Monday, November 7, 2011

November 7, 2011


Hi mom!
 
I heard about everything that's going on in the ward. It was a big shock I hope you're all doing okay. Don't worry about keeping depressing things from me. I have a great support system here and lots of help from God.
 
This week was good. Our investigators are doing really well! One family in particular are incredible! I feel like we just read a verse, the kids ask a question, and the mom expounds on it. She gets this really well and one night as her son (19 years old) was sleeping on the floor she looked at us and said, "I know this is true. It's too organized and makes soo much sense. I can feel it's true. I hope someday all my children will come to know this too." And they're on their way. They really want to learn and I love being in their home. some places just feel good and you can just tell that things are going well.
 
There's two old woman we visit in our area. They're in the ward but the one in 93 and can't leave her bed,a nd the other is 90 and recently fell. So we go and talk and listen a lot. The one is so funny! First five mintues we met her she said, "I don't like gringos." And two of her daughters married them XD But she loves us because we speak spanish.
 
Two more sisters moved in with us this week! It's really crowded in the apartment now and I don't know how we fit everything in the fridge. One is from in the north part of the mission and the other is from the MTC and is waiting on a visa to Ukraine. I told her she should write Darren for language practice. But it's fun and it's nice not to be alone in there anymore. We're having fun introducing them to spanish things.
 
We're teaching so many people right now! We hardly ever get to knock doors right now, we just don't have time to. Lots of lessons but also lots of really solid people!
 
Hey can you send me the rain coat I bought? Monsoon season is starting they say and getting soaked once was enough. I got sick, almost better now though. :)
 
Love you all!
 
Hermana Watson

October 31, 2011


Hi mom!
 
Yeah I missed our party this year but we'll just have to have our own, me and my comp. We'll make treats and watch finding faith in christ or something :) I love those little ghosts! My comps family sent her orange candles so we made a little display on the counter. Send me pictures of the party!
 
Yeah dad told me, that's so sad. I didn't know him very well but I know his family. What a hard thing to go through for them. I'll be writing them soon. Talicia too, this has got to be really hard on her.

Tell me about work! What are you doing different now? Awww she's cute. I show people her picture and they all marvel that she's as old as she is, she looks good! I've got a card for her on the way :)
 
This week was interesting. We had a small medical emergence but it's okay now. We both got sick when the weather suddenly dipped (it's back to it's usual 80's now again though) and we got colds. My comp got pretty sick and had a bad fever, so we got her some meds and she slept most of the morning. She felt better later so we went out but that night she had a fever again so she took some ibuprofin. In the morning she took some more, and about an hour later we learned that she has an allergy to it. Booooooo. She got hives all over her body, though luckily not on her face, and they wouldn't go away, they got worse. So we doped her up on benadryl and while she was out I got to call the mission presidents wife. That was fun, she's really nice. The meds haven't really started working yet although they do seem to help, she's still got the hives. Fun fun.
 
We got to take our investigators to the visitors center last friday! It's beautiful adn they loved it. One less active woman we'd found said she wanted to work towards getting to go in the temple in a year. Her family is amazing! They also had a disply set up in one room that was beautiful! It's was all artwork about Christ. Plus these really cool pictures from Reflections of Christ. So amazing!
 
We've had a pretty quiet week, although I have to laugh because you know it's the end of the month when if members buy you a pizza it's a gourmet meal. We ate like queens :) I love how giving anf unselfish the people here are. One sister in our ward just finished making a wedding gown for a girl in our ward. She's getting married in a few weeks. We were at her house and so she took us back to see it before the girl picked it up. It was amazing! And she did it all by hand and by sight. It was incredible and beautiful and looked very expensive. She told us that as a gift she wasn't going to take payment. This family is very poor and her sewing is how they make ends meet. She's incredible, they all are. Basically I love it here :)
 
We'll be careful tonight, love you!

October 24, 2011


That's so great to hear about all the good things that are going on for you guys. I'm excited to see what happens in the next few months!
 
Still hot here! We had a week of good weather then it jumped back to the 110's again. But it's been slowly cooling since then and now people actually have lawns down here! Hopefully we'll hit winter weather soon.
 
Fun! The missionaries are going to have a little party too. A picnic during the day because it's on our p-day and then we'll hang out in the apartment since we can't go out that night. Send pictures of the party! Crazy how time flies!
 
Hmmm well the only thing I can think of would be a water purifier, the kind you put in the fridge like a water pitcher. Our apartment water tastes nasty! It's drinkable, just a little gross so we always freeze it, seems to help. So that as a christmas gift would be awesome! Other than that I can't think of much. But yeah, sooo nice to have the mail like this!
 
Cool! I look forward to seeing the house when I get back :) Also give Darren a hug for me for his birthday! I'll write him in a bit :)
 
I'm glad we get along too, and I very glad that we didn't get changed last week for transfers! I love this area and we work together very well. I hope to be here for a nice long time!
 
I'm doing good, nothing new to report. It's like my comp says, "Sometimes a mission is just about having a good meal and talking alot." We met lots of people and our investigators are progressing well but otherwise a pretty quiet week. We got a new missionary on tuesday, fresh from the MTC. Listening to him talk I realized that my spanish has gotten pretty good. I can understand pretty well now and can usually say exactly what I mean too. It's crazy how fast you pick it up when you use it all day. My comp is to the point where she tried to pray in English and slipped into spanish without noticing. I pointed it out after and she just said, "Wait I was using Spanish?" We all laughed pretty good about that.
 
The only problem we really have right now is that we could ahve five baptisms tomorrow if people would just get married. It's just not very important to a lot of people down here. They just think they can live together, have kids, and do all the work, and just never actually get married. It's frustrating, especially since half the time it's because the husband doesn't want to comit, but it's like, "You've been married for thirty years, have kids, and grandkids. Get married already!" But the good news is son one of them will get married, as soon as the husband can get his divorce papers from his first marriage.
 
This week I made a basket for our bikes, because it's really annoying trying to get cards out of the backpack on a bike when people are trying to catch a bus. So I took some hangers, plastic bags, and some hot pink zebra striped ducktape and fixed the problem. We have a waterproof basket now and it doesn't look half bad :) I'll send pictures next time of it.
Love you mom! I'll be safe :)
 
Hermana Watson

October 17, 2011 - Pictures!

I found a talent I didn't know I had. Face making. I'm getting pretty good at it.



A cute drawing one of the primary girls made for us!

Monday, October 17, 2011

October 17, 2011


Love you! How's everything going for you guys?
 
I'm doing good here and things are going very well in the work.
 
I can' believe that half a year has already gone by, that went by way too fast. I was just writing to Elder Spencer and his request to extend was denied so he'll be home in Dec 15th. He's a little bummed about that, he doesn't want to leave yet. But he's excited to work while he can.
 
Nothing much happened this week really, I'll add more details in a letter to all of you, but you should all go and make a profile on mormon.org. Have you seen the commercials yet? Or the billboards? It's really cool! Go and watch all the videos on there, you'll love them. But especially the ones of Rose, Vance, Allan, Paris, and Cassandra. But they're all soooooooo good! Go do it!
 
