Transfers!

Today has been super sad. I dropped off  my  friend/ companion off at the mission home this morning. It's so crazy to think that tomorrow she will be in Utah with her family. This transfer flew by. They just keep getting faster and faster, and I can't keep up with them... whew. We received the transfer call this morning and I will be staying in good o'le Houston 1 NE. I don't think I'm ever leaving this ward. :)

Dear family I am SOOOOO grateful for the 12 days of Christmas package. My companion doesn't sleep at night so the last couple nights I would stay up late with her and talk until midnight and then I would open my present and go to bed. I have decorated my apartment really cute. I forgot to send you pictures of the Christmas tree that we made last week. I didn't know that you were going to send one... so I made one :) It's pretty TEXAN!! haha I LOVED the tree you sent me though. The Cowboy decorations are awesome!! Thank you for all the hard work you did to put it all together. Trust me it was worth it!! It makes my day, everyday!!

Emily's homemade Christmas tree from an ironing board.

The Texas tree we sent her.

Tuesday we had an amazing Zone meeting and we practiced teaching the Restoration over, and over again. I and my companion were privileged to teach or zone leader Elder Levitt and then our Assistant Elder Case..... He scares me because he is so AWESOME!! But both of the lessons went really well. The spirit was super strong and really testified to me how true this message is.

After Zone meeting I was super pumped to go out and teach. We went right over to B's apartment. Now B is super legit and has really progressed a lot this past month. While we were at her apartment she had a friend come over and we invited her to listen to the message we had. Her friend then decided she was going to take over the lesson and teach her beliefs.... After she left B looks at us and says, " I know that this church is true, and my friend is crazy!!" Haha she's awesome! She really does have a strong testimony. She has been a little nervous about getting baptized so we had her pray with us to see if this truly is God's will that she gets baptized this year. The spirit was SO extremely strong and after the prayer she looks at us and says," I feel great, you're right I need to get baptized this week!" She truly is amazing and knows without a doubt that this Gospel is true. Well the next day we go to start feeling out her paper work to get her prepared for her interview, and we feel out all of it. Then at the bottom it asks about the persons spouse and when they were married and everything. She gives us all the information about him, and then we find out... they're not married! Both of them have told us numerous of times that they are.... I was super sad, but the spirit prepared me before we even went in. I just hope we can help her understand the Law of Chastity better and receive a testimony of it. Even though she wasn't able to get baptized this year. She was able to feel the spirit and understand how God speaks to her. I am so grateful for that and all the blessings we have received with her.

Other than that I've gone on lots of exchanges with Hermana Wilzbach and Lister because Hermana Washburn had the temple departing trip and other things going on. And the next two days I get to be companions with Hna's Lister and Washburn and serve in both areas.

Yesterday our stake put on a beautiful Christmas Devotional. It was all music and it was actually really good. We have some very talented singers in this stake and musicians. I love Christmas time. It really doesn't feel like Christmas here. The leaves are just starting to change and fall, and there's no snow.. but this morning we had frost on our roof. And who knows it might snow here if it snowed in Jerusalem. Super crazy!

I love you all very much. I can't wait to Skype you all next week. Enjoy the snow for me. :)
Les Quiero
Hermana Watkins

Buenas Tardes!

Buenas Tardes!!!  

Como estan mi familia?? Saben que no puedo hablar in Ingles.. lo siento. Ojala google search puede traducir este correo :) jajaj

So crazy news!! I can't talk in English... only in my email home to family. Last week on Tuesday I was discussing my Spanish to President about my Spanish and then he gave me a commandment that I can't talk in English until the end of the transfer. So when we go to restaurants my companion has to order for me and has to translate every time we are with people that speak English.... It's been an adventure!! I have 9 days left and I'm pretty confident I can do it. It's almost like I have something in my mouth that is stopping me from talking in English.  I'm excited to finish this fast and see the improvement. I have improved a lot already, and I'm truly grateful for this commandment. Even though I have a headache like 24/7. Vale la pena!! President also announced it to everyone else in the mission that I can only speak Spanish... haha que divertido.. This is really hard writing in English my brain doesn't work in either language right now. 

