Monday, June 29, 2015

HELLOOOOOOOOOO

HEY THERE!

Wow it was a super busy, crazy, but awesome week!! 
First of all Divina and Kevin got baptized!! It was an amazing experience to be able to teach them and help them to follow our Savior Jesus Christ! They got baptized on Friday. It was a pretty stressful day because we had a leadership training meeting from 10-2 in Richland and then we planned exchanges and called all the sisters and their district leaders to set everything up and explain the focus for this transfer, which is Following the Example of Jesus Christ by developing His attributes :), and we needed to make the programs for the baptism, and fill the font and weekly plan all before 6pm when the baptism started. A few things went wrong as they usually do with baptisms because Satan doesn't want people to Come unto Christ, so the printer was broken and one of our speakers couldn't come, and we found out once Kevin got in the water that he has never been in water before so he was pretty nervous! Pretty sure he broke the record of number of times being dunked. It was at least 15 times! Bless his heart he was a trooper and wanted to be baptized so bad that he overcame his fear of water! So happy for him and Divina!!! 

We also had our first exchange of the transfer this week! There are 6 sets of sisters that we are serving so it was the first of many exchanges this transfer! It was great, I went to another area in pasco. I learned a lot about patience and endurance! English work is so different from Spanish work so it was cool to be in an english area for the day. Definitely have a greater appreciation for the chance to serve the sweet and loving spanish people! 

The training meeting we had on friday was so good!!!! I am so excited to apply the trainings. Something president Ware said that really stood out to me was the as the mission leaders, we are the missionaries to the missionaries. It was a profound moment for me when he said that. One of the focuses for the meeting was that This mission will rise no higher than the leaders. I am SO humbled to be serving at this time and with hermana garcia. She is such a bold and loving missionary. I am grateful for her example! I love missionary work so much. 
​Random other things that happened this week:
- we served dinner at a quinceaƱera
- our AC broke and it has been in the 100s all week #livinthesweatylife
- we made a cake for Divinas son for his birthday
- I made my companion pee her pants... I didn't know I was that funny!!
- we found some new trailer parks to knock :)
solid week!

I love you all and hope you have a crazy cool fourth of july!!!!!!! 


con mucho amor
hermana wortley

Monday, June 22, 2015

HELLO THERE

HELLO FROM PASCO

Ok this has been one of the best weeks of my mission. Not because 40 people got baptized or everyone listened to us, but because I have felt so much joy this week. I am SO blessed to be companions with hermana Garcia, she is the El Salvadorian version of Katelyn St. John so you could say we get a long pretty well! I LOVE it here. It is like a mini mexico, literally I have only talked to one white person since I got here, other than myself hahaha. 

So wednesday was transfers and we had to be at the stake center at 10:30am. And when we got there they told me I would be one of the transfer car drivers and that I would be driving a truck haha kind of hilarious. But anyways we said our goodbyes and it was pretty sad because all of the people I was serving with are in the Yakima mission and I was the only one going down to the kennewick mission from our whole zone! But it was awesome because we stopped in Yakima for one of the transfer sites and it was seriously like coming home. I love that place. And I got to see hermana pulido!!!!! Turns out that we both had a really hard couple of transfers and it was so good to be able to see each other and catch up. Something that we talked about was how everyone seemed to have had a rough couple of transfers whether it was companion trouble, investigator trouble, areas, family problems...etc. With every new and good change comes opposition, and with the mission splitting so soon, the opposition has only gotten stronger. The Lord has been preparing each one of us for greatness but the trials always come first. I felt like I grew so much during those 12 weeks of training, about how I can become a better missionary, and how I can become the missionary that the Lord needs me to be. I feel truly humbled to have experienced the trials that I went through in wenatchee. I GREW SO MUCH (physically I am the same size though.. maybe a little chubbier haha). 
We are teaching some amazing people! Hermana Garcia got doubled into this area last transfer so we are both still getting to know the area which is awesome, and they doubled out some elders in the area next to ours and we took over their area so now we have a huge area!! We are serving in a spanish ward and the members are so great! We had a big breakfast with one of the families this morning and they told me I am too skinny and that I need to come over and eat at their house more haha. I am so grateful to be back in an all spanish area because I love these people so much. We also took the elders apartment so its a little sketchy haha but nothing a little Clorox can't fix!  

So we are teaching Divina and Kevin a mom and son, who are preparing to be baptized this friday! When I got here kevin was on date to be baptized but Divina was still unsure. We had an awesome lesson with them both on thursday night and Divina prayed to know if she should get baptized with Kevin. Afterwards she said that she wanted to get baptized. Their family radiates with the light of Christ. We are also teaching some great people from the area we took over from the elders. People are being prepared everywhere and it is so cool to see the Lords hand in the work as we act in faith and talk to everyone! 

