Sister in Spokane: A Birthday, a Marine Coin, and No We Are Not Nuns!

Hi everyone!

Well, I’m officially 20 years old now. :) It’s weird to think that I’m 20. Mom and Dad, thank you so much for the birthday package. I got it on Saturday, and it was the cutest thing ever! I loved that each gift was individually wrapped too. :) The Hekkings sent me a wonderful gift as well, and it was so nice of them to think of me. The Sowards treated us to an awesome dinner that Mary made, with cake and ice cream. It was great! And I have to admit that I teared up when I opened Rick’s gift. He served in the Marines, and he gave me his Marine safety coin! It was the one that he carried with him during the time that he served in the military. He told me that when I carry it, that Marine angels are walking with me to make sure that I am safe. :) He also gave me some advice: “Don’t let anyone doubt you, and never let them see you sweat.” I love the Sowards!

Sister Lott is awesome! :) I love her so much. So easy to get along with, and the sweetest person I’ve ever met! She’s obedient, and hard working. We laugh all the time. She decorated our room with birthday decorations, and it looked great! She also made chocolate cupcakes, but made sure I only had one so I didn’t get sick. :)

As far as the missionary work here in this area, unfortunately we have a low number of investigators right now. There were several that we had to drop because they weren’t progressing at all, and several that dropped us. :( So we are really working hard in trying to find those that are interested in learning more about the gospel. I don’t think I’ve tracted this much on my mission before. :) We’ve also been trying to visit our recent contacts and seeing members for any referrals. We also try to do service for others when we can. We did some yard work for a potential investigator named Kay, she is Joe’s landlord. It was good to do some “physical” work for her. :) We are working with some of the less active members of the ward too, in hopes to help them progress. And we’re teaching the new member lessons to some of the recent converts like Virginia.

We had a really great lesson with Joe this week. He’s our new investigator, in his 50’s and does tile work. He’s pretty passionate about it, and does a great job! Anyways, he sat right down on the grass and we taught him the whole restoration. He said he would read the Book of Mormon and come to church!

Brother Fullmer, our Ward Mission Leader, got called as a High Councilor. :( We’ll miss having him as our Ward Mission Leader.

We left a candy bar and note at “N”s house. Hopefully we hear from her soon! Her Dad doesn’t care for us that much, and last time we met with her, he came out and saw us and said “I haven’t had women in my home for 20 years, and now I get two of them, and they are nuns! And they aren’t even old fat nuns either.” I guess I’ll take that as a compliment. Maybe we’ll make him some cookies or something. :)

On Wednesday night, I started feeling super sick. Sister Lott said I looked as white as a ghost, and had me call the mission nurse, and we had to go in for the night. It turns out I had a fever, and the nurse said that there was a 24-hour virus going around the mission, at it looks like I caught it. We had to stay in the apartment for Thursday as well, which is the most boring thing ever. I’d much rather be out working! Thursday I had fever and chills all day, and dizzy as well. But I slept for 16 hours, and was feeling a lot better by Friday.

District meeting this week was really good! Elder Christensen is a good district leader. He had us set a district goal for this transfer of finding three new investigators a week. Sounds like a low number, but it’s pretty hard actually. Last month we only found two new investigators total. But we’ll work really hard, and I know the Lord will bless us! Sister Lott and I also made a companionship goal to use every minute that we have effectively, and we’ve been working hard at that.

Thank you for all your support, kindness, and letters. They mean a lot to me! This is an awesome work to be doing, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now! It’s great to be in the service of the Lord, and doing his work!

Love you all,

Sister Worthen