Happy Valentine's

Hola Famila!!! 

This week was a super great week. Last week after email we went over to The Galleria which is this HUGE mall, and I felt like I was in Heck... haha It was the weirdest feeling in the world. I have forgotten how worldly the world is. I'm pretty sure I knew what two of the stores were.. payless and the Disney store, other than that all the stores names were WAY to fancy and I felt like a frumpy missionary.. Which I am totally okay with. :) At the mall I we went into Tiffany's and I tried on a wedding ring... haha AWKWARD!! Me and Hermana O'neill did it for our 10 month mark.  I hated it!!!! I'm never getting married. I decided that I'm just going to go on a mission with Grandma and Grandpa when I go home. I don't want to go back to real life. 

Man on the bus with a snake

Anyway now to the good stuff. :) We had many awesome lessons this week with our investigators. Last Monday we had a Noche de Hogar "FHE" with two of our investigators families and a member family and we watched the Restoration and the spirit was SO strong. Guadalupe is still planning on getting baptized and is starting to understand the Restoration. 

Last Tuesday we had our Zone Conference and it was super good!! President always talks about things that I wanted to learn more about or I wanted clearer answers for. Elder D. Todd Christoferson asked for us missionaries to put together our life plans now. I didn't like doing it, but we were asked to do so... We needed to write down what we wanted for familes/ Husband/ Kids and what we want for careers/ education. What our life long dreams are. That was something weird to think about, but we've been promised that if we finish out life plan or Vision of Life that we will work harder and see more success. All the trainings were all super good and I have already seen a lot of success from following them. 

After conference we sat in two hours of traffic... I LOVE IT!! Then my companion and I taught English classes at the church.... I think I should probably learn English before I try and learn Spanish. haha 

Hermana Potter's huge cat that I am afraid of.

Wednesday we spent a lot of the time on the bus talking to people. We met this really cool guy named Edi who had a snake around his neck. And I got to touch and I got a picture too. :) We also had a miracle where one of our investigators that we have been able to get in contact with for three weeks was on the bus and she really wants to have us a come over :) MIRACLE!! 

Friday was definitely my favorite day. Happy Valentines Day!! We went down to the church and help set up for a HUGE 7 stake Singles ward dance it looked like prom. It was so pretty, and we got to lessons out of it,and we got to be in normal clothes... weird! Our awesome investigator Joel excepted a baptismal date and really loves the plan of salvation. That night Hermana Jaeger and I watched Together Forever and made heart cookies... BEST VALENTINES EVER!! haha 

Valentine's night

Saturday was a super hard day. We went to the prison downtown to visit one of our less actives and it was INSANE!! We waited in line for a hour and a half and you go through all these security things and then you sit down at a window and try and yell over everyone else so the person can hear you. I tell you what the spirit does not dwell in the prison. My spirit felt so hurt when I was there. I hated seeing little kids and new born babies go and visit their father... It was just another reminder to me how much our Heavenly Father loves us and how blessed I have been to have such an amazing family. No one deserves to live a life like that. Especially innocent little children. We had a short testimony meeting with him and we ended up all bawling at the end. He said the closing prayer and that is when the spirit popped in just to bear a short reminder that these things are true. Right after the prayer the spirit left instantly. 

Yesterday we ended up having 5 people come to church! :) Joel came again and Francisco is his fellowshipper, he told us that he really likes church. I ended up going and teaching a little in the youth sunday school class. Mom I don't know how you deal with teenagers that text on their phones will someone is teaching. I don't think I'm ready to be a mom.... 

Well today we're going to the Houston Zoo!! YAY!! I'm super excited and the weather is perfect today. 

I love you all so much!!

Les Quiero

Hermana Watkins

Milagros!!!

First off I have the worlds best companion!! We love being companions and everything is just comfortable and AWESOME!! I feel like I'm doing missionary work with my best friend. 

This past week we went over to teach that less active family that we found two weeks ago, and the youngest boy accepted a baptismal date when we first started teaching him. Well we have really been praying for all of our investigators that have baptismal dates and then those that we feel are ready to except one. And we had an impression that we should ask Leonel if he would like to be baptized on Sunday, and he ACCEPTED!!! He told us when we extended the date to him the first time he went and prayed about it and he felt super good about decision, and knew that it was right. So yesterday after teaching him all the lessons in one week HE WAS BAPTIZED!!! Such a huge miracle!! And after the baptism he came up to me and told me that he felt GREAT! Oh man this church is so true. If a 13 year old boy who really has never heard about the church before, because his family has been less active his life, decides to be baptized because of a warm feeling he had. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!! 

At district meeting we were talking about some elders that have been teaching people in the prisons, and I told some of the Hermanas that I really want to teach people in the prison before I go home. Wednesday we had received a  Media referral from Salt Lake . It was in a State prison! he has now been released.

 We ended up reaching almost all of our goals.The guy in our area that is excommunicated got news last week that he can be baptized in 3 weeks and then were hopefully going with the whole family to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. :) 

Emily is on the back row 5th from the end in  gray with a scarf.  You can click on the picture to make it bigger.  This is from the sister conference with guest speaker Sheri Dew.

