Happy Anniversary

Dear Family,

I have to write a really quick letter this week, p-day ends soon and we still have stuff to do.  I am writing to you later than usual today because we went to see the penguins today.  It took 5 hours of driving over dirt roads, wow.  We thought the penguins had already left and we gave up hope of seeing them but we had success!  I have a ton of pictures but I don’t have time to send them today, so I will send them next week.  I will also write you a longer letter next week.

This week, we had a baptism of a 9 year old child of a family we are helping to reactivate.  It was pretty sweet!  We are also making a lot of progress with Monica. Hopefully we can announce her baptism soon.

We are looking for people that are ready to hear the gospel and it’s definitely not easy but I am happy with our efforts and can feel the Spirit! :D

Love ya!

Elder Michael Watson

Out With The Old...

Buenas!

Time does not have meaning anymore.... It just comes and goes without me noticing. This week was good. Monica is changing a ton and might be baptized on Saturday! :D We also have another baptism of a nine year old child of a less active family on Saturday – so this week will be fun working with them to get there! :D This Saturday is going to be a White Saturday because almost every area in our district/zone (for Rio Gallegos it's the same) are baptizing someone. So it should be an awesome experience.

Other than that we are in the stage I think David was in a little while back. Looking. We really don't have many people to teach and are searching for the people who have been prepared from the Lord. We have found a couple of people, and the mission has helped me to not jump ahead of myself but to keep on trucking. One sad thing is that an RM that helps us a ton is moving to Chile this week or next week... I really am going to miss that guy. He helps us out so much and is really awesome!

Well, not a lot to comment on this week. Just working hard to find people to teach and to do the work of the Lord. We are cleaning out our apartment though! Missionaries who leave tend to leave useless things or trash behind and it just gathers and gathers until the Elders who live there want to do something about it... In this case Elder Beck and I. So that’ll be fun! Haha. But yea. There were four of us living in this apartment but now the other two elders have moved back to their own apartment and we actually have a lot of room.... It’s kinda weird. Anyways. That’s all I have for now. Love you lots and be good!

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder M. Watson

Rio Gallegos-Crazy Week

Wow! What a crazy week! First off I will start off with that we had baptisms! A couple of kids wanted their grandfather to baptize them (their mother is member and father is not). We were really excited when their grandmother told us this and we went over to their house to the next day to meet Christian and Gustavo. They are 8 and 10 years old which is great but we needed to find authorization to baptize the 8 year old (as that he would be a baptism of the branch). They moved from another district within our mission (further south from us) and were staying here until they moved up to Buenos Aires to a different mission. So we called the branch president and found out that he had already moved the mom´s records to Buenos Aires.. So we had to get in contact with their mission president. It ended up as a three way call from our zone leader to our mission president to their mission president. In the end all was settled and we got authorization to baptize Christian. So Sunday morning at 9 we had their baptism and at 10 they were confirmed. It was a crazy week but way good. We also tried to get the father to commit to baptism but he is rather stubborn and wants a bit more time. So yea. That was awesome.

Other than that we are continuing to teach Monica (I talked about her last week). We have made some leaps and jumps but there is still a bit to go with her. But we are excited at the progress she is making.

Well, that's about it for this week. I forgot to bring my camera to send pictures but I will bring it next week. :D Hope all is well that everyone is good. Love you all!

Elder Watson

Happy Valentine's Day

Dear Family,

Holy Cow... I am in the south... So unreal. This week has been real pleasant as with the climate and the people said it was hot... I don’t want to see what normal is. And it’s summer... Today has been a bit windy and cold...

In reality, my area reminds me a lot of Cambria. We are right next to the ocean (well a river that leads to the ocean) and just the terrain is so similar. And it’s windy all the time. I have heard it gets super, super windy so more on that when it comes.

Next week we will go to see the penguins. They are only here for a short time and we gotta go pretty soon. And it will be an all day thing (Like 8 hours) so we will leave early to get there and get back so we can still do the stuff we need to do. :D I will be in normal clothes but teaching a penguin was definitely on the list.

As well I think Alex was in the South when these Areas belonged to his mission. Can you ask him where he was? Maybe I can look for some of his converts of friends here...

