So this week was a super good one!

So— I posted the last two blogs out of order! This is actually last weeks email and the previous post is this weeks. Since I am new to this whole "blog" thing, I do not know how to edit it. Sorry!     CA

Hey!

So yeah, you are right mom. Elder L is gone. He just left right now. Hermano E the taxi driver came to pick him up and right after he left we came here. So now it is just Elder T and me here. It's going to be super weird! But it will be good. Elder T. is a good guy.

So this week was a super good one! Last week we received a reference from a member in that new area I told you we started working on. It is her friend that lives just across the street that she told us she has been preparing for years to receive the gospel. She has talked to her about it all the time and she has even taken her to Relief society activities and everything in the past. The sister's name is G. G's son was baptized when he was a teenager and always told her she should join the church and stuff but she never did. The missionaries before only taught him and never even talked to anyone else in the family. But her son died of a sickness at 29 and she was super sad about it and stuff and we have taught her about eternal families and she loves it! So we just found her last week. She lives with her husband, her daughter and her granddaughter. I still hadn't met the husband nor the daughter because the one time they were home we were on splits and Elder L went with N but that night they taught them about the conference and stuff and they invited them. they said they were super excited. But we weren't sure if they were going to go because of the distance but sure enough, yesterday morning a half and hour early they all four walk in with Hermana R and her family (the one that gave us the reference) but they didn't even come together. G and her family all came all on their own and were so excited! After the conference they told us that they LOVED it! And that they are going to be in church this next Sunday too. We have an appointment with them next Saturday because that is when R the husband is going to be there but G asked if we could also pass by during the week with the rest of the family so we are going to call her today and set that up and get N or someone else to go with us so we can teach them. But they are so pilas!!!!! They are such a special family!

Also, after conference we had planned to go with our elders quorum pres. Hermano J to contact one of his references that he gave us that he had contacted on the bus and had gone with his whole family to visit them a number of times and gave them all Books of Mormon and invited them to read it and everything. He is so amazing! So we called him and he told us he was already there visiting them so we went there and had a lesson with them. they were all already on 1 Nephi 19!!!! That is so nuts! So they are super amazing too! We have only visited them once though. We talked about baptism and invited them to baptism and they said that they would love too but they said they would have to have a little more time to think and pray about when and everything. So we are super excited about them. Alright, Gotta go! But i love you all SOOO much!!!!

Con amor,
Elder Welch

Well this was a pretty great week.

Hey guys,

Well sorry I am writing late and it might be short.......it's cuz Elder T. took a super long time in Mega Paca! Ha ha ha ha! We're not gonna have time to buy food or anything. But it's OK cuz writing you is more important! Ha ha ha!. So how's your trip? Was that one kinda spontaneous too? or had you planned it out?

Yes, it is going great with Elder T.  He's a good guy and I am basically training him as a zone leader for his last two weeks! Ha ha ha! It's pretty funny! But he is a stud. I can't believe he's leavin' me next week at the change! But yeah, when he leaves at the change they are just going to send me a new companion to train here in Atlantico before I go. I think anyway...Ha  ha ha! Who REALLY knows!

The work is amazing! I will write about that in a minute. As for the shoes, they are definitely getting missionified! Ha ha! That is part of the reason we went to mega paca to see if I could find a pair, but instead I just found a sick pair of jeans and a Burton hoodie! Awesome!  But my shoes are just fine. They will definitely last me till the end. They are tanks! Nobodies shoes have lasted as long as my black ones. One year of work shoes and two years of missionary shoes! No there's really no point in sending new shoes. I still have my boots and my brown shoes that are just fine too and I still like those shoes so it's OK. They actually still look real nice. So don't worry. Use the money for something else!

Also, choclate gets here OK but I really can't eat too much chocolate anymore! Ha ha ha! It doesn't do me too well.  i guess I'm just not used to it anymore, same with candy and soda pop. It's pretty crazy.

