The End.

I didn't think I'd ever get to the point of writing this. I am unable to comprehend the fact that this is my very last group email from my mission...it hurts!

SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS PAST WEEK! We had a Christmas zone conference on Tuesday and it was so so so good. I had the opportunity to give my "golden truth" and it went well! I talked about how change is a good thing, and we shouldn't ever hold back when we are given the chance tobecome better. During zone conference we watched a live Nativity scene by President and Sister Blair's adult children, we all gathered around a piano and sang Christmas carols, listened to Sister Blair read a story, and watched videos about the baptisms our mission had during 2016. Best zone conference yet! Plus, I got to see Sister Brown who I've missed SO dearly. #Blessed 

On Thursday we got together with a group of about 12 missionaries andwent to Bath, Maine for a big finding activity! There's a huge factory called Bath Iron Works where soooo many people work and at a certain time of day they have a Shift Change where hundreds of them leave to go home and people come to replace them. That means that there are hundreds of people walking to their cars/home at the same time so we all stationed ourselves at different parts of the parking lot with trays of cups full of hot chocolate packets, candy canes, and a #LIGHTtheWORLD pass along card. As people passed by, we'd give them out! It was so much fun! Hopefully someone out of the big bunch will find interest in learning more about our church, right? 

On Friday we did another big finding activity with 20 other missionaries in our area. Boothbay Harbor has something called Gardens Aglow which is a big light show and tons of people from all around Maine come to see it. We had the idea of setting up a hot chocolate stand in front of the public library and having some missionaries hand that out while the others split up to do some caroling or handing outBooks of Mormon or pass along cards about #LIGHTtheWORLD. These were two of the greatest days of my mission! My favorite part was when I was standing at the hot cocoa stand in front of the library and looked out into the center of town to a group of missionaries singing Christmas hymns beautifully, and several sets of missionaries out there bundled up telling people about whatever they had prepared. So much missionary work happening around me and I felt the spirit so strong. I honestly got a little emotional in that moment at the realization of all of this coming to an end. I'm never going to havethat opportunity again to stand with a group of missionaries just like myself sharing a Christmas initiative on the coast of Maine. I've been so incredibly lucky. 

Yesterday was CHRISTMAS!! Such a great day! We only had one hour ofchurch but the chapel was FULL TO THE BRIM. Oh yeah, and right before sacrament meeting started our branch president came up to me and asked me to give a closing talk/testimony😳 you'd think you would get used to the spontaneous things like that as a missionary, but nope. I did it and it worked out though so it's okay! The rest of the meeting was full of pretty musical numbers and it was a great way to start out our Christmas! 

After church we went and had lunch with some members, then headed to another meal appointment right after. It was so nice of them to allow us to join in their family Christmas meals. We were very
thankful :) then we zoomed home and SKYPED our families! Hooray! Most of it was planning what will be going down in 4 days, but it was so good to see them all and hear their voices. LOVE YOU FAM. 

That's it for this week! I come home this Thursday afternoon so connect with me on Facebook if you want to stay in touch! Thanks to all those who emailed me, prayed for me, sent me letters/packages, etc. Missionaries can't do it without outside support, so thank you! I'm beyond grateful for this chance I've had to serve the Lord these last 18 months. I have grown in so many different ways and I have met so many wonderful people...I wouldn't trade this time I've spent out here for ANYTHING. See you in a couple days!

Christmas selfie!

Me and my girl Sister Brown 👏🏼

The Barkers fed us on Christmas Adam AND Christmas Eve! 

At the library

Us with dear Rachel ❤️

The activity in Bath!

We love Thai food. And our elf Ella😂

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✨Truth

Sorry it's taken me so long to send this out! It's been a hectic day....we spent FIVE hours at the hair salon which didn't go too well but hey, it's whatever. 

This past week was pretty slow since we had two days where we were snow/iced in and another day where Sister MacDonald was sick so we had to stay in. Besides that, we had quite a few service hours and some great appointments with some less active members!

What I really want to talk about today is something called my "golden truth". A golden truth is something that missionaries learned from their mission that is valuable to them. We are given the opportunity to share our golden truth with the mission right before we go home, and tomorrow is my day! Throughout my mission I would ponder different things that I've learned along the way and I would always think that I had my golden truth figured out and under control...now that I have a week left, I look back and could easily write a novel and 7 sequels about the things I've learned from my missionary service. For the sake of time, I'll share 2 of them with you.

