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!

• 

-Elder Welker

Week 92 Jose's Baptism

So yes this last week we were able to have Jose's baptism on Saturday as planned! It went through really good so thank you all for your prayers and your support! He got baptized on the same day that my brother got married so it was a very good day for everybody! Elder Williams ended up baptizing him because the member that was going to do it was sick that day and I confirmed him on Sunday because the member that was going to do it didnt show up to church. So yeah it was really cool and everything is going great here! After everyone had left after the baptismal service we stayed behind with one of the bishop's counselors to clean up a bit and as we were leaving the church we asked him "so, is there anything else we can help you with or is there anything else you need?" and he said "yes. Find another family to baptize." haha. It was really funny but now thats what we're in the process of doing!

But yeah on Sunday was Raquel's birthday and I made her brownies and she loved them! So did her daughter-in-law Dyana and she couldnt stop eating them haha. I make pretty good brownies :) 

The wedding photos of my brother were great! I wish I couldve been there but I can probably just imagine how it wouldve been looking at the pictures my mom sent me😛

Well before I know it i'll be home. You guys have no idea how fast the time passes by now! Its insane how quickly the days go by! I still cant believe that im already at this point of my mission! The days and weeks now just go by too fast and I dont really want the time to go by this fast! I want things to slow down! 

Anyways here's some pics of Jose's Baptism! Love you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Welker

Week 91 Last General Conference on the mission!

Well as you all know this last weekend was general conference! It was also my last one while being here on the mission 😖. It was really cool seeing who the two new apostles were and I really enjoyed this conference a lot. Our investigator Jose went to the saturday afternoon session and the priesthood session and he really liked it! He understood basically everything and had some members sitting with him to explain to him what everything meant. He should be getting baptized this saturday if everything goes through well. We hope it does!!!! Yeah, he's gonna be baptized on Saturday, then on Sunday he'll get confirmed, which is the birth day of Raquel and I have to make brownies cause I promised her id make her brownies and then on the 15th of April is Jose's birthday and were gonna do an asado with him so this next week and so should be really fun!!! 😁

This last week kinda stunk for me cause I was really sick almost all last week and I was having really bad stomach problems and I was having lots of digestion problems too. On thursday we had lunch with the Martin family and I threw up like halfway through the lunch and then after leaving their house afterwards I threw up even more in the street and yeah it was a fun experience.......?🤔

But yeah I couldnt really work that much this past week. We had an awesome trip to the temple on Tuesday and it was really good and I'll probably only have one more temple visit before going home. But yeah im feeling way better now, Elder Williams gave me some pills on Sunday morning and that literally cured me cause since then I have felt super good so were ready to go back out this week and hit it!!! 

Im really excited for this Saturday!!! Big shout out to my brother Jake!! He's gonna be a married dude at the end of this weekend! Also we are expecting to have the baptism of Jose this Saturday to top that! 

Happy Easter everybody! I didnt really do anything to celebrate it. woohoo! .....ummm anyways hope you all have a great week!!! Have fun watching my brother get married!!!!! Peace out!

-Elder Welker

Week 90 "You're gonna see me get baptized"

Well we had a pretty good week here this past week! Thanks everybody for wishing me a happy 20th bday! I would thank you all individually but im kinda short on time so if you read this email then you now know that you were thanked! (does that sound good? My english is kinda bad after being here for almost 2 years :)

Well anyways this email is gonna be pretty short so im just gonna write some of this last weeks highlights:

Monday March 19: had a zone activity in Bella Italia, I played soccer for like 3 hours and made some pretty sick goals, I even made a goal doing a scissor kick (the wet concrete court helped because I actually slipped while doing it but still made the goal :) I also got sunburned pretty bad cause I was outside playing the whole time.

Tuesday March 20: my 20th birthday!! The other elders surprised me and bought a cake that we shared at night.

Wednesday March 21: 21 months in the mission! We also had a multi zone conference in Carrasco and it was fun and uplifting as usual! 

Thursday, Friday, Saturday nothing super interesting to write about.

