Merry Christmas from Cheney Washington!

Hi family and friends!

Merry Christmas!!!!  I hope you all have a great holiday!!!  :)

This week has been such a great one!  We got to go with Maddie to the distribution center to help her get all of her temple clothes!  After that, Maddie took us to a Hong Kong Chinese Buffett.....yikes, that was culture shock for me!  There were clams and sushi and little baby octopuses (octopi?), and all sorts of weirdness.  Sister Huang was in heaven, haha.  :)  I tried some of it, but decided to stick with noodles and rice.  :)  Later in the week, we got to go through the temple with Maddie and be her escorts for her endowment.  We got to see it in Mandarin Chinese too which was amazing!  Sister Huang will finish her mission this week and head back to China, so she ended on the most rewarding high note!

I'm nervous to get my new companion and I'm going to miss Sister Huang like crazy, we're super close and it will be hard having her go!  But I'm excited for the growth that comes with change as well.  I'll also be super happy when all of the college kids get back in town after the break and all of our investigators come back!  :) 

We had exchanges this week, and I was able to go with Sister Griffith in her area, the Sunset Ward.  I learned a lot today from Sister Griffith!  She has only been out one transfer longer that I have so we are both fairly new.  She is so emotionally invested in her area and the work, and I love that about her!  The day started off a little rough with absolutely no one being home, but as we continued on slowly one by one we were able to see miracles happen.  :)  We contacted a potential family who set up a return appointment with us, taught a less active, met with two investigators, and had an awesome dinner appointment!  :)

Oh, and Elder Gingles (a missionary in my zone) and his companion had the creepiest thing in the world happen to them!  Someone broke into the elder’s apartment and put pictures of brain scans on Elder Gingles desk with a note saying that they were being controlled and they should want their life back, and to call them to help them.  Basically it’s like something out of “Criminal Minds”.  Needless to say, the elders are moving to a different apartment now.  :)

Our ward did it’s Sunday Christmas program this week, and it was really good, except we were supposed to have two investigators at church today and neither of them came.  :(  It broke my heart.  It’s so discouraging to work so hard and not be effective at all......ugh.  Hopefully next week we’ll get investigators at church.  John is on date for his baptism in January though!  We are excited for that!

Also thank you all so much for your Christmas cards and gift cards!  They really have meant the world to me (getting mail is super exciting no matter what, it makes my day :) ) thank you for thinking of me!!!!!!  Especially the Turners, Hanks, Oliversons and my ward for sending me Christmas cards and making me feel loved.

I'm super excited to Skype my family and be able to see them on Christmas! I love you all!

If you haven't seen it yet, check out "A Savior is Born" on christmas.mormon.org :)  It's the Church Christmas video this year and it's the one we use on our pass along cards. I promise if you watch it, that it will bring the spirit in so strongly this Christmas season!

I love you all!  :)  Merry Christmas!

Love,

Sister Worthen :)

We wrote our pass along card message
"A Savior is Born" on the bush, just to convert
anyone who walks by.  :)  You gotta do what you
gotta do to speed the work along.  :)

Last time at the temple with my best
Chinese friend in the world!  So sad for her
to go home this week.  :(

Such an amazing opportunity to go with
Maddie to the temple today, and be her
escorts for her endowment.  I love that lady!

The octopus that I tried (gagged down) at the Chinese Buffet

Went to the dentist this week, and got to wear these
cool sunglasses that keep the bright light out of your eyes.
I guess Sister Huang thought this was funny. :)
No cavities!

What my name tag looks like in Chinese

Sister Huang's first snowman.  Thanks for the goldfish,
Kade.  They were much needed as the snowman
eyes and buttons.  :)  Notice we also gave him a
pass along card just for good measure.  :)

Sister Huang insists on scrapping the
car every morning because "she
won't get a chance to do something
that fun in China when she goes back".
I'm not complaining.  :)

Beautiful Christmas tree at the
River Park Square in Spokane