Jose Miguel

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

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

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

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

Giovanni's baptism

Elder Moore & Elder Watts

Quick Update

Hello all!

After all of the crazy changes last week, I don't have a ton of new stuff to report this week. Elder Moore and I are getting along super well. I took some photos, but forgot the camera today. We spent a bunch of time showing the new sister missionaries around their area. We've been finding a ton of new investigators, honestly more than I've ever done since coming to La Concha because with the area divide, we dropped every investigator that wasn't progressing, then gave half of the progressing investigators to the Sisters. That being said, we've been really successful in finding those nuevos. It's incredible to see just how many more souls are going to be saved because of the area divide.

Love you all!

Elder Stephen Watts

Good News!

Wow, I have so much good news, I don't even know where to begin! On Saturday, we had the wedding of Alexander and Liliana. It was absolutely crazy, Elder Pocasangre and I spent the morning making cake, cleaning the church, then decorating the church. The Relief society provided dinner for everyone. About 80 people showed up, and it was super happy. Sunday morning, Liliana was baptized along with Karen.

Apart from the incredible experience shared in last week's email, we continued to see miracles with Karen. On Thursday, we fasted together with her to help her figure out if she really wanted to commit to following Jesus Christ. That same day, we had an incredible lesson with her, and she decided she really was ready to be baptized. Liliana was also way happy to finally be able to be baptized.

After the baptisms, we made our way to San Marcos (the nearest chapel with a projector) where we were able to see a special broadcast for all of Central America. We heard messages from Kevin R. Duncan, and Adrian Ochoa from the 70, Craig C. Christianson, from the presidency of the 70, Sharon Eubank, from the relief society, and Quintin L. Cook, from the Quorom of the 12 apostles. It was a super great conference, and pretty much everyone boldly exhorted the Central American members to be more diligent and committed to the Lord. Elder Cook talked a lot about temple work. I can't wait until Nicaragua gets their temple.

On Monday afternoon, I received word that Wednesday, God wanted to open up a second area in La Concha (La Concepción). I was tasked with drawing the area division line, and finding a house for the new sister missionaries that would be arriving in 36 hours. In some miracle, I was able to find a house, get it approved by the President's wife, negotiate the cost, and sign on it all before the end of the day Monday. Yesterday, we had changes, and to my great joy, I get to stay another change here! I love this town and these people so much. I have been dreaming of, and working towards, dividing this area for so long now; it's a dream come true.

The only bad news is, I did have to say goodbye to Elder Pocasangre, who was sent to Ciudad Sandino, to work the area next-door to my first area. My new companion's name is Elder Ethan Moore, and he is from Reno, Nevada. What are the odds? I'm way excited to be working with him. The sister missionaries we received are Hermana Mckenna (Georgia) and Hermana Calderón (El Salvador). They are super great, and I spent yesterday evening and this morning showing them around their area. They are now the ones responsible for Liliana and Alexander (who still needs to be baptized to join his wife) and Giovanni. We kept about half of my investigators though. Also with dividing the area, they decided to make the Concha it's own district, and I was chosen to be the district leader. It's going to be great!

I love you!

Elder Stephen Watts

Liliana and Alexander's wedding

Cutting the Cake

Their family

Liliana's Baptism

Karen's baptism

Prayer

It has been a pretty incredible week this week. The experience that I am about to share with you is probably the single most powerful experience that I have had thus far in my mission. We were in a lesson with an investigator named Karen. Karen had read 150 pages of the Book of Mormon and come to church twice in the last two weeks. She hadn't been able to pray. I realized that there was something prohibiting her from praying, she wasn't just "forgetting". So, we asked some questions and she finally opened up. She said that shortly before her sister passed away (10 years ago, Karen was 15 at the time) they had gotten in an argument and some ugly things were said. She has since been unable to reconcile with herself. She confessed that she hasn't been happy since. She said that she hasn't been able to pray, or even close her eyes since. She said that she would like to pray, but that she couldn't do it alone. We invited her to pray with us. She said OK, but not here. We offered to go to the church, a dedicated building and pray with her. She said O.K. We lead her into the sacrament meeting room, where we sang a hymn to calm her nerves, then knelt together and she began to pray. She began slowly and timidly, then little by little begun to pour her whole heart and soul out. We prayed and listened for over a half hour. She asked if the church was true. She asked for forgiveness of every little sin that she'd committed. She asked for comfort and peace. She told God that she would like to change her life. When she finished, we knelt silently for a little while longer, then lead her into the baptismal font room. We took our seats there in front of the baptismal font and explained that if she wanted to begin a new life, it would start there. She said she felt the spirit testifying that she needed to be baptized, and that she would like to be baptized that very day. We said that would be O.K. and were about to pull out the spontaneous baptism (complete with an interview and the 2 lessons that we still needed to teach her) but in the end she decided that she would rather take a few days to think it over and invite her friends and family. It was really just incredible how strong the spirit was as she offered that prayer. I felt I could almost see the angels that were ministering to her on the other side of the veil. 

In other news, I officially became a Nicaraguan resident today. Elder Pocasangre painted an investigator's nails, so that she could look pretty for church the next day. We killed and feathered about 20 chickens on Friday (sorry, I forgot the camera that day). Alexander and Liliana are very excited about their wedding on Saturday. 

I don't know if transfers this week are going to affect me or not, but if they do, it's going to be a pretty great last week!

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts