Monday March 26, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

How are you all doing? This week was a little disappointing in some ways
but with every grand disappointment comes 10 miracles. Speaking of miracles
we have a hermano in our ward who taught us something interesting this
week. He asked us “of all the miracles that exist today, which one is the
greatest?” I responded birth, my companion responded revelation, which are
good answers but the hermano had the best answer and I think I have to
agree with him the greatest miracle of today is, “the ability to change
someones life.” So this e mail is dedicated to the people who have helped
me change lives and of course the people who changed my own life.

I have know some really great people during my mission. And they really
have changed my life. But in the last transfer I have come to know the
great people of Ventanilla. My pensionista and his family have really taken
good care of me and my companion and I have to say that so far it is the
only pension that hasn’t made me sick.

The lady who owns the house where we live is another. She has cancer and is
a good fighter. She really doesn’t give up and the best part is she always
has a huge smile on her face as she greets us as we finish another long day.

And the YSA of this ward are awesome. There are 6 young men In our ward
prepareing for missions and all I can say is they will be some great
missionaries. They like to fool around a little bit but name one 19 year
old kid who doesn’t like to fool around.

Speaking of preparing for a mission how could I forget my own mission prep.
Thanks to brother nielson I really did grow to not only want to serve a
mission but I needed to serve a mission. My great parents who were always
behind me even in the worst times of my life. My brothers and sisters who
in their varied personalities helped me in their own special way. My
friends who have gone before gave me the example to follow. And of course
my best friend megan, who despite what the world thinks never held me back
from serving a mission but only pushed me forward. I wouldn’t be here if it
weren’t for all of you.

But I have said all that before how about for some new news. Speaking of
mission prep we had a great activity with the young men of the ward. First
of all it is important to know that we have a huge number of young men in
our ward. We have about 120 members in our ward and probably 25 of them are
young men between the ages of 12 to 20. We held a activity similar to that
of mission meals that we did when I was in mutual. But we did a mission
day. They started the day off at 6:30 in the morning with a breakfast and
then went straight to studies. They learned the 4 lessons that we teach
before baptism in about 3 hours. Did some practicing and then went out in
to the streets to put their knowledge to the test. In our ward we never
really got the chance to be in a real situation we taught our lessons to
people who already knew the truth but it was something amazing to see these
young men break out of their comfort shell and “HELP CHANGE LIVES.”

This last week was transfers and I think I already mentioned that Elder
Calle and I are together one transfer more but I cant say the same for the
rest of the zone. In every companionship except ours and one other had some
sort of change. In all my time in the mission I have never seen so many
changes. In the last multi zone conference president spoke of how he was
worried for the success of the mission and that there were many changes
coming, but I don’t think anyone took him literally. It will be interesting
to see how this transfer plays out.

And I think I have time for one story more but it is quite the story. We
have been teaching a young woman for about a month now and it seemed as if
we have been going in circles. We would teach her something like the
restoration and she would have her doubts about the book of mormon and tell
her the only way she could know the truth is by praying. The next time we
taught her she would tell us she didn’t pray because she didn’t think her
prayer would be answered. so we would help her understand that there is a
way we need to pray if we want a answer, with faith, a contrite heart, and
with real intent. But in the end she wouldn’t do it because she wasn’t sure
if she wanted to know the answer. So we would teach her something and get
her excited again tell her to pray and the cycle would start all over
again. Well we had a interesting lesson with her this week and I have
little more hope for the future.

We had planned on teaching her once more on prayer and if she still didn’t
want to do it we would have to move on to someone who did. We started off.
. . and she explained that she had felt something but that she didn’t think
it could be her answer. With that we shared the first few lines of Alma 10:
6, “nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I
would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not
know;” that struck the bell we were looking for. She then realized that she
HAD been called many times but her lack of real intent had kept her from
“hearing.” She once again promised she would pray but I feel like she
really will this time. I hope and pray she really will this time.

I had stoped praying that heavenly father would give her the answer she was
waiting for, because both my companion and I felt that she had already
received it. I had started to pray that heavenly father would touch her
heart and make her know. I feel that thanks to our prayers and the spirit
during this lesson we were able to be the instruments god used to touch her
heart. She has now started down the path to “CHANGE HER LIFE”

Well fam it is off to Futbol!! Finally it has almost been 5 weeks since I
have touched a futbol. But as always I hope you know I love you all and I
am working as hard as I can.

