May 12, 2014

Okay guys.. Man i dont ever know where to begin. Wel i got my new trainer! Elder Borup. Hes a cool quiet kid from Utah and hes got 9 months on the mission. But im grateful for the guy! So i cant lie i really miss Elder Adams. Its been kinda sad without him since he was my first trainer! But so now im basically leading the Sector of Dalcahue! Its a lot on the plate of a 6 week old baby in the mission. Im trying to be as productive as i can be but im pretty worried about doing the Lords will and not mine! I just hope i dont leave the broom. But this week Hectors dad is gonna get back from the ocean and we are gonna dunk him!!! We had 27 people in church and it was a great meeting. When Elder Adams was here i kinda just sat behind him and let him do everything. Now i gotta man up and do it and the Lord no doubt has blessed me. All of the sudden i can speak to everyone and understand people way more than i could. I am so beyong grateful for this opertunity that i have and how the Lord trusts me. I have grown up so much in these past 3 months its insane. I feel like ive aged 5 years!!! But theres no way i could go without saying how extremely proud i am of Courtney Dolph for deciding to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized!!!! I am so thankful for the missionary work and for her impact on the lives of the people in my family. Especially mine!!! Shes doin great. Anyways im gonna go murk it out here and pray for the best because i know there is work to do!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! And i know that our Heavenly Father does too. And if you will humble yourself and ask him for the help that you need he will give you more than you could every need. Keep it real, ill write soon! Love your Elder Watson!!! I also talked to this drunk man who told me aliens planted us here and they are gonna be back for the harvest soon!! So everyone watch out!! hahaha

 

Welcome Elder Borup!! Let's go get 'em!

Thank you to my first companion and trainer, Elder Adams! Although I am sad to see you go, I am so grateful for everything you have taught me! Keep in touch

May 5, 2014

This week was a ROLLER COASTER!!

Even though i have never even ridden one i am guessing that this is what it is like, plus its just a metaphore you know? But anyways this week while walking down the 18 de Septiembre this long dirt road my companion told me that hes not going to be finishing training me. His 2 years is up and hes actually going home tomorrow. I didnt believe him and fought him on it for about 25 minutes and then he finnaly convinced me and its true. Hes leaving. Idk what is up with me but ive been such a special case in the mission! Opening a new sector and then having 2 different trainers! I hope that ill just be able to learn from it and make the most out of the trust that the mission prez is giving me! But this week was such a blast. Im not gonna lie i still cannot understand these Chilotes but im getting there! Ahorra soy mas Chilote que las papas!! Now im more chilean than the potatoes lol. Thats what they say. But theres been some cool people that we taught this week ecpecially Bernardo. This cat man hes been drunk the past 2 times we went over there and then this time he was like super sober and he had read the ENTIRE Restoration folleto with his wife!!! He listened to what we taught him and he was super into it and so was his wife! We asked her to pray at the end and she just started balling in her prayer! Im excited to teach them more this week with my new trainer lol. But Hector Barrientos is on schedule to get baptized this weekend if all goes well!! I am so blessed to be able to be here in Dalcahue its unreal guys! Love you all and ill be seeing a lot of you on mothers day!! Keep it real up there in the northern hemisphere! Plus guys ive put on some Kilos and this might be a real reason... Sopapinas with marmellado yummmmm

April 21, 2014

WHAT A WEEK!!

Okay so opeing up a sector in a mission that has never had missionaries in it before certainly has its trials that come along with it!!!! But i am very greatful to be able to experince these trials and to learn and to grow from them! So one of the many cool things that happened this week was that i got to teach with my mission president and his wife this week!!!! It was honestly one of the coolest experinces ever that man is a great man! Elder Adams my companion said even when he was the AP he never taught with President Rappleye! But then we were using this list called the Rescate that has all the members in Chiloé on it and we found this one family. La familia Barrientos! The two parents are members and they have one 15 year old son who is not a member and another 4 year old son. We taught the son and he accepted a baptismal date for the 10th of May!! This sunday they came and it was their first time coming to church in over 20 years!! After Church we went and visited them and the parents were like hey guys Hector has great news! He told us that he loved church and that he is excited and really wants to be baptized on the 10th. How great is that! Reactivating member and finding people while doing it! Then with the same list we found Ricardo whos is also less active but didnt know there was a church now. We could just tell that he needed help and that he was beyond relieved to have the Elders in his house. But its been a pretty good week here in Dalcahue and i love you guys! So happy to hear that everyone is doing good and loving life in the good old Promised Land. Let me just tell you what I took the United States of America for granted. I will be coming home super patriotic lol. Love everyone and i will write next week! Keep it real. Oh wait one more story! So on sunday it was raining pretty good outside and i was like Elder lets say a pray that it will stop raining at 9:30 so that the members can come to church at 10. We said a prayer and when 9:30 rolled around not a single drop of rain fell from the sky... Then at 9:32 it started to rain very hard lol. But i am just grateful that the Lord answered my prayer and let me have my 2 minutes without rain:)

Check out that double rainbow action!

