Week 38 - Chicago!

Wow. This week has been amazing. I am absolutely in love with everything that is happening here right now. I am just having a blast.:) 

Sister McChesney

I just  adore my companion sister McChesney, she is 22 and from Georgia. She is the oldest of 7 kids and was studying at BYU to be an English teacher. We have a ton in common. We are having a ball. :) 

The city is a miracle. Holy cow, it is like a dream come true. There is so much character here. The art is everywhere you look and absolutely unreal. I am just thrilled to be here. :) We do a lot of finding in this area. Because we are on Buses, trains, or walking everywhere we are constantly surrounded by people. It is so fun. :) We are always talking with people and everywhere we go we are handing out cards, copies of the Book of Mormon, and getting people's information so we can have missionaries go over and visit them. Most of the people that we meet don't live in our area. They are coming into the city for work or school and then they go back to the suburbs where they live. In our mission they actually call us the "temple square sisters" because so much of what we do is send referrals to other missionaries. It is really cool. :) 

In the City!

We see a lot of miracles while we are out talking with people but there as one experience that I had this week that was just really neat. :) This woman got on the bus and was just so stinking cute. I started talking with her and she had the most beautiful accent (which is a really fun Chicago thing. So many people have the most stunning accents) I asked her where she was from and she said "Lithuania" I was so excited. I said "I'm serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I have a really good friend who is serving as a missionary in Lithuania." She was so excited to get to talk about her home town and opened up to me so much about her and her family. I was really happy to be able to connect withering a really simple way that meant so much to her. I gave her a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, she was amazed at how beautiful it was. :) She turned the card over and there are a lot of questions on the back like "what is the meaning of life" "where did I come from" and "can families be together forever"? The spirit told me to just be quiet. So I didn't say anything. She got really emotional. I waited until it was right an then and all I asked was "would you like missionaries to come over to your home and talk to you about the answers to those questions?" She said absolutely and gave me all of her information. :) It was so powerful. I'm so grateful that the spirit was so strong in that moment on the Bus. It as so cool. :) I love it. I sure hope the missionaries we sent her to will be able to find her and teach her, it was an amazing moment.

We have some really special investigators that we are working with. :) Two that I am really excited about are names L***** and S*****. They are both originally from China and are here in Chicago going to med school. They are absolutely brilliant and are very intelligent. I guess they went to temple square to visit, and talked with the Sister Missionaries at the visitors center and just loved being there. It was actually a huge miracle that we were able to meet with them this week.

They have been in contact with the sisters for a really long time, but haven't been able to work out a time where we could come over. Well last week they e-mailed the sisters and set up an appointment with US. Totally cool. :) Because they were raised in China they have almost no concept of God, Jesus Christ, or even Religion in at all. So they have a lot of questions that will be really fun to help them with.  They are so humble, and genuine and super intrigued in what we are teaching them. The whole time we were teaching them they were sitting on the edge of their seats and were hanging onto every word we were saying.

They told us something that was just so kind of them that I loved. They told us that we "light up" when we talk about the church. They said "we want that. We want to light up about God." :) I just loved that. I thought that was so kind of them and super powerful and profound. I'm so grateful for the Gospel because it really is a light. That is something that is very real. :) I'm very excited to be working with L***** and S*****, they are so special. We have another appointment with them this week! They are amazing!

Street contacting (proud of tattoo)

This week has been amazing, but It has totally confirmed one thing that I have absolutely learned on my mission is that "no growth happens in the comfort zone, and there is no comfort in the growth zone." Everything that I am experiencing right now in the city is totally foreign, different, and sometimes uncomfortable. I told Sister McChesney that I feel like I have almost moved to a different mission. Everything is so different. But I am so grateful for this experience that I have to serve here in the city. I am learning to be more courageous and brave.  I'm learning to testify more powerfully. I am learning more completely to rely on Jesus Christ and to trust in the enabling power of His Atonement. I am so grateful for all of the incredible things I am learning. It really is humbling. There is so much potential here in this area and i can't wait to work really hard and become more of who my Heavenly Father needs me to be. :) I love all of you so much. Thank you for all of your kind words and prayers.

I LOVE YOU.

Love, Sister Watts