First Week in the FTM

   I love Florida! The people are nice and actually pretty receptive so far. The day I got transferred up to Pensacola fox run ward I was super sick. I don't know what it was from, nervousness or actual sickness. The car we road up in was rented and it smelt like smoke so that didn't help at all. Once I got to the transfer site in Pensacola I met Elder Brendon Foster who is absolutely amazing, he is the district leader! He is from Midvale, UT. He is so cool and nice. He loves the work, has been out 10 months, is the most obedient guy I've ever met(which will carry onto me), he is a great teacher, very service oriented, and works his butt off! We always have a packed schedule. Anyway, we got back to the apartment which is really nice, I have my own bathroom, we share a bedroom, it has a study room in it, living room, and kitchen, plus a laundry room out back. He gave me a blessing there to make me feel better about the mission and about my sickness. I threw up shortly after that which helped and off to work we went! I feel like Satan was tempting me with being sick to not go an work on my first day but I did. Our first lesson was with a less active family and it went really well, I haven't seen them since Wednesday though. Then we went to Bishop Smith's house to have dinner and we had spaghetti, if you love missionaries never feed them spaghetti, we always get it. Other than that that was my first day in the field. We are in a car share with the sisters in our ward so I do use my bike every other day. It isn't as hot as you'd think it is, the humidity just makes it so the shade doesn't work at all! The humidity carries all of the heat into the shade. Humidity is like walking into an building with an indoor pool but its 85 degrees so it's terrible. Back in Nevada all of the sweat would evaporate off of me before there would be enough to see since the air is so dry there, here I am constantly soaked from sweat. I'm being 100% honest, I've never sweated so much in my whole life, thank goodness for those handkerchiefs you gave me!  I am getting my haircut pretty short today too so the sweat doesn't mess up my hair so badly like it does right now, I look like a mess, my companion has a buzz, I will probably do something a little longer than it, it'll be fun.  I love what I'm doing, the work is great here in the Fox run area. The ward is made up of mostly converts so every member a missionary isn't a problem at all, they all help us out a ton! I pray that you too will find the joy and happiness in being member missionaries, your job is just as important as mine in this work, invite someone over and give missionaries referrals. The spirit is so strong and I know that this gospel is so true. We have a lot of investigators but only 2 are progressing, we have baptismal dates set for them in 2 weeks! We are killing it out here in fox run, two best missionaries they've seen! Some fun stories....

We missed moms letter so had to go pick it up from the post office and some bible baptist starting yelling at us and telling us we are going to hell, I guess it happens a lot. Most baptists are OK but bible baptist are the worst! if you aren't them, they hate you. I find it funny that they do it. It doesn't bother me. I'll talk to them on the other side of the veil.

We don't really tract much because of how many referrals we get but I have knocked a few doors and have only got one slammed in our faces, of course it was my door ha. On the other side of things I have gotten an investigator from tracting, Elder Foster was proud.

I'm not use to people avoiding to talk to me, ha-ha. If anyone sees us they find the furthest route away. The people here are still nice once you get talking though, this one random dude stopped us and gave us water right as we ran out, tender mercy! He wasn't even a member. I love me some BBQ down here and the produce is amazing! I just love food. I'm not use to living in a forest though, it literally is just thick forest everywhere you look, for the whole mission too, its clean air though! I was super tired at the beginning of the week but I've coped, I'm constantly sore from the bike though. I think I have gained a little weight because of the water I have retained and of my swollen sore muscles, we work out really hard in the mornings and on the bikes so getting fat shouldn't be a problem.

It's really cool here that all of the leaders are converts, the church here is all from converts, literally, no family line Mormons. the stake president is even a convert. I know that this gospel is true with all of my heart. I love the Savior and the atonement that He suffered for you and me. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. I know I was sent to Florida to serve here. I absolutely love it here, nice people, good food, there are a lot of poor people down here though, I still love them. I know that Joseph Smith restored this gospel and that we have a true living prophet today. Heed to his counsel. I'm doing great over here on the east coast. I love where I'm at and I love what I'm doing. All is well. Love Y'all(haven't gotten use to saying y'all yet but the accent is going to get to me)


Elder Welch






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