"Here am I; send me" ~ Isaiah 6:8

Hola Todos,

Greetings from Uruguay. After six long weeks in preparation at the CCM, I have finally made it to Montevideo. The flight here went well, and miraculously I didn't have to pay extra for my stuffed bags. I flew with four other missionaries from the CCM and we met up with about fifteen Latino missionaries from the CCM in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the airport we met our mission president, President Eddy, as well as the APs for our mission. They treated us to a McDonald's breakfast at the airport and drove us to the mission home and temple. The first day here was really light. We had a couple of short trainings from the mission president, signed some paperwork, did interviews, and learned a little bit more about the Uruguayan culture. Then we went to bed early to sleep off the jet lag and prepare for the work the following day.

On Wednesday I met my trainer, a Gringo from Massachusetts. His name is Elder Jones and he has been out for about 11 months. He´s pretty awesome. My area is called Barrio 14, or Ward 14, and covers the area for the Montevideo 14th ward. Our apartment is a small house with two companionships, us and the elders for the area north of us. Our apartment is super damp and likely a petri dish for a myriad of different molds, but it´s pretty roomy and has hot water so it´s not too bad. Our ward is located around the center of the City of Montevideo, and most of the people here live in little, one-story, concrete houses which offer little protection from the cold winter air outside.

Upon arrival we didn't have any lessons, or charlas as they´re called here, planned so most of my time so far has been spent tracting and doing street contacts. That said, we met a couple of really cool people. For instance, on Thursday we met an awesome new investigator named Miriam. She explained that she believes in God and has investigated other churches, but hasn't ever felt that any of them are right. She listened to our message and accepted a Book of Mormon and an invitation to come back. When we returned, she couldn't stay and talk but she said she had read from the book we gave her and was really interested, and her husband who doesn't believe in anything also read a little bit and was also interested. Another person we met, named Sandra, is an inactive whose son is currently serving a mission in Bolivia. She talked to us for a while about her son and accepted an invitation to church, and much to our joy, she came yesterday.

Anyways, sorry for the long email. This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but I´m grateful to be here serving the Lord and I´m grateful for all your support. I love you all,

Sincerely,
Elder Joseph Watts

Uruguay Temple

View of Uruguay from the airplane

President and Sister Eddy, Elder Jones, and Elder Watts

Arrival in Uruguay

Dear Brother and Sister Watts,

We are writing to inform you that your son arrived safely in Uruguay earlier today. We are so excited to have finally met him and we feel love for him already. He will be spending the night at the temple guest housing, near the mission home, before heading out to his first area in the morning.

Your son's Preparation Day will be on Mondays, so you can expect to receive an email from him soon.

We would encourage each of you to write to your son each week. This will help your missionary adjust to life here in Uruguay, and will help him to remain connected with you at home. Your letters can be a great source of support and encouragement to be obedient and to serve with all his heart, might, mind and strength.

Thank you for allowing us to help care for and serve with your son. We look forward to getting to know him better as we work together to bring the people of Uruguay to Christ.

We love you. Have a wonderful day.

President Mark and Sister Annie Eddy

Birthday Delivery

Arm Wrestling

June 6, 2019

Hola Todos,

This week has really flown by. I'm pretty anxious to be heading out into the field in just a little over a week. I can't believe how fast it's already gone.

Funny story. This week for our service project we were supposed to do garden work. As we were heading to the designated meeting spot, one of the CCM workers beckoned us over and told us to follow him. We tried explaining that we had to do a different service project, but the worker was adamant. Not having enough Spanish to argue, we reluctantly followed him to the laundry room where he began instructing us to set up tables. Still a little confused, we set up a long row of tables. After there were 10 or so set up, the worker began pairing us up across the table. I thought to myself "Oh, we must be folding sheets in pairs or something." Nope. We were arm wrestling. We had a small tournament, after which we had races to fold up bedding. It was probably the most fun I've ever had at a service project.

On a more spiritual note, this week in my personal study I read King Benjamin's sermon found in Mosiah 2-4. As I read again the powerful words "Consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God," I considered how blessed and happy my life has been through these weeks in the MTC as I have been able to spend all my time preparing to serve the Lord. Though at times tedious, these past few weeks have blessed me with joy as I have come closer to God and focused on the things that really matter. Few times in my life have I felt the Savior so near.

I love you all, and I can't wait to start writing from the field.

Elder Joseph Watts

"You Cannot Buy a Million Dollar Experience for a Quarter"- Elder Holland

May 30, 2019

Hola Todos,

This week has been really great. I am officially over halfway done with my time here at the CCM, which feels great. This Tuesday we welcomed over 180 missionaries to the CCM, more than the number of missionaries that were already here. Among the flood of white dots that arrived were my high school friend Spencer Maloy, my BYU roomate Joshua Darby, and Abigail Bruno, Lauren Rasband, and Sister Wright, friends from my BYU singles ward. It was really awesome to see so many familiar faces.

