Sister McKenna Watts - Chicago Illinois Mission: Week 3

Hello Family. :) Oh. I am so excited to try to put into words all the amazing and incredible things that happened this week.

On Tuesday we had Zone Conferences. And they were unreal. I learned so many amazing things and just felt the spirit so strong. I feel totally dorky saying this but when I was at home I would get so excited whenever I see missionaries and now I get to be surrounded by them always. It is the greatest thing. :) One of the Elders in our Zone said "I feel like I am working really hard and doing my best, and then I come to a training meeting and I am reminded that there is so much more that I can be doing." I 100% felt that way. There is so much that I don't know and so much that I still need to learn but I am willing and excited to be here and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the Lords work and when we do it His way miracles will happen. I feel so privileged and grateful to get to be a missionary.

We were invited to try and serve for at least 5 hours every week. I absolutely love that and that has been my goal. There are so many places and ways that we can serve and I have been trying to constantly keep a "What can I do to help" attitude. I have felt the spirit so much stronger as I have done this, I have felt so much love for my companion, the members, the people that we are teaching, and the people we run into on the street. It was been amazing. :)

I was able to have a really tender conversation with President Woodbury while we were at Zone Conferences. He pulled me aside and asked me how I was doing. I couldn't lie to him and I told him that things honestly had been really hard. As we sat there and cried together I felt so grateful for him and the compassion he showed to me. He gave me some priceless advice, he testified to me that my Heavenly Father was aware of me, he loves me, and he has faith and trust in me.

We had some amazing experiences with M*** this week. I told you all last week that she was being evicted on Friday and was quickly running out of options and money. It was really hard to watch her be so stressed and worried about what was going to happen to her and her family. I was so grateful that our message is a message of hope. We had some powerful conversations with her this week as we testified to her that her Heavenly Father was aware of her and her family and that He was looking out for her.

Despite the weight of the concern that M*** was feeling she is progressing amazing. She sent us a text this week that made me smile the biggest smile. :) She said "Good Morning sisters, I just got done reading the Book of Mormon, saying my prayers, and I just threw out the coffee pot. I'm ready for the day." We were so excited. :) Everything that she learns she is so excited about. I have loved watching the power of the Atonement come alive in her life. We have Stake Conference this week so we had to move her baptism to March 29th. She is so excited and cant wait to be baptized. She has gone from smoking 3 packs a day to smoking a little less than half a pack. She is committed and on track to be completely done smoking by Sunday. That is a total miracle. M**** has been a heavy smoker for the past 30 years. Thank you so much for your prayers and your faith. Miracles happen when we pray in faith and we are absolutely watching a miracle happen right in front of our eyes. It has been amazing. I love M**** so much and I am so happy to see her coming closer to Christ and being able to see the happiness that it brings. :)

So a fun little moment this week that just made me smile. We have been trying to meet with the M**** Family who is a less active family that live in our ward and we were finally able to meet with them Friday night. I loved them. :) We had so much fun just laughing together and getting to know each other. They are an amazing family. We talked to them about faith and invited them to start reading the Book of Mormon together as a family. It was a powerful lesson and I could feel the spirit way strong while we were there. After the lesson Sister M***** offered to say the prayer for us she said a beautiful prayer and ended by saying "Oh Ya, and Heavenly Father thank you so much for sending the new sister to our home. We like her a lot. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." It was so genuine and honestly meant so much to me. :)

A lady in Sister Hansen's last area asked us to go and stop by her aunt L*** who isn't a member. So we have been trying almost every day to stop by and to meet her but we weren't having any luck. So one night after knocking on her door a few times and finding that no one was home, I got the prompting to write L*** a note on a sticky note telling her who we were, our phone number and asking her to call us. We had knocked on her door probably 10 different times so we were about to stop trying, but I figured we should try everything that we could to get in touch with her, so we put the note on her door and left. The next day at we got a phone call from a number that we didnt know and it was L***. :) We were so excited to get to talk to her and set up a time that where we could meet with her and get to talk to her. She is super old and is in the process of trying to clean her house up so we are hoping that we can serve her and get to know her better. Just a little tender mercy. We worked so hard to try and contact her and the Lord definitely blessed us with success. It was amazing. :)

I had an amazing week and had so many experiences that taught me so much. I love being here in LaPorte, I love my companion, and I love being a missionary. I am just happy. :)

I love you all so much, thank you for the prayers, support and love.