April 14, 2014

¡CHI CHI CHI!

¡LE LE LE!

¡VIVA CHILE!

Okay guys so this week was about 83 times better!!! I realized that last week i was being selfish and focusing on myself and so after monday last week i was like im just gonna grow up and focus on everyone else except for me. So thats what i did going into this week and wouldnt you know it was a great week!!!! We had a ton of fun. My companion Elder Adams is just like Cash Money Watson himself.This guy makes me laugh so hard every single day. And he also works well with the spirit so i am so grateful for him!!! There were 2 seperate occasion where he was almost killed by dogs and they both almost made me pee my pants i laughed so dang hard lolool. But so this week a family that we are working with started to show some real legit progress and started reading the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!! I was so happy for them and when they told me that i was just filled with joy because i know how that book can change someones life!!! Also yesterday we were going to have a fireside in our little casa church and our investigators flaked on is so we invited two other missionaries who came and then our mommita. So elder Adams and i were like we gotta get someone in here so we go into the street and find this guy and he comes in and just likes starts to direct the fireside lol! So hes talking like conducting and then hes like okay im gonna come back next week and im not gonna be drunk.. Well not this drunk hahaha!! Then when he leaves he kisses one of the other missionaries haha. But im glad for this oppertunity and for all the struggles that i have. Like having 1 family that is mormon that lives in the city and that doesnt like us and it not willing to help out. But thats why im here i guess to strengthen the kingdom in Dalcahue!!!! I love this work and i love the Lord and im thankful for all the support that i recieve from you all!! Its crazy that when i go into a lesson i can understand perfectly what is going on and what people are saying to me. The spirit is helping your boy out haha. I love you guys and i pray for you all the time!! let me know if there is anything that i can do for you!!! Ill write next week!!

April 7, 2014
Whats up guys!!!! Okay so this week has kinda crazy and wild and fun and sad and frustrating and angrifying and happy and spiritual and ahhhh!!!! Okay so first and foremost i died in the earthquake slash Tsunami combo.... JK I didnt even know that there was an earthquake until you guys all told me haha and the Tusnami didnt even cause a wave on my beach!!! But the people here in Dalcahue are super receptive and we are working on some pretty awesome families right now!! I have been really strugglin this week with not being able to express myself but i am doing better and am trying to just be positive!! So this week I had various accounts of talking to drunk people that were actually very nice people!!! Everyone tells me that i speak the language great for only being here for 2 weeks but i just wanna be fluent already. I love you guys so much and i love hearing from you all more than i should!!! I think i am being a little more negative than i should be because i need to just shut up and be thankful that i am in Chile and that i have this amazing experience right now. But i couldnt even watch general conference in english this weekend because they couldnt connect to the internet and it was lame. I read 30 chapters in the Book of Mormon though!!! Everyone keep praying for me and i will try and have some cooler stories for the next week! Sorry this week was kinda lame but i just feel like we didnt really do much. But I love you guys and i miss you and ill keep praying for you! But keep praying for me too cause your boy needs it lol!!! Chao!!!!

 

March 31, 2014
WHAT A WEEK!!!!

