It was one of my best weeks in Dolores!

K —So,

First of all...I have a change! I am SOOOOO sad! But these are some  pictures of this Sunday! It was District  conference and it was a broadcast from Utah of Elder Holland and Pres. Uchdorf.  And EVERYONE from Mopan came! It was so amazing! It was one of my best weeks in Dolores! It was the  best!

I got a picture of me and a few of the kids in the field outside of the church.

The only one I could get of the adults and stuff was when they were in the bus getting ready to head back. The first one of me in the bus with them Elder  Payne took. But he didn't take it how I wanted it so I had to take another one and I had to get all of them to smile cuz NOBODY did on the first one! Ha ha! But that is only about half of them. I couldn't get a  picture of the rest.

And the only chance I had to tell them I was leaving was right then when they were  leaving. I almost bursted into tears! When the bus took off one of the moms stuck her hand out to shake my hand and tell me thank you and goodbye and was almost crying and then as the bus was pulling off all of the little kids stuck their hands out to shake my hand and were yelling ¨Adios Elder Welch ¨  and ¨Elder Welch! No se vaya!¨  I seriously about lost it. And then they called last night and said they might all make the trip to Dolores tomorrow to say goodbye to me  before I leave. At seven or eight in the morning!!! They are  amazing! I love them so much and I am going to miss them a ton! But they are all going to get baptized. I am sure of it. And they are going to help the branch out so much! I love this place more than anything! I don't wanna leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I think I threw in the picture of our district —minus Hna B. She didn't want to be in the picture!?

These are a  bunch of  pictures of me saying goodbye to  people.

A sister from the ward named E. and her family

D. and her daughters

The district president President C.

 Hermana O. and her grandson. 
She was like my Dolores grandma Ha!ha!
She actually kinda' reminded me of Grandma Ginge. 
Her grandson is A.
That is us with our ¨magic rings¨ Ha! ha!

 I showed him  a few of the magic tricks I remembered from Taylor and he thought I was a straight up magician! And I told him my ring gave me more  power and he got a ring for his graduation so I told him I made it a magic ring and taught him some tricks.

This is one of him doing the card slide trick thing that I taught him. Ha! Ha! He loved it! It was so funny!

And then the other one is a baby duck at one of the houses in Mopan. There was a whole batch of them!  So I had one of the little kids  catch one for me and I took a picture! I thought  Abby would like that!

Alright so these are of me at E´s house. She is the one that  I sent the picture of me and her and her  family when it was all dark. She  invited us over to lunch and she was making chicken soup and she had me catch and kill the chicken and taught me how to clean it and everything!  It was super cool!I didnt get any more  pictures of it though because my camera died.

 

 Well, I gotta go now. I will let you all know where I end up next week! Who knows?!  Hope it's somewhere awesome again! Ha! Ha!  I love you all so much! Thank you so much for everything! 

Tell everyone I say hi!

Love,

Elder Welch

I LOVE the people of Dolores!

Mom,

I wanted to send you a bunch of pictures so I am not going to be able to write much again. But when I am done I'll answer your questions:

Pictures from Last Week's Family Night

 These are from a bon fire that we had. 

We have family night with this family almost every Monday night. 

 

 The kids of this family, the G. Family, 

make up the majority of the leaders of the organizations in the branch. 

They are the best.

 OK, so these are from today. 

This is of the inside of the cave we went to that had all this ancient Mayan stuff.
 It is called Najtunich —if you want to try to look it up—they are like two hours from Poptún, close to San Luis . It's pretty cool. 

That is the gate that they locked the cave up with
so you can't get through to the really cool stuff
—cuz ppl destroyed some of it apparently.

Me and Hermana B. We are Darth Maul candle fighting! Ha ha! 

This is like an actual ancient carved out chair. The first picture looks cooler
but I sent the second one so you could see the chair better.

 

That is a legit Tarzan vine that I am actually swinging on!
That was the best ever!!! Ha ha! 

.....and the two hour ride back in the back of the truck! Ha ha!

The next one is for Abby.
I thought she would love the baby chick!
Tell her hi for me and that I love her SOOOOOOOOOOO much!
...and I never got a chance to thank her for the note that she sent me. Tell her thank you soo much and it was my favorite! It helped me out a whole lot and made me super happy!!!.

Then the next one is this GIANT caterpiller that we found in our house the other week!

And then the other two are of one of the tarantulas
that we found in a corn field a couple weeks ago.

This is the second one we found.
The first climbed up the pant leg of one of the kids that was with us
 and he had to grab it in his pants in a wad
and then take his pants off and shake it out! Ha ha ha!

These ones are of a service project 

we did in Mopan a few weeks ago.

The first few are of the jalón ride up.

The kids went with us to help.

And yes, that is cow crap im standing in! Ha ha ha. 

I have no idea what I'm laughing at but I really liked this picture. Me with my machete eating my cañon. (sugar cane) That is what that plant is behind me. It is the best. Whenever we go and work in the fields we just chop down a stick of caña and suck on it while we work!

