There and Back Again: A Missionary's Tale

8 June 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you all so much for writing to me frequently! I really look forward to reading about how your week went. I'm really excited to hear from you every P-day. I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to write to you last week, but there was a problem with my email account and it wouldn't open. But everything is working fine now, so that's good.

That's awesome that the Wirth's are expecting a baby! Tell them congratulations from me! That's really awesome! That's crazy! So much missionary stuff going on in the ward with the Curtis's leaving and Josh getting home! Rachel, that's pretty cool that you went on an awesome school trip! I'm glad to hear you had a good time! How do you feel being done with another year of school? Are you excited for the summer? Or are you going to miss school? I hope that you have a fun start to your summer. That's exciting that you'll have Genesis {granddaughter} for a while. Hopefully she likes working, because there's always a ton of that around the Watson house during the summer.

President Weidmann texted the missionaries with the news that Elder Perry passed away the morning after. It's sad that he's gone, but he's served a long time and he's given a lot of wonderful counsel and guidance during his service as an Apostle.

This week I've actually been studying a lot about the role of prophets and priesthood leaders. I'm so very grateful that God has given us prophets and leaders to guide us in these days. To me, it shows the consistency of God. Why would God communicate to man from the beginning of time through prophets and then just stop several years after the ministry of Jesus Christ. It's shown in the New Testament, specifically in the Acts of the Apostles, that Peter was the leader of the Church after Christ's Ascension into Heaven. So why would the Divine Office of Prophet be taken from the earth so suddenly? It doesn't make sense to me. In the scriptures it tells us that God is the "same yesterday, today, and forever" so why would God change His method of communication with man? We know that after the Ministry of Christ that the Apostles were killed one by one until they were all taken from the earth. Because of the death of the Apostles there wasn't that Priesthood Authority on the earth to direct the Church of Christ. Many people tried to continue to direct the Church, and I'm sure many, if not all, of them were led by a sincere desire to follow Christ's teachings. However, they still didn't have that Authority to act on behalf of the Lord. It's like if we see someone speeding and we tell them to slow down, the action that we are doing is a good one that will lead to the safety and blessing of others, however, we don't have the authority to write that individual a ticket or to arrest them. Only a police officer, someone that is authorized to act in the name of the law, has the authority to give tickets and make arrests. It's the exact same thing with Priesthood Authority. So that's why a restoration of Priesthood Authority was needed, and that's why we are so blessed in these days to have that Priesthood Authority back on the earth. We have Prophets, and Apostles, and Seventies, and all of the same organizations that the Church of Christ had back when He established it Himself. We are truly so blessed that the Lord has promised us that from now until the end of the world we will never lack that Priesthood Authority again. I'm so grateful for this and I know with all my heart that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet of God who receives revelation and has the Priesthood Authority to guide Christ's Church in these days. If any of us have questions or doubts about that, simply we can simply read his words and ask God. Matthew 7:20 tells us, "wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." It's as simple as that! Read and ask. I know that we will receive an answer from God if we do.

Thank you so much for all of the love and support that you give to me! I couldn't do this without you! Ju dua shumë. Kalofshi mirë! Javë të mbarë. U nglifshi shnosh!

Me dashuri,

Elder Watson