Elder Landon R. Welch
p.s. i got the first package of contacts but i never did get the second. i
am sure it is coming and will be here soon.

Monday March 12, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

how has your week been? mine has been fast and furious. i am writing you
today because our p day has been changed (for this week only) yesterday was
a work day like all the rest so that we would be able to leave the zone for
our p day today we are going to go to a military base that was used during
the chilean war so it should be interesting but i dont know anything else
about it so i am not really sure what to expect. i just know it is going to
be hot hot like the rest of the days here. they say that summer last until
april here so i guess i just better get used to sweating buckets. and to
answer your question mom i think one at a time would be better. but please
send the shirts first. i have blisters on my hands from washing my shirts
everyday :)

we had a awesome experience this week with a young lady who now has a
baptismal date. we have recently started teaching her about 2 weeks ago
and at first i wasnt sure what to think of this chick. it seemed to me that
she didnt really know what she wanted or expected from our visits. we would
teach her about joseph smith and she would start to laugh as we spoke the
words from the first vision. and it kinda annoyed me to be honest. it
siempre puts me on edge when someone makes fun of the things i believe with
all my heart. and it got to the point that both my companion and i had had
it. we decided that we were going to go to the lesson and be direct. tell
her why we were there and that if she was just going to play it would be
better that she didnt waste our time. we got there asked about how she was
and she said "kinda nervous" and with that i knew something was up. she
then told us she was sorry for how she had acted and that she had prayed
and new it was true. then explained that the reason she was nervous was
because she wanted to be baptized!!!!! woo hoo!!!

well fam i will take some awesome pic for next week i love you all and
remember i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday March 5, 2012

Hola familia!!!!!

well another week come and gone and i can only imagine when i can be like
grant "a month and a half i am home" i am glad i can still say i have a
year until i will be home. its not that i dont miss you all but i know you
are all good it is the people here who i am worried for. i recieved news
that elder figueroa has been sick for three weeks and unable to work. that
made me very sad. i left that area with so much progress but now i know it
will be like starting all over again for him.

we had a fun week and like i said dad we went to the waters of mormon i
will try and send you some pictures if my computer will cooperate.

today is the first day of school for the kids here in ventanilla and i took
a picture with kiara she was so excited to be going to school with her new
shoes that she asked me to carry her so that they wouldnt get dirty. she is
the niece of the hermana who owns the house where we live. kiara has a
little brother named axel and he reminded me alot of myself he was the
complete opposite he didnt want to go at all. but with a little coaxing and
some candy he went. . . sound familiar :)

i will try to find something interesting to write about this week because i
am empty but you know that i love you all and i hope you remember that i am
working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday February 27, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

well my bad but we got to internet a little late today. we woke up at 4
this morning to go help a member sand and paint 50 sets of cabnets and man
was it a good way to start the day off. the best part was that the member
didnt know we were coming. we went with about 5 young men from our ward we
snuck into the school that he guards at and found the stuff we needed to
get the job done by the time the sun was up we had them sanded and it was
on to painting. the sun came up and gave us some good heat to get the job
done fast and as we were sneaking out our dear friend Miguel Antesana
caught us. he was very thankful and with tears swelling in his eyes said,
"i didnt know how i was going to get them all done, so i asked god. . . and
man did he answer my prayer." he invited us to eat breakfast with him
saying it was the least we could do. and after breakfast we still had to
get washed up and ready to come to internet. it was a good sacrifice if you
ask me.

about my shirts i have no idea what i am going to do. i have 3 shirts that
still work and i have been doing my own laundry all week just so that i
have a clean shirt to put on the next day. i have nowhere in my area that i
can by shirts with my card and i talked to president and he said that the
only way i could buy anything in peru would be with cash only. unless i was
in lima. so my question is . . . is there a way to be able to take out cash
off my card?

in the sence of my other clothing i have needed new pants since july but i
figured that was what a belt was for. . . but you all saw my belt christmas
but now you just have to add 2 more months and 5 less pounds on to it. and
what do you have . . . a sad sight.

