my fingers can barely type because the library is an icebox

HOLA

It was such a great week! We had a huge miracle (my favorite word :) ) this week!! Yesterday a family came to church!!! The renteria family. They have 4 kids and their oldest daughter is dating a kid in one of the english wards and the way that she met him was that one of her friends had invited her to church and it was the same ward! Then they started dating and then he invited the whole family to church but the parents don't speak english so he brought them to our ward!! And they all came. Then we started talking to them and come to find that they live in our area and that we had talked with the dad before one day when we were walking down their street! And the mom has 3 really good friends that are in the ward that she didn't know were members! It was just miracle after miracle after miracle and the oldest daughter Yanet reads the book of mormon over the phone every night with her boyfriend! We were just dying it was SO cool. After we were talking about how simple invitations become some of the most powerful, that first friend probably had no idea that the whole family would come to church just a few months later! 

Also Irma and Juan came to church yesterday! Well Juan left after sacrament meeting but Irma stayed for the whole thing!! SHE IS SO COOL. Juan doesn't have a baptismal date as of right now because he is facing a lot of opposition from his family and his neighbors but although Irma is facing the same opposition it seems to be making her stronger and more excited to be baptized! She is preparing for the 12th of september and she has truly received her answer that this is what she needs to do. We are just amazed every time we go to see her because she is so full of light and understanding. 

On saturday there was an elotada at the ward! And an elotada is just a made up word for party where you eat a lot of corn hahaha but yeah it was one of the coolest activities I have been to on my mission! It was just out in the parking lot and there was A TON of corn and they had the usual mexican toppings for the corn and pretty much the whole ward came! Juan and Irma also came and they seemed to have a great time! It was way sweet!

We also went on two exchanges this week! I stayed in our area both days. The first exchange I was with hermana safsten. It was a really good day! Our focus for the day was relying on the spirit and we worked a lot on recognizing when we were following the spirit as well. I learned a lot from her about never being satisfied. She is continually looking for more ways to learn and improve, super cool! The next exchange I went on was with hermana cortes! She is an awesome missionary. I was so impressed with how genuine and sincere she is. I was grateful for her example and the things that I learned from the spirit! 

I think time goes by faster and faster each day! We have transfer calls this week! I will most likely stay here but you never know! I am so grateful to be here and for the many people that I have a chance to meet each day! THE CHURCH IS TRUE. THE ATONEMENT IS REAL. I LOVE YOU ALL.

con amor

hermana wortley

s/o to kate for getting married this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLA

HOLA!

It was a really good week!! Yesterday was so great. So the week before last we were on exchanges and we knocked into a really awesome family that had just moved here from nevada and they told us that we could come back. So we went back this past week and HUGE MIRACLE. Turns out that they were taking the missionary lessons in nevada and the first day that they got here they went and looked for the church! And get this.. that day there was a baptism and president ware and the elders had just walked outside and were able to talk with them for a minute but at this time they didn't have a house or work so they couldn't really have the missionaries over. But it was no coincidence that we knocked into them just a few weeks later!! They are so cool!! We were able to have a great restoration lesson with them on friday and then invite them to stake conference on sunday! The crazy part was that we had sent president ware a text telling him the miracle that we found an awesome family and then he called the next day telling us that he knew who they were! Then it was 10 on sunday and stake conference was just starting and the salazar family hadn't come yet and we kind of started to panic haha but we went outside and called her.. no answer, so we called again, and again no answer so we said a prayer and as we were walking away to go inside I turn around and they were pulling in! Such a miracle! The whole family came to conference and afterwords were able to talk with president ware and also Elder Packer who was the speaker for the conference! Another huge miracle that Irma also came to church!! We have been teaching Irma and her son Juan. Irma is SO sweet and has the biggest heart and testimony of Christ. Juan wasn't home when we stopped by to remind them about church but irma decided she would just come with the little kids! 

On wednesday we had exchanges with the kennewick hermanas! I was able to go to kennewick with hermana vazquez. She is so cool. She has only been a member of the church for a year and a half and has such a solid testimony. I learned a lot from her about being bold. She just says things how they are and that is something I really need to work on! It was such a fun exchange and we had some really powerful moments.

Thursday we had zone conference! Yay for zone conference. One of the big focuses was Charity. Charity truly is the pure love of Christ. I learned so much from the spirit about the little things that I can change that will help me to become a more consecrated missionary. I am so grateful for President and Sister Ware and for all that they do for us. They are so aware of all the needs of the missionaries and the things we need to change to best help those we are serving. 