Okay so this week spanishlishish... haha palabra nueava :) I got to go on two exchanges. I feel like I'm a sister training leader right now going on all these exchanges, but I really like them. I got to go back to my first area with Hermana Lister (my sister) :) We had some super powerful lessons with some of my favorite investigators and less actives. The lesson we had with out Less active was amazing! I met him my seecond week here and every lesson with him just gets more and more powerful. He wants to change his life to much. We we first met him he really didn't want to do anything with us, but the last lesson we had with him he broke down crying saying how grateful he was for us and the spirit and light we have brought in to his life. He is the one that was in a gang and almost died 3 times and has some crazy life stories. He has yet come to church, but I know that once he does things will change very fast. I LOVE HIM!! 

Our investigator Blance told us this week and she really wants to get baptized and she decided that she will get baptized 15 of December!! I'm super excited for her and this step that she knows is something that she needs to do. 

Yesterday my investigator Margarita who was in my last area with Hermana Groves and Carlson who got married a couple weeks ago... well she got baptized yesterday. :) YAY!! Her husband received the priesthood yesterday morning and he baptized her. It was so beautiful and spiritual. They had to baptize her 4 times because he couldn't say it right, but she is now a member and is so happy!! Two of our investigators went to the baptism, Hector and Lupe. They are both part of part member families. Hector is super interested and comes to church every week and didn't want to except a baptismal date until he saw an actual baptism. So hopefully this week he will except one. :) 

The other exchange I had was with Hermana Wilzbach and she came to my area. :) The whole exchange was AWESOME!! We finally got to see some of investigators that we haven't seen in weeks. Yeah miracles all around, but the one thing I want to tell you about is the experience we had with the Guerra family. They are the Jewish family and we stopped by their house Saturday night to see if we could teach them. Well they just happened to be ending their Sabbath Day and they invited us to do it. We started off with wine glasses. Us and the kids had grape juice, (Hopefully) ha and the parents had wine. And the dad would read out of the tora really fast in Spanish and Hebrew. Then we all drank the our drinks and he said more stuff, and then they turned off all the lights in the house and they had this candle that was blue and white chain that symbolized families and the light of God. After they read more stuff they distinguished the candle in some wine. And then they past around this goblet looking this that they shake and read something and it blesses their food for the whole week, and they passed it around and they would all shake it and sniff if.... Once it came around the table we just passed it along. And the 4 year old girl got really mad at Hermana Wilzbach for not doing it. haha At the end they all went around the table and they all had this memorized in Hebrew that they would all say. Even the little 4 year old girl had it memorized in HEBREW!!! It was super cool, but really different. I love all the different experiences that I've had on the mission though. :) After they ended their Sabbath we decided to teach them about Prophets. :) It was a really good lesson. I wanted to teach about the Sabbath, but the spirit said other wise. ha 

Well I believe that is all. I love you all so much! Thank you for all of the support and love that you give me. It really means so much to missionaries. :) 

Don't forget to share the wonderful message that we have about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Especially during this season. God is preparing people for each and everyone of us. Pray to see who they are. 

Les Quiero MUCHO!!

Hermana Watkins

Christmas is in the air

Christmas is in the air... not really it's just the nasty cold humidity, but when I spray our apple cinnamon Christmas spray in our apartment, then Christmas is in the air. But even when I do that our neighbors weed over powers it so it smells like Christmas weed.... Not my favorite smell. It's weird that it's December and it's warm outside, well kind of warm. It depends on the day. If it rains then it's FREEZING, but the last couple days have been pretty warm. I can't believe I am saying this, but I really do miss the snow. Ahhh something is wrong with me!! It just doesn't feel like Christmas. :( Everyone here is super festive. It's crazy how the Hispanics can use so many decorations in so little of space. They have skills!!

