Monday January 9, 2012

Hola Familia!!!!

wow what a week!!! it was a tough one. for all those who have served missions you know that the first few weeks with a new companion can be a little interesting. you need to get used to how he eats, sleeps, studies but most importantly how he works. Elder Quintero and i were a great team. we had a lot of success together. we also had a lot of trials together. but through it all we worked as hard as we could. when he left he told me that he had no regrets for the area. he knew that he had worked hard everyday and that he had helped 100s of people. he also said that he was glad he was leaving the area in capable hands. i just hope i can live up to his expectations that way when i am called to leave this area i too can say "I have NO regrets."

The holidays really didn't help our area at all. this last week was spent trying to recover some investigators that were progressing but lost our contact. we were able to start teaching a family and they have a baptism date for this next week. a family of 5 with parents and 3 kids. but unfortunately only the mother and one of the daughters accepted. but we will keep working with the other daughter and father.

My new companion is . . . interesting. his last companionship wasn't one of the best i guess you could say. they had a hard time starting out and it didn't really get much better. they got out of the habit of working and actually spent most of the week in their apartment. so these first few weeks has been a struggle for me. i almost have to beg him to leave the apartment. but little by little i am sure he will begin to love the work like he used to.

we have been working with a less active family that we found about a week ago and yesterday we finally got to meet the aunt, who is also a member. we sat and talked and before to long she began to tell her life story. she was baptised at the age of 16 and the next 20 years of her life consisted in. her going back to church, something happened she left the church. she went to a different church and again something happened. so she changed her faith but the same, something happened and she left. she probably told us 8 different stories and finished with saying "that is why i just left churches all together." Adan (our missionary leader, we were on divisions) and i had been listening for about 30 minutes and at that moment we had nothing to say. she left to check on her kids and Adan told me. "give her all you have because i have nothing." she came back and we began to talk about her baptism. she explained that it was a beautiful day she was very happy and felt at that moment like she had completed something very important. we then asked why she got baptised. she said she wanted to serve the lord and felt that the church was the best way to do it. and that she had "fallen in love with the book of Mormon." we then explained the difference in a feeling and a fact. we explained how a fact, even though it is true, can be denied. but that a feeling is something that no one can take away or change. we explained that the feelings she had, despite all the bad experiences, were still there she just needed to find them again. . . . she committed to come to church this week with her 6 kids and niece (who 3 are members and the others are to young).

also yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and i felt impressed to bear mine. and as i got to the pulpit i felt a impression to start in English. i did. i stumbled through words that i couldn't remember and i am sure i sounded like a child but like always i began to cry. i finished with a little bit in Spanish and sat down. the next person to get up was the bishop Roberto Atuncar. he talked about my testimony and that even though it was in a different language they all understood the love i have for the gospel, missionary work, and the savior. he then related it to missionary work. that the gospel isn't something complicated. that it really didn't matter what we said to people just as long as it came from our heart. he promised all of the members that if they would have the courage to share the gospel with their neighbors and friends the spirit would testify to their hearts that it was true. we closed the meeting and within minutes we had a group of members surrounding us asking what day we could go and visit families with them. another great experience following the spirit. we are barely starting the week and our agenda is already full with lessons.

well it is off to futbol :)

hope you all know i love you and that i am working as hard as i can

Elder Landon R. Welch