Ye Haw!! My 1st Transfer....

Adios mi amigos y Hermono

so this week i recieved a transfer. i am going to a zone in tuxtapec the ward of moctezuma. i am excited for this opportunity that i had to love and be loved by the ward of buenavista and it was really hard to say goodbye to them all. its truly amzing how much love somebody can feel from people of a different language and country. even more powerful, its amazing to see and feel people united in the love of jesus christ our savior. i dont have much time to write this week because my time was cut short because of all the travel plans i had to learn but i would like to testify of the love that god has for us. god loves us so much and i see it in all that i do here as a missionary. seeing people repent and use the atonement of jesus christ. people gettting out of there seats to go and sit next to or introduce themselves to people who are knew in the ward. feeding and caring for the missionaries. all of these things that i have witnessed and felt here in the ward buenavista are testimonies to me that god loves me. as i went house to house wishing goodbye to everyone we could mutually feel the love that we had for one another as the tears filled up the eyes of the families and poor little elder watson. i am so thankfull that i have this opportunity to be a representative of jesus christ 24/7 adn love his children and serve them. people often wonder why a young man would leave during his prime years for two years. well i can now testify of why. we leave to change our lives and those of others. we leave to love. we leave to serve. most importantly we leave to bless the lives of others and the lives of ourselves. we do this by using the wonderful gift of repentence and then enter into the world and bare testimony of the love that our heavenly has for us. so great is his love that he has given his only begotten that whosoever believeth in him will have eternal life. i testify of this love which i have felt from the people here in mexico and also forom all of you at home. eevry person in my ward that i said goodbye too wished the best for me and for all my friends and family and i do too. i love you all and miss you all. here are a few pictures of the loving people of my ward here in buenavista.

October 22, 2012

Elder Watson -Almost 4 months and still alive

so lets see.... this week was a little different lol first we went along and did all of the normal stuff that we normally do contacting teaching and messing around like two nineteen yearold boys and it was all pretty cool and relaxed. so last tuesday me and another companionship in my district went on cambios. well this time it was my turn to take the other new gringo and go throughout a day in my area. well anyway this missionary is six feet eight inches and just shy as anybody can be lol. so all was good a normal day in the mission. all of our appointments fell through and we were basically left to contacting all day long which isnt really that bad lol. but once the people go on a tangent me and my companion had no idea what was going on and we would just look at each other which is pretty crazy lol. so every day as you know we go and eat with a sister from the ward. this time was with a new convert that my trainer baptised before i arrived. everything was good we ate had conversation shared a scripture and then hell itself walked into the door. her father who is an anti mormon drunk walked in screaming he asked me with some vulgor language how i was doing i without event thinking i said good hermano how are you. at this point her children are screaming she is yelling and it is just crazy. he flipped on me because i said hermano. he then started pushing me in my chair screaming at me and one time put his hand in my face and pushed it aways. the sisster throughout all this time is trying to get him away. anyway finally after about half an hour of his presence he finally left. she came back into the house crying. telling me about how sick she is of him and all of this. i was able to comfort her and eventually got her and the kids to calm down and we were are to talk about why we have struggles and challenges in our lives. i know that we all have them. alot of the time our challenges seem so much bigger than those of others but it is all so important that we remember that god will never put anything in our way that is not to our benefit. if we are livign the way we can and should be there is nothing that we cant do. i know it sounds a little cheesy but remember that i was dropped off in a completely different country where they dont speak english just a few weeks ago. i am so greatful for the opportunity i have to be here in veracruz mexico losing myself in order to find myself.i really truly love you all and miss yyou all. i got a few letter this week. thank you sister maughn sister richardson sister robles and brother damron. i really appreciated the letters even i know that you sent them like two months ago lol. thank you. we have a stake conference this week and also five baptisms planned for the next few weeks so i will write you next week let you know how that went. love you. hear elder hall and elder hall are doing great and i am glad to hear that.

October 15, 2012

his week was a little better than the rest because there was a special

little boy in the way. emilio ortiz aguilar was the first baptism of my

mission. it is crazy that a person so young can accept the gospel but that

just goes to show that the doctrine and spirit are what people are really

hjearing and seeing. so we went to his house after the baptism and we ate

some delicious fried fish thing lol. then after that emilio went to start

playing with me and his grandma yelled at him and told him to stop because

he has to show respect for his godfather. oops lol so i now have a godson

lol no biggy. it was an amazing week though. we have baptisms lined up and

it really feels like things are flying here in the field. the other day we

were walking home adn we saw a disabled man in his wheel chair pushing

along the destroyed street struggling with all his might. it was so sad.

