I made an actual list of this week's events! Hopefully this email will be more interesting than those of the past :)
Okay, it was a great week! We were riding home last night and Sister Stratton and I just kind of looked at eachother and said, "This week was amazing." Our area is really picking up!
First, we had a lesson with Claudia, a forever investigator (not the other amazing one I talked about a few weeks ago). She is great, but she's been struggling with the idea of modern prophets, and she's got 2 crazy kids so she feels like she has no time to pray or go to church or anything. And to top it all off, her brother just got killed over stupid drug stuff, so her family is going through a pretty rough patch right now. But the other day, we had a lesson with her and an amazing member, Hermana Hernandez. Claudia told her the whole story of her brother (like the 3rd time we've heard it, haha). She kept talking and talking, hardly taking a breath, and we were trying to talk about baptism and nail her down on an official day, and her kids were screaming and being crazy, and it just wasn't working! Then finally there was a pause and Hermana Hernandez chimed in, and it was AMAZING. Everything went silent and she just sweetly started to share her testimony of the gospel and baptism, and the spirit was so strong! Claudia started crying a bit, and really opened up to what we were saying. She said she would pray about baptism, and really take the time to read more about Joseph Smith and pray about him too. So great! We have a return appointment tomorrow :)
Ricardo! He's still doing great. He's set for baptism on the 11th of December. After a turn of events, we ended up having a lesson with him and our stake president, President Burnham, in the chapel, and it was great! They let us schedule another one the next day in their home, which was just as wonderful. He also got to see a baptism of a kid in our ward, and he's super excited for his! The funny thing is that we were telling him that he could choose who he wanted to baptize him, and he chose president Burnham, haha. He keeps calling him Juan el Bautista (John the Baptist) which probably isn't super appropriate, but he's super happy, and we're really excited for him!
Oh yeah, and we had Christmas! It was great to talk with my family! I didn't even cry til the very end. My poor companion, though, started bawling when her camera was held up to another screen and she could see her sister that is serving in El Salvador (and is almost done with her misison, how exciting!). It was a great day, we stayed really busy and ate lots of posole and tamales and all the good stuff. And we even got to celebrate like the mexicans! We opened all our presents in the evening on the 24th, so thank you to everyone who made our Christmas great :)
We have another baptism set up for the 11th! Her name is Yajaira, Ruth's daughter (a recent convert). Basically every time we see her she asks if she can get baptized the next day. I wish! But we've only got a few more things to teach her, and then she'll be good to go! We're working hard on her brother Braulio and her dad Cristian.
The confusing thing is that we just started teaching another couple named Ruth and Cristian! They're a little bit crazy and we only just met them, but we think things will turn out well with them! This Ruth is already a member and mostly speaks English, but her boyfriend/husband (we're not sure what their relationship is) doesn't know much about the church or Christ, for that matter. So we're going back to night, we hope things will work out with them!
And to make things a little bit more crazy, we found another Cristian to teach! He can be Cristian #3, haha. He's the son of some inactive members we just found (who sadly were asleep when we stopped by). But we had a good chat with their son, Cristian #3, and we're going back tonight too! We're thinking things will go well with him.
That was mostly our week! Evelyn, our 14 year old investigator is doing great. She's progressing slowly but surely! We just have to ask every couple of minutes for her to listen and stop talking about Justin Bieber. Nevertheless, she's doing great!
I love you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Make some good goals!
Love, Sister Watkins
Monday, December 30, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
Feliz Navidad!
Question of the week: How many chickens have you eaten in your lifetime? Every egg counts as one...
That was the conversation starter at a dinner this week, courtesy of our Zone Leader. Haha, there have been chickens everywhere this week for some reason! We saw one crossing the road on the way to church, and the answer as to why it was crossing the road is sadly because it was really just lost, poor guy.
Anyways, this was a good week! We'll start with Saturday. We had the BEST ward Christmas party EVER! Tamales, posole, menudo, and 5 pinatas. Count 'em, 5. And a wedding, to start the night off on the right foot! We wandered around and talked to/set up appointments with basically everyone, so Christmas Eve and Christmas day will be super full, giving us no time to be homesick. And we worked out our skype calls and everything, which is super exciting! The only sad thing is that the family we live with left on Sunday afternoon for Utah, so we're home alone this whole week. It's so lonely! But we're going to be spending so much time outside the house this week that we won't have so much time to think about it.
