May 26, 2015 ~Completely Blessed~

Hello family!
How is everyone doing? I cannot believe that another week has come and gone. It kind of seemed like a long week because our preparation day got switched around due to the Memorial holiday, but it's been a good one for sure! This past week we had a mission conference in Charlotte and that was incredible! So good! It was only half of the mission because President wanted to talk to more of us individually, but it was still perfect! It was my first mission conference and it was amazing! I was expecting a member of the 70 to be there just because that is usually what happens, but because President and Sister Craven are leaving so soon, they are trying to spend as much time as possible with us and you can tell that they just have so much to say and not enough time to say it! President spoke on how we can become extraordinary missionaries and the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood, and Sister Craven spoke on the Book of Mormon. They were both wonderful. I wish that you could have all been a fly on the wall listening to them. Sister Craven shared a statistic that 50% of missionaries right now will go inactive sometime in their life after we get home from our missions. I was shocked! She went on to say that it all goes back to the Book of Mormon. Do you have a core experience of the Book of Mormon? Is it the foundation of your testimony? If you don't have an experience or if it's not the foundation of your testimony, I would invite you to start reading the Book of Mormon again and praying for that testimony. We must have our own conversion of the Book of Mormon! So many people are falling away simply because their testimony of the Book of Mormon isn't strong enough! I don't want that to be any of you! "Every man is eventually backed up to the wall of faith". Don't just be a believer. Put yourself up against a wall and ASK yourself if YOU know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and I now know that it is true. It is what changes lives and is the converting tool. I love love love the book and am so grateful that the mission has helped my refocus and gain my testimony of the Book of Mormon. Anyways, Mom & Dad, please find out when their homecoming is and please go to it! I'm sure it'll be life changing! I also had another incredible surprise this week! I got to see my uncle Mike Schlappi! Ah! Thank you thank you for that wonderful surprise! My spirits were lifted and it will definitely be a mission memory that I will forever hold near and dear to my heart.
Yesterday was a great Memorial Day! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday as well. A member invited us over for lunch and we had a steak and mahi mahi. Topped off with some southern banana pudding. It was definitely one of the better meals I've had thus far. Still miss mama's cooking.. but this was still pretty satisfying. We had a pretty good day of finding and were able to see some miracles! Then, a few days ago we were also invited by two of our young investigators to come to their parents house for dinner! We were super excited because we had never had dinner with an investigator before! We had a HUGE cookout and it was so much fun! Hamburgers & hot dogs, potato salads, chips, watermelon, baked beans, the real deal. It was such an amazing experience! Here Sister Ekstrom and I were sitting around a dining room table with 4 strangers. All of another faith. The dad was a pastor for another church and the mother was just the sweetest thing ever! It was an experience that I will never forget. It was so neat to be able to have people love us and respect us for who we are. It was really good because they saw us as normal people and they really saw a different side of the LDS faith. We had so much fun talking and getting to know one another. I truly have begun to love the people here. It was the best Memorial Day yet. I do miss the cabin, but this was a sweeter experience. All day I could feel the love of my Grandma Joan and my Grandma Sudweeks surrounding me. It was a beautiful day and I am so grateful to be there granddaughter. I know that they are my guardian angels and that they are watching over me and protecting me while I am serving. We also were able to get on our bikes for the first time yesterday and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! I was laughing my head off because the helmets.. hahah they are just the best. I look like a complete goof, but I don't even care! It was so nice to get some fresh air and ride around downtown! We are approaching the end of the month and our miles are really scarce... we are running out.. so we have been doing a lot of walking and biking lately! :) We also had 2 sisters in our district get lice last week... so you can imagine what I was thinking. Yeah, I was freaking out. Mother you would've laughed so hard if you could have seen me. I was making Sister Ekstrom check my head like 80 times a day. Ewww I was so paranoid. We spent like 3 hours with those sisters... and they had lice! AH! Freaked me out. But, Sister Ekstrom & I didn't get it so all is well. :) :) I am being blessed. Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week!