Sunday March 25: Gave a talk in church today! I love giving talks and I talked about member missionary work and the blessings of the temple. Our recent convert Raquel and her husband Jose came to church and Jose came in a white shirt and the tie that Elder Williams gave to him.

Monday March 26: I had some pretty bad stomach and digestion problems like all day so we didnt leave until the evening to go to some lessons we had set. We had an awesome lesson with Jose and Raquel and we taught Jose the Restoration aka lesson 1. It was really good and we had been wanting to invite Jose to be baptized for a while but we hadnt been able to have a formal lesson until last night. At the end of the lesson, right before I asked him to be baptized, he said "you know what, im going to get baptized". The funny thing is that I heard it, and Elder Williams also heard it, and we looked at eachother as if to say "did he really just say that?" and so Elder Williams was like "wait wait wait can you repeat that?" and Jose said "yeah, your gonna see me get baptized". And we were so happy and we set a date with him for April 7!!! We really think he's gonna be ready and he already has 2 assistances in church. I really hope he makes that date also because thats the day that me brother Jake gets married on and it would be awesome cause that way I feel more happy not attending his wedding! Haha, a big slap in the face!! haha just kidding! :) dont take that offensively! :)

Anyways things are going great here! I also have some photos here that I wanted to send you guys last week but my sd card was having issues and I couldnt get the photos out but here you go:

 

1. Me with my son (Elder Fairbanks) and my grandson (Elder Millet). Elder Fairbanks is training a new missionary this transfer and I got to take a pic with them at Tres Cruces on my way to Libia (my new area)

2. Me and Elder Williams! This guy is awesome!!! He reminds me of my brother Jake cause he likes football but he also likes video games like me and he knows a lot!! 😁

3. I dont think I sent this to you guys but this was when I was in Rocha with Elder Larsen. I found Monster Guarana!!! I didnt even know that this existed because Guarana is not something that you can find in the states but its common down here in Uruguay, Argentina, and Brasil.

anyways love you guys! Have a great week!!!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 89 Chau Rocha! Bienvenidos Montevideo por tercera vez!!!!

Hey everybody!!!!! We just got told transfers last night and im leaving Rocha and heading back to Montevideo for the third time!! Im soo excited to go! Im heading to Maroñas, the only zone in Montevideo that I havent been to yet (cause I was already in North and East Montevideo stakes). But now im going to a ward called Libia, which is also the name of my new area and also my last area of the mission!!! I'll be finishing out here in Montevideo my last 3 months of the mission!

Other exciting news: I'll be companions with Elder Williams (he was the MTC companion of Elder Fairbanks, my son haha). Elder Williams I heard is also like the grandson or something of Elder Ballard (thats what I heard but i'll have to ask him). Also Elder Fairbanks is going to be district leader and trainer in Treinta y Tres which means that im going to be a grandpa on the mission haha! Also Libia is right by my old area of Camino Carrasco!!!! The best fetching area in the world!!!! I'm totally goin to ask Pres Eddy during my last few weeks to visit members and converts from there. Also im going to be living in the same house as Elder Castañares (my last comp) and so im going to watch him die (end his mission cause he goes home after this transfer). Also my trainer Elder Harkness served in Libia right before going to Maldonado to train me, so im gonna have to talk with the people there and see if the remember him. But yeah im super stoked to end my mission there!! Also Libia/Maroñas is the most sketchy part of our mission, where missionaries get robbed most so im putting my watch in my luggage and i'll probably not wear it til I go home haha.

But yeah these last few months were pretty fun here in Rocha. I learned a lot here and I hope to be able to finish out my last 3 months strong! This past week one of our investigators, Graciela, finally came to church and she had friends there that she didnt know were members of the church and so she fit in just fine. She has a baptismal date for the end of the month. We'll have to see how that goes. I think she can make it and I hope that Elder Larsen does well here in Rocha with his new companion. This past transfer wasnt easy and we had a lot of ups and downs but overall we had a good transfer and overall I feel like we did a lot of good for the area that future missionaries will be able to work on. 

Photos!!!!!

