfelt prayer i think i have ever heard in my life. Then, he ended the prayer and looked at us and said, "I have never prayed before, not like that", we asked him how it felt and he said, "Magnificent, beautiful,... i dont have many words to describe how i feel right now" WOW! Hermana Baird and i after that lesson were just blown away! That was worth it! Even if we didnt teach anyone else in our entire mission, that would make our missions worth it!

 

How many of us really are thankful for the religious freedom in which we have?! How many of us read the Book of Mormon as the BEST Book, the BEST gift that the Lord has given us?! How many of us really pray with all our heart for the people we love and for the things in which we need?! I know that i have not been as grateful for the freedoms in which we have, especially religious freedom. Or about reading the Book of Mormon with a thankful heart that we have another Testament of Jesus Christ and the reality of His Atonement. I need to change the way I pray to my Heavenly Father with all my heart. My life has been changed in so many ways through my experiences I have had here in Des Moines! There are so many people who are starving for the truth! So many amazing people here in Des Moines and in Iowa! I love being a missionary so much! It makes me so happy!

 

I know that Jesus Christ lives! I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father, who loves us so much! I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints is the Lords Church, and that it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that we have a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson who leads and guides the Lords Church on earth today! I know that the Plan of Salvation is real and that it is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that Families are Forever! I love you all! Thank you for your letters and all the prayers and support in which i feel. I hope you all have a great week! Dont forget that you have a missionary that LOVES YOU in Iowa!!!! :)

 

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Love, Hermana Wadsworth

August 13, 2012

Hola Familia!!

 

It is a beautiful morning here in Des Moines. It is a little over-cast with a slight chance of showers. It is about 65 degrees outside which is just perfect weather to bust out the cardigan and we are getting ready to head to the State Fair with our Zone! (expect pictures next week!) This week has been CRAZY! Hermana Baird and I have been busy finding new investigators, packing, visiting less-actives, going to dinner AND lunch appointments(so much food...), and getting up every morning at 6 to go running. This past week seemed to fly by faster than the others. It is really sad cause i want time to slow down just a little more so that I can soak up more time with the Des Moines 5th Branch! I love the people here SO MUCH!!! It is going to be hard to leave, but I know that I will love the people in my next area too. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! I cannot imagine my life being any different right now. So, this morning Hermana Baird and I were talking about this and how we cannot imagine anything else. Well, we came to the conclusion that even on the hardest days/times of our mission, we think we are doing more good on those hard days than on our best days at home. I feel like it is so true! Because even days that all of our appointments fall through, the work of the Lord still moves forward and we know that we have planted a little seed in the hearts of the people here. It is awesome! I love being the Lords servant, even if I am only planting seeds, it is worth it!

 

So, last Wednesday we had Zone Meeting and it was so bright and sunny and the weather was perfect. Well, Hermana Baird and I went to a library to do our language study (which was an hour) Well, by the time we got out, we saw these HUGE STORM CLOUDS ROLLING IN! And we were going to an appointment and it was only like a 5 minute drive away... by the time we got there, the clouds were over us and it started POURING DOWN!!!! Like really bad! We were soaked by the time we got to our appointment only to find out that his wife wasn't home so we left... well, we saw her pull up while we were leaving and we called her and she said that we can come over the next day. So, we drove around the corner and the Tornado sirens went off!!!! So scary! haha! We ended up going back to their house and teaching them a lesson till the storm stopped. (by the way, there was no tornado, just tornado like winds)  There is the crazy story for the day. :)

 

This past week has been a great one! It is crazy to see the difference between people's priorities. We were out finding people to teach and we met this guy who was going to school and playing soccer and everything like that. He said that he didnt really have time to pray or to do anything church related because he was just so busy! It was really sad to hear because I know that when we put God first in our lives that everything goes better. Our days really are better! Well, right after talking to him, we found a family that were all outside working on their roof. We started talking to this guy, his name is JR and he just got out of being in prison for like 3 years.  He said that the most important thing to him is his family and his relationship with God. We have a follow-up appointment with him. :) He was really cool!

 

Anyways, I sure do love all of you! I love getting you letters and hearing how life is going. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOLLIE-POP!!!

 

I know that this Church is true! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the word! I know that Heavenly Father loves us so very much and He wants us to be happy and successful in this life, that is why He gave us commandments. I know that families are forever!

 

I love you all! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

 

Love, Hermana Wadsworth