We went knocking on doors alot this week, but over all it was quiet.
 
Well I've got some pictures for you all! Love you!

Monday, October 10, 2011

October 10, 2011


I'm doing really well, we had a great week! I missed you guys too, I went through my letters from the MTC and loved reading them again :)
 
From what you two say it sounds like things are going really really well for you all at home! Wow! That would be amazing if he could get that! Sounds like things are just as busy for you too though! Are you thinking of stepping up or do you want to stay where you are for now? That's sad but I'm sure you two will have fun get togethers later on as well :)
 
Bones is cute! She's always been so against dying her hair, I definatly want a picture! I think it'll look super cute on her! Yay for getting brave! It's good practice for when she goes on a mission ;) Sometimes you just shovel whatever it is down with a smile. I like what a mission president said, "There's no growing in a comfort zone, and no comfort in a growing zone."
 
That's awesome about connor! Where does he want to go or does he know yet? That would be so good for him and he would love it! He's really growing lately.
 
I'm really really happy to hear that. I just know that this work is going to bless so many people and I'm so happy that we're seeing the blessing for our family coming. By the way do we have missionaries in our ward serving there? If so you should go out with them, it's a blast and we really love it when members come with us. Tell everyone hi for me and thank them all for their support and prayers!
 
I miss you guys too, but I like how Hna Kigueta said it, "Ever since I left my family I've gotten closer to them than ever." I really feel like that. I love getting to talk to him too when he can, it's nice to have a little chat with him :)
 
Thank you for all the love and boxes! I really appriciate it mom!
 
Hna Kigueta has been teaching me how to write poems more often and I'm finding some good ones. Bit of a growing zone for me, but she's teaching me to share them a bit more. I have a poem for you guys. I was thinking about one of the girls we taught. She has had a really hard life and just had another upheavel. She's in Cali right now and we just hope that she stays with the gospel, it's the only thing she can count on with the father she has. 
 
Sobs wracked her frame as she mourned for her pain.
Sitting on her heels she felt the weight of this heartache crush her into the floor.
She couldn't do this alone.
She wasn't strong enough to live through this.
She'd feel lucky if she could just survive.
 
Oh my child, I said softly, why are you trying to do this alone?
Look up and see where you are.
 
You sit on your knees pleading for support,
not realizing that you're resting your head on my knees.
 
You cry for comfort,
but I've had you in my arms all this time.
 
You hope someone will help,
I've already planned for your escape.
 
So why do you suffer so?
Look, take my hands, feel the marks.
Remember that you are mine,
that I've already paid for your pain.
You don't need to suffer so.
 
Daughter be of good cheer.
I am with you and will carry you through your trials.
 
