August 25, 2014

Dear Mom,

 

This week we finally saw a turn around. We got to find a lot of new people to teach about the Gospel and we did a lot of service. We also went on a mini-transfer for a day with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Peter Morgan, who left this Sunday to finish his mission. In our mini transfer Elder Morgan said that the only thing i need to work on is opening my mouth. He said that I teach well, and can relate to people well but sometimes he could tell that I had something to say but wasn’t saying it.

We had transfers this morning. I’ll be with Elder Ospina for another 6 weeks! WOOHOO! We are finally starting to make some progress in our sector and it’ll be nice for him to see some of the results.

 

FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK:

 

So this week like a said we found a lot of new people. One way we´ve found the best way for people to listen to us is to serve them. SO we see a couple of guys pushing a car cause it was out of gas and we decide to help out. As soon as we got there, 2 of the three guys left. So there’s 3 now, me and 2 very small latinos. We pushed this car for almost 13 blocks to the nearest gas station, and when i say we...I mean I. So after pushing the car to the gas station, the person who was steering gets out and starts to thank us. Turns out she is a less active member of the Church, like hasn’t gone to church in 9 years. We set a date to stop by and start teaching them again in a couple days. But when we go by they forgot to mention that it was her birthday and that they invited us to a birthday party. That is to say we set another date to come back later when everyone wasn’t wasted. So that didn’t go as well as we planned, but I thought it was hilarious how I would push the car the whole times and the two latinos just talked while I did all the work. Can´t blame them though, I was the best one for the job.

 

This week I’ve learned a lot about patience. We had 5 really hard weeks. We couldn’t find a lot of people, no one would read or pray and it was very hard. And then this week we find so many! It just goes to show that the Lord has a time and place for everything. We just have to keep trying our best and know that one day the results or situation will improve. 

 

I’m gonna attach pictures of The Final First house pictures and Elder Morgan heading off to be released and head home. But other than that not too many pictures this week cuz we were are hard at work!  love all of you and want you to know that Our Reedemer lives and loves each of you.

STAY SAFE AND HAVE FUN!

Elder Watts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I

August 18, 2014

Hey Mom!

 

This week was hard. The conference we had in Conce was great! I learned a ton and I had the opportunity to go out and work at night in Chiguayante (just outside of conce) with Elder Mitton. He´s been out for about a year. (see pictures).  Katherine got a job which is awesome, but now she works as a nurse during our proseliting hours and we can’t visit her. On the bright side she has just got to find a place and she´ll be golden to be baptized. 

Funny stories of the week time:  

We walked this week, like Pioneer children. We had to take some money to a couple hermanas in our zone that didn’t have enough to buy gas.  We got WAY lost trying to get there. It ended up taking about 2 hours to find their house and we probably walked like 4 miles out of our way thanks to the wonderful directions we got from the people . 

We also have a little game we play as were walking around. if you see a car with a headlight out you get to hit the other guy. We were walking and Elder Ospina punched me and I was like "Alright, where’s the car?" He punched because he saw a motorcycle from far away and mistook it for a car with only one headlight. So as punishment I got to hit him (not softly either) and now he is much more careful.  

Also we ran into a kid wearing an Air Force hoodie. He didn’t want to hear our message but he said I could take picture (see pictures). I guess they’re "Feeling the Thunder" Even in Chile! 

We also maxed out today on bench press. I got 355lbs!!!!  

Thanks everyone for your prayers and thoughts. I love you all and i look forward to seeing pictures from all the happenings back in the states.

 

Love Elder Garrett Watts

 

 

 

 

August 11, 2014

Im writing you both because the computer i have today is rediculously slow and i dont know if i will have time for both! first of all mel, thank you for the pìcture of the little guy. Mom, thanks for the pictures of Jaycees baptism.

so happy to hear about JAycees baptism. thats fantastic!

this week was another not so great week but i get to go to the new missionary conference down in Conce this wednesday so that'll be fun.

we have no problem finding new investigadors, we just cant get anyone to complete their comittments or come to church. its a bit frustrating.

Elder Ospina loves the dog dazer. doesnt leave home with out it. He got bit by a german sheppard last transfer so now his mind is more at ease i think.