1. I have learned that prayer is powerful, and it is real. Growing up, I'd always pray with my family and occasionally on my own and I knew Heavenly Father was listening...but it wasn't until my mission that I began to feel connected to God through my prayers. I noticed that He not only heard my prayers, but He answered them in His own way and in His own time. He truly does hear and answer every single one because He LOVES us. We are so blessed to be given this communication with our Father in Heaven! 

2. I have learned that the big, abstract, complicated, difficult to comprehend thing called the Atonement of Jesus Christ isn't so complicated after all. Jesus Christ knelt in a garden and suffered for ME. He saw my face and every emotion I would ever feel and willingly took upon Himself each one so that when it came time for me to feel it, He would be right there to help me. This atonement is available to me at any moment of the day and my Heavenly Father and His Son are waiting for me to read upward to apply it. They want me to feel joy, peace, hope, love, and all the wonderful effects from using the Savior's Atonement whenever I make a mistake, whenever I am hurting, or whenever I am in need of some extra love. 

(I know I said only 2 but I have another one, sorry...)

3. I have learned the reality of God's love for me and for everyone around me. HE LOVES US! He literally wants nothing more than to see a smile on my face. He desires my success and happiness in this life and that will come to me through the gospel of Jesus Christ which has been restored to the earth. It is something that I have come to cherish. He reaches down to us in love every day, but it's up to us to meet Him halfway by putting in our own effort. That's another thing I've learned! We have to WORK to receive the blessings He has in store for us. Nothing is going to come if we sit back and expect them. 

I love my mission. I love the name I've been able to represent and I love seeing the miracles come as I put others above myself. I love the areas I've served in and the people I've served around. I love my supportive family and friends. I especially love Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. They are so merciful...they took a rebellious teenage girl, took her where she was at spiritually, and helped her find the joy from living the gospel. I am so blessed.
This week is going to be AWESOME and I can't wait to talk about it next Monday (my last p-day!) love you all!!

My nena treated us to milkshakes at a local ice cream store 😘

I AM AN AUNT!!! My sister had a beautiful baby girl a few days ago. Her name is Lilly, and I can't wait to SQUEEZE her 😍🤗😊

Church was cancelled on Sunday because the whole area was ice...

Not sure how to explain this one 😂

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Still a (Maine)iac

Hiiiiii everyone! Ironically, it's snowing again today. It didn't snow all week since I last wrote home. We woke up to a winter wonderland again which was GREAT :) 

This past week was just absolute insanity, but that's nothing new here as a missionary in the depths of Maine. In fact, I even had my first wood splitting experience a few days ago! We grabbed some axes and took on a huge pile of wood...i felt like a true-blooded Mainer. It was definitely something I NEVER thought I would find myself doing! We had a lot of fun though and we were glad to relieve some built up stress. Missions aren't a joyride all the time, that's for sure. 

My favorite experience from this week was actually our lesson with a less-active member named Sister P. I'll refrain from using her full last name, but we have been visiting with her every week ever since I've arrived here. She's been studying with a different religion because she has more friends there, but she still believes in our church. Recently though she's been reading the Book of Mormon on her own AND with us when we come visit. This last visit we started with a brief chat and casual conversation before i asked her if she would start us out with a prayer. She said, "no thanks, my mind and heart are empty right now." so I said it instead. We read a few pages and then discussed what we read. There was a verse in there that briefly brought up 'light' and I had a small feeling to use that to transition into the #LIGHTtheWORLD video. 

I was honestly scared to death because it didn't have too much about light to completely change the lesson, but I decided to act on the prompting. As we played the video for her, she started crying. We gave her an advent calendar and talked about how blessed we are to be given the chance to serve just as the Savior did this holiday season. The spirit in the room was so strong as she sat there crying from the power of the video and message. After a bit of silence, she said "can I say the closing prayer?" This prayer was the most humble, sweet, and thoughtful prayers I've heard in a long time. She thanked God for us coming over, and then started praying for those who are sick, hungry, etc. She was sobbing and could hardly make it through the prayer...we got up and gave her a huge hug when she finished. It was so wonderful being able to see the spirit fill her "empty heart"...i am going to sincerely miss being the imperfect tool in the Lord's hand as He perfectly goes about His master plan to bring joy to each one of us. 

