Christmas Week

This week has been good. Lessons and such.

The only problem has been people leaving for village

throughout the week so our teaching pool has greatly

decreased. We were going to have a baptism for example

this Sunday but the girl who was supposed to be is

leaving with her family for the village. We are planning

on and hoping for 5 baptisms the 26^th to end the year off.

They will be baptized and confirmed the same day just

to avoid any confusion with things going into the next year.

Nothing too interesting really to tell you the truth besides a

Christmas party that the Kampala Stake had on Saturday.

Turns out it was really just a devotional and the Stake

Presidency spoke. The talks were a little bit slow and

boring but it was good. That’s what the pics of the

missionaries sleeping and yawning are from by the way

haha. After I was expecting a ton of food but nope,

just a banana, cupcake, and a samoosa. After I brought

some boxes for people to throw their garbage in and

apparently I didn’t explain to them how throwing garbage

in a box works, because I came back to see no one there

in different areas with an empty box and garbage everywhere.

Us missionaries just cleaned it up hoping people would start

understanding the concept.

Sunday we had our Ward Christmas program. It was good

besides the fact that the Bishop had to stop everyone midway

through one of the songs because no one was singing it right

at all. That was pretty funny. M , P , and T were confirmed too

and I performed M and T ’s confirmations so it was pretty cool.

The night was good.

Today we just worked out a bit and I cut my hair again for this

next transfer. That’s about all that there is to write about really.

I can’t wait to call you guys this Saturday. It will be awesome.

Remember, around 9 in the morning. I love you guys!

Elder Welch

Moving day

The week was good but a bit stressful because of
a lot of moving and a few wasted days of work.
Tuesday we expected to move all day and than
in the afternoon they called and told us they
wouldn’t be able to move us that day after all.
We just went to our area for a couple of hours
and taught some lessons and went home after a
half day wasted.
The next day we finally moved into our new place
which is nice and cozy. Not too big but not too
small. We are the only ones in the small
walled complex which is a very nice change.
We are right smack dab in the middle of all of
the Catholic buildings though so it’s a bit
awkward. The first few hours we were there we
had a couple of nuns come to our door and were
surprised to see a few white guys answer the
door. Pretty funny.
Thursday we had a Leadership Training at the
Mission Home in Kololo all day. I gave a short
10 minute training and it was pretty fun, but
another day without seeing people.
On Friday we finally got to see people and set
up times to interview them for baptism but again
I had a “Leadership Retreat” with the Zone
Leaders, the other District Leaders in the Zone,
and the Traveling Assistants. Pretty good but I
didn’t get to see anyone again!
Saturday we stressed about finding everyone and
getting them interviewed for baptism. We talked to K,
who’s brother is an RM
and who was going to baptize her yesterday, and it
turns out she had some sickness that was causing her
much discomfort. She was so determined to just get
baptized and than go to village but we told her
we would just do everything when she got back.
Man that was kind of a bummer.
Sunday was stressful too. Church started and it had
been raining all morning and was still raining when
it started. There were maybe 20
people there overall and the people who were going to
be baptized didn’t show up. I was so stressed out. Well
the three eventually showed up and my fervent prayers
throughout the meeting were answered. P, T, and M were
all baptized yesterday. It was awesome. P is pretty
awesome and knows everything. She bore a powerful
testimony after she was baptized.
T is a bit shy but she too is a cool girl. We found
both her and
M through P. M is only about 13 but he’s a funny
kid. Just pretty cool and laid back.
Well that was the week. Pretty good but like always,
full of stress.
Hope you are all doing well and that you feel my
prayers for you all each night. The church is true,
just read the scriptures and it is
obvious. You can do that or an even easier way is
just simply feel it is true through the power of God.
A testimony is a heck of a thing.

Elder Welch

the week flew by...

We sang a few Christmas songs at church this last Sunday.
I love Christmas time. We plan on singing carols this
month as a District and maybe with a few members on like
street corners or at parks.

