Slow Holiday, a Missionary Blitz, and Miracles

Hi everyone!

I hope you had a good memorial day!  It's the worst as a missionary because NO ONE is home.  ;) Whoever wrote that holidays were a good time for proselyting never served a mission in the states on Memorial Day.  :)  But we still saw some miracles this week.

One of our investigators committed to living the Word of Wisdom this week.  I love her so much!  She is the best and the sweetest.  She said she still hasn’t gotten her answer to if she should be baptized.  She said that she needs to come to church, so she is going to work on that.  :)

This week has been a mix of things being slow, and then things being really busy.  We had a missionary blitz in our area this week, with eight sets of missionaries working in our area, splits with the members, and any proselyting that needs to be done here.  We were stressed putting that all together, and having things ready for when they came.  But the blitz went really well.  We put a lot of thought, time, and faith into it and Heavenly Father definitely blessed us.  We got several referrals, some return appointments, two new investigators, and ten potential investigators.  :) 

Our miracle for yesterday was meeting with a part member family.  The father has been inactive, and the rest of the family is non-members.  A ward member had asked us to go see them a few weeks ago.  We have tried a few times, but weren’t able to catch them home.  We felt like we ought to try again last night, and they were there, and invited us in!  After visiting with them for a while, the father stopped us in the middle of a sentence and askes us why we came by.  We said that we just had felt prompted to put their family in our plans for the day.  He said that he had been crying and had an hour and a half talk with God earlier that day, and that he knew it wasn’t coincidence that we were there.  His wife started crying and said that five years ago after her brother died, the missionaries showed up at the door and help them through it.  They want us to come back once a week on Sunday night to them a message.  What a wonderful miracle!

Thanks for all your support and letters!

Love,

Sister Worthen :)

Sister Paget and I with Angel, a
recent convert in our ward

Some of the older places here in our area

An abandoned business in our area.
Who needs a roof when a tarp will do?

Sister Paget and I with Sister Jackson and
Sister Parker, doing service on the farm

Random picture.  Written on the glass is this:
"Do no open, only in case of frier"

Bo thought the cake was for him

Celebrating Brittin's birthday with lemon cake

Virginia, a recent convert in the ward, that we visit
at the nursing home.

The pack of emus on our property

Sister Jackson and I with sort of
matching skirts

Another pic of the beautiful area here

Priesthood Ordinances, and Broken Windshield Wipers

Hey everyone!

This week was the best because Rick (the recent convert that got baptized a couple weeks ago) was ordained an elder and got the Priesthood!   It was such a great experience and he has been waiting awhile to be able to get that.  I love seeing converts go through ordinances and also go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead for the first time!  Our goal for this transfer is to get all six of the recent converts to the temple to do baptisms.  We are helping them prepare and work with the family history consultant so that they can bring a name to the temple for their baptisms.  The temple brings so many blessings and the spirit is so strong there, it's amazing to see people enter for the first time! 

We found a few new investigators this week, and had some referrals from some ward members.  We also taught one of our investigators who we had asked to pray about the Book of Mormon.  In our visit this week, she told us that she got an answer to her prayers that the Book of Mormon was true!  :)   This area is really getting busy!  We have no time to tract, which is fantastic!

We had one day this week where we spent half the day in the Nine Mile area.  It was raining hard, and we got caught up in the mountains in a rainstorm.  Our windshield wipers broke.  :(  So we spent the other part of the afternoon at Tire Rama getting those fixed.  Sometimes life just happens.  :)

I'm doing really good, feeling really well, am healthy and doing great. The work is good, we are teaching a lot and Heavenly Father is really blessing this area.  I’m enjoying serving with Sister Paget.  And the new sisters are fantastic.  Dad, Sister Jacksons dad and you are basically the same.  He sends her letters that are typed up with little clip arts in them too.  :)

Next week P-day is on the 31^st because of Memorial Day, so expect an email from me on that day.  Just a heads up!

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Worthen :)

PS: This weeks pictures are just of our apartment

Our study room

Our bedroom.  We were washing sheets on P-day

The bathroom all 4 of us share.
It's sometimes a struggle, but
we make it work.  :)

Our kitchen, with Sister Paget doing some cooking

Our living room area.  Sister Jackson doing her makeup. :)

The other sisters study room, with Sister Parker

Random Thoughts

Note from Mom and Dad:  Taya didn’t write a “group” email home this week, so the things in this post are some things taken from here and there such as her email to us, her written letter this week, etc.  Just some random thoughts and updates that she's written:

This week we got to welcome in the new sister missionaries that are sweeping into the Colbert Ward.  They are fantastic!  Their names are Sister Jackson and Sister Parker.  Sister Jackson has been out for nine months and is from Ogden.  Sister Parker is from Florida and is straight from the MTC.  We all get along great!  It’s going to be a great transfer being able to serve with Sister Paget and these two new sisters.

We also found out that Nick and Heather are moving to Alaska!  :(   Heather is flying up on Thursday to live with her parents and find a new job.  Nick is staying in Washington for a few months to sell the house, so we can keep teaching him for a while.  We went over to visit with them this week.  It’s crazy how fast you come to love people on a mission!  Since they are moving, it looks like we will be spending some time “finding” for a bit.  :)   Hello tracting!

We had some good teaching appointments this week with Jocelyn and Elijah and Alice, and taught several lessons this week.

On Thursday, we had our weekly planning day, and we do it out in the orchard.  It’s awesome because it’s so pretty outside, and it keeps you awake.  :)   Bo always lies at my feet while we plan or study outside.  I love that dog!

