Week 78 White Christmas!!

So this last week was probably one of the best dang weeks i've ever had on my mission!!! I titled it "White Christmas" not because we had snow or baptisms here but I was able to go with my first convert in the mission to the temple on Saturday so that she could get her endownments!!!

It was literally the best Christmas I could have ever imagined! Even without my family and friends here...😞. But it was so great! So like I said last week I got transferred on Tuesday to Rocha, which is a department that is on the coast and it also touches Brazil (which is awesome because here we can find lots of stuff imported from Brazil like Monster energy drink cause they dont sell it here in Uruguay). The capital city (also called Rocha, which is where im at) isnt on the coast but its only an hour from Maldonado (where I started my mission). But I still dont even hardly know my area yet because last Friday we had the Mission Xmas Conference and we were gone the whole day and then on Saturday is when we went to the temple and again we were gone basically the whole day and then on Sunday was Xmas and we were mainly eating with members the entire time! It was so good but I got stuffed so freaking much! 

So yeah speaking of the temple trip we had to wake up so dang early on Saturday to get there in time. The session started at 12 but we wanted to be there at 11. And so to go to Montevideo from Rocha there were only like 2 buses in the morning, one at 5:50 and the other at 8:30 and we didnt want to take the risk of showing up late so we took the 5:50, which meant waking up at like 4 am 🤗. so much fun.......Im not a morning person btw, mom can testify to that.... But we got there like 2 hours early so we just went to the Church Distribution center and looked around and bought a couple things there and at the same time like a lot of the members from Maldonado showed up (about 25-30 members). It was soo weird seeing them all cause it had been a little over a year since I had last seen them. It was soo cool though! And they all remembered me and said that I used to be fatter and that I couldnt speak Spanish back then haha. The session was soo good though! I didnt know but not only was my convert Maria getting her endownments but also David Vas was too (he is a teenager that I knew from Maldonado who recently turned 18 and is going on a mission in Febuary to La Paz, Bolivia, and so he was also getting his endownments for the first time) and also a guy named Pablo (he is the brother-in-law of David and was getting sealed to his wife (David's sister) and they were also getting sealed to their son who is like 5 yr old). So it was super cooooool cause I knew all of them and it was so cool to be with them in the endownment session for the first time. It was so sick!!!!!

Yeah like this Xmas I did not miss you guys at all! haha. Not like last Xmas. This Xmas was just too good here in Uruguay. And yes I do have pictures!

1. Me and Elder Alvarez with Maria at the temple!!!

2. Me, Elder Alvarez, Maria, and her son Gonzalo and his wife (I forgot her name...)

3. Me, Elder Alvarez and David Vas (he's going on a mission to Bolivia in Febuary)

 

We just ate this today. Its chicken with mole (mole is a traditional sauce from Mexico, its like a spicy chocolate sauce). It was so dang good. It sounds weird eating chicken with spicy chocolate sauce but dang it was good!

just some pics I took at the xmas conference

1. Me and Elder Fairbanks and his cousin Brandon

2. Me with Elder Harper and Elder Ashman (just some mission buddies from the Florida zone)

3. Me with Elder Johnson (Ammon Takau's cousin)

 hehehe..

I love you guys sooo much!!!! Merry Christmas!!! 

-Elder Welker

Week 77 Goodbye Florida!!!

Well today will be my official last day here in Florida. My time here in this area has come to an end already 😥. A week ago I was wanting to leave and go to a new area because I had already been here for about 4 months and our area is tiny and so I wanted to get out but now that im leaving I dont really want to go! I spent most of the day yesterday and Saturday visiting members and investigators and saying goodbye to them and also packing my suitcases but now im really sad and im going to miss the members here sooo much and also the investigators. Its been sooo great here in Florida and though im sad to leave im excited to return here after the mission as soon as possible. 

So with that being said im going to be leaving and going to Rocha!!! Its on the coast and its really close to Maldonado (where I started my mission) and its gonna be awesome! Its the only other District in our mission (Florida being the other district here). If you dont know what a district is then lets just say its like a mini stake (and its under the direction of the mission president). Also Rocha is a zone compiled of only elders, the only zone in the mission that is an only elder zone (because there arent a lot of priesthood holders in Rocha), and we are only 10 elders in total over there. Im going to be with Elder Castañares from Cordoba, Argentina. I already know him so that makes it pretty cool. Its super weird though cause he has 2 more months in the mission than me and so he goes home in 4 months and we are both Senior companion. So yeah its really weird but I guess it'll be fun and that just puts less stress on our shoulders so we'll be able to work and just give it our all and have a good time. 

But yeah im really excited to go! I already know basically all of the other missionaries over there and im really good friends with a few of them so its gonna be a blast!!! I cant wait to send you guys pics. I already talked with Elder Soriano last night (he's from my group and he's in Chuy right now (which is in Rocha but on the border of Brazil)) and were totally gonna go to Brazil on one of our preparation days and go to a brazilian buffet. Its gonna be sick!!! 

Also Elder Fairbanks is staying here with Elder Guerra from Fortaleza, Brasil. Elder Guerra is such a cool guy, he was my zone leader back when I was in East Montevideo. He's only got 2 transfers left and so he's probably going to end the mission here in this area. Elder Fairbanks is excited and its gonna help him a ton! Elder Guerra was a zone leader for like an entire year and prior to that he trained Elder Holland so Elder Guerra is gonna help Elder Fairbanks so much and he's gonna learn a lot from him. 

Also this week im probably going to go to Maria's endownment session!!!! I have to call President Eddy to get permission (but i'll definitely get permission). Maria is my first convert from Maldonado. Elder Alvarez and I taught her and baptized her and so we both got invited to go to the temple with her and 20 others (family members and friends) and were gonna go this Saturday so she can receive her endownments. Its gonna be awesome!!!!!!