We had our branch christmas party this week! The theme was "A Night in Bethlehem" and we had so much fun. Rachel let us borrow some of her old clothes so that we could dress with "biblical" attire. The decorations were so good and we had shepard's pie for dinner. We helped out in the kitchen most of the time because the people in charge of food backed out or were late...or just didn't show up. But it's okay! We were there and able to help. Sister Barker (who was in charge of the party) was so thankful for our service that she invited us over for dinner at her house for CHRISTMAS EVE!

Oh, that reminds me...on Christmas Adam (day before Christmas Eve for people like my companion who doesn't know what that means) we are getting together in one of our areas called Boothbay with about 12 other missionaries. Boothbay puts on a Lights Aglow botanical garden thing that EVERYONE goes to. We are planning on setting up a table in downtown Boothbay and presenting the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative. We will pass out hot chocolate, play the video, hand out advent calendars, give away wrapped up Book of Mormons, and just LIGHT THE WORLD! I'm so so so excited!!!! Thousands of people come to Boothbay at this time of year to see the lights so we are expecting lots of success. 

I stinkin love serving the Lord and I'm looking forward to what my last 2 weeks bring! Love you all, and you'll hear from me next week.

Rachel treated us to Subway 💗

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Not My Testimony

It is December 5, it's a P-Day, snow is dumping and dumping and dumping outside, and I'm listening to Christmas music. Is there anything better? I don't think so!

We had a pretty good week. We showed lots of people the #LIGHTtheWORLD video which was awesome...and we've been helping other people do the advent calendar. I just love this Christmas initiative! I've probably said that 482 times before, but I seriously do. 

We got a new car this week! She's a dark gray 2017 Toyota Rav4 and I named her Raven. She is beautiful😍

Sister MacDonald and I will be STAYING together this transfer! Since I leave halfway into the transfer, they'll have to bring someone in to replace me...but we are so happy to be together for Christmas! 

December 1 was the worldwide day of service and also the kickoff to the Christmas initiative and it was SO GREAT. We had three different service appointments. We served at the Skidompha Library in Damariscotta at the beginning of the day, stacked some wood and raked the yard of a disabled man in the branch, and then cleaned an overflowing sink of dishes for a lady who had surgery on her hand. The joy that comes from lifting the burdens of somebody else is unlike anything I've felt! I hope you all had an opportunity to serve somebody that day to kickoff this Christmas season. 

Yesterday was my very last fast/testimony meeting as a missionary. I took that opportunity to bear my testimony, but I really didn't know what to say right before I went up. My heart was filled with so many emotions and there were so many things on my mind that I didn't know how to put it into words. I sat in my chair as one person after another got up to bear their testimonies and I just couldn't get up! My body was shaking with fear and I was so nervous...this never happened at any other testimony meeting on my mission but this one was different--so I turned it over to the Lord. I told Him in my mind that I wanted so badly to get up and bear my testimony of Him, but I didn't want to be shaky with nerves AND I didn't know what to talk about. I didn't want to mess up my very last testimony experience. 

Immediately in my mind, I heard the words "this is not your testimony, it's Mine." It hit me like a brick wall...My faith wasn't strengthened by itself! I didn't teach myself everything I know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was the Lord that softened my heart and showed me the blessings of His church. It was Him that allowed me to have hundreds of spiritually uplifting experiences throughout my mission. It was Him that stayed with me through the days that were difficult. Following that, my whole body was calm. My mind was clear. The nerves went away, and up to the podium I went. I will never forget that valuable lesson. 

This past week we went and visited our investigator named Yvonnet. We planned on teaching her one of my favorite lessons, the Plan of Salvation. We introduced the lesson and started a short video for her that talks about where we came from, why we are here, and where we're going. During the video she smiled and nodded at different parts and at the end she said "I have always wondered the answers to those questions...is there a way I can have that video?" I feel like sometimes we take for granted the precious truths of the gospel and we forget that there are people out there who have NO IDEA about our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, or Their plan of happiness. We are so blessed to know that we came from a heavenly family in the pre-mortal life and we lived with Heavenly parents. We came here to receive a body and to prepare ourselves to return to live with God again by living worthily and learning from our mistakes. When we pass away, we will be able to reunite with our families and with our Heavenly Father and our Savior. THIS is something to rejoice about. I love being able to share these truths with people who haven't had the opportunity to hear it yet! GAH being a missionary is the best. 

