I'm so sorry for yet another week without pictures. Don't worry, one day I'll send you all of them all at once. We were blessed to witness another baptism this week. A 15 year-old kid named Jose Miguel. Most people (including us) refer to him as Jose Negro due to his dark complexion and the fact that every other male here is named Jose. We only knew the kid for 2 weeks, which is the fastest baptism I've had. He had begun living with some of his member friends due to problems at home and had felt super attracted to their lifestyle. When we were asking him when he wanted to be baptized, he was wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey. We got him excited by saying that he should be baptized on the 24th to honor the legend. At his baptismal service, he asked if he could share a few words after he was baptized. He then bore one of the most powerful testimonies I had ever heard. He talked about how reading the Book of Mormon helped him realize that the church was true, and that there was a better path to follow than the one he was on. He said that he'd been a punk his whole life and doesn't want to be a punk anymore. It was pretty cool.
Last Sunday was the fullest sacrament meeting that I have attended here in La Concepción. It made me so happy to see so much success in re-activating due to incredible effort from a few of the members, coupled with a ton of recent converts. I'm sure going to miss it if it ends up being my last Sunday in La Concepción.
I love you all, hope you have a great week!
Elder Stephen Watts
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Lidice and Alexander
Hey family and friends!
Sorry for such short emails recently. I wanted to share a little on the story behind last week's baptism, Lidice. Here in the mission, every area has a lunch lady that we pay every 15 days to give us lunch every day. Our lunch lady decided to take a trip to Costa Rica for 3 months, so she arranged for us to eat lunch with her sister, Lidice, for the meantime. Our normal lunch lady, Ivania, is a member that was a little bit less active, but has reactivated with the conversion of her sister. In the beginning (December time) we offered to give the lessons to Lidice, but she politely refused. She had met previously with missionaries as well, but never felt the need to be baptized. The weeks went by, and one day, she began asking questions about what we believed, and whether or not we could baptize her daughter. We, of course, jumped on the opportunity and began sharing all about baptism, what her daughter needed to do, what she needed to do, what doubts she had, etc. Slowly we realized that she was also interested in something else. Through the weeks, as she had had us in her house every day, she began to pick up on the Spirit that we brought with us. She asked why it was that we always seemed so obedient, so willing to serve, and so happy. When Ivania returned from Costa Rica in February, the two of them began going to church together, and 3 weeks later, she was baptized.
This week, we once again had the privilege of seeing someone take the step of baptism: Alexander. He is the Husband of my convert Liliana. You might remember that apart from teaching them the gospel, Elder Pocasangre and I went as far as hosting their wedding so that they could abide by the law of chastity. When the area split, and I handed them off to the sister missionaries, he confessed that the only reason he didn't decide to be baptized with his wife, was because he never found time to sit and read the Book of Mormon. He told me that although he had prayed and believes the church is true, he didn't feel good about being baptized without fulfilling that commitment as well. The very week he finally opened the book and read the first few pages, he made the decision to be baptized that Saturday.
The pictures are still not cooperating, but they do exist. One day you'll get to see them!
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
Sorry for such short emails recently. I wanted to share a little on the story behind last week's baptism, Lidice. Here in the mission, every area has a lunch lady that we pay every 15 days to give us lunch every day. Our lunch lady decided to take a trip to Costa Rica for 3 months, so she arranged for us to eat lunch with her sister, Lidice, for the meantime. Our normal lunch lady, Ivania, is a member that was a little bit less active, but has reactivated with the conversion of her sister. In the beginning (December time) we offered to give the lessons to Lidice, but she politely refused. She had met previously with missionaries as well, but never felt the need to be baptized. The weeks went by, and one day, she began asking questions about what we believed, and whether or not we could baptize her daughter. We, of course, jumped on the opportunity and began sharing all about baptism, what her daughter needed to do, what she needed to do, what doubts she had, etc. Slowly we realized that she was also interested in something else. Through the weeks, as she had had us in her house every day, she began to pick up on the Spirit that we brought with us. She asked why it was that we always seemed so obedient, so willing to serve, and so happy. When Ivania returned from Costa Rica in February, the two of them began going to church together, and 3 weeks later, she was baptized.
This week, we once again had the privilege of seeing someone take the step of baptism: Alexander. He is the Husband of my convert Liliana. You might remember that apart from teaching them the gospel, Elder Pocasangre and I went as far as hosting their wedding so that they could abide by the law of chastity. When the area split, and I handed them off to the sister missionaries, he confessed that the only reason he didn't decide to be baptized with his wife, was because he never found time to sit and read the Book of Mormon. He told me that although he had prayed and believes the church is true, he didn't feel good about being baptized without fulfilling that commitment as well. The very week he finally opened the book and read the first few pages, he made the decision to be baptized that Saturday.
The pictures are still not cooperating, but they do exist. One day you'll get to see them!
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Meeting an Apostle
Hey Friends and Family!
I do not have a lot of time to write this week, nor upload photos, which is a bummer, because I have a few. The good news is that we had another baptism. A super sweet, middle aged woman named Lidice, who's husband was a less-active convert of about a year and a half. They said that they would really like to see their family together in the church every Sunday for the rest of their lives. In the process of teaching Lidice, we witnessed the reactivation of her husband, and her sister, which has been really great.
On Saturday, we met together with the other Nicaraguan mission to hear from Elder Quinton L. Cook, from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was accompanied by Elders Zeballos and Gong from the Seventy. It was an incredible meeting. It was a pretty great experience to be able to shake the hand of an apostle and hear his testimony. I hope everyone is getting excited for general conference!
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
I do not have a lot of time to write this week, nor upload photos, which is a bummer, because I have a few. The good news is that we had another baptism. A super sweet, middle aged woman named Lidice, who's husband was a less-active convert of about a year and a half. They said that they would really like to see their family together in the church every Sunday for the rest of their lives. In the process of teaching Lidice, we witnessed the reactivation of her husband, and her sister, which has been really great.
On Saturday, we met together with the other Nicaraguan mission to hear from Elder Quinton L. Cook, from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was accompanied by Elders Zeballos and Gong from the Seventy. It was an incredible meeting. It was a pretty great experience to be able to shake the hand of an apostle and hear his testimony. I hope everyone is getting excited for general conference!
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Giovanni
Not a lot of time this week, but it's been a great week. Giovanni was baptized this week and it was super cool! He was one of those golden people that was just ready to accept everything we taught. He technically counted as a baptism for the sisters, because he lives in their area, but he was one of my investigators from before they divided the area. I got to conduct his baptismal interview, which was pretty neat. He told me that ever since he started reading the Book of Mormon, he's found answers to so many of life's questions. He said that sometimes, he sneaks out of school early to be able to make it to seminary on time (school ends at 5 and seminary starts at 6) because he loves it so much. Enjoy the pictures!
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
Love,
Elder Stephen Watts
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| Giovanni's baptism |
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| Elder Moore & Elder Watts |
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