Week 25 - Christ has changed lives

Corn :)

Well. :) This is totally crazy. But I am getting transferred! It am honestly kind of bummed out leaving his area, because it is so amazing. I love everything about LaPorte. I love the area, I love the people I love the work, I love the ward. Everything. :) I can't imagine a better place for me to have started my mission. Heavenly Father absolutely knew what I needed when he sent me here, and I know that Heavenly Father still knows what is best for me! I am going to serve in the Gurnee 2nd ward with Sister Boyd. I don't know anything about the area or my new companion, so I'm am so excited to just jump right in and get to work!

 President told me on Tuesday that I was going to get transferred. So I have had a lot of time to think about and reflect on the last SIX MONTHS I have been here. :) I  have made friendships that will last forever, I have been blessed with experiences I will never forget, and I have learned lessons that will last a lifetime. We went and said goodbye to K** (our apartment manager) and it was awesome. She told me that she hasn't opened up to anyone like she did me in years. She wrote me a letter and told me how she considered me

one of her best friends and she wants to stay in touch forever. She was so tender. I love her, but I had no idea that we had done something so special. I was way happy. :) Then as soon as I saw J** at church on Sunday she immediately burst into tears. She told me that she had found out Saturday night and has
totally cried herself to sleep. It was so tender!! M****** was very tender too. She came up to me absolutely bawling after relief society and said "you're leavening??" Ahh. I just hugged her so tight. I told her it was o.k., she would get another missionary and She said "Well ya, but sister watts, you are special. I love you and will miss you so much." Bishop was pretty sweet too. So was our ward mission leader. They were all just so nice."

Singing at the park with Bobby and Steve

One of the things that I have felt so grateful to watch since I have been here is how incredible, real and powerful the Atonement of Jesus Christ is. Because of Jesus Christ we can change and become more of the person who Heavenly Father wants us to be. That is so hopeful. :) We make mistakes every day and have moments every day where we need the atonement, but because of Christ we can ALWAYS find peace and happiness and hope. I just wanted to talk a little but about how. I have seen peoples lives change because of Christ. :)

First. :) My cute friend M****** I love her so much. She is the very first person I ever met in the field. I remember the first time. I went over to her home I sat on her floor and listened to her talk about all of the things in her life that were so hard. She told us about how much she was struggling, how alone she felt, and listed off things that I had never imagined someone needing to go through. As an intimidated and scared brand new missionary I sat there and the entire time I had to fight back tears because I was so amazed and overwhelmed at the weight she had to carry every day. M****** was baptized a few months ago and the change that. I have seen has been remarkable. Every single aspect of her life has improved and is becoming better because she is embracing and loving the Gospel. :) She honestly just shines.

She has a temple recommend, she is reading the Book of Mormon, she looks forward to coming to church, and she participates when she is there. And has found a new perspective and has found hope when she was feeling absolutely hopeless. It has been an absolutely unreal and drastic transformation, and it was only possible because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. :)

Last Crochet Project - LaPorte

Second. :) M***. I love M***. :) She was baptized on the same day M****** was. I didn't help teach her at all before she was baptized, but since she has joined the church the elders have handed her off to us and I am so grateful they did. She is amazing. She is about 75 years old has has been a widow for about the last 5 years.  She was telling their chiropractor about how lonely and depressed she was all the time. She was just so sad. Her doctor was able to testify to her about the restoration the gospel and she was baptized 3 weeks later. AMAZING. But the coolest part about M**** conversion is that it has absolutely changed her. She is different. :) Everywhere she goes people tell sphere that she is so much happier and that they haven't seen her this full of hope and joy in years. She has struggled with depression her whole life, but since she has joined the church her doctors have taken her off of her medicine and she is totally happy and alright. :) She is incredible and an absolute miracle.