1. I thought this was really funny. I had an intercambio/division with my district leader Elder Perrins in La Paloma and we went by this really old lady who is a member cause she needed a blessing and after giving her the blessing I saw her clock and thought it was funny and the second she left the room I quickly snagged a pic of it haha. I dont want to spell out what it says, I think you guys can figure it out haha.

2. we were getting ready to go to a service and when I saw what Elder Cole was wearing it reminded me of a Liahona cover that I had seen just a few days before so I made him take a picture with it haha. 

-Elder Welker

Week 88 More Miracles in Rocha!!

So I just quickly want to say that this week was pretty good for us here in Rocha, we found a lot of new people to teach this week and things are getting a bit better for us here. 

So this past week Elder Larsen had one of the coolest experiences ever and it was really cool what happened. So we found this less active family called the Lopez family and its just a mom named Virginia and her two kids, Sharon and Yohan. So Elder Larsen had found them a week ago when he was on a division with Elder Cole and then we went by this week to get to know them a little more. Well it turns out that Virginia just recently came to Rocha like 2 years ago and before that they were living in Minas (which is a city in a different department of Uruguay). Well we were talking wit them and Virginia said that she found out about the church like 10 years ago after getting to know this senior missionary couple named Elder and Sister Crum (I think thats their name). Well Virginia and her husband back then got baptized and they were active while living in Minas but after coming to Rocha they went inactive. Well it turns out that Elder Larsen, just days before coming on the mission, was in a store with his mom doing some last minute shopping for his mission and this senior couple overheard them talking about his mission and so they asked him where he was going to serve and he told them Montevideo Uruguay and they freaked out cause thats where they had served a few years before! So he came on the mission a year ago and now he's here in Rocha and found the family that that senior couple taught and baptized! How cool is that?! 

But yeah things are going good here! We also had this Evangelical priest guy come up to us and start to bible bash us in the street and started to quote scriptures trying to fool us and started to tell us "yeah I have a Book of Mormon and you know what I found? I found it full of errors" and he just kept going off on bible quotes and was like "you know what it says in Proverbs 10:3 ?" (just an example) and were like "no" (cause I dont have the bible memorized verse for verse) and he was like "ohhh so you guys dont know what it says" (like as if to show that he knows the bible better than us). Well I asked him if he believed that revelation ended with Jesus Christ and he said that everyone knows that once Jesus died that the work was over and that everything was finished and that He saved us so we no longer needed prophets. And then just as I was about to ask him about Paul and tell him how the work really wasnt finished he took off. But yeah really interesting guy he was a total nutjob haha. Anyways thats basically the interesting things that happened this week. :)

Heres some pics I got for you guys!!!!

Last week in La Paloma and back in the Xmas conference when I was with Elder Castañares

anyways I love you guys!!!! Have a great week!!!!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 87 Back in Maldonado after 14 months!!!!!!!

Well so this week had a lot of ups and downs. The biggest down was that we couldnt get anyone to attend church this week and neither did the other 2 elders here in Rocha. Its been soo hard to get investigators to church and we have tried everything!! I dont think ive ever had such a hard time getting investigators to church until I came here to Rocha. On the bright side we had an okay week and saw a few small miracles along the way and I feel like we are making progress but its just a little slow is all. But we are making progress here! Um, so I finally got to go back to Maldonado after 14 months!! Maldonado is where I started my mission and I finally got to go back because we had a multi zone conference there and so we traveled there for the conference! I also got to eat a tortugon which is basically a giant hamburger/sandwich that is only made in Maldonado. It was so good!!! 

In other news I only have 100 days left in the mission field which is crazy but im trying not to think about it. We went to La Paloma today! It was sick! We got there last night and stayed the night with the elders there and then at 5 in the morning we went with them to the dock and watched the sunrise! It was magnificent!!!! Soo dope!!!! 

But yeah weve been working with our member list soo much here recently! Its soooo bad! The directions and addresses of people are really off and a lot dont even live here anymore or they have died and the member list just never got updated so were using it as a way to 1. clean up the member list so that missionaries and members dont have trouble in the future and 2. its also a great way to find new investigators and its been working pretty dang well for us as for now!! Im lovin it! But yeah things are really chill here in Rocha! If you guys want to know anything else be free to ask cause thats about all ive got for the week!

