"It is Finished" (psyche!)

Holy smokes! Okay, it hit me. I may be feeling a little bit trunky right now. Wow how in the world did Mom find that beach?! The family pictures Brittany sent me were awesome. Wow! Our family is goooooood looookin´. Congratulations Mom and Dad.  ANNNNDDDDD, drum roll please.... BOSTON WAS BAPTIZED!!! YEAHHHHHHHHH. I´m so pumped to get a copy of his talk and hear (hopefully) from him on how it was, what he felt, etc. One thing I wish I would´ve done when I was baptized was write a journal entry of how I felt. I have each Priesthood advancement in my journal (deacon, teacher, priest - and the first times I participated in each of these Preisthood responsibilities), first time at the temple, receiving my mission call, etc. Practically everything but my baptism. And man do I want to know how I was feeling way back 12 years ago (oh yeah baby... I'm 20 now). Haha so, if he hasn't done that yet, tell him that this is my invitation to him. I hope to get a copy of his journal entry!

On another note, I saw a Playstation 4!! Haha WHAT?! When did that come out? Haha seriously, one of the families we are teaching has it and I stared at it for a full minute. It was more than a shock than anything. I thought to myself, ´´Wow, it´s now been a year since I´ve left home...´´ Crazy to think about.

I'm loving my Preach My Gospel studies everyday. I learn more and more as I continue to reread it´s chapters. It's really helping me to change and become a better missionary. I hear sometimes about your "Preach My Gospel Family Nights" but I never get a report about them... Vamos família. Let´s heed the mighty counsel of Elder Ballard and talk some more and more about PMG.

This week I studied a little bit about converts that have "fallen" in chapter 10. Unfortunately, one of the recent converts I taught and baptized isn't coming to church. I'm sad to admit it but at first I was really frustrated at her. I felt like she "lied" to me throughout the course of teaching her. After a good study, I realized that they could be feeling guilt for falling back in to a habit (smoking for example). It says in this chapter that a recent convert that quickly stops to attend church is most likely dealing with this type of situation. I repented after this and recommitted to helping her receive all of the incredible blessings of the atonement in her life - through the sacrament.

 

This week was crazy. We spent Sunday until Wednesday night in Campinas with meetings, returning only Thursday and Saturday to work in Zion (Socorro) because Friday I was on a division with another Elder. Everything really wiped me out. I think I was more tired than when I first arrived in Brasil - back when I was falling asleep while eating food... Haha but I was thinking to myself, ´´Seriously, I don´t know if I´m going to be able to make it two years. Not that I want to go home, but I won´t make it home. I´m going to die of exhaustion.´´

I then had the thought President Eyring coined. "When I'm tired and think that I can´t go on, I think about the Savior and His example. Even when The Savior Himself said, ´It is Finished,´ He went and preached some more in the Spirit World."

Ohhh baby. I read a part in my journal while I was in the MTC and I saw a talk Elder Holland gave. He said, "Bring in the thunder and let somebody feel it!"

Haha, so here it comes. Year number 2, here I come! In my mortal ministry and quest to become more like The Savior, this to is now my desire. I´m seriously so tired, my eyes want to go to sleep as I write this, but I´m working until I drop. And if I die, you´ll know what I´ll be doing... Preaching the Gospel to your Grandma!

Love you all!

Elder Welch

"Our Message"

THE MISSION ADDRESS WILL CHANGE THIS WEEK! PLEASE POST THIS ON THE BLOG: 

MISSÃO BRASIL CAMPINAS

RUA DUQUE DE CAXIAS 645

CENTRO - CAMPINAS 13015-310

BRASIL

 

Wow, yesterday at church one of the young woman in our Branch got her mission call. She decided to open it at church after Sacrament Meeting. The hymn right before she opened it was, ´´God Be With You Until We Meet Again.´´ It was the second time I´ve cried here in Brasil because of a song. I couldn´t help it thinking about the mission call and the memories I had. This was the last hymn we sang at my farewell and I remember seeing mom crying. Whooo! It was a good feeling Sunday. I felt so grateful for our awesome family.

