Sister McKenna Watts - Chicago Illinois Mission: Week 20

We had a super fun week this week. :) We worked way hard and tried our hardest to be in tune with the spirit and we were able to see absolute miracles come from it. :) It was so fun.

We went and saw M***** this week and it was amazing. :) She has been super busy lately with things going on with her family so we haven't been able to see her except when she comes to church. So we decided to just go and stop by to see how she was doing and just to check in on her. She let us in and we had a really awesome conversation with her. :) She is amazing. We talked about how Christ is always with us and because of His atonement we are never alone. We asked her to say the closing prayer and it was probably the most tender, genuine, and powerful prayers I have heard on my mission. It just instantly brought me to tears. She thanked Heavenly Father for almost everything that she could think of and then she said "And Heavenly Father, thank you for sending the sister missionaries over on the exact day and time that I needed them" and then she ended her prayer. It was so tender. :) I was so grateful for her simple perspective and love for Gods timing. It was kind of a last minute thing that we decided to go over there and we had no idea that she was feeling alone that day. But Heavenly Father did and we were able to go over at the exact moment that she needed us to come.

We had the coolest lesson with the M***** this week. :) I have honestly been kind of bummed about them lately because we keep having these way awesome lessons with them and then they say they will do something and then they don't, and then the next week the same exact thing happens. Their home teacher had invited them to read 3rd Nephi chapter 11 and then when we went over this week we were going to follow up on that invitation and talk to them about what they learned. I was secretly praying that they would keep this commitment and read the chapter. :) So we got there and asked if they had read AND THEY HAD. :) We were so happy! They had a lot of questions about what they read and what happened in the chapter, so we were able to answer their questions and help them understand how incredible that chapter is. They were so excited about what they had read and seemed so involved and into the discussion we were having, it was so neat. :) We started talking about how important it is to read the Book of Mormon. Sister Maglio said "You know, I love to read. I bet if I wanted to I could finish it in one day." haha so of course the competitiveness in us said "Wanna bet?" :) Basically we all picked what we wanted if we won the Book of Mormon reading competition and then left and just read as much as we could. :) Sister Raccuia and I listened to it every time we were in the car, during our studies, and during our lunch and dinner breaks. Every free second we had we threw ourselves into the Book of Mormon. :) It was so much fun! We never really heard how far she got, but we know that she did read, which is awesome. But because she lots the bet she now has to come to church. :) So hopefully that will happen soon! It was just so fun to see her so excited about the gospel, during our lesson with them and throughout the week while she read on her own. We were so happy!

We had a really cool expirience where we were in the right place and the right time and we were able to see miracles come from it. :) The Zone leaders met a man named W**** while he was visiting his granddaughter, who is a member in another ward. They called us after and told us that we had to go over and meet with him. So we went down with every intention of meeting with W*****. But we met his wife, E****. :) She couldn't be more adorable and was so excited and curious about the gospel. She had never heard about the church before so we were able to answer a lot of her questions and talk to her about the restoration. We introduced her to the Book of Mormon and she said "This is amazing! I promise that I will read it. :)" She told us that she was busy this last week, but she really wanted to come to church and was really excited about learning more. We have an appointment with them tomorrow, so we are way excited about that. :) It has been so amazing to me this week as we have had so many experiences where it is so evidenced that we are not doing this work alone. This is absolutely the Lords work and we are just instruments in his hands. We were able to stop by M**** right when she needed us because the Lord knows what she needs. We were able to go find Walter and then end up meeting E**** because Heavenly Father knew that she was ready to hear about the gospel. Everything that we do we don't do it alone. :) It is the most amazing feeling.

I love being a missionary. :) Thank you so much for your support and love and for all of your thoughts and prayers.

I LOVE YOU. :)

Love, Sister Watts