This week flew by again. I feel like I was just sitting here.
Tuesday we set a baptismal date with K for Dec. 12.
She’s came the lastfew weeks and she has good relations to
the church. It was seriously a miracle we found her in
the middle of the slums. We’re having her
‘brother’ baptize her I think. His name is F K and I think I
mentioned before he’s in charge of missionaries apartments
and that kind of stuff. He’s even the one who found our
new apartment they are setting up.

Thursday a member made us some make shift macaroni and cheese
which was good.

Saturday started good but ended badly. I ate some fish
fillet at a restaurant for lunch and by our next lesson,
I wasn’t feeling so well at all. I fell asleep during the
lesson and I woke up and I felt like someone had beat my
entire body with a stick. I had a bad headache and
we had to rush to the church so I could so some… business.
I then laid in the church for like an hour and got really cold.
I felt like I had malaria but I knew that wasn’t possible
since I take my pill every day. I went to bed early that night
even and started feeling better by the next day. I didn’t
eat anything until Sunday night so that was
quite a bit of time since I ate that dirty fish fillet for
lunch on Saturday. Whatevers.

Sunday was still good. We had 8 investigators come and 4
of them have baptismal dates. The three families didn’t
show up again which made me pretty sad. The one’s who got
lost last week I showed to a less active
guy hoping he would bring them this Sunday. Of course he
didn’t show so they probably didn’t know where the church was.

It is going to suck around here because of the holidays.
People are going to their villages and a couple of our baptismal
date candidates are leaving for almost two months. It sucks
how people just pick up and go to village so often without
telling anyone. People just disappear that way.

It’s been hard starting this new area back up but I know
that in no time this ward will be back on it’s feet.
God works in mysterious ways sometimes. It’s good to be set
apart as a missionary because it’s a
totally different feeling. I understand why the always said
Jesus wept. When I feel the Spirit now I always feel like weeping.
I know we all feel the Spirit in different ways but I think
when you see anyone crying when bearing testimony, that they
are bearing it by the Spirit of God. I love that feeling!

Well I hope you all are continuing to do awesome.

Elder Welch

P.S. I forgot to explain that we had Japanese food on Friday night. So
that’s where those awesome pics come from. Also on Sunday night we
went to a birthday party for two members. Pretty fun!

Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas 1984

Thanksgiving

The work is grand!
I forgot it was Thanksgiving until the night
time when someone reminded me. We didn’t do
anything eventful but ate some leftovers at the
Assistants place that they had made. The week
has been interesting and flew by for the most
part like usual.
Sorry this email might be short because for some
reason I forgot my planner at the Assistants
apartment and I’m emailing in a city I’m not
used to. The reason for that is because this week
we had the power turned off at our flat and we were
told that we owed 700,000 shillings
for the power. That is like an entire years worth
of power charges! It turns out that the couples had
been paying the landlord the money to
pay for the power and how the woman must have been
pocketing the money. She expected us to pay the entire bill,
again!
Well Elder S who is one of the couple missionaries in
charge of finances just said pack your things, your leaving.
So Thursday we spent the whole day cleaning and packing.
think he wanted us to move so fast because we also
didn’t have water and were having to shower at
the church.
On Wednesday we did have a good DDM though. We had it
at the church and as a District we watched the District 2
and we ordered a couple pizzas from a pretty good pizza
place we found that delivers. It was
an excellent DDM. One of the Elders who has been out
15 months told me it was the best DDM he’s had all mission.
It’s always good to learn new things but to have some
fun and enjoyment at the same time right?
Anyways, when we moved out they wanted to find us a
place but we can’t move into the new place until Dec. 1
so for now, we are staying with
the Assistants in Ntenda. It’s pretty fun having 6 guys
in the house.