On Friday night/saturday we went on another exchange! I went to Grandview with hermana Bland. I am so grateful for exchanges, they truly open your eyes to new ways of talking with people and give you a fresh perspective of our purpose as missionaries. It was a great day and we saw some sweet miracles by talking to everyone. 

We had stake conference saturday night and sunday! Elder Packer was the speaker that came. They focused a lot on family history and also on the sabbath day. I have definitely gained a love for meetings on my mission. There is just always something more to be learned!!

I am extremely grateful for my companion hermana garcia. I wasn't really sure why but this transfer I have felt depressed which is super weird for me because I love missionary work more than anything! but yeah I have just been in a rut and I was feeling like I still have so much to learn and improve and change but that there was no way I could do any of that in the amount of time I have left on my mission. My heart just felt heavy and even though we are seeing tons of miracles I just felt so inadequate. Yesterday as we were finishing our weekly planning and setting goals hermana garcia just straight up asked me why I was depressed haha and the thing was that I didn't even realize I was depressed! I don't even know if I remember exactly what was said or the scriptures that she shared with me because it was all by the spirit but my whole attitude changed. My weaknesses no longer mattered because I remembered that in the strength of the Lord I can do all things. I feel SO BLESSED to be a missionary. I know that I don't have to learn everything now or become the best before my mission is over because I have my whole life to continue learning and growing. I am so grateful for the eternal perspective that I can now see clearly! :) 

Thank you so much for everything you do for me! I am truly blessed!!!!

LOVE YOU

con amor 

hermana wortley

Oh yeah and I cut my hair!

estoy vivo

HELLO!

So much happened this past week! First off to explain why I am emailing on a tuesday, we went to the temple today!!! They forgot to let us know before last monday which is why I didn't let you know last week but anyways it was such a good day!!!!!!!! Ah I love the temple. One of the hermanas took us and seriously I just soak up every minute when we get the chance to go to the temple. Such a spirit filled day. 

So for the past probably about 6 months I have had a lot of back issues, which comes with mission life, but I had been doing ok until last monday I was hurting so bad and hermana garcia told me that I should get a blessing but I wasn't sure so we prayed about it and I decided I should ask the elders! It is so convenient that we live in the same apartments as our district leader and our zone leaders haha. So elder Davison, our district leader gave me a blessing. I was super anxious and stressed before, but after I immediately I felt calm. We are serving with such cool missionaries.... fast forward to wednesday... I was SO SICK. It was like a sinus infection on steroids or something, I hadn't felt that sick in a really long time. But we just kept on going because we had places to be and people to see. At 7 that night we went to the church for Rodolfos baptismal interview. The interview went awesome by the way.... but apparently I looked like death and hermana garcia once again told me that she felt like I needed to ask for a blessing. I was like no I am fine because I had just gotten a blessing and I hate being a burden... and she told me that this would be a great opportunity to humble myself. Let me just tell you I am so grateful for hermana garcia, she is always helping me to become the best that I can be even if it means me swallowing my pride and asking for help! I am so grateful for this transfer and the many opportunities that I am having to be more humble! So after the interview I asked Elder Davison if he would give me a blessing before they left. I am so grateful for the priesthood. I seriously feel so blessed to be serving around so many awesome priesthood holders!! And the miracle is that I feel a million times better! I had a nasty cough and I may or may not have used 3 boxes of tissues but I am doing great now. 

On thursday we were able to have a lesson with Rodolfo and we taught him about the priesthood. I was able to testify of how the priesthood has blessed my life and the experiences that I had had earlier that week. Such a cool moment and a huge testimony builder. 

On friday we had MLC. Such a powerful and revelatory meeting. One of the councils that we had was on the doctrine of preparation day. SO COOL. Preparation day has become such a selfish day and we were all feeling the need for a change of heart and attitude. There is always a why for everything we do, and if the why is not Jesus Christ than something is missing. We haven't had much preparation day today because we went to the temple, but I can already feel a difference in my attitude and I am so grateful! One of the counselors in the mission presidency said that the way we treat our preparation day is the way we are going to treat our lives after the mission, those days prepare us to enter into the world back home. So profound and so true! 