This past week we had to stay in all week. Hermana Washburn and I just got the flu... yeah!! I'm feeling super good now, but her body is still trying to recover. Everyday I got to spend  8-9 hours in the scriptures and learn about my Savior. I read all of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I started John yesterday and I absolutely love the New Testament. I also love the Old Testament I just don't understand all of it yet... I think if anyone wants to learn how to become a better person or they want to change something in their life, they should really read The Gospels and learn about their Savior, Jesus Christ. I have come to love him more and more and I hope and pray I can learn to teach like him. With all of the time that I had I also broke down my Patriarchal Blessing and did a giant study where I broke up a lot of my gifts that I've been given and then looked up each word and found scriptures of how I can either improve that gift or how I can better learn to use it. I LOVED doing this and if anyone is ever stuck in bed or bored at home or wants to just be awesome and sacrifice the things of the world of the things of the Lord than take time to do this study. You wont regret it!! I have learned so much about myself and have really learned my purpose here on Earth and why God gave me that specific blessing and gifts. He loves us SO much. He desires that we all come back to him, but he has given us our agency. And we get to be the ones that decide if we want to return back to him or not. Even though I have misused my agency and have made mistakes, I am so grateful for it. God trust us enough to make our own decisions. He knows that we will make mistakes and that we are not perfect. That is why he sent his son Jesus Christ. To be our Savior! We have the decision everyday to either be saved or lost. I pray that we all want to be saved. I testify that they both live and love us very much. They give us SO man blessings everyday.

I want to let all my cousins know that each and everyone of you is VERY important. God has a very specific plan for each of you. And you may not see it now, but we have all been SUPER blessed to be in born into this family. We have amazing grandparents that go to church each day and love this Gospel. We have also been given parents that do the same. The rules and guidance they give us is for our protection, not to hurt us. They love us very much and care for us. They are like our Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father does the same for each of us children here on Earth. He's given us commandments to protect. He knows the plan. Our parents have lived through the teen years. They know the things that you need to avoid. Listen to the counsel they give you. Have family prayer and scriptures daily!! Satan is really attacking the family. That is why years ago President Gordon B. Hinckley came out with the The Family Proclamation. He was preparing us for the things that are to come. And here they are. Cousins please, please, please listen to your parents. They are AMAZING!! I could write emails and emails about all the horrible family situations that I have seen out here. You have been blessed!!!! Enjoy your blessings. I love you all, and I am super lucky to have amazing cousins like you. Thank you for your examples and your letters. I love them!!

Well this week like I said was slow. The only story I can really think of was Thanksgiving Day. Hermana and I didn't want to cancel our dinner appointments, because we had to awesome families. They have just happened to be a hour apart from each other.... So the first dinner was awesome! It actually tasted like American food. She made one normal turkey and then one with chile on it. The chile one was SUPER good!! We had an awesome gratitude lesson with them and got to teach her husband who is less active and we haven't met him before. The second dinner we were terrified for our lives because we were already super stuffed and it was the first real food we ate all week long. We get to their apartment and they invited all of their friends to come over to eat and listen to a message, which was SUPER awesome. They are a less active family and they invited to couples over with their kids. The food was....... different. I think I had a couple tears roll down my face trying to have a pocker face, but I felt so sick. I really felt like a couple times I was just going to puke all over Thanksgiving. Thankfully my Heavenly Father helped me out. Oh sometimes I love getting fed, but it's really hard when the Hispanics expect you to eat five servings.... But I'm fat and happy and life is good. :) Haha mission stories.. got to love them.

I love you all so very much. The holidays are super hard without everyone, but I've been blessed with my mission family. I pray for you all everyday. Stay strong. Remember God hears your prayers. How awesome is it that we have the opportunity to talk to our God!! Pretty awesome stuff! Have a wonderfully cold Utah week. :)

Les Quiero Mucho

Hermana Watkins

Thanksgiving Week

Hello family,

Thank you, thank you all so very much for the Thanksgving letters from everyone. I got the package this morning at choir and I LOVED reading all the letters. I don't think you all know how much it means to me to recieve HAND WRITTEN letters from everyone. Even if it's just a couple simple words, it means the WORLD to me!!!! THANK YOU!! It's fun just see the changes in everyone just through the words that they say :) I miss and love all of you so much. Thank you for being such an AWESOME family. I am so blessed.