Okay, what else... We have a recent convert named Ruth, who has a 9 year old daughter named Yajaira who wants to be baptized. She's super adorable and loves the lessons, which is super great! We've been trying to find time to meet with her 14 year old brother Braulio, though, who's been tough to get a hold of. Well finally, this week we found him at home when we visited Yajaira, and we had a great lesson with him! He had tons of questions and was kind of confused about some things, but we think it went really well. We had just read a talk together called Will You? and it's super great (I think it's from CES Education Week back in the 90s if anyone is interested). It just talks about how Will you? is a yes or no question and lots of other good stuff, so when we asked Braulio if he would pray about what we had taught him (mostly the plan of salvation, but basically it was a little bit of everything), he responded with, "I don't know." So we both just turned to him, looked him in the eye, and Hna Stratton said, "It's a yes or no question. Will you pray about the things we've taught you?" And he was kind of surprised! But he paused for a second, got pretty serious, and said yes, he would pray. So we're crossing our fingers and praying a ton that he actually will! It was a cool experience.
What else happened... Why can I never remember what happened during the week?? Haha, something cool we did this morning was a little self-defense class with a guy in our ward! He just taught us basics, so now I know how to elbow and knee somebody properly, and what I should do if by chance a girl gets in a fight with me and grabs my hair, hahah. It was super fun!
Oh yeah, one awkward, funny encounter we had this week with 2 really drunk people at 11 am on a week day: We were passing an apartment complex on our way to visit a less active, and we saw these two people sitting in front of the sign just chatting. The guy got up and started singing John Denver songs with his own words thrown in and started saying, "Jesus is coming" in Navajo, and the other lady got upset, saying, "Can I just talk for one minute??" so we got the other guy to calm down, and she slowly said, with great concern, "Is it true that... the volcano is gonna erupt?" And that's where we just stopped and said we had to go, haha. It was super funny! I'll never forget the guy's rendition of Rocky Mountain High, it was so classy.
So that was our one interesting experience for the week! And now it's almost Christmas, I can't believe it! Time has just flown by.
I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Hna Watkins
That was the conversation starter at a dinner this week, courtesy of our Zone Leader. Haha, there have been chickens everywhere this week for some reason! We saw one crossing the road on the way to church, and the answer as to why it was crossing the road is sadly because it was really just lost, poor guy.
Anyways, this was a good week! We'll start with Saturday. We had the BEST ward Christmas party EVER! Tamales, posole, menudo, and 5 pinatas. Count 'em, 5. And a wedding, to start the night off on the right foot! We wandered around and talked to/set up appointments with basically everyone, so Christmas Eve and Christmas day will be super full, giving us no time to be homesick. And we worked out our skype calls and everything, which is super exciting! The only sad thing is that the family we live with left on Sunday afternoon for Utah, so we're home alone this whole week. It's so lonely! But we're going to be spending so much time outside the house this week that we won't have so much time to think about it.
Okay, what else... We have a recent convert named Ruth, who has a 9 year old daughter named Yajaira who wants to be baptized. She's super adorable and loves the lessons, which is super great! We've been trying to find time to meet with her 14 year old brother Braulio, though, who's been tough to get a hold of. Well finally, this week we found him at home when we visited Yajaira, and we had a great lesson with him! He had tons of questions and was kind of confused about some things, but we think it went really well. We had just read a talk together called Will You? and it's super great (I think it's from CES Education Week back in the 90s if anyone is interested). It just talks about how Will you? is a yes or no question and lots of other good stuff, so when we asked Braulio if he would pray about what we had taught him (mostly the plan of salvation, but basically it was a little bit of everything), he responded with, "I don't know." So we both just turned to him, looked him in the eye, and Hna Stratton said, "It's a yes or no question. Will you pray about the things we've taught you?" And he was kind of surprised! But he paused for a second, got pretty serious, and said yes, he would pray. So we're crossing our fingers and praying a ton that he actually will! It was a cool experience.
What else happened... Why can I never remember what happened during the week?? Haha, something cool we did this morning was a little self-defense class with a guy in our ward! He just taught us basics, so now I know how to elbow and knee somebody properly, and what I should do if by chance a girl gets in a fight with me and grabs my hair, hahah. It was super fun!
Oh yeah, one awkward, funny encounter we had this week with 2 really drunk people at 11 am on a week day: We were passing an apartment complex on our way to visit a less active, and we saw these two people sitting in front of the sign just chatting. The guy got up and started singing John Denver songs with his own words thrown in and started saying, "Jesus is coming" in Navajo, and the other lady got upset, saying, "Can I just talk for one minute??" so we got the other guy to calm down, and she slowly said, with great concern, "Is it true that... the volcano is gonna erupt?" And that's where we just stopped and said we had to go, haha. It was super funny! I'll never forget the guy's rendition of Rocky Mountain High, it was so classy.
So that was our one interesting experience for the week! And now it's almost Christmas, I can't believe it! Time has just flown by.
I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Hna Watkins
Monday, December 16, 2013
Nacho really is a nickname for Ignacio. Who knew!
Oh my gosh, we've had a great week!
But now I don't know where to start! I always have to go back and read the last email I sent so I know where the last week ended and where this one began, haha.