drool running down his face and his hands barely strong enough to grip the

wheels. we then helped him to his house and attempted to talk to him but he

was uncapable. we walked him about a mile to a huge hill. then we went up

the hill and the whole time i am thinking and wondering how he does this

and then he says i dont like this part i fall a lot here. i just starting

crying. it is amazing the things that we have to do but this just goes to

prove that we are never givin anything that we can not do. we may fall in

our wheel chair and backtrack a mile downhill. but we can do it if wee have

the desire. we then got to his house and me and my companion gave him money

and left. it was a wonderful experience. then on a different day after

conference someday i tried really hard tnot to deny a prompting so we were

walking one day down a street we passed a house i lookes in and made eye

contact with a man and kept walking. i then thought to go back. i stopped

told my companion we are going back and we went back. we presented

ourselves and he allowed us into his home and we taught him the first

lesson. we havent been able to find him but it was an amazing experience

for me. i learned a lot from that little moment. i love you all and am glad

that i have your support and i love getting here on mondays to read your

letters. i love you all and miss you all. as i exited the baptismal water

with emilio i realized something that i will never forget. after they shut

the doors emilio started swimming in the font lol i then took the words of

jesus saying become like a child in a whole different way. it is amazing

how pure and innocent shildren are. i am so thankful that i am here and

have the opportunity to learn and grow andd become more like a child. i

love you all and miss you. the gospel is true and rememver remember that

god is always ready to listen to us. we just have to dial his number.

August 14, 2012

Good Times at the MTC!

Hello!!! 
     how is every one doing? well it is just the same old same old here in the mtc. same routine everyday. except yesterday. yesterday i was eating breakfast and i was eating a scone, i dont even know what it is. but i was eating one cause my freind got one and it ripped my crown of my tooth. thanks a lot link. you should have warned me that eating bread would have taken off a tooth glued to my jaw with cement. so now i get to leave the mtc into the real world today and go to the dentist. i couldnt think of anything i would rather do on my p-day!!! :) but o well. 
      then yesterday i had to say good bye to three of the elders in our district because they are headed to the mtc in bogota colombia. it was really strange to tell you the truth. its amazing how close you can get to somebody in just six weeks. yes i have been here six weeks and it seems like it has been so much longer and so much shorter than that if that makes sense? i was talking to an elder and he asked me to remind him of something later on in the day, i said sure i will text you later. i cant even remember what a phone looks like. i cant believe that i even had one at one point. 
      then this week we got chewed out by our branch president. he said we are the worst zone he has ever had. first he got mad because elders had toys. thats understandable. then he made us throw away the hand me downs that we had received from previous mtc missionaries, ok. then he said we cant go to the motab production on sunday mornings because its only for sisters. then he released the zone leaders and called new zone leaders which are both from our district. it was a really rough sunday lol. he has been called of god and we are going to obey!! he is very rough and we got the full force of it this sunday. it feels like there is never anything new happening here in the mtc so i dont really know what to say :) 
      we got a new district this week and one elder went to a rival high school of mine. valley vista. although they did beat us once it was usually a blow out and a lot of clean trash talking between the teams. we were both number ten and right when we first saw each other we said, "hey number ten." turns out he is a really cool person and all of our high school dilemnas are in the past. this week me and elder robertson taught sunday school for our district about baptism. we shared about covenants and then read the account of the antinephilehis and them burying their weapons. i challenges the elders in our district to think of a weapon that they have in their lives that prevents them from staying true to their covenants and keeping the commandments. i then told them to bury them. just dig a hole and forget them. i challenge you to do the same. what swords do you have in yout life? figure it out and then bury. i love you all. kort i am sorry i havent written you back a whole lot but i appreciate the constant dear elders. thank you to all that write me!! it is so helpful and amazing to recieve letters from home.
 love, eldeer watson. 

July 31, 2012

Hola muchachos.

      how is everything going? i hope it is going well because i have been praying for every body everynight. i am glad for the letters i have been recieving. it is so nice and stress relieving being able to talk to every one from home. i saw the pictures of my little niece and she is adorable! i cant believe im gonna miss all three of them groing up for two years. our teacher shared something with me that might have made me cry just a little bit. he said that all the children in the world are praying for me. he litterally adrressed his comment to me in front of the whole class. i guess he felt inspired to do so and i am glad he did. it is a big motivation. all i could think about was little jake and lily on their knees asking their heavenly father to be with uncle cort. kinda touching i am not sure though. dont wanna sound like a baby. 

     so happier news! i have gained ten pounds since entering the mtc. i am now 182 lbs. i know i know you are alll thinking that i look like lonnie now but that is not the case. i have gained ten pound but i do not know where it went. my belly is not bigger. my face is not wider and my companion says that my butt doesnt look fat so idk what to say? i guess i just hid it somewhere where no body can see it and i cant feel it. 

