I am doing well...super tired.... but I am doing well...

Hey!

Thanks for the letter! Ha ha! I'm not gonna lie, the colonoscopy act had me rolling! Ha ha ha ha! I think that is right up there in the top ten things I regret not being there to hear! Ha ha! I can just imagine Grandpa retelling that story. Sounds epic. But it is so good to hear from you! Haha that is way cool! 

I am doing well. Super tired. But doing well. Super tired cuz we have been running like crazy trying to organize two weddings at a time and the other day I helped demolish half of a cinderblock and cement house with just a sledge hammer that weighs more than I do and today we played some serious soccer. And I got a serious low blow! Holy cow! I almost threw up!!!! Ha ha ha!  And I just feel like I am just running like crazy trying to improve things and they just don't improve sometimes! Ha ha ha!  But I am doing well. 

Hows everything back home? It sounds like your trip was super fun. And it sounds like this is going to be the busiest summer ever for you guys! and it's still going! So what are they doing for the weeklong? I sure am going to miss those. That is so crazy that Josh reminds you so much of me. Cuz I don't think he did before did he? I can't even imagine how big everyone is now and how much they have grown! Especially Avery and Grant! I don't even know Grant yet and he's going to be walking before I get home?!?! that is so nuts! That stinks that Dad and Tay are going to miss half of fairdays though. That was kind of some bad planning it sounds like ...haha. But at least they'll be there for the good stuff. Where are they going on their weeklong? Tell Tay he better get practiced up on golf so I don't kick his butt too bad when I get home and snowboarding too. Oh and I didn't get the package sent off last week cuz I didn't get the letters written that I want to put in but I will try super hard to get them done this week to be able to send it off.

Oh and how is Bryan doing?

Alright, well,  My times just about up so I better get going. I love you so much! 

Oh and bad news, A. isn't going to get baptized this week. She's come up with a bunch of doubts and she's stopped reading to find them out and she didn't go to church this Sunday. But we are going to keep trying! I hope everything works out! 

Love you so much! More than the world! Oh and I just heard from E. He wrote me and is doing super well!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

So Amazing.....

Hey! 


Whats up? Hows things? What other emails?


No, I haven't gotten it fixed yet but I haven't even really had time to try. I just tried to put it in the computer right now and it didn't work so idk. I will try next week 


So, just to fill you in on how things are going with the work since you always ask and I never end up having time to write about it, we are seeing a ton of blessings. We have four baptisms planned as of right now and they are so amazing. Not this Friday but the next, we have a wedding planned for a couple named M. and D. They are so amazing. They are a younger couple. D. is a member and her dad is in the high council, but she was quite a rebelious child apparently Ha ha! But her husband M. isn't a member. We started teaching them maybe like a month and a half ago and they have changed SO much! Yesterday they came to church all dressed up super nice with all of thier books that we gave them and they participated and M. has his scriptures that we gave him all marked up already and the ones we gave him didn't have tabs on them so he has made his own tabs and stuff for them to be able to find scriptures better and stuff and they are super excited! They are getting married and he is getting baptized all on the 27th. It is going to be super awesome. And then the next day, Saturday, we have another baptism planned for A. She is H's wife, the one that I told you about last week. He is a member, but she isn't. They are already married so we're not going to have a wedding for them but I sure hope that everything works out well. She still has a lot of inflluence from her other church. Then the next Saturday, the fourth, we have another wedding planned. The couple's names are T. and J. T. is also a member since she was young, but J. isn't. But they are going to get married and he is going to get baptized and they are super happy too, but we have SO much to do still to prepare for that wedding! It is nuts! We're going to keep busy these next couple weeks for sure! And we have another baptism planned for sometime in August but we dont know what the exact date is yet though because she wants it to be a surprise for us! hahaha but supposedly it is a special date for her and she is SUPER excited. She hasn't wanted to decide on a date for the longest time! And we have been trying to help her SO much! I think that's why she wants it to be a surprise for us. I just hope she doesn't leave it till last second so we have to plan the baptism super fast. But even still it will be totally worth it. And we have others that we still have to work with too that are progressing but still don't have set dates and we still have to be looking for new investigators! We have been running like crazy! and its just going to get busier! 


