Hello family!
How is everyone doing? Another week down. & another month down! The 18th of the month is always a tender one. Time is just flying by. I literally blink my eyes and another month has gone by. I hope you all had a wonderful week and were able to count your many blessings everyday! Right now I am super duper tired. We were super busy this morning and got lots of things done and then we went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch! It is usually not open on Monday's but due to the holiday.. it was open. We had to take advantage of it! Then after that we went to a birthday party for a little 9 year old and went to one of those trampoline places for a few hours. This little kid just wanted to invite the missionaries to his birthday party so 8 missionaries all came and just had the time of our lives. One of the better preparation days I have had. Now we are just hanging out at the church and playing some sports. I am ready to just lay down and take a nap. So, I apologize up front if this email is a struggle.
Transfer calls were last night and guess what, I get to stay in Tanglewood with Sister Cottis. I am so excited! We definitely still have a lot to do here and I know that our time together is not done. I am glad the Lord thinks that too! Things are starting to really progress and we are just moving right up the hill. We have been able to find quite a few new investigators and are really hoping to get some baptism dates set for February. We had a zone conference this past week with President and Sister Alexander and the main focus of the meeting was about declaring repentance and baptizing converts. We need to do better. I don't know if you have heard, but all missionaries world wide are having a broadcast from Salt Lake City this Wednesday and that is going to be the topic of discussion. I know that there is more that we need to be doing to bring more people into the church. After zone conference there were a few things that I took away from the meeting. I need to be a better teacher. I want to be a more powerful teacher. I feel like if I can improve my teaching skills, more people will get baptized. I also want to work on becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary. I eat, sleep, breathe, and dream that book, but feel like I could do better at applying what I am actually learning. Application is KEY. My training went really really well. I was super happy with it. It helped to have a lot of time to prepare and I really felt like the spirit helped me the whole time. I also got asked to accompany a musical number last minute (definitely not the first time that's happened) and I literally got the sheet music 15 minutes before the meeting started and somehow pulled it together! I have so many new songs to play when I come home. Unless God is just blessing me with some special gift and the second I come home it's all going to go away... I don't know, but whatever it is right now, I will take it. It has been so fun and so miraculous to see myself being able to read music so easily!
Right now we are working with a lady named Fonda and a man named Keith. They are both doing well. This past week we were able to extend a baptism date to Keith for February 13th and he said yes! We were super pumped. He is this cute little retired guy and just loves to meet with us. We always have to meet outside on his front porch because we cannot go inside with just him, but he always has the chairs set up and has our glasses of water and is ready to go! We just need him to come to church now! The past few days we were able to find a few new people. I was looking through the area book the other day and came across the name James Graham. I felt super inspired to just stop by and see him. We knocked on his door and he was totally home and super excited to see us. He went on to tell us that he had a dream about us. Creepy... but we just went with it. He said that he dreamed that 2 young ladies were going to come to his door and help him turn his life around. We were literally speechless. He has a lot of changes that he needs to make in his life but he is really excited to change and knows that through the Savior's help, anything is possible. We have an appointment with him tomorrow morning and we are excited to see where it goes. Hoping to extend a date to him! Please pray for him!
Yesterday was super amazing! Sister Cottis and I woke up at 6:30 and then started to make blueberry pancakes and bacon for the elders. They always make us breakfast so we thought we'd be nice and make them some. Well, a few minutes into our lovely cooking, the smoke detector decided to go off. We kind of freaked out and ran and opened the doors. Well.... to our lovely surprise, IT WAS SNOWING!! We literally screamed and ran outside in our jammies & bare feet. It made me so happy. You have no idea. I literally felt like I was at home. That started my sabbath day off really well and just carried me through the rest of the day. We had a special conference at church and I really enjoyed that. It was a special southeastern broadcast and only this part of the world was able to see it. We were able to watch a broadcast from Salt Lake City and were able to hear from some of the brethren of the church. It was super powerful and y'all missed out.
Unfortunately we weren't able to partake of the sacrament and that was super upsetting. I needed it so bad. The rest of the day was just rough because I didn't feel like I had the spirit with me. I felt like I wasn't teaching by the spirit and I just felt super "off". I don't really know how to explain it, but I didn't really like it. It is going to be a long week because I am craving that renewal of my covenants so bad. Melissa brought her boyfriend to church and we were able to have a few other non members there and that was really great.
We ended the night off real well with a yummy homemade Philippino meal. We had this amazing soup and some yummy springrolls. Robert and his girlfriend came to dinner with us and we had such a marvelous time. His girlfriend is so amazing and she seemed super interested and wants to learn more. We are so so so excited. Robert has been on FIRE lately and just wants to share the Gospel with everyone. He calls us all the time and asks if he can come to appointments with us. He has definitely seen how the Gospel has blessed his life and just wants to share it with everyone! I wish that every member of the church could have the kind of enthusiasm to share the Gospel as he does. He is amazing! I love him sooooo much. We click so well and I just know that he was placed into my life for a reason.
