Monday, March 29, 2010
March 23, 2010
Hello everyone,
Well well well...where do I begin? On Saturday Elder Hernandez and I were in the Mission Office for a big part of the day. We were planning trainings for Zone Leader Council that was held on Monday. That's where all of the Zone leaders come from all over the mission and are trained by us and the mission president. We did two different trainings together. One on Obedience and another on Priestcraft. We did the one of Obedience because President Olson wanted us to, but also because there has been a lot of leadership that is breaking mission rules...being "apostate". The training on Priestcraft was related to making the trainings/meetings that the Zone leaders give to other missionaries more effective. I'll have to send you copies of the trainings to help you understand better. I was a little nervous beforehand but both trainings went well and President Olson was happy with them.
We cover 2 wards in our area here in Ogden. We went to both wards on Sunday and I enjoyed them. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates right now, and they were both at church on sunday. It's a mom and her 18 yr old daughter. They are way cool people...we are gonna help them paint their living room on saturday. I also get to go back to Brigham City on saturday for 2 baptisms of people that I taught in my last area. I'm excited about that. We did more planning in the office on sunday afternoon and then went out in the evening and visited people.
It's kind of a weird situation. I kinda have 2 companions. Elder Hernandez is the other Assistant, but him and I are separated with another companionship that we live with. Elder Mitchell and Elder Swisher are the other companionship. My other companion is Elder Mitchell. I'm with Elder Hernandez during Assistant responsibilities (Preparing trainings, Zone Conferences, Exchanges, etc), but during normal proselyting I'm with Elder Mitchell. It's gonna take some getting used to but it's all good. Oh guess what. Elder Hernandez and I get to go to a Mission President Seminar/AP Meeting at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake on April 16th. President even told us that they are going to arrange underground parking for us where the General Authorities park! :)
About General Conference. I get to go to ALL SESSIONS of General Conference. Saturday and Sunday. It's gonna be sweet! I'm way excited. Then I guess inbetween sessions we can just do whatever. It will be fun to go with some of the other missionaries. Who do you guys know that is going?
On Monday we took care of some more office work and then we went out and taught a lesson to some investigators. Ogden is sooo different that anywhere else I've served. It's a different kind of missionary work. The people here are dramatically less fortunate than most. It's sad, but at the same time, some people are way humble and open to the Gospel. As a missionary you can be way forward and up front with people here...you can just tell them what's up and it's no big deal. I'm gonna have to get used to it.
We have a car part of the time since we are split up. Our apartment is pretty nice but it is discusting. I can't believe that people live like that. I don't even want to sit on the toilet. Ugh. It's crazy. I've been wanting to clean but I haven't had time. It's fun living with another set of missionaries...there's never a dull moment.
We went to the Ogden Temple this morning. It was really nice to be in the Temple...I hadn't been for a few weeks. The 4 of us are gonna drive to Bountiful today to have some "Nielson's Frozen Custard." I guess it's really good. I keep hearing all about it, and since we have unlimited miles, we can drive there and not worry about how far it is. I need to go buy a belt today too because mine broke. :/
Zone Conference is coming up so Elder Henandez need to start planning like crazy. Planning trainings take quite a while if you want them to be good. Hopefully it will go well. We've talked to President Olson about what some of the core things are that we want to focus on so it shouldn't be hard to decide on what to train on.
Well I gotta go. I love you guys and miss you. Write me back soon. The church is true! Spread the Gospel. Keep the missionaries there busy!
~Elder Micheal Watts
Assistant to the President
Well well well...where do I begin? On Saturday Elder Hernandez and I were in the Mission Office for a big part of the day. We were planning trainings for Zone Leader Council that was held on Monday. That's where all of the Zone leaders come from all over the mission and are trained by us and the mission president. We did two different trainings together. One on Obedience and another on Priestcraft. We did the one of Obedience because President Olson wanted us to, but also because there has been a lot of leadership that is breaking mission rules...being "apostate". The training on Priestcraft was related to making the trainings/meetings that the Zone leaders give to other missionaries more effective. I'll have to send you copies of the trainings to help you understand better. I was a little nervous beforehand but both trainings went well and President Olson was happy with them.
We cover 2 wards in our area here in Ogden. We went to both wards on Sunday and I enjoyed them. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates right now, and they were both at church on sunday. It's a mom and her 18 yr old daughter. They are way cool people...we are gonna help them paint their living room on saturday. I also get to go back to Brigham City on saturday for 2 baptisms of people that I taught in my last area. I'm excited about that. We did more planning in the office on sunday afternoon and then went out in the evening and visited people.
It's kind of a weird situation. I kinda have 2 companions. Elder Hernandez is the other Assistant, but him and I are separated with another companionship that we live with. Elder Mitchell and Elder Swisher are the other companionship. My other companion is Elder Mitchell. I'm with Elder Hernandez during Assistant responsibilities (Preparing trainings, Zone Conferences, Exchanges, etc), but during normal proselyting I'm with Elder Mitchell. It's gonna take some getting used to but it's all good. Oh guess what. Elder Hernandez and I get to go to a Mission President Seminar/AP Meeting at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake on April 16th. President even told us that they are going to arrange underground parking for us where the General Authorities park! :)
About General Conference. I get to go to ALL SESSIONS of General Conference. Saturday and Sunday. It's gonna be sweet! I'm way excited. Then I guess inbetween sessions we can just do whatever. It will be fun to go with some of the other missionaries. Who do you guys know that is going?
On Monday we took care of some more office work and then we went out and taught a lesson to some investigators. Ogden is sooo different that anywhere else I've served. It's a different kind of missionary work. The people here are dramatically less fortunate than most. It's sad, but at the same time, some people are way humble and open to the Gospel. As a missionary you can be way forward and up front with people here...you can just tell them what's up and it's no big deal. I'm gonna have to get used to it.
We have a car part of the time since we are split up. Our apartment is pretty nice but it is discusting. I can't believe that people live like that. I don't even want to sit on the toilet. Ugh. It's crazy. I've been wanting to clean but I haven't had time. It's fun living with another set of missionaries...there's never a dull moment.
We went to the Ogden Temple this morning. It was really nice to be in the Temple...I hadn't been for a few weeks. The 4 of us are gonna drive to Bountiful today to have some "Nielson's Frozen Custard." I guess it's really good. I keep hearing all about it, and since we have unlimited miles, we can drive there and not worry about how far it is. I need to go buy a belt today too because mine broke. :/
Zone Conference is coming up so Elder Henandez need to start planning like crazy. Planning trainings take quite a while if you want them to be good. Hopefully it will go well. We've talked to President Olson about what some of the core things are that we want to focus on so it shouldn't be hard to decide on what to train on.
Well I gotta go. I love you guys and miss you. Write me back soon. The church is true! Spread the Gospel. Keep the missionaries there busy!
~Elder Micheal Watts
Assistant to the President
March 19, 2010
Hey,
Alright so we finally found some time to take a mini-p-day. We only have a couple hours to email and go shopping and then it's back to work. Life has be crazy.
So here's what happened. On monday morning at about 7:50am Elder Onon and I were getting ready for the day when I got a call from President Olson. It was unusual because transfer calls weren't until the next day. I answered the phone and he asked me if I had a place where I could talk in private. I went into one of the bedrooms and at this point I was getting worried. Things started running through my mind because this wasn't normal for President to call like this. I was trying to think about what he could be calling for and all I could think of was if someone had died or something. Anyway, he told me that he wanted to call me to be an Assistant to the President and asked me if I would accept. Of course I accepted, but I was shocked. I didn't expect it at all. We talked for a few minutes, and then the call ended. I stood there not knowing what to say lol. Right after the call I got down on my knees and prayed to Heavenly Father and asked him to help me as I try to fulfill this calling. I was told by the current Assistants that I would be getting picked up the next day at 9:30am, so I had to pack, say my goodbyes, and teach lessons all before the following morning. On Tuesday morning, the Assistants, Elder Hernandez and Elder McDaniel (who I replaced) picked me up. We traveled to the Ogden Tabernacle where upon arriving we had a meeting with President Olson. Soon after that the new group of missionaries showed up. We greeted them as they got off the bus and helped them carry their luggage into the tabernacle. We had lunch with them, and then we had an orientation with the new missionaries and President & Sister Olson. The office staff did their trainings, and then after that we took the new missionaries out on the streets of Ogden!!! It was fun. I remember my first day out on the streets. All of it brought back a lot of memories from when I was in their shoes. Now I'm on the other side of it. The greenies had their interviews with President, and then we all went to Presidents home for dinner. Following the dinner we gave a training/orientation, then we had a testimony meeting. The Spirit was strong and I really enjoyed it. After it was over and when the greenies went to bed, we went upstairs with President and Sister Olson and we picked out who would be the trainers for each greenie. While we were doing that, President offered up drinks/snacks and it was fun haha. They have a big stash in their garage of all kinds of drinks, etc. Then Sister Olson has a big candy stash. The evening went late and I was exhausted. On wednesday, we had breakfast at the Olson's, and then we were at the Tabernacle for most of the day. We gave Zone Leader, District Leader, and Trainer trainings for a good part of the day, and then the greenies met their new companions. We went to lunch after that and then came back and did some office work. This whole thing is really weird for me because I've never been a district leader or a zone leader, and now I have to train all of them. Elder Hernandez and I are the Assistants, so we will be doing Zone Leader Counsel trainings, Zone Conference trainings, and going on exchanges with Zone leaders all over the mission. Not to mention the office work that we will be doing. I think this is the first time ever where a missionary has gone straight from Senior companion to Assistant without anything inbetween...and only being out 9 months. It's gonna shake things up fo sho. President Olson says that there is no ladder in the mission...and he is definetly getting that message accross with me lol. I'm excited about the calling to be an Assistant, and I know that Heavenly Father will help me as I try to fulfill this calling. After we got done with some office work, we had dinner at the Olson's again with the departing missionaries. We had a shrimp pasta with salad, baguette bread, and homemade ice cream and cookies for dessert. Sister Olson is an amazing cook. Later that night we went out visiting some of the people that we are teaching. On thursday we had breakfast at the Olson's again :) and then we took a missionary that was going home around to say goodbye to some people. After that, Elder Shepard, one of the office missionaries took us to lunch (indian food...it was pretty good), and then we updated the transfer board. It took a long time but it looks great. I became van certified so that I can drive the big van when needed too. We had dinner at our apartment, and then we taught a lesson to one of our investigators. We committed her and her mom for baptism and they both have baptismal dates for April 10th! It was way sweet. I hadn't taught anyone for like 4 days so it was a little weird lol. We live in the apartments right across the street from the Temple, and we have a brand new Subaru to drive. We live with 2 other missionaries in the apartment, who are kind of like our companions too. Elder Hernandez and I will be together when we have responsibilites to take care of as Assistants (Exchanges, Zone Conferences, meetings, etc) and then we will be split up with the other companionship at the other times. It's something new that President Olson is doing, so we are still trying to get used to it. It's kind of like we have multiple companions all at the same time. This morning we had a zone study, and then after we email and go shopping, we're gonna pick up our other companions, Elder Swisher (he came out with me), and Elder Mitchell. We'll have lunch, and then Elder Hernandez are gonna start planning Zone Leader Trainings and Zone Conference. It's gonna be crazy. Since I've been an Assistant, I've already started to hear all the crap about other missionaries being disobedient, etc. Some missionaries are acting differently around me now...sucking up, asking for things. But there are some perks that I'm pretty excited about. I get to go to General Conference!!! Not only that, but each and every session! :) I also get to go do the Salt Lake City Temple trip at the end of the transfer too. I'm way excited about it! All of this has just been happening so quick. It's awesome but overwhelming at the same time. I feel inexperienced, some might feel that I'm not qualified, and maybe I'm not, but I know that God will help me do anything. I can do this. It might be challenging and hard at times, but I know that this will be a great thing for me and I will be able to learn so much. Being and Assistant is very different from what I was doing before. You have a different view of everything...you see a different side of things and of the missionaries, and your "in the know" when it comes to the mission and what's going on. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve my Father in Heaven and to serve my Mission President and fellow missionaries. The next few months will be an adventure. President Olson told me that this is a calling. I could be doing this for 3 months, or maybe longer...there isn't a time limit. We'll see how it goes. "Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!" I'm on the ride and all I can do now is ride it, work hard, and have fun. All I can say is that I'm tired lol. I better get used to it I guess.
