09-21-15 to 09-28-15 Sick in Valle Grande THE SEQUEL

This week has been kind of a bummer because i got SICK again! but it's okay, what can you do? 

Monday night, we contacted a cool young couple that works in their own pizzeria. It was a nice way to start the week, finding some new people to teach.

Tuesday we went to an appointment that we set Monday night when we called our bishop.  He gave us a super important reference to teach the husband of a member who theyve been trying to teach and convince for 30 years, because the day before, he walked up to his wife and said "i want to listen to the missionaries."  We taught him the Restoration and I see a real change of heart.  He wants to become more close with God.  Miracles are happening!  The bishop is also SUPER happy we're acting on our word.  He said "I love Americans because they always complete their responsibilities!"  Proud to be an American :¨) hahah. 

Wednesday we thought would be rough because we had almost no set appointments but it turned out to be great!  We went and contacted the cool guy at his barber, and talked about the church.  The more we said, the more he liked it!  He kept saying "Esa religion es bacana!" which is like "That religion is awesome!" haha.   That night we taught a reference from a less active that is going through chemotherapy.  Poor lady.  But she is incredibly strong and positive.  You have to be, right? 

Thursday, I got sick,  BLECK.  We tried to go out and work but kind of just bounced from member's house to member's house because the sun was killing me.  That night i got worse with a fever of 100.6 and lots of body aches. 

Friday i was still sick but different symptons.  I got a sore throat and a bad headache!  We went to lunch normal, but i almost passed out so we went home and i rested a bit.  I was so bored but so miserable that day haha. 

Saturday i was feeling mostly better, so we ended up working normally!  But we only found 1 person home alllll day.  which is the worst.  We read a quick scripture with Nai and had to go to a FHE that fell through.  Nai is excited for general conference though!  im excited to see what she feels!

Sunday was exciting, we had a huge meeting after church talking about the direction of the ward.  the bishop is willing to do anything to help us grow.  I love that about him.  So we're making a new mission plan.  Besides that, it was a slower Sunday as well.

So that was basically this week!  SLow slow slow but this week will be better!  And GENERAL CONFERENCE!  We can listen to the latter day seers and revelators!  So get PUMPED!

Love Elder Welch

_________________________________________________________________

I told him that I'd read about Colombia being in a drought but that my weather app shows clouds and lightning EVERYDAY in Cali. His response: 

"HA!  that app is lying!  try hot sunny days at 95 degrees every single day.  it is sooo hot lately.  i want rain!" 

I also asked if he saw the eclipse Sunday night. His response: 

"there was an eclipse?"  

Haha! I guess missionaries are too busy to look at the moon :)

09-15-15 to 09-21-15 Elder Uceda!

This week was a good one! 

So Tuesday was pretty good!  I was confused in the morning when we went to the chapel in Morichal for the district meeting, and it was full of young students dancing "salsa choke" in the chapel part!  im pretty sure that is super unallowed.  i guess the bishop "lent out" the chapel to a school for 3 days to help them out and to do some missionary work.  But dancing in the chapel?  I felt uncomfortable about it.  A good lesson we had was with Nai.  We explained the importance of tithing and fast offerings.  After explaining it, she seemed to think it was really beautiful and nice how we use the money to help others.  She also gave us some yummy arroz con leche (rice pudding)!  The other good lesson that day was with a less active named G.  We read the 1st presidency message from the 2015 September Ensign on prayer, and she cried sharing how she never forgets to pray.  She said when she does, she feels the need to return to the church, but sometime stops her.  It was spiritual, and we explained the difference of promptings from God and from the devil, and how she can tell.  I think in time she'll come back.  The bishop is gonna work to help her. 

Wednesday was kinda sub par.  To prepare for the conference with Elder Uceda, I went to the stake center to practice piano.  I got Juventud de Israel down but was iffy on Estandartes al Señor.  All day we found no one home but That night we got some lasagna from a less active so i couldnt complain really. 

