Seneca, Seneca, Seneca News!

I'm not even in the Seneca Zone anymore, but that is the song going through my head right now.  When I was there, our zone leaders would leave us weekly voice mails beginning with their little "radio show" diddy.  And it's so catchy it just keeps coming back.

This past week, my Dad emailed me your guesses to what the mysterious "32" could mean, and I am so pleased that you all think so highly of me!  But none of you came quite close enough to qualify for the prize.  And now I'm a little embarrassed to give you the real answer, but just in case you were worried about me getting translated, I'll let you know what the truth is.  Ultimately, I'm still very human, and still very much a girl, and the number 32 does not represent anything near as spiritual as you were all thinking.  And, I know you're all DYING to know the answer, so the big 32 represents this: the number of skirts I have!  haha.  Don't worry, I'm getting rid of a lot of them.  And one has a hole in it because I tried to iron it and the iron was too hot. Yep.  The miracle of it is, though, that I haven't let myself go shopping in 11 months, so all of the sisters feel bad for me and give me their clothes.  :]  Pretty smart, huh? Tee hee.  And a little ridiculous.  Sometimes I think Washington D.C. North isn't a mission.  It's too good!  So anyway, there's the answer.  (And the prize would have been one of my skirts.  Bahaha!)

On to more spiritual things.  I am so grateful to be in this area.  I am really learning to appreciate the little tender mercies.  For example, now when people are nice, it's a huge miracle.  This past week has been the week of less actives, and we have been able to see so many that have been hostile before.  That's huge.  I wish I could describe the feeling of standing on a stranger's doorstep, with another girl that you don't know that well, waiting for that stranger to open the door, only to see your badge and not even look at your face before slamming the door right as you go to testify, but then realizing that your companion is testifying and the less active is saying, "Come in! Come in!"  It's glorious.  (Did that even make sense?  It was a little convoluted, but oh well.) That same experience kept happening this week!  We saw so many people that we didn't think would be willing to listen.  It was incredible.

It strengthens my testimony that Heavenly Father is in control, and I love the way that he chooses to remind people of our existence.  Meaning, we ran into Samuel last week.  Samuel was the Dad that was in the army and had been deployed to the Middle East twice.  His wife is Jehovah's Witness, but loved us and wanted us to teach him.  So we ran into him, and committed him to come to church. Our exchanges are always such a spiritual experience that it gives me faith in him, but he's still struggles to keep his commitments, so pray for him.  We also saw Devon, the only nonmember in a less active household and ran into him a few more times last week.  We're supposed to teach him.  (Signs like that make life a lot easier).  

And Tevin came to church!!! Such a huge miracle. I'm giving the credit to Sister Wankier, because it was really her doing, and she is the one that got him to commit, and helped him to be excited.  So much faith, that girl.  Please keep Tevin in your prayers too.  This gospel has the answers to his questions and he's the type that has to figure it out for himself.  And he will.

Now, I've been realizing lately that I don't talk about the little things and the details of my specific mission, so I wanted to tell a little story about that.  Last night was a program called, "Night of Music and Inspiration."  This is an event that lasts about an hour and it includes talks and songs that follow a certain theme.  Each month, a different Sister is in charge of planning this event.  Sister Bleazard had this month, and hers was in Spanish. Well, most of the people that come to these speak English, so we needed someone to translate.  Translating here is pretty fancy because we have a booth in the main theater where the translator sits, listens to the speaker through headphones, and then translates into a microphone so that those with the headsets in the audience can hear without disturbing anyone.  The problem with last night was that all of the sisters that could translate were in the program.  So I needed to ask one of the Elders, and Elder White happened to walk through the door right as I was looking for a translator.  He's been out the same amount of time I have and is great with Spanish, so I asked him, and he got this nervous look on his face.  But Spanish to English is a lot easier then vice versa, so I told him he'd be fine, and he said he'd do it.  Then he told me, "But if I don't understand what they're saying I'm just going to start telling jokes.  I might even say, 'If you thought that joke was funny raise your hand...'"  I had to laugh because I had this image in my head of all of the English-speaking audience members raising their hands in the middle of this incredible program.  Too funny.  Luckily, he understood everything and the night went smoothly.  Just another moment in the life of a VC Sister.