This past week I really had a goal to focus on my baptismal & temple covenants, and to understand the significance of the sacrament. All I can say is... WOW! It was an incredible week! I have come to understand that we are definitely not perfect. The covenants we make are constantly being broken every single day. Our covenant was a promise to God.. and we are breaking that promise!! Our covenants are preparing us for eternity. By trying our best to keep our covenants, we are practicing for eternity. For the rest of our lives. We are preparing to meet God. I was asked on the spot in a training to share my testimony about my endowment experience. I was so grateful for that opportunity because I was able to reflect on my own personal covenant and what it means to me. I hope you all take the time to reflect on your own personal covenant. I hope you will never forget the feeling that you felt when you went through the temple. Now regarding the sacrament, this past Sunday was probably the best Sunday that I have ever had. For studies that morning, I thought I'd study about the sacrament and Sabbath day observance. I read the talk entitled "The Sacrament, A renewal for the Soul" by Cheryl A. Esplin given in the October 2014 conference session. I invite all of you to read that talk this week! Please please please! The sacrament should be a truly spiritual experience, a holy communion, and a renewal for the soul. How do we view and partake of the sacrament? It needs to become more holy and sacred to us. In True to the Faith it says that "The more we ponder its significance, the more sacred it becomes to us". I partook of the Sacrament with a different mentality this week. Truly reflecting on the covenants I have made and looking back on my past week, wondering how I am going to be better the next week. I looked at all the young men who were blessing and passing the sacrament and was just amazed. They are worthy representatives giving the ME the chance to repent and renew my covenants. My eyes were filled with tears as I was feeling the Saviors love surrounding me. He loves me enough to let me repent and become better. As the rest of the meeting went on, all of the speakers just so happened to speak on the sacrament and the Sabbath day. What are the chances! One man spoke about the Sabbath being a delight, coming from the talk given this past conference. He asked the whole congregation, "Is your Sabbath really a delight"? I ask you that same question. Getting ready for church in the mornings, keeping kids quiet during Sacrament meeting, stressing about cooking dinner and other duties, I ask, Is this a delight? I want you all next Sunday to truly focus on making your Sabbath day a delight. Spend time with your families, your children, and your spouse. Where would you rather be on the Sabbath than at home with your family? We only have like 52 Sundays a year. We better be taking advantage of those 52 days. I invite you to take a spiritual shift and change whatever you need to change to make sure that your Sabbath day is a delight! What sign are you going to give to God that you are truly grateful for the Sabbath day? Sundays have definitely become a different day for me on the mission. I look forward to them so much! I wish that I could have understood the significance of the sacrament and my covenants earlier in life, but I am grateful that my mission is teaching me a few things. :)
I am now just realizing that this email is extremely long... so I will give you all a break now. I want you to know that I know my Savior lives and loves each one of us. The Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. I am so happy and I love being a missionary! I feel so blessed to be in North Carolina and to have the greatest family in the world. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I hope you all have a wonderful week full of joy & miracles! I want you all to know that there is a girl in NC who loves her family and prays for them every single day! Remember who you are and whose you are! Keep doing what's right and keep pressing on! I love you! Sending all my hugs & kisses!! xo
Hermana Kyla Worthington

