Monday June 27, 2011

Hola Familia!!

Well i am happy to report that nothing out of the ordinary happend to me this week not one injury or one misfortune. and i found my watch yes the one that was stolen the exact same one. we were walking one day and along the roads there are bericades to keep cars on the road. and there it was just how i last saw it. woo hoo that alone made my week.

but what a week in general. this last thursday was my first zone conference and it was one of the best days of my mission. i am really blessed to have such a great man as my mission president. he told us story after story and i have never laughed so hard but at the same time feel the spirit so strong. i want to share one story in particular with you all.

He told us that one of the first few weeks he was here in peru he tore his achilies tendon and was stuck in the hospital for about a week. (not the same situation but it sounds familiar with my eye) he told us that he would lay in bed all day staring at the ceiling asking why??? why was he called to be a mission president and open a new mission if he was just bound to lie all day in a bed. (again sounds familiar) the next part is the part that really struck me because the same thing happened to me. he said he felt the words come to his mind "you are in my hands you are my servent and i will do with you as seems me good. you are stronger than you were before and you have a greater desire to serve. all you have to do is let go and let me do my work" increadable expierience and in that moment i felt a special connection with him. what a great man i only know one better that is my dad. i love you buddy.

well we had a baptism date with JULINO but unfortunatly he was unable to attend to church so we will have to push it a week back. the only problem with that is next week is transfers. pray that neither myself or elder guerrero get transfered but if we do just goes to show that we are needed in a different area for a different person.

i love you all and i am still working as hard as i can.

chao
Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. the pictures
the one is of the president. just wanted you to know that even though he is really spiritual he is also alot like a kid too.
the one of the baptism. it was not our investigator but elder guerrero got to baptise her. and the other guy in the picture is named Andy. and if you look close his nametag says "elder welch" he just wanted to be in the picture.
the other is of elder guerrero and peche we found this old police helmet one day wile working and had a mini photo shoot.
and the other well i just thought it was a perfect discription of the average day for me. :)

Monday June 20, 2011

Hola Familia !!!!!
hmmm what a week
but i have a confession Friday i taught no lessons.......... i did nothing but break rocks for hermano bendayan thus the photos. Friday night i was so sore and Saturday also bur i had never felt better in my life. the thanks that he and his family had is enough to do it all over a gain he is a awesome man!!!!
but one even better is my dad
FELIEZ DIA PAPI TE AMO MUCHO, you are THE best man i know i just wish i could do more than bold my text to express how much i love you. just know that i will work my hardest and i will never give up.
we have a progressing investigator!!!! he is 19 does not have a girlfriend (which is a miracle in Peru) and he is studying to be a neurosurgeon. crazy smart kid his name is Julino and i really believe he will be my first baptism in Peru!!! but i have to tell you a story about when we were teaching him : we had a appointment with him on Wednesday and we were teaching him about Joseph Smith, when his mother walks in and begins to yell at us. what garbage are you teaching my son. blah blah blah and we are taught that when this happens we cannot do anything but bear testimony and leave. so we do so and i know that it was not me talking because i do not really remember what i said. but after i had finished you could feel a change in the room and with tears in her eyes she asked us to continue. we got both of them to commit to attend church with us. and the best part is they did!!!!
another little story for you but you have to promise you wont get upset and start to worry because i guess it is a pretty routine thing here.... i got mugged. they did not have weapons but still when it happens we are told just to give them what they want. we were walking home thursday after our coordination meeting with the bishop. and i have sent you pictures of where i am living and so you know it is a little Ghetto. well they came at us from behind and asked us for our money. Now.... i understand most of what people say to me but for some reason i did not understand that. so i looked back over my shoulder and asked them what they said. and on hit me in the back. it hurt but they were kinda drunk so it did not do much. so i gave them the 3 soles i had in my pocket (about 1 dollar) and my watch. and we went our ways. kinda fun huh but do not worry it was bound to happen sometime i just got it done sooner than most
Hmmm FRUIT have i told you how much i love the fruit here??? and that is where i am going right now.
I LOVE YOU ALL so so much and always remember i am working as hard as i can
chao
Elder Landon R. Welch
p.s. the photo with the toe: that is elder guerreros toe and his little buddy we named timmy... that is why you have to wear sandels in the shower.
the dancers: that is at the stake center on Saturday it was a dance they did for fathers day.

