Weel 70 Ya soy Uruguayo

Ok so this past Wednesday I went to Montevideo to go take out my cedula uruguaya (which is just a document like how in the states we use our drivers licenses for everything, just without being able to drive). So anyway I am now Uruguayo and yeah thats about it...

But its cool cause now when I come back here to Uruguay it'll be a lot easier to enter the country cause I can just show that after getting off the plane. And I am planning on coming back here after the mission. 

Also got an update for you on Juan Rodriguez: yesterday at church he asked us if he could change his baptismal date from November 25 to November 17!! He told us that the 25 was going to be a complicated day and so im really glad cause now we dont have to wait as long!!! Also Federico is doing good and is progressing very well. He went to church for like the 7th time yesterday and is going to get baptized on December 2 if he gets everything worked out (he needs to get married before that day). But yeah everything is going awesome here! Elder Fairbanks is starting to conquer his fear of dogs🐕🐩 . We also had the oro conference on Friday which is just a conference for all of the greenie missionaries and their trainers. It was really good and it was fun telling stories to the new missionaries about past experiences in the field. 

Also something kinda crazy happened last monday. So I found out that Selene stopped going to church and I was kinda bummed. Actually I was really kinda depressed about it and I couldnt stop thinking about it so we went back to the house and I crashed on my bed and I just tried to sleep it off for a couple hours. After I woke up Elder Fairbanks and I went to the grocery store to get some things and to see if they had peanut butter (they were out...😥). 

But after getting home I set the things in the fridge and I just crashed on the couch when about 10 seconds later someone knocked on the door. I didnt want to get up so I told Elder Fairbanks to get the door and he looked through the peephole and said it was a guy who wanted to cut our grass. Someone had already come that morning asking if they could cut our grass so it pissed me off that another person came (especially since our grass wasnt even that bad). So as im walking over to the door im like about ready to hit somebody cause I just wanted to be left alone and upon angrily opening the door I saw a middle aged man who was nicely dressed (definitly not a guy who wanted to cut the grass, especially cause he didnt even have a weed whacker or anything like that). Well turns out his name was Federico and he is 40 years old and he got baptized 15 years ago in 2002. He said that about 2 months after getting baptized in 2002 he stopped going to church and lost all contact with the church and that he hadnt been to church in 15 years. He said that he saw us walking down the street with our groceries and that he had an impression that he needed to talk to us and that he needed to return to the church. Weve been helping him now this past week and we are trying to help him work out his problems that he has with is family so that he can come back to church.

This little miracle really helped me and it gave me so much hope knowing that Selene can still in her own due time come back to the church and also it strengthened my testimony and helped me remember that the Lord knows all things and that His timing is perfect and that He has a plan for each one of His children and that if we trust in Him everything will always turn out ok. 

Anyways this is everything for this week and I hope that you all are doing good and I cant wait to hear from all of you guys soon. Whenever you guys decide to write me i'll always be here on Mondays to get your emails. (except for next week cause its transfer week so it'll be on Tuesday 😊)

Love you guys have a good week! Chau!!

1. Viste? Ya soy uruguayo y sí tomo mate 😎

2. Intercambio with Elder Peterson in Sarandí Grande

Can't wait to see this movie when I get home!!!!

Inside San Cono! Can you see the American Flag?? 

Week 69 Yerba Mate Taste Test

Ok so this past week was pretty good for Elder Fairbanks and I! We are continuing to teach Federico and Juan Rodriguez who are progressing very good! Juan is going to get baptized in a month on Nov 25 and Federico on Dec 2 if all goes well! 

But yeah this emails gonna be kinda short. Basically it was a good week. Elder Fairbanks gave a good talk in church on Sunday and yeah he did great! Weve been finding new investigators but its really hard to get them progressing here... Were also almost done with this change and I cant believe how fast time passes here on the mission! 

But yeah everythings going good here! Today we played football with 4 other missionaries and I rolled my ankle and it kinda hurts but I did score the most goals during the hour and a half that we played. Probably cuz I was wearing my Barcelona jersey today...

Anyway I also got kinda sick the other day and I felt like a zombie, just completely lifeless, cause I drank way too much mate and I felt terrible after. Speaking of mate, after I bought my first mate cup and bombilla (straw) we did a taste test in the house to see which of the four yerbas was the best. So we all prepared our mates (except for Elder Fairbanks) and we tried each of them. I like Baldo the most out of the ones we drank. 

