Monday June 25, 2012

Hola Familia!!!!!! wow what a stressful week. we hit it hard this week because both my companion and i were getting kinda fed up with the wishy washy success that we were having. (not only with investigators but with the ward in general). tuesday we had a multi zone conference in the offices which means 2 hours in a bus to get there and 2 hours to get home, it pretty much killed our entire day but man was it worth it. i have been commenting to president dorius these last few weeks of the trials we are having in our ward. well after the conference he invited me into his office to "chat." well he basically started right in to it and asked me to explain to him everything that was going on. i talked and talked i was probably talking for about 10 minutes with tears of frustration running down my cheeks. as i finished he said. Elder Welch i only have 2 questions for you. 1. do you have faith? and 2. you have been in this area for 6 months do you know why? i was kinda confused with his questions because they didnt really have anything to do with one another but i answered. yes i do have faith and no i dont know why. . . . . . "because i to have faith. i have faith in you and in the lord and i know that if you work with him you can make your area better. thats why i havent transferred you because you still have work to do." . . . . his answer made me cry even harder. it made me feel better and gave me new strengths and desires to work with the ward. as i was leaving his office i asked him one last question. "we are having problems finding people to teach do you have any advice?" he smiled and said trust in the lord and look where you have never looked before. that is what we did we went to work and to be honest i havent explored my area as much as i should. we found little villages hidden in the hills of my area that i never knew existed. and as we found these places we found people to teach. as we found people to teach we started small but started to use the ward leaders to help in their progress. . . .but like always every time we tried to get close to the bishop he would cut us off. well friday we were in the chapel and we saw a list of people on the bulletin board of people in the ward who needed visits. well we took the entire list and saturday we spent the entire day looking for and visiting these people and families. we filled out the forms for every single one of them and as we did we fasted that the bishop would soften his heart and see that we just want to help and be helped in the work that has no end. as i crawled into my house after about 10 hours straight in the street i couldnt help but feel proud of my companion and i. we really were able to be tools for the lord that day. the smiles and laughs that we experienced with these people the stories and testimonies that they shared with me will never ever EVER leave me. and as we handed our newley written forms to the bishop the surprise on his face was priceless. and as we left we said "if there is anything else you need from us bishop, just let us know." . . . . he greeted us at the door sunday morning, he thanked us for the work we had done. HE ASKED US FOR A MEETING SO THAT WE COULD TALK ABOUT THE WARD. and as we left that meeting he gave us a hug and asked for forgiveness for the last few months. i couldnt stop the tears from entering my eyes. . . . . tomorrow he is going to go to work with us in order to meet some of our investigators and this sunday for the first time we are going to have ward counsel which he asked us to be present. this week my ward went from completely dead to one of the best wards i have ever been in. we have come a long way from wanting to leave dog poo in front of his chair to actually working as a team. i really care for my bishop now and i feel he feels the same. well fam it is off to . . . . bed maybe. we dont have anything planned today but who knows what the zone leaders have in store for us. but be it sleep or be it soccer at 6 pm i will be dressed and ready to start a new week and always remember that i love you all and i am working as hard as i can Elder Landon R. Welch