We have an AMAZING new investigator named Claudia! She was kind of an accident, but she's been wonderful! We were having a tough day, and everything was falling through, so we spent most of the afternoon just wandering, trying to contact former investigators and really un-progressing ones. We were getting pretty hopeless, and our feet were hurting, so we didn't have the best attitudes. We were wandering through an apartment complex, and knocked on a door where a former lived. Nobody was home, but we saw the guy's niece drive up, who the other sisters had sort of talked to but had never really gotten anywhere with her. And this was Claudia! We told her we were looking for her uncle, who wasn't home, so we started giving her the whole invitation to the Christmas lights and what not, and then we got an actual conversation going about her religious background, and she came out with a lot of questions. So we went inside, sat on the couch, and had the first lesson. It was INCREDIBLE! She was absolutely ready to hear what we had to say. The spirit was so strong, and she just kept saying how good she felt and how warm her heart was. Such a good lesson!
Then we went back on Saturday to go over The Plan of Salvation (we had given her the pamphlet), and she had actually written down questions and had read everything we had given her! I've never taught anybody so willing to learn, haha. So we had a great lesson and invited her to be baptized! Her date is for the 18th :) So basically she's golden, and I am immensely enjoying teaching someone so prepared. There will definitely be more news to come about Claudia!
What else... The Rubios! Have I talked about them yet? They are good friends of some members in our ward, and after a long time, they're finally opening up to the gospel! We've had 2 great lessons with them, and they're working towards a baptism, but it'll have to be far in the future, because Hno Rubio is still married to someone in Mexico, even though they've been separated for years. So that's always a bit of a process. But He and his wife (not his actual one, just the one he's been with for 18+ years) talked to the bishop to learn more about what they should do to get married so they can get baptized! So they're super ready. They also come prepared with questions and read all the chapters we give them. It's so exciting to be teaching so many people with so much desire!
There was lots of other stuff this week, but I can't remember right now (don't worry, it's all been journaled, so at least it's on paper if it's not in my brain). Oh, some recent converts got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time, which was great! And we got to do a session too! We get to go to the Mesa temple every three months for a session, and after this trip, we had a big missionary dinner after where they passed out tons of mail and packages. Guess who had the biggest stack? This girl! Haha, it was awesome! I have pictures, but this computer is kinda old so I'll have to figure it out some other time.
I love you all, I gotta go!
Love, Sister Watkins
But now I don't know where to start! I always have to go back and read the last email I sent so I know where the last week ended and where this one began, haha.
We have an AMAZING new investigator named Claudia! She was kind of an accident, but she's been wonderful! We were having a tough day, and everything was falling through, so we spent most of the afternoon just wandering, trying to contact former investigators and really un-progressing ones. We were getting pretty hopeless, and our feet were hurting, so we didn't have the best attitudes. We were wandering through an apartment complex, and knocked on a door where a former lived. Nobody was home, but we saw the guy's niece drive up, who the other sisters had sort of talked to but had never really gotten anywhere with her. And this was Claudia! We told her we were looking for her uncle, who wasn't home, so we started giving her the whole invitation to the Christmas lights and what not, and then we got an actual conversation going about her religious background, and she came out with a lot of questions. So we went inside, sat on the couch, and had the first lesson. It was INCREDIBLE! She was absolutely ready to hear what we had to say. The spirit was so strong, and she just kept saying how good she felt and how warm her heart was. Such a good lesson!
Then we went back on Saturday to go over The Plan of Salvation (we had given her the pamphlet), and she had actually written down questions and had read everything we had given her! I've never taught anybody so willing to learn, haha. So we had a great lesson and invited her to be baptized! Her date is for the 18th :) So basically she's golden, and I am immensely enjoying teaching someone so prepared. There will definitely be more news to come about Claudia!
What else... The Rubios! Have I talked about them yet? They are good friends of some members in our ward, and after a long time, they're finally opening up to the gospel! We've had 2 great lessons with them, and they're working towards a baptism, but it'll have to be far in the future, because Hno Rubio is still married to someone in Mexico, even though they've been separated for years. So that's always a bit of a process. But He and his wife (not his actual one, just the one he's been with for 18+ years) talked to the bishop to learn more about what they should do to get married so they can get baptized! So they're super ready. They also come prepared with questions and read all the chapters we give them. It's so exciting to be teaching so many people with so much desire!
There was lots of other stuff this week, but I can't remember right now (don't worry, it's all been journaled, so at least it's on paper if it's not in my brain). Oh, some recent converts got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time, which was great! And we got to do a session too! We get to go to the Mesa temple every three months for a session, and after this trip, we had a big missionary dinner after where they passed out tons of mail and packages. Guess who had the biggest stack? This girl! Haha, it was awesome! I have pictures, but this computer is kinda old so I'll have to figure it out some other time.
I love you all, I gotta go!
Love, Sister Watkins
Monday, December 2, 2013
Whew!
What a crazy couple of days!
This new area is great! It's waaaay smaller than my last area, but there is still a ton of stuff to do. Where to start...
