Highlights from our Christmas Phone Call

So here is just a few of the things that I remember from Hayden's call home. We called him at nine thirty his time when he came in for the night. We were at our traditional lasagna dinner at Grandma Murdock's and the whole clan was there. It was a bit hectic to say the least.


1. Hayden is doing well. He was homesick for our Christmas traditions and for his family. However when I told him that he only had one more year before he would be home and I mentioned that other missionaries say the second year goes by a lot faster—he said, "I am not ready for that, it really worries me. This year has gone by WAY to fast and I do not want the next one to go by faster. I do not want my mission to be over." He said he loves his mission and he loves the people.

2. He did mention that it was hard there in Guatemala. He was not complaining or anything ...just a matter of fact.

3. He said that he was "STUFFED" full of tamales.....listening to Christmas music on his new iPod and relaxing in his new Christmas Story pajamas. He said that he wanted to eat a little Christmas Candy that we had sent but he could not fit another thing in his stomach.

4. He said that his health is great but that having the diarrhea most of the time is just part of being in Guatemala. Phillip warned him that the tamales were going to creep up on him...and if you read the previous blog ...it came to pass....literally :)

5. He enjoyed talking Spanish with Bryan. Bryan said he is very good at speaking the language. He did mention that he had quite the Guatemalan accent when he spoke. He told Bryan that one of the families that he baptized walks four miles to get to church every Sunday. Amazing!!!!! and we are late when we have to drive 2 minutes.....need to work on that!

6. He got very emotional when he spoke to Avery. Avery said, "I love you Hay'N" and she wished him a "Merry Kiss...mas"....she did not speak at all when he left and to hear her voice made him cry. He kept wanting her to say more but then she got shy. A good portion of the time when Avery comes to my house to visit all she wants to do is to get on my computer and look at photos of Hayden. She especially likes the ones of him eating marshmallows with the family from Dolores.

7. He talked Guatemala food with Grandma Murdock for quite awhile. We found out that the tamales Hayden is eating are not what we think of when we think of a tamale. I guess that they often have a fig in them. Grandma and Grandpa Murdock were recently called to serve a mission in the Lindon Cannery. They will be released form their "mission" about the time that Hayden comes home. I guess Hayden and Grandpa joked that they can report at the same meeting—Hayden reporting on his conversions and Grandpa reporting on his "can" versions. They thought that was really funny.....Hayden misses Grandpa's silly sense of humor.

8. He told Abby and Taylor that if they get straight A's and become fluent in Spanish he will take them back to Guatemala. I think he better prepare because Abby is going to do it and she will hold him to the deal!!! And knowing Hayden....he will take her. He does not make a promise that he does not follow through on. It might take him a few years —but he will follow through! And the challenge made Taylor excited because he is already learning Spanish. He is so excited to be able to talk to Bryan and Hayden....and make jokes about mom without her knowing it.

9. When it came time to go He did not want us to. He kept asking silly questions and saying don't go yet.   We had to call late in the night and that was not a good time to call. Nothing to distract him and help him adjust back into Guatemala and missionary life before going to bed and being homesick. Note to self....do not do that next time. Also we had difficulty with the calling cards and had to run and get different ones. The first connections were bad and we had to keep calling back. On Mother's Day everything worked like a charm so we did not worry to much about all of that. It was a bit chaotic for sure but in the end it worked out.

10. He still misses Dolores, but is doing great work with the members and the investigators that he has found in San Jeronimo and he loves it there too.

11. He did tell me a story that made me cry about the orphanage in San Jeronimo. He said that he and Elder M. were walking by and that they saw a little girl playing with her Barbie (one of the ones we sent) all by herself in the dirt. He said that she looked up and saw them and lit up. She started yelling, "Elders, Elders, Elders!" and she came up to the fence and talked to them through the fence for a while. It made Hayden so happy to see her so excited to see them.

I just have visions of a grown women someday letting the Elders into her home to teach her because she remembers the kindness shown in an orphanage when she was little. By small things do great things come to pass.