I hope you enjoyed the family vacation. It seems like it was awesome. Dustin sent me 3 small pictures of the trip. If you can, please send me some next pday. I'm seriously starting to forget what the family looks like! Haha all I have is my pillow case with the family picture on the Goodson farm and Boston and Reese´s school pictures. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MATT AND BOSTON!! I love you guys. I hope your birthday was as awesome as mine!

Yesterday morning we had a leadership meeting here in Campinas. Because Monday´s are usually pday, we had to switch it to Tuesday - hence the email today. But I saw President Perrotti yesterday and gave him a hug. I put my arm around him and asked him the same question dad used to always ask me, ``Presidente! ... Está feliz?`` I never liked that question of, ``Are you happy?`` because it never made much sense to me. But the more I think about the good examples in my life, the more profound this question becomes.

He responded and then asked me the same question. I always responded to dad´s question with a yes, but for the first time in my life yesterday, I think I finally responded honestly. ``Yes President. I´m a happy man.``

This week I woke up with probably the worst dreams Ive had on the entire mission. I returned home from the mission, gave a farewell talk, and was at home in Powell with the family. I realized after a couple of days that I returned the same type of person I was when I left. The only difference that I noticed, and that others noticed was my accent (which was kind of funny because that's still how people recognize me as an American here).

I woke up alone, before the alarm went off and thought a lot about the dream I had. After conversing a lot with Heavenly Father, I realized the importance of change in my life. I was incredibly sad because I returned home the same way I was before the mission. No one noticed a difference, I didn't feel a difference... I returned back to the same activities, speaking casually and dressing the same, lounging around the house watching TV... Mom didn't say anything but I realized that she was sad. I completed 2 years of service, helped a lot of people come unto Christ, but me... nothing changed.

I was incredibly happy this week. Although it was my first birthday away from the family, the members really knocked it out of the park. We had investigators and members surprise me TWICE, in the same day, with a brasilian BBQ, with pictures and letters of memories, soccer jersey, cakes (one of them with a bunch of PEANUTS!! haha), pens, hat, key chains, bathroom supplies (kind of strange but funny... maybe I smell now??), and much more. I seriously felt like a hundred bucks. I don't know how to accurately describe how I felt. Seriously, I was so happy. The second surprise ´´party´´ was at 7 o´clock at night where we entered a members home to teach an investigator... Not what I expected. Haha it was awesome.

At the end of the night, the Relief Society President started crying and told me that I will never understand what I did to her family and the branch. Her husband called the Mission President the day before and asked if I could stay at least one more transfer here in Socorro. I hope I can too.

I have thought a lot about this and the type of experience we will have after this life as we ´´return´´ back home. What our Heavenly Parents will think and how they will feel. Maybe we helped a lot of people with their problems, did a lot of good, but didn't ´´become´´ anything. Like Elder Oaks has said, this is the very essence of the gospel. To change and become something.

I'm here to Preach the Gospel. But I think Ive still lost a little bit of my identity as a child of God as a missionary. I need to stop thinking about teaching the gospel, and just ´´live´´ it.

This week I caught myself telling people that ´´OUR message will bless your life... OUR message will help your family repair fights and misunderstandings... OUR message will give you a sense of identity.´´ I thought to myself, ´´Why do I say that? it´s not MY message, but The Lord´s.``

After thinking and studying this week, I´ve come to realize that as I do what He would do, or do things that would please him (John 8),  ``His message`` starts to become``My message.`` And therefore, it´s ``Our Message.``

Happiness is coming to a realization of the way things really are and how they really will be. I´m His child and will return back to His presence one day. I look forward more this week of becoming more like Him, so that ´´His message´´ becomes more and more ``Our Message.``

As President Monson said two conferences ago, ``I´m a happy (20 year old) MAN!``

Love you all!

Elder Welch

This couple... wow, words cant describe it. They were less active members with seriously Lamanite hearts. I was always so sad because I was never able to connect with them. I never felt on the same page with them. I never knew what I could do to help them. They came to us crying a month ago with problems... With a lot of prayer, The Lord changed their heart and they finally decided to get married. They are a part of the family of the Relief Society President. They used one of the pens I got for my birthday to sign the papers. It was a privilege for them to use my pen... Haha.

Vamo´ Lá! [6/30/14]

Wow, where to start?? This week will be a little bit ´´lighter.´´ Hopefully you´ll get a few laughs in on vacation (during my birthday) with the family.

