Walking on Water

Hey all!

Well, this has been interesting... Transfers are on hold for a week. I don't know if it is only for the south and the ashes from the volcano or what... but we've gotta wait a week. That's fun stuff. I hate transfers.

Wait.... yesterday was Pioneer Day? That's cool. We watched Legacy yesterday with the Vera Family. Haha. What a coink a dink.

This week we did a lot of service. We've been helping the Vera Family with their upstairs room. Putting up Dry Wall and fiberglass. Fun stuff! Haha. I can totally build a house when I get back. Well. Maybe. The cool thing is that a couple we are teaching wanted to come with us to do service. How many investigators offer to do service with us? Not many! That's WAY awesome. Anyways, that was fun.

We are really focusing on working in harmony with the members. It is MUCH more difficult but I know it's worth it. President Gulbrandsen showed us a graph.... If the mission is totally obedient and do everything they should alone, we would baptize around a 100 people a month. If we add on members helping us, that would be 200 people a month. When we get to the point where WE help the MEMBERS with the missionary work, we would have 300 baptisms a month. That means every missionary would have at least 2 baptisms a month. So we are trying to get to the second category first. It's going to require a lot of waking up on the member’s part. It's going to require a lot of change. We can't keep doing things the way we are used to doing to doing them, but it will require adaptation and effort. It's not easy to do missionary work, but it is worth it. Some of the greatest joys in life are reserved for the missionary work. As members, if we get involved with the work, doing what we can to help, not only will they be MUCH more successful, but our lives with be filled with a greater measure of the Holy Ghost. And who doesn't want that? Sure, it means we have to get out of comfort zone. We can help to save the salvation of all those who are around us and help ensure our own personal salvation and the salvation of our loved ones.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It has an inspired promise from God that you can read it, ponder its teachings and ask Him in the name of Jesus Christ if it is true. How great a promise! To ask the most Supreme Being in the universe that has all power and He will take the time to answer you personally. The way he will answer is personal and unique. But the Holy Ghost will testify that it is true and you can know it without a doubt. Well. That's about it for now. Next week we'll find out with if I stay or not. (Imagine a pouty face).

Love you!
--
Elder Michael C. Watson
Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Norte
La Mejor en el Mundo y Lo sabes!

Walking on Water

Well, I am going to start out with the usual phrase - It's cold. Like... I crossed the pond next to my house.... Like literally walking on water. That was a fun experience. The wind was pushing me and it was rather hard to walk. But it saved like .... 2 minutes? If that's worth it, haha.

Well, this week flew by. I was reading dad's journal entry and I realized that my journal writing is lacking.... ALOT. Gotta make that change. We had Zone Conference on Thursday by Skype. That was fun. We learned alot about having a prayer in our hearts as we are teaching and working, asking for Charity. For me it's pretty difficult to think of two things at the exact same time, but it does help you to feel the Spirit.  We also learned some great stuff. I can't wait to go over my notes with you to show you EVERYTHING that I am learning. It is so amazing.

We found a couple this week! The girlfriend is a former investigator and already had all the lessons! :D The boyfriend is amazing! Soooooo cool! :D They just have to get married and ya stá (That's it?) We've got to teach him everything, but he didn't even freak out about the law of chastity or anything. He just accepts it. The Lord is really preparing people to hear the Gospel --It's just our job to find them and teach them (it's actually part of the members´ job to help find them, but more on that later). We also have another couple that have almost completed their divorces and can get baptized in September (that may seem like a long time but they've been going to church for a year). They are really excited and so are we. :D

Well, that's about it for now. We are getting a better relationship with our branch - so that's good. And that's about it for now. Love you all. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Watson #2

--
Elder Michael C. Watson
Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Norte
La Mejor en el Mundo y Lo sabes!

Learning and Teaching

Hey all!

A boring week is all right - it's good that you are healing Mom and it's good to keep Dad busy.

This week went by fine - we had lots of training meetings and lots of things to do so we were plenty busy. Being a zone leader sometimes feels like I am not a missionary - just running around and doing a LOT of errands. But hey, it's part of my responsibility now.