Friday Night Boys

I think one of the experiences I will forever be grateful for and just cherish with all of my heart is the opportunity I had to help and teach the P****** family. :) When I first got here they weren't coming to church and weren't showing a whole lot of interest in being active. Their marriage was struggling, they were having a hard time financially, and in almost every area they were just not totally ok. They have come leaps and bounds. :) L**** was baptized, sister P****** received her endowments and went to the temple, and now their whole family is preparing to be sealed together forever. It is an absolute

180 and has been the most humbling thing to watch them absolutely embrace and cling to the gospel and as a result Heavenly father is blessing them more than they or I ever could have imagined. We were teaching Brother P****** this week and we were talking about the word of wisdom. He has always struggled with that and has never totally embraced that commandment. While we were talking with him he said "you know sisters, not only has me preparing to go to the temple helped me quit smoking, but it has absolutely taken that desire away from me. I don't even want to smoke anymore, that desire is gone." We were so amazed. :) The spirit was so strong and we were able to testify to him about how powerful the atonement is. Not only can it heal us from the guilt, sorrow, and sadness we have felt but it can and will help us find the most happiness we could imagine. :) There family has changed and they are seeing the amazing blessings that are literally being pored out on them.

Saying Goodbye

And last. :) I have been so amazed and grateful for the opportunity we have had to teach and learn from B**** He is really special and I have loved watching his heart be softened and his life change. I will never forget the moment we had with him last week because it was so profound. It was little, but it was powerful. I know that Heavenly Father loves and celebrates our little victories as much as our big ones. These are just a few examples of the big drastic changes I have seen. There have been little but no less special changes that we see and are absolutely thrilled about every single day. I know that the gospel brings more happiness than we could find in another way. It is the key to true joy. The blessings that Heavenly Father wants to send us are priceless. :) I feel so grateful to have been able to serve in this area and see these miracles. :)

I will be forever grateful for the amazing lessons and priceless things I have learned while I have been here. I am so grateful for the ways that my testimony has been strengthened in almost every aspect. I love this gospel and I know that it is absolutely true. I love my mission and I love my savior more than I could ever say. And I love you guys. :) Thank you for all of the love and support that you have shown me over the past 6 months. I can't believe how fast it has gone and how incredible it has been. I wouldn't trade this time for anything. I love it with everything that I am. 

Thank you for everything. :) I LOVE YOU. :) Love, Sister Watts

LaPorte Giant

Week 24 - I love this :)

This week was so awesome. :) Super busy, exciting, and just filled with some incredible experiences! I love everything about what we are doing right now. :) We are just working hard and having a ball. 

I love getting to serve

We had a super fun activity this week. :) Sister Raccuia and I organized a Blood drive that we had at the church, and it honestly couldn't have gone any better. It was awesome. :) A few weeks ago we were here at the church e-mailing and the cutest  lady came and knocked on the door and asked us if we would ever want to do a Blood Drive here in the church, we thought it sounded like a cool idea so we swapped information and just started planning! It was a blast. Our ward was super receptive and was so eager to donate and to serve. We were here for most of the afternoon on Wednesday so we could help make sure everything went ok. I even got to donate, which was awesome! I have heard lots of horror stories about people who faint after they donate or just feel super woozy, but I was able to donate and I felt totally fine after. :) There were so many people that came, it was so fun! We had a lot of members come. We had a few less actives who came, that we were totally shocked and beyond excited about having them in the building again. And a ton of people that just walked in and wanted to donate. :) We were able to hand out a lot of pass along cards and we got to talk to lots of people about the gospel. We put together these cute thank you baskets for all the workers that had a Book of Mormon in it, a thank you card, a restoration pamphlet, a mormon.org card and some other fun things. :) It was really fun, and turned into this awesome service project that helped us share the gospel. 

My Minions :)