And I wish I could share more.  But next time.  I love you all!  Stay true to what's eternal.

Love, Sister Welch

Camerooooooon.

I told President Matsumori today that sometimes I wish my brain worked just a little bit faster, but when it doesn't, there's usually a good story involved.

And that's exactly what happened this Tuesday. 

In the morning we had district meeting, then lunch, and we had about 30 minutes before we needed to go up to the Visitors' Center for shift.  We checked on some potentials that said they'd be home, but who weren't there, so we went to Elvis St.--a street we'd started to tract a few days before.  We came to one house that looked very normal, and after we knocked on the door, a little African girl and her brother opened it.  We asked to speak with their parents, and so she went to get her Dad, who came to the door looking like he had just woken up from a nap.  As we talked to him, we heard a woman upstairs yelling for him to close the door, but he listened and when we told him that we had a message from God centered on families he actually let us in!

We went inside and as we looked up, Sister Holt and I noticed a younger African man dressed in white robes and a red hat who was sitting in a chair in the living room.  When we walked in, he got up from the chair  and headed upstairs.  I was thinking that we didn't want to let him get away, so I quickly said, "Oh, I like your hat." But he just smiled and kept walking upstairs.  The man who had come to the front door (his name was Akem) brought us into his living room, had us sit down on the couch, and he sat across from us on the smaller couch.  We started to get to know him and he said that he had four children, and the woman upstairs was his mother.  He also said that we were very fortunate to come to his home at this time, because he was blessed to be hosting the king of his country.  "Actually," he said, "the man you just met was the king." 

My response: "Oh....what country are you from...?"
Akem: "Cameroon."
Me: "Oh....." 
Then in my head I realized, "I just told the King of Cameroon that I like his hat!"  Oh my.

He never came back downstairs for the lesson, but we did teach the entire Restoration lesson to Akem and his children, and he'd like us to come back next week to answer his "questions of the soul."  I wish we'd had more time to learn the situation and reason for a king of Cameroon to be in Lanham, Maryland, but we had limited time and wanted to be tactful.  However, after relating this story to Elder Cardall, he did some research and learned that kings in Cameroon are simply tribal leaders, and that presently there are three of them in Maryland right now. 

And I told one of them that I like his hat.  Good grief. I hope that Cameroon still lets missionaries into the country.  If they don't, this blog post is probably getting deleted.  :]


As for the rest of the week, we had another miracle this past Monday, with a girl that was teaching US how to be missionaries.  Before we left she said, "Well, are we going to say a prayer?" then after the prayer, "Okay, so what chapter do you want me to read from this book before you come back?" Amazing.  She is so prepared and will be an incredible missionary herself one day. 

And we're still working with the ward.  The song "Onward Christian Soldiers" always comes to mind when I think of them.  One of these days I want to write a post dedicated to them and their incredible faith and testimonies.  Amazing, amazing people.  I'm always humbled with them, whether it be my own choice, or because I'm compelled (ahem...forced) to be.  I think when my time is through here, I may love this ward more than any other I've been in.

Oh!  I just remembered another story.  I don't have much time, so this will be quick, but we went to visit Betty, our new investigator, last week.  She was the one that left Reid Temple (the mega church) to come to our smaller church across the street.  Well, last week we learned that she speaks in tongues, receives prophecy, and pray-sings with the angels.  It was quite the experience, let me tell you.  She told us that people are usually scared of her, but she doesn't understand why.  I didn't exactly know what to say to that...   I think I ended up telling her that she has a beautiful voice and should do a musical number in church sometime.  By the way, her singing prayer was two words, 'oh lord' and it sounded like something the medieval monks would sing.  I kept my head bowed very low and only peaked twice during the prayer.  And yep, it really happened.  It was real.  But she's a sweet, sweet lady and wants to make this new religion a part of her life, only she wants to do it on her own time frame and in her own way.  I'll keep you posted on her.

