"Those lips look like they could be used for something better than playing the clarinet!"

Hey Everyone!

So this week was pretty good and went by way faster than the first one. Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays are the days you just have to get through because Sundays are way relaxing. Mondays we do service and gym all morning. Tuesdays we just have class in the morning and afternoon, but then have the devotional at night. Wednesday is P day of course but sounds like this will be our last week going to the temple and getting temple food :(. We went this morning and did Initiatory work and I had 8 family names and everyone else only did 5. I don’t know how that happened but they had to wait for me for like 15 minute’s ha-ha. Had to take advantage of the last breakfast in the temple so I got an Omelet, hash browns, and bacon; pretty tasty.

Chillin' with Elder Keller at the fountain

David and Landon

Nothing really went on last Thurs, Fri, or Sat. except for Nike our first investigator left! Ha-ha and he is now one of our teachers His name is Brother Phan (Sam). He is such an amazing teachers and the spirit is so strong when he teaches. We got two new investigators now though. A guy named Sam, which is Bro. Phan, and a guy named Joe, which is Bro. Olsen. We taught Bro. Phan on Monday for his first lesson and it went way good. We taught him about the restoration and how to pray and we committed him to be baptized in 2 months. The new thing is to challenge them to be baptized the first lesson and set a goal in mind for them and tell them that we will help them prepare for it over the next while. The spirit was strong so it was cool. We haven't taught Joe yet, but we do tonight so that will be hard. The sisters said Joe is harder to teach than Brother Phan. We actually probably won't be teaching Sam for like a week or so because he is getting married this Saturday in the LA Temple so we are assuming he will be gone for a little bit. the older Thai group all leave on Monday at 4 for Thailand! So that means it will just be us starting next week.

I think Ely Hansgen gets here today so I'll see if I can't find him. I saw David again and he said that he got transferred to the West Campus, but he is probably leaving for Texas soon right? Today is finally the last time we have to eat in the gym then we go back to the cafeteria. The food in the gym has been even worse than the regular food. Thanks for all the snacks they have been great. Elder Crump and I bought some chips and Queso from the bookstore and it was the greatest snack we've had; we still have a little bit left.

So Sunday was the Worldwide Leadership Broadcast or whatever. That was way cool except the Marriot Center has the most uncomfortable seats of all time I think it’s worse than sitting in the seats we sat in at Fenway Park. You honestly can't sit normal and your butt gets sore and it you try to move you always knee the person in front of you. Besides that the talks were so good! You all have seen it by now I'm sure so there’s not much I need to say about it except for as soon as all the Apostles walked in you could just feel the spirits so strong coming into the room; it was amazing. It was so lucky that we got to go to that; it was way nice, but we were kind of disappointed that the prophet only joined us over video :/. Other than that though it was amazing. You should have seen the herd of cattle going over there and it just brought back memories of VBFA where the herd goes to get lunch. After the broadcast it was dinner so the herd all headed to the feeding trough and we just decided to go and spend some money in the vending machine and get hot pockets which was probably a good idea because people waited in line for an hour to get there food. Not worth it for that crap.

Then President Jackson and Sister Jackson (our branch president) came to our class at 8 for our district meeting and we all bore out testimonies and what we liked about it and President Jackson and his wife talked about what they liked; it was so cool. His wife said it shows how much trust the Lord has in us to use those social media things through the internet where they have been perceived as kind of evil. Kind of cool. 

Tuesday night we had another devotional at the Marriott Center which was way cool! We all went over there hearing it was some old lady who wrote music that was speaking thinking; Oh great this will be boring, but at least we can take a nap. Ha-ha well we get there and it was Janice Perry she wrote a hymn and 10 primary songs and stuff and her husband Douglas Perry. It was honestly one of the best devotionals. It was so funny and the spirit was amazing! Her husband spoke first and just talked about some mission experiences from way back when; but his talk was short; because his wife was the main speaker. His wife starts by talking about her and her husband. The first line her husband ever said to her was in a music class at BYU…"Those lips look like they could be used for something better than playing the clarinet." said Douglas Perry. Ha-ha the whole crowd busts up laughing and he stands up and walks to the pulpit and she’s like covering the mic so he can't say anything then he just grabs her and kisses her! Ha-ha this guy was 79 years old and barely could talk/walk it was so funny he got a standing ovation! It was just hilarious. She went to proceed talking about music and everything. Then we all sang a bunch of primary songs like 6 or so which was way cool, the spirit was so strong. She then went on talked a bit then closed with a song that he kind of made I think called As Sister's in Zion, Army's of Helaman. This song was amazing the sisters sang the first part then we sang Army's of Helaman then we all joined together. Honestly one of the strongest feelings I've ever had from the spirit. Nothing gets better than all of these missionaries singing that song together plus Army's of Helaman is like my favorite primary song ever it was just so cool!! That’s about all I got to tell you about my week.

Well that’s all I got, love you all!

Love,

Elder Watkins