Thanksgiving! We spent the day visiting basically EVERYONE. I don't think I've ever ridden a bike so much before in my life as I did last Thursday, haha. We helped a recent convert, Yenisbel, and her 2 kids make a cake cause they had never made one before (not even the boxed mixes, like the easiest things ever), which was really fun, even though they're from Cuba and they drop syllables all the time so I can't understand what they're saying, haha. Then we visited a lonely single guy, Hno Trujillo, who showed us pictures of his family for like an hour and asked us to find him a girlfriend when we asked if he needed anything, haha. Then we had dinner with our family, Familia Morales, and it was super good! Not quite the same as mom's Thanksgiving (mexican style turkey), but it was still very satisfying and delicious! We also went and played flag football with the english ward in the morning. Overall it was a great day!
So there's one apartment complex in the corner of our area that's huge and we visit it every day. Basically everybody knows us or has talked to the sister missionaries at some point or another. But it's great because there's so much great work to do there! There's an investigator named Jaime that has a baptismal date for the 14th that lives there, and he's awesome! I think he was super hardcore into drugs, but went to visit the visitors center for some reason and started reading the book of mormon, deciding he wanted to change his life. The sisters have taught him everything, and he's basically ready for baptism, just that he needs to find a new apartment, away from "the mother of his children", haha. So he's super awesome, is reading so much from the Book of Mormon, and is so ready to get baptized!
We're also working with some recent converts to get them ready for the temple. One sister is named Ruth, and basically lives in the most humble circumstances ever with her 3 kids and husband. She works a lot and does a ton for her family (her husband is kind of a bum), but is so willing to do anything to live the gospel. So great! We're working with her to get a reccommend for baptisms, so that's pretty exciting for her!
Then we had Fast Sunday! Everyone is suuuuper nice in Mesa. I'm not going to say that Phoenix is a rough, mean place, but in comparison to Mesa, it kind of is, haha. Everyone is friendly! The members all said hi to me and complimented me on Spanish and stuff even though I had no idea what was going on, haha. I didn't really get the chance to meet the bishop, but they all seem very nice and welcoming. Woo!
Also: I ate the best tacos al pastor the other day. If anyone is ever in Mesa, go find a restaurant called La Merced, and get 3 or 4 tacos al pastor. They are HEAVENLY! I would eat them every day if I could! so good.
Well this week just flew by, and I can't really remember any details! It's been good, though. I really like Mesa a lot!
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! And happy December!
Hna Watkins
This new area is great! It's waaaay smaller than my last area, but there is still a ton of stuff to do. Where to start...
Thanksgiving! We spent the day visiting basically EVERYONE. I don't think I've ever ridden a bike so much before in my life as I did last Thursday, haha. We helped a recent convert, Yenisbel, and her 2 kids make a cake cause they had never made one before (not even the boxed mixes, like the easiest things ever), which was really fun, even though they're from Cuba and they drop syllables all the time so I can't understand what they're saying, haha. Then we visited a lonely single guy, Hno Trujillo, who showed us pictures of his family for like an hour and asked us to find him a girlfriend when we asked if he needed anything, haha. Then we had dinner with our family, Familia Morales, and it was super good! Not quite the same as mom's Thanksgiving (mexican style turkey), but it was still very satisfying and delicious! We also went and played flag football with the english ward in the morning. Overall it was a great day!
So there's one apartment complex in the corner of our area that's huge and we visit it every day. Basically everybody knows us or has talked to the sister missionaries at some point or another. But it's great because there's so much great work to do there! There's an investigator named Jaime that has a baptismal date for the 14th that lives there, and he's awesome! I think he was super hardcore into drugs, but went to visit the visitors center for some reason and started reading the book of mormon, deciding he wanted to change his life. The sisters have taught him everything, and he's basically ready for baptism, just that he needs to find a new apartment, away from "the mother of his children", haha. So he's super awesome, is reading so much from the Book of Mormon, and is so ready to get baptized!
We're also working with some recent converts to get them ready for the temple. One sister is named Ruth, and basically lives in the most humble circumstances ever with her 3 kids and husband. She works a lot and does a ton for her family (her husband is kind of a bum), but is so willing to do anything to live the gospel. So great! We're working with her to get a reccommend for baptisms, so that's pretty exciting for her!
Then we had Fast Sunday! Everyone is suuuuper nice in Mesa. I'm not going to say that Phoenix is a rough, mean place, but in comparison to Mesa, it kind of is, haha. Everyone is friendly! The members all said hi to me and complimented me on Spanish and stuff even though I had no idea what was going on, haha. I didn't really get the chance to meet the bishop, but they all seem very nice and welcoming. Woo!
Also: I ate the best tacos al pastor the other day. If anyone is ever in Mesa, go find a restaurant called La Merced, and get 3 or 4 tacos al pastor. They are HEAVENLY! I would eat them every day if I could! so good.
