Livin´ on the East Side of Town... I Mean the Country...

Dear Family

HEY! What a weekend! Just so you know, I LOVE CONFERENCE!!!! It was super inspiring. I loved it. It sounds like you had a fun filled week. That is super cool. Sounds like Dad has a new hobby... uh oh. Should be interesting!!! ;)

Well... this week was really good. We found a really great family! They were members of another church, but due to some circumstance their church sort of fell apart. They are in the process of looking for another church, so we came in at a great time. They are attending another church at the moment, but don´t quite like it. The wife just had an operation so she has lots of time to read... she has read a couple of the pamphlets that we have left and parts of the Book of Mormon. They both really like what they are learning, but I feel the Guaraní language barrier might slow things down with the father. He speaks all right in Spanish and understands most of what we say, but this is a case where we really need the members to come in with their special Guarani skills. I can only get so far with ´How are you?´ and ´How old are you?´ and ´Where do you live?´ hahaha. It´s a fun language but HARD, but I am learning a bit. I have been learning a bit of Portuguese too while I have been here in Ciudad del Este. I am still trying to focus mainly on Spanish though, as it is the language of the mission and will do me the most good here. We are also working with a small family out by a family we recently found and are working with them to progress. It is awesome seeing the people learn about the Gospel and start to change their lives.

I loved conference!! Especially the talks of Elder Packer, Elder Holland, Elder Christofferson and Presidente Uchtdorf´s in the Saturday Afternoon session. I took some good notes, so now it is time to apply what we have learned. Pres. Uchtdorf said in a past conference, "Let us change our ´Do it ´switch to the ´Now´ position" so no time to waste!! I felt that there was a specific urgency when the prophet and the apostles spoke to move forward, look up, wait upòn the Lord and to always have the Spirit to be with us. Doing these things can give us the peace and hope that we need in an ever changing world. I love how our Heavenly Father is constant in an evolving world and so that we can always rely upon Him to protect and to bless us with the inspiration and revelation we need to press forward. These men are really inspired of God and have His authority to be apostles and prophets in these days. It is amazing to see the love of God expressed in the consejos (umm counsels?) that they have given us to apply to our lives to live within the boundaries that God has set up for us. Let us never take ourselves out of these boundaries and expose our weak selves to the temptations and evils of the devil. For I know that man is nothing, but through Him, Jesus Christ, who saved us and died for us, all things are possible. We have the divine ability to exercise our agency to become perfect through repentance and keeping the commandments of God. It is a perfect plan that has no flaws, and if we keep to it, I know that we shall always have the peace and happiness of knowing that God is on our side, and there is no need to fear.

I am so grateful for you guys and everything you do for me! Thank you thank you thank you, and may God bless you!

Love con cariño

Elder David Watson