Uruguay Montevideo Mission: Elder Watts: "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