September 28, 2015

Hey family and friends!!! 

This week has been another great one!! I truly do love the mission, I know I say that a lot but I really do mean it with ALL my heart!!! It's the best :) 

So on Monday, we went to the church and exploded a pumpkin!!! It was super funny :) We were almost done putting rubber bands on it and someone had to leave for a minute so we were waiting and all of the sudden the pumpkin exploded and we have the funniest picture :):) HAHAAHHA It was great!! That night we had a lesson with one of our less-actives. We were late to her appointment because the fair was getting set up and the main road was closed so we had to take a detour and that is where we got lost.. but we finally got there and had a great conversation with her :) 

Tuesday, we had service at Ephrata Manor adn it was Sister Zauggs last day with our favorite activity leader. There are 2 girls who switch off with playing Bocce Ball. Deb and Linda and we really like Deb :) She gave us a really big hug!! It was nice :) We love Ephrata Manor!!! After that we went and had to clean our car for Zone Conference :) We had a lesson with our investigator Amanda, she is AMAZING and golden :) She is so great I love her :):) 

Wednesday, we had a lesson with one of our less-actives and it was great!!! She helped me so much with some things that were on my mind. She like pulled them out of me!! She is soooo in tune with the spirit it's not even funny. She reminded me that the Savior is there for anything, no matter what!! It was so great for me :) That was a definite growing experience for me :) After that lesson we went and contacted 2 referrals that we received. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon. One wasn't really interested and one of them said that we could come back :) That was great :) We had a great lesson with Ethan, he gave us a thank you note for giving him a praying rock. The Sisters before us gave him it but he still wanted to thank us. It was so cute :):) Is is doing so amazing!!! That night we had an AMAZING lesson with our less-active Amanda. We had a member come with us and they connected super well!!! She really opened up to us. She asked me to study the first 5 books of the Old Testament and she wanted me to start with Deuteronomy. I have been studying that :) I was actually able to share with her a scripture from Deuteronomy that really helped her :)  She is going to go to a session of General Conference at the members house!! She is so great :) The spirit was so strong!! The spirit definitely guided me so much!! I love being guided by the spirit!! It was just a great day!! 

Thursday, we weekly planned most of the day :) We went to the fair for a little bit and got a funnel cake :) It was good!!! We had a lesson with the Burds, they are really opening up to us :) They are great!!! That night we drove to the Hershey Sisters apartment because we had to get up early for Zone Conference :)

Friday, we had Zone Conference!!! It was soooo great :):) I love the Johnson's!! We got tiwis, we call them black boxes. It is a monitor that checks our speed and some other things. I am not very excited for them but they will help me be a great driver :) We talked about why the Sabbath is so important, gaining trust in the Savior and relying on Him, and we talked about how important Preach My Gospel is for missionaries and for any member of the church!! I loved it :) After zone conference we did exchanges!! I was able to go with Sister Landa because she is my Sister Training Leader :) IT WAS THE BEST!!!!! We went to Texas Roadhouse with some other missionaries and it was so much fun :) We went and delivered a birthday cake to one of their less-actives. That night we were just reminiscing of how great it was when we served in Washington together :) It was so fun!! I miss her so much. Both of us want to serve together again!!

Saturday, we went and visited with one of their less-actives. She is 80 years old and SUPER spunky!! It was so fun :) She is super funny!! Then went and saw their investigator. We had a really good lesson with him. He has a baptism date for November 7 :) At the end he starting hitting on me.... it was really funny :) He said that he likes when the Sisters go on exchanges because they always bring the hot girls... it was weird! hahahaha :) We then walked around for awhile. We were able to give out 5 Book of Mormons and 3 people said that we could come back!!! It was so great :) We were not even afraid to talk to anyone! I loved it :) It reminded me of why I love being a missionary so much!!! We went and had dinner with one of their recent converts. It was a blast!! Everyone calls her mama Jen because she takes care of any kid who comes into her house :) She says that the whole world is her kids :) It was tons of fun :) THEN we went to the first session of General Conference, General Women's Conference. It was soooo good!!!! I loved it :):) 

Sunday, we had a great Sabbath day!!! It was Sister Zaugg's last Sunday at church because next week is General Conference. It was fast and testimony meeting!!! It was really good :) We had the opportunity to teach Gospel Principles and it went really well :) That night we went and tried a new member who just moved into the ward. He had a stroke and is now living in a senior living center. Bishop asked us to go visit him so we did :) Then we went and contacted a referral. We knocked on the door and asked for the person and she isn't alive anymore... I felt super bad! But we gave the guy who answered the door a BOM and our phone number. He isn't really interested right now because he is going through a lot but hopefully he will read the BOM and receive help from it :)  After that we drove to the Lancaster Sisters apartment for P-day eve :) That's what we call it now :) It's always a blast!!! 