Yesterday was a good experience. Basically, President called early while we were sleeping so that we could get on our knees and pray for the Lord to bless the members and investigators to come to church and so that we could receive revelation on what we could do to help them get to church. After the prayer we called investigators and some members, etc. to no avail. Anyways, we gathered a report for the Zone and related it back to President. President then told us some success stories as well as his point of view on the activity - that it was a demonstration of who had oil in their lamps and who didn't. I learned that I need to be doing the small stuff daily to have the wondrous results that my Heavenly Father has planned for His children. By way of me, He can bless the lives of those who live in Seis de Abril. Now it's up to me to live up to His expectations and llevar a cabo (bring to pass) His desires for the people here. This works for everything - we need to be doing to little stuff every day so that the Lord can bless us - both in the small everyday matters and with miracles.

Elder Simper received a score of talks from his parents last week. (MAIL CAME! Thanks for all the stuff! :D) We've been listening to Michael Wilcox and he is awesome! We've listened to  - "The Fourth Watch" and "Walking on Water." Both of them are pretty sweet. I would definitely recommend listening to them - they certainly helped me out.

I've been learning more and more about becoming a missionary of action and of faith. It's been a real wake up call but it's helping me a ton. It's kind of hard for me to make decisions, but I am definitely learning (slowly but surely) of how to live the commandments rather than just follow them. It requires a LOT of action - more than I am used to but it's helping me to grow up.

Like I mentioned, I've been listening to Michael Wilcox - and he brought up a point I had never thought about. I thought that our Father might be slow to forgive or that it requires a ton of work to receive forgiveness. While it requires a lot of work, he will forgive us immediately - just like Christ taught we should forgive someone seven times a day if they are truly repentant, Heavenly Father will forgive us seven times in a day because He would not command us to do something if He does not do or had done it. Now it's not an excuse to sin - it's more of how merciful He is and His desire to help us grow. I've always been hard on the justice side of things - living the law and being perfect. While those are commandments, realizing the merciful side of our Father, it has helped me to come closer to Him. The only reason to fear His presence is if we are wicked and unrepentant. If we are striving to live the gospel, repenting as necessary, and really give all of our efforts - there is no need to fear. Just like D&C 45:3 states (I think) that Christ is our advocate and He will help us to overcome what we could not. We are not perfect - but we can be through the merits and blood of the Lamb.  I started to read 2 Nephi 9 today and thought a lot about the Atonement and apply it to one of our investigator who is waiting for a sign to be baptized. In my studies for him, I found many things that helped me - how about that -> studying for my investigators actually helps me; a fulfillment of a promise President Gulbrandsen gave to us.

I am really learning so much out here - sometimes I feel like my head will explode with so much information. But I enjoy learning. :D I hope you are well and aren't hurting a lot. I love you a lot!

Love,

Elder Michael C. Watson
Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Norte
La Mejor en el Mundo y Lo sabes!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!! The Weather Outside is Frightful... Wait - that is Christmas Music.

So we started off this morning in a very special way. Calling the American Missionaries in our zone and singing them the Star-Spangled Banner to start off the day. :D And then we listened to a WHOLE bunch of American music - America the Beautiful, Amazing Grace..... stuff like that! :D

You also know you are in the bottom of the world when there is snow and ice on July Fourth. That's right... It SNOWED! It snowed on Friday but it's all gone - but the ice is EVER present. For instance yesterday morning I completely biffed it. It reminded me of a time when I was walking with a couple of friends at BYU where I biffed it hard when I told them I would catch them and we fell down together...(Smart thing for a California boy to say.) But this time I just hit the ground hard by myself. But it was all cool. More cold. But yea. Anyways, let's just say that's what the weather is like. COLD! I am kinda tempted to put my tongue to a metal pole to see what would happen. And then again.... that's probably not too smart.