First, my companion got Dear Johned... Haha seriously, I didn't know how to act. He and his girlfriend bought some pretty expensive promise rings to wear that he took off last week. I made him a nice Mexican meal however when we got back to the house (Mexican food still is my favorite - btw, dad I still eat it before the General Priesthood Conference session! haha) to help soothe the pain. We had hot sauce that we loaded on top of the food... We kept putting more and more on joking around, saying that he doesn't feel any more pain. Not sure how he felt the next day in the bathroom... I was afraid to ask.

World Cup update. Seriously, Brasil is killing me. I'm trying to save the world down here with baptisms but they keep winning. We have to stay in our house during the games because the entire population is drinking and it could get pretty dangerous. Its funny because we don´t watch the games but we always know the score. When Brasil scores, fireworks and noisemakers go off for about 10 minutes straight... And when the other team scores, it´s ghost town. Seriously. More silent then the Celestial room in the temple. Anyway, last Saturday we had the baptism of Catarina scheduled for 5 pm, but didn't happen until 6pm! The stinkin´ game went into penalty kicks and delayed everything! Haha it´s fun being down here though because everything is different. The roads are decorated, houses and stores, practically all of the cars have a Brasilian flag waving in the air... even the TREES are decorated. I love the pride the Brasilians have.

The baptism of Luzinete and her family was delayed because of her boyfriend. Man, its a really complicated situation. She has EIGHT kids, four of them that live with her. The eight kids have two different fathers, and she´s pregnant with one more (yep, that makes nine!) with another man. He´s addicted to drugs and alcohol. Shes trying to get rid of him but its hard because he´s the father of this child on the way (two more months and he´ll be born). It was especially sad because he showed up to church yesterday drunk. My companion and I with a returning member kicked him out of church because of the words he was saying. The returning member is a policeman who called his co-workers to come and get him. The man got scared and walked out on his own. About 50 yards from the church, he collapsed on the ground and went to sleep in the middle of a sidewalk. It made me so sad for various reasons. He´s impeding this family from joining the church and Satan has complete control over him and his body.

However, Catarina and Giovana were baptized this week! Catarina investigating the church 5 years ago but stopped because her entire family are members of Jehovah Witness. We followed up with her this week about her reading in The Book of Mormon where she told us she didn't read. I about died I was so sad, but I felt the spirit to open up with a prayer. I felt impressed to ask Heavenly Father to give us another confirmation that the Book is true - guess what happened. Every received a testimony or confirmation. Catarina and our member who was present, as well as me and my companion. She tossed out the coffee and cigarettes and was baptized. Yeah yeah yeah!

Vanderlei, the one that wanted to follow Christ´s example exactly by being baptized in the (FREEZING) river, was called yesterday as the President of the Young Men. Wow. One month after his baptism, he is already meeting with us in ward counsel. I talked with him and his wife yesterday and they told me, ´´We love you Elder Welch! We are so close to the Savior and feel so important now!´´ It made me happy to know that I played a small part in their conversion. The Lord has been preparing them for a really long time. I also realized how important it is to give recent converts callings in the church. They´re on ´´greenie fire´´ mode! Why not give them a calling? They, like Vanderlei and Claudete felt, will 1.feel really important and 2. elevate the faith in other members.

I spent a lot of time this week studying Christ and how to start a lesson. I realized a promise Chapter 10 has. ´´When you share spiritual experiences in the first visit, they will recognize you as a servant of the Lord.´´ Because Chapter 9 talks about ´´finding those that will receive you´´ this was an answer to my prayers. I need these people to recognize who I am and why I'm visiting them. Para batize-se até o pó!

Boston... Happy birthday man! Love ya! I loved the pictures Ashley sent me of him with Reese and Nixon.

Love you all family! Have a good vacation!

Livin the dream!

Elder Welch

Parabolas

To start out, I received the beloved packages Ive been waiting for so long to receive. Its been over four months since Ive gotten some love, even from the mission office with material. Everything arrived together. Talk about Christmas morning! Haha it was awesome. I had to open them in a couple of days because I only have time at nights after planning to think about the fam!