Monday June 13, 2011

Hola Familia!!

How are you all???

i am so so so much better. i can finally work and it has never felt better. i never want to be stuck in my house again too much happened and i am afraid to say that for the past 3 weeks the devil has been doing his job very well. the first thing that we did when we found out we could work was go and visit our old investigatores. and out of all of them (about 10) we were only able to talk to 2. so that was a little bit of a let down. but i knew that it was bound to happen 3 weeks without contact... something was bound to happen.

but to celebrate our return to work Hermana Margarita (my Pentionista) wanted to cook something special. and she remembered that i told her that i liked penut butter. well i am sure you can guess that in peru they do not use pennut butter too much. well i am sure you can tell where this story is going. we get back to the house (Friday was the first day we got to work) and Hermana calls us "Your pennut butter is ready" and i will never forget the smell as i walked in to the kitchen. she had put the pennut butter in a pan and cooked it with chicken..... like seasoning. i can now officially say that i know exactly how you felt when i cooked lemon pepper eggs. :) it was positivly horrible the worst smell and taste i have ever tasted. but it was my special meal so i ate it all.

i cannot believe it is time for arrons camp again!! that was honestly one of the best weeks of my life. so many spiritual experiences to experience and lessons to be learned at that camp. i just wish i could have gone to it with my dad. that would have been the one thing that would have made it perfect.

ok now my little words of wisdom time. . . remember that wheather you have a name tag or not we are all missionaries. our church really is a church based off of missionary work. here in peru i have finally realized how small our church is. but even there in Utah there are people looking for the gospel. they just need their missionary to bring it to them. you all know them you work with them. you are friends with them. and i know that all you need is to have faith in the converting power of this gospel. so your tareita (little homework) talk to them do not be forceful just loving.

well i am off to play a little soccer woo hoo pray that i do not hurt myself.

i love you all

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday June 6, 2001

Hola Familia!!

well i will cut to the chase and tell you that my eye is doing much better. my ulcer is getting smaller and it looks as if it will heal completely. thank you priesthood and your amazing power. the doctor said i might have cataracts from it but i figure we can cross that bridge when we come to it.

i have one question that has been on my mind all week. are you still doing family home evening with Buckners? me stuck in my house for the past few weeks i have been able to participate in FHE here and i thought last week that i have not heard much about the buckners lately. how are you all doing how is gram how is jess oh how i miss painting and the laughs.

yes i got the JERKY!!!!!!!!! and the COOKIES!!!!! and it was almost as good as heaven will be. but peruanos do not like jerky. i gave them a little bit to try and only one was able to down it. mmmmm more for me haha. :)

i am not sure when you are sending the next package and even if it is not for a while that is fine but in the next package you send can you please send me some multi vitamins. i am almost out and no matter where i look i cannot find any here.

Elder Guerrero is the Senior Companion (he is also the DL i do not know why but that calling is always following me, i was the DL in the MTC TWICE, my companion in arizona was the DL and now my companion here is DL CRAZY). because he is a native. he was only in the MTC for 3 weeks so really he has been in the ´´field´´ for 3 months where i have only been here for 2.

being stuck in your house is not fun especially as a missionary. but i just want you to know that i have had a lot of time to study these past few weeks and i have learned alot. one day i was reading a talk by Bruce R. McConkie, he was a great speaker and one of my favorites, about our measure of decipleship. he said that ´´we can mesure our decipleship by how diligently and sincerely, how often and seriously, we study the words given by heavenly father through joseph smith.´´ i know he was a prophet and he, through the gift and power of god, gave us the things that we need to eventually have a happy life here and in the here after. i love that man and his incredible sacrifice to bring about this work. and also as Elder McConkie said ´´You cannot testify about Joseph Smith the REVEALER without testifying of who he revealed.´´ I KNOW christ lives. and i know that day by day he is walking next to me. I KNOW that he really is involved with everything that happens in this gospel and in particular this work. i love being a missionary. i am so happy to be here and even though in this moment i cannot work i know that soon i will be back out there working my hardest in a work that has no end.

