Monday, March 30, 2015

you don't realize how long you have been out until your costco sized q tip box runs out

Hello!!


It was a crazy week but we saw a ton of miracles! First off my new companion is Hermana Marble from Logan, Utah.. she is actually my first utah companion which is hilarious because usually I am the utah companion! She came from the Mexico MTC tuesday night and then drove all the way up here on wednesday and didn't get here until about 6pm and then we woke up early on thursday to go back down to kennewick for a new missionary meeting that lasted all day! So we had a pretty busy first couple of days but things are good! She is super sweet and ready to work! The poor thing is sore from all the walking I have been making her do :) haha but hey you gotta start them off right. Saying goodbye to hermana pulido was really sad. Although it was one of the hardest times of my mission while we were together, I grew more than I ever thought possible in such a short amount of time. We are so different that we are the same... if that makes any sense haha I gained such a testimony that the Lord puts us with certain companions for a reason! I love her.

On thursday we drove down to kennewick with two other sets of elders in a van for the trainer/trainee meeting. It was such a cool drive because we were sharing experiences that have impacted our missions and stories and things that have helped us to grow. Training is such a humbling experience because you have the chance to see how far you have truly come on your mission. I knew that I had grown and become way more bold and my testimony has been strengthened, but as I see hermana marble a brand new missionary I realize how truly converted I have become to the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing I want more than to help others come unto Christ. 
There is one thing that describes the change that I have experienced so far and that is The Atonement. The Atonement of Jesus Christ has become so real to me. It is so much more than Christ just paying the price for our sins. It is our most powerful source of hope. He is our hope, and #BecauseHeLives we can live with our Heavenly Father again! I just love Jesus Christ so much. 
The training meeting went really well and we talked a lot about the reasons that we do the missionary things that we do. A question that president ware asked was "Is there any force besides love that entices you to change?" I thought that was super powerful and it really makes you think.. why do I make the choices that I make? Especially as a missionary as we decide to teach certain things or as we choose to talk to people... are we doing those things because of our pure love for Christ or because we're just doing them? President Ware also said that "the moment you will become a true disciple of the Lord is when you will drop anything for the love you have for the Savior." I feel like this is going to be a transfer of miracles. We have been working hard and there is so much potential here.

The womens conference was so great! A couple of quotes that I liked: "we have the responsibility to seek truth" "don't limit your love" "the hopes of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father are perfect and their plans are sure" "the peace He promises will never leave us as we serve His beloved" I loved the focus on families because I have THE BEST FAMILY ever. 

We had a ton of appointments fall through this week so not much of an update on our investigators but there is a chance Jaime will be getting baptized saturday.... fingers crossed! The time is going by really fast its kind of freaking me out haha! I hope you all have an awesome week and Easter and conference!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU :) :)

Shout out to my home girl brooke on getting engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

con mucho amor
hermana wortley

Monday, March 23, 2015

hi

HELLO!

So transfer update... I am training!!! Hermana Pulido is getting transferred to Yakima which is super exciting because I have been able to tell her all about it and tell her to visit all of my old investigators and Jesus, ah she is going to love it there! I am super excited to train again, but also nervous/humbled/nervous/and pretty much every other emotion haha :) It is going to be really great! I am super excited to be up here for another transfer because I LOVE the people we are teaching and the members. 

This was a good week! We were SO busy I am having a hard time remembering what even happened last week haha #missionarybrain On monday we were invited to an FHE with Salvador and some of the other ward members. It was one of the coolest experiences ever because first off the ward here is so tiny because there are a ton of inactive members so on average we have about 15 people at church, anyways the members that are active are so strong and faithful. You know that without a doubt these people have been changed and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, they know the importance and the blessings that come with enduring to the end. We had a really great lesson with Jose Juan and Alejandra this week. Our last lesson we left them with 3 Nephi 11 to read and when we went back they had read the whole chapter and were quoting things that they read! They had some awesome questions about the importance of baptism and church. They haven't committed to a date yet but they are for sure going to get baptized. 

Our bike riding experience this week was hilarious and interesting. Neither of us crashed but our whole area is hills so getting to where we needed to go wasn't the problem but getting home was the hard part hahaha i'm sure it was really funny to watch us. 

We are teaching a really sweet lady named Esperanza. We taught her, her 12yr old son Jose, and her 2 little granddaughters. It was such a tender lesson because we were teaching the kids who Jesus is and about His life. We gave them each a little pass along card with Jesus and their eyes just lit up. Ahh I love teaching people about Jesus. 