On saturday Rodolfo got baptized!!!!! He is so cooooool. We were a little nervous because he got there a little late but HE CAME. It was a really spiritual baptism and rodolfo gave such a great testimony. He looked so happy.

We had some really cool lessons this week and we have a lot of plans this week to find new people to teach!! We sang Soy un hijo de Dios to an abuelito that we met yesterday... probably one of the most spiritual moments I have had talking to someone on the street. We were also at a stop light (we were walking) and we started talking to people in their cars! Blessings come from talking with everyone even if it is awkward :) The more awkward the better!! 

I am so grateful to be here. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!

con amor

hermana wortley

​temple selfie

me when I almost died

I have retired from english

HOLA 

Ok probably one of the most miracle filled weeks yet!!

Probably the biggest miracle of them all though was that Brenda, Adrianna and Julio got baptized!! So we had been teaching Brenda and she was preparing to be baptized on the 1st but her kids Julio and Adrianna didn't really want to be baptized so we were really just focusing on Brenda... then on wednesday Brenda invited us over for dinner and we were planning her baptism when Julio told us that he wanted to get baptized.. and then Adrianna said that she wanted to get baptized too!! We asked them why they wanted to get baptized and they said that before they just didn't feel ready to be baptized and that now they know that baptism is one of the first steps to making Christ a priority in their lives. Brenda was beyond happy. They are THE sweetest kids you will ever meet and so smart and adorable and we just love them so much!!! Since they have been coming to church for 3 months they already knew a ton but there was still some things that we had to teach before they could get baptized. So we made a plan to review everything with them on thursday and then thursday night they would have their interviews with the district leader to see if they were ready. It was one of the most spirit guided lessons and the kids were so in tune with everything being taught! So they had their interview and it went great! Then on saturday the three of them got baptized! :) It was such a great day and they all looked so happy. Brenda bore the sweetest testimony at their baptism and the spirit was so strong! It was a straight up miracle. 

Now for the hilarious thing that happened at the baptism because something always goes wrong or not according to plan. Well we turned the font on so that it would fill up and then we went to make the programs for the baptism in another room and do some weekly planning and it usually takes about an hour and a half to fill up the font but it had only been about an hour when we went to go to the bathroom and decided to check the font. It was on the bridge of overflowing!!!! My first instinct was to run to the other side and turn off the font.. naturally.. but instead of running to the other side, because the womens and mens don't connect, I ran into the mothers room hahahahaha and I thought hermana garcia was going to die laughing because she said I had a panic look on my face and I just ran into the mothers room. Anyways we did some gymnastics over the font and were able to unplug it without getting too wet and we didn't flood the church!! The baptism was so good though and they are the most adorable family! :)

Rodolfo is super excited for his baptism on the 8th! He has been inviting his family and friends and is doing great. We are so excited for him! 

On wednesday we were doing some knocking and we go into this gate with a dog and hermana garcia was like he is going to bite one of us I just know it and he seemed pretty nice so I was like oh we will be fine! We go knock the door, no one answers, and as we start walking away the dog starts flipping out!! He chomped my leg and I just look at hermana garcia and said he bit me! and then my first instinct was to hit the dog with the book of mormon that I was holding but I figured I better not haha so I just held the book by my leg because I knew it would protect me from getting bit again haha and hermana garica did the same. I mean I already had a huge testimony of the book of mormon but that day I gained a testimony of the outside as well. such a powerful book!! It was a miracle that he only bit one of us! 

Transfers were this week and every first week of the transfer the stake puts on a breakfast for all of the missionaries serving in the stake! The wards take turns hosting the breakfast and this time it was our ward that made the breakfast! The hermanas made homemade tortillas for the breakfast burritos it was so good!!! And they gave us a bunch of leftovers. We are seriously serving in the coolest ward ever. The members are amazing!! 

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day, we went with a member to pick up one of our investigators Yerika for church, but the member was super late so we hurried over and they weren't quite ready so we waited for her by this time we were about 10 minutes late for church and we ended up missing Julio's confirmation but we made it for Adrianna and Brenda! But whats important is that they got confirmed haha and also that Yerika came to church :) It was an awesome week!!! The Lord is blessing us with so many miracles and giving us a ton of opportunities to be humble because we know that this is His work and that we are only instruments. I am truly humbled to be a missionary and feel SO BLESSED each day when I have to the chance to help others come unto Christ. Thank you so much for all you do! I love you all!!!!!

con mucho amor
hermana wortley