This week was packed with a lot of different activities that have ranged all across the mission.
Monday we were supposed to go to Dothan to help some sisters move out of their apartment but that ended up getting cancelled so we were left Monday evening with an empty schedule. We ended up staying busy in the office though so no problems there.
Tuesday we had district meeting and our district leader was super sick the whole meeting! An hour into the meeting he had to sit down and I taught the rest of it for him. I love training missionaries, we don't get as much an opportunity to do it as zone leaders or district leaders. We had to help a senior couple the rest of that day with unpacking the things they acquired when they moved people.
Wednesday was a special day for me but also kind of a tough one. We travelled to Fox Run (where I started my mission) to help the elders move, yes one of the two companionships in that area aren't going to be there anymore. The bright side of the day was that I got to go on a tradeoff with the elders for that day. I didn't get to see a ton of people that I taught but I did get to see Cody Cousin, someone that I baptized when I was there, He is doing great and I saw the ward mission leader and it was just a good reunion to be back in fox run all together.
Thursday we travelled back to Tallahassee all day. Friday we had to do a lot of our weekly duties that we hadn't gotten taken care of yet so we weekly planned, unloaded our trailer, went to the dumps for the first time on my mission, they are TOTALLY different in the south. Saturday was a great day. With not having many people to teach we contacted for about 3-4 hours. I honestly wasn't as use to it as I was in Mobile so I was kind of rusty and I was super intimidated! We had ward conference Sunday and Riley was confirmed, great meeting! When we contacted on Sunday I felt a lot more confident. Sorry for the short email but know I love and miss everyone, all is well!
Elder Welch
The days seem like a blur to me! On Monday we went to the court house and the office building for the Florida government and it was sweet, with it being such a tall building i could see all of Tallahassee. Driving around I don't really notice that there are no mountains here but it is still weird for me to get above the trees and see the earth curve. On Tuesday I had a tradeoff with someone who has served his whole mission around me, i absolutely love the kid. Elder Peterson is the tally 1 zone leader and served with me in the mobile zone, he is such a stud. We we had about an hour to proselyte and then had to go to presidents to help with with something and ended up being there all night and eating dinner with him. We taught Sister Baumeister about Elder Anderson and how apostles speak on whatever we desire and need answer for then committed her to come with a specific question.
On Wednesday we did service at a homeless shelter to tradeback with our companions. Im not going to lie, i was kind of nervous to know what I was going to be encountering there but it was so much fun, there was surprisingly quite a bit of missionary opportunities there with the staff. Elder Sorenson and I had a few hours to proselyte that day and then that night we taught Riley his last lesson and Elder Sorrel conducted the interview. Thursday was great! The missionaries in Tallahassee basically got to spend all day long with him. from 1-4 he held a special conference for the entire mission to come to. We gave him 4 questions we wanted to know and he talked all 3 hours about them. I learned a lot! I think the main points i took away were what he said about honesty and focusing on the unseen. I loved him being here specifically because he is from Florida so I felt like he could relate to us more than the previous general authorities, it felt that way when he was talking to us too. That night there was an hour and a half meeting for the Tallahassee stake and then missionaries in that city could go to the meeting. The main take away I had there was that I need to surround myself with greatness spiritually. If I'm around people that are spiritually uplifting and have high standards as well that will accelerate my spiritual growth that much more!
Friday I had an exchange with Elder Christensen and I learned so much. There are few missionaries in our mission that alma 48:17 applies to, i can only think of 3 that I've been around but Elder Christensen is one of them. I love the caliber of missionaries I get to go on tradeoffs with, i at times feel like they are the leaders on the exchange.
On Saturday Elder Sorenson and I helped Elder and Sister Bell with some of the housing duties, that took up all of our day other than doing our weekly planning that night. On Sunday we had the baptism of Riley and that must have been the most missionary oriented service I have ever been to. Riley's whole family was there and everyone who talked sounded like they were talking directly to them but not making it noticeable. Our ward mission leader bore a powerful testimony after the baptism, we watched a video about the book of mormon, and the music was perfect...it was actually performed by Marvin Goldstein...I love that guy, such a saint.
I love the gospel and I love being a missionary. I love the spirit I've felt in this setting. I hope everyone recognizes that when we receive the gift of the holy ghost the wording "receive the holy ghost" is an invitation, not a command. It's up to us to live worthily of it, it's not a freebee. Love and miss y'all! all is well.
Elder Welch
What an eventful week, believe it or not, we drove over 1000 miles this week and didnt even get past the half way point of the mission! We had a tradeoff with the Mobile zone leaders so it was back to the homeland for me! With Mobile being 4.5 hours away we needed to leave about half way through preparation day, not too much happened in the car that was exciting enough to note other than we were jamming pretty hard to the new 2015 youth album, its so good!
