Good Week

It was a really good week this week, and it's hard to believe the transfer is already half-over. My companion is getting a little trunky in the sense that he talks about going home a bunch, but he definitely hasn't been any less diligent in the work. We had a couple neat experiences. First, was teaching a 19 year-old young man named Jonathan. We found him while trying to track down his aunt, who was a former investigator. We still haven't found the aunt, and Jonathan isn't very confident that she's wanting to meet with us at the moment, but in the meantime, we invited Jonathan (who lives at the same house) to take the lessons. At first, Jonathan was hesitant, but when we came back a second time, he had read the beginning of the Book of Mormon and was convinced that it was true. He wasn't able to come to church yesterday, but he accepted our invitation to be baptized at the end of the month. He told us, that because the Book of Mormon was true, the church he used to go to wasn't, and seemed to be OK with that. I must say, that the most exciting time to be a missionary is when you set a baptismal date with a prospective convert.

Also, we had another Spanish only investigator come to church for the first time yesterday, she is friends with Rubi, who was baptized and confirmed a week ago, and really enjoyed it. Rubi was so happy that Reina came to church, but she expressed her excitement over Facebook, because she was vacationing in Mexico. It'll be fun if we can get all four of the Spanish only community to church one Sunday, but so far we've only been able to get two.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Stephen Watts

Rubi

Elder Bushman and I have had a pretty blessed week this week. I guess the hardest thing to adjust to here in Texas is using this freaking telephone. Every person we find, and every person we teach we have to put them into this system, and it's kinda a pain. We also have to contact our investigators daily by text or Facebook, which is weird. 

We had a baptism this week, and it was one of the sweetest baptisms I've ever had. Rubi Mireles had been investigating the church for a while. She used to go to the Spanish branch in Tyler, but it's about an hour drive away so she quit going. Since Elder Bushman got here, he invited her to come to church here and he would translate for her. I think I mentioned last week that we translate at church for Rubi, as well as another sister in the ward, and another investigator of ours. 

Anyway, ever since I got here she's been really excited to get baptized, and she was really happy to find that I can speak Spanish well, though Elder Bushman and her make fun of me when I use a Nicaraguan word. The baptism we were able to do in English and Spanish, always having translation. One of the talks was in English, and I stood beside translating into Spanish, and the other talk was done in Spanish and Elder Bushman helped out by translating into English sentence by sentence. One of the members commented that the baptism was one of the most spiritual they'd attended, and I felt the same way. She was really excited after her baptism, and I got the privilege of confirming her on Sunday.

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts

Rubi's Baptism 

Arriving in Texas

Adjusting to life in the Dallas Texas Mission has been more smooth and manageable than I had ever imagined. I have come to know that the Lord's angels have rallied around me in this critical time that may be the most difficult I have had to face thus far in my mission. I spent my first week here with the AP's: Elder Morgan from Montana, and Elder Summers from Utah. They were the best companions and teachers I could've asked for, however, as it was the last week of the transfer, so they spent hours in transfer meetings with President Dalton, while I got to be a bike missionary with Elder Tornow and Elder Hogg. It was a blast, even though the bike they let me borrow was an old child-size from Wal-Mart. It was all English, which was really difficult at first and, well, it's still difficult at times, but we found a family from Colombia and taught them and it was a ton of fun, especially since both of the AP's were former Spanish speakers.

Now I am serving in the Wills Point Ward, which covers the small towns of Wills Point, Grand Saline, Vann, Canton and the surrounding areas. It is an English area, but my companion is a former Spanish speaker and we are working toward making it a bilingual area. We have a great start with a Spanish baptism planned for Saturday, and 2 more familias where not everyone speaks English. There is a ton of Spanish work to be done here. I got to translate sacrament meeting yesterday with the fancy headsets and everything. It was pretty rough, but everyone claimed to have understood me.

My companion's name is Elder Bushman and he's from Logan Utah. He is on his last transfer. We are serving as Zone Leaders over every missionary in the Longview and the Tyler stakes. We are also district leaders in a district that includes us and two companionships of sister missionaries. There are 15 companionships in our zone. President Dalton called me last Sunday night to explain that I would be a zone leader and ask how I felt about it. I was pretty stunned, but I told him that I felt I could handle it if that's the revelation he received. It's a pretty special learning opportunity to be thrown in the deep end. I hope I can trust in the whispering of the Holy Ghost to help me fulfill this assignment.

