08-07-16 to 08-15-16 Leadership Council and the Muñoz's baptism prep!

This week has been pretty good!  Only bummer was losing 3 days to leadership council but that's just part of being a zone leader. 

Monday night we had a really good lesson with the Muñoz family.  So we showed up, expecting to just teach them, but their land lord and her family were there talking with them about some problems they had with the neighbor.  When they all started going, the mom was like "NO STAY!  Sit down and listen for a minute!" So they all stayed and we taught about the Sabbath day.  The mom was all sharing her testimony with them and stuff and the whole family was just super happy!  She is honestly super strong in her conversion at this point! 

Tuesday bright and early, we went to the station and took our 12 hour bus to Cali.  Like always... long.  Haha. 

Wednesday was Leadership Council.  It was really good.  President shared with us the story of the young rich man in Mark 10 that asked "what lack I yet?" and how the Lord asked him to sell all his possessions and consagrate (Spanish for: "devote yourself") his life to the ministry of Jesus Christ.  President told us that we need to do the same, and leave behind all our weaknesses, and worldly desires to be consagrated ministers of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  I really liked it. 

Thursday we got on our bus and headed back to Ipiales.  But BLECK it took SO long!  There was another protest/blockade in Popayan (3 hours south of Cali) so instead of taking 3 hours to get there, it took 10 hours.  Since a good few hours was completely dead in traffic, the whole bus got off in a village called "Tunia" in the department of Cauca.  We just chilled out until the police sorted everything out.  The whole bus ride took 17 hours.  Safe to say i was tired.

Friday I was kind of stressed for the billion things we had to organize in the zone but we got everything sorted out and up to date and got to teach.  Some good news is E has his baptismal pictures from when he was 8 so we just need some of the witnesses that were present in his baptism to officially re-register him as member!  We're excited we've made that step! 

Saturday I gave my last zone meeting.  Hard for me to accept or even realize but i did it.  It went well, good teaching, videos, powerpoints, participation etc.  Saturday we honestly didn't have many lessons but me and my comp made an extra effort to contact all the families that we came across.  We found some REALLY solid families!  We're excited about them! Honestly lately it's been getting harder to not be just a little bit trunky, but working hard has kept me on track :) 

Sunday the Muñoz family all came to church which means they're all on track for their baptism Friday!  That night we visited them and passed over the baptism plans and the interview they're gonna have Tuesday with Elder Bennett.  The mom took advantage of the time to resolve ALL her doubts.  We repassed Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, tithing and the word of wisdom.  All set!  She said she's been having a lot of challenges lately tempting her to get discouraged about her decision, but she's kept firm in her faith.  Their baptism will be Friday at 6pm.  Pray that all will go well! 

Something sad is that Last night, the assistants called to inform me of an "extra-official transfer."  Elder Guedes got sent to Cali for his last 4 weeks.  Kind of awful to do that to him especially because this weekend he had 2 baptisms, but the Lord knows what he's doing.

So all is well, and I'm happy!  Love you all!  Have a great week!

Elder Welch

________________________________________________________________

When I wrote Jake this week I told him his expected homecoming date for Sacrament Meeting (September 18th). He said he wants to give a "killer talk" :) and he also said, "i'm kinda nervous about the whole English thing though haha wednesday i talked to a sister senior missionary from Provo, and it was SO hard to talk in a polite and formal manner in English! im used to talking to missionaries is all in English, and we usually talk like good friends mixed with Colombian phrases in spanglish haha like "sup bro, good or what?" hahaha

08-01-16 to 08-08-16 Last new start with Elder Miranda

Well, this week was my last new start with a new comp.  And i'm not gonna lie, it's been challenging! 

Monday night Elder Miranda arrived from Cali around 10:30pm.  He's from Arequipa Peru, and we get along pretty well!  He's got a good sense of humor, and is obedient, and takes the initiative in many occasions.  I don't have any reason to complain! 

Tuesday we started our first real day of the transfer working.  We had a few lessons, in particular, one with a less active named Brother Q.  He's a pretty good dude, just kind of distanced because he lives in a sort of tucked away place on the edge of the city, where no one visits and he lives alone.  So we're gonna start working with him to get him all happy again.  We also visited with E.  He's not doing so good.  He's out of work and is scared for the future.  So we had to share about overcoming times of trouble.  He's doing a bit better now. 

