We got our Mother's Day phone call with Hayden! Everything went great. We had clear reception and no delays. We connected and stayed connected the entire time. After the Christmas call fiasco I prayed for weeks that all would go well and it did. He sounded great! Bryan and Whitney and the kids came up for the evening. It is nice to have Bryan who speaks Spanish and can work out all the kinks when necessary. We compiled a list of questions this time so that we did not repeat the questions over and over. Last phone call I could tell Hayden did not get as much out of the phone call as he could have. This time it was great! If someone repeated a question he simply said, "Done it" and then we would move on. We also left time for him to ask each of us questions that he wanted to know about our lives.
After the call we all shared what we had learned from our time with Hayden. We actually gathered quite a bit of information in a little bit of time.
The following is what we learned.
Hayden was transferred and his new area is called Sion. It is in Guatemala City. Sion translated is Zion. He really likes it so far. He said there are what he referred to as "stairs". I asked him what he meant by that and he explained that there are many economic differences in his area. It goes from poor to rich to VERY poor! He lives in an area called the projects but says it is not as bad as it sounds but that it is not a gated community like he was living in when working at the office. As of last Sunday he had not attended his new ward yet. They had stake conference that first Sunday.
He said that he is so grateful for his new companion. He said that he is wonderful. He talked about how hard it is to be with a companion that does not work as hard as you would like and that it brings you down a level. We talked about marriage a bit and explained that the idea of being equally yoked will be with him throughout his lifetime and we agreed how important that concept and reality is. He was so relieved that his new companion —Elder V. from Guatemala—is such a hard worker. He and Elder V. are zone leaders. He is the zone leader over the office Elders. I thought that was kind of funny. He is excited to be back in the thick of teaching and proselyting full time again.
He told me a funny story about finding one of the Christmas packages that we sent him when he was in Dolores. He was looking through some boxes a couple of weeks ago and he noticed one box tucked up under a desk. He was not sure what was in it so he pulled it out and it was addressed to him. It was his Christmas box from the distribution center....go figure. It never got delivered to him. He said it was a nice little surprise in the middle of a boring day! So maybe it was meant to be.
He also said that the weather was not to bad. He mentioned that he had spent the hottest time in the office with air-conditioning and that now it was cooling down a bit. He also laughed and said that he actually likes the hot now.
He told me how proud of himself he is because he did some "missionary fixin' up on his shoes". His shoe lace on his Eccos started unraveling so he used some of his first aide tape and taped it up and then used a black sharpie to color it black and he claimed you could not even tell. Keep in mind this is the son who HAD to buy the fancy BROWN shoes. Right!? He has always needed just the right clothes......Well NOT anymore! He is a changed man! I can tell things like that are just not important anymore.
He shared with Bruce his worries and concerns about being a zone leader. He wants to be up to the task. He told Bruce a story about how he obtained a very generous gift from Sister Watts. I guess at some point he was helping Sister Watts with one of the meals and when he opened the fridge there was some Miracle Whip....he cried out with delight because he did not think that you could find it in Guatemala. The conversation soon turned to the mayo/Miracle Whip debate and he was happy to hear that Sister Watts is on his side as a Miracle Whip lover. Well you can only find Miracle Whip in one store in Guatemala and it a long way away from where the office is and it is not cheap! Before Hayden left Sister Watts said she had a little something for him. When he opened up the gift bag there was a brown paper bag inside and in the brown paper bag was a jar of Miracle Whip. It meant so much to him. It was a very thoughtful gift.
Taylor of course asked about the transvestite brawl that Hayden told us about a couple of weeks ago. He referred to this as the funniest and scariest things he has seen in Guat. Hayden did share a few more funny things about it with him —but not much. He just told him he would tell him about it all of it when he came home. Taylor asked him what thing he dreaded most to face in the morning when he woke up. (What a funny question to ask! ...Brothers... I still don't get them sometimes!) Hayden replied that Taylor has it good in the states and he is very lucky and told him to appreciate what he has and then quickly changed the subject. They visited about Taylor's life and talked "Papa Murphy's" for a while.
Abby of course talked music with Hayden. She also asked him if he had found any more snakes. He had not considering he has not been in the jungle but told her a little more about his Pit Viper experience...much of which I did not want to hear. He told her that they kept the head in a Tupperware container for days waiting for the perfect time to tease the Sister Missionaries. They were disappointed when the head started to smell and they had to get rid of it before they could find the perfect time. Abby brought the whole snake thing up because it is once again water snake time at the Welch house and she is missing her brother's protective "snake hunting skills".
Whitney was polite and left most of the time for the rest of the family but thanked him for his service and expressed her love.
Avery on the other hand......grabbed the phone and did not want to give it back!!! At least once she decided it was Hayden on the phone not Mickey Mouse. (That story is too long to share!) She was delighted to have her buddy on the phone and chatted it up. She told Hayden that she wanted to take him some place and show him somethin' and she climbed in her little blue mini coupe car and drove all around the yard. She took him to the fountain and showed him how she could put her hands in the fountain and showed him the flowers and the bugs and the irrigation ditch and counted for him and told him that she missed him and loved him. It was quite possibly the cutest thing ever! I think it really was Hayden's highlight of the phone call. She also told him she wanted him to come home and take her to Disneyland! :)
The last question that I asked him was, "In what way has the mission blessed your life the most?" He got really quiet and reflective and said, Mom there are just SOOO many ways. I can not put it into words. He was then very emotional.
We ended by saying a family prayer. Hayden said he wanted his Dad to offer it so we knelt together and it was a beautiful experience. I must say that having my entire family praying together for the first time in eighteen months was the best Mother's Day present EVER!
It was so great to talk to him and he sounds wonderful! Puts a mom's heart at ease. I am so grateful that everything went well. I am grateful to hear the growth, happiness and confidence in his voice. I am grateful to see our Father in Heaven's hand in all things. What a wonderful day!
Carol Anne
