Monday October 24, 2011

Hola Familia!!!
well another week gone and i find my self counting up not down, this mission has gone by way to fast so far and sometime I dont think it is fair. who know what the next 15 months will bring but i hope it slows down a little bit.
Elder Quintero and i had a interesting week. we cooked for ourselves two days but for the rest, the husband of our pentionista cooked for us and for this week i really wish i could have cooked for myself, he isnt the best cook in the business. wednesday we had cow liver, thursday we had cow kidneys, friday we had "sweated fish" (which is basically a steamed fish) and saturday i did a forced fast because i was to scared to find out what the climax would be. the whole week i was thinking where is the normal food, and then i realized i am in peru and this is the normal food.
well i have a question for you all. as you know there are some religions that still believe that saturday is the sabath day. but we all know that changed when chirst was resurected. well these past few weeks i have been teaching a man named Ramos. and no matter how many scriptures i use to teach that Sunday (the Lords day) is now the sabath, he always uses the scripture in matthew 5 that says christ came not to change the law but to fulfill it, and the law that he fulfilled was the passover. (where they all had to kill a lamb in order to be forgiven) but that the law of moses is still the law. well my question is how would you respond to that? i have lost so much sleep trying to think of a way to prove it but no matter what scripture i use or words i say he always uses that same scripture, i have run out of ideas. so all you returned missionaries, mothers, fathers, and scripture masters can you help me and my companion out?
well i am off to . . . . do something, but i am not really sure what, the p day is as a zone today, so i guess i will just go and be suprised
i love you all and always remember i am working as hard as i can.
Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday October 17, 2011

Hola Familia!!

well i am back to a hard area, alot like lampa de oro all over again. it was nice in trapiche because baptisms just seemed to fall in to you lap well i am sorry to say i got used to it and now being here in Santo Domingo i have been slaped back to reality. but reguardless Elder Quintero and i have had a awesome week. we taught over 30 lessons to investigators and less actives and lets just say i love putting big numbers down on my weekly report, it is just nice to see that my efforts are actually bearing fruits.

but this coming week will be a adventure, our pentionista has a problem with her throat and has gone to the hospital to get it fixed, well she wont be back until friday!! she gave us each 100 soles (almost 40 dollars) to feed us for the week. . . . this will be the first time in my mission that i am actually going to be forced to cook my own meals, and what is going through my mind as i write this is . . . "didn´t i just get over being sick?" it will be a interesting week but a exciting one too. maybe i will finally be able to show Elder Quintero how to make a egg burrito, ohh wait tortillas dont exist in peru :)

i also got to have another adventure with food this week and lets just say it was one of the worst. we were offered a lunch by some members on wednesday and of course we can never turn down a invitation, so we get to the lunch and ask what we are having and the Hermana tells us soup and pollo saltado!! and pollo saltado is my favorite type of food here in peru, but as i have learned where there is really good there is really bad too. i ask what type of soup and she says "pata" which normally is chicken foot soup. . . but this time no, it was cow foot soup. well the first thing i noticed was that it still had hair.... alot. i had a hard time eating it but i kept my promise and ate it all. i dont know who decided that the feet of animals was a desirable part of the animal, but all i have to say to him is. . . you are crazy.

well it is off futbol and my usual fruit, i am so greatful for fruit, because unlike soup it comes without suprises. i love you all an always remember that i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday October 10, 2011

Hola Familia!!

another week gone!! i am really pressured for time this week so we will see how much i am able to write. i got changed to a new area, it is called Santo Domingo, in the Santa Isabel zone. it is kinda funny because it is on the other side of the road from my old area. the Santo Domingo ward and the Trapiche Branch go to the same chaple at the same time, so i got changed but at the same time not really.

i am with a Elder named Elder Quintero from Colombia, once again a new country. Guerrero from Costa Rica, Gonzales from Bolivia, Portillo from Guatemala, and Quintero from Colombia, i am smiling now because i can just imagine you sitting in family home evening trying to pronounce some of their names. Elder Quintero is a great missionary and so far seems to be my favorite companion, and i am not going to start looking for falts or bad habits so hopefully he will stay like that.