1. About to eat a tortugon in Maldonado

2. my plaque in La Paloma!

3. view of the sunrise in La Paloma 

-Elder Welker

Week 86 Miracle Challenge!!

Well so last Monday in President Eddy's weekly email he invited all of the missionaries in the mission to write down at least one miracle at the end of every day! And I decided to follow his invitation and write at least one miracle every day in my journal until the end of my mission and im so glad that I started doing that cause this week was super bummy! During this week we lost quite a few investigators because they told us they werent interested any more or they just didnt want to progress any more and it was a really hard week for us! We didnt have much success this week but im still glad that I did what Pres Eddy invited us to do because it helped me see through the crappy week and see some of the miracles! And some of the days it was really hard to think of a miracle but after pondering about it I would find at least one thing every day. 

One of the miracles from this week was that on Tuesday we decided to pass by this guy named Maxi who was a reference from the other two elders in Rocha. They said he was 20 and that he was a less active member. So we went by his house and after talking with him a bit he told us that he had been talking with his older brother Marcos about going back to church because they both felt like they needed to start going again. He also told us that he was a less active member and that everyone in his family was less active except for his youngest sister who wasnt baptized at all. Well then Maxi's mom came in and told us that Maxi wasnt baptized either and he was confused and said "mom im baptized too!" and she said "yeah but in the Catholic church when you were a baby! When we all got baptized in the Mormon church you werent old enough to get baptized so you never did" and so it turns out that Maxi never got baptized and he thought that he was less active. Well were gonna go by him again this week and invite him to get baptized and start teaching him. 

Well im sorry that this emails soo short but we are in Chuy again! Were gonna go to the Brazilian buffet again and so ive got to go cause we dont have a lot of time here! 

This photo is from a service we did the other day. We were just clearing out this family's backyard of all of these sticks and plants and stuff. 

Well anyways take care guys! Have a good week!!!

-Elder Welker

Week 85 Wretched Car and Backwards Missionary Work

Ok so this was like the most interesting and weird and probably the best week ive had here in Rocha since arriving here! Its also gonna be a long fetching email because of this dang car story I have to tell you about:

Ok so on Tuesday Elder Larsen and I set out in the afternoon to head to an investigators house (Nicolas) and on our way to his house we were walking in this sketchy neighborhood and we heard this guy shout to us "hey do you guys have strength?" and we looked and saw an old couple next to an old little car that was stuck in a ditch. They apparently had backed into a ditch cause the back two wheels were stuck in the ditch. So we walked over and there were also two young teenagers (a girl and a guy just from the neighborhood) that had also come to help. So me and Elder Larsen and the 16 or so yr old teenager got behind the car and we pushed with all of our might as the old man was trying to drive out of the ditch. Well just us 3 almost were able to lift the car out and as we neared the top it suddenly came back down despite our efforts to push to up. So Elder Larsen had an idea. There was a big trash pile about 20 feet away (there always is in Uruguay haha) and so we found some plywood and some old clothes to put under the wheels of the cars to get traction. Well Elder Larsen took about 5 minutes to scoop out the mud from under the tires and put the board and old clothes in place. And by now more people had come from the neighborhood to help and we had 6 people behind a little car pushing, another car that had come with a cable to tow it out, and Elder Larsen's makeshift traction ramp to get this car out. Just remember all of that ok? So we went for it! 6 people behind a little car! Another car towing it out! And Elder Larsen's makeshift ramp! And the car still didnt get out!!! What??!! So after this attempt I backed away while the rest were still trying to push and I made an interesting observation. The wood and the old clothes that were under the wheel were now in front of the wheel as if they had gotten thrown forward. Well wait a minute. That doesnt make any sense. Its not physically possible. So I grabbed Elder Larsen and I tell him "hey look at this! Was he driving backwards?!" and so we ask the old man driving "hey were you driving backwards?" and he says "of course not! Why would I be driving backwards?" and everyone there was kinda laughing saying "ahh these two missionaries dont know anything about cars. Were trying to drive up not down haha!" and me and Elder Larsen are like "ok well were just saying that science is telling me that the clothes and board would be under the wheel. So this time they go again and I didnt even participate this time and I saw that the wheels were going backwards and finally another man observing with me said "hey youre driving backwards!" and the old man driving looks at the stick and says "oh would you look at that it was in reverse!" and he puts it in gear and drives right out. OH MY GOSH!!! Incredible!! He could have killed us! Why didnt you just listen to us??!! Well thats the wretched car story.