We had this really interesting and really eye opening experience this week. We have been teaching this guy named Brother W*****. :) He is so darling and is honestly just the best old man. We go over there every Sunday night and it is awesome. We have had some cool lessons with him lately that have just been super solid. He was raised super super Lutheran and is pretty firm in what he believes and where he sits, so it makes us meeting with him really fun. :) We wanted to create some common ground with him. So the only way that he would let us come over and talk to him about what we believe is if he got his chance to tell us a little bit about what he believed. :) So we told him that we would go to one of the bible studies that they have in the middle of the week. We were a little nervous about it and didnt know exactly what to expect, but it ended up going really well. :) The class was all about how the bible got here and how it was translated and all that fun stuff. So nothing super doctrinal. There was something at the very end that the pastor said though that just really hit me he said "It is impossible to be completely christian. We do not have the fullness of Christs teachings and the things he set up while he was here. We have to struggle to believe and we need to fight to find our own interpretation of the truth." Ahhhh. It was torture to have to stay quiet in our seat. We aren't allowed to proselyte near (haha or in) other churches. But I so badly wanted to stand and say that we have the fullness of the gospel!! Christ has restored the church that he established when he was on the earth, and it is HERE.  We have living prophets and apostles who lead and guide our church under the direction of Jesus Christ himself. We have the Book of Mormon that further testifies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the priesthood power that he used while he was on the earth so we can baptized and make covenants with our father that are solid and lasting. Christs church is here. We absolutely dont have to struggle! :) I was so grateful in that moment for all of the restored truths that we have and that we are so grateful to know. I wish we could have told them all about the truths that we love. It was hard to watch them accept the fact that they dont have the fullness when they absolutely could. :) 

Service with a smile!

Sister Raccuia and I have been working on a piano duet for a while that we got to play in church on Sunday. :) It was so much fun, and everyone was so kind about it.  Brother W***** said after we were done "If you were in my church right now we would have given you a standing ovation." haha :) One of the counselors in the Bishopric stood up after we played and was totally emotional and just bore his testimony about how music brings the spirit so strong. It was a really fun way to serve our ward and I think they really appreciated it. :) We are going to record it and post in on FB this week hopefully. :) I am so grateful that I have have learned how to play the piano! We get to play all the time! A lot of times while we are at church we have to go on splits so that we can play for all of the different auxiliaries. Sister Raccuia will go play in primary while I go play in priesthood and then we meet up for the closing song in relief society. :) haha it is so much fun. 

I had one of the most special moments from my whole mission this week. :) We have been meeting with this man named B***** for the whole time that I have been here. His wife is a super active member and is just amazing. :) We go over there for dinner every week, and we absolutely love it. When we first started going over every time we would start to shift in to lesson mode B***** would get up and leave and we would end up teaching her less active kids. But over the last few months we have really started to notice a difference in B*****. :) First he started sticking around for the lessons and then he started to participate in the lessons. He is so incredible and we have come to love him so much. We have transitioned into teaching him and he is being really receptive and open to the things that we are teaching him. :) A few weeks ago we invited him to read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon. Over the years and years that him and his wife have been married he has never shown any interest in reading and has never accepted one of our invitations.. but this time... HE READ. :) We were so happy. We walked in this week and as soon as he saw us he started telling us all about what happened in that chapter and what he learned from it. It was a complete and total miracle. :) We were able to have a really powerful lesson with him and we just testified to him that we absolutely knew that God loved him, that He was aware of him, and that He could help him with anything. It was so incredible and the spirit was so strong. We invited him to read one of my very favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon (3rd Nephi 17) and he accepted again! When we were about to leave we asked if we could have a closing prayer. His 3 year old grandson, Nephi was really excited and said "I want to say to say the prayer" so he jumped up onto B*****'s lap and said "Pappa help me." :) B***** has never said a prayer out loud so he looked at me and said "You better help me too." So with total awe of what was happening and with tears in my eyes I told B***** what to say, then he told Nephi, and Nephi said the prayer. :) It was a short and tender prayer, but it was one of the most powerful moments I have ever been in. After we said "Amen" B***** said "That was the first prayer I have ever said" and then he just sat there for awhile, totally silent and on the verge of tears. This totally gruff man who is a Vietnam vet, a heavy drinker and smoker, and has never showed any interest in the gospel before just sat there and cried in his seat. The spirit absolutely amazing and just beyond powerful. I love being a missionary and watching the miracles that happen every single day. We get to watch the power of the atonement work absolute miracles! Christ did what he did so that we can change, and it is beyond amazing to watch that process so up close and personal. This gospel is all about change and I feel so grateful that I have gotten to watch the change that has taken place in B*****. :) I love him and his family so much. My mission is the most incredible experience I have ever had, and I am more grateful for it than I could ever say. I love getting to serve. :) 

I love you guys so much and I love getting to hear from you so often. :) It helps me more than I could ever say. Thank you for all the kind words, the amazing experiences you share with me, your examples, your support, and prayers. I LOVE YOU. :) I have the best family and friends in the whole world. Thanks for everything.