Oh my child, if you would only let me.
`````
  
Any snow yet? It's 75 right now outside. We had a sudden switch and the heat is gone, now it's a little chilly in the morning but nothing bad, and wonderful during the day! Although the sudden change got my comp sick. She's slowly getting her voice back. Made it hard when she couldn't talk at all so I ended up teaching most of the lessons. It was good Spanish practice.
 
A boy got baptised this weekend! He's a really cool 11 year old and was so excited all this month to get baptised. I like the way he put it he said, "I feel like I'm in a big warm quilt!" Awesome kid and he really has a hunger to learn. He told us how he reads his BoM under his covers with a flashlight. Cute!
 
It's been an odd week. Sometimes you go out fishing all day and don't catch anything. Sometimes that goes on for a week. But we somehow managed to make our goal of 5 new investigators for the week. But even when no one wanted to talk we had a good time! One woman answer the door after we knocked on her window (the door was painted and didn't make any noise) and yelled, "IS THAT HOW YOU KNOCK ON DOORS?!" Us, ".....no? The door didn't make any noise." She yelled a bit then slammed the door. We left and Hna turned to me, "Is that how you knock on doors? Didn't your father ever teach you?" Me, "I never had a father!" I love tracking with her, we have so much fun! Also chiuahuas hate me. Hna can walk right by them but the minute I try they freak out. However any stray cat near by runs over to me for some love.
 
This was a great week over all! I love you all so much!
 
Hermana Watson

Monday, October 3, 2011

October 3, 2011


Hi mom!
 
Yup, it got nice for about a week, in the 90's during the day, then jumped back up to the 110's again. But we've got a nice breeze lately so that helps. Lucky! We keep hearing about snow in other places and get jealous. Fun! Haha! I wish I could have seen that, I'll bet they both really freaked out about it. I went on exchanges this last monday and they house I stayed at had this huge fat old cat named Mr. Pip. It was cute, he jumped up on my bed and didn't want to leave.
 
Conference was amazing! Honestly it's like Christmas for missionaries, we were so excited for it! We drove to the stake center with a Sister in our ward to see it in English and it was fun watching it in a group. Everyone exclaimed and Ooooo'd when Pres. Monson spoke about the temples. By the way isn't he just the cutest! "Hello!" We all cracked up so hard! All the talks were amazing and we've been talking about them all this morning. I really liked the poem about the crows. Because the young crows have the speed, and the old crows can tell them where to go. Oh! I forgot that he was his mission president! I loved that talk!
 
Ummm, ew. And yikes. Makes me really happy that we live on the top floor of our apartment complex. A sister was teling us how their house is infested with scorpions and they get it all the time. Scary! Actually though I haven't see either tarantula's or scorpions yet, just spiders and cockroaches and the random giant centaped.
 
Us too! He's now got the priesthood and this coming saturday he's going to baptise his nephew! How cool is that? Also we had a miracle and one of the girls we've been teaching got baptised yesterday! She's been waiting for more than a year and her husband finally consented to let her do it! And yes that guy I yelled at is better. He's reading his scriptures now and coming to church. He knows it's true, he just needs a bit more time before he's ready so we're not pushing him.
 
Such a cute little boy! We're teaching him mom and older sister and he lied to us that he was eight because he wanted to get baptised. Well we were reading with them and he came and sat by me because he wanted to read too and needed help. So I whispered in his ear what to say for a bit then he got up and got his own Libro de Mormon and came back saying, "I can do it on my own now!" I still ended up doing the same thing but he did pretty good on his own, he just needed help with the big words. But after we finished the chapter he looked at me and asked, "My turn again?" "No, we finished it now for tonight." Then he closed the book saying , Oh, then smiled and let out a happy sigh and said, "Que bonita a leer!" (How beautiful to read!) Awwwww!
 
Sounds like work is going great! That course will be a blast but make sure and have fun with all that work too, not that I'm worried you won't. Office pranks are the best. We do it whenever we see the Elders bikes out somewhere. You're going to be awesome!
 
Thhhaaaannnnkkkkk yyyyoooouuuuuu! I loved the package and we both cracked up at the can dad put in. Thank you so much for doing all this for me! You're the best mom! And thank you for all the handsanitizers, they smell great and help alot! Although tell Larissa that I was squeezing one to smell it and it blew up in my face. Yup. Oh! And tell her too that if she could put the song, "Esta son las mananitas" on the cd I would love her for it forever! It's what they sing down here for every birthday/holiday/everything.
 
Love you too mom, I really appriciate the support you give me out here :) Tell everyone in the ward thank you for me!
 
Love you mom!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

September 26, 2011


Hi mom!
 
Haha! Thanks, it was pretty fun actually, and it seems to ahve done some good.
 
The kermes was so much fun! We met some fun people and lots of people came! It's was crazy! I'll send a few more pictures of it. Also the man in the yello shirt was the MC and he's 80 years old. Wow! He and his wife danced later as well.
 
Yuck, sounds like no fun. Hopefully things will heal up better now. Just take it easy till then :)
Haha, dad's funny. I haven't gotten the package yet, but I finally figured out what dad put in it. That's so cute that he did that! But poor guy, hope he feels better soon.
 
Fun! Wish I could have seen it. We had our this last sunday too and the kids were so cute! Plus it really helped our one investigator. She's got a house full of kids and wants this for them to grow up in and to keep them out of the gangs here.
 
Lucky! Ah snow, won't be seeing that for a while. So funny story, Hna Kigueta got this bag of chocolates ant in the wrappers are sayins and over half of them were things like, "Catch a snowflake on your tounge" or "Enjoy the simple winter games of childhood" It mocks us down in the, once again, 107 degree heat.
 
Have fun with the party!
 
And I was happy I could send you something :) Love you so much mom!
 
So this week has gone by fast. We've had straight lessons with people, only about four hours of tracting total for the week. We've just got a lot of work right now! But we still work to our goals and let me tell you, if you do all you can and can't meet them, God helps make them happen. The mission goal is to have five new people a week who are interested to learn, it was saturday night and we had two and were sad about it, but made time to go knocking doors the next day and asked for some help. There's a saying that goes, "Dios pone los medios." Or God makes it possible. We went to church and by the end of church we had our other three! These people just showed up or their friends brought them and they all lived in our area! Wow! And we were able to focus on the lessons for that day too! It was a miracle for us!
 
One of our investigators got baptised this week! He's an amazing man and so firm in the gospel. It was sad though, all his family either couldn't go or didn't come. He showed up alone without them and wanted to be baptised still. He gets this, he knows what this is and why he needs it. He's ready to do everything he needs to get these blessing for him and his family. We're so proud of him!
 
The man I yelled at is doing much better. He's doing those basic things that he knows he should and has been coming to church again. Hopefully this is the turn around for him, but we're not holding our breathe, we'll just see how he does.
 
So today I made empanadas! Yum!It's been an adventure! A few days ago I made the filling from a pumpkin we bought. We let it all cook while we studied in the morning and at the end of it all we tried it out. I was pretty happy with it and I loved what my companion said. She had some them looked at me and said, "Who are you?! This is good!" I've discovered that I'm pretty good at baking and at mexican food in general. Awesome! I'll make them for you guys when I get home.
 
This was a great week and in six more days is conference! Woohoo!
 
As for the package, not really anything, but more recipies would be awesome! And tell Darren to give me his borstch recipie or I'll mail him a scorpion. (Actually some Elders joke about doing that to their siblings. You catch it or a tarantula and freeze it, them ship it out so it crawls out when they open it.) And ask Ribs if she's made me any CD's :)
 
Sweet! Check out the mountains and stuff near it, that's my area :)
 
Love you all!
 
Hermana Watson

Monday, September 19, 2011

September 19, 2011




Dress from the State of Guadlajara


I can't believe I forgot about this! The Kermes!

