The Army of Helaman

Hey everyone!

This week has been so great! Yesterday, the branch threw a going away party for me after sacrament meeting. The kids in the branch invited all of their friends to come, and a bunch of them came! We ended up having 8 nonmembers in our small sacrament meeting, 6 of them between the ages of 9 and 14. One of them came up to us after and asked if she could be baptized! All of them had big smiles on their faces and participated in the meeting. Our small meeting house was filled to the brim. Afterwards, the kids all came up and gave me notes.

This week I also participated in my last zone conference, which meant I got the opportunity to bear my testimony. Here are some of my reflections of the past three years:

At the start of my mission, the anxiety and stress of adjusting to completely different culture led me to seriously question about God and religion for the first time in my life. I had felt the spirit before in my life, but, if I was to dedicate 2 years to preaching the gospel, I had to be sure.

I prayed fervently and scoured the scriptures for an answer. After a few weeks, an answer came. It was a cold morning, and with no heating in our house I was wrapped up in every warm thing I could find, trying to focus in my morning scripture study. As I read the account of Jesus Christ praying for the children in 3 Nephi 17, I was suddenly filled with a warmth. It was like a hug from heaven, and I felt strongly that the Book of Mormon was true and that he knew and loved me.

Looking back, that memory seems engraved in my mind; a moment when I received a personal witness from my Heavenly Father that he was there and that this is his true church. Since that time I have come to know my Savior more than ever before. He has taught me and led me, and has been my constant light. He is my friend, he has healed me again and again. I love Him, and I know He lives!

In two weeks, I will be coming home, but my mission is not over. I look forward to a lifetime of service to my Savior :)

Hope you all have a great week, look forward to seeing you all soon!

Love 💙,

Elder Watts

Sunset from Distrito M

Temple!!

Proselyting in the Rain

Me pretending to be a fish

Branch going-away party

Steady in the Storms

Hey!

This week we received a warning that "the worst storm Uruguay has seen in years" was about to hit, with forecasted high winds, hail, and a nationwide tornado warning. The storm arrived Tuesday evening and ended Wednesday in the morning. Thankfully, we passed the storm peacefully indoors, though one of the members we've been working with lost the roof to their house.

The storm reminded me of a recent conference talk given by Elder Henry B. Eyring titled 'Steady in the Storms'. In this talk, Elder Eyring emphasizes that we can be steady in the Storms because of Jesus Christ, who is our foundation. He then talks about how we can achieve this hope in Jesus as we follow the counsel of King Benjamin to become "as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him" (Mosiah 3:19).

Being here in Vergara has given me a greater appreciation of becoming as a child. This past Sunday, we had twice as many kids as adults, and three of the kids were nonmembers. One of the kids casually commented "when I thought about coming to church, I felt God hugging me. I believe in God now." Another, in her first time ever at church, had the courage to stand and testify that God loves us.

We can learn a lot from these examples of simple faith and following the Lord's will. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Watts

Storm!

A video of the storm from a nearby town:

District Photo

Exchanges

Temple Tour with Evelia

Awesome pizza with French fries, eggs, nacho cheese, and pineapple