Ok so just the last cool thing that happened this week:

So on Thursday we were walking in the street and we pass this kid who is standing in front of his house and he is holding a german shephard on a leash and as we pass him he says "hey where are you guys from?" IN English!! And were like "you speak English??" (cause his accent was really good) and we go over and start talking to him and this kid is 17, named Joaquin, and speaks perfect and I mean perfect English without flaw in his accent (you wouldnt think he's latino) and guess how he learned English? Videogames, movies, and talking with his American friends. Well he didnt have a lot of time so we set to go by on Saturday and on Saturday we went by and we taught him about the Restoration and at the end I gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to be baptized. He said "well before I decide to get baptized I want to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it to know if its true". And we hadnt even asked him yet to pray about the Book of Mormon. He self-committed himself to read and pray! And he's also the one who contacted us on the street!!! Talk about backwards missionary work! He is really smart and pays so much attention and understood everything we taught him very well. He is so getting dunked!! haha.

Well thats basically our week! Love you guys! Have a good one!

-Elder Welker

Week 84 Getting crazy here in Rocha!!

Yeah things here are getting weird!! Well I got my new companion Elder Larsen on Wednesday! He is from Mesa Arizona and he is crazy!!! Haha... But dang that Larsen is a crazy dude! Well weve been having a great week here in Rocha! Ive only had a few days with Elder Larsen here and its been going pretty dang well! Weve been working pretty dang hard here and things are looking bright! I really like Elder Larsen! He is a really good guy and were doing great together! But yeah he's pretty crazy! 

Well ive had an interesting week to say the least! We were able to finally talk with an investigator named Nicolas that we found a while back (he was in the hospital in Montevideo for about 11 days so we kinda lost contact with him for a bit and we put a new date for him to get baptized! He's a good kid (20 yr) but he'll need a lot of help if he's gonna get baptized. It's not gonna be easy... 

But yeah things are going great with Elder Larsen! Im really excited to see what we can accomplish this week and I think that we are going to have a very successful time here in Rocha! He's such a goof haha. We were playing this game the other day called "Bean Boozled" and its this game that you have to spin a spinner and take a random jellybean and it can either be a good one or it can be a nasty flavored one like spoiled milk, dead fish, or rotten egg. haha, this game is absolutely terrible!!! I played it with Elder Peterson when we were in La Paloma and I got dead fish and I was gagging and almost threw up it was soo gross! I dont know how they get the flavors so close to the real thing! Well the other night we played and Elder Larsen got spoiled milk and about died!! He was gagging soo much and ran to the sink to spit it out haha. Hes such a goof. FYI I attached the video of this to the email. You gotta watch its so funny! Elder Cole and Elder Anampa were also there doing it with us!

Well anyways im really excited for this change! Weve got six weeks that we are going to find people to baptize or for the least find people that missionaries down the road will be able to baptize. There is a lot of work to be done here and we have a lot to do so wish us luck and pray for us! Im almost wrapping up my mission and im gonna try to make these last few months the best months of my mission! Im excited to work with all my heart and soul and im excited to see the blessings and miracles that I know will come, just as they have come in the past during my mission!

Well thanks for everything guys! Have a great week!!! Love you all!!!!

Me and Elder Cole today! His shirt has Xbox on it!!!!!!😃 

-Elder Welker

Week 83 New team here in Rocha!!