The church had a huge party last saturday for the Independance day for Mexico! It was crazy fun and we got some new investigators there! We also had Mexican dresses, I hope you all got the text from that brother! He took a picture and said, "Okay, what are your parents emails?" He's had kids out before and wanted to send that to you guys :) But anyways it was so cool! Plus all the money they donated to missionary work! Which ment we ate free, and they all wanted us to try their food so we ate a lot. The rice pudding was really good and so were the enchiladas. All of it was amazing though and we had a bit of everything! They had so many dances and music and Hermano Felix was the MC for it. He's actually pretty famous in Mexico as Pablo Felix. He was a big actor and singer there and people still recognize him and geek out over him. It's really funny! He's also 80 years old. When we found out we were more than shocked! He looks like maybe 50's if that!









Over all we had a great time! It's was crazy! I loved my dress! One of the Hermana's got it for me for the Kermes. I'll send some pictures of it, it was so cool!

September 19, 2011


The weather is finally starting to cool down a bit nad it's sooooooooo nice! It's still hot, but at least now it's not 120 anymore. More like upper 90's, but still soooo much better! We've had a great week! We're planning another baptism for this weekend for this man who is just amazing. We can easily see him being a bishop someday. His faith grew fast and strong, and now when we go over he's teaching us from the Boom of Mormon! Also this week I yelled at one of our investigators. He's been investigating for a year now and recently had fallen into this midset of, "Well, I'm not feeling anything. Plus I haven't seen any miracles yet. No blind people who can see or lame that can walk. I won't be baptised until I see a sign." But he's not reading anymore or praying, and he hadn't been to church for two months. So I got mad at him and told him, a little harsh really, that he wasn't going to see a sign or a miracle. That he needs to shape up and do those things he KNOWS he needs to do. That if he doesn't he's sinning and denying the answers that he's gotten so far. He didn't say much after a bit and just nodded. Then promised that he'd repent and said he knows he hasn't been doing the things he should be to be ready. So we told him again to do those things and said goodnight and headed home. After my companion just looked at me and laughed saying, "I was right, you're so Belle. I love it when you get, well not mad, but frustrated with our investigators and tell them off." We think that the Mexican culture is rubbing off on me. They say what they think and they are a very passionate people. But it did what we wanted it to do. He came to church the next day and is going to come to the FHE tonight. He called us this morning too and thanked us for bringing this knowledge to him. It was a pretty cool experience. Another cool thing we did this week was dump a persons coffee out when we taught her the word of wisdom. She's a great person :)

Some things about my area. There are churches EVERYWHERE. So when we tell people there's a lot of churches they just laugh and go, "Yeah there are." I mean there's one on every corner, and they're all different faiths. Also on every corner is a small drive up beer store. You meet some very interesting people at bus stops. The people down here are so ready to hear this! They are 80 percent of the time willing to listen to us. Our ward is 70% converts and so very awesome and strong! I love it here!
 
I love you all so much and can't wait to hear more from you and how everything is going! Take care and keep doing awesome!

Monday, September 12, 2011

September 12, 2011


What an awesome week! We're just on cloud nine down here! We had so many good things happen and the temperature has dropped so it's sooo much nicer outside! We're not sweatign to death as bad anymore.
 
Hope everythings going good for you guys and hold off on any packages please! I'll be sending a postcard with a new address soon!
 
The area here is amazing! The people are so humble and ready to listen to what we have to say. And when they know it's true they act o it, with a very few exceptions. We just had another baptism too! It was sort of an emergency and a miracle. This girl was suddenly carted back to Cali by her dad a week before she was going to be baptised. It was a shock to everyone, one day things were fine, the next he made them pull her out of school in the middle of the day to get on a plane to go back. She didn't want to go and was really upset at what he was doing. We told her it'd be okay and we'd figure something out. But honestly we didn't expect to ever see her again. Saturday when she was to be baptised we'd just got off the phone with a church leader telling them it was officaily cancelled. Then guess who calls? Destiny! She said, "Guess where I am right now?" "...Where?" "Arizona!!!" We yelled and jumped around and then said, "Awesome! Tomorrow you can get baptised!" Then she said, "...Actually can it be today? It's the only day my dad will be in the state and he really wants to be there." So we made some emergency phone calls and got things set up and we had a baptism!! It was crazy but it was so beautiful and after we hugged her and Hermana Kigueta laughed and said, "Look at you, trying not to smile!" She smiled at us then and said, "Actually, i'm trying not to cry." She's incredible and she's one of those that's going to change the course of her family.
 
This was a week of miracles! So the Rojas family we've been teaching. They recently told us something interesting. Apparently the day we knocked on their door they'd been waiting for two teachers from their sons school to come and talk to them. So when we came by and said, "Hola! Somos-" they said, "Come on in!" But they figured out who we were once we started talking, but they didn't mind at all. They'd been to church 20 years ago in Idaho but there weren't any Spanish wards so they had no idea what was going on, it just felt good to them. We've been teaching them for about two months now and this week we had a break through. They've all wanted to be baptised all along but they just didn't feel like they had a testimoney yet. Then that changed the other day. We were just teaching the dad because the rest of the family was busy or sick. And this man in incredible. He recently had heart surgery and can't work at all so their family had to move into a poor neighborhood and his wife makes all their money working every day as a waitress. We had a member over with us and we all talked a bit about his reading, and he's already to Alma. He loves the BoM a lot! Then we put on Finding Faith in Christ to watch together. He was so quiet during it, which is strange. He's very smart and loves to discuss things as we go in a lesson. After he just nodded and sat there quietly. After a bit he said, "Que bonita." (How beautiful.) Then we asked our member friend to share his testmoney and he did. We talked a little more then all knelt down to pray and asked him to say it. He was going along when he suddenly stopped talking. He tried to speak but he'd gotten all chocked up and couldn't. The Spirit flooded the room as soon as he'd stopped talking so we just waited and let the Holy Ghost do his work. When he spoke again he said that he's feels good about all of this, he just wants to be sure that this is what God wants him to do. He thanked God for sending us and for this gospel. Then he prayed that all over the world missionaries would be able to bring this message to everyone who's ready to listen. After he just laughed and wiped tears away and said, "Excuse me, I don't know why I'm crying." We thanked him for his time and then all left with an appointment set up for the next day. He knows everything, he's ready, and my comp and I always talk about how strong he's going to be in the church. We can see him as aBishop some day. We biked away just singing and laughing and so happy! The next day we had two Brothers give his wife a blessing of strength. He and his wife bore their testimonies that they know Joseph was a prophet and that this church is true. They are an amazing family and hopefully will be baptised this coming week! We just love them!
 
The work is booming here!
 
Love you all!
 
Hermana Watson

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Pictures!

Elora, Sister Borrows and a "Nice Sister" at the Phoenix Temple site
A Translation Fail

I found this in my water bottle. Yum.


September 6, 2011



Hi mom!
 
I really do, I'm so lucky to be where I am!
 
Yeah he said he sent me a letter about it all but sounds like it was pretty amazing. It's an amazing place to be :)
 
It is a pretty scary thing, and yeah it doesn't matter how well off or not we are, it's still scary after everything that happened. There's a phrase the people here use that I really like. In english it means, "God squeezes, but he doesn't choke." And that's true, sometimes it's like with Job, he'll squeeze us a little to see if we really trust in the promises he's made to us and no matter how much it seems it's getting worse the blessings are just right around the corner. Everyone quotes it but it's true. 

You know we haven't even heard about this new movie, you'll have to let me know how it was!
 
Haha! Yup, also on that thought got any good plan for ridding an aprtment of roaches? We sprayed and people came in to kill them but they keep coming back. We tried one of those bug barrier things but it didn't do anything. I'm getting pretty good at it now actually :) Sort of like wack a mole. Also I'm glad we don't have the apartment these one sisters have. They have spiders the size of small mice. Compared roaches aren't that bad.
 