i have a question for you. i went to "Mercado" once again i cant remember how to say that word in english, to find out what i could about my camera. and i found out some bad news. the brand of my camera is Fugifilm and they dont have this brand in peru. so if i wanted to fix my screen they would have to order one from the US or Japan and as i am sure you can imagine it would be very expencive. so i was wondering if i could just buy a new camera? let me know what you think and if it is alright with you send me the pin for the credit card, so i can buy it. unless you have a better idea because i am all ears.

the days are getting hotter and i am getting skinnier from all the sweating. we go to our pention for lunch and we have to take off our shirt so that it can dry. man i love being a missionary. probably the only time in my life i will be able to say that sentance :)

well my time is spent and i am off to play vollyball with the zone. to answer your question dad normaly we play sports or we cook food for p-day as a zone and we have p-days as a zone everyother monday. so until next week i love you all and know i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. president made a new rule this last week, that we are not alowed to write anyone that isnt family via email. he said that it is ok if we recieve emails but we cant send them. so if you could pass the news around that would be great. and just know i love getting your emails so dont stop writing them it will just take me a little longer to respond. chao

HERE IS A PS THAT HE SENT TO ME...(if you others want to share emails you get on the blog just let me know) this is the abridged version...

it is so weird to think that you are all going in to winter while i am suffering more and more each day as the sun gets hotter and the humidity gets more. sometimes i miss shoveling snow, but dont tell mom that :)

i recently got changed to a new area and i am back in the city. all i can say is peru is a really pretty country just as long as you arent in the city. cars that try and run you over, people shouting "GRINGO GRINGO" "how are you mister" in their highly flawed latin accents. but still in a way even that is beautiful. get your passport out because i am going to try and convince mom and dad to come visit in 15 months because i think it is the only way they are going to get me home from this mission.

the days seem like weeks but the weeks are like days, time for me has flown by and it doesnt seem to be slowing down.

kiss the kids for me tell them that i love them too, and we will see you soon

love ya lots

Elder Welch

Monday October 3, 2011

Hola Familia!!

wow conference is so much better every year!! and the best part is that president let us go to all the sessions just as long as we had a investigator with us. well heavenly father being as amazing as he is, has blessed me with many many people who want to listen, and i was able to attend all the sessions. they also had a little room on the bottom floor of the church where all the gringo missionaries went to watch the conference in English. and i defiantly agree with crystal, one of the reasons i loved conference was because i actually got to hear something in English. it is kinda funny how you can even start missing the language of your home.

i tried to choose one talk to answer your question about which i liked most, and i know that later tonight you will probably have FHE with the Buckner's and you will all sit down and say what you liked about conference. so i will add in a little bit of mine. . . we got to the church early so that my companion could have a good seat and we were one of the first ones there. they had the tabernacle choir playing and so we just sat and listened for a little while. and before i knew it i was tearing up, because just like you told me last week, we would be watching the same thing at the same time. i remembered all those Sunday mornings that my mom would put on her favorite CD of the tabernacle choir and honestly just hearing them again was a great moment for me.

i really liked the talk of President Packer. he is a special man, and every time we get to hear him is a blessing, you could almost see how tired and weak he was, but spiritually he is as alive as ever. i especially liked the part where he said very straight forward and bluntly, "Lucifer will loose" it was powerful and full of truth. we just need to be on the right team.

i also really enjoyed the talk from President Uchtdorf, about our relationship with god. no matter where we are no matter who we are, we are important to him. "The lord Doesn't care where you are at all, whether it be in marble halls or stable stalls." or Peru :) "we are not invisible to our Heavenly Father."

and of course there is always something good about the priesthood session and this time it was Elder Hollands. and his main theme was "UNBIND YOUR TONGUE" he always speaks directly at me and sometime it is a little scary. one thing he said that i really enjoyed was "you cant walk down the crooked path and guide others to the straight and narrow." wow i am so grateful for Repentance!!!

it is always sad when conference ends and we know that it will be another 6 months until the next one, but what a amazing conference it was. it seems like yesterday i was in the MTC watching conference and now another has passed. they don't lie when they say missions don't last long.