I am so sorry this email is so short but I am sure I will have a lot more next week!! Things are going good here and I am so blessed to be a missionary and to be able to share my testimony each day with those I meet. I LOVE YOU ALL and I hope you have a great week!!

con mucho amor
hermana wortley

(can't take a normal picture)

Monday, March 16, 2015

milagros 4 dayzzzz

​Hello everyone!!


It was a week of milagros! I hope all is well with you peeps (I can say that because it's almost easter :)) 

I will start with one of the coolest experiences that I have had so far on my mission.... On Saturday we did our weekly trek to Orondo to visit Reyna and her family. They fed us a ton of food like most mexican families do when we go over and then we had a really cool lesson. The coolest part was that Reyna says that she has a confession to make and at first we were like oh no what is she going to say... then she tells us that after the first time that we went over to their house she could not shake the feeling that she had met us before. She said that she told her kids and her husband and asked if they knew why she felt like she knew us... they had no idea and the thing is that she wouldn't have just seen us walking around because they literally live in the middle of an orchard all the way on the outskirts of Orondo. She looked us both in the eyes and said I know you, whether it was from a dream or before this life I know you guys.... IT WAS SO CRAZY. The spirit was so strong and Hermana pulido and I get in the car after and just about died. If that is not a testimony that we are sent to our specific missions for a reason, then I don't know what is! We are here in this area, teaching the people that we're teaching because we made a promise to them before we even came to this earth that we would bring them the gospel. Mind blown. The church is true.

On tuesday we had the opportunity to do a kind of crazy service project. We cleaned out a hoarders house! It was one of the saddest situations that I have ever seen but it was so great to be able to help out this family. Hermana pulido sucked up half of a dead rat with the vacuum hahaha that's just a tiny piece of how dirty it was!  But you know me I love cleaning so it was kind of the best day ever #nerdalert

Wednesday was one of the most miracle packed days I have had in this area. I was on exchanges with Hermana Garcia (the coolest sister ever from El Salvador) We knocked all day and found a ton of new potentials and we prayed with random people on the street and gave away a bunch of books and pamphlets, I tried lengua (tongue) for the first time (its not my favorite), we focused a lot on using the scriptures every time we talked to people and it was incredible to see the change of heart in people as we used the Saviors words and not ours. I was so grateful for that day and for the Spirit that I felt as we acted in faith and talked to everyone. Also it really helped my spanish to speak with hermana garcia all day :)

Friday we had zone conference! It was so spirit filled and inspired. We had some great trainings from President and sister Ware about acting in faith as we align our vision with the Lords. I learned a lot and am excited for this new week to apply everything! 

Hermana Pulido and I got bikes... mine has a flat tire though so we haven't been able to ride them yet! But in our effort to save miles so we can go to Orondo more often, we are super excited to have bikes!  Oh and between us and the elders we had 8 people for the new spanish group at church yesterday!! 

Thank you so much for all you do for me. I AM SO BLESSED. I love you all and am so grateful for the chance I have to serve my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ to whom I'll never be able to thank enough for the many blessings I have. Have a great week :) oh also we have transfer calls this week... has it really been another 6 weeks :0

mucho amor
hermana wortley aka hermana worthy aka hermana digno




Hermana pulido and I had a Brazilian flag cake made for one of the elders in our district Elder Ribeiro (from Brazil) who finishes his mission this week! 


us in leavenworth



​the romero family SO ADORABLE, they have stuffed animals named Wortley and Pulido

Monday, March 9, 2015

Proverbs 28:25 (this is why missionaries gain weight)

Hey there its monday again!


I hope you all had a great week! This was a good but crazy week! On monday after we emailed we went on a hike up to Saddle Rock with our zone, it was way fun but I realized I am super out of shape because I hadn't hiked for like a year haha. We also had a member call us and tell us that she had bought us some groceries so we went to pick them up and turns out she had gotten us a bunch of costco sized things like bread, peanut butter, jam eggs, milk oh and she also bought us a chicken (not a live one)! Ah the members here are so great. 

On tuesday we had a really depressing lesson with Concepcion.. remember her? well yeah she is going to mexico so we won't be able to teach her anymore. She knows the book of mormon is true though and I know that when her time comes she will find missionaries again! We had a lot of appointments fall through this week but we are still working hard and looking for those people that are elect and willing to act! 

On friday one of our wards had a fiesta and invited our other ward so it was one big party! We had tres leches and tacos so I guess you could say it was pretty mexican. One of the best parts though was that Jaime came! He sat at a table with all of the young men and seemed to be having a lot of fun! He didn't come to church though this week so we are going to have to move his baptismal date back, but he really does have so much faith. 