Funny story of the week

Explaination: In the mission there is one big family. Your trainer or your first companion is your Dad. therefore you are his son. if he trained other people you have brothers. and the whole family goes on form there.

Were walking down the street nd this kind of plump and a little bit drunk guys walks up to me and says, "WOOOOOOOOOOW... you're really tall!" then he looks at Elder Ospina and asks, "Is this your baby or something?" and i grin back and tell him, "NOPE! He´s actually my Dad!" And the look on nthe guys nface was complete confusion but Elder Ospina and i were cracking up.

Thank you so much everyone for your prayers and all that you do Mom. I love you so much. Im attaching photos from our trip`to the snow and dont worry, there is a large red mark on my face because i scrapped my face penguin sliding on the mountain. but there is also a progress picture and its alot better. Also i got a haircut this week since Bishop Baer was wrong and i dont havce to have long hair to be a missionary. It feels good to have it back. Ok loove you!

 

 

 

August 4, 2014

Dear Mom,

 

Yes, i can open pictures, i will be putting them on the pin drive you sent me

(again thank you) because we have dvd/cd/usb viewing things at the house so yes. please send pictures and lots!  

This week was tons better. People actually let us into the house!  We found 8 new investigators.  Two of them are named Nelson y Daniella. They are married and have 2 kids, Mali and Nicholas, and one in the oven. They are very receptive to the first two lessons.  

The reason I’m writing so late today is as a zone we went up into the mountains to a ski resort and just played in the snow for most of our pday. I’ll be sending pictures next week i don’t have my cord with me. But it was super fun!  We got to play football in the snow, yes, we have a football. I love our house so much. And of course the hour and a half bus ride up there was chalk full of the best sing along songs you could believe. It was really nice to just be normal for a couple hours. 

 

time for funny story of the week.

 

we have to go to internet cafes to write letters. No big deal. But to the Peruvian in our house he doesn’t fully understand what the Internet is. I think he thinks it is a place. a certain place, because when I was trying to explain to him what the plan was for today he kept referring to "going to the internet" and I tried ot explain that the internet is not a place one goes to and so on so forth... I finally yielded cuz he wasn’t gonna budge and there was no point in arguing. Guess my communication skills need to improve.

Anyways,

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love support and prayers on my behalf. Keep praying for our investigators and I’m sure that it will all work out for the best.

 All my best,

Garrett

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So

July 28, 2014

Dear Mom,

 

Thanks for sending me the stuff. Yes, we can cook and the water is clean.The Peruvian in our house still boils his water even though we've been told it is ok. As far as food. eggs, a whole ton of eggs. we have a little stove so the occasional pancakes and hamburgers but mostly cereal and eggs. There is no Lider store within our limits but theres a big super market called Unimart which is kind of like a Harris Teeter. I make sure to eat a lot of fruit and drink lots of water because for lunch we eat with members and I feel like they have no idea what water is. We ask for water but they either come back with peach juice (very big down here) or soda. 

One of our investigators got robbed twice this week.  She is still close to being baptized. 

I will be attaching emails of the whole house and my companion.  I can get a bottle of protein powder down here but it cost like almost 80 dollars.  

This week was tough, nobody wanted to let us in the door.   

We had a baptism this week. when I say we I mean our ward. Felipe was married to his wife (less active) and was baptized yesterday. I got to sing a special number to welcome him into the ward. And Katherine came to the service. she really wants to be baptized but she just has to get her own place first.  

I think other than seeing somebody feel the spirit (which is by far the number 1 coolest thing as a missionary) my second favorite thing is just being able to lift! its like for a hour im back in the weight room at Great Bridge Stadium. 

Elder Ospina loves the dog dazzer. he uses it to make the dogs at the house we knock shut up because everyone down here has a dog. 

Time for the funny story of the week. 

 

We are eating lunch with a family and the zone leaders. Two super chill bro kinda guys. were talking with the family and they ask me if im related to the owner of the company "Watt's" which is a big fruit, jam, juice company down here.  

Anyways the word for owner in spanish is dueño, but the word for dream is sueño so i misheard and im just saying to myself.. "i am the dream of the campany..?"  

