Well my time here in Fox Run has been a blessing, it has been well spent, it has been fun, and it has been where I was raised in my mission by my trainers, the members, and all other I come in contact with. It is really hard to have to let it go but I know the Lord has many more things in store for me in the MOBILE SOUTH area! Do I know where that is?? Not a clue haha but I will get the address out to my mom asap! This week has just flown by! On Monday we played some basketball with the district and that was a lot of fun, I have gotten even better on my mission I believe. We also saw TJ this week since he had surgery last week. One of his legs are longer than the other and he was getting it lengthened, he has like a cage on his leg with a bunch of screws connecting to his leg...super nasty!  He is doing awesome though! We went over to his house yesterday and he blessed the sacrament for himself and his nonmember mom, it was super awesome! The rest of the week not much happened, I hung out with the district a lot since everyone kind of knew I was leaving. We had a trunk or treat on Friday and a chili cookoff and I now understand what hot chili is...the southerners love their food (kind of like that story of the chili cookoff, the funny one(mom/dad)) After that I had my last tradeoff with my boy Elder Lane over in pine forest and we had to bike so much! We also forgot the phone over at Fox Run's apartment so we had to bike over at 7 when it was 48 degrees! (that may seem like beach weather to you but I wanted to cry it was so cold, my hands were frozen) The last this that happened this week is Tracy, our investigator who is going to get baptized on Nov. 10 came to church and she is super solid! In gospel principles this lady who got converted 20 years ago but still has a Baptist mentality argued about God creating the world even though it was Christ and just wouldn't budge no matter what scriptures we threw at her! It was so funny though because she was standing up preaching and whenever she felt the spirit she would say "oooh glory to god, hallelujah!" Elder Nelson and I were busting a gut.

    I wanted to talk about faith today. I felt like i was lacking faith this week and it was really hindering my progression and the work's progression. In church we learned a lot about aligning our will with the Lord's and that only happens through having faith in him and knowing that he is the master carver here. I have had a rough few transfers and was doubting whether or not I was meant to be in this area with this companion at this time. The lord knows what he is doing. Ether 12:6 says its not until after the trial of our faith that we gain knowledge, experience, and growth. nothing easy has ever made someone grow. I love and miss y'all and next week I will be writing you from Mobile, Alabama! All is well!

Elder Welch

 This week has FLOWN by! On Monday my favorite members in the ward and my recent convert Porters/Cody Cousin took Elder Nelson and I to the beach down here. It is called Pensacola Beach and it was by far the prettiest beach I have ever seen. I will definitely be coming back here for a beach vacation, so pretty! That night we also got to do family home evening with the same family and we carved pumpkins! I never really did much carving when I was back home. It was really fun to do it here, the only problem was that pumpkins only last like 2 days here and then the humidity molds them all up...nasty!  On Tuesday Elder Nelson and I had tradeoffs with the zone leaders, I stayed in Fox Run with Elder Wilkey. We had an awesome district meeting and then went and talked to TJ about getting his patriarchal blessing.  We also gave him a blessing because he was going to get surgery on his leg on the 18th. We then got pizza for dinner and finished the night off with some volleyball up at the church with some nonmembers and some less actives. On Wednesday we helped Cody move and that was about it. This whole week we really were focusing on trying to find people to teach because Elder Nelson and I baptized all of our investigators that we had so we didn’t have much to do. We found two women that a member referred us to.  We taught them the first half of the restoration, she bawled like a baby which was awesome that she felt the Spirit so strongly. However, they both fell off of the face of the earth. I will give more updates on them next week. Friday of course was my birthday! 19 years old already! I had a birthday party over at the Porters where I opened presents, had PAPA MURPHYS J and watched a video where my family was wishing me a happy birthday! I cried like a little baby ha-ha. Thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday this week as well! On Saturday I had a tradeoff with Elder Spencer, a new missionary. We stayed in Fox Run as well, not much happened that day.  I did buy a pair of clippers and now cut my own hair! My mom and sister probably think I’m crazy with how picky I use to be when they would cut my hair. I find myself doing a good job too! Cosmetology is in my blood!

This week I wanted to share something that I have come to love...obedience. I strive for it! I have unfortunately seen the effects of having an obedient companion and disobedient companion. If ya’ll remember me saying at the beginning of my mission, 'obedience brings blessings, perfect obedience brings miracles'...it’s true but I have a new saying that I like better.  "Obedience brings happiness".  It may be hard and at times not very desirable, but it is the most enjoyable thing that I have found on my mission. Second, only to seeing someone walk into the waters of baptism. Remember a few of the Lord's commissions. "Be of good cheer", the Lord wants us happy and it’s a commandment. Then in Matthew 5 and in 3 Nephi 12 the Lord says, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven ("and I" in 3 Nephi) is perfect." Take both of those commandments and munch them together! Eternal happiness! I love and miss ya’ll and again I thank you for the birthday wishes!

All is well!