Side note: my companion just walked in with tomato soup and a piece of
cornbread. She loves me.❤️ That's it for this week! Three more to go...

Our investigator Rachel made me my own loaf of banana bread😍

None of us could stop laughing during our FaceTime lesson😂

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☁️9️⃣

Another full week of many strange yet wonderful things! I feel like last Monday was 372 years ago, but we will start there. When P-Day ended, we went over to the Small's house and helped them put their christmas tree up while we ate shrimp, salmon, and ice cream :)) #coastlife 

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with our sister training leaders in Yarmouth. I was with Sister Knecht who i was in the MTC with and it was great! We saw a lot of miracles which obviously is something to rejoice about. I, being me, forgot my coat and it was freezing while we were tracting together. There came to a point where I was shivering pretty bad so Sister Knecht suggested we just go back to the car but when i looked at the next house, i felt a like we needed to go knock. We hadn't seen any success up to this point, but i felt absolutely certain that something good was about to happen. An older man came to the door and i offered to share a scripture about gratitude with him but he declined, saying he didn't have time. I was not about to leave without something happening so i offered to give him the entire Book of Mormon and he could read the scripture when he does have time. HE TOOK IT! That may not seem like a huge victory...we didn't get a return appointment or a baptismal date or a new investigator, but we gave someone the most important book of scripture that they will ever read. THAT is a victory to me.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING! I'm not sure i'll ever recover from that day. We had three meals right after each other and I think i'll be full for the rest of my life. But we were SO thankful for the support and love shown by the members! We were obviously well fed and we were so happy. I thought back to last Thanksgiving with Sister Cox in Bethel when we cried the entire way home from a meal appointment because we were so homesick. Honestly, this year I barely thought about my family and what they were doing because i was so happy where i was and who i was with! Holidays as a missionary are getting more and more fun because this place is my HOME. (Mom, don't worry. I still love and miss you😂)

Here's something exciting...on the way to our last meal appointment, i hit a deer!! Yup. It darted out into the middle of the road so i slammed on my brakes and I hit its back side. We were incredibly blessed because no air bags went off, we didn't swerve and die, and the only damage was a broken headlight. No dents, no injuries, nothing. We have no idea how the deer is doing since we didn't stop but everything else is just fine! i was shaking for a good 15 minutes after that...it was horrifying. 

And now, we get to LEON'S BAPTISM!! It happened everyone, he is officially a member of this wonderful church! We had a couple of technical difficulties on Saturday which caused his baptism to be changed to Sunday after church, but IT HAPPENED. If something could have possibly gone wrong, it did. I was super stressed and humiliated and discouraged all night Saturday and Sunday morning but as soon as I saw Leon's smile spread across his face and light pouring from his countenance when he came up from the water, all of that washed away. All those lessons, the planning, and the challenges that came from teaching Leon and getting him to this point was all made worth it at that point. I am so in love with bringing other people closer to Christ. I ache to know that I only have 4 more weeks of this...but I'm going to make the most of every second! 

THE #LIGHTtheWORLD VIDEO HAS OFFICIALLY BEEN RELEASED!❤️ hooray! The branch president asked us to go and present the entire Christmas initiative to both the Relief Society and to the Elders Quorum on Sunday and it went very well. We wrapped up tons of Book of Mormons in wrapping paper to hand out to people and we had some of the members take some to hand out as well. Our goal is to flood this area with LIGHT and we are going to do everything in our power to make it happen! If you haven't seen the video yet, you can find it on Mormon.org's Facebook page or in the gospel library app under 'holiday videos'. Please share the videos and participate in the advent calendar that they have as well! That's all I have for this week, love you all!

The Smalls!

Me and Sister Knecht on exchanges 

New hoodie from my mom ❤️

Thanksgiving selfie 📸

One of the Thanksgiving member meals!

