"Faith in every footstep"

There is Sunshine in My "Sole" Today

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings"  Isaiah 52:7

I heard once that the Lord likes worn out shoes

I even think it makes Him smile 

For the wear and tear that come

Conversion takes place of style

So if you only knew my story

Why I look the way I do

I think you'd change your view about me

'Bout being "just an old nasty pair of shoes."

For I was once black and shiny

And I looked pretty sharp with a suit

But I've been through a bit since then

And now these dress shoes have turned into boots

I know the life of a missionary

And even better the life of his shoes

Because I am the shoes of a missionary

And we've been about everywhere declaring the good news

I got to see most of the lessons

When the family only had a dirt floor

But when they had cement or tile

I was left listening at the door

And listening was just terrible at first

I remember his language when I first heard him try

But I saw his tongue get loosed 

As the miles and miles went by

My sole continued to wear daily

And the holes have grown so fast 

This mission has passed so quickly

I don't know where the time has passed

They arrive in the field quite the same

Missionaries and their shoes so new

Both fresh, both clean, both ready to go

But neither knowing what they're about to through

Yes it's true missionaries and their shoes arrive the same

But they go home quite different you'll find

One's battered and beaten and torn to shreds

While the other goes home refined

And though battered and beaten are the soles of these shoes

And I feel bad that he can feel the rocks with his toes

I know the thinner and thinner my sole gets

The more my missionary's soul grows

So yes I think the Lord likes worn out shoes

I think it makes Him smile

For with the wear and tear that comes

Conversion takes place of style.

Elder Welker's Homecoming!!

Mom:  What a day to remember!!  We were all so excited when Justin's plane touched down in St George on June 8th at 12:13pm.  We were so anxious to see him again after 2 LONG years! I made sure that I got the first hug! Justin looked so thin! He had lost 60lbs! He had not only changed physically, but his whole demeanor was different. He was so grown up and mature and it was so fun to see this change in him.  Jake and Justin had been away from each other for 3 years now and watching them come together again made me cry.  Justin met Ellie for the first time and Michaela surprised Justin with the news that baby #3 was on the way. It was a very special day for all of our family to be together again.

After collecting Justin's bags,we all headed over to President Bundy's office so that Justin could be released as a missionary.  President Bundy is a great man and the spirit was very strong in the room as he talked about Justin's mission and the impact he had on the people in Uruguay.  Lots of tear were shed as Justin bore his testimony and prayed in Spanish.

After his release, Justin's first request was to go to In and Out burger.  We met all the cousins there and had a great meal.  When we got to our house, we had a "Welcome Home" sign on the front lawn.  The very first thing Justin saw when he walked into the house was his life-sized "Captain America" figures along with his own photo we used for Jake and Ellie's wedding.  Then Justin saw carpet and threw himself down on the floor to enjoy the softness of it.  After that, he went from room to room discovering new things we had done to the house while he was gone. He was so happy to be home!  He ran downstairs and got all of his guns out of his gun cabinet and was holding them like a baby.  Then he opened his closet door and found things he had missed while he was gone like his Captain America hat, his light saber that Jake gave him etc.  Then he looked in the fridge and saw whipped cream in the can and opened his mouth and started just pouring it in!  We were all just laughing at him!  It was so fun to see him enjoying the simplest things.  Justin hung out with his missionary friend, Joe Cary, who had come to welcome Justin home.  They found their way to the X-box pretty fast and spent the rest of the night playing games.

We had a nice open house the next day and many friends, neighbors and ward members came to see Justin.

Justin reported his mission in our ward on Sunday, June 10th. Justin's trainer, Cody Harkness was there.  Michaela and Ellie performed a musical number "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul."  Micheala sang in spanish and Ellie played the viola while Heather Little played the piano.  It was so beautiful and Justin cried the whole way through along with the rest of us.  He had no idea they were going to sing his favorite song.  It was so amazing! Justin's talk was amazing as well. He wasn't nervous at all and told some great stories and bore his testimony in Spanish. It was such a nice meeting and having family and friends from his mission there made the day extra special.

Week 98 Temple trip with Raquel!!