Oh....I did get your other emails, I am reading them right now! You lucky suckers! Just chillin in California! That was a last minute trip wasn't it? and yes I did get the other package this week. Thank you so much! It was the best! Yeah I got the medicine and the food and the t-shirt! that was sick! We have to go back there! deal? It looked like the package had been opened but it didn't look like they messed with anything or took anything out, but I don't know to tell ya the truth.


As for the zone, we are doing alright, there's been a couple speed bumps, but we're doing alright.I really like my area. It is super nice. The members are awesome and we are doing good things here I feel. We are seeing progress. It is still kinda tough to get everything organized and get everyone to cooperate and work together, but we're getting there. Me and my comp are doing really well. We really get along. I really feel like we can be doing better though. we have had some talks lately and we are going to put some goals so we can improve. But we are really doing well I think. But I think that he is going to be outta here this change. He only has two more changes left and when that is the case President usually takes them out and puts them training. So I think these might be my last two weeks with him, but we'll see how things work out. I do think I am going to stay here though. It is going to be the area I have for the longest time.


I talked to E's mom yesterday, she said she hadn't even been able to check her email yet anyway. Ha ha! Apparently she's been super busy too. But she would love to hear from you. Or at least if you could send me the rest of the pictures of him so that I can get them to her or something...I need to email him and let him know at least about the baptisms. He'll be super stoked. I miss that kid so much! And did he talk about all of those guys? Ha ha! That is so funny! He is such a stud! 


I am totally back to normal health wise now. Oh and we went to the central market today! It was awesome! And I got what I have been waiting for to send you your package! So I will be sending it off soon!!! Gotta go though. Love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

I don't think I have ever felt the Spirit so strong in one room.

Hi,


So I am feeling just fine. I woke up the next day and I was alright. Who knows what it was. How the heck are you guys?! I just finished reading about the Hobbit!!!!!!!!!!! I had no idea that it was coming out! I am so excited. And I just saw a billboard today for the new Batman too!!! Holy cow! I am missing so much stuff! Ha ha! but it's OK. How are things going?


Yeah, we had concilio and it was great! I love concilio! It is so good to see everybody and everything. And the meetings are so incredible! I'm not gonna lie, I don't think I have ever felt the spirit so strong in one room. It is just President, the Assistents and 18 Zone Leaders. It is incredible. and also today my companion and I got to go to the CCM again so that my companion could see his brother this time who is also leaving today for the mission in Nicaragua. They are going to be three that are in the mission. So we went to see him and stuff and then after, I ate the BEST meal that I have eaten in 18 months! We took advantage of the trip and went to a place called "the Estancia". It is a super nice STEAKHOUSE! Me and Elder V. both ordered the same thing. We got a 12 oz. bacon-wrapped filet miñon with a baked potato and beans, garlic bread and a giant lemonade! It was SOOOOOOO incredible! Ha ha ha ha ha! One of the best p-days ever! And I couldn't even take pictures cuz I think my memory card has a virus. After I got done with internet last week I put it back in my camera and now it doesnt even register that there is a memory card. But I'm going to try and get it cleaned today so we'll see whats up


