August 29, 2016~Happy are we!

Hi loves!
How is everyone? Another week come and gone. Where is the time going?
I hope this week was a good one for everyone. I have been thinking about you lots and hope that you have been able to feel my prayers. I know that a lot of things are going on, but I hope that each of you have been able to feel peace and that you can feel the love of God in your life. I know that he loves you and I know that he is real. Oh so real. If you allow him to come into your life, he will come. I have seen it happen time and time again. I know that if it works for me and for my investigators, it will work for you!
This week was pretty good. Lots of tender mercies and lots of tears.  Typically how a mission goes, right? I am so grateful for the continued support that I have received and for the love and prayers. I feel them every single day and I really know that they are what is carrying me through! I have guardian angels round about me bearing me up!
Monday was rough. Definitely glad it's over and definitely glad that today is a better preparation day. Tuesday was super super hard. One of the harder days of my mission. Sister Warner and I drove to the mission office and dropped off Sister Nunies. It was rough. I am so excited for what God has in store for her but it was a hard goodbye. I have developed such a good relationship with that girl and we are best friends. She has helped me through some of my toughest days and I know that God definitely placed her in my life to help me and to support me in everything! However, we were able to pick up our new companion, Sister Mabey! She is from Salem, Oregon and is a really sweet girl.
She was serving in Waxhaw and so we had lots of conversations about some of my favorite peeps. :) It has definitely been an adjustment and Sister Warner and I are still getting used to having her, but we are grateful that we are staying in a trio and we are learning a lot from our new sister! I don't know how she's doing.. But hopefully she's adjusting well and that things are going good for her. Sister Warner and I are like a party companionship so we know that she is going to have a good time and that she's in for a treat. I think we have shocked her a little bit... But it's been good for her to get out of her shell. The YSA will be really good for her and will open her up!
The work is really picking up here in Charlotte! After a couple slower weeks, we have been able to see the fruits of our labors and I'm loving it. We are staying super busy and that has definitely helped me with everything going on. I have been able to really focus on the work and I love going from appointment to appointment. We had one day this week with no appointments and so we did a lot of finding. We did some tracting for Sister Warner's first time and it was so much fun! The girl is just a blast. She makes everything so fun and so happy! It was the first time in my life that I actually loved tracting. It was great! So much fun. So many rejections and door slams, but so dang worth it. We also met a few people and ran into a few single adults so that was a bonus. Then the Spanish sisters called us and told us they had a referral for us! Right then and there we dropped our plans and went to meet him! His name is Daeshawn and he is amazing! He has a baptismal date for September 25th and he's definitely set on making that date. (Hello best early birthday present ever) We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. We instantly clicked and became best friends. I love love love working with people my age. Daeshawn came to church yesterday and had a great time and is progressing really well.
Damon is also someone that we are working with. We brought Elder and Sister Garlick with us and that was one of the better decisions we made! They are so powerful, oh my goodness! We had a great lesson and Elder Garlick told Damon that he wanted to be there for his baptism, and baptize him, so Damon is getting baptized on September 7th!  Ahhhhh! Finally! I am going to be so sad when the Garlick's leave.  Already hurting inside. Please go to their homecoming. Please please please! Yeyo is another investigator that we are working with and he is doing great. Really progressing and he is meeting with president this week! He came to church and is making tons of progress. We also got two referrals this week and they both sound really solid. Both of them are girlfriends of members in our ward, so we are really excited about that and I'm sure I will have more progress on them next week!
When you have members involved, it helps SO much and makes the work so much easier.
Remember Alex? From Ghana? He is doing great. We had a really really awkward experience with him this week.. So, we had an appointment set and we decided to bring two of our members with us. Well, when we got there.. The door was open so we could see through the screen door.
(Everyone has screen doors here in the south). There were two young gentlemen all dressed up sitting on their couch. I peeked my head in and asked if Alex was there. They said he was and said that he would come to the door soon. Well, Alex came to the door and let us in, and gestured us to sit down. Come to find out, these two young gentlemen were the lovely Jehovah Witnesses. Hahahah oh it was so awkward. Right as we sat down, they stood right up and said, "Well, we cannot have two different groups here so we better leave. We will come back another time." And then got up and rushed out of there so fast. I have never seen someone get up and move so fast. We outnumbered them a little bit... But we weren't trying to kick them out or anything..  They were just so afraid of us. It was classic. We didn't know that Alex was meeting with them so it was kind of awkward. He told us that he hadn't been meeting with them for a long time, but they randomly stopped by and so he let them in. Of course Satan would have them come at the exact same time as our appointment. Gosh dang him. Hate him.  Anyways, we ended up teaching a bomb lesson on the word of wisdom and law of chastity to Alex and his little brother and it was great! & Alex's work schedule changed and how has Sunday's off so that was definitely a miracle. He can come to church now! Yay! Anyways, interesting experience. But, one for the books.
Things with our recent converts/less actives are going really well.  Guess what! Nicole is moving to Utah on September 15th! I AM SO EXCITED. She was in Utah this past week and was doing some working interviews and looking for places to live. She got a job in American Fork working for a dentist there! I am so happy for her. It has been amazing to see how God has blessed her life and how everything is falling into place. She is going to be living in Utah and is so so so excited. I am so happy for her and know that this will be a good change for her. The gospel has changed her SO much and I cannot wait to come home and join her! hooray for recent converts.
Fernando is on fire as well! We had a new member lesson with him this past week and instead of us teaching him, we asked him to teach us. He did so good! He killed the restoration and taught the whole thing perfectly! So amazing. He also got the priesthood and got his temple recommend and is going this weekend. I couldn't be more happy. Seeing them enter the temple is the best thing ever. That's the main goal and I know that if they can get there, they will be so so blessed and they will remain strong and active.
Alan is also doing great. We have been able to keep in touch with him via Skype. Although he is in Utah and we miss him very much, he is still reading the scriptures and meeting with the missionaries there and is loving it! He's found his new YSA ward and is making friends. I am so grateful for the technology that we have and for the ability that we have to stay in touch with him even though he moved!
Well, that's a lot of newsy stuff. How is everyone doing out there! I wanna hear about everything that's happening in the 801. Crazy how fast time is going and how much things have changed. I am excited to come home and see how many things have changed. Sometimes I feel like I just left and just got out here and that nothing changed, but then I realize that a lot can happen in 18 months, but that life continues to still move on and it will never ever stop.
Saturday was one of the best days of my entire mission. Guess what I got to do. We got picked up by Stephanie Hargus Saturday morning and went to Waxhaw!! President Alexander gave me permission to go to Joseph's baptism. It was the best day of my life. It was SO good to see all of my fellow friends and people in Waxhaw. It literally felt like home. That place has such a special place in my heart and I will never ever ever forget the experiences that I had there. I have loved my other areas.. But Waxhaw is by far my favorite. I got to see Melissa and her family and that meant everything to me. It's been so neat to see how far she has come and to see how the gospel has blessed her life. She was my very first recent convert and now here she is, going to the temple this weekend and doing baptisms for the dead with her younger brother, who just got baptized. Now although Joseph is only 12 years old... Watching him get baptized was one of the most scared moments that I've had on my mission, and in my life. Both of his non-member parents were there and when he went under the water, the spirit was SO SO SO SO SO strong. I wish you could have been there. I looked over at his father and watched the tears roll down his face. For the longest time, he wouldn't give Jospeh permission to get baptized. I saw him angry and drunk almost every time we would go over there, and here he was, standing in our church building, in tears. He was so moved and it wasn't just quiet tears rolling down cheeks... He literally had to walk out of the room.
I know it's hard for you to imagine this experience because you don't know who these people are... But it was so perfect and so touching. It was such a tender mercy for me to be there and to be able to witness that. I feel so blessed to be apart of this work at this time in my life. It was so neat to see how God has worked on his children and prepares them for the very moment that they are ready. I stood back in awe, as I witnessed God working in the lives of his children. I feel so grateful to know that I had a part in helping God create an eternal family. Their family is well on their way. We are slowly but surely creating the links and I couldn't be more grateful. I know that one day Joseph's father and mother will accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.
After he was baptized, Joseph got up and bore his testimony in front of everyone. (And there were a lot of people there) the whole deacons quorum came to support him and a lot of the ward was there. His testimony was so pure and so simple. Once again, I looked over at his parents and it touched my heart so much to see the look on their faces. I knew that the spirit was touching them. It's amazing to see a  12 year old kid up there bearing his testimony. The gospel is so amazing. The youth program is amazing. It teaches us from such a small age how to act, how to be responsible, how to be mature, and teaches us how to gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel does no harm, only good and only benefits us. How can you not want that for you and for your children? The world is so scary right now and it's so important that we have something to hold onto and cling onto. I am just so grateful that I was raised in a gospel-centered home and for the foundation that I have, and will have for the rest of my life.
So, aside from that being the best day ever, let me share with you what I learned this week. Lately I have really really been thinking about the power of attitude and the thought of "bad things happening to good people." We have been able to teach the Plan of Salvation a lot for some reason and God has just been placing people in our paths who have needed that simple message and so I have been able to do a lot of studying, thinking, pondering, and reflecting on that message.
