Las Victorias Week 2

Hey everybody!

So, you know how I said I would have the whole picture thing down this time so I would have more time? Yeah, well I didn't —sorry! I'm still trying to figure it out. I still don't really know if my pictures went through. If they did, I actually didn't attatch the ones last week that I wanted to but that's ok. So the pictures—The first one is of my district in the MTC. The second one is me and Josh at the MTC.  That was way cool that we got to see each other and take that picture! (Note from Carol Anne: Josh is Hayden's friend, snowboarding buddy and Lexi's cousin. They entered the MTC on the same day.)  And then the next ones if I remember right, were also of the district at the MTC.

I'm going to try to send some more pictures this time too. 

(Note from Carol Anne: You can click on the photographs to see a larger version.)

My district at the CCM,

A really pretty tree —that I know you will love Mom,

  And then one of my district here in Las Victorias in McDonalds of all places! Ha ha ha!

But anyway, things are going really well.  So we have this couple that we are baptizing next month!!! They are way cool. It's the doctor one that I'm pretty sure I told you about. They are getting married on the 15th, baptized on the 16th and confirmed on the 17th! It's the best! And then we have another guy that just told us yesterday that he wants to try and get baptized by the 16th too— which is really good! He put his own date but I don't know if he´s gonna be able to do it cuz he is living with this member lady so they have to get married before he can get baptized. Kinda weird, but hey at least he wants to get baptized. Then we also have this other family that we are working on. La Familia P. They have a ton of problems though, but I want to baptize these kids SO bad! There is a twelve year old, J C, he´s way smart and then a 15 year old, N.— N. is amazing! He´s been playing the guitar for only six months and he is incredible. He only has a guitar that is missing a string though and he can still rock out on it! And he is way good at break dancing! But they have some pretty big problems. Their mom is actually one of them. Not the biggest —but still one of them. So if you would just pray for them and especially for N. Pray for his safety if you could. I know that sounds a little sketchy but don't worry —ha ha ha— its no big deal. I just know prayers need to be specific. But yeah, and then we have like five or six other investigators that are pretty close to getting baptismal dates which is awesome! cuz in the last six weeks the whole mission only had like 18 baptisms or something!

So....I had a big list of stuff that I wanted to write about but you know me....I left it at the house!  Just kidding, I am actually really responsible now believe it or not...but I really did leave it— ha ha. 

Oh, I did get ALL of your Dear Elders! Well at least I think all of them. I don't know if you sent any Lexi Lou but I got a bunch from the fam. I guess they all came to the mission home instead of the CCM so they've been holding them for me.

So I get pouch every Thursday so that's when I'll be getting your stuff. Also, concerning pouch,  my companion says you can send normal letters through pouch, it doesn't have to be just one sheet of paper. Idk why they said that if it's not true—but thats what he said. So you still can't send pictures and stuff , the rule is it can't be anything other than paper.


(Note from Carol Anne: Hayden's companion is mistaken—It is important to follow the pouch rules listed in the "Where to Write Hayden" section of this blog. Found on the right panel. If we do not obey the rules the pouch system will be done away with. So thank you for following the rules!)

So How is everyone doing? You all sound like your doing alright from your Dear Elders. Minus the fact that everyone in the family has had a NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE! since I've been gone!

(Note from Carol Anne: Bruce had his emergency surgery, Abby and I got in a wreck and Bryan, Whitney and Avery had a Carbon Monoxide leak in their apartment! Ha Ha —as Hayden would say!)

Yes, EVEN Taylor—sounds like you got pretty close to being killed by Mom! Ha ha ha!


(Note from Carol Anne: Taylor decided to skip school and join a community protest without the consent of his mother!!!)

And Taylor what the heck is up with you busting the phone ya dumb bumb! Love ya man!! Ha ha ha!


(Note from Carol Anne: Hayden passed on his phone to Taylor when he left and Taylor broke the screen within a week.)

Oh— I can receive pictures and videos through my email too if you wanna send them that way. But also I need more hard copies of pictures of the fam cuz the only one I have is the one with dad in the star costume!!! HA HA HA HA!!!! Still cracks me up everytime! And of course I would love more from you to Lexi!

But for real I am doing really well! I say that in every letter I send but with no fail I get a letter in reply from Mom saying, "Are you doing ok? I really can't tell from your letters."....so....I AM DOING AWESOME MOM!!! Ha ha ha.  I miss you guys a ton of course but I am doing awesome.

Just keep me updated on everything! Oh and the Dear Elders do work really well so you can keep doing that. But I do love hand written ones too— so whichever way you prefer.

Well,  I better go so I can get these pictures all ready and sent off. Love you all so much and I always think about all of you! Your all in my prayers always. Love you so much!

Love,

Elder Welch

I am in.....Las Victorias!!!

Hey Everybody!