I have 2 baptisms on March 27th of people that I taught in Brigham City that I'm gonna go back for...I'm excited. Hopefully we will find some good success in the few wards that we cover. I think Elder Hernandez and I, and then the other companionship combined only cover 3 wards here in Ogden. Our areas are way ghetto but cool at the same time cause some of the people are crazy haha. There is a lot of welfare given by the church in our areas, and there has been a lot of success in the past so hopefully we can keep that success going. It was hard to leave my last area in Brigham City cause there were so many great people there, and I really grew to love them. I took pictures before I left so I'll have to send them to ya when I get a chance. I miss Elder Onon too but it's all good. I know I need to be here right now and I know that it will be great.
I love you all so much and miss you tons. I really mean that. I know I say it every time, but it's true...and the meaning is always the same. Just cause I say it all the time doesn't mean I'm not any less sincere. I am so thankful for you all and I keep you in my thoughts and prayers often. I hope that you are continuing to do missionary work and are keepin' those missionaries busy. I hope that all of you are doing well. Write me back soon and send me some pictures!!! :) I hope that I didn't forget anything lol. Oh about our apartment. The apartments that we live in across from the Temple are pretty nice, but ours is filthy. It's gross and it's gonna change haha. I'm gonna be doin' some cleaning as soon as I have a chance cause it's just gross.
Holla back at me soon yo! The church is true! Peace!
~Elder Micheal Watts
Assistant to the President
Alright so we finally found some time to take a mini-p-day. We only have a couple hours to email and go shopping and then it's back to work. Life has be crazy.
So here's what happened. On monday morning at about 7:50am Elder Onon and I were getting ready for the day when I got a call from President Olson. It was unusual because transfer calls weren't until the next day. I answered the phone and he asked me if I had a place where I could talk in private. I went into one of the bedrooms and at this point I was getting worried. Things started running through my mind because this wasn't normal for President to call like this. I was trying to think about what he could be calling for and all I could think of was if someone had died or something. Anyway, he told me that he wanted to call me to be an Assistant to the President and asked me if I would accept. Of course I accepted, but I was shocked. I didn't expect it at all. We talked for a few minutes, and then the call ended. I stood there not knowing what to say lol. Right after the call I got down on my knees and prayed to Heavenly Father and asked him to help me as I try to fulfill this calling. I was told by the current Assistants that I would be getting picked up the next day at 9:30am, so I had to pack, say my goodbyes, and teach lessons all before the following morning. On Tuesday morning, the Assistants, Elder Hernandez and Elder McDaniel (who I replaced) picked me up. We traveled to the Ogden Tabernacle where upon arriving we had a meeting with President Olson. Soon after that the new group of missionaries showed up. We greeted them as they got off the bus and helped them carry their luggage into the tabernacle. We had lunch with them, and then we had an orientation with the new missionaries and President & Sister Olson. The office staff did their trainings, and then after that we took the new missionaries out on the streets of Ogden!!! It was fun. I remember my first day out on the streets. All of it brought back a lot of memories from when I was in their shoes. Now I'm on the other side of it. The greenies had their interviews with President, and then we all went to Presidents home for dinner. Following the dinner we gave a training/orientation, then we had a testimony meeting. The Spirit was strong and I really enjoyed it. After it was over and when the greenies went to bed, we went upstairs with President and Sister Olson and we picked out who would be the trainers for each greenie. While we were doing that, President offered up drinks/snacks and it was fun haha. They have a big stash in their garage of all kinds of drinks, etc. Then Sister Olson has a big candy stash. The evening went late and I was exhausted. On wednesday, we had breakfast at the Olson's, and then we were at the Tabernacle for most of the day. We gave Zone Leader, District Leader, and Trainer trainings for a good part of the day, and then the greenies met their new companions. We went to lunch after that and then came back and did some office work. This whole thing is really weird for me because I've never been a district leader or a zone leader, and now I have to train all of them. Elder Hernandez and I are the Assistants, so we will be doing Zone Leader Counsel trainings, Zone Conference trainings, and going on exchanges with Zone leaders all over the mission. Not to mention the office work that we will be doing. I think this is the first time ever where a missionary has gone straight from Senior companion to Assistant without anything inbetween...and only being out 9 months. It's gonna shake things up fo sho. President Olson says that there is no ladder in the mission...and he is definetly getting that message accross with me lol. I'm excited about the calling to be an Assistant, and I know that Heavenly Father will help me as I try to fulfill this calling. After we got done with some office work, we had dinner at the Olson's again with the departing missionaries. We had a shrimp pasta with salad, baguette bread, and homemade ice cream and cookies for dessert. Sister Olson is an amazing cook. Later that night we went out visiting some of the people that we are teaching. On thursday we had breakfast at the Olson's again :) and then we took a missionary that was going home around to say goodbye to some people. After that, Elder Shepard, one of the office missionaries took us to lunch (indian food...it was pretty good), and then we updated the transfer board. It took a long time but it looks great. I became van certified so that I can drive the big van when needed too. We had dinner at our apartment, and then we taught a lesson to one of our investigators. We committed her and her mom for baptism and they both have baptismal dates for April 10th! It was way sweet. I hadn't taught anyone for like 4 days so it was a little weird lol. We live in the apartments right across the street from the Temple, and we have a brand new Subaru to drive. We live with 2 other missionaries in the apartment, who are kind of like our companions too. Elder Hernandez and I will be together when we have responsibilites to take care of as Assistants (Exchanges, Zone Conferences, meetings, etc) and then we will be split up with the other companionship at the other times. It's something new that President Olson is doing, so we are still trying to get used to it. It's kind of like we have multiple companions all at the same time. This morning we had a zone study, and then after we email and go shopping, we're gonna pick up our other companions, Elder Swisher (he came out with me), and Elder Mitchell. We'll have lunch, and then Elder Hernandez are gonna start planning Zone Leader Trainings and Zone Conference. It's gonna be crazy. Since I've been an Assistant, I've already started to hear all the crap about other missionaries being disobedient, etc. Some missionaries are acting differently around me now...sucking up, asking for things. But there are some perks that I'm pretty excited about. I get to go to General Conference!!! Not only that, but each and every session! :) I also get to go do the Salt Lake City Temple trip at the end of the transfer too. I'm way excited about it! All of this has just been happening so quick. It's awesome but overwhelming at the same time. I feel inexperienced, some might feel that I'm not qualified, and maybe I'm not, but I know that God will help me do anything. I can do this. It might be challenging and hard at times, but I know that this will be a great thing for me and I will be able to learn so much. Being and Assistant is very different from what I was doing before. You have a different view of everything...you see a different side of things and of the missionaries, and your "in the know" when it comes to the mission and what's going on. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to serve my Father in Heaven and to serve my Mission President and fellow missionaries. The next few months will be an adventure. President Olson told me that this is a calling. I could be doing this for 3 months, or maybe longer...there isn't a time limit. We'll see how it goes. "Life is a rollercoaster, you just gotta ride it!" I'm on the ride and all I can do now is ride it, work hard, and have fun. All I can say is that I'm tired lol. I better get used to it I guess.
I have 2 baptisms on March 27th of people that I taught in Brigham City that I'm gonna go back for...I'm excited. Hopefully we will find some good success in the few wards that we cover. I think Elder Hernandez and I, and then the other companionship combined only cover 3 wards here in Ogden. Our areas are way ghetto but cool at the same time cause some of the people are crazy haha. There is a lot of welfare given by the church in our areas, and there has been a lot of success in the past so hopefully we can keep that success going. It was hard to leave my last area in Brigham City cause there were so many great people there, and I really grew to love them. I took pictures before I left so I'll have to send them to ya when I get a chance. I miss Elder Onon too but it's all good. I know I need to be here right now and I know that it will be great.
I love you all so much and miss you tons. I really mean that. I know I say it every time, but it's true...and the meaning is always the same. Just cause I say it all the time doesn't mean I'm not any less sincere. I am so thankful for you all and I keep you in my thoughts and prayers often. I hope that you are continuing to do missionary work and are keepin' those missionaries busy. I hope that all of you are doing well. Write me back soon and send me some pictures!!! :) I hope that I didn't forget anything lol. Oh about our apartment. The apartments that we live in across from the Temple are pretty nice, but ours is filthy. It's gross and it's gonna change haha. I'm gonna be doin' some cleaning as soon as I have a chance cause it's just gross.
Holla back at me soon yo! The church is true! Peace!