I love you all ALWAYS remember that.

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. i tried to attach pictures but this internet is really slow so i will try again next week :)

Monday May 30, 2011

Hola Familia

well it has been a week of a lot of sitting. i wasn´t able to leave my house for fear of the dust and pollution that is here in lima so i read alot and i slept alot. so there wasn´t too much excitement this week. but the lord with his tender mercies gave us our first ``inca`` this is a term for a investigator who is progressing and is able to be baptized.

we have been teaching her (Lili) for as long as i have been in the mission but because she is so busy we have only been able to have 3 lessons with her in 5 weeks. we were almost to the point of dropping her just because we couldn´t see her progressing. but thanks to the spirt we decided to do one more lesson with her last sunday (not yesterday a week ago yesterday) and it went great. she had some questions about the book of mormon but we were able to solve them and the lesson was progressing very nicely. we got to the invitation part and we became very discouraged.

``will you be able to go to church with us next sunday?``

``i don´t think so i have work at night and sunday day is the only time i have to do things for me``

we were speechless.... so we said our goodbyes and we were thinking that that would be the last time we saw her. but once again thanks to the lord and his mercy she called us on saturday and said that the more she thought about it. the more she felt she needed to go to church with us (thank you spirit). and she asked if we could stop by on our way and pick her up. Yes Yes we can :) so no real work by me but it just goes to show that when the lord has a work that needs to be done he will do it with or with out Elder Chambom (that is me). :)

ok answers time:

my eye is not doing very good. when i first got it it was really small and easy to manage. but the doctor gave me the wrong type of eye drops so my ulcer got bigger. i went to the cornea specialist yesterday and he said that it was a miracle that i wasn´t blind. scary. but i´m not telling you this to make you worried. the doctor gave me some drops and said (very confidantly) that tomorrow when i go back for my appointment he will be very suprised if it isn´t atleast 50 percent better. but he also said that if it isn´t a corneal transplant is the next step and i was talking to president Dorius and he said that if that is the case they will send me back to the states for it. and hopefully i will beable to return after i´m recovered.

my companion is actually younger than i am. he came in to the mission on the 17th of february and i came in on the 16th so i´m one day older than my papa.

well this week was a ok week :) and i have high hopes for the future.

always remember that i love you and that no matter what, eye or no eye, we (elder guerrero, the lord and i) are working as hard as we can in a work that has no end.

i´ll talk to you soon, siempre de Dios

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday May 23, 2011

Hola familia.

i have officially desided that i am accident prone. saturday night i got hope and we were planning and my eye was kinda bugging me so after we were done i went and took out my contacts. that seemed to make things worse and little by little it got a little worse. we ended up calling president and he told us to come to the office (this was about 11 at night). so we go and we end up at the hospital. and all i can tell you is parisites can get anywhere even in your eyes. i know gross. i have a worm about 2 mm long in my eye. i have a appointment tommorrow and they will decide what they will do. but as for now i am in the dark. but dont be worried because i guess this happens alot. but as for my week that is pretty much the exciting point. this morning marks the officiall last p day in my first transfer. i cant believe i have been here for a month. time deffinatly goes faster here than in the mtc.

i only get mail once every month so im not sure if i have got you pacage yet or not. but i do need to buy sweaters. you cant wear suit coats in the street or you will get mugged. so president told us all to by two or three ´´chompas´´ to use during the winter months. my feet are . . . . beautiful that is all. i am so happy to be here i cant begin to express how much i love the people here. i am sorry this letter is so short but i am going to try to attach some pictures to make up for it.

i love you all and just know eye or no eye i am working as hard as i can in the work that has no end.
Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday May 16, 2011

Hola familia how goes it?

