Kyla Joan Worthington: April 27, 2015

Hello my favorites,
How are you? I hope this email finds all of you doing well. I am grateful for the time that I get to sit down and express with you what it on my heart and share with you some of my feelings. This week was a pretty solid week. I was able to go to Charlotte 5 times, which is A LOT! It's about 30-45 minutes away from Waxhaw, and obviously not in my area so we never really get to go up there! Last P-day we went down there to get a new car. I now drive Timmy the Toyota and he's pretty cute. :) Tuesday we went to Charlotte for the New Missionary Trainer Trainee meeting and that was so fantastic. Words can't even describe how good that was. I was able to see the 5 missionaries that I came in with and we were able to be instructed by President and Sister Craven for 6 hours! AH! It was unreal. President Craven literally has become my favorite person. He is perfection. He taught a lot about the principle of being teachable and how that is going to get us the farthest on our missions. He challenged us to put aside our desire to be impressive, and rather have a desire to be impressed. I have really tried working on that a lot this past week and it has really been quite interesting to see the results of that. He talked about many other amazing things that I could share with you, but I would be on here for hours. I was able to take a lot of notes though so I promise I will share them all with you later. Towards the end of the meeting, he go very emotional and went on to tell us that as a mission president, he gets a report card. He said that it will be given to him in about 10 years from now, when we are all grown up, raising our own families, baptizing our children, and getting them to the temple. He said that baptizing and bringing others into this gospel is important, but the most important conversion on my mission will be the conversion of myself. President Craven has a lot of "one liners" which we call "Cravenisms" and 2 of my most favorite ones are.. "When you know who you are, you act differently", and "Today, tomorrow, and forever." Everything that I am learning on my mission will be with me for the rest of my life. I am beginning to see that my mission is like my MTC experience for life. It truly has changed me and I am a completely new person. Anyways, to make a long story short, the meeting was amazing and I will never forget the things I learned and the way that I felt.
Wednesday, we went to Charlotte because we had interviews! AH! That was life changing as well. President shared with me some amazing things and gave me some great council and advice. He got really emotional in our interview and shared with me some very personal feelings. He looked me in the eyes and said, "Sister Worthington, promise me one conversion on your mission.... You." It was just so powerful and that is something that I have really learned thus far. My mission isn't about me, but I am converting myself and preparing myself for the rest of my life. He also told me flat out that I am going to be a Relief Society President so that was kinda interesting, haha. We started laughing and I told him that he better be kidding. After I got out of my interview, someone mentioned to me that that interview will be my last interview with President Craven because next transfer is zone conference and the next transfer they go home, so that was kinda sad, but I am at least grateful that I got one in with him! Because it seriously changed my life! I will absolutely be forever grateful for the time that i have been able to have with him. However, I am really looking forward to the Alexanders and I have heard many wonderful things as well so I am excited! I am so lucky because not a lot of people get to learn from 2 mission presidents, and I do, so lucky me!
The rest of the week was pretty great. I was able to go on my first exchange and that was really quite fun! I was a little bit nervous because I have been so used to Sister Ekstrom and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I learned a lot from the other Sister and it was a good experience for me! I stayed here in Waxhaw and Sister Ekstrom left so i was kinda in charge of running the ship here and it ended up going really well! Church yesterday was great! The 2 speakers that spoke are actually from Utah... they are Cassidy & Carson McCalisters Sister and brother in law and it was just fun to make the connection! They are down here for 6 months or so and are in my ward so it was fun to talk about A-town and bring up some connections! She is feeding us on Tuesday and we are really excited! The stake has also asked that each ward prays individually for the missionaries in their ward by name, so there is a cute little sticky note up on the pulpit that says "Sister Ekstrom and Sister Worthington" and hearing everyone pray specifically for me is just the greatest thing in the world! Rather than praying for all the missionaries in general, if you pray for specific ones by name, I promise you it is more powerful and more meaningful! Me and my companion have been feeling the blessings that come from that!
As far as the work goes.... it's a little tough right now. We are just trying to increase our teaching pool and are trying to find new investigators. We did find a new family that we are working with and I am SOOO excited! It's this young couple with a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old boy. Neither of the parents have been baptized in another religion or anything and they don't attend any church.. so this is like the perfect scenario! We are excited to see where it goes! We have only had 2 lessons with them, so we are hoping to see them progress! Harrison is still doing well.... although he had work come up yesterday so he wasn't able to come to church, which means that we have to push his baptism date back one week because he has to attend sacrament meeting a certain number of times... but we are still praying that everything goes well. he truly is unreal and it's been so fun to watch his life change and turn around!
This weekend we had the opportunity to go to this program called "The Garden". It was something that was put on by 2 stakes, but it was AMAZING. It was basically like the "Women at the Well" presentation that you did mom... but all about the atonement. I don't know if you can get a hold of it somehow or look into... but i would HIGHLY recommend it. They have been preparing for like 4-5 months so it's like a huge deal, but they performed it both Friday and Saturday night and it was just outstanding. It is a program by Bryce Neubert and Michael Mclean. I don't know if it's like something that they do in other areas of the country.. or if it's just something that they do here... but look into if you can. It was just fabulous! We had a lot of non members there so it was a good experience for us as well!
I truly am loving everything about my mission and I am loving serving the Lord. This last week was a little bit difficult just because I found myself being a little bit more homesick than usual, but I am doing better now. I am really starting to get to know the Bishop and the members here and that is helping me a lot! They are all so amazing! Each night that we go to dinner it just reminds me of how much I miss mommy's cooking haha. I miss all the little things that you do mom. I know that if you were to have missionaries over... you would go ALL out!! I am really grateful for the love and support the members give us though! If any of you have missionaries in your ward or stake, invite them over for dinner and spoil them! It's the best thing ever! and they are taking care of me so you better take care of them!!
I am glad everything at home is going well! Let me know how the house situation turns out.. i have been praying super hard for that so let me know! I know that no matter what happens, the lord has a plan for every single one of us.. and I promise daddy, it will work out! Don't stress! He knows what's up and it's all on his timing. That is one thing that I have definitely learned while being out here! It's not my timing, it's his! I know that this is the true church and I am so grateful to be here in North Carolina. There is no place I'd rather be. Family, I love you so much. Kennadi, Kamryn, Cole, Chelsea, Kaiden, I LOVE YOU!! Never ever forget that. & never ever forget that your savior loves you even more than I do. I know that is really hard to believe... but it's actually true! Lean on him in everything that you do and you will be blessed.
Mom and Dad, Thank you SO much for the packages and letters. Holy cow. I have the best parents in the world. Mom, I just smiled so big when I opened up that package. Haha you have no idea how happy that made me and how excited I was. It came at the perfect time. I loved the randomness of it. It was just perfect. I also have been taking those vitamins you gave me every single day.... so hopefully that is keeping me healthy! & the oils... oh my. they are just life saving haha so I promise you all is well. I am sleeping great, eating even better, and am enjoying every second of this amazing opportunity that I have been given! I pray for y'all every single day, all day long. I want you to know how much I love each and every one of you. I know I say it a lot, but i really do mean it with everything in me. I couldn't do this without all of your love and support. I feel your prayers. I know that he lives and that he is real and aware of our lives. Keep up the good work. I hope you have a great week! Let me know if there is anything I can do for you! :) I have the best family out there, and I couldn't be more blessed!! Sending all my love, hugs, and kisses your way!! Keep the faith! XOXO
Sister Kyla Worthington