Speaking of blessed. This week is Thanksgiving and EVERYONE want's to feed us. We have two dinners on Thanksgiving within two hours from each other,and they are both families that want you to basically eat all their food and look the dish for them..... I might die!! Saturday we had our ward Thanksgiving party and I don't think Hispanics should try and make American food... haha I tried some really interesting dishes... haha I love my ward though. They had a DJ at the party and it was so hard not to get up and dance. All the missionaries were just dying, because we're not allowed to dance.... ahhhh!!! I was half tempted to go behind the curtain and just dance back there. :) :)

This week Hermana Washburn and I have been super sick, well the whole mission has been super sick. This nasty bug is going around and I felt like my body fights it off and then it comes back again.... probably because everyone we come in contact with is sick. It is FREZZING cold here. I and all the Utahns have agreed that the freezing cold rain in the humidity is A LOT colder than Utah snow. You are all lucky!!! You can never get warm in the humidity.

Since we were sick we only had 10 lessons and it was a super slow week. I didn't want to eat at all, but I like every lesson we had they would feed us. Lucky me.

Mom you had a lot of questions about the work, and I'm going to try and remember them and answer, becaue I know how much you hated how you would ask Ross lots of questions and he would never answer. So the work is only done now through members and referrals from them and people we teach. The work is a lot harder in this area. We have a lot of Hispanics, but we also have TONS of million/billionaires. Weren't not supposed to tract any more. We have yet started the electronic stuff... who knows when that will finally happen. The only family I can really think of that I would like you to pray for is Mary and Laila. ummm and now I can't remember all your questions.. sorry. I tried.

I can't believe I almost forgot to tell you. BLANCA came to church yesterday. Which means she could basically be baptized next week if she feels ready. I love her so much. She is from Honduras and has lived here for 15 years in the same apartment. Her brother is actually a member in San Antonio and really liked what her brother told her so she started taking the lessons the beginning of this year, but then the missionaries dropped her and Hermana Shill and Baer picked her back up right before I got here. :) I love her!!!

Well, I love you all so much. I am so grateful for you and for the testimonies that you all have. This Gospel means so much to me and I don't know what I would do without it. I don't think you all know how much your daily example already plants a seed of the Gospel in someones heart. People outside the church really do see something different about us. That it's self is a testimonly of how true this church really is!! I love you all.

Les Quiero

Hermana Watkins

Hello

Hello friends and family,

Okay so this week was really slow. Hermana Washburn and I kind of took turns being sick. I'm fine, just the same stomach pains... So I've been living off herbal tea and I love it!! I hated herbal tea before my mission, but my companion has converted me. :) She also converted me to all the essential oils. Got to love all those weird hippie things people do now days. You should see some of the stuff she eats... haha.

Some really cool news that I forgot to tell you last week is that Franisco (my best friend) finished the BOM, and he saved the last chapter until he got to church so he could read it with me and Hermana Wilzbach. I love him so much and he received assignment from the ward and he goes out with missionaries and the ward mission leaders all the time now. He is so LEGIT!! I have been so blessed to have him be part of my life and mission. I have really learned a lot from him.

This week I went on two exchanges. The first one Hermana Wilzbach came to my area and it was really fun being back together and talking about all the investigators from my first area. My second exchange was with Hermana Groves (my baby) and I got to go to her area, or my last area, and we went to Margarita and Serio's wedding. I was so happy to see them finally get married. The pictures I got have really bad lighting,but the family looked so beautiful and happy... until their daughter threw up all over the restaurant.. reminds me of Alesha and Andrews wedding reception where either Matt or Mackay threw up.. haha good times.