I have many stories to tell so i´ll start with those and hopefully have time to get to questions.

i started the week off kinda rough i was sitting out on our balcony reading my Spanish book and the little girl next door, (we joke around with her alot she is probably jacy´s age)
threw a coke bottle at me and i sat back in my chair really fast (to avoid it) and all i have to say is tile is very slippery. i ended up smacking my head on the corner of the door frame (those dang door frames first my ear now my head) and i got a pretty good cut on my head. but luckily we live with a nurse. she patched me up and gave me this cream to put on it so it doesn´t get infected. well little did i know this cream changes your hair color. so now i have a patch of light hair on the back of my head. needless to say part of my p-day is going to be spent getting a hair cut.

before i tell this next story i just have to clarify that i´m not going crazy i just get really bored climbing stairs. this week we climbed 11,534 stairs!! i have noticed that if i count the stairs it seem to keep my mind off the burning in my legs. but i know that it is doing some good because yesterday i had to make a new hole in my belt because the others just don´t quite cut it anymore.

i had another amazing experience with HNO Bendayan. i´`m telling you he is like a spiritual power house. we were walking past our favorite place in this whole area. we found it a couple days ago. it is this little bakery and all i can say is ¡¡¡QUE RICO, LO MAXIMO!!! i´m not really sure how to translate that into English. and we decided to buy some treats for Hno bendayan and his family (we weren´t really sure why at first, but now we know it was inspiration). so we buy 1 sole worth of cookies and bread and go to his house we knock on the door and we wait and we wait. we know he is home because his house isn´t locked. he finally answers the door and he is on crutches. he had re-hurt his leg (he has a fractured hip that never healed right). we told him that we didn´t know why but we felt impressed to buy him some treats and bring him some money. he again began to cry (he cries as much as i do) and explained how he obviously couldn´t work and he wasn´t going to be able to provide for his family. they were surviving on flour and water in kind of a paste type substance. thank you holy ghost once again for helping me help this amazing man.

speaking of food guess what i ate this week . . . . it is called ´´jugo de pez´´ which means literally fish juice. guess how they make it? no let me tell you.

step one: they take a raw fish and take the bones out

step two: they smash it up . . . everything. scales organs fins and yes eyes

step three: they add water to this ´´paste´´ and boil it

step four: they add a apple and a boiled egg (i don´t know why because it didn´t help the flavor)

Step five: dig in.. .. ... . yuck. but i ate it. . . all of it . . and i did it without throwing up. . . barely :)

it was a very rough week for me especially Wednesday. and i mentioned that to my mission president and he told me to write a letter to grandma and have you read it at the funeral. i wasn´t able to do that but i still wanted to share it with you.

Dear Grandma,

my mom told me to dedicate this day to you but i want you to know that this is all for you. you are my best friend and i can still feel you close to me. you are my unseen companion for the next 2 years. but you are defiantly not unfelt.

i feel closer to you than i ever have before. i remember that after i would leave your house those weeks during the summer i would look our the back window and watch your house drift away. how i wanted to go back. . . and now that you have drifted away once more how i want to have you back. but i know that just like those summer weeks i´ll be with you again. we will be together again.

i love you grandma.

Landon

i can´t begin to describe how much i miss grandma. but there isn´t a day that goes by that i don´t feel her at my side. she is still here i know it i can feel it.

i love you all and i will talk to you soon. and always remember that i am working my hardest.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday May 9, 2011

Hola Familia!!!

well it was a rough week to say the least and we really didn´t have much happen out of the ordinary. we had one investigator at church. but our main focus right now is finding less active members. which means a lot of walking and a lot of stairs. i have never seen let alone climbed so many stairs.

it is cold today!!! see i told you it is a day and night difference yesterday it was scorching and now i am struggling not to shake as i sit here in this tiny Internet cafe. and wouldn´t you know it there is two dogs in the same room...... they really are everywhere.

We had kinda of a funny moment. a lady in our ward was going to church in a mototaxi (basically a motorcycle with a carriage attached to it.) and she fell out. the back wheel ran over her and she was being a hypochondriac (how ever you spell that) she was certain that her back was broken and that she couldn´t walk but talking with her Doctor she just had bruising. so E. Guerrero and i thought why not make this a testimony builder. she had asked for a blessing to ease the pain but e. Guerrero and i thought why not ´´heal´´ her so we gave her a blessing and in the blessing we told her to stand and walk.

we closed the blessing and helped her to her feet and what do you know she walked. i can tell you right now that she will never doubt the priesthood power. it had healed her spine and allowed her to walk again :).