(yes, sometimes I wish I spoke Spanish. I call Sister Ekstrom Hermana Ekstrom all the time and she laughs every time.)

May 18, 2015

Family & friends,
Hello hello! How are y'all doing! First off, I would like to apologize for my super lengthy letters. Apparently I need to tame down my novels! I am just a super fast typer and I have so much to say that I just can't keep it all in! So, I am forewarning everyone right up front. If you don't want to read the rest of the letter, that is totally fine with me. You might as well stop right here. :)
Let me begin by expressing my love towards Darren & Marianne Wooden! Oh my goodness! If you don't know these people, I strongly encourage you to get to know them! Last week they randomly showed up at my door and surprised Sister Ekstrom & I with a cute little bouquet of cookies!! I am so grateful that I was able to see them! I was completely shocked and my day was brightened! Thank you, thank you!
My week here in Waxhaw was definitely one for the books. It was a week full of miracles and tender mercies! My week started off with a beautiful package on my doorstep all the way from Germany! Meike & Karen, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You don't even know how happy that made me. Me and my companion have been enjoying German chocolate all week! We definitely don't need it, but we also can't turn it down because it is so wonderful!! Last Monday we drove to Rockhill and joined our district for a bowling activity. I would just like to announce to everyone that I got the highest score out of my whole district. A solid 111. Even in a dress. So, it was definitely a good day! That was a great start to the week and it just seemed to get better from there!
We found a lot of new potential investigators last week and we are increasing our teaching pool! I am not sure how promising they are and if they are going to actually go anywhere, but It is still fun finding people who are actually somewhat interested (interested enough to actually invite you back) in the message that we share! I am looking forward to visiting them this week and am excited to see where they all go!! As far as the current investigators go, all is well.
Sister Ekstrom & I hadn't heard from Harrison in over a week and we were getting really nervous. He wasn't returning any of our calls or texts, which is not like him. We had the impression to go stop by his house and just see if he was home. On our way there, we saw him walking down the street. We were able to get in contact with him again and set up another lesson. We taught him on Thursday and ended up having a really good lesson. He is still wanting to get baptized, we are just taking things really slow because we want to make sure that he is absolutely ready and absolutely serious about it! I think he wants to get baptized because he likes the thought of it and it all sounds so good to him. I mean come on, the thought of having your sins washed away and being able to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, who wouldn't want that! Sister Ekstrom & I always bear super strong testimonies of it as well, and I know that he wants what we have! It's so fun teaching him because he is only 20 and so we can relate a lot! We love him! Please continue to keep him in your prayers! He is so close! It also goes to say that as you follow the impressions of the Spirit, the lord will bless you. The Holy Ghost is incredible! I don't know if you remember Brad & Cheryl, but we are teaching themtomorrow night and I am so excited!! They are my favorite! They have so much potential and we are teaching them the Plan of Salvation!
The biggest miracle this week happened on Saturday! Waxhaw was having a big event called "Art in the Park". They do this every single year and it's a big deal. It's basically tons and tons of booths lined up and down the streets. There are stages set up everywhere and like 50 food trucks. Basically like a carnival, minus the rides haha. There were people EVERYWHERE and it went both Saturday and Sunday. It was walking distance from our house so Sister Ekstrom and I decided to use it as a good finding opportunity. Once we got there, it wasn't super successful. We were having a hard time approaching people, didn't know how to stop them or what to say, and it was just really frustrating. It was killing me because I had never seen more people in Waxhaw all in one spot and so I knew that this was an amazing opportunity to find people, I just didn't know how to go about it. I was finding myself fearing man and not wanting to look "awkward". And, It doesn't help that Sister Ekstrom is very shy. We decided to leave and go with our back up plan. A few hours after we left, I was determined to go back. I couldn't let such an opportunity just pass by. There were people everywhere! I told Sister Ekstrom that we needed to go back. She agreed. We prayed and asked for Heavenly Father's help. We told each other that we were going to be lovingly bold, talk to everyone, and not care what we looked like. We will most likely never see these people again in this lifetime, so why not give them the opportunity to hear about the restored Gospel. I changed my attitude and I was ready to take on the world. We got there and miracles started happening left and right. The very first person I walked up too gave me his address and is now a new investigator! We were talking to everyone and sharing our testimonies with everyone! We were able to hand out around 50 pass along cards of the temple in just one hour, and we were able to get 3 more addresses of people to go back and see. It was such a testimony builder for me and really has taught me a very valuable lesson. I am no longer afraid to talk to anyone. This simple experience on my mission changed me. It was so fun to be able to talk to everyone that passed by me and I really actually enjoyed it! We got many weird looks and so many people that rejected us, but it was a blast! I learned that these are Heavenly Father's children and that he loves them just as much as he loves me. I have been given the amazing blessing of the Restored Gospel and these people need it just as much as I do. I am ambassador of Jesus Christ and it is my job to open my mouth and share the Gospel with the people of Waxhaw, North Carolina! Anyways, just such a simple thing really helped strengthen my testimony!
I want you to all know that I know with everything in me that this is Christ's true church and this is where he wants everyone to be. Everyone needs to be here. Yesterday Sister Ekstrom and I taught Sunday school and we taught lesson #3 in Preach my Gospel which is the "Gospel of Jesus Christ" lesson. It reminded me that this is the way, the ONLY way by which we are to gain salvation. Through faith in our savior Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. There is no other way. We also had a really good RS lesson on the talk entitled "Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon." I encourage you all to go read that talk! President Ezra Taft Benson, Saturday morning session, October 1988. So good! We need to be reading in the Book of Mormon every single day. I never really understood how important this was, until now, being on my mission. I don't know how I even made it through 18 years without reading it every single day. We hand out Book of Mormons left and right. At least 2 paperback copies every single day. At least 2. This week, I want every single person who reads my letter to hand out 1 Book of Mormon to someone. Anyone. It truly needs to flood the earth! I have such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and my love for the book has just grown so much! Quoting the words of an apostle, "There is no greater gift we can give others than to bear our testimony to them. There is no greater joy we can have than to bring even one soul unto Christ. And there is no greater way to strengthen our own testimony than to share our witness of him with the world. Our wards, stakes, and communities will be filled with peace and love, and, ultimately, the earth will be prepared for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ". I know that this church is true. i know that he lives and loves us, perfectly! Keep doing what is right and he will bless you! I am so grateful for all of the love and support that you each give me! Keep it coming! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!! I love you so much. I am sending all my love your way! xo
P.S. My next P-day will be on Tuesday, May 26th because of Memorial day! I look forward to hearing from you then! I love you!
Sister Kyla Worthington