Results of the deer...Yes that is the hair😷

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#LIGHTtheWORLD

I am SO EXCITED to write this email!! I'm just going to jump right into it. There's just so much to talk about :) so last Tuesday we had a big long zone conference that lasted 7 hours where we were introduced to the new Christmas initiative that the church is putting out. Not sure if y'all remember, but last year was #ASaviorIsBorn and the one for easter was #Hallelujah. Well, as you can gather from the title of this email, this Christmas of 2016 is #LIGHTtheWORLD!!!

We were taught and trained for 7 hours straight about how we can most effectively share this and blow it up this season. The church is releasing an advent calendar with 25 days and each day has different suggestions of acts of service that reflect the service Christ did while He was on the earth. They will also be releasing different videos every day until the 25th that do the same thing. The whole goal is to get EVERYONE sharing these videos and to also share your experiences as you do the acts of service that each day suggests! I can testify that serving others brings the purest form of joy and i can't wait to feel it all December long :) 

OH, also, December 1st is the kickoff and it's a Worldwide Day of Service. We are all invited to participate in a service opportunity that day! You can find these videos on mormon.org's facebook page OR www.mormon.org/downloads. I would love to hear your experiences!! We have so many ideas of "lighting the world"...it's such a perfect way to close my mission! I remember sitting in zone conference and as soon as all of this was announced, a wave of excitement and love and gratitude and every other emotion that the spirit can bring filled my entire body. I knew for a fact that i was supposed to stay out here through all of December instead of leaving at the beginning which i planned on doing. This is going to be one of the best Christmases ever and i'm just so blessed❤️ 

But before we get to Christmas, we have Thanksgiving this week!!!! Yay!!! So far we have two meals that we've been invited to. So excited!

LEON PASSED HIS BAPTISMAL INTERVIEW!!! He was interviewed yesterday and he was seriously so excited for it. He couldn't wait to make it official and he even has a countdown going that leads to his baptism on Saturday! He also called us today asking if it's allowed for people to take pictures of his baptism so that he can keep them for memories. Unfortunately we can't take pictures of that actual ordinance, but we will be taking pictures of everything before and after :) I'm so excited to see him enter the waters of baptism...ahhh!! 

Ohhhh here's a fun story. So we've been teaching a lady named Claudette for the past little while and she's super nice and sweet and we just love her. About 2 or 3 weeks ago we stopped by and her husband answered the door and told us to go away...okay. Bye. But, of course we kept driving past her house and whenever his truck was gone, we'd go have a lesson with her! This past week we taught her about the Plan of Salvation and right when we finished, her husband walked in the door. Shoot. He walked straight to the kitchen table and started reading a magazine quietly and we ended up going over and introducing ourselves. He said, "umm, what denomination are you from?" And when we told him that we are from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints he seemed so relieved! He thought we were Jehovah Witnesses. 

I offered him a Book of Mormon and he took one...Hooray! Well, it gets worse. Their son called us that night and completely cussed us out for stepping foot on his parents property. He told us to never go over there again or he'll call the police😂 i don't know what people have against us! We simply go around offering joy to people and we get persecuted for it. But, it helps us feel just a little tiny sliver of the persecution that Jesus Christ went through during His time on the earth. I couldn't even imagine it...but that's something i've learned since being out here! When someone opens their door and looks at our name tags and acts on their anger/frustration through yelling or slamming their door, it's not because of me or my companion. They aren't angry at the 20 year old innocent girls on their doorstep. They are pushing their anger at Jesus Christ, the name on our chests. They don't know me enough to hate me like that...so when i receive persecution, it's really aimed toward my Savior and that fills me with so much gratitude and humility. He will go through any fiery furnace for His church and so will I. 

Tonight we are going to a member's house to help them put up their Christmas tree and they're feeding us salmon and shrimp :)) LOVE. I'm so glad people are allowing us to help them put up decorations because that's one of my favorite things to do at home for the holidays! 

Hahaha a few days ago we got into our car to go help a member tie up a blanket at the church and when i turned the car on, the dash said that we had a flat tire. Great. I think this was my 3rd or 4th flat tire on my mission...whyyy. Luckily the church is five minutes away from us so the member's husband was able to come to our rescue and we got it taken care of. Every time something like this happens, the Lord sends someone to help us immediately and we are so grateful! 