We stayed the night in Daphne, Alabama because the zone leaders needed to go to another district meeting. I really do miss that part about being a zone leader, I love seeing how different district leaders teach. On our way up to Atmore after the district meeting we stopped at Rick Wells's house for lunch. Rick is the guy that we found my first Thanksgiving in Mobile and was actually baptized after I left Mobile so it was nice to see him again, they always feed us a lot too which isn't a bad thing at all. The day in Atmore brought me back to many exchanges that I had been on previously with missionaries that served there. Its surprising the things missionaries can remember just from being to a place a few times, it was nice to know a little bit about going into an area for a tradeoff, we usually go in as blind as a bat. Wednesday got up early and went to mission leadership council. A lot of missionaries thought that it was hard to get specific direction on things they need to do in MLC so president changed it up a bit and it was so good! We found out we needed to teach about 3 days before the council and we had tradeoffs for almost all of that time in between so we were sweating it a little bit going in there but Ive learned that if there is no time to prepare the spirit helps you a lot on what we need to say. Its a lot of fun to have those experiences but Ive also learned that winging it is a totally different thing, if we had time to prepare and didn't, it wouldn't have went so well. Once we got back that night we taught Riley part of the fifth lesson and he is progressing so well to baptism. We taught him yesterday and went over the baptismal interview questions so he knows what will be asked, we will have the baptismal service next Sunday! Blessings!
Thursday there was an emergency transfer so we were driving along the coast all day, it was gorgeous! However, it was 35 degrees outside so lookin from inside the car was plenty for me. Ive become such a baby when it comes to the cold Friday we traveled to Panama City to do a tradeoff with those zone leaders, I was on the beach with Elder Smellie. With it being so cold there weren't too many people outside for it being a vacation spot so we had to get creative! We went on the pier! We were there for about 30 minutes and only talked to 1 person so I was feeling kind of guilty but on our way out a lady and her husband stopped and talked to us about how he use to be mormon, just a really good conversation...we are led to places for a reason!
Im loving being a missionary and have no complaints, hope all is well back home!
Monday we went to the mall and meet up with Elder Hintze and Elder Peterson. We just walked around and looked at stuff. How bout that game. FSU got their butts kicked but i still root for them! Hopefully Oregon wins and they can rep the West Coast! That evening we went and taught Celine. We got her a copy of Preach My Gospel, we then studied with her. That was our lesson! It was a lot of fun! We studied about Christlike attributes and focused on Faith.
Tuesday was zone training. That went really good! After zone training we went to lunch then tried to see some less active and find new people to teach! That has been the hardest thing to do in this area is find. We don't get a lot of time to do it so we are going to be working on setting aside more time to find. Because if you cant find you cant teach! As simple as that!! We went out to dinner with the Tally 2 Zl's, Tally 3 B elders and the Tally 3 Sisters and President and Sister Smith! We went to a Hibachi grill. It was really good! Our cook was sorta vulgar with his jokes. Sister Smith didn't take any of his crap and sorta called him out and he calmed down! He was just making immature jokes. It was Elder Garn's Birthday so we sang to him and he got this cool little fruit boat. Fun night.
Wednesday we were in the office for a little bit! I have been able to learn a lot about computers and stuff while i have been assistant, that was never something that i thought that I would learn as a missionary. We had dinner with the Wahlquists. They are so good to us! We always leave with left overs and candy! Love that family! We went over to President's so I could Skype Whitney! It was super cool to see her after 19 months and it honestly was kinda hard but i loved it! Then we did a conference call with all the zone leaders talking about goals and what not this new year. The mission had to come in early so that we weren't on the roads with all the crazy drivers late at night. Elder Sorenson and I made sure we had our sparking cider and made a toast. PARTY!! :) Happy New Year by the way!
Thursday we did a lot of planning and office work. We taught Riley at the Ladles home. We taught some of the commandment to him! He is progressing really well! He is still on for him baptism on the 18th. The Ladle family has been so good for him, they are super solid and the spirit is very strong in their home! Its so nice to be able to teach in a members home where the investigator can see the gospel working and blessing a families life and feel that special spirit: Also to show the investigator that we are just normal people!We drove to Marianna late that night and meet the Ozark zone leaders there and stayed in the Marianna Elders apartment!
Friday morning Elder Urquiaga and I drove to Tallahassee and spent the day working there! He is a super smart guy and a deep thinker, he asked some super inspired questions to me as we talked and it was what i needed, i was thankful for that. We met up in Dothan that night and then we drove over to Enterprise for a baptism that was happening, Elder Sorenson found her when he was serving there!
Saturday was Kathie's baptismal service. The service went really well. We went to lunch with the Bishop in that ward. He said he wanted to recruit me for my last 3 months haha. We traveled back to Tallahassee that day and worked a little bit in the office.
Sunday was great! We have church at 1 o'clock here and though I don't like it very much it is a lot better for our schedule, we get to do more in the day.
We had a lesson with Sister Baumeister who is a psychologist and she is dagum smart, thinks way deep. She has been reading Jesus the Christ and has been thinking a little too deep so we had to teach her about keeping our studies and testimony on a firm foundation rather than a sandy one. We taught Riley a lesson about tithing and fasting..he was already living it! Great kid.
I love this time of year to make new goals and account for the ones last year. This life; simply stated, is a time to progress. Heavenly Father helps us progress by giving us trials. One thing I've learned on my mission is that if you want not only to progress, but to gain the christlike attribute of humility: do hard things to make you rely on the Lord. Easiest solution! Set Goals! It is one thing to want to change but its another thing to let the Lord help us do that! I love my mission and I love this church. There is nothing better than the gospel, however, my life with it gets better. All is well, love y'all!