So, to report on A., she is really doing well in the sense that she is really getting to gain a testimony. She just does not want to leave her other life. H. just told us yesterday that she goes to that other church EVERYDAY! so it's not just like a little thing that she has to leave. And the ladies from the other church pass by her house everyday to take her to church. But the other day we were there and we watched the Testiments with her and she LOVED it! One of her doubts was if Jesus had really come to the Americas and when the movie got over we asked her how she liked it and she said, well....it convinced me. It was super funny. But then when we were just about to finish, they run like a little store out of their house and so during the lessons H. always gets up to answer when people knock and this time someone knocked so he went to see and we kept talking to her and H. came back and said that it was one of the ladies from the other church to take her to church and A. asked him what he had told her and he said that he told her that she was going to go and A. said "why did you tell her that?" she didn't want to go, but because he had told her that she was going to go she hurried and got ready and went cuz she felt bad. And she didn't come to church yesterday either cuz she said that she had stuff to do around the house and she would go next week. It was kinda frustrating, but idk...she is going to get baptized. It just might take some time. And today we have an appointment with another couple that, last time we taught them they said they were going to talk and pray about what date their wedding and baptism is going to be and they are going to tell us today! I am super excited! I hope everything works out with them too!!! Their names are J. and T. They are super nice. They invited us over for lunch last week and made like carne asada and everything for us and it was super nice. And J. goes to the church to play soccer with all of the priesthood every thursday and he loves it and they are going to church every Sunday too. They just couldn't go yesterday because J. had to go visit his mom supposedly. But they are going and are super awesome! and we have another couple, I think I told you about them. M. and D. that their wedding and baptism is going to be on the 27th of this month and they are super excited! They are reading the Book of Mormon and studying the lessons together everyday before we get there and M. always has a ton of verses from the reading that he has underlined and he always shares what he has learned with us from what he has read and he basically teaches the lesson himself! It is super awesome! I love them so much!


Ha ha! No Mom......I am not homesick! Ha ha! I am doing great! I love it here. Of course I talk about home with you. You are my mom, and the rest of my family. If I didn't want to be with you there would be a problem. But that doesn't mean that I want to go home right now! I don't want to leave Guatemala .....are you kidding me?! I love it here and I love these people. Don't worry, I'm not homesick. I just love you. And don't worry abbot the card...if it is dead I can just buy a new one, I am just going to be SUPER sad because that card had all my pictures on it since Dolores! I will cry, not even kidding!


I gotta go. Oh and tell Taylor that I am TOTALLY jacking that element hat from him when I get home!!!!!!!!! Thathat is SO sick!!!!


Gotta go, love you! Bye

Con amor,

Elder Welch

Painting, Packages and Parasites!?!

Hey whats up? I am doing great ... What about you guys? I love you too Mom! I'm doing good! Oh yeah! Mom did you try to send the other pictures to E''s mom? I gave her the ones that you sent but I told her that you were gonna send her the others but she told me yesterday that she still hadn't recieved an email.

Here are some photos of me opening my "Easter" package! Ha ha ha! 

That music box thing is SO sick! and Mom, I think you are a fortune teller. My frisby broke last week when we went to the park. I didn't even go one week without one! Ha ha ha!

Reading a letter from his brother Taylor.