Something Hermana Garcia and I plan to work on this transfer is opening our hearts to find the elect. We know that the Lord has blessed us with an abundance of people to teach here and that there are specific people who are ready! We are striving to see everyone with what we call "white eyes," seeing them as if they were entering the temple. A true eternal perspective. I am so grateful for the chance that we have to serve the sisters here as well. I love learning from other missionaries because we are all so different but yet we all have the same purpose. My weird rash is almost gone! yay! Thank you so much for all the love and support. Seriously I am beyond blessed to have such awesome family and friends! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

con muchisimo amor
hermana wortley



(sorry no pictures I forgot my camera cord at home :/ )

Monday, June 15, 2015

I am going to be a kennewick missionary!!!

HELLO!

Wow I honestly don't even know where to start this week.. so much has happened!! I guess I will tell you about the trip I took to the doctor.. haha. So last sunday I started to notice a bunch of red itchy spots on my legs and I thought they were bug bites, then monday they looked even worse and they were on my arms too so everyone was telling me I had bed bugs or something. So we went back to our house and stripped the bed and nothing.. it was super clean because I am sort of a clean freak if you didn't already know that! Anyways I kind of just shrugged it off and figured I just got attacked by some mosquitoes or something. Then wednesday comes around and the spots are super swollen and itchy, but they were also burning so it hurt to itch, it was kind of the worst hahaha so we go to a couple of different members to see if they know what it is or if they knew anything that would help. Meanwhile I felt super fatigued and tired but I always feel tired as a missionary so I didn't really think much of it. No one could figure it out so we called sister ware and she told me to go into the clinic and get it checked out. Turns out I have a super weird virus called Pityriasis Rosea! I was convinced that I just had a weird heat rash or something but I guess not! So yeah that was kind of crazy. Its just on my arms and legs and so I looked like I had leprosy or something crazy. I am doing a lot better now and it is almost gone on my arms but my legs still look super splotchy. Yay for weird things that happen to you as a missionary!

So wednesday after the whole doctor thing I was feel pretty lousy so we texted our district leader to see if they could give me a blessing. But they didn't call us back until like 9:30 because they had also had a super crazy day with exchanges and what not. By that time I was feeling a little better so I just told them it was ok and they didn't need to come over because we live in east wenatchee and they live in wenatchee and I didn't want to make them late getting home. Our district leader felt so bad that he didn't call earlier but I was like seriously I am fine and I talked them out of coming haha. Then about 15 minutes later they called back and said that they felt very strongly that they needed to come over to give me a blessing and that they were on their way to our house! So about 10pm we get a knock on our door and there were 7 elders standing there! haha 5 of them live together and then it was our district leader and his companion were at their house for exchanges or something haha so it was kind of hilarious that they all came. But anyways I got a really cool blessing from elder cataldo (he is from chile) and I felt a lot better! But what was really cool was that they asked hermana marble if she was ok and she asked for a blessing as well. She had been doing a lot better after some really hard weeks of mission life but she felt like she needed a blessing. It was one of the most inspired blessings I had ever heard and it was exactly what she needed. After the elders left I looked at hermana marble and was like, the elders were inspired to come over to give you a blessing even if it seemed like they were here to help me. She just started crying because the spirit was so strong. It was a really cool experience! It is so cool how the Lord works. I mean I was going through a little trial of my own but through my struggles the Lord was able to bless and strengthen my companion. It is also pretty humbling how concerned everyone has been for me this week. The members have been calling me to make sure I am ok and our district leader and sister ware. I am SO blessed to have been serving here in wenatchee with such incredible people and I am super sad to be leaving!

Yes I am getting transferred!!! So we got a call from president Ware on saturday morning asking me if I would accept the call to be a sister training leader and that I would be transferred to Pasco! I am SO HUMBLED to have gotten this calling to serve the sisters. It is going to be an awesome experience. And by me getting transferred I will be a Kennewick missionary!!! Crazy because I have served my whole mission in the yakima mission and now I am finally going down to the kennewick mission! And I am even more excited because my companion is going to be hermana garcia who was my sister training leader a while back. She is from El salvador and is THE greatest person ever!!!!! So pumped to improve me spanish and see miracles down in pasco :)

We had some great things happen this week besides the whole rash thing. We had a breakthrough with our less active veronica. We have been working so hard to help her recognize the blessings of the gospel and her potential as a daughter of God. This week she told us all of the things she is going to change to help her kids and help them to start going to church and all kinds of great things. It was one of those moments where you actually feel like you have made a difference in someones life. super cool. Also our investigator miguel came to church!!! He is so great :) 

Saying goodbye to everyone is the worst! I am so blessed and grateful to have had the chance to serve here in wenatchee. It is an incredible place full of so many amazing people. But I am really excited for a new adventure!!! I love you all!!! have a great week :)

con mucho amor
hermana wortley

our morning basketball adventures 

Monday, June 8, 2015

still alive

HEY EVERYONE!

