You know, I absolutely love my calling and assignment as an assistant but boy it'll be nice not to have meetings on p-day so I can email a good email, I feel like I've been rushed. This week was full of great blessings!
On Tuesday we had our district meeting with a new district leader and he did a fantastic job! After that we did a gift exchange and had a lunch for our district activity. We had planned on going on exchanges that day with the Panama City zone leaders but it was raining like crazy that day! We were about to leave and I just didn't feel completely right about it. I remember when I was younger and mom and dad at different times saying we couldn't do things for no reason other than they didn't feel good, I am guessing that is what it felt like. Long story short, we didn't go. That night we were going to a lesson and then President called us telling us to lock the mission down because there are tornados warnings all over our mission so it was a good thing we didn't travel.
Thursday was Christmas and it was great to finally open up all of the gifts that had been sitting under the tree, I told Elder Sorenson that on a lot of Christmases there are always like 1 or two presents that you don't care for but this Christmas I didn't have so I was happy. Calling the family was great, nothing to complain about there.
On Friday we went on a tradeoff with the Fort Walton zone leaders, specifically Elder Palau for me. I learned so much on that exchange, he is such a humble guy. On our way back from the exchange we talked about some sacred experiences we'd had over the mission that we had never really discussed with anyone, not even in emails home, it was a good learning experience for me. On Sunday was actually Patrick Baldwins 1 year mark from when we had his baptism. We had a lesson with Riley and he discussed the answer that he had received and set a baptismal date with him. The Book of Mormon has converting power! Sorry for the short, not very detailed letter. love y'all!
What a busy week! We had transfers take place and though it wasn't a big one, there was still a lot of planning that went into it. Usually we would have the new missionaries and departing missionaries come in on different days for their dinners but the church doesn't schedule flights for the week around Christmas because of prices so we had to smoosh things into one day. I'm not going to go into the specifics of the craziness but let's just say that I was constantly on the move until Wednesday at about 7pm. A good thing about all of it is that everyone got to where they need to be safely and in a timely manner, count our many blessings! On Thursday we had a tradeoff with the Tally 2 zone leaders and I went to their area with Elder Christensen. He comes from a broken family but he is as solid as ever, I learned so much on that tradeoff. Something cool that happened while we were working is when we went to a less active's home, her mother was there. Amongst the small talk we asked where everyone was from and the mother said she was from Wyoming. Now in my mind I'm obviously going to ask about Lovell even though I know the chances of them being from there are slim to none, well what did I know! She was from Lovell, Wyoming. 2000 miles away and 1 of 3000 people in that town. She didn't know any Welch's but dad may know about Burlingtons or Wardells.
On Friday we had planned to go to the office for about an hour and a half but that turned into 6 hours. We redid President Smith's board and it took a while, but boy does it look good! Sister Smith gave us gift cards to Chick-Fil-A because of what we did, while we were at Chick-Fil-A a member from a nearby branch bought us 2 more gift cards, and then we had a lesson with Celine after dinner and she bought us 2 more Chick-Fil-A cards for Christmas, good thing I like chicken!
We had a super good sacrament meeting on Sunday, there were a ton of performances with it being the Christmas program. We taught Riley the gospel of Jesus Christ and were planning on extending a baptismal date but it just didn't feel right this time, he knows its coming though. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas this week and that everyone stays safe if there is traveling. All is well here.
Elder Welch
This week we have had a lot of miles traveled!
P-day we emailed then went and did some shopping. Bought a lot of gifts for Christmas for y'all! We watched the Restoration video with Celine and had a really good talk about Joseph Smith. Tuesday was the 1/2 mission conference for this side of the mission! It was at our chapel! So we got everything set up and it was nice to see all the mission buddies! We had a program where missionaries got up and sang Christmas songs, played the piano and guitar and it went really good!! We had lunch, then did a stocking exchange with a missionary we had been assigned to get gifts for! Each district put on a little skit to introduce everyone and that was a lot of fun! Then we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" as a Christmas present! SO good!! Every time I watch the last segment it tugs on my heart a wee bit. After the meeting I went with Elder Hintze ( Tally 1 ZL). We didn't even get done with the conference until 5 so we didn't have much of a tradeoff that day.
The next day we went and tried to do some finding. Then we traded Back and Elder Sorenson and I packed our bags to drive to Fox Run and stay the night for the other 1/2 mission conference! We stayed with Elder Clayton and MaClaws! It was so weird to be back in the area I was "born" in. I was able to see the Porter family after 14 months and it was so nice to be able to catch up with them, I miss that area and that family.
Thursday was 1/2 mission conference for the Pensacola side of the mission! It went really well! The performances were good! But the district intros weren't as good as the other half's but it was still a fun meeting! We cleaned up and hit the road! Stopped and got some food and got home around 10:20 pm. Long day!!
