Holy Cow!

(Note from Carol Anne: I just got this letter in the mail from Hayden today. Some of the information is "old news" and it is a duplicate of his previous emails—however there are a few added details so I put it in again.)

2/9/11

Hey Everybody,

All I have to say is HOLY COW! What the heck?! I leave and it is like the flood gates open for crazy stuff! I realize your happy cuz I am gone —but —Geez! Ya do not need to party so much that you wreck the van! But for real that is kind of scary. I am glad that the thing with dad might turn out better in the long run....but still that is nuts. Please keep me posted though on how everything works out. If I got home and found out something like this had happened and you did not tell me about it.....I would be so mad!!! So good call mom! Ha Ha! I am glad to know you and Abby are alright! How about the van? Is it done for? or just getting fixed or what?
So Abby I heard your play went well.

2/16/11

Hey sorry, I got interrupted last week. I can not remember why but it must have been pretty important. —Ha Ha —Just Kidding! But I really have been busy lately. I have been having a lot of fun though as well. I have made a lot of friends with the Latinos! I am actually sitting here with them right now. They are so hilarious! They all love teaching us Spanish but they all give Elder Sorenson a hard time because he never speaks it. I am really trying to get him to but he never will. For me the Spanish is coming really well! Last Sunday I was able to understand the whole meeting and yesterday one of the members of the area seventy Elder Martino came and usually I use the translator headphone that they give us, I decided not to use them and I understood the whole thing! I was even answering questions and everything! It was like the meeting that I have gotten the most out of since I have been here so far! I took almost two pages of notes. The notes were really funny though. I was trying to write them in English at first, but I was just trying to write as fast as I could so I was not really thinking and they ended up being half in Spanish and half in English! It was hilarious.

Oh yeah, but I did not get to tell you everything about the Central Park today in my email. So it was yesterday and it was the best ever! The drive there was way cool! We all crammed onto a bus and it was way full! Like all of the seats were full and there were people standing and crammed in as tight as they could. It was the BEST!—Ha Ha—But when we got there it was so cool. Like I said in my email— the first few people we approached Elder Godoy pretty much talked to but after that I talked more than I thought I was going to. We got four appointments for investigators to meet with the missionaries in our area not including the one I gave the Book of Mormon to. I learned more in those couple of hours than I did any other day. One day out there is like four or five in here just because they were real investigators and because English did not exist. It was really a relief because I could just speak all the Spanish I could cuz when I speak it with my companion Elder Sorenson he doesn't really understand and Elder Godoy does not really speak any English so it was nice to go out with him and be challenged to speak all Spanish.

2/18/11

Hey! Sorry! Got cut off again! So I finally got sick! I slept for like 14 hours yesterday! But I am feeling better now. I did not just get sick because I am a gringo either because there were a bunch of Latinos that got sick too. Yesterday there were like ten or fifteen of us stuck in bed. It was nuts! But things are still going really well! The Spanish is still going really well. All of the Latinos are leaving to the field on Monday so all of my new friends are going to be out of here so that is going to stink. I am going to keep in touch with a lot of them though, and more will be getting here on Thursday and the new North Americans get here on Wednesday so that will be fun too!

I'm really doing well though. We get to go to the temple grounds tomorrow to contact people outside of the temple grounds. On Tuesday we are going to the market place—I am way excited for that! It is just going to be our district because that is after everyone leaves  and the new ones come in. So, we won't have Latino companions to help us. It is going to be way tough but really good!

So, I don't know how long this will take to get to you—tell me when you email when you get it so I know how long it takes. I am sending it off tomorrow Saturday Feb. 19th. I still have not got a Dear Elder. I thought you said you sent one-but maybe not. I got one from Lexi but all it said was let her know when I got it so she knew how long it took. I got it last Wednesday though, after I emailed.

Alright, well I better get going so I can get this sent off finally. Make sure to let me know what is goin' on back in little ol' Heber City. Make sure to let me know how dad is doing! I'm guessing since I did not get a report about him this week he is doing alright.....How are Whitney, Bryan and Avery doing? I heard Jerry quit the Jazz!!!! What the heck?! If that aint a sign of the times I do not know what is! And I heard there were like three earthquakes in Saratogo Springs. That's nuts! Alright well, just let me know how everything is going. I love you all so much and miss you a ton. Tell everyone I say hi and that I am doing well. (If anyone is wondering.) Ha ha! Thanks for all your support EVERYBODY! Taylor and Abby included! You two be good and don't get into to much trouble.  And everyone take care of yourselves! I am hoping this week has been a little less crazy! Alright, well I better go for real this time. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Welch