Today we are going to go hiking :) I'm so excited!!! Well I am doing great!! Hope you all know that I love you and that you are continually in my prayers :) LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!!!! 

Love, Sister Kierra Wadsworth 

PS How are the broncos doing? 

The exploding pumpkin...yep, those are kierra's legs in the air

...some cute little kittens

September 21, 2015

Hey there family and friends!!! 

THIS WEEK WAS SOOOOO BUSY!!!! I love being busy!! 

So on Monday, we just did our normal stuff emailing, lunch, did some sports at the church, washed our car, and went shopping for groceries :) After all that we had a great lesson with Amanda!! She is seriously so solid!! She is reading in Alma now and when we first met her, which was 3 weeks ago, she was in 2 Nephi 12! She is reading a ton :):) She loves the gospel so much and is so prepared. Everyday she texts us about how God blessed her that day. I love her so much :) 

On Tuesday, we had a great discussion with Austin. He is wanting to teach us so he can learn more on his own!! He is doing so good. His grandma isn't doing very well and he is having a rough time with that. He has really come a far way though :) We did service at Ephrata Manor, love that place!!! We had dinner with the Singers and then we went to young womens!! We played some volleyball with them. 

Wednesday, we walked around for like 4 hours!! It was great :) We got to talk to this guy and we had a great conversation. He actually has a Sister who is a member in Hershey :) We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. He was just taking a break when we were talking with him and he isn't actually in our area so that was a bummer but hey we still talked to him and followed the prompting we had and invited him to come closer to Christ!!! We went and tried some potentials but not a lot of luck with them. We had a lesson with Ethan. We had a lesson with Ethan. He was sitting on his porch waiting for us, it was the cutest :) He has been having some person issues lately and we told him that he can pray and ask God to help him and he told us that he was praying about it and he is doing better!!! He is so sweet!!! We had a dinner appointment that was really far away from Ethan so we drove to that :) It was good :) 

​I was pretty tired from walking all day so I slept really well!!! :) 

Thursday, we went and read scriptures with Sister Hackman in the morning then weekly planned for most of the day. We had a dinner appointment and they gave us leftovers!! I love when members give us food :):) 

Friday, I HAD SUCH A GREAT DAY!!!!! Elder Stanfill from the seventy came to our mission and we had a fireside! It was sooo good!!!!! We had to get there really early because Sister Stanfill and Sister Johnson had a meeting with just the Sisters. They talked about getting a long with our companions and how it is preparing us for our eternal companion in the future. They said that we need to be looking for the qualities that our companions have that we want in our future spouse :) They also talked about how we can become a divine source of aid to our companions!! It was so good. Then we all got together and Sister Johnson trained us, One of the things that really stood out to me was when she said "anything that is good takes work!" She also talked about how we need not to set our expectations higher than the Lords. We can't get discouraged when we might think that we are being successful, we need to learn what God thinks about success, it is probably much different than our definition. "The Lord knows what success means, we may think what success means but it may not be the same as His thoughts of success." We need to drop down to our knees when we are feeling discouraged! I have seen this thus far on my mission. I have been on my knees so much and just relying our the Lord and Savior!!! They are AMAZING!! She also talked about how we need to focus on the Savior and what He can do for us and not focus on what we can't do. Then President Johnson trained us. He talked about the qualifications of baptism. There are a lot of steps that people have to take to be prepare to enter the waters of baptism. They are all listed in D&C 20:37!! Read it, it's good :):) "We do not have the authority to baptize those who do not meet the qualifications for baptism found in Preach MY Gospel." - Elder David F. Evans. So great!!! Then Sister Stanfill trained us! She talked about our teaching power and how we truly do have the power to teach people!!! A lot of power :) Then Elder Stanfill trained us. He talked about how we are epistles of the Lord. Epistle means letter but if we look in the bible dictionary it means something different, it's a formal teaching instrument!!!! That is what missionaries are!!! It was so great!!! All my companions were there! It was so awesome!!!! I LOVED IT!! The spirit was so strong!!! That night we had another great lesson with Amanda then we went and contacted a referral that we received. Her name is Amanda, haha we have 2 Amanda's now, she is in-active and wondering what she believes in. She wants to learn everything again. She committed me to read Deuteronomy and then the other first 5 books of the Old Testament so I can relater things with her. Thank goodness for the institute manuals that help me understand the bible :):) 