So, I guess I'll give a little report on this week.This was a really good week! Im writing a little about it but just about one family so I will give a quick review. We have two families that one of the spouses is getting baptized. Both of the other spouses of each family is already baptized. And one of the families is getting married that same day!!! It is super awesome! I love these families a ton! And we have another family that is in the same situation that the husband already said he is going to get baptized we just don't have a date with him yet because he and his wife are going to talk and pray about it and decide but we hope that it is going to be within this month also! So on Tuesday morning we went to E's house to do a service project for his mom. We painted for her. It took forever! But it was fun. And we have to go back one of these days to finish cuz there is still another part that we have to paint. But that lady is so awesome! She fed us lunch that was super good and she taught me how to make this gravy that is like good old American gravy with this soup mix that they have here! It was good! and then that night our Elders Quorum President came out with us to do some visits. He and his wife are like our best friends in the ward. It used to be them and E., but now E. is gone. I miss that kid!!! Ha ha! But anyway, we went and had a lesson with this family that we have been teaching for a while. The husband got baptized like a year ago when Elder Williams was here. His name is H. And his wife A. goes to an Evangelical Church and they have two kids, G. is seven and P. is six. But they are super awesome and when I first got here H. was inactive, but one day he just showed up to church and we got to know him and started visiting him and now he is active and bringing a friend to church that we are going to start teaching and we are teaching H. wife too!  But anyway, so we got there with B. (our E.Q. pres) and we taught A. B. is SUCH a good teacher! He amazes me! I have learned so much from him about teaching and how to work with people! But anyway, we taught her a ton of stuff and she really loved it and before that, she was interested to hear what we said, but she didn't really want to accept it or anything. So that lesson went super well, we put another appointment for Friday and we got there and H. hadn't come back from work yet so we couldnt go in and teach A. so we put another appointment for Saturday. And I must tell you that to get to this house is insane! It is seriously at the bank of the river at the bottom of the ravine! There arent any stairs to go down that way though, it is just a sheer incline of sort-of switch-backs but my compaion counted "as if he were walking up stairs" Ha ha ha! However reliable that is...and he counted that there would be 174  stairs! But I actually think there would be more. But anyway, so we went back down and their door was closed and all their windows and everything and it was raining like crazy and they didn't answer. We were SO bummed! So we went back up and visited some other people. Yesterday though, H. showed up to church with his friend. A. couldn't come because her sister went to her house to visit but we put an appointment to go visit her in the afternoon and when we went we had a SUPER good lesson! She ended up telling us SO much about what was keeping her from getting baptized and what her doubts were and everything! And it was so incredible! With the scriptures, she was able to answer all of her questions and doubts and she ended up feeling so relieved and happy! It was so cool! And she accepted to be baptized this month! I sure hope everything works out! But she is truely gaining a testimony. The only thing that is keeping her back now are her friends and stuff from her other church. They are going to reject her! But she has a ton of faith. I really think shes going to do it!

I did get sick though this week. I have no idea what happened but on Wednesday I woke up and my stomach hurt super bad and I was fighting super hard the whole day to keep going. That night I could literally barely walk because my knees were so weak and my head and stomach ached! But with help I made it. But we had some super good lessons! And I woke up quite a bit better the next day but I haven't been the same since. My stomach is still not too happy! But I'm doing just fine. I think I'm alright. If it goes another couple days I think it is a paracite. I'll just take "the bomb" Ha ha! Prescribed by the nurses of course... Ha ha! The pains were just on Wednesday and part of Thursday and if I am in a lesson for a super long time and forced to seal the "bomb shelter"! Ha ha ha ha! But I am doing really well.

Holy cow! Mom! Take it easy! Sounds like you are doing to much....your going to kill yourself! and yes I only got one package still not the other. I only got the one package the one with the Easter/4th of July basket Ha ha ha! and I got it on Friday. That means they picked it up from the post office on Thursday. I didn't check to see when it got there. But was that Nutella really only three dollars? 

K— gotta go! Love you! Bye!

Elder Welch

A Good P-day!

Hey!!! 


Well that sounds like fun— Ha ha! Good old yearbook camp. Thanks for sending those pictures! That is so awesome! I am doing great! This week was a pretty good one. We have been working so hard to get the coorperation of the ward members for the longest time and we are finally starting to see the results. I just got done writing President Watts about how we have this part-member, inactive family that we have been working with for quite a while now and we haven't been able to see much progress, but at the beginning of the week we got our ward mission leader and our relief society president to come with us and when they opened the door and saw them instead of just us thier attitude was completely different! They totally opened up and listened and really felt wanted. And throughout the week we have gotten our bishop and our elders quorum president and other members of the ward to come out with us and we have like picked specific members to come and visit certain people to make them feel comfortable and so they have friends in the ward and everything and we have started to see such a difference even with this being the first week we have done it. It is amazing. We had three families at church yesterday that we have been trying to get to come for SO long! and they are all super happy! It is so amazing!