Wednesday was one of those slow days that doesn't really happen too often.  We walked all over the city knocking on every door that i remotely remember Elder Herrera taking me to, and we found NO ONE.  We did get to teach San a bit about the scriptures and teach the Muñoz family about the Family Proclamation to the World.  San isn't progressing very well, and i'm afraid we may not keep teaching him.  He's a tough egg to crack.  The Muñoz family is still doing very very well!  They're 100 % excited for their baptism the 20th of this month!  Pray for them so that everything goes smoothly! 

Thursday was rough.  So to avoid walking as much as we did Wednesday, we decided to look for some new people using the "potential investigators" form left in the area book.  We are just having such a hard time finding people in their houses in the afternoon!  NO ONE in Ipiales likes to stay in their houses in the afternoon.  But we just keep searching and contacting!

Friday was a lot better.  We had the chance to have quite a few more lessons.  One in particular we taught the family we found last Sunday.  They're a good family, but the mom is one of those SUPER dramatic Christians that is way over the top and tries too hard.  It's kind of frustrating because she makes the things harder than they are.  We tried teaching the Restoration.  But she kept changing the subject and kept talking about the drug addicts in the street.  But we're gonna keep trying with them because they're a married couple which is rare in Colombia hahaha. 

Saturday was interesting haha we started the day doing service in an English institute.  An eternal investigator from the Ipiales ward that i met when i started the mission asked for my help, so i went and they had the students ask me all sorts of questions in English to practice like "what is the main dish in Utah"  and i answered stuff like "hamburgers and pizza".  Nahh just kidding haha i said strawberries and honey are the 2 biggest.  right? 

Sunday was great! We had 8 investigators come to church, among them the Muñoz family. Made us happy!  haha but i witnessed first hand an act of pure apostasy.  In the announcements the branch counselor said "as the first of the month we're going to "present" the new children." (he meant bless when he said present.  I don't know where got present from). So E, our investigator that got baptized as a kid but they lost his records got excited because it was the first time he had brought his little boy to church!  So he got up and took his son to the front and all the priesthood leaders sat him down! Next thing i know, they're having E put his hands on his sons head! Assuming he's a member! When they realized he didnt know how to bless, the counselor offered to bless him. But E stood in the circle. Elder Miranda and I were shocked and embarrassed and didn't know what to do.  Stand up and say NOOOO or stay quiet? But it happened. APOSTASY! 

But hey it was an interesting week. 

Pray for us so we can find new people, we're trying really hard!  But i know the Lord will bless us. We're busy, happy and obedient. That's really all the Lord asks of us. 

Love you all!  HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Elder Welch

 "Last pic with the zone! Transfer day!"

 "The streets of Ipiales"

 "The Nariño country side"

"Me and Elder Miranda"

07-25-16 to 08-01-16 See ya Herrera, hey Miranda

So this was the last week of Elder Herrera, so not gonna lie... kinda trunky.  Everything we did was like a glimpse into my future in 6 weeks. 

Monday we started good finding a new investigator that happens to be from my old area in Pasto!  Elder Roman is teaching his wife!  He's a really good man, and has a lot of desire to change.  I hope we can help him!  I also got GREAT news from Pasto!  Alvaro and Nora, the couple i was teaching in Pasto got baptized!  I'm so happy!

Tuesday We had interviews with president.  It was interesting because we had to do it over Skype due to the distance.  That took just about all day because we as zone leaders had to wait until EVERYONE was done.  Long day! Also, Cris is doing really well.  She wants to get baptized so we need some prayers to soften her husbands heart so they can get married!

Wednesday we had interviews via skype and they took all morning.  I'm starting to feel like an experienced missionary because everything they taught us we're already doing.  Veterans!  That day we also had to do some boring errands, and take pics of all the missionaries houses to show sister Pricoli that theyre cleaning haha its like large scale baby sitting.  Some good news is the Munoz mom told us that she's GETTING MARRIED!! she told her fiancè "if you wanna marry me, you need to come to church with me" and he accepted.  I LOVE ETERNAL FAMILIES!

Thursday we had our last district meeting all together , and we had a branch activity.  Turns out, the whole branch planned a surprise "goodbye party" for Elder Herrera.  It was touching, especially because all our investigators shared how much we changed their lives.  I'M SO GRATEFUL!

Friday was Elder Herrera's last day.  So we basically ran all over saying bye to everyone, writing letters, rushing last minute prep errands etc etc.  Safe to say i was FULL from all the food haha. 