well i´m off to grab some fruit for lunch ( have i mentioned how amazing the fruit is here??? one word heaven) and p day is the only day we get to choose what we get to eat. so we choose to let our stomachs rest. the food is really good but the aftermath could be compaired to that of world war II. i thought the MTC food was bad.

i love you all and i have each and everyone of you in my prayers. kiss the kids and always remember that i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday May 2, 2011

hola Familia

it has been a week of firsts for me obviously :) but it has been a week of great work too. we got to peru about 11:45 tuesday night and went straight to bed at the mission office. president Dorius met us at the airport. we stepped out side and the first words out of our mouths were ´´it smells like fish.´´ and when i say smells i mean stunk like fish.

we drove to the mission office and we were just kind of taking in the city. we saw some appartments and we were talking about how run down they look. and pres. Dorius said ´´oh these are some of the better ones´´ and he was so right. i got to my area around 5 wednesday and all i can say is wow.

my area concists of two massive hills one called lampa de oro and the other is called nuevo amanezer. president dorius was telling us that on these two hills alone there is half the population of utah. CRAZY!!!

and there really is dogs everywhere, not just alive ones eather. dogs will die of rabies or get hit by a car and they just leave them there to let nature do its job on them. E. Guerrero and i walk around with our ties on our noses because it stinks so bad. i didn´t get luggage stolen it was almost stolen. a man grabbed it at baggage claim and started to walk out with it but i caught it and he tried to play it off but i´m pretty sure it wasn´t a accident. it is really humid but it is usually mid 70´s so not too bad yet. i actually can understand alot of spanish and that is mostly what i speak. E. Guerrero is from costa rica but he knows a little english but it is deffinatly easier to comunicate in spanish. there are a couple roads here that you need to avoid especially if you are white. i acutally got to meet that missionary that was stabbed back in november. he is working in the office. but i just try to look as brown as i can and avoid the people that have that practically carry a sign that says stay away or i will mug you.

i have already had some crazy experiences here. and i wish i could tell them all to you but unfortunatly i dont have time so i´ll just narrow it down to one for now. we were out tracting on the 29th (e. guerreros birthday) and we saw our ward mission leader (hermano bendayan most humble man i have ever met) he knew that it was his birthday so he invited us to come up to his house and eat with him and his daughter. he lives at the very top of nuevo amanezer so it was quite the climb but we finally made it. we go in to his house, probably the size of my room, and he brings out two massive plates of food (probably enought for 4 days for him and his daughter) and we can´t refuse him or he will get really offended. so we bless it and begin to eat and i noticed that the meat (which i thought was chicken) was really tough and had a funny after taste. but again i didn´t want to offend him so i ate it all. (come to find out it was dog woot woot my first perro.) we finish and he wants to go work with us so we leave and e. guerrero remembers that we promised to help a member clean the stake center (it is in the middle of peru probably 15-20 miles away) hno bendayan says he would love to go with us. so we jump on a combi (basically a miny van that they cram 25 people on :)) and we ride in to Lima. we get there clean and are on our way home, when we see a homeless man. he askes us for money so he can get some food. we can´t give money but we offer to buy some food for him. he accepts so we go to a street vender and by him some chifa (chinese food) and as we are leaving hno bendayan gives him 5 soles (which is a lot of money for someone as poor as he is) and we drive back to our flat in Lapa de oro. HNO bendayan begins to walk to his house in Nuevo amanezer. and we think it is because he gave all his money to this homeless man. we were brought to our knees by this mans humility and charity. so we call him back and try to give him money so he can by a ride back home. he refuses us and refuses us so E. Guerrero and i both throw 10 soles at him and begin to run to our door. we get there and Hno bendayan is right behind us. but to our suprise he is in tears. he begins to explain how he felt terrible that he didn´t give that man more money. he had more money he could have given but he didn´t want too because he needed it to get home. he used the word egoisto which means selfish which obviously he isn´t. he said that the only way he would feel better would be if he walked home. we watched him walk away and all i could think was wow.

i am amazed everyday by these people and how beautiful they really are. most of them don´t have teeth, or a sence of hygene. but they are by far the most christlike people i know. they are willing to give at the sacrifice of there own well being. HNO bendayan has changed my life and i´m sure i´m not the first one.