i have yet to receive letters. i got your first package mom but haven't seen the second yet. i have no idea what i want for my birthday. i have lost all touch with what i used to like to do, Maybe a football, you know the American one :). what i could actually use is, the screen on my camera recently broke, the camera still takes pictures but i need to replace the screen.

today is transfers once again for Peru Lima west mission and once again you will be in the dark for a week. i am not sure why the zone leaders insist on waiting until after Internet to tell us, it just seems to be so much easier to just tell us, but they are the leaders and i will just salute smartly and . . . well you know the rest.

i love you all and always remember, in the busiest part of Lima to the deepest part of the amazons. from chicken foot soup or some kind of fish head soup. from dogs to more dogs, i am working as hard as i can

Chou

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. i didnt get a email from dad this week so you will have to tell me the fish story next week.

Monday September 26th, 2011

Que Tal Familia!!

it was a great week we were able to have 4 baptisms on saturday
Ingrid, Iris, and Alan Romero Velasquez is a family of 9 that we have
been teaching!! and these 3 decided that they wanted to be baptized
now and wait for their family to follow and they are. their mother has
a date for the 8th of october and her sister for the next week. and
the other is Susan Salas a woman who has been talking to the
missionaries for about 8 months and finally we were able to drown her
:) it was a very beautiful day and honestly the most stress free
baptism i have had in peru.

i have not heard anything about conference yet, i am guessing that we
will be watching it with our zone in the stake center. i am hoping
that we will be able to watch all of it but it is highly doubtful i am
guessing that we will be able to watch the sunday morning but that
will be all. but who knows. maybe??

i had no idea that brother nielson had was even close to finishing his
mission prep class!! i tried to make him promise that he would be
there teaching when i got back but all he did was smile and give me a
hug. what a great man. he has helped 100s of missionaries become
better just by that class. who is the next teacher? he has some giant
shoes to fill.

i am hopefully back to 100% but i am not sure i remember what 100%
should feel like but we are back working all day and i have stoped
taking the pills that i recieved for my stomach and it seems that what
ever i had has now left, hopefully for good.

it is officially spring time in peru and it is hot hot hot!! but at
least the world has a bit of color now. the animals are all having
their babies and to answer your question mom yes there are tons of
dogs here and they all want to have a little taste of the white meat,
my companion doesnt seem to have problems with them just the gringos.

i need a favor mom. daniel and kyle are both in the mission now and i
want to write them something but you know how the mail is here. so i
was hoping you could ask their mothers for their church email
addresses so i can email them. well my time is spent so until next
week know i love you and am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday September 19, 2011

Hola Familia!!!!
i am doing better, finally and i am trying to get back into the gruling life of a missionary. and it is kinda hard. but little by little we will get there. they still arnt sure what i had,I have a doctors appointment today with a orthopedic sergun so i hope he will be able to tell me a little more. The pain slowly went away so they set me free. but Nothing too exciting happened this week concerning the work but we did have a awesome suprise on sunday. it was stake conference and they were going to have a satalite transmition from salt lake. there were so many rumors about who was going to speak and what they would speak on but when the face of president thomas s monson showed up on the screen i dont think there was a single person in the entire audience that wasn`t in shock and amazement. he, D. Todd christofferson, Walter F. Gonzales, and Julie B. Beck all spoke and it was a experience to never forget. they all spoke in spanish with the exception of president monson. and they all had amazing words for us. president monson talked alot about the importance of a mother and father in the home. and well lets just say that my mother and father matched every description. i am so blessed to have you guys dont ever forget how much i love you.
we also had a zone conference this week and once again president dorius amazed me with how personal and focused his message was for every single on of his missionaries. he also gave us the anouncement that he will be opening a new area soon called "La Canta" which litteraly means "it sings" he showed us pictures of it and if i could guess what the garden of eden would look like my guess would be . . . Canta. it is the most beautiful place i have ever seen in my life. i hope i get a few weeks there :) keep your fingers crossed.
peru is going into spring and i now am realizing why it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. when i got here winter was almost here. the skys were always gray and i have to say that i was really disappointed. but now i can only describe in words (because i dont have internet to send pictures) just how pretty it is. there are birds of every color and flowers too. the rivers are filling and the trees are blooming. amazing to say the least.
i love you all and always remember i am working as hard as i can.
Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday September 12th, 2011

