Intercambios means - Splits

Buenos Dias Padres y mi Hermano!

¿Cómo andan? Estoy muy bien! La obra aca en Villa Adelina es muy buenisimo! :D

So on Tuesday I had the opportunity to listen to my Mission President teach. La verdad, fue amazing! Everything he tells us to do, he does. And he follows the steps of Preach My Gospel as well! Really, it was a great experience to sit and listen to him. We got to share our testimonies, and then we had to leave because we had some appointments to get to. Really, Mission Presidents have the power and authority of God to do the missionary work in their areas. They have the vision of what needs to be done and how to do it. If every missionary were to follow exactly what he says, they will be more blessed in everything they do.

This week also was intercambios. In our mission, intercambios (splits) are longer than a day. They last until the leader and the other missionary baptize someone and the leader feels comfortable with the progress they have made. So this week I have been with Elder Charles, who was in Villa Adelina the transfer before me! He only has three more months in the mission than I have and we have definitely learned loads! He is an awesome missionary and we have had a great time this week. Hopefully I can take what we learned and apply it to the rest of my mission so that I can become a more effective missionary of the Lord! It was great to walk around with another missionary and talk about everything. I also learned the importance of knowing everything that is going on.... It doesn’t help if your companion has information you need and he is in another place. That wasn’t really a problem for us, but I definitely had it confirmed that both companions should write things down and talk about everything.

I want to tell you that faith is such an important aspect in our lives… Faith is what drives us to action and we can receive MUCHO fuerza to follow the commandments and do what the Lord would have us do. It takes a lot of work on our part, but that is what is required to receive personal inspiration and blessings. When we do our part, we can expect the Lord to do His part. All blessings really are predicated on the laws and commandments of God. Also, we need to have hope! If we do not have hope, faith is nothing. We need to hope that the world will be a better place through our actions, our lives will be better and blessed if we follow the commandments, and that in general we can be happy and have joy as we follow the commandments. To have this faith we must read the scriptures daily, pray to our Heavenly Father for strength and the gifts of faith and hope, go to all three hours of the TRUE CHURCH of Jesus Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and obey the commandments. As we do this I can promise that we will see the hand of the Lord in our lives and can experience and see many miracles. Miracles still happen today and they are a result of our faith. Miracles do not bring faith, faith brings miracles.

I want to tell you that I love you very much and I pray for each of you daily! Stay strong, keep studying, and we will see each other soon!

CON MUCHO AMOR!

Elder Michael C. Watson

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Hola a todos!!!

¿Como estan? Todo esta bien acá en Argentina! :D Being a missionary is so awesome! I am learning so much from my studies, from my companion, and from the people!

I would like to bear my testimony that I know this Church is true. I know it to be true through the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is evidence that God does talk to His Children today. Our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in the year 1820. By the power of God, Joseph Smith was able to translate the Book of Mormon. Por medio de el Libro de Mormón, (Through the Book of Mormon) I know that families can be together forever, that the same Church that Jesus Christ established when he was on the Earth is now restored on the Earth as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that we have a living prophet on the Earth that has been called by God to help us keep the commandments and avoid sin. You can know the same for yourselves. All you have to do is read a little bit of the Book of Mormon, kneel down and ask sincerely in prayer that if the Book of Mormon is true. I testify that you will feel the Holy Ghost as described in Galatians 4 (I think): peace, comfort, tranquility and happiness. The Gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace and happiness into our lives. We can live together with our families after this life through the restored ordinances and by proper authority. I encourage everybody to read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and to pray about the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon answers so many of the questions of our souls. As you read, I can promise that you will find answers to the questions you have, whether they are questions you think about or not. As you do this, you will feel the Holy Ghost and the feelings it will bring. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and we can be forgiven of all our sins through repentance and baptism. This work is amazing and you can feel the joy, comfort and happiness I feel if you read the Book of Mormon, pray to our Heavenly Father and talk to the missionaries.

It is such a blessing to serve the Lord. I can see every day the blessings the Lord has for all of His children, including me. It is great to have access to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and be cleansed of the sin and the resulting guilt we feel. We can´t be perfect, but every day we can repent and progress a little bit more.

Thank you to all that have helped me to get to this point. I will be forever grateful for the many lessons I have learned. And again, I am way behind in my letter writing, so I will get back to all who have written to me as soon as possible. Love you all, and I pray that God will be with you until we meet again.