This week I probably had one of the most spiritual/ hardest lessons of my life. We are teaching a mom and her daughter who is eleven. The mom prefers to go to church in Spanish, but her daughter only speaks English. Our initial plan was to have a really good lesson with them and then give them over, but the spirit told us other wise. I can't explain how powerful the spirit was. Hermana Washburn and I were both really prompted to ask certain/random questions from the spirit and the little girl then started to cry and she then told us that her father has been abusing her mom every night, and she says she can see a demon in the eyes of her father. This is the little girl that I talked about before that is just really in tuned with the spirit and is super ready to be baptized. The little girl said she knows its a commandment to forgive, but she just doesn't think she can forgive her dad. Her mom on the other hand just told us that her daughter doesn't understand that this is life and these things happen to everyone. I am so grateful for the spirit and the direction that it gave me. All I wanted to do was take them out of that home and show that what a good life is. As missionaries we're not allowed to counsel, and my heart is  broken. The spirit also testified to me how truly blessed I am. I don't have a perfect knowledge of why these things happen to people, but they do and I am happy that I can be here to show them that they can have something even better, and something that will change their life.

Well time is up... :( other news is we found out that Elder Russel M. Nelson is coming to speak in our Stake and talk to all the missionaries in January. YAY!!!! I'm super excited. Oh and I forgot to tell you, but I'm allowed to skype for Christmas.... :)

Happy Birthday Mom. A year ago on your birthday I submitted my mission papers. I can't believe how fast time has gone by .

I love you all soooooo much. Thank you for your prayers.

Les Quiero

Hermana Watkins

ps. I don't have time to send pictures any more so next week you will have tons :) 

New Area and New Hair

MOM!!!

You are going to be the best Stake Relief Society President in the WORLD!!! I love working with them here on my mission. You will probably get a lot of fun opportunities to go out and work with the missionaries... well I don't actually know how missionary work works in Utah, but here in Texas the leaders are the people that you want to work with and become great friends with :)

Man on man this week has been crazy/exhausting/fun/ spiritual. As you all know we had transfers last week and I stayed in my new area of Houston 1 NE. Transfer meeting was really long, and sad. I loved being companions with Hermana Shill and we were having a lot of fun together, but it's what the Lord wants. And again I've been blessed with an AMAZING companion. Her name is Hermana Washburn. She is from Orem, UT she has been on her mission 17 months and goes home the end of this transfer... sad :(Hermana Washburn has had probably one of the hardest missions I have ever heard of and I really look up to her. She started her mission feeling great and loving being a missionary. She went to a school that starting in 1st grade up to 9th grade you only speak Spanish. So she's fluent!! :) YAY I have a native. Well she had two transfers of a great mission and then she became really sick. And had to live with President and his family,the Sister Mortenson (finance lady) and Sister Martinez ( Mission nurse) She took turns going from house to house. She then became a service missionary and her and her companion would go and help less actives in there ward. She was on Chemo pills for a while and any other treatment/ medicine you can think of. She was also switched over to English after her 2nd transfer. I can't remember what she finally got diagnosed with, but President told her that if she stays for the whole 18 months she will become healthy. So now it's her very last transfer in the mission and she healthy again. :) I love miracles! She's also on this crazy healthy diet, and everything she eats is organic. She made me some really yummy tilipia the other day and we have Herbal tea together every morning. :)  I love her so much. She also went to hair school and guess what................... I cut my hair and dyed it brown..... that's not a joke. :) It was super dead and needed help so we had some fun with it. 

Hermana Shill sadly didn't stay in the zone, but I got to talk to her at a devotional on Sunday and yesterday and Zone Conference and she's having fun being in a new area. My area is doing great! Were really just going around right now trying to get to know all the members in our area and all the less actives. I love all the people in this area and I'm so grateful to be serving here and doing the work. Yesterday after a wonderful Zone conference.

This week I have really come to understand myself better and what I need to do to change my vision for the mission. I have been very blessed here and in my home life, and I haven't been as grateful as I should be. Everything that I've been studying the scriptures is exactly what President Ashton and the Assistants talked about in Zone Conference.

This transfer is going to be amazing. The work is hastening on, and I've really love having the Holy Ghost directing each and everyday..

