Mother’s Day, May 14th, 2018 (Week 32)

Monday May 14, 2018

I had an awesome time being able to video Skype with my family for about an hour today! That also means that I didn't have time to put together much text for my blog, but what a great excuse to post more Artinus Museum photos!


Happy Mother's Day to my Mom and to all you other moms out there!

  

Hello everyone, I had a chance to write more of a message than I thought I would on Mother's Day. So below you will find a few photos from a package I received from home that really meant a lot because I was feeling a little sick and it cheered me up. My parents love sending me little Lego figures etc. that I can put on my desk to remind me of home. 

Well as much as I didn't like it, this last week was what you would call a sick week. We still did plenty of good things, but we kind of had to take it slow and do some less physically demanding activities. Apparently, I have caught what is known as a bronchial virus. There are several symptoms that go with it, including a pretty bad cough, but the main effect that has been really bad for me is that it drains you of energy. There are points in the day where I feel I just have no energy to do pretty much anything. When that happens, we usually take a break so I can recuperate and I usually try to drink more fluids to help. Anyways, it certainly has not been fun.

 

 

 

Focusing on other things however, we had one of our investigators at church on Sunday, Anh Quang, and we had a good lesson with him. He is a really cool guy and is really genuine about wanting to learn the gospel and to get an understanding of it. He always asks lots of good questions. We look forward to seeing how he grows as he learns more of the Savior and how to rely on him in life, as Christ really is the source that can answer all questions and correct all doubts.

We did have zone conference this week. That was really good. We received a lot of good training from our zone leaders and from the Hassells. One of the focuses of the conference was about how we are teaching the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We learned the importance of relating the Atonement of Christ to other people and learned how the Atonement of Christ is what can connect anyone to the gospel. They also told us to make sure not to disconnect the event of the Atonement from Jesus Christ who performed it, as it is centered on He who performed it. That is why I am writing in each case here "the Atonement of Christ". Christ's Atonement really was such a crucial part of the Plan of Salvation, it is what makes it possible for us to return to God, it is what cleanses us from our sins, gives us power to overcome our weaknesses, and gives us the motivation to keep going forward. They reminded us of this factor and the importance of focusing on this key doctrinal point when teaching others. Of course other things were discussed at the conference, but this is one particular part that stood out to me that I wanted to share.

We also have been preparing for our big English event tomorrow! As mentioned, it is themed on the Game of Life. It should be a lot of fun! Something kind of funny is that the other day some members were helping out with decorations. We plan on having a coffin photobooth to represent "the end of life", so some members were helping make that. It turned out pretty well. Hopefully I will have some good photos of that for next week when I tell you how the event went!

Well, not too much more to mention. I hope I will start to feel better this week. Also, we will hopefully be able to start finding some new investigators here. I know there are people out there who God has prepared, and with His guidance we will be able to find them.

Thank you everybody again! Have a good week!

Elder Watson/ Nghiêm

P.S. Today I got to call home for Mother's day, and got to Skype my whole family. It was awesome being able to hear from them. They all are really supportive of me, I have the best family in the world! And of course I have the best mother in the world! Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there! The work you do really is so important in the lives of your children!
Also, here are a few photos of my family in Tucson the day I got to Skype home.