I came across Elder Uchtdorf's talk called, "Forget Me Not" and it really hit me hard. There is a section in his talk where he talks about "forgetting not to choose to be happy now." Not waiting for the perfect moment to be happy. I think so many of us think that we will be happy when we are married, or we will be happy when we finish school, or we will be happy when all the kids are out of the house, or we will be happy when the month of September is over, or we will be happy when we get this or when we get that. Blah blah blah, you get the point. But, he goes on to say that we must choose to be happy right now. FOCUS ON THE NOW. We will only have this moment once. Never again will we have this same day, or this same time. We have o much to be grateful for and so much that we can really be happy about. Why then, do we not focus on the now and why are we always yearning for the future? Yes, the future is great and yes there is lots to look forward too.. But there is so many things that I think we miss in the moment, simply because we aren't looking.
I had an experience this week where I was really struggling and I just kept thinking to myself "why me, why me, why me." Sometimes I just feel like everything would have been better if I decided not to go on a mission and if I stayed home. Well, I decided to go into the bedroom and say a quick prayer before we headed out. As I was sitting there, Heavenly Father whispered something to me. He said, "Kyla, I know. I know how you are feeling. But, remember that you only have one mission. This is it. Never again in your life will you have this opportunity. Never again in your life will you be able to be right here, doing what you're doing." It was then and there that my whole perspective changed. RIGHT NOW IS OUR TIME. We must focus on the now and enjoy the now!
President Monson once said, "If you have children who are grown and gone, in all likelihood you have occasionally felt pangs of loss and the recognition that you didn’t appreciate that time of life as much as you should have. Of course, there is no going back, but only forward. Rather than dwelling on the past, we should make the most of today, of the here and now, doing all we can to provide pleasant memories for the future. If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly."
I don't want to have feelings of “what if” and “if only.” I don't want to have bitterness and tears for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. No matter where you are in your life or what you are going through, remember to embrace the NOW!
Now, I know that we will all still have trails and that sometimes, it's going to be hard to "always be happy" but, remember that that is normal and that that is all part of the plan. Opposition is good and is so so necessary. It's what allows us to be happy and grateful in the first place. All of us experience various kinds of opposition that test us. Some of these tests are temptations to sin. Some are mortal challenges apart from personal sin. Some are very great. Some are very small. Some are continuous, and some are mere episodes. None of us is exempt. Opposition permits us to grow toward what our Heavenly Father would have us become.
"Some of you may at times have cried out in your suffering, wondering why our Heavenly Father would allow you to go through whatever trials you are facing.  Our mortal life, however, was never meant to be easy or consistently pleasant. Our Heavenly Father knows that we learn and grow and become refined through hard challenges, heartbreaking sorrows, and difficult choices. Each one of us experiences dark days when our loved ones pass away, painful times when our health is lost, feelings of being forsaken when those we love seem to have abandoned us. These and other trials present us with the real test of our ability to endure.” I think that when we were in the pre-earth life, each one of us signed up for the trials and tribulations that we are and will experience. I think that you and I both willingly said, "I'll do that one. Or I'll take that one. Or let me accept that one." We said we would be willing to go through these trials here on earth for the benefit of others and for the ultimate building of the kingdom of God and the perfecting of the saints.
It is by staying faithful and valiant during those trials that the Lord will continue to strengthen us and prepare us for the days that are coming. Sister Oaks once said, “Sometimes those things we consider great trials prepare us for blessings, so I say to you, stay on the path, and continue to press forward.”
I know that each one of you are facing many difficult things in your life right now. To you, I say keep going. Keep pressing forward and keep holding on. God knows what we do not know and sees what we do not see. Every calamity that Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation. Let us remember that it's necessary and important to have purposeful pain. Pain that will stretch us and make us grow. I have such a strong testimony of that.
All that we go through is to learn and ultimately, to become more like our Heavenly Father. His hand is involved in every single detail of our life. We can choose to be happy and choose to endure well, only if we want too. He is not going to make us.
So, let us forget not to be happy now! The happiest people I know are not those who are always waiting for something different or something better, but those while in pursuit of worthy goals, discover and treasure the beauty and sweetness of the everyday moments. They are the ones who, day by day, moment by moment, recognize the gratitude and wonder throughout their lives. These are they who are truly happy.
I love each of you so very much and I know that God lives. I want to share with you part of President Uchtdorf's talk, which echoed my testimony. He says,
"Wherever you are, whatever your circumstances may be, you are not forgotten. No matter how dark your days may seem, no matter how insignificant you may feel, no matter how overshadowed you think you may be, your Heavenly Father has not forgotten you. In fact, He loves you with an infinite love. Just think of it: You are known and remembered by the most majestic, powerful, and glorious Being in the universe! You are loved by the King of infinite space and everlasting time! He who created and knows the stars knows you and your name--you are the sons and daughters of His kingdom. God loves you because you are His child. He loves you even though at times you may feel lonely or make mistakes. The love of God and the power of the restored gospel are redemptive and saving. If you will only allow His divine love into your life, it can dress any wound, heal any hurt, and soften any sorrow." I know that to be true.
Let us remember that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful for this chance that I have had to share the gospel with the people of North Carolina. Everyday I am working on trying to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. I am trying to recognize the tender mercies of the Lord and remember how good he has been to me. Repent daily. Forgive often. Remember that we need to forgive in order to be forgiven. Pray daily. Study the word of God every single day. Serve those around you. Smile daily. Be grateful. Share goodness. & love love love love love and love some more. Our dear prophet once said, "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." Remember that.
I hope you all have a great week and I hope that you "choose to be happy now." I love each of you so dearly and cannot wait to see your cute, smiling faces. Thank you for everything. Y'all are the best & definitely have a place in my big big heart. Please let me know if you need anything. Sorry this letter dragged on. Until next week-- love you to the other side of the country and back! Talk to ya in seven, see ya in 37. Whoa, that's real soon! Yikes!! :) Sending ya all my love. Xo
Sister Ky Worthington

August 22, 2016~Well, this is it

Family!
Hello hello! I hope everyone is doing alright and I hope that it's been a good week for each of you and I hope that you have been able to feel the Savior's love! I know that he loves each and every one of you that is reading this email right now! He's so aware of everything that you're going through. I know we hear that all the time, but I promise that is he there and that he does know.
I cannot believe that this time has finally come. I'm FINALLY on the big home stretch! This is it! One more transfer to go. I honestly cannot believe that this time has already come. I never ever thought that I would get down to my last transfer. It's been such a humbling experience for me as I have looked back and have reflected on my mission and all of the amazing experiences that I have had. I have grown so much and have learned so much. Things that I would have never been able to learn otherwise. I have been so blessed and am once again, so grateful that I chose to come out and serve the Lord. Best thing I've ever done, and if any of you are considering a mission, do it! You will not regret it. Make it a goal of yours. I think everyone needs to serve a mission. It will change your entire life and your whole plan and perspective on life. I feel so so blessed!
So, the biggest news of the week was finding out where I would be spending my last transfer! We got transfer calls on Saturday and found out that I will be STAYING and finishing my mission in the Charlotte area and in the YSA ward and that I will continue to serve with Sister Warner. Sister Nunies is leaving us and heading to a place called Concord. Thankfully, Concord isn't really that far away from us and Sister Nunies will actually be my new sister training leader and will still be in the zone! Three claps for that! I am super grateful that I will still be able to see her and am so grateful that the Lord didn't take her too far from me. I love the girl to death and we've had some amazing times together that I will never forget. It's going to be hard to see her go. Sister Warner and I will be getting a new sister tomorrow and it's going to be interesting! Our new sister is Sister Maybe, and she is currently serving in Waxhaw! She is a fairly new missionary and just got into the mission field a few months ago. We are excited to welcome her in and I think the YSA ward will be a very good experience for her! I'm also excited to talk about Waxhaw and all of the good people there! I miss that place so dang much.
This past week was alright. Once again, lots of ups and downs. Satan continues to throw darts at me but I'm learning how to combat him and his sneaky, evil ways. I hate him. Thankfully, we were able to be blessed with a really busy week. We had lots of meetings and lots of things planned and that really helped the week go by really quick! I love when weeks go by fast because then that means that P-day is soon and that I get to email y'all!
Monday was just Monday. Nothing spectacular. Tuesday we had a "New Missionary Training Meeting" all day long with President and Sister Alexander and that was the best. They are my favorites. It was just a meeting for all of the new missionaries and their trainers. It was really fun to see some old mission friends and be with all the new missionaries. I swear, Sister Warner is on fire. She is doing so well.
Sister Nunies and I were just sitting in awe and were just feeling so blessed for the wonderful companion that we got. It seemed as if some of the other trainers were struggling with their new missionaries and we were just over here living the life with not a single worry in the world.
It's been amazing to see the growth that she has experienced and how much she has come out of her shell. I love the girl to death and you have no idea how excited I am to be able to continue to serve with her. She makes me laugh on a regular basis and she always gives me some happiness right when I need it. The meeting was really good and it was really good to go back to the basics and to remember my missionary purpose and the simplicity of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary!