This week we really didn't get to see a whole lot of investigators so hopefully we can this week and I can tell you all about the amazing lessons that we receive.

I love you all SOOOOOOOOOOO much!! I don't have pictures of me and my companion yet.. so you wont be able to see my hair and her till next week... sorry.

I would like to think it is warm here, but I'm freezing. My companion  and I wake up freezing cold every night... but all is well. I really thought Texas would be warmer than it is in the winter. I think the humidity has a lot to do with it. It gets deep down into your bones and you can never warm up.

Yesterday we had Zone Conference and President announced about whats going on in the Philippines. I am glad to hear that Hailey is okay. President told us that since the water is really warm in the ocean we need to prepare here too. So we got all new 72 hour kits.

Les Quiero

Hermana Watkins

Transfers

Dear Family and Friends,

My dear companion  is getting transferred, and we only had three weeks together. Only 4 people are getting transferred from our zone this transfer, but we all thought that almost all the zone would change.I am super sad right now that she is leaving though. We got the call this morning and I of course I started crying. I kind of felt it coming, especially after the things that happened this week. Not only am I sad, but I am terrified for my life, because I will now be taking over the biggest city areas in the whole mission..... I have no idea how I'm going to do this. Thank goodness for the help from God. This is going to be fun!!!!.................. Hopefully. And I really wonder who my new companion will be. I have gone through 4 companions in the last transfer, counting Hermana Wilzbach, and three different areas. My poor baby Hermana Groves is getting a new trainer too. Hermana Carlson is getting transferred as well. So many crazy changes that no one in the world expected.

This week was pretty slow with the work, but went by fast at the same time. In this area now EVERYONE feeds us. :) Super good news!! Everyone likes me because I like spicy food. One of the best cooks in this area.. or Houston asked us to come over to have Thanksgiving dinner with her. Hermana Shill is super upset that she's missing it, but I will still be here to pig out!!! My food source has turned into beans and tortillas nearly everyday... hahah Yummy!! 

Our ward had an awesome Halloween activity on Tuesday and the missionaries were in charge of an activity.  I decided to do hanging donuts from a string and all the Hispanics LOVED it!! I think I loved it even more watching kids from age 4 up to parents doing it.. haha I love my ward. I also took some super cute pictures of Ivan who was the super cute Chub from my last area with HNA Carlson and Groves.

This past week I had an exchange on Halloween day and we had planning all day and then we exchanged at 4 and then I received my blessing that I emailed Mom and Dad and then we had to be in by 7 because of Creepy people on Halloween, so we didn't get any work done. But I did receive my package from Mom on Halloween and it totally made my day, and everyone that was with me :) Thank you.

Yesterday we had an amazing Fast Sunday. :) J G is the guy who's baptism I spoke at and then I ended up moving in to this area a week later, he got confirmed yesterday :) and then he went up and bore his super strong testimony and the Spirit was there very strongly. I love him!! We then had two super awesome lessons. One was with the Jewish family and we taught a brother the Restoration. He had a lot of super interesting questions that I definitely need to study up on before I got back and teach again. He also pulled out his Torah and read in Hebrew to us. They are a super legit family and I really like teaching them, but it's going to be hard. If you have any ideas on how to teach a Jewish family let me know... Ross... :) We also had a really spiritual/ freezing cold lesson out side with our amazing recent convert  who is now a ward missionary leader, and his roommate accepted a baptismal date. I was shivering the whole lesson, but the spirit was soooo strong and beautiful. He's really excited to receive an answer if this church is true, and he already has a lot of faith that it is. :)

Well other than that this has probably been the worlds fastest transfer in the world/ craziest transfer in the world. I think my mind might blow up with all the amazing things/ people/ companions that I have learned and met this transfer. I have been truly blessed and I'm excited to see the things that are to come. I know this is the plan that God has for me and I have a very strong testimony of this church. I know it is true!

Thank you for all your prayers and patience with me. I love you all. Have a wonderful week, and share the Gospel with all that you come in contact with.

Les Quiero

Hermana Watkins