some pictures!

1. A day when I got the whole district to wear blue

2. Mexico City temple! It was super good.

3. My district at the temple

4. Our roommates that just left! Hermana Vance on the left, serving in Honduras, and Hermana Tolman on the right, serving in Ogden Ut

5. Mis hermanas y yo, getting our hair cut in the peluquería

6. Una foto de Benemerito

another day, another destiny

I´ve had Les Mis seriously stuck in my head all day!

Where to begin... Its been a great week! Lucas, one of our investigators, is going to be baptized! We had such a cool experience with him. We had asked him to read 2 Nefi 31, which he did, but he studied really in depth and really sought an answer about baptism for himself. We took a lot of time and talked through all his thoughts, and then we asked him to be baptized. It was like the quietest moment ever, and I basically felt the Spirit sit down between my companion and I and listen in. So cool. So yeah, weve just been progressing with him and are working towards his baptismal date!

These past few days have been so weird! Our roommates left for their missions early this morning, and a bunch of sisters from our branch left Monday morning! Its weird when the friends you´ve made start spreading out, and you might never see them again! It makes a mission all the more real. Especially when Hermana Tolman, our roommate, walked in last night and grabbed Hermana Vance´s face, her companion and shouted "We´re going on missions! Well, we´re already on missions, but we´re going on missions!" Haha, Im going to miss those girls so much!

Okay, food update: one of the tastiest things I´ve had was a tortilla-in-enchilada-sauce mixture. They were cut up into bite-sized pieces and soaked in delicious sauce, and served with cheese on top. SO GOOD. And it was breakfast! I don´t understand a lot of the Mexican food traditions, but that one was super good, haha. Also, once a couple weeks ago we had regular, super delicious tamales for breakfast that were just wrapped in corn husks, but a couple days ago, for dinner, we had basically the same tamales, but they were wrapped in giant leaves. Muy extraño. The tamale itself was pretty good, but the smell of the leaves almost killed me cause everyone was opening them at the same time! I thought I was gonna throw up, but I made it, so no worries.

On Sunday we watched a devotional from the MTC after last Octobers conference, given by Elder Bednar. It was super interesting. He gave his take on studying the words of the living prophets, and it was super insightful. He gave us clips to watch, and one at a time, we searched for the doctrine, the invitation, and the promised blessings. So he´d pause after each one and give us time to write down what each one was, but he told us to make it personal. So I really liked hearing that. He said not to just write down what they were saying, but to write down what it means for you, aka the personal invitation and what blessings YOU can recieve from heeding their message. I really liked it a lot, and now Im really looking forward to the next conference so I can do the same thing with all the talks!

Nothing much else is new... we´re still in the same schedule, but we´re getting another investigator that´s going to be a missionary in my district! So we´ll all get a chance to teach eachother and be taught by eachother, and Im excited for that.

Last bit of news, it´s pouring rain outside, and I don´t have my jacket. Yay for Mexico weather!

Love you all!

Hna Watkins

Week 3 already??

Oh my goodness, how does time fly so quickly??

This week has been great. We got to go to the temple this morning! Doing a session in spanish was definitely an experience, but it was incredible and I definitely want to do it again. Leaving the safety of the MTC made me appreciate it 10 times more when we got back, haha. Some crazy things this week: we got 2 new investigators, Lucas and Holly! Sorry if I already wrote this, haha. It was so cool to teach Lucas. We were kind of planning on teaching him the plan of salvation for the first lesson, but as we got to know him, we realized he was having the same confusion that Joseph Smith was having. Immediately, Hermana Taufoou turned to verse 9 in JS History and asked him to read it, and neither of us knew what it said, haha. We heard him say Methodist and Baptist at the end, so we were pretty sure it was the right verse. Then I got to testify of the first vision and recite it in spanish, which felt so incredible. He said he would pray about it, and the next time we met, he said he had recieved the prompting that he should read the Book of Mormon. Going back after that first lesson, though, we went and read verse 9 in english, and it was exactly what he needed to hear. It was so cool to see the Spirit working like that through my companion, especially cause we had no idea what that verse was! So cool.

What else...We went to the TRC for the first time, right after we taught Lucas, and that was a bust, haha. Honestly, though, it wasnt our fault! We both had no idea what we were doing, and our teacher didnt know any information about it, so we just got shoved in a room with one of the teachers that was just playing herself, and we were so awkward, so we just chatted and said a prayer with her, haha. Tomorrow we go again, so I promise that will be a much better experience! Hopefully we´ll have a better story to share, haha.

Also, we saw a FAT cockroach in the hallway to our classroom. I did not realize how nasty they are when theyre big. SO GROSS. I basically couldnt eat lunch, I just wanted to throw up. Bless all the missionaries that have to deal with those every day. Also, a new vocab word: enratonar - to get sick from eating too many mice\have a hang over. I think our dictionaries might be a little skewed, haha.

