Week 21 Conference with Elder Rasband

Ok so this week was pretty good but had a few let downs 😖 (I dont know why but the other Elder Welker really likes to use these emojis in his letters and to be honest it is about the only thing you can do to make letters a little bit more interesting)

So this past week was pretty interesting. On Wed my District Leader accidently stabbed himself in the leg with my switchblade and had to go to the hospital which really ruined our plans for the day because they were in the middle of an intercambio. It was actually really funny and all of us were just dying laughing when we realized that he had accidently stabbed himself in the leg (until he took off his pants and there was blood everywhere) which at that point we called 911 😅. 

Anyway we are still laughing about that today and probably the rest of our missions. 

So the conference with Elder Rasband was soo good. It was probably the happiest day of my life because the bus from Maldonado to Montevideo is 2 hours long so I got to talk with Elder Cary, my best friend in the mission and 8th best BF4 player n the world for the whole ride. After me and E Cary got off the bus we we walking to the entrance of the conference center and I saw Elder Arthur Anderson from the other mission standing at the entrance so I ran up to him and we took a picture (I didnt have my camera but he did so he will probably send it your way) It was cool seeing someone from my old ward. So I totally forgot to bring my notes with me but it was such a great talk that he gave on following the spirit and overcoming the natural man in our work. I also got to shake his hand which makes him the 2nd apostle that I have shaken hands with. I really liked his talk and I know that we need to be in tune with the spirit and to try to let the spirit influence us in our lives on where to go and what to do and what to say. 

It was a great week and Giulianna finally came to church for the first time! She is also doing good with her goal to stop smoking and we are keeping close tabs on her. We are trying to figure out what to do with Federico because something went down and his family is really concerned for him cause he may have went back to doing drugs so we are trying hard to help his family and also to get in contact with him. So right now we are just trying to find more people to teach and it seems pretty likely that I am going to leave Maldonado in 2 weeks so I think I am going to start packing just to be safe.

Love you all!

-Elder Welker

The Corn Bread Krew

Me, Elder Cary (Former King of the CBK but resigned because he is leaving in 2 weeks) and Elder Ontiveros. Also E Andersen in the back but he isnt a member

He thought if you press the button down on the switchblade you can push it against your leg and the blade will just go back in the handle (which is true). He had it in his hand and as a joke he pretended to stab himself in the leg cause if you hold the button down it looks like it would enter your leg but the blade really would just go back in the handle. The only problem was that it didnt go back all the way so a part of the blade actually entered his leg. We didnt notice at first until we saw a hole in his pants.

This is from Arthur Anderson's email:

Speaking of people that look like they are doing well; The day of that conference I was nearly blindside tackled by an Elder with a very familiar face. Elder Justin Welker almost turned me into a squished orange when he saw me. He gave me the biggest hug I think I have ever gotten in my life and had the most sincerely brilliant smile I have ever seen on Justin's face. It was really good to see him. He has grown up A TON! It sounds like Spanish is coming along pretty good for him with all his Latin friends he has. He is going to be wonderful missionary and a leader real soon in his mission! Here is a picture of our meeting!