Well this week just flew by, and I can't really remember any details! It's been good, though. I really like Mesa a lot!
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! And happy December!
Hna Watkins
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Exciting News!
Hellooooo everyone! This email is late because of transfer week. P-day is switched to Wednesday every six weeks so that we can go shoppin and get supplies and such when we get to our new areas.
Speaking of: I've been moved to Mesa! I'm in a WARD called Liahona 2! My new companion is named Sister Stratton, and she can speak even less Spanish than I can, haha. She's been out a transfer longer than I have, but she's already amazing. I don't know much about the area, but it seems like lots of good stuff is going on here! I can't wait til Sunday when I can actually meet people. There's not too much to say cause I've been here for less than 24 hours, but I think things will go really well!
I'm gonna miss Phoenix and all the people in Camelback 1, but I think Mesa will be a great experience :) oh, and I'm still on a bike! The ol' purple Avalon from Wal-mart is holding up pretty well! The last week in Phoenix was great! It has been getting pretty chilly, and it actually rained on Friday and Saturday. So my last hurrah with Hermana Arevalo was riding our bikes through the rain! It was pouring when we woke up on Friday, but we had weekly planning so we were hoping it would have died down by lunch time so we could go out on bikes, but it didn't. We were kinda nervous, but we went out in the rain! It was hard at first, but we saw lots of miracles and got a new investigator, so it was definitely worth it :) Hermana Arevalo is staying in Camelback 1. That branch used to be 2 sister companionships and one elder companionship, but for this transfer, they're erasing those area boundaries and splitting the whole area in half. So Hermana Arevalo will get the Elders' area! So exciting. Change can be so much fun!
But hard at the same time. I feel like this is my first day in the mission all over again! Just that I know more about how it works this time, haha. It's hard the first couple of days in a new area, you just feel kind of helpless and lost, and that you're being dragged around by your companion (like those poor kids on leashes getting pulled by their mothers). But it'll turn around in a few days! I'm trying to remember the beginning of my first transfer, and how much time I needed to feel comfortable. It must have been at least 2 weeks! So this time I'll hopefully need less since I at least know how planning and teaching work :)
Everyone in Mesa is so nice! We went to Wal-mart for groceries and EVERYONE talked to us! So friendly. There are still crazy people too, though, haha. I'm a little sad, I won't get to go to the library and see eyepatch man anymore. But we get to write emails in the privacy of our own family history center now! It's super nice.
Well sorry there wasn't too much exciting stuff, I don't know anything about this area! Hopefully I'll have more good stuff on Monday :)
I love you all! Nobody let Tamara or Annie (or even Andy) take over the position of favorite aunt. It's got my name on it.
Have a good week!
Sistah Watkins
Speaking of: I've been moved to Mesa! I'm in a WARD called Liahona 2! My new companion is named Sister Stratton, and she can speak even less Spanish than I can, haha. She's been out a transfer longer than I have, but she's already amazing. I don't know much about the area, but it seems like lots of good stuff is going on here! I can't wait til Sunday when I can actually meet people. There's not too much to say cause I've been here for less than 24 hours, but I think things will go really well!
I'm gonna miss Phoenix and all the people in Camelback 1, but I think Mesa will be a great experience :) oh, and I'm still on a bike! The ol' purple Avalon from Wal-mart is holding up pretty well! The last week in Phoenix was great! It has been getting pretty chilly, and it actually rained on Friday and Saturday. So my last hurrah with Hermana Arevalo was riding our bikes through the rain! It was pouring when we woke up on Friday, but we had weekly planning so we were hoping it would have died down by lunch time so we could go out on bikes, but it didn't. We were kinda nervous, but we went out in the rain! It was hard at first, but we saw lots of miracles and got a new investigator, so it was definitely worth it :) Hermana Arevalo is staying in Camelback 1. That branch used to be 2 sister companionships and one elder companionship, but for this transfer, they're erasing those area boundaries and splitting the whole area in half. So Hermana Arevalo will get the Elders' area! So exciting. Change can be so much fun!
But hard at the same time. I feel like this is my first day in the mission all over again! Just that I know more about how it works this time, haha. It's hard the first couple of days in a new area, you just feel kind of helpless and lost, and that you're being dragged around by your companion (like those poor kids on leashes getting pulled by their mothers). But it'll turn around in a few days! I'm trying to remember the beginning of my first transfer, and how much time I needed to feel comfortable. It must have been at least 2 weeks! So this time I'll hopefully need less since I at least know how planning and teaching work :)
Everyone in Mesa is so nice! We went to Wal-mart for groceries and EVERYONE talked to us! So friendly. There are still crazy people too, though, haha. I'm a little sad, I won't get to go to the library and see eyepatch man anymore. But we get to write emails in the privacy of our own family history center now! It's super nice.
