This week has flown by so fast! November as a month has just gone by super fast. Monday we taught one of our Muslim investigators the plan of salvation and he doesn't think we can put Jesus Christ and heavenly father in the same category of god head and refused to pray so we had to drop him...no prayer=no conversion. One of our "golden" investigators; Pat, invited us over to teach him. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Word or wisdom. The lesson went really well and he has been really prepared. He accepted a baptismal date from 12/28 and said he'd keep the word of wisdom. We saw him yesterday at church and he hadn't broken the word of wisdom yet either, he is so solid! All he needs now is to have a testimony. He is scared to leave the church he grew up in too so we will see where it goes from there!

   Some fun stories....On Friday we were going to see a less active and it took forever for us to find the place. We knock of the door and Elder Clayton is still talking to me while we wait for the door to open and then this 25 year old girl opens the door in her bra and underwear...WHO DOES THAT?! Elder Clayton literally gasped when he saw it and it was really hard to talk to her. The funny part was how Elder Clayton lost all self control and gasped right in her face! We also have this one house we go to where there is a gay guy that lives there. Super nice guy and loves to talk...just not about church. Elder Clayton said the guy has a crush on me cause he shakes my hand with 2 hands and only shakes elder Claytons with one...super awkward. We have a less active we go and see a lot named Brother Rosales. He's Mexican and from New York. he reminds me exactly of George Lopez...a more vulgar George Lopez...he is so funny. He had a friend over at his house yesterday and we went and talk to her a little bit and i came to find out that she was from Vegas and had been to Elko before...she's in Nevada for "the business" but was a super nice lady that we got to give a blessing to, it was nice to talk about Elko for a little bit too.

    Elder Clayton and I have had a very humbling and fun week, a huge growing experience for both of us. We had to tract basically all day Friday because we had no appointments and it was really hard! I have never had to much rejection in my life than i did the half hour right before dinner...it was sad. Super humbling though! Elder Clayton and I work well together and try to always do our best.

    This week I wanted to talk about the Book of Mormon and its pivotal roll in our lives. I finished the Book for Mormon this week and If i only knew what effect that Book would have on my life i would have read it so much more at home. It is not only the keystone to our religion but needs to be the keystone of our testimony. Its the rock we need to build on(Hel 5 12) Make a new years resolution to read it either as a married couple, family, individual, I don't really care. Just read the Book from cover to cover! It will bless your life more than anything else in 2014, I promise! Just remember A successful person applies what they teach and reads! I'm thankful for this season and for the gospel, for my family, for my parents who raised me in righteousness, for friends that kept me on the straight path, and for all of the Leaders in the church, I love the savior and the atonement he gives to all. have a happy holiday. Love from Alabama. All is well.

Elder Welch

This week has been a long one and a humbling one! We had a lot of appointments set up throughout the week...8 to be exact and all fell through so obtaining our goals for the week was like pulling teeth, but we did the best we could and that is all the Lord asks of us! Not a whole lot to say this week, but I do have an amazing story! This week I have seen the Lord answer my prayers and I know that He puts us in the paths of others. Elder Clayton and I were on our way to a returning member’s home but the GPS messed up somehow and we found out we were heading to a potential’s house. We knew that the Lord had a reason for us to be in that area at that time. We got out and started tracting a few houses and there weren’t even doors opening up to us. A little discouraged we head back to the car and see this younger lady walking with her kids and we know this is why we came here. I opened my mouth and she not only took one Book of Mormon but TWO, so she could give one to her friend. As we said our goodbyes, Elder Clayton and I realized we never got any of her information. That whole day we felt terrible and had a prayer in our hearts that we would be able to get back in contact with this sister. A few days go by and we decide to try back around that same area to find this girl. As we walk we see this car drive by with a kid hanging out the window that looked like the one that the girl was walking. Elder Clayton and I look at each other and we followed that car! We knock on the door of the house that the car was at and it wasn’t the people we were looking for, BUT they knew who we were talking about and looking for and gave us the directions to the girl’s home. The Lord sent us there, gave us another opportunity, put the car in our path to find the general area where we needed to be, and then let us knock on a woman’s door who knew the young girl. We got her address down and gave the referral to Theodor since she was just babysitting at that house. The Lord does answer our prayers, we may have to work for it a bit but He did answer! It is His work! 