So im just gonna keep this email short (which is fine cause I can explain things better and in more detail when im home in less than 3 weeks so in reality there is like no point to this email now....)

haha, but yeah this week was pretty good and we've just been doing a lot of contacts and talking with everybody and what not so it was a pretty casual week for us. We did get to go to the temple with Raquel on Saturday which was pretty awesome! We went with her cause it was her first time and so we went on Saturday with the whole ward and it was super cool! It was really different from the baptistry in St. George, like completely different in the way that they run it and stuff and it was quite a lot smaller. But it was a super cool experience and Elder Diaz baptized me (for other people obviously) and then I got to baptize him and another brother from our ward here. We were there forever though cause so many people went to the temple and the funny thing is that more people went to the temple than went to church on Sunday. Which isnt really a good thing cause that should be the opposite haha.

Dahiana came to church yesterday which was awesome! She's super awesome and she really wants to get baptized and is just hoping to get married soon so that she can do that! Pricila sadly didnt come but is going to go next week we are hoping! So I probably wont be baptizing anyone before I go home unless a miracle happens! I might also be able to go baptize Selene in the other mission before I leave but i'll have to figure out if she has a date to get baptized yet but if its before I leave then President said that I can probably go and do that.

But yeah it was a pretty good week and I'll be sure to tell you guys more about it once im home! haha. Love you guys, take care, and see you soon!!!

Week 96 One month left!!

Well guys I will literally be home in a month from now! Pretty crazy right? heh, wow...dang. Yeah the clock is winding down and its going pretty fast! This last week we started teaching Pricila, the granddaughter of Jose and Raquel and she is super awesome! She is 13 and wants to be baptized and she came to church yesterday! If all goes well she'll get baptized on June 2! I really hope that everything goes good and that she makes it! Were continuing to teach Dahiana and she is awesome! She wants to get baptized really bad but she has to get married first and her boyfriend (the son of Raquel) doesnt seem to be very motivated to do it but I have faith that she can convince him. We're also continuing to teach Natalia and she is awesome and wants to be baptized but has the same problem as Dahiana.

This last week was kinda crazy! We had a multi zone conference in Carrasco, next to the temple, and I had to give my final testimony in front of everybody there! It was pretty crazy to think that the moment had already arrived. It was pretty emotional, it was hard having to give my testimony cause I love the mission and dont want to leave it so soon! I almost cried while giving my testimony but I was able to hold it together. 

Im really excited to be finishing though and I cant wait to see all of you guys! I love you all! I love the mission, I love Uruguay, and I cant wait to be there in St. George once again with all of you guys!

Well thats about it for the week! See you all soon!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 95 Starting my official last transfer of the mission!

Hey guys this email is gonna be short cause I do not have a lot of time at all. Well this week was good! Elder Williams left and everyone here has been missing him (especially me😞) haha. Well Elder Diaz got here and things have been pretty good. Weve just been working a lot with Natalia and Esteban (they are a couple that Elder Williams and I found and they are awesome!). They need to get married and as weve been meeting they seen to be really considering it. I dont think that they will get baptized while im here but for sure two other missionaries down the road are going to baptize them. Natalia told us last night of how she was able to receive an answer to her prayer about whether the Book of Mormon was true or not. She said that she was praying on Saturday and after finishing praying we knocked at her door (and we hadnt even set a time to go by we just kinda swung by to see how they were doing but it turned out to be the answer to her prayer, pretty cool.) Dahiana has been doing good too (I found out her name was spelled Dahiana not Dyana). She also has to get married and so its also super complicated but later down the road she'll totally get baptized. We also got some super awesome references yesterday after visiting some members and were going to go and see how that goes this week. Im finally on the last transfer of my mission. The time flies by soo fast! Its crazy to know that im gonna be home in like a month! Also it turns out that Elder Holland is going to visit our mission like a week before I leave so that will be awesome getting to hear from him before I leave! Selene came here to church again yesterday! I was able to talk with President Eddy on the phone last night to talk a bit about her situation. He said he would talk with the other mission president about her and try to do as much as possible to make sure that she gets baptized soon. But yeah its all going great over here! Here's some photos of me saying goodbye to Elder Castañares and Elder Limas! They went home this last week. Mom and Dad Elder Limas said hi and thanks for everything!

But yeah thats it for the week! Love you guys take care!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 94 Soy Valiente

Well guys this week is transfers and so im now on the last transfer of my mission! I am now a "valiente" which is spanish for valient/brave/courageous, well, you get the point. Im going to be finishing out these last 6 weeks here in Libia! Elder Williams is leaving, sadly. I was really hoping that he would stay here with me cause he's been one of my favorite companions. Elder Diaz is going to take his place here. He's from Ecuador and he is actually from my group (he arrived to the mission with me) but he goes home one transfer after me because he was in the MTC for only 3 weeks. Elder Williams is going to the city of Treinta y Tres, which is like 4 hours from Montevideo. He's pretty excited though. He wanted to stay here because he loves this area and the ward but he's also excited to leave our haunted house, haha. 