Friday we did our weekly planning. As well we went and taught Derrick! We taught him about Sabbath day attendance and the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy! He has been working on Sunday and it has kept him from coming to church so we committed him to ask for that day off! Hopefully his boss understands! We had the Ward Christmas Party that night! It went really well, most organized ward party I've ever seen in my life! The food was great! A woman who was trying to start a rehab type church was there and had been invited by a member of our ward. She was nice and we were able to give her a short church tour and left her with a Book of Mormon and an invite to meet with missionaries and come to church! That evening we went to see a member and he was jamming out on his guitar! He is really good! So he offered to play for us! He has like 15 different guitars! Huge collection! He has a whole big speaker system hooked up in a room in his house and he jams out!
Saturday we helped the Sister missionaries with some service at Derrick and Sister Sanchez's home! We raked leaves! We left from there and had lunch with President and Sister Smith! Then we finished up transfers! We were working on it till about 5! But we all felt pretty good about everything! :) This transfers going to be wild! We usually have the incoming missionaries come in on Tuesday and do a welcoming devotional and then train there trainers the next morning and send them off to their new areas, then go to Crestview and do the Transfer changes. Then all the departing missionaries come back to Tally with us! We have dinner with them and they leave the following day! But... this transfer we are having the departing dinner and welcoming dinner the same day and the morning we are training the Trainers we are dropping off the Departing missionaries! So we are having some Zone Leaders do the training for us so we can drop off the Departing missionaries! Then we are going to Crestview and doing the changes! So Wednesday is going to be a wild, wild day! But a fun day! I love being busy!! Sunday we had church! It went really well! Riley our investigator doesn't really know what the Spirit feels like so last lesson we taught him about it and he felt the Spirit in the meeting! He's coming around! We had a lesson with him right after church and watched the Restoration Dvd with him! He has been reading, coming to church and is learning how to Pray! He is solid!! We had to organize all the transfer stuff so we did some stuff in the office and then got to call the Zone Leaders and tell them who in their zone needs to pack there bags and be in Crestview! Like i said its crazy organizing all of this! We had to tell everyone exactly where they need to be at what time like 2 or 3 times! But we get it worked out! :) Sometimes its like herding cats but it teaches us communication skills! love and miss y'all, all is well.
Elder Welch
Monday, we went and played basketball and dodgeball at the stake center with all the other Elders! We then had dinner with The Ladle family! They are super cool! Lauren (Senior in High school) is sorta dating this kid named Riley ( I may have already told you about him) He has been coming to church with her for like 4 or 5 weeks! We have been trying to set something up with them so we could start teaching him and we finally did. So we had dinner then a lesson! We taught him the Plan of Salvation! Went really good! We don't know how much of it he was really able to grasp! But he seemed to accept it! He has been reading from the Book of Mormon so thats a good sign! But it was a really good lesson! Hopefully he's not just doing this for Lauren! We will make sure he isn't!
Tuesday we had District meeting. It went really good! Basically he talked about how we all will go through hard times in our lives! But by showing gratitude and having a good attitude we can look at those hard times as blessings and learning experiences! This is what he had to say,
"Everyone’s situation is different, and the details of each life are unique. Nevertheless, I have learned that there is something that would take away the bitterness that may come into our lives. There is one thing we can do to make life sweeter, more joyful, even glorious
We can be grateful!
That night we taught mission prep and that was fun!
Wednesday we had MLC! We had it in Crestview! So we had to drive the transfer van and haul the Tally 1 and 2 zone leaders and the Dothan zone leaders down with us, the Campus and Tally 1 sister training leaders and Dothan drove our car! We had a really good meeting! A lot of really good things discussed!
Thursday was mostly just travel!
Friday we had a good day! We started board week! We wont be able to do it much next week cause we have the 1/2 mission Christmas conferences! We get to go to both! So we started looking at everything! It seems to not be a very big transfer! We ate with the Wahlqusts for the 2nd day in a row! They are super good to us! We met with Celine and taught her a Christmas lesson! It was really good! We have done our last 2 lessons in her home so hopefully us being around will soften her parents hearts! I think we are slowly breaking down that wall between us and them! Hopefully one day it will all pay off! Celine is so solid though! She's doing great!
Saturday we worked on the Transfer Board! We had lunch with President and Sister Smith! I love spending time with them! We met with Sister Hughes and had a good lesson with her!!
We had a good fast Sunday! :) Sacrament meeting was great! We taught Riley at the Ladles after church! We taught him the Restoration! It went really good! HE IS ALREADY FINISHED WITH THE FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI!! He's cruising!! We watched the Christmas Devotional! I really enjoyed it!
Well that was our week! Like I said it will be another wild week! We will have our 1/2 mission conference here in Tally Tuesday and Thursday we will be in Pensacola for their 1/2!