~Elder Micheal Watts
Assistant to the President
March 2, 2010
Hello,
I hope that this email finds everyone doing well. It's been quite the week for me. Early this past week I got a call from the Assistants to the President. They invited me to attend a Leadership Training that would be held on Thursday, Feb.25th. I didn't say this to them on the phone, but I was thinking to myself, 'Why do they want me to come to a leadership training for all the leaders in the mission? I'm not in a leadership position.' I accepted and said that I would be there. It was a 4 hour training in Ogden for all of the leaders and a few select others...one of them being me (They told me to leave my companion in Brigham City with another missionary while I attended the meeting). I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. I thanked President Olson for inviting me...and while we were talking, we were kinda joking around about why he would have invited me, and he told me that he had his reasons. Hmm. Since then, I have been able to attend a District Leader Training with our zone leaders and the 2 district leaders in our zone. We all talked about the training we recieved in Ogden, and talked about what to train missionaries on in the future. I went on an exchange yesterday with my district leader Elder Marion and during our exchange we planned a training for the district that we will be giving together tomorrow. It's gonna be sweet. I'm interested to see what will happen this coming transfer. President told me that I would only be with Elder Onon for one transfer so we'll see what happens.
I got a blessing earlier this week from my zone leaders. It was interesting because in the blessing it said that if I worked hard and was obedient, that I would be healed. So guess what I'm doing? Haha. Working hard and being obedient! Not that I wasn't doing that already but ya know. :) I went to the Chiropractor and he told me to do some stretches at home and that it should help. He told me to get a work out/body ball to use so I got one yesterday. Bro. & Sis. Parsons bought it for me. :) She is the Relief Society President and that are way cool. She even fixed one of my suit jackets for me. The liner of the jacket was wearing and coming apart so she fixed it up for me. I'll send you the part of the liner that she replaced for me so that you can see it.
We committed 2 people in one day this week to keep the Word of Wisdom. It was way cool because one of the guys that we committed you could tell had a hard time doing it, but after the lesson, we walked out of his apartment with 2 big bags full of a coffee maker, coffee, tea, ciggarettes, and an ash tray. It's awesome to see people make steps like that in their lives to come closer to the Savior. We started teaching a few new people this week and picked up a new date last night. The work is going well and I am enjoying my mission.
President Olson called us this week and told us that we had been invited to a luncheon by the Mongolian Delegation who is coming to Brigham City today. They are coming to look into opening some kind of branch associated with Utah State, and are having a luncheon at Maddox. A group of people are coming from Mongolia and they want my companion Elder Onon to be there. We are going there in about an hour and I think Elder Onon is pretty excited. We'll try to get pics and send them to you. It should be interesting for me since I don't speak the language at all.
We have 2 baptisms coming up this weekend for two little 9 year olds. One is named Bridger Eddings and his baptism is on Saturday, and then the other is Lily Pickett, and her baptism will be on sunday. I'm excited...we haven't had a baptism since I've been here so it will be nice. We have 6 set up for this month so hopefully everything will go well for the people that we are teaching so that they can make their baptismal dates.
Well I better go. I love you guys and miss ya a lot. I hope that everything is going well. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily. We went to the Ogden Temple this morning and did a session. It was nice to be inside the Temple and feel the Spirit that is there. It had seemed like it had been forever since we had been to the Temple, but it had only been 2 weeks. You guys should go to the Temple as often as you can!!! How is the missionary work going in the ward? Pray for missionary experiences, not just opportunities! Remember that you must prepare yourselves to do missionary work, which includes daily prayer and scripture study, and weekly church attendance. God is preparing people for the Gospel all over the place, but God isn't going to put someone that is prepared for the Gospel in the hands of someone that isn't prepared to share it. Do what you need to do to get prepared so that you can be a part of this great work, bring people unto Christ!!! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon. The church is true!!!
~Elder Micheal Watts
I hope that this email finds everyone doing well. It's been quite the week for me. Early this past week I got a call from the Assistants to the President. They invited me to attend a Leadership Training that would be held on Thursday, Feb.25th. I didn't say this to them on the phone, but I was thinking to myself, 'Why do they want me to come to a leadership training for all the leaders in the mission? I'm not in a leadership position.' I accepted and said that I would be there. It was a 4 hour training in Ogden for all of the leaders and a few select others...one of them being me (They told me to leave my companion in Brigham City with another missionary while I attended the meeting). I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. I thanked President Olson for inviting me...and while we were talking, we were kinda joking around about why he would have invited me, and he told me that he had his reasons. Hmm. Since then, I have been able to attend a District Leader Training with our zone leaders and the 2 district leaders in our zone. We all talked about the training we recieved in Ogden, and talked about what to train missionaries on in the future. I went on an exchange yesterday with my district leader Elder Marion and during our exchange we planned a training for the district that we will be giving together tomorrow. It's gonna be sweet. I'm interested to see what will happen this coming transfer. President told me that I would only be with Elder Onon for one transfer so we'll see what happens.
I got a blessing earlier this week from my zone leaders. It was interesting because in the blessing it said that if I worked hard and was obedient, that I would be healed. So guess what I'm doing? Haha. Working hard and being obedient! Not that I wasn't doing that already but ya know. :) I went to the Chiropractor and he told me to do some stretches at home and that it should help. He told me to get a work out/body ball to use so I got one yesterday. Bro. & Sis. Parsons bought it for me. :) She is the Relief Society President and that are way cool. She even fixed one of my suit jackets for me. The liner of the jacket was wearing and coming apart so she fixed it up for me. I'll send you the part of the liner that she replaced for me so that you can see it.
We committed 2 people in one day this week to keep the Word of Wisdom. It was way cool because one of the guys that we committed you could tell had a hard time doing it, but after the lesson, we walked out of his apartment with 2 big bags full of a coffee maker, coffee, tea, ciggarettes, and an ash tray. It's awesome to see people make steps like that in their lives to come closer to the Savior. We started teaching a few new people this week and picked up a new date last night. The work is going well and I am enjoying my mission.
President Olson called us this week and told us that we had been invited to a luncheon by the Mongolian Delegation who is coming to Brigham City today. They are coming to look into opening some kind of branch associated with Utah State, and are having a luncheon at Maddox. A group of people are coming from Mongolia and they want my companion Elder Onon to be there. We are going there in about an hour and I think Elder Onon is pretty excited. We'll try to get pics and send them to you. It should be interesting for me since I don't speak the language at all.
We have 2 baptisms coming up this weekend for two little 9 year olds. One is named Bridger Eddings and his baptism is on Saturday, and then the other is Lily Pickett, and her baptism will be on sunday. I'm excited...we haven't had a baptism since I've been here so it will be nice. We have 6 set up for this month so hopefully everything will go well for the people that we are teaching so that they can make their baptismal dates.
Well I better go. I love you guys and miss ya a lot. I hope that everything is going well. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily. We went to the Ogden Temple this morning and did a session. It was nice to be inside the Temple and feel the Spirit that is there. It had seemed like it had been forever since we had been to the Temple, but it had only been 2 weeks. You guys should go to the Temple as often as you can!!! How is the missionary work going in the ward? Pray for missionary experiences, not just opportunities! Remember that you must prepare yourselves to do missionary work, which includes daily prayer and scripture study, and weekly church attendance. God is preparing people for the Gospel all over the place, but God isn't going to put someone that is prepared for the Gospel in the hands of someone that isn't prepared to share it. Do what you need to do to get prepared so that you can be a part of this great work, bring people unto Christ!!! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon. The church is true!!!
~Elder Micheal Watts
March 9, 2010
Hi everybody,
We had a great p-day last tuesday. We went to the Ogden Temple at 6am and then at 12pm we went to Maddox for the Mongolian Delegation Luncheon. It was about 1 1/2 hours long and I can tell Elder Onon had a great time. He was in da zone! I ended up visiting with the employees from Utah State cause everyone else only spoke Mongolian. Elder Onon talked to them the whole time and I think he enjoyed it. He said it was a little weird for him cause he hasn't spoken Mongolian like that for a long time. They gave each of us a pin from Mopngolia to put on our jackets which was kinda cool.
Today we went to the Odgen Temple again for a session. It was way early so I'm pretty tired. After that we went to Wal-Mart, and now we are here doing emails. After this we might go have a Nerf War with some other missionaries, and then later we are having dinner with the Illum's. They are a sweet family...pretty young with a few kids, we are looking forward to it.
We had 2 baptisms this weekend. Bridger Eddings, 9 yrs old, got baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday. Lily Picket, 9 yrs old, got baptized and confirmed on Sunday. They asked me to do the confirmation which was cool. Elder Onon baptized her. We were also able to attend an 8 yr old baptism on saturday...one of our ward mission leaders kids. It was a big day for his family because one of their kids got baptized, they blessed their baby, and they had one of their kids sealed to them in the Temple...all in one day. Cool huh? So overall we were able to participate in 2 baby blessings, and 3 confirmations all in one weekend. It was awesome. All of the services were very nice and the Spirit was strong. We have 2 more baptisms coming up on March 27th. One of them is named Brayden Hunsaker, he is 19 yrs old, and the other is Jon Bishop. He is about 60 yrs old. We committed him for baptism the other night, it was way cool. When I got into this area, everyone told me not to push him or pressure him, and that he only wanted to meet once a week. His wife is an active member, and I guess he's been involved with the church for 40 years. He has been coming to church for months and has been meeting with us. A while ago he went on a church history tour with some member friends, and I think that is what really got him, and what really built his testimony. Anyway, Jon has been ready to get baptized for a long time, and I wanted to commit him. Elder Onon and I talked about it, and we decided to commit him for baptism. We told the fellowship ahead of time that we were going to do it, and when we taught the lesson we did it. Something you need to know is that during the previous lesson, I knew he was ready, but Jon didn't think he was. We decided to go over the baptism interview questions with him, and I think that helped him realize that he was ready. So back to the last lesson where we committed him. We taught the Gospel lesson, and during the baptism part we talked about the interview questions, bore testimony, and committed him to get baptized on March 27th. When we asked him, he said, "Okay lets do it." We were so excited! Ahh!! Haha. It was a miracle. His wife was way excited too, and the next day in church he was telling everyone about it and how he was gettin' baptized. We are working with some other people to help them reach baptism but those are the 2 that are the closest. I'm lovin' it.
English lessons with Elder Onon are going okay. It's hard sometimes because he is kind of set in his ways about how he wants to study. I think I've been able to help him but there is always room for improvement right?
Transfers are a week from tomorrow so don't send anything to the house until after I find out what is going to happen. Interviews are tomorrow so hopefully President will tell me what he's thinkin'.