Well we just got changes last night and Elder Castañares is leaving and going to Montevideo! He's pretty happy and is going to end his mission there. Im gonna be staying here in Rocha with Elder Larsen from Arizona (I think). Im pretty excited to be with Elder Larsen. I dont know him super well but ive seen him at conferences and ive heard that he's really funny so im excited. 

Well this past week was pretty good. The zone leaders were going to have a baptism but their investigator Sandra couldnt get baptized because she was previously living with her abusive boyfriend and so she moved out and was going to get baptized but she had to have a court hearing (I think thats what it is) and the judge told her that she had to move back in or else they were going to take her daughter away from her and so she couldnt get baptized cause she cant be living with him. (yeah, super messed up). 

Lets see. I had a two day division with Elder Peterson in La Paloma. It was so sick! We put two baptismal dates with 2 of their investigators and we just had a fun time there in La Paloma on the beach. I previously didnt know I would be going for 2 days but his companion Elder Perrins had to go to Montevideo for a leadership meeting so I just stayed with Peterson an extra day. Also I got so sick of the bikes after only one day (cuz theyre crappy bikes) and so I just chose to leave the bikes and walk the second day. 

Also I got attacked by a recent convert's dog on Saturday. She always told me that that dog bites missionaries but I didnt care (cuz I always play with the dogs hehe) and I played with this dog a lot of times in the past and it never did anything and on Saturday I started scratching him on the head and all of the sudden like lightning he bite my hand and then bit me on the leg and then my but before I could get him off. It kinda hurt a little mainly on my hand cuz my legs are too big for his mouth to do anything anyway. Also I went to go pull something out of my suitcase and I found a new civilization of weevels crawling around in my emergency food kit. I dont know how they got in there cause the emergency food kit that the mission gave us all is sealed in a plastic bag but there were like 300 weevels in the bag so I grabbed it and took it out and me and Castañares both grabbed cans of bugspray and unloaded it all on the weevels and killed them all. It was pretty gross and I threw away the emergency food kit. 

We found some cool investigators this past week that seem to have potential. We'll see what happens this week. Well thats about it for the week. Oh, I almost forgot to mention one other thing. So we have an investigator named Michael who needs to get married before he can get baptized. Well he came to church last Sunday (as in a week ago) and a few days later a sister from the branch called us asking if he had broken up with his girlfriend because another sister from the branch wanted to know if he was "available". My comp told the sister "and you think this is okay? Why would you call us asking about that? Also, were trying to help him to get married and not split them up" (also his girlfriend is a less active member but she is cool and has a pretty strong testimony). Her reply was "well im not the one asking its just that another sister from the branch wanted to know so dont get mad at me". haha. so messed up. uhhhhh this is the exact reason why Rocha has had problems in the past with members staying active. Well, I really hope that this doesnt cause problems but im sure it wont at all. 

Well thats about it for the week! Thanks for everything! Talk to you guys later!!!

pics from when I was in La Paloma

-Elder Welker

Week 82 Just another week here in Rocha!!

Hey guys! Hows everyone doing?

So we just had another normal week here in Rocha! Nothing super interesting, hence the boring title cause I couldnt think of anything else to put haha. Well if I can remember good on Tuesday we went to La Paloma for our district meeting and then we stayed over there to have lunch and watch the video from President Nelson! It was so cool to see the new First Presidency and it also means that we get more gen conference talks from Nelson and Oaks!!! But anyways that was probably the only interesting thing I can think of from this past week. We were kinda just working with the same people all week but not really any of our investigators were progressing very much but we found some new investigators this week that look pretty promising. On Friday we had a service in the house of a sister from our branch and we were just cleaning out and organizing her back shed. Holy crap I shouldve taken my camera so I could have shown you guys, it was bad...

Yeah sorry there just is not a lot going on over here in Rocha. Like I said the missionary work is a little slow and I havent seen as many miracles here as my past areas but im sure they will come (or they are there but I just havent noticed them yet). But I know that things are going to pick up here in Rocha. Elder Castañares and I are working hard to get things moving here in Rocha and so are the Zone leaders cause the members are a little sluggish right now too in the mission work cause recently before I got here they lost a lot of confidence in the missionaries and so were just trying to pick things up and get things going again. I hope that we can help one of our investigators to progress and hopefully baptize here in Rocha cause I think that that would help the members a bit and kinda give them a boost to help more in the missionary work.

