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

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

Short message: Sept 27

Hey everyone!

Well... this week. What can I say? We{ve been really digging down to find old investigators and new investigators to teach. Its been bit of a disaster on our part but these things happen. Not every week can be a great one.. We{ve been starting up a weekly night for recient converts and investigators and that actually has worked well. We{ve had some fun activites with the members. I think it will be a great help for the ward to unify the members and help the recent converts feel more welcomed and involved. Also, we had a service day in the stake. That was a lot of fun. I got to use a machete and everything hacking down weeds. That was before the members were able to find a weed wacker. Boy was I suprised to see one! :). I am pretty sure it was an Regional wide service activity, but unless the other Elder Watson did it, maybe it was just Paraguay. I am not srue there. But I am loving being here in paraguay with every chance that I have to learn.

It wasn{t the letter I promised, but I thought I would have more. Life is great! Hopefully I will have a lot more to talk about the next time I have a chance to write home. Take care of yourselves! I love you! More than I can say!

Con mucho cariño!

Elder David Watson

Joy - Bringing Souls to Christ!

Hola Familia!

How’s everyone? Things are just fine here. It sounds like you’re having a ball! Especially with In-n-Out. Woo hoo! That’s exciting that there are some new families in the ward. I’m sure that they are still getting accustomed to life in Fillmore, but that’s how we all are with change. If there is one thing that is constant in life, it’s change. I’ve sure learned that! But, truthfully, there is another constant in our lives too, and that is our Heavenly Father and His love for us. Just thought I throw that in there to mess with the popular saying. :)

Well... what’s new? Oh! Alejandro was able to go to the temple this weekend! That was exciting! It bummed me out that I couldn’t go with him, but he enjoyed the experience with all of the youth in the ward. I’m glad he was able to go and enjoy the peace and joy that the temple brings in our lives. It’s been so awesome to see him grow and progress. I really am beginning to understand the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants how much joy we can have to see one soul come unto Christ, and how much more we can have if we bring even more souls unto Him. It is a testimony to me to see how the Holy Ghost works in our lives and helps us to come closer to our Heavenly Father. I love being able to learn from the scriptures daily and have the assurance that I can ask my Father in Heaven if these things are true. We can have full faith and trust in Him and put our confidence that He will help us to where He wants us to be.

Also we had the temple president who came to visit us in our ward this Sunday. It was great to hear from him and his wife about their experiences with the temple. He gave a challenge for the ward to visit the temple as often as possible, as we are only about an hour away from it. The youth have plans to go every Thursday and as a ward 2 times per month. It was also great to hear the testimonies of the youth about how going to the temple has strengthened their faith in Jesus Christ and has helped them in their everyday lives.

Well... this is a short letter this week. I just don’t have anything to say today. I promise to write a better letter next week. I hope everything is going well for everyone! Have an AMAZING week!

Love you!

Elder David Watson