The picture of Matt at prom seriously shocked me. HOLY SMOKES HE´S HUGE! Haha he always told me that he would beat me up when I got home, which I never believed, but now I can see how it can become a reality... No joke. Its funny too because my companion sometimes talks about Matt and how hes so strong. He thinks youre an animal.

The memory card and oil containers made me really happy. Unfortantely, last month I went to send home a few fotos and EVERYTHING, almost 5 months of my missions fotos were deleted... Man! I said a prayer to just forget about it because I was a little frustrated. Now, its just a fun memory... (not really "fun" but definitely a memory). Anyway, Ill send home my memory card probably in a month or two when I get some more pictures on it.

ITS PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME!! (with out the jelly) OOOHHHHHHH YEAHHHHHHH!!! I was so happy with the peanut butter. Whoo baby! I shouldve taken Elder L Tom Perry´s advice more seriously before the mission...

And the rubix´s cube...

Last month I really spent a lot of time thinking about Christ and how He would teach people today in Socorro. I thought and thought and thought, and finally figured it out with a simple question. Paraboles! (wow, forget how to spell that in english)

This week I started using the rubix´s cube to help people understand the great apostasy and restoration. I literally saw people dumbfounded this week as their minds finally clicked! "I understand it now!" Many people said.

And so it began. I started thinking about and looking for different things in the house to use to teach the way the Savior would. I thought about examples and stories in my life also. This week, I made a big leap forward in the way I taught. As I used stories, objects, and examples, people not only felt the spirit, but understand in their minds as well (principal lesson Abinadi taught to the Priests about the Law of Moses)

Yesterday also, we visited a pastor and attended his small congregation. We talked with him, the lead pastor of the Testimony of Jehovah, and some Catholics this week. No real evident progress yet, but I feel like something big is about to happen here in a couple of weeks. I think we need to look for the smaller congregations first and help them come unto Christ - not to destory these other churches, but to bring them Eternal Life.

Im excited for the work. Its getting hotter and hotter every week! Expect baptism pics next week!

Love,

Elder Welch

Preach My Gospel thought will come next week if you want to keep doing this

Impossible Not to Believe

This week I spent my studies focusing on Abinidi and Nephi, brother of Lehi, and how they "performed" on their missions. The phrase that stuck out to me the most was this one in verse 18- that it was impossible not to believe in his words. The final verse of this chapter says that, "many received baptism..." Ohhhhh, that definitely got me on the edge of my seat. So what did they do? How did Abinidi speak with such converting power in order to help Alma, a PRIEST of King Noah, gain a testimony (who later baptized more than 200 people in one setting) and restored the church? How did Nephi prepare the Nephites and Lamanites for the birth and visitation of The Christ in the Americas? I think I found part of the answer this week in these chapters - Boldness.

Alma 11-18 and the beginning of 3 Nephi give a lot of examples of how they spoke and the result of what they preached. The thing that caught my attention was how they simply, yet boldly taught repentance and a remission of sins. WHAT?! You mean I don't need to teach this and that and that?? Haha I finally realized how simple these lessons need to be. Obviously I need to teach everything before baptism, but the first and second visits need to be simple, bold, and focused on a repentance and a remission of sins. It´s the atonement of Jesus Christ BABY!!

So an update on the Pastors.

We had a meeting with the "Father" of the HUGE catholic church that is in the center of the city. He's always inside of the church, so we had no choice but to enter. I read over the missionary rules to make sure I wasn't going to break any rule before my companion and I entered. We first had to wait in this waiting room with other people that were waiting to confess (man it was so hard not to start talking with the other people there about how to truly receive a remission of sins). We later sat down with the Big Man in one of his offices and had a really good conversation.

We approached it like Ammon. We opened up the conversation more or less like this:

"We know you have a large influence here in Socorro and we were hoping we could help you reach more of the people here. You know probably better then we do, that there are thousands of people here that need the Savior in their lives. We are Representatives of Jesus Christ to bring the joy of His atonement in the lives of all of the citizens of Socorro. We would like to discuss with you some of our goals, and maybe your goals, and work together on this."

He was a little bit taken back by our conversation. We sat there and discussed various topics, finishing with the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Repentance and remission of sins. This was our chance to shine.

We gave him a Book of Mormon with a promise. We bore our testimonies as boldly as we could and then left him an invitation to attend fast and testimony meeting with us the first sunday in July. We said that people need to hear his testimony of Jesus Christ. HE ACCEPTED!! 