Yikes! No fun at all! I hope you're getting better quickly! That's really weird it came on so fast.
 
Love you mom! Thanks for making that blog by the way. I've gotten letters from my friends that said that it's really changed their day to read that. Bri's actually going back to church now because of it. But don't worry about being behind, just when you have time.
 
By the way you're going to be a great supervisor!
 
Things down here are going amazing! I really really got lucky and got sent to the best area in the mission. Every missionary I've talked to have said they wished they were in Montana del Sur. The ward is amazing and the bishop used to be the mission president for Phoenix Arizona mission so he gives us some amazing support. The ward is so kind to us, they're a pretty poor ward and a very poor part of Phoenix, but they always have a hug, or a kiss, or a skirt, or food they want to give us. The sisters are always feeding us, which is good and bad. The food is great, but they always load your plate and then give you seconds and then thirds, and you can't really say no or you offend them. So we roll home. I've only had one bad meal here so far though. It was some sort of horrid mix of american and mexican, a pepper casserol with chicken. It was spicey and cheesy but I kept biting down and hitting hard tendons or ligiments. I tried to chew it but that just wasn't possible so I spit it out when the hermana wasn't looking. Oh, something you need to try is Agua de melon. You take a cantelope and blend it all up and add some water and a bit of suger, it's good!
 
The work is crazy down here, the people are humble and so ready to hear this, we pick up new investigators every day and the bishop has said that our goal is two baptisms each a month, and it's surprisingly doable! We're teaching soem great families right now who just love us. It's just sad though because the dad can't work because he had heart surgery recently and the mom can never come to church or anything because she  is always working. She'd like to quit but she'd never get another job and it's all they have. They're so ready to be baptised, they just want to understand a bit more first.
 
Love you mom!

Monday, August 29, 2011

August 29, 2011


Hi mom!
Yeah it's really hot down here! I'm glad we have a car too, it's just when we go walking that it's bad.
Awesome! You'll get it for sure, they love you there! I'm so happy to hear that, seems this surgery was the one to do for you! :)
Sounds like it's going to be pretty crazy this year for them. Tell connor not to let the stress get to him, he'l get through it! i'll send him a letter, I'll send it to your house since I don't know his address. I've been hearing much the same from everyone else about him too
Okay, love you mom! Thank you for everything you do for me!
So this week we had a baptism, the other one had to wait a week but she's super excited and has been making invitations! Jamie is nine and he had such a good experience at his baptism! He's such a smart kid and his family is the best!
A cool experience this week, we missionaries get protection! We were in a trailer park knocking doors and went to this one where the gate was open which is odd. We knocked on the door and talked to the lady for a bit then she said, "Actually, I'm really surprised that you knocked on my door. Usually my dog scares everyone away." We looked around and went, "What dog?" Not sure what happened but either he ran off right then or just stayed asleep.
But even if the dog is there we get some help. We were going to knock this one door but te dog in the front yard tied to the tree was mean and tried to come for us. The owner waved us on and so we started back to our car to leave to our appointment when I heard the owner yell, "Hey, stop!" I turned and the dog was coming for us. So I got my bag ready to use as a club and hunched my shoulders and yelled really loud, "Hey, back off!" He skidded to a halt and stayed in that spot till his owner ran up and dragged him off. Got my heart pumping a bit! He wasn't a big dog but big enough to do some damage.
We met a very odd man the other day. We knocked his door as it started to get dark and he opened the fiorst door but we still couldn't see him through the metal door. He said, "What's the password?" We loked at each other and Hna Kigueta said, "...I don't know. Buffalo?" "Hmmm, might be!" We grinned and said, "Elephant?" We talked for a bit and he was very crazy but very nice. We ended up sliding a card through the door since he said his wife didn't allow him to open the door.
Things are going great down here, but it's so hot! We've had extreme heat warnings all week and I think it got up to 120 the other day. It's just crazy! But the up side is the fruit here is really cheap since they can get it close by. Plus when I get back home I'll have to find a spanish bakery and get empanadas and pan dulce. It's so good! My companion and I laughed the other day that other than our member meals our diets consist of fruit, fresh spanish cheese, and pan dulce.
I love this one family we're teaching! The father can't work because of heart problems and they recently lost their nice house because of it. But they love us coming over and really love the gospel. They're the ones who went to chruch over 20 years ago but it was in english nad so they didn't know what was going on, they just liked how it felt. The other day we were teaching and they said, "Oh by the way, we made you dinner, do you want to eat now or after the lesson?" It was so good! The father especially is just devouring the book of mormon and is so smart, he always has questions for us.
It's been a good week and a baptism this saturday!

Love you all!

Monday, August 22, 2011

August 22, 2011



Hi mom!
 
Things are going well down here and I'm so happy! We have a car and mostly we use that but we do have bikes. And no I haven't had to buy a bike because a sister left hers when she went home and I inhertited it. It's pretty sweet :) 
 
I'm glad you liked the pictures! It's sooo pretty down here with all the palms and cactus and tons of flowers! We went hiking again today and it was great! Although I had bad allergies about half way up the mountain, but I'm doing good. Yeah I just have as much time now to keep you all updated but boy do I have some stories to tell now!
 
The people here are amazing! I'm in awe over the young women here and what they go through. One girl talked to us (she's 14) about how her and her mom were stuck in Mexico when she was 11 and that they were kicked out of her fathers house (her mom's drunk ex) and had to live on the streets. They worked every day to make money to get home and it took them two months because she got sick just as they had enough and had to be in the hospital for two weeks. She and her older sister are the only members of the church in their family. Sometimes their family doesn't have money to buy food so Luis who rents the small shack behind their house buys some for them. Most of her family is in jail for drugs are sells or other things and they just want to get away from that so badly.
 
So about the nice older woman who let us in my first week. We finally saw her again. She's been sick for the last three weeks and couldn't leave her house and didn't want us over so we wouldn't get sick. She's just amazing though!
 
We had some divine help the other day. We had just left a dinner apointment and were wondering where to go next because we had an hour till 9 still. We thought about it and said, "How about we go visit this family? They live close to here." So we went over and parked and just as we did a woman with a two year old son came walking down the dark street towards us. We went over to talk to her and just started bearing testimoney of how much Christ helps us in our lives. All of the sudden she started to cry and just kept saying, "Yes...I know." We ended up walking her home down the street and just sat and talked with her and shared testimoney. It was a really neat experieince. I don;t know that she'll join the church but she just really needed someone to talk to her that night. God puts people in our way when they need us, we see it al the time.
 
Well, I don't think I really need anything. But whatever you'd like to send down :) The members take very good care of us so we don't lack for much. They especially love that they finally have sisters. Aparently for a long time they pulled the sisters out of this area and only put them back about a year ago. So they treat us like their Princessas. They call us their floracitas (little flowers) and one family the Frietz family just love us. The hermana tells us all the time that she's our mom and if we ever need anything to just give mom a call.
 
Sounds like you guys are having a blast! I bet Primamry is so much fun! I can't wait to see how I do at the ping pong table against al of you. Of course you'll have so much practice at it that you'll kick my butt.
 
Well I love you all so much! Take care!
 
Hermana Watson

Monday, August 15, 2011

Description of Elora, by her companion


Today, I will start with a character sketch of my new companion: Hermana Elora Raedell Watson.