And the best for last: JEROME'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!   Wahhhhhh!  He's been taught since September and this is so huge for so many sisters.  He's been through 6 or 7 of us.  I'm so excited for him!  More to come on that, too.

"Well, dat's all 4 today" as our Ghanian investigator Theo (said Tee-Oh) would say.


Stay true to what's eternal.


Love you all,

Sister Welch

Shorty

Sorry this one is short.  But you'll be glad when you see why.

Sheri is amazing.  The last time we saw her, she told us she had bought some skirts because that's all she sees us wear, and she took off all of her nail polish because we never wear nail polish.  She's incredible.  Then, we asked her how she was doing with the "no smoking" and she just started crying. She said, "I stopped...And I stopped the coffee and tea and everything."  We were ecstatic, of course, and I started crying to (of course) and when we asked her what it was that gave her the power she said, "I don't know.  I just had the desire and the prayers strong enough to help me."    The church is true. 

Enjoy the pictures.

Stay true to what is eternal.

Love, Sister Welch

Bah!!!!! This computer is not working and I ran out of time.  But know that I tried and will get them to you next week.  Bah technology.  I need Spencer.

Love you!

A little poem

I always have to laugh when p-day rolls around, because without fail, the day before p-day is always INCREDIBLE.  So I count it as a blessing because my faith is strengthened and my emails are happy.  But I want you all to know that this is HARD work.  And I can't even explain the word "hard."  Anyone who has been a missionary understands, and anyone who will be a missionary one day will eventually understand too...but wow.  A mission is everything and nothing like what I expected.  And I love it. 

As for the past week...where to begin.  I LOVE personal study time.  Did I already tell you that? I can't remember, but I've never had it until this transfer, due to my VC schedule, and it's the best.  At the mission tour/zone conference, Sister Matsumori talked about how personal study is study by ourself, and not for ourself, and I can honestly say that I get so much more out of my studies when I'm studying for investigators.  This past week I studied gratitude, because we were doing a family night with a less active and his two little kids.  And I wasn't going to tell the whole story, but it's such a miracle, that I think I'm going to write it anyway.

Okay, so Mitch was someone we met our first night here.  He lives in a basement apartment with his two kids (ages 5 and 3 I think), so we couldn't come in, but we asked if we could do a family night sometime soon. He said sure, and so we went on our way, and didn't think much of it.  However, when we brought it up to Bishop, his eyes got really big and he said, "Really...?" Apparently, Mitch had not been receptive at all to people from church in the past, even the elders.  His family (parents and siblings) is super active, live in Utah, and he left the church right before he got his mission call.  It hurt my heart to hear that, thinking about how much he lost by that decision, but it made us even more determined to make this a good experience for him.  So we decided to make it a Thanksgiving lesson (pretty appropriate, right?) and to read in Luke 17 about the 10 lepers.  There is so much symbolism in that story, that it made it easy to connect with Mitch.  The catch for this lesson though, was to find the right person to go with us.  There are so many young couples his age in the ward, but that could be touchy, since he was just divorced, and he needed someone younger, but the only single youngish woman in the ward was busy.  Then the thought came, "Call Jazmine."  Now, Jazmine is also a less active, but she's 21, really outgoing, and was pretty open when we met her, so we thought, "Why not?"  We called her, she said yes, and she came! It was truly inspired and perfect for everyone.  We were laughing, and happy, and the spirit there was peaceful.  And everything else had fallen into place, too.  At the last minute, we found a picture of Jesus cleansing the lepers for the kids to color, grandma sent me crayons that we could give to the kids (which they loved, by the way), and Sister Wong had a treat that went perfect with the lesson.  It all worked out so smoothly, and it may not sound like that big of a deal, but in the missionary world, when every other appointment cancels, when people aren't open with us, and when we just learn to deal with glitches in our plans, it was amazing to see everything fall into place.  A miracle. 

