July 18,2016

Hi familia!
How is everyone doing? I hope this little email finds you all well and happy! Have I told you lately how much I love you and how much I miss you all? I am so grateful for the chance that I get to express my love to you at least once a week. I wish I could tell you every single day, but then you would probably all get sick of me real fast. Guess what? It's the 18th of the month and you know what that means.....
First and foremost, I want to apologize for my email last week. Sorry it was on the shorter side and sorry I didn't really go into much detail about what went on in the week. All I can tell you now is that I'm doing much much better and that I'm back in full force, so be ready! This week was really really good and one of the better weeks I've had on my mission. We saw so much success and we were just on fire all week long! I think due to my lack of updating last week, I'm going to go day by day and inform you of everything that went down! Heavenly Father is so aware of me and he has been so good to me this past week. I love him with my whole heart.
Monday:
Last Monday was okay. Wasn't the best preparation day, but it was nice to hang out and relax and prepare for the upcoming week. We spent a lot of our day getting ready for the new sister that was going to be joining us. We picked up another bed from the mission office and set it all up. We put together her study desk and got everything situated. Three sisters in one bedroom and sharing one bathroom is an interesting sight, but we're making it work. After p-day ended, we went to the church for FHE. On our way there, it started raining super hardcore. Then it started to thunder really loud and we saw lots of lightening. As a result, the power went out at the church. After not coming on for 30 minutes, we decided to cancel FHE. Most everyone was already at the church and already made the drive up to Charlotte, so we all decided to make something out of it! A big group of us decided to go out to dinner and hang out for the rest of the night! We went to some yummy Mexican place and had a really good time. Fernando was with us and we decided to teach him while we had 12 members present with us! We taught him about missionary work and service and he loved it. He's already doing missionary work and is excited to continue to share the gospel. We made it home right at 9:00 and then planned, and then hit the sheets. We ended up having a good 30 minute chat while laying in bed and realized that it was going to be the last night that just Sister Nunies and I would have together. We reminisced about the past three months and the amazing time that we had together and the memories that we created! I love the girl to death.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was a really good day. We met up with some elders in our district at the Landmark Diner in Charlotte for an exchange lesson. The elders found a young single adult kid and wanted to transfer him over to us so that we could start teaching him. We taught a good lesson over some challah french toast. It was wonderful! Right after that, we headed over to the mission office to pick up our new sister! We had a trainer meeting with President Alexander and he talked about how to train and some specific things that we need to do. Then we went into the transfer portion of the meeting! It was then and there that we met our dear Sister Nicole Warner. She is wonderful! She is from Gilbert, Arizona and is such a sweetheart. She is so prepared and we are so excited to have her. I also got to see a few other members from the Waxhaw ward and that made my heart really happy. I also saw some of my favorite missionaries and I couldn't help but smile. Transfer days are great. (Especially when you're not the one getting transferred.) I was able to meet Elder Gurney and he going to be in my zone! His trainer is one of my really good friends and I know he'll be taken care of! We're actually currently hanging out at the church right now together so tell his cute mom and aunt (Shannon Gurney) that he is doing well and that I'm taking good care of him! He's a good kid. Right after we picked her up, we packed up the car and headed to our community service at Matthews HELP center. From there we went to dinner with a member, and then we drove all the way up to Huntersville, NC for a lesson with Fernando. It was his last lesson and we finished teaching him everything that he needed to be taught. We went over the baptismal interview questions and set up his date for the interview. It was a very powerful lesson and Sister Warner did great too! She jumped right in and got a real taste of what missionary work is like! After our lesson, we were about to run out of gas and our GPS took us to a gas station that didn't exist, and we were kind of freaking out. It was already almost past curfew and we literally had 10 miles to go until empty, and we were 25 miles away from home. What an adventure. We ended up saying a prayer and found a gas station and everything ended up working out! Just all part of the experience. We went home and planned and fell right asleep. Successful first day.