Saturday, we helped with a baptism early in the morning to a returning member!! It was great :) Then we had correlation with Brother Eberly. After correlation we went and yard work for a couple in our ward!!! We did that all day :) It was sooo fun!!!! I was really sweaty and dirty, so grateful for a shower :) It was a great day!!! 

Yesterday, we had our regular church meetings then afterwards we had another fireside. It is called "Why I Believe." Every zone in the mission did it. The missionaries sang and some recent converts bore their testimony. President and Sister Johnson bore their testimony and told us why they believe!!! It was soo great!!! The spirit was so strong!! This week has been full of spiritual things :):) It's great!!! And next week we have Zone conferences!! We are going to get black boxes... Ugh!

Well it has been such a great week for me!!! Sister Zaugg is going home in 2 weeks now.. CRAZY!! I am going to miss her so much.. I am doing great :) Love you all to the moon and back!!! Have a great week :):) 

Love Sister Kierra Wadsworth

Her hair is getting long

eek... it is a spider

Kierra and Sister Palmer

riding with the elders

September 14, 2015

Hey family and friends!!!! 

Well I hit my 8 month mark today... CRAZY!!! 

On Monday we went and looked around Gabes for a little bit- it is similar to Ross Dress for Less. I tried on this super cute dress and I really wanted to get it but I didn't because I didn't need it :) But it was really cute!! We had dinner with some members. There was this Asian salad that tasted really weird. I found that if I don't like something that I just mix in something that I do like and I am able to eat it :) Sometimes we eat weird things that we just have to eat!! 

Tuesday, we had a lesson with an investigator and a member came with us. It was a really powerful lesson!! The member was so awesome!! She is such a spiritual giant!! I want to be like her when I grow up!! HAHAHA :) We did service at Ephrata Manor and that is always good!!! Afterwards we had a lesson with our investigator Amanda. SHE IS SO SOLID!!! She is reading the Book of Mormon so much!! She is in Mosiah and we have been meeting with her for only 2 weeks!! She is awesome :) We had dinner with a member again and we had tuna and qunoia... defiantly was NOT my favorite meal!! haha I am still alive though :) 

Wednesday, we had district meeting. We talked about the apostasy and how to teach it effectively. It was a really good lesson!!! We have such a fun district!! :) After district meeting we went and did service for one of our less-actives!! I LOVE SERVICE!!!!!!!!!! It was so much fun, we learned a lot more about them and feel closer :) That night we had a lesson with our RC Ethan!! He is so great!! He said one of the cutest prayers I have ever heard!! He is really doing well. I can defiantly see the Lord helping him in so many ways. 

Thursday, it was raining SUPER DUPER hard all day!!! We had some extra studies :) I love studying so much!! I have learned a ton and still learning everyday!! I this week I studied humility and it was great!! Humility is a lot more than I thought it was :) I am so grateful for the resources that have been given me to use in my studies!! They are very helpful! So one of our investigators ended up going to the ER because they were having a lot of pain! We ended up going and helping them and had them get a blessing. They are already doing so much better and they know that it is the Lord helping them heal!!  It is amazing to see the love that Heavenly Father had for His children and how much He wants to help those who are working so hard to change their life!! The power of priesthood is real!!!  

Friday, we spent most of the day weekly planning and it was another super rainy day! We had dinner with some members and it was so fun!! Her husband is a non-member and he was asking us a lot of questions!! He has learned from the missionaries a lot but he just has some concerns. He is not prepared right now but someday he will be!! 