Guadalupe is  progressing towards baptism and I love going over there. They now feed us twice a week and they are basically like my older brother and sister. I love them soo much!!! 

We got a call from a lady in our mission office saying that there is this guy in our area that has been calling Salt Lake over and over to have us over to his house to teach him. So we got his information and went over and he came up to me and was like, "do you remember me?" He told me I talked to him on the bus one day.... I couldn't remember him for the life of me. But then he started telling me about how he got stabbed and robbed a couple weeks before we talked on the bus and then I remembered him telling me that story, and how is Savior loves him. We ended up teaching him twice this week and Nefi and Guadalupe brought him to church on Sunday and he said he really loved it!! I am so excited to teach him. I really feel like he will be baptized in no time. I will have to tell you about his story of how he was stabbed and it hit his heart and he miraculously lived!! You truly do see blessings when you talk to everyone!! :) I love it!

We ended up having four of our investigators at church yesterday :) and it was beautiful. Francisco was confirmed yesterday and then he spoke at Leonels baptism about Baptism and then we had an investigator devotional last night that Guadalupe went too, and Francisco bore his testimony there.

Well that was another miracle week. I tell you what this work is so awesome. My companion reminded me today that it is my 10 month mark, but I'm sorry family but I'm never coming home... just kidding I'll come home, but I will need to come back here really fast. I love it here!! 

I love you all. Have a wonderful week. 

Les Quiero

Con amor, 

Hermana Watkins

Francisco is Baptized!!!! and Transfers

Like the title says Francisco my best friend received his letter from the First Presidency on Tuesday and they called me up to tell me the good news :) And yesterday he finally became a wet Mormon :) The ward has been calling him a dry Mormon for the past 5 months, because he is probably strong than half the members but as an investigator. Yesterday was the happiest day of my life. Hermana O'neill and I sang at the baptism and the first verse I was bawling like a baby.... good thing the violin covered my weird crying noises :) 

Again I have been blessed with so many miracles this week. Last Tuesday Hermana Baer and Elder Ramirez were planned to fly home, but their flight to Utah was cancelled until the next day so we got a call from the Assistants on Tuesday morning asking if we would be willing to come pick up Hermana Baer for the day and take her out to work with us!!!!!! Our dreams came true and we were companions.... for one day... but still! I love her so much, and we had a blast together. 

Wednesday was transfers and we said our last goodbyes to Hermana Baer and Elder Ramirez. :( That was hard. I have also been blessed with another AMAZING companion. Her name is Hermana Jaeger and she is from California. She is one transfer ahead of me and we absolutely love being with each other and the work has been so much fun the last couple days. On Wednesday morning when we were in transfer meeting we got a call from one of our investigators Guadalupe and we had a Birthday party with her and her husband the night before. She asked us if we could come by that night and have another lesson. "G" is married to a return missionary  and he is super strong in the church and she has had the missionaries teaching her for 4 years. She has never really been interested and just like hearing about messages of Christ because she belongs to another church. Well come to find out Wednesday night we go in and she tells us that she wants to start taking the discussions again! MIRACLE! So we got right on it and taught The Restoration. The only reason why she hasn't joined the church is because she doesn't believe in Joseph Smith, but the last transfer the mission has had lots of training on teaching a strong 20 min Restoration and man I saw the fruits of our labors that nights. After a really powerful Restoration we extended a baptismal date and she excepted a baptismal date for the first time EVER!! I truly know that with unconditional love and the truth anything is possible. Especially when you have God on your side. When we told the Bishopric in PEC yesterday they all jumped a little and started celebrating. I have truly witness how important it is to LOVE when you love others and show them that their Heavenly Father loves them the blessings will come. I love her so much! MIRACLE, MIRACLE, MIRACLE!!

New companion Hermana Jaeger

The past week we have been talking to EVERYONE!! And we have seen so many miracles from it. Even though it's  every 1 out of 20 people you talk to their is one prepared person, it's totally worth it. I have really been working on seeing everyone as my brothers and sisters and praying for it as well, and God has made my eyes see things I have never seen. I used to get so frustrated with myself "Natural Man" that I would let fear of talking to people get in my way, but as my eyes have been opened all I want to do is tell people of the "Good News" that we have for the WORLD! We really do have a Savior who has suffered for us. He lives and is with us 24/7. There is only one path back to our Heavenly Father and at times we fall off the path and we feel like we have the confidence that we can find the path again, but then we get more and more lost and the world gets darker and darker... or we step on thorns or get an animal bite or we run into a spider web... haha but the whole time we our off the trail we have our Savior with us the whole time. He is feeling the pain of the thorns and the hunger, exhaustion, darkness, and fear as well. And he is also the only one that knows how to get back to the trail. We just need to take that humbling step and grab his hand and ask for help back. He is our light and our path. I love the gospel and I of it to be true. We truly are sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. I am very blessed to be a instrument in his hands at this time to help him find his lots children. 

I pray that every that reads this is reading in the scriptures and praying daily, going to church, and desiring to learn more. We are here to be happy! Happiness truly does come by obeying the commandments and putting the things of God before the things of the world. Our time is short. We must act now! 

Have a wonderful week!!!!!

Les Quiero,

Hermana Watkins