Okay so so many things have happened this week i dont think im gonna be able to fit them all in!!! Okay so the flight from Mexico to Chile was 9 hours long and i was in the middle row inbetween two men and everyone was watching cool new movies that just came out and i was just trying to be an obediant missionary and not watch them!!! But then we got to Chile and got onto another plane to fly down to Puerto Monte. Then there we met the mission pres and his wife and all the AP's. I specifically remember meeting Elder Adams. But then we got onto a bus and drove towards the mission pres house. Our bus broke down lol. What a good way to start the mission right!? We got onto another bus and finally got to the mission home. We ate lasagna which was the first good hot meal i had had in about 6 weeks so i was stoked!! Then we had interviews with the mission pres. Pres Rappleye started talking to me and then he told me that i am going to be opening up a whole brand new sector!!!!!!!!!!!! So i am in Dalcahue, Chiloé, Chile right now!! There havent been missionaries here in forever and now they are opening up a church here!!! So my companion wouldnt you know, is Elder Adams, one of the AP's!!! Right when he told me that i was gonna be opening Dalcahue i felt the spirit so strong! Like yeah this is it this is why i am here!!! So there are only about 11,000 people in the whole town and there are 5 member families haha. So that was cool and then we drove to our house in Dalcahue the next morning! We took a bus that drove onto a farey that boated us to our island lol. Btw Chiloé is an island. So we got there and our house is cool and bif but we dont have wood to burn so im literally so cald all the time. Its only not rained one day since ive been here and that was today lol. But that next morning i went to momita's house to eat lunch. Every missionary here has a momita that feeds them lunch. So here we pretty much only eat lunch and then like bread or something for breakfast and dinner. But momita is so nice and her kids are the cutest things ever. After they fed us the first time we read a scripture with them and i was just sitting there not knowing anything that is going on at all, then my comp was like do you have anything to add? So i just told them how very grateful i am for them. Momita fed her kids like half a spoonful and us like a heeping plateful. I started crying just telling them how thankful i am for them. But yeah my weeks has been pretty much me walking around with my comp and me just like not knowing anything whatsoever lol. I DONT KNOW SPANISH I THOUGHT I DID BUT I SO DONT. Everyone here talks so dang fast, they cut their words off, they dont pronounce their S's, and they put po at the end of all their words. Like Sipo, Nopo, Claropo. AHHHH!!! But it has been a blast already!! I have had a few "Holy Crap im walking down the streets of Dalcahue Chile right now this is wild" moments for sure. One in particular with this couple we were teaching in the campo (the country) a little but i was sitting in their tiny house drinking this awful tea out of a cup that hasnt been washed in about 4 years and the Chilean woman was just like screaming at us and i was just like woah did i sign up for this!?? But yeah i did lol. I threw down some baptismal invites but no luck yet. But the ward here is pretty small! Not including the Elders there were 21 people in church this week! WHOOO!!! But they are gonna work hard with us and im stoked. Anyways i love that i am having this experience! Well i actually hate that its happeing and its extremely frustrating not knowing spanish but im just thankful for the oppertunity to grow! I love all you guys and i love to hear from you all and im so happy that you are all doing so well!! Keep up the good work and pray for me to be blessed with the gift of tongues!! LOL But we have some pretty dope families lined up to teach and are ready to get crackin with the members. Now if only we had wood! I can see my breath in my house all the time lol. But anyways You all with be hearing from me soon!! Love you all and ill write next lunes!

March 18, 2014
The time is already going by to fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This week was so amazing! So much stuff has happened and its just another week that i have learned so much. Its crazy to me that i will be in Osorno in less than a week!!!! When i first got here i never would have thought in a million years i would be sad to leave. But i cant lie i am going to miss it here. Ive had the great opportunity of getting to be great friends with some amazing missionaries and teachers. My Spanish is coming along so well!! I can pretty much talk to anyone and hold a conversation! I love chattin with the Latinos and laughing with them! Of course this is how i feel now but then when i get into the field im not gonna understand a single word lol. But thats what the Spirit is for. Speaking of the Spirit I was just crying reading everybody's emails. I am so happy for all of you guys and i pray for you all multiple times a day. Its so true how the Lord blesses families of missionaries. Love you all. So this week i had one of my best friends from high school , Justine, Tell me that she has a baptism date, My brother get his mission call to Japan and another friend get his call to my mission! I AM SO BLESSED I CANT TAKE IT. I literally cannot wait another second to get out into the field and help bring people into this gospel. It has brought so much happiness into my life. LASTING HAPPINESS. I love it so much. Okay guys i think i get to email right before i leave for Chile so i will hit you guys up then!!!! Have an amazing week guys love you all. The pictures are guys in my district and my Zone!

　

March 24, 2014
Hey guys im off to Chile in about 9 hours!!!! I will write you all when i get there and i love you all!!! Cant wait for the real work!!!!

 

March 11, 2014
Whats up guys! So This week was pretty cool!! It went by super fast though! I leave for Chile in LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!!!!!!!! Insane haha. But i had an amazing birthday It was great so many people got me stuff from the tienda and sang to me at breakfast lunch and dinner lol. I love all the people here they are great!!!!!!!!!!! Im doing pretty good with the language and teaching. My teachers have me teach the class the language lessons like twice a week so thats cool! Im already anxious to get into the field but im nervous for how fast the Chilanos speak! That first sunday is gonna be wild haha. I met an elder that is going to the same exact mission that my dad went on. Elder Gore, hes super cool and one of my best friends. I had a little scuffle with two huge Polynesian kids. YEESH. But its all good my face is still pretty! We find some ways to have good fun here. The other night we were shooting fruit from a home made sling shot into mexico city lol. Im blessed to have such amazing friends and family back home you guys are awesome! I cant wait to hear where Jack is going and be his senior companion is Chile lol! I dont remember if i wrote home about this already but i have given a talk in sacrament meating, given my testimony, and blessed the sacrament! Its pretty cool to do all the stuff in español. But other than that a pretty normal week!! Not to much happened but im just learning and growing every day! I hope that everyone back home is doing great ill keep you in my prayers! Love you guys

 

March 4, 2014
Whats up fam!!!!