After the meeting, my cute Stephanie Hargus from Waxhaw came up behind me and gave me a giant hug! I was so happy to see her. She always gives the Waxhaw Sister's rides everywhere so when they need to come to Charlotte, my heart is so so happy. She is literally my second mom and has saved my life out here. Love the woman to death. I also found out that my first recent convert in Waxhaw (Melissa Epling), her little brother Joseph Hernandez is getting baptized!! I don't know if you ever remember me talking about him.. But his dad wouldn't give him permission to get baptized while I was there. We taught him all of the lessons along side with his sister and he wanted to get baptized so bad but the dad wouldn't sign the dang papers. Well, after he has seen how much the gospel has blessed Melissa's life and after he has seen how much the church has done for their family, he finally agreed to let Joseph get baptized! I AM SO EXCITED. I told President about it and he said that I could get permission to go to his baptism because it's technically "in my area" because the YSA ward covers three stakes. Ahhhh! So so happy. I know that God has a plan for all of his children and I know that over time, the gospel will eventually touch every single heart. So, that was definitely a highlight of the day!
Wednesday was alright! We had district meeting with our district for the last time and I had to give a training on "Being BOLD in missionary work & with technology." Kind of an odd topic, but somehow it worked out. The spirit really helped me, let's just put it that way! I am learning how important it is to open my mouth and just share the gospel. I know that when I get home, I cannot just walk up to someone and go beast mode on them with the gospel. They are going to be so freaked out and feel so uncomfortable. Right now, I have been called and set apart to do that and although people might think I'm crazy, I have the power and authority with me and somehow, because I'm in a skirt and dress, wearing a name tag, and with a companion, it's okay to do so! I have learned that I have to use every chance that I have to give it all I've got and share the gospel. These people need it and I'm one of the only ones right now who can declare it. Being bold is so important in life. It's important to stand up for what you believe and to put yourself out there. I really believe that as you get outside of your self and venture out of your comfort zone, great things happen and growth that you never thought would happen will happen. It's an amazing thing.
A while back we had a little hit & run with our cute new Altima so we had to take her in to get an estimation for the damage. Well, $800 later and she'll be looking as good as ever. So unfortunate. So upsetting. The thing is that we totally know who hit our car.. But when the cop asked her, she denied it. Ohhh so buggin. We pass our car everyday in our apt. complex and my heart cringes every time. I'm learning how to forgive and move on though. It's been really good for me. :) So that also happened on Wednesday. We taught a few good lessons the rest of the night and were able to meet a new family. Unfortunately they have to be transferred to different missionaries..
But I think they have a ton of potential!
Thursday was good. Just Thursday. We had our service at the soup kitchen serving the homeless and I literally started crying because we only get to do that like three more times with Elder and Sister Garlick and then they go home! :( So sad. Then, a miracle happened.
Earlier in the week, we got a text from a lady named Amanda. She reached out to us and mentioned that her daughter was moving to Charlotte and was going to be attending UNCC. She wanted to take us out to lunch with her daughter so that we could get to know her and help her get acquainted with the YSA ward here. So, we set up a lunch date and planned to meet on Thursday. Well, while waiting for them at the restaurant, I got a tap on my shoulder. I looked back to see who it was and guess what!! IT WAS ROBERT ROBBINS. Best day of my life. I was so confused and so thrown off. I thought he was just randomly there or something.. But no. Come to find out that he is totally dating this Amanda chick, hard core, and he totally knew that I was serving in the YSA ward and was totally behind the scenes and planned it all out! I literally freaked out. He is my most favorite person in the entire world. We had such a good lunch and it was SO good to catch up with him and feel of his love. I cannot wait for you to meet him.
He is unreal. He looks so happy and is receiving so many blessings and it's been so fun to see how the gospel has blessed his life. Made my entire month seeing him. Best surprise ever. We went home and did weekly planning and then went out teaching the rest of the night!  Great great day.
Friday was wonderful! We were busy doing some more service and some more teaching. We are still working with the same investigators.. Alex from Ghana, Damon, and Yeyo. All are progressing well.. But struggling to get work off to come to church. Ugh. They are exercising great faith but it's really hard to help them really progress towards baptism unless they can come to church and meet the bishop and get some fellowship. We are still working on them! We took a break and went to uptown and had lunch with Fernando. It was super fun! We love being in the City and walking in the streets! I cannot wait for you to come and see it here! It's beautiful! We were also able to have two really good Skype lessons this past week and it has been fun to see how helpful technology has been in sharing the gospel. I love all of the tools that we have and I feel so blessed to be in a mission with iPads and with technology. It's amazing the GOOD that can be done with technology when you use it righteously and for a good cause! We have so many rules when it comes to using FB and the iPad.. Always have to have 4 eyes on the screen, (6 in our case) always have to recite our missionary purpose before we get on, have to have a plan and an allotted time slot to use our iPads, everything is restricted and we don't have access to the Internet, just little things like that that make it really filtered, but such a blessing! It's been amazing to see the good that can be done and it's been great to learn new technology habits and things that will continue to bless me for the rest of my life.
Saturday was so much fun! We went to an elementary school with our ward in the morning and did a big service project. Earlier in the Summer we collected tennis balls and cut holes in them. For the service project, we put all of those tennis balls on the bottom of chairs. I had never seen this be done before in elementary school, but apparently it's to help the kids not be so distracted and it's supposed to help the floors. Whatever the case, it was a fun service project and it was fun to help the kids prepare for another school year! Crazy how fast time is going. I swear we just started Summer, & now it's already over. Uhhhhh. Can't believe it.
After the service project we had lunch and then me and my cute hermana's drove up to Concord for Chris's baptism. It was such a special day. Chris asked me to speak at his baptism so I was able to give a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I really spent time preparing for his talk and it was amazing what I learned and what the spirit taught me. I felt really good about my talk and I hope that those in the audience who were non members (aka his family & friends) were able to feel of the spirit and that they got something out of it.  It was so special to see someone who we found, accept the gospel and enter into the waters of baptism. I couldn't help but hold back the tears as I watched him enter into the waters and as I watched all of his sins be washed away. Best day ever! A glorious part of baptism days is the part that we each have to be confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
There is nothing that means more to me in this life than my membership in this church and the gift of the Holy Ghost that I have been given.
One of my favorite scriptures is in 2 Nephi 31:12. It says, "He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do." The Holy Ghost is a spirit personage who will speak to "you in your mind and in your heart” and will show unto you “all things that you should do in your life.” Both temporally and spiritually. I have learned that the Holy Ghost will help you keep the promises that you just made as you were baptized. The Holy Ghost will guide you and help you choose the right. He bears witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost can give us comfort and guide us away from danger. As we continue to go to church each week and partake of the Sacrament, remember that as we promise to take the name of Jesus Christ upon us, to always remember Christ, and to keep His commandments, Heavenly Father promises us that we may ALWAYS have his spirit to be with us! I love the Holy Ghost and he is one of my bestest friends.
After his baptism, we drove up north for another hour and attended our "Mormons on Norman" 7 stake YSA activity! This is an activity that they do once a year and it's the biggest one of the year. Our ward and stake was in charge of it this year and so we have had a lot of preparation go into this activity and ever since I got to Charlotte, all I have heard about was this "Mormons on Norman" lake activity. So, we were super grateful that it finally happened. We got permission to go and it was such a blast. I'm seriously coming back to next years activity because it was that much fun! Lake Norman is a really big lake here in North Carolina and there are some members of the church who have a giant lake house on the lake and let the singles use it!
Their house is absolutely insane! They have this huge dock that has a big slide, a diving board that's like 35 feet up, a zip line, slack line, rope swing, and a whole par-core course with monkey bars & all this crazy stuff, all over the water! It was so neat! Then throughout the day, they had five boats taking the people out! Later in the evening, we had a huge cookout and then had some LDS artist guy from Arizona come out and do a little concert for us. Apparently he was on a tour and we were able to get him to come to Charlotte. He wasn't all that great... He gave me one of his CD's for free... So I'll have to show you that when I get home haha. Bless his heart. Anyways, although it about KILLED me that I couldn't be in the water and on the boats.... I had a really good time and it was so much fun to get to know the members better and interact with some of their friends who weren't members of our faith! Good good fun! Nicole and Fernando also came and had a blast. They are like my best friends and I love them to death.
Sunday was of course full of miracles. We had the stake leaders talk in sacrament meeting and in Sunday school and 3rd hour and it was a really powerful Sunday. The spirit was strong and I was definitely rejuvenated. I also really needed the sacrament this week and it was amazing to see that as I prepared extra hard for it this week, it worked and paid off. I had such a spiritual experience and my testimony of the sacrament has sky rocketed. I know it's real and I know that it's cleansing power is real!!! We also had some members bring their non member friends to church and it was good to be able to meet them! Hopefully some progress happens. We went out with one of my favorite members, Anil, and taught Alex! We had a killer lesson and read the Book of Mormon with him. His brother joined us, finally, and we are hoping to help them both progress together! I've always wanted to baptize and African.
Sunday night we had our last dinner and hoorah with our "bug boys"
from Utah. They all head back to Utah this week and it's going to be so sad to see them leave. :( We have built some solid relationships and I have made so many new friends. Too bad most of them are from Logan and go to Utah State. Maybe I should go there? Or BYU Idaho?