Love,

Elder Michael C. Watson

He Received His Package!

Dear Parents,

So here´s the low down. I will be awaiting your call at 6:30 my time. I am pretty sure that is around 2:30 your time. Hopefully that will give enough time for Dad to get home from meetings and such.

Wow, you have a lot of courage sticking a kitten with Flash! ;) I hope all turns out well and that they can find homes!

Thank you so much for the package!!!!!!! I received one package that had my ties and my deodorant, toothpaste and POP-TARTS!!!! :D Super excited. :D I also received a LOT of letters, so it will take some time to answer everybody. I am already a bit behind, so I will probably have to keep them really short. Thanks to everybody who wrote me and I will try to get back to them asap!

This week we had Zone Conference, which was absolutely amazing! I felt like it was just for me! It was really great. Now I need to take everything I learned and apply it to myself and change and become a better person and missionary. There´s always something for us to change and do better. We just need to follow through with our decisions (I forgot how to spell that.. and no, not t-h-a-t... ;) ) and work for our salvation. We cannot sit back and wait for the Lord to answer our prayers. We need to work for our blessings. Like it says in D&C 131:20-21, all of our blessings are according to our obedience. I really need to work to change and not just ask to be changed.

This week was good. We found a couple new people and a former investigator. As long as we do our part, we can find the Lord´s chosen and help them to come unto Christ. The mission is difficult, but I can already see the blessings from it in my life.

Well, that´s all I can think for this week. I hope all is well at home and that everybody is doing well.

Love,

Elder Watson

Missionary Work is GREAT!

Queridos Padres,

That conference sounded like it was a blast!!! I hope that I get it in the Dear Elder’s tomorrow! Wow! I glanced over your notes and I learned some. It’s hard to read long letters fast, so I am glad you are dear eldering me all your emails so I can have a copy of them in my apartment. I wish I had more time because 24 hours is not enough!

When we really learn true principles, our behavior will change. That is some great advice. We need to know things in our hearts as well as in our minds and be determined to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

That’s great that you are trying to change things up in Mutual. Doing different things each week can really help build excitement and desire to go to Mutual instead of knowing exactly what we would do each week. That’s what I liked about Mutual right before I left for school.

That’s great that this year’s students are better! I hope you are enjoying teaching history!

This week was semi-difficult. We have run out of a lot of people to teach, so we are searching for new investigators. A lot of contacting. But it’s great! I am learning how to have a positive attitude and outlook on life.

I ran out of time today. Again. I hope all is well at home! Keep reading the scriptures! Helps a ton! :D

Love you tons!

Elder Watson

Transfer Week - I Am Still With Elder Garay in Villa Adelina!

Queridos Padres!

Esta semana fue muy bien! Tenemos dos bautismos! Tuve la opotunidad para hacer mi primero bautismo! I was kinda nervous and stuttered a little, but it all went well on the first try, so I am happy! :D  The past couple days as we have been teaching I have been trying to go with the Spirit on which scriptures to share. Yesterday I was prompted to share a scripture which I thought would be disastrous and it turned out to be great because it went with something she had said and the Spirit was able to help make it a great lesson. Sister Conaway --- Scripture Mastery scriptures right now are my diet of scriptures to share. Thank you SOOOOO much! :D

I forgot to tell you last week our P-day got changed. Sorry if it made anything inconvenient... Transfer week P-days are on Tuesdays, so you should expect every 6 weeks for a Tuesday P-day.  I am still with Elder Garay.  How was going out with the missionaries? Or is that this week? [I asked him if he heard how his box was received] I will let you know in two weeks. Our zone conference is scheduled for Tuesday and we have P-day on Monday. Hopefully it will all come out well! Can you give me a list again of what was inside? I can go back and look, but if you know off the top of your head that would be great.

Mother’s Day… I need to find a member or the chapel phone and I will give the number to you and you will call me. It’s a bit away but as soon as I get the place, time and numbers I will give them to you. That should be next transfer I think... What is the date of Mother’s day?

That’s awesome to hear about Josh! I hope all goes well and that he can finish his papers soon! I’ll get to see who I get letters from next week! :D

I can’t wait for pictures! :D  The other elders have mini scrap books of pictures from home and on the mission and always tell stories. Pictures are awesome! :D

That’s too bad to hear that BYU Baseball lost... I can remember hearing them practice outside my dorm window when I was at school... Good times!