  We have 2 Muslim investigators now. They are super hard to teach and not really looking to convert...yet! We teach one of them the plan of salvation today so y'all will hear how that goes next week! We taught Pat Baldwin this week as well and he was looking more for knowledge but after we taught him the plan of salvation his mind set changed, he was asking some crazy deep questions for being an investigator though, like temple stuff.  We eventually had to just promise blessings for his concerns and stop his questions, ha-ha. He has a Catholic mom who he needs permission from so we will see how that goes! We got a baptismal date this week with one of our investigators too, Scott Anderson. He doesn’t understand authority but he definitely felt the Spirit in the restoration so he is searching it out for himself.

So I went to get my haircut this morning and this lady decides to shave my neck. I will send pictures and name the things that she did wrong! And just FYI, I’m totally fine, just a good story to tell.

1) She dry shaved me

2) She didn’t try to go around my mole, now I don’t need to worry about a mole

3) She put this antiseptic on it that burned really bad

4 and probably worst of all) she put after shave on an open flesh wound! I thought I would cry, but I didn’t

Once again I am fine, it’s funny to me!

  This week I wanted to talk about the Prophet Joseph Smith and his long suffering. It has helped me a lot this week, and we watched the prophet of the restoration DVD this week too. He had 5 kids’ die on earth...what a trial here, but he had 5 kids waiting for him after he died. He was beaten and you could say he was thrown into the deepest part of the refiner’s fire! He was faithful and is exalted on high. Think of your trials, think of how they will benefit you in the next life and then move on with them, you will be able to endure them better.

All is well.

Love and Miss ya’ll!

Elder Welch

 What an amazing week! It was also one of the hardest, most draining weeks physically/spiritually/emotionally I've ever gone through! Starting on Tuesday...We went to district meeting where i was able to meet all the other missionaries in the surrounding area and that was cool. There are 12 of us in all and that is over half of the zone so that's huge! Elder Buhler, our district leader is a really good teacher and a really good missionary so I am happy I get to serve with him these next few months! After district meeting we had to go get our car fixed because the windows rolled down every time we unlocked the car. It was in the shop for 2 days! They didn't even figure out what was wrong with it either. 

   Anyway...Since we had no car Wednesday we had to walk all day, 20 miles in total and 2 pounds lost baby! Not many people answered the door but the ones that did were golden, the Lord blessed us with a new investigator! We give a little, He gives a lot! We taught a guy that requested us from mormon.org. We taught the restoration and it went alright, nothing too big, we have a return appointment with him this week! We were walking home that night and it was 8:30 so it was dark. We see this big suburban pull in by the park and he parks his car. Elder Clayton just taps my leg and I said see it and just kept walking. We then see a guy walk around the corner and I was about ready to either beat a man or run like a girl! His first words out of his mouth was, "Hey Elders" so we knew that he knew us and we calmed down..it was the branch president in a neighboring area. Super cool guy, just scared us a bit, he worked for the FBI too! Thursday we had interviews with president and it  was a really spiritual uplifting experience for me and much needed. I love that guy and know that he is inspired! We also weekly planned and set goals and Elder Clayton and I set a pretty high goal of 8 LA lessons for the week in this area and didn't know why...the Lord did!  

   Friday we had our car back and went out proselyting and no one was answering there doors. We went home and had dinner and then went back out to work and this is where the Lords hand comes into the work...We got 5 less active lessons in 3 hours! it was amazing and unheard of here! The Lord knew our potential but needed to wait until the very last second to see if we would endure through the day. we see that in the First Vision too...Joseph Smith was about to give up and then exerted all of His efforts and then God stepped in and saved him from the adversary! For those of you that don't know much about this are i have a funny thing that I found out about this area this week. If any of y'all have seen the YouTube video where the guy says "hide yah kids hide yah wife" and the lady says "ain't nobody got time for dat" yup, that was here! haha Those are the ones I teach and I love them to death!