Well this was a pretty great week. So I'm pretty sure that I told you about G and her family from Azacualpilla last week. Well they are the P family and they are SO amazing! So last week they went to conference like i think i told you. And they couldn't have us over until the next Saturday. So we passed by on Saturday and we were going to teach them about the plan of salvation because of their son that died years ago that was a member but then at the beginning of the lesson i asked if they had any questions for us and the husband, R, pulled out the book of Mormon that Elder L had left with them the week before and he was like "Yeah actually, I have a few" he had read what Elder L had left him and read the introduction and his questions were about the last two paragraphs of the introduction about praying about it to know that it is true and stuff and then G started asking about it too. So we started to teach them about the book of Mormon and they loved it. We talked a little bit about that and then i remembered I had put the Restoration DVD in my backpack so we pulled it out and watched it with them and it was super amazing! they loved it! and then they all started asking about baptism and everything. It was incredible! I have never taught a family so pilas in my whole life! We set a baptismal date with them for the 28 of October and they are super excited! They are truly incredible!

Also this week we finally got to teach L's husband F!!! It was so good to finally teach him! I had only taught him once before and it was like my second week here. But we were trying to think of what we should teach him while we were planning and honestly we could not decide! so i decided to call L and ask her what we would like to talk to him about and she said eternal families. So we taught about that based on the plan of salvation and it went SUPER well. He is really excited to learn more and L is doing amazing! The only problem wi8th him is that he works a ton so it is hard to teach him and hard for him to come to church but L is helping him out a ton. she is super amazing too. Every Monday we have a big family night with a bunch of new converts and families from this one area and she is giving the message today! and when we passed by on Saturday she had it all ready! She had been preparing it all week! Ha ha ha! Alright, time was short this week —Sorry— I gotta get going to work! Love you all! Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

This week was a LOT better!

Note from Carol Anne: One thing that I love, miss and respect about Hayden is his positive attitude. No matter how bad of a day he would have on any given day— after going to bed and waking up the next morning he would have the most positive happy attitude. Everyday was a bright new beginning! Life was good and things were always better! I admire this so much in him. You can see that he still has that amazing quality in his letter this week! It really inspires me to be a better person!

Hey!

Alright, so I don't have a ton of time this week, but I just wanted to let y'all know that this week was a lot better! We went to that new area that is far away. It's not really like a village like I made it sound last week I guess...it is just like a little town. But we have found so many member families there that used to be like the most active families in the ward and used to be super pilas but now they all have at least two years without going to church. Some even up to eight years! But they all have been so happy to see missionaries there finally! We were just walking down the road and we walked past this comedor and we just hear this voice yell "I have AGES without seeing elders around here!" Ha ha ha ha!  And it was this huge family that is like endowed and sealed in the temple and everything and just haven't been to chuch in two years! But they are excited to start getting back in the swing of things and they are going to help us out a ton! They are super nice! There are a ton of families like that there. We are going to start up like family nights and stuff with the whole area to get them all back up and running and I think it is going to like double the attendence in the ward. It is going to be super cool! And we have found a few of the kids of these families that have gotten married and their spouses aren't members but they all have wanted to get to know the church. It's super cool! We'll see how things go!.

Also I am sending some pictures of L.'s baptism. She is SO incredible! she is going to be such an amazing member. She truly has an amazing testimony of the restored gospel and knows why she got baptized. It went so well! Her husband came after all and he loved it and he is going to go with us to General Conference on Saturday and we are going to try and teach him in between sessions. V. their daughter decided to wait and support her dad with his baptism and everything and also L's mom has been talking about how she wants to get baptized too. She is already basically part of the Relief Society also though and she is going to like RS activities and everything. She just needs a little bit more preparation and her husband doesn't live here so she needs to talk to him and stuff too. But we'll see how that works out.

K— gotta go. Love you all!!! Have a good week. CONFERENCE...... CONFERENCE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!

Con amor,
Elder Welch

Hey Bryan,

I don't have a ton of time, but thank you so much. You are an awesome brother. I don't know what I would do without you. I promise you I will finish strong. Really strong. This is really the crucial time. Make it or break it. I love you a ton bro. We'll see ya in a few.

Con amor,

Elder Welch