January 18, 2016

Hey family and friends!! 

We had a pretty successful week!! :) It is always good new see investigators and less-active members progressing. I always love having the opportunity to see people come closer to God :)

On Wednesday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Bill. He has been having a real struggle with quitting smoking so he can be ready for baptism. His heart is in the right place but addictions are really hard to conquer. In our lesson he all the sudden such kinda switched and said that he was quitting right then and there and said he is going to be baptized on February 20. It seemed like there literally was a switched that was turned on telling him to just quit and that he could make it! It was such a spiritual lesson and he asked for a priesthood blessing and there was one person left in the church and it was the first counselor of the bishopric, Brother Pitrowski. So Bill got a blessing and Brother Pitrowski was definitely guided by the spirit because the blessings told Bill almost exactly what we told him about his strengths and how they will help him overcome his addictions. It was such a testimony builder for me about priesthood blessing and how they are truly inspired and given by God through His worthy priesthood holders. It was so amazing!! :) Bill is now on day 6 of no smoking today!!! :):) He is so strong and so ready to be baptized!! We are so proud of him for all the things he has overcome and for how strong of a testimony he has! I love Bill and care about him so much!!!

Our other investigator who is also really progressing is JD. We met with him on Saturday and talked about the plan of salvation with him. He is seriously so sincere about learning and wanting to know more. He has some stumbling blocks to make into stepping stones but he is progressing and becoming better one step at a time. That is the best way for people to be truly converted to the gospel. Sometimes it is so hard to not force or push someone to do something but I can't tell you enough how important it is to not push someone and go at their pace. People have their agency and we can't force them to do anything we can only invite! With JD and Bill we have truly learned that because both of them struggle with some pretty hardcore addictions and it is so easy just to tell them "oh just put your mind to it and do it!" It is a lot easier said than done. We want them to be truly converted to the gospel and pushing them to do something is only going to draw them away. It is so neat to be able to let the spirit guide you and be able to teach to someones needs, which is one of the most important things in missionary work!!  JD is so amazing and wants to be baptized as well. He has a baptism date for May 21!! He has a lot to overcome but we know and he knows that he can overcome his addictions through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is there for all of God's children :)

On Thursday we had zone training and it was super good!!! We talked about how planning is essential to fulfill our purpose. If we set meaningful goals and make plans to accomplish those goals we will be able to accomplish what the Lord requires of us. If we don't plan, we won't find success. Sister Jex and I have seen success and we haven't been the best at planning and when we came out of that training all we could think of it was "wow that was amazing!" and how we can have so much more success if we plan effectively. It was such a good training!!! :) We have been given so many resources (ie. Preach My Gospel)  to be able to find success and all we have to do is use them and apply them to our missionary work. We sure are excited to see what planning effectively will do for this area.

This week we had some pretty interesting dinners specifically two of them and I am going to tell you about them :) So on Thursday we had a dinner appointment with the Sanders. They have a very, very nice home and we were excited because we had just eaten there on Sunday for the YSA broadcast. So we got there and the first course was this super good tomato and red pepper soup with some Swedish sour cream (Sister Sanders is from Sweden). They were telling us about their China set that we were using. It was so pretty!! They told us that the glasses we were using had REAL gold on them!! They are from Europe and the same glasses are used at the banquet for the Noble Prize! It was pretty sweet :) Haha we were a little scared to use them after they told us that! Haha the next two course's  were very good as well but that is what I wanted to tell you about that dinner :) It was really nice! Ok the second dinner I want to talk about was Friday. We went over to the Adduru's house. We have eaten there before and it was really good. This time Brother Adduru's mom who is from the Philippines cooked for us. She made BBQ pork chops and rice which were really good, she also made this Philipino soup. I was a little weary so I only took a little but Sister Jex loaded her bowl up! It was pretty good, the broth was the best part :) Sister Jex got to the middle of her serving and she pulled this thing out and asked "what is this?" It was a chicken heart! And Sister Adduru and a liver in hers. It was so funny, Sister Adduru was like "what the heck did you cook?" She liked it but didn't like how the ENTIRE chicken was cooked in it :) It was a fun experince for Sister Jex, she didn't eat the heart. Brother Adduru's mom asked her to put it on her plate and she ate it right up! Hahaha it reminded me of the story dad tells about eating the rabbits head :) It was lots of fun!!!!!

Well I sure hope you are all doing fantastic and keeping warm during the cold times :) It sure has gotten cold here :) ❄⛄ I can't believe that I have now been out a year!!! Time has sure gone by so fast!! I love the opportunity I have to be a full-time missionary, it is the best thing anyone can ever do!!! I love you all to the moon and back!!! Have a fantastic week :)

Love, Sister Wadsworth