Pictures from SLC East Mission

Alex's email was short this week but he did send the following pictures:

This was taken in the MTC after his district had been re-assigned and he didn't know where he was going. 

Elder's Ramirez and Watts

Riding the bike!

Salt Lake City Mission!! Crazy!!!

Dear Family

Holy cow!!  Where to start?!?!  How are you guys?!  It is so good to get your emails and hear from all of you!  So I am serving in South Salt Lake and my area is like 200 East to 700 East and  from 2100 to 3300 South.  Pretty crazy but I love it!!  Yes, it really is the hood.  It is a scary place but so amazing at the same time.  My Trainer/Comp is Elder Ramirez!  He is from Santa Ana, California.  He honestly is so sweet!!  We get along so well and have a ton of fun!  The area we were assigned to was white washed!  Literally no info or anything good in the area books.  So we started basically from scratch.  The First day I got to Salt Lake we went down to Temple Square and did Extreme Contacting.  Every companionship in the district did it and whoever gave out the most Book of Mormons and pamphlets and cards won.  We got back really late and didn't even add up scores but it was so cool!!  We talked to some incredible people and their stories are unbelievable.  

We have met a lot of other people and have been teaching like crazy!  The first few days we were on foot and then we got bikes!!  haha it is so fun!!  My comp is kinda clueless on how to fix bikes and his bkie is always breaking.  He has run over a few nails so I have fixed his bike 5 times. We are back on foot cause the bikes aren’t' working too well.  Like really??  I am in Salt Lake City!  Crazy!  But it doesn't feel like it! The culture here is so different.  We are assigned to 5 different wards/branches - The Napoli ward, Spanish branch, Korean branch and English wards. So a lot of different Cultures here for sure!!  I really love it!!  My comp is fluent in Spanish and I understand some so we do a lot of teaching in Spanish!

         One experience I wanted to share with you happened when we were given a referral in an apartment complex.  We went to visit this guy and he didn't answer.  We were almost done for the day but I had a strong impression to just knock some doors.  We knocked a few and nothing.  The last door we knocked was a girl name Nadia.  She is 15, her dad is Islamic and lives in Portland and her mom is a less active member of the church.  We have been teaching her and things are going really well!!  At the start of our discussion she said she wanted nothing to do with religion and wasn't interested but now we are teaching her and working towards baptism.  Yes, she was our first lesson and my first time asking someone to be baptized.  It was so powerful!!  The way the lord works is unbelievable.  

We have another investigator named Ralph. He is 63 and black as black gets. He is from New Orleans.  I honestly love him so much.  We have a baptismal date set for Sept. 28th!  He said he would get baptized if god tells him that it is the right thing to do.  So pray for him and Nadia!  It is so cool for someone to have a prayer answered or to read the BoM and receive feelings of the spirit.  But yeah, the mission is serious stuff...  We are teaching a lot of investigators and really working on helping Less Active members get back to church.  We had to speak in church yesterday! haha  I hope it went well.  I had a couple hours to prepare a 20 minute talk. That’s what the mission is about I guess right?!  If guys are planning on going to general conference... Maybe don't.. I am bringing a couple investigators to the Saturday and Sunday session... It is up to you..

Here is my mission office address:

3487 S. 1300 E. 

Salt Lake City UT. 84106 

I really am doing soo good!!  I thought I would die here but I am loving it and just working really hard.  God has a plan for me here and I just need to work hard and find people that no one else would have found.  The church is true!  Joseph Smith restored the One and only true church to this earth.  God is our Loving Heavenly Father and cares for each and every one of us.  I love you all and will talk to you next week!!!

Love, Elder Watts

Serving close to Home!

Alex found out over the weekend that he is being temporarily reassigned to the SLC East Mission.  He said he would be taking Front Runner to his new mission.  He wasn't kidding.  Below is a picture we received today taken at a Front Runner station with his new Mission President.  We don't know how long he will be in this mission and won't hear from him until Monday, his P-Day.