Monday, January 26, 2015

Crazy Busy (Week 71)

Okay this week has been insane. I have so much to say with such little time to say it. Heavenly Father has blessed us so much. The work is exploding!

We've had so many investigators at church its been hard to sit with them all. This week we had 4 investigators at church from different families. We had Carri, Jimmy, John, and Tony a friend of Floyd (look a like of Freeman).

It was awesome to see Carri come she loved the whole thing (especially relief society). When we first visited with her she was a little stand-off-ish but now her heart is open and full of joy. On Saturday
we shared with her scriptures from the last Book of Mormon class we taught and answered her questions. It was crazy everything we talked about in our conversation tied into the scriptures perfectly. We read verses from Jacob 1-4. At the end of the visit we invited her to church and explained to her the sacrament, and she agreed to come. Later on Sunday while I was sitting with her and Jimmy during sacrament I opened up to my scriptures to 3 Nephi 18:6-10 where Jesus Christ institutes the sacrament in the Americas. Carri was fascinated, I watched her as she flipped through the pages of 3 Nephi. The spirit was very strong as we took the sacrament. Jimmy on my right loved
church.

Jimmy is Joseph's cousin who just got out of jail. He used to meet with missionaries back in 2003 and even came to church a few times. Church was familiar to him and he enjoyed every hour of it. It's amazing to see people change and begin to live and apply the gospel. He also came to the Book of Mormon class on Monday.

Okay how do I write about James in 5 mins... early in the week he went unresponsive (deep sleep). It was a little scary visiting him in the critical care unit. We prayed and felt that everything would be all
right and the Lord would keep the promises in his blessing. On Friday he was back in the nursing home feeling better then ever. He is still recovering from his cough, but he looks great. You can barely tell that he fell.

Well my time is up, I love you all! Please pray for our investigator's James, Joesph, Carri and Tony!

Thank you have a wonderful week!





Sincerely, Elder Watkins

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Woodstock and Jimmy Hendrix (Week 70)

This week has been good. Sorry that I didn't email yesterday it was a government holiday so the library was closed. It was nice yesterday, so we went to the lake for lunch, skipped rocks and hung out as a district for p-day. This week's weather has been amazing, I think it got up to 70 degrees. Crazy stuff. Everyone's been outside having fun.

This week we got a referral from the mission office for someone we gave a blessing to at the nursing home. His name is Jimmy (not Hendrix), but he definitely survived the 60s/70s. Haha, he remembers Woodstock like it was yesterday. We got the referral from his LDS cousin in Ohio. He has met with a lot of missionaries in the past, but now he is ready. He is going through a lot right now. He says his wife won't take care of him, so he is in the nursing home. He is currently going through chemo therapy and radiation for his lung cancer. At our first visit he told us that he wouldn't mind being Mormon, so awesome. We taught him the Restoration and read the introduction of the Book of Mormon with him. He loves the Book of Mormon and already knows it's true. We set a baptism date for Feb 26 that we are working towards. He is really excited and asked us if we could pick him up for church on Sunday.

On Sunday we left to pick him up, but when we got to his room he was nowhere to be found. We looked around the halls and the lobby and ended up asking a nurse where he was. She said he was in the hospital for pneumonia. We knew he sounded sick from our last visit, but we didn't think it was that bad. Turns out his being in the hospital for pneumonia was only half the story. Around 5am he fell out of bed on his face and split his arm open, he was laying there for 30 minutes yelling before anyone knew he fell. Sunday night we visited him and gave him a blessing. As we were laying our hands on his head he asked, "What does it take to become a priest like you? I want to be one." So awesome. Elder Matthews anointed the oil and I sealed the anointing with a blessing. It was one of the most powerful blessings the Holy Ghost has ever given through me. It was amazing. In my heart I knew Jimmy was going to be okay. After the blessing we read a scripture to him about the atonement and then read the promise of our bodies in the resurrection. After the lesson we reassured him that everything would be alright, and that God has a plan for him and that's why he is still alive. He said, "I hope so, I want to be baptized. I'm serious I have never felt like this before, it's amazing." My heart began to weep with joy. It was amazing.