But anyways things are going good here! I hope that we can turn things around this week and that way I can have more things to talk about in my weekly letter haha. Tomorrow im going on exchanges in La Paloma with E Peterson and this time I will get photos!!!!!! I swear it!

Anyways thanks for all of your support!!! Love you guys!!!! Have a fantastic week!!!

Pics from last Monday in Chuy! I went to Brasil and ate so good at an espetus. Its like Tucanos in Provo (brazilian buffet with skewed meats brought to your table) but it was legit. (not really it was like the same thing)

-Elder Welker

Week 81 Hello from Brazil!!

Hey guys im in Chuy today! We came here as a zone today. Chuy is on the border of Uruguay and Brazil and so half the city is in Uruguay and half in Brazil. You can literally buy everything and anything here for super cheap so im gonna take advantage of being here to buy some stuff if I see anything I need. Also were gonna go to an espetus later (brazilian buffet). I'll have to send yall some pics of it next week. 

Well this week was pretty cool. The work is going a little slow here but were doing alright. We had divisions on Wednesday with the zone leaders in their area which was okay (but it was kinda pointless cause we really needed to be in our area working and an entire day out of our area doesnt really help us). And then on Saturday we went to the temple! I didnt tell you guys last Monday cause I didnt know that we were gonna go to the temple this week. My companion had a convert from his 2nd area who was going to get her endownments that day cause she is leaving soon to go on a mission in the southern part of Argentina. 

It was really cool and then after going through the temple session I was in the changing room changing clothes and I saw the two elders who are currently serving in Camino Carrasco (one of my previous areas) in there too and I was like "whoa what are you guys doing here?! Is someone going through the temple?!?" and they said "yeah Karla is doing baptisms for the first time"- Karla is Andres's mom (one of my converts from Camino Carrasco. He got married and then he and Rosa (his wife) got baptized). Karla got baptized about a month or two after I left but I had been teaching her while I was there in Camino. The two elders told me that she was in the lobby at the entrance to the temple waiting so I quickly got out and went to the lobby and she was there with Rosa and they hadnt seen me for like almost 6 months and the look on their faces was priceless! They like looked at me and it took them like a second to register in their minds that it was really me (cause they were not expecting to see me there that day and neither was I). Haha they were soo happy to see me!! And then I saw that a bunch of the members from Camino were waiting outside the temple and I saw Ernesto out there with his back facing me and I ran and basically attacked him from behind, haha. It was so cool!!!!! It was like having a family reunion and all of the members were so excited to see me there! They all told me when I come back to Uruguay after the mission that i'll always have a place to stay haha. Ernesto told me that he's going to France next month so I told him that im gonna go visit him after the mission in France. 

Anyways it was so good to see everybody there! Then on the way back to Rocha we got seats on the front row on the top deck of a double decker bus. It was pretty sick and it rained really hard the whole way back to Rocha and then it rained quite a bit in Rocha on Sunday which made it difficult for us to have lessons with our investigators. But anyways things are going great here and im hoping that we can make more progress here this next week! Well anyways love you guys have a great week!!!

1. Rainbow! On the way back to Rocha

2. Elder Castañares's convert after going through the temple! She's goin on a mission!

-Elder Welker

Week 80 Let's go Rocha!

So this past week was really good for Elder Castañares and I! We had a pretty dang good week here in Rocha! The start of the week was pretty hard but things got so much better as we continued with faith! So we had interviews on Thursday with President Eddy and that interview helped me so much to really get to work here in Rocha. There were a lot of things I needed to say to Pres Eddy cause I was at first having a hard time here mainly cause I was a little stressed out because I dont have a lot of time left in the mission and I want to finish out really strong and I didnt understand why I was here in Rocha with E Castañares but after talking with him I understood why and after talking with him I had such a strong motivation to go out and work my heart out!

