The Lord's Work

One day last week, all of the charlas we had planned fell through and we had a few hours with nothing to do, and I was trying to think of who we could go visit when the name of an old investigator popped into my head. About a month had gone by since the last time we visited her, in which visit we had explained to her that we wouldn't be able to visit her anymore. While she had desires to be baptized, she was stuck waiting for a divorce to go through so she could get married, and until that happened, there wasn't really very much we could do for her. The Spirit indicated that the best we could do for her was drop her. But this past week, I felt that we needed to visit her again. (I had felt the same feeling when I greeted her in church on Sunday, although in the moment I had ignored it.) We went to her house, and not many moments after we arrived, she said, "Hermanas, do you have any baptisms planned for June?" "Well, no, not yet," we admitted. "I've been thinking I would like to be baptized in June," she announced.

We set a date with her for June 4 and assured her that the Lord will bless her as she makes sincere efforts to meet that goal.

This truly is the Lord's work. When we trust Him, He can work miracles through us.

Love,
Hermana Watts


Fotos


Family home evening with the Martinez family (a couple weeks ago) - we acted out the story of Abinadi and King Noah. Junior was Abinadi, his dad was King Noah.

Fotos!

Bikes - we do wear helmets :) 

We had a special lesson with David to plant his "seeds of faith" - literally and figuratively.  He loved planting the little beans we brought him and talking about how faith is like a seed that we need to plant and nurture so it can grow.

 taking a break with some Fanta Guaraná ;)

Look!  There was an owl at church! (it's dark cuz owls only come out at night)

How quickly can you plan a baptism?  Fernando turns 8 and gets baptized.  His mom forgot he was turning 8 until a few days before, so we rushed to help her get the baptism organized and planned in just 2 days.  After a lot of frantic running around, the baptism went miraculously very smoothly.  (Never mind that the service started an hour late  . . . )  In the end, it was a treat to be able to share the special occasion with Fernando and his family. 

German pancakes with dulce de leche and bananas. mmmmm...

With my nice new rainboots, I have successfully conquered my fear of puddles ;)

Hey, is my hair getting darker?

Happy Birthday to Arminda! (She is one of our investigators.  We love her!)

Happy Birthday to Denise! (She is a less active sister we are working to reactivate.  She's wonderful!)

Rainy Days

Skyping home :)

The Miracle of the Gospel

We found a really cool less active sister a couple weeks ago. . . she's progressing, she's reading the Book of Mormon and praying, but she still has doubts about going to church. We're trying to give her a little bit of space to make her own decision - we don't want to force her - and we always encourage her when we can. She's funny because I think she knows she needs to come back, she just doesn't want to accept it. We left her with a few verses on faith from Alma 32, came back, asked what she thought, and she says, "I read it, I don't really remember everything it says, but I do remember that basically it said I need to go back to church." Well, no, actually, that scripture didn't say anything about going to church, it was talking about increasing your faith, but if that's what the Spirit told you, great!

We really just love her, and our lessons with her are always so spiritual. She is honest with us about her doubts, but we can see her gradually beginning to rekindle her faith and overcome her doubts with just a few nudges in the right direction. 

This gospel is so incredible! I was talking to my companion this morning about what a miracle repentance is because it gives us the ability to completely change our nature. The adversary would have us believe that we are the way we are because that's how we were born, that there's no hope for us, we can't change. But the gospel teaches otherwise. We can change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is possible! We can put off the natural man, lay aside our wicked habits, and become truly good, inside and out, with no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually. Isn't it a miracle?

Love,
Hermana Watts

Look! I made a family tree :)

At the cow farm again

I told you I milked a cow!;)

isn't it pretty? 

so peaceful . . . maybe I'll get a farm when I grow up

Look! I got to feed the baby cow!

So I was on divisions with Hna Nilson in her area while our comps went to Asunción to do tramites when we came across this truck that said "Mango Guy" . . . which inspired Hna Nilson to draw this.  Turns out "Mango Guy" is a guaraní phrase that means "under the mango tree" which is so not as cool... but we had a good laugh.  (At the right it says "Watt is love?  Baby don't Hertz me, don't Hertz me, no more!"  I think Hna Nilson is quite the comedian!)  

David is Baptized!!!

David was so excited for his baptism!  We went to his house and helped his mom make empanadas and cake to share at the baptism.  Yrma makes empanadas for a living, and they are some of the best empanadas I've tasted!

Pipo, Yrma, David, Arnaldo, and Mia - David's mother, brothers, and niece.  Arnaldo was able to baptize David, which made the evening all the more special.  Arnaldo's wife, Carmen, was called out of town suddenly to attend to the medical needs of her father, but we know she was there in spirit.

Eli and Cinthia Jahnel (two awesome girls in the branch who just returned from missions to New York New York and Florida Tampa, respectively), David and Arnaldo, and the missionaries :)

After the baptism - we are so grateful to everyone who came to show their support for David and his family!

Seated (L-R): Pte Miranda, Johan, friend of member, Alberto, Fernando, Dana, Magi, Lucas, Dylan, Cristina, Sandy, Ale

Standing (L-R): Arnaldo, Yrma, Pipo, yo, Hna Rigtrup, Antonia, Salustiana, Ana, David, Sandra, Antonia, Dany, Tomás, Alcides, Eli, Cinthia, Camila, Mia, Zuni, Salvador 

Our last night together, celebrated with ice cream :)

Finding our new companions in the terminal

tripped on a wire and tore my shoe . . . 

my companion did my hair this morning :)

My crazy companion!  She's really awesome :)

The gospel is incredible!  It has been such a treat to witness changes in David and his mother during these last few weeks.  The gospel really does help us to be more kind, more happy, more grateful, more selfless, more pure, more Christlike.  I am grateful for the Savior, for His mercy and grace, that help us to overcome our weaknesses and become more like Him.  We are children of God with so much potential! 