10. And last but not least........ It was just wonderful to hear his voice. He sounded very tired, a bit homesick.....but strong and mature. He is doing Well. What a wonderful Christmas present for all of us.

Merry Christmas from San Jeronimo

Hey Mom,

Ha ha! Yeah, sorry I am on early. We didn't do anything for an activity today because we were going to go to Coban as a zone but the Hermanas in the district didn't want to— so we just stayed here. And it's probably a pretty good thing we did cuz all of those tamales we ate on Christmas are sure gettin the better end of me. I have been on the john since like four thirty in the morning! Ha ha ha! Phillip...you sure were right! So good thing we stuck around here. 

Well I am going to send a lot of pictures today. The first ones are of the activity that we did for P-day last week on my birthday.

The first one here is of what Elder M. did for me on my birthday.
 He woke up super early and did it and hung it
on the wall so I would see it when I woke up. Ha ha!

The next ones are of our P-day activity.
We went to a waterfall and It is a called Los Churos.
(And no...that does not refer to a wonderfully fried desert snack
rolled in cinnamon sugar typically eaten at Disneyland. Ha ha!)

 So, this is from the top. First the waterfall and then that is the pool at the bottom that we were at first. It was super cool! And that is one of the Hermanas. You can´t see the other one, she´s behind the rocks but they didn't want to come up so they stayed down there and took pictures of us from down there. I still haven't passed those ones to my memory card either though.

That pool that you can see at the bottom of the waterfall is supposedly pretty deep. It sure gave me the urge to jump in I'm not gonna lie.

This was another little waterfall that we found on the way down. 

In the first picture, that water that is running right past me is pretty much all the water from the waterfall! It doesn’t even look like it but it is It was super cool! 

I was just sitting on the rock right next to this big old river running right over it. 

After we were down at the bottom for a while we hiked up and around to the back and hiked down the river to get to the top of the waterfall.

You can see it better in the ones from down below like where
Elder M. is squatting on the rock.
That is just a giant rock where the water is falling
and the water just runs right over it.

  The last one is just on the way back up the river to 

find our way back down to the bottom.  

Here's a couple of the lunch that we had for the Christmas Conference.

It was chicken and rice and salad and it was Great! We had it at this nice hotel.

This is a photo of the Verepaz and Coban zones at Christmas  Conference.

There is one of Hna. Watts with some of the girls from the orphanage. I loved that picture! 

Alright, these are some pictures from our BRANCH Christmas party. It was super fun. We had it at a hotel that is owned by one of the members of the branch. It is super neat.
You would love it mom! It's got a pond with a bridge and everything! It's way cool!   

We did like a little performance called a pastoreda. Idk...its kinda like a parody about challenges the shepherds faced on their way to see the baby Jesus. It was kinda weird, but whatever...it was fun.

 So, before the production, we did our dance performance thing as the Elders´ Quorum.
I didn´t get any pictures of that though. I was going to get them from this girl in the branch´s camera that took some, but I haven´t had a chance yet. I´ll try to get them for next week though cuz they should be pretty hilarious.We made old man masks and put them on with like this black cover thing that we put over us and started dancing like old men and then when the first song ended they turned of the lights and we pulled off the masks and the cover thing and underneath we were all dressed in our black pants black vests and red ties and we started dancing normal. It was super funny and way fun. But here are a couple pictures of us all dressed up in our vests and stuff. 

The first one is of Elder Monzon and I and Presidente G. C. He is so awesome! but he left to Mexico last week. I can't remember if I told you that. 

The next one is of a few more of us. The young looking guy with the straight up Brigham Young beard is our branch president! Ha ha! He´s way cool.

Also some pictures of the pinata afterward. It was super fun. They made me lower the pinata because it got stuck and no one else could reach it!
Abby, Taylor and Bryan have been joking that it must be a boost to his self esteem to finally be the tallest person around. :)

 
 Then there are a couple of the dance they had at the end that we took these pictures on our way out the door.

 

Here are some pictures of my desk area with all my Christmas stuff! Ha ha! That is the mask that I used for the dance.

And my happy birthday banner that Abby made! Thanks Abby! Your the best!