And other miracle: Sheri.  I'll talk more about her next week because I'm out of time, but she was a referral that we taught last week and she's golden! Pray for her.  She is just so prepared for this.

Also, I wanted to include a poem that helped me make it through one of those hard days when I was feeling insignificant, and not great enough for this work.  It was quoted by President Monson, and I don't have the exact reference, but here it is:

Father, where shall I work today?

And my love flowed warm and free.

Then He pointed out a tiny spot

And said, "Tend that for me."

I answered quickly, "Oh no; not that!

Why, no one would ever see.

No matter how well my work was done;

Not that little place for me."

And the word He spoke, it was not stern;

He answered me tenderly:

"Ah, little one, search that heart of thine,

Art thou working for them or for me?

Nazareth was a little place,

And so was Galilee."

Beautiful, isn't it? I read it often and it's such a strength to me. 

I love you all! I hope you're doing your missionary work at home.  I know your lives will be blessed in every way as you share the gospel.  That's my promise to you as a missionary. 

Love, Sister Welch

Faith is Real!

So, just to start off with, I have the most amazing story for you!!!  Last Thursday or Friday, Sister Hazen and I were at Taco Bell and we started talking to this older couple, Paul and Nancy.  They had just lost everything with the economy crash, and Paul is in his 80's and had to go back to work.  They were at ground zero, and pretty humble, and we just happened to run into them.  :]  They were so interested in what we do as missionaries, and they told us they'd come to the visitors' center on Saturday.  We asked them where they lived, and talked some more, then left and planned to see them on Saturday.  Well, they didn't come, so yesterday we planned to visit them.  I was driving, and when we got up to their street, I heard Sister Hazen gasp.  She's like, "We didn't get their address."  I just laughed, because here we were, only with the street name.  But we pulled over and I'm like, "Here's what we're going to do.  We'll just pray and drive down the street until we feel like we should stop."  So Sister Hazen prayed and asked for us to be guided according to our faith.  Once she said Amen, I knew exactly where to go.  It was amazing!!  We stopped in front of their house, walked up to the door, knocked, and who opened it?  Nancy.  Sister Hazen was speechless and I just started laughing.  And to make it better, Nancy acted like it was perfectly normal that we were there.  She was about to leave though, so we didn't get to talk to her, but we'll go back soon.  Wow.  That made my night. 

 

As for the rest of the week before this experience, it's been great.  We've seen a real change in Ralph (from Ghana).  Did I tell you he has a baptismal date for August 28th?  Pray for him!!!  We taught the word of wisdom last time we met, and instead of trying to teach us, or just listening apathetically, he was taking notes! And writing down everything he needed to work on. He hasn't had any alcohol since we taught him, but he's still struggling with the coffee because he wakes up at 4am to go to work and feels like he needs it.  Sad.  But I know once he really commits to live it, he'll be given the strength he needs.  And he's reading the Book of Mormon, and praying, and he's been to church 3 times in a row, and to the Visitors' Center once.  It's incredible to see the change in his countenance, and behavior.  He's going to make it!  We're teaching him tomorrow and hopefully he'll come to the "Why I Believe" program.  Ah!  He's so great.