Thursday was the day!  Elder Uceda!  It was a wonderful conference and from 12 to 9, the time had never gone more quickly!  I really want to be a better "Preach My Gospel" missionary.  We learned about speaking with the heart, true love for those we teach, being humble, patient, persistent, having true intent etc.  We also studied some ways to read the scriptures more effectively.  He talked about how if you look at a chess board and ask "how many squares are there?" youll say "64".  But really, there's more!  if you look closely, there are actually 204.  So when we read the scriputures, and look at the meanings of words, or the words chosen, we can find "hidden squares".  I loved it.  He also talked a lot about how the Latino missionaries should learn English because the English version of the scriptures is the most accurate.  So feel grateful for your English sciptures! 

(He also said that Elder Uceda gave him a "thumbs up" after he played the piano so it must have went well.)

Friday was a hard day.  We had a hard time finding people home again.    That night we had a lesson with Nai, and we shared an article on the Book of Mormon from the July 2015 Ensign.  To be honest, im not sure what she was thinking.  I just want her glasses to get here so she can read it! 

Saturday was the Colombian version of Valentines day!  the day is called "Day of Love and Friendship" or "Día de Amor y Amistad".  We had a hard time finding people home but we had a GREAT talk with the bishop!  We talked about how we can better work together to move the work forward.  He wants us to call him daily to coordinate and to work together.  We're so lucky to have him as our bishop!  He also wants to help us find investigators through the ward counsel which will be SUPER nice! 

Sunday was great!  Thanks to the bishop, we had 6 investigators attend church, one being Nai!  It was her first time, and everyone was being great to make her feel welcome!  That night we had a FHE with some kids from YSA and our investigators Liz and Caro. It was alright, we played games, heard a message on "spreading light" and ate arepas with eggs! 

Today was just your average Pday.  Soccer and relaxing.  I love you all, and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Welch

09-08-15 to 09-14-15 Cam

Wow happy 11 months Elder Welch!  I don't say that to be trunky, i just think it's insane how fast the time goes haha. 

This was a pretty alright week!

Tuesday Was a day of lots of walking without appointments which sucked!  That night we visited Dayana and the fam, and she's already reading the Book of Mormon on her own!  It was a fun little mini FHE we had.  We talked about prayer in the family.  We used the talk from the September 2015 Ensign by Henry B Eyring.  I recommend it! 

Wednesday was an interesting day.  we passed by the Vic family, the ones that had bad spirits in their home.  We talked about the priesthood power and how we could offer blessings to homes.  of course they wanted one, so we blessed their home.  Im not sure how it's been since because we havent been able to find them home since.  Poor family was scared to death!  Also, the little boy that lives in front that was convulsing last week is still in the hospital up to this day.  But they should come home tomorrow according to the 13 year old son. 

Thursday was a fairly busy day of 3 lessons!  Best one was with the son of our pensionista, Cam.  It was a change from the past because he actually asked us to talk.  He told us a story how we was into drugs and gangs and how on one occasion he was running from some people that wanted to kill him.  They shot at him but he by some miracle survived and escaped.  He said a man that saw told him that he needed to search for God because he shouldn't have lived through the attack.  Now he's cleaned up and becoming a disciple of Christ.  I gave him Alma 36 to read and reflect over because i think he can relate. 

The other lesson was with Nai (the yoyo lady).  We taught the Law of Chastity which is easy for her being a married woman.  She's super rad.  This weekend she's gonna come with us to church! 

Friday was 9/11.  Though not really recognized here, i remembered.  Hard to believe that 14 years ago has passed since that terrifying day.  We've come a long way!  We had a really good day.  Cam wanted to talk again.  We read Alma 36 together and he was in awe at the similarities in his life.  He told us he just wants to change already.  So we invited him to take the ultimate step and be baptized the 26th of this month.  He happily accepted.  Such a solid kid.  He also helped me reflect on my own purpose as Elder Welch in the mission.  Alma 36:24.  I need to help rescue all i can from the sorrow and guilt ive already passed through and been rescued from.  The Atonement has no respector of persons.  It is infinite and free as long as we accept it and use it. 

