I'm Going to Brazil!

Hey Everyone!

So this week I came down with strep throat and spent three days on house arrest, but on the bright side I am now half way through the second volume of Saints! Quick shout out to Saints, it's a great book that gives a lot of context and history to the early saints. It's really impressive to see the faith and sacrifice the early saints had to build the church we have today.

This week we have cambios, and I will be giving a sad farewell to Lezica and heading out to a little town called Chuy (pronounced Chewie). It sits right on the border of Uruguay and Brazil, and many people here in Montevideo make a living buying things cheap in Chuy and selling them at an increased price in Montevideo. The ward is in Spanish (I think) but from what I've heard they speak a lot of Portañol, a mix of Spanish and Portuguese, which means I'm probably going to have to brush up on my Portuguese:). My new comp will be Elder Hoskins, a gringo from Idaho starting his last change in the mission and I've heard nothing but good things about him.

The other day I was listening to a Hank Smith talk and he said something that caught my attention. He said, in effect, "loving your friends means being willing to stand between them and a bad decision." It made me think of the Savior and his perfect example of love to us. Sometimes we wonder why Jesus asks us to change or seemingly stands between us and freedom. But really it's because he loves us that he wants us to be better, to change and become who the Lord wants us to become, to become like Him. As we strive to emulate his love, we will become better ourselves and help lead our friends and families down the same path.

Anyways I love you all, hope you have a great week,

Elder Watts