Wednesday:
Wednesday was great! It was a long day, but a good one! We had a few lessons in the morning with some potential and former investigators and those were really good for Sister Warner to experience! We were able to teach the message of the Restoration a few times and we did pretty good! It's hard learning how to adjust back to being in a trio and how teaching works, but we are getting the hang of it. After our lessons, we met up with a member and went to do some service with her. We drove to a few country clubs in the community and picked up old, used tennis balls for a service project that our YSA ward will be doing in a few weeks. I have never seen so many tennis balls in my life. We gathered over 3000 balls and will be placing them on the bottom of chairs and desks in elementary schools. After that we drove to a mall in south Charlotte and met up with a referral. Well, it was an interesting experience to say the least. He took us to an exclusive warehouse up above the mall and showed us where he worked. He is a photography for one of the biggest stores here in Charlotte called BELK. It's like your typical Macy's or JC Penny's. Anyways, we ended up having a 30 minute lesson with him in his studio and then he did a photo shoot with us. It was interesting, but so fun! I definitely found out that the modeling career is not for me though hahahah. Absolutely not! It was really neat though because he is doing a project and he wanted us to be apart of it. He wanted us to write up a paragraph or two of why we chose to serve a mission and what we hope to accomplish on our missions. He is going to attach it to our photo and is going to do something with it.. Not sure what.. But it was neat to write down my testimony and my thoughts and have him photograph it and edit it in a really neat way. After that, we ate dinner and then headed home. It was a full, busy day.
Thursday:
Another great day! Woke up and did our studies and then got ready to head out to our soup kitchen service. Well, when we got out to the car, we noticed a HUGE scratch and dent on the back side of our brand new 2016 Altima. :( It was the saddest thing ever. There wasn't even a note or anything. We immediately reported it and had to fill out an incident report. The cops came and wrote up some thing and it ended up taking up our morning. It broke my heart that someone didn't even have the integrity or the decency to apologize or even let us know that they hit our car! Gotta love Charlotte people. After service, we went with our elders and had some more all you can eat sushi. Ahh so good. We did weekly planning after and really organized everything and it felt super nice! Then we had dinner at bishop's house and had yummy chicken and salmon. Ugh. More fish. But it was really good. I also got to play on their Steinway piano for a few minutes and felt like I was in heaven. I have really come to love and adore my bishop and his family and it always feels at home when I'm there. Sister B. Reminds me so much of mom and it almost kills me every time we go over there! She takes really good care of us though and I am so grateful for her and for the great example that she is to me! After dinner we had a Skype lesson with Alan! We taught him tithing and fasting and it was a really good lesson! As we taught him, the spirit really confirmed to me that tithing and fasting are real, powerful, true, and that they WORK! Try it and test it out for yourself if you don't believe me. I love how we are able to use our technology and our tools to further the work. God is so good! Alan is doing great and is still set to be baptized on July 24th!
Friday:
Okay, sorry this is getting long. Only a few more days haha. Friday was a good day! We had a district meeting in the morning and it was fun to have a new district leader and new missionaries in the district. We have a really big district, but a powerful one! Lots of missionaries in the district are training too so we have a lot of new missionaries. I am loving training this time. 2nd time is way better. & it just helps that I have Sister Nunies with me! I feel so much more confident and know so much more that it's made it much easier this time around. I hope that Sister Stratford will be able to forgive me one of these days for not being the best trainer haha. I just had no idea what I was doing. Anyways, after district meeting we went home to do our 12 week training and then had lunch, and then pulled out the bikes!! Woot woot! We decided to go to a very popular street and do some bus stop finding. Well, guess what! WE FOUND 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS. Yes! It was miraculous. It was all from sitting at the same bus stop and just talking to everyone who came. I love bus stops. I really made an effort to talk to everyone that I saw and it really worked. God was preparing people for us! After a long, hot, sweaty day of biking, we met up with some members and went out to eat at some Italian restaurant. It was super good and super fun. I think you got a picture from our member that night! Excuse the ugliness of the photo... We looked like a hot mess. Anyways, thanks for the hug momsie! She gave me a huge hug and said that it was from YOU and I loved it! Thank you! :) Friday ended well and we were definitely tired!