We haven't had a shower in our apartment for almost a week now. Every time we want to take a shower we have to go upstairs and use the members shower. It's not very convenient, especially since we can only do it during certain times. The Barkers are having some work done in the basement and are having some sheetrock replaced around the shower and in the kitchen. Because of what they are doing, the threshhold of the shower is torn apart so we can't use it. The whole thing really needs to be re-done, so the Barkers are trying to find someone that can do it for them without spending a lot of money. We are going to do some painting for them after everything is done getting worked on. Hopefully it will get finished soon cause I want my shower back lol.
Hahaha that's funny that you made a green dinner for the greenie in the ward. I never got one of those, that's cool though. You guys will have to make sure you break 'em in and keep dem missionaries busy!
I've got a new motto. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it." Elder Onon and I pray for miracles every day and they happen. We have a miracle every day, and it's because we pray for miracles, we expect miracles (which goes along the same lines of having faith), and we work hard for the miracle. As we do those things, miracles happen. It amazing. God loves us so much, and he wants to and is willing to bless us, but we have to hold up our end of the deal if we want him to hold up his end of the deal.
Well I better go. I wish I could write more, I'll have to try and write some letters later today. Tell Jenni and Dad I'm sorry for not emailing back today. I'll write letters and get 'em in da mail tomorrow. I love all of you so much and I miss ya. The church is true! Spread the Gospel. Pray for missionary experiences, not just opportunities! Miracles happen every day. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it."
~Elder Micheal Watts
We had a great p-day last tuesday. We went to the Ogden Temple at 6am and then at 12pm we went to Maddox for the Mongolian Delegation Luncheon. It was about 1 1/2 hours long and I can tell Elder Onon had a great time. He was in da zone! I ended up visiting with the employees from Utah State cause everyone else only spoke Mongolian. Elder Onon talked to them the whole time and I think he enjoyed it. He said it was a little weird for him cause he hasn't spoken Mongolian like that for a long time. They gave each of us a pin from Mopngolia to put on our jackets which was kinda cool.
Today we went to the Odgen Temple again for a session. It was way early so I'm pretty tired. After that we went to Wal-Mart, and now we are here doing emails. After this we might go have a Nerf War with some other missionaries, and then later we are having dinner with the Illum's. They are a sweet family...pretty young with a few kids, we are looking forward to it.
We had 2 baptisms this weekend. Bridger Eddings, 9 yrs old, got baptized on Saturday and then confirmed on Sunday. Lily Picket, 9 yrs old, got baptized and confirmed on Sunday. They asked me to do the confirmation which was cool. Elder Onon baptized her. We were also able to attend an 8 yr old baptism on saturday...one of our ward mission leaders kids. It was a big day for his family because one of their kids got baptized, they blessed their baby, and they had one of their kids sealed to them in the Temple...all in one day. Cool huh? So overall we were able to participate in 2 baby blessings, and 3 confirmations all in one weekend. It was awesome. All of the services were very nice and the Spirit was strong. We have 2 more baptisms coming up on March 27th. One of them is named Brayden Hunsaker, he is 19 yrs old, and the other is Jon Bishop. He is about 60 yrs old. We committed him for baptism the other night, it was way cool. When I got into this area, everyone told me not to push him or pressure him, and that he only wanted to meet once a week. His wife is an active member, and I guess he's been involved with the church for 40 years. He has been coming to church for months and has been meeting with us. A while ago he went on a church history tour with some member friends, and I think that is what really got him, and what really built his testimony. Anyway, Jon has been ready to get baptized for a long time, and I wanted to commit him. Elder Onon and I talked about it, and we decided to commit him for baptism. We told the fellowship ahead of time that we were going to do it, and when we taught the lesson we did it. Something you need to know is that during the previous lesson, I knew he was ready, but Jon didn't think he was. We decided to go over the baptism interview questions with him, and I think that helped him realize that he was ready. So back to the last lesson where we committed him. We taught the Gospel lesson, and during the baptism part we talked about the interview questions, bore testimony, and committed him to get baptized on March 27th. When we asked him, he said, "Okay lets do it." We were so excited! Ahh!! Haha. It was a miracle. His wife was way excited too, and the next day in church he was telling everyone about it and how he was gettin' baptized. We are working with some other people to help them reach baptism but those are the 2 that are the closest. I'm lovin' it.
English lessons with Elder Onon are going okay. It's hard sometimes because he is kind of set in his ways about how he wants to study. I think I've been able to help him but there is always room for improvement right?
Transfers are a week from tomorrow so don't send anything to the house until after I find out what is going to happen. Interviews are tomorrow so hopefully President will tell me what he's thinkin'.
We haven't had a shower in our apartment for almost a week now. Every time we want to take a shower we have to go upstairs and use the members shower. It's not very convenient, especially since we can only do it during certain times. The Barkers are having some work done in the basement and are having some sheetrock replaced around the shower and in the kitchen. Because of what they are doing, the threshhold of the shower is torn apart so we can't use it. The whole thing really needs to be re-done, so the Barkers are trying to find someone that can do it for them without spending a lot of money. We are going to do some painting for them after everything is done getting worked on. Hopefully it will get finished soon cause I want my shower back lol.
Hahaha that's funny that you made a green dinner for the greenie in the ward. I never got one of those, that's cool though. You guys will have to make sure you break 'em in and keep dem missionaries busy!
I've got a new motto. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it." Elder Onon and I pray for miracles every day and they happen. We have a miracle every day, and it's because we pray for miracles, we expect miracles (which goes along the same lines of having faith), and we work hard for the miracle. As we do those things, miracles happen. It amazing. God loves us so much, and he wants to and is willing to bless us, but we have to hold up our end of the deal if we want him to hold up his end of the deal.
Well I better go. I wish I could write more, I'll have to try and write some letters later today. Tell Jenni and Dad I'm sorry for not emailing back today. I'll write letters and get 'em in da mail tomorrow. I love all of you so much and I miss ya. The church is true! Spread the Gospel. Pray for missionary experiences, not just opportunities! Miracles happen every day. "Pray for it, expect it, work for it."
~Elder Micheal Watts
February 23, 2010
Hi everyone,
We had zone conference this week in Logan. It was my first time there, and on the way we drove past the Logan Temple...it is really pretty. I can't wait to do a session there. I'll have to start going there once they start remodeling the Ogden Temple. Did you hear about that? Look it up on the church website. I didn't expect the church to completly change the Ogden Temple but I'm sure it will look great. The site where the Brigham City Temple will be is right down the street from where we live. It's right accross the street from the Tabernacle. The church has bought some additional land and will be tearing down structures to make more room for the Temple grounds. Construction probably won't start until later this year. At each zone conference, vehicles are inspected. I knew that this was going to happen, so I made sure that our car was cleaned up. The members that we live with, the Barkers, work at a car dealership, so we took our car there and Bro.Barker had them clean the engine and wash the car for us. We cleaned the inside and then did a few touch ups. Our car was the overall winner out of all the other cars. Holla! Haha. :)
Okay so about my headaches. The mission doctor, Dr.Nellis, hasn't been very proactive about helping me, so I decided to ask around and talk to doctors myself about what is going on. I've talked to many different people and from that I decided that maybe the cause of my headaches is coming from my neck or back. Dr.Hoopes is a Chiropractor here in Brigham City and his services are free to missionaries. I've heard good things about him from members, and so I decided to go see him...Sister Olson also encouraged it. He took a look at me and massaged my neck area and is pretty sure that the problem is coming from my neck, etc. My muscles are tense and he says that it causes muscles to contract and cause headaches. He wrote down a bunch of stuff but I don't understand any of it lol. Pretty much my neck area is jacked up and so he is helping me with it. He's been massaging my neck and doing some other things to try and help me, and so far it's working. I've seen him twice and I've hardly had any headaches since. A few here and there but I'm getting better. I haven't gotten a blessing yet, but I will try and get one soon. Thanks for your prayers and for the drugs you sent me mom. Haha.
I had a great p-day last tuesday. We went to the Temple early in the morning which was nice since I hadn't been in 2 weeks. After that we came back to Brigham City to do emails and shopping, and then we went back to Ogden to a place called Fat Cats. There we were able to go bowling and do bumper cars for free. It was a lot of fun. We even went indoor skydiving, but we had to pay a little bit for that. We got it half off and they gave us a dvd of it for free too. It was a fun p-day...I'm not sure what we are going to do today, but hopefully we will be able to get together and do something.
Haha okay so I learned a new song this week. It's called "The Chastity Song." It's kind of like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," but it's a little different. It goes like this. -Head shoulders no no no's, knees and toes knees and toes, head shoulders no no no's, eyes ears mouth and nose.- It's pretty much a song that says what is okay and what isn't okay to touch lol. While you sing the no no no's part you go over your abdomen with your hands, which means that those parts of your body...private parts, aren't okay to touch. It's kind of like the Bathing Suit Rule. You don't think about, look at, talk about, or touch anything covered by a bathing suit. We use these rules and songs to teach little kids the Law of Chastity. Haha I think the song was pretty funny, hopefully it made sense.
Alright so having a companion that you are with 24/7, you definetly find out their favorite things and the things that they do the most. Some things that I've noticed that are Elder Onon's favorite things are: He loves soda...he drinks it allll the time. When he chews gum, he chews with him mouth open and smacks it around. He really likes Michael Jackson and his song 'Thriller.' He says the word 'dang' a lot, and he loves the Hacka. It's some Tongan song and dance. Haha anyway it's just funny the things that you notice about someone when you are with them allll the time. He is a great missionary though and I am really thankful for him. I think it's so cool that he is a convert, and that he joined the church only 3 years ago. His english is improving, and we are having success.
Funny story. I was looking at my District Leader, Elder Marion's pictures, and there was this girl that looked really familiar. Well come to find out, the girl in the photo album is Sister Black. Kelsey Black is one of my good friends from college, and her sister went on a mission. Elder Marion was with Sister Black (Kelsey's sister) in the MTC and took a picture with her. It's such a small world.
So pretty much the Donovan family is one of my favorite families here in this area. Bro.Donovan is an artist and has a studio that he works at. Sis.Donovan doesn't work I don't think, but one of their daughters just came home from a mission, and their boys are approaching mission age. They are a way cool family, and are very missionary minded. We are going to their home for lunch on sunday and will probably be teaching a lesson. The Donovans said that they are trying to find someone for us to teach for sunday after lunch. It's music to my ears to hear that members want to help in the work.
