Sister in Spokane: Happy Late Thanksgiving from Sister Worthen!

Note from Mom and Dad: It’s been a little while since we’ve updated Taya’s blog. In a nutshell, she has enjoyed her area there that straddles the border with one part being in Canada, and the other part being in Washington. They’ve had some success there. Transfers are coming up this week, and her companion will need to be transferred back into the U.S. due to the 6 month restrictions on their passports. So, Taya will at least be getting a new companion. There is the chance the she will also be transferred, so we will just need to wait and see this week. We’ve consolidated the last month or so of letters and information here in one blog entry:

October 24^th:

Hello everyone!

This has been a great week! M___ got baptized this week. She is L___’s daughter, and I love that little girl so much! She was beaming and grinning from ear to ear. :) She asked me to braid her hair and after she twirled around like a princess. Sister Jackson (member) sewed her a blanket, and Hyrum gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and gave her the blanket. You would have thought it was Christmas already! M___ asked us to sit by her the entire time because she was nervous. :) M___ was truly a miracle. We taught her the first discussion on October 13^th, put her on date for her baptism on the 14^th, and she was baptized three days later. We got to see this beautiful family be converted to the gospel, and they have meant so much to me! I truly love them with all my heart. I wish they didn’t have to move to Spokane. :( But we have helped them pack, and called the Bishop, Relief Society President, and missionaries in the area they are moving to to have L___ and her family connect with them. They all seemed very nice, and have already made plans to visit with the family.

October 31^st:

Happy Halloween everyone! I got to see President and Sister Dymock this week. They came up to the Grand Forks unit today! They both spoke in sacrament meeting, and it was amazing! They both bring the spirit in the meeting so strongly wherever they go. I cried through the whole thing. :) Sister Dymock spoke on the power of the Atonement, and it was amazing. They also stayed for potluck after church which was great!

The work has dropped off a bit this last week, so we are looking for ways to serve people. We have done a ton of raking leaves, which has allowed us to talk to some people. We’ve also done a lot of street contacting and just trying to talk to everyone. I don’t always want to go out street contacting and tracting, but it always makes me feel better and happier as a missionary for some reason. Weird how that works. :)

November 1^st:

Holy Schnikies, it’s already November! Time has been flying by for the most part, except for this week. Sister Jackson came down with the stomach flu, and has been down sick for about three days this week. I feel so bad for her. But, by the end of the week she was doing better. When your companion is sick, besides taking care of them, there’s not much more to do since you can’t go out to work. I did a lot of studies, updated and color coded and organized both area books, hung new area maps on the walls, folded laundry, cleaned the entire apartment, made contact phone calls, did the weekly planning as best I could, and basically anything else I could think of to do while we stayed inside so Sister Jackson could get feeling better.

We had zone training this week and drove down to Colville for the day for that. The new Christmas initiative is amazing! It’s 25 ways to become more like Christ in 25 days, and it’s all focused around service. The video and media platform is called “Light the World”, and it is awesome! We got new pass along cards too! But we aren’t allowed to pass the cards or show the video until November 25^th when the church releases it.

We’ve also been doing a lot more raking of leaves around town again. I think it really surprises people that we are willing to help for free! We will be doing a lot of raking the next couple of days before the snow hits. Hopefully it will allow us to talk to some more people. We have had a couple of great conversation about the gospel with people because of it, and we have a return appointment next week to teach a lady that we raked leaves for!

November 8^th:

Hi everyone! So, I think I’ll be fine if I never have to rake another leave in my life! Or pine needles for that matter. :) We have a couple of new investigators though, which is good! We’ve been teaching a lady named D___ who has had a lot of questions about the church. I think we’ve been able to clear up a lot of questions for her. Hopefully she will continue to progress.

November 15^th:

Hi everyone! So, I guess this last Tuesday was election day in the states. That day, we spent on the Canada side of the border here in Grand Forks. We went street contacting and trying to visit contacts in our area book, but most people just wanted to talk to us about the elections once they found out we are from the states. It looked like the bars were all full that night with people watching the election results. And on a funny note, we ran into one guy who was totally drunk and told us the world was flat and that gravity didn’t exist. :) On the upside, we did get several part member family referrals from President Lundy this week, which was great! Apparently Donald Trump is our new President in the States? Hmmmm, maybe I’ll be fine staying in Canada for a little while. :)

This week, Canada celebrated Canadian Remembrance Day, so the city had a parade. This parade was different in that it was more quiet and respectful, with moments of silence within it. We did get to sing “God Save The Queen”, which was a first for me. :) We also came into contact with a lady named K___ who the McCulloughs ran into. We will meet with her on Wednesday to teach her.

November 29^th:

Happy late Thanksgiving to you all! This week we have talked to so many people. We are having a contest with the Elders to see who can pass out all of their “Light the World” Christmas cards first, and we each have 300 to pass out! :) People seem to be interested in the Christmas initiative though, but no new investigators because of it yet. We’ll keep working on it though.

Thanks for all your letters, support, and prayers!

Love, Sister Worthen.