So Elder Castañares and I have just been working really hard here the last few days and were already starting to see the blessings. On Saturday we talked with this kid in the street named Nicolas. He was 20 yr old and after talking with him for like 5 seconds we said "could we go by your house right now and teach you a message about Jesus Christ?" and he was like "yeah sure lets go" and so we went to his house and we were outside and we started talking with him about our church and he said "yeah I used to go to an Evangelist church" and then right as he said that he saw 3 guys from the same evangelic church and said "oh, here they are right now". haha. Then we heard the 3 guys say "ahh the mormons are here..." and my comp heard them say that and shouted "yep the same ones!" haha. Well they came over and at first I thought we were gonna get into an argument but E Castañares is so good at talking with people and after like 5 minutes we already almost made them new investigators haha. Well the 3 guys then went to talk to Nicolas's mom because they wanted them to go back to their church but after like 5 minutes of arguing the mom of Nicolas basically kicked those guys out and then came to us after and started saying things like "me and my son have our religion, we dont want anything with any other religion etc." but E Castañares is so good with people and started talking with her and before we knew it we were sharing scriptures with her and testifying and after like 10 minutes she said "its cold do you guys want to come inside?" and so we went inside and taught them and the next day Nicolas came to church on his own and then we went by again Sunday evening and invited him to be baptized and he quickly accepted!!! It was super sick and I wish I could write more of the story but like Moroni I am weak in writing and also this computer im using is a piece of junk so its hard to type. It was a really cool experience and I think that Nicolas will get baptized. He has had a really hard life and there are a lot of things I would like to tell you about him but again this computer stinks so it'll have to wait. 

But yeah everything is abosutely good here in Rocha, the bizcochos are amazing but it is soooo dang hot here in Rocha in the summer so please pray that it rains here or something thank you. haha. Elder Castañares is really cool and were doing great together and working really hard so everything is goin good! Well thanks for everything and have a great week!!!!! Love you guys sooo much!!!

Sorry no photos. Love you guys!!!!

-Elder Welker

Lunch today!!

Week 79 2018!!

Ok so this is gonna be a short email cause I dont have a lot of time nor much to write about anyway. So lets see, where do I start off this week? Well its been blazing hot here in Rocha! Its so dang hot now... And like I said our area is really big and we walk a ton and Elder Castañares walks pretty dang fast so im just dead at the end of every day haha. He keeps telling me I need a hat so that the sun doesnt burn me but I hate widebrim hats/ cowboy hats and id rather be dead then see myself wearing one of those ( the only exception is trek. But I guess thats when I thought cowboy hats were cool (which they arent btw)). Other news: lots of people here have swimming pools and I miss swimming so much now! (dont you say anything mom and dad!) Well, now im drinking tereré instead of normal mate cause its so dang hot. Tereré is the same thing as mate but instead of drinking it with hot water you drink it with juice and ice. Its so dang good! Its a Paraguayan thing but I just dont understand how the Uruguayans can drink flaming hot mate in the summertime (and believe me, they do!)

Well as far as the area goes its all good. Its been kinda hard working here the last week cause everyone was busy with xmas and new years and stuff and so it was hard to meet with people but this week should be better. I like the area though and my comp is pretty good. Im still getting used to him. He has 2 more months than me in the mission and yeah...lets just say its interesting being with him (cause I feel like sometimes he treats me like im new in the mission and im just kinda like "you know ive been here for like a year and a half, right?") Its hard to explain but were slowly getting better and I just try to be patient and chill. 

But yeah everythings pretty good here! Also FYI I got the photos from last week!

​​1. Cow tongue!! yummy

2. Cooking a lamb! also yummy

3. Christmas Eve! with mate!

Yep well thats literally all I had for this week. Pretty boring I know but I hope you all have a great week and like I invited the members here yesterday during my talk in sacrament meeting- read the Book of Mormon daily!!!! Like seriously, its 2018 lets do something different this year and make it better than last year! Well I love you guys! Also I just realized I go home this year!!! haha. Ive only got 5 months left here so I hope to make the most of it before I go home! Love you guys and happy new year!!!

-Elder Welker