Saturday we had a good zone meeting about our loyalty in the mission is first to God, 2nd to the mission president, and 3rd to our companion.  It was a rough day though appointments-wise.  A less active bought us hamburgers which was cool. 

Sunday was stake conference!  All the talks were on the Sabbath Day.  The members here are REALLY good at keeping the sabbath day holy.  A cool talk i liked was on how we take upon ourselves the name of Christ.  as missionaries this is more literal with our name tags.  She talked of a missionary that when he was struggling he just looked at his name tag and thought "my first name is nowhere to be found here.  Just the name of my family, the church and Jesus Christ.  Because we're not in the mission to represent ourselves, but our families, the church and most importantly, Jesus Christ."  It was cool. 

Today We just relaxed.  This thursday Elder Uceda from the 70 is coming to speak to us all day, and i get to play piano!  WOO!  It'll be an exciting week.  Love you all!  have a good one!

Elder Welch

A new friend :)

 (I'll bet this makes him miss his own black cat)

We asked for pictures of cool bugs.

09-01-15 to 09-07-15 Dayana's Baptism!‏

This week has been a good one! 

So tuesday morning we had to go to the internet to take a Preach My Gospel survey that questions our skills in Preach My gospel.  No lies, it made me feel guilty because i lack in SO many things.  I have a LOT to work on.  We had 4 lessons that day which was cool.  One that was pretty interesting was with the Vic family.  So we were explaining the importance of having the priesthood authority to baptize and how kids dont need to be baptized, and somehow they got to asking us about spirits.  I guess the same day the girl in the family had a scary experience where she saw a dark shadow in her room.  I don't want to explain too much because talking about those kind of things isn't good, but we explained how Christ and the gospel can bless them and protect them and their home.  So we're gonna offer to bless their home soon.

Wednesday we had 3 lessons.  The first lesson was with The Mina Mena family, and we ran over a pre-interview so Dayana can get baptized that weekend!  She's so cute, she knows it all and says it with confidence!  That night I went to Morichal (another area in the mission) so i could go with Elder Skinner and Elder Yanzapanta and talk with the lady i interviewed last week and see if i couldnt help.  We made a plan to fast for her this weekend to see if she can't get an answer to her prayers.  Something that was a bummer was when that morning the zone leaders took our phones!  But the offices said to take the phones of the whole mission so it wasnt anything bad.  But it was a bad time!  We couldnt call anyone! 

Thursday I had divisions with Elder Ludwig, and NO one was home that day.  Our only lesson that day was with the son of our pensionista.  We only got up until the apostasy and he wanted to stop.  So it wasnt that great of a lesson.  We were stressing out to figure out how to organize the interviews, and clothing for the baptisms Saturday.  (Elder Ludwig was gonna baptize 2 other little girls too). 

Friday was a LONG day!  Interviews interviews interviews!  First thing that morning, the zone leaders stopped by and gave us our phones back!  We were hoping for an upgrade to iPhones haha but nah, we just got our Nokias again and a lot more rules.  After lunch they came back to give Dayana her interview and she of course passed with flying colors.  She was jumping up and down with excitement haha (she's eight). After that, we were in an appointment with a reference that lives in front of sister Liliana's house, and while we were teaching the restoration, and i just finished testifying of first vision, Liliana came running in frantically with her 2 year old boy in her arms yelling "He's convulsing!  What do i do? I don't have money to go to the hospital!"  Poor boy had his eyes rolling back and his lips were going blue.  So we hurry and gave her all the money from our pockets which wasnt much and she ran to get a taxi.  Sunday the Bishop said he's in the intensive care unit still.  Holy cow!  We didnt really know what to do, so we walked the half an hour home to get money and went to Morichal so i could give 3 baptismal interviews.  We were late due to the ordeal but I gave the interviews.  The mom didnt pass because she has a smoking problem which was sad, and though the 2 kids passed, they dont wanna baptize without their mom. 