But anyway, what about E? Ha ha ha! Isn't he such a stud?! He is such a good guy! And I would LOVE it if he came to live at home after the mission! Oh and I got his mom's email address so you can talk to her. Maybe you wrote it down wrong or something. But she invited us over for dinner yesterday and it was SO! good! and she gave us SO much! Ha ha— it was so funny! She gave us some super good tamales and some really good beans that she makes in her own special favorite way and with toasted tortillas and she serves them with sour cream!!!! First time I had tried it in almost 18 months! Woo Hoo! And then she made us "mole" you'll have to ask Bryan what that is and it was super good and then she had this papaya juice that she made into like a slushy that was so good! and then a mug of this drink called mosh—it is basically oatmeal but it's really good. But it was SO good! and the whole time we were eating she was toasting bread for us so it didn't get cold while we were eating and so it was nice and warm! Ha ha! She is SO nice! So here is her address—she speaks English too so you can write her in English. She has worked in the Distribution Center here in Guatemala for like ten years or more I think! and she is finishing an English translation course. Her name is A. and she is SUPER nice

I also got E's MTC mailing address cuz I didnt know if you got it or not

I love you mom! So much! thank you so much for everything especially everything with E. And his mom was SO thankful. She said to tell you all thank you SO much and E. says you are all INCREDIBLE! haha she read us his emails that he wrote. He really had an amazing time and absolutely LOVED seeing the temple! Thank you so much! Here are some photos for you.

K, the first one is of Elder K's last night with us in the mission before he went home.

The rest are of our p-day today. Elder V. planned a trip to the 3D map of Guatemala today and there is a nice big park right there too so I took the new little football I bought and my baseball mitts and my Frisbee and some other stuff and we just went and hung out in the park and it was super fun!!! I really liked it especially since the only thing that we do for p-day around here is play soccer. I love playing soccer! but it was good to change things up.

And then we went to Subway for lunch and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Ha ha!  I didn't get any pictures of the park though, idk why. I was just having a little too much fun playing Frisbee tag and throwin' the ol' pig skin! Ha ha!

See the cheddar Sunchips?The BEST!!!

It was a good day!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

E arrived safe and sound!

We had the most wonderful privilege of picking him up at the airport, taking him around temple square, taking him out to dinner and then sharing our home with him for a night. The next morning we were able to deliver him to the MTC so that he could prepare and start his own mission where he will be serving in Pocatello Idaho.

Hayden has known E....(We refer to him as Elder "S" since I can not pronounce his name :)....for just about a month. E was a member of Hayden's ward in the area that he is serving in right now. He has been going on splits with Hayden and doing great work. Hayden just loves him. We now know why....we LOVE him too!

This was quite possibly one of the most wonderful experiences that our family has had and we so appreciated the opportunity to meet such an amazing young man.

Here are a few of the highlights:

He thought Utah was so peaceful and beautiful and he was so amazed at the safety here.

At dusk he was certain we should find shelter so that we would not be in danger :)

He was dumbfounded that in my over forty or ......so :)..... years of life that I know of only one murder in Heber City.

He could not believe that we could eat at Ihop at midnight and be safe

He could not believe that the Beehive House could be full of so many beautiful things, stay lit up at night and not get robbed. He said in Guatemala it would not be so.

He was emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed with Temple Square.

One of the first things we did was to take him to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. We went to the top floor and looked over Temple Square. As he stood there he got choked up and said in his broken English that he never dreamed or imagined that this would be possible! He was so grateful to be here. He  ran around Temple Square for hours like a three year old on Christmas morning. He took a billion photos of him in front of everything. He kept saying how he had seen everything during the conference broadcasts and had only dreamed of being there. We were there almost at closing so we were not able to go into the buildings and yet it was still an amazing experience for him. At one point when we were walking around Temple Square I said, "You must be pretty special to make it all the way here and have this experience." He looked at me and surprised me with his response. He said, " I was just  thinking the same thing....I think I am." He then got very serious and replied, "I have been thinking about it and I must have a big work to do." I agree with him. He is going to have a great work to do for the Church! He is an amazing person. He then went on to tell me that all of his life he has dreamed of going to BYU and that standing there at the base of the temple in Salt Lake he now believed that it was going to happen. Later my husband offered that he could come back and live with us after his mission and go to school at BYU if he would like. We really felt like he was one of our kids and just part of the family only minutes after meeting him.