In other news, I got called to be the district leader for my small district here. As part of that calling I have already given three blessings to members of the district. It's a pretty cool opportunity.

This morning I also had the opportunity to go to the Mexico City Temple. The temple is the largest temple outside of the US and one of only five with an angel Moroni holding the gold plates. It's super beautiful and was an awesome experience to go through the temple in Spanish. Elder Holland was there too, though he was there to talk to the missionaries in Mexico so we didn't get to hear him. The Mexico City temple is really beautiful and it was awesome to get to go and do that.

Probably the highlight of this past week was when Elder Holland came and spoke at the CCM this last Friday. It was really awesome to hear him speak. One of the things he stressed a lot is that missions are "a generous gift from God." He talked about how everything good that has happened in his life can be traced back to the 24 months he spent as a missionary for the church. He then challenged us missionaries to level the investigators- to fill them with the spirit and cause them to feel the earthquakes that Alma felt after his life changing experience with an angel. He concluded with a message that missionary work is hard because discipleship is hard, but it is worth every cent of it. He said "You cannot buy a million dollar experience for a quarter. There is a price tag and it is the price tag of discipleship." He left us all charged with the spirit and ready to preach the gospel to the nations.

I'm so grateful to be here at the CCM. The spirit is super strong here all the time. My teachers are great and I've been greatly blessed with an awesome district.

I Love You All,
Elder Watts

Elder Toupin

My District

Come What May, and Love It

May 16, 2019

Hello everyone,

It's been a wild week and a half. Just last Tuesday I woke up bright and early to board a plane headed for the CCM in Mexico City. The flight was relatively uneventful except for a brief 3 hour delay in Phoenix, which turned out to be a blessing as two missionaries showed up late and may have missed the flight had it left on time. I was alone on my flight to Phoenix from Reno, but I joined with a large group of 17 other missionaries at the Phoenix airport. Five more missionaries joined us at the Mexico City airport bringing our arrival party up to 23.

After a somewhat scary bus ride from the airport to the CCM, I arrived, arms sore from lugging around my suitcases. Thanks to our delay, we were rushed to register, eat, and unpack before we had to be in bed. Despite being in one of the sketchier areas in Mexico City, the CCM is very beautiful. The campus is wide and spread out and the walkways are lined with flowers and palm trees. Outside the campus walls lies a beautiful mess of colorful houses and narrow streets which light up brilliantly at night. The missionaries live in casitas- little houses- with five rooms each with four people. The casita also has a kitchen, common area, and laundry room. The rooms are tight, but comfy with a table and desk to study and a decently sized bathroom.

In the beginning, the schedule was a little overwhelming. Our fifteen hour days are packed with classes, workshops, meals, and devotionals. However after the first few days I have settled into the regimented schedule and the days are going pretty quick. My district includes myself, the three other elders in my room, and seven sisters, two duos and a trio. Aside from me, all of them are going stateside, with Spanish speaking mission calls ranging from Boise Idaho to Tallahassee Florida. My companion is Elder Toupin, going to the Layton Utah mission. He is native to Santa Rosa California and is already pretty fluent in Spanish.

My teachers are all pretty excellent. In the morning I have Hermano Cruz and Hermana Valenzuela. In the afternoon I have Hermano Sosa. They are all relatively recently returned missionaries and are awesome.

One of the things that Hermano Sosa shared with us was the final talk given by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin. The talk is titled "Come What May, and Love it". The talk emphasizes how to best react to adversity. The Lord, in his infinite wisdom has prepared for all of us to experience great happiness and joy, but also fear, disappointment, sadness, and pain. Through it all, we need to keep an eternal perspective in mind and try to keep our heads up as we strive to find peace. The talk also emphasizes the importance of laughing, and finding joy in the small things. This talk stuck out to me because, while this past week hasn't been the easiest or most comfortable, I know that it will be of great worth to me as I prepare to consecrate my time and effort to the Lord.

One final thought that Hermano Cruz shared is that "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now." What a great thought.

I love you all, and I pray that you will take this time to begin planting your own trees of testimony.

Sincerely,
Elder Watts

My companion and my roommate

The Elders in my District

My District

Missionaries who arrived with Elder Watts

Leaving for the Mexico City MTC

May 6, 2019 

President Ryan Dobbs set Joseph apart at our home in Reno.

May 7, 2019

Joseph left early in the morning for the Mexico City MTC.

Hey guys!

I just arrived at the CCM in Mexico City. My flight was delayed three hours but I made it OK in the end. My branch is 13 and my district is A. I have P-days on Thursdays and I won´t write until next week. They only gave me five minutes to write today so I´m going to leave it short.

Love,
Elder Watts

Temple

The family drove to Utah during their spring break to and we all went to the Provo temple on Saturday, March 30, 2019. 

Mission Call

Joseph received his mission call to the Uruguay Montevideo Mission on Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - exactly eight weeks before he would leave.