      so this week we had a district leave for peru and its tradition for people to leave hand me downs. this one missionary that asked how i was doing once gave me his seat cushion! idk why he gave it to me but he did. i have incredibly missed a soft seat. my butt has gotten so used to sitting in a hard seat that it was weird sitting in a soft one for a while. but all is well. looks like cash is still doing good and kile and his family are still being good kids. 

     kortny your the best cousin ever! always writing me and for the packages. your definately on my top five when i get back and get a phone. Dad and ali thank you for the dearelders and packages. the fudge is delicious and the cookies were awesome. mommy thank you for the packages and letters. every one was like what the heck when i opened my package and got frosting. but now that they are both gone they understand why. jajajaja 

       every night at ten thirty i start my prayers for the night. every night i kneel down and offer up the desires of my heart to my heavenly father and lord jesus christ. i never really developed a strong testimony of prayer but i can boldly testify that the power of prayer is real and that others feel the power of them. i testify that every day i feel the effects of them. i know without a doubt in my mind that jesus is the christ. it makes my heart sorrow that he had to suffer the pain of my transgressions but it puts into reality the love that god and his beloved son have for me. i am always greatful for that. i have started thinking about my savior as oft as possible and it sincerely makes a difference in my day. my savior carries me through the day. their are two sets of footprints going to meals but their is only one going every else during the day. i know that my saviors atonement is infinite and there is no end that it can not reach. i know that i have been called of god and that every one in any position is also called of god. there is no exception. i know that the lord blesses me daily and would bless me more and more if i would only ask in sincerity. i love my savior. i love you. i love god. mas cerca dios de ti, cerca de ti.

July 17th 2012

     This week was a little more difficult than the first. The first week i was so ready and excited and then going through each day and studying for 10-15 hours a day is so draining. i have never slept so good in my life. i am loving it so much though and each day gets a little easier as we are learning new ways to go about studying and all the other stuff that we do like teaching two investigators!! yes we got another investigator. we first had luis. he is slowly progressing i feel like. my companion is so shy that i feel like i am talking the entire forty minutes that we are teaching when we go in and meet with him. the guy that plays luis is now one of our instructers. he is so awesome he reminds me so much of d fresh!! he makes class and study flow so much better. 
     then our other investigator is played by our first instructer sister arroyo. she is this outgoing kinda crazy little peruvian girl that talks so fast! then when she goes and plays maria, the new investigator she plays this extremely shy and giggly girl. it is so weird and i know that i have to take it seriously so that i can learn from it. but i got back to the room after teaching her and she walked in and was sister arroyo again and going a mile a minute and i just laughed and said, "you look just like maria but your the complete opposite of her." it is so much fun though being able to go through this experience. 
     the tuesday devotional this past week was very good and was taught by brother steuer from the quorum of the seventy. he talked a lot about teaching with scripture and it was kinda boring but it was good! i only dozed like eight times. then our sunday devotional was by jenny oaks baker. yes jenny oaks baker that is a grammy nominated violinist for her disney soundtrack, and the daughter of Elder Dallin H Oaks. she would share an experience and then she would play a beautiful song for us. i think when i get home me and jack will invest in a violin. she then had all of her four children come up and each play their instrument to i am a child of god. it was the cutest thing ever. she had three girls that were amazing and her little boy played the guitar and halfway through he started picking his nose right when the camera was on him. the devotionals are set up just like the general conference so its a pretty cool feeling to be right there and see that. its amazing when every one in the room starts singing and i feel like i am in the mormon tabernacel choir.
      i feel like i had a star studded week because on saturday we had a substitute teacher by the name of sister Eyring. her grandpa is famous for something but i cant remember know that i think of it. she was so humble and sweet it was a very cool experience. she walked in and my district was amazed. everyone just kept bugging her about her granpa. i asked her what christmas and thanksgiving was like and she said, just like yours. i said ok but i didnt believe it, she was totally lying. she seemed to get irritated after about thirty minutes of those kind of questions. which i dont get!

      i am so thankful for the experiences that i am having by being here in the mtc. it is truly a blessing hopefully not only for me. i am thankful for all of the letters and packages which i have recieved from kort. me and my roommates loved the doughnuts and dr pepper. i am still working on the cheeze-itz. please send around this email and every one feel free to write me on dearelder.com with your adress so i can write back. i have only thirty minutes to email a week so all other messages will be handwritten from me. if you write me on dearelder.com the mtc prints it out that day and they give it to me and then i can write you back the same day. there is nothing better than getting letters from home from all the people that love me, which is like five people right now, ;) jk i know that you all love me and pray for me and i can feel it. i love you all so very much and miss you with each passing day. i look forward to going out in the feild and sharing this profound message of happiness.
> WWWWWHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>  
> love,
> Elder Cortland L Watson