This week is one of the two weeks that assistants look forward to and they just fly by...transfer week! So all of last week we were sitting in Presidents house actually moving around the transfer board but this week is when it all comes to life. Tuesday we had our district meeting and then went and picked up the new missionaries at the airport. There were 14 new ones and they are quite solid! We went back to the mission home and fed them, showed them who their new companion and new area is, and had a short little get to know you. Wednesday morning we go to the mission home for a breakfast and then we are down at the church by nine o'clock to start the real training. I conducted for the first time there and it wasn't too bad. Elder McPherson and I taught for a good portion of it. We did role plays, taught about the culture of the mission (discouragement), the mission theme for 2014 (missionaries of uncommon valor), and did a Q&A. We always go out to Chipotle for lunch that day and Elder McPherson and I always try and place a Book of Mormon when the new missionaries are around just so they can get a feel for it. The more and more you place them, the more comfortable and easy it is to do it. For some reason or another Elder McPherson and I were having such a hard time with it but we did it! Thursday is the actual transfer day for the rest of the mission so we are on the road by 9am on our way to each transfer spot loading and unloading these missionaries and being back in Tallahassee by 6pm, its a long time to be driving with a trailer behind each of our cars, from that day on it has been really really hot here too, the heat index has been a wet 115 degrees. Friday we shipped off the missionaries and that makes up the transfer week! 

     For P-day this last week we were able to go fishing. I had never had too many memories of fishing when I was a kid, I could just remember a few times doing it and I wondered why...I now know why. It was fun to relax and chill with the members and Celine (our investigator I'll talk about in a minute) but boy was it boring, its just not my thing. I caught a few fish but we didn't go at the right time of the day. Overall i enjoyed myself but the actually fishing part just doesn't connect with me. We taught Celine twice this week but I just want to talk about the first lesson. We met Celine through a member and it seems like every single time we go over there to teach there is someone new, it is fantastic! Celine and Jennifer were the ones over there this day and we had planned on teaching the plan of salvation. As we taught it was going pretty well but nothing spectacular, until the end. We asked if there was any questions and then Jennifer just started bawling. I guess she had taken lessons before and had prayed about it but never had received an answer until then. We committed them both to a baptismal date and are still working with them, opposition comes when frequent visits don't happen! Elder McPherson and I both thought it was one of the most powerful lessons we have ever been a part of. We will be going over to teach Celine again, hopefully Jennifer is there! 

   Shout out to my ma! Happy birthday, i hope it all goes well. I'll be there for the next one. All is well! Love and miss y'all!

Elder Welch

   What a hectic week it has been. Not only externally but also mentally, everything was going at 500 MPH. We have been blessed immensely with the people we are teaching and how well they are progressing. We don't have a ton of time to proselyte on certain weeks but we do what we can. The two investigators that are doing well are Celine and Joe. We had a lesson with Celine on Tuesday once again over at the Patton's home (which by the way I'm going fishing with them today, super pumped!). We had a pleasant surprise when we walked in to not only see Celine sitting there but also another one of their non member friends, Harlie! We had a good dinner and then taught one of the best restoration lessons we (Elder McPherson Included) have ever taught. We taught simply, powerfully, and we bold. Celine has come to church 4 times and has been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon regularly, we are planning on extending a baptismal date tonight! 

     Joe has been one of our investigators for a couple of months and has had a ton of ups and downs. He has always had a problem with drinking but when we taught him on Saturday we committed himself to stop drinking and really start taking this seriously. I honestly was a little bit hesitant/doubtful at first but when I saw him come to church yesterday I knew he was for real! I'm proud of him. We had a tradeoff in Panama City and In San Destin on Friday so I went to Destin to go on a spanish tradeoff and Elder McPherson went to the other Elder's place. It was super frustrating in some of the Spanish lessons but i know that the Elders were doing a good job because I felt the spirit, we had some good English contacts too. All things are well here. Love and miss y'all! 

Elder Welch

  This has been a fantastic week! Our p-day last week wasn't even much of a p-day and we actually got approved to have another one because we were busy doing administrative stuff the whole day so you'll be getting hints of p-day activities throughout the week. Tuesday was a lot of our preparation day but the highlight of that day was definitely the lesson that we had that night. I don't remember how much i have talked about her before but we had a lesson with Celine. She was a member referral we had dinner with a few weeks ago and we finally got to teach her. All we did this time was set up expectations and do how to begin teaching and it was a really good one, Elder McPherson and I both have a feeling that it will just be a matter of time before she just blooms. 

    Wednesday there was no time for any proselyting. We got up early in the morning to go to mission leadership council over in Fort Walton. Many things were discussed there, i was able to take minutes for the meeting on the IPad and boy have i gotten good at typing on that thing, its so had on a touch screen. We travelled back and had chipotle for dinner(i miss good mexican food, that's the best we have here). We knew that it was going to be a long day that day because we got up early for MLC and then we had to make sure we stayed up late because there were going to be two new missionaries coming in from Sierra Leone at 10:20. As we were waiting we saw people come off the plane, then the stewards came off the plane and then the pilots came off the plane. We then realized that our missionaries had missed the flight and were somewhere in either Madrid or Miami, we found out they missed their flight in Miami. The next morning we were able to pick them up. One of them has been out for 10 months and the other 4.5 months and they had the coolest accents. We were able to spend time acclimating them and helping them shop for stuff over the next few days. That experience was definitely the highlight of my week, they are solid elders and the experiences they had gave me motivation. It was a great week! We have a good week set up and will be doing the transfer board this week so another busy couple of weeks are ahead! love and miss y'all! all is well

Elder Welch

  This week has flown and from this point until the end of next transfer will fly too. Coming up with have transfers, Elder Zwick visiting, zone conferences, tradeoffs, and anything else that pops up. Its a time everyone is looking forward to, a fun few weeks. On Tuesday of this week we started our tradeoffs and I was able to take over the area, Elder Hintze came with me. Elder Hintze is one of the coolest elders I know, he came out with me and was my zone leader in the MTC. We went to Marvin Goldstein's (yes the famous pianist) and helped him with some things he needed moved around in his basement. Once we were done he sat down and played a few songs for us, he gave us free CD's and a folder that was signed. Some how word got out that I sang and he asked me to sing Joseph Smith's first prayer as he played. It was awesome! He told me to schedule a time to do that in church so that'll be coming up shortly. A funny thing about all of that is as I was singing his wife (who is a little out there) came up to me and started fixing my posture and all that good stuff, reminded me of the good ole days. I really enjoyed doing that though because he just was making it up and it was sweet!

    Thursday came around and we had a really really busy day. I had to go to the doctor and I'm not going to give any specifics of names or what was wrong but what he told me to do was to meditate over what was wrong with me(yes it was physical, not mental) and then it would go away, most awkward doctors appointment ever, very entertaining though! We had interviews with President which are always great, a little different now that I'm always around him and we know a lot more about each other but it was still nice to get some one on one time with him. Right after that we were headed off to Mobile, my old stomping grounds! I had a tradeoff with Elder Wright and Elder Truman. It was so nice to be back. I got to go red cross and see my boy Patrick, such a nice surprise. We went to Navarre(the same place i saw a bear with Elder Judy at the beginning of my mission). We moved someone and went and saw a lot of less active members. All in all we had a fantastic week. Yesterday we had 2 potential Investigators from members. The only reason they aren't investigators yet is because we haven't taught them a lesson yet, they will be come tomorrow.

    Nothing big to share. I know the church is true, its the way to happiness and eternal life!

All is well. Love and miss y'all

Elder Welch