The only thing that held us back from inviting him to be baptized was the setting. If it wasn't for the rule that we couldn't preach inside of religious places, we would've.

No! Gotta go unexpectedly. Two more daughters of God returned to the waters of baptism this week! Two more families!!! YES! 

I forgot my USB that has the pictures of the baptism, but here's a picture on my companion's camera of one of the ladies that was baptized! Her marriage was saved thanks to MISSIONARY WORK!

Love you all!

Elder Welch

"Bringing Them to the Knowledge of Their Fathers"

Brittany´s letter last week to me was awesome. The way she talked about the atonement and being grateful for challenges caused me to write a little bit in my journal. I learned a lot and felt the spirit bem forte. Thanks for the letter and update on the family.

Adam, também, was awesome. The best thing you wrote deserves to be in Chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel. ´´If your´re mindful of your time, you waste as little as possible.´´ Genius. And you asked me about the worst thing Ive eaten. I seriously haven't eaten ONE thing I haven't liked. Everything is seriously so good. I'm gaining weight like its my job unfortunately. So, I made a goal with an investigator this week that he drops his habit of smoking and I'll drop my habit of eating desserts. Ohhh man... If I could tell you how many cakes and cookies we received from the members this week... The worst idea ever! But I'm hanging in there. My companion is going hammer time in the kitchen while I eat fruit in the corner...

Dad- sorry to hear about being empty nesters. Haha but I enjoyed the simple letter you wrote about eating s'mores with gma and gpa McFerson and Ashley and Joe and their family. One thing I miss is eating dinner on Sunday outside, and then just sitting at the table and talking for an hour (usually eating an entire package of Oreos...)

And mom, Haha I received a message that I have FOUR packages in Campinas! WHOOOOOPPPPP! Butttt, I have to wait one more week to receive them. Haha oh man, I've been waiting so long for these pictures of the family. I can live without the peanut butter, but without the pictures. Thanks for sending them. And yes, the secretary in Campinas is the best spot to send things. Its actually a mission rule to send everything there.

Well, well, well, we got the transfer call last night.... AND I´M STAYING IN SOCORRO!!! Yeahhhhhhhhhhh! We were with our Branch President yesterday in the car when our leaders called and he pulled over on the side of the road to listen in. After he heard our leader say that we are staying, we started screaming with us. Haha it was so funny. He said, "Yess!! Mais vinte batismos!! Mais cem batismos!" Haha he said 20 more baptisms... paused... and then said 100 more baptisms. Haha he helps us out so much here. I'm grateful for the trust the Lord and our Mission President have in us to work here in the tiny town of Socorro.

We received a rule this week that we have to stay in our house this week when Brasil is playing in the World Cup. Last week Socorro started decorating the entire town with flags and different things to get ready for this week. They put up things just about on the church house too! They're crazy! Haha but our mission president made it really clear that we have to stay inside each time Brasil is playing. Mixture of safety and unproductivity. Happy studying for me!

In Preach My Gospel, Chapter 10, it starts out quoting a scripture in D&C 11:21. The Lord promised that we could persuade people (convert them) by the way we talk. This hit me hard the past couple of weeks, knowing that I could literally, (not me but the Spirit) convert someone that would generally not accept the restored gospel. What I have to do to prepare for these things is something I have begun on my own each morning and night. I know the Lord is hastening His work, I just need to keep up with His pace. 

With these pastors and other members of churches, I really have a firm hope that they´ll be baptized and remain active. Seriously, if one more person tells me "I was born catholic, Ill die a catholic" (or any other religion) I'm going to go ninja on their faces. The Scripture in Helaman 15:7-8, and throughout all of the Book of Mormon, about trying to convince the Laminites of the incorrectness of their fathers is exactly what I'm doing. "Have you ever stopped to think that what your parents taught you is wrong?" Sure it´s harsh, but eternity hangs in the balance.

As I strive to become more like the Savior, His purpose becomes my purpose.

I'm living the dream as the greenie fire continues to motivate us do everything we can.