So yeah im really happy and im excited to get to talk to my family this Sunday on Skype for the 3rd time!!!!!!!!!!! I love you guys!!! Have a fantastic week!!!!!!!

1. Me with Flavia and Jose (were still working with them, I hope that the the future missionaries here will be able to baptize them

2. Us with Daniela and Brissa (Daniela lived in Utah for 12 years and wants Brissa to get baptized, I also hope that the future missionaries will be able to baptize them both)

ilumina el mundo

These pics are from a service we did last week with the sisters of Ferroviario and the elders of Sarandí Grande:

1. Elder Fairbanks with a yorkie at the service. (he's doing a good job getting over his fear of dogs)

2. This is Trueno (Flavia´s dog) I love this dog

3. Other of Trueno. gosh I love this dog

nother shot of Trueno, the white dog is Max and the gray one licking my face is Campana (also one of Flavia's dogs)

Yeah its hot here

Ive been dying here from the heat in Florida. I heard that Rocha is worse...

Normani Family

ASADO!!!

Asado with Nacho and his friend Bernardo (like the only two active Aaronic priesthood holders in our branch)

-Elder Welker

Week 76 Time wrapping up here in Florida!

Wow yeah so this might be a really short email this week. Everythings been kinda crazy here in Florida and there is literally nothing new or exciting to talk about this week. So basically all of our investigators have stopped progressing and its been pretty dang hard this past week. We dont know why but not a single person could meet with us this entire week! Its been so weird recently that we just havent been able to meet with anyone. Everybody has just been so busy here and it was frustrating because everybody cancelled with us and asked us to pass by next week. 

Yeah so there was literally nothing interesting this week. We did have a service with the other 2 elders on Saturday and we painted the back wall of this lady's house for her. It was fun but it was sooo hot! Its been soooo hot here recently!

But yeah im pretty sure that im on my last week here in Florida now. This Sunday we receive transfers so i'll tell you all where im going next Monday (or if im staying but not likely). To be honest I kind of do want to leave because our area here is soooo tiny and ive been walking the same streets and talking to the same people for the past 4 months and it would be nice to get a change. Even right before Xmas. So im kind of excited and I dont really care where I go. Im really hoping to get the chance to meet with all of our investigators this week so that I can say goodbye. Im gonna try to finish out my last week here good and leave a lot of things for Elder Fairbanks and his new comp to do. 

Juan is doing good though and hasnt missed a Sunday since his baptism and now he is going to be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood! He's doing great and i'll definitely miss him. 

Also to add to the boringness of this email I dont have any photos cause I forgot to ask Elder Alvarez to pass me the photos that we took this week (including the photos of the service). So i'll probably get em to you guys next week. 

Oh but I do have this one:

I found Toddy Black!!!!!! Ive been looking for these forever!!! 

Yeah sorry for the boring email guys! The next one will definitely be more interesting. 

Well have a great week guys! I cant wait to talk to some of you on Xmas when I do my Skype call!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 75 Final quarter of the mission

Well as you all may know I now only have 6 months left here on the mission! Not to say that I want to leave cause I love it here! But I do really miss my mom 😊. and the rest of my family and stuff, haha.  Yeah I got the email last week that told me when im going home and stuff and which airport im going to fly to. I'll be home on June 7!! Its crazy how fast time goes by here on the mission. I'll get to skype you guys in like 3 weeks and then next May i'll skype again and before I know it i'll be home!

But yeah im really excited to find out where my next area will be. We have transfers in two weeks and so i'll probably be leaving to a new area a week before Xmas. But yeah its gonna be the best last quarter of my mission! I want to finish out this last part of the mission the very best I can and try to enjoy this last strip of my mission as much as possible hopefully without you guys making me trunky 😝. But seriously its hard not to be trunky with so many people back home getting engaged! and telling me about the new movies coming out and how they were so good! Such things make missionaries trunky for they cannot have girlfriends or see movies (that arent of the church). 

Anyway so as far as things go here in Asamblea we kinda had a crappy week cause I got a bad blister on the bottom of my foot and I could barely walk for like 2 days cause it was causing intense pain (but im fine now thanks to the medical kit that my mom got me that had all the supplies I needed! Thanks mom!! Your the best! I hadnt actually opened up that kit until now but things like that come in handy) But also we werent able to meet with Flavia this week and she didnt come to church yesterday so were kinda worried about her!

However, we did have a huge miracle this week! We got a reference last week from a member in Montevideo and so we contacted the reference and met with her in the plaza here last Monday. Her name is Daniela and she has a daughter named Brissa. Daniela lived in Utah for 12 years and is not a member of the church and Brissa is 7 and is going to turn 8 in January. Daniela really likes our church and wants her daughter to get baptized in our church. Daniela's ex husband is a member along with her other two kids and she says that she wants her daughter Brissa to also get baptized in the church. On Friday we went to their house which is like 3 kilometers outside of the city. We asked our Elders quorum president to take us in his car and we drove all the way out there to this house in the countryside. The view was incredible! There is no one else that lives out there and its just a bunch of farmland and animals and you can see the whole city of Florida from there. Im gonna snag some photos and show you guys next week!!

But anyway were really hoping to have a better week this week and im gonna try to do the most I can in the short time I have left here in Florida! 

Anyways I hope you all have a good week! Take care love you guys!!

1. This is when you know you have a lot of time on the mission. And cause its hot here now and ive been sweating bullets! P.S. I did wash this shirt after taking this photo

-Elder Welker