We are having some great success in our area. We've picked up 3 new investigators this week and 5 new baptismal dates for March. 4 of those baptismal dates we picked up yesterday! It was amazing. I'm excited about the work and we are definetly seeing miracles. Heavenly Father is blessing us fo sho!
We didn't make it to the Temple this morning...we didn't have a ride. It's all good though. We were still able to do our studies and prepare lessons for later tonight. I found a couple cool quotes this week that I thought you might like:
-"Enjoy the little things in life because one day you may realize they were the big things."
-"Don't ask God to make your life easier. Ask Him to make you a stronger person."
I'm going to send you my zip drive with more pictures on it so keep an eye out for it in the mail.
I hope that all of you are doing well. I love you and miss you. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily. Keep me updated on the missionary work that is going on there at home. Keep those missionaries busy! I hope to hear from you soon.
~Elder Micheal Watts
We had zone conference this week in Logan. It was my first time there, and on the way we drove past the Logan Temple...it is really pretty. I can't wait to do a session there. I'll have to start going there once they start remodeling the Ogden Temple. Did you hear about that? Look it up on the church website. I didn't expect the church to completly change the Ogden Temple but I'm sure it will look great. The site where the Brigham City Temple will be is right down the street from where we live. It's right accross the street from the Tabernacle. The church has bought some additional land and will be tearing down structures to make more room for the Temple grounds. Construction probably won't start until later this year. At each zone conference, vehicles are inspected. I knew that this was going to happen, so I made sure that our car was cleaned up. The members that we live with, the Barkers, work at a car dealership, so we took our car there and Bro.Barker had them clean the engine and wash the car for us. We cleaned the inside and then did a few touch ups. Our car was the overall winner out of all the other cars. Holla! Haha. :)
Okay so about my headaches. The mission doctor, Dr.Nellis, hasn't been very proactive about helping me, so I decided to ask around and talk to doctors myself about what is going on. I've talked to many different people and from that I decided that maybe the cause of my headaches is coming from my neck or back. Dr.Hoopes is a Chiropractor here in Brigham City and his services are free to missionaries. I've heard good things about him from members, and so I decided to go see him...Sister Olson also encouraged it. He took a look at me and massaged my neck area and is pretty sure that the problem is coming from my neck, etc. My muscles are tense and he says that it causes muscles to contract and cause headaches. He wrote down a bunch of stuff but I don't understand any of it lol. Pretty much my neck area is jacked up and so he is helping me with it. He's been massaging my neck and doing some other things to try and help me, and so far it's working. I've seen him twice and I've hardly had any headaches since. A few here and there but I'm getting better. I haven't gotten a blessing yet, but I will try and get one soon. Thanks for your prayers and for the drugs you sent me mom. Haha.
I had a great p-day last tuesday. We went to the Temple early in the morning which was nice since I hadn't been in 2 weeks. After that we came back to Brigham City to do emails and shopping, and then we went back to Ogden to a place called Fat Cats. There we were able to go bowling and do bumper cars for free. It was a lot of fun. We even went indoor skydiving, but we had to pay a little bit for that. We got it half off and they gave us a dvd of it for free too. It was a fun p-day...I'm not sure what we are going to do today, but hopefully we will be able to get together and do something.
Haha okay so I learned a new song this week. It's called "The Chastity Song." It's kind of like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," but it's a little different. It goes like this. -Head shoulders no no no's, knees and toes knees and toes, head shoulders no no no's, eyes ears mouth and nose.- It's pretty much a song that says what is okay and what isn't okay to touch lol. While you sing the no no no's part you go over your abdomen with your hands, which means that those parts of your body...private parts, aren't okay to touch. It's kind of like the Bathing Suit Rule. You don't think about, look at, talk about, or touch anything covered by a bathing suit. We use these rules and songs to teach little kids the Law of Chastity. Haha I think the song was pretty funny, hopefully it made sense.
Alright so having a companion that you are with 24/7, you definetly find out their favorite things and the things that they do the most. Some things that I've noticed that are Elder Onon's favorite things are: He loves soda...he drinks it allll the time. When he chews gum, he chews with him mouth open and smacks it around. He really likes Michael Jackson and his song 'Thriller.' He says the word 'dang' a lot, and he loves the Hacka. It's some Tongan song and dance. Haha anyway it's just funny the things that you notice about someone when you are with them allll the time. He is a great missionary though and I am really thankful for him. I think it's so cool that he is a convert, and that he joined the church only 3 years ago. His english is improving, and we are having success.
Funny story. I was looking at my District Leader, Elder Marion's pictures, and there was this girl that looked really familiar. Well come to find out, the girl in the photo album is Sister Black. Kelsey Black is one of my good friends from college, and her sister went on a mission. Elder Marion was with Sister Black (Kelsey's sister) in the MTC and took a picture with her. It's such a small world.
So pretty much the Donovan family is one of my favorite families here in this area. Bro.Donovan is an artist and has a studio that he works at. Sis.Donovan doesn't work I don't think, but one of their daughters just came home from a mission, and their boys are approaching mission age. They are a way cool family, and are very missionary minded. We are going to their home for lunch on sunday and will probably be teaching a lesson. The Donovans said that they are trying to find someone for us to teach for sunday after lunch. It's music to my ears to hear that members want to help in the work.
We are having some great success in our area. We've picked up 3 new investigators this week and 5 new baptismal dates for March. 4 of those baptismal dates we picked up yesterday! It was amazing. I'm excited about the work and we are definetly seeing miracles. Heavenly Father is blessing us fo sho!
We didn't make it to the Temple this morning...we didn't have a ride. It's all good though. We were still able to do our studies and prepare lessons for later tonight. I found a couple cool quotes this week that I thought you might like:
-"Enjoy the little things in life because one day you may realize they were the big things."
-"Don't ask God to make your life easier. Ask Him to make you a stronger person."
I'm going to send you my zip drive with more pictures on it so keep an eye out for it in the mail.
I hope that all of you are doing well. I love you and miss you. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily. Keep me updated on the missionary work that is going on there at home. Keep those missionaries busy! I hope to hear from you soon.
~Elder Micheal Watts
February 16, 2010
Hey!
Thanks for the packages!!! I got one from mom & dad, Alicia, and Jenni...they were great I loved it. It was fun to get them for valentines day and I love all of the things that you sent me. We had a good valentines day...probably the best you could have on a mission lol. We went to church in the morning but we were late because of our coorelation meeting. We were in the foyer waiting for the sacrament and I knew that it was being passed because it was way quiet. Anyway, we kept waiting and they never brought it out, so while they were doing the water I decided to go up to the chapel door, open it, and ask the kid why he wasn't bringing it out. He told me that they weren't going to because the Bishop thinks it's a disturbance. I couldn't believe it. We decided to leave and go back for the next wards sacrament meeting. We eventually were able to take the sacrament so it's all good I just couldn't believe it.
My toe is doing great. Dr.Nellis put a piece of gause underneath the toenail so that it could grow out and ever since it's been great. The only problem I have now is my headaches. I've been having them pretty consistently every day multiple times a day for the past 3 or so weeks. I've talked to the Dr. about it but he isn't doing anything about it. He told me to put heat/cold on my neck, take tylenol, etc, but that isn't gonna fix the problem. I'm drinking water, getting enough sleep, and I'm not that stressed, so I don't know what's going on. I'm concerned about it...I'm gonna try and find another Dr.
The weather here is nice...not too cold, but there is still snow on the ground. It rains and snows once in a while but it doesn't stick. Wow 70 degree weather sounds amazing! Lucky. Haha. I'm glad to hear that your taking care of your car mom. Our car is pretty dirty right now. We went out to Corinne and drove on some dirt roads when it was wet so it's wayyy dirty on the outside. We're gonna wash it and stuff before we go to zone conference on friday in Logan. It will get inspected there so we have to make sure it's lookin' good.
English lessons for Elder Onon are going alright. I'm really trying to get him to use complete sentances more often. He pronounces words better than before so that's good. We've been making flashcards so hopefully that will help him.
Our apartment is nice. We live in a members basement. It's an older home, but it is in good shape and is clean. We have our own back entrance and have a place to park our car as well. We have a living room where we study, a kitchen (there isn't a dishwasher or an oven), a bathroom, and a bedroom. There is a laundry room in the basement as well that we all use as well. It's nice and the best part about it is that it smells good and it's clean.
We went to the Ogden Temple this morning at 6am. We haven't been in 2 weeks and it seemed like forever! It was nice to be there, to feel the Spirit in the Lord's house, and to see other missionaries as well.
We have a dry cleaners hook-up in our area so we get our suits dry cleaned for free! It's nice lol. There's some food places where we get discounts etc. too so that's nice.
We picked up 2 new investigators this last week. Both were miracles...members gave us a call and told us that these people wanted to be taught and get baptized. One is a 9 year old boy named Bridger Eddings. His mom is a member and his dad isn't and isn't interested, but Bridger is way smart and wants to get baptized on March 6th. The other investigator is Brayden Hunsaker. He is 19 years old, and is dating a member in Honeyville. He has been coming to church for a few months already and definetly ready for baptism. His date is for March 6th as well. Things are starting to pick up in our area. We have a few lessons coming up to teach new people so hopefully we will pick up some new investigators and baptismal dates. We are teaching Sis. Wardle still. We've taught her 2 times this week and things are going well. She came to church this last week, and she is reading the scriptures and praying every day. I'm way excited about it. Even though she's already been baptized and everything, It's still awesome to be able to help someone gain a testimony of the Gospel. We won't get a baptism out of it but I don't care. Our purpose is to bring people unto Christ, not just non-members. Hopefully things will continue to go well for her.
On Sunday Elder Onon and I were able to go back to Clearfield to go to Jason Yarington's baptism. It was awesome. I'm so thankful President Olson allowed me to go back for it. The service was very nice, the Spirit was strong, and I could tell that Jason was truly happy. Turns out, one of their 9 year old kids isn't baptized either so the missionaries there might start teaching her too. Maybe by the time she is ready, Jason will be able to baptise her.
Hey can you have Jenni send me some more pictures off my laptop? More from college or something? I found out that we are allowed to listen to burned cd's so can you guys send me some music? I asked Jenni but idk if she is going to do it or not. Just send me a variety of stuff. Do what ya feel.
Well I better go. We still need to go shopping and clean. I love you and miss you all so much. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily...and I put your names in the Temple this morning when I went too. Write me back soon!!!