May 11, 2015

Hello family!
How is everyone doing? It was so good to talk to you over Skype and be able to hear your voices and see your cute, smiling faces! Ah! It was wonderful. I am already looking forward to Christmas when we get to do it again! This time you guys better be out of church. :) I hope that you all had a good week and a good Mother's Day. Mom, especially you. My whole heart and soul was with you all day. I hope you know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you. There is not a better mother out there! Yes everyone, I have the best mom and I will argue with you until the day I die. Not kidding!
We had a pretty good week here in Waxhaw! The weather is heating up and the humidity is starting to rise. I am not super excited for it, but I am loving the sunshine! I am just grateful that I am in an area with full car. I think I would be dying if I had to be on bikes right now! This week Sister Ekstrom and I were able to go to the doctor and check up on her foot! She is finally off crutches and just has a little brace so we have been able to walk a lot more and I know that she has really enjoyed that! We are still pretty slow, but getting rid of the crutches was the best thing ever!
We were tracting for a few hours last week and came upon this house. A really nice lady answered the door and her English was kind of broken. Come to find out she is from Russia and speaks mostly Russian haha. Of course I got super excited because Kaiden served there! We began to tell her what we do as missionaries and I told her that my brother served in Russia and speaks Russian. She was very impressed and wanted to learn more. She doesn't know any religion words in English, but we told her we would come back another time and help her understand. We were able to get a Book of Mormon and some pamphlets in Russian and there is one member in our ward who speaks Russian and said that he would be willing to come out with us and translate so we are super excited for our lesson with her!
We also had a really neat experience last night! We were going over our weekly goals and needed 1 more 'other lesson' and so I looked over at Sister Ekstom and I said "Sister, we are going to get this one other lesson, no matter what we do." She looked at me and laughed because it was 8:45 and curfew is 9:00. We said a prayer right there in our car and waiting for a few minutes. All of the sudden, we both came to a conclusion that we needed to go visit this one house. We had never been to this house before, but when Sister Ekstrom broke her leg, this lady who lives at the house gave her and her other companion a ride to their house because she couldn't walk and so we knew that she was a nice lady! We decided to go over there and give it a shot. There was a cop car in the driveway so we were a bit worried because police men aren't the most loving people in the world, but I was all about it because of my love and interest in prisions and cops and all that weird stuff, so I was like, I got this. We knocked on the door and the cop answered. He was shirtless and had tattoos all over. We were scared, but he shut the door and came out on the porch. We asked if his wife was home and he said that she was asleep. We ended up talking to him on his porch for 25 minutes and totally having a full on lesson with him about the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon. He had lots of questions and was super excited to learn more. He claims that he has never felt the spirit in his life and that he is an Agnostic Christian. (If that is even possible) Anyways, we testified to him and invited him to be baptized, and everything was just amazing! We were able to get a return apt. and we teach him tomorrow night! He even prayed at the end of our lesson! He was so nice and so friendly! We walked away feeling so happy and edified. It was such a testimony builder to me because I truly had a desire to get 1 more lesson and I KNEW that if I truly wanted it that bad and if i truly had strong enough faith, that the Lord would answer me. It was such a simple thing, but yet it meant so much to me that the Lord answered my prayer and led us to a house where someone was actually willing to listen. I know that the Lord will truly bless you with whatever you may stand in need of and he WILL answer your prayers if you put your FAITH in him and you truly pray with REAL INTENT and a DESIRE. It works, I promise you.
Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week! We had zone meeting and that was really good! Our monthly fundamental is all about planning and how we can become a better, diligent missionary. Diligence has had a whole new effect on me. President Craven told me when I first got into the mission field that diligence is the perfect use of the Lord's time and I have truly seen that come to pass. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, is the Lord's time. I need to make sure that I am using every minute of my day the way that the Lord would use it. It just gave me a stronger desire to try to become a better missionary and do my very best with the time that the Lord has given me. We also had a bishop come speak to us about the difference between Careful vs. Casual and that was really good! It amazes me how casual we are. How casual members of the church are in their language, actions, thoughts, everything. Myself included, we are so casual and we need to step it up! As missionaries here in the NCCM we aren't allowed to say the words "awesome, cool, yeah, crap, and you guys" and man, it's been a transition, but an eye opener for sure. You would be amazed at how many times you say the word "cool" and "yeah" in one day. I was blown away! I am doing lots better now but we are just so casual in our language and everything that we do and I have been really trying to work on that! I finally got all of D&C 121 memorized and all 10 'how to begin teaching' bullet points of Preach my Gospel so that's been really fun to recite it and actually have it memorized now! That is only something my mission does, and I love how President Craven is helping us become extraordinary missionaries, not just ordinary missionaries! I truly feel like I am set apart from all other missionaries. I'm sure every missionary says that they are in the best mission and have the best mission president but they don't know anything until they come to North Carolina and have President & Sister Craven to work with! Ah! They are unreal!
Mom, couple things from you! First off, I hope you have a wonderful birthday on Wednesday!! You better party hard without me! Dad, you asked about what I typically do on P-days and honestly it’s nothing haha. Today we actually get to go out of our area and go bowling because we have a district activity! I am super excited for that! That will be the first like "fun" thing I have done on the mish thus far haha! We usually wake up, study, go to the grocery store, wash & vacuum the car, clean the apartment, have lunch, go email, and then be ready to proselyte from 6-9. We actually studied outside today so that was really nice! We put a blanket out on the grass and had a good time being in the sunshine, although I was sweating my face off. It was good to change it up a bit though! Mom, one of the members here has family in provo and all over Utah, here name is Melissa Marsh, Estes, something like that.. she has been married and divorced twice but she is single with like 7 kids and her maiden name is dahly? or something like that and don't we have some neighbors with that last name? idk she just wanted me to ask haha. Anyways, see if you can find anything out about that. Second, If you could send me those EFY CD's or Motab, that would be wonderful... :) Third, could you send me the banana bar recipe. Fourth, could you make sure that Harmony & Dawn are getting my emails, and or give me their emails. Fifth, could you send me the family email/birthday sheet. Sixth, I love you and can't think of anything else I need right now! haha sorry i have lots of favors this week! Thank you for all of your love and support! Seriously, I feel so blessed to be able to have you all in my life. I don't know where I would be without you! CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK: watch the Mormon message entitled, "Earthy Father, Heavenly Father" and I want you all to let our daddy know how much you love and appreciate him this week. I also want you to get down on your knees and thank your heavenly father for everything that he has blessed you with. Say a prayer of 100% gratitude, and that's it. Dad, I love you so much. So much. thank you for everything! I want you to know how much I love you and how grateful I am to call you my father. I hope you all have a wonderful week. Choose the right, keep doing what's right, and keep saying your prayers! I am about to go bowl my life away so wish me lucky! Bowling shoes and a dress is gonna be real cute! I can't wait to hear from you all next week! I know that our Savoir lives and loves each one of us perfectly. He has a plan for us and knows exactly what we need, when we need it! Turn to him and use the atonement every single day and you will succeed! I love you! Sending all my warmest hugs & kisses your way!

