Ironing Out the Soul

Hermana Castillo and I had a pretty fun week.  After visiting the Cataratas de Iguazú last Monday, we had the opportunity to do divisions with the lovely hermanas of Iguazú, Hermana Marvian (Las Vegas, NV) and Hermana Gonzalez (Chiapas, MEX). Hermana Castillo stayed in Iguazú with Hermana Marvian, and Hermana Gonzalez accompanied me back to Eldorado. We had fun searching for a less-active member who was baptized three years ago. Cool story about him: a while back, our friend Mirta, a recently returned missionary, accompanied us. We taught a young man who said ​"Oh yeah, one of my friends is Mormon. His name is Emmanuel." Mirta recognized the name and later commented to me, "I was thinking about Emmanuel recently. I remember accompanying the missionaries to his lessons before he was baptized, and they were always really spiritual. I wonder what happened to him." That night as we rode the bus back to the pension (still with Mirta), who should happen to board the bus? None other than Emmanuel - surely inspired timing! For various reasons, we hadn't been able to find him until this last week, but we found him and visited with him and his mother and they are wonderful people. Pray that he will come back to church and that she will get baptized!

As a spiritual thought today, I would like to share a quote from one of my biggest heroes:

"I feel like the temple helps me iron out my soul, helps all the angst of life, all the conflictive emotions, settle down a bit." -Karl Watts

After divisions, Hermana Castillo and I had the opportunity to do some service for a friendly woman we met. She had a pile of laundry that needed to be ironed and folded before her son came to visit from college the next day, so we stopped by and spent about two hours ironing and folding clothes and chatting with our new friend. I thought about what my dad had shared with me. It's been a long time since I have had the opportunity to go to the temple, and I expect to have a long time remaining before I can return, but I have found various substitutes for the peace the temple brings. Principle among them are paryer and service. So as I ironed clothes, in some degree I was working to iron out my soul, to smooth out the wrinkles of sin and weakness and pain and frustration.

This gospel has the cure for every heartache, every illness, every illness, that is part of this mortal journey. May we all feel of the peace that comes from abiding by its principles!

Love,
Hermana Watts

A Wonder of the World

​Not much time this week, so . . . pictures!! Guess where we spent our p-day :)

GORGEOUS!!!  They say the Lord's voice is like the "rushing of many waters" - you can definitely sense the majesty and wonder of that description at the falls.

(This is Iguazú Falls - one of the world’s seven natural wonders)

One more story . . .

(This last video was intended for me, but it was so cute, I thought I'd share. ~ Krista)

In Tune

One day this week, when we left the pension, I had a headache.  It was just a dull ache, easy to ignore, but I was not excited about having to walk around in the hot sun.

Our plan was to find a family that had been taught by the missionaries some two years ago.  We found their teaching record in our Area Book: three boys, ages 19, 15, and 14 (at that time), who had been ready for baptism.  The last entry in the teaching record describes how the missionaries went to give them the baptism interview, but the mother didn't want her sons to get baptized in this church.  Beyond that, we didn't have much information.  The only address written was "Two blocks past the Crizantes family," with the name of the street.  (Although I suppose that's a step up from "around the corner by the mango tree.")

With my head aching, we boarded the bus.  When we got off, I got confused and went down the wrong street, and we ended up several blocks past the street we needed to get to.

Then it began to rain.

The rain caught us completely by surprise.  We had nothing - no raincoats, umbrellas, nothing!  We walked down one muddy street after another, trying to make our way back to the correct street.  Every house we passed looked uninviting; there was nowhere to take shelter from the storm.

I paused to rest under a tree, which offered some protection from the downpour.  I said to my companion, "I don't know what we should do.  We don't know where this family lives or how we are going to find them.  Even if we do find them, we don't know if they will lest us in."  A little rain, and I was ready to give up.  

My wonderful companion, ever in tune with the Spirit, would not surrender so easily.  "I think that's just Satan trying to keep us from finding this family."

Something in her words convinced me.  "All right," I said.  "Let's go."  Words from the scriptures echoed in my head: Yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions...and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls. (Alma 17:11)  If ever I needed patience in afflictions, it was now!

We braved the rain and mud and eventually found the street.  As we walked, the rain began to gradually let up, and our clothes began to dry.  We found the home of the Crizantes family and began counting the blocks - but it wasn't very clear where "two blocks" started or ended.  Our plan was just to ask around, see if someone knew the family.

My companion nudged me.  "That house."  I had been eyeing it too, as it was the only house with the door open.  It seemed humble but inviting, as good a place as any to begin our search.

We asked for the family name.  A woman came out.  "Sí, somos nosotros. (Yes, that's us)."  I asked for the name of one of the boys.  "Mi hijo. (My son)," she said.

My heart sank.  This was the mother who had been less than enthusiastic about the baptism of her sons!  But as we kept talking, she turned out to be not nearly as terrible as I had first thought.  In fact, although her sons weren't home at the moment, she invited us to return, saying, "There was a difference in my sons when the missionaries were teaching them."

I am grateful for a companion who is in tune with the Spirit and for the opportunity I have, as her companion, to witness many miracles.