Hmmm. We shall see where God takes me. Anyways, we had a spiritual night and all went around the circle and talked about what we learned this Summer and what we were grateful for. Such a spiritual experience! We went home and sent in our numbers and ended the night and week off with a bang!
Well, I know this is getting long, but I must share with you a little bit of what I learned this week. It's been a very very hard week for me, but I have been able to continue to endure in faith and patience and somehow, it all just seems to work out. This week I chose to study the topic "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." Faith is forward facing and as Elder Holland describes it, "to the future!" I decided to focus on three phrases that really hit me as I was studying.
1. "Nevertheless"
2. "But if not"
3. "Though he slay me"
In 1 Nephi 1:1 it says, , "I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days." Then a few chapters later in 1 Nephi 11:17 it says, "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." Nephi has such strong faith and no matter what, he is willing to do what the Lord asks of him, regardless of the outcome. "Nevertheless" he will do it.
In Daniel 3:18 it reads, "But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." This was the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego when they were in the fiery furnace and were about to get burned. They said the words, "but if not", meaning that they will do whatever the Lord requires of them. We may not like the outcome or get what we desire or want, but, it's important that we have a "but if not" attitude.
In Job 13:15 it reads, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:
but I will maintain mine own ways before him." Once again, another example of someone who is so faithful and is so willing to do whatever the Lord asks. Even if he's about to get slayed, he is still going to trust in the Lord. Do we have that kind of faith?
I've been pondering a lot on how we can develop strong faith like those in the scriptures. We may not be experiencing exactly what they are experiencing, but we are experiencing things that are very similar when it comes to the test of our faith. It's important that we continue to do the small and simple things. The primary answers. Going to church and attending our meetings. Praying daily as a family and as individuals. Studying the scriptures daily. Going to the temple and doing service. Being humble and submissive. Asking, seeking, and knocking. Being obedient and acting and applying what we are learning in our lives. I'm not sure if any of that made sense... It did in my head and in my notes.. But kind of hard to type out and explain. I guess the spirit just teaches me and I just have to do my best to relay it. :)
This week I am going to work on developing a "no matter what" kind of faith. I am going to do all that I can to let the Lord know that I am on his side and that I will fight for him until the very end. I am not going to let the attachment of my past and the agency of others out way my faith to the future. I am ready to give myself fully to God and trust in him and his eternal plan and purpose for me.
I hope that each of you will work on your faith this week. It's the first principle of the Gospel and there is so much peace and hope that can come into our lives as we have STRONG FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. I love each of you so much and am so thankful for the light and the joy that you bring into my life. Please continue to pray for me as I work on focusing and sprinting to the end of my mission.
I love each of you so very much and cannot wait to see you! Keep hanging in there. Keep the faith. There is hope and happiness ahead. I know God lives. I know this is the true church of Christ and I know that through his atonement and his grace, we can be saved and live eternally with one another.
Have a great week. Talk to ya in seven. See ya in 44.
Sister Kyla Worthington

August 16, 2016 ~Be Still

Hey cute people,
Another week down. How's everyone doing? Crazy how fast the weeks are going over here in Charlotte. I'm not sure if they're going by fast over there in the 801, but they are sure flying by over on this side of the country. Isn't it crazy to think that I'm clear across the country? That's weird. And when I really start to think about it, it freaks me out. Sometimes I feel like I'm not that far away from you.. And then I look at a map and realize that I am really far away and it kind of makes me sad haha. Let's just not think about it. :)
This week was another one of those weeks full of some ups and full of some downs. Some days I've never been so happy and then other days I've never been so sad. You just never know what you're going to get! There was nothing that happened this week that made me particularly sad, I just felt Satan getting to me and trying to bring me down. Sometimes it is really hard being out here and feeling like you are alone and that you are living in the unknown. I don't like it one bit. When I start thinking about it, Satan knows exactly how to get me and bring me down. I know that he is real and I know that he knows our weaknesses and our shortcomings and that is how he gets us. However, I know that we have a Savior Jesus Christ and I know that he is more powerful and if we turn to him, I know that he can help us escape the darkness and help us feel calm and at peace. I've had to rely on him a lot the past two months, more than I ever have before, and I have one of the strongest testimonies that HE LIVES and that he is there for us. I have felt his love and have felt his warm embrace. He has healed my heart and has literally wiped away my tears. I am so thankful for the Savior and for his loving grace, mercy, and peace. I have learned that there is a God and there is a devil. And the bringing of peace requires the complete elimination of Satan’s influence. Where he is, peace can never be. Make sure you always stay close to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Anyways, sorry about that. Let's talk about missionary work now! We had a pretty good week as far as the work goes. We had a few meetings and some administrative stuff to take care of, but amidst all that, we were still able to teach many great lessons and were able to talk to a lot of people. We were able to meet with each of our progressing investigators this week and were able to get a member out with us each night. That was a huge blessing! :)
Alex (from Ghana) is doing great! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he ate it up. We had one of the summer sales guys come out teaching with us and it was a perfect match. Instant friends and instant fellowship. Alex said one of the most sincere prayers I've ever heard and asked God to help him be able to get work off on Sunday's to be able to attend church. It was so precious! Yeyo is also doing really well. He has almost been taught all of the lessons and just has to meet with our mission president to discuss a few legal things. We aren't sure if he will be able to get baptized right now or not, but we are having lots of faith! He is so ready and is so elect. He has been coming to church every week and he has even been helping reactivate his less active brother. They both showed up at church yesterday together and had their arms around each other and I just wanted to cry. That's what the gospel is all about.
Damon is doing fantastic! We taught him the law of tithing and fasting this past week and he loved it. Most people have an issue with tithing around here, but he was all for it. Didn't have a single problem with it. Our bishop asked us to really emphasize tithing when we teach our investigators because it's such an important commandment. We really really want Charlotte to get a temple and the only way for that to happen is if the members here pay a full tithe! So, we have role-played that lesson so many times and are pro teachers when it comes to teaching the lesson of tithing and fasting/fast offerings. :) Damon is still wanting to get baptized but just doesn't feel quite ready yet. Although he is totally ready, he still says he needs a little bit more time. We are being patient and am hoping that the Lord will continue to work through him. He's so close!
I don't know who else I have talked about in the past... My mind is all over the place on preparation days. We've been meeting with this man named Javi for the past 2 weeks or so and we finally had a lesson with the elders and passed him on. He's such a good guy and I know that he will be baptized in the future! We transferred wards and got him involved with the other single adults and it's going to be perfect for him. It was sad saying goodbye and having to pass him on.. But I know it's ultimately what's best for him. Sometimes it's hard serving in a YSA ward because if you find someone that is older than 30, you have to refer them, and that stinks. :( Oh well, it's all the same work and I'm just grateful to be apart of it in one way, shape, or form.
So, biggest highlight of the week was finding out that my boy Chris is getting baptized this Saturday! I don't know if you ever remember me talking about a boy named Chris like three months ago.. But he is totally getting baptized!! We lost contact with him a while ago and ended up just referring him over to different missionaries that lived more in his area and just told them good luck! I guess they ran into him and started teaching him again and he's totally getting baptized. We were teaching him for a while but he lives like 45 minutes from us so it was really hard to meet with him consecutively and although he is of YSA age, we just decided that it would be more convenient for him to go to the family ward and get baptized there if he ever wanted to continue to progress. He randomly showed up at FHE this past Monday and told us he had a baptismal date. I freaked out and was so happy! Then, earlier this morning, we got a text and he asked if I would give a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost at his baptism. I feel so honored and so special! It's been so neat to see how someone we found a while ago, has met with different missionaries and is now making the covenant of baptism!! Love it!!

We also had a really neat zone conference this week. We were able to meet up with another zone about an hour away and have a great conference! A lot of the conference was on technology. Our mission is piloting another technology phase and we are super excited. Miracles are happening with technology. I have never seen technology be used for so much good. We are now having skype lessons almost every day. We are skyping in members to our lessons, we are skyping in investigators to our member lessons, we are face timing and adding many different people to our chats, we are creating Facebook groups and chats, sending videos and prayers via Facebook, voice recordings and pictures, it's just going crazy and we have been able to see so many miracles. I never thought that it would get to this point, and I know a lot of the members are really confused, but this is how the gospel will get preached to all the world. Of course face to face visits are still our #1 priority, we now have technology access that is helping the work move forward so beautifully! It's only there to enhance and compliment face to face interactions. Not to replace or to take away from. We are already seeing so many blessings and I am so grateful for all of the tools that God has given his missionaries to further the work. However, we must be careful with all forms of technology. I heard a quote the other day that said, "Technology is God's greatest tool and technology is also Satan's greatest tool." We gotta be careful!
This past Friday we had the opportunity to go to a member's house up in Huntersville. It was the brother in law and sister of a YSA member in our ward and they had us over for dinner. After dinner the father of the family asked us to teach them a lesson and wanted to have them pretend like they were the investigators. They asked if we could teach them the Plan of Salvation. We taught the lesson with lots of crazy kids running around, and it was very good for all 3 of us. It's been a long time since we have taught a family, so it was definitely needed. After we taught, the members gave us some solid feedback and suggestions, a little bit harsh, but it was SO good for us. I have such a powerful testimony of teaching members and practicing with them. It was so helpful and really helped me see what I need to work on. It's been such a long time since I've been in a family ward and it really made me miss it. It made me miss being in the "home" setting and hearing little kids running around everywhere. I am so grateful for the experiences that I am having each and everyday and I am just learning so much. So, that was a really neat experience.