i have found the waters of mormon dad and we are actually going there today
for p day i will take some pictures for you. and as for the weather at
night. well lets just say you still sweat at night. what my companion does,
(and i am tempted to copy him) is he takes a bath with all his pajamas on
and then goes to bed wet. maybe i will try it out :)

i love you all sorry this letter is a shorter one, and the sad part is i
have a ton to tell you. . . but i guess it will have to wait for next week.
always remember i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday February 20, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

Well first of all i did wright you next week. but what happened is i always get two emails from you mom and so i am never really sure which one to respond to. i responded to the wrong one i guess because when i got into internet today i saw that it had been returned to me. speaking of things being returned to me. i have been trying since august to send some letters and a package home but everytime i try it always gets sent back to the mission office. so i am sorry to say it, but i think you will have to wait until i come home before i you can have your package.

this week brought a new wave of drama, but not with my companion, or investigadores of members. but with my cloths. i hit my year mark and my clothes just kinda fell apart. and apart from that the Hermana that washes our clothes had a accedent and all my shirts but 3 are now stained pink. so what i think i am planning on doing is i will go to the store today and buy a couple shirts so i can get past this week and next week you can write me and tell me what you think i should do.

as for my hump day i spent it in my house. . . this week we have been having our room remodled. they have been replacing the floors and water system. my first week and a half here i have been showering with the good old bucket of water. one to get wet, scrub a dub dub, and the other to rince. not my idea of a relaxing shower. but they finally came and fixed it. but in the night i had a nice suprise as all the young elders from the ward threw me a party. they bought pizza and we watched "the best two years." the picture i sent is from that party.

but the room is done and we are out working as hard as we can like always. my companion is a goof ball so we usually are working but having tons of fun at the same time. when you first see him you would think he is a quiet guy. but once you get to know him he is quite the earthquake. but that is what is fun about him. we will be coming down off the mountain after a long days work and he will ask, "i have used this shirt for two days right?" i respond that i am not sure. and with that he will hand me his backpack and roll down a pile of sand, when he gets to the bottom he stands and says, "well now i will be sure not to use it until it is washed." crazy kid.

well fam it is off to . . . . no clue but remember that i love you and i am working as hard as i can

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday February 20, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

Well as you already said, i got transferred. i am now in the zone Ventanilla, City: Mi Peru, Ward: Arenas, and i am right on the coast. being on the coast you would think that it would be all flat, but it isn't it is a mountain, once again. i was kinda excited when i left Nuevo amanecer and went to a flat area, i thought that my punishment was over, but man was i wrong. my new mountain isn't as tall as nuevo amanecer but it is a lot longer. I'm not sure what is better long or tall. if it is tall you work hard for a few minutes but are really tired when you reach the top, and if it is long you work hard for a few miles but don't finish quite as tired. but either way i am here to teach and help these people, it isn't important how many times i have to climb this stupid hill, i will keep climbing.

my new companions name is Elder Calle, he is from Trujillo, Peru. so once again a different country from the rest of my companions. i had never met him, i hadn't even ever seen him when i heard that he was going to be my new companion, so like all missionaries i start asking around trying to find someone who knows him. . . . no one knew who Elder Calle was. but they all told me the same thing. "he is Peruvian? good luck all Peruvians are very prideful."
and i am happy to say i didn't listen to them. i went to the transfer meeting with a good attitude and began looking for my companion. i soon discovered that he hadn't shown up yet. so transfers start and finish and no sign of elder calle. when they announced that i was going to Ventanilla with Elder Calle i stood up alone, not gonna lie i was kinda sad. but he finally showed up and the first thing he did was give me a huge hug. now Elder Calle is a small kid. he probably weighs about 110 pounds and is about my height but the hug he gave me was huge. all i can say is everyone who told me he is prideful was wrong. he is the most humble missionary i have met, but one of the happiest too. as i am sure you can tell from the pictures. and yes those are his only shoes, and when i saw them i felt bad that i had began to complain about how my shoes were falling apart.