I have learned so much this past week and there has been so much on my mind. I wish that I could relay to you what I am feeling and the thoughts that have been on my mind. It is actually super difficult through email. I have been studying a lot about divine nature and about who we are as children of God. There was a few good talks I read and after lots of fasting and praying, God has been able to help me more fully understand who I am and my purpose here while on Earth.
Lately I have just been feeling that there are so many people on this earth who are just clueless. They are so confused who they are and why they are here. They don't understand that God has a plan for them and they are living day by day without any true purpose. I strongly feel that if we could come to understand who we truly are... we will change the world. I read a talk by President Nelson that was given to the young single adults and was just blown away at what he felt so inspired to share. I want to share some of his talk with you. He talked about what it means to be a true millennial.
The term millennial is perfect for us in this day and age because we are truly saved for these last days. That term should remind us of who we really are and what our purpose in life really is. A True Millennial is one who was taught and did teach the gospel of Jesus Christ premortally and who made covenants with our Heavenly Father there about courageous things. A True Millennial is a man or woman whom God trusted enough to send to earth during the most compelling dispensation in the history of this world. A True Millennial is a man or woman who lives now to help prepare the people of this world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and His millennial reign. Make no mistake about it--we were born to be a True Millennial. This is us!
President Nelson gives many suggestions on what we can do to help us.
His first recommendation was to learn who we really are. He invited us to ask our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, how He feels about us and our mission here on earth. If you ask with real intent, over time the Spirit will whisper the life-changing truth to you.
Record those impressions and review them often, and follow through with exactness. Once again, application is KEY! He promised that when you begin to catch even a glimpse of how our Heavenly Father sees us and what He is counting on us to do for Him, our lives will never be the same! That is quite the promise from an apostle of the Lord.
His second recommendation was to expect and prepare to accomplish the impossible. God has always asked His covenant children to do difficult things. Because we are covenant-keeping sons and daughters of God, living in the latter part of these latter days, the Lord will ask us to do difficult things. We can just count on it. How will we accomplish the impossible? By doing whatever it takes to strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ by increasing our understanding of the doctrine taught in His restored Church and by relentlessly seeking truth.
His third recommendation is to learn how to access the powers of heaven. I loved this one! He basically just talks about how we need to spend more time in spiritual places and in places where the spirit is present. I have really come to know that that is a true principle. As we are in spiritual places, such as the temple, chapel, on our knees, in our home, whatever it may be, the powers of heaven will be poured out upon us. Prayer is also a super essential part of that. We need to ask what we need to stop doing and what we need to start doing. He gave another promise and said, "I promise you that as you consistently give the Lord a generous portion of your time, He will multiply the remainder." I loved that!!! We can give him our time by being in spiritual places and seeking to feel of his spirit.
His last recommendation was to follow the prophets. Sometimes that can be really hard for people, but we must go back to the basics and realize that they know what is best for us. I loved a quote that said, "You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may contradict your political views. It may contradict your social views.
It may interfere with some of your social life. But if you listen to these things, as if from the mouth of the Lord Himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory’ (D&C 21:6).” How true that is! I know that as we apply those recommendations, we will begin to understand who we really are and the great potential that we have.
President Nelson's wife talked a lot about the word desperation. I loved everything that she said. When we’re desperate to be guided by heaven, we work harder than ever to tune in to heaven. Are we desperate for the Savior to heal us and to help us? To cleanse us, guide us, protect us, and save us? We need to be desperate for Jesus Christ to help us because there are so many things that we cannot do on our own. Now, there are very few guarantees in this life, but there is one: There is a 100 percent guarantee that if we will truly repent, the Savior will cleanse us and heal us--thoroughly, totally, and completely, but we must get to that desperation point! Where we HAVE to have him. Desperation is a great motivator! As we increase our vision, we will begin to spend our time differently! We will begin to see that the things of the world really don't matter. When we’re desperate to be the true disciples of Jesus Christ we were born to be, we suddenly find the courage and determination to remove anything and everything from our lives that is unholy and impure. It is so hard, but oh so worth it. I have loved learning about these things and it has really made me have a different perspective on things.
I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Gospel that I do have. I am so grateful that I have this chance to serve God's children and to help them discover who they are, while in turn, discovering who I am.
I know that I am a daughter of God. I feel his love every single day.
I know that he is real and I know that He lives. I couldn't be more grateful. I love each one of you so very much. I am grateful for your examples and the love and support that you give me. I am thankful for your prayers on my behalf and for the love that I feel from you. I love my Savior. I love each one of you. I pray with all of my heart for each one of you every single day, multiple times a day. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Remember who you are and what you stand for. I love you! Talk to you in seven. Sending all my love my love & more from NC! xo
Sister Ky Worthington
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