Final Letter From the Washington Spokane Mission!

Hi everyone!

Well, I guess this is my last letter from the Washington Spokane Mission!  :)  Transfers are tomorrow and I’m staying an extra week and will be home on the 17^th.  My current companion (Sister Lilley) is getting a new companion, which she will be training, and we will be in a trio until I go home next Monday.  Sister Lilley will do a great job training!  I’m excited for her!  :)  She gets to send a missionary home, and start training a new missionary all at the same time! I’ve really loved having her as a companion, and I’m going to miss her.  I’m thankful for this last week to let it sink in that I’m really going home.  So weird!

We taught M___ this week about tithing and fasting, and he is excited to do both.  I’m so excited for his baptism, and so excited for M___!  I’ve never taught anyone more prepared.  His baptism will be on Wednesday, April 12!  :)

We also met with C___ this week, which was good.  He hasn’t been to church for a few weeks, so we were starting to get worried.  We were able to meet with him though, and he’s planning on going to church this Sunday. :)

Last night we went to the mission home and had dinner and a meeting for the departing missionaries.  We had what we call the “tie cutting ceremony”.  Just a fun thing to do where we cut off a piece of a tie to signify that we are wrapping up our missions.  We also had a testimony meeting, and I totally had a hard time giving my testimony.  Yeah, pretty much cried through the whole thing.  :)  I’m really going to miss the good people here in this mission, the companions that I’ve had, and the Dymocks!  I’m so glad for this extra week that I get though!  :)

Today is my last P-day since I fly out next Monday!  It’s going to be a great week this week, and I’m looking forward to seeing you all when I get home!  Thank you so much for all of your letters, packages, your support, and your love!

Love you all,

Sister Worthen

PS:  This is what Paul had to say in Timothy:  “….and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith”!  :)

The "cutting of the tie" ceremony!

All the missionaries going home, with
the Dymocks

New missionaries coming in, with their trainers.

M___ at his baptism!  Note from parents:  A ward
member there sent us this picture this week!

When you haven't had time to eat anything but
oatmeal, cereal, and soup, the only
dirty dishes you have are bowls.  :)

General Conference and Peanut Butter

Hello from the Washington Spokane Mission!

Had a great lesson with M___ this week.  He prayed about the plan of salvation and getting baptized, and he said Heavenly Father told him “yes!”  :)   Yay!!!  I was so happy.  We pray that he can following through with it.  We did a church tour with him and taught another lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The spirit was really strong!  M__ wanted to move his date for baptism up because he was so excited!  We had another appointment with him and taught him the word of wisdom and the law of chastity, and he committed to live both.  The only concern he had with the W.O.W. was that he ate too much peanut butter.  :)   I guess that’s a physical trainer for you.  He’s decided that he wants to get baptized on April 12^th!

We had district meeting this week, and President Dymock came to our meeting.  He and Sister Dymock live in our area.  I hope the District Leader didn’t feel extra pressure. :)  He did a great job though.  President also showed us the new first vision video that Britt told me about.  It really is amazing.  President also gave us new pass along cards.

General Conference was this weekend, and it’s been amazing!  It cuts into our proselyting time, but I totally loved watching it.  Five new temples announced, including one in the Philippines!  And the former mission president of the Spokane Mission spoke!

I love serving with Sister Lilley!  She’s a great missionary and an awesome companion!  I’m going to miss her and the other companions that I’ve served with here, and the awesome people in the Washington Spokane mission.  So weird that this will be my second to last letter to you guys! :)

You all have a great week!

Love you all,

Sister Worthen

At Mission Leadership Council this week

With Sister Lilley

A member of our ward has a dog that had six puppies.
German shepherd and lab mix

Cute!

Bob Ross Painting, a "Golden" Investigator, and Peepholes

Hi from Spokane Valley, Washington!

I hope everyone is doing great.  This has been a busy, busy week here.  Here are the highlights:

On Monday, we had a YSA Family Night, and we had a Bob Ross painting activity.  It was a ton of fun.  I haven’t painted in forever, but I was reminded how much I love it.  I didn’t finish my painting, but got a good start on it.  And A___ came, which was great!

We met with M___ for the first time this week, and he is golden!  Literally golden.  He was the one that called and asked us how to get baptized last week.  We taught the restoration and the spirit was so strong!  He had a lot of questions like “why do I get chills when I go to church or pray?”  He’s already been reading the Book of Mormon.  He committed to be baptized on the 15^th of April and to meet with us twice a week!  :)  We taught him a second time later this week on the plan of salvation.  He actually bore his testimony to us about being an instrument in God’s hands to help his family.  :)  Missionary work is such a beautiful amazing work!

Sister Spackman (from the Ponderosa sisters) spent a little bit of time with us this week.  We taught a less active guy in their area named B___, and he strengthened my testimony so much!  He is like a Mormon that uses nondenominational wording.  :)   He talked about becoming worthy to go to his niece’s wedding in the temple, because he baptized her when she was eight. :)

We also had another appointment lined up with C__ and T__, but they didn’t answer their door.  We could totally see them looking through the peephole though!  :)  I don’t think that people realize that you can see the peephole go dark when someone is looking through it. :)

So, this week was my 18-month mark here in the mission.  That’s super weird for me!  We got to go to the temple this week, which is here in my area.  It was so needed, since it’s been awhile since we last were able to go.  I got the impression when there that I should prepare and pay close attention to General Conference coming up.  I am excited for Conference!  We were able to see the General Women’s conference broadcast, and it was awesome.

We’ve been planning and practicing for a Missionary Musical Fireside, and that was last night.  It was a full house, and a ton of people came.  It went amazing.  The spirit was so strong, and it definitely made us sound way better than we actually were.  Sister Wagstaff is our choir director and she has helped us so much to actually sound good!  It hit me a couple of times while we were singing Joseph Smith’s first prayer that I’m coming home soon.  I love this calling and the spirit and consecration that comes with it.  I’m scared to not have that once I go home. 

Thank you so much for all your letters, packages, and love that you’ve sent my way.  I really appreciate it!!

Love,

Sister Worthen

With Sister Lilley and the Ponderosa Sisters
(Sister Spackman and Sister Mathias)

Making treats