And one of my Grandma Stella doll on my desk by my popcorn can.... 

This is a photograph of Hayden's Christmas Tree and the presents we sent for he and his companion.  We sent the ornaments and the lights and told Hayden that it was his job to find, make or create the Christmas Tree. He told us on the Christmas phone call that the Wednesday before Christmas he still had not found a tree and had not found the time to create one.  He was feeling a little down about it.  He said that while they were out working they passed a "Paca" or a Guatemalan thrift store and in the window was this little tree. He told me that he thought to himself, "That tree is meant for me." He raced in and bought it. He put it on a a couple of boxes from his Christmas presents and the Elder that was there before him had left his bed sheets so he created in his words, "A little tree skirt." and he was set. He has created quite a little Christmas for himself. He always has been resourceful. I think it looks pretty great! and it brought a little bit of home to Guatemala.

OK—gotta go! I love you Mom!  

Thanks to everybody who sent me stuff for my birthday and Christmas. I love you all so much!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!


Elder Welch

Happy Birthday Hayden!!!!

Hey! 

So, I don't really have much time. We are in Rabinal cuz we went to this cool waterfall place and we had to use internet at this crappy place here and it is super slow and I have been trying to get my birthday song off —Ha ha ha. I finally did!!! Woooohoooo! But —Dad—I didn't get any pictures if you sent some...

But— first thing I have to tell you is—YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!!!! I did get my iPod and it is so awesome! I love it! I also got everything else. You guys are so awesome! Thank you soooo much. 

So, I would send you some pictures from today and some more from yesterday but this place is pretty cruddy so I can´t. It won't work. So I'll just tell you, it's been a pretty good birthday. I opened my package and that was awesome. Then we headed up to the waterfall and we took some sweet pictures! Mom, you probably would have killed me...Ha ha ha... but hey, it's my birthday!!!!!! And then we came here. I am super hungry though. I haven't eaten anything all day! 

So also, I wanted to send you pictures of our branch Christmas party! It was so awesome! I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas party! Me and Elder Monzon were part in two acts for the party and it was super funny! We did a dance performance with the Elders Quorum!!!! Ha ha! It was hilarious! And all these Latinos are teaching me how to dance! Ha ha! But don't worry, we made sure it was permitted and no female was even remotely involved!  

Bad news though, my absolute favorite member of our branch left to Mexico today and he´s not sure if he is going to be coming back. He invited us to his house last night to have dinner one last time with him and his family and he told us that out of all the hundreds of missionaries that he has known, he loves and respects Elder Monzon and me probably the most out of any. He is the one I think I told you about that was branch president in Georgia for like twelve years or something. But he said to make sure to give him my address and everything because he wants to stay in contact. He is an amazing man. He has been such a great example for me! I was almost crying my eyes out when we had to say goodbye to him last night. 

But OK, I better get going. Thank you for telling me about the Christmas party and everything! It was so good to hear that all the good old traditions are still hangin' strong!

Now for a shout out to McKay:

Mack I am super proud of you! You are going to do an awesome job! You will be the happiest you have ever been if you choose to BE OBEDIENT!! And work as hard as you can. And have fun!!! I love you man. Tear it up out  there in NC! 

Ok, I better get going. My times up but I will send some pictures next week. 

Love you all. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD.....week. 

Talk you you on SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh yeah! I almost forgot! My number is ........ and call at like two or so! I will be waiting! And if I don't answer I had to leave for a lesson. In that case, call back at like 9:30 when I get home. Wooooohooooooo! Love you all!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

A WHOLE lot of news from Hayden this week!

Hi,

 Before I begin I  have great news! The most important news of the day!!!!! Just the other day Elder M. and I put baptismal dates for the 30th of December with two of the kids from the P. Family!!!! Wooooohoooo! Next week I will tell you all about them.

Oh —and here are some photographs that I promised you from last weeks p-day when we went to the waterfall.

