I know, it's been two weeks.

Asuncion, Paraguay Temple

Hey all!

Sorry about last week. We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off (that is the right phrase in English, I think...) but the temple was awesome. I have noticed that the mission president from Arizona is sending me emails. I already I knew that I had one copy... but two? Ay ay ay!!!

Woo hoo Jacob! He is going to love it! That’s awesome! I am really excited for him! :D

Wow... how to sum up the past two weeks. I have really enjoyed getting to know the people here in Encarnacion. They are pretty awesome. We had two baptisms this past week, two young men Lucas and Victor. It was awesome to see their progress and the changes that have happened in their lives. We are working a ton with the less actives and recent converts here, which is really good because it is awesome to see their excitement and their progression. There is a lot more walking here in Encarnacion, and when it rains, it is a little hard to chug through the mud. It is kind of like cement the way it sticks to your shoes. Haha.

We had a District Conference this past weekend where we learned from Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy, Hermana Jean Stevens (of the General Primary Presidency), and Elders Ballard and Packer from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was amazing to hear how their messages related to the doubts and questions of a family almost exactly to the point. I have really seen how the Spirit works when we teach and I am learning a lot in order to try and follow His promptings in order to teach the needs of every investigator. I love teaching with the Book of Mormon and the Bible... these inspired books have the answers to almost any and every question we have.

Well, I ran out of time. I hope that everything is going well for you all! Thanks for the letters I have received! This is going to be my first real P-Day (sort of) in 3 weeks so I am going to do my best to catch up. I love you all! Take care of yourselves!

Love!!

Elder David Edward Watson

PS. Can you look for Grant Getts address? His letter got returned to me and they put a sticker over his address so I don’t know what it is. Thanks!! :D

I Love My New Area!!

That Way to Encarnacion!

Hi family!

Heyyyyyyy! How is everyone? I am always excited to hear from home. That’s great that Dad finally got back to work! I am sure he was really tired of sitting around all day long. Homecoming week! Oh boy... am I glad I don’t have to worry about THAT anymore. Yay! :D 25 years?!?!?! (Cliff received his 25 year pin last week) Really has it been that much time! Congratulations! How fast did it go by? I am sure at times a little slow, but at other times really fast. I miss those stories from your 911 days... the only one I can remember at the moment is the crazy cat lady who called at midnight about aliens stealing her cats. Something like that... :).

Well, this weekend was rather exciting! I got to meet many of our investigators and members of the branch. The members are so awesome! They treat us like members of the family, which is something a little new for me. They just let us walk in to knock on the door, which is something that does not happen very often here. Everybody claps at the gate. Everybody. It kinda weirded me out the first time Elder Lopez didn’t clap and just walked up to the door. Élder López and I had a really great experience together. One of our investigators was having a lot of doubts about being baptized. A lot. She kept telling us yes, then no, then I’m not sure. But we went to the Lord and made a little questionnaire thingy with questions that we had prayed for. It was awesome to receive the inspiration we needed to help her come closer to our Heavenly Father. The next appointment we talked, handed her the questionnaire and let her fill it out. Afterwards we discussed her answers and why she filled them out the way she did. We felt the Holy Ghost so strongly during the lesson! We testified of what we knew to be true and invited her to follow her heart and the impressions that she had. We also invited her to put her trust in God with the answers that she had already received to her prayers. It was amazing to be able to follow the Spirit and be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. Yeah! We also worked all of Saturday with a recent convert teaching lessons. It was pretty cool!

It hasn’t even been a week and I already love being in this part of Paraguay. We are so busy it’s not even funny. We even have to cut a little bit of our Pday short to be able to teach the people that we have. I wish I had so much more time to tell you everything that goes on! The mission is a once in a lifetime chance to be able to be a servant of the Lord 24/7. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to serve these people and learn who the Lord really wants me to be. Thank you so much for all of your love and support! Also to everyone that has helped me to become who I am today. I am so grateful to be a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ and serve with His authority and power. There is no way I could ever convince anyone to be baptized and join the church, but through the power of the Holy Ghost, the people can learn and recognize the answer from God themselves. I have seen it so many times here and I am sure that almost every missionary can tell you the same thing. I love reading the Book of Mormon and the Holy Bible, the words of Christ that help us become the type of people our Heavenly Father would have us be. I love you all! Take care!

Elder David Watson

Transfer Week - My New Area is Encarnacion

Hey all!

Well, this time I do have news! Big time! I got transferred to Encarnación, 5th Branch to be with Elder López, who has a little bit less time than I do in the mission. It’s beautiful here, like almost every part of Paraguay. It never fails to amaze me how green this place can be. I got welcomed my first night with a big thunderstorm, wind, and some hail too. Well, the Branch President’s wife told us there was hail. The work here is really moving along! We have a lot of help from the members and if I thought everyone was friendly before, man the people here are so much more!! The dirt here is like Utah... really red! The parts of the branch I’ve been to so far are actually pretty nice - it’s not too much out in the middle of nowhere. Almost all the roads are either paved (not too common) or roughly laid with rocks, which is common here in Paraguay. It’s located to the southeast of the city of Encarnación itself. I think it is the closest I will ever be to the other Elder Watson while here in the mission. Our pension is located right outside of a local zoo, and Elder Lopez has told me that they let us in sometimes to help feed the crocodiles. Considering that there were some pet monkeys in my past area, I think that Paraguay is a little bit like a zoo itself. The animals wander around anyway... cows, chickens, ducks, geese, monkeys, snakes, ostriches, scorpions, dogs, cats... hahaha! But it is so awesome! :D. Anyway, Encarnación is a pretty good sized city, one of the biggest outside of Asunción, and I think it is a little smaller than Ciudad del Este. The members are extremely friendly and are pretty awesome. It was hard to say goodbye to my old area, especially to some of the families and to those I helped to be baptized. That is probably the toughest part of the mission, getting to love and care about the people only to leave.

Elder Lopez is from El Salvador, and has been out for 5 months. This is his first area and I am his 3rd companion. He played soccer, almost professionally, before coming out for the mission and is thinking about going to the States to play after. He teaches really well and knows how to help the people. He has a great desire to work and be obedient, and to qualify for the Holy Ghost so that he can be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. He’s 19 also, has 3 brothers and a sister, the oldest served his mission in Guatemala, and his brother is preparing to serve a mission too. I am really looking forward to working with him and learning from him, especially here in Encarnación.

Wow! General Conference! It was AMAZING! I missed the first session, but I had to opportunity to see the rest. The part I remember the best is Presidente Uchtdorf’s message about... in English... Beware of Pride and President Monson’s message about gratitude- Also Elder Kearson’s message about listening to the prophet, Elder Scott’s message, and Elder Eyring’s message. I don’t have my notes and am still a little tired from the long bus ride (7 hours!), so I can’t exactly remember what they were about. However, I loved listening and learning from servants of the Lord. They inspire me to do my best to become the missionary who the Lord wants me to be and to become more like my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Like I said before, being here in Paraguay is 100% amazing. Impressing. Awesome. I love learning from the scriptures and by a living prophet. I know with all of my heart that this is the work of the Lord and it is such a blessing to serve here and teach the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ, or His inspired teachings and lessons that help us to return to live with our Father in Heaven. I am running out of time, so I’ll end this. Thank you SO MUCH for all of your love and support! Take care of yourselves! Chaucito!

Con muchismo cariño,

Elder David Edward Watson