But yeah its been good over here! Please pray for Federico and Juan Rodriguez! They need your support!! Also please pray for Selene who got baptized last month! I really hope that she comes back! 

But anyways thanks for your support and for all that you do!!!!!! Have a fantastic week!!!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 68 Elder Fairbank's first time's week

Well Elder Fairbanks has been getting a little taste of Uruguay this past week. He just tried a bunch of things for the first time this week! Starting with:

1. Asado!!! He had his first uruguayan asado yesterday (it was super good btw)

2. Mate!! He thinks its nasty and almost threw up

3. Playing football (soccer) with Uruguayans (they play really good)

4. Putting mayo on everything!! (im a fan of this one, but he's not used to eating so much mayo)

5. Dulce de leche!!!!! Really good

6. Trying to pet an uruguayan dog for the first time (cause he's scared of dogs). Btw it didnt work out for him, the dog tried to bite him and I was just watching him fight off this little dog that he tried to pet

7. Coca Cola (this was a huge surprise to me! Elder Fairbanks drank Coke for the first time in his life yesterday at the asado).

And so yeah it's been a fun week!!! Juan Rodriguez came to church and stayed for all three hours! He's going to get baptized next month!! 

Also a less active kid named Ramiro who is 16 invited his friend Thiago who's 12 to listen to us and we taught him about Captain Moroni and then the following day we played soccer with him and some other teenagers and then on Sunday Thiago came to church and stayed and it was really cool. The coolest thing is that the last speaker was our branch president and he got up and started talking about Captain Moroni and I looked at Thiago and he was tapping his friend's shoulder to tell him that he knew about Captain Moroni cause we taught him about Moroni the day before. Really funny how that worked out. But yeah all of his close friends including Ramiro are members of the church so we are excited to keep teaching him (and play soccer at the church with him on saturdays).

Anyway thats about it for the week! Nothings really changed. Elder Fairbanks continues having problems with the dogs here and getting attacked by dogs. Were still working with the same investigators and helping them to meet with their commitments and im still putting mayo on about everything I eat so yeah everythings about the same as always!

Also I got some awesome photos for you guys!

1. Coke

2. Asado

3. Gabriel and Ana (dopest young couple ever!!!) Theyre soo cool...

4. This narly french fry bacon pizza I bought last week. 

5. Homemade bread and hummus that Ana made

6 .Day that I had a division with Elder Peterson. We were 4 americans in the house and we took a pic in front of my American flag for patriotic reasons
7. The morning of Sept 27 when I had to leave super early in the morning to leave to Montevideo to go get Elder Fairbanks 

8. Me and Elder Johansen about to do some Toddy timing!

Week 67 Tan oro, jaja

Well this week flew by for me just like how every week does now! Its been pretty fun here with Elder Fairbanks and this past week we were having choir practice every night to get ready for the Florida District conference (district cause its not a stake yet). Im just glad its over cause I dont like having to practice and use that hour of 8 pm to practice cause there are people that we can only teach at that time, one of which is Juan Rodriguez who we just put a baptismal date for Nov 25. Its kind of far but he is sure about the date and his wife (who is a super faithful member of the church) is going to make sure that he makes that date so that baptismal date is there to stay. 

But yeah im glad that we are done practicing. We sang really good during the conference and President Eddy and his whole family was there which was really funny because it was like having a family reunion for Elder Fairbanks. Its fun training him and im learning a lot right now. Its also fun being with an oro who is just so new to all of this. He's soooo greenie!! haha. Every time that a dog barks at him he like jumps and runs thinking that a dog is going to bite him and every time there is a dog in the street he doesnt get anywhere near it, haha. He's sooo scared of the dogs here! Just the other day we were walking on one side of the street and on the opposite side there were two big dogs barking at us and so Elder Fairbanks was watching them closely when right next to us a small little chihuahua that was chained up barked at him as he walked past it and he liked jumped and turned around to see the chihuahua and then held out his Book of Mormon to threaten it if it tried to get close and I was like "Elder Fairbanks! Its a tiny little dog that has a chain. What is it going to do?" 

Yeah I think that he has a phobia of dogs! haha. Also Flavia came to church on Sunday!! She is this super cool and kind investigator we have that has been wanting to go to church to get to know it a bit and she went on Sunday and it was the conference and after leaving she said "there are soo many people here that I know! I didnt know that I would see so many people that I know there!" She really liked it and I honestly think that in the near future she is going to get baptized (but she has to get married first). 

