Monday, September 22, 2014

It's Called Hamil-tucky for a Reason!

Family! 

This week the Doctrine of Christ has changed me. Jesus Christ's grace has been in full force. Heavenly Father rained down miracles. 

I have been called to serve in Hamilton, OH! Staying in the same zone so I'm Sister Belnap's STL!! Exchanges here we come!! woot woot! Hamiltucky is quite the opposite of my beloved Liberty Ward. The ward was populated with GE Engineers-- VERY successful to say the least. I have taught mentally ill (schizo-effective, MRDD) rape victims, granola people, government dependant, drug/porn addicts, excommunicated members and.... I LOVE IT!!!! I have fallen in love with my ward and area. We proselyte in the safer areas so no worries there! Once I got past the smell I was home free!! ha ha!! 

My companion is Sister Harding. My former STL. yeah. talk about permanent exchanges! haha! She is 26 years old and has a degree in Music... stuff! She is the kinda, most level headed sister eva!! LOVE IT!! She is fearless.

We have seen so much success!! 

We have 2 people on date for baptism. Howard and Alazae. (They're african american descent .... so you can say my dreams have come true!) We taught him the Word of Wisdom and Sister Harding asked "Will any of those substances be an issue?" ..."yeah. All of them!" ha ha!!! He said its not optional for baptism so He will live the WofW!! So we were excited.... but not as excited as when he told us he went from 30 cigarettes a day to 3.... in a 2 day period of time. Yeah. He is on fire!!

We are teaching Mack and Kim. They are one of the best people i have ever met! They LOVE LARPing... (live action role playing i believe... full steel armor suits with real swords and such... they're legit! they also sell "garb" medieval clothing too...) They are newlyweds that are fully self sufficient! Their whole backyard is a garden!! Best cooks ever!! They don't believe in killing spiders.... so service at their home was challenging..... lets just say i have an anxiety attack every time we head over there! They have 3 garden orb weavers above their front door.... i pray really hard. They also have a GIANT DOG, Thunder. A Great Pyrenees....(sp?) I'm grateful his snot is thick so its easy to wipe off my skirts.... haha! They are on fire also. They have researched our religion hardcore. Anti and everything. AND they still want to meet with us! Cool huh? Mack hesitantly asked "What are Garmies?" I laughed really hard.... I thought i was the only one who called Garments "Garmies" (only in my head of course... :) We explained and it was a really sacred conversation. the spirit was strong. and he understood it was a sacred symbol of our promises with God. It has been amazing to see them change as they are having daily spiritual experiences. Things as simple as their home is more clean each time we go!!! ISN'T that amazing??? The spirit transforms people. They were struggling with coming for just an hour of church and yesterday they stayed for 4 hrs!!! (we had a baptism after the 3 blocks...) YEAH BUDDY!!

OH and we had a baptism!!!! YAY!!! Craig is the best. It took 4 times to baptize him!! It was a crazy day... people on the program bailed last minute, he forgot a towel... the font wasn't filled high enough... but the spirit was powerful. Craig is now eligible for the Celestial Kingdom so that is the important part. We were praying REALLY hard he would stay off the smokes. through the efforts of the whole ward it happened!!

I am the happiest i have ever been. I am fully engaged in the work. I do uncomfortable things and I have had to rely WHOLLY upon Jesus. We have been running from one teaching appointment to another. It was amazing to be in a lesson and have no clue who they were, what they have been through and have the spirit take over my mouth. to say what Christ would say if he were here in my place. It has changed me!! I could not rely on myself--- It has been a beautiful experience. SO many powerful lessons. I had nothing to do with it... The spirit was the teacher. and I was just.... saying what God told me to!! SO amazing.

I love you family. One morning this week Sister H had a case of bad cheese (literally she ate bad cheese) and I was a bit panicked... I felt a little pang of homesickness-- sad Sister Watts heart. Then I had a thought... "how can i be sad? God has blessed me SO much. Whatever else happens- is thrown in my path- I KNOW my family is forever. I know they are founded on Jesus Christ. They go to church each week.That i s the greatest gift i can ever receive."

I am so proud of you. Thank you for your example to me. God is good.

Love,
Sister Watts

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