I'm new to this whole picture thing so it's taken me a while to get it down and I had double the emails cuz I didn't do it last week —so I don't have a lot of time this week. But we have an hour here instead of a half an hour so next time it will be a ton better! I'm doing really well! I'm really like a missionary now! —ha ha ha! So I am in an area called Las Victorias. It is actually  really nice. (Note from Carol Anne: Las Victorias is just out side of the capital Guatemala City. So he was not on the red bus after all!) The members in the ward are way cool! Like half of them speak English so that's cool. But I think the Spanish is coming alright. I kinda got thrown into the fire though cuz both me and my companion, his name is Elder M.  but we are both new in the area and the last two elders were on the program to give talks yesterday so....yeah...I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting my first Sunday in the feild! —ha ha ha!  I thought it was really good though and I got a ton of compliments.  Idk if they were just out of pity or what—ha ha ha!  Everybody always doesn't beleive me when I say I've only been out like five days though.  I've had like five or six people guess that I've been out for like five or six months.... so I guess that's alright. But I really am doing well. I have my first fecha bautismal (baptismal date) for the sixteenth of this month it's a way cool family and the dad is a doctor so we talk about medical school and stuff —haha. (Note from Carol Anne: Hayden really wants to be a doctor-so this interests him.) I  have another one hopefully coming up in the next few days. Alright I better go— but mom, I just want to say that you really were inspired. That is amazing to me. But don't worry, you were right.

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your support! 

This is Elder  B! He was my best friend in the CCM!

Con amor,

Elder Welch

Photographs from the mission home....

We still do not have news on WHERE Hayden is..... But we did get some new photographs from his welcome lunch at the mission home. Look at the slideshow below to see his happy little face!  I included some photos of M. D.  just for fun (M.  is one of Hayden's friends from home)—From what I can tell he is at a different lunch than Hayden.  I am sure that if Hayden had the chance to cross paths with M. he would have been  delighted to see him and it would be an exciting reunion. Hayden and M. emailed a bit before he left for the mission field and M. having a few months under his belt—helped him to know of a few things he should bring, what to expect and informed him that he would be waiting for him to arrive. Twenty new missionaries and trainers were at the luncheon. What a fun day!

Carol Anne

P.S. Excuse the spelling errors in the captions -such as "there" instead "their"and"edler" instead of "elder" :)

I was in a hurry and now I do not know how to edit it! Oops! Oh well it is all about the photos—right!?!

HAYDEN HAS LEFT THE BUILDING!!!!

TODAY IS THE DAY THAT HAYDEN LEFT THE CCM!!!

For those of you checking for Hayden's email today—You will have to wait awhile!  I do not know if he will be able to email today or not.Today is the day that he is headed out of the CCM and into the big wide world of Guatemala!!!! No more big fences, locked gates and armed guards for protection. Now is the time to put on the armor of God and get to work!!! As soon as I get the word where he has been assigned and who his new companion is I will let you know!

The following is an email that I received form another Guatemala North Missionary Mom. Her son has been out over a year now. It is kind of interesting and gives us a glimpse of what Hade maybe going through today. I believe there are five Elders and one Sister leaving the CCM for Guatemala North today.


Carol Anne,

D. spent his entire MTC experience in Provo and didn't go to the CCM (because it was overloaded with Latino missionaries) so I don't know if they will be able to email today or not.  I don't think D. did, but he had just called us from the airport on his way to Guatemala, so his experience was a little different.

Sister Torres will also (probably) post pictures soon of the new missionaries coming into the mission.  That's so fun!!  When D. went she posted them the same night at about 10:30 and it was such a blessing because then I actually saw a picture of him in Guatemala.  However, most of the moms have had  to wait a week or more until they are posted.  So just keep checking her blog!!

D. will also be getting a new companion.  He didn't say anything about training.  He has been training a new missionary (Elder J.).  He was with Elder J. for 2 changes and now Elder J. is leaving with D. staying. So I don't know if he will still be a trainer for this change.  He has been in San Jeronimo since the end of September. 

If your son gets Elders F. and H., he will be so lucky!!  Elder F. is Tongan and has the Tongan personality!  They are great elders.  I didn't realize they were MTC companions!  Now they get to finish their missions together as trainers! That is so cool.  If Elder Welch does go there, my D. will be his District leader  :)

I can't wait to hear!  The change conference is at 8:00 in the morning, so they will be up and on their way from the CCM early!

If he trains in the city, he will be out doing missionary work tonight.  If he goes to Salama with Hess and Fusi, he will travel about 5 hours to Coban, then another 2 back to Salama.  If he goes to Peten, he will be on a bus for about 9 hours!  In this mission, missionaries NEVER travel alone.  He will always have someone with him, even when he is a seasoned missionary.  There's a lot of "shifting" in the past couple of days with missionaries going to the city to get new missionaries, missionaries going to the change conference to find out where they are going, etc, then they will get on the bus or whatever transportation they have and head out.  

It's fun to think today:  will he take a taxi to an area in the city and getting right to work or spend the day on the bus seeing the country!

B.

Another fun note is that Elder M. D. got released from being a Zone leader this change and is headed to the Capital (maybe  to be a trainer). That would be weird if Hayden ended up with Elder D!!! or on the rare occasion a few Elders have gone straight to the mountains and Kechi country......Just having a little fun speculating. 

This I KNOW he will go where he is supposed to go and he will be willing to do it in typical Hayden style—STOKED!!!

We will just wait and see......I will let you know as soon as I know! 