Thank you so much for all the prayers and for those that participated in the mission fast!! There was a unique and powerful spirit yesterday as we all united together in a fast for the Lords work in this area. It was a really hard week, but we had some pretty sweet miracles yesterday! We were waiting in the foyer yesterday morning before church as we do each week, one of the most stressful parts of the week for missionaries! haha and we see this Hispanic guy pull into the parking lot and we got really excited... turns out it was miguel one of our investigators! We found him tracting one day and he was really nice and open to learning more but when we went back for our return appointment he wasn't there so we weren't sure if he was really interested. We were in the area the other day though and so we stopped by to see if he was home and he was! and he committed to coming to church! So he came to church and he really liked it and it was so awesome because he could only stay for sacrament because he had to get to work but we had like 5 members come up to him and ask if he was going to stay for the rest of church :) They did great at helping him to feel welcome! Also Veronica came to church, a less active that we are working with. She cried the whole time and when it was over she told us that she felt like she was coming home. She told us that she has gone to so many churches but none of them feel the way it feels when she comes to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She said she will for sure be there next week. Also we had another less active come, Jessica. She went into work at 4am and said that she was looking pretty sad and tired because she wanted to go to church but she was working and she was praying that she would be able to go to church and her manager walked up and asked her what was wrong and she said she just didn't feel great and he told her she could go home early! So she rushed home got dressed and came to church :) Then she asked if she could come out with us that evening! SHE IS SO GREAT. Then we found out that she is good friends with another one of our less actives YAY for finding fellowship for people! And also I haven't talked too much about this but do you remember salvador who got baptized in Feb? well he has been struggling with coming to church because of work and he has been really flaky about meeting with us, kind of doing the opposite of progressing. Anyways he committed to coming to church yesterday and we went to his house in the morning and everything then we got to sacrament meeting and he wasn't there so we were pretty bummed... THEN we were sitting in sunday school and he walks in!! He was like hermanas you didn't think I was going to come did you? haha He came and his boys LOVED church. They were asking their dad if they could come early next sunday and are a really good influence on Salvador. 

We have a lot of awesome things planned for this upcoming week! We have a sweet family home evening set up, some new finding ideas, and we are preparing to see a lot of miracles!! Do you remember Concepcion who read the whole book of mormon and wanted to get baptized but then  left for mexico? Well I felt like we should call her this week and she answered! She said she will be back this wednesday and that we could come over thursday :) I am grateful that I listened to that prompting!! I love missionary work. I may have bed bugs or something because I look like I have chicken pox with all the bug bites that I have!!!!! Also we have transfer calls this week so if anyone is sending me anything probably go through the mission home because everyone is predicting that I am leaving haha I have only been here 6 months though so I don't know why everyone thinks I'm leaving! jkjk I love you all and hope you have a great week!! 

con MUCHO amor
hermana wortley


Monday, June 1, 2015

HI THERE

Hello!

This week was super great because we were able to go to the temple!! The temple is such a sacred place, I am so grateful for every chance that I have to go and feel the spirit there! This week was good. We were able to meet with a lot of our less actives and help them to recognize the importance of the gospel in each of their lives. We are in a finding process now for our investigators. No one was progressing and now we are starting into the cherry season so keeping in contact with non-progressing investigators was not really working too well. I know that there are people here ready and waiting to receive the gospel, we just need to find them! 

On tuesday we had an awesome lesson with one of our less actives Veronica and what was so great was that we brought another one of our less actives Jessica, who is on fire (not literally, she is just on fire with the spirit haha), and she bore such an incredible testimony. Her and veronica hit it off and we knew that there was a reason that we asked Jessica to come with us. Something I have learned recently as we have been doing a lot of less active work is that once someone falls out of a habit, it becomes really hard to get back into it... such as going to church, scripture study, family prayer, etc... the list goes on and on. For those who have fallen away from their good gospel habits and have fallen into new habits, the good ones suddenly seem so much harder to start again.  Most of the people we are working with right now haven't been to church in years, they have gotten so far away from these gospel habits that it is hard for them to even recognize the importance of these things... and they hardly remember the blessings that come with being obedient and diligent. It has been interesting because it is as if we are teaching investigators, we are starting with the doctrine and reminding them of the principles that they used to know and love.  It is a testimony builder for me to see truly how influential the small and simple things are in our lives. They impact every thing that we do and essentially make us who we are. 

So this coming sunday we are having a fast for all of the missionary work in the mission. It started out as a ward fast and then it became a stake fast and our stake president contacted the mission president and now it is a mission wide fast! Pretty cool how fast it spread (no pun intended). Also they invited us to invite anyone back home to join in as well! So you're invited :) There is such a power that comes with fasting and prayer and we know that the Lord is preparing people in each area of the mission, we just need that extra divine power to find them! 

Julissa came to church again yesterday by herself! She is the 9 year daughter of a less active family. She LOVES primary and everything about church. I love seeing her bright smile as she walks into the chapel. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to come in contact with so many incredible people each day, full of faith and the light of Christ. 

We also went on exchanges with the sister training leaders. I was able to go to wenatchee for the day with Sister Peatross! It was awesome, especially because we had been on exchanges before back when we were in Yakima. We focused a lot on our missionary purpose. How great is our calling as servants of the Lord. Sometimes we get caught up in doing missionary things and thats when things start to become hard or overwhelming... but it is when we recognize our missionary purpose and truly live it, when we find true joy in the work! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. 

I hope you all have an awesome week!! LOVE YOU ALL :)

con amor
hermana wortley