Note From Mom and Dad - New Address

Just a note from me, Taya's Dad:  We got a text from someone in Washington saying that they are the Ward Mission Leader in the ward that Sister Worthen just got transferred to.  He was just sending us the address of where they are living.  I've updated the address on the right side of this blog page.  We are excited to hear about her new area, her new companion, and how the work is going there!

Quick Note From Moscow - Transfered!

Hey everyone! 

Today is crazy and I don't have much email time because i'm being transferred tomorrow!!! I'm SO excited!! I'll be serving in Spokane West for the next two and a half months!:)

I love you all and i'll keep you more updated next week on my new area!! Transfer days are crazy busy!:)

Love you all!!

Love,

Sister Worthen:)

A few more pictures from Moscow

Look who I ran into!  My cousin's wife's parents!  :)

"Joe Vandal" the Idaho Vandals mascot!

With the other sister missionaries at the church

Sister Vea and I

With Zhao and her son

Ready to head out!

Letter from this week:

October 19, 2015

1^st Area--Moscow Idaho

Hi everyone!!!:) I hope everyone is doing well!

So we were on fire last week with SIX investigators at church!! That's like unheard of! But this week we only had one:( that was really hard for us. Debbie's baptism date also has to be pushed back awhile because she can't quit smoking. She wants to be baptized so bad and is so close but she just can't kick the e-cigs! Oh and one of our investigators can't be baptized for ELEVEN YEARS because he is on probation. We thought it was just a short few month probation... i'm not sure what he did to get eleven years of probation but basically he's not considered a progressing investigator anymore. Don also didn't come to church yesterday so we're really worried about that because last week he was progressing so well! And the worst was Zhao dropped us:( She said she comes to church because everyone is so nice, but when we committed her to living the word of wisdom and baptism she flat out told us no and that she wasn't interested in changing her life, only in coming to church to have friends and that she was curious about the book of mormon. So maybe in the future she will be baptized!! But it was a really tough week this week.... Hopefully this coming week is a lot better!! On the plus side we did see a few miracles this week!:):) We have four new potential investigators that we found while tracting that said we could come back this coming week and share a message with them. If they invite us back after that they will be considered new investigators!:) Another way cool blessing we saw this week was that Debbie asked for a blessing! She had been so against getting a blessing to help her quit smoking, but she texted us late one night and told us that she really really wanted a blessing. The next day we came over to her trailer with the elders (Elder Johnson our zone leader and his new missionary that came out with me Elder Holmes) and Elder Johnson gave one of the most powerful blessings i've ever heard in my life!! He blessed her to immediately feel the power of the Holy Ghost in her life to have that desire to stop smoking. Debbie isn't an emotional person, but she had tears streaming down her face after. I love hearing investigators describe feeling the spirit for the first time! She said she just felt love and peace washing over her and that she had the strongest desire not to smoke anymore! It really was an amazing experience to have!:) 

So a quick spiritual thought because i'm a missionary and that's what we do!!:):) If nothing else, i've learned so much about the atonement on my mission and how it affects me personally!! Growing up in the church you hear about the atonement all of the time, so it becomes almost something you don't really think about how big of a meaning it has. I teach the atonement all day to people, but i'm just beginning to finally understand that it applies to me personally!!!!!! Like i've never really done a huge thing in  my life where I needed the full weight of the atonement for repentance (like gone to prison or anything) but i'm finally understanding that Christ has felt what I feel EXACTLY, even when that is just homesickness or worry or fear or concern for my investigators. That has made all of the difference for me this week!!!!!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of the letters and emails, i'll write letters in reply to the emails I got if you didn't get an email back from me today!:)

Pictures: Sister Vea and I matched one day, I'm getting really good at mastering the dog balloon animal, and a picture of part of my area while tracting:)

Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Worthen

Pictures from week of October 19th

Some of the latest pictures from Sister Worthen:

At the missionary booth at the local
farmer's market, making balloon
animals and hats!

Apparently they wore matching dresses!  :)

Their area they are serving in.

First E-mail from the Mission Field

My first week in the field has been a good but crazy one!:) My first area is Moscow Idaho (woo! I know, every missionary wants to serve in Idaho;)) haha just kidding, it's actually really great and I love it! I'll probably be in this area for about 3 months is my guess. My trainer's name is Sister Vea and she is from Tonga!! She's so funny and we are so opposite so it definitely took a few days of getting to know each other's personality. She's very feisty and sassy, but we are getting along great!:) She doesn't have a drivers license so I am the one driving. I've gotten to know the area pretty quick that way! We have the car for half of the week and then we bike for the other half. There are so many hills here!! I'm going to maybe break even between all of the member meals and biking the hills!:) We have six investigators right now that we are hoping will be baptized in November for the most part! All six of them were at church yesterday which is amazing. I love them all so much already and I've only been here a week. Being a missionary is the greatest! Some days are kind of hard but making it through the hard days makes the good days even more worth it! Today i'll have time to write letters and such so check my blog for lots more details on the investigators and the area, my family will update them when they get the letter! I love you all!

My new address:

1531 Lenter St. Apt. #6

Moscow ID 83843

Ofa Atu!!! (that's Tongan for love you, I'm learning so much culture here in idaho!;))

Love, Sister Worthen!