So it rained for like 30 minutes on Sunday.... With balls of hail the size of my fist! Pretty crazy. We were inside a house so no worries. It was pretty crazy though.

That is so awesome Elder Bednar is going to come to our area! [Ventura, not Buenos Aires] He is so awesome! Take some good notes! ;)

Anyways, time is running out. I hope all is well and that you are fine.. I love you and don’t stop studying the scriptures! They have the answers to our lives, especially the Book of Mormon! The Book of Mormon is truly the inspired words of God to the people here in the Americas!

Con MUCHO Amor,

Elder Michael Watson

Mosquitoes Are Eating Me Up!

Dear Mom and Dad,

Yes, the mosquitoes are eating me up... Less so than at the beginning of the transfer but I still have a lot of bites. I am using it [mosquito repellent] at night... Maybe I should use it when I go out too... oops... I still have two more bottles of repellent and I can buy it here too, so that won’t be a problem. At least here in Villa Adelina.

I bought a new watch for 16 pèsos. Let’s see how long it lasts... ;) I’m not going to let something like that to get me up in arms... It takes much more than that. I am definitely learning patience and how to grow up. These lasts 6 weeks have been a real eye-opener and I am doing much better now than at the beginning of the transfer.

So this is the last week of the transfer. My companion thinks I will leave because he was just made District Leader and a Trainer. We’ll see. I’ve learned to not guess what the Lord’s will is and to go with what he commands us to do right now.

Thank you for all the advice. It has helped confirm what I was thinking and gave me a new light of looking at things, of which I really needed. Thanks! :D

We didn’t have to rebaptize the family and yesterday one of our recent converts of a month baptized their daughter! It was awesome! This convert reminds me of you, Dad. He’s always looking up things in the scriptures and online to find answers to his questions. He is awesome!

I remember the name Elder Ray. That is awesome! And we are back to 4 missionaries? When I get back I want to go out with them. Going out with missionaries is way cool... I wish I did it more before my mission.

I haven’t really gotten home sick... I did in church yesterday when the hallways were crowded and reminded me of our chapel, but it didn’t last too long. It’s really different being away from home. Good, but different.

Well, that’s about it. I am loving the work and working hard to invite others to come unto Christ. I hope all is well at home!

Con Mucho Amor!

Elder Michael Watson

No Boxes PLEASE - Only Flat Rate USPS Envelopes... PLEASE!

¡HOLA!

The other three missionaries missed home a bunch yesterday. I did a little bit, but I am glad to be doing the Lord´s work. It is truly a blessing to be out here. And perhaps I haven´t been out as long... ;)

I don´t know about the box situation so waiting a little bit until I know what I can get might be a good idea. Peanut Butter... I don´t know. The missionaries in my apartment haven´t got any and I haven´t asked any in my zone... I will have to ask around. [We have learned that it is safer to send items in a USPS flat rate envelope, Mike's box we sent him is stuck at the airport with no way for him to get there to get it. The Assistants may be able to make a trip there but he is not sure].

As for conference, we watched it live in the Stake Center. I watched the first two in Spanish, missed priesthood because it started at nine, and had the blessing to watch the last two in English. We fit 5 elders into a 4 ft wide 10 feet long room to watch it in English on a small TV. It was so worth it! I got the general idea in Spanish, but missed a lot of good stuff. Gratefully, the Spirit was able to help me get some key points I needed. Watching the last two sessions was absolutely amazing. I cannot wait for the Liahona with the conferences to come so I can read them again and get the stuff I missed. Watching conference as a missionary is so COOL! I could find an application with every talk and I was so excited to watch and listen to our leaders. It was awesome! :D

So this week we were able to have a couple of good lessons. We are teaching the wife and daughter (sometimes separately, sometimes together) of a recent convert (less than a month) and the Spirit was so strong! We were able to help them recognize the Holy Ghost. They know its true, we just have to help them commit to being baptized. We are working towards a baptismal date and I am sure that they will be baptized soon. It is so awesome to see the Spirit work on other people! :D

Well, that was the highlight of my week apart from Conference. I love you and miss you!

Con MUCHO Amor,

Elder Watson