Monday, July 19, 2010

Earthquake/Proposals

Hello hello! It's Preparation Day again! How is everything going at home? It was really good to hear from everybody! I really enjoy your letters! I'm glad everything is going so well.
This past week has been pretty great! We had a lot of good things happen! On Saturday we had one of the best experiences I've had while I've been out here! We have been working with an unmarried couple for awhile. On friday we convinced him that he needs to propose to his girlfriend so they can get married. He said he would do it, and we told him we were going to make a nice dinner for him at the mission home and we would set everything up for him on Saturday. He said he would do it. So we went out saturday morning and got everything ready for the dinner, and Sister Baker bought roses for the occasion. We had everythin ready, then they called and said they wouldn't be able to come! So we were really disappointed, then we remembered that we had been working with another unmarried couple who live together. We met with them on Saturday morning, and a miracle happened! They said they had been thinking about marriage! So Elder Hopoate convinced them that we should set a marriage date with them. They said they wanted to get married in October, but that is too far away, so Elder Hopoate convinced them that they should get married on August 7th, and we set a baptismal date with Richard for the next week on the 15th! And they agreed! That night we had them go on the temple tour, and we had himdo an official proposal to her at the mission home! Haha it was pretty awesome! It all worked out perfect! Especially since the two couples had the same situation, but since one cancled on us we were able to ask the other couple to do the same thing. And guess what we made for dinner? PUPUSAS! A sister in our ward taught us how to make pupusas so we went to a Latino store and bought all the ingredients and we made them for dinner! It was really awesome! Then the next day they were at church with their daughter. We are still hoping that others will come around sometime soon so they can get married and then get baptized. But everything will happen in the Lord's time.
Last week we were knocking doors and we ran into a young man who was a member of the church, but he hadn't been to church in about 5 months. We asked if we could come in and share a message with him and he accepted. After we came in we found out that he had a part-member family and that he had a sister there who wasn't a member. We asked if we could teach her, and she accepted. After we said an opening prayer she asked if she could invite her son to join us. So we had the less-active member and his sister and her son who weren't members, and we taught the first lesson. When Elder Hopoate was saying the First Vision the Spirit was so strong! We committed both of them to baptism for August 8th and they both accepted! It was a really neat experience, and I think we were very blessed to find those people. Unfortunately they weren't at church on Sunday, but we will be meeting with them on tuesday night and hopefully they will be at church next sunday!
I read Elder Tyler Larsen's e-mail you sent me. I can't believe his mission! He said he is 10 hours from the mission home! In our mission you are never further than a half hour from the mission home! Our missions are very opposite from each other. Cory's mission is going to be very different from both of ours though. From what he says, there isn't really religion where he is going! That is very different from L.A. Here there are hundreds of churches all over the place, on every corner and everywhere between, and in many different languages!
Mom, you drew some pictures of fireworks in your letter to me, and that night I had a dream about a firework show. It definitely made up for not being able to watch fireworks haha! fAnd last night I had a dream that you came to my mission with a ton of extended family and you sang happy birthday to me! Haha! I'm really excited for Cory to enter the MTC! That is going to be so awesome! Then Cody enters next month!
Right now we are in an internet Vegan Cafe because all of the L.A libraries are going to be closed on Mondays from now on because of the bad economy, so there may be some days when we e-mail on tuesdays instead of mondays.
Oh yeah, I don't remember if I told you, but I felt an earthquake the other day! It was really small but the ground swayed back and forth a little bit!
Last night we were eating dinner at a recent convert's house, and one of her friends came over after dinner. So we took advantage of the opportunity and we taught him the first lesson! We have a return appointment with him this week! I am excited to see how everything turns out.
Things are going well out here. It is very hot, but the work is going well. I love you all, and I thank you for all your letters and prayers and support. I feel your love constantly. Keep being strong and faithful and all will be well. I am so grateful for this gospel in our lives and I know that our family will be eternally blessed by following in it's principles.
Vayan bien,
Elder Ross Watkins




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