But yeah things are going great here! Today we just played soccer for like an hour and a half and then Elder Fairbanks kicked my soccer ball out of the court and it went flying into this gated off small apartment complex so Elder Peterson jumped the walls and fought off a dog to go get it. Then as we were walking back to the soccer court Elder Fairbanks walked into a pole. 🙃. hahaha. hes such a greenie!! hahaha😋. 

Also this little adorable 5 year old daughter of an investigator we have is always so mean to us! Shes so cute but I dont know what her mom teaches her because every time that we go to her house the little girl comes out and sticks her tongue out at us 😝 and then flips us off with her middle finger and tells us to leave. 😐. Its sad what they teach little children nowadays. 

Also last funny story: Last monday at 9 pm we returned to the house of the Zamit family to return the secretary key to the dad because we borrow his key to write in the church on Mondays here. So we got to the house and I rang the doorbell (btw they live in the back so you cant see their house but you just stand at the gate). So after ringing two times the wife came out and I gave her the key back and said thanks and asked if they needed anything to which they said no, that they were fine so we said bye and returned home. So in about 20 seconds we returned home because they only live half a block from our house and upon trying to open the front door to they house I realized that I still had the secretary key and that I gave her our house key. So we ran back and I rang the doorbell about 6 times and nobody came out so I pulled out my phone and called them twice and nobody answered and I was like "Where are they? Did they teleport to another planet after we left?" So I rang the doorbell two more times and finally brother Zamit came out and he was like "Elders what do you need? We are having a family night right now?" and I said "Im really sorry but we accidently gave you our house key" and then he ran back inside the house and got the key and came back laughing a bit and said "Well, we dont want you guys to be stuck outside all night" and then traded us keys. It was pretty funny and I dont think he was really mad about us interrupting his family night, I mean im sure they all got a kick outta that.

Anyways so thats about it for the week. Heres a pic of us after the district conference

love you guys have a good week!

-Elder Welker

Week 66 Like father like son

ok so this past week I went to Montevideo on Wednesday morning at like 5 am to get to the temple to get my oro (my goldie, my greenie, my newbie, my son etc) and it was not what I was expecting!

So after having a short instruction as trainers we all went outside and stood in a line in front of the temple. So the group coming in was made up of 7 elders, 3 from the USA and 4 latinos. And me and the other trainers were 4 americans and 3 latinos. So there was a higher chance that I would be getting a latino as my greenie (which is fine, theres nothing wrong with that its just that I was hoping to get an american cause ive gone the past like 7 months with latinos and its fun but I kind of missed having an american comp). 

Well they lined us up and they put the other 3 americans at the front of the line and then I was with the other 3 latino trainers so I was like "oh ok I already know. The 3 other americans are gonna get the only 3 american greenies" (and I will restate again, im not racist and I like all people and races and stuff its just that I wanted my greenie to be american). Well to my surprise they led us to the other side of the temple in our ordered line and as we made our way around the greenies had their backs turned so they wouldnt see us but as they lined us up I realized that my greenie who was standing in front of me was white and was american. hahaha. It totally caught me by surprise and it was sick getting to meet my greenie, Elder Fairbanks from Orem, Utah, for the first time. It was even sicker when he saw my ring and asked "hey is that from Lord of the Rings?" and the moment he asked that I realized that 1. He knows about Lord of the Rings and 2. that he was going to be the dopest oro (greenie) ever! 

I also found out that he is President Eddy's nephew!!!! Like what the freak!!!!! The second he told me that my brain exploded and I was like "why would he put you with me then??" But yeah up until now its been pretty fun. Weve been working really hard this past week but we havent had much success up until now but were going to keep going and have miracles here in Florida! Im sure of it!!! 

We also had general conference the past two days and Elder Fairbanks, after finding out that he would have to watch it in spanish, took that news a lot better than I did when I found out that I had to watch it in spanish when I was an oro. Elder Fairbanks was like "ok, I guess I'll just try to learn as much as I can". So yeah he was totally ok with it. Of all the talks I think my favorite one was by Elder Stevenson about how we cant let small, minor, insignificant things get in the way of our goals that our much more important in this life. I loved that talk!! I also really liked Elder Renlund's and his story about restoring the priesthood to a young man. I also was just shocked and soo saddened to hear that Elder Hales had passed away. And also that Thomas S. Monson couldnt make it to conference. It was really sad but we are all praying for them all over here in uruguay. 

Also I forgot to mention Elder Fairbanks is getting white boxed! In other words we are a house of 4 and all four of us are from the USA!!!