The first one is of me on the trail we had to hike to get there. It is a trail that they use to run cattle so it is insanely muddy! That stuff that looks like a huge running muddy river is just strait up mud. It was pretty crazy. We passed some pack horses going up on the way. It was pretty cool. They were in mud up to their bellies. And I didn't bring my boots because I didn't know I needed to and I was the only one without them because they rent them at the trail head but non of them fit me. But I think I came out cleaner than everyone else. I just had to hike very carefully and smart! Ha ha! There is a giant hole that I about fell into (He is talking about the crevice at the bottom of the photo that you can barely see.) I was walking on the trail there above it and one of my feet slipped off the edge and I was on one foot balancing on the edge right above that hole. And it was probably like seven feet deep and the bottom is probably like another five feet of pure mud! I woulda been in a pretty sticky situation. The next ones are of the waterfall!

Then one of me and a baby calf that we found in the village we visited to go to the waterfall that loved to give me kisses!

Me and Elder M.

....and then one of me eating this crazy cooked vegetable thing that I have no idea what it was but we bought from this little girl in the village that was walking around selling them. They were actually super good. It was kinda like a potato but SUPER flavorful. It was called malanga. 

I found this on the Internet about malanga—Malanga is a brown, hairy tuber in the Arum family that is cultivated in many tropical regions around the world. It is closely related to taro root. Like taro, malanga usually is ground into a paste that can be used to make a rich, starchy flour, which can be used in an assortment of foods. In addition to being ground up for flour, the corms also can be sliced and fried, stewed or grilled. The leaves also are used as sources of roughage appearing in stews and in other dishes while they are still young and tender.

Consumers of this tuber describe the flavor as nutty and very earthy. Some people say that it tastes more like an nut than a vegetable. 

Next is the picture of me on Wednesday when I received my huge load of packages! Ha ha! 
I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Murdock. THANK YOU!!! 
....and one from Kris and Lani. THANK YOU TOO!!!! 
....and then three from the fam.

I opened the pre- Christmas one from the fam and the one from Grandma and Grandpa cuz it said Happy Birthday and idk...I wanted to open it! Ha ha! But I am being patient with the others.
I will open the birthday one from the fam on the birthday and the other two on Christmas! 
......unless you want me to do otherwise...
Or in other words— Will you tell me to open them all NOW! Please, Please, Please! 
He has never been very patient in waiting to open gifts!

Ha ha, answering your question... yeah, I love it here in san chomo! It is awesome...once again I still miss Dolores...but this place is growing on me. 

So now I'll just quickly tell you about the day today. It was our Christmas Conference and it was amazing!!! It was one of the BEST p-days EVER! We went to an orphanage! I think that this is really saying something because he has had some pretty amazing p-days if you ask me: exploring ruins, spelunking in caves, finding waterfalls and let's not forget killing Pit Vipers! How I love that THIS was his BEST p-day EVER!

Mom, Hermana Watts says thank you sooooo much for everything. I had no idea that you sent as much as you did. You are amazing. And the kids LOVED everything. Thank you so much! 

I have pictures, I'll send them to you!!! 

Just an update with all of our efforts we were able to send 13 boxes CRAM full of great stuff! I kind of played it down with Hayden and did not say much other than we were working on a "little" project. I did not want to ruin the surprise of the orphanage or for it to sound boastful in anyway. I will write another post with more photos and information later on how it all turned out ....But for now I just want to say THANK YOU to all of Hayden's family and friends who helped. I can not wait to show you how great it turned out! You were such a big part of Hayden's best p-day ever! Thank you!

Anyway, so, first of all, the orphanage is in our area, so we had to wait for everyone and take them there. Then we all sang Christmas songs together with the kids, then we sang Christmas Carols in English for them, then we went and played games with them and then we all got back together and gave out the present bags and got to know the kids more.  Then we all sang Silent Night in Spanish for them, had a prayer and left. 

After we went to this nice hotel in our area and had lunch and then we watched ¨Tangled¨!! That was awesome! Then Hermana and President Watts talked to us, then we all took pictures and then we came here to internet. It was an awesome day! 

