Missionary Poem Author Unknown

The alarm rings at 6:00. I stumble to my feet
grab my companion's bedding and pull off his sheet
A groan fills the room, is it already time to rise?
It seems like just a second ago I was able to shut my eyes

The morning activities follow – study, prayer, and such
When it's time to leave the apartment, you feel you haven't accomplished much.
“We have a super day planned,” my comp says with a grin
I lowly utter a faithless breath. “Yeah, if anyone lets us in.”

With the word of God and my faithful Schwinn, we ride off in the street
Prepared to face another day of humidity and heat.
It's 9:30 in the evening, the day is almost through;
My companion and I are riding home, not accomplishing what we thought to do.

We ride up to the mailbox, hoping to receive a lot.
Only to look inside and hear my echo reverberate “Air Box.”
We go up into our apartment, the day is now complete
The only thing to show for our work is a case of blistered feet.

It's past 10:30 pm., my companions fast asleep
Silence engulfs me all about and I begin to weep
In the midst of all the sadness I kneel down to pray;
I need to talk to Father, but I'm not sure what to say.

l”Oh, Father,” I begin, “What happened to us today?
I thought we'd teach somebody, but everyone was away.
My hands, my aching hands-worn, hurt and beat,
If our area was any smaller, we'd knocked down every street.”

“Why on missions are the days so much a like?
The only difference about today was the flat tire on my bike.
Will you send some cooler weather? The heat is killing me.
I sweat so bad, it gets in my eyes, it's very hard to see.”

“Why do I have to wear a helmet, isn't your protection enough?
People always laugh at me and call me stupid stuff.
Please send us investigators so I may give them what they lack;
I want to give them Books of Mormon, the weight of them hurts my back.”

“And what about my family? They don't have much to say,
I'm sick of not hearing from home, day after day after day.
Oh Father, why am I here, am I just wasting time?
Sometimes I just want to go home, I'm sorry but that's on my mind.”

“My companion, Heavenly Father, what are you giving me?
The way he rides his bike, I don't think he can see.
Now you have it, I can't go on, I don't know what to do;
That my Father in Heaven, is the prayer I have for you.”

My prayer now finished I stand up, then jump into bed
I need my rest for tomorrow; we have another long day ahead.
Sleep starts to overtake me, I seem to drift away
Then it seems a vision takes me to another time and another day.

I'm standing alone on the hill the view is very nice-
A man walks toward me and says, “My name is Jesus Christ”
Tears of joy well up inside, I fall down to my fee.
“Arise,” he states, “Follow me to the shade-you and I need to speak”

My attention's toward the savior, total and complete.
He says, “Your mission is similar of what happened to me,
I understand how you feel, I know what your going through;
In fact, it would be fair to say I've felt the same as you.”

“I understand you don't like swearing, in fact it's something you hate,
I remember when I sweat blood from every pore, oh the agony was great!
I see you don't like your companion-you'd rather have someone else-
I once had a companion named Judas who sold my life for wealth.”

“It's hard to wear a helmet and have people make fun of you.
I remember when they put thorns on my head and called me King of the Jews.
So you feel burdened down by the weight of your pack.
I recall how heavy the cross was when they slammed it on my back.”

“Your hands hurt from tracting and knocking on doors all day.
I guess when they pounded nails in mine, they ached in a similar way.
It's hard not to hear from home when your family's not there to see.
I lost communication on the cross and cried, “Father, why hast though forsaken me?”

“We have a lot in common, but there's a difference between us you see,
I endured to the end and finished my mission, so follow and do like me.”
He embraced me with his arms, His light filled me with his love,
With tears in my eyes, I watched as he went back to the Father above.

I stood with awe and wonder when a beep rang in my head,
I listened and heard the alarm, then realized I was in my bed.
My companion let out a groan, “6:00 already. Now way!”
I sat up and said, “Come on, I'll even carry your scriptures today!”

No matter what we go through, when we feel we can't take more
Just stop to think about Jesus Christ, He's been there before!

baptism

Hey, Well that stupid storm missed us completely. I'm way bummed, missionaries wanted it here whole mission and I almost seen it first transfer. Well here is my memory card. It has a bunch on it. Send me some good ones. We have been working a lot. Honestly, knocking door to door isn't my favorite. There are a lot who slam the door on me. We have one person lately who is doing awesome. We are talking about baptising her quick. Well I don't know what else to say so talk to you later.