i love you all have a great week i´ll talk to you soon

Elder Landon R. Welch

Wednesday April 27, 2011

well i´m here safe and sound but i am scared for my life :) not really i am in the most ghetto part of Lima and driving in from the airport we were talking to president dorius about some of the appartments here (most run down and falling apart places i have ever seen) and he said that these were some of the better ones.

i just barely met my companion . . . . and the best part is he is native :) not to peru but to costa rica. his name is Elder Guerrero. and we have become fast friends. he speaks a little english and i speak a little spanish so needless to say these next few week are going to be interesting but i am so excited for them. i am serving in a place called Lampa De Oro (lamp of gold) it is inside the city of lima and it is really crowded.

just for your comfort and reassurance, in the first 12 hours here i have almost been hit by a car, been in a car accident, and had a piece of luggage stolen. but other than that a pretty slow first day :) i am definatly not in the states anymore. elder Petersen and i are actually getting split up for the first time since beginning our mission. we were in the same district in arizona but now he is about a hour away from me in a different area. crazy he is with a companion from colombia. and he speaks no english. so all i have to say is good luck elder petersen.

well i have to go get interviewed and then it is off to my new home (about 8 minutes away) to work. i love you all.

Siempre con dios

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. my p-day is monday. this is the address for the lima mission home.

carlos salaverry #3664- los olivos

casilla de correo 39-054

Lima 39

Perú

(send EVERYTHING there otherwise it will never reach me) and a little tip the APs gave us is if you put a picture of the virgin mary on a package the mail people will not go through it. i love you

Monday April 25, 2011

:) :) :) :) well the first week deffinatly was a fast and a furious one. and wouldn't you know it Elder Bradshaw (he is my companion) got a phone call on thursday and guess what . . . . i got my visa!!!
i am working in Yuma Arizona (supposidly it is the hottest place in the the US and i believe it) and i'm currently serving in a town called somerton (reminds me alot of oakley a lot of fields and people scattered everywhere) it is 95 % spanish so i'm definatly getting in my practice. and the best news of all is i have only been in Arizona for 6 days but i had a baptism yesterday (her name is jayleene) so i guess she is the reason i am here.
i am driving to Tempe to day around 12 and i'm going to spend one night there, but come tomorrow i will be flying out around 7 to Peru !!! i am so excited and yet so nervous too. so you might want to hold off sending anything to me for a while.

...

ok part 2.... i'm using a computer at the library here in Yuma and i am only allowed 15 minutes each session so sorry about two emails this week.
i actually meant to ask you last week what grams address was but i totally spaced it but i defiantly do want to write her. as of right now i'm doing good for gym shoes and i'm not sure of my suit size but i'll write it down for next week.
i was tracting one day and we went up to two gentlemen sitting in a garage (they do that alot i'm not really sure why. they just set up lawn chairs and sit in their garage really weird) and we noticed that they were "tocando" (drinking) a lot. but we figured why not talk to them who knows maybe they would be iterested. so we go up and we begin talking we introduce ourselves as missionaries and the first thing they say is "quere un beer?" (do you want a beer) we quickly say no and we go on with talking. they then asked us why we weren't with our family (it was on Sunday AKA Easter) and we expalined how our families lived in Utah and Florida. they then explained how Easter was ment to spend it with your family. and who would have thought that two incredibly drunk men would actally know what they were talking about. i missed being with my family on easter. all the kids dying eggs (that would later be turned in to deviled eggs) i remembered all the tiny details of our past easters together but i'm so glad that i am here. telling about easter talking to people about the resurecction it is crazy how close the spirit is when talking about that.
well i'm not sure when you will here from me next (tomorrow morning when i get to call home again Woot Woot). but just know i love you and i'm working as hard and as fast as i can.
i love you all
Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. i promise that i could spell before i started learning spanish but case in point i can't any more :) :) :)

Thursday April 21, 2011

no email this week, but Landon is going to Tempe, AZ until he gets his Visa

Hola familia!!!

i got a temporary reassignment ...... but I'm not telling you where yet. :) i have a phone pass and i plan on calling you tomorrow night around 6 ish so watch your phone dad.