Saturday was the baptismal day!  The day started off crazy when Elder Ludwig and I were scrambling to find keys to the chapel so we could start the font filling up before the zone meeting.  The zone meeting was cool, it was on receiving revelation and setting goals.  Then we had another set back!  the zone leaders only brought 1 pair of baptismal clothes for children so we had to run home and eat lunch, then run to the chapel in Cuidad Modelo to get the rest of the baptismal clothing.  At that time it was about 4:30 and i still needed to interview Elder Ludwig's 2 investigators before their baptism!  So we ran to the chapel, interviewed them, and they passed with flying colors!  (children are brilliant).  Dayana, Luz Angela and Michelle were all beaming with joy!  Johanna, Dayana's mom, said she was counting the hours to her baptism she was so excited haha.  It was a fun nice service.  Only let down is that no one came besides the bishop (who baptized Dayana and Luz), the 1 counselor of the bishopric, the ward mission leader, the primary president, and Dayana's parents.  But they didnt care, they were so happy!  Also, Elder Chaiña got to baptize Michelle!  it was a good night, and everything fell into place. 

Sunday was a normal day.  The 3 girls were all confirmed, and we visited some investigators and recent converts that night.  Transfers came, but only one person from my district left. Elder Yanzapanta.  So yeah, there was my week!  Love you all!

Elder Welch

Gettin' his crafty on :) 

With Elder Chaiña and Elder Ludwig

 That must be a missionary hug ;)

 Adorable little new member and her family

Ha! Not sure...

08-25-15 to 08-31-15 Meet the Mormons!

This week has been super rad!  A lot better than the last which is good news!

Monday night i had a really good lesson with our investigator named El and I bore my testimony on the Book of Mormon.  He got pretty excited to read after, now we just got a way to get him a job that doesnt work on Sundays, because as a taxi driver, it's gonna be rough getting him to church!  But i see BAPTISM! 

Tuesday we had a "we sucked last week time to change" type of district meeting.  And i guess it worked because we all had better numbers this week!  I had a really good lesson that day with Nai.  We shared a lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation, and she was super receptive!  When I explained the spirit world to her, it looked like a light turned on in her eyes and she said "oh!  That makes sense!"  The spirit was truly there. 

Wednesday was rough at start because we wandered most the day, but that night was great.  We had to go to our investigator who's husband is the Catholic dude that wont let us talk .  We decided that we'd try and put a baptismal date on her, and if she didnt accept, we'd drop her.  But Lo and behold, she accepted!  19 of September!  Let's see how that goes.  The other lesson that night was with a reference from our Bishop.  We taught the Restoration, and he seemed to like it!  And he lives RIGHT in front of the church, so let's hope we can get him there haha. 

Thursday was alright.  I had divisions with Morichal 2, me with Elder Skinner, and Elder Chaiña with Elder Yanzapanta.  It was actually a really awful day work wise because they had almost NOBODY to teach.  So most the day was walking, and knocking on doors with LOTS of rejections.  It was cool though to talk with Elder Skinner because we have identical tastes in music.  That night I got to give a baptismal interview to one of their investigators whos been investigating more than 2 years.  She didnt end up passing but only for some doubts she has.  Elder Skinner was bummed about the day, he said "I feel like this is how my mom feels when people come over and the house is dirty" (referring to his area) hahaha.  But it was okay, he learned some valuable things. 

Friday we had 4 lessons which was AWESOME!   Our first lesson was a reference from the offices.  He actually recieved lessons in a town on the coast of Colombia up north, and said he'd like to get baptized!  Only problem is he is moving to a red zone in our area and that he's homosexual... but he's super great!  I hope we can get him to make some good choices!  Another cool lesson was with Nai.  Something funny is she said "FULL HD" as a way to say cool! for example: "Your shirt is full HD!" hahaha i was laughing pretty hard.  We ended up talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how she needs to search the Book of Mormon to know if we have the authority to baptize.  She eventually got on the topic of Temples too, and said she wants to go with her family.  I wanna baptize her so bad! 