~Elder Micheal Watts
Thanks for the packages!!! I got one from mom & dad, Alicia, and Jenni...they were great I loved it. It was fun to get them for valentines day and I love all of the things that you sent me. We had a good valentines day...probably the best you could have on a mission lol. We went to church in the morning but we were late because of our coorelation meeting. We were in the foyer waiting for the sacrament and I knew that it was being passed because it was way quiet. Anyway, we kept waiting and they never brought it out, so while they were doing the water I decided to go up to the chapel door, open it, and ask the kid why he wasn't bringing it out. He told me that they weren't going to because the Bishop thinks it's a disturbance. I couldn't believe it. We decided to leave and go back for the next wards sacrament meeting. We eventually were able to take the sacrament so it's all good I just couldn't believe it.
My toe is doing great. Dr.Nellis put a piece of gause underneath the toenail so that it could grow out and ever since it's been great. The only problem I have now is my headaches. I've been having them pretty consistently every day multiple times a day for the past 3 or so weeks. I've talked to the Dr. about it but he isn't doing anything about it. He told me to put heat/cold on my neck, take tylenol, etc, but that isn't gonna fix the problem. I'm drinking water, getting enough sleep, and I'm not that stressed, so I don't know what's going on. I'm concerned about it...I'm gonna try and find another Dr.
The weather here is nice...not too cold, but there is still snow on the ground. It rains and snows once in a while but it doesn't stick. Wow 70 degree weather sounds amazing! Lucky. Haha. I'm glad to hear that your taking care of your car mom. Our car is pretty dirty right now. We went out to Corinne and drove on some dirt roads when it was wet so it's wayyy dirty on the outside. We're gonna wash it and stuff before we go to zone conference on friday in Logan. It will get inspected there so we have to make sure it's lookin' good.
English lessons for Elder Onon are going alright. I'm really trying to get him to use complete sentances more often. He pronounces words better than before so that's good. We've been making flashcards so hopefully that will help him.
Our apartment is nice. We live in a members basement. It's an older home, but it is in good shape and is clean. We have our own back entrance and have a place to park our car as well. We have a living room where we study, a kitchen (there isn't a dishwasher or an oven), a bathroom, and a bedroom. There is a laundry room in the basement as well that we all use as well. It's nice and the best part about it is that it smells good and it's clean.
We went to the Ogden Temple this morning at 6am. We haven't been in 2 weeks and it seemed like forever! It was nice to be there, to feel the Spirit in the Lord's house, and to see other missionaries as well.
We have a dry cleaners hook-up in our area so we get our suits dry cleaned for free! It's nice lol. There's some food places where we get discounts etc. too so that's nice.
We picked up 2 new investigators this last week. Both were miracles...members gave us a call and told us that these people wanted to be taught and get baptized. One is a 9 year old boy named Bridger Eddings. His mom is a member and his dad isn't and isn't interested, but Bridger is way smart and wants to get baptized on March 6th. The other investigator is Brayden Hunsaker. He is 19 years old, and is dating a member in Honeyville. He has been coming to church for a few months already and definetly ready for baptism. His date is for March 6th as well. Things are starting to pick up in our area. We have a few lessons coming up to teach new people so hopefully we will pick up some new investigators and baptismal dates. We are teaching Sis. Wardle still. We've taught her 2 times this week and things are going well. She came to church this last week, and she is reading the scriptures and praying every day. I'm way excited about it. Even though she's already been baptized and everything, It's still awesome to be able to help someone gain a testimony of the Gospel. We won't get a baptism out of it but I don't care. Our purpose is to bring people unto Christ, not just non-members. Hopefully things will continue to go well for her.
On Sunday Elder Onon and I were able to go back to Clearfield to go to Jason Yarington's baptism. It was awesome. I'm so thankful President Olson allowed me to go back for it. The service was very nice, the Spirit was strong, and I could tell that Jason was truly happy. Turns out, one of their 9 year old kids isn't baptized either so the missionaries there might start teaching her too. Maybe by the time she is ready, Jason will be able to baptise her.
Hey can you have Jenni send me some more pictures off my laptop? More from college or something? I found out that we are allowed to listen to burned cd's so can you guys send me some music? I asked Jenni but idk if she is going to do it or not. Just send me a variety of stuff. Do what ya feel.
Well I better go. We still need to go shopping and clean. I love you and miss you all so much. Your in my thoughts and prayers daily...and I put your names in the Temple this morning when I went too. Write me back soon!!!
~Elder Micheal Watts
February 9, 2010
Hey everyone! This week has been quite the week let me tell ya. On Wednesday morning Debbie Townsend's husband JJ from Layton picked me up in Clearfield and took me to Ogden to meet up with my new companion. It was nice to see him and visit during the drive. They are both doing well and Debbie has a church calling as a visiting teacher. When I got to the mission office there were a ton on missionaries there. It was fun to see some people that I hadn't seen for a while. When Elder Onon got there, we picked up a few supplies from the mission office and then we packed our car with all my stuff. I was relieved when it all fit. We drive a maroon 2007 Chevy Malibu. It's a v6 so it's got a little get up & go. :) Haha. It was a little weird to drive at first but it's all good now. Once we got to Brigham City we went shopping, had lunch, and then we washed the car. It was pretty dirty on the outside so we went through the car wash and had the tired shined up. I had gotten an air freshener when I was in Clearfield too so that the car would smell good. Later that night we had appointments...It was a crazy busy day and I was way tired that night. On Tuesday, the day before I left Clearfield, Jason Yarington took us out to dinner to Applebee's. It was nice to go out and visit with him before I left...after dinner we went to his house and had a little lesson and bore our testimonies to him. He was sad that I was getting transferred. I was too, but President Olson said that I can go back for his baptism on Valentines day so I'm happy about that. Elder Onon and I have language study ever morning in addition to the 2 hours of regular study that we have. He has a few English books that he's been studying out of, but I don't think that they are very effective. I've been trying to think of better ways to help him. We have been practicing how to pronounce words correctly and how to use complete sentences. I'm going to make some flash cards, etc to help him. I only have 5 more weeks to help him before transfers, and President told me this would only be for one transfer. President & Sister Olson came and spoke at one of our Adult sessions of Stake Conference. A member of the Seventy came and spoke as well. They all gave great talks and I really enjoyed it. Hymn#221 was mentioned "Dear to the heart of the Shepherd." At the end of the song it talks about the helpless and hungry and cold...bringing them back to the fold. That's what missionary work is. Bringing the helpless and hungry and cold back to the fold. Our mission doctor Dr.Nellis came a saw me at my apartment yesterday. I have an ingrown toenail lol, and it was hurting pretty bad, so he lifted the end of the nail and put some gause underneath to let it grow out properly and it feels soooo much better. I've also been having headaches pretty regularly for the past 2 or so weeks. They aren't way intense, but they are still there, and are in the back of my head. I get them every day sometimes more than once, and I asked the doctor about it and he said that it sounds like tension headaches. He told me to put cold/hot packs on my neck a few times a day and then see what happens. Hopefully they will go away. It makes me kinda concerned since it's been like this for a while. The area that we cover is pretty big. We cover 2 stakes, and 18 wards. We are given 1,000 miles a month for our car because our area is so big. We cover part of Brigham City, and then Corinne, Bear River, and Honeyville. It's gonna be harder to get to know the members as well as I have in the past...but I'm already starting to have my favorite families as always lol. The area is kind of slow right now, but that's gonna have to change haha. We have 2 investigators with baptismal dates and we are teaching a few others. We've been working with the members and auxilaries a ton...getting referrals, and then going and seeing the people that they tell us about. So far we are seeing some success from our efforts. We have 4 first lessons set up for this week so hopefully we will pick up a few new investigators. We had a sweet miracle happen last night. A member called us and told us about a part member family who wants to have their 9 year old baptized. They gave us the info, so we called right after, went over to their home, taught a lesson on the spot, and committed the 9 year old boy for baptism on feb. 27th! It was awesome. The Lord is blessing us fo sho! :) All I have to say, is that working with the members of the church is the best way to do missionary work. Another miracle that we had this week, was a girl in the area called us and told us that her non-member boyfriend that she's been dating wants to take the lessons. We will be meeting with them this week so hopefully it will go well. We live with members...Bro & Sis Barker. They are very nice people and are even the fellowships for some people that we are teaching. We get to live in their basement, and it's actually not that bad. It's really clean and smells good too. I was impressed at how clean the missionaries before me kept it. It's really nice to have a car in this area. I bought a GPS to have so that we don't get lost. It's a Garmin Nuvi 1300. It's way nice because we never get lost, which means we don't waste any miles, and it tells us the shortest way to get there. We have to be really smart about our miles because they are limited and we can't go over. I think that it was a good investment. A member in our area works at Malt-O-Meal, the cereal company, so he gets cereal for free, which means that we do too!!! Haha he told us that whenever we need some to let him know and he'll hook us up. Cool beans. Can you have Jenni get Katelynn Bunch's address for me please? I think she moved cause the letters I've sent her are getting sent back to me. :/ The Tidwells are driving up from Layton to come see me and visit with us over dinner at Maddox's today. I'm way excited to see them. Maddox is a well known restaurant and it's pretty good. From what I've been told, President Monson goes in there once in a while to eat, and so do other apostles. I guess President Monson's brother Scott Monson lives around here not too far from us. We had an intense dinner the other night. Some members had us over for dinner, and while we were eating, the wife all of the sudden broke down and started crying at the dinner table. She pretty much told us that she is struggling with her testimony and is having a really hard time with things. It was intense. I can't describe it in an email. Her husband has a strong testimony, and has been trying to get her to meet with us for a long time but she never would. Anyway, we talked to her for a while, and got her to agree to start meeting with us. We have a lesson coming up this week. Well I better go. Things are going good. I love you all and miss you. I hope to hear from you soon! Spread the Gospel!!! ~Elder Watts
February 2, 2010
Hi everybody, Transfer calls were this morning and Im getting transferred to Brigham City North tomorrow morning. I actually knew that this was gonna happen because President Olson talked to me about it in interviews. He is giving me a special assignment. Elder Onon is my new companion, and he has been out on his mission for over a year. He has never been a senior companion, and President wants me to prepare him to be a senion companion for next transfer. He is from Mongolia so his english isn't the best. That is another thing President wants me to help him with. In addition to our 2 hours of study in the mornings, we will also do an hour of language study to help with his english. President told me that he has prayed about this and he feels that I am the right missionary to help Elder Onon. It's bittersweet for me because I love a lot of the people here in Clearfield, especially the people that we are teaching, but I'm excited at the same time because I'll be able to learn and grow in different ways there in Brigham City. I talked to Elder Onon this morning, and he said that we cover 2 stakes, which is 18 wards....and we have a car!!!!! Haha I'm way excited about that. I'll be the one driving all the time too because Onon doesn't have driving privilages. I'll be going to Brigham City tomorrow so make sure that you don't send anything else to my apartment address...only send things to the Mission Office until I get another address so you. We did have a baptism this last saturday. Orlando Lopez is in his early 20's, and has been investigating the church for a while. I never even taught him because he'd been taught everything, but he got baptized and Elder Christensen and I were glad to see him finally enter the waters of baptism. The thing that sucks, is that he didn't show up for his confirmation the next day in sacrament meeting! We couldn't believe it. He said that he slept in. We talked to him about it and he is gonna come this coming sunday and get comfirmed. I guess he has a crazy work schedule so he was really tired and didn't make it. On thursday we got a call from the Assistants to the President. They told us that we were going to be having a 3rd companion for a week until transfers. They told us that it was going to be Elder Malinka who is in our district, and he had to come with us because his companion got transferred early. Since we were all together, we've had to juggle both of our areas, but we've been having a lot of fun together. Our mission baptized over 200 people in the month of January. Our goal was 200 for the month and last time I checked I think we had 218. We hope to do the same for the month of feb. I really love this area that I am in now. There are so many people, non-members and members, that I love and care about. I hope that I'll be able to come back for some baptisms that are coming up, especially Jason's. We are going out to dinner with him tonight so I'm looking forward to that. Later tonight we are gonna split up and I'm going to go say goodbye to people and take pictures. I'm glad to hear that you are taking care of the missionaries. Keep it up...you will be blessed. Us as missionaries are so thankful for all that the members do for us. Tell the missionaries there I said hi, and to tear it up out der!!! What kind of work is goin' on in the 5th ward anyway? My shirt size is 16 neck and 34/35 sleeve. The shirts that have a stretch thing around the neck work well for me. Do they make them in a fitted style? The ones I have now have so much extra material and it just looks kinda baggy sometimes. Well I better go. I still have to pack and get ready to leave tomorrow morning. I'll probably be sending a box or two home because I have too much crap. Letters, extra clothes, etc. I love and miss all of you! The church is true!!!! ~Elder Micheal WattsPS-I got Jenni & Alicia's letters. Thanks! :) Tell Jenni that if she wants, I'd love to have more pics of my friends, college, etc. If there are any more, send 'em on ova! Haha.
