The Municipal Branch in the Montevideo North Stake

Today was another great example of the spirit that is in the meetings here. There were about 35 people in the Rama Municipal (Branch.) The building was a converted house. I was so impressed with the branch presidency, the young people, and the level of knowledge the members have. It was a blessing to be able to meet them and participate in the meetings. As I was finishing my talk, I looked out and felt the spirit strongly.

In Sacrament Meeting, the missionaries confirmed a newly baptized brother who was about 30 years old. He has so much light in his eyes!  You could see the joy shining through him as we talked.  Jerry had extra time, and told Nibia's story before he talked about our job here. What a wonderful spirit that brought to the meeting! I love hearing that story. It's the reason we came on our mission.

Branch President Carreras Alvarez brought us into his office to talk to us a little before the meeting started. He told us two stories. The first one was about his conversion to the church. He has been a police officer for over 34 years. He told about how he investigated the church for 3 years. He smoked and didn't want to give that up. His mother had been ill and she wanted him to stop smoking so he could gain a testimony and join the church. He decide to pray and said to Heavenly Father, “When I go see her tomorrow, if she is better, I will take that as a sign that the church is true. I will stop smoking join the church.” When he visited her the next day, she was significantly better. He decided to join the church. Regretably however, the next day, she got much worse and died. He quit smoking that very day, and joined the church soon after, to keep his promise to the Lord and honor his sweet mother.    That was years ago, and now he is the branch president!

The other story was when he was recording baptisms in the temple. He was working at the desk. There was a door to the right and a little behind him. He heard the door open and a woman come in and say, “Thank you for doing this work.” When he turned to see who it was, she had left. He went out the door to see her, but there was no one there. No one had seen anyone come in or out, and everyone was busy with ordinance work in other areas of the temple. He believes it was one of the ancestors for whom the work had been done. We tend to agree with him.

Here is a picture of Carreras Alvarez with his lovely wife, Alici.  It looks like they are by the temple.

He has 2 children, and his wife was the R.S. teacher and the S. S. teacher today. She is also the early-morning seminary teacher. She is amazing! We are so blessed to be able to see the growth in the church here. 

One of the sisters introduced me to her lovely daughters who were 14 & 15. She says they are in the YW program, and she is the YW leader. She has been a member for 20 years. I told them that they are pioneers. What a blessing it was to meet them! Everyone was very friendly and wanted to introduce themselves.

None of the people in that branch were members when Jerry was here 40 years ago. The church is growing! And we are here to see it.  We are so grateful to be here!