I didn’t get any packages or letters but I will get them in Zone Conference/Interviews or at the end of the transfer.

Other thing! Because it is a lot lighter longer during the day we moved our schedule an hour ahead. So instead of going to bed at 10:30 pm, we go at 11:30 pm and wake up at 7:30 am instead of 6:30 am... That has been interesting. There are some days where I am just dead tired.  But we will go back to normal soon.

This week had been crazy but good. We are on the hunt for people to teach as well as baptize! We passed by a neighbor of a less active who had recently moved and she was venting out to us. We set up an appointment to come back and teach her because she realized that she needed spiritual help. So we came back the next day and taught the restoration. That was such a spiritual lesson! We were able to talk a lot about how to become more like Christ. Anytime we talk about Christ it’s just a wonderful opportunity to bear my testimony... And I can feel the Spirit bear testimony through me to people here. It is sooooooo amazing! Anyways, we set another appointment and came back and she had read what we left and prayed and felt way better. So we took her to a baptism of the sister missionaries. We came back and she was like I can’t be baptized... And we were thinking maybe it was wrong that we took her... She said she wasn’t going to come to church but Elder Beck saved the day and challenged her to pray about it to see if she would come. Usually, they don’t pray. But she did!

The next day I called her in the morning and she said she was ready to go to church. I was surprised... So we went by some members that live close to her to see if they could take her in their car and it turns out that they are friends and knew each other from before and that their kids had been friends. So they took care of everything and church went by great. After church we stopped by and she told us how she couldn’t sleep because of her migraines and decided to pray and ask. When she got up she felt better and had the desire to go to church and started reading in the Book of Mormon. All this in three days! She is really prepared and is an amazing woman.

Well, that’s all I have to say for now. We are working hard to do the work and I am really excited to be here in Seis de Abril and in the South working in the Lord’s vineyard. Amazing!

I know the Church is true and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that Jesus Christ died for us and the way to get back to heaven is through His restored Gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Love you all and hope to hear from you soon.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Michael Watson

I Took an Airplane Ride Today...

Argentina From The Sky

Hello Family,

Surprise!!! I received a very exciting call yesterday! Not just any call, but a call to be transferred.  So why the plane? [He sent home pictures out the window of a plane] That’s because I am not in Buenos Aires anymore… I am in Tierra del Fuego!!!! I received a call to go to the SOUTH! Yea baby! I am in Rio Gallegos in an area called 6 de Abril. :D :D

Wow. This week went really well!  We had Miguel and Celiás baptism on Saturday. That went really well! It was really spiritual and just really, really good. Everything went by really smoothly and it was great! Miguel received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday too so that was exciting!

P-days have been changed for transfers and will always be on Mondays (except for special changes).  I am now senior companion with Elder Beck (who was companions with Elder Godfrey before... my companion from the MTC).  I spent most of the night packing and I couldn’t really sleep. A remis (a taxi kind of thing… you call them and they take you to the location) came by at 3:45 in the morning to take me to the airport. It was supposed to come at 4:15 but hey at least I had woken up a bit early to finish getting ready… And I am pretty sure I forgot at least one thing. Anyways, I got to the Airport at 5 a.m. and took a plane at 6:30 a.m. to Rio Gallegos. I got there at 9:30/10 and got together with my companion and other elders from our district. I then got to the house and started to unpack. Our schedule is different down here, it has been pushed an hour back… we get up at 7:30 a.m. and go to bed at 11:30 p.m.… That’ll be hard to get used to. Anyways, I am way excited to have been called to the South and it looks like Elder Beck and I are going to get along really well. We both have a vision to grow this branch (we are a district, not a stake.... at least until Elder Beck and I change that!) and are just super excited.

For now though, I am just way tired and can’t think of much more to say. I hope all is well at home: Love you all, be safe. Say hi to the missionaries for me and tell them great work! :D See ya!

Love,

Elder Michael Watson

Miracles Continue to Happen!

Hi All,

Wow. This week passed by really fast. Too fast, but we have some good things going so I am happy!

