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
Monday, January 26, 2015
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
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
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
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
Monday, December 29, 2014
Happy New Year 2015! (Week 67)
Okay yesterday something really crazy happened. We had the prompting to go bike to a less-active part-member family around 8:10. We bike there, parked our bikes, and knocked their door. There mom wasn't hope but their 18 year old son was there. He invited us in and we visited with him and his two younger siblings who have not been baptized yet. Their living situation is very complicated, their home is like a foster home. Their mom takes in teenagers who need a place to stay. The oldest daughter was smoking and sitting with her friend D~ on the other side of the room. While we were sharing our message on keeping the sabbath day holy with the three other siblings we all began to notice a strange smell. It was a burning smell but it didn't smell like cigarette smoke. The young kids thought it was the neighbors so D~ got up and went outside to check. We started to teach again when D~ came rushing back through the front door and kicking open the bedroom door on the other end of the room. Bright orange flashed from the room. The back bedroom was in flames! We rushed for water and the fire extinguisher. We threw a few buckets of water and stamped up the flames. Once we stopped the fire we evacuated the house. The fire came from an electric heater. Thankfully we got everything under control. It was all pretty intense because if we had found the fire a minute later the whole room would have been on fire. Crazy stuff. Quite a miracle.
Besides the crazy fire incident we had another great Sunday. Joesph and John both came to church to hear me and Elder Matthews speak in sacrament. Church was a very revelatory experience for Joesph and he told us that every meeting was directed to him. Super cool! We set a baptism date with Joesph for February 19th. He has almost completely quit smoking, he is down to 3-4 cigarettes a day. John is still looking for the answer to his prayers but is reading the Book of Mormon a little each night.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Adamson in Blackwell. We had a good exchange, in fact some random girl proposed to me and I'm getting married next week. This random young woman and her friends pulled up to us in their car while we were walking to our next appointment. She calls out to me, "Hey my husband has run away and left me with two kids will you marry me?" Haha that's a first. Me and Elder Adamson had a good laugh and told her that we were missionaries and for two years we put those things on hold. We gave her a pass along card. She was a little embarassed (probably dared to do it by her friends), but she accepted the card and the car drove off. Crazy Blackwell...
This new year I'm recommitting myself to work a little harder. I'm working on keeping a better daily journal. I want to remember these crazy experiences the rest of my life. This week is going to be good
we are starting to meet with a lot more convicts. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but all of them are ready to change and follow God.
I love you all and hope you have a happy new year!
Sincerely, Elder Watkins
Besides the crazy fire incident we had another great Sunday. Joesph and John both came to church to hear me and Elder Matthews speak in sacrament. Church was a very revelatory experience for Joesph and he told us that every meeting was directed to him. Super cool! We set a baptism date with Joesph for February 19th. He has almost completely quit smoking, he is down to 3-4 cigarettes a day. John is still looking for the answer to his prayers but is reading the Book of Mormon a little each night.
On Friday I went on exchanges with Elder Adamson in Blackwell. We had a good exchange, in fact some random girl proposed to me and I'm getting married next week. This random young woman and her friends pulled up to us in their car while we were walking to our next appointment. She calls out to me, "Hey my husband has run away and left me with two kids will you marry me?" Haha that's a first. Me and Elder Adamson had a good laugh and told her that we were missionaries and for two years we put those things on hold. We gave her a pass along card. She was a little embarassed (probably dared to do it by her friends), but she accepted the card and the car drove off. Crazy Blackwell...
This new year I'm recommitting myself to work a little harder. I'm working on keeping a better daily journal. I want to remember these crazy experiences the rest of my life. This week is going to be good
we are starting to meet with a lot more convicts. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but all of them are ready to change and follow God.
I love you all and hope you have a happy new year!
Sincerely, Elder Watkins
The Belts had me dress up as Santa for their kids on Christmas eve...
It's a long story... maybe I'll tell it next time.
