WEEK 18 - VIVE CHILE!!!!!!

Este semana fue marvaillosa!!!!

This week was amazing!

Every week is great here in the mission. (:

This week we had a ward activity scavenger hunt. It was so much fun and so hard! Especially in Spanish, but I will say, that I am learning spanish a LOT faster now. I can finally communicate more with the members and my investigators. It is a HUGE blessing from the Lord, and I KNOW that the gift of tounges is real. I just needed to be more patient. Anyway... They tied our legs together, and we had to hop around the chapel and find the treasure using clues. It was perfect for the kids in the ward. Also the elders we serve with had an investigators there, and they are AMAZING. We know them really well because they ALWAYS come to church. Gloria is in her sixties and her grandson Martín (marteen) is seventeen. Martín will be baptized this coming Sunday. (: We are so happy for the Elders. Our ward is growing! We are so excited.

Also, I dont know if any of you have seen what the church is doing with their missionaries to get more people intersted in the church. We have stands now that have questions on them, and people come up and ask us how they can recievce the answer and we give them a card with the iphone scanner thing the the mormon.org webpage. It is WAY neat! So we have been doing that and I really love it. The church is awesome. We had one girl who came up to us, we talked to her for a bit, and then asked her for her phone number so we could visit her, and she said, yeah its 22232425. Me being the naive person that I am totally started writing it down, not realizing that that number doesnt exist here, and that OBVIOSLY the chances of those numbers in that order being a real number were slim. I have no idea what I would do without Hermana Lopez! haha.

Also, this week I am done training, so now I am a real missionary! haha. It is scary, but super awesome. We have transfers this week, and I am excited to see what happens! I will be fine either way, but I have a feeling I am staying in this area, because the missionaries in this area usually stay for a few transfers. So we shall see!

This week I was really focusing on how to make my prayers better. More meaningful, more special and more personal. Prayer is SO important. It is how we communicate with our Heavenly Father. It is our only means of communication with Him in this life, and I know that if  we pray with faith and humble ourselves before the Lord, He WILL answer our prayers. I know because I have seen the power of prayer work miracles in my life.

I love you all!!!

Cuidese mucho!

Love, Hermana Watt

This Week's Pictures

 Kamryn and investigator, Fresia

Fellow Missionaries

Note from Amber:  In my chat with Kam today she told me about this 19 year old girl with a baby who didn't have a coat.  Kam gave the girl her coat.  I put money in Kam's account so that she could go get a new one.  Kam acted like it was no biggie but I know that Kam loved that grey coat.  Anyway, the last pic is Kam with the girl and the girl is wearing the grey coat.  :)

Missionaries in her district 

Mickey in Chile!

Hermana Lopez and Hermana Watt

WEEK 17 - HOLA DE CHILE!

Family and Friends,

!Hola¡ ¿Como estan? Estoy muy agradecido por este opportunidad compartir mi experiencias con ustedes! Este semana fue bueno y tengo mucho loco experiencias!

This week was so good! We taught so many lessons, and we were literally running from appointment to appointment. It was really a blessing.

We have one investigator, her name is Fresia, and she REALLY wants to be baptized. We have set 3 baptismal dates with her, and each time there is some reason why she cant be baptized. Mostly because each time she doesnt show up to her interview. But we FINALLY got her to come to her interview, only to find out that she smokes everyday. (I promise we taught about the word of wisdom at least 3 different times...and she failed to mention this) and she doesnt want to quit. So that was really hard. Hermana Lopez and I were so excited! But we still love her, and are working with her, and I KNOW she will follow the example of the Savior when she is ready, and when the Lord knows she is ready.

We had a ward party this week and there was karaoke, and it was HILARIOUS. It was seriously a blast. Everyone was terrible. I think that is what makes karaoke so fun. Also, the elders in our ward signed us up to sing a church song, and needless to say it was about as bad as nails on a chalkboard, but it was so much fun. I LOVE my ward here.

Changes are in a week, and I am excited to see what happens. Change is good. So we shall see! Its like Christmas.

I was reading in the scriptures this week, and I am learning about the importance of being humble, meek, and submissive. It is so important to be humble, and know that everything we have is because we have a loving Father in Heaven who allows us to experience all these things. He is the reason for our blessings. The Savior is a perfect example of humility as He humbly submit himself to the will of the Father in the Garden of Gathsemane. What a perfect and wonderful plan we have.