With love,

Elder Stephen Watts

Elder Watts with Elder Morgan and Elder Summers

President and Sister Dalton

Eleven missionaries from the Nicaragua Managua North Mission arrived with Elder Watts (he was the only one from the South) and then 15 new missionaries arrived the following week.  This picture includes both groups.

Elder Bushman and Elder Watts

This picture and the next were texted to me by members in Texas 

First week in Texas

Leaving Nicaragua

Saturday, June 2nd, began like any normal day, I remember that Elder Gomez and I were having a really hard time finding people to teach that day. It was particularly hot, and no one seemed to want to hear us out. We went to lunch a little bit early, because we had some appointments to fill in the early afternoon. I remember that I could sense that something was not right. I told my companion that I thought they were probably going to pull us out of the country. It was the first time I admitted it, though he'd been mentioning it to me about every day. The call came about 20 minutes later. Our President informed us that we were to go home, pack up, and be at the airport before 5:00. He said that we couldn't say anything to anyone. He said that every missionary had been reassigned to a mission in their home country, and that there was no knowing if we would see the return to Nicaragua.

I did not want to pack. I remember Elder Gomez and I went home with intentions of packing, but we were unable to make ourselves start. Subsequently, we decided to go out and visit with our beloved investigators and converts. We couldn't tell them what was happening, but it was good to hang out with them and grab some pictures. Finally, it had to happen. Elder Gomez and I were the last companionship to arrive at the airport, about 2 hours late. It didn't matter though, all of the flights were for the following morning.

I didn't know to where I had been reassigned to until I arrived at the airport. I think knowing that calmed me down a little bit, but I still wept for my people and the horrors that I knew they would still have to face. My mission President explained to us that God was preparing His people to receive their temple that had been announced just 1 month prior. He also explained that nothing can thwart God's plans. God knew from the beginning that I'd be serving in the Dallas Texas Mission, and He has uniquely prepared me to preach His gospel to these people. I will not cease to dedicate all of my might and strength to this most important work.

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts

Texas Dallas Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following statement about the transfer of all of its missionaries out of Nicaragua:

In light of continued violence and deteriorating conditions in Nicaragua, the Church has decided to transfer the remaining 158 missionaries out of that country. Those missionaries are being moved to temporary assignments in North America, South America, the Caribbean and New Zealand. Most of these missionaries have already left the country. All others awaiting travel are in a safe location and will arrive in their new assignments in the next several days.

As part of this move, the Nicaragua Managua South Mission president and his young family have left the country and returned home. The Nicaragua Managua North Mission president and his companion will remain in Nicaragua for the time being to take care of some ecclesiastical responsibilities over local Church members.

The Church will continue to monitor developments in Nicaragua and make a decision in the future regarding the eventual return of missionaries. In the meantime, we pray for peace and stability for all who live there during this uncertain time.

Elder Watts has been reassigned to the Texas Dallas Mission.  He was able to call us on Sunday after arriving in Texas.  He sounded good.  He is kind of in limbo right now while the mission awaits the arrival of 11 missionaries from the Nicaragua Managua North mission.  They will temporarily be placed in threesomes until the mission has their scheduled transfers next week.  Here are a few of his comments from today:

One of the victims of the Mother's day Massacre was a member of our ward. We would've gone to his funeral if we didn't have to pack and get to the airport. (A little background if you haven't already read about this: Wednesday, May 30th, was Mother's Day in Nicaragua. There was a peaceful march to honor the mothers of the victims who have died in the recent violence. The police (or other government supporters) open-fired on the marchers, killing 16 and injuring 88 others). 

I'm super excited to be in Dallas. It should be great! The mission culture here seems to be just as different from my last mission culture, as the general cultures are different. It's like starting all over at zero, but it should be alright. This mission will soon loose 2 stakes on the Fort Worth side, and pick up a massive stake that was once part of the Jacksonville Mississippi mission, and will receive over 20 new missionaries and send off only 12. With the 12 Nicaraguans, the mission will be receiving close to 40 new missionaries. It's great.

For now, I'm hanging out with the AP's in a town called Frisco. They just had to put me in the wealthiest area in the mission, which has just shocked me with the difference from Nicaragua. Today and tomorrow should be when the North missionaries should be arriving. I have to speak English which is killing me, but I might be moved again before changes next week, but no one really knows.

