I love Teaching Families

Hola familia!

Hey! How’s it going? Sounds like you had an awesome week! I only remembered about thanksgiving because one of the members who served a mission in Uruguay asked me if the day of thanks had gone by. Oops... hahaha. Different culture, what can I say? ;) Wow!?! Bret Tomas got his Eagle Scout? Awesome! I’m sure it was great to catch up with the people back in Burbank… Too cool. That would have been fun to go to. Also it would have been fun to see that family madness of Thanksgiving.

Weelllll, this week went good. I am really excited that we are teaching a few families. For me it’s a whole lot better to teach a family and see them progress and make changes in their life and see the blessings that come from living the Gospel. For the most part we are really trying to find less actives and help them come back to church. We have had some success and it’s great to see more people come to where they belong. Sometimes all it takes is in invitation, be it from a member or a missionary. Some of the members went to visit people last Sunday and this Sunday some of those people came back. With all of the work that I have done with less actives, many times they still know that the church is true and have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It’s just that something happened, they stopped going to church, and many times are nervous that if they go back someone will ask why they haven’t been coming. We can show our love to them and they will feel the spirit and receive the blessings of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well I have run out of things to say today. I am really thankful for everything that you do for me. I can never thank you enough for your love and support in what I do. I hope that life is going great for you! Take care of yourselves. LOVE YOU! Chau!


Elder David Watson

Thunderstorms!

Elder Watson & Elder Lamb

Hola!

Wow time flies. It feels like I was just here. It’s always great to hear from y’all and how your week has gone by. That’s awesome to hear about Dad’s progression. I bet he is really excited about being able to walk barefoot and the prospect of walking without pain again. Modern medicine really is such a blessing in our day. But what is more awesome are the blessings we receive from our Heavenly Father. Family, work, friends, inspiration, the scriptures, prayer... there are countless things that He has blessed us with. I love it! :)

Well things are going pretty good here in Encarnacion. It has been getting hotter and hotter, and really a new experience with the humidity. And they tell me it’s just the beginning. Woo hoo! Haha. It rained pretty good this weekend, lots of thunderstorms. I love thunderstorms! They are just amazing. We are going through a little bit of a rough time with the branch, but it is awesome to see the members and how they want to help the others come back and receive the blessings of our loving Heavenly Father. We are working a lot with the less actives because there are so many. It’s great to see the enthusiasm that the people have to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The hour is just about up, so I gotta go. I love you all and thank you so much for all of your love and support. I finally found a Correo Paraguayo so I will be able to send off some letters. Por fin! Haha. Love you!!!!!!!!!!
Con cariño

Elder David Watson

Changes Came and Went, We are Still the Same.

Hola!

How are you? Everything good? I hope so! 23 cakes? Mom, I thought that you were 21?!?!? Something’s not right... and I thought I was majoring in math... ;). That is awesome to hear that Brother Freeman got called to the high council and that Brother Conaway is working with the bishopric! Changes are always exciting and the Lord always makes them with many reasons in mind. I always thought that when I was called to be an assistant financial clerk at BYU that somehow I wasn’t as good as some of the others who were called as Elders Quorum President or something “higher”, but I realized that I learned many things that the people here in Paraguay needed. Maybe I thought before that I wasn’t as good, but really the Lord had something different in mind. Not to mention to lower my pride... hahaha. Humility is something hard to have... :).

Anyway, things are going good. I am feeling better... it took me almost the whole week to get better, but better I did get. Whew. Our district was not affected by any changes except for our District Leader, who is my old Zone Leader Elder Rodriguez. He’s is pretty awesome. :)  I am still here in Encarnacion, more specifically Curumbaty (I think that is how you spell it), with Elder Lamb as my companion. Life is going pretty great. I love being a missionary and learning what it’s like to learn from the Holy Ghost. Reading the scriptures everyday has been so awesome for me. Then when we are teaching and I get to use the scriptures that I studied that morning with the people we are teaching, it is amazing. The Lord knows what the people need, and as His servants, we are guided to study and prepare for the needs of every person so that they can come even closer to Christ. I don’t have any exciting stories to tell, just the red dust on my shoes from walking and talking with the people of Paraguay. It really is amazing to see how the Lord has prepared everything but still lets us make our choices to see if we will be obedient to His commandments and qualify for the blessing He has for us.

Well, I have run out of time. I love you all! I will try to write more next week! Chaucito! LES AMO!

Elder David Watson

New Companion - Elder Lamb

Hey all!

This week was rather interesting... we had a special change on Monday and now Elder Lamb is my new companion. He is from Alaska and has been in the mission for a year and 3 months. We have been trying to get to know the area and the members because we are both rather new. But it’s alright! We are teaching a lot of families, which is awesome, and doing the best we can with the little knowledge we have about the area. We have zone conference this week on Thursday with President Foster from the Area Presidency. IT should be really good. I am looking forward to learning how to be a better teacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope you all will forgive me for my short letter. I am not feeling really well today. Changes are next week so I won’t have the chance to write again until next Thursday. I will probably be here in Encarnacion with Elder Lamb since we are both pretty new here. Thank you so much for everything! I love you!

Elder David Watson

No Halloween in Paraguay

Hey all!

Halloween? Doesn’t exist here. It’s was funny to see people’s reactions when I told them that little kids go door to door asking for candy. They were shocked! They asked me if the parents were worried about their kids going out and about at night and asking strangers for candy. I told them, yeah, but that’s the custom in the states. Even I thought it was a little weird looking back... hahaha. :D.

This week went pretty well. We have found some good families to teach. It’s been a lot easier to find people to teach here than in my other areas. I don’t know how that works... Life is just really good as a missionary. I have realized how different life is not being a missionary. Time really is precious and the way I used it before maybe wasn’t the best. I think I have learned more in my time here about how the Lord would have us live our lives and become better people in this short amount of time than all of my life before the mission. When we dedicate ourselves to the scriptures, even for a little bit of time every day, we find countless ways to come closer to our Savior. There really is a peace and happiness that we can find. Everyone is searching for something in their lives, and sometimes it takes a while to find it. But through prayer to our Heavenly Father, the scriptures, and living our lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ, we will find it. Sometimes we find out what we thought we really wanted wasn’t all that important, and we find something that actually benefits our lives. I sure imagined a lot of things were really important before, but in reality, nothing is as important as our families. Families help us learn and grow, and when we come closer as a family to the teachings of our Savior and one another, there is a firm foundation to withstand every trial that we face, and every hard time that we go through.

Well, I am about out of time. I’m working on those letters! I love you all! Take care of yourselves!! Chaucito!

Con mucho cariño,

Elder David E. Watson

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