So the zone leaders, a guy on his last 6 weeks and a guy who's been out over 18 months finally have pity on me after laughing histerically while I mutter to myself. they say "Hey... it means owner", when the realization hit me i just turned to the hermana and in the most humble way possibly said real slow like "No es mi familia"  Now whenever i say anything mildly dumb I am refered to as Kronk from Emperors New Groove.

Well! there ya have it!  Everyone ereading this please know that I love you and that God loves you Infinitely more. All my best! 

Elder Watts

 

 

 

July 21, 2014

Okay, so we got to Conce. after an hour plane ride from santiago. We then had some orientation stuff, got paired up with our companions and were off!!! our are is in a town called Chillan in the middle of chile about an 1:30 from conce. Elder Ospina, my trainer, is exactly what i wouldve hoped for. a 5´3" columbian!!!! its liike they did it on purpose! we live with 4 other missionaries who happen to be the zone leaders and our district leaders. WE HAVE A GYM!!! every morning we go and lift and its fantastic. There’s an outside linebacker for byu that is one of the zone leaders and the other one was an AP so we get a ot of cool priviledges. our day to day activities go as follows

wake and study-630

gym845-1015

shower and prep/service projects1030-1230

1245-130 transit, shower, and head off to lunch,

145-300 lunch (lunch is like the only meal here but its freakin huge)

315-430 study the language

430-930 tracting, lessons and missionary work.

945-1030 planning

1030-11 quick bite to eat and bedtime

oh btw, i never want to see another dog in my life. There’s got to be 1 dog every 20 feet here.

Okay time for the funny story of the week,

So were chopping wood as a service project for a recent convert named elsa. Well after getting halfway through the pile of wood. I may or may not have broken her axe. Okay, i broke it but to be fair it was a crappy axe. So we come back the next day after borrowing an axe from another member. 5 pieces of wood later.... guess who broke the second axe. yup. 2 axes. 2 days. At least you can’t say I’m inconsistent! so today along with groceries we will be looking for 2 axes to replace the ones we broke

Please pray for our investigators ricardo and katherine that they can find the strength to complete their goals. I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!

elder Watts

 

 

July 8, 2014

July 8^th

 

Ive grown so much in the last week spiritually and i think im starting to recognize when the spirit is present more! testim ony meeting on sunday was baaaaad... im not gonna say i cried like a baby but if a baby cried you wouldnt have known it becasue i was already making similar noises. I guess its in the Watts genes. I will not be making fun of how often and easily you cry during testimony meets ever again. Okay maybe once but....The CCM is great. I love my district of Latinos and fellow Half-gringos!

 

We practice and are in classes close to 12 hours a day here. A lot of people complain but its not like im not used to long days on low sleep! All the Lations wanna learn FOOTBALL! its awesome! My spanish is getting better too! i can understand about 95% of eveyrthing said i just cant think of my response fast enough but it will come in time. Thats awesome about Jaycee! Have her email me. Theres something i wanna say to her! Piso... (kind of like "well" but for the gringos) My companions are a peruvian named Elder Rivasplata (RP for short) and a Utah kid named Elder Turner! were still working out the quirks but its getting better with every mock lession and role playinng we do! Its great having a native speaker as a companion because it forces us to speak spanish! But he also has really bad tendonitis in both of his achillles. Elder Turner and i gave him a blessing and took him to the doc. Were waiting on blood results now.  

LIGHTER SUBJECT: 

I have decided to share a "FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK" every week in order maintain my oh so positive possibility of being a comedian. 

 

ok here goes: "We arrived on the first day and were eating lunch in the cafeteria when suddenly these three elders we had never seen before showed up. Turns out that they had already been here for two weeks. I dont remember all there names but the one i did remember was Elder Ballard. (kind of like the apostale) so i proceeded to make a donkey of myself and make the obvious joke. If you dont know what the obvious joke is we are not friends anymore. Anyways, made the joke and Elder Ballard responds.... "Yea... thats my grandpa" WHAT?!?!? i mean of all the people named Ballard (figures say that there are approximatley a made up but still very large number of Ballards)" 

There she is! aint she purty? There were several stories that did not make the cut but there will be... 103 more to come (103 more weeks in my two years for those who didnt catch that) 

I Love you all and I know that My Reedemer Lives and that this is the way to find eternal happiness 

All my love and Blessings,

Elder Watts  

PS. No, for those of you who were wondering, i am not dead.