it was a pretty fun week, i am still catching on to Spanish but i have found that it is easier to speak in Spanish now then English, and it actually has gotten to the point that if i say something in English that i could have said in Spanish i feel really guilty. so i'm basically speaking all in Spanish. and i'm not going to lie it feels really cool.

the duet was awesome but we didn't sing for a apostle which was unfortunate but we did sing for president Rasband. (president of the 70) we sang i know that my redeemer lives and it was really spiritual i loved it. but I'm not sure my nerves would be able to take another experience....

hmm lets see i had a pretty funny story this week we were reading out of the book of Mormon at the beginning of our class with HNO Ramirez on Monday and we came across the word Ramerez, and Hno Ramirez asked what it meant. so i told him that it was his name, because it was one letter off. everyone kinda laughed a little bit. but then Hno responded it means prostitute. . . . then everyone really started to laugh. so i accidentally called my teacher a prostitute this week . . . . oops :)

the Elder from Peru i have seen a little bit but we are usually going in the opposite direction so it's kinda hard to talk to him. but still fun to see him.

this Wednesday E. Petersen and i got to teach a few of the new elders how to begin teaching. . . . basically all we did was sit down with a volunteer (acting like he was a investigator) but your not going to guess who we got to talk to. Vai sikahema, it was so cool i didn't even know he was a member.. . . . just in case you don't know who vai is, he played for the Philadelphia eagles . . . . enough said. but he was also a anchor man for NBS. it was really cool i got to "teach" one of my all time hero's.

well i guess until tomorrow night, i can't wait. i love you all.

siempre sus y dios

Elder Landon R. Welch

Thursday April 7, 2011

hola familia!

these words i am typing right now are the first English words i have spoken for 4 days. i actually prefer to speak in Spanish rather than English now. it's funny how fast things can change. one week i want nothing to do with Spanish and the next i prefer to speak it. crazy!!

estoy en acuerdo, conferencia general fue maravilloso. me gusta mucho. especualmente elder bednars aserca revalacion y del don del espiritu santo. ( i agree, general conference was wonderful. i liked it alot. especially elder bednars about revalation and the gift of the holy ghost.) elder Petersen and i watched all 10 hours in Spanish and i understood most of it. but i have noticed that i tend to feel the spirit more when it is in English. HNO. Ramirez said it would be like that. "you can always feel the spirit stronger in your native language."

yesterday i got to be a host for some new missionaries coming in. and what are the odds i got to host a native Peruvian. WOOT WOOT, he was so cool and we walked and talked en espanol during his tour and he thought i was a teacher here not a missionary because of how much Spanish i spoke. it was a awesome boost and only made me want to try harder.

we sing in Spanish while we are in class but in English during devotionals and firesides. there are 8 total elders in our district and we are all in the same Spanish class. but the other 6 are going to Mexico. 3 to Mexico city NW and 3 to villaramosa. and wouldn't you know it they all have their visas!!! kinda backwards but esta bien, yo se que dios tiene un plan por nosotros. ( it's good, i know that god has a plan for us).

i sang a musical number in sacrament meeting with HNA Rasmussen (one of the sisters in my zone) and we have been asked to sing it in a devotional, you know for the entire MTC, either this Tuesday or next. i have never sang in my life but who would have thought 7 week would change that.

reading over this letter i have noticed that my grammer and spelling have gotten worse since being here, (probably because of this Spanish thing) but just bare with me. i can promise you the worst is yet to come. i want to be one of those missionaries who forget how to speak English when i get home. that is my goal :).

HMMMMMM que mas, thank you for the package. i took the candy around to my zone and did chiste o dulce (trick or treat) and it really brightened my day. before i left you asked me what i would crave most at the MTC. and if you remember i couldn't tell you. well now i can :) i crave turkey jerky (thanks Carrie for getting me addicted :) ) and those little girl scout cookies that are chocolate and have that minty taste to them.

they have yet to tell me exactly were i am to be reassigned but the rumor is Arizona. but I'm not sure yet.

hmmm another week down and not very many to go. but whether it be here in Provo, or in Peru (or Arizona) just know i love you all so much and I'm working harder than i ever have in my entire life.

Siempre sus y dios.

Elder Landon R. Welch