Also heres a couple of pics of me and Elder Fairbanks and also the other trainers and their oros

love you guys have a good week!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 65 99 yards

Ok so this week was quite rough for Elder Rivera and I. The week was actually going great and weve been doing good and having success but our investigator Adrian that was going to get baptized on Sunday cancelled and decided that he didnt want to go through with the baptism. He had already had his baptismal interview and was good to go and we were with him on Saturday and he was happy and ready to get baptized and the next day on Sunday that all changed. It seems as though he had talked with a lot of people in his family and they were against his decision to get baptized in our church. When we talked to him on Sunday a few hours before the baptism he started asking questions like  "after I get baptized I can come to church just every once in a while right?" and "after I get baptized can I start attending this other church?" and "I've never committed any big sin in my life so I dont really think I need baptism". My companion and I couldnt believe it especially because we have talked about these things many times already and the fact that he was asking us things like this made me realize that he wasnt ready to get baptized. 

But yeah it was a huge bummer and the baptism was already announced in sacrament meeting and everything was ready and it was rough having to tell everyone that it was cancelled. I named this letter "99 yards" because yesterday I was talking with Elder Johansen about this and I was like "dude its like if we were playing football and you had the ball and ran from one side of the field to the other trying to make a touchdown and you reached the 99th yard and then dropped and fumbled the ball." Thats literally how it felt because we were working and spending a lot of time with Adrian and we taught him so much over the course of the past month and just for him to reach the day of his baptism and then call it off is like the 99 yard example.

But yeah we have some other investigators that we are also working with who are fantastic! The only problem we face right now is getting people to go to church here. 

But hey we just got changes last night and Elder Rivera is leaving and going to Melo! And im staying here in Florida and I am going to be training a new missionary!!!! Im really excited and I really hope I train an American because its been quite a while since I was last with an english speaking companion. Also Elder Johansen is leaving and going to Treinta y Tres which stinks cause im going to miss that guy a lot. Its been so much fun living in the same house as him. His comp Elder Ward is staying here and Elder Hunt is coming to replace him. Elder Hunt is also from our group and he was just AP to the President for the past 4 months so its gonna be fun. 3 from the same group still living together and if my oro (my new greenie) is also American then were only gonna be speaking English in the house! haha. Well see what happens. Tomorrow I have to travel to Montevideo super early in the morning to get my new comp so you guys will find out next week who my son is. 

Anyways thats it for the week! Things are gonna be awesome this week and also because we have general conference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im sooo excited for general conference!! After this one ive only got one left before I go home!!! Whoooooo!!!!

Also this is was our district during this change that we just now finished.

love you guys take care!!!

-Elder Welker

Wee 64 Capilla abierta/clasico

Ok so yesterday we had our open chapel o sea tuvimos una capilla abierta y también ayer fue el clásico asi que casi nadie vino a la capilla abierta... 

Yeah so we had the open chapel where we do a tour for people that want to learn more about the church; however yesterday was the big game between Nacional and Peñarol (which are the two biggest and most important soccer clubs here in Uruguay. For you dad its like if you have ASU playing against University of Arizona). So its a big deal here because everyone is either Bolso o Manya; o sea everyone is either a fan of Nacional or Peñarol.  And btw Nacional is the best!!! The fans of Peñarol are like the fans of U of A. Trash. haha.

But Nacional lost yesterday so...😥

But yeah very few people came yesterday. But Elder Rivera and I had a good week! Adrian came to church yesterday so he is going to get baptized this saturday if everything goes good!!!! Im really excited! Every companionship except for one has baptisms planned for this saturday and we are expecting to have 9 baptisms this week in the zone! 

Other exciting news: We had interviews with President Eddy and my interview was awesome! We ended up talking about Selene for a while and he asked me if I could type up the entire story of her and send it to him with pictures too cause he wants to share it at family nights and firesides! 

Also like 5 min before we had interviews I was putting together my my reimbursals to reimburse my bus tickets to montevideo and I was stapling the envelope shut but ran out of staples and so I ran to my room to grab more staples cause we had to leave in a sec and as I was putting more staples in I accidently stapled my thumb and the staple went like all the way in my thumb haha. It didnt even hurt and I just pulled it right out. I remember when I was a kid that I did the same thing and I was like crying haha. I got to my interview with President and he was like "How are you doing Elder Welker?" and I responded "Im good besides my thumb hurting" and I gave him a thumbs up with my thumb covered with a paper towel and he was like "What happened?!" hahaha. 