Sunday was good but a little sad seeing that not a lot
f people came to church. We had a family we wanted to
come because they have a baptismal date for the 12th and
there are like 6 of them but I guess
they were in Village so we missed them. The other
missionaries did have a baptism of this woman named V
who comes from a semi-Muslim family. The woman’s mother,
who is Muslim, actually encouraged her to
be baptized because of the positive change that happened
in her other daughters who joined the church. Pretty awesome!
So today Elder C and I are just wondering around
Ntenda since the AP’s and the Zone Leaders had a Zone Leaders
Council all day in Kololo. Everything is great though only
that this computer I’m on doesn’t have a USB port to put
my camera in so I might not send any
pictures home this week.

The family seriously sounds so awesome! Being here makes
me appreciate you all so much. I was telling some of the
others how the littlebthings in life are more appreciated
here on mission. Some little things I really enjoy now
and give me a good feeling are things like
the shade, a cold drink, a good meal, people coming to church,
incenses, running water, having power, a cool day, kind
children,understanding adults, seeing members, a Dr. Pepper,
a funny moment, a package, and many other small things
I’ve never really appreciated before. I wish you all
could come here and your lives back home would
be so much better I guarantee it! I don’t think anything
on mission is better
than just a package. That can make the week seem better!
Love you all.

Elder Welch

My new area is pretty sweet. It’s right in Kampala

and it has the American Embassy so like I said before,

that means pretty good American food around here.

Being a DL is a little more responsibility but it is pretty

awesome. It makes it easier to be the DL in the same

apartment as the Zone Leaders. They help me out a lot.

Elder T is a pretty cool Cali boy. He’s lost like 45 pounds

on mission apparently and looking at pics of him in the

past is hilarious. Both my companion and him are like 6’4

so I’m the short guy in the District unfortunately. The

Ward is good, except yesterday we had the Kampala

Stake Conference so I don’t know how many people

from Nsambya were able to make it to that.

The wedding sounds BALLER! I’m sad I wasn’t there

physically but I was definitely there spiritually. We almost

had a mock wedding at our place last night where we

were going to make my companion put on a mop for hair

and do that recreation so I could be there. We didn’t

end up doing that though unfortunately. We have a lot

of fun being able to understand each other and

having similar interests. Pretty legit.

The week was great. Monday we just emailed and ate

some pretty tasty sandwiches at a Belgium hotel place

called La Petit Village. They have amazing breakfast

and amazing deli sandwiches. I love being able to go to

a place like that!

Tuesday we were able to get a referral from the former

ZL in Nsambya who is now the AP and he showed us a

family of like 10 that is really eager to hear about the

church but was forgotten about by the people who replaced

this Elder. We’ve been trying to see them and 3 of their

daughters have been coming to church weekly even though

they live about a 50 minute walk away. They are awesome

and I’m so blessed to have been able to have found this

wonderful family!

Wednesday was good. We had a ZDM here at the church and

it was cool. Our zone is pretty small, only 10 missionaries,

but it’s getting more powerful by the day. The time spent

was pretty uplifting

Thursday we helped this woman cross pretty much all of the

area we cover, carrying her tubs and child for her and her

daughter the entire way. The whole time I was thinking

“man this lady is really taking us far.” Well totally worth it.

We got to their home and she had a pretty large extended

family there of adults who were extremely eager to hear

from us. Each time we’ve gone back, and even that day they

have bought us drinks and fed us. I’ve never seen people so

Christlike before who weren’t already members of the church.

It’s like they already were members and understood how to

be a good Christian. We gave them 3 Books of Mormon and

have been teaching them the past week. They are awesome!

They are seriously so interested and treat us like we’re

Christ himself. I wish all the people could be like this family,

even members of the church here!

Friday and Saturday were full of lessons and on Saturday

we got to work with the “Special Assignment Missionaries.”