Ocean Way
Brother Phetvixay, me and Elder Matthews in our ugly sweaters.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Best Christmas Ever! (Week 66)
Gosh I wish I had enough time to tell you every miracle that happened this week, but I don't. :/ But I will tell you about the crowning event of the week... Sacrament meeting!
We had two of our most solid investigators come to church and it was the Christmas program (we sang In Wondering Awe with three other members). John and Joseph both came and loved it. John and his family could only stay for Sacrament, but Joseph stayed for all 3 hours. It was a miracle! Before coming he'd mentioned that it would be hard to leave his parents unattended for very long, but something in my heart told me that they would be okay if he came. We only expected him to stay for the Sacrament hour but as soon as the meeting was over he told us that he felt like his parents would be okay if he stayed. Between Sacrament and Sunday School we showed him around the church and gave him a quick tour. He loved it and everyone was talking to him. It was a cool experience to watch friendships begin to develop. After we taught the Christmas message for Gospel Principles class he said that he would stay for the last hour! So awesome! He loved it, and will hopefully come again next week.
For Christmas Eve we are going to go caroling with the Newlands. We are going to sing to most of our investigators and our less actives that live in the nursing home. It's going to be awesome!
Sorry this email is so short. We are in Enid for zone p-day and the library doesn't give us as much time. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful Christ-mas!
Sincerely, Elder Watkins
Here are some pictures from this week and last week.
We had two of our most solid investigators come to church and it was the Christmas program (we sang In Wondering Awe with three other members). John and Joseph both came and loved it. John and his family could only stay for Sacrament, but Joseph stayed for all 3 hours. It was a miracle! Before coming he'd mentioned that it would be hard to leave his parents unattended for very long, but something in my heart told me that they would be okay if he came. We only expected him to stay for the Sacrament hour but as soon as the meeting was over he told us that he felt like his parents would be okay if he stayed. Between Sacrament and Sunday School we showed him around the church and gave him a quick tour. He loved it and everyone was talking to him. It was a cool experience to watch friendships begin to develop. After we taught the Christmas message for Gospel Principles class he said that he would stay for the last hour! So awesome! He loved it, and will hopefully come again next week.
For Christmas Eve we are going to go caroling with the Newlands. We are going to sing to most of our investigators and our less actives that live in the nursing home. It's going to be awesome!
Sorry this email is so short. We are in Enid for zone p-day and the library doesn't give us as much time. I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful Christ-mas!
Sincerely, Elder Watkins
Here are some pictures from this week and last week.
Marland Mansion
Me and my buddy Santa (Brother Newland)
Katana for Christmas?
Our festive home
Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 15, 2014
The Marland Mansion (Week 65)
Man, this week was awesome. How do I start...
First we started out the week with a tour of the Marland Mansion for P-day. Really cool. We took a guided tour and the whole tour lasted about 3 hours. The place was huge! The history behind the mansion is really interesting, in fact next year they are making a full length movie about Lydie and E.W. Marland. We can expect the movie to be skewed and filled with fiction but it's kinda cool that it's being made into a movie. My favorite part of the whole tour or the estate had to be the artisan studio. While the mansion was being built the artisans used a 400 ft long underground tunnel to get back and forth between the studio and the mansion. The sculptor and artist that did most of the work was also the sculptor who did a lot of the marble statues in Washington D.C. In the studio, they had a lot of the models he made for his big projects, like the statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits in the Lincoln Memorial and the the statue of King Henry the VI. I'm going to see if I can get this computer to send pictures...
Second, we got to teach Joesph the Doctrine of Christ. He is one of my heroes. He is one of the most sincere, honest, loving persons I've met on my mission. This week I've been praying to see through the Lord's eyes and I tell you I can see Joesph is going to become great. I know one day he is going to change a lot of people's lives. He is an amazing example to me, he has such a big burden on his back and yet he is still willing to sacrifice and change. We taught him that the Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to become clean and change for the better, and by taking small steps and making small sacrifices, the Lord will lift our load and we will become stronger and wiser. He wasn't able to come to church this week, but we took a member over to visit him on Sunday and the member volunteered to bring his family breakfast, lunch and dinner on Christmas day. You could see joy and relief fill Joseph's being. Our members are awesome!