As her name suggests, she is a wonderful mix of utah/idaho grown 'Little House on the Prairie' with a splash of 'Lord of the Rings' fantasy. Her tone of speech is like she is constantly reading a fairy-tale--soft but with emotion. She loves to read, cook, bake, paint, learn about history, and tells great stories. She also loves nature, so naturally, this morning i took her up my mountains.

~Sister Borrows (Kigueta)

Monday, August 8, 2011

August 8, 2011 (Photos)


Centipede!

Elora's companion, Sister Borrows

Elora's Mission - Montana Del Sur

August 8, 2011


Hi mom!
 
Haha! Yeah her last name is Borrows but her name tag says Kigueta because she's a fourth Ogibwei (she speaks the language too.) and since in spanish her last name Borrows would mean a donkey or someone who's slow of speech so she choose to use her Given name from her grandma. She's teaching me to say blueberry pie in that language. It's long! Yes she said she wanted to write to you guys as well as her family. That's how she descibes me to other people.
 
How're you feeling now? Almost back to normal? But ick, doctor. I hope you're doing well! i'm still praying for you!
 
Yeah bit of culture shock but I love it! This ward is the best and I'm soooo happy not to be serving in english! The hispanic people are so nice! It was a little odd learning how to kiss other women, it's a big part of the culture down here. You see someone you know, or might know, or have just met, and just got in for a kiss ont he cheek.
 
Thanks! I think I'll be set once I have my bedding. They had an extra blanket I've been using so I'm good! I love you mom! I'll be sending some things in the mail and pictures in a bit!

Monday, August 1, 2011

August 1, 2011

Okay so I don't have much time (there was a ton of emails!) So this'll just be a general letter to everyone and I'll work on answering things more next week. Thank you all so much for writting to me!
 
I love it down here! I have the best companion, Hermana Kigueta! She's from canada and a fourth ogibwe indian. She's great to work with and we get along so well! She's also really glad to have me because I know how to and like to cook. We're starting to eat pretty well!
 
The area I got sent to is very interesting. My companion told me as we were driving to it that it was down at the very southern most part of the mission by South Mountian. Our mission is called Montana del Sur, Sur. I really am serving in the best area of the whole mission. Now don't start worrying with what I'm going to be telling you next. My companion told me as we were driving to our apartment that we're down the street from the projects and are in one of the poorest areas of the mission. As we walked into the apartment she jokingly told me, "Yeah it's great. We have cockroaches for pets. Also sometimes it smells like either garbage or smoke from rhe other apartments." Yeah it's all true. We have a bit of a roach problem but the apartments are getting sprayed tomorrow so that'll help. I didn't know that they were green on the inside. Aparantly Elders had the aprtment a few months before they the sisters have been working on geting it clean since then. It was a mess!
 
And they weren't joking when they said it was a poor area. It's funny to me that these people are living in these run down old shanties with no AC but they have a phone with interent on them.
 
But honestly I'm sooooooo lucky to have been sent here! It's one of the more densely populated Hispanic areas in the mission and our ward is the best! We have an absoluitly amazing memeber support here and they just loves us! The calls us their principessas and angeles and take good care of us. Another great thing about the people here is that I've only had one door slammed in my face and got yelled at once by a guy. But it wasn't that bad. For the most part even if they won't listen they'll talk to us and invite us in. I hate when we knock on the doors of americans because they're always really rude to us, but the hispanics are super nice!
 
We'e got a baptism!!! It's this awesome girl named Stefanie. She's 16 and just amazing. She was a little standoffish when we first met her but has warmed up big time! They've been teaching her family for 10 months already but only her in specific for a few weeks. A recent convert Suzy is a huge help with her! We had a neat lesson the other day with her. Since she's so close to bweing baptised we had to sit down and tell her straight out that she needed to get rid of her lip ring. She was shocked and got mad at us a bit. She flat out told us that she would do anything but take it out. But we bore our testimoneies along with Jose Juan, a member who was there (he's awesome!) and all of the sudden Hna Kigueta was elbowing me and saying, "Look!" I looked and Stef was holding her ring in her hand and looking serious at it, then put it in her pocket. She has just lit up since then and gotten so excited for her baptism this friday! I just love her!
 
I'll send a letter with more stories in it to p[eople later.
 
So today! This morning we went for a hike on the mountain by us. We sat up at the top and looked over the valley it was amazing! But then it happened. I'll send you a picutre of what we saw so you'll know why we screamed and ran about twenty feet away. This monster had crwaled onto Hna's backpack right next to her arm! It was a giant centaped! I'd see a few little (3-4 in) milipeds running around but hadn't expected this this! It was at least a foot long and huge!!!!!!!! You'll see what I mean when I send pictures with the letters later, it scared us so bad!
 
Okay one more quick story! We were knocking on doors one day and an older hispanic lady answered. We smiled and said, "Hola, somos represetantes de Jesucristo-" andshe lit up and swung the door open and said, "Pasen! Pasen!" She all but kicked out the guy who'd been talking with her out the door and was sooo happy to talk to us. She told us how she was a catholic by tradition but had been really feeling lately that she wanted to find a church. We talked a bit and basically gave more of the first lesson (we didn't get to Joseph yet) and she was just loving it. Before we left we gave her a Book of Mormon, and you have to understand, we don't just do that down here. We mostly just give them our numbers and a pamphlet. But we could just see how excited she was. We'd read a bit with her (Alma 7:11-12) and she felt that it was right. So we gave her the book. We invited her to church and she was excited to go but didn't show on sunday. We called and turns out she had gotten pretty sick. But we're going to call again today to see how she is and to invite her out to Noche de Hogar. The members here just rock and every week they have a group family home evening together for everyone at the familia Jones' house. We're also having a birthday for one of the members tonight there to. He's doesn't know that yet though, we just told him that it was his turn to give the lesson.
 
I love this area! I love this ward! I love my companion! It's the best area in the whole mission! Cockroaches and all! But I don't mind those too bad anyway,my aim has improved considerably since I've gotten here. After all we get our own apartment and some privacy. The elders are in consecrated living (in a members house) and they don't have cockroaches there...they have scorpians. As in, in the house. A elder got stung twice because one had crawled into his towel. It got his ahnd and he dropped the towel and then it got his foot. He's okay though. I haven't seen any here but then our apartment is up on the top floor.
 
It is HOT. I about passed out when I first stepped outside. It's generally been about 105 here during the day. It's really odd that the sun comes up at around 5 and by 6:30 it's already baking at 95. It doesn't really cool off at night here. And I'm learnign that storms don't help. Because then it's both hot and very humid. Although we had our first real storm. It was awesome! The whole sky was lite up with lightning and it just flooded! It was awesome!
 
Well it's time to go, I love you all! Take care and I'll write as soon as I can!

Thursday, July 28, 2011

July 26, 2011

Hola, from Phoenix!

Well it's blazing hot down here right now.  It's 90 degrees and 70% humidity!  They're telling us its nicest days so far this Summer.  I was very surprised to get off the plane, get in the van, and look out to see green grass!  Which I later found out is lovely to look at, but crackles underfoot and you can see millions of black beetles jumping around.  I think I won't be sitting on it anytime soon.

It's beautiful down here! All brown with splashes of color from cactus, these old trees, and tons of red, orange, and pink flowers.  Some of the big cactus are around 10-15 feet high!  I'm at the mission home right now and in the front yard they have a gigantic queen palm tree (look them up, they're really cool!).  Proportion-wise, it's a bit like this. <picture>  We all thought they'd planted a pineapple in the yard.

It really feels like a different country here with all the plaster (?).  Houses with red tiled roofs and giant plants everywhere.  Although when we stepped outside for the first time in the heat, I just stopped to catch my breath.  Quite a shock after the nice cool airport.

We got delayed by a few hours.  They found a problem with the plane we were going to be on.   They fixed it and found another problem.  I guess it was pretty serious because they announced we would have to wait for a new plane to arrive that could take us to Phoenix.

