Week 65: Preparing for Baptism, Meet the Mormons, and Elder Monroe

Hello Family :)

Well this week has been full of greatness in the making. It also ended with a sadness.

This week Brother Jesus (Jes) Tolentino and Cathy Victorio got married! We have been working with Bro. Jes for quite some time and he has been very diligent and faithful in preparing for his baptism. The last step in completing the repentance and preparation process was the seal of matrimony. the marriage was held at our stake center and a bishop from Ward 5 did the honors of marrying the couple for their time on earth. Both Jes and Cathy understood that their marriage would terminate with either of their passing. They have their eyes and hearts now fixed upon White Plains Manila, where the nearest temple of the Lord resides. They will continue to make preparations so that they can be sealed as a family for time and eternity 1 year from December 27. Cathy is already a member who has now returned to activity in the church. Her husband Jes, is a Roman Catholic but is now prepared to be baptized on December 27, 2014. Of their 3 children, 2 are baptized and active in the church (11 & 13 years old), while their youngest "TanTan" is nearly 2 years old. It is great to witness and be a part of the happiness they are experiencing. Their faith and dedication strengthen me.

We also hosted "Meet the Mormons" Stake Activity at the Stake Center. We had nearly 300 investigators from all of Tarlac Stake attend! It was a great turnout. Me and my companion were quite stressed out, but it turned out to be fruitful. Elder Monroe and I were delegated many duties...We assigned the AP's, ourselves, and the 2 Office Elders to present The Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and Book of Mormon, respectively. They were all a success. Sister Teresa who was baptized last week brought a friend to the event and approached us after and asked if she could read the Book of Mormon and if we could begin teaching her. I responded in the affirmative :)

That was part of the good news :)

The sad part is my companion has now returned to America. This morning I dropped hom off at the mission office. After some inside jokes and last hugs I walked away with Elder Birth and Elder Daylosan as my temporary companions. While walking away, I shed a few tears. I condescended to buying depression food - a  salted caramel soft serve ice cream cone. One for myself and one for each of my 2 new companions. I have been spending the rest of the day trying to keep my mind occupied. Elder Monroe was an extraordinary companion. He is a very unique missionary and I was very fortunate to be companions with him. I learned a deal from him.

I am not sure if you were able to watch the splendid "Christmas Devotional" but it was delightful. While Elder D. Todd Christofferson was  speaking, I was taught important truths, and brought to realizations. I invite you to read or watch the devotional. There was marvelous music and spiritual speakers.

Here is a link to a brief video the Church has come out with as a theme for this Christmas season, titled "He is the Gift." My companion and I used this video in a presentation to the Stake and I think it would be beneficial for all of us http://www.mormon.org/christmas or just search YouTube "He is the Gift"

Well family, here are some answers to some questions that may be circulating in your minds:

Transfers are this Thursday and (...). I still do not know who my new companion will be (...)

Yes I have some pictures I will be sending them in a separate email :)

The attached picture is Brother Jes and Sister Cathy after their wedding. Yes, my pants are oddly proportioned...blasted tailors here in the Islands ;)

Mom - I am happy, not sick, and I weigh 147 lbs. I actually have recommitted myself to working out. I have lost 4 lbs since my new workout routines. I got pretty chubby here in this area due to all the dinner appointments.

Last question - Where are the recordings?! There will be more next week. I'm sorry. I'll repent, forgive me. I'll do better next week

In concluding remarks I would like to again express my love to each of you, but also testify to you that I know Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior. I love him, and I love my Father in Heaven. I hope ad pray I can become more humble and that my will becomes one with his.

Merry Christmas :)

Elder Watkins

Bro Jes and Sis Cathy after their wedding.

This is Teresa who was baptized on the 6th :)
Super awesome convert :) She will do great things for the ward

Christmas tree, Nativity, and Elder Christmas Stockings

"O Holy Night" Banner

Elder Watkins and Elder Birth 

Last picture of Elder Monroe and Elder Watkins

Week 64: Gratitude for Eternal Families, for the Spirit of Discernment, and for Answers to Prayers

No coincidences: Tom has been going to physical therapy for the last few weeks for his shoulder. Seth, the therapist, has worked with Tom, Dustin, and Mariah over the years. Wednesday, Seth went home sick and Tom worked with another physical therapist he had never met before. Conversation eventually turned to missionaries. The therapist has a cousin from Washington serving in the Philippines, Angeles Mission...Elder Monroe!!! Elder Watkins' companion!! Not a coincidence :)

Hey family :)

Just want to start off with sharing my love for each of you. You are all special to me and infinitely more special to our Father in Heaven. I will be eternally grateful that I was born at the time I was with the parents and siblings that I have.

