Half Way... (Week 53)

It's very surreal how quickly time has passed. It's kind of scary really. Wednesday night after nightly planning I sat back and reflected on the year. I thought about all of the people I have taught and all the lives I've watched the Savior heal. I thought of all the friends I had made, all of the memories of dangerous storms, slammed doors, people praying with us under the influence (not the spirit). So much behind me but still so much in front.

This week has been good! Lots of tender mercies and miracles. A few of them I missed while I was on exchanges, DANG IT!

First off P~ is super close to baptism! We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she committed to follow it. Her foot is almost completely healed, that priesthood blessing is working fast! She is pretty far into her reading/listening. She loves the Book of Mormon and her testimony is beginning to sprout. While I was on exchanges down in Mustang, P~ basically told Elder Staheli and Elder Bues that she knows the Book of Mormon is true.... darn exchanges....

We took our Bishop out teaching with us on Thursday and taught some of our investigators. Including the D~ family (the in-active family with the 11 year old who has never been to church) which went really well. Brother and Sister D~ really opened up and admitted they need to change. Their testimony's are still there and Brother D~ basically told us his conversion story. They just need to make the effort and come to church. There is only so much that we missionaries can do. After the appointments we talked to our Bishop about the ward members and missionary work. We discussed with him the things that were discussed in our training with Elder Foster on creating a vision. Bishop is on fire right now, he basically told us all that was going down in the ward and what we need to do to fix it. We came up with tons of ideas to get the members more involved and excited about missionary work. After the conversation he invited us to bishopric council on Sunday morning to talk about our vision. Awe yeah!

Yesterday before church we went to the bishopric council. Bishop is on fire and he is ready for the Mustang Stake. We created a list of goals that will help the ward achieve its vision: To create an atmosphere in the ward where members are actively involved and participating in personal missionary work and being motivated and filled with the pure love of Christ. Things are going to change in the ward. Everyone is on board.

Dang it I'm running out of time... I love you all! I'll email you more about P~, and C~.

Sincerely, Elder Watkins

Good Times