Sister Kyla Worthington

May 4, 2015

Happy May!!

Hello my sweet family,
How are you all doing? I cannot believe that we are already into May! Where did April go? All I know is that it went really really fast! However, I am excited for a new month and am looking forward to what the Lord has in store for me.
First off, I want to thank everyone for their letters, love, and support! I was able to get a surprise package of taffy in the mail from Tricia, a surprise package from sweet Dallas Harris, of some essential oils and yummy snacks, and amazing letters and emails from many. Thank you SO much for everything. You literally don't know how happy it makes me and how grateful I am for all of you guys. To a missionary, it really means the world. Every time I get something in the mail, I am so happy and have such a stronger desire to get out and serve my savior! So, thank you! Your wise words of encouragement and love get me through the week! I look up to each one of you and am grateful for your testimonies and for your words! Keep em' coming! :) My home girl Mak, I hope that you had a wonderful birthday, and I hope that you are enjoying your cruise! Live it up darling! I miss you so so much!
This week in Waxhaw was full of miracles and little victories every single day! It was pretty rough during the beginning of the week, but it picked right up and we were able to accomplish a lot of our goals. We found a few new investigators this week and we are praying that they will all become progressing investigators within the next week or so! Sister Ekstrom and I were going through a list of former investigators and decided to stop by and see someone named "Franky". When we knocked on the door, a sweet lady answered and was not Franky. Her name was Rosa. She is so sweet, and has 2 little boys. She lives in a trailer home and was just the sweetest thing ever! However, she only speaks Spanish. Her younger son speaks English and Spanish and was able to translate back and forth, but me and Sister Ekstrom didn't stay long and left her with a pass along card because we didn't really know what we could do... or how we could help them, so we decided to just get on our way. Well the very next day, I couldn't get Rosa off my mind, so, I decided to follow my prompting and go with it. One of our Ward Missionaries just returned home from the Santiago Chile mission and speaks Spanish, so I called him up and asked if he wanted to go out teaching with us. He said yes, and we headed over to Rosa's. When we got there, she let us right in and said that she was so happy that we decided to come back. She said that she just had a really good feeling about us and she was sad that we left. Our ward missionary was able to translate our whole lesson on the plan of salvation and she was just blown away! The spirit was so strong! Although we didn't understand anything that was being said, the spirit was so thick you could feel it! We are going back over there on Mother's Day and we are so excited to see where it goes! We left her with a Plan of Salvation and Restoration pamphlet in Spanish, as well as the Book of Mormon! Anyways, just a simple miracle!
This past week I also had the chance to try Grits, so that was fun! A member invited us over for dinner and decided that we needed to have a true, southern breakfast! It was pretty decent and I enjoyed it! We also went to Chick Fil A with a member because he was introducing us to some of his non member friends and I ran into one of Kaiden's friends older sister? Her last name is Wattcot? And they live in American Fork? Colton and Gage are her brothers? I went to school with Gage and so it was so fun to make the connection! Mom, she said that you know her mom? We took a picture together, so if you see her mom, or know who I am talking about, ask to see the picture! :)
Let's see, I am looking forward to this upcoming Sunday.. and do you know why? Because I get to talk to everyone and hear your voices! YAY! I am going to be setting up my skype account today, and then am planning on calling around 3:00 pm my time, so 1:00 pm your time, on Sunday, May 10th. If that doesn't work for some reason, let me know and I can switch the times. I will have about 45 minutes to an hour to skype and MAN- I am excited! Not only is it Mother's Day and I get to talk to my sweet mama, but it is also her BIRTHDAY on the 13th! YAY! It's mama Coco's week... so everyone better spoil her like crazy for me! Dad, what is your skype name? I can read emails throughout the week I just can't respond, so if you will get back to me sometime this week and let me know of your username and give me an "okay" on 1:00 your time, that would be great! :) I am looking forward to talking with y'all and couldn't be more blessed to be able to skype! Technology is fantastic!
I want you all to know how much I love you, truly, and how much I love being a missionary! This last fast Sunday was incredible. A brother in my ward got up and shared a quote from Mother Teresa that I really liked, so I thought I would share it with you.
"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
I just really enjoyed that because he went on to explain that a lot of us don't think that we are doing enough. Or don't think that anything we are doing is worth it or being noticed. I want to promise you that YOU ARE ENOUGH, and every good thing you are doing, is being taken note of. How many sins did Christ suffer for that won't be repented of? How many times did Christ teach and minister, although people chose not to listen? How many times did Christ heal and bless, although he wasn't thanked? I promise that it will be worth it to keep going and have a "do it anyway" mentality, because in the end, it is between you and God. I want you to know that I have a testimony of the savior and his redeeming atonement. He lives. He is real. and he will always be there for us! I want you to watch the Mormon Message this week entitled "Hope of God's Light" and "Because of Him". I bear you my testimony that he lives and that he loves us, and that it is never to late, and WE ARE ENOUGH! Thank you all for everything! I hope you have a wonderful week, anddddd Kaiden Troy, Happy Birthday on the 6th! Sending you all my love and birthday wishes! xoxo Can't wait to talk to you all soon!! Keep the faith, the church is true!
Until next week,
Sister Worthington

I get to Serve in Two States!!

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

Sorry i can only send 2 at a time... but that's all I'll send for now!! :) Love you all! Happier than ever.

We have a really plain ugly wall in our house so I got creative one day during lunch... haha ensigns have become my new best friend!

​Mommy, this is Phoenix and Nature! Ahhhhhh. Cutest things ever!