Saturday we said bye to Elder Herrera bright and early.  He's been a good comp.  Now his day has come.  Scaryy!! So I stayed all day with Elder Montgomery and we helped some other missionaries with a baptism that night.  The zone is having lot's of success!! 

Sunday was kind of a bummer... no one came to church!  But they all had good excuses.  Sadly we have to bump the Muñoz' families date back a week.  But Sunday the transfers came!  Half the zone left, and now my last comp is Elder Miranda.  Still don't know him, he gets here at 9 tonight, but it's official. 

Today starts the first day of my last transfer.  Holy cow.  I just wanna let you all know, that all i know how to do is be a missionary, and i'll keep doing what missionaries do until they tell me to stop.  I'm gonna work SO HARD this transfer.  For the glory of the Lord! 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! 

Elder Welch

 "House revisions haha"

(I think this is the "take pics of all the missionaries 
houses" he referred to. Looks like he made the best of it.)

 "The Galàn District"

 "YUMMY!  COW CUTS!  (that's the tongue in my left hand)"

"us and the cemetery behind us" 

 "Knocking doors!"

 "Your typical "Mission walking pic""

 "Plaza 20 de Julio"

"Bye E'Herrera!"

07-18-16 to 07-25-16 Reunion in Ipiales!

This week has been a good one!  Not as rad as the last, but at the same time great haha.

Monday we had a great lesson with the Muñoz family!  They're just SO excited to be baptized and the mom said that when we knocked on her door, she was passing through some REALLY hard trials and strong feelings of loneliness.  so she KNOWS it was from God.  We're so grateful!

Tuesday was good.  Full of lessons.  Sadly that same day i got a weird zit inside my nose wayyy back that decided to get infected so my nose was BRIGHT red hahaha I felt like rudolph.  How embarrassing.  Elder Reeve, an Elder in my zone called it "Snake Repellent" haha! 

Wednesday we had divisions with Elder Reeve and Elder Mayorga from the Fronterra area.  It was Colombia's independence day, so there were a TON of soldiers in the main plaza with tanks.  Pretty cool, wish i brought my camera with me!  One of the tank drivers is a member!  We also had a branch activity that day.  It was a "field day" type event but indoors because of the rain and cold.  That night Elder Reeve and I went to the Gua family and tried to get them on a date for baptism, but they still don't feel ready.  That night we chilled out in the apartment and played guitar.  it was cool because Elder Reeve and I like the EXACT same music.  He's even heard of the Moth & the Flame! 

Thursday a good part of the day we went with President Pico, from Bogotá visiting the youth of Ipiales.  He's in charge of Seminaries and Institutes in Colombia and travels ALL over trying to get the youth to go to their classes!  That night we visited with Cris and she's doing really well.  She accepted to be baptized, but she's not married to her husband so we're gonna have to work on that first. 

Friday I woke up and my eye was completely swollen shut!  The day before I had a zit thing (now i think it might've been a bite) below my eyebrow, and it HURT! So i called sister Pricoli and went to the hospital.  It was rad because I ran into Brother Diaz, my first branch president in the mission (he's a doctor) so he took me to a doctor, got me a diagnostic and some prescriptions all free!  What a score!  So the rest of the day i felt kind of goofy, haha.  Worst yet, I ran into a LOT of people that i havent seen since i started the mish. 

Saturday my eye was a lot better, and I could finally teach without people bothering me haha.  All day we commited people to coming to church and had some family home evenings.

Sunday was the type of Sunday missionaries dream of haha.  The Muñoz family came to church and this time stayed the 3 hours.  They all loved it, especially the 16 year old.  She said "I LOVED THE CLASSES I WANT TO GET BAPTIZED NOW!!!" music to a missionaries ears!  That night we taught them and they're progressing so much.  as soon as they heard about the Word of Wisdom, coffee is PROHIBITED in their house!  oh yeah!  In the afternoon, we ate dinner with Elsa Montenegro, my old pensionista!  It was fun to talk with everyone again.  Also, we had to do a baptismal interview in the church and i ran into almost everyone from Galan!  sadly, none of my 3 converts in Ipiales are active, so i couldnt say hi to them. 

Today we had lunch with Albert and his family!  My comp made a Bolivian dish.  Man, this is the last week of the transfer, and the last week with Herrera.  He's kind of nervous.  But all is well, we're still working our butts off! 

Love you all!

Elder Welch

 "Albert, my first Mission Leader"

"The Montenegro family! 

