Elder Jake Welch: 12-23-14 to 12-29-14

Awesome week! So Tuesday morning I finally bought my guitar! It was finally great to have a guitar again let me tell you. I played every song I know. That day we were walking through the streets and my comps were looking at watches. One street vendor lady said I had pretty eyes and asked me questions about my fam, but before we left she asked for a hug! I said we couldn't as missionaries and shook her hand, and when we turned around she hugged me from behind! crazy woman. That day we went to visit our less active Viviana, and Mejia asked if she had family members that were members of the church, she said no and that her dad doesn't listen, but Mejia doesn't take no for an answer. So he went and got her dad and we taught a POWERFUL lesson, So now Luis is listening to us! haha woo! Christmas Eve, was mostly spent at a members house so my comps could talk to their fams for Christmas. And since I have awesome zone leaders, I got permission to call my family that night and Skype them Christmas too! That night we came home and it turns out our power box on the front of the building above the door burnt so we didn't have power. But that couldn't dim our spirits! So we went and bought a butt ton of fireworks and lit them off the roof of our building haha! Christmas day I SKYPED THE FAM. I cant think of a better present. But other than that, it didn't really feel like Christmas here. Everyone was still working, no one was really excited and it was just normal. So that's a bummer. But I cant complain. I got to talk to my family :) The next day I started with watching The District, and it was all on planning. Doing so made me realize I'm not doing anything I should and I felt a bit discouraged. But that didn't matter so I decided to plan better and the whole day I just felt the spirit so strong! We had so many good lessons, and that night a woman passed us and "hi Elders" so we asked how she knew the Elders and she said she was investigating but the Elders stopped coming! So we set up more appointments! Its awesome how God prepares his Children. The next day was slow thanks to the holidays and the weekend. We basically just hung out with members. Since we were STILL out of power, we took our ironing board to the roof that night and ironed for Sunday haha. It was actually kind of cool. Sunday was pretty cool! Antonio is doing so great. I'm pretty sure he's the next patriarch haha. After church we had a really, really profound lesson on the plan of Salvation with one of our progressing investigators. They have REALLY good questions. So this morning we went to the hospital for Mejias physical therapy again, and got breakfast. The hospital has the best food. And we also saw the branch president there because he's a doctor! Which reminds me, we're getting a new branch president. Which is sad because I think it's because he wasn't paying his tithes or something. But we love him none the less! After we went and played soccer, ate lunch then went to this forest in the country side! It was great! I was just so happy to get out and get some fresh air. So after that my comps and zone leaders wanted to go through a different way and as a result we kinda got lost in the rolling farm lands. But it was a super fun experience and we got to hike a few miles back to Ipiales as a result! It was awesome! So yeah! There's my week! OH and also we didn't get our power until this morning. 5 days! And the land lord is being a jerk and said it's only for 2 days because they want us to pay for it! So they're being obnoxious but we'll sort it out. Living the vida loca! Tomorrow I get my new comp! His name is Elder Solorio from Mexico! I'm just praying he's cool haha. I'm super excited to focus on my area again. Tonight we have a family home evening with Juan , our richest less active, and they're feeding us and I'm playing guitar for them! SO yay! Life's good here.

Elder Welch