A kind member in Texas texted this picture to me :)

The Work Continues

Despite the great missionary reduction, my companion and I have continued to work with all our heart, might, mind and strength this past week, so that the work of the Lord may continue to come forth. We spent last week covering 5 wards, what was once 8 areas, but now that things have settled down and the missionaries here have all been assigned and transferred, our assignment includes 3 wards, what was once the area of 5 companionships. However, most of our effort has been concentrated in our old area and with the investigators that we personally had been teaching. We have, however, begun making plans to work with the members in the other wards. Last night we met with, and trained 20 members, who will be sustained ward missionaries this Sunday in the Linda Vista ward. Our Bishop has promised to call more ward missionaries to support us as well, and tomorrow, we will meet with the bishop and ward mission leader in Monte Fresco to create a plan of action in their ward. We will be rotating days of the week, to split our time between the three wards. For now, we will still keep more of a focus on the people that we've been teaching in our area, but we will probably work toward an even three-way split of our time and efforts.

Last Saturday, Jaquelin was baptized. She is probably one of my best converts. She courageously shared her experience with discovering the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon with her family and all of the young women. In fact, her experience inspired many of the young women to dedicate more time to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon so that they, too, could have a testimony as strong as Jaquelin's that the book is true, and that Joseph Smith was the prophet of the restoration. I know that all of God's children can and will receive a testimony from the Holy Ghost regarding the truthfulness of the restoration of the gospel if they diligently and faithfully seek it.

With love,
Elder Stephen Watts

Ashly and family

Steven and Ashly's baptism

Steven and family

Elder Gomez with Steven and Ashly

Proselyting with Elder Ochoa and Elder Camey

Jaquelin's Baptism

Jaquelin's Baptism

Jaquelin's Baptism

Many are called, but few are chosen

It was 8:00 Saturday night, and Elder Gomez, Elder Henriquez, Elder Guerrero, our Bishop and I were busy cleaning the church before Sunday hit. About an hour earlier, the last of six people entered the waters of baptism. Of the six baptisms, there were two of the people that I had taught alongside Elder Gomez, two eight-year-old children in the ward, and two converts of the other missionaries. It was a very blessed day for the ward, and many members were able to make it to that special meeting. However, the night turned very sour very quickly for missionary work in the country.

We received a call from the President's assistants saying that Elder Guerrero and Elder Henriquez were to pack their bags and be at a Hotel called the Mercedes before 9:00. This hotel happened to be located in front of the airport. What we did not realize at the time, was that those two poor Elders were two of 130 missionaries from our mission that were evacuated. Only 30 missionaries were given the privilege of staying in Nicaragua. The political tension of this country has continued to be on the rise. The President of Nicaragua made a public statement that the police were no longer permitted to fire at the protesting people, yet some members of the police shot and killed four more protesters the following day. This, along with divine guidance, led to the decision to withdraw so many of the missionaries.

The good news is, I am very safe in my area. I am not afraid of the alleged civil war that is brewing here, because I understand my calling as a representative of the Lord, Jesus Christ. I am saddened by the loss of so many missionaries, but am unable to describe how grateful I am to remain here. We still haven't received any updates as to how the mission will be re-organized, but for now, we've split the zone that was once 10 areas, between just 2 companionships. We're looking forward to seeing just how the Lord will use so few missionaries to bring the ordinances of the restored gospel to so many people. I expect the number of converts I will teach to double until more missionaries can be imported. I do not know how long we will have to wait for new missionaries (or the return of our lost comrades), but I do expect to finish out my mission in Nicaragua.

Today, I had the privilege of preaching the gospel alongside Elder Camey and Elder Ochoa, of the area presidency in Central America, during the morning. It was a pretty sweet experience. Elder Gomez and I went with Elder Camey, and his powerful testimony helped one of our investigators make the decision to quit smoking and be baptized. It was pretty incredible. He also accompanied us to visit an investigator named Jaquelin, who decided yesterday that she would be baptized this Saturday. She explained to us, that as she prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true, she reached out her hands, and touched the book, and felt an incredible warmth extend from the book, to her hands, and from her hands to her heart, until the warmth and power filled her whole soul. She is so very excited to be baptized; it's nothing short of miraculous.

With love,
Elder Stephen Watts