Anyways things are awesome here and we are really hoping that Adrian's baptism goes through! Also we have changes next week and so I wont be writing til Tuesday! I cant believe how fast this change has gone by!!!! Im really excited to see what happens! 

Love you guys! Have a good week! Talk to you guys next Tuesday!

Yeah you can totally see in this photo where I stapled my thumb haha.

-Elder Welker

Week 63 Rain, rain, rain, go away... (seriously, go away)

Yeah so things are cool up here in Florida asides from the last like 7 days of rain! It like never stops raining up here in Florida! Ive been having to dry all of my clothes inside the house with makeshift clothes lines which I made myself thank you very much...

But yeah this last sunday was horrible! I got absolutely soaked before and after church. Umbrellas dont do anything here! But as far as the work goes, Adrian didnt go to church on Sunday but he still wants to get baptized so we are going to try to help him make that happen but he needs to go to church this Sunday. He is doing awesome though and is reading and we finally got him to pray with us last week! (cause he didnt feel comfortable before). We also have another investigator named Jorge who also wants to get baptized and we put a baptismal date with him for October 7. We also started teaching a girl named Rosio whose 13 and her mom is less active and she went to church with us on Sunday! She is also preparing to get baptized on the 7th. Well see what happens!

We also have a family (familia Piedrabuena) that are working towards getting baptized (also on the 7th) and they are awesome! They are a family of 5 and the kids are really young. We were just with them last night and as we were talking the dad made us fideos con tuco and it was super good! I love investigators that give us food!!! haha. Also I Book of Mormon slapped their cat. haha. The dad caught these two giant fishes on Sunday and he was showing us them and then had to run to another room and he left me and my comp in the kitchen and they have a cat and it was meowing cause it wanted the fish and the next thing I know the cat leaped from the floor to the kitchen table to get a bite of the fish, but right before it arrived at the kitchen table to sink its fangs into the fish I slapped it with my Book of Mormon and sent the cat flying back to ground. Heh, it was pretty funny.

But yeah all of the investigators are doing good and we are hoping to have a baptism this next weekend! Also we went to the temple today and it was awesome! We had to wake up at 4:30 this morning to catch the bus to Montevideo and, as usual, I had my knees crammed up to my chest cause there is never any respect for tall people. But yeah we got here and I was like the only one in our zone that knew the bus system here in Montevideo cause almost all the missionaries in Florida are new to the mission and only know Florida. So I got us all to the temple and we had an awesome time and I loved it and I know that its going to help me to keep moving forward!

But yeah I do not have any pictures for this week because I need a new camera chip and so I cant take any pictures for right now. But yeah everythings awesome here and I hope you all have a good week and always share the gospel with others! You never know who could accept that opportunity!

-Elder Welker

Week 62 Lots of rain but I dont care things are going awesome

Uhh...its been raining so much here... I hate rain especially as a missionary and since we dont have a dryer we have to hang our stuff up outside and we kind of need the sun and air that doesnt carry water in order to dry our clothes. And it doesnt seem like its going to get any better this week so looks like I will have to reuse socks from my dirty sock pile... yay!!!

But yeah besides that garbage things are awesome here! Adrian is doing awesome and is like a sponge! He just absorbs everything and he is reading the Book of Mormon and praying daily and he went to church for the second time yesterday and so we are expecting to have a baptism next weekend!! We also found another new investigator recently named Jorge who is 23 yrs old who is also a lot like Adrian and just absorbs everything! He couldnt go to church yesterday because his family went out of town but he wants to go and also reads the Book of Mormon! He is awesome and I think that he is also going to get baptized but we'll probably have to push it back to the first week of October since General conference is going to make it too complicated for him to get baptized that weekend. 

But yeah things are going good and we are going to the temple next week and so FYI I will not be writing you guys until Tuesday. Ok, Tuesday so dont write me on Monday and expect me to write you back the same day, ok? Cool. 

Anyways things have been awesome here like I said. Its super fun living with the ZL's and me and Elder Johansen always wrestle around when we are in the house and sometimes take the sticks off the brooms and have pretend lightsaber battles, haha. But it gets pretty serious dont get me wrong haha.

But yeah thats basically it. Hope you all take care and have a good week! Love you guys!

1. Me and my comps plaques.

2. I love this quote! It was in hanging on the wall in the house of a member so I took a photo of it. If you dont know what it means in Spanish then I'll translate it for you. "He that doesnt live to serve, isnt worth living" is basically what its saying. You cant really translate it straight into English or it wont make as much sense.

-Elder Welker