Elder Welch
We had a great week!! What a humbling week and what a learning week for me! This week the Lord taught me so many lessons! I'm so thankful for each one of them! Its amazing how he works through others to teach us!! I love it!
Monday we were in the office from 7:30 am till 5:45 pm helping President Smith with things! It was wild! We were talking about the next few transfers and what our plans are and what things we feel would benefit the mission! A Lot of it was just raw ideas we were throwing out there so President said he was going to think about it and we would talk about when he got back from Destin. We were given time to make up for our lost p-day on another day of the week, but we didn't find any open time to do it! I guess thats a good problem! November flew by! Its crazy how fast time is moving, We traveled over 3000 miles this month!(get it??? time moving...3000 miles, man i crack myself up)
Tuesday we had district meeting! It went really good! We did our conference call with the whole mission, helped move the Christmas tree into the Mission Home, and then headed to Cottondale and meet up with the Dothan Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Crook back to Tally! Im so privileged to be able to go on exchanges with missionaries that are of a high caliber! Its very humbling and exciting to be able to learn from them! I love it! I learned a lot from the day that i spent with Elder Crook! He's a great missionary!
Wednesday we worked for a bit then headed back to Cottondale to exchange back! We didn't have much going on!
THANKSGIVING!!!!!
What a great day! We went and played turkey bowl with some members from our ward and the missionaries from 2nd ward and 3rd ward! It was a lot of fun! Half of us didn't have cleats so we were slipping and sliding all over the place, but worth it! We lost on a touchdown pass that the guy dropped but said he caught! Clearly he dropped it! But oh well! I guess he will have to answer to Heavenly Father for lying to a bunch of missionaries! After football, we went out to the Patton's in-laws! (By the way Ben and Kasey Patton; AKA: the coolest members in the mission are having a kid! We going to get them to name him {if its a boy} Nicholas Landon Patton! [Coolest name ever} ) There was a lot of people there! The food was great, but they keep bringing us more and more! I was going to blow!! I had people coming and checking to see if i had eaten all of my "Greens". Then we went to President Austin's house and fellowshipped the people there! Some of President and Sister Smith's kids came to visit so we went over there and taught them a Thanksgiving lesson! Super fun to be able to get to meet them! Then we went and taught Sister Hughes! Man i can even tell you how amazing her lesson was! It was so powerful! Probably the strongest lesson on my mission! We had been teaching a lesson to all the members about trials and relating trials to baking a pumpkin pie! But for some reason we taught it a different way, but Elder Sorenson and I were on the same page! We were clicking!! The spirit was amazing in that room! We said stuff that i needed to hear myself personally! It was amazing! I may have needed that lesson more then Sister Hughes did! It was amazing the spirit and the guidance we were given in that lesson! When i stood up to leave i felt the words,"Ask her if she would like a blessing!" but before I could get the words out of my mouth Elder Sorenson asked her, its nice to have companions that can hear and follow prompting. So amazing that when you and your companion are unified with each other and the Spirit how powerfully you can teach and testify!
Friday we went on exchanges with Panama City Zone Leaders!I went with Elder Truman to the PCB. We just contacted all day but one fun thing that happened was when we were out tracting we were walking down the street and some lady pulled her car over. When that happens it usually isn't a good thing so I was getting ready to go on defense mode. She rolled her window down and said "do you like key lime pie?" My first thought was, great this lady is going to throw a pie in our faces. However she just gave us a free one, nice lady!
So on Saturday we headed for Mexico Beach where we were meeting up to exchange back! Once we traded off we went back to Tally and went and taught Celine! She has been going through some trials with school and work and her parents so we were able to share some really good talks with her through out the week and we talked about them and she sorta just vented to us! You could tell she needed to just talk! So we just talked about life and how our Father in Heaven lets things happen to us so we can grow! I felt prompted to refer her to a mormon message titled "Mountains to climb" so I did and then a little after i thought that Elder Sorenson said he was going to do it Wow! Lightening strikes again, the power of being unified and both recognizing the spirit and following it! We talked a lot about the talk from Jeffery R. Holland, "Cast Not Away Therefor Thy Confidence" (Powerful talk y'all should go read if you never have) but she is staying strong and fighting back against Satan! She's amazing!
Sunday was great! Church was good! Riley (Lauren Ladles boyfriend) came again! Like his 4th or 5th time! We haven't been able to teach him but have a FHE set up tomorrow with him in the Ladles home! We are pumped! He's a great kid! Super strong faith in Christ! We actually gave Celine a blessing for what i already talked about too. She's staying strong!
Thats all for this week, know I love and miss everybody and that All is well. Oh also go watch the video on christmas.mormon.org ! Super good! About the true meaning of Christmas! Then share it! #sharethegift! We are doing it as missionaries and trying to spread the true meaning of Christmas! It's a powerful video!! You'll love it! :) Hope you enjoy!!
Elder Welch