Saturday was a great day! We were able to meet up with some of our less actives and teach a few good lessons. Our Saturday's are usually long, hot, and full of finding, but it really helped to have some set lessons set up. After all of those, we went over to our church for a sports night! Some of the ward missionaries set up a sports night and invited a bunch of members, less actives, and investigators. We all got some little Caesars pizza and had a bomb time! It was so much fun! Nothing like playing some intense volleyball and basketball in skirts and dresses. I was in heaven though and it was so much fun. A few of our investigators and less actives came and made it absolutely worth it. They all made some new friends and had a really good time. I am hoping that we can continue to do something like that every weekend! It was a great finding event.
Sunday finally came and once again, it was a day full of miracles! I love love love love love my Sunday's. If you don't love Sunday's, I don't know what's wrong with you! It is the best day of the week! The talks were excellent and our lessons in gospel principles and relief society were amazing. I really felt the spirit and the whole day I was really thinking and pondering about what I learned and what the spirit taught me. I have been really impressed with this YSA ward and the preparation that they put into their talks and lessons. It's absolutely phenomenal. For Sunday dinner, we got invited to another YSA family's home. We were able to have a hot homemade cooked meal and it was wonderful and so amazing! As we got talking to these members, they really opened up to us and shared a lot of things with us. They used to have sister missionaries living with them in their home so they always had lots of love and compassion for the sister missionaries. As we were talking, I was looking at their wall of photos and started asking about their children and their family. Come to find out, the father passed away in 2012 due to cancer, and the youngest kid was killed about two years ago while on his mission in California. My heart instantly broke. I just couldn't help but imagine the pain that the mother, and two sisters have had to live with for the past little while. While we were talking about it, it amazed me at how loving, kind, and gentle they were. They were all okay and had so much faith, peace, and hope. I was astonished. They talked about how they knew where their father and brother were. They talked about how they are continuing to serve on the other side and that right now, they are experiencing joy that is indescribable. Elder Zwick spoke at Andrew's funereal and told the family that Elder Page (the missionary who passed away) was still serving his mission with his new companion, also Elder Page. (The father)
I left that house feeling so grateful and so blessed for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I saw how that knowledge worked in that families life. I saw how peaceful and calm they were and I want that for myself, and for the whole world. The gospel is truly so beautiful and it's only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that we can have that peace and that we can make it back to Heavenly Father and make it back to all of our loved ones. The atonement is the bridge that gets us back to our Heavenly Father. As I have been reflecting on that, my thoughts today are regarding the principle of peace.
I'll be honest. My mission has been really hard for me. I have hid a lot of my deepest feelings and worries and have tried to "fake it" and continue to move forward as if nothing is wrong. Especially during the last two months, I have really had a lot of pain and emotions inside of me. It has been in these times that I have felt the love of God and the peace of God the very strongest in my life. I have been able to gain such a strong testimony of the reality of peace and I want each of you to know that God's peace is available to anyone and everyone, at anytime and anywhere. All we have to do is seek it and desire to feel it. It's also a feeling that surpasses all understanding and comprehension.
"The value of peace within our hearts cannot be measured. When we are at peace, we can be free of worry and fear, knowing that with the Lord’s help, we can do all that is expected or required of us. We can approach every day, every task, and every challenge with assurance and confidence in the outcome. We have freedom of thought and action, and freedom to be happy. Few, if any, blessings from God are more valuable to our spiritual health than the reward of peace within. In modern-day revelation the Savior said, “But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come. (D&C 59:23.)"
Don't we all want to feel that kind of peace in our lives? I know I do! And more than that, I know that I need to feel that peace to get through this crazy life of mine! I know that receiving harmony and peace within ourselves depends on our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ, and our willingness to emulate him by living the principles he has given us. He invites us all to "Come unto him, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
How is your relationship with our Savior? Do you talk with him every single day? Do you ask him to bless you with his love and his peace? Are you keeping his commandments and doing what he has asked us to do? If you don't have a relationship with him and if you are not keeping his commandments, I am going to tell you right now that it's going to be hard to feel peace in your life. Can anyone’s mind be at peace if they are breaking commandments? Think about how much mental anguish results from a little lying, a little cheating, or a little stealing, even if they are never discovered and no one finds out. Do we have peace of mind if we are knowingly disobeying the law? Or do we have peace of mind if we are not honest in the workforce or in our schooling and education? Do we have peace of mind when we are under the influence of drugs and alcohol or being immoral? Are we at peace if we are less than honest regarding our tithing and fast offerings? Do we have a peace of mind if we are angry at a family member or holding grudges? NO. We cannot be at peace when we are doing any of those things. I once heard someone say, "Anger doesn’t solve anything. It builds nothing, but it can destroy everything."
President David O. McKay said, “The peace of Christ does not come by seeking the superficial things of life, neither does it come except as it springs from the individual’s heart. This peace is conditioned upon obedience to the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No man is at peace with himself or his God who is untrue to his better self, who transgresses the law of what is right either in dealing with himself by indulging in passion, in appetite, yielding to temptations against his accusing conscience, or in dealing with his fellowmen, being untrue to their trust. Peace does not come to the transgressor of law; peace comes by obedience to law, and it is that message which Jesus would have us proclaim among all men.”
I absolutely loved that and I know that it's absolutely true. I know that the reason I have felt the most peace and the strongest peace since being out on my mission, has been because I have been trying SO hard to be obedient to my Heavenly Father and I have been truly trying to live the way that he would have me live. By doing so, he has blessed me with his peace. However, I know that you can feel that peace while not being on a mission too!
This morning I was studying about peace and came across some really good talks and scriptures. Our dear beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson gives us three things to do to increase the peace in our lives and it's the challenge that I want to give to each of you this week.
1. Search inward. True peace will reign triumphant when we improve ourselves after the pattern taught by the Lord. Evaluate your life. Fix what you need to fix. Repent. Keep the commandments and obey God. Make amends with those that you have wronged and commit to be exactly obedient. I will always remember a fireside that I once went to at BYU where Elder Ballard was speaking. He talked about having a personal interview with yourself and sitting down and literally talking out loud to yourself and interviewing yourself. I've tried it a few times, and surprisingly it really works. I want you to each try it this week.
2. Reach outward. Service truly brings miracles and peace! As you turn outward, your problems seem to disappear and you seem to be filled with joy and happiness. Another reason why these past 17 months have been the best months of my life. I have been focused on others and not myself. No is a better example of service than our Savior Jesus Christ and our dear prophet. Follow their example. The Savior always turned outwards when you and I would've probably turned inward. Focus on serving those around you this week and I promise your life will be full of more peace.
3. Look heavenward. Trust God. Look to him. Pray EVERY SINGLE DAY. Don't rely on the world and the outsiders to give you peace and hope. Don't rely on materialistic things and worldly appetites and pleasures. Rely on the atonement of Jesus Christ and on our Heavenly Father. He loves you so much. More than you will ever be able to comprehend. He knows you perfectly and he knows how to help you. He knows what you need and he knows how to heal you and give you peace.
Will you all try working on those three things for me this week? I know you will be so blessed and I know you will notice a difference in your life. As I was thinking more about this concept of peace. It made me think about a big, warm, winter fire. The peace of God is like a winter fire. When you're just sitting in front of a fire, your are warmed. That's all you have to do, sit in front of the fire. That's all. You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have this or that, you don't have to be the richest person in the world or the most amazing celebrity....The fire warms everyone. Every single one of us. God's peace and love is there and accessible for everyone and all we have to do is sit in front of the fire.
I want each of you to know how much I love you and how grateful I am for you. I know that this gospel is real. I know that God lives and I know that he is waiting to offer us his peace. He wants us to be happy. He wants us to find joy. We just have to do our part. I hope that each of you will work on becoming who Heavenly Father needs you to be and I hope that you will work on being a better person so that you can feel of the indescribable peace that he has to offer. Remember, You cannot become who you are supposed to be by staying who you are. You may have to change a few things, but I promise it'll be worth it.
I couldn't have been able to do this without you! My joys have been multiplied and my sorrows divided because of YOU. Because of your love, faith, prayers, and support. My mission has been the best thing I have ever done in my life. Next week I will be starting my very last transfer as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am ready to give everything I have to the Lord and I am going to continue to need all of your prayers and your support. Six more weeks. We can do this!
I love you all more than you will ever know! Have a great week. Sending all my hugs and kisses your way! Your sister in Charlotte loves you!! :) talk to ya in seven & see you in 50.
Sister Worthington

August 8, 2016~ Charlotte has my heart

Hi family!
Happy Monday! How is everyone doing? I cannot believe that it's already a new week and that I'm already emailing you. It's real hot & humid here in Charlotte. The forecast is looking nice and rainy. It's rained a lot this past week. Kinda depressing. I love the rain and the thunderstorms, but when it's everyday, I don't like it. It makes missionary work harder too.