This email so scattered and so random but there's just so much going on right now! We are teaching more people than i've taught my whole mission so far and they're all progressing and doing well and it's WONDERFUL. We are being so blessed. That's it for this week!!

❤️, Sister Watson

Zone P-Day today! We had a big thanksgiving feast (my idea💁🏻) 

FIRST SNOW!!

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All of that...for this?

Helloooooo!
We've had ANOTHER wonderful week here in Damariscotta filled with miracles and great experiences! These are seriously the greatest weeks of my mission...we are having so much success and so much fun. Our first miracle this week was with Yvonnet. She was a referral that we received from the missionaries in Bath, Maine (my mission birthplace 😀) a few weeks ago. They talked to her at a grocery store and referred her to us when they found out she lived in our area. Apparently she was SUPER interested and wanted to learn more so the sisters were excited for us to teach her! 

For weeks we tried and tried and tried to get a hold of her but we didn't have any luck. Occasionally we would catch her on the phone and set an appointment but she wouldn't be home when we showed up at her house. Every time we went to her house, nobody was home and we even asked the neighbors if there was a woman named Yvonnet that lived next door and they said yes. For weeks this went on and i was beginning to lose hope with her. Finally, we decided to try one last time a few days ago while we were in her area. She was going to be our last stop for the day since everything was falling through. When we pulled into her little subdivision, a red car pulled in right behind us and Sister MacDonald yelled, "what would you do if this was her behind us??" And believe it or not, that red car followed us all the way to Yvonnet's driveway. We happened to pull up at the EXACT same time as her!!! We were finally able to meet her and set up an appointment with her. Suuuuuch a miracle! Everything lined up in our day AND Yvonnet's day so that we could witness that happening. The Lord is so good :)

We taught Leon twice this week and he's SO excited for baptism! Yesterday after church he asked me how many more lessons he has to have before his big day...he wants it to come so bad! He also said, "even if it's 20 below...i'm still getting baptized." He is progressing so well and it's honestly a testimony builder to me to see someone embracing the joy of the gospel like this. He's soaking it all up and it makes me so happy! The gospel is so wonderful and being able to share it with others....there's nothing better. 

I had my second-to-last interview with President Blair this past week. I'm sure going to miss those :( he asked me about goals i have for myself for the rest of my mission and about how i'm feeling with everything coming to a close soon. NOT COOL PRESIDENT. He talked about how missionaries start slowing down at this point and it scared me to death. I do NOT want to slow down and waste this sacred time! These last 6 weeks are so important and i'm making it a point to be diligent and show President Blair and the Lord that I'm making the most of it. It seems easy to take a step back and be relaxed about everything since home is so close. It seems wonderful to only think about returning to my family and leave my companion to do all the work. That is NOT what I came out here to do. It doesn't matter what month, week, or day i'm at in my mission...I'm going to do all I can to work hard until the bitter end! I decided to set a personal goal with myself to give out a total of 100 Books of Mormon in these last 6 weeks. Whether it's me or Sister MacDonald, we are going to pass out 100 books. There is so much power in this book of scripture and i'm excited to extend it to 100 different children of our Heavenly Father! Wish us luck :)

Yesterday a guy in the Oxford ward (when i lived in Bethel) came and spoke to us in sacrament meeting! He's currently waiting for his mission call and he's just so awesome. He talked about trials and perspective and how important it is to have hope while facing something difficult. He has personally faced a LOT of challenges in his life, but he said it's what made him into who he is today. He quoted someone that gave a speech at a meeting he went to and she talked about the quote, "all of that...for this?" There are times where we put in so much effort and we go through so many hard days to find nothing in return. We wake up and everything is the same and life just continues to be hard, all for nothing. 

NO.

Every trial is personalized and specific for each one of us. We are given the chance to improve and progress even if we don't recognize it-especially when we don't recognize it. We aren't given mountains to climb for no reason or purpose. We are trusted with hard experiences because the Lord knows we can grow from it. We need to change the attitude of "all of that for this". All of the hurt and pain for a better relationship with our Father. All of the tears and trials for a better knowledge of hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We are so loved. 

i love being a missionary. 

have a beautiful week ❤️

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