January 26, 2010
Hey everyone, So we had a great week this week. On Tuesday Ricky had her baptismal interview. Sister Summerhays (Fellowship & Young Womens Leader) came to the interview as well. She brought us some cookie dough and let me tell you, it is wayyy good. Ta dow! Haha. No really though, everything that she makes =is amazing. We've had her cookies, and even some Steak and rolls that she made. Sister Summerhays served a mission in Holland. We've been having Ricky's lessons at their home and it was great. Funny thing, is that Sis. Summerhays never got released as a missionary. She told us that when she gothome, she never saw the Stake President before she left for school 2 days later. Haha she never got released. We are continuing to teach Jason Yarington and it is going great. He set his own baptismal date for Valentines Day. We really enjoy teaching him...we get along great with him and have alot of fun at the same time. Him and his wife are taking us out to dinner tonight. On Wednesday I went on an exchange with one of my zone leaders Elder Morris. The exchange went well and Elder Morris thinks I am doing well. He told me that they are going to put me down to be a trainer on transfer evals. We'll see what happens. I'll do whatever the Lord wants me to do. We had a wedding for one of our investigators on Wednesday. We've been=teaching Adam who is a non-member, and his wife Danielle who is getting active again. He is preparing for baptism and so one of the things they needed to do what get married. They decided on Saturday that they wanted to get married so we only had a few days to throw something small together. It =was a nice service and they really appreciated it. Now we are trying to help Adam quit smoking. On thursday Elder Christensen had a eye doctors appo=intment in Ogden. Turns out his eye doctor was President Petersen, the Stake President in my last area in Layton. It was nice to see him and talk to=him about the area a little bit. On Saturday we had Ricky's baptism. The=service was very nice, and we had to do it in the Chapel since so many peo=ple came. We had a lot of fun teaching her and helping her prepare for baptism. It is something that she was definetly ready for. We taught Elders Quorum, High Priests, and the Relief Society combined in the 8th ward on sunday. We taught about missionary work and taught the members how to invite their friends to meet with us. We handed out referrell forms, shared stat=s, and even sang a song for them. The members said that they enjoyed it...the 8th ward is my favorite wards in the stake I think. Bishop Waddoups son Clint came home off of his mission so we were able to be there in the 8th ward for his homecoming. He gave a great talk, and you can tell that he was a great missionary. On Monday we taught the Lee family who we are trying to help get ready for baptism. They have been taught for a while, and will be getting baptized in April. Funny story. The 11 year old boy in the =family gave the opening prayer, and you could tell from the way he was talk=ing that he didn't really want to do it. During the prayer he said 'thank =you for this day,' and right after he said that, his little sister sitting next to him said 'lovely day,' kinda like correcting him and telling him he needed to say that instead. Then he said back to her, 'don't correct me p=lease.' Hahaha it was so funny. I wish I could describe to you better all=the tones of their voices. I started cracking up laughing, and so did eve=ryone else. I tried to keep it in my throat and keep it quiet...as well as=everyone else, but because I was doing that, I was making a high squeaking=kinda noise and everyone could hear me. I tried to stop but when they hea=rd me, they started laughing, and when I heard them laugh, I kept laughing.= It was really funny lol. We finally finished the prayer and we had a gre=at lesson. Hopefully that story made sense lol...you had to be there. Oh =hey by the way, after today, you probably shouldn't send anything to my apa=rtment in case I get transferred next week. I think either of us could go,=so just to make sure, after today, don't send anything to my apartment. G=ood news...my mission president said that we can listen to burnd cd's, so c=an you guys make me some cd's? Anything that invites the Spirit, or that m=otivates me to do the work is okay. I'm thinkin' that the song 'Jesus take=the wheel' by Carrie Underwood would even be legit. So I'm in need of som=e new music so that would be da bomb if you could hook me up. Can you find=out Sandra Pleites address for me so I can write her? She emailed me so I wanna write her back. Crazy story...we went over to teach Adam, and we we=nt over a few minutes early to make sure he was there before out fellowships came over. We talked to him and he said everything was cool and that he was ready for the lesson. We told him we would go get the fellowship, and =in the meantime he said he would clean up the house a bit. We came back in=2 minutes, litterally, and his little girl came to the door. When she ans=wered she said, "My dad's sick." I was like, "What?! No he's not. Go get=your mom." I was not gonna put up with that lol...we had just talked to h=im. She said she would go get her mom, and when the door opened again, the=little girl was there and said that she would be there in a couple minutes=. Well.....they never came lol. It was kinda crazy cause when we were the=re, they had some friends over. Once we decided to leave, we were walking =down the street and we see their friends leaving their apartment. We kept =walking down the street and forgot something at our apartment so we decided=to walk back to get it. We ended up walking back by Adam's place and all of the sudden we see their car being driven by these random people we had n=ever seen before. It was wayyy weird. Anyway, we've gotten a hold of them=since then and everything is fine...they just were going through some stuff at the time of our lesson so they couldn't do it. Anyway, hopefully that=made sense lol. We might be having a baptism this saturday, but we're not=sure cause the guy needs to get his baptismal interview still...he keeps m=issing all the ones we set up for him so we'll see what happens. We have 7=investigators with baptism dates right now and things are going great, I l=ove it. I got everyone's letters and pictures this week. Thanks to everyone that send me letters. I'm gonna write back to everyone today and get letters in the mail tomorrow. Sorry I can't write more...our ride is waiting=outside. I love you and miss you!!! The church is true!!! Holla at ur b=oi!!!~Elder Watts yo!!!=20=20
January 19, 2010
Hey everyone, This past week was good. We had two baptisms this last saturday. Shyla Zufelt got baptized and Trevor Harris got baptized as well. Both services were nice, except for during Trevors service, it was in the morning, and people were cleaning the building during it. This lady took this huge vacuume and was cleaning the floor in the hallway right by the baptism. I was like, seriously? I almost went out and told her to peace out but before I had the chance some lady at the baptism did instead. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, both services were nice, and the Spirit was strong. On sunday we spoke with the High Council. Both of us talked about missionary work. I think we went to 4 different sacrament meetings...it was crazy. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep in the last one. So I'm thinkin' that the word "Holler" is a Utah thing. People say it all the time. They don't say Holla, they say Holler. I just think it's funny cause people say it alllll the time lol. We have 7 investigators with baptismal dates, and some others that we are working with. We have a ton of great things happening and I'm way excited. The Lord is blessing us so much. One of our investigators Adam is getting married tomorrow to his fiance Danielle. The Bishop is gonna marry them, and we called the Relief Society President and they are gonna to do a little mixer for them afterwards...just some food, music, etc. Nothing big, just a little something. Another one of our investigators Ricky is getting baptized this coming saturday. We are way excited for her...she is very ready and will be a great member of the church. She's pretty much a member already since she's been going to church for so long, but just hasn't gotten dunked yet. Things are going well and I am enjoying it. Transfers will be at the end of this month. I'm thinkin' that Elder Christensen will be leaving since he will have been here for 4 1/2 months. I love you guys and miss you tons. I hope that you are doing well. Keep in touch!!!~Elder Watts
January 5, 2010
Hey, So I thought that I'd tell you a little bit about who we are teaching here in Clearfield. Kip & Stacy Stone are a married couple that are probably in their late 30's. They are non-members, and we've been teaching them for a few weeks now. They love church, and understand and accept a lot of what we teach them. They need to quit smoking, but hopefully we will be able to help them do that. Both of them are very nice, and I enjoy teaching them. They have a baptismal date for Jan. 30th. We started to teach a 16 yr. old girl named Ricky a week ago. I guess she's been going to church for over 7 months already, but hasn't gotten baptized yet. Things are going really well and she is more than ready for baptism. Her date is for Jan. 23rd. She's pretty fun and outgoing...sarcastic like me so we get along well haha. There's this lady named Shyla Zufelt that I've never taught but that is getting baptized on Jan. 16th. From what I've been told, she's been kind of an eternal investigator and has finally committed to get baptized. Then another guy named Orlando has a date for Jan. 30th...but I've never really taught him either. He is in his 20's and is trying to quit smoking. Hopefully everything will go well for him. Those are our investigators that have baptismal dates. We have a bunch of other people that we are teaching but those are the ones with dates. On wednesday we had our District Meeting. Elder Strom is our district leader and he asked me to help train on a program that we are trying to get started. I trained on it for about 15 minutes and it went well...I didn't expect him to ask me to do that though. New Years was pretty uneventful for us...just a normal day in the mission field. I bought some sparkling cider a few days before, so we drank that before we went to bed, but that's about it haha. We had a training by our zone leaders on saturday that I really enjoyed. It was about setting goals so that we can accomplish our vision...It was really cool. This area that I am in is a great area. There are a lot of great people here, members and non-members. As far as the area, it's pretty much mid-low class, and there isn't much in our area in Clearfield North. There's a few stores here and there, and some fast food places, but we have to go out of our area to go shopping, etc. It's the people that I care about though...the rest doesn't matter. I am enjoying it, and I am very thankful for the success that Heavenly Father is blessing us with. My lower back is feeling okay. It's not really any worse or any better. I've been keeping heat on it, and I got a Priesthood blessing, so hopefully I won't need to go to the doctor or anything. We went to the Ogden Temple this morning and did initiatories. After this we are gonna go to lunch, run errands, and get a haircut. I hope that everyone is doing well. I love ya and miss you. Your in my thoughts and prayers! I hope to hear from everyone soon! The church is true!!!~Elder Micheal Watts