My companions and I just returned from a nice visit to the Cheesecake Factory so I'm feeling really full and happy. My goal on my mission was to go to the Cheesecake Factory at least once on my mission, and I'm finally serving in the place where the only Cheesecake Factory is. Score! My miso salmon has never tasted so good. Mom, I was definitely missing you, but was thinking about you the entire time. We also got to shop around the southpark mall and that was really fun. Super expensive, but really fun. :) I love my shopping.
This past week was another one full of ups and downs. I am so grateful for all that I am learning and for the miracles that God is bringing into my life. I am being blessed with so many amazing experiences and don't have words to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father.
Our investigators and recent converts are doing really well! I absolutely love being in the YSA ward. It's so fun and so many wonderful things happen. Lately we have realized how crazy and spontaneous single adults are. Sometimes it's a blessing, but mostly it's a curse. Our days never go as planned and we are often having to switch things around all the time. It keeps things interesting and fun. We are really busy and are always having things to do. Only having one more transfer is killing me, and it's getting really hard, but the fact that we are so busy is really helping me focus and keep on keeping on.
I'll attempt to give you an update of the week. Monday was great, typical preparation day and FHE. Tuesday was full of service and teaching! We were able to have dinner with a returning member and we had a great lesson afterwards. His name is Hyrum and he's been recently coming back to church. He is a really good kid, but is struggling with his testimony. We have really been inviting him to do specific things and it's been amazing to see how it's helping him! He expressed to us that he felt the spirit this past week. His countenance changed so much this week and he definitely was glowing. That is my favorite part of the gospel, watching people change and seeing repentance work in their lives. It's so real. So so real. We were able to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ and ended up drawing out the cycle on a subway napkin. The spirit was really strong and it was a really good lesson. At the end of the lesson, we told him that he would be blessed for serving the missionaries and he looked at us and said, "Wait, I will get blessed for feeding you?" It was so cute. Obviously he will be blessed! Anyone that feeds the missionaries will be blessed! :) After that lesson we headed over to a lesson with a man named Javi. Javi randomly showed up to church the previous Sunday and wanted to start taking the missionary discussions. We ended up going to his house and taught an amazing lesson! He made snacks for us and was so happy to have us over. Our lesson with him was pretty last minute and so we didn't have time to get a member to come with us, but we had this genius idea. We decided to skype a member in! BEST THING EVER. We are really trying to use our technology more and all of our tools and it was so amazing! Our member was able to testify of the restoration and it was so convenient for him! He didn't have to leave his house or anything, just had to pull out his iPhone and bear his testimony! So great. Javi came to church again yesterday and is really excited to continue to learn. Unfortunately, he's not a YSA and we have to transfer him to our elders, but he's going to be taken care of. :)
Wednesday was long, but good. We had 4 lessons and that was nice. We had a lesson with a less active member and taught a bold word of wisdom lesson, while he had a glass of wine in his hand haha. It was funny, but he needed a slap in the face, so we gave him one. Hopefully it was a wake up call to him. Then we had a lesson with our investigator Alex Tetteh, the one from Ghana. Our ward mission leader came with us and we taught the plan of salvation. At the end of the lesson, we invited Alex to be baptized on August 28th! He accepted the date and we are really excited for him. When we were following up with him and asking him if he read his Book of Mormon, he said, "Well, my dad actually was interested in the book and took it from me because he wanted to read it, so I didn't get to read it." Haha we were super happy about that and gave him a new Book of Mormon for himself. :) Nonetheless, the lesson was good and I'm loving Alex a lot! After that lesson, we went straight to our lesson with Damon. Damon is also on date for August 21st and he is doing so well. He is exercising so much faith and I have loved watching him stretch himself and grow! We taught him some of the bigger commandments and he seemed to have no problems with them. He came to church yesterday and it was good to see him there. We are really praying that he continues to progress and that he continues to work towards his baptism date.
Our other progressing investigator is named Qua Jones. I cannot remember what I have said about him.. But we were not able to see him this week. He got in a pretty bad car accident and has been in bed on medication all week. We are so so sad and it's literally crushed us inside. He is having trail after trial and we are just hoping that he continues to stay strong. It's hard when you're trying to do the right things and bad things still happen to you. It's hard to not want to blame God and turn away from. I have strong faith that Qua will get through it and that he will still get baptized. He is probably the most solid out of the 3 that we have on date right now. Please keep him in your prayers. :)
Our recent converts are all doing really well. This past week we had to say goodbye to Alan Ginger. He finally drove all the way back to Utah. :( He finished up his summer sales and headed home. We were able to get in contact with his new bishop and the missionaries in Orem and he's going to be taken care of and will be just fine. Thankfully I'll be home in a few months to get him back in shape if he hits a rough patch. He's a really good kid though and I'm so excited for his new adventures. When we saw him and taught him this past week, he said that he's been thinking about serving a mission. Say what! He's only 18... So this would be perfect for him. He said that he is going to continue to pray about it and will keep us posted. I told him to stop by and meet the family, so hopefully he does that. I gave him our address.. So hopefully he'll show up soon. Sorry for giving our address out to everyone... I just want you to meet all the wonderful people that I have met and associated with! :) Nicole is also doing really great. She is actually heading to Utah on August 22nd and will be having a working interview. She is super excited and is really hoping that she gets the job. I told her to also stop by and say hi too, so hopefully she will find some time to do that. I'm super pumped to have her in Utah. She is like my new best friend and I love her so much. She got asked to speak at the mission president's fireside last night and she did great! Her testimony is so powerful and I think it really helped some of the investigators that were there. Fernando is also doing great, just living the recent convert life. He gets the priesthood next week and then is going to the temple next Saturday! We are soooo happy for him and he is glowing. He's loving everything about the church and just wants to know everything right away. It's the best thing ever.
Other than that, we are working with some other amazing people and are starting to see the fruits of our labors. I love having people to teach and love inviting others to come unto Christ. It's the best job in the world. Some days I never want to leave this place, but then other days I'm so ready to come home. Either way, I love being a missionary and love being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Guess what. Last week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I cried. Literally sobbed when I finished it. It's always a bitter sweet moment finishing the Book of Mormon. This time around I really focused on studying each individual chapter and really broke it town and took some really good notes. It was probably the best experience that I've had reading the Book of Mormon in all my experiences of reading it. I want to share some of my thoughts with you regarding that precious book. I have come to love the Book of Mormon so much. It is literally my favorite book. I couldn't say that before my mission, but I can definitely say it now. If you don't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, I would highly encourage you get one. It will change your life. The Book of Mormon is simply another testament of Jesus Christ. So many people out here do not understand that and think that it is just the "Mormon bible" that we read and that it doesn't talk about Jesus Christ. It blows my mind. Of the 6,607 total verses found in the Book of Mormon, 3,925 reference Jesus Christ’s name. This means that some form of Christ’s name is mentioned approximately every 1.7 verses. I don't understand how people can deny that it's another testament of Jesus Christ. The last time I read the Book of Mormon I highlighted every time it mentioned Jesus Christ's name. Without fail, it mentioned his name at least one time on every single page. The Book of Mormon TESTIFIES OF JESUS CHRIST.
The Book of Moroni really touched me this time around. The book of Moroni focuses on three things. First, the need to learn and have a witness of the truths found in this sacred record. Second, it is a charge to understand and acquire the spiritual gifts available to us. Finally, he pleads with each of us to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him! All three are really powerful and really significant. Learning truths, understanding and gaining spiritual gifts, and becoming perfect through Christ.
I know that we are all familiar with the verses 3-5 of Moroni 10, but I REALLY want you to ponder those verses and really think about them. As you come to understand those 3 verses, you will understand how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon for yourself. I grew up thinking the Book of Mormon was true and having a good idea that it was true, but I didn't know for myself. I didn't have a firm witness that it was true. It wasn't until I truly applied Moroni 10: 3-5 where I gained my testimony.
"Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."
The word EXHORT really stands out to me. Exhort means to strongly encourage or urge someone to do something. Not just a good idea or a suggestion, it's an urge. Go read the book of Moroni and see how many times it says the word 'exhort.' So, I also, exhort you to read the Book of Mormon.
The next thing I noticed was in verse 3. It offers an important admonition, "ponder it in your hearts." What is the translation of ‘it’--the thing that we are supposed to ponder? It is ‘how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things.’ We are to remember how loving, how good, how merciful, and how forgiving our Heavenly Father has been toward all of us. What usually begins to happen when we begin to ponder how merciful the Lord has been to mankind? To us personally? What happens when we count our blessings, or perhaps our sins for which we must ask his forgiveness, and recognize his hand in our individual lives? Is it not true that our hearts turn to the Lord in love and gratitude? Does our faith and humility increase? Yes, it does! And that is the impact of verse 3. Following the counsel in that verse helps us to become more humble, more willing and ready to receive new information and knowledge with an open mind and heart.
I know that every time I ponder and think about how truly good the lord has been to me in my life, my heart is changed. My heart is softened and I am more open to the spirit and to the teachings of Jesus Christ. I love taking time to reflect on how blessed I have been and I truly feel the love of my savior when I take time out of the day to be grateful for all that he has done for me. I would encourage you to take some time out of your crazy busy day to reflect on how merciful the lord has been to you.