First of all, we have a couple that went to Bolivia to get married and they came back this week. The first thing they did, when we went by to visit, was show us their rings and told us now they can get baptized – without us saying anything. How awesome is that? The missionaries beforehand did a good job teaching and preparing them. They had their baptismal interview yesterday because we also had Stake Conference and it was just way easier to do it then. And now we have two baptisms this Saturday! :D :D :D :D

Stake Conference was really good. They talked a lot about families and young men serving missions! :D They are really asking for EVERYONE who can, to serve a mission. I whole heartedly stand by them. Everyone who can should, but… I didn’t get to listen to the whole session because we were trying to fix the water pump or find a way to get water into the building for the bathrooms and the baptismal font for a baptism. Nothin’ doin and they had to postpone the baptism. :/

A miracle that happened this week is that we received a call from our district leader passing a reference to us (usually we pass references at night because it is easier.) We happened to be close to the family so we went and contacted them. It happened to be that the missionaries talked to this lady earlier that day and she was really surprised that we came so fast. She told us that she was happy to see us (that alone is a miracle… We don’t get that too often). So we sat down, invited her brother and his wife to listen but they didn’t want to so we went ahead and started the lesson on the Restoration. Everything was going good and she is really interested but… Her brother left… This means there wasn’t a man in the house so we had to leave too. We wrapped up the lesson and left a Book of Mormon with her before we left. We are now trying to schedule an appointment with her because her 22 year old son that lives with her didn’t come home one day and we are hoping that all is well with that. We also don’t have a guy in the house to enter so that’s a big drawback too. BUT - She is AMAZING. She’s a widow and is like 65 and is interested! Anyone over the age of 50 usually just flat out rejects us. Like I said. MIRACLES! :D

Something that really touched me this week is Moroni 7:47-48. It talks about charity and how we can get it. We know that without charity (or the pure love of Christ) we are nothing (Moroni 7 and 1 Corinthians 13), but how do we obtain it? Through practice and asking the Father with ALL the energy of heart. That was something touched on in Stake Conference, that people who have trouble in their marriages often say they are not in love anymore. (The Stake President even said “fall in love” in English) Falling in love isn’t enough… It’s obtaining the pure love of Christ that will overcome all problems. Within a marriage, a friendship… anything. Charity really is the key to all relationships. I invite you to study Charity in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Ensigns and Liahonas… You’ll find out a ton and really find the needed help, especially for your personal life.

Bueno. That’s pretty much it. Love you all. Be good, stay safe and don’t get into too much trouble!

Con mucho Amor,

Elder Watson

SMORES!

Hi Everyone,

This week flew by. We worked a lot with a guy named Davy (que tal, no?) who has a baptismal date for the 13 of February. He is the nephew of a recent convert and is really accepting. We talked with him almost every day this week. He didn’t come to church this Sunday for some reason so we gotta find him and see if he is all right. He’s basically the bright point right now for us. We have been finding other people but it is just way hard to find them on a regular basis.

Very soon we will have two baptisms! It’s a family that has been listening for almost a year. The only problem is that they weren’t married. So they have been in Bolivia this month (I’ve only met them once or twice) getting all that paperwork done and getting the rings on officially… They should be coming home this week… Their nephews, who are also recent converts, have been talking with them by phone and they are officially married! Now they are coming back with every intention to get baptized ASAP! That’s way cool to see. :D

Other things that have happened… Hm. Some dude "hail hitlered" us so that was way weird. We had SMORES! The lady that lives downstairs wasn’t home last week so she gave us permission to use the back porch and downstairs. So we used the grill to cook up some marshmallows and had smores (graham crackers don’t exist here so we did the best we could). Elder Farias, Elder Howard’s companion, has never had smores before and he finishes his mission in a couple weeks so it made it even better. :D 

Well, that’s about it for now. Everything is going good and the work is great. Working through trials of faith really help you to gain a testimony. If everything came easy, it wouldn’t be worth that much, would it? We really had to push through some things this week but we are really seeing the fruits of our labor. Hope all is well at home. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to write me up. I’ll still have the same address for a while. =) Haha. Love you all. See ya

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Mike Watson