Hayden sent only a couple of photos from the orphanage. They are mostly with the dolls that Grandma Stella made while she was sick just before she died. You can tell by the focus of his thoughts and and the few photos that he sent that this meant a lot to him. If you look closely you can see a few of the bears with the headbands and dresses in the background, the jax sacks and the little bags of toys, as well as many of the other toys we sent. Mom, I am not sure if your soccer balls got there in time for this orphanage or not. I know they are doing more than just this zone conference though. I will post more info. and more photos later. I just wanted to explain why Hayden seems to be focused on the little "blanket dolls" It is a very emotional connection for him.

OK, here are some of the pictures from the orphanage. 
The first one is of me with some of Grandma Stella´s dolls. 
(Shhhhh....I stole one) 
Ha ha— just kidding there was one left over so I took it! Ha ha!

  Then there is a picture of me and my group of kids. Paúla, Jackalyn, Nymfa, and Cristina

And ...YES! Marie and Butch I do see all of the cement and pavement.....shoulda sent the sidewalk chalk! I am eating crow right now!Well —I ate crow weeks ago when I knew you were right—I am just admitting it now! ;)

and the next is of another little girl who got one of Grandma Stella's dolls.

The next picture is of me with a little girl that also got one of Grandma's dolls. She fell asleep playing, but I wanted to take a picture with her anyway so I just held it by her.  Ha ha!

The last one is of Luis. He was in my group —just cuz he liked me I guess...Ha ha! Because all of the other girls were friends but he just came and hung out with me!

 I'm going to print off some of the pictures and take them to the orphanage 
and drop them off to the kids. But that activity was awesome!

I also took a bunch of pictures for Hermana Watts because her camera died so she will be sending those to you guys too ...sometime ...so that will be awesome!

OK, so my time is almost up, I'll try and send some more pictures of the orphanage next week and you´ll probably get some from Hermana Watts. and EVERYONE says to tell my parents and family thank you so much for everything you did. Especially the dolls! Everyone thought that was so special!
But anyway, Sorry that was super quick and really vague, but I am out of time.

If there is anything I need to do with the packages tell me now quick! I gotta go!
Once again hoping I would say, "Sure—Open them ALL NOW! :)

I love you all SOOO MUCH and I will talk to you next week!

Con amor,
Elder Welch

While Hayden was online typing his letter his little sister Abby was online as well. The following is a conversation that they had. I thought it was so cute that I included it. Abby's comments are in blue.

Hey hady wady!! Guess who it is???? Haha that's right your favorite sister!!!! hahaha I was just looking at the picture of the cow! He is super cute! Mom said you are gonna get some kinda strange disease or something! hahahaha :P and ya..That's pretty much all that I wanted to say...that and that I LOVE YOUR STINKING GUTS!!! Mom told me to tell you that I made some of the stuff for the orphanages and that it makes me super happy that they liked them! haha:)

Ha ha! Thanks Abby!!!!! I love you!!!!! They sure did love it! And don't worry. The cow was newly borne. It hasn't had enough time to contract any crazy Guatemalan disease yet —I don't think! Ha ha! Just kidding— but he was super cool and he loved me! He loved for me to pet behind his ears and under his chin!

Haha sounds more like a dog than a cow to me!!!! haha jk I'm jealous he sounds so cute!!! And uhhhh....how newly born??? Haha jk I wasn't worried...just mom;) Jk she was just teasin':D Haha that is so cool!!! Did you get any pictures of the teddy bears we made?

You made those?! Holy moly! They all LOVED those!!!!! I did but I will send them next week!!! Gotta go Abs, I love you! Bye!

I just thought some of the fam would enjoy that as much as I did! I will post more on the orphanage project as I get photos! Again thanks for all of your help! As you can tell it made a bunch of children and one special Elder- Sooo— happy! CA

A family in Mopan is getting baptized!!! And the members in SJ are AMAZING!!

So—my health is just fine! I had some sort of allergy the other day and was stuffed up for like a day, day and a half, but other than that I am doing just fine. 