Hola familia!!!

i am not feeling too much better but yes i have already called the president and i went to the clinic where they aren´t too sure what i have. the did dozens of tests but they arent really sure what i have. i am actually in the hospital right now writing this email from the presidents laptop and they arent really sure how long i will be here, but they dont want to send me back out until they are sure what i have. so it could be hours or it could be days i am not really sure. all i can say is that being a patient in a peruvian hospital is really really boring. i have seen 3 different doctors and 2 of the 3 think it might be meningitis but that doesnt explain the stomach ache. who knows???

we to had a apostle come to our mission elder anderson came and talked to us about the things the first presidency expects of us as their missionaries. number 1 is to have a testimony of christ. number 2 is to have a testimony of the restaration. number 3 is to have a testimony of the bible. and number 4 is to have a love for the spirit life. the first three i have but when he told us number 4 i was a little confused i wasnt sure what he ment by that. i have been thinking about it alot (with all my free time) and i think i have a pretty good idea but i want to know what you guys think first.

What do you think is a love for the spiritual life??

the converts are doing really good. and one thing i really like about being in a branch is that it is really easy to find callings for your converts. Romina is a branch missionary and a very good one too. Jose is in the young mens and cinthya is in the relief society presidency. how cool is that. i have come to realize how important it is for them to have callings fast. they now have a little responsibilty and i really think they will be strong in the church for a long time. now i just have to wait a year to go with them to the Temple.

2 of the 5 are from UTAH. one from kaysville and the other form ephram. Hermanas Bailey, and Hess.

well the eggs and flower is something that they do for your birthday. first they smash a egg on your head then dump a bag of flower on you. and it turnes into a huge mess. i am not really sure why that is the tradicion but it is. and to answer the question about the clothes. you dont. it is stained for life. i got a little on my backpack and i have washed it 5 times but it still smells like rotten eggs.

ok now for my miracle story. one of the hermanos in our branch had a birthday party. his name is hermano palermo. well we go in sit down and we are eating papa de huancaina and his son comes in the room. his family tells me that he served in arequipa on mission. so i ask him what years and he says 1998 and i knew chad was about that same time too so i ask him if he knows a elder Welch. he stops looks at my name tag smiles a little bit and askes
"chad welch?"
i say yes and he starts to laugh. so tell me chad do you know a elder Jonny Morales because he was your companion in puno!!! and i met him!! how crazy is that out of the millions of people in peru one of them i know was the companion of my brother wow how small is this world???

well my hour is spent and i need to go so i will fill you in next week about my back.
i love you all and i will try to get back out to work as hard as i can.
Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday September 5th, 2011

Hola Familia!!!

well another week come and gone and sometimes it feels like they run together. i have hit the apex of my sickness and i am not really sure how much longer i can wait before i finally break down and call president. i just dont want to go back to the clinic and get stuck in my house again. but to make a long story short. i have a stomach ache that never seems to go away. my back is so tense (but i dont know what from) that i am almost unable to sleep. i woke up in the middle of the night with chills that shook my entire bed. and when i took my temperature i was at 103 degrees farenhite. i tried to wake my companion but he is a very heavy sleeper and once i finally did he just told me to pray and roled over and went back to bed. i love the guy but i am dying and he doesn´t want to help me. needless to say please pray for my health because i am about ready to give up.

but we keep on working. and i am alright with that. it seems like the only time i dont notice how sick i am is when we are in a lesson preaching the truth to people who really need it.

i am afraid to say . . . no monkeys yet, but i will keep my eyes open. i do recieve letters but i am not sure if i recieve all the letters. just email me a little sentence when you mail me a letter that way i can keep my eyes open for it. but one thing i am sure of is i have yet to recieve a letter via pouch. so i dont think that works.