So this week went by really fast. But it was really good. I had a really good self-analysis this week and with the help of Elder Simper I totally was able to make some decisions to better myself. We also had a leadership counsel where all the zone leaders get together to discuss what's going on in the mission and how we can get better. We are in the south so we get to participate via Skype. It was pretty neat. We have another one on Tuesday and Wednesday so that'll be fun too. We have a couple of investigators that are progressing and they have baptismal dates for the 16th. We are pretty excited to be working right now. We've got a whole bunch of good stuff going on. We talked to President this morning and that was VERY enlightening. It was amazing. He shared with us an experience he had recently when he was meditating on the Atonement and the importance of going to Church. Basically, making things short - The mathematical process of The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which leads to Repentance which leads to Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins by those who hold the authority of God (Priesthood - Article of Faith 5) thereof which leads to the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying of hands by those who hold the Priesthood. After all that we keep doing the process (equation) until we die. That's the letter of the law. Now here comes the Spirit of the Law. What is Our Father's purpose for us - "To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" Moses 1:39. We gain the ETERNAL LIFE by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. We become as the Father is by leaving the evil and cleaving unto everything that is righteous. Basically if it does not coincide with the Father, we should leave it. Now. But how can we become like the Father - again, another process. We desire to change, so we are baptized, leaving the old person behind and starting over again. We go to church to unite the family, and to further the changing process. We are literally trying to leave the natural man behind. All of him - desires, flaws, mortality. Mortality is already taken care of by the Atonement. Our desires and flaws are part of our decision to change. We decide to repent. We decide to go to Church. We choose our environment (our friends, homes, work... basically everything.) Is what we have inviting us to come unto Christ? If it doesn't, should we have it? Does it invite us to become better people? I know it's a hard decision to make - we have grown to love many things that are good. But we must think about better and then BEST. How would we feel if Jesus Christ should come into our home? Would he be comfortable? Would everything inside be appropriate for a perfect being to behold? There might be a lot of sacrifice involved - but I declare unto you that it is worth it. It is worth every bit - why? Eternal Life and Eternal Progression are things that are not worth giving up. Having the eternal guilt that things COULD have been better? Not for me. The mission has changed a lot of my points of view - but I have one goal- to become as close unto Christ as I possible can. I won't be perfect - but I can try to be. You may ask, what's the point if you cannot do it in this life? My point is that you reap what you sow. You spend your whole life sowing, you will spend eternity reaping the benefits. Is that worth 100 years of hard work? You Betcha. We are in the world but we are not of the world.

So yea. I've been realizing a lot of great things and I hope I am helping your testimonies to grow and flourish. I know I am not perfect and I do not know a lot - but I do know this - Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. He died for me. All He asked me to do is to take my cross and follow Him - be obedient, follow His example, do my best and let every thought glorify the Father. Easy, right? If it was easy, it wouldn't be of God. The things he requires are simple, but yet so difficult. May we always choose to do what is right (CTR). To judge the right from the wrong is as plain as day from night. Now choosing to act upon what is right is the test.

I love you all. I really do. I know I come down hard every email. I am sorry if I offend anyone. If you feel hurt or angry, I apologize. But I also ask and even invite you to do something if you feel so. What is it that makes you hurt? Is it in accordance with the Savior and His teachings? I make mistakes of which I am fully aware. But my belief and resolve is this - that we leave the natural man and become like a child - submissive, meek, humble, willing to submit to all things. Leaving is a process. You have to unlock the door, turn the handle, pull open the door, step through and close the door. (Locking it is a GREAT idea) But as we are leaving the bad and cleaving unto the good, please don't look back. And ripping off the Band-Aid is much better than slowly tugging. Just keep your sight forward to the goal - Eternal Life with our Family and loved ones, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ and our Beloved Heaven Father. May we do this, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

_ _
Elder Michael C. Watson
Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Norte
La Mejor en el Mundo y Lo sabes!

Schools Out!?!

Buenas!

So basically Mom's description of her week reminded me of my last week of high school. I am SO GLAD I NEVER have to go through that again. Senioritis is horrible. Wow... Jonathon Freeman is giving talks and playing the piano? When I get home he's going to be taller than me! That's just weird. But that's all right - because I am never coming home! :D

So this week was very interesting. The best part was that... we had a baptism! :D Everything just worked out perfectly (which was weird. VERY weird.) The only bad thing that happened is that neither of us had our cameras (my batteries were dead) so there are no pictures. But comparatively, that is something really minor that can happen.

 Also, we talked with President this morning and he told us that Elder Simper is going to stay with me - SWEETNESS! That's basically awesome if you can't tell. He's a very good elder and we're going to have a lot of success and fun. :D Which means one of two things. He either leaves next transfer or I will stay here until like... September/October. I hope the second option. This area is so amazing. One of the reasons is the Vera Family. They are just amazing! Oh, Mom! She studied a bit to become an English teacher and can totally read and write in English. So you can talk to her! This is the family that is going to get sealed in a temple in a year. Without a doubt. They are awesome! They are my second family here! We are having a “war” right now. You remember what we did with Uncle Chris with ALL that candy inside of our car and then we did it back to him... Yea. So they gave us "Cascarilla" or the shells of cocoa beans. You put that in a coffee maker and it makes something like hot chocolate but less sweet and less thick. It is basically amazing. Anyways, they gave us a Tupperware filled with Cascarilla and so we hide it in their car (when they give us rides home basically every night from San Benito), in their house.... It's a ton of fun! :D