i am very excited for this transfer. the area i am in is a very tough one. the old elder that was here was a chambon and didn't want to work so we are practically starting anew. but elder calle has a lot of desire to work so at least i know it wont be like the last transfer. however i am kinda worried for my old area. i just hope and pray that Elder Figueroa keeps working like i know he can. i left santo domingo with 11 baptismal dates and here in Arenas we have a whopping "0" but little by little i know this area will become a bonfire. in the first week we have already made some great progress we found some new very promising people and i know with the lords help they are bound for good things.

we also have our guardian angels here. our pensionista has a store and everyday all day there is a band of "gangsters" that just kinda chill there. while we are waiting to eat lunch we sometimes talk to them. and we had built something of a friendship with them. they are VAGOS (there isn't a word for that in English but it basically means they don't do anything with there lives) but they are good guys. well yesterday we were climbing the hill to go to the pension and like always on Sunday the streets were filled with drunks. and one group of drunks stated following us, they would shout insults and then hide in bushes like little kids and when we would keep walking they would keep following us. well we got to the pension and as we were about to go in to eat, my good old companion shouted something. i don't know what he said but the drunks didn't like it. the threw their bottles and in the dumb drunkenness started to run at us. well actually they kinda tripped their way towards us it was quite the comedy. they kept coming closer and closer but then from no where one of our buddies from the corner stepped in. this guy is huge for being Latin. lets just say he is the shequil o`nelle of Latins. he put them in their place and told them to scram, that if they messed with the Mormons they messed with the whole gang. kinda cool. so that is my advice to all missionaries in the world, if you are in a dangerous area, just make friends with a gang.

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

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. the other pictures are of Oscar, who you met when i called home on Christmas, and Adan. two of my best friends from Santo Domingo.

(note: I didn't get the pictures, but will post them when I do)

Monday February 13, 2012

No letter this week :( We did get a phone call from his mission president on Saturday, he just called to let us know all is well and that he did transfer him so maybe that is why we didn’t get a email.

EDIT...not sure what happened, but we now have 2 letters for 2/20/12 one of them must have been this weeks...hopefully we have them in the right order :)

Monday February 6, 2012

Hola familia!!!!

how have you all been? i have been working like always but still hoping
that transfers today dont bring some sad news. but i guess only time will
tell. my relasionship with my companion is growing and at long last i feel
like we are working like we should be. i would be very happy it we both
stayed here we finally found our rythem.

we were out contacting one day and we got to a house of a lady named flor
paz we didnt even have time to knock on her door as she flung it open and
invited us in. now i have met some amazingly kind people here in peru but i
have never been invited to enter a house without first saying something. so
to start off i was shocked and then she told us a story and i went from
shocked to amaized. she explained how she was listening to jehovas
witnesses too but that she had a dream and didnt know what it ment. she
explained how in her dream she was in the kitchen cooking lunch when her
little boy came to her with a book from the jehovas witnesses, he asked her
to study it with her. she told him to go sit on the couch and when she had
finished she would come out and they would read it together. she said the
next thing that happened was someone knocked on the door and her little boy
came and told her that it was the "Hermanos from the church." she asked if
they were JW and the boy said no two men in white shirts. she came out of
the kitchen and the "two men" had left. she then saw the JW book was being
ripped to shreads by her dog. as she went to scold the dog the little boy
stopped her and told her that god had a different plan for her and that
plan wasnt in the JW church. . . . the next day we showed up at her door. i
finally found someone with a dream experience!!! :)
Haruko diaz is going through many trials right now with her baby. she said
that the fetus i forming wrong that the organs are forming outside of its
body. and obviously if the baby is bad the mother will be sick too. whe
havent been able to visit her lately because she has been in and out of the
hospital and when she is home she is on strict bed rest. i have to say i am
kinda worried about it. we were able to go and give her a blessing so at
least that will help her. but as we were there we were able to meet and
talk to her parents. and all i can say is, i have some awesome parents. her
father didnt even want to be in the same room as her, his exact words were,
"if she wants to remain part of this family, she knows what she has to do
(or in other words, abort the baby." and her mom was caring for her just
because she knew that if she didnt no one would. man people like that make
me sick. and everyday i see more and more that we live in a sick world.