I feel like I have been our of connection with the family for quite some time now! I apologize and hope you will forgive me :)

I will just give a day by day update so you can see what happened.

Tuesday: Mission Leaders Council. Met at the mission home at 7:30 AM with the other Zone Leaders from the mission. I met up with some good friends that I have made over the mission, namely Elder Gordon and Elder Wilson. Elder Gordon and I cooked the chocolate chip pancakes then we proceeded to a full day of discussion. It was a very revelatory experience and I received many spiritual insights ad ideas. The spirit was very strong and I have a firm testimony of revelation.

Wednesday: Continuation of MLC for the morning. It was a very important meeting as we decided the number of baptisms we as a mission would goal for 2015. We decided on 1800 baptisms. We prayed to ask Heavenly Father if it was right and we felt it was true. Later that day I went on exchanges with Elder Roberts, Zone Leader from Angeles in my area. He was really sick. But after persuasion and long suffering, he agreed to work :) We had a good day haha.

Thursday: Went on exchanges again...but this time with Elder Webster from Provo, UT. He is just approaching 3 months in the mission. On our exchanges I was brought back to memories of my own training and my adjustments to the mission. I cannot believe how much I've grown (no height unfortunately) but my paradigm of the world and those that surround me. I have grown to really love the gospel. One thing that I have realized is how much more I need to improve myself. I feel like the more I learn and internalize the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation, the more humble I get. I find weaknesses and try to recognize that I need the Savior to over come them.

Side note: Even with the amount of love our Father in Heaven has for us, we still experience hardships. Satan spreads false doctrine. Whether it is about self-worth, guilt, or anything but truth. He will tell us we cannot accomplish our goals and will try to make us miserable. Happened to me this week and I was very spiritually distraught on the inside. No one really noticed but me. But then one of my good friends in the zone, Elder Birth, was thankfully able to discern or listen to the Spirit and recognize that I was not the same. He shook my hand and asked, "What's different about you?" We talked for a long time and I was filled again with light rather than doubts and other things in my mind that were lingering before. Two points: 1. Satan always lies, 2. Be the person that God can use to answer one of his children's prayers.

Saturday: Baptism of Sister Teresa Espinoza! I can't get my card to upload these pictures...I'm not sure what the problem is but I really want to send some pictures home as it has been a long time since the last I have emailed...Sorry! :) But Sis. Teresa was baptized and she bore an awesome testimony after the baptism! That night we also taught Jes and Cathy! Their marriage is next Wednesday at 2PM!! Followed by Jes's baptism on Saturday :) It is so different to be working with families. The most likely to stay active and remain strong in the church. It makes it all the better when they have their eyes on the temple :) Again, I am grateful to be born into the gospel and be sealed to each of you :)

Well, I thought I could fit in all the days and I am out of time...again. I love you all and wish you all the best week :)

Love,
Elder Watkins

Week 63: American Thanksgiving

So the first and last weeks of the months Zone Leaders spend lots of time on reports. Elder Watkins did not have time to write a letter home, even though he was in the computer shop for 5 hours!!

Elder Watkins and his companion, Elder Monroe, were treated to Pizza Hut on Thanksgiving by an elder in their zone. Actually, by the elder's parents haha! Thank you to the elder's parents who treated our missionaries to pizza on Thanksgiving!! They figured Pizza Hut was as American as they were going to get.

Week 62: How old am I?

Unfortunately, no family letter this week :(

I asked Elder Watkins if he felt different now that he was 20. This is his reply:
"Umm not really... Haha feel pretty much the same. I got asked the other day how old I was and I said 18. Oh, wait 19... Then I looked at Elder Monroe; wait, I'm 20, right?"

Oh, Elder Watkins haha

Week 60: Turning 20 with only 9 months left, Following Promptings of the Holy Ghost, Reality of Satan

Hey Fam! and new homie Tyson!!!

So smooth! I now have a Filipino family member! (Mom and Mariah... ehh. medyo na lang...;) He looks like a stud :) so excited :):) (the bits of Tagalog in the letter are to Tyson so he learns Tagalog)

So there seems to be some confusion with the emailing situation. Haha So I just can't live chat. I can still definitely read and email you guys no probs :) I can and will still be recording so no issues there. I have just been crazyyy busy the last two weeks so I haven't had much time to email...Ask Elder Bitters if you don't believe me haha

Thank you everyone for the great birthday wishes :) you are all the best :) and in return happy birthday to Mariah who is now 17... what the heck  haha... oo nga pa la I received the package!! Thanks so much!!!

