Mba’eichapa!
I hope everyone has had a good week! Our week started off by learning that we have increased restrictions due to COVID spiking in lots of areas here. We can’t go to a person’s home to teach them, we have to teach in either the church or a public place. Although we have all these restrictions, this week was very fruitful. Right now we are blessed to have 7 people on date for baptism! We also had 8 non-members attend church with us! It is incredible to see the changes that are happening in this Branch, and a lot of it has to do with Juan Carlos. He invites his entire family and all of his friends to come to church, and we are seeing a crazy growth. We now have an Elders Quorum President and a Young Womens President, and more and more members are becoming active each week. My first couple transfers here were really a grind, and Elder Harmer and I worked every day to strengthen the Branch and plant seeds of faith. Now, it’s like Elder Dorotheo and I are truly seeing how white the field is, and are really excited to get to Harvesting!
So here in Paraguay there are 2 main soccer teams that are rivals. Their names are Cerro and Olimpia. Cerro is not a very good soccer team, and they consistently lose to Olimpia and a lot of other teams. This past Saturday was ‘El Clásico’, where the two teams played each other. This week for contacting we would ask people who they supported and who they thought were going to win on Saturday. It kind of leads to a chain of events where you ask one person who they like and they yell, “OLIMPIA!” And then across the street or in some dispensa you hear, “No, CERRO!” And everyone just starts laughing and a conversation starts. Well the game happened Saturday evening, and Cerro won in an upset victory. At church it reminded me a lot of the day after a BYU-Utah football game, where the supporters of the team that won would walk in grinning ear to ear, making a B-Line to their friend who supports the team that lost to gloat or offer their condolences. There was even a member who bore his Testimony that the Lord helped Cerro win the game.
Seeing how the atonement of Christ changes people’s lives is one of my favorite parts about serving. I get to see people who were apprehensive, doubtful, and cold, open up and be happy, loving, and better people. It really makes me remember why I am serving a mission, why the lord has asked all worthy able young men to serve a mission. We go on missions to help people come unto Christ, and help them feel the joy we feel. When one talks of how Christ has impacted their lives, I always ponder the second verse of the hymn, “I Stand All Amazed”:
I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine
To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
That he should extend his great love unto such as I,
Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify…
I hope you can all think of a way to help others feel the joy that Christ brings into our lives!
¡Hasta Luego!
Elder Watson