    For my message this week I wanted to talk about callings since we just got a new stake President and it is your job to make sure his job runs smoothly, not his! We get called to things that we think are too hard for ourselves or we get called to things we think are too easy for us. The thing of the matter is it doesnt matter if its easy or hard, the Lord has something to teach you in that calling at that time. Always remember, It's not where you get called to serve but it is how you serve in that calling. Try your best and the Lord will do the rest! This is my testimony. Love and miss yall!

Elder Welch

 As many of you already know I heard the news Monday that I was being transferred to the Mobile (mo-beel), Alabama Ward. I was ready for the change but the people in Fox Run have been and will continue to be missed so much. They raised me in being a missionary, my first 3 baptisms were there, and it was just an awesome ward! Monday and Tuesday I said my goodbyes to the people there and the hardest one by far being the Porter family. I had grown so close to them since they lived around the corner from us and since we taught Cody over there. I love that family! I packed throughout those 3 days and the amazing thing was I got those airtight bags to pack with and I was able to pack everything into one suitcase.  I would recommend those to anyone! I was impressed with myself. Wednesday came around and it was a really really hard day for me. I hadn't felt that way since I left home 4.5 months ago. I may or may not have cried when I said my goodbyes to Elder Nelson and then off I went.

I love Mobile! It is what I pictured when I thought of the south. Pensacola seemed more like it was westernized but I have finally made it to the south so that is nice! I drove into Mobile and met my companion Elder Clayton who I am training. That is a hard task already on my hands other than having to learn a new area. I absolutely love that kid though! He is just like me. He loves sports, music, and his Great Great Great Grandfather actually wrote "Come Come Ye Saints".  I live in a two story apartment which is awesome and we drive a minivan. It is an all driving area which is awesome especially with winter coming up!

We have one investigator whose name is Angie who is pretty solid. She has gotten her answer but every time she gets it she seeks to find something wrong about the church. What is really frustrating is that she has a returned missionary husband who is trying to talk her out of it because he is less active and does not want to change. We don't meet with her for another week and a half and are really trying to feel out the Spirit on how to solve her problem. So prayers would be awesome!  Two fun stories for this week actually both happened yesterday. All of our plans fell through around 7:00 and it was really dark, so we went and saw some potentials. We had plans to go contact this referral we had so we went and no one was home so we walked away and then all of the sudden he comes out and calls to us. Elder Clayton shoots up the stairs to go talk to him but I knew a little better than to run at someone haha. I see him hiding a gun under his shirt and he pulled it out and just left it by his side so we knew it was there. Then when he knew who we were he calmed down and put it away...super scary though! We knocked on a few doors and then were walking to the next place and I felt that we needed to be done.  I figured that the house we were going to would be the last...we walked about 200 more yards and we hear barks and these 2 massive pitbulls come out and start chasing us. Elder Clayton and I were both just laughing so hard and they only chased us for about 200 feet. I don't believe that was the prompting I felt.  I believe that that was another prompting to go in for the night, so we did.

  This week with transfers has been the most physically, mentally, and spiritually tiring thing I have done in about 4 months. Not to add that I am now training but I have grown so much and have had fun the whole week while doing the hard things. I’m just going to testify of missionary work this week. We all know the plan of salvation and the big things we have to do. God knows what is going to happen even though we might not. With that being said EVERYONE in their life whether they be your friends, coworkers, or family will be prepared to receive the gospel sometime in their life. Be bold and obedient and share the gospel! Angels will be there to bear you up and help you share the message we have to share. I know the gospel is true! I love and miss y’all and hope all is well back home. God has a plan for all of us! Even plan B's if the first time didn’t work.

All is well

Elder Welch