Using "Special Recent Posts"

Hi All,
I am pretty new to wordpress but I am trying to set up my site so that with every post, it has a thumbnail with the title. I want it to look pretty. I have downloaded the widget “Special Recent Posts” which should allow me to do so…

my site https://geographicalcure.org
is set up with categories. I do not have any “pages” on the site, just posts within the categories and with every new post, it shows up on the home page. When I install the widget, the post goes to the sidebar… As you can see on the site…. Do i need a “Front Page template”.. I’d rather not have one… Maybe it just comes down to having pages??

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!