Saturday we had zone training meeting which was great. The weather has been so nice here! 
Oh and you should look up the bus accident in Orondo... two of our investigators were totally on that... they are ok but one of them has a cast and crutches and the other has a bunch of bruises! SO CRAZY.

Sorry this is kind of an all over the place random email! I have been thinking a lot lately about and studying the Atonement. There is a scripture that I really like in 1 Nephi 21:16, it says "Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." I don't know it just hit me when I was reading this, that our walls or burdens, trials, weaknesses are continually in front of the Savior... no matter the time or duration that we are facing something or going through a trial, He has already been through it. He has already faced everything that we will ever face or are currently struggling through. I am so incredibly grateful for the Atonement, and for this chance that I have to share the message of our Savior with the people here. I know sometimes it doesn't feel like I am doing enough or could ever be what the Savior needs me to be; but that's just it, He doesn't need me to be anything more than who I am striving to be. That is the miracle of the Atonement!!  I am thankful to be a missionary. I love you all and am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life! :) oh and my companion is doing a lot better this week! Thank you for the prayers!




CON MUCHO AMOR
hermana wortley

Monday, March 2, 2015

hello peeps

Hi everyone!!

It was a great week! It started off right when we went to the temple on tuesday!! We had to leave at 6am since we are so far north, to make it to the 9:30 session but it was so worth it! So I have been extremely stressed out lately, and when we got to the temple I had a pounding headache, almost a migrane but not quite... anyways I was sitting before we went into the Celestial room and I said a prayer that I would be able to sit in peace without this headache while in the Celestial room so I could think clearly and actually relax for a couple of minutes and almost instantly my headache was gone. It sounds like a lame story now that I wrote it out haha but seriously it was one of the biggest tender mercies! I was so grateful to be able to sit in the temple and really reflect on the things that I am doing and the things that I need to improve. There really is no other place like the temple.

When we got home from the temple we had an awesome lesson with Jaime at the Whites house. The Whites have two young men and then we had another one of the young men pick up Jaime. It was such a great lesson. We taught the plan of salvation, or should I say the young men taught it! Seriously I am so impressed by the youth here, they are so excited about missionary work and being able to share their testimonies with those we are teaching! Jaime is progressing quickly and the young men gave him a preach my gospel and duty to God which he has been reading! I know right?? The only thing that is really holding him back right now is his fear of Hell.......... 

On wednesday we had a great pass off lesson with some of the elders in our district. Some of their investigators that are getting baptized on the 21st wanted to share the gospel with their cousins but they live in our area so we went over for an awesome mexican dinner and Jose Juan (the investigators cousin) and his family were there too! Jose Juan and his wife are so great. He found out in July that he had leukemia and is in the recovery process right now but is doing great! Through everything though he has gained so much faith and desire to follow Jesus Christ. We had another lesson with them on saturday and he pretty much taught us about the book of mormon and the gold plates it was so cool. They are the cutest family!! 

On Friday we had an awesome lesson with a kid named Junior. He was a referral from a member and we assumed he was hispanic hahaha turns out he is a curly haired ginger. Anyways we met him at the church and we had a couple of youth with us, we had a sweet church tour and then taught him the restoration. When we invited him to be baptized he didn't even hesitate to say yes. He is so ready for the gospel! We are super excited for the english sisters to be able to teach him because they have been really struggling to find investigators. 
We had an awesome miracle on saturday night... we were in orondo teaching Reyna and Max and their family and we had the Zamoras (the most adorable family from the ward) with us. The whole time I could see that Max was fighting with the spirit, we had a good lesson and we decided to do something a little different at the end of our lesson. We asked if we could all kneel and each one of us offer a prayer asking if all of the things that we have been teaching are true. Max, Reyna, their 4 kids, hermano and hermana Zamora, and hermana pulido and I each prayed. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. the spirit was so strong and you could see that there was a change in the atmosphere. We were all the way in orondo and it was like 8:45 so we had to leave but as we got to the car, Max came outside and handed us some money and asked if we could give it to the church for his tithing because he had to work the next day!!! We were seriously in shock!!! 

Then Reyna and the girls ended up coming to church yesterday :) :) they are so cute and I love them so much. Seriously it may be creepy how much I love our investigators hahaha 

The work is picking up here and I am so blessed to be serving here! Things are pretty stressful with my companion, literally as I write this she is having another meltdown. I don't know how to help her see that she is a good missionary. She doesn't really take anything I say to heart so I am kind of at a loss. I definitely wouldn't be against prayers coming this way haha anyways I LOVE YOU ALL. Thank you for your love and support, I will never be able to express how much you all mean to me. have a great week :)

con amor
hermana wortley

temple :)
 thanks mom for the new outfit! this is me trying to take a normal picture LOL