 I LOVE YOU. :)

Love Sister Watts!! 

Missionaries don't back up

Week 23 - I love being a missionary!

Hi my sweet family and friends. :) I sure love you guys so much and think about and pray for you OFTEN. I love my mission with all of my heart and I am so grateful for all of the support and love that I am shown from you guys. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. :) I feel so blessed to have some of the most amazing friends and family out there. 

As usual we had an incredible week this week. :) I feel like I always have such a hard time deciding what I want to share with you guys every week because we really see miracles every single day and are so blessed with some incredible people that we are working with. :) I feel like our teaching pool has just skyrocketed these last few weeks, which has been so much fun! We are staying super super busy and are just teaching a ton. I love it.:)   This week was just a lot of fun! We had so many different things this week that made everything such a blast. :) 

On Tuesday we were able to go on exchanges again! I love going on exchanges! Every single time we go on an exchange I feel like I learn so much! I got to go to Hyde Park with Sister Bradley on this exchange and we just had a ball. :) I absolutely love being in the city. I love the energy, the excitement, the people, and the culture. Honestly everything about the city is just so much fun. :) I am loving my time here in LaPorte and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I am crossing my fingers that one day I will get to serve in the city. :) We were able to teach some incredible lessons to some very special people. One of my very favorite lessons that we were able to have was with a girl named J*****. :) She has been dating a member for a while but hasn't ever really wanted anything to do with the church. Well, they invited us over for dinner and we were so excited about it. :) After dinner she said that she had a lot of questions. I was a little nervous about my ability to answer some of the questions that she was asking us so I said a little prayer that I would be able to answer her questions simply and in a way that the spirit could touch her heart. And the spirit absolutely did that. :) I was able to answer her questions in ways that she needed to hear, and in ways that were totally passed MY ability. I was absolutely given the words to say and I was able to testify to her by the spirit. :) It was so powerful and was such and incredible feeling. :) I was so grateful that Heavenly Father answered my simple prayer so immediately and powerfully. I have seen that happen time and time again as I have been a missionary. It is amazing to me the miracles that continue to happen as we put the Lord in charge of our work. Sister Bradley called me last night to tell me that J***** came to church yesterday and has been reading the Book of Mormon quite a bit. I was so happy. :)

Thursday was a total blast. :) We had a sisters conference all day and it was just so much fun! We honestly had a ball. :) It was so much fun to be will all of the sisters in the mission and to just listen to all of the incredible talks and devotionals. It was such an uplifting meeting and so many of the things that were said I felt like were directed right at me. I absolutely loved it. :) We talked a lot about how to "become" and it was awesome. It gave me so much comfort and direction. We don't have to be perfect at everything right now, but as long we are constantly working on becoming more like our Savior and are moving forward the atonement will make up for the rest. While we were at Sisters Conference we met up with our "mini missionary" Sister Daulton. :) Our stake did this awesome thing this week where every companionship of sisters in the stake had a laurel come and be a missionary with us from Thursday to Sunday night. :) It was so much fun to have her with us. She is totally darling and just so excited about missionary work. We had a really busy week and she just kept right up with us and was a total champ about everything that we did.  

Finished the Book of Mormon!