Well sorry there wasn't too much exciting stuff, I don't know anything about this area! Hopefully I'll have more good stuff on Monday :)
I love you all! Nobody let Tamara or Annie (or even Andy) take over the position of favorite aunt. It's got my name on it.
Have a good week!
Sistah Watkins
Monday, November 11, 2013
Hermanas!
Everybody! This week was great!
First off, we've got two baptisms planned for this Saturday! One is a granddaughter of Hna Lopez that hasn't been baptized yet, and her Grandpa is gonna baptize her, so that should be an awesome experience! And... drumroll ...Roberto is getting baptized! Officially! It was an amazing experience, a miracle, really.
The first couple days of this week were tough, to be honest. We were struggling to plan because we didn't have very many people to go visit, everyone kept cancelling on us, and we lost a couple investigators. Pretty discouraging. So we decided on Friday that we would fast on Sunday because we really needed to see some things move forward (which was extra difficult cause our branch president gives us donuts at correlation! But it's worth the pain, heh heh). So before church we were talking with Roberto, asking him (again) if he had been reading or felt anything different about baptism. His answer was the same, that no, he still didn't feel any different. Gah, so we just told him again to keep reading and praying. Fast forward 2 hours, and we're going in to sacrament meeting (we have it at the end of the day). I was talking with other investigators, so Roberto walks right up to my companion and says, "I'm going to get baptized!" WHAT!!! He said he was listening in Young Mens class and was really touched by what was being taught. He realized that Heavenly Father has given him so much, and the least he could do is be baptized and be faithful to what he knows. So that was his sign! Roberto is getting baptized!!!! It really is a miracle. Fasting is so amazing! I don't think I've ever gained such a strong testimony of anything in such a short period of time. If you really need to see some changes in your life, FAST. But do it prayerfully, with real intent to work hard for what you're asking for. I promise the Lord will bless you for your sacrifice!
Other amazing things this week: Yumiko had her son, Adrian, and hadn't been very well the whole week. It's so difficult, they live in a tiny apartment with so many little kids and they can't always pay for electricity and air conditioning and that stuff, and the little bed they have for Yumiko broke in the middle of the night. So things are tough for her! She had a c-section and had been in a lot of pain, especially in her back. We went to visit them the other day, just helping them out with their kids and doing some cleaning with them cause things have been crazy. We asked Yumiko if she wanted a priesthood blessing, but she said no, she was too embarrassed. Well we sent over some elders anyways! Haha, and we went and snagged her some pillows from Walmart to help her be more comfortable. The amazing thing: the next day she was up and walking around! She was in bed all day the day before, in so much pain, feeling really really low. And the day after, she was smiling and shuffling around! It was great to see her up and moving, and it definitely strengthened her testimony of the church. She was embarrassed, but so grateful in the end for the blessing. It really helped her! So great.
Wow, I'm already out of time. I hope that wasn't too confusing! I love you all, everyone have a great week!
Love, Hna Watkins
I forgot to write about it, but we went to the Visitor's Center with Yasury and her dad on Friday. And guess who I saw: TAM! We were getting ready to go into the family display, and someone tapped me on the shoulder. Lo and behold, I turn around and its my sistah!!!!! What a coincidence (aka blessing from the Lord)! So fun. A VC sister took a picture with her iPad, and here's the result! So fun!
First off, we've got two baptisms planned for this Saturday! One is a granddaughter of Hna Lopez that hasn't been baptized yet, and her Grandpa is gonna baptize her, so that should be an awesome experience! And... drumroll ...Roberto is getting baptized! Officially! It was an amazing experience, a miracle, really.
The first couple days of this week were tough, to be honest. We were struggling to plan because we didn't have very many people to go visit, everyone kept cancelling on us, and we lost a couple investigators. Pretty discouraging. So we decided on Friday that we would fast on Sunday because we really needed to see some things move forward (which was extra difficult cause our branch president gives us donuts at correlation! But it's worth the pain, heh heh). So before church we were talking with Roberto, asking him (again) if he had been reading or felt anything different about baptism. His answer was the same, that no, he still didn't feel any different. Gah, so we just told him again to keep reading and praying. Fast forward 2 hours, and we're going in to sacrament meeting (we have it at the end of the day). I was talking with other investigators, so Roberto walks right up to my companion and says, "I'm going to get baptized!" WHAT!!! He said he was listening in Young Mens class and was really touched by what was being taught. He realized that Heavenly Father has given him so much, and the least he could do is be baptized and be faithful to what he knows. So that was his sign! Roberto is getting baptized!!!! It really is a miracle. Fasting is so amazing! I don't think I've ever gained such a strong testimony of anything in such a short period of time. If you really need to see some changes in your life, FAST. But do it prayerfully, with real intent to work hard for what you're asking for. I promise the Lord will bless you for your sacrifice!