Thanks dad for always fasting for me and thanks for all of you for your prayers!!

We got here safely and were met right away by some Elders who were heading home.  Then they whisked us off.

It was so good to hear you all today!  I was so excited to have the chance to call.  Now I just need to count down the days til Christmas until I can call again.

Dad, just wanted to share that while we were all introducing ourselves a bit ago, I told all the Elders that a thing I like to do was go shooting with my dad.  Made a few of them grin, and surprised a few more.

I love it here already and I"m so excited to get to work tomorrow at noon.  There are amazing things happening (I swear the Spanish is messing me up down here right now).  They're almost up to 100 baptisms a month here.  With the temple being built, interest is being sparked and God really is preparing these people  to hear His words and to know of His love for them.  The work here is booming and the church has some great plans for this area.

Well, I don't have much more to say at this moment except to say that I"m so glad I did this.  I love this work, I love my mission president.  I'm excited and I so look forward to spreading to others what I know to be true so that they can feel the joy this knowledge brings and how it can change lives and families.

I love you all so much.  I'll write you more on P-Day after my first official week as a missionary!!

Les Amo,

Hna Watson

P.S:  P-Day is Monday.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Elora made it to Phoenix safely!

We have not yet heard from Elora since she arrived in Phoenix, but Todd just spoke with Elora's mission president! We have been very anxious to hear that she made it safely.

She made it to Phoenix yesterday a little delayed because her airplane had some mechanical issues. There were a lot of transfers yesterday as well as new missionaries and outgoing missionaries - so it was a little hectic.  Her P-day will be on Mondays.  She is in a car mission currently (great news!).  The area she is serving in is Montana Del Sur (sp?). 

He has two pieces of advice for anyone who corresponds with her:
1) Always send packages or letters to the mission home address in Glendale.  They also request that we send everything USPS first class (not parcel post, UPS, Fedex etc).  The secretary will re-send the items directly to Elora within a day of receiving it and this will lessen any confusion with transfers/address changes etc.
2) Don't communicate any distracting or worrisome information to Elora that will cause her to lose focus.  Keep things positive and upbeat.

We are so pleased to know that she is in Phoenix and doing well.  We were able to speak with her for a few minutes yesterday and she sounded great - and excited to finally be in the mission field.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 21, 2011 (Letter)

Hola mi familia!

Que pasa este semana?  Que tal la chamba?

Things here are good but sort of crazy as we get down to the last little bit.  Only a few more days!

I haven't checked my email yet today so I"ll just catch you all up first and finish this later.

We got our travel plans late Wednesday.  Looks like we'll leave on the 26th at 5 and get there around 10 in the morning.  Plenty of time for a full day of prosoliting! (Yeah, I know I spelled that wrong.  The Spanish is messing me up because everything in it is spelled exactly how it sounds). Also, we'll be staying at the mission home that first night.  We asked them and they said it would be best to have all that sent down by the time I get there.  They'll just hold it till I come.

We got lucky again and are going to be part of this thing that'll announce Africa really being opened for some intense missionary work.  So if you see anything about that look for me in the choir. I have a bright green shirt on and I'm in the front.  Also I got to be in the second big panoramic picture for the MTC.  Cool!!

So I got sick, and it started to turn into another sinus infection.  So I got to the clinic as quick as I could and saw the doctor.  He wasn't too surprised, he said it's pretty common to get them at the MTC because everyone's sick here with colds.  He was good and we talked about the last bout I had with it and what we did about it.  He told me to do all that again then gave me some antibiotics to help kill it now while its not too bad.  He also gave me some good advice because he said that the climate in Phoenix will not be good for sinuses so he told me how to combat it.  So pray for me please that I'll get better and won't have to extend my stay in the MTC!

So about the call you got on Wednesday.  I think the filling on my tooth is having issues because it feels pitted or cracked and I've been having pain in that tooth.  Thankfully, they can get me in tomorrow morning so it'll get taken care of quick.  It was weird though because when they called I was right there so in a way I'm sort of glad dad didn't pick up then because then I could have heard him but not talked to him.  Also mom I was going to call you since you have the info but I couldn't remember your work number and couldn't remember if you were back there or not anyways.  Please send it to me!

Well, not much else going on.  Except that our investigator Jose has agreed to be baptised!  Yay!  He took awhile to think about it but in the end got an answer to his prayers.  He'll be baptised next Monday before we go if we can teach him all the commandments (Chastity, Tithing, and the Word of Wisdom) and refresh him on the 10 commandments in half an hour today.  We're going to do it!  Woohoo!

Well, off to check emails in a bit but first something funny. I already said this to Larissa a little.  But I was talking to a Sister from Phoenix and she told me that they'll think we're crazy for being outside because no one goes out in the middle of the day because it's so hot.  So they'll probably take pity on us and let us into their homes.  So maybe it's a good thing I burn like I do.  They'll see me and pull us inside.  Ahhh air conditioning.

Oh!  The letter to Kassandra Orton!  Can you get it to her please?  She sent me a nice letter and I wrote her back but she must have given me the wrong address because I just got this back.  I think she's either a primary girl or in YW's in our ward.

Okay....so the email is being stupid.  I went and printed them all off and only later found out they changed the rules so it only prints half of the page.  So I didn't get what you all wrote.  If you could send it again by dearelder that would be great.  I spent all my time trying to get it to work. :(  SO I can't really answer much here to you all.

I just showed the new sisters around.  They're great and still a little shell shocked but so happy to be here.

I love you all so much!! Take Care!

Oh, what's this about grandpa falling??  Grandma mentioned it in passing in her letter but it sounds like it was pretty serious.  What happened?

Alright I'll wait for your replies.  As far as the airport goes I'll try to call around 7 that morning of the 26th but it may be later around 8.  But probably not past 8:30.  Also, if I don't call don't worry.  I'll email you when I get down there to let you know I'm okay.  If I get more info, I'll send you a letter.  Tell me what number to call at through dearelder.  I'll just call the house number if you don't tell me differently.

I love you all!!
Les Amo,
Hma. Watson

P.S. Tell Connor sorry again.  He'll get his letter really soon!  I got half way done with it before I had to run to class and dinner.  I'll try to finish it soon.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Elora Leaves for Phoenix July 26

If you're reading this, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you!


Email:
elora.watson@myldsmail.net

Address:
Sister Elora Watson
Arizona Phoenix Mission
18001 N. 79th Avenue
Building C, Suite 50
Glendale, AZ 85308

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

July 13, 2011 (Letter)

Que tal la chamba familia?

Thank you again for the letters and the package!  All the Elders had fun trying out the candy soda things, although one nearly ate the wax bottle as well.

Thank you for sending those stories and please send more when you think of them.  I love reading all of them!

I'm so glad that mom's doing so well! Sounds pretty amazing that she's doing as well as she is.  Though the menopause sounds pretty miserable.

Okay so funny story.  My companion and I just spent five minutes trying to figure out how to spell 'exercise'.  We both kept trying to spell it ejercicio.  I guess it's a sign that we're getting used to the Spanish!

Sounds like everyone's doing pretty good.  That's awesome about Connor's test.  Give him a hug for me.

Yikes about that missionary!  Well, he must have forgotten what they tell us everyday here.  Obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles.  If we are not obedient the adversary will take that chance you give him.  I've seen it here with missionaries that just bend the rules a little.  One had to stay three extra weeks while his knee healed.  Others had to go back home.

Thanks for keeping up the blog, mom.  I'm excited to see it when I get home.  Ha ha!  Yeah, Darren didn't do too well writing to us.

Well, at the very least whoever I marry has to be approved by dad and Darren so he's sure to be good.

