WEEK 5!

I loved his response to a question in my email to him about the Jet Bars so I'll post it here:

Mom: I read on another missionary's blog that the tie trading isn't a thing anymore but I wondered if that will come back now that the Jet Bars are banned :) Speaking of which, did you eat all 17 that you bought? If you did, you may need to be spanked ;)

Jake: Hahaha okay so I may or may not have eaten half of the jet bars that night.  Okay all of them. DON'T SPANK ME! hahaha!

Thanks to everyone who's been writing! I know it means a lot to him.

-Wendy

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I LEAVE FOR THE FIELD IN 3 DAYS!  Our flight out is at 3 in the morning, and I honestly couldnt be more ready to get out of this place.  Okay I'll start with Nov 5.  My latino comp came!  His name was Elder F--- from Colombia!  He started out shy, but eventually I broke him in.  I don't have any pictures with us because they never give us our cameras, but just picture a kid with buzzed head and huge hipster glasses.  We got our new districts and to be honest I hated it.  I didn't really know the kids and class in Spanish 24'7 is pretty difficult.  I miss Hermano Polo and Barragan but it's chill because I love my new teachers and district now haha!  In my district (District Moroni) there's me and F---, Elder V. from Venezuela and Elder L. from Utah, Elder G. from Venezuela and Elder H. from Utah, Elder S. from Pueblo Mexico and Elder C. from Wyoming, Hermana G. from mexico and Hermana M. from Peru, and Hermanas V. from Venezuela and Z. from Peru!  I love everyone of them!  The next day, the 6th was honestly probably the worst day of my mission so far.  I was NOT used to Spanish 24'7 and it lasted forrrever.  The day was filled with classes and orientation for the Latinos.  They were the exact lessons I got day 2!  7th was a TON better.  I can definitely attribute that to the temple.  But what was sad is Elder F--- couldnt go through the temple (he hasnt recieved his endowments yet)  I wondered why but obviously didnt find it in my place to interview or speculate.  That night, Elder S. asked if I could give him a blessing because he was having such an awful time at the CCM he wanted to go home.  It was really cool and I could definitely feel the spirit talking through me.  The next day was just classes and literally nothing different happened from normal.  But no fear, the 9th was Sunday aka the best day of the week!  The first half was a literal different because I got all Spanish but my Spanish is already SO MUCH better because of having a Latino comp.  I also realized something that day for all my buddies in North American missions (Brayden Lake and Mike) It would be SO EASY to teach in English!  Holy Cow!  But I also realized I'll have the last laugh in 2 years when I roll in the Job offers!  the 10th was AWESOME!  We had another member of the 70 talk to us and the whole CCM was put in the act that it was a paradise there.  NO SINGING BEFORE LUNCH!  DON'T DRINK FROM WATER BOTTLES DURING HIS TALK!  but it was totally worth it because we picked apart D&C 4 and it was way cool.  Also we decided to do 2 musical numbers this Sunday!  I'm playing piano for all 21 missionaries in my group singing Joseph Smiths first prayer but to the tune of Come Thou Fount!  And me and the 4 elders that sang are doing Nearer My God To Thee in Spanish!  It's gonna be a spiritual power house this sunday!  11th was really interesting.  The day started out normal, Elder F--- and I taught our investigator for the first time and it went way well!  We teach well together!  also, the manager here that takes away all the fun decided to be our "member missionary"for our investigator but it actually went really well.  but around 4:30 F--- said "yo necesito organizar mi moleta" which means he needs to organize his suit case.  I thought it was interesting but I didn't think much about it until i noticed his closet was empty.  I asked why and his chin hit his chest.  30 minutes later Elder F--- went home.  I had no clue it was a huge shock!  I felt so bad because he had tears in his eyes and said he was nervous.  But i also knew why he didnt go through the temple.  It was hard to see him go but I was also proud of him for wanting to be worthy first. He said he'd come back and I told him Id pray for him.  That night i was in a trio until I was assigned to Elder R---!  Elder R--- is from Venezuela and he was wayyy shy at first.  But the next day, the 12th he loosened up!  The day was spent practicing for yesterday the 13th which was PROSELYTING AGAIN!  Turns out he's a way good teacher!  We got 4 references, gave out 2 book of mormons, and one lady even said she'd be baptized if she learned it was true!  That's right.  We invited someone to baptism first contact no big deal.  So they drove us out to a small ghetto village outside of Bogota, and this time it felt like the real South American experience.  Our first contacts were an older couple.  They did NOT seem interested but when Elder R--- mentioned eternal families, we got their attention.  They gave us their reference and we headed down the street!  Next Elder R--- wanted me to practice commensing the convo so we talked to a man in a green Motorcycle jump suit leaning against a wall next to his moto.  I just started talking, and I can testify that the spirit helped me talk to him clearly and correctly because I talked for the first bit for a long time!  He said he's Catholic but interested in our church so we gave him a Book of Mormon and he accepted the invitation to read it and pray about it and gave us his reference!  After that point we got shot down again and again for the next 3 hours.  On our way back we had our meeting place in sight, but Elder R--- said "Uno Más?" (Translation=One More?)  so I said sure and we just started walking and talking to a young mom with her 2 kids.  She did NOT seem interested but Elder R--- just kept going!  After he taught a bit about eternal families, she gave us her reference!  Families down here are so so important! so with our last 3 references and out of time we took them to our district leader, Elder G---.  While waiting, Elder R--- said, Uno mas? again and I said yeah sure!  So we talked with the next lady walking by and she said she had to keep walking to work so we walked with her!  out of time, and after walking with her for a couple blocks, she gave us a reference, we gave her a BofM and she accepted our invitation to read it, pray about it and BE BAPTIZED IF IT;S TRUE!  Feeling on top of the world we sprinted back to the bus!  I cannot wait to do that for 2 years.  The feeling is undescribable.  Today was my last trip to the temple for 2 years.  Definitely bittersweet.  It's also our last pday in the CCM!  Next time I write I'll be in the field!  Let everyone know I love them and pray for them every day! 

Chao!  Elder Welch

ps sorry no photos today, next time for sure :)