i recieved my first egg and flower treatment and it wasnt even my birthday. i wish i had pictures to send you but i didnt have my camera that day. but basically my hair was solid as a rock and white as snow. and it took me about 25 minutes in a freezing cold shower to get it all out. but hey atleast i have a shower, and friends who show their love even if it is in a kinda cruel manner, but it is the custom here and i guess i better get used to it i am sure it is bound to happen again.

i love you all and i am trying with all my might to work as hard as i can.

chau

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. there are 18 missionaries in my zone and 5 of them are Hermanas. we have 2 p days every month that we spend as a zone. sometimes we play futbol and sometimes we go on different adventures. but the p days that aren´t spent with the zone we spend with the members and investigators playing and just passing moments together. . . i love my mission, because it is full of little moments that i will never forget. love ya.

Monday August 29, 2011

Hola familia!!!!

wow do i have a story for you. let me just start by saying that Jose Miguel Chapoñan Santisteban and Cinthya Mariluz Vador Iparraguirre, were baptised on saturday!!! but it was anything but stress free. Elder Portillo and i were put in charge of filling the font and getting the keys to open the church and that is where all the drama started. the baptism was scheduled for 2 30 in the afternoon so we figured we should go to the church around 1 that will give us enough time to fill the font, and clean up a little bit before everyone shows up. we get there and open the church, and one thing that is really weird is that this church (unlike anyother church in peru) has a alarm system . . . . that we didnt know about. i am sure you can see where this is going. the alarm went off and not only does it start a siren that is really anoying, but it also sends a signal to the police, and wouldn´t you know it just our luck, the nearest police station was 2 blocks away. within minutes there were three police cars in front of the church, and chad as my witness the last place you want to be in peru is infront of a peruvian police officer, they only have one rule shoot to wound, because if they are wounded you can still put them in jail. they begin screaming over the microphone that pretty much lie down on the ground or die. so of course we took the first option, they put us in handcuffs and almost got us in their cars, when who should come around the corner, (thankfully) the second counselor of our branch presidency. they get everything straightened out and the police leave. and then i notice all the people. there were probably 300 people watching it all.

i was so close to seeing my first peruvian jail..... and i never want to be that close agian.

that is awesome about carson, congradulate him for me, and find out what mission too. i had alot of elders in my distrcit in the mtc that are in mexico. the weather is cold and rainy. we are out of lima and yes we do see alot of wildlife, not just dogs. my area is kinda like a little oasis. there is a little bit of jungle, and even a few rivers.i can actually say (without lying) that this area is actually really pretty. i will try to send some pictures but once again slow internet. my stomach is still kinda sick but i am more or less used to it. the fruit is amazingly delicious, but the rules are the same, if you cant peal it you cant eat it. but for the majority, i eat oranges, mandarinas, bananas, mangos, pineapples, and jocute (it is a fruit kinda like a coconut, hard on the out side but soft on the inside, but has a much better taste). mom you will be happy to know that i have grown to like sweet potatoes, they eat them alot here and i think i am more accostomed to it rather than like it. but tomatoes is another story. i love tomatoes now!!!!! the vegtables are like the fruit, they all seem to have a better taste here. i have eaten vegetables that i am sure i would have never eaten before my mission and they are all pretty good. one thing that i have come to LOVE is a little pepper called rocoto. (chad will know what i am talking about) it is tiny but it is powerful. they put rocoto, onions and lemon juice together and eat it with almost everything, and i have fallen in love with it. we do have many storms but none to scary, and yes i have felt alot of earthquakes, some of them are quite strong too. in almost every building there is a sign that says that this building is earthquake safe. and yes there are flowers of every color shape and smell. i would take pictures of them but i am not ready to feel that gay yet. :)

well it is off to fruit then futbol i love you all, thank you for the prayers not only for me but for my investigators i know that they are helping. and always remember i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday August 22, 2011

hola familia!!!