Last Monday we had a Family Home Evening with Jes and his family. He's the one who is getting married to get baptized, to get sealed in the temple :) they really enjoyed the Sour Patch Kids :) And I took the ENORMOUS pants to the tailor and got them fixed up haha :) I actually am sportin' a pair as I type this message :) so thank you very much :) I will be sending the pics I am sure to take to you all next week... :) ang sarap ng pagkain d2 xa Pilipinas Tyson...napakasuwerte na man tayong dalasa ;)

As for me I am doing wonderful haha. I love the live of a missionary... It's sad to thin I only have 9 months left... To you that may seem like a long time still, but to me it looks really short. I can't elieve how fast the mission is going and pretty soon I won't be a missionary anymore :(  Don't know why that thought came into my head. Maybe cause I'm listening to Dad's recording about the hotels and stuff hahaha

Cool story for the week. We have been working with Brother Steven Ong, a returned missionary and his non-member wife Abigail. Abigail is a super receptive and INTELLIGENT investigator but is super busy... kaya it is hard to find time to teach her. Last night, after a whole week of not being able to get a hold of them, we randomly felt prompted we should go visit her at  7:30. We had other appointments and were about 15 minutes or so away from her house. It would also be pretty expensive to get there based on where we were currently at. We decided to follow the prompting. We got there and long story shot it was the perfect moment to get there. Any earlier and they would not have been there and any later they would have been gone again heading to Manila. Because we listened to the Spirit and were able to visit her. She shared with us she had finally decided that she WILL BE BAPTIZED!!! The question she said now is "When". Next week is when, is what I told her haha. But I know our Heavenly Father is aware of us and wants us to succeed. I also know he communicates with us through the Holy Ghost. We just gotta listen :)

Maybe an interesting thing to be testifying to you about this week but I see it happening in the lives of the people here. But I know that Satan is real. He works for our destruction and misery. I know that no degree of sin can lead to any true or lasting happiness. I also know that any negative thought about ourselves or others is not coming from our loving Heavenly Father who loves each of us with perfect love. When we feel we are not adequate or feel hopeless, it comes from Satan. God wants us to be happy and all happiness derives from Him. Always remember that God is more interested in where we are willing to go and become, rather than who we are at the moment.

Love you all soooo much:):):):)
Have a great week!
Elder Watkins

This is Harvey

This is myself and elder moral on exchanges. Eating... chicken feet adobo.

This is the whole Tarlac zone after the transfer announcement.
 We had a super good meal catered for us at the church for our last zone activity :)

The posterity from right to left

E. Monroe a midst the few, the proud, the brave. 

He begat E. Gomez, who hails from the land of Ilo Ilo, 

and paved the way for E. Watkins who leaves legends in his wake,

gave birth to E. Choresca, who will claim the birthright to the kingdom, 

and begat E. Jacobson, who will (sana) continue the posterity to prosperity.

Elder Gordon and Elder Watkins are backkk!!

Week 59: Missionary Firesides and Training, Baptismal Goal Date, and Testimony of the Book of Mormon

Hey Everyone!

First super sorry that I wasn't able to email or chat with you last week. The last week of every month is super hectic for email. We are in the computer shop for 4 hours doing reports. And it was my first time doing it so I wasn't uber fast haha... But I am also sad to inform you (Mom, Dad, Mindy, and Mariah) that I will no longer be chatting every Monday. I guess it was not allowed. And I guess most of the mission was doing it, and our Mission Leader Council meeting last week, President Clark reminded us that it was not ok. So I was being disobedient in ignorance but now that I know that it is not in harmony with the Missionary Handbook. I will be following :( but this may mean an increase in recordings.

Also no recordings this week because I epicly failed haha. So this morning I was recording then after what felt like 15-20 minutes, I checked the time and realized the recorder was off. So I turned it on again and recorded; this time I checked after about 3-5 minutes of recording and the battery had died...So I was outside talking to myself for about 25 minutes... It was great LOL

But this week was another fantastic week.

Friday: We had the Tarlac side of the mission, (the half I am on) attend a missionary fireside where Bishop Causse of the Presiding Bishopric come and teach us. It was cool. He just walked around and talked with us instead of giving a talk. Also on Sunday was the Philippines wide broadcast. We listened to our Area President Ian S Arden who is a BOSS! and then 2 other general authorities and Elder Oaks. I love being able to listen to so many General Authorities. I am learning a lot from them and their example.

