"Of me thou hast not been ashamed"

Hey everyone,

This week has been super great. We have this super capo* person that we're teaching named Michael who is 17. We've been considering dropping him because he's pretty flakey and it's hard to have consistent charlas with him but we keep trying because he has a strong testimony and wants to get baptized. Well this past week we finally had a lesson with him and much to our surprise he brought a friend! It was a super awesome miracle and even though Michael didn't come to church yesterday, his friend did and he said he really liked it. We are super excited for them both.

The subject line for this email comes from a favorite hymn of mine "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief". The hymn tells of a poor man who after being ministered to by Christlike love reveals himself to be the Savior. The hymn was sung just prior to the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith. I like the Savior's words that "Of me thou hast not been ashamed". I challenge you all to not be ashamed to carry the name of Christ and to seek Christlike ways to minister to others. Michael was able to do this and because he was unashamed to share, another person is able to receive the message of the restoration, and he isn't even baptized. I know that as we strive to help others we will find as the songwriter that our efforts to serve others have helped us to serve the Savior. I love you all, thanks for all the emails,

Elder Watts

*Capo is a Uruguayan word to say "stud"

Dalmatian horse!

An asado we did with the district

Pictures

I don't have much to report but things are going great.  Here are some pictures from a choque de fe we did in the sisters' area.

6 months, a crash of faith, and I'm finally an Uruguayo

Hey everyone, *Waves from Uruguay*

This week I turn 6 months in the mission, which is super crazy to think about. I literally just started, but somehow I'm already a quarter way through.

This week we had a zone meeting to set a zone goal for the month of November. We set a goal for each area in the zone to have two baptisms. This was a concern for me and my companion as we hadn't had anyone come to church for the past 6 weeks. To help kickstart our area the zone leaders decided to organize a "choque de fe" (I think they're called blitzes in the states) in which the entire zone would come to our area for four hours and contact. It worked super well, and in four hours we found 40 new people to teach and set two baptismal dates. Then we had 4 people come to church yesterday, which was really awesome. Our area is really starting to fly.

Also I completed my immigration paperwork this week and now am officially and Uruguayo citizen. Yay!

We've been teaching this really cool guy named Jonathan. He's super awesome. When we came by for our first charla he had set out cookies and juice for us and he invited all his friends to come and listen as well. He listened very carefully to our message and had some really good questions for us. He came with his girlfriend and another friend to church yesterday. We're super excited for him.

One scripture that really has stood out to me this week is 2 Nephi 2:25 which reads "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." We had a contact this week with a man who tried to tell us that we were sent here by Satan and our purpose in life is to suffer. I'm really grateful that that isn't true. We were sent here by a loving Heavenly Father, and we are here to have joy. The pains and hardships we have in our lives give us experience and give us a greater fullness of joy, and we live with the promise of eternal joy if we live according to the covenants we have made. Our lives have a plan which will be filled with joy and happiness if we follow the path that God has set.

Anyways I love you all,

Elder Watts

Zone Pic

P-day hot dog party!

P-day hot dog party!

Elders Musick and Doyle

Zone Lunch

Elder Doyle enjoying a sandwich

Jonathan in the supermarket

Choque de fe

New hat and Mate