January 12, 2010
Holla! So first off I wanted to tell you that the Utah Ogden Mission baptized over 2,000 people in 2009!!! We baptized thousands! It was a goal that we had and we made it! As a mission we hope to baptize 200 this month and the next as well. Some missionaries in Idaho totalled one of the mission cars, a Pontiac Vibe, a few weeks ago. Both missionaries in the companionship fell asleep and flipped the car. They were definetly being watched over by our Heavenly Father because the only injuries they got was a bloody nose and a dislocated shoulder. I've attatched pictures for you to see. The Clawson family brought us IN-N-OUT for dinner last week. It was soooo good. The closest one is 30-40 minutes away, and they were going there anyway so they decided to get us some since they knew we loved it. They are starting to build more in Utah so I'm excited haha. We were talking to the Spanish Missionaries the other day and they told us that a lot of the time when they knock on doors, the hispanics think that they are the FBI or Immigration because they are dressed in suits etc...lol, I thought it was funny. We had zone conference last week in Kaysville. It was a nice meeting and it was fun to see some of the other missionaries. We had to drive through my last area to get to the conference so I got to see Layton a little bit...I miss it there. We've had a ton of Miracles lately. I saw a 16 yr old kid named Justin the other day in Sunset that I had taught in Layton. He never got baptized, but when I saw him the other day he told me that he had moved to Clinton and wants to get baptized! We commited him on the spot for January 30th, he accepted, and wants me to confirm him. It was so cool. I hope that I will be able to go to his baptism. Another miracle that we had was when we were knocking doors. I asked Elder Christensen if he knew all the people around our apartment, and he said no so we decided to knock the doors. This lady named Danielle answered, and told us that her fiance Adam isn't a member, and that he wants to get baptized. They were at church on sunday, and we are meeting with them on Wednesday. We are way excited for it. We are teaching this lady named Ching Hua from China, and it's really cool, because we teach with a translator. Sis. Norberg is a member in the ward, and is awesome. We've been teaching Ching Hua for a while and it is going slow, but it has been a cool experience. We are learning a few words in Chinese too haha...but not much, it's fun. Yesterday we taught this guy named Jason Yarington, who lives next to Bishop Waddoups. Sis. Waddoups and their son Luke came to the lesson and it was amazing. Jason's wife is already a member, and he wants to start getting ready for baptism. The Waddoups bore powerful testimonies and the Spirit was so strong. The Yaringtons were so focused on them as they spoke and I could tell that they felt the Spirit. I have a strong testimony of how important members are in Missionary Work, and how important it is to have the right fellowship for an investigator. So for all of you at home, keep up the good work in helping our Heavenly Father in this great work. It is so important. The work is going well here in Clearfield Utah. We are teaching some others as well, and we have 5 investigators with baptism dates. I am enjoying my time as a missionary. It's one of the best things I've ever done. I love you all so much and miss you tons. I hope that you are all doing well. Your in my thoughts and prayers.~Elder Micheal Watts
December 29, 2009
Hey everyone, So it feels like I haven't emailed in forever. We went to the Ogden Temple this morning and did a session. It had only been 2 weeks since I had been, but it seemed longer than that. Once I got into the Temple and started the session it felt so good to be there. I was really tired, but I'm glad that we went. On the day of transfers, Dec. 22nd, Debbie & JJ Townsend picked me up in the morning and drove me to my new area in Clearfield. I really enjoyed spending time with them. The night before they drove me around so that I could say goodbye to everyone...I really appreciated it, and I had a great time with them. I loved teaching Debbie and helping her reach her goal of baptism. I can't wait for the day when I hear that they are getting cealed in the Temple for time and all eternity. I hope that I will be able to attend. When I got to my new apartment, I realized how good I had it in Layton lol. The apartment we live in now used to be a Meth Lab, but I guess they cleaned it all up. (Don't worry mom) It's not as nice as my last place, but its all good. We have the place to ourselves, and there is plenty of room. Our next door neighbors are hispanic, and they were havin' a big party on Christmas eve. I wanted to go over and party with 'em so bad...they had loud music, good food, and everything. I wanted to go over, but I obviously couldn't. They brought us over some food and it was sooo good. We didn't have a Christmas tree, so we drew one on a piece of paper, taped it on the wall, and put our presents underneath hahaha, it was funny. A humble Christmas, one that I will definetly remember. It was nice because I was able to focus more on the real meaning of Christmas. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents, then we went to the Lee's home for breakfast. After that we went to the Metcafe's, one of the ward mission leaders home, and then we went to Bishop Waddoups home for lunch. They are awesome...I love 'em. We had a great time there. They are in the 8th ward, which has quickly become my favorite ward in the stake. Later on that day, we went to the Ecklestons for dinner...we had a nice time. Before we went in for the night, we played a few games as a district at a church building. I had a great Christmas. Thank you to all of you that sent cards and gifts. :) The day after Christmas, saturday, one of our investigators, Carol Mitipok got baptized. She is from Guam, and has been learning about the Gospel for a while. It was a nice baptismal service. On sunday we spoke in the 8th ward. I had to pull that talk together quick because I didn't know about it until I got here. It turned out well, and I love that ward. The members are amazing, and I can't wait to get to know them better. I miss all the people in my last area, but I know that I need to be here in Clearfield right now. It's still a little weird to be in this area, but I know that it will just take time. My companion Elder Christensen is awesome. He has only been out for 3 months, but you'd never be able to tell. He's a great missionary, and we get along well. We have 4 people with a baptismal date, and some other great investigators. I love being a missionary. My testimony is strong. The church is true! If you wrote or emailed me a letter, I promise I will write you back! I love you and miss you!!! ~Elder Micheal Watts
December 21, 2009
Hey everyone, So I found out this morning that I am being transfered to Clearfield North. I will be Greenie Busting Elder Christiansen who has been out for 3 months. We don't have a car :( but we only cover 1 stake so I'm happy about that. We live with members, and I guess the area does well so I'm excited, but nervous at the same time. The change will be good for me, but it is going to be hard. I have to pack all of my stuff today. I have so much stuff that it might take a while lol. I will meet up with my new companion tomorrow morning. He told me that they have a nice Christmas set up so that will be nice. On Wednesday, Debbie & JJ Townsend had us over for dinner...we had a nice time visiting. They are really cool people and I'm gonna miss them. On Thursday we comfirmed one of our investigators baptismal date. We have been teaching Nick for a few weeks, and he has been doing well. He just got out of Prison, and has been learning about the church for a while. I guess he was involved in church before prison as well. Our mission president had to interview him and he passed, so he's all set to go on Jan 2nd. His wife is a member, but has been kind of inactive, so hopefully things will go well for them. We went to Red Robin for lunch on thursday after a meeting and it was really good but I ate way too much. They have refills on fries so that's cool lol, but it was too much. I've decided that my favorite places to eat right now are Cafe Rio, Red Robin, Jason's Deli, and Olive Garden. If you haven't been to any of those places, find one and go! :) On friday we had mission conference. President Olson and his wife spoke, as well as the Assistants. There were some very nice musical numbers, and we even had a talent show. It took up a lot of the time, but the skits were really funny and we all had a great time together. All the missionaries in the Odgen Utah Mission were there. The mission office held all of our mail until Friday so when we got there, the whole overflow was full of letters and packages. I'm gonna send my zip drive to you so you can see some of the talent show. Hopefully I will be able to get that in the mail today. Later that night we had 3 baptismal interviews to do. Since Elder Guenther is the District Leader, every time someone is getting ready for baptism, he has to interview them. We had one for us, and then 2 for other areas. Friday was a crazy busy day. On Saturday we went on exchanges with Kaysville. It was nice and I had fun. Their area has a car so that was a plus. On Sunday the Oak Hills ward primary had us come in and gave us gifts. We got hooked up fo sho! Haha. Every kid would bring up a gift for us, and then they would ask us a question. It was fun to hear all of their questions and to be able to answer them. They gave us food, clothes, gift cards, and even money. It was a lot of fun...and the ward was very generous. Then later that day we taught a primary class in the Aspen Cove ward about the real meaning of Christmas, and how the Gospel is the best gift we can give anyone. All I have to say, is that teaching primary kids is hard. The Stake I that we cover now has had 24 baptisms this year, and I have been here for 14 of them. We are only one away from the goal of 25. I have had a great time here, and I will miss it here very much. I know that all of it is because of the Lord, and I am so thankful that I have been able to be used as an instrument in God's hands. I got the packages everyone sent. I opened the boxes, but I haven't opened anything that was wrapped. Thank you for thinking of me and sending me a little Christmas cheer, even though you didn't need to send anything at all. I love all of you so much and miss you a lot. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers daily. I'm not sure what time I will be able to call home on Christmas. I guess I can just call you whenever, but what would probably be better is if you called me when yall were ready and all together. I can't wait to talk to all of you! Love,Elder Micheal Watts
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