 

Audrey Dyer is also incredible.  And unreal.  Our last lesson she was asking us to explain the large and small plates of Nephi!  Honestly, what investigator does that? She keeps us on our toes, that's for sure.  And her questions.  So, the first two principles in the Restoration lesson are "God is Our Loving Heavenly Father" and "The Gospel Blesses Families".  We were planning on incorporating prayer into every principle and so we start by asking her how her relationship with God has changed over the years and she goes right into prayer.  Then to tie the principles together, we were going to invite her to pray with John, but no need, because she starts talking about how she wishes that John would pray with her.  Wow.  It's so funny to plan lessons for her because she answers almost like it's on cue.  Oh!  And this was funny too.  We want her to read the Book of Mormon daily, and we knew she was somewhere in 2 Nephi.  We were going to have her read starting with 2 Nephi 25 to the end of 2 Nephi.  When we asked her where she was in her reading, she opened up to her bookmark, and it was at 2 Nephi 25.  Crazy. 

 

I've had some amazing things happen at the VC as well.  On chat, we met Paul, a 55 year old Methodist who is SO excited to read the Book of Mormon.  In his words, "A book about people that lived in America hundreds of years ago?  Wow!  That is something I have to read!"  So exciting.  We have a chat appointment with him for next week.  It's so neat that we can teach people over the internet.  I love seeing how the Lord uses technology to accomplish his purposes.  I really believe that he allowed technology to be created so that his purposes could be fulfilled more effectively.  It's amazing.

 

Well, it's already time to go.  Pray for Ralph, and Audrey and John.  We have a good friendship with John, but he hasn't sat in on any of our lessons with Audrey yet. 

 

One more thought I had.  I gave the spiritual thought in District Meeting, and it was on faith, something I've been thinking about a lot lately.  And I realized this: We need to have faith in faith.  It's real.  I'll let you think about that thought, since I don't have time to explain it.  But some great scriptures: 1 Nephi 7:12, Moroni 7:33, Alma 7: 17-18.

 

I love you all and I pray for you.  It's so good to hear how you're doing, both friends and family.  Thank you for your faith and prayers.  I'll be sending blessings your way.  :]

 

-Sister Welch

Have a Blessed Day

That is something that EVERYONE says here.  I love it.  We talk to people and before we walk away, even if they weren't the kindest to us, or wouldn't listen, they are sure to tell us to "have a blessed day" before they walk away or close the door.  It's kind of a joke among the missionaries and a lot of them say it in their phone's voicemail.  It might be one of the things I pick up from D.C.  :]

So, I forgot to bring the paper with all of the miracles from last week, so you'll just have to wait for those again, but I have some good news: we got 10 new investigators last week!!!!  Which in the English program here, is unheard of.  It's been quite the week.  I'll try to remember everything, but you may get some repeats when I write my email next week and include all of the blessings I wrote down every day.

We've had some GREAT lessons.  We taught Ishmael and brought our ward mission leader, Drew Richardson, who got home from his mission about 2-3 years ago, so he was great to have.  Ishmael's two friends were there as well and their names were Jonathan and L.J., which I kid you not, stands for Little John.  I tried not to, but I laughed so hard when he told me that.  I didn't think he was being serious!  But he was.  And his name's Little John.  Anyway, we taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation, and it took over an hour because they kept asking so many great questions! We used a lot of scriptures from both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to show how they complement each other and how both are the word of God.  We also spent a lot of time explaining authority and how baptism is a necessary saving ordinance, not just an optional way to show our faith.  All three of them were having a hard time understanding that, which is interesting to me because it's right there in the Bible, but I think at this school they're attending, the professors are teaching them a little differently.  We also committed all three of them to read and pray to know that it's true.  It makes me laugh sometimes, how simple the gospel is, and how simple it is to follow, but people just refuse to do themselves a favor and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  So if you would, pray for Ishmael and his friends.  They need a little push in their lives.