Other amazing things this week: Yumiko had her son, Adrian, and hadn't been very well the whole week. It's so difficult, they live in a tiny apartment with so many little kids and they can't always pay for electricity and air conditioning and that stuff, and the little bed they have for Yumiko broke in the middle of the night. So things are tough for her! She had a c-section and had been in a lot of pain, especially in her back. We went to visit them the other day, just helping them out with their kids and doing some cleaning with them cause things have been crazy. We asked Yumiko if she wanted a priesthood blessing, but she said no, she was too embarrassed. Well we sent over some elders anyways! Haha, and we went and snagged her some pillows from Walmart to help her be more comfortable. The amazing thing: the next day she was up and walking around! She was in bed all day the day before, in so much pain, feeling really really low. And the day after, she was smiling and shuffling around! It was great to see her up and moving, and it definitely strengthened her testimony of the church. She was embarrassed, but so grateful in the end for the blessing. It really helped her! So great.
Wow, I'm already out of time. I hope that wasn't too confusing! I love you all, everyone have a great week!
Love, Hna Watkins
I forgot to write about it, but we went to the Visitor's Center with Yasury and her dad on Friday. And guess who I saw: TAM! We were getting ready to go into the family display, and someone tapped me on the shoulder. Lo and behold, I turn around and its my sistah!!!!! What a coincidence (aka blessing from the Lord)! So fun. A VC sister took a picture with her iPad, and here's the result! So fun!
Monday, November 4, 2013
What a great week! I feel like in my past couple emails I've rambled a lot, so I'll try to be more organized today!
First off, we had a great experience with Byron this week! He and his cousin are from Guatemala, and they just moved to the area and don't really know anybody. We taught him once like a week and a half ago and we hadn't been able to catch him again until Saturday. We chatted a bit outside his apartment, and committed him to go to church! We were waiting and waiting after correllation and didn't see him anywhere, so we stepped outside and wandered around the building to see if we could find him (cause our church building has like 1,000,000 doors, everybody always gets lost, haha). So we head outside, and on the other side of the parking lot we see him getting in his car to go home! We booked it across to his car, waving our arms and calling his name to get his attention, haha. He pulled over and said he didn't know where we were and he was nervous cause he didn't know anybody, but once he saw us he was ready to go back inside. And he had a great time! We were standing in the foyer before the meetings started, just chatting, and some Hermanos came right up to him and introduced themselves and when we turned our backs for one second to say hi to someone, they had whisked him away to priesthood. So great! I love it when the members step up and fellowship the investigators. So much love!
We also had a great lesson with him later that day about the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom. Everything just made perfect sense to him, and he is really ready to step up and change his life. He has had some problems with drinking, but he really liked the word of wisdom and is willing to do whatever it takes to set those addictions aside. So wonderful! It was especially great that one of the men that took him to priesthood has had the same kinds of problems in the past. He was talking with Byron and testified to him about the power of the atonement. He was in the same place about 3 years ago, but now he's attended the temple with his wife and is super active in the ward. So he's a perfect example for Byron!
Okay, who else... Silvestre! We went to the Visitor's Center with him on Halloween, haha. It actually was perfect, since it was a Thursday and a holiday, there was hardly anyone there. We had the place to ourselves and looked at just about everything! And we brought a great ward missionary with us, Hermana Anaya. She's a convert too and is absolutely not shy at all. She basically just bore testimony one minute after the other about everything we saw! She's so great, haha. So we have a baptismal date with Silvestre, but he still is having some problems with a girlfriend, even though they're not living together. The only problem is that he has a family in Mexico! So we'll have to work that out with him this week.
We're still having trouble with Roberto! He's seriously such a good kid, and he's basically already a member, just minus the fact that he's not baptized. We're pretty sure he's ready, but he keeps saying he's waiting for a big sign or feeling or something to tell him he should get baptized. The only problem is that he's still not really putting in his full effort! I think we'll have to slap him around to get him to really really listen to us, haha. But he still has his baptismal date, so we're just gonna keep pressing along and try to get him to the Visitor's Center this week.
We got some really exciting news yesterday: Yumiko finally had her baby boy!! His name is Adrian, and we got to visit them this morning at the hospital. So precious! We mostly just talked about how everything went and how she was feeling, but the moment she gets home, we're gonna seize the moment and talk about the plan of salvation. She's so ready to be baptized, but she just says that she wants to know more. So we're gonna give her anything and everything we've got!
A little testimony: fasting is amazing. When we fast, miracles happen. We had 5 investigators in church yesterday, and the spirit was so so strong! I am ashamed to say that I have been a super lame faster all my life. Now that I have the opportunity to fast with real intent, I can bear testimony of the miracles that take place and the blessings that the Lord pours out on us. It's still super hard to fast, especially when you're running around trying to meet new people and get everyone to the right class at church and make sure everyone has a ride, but it is SO WORTH IT. Seriously, I encourage everyone to fast next Fast Sunday. I testify of the power it has in our lives, and that we can fast any day to show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father. And He will bless us in return!
