I think it was something so positive to get to know him, and he's always willing to participate in anything that is good. Located on South America's eastern coast is Uruguay,

where Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with the nation’s president, Luis Lacalle Pou, on Wednesday, June 7. It was a wonderful meeting. We just finished our interview with him. He spent basically 40 minutes with us this morning, and we talked about his initiatives, his programs, his desire to help the people of his country.

Elder Soares was accompanied by Elder Joaquin E. Costa, a member of the South America South Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was fantastic. He could see that we were honest in trying to help. How can we help? So immediately the president opened up his heart and shared the biggest concerns he has for families and for individuals. During the meeting, the group described ways in which the Church can assist with the president's initiatives to address addiction and mental health concerns. So we shared with them all the courses that we have on self-reliance,

the things that we can share with them. And also we will visit with his minister of Social Development to develop plans to help entities that are working on this matter here in Uruguay. It’s on the topic of self-reliance that Elder Soares says the Church’s mission aligns with the president's goals. In fact, during our conversation, he uses the word empowering,

empowering people. We use self-reliance, which is the same thing.

He's thinking about empowering people to become independent. And we are helping our people to become self-reliant. In the last five years, many of the Church’s 100,000 plus members in Uruguay have contributed to 67 humanitarian projects in the country, and the Church has donated more than $2 million, including essential aid during the Covid 19 pandemic. He has a heart. He has a position to help people, and I reaffirm that to him that we love God

because that's our first commandment, but we love our neighbor, and then we do everything we can to help people.