He was taken back with how close the Temples in Utah are to each other and to all of the members.

Before he had arrived he had looked up all of the LDS temples in Utah. He could not believe that there were so many. But as we traveled from SLC to Heber and then explained how long it would take us to get to the MTC the next morning the distance between the SL temple, the Provo, and the Mount Timpanogas temple began to sink in to him. He then started drilling us on the other temples with close proximity to where we were. He could not believe how close they were. He told us that he had the privilege of going to both the Quetz. Temple and the Guatemala City Temple. We asked him some questions and he shared with us that many saints travel from Hondurus and El Salvador to the Guatemala City Temple with their families to be sealed. It is a long distance to travel and they have to walk or hitchhike to get there. He said that sometimes it is easier for the family to go a farther distance to the Guatemala City temple than to the El Salvador or Honduras temple because at Guatemala City they have a guest house where they can stay over night and get cleaned up and stuff so they come that long distance. After talking with him I made a goal to get down Provo Canyon a little more often. We take things for granted that is for sure.

He Loves the work.

When I asked him how Hayden was doing he told me what a good missionary he is and then went directly into the work. He was so excited to tell us about each person that they had been teaching (a few which now have accepted baptism.) He loved these people, He loved the work. He will be greatly missed by the Elders and his ward but Pocatello Idaho just got a fantastic missionary. He was so well prepared and ready to take it on. We were so impressed!

He was so grateful and gracious:

He was so appreciative of everything we gave him and everything we did for him. Bedding folded nicely in the corner, blessing us in prayer, smiles and kind words and care for everything that we offered. For the monetary things we were able to give I could tell he was forever grateful. What a blessing to be able to share what we have. He was so refined and gracious. His mother had prepared him well and I can not wait to talk to her. I could tell she is an amazing women as well. When she heard we had taken such good care of her son she immediately had Hayden over for dinner and she has been spoiling him since. I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to take care of her son and that she is watching over mine. What a wonderful experience that I will never forget. When I dropped him off at the MTC it was literally like dropping of one of my sons.......I cried as I gave him a last farewell and a hug(with permission of course). I was so proud of him! And just like when I dropped my other sons off.....I cried most of the way back down the canyon to home......but they are always happy tears. Good Luck Elder S. you will always be in our thoughts and prayers. 

Carol Anne

E is on His Way.....

Hi Everybody, 


I do not have a lot of time today but I am going to send some photos. 

The first one is of Elder V., E. and me at E's setting apart yesterday night. We thought that it was going to be the last time we saw him.....

....but then later that night he showed up to our house to say goodbye one last time and to take another picture. So this is the that one. Well it's not really our house, it is Elder K's but they just live like upstairs so we were up there to get the call for changes. I really can not believe that your going to meet that kid that is with me in like five hours!!!  and I just took that picture last night!!! How wierd is that?!?!

And then the next one is of a giant slug that we found by Elder V's bed last night when we knelt down to pray! Ha ha! My companion threw a ton of salt on him to kill him!!! I thought it was kinda mean...but whatever...Ha ha! idk, but I filmed it when he did it I'll show it to you someday if you want.
 

OK— the next two are of this taco place that we LOVE! It makes these things called JUMBOS and last week after writing we took almost everyone in the zone to show them and they all loved them too so were going again today. 

Then the other two are of a fairwell breakfast that we threw for Elder K. that is going home this week and the is the Hermana in the photo made the whole breakfast for us and she made a cake too that was super good!

So, I just finished writing President Watts and I have a little more time, so whats up? Guess what! only about six more months! Holy cow can you beleive it?! Oh and Mom I'm sorry for you that time is going by a bit slowly lately, but for me the time is still flying!!!

Oh sorry! Gotta go! My time is out.....

Love you! bye!!!!!