I have truly come to learn that anyone, anywhere, can read in the Book of Mormon and receive inspiration. My experience has been that a testimony does not burst upon us suddenly. It grows day by day, as we do our part. Do not be disappointed if you have read and reread the Book of Mormon and have not yet received a powerful witness of its truthfulness.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie offered some of his insight into how to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon by pondering a question while reading. “There is another and simpler test that all who seek to know the truth might well take. It calls for us simply to read, ponder, and pray--all in the spirit of faith and with an open mind. To keep ourselves alert to the issues at hand--as we do read, ponder, and pray--we should ask ourselves a thousand times, ‘Could any man have written this book? And it is absolutely guaranteed that sometime between the first and thousandth time this question is asked, every sincere and genuine truth seeker will come to know by the power of the Spirit that the Book of Mormon is true, that it is the mind and will and voice of the Lord to the whole world in our day."
President Hinckley's challenge was: “I offer a challenge to members of the Church throughout the world and to our friends everywhere to read or reread the Book of Mormon.…“Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God."
President Ezra Taft Benson said: “There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words of life’, and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance.” 
Those are three beautiful promises from prophets of God and I know that they are true. I have not only seen that in my own life, but I have been able to see it in the lives of others. I know that each individual who prayerfully studies the Book of Mormon can also receive a testimony of its divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will testify to you that it's true, if you really have the desire to know, and it'll be a witness that you will never be able to deny. Moroni did not promise a manifestation of the Holy Ghost to those who seek to know the truth of the Book of Mormon for hypothetical or academic reasons, even if they ‘ask with a sincere heart.’ The promise of Moroni is for those who are committed in their hearts to actupon the manifestation if it is received. Prayers based on any other reason have no promise because they are not made with real intent. Which real intent means with the willingness and commitment to ACT upon what is given to you.
The Book of Mormon can help with personal problems in a very real way. "Do you want to get rid of a bad habit? Do you want to improve relationships in your family? Do you want to increase your spiritual capacity? Read the Book of Mormon! It will bring you closer to the Lord and His loving power. He who fed a multitude with five loaves and two fishes—He who helped the blind to see and the lame to walk—can also bless you!! He has promised that those who live by the precepts of this book “shall receive a crown of eternal life.”
I know the Book of Mormon is true with my whole heart and soul. It has brought me so much peace and joy in my life. I have found great comfort in the words on those pages and my life has been forever changed because of that book. The spirit has testified to me and it's something that I hold so near and dear to my heart.
And without forgetting about spiritual gifts...... ACQUIRE THEM, SEEK THEM, and PRAY for them. “One of the great processes you go through in life is to discover yourself, to find those gifts and capacities God has given you. He has given you great talents, the smallest part of which you have just begun to utilize. Trust the Lord to assist you in unlocking the door to those gifts. Some of us have created imaginary limits in our minds. There is literally a genius locked up inside each of us. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise."
I have to get running, but I just want you all to know how much I love you all. I am SO grateful for all of your prayers. I sure need them. I am so thankful for the amazing people that I have in my life and for the chance that I have to share this gospel with God's children in NC. I know that it's true and I know that I am doing the work of the lord. There is nothing else that I would rather be doing and there is no where else that I would rather be. I know that God lives, I know that he loves each of you, and I know that he has a plan for every single one of you, even if you can't see that plan. Never doubt his plan and constantly turn to him and rely on his grace. None of us can get through this life without his grace and mercy.
I hope you all have a great week. You're in my prayers. Let me know if you need anything. Knighton Cole, Happy Birthday on Saturday! I love you so so much. Talk to you in seven. Sending all my hugs and kisses your way! Xo
Sister Ky Worthington

August 2, 2016~happy august

Hi everyone!
Where did July go? Oh my goodness. I cannot believe how fast time is going. July was a great month, but I'm glad it's over! Now if I can just get through this month, we'll be okay. It's going to be a hard one. There isn't lots to look forward too and it's hard having no holidays. August in North Carolina is also one of the hottest months of the year.. So I'm not really looking forward to that. I hope that it goes fast and that we stay busy! Being busy is the best because I don't have time to think about anything but missionary work, and I love when I'm like that!
Today we have a zone activity so I'm going to try my best to type quickly and update you on this past week. Not too many exciting things happened this week, it was just another one of those weeks in the mission field. Lots of ups, lots of downs, and lots of in-betweens. I'm grateful for everyday and grateful for the experiences that God is allowing me to have. I have grown and changed so much. I don't even have words to describe how different my spirit and my heart is. Each and everyday I thank my Heavenly Father for helping influence me to come out and serve a mission. It would've been the biggest regret that I would have ever had! Thank goodness for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Well, let's give this week a shot. Monday was good. Typical preparation day. Tuesday was fun! Did some community service and then went to dinner with Nicole at the first counselor in the bishopric's house. We had a really good time and were able to teach her the second new member discussion. She is so sharp and ends up teaches us so much. She keeps asking if she can get her endowment sooner than the one year mark and we just laugh every time she asks, because the answer is always no. She asks bishop every Sunday and it just cracks me up. I love the girl to death. I think as far as right now goes, she is still planning on moving to Utah in September/October. I cannot wait for you to meet her. She's a solid 10.
Wednesday was long and exhausting. We had a really powerful district meeting in the morning and I got asked to share my testimony. Of course I ended up tearing up and probably looked like a hot mess. My emotions have been high lately and testifying about the atonement was just the cherry on top! I was able to share how the atonement has influenced me as a missionary. I have learned to use and understand the atonement in such a different way than I ever have before. Before my mission, I thought the atonement was there to just help me repent of my big sins and give me the strength and power to get through them. I never really was able to comprehend how the savior was able to help me with emotional, physical, temporal, mental, and spiritual pains and heartaches. Or I guess I just never went through anything too severe that made me really have to access the atonement to get through it. I realized that I was trying to do everything on my own and wasn't letting the savior help me and make it easier for me. Ohhhhh how I wish I would've known what I know now before. That would've saved me a whole lot of heartache and pain.
Since being on my mission, I haven't had to use the atonement in the way that I was used to using it. I haven't had to use the atonement to repent of big sins or mistakes. Being a missionary, it's pretty difficult to make big mistakes anyways... :) I have had to rely on my Savior and his atonement in a different way. In the way of healing my heart and soul, feeling and seeking peace, and most importantly, feeling the love of God. It wasn't until my mission that I truly felt the atonement work in that way. I KNOW with absolutely surety that my savior loves me. I know that he knows exactly what we are going through and exactly what we are feeling. He understands every emotion that we are feeling and going through. He knows our pains, our sadness, our sorrows, our thoughts, our spirits, our tears, our shame, and our heart. He knows everything about my little being. And because of that, he knows exactly how to help me and comfort me. I have had to rely on the atonement to help me in such a different way and I am so grateful that I have been able to experience it in the way that I have. I feel like I've been given the best of both worlds, because I have felt the atonement work differently in my life for different things that are going on. I love my savior so much and I am so grateful for his love and his infinite atonement.
After district meeting we had a district potluck. That was an experience. Sister Nunies made some pink Hawaiian chicken dish and it was interesting to say the least. I love the girl to death, but she eats some weird things. Makes me laugh. Sister Warner on the other hand eats more than anyone I know, and so with them together, it's never a good idea. We then had to go to Firestone and get our car inspected. That took a long time and was really boring. Then we went to the mission office and saw the great office staff. I love them so so much. I love being so close to the mission office. Every time I go there, my spirits are lifted and I walk out more inspired to work hard and to be more obedient and faithful to my savior. We had dinner with some good members and did some finding the rest of the night. We met a new investigator named Joy and she is the most precious thing ever! She lost her mom last year had some really deep questions. We were able to help give her a lot of answers and she is really excited to start investigating the church. We were trying to contact a former investigator and they weren't home, and so we decided to knock on the neighbors door and that's how we found sweet Joy. I'm hoping that she progresses and really takes the gospel seriously!
Thursday was crazy busy! We didn't have time for our 3 hour weekly planning session because we had so many things going on! I love days like that. We taught quite a few lessons and that felt really good. I really like when we have set appointments because it's also giving Sister Warner an opportunity to teach and learn. She is such a powerful missionary and I LOVE watching her teach! She has a really strong testimony and she is full of the sweetest spirit. We had an hour to go finding before we had our dinner appointment and so we decided to go to this place called the "Boardwalk." We were just street contacting and trying to talk with everyone and we saw this street performer guy playing his guitar trying to earn some money. We walked passed him because we didn't want to stop and listen. If we stopped, I would've felt obligated to give him some money, and I didn't have any on me at the time. After we got about 300 feet passed him, I had this feeling that we needed to turn around and talk to him. I told my 2 hermanas and we turned around. As we started talking to him, came to find out that met with missionaries last summer and had lots of discussions with them. He went to church quite a few times and was considering baptism. Since I have been out for over a year, I just decided to ask him if he remembered the missionaries that he met with. He looked at me and said, "Yeah, I totally remember them. Their names were Sister Cottis and Sister Williams." I freaked out! It made me so happy to find out that I was talking to someone about the gospel that my cute little Sister Cottis talked to one year ago. Such a small world. It was a tender mercy and made me happy the rest of the day. He's not a YSA, but we are going to start teaching him again and then are going to refer him to the elders if he's solid. Crazy how the Lord works and how he has a plan for everyone. He is so involved in our lives. The rest of the day was good, just finding & teaching & finding & teaching & finding & teaching some more. :) That's just what we do.