Something funny that happened. You know how EVERYBODY who has been to Argentina says that there are a ton of dogs? Well, proof of that would be the dog in our sacrament meeting. Somehow it got in right before the meeting started and we had to take it out. That was weird, but funny. Oh yea. As well, you remember when I struggled to give a 10 minute talk. Yesterday I gave a talk and it could have easily gone for 30 minutes. There's just not enough time. And teaching lessons are better. There's interaction and you are not listening to Elder Watson blab and blab about missionary work. I choose a talk in the Feburary 2005 Liahona as my theme; Seven Lessons on how to Share the Gospel by Elder Clayton Christiansen. That was cool. But I guess I need to say the most important things. Anyways, talks at home are gonna be fun! :D

So yea. Seis de Abril is amazing! We have three investigators that we are teaching that can be baptized in July. Two of them on the 16th and we are going to see if the other one can be baptized on the 8th (The 9th is a branch activity.) but we'll see. That's about it. I am doing good. It's not actually THAT cold. Just a bit. Love you all. Be good. I hope to hear from you. That's if we get our mail. Awesome Volcano. Anyways, take the good with the bad.

Say HOLA to everyone, Los Johnson, Jones, Jelaty, Watson (Pres y his wife), the WARD, and the Family... Basically EVERYONE!

Love,

Elder Watson #2

Happy Father's Day!!

Wow. Talk about a week that FLEW! I can't believe it's over. Everything just kinda blurred together and I really don't remember much. President Gulbrandsen called to see how the week went and basically Elder Simper (my temporary companion and my x-zone leader :D) took it under control and did the report. I was just basically... uhhhhhhhhhhhh yea. That. Now I have more of an idea of how to do the report over the phone. It was weird, but it's what President Gulbrandsen does with the Zone Leaders so that was really cool.

I basically had a lot of meetings this week due to being a zone leader. We do our meetings through Skype because we can't go up to Buenos Aires and back... that would be a little inefficient. So that was interesting. The mission is still waiting to fly the missionaries up because the there aren't any flights. That's all right; I am learning a bunch from Elder Simper. He's AWESOME! :D So yea... that's a fun situation. But the work still keeps going.

So something that we do now is that we pray before every visit to find new investigators, to have the love of Christ and the Spirit with us. And when the scriptures say "Pedid y recibiréis, Llamad (SHamad) y se os abrirá." "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you." it means exactly that. We're just starting to see the miracles that the Lord has prepared for us. He is ready to give, but are we ready to receive? Are we working diligently for our Salvation? Are we doing the daily little things to gain our testimonies and to feel the Spirit? Are we making the little decisions to help us get closer unto our Father? This life isn't about making huge decisions... it's about making the small ones. Sure we've got big decisions to make every once in a while - the mission, college, job, marriage - but how many decisions are those? And then think about your day today. How many decisions did you make? Did they draw you closer to the Savior? You may be thinking that there are decisions that really don't matter. You may have a point. But even what clothes we wear is a decision to come closer unto the Savior. Are we looing for the bulls-eye or are we looking for the limits. If we talked about archery, where do you want to hit? Obviously the center. The same way with obedience. We try to get the closest as we can to the center. That way if we miss, there is a margin of error where we'll still be all right. But if you are a semi driver and you think you can drive on the edge of a cliff and not fall off - good for you. Now what happens if you make a mistake? Chau.  We AIM for the center, not for the limits. It's not important if we think that doesn't break the "rules" - It's important that we would do as Christ would or as He would want us to do. There is a ton of stuff that is good. There are more that are better. And then there are those that are best. Which one will you choose? Which one would our Father in Heaven want us to choose? Wow. That's two emails in a row about obedience. Sorry. It's just something I can get carried away with.

Well, there's not much more that is interesting. We could have two baptisms this weekend. That would be amazing! Miracles are something to be worked for, not to be waited for. D&C 58:26-27.

I hope all is well, that everyone is good. Say "Hi" to everybody. Love you! :D

Elder Watson

The quickest companionship ever...