Now, Mom to answer your questions.

I loved  my packages! Everything was the best, the laundry bag is PERFECT! And the food is incredible. Everything got here including the cheese—and the jar was unbroken.

As far as the weather, it's not cold anymore.

As far as books or stuff you can send.... other study material isn't allowed. But thanks! If it's like stuff to teach —like that that would be awesome! Can you get Queq´chi stuff?! I dont think that I am going to be speaking it too much— but today I talked a little with our guides in Najtunich with the little that I knew. I love it SO much! It would be cool if I got sent where I could learn it and speak it!......Yeah, but they usually don't send you up if you already have as much time out as I do...but that would be awesome. And like if you could send little things like examples that would make things easier to teach so they can understand that would be awesome! Because it is for sure a lot easier for a lot of the people to learn if they can see it.  

Changes aren't this Wednesday but next — I have no idea what's going on this change. I think it might be a crazy one either way...   

You know me mom......I am not OK......Not great....... OF COURSE...... I AM  AWESOME!!!!!!!!

And last but not least: 

YOU BETTER SEND ME PICTURES OF THAT BABY!!!!   

LOVE YOU MOM!!!! I GOTTA GO! I will try to send more pictures again next week! 

I love you all!!! 

Talk to you next week,

Elder Welch

Lot's of photos this week!

The Village of Mopan

A beautiful morning in Guatemala.

These pictures were taken on our way to Mopan.
 Mopan is the village that we have to walk 2 hours to get to.

Mom—I thought you would like this one!

Playing Soccer in Mopan

This is a picture of us playing soccer with the kids in Mopan.
Elder  P. is on the left and I am taking the picture.

We brought the soccer ball with us.....they had so much fun playing with a "real" ball.

Some of the people from the village. 

Planting Corn

This one is of me with M. sharpening our machetes.
Yes, now I really do have my own. I got sick of borrowing one. 

Then there is one of us ¨chapeando¨ 
We had to clean the land of all the weeds and brush with machetes so he can plant his corn there. 

We didn't finish the work, but the last picture is the 'after" photo of when we had to stop.

Then one of me dipping my head in a river on our way back from the service....
.... cuz it was SO— hot. It felt SO— good! 

My Companion

Me and my companion Elder P.

One with us and all my loot! Ha! Ha! With our PEZ´s Ha ha ha ha!

 Teaching Music

Me teaching music!
One of the people there was messing with my camera and took this picture.

 The Talent Show

The Talent Show!
These are some of the kids that I teach music.

This me playing my song for the talent show.
Lead by example Right?!? I just HAD to play!

Dancing....it turned out well.

And Last —but not least—

Mom's favorite photo of the day! :) 

Ha Ha! As Hayden would say....

Then there is one of another snake I killed on the way to the service. Thought you´d like that one mom. But don't worry—It´s not the FIRST most dangerous snake in Guatemala this time.......only the THIRD—!!!!
 But it was just a little guy so don't worry. That is Elder P. with me. He's in my district.

Hey,  I'm almost out of  time because I sent so many pictures. But, for my letter this week I will  try and give you a quick overview of the week. 

Monday I didn't write because of the zone acitivity. We  went to a full sized soccer field and played soccer and frisby and  two hand touch. It was super fun. 

Sunday was the best! We had twenty six people in church with eight investigators!!! and that was even with the elections. Seven of the eight were people from Mopan, that little village.  We went there this week and taught a ton of them and we  brought a soccer ball and played with them on this little dirt  field they've made in-between their houses. They were so excited to have an actual ball and to play with us! We have a family night planned for this Friday with three of the families that live out there and I think it is going to be awesome! And they  all said they are going to come next Sunday too! Woohoo!  

We also went and did a lot of service this week. I would explain but I dont have time—. But  let's just say I could probably run a corn farm when I get home!!!! Ha ha ha! 

Thank you so much for everything! I love the pictures! Oh I got the two Halloween  packages and one Thanksgiving package. I still haven't got the vans and  I'm pretty sure you sent those before— if so , I'm pretty sure they're gonners.  That sucks. 

Anyway, oh super random, but I forgot to tell you last week that I saw a real true live robin!!!—In Guatemala!!!! it  must have  been in route flying south just passing by... I thought you would enjoy that Mom.  Ha ha. 

Oh and the music classes are going well. I am  actually teaching myself a ton by teaching it. I more than any thing just teach one kid  so I'm not sure it's worth it to keep doing it —but we'll see. 

Oh and we had our talent show last week. That went really well! I did a song and so did the kid that I'm teaching! Ha haa! It was super cool. 

But I'm running out of time so I better go. But I am doing so much  better now. So don't  worry. I am doing so  awesome! 

Oh and I was going to tell you too I went on divisions with Elder T— my ZL. I found out that he is family of all of the T's and Winterton's in Heber! Ha ha ha! Just thought that was funny.