Third, we had a day-long Christmas Conference in OKC. It was amazing to hear from our leader and receive revelation for our area. A lot of talks on finding and helping members do missionary work. It was good to see my old companions and friends. Thank you Mom and Dad for all of the letters and love!
Fourth, on Friday I received a phone call from the Assistant to President Peterson (AP).
AP Peterson:"Guess whose house I'm at?"
Me: "Whose?!"
AP Peterson: "It starts with an F and ends with a Z."
Me: "NO WAY! The Fultz?!?
He was on exchanges with the Paul's Valley zone leaders and the Fultz Family (my recent converts from that area) just so happened to be feeding all of the missionaries that night. I got to talk on the phone with Billy and Jennie for a little and got the news that they will be going through the OKC temple this Summer to be sealed!!! The news was the greatest Christmas gift ever! Their family is doing great and the branch I was serving in is going to become a ward!! They had over 100 members at church four weeks in a row! The work is hastening!!
Fifth, we got 5 new investigators this week! Our area is booming! So many miracles, one right after the other. I wish I could write you about all of them but I'm running out of time. I love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas!
SHARE THE GIFT!
Sincerely Elder Watkins
First we started out the week with a tour of the Marland Mansion for P-day. Really cool. We took a guided tour and the whole tour lasted about 3 hours. The place was huge! The history behind the mansion is really interesting, in fact next year they are making a full length movie about Lydie and E.W. Marland. We can expect the movie to be skewed and filled with fiction but it's kinda cool that it's being made into a movie. My favorite part of the whole tour or the estate had to be the artisan studio. While the mansion was being built the artisans used a 400 ft long underground tunnel to get back and forth between the studio and the mansion. The sculptor and artist that did most of the work was also the sculptor who did a lot of the marble statues in Washington D.C. In the studio, they had a lot of the models he made for his big projects, like the statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits in the Lincoln Memorial and the the statue of King Henry the VI. I'm going to see if I can get this computer to send pictures...
Second, we got to teach Joesph the Doctrine of Christ. He is one of my heroes. He is one of the most sincere, honest, loving persons I've met on my mission. This week I've been praying to see through the Lord's eyes and I tell you I can see Joesph is going to become great. I know one day he is going to change a lot of people's lives. He is an amazing example to me, he has such a big burden on his back and yet he is still willing to sacrifice and change. We taught him that the Atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to become clean and change for the better, and by taking small steps and making small sacrifices, the Lord will lift our load and we will become stronger and wiser. He wasn't able to come to church this week, but we took a member over to visit him on Sunday and the member volunteered to bring his family breakfast, lunch and dinner on Christmas day. You could see joy and relief fill Joseph's being. Our members are awesome!
Third, we had a day-long Christmas Conference in OKC. It was amazing to hear from our leader and receive revelation for our area. A lot of talks on finding and helping members do missionary work. It was good to see my old companions and friends. Thank you Mom and Dad for all of the letters and love!
Fourth, on Friday I received a phone call from the Assistant to President Peterson (AP).
AP Peterson:"Guess whose house I'm at?"
Me: "Whose?!"
AP Peterson: "It starts with an F and ends with a Z."
Me: "NO WAY! The Fultz?!?
He was on exchanges with the Paul's Valley zone leaders and the Fultz Family (my recent converts from that area) just so happened to be feeding all of the missionaries that night. I got to talk on the phone with Billy and Jennie for a little and got the news that they will be going through the OKC temple this Summer to be sealed!!! The news was the greatest Christmas gift ever! Their family is doing great and the branch I was serving in is going to become a ward!! They had over 100 members at church four weeks in a row! The work is hastening!!
Fifth, we got 5 new investigators this week! Our area is booming! So many miracles, one right after the other. I wish I could write you about all of them but I'm running out of time. I love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas!
SHARE THE GIFT!
Sincerely Elder Watkins
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)