Dear Seres Queridos,

What do you mean a bore? It's awesome all the things that go on at home! :D

So this week was interesting. It was hard but I learned a lot. A lot of things fell through and people are just tough to work with sometimes. I don't think I will go into customer service when I get home.

So we have transfers this week, right? Well, I thought I was safe. Like I didn't have a big leadoff or anything. But the pitcher is way too fast and unpredictable. Basically I am not training anymore. I am a zone leader now. Hm. At least I don't have to change areas! I LOVE SEIS DE ABRIL!!!! LO MEJOR AREA EN TODO EL MUNDO. PERIOD......... (that's quite a bit of periods. Haha)

So this is the low down. Elder Giraldo goes to another area within our zone/district (being that it is the same) with another companion. Elder Berríos goes up north. Pobrecito. I will receive my new companion when there are flights. (Due to the eruption of Argentina/Chile and all the ashes, they aren't any flights). So I am with my ex-zone leader so he can teach me a bit until he goes up north too. Pretty exciting, no?

Well, we lost all of our baptismal dates. For one reason or another. So we got some work to do. But I am not scared or disappointed. I KNOW that the Lord guides us in the work. I am just trying to be the most efficient instrument I can be. If He wants me to train for a week, sweet. If He wants me to be a zone leader... well, I can do it. I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me. What I am trying to do is focus more on the Spirit and what the Lord wants me to do, not what I want to do. It's tough trying to focus on the Spirit, but when you're paying attention, humble and obedient, you'll be able to recognize it.

When we live the commandments, our desire becomes to live the commandment. When you first start living the Word of Wisdom, maybe you live it because it's a commandment, even if your body desires to break it. Over time, through obedience, diligence and faith, you won't have any desires to break the Word of Wisdom. Thus your desire has become the live the commandment.

Think about it. What things in our lives are we doing because it is a commandment? What things are we doing because it is a desire? My life before the mission was to keep the commandments. My life now is to live the commandments. If that makes sense. If all of our desires are in compliance with the laws and ordinances of our Eternal Father - we will just be filled with joy and happiness. The Holy Spirit will seal us and we will become as our Father in Heaven. Too bad I've got a LONG way to go. But I am working on it.

The mission has completely changed my life. There is no way I can go back to the way I was. Maybe except long hair and a goatee. That sounds cool, especially here in the South. At least it's not snowing or too cold. I just might have to buy some boots to walk in the mud.... It rained a lot and San Benito is a real kick walking around in dress shoes. We'll see how much time I have today.

So you remember how we baptized a family recently. Guess what? The father now has the Melchizedek Priesthood! :D :D :D :D :D. Matias is amazing! And now I have at least 6 more weeks with him and his family. YEA! :D

So we had a special conference for all of Argentina yesterday. Apparently every 2 years there is a broadcast from Salt Lake with special counsel for the members of Argentina. Pretty cool, no? Anyways, I got to listen to Elder Zivic of the Seventy, Sister Wixom (the Primary General President), Elder Neil Anderson and President Boyd Packer. Yea.... AMAZING! Some highlights -

Elder Zivic: The Second Coming: if it was tomorrow what would you be doing? If you died tomorrow, what would you be doing? Guess what - do it now and don't wait!

Sister Wixom: Three commandments for the family: Scripture study, Family Prayer and Love.
Elder Anderson: Missionary Work comes right below in importance of the Atonement

President Packer: The Gift of the Holy Ghost : the only church who has it and the importance of it in our lives and how it´s helped him.

Listening to General Authorities now is an amazing opportunity that I wouldn't miss for anything. Why did I sleep during them beforehand? Those who have ears to hear, LISTEN. Those who have eyes to see, LOOK. Basically, don't be hearers of the word only, but DOERS. Analyze your life - recognize your mistakes (it's a part of repentance and it's a blessing to do so). If someone doesn't come to church, pray that they'll come. Then go out that day and help them get there. May we not give vain prayers, but fulfill God's will for us and our brothers and sisters.

I love you all. I pray that you are all right and that everything is going well. Life is meant for service. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve. Are we better than Him? He has descended below all things and has risen triumphant. May we follow his example and not give up. It's never too late to start but it's already too late to wait. May we do so now; sharing our testimony of our Lord and Savior with all those we come in contact with. 2 Timothy 1:8 - In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Watson #2