April 20, 2015 One Month Out

Family,
Oh my goodness!! How ya'll doing! I cannot believe that I've been officially out for a little bit over a month now. Where is time going haha? I feel like I say this every week, but it literally is just flying by. Ah! It needs to slow down a bit! Let's see, where to begin. Last week in Waxhaw was a pretty good one. It rained every single day except Friday and that kind of made our missionary work a little bit difficult. It's nothing like little Utah sprinkles, this is like DOWNPOUR take cover kind of rain. You literally step outside for 30 seconds and are completely wet, shoes completely soaked, hair a complete mess, and just everything else haha. I finally cracked down and bought me a rain coat. haha it's red and white polka dots & reversible red on the other side. & it was only $3.00 so I just had too. it's absolutely hideous but it is fulfilling its purpose and that's all the matters right? :)
Dad, first off, I want to thank you so much for the TWO packages that I received this past week. The ipad case is PERFECT. not to mention my wheat thins and my favorite cereals. I have to admit, I opened that up and just busted out laughing I was so happy. I just knew it was from you because of the amazon tape and I just got the biggest smile on my face. Me & sister Ekstrom are set, that's for sure. you should probably start sending me healthy things though because I am putting on the pounds I swear haha. the members here feed us like queens. okay, I'm not really putting on the pounds quite yet, maybe like 1 or 2, but still, haha I'm eating well, lets just put it that way. And, thank you SO much for your thoughtful email papa. I can always count on my daddy to send me an email every week and that has been something that I have been looking forward to the very most on Mondays. your words are so inspiring and I am forever grateful for them. I found it so interesting that you sent me Elder Ballards talk because last week I chose one conference talk to focus on, and GUESS WHAT. that exact talk just so happened to be the one that I studied all week. like what are the chances of that. It's unreal isn't it? I am so glad that you shared that with the family. I learned so much from it and it has truly helped me re-focus and become a better missionary, and become the best missionary that I can be. So, thank you! :) I encourage you to continue to have those solid family home evenings and show Mormon messages!! & use the power of technology. Since we have everything on our ipads, I have been able to access EVERYTHING just so easily and have absolutely loved it! I also want you guys to make a family mission plan. Come up with something that you can do as a family to start working on missionary work. Such as, reading in preach my gospel once a week, sharing the gospel over social media in some way, shape, or form, or start praying for someone by name, as a family that really needs help, just come up with like 5-10 things that you can do as a family to hasten the work and post it on the fridge or something. My ward here does that and it's been amazing to see the power that has truly come from that! I am going to follow up on this, so you better get it done! Mom, thanks for your sweet words as well. There is never more powerful words, than that of my mother. Thank you, I love you the mostest.
We were able to teach our investigator Harrison again this week and he came to church yesterday!! AHH! it was miraculous. He just came in some jeans and a plaid shirt, with a cute little blazer over it and it was just the best thing ever. I was so nervous because Sister Ekstrom and I call him our little baby bird and we just don't want to do anything to ruin this and so we were a bit nervous for him to come to church, but it ended up being really good and he seemed to really enjoy it. We are still progressing to the baptism date of May 2nd so I will be sure to keep you posted on that! Other than that, we have been focusing on just trying to find new investigators and new people to teach. We came about a really sweet guy, but literally 10 minutes ago he just called us and said he is happy where he is at and that he doesn't want to meet with us anymore. We had 3 people this week do that to us. It literally just breaks my heart. We teach them and we see the spirit work in their lives and it's like we know that they know it's true, they just have something holding them back and then all of the sudden they turn away. That has been the hardest thing for me this week. THREE of our steady investigators are gone and now we are left with one. It's just interesting how the lord works and it makes me so sad to think that they think they don't need it anymore. So, with that being said, we are trying to work on our finding methods and are trying to find new people to teach. With the rain, it has been really difficult. We have had to do everything inside and there aren't a whole lot of places here in Waxhaw to find people inside, so I am hoping that this next week will be better! There has been 2 tornado warnings this past week so that has been kinda scary, but I think we are pretty safe here in NC. :) I am eating super well, the members feed us every single night and feed us like champions, so I cant complain haha. I really haven't had like any southern food though.... so that's been good. I think I've had BBQ like 3 times... and surprisingly no fried chicken yet, so they need to step it up! Tomorrow we go into Charlotte for a new missionary training meeting and I am so excited for that! We get to hear from President & Sister Craven and I am SOOOO looking forward to that. Then- on Wednesday, we get to go to Charlotte again and have interviews with president! I am really excited for that as well! Lots of driving, but if the president and his wife are involved, I am so there haha. They are the greatest things ever. I am soooo sad that they are leaving me. Mom, who are those 2 people that were in your picture last week? Were they missionaries serving in my mission or what? I am going to show him that picture tomorrow, but I wanna make sure I know who it is first haha. Kaiden & Chels, how are you two love birds? I miss you, and I miss all of our rook games. I haven't heard from ya'll in a little while, so I hope all is well. Ya know. when Chels sent me a letter on like my 2nd or 3rd day I was really excited... like thinking you were going to email me every week, but I mean I guess you find out who really loves you the most while on your mission....hahhahah. JK. love you sugs. Ty, Todd, Mike.. feeling the love as well. thanks so much for all of your letters, you guys are just the best!!! Kidding kidding. I hope you are doing well and that all of those kiddos are happy, healthy, and well!