i got to put my chef barbosa skills to use again and for a experament it
turned out pretty good. i am making a list of things to cook when i get
home, so you better start preparing your stomach because who know how well
it will turn out. well fam it is off to see if i am leaving or staying. i
wish they would tell us before we write that way you could know where i am
going to be this next week. but always remember that no matter where i am i
love you all and i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday January 30, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

well it is the last week of the transfer and i am kinda sitting on the fence. i want to stay and help these awesome people progress but at the same time i know that if i stay i will stay with my companion and that is a downside. he has improved a lot but as he has improved my patience has been worn away little by little. i am not really sure what is going to happen.

we had a interesting week but to be honest it was one of the hardest weeks of my mission. it seemed like everyone was a bit more angry than usual. we would knock on a door and the first thing they would say was screamed. they would slam their little window that they use to talk through and honestly i wished sometime that the glass would break. but it never did. we would check our body to be sure their was no knife wounds and we would move on the the next door.

but i cant say that the whole week was bad because we did have some amazing lessons. we recently found a young mother named Jenefer. we had actually gone to the house to teach her mother Ivy, but she was unavailable. so jenefer offered to listen. we started the lesson off and soon discovered that she didn't believe in god very much. she believed in something or someone but that was it. she told us that she was more in to the science of things and spent a great deal of her time watching the LIE channel, oh wait it is called the history channel. :) she said that she saw program after program denying the existence of Christ, or how they had found his body and a million other things. we had nothing to say so we did what preach my gospel says. refer quickly to the restoration of the gospel. . . and it worked. we bore testimony of the book of Mormon. and how the book of Mormon testifies of Christ. how it is the second witness that Christ lived died and was resurrected. and we promised her that if she would read and pray she would know the truth for herself. . . we started the lesson off with her not believing in god but finished it with her praying to god. in the following lesson we had with her she still had a lot of questions but at least she showed the desire to learn. i hope i am here to see what becomes of this gal.

well fam i am happy to say that the wait is over. i finally received my glasses and camera. the cookies were a little stale from sitting in a box for almost 3 months but still very good. it is nice to have a camera again, now i just have to find something to take a picture of.

give dil a hug and welcome him home for me

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

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday January 23, 2012

Hola Familia!!

que tal su semana!

mine has been . . . . interesting like the rest of this transfer. i finally had a sit down with my companion and we almost used a entire afternoon resolving the problems that we had. we talked about his desire and he talked about how i always pressured him. but in the end i feel that we solved alot of our differences. but just for the record. his exact words were "why are you always pressuring me to be a better missionary." hmmmm maybe because i know you can be a better missionary. in no way am i saying i am the perfect missionary. i know i have a lot of faults and problems but at least i try to fix them. but in the end we decided we were going to both try and find a balance. i told him that i will never stop working and he told me that was fine. so we will see how these last weeks of the transfer go. and who knows maybe we have more transfers together.

this week we have found families. families that want to progress. we chalanged them all during the first lesson and the majority of them accepted. we currently have 17 people with baptism dates were as last week we had 1. this whole sit down and talk really helped us with the success side of this week. 12 of these people have the baptismal date set for the 11th of february. the only problem is that transfers are the 7th. i am begging president to keep me here for atleast one more transfer but as we all know the lord has different plans for us so if i am changed i will leave kinda sad but at least i know there is a reason i am going. but all i can say is i would be one happy duck if i stay.

now to answer both your questions mom and dad. am i hot?!? well all i can say is i wish i could LIVE in a snow cage. sitting in a lesson you cant sit with your back touching the chair because when you stand to leave your back would be soaking wet. . . . just sitting and sweating you can imagine how it is walking. the good part is that we are going into "carneval." all the month of february is a holiday called carneval. the purpose of this holiday is attack people walking in the street with water balloons. i will put my scriptures in a plastic bag and say bring it on. but you have to be careful because some people are jerks and instead of water they use other things. like paint, eggs or mud. so maybe i will say. if it is water, and only water bring it on.

the pictures i am sending you are from a activity we had. every organization built a cake and every cake was judged by flavor presentation and story. well the cake with the face is from the ward missionarys and of course the missionaries. now this cake was the most simple of all but we won in flavor. it was dang good. we went to the house of a invetigator to cook it. and i watched as she threw stuff in a bowl and tell me to stur. at one moment she opened what looked like a soda can and pour the contents into the bowl i asked her what it was and she said Tequilalife. well my mind just kinda got stuck on tequila. i freaked out. i had no idea what to do. i asked her (actually i kinda screamed) and she explained how it was a health drink and showed me on the can where it said it didnt contain alcohol. well i felt a lot better after that. but in the end that cake was the best i have had here in peru.

well fam my time is up. i hope you all know i love you and that i am working as hard as i can.