Ok family, I have a challenge for you all:  will you read the Book of Mormon as a family before I get home?  :)  That gives you just under a year to be able to read it, which is doable :)   I know that we’ve read it before, but I promise that if you do it again we will be able to see the blessings pour out of heaven for us as a family and be able to get through whatever hard trials come our way together!   :)

Dad, I’m so sorry to hear about the job, and that they cut all 300 people there at the studio!  :(  Hopefully you guys won’t have to move anywhere new.  I’m praying for you all.  Thanks for the reassurance that all will work out and be okay.

My health has been great, and I’ve been feeling good.  My new favorite food here is fresh strawberries!  Also, there is a place here called “The Harvest House” which is like a famous little orchard bakery with amazing jams and pies and such.  It’s super cute.  I may have cheated my FODMAP diet a bit and gotten some homemade bubblegum ice cream ....... and it didn’t kill me!  :)

 Sister Paget is awesome and I love her to death, and we get along great!  The work is going really well here too!  So many miracles every day, and Heavenly Father is definitely watching over this area!

I love you all a ton!

- Sister Worthen

Holding some chickens!

Sister Paget and I

A few great members of the ward here

Helping clean one of our investigators homes

Sister Paget and I visiting a family

Our study spot in the orchard.
Bo keeps us company.

Saw this in a little shop here, and figured I'd
take a picture in honor of all of these
I've had to have so far!  :)

Sister Paget and I with
Sister Jackson and Sister Parker

One of the families we were teaching
had a little 5 month old puppy that I held
through the whole lesson.  She decided to lick
my face for a bit.

The Harvest House - A famous little orchard bakery
here in the area

Tender Mercies, Milk Bones, and a Baptism

Hey everyone!

This week has been a fantastic one!  :)  Rick and Mary Sowards were both baptized and confirmed this week as the newest members of the Green Bluff ward!  They are the sweetest couple in the world.  Rick had to be baptized twice because his knee didn't go under the first time.  After he said that "sometimes you have to dunk people twice to really get all of the sin out of 'em!"  He's a sweet guy.  Their testimonies are beautiful.  A lot of people from the ward came, as well as some other missionaries with their investigators.  President Dymock came as well!

This transfer we are really focusing on helping all of the recent converts get to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  Transfers are this week and Sister Paget and I will be staying together in the Green Bluff ward.  I'm so excited! We are also getting two new sister missionaries that will be living here and serving in the Colbert ward.  I'm grateful to be a part of Heavenly Father's great work that He is doing here in Spokane.  Thank you for all of your love and support on the mission!

It was great to Skype yesterday.  I love my family so much!  :)  Thanks for always making it a great experience for me.  I love you all!!!  Grandpa sent me a package of a bunch of rice cakes and gluten free pretzels and macadamia nuts.  That was awesome!  Thanks Grandpa!

Yesterday, at P-Day I bought a box of milk bones for Bo (the dog we live with) and I carry some around in my bag for proselyting.  They come in handy.  Missionary tip:  If you want people to like you, then like their dog!  :)  That should be in the “Preach My Gospel” handbook.  :)

We had a church tour this week with an investigator.  It was really powerful, and church tours are my favorite.  We committed her to pray if June 11^th was the right day for her to be baptized!  She is so sweet, and I just love her to death.  We also taught another lady about the restoration.  We will see how that progresses.  While walking through the apartment complex we met a lady from the Philippines!  She was from Manila and cleaned the apartments.  She has three kids and a husband that she hasn’t seen in six years because there is not work for her in the Philippines.  So she works here and sends her paychecks over to her family.  I told her all about Britt serving his mission there.  She was really, really set on being Catholic, but it was still cool to talk to her!

This church is true.  It is God's only true church on the earth in its fullness.  That testimony is one that we each have to gain for ourselves.  It can be hard when people, media, and the world today are fighting a hard battle against the church.  But it's a truth of eternity that we can come to understand and know for ourselves.  The restoration of the gospel through Joseph Smith is true!! It's amazing and wonderful and such an example of the love that God has for his children.  How beautiful it is to be a part of this work.

Love you all!

- Sister Worthen

The Sowards, Sister Paget and I

The Carr family let us Skype from their house.
Thank you Carrs!

The beautiful area here in Green Bluff

Happy Mothers Day from Washington!

Hey everyone!

Since Mothers Day is before I have the chance to email again I just want to say happy Mom Day to all of the moms and future moms out there!  :) 

This week has just flown by!  I've already been back out in the field for two weeks now and it feels like it's only been two days.  The weather has been beautiful here though!  The orchards are all just starting to bloom.   This coming week is supposed to be hot, so we will see how that goes.

We are having two baptisms this Saturday!  It's for a couple, Rick and Mary. I'm so excited for them, they have been investigating the church for two years now and we finally got them to commit to a baptism date!  A lot of the sister missionaries that they have been working with are coming up for the baptism too.  It will be great to see all of them!

We're also teaching a couple named Heather and Nick. We saw huge progress with them this week.  Heather read eight chapters in the Book of Mormon and started to cry as she bore her testimony of it.  Nick came to church, but Heather is working Sundays right now. We'll work on changing that.  ;) 

One of the sisters in our district is going home ("dying" in missionary lingo).  It's mission tradition to take a "death picture" of the other missionaries "killing" them off.  The sister going home is Native American so she wanted a cowboys and indians style of death picture.... it was her dying wish I guess.   :)   So don't judge too harshly when you see the picture of us rocking pencil skirts with flannel cowboy shirts.  ;) 

Love you all!

- Sister Worthen 

Sister Paget and some of the elders in our zone.

The Green Bluff Duo!

"Killing off" one of the sisters finishing up
her mission.