We went to the farmers market like usual this Saturday and had an incredible experience. :) We love our Saturdays so much. S**** is doing awesome and is reading and loving the Book of Mormon, and B**** couldn't be any better. He is such an incredible kid and we love getting to be with him every week. He is really starting to love the songs that we sing and more and more often B**** says "I love that one" after we finish a song. It is so cool. :) We had been singing for about 45 minutes when a man named Matt came over to us and asked if we could talk to him for a little bit about what we believed. :) So of course we jumped on the opportunity to talk to him about Jesus Christ and this special message that we have for the world. After we had talked for about 30 seconds we could tell that he had come over just to argue with us. He mocked our testimonies of Jesus Christ and then started to tell us that we were wrong for believing in the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the restoration of the gospel. We did our best not to argue with him, but we just told him about the things that we loved and the truths that we cherish. :) We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and as tenderly as we could bore our testimonies to him. The whole time that we were talking to him B**** stood firm with us and never left us. He defended us and defended his beliefs in the most humble and genuine way. We were all so grateful for him standing up for what he believed with us, it was the coolest thing. :) That experience was honestly very draining so After Matt left we all sang 'I am a Child of God" and it was so powerful. It instantly brought the spirit so strong and was just a tender testimony builder to all of us that what we know is truth and the message that we share is absolutely from God. :) Although we didn't change his mind or anything like that it was awesome to see Tender mercies come from this expirience. There were so many blessings and the miracles that came from that moment with Matt that I dont think could have happened any other way. We realized after that we have never really testified to Bobby about the things that we know because every time we are with him we are singing. After Matt left B**** opened up to us like never before and stated asking us all these questions about what we believed.Getting to talk to him about the gospel was absolutely priceless. :) He was so excited and engaged in what we were talking about. Before we were even able to offer him one, B**** asked for a Book of Mormon and told us that he totally wanted to read it. :) God works in mysterious ways and it was amazing to watch everything unfold in such a perfect way. 

I Love Being a Missionary

We really just had a fun week. :) Lots of appointments, lots of people who are really progressing, lots of fun. :) Sister Daulton said something that I absolutely loved. Every time we were about to go do something, or we were coming back from an appointment or something she would say "ahh. I love missionary work. This is so much fun." and it is honestly so true. :) I love getting to serve as a missionary and I absolutely love my calling. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father redirected my path so that I could come and serve my savior. I am so grateful for the lessons that I have learned on my mission and I wouldn't trade these experiences I am having for anything in the world. I love being a missionary. :) 

Thank you so much my sweet family. :) I LOVE YOU.

-Sister Watts 

Week 22 - Walking miracle and I love being Christian!

This was an amazing week literally everything that happened this week was a miracle. :) It was honestly amazing. 

Sick

Tuesday night I started to feel really sick and by the time we got home to the apartment that night I was pretty miserable. I was really worried because we had a busy week planned and had appointments that we were so excited about. :) I wanted to work so bad and didn't want to stay home at all, so I prayed so hard that night that I would be able to work as hard and as much and Heavenly Father needed me too. I woke up Wednesday morning and felt like I had gotten hit by a train. :) haha so we sent a text to our District leader and asked the elders if they would ever be willing to give me a blessing before district meeting started, they said of course. :) The blessing that Elder Errdman gave me was the most tender thing in the whole world. It was one of the shortest blessings I have ever gotten and it was only a few lines, but it was so powerful. All he said was that my heavenly father loved me and that my sickness "wouldn't interfere with the work." I was so grateful for that blessing and I have clung to that promise all week. I was promised by God that I would be able to work, so we trusted in him and we went to work.  :) As we drove to our first appointment after district meeting I wasn't feeling any better and was worried about my ability to be a missionary, but when we went into our appointment i was 100% able to do all the things that I needed to do. It was amazing. :) I could think clearly, I wasn't distracted by me not feeling well, and it was a complete miracle. After, when we got into the car when we were leaving I felt completely sick again. But we went to the next appointment and the exact same thing happened. :) It was amazing. That happened throughout the entire week. time and time again. I am still not feeling 100% yet but throughout this whole week, EVERY TIME we showed our faith and kept going to appointments I was able to do everything that we needed to get done. I am so grateful for the tender and humble blessing that I was able to receive because it was an absolute answer to prayer. We were only able to do what we did this week because of the power of the priesthood is so real. I felt so blessed to get to be a literal walking miracle this week. :) It was incredible. 

Addy and Molly Baptism

 A few weeks ago we got a call from one of our members who was kind of in a panic. :) She told us how for some reason her daughter was bound and determined to not get baptized until she turned 9 years old, so we went over there and taught a family home evening lesson about how awesome baptism was and how excited we were for her to be baptized. :) So. Her and her cousin were baptized yesterday after church. :) It was such a cool baptism and we were able to have two of our investigators there to see it. It was awesome! So fun.