Friday was great! We had lots of planing and studying. We did some service with the homeless and I loved every second of that! Friday night we had interviews with President Alexander. Those are always my favorite! He is such an amazing man and I love him so much. Each and every interview with him is so special and I am so grateful that I get the chance to speak with him every 6 weeks. It's such a blessing! Sister Alexander also just melts my heart. She is the sweetest thing ever and helps us so much. Friday night we started a district fast and then I went on exchanges with some sisters in the zone! I went up to Concord, North Carolina. It was a very interesting exchange and I felt super uncomfortable the whole time, but other than that, I learned a lot. Going 24 hours without Sister Warner and Sister Nunies was absolutely awful. It made me so grateful to have them. You just have no idea how good things are until you have to go without them. I've learned a lot about the law of sacrifice lately. It made me think back to my temple experience and about how much that law impacted me. I am out here sacrificing everything to serve the Lord, and you are sacrificing a lot by having me gone! So mom, having me be gone is you exercising your faith and living a part of the law of sacrifice, and in return, you will be blessed because you are keeping & living that law!! :) Think about that one for a minute. Sacrificing 24 hours and going without my companions, and food (because we were fasting), was hard, but worth it! With every sacrifice comes a blessing! :) remember that.
Saturday was long and hard. Not only was a with a different companion, but I went tracting in the 104 degree weather for 6 hours straight. On no food or water. It was rough. In the YSA area, we don't tract. The odds of knocking on a door and finding a young single adult is rare, so we just don't waste our time doing it. I wasn't used to knocking doors and it made me really appreciate the area that I'm in right now. It was good to freshen up on my door approaches, but man it was tough. I don't know how missionaries tract all day everyday. There has to be a better way to do missionary work. Oh wait, there is, through the members of the church! :) That's how we are baptizing over here.... All through the members. They do the finding, we do the teaching. The rest of the day was good, and I survived, so that's all that matters. We were able to teach a recent convert family of 8. Six little black kids and the mom and dad and I was in heaven. It brought me back to my Haiti days.. And I couldn't help but think about my Haitian babies. Mom, can we go back?
Sunday was bomb. Alan Ginger was confirmed a member of the church and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Best. Day. Ever. My cute sistas and I had to give talks in sacrament meeting on member missionary work and I was bold and laid down the law. I really felt the spirit guide my talk and was grateful for what I was able to learn while preparing for it! We only got like 2 days to prepare, but hey, that's what we do! Speak last minute. Teach last minute. Serve last minute. Everything last minute. Missionaries to the rescue. :) After church we had our coordination meeting and then went to South Carolina for dinner. We had a really great dinner with some of my favorite members and that ended the week on a high note. I love love love the members here. They are so good to us and are so strong in the gospel. I cannot wait for y'all to meet some of the people that I have met on my mission. I've made some of the greatest friends out here and literally have a whole new family. North Carolina has my heart.
Lately in my studies, I have been thinking a lot about the principle of enduring to the end. While studying, it dawned on me that that principle is the only principle, out of all 42 that we teach, that is taught twice to our investigators. There are 2 sections in preach my gospel on "enduring to the end." I found that very interesting. Enduring to the end is such a crucial step of living the doctrine of Christ. I think we are really good at doing the first 4, having faith, repenting, attending church, being blessed with the spirit, but then we skip enduring to the end and just go back to faith. What then, really, is enduring to the end? How do we actually "live" that step?
I have started looking at it kind of how I look at keeping the Sabbath day holy. If we just sit at home and do nothing all Sunday long, are we really keeping the Sabbath day holy? No. We have to be filling our day with good, uplifting things and activities. We have to be actively engaged in doing something that will bring us closer to Heavenly Father. That is how we truly keep the Sabbath day holy. I've though of enduring to the end in the same kind of way. We cannot just sit there and live day to day, hoping and praying that we make it through another day, week, month, or year. We have to actively be doing something. Actively trying to live our lives in such a way that will bring us closer to Heavenly Father. Doing things that will help us become more like our savior. We only have this one life to prove that we are worthy to be with our father in heaven forever. We must be reading our scriptures every single day. We must be praying every single day. We must be constantly going to church and renewing our covenants with God through the sacrament ordinance. We must be trying our very best to become like our Savior and do all that we can to acquire his attributes.
I know that we all know that this life is difficult and truly enduring is really hard. It's hard to continue to press forward when the world seems to be falling deeper and deeper every single day. It's hard to keep going when you feel like you are drowning and cannot find breath. It's hard to feel like there is hope, peace, and light, when you are dealing with a trial that is taking over your life. It's hard to want to keep enduring when you feel like no one knows what you're going through and how to help you. It's hard to push forward when Satan is getting ahold of you and you cannot get out. It's hard to find joy in life when you are constantly surrounded by negativity and wickedness. Long story short, THIS LIFE IS NOT EASY. I have come to learn that trials, deception, and iniquity, are the very enemies of endurance. Those who can bear the pain of trials, who can ignore alternate voices around them, and whose loyalty can’t be bought with sin—these are they who will be able to faithfully fight and endure.  Enduring to the end is supposed to be hard. It's during those hard times that we truly come to find out who we are and why we are here. It's during all of those trials that we learn to turn to the Savior. It's during those hard times that push us to be better and want to improve our lives and become more like our Savior. If we didn't have to endure, there would be no point. However, we must remember that endurance takes action on our part. The Lord will not help us and magnify us until we first act. I test this concept almost every single day. Whenever I don't feel motivated to get out and do the work, I have to remember that it's up to me. I have to get out and do something about it. I cannot just sit there and expect God to somehow motivate me and put desire into me. It doesn't work like that. Once I man up and get outside and do the work, without fail, every single time, the lord gives me strength and magnifies me and I'm able to get through the day. He won't magnify us until we act FIRST. You cannot learn more about the Savior unless you pray about him. You cannot learn more about the temple unless you go to the temple. You cannot strengthen your testimony of the Book of Mormon if it just sits on your night stand and gathers dust. You have to open it up and read it. You cannot experience the joy of missionary work and have your friends hear about the gospel until you invite them and actually talk to them. Nothing will happen in your enduring process until you ACT. Acting and enduring is the process of conversion. Our conversions are fueled by our faith and achieved by our actions.
The responsibility to endure is uniquely ours. But through it all, it's important to remember that we are never alone. I know that the lifting power of the Lord can be ours if we will “come unto Christ” and “be perfected in him.” If we will “deny ourselves of all ungodliness.” And if we will “love God with all our might, mind and strength.”
"If you really want to be like the Lord and truly endure, more than anything or anyone else--you will remember that your adoration of Jesus is best shown by your emulation of Him. Then you will not allow any other love to become more important than love for your companion, your family, and your Creator. You will govern yourself not by someone else’s set of rules but by revealed principles of truth."
I love the promise that is given in preach my gospel to those whom choose to endure. "As we continue to live the gospel, we grow closer to our Heavenly Father. We enjoy and appreciate more the Atonement of the Savior. Our families are drawn closer together. We experience greater feelings of the love, joy, and peace that come from the Atonement. Our hearts are changed, and we find security in living the restored gospel. As we continue to exercise faith in Christ, repent, and renew our covenants, we enjoy continued guidance from the Holy Ghost. If we endure to the end of our lives in being true to our covenants, we will receive eternal life." Which is the greatest of all the gifts of God, right? We shouldn't want or strive for anything more.
Enduring to the end has become a real, working principle in my daily life and I am working on truly living that step of the doctrine of Christ. I want to invite each of you to evaluate how you "endure to the end" and think about some things that you can do to change and to better endure, and more importantly, endure joyfully. :) Remember that God wants us to be happy. He wants us to find joy in this life, even amidst all the hard things that are going on all around us.
I am so grateful for this gospel and am so grateful for the chance that I have every single day to bear witness of my savior Jesus Christ. I know he lives and I will declare that until the day that I die. I am grateful for missionary work and am grateful for the plan that Heavenly Father has for me. It's definitely been a journey, but it's been a beautiful one. I am grateful for each of you and the love that you have given me. I feel so blessed to be who I am and have the great friends and family members that I have.
I hope each of you have a great week and hope that you enjoyed your time at the Schlappi family reunion. I cannot wait to be back with the bunch. You guys are my favorites! I have to get going, but I want you to know that I love each of you and I love my savior. Keep the faith and keep enduring. He is waiting at the end and is going to be there to carry you the whole time, if you let him.

Keep me posted and updated on everything going on back at home. I love getting your emails and your pictures. They get me through the week. :) Let me know if there is anything that I can do for any of you. Love you to the moon and back. Sending all my hugs and kisses your way. Talk to ya in seven. & SEE you in 65 days.
But who's counting.....
Love you! Xo
Sister Ky Worthington

Participating in this Pokemon thing that is taking over the WORLD

Running with the homeless