What a week!  It was a really successful week. On Monday night we had to travel way to the top of our zone; Grovehill, Alabama which is two hours away from Mobile. We went to the district meeting up there and then I was able to come down to Mobile with Elder Douglas to do a tradeoff. He has an Eloise Welch in his family somewhere but we can’t find out if we're related or not. I don’t know if that’s how it is spelled but I know it sounds a lot like a Welch name! I had to drive Elder Douglas back up the next day, in all...I did a ton of driving this week! 

My highlight of the week was definitely the trade off we had with the assistant to the president. Thursday morning we went down to Fairhope, Alabama to pick them up and we had the opportunity to go with Elder Musgrave, our new assistant. He is the man! I loved every minute of it, he was a great missionary obviously but he was so chill and cracked me up the whole time! With him we got to build a deck for a man we ran into a couple of weeks back. My first thought of it was that we weren’t going to get anything done because I remember how long it took us to get ours put up. We put that whole thing up in 3 hours, no joke (other than the cement that was done before). Other than that we went and saw a few people and then had to go back and drop Elder Musgrave back off.

 This whole week we did a LOT of finding, a lot of doors knocked and a lot of talking to random people. We were able to get one new investigator out of it too. Yes one out of 5 hours of tracting. I know the missionaries in South America might find that hilarious but I’m in the south baby ha-ha. I talked to this guy about basketball for about 10 minutes and then we got into a spiritual conversation. He is going to come play ball with us on Friday night and we are going to meet with him this weekend. I feel he has been really prepared. One investigator came to church this week too. ROCK! I love that guy, he doesn’t quite understand why we were sent down here. From going to a perfect state, coming down here to an imperfect state, to go back to a perfect state. We have to explain it all to him tonight.  We were perfect like a 5 year old is perfect.  In this world, He wants us to be perfect as an adult when we come back. 

 I’ve done my studies on D & C 121: 34-46 this week and my mind has been blown.  As we just sit down and take time to study, we learn so much. I also studied a lot on faith and how that really runs the heavens (heavens are run by the priesthood which is run by faith). People don’t understand how important faith is, its simple obedience. I think of a 3 year old when I think of faith.  They have so much faith that they believe everything they hear from their parents.  Then later on in life they learn to understand why that was important, but still obeyed in faith until they knew why they needed to do that. As the opposite of faith I think of the stereotype of a teenager.  Kids who are prideful and don’t listen to their parents because they think they know better. The commonality between these two types of people is that they will both learn eventually that their parents were right in the first place. I have been very frustrated with a lot of people that lack this blind faith of a 3 year old (all of us lack it in something at some time in their life). The commonality between all sin is pride, that’s why it’s the universal sin, it’s a selfish reason you commit it for. I invite everyone as we are going to be counseled by our leaders not only this weekend but all the time, to have the blind faith if you don’t understand it completely.  You’ll learn it the fun or not fun way.

All is well!

Love and miss ya’ll!

Elder Welch

 This week has gone by so fast! Mainly because we got to go on 3 tradeoffs as a said last week. My first tradeoff was with Elder Parsons, he is the District Leader in Monroeville, AL. The district meeting was really good and then we went to work up in his area. The coolest part about the tradeoff was the service that we did. Many of you know I was not a big reader back home, but one book I was able to read was "To Kill a Mockingbird". Monroeville is actually where that story is based off of. We went to the museum where the court case in the book took place and it was really cool, I enjoyed it. 

 The next tradeoff was with my boy Elder Clayton in Mobile North's area. It was kind of different being with each other again but we both loved it, he is growing a lot with the situation he has been put in. My last tradeoff was with Elder Miller. He is the Elder that replaced me in Mobile South and as a District Leader, he is the man! I would love to serve with him, plus he has the best voice I’ve ever heard, we will be singing sometime in zone training and in church. My spiritual experience with him was this: Elder Clayton and I had previously worked a certain portion of that area a lot when we served there but never found the person we needed to and I relayed this to Elder Miller so he came up with a game plan. We had 2 gps's so I took one and he took one and we each chose a street in this area to tract and my area was a little closer so we went to mine first. We knocked on the first door and no one answered, we went to the second door and when this man opened up, we didn’t say a single word and he just said "come in." Honestly I thought we were going to get bashed but it was a great lesson and contact! They had been taught by the missionaries 15 years ago and said they'd read and pray. It was cool to see how the Lord works.