So we had kind of an interesting experience this week that I have thought about like crazy. :) One of the girls that we are teaching came to mutual on Wednesday night and was just so cute and excited about it. :) I was wearing a cardigan that she really liked so I let her wear it throughout the night. She was totally bummed to give it back to me, so I told her that when she gets baptized I will let her keep my cardigan. :) She looked at me and said "Sister Watts. I totally want to get baptized, but there is one problem. I cant because I'm a christian." We were all totally shocked and right away testified to her that we absolutely believe in Christ and that we love him with everything that we are. We were then able to resolve some of her other concerns and answer some more of her questions. But that has been something that has been on my mind so much lately. About 3 or 4 times this week people have asked us weather or not we believed in Jesus Christ. Luckily those questions have lead to some really tender opportunities for us to testify of our savior and talk about how much we love him. I love getting to wear a name tag every day that has the name JESUS CHRIST right next to mine, and I love getting to read the Book of Mormon which is another testament of JESUS CHRIST, I love being a member of the church of JESUS CHRIST. I love being Christian. :) I love him so much and I feel so blessed to serve as a missionary for and with him. We are constantly seeing miracles because this is his work. I love it. :)

Elders Spoof Team Smile

The District

We taught a lesson this week that was probably the most intense moment that I have had on my mission so far. We have been meeting with this less active for a while now and we have started to have a really tender and special relationship with her. She is having a really hard time right now and is just struggling with a lot of things. She sat down and one of the first things out of her mouth was "I don't think I want to meet with you sisters anymore." we were shocked and asked her why. She went on to bash and mock so many of our most cherished beliefs and shared with us some really hard feelings that she has about certain things. She told us that she didn't want to have a temple recommend ever again and that she didn't want to come back to church. We were absolutely devastated. It was the most heartbreaking moment for Sister Raccuia and I to listen to her wanting to throw away the blessings that she has loved for so long. The feeling in that room was so heavy. We begged her to not give up on the truths that are here. She kept telling us that we "don't understand" because we are to young. SO we started to testify to her of something that I am beginning to understand more every day. We testified to her of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I told her with as much love as I could muster that Jesus Christ absolutely understood her. That he loves her and cares for her so much. We testified that he was aware of the pain and confusion that she was feeling and he knew exactly how to help her. Instantly the feeling in the room changed, the spirit came flooding in and we could start to see some hope in her eyes. It was incredible. The difference was night and day. The atonement heals all pain and we watched that happen. I don't think I have ever been more excited to see someone at church than I was to see her at church on Sunday. :) The atonement is real. And the blessings from our Saviors sacrifice are absolutely incredible. :) 

Thank you so much for everything that you are doing in your own lives to be followers of Jesus Christ. :) I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for your examples and for everything that you are doing for me and for the work.

I LOVE YOU

Love, Sister Watts 

Week 21 - Prepared to learn

Hello to the best and greatest family and friends in the whole world. :) 

Zone training

We had an incredible Zone training this week, that was just amazing. :) it was so cool. I love training meetings because I always feel so excited and energized to go do missionary work after we are done. :) the spirit is always so strong and just so inspiring. Someone told me when I first got here that "You work your hardest and do the best you can until you go to a training meeting where you get called to repentance. Then you go back and work even harder. I Absolutely felt that way after this training meeting. :) we learned so many incredible things that we were so excited to apply to our area and to us as missionaries. It was just awesome. :) This zone training was really cool because president Woodbury gave us a copy of a song that he wrote and asked sister Raccuia and I to put it together so that the whole zone could do a special musical number. It was so awesome. :) We practiced a lot and it ended up sounding really amazing. Sister Raccuia played the piano and I directed the choir. I was really nervous about it because I have never done anything like that before, our zone is very talented so I felt super inadequate but it went really well. :) I learned so much and people were very kind to us about it. :) 