Carol Anne

I just can’t wait to actually get out into the field!

Hey everybody!

I seriously cannot believe how fast these past couple weeks have gone by! I have less than a week here at the CCM! There are a few people even starting to pack! I am so stoked! So first I wanna tell you a story that Michelle's story reminded me of. (Note from Carol Anne: Hayden’s Aunt Michelle is a ward missionary and shared a story with him of her experiences.)  

This Monday we got the chance to go out and proselyte —so me and my Latino companion Elder  C. were walking down the street and this first area we were in was awfull!!! The people were way mean! But we were walking down the street and there was this old lady walking the opposite way so we walked up and Elder C. was just like "buenos dias" and this old lady FREAKED! She just started screaming about how she is on her way and that is NOT the way you try to start a conversation with someone and she can't believe how awful we are and how rude we are and all this stuff— like screaming at the top of her lungs! We were just like "esta bien, gracias hermana. Buenos dias" and we just like hauled cheeks outta there! Ha ha ha! But then we went to a different area and we found quite a few people that were really interested and were really good references— I think. So everything is going well! I will try and get a letter written for E. this week and send it. I think that will mean more. I will send it next week. So Edgar keeps asking Lexi about the Book of Mormon? That’s so sweet! I’ll get it as soon as I can! 

(Note from Carol Anne: E. is a man that Hayden worked with at the restaurant before he left on his mission. He taught E. English for quite some time and Edgar taught Hayden some Spanish. It really helped Hayden and I think it has helped Hayden have more success with the language. Edgar was very interested in Hayden’s mission and this sparked his interest in the gospel. Hayden gave him some church videos before he left. Lexi worked with Hayden at the restaurant with E. and is still in contact with him and Edgar keeps asking Lexi for a Book of Mormon.)

So tell me everything that’s going on. I feel kinda left out and that a lot has been going on that I don’t know about! idk why but if so...let me know! (Note from Carol Anne: I have not been completely forthright on how bad Bruce was and that he was still struggling after surgery and such…..Guess he is pretty perceptive…..) I love you all so much and I miss you a ton always! I am really having an awesome time though. I just can’t wait to actually get out into the field! It can’t come fast enough but at the same time I can’t believe how fast it has gone!  I only have 11/12ths of the mish left!!! —Ha ha ha ha—Alright well I better go. I love you all sooooo much and thank you so much for all of your support! You guys are the best and I always think about you guys!

con amor,

Elder Welch

A letter to Grandma and Grandpa Murdock March 2nd 2011

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Thanks so much for the letter! It was the first actual written letter I received and it was the best! Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. They do not give us a whole lot of time to write and it takes forever with the mailing system here for the letters to get places. So I do not know when you will be getting this. My mom said that she has sent me like three letters but it has been four weeks and they still haven't gotten here so— either I will be in the field by the time you get this or it might not even get to you! So I sure hope it does!

Everything is really great here at the CCM! I really love it a lot. Guatemala is absolutely beautiful! I wish I would have been able to see that show you were talking about. It is amazing here. The other day, well I guess it was a week ago today. We got to go out to the central market of Guatemala City and it was so incredible! You would have really loved it. It is just so huge and filled with all these booths of people selling all these handmade things and then there is like this underground part that is just filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables and all kinds of food from all over Guatemala. It was so interesting! And then after that we went to the central mall of Guatemala City and it was just like I was back in the US. The mall was huge and it had like all the same stores as malls in the US. My companion and I got Subway and a Cinnabun which was so weird after eating Guatemalan food for three weeks! The food here is real good though for the most part.

The people here are really nice. We change out missionaries every three weeks so every three weeks a new group of Latino missionaries come in. I made a lot of really good friends from the last group of Latinos. I think it was just because it was our first, but I had a lot more friends out of that group. Also the other people are really nice too! Our second week here we got to go and kind of proselyte at the central plaza and it was amazing how receptive all of the people were. Even if they were on their way somewhere they would stop and come to talk to me and my Latino companion. I do not know if my mom has told you but here in the CCM we have both a North American companion and a Latino companion. My old Latino companion was Elder G. He was from here in Guatemala he was a really good guy and we got a few people who were really interested and we referred them to the missionaries in the area so I was really excited about that!

So anyway, I am super bummed that I am missing all the hubbub with Granny Mae's party! It sounds like it is going to be quite the shin-dig! Any party that calls for four gallons of ham sauce has really got to be something! Sorry I did not get you a talk written Grandpa....I'm sure you wouldn't have wanted it anyway though because I bet not many people would understand my Spanish and it would probably be hard for me to write one in English. I'm getting to the point that my English is slipping because I'm learning a ton of Spanish but my Spanish is still real bad —so now I'm just kind of having a hard time speaking in general! Alright, well I miss you both so much I wish I could just come over for Sunday dinner sometimes, but that will have to wait. I know I'm supposed to be here and I'm loving it and learning so much! Keep writing! I love hearing from you and hearing all that is going on. Tell everyone that I say hi and I love you all so much. Thank you so much for everything. You have taught me so much that has helped me so much —even this far. Thank you and I love you.

Love,

Elder Welch