Matthew 26: 36-39

Mosiah 2: 21-24

I love you all!

con amor, Hermana Watt

Pictures

Kam and Ximena

Kam's Comment:  This was a serious as she would be. Oh and she named her blonde barbie Herman Watt!  Lol!

Another stray dog!

WEEK 16 -- GREAT WEEK!!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

My time is a little short today, but this week has been a really great one! (every day in the mission is great).

Flor was confirmed, and she has an amazing support system. She is so blessed, and it made me realized how blessed I am to have such an amazing support system, and to have grown up in the gospel. I know that the time is coming soon for the coming of the Lord, and I am so grateful that I have been called to help gather his sheep!!! It has been an experience that has changed my life.

We   love this area, and I hope that I never have to leave. It is so much fun here, and everyone is a big family. That is one thing I love about Chile! Everyone is family somehow, and if not, you are adopted in right away!

This week we taught many lessons, and all of our investigators want to be baptized, but they all have a hard time coming to church. They dont see a need to attend. But I have such a strong testimony of church attendance, and the importance of sacrament meeting.  We go to show our faith and our obedience, because we love the Lord,   and all He asks for is one day out of seven.

This week a man (drunk of course) came up to me and asked me if I would purchase his wine, and take it back to my country and tell every one I know about how great his wine is. I politely declined. Things like that are common here!

Anyway. I love this work, and I have such a strong testimony.

Keep on keepin on!

Love, Hermana Watt

WEEK 15 - BAPTISM!!!!

¡HOLA!

This week was so great! Especially yesterday. Hermana Lopez and I had a baptism! It was my first, and seriously one of the most amazing experiences in the world! I wish I could describe the feeling, but there aren´t even words.

Flor was baptized, and her whole famiy came. It was amazing to see how many people were there to support her. None of them are members... YET! (; hahaha. But it really was so neat to see someone make the decsion to come unto Christ. When I saw her be baptized, I wished that I could be baptized again, but then I remember that we have that opportunity every Sunday when we partake of the sacrament (: What a blessing it is!

Also, I had the chance to talk to my beautiful mama, and I feel so blessed to have such an amazing and supportive family. The Lord is really watching over me (:

This week we were knocking on doors trying to find new investigators and a man answered the door. I started to talk to Him in Spanish, then after I introduced us and told him that we have a message about Christ, He looked at me and said, I dont speak English, so I cant talk to you. Then I started laughing because I totally was talking to him in Spanish! What a punk. I need to work on my spanish pronounciation for sure. But still!

Also, we are still meeting with our investigator Alejandra who found us. She and her boyfriend are both listening to our message, and BOTH want to be baptized! They just need to get married first. haha. So we are working really hard with them! And they have the sweetest baby ever!

I love my area, and I hope that I stay here forever. I am finally comfortable, which means next change I am probably changing areas. hahaha.

Oh how I love you all and I am so thankful for your examples.

Love, Hermana Watt

Pictures

Hermana Watt, Flor, Hermana Lopez

Flor

Kam loves kids and they love her!

Talking on Skype

The missionaries are allowed to Skype their families on Mother's day and Christmas!  We got to talk to Kamryn and see her too!  She looks so happy and sounds so excited about her mission.  She told us about her daily schedule.  They get up at 7:00 a.m. and exercise, eat breakfast, individual scripture study and then she studies with her companion for two hours a day and then they are ready for the day!  If only I was that  disciplined!

She told us about the poverty of the people and the area she is serving in.  She said she loved the people so much.  

She spoke to us in Spanish and you can tell she is getting comfortable in the language.  She said the people speak so fast there.  As a matter of fact, Chile has the fastest Spanish speaking people!  She said she speaks Spanish with an American accent!  She also bore her testimony in Spanish.  

She spoke about the fire clean-up and how devastating it was.  She said it was very sad and humbling picking up bits and pieces of the people's homes and belongings.  She said the fire was a very scary thing for her because she could see flames all over the place and she told us about their first baptism, Flor.  

It was so great to see her happy, smiling face and to know she is happy in her service to the Lord and the people of Chile.

Kam on Skype on Mother's day

WEEK 14 - HOLA!

Not much has happened this week, and it has been a tough one, so I dont want to write much, but I do want to bear my testimony. 

