Hi Everyone!
Well, the mission said goodbye to President and Hermana Hansen this past week, and it was pretty surreal. In fact, this whole week was pretty surreal. We had Zone Conference on Tuesday where several missionaries bore their final testimonies. This group of missionaries are going to leave tomorrow, and it’s really weird because my first companion in Paraguay, Elder Harmer, is in this group. I remember first getting to know him and he told me he had 6 months left in the mission, and now he is leaving. It’s really bizarre to look back and see how fast time has flown by. I look up to these missionaries that are leaving a lot, and aspire to be like them once I get to sort of the home stretch of my mission. But for right now I’m focused on serving here in Rama 6 of Ciudad del Este with Elder Reynolds Myers. Neither of us are getting transferred, and we are excited to continue to work in this branch. It doesn’t matter if there is a change of Mission President, bad weather, or COVID, the work of the Lord will move forward regardless.
We went to Zone Conference on Tuesday, and planned to do exchanges with our District Leader and his companion. Only problem was that we didn’t know what time the bus left to go to Zone Conference, so we walked outside to the spot where the busses passed by and waited for a bus. Then our neighbor, Alexis pulled up in his car and offered to give us a ride, and we readily accepted. I love going in cars here, everyone slams the gas no matter what and it feels like a roller coaster. We thankfully made it to Zone Conference, and afterwards started our divisions. I went with Elder Vorwaller and we worked here in my area. Being with him makes me grateful for my last name, because all of the members and people we visited could not for the life of them pronounce his name. But, we had a good time and had some great experiences, plus we spotted even more shirts on dogs, even though it’s not too cold outside anymore.
As missionaries we visit members, and they tend to be really open with us, and tell us about EVERYTHING in their lives. I’ve met with lots of inactive/less-active members who tell us about their conversion with teary eyes and happiness and then talk about why they don’t go to church with sadness and a weirdly firm resolve. When I look back on these visits and stories, I often think about to the parable at the end of Matthew 18. It’s the parable where the servant owed 10,000 talents to his master, a debt impossible to pay, and his master forgives. But that same servant does not forgive someone who only owes him 100 pence, and he throws him in the jail. The master finds out and is wroth, saying in verse 33, “Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?” It’s easy for us to be prideful and withhold forgiveness from someone, but we we need to realize it is a commandment for us to forgive all. We have an unpayable debt to the Lord, and when we don’t forgive the debts and mistakes of others, we are disrespecting the sacrifice he made for us. I know that if we rely on the Lord in all things, for strength to forgive and to move on, we can receive this strength and endure to the end.
I hope you all have a good week!
Elder Watson