I think the food is getting better each day! I dont know what it was, but the other day we had empanada things filled with some sweet meat and pineapple and some potatoes, cheese, and red sauce. It was super good! maybe Im just getting better at eating whatever they give me, but I like the food more each day. The only downside is that the cafeteria is getting more and more crowded. Tuesdays are great, though, we get pizza from costco because thats what they like to serve to the new missionaries!

Well life here is great. Everyone read Ether 12: 27 and Deuteronomy 31:7. Those verses have really helped me this week with finding trust and confidence in the Lord. He just wants to strengthen us, but we have to take that first step and come unto Him.

I love the gospel, and I love you all!

Hermana Watkins

CCM take 2!

Well well well, week 2 is done! Ill try to figure out some pictures this time! I figure I need to write more about what life in the CCM is actually like...

La comida! Its actually not that bad. Breakfast is always cereal, with a choice between the Mexican variety of Cocoa Pebbles, Froot Loops, and Frosted Flakes. The milk is boxed and sometimes warm, and super sweet. It took me a while to get used to it, but I love it now! There are usually waffles and pancakes, but they dont do syrup, only honey, strawberry syrup, or hersheys syrup. And theyre really dry, so I usually just stick with cereal and a pastry! Lunch is pretty good, and I think its when I eat the most. Theres always soup, which can sometimes be good or a mystery, a meat dish, like beef and vegetables or chicken or fish with a sauce, theres always rolls and tortillas, and usually theres refried beans, rice, and\or vegetables. sometimes the meat is also a mystery, but usually its pretty good, so I try to taste everything! Dinner is about the same, but with tons of dessert pastries and cereal again! I love the cereal so much. And the pastries are usually pretty good, too!

Ive got to tell more about our district! They really become your family at the CCM, even though Ive only known them for like 2 weeks. I think I can finally attach pictures! Ive got to apologize for my awkwardness, I felt weird standing in front, haha. So on the left is Elders Cutler and Sumsion, and theyre going to South Carolina and New Jersey, then theres Hermanas Henrie and Broadhead, and theyre both going to El Salvador. Theyre the best! Then me and mi compañera, Hermana Taufoou, whos going to nicaragua, then the two elders next to her, the one right in front of the other, are Elders Elowitt and Edson, going to Washington state and Texas, and then Elders Davis and Wareham, going to San Diego and Las Vegas! We are a very diverse group, hahah. Theyre so much fun! Were kind of to the point where its hard to study, but were starting to make goals for study time so we can get more work done, haha.

Thats also our classroom. We basically spend most of our day in there, which was only bad for the first few days when my bottom hurt really bad. sometimes we get really tired of it and we have to take a walk outside, but most of the time we dont mind being inside, especially when it rains.

We just finished with our first investigator, Lisa! Everyone only gets a limited number of meetings with her, and we committed her to baptism on the last one! I cant believe we got to that point, it was really exciting. It was super funny, at the end of the day Hermana Taufoou turns to me and was like "we asked someone to be baptized today, and they said yes. Were missionaries!!" it was a very exciting moment!

Now we have Holly as a new investigator, who actually is kind of like Lisa but easier, cause we got a strong maybe and definite desire to be baptized from her in the first visit! We also will meet Lucas tomorrow, another investigator, that I think is supposed to be a lot more difficult. But its all good practice!

All the teachers here are from provo, and they come in 6 week waves just like the districts. We now have 2 teachers. We still have Hermano Klabacka in the mornings, and now we have Hermana Arbon in the afternoons. They are the ones that play our investigators, so its a little weird sometimes, but I really like the practice that we get, and by now Im super grateful that they threw an investigator at us on our 3rd day here.

I really love the CCM a lot! Sundays are so great, but fast sunday was a little hard cause they make you fast from saturday night to sunday at lunch time, which I am not used to at all. Theres also some weird rules, like no cameras except on pday, and no sitting with the opposite gender in the cafeteria. a little strange, but I still like it a lot!

Except bugs. We played volleyball as a district last thrusday, and I seriously got 8 bugbites, including one on my forehead. And I keep getting more each night! And there was a fat spider this morning crawling around by our suitcases. It was seriously bigger than a quarter. blegh.

They also have given us really nice filtered water bottles, that basically take any bad stuff out, including chlorine flavor.

Guys, the CCM is great! Everyone go read Alma 26, when Ammon is just boasting about Heavenly Father. I seriously love Ammon, even though hes kind of a drama queen. He faints all the time when he gets super happy and spiritual, hahah. But I just love how he is so happy to just be a simple tool in the Lords hands. Im only in the CCM, but the joy of missionary work is real! And I know with faith, I and all the other missionaries and future missionaries, can find strength and power in the Lord and be a tool in His hands.

I love you all!

Hermana Watkins

I hope all the photos load! One is our district, one is the view from our casa each morning, and the last one should be mi y mi compañera!

Unfortunately, only two of Trish's photos loaded, and they are not the photos she described, but here they are!