Sister in Spokane: "Board Stretchers" and Conference

Hey everyone!

This week has been a great week. To start with, we volunteered a few times at the soup kitchen and thrift store called Whispers of Hope. There is a large homeless population here, and the soup kitchen helps feed them. We figured if the Savior were here, that’s probably where he would be too. :)

We have three sets of missionaries here in this area. There is us, a set of elders that are Russian speaking, and a senior couple. The next closest set of missionaries are over an hour away! We spend a lot of time visiting potential investigators, new members, or less actives. It’s also a good area to talk to people on the street here.

We also do some service when we can. This week we did some service for Sister Campbell. We and the elders all dug fence post holes for her wood fence. To be honest, we sisters weren’t a ton of help. We probably did more damage than good. :) At one point we asked the elders what we could do to help and they told us to go find a “board stretcher” … so Sister Jackson and I spent 10 minutes in the shed trying to figure out which tool was a board stretcher. Finally, Sister Campbell came over and asked what we were looking for. We told her, and that’s when she told us that there is no such thing as a board stretcher. Those meanies!

We’ve been teaching an investigator named M___. This week she went to Enrichment night with us, and then we taught her a lesson afterward. She is trying so hard to quit smoking so that she can be baptized. It was a really spiritual lesson, and she got a blessing at the end of it. If she is able to get baptized, she may have to get baptized in Christina Lake. Grand Forks doesn’t have a font, and if an investigator doesn’t have a passport to get into the states, they have to be baptized in the lake! :)

We’ve also came across an awesome lady named L___. She has two daughters and are basically homeless and living in a shelter. She contacted Sister Jackson (a member, not my companion), and they are staying in a cabin behind her house. Turns out she is the most solid investigator ever! She has been to church for the last three weeks, read the entire gospel principles book, the Pearl of Great Price, and a bunch in the Book of Mormon. She is on date for baptism on October 14^th! Unfortunately, she is moving to a shelter in Spokane soon, and we are not sure if she has to move before that date. If so, we will need to make sure the missionaries there connect with her.

We also have J___’s baptism coming up! We’ve been continuing to teach him. He’s the one I mentioned that is 10 years old, and lives with his dad and two little brothers. They live on the Washington side of the border, so he will be able to be baptized down there. I really hope that everything goes well with that. They’ve been coming to church with us.

The one thing that I have really noticed here is how bright the stars are. There isn’t much light to block out the stars at night, and they are so bright! I know, kind of a funny thing for me to notice. :) Oh, and another small item: The Thanksgiving holiday here in Canada is always on the second Monday in October, so this year it is on October 10^th. Our little group of members here are having a Thanksgiving activity. We’ve been inviting everyone we can, and encouraging the members to do the same. Hopefully we will get a good group of people there. :)

Sister Jackson is fantastic! She is fun and hilarious. She is a hard worker, and a really feel like she is helping me to become a great missionary! We get along great, and I think we really complement each other in the way that we teach and do missionary work.

Things are really spread out here, and we cover a large area. We occasionally need to go to training with the rest of the zone, and we go down to Colville for that, which is about an hour and 15-minute drive away. I love the training we receive! I wonder sometimes how the mission is doing as a whole though, because we often hear about things that we need to improve on, and not very much on things that we are doing well. I guess that’s what training is for though, to help us improve in those ways that it’s needed. :) Lately I’ve been wondering if I have become as good a missionary as I could be, and I’ve been praying to know if the Lord is accepting of my work, and if I have been doing enough. We went to the Jackson’s and watched the morning session of conference with them and L___ and her two daughters. My prayers were answered so quickly and directly during Elder Cornish’s talk. It was awesome! I love conference! :)

Well, I better close. I’m healthy and feeling great! Thanks for all the letters and support. You all have a great week!! :)

Love you all,

Sister Worthen