Happy Easter!

Hola!

Hey all! How are you? Is everything great! I love you all just so you know! I enjoyed this past weekend as we had our District Conference in Itá. It was quite a ride (almost 2 hours...) but we were able to have about 20 members who came with us. The temple president came and also our mission president. It was quite spiritual. The local leaders gave excellent talks as well as President Udall (temple) and President Callan! I learned so much! It fortified my testimony that blessings really do come when we are obedient! Blessings come when we are obedient to a principle of the gospel (Doctrine and Covenants 130). I have been able to renew my knowledge that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ. That Christ is our Savior. That He lives, loves us, and only wants the best for us. He gives us situations to learn, grow, and to come closer unto Him. He is knocking on the door, but who will let him in? Who will say ´I believe it is Him´ but not open the door? Who will pretend to open the door? And who will put their faith to work and open the door and realize the blessings that are waiting to come into their lives? The door is this - baptism. Baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This authority and power of God was restored to the earth. We have prophets. The key to know is the Book of Mormon. It has a power in and of itself that no other book has. Try it and love it!

I am out of time today! SORRY! The cyber wasn´t open this morning. GOTTA GOOO!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!

Chau!

Elder David Watson

Grabbing a Bull by the Horn!

Dear family!

That´s great to hear how the family is doing!!! That 15-minute thing sounds like it would be really interesting. Yeah! Go Sean! That´s... next week, right? That´s awesome!! There will be 4 from the stake (or more?) here in South America!! Gotta love it!

This week was awesome! It is still REALLY hot here... It is starting to get colder with the storms, but I am still sweating like crazy! We had another baptism this week, of Mirta Ramos, who is a deaf mute! It was fun teaching her with pictures and images, but the best was seeing her smile after the baptism and the confirmation. So cool! We have been working trying to find new people to teach! It´s a little hard in a town so small, but everyday something happens to help us push forward the work. Funny story... last Monday I got my hair cut... but it came it bad!!! It kinda looks like I stuck a bowl on my head and started going at it! But it was only 5000 guarani, or about $1.25. So it´s all right!! José was ordained to the priesthood yesterday, and I got to do it! We were expecting the branch president to do it, but he told me to. I had to read a little bit of the missionary handbook, but I think I got it right! It´s hard in another language!! But it´s all good! We actually held a priesthood meeting in Church on Sunday; that was pretty cool too! There is a lot of progress, just little by little until we reach the perfection! Every day I know more of a surety that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Thomas S. Monson is God´s prophet today! I am out of time for today! I LOVE YOU ALL! PRAY! READ! GO TO CHURCH! LOVE IT! :D

Chau!!

Elder David Watson

We Have Finally Fallen Back...

Dear Family

WOW!! What a week! It was so cool! There were some little problems, like a dead cell phone 1 hour away from everything, trying to find a judge to perform a marriage, having enough witnesses for a baptism, but in the end - BAPTISM! It was so cool because I got to do it in a river! It was so awesome! A little cold too! But besides that, everything was pretty good.

We have finally fallen back an hour, but now that means it gets darker even EARLIER! Like at 6 right now... so in June and July it’ll be around 5. Makes things a little tougher for the mission work but that’s all right! We are starting to find a few families here in Acahay! The work here is a mix of working with the members and building their faith and testimonies and finding new members. It makes the work interesting because we can’t just focus on investigators. But the more we work to strengthen the branch, the easier it will be to bring investigators to church and help them have spiritual experiences that help them grow closer to Christ and receive the revelation that they need to know that this is the only and true Church of Jesus Christ.

We have another baptism this week too! She is a deaf mute that lives with a member family and we taught her using pictures and posters! It was really interesting and hard, but it’s worth it. I am sure it’s still going to be important to keep teaching and reinforcing what we have taught, but she really wants to be baptized. So we are going to keep working with her and the family so that they keep growing spiritually and have an unbreakable testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got. Thanks for all the letters I have been getting - I am working on writing back! I have about 3 letters written but no way to send them yet. So they will be going out pretty soon once I find a way. Love you all! Keep praying! Reading the scriptures! Going to church! How else can we follow Jesus unless we are willing to keep the commandments of the Father?! I know repentance is real and that there is always a way back. It just might be hard sometimes. Pero, SI SE PUEDE! You can do it! I love you all! Take care of yourselves! Keep pressing forward the in the faith!

CHAU!

Elder David Watson

Conference was GREAT!

Dear Family!

Just like to start off with WOW! What a weekend! Loved it! I truly enjoyed all 5 sessions of conference (Even Priesthood, but man I was tired after! Way past my bedtime!) It was truly inspirational and just solidifies my testimony of the truthfulness of the message I share with everyone! I’ll get back to it later!

That’s great to hear that you had a quiet week. I’m sure running around all the time gets pretty tiring and as a youth we ran you around ragged. Hehe.