We did a lot of yard work for a recent convert in our ward named Mary this week. It was a lot of fun. We had the elders come and help us because it was a really big job and we ended up spending a lot of time there. We put in almost a full day there last week and then almost a full day there this week and I think we pretty much have it all under control. :) But while we were out there working both times Mary's neighbors R**** and S**** came over and started helping us. We absolutely appreciated the help and we loved getting to work with them, they were awesome. Well this time when S**** came over to help us we were just talking to him and getting to know him a little bit better so we asked him if he was religious at all and he said "you know. I was raised really religious, but I've never really been interested in a certain denomination until I met you guys. I would love to check out your church." And then he started asking us all sorts of questions and was just really interested and excited about what we had to say he told us that he totally wasted to come to church with us and was just really grateful that he met us. :) He is so amazing and and is just so eager and excited about learning more about the gospel. He is going out of town for a few weeks, so we will start teaching him more when he comes home. But we are so excited about it.

:)

We had a ball at the Farmers Market again this week. :) B**** was there again to play with us and he was so excited about it. B**** is about 16 years old and He gives up his Saturdays to come and play out of the Primary Song Book with a bunch of missionaries. :) it's so awesome. We love having him play with us! After we were done playing he said "hey! I want you to meet my friend S****," So we walked across the market where the cutest old man ever was sitting down and playing the accordion. :) He was awesome. He was born in Poland and was raised in Germany and has the coolest accent in the world. We talked him for a little bit and he ended up asking us to play a song for him, so we sang I am a Child of God for him and it was just so powerful. :) One of the elders that was with us was holding a Book of Mormon in his hand and S**** looked at it and said "Can in have that book?" We gave it to him and he started talking about he has friends who are members And how he went out to visit them and just fell on love with the Salt Lake temple he asked us if we could come over and start talking about the Book of Mormon with him, he said he totally wanted to come to church with us, and he was so happy to meet us. :) It was so cool, we honestly didn't even need to say two words. He was just so anxious and excited to learn more about the gospel. It was so awesome. :) 

5 months out this week

You don't normally have people who pretty much run up to you and want you to teach them, so it was so neat to basically have that happen twice this week. It is the coolest thing to see how prepared some people are to hear the gospel and how excited they are about it. :)

I wish I had more time to tell you more about everything that happened this week, because it was amazing. :) But we have to run to a zone activity tonight. I love you so much and I man so excited to hear from you guys. Thank you for all the love and support. We appreciate it so much. :) Your prayers are absolutely helping us see miracles all the time.

I LOVE YOU.

love sister watts.  :)

"I can do hard things" - hairball in tub drain

Store in LaPorte

Week 20 - The Lords work

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 

Elephant Ear at the fair

LaPorte, IN

#TeamSmile

Yard Work

More Yard Work

Week 19 - The Temple, 4th of July, singing in the park

Hello Family. :) We have had the most exciting and amazing two weeks! We have had a blast and have been so incredibly blessed. :) There were so many things these past few weeks that I just felt so honored to get to be a part of. So many things that happened were absolutely priceless that I hope I will NEVER forget.

Sister Paulson at the temple

Sister Paulson and Sister Raccuia

The highlight of the past weeks and honestly my whole mission so far was the day that we got to go with Sister Paulson so the temple. :) I don't think I have ever felt happier in my whole life than I did while we were in the temple with her. It was absolutely indescribable and a moment that I will cherish forever. Sister Raccuia and I basically woke up with smiles on our faces, It kind of felt like Christmas morning. When we first saw Sister Paulson she was literally shining she was smiling so much. :) Her whole family came to the church to drop her off and they each told her how excited they were for her and how proud they were of her. She has been the most incredible example to her family. I can't even describe the change that has taken place in that sweet family. It honestly is amazing. When we got to the temple Sister Raccuia and I had about an hour where we got to do as many initiatories as we could. It was incredible. We both felt like the spirit got stronger and stronger with everyone that we did. It was such a special experience. I love the temple so much. :) then we got to go into the session and there were lots of members from our ward who came to support Sister Paulson. :) I got to sit by her and while we were sitting in the room waiting for the session to start she gave me the biggest hug and as we both cried, we were so happy. :) After the session we probably sat in the Celestial room for about 45 minutes and just talked about how incredibly blessed we are. She said "I just love in here, I never want to leave.. You really are going to have to drag me out of here." We walked into the sealing room and talked about how incredible it is going to be for her to have her family there with her. The spirit was unreal while we talked about the blessings that will come to her family when they are sealed together as a family. As she cried in the sealing room she said "Thats what I want" It was so powerful and so tender. :) The blessings of the temple are so amazing. I was just blown away from the blessings that we are promised in the temple. I felt to grateful to be able to spend the whole day in the temple, and to be there with Sister Paulson was the most priceless experience I ever could have asked for. :) We got home around 8:45 that night. It really was the perfect day. :) 