Elder Watson

Alex,
Hey Happy birthday. Sorry I didn't get a card. Every time I go shopping I always space it. Well anyways I'm in Florida. It is really hot and nobody has normal teeth. I sleep on the couch because there are only two beds and 3 missionaries in this apartment. My bike is nice. I don't ride it though. I eat crappy food because I'm broke but other than that it's nice here. Talk to you later.
Elder Watson

MTC Pictures

Monday 25, Aug 2008

That's cool who all have you been hanging out with. Are you talking Ben Noury, has dad rode his hog? That's cool. Did Jed give Chantal a blessing for school? Well I'm gonna try to send my card in the mail here shortly. I have a paper init explaining some of the pictures. I marked ones I would like. I'm gonna start working out and eating healthy so i can be ripped when I come home. I'm already just as strong as the missionary's that I'm serving with and they been working a year or two. Mike emailed me and said he was gonna come down here personally and beat me if i ever scare him with another hurricane. Well I'll talk to you later.

Hey, whats happenin. So I heard you been fencing. Where did you put a fence up??? You been hanging with Ben a lot, that's cool. I started working out. I'm hoping on getting my weight to 185 then start building muscle. I'm sending home my card today so it should be there in a few days. Your car started pinging? What happened? Well we have to start knocking on doors more often now so we can find more people to teach. Well I'll talk to you later

Letters to Home

Hey mom, Whats happening just to let you know there is a tropical storm maybe a hurricane coming our way but the mission president is all over it so don't worry we had a baptism on Saturday it was awesome well ill email you later this week ok

Hey tell mom I'm gonna be fine. The mission Pres knows what he is doing. We have 72 hour kits/water we are taken care of. The members in the ward have been through these a bunch so they got our backs too. There gonna let us know today whats going on. if you look at a map of Florida St Petersburg in a little peninsula on the west coast towards the north so it has a little ways to go. Well have fun ill ttyl

Hey, the storm never even made it to St Pete. I'm fine! President told me you called. We are fine and now we are back to work. This whole thing was anti climatic, we prepared for nothing but its cool well I'll ttyl

The temple is awesome huh? Its one of my favorite places. Dont worry about me, if anything drastic goes on I'm sure President Colton will get in contact with you . I've got the pictures you sent me. bey

Fay Update

Sorry no time, this is my time to let everyone know the storm missed us and that I'm fine.

Elder Watson

Short email....

They are getting ready for a hurricane.
Wanted to make sure that his family doesn't worry about him. He said: I'll be fine. The mission Pres knows what he is doing. Well I'll ttyl

Side note: We all know that he will be fine. Keep him in your prayers.
Ether 12: 6

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

Letter from his Mission President

Letters to home ~

Hey, I'm doing good. The flight was long it was just under 5 hours. I'm in St Petersburg in a town called Seminal. The missionary life is crazy, we go from morning until night. I get to email Monday mornings it's nice and hot here. You thought I sweated allot there. My bike is pretty cool, I don't ride it though cause we are in a car. Good luck on all the stuff your working on.
Love ya,
Elder Watson

Awesome I read every day. Of course you can use my guns, just take care of them, but you know that. Monday is my prep day so I will usually be emailing on Monday. My bike is nice, I haven't needed to ride it yet. The area I'm in is full car area I'm in St Petersburg in a town called Seminal. There are some cool people. The ward members are nice they take pretty good care of us. It's crazy I have 140 dollars to take care of me for the month. I have to remember all the cheap foods to make. I bought a bag of egg noodles. This is defiantly gonna be a good experience. A good chapter to read in the book of Mormon is Alma 32 well love ya tell everyone one I can email any one . alright ttyl Elder Watson

Hey guess what I can email. I can email anyone as long as I email family first. So I made it to Florida I'm in Saint Petersburg in a town called Seminal. Its a nice area I'm just off Madeira beach. My dad emailed me and put d&c 4 in his letter. My mom said that he is reading like a mad man. I'm gonna be sending my memory card shortly it has tons of pictures on it . Pass my email on. Well Ill talk to you later
Elder Watson

Leaving the MTC

Justin left the MTC this morning @ 6 AM. He is now in route to Tampa Florida.