Joseph is doing fine. He has had a really hard week. His cousin just got out of jail and is now living with them again so he has to keep a close eye on him. He will only go to church if his cousin comes with him, so hopefully we will be teaching his cousin soon. We have taught Joseph basically everything, so now we are just helping him prepare for baptism and helping him set down the cigarettes for good. We are seeing him this afternoon. He is so awesome, teaching him is the highlight of my week.

This week has been good! I love you all! Keep me posted!

Sincerely, Elder Watkins


Cold Cereal

We found an Elk in the Alley

Ponca Lake

The 101 Ranch Wild West Mural




Monday, January 12, 2015

Gospel Principles (Week 69)

We went to see our investigator Joseph on Saturday and we asked him how his scripture studies were going and he said: "not very well I didn't get to read anything from the Book of Mormon this week, but I've been reading the Gospel Principles manual that you gave me and I read the whole thing."

WHATT!?!

He had read all 53 chapters... he is incredible. His desire to learn and improve baffles (funny word) me. He wasn't able to come to church this week because he didn't get any sleep and wasn't feeling well. I feel bad because he loves church and he has told us it gives him strength throughout the week.

John and his wife came to church which was awesome. They even stayed for gospel principles class! (Usually they leave after Sacrament but we caught them haha). They loved it and John is becoming great friends with the members. Last Tuesday we taught him the word of wisdom and the only thing he struggles with is coffee. When we followed up with him on Sunday he told us he was coffee free and that he now realized how much he depended on it.

We have had a few new families move in from out of state to come work on the windmills. A few of them are part member families, so we are excited to start working with them! This up coming transfer (6 weeks) looks promising. Oh yeah there are no changes in our district, which I'm fine with. We are all pretty good friends.

My companion is feeling a lot better now so we have been able to bike again, I never thought I would enjoy biking so much, its going to be weird if I ever get transferred into a car area...

I wanted to thank everyone for their Christmas cards and gifts! I am grateful for all of the love and support I've received on my mission. I am truly blessed, thank you.

I hope you have a wonderful week, I love you!

Sincerely, Elder Watkins

The Conoco Oil Museum

Our member is a famous scientist. Google the Stolt Migration Theory

The old 101 Ranch Wild West Show. Birth place of rodeo cowboys.


Here are some film photos from the past few months
 
Grand Ave.

Elder Taunteang

Aquarium

Small Town OK

Mirrors

Monday, January 5, 2015

Cabin Fever (Week 68)

My companion is really sick with bronchitis and has been since Monday, so this week has been pretty interesting. Kind of got rebuked by the spirit because neither of us thought of getting him a blessing until yesterday and now he is feeling a lot better. The Lord works in mysterious ways for our learning.

Besides Elder Matthews being sick with bronchitis, this week has still been really good and productive. The Lord has helped everything work out for our good. We were able to see all of our progressing investigators by getting rides with members, and all of them are doing great!

Joseph has completely quit smoking! From two and a half packs a day to zero! He has changed and grown so much for the past few weeks, and it's been incredible. On Saturday, we visited with him and he hadn't slept for over 24 hours because of his insomnia. Through out the day he read two of the gospels from the New Testament and an hour and 30 minutes of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing to watch the excitement in his eyes as he told us all of the new things that he had learned from his study.

He is like a scholar now. No joke. For one of the first visits with him we (through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost) wrote 10 promised blessings from the Lord that he would receive from quitting his tobacco habit. One of those blessings was that his memory would become stronger. Today he was reciting scripture to us. Things are looking good for his baptism on February 19th.

This fast and testimony meeting was awesome. S~, an inactive member that is in the half way house bore his testimony. It was amazing. He has a contrite spirit and a healing heart. We are so
excited to continue to see him progress. We are starting up a scripture study with him this week at the half-way house. He has been telling his inmates about the Book of Mormon and a few of them want to join the study and learn more. Now that is member missionary work!

This week should be good. Elder Matthews is sounding a lot better so we will be on the bikes again soon. Freezing winds here we come!

Sincerely, Elder Watkins

Moment of silence for Faded Fabio

Scribbles