Week 8 - Easter

Hello my sweet family and friends. :)

 I LOVE YOU.

I'm doing good, it was an awesome week. We were really blessed this week. :) 

      Tuesday we had a really special experience. We had an appointment that night with the M***** family. The M***** family is so special. I love them so much. They were baptized a little over a year ago and have since gone really inactive. They still let us come over every week to talk with them, they are all ways so loving and super kind. From the very first time I met them we just had this really special connection, we get along really well, and they are just very special to me.

      During our companionship study that morning we wrote out a lesson plan and moved on to preparing other things for our day. Later that day we pulled out Preach My Gospel and were reading Chapter 4 which is all about recognizing the spirit.

      As we read I felt this super strong prompting that the lesson that we had prepared for the M***** was not the lesson that we needed to share with them. So Sister Hansen And I got on our knees and we prayed to know what we were supposed to share with this family. We sat for a moment, but didn't feel like we had any solid ideas for what we should talk to them about. We were starting to get desperate. We knew that Heavenly Father knew their needs and that he knew their hearts. We can't do this work without Him. So we knelt down and we prayed again. Right after that ideas began to flow. :) We were led to a completely different lesson plan than we had thought of originally. That night when we taught that lesson we knew that what he had prepared was what Heavenly Father had intended for us to to say.

     We prayed earnestly for the spirit before we went in, and it was powerful. We were able to commit them to things we haven't been able to commit them to do in the past, we were able to feel a special spirit that wasn't there before, and I saw their countenances change.

     It was such a blessing to be an instrument in the hands of God. This is His work, and needs to be done His way. When we rely on him completely miracles happen and I saw a miracle happen Tuesday night.:)

     While we were out tracting and inviting people to the Easter Egg Hunt we met one of the sweetest old man in the world. :) His name is E*****, and he is probably about 80 years old. When he came to the door we just started talking and getting to know him, he was really friendly so it was easy and fun to get to talk to him. He told us all about his family, his job before he retired, where he grew up. It was so fun to get to talk to him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and talked to him a little bit about the background of it, and then we told him how much we loved it and how special it was to us. I testified to him that if he read it, and prayed and asked if it were true that Heavenly Father would answer his prayer. He told us he was excited to read it. We left his porch with the biggest smiles on our faces. We love E***** :) Well, He came to the Easter Egg Hunt. He carried the Book of Mormon around with him the whole time he was at the church. In one night he had read 10 chapters. It was amazing I am so proud of him and excited for him. He is living in the a Elders area, so we aren't able to teach him anymore but I was so excited to get to play a little role in his story. :)

     My dad told me once that "Exhaustion is the best feeling a missionary can have." And we felt that, it was awesome. :) We were super beat after everything that we did to prepare for our Easter Egg Hunt. We made lots of phone calls, decorated the cultural hall, cooked food, and gave out over 175 invitations. We worked so hard to have everything prepared and ready for Saturday. After we had done everything that we knew how to do to, we prayed and we prayed and we prayed. :) We gave it to our Heavenly Father to do with our party what we couldn't do on our own. And we were SO BLESSED. Oh my goodness the Easter a Egg Hunt went so well. The members were amazing and totally supportive. We had a lot of members come and a lot of them invited their friends. :)They helped so much in setting up and bringing food, they were so helpful. We also had a lot of people come who we just came. Some people came because they saw flyers we had put out, some came because they saw it on Facebook, some came because we left invitations on their door, and some came that we had met on the streets. It was AMAZING. We had an incredible turnout, We were so happy. :) We were able to find three people who will hopefully become investigators, so pray for that. :) 

     Easter was really special too. For personal study on Sunday I just studied about Christ and his life and everything that he did for us and it was amazing. Church was super special on Sunday and the spirit was so strong, it was an incredible Easter. :) I have to admit it was a little bit difficult being away from my family for my first Major holiday, but luckily we were so blessed with sweet members who let us into their homes. I was SO grateful. :) 

     Yesterday we had so many incredible experiences. :) We taught a lot of lessons, found 2 new investigators and met some amazing people. I wish I had more time to tell about how special yesterday was, but for now I will just tell one story. :) 

     We were going to go and stop by a less active named J*****. We were walking up to J***** house, and for some reason I all of a sudden got super nervous. I don't know why but I was just really scared to knock on his door. I said a quick little prayer in my heart and just asked Heavenly Father to help me be brave, to make the nerves go away, and to give me the courage to go up to this door. I am so grateful that sometimes Heavenly Father answers those fervent prayers so immediately. 

     I knocked on the door and I am so grateful that I was able to, because the next hour was nothing short of amazing. We didn't know this before knocking on his door, but J***** is quadriplegic  when he was 21 he fell out of a tree and has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since. It takes him 4 hours to get ready in the morning and an hour to get ready for bed. He has to have someone with him constantly to help him eat, use the bathroom, get around, and do all these things that we do so easily each day. He has lived his life sitting in the same chair for the past 27 years. While I sat in his living room listening to his story I was absolutely awe struck, and although I was amazed with his story I was even more amazed at his attitude. He told us all about his incredibly difficult life with the biggest smile on his face. :) After everything that Jeffery said he would pause and say "Oh. I am just so blessed."

     Despite every reason in the world to complain, be depressed, and say "why me?" J***** takes life with a smile and a thankful heart. He talked to us about how powerful our attitudes are. Our attitudes are more important than anything, they can make or brake any situation, and the most amazing this is we have complete control over it. We can 100% choose how we react. :) We shared with him my favorite scripture D&C 123:17 "Let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power" It was an amazing lesson, he was incredible. Sister Hansen And I left with the most amazing feeling. J***** told us we could come back any time, so hopefully we will make it over there again soon.:) 

I love you all so much. 

Thank you for EVERYTHING. :) 

Love, Sister McKenna Watts