Elder Landon R. Welch

Monday January 16, 2012

Hola Familia!!!

well this week has been the same as every week from this transfer. my companion still is having problems with his desire and i am almost to the point of telling him just how i feel about my mission. that i am unwilling to waste a day. that if he doesn't want to work. . . go home. but i know that wouldn't do me or him any good. so my new motto "suffer in silence but work harder." once i finally get him out of the house we have some good experiences, but that is the trick getting him out of the house. starting this transfer we would finish lunch and go home to brush our teeth and get ready for the afternoon heat. well i began to realize that when we would go home we would delay 45 minutes before leaving again. so for my companions birthday i bought him a tooth brush and tooth paste that he now keeps in the pension so we don't have to go home. Tricky huh :) any other good ideas on how i can help him out please share. he really is a great missionary and has some great ideas on how to help the work forward but he just is missing his desire.

i have sent a few letters home but currently i am in a area where there isn't a post office. so my letters leave my hands and enter the hands of the ZLs they usually have it anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks. they take it to the office and i don't know how long it takes them to mail it off. so we are talking about maybe 2 to 2 and a half months to get letters. man we are blessed to have Internet. i also have a question about the MIA package did you ever talk to this brother Moroni again? did he ever confirm that he dropped it off in the offices. we were in the offices on Friday for zone interviews and i asked Elder Solar (Secretary of the mail) if he knew anything new. he told me that he had organized his office and it didn't show up. so i am thinking that maybe it is still in the hands of Brother Moroni.

well as for experiences this week i am afraid to say have been a little disappointing. we found a new single mother this last week and we challenged her to be baptised during our first lesson with her. . . and she accepted. she attended church yesterday and she appeared to be progressing. and then she broke the news to us. she had returned with her boyfriend and lets just say her boyfriend isn't exactly a saint. by all means we are going to keep teaching her but this has become a huge tripping block in her progress. her name is Yesenia Carnales, keep her in your prayers.

we also have been teaching a young lady named Haruko Diaz and she also dropped a bombshell on us yesterday. she too has been progressing rapidly. she had accepted the missionaries before but was unable to be baptised because she was too young and her parents didn't want to give permission. well tracting one day we found her house, and started to teach again. well come to find out she got pregnant. . . . dang it. but the good part is she got pregnant before we started to teach her. she spoke about having it aborted but after a serious conversation she is going to have it and i really hope this doesn't stop her progression.

now for the highlight of the week. and it made the rest of the week worth it. we were working with the ward directory one day trying to locate less active members. we went to one house of a hermana named Medalit Aragon. we entered and began to get to know her. well come to find out she has 2 daughters and her husband and all three have yet to be baptised. we called them all together and began to teach them. come to find out the have recent been affected by the death of a very loved grandmother. well the lord couldn't have put us in a better situation. we talked about how families are intended to be forever. but that there is some steps you need to take. starting with baptism. they all have a baptismal date for the 11th of february.

speaking of beloved grandmothers. you all remember Ada Serafin. she is one of my converts. well she has been living in the house of Gean Vallejos, a member of our ward, caring for his sick mother. during our lessons with Ada we were always with this sweet lady. her name is Maria. well maria passed away this week and gean asked us to speak at her funural. we spoke for a space of 5 minutes and sat down. her daughter then stood and spoke. and what she said really touched my heart. she isn't a member but had a very strong love for her mother. she explained how every time she would call to talk to her mother, maria would tell her everything the "Elders" had been sharing with her. and when the daughter would ask who the "Elders" are maria would simply say, "angles that god has sent to help me." the spirit was very strong. the daughter thanked us for all we had done for her mother and then continued with the summary of the life of Maria Villanueva. during the entire devotional i could feel my dear sweet grandma by my side, it was so real. to the point i didn't want to look so see if someone was there with the fear she would go away. but she didn't. she sat with me for almost a hour. and as we stood to leave i felt her stay, she stayed to help this kind lady move on to the next stage in her life. what a amazing grandmother i have.

well it is off to . . . . . i am not really sure what is on the schedule for today. but i am sure it will be a day full of heat humidity and of course the spirit.