I did understand Flat Stanley and that is actually pretty cute! I am sure he is going to love it. Wow!

Brian is already going on the mission? WOW! Way to go Sean! Send my congratulations and support! The mission isn’t easy but it is SO worth it! I’m excited for them! It’s too bad I can’t give them a huge hug!

Why in the world did Dad scan those pictures? Oh speaking of old hairdos, in between conference on Sunday I got the chance to watch a bit and saw some of the old church videos from the 70’s and 80’s. It was fun! Also, I saw people from BYU that I knew! The first was Cecilia M. Peek, my professor of Classics! The next was Justin Su’a, who played baseball for the Y and was one of my baseball camp ‘coaches’ while he played there a few years back. It was fun to see him in his role as institute and religion professor (I think! I could be wrong about his title). I also recognized several of the other professor’s names, like Brothers Ludlow and Brown. It was kinda cool but weird! I was thinking... HEY! I know those people!! Cool! Hahaha...

The past week went by without any huge events other than traveling to Asuncion for interviews with President Callan. We’ve been working hard trying to find the people who the Lord has prepared here in Acahay. It’s just a little tough sometimes to find them, but with the Lord’s help, we will do it!

General conference was just so inspiring! I loved it! I went crazy taking notes! I had the opportunity to listen to all but one the sessions in English, which made it so much more powerful! Every session had powerful messages! I can’t believe I didn’t pay as much attention before! It’s a storehouse of wisdom, knowledge and counsel!!!! It’s so awesome! I really enjoyed the talks of the apostles and first presidency, especially Elder Scott, President Eyring, President Monson, President Uchtdorf. Elder Holland, Elder Dallin H Oaks, Elder Packer, and Elder Perry, and Elder Christofferson. Not in any particular order. I just loved it! They talked about tithing (have faith and do it right away!), Sabbath day observance (all day long), diligence (through trials and difficult times), dignity (not cafeteria choosing!), marriage (it was a popular topic that did catch my attention too...), priesthood power (living below our privileges and abilities), and testimonies (Elder Samuelson Jr). Also, how you CAN’T have it your way in this life if we want to live with our Heavenly Father, the only way is HIS way. Elder Scott’s message was really touching as he talked about his family and past... He just has so much love towards them! This is just off the top of my head so I can’t be too specific. I’d love to but than it would turn into a report... hahaha. I am so excited to be able use all of these to help the people here in Paraguay! Purete! Awesome!

We have a baptism and marriage coming up this week, and it will be in the river! It’s going to be AWESOME. Yeah! I’m pumped! :)

I do hope that everyone enjoyed conference as much as I did! I found it truly inspiring! I pray that everyone does feel the love of the Lord in their lives as He guides us according to His will and how much we let him. I testify that He will guide us in all that we let him and if we have sufficient faith and ask for His help and do EVERYTHING we can. I love you all! Take care of yourselves! CHAU!

LOVE YOU!

Elder David Watson

Getting to know our new area!

Hola Familia!

Hey! So Papa went up to Utah? That´s a pretty far transfer... hahaha. Sounds like you all had a fun week! I´m glad we got you out of jury duty! All the better you have sons serving a mission... ;). Haha. So life is going pretty good! That´s always good to hear!

The work here in Acahay is sure going to be interesting! There are only about 100 members here... that the members have told us. We have 28 people in church on Sunday, which is about a third! That´s pretty good! We have a baptism set for the 9th. The couple are going to get married and then he is going to be baptized. We have another girl of a less active family with a baptismal date, so we are working with that family. It´s just a little hard because there are hardly any men who are members here. The only one that I know lives an hour and a half walking from the church building, and he is a recent convert. I´ve only met him at church, so we will try to go find his house! Our Branch President lives in Paraguari, which is an hour in a bus, but he is willing to come out with us to make visits. Almost all of the members I know are from a single family, the Machuca family. The grandma is a member, almost all of her daughters and sons, and then her nieces and nephews are members. I think if all of them who are members went to church we´d have like 50 people at church. It´s a big family. Really big. Elder Griffin and I are starting to get to know the area. It´s always a process getting used to a new companion and a different way of teaching, but it´s all good. Todo tranquilo. There are a ton of fruits here, oranges, limes, and grapefruit, so we are going to do our best to make lots and lots of juice. Hahaha. Acahay is a lot like Piru, I guess. Everyone seems to be related to everyone else or at least know them or have heard of them. It´s bigger than Piru, but other than that... just like it. Now I know what the missionaries feel like going out to Piru to go teach, but at least they´ve got a car. ;). Also... it seems like it is going to be necessary to learn Guarani here... fun!

I know this is the work of the Lord and that there is a purpose in EVERYTHING. We just gotta find out what it is and do our best! Love you all! Mean it! Let´s do lunch! Take care of yourselves! Keep up all the good work and keep going strong! Love ya!