It´s cold here too, but I'm sure you´ve got me beat. I seriously don't know what I'm going to do when I get home! Me and Elder M. sleep in sweats and hoodies and socks and all bundled up and everything! The last two days have actually not been too bad but they say it gets a lot worse for Christmas, so we´ll see....I sure do miss the snow though! I tell my comp all the time, if I am this cold, there should be snow. And if I am this cold, I should be snowboarding!!! Ha ha ha! But anyway, this place really does remind me of home. 


Today we went to a waterfall that was kinda like Bridal Veil. It is supposedly the tallest waterfall in all of Central America...it definitely was not as big as it sounds....it may or may not have been a little taller than Bridal Veil...but it was super fun. Me and my comp and Elder Chavez hiked like clear up close to the waterfall and stuff. They all rented rubber boots but they didn't have any in my size and I didn't know we needed them so I did not bring my own, so I was slippin' all over the place jumping from rock to rock. I thought for sure I was going in! But it was super fun. 


I have pictures to send but my stupid card isn't working here again for some reason so I can't send any pictures nor save any on there to print off. Which really stinks, cuz I got the pictures of Grant and Avery!!!! CONGRATS BRYAN AND WHITNEY!!!! Woo-hoo! I'm an uncle twice over! Ha ha ha! But —Oh my holy crud! You might all call me crazy but if I might put my two cents in, he looks just like Grandpa Murdock!!!!!! In one of those pictures you sent me it was like I was looking at a mini Grandpa Murdock sleeping in Bryan's arms! Ha ha ha! Alright, and I'll try and see whats up with my card so I can get it up and running again. 


So, I'm not gonna lie...when you told me about those dolls from Grandma Stella you got me. First time I think I´ve cried at Internet time! That is so perfect. Thank you so much. And tell Grandma Murdock thank you so much for the soccer balls she sent. The kids will love them so much! Oh! And that just reminded me of the kids from Mopan! I keep calling Elder Plata to see how they are doing and just the other day I got some amazing news!!! One of the families accepted a baptismal date!!!!!! They are getting married on the ninth of this month and then they are going to get baptized and the whole branch is pitching in to do like a whole big wedding with a luncheon and everything!!! That makes me super happy! The other families though haven´t yet. Idk, but Elder Plata told me they are having a little bit of a harder time. But we´ll see...


And you asked about me and my new comp too. We are getting along super well! He is an awesome guy! He wants to be a graphic designer and he says that he wants to come stay with us for a while and study in Utah, so I hope that if that actually goes through that's cool with you guys...haha. But idk. He is way awesome though. We are way good friends. We´ve gotta work a little on the obedience factor once again though, but everything´s going well. 


Alright, I better get going though...sorry I don't have too much to report this week. We are working with this family though that has been inactive for like 17 years and they have four kids that are all older now that never got baptized but they have some problems that they have had with a member in the branch. I´ll try and maybe find a story to tell ya about them next week. 


Oh and the members here are AMAZING! They are so awesome. Especially the first councilor of the branch presidency. He is such a good guy and I have already learned so much from him. Me and Elder M. are going to sing the "Little Toy Trains" song with him and his wife in the branch Christmas party! Ha ha! He is from Mexico but lived and studied in the states for like seven years or something and knows English pretty well...he is way cool.


But alright, I gotta go, sorry I didn't send this for a while. The Internet went out for a while so I just kept typing. 


And I will be getting pouch here pretty soon because today the zone leaders just left to the capitol for concilio so we´ll see if the packages get up here. If not, it might not be until changes. But that's totally fine. It doesn't really matter when I get it, just that it actually makes it here!  Oh and OF COURSE I did not leave my food in Dolores! Ha ha— I used my extra backpack solely for that purpose! It was super full of just my Thanksgiving food! I haven´t cooked it all yet though. Elder M. and I hardly eat in the house because the members don't even let us! They are always giving us food! But I'm getting it eaten little by little. Thanks! It is the best!


Alright, but for real now— I gotta go. I love you all so much! 


And mom, tell everyone thank you so much for everything. It really means so much to me. And tell them that I love them so much.  LOVE YOU!!!!! 


Talk to ya next week.


Elder Welch