Saturday was rad, but different!  We had a HUGE stake mission activity called "Meet the Mormons" where we basically had free popcorn, soda and invited the entire world to watch the movie Meet the Mormons.  We started at 6:30 with about 150 people is all, so the entire zone hit the streets and started talking with EVERYONE!  By the end of the night we had 370 people!  It was super rad!  the assistents were stopping cars to invite them, it was hilarious hahaha.   Only thing is that out of ALL those people, i bet very few will be for Valle Grande because we live further away, but baptisms are baptisms, no matter who teaches them! 

Sunday was excellent.  We had a great ward council, because the bishop asked us what they could do to help?  We suggested daily organized divisions with priesthood holders and assignments for members to pass by for investigators to take them to church.  The bishop is happy to do it!  I'm hyped!  And we had 7 people come to church!  One of the highest in the mish!  I love it!  That night we had a FHE with the YSA kids again, and they brought a new investigator named Juan.  I shared an article on the Savior from Milton Ballard out of the December 2014 Liahona, and we all shared our testimonies of Christ.  It was great.  At the end, all the YSA kids were like " hey Juan!  You should get baptized!  How's the 12 of september?"!  hahaha!  So great.  It was a great time.  I love this ward.

Today we went to downtown Cali to see if Elder Guillen could find a speaker, but he didnt find one he wanted.  But it was a nice day to chill,  Anywho, love you all!  It's been a great week!  Also, ive been eating more fruits!  You're welcome mom ;)

Elder Welch

 It looks like the puzzle is coming along nicely :)

 We asked him for more pictures of the interesting 

bugs, food, etc.

Not sure who the friends are but Elder Welch sure is cute :)

8/18/15 - 8/24/15 Zone Conferences and illnesses‏

This week has been a slow one due to long conferences and illnesses! 

Tuesday was our zone conference and also Tayler's birthday!  Something funny is i remember the last one was on Tayler and Stephen's anniversary!  It was a good conference, but as always, INCREDIBLY long!  We were there at 11:15, ate Dominos for lunch (YES) and went until 8 at night!  Phew!  But we learned some cool things about obedience, speaking with faith, working as a team etc.  That night when we got back to the house, we went to get something to eat nearby and met a guy from Florida that got deported back here.  He was super cool and is basically super American now haha. 

Wednesday I had divisions with Elder Altamirano from my district.  It was a rad day!  Their area has been Rough, but we had a good day!  Something funny was there's a guy in their area that is NUTS.  Everytime he sees Elder Altamirano's companion Elder Critchlow (a gringo) he yells "HAY ESTA!  QUEMAMOS LO!" Which is to say "THERE HE IS!  BURN HIM!"  And he did the same to me!  So i guess he hates the gringos!  A spiritual experience we had was during a lesson with a new investigator, I quoted the first vision of Joseph Smith and after gave a powerful sincere testimony of it, and the spirit was SUPER strong.  I almost made the member with us cry haha.  Unfortunately the new investigators were still rough to deal with and i can tell their hearts have been hardened. 

Thursday I was WHIPPED because i slept very poorly at the other Elders house thanks to the fact that there is no pillow.  A good lesson we had was when we talked with Nai.  We read from the Book of Mormon with her, and she seems to be interested.  We hope she can keep her commitment and aread and pray.  That night we also had a little miracle of finding a "lost" inacative.  lost to say that she's not registered here.  But she said shes been thinking of coming back to the church lately.  So that was cool! 

Friday, we went and visited Jo and D, the investigators that are gonna baptize of Elder Ludwig and Elder Guillén because THEY MOVED TO OUR AREA!  inherited baptisms!  the only problem is getting D's papers so he can marry jo.  And he doesnt know where he's registered... and his mom won't say because she doesnt want athem to get married.  ALWAYS SOMETHING! 

Saturday AI woke up feeling SUPER sick from a cold.  I was sneezing like a fool.  We went out to try and work, but maybe God didnt want us to that day because everyone of our confirmed appointments blew us off.  So we went to get me some meds, agua panela, went to mission coordination and went home.  it was a arough day. 