I know that my Savior lives. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father who never wants us to give up. This life is really hard. We face many challenges, and sometimes I know we feel like it would just be easier to quit. But dont EVER quit. Keep moving forward. Keep living. And by living I mean BE HAPPY. Find happiness in the blessings we have through our trials. Be grateful for the opportunity to have opposition so you can grow. I know I wouldnt be half the person I am today without my trials. And I wouldnt be able to progress if it werent for my Savior. Whenever I feel like I cant do something, I remember the sacrifice of my Savior. If he can do that for me, I can do anything with His help. How blessed we are to be alive and to have this experience. How blessed we are to have a loving brother, our Savior, suffer for us not only so we could return to live with our Father in Heaven again, but also so we would know that we have someone who knows EXACTLY what we are going through. I love my Savior, and I have such a strong testimony of this gospel, and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to bring souls unto Christ.

I love you all.

Love, Hermana Watt

PICTURES!!

Is this little girl saying "I love you" ?

Making funny faces!

Hermana Watt and Hermana Lopez

She is all set to be a missionary!  She has her Book of Mormon and her name tag.  (If she can pass for Sister Watt that is!)

WEEK 13

Happy to be Serving

Time is going by wayyyy to fast here! I cannot believe that it is almost May already. I am so blessed, because I am staying in my area for another month and a half with hermana Lopez, and I am so happy because we have so many amazing investigators! (: This work is a huge blessing.

We have our first baptism on Mothers Day and I am beyond words excited! It is for a woman named Flor. We had a date set for her in April, but she called us a few days before and changed her mind. It was super hard, but now she really wants too. It was neat to see the spirit work, because this last lesson we had with her, we invited her to be baptized, and she said no. We asked her why, and she told us she doesnt want to pay tithing, because she barely has enough money to get by. Normally I would have left that to Hermana Lopez, because she is awesome, and actually knows spanish, but then, Hermana gave me the Its your turn! Look. I was thankful that in that moment I had always been a full tithe payer. I bore my testimony on the amazing blessings I had recieved from paying my tithing, and as I did, I started to see the spirit work in both of us. The Lord gave me the words, and She felt in her heart the importance of tithing. After I bore my testimony, it was quiet. Then she walked over to her calendar, and said, Mothers day is the day I want to be baptized. It has been one of my most happy moments here!!!

Last monday, we had the chance to explore some beautiful places in Valparaiso with a couple in our ward. It is beautiful here, and I feel blessed to be in such a beautiful area with such amazing people!

Until next week my friends!

Love you all, Hermana Watt

Exploring Valparaiso with Members

WEEK 12 - FIRE CLEAN-UP

FIRE CLEAN-UP

Hello everyone!

This week was very eventful! 

Lots of disasters require lots of service, lucky for us missionaries, because we love to help! We had the opportunity to go help clean up some of the remains of the fire, and it was the most humbling experience. These people already have nothing to start with, then to go see that everything that they did have was gone, broke my heart. But the faith that these people have is amazing. It was a priviledge to be able to help them! I love this church, because whenever something like this happens, we are the first to help, and we come with many hands! It was amazing how many people showed up to help these people. 

We had the neatest experience this week, and honestly, it was a huge answer to our prayers. Hermana Lopez and I have many investigators, but the problem is they dont come to church. We have been doing everything we can to try and help them progress, but they just arent. It is the hardest thing. So at one point this week, I just wanted to give up. I felt like I was failing the people. So I decided to pray. I asked Heavenly Father to help me find purpose for being here. I asked Him to help us find someone who was ready, and needed our help. Literally 5 minutes later, a girl came up to us and said, Please come teach me. I have been praying for help, and I felt like I should talk to you. Please come teach me what you know." That never happens. Really. It was a huge answer to my prayer. She is 19 and has a baby. She doesnt talk to her family, because they dont agree with the fact that she has a baby at this age. She had been searching for a way to raise her daughter in light and truth, and she found us.

The mission is amazing! Also, I got some things to celebrate Easter here with Hermana Lopez! She loved it. She has no idea what it is, but it was fun to share the experience with her! 

This week was amazing, and the mission is so rewarding. 

Thank you for all of your love and support!!!

Love, Hermana Watt

MISSION PICS

Hermana Lopez and Hermana Watt paint a door for a ward member

FIRE CLEAN-UP

EASTER 

Beautiful Easter Baskets!

The hearts on the door were for their Mission Mom....not sure what that is.