Aww!  Man!! I want to see Yi Yi again!  That was so fun when he was over that night and we banged pans at 11 o'clock.  Give him a huge hug and kiss for me and tell him I said hi!

Okay, so your story about Darren and the turkey made me laugh so hard!! I can just picture that happening.  Hopefully the pasta and turkey will keep him alive another week.  I imagine he's living off of dollar menus at the moment.

Ha ha!  So finally got to the last episode?  I pretty much know what happens.  Yeah, it's dumb.  Muhaha!  Just wait til I get back home and beat you all again.

Thank you for the stories.  I realized I didn't mention it, but yes, I did want some of yours.  It's really amazing how God really does answer our prayers.

As far as the bike goes, I think it'll be best to just get one down there.  Thanks for taking care of me!  THere is one thing I need and surprisingly, they don't sell them here.  I need buttons.  The ones on my white shirt wear through the thread and always fall off.  So, if you could send me like seven or eight buttons and some more white thread, that would be great!

Okay so both a good and a bad week.  We had some wonderful speakers this week, we always do.  Also our Elders sang "Love One Another" for the Sunday fireside in Spanish and it was great!

The bad part of this week was that our investigator Eva dropped us.  Dropped all the class in fact.  So now we've started teaching Laura.

The good is that we finally asked Jose to be baptized!  We taught him the last half of the Plan of Salvation on Monday and we talked through more of his issues and built his confidence but eventually worked through it and he said he'd do whatever it took to get to the Celestial kingdom.  SO we smiled and explained that in order to get there we have to follow the commandments of God, and one of those commandments is to be baptized.

He was a little shocked/scared, but he said he'd like to pray about it first and he said he knew God would answer him.  Yay!  I can't wait till our next visit with him!

So today was awesome.  Our district gets picked for everything.  Oh, by the way go check our the New Family Search online.  They had us test it and boy was I impressed.  We get to do a special survey in two days as well.

So, like I said in my email we got chosen to go and clean the temple!  The man is charge was funny, he was giving us our assignments and declared that all sisters would be cleaning the chandelier in the Celestial room!  Woohoo!  The Elders were disappointed so  he explained that it was because it's less likely that we would play with it.  But it was a blast.  It was so weird to be in there in tennis shoes and scrubs to clean.

Well, that about covers it.  Here's my mission address.  It has to be written just like this, no nicknames or I won't get it!

Sister Elora Watson
Arizona Phoenix Mission
18001 N. 79th Avenue
Building C, Suite 50
Glendale, AZ 85308

I love you all so much!  I"ll let you know when I get my flight info so you can all plan on being around when I call!!

Les Amo!
Hermana Watson

P.S. We got our travel plans today! Yay!!  We leave July 26th at 8:40 on the plane with 12 other missionaries.  We're flying Delta.  That being said, they seriously warned us against meeting family there.  I'll call you all sometime between 6 and 8 and 'maybe' call when we get there.  I'll get there at approximately 9:22 and apparently they'll take my bags and send me off to go tracting.  Woohoo!  Que Bueno!  Love you all.

Friday, July 8, 2011

July 6, 2011 (Letter)

Hola Familia!  Que Pasa?

First of all thank you all for your letters and for the advice you gave me.  I'm trying to put it all into practice and things are getting better.  Funny thing is my teacher warned me about this the second week I was here.  He had a one on one with everyone and while talking to me said "God puts us with certain companions for a reason. I'm not sure but I think you're with her because she'll teach you patience and how to teach others."  I'll admit I sort of brushed it off thinkg, "Patience?  I need to learn to be patient?" Nahh..."  I can freely say that I have most certainly had to learn more patience.

Hi mom!  Thank you for finding that slip for me and thanks for everything you do for me!  I think I already said this but thank you for the 4th of July box of goodies!  I swear you and grandma must plan this or something because when I got that I also got a box of cookies from grandma.

Haha!  Oh! That's so nice!  Well at least now you can foist the chore of washing him off on one of my siblings and just get to enjoy a nice clean Stickers!  Benefits to being sick.  :)

That's sad about that lady being fired.  They must really be in a bind with all that and you being gone as well.  I'll bet they really miss having you around to help out.

So how are you feeling now?  Sounds like dads taking really good care of you.  But that sucks that you had to wait so long to go into the surgery.  Did you have to fast that whole time?  Have you guys heard anything about the tests they were going to do with that one ovary?  Yikes!  It was really a mess in there.  No wonder you weren't feeling good.  But I'm so glad it went well and it sounds like you're healing well too.  I'm glad I could fast for you and I had your name in the temple down here as well.  Also dad's right.  Just relax, read, pet Stitch, and heal up properly!  Love you mom!

Alright, I'll be looking forward to that package!  Thank you all!

Okay so we had a pretty awesome two weeks.  Sorry I didn't write last week.  My time got cut a few hours short so I'm writing one big one instead.

First off, we had all the mission presidents (the newly called ones) here at the MTC. As I said in my email, I got to meet mine and they're great!  They just got down there this week so they won't be there long before us.  Did you check out the blog they set up?  What's it like?  But the super cool thing was that the prophet and the apostles were all here!  We didn't get to see more than glances of them but it was cool to see all the cars with bullet proof glass parked on the sidewalk.  But then they had a special devotional and i was in the choir.  So we're all getting ready for it to start when the people by the door jump to their feet.  So we all jump up and start trying to see who it is.  Then all saw 7 apostles walk in!  There was Elder Bednar, and Elder Holland..... Wow!  Then Elder Bednar spoke to us.  Let me tell you, he doesn't waste words.  My hand cramped from writing like crazy to catch it all.  But it was incredible.

Overall I'm doing well with the language.  I can speak in future tense now!  Now I just need to remember stem changing words and build my vocab.

The 4th of July was just like any other day, but with no mail.  Late into the night we could hear the fireworks go off outside.  However, the 2nd of July was awesome!  Classes were let out early (8:30) so that everyone could go to a special devotional to celebrate.  We had a wonderful speaker that nearly brought us to tears.   We sang patriotic songs like America the Beautiful and Yankee Doodle.  It was a blast.  Then they had a parade of flags with bagpipes and drums playing Hail to the Prophet and Scotland the Brave.  Then the best part!  President Brown stood and announced that the handshake/hug ban was officially lifted!  Everyone went crazy with cheers.  Then when they calmed down he announced that after the prayer we were free to go watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks as long as we stayed on campus.  Even more cheers!  Then  when we all calmed a little, he said "Also, we have ice cream for everyone!"  That was a good night. :)  The fireworks were awesome!  So overall a very good week.

Starting this Friday we have to start teaching, or rather re-teaching, all the grammar we've gone over.  We got lucky and have an easy one - future tense!  It'll be fun!  We're going to make them translate the "I will go and do..." chapter of the Book of Mormon.  Muhahaha!

Oh, and yes Connor sent it to the right one.  Give him a hug for me.

Whoa!  Darren moved out?!  That seemed really fast.  But that sounds like it's an awesome place he got.  Tell him to give me the address.

Well, it's got to be pretty hard right now for her to go from being with him everyday to not.  She'll pull through, and tell her to write a dearelder when she gets home.

Great!  I'm glad they got those pictures up so quickly! Thank you!  It already feels nice to have it since the A/C isn't working properly right now and we're all cooking.  Thank you!  I love it!  I was very pleased with the girl who did it, she was great!

Thanks for doing that blog for me by the way.  Thanks too, there's not much really that I don't want on there, but yeah, I know you'll know.  :)

Tell everyone thanks for the advice and help.   Things are getting better, but we're still just working on things.  One thing I never expected though, I asked her to be more direct with me.

Woohoo for no work!  But sounds like a crazy time.  At least you'll be having fun while you're at home.

Ha ha!  Well seems you already washed them.  Good!  They hate it, but its got to feel so good to get rid of that fur.  Oh!  Cute little girl.  She's a hoarder all right.  Oh! He's so cute!

Haha!  Alright.  I love you mom!  Sooooo good to hear from you.

Hna. Watson

P.S. Can you all send me some stories of our ancestors through Dear Elder?  I'm finding that I don't know as much as I'd really like to about them.  Les Amo!