Well it was a kinda stressful week, man i wish peru was a little more moderinzed. but hey i am just glad i am here :) unfortunatly the baptism that we had for this past saturday fell through. what happend is: last week after the baptism of Romina and Karen, we left the baptismal font filled because the other ward had a baptism the next day. well after their baptism they forgot to empty the font . . . and peru water is very very contaminated as is, just add about 6 weeks of sitting and you have a potion that could kill anything. you could see things swimming in the water on saturday when we showed up and so needless to say we needed to empty and fill it again. but that isn`t the end of the story. we empty it and we clean it out and we are ready to fill it again when the branch president tells us that the water meter was stolen and we cant fill it. great. so we post pone it for sunday. . . but the story goes on. sacrament is the last meeting of our block of meetings so normaly elder portillo and i will go and bring people to church for the first two hours. we get to church at 11 and are ready to start sacrament when cinthya (the woman that we are supposed to baptise) comes and tells us that Jose (her husband) doesnt want to get baptised anymore. . . . now what do we do??? we asked her why and she told us that he didnt feel prepared yet, that he still had things in his past that was holding him down. we go and find him talk to him and we are hoping that this next week we will be able to drown him. pray for him please, that he can feel the peace that only this gospel brings.

this last week i have been more sick than usual. but none the less we worked harder than ever. we have 17 new investigators that we have found this last week and honestly i have a good feeling about all of them.

today is transfers and i dont think i will be trasfered but you can never be to sure in this work i will let you know what happens. but being transfers my time has been cut again. and once again the internet is incredably slow, so no pictures today.

I love you all and always remember that i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday August 15, 2011

Hola Familia

i finally wet my pants!!!!! this last saturday we had 2 baptisims and it was everything and more than i imagined. it was almost perfect. the only problem was that for about 30 minutes we were kinda scared that one of them wasnt going to show up. there names are Romina and karen, karen lives far from the church and it took her longer than expected to show up. we were supposed to start at 7 but 7 15 rolls around and nothing yet. 7 25 and we were on our knees begging that nothing bad had happened and that she would be here soon. we were just about to start when she walked through the door. scary but in the end almost perfect. we have been working with a couple named jose and cinthya. good news they are going to be married this friday and baptised friday!! wow i love this area.

to answer your questions mom my living conditions are kinda different in this area. we live in a appartment and yes we have a pentionista, but only for breakfast and lunch. dinner we are on our own, but normaly we dont have problems with finding a family who will take pitty on us and feed us. i am still loosing weight, no matter how much i eat i lose weight. i figured it out a few days ago that since starting my mission i have lost 15 kilos or almost 30 pounds!!! sometimes i am kinda scared that i have a parasite because honestly most days i dont feel too good. kinda sick to my stomach a lot. i love the food, maybe it is just the food doesnt love me. every month the mission supplies each of the missionaries a liahona, and that has a few of the news and articles from the ensign, new era, and friend but usually sometime during p day my companion and i go to a internet and read the "going ons" on lds.org.

honestly mom, my days are brighter than ever. ya maybe i dont feel good and i am tired and my body hurts, but i couldnt be happier. we helped another of our couples, Carla and Elvis, build their house this week. and after a little while we took a break they bought some inca cola and we just talked for a few minutes. they asked us what it felt like being a missionary, teaching and helping people all day every day. elder portillo and i responded almost at the same time, we feel better than any other time of our lives. they asked us why and i expalined that the opportunity to help and change lives is worth all the sacrifices. and honestly the only things i crave are

1. pot pies mmmmm QUE RICO

2. thin mints

and 3. turkey jerky

the internet is really slow today so i am sorry no pictures yet but next week i will send some of both baptisims. . . i hope

i love you all, and always remember i am working as hard as i can

Elder Landon R. Welch

August 9, 2011

hola Familia!!!!

wow what a week. another one gone by with a lot of success. we are working harder now than anyother time in my mission, but honestly it doesn´t seem like work. i have decided that the opportunity to change peoples lives can never be considered work. the reason i am writing a day later isnt because p day changed, it is because i have become the presidents personal band aid. i went on exchanges with one of the assistants yesterday so president could go with the other to solve some problems they are having in

my companion is awesome!! he loves to work and that makes me happy. the two weeks i was with elder gonzales seemed like a lifetime because it was a fight everyday to get him out of bed and ready to work. but elder portillo is spot on, a great missionary, and with a good spirit.