Alright I better go. I love you so much! Talk to ya next week!

Elder Hayden Welch

Just like a normal missionary day....

Hey Mom,

I´m doing good. How´s things?

It's going fine. Just like a normal missionary day. It definitely does not seem like Halloween.

I have not received the Halloween package yet. But—Oh man—that sounds like a pretty sick package! But the ZL´s just left to the cap for concilio today so I think next Monday I´ll get it if it's at the office—I sure hope it comes on Monday! All I have gotten since the package from L´s family is a Dear Elder from Nannette. Oh and tell her I'm writing a letter to her right now and to preocuparse!  Ha ha!

(He has not received any of our three packages that we sent for Halloween/Thanksgiving.....so sad!)

I was just talking to the other Elders in my district about how if I was at home right now I would definitely be wearing a very flattering pair of green tights right now!!!! Oh how I miss being Peter Pan!

Yeah—I am just doing "good" not "great"  Ha ha! But no, it wasn´t for the whole Halloween/holiday thing that I am bummed—Even though I sure do miss those tights! Good times! Idk...yesterday was kinda a hard day for me. Idk why. But today´s been good and other than that I have been super awesome. I will be fine mom. Don't worry. But it doesn't mean I'm not gonna have hard times, I know I will, but it is still super hard. It's been kickin my trash lately.


Me and my comp are getting along well though. He´s a good guy. Not the most obedient, but we´re workin on that. Ha ha! I definitely do feel like the mom in this companionship though. I do all the cooking, cleaning, dishes, everything! But it's alright. I love cooking. I´m learning a ton and it's the best. Cleaning, I don't like so much, but I´ve definitely learned to do it!!! Ha ha!

No, that's not true at all about the food. That's a bunch of casaca as we say here. Ha ha! We got extra money and they said that it is enough to eat in one like cheep little restaurante once a day for lunch. I´m pretty sure that it is to save time so we don't have to go all the way back to the house and cook and then leave again. But we, well —I— still cook lunch cuz usually we´re pretty close to the house around lunch time. When we´re short on time though we just grab some food from a comedor.

The best thing I ate this week was a lunch I made the other day for me and Elder P. I made steak with sauted onions, tomatoes and peppers with mashed potatoes and rice. We ate it with this super good bread from this awesome bakery that I found in our area! It was super good. And I totally made up the sauce that I marinated the meat in and it was SUPER good!

And the worst thing I ate wasn´t this week but last week. It is called Atól Shuco. It literally means dirty hot drink. Ha ha ha! It is made from corn. They boil it, then let it sit and get rancid and then they make this like really runny oatmeal kinda stuff out of it and it is SUPER disgusting. It was the second time I had had it. I just downed it —but my companion—he had a super hard time! Ha ha! He about threw up!


View Blog
Ha ha! That's ma' boy Tay! Doin' it just like his older brother! Ha ha! Don't worry mom, he´ll pull it out.

(He is referring to Taylor trying to pull his grades up the last week of the term.)

Oh, about the sleeping bag. No I am fine. Tell Grandma Murdock thank you so much though! But I don't have too much room and by the time I get it it will be super hot I'm sure.

Oh, hey— and if you can by any chance get a hold of Elder Sorensen tell him to email me again! I have tried to email him back. He emailed me once and I don´t know if my email has ever gotten through to him because now it is saying it can´t recognize the address so I don´t know what´s going on with that —but I really wanna talk to him and see how he´s doing.

(Kyle if you are out there....I hope you get this message!!! He could really use hearing from you! You have been such a good friend to him and you lift him up. Thanks for all you have done for Hayden and the good person you are!)

Also I have a picture I wanna send to Jake and Mandy but i don´t know how to get it to them. What do you think?

Oh and I was gonna ask, how is the whole deal with Taylor and McCabe? Do they still hang out with Chance? I hope that whole deals not awkward now...if so, sorry Tay!!! Ha ha!

The water situation is we only get water like every five days and we just have that big blue water drum that we have to fill and our pila. The rain has basically stopped. It has rained like once in like two weeks or so.


Hey just finished reading Dad's email.


So—Thanks so much Dad!  I love you! Don't worry though—I´m doing my fair share of splitting wood here too! Ha ha! The thing is that they use it year round here though! But I´m getting pretty dang good at splitting wood. We do it at least like twice a week or so and also folding corn and a bunch of stuff! I don't know how to say it in English but folding corn is the direct translation. It is doblar milpa. When the corn is ready, still on the stock you have to go and bend the stock just under the ears of corn so the husks are pointed downward and the water can't get in and the corn dries. Then you pick it all after it has sat and dried. Then you shuck it and decurnel it and then you dry it in the sun for about a day so it gets really dry and then it is ready to put into the silo to use for maza for tortillas or tamales or whatever. We´ve been doing a TON of service lately! Love you Dad!

Hey— I gotta get going. I love ya too Mom! I love you all! Tell everybody I say hi and everything!


I love you! 

Elder Welch