Another great lesson we had was with the Dyers.  They are the type of people I thought I'd be teaching when I heard Washington D.C.: white, wealthy, high class, educated, etc.  (They're also in their early 60's, just for future reference)  They've been coming to church for months with their neighbors, the Willis', but the Willis' didn't want the missionaries to teach them, for whatever reason.  But, on Friday night, both Sister Hazen and I felt like we should visit them, so we went over, and they were home (between their vacations to Costa Rica and Alaska) and they invited us in.  We'd met them before, and they are very gracious people, but we spent the first five minutes getting to know them until Audrey Dyer just asked, "Could you teach me?  We'll do a weekly thing for about an hour every week and could you just answer my questions and come teach me?"  AHHHHH!!!  Of course we can!!!  But then it gets better.  She said, "I really want to be baptized and join your church.  I just have a few concerns."  Which ended up being that her sister-in-law owns a coffee plantation and she's worried about what her friends might think.  And she's afraid she doesn't know enough.  Those are her concerns.  She's already living the Word of Wisdom (except for coffee), she gets the Ensign mailed to her, she's consistent at church, she's reading the Book of Mormon, and she's so ready!  She said her husband is on this journey with her as well, but he's just moving at a little slower pace. I have faith though, that they'll be baptized before the end of the transfer.  And they'll be solid when they do join.  She said that herself.  She said, "I just want to make sure I'm ready when I do this because it will be a commitment I make for the rest of my life."  And eternity, I thought, but she'll come to understand that.  Ah!  I'm so excited to teach them.  I'll keep you updated.

Rebecca (Giovana's little sister) is also doing great.  She read Alma 40 in the Book of Mormon, and we had a good lesson with her.  She's not scared of asking questions, and she has her own way of thinking, but she's open with us, so teaching her is a treat.  Giovana isn't as committed, but she's a single Mom, works all the time, and just has a crazy schedule, so it's harder.  But both are really interested and will hopefully be coming to church soon.

Mr. Ralphy

Malea was another miracle.  And a member referral.  She's so prepared and told us she wants to join the church, but she's sadly not in our area.  Her member friend is in our ward, but Malea's in a completely different stake, so we gave her up to another set of sisters.  They were ecstatic and I'm really excited for them.  Malea is wonderful.

A little story before I go.  A couple nights ago, our power was out when we got home.  And it was a pitch black, humid, 90 degrees in our apartment.  Bleh.  We luckily had a 72 hour kit with glow sticks and a flashlight, so we did our planning by the light of two glow sticks, got ready for bed, and then just laid there on our blankets, sweating.  It was SO HOT.  And I really am not complaining, by the way.  I have no right to when there are missionaries across the world who never have air conditioning.  But I was just laying there laughing at the situation when Sister Hazen ran into the kitchen, and came back with all of these packages of frozen food.  It was going to thaw out anyway, so why not use it, right?  But then I really couldn't get to sleep because Sister Hazen had a bag of burritos on her head, and I had a package of vegetables on my stomach, and it was hilarious.  Maybe you would have had to be there to think it's funny, but just imagine us laying there with frozen food all over, trying to cool us down.  Funny.

And I know I probably say this every time, but Sister Hazen is so great!  We just laugh all the time and we have such a strong companionship.  It's amazing what can happen when there's unity and love.  10 new investigators, for example.  And as a side note, they're all a different race.  I love it.  Brazilian, Filipino, African, Caucasian, Hispanic, etc.  It really is a different country here and I'm loving every minute.  

I hope all is going well for you and I love hearing from you all. I'll try to respond to your letters as soon as I can, but know that I pray for you (family and friends) often.  Have a blessed day!

-Sister Welch 

Seeing the Future Everyday

Katherine has relinquished her blog to me.  

It will be my responsibility to post her letters and pictures 

and. . . 

to minimize my editorializing.  (Epic failure by Dad already)

We have word that she is safely in the MTC (Thanks Madison) and the 18 months have now officially started.  We hope you enjoy these pictures from last night and this morning.

With her first companion as assigned by our Stake President.

Entering the airport,

At the ticket counter (First bag weighed 49.5 lbs!)

Leaving her first companion, her cell phone, her computer but not her faith as she enters airport security after having said good-bye.

Thanks to all our daughter's friends.  

We love you for your support.

And keep her in your prayers.