Love,

Elder Welch

There´s some KILLER videos of the life of Christ on lds.org. I want so badly to watch them, but know that I will miss time on the computer that I could write family. I usually watch one every p-day. If you can however, (for my birthday?? YEeee!!) is burn them on to a couple discs and send them to me. We have a mini DVD player in our apartment and I could watch them when I work out in the morning. Seriously, they'll motivate me to cut off this fat on my "love handles." 

Pastor Searching

I had a study this past Wednesday that literally burned me. I felt like Shadrach, Meeshack, and Abednego (yikes on the spelling) burning in a furnace without any pain. I was so filled with the hope the Spirit brings, I left our apartment yelling (in a loving voice) that ´´Christ loves you!´´ Realizing how ridiculous I was, I cooled down a little bit, but not very much. Here´s why.

I had already had this knowledge in my head but the Spirit finally burned the testimony in my heart that I couldn't help but share it. This is the time in the history of the world unlike anything before. Every prophet, every dispensation, looked and awed at our day - probably giving them motivation. How depressing it would be to be a prophet back in the days of Moses or Noah, knowing that your work would eventually end in apostasy? As Elder Holland has said, they probably were able to stiffen their shoulders knowing that one day, our day, the gospel would roll forth and spread to every land and reach every heart. I'm living in this day. I'm a missionary who just got subbed in to hit a couple free-throws and seal the deal at the end of the game.

I started thinking about the examples of the missionaries in the scriptures. One of them that inspired me was Ammon, who stood bold in front of the king, called him to repentance, and converted the entire land! Right now, I'm only reaching one person at a time. If I'm lucky, baptizing or rescuing one soul every other week. But this is the TIME for missionary work. Because of Ammon´s example, along with the story of Christ and Peter at the end of the book of John, I went ´´Pastor Searching.´´

Every street contact I did this week that ended in ´´Sorry, I have my own religion,´´ I asked them where their leader lived. AsSunday night came to a close, we had 7 addresses of pastors and leaders of different churches here in Soccorro - 7th day Adventist, Jehovah Witness, Catholic, Congregation of Christians... You name it, we have it! Why? I have this dream of baptizing hundreds and hundreds of people, and I can´t do this only going door to door.

As I explained last week, I´ve been putting the Book of Mormon up to the test to every one of these leaders. Not with the purpose to boost my pride, but to have the opportunity to reach more of our Heavenly Father´s children. If I could work with the Spirit to convert one leader, imagine how many souls would be rescued... It gives me goosebumps.

I quickly learned however how key it is to be bold. Ive begun standing face to face (not bible bashing) and putting all the marbles on the table with the Book of Mormon. 7th day worship, mode of baptism, priest craft, etc... All based on the Book of Mormon. With my companion, we have begun inviting these leaders to be baptized. One has already accepted, on the condition if the Book of Mormon is true (yes! count on it!)

Anyway, I knelt down one night this week incredibly sad. I saw for the first time in my life, the hand of the enemy incredibly evident. Just about every drug that exists I saw this week, 12 year old girls living with 20 year old men, 27 year old men living with 44 year old women... The sin that exists in this city was killing me, so I knelt down with a desire to reach more, faster.

During this prayer, the story of Peter and Christ came to my mind, proving that prayer is a two way communication.

Peter and the apostles fished the entire night and didn't catch one fish. They didn't catch ONE SINGLE, TINY FISH, not even a bass, that seems to eat the same bait off the same hook every ten minutes. Christ that morning walked along the shore and simply said,

´´Children! (You look hungry!) Do you have anything to eat?´´

Frustrated probably, they replied, ´´No! Leave us alone!´´

 With a simple command to put their fishing net on the other side of the boat, and obedience to this command, the apostles caught 153 fish - bearing testimony to John that, ´´It was the Lord.´´

The two questions, ´´Children, are you hungry?´´ and ``(Elder Welch) do you love me?´´ are still causing me to think. I've changed and changed and changed to try to put my line on the ´´other side of the boat´´ but I'm not dragging in the 153 fishes that Peter and the apostles dragged in. Why not, if this is the time, baptize 153 in one setting? or 204 like Alma did at the waters of Mormon. Orrrr, 3000 like Peter did later in Acts chapter 2.

I'm examining where my fishing net is, and will strive to put it on the right side of the boat this week. I'm excited for the results!

With faith!

Elder Welch