Yay for being a missionary! Life is the BEST. I've never been so happy. One thing we've committed to do is live like this is our last week in the mission. Amazing things have happened! But we are also recognizing Satan, that he's calling for reinforcements against us and all missionaries. I love Moroni 9:6 (I think). Mormon is writing to Moroni, and he says "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently". No matter what, no matter the hardness of the people around us and their actions against us, we must labor diligently. I love the rest of the verse too: "for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God." So great! We've got work to do and so little time to do it, so let's get to work! Let's conquer the enemy! And we will find peace for our souls with our Heavenly Father in His kingdom. So great!
I love this gospel so much, and I love being a missionary. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all!
Hna Watkins
First off, we had a great experience with Byron this week! He and his cousin are from Guatemala, and they just moved to the area and don't really know anybody. We taught him once like a week and a half ago and we hadn't been able to catch him again until Saturday. We chatted a bit outside his apartment, and committed him to go to church! We were waiting and waiting after correllation and didn't see him anywhere, so we stepped outside and wandered around the building to see if we could find him (cause our church building has like 1,000,000 doors, everybody always gets lost, haha). So we head outside, and on the other side of the parking lot we see him getting in his car to go home! We booked it across to his car, waving our arms and calling his name to get his attention, haha. He pulled over and said he didn't know where we were and he was nervous cause he didn't know anybody, but once he saw us he was ready to go back inside. And he had a great time! We were standing in the foyer before the meetings started, just chatting, and some Hermanos came right up to him and introduced themselves and when we turned our backs for one second to say hi to someone, they had whisked him away to priesthood. So great! I love it when the members step up and fellowship the investigators. So much love!
We also had a great lesson with him later that day about the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom. Everything just made perfect sense to him, and he is really ready to step up and change his life. He has had some problems with drinking, but he really liked the word of wisdom and is willing to do whatever it takes to set those addictions aside. So wonderful! It was especially great that one of the men that took him to priesthood has had the same kinds of problems in the past. He was talking with Byron and testified to him about the power of the atonement. He was in the same place about 3 years ago, but now he's attended the temple with his wife and is super active in the ward. So he's a perfect example for Byron!
Okay, who else... Silvestre! We went to the Visitor's Center with him on Halloween, haha. It actually was perfect, since it was a Thursday and a holiday, there was hardly anyone there. We had the place to ourselves and looked at just about everything! And we brought a great ward missionary with us, Hermana Anaya. She's a convert too and is absolutely not shy at all. She basically just bore testimony one minute after the other about everything we saw! She's so great, haha. So we have a baptismal date with Silvestre, but he still is having some problems with a girlfriend, even though they're not living together. The only problem is that he has a family in Mexico! So we'll have to work that out with him this week.
We're still having trouble with Roberto! He's seriously such a good kid, and he's basically already a member, just minus the fact that he's not baptized. We're pretty sure he's ready, but he keeps saying he's waiting for a big sign or feeling or something to tell him he should get baptized. The only problem is that he's still not really putting in his full effort! I think we'll have to slap him around to get him to really really listen to us, haha. But he still has his baptismal date, so we're just gonna keep pressing along and try to get him to the Visitor's Center this week.
We got some really exciting news yesterday: Yumiko finally had her baby boy!! His name is Adrian, and we got to visit them this morning at the hospital. So precious! We mostly just talked about how everything went and how she was feeling, but the moment she gets home, we're gonna seize the moment and talk about the plan of salvation. She's so ready to be baptized, but she just says that she wants to know more. So we're gonna give her anything and everything we've got!
A little testimony: fasting is amazing. When we fast, miracles happen. We had 5 investigators in church yesterday, and the spirit was so so strong! I am ashamed to say that I have been a super lame faster all my life. Now that I have the opportunity to fast with real intent, I can bear testimony of the miracles that take place and the blessings that the Lord pours out on us. It's still super hard to fast, especially when you're running around trying to meet new people and get everyone to the right class at church and make sure everyone has a ride, but it is SO WORTH IT. Seriously, I encourage everyone to fast next Fast Sunday. I testify of the power it has in our lives, and that we can fast any day to show our gratitude to our Heavenly Father. And He will bless us in return!
Yay for being a missionary! Life is the BEST. I've never been so happy. One thing we've committed to do is live like this is our last week in the mission. Amazing things have happened! But we are also recognizing Satan, that he's calling for reinforcements against us and all missionaries. I love Moroni 9:6 (I think). Mormon is writing to Moroni, and he says "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently". No matter what, no matter the hardness of the people around us and their actions against us, we must labor diligently. I love the rest of the verse too: "for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God." So great! We've got work to do and so little time to do it, so let's get to work! Let's conquer the enemy! And we will find peace for our souls with our Heavenly Father in His kingdom. So great!
I love this gospel so much, and I love being a missionary. I hope everyone has a great week! I love you all!
Hna Watkins
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)