Saturday, we had another great lesson with Amanda!!! We set her with a baptismal date!! She has committed to be baptized on September 10,2016!!! She has some things that need to be worked out but it is just another bump in the road that will help her be more prepared for the day of her baptism!!! She is seriously AMAZING!!! She told us that she is truly changing for the better and she loves it so much!! We had a member take us out to dinner and we actually saw a potential that we found from knocking on her door. It was great :) What a small world!! We didn't talk to her because she wasn't interested but it was awesome that we saw her :) 

Sunday, we had 2 investigators there!! It was great :) I felt the spirit so strong and it just confirmed to me that this gospel is so true!! I love it so much :):) I know that this church is true with all my heart! I know that the message I share everyday is true and that it will lead and guide us back to our Father in Heaven which is the ultimate goal :) I love being a missionary and i couldn't ask for a better calling at this time in my life :) A mission isn't the best 2 years (or 18 months) of your life, it's the best years FOR your life!!! 

I love you to the moon and back!!! Have a great week :):):) 

Love, Sister Kierra Wadsworth 

September 7, 2016

Hey family and friends,

This week was another great one!! We have been pretty busy and I love it so much. We have great things happening!!!!! 

So on Monday night we saw Darla and was a little frazzled because they were a lot of things going wrong with her house and she was having to clean a lot of stuff up!! She is loving learning though. She told us that she was going to read her BOM right after we left :):) 

Tuesday, we had service at Ephrata Manor!! I was able to play the piano again :) I love the piano so much!!! We went to Young Womens and played some volleyball with the girls. 

Wednesday, we had district meeting and it was great!! We had 13 missionaries there because the Zone Leaders came. It was fun, we played signs afterwards! Talk about CRAZY!! Haha :) We had a lesson with Amanda our new investigator!! She is seriously so prepared!!! She wants to be baptized and she is already in 2 Nephi 30 in her BOM reading. We had dinner with one of the ladies in our ward. She hasn't fed the missionaries in like 2 years.. It was sooo fun :) She is great, we just sat there and talked with her for awhile. 

Thursday, we had a couple of lessons with our less-actives and tried some other people.  We saw the Burds and their daughter just had a little baby boy and he is so cute!!! We actually are going to do service with them this week and I am so excited!! 

Friday, we did some weekly planning. We had a lesson with Ethan for the first time as him being a member :):) He is still going great!! He tells us that he feels so good! He is doing good!!! :) Sometimes it is a little hard to teach him because we have to teach him so simply but we are working on it! We had another lesson with Amanda and she is doing good as ever! We then went home and finished weekly planning. 

Saturday, we had correlation then we had to finish up weekly planning with companionship inventory. It was great, Sister Zaugg has been going through a struggle this week and we were able to talk about it and we found out today that our prayers have been answered! I love seeing prayers being answered. I have grown such a stronger testimony of prayer as I have studied a lot about it!! It is real :) That night we went and tried some less-actives. We parked down the road to walk up to the house and there was this guy throwing some garbage away and so we decided to talk to him. He is Jehovah Witness, we had a great discussion on religious topics. They believe a lot of the same things we do. He was interested in learning more about what we believe in but we had a great discussion with him :) 

Sunday, Amanda came to church!!! She LOVED it :):) We had a lesson with Ben, we haven't been able to have a lesson with them for a couple of weeks and so we were a little worried but he is doing great!! He really opened up to us about his concerns that he has. He truly wants to know the truth and it is going to take awhile and he knows that and is ok with it! He is great :):) We had dinner with the Nielsen's, Sister Nielsen's mom and dad live in nanas neighborhood. It is seriously so fun at there house!! It's like being at our home just having a grand ole time! We joke with each other and tease!! HAHA it is so fun!!! We went and saw one of our less-actives and spent most of the time playing with her 2 little girls!! :) We spent the night at the Sisters in Lancaster apartment. We are probably going to do that every p-day :) 

This morning our whole district exercised together :) That was fun! I am doing really good!! Thank you for the package, I loved it so much :):) I am loving Ephrata, I never ever want to leave! It is so good!!! :) This week I realized how much I truly have grown since the first few transfers. I am much more confident in teaching and I'm not afraid to open my mouth and be bold!! HAHA:) Not overbearing though ;) I am still growing a stronger testimony EVERY day!! I have been trying to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and the Bible every day and it is great!! I am so grateful for the resources I have to study from (iPad-gospel library). I have been using the Institute manual as I read the scriptures and I am understanding sooo much more!!! It's great :):) 

The church is true and I know that WITHOUT A DOUBT!!!! I am so glad for the many experiences that I have had and for the growth that I have made!!! I love you all SOOO much and I hope that you have a fantastic week!!! 

Love Sister Kierra Wadsworth 

Amanda

Beautiful overlook

saying hi!