So its kinda amazing all the things that can happen in one week!! Especially on a mission. Each and every day is going by faster and faster!! Its kinda sad i only have 99 weeks left on my mission lol. But i love it here. Its been a pretty hard week because of what happened back home but every person here has been so good to me. Its amazing to think about the plan of salvation and to know without a doubt i will see my grandma again. This week i have grown quite a bit! So last P-Day at night one of my buddies went home. Elder Orecutt. One of the saddest moments of my life and one i probably wont ever forget. He just came up to me crying and gave me a tie and said "Im gonna miss you Cutt" I know i told him my first name but i didnt mean to lol. But i think he made the right decision for him. Anyways volleyball here is sooooo fun!!! I literally smash on everybody haha. So teaching two new investigators this week my companion and i committed them both to be baptized!! Its such an amazing experience to see that light in someones eyes and feel that they can feel that this amazing church is true. I know without any doubt in the world that this church is the true church and that the Book of Mormon can and does help people have happier lives. I cant wait to be in Chile and to help people come to understand that in real life!!!!! So my companion and i get along really well now!! I just decided he is JUST like Cort lol. He says everything like him but just in a quite calm voice. It cracks me up. So weird to think im halfway done with mu CCM experience. Its going by too fast. But i love all of you guys and i hope that you are all doing well. Ive been praying like crazy for all of you. Keep it real and i will write next week!!

February 25,2014Okay so this week was pretty dang awesome. I cant lie it was 1648 times better than the first week. Its kinda crazy how fast the time went. I had so many experinces. First i got my first baptism!!!! Hes a fake investigator but i asked him to be baptized and he said yes!! All in Spanish lol. Then the next day i got two brand new investigators!! I have already taught one og them and i invited him to be baptized on our first visit and he said yes!! It was so great. Okay so that picture i sent was just some Latinos i found taking pics and i was like yo let me hop in some and they were like okay and started calling me a greengo and stuff but it was pretty funny. Every here calls me Elder Cullen lol. I am so blessed to be here and to be a missionary!! Its still crazy to me that i put on that name tag every single morning. I will try and send a video i took of the whole CCM! The other night we all had the opportunity to give the people in the district blessings. We are district 12 straight up like the Hunger Games!! We even do that little hand sign its pretty funny haha. But anyways i got to give Hermana Thatcher a blessing and it was amazing. She was balling and she came up to me and said that it helped so much and that every single syllable i spoke was meant for her. Shes coming to Osorno Chile with us! Then i received a blessing from my companion Elder Rawlinson and then i gave him one. It was awesome and it brought us together. Im starting to really get along with him. His spanish still sucks but hes workin on it. Okay so the food here is very nasty. Most of it is bearable but it just sucks haha. I have already had a crazy experience with Mexico City and the evil energies that are here but ill save that one for when i get home. I love my teacher Hermano Castellanos so much!!! He teaches me life lessons every single day that will stay with me forever. I pretty much run the gym here. I smash on everyone on the volleyball court and me and Elder Haveli run the basketball courts. Hes a huge Tongan lol. Manti Te´os sister is here at the CCM!! She looks just like him lol. So my Compañero is half native american and he named me Pooshadu. It means stinky in Miwok loool. But yeah everything here is going so much better. Its so weird because i can perfectly imagine when im gonna come home but its going to be awhile haha. But im so blessed to be here and i know this is where im supposed to be. I wouldnt give this up for the world. I love all of you and im gonna strive to keep on becoming a better missionary and a better Cutter.

 

First letter home. February 18, 2014

LONGEST WEEK OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel like i have been here for like 20 years. Things started off pretty rough but they have gotten a ton better!! I have already taught an investigator 3 times, EN ESPANOL! It was good at first but i got really frustrated and almost cried after because i just cant say what i want to. My companion and i are 100% opposite. And i have to admit it sucks pretty bad. He never talks and i have to do all the planning and talking and it got on my nerves! But we had a talk and things are getting a lot better! Im really starting to bond with my district and things are becoming way more fun. Sorry for the no pictures but my camera wont connect to the computer:( This is definitely going to be the hardest thing i will ever have to do in my life. But i can already tell and feel all the things that it is going to help me with in my life. I am so thankful for all of you and love and miss you all! I will write more next week when i can get my timing down better haha. Love elder Watson