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

Elder Landon R. Welch

p.s. the pictures are of my poor worn shoes and my new companion the expression on his face i am sure helps you understand just exactly what i am dealing with. and of course turkey dinner for christmas. mm mm good.

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

Happy New Year

well family and friends as we start a new year my mind is taken by many things. things i want to accomplish this year. and also the things i hope for you this year. my only goal that i have is to read the book of mormon 4 time this year. i want to finish it every 2 transfers. this book has been one of the things that i took for granted early in my life. i enjoyed your story mom about how you began to build your testimony of the book of mormon, and i know you all have already heard mine. but i hope you know that a testimony isnt something you gain. it isnt a prize for finishing. it is a feeling, a burning, a craving to keep moving forward. it isnt something that will find you one day it is something you have to look for. and when you find it. DO NOT LET GO.

my testimony is the thing most precious to me i hope you know how much i know that this church is true. god lives. and because he loves us he gave us his son. and because he loves us he gave us a prophet. and the only thing he asks of us after all he has givin us is . . . to be happy. because we all know that happiness only comes by obeying his commandments.

i love you all

Elder Welch

Monday January 2, 2012

Hola Familia!!!!

Man was i ever wrong when i said that christmas is when peruvians get the craziest. New Years definatly tops it off. saturday night was like a giant party where the entire city of Lima was invited. every house had lights and music and the houses that didnt is only because they were invited to someone elses house to share their lights and music. we recieved a call friday night from the Zone Leaders who had recieved the instructions that after dinner at 6 every missionary was to be in their house with no exceptions. so we watched all the chaos from our window. they were breaking bottles and plates and burning scare crows in the middle of the street. they washed their whiskey down with beer and then started all over again. but at 12 o´clock they all shot of fireworks (and not little sparklers either) for the next 25 minutes the sky was lit by millions of dollers of fireworks. but the best part was watching the dogs in the streets freaking out. they werent sure what was going on but they wanted to get away from it. then to top it all off we were waken sunday morning by the sound of a man vomiting in our stairwell. oh joy greatway to start off the new year . . . cleaning someone elses vomit.

and i called it Elder Quintero had a transfer, he is now in Huacho. but i am still here in Santo Domingo with my new companion Elder Figueroa from Guayaquil Ecuador. once again a different country than all the rest of my companions. i was thinking about it this week and i am only missing Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina in order to have a companion from every country in south America. Elder Figueroa has 13 months in the mission and seems to be a great missionary but only the next 5 (maybe more) weeks will tell.

i now have a renewed testimony of the Holy Ghost. we were on splits yesterday, me with oscar and my comp with our new Mission leader, Adan Pacheco. it was about time for dinner and we were walking to the pension to eat when i felt the impression to buy a soda, seems kinda weird and i thought the same thing sure i like soda but i was on my way to dinner and didnt need to buy one. it came again but this time it sounded like a demand, "buy a Incakola at the corner store." i told oscar what was happening and he said i was crazy, the the spirit doesnt "inspire" people to by things addictions did that. i told him that even if it was a addiction i was going to show my obey it. we stoped walked back to the store and as i was asking for my pop a drunk driver came around the corner smashed into a cement barrier which broke in to 1000s of pieces and landed exactly where we were going to be walking.

we cant be sure that we would have been hit by those pieces but i am glad i didnt find out. the car was tipped on it side and smoking and all i can say is thank you firefighters and Boy Scouts of america because my adrenaline kicked in. i left my incakola and with the help of 6 other men we tiped the car right side up. it stopped smoking and we were able to pull the man out through the window. he had smashed his head pretty hard and was bleeding pretty bad. and that is where The first aid merit badge came to play. we were able to at least slow the bleeding until police showed up. but the booze and the bump made it very hard to keep him awake. but we succeded. i dont know what came of that man i just hope he thinks twice before drinking again.

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

Elder Landon R. Welch