Love,

Hermana Watts

Bats in the Belfry (and other such nonsense)

I'm not really sure what a belfry is...but we have bats living above our pension. Who knew bats could be so noisy? I was able to tolerate them for a while, but my patience reached a limit when I came home one day to find little gifts all over my bed. Gross!

We went to visit Maribel and family this week. Her little brother is six months old. I don't think he likes me very much. I walked in, smiled my friendliest smile, and said, "¡Hóla!" - which of course prompted him to immediately burst into tears.

How many missionaries does it take to change a lightbulb?

Well, we had a lot of fun this week. I guess we had to relieve a lot of stress. But I promise we didn't spend all of our time fooling around. We had some very spiritual experiences. Last night, for example, we went to visit one of our investigators, a kind lady who always gives us cookies. She had one of her neighbors over; he was watching the Sunday night soccer game. But he was very friendly and willing to turn the volume down and participate in our discussion. We taught about the Restoration of the Gospel to Joseph Smith and explained the function of the prophet in the true Church of Jesus Christ. He seemed very interested. My companion had the inspiration, at one point during the lesson, to ask him (somewhat out-of-the-blue), "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God?"

Without hesitating, he said yes.

I know this, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the one true church of God on the earth. He directs it through his prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I am so excited for the opportunity we have this weekend to hear the word of God through the mouth of His prophets and apostles in the General Conference of the Church. I invite all of you to watch it!

conference.lds.org

Love,
Hermana Watts

As a Little Child

Said the Savior:

"And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God."

This week we had the great honor of witnessing the baptism of Maribel Sanabria, who with childlike submission braved her fears and entered the waters of baptism to make sacred covenants with her Father in Heaven. What a privilege to take part in such a momentous event! This truly is the way, the only way to inherit eternal life.

Love,

Hermana Watts

My companion cooking lomo saltado (or trying to burn down the pension, not sure which)

Getting ready for the baptism!

Pre-baptism: We had to take the photos inside because it was raining

Nine year old Maribel Sanabria

Maribel with her sisters

Hermana Watts, Hermana Castillo, y Maribel

Maribel's mother and siblings

Maribel with Hermano Segovia, who baptized her

What's a baptism without cake?

Post-baptism - The rain cleared up and the sun came out just in time to take some more pictures!

Sandwiches!

Our P-day trip to the River Piraí with Maribel and her sisters and cousins.  This river has been the site of many baptisms in the past.

Frutilla! (somewhere between raspberries and strawberries - found on our walk to the Piraí)

Zona Iguazu!!

Under Attack

​What a week! Some days it just feels like everyone just wants to attack the Church. We talked with several well-meaning people who seemed to challenge every basic belief that brought me here to Argentina.

First, the Catholic father of Maribel, the little girl who will soon be baptized: "I like your church and have always gotten along great with the missionaries, but why do you have to be so selfish and say that you are the only true church?"

Second, Flavia, a Jehovah's Witness whose husband recently got baptized in the Church: "I would invite you to study and ponder Galatians 1:8-9, which reads that 'If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.'"

Finally, from María Nelly, one of our best investigators: "Why can't there be missionaries who just come and talk about God, without trying to convince me that their church is right? Churches are all just big political groups."

Ouch.

I know that there are a lot of churches which claim to be true. I understand how easy it is to believe that all of them, or none of them, are good and right. But I know that there is one church that is organized and directed by the Savior Himself. Only through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can we receive the ordinances necessary for salvation and exaltation. I know because I asked God in prayer if it was true, and He answered my prayer through the power of the Holy Ghost.

My invitation to all is that you might ask God sincerely if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church upon the earth. I promise He will answer your prayers, as He did mine.

Love,
Hermana Watts

Pretty sure this is what paradise looks like.

Called to Serve!

A few days ago we got a phone call at about 10:00 at night from a less active member we visit once in a while. She explained that her mother had just gotten out of an operation and was in the hospital and she needed someone to stay the night with her mom. Well, we're missionaries, and we have certain rules, such as we cannot leave the pension past 9:30. But we promised to enlist the help of the members. We called around and finally got ahold of a sister who was willing to go stay the night with the abuelita. We went to bed content and satisfied with having helped a sister in need.

But our work didn't end there. Early the next morning, we received a text from the sister asking if we could come to her house later that morning. Of course we were more than willing. As soon as we finished personal studies, we went to see how we could help. We found that the mother had been released and was doing well, although she cannot move much until she fully recovers. But what the sister really needed was..."Oh, hermanas, could you please just clean my bathroom for me?"

Not exactly the kind of service we expected to do on the mission, haha. But we set to work cheerfully and cleaned the bathroom, washed the dishes, swept the floor...Mom, you should be so proud of me!

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve my sisters and brothers here in Argentina and Paraguay. As King Benjamin wisely says, "When ye are in the service of your fellow men, ye are only in the service of your God."

Love,
Hermana Watts

P-day!  We took a trip to the costanera.  That's Paraguay in the background.

Look at this crazy bug I found!!  (pen for size reference)