Elder Welch

 4 months have come and gone since I lasted hugged my momma and only have 20 more till I get to hug her again! This week has had a ton of things happen and it has had its lows, its highs, and definitely learning moments! I have another bash story for ya’ll. Last Pday we had gotten all that we needed to do done so we decided to go to a thrift store because it’s always fun to see what is sold there sometimes. Anyway... Elder Nelson and I were going around looking at shelves and all of a sudden I see Ken...He is a known bible Baptist basher that has actually bashed every single mission in Pensacola for the past 2 years, honestly I was scared but it was my second time meeting him so I knew how he was. The rule for our mission since it is in the south is try to get out of the bashing situation, which we did(tried to walk away), then if he catches up to you tell him that we don’t have anything to do with him(which we did). THEN if all else fails....let him have it! The awesome thing is you can tell your growth of knowledge from bashing someone. Elder Nelson and I confounded this guy like nothing, enough to make him walk away instead of us stopping it, the big thing was "we believe that we can become Gods" which we do. My argument to end the conversation was...was Jesus not born of an earthly mother??? That’s how it’s done folks, south101. I don’t recommend bashing though! We did what we had to do and this guy is always asking for it.

   I also had my trade off with my boy Elder Lane from Page, Az...He is about to go home though (January) I’m going to miss that kid so much! This week we ended up having a lot of sad experiences too. We taught these two boys that showed up to basketball a few weeks ago and have kind of been keeping in contact with them but this week we found out that their dad passed away and that they would be moving. I felt so bad for these two boys and my prayers are with them. We also had a recent convert from the Orlando mission move up here a few weeks ago who is about 50 and he had asked for a blessing before he went into surgery the next day, so Elder Nelson and I went to give him one and left. Two days later Bishop gives us a call and tells us that this brother had died in surgery. We also hear of two more missionaries dying in the field. Be grateful for the life you have, for the trials you have in them, and always be worthy if you are called on a mission on the other side of the veil! In all honesty being a missionary is really safe, 11 out of 80,333 is a pretty good statistic and I know they are doing just fine in the celestial world.

   Yesterday was the baptism of Ladarius and who baptized him??? That's right, TJ! My first recent convert that I baptized was the one performing the ordinance this time and it was super awesome! I gave a talk on baptism and the Spirit was really strong throughout the whole meeting, the Lord has blessed this area and our companionship more than we even realize.

    The message I want to share today has a few stories to go along with it. Yesterday was obviously the Sabbath and with the week that we had had I wanted and needed to be spiritually uplifted so that is was I prayed about in my morning prayers. I have never had a crazier/weird sacrament meeting in my whole life. This sister who was a convert to the church talked and was walking the whole row where the Bishop sits and the other speakers while she gave her talk and honestly I don’t even know what she was talking about. It wasn’t her fault, she didn’t know any better, and it was just different to what we know. Then in gospel principles we had a lady who was also a convert into the church and was recently Baptist. We were talking about the gifts of the Spirit and the gift of tongues came up. As we all know the gift of tongues is given to missionaries that go to foreign speaking missions but the Baptists believe that it is some weird language they speak when they feel the Spirit. She still believed in that and there was an argument between her and the teacher on that subject for about 10 minutes. To put what I’m trying to say into words, I wasn’t having the most spiritual uplifting Sunday in the world and I was upset about that. We then went to young men’s with Ladarius and that lesson really hit home. We talked about being grateful and showing our gratitude. As I took a step back and realized all the things that the Lord has blessed me with, my family with, my mission with, and the ward I am serving in with... needless to say I was hit with the humble stick. At times it feels like we can never catch a break and I think that Elder Holland put it best when he said; “If the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong". The Lord has blessed us all with so much and we are selfish, I know I am. Before I pray I always think to myself, "Ok what do I need from my Heavenly Father, what can He do for ME"? In Mosiah 23:21 it says; “Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." It is never as bad as we think it is, the Lord has blessed us so much, give a thankful prayer sometime. Sit back and think of all the things the Lord has given you and will yet give to you.  If you are in a hard time drink the bitter cup and know that every stumbling block is just a stepping stool so we can reach a little higher. I love and miss ya’ll so much. 19 years old here I come! All is well!

Elder Welch

 I’m sure many of you have heard of this "tropical storm" Karen that was supposed to hit me. The storm was pathetic, I have had worse rain storms in Nevada and way worse in Florida, and I guess it hit New Orleans...again ha-ha. They can never catch a break with that kind of stuff.

Let me tell you a story of how members made me break the word of wisdom...On Tuesday we were going to dinner over at a member’s home and we ended up having an awesome meal. Until dessert that is. I saw that it was brownies and I was super excited...I take one big bite out of it and can tell something is different about these brownies...I know many of you are probably thinking special brownies but the people down here aren’t THAT crazy ha-ha. So after the meal Elder Nelson and I are driving to our next appointment and we came to the conclusion that there was coffee in those brownies. We only had one and didn’t know so I think the Lord can forgive us on this. They were active members too!

This week I got to do some service that I was semipro at thanks to Brother Condie. I moved a piano! Unfortunately we didn’t have any equipment to do it.  It was just Elder Nelson and I so we just bare knuckled it and carried it. Slow and steady won the race for that one!

We only have one investigator at this point in time and we taught him the first two lessons this past week, his name is Ladarius. He is planning on getting baptized this next Sunday and he already has a testimony of it!

How awesome was general conference?! I honestly cannot pick one talk that was the "best" out of them all or that touched me the deepest. We have prophets of God on the earth today. They have told us what to do to become successful. I want to touch on one area that they all said would help us in our daily lives. Personal spiritual preparation for the day is key in how our whole life will be shaped. "Our small everyday choices will develop into who we will be as life comes to an end”.  I know we have been commanded to do things out of His servant’s mouths this weekend and that if we heed their counsel we will never go astray.

I love and miss you all and am thankful for your support!

All is well

Elder Welch