Time Pilots (Week 101)

The weeks seem to be passing faster. I love being a missionary and I suppose every missionary experiences this at some point. I guess its been happening for awhile but time doesn't want to slow down. A member gave an interesting quote in their talk last Sunday on time and productivity "Time fly's, good thing I'm the pilot." Maybe it's cliche but I found it interesting. Are we pointing in the right direction what is our destination? Are we who we want to be? I've learned so much from this journey as a missionary. I'm grateful for the attributes I've obtained that continue to develop everyday. Time shapes hills, forms mountains, carves statues. Heavenly Father uses time to shape and mold us but only by our trust and faith in Him does He transform us in that process. Truth be told!

This week was good! We taught D~ the restoration on Tuesday which went really well. He has so many similar beliefs. He is very much on key with the doctrine he believes. He is such a meek and humble guy. He reminds me a lot of you Dad except the Okie version. Haha I don't even think D~ knows how many farm animals he has; it's so much fun to pull into the property next to his house and watch his 6 goats and 20+ birds follow us. Haha they are hilarious.

This week we did a lot of digging through our former investigators, and kept finding more and more teaching records. We have tried a lot of them but we are hoping for more success with that this week.

Like I had mentioned last week our ward has not done very many activities or ward get-togethers (we have not done any since I've been here). As a district we have begun to organize monthly missionary activities where members can invite the families they home/visit teach, and where members can invite their non-members friends to learn more about the gospel and fellowship. This last Saturday we had our first activity where we had a movie night and showed The Testaments movie on the big screen in the cultural hall. Our district teamed up and invited everyone we could. We made pass along cards to give out as we went tracting or street contacting. Well the Sunday before that Saturday we found out the county fair (Stephen county's biggest event of the year) was going to be happening the last 3 days of the week with Saturday being the biggest day. We were a little discouraged but we had faith that we would still have good attendance. We set up everything the day before and it looked awesome! The night of the activity with about 5 minutes before the movie started we only had about 12 people. Well no worries we didn't forget about MST (Mormon Standard Time), about 15 minutes after the hour we had 35 - 45 people in attendance. Three of our investigators and tons of less-actives from the other Elders area came. It was awesome! Bishop told Elder Sheffield that he was surprised and said more people came than he was expecting. We were so grateful that everything worked out. Br~ came which was a shocker. We were really excited to see him getting fellowship with a ton a members. He said he really enjoyed the movie and is eager to read 3 Nephi. He is currently in chapter 42 of Alma, he is getting close.

Next week is looking good. Our district is seeing a ton of miracles and growth with the people we are teaching right now. The other Elders pulled in 9 new investigators last week! So awesome! And they all basically fell into their lap. I'm excited for them to see those people grow. The work is hastening.

I love you all! God bless!

Sincerely, Elder Watkins