Chau!

Elder David Watson

New Companion, New Area: Elder Griffin, Acahay, Ita, Paraguay

Hey family!

That’s great to hear everything is good in the neighborhood! I’ve got a lot of news, so I will start NOW.

Transfers - yes? no? Maybe so? Well, yes! I am now out of Encarnación, and in an area called Acahay. It was closed for a while (I don’t know how long) but now we are back! My new companion is Elder Griffin from South Jordan Utah. He has 9 months in the mission and we are both completely new to this area. It was a fun first day just trying to find the house. First of all, Acahay is somewhere outside of Itá towards Paraguarí and it’s just a little town by itself in the middle of the jungle. Well, not the jungle, but there are a ton of trees and fields! So we got off the bus when we got to Acahay (we found it!) and we were just there on the highway with our stuff. The directions weren’t so awesome, and no one knew where the Mormons had lived before. So we spent some time wandering around with a frustrated ‘taxi’ driver and about after an hour of going in circles we found it. The house in and of itself needs a little work. We had to ask the missionaries from Paraguari to give us some numbers of the members here and then try to go and explore and find them. That wasn’t TOO hard, but it was fun exploring everywhere! One of the member’s sons took us around meeting members. We met about 5 or 6 families; the hard part is remembering where they all live. Haha. We talked with a part-member family, whose husband (not married technically YET) had gone to church twice. We arrived, chatted for a second, asked if he wanted to be baptized, and married, to all he said yes! So we know have a baptism for the 9th, with their daughter of 8 years. We met another less active family, where the daughter isn’t baptized, and aren’t married, so another marriage and baptism! And the young woman who works with them (20ish) wants to be baptized; the only thing is she doesn’t speak! So we are going to have to learn to teach in signs, because she doesn’t read either. So it will be a fun experience! :) One day in our new area and four people have told us that they want to be baptized! How cool is that!! This area is AWESOME, but it was hard to find a place to do internet, there isn’t a lot of stores and we had to find an “O ring” for our oven so we could cook. I have no idea what an “O ring” is in Spanish, but after about 15 minutes they understood... hahaha. All I can say is that this place is small, out of the way, but we are going to be baptizing! And IN A RIVER!!!! YEAH! That’s going to be SWEET! I am so pumped! Yeah! This place is so ready! We just have to find out where we are... hahahhaa. The church is true! The Book of Mormon is the word of God! LOVE IT!

Anyway, time is up. Hope you love the pictures. LOVE YOU! CHAU!

Elder David Watson

More Than a Year Out in the Field... Wow!

Hey family!

Well, I missed hearing from you guys this week. I’ll just get to read 2 letters next week I guess. ;). I am sure everything is going great! :)

This week was pretty good! We had a baptism on Saturday! At the same time one of the member’s daughters turned 8 that same day so we had a double baptism. Everything turned out really well! I was surprised that something DIDN’T go wrong. Elder Hatch baptized her (his first!!) and did a great job. Count your many blessings, huh? I just might beat Murphy’s Law... just maybe... hahaha. We had another cool experience that happened too! Well, more than one. The first is that we were tracting and after contacting a house, a little boy came up to us and said that his dad was home. So we went, and we found out that the man had been investigating the church almost a year ago, but he had moved to our area and lost contact with the missionaries. He’s really intelligent, and he learned to read by reading the Bible. Just a cool fact. Another contact we made in the street was really similar. He was walking with his little daughter, and he asked us, do you speak Spanish? We talked for a second and he told us that he had gone to church once, about 3 years ago, but had to move from the Chaco (Northern Paraguay) to our area where we found him. We are pretty excited to go back and teach him. Life is just great as a missionary! I am learning so much everyday! I am really beginning to understand the kind of love that the Savior has towards us. Something I really have learned is the power and responsibility we have been given with our right to choose. It is so hard to see someone make a wrong decision, but you know that you can’t make the decision for them. In many cases they won’t let you either. But to see someone make the right decision? WOW! How happy you are!! It’s just incredible! There is no way to describe it! It’s so amazing to see the changes someone makes in their life in accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Sunday School they talked about the parable of the Sower and HOW TRUE IT IS!!! Personally, as someone working for the Lord, I have seen every type of seed. It doesn’t make you angry to see a seed that hasn’t grown, rather just sad and disappointed. I have no control in making the seed grow, but I can help create the environment necessary to help it grow. But even with the perfect environment, some seeds still don’t grow. It’s a lesson I am still learning in helping all of God’s children feel His love that He has towards them and showing them the way to receive the fullness of that love. It’s called BAPTISM! Yeah! :)

Anyway, I love you all! I hope life is treating you well. Take care of yourselves. You are in my prayers. Saludos a todos! LES QUIERO! LOVE YA!!!

Chau!

Elder David Watson