Friday evening /all of Saturday: MLC or Mission Leader Council. This was held at the mission home and it was awesome. Working with Pres. Clark and just discussing the mission and what direction we are going to take was amazing. He named that MLC a "Red Flag" Day where we will be either be making huge gains in our mission or stay the same. This is due to the new changes we are making in the mission. I'll probably talk about those in a recording to give you more details. It changes the way we proselyte and how we teach. Unfortunately, we will not be receiving iPads or iPhones... not yet at least... ;)

Sunday was a great Sabbath full of meetings. We were at the church from  10am-730pm. It was crazy. My companion and I presented the changes of our mission to the stake president and his councilors, the bishops and all their councilors. The majority seem very excited; there, of course, are a few who are skeptical, but the stake president is really backing us up and what is to implemented this week so we will see how it goes.

We had 45 minutes after church before our next meeting and we were blessed with a new investigator. A less active in our ward brought her friend to church, who also happens to be the cousin of our Ward mission leader. So we were able to teach her and she accepted a baptismal goal date of December 13! It was great.

Highlight of the week however was finally returning and teaching Steven and Abigail Ong! They were a golden family a while ago. So Steven is an RM and his wife is a non member. They have the 2 cutest Filipina girls ever!!! They are 3 and 1 years old. They are such a cool family. and the 3 year old speaks English! haha. Anyways Abigail is super receptive and understanding but has not been able to a accept a Baptismal Goal date. Well we assigned her 2 Nephi 31. She read it and said while she was reading she felt like she was with Joseph Smith watching him translate the Book of Mormon. She felt that there was no way he could write/translate this unless God helped him. She told us she now believed the Book of Mormon to be true. We continued teaching a lesson about the Plan of Salvation. When we got to the Atonement I felt prompted to invite her to be baptized. I extended the invitation and she just started smiling and said, "Yes, I'm ready." I'll pray if November 29 is the right day for me. It was so cool! and they came to church again yesterday. and the 2 weeks while they were in Manila, they went to church there too!!! It was awesome :)

Just love you all so much and I know that the Book of Mormon changes lives. Read it.
Have a superb week!
Elder Watkins

Week 54:

Hey Fam!

haha sooooo... you are likely curious as to where I transferred, who is my new companion, kabahays, all that good stuff...soo...Imma make you wait till the end :)

Anyways, so I hope you all enjoyed the stories of the crazy drunk dude and stuff from last week, but it doesn't stop there. So, yes, another crazy story this week... may not as crazy as last week, but good nonetheless...sorry Mom.

So it's like 2:30 AM and the phone rings. I think it's an alarm and am like who has a meeting at this time? I think I don't have anything going on. The ringing stops and I cease thought and start falling asleep, when suddenly again the phone rings! I realize it is my phone! I look at it ans see a member named Roselle is calling. I thin in my head, "Roselle, why the blazes are you calling at this hour???..." I answer groggily, "This is Elder Watkinssssss...zzz..." All I hear back is a frantic voice and bawling. I can barely understand anything she is saying. So Roselle is 17, was baptized in July, works at a burger machine right next to our apartment. The burger machine is similar to the Waffle Love truck in Utah, except it is open 24 hours. All I understood from her gibberish was "You need to come down... gun... money... man..." I'm like, "What the heck?!!" So I wake my companion up, we go down and she is just bawling out of control... So I guess since 8:00 PM two guys had been spying on her, and that at about 2:00ish they came up and put a gun to her and said don't scream or we'll shoot you. She gave them all the money and then drove off. We just tried calming her down. We gave her a priesthood blessing of comfort, then called her manager. And the dude was like, "How much money did they take?" LOL really??!! So we ended up staying there until 5:30. She cooked us some hamburgers and then was ok :) there is always exciting stuff going on in Arayat...  :)

Anyways, so now on to the news about transfers.... I packed my bags, and I'm.......(drum rolll.....)....staying in Arayat! hahahaha ya I even have my same companion! The only change is that Elder Drake was transferred :( which I was super sad about :( but I was way happy to stay with Elder Ofiana in this area!! Most people here say I'm going to be here until Christmas... haha so I actually don't have any changes to report to you guys about! :/ Our new kabahay is Elder Dejino from Visayas. He is in my batch, which means we arrived in the mission at the same time. So 3/4 of the missionaries in our house are batch haha. Also 3.5 Filipinos living in the same house...We'll see how this goes haha  :)

Well maybe some of you are online right now! so we can chat :)
Love you all :)
Elder Watkins
Have a great Conference weekend!

Elder Watkins 

A member of the ward drew this