I honestly am just loving every second of my mission and I know that I say that every week, so please forgive me, but honestly, it's just the best thing ever. Sarah, Makale, kamryn, Anna, Kenzie, any of you, if you have one slight desire to serve a mission-- GO! It will seriously change your life. Best thing I have ever done. This week I have really learned what the definition of LOVE is. Love is truly the word that rules this world. I am amazed every single day as I go out and serve people and meet new people, of the love that I have for every single one of them, individually. It honestly just blows my mind. I am not quite sure how it is completely possible, but somehow it works. I guess it just comes with being able to represent the savior. Each and every single door we knock on, is basically someone of a different church. They weren't kidding when they said that I got called to the bible belt. oh my goodness. That has been really hard for me because everyone just is "satisfied with where they're at" and no matter how hard I try, how strongly I bear my testimony, or how many times I tell them that this message will change their life, they just still have no desire and it drives me nuts! I just wanna hug the crap out of them and knock some nonsense into their brains haha. It's killing me!! Like just let me inside your home already!! Anyways, aside from that, missionary work is fantastic. Don't get me wrong, it's really hard and it's teaching me some serious lessons, but it's exactly what I need and I am figuring out myself and am becoming so much closer to my savior and am becoming so much more like him each and every day that I serve, and so I guess I cant complain. It's amazing to me how much my knowledge of the gospel has grown. I love my savior so much. I testify that he is real. his atonement should be the center of our lives and should be the reason that we want to wake up and live each day. Truly do everything in your power to access that and do everything you can to truly convert yourself. That is definitely one thing that I am working on, TRUE CONVERSION. It is something that will take a life time, but it something that will end up being one of the most important things! I read another really good talk this week entitled "Missionary Work and the Atonement" given by Jeffrey R. Holland at the MTC in June of 2000... dont' know if anyone can get a copy of that... but if you can. DO ITTTTTT and please send it to me. Some girl had a copy and let me read it. but oh my goodness. changed my life. it's pretty focused on missionary work, but can apply to every single one of us. One of my favorite quotes from that talk was "Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints, this is the truth. how could we believe that it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for him? Missionaries have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries have to take a least a step or two toward the summit of calvary." I just loved that, and I know that it applies to every member missionary out there in the world today. Elder Holland also said, "When you struggle, when you are rejected, remember you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived". and that is what has been on my mind this past week.
Family, friends, we know the truth and it is now our job to share it. Don't be afraid to open up your mouths to those whom you love. I have been thinking about meike and her family so much this past week, keep being an example to them and keep loving and supporting them! I am so excited for Meike to come and I am so sad that I wont be able to be there, but love her for me and don't forget to send me pictures! I cannot wait to see what this week has in store, and I am so excited to get out and serve my savior and serve my family in North Carolina! I love it here and I know that this work is real! Missionary work is the BEST!!! Thank you all for all of your love and support. I feel your prayers. every single one. I keep thinking about my cousin Nate too, I hope he is doing well. :) Thank you for the letters, packages, and everything else! You truly don't know how happy they make me. I truly feel so blessed to be part of the best family in the entire world. I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I definitely did something right. I have the best of the best. Keep doing what is right, keep working on your conversion to the lord, and keep strengthening each others faiths!! I love you all so much. Sending all my love, hugs, & kisses your way!! I LOVE YOU!!

Sister Kyla Joan Worthington

April 20, 2015

this was quite the experience. our vacuum stopped working this week and so we had to take it apart and I swear it hadn't ever been cleaned and there was so much hair I literally threw up in my mouth. I bet its like 20+ years old, and a house full of girls is just not a good idea. sorry to seem so graphic, but oh my goodness. Grateful for my vacuum at home. I will never do that again. next time just gonna buy a freaking new one. hahha.
Also, with the subject line of My chick fil a :)
Hahah this just happened. PDAYS ARE THE BEST!!!!