But yeah im excited to be on my last transfer. Its super weird that I only have 6 weeks left, the time goes by soo fast! This past week was really awesome! Weve been teaching that Natalia girl that I told you guys about last week and she is super awesome! She accepted the invitation to be baptized and she is learning a lot. She was going to go to church this Sunday but she couldnt make it because her son was really sick and she had to take him to the hospital in the middle of the night. But yeah i'll let you guys know more next week. Weve also been teaching Dyana, the daughter-in-law of Raquel and Jose and she is super awesome and wants to be baptized too and she came to church on Sunday. She also went to general conference a couple of weeks back. But yeah it going great here and over these next few weeks i'll be telling you guys a lot more about how they're doing and stuff. But yeah tomorrow Elder Williams leaves and i'll be getting my new comp and yeah thats about it! Thats all I got for now! :)

Well anyways I hope you all have a fantastic week! Love you all!

-Elder Welker

Week 93 Proselyting and more proselyting in Libia

So this was a fun week for Elder Williams and I!! After baptizing Jose we realized that we were low on investigators so we spent like all week this week just contacting and knocking doors and finding new people to teach. I'll quickly give you guys a brief summary of how our week went:

Monday April 9: We had a family home evening with the Subirat family and we went with Jose and Raquel. We read the Family Proclamation and then ate pizza :) We left a little early and left Jose and Raquel there with the Subirats because we're trying to make the transition good so that Jose and Raquel dont feel like they are dependant on us and also so that they can make a lot more friends in the ward. 

Tuesday: We had divisions in Belloni with the zone leaders! It was really fun and Belloni is by far the most sketchy ghetto place in our entire mission. by far. period. I was with Elder Suxo from Bolivia and we entered into this favela at night and it was pretty sketch especially for a gringo. 

Wednesday - Saturday: We did a crap ton of contacts and spent hours each day just proselyting. We found a few more new investigators. It was really good! On Friday we were going to stop by Jose and Raquel at night and we were walking towards their house and I felt like we should go down a different road than the one we were on and I didnt know why but we turned down this other road to get to their house and this guy came driving up to us in his van and said "hey do you guys have a Book of Mormon?" and I said "yeah, but what do you want it for?" and he said that he had lost his and that he used to have one and he gave us the address to his house and told us when we could go by to give him the BoM and so were gonna try again this week (we already tried on Sunday but he wasnt home). We also found this cool guy named Rodolfo whose left side of his body is paralyzed. We knocked this one house and the guy wasnt interested and as we were leaving Elder Williams asked him if he knew anyone we could teach and the guy said "come with me" and he led us across the street and way far into this back alleyway to this house in the very back to this guy Rodolfo. The guy that wasnt interested was Rodolfo's brother but it turned out to be really cool and we taught Rodolfo and he told us we could come back on monday (today).

Sunday: Selene showed up to church out of nowhere! We finished sacrament meeting and I was grabbing my things and I heard someone say my name from behind me and I turned around and it was Selene and I had to blink like 5 times cause I felt like it wasnt even real and that I was just imaging things and I was like "oh my gosh I havent seen you in soooo long!" it was super cool! She stayed for the classes and I got to talk with her. She seems to be doing really well and I really hope that she continues to go to church in her ward in Pocitos so that she can get confirmed as a member. Later in the afternoon we knocked this door and this guy named Esteban came out and he had already met with the missionaries a few months back and already had a BoM and everything and as we were talking with him his wife Natalia came out and wanted to know what the difference between our church and the other churches and also why there are so many churches in the first place so we asked her if she had some time that we could explain it to her and she said yes and let us in her house to teach her. Esteban wasnt really listening but Natalia listened really carefully with a lot of curiosity as we taught her about the Restoration and it answered a lot of her questions and she told us to come by again on Wednesday to teach her more. It was super cool and she seems like someone ready to recieve the gospel because she has a very strong belief in God but never knew which church to join or which path to follow.

But yeah it was a really good week! Next week are changes! (so freaking crazy how time goes by so fast!!!!) But yeah so I wont write you guys til next Tuesday to let you guys know whats happening over here my last transfer in the mission! 

Well love you guys! Have a great week!

below is the pic of me and Selene in the chapel in Libia!

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-Elder Welker