Sunday I was starting ato feel bettaer which was nice.  And we had 5 investigators come to chuarch which was a treat!  One investigator of ours, Liz, wasn't gonna come but a member passed by without asking and brought her!  LOVE this ward!  The bishop told a really good story during sacrament meeting on his conversion.  I guess he had a bad drinking problem.  And when he was young, his little boy needed a new pair of shoes because they were poor.  When he got the money, he spent it at the bar on the way home.  As a result his wife got very angry and kicked him out.  WHile in the street, he met the missionaries, and they said God had given him a second chance.  Now here he is!  Beautiful to know how God guides us to the prepared.  Sad part of Sunday was when we walked ALL over and no one could visit.

Today i bought a new speaker because the one i brought from home is dying!  Good news is the dollar is up to 3200 pesos so now all us gringos can get everything super cheap!  WOO!  USA!  haah.  so yeah there was my week.  It was alright, just kinda slow.  But it's alright! 

PS sorry for all the A's thrown everywhere, this keyboard ahas a sticky A key. 

Love you all, stay safe! 

Elder Welch

08-11-15 to 08-17-15

This week has been rad! 

Tuesday was SUPER COOL!  I went in divisions with my zone leader Elder Green from Layton!  He's a super cool/fun guy, and is a legendary missionary.  We talked to a ton of people, and had some great lessons!  I kind of brought down some hammer on some less actives.  I asked if they loved God, and when they said yes i quoted from John where Christ says "If you love me, keep my commandments".  It was rad.  But i spoke to them with the spìrit and with power.  It was a spiritual day, and Elder Green and I got to be a bit better of buds.  It's nice to have zone leaders that are your friends. 

Wednesday I was whipped from Tuesday because Elder Green and I talked all night!  it was fun to see what Elder Chaiña learned from Elder Lyon.  He was being more outgoing and talking more!  I'm a proud father :') I also got my hands on a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World.  I'm using it on lots of families lately.  It's a wonderful thing to pass over if you all get the chance!

Thursday we were kind of having a hard time finding people home, but we got a killer reference from a member named Omaira.  She's feeling really lonely lately, lost her husband a ways back and has liked what she's seen in the church.  I'm just happy we can share with her the plan of salvation to help her. 

Friday was rad because we found some cool new people. One is an entire family.  The missionaries before hardly taught them, but the dad of the family had a TON of questions, all pointing to the Plan of Salvation.  It was just an intense experience to answer a TON of his questions.  They're super great.  Also, the mom said she lost a baby of 7 months old, so it was beautiful to tell her that her baby is saved and not condemned like everyone's been telling her. 

Saturday I had a super cool contacting experience!  So we were knocking on the door of a less active, and he wasnt there.  I turned around to see a lady of about 40 something years old playing with a yoyo in front of the store.  So i pulled out the yoyo mom sent me and started playing with it too and trying to do some tricks like around the world!  The lady started laughing and we went to talk with her.  She's super cool!  She agreed to let us talk to her!  Thanks mom for the yoyo hahaha. 

Sunday I was kind of bummed because we had this HUGE family all planned out to come to church and they didnt come.  We even sent a member to get them.  But i got to meet the son of the bishop sunday who just got off his mission!  his name is Sebastian and he's super rad!  He's down to go to appointments and everything with us.  So that night we went to visit the yoyo lady with him!  She is VERY prepared by the Lord.  She shared of how she's been praying to know which church she should congregate at. She's also married which is a MIRACLE in Colombia, and she said she wants a good clean organized church to go to.  We had a very spiritual lesson too.  She seemed deep in thought when we left.  It was amazing.  Just good days to be a missionary!  I've been trying to get better and using "inspired questions" lately.  To follow the spirit better to ask good effective heaven sent questions. 

Today we went to La 14 in Calima and i bought a thousand piece puzzle and we got a fan for the house!  So on p days and when we have time im gonna finish the puzzle!  Good times!  Anywho, I love you all!  have a great week!