September 15, 2014

Awesome Email mom!  

As far as this week, I’ve started studying by lessons.  After this cambio it is more than likely I will be training since I’m gringo and speak pretty fluently. So I will update you more on that once I’ve made it through. I’m also reviewing patience once again because yesterday we taught a guy who kept interrupting us.  I got really frustrated with him and me for not being so patient.  So I am working and studying the value of patience. 

This past Saturday was the South American Church Service day.  Looks like you’ve already seen was I was doing for 4 hours… being a human ladder is exactly what I had in mind when I got called to Chili.  

This coming week is Chili’s Independence Day.  S next week will be filled with lots of red, white and blue and only 1 star.  It’s still is going to be awesome.  

Funny Story: Yesterday we had a lot of appointments fall threw.  This one guy was on a huge megaphone inviting everyone to come clean up the multipurpose soccer field along the neighborhood that will be used for the Independence Day festivities.  We went to go help. Anyways, there’s music blaring and we walk up and the guy just goes '' STOP THE MUSIC.... EVERYBODY LOOK. The MORMONS... The Mormons are helping clean and you all are just sitting on your butts watching. How great an example of true kindness these youngsters are setting for us. FOLLOW THE MORMONS< COME AND CLEAN THE FIELD.''  It was hilarious how he said it.  But we got a lot of respect from the community and now we have our plans for the day of the festivities.  

This week Elder Ospina was super sick. Like almost couldn’t go out to work sick. He asked me for a blessing and I gave him my first blessing in Spanish. That was on Thursday. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday we blessed 4 more people in all. I love how the Lord prepares us and uses us as a means of helping and blessing others through the power of the Priesthood. He prepares us in many ways through our trials and experiences.  I really felt like He was/is preparing me.  

Please tell all the USAFA Coaches thanks for their support and tell them I’ll give the West Point Cadet in my zone a hard time when we win.  

Other Funny story, We called on Mario and his wife.  She is super hesitant about continuing with the lessons.  I was the one teaching them.  Later that day, Elder Ospina asks me. '' Hey, how does Mario sound?'' (like how is he doing in learning the lessons)…so I responded ''Its a meeee, Mario!'' Like the videogame. We had a good laugh about that.  

9\11 is pretty risky for us down here. Pretty decent number of anti-gringos. So, we remembered 9/11 a little bit differently here.  We had to come back to the house early to avoid all the anti gringos.  So we decided to have an asado…which means to grill as if you were having a barbeque.  As you can see from my face I was very excited. We also did the math… there was more meat on that grill than there was on one of my companions body!!! XD  

I love you always and I’m grateful for everything you do.

Love Garrett 

 

 

 

September 8th email

Hey mom!  

 This week we got to teach a lot of people! We finally have a few people who want to progress.  We need to do things to invite the Spirit. One of our investigators named Victor opened to us this week about the fact that he doesn’t want to get baptized if he’s just gonna start sinning again (he smokes and more than just cigarettes).  We shared with him about the story of Saul becoming the prophet Paul in the New Testament and the story of Alma the Younger in the Book of Mormon. We shared with him that when we truly desire to keep the commandments of the Lord and truly repent, Heavenly Father literally forgets all of our wrongdoings in the past. I think we really got to him on that. We left him the chapter of Alma the Younger talking to his son Helaman about his conversion story.  

Another investigator we found this week is named Mario. Mario and his family have been brought up in the Catholic Church.  They never go to church. He expressed to us that his family is the most important thing in his life. So we shared the Plan of Salvation that our Heavenly Father has for all of us. HE LOVED IT! He was so happy to hear this wonderful message of our Heavenly Father’s plan for His children here on earth. He promised to read the Book of Mormon every day between our next visit. He can only meet on Saturdays so keep him in your prayers that he will feel the Spirit testifying of the truthfulness that the Book of Mormon is another testament that God lives and that His Son is our Savior and Redeemer.  

I received Aunt Stormi’s package! Please tell her thank you for the 3X size 19 1/2 short sleeve shirts! Just a tiny bit too big (Ok, this is Lila….this statement is a first from my son…too big….really?)  The Elder that will play for BYU football has offered to leave behind his shirts and ties.  They fit for the most part.  So I am good for a long time  Thank you if you have already sent more! I REALLY  DO APPRECIATE IT.  

This week was Fast and Tesitmony week and our ward had a descent sized primary program. The majority of the time the CTR 6  (6 year olds) gave their  testimonies.  One kid, Pautricio (Pato for short) gets up there and just gives the sweetest tesimony I think I’ve ever heard.  

We also got a new couch in the house today. Me and the BYU Elder had to carry it about a mile but as our faces show in the picture, it was totally worth it.  

In other news, I finished reading 1 Nephi in El Libro De Mormón: In the first 62 pages of the Book of Mormon in Spanish, through 22 chapters there are 544 references testifying of God the Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.  That their purpose is one and the same…to bring eternal life to man.  This exercise was to answer a question o for someone we had a discussion with on the street who challenged that the Book of Mormon was not about the Godhead.  It has been a really cool exercise for me and and has strengthened my testimony of our Savior and the Plan of Salvation.  

I love you so much mom! I’ll be responding to your other letters…just haven’t read them.  THANKS FOR EVERTHING AND I LOVE YOU!!!! 

 

 

 

September 1, 2014

Dear Mom, 

Thanks for the constant stream of pictures. I got Mel’s letter with the photos in them. Love the funny comments.  I actually noticed that Brock’s red baseball shirt says "beisbol" the Spanish spelling of baseball. I got a good laugh out of that.  

This week we found a lot of new people again. the only down side is that Carmen and a few other people we had a lot of hope in... moved to Sanitago.   

But we work and walk and still have a good attitude. This week somebody told us on the street that "Mormons don’t believe in God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit.  They believe in the Book of Mormon only, so... so to prepare myself for the next time I met him, I started reading the BOM again from the beginning.  As I’m going through I am bolding any reference to God; Jesus, or the Holy Ghost. So far through Ch 13 of 1 Nephi, there are 275 references to the Trinity.  We also believe the Bible to be the Word of God.

As I was starting over again, I studied about the tree of life vision that takes place in chapters 8, 12, and 13. We had an activity this week in the church so my idea was to recreate the Iron Rod that led to the Tree of Life. So we did it. We had a couple rooms with some temptations or distractions (food, a maze, and scaring people (my room (:< )) and the whole time everybody was blindfolded.  The whole point of the exercise was to make it to  the tree of life (Eternal Life), which for the exercise was the sacrament room, without letting go of the rod. Not too many people made it. I think I was too good at scaring people. It was a great activity. close to 70 people were there including some investigators. Everyone understood that we need to follow the iron rod or word of god (scriptures, prophets, commandments) despite what trials, temptations, and scary moments life throws at us.  

I love you all.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that we are here to learn, and grow and to strive to be like him. 

Elder Watts