 I don’t have many stories for my own area, it doesn’t feel like I was there at all. We had a crazy storm yesterday where there was tornado warnings and watches. We had to drive in the storm up to the church for safe shelter. Once we were at the church we saw that there was a cop there which was kind of weird. Come to find out someone broke into the church this past week, nothing was stolen but it was still inconvenient. We have stake conference this weekend and then general conference next weekend. I’m super excited! I have thought a lot about prayer this week. There are a lot of things that can go into prayer but I have realized that nothing is as important as the gratitude we show. We can see Heavenly Father’s hand more abundantly in our lives as we thank him in our daily prayers.

Love always,

All is well!

    The past couple of weeks I talked about how fast time was flying, and it really was. This week the brakes were slammed on! I think it is because of all of the new changes. Getting a new companion and serving in a new area is some of the hardest things you will do on missions. Elder Hadden and I knew each other pretty well before this transfer but it is always different when you have to spend 24/7 with someone. Elder Hadden and I get along really well we just have to get use to living with someone different and learning how to teach with one another. The new area I am in is a lot smaller than the last so learning it wont take too long, I am still working on the names of people though, it'll all come within the next week or two! As far as being a zone leader goes, this past week was pretty busy but I think it will be getting busier. We have 3 tradeoffs this week and are actually travelling up to the top of the stake (Atmore, Al) tonight to go to a district meeting up there tomorrow and then doing a tradeoff with the district leader, Elder Parsons, I will be staying up there with him. The next two tradeoffs this week will be awesome! Elder Clayton will be coming down and I will have a tradeoff with him and then the next day I will go to Mobile South again to have a district leader tradeoff then.

  We taught a few lessons this week but I don't have too much to say on it because I don't know these people yet. We had a really good one last night though. We went to Prichard to teach this lady the restoration and it was a really powerful lesson, Elder Hadden committed her to baptism on the 12 of April. The story about here and why she is searching for God is because her son got shot in the head a few months ago and it just all of a sudden hit her that she needed to find out why she is here on earth because we can be gone any day, anytime.

  This week I wanted to talk about trials. I felt like I have been thrown in the deep end this week but I'm finally learning how to swim. Certain trials only come and go once in a lifetime but what we learn from them should stay. Growing pains are painful but once we are done we can see from a higher level. I would not pray for trails if i were you, just pray that you will learn the things that God needs you to do and then pray for strength. Make sure you study a lot because once you are thrown in that deep end you'll need an oxygen tank that'll last you for a while. Love and miss you. All is getting better! All is Well!

Elder Welch

 What a week! The week right before we find out about transfers is always a really long week, just because I am kind of impatient and want to know what is in store! This transfer I got called to be a Zone Leader for the Mobile Stake with Elder Hadden. I love my new companion! Elder Clayton got transferred to Saraland, Alabama. We both are still in the same ward together and district, just different areas.  It’s a little weird but it’ll actually be really nice, I hate goodbyes! There will be two new Elders coming into Mobile South to replace Elder Clayton and me. I know both of them, they will be great for the area. We felt that it would be a good thing for a white wash, we didn’t know what to do with the area anymore.  

     This week we went on two tradeoffs. One with an Elder that is going home this week, Elder Shepherd. He is from Canada and he is the smartest man I have ever met in my life, as far as the gospel goes! I learned a lot and really enjoyed the tradeoff, it was in Semmes, Alabama.  My other tradeoff was with Elder Milne, this was one of the funniest days of missionary work I’ve ever had in my life!  I stayed in Mobile South but he was just one of those missionaries that makes everything fun! It has been a great week of tradeoffs.

   As far as investigators go, we weren’t able to find all that many of them this week. We have found two, Marchello (yes we found him in the ghetto) and Tori! We weren’t able to have a sit down lesson with them yet but have appointments set up for this next week. I have a great next week in store! Tomorrow I have my last district meeting, Wednesday I finish packing, and Thursday I will head over to the Mobile North apartment. I also get to go on the transfer van which means I get to go to Pensacola for the day!

    I feel like every time I get a new calling in the mission it is a great humbling experience for me. I’ve been able to learn and grown a lot from being a District Leader and I hope that I grow just as much from being a Zone Leader.  Elder Hadden has many qualities that I want and I hope that being with him rubs off on me!

I love ya’ll and hope all is well!

Elder Welch