At the Airport and Arriving in Spokane

Taya with her MTC companion
at the airport, ready to
head to Spokane

With President and Sister Dymock

All the new incoming missionaries to
the Washington Spokane Mission

With Sister Vea, Taya's trainer

First area is Moscow, Idaho!

Visual aid for a lesson

Brittin sent this from
the MTC bookstore

Last Letter From the MTC - Off To Spokane in the Morning!

We received this email from Sister Worthen yesterday.  It was her P-day, but also the Saturday sessions of conference.  She was able to listen to conference and still be able to write a few emails.  It was great to hear from her!  She will also be able to call us from the airport on Monday morning.  I'm so looking forward to that! - Brad

"Hey everyone!

I'm flying out to Spokane Washington tomorrow night/Monday morning! We have to get up at 2;30 AM and leave the MTC by 3:30, and our flight is at 8:30! I'll be in Spokane by 9:30 (but we lose an hour so it will still be 8:30 there:)) And i couldn't be more excited to actually start teaching real people and meet my trainer! 

The MTC has been a really great experience and I've learned a ton! I think I've learned more in this week and a half than I ever have before about this Gospel! I'm just barely beginning to understand the Atonement too. Our teachers were great and we did a ton of role playing (which isn't my favorite, but I learn a lot) and our investigators were so great! Both "Bill" and "Barbara" said that once they got an answer that the Book of Mormon was true that they would be baptized! My companion and I were both surprised that Bill accepted the invitation because he was our least progressing investigator. Barbara was definitely my favorite, she was this sweet older lady who LOVED to talk about everything! Her family died when she was only 14 and she spent her entire teenage years in and out of foster care homes. The first vision and restoration lesson really stuck with her, but her favorite lesson was the plan of salvation! Her biggest question was why bad things happen to good people. The spirit was so strong when we taught her the atonement and the plan of salvation! She gave us a huge hug and said her first prayer out loud in front of us. It was the cutest prayer I've ever heard! She told God that "having church (general conference) on TV was a really good idea and that was super convenient for everyone, so thanks for thinking of that 'cuz that was a real brilliant idea!" I'm going to miss teaching Barbara so much. The spirit is so strong here, and even though classes are really long, we are learning so  much about how to be better missionaries! 

So some fun things about the MTC! The bathroom in our residence is literally a choir. Everyone sings in the shower and all of the girls join in and harmonize as people walk in and out of the bathroom getting ready. It's moments like that I wish I didn't sound like a dying seal when I sang;) The elders in my district gave everyone blessings, and Sister Armstrong (my companion) and mine were both really beautiful! We're the only sisters in the district and the elders are kind of protective of us. They're like older brothers who tease us, but then defend us when anyone else tries to tease us if that makes sense:) I've really learned a lot from them! Anyways it was the first time that some of them had ever given a blessing which was really cool! Our district also picks one person a night to say good things about and it's nice to hear that we're doing something right! Sometimes the classes can be really overwhelming and intense and it feels like you're doing everything wrong. but if we do our best and rely on the Spirit everything will work out!:) 

Most days we wake up at 5:45 because there isn't enough time in the mornings to get everything done! Basically you just sleep to stay alive and sane here.;) It felt a bit like one never ending day separated by a few hours of sleep and changing clothes every once in awhile. Our new branch president's name is President Metcalf. His wife is the sweetest woman I've ever met and she gives all of the sister big hugs when she sees us:) it's nice to get a hug instead of a handshake every once in awhile! My companion and i have been getting along great, and it will be sad to say goodbye when we get to Spokane! I love the girls in my zone (they are my roommates too) but since they are going to Seattle i won't see them at all for the next eighteen months! most of them are from Utah though:) Sister Akina (she's Hawaiian) literally is the funniest person I've ever met! Everything she says makes us laugh!

I've seen Britt (Elder Hekking) a lot here too! It's nice to have your best friend in the MTC:) The elders in my district call him "Elder Bae" but they really like him. It's pretty funny because they are allowed to tease me about it, but when anyone else tries they get all defensive for me:) I'm going to miss them! They fly out to Orlando the same night we fly to Spokane. 

Well I love and miss all of you so much! Thank you for all of your letters and packages! They really help and they're total bragging rights here in the MTC;) I'm surprised at how happy I am here and how much I LOVE being a missionary! It's hard work, but just taking it one day at a time and doing the very best you can in the moment and relying on the Lord gets us through:) Being surrounded by other missionaries is amazing. I kind of understand a little bit more what Heleman's army would have been like:)

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love,

Sister Worthen

PS I couldn't figure out pictures other than how to send them to my family real quick, so check my blog that my parents update!"

Some Pictures From the MTC

Taya sent us a few pictures yesterday from the MTC.  It was so good to see her, her companion, and the missionaries in her district! - Brad

Sister Worthen and her wonderful companion Sister Armstrong

Sister Worthen, Sister Armstrong, and the missionaries
in their district.  Bro. Christiensen on the right is
one of their teacher/trainers

In front of the Provo Temple

The three companionships that share a room.
The other two sets of sisters are heading to Seattle

The missionaries in their district,
and Sister Felt, their teacher/trainer

Care packages mean a lot to her.  So much
so that she took pictures of them!

...and another