(Sister Elsa was my pensionista when i started the mission)" 

"Playing "parqués""

07-11-16 to 07-18-16 Gold mines and civil unrest

This week has been super good!  We're finding a TON of people that have been super prepared by the Lord.   

Monday we had 2 crazy lessons. 

The first was with Li the girl from Cali.  Well she's not doing so good.  It was the first time we talked after the week at MLC.  She started telling us about her "visions" she's been having and how she thinks she's a prophet.  She kept telling us that we need to forget about Joseph Smith and only talk about Jesus.  But we almost never talk about Joseph but we ALWAYS talk about Jesus.  Kind of frustrating and weird...

The other lesson was with a new family from Bogotá.  WOW.  We taught them and they were all SO attentive.  At the end, we threw out the baptismal invitation and they all accepted full heartedly. 

Tuesday we were supposed to go to Pasto for out interviews with President, but all those truckers that are protesting the new toll booths on the Panamericana Highway set up a HUGE and dangerous blockade.  So we couldn't leave the city.  A member who's a trucker was stuck in it so we called to see how the situation was going and we could hear a ton of yelling.  He said they're all fighting there and someone even died. WOAH.  So no interviews haha. But we had a really, really good lesson Tuesday with a reference of our pensionista.  Our pensionista said she was at the store in front when her neighbor came and she felt impressed to talk to her.  She shared the gospel and BAM a super solid reference.  It's another family, so we talked about temples and eternal families.  They're SUPER excited to listen to us. 

Wednesday we had a solid lesson with our investigator San.  He's the nonmember son of one of our recent convert families.  We're trying REALLY hard to get him to baptism because he's more interested lately than he's ever been and is beginning to progress.  Hopefully he'll get there soon.  He says he's not feeling worthy yet for baptism. 

Thursday we had divisions with the Elders in Galan 1 (the area where i started the mission). It was a pretty alright day.  In the morning Elder Herrera and I had to go with a member from Cali to all the houses in the zone to fumigate.  But it was actually kind of intense because we couldn't get to 2 houses, because the trucker riot decided to walk through Ipiales to block the border with Ecuador.  There were HUNDREDS all walking on the main road.  The farmers are fighting them because the blockade doesn't allow them to sell their produce, so we saw a couple of pretty badly beaten farmers. All day in divisions nothing really crazy happened.  it was cold and that night we did a baptismal interview for the other area in my branch. 

Friday was good and bad.  We had to drop Li.  She's just too crazy and won't listen.  She decided that God sent us to her so SHE could change US.  Nope.  But that night we visited Cris, the reference of our pensionista, and we got to teach their family.  We're really excited about them!

Saturday we had a lot of spiritual lessons.  The best one was probably with Cris and her mom.  We taught the Restoration and they understood it REALLY well, and committed to read and pray. 

Sunday was great because we had 8 people come to church!  Including Cris and her sister, the Muñoz family that we taught Monday and E.  It was just a really solid day and everyone was so happy!!  I know that here soon we're gonna have a LOT of baptisms, and I just feel so happy that everyone is progressing so much!  But dang it sure is making the time fly.  I can't believe i only have 8 weeks left.  But trust me.  I'm gonna make it count. 

Love you all, have a SUPER week! 

Elder Welch

07-05-16 to 07-11-16 Leadership Council

This has been a pretty rad week.  But also very unproductive as far as the work goes. But it's mostly Zone Leader Probs so whatever haha.

Tuesday we left Ipiales bright and early to head to Cali for leadership council.  As always, the bus ride took 13 hours.  PHEW.  But I always love MLC (Mission Leadership Council) because i get to check on my converts!  E Weight who's currently in Zarzal brought GREAT news!  Nabor is a counselor  in the branch presidency, and already has the Melchizedek Priesthood!  Also, Gerardo is a counselor in the Young Men's presidency and his preparing for his mission!  I guess Zarzal is about to become a ward.  It just needs higher attendance.  I'm so grateful to see the fruits of my labors.

Wednesday was MLC. Phew.  Long day, lot's of instruction.  But i did learn a lot about faith.  Sometimes the hardest part of being a missionary is just opening my mouth haha.  It was also cool that i got to get to know some of the missionaries better.  I made pretty good friends with E Rodriguez from Texas and E McDermott from Draper.  rad guys!

Thursday we got some Pony Malta and Pandebono for breakfast and head off for Ipiales.  The bus ride took a bit longer because some truckers have been protesting the raise on gas prices and have been blocking the highways and burning buses.  But don't worry, a ton of police and soldiers were escorting us :) I felt cool haha.