the area is booming, and honestly it is a fight sometimes to keep it from getting out of control. our Branch is one of the best in all the mission, and that sure does help alot. we rairly are walking alone, we always seem to have a extra companion, and i love it.

we have a few baptism dates set. one for a girl named romina, she is 16, and being 16 we need parental permission to baptise her. elder portillo has been trying to get permission for almost 3 months (almost as long as i have been in the field!!) but finally her mother concented. woo hoo her baptism is for this friday and i hope and pray that nothing goes wrong!!!

well i love you all dont ever forget that i am working as hard as i can.
chau
Elder Landon R. Welch

August 1, 2011

hola Familia!!!

wow what a week, faster than ever!! i have changed to a area called Trapiche, in the zone Sam Felipe. and i think i have finally had a tast of why south america is mission heaven. day and night difference between my old area. this week alone we had more lessons than we had in 6 weeks. . . 47 to be exact. we have 1 baptism scheduled for next saturday and 6 more in the next 2 weeks. and the ward here. . . . amazing much better than the ward san german II.

my companions name is elder portillo from guatemala. he has the same amount of time in the mission as i do, and i am currently surving as senior companion. the only down side of this change is that they changed elder gonzales also. so what ever work we had in lampa de oro is now in the hands of two new missionaries, and you saw the pictures that area is kinda confusing.

hmmm i can only imagine what the next (at least) three weeks will bring? the lessons we had this week were just slightly less than amazing. we felt the spirit in almost everyone. we tought old folks and young folks. extreamly rich folks and of course increadably poor ones. but the work continues. and there is always something more we can do.

well mom to answer your question, there is one thing that i have realized over the past 6 months and that is . . . really we dont know how much affect we have on people. we just need to try our hardest to make sure it is a good affect. i recently read a talk from general conferance a few years back (but i dont remember who or when) but he told a story about a man who thought his mission was a failure. he had only baptised one person in two years, and the thought he had wasted 2 years of his life. well come to find out down the line he had a hand in over 250 baptisms and growing. really we can change peoples lifes just by how we are. just by smiling as they pass us on the street. and when we have the courage to open our mouths and share what we know. that affect will grow and grow and grow with out end.

and now dad . . . big trouble mister. i better have a huge email from you next week. i want to know all about scout camp and the expieriences you are having with them and also the other people that you have changed their lives. just by that last sentance alone i know for sure i am loosing my english :) i hope it makes sence, i am not really sure another way to write it.

I love you all and no matter what, come hell or high water, or bad gas :) i am working as hard as i can!!

Chau

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. the pictures

i am in peru but it is amazing that is the first llama i have found yet.

the little girls are cute and all but either i am going crazy or the little one looks alot like lils!!! Right? to be honest i am not sure what lily looks like now i am sure she has changed, but the picture i have of her is alot like this little girl named melanie.

July 26th, 2011

hola familia!!

how are you all doing??? i am doing pretty good. it has been a very
dramatic week to say the least and it all ended with president pulling
me from my beloved mountain to solve some problems with a different
companionship more commenly known as a emergency transfer. i have yet
to find out where i am being moved to or who my new companion will be.
but president told me that he needed my help so i will go and i will
do.

as for work wise this week has been kinda slow. i have been franticly
trying to teach elder gonzales the area before i move so alot of
walking not very much teaching. but i feel that elder gonzales is up
for the task. i just hope he can make some magic happen in lampa de
oro.

i am glad to hear everything went according to plan with the wedding
and that finaly my baby sister is married!! i called it, 3 months and
you will be engaged and 6 months you will be married!!! well i am
almost to my 6 month mark!!! and that is kinda crazy in itself.

i am running out of time and i still need to write the president but i
hope i will have a few more stories for you next week

i love you all and no mater what no matter where i am working as hard as i can

chau
Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. i have looked everywhere but i cańt find the paper with all the
addresses of my family. could you please send it to me again.