 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

I know that this is true!  I love you all.

Love,
Hermana Watts

I milked a cow! (and other adventures in Paraguay)

It's been a fun week. Some items of note:

1. I milked a cow!

I was on divisions in our area with Hna Newell, and we went to visit some of our investigators. Right when we sat down to have a lesson with them, the grandmother said, "Oh, I didn't realize how late it was! The sun's already going down! We need to go milk the cows. Do you want to come with us?" And we were like, "Sure!" So we piled in their small car and drove out to their farm where they keep their cows and we got to help them bring the cows in for the night, clean their stalls (I don't think I'll ever get the smell out of my shoes) and milk the cows - it's harder than it looks. They gave us a bottle of milk as a gift - it was actually pretty good, once we boiled the bacteria out of it. The only sad part was that neither of us had cameras :(

2. Hurricane Hernandarias

We watched the storm clouds roll in and had just enough time to leave the bikes in our pension and grab our raincoats and umbrellas before our next lesson. The rain started as we were walking. The wind began to blow and the thunder began to rumble - the storm was fierce! Worse, the person we planned to visit wasn't home. We huddled under a covered parking space until the storm blew over and our friend came home - then the power went out and we had to teach by candlelight. But we survived!

3. The Relief Society Dinner

The relief society planned a dinner last Friday which had an impressive turnout. We met three investigators and several less-active sisters through the activity. Thank you, members, for inviting your friends!

4. Stay tuned . . . there could be a baptism soon :)

Love you all,
Hermana Watts

Photos - silly faces and pancakes

A Dessert Contest . . . who is the genius behind this idea?

We had to drop an investigator this week, which was a crazy experience. I can count on one hand the number of investigators I have officially dropped. . . definitely not my favorite part of the mission. When my companion suggested it, I was really reluctant because I'm always afraid that by dropping an investigator we're giving up on them and denying them salvation - but we both felt that it was right. Actually, dropping investigators is a huge act of faith, because we acknowledge that, even though we are representatives of the Lord, we are not the ones in charge. We trust that God has a plan for each of His children, and sometimes the best way for a person to progress is without the missionaries breathing down their necks all the time. Let me assure you that this was not a decision we made lightly. It required a lot of prayer and faith to confirm that it was truly what the Lord wanted for this investigator. We had a lot of doubts, but we moved forward with faith. The experience became miraculous when, during the lesson, we were given the exact words we needed to say so that all of us, both missionaries and investigator, were able to feel the assurance that this was the correct decision. This is the Lord's work, and He does guide it, if we are humble enough to let Him.

In other news, we organized a branch activity that took place last Friday - a talent show and a dessert contest. It was super fun! The idea was that each organization of the branch would prepare a talent to present, and after the talent show we would have a dessert contest. Anyone who wanted to participate could prepare a dessert, and then everyone would taste all of the desserts and vote for their favorite (with a prize for the winner). The prize went to Yrma, the mother of David, who prepared this lime-cream-and-pineapple-deliciousness. David sang with us, "I Am a Child of God," and my companion played the guitar. The Relief Society did a traditional Paraguayan dance, and the Primary kids also had a cute dance. A lot of people came and we all had a great time.

Also, we had fun welcoming home two sisters from their missions last week - one from New York New York South and the other from Florida Tampa. Their English is perfect!

This is God's work, and He is hastening it. This is His church. The Book of Mormon is true, the prophet is called of God, and Jesus Christ lives! I know it is true. I love you all.

Love,
Hermana Watts

Christmas for Missionaries! (a.k.a. General Conference)

HOLY WOW!!! WAS CONFERENCE AMAZING OR WHAT! You may have heard that General Conference is like Christmas for the missionaries. You would be mistaken. General Conference is BETTER than Christmas! It's like Christmas and Easter and Birthdays all rolled into one! It's a veritable spiritual feast!

I hope that each of you had the opportunity to watch at least part of General Conference and feel the Spirit bear testimony of the beautiful truths of the gospel. We have a prophet on the earth today, and twelve apostles, who receive direct guidance from the Savior Himself. And they speak to us. Is that not the sweetest message you have ever heard?

If you didn't get the chance to watch conference, here is the link:
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/04?cid=HP_SU_3-4-2016_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

Some personal favorites were Gary E. Stevenson, who talked about priesthood keys; Mervyn B. Arnold on going to the rescue; D. Todd Christofferson and his tribute to fathers (love you Dad!); Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who gave us hope that we can be rebuilt; and Jeffrey R. Holland's encouragement to just keep trying. Please take some moments to review the words that spoke most to you.

I know this church is true. I felt it strongly as I listened to our beloved prophet and apostles and other leaders of the Church. I know that the Savior lives. This is His church and His kingdom upon the earth.

Love,
Hermana Watts

Photos!

Zone Conference with the Zona Porä (last Wednesday)

This sister from our stake recently got her mission call to Fortaleza, Brazil.

Hna Rigtrup, Hna LaPierre, Hna Watts

General Conference in the Stake Center:

Hermanas Nilson, Ehlert, Martinez, Newell, and Watts

My face when I spotted members from Minga down the hall!

Aline and Jessica, members from Minga Guazú.

  P-day Activity:  My comnpanion and I went to the Itaipú dam just outside of Hernandarias.  It's the largest in the world and generates electricity for both Brazil and Paraguay.

We found Elder Sanders and his parents - they are from Uruguay, and he just finished his mission in Asunción.  They are doing a little sightseeing on their way home.