Friday we were all excited to work, but we ended up having to do house revisions.  It's always a good time, i feel like a cop searching the missionaries stuff for prohibited items!  haha! 

Saturday we had a zone meeting, my first one in Ipiales (and my 3rd to last one in the mission).  It went well, the missionaries in my zone are good at participating which makes it easy and makes the time fly.  But Saturday we also had our HUGE MISSION ACTIVITY in the branch!  We called it MASTER CHEF EXTREMO 2!  hahah it was basically like the one we did in Palmira but 100x cooler.  We had a lot more plates, 4 judges with their "judging number sticks" from 1-5, an announcer, a "camera man" and music!  It was way organized and we had a turn out of almost 30 investigators!  Pretty good for a tiny branch :)

Sunday was cool because even though we had almost no proselyting time during the week, we had 4 investigators come to church thanks to the members!  In gospel principles, we talked about "work and family responsibilities" and i felt pretty grateful that my parents had given me work to do like mow the lawn, (even though i whined about it haha).  also i felt grateful that i have a hard working dad and a mom that could stay at home with me.  That's SO important for kids to have the 2. 

Saturday night we finally got a chance to teach E.  He's SO happy with the church, and it's basically 100% sure he'll need to be baptized again.  But it'll be for the better because he's been inactive all his life and his papers are LONG gone.

So i'm not sure if it made the news but last night in Esmeraldas Ecuador there was an Earthquake, and we felt it in Ipiales!  (we're like 4 hours away).  While taking the weekly numbers from the missionaries, the chandeliers in our living room starting moving!  I couldn't feel it but I could see it!  Kinda cool!  We're so high up here in Ipiales that there's no real danger of a super strong earthquake so don't worry! 

Well that's been my week!  Different, but busy!  Which is all I can ask for.  Love you all, and I hope all is well! 

Elder Welch

"My soup"

 "Ipiales (my area)"

 "Ipiales"

"The Pasto/Ipiales ZL Crew" 

 "Our 'Master Chef' branch mission activity"

"Chillin out at home"

06-28-16 to 07-04-16 HAPPY FOURTH!

When I told him our plans for the 4th of July, this was his response:
"today we made hot dogs and listened to the national anthem on repeat" :)
_________________________________________________________________

Wow so this week was kind of a fight against the immune system, and the area!  Not gonna lie, I do NOT remember day by day like I usually do haha so I'll just try my best to remember. 

This week I've STILL been sick, and my body has been all over the place haha some days i've had a wicked cough, other days a super runny nose and the sneezes, others i've felt really weak etc etc.  But i've kept going!  For the work of the Lord! Thank goodness I'm to an occasional unimportant cough so I'm good! 

This week we've been struggling to get lessons and new investigators.  We've walked a LOT and Ipiales has some gnarly hills haha.  It's good exercise haha.  But we have some really good investigators. 

One that's close to baptism is named San.  He's the 12 year old son of a less active family but he's really smart and responsible.  The problem there is that his dad isn't member and likes to take him to mass in the cathedral, so he has to have a talk about baptism so his dad can support him.  But his mom is a member and of course is on board.

Another investigator we have is named Li, and she's from Cali.  We found her accidentally last week knocking doors but she turned out to be REALLY good.  She used to be Evangelist, but fell away and is now looking for a church.  She has a really strong faith in Christ and always asks that we talk a lot about Jesus.  We had a really good lesson this week where she was kind of pouring out her heart to us about how she's frustrated with her weaknesses.  I shared the most heartfelt testimony that I could quoting scriptures from Ether 12 and Alma 36.  The Spirit was really strong and she admitted to feeling it.  We're trying to help her accept the Book of Mormon, because we know that'll help her find answers to all her problems. 

The last investigator I'll mention is named E.  He's our next door neighbor, and he says he was baptized 25 years ago as a child but we can't find his papers in the system, so i think he was lost a way back.  He's a funny dude, and really likes the fact that we come from other countries just to share the Gospel.  He's been inactive for YEARS but is starting to come to church again and LOVES it.  Sunday he got up in testimony meeting and said crying "I know this is the true church.  And i want to stay."  So we're gonna see if we can't find his papers, and if not, baptize him again!

All in all I'm happy here in Ipiales!  The weather is cold, the people are humble and the culture is rich.  Much work to be done :)

Elder Welch

I have some good pics but next week you'll have to see because the computer won't let me upload.. bleh