I think the biggest miracle that has come through Sister Paulsons courageous example is in her family. :) When I first got here Brother Paulson used to hide from us when we came over, he didn't really want to come to church, and he just wasn't to excited about the gospel. But slowly over the past few months we have been so blessed to watch his testimony just skyrocket. :) He now helps wake everyone up on Sunday mornings, he has worked out his work schedule so that he can be there, he is preparing to bless the sacrament, he baptized his son, and is now preparing to receive his endowments so his family can be sealed forever. :) He is a completely different man than he was a few months ago. It is so humbling to watch the spirit absolutely and completely change people. :) The day the Paulsons are sealed in the temple is going to be the happiest day ever!

Tornado damage

More tornado damage

Sister Raccuia and I survived a tornado this week which was really fun. :) We were having a crazy awesome storm that we were just having a ball watching out our window, when we got a text that told us that a tornado was coming and we needed to take cover! Sirens were going off and it got pretty crazy. I have been saying ever since I got here how cool it would be to see a tornado, so Sister Raccuia and I sat and stared out the window and watched because it was so cool. :) It turns out that that is super dangerous and we really should have "taken cover". The tornado touched down about 5 miles away from our house and caused some major damage. Luckily no one was hurt, but lots of people had trees in their houses and there was lots of damage that we helped clean up a little bit. 

4th of July parade

But After the temple trip with Sister Paulson our attention shifted to the 4th of July. :) We started majorly planning and taking care of what needed to be done so that we could be in the 4th of July parade! We had so much fun getting everything ready so that we could be in the parade. :) Sister Raccuia and I didnt really realize how much work it really took to build a float, so it all kind of came crashing on us this last week. But luckily we had members and the other missionaries who were so willing to help us and support us and it ended up turning out AMAZING. Oh my goodness everything worked so good and just turned out incredible. The float looked awesome, we had tons of primary kids and ward members who road on the float with us, and we were able to see so many miracles and blessings come because we were in the parade! We were able to hand out over 3,000 pass along cards and so many people were so excited about us. Every piece of candy we thew out had "Mormon.Org" written on it and a simple testimony like "I am a child of god" or "Families are Forever" So that way we could reach as many people as we could as we walked past. :) It was such a blast. :) Seriously one of the funnest finding activities ever. Not only did the whole town of LaPorte able to see us and the church, but the parade was televised and on the radio. So a ton of people where able to hear our message and we had so much fun. 

On Saturday we went into the farmers market again and we got to talk to a bunch of people, it was so much fun. :) Us and the other companionship of sisters (Sister Edwards and Sister Green) only had a handful of pass along cards that we could give out because we had used almost all of them in the parade. So after we ran out of things that we could give away we just stood in the middle of the park and sang hymns and primary songs to all of the people who were sitting there in the park. It was so much fun. :) There was this kid named Bobbie who is 16 years old and had come to the park to play his guitar, so we invited him to come and play with us! He was super talented and could totally play everything that we asked him to play. We had a ball and it was so fun because after awhile he started to sing with us and he was having so much fun. :) He told us that he liked playing with us so much and really loved the music a lot so he is planning on meeting us again at the farmers market next week. We are so excited about it. :) 

"I Am A Child of God" in the park

I read a really cool talk from President Monson this week where he says that a mission is something that families and friends do together. And it is so true. I am so grateful for all of the support and love that so many of you are showing me. Thank you so much for everything that you are doing for me. :) I love my mission and I am having so much fun serving the Lord. :) 

I LOVE YOU. 

Love, Sister Watts