Saturday:
Saturday was a great day!!! Surprisingly, because Saturday's are usually our tougher days. We saw a few people, taught a few lessons, picked up Fernando's baptism suit from another set of sisters, then went and had another lesson with the guy that the elders referred us too that I talked about on Tuesday. His name is Qua Jones, and he is amazing! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was AMAZING! Sister Warner invited him to be baptized and we extended the date of August 7th! Start praying for Qua! He is so elect. Right after his lesson, we met Fernando at the church and had his baptismal interview. He passed with flying colors and came out of the interview just beaming. Our district leader said amazing things about him and about the interview and that he was all ready to go! He is so amazing and has literally changed my life. We then went out to dinner with a less active member and had a good time with him, and then drove back to the church to meet up with another less active and had a really good lesson with her. Saturday was a good day. We were super busy all day and had no down time. I love days like that. It helps me focus and really feel like I am fulfilling my purpose as a missionary!
Sunday:
Okay, today was perfect. I couldn't have asked for a better way to end the week. Fernando Aguilar got baptized and it was one of the most specialist times of my life!!! Ahhhhhhhh. He is amazing! The baptismal service was absolutely beautiful and the spirit was so strong. The ordinances were done in Spanish and that made it even better. I know that baptism is real and that it is essential. Fernando was so prepared and was just so happy, all day long. As a result of his baptism, we had 10 non-members at church! Qua came and stayed for all 3 hours and then the baptism, and then even stayed for linger longer! Alan stayed for all of it as well and it both just made them so excited for their own baptisms. I know that there is power in attending baptisms too! The spirit is just so pure and so tender. I loved it! I didn't want the day to end. Linger longer was really good and me and my two cute sisters got to be the judges for the enchilada contest. It was a super hard decision.. But obviously Fernando won. I mean he is Mexican and made the real deal enchiladas, so I was definitely a fan, and plus, he got baptized today, so he had to win! We had to choose him! After linger longer, we went home and did 12 week training again and then went to our lesson with Alan. Alan and his bug boy crew invited us over for dinner that night and they also invited Qua and his girlfriend to come. We ended up teaching all 3 of them and it was miraculous! We finished teaching Alan everything and went over the baptismal interview questions with him! It was a super powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. Qua also got to hear the questions and it definitely made him think... So he's going to already be so prepared for his!! :) We then went and hooked up with the Sage Pest Control team and had a cookout. It was really fun. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm on a mission because we have so much fun in the YSA ward. I also got to see and hang out with Colby and Lauren Watts (from AF, went to HS with them) so that was pretty fun. It was time to go home and we ended the night of with a super powerful planning session and with a really heartfelt prayer full of gratitude. Another one of God's children entered into a covenant with him. I know that Heavenly Father was up there smiling and that he was proud of us! There isn't a better feeling in the world.
Well friends, that's about it. Sorry that was so long and probably boring for the most of you! Sorry it wasn't all that spiritual this week. I just thought I'd update you on my life and get you involved with some of the things that I'm doing as a little sister missionary in Charlotte. I want you to each know that I love the lord and that I love missionary work. This is where I need to be and this is what the Lord needs me to be doing! I am so grateful for the experiences that I've had and for the strength that I've received. I know that the Lord is watching over me and that he is aware of me, as he is you. 

Ponder this scripture this week: Alma 7:7 “For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people."
Our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer LIVES!! He is among us and will be forever and ever. Continue to trust in him and lean on him. I hope y'all have a good time at the family reunion and that you be safe and remember who you are! I will definitely be thinking about you and missing you!! I cannot wait to see you. We are getting closer and closer. Thank you for all of your prayers and your support. I am sprinting to the end and I know that God has some great things in store!! I hope y'all have a great week. Talk to ya in seven. Let me know if you need anything! Xo
Sister Ky Worthington