Temple Trip

Hey y'all!

Haven't done a weekly in a while, but things have been pretty great lately. Last Friday, we had a temple trip with the ward. Four recent converts were present, doing baptisms, one of which was Juan Barrientos, who we taught and baptized just last month. Juan was baptized for both of his grandpa's, which was sweet. He loved it. 

We started teaching a young single mother named Jenny. Her mom, Reyna Canisalez was baptized 1 month ago. Jenny moved in to live with her mom after her baptism. She admires her mom making changes in her life and is very curious. She told us that she really wants to go back to church, and that she would like to prepare to be baptized in June.

Love y'all 

Elder Watts

Elder Watts taught his zone how to make pupusas.

La Semana Santa

It has been an incredible week, as we remembered the events in Christ's life leading up to his atonement. Missionaries in our zone prepared 5 people to enter into the waters of baptism. Two of those were people that Elder Davis and I have been teaching. The ordinance of baptism is itself a symbol of death and resurrection. The people that we taught, Juan and Reyna, have both been so prepared to receive the gospel:

Reyna Canisalez has been taught for a few months. The missionaries found her by knocking into her. While she has been taking the lessons, she has also been working on becoming a citizen and the week of her baptism, the immigration found a record of hers that was forged by her ex-husband which says she was born in Guatemala. She has her birth certificate from El Salvador, though she did live in Guatemala for a couple years. She was stressed the whole week about what immigration would do about the false record, and she was very nervous about her baptism. When we went by a few hours after her baptism, she told us with a huge smile on her face how completely peaceful she had felt ever since the baptism took place and how great she feels.

Juan Barrientos first met missionaries in Arkansas 3 years ago. From the time Elder Davis and I met him until now he has been so ready for this long-prolonged ordinance. He didn't have any challenges as we taught him, but just 6 months before we taught him, he had gotten an eye infection that made him completely blind. He was blind for 3 months of his life, but through a miracle, a doctor was able to operate on him and restore his sight. That was a sign for Juan that God had preserved his sight so that he could finally receive the ordinances of the gospel.

I love y'all
Elder Watts

Everyone in the picture is a missionary besides the ones in White and President Larson (stake president) and President Dalton (our mission president) in the suits in the back. From left to right, the people in white are: Edgar, new member in the Casa Linda ward; Reyna, new convert in the Río Trinidad ward; Hermano DeLa Torre who baptized Juan; Juan, new member in the Río Trinidad ward; Hermano Echeverria who baptized Reyna; and the brother who baptized Edgar. 

The other two baptisms were done in separate baptismal services.

Flight Plans

I know it's still a couple of months away, but we received Stephen's travel itinerary today, and I thought I'd share.  He will arrive at the Reno airport at 1:39 pm on Wednesday, June 26th.  He will be speaking in church the following Sunday, June 30th, at 12 pm.  All are invited.  

The District

Brother Klein Often Helped Drive Missionaries Places

Juan

Zone Lunch With President as a Reward for Breaking the Zone Record for Baptisms

Pictures!

At the Dallas Temple with Katrina

She was baptized for her grandmother!  So special!

Zone Breakfast

District Picture

A Miracle

A miracle we saw this week was with a lady in the ward, Sister Rushing. She was admitted into the ER, then spent 3 days in the hospital for a drug overdose that would have killed her. We have a good relationship with this sister because she and her daughters are returning members and she likes to feed us, so we can teach her children and help them build their testimonies. She asked us to come to the hospital to give her a blessing. In the blessing I was prompted to bless her to walk out of the hospital on her own feet. She did on Friday, without any assistance. And on Sunday she walked to church without any assistance. She had felt inspired after God had saved her life to call her niece and her son, neither of which were members. They both came to church with her, and asked us to give them blessings as well, because they knew we had the power of God. We have an appointment to teach them the restoration tonight.

Love y'all!
Elder Watts

Knocking Doors

It has been a great week. We met Tomi and her mom, Geena, knocking doors. They told us we could come back and share a message in a couple days. When we came back, they immediately invited us in. They shared with us that they have been having a hard time trusting in God because of some mistakes they made in the past, and some of the actions taken by a church that they used to attend. We addressed their concerns, and went on to present the Restoration of the Gospel. They loved it. That very night they stayed up late reading the Book of Mormon. They texted us to thank us, and to tell us that they had already learned so much from the book and that they knew what we had taught then was true.

In other news, Katrina got her limited-use temple recommend! We are so excited, and we will probably go to the temple with her next week, since she is working a lot this week.

Love y'all!

Elder Stephen Watts

Baptisms

We had an awesome baptism service this week for Julio of the Durrant Ward and Katrina from the Sherman 1st Ward. It was so fun, every missionary in the zone came to support them, many of them brought people they were teaching to watch. It was definitely one of the greatest baptism services I've ever been a part of. I did a side-by-side Spanish translation, which was tough, but fun.

Love,
Elder Stephen Watts