They are two Elders who have extended and just help out

giving trainings and make sure we are teaching well. They

gave us a small training and worked with us and it was good

for my companion and I to go on an exchange with these

seasoned veterans. We even commited a baptismal date on

Saturday to a Husband and Wife who were being previously

taught in Mbali and we found them again just this last week.

They are totally humble and awesome as well as the other

family we met. They have three awesome kids too and we are

really working to bring more families to the church here in

Nsambya. They have enough single adults so now they need families.

Sunday was the Kampala stake conference.

The second ever too! It was pretty cool. We had

a video broadcast from SLC of Boyd K. Packer and

Dallin H. Oaks. It’s like they knew exactly what to

say to all the people here. They talked about how some

of the local traditions need to be stopped in order to

follow the traditions set forth by our Heavenly Father.

That the man should help the wife in all things, just like

Adam and Eve worked together for food and to live in

the beginning of time.

So the week was good. Enjoy life and know that God is

always looking out for us. Keep being amazing.

Elder ‘Tex’ Welch

The week was good. Lots of lessons like usual.
On Friday we had the baptism of O, who was the
guy who left early the one week, and he’s
a cool guy. I really like him. We had the baptism
that day since
district conference and because of work for him.
On Saturday I found out I was getting transferred
to a place in Kampala called Nsambya. It’s a really
cool area I hear and has really good food.
It’s a ward there too and I’ll be training.
The area is being reopened after being closed for
a couple transfers and I’ll also
be the District Leader. In the Ward Bishopric I guess
one of the guys is from America and works at the
American Embassy.

Sunday we had the District Conference which
was good. Elder Callicker’s talk was good and we had
a good turn out from the Bugembe
Branch there. We held that at the YMCA in Jinja.
A lot of couples, missionaries, and guests. It was
pretty cool.

And today I just cut my hair like the usual
routine I do of cutting it at the very end of each
transfer. That’s about the highlight of today.
I did find a Dr. Pepper at a market though so I
bought a couple which always makes me happier.

Well that’s the week. Just think about things and
how they are different here.
Try and think how your life would be different
if we all didn’t have what
we do have.
Elder Welch

My companion is doing good. He's been working harder
and following the rules better once I explained to him
that he wasn't a part time missionary like he thought,
but a full time one and he needed to start
following the rules as best as he could now, and not later.

It's not so humid here but it is mainly just always hot. The church
isn't too hot because it's kind of an open building with a covered
roof. It was just a hard day to stay awake with the heat though. The
only air conditioning there is here is if you have a car or you are
wealthy enough to get a system in your home but the only place I've
seen with that is the Mission President’s home.

General Conference was amazing! I was so glad we got to see those
talks despite all the noise from the little kids that were there
during the sessions. My favorite session was the first one on
Saturday. Jeffrey R. Holland's talk was so amazing even though it was
mainly full of thanks. It made me think of you guys so much and I was
almost crying throughout that talk and a lot of them during the
Conference. We had a lot of people go to the Sunday morning session.
About 108 people came for that one and my side had 14 investigators
over the two days. We even had a guy who we ran into last Sunday in
Bugembe and even Monday in Jinja come and say he felt the spirit so
much and how it made him want to change his life because he has
neglected to have God in it lately. He kept telling me he had a lot of
friends he wants us to teach haha. He wants us to come during the
lunch break at his work and just tell people about the church. We
might have to do that one of the days this week.

This week was pretty great. On Monday and even today we went to that
restaurant with the Dr. Peppers and American style pizza and it was
amazing! I haven’t had such a good taste in my mouth the entire time
I’ve been here but I loved it!
On Tuesday we went to the church and helped dig a ditch below the
church so that the water from emptying the baptismal font would stop
flooding the people’s homes below the church. They were thankful for
that and the ditch we dug is in one of the pictures. We saw a guy from
New Jersey that works as a Catholic missionary here on our way home
and he saw us in our shorts and t-shirts and asked if it was our day
off or if we had been gardening. You know me I was just like, “Na, we
were digging a ditch below the church since we’ve been having so many
baptisms each week and the people below us were complaining of all the
water.”
On Wednesday the eventful thing was that my companion killed the rat
that was in our garage. He was walking outside with a box and a stick
and we followed him asking what was in it and he was just like “I
don’t know.” He says that a lot but it turns out it was a big mouse,
or a rat and he just chased it down after it came out of the box and
killed it. It was pretty funny to see this guy chase it down actually.
He was like a pro!
On Thursday Elder D tried talking to a member of the church in
Bugembe he recognized and the guy totally denied that he knew Elder
D . It was funny because I thought Elder D was mistaken but
Elder D had the guys number in his phone and started calling him
as he sat at the table next to us and it was hilarious to see the guy
pick it up and Elder D saying “it’s me Issac!” The guy was still
like oh I don’t know how you got my number or know my name.
Even the Branch President came in and saw the guy and greeted
him and the guy was just like “tell them you don’t know me.”
It reminded me of Peter denying Christ thrice for some reason.
On Saturday and Sunday we got to watch General Conference which was
awesome! The highlight of my week. I totally took General Conference
for granted before mission but now I see how amazing all the talks
were. I saw how filled with the Spirit the Apostles, Prophet, and the
Seventy were. I realized that when you see someone almost weeping when
they talk that they feel the spirit so much and it makes me feel the
spirit and almost weep myself. It reminds me of Christ when he visits
the Nephites and he weeps as he blesses the children and sees the
peoples love and faith. That truly exemplifies the Savior and showing
the power of the Holy Ghost. It truly is a great and wonderful feeling
that I’m glad I’m familiar enough with that I can recognize it.
Also on Sunday Elder D scared Elder M just to have some kind
of feeling of Halloween. He took out the light bulb in the room and
hid in his closet and jumped out at him as he opened it. That was the
excitement for my Halloween. At least we did something right? :)

keep on being awesome!

Elder Welch

Spitting Goats

The pictures of those falls are on the Nile. They were awesome.

The guy in the water was just some guy who went down the

falls holding onto a jerry-can (to earn money of course). Ya J

is doing great. We were supposed to have a baptism this week

but that didn’t happen. The guy came to church but since he had

been working the night shift he hadn’t slept yet so he left half an

hour before church ended. I We called him and he just said he was

too tired to stay awake any longer and the heat was too harsh.

Hopefully next week he won’t have worked so he will be able to be

baptized. I was sad about this because it broke the streak of my

own personal goal of 1 baptisms each week. Actually, we had a

leadership training and that was the exact goal our Mission

President presented at that meeting. He said we should aim to

be the best. He said being average wasn’t ok and gave an

alternative definition of the word “average.” He said it’s being

the best of the worst or the worst of the best. Both of those

don’t sound very good do they? I was happy to see him present

that as our goal but I know others will struggle with that.

Well Bugembe is a rugged area, we are just blessed with one of

the nicest homes in the mission. Other areas apartments are

pretty bad actually. Some areas in Uganda reach up to the

borders of Sudan, so about 8 hours from Kampala at the farthest.

The two most northern areas are Lira and Gulu. The mission also

covers Ethiopia which is decently far so if you get transferred

there you have to wait for your visa and than take about a 2 hour

flight there. Hopefully Rwanda and Southern Sudan open up soon

so missionaries can start moving into there.

Don’t worry about me, I’m completely healthy and always taking

my vitamins and malaria pills. I work out 3 mornings during

the week so I’m staying relatively fit. Well as fit as I can keep

myself. Plus walking keeps my legs decently strong too since

there are a few hills in Bugembe.

So this week was good. We were supposed to have that

leadership training on Tuesday but last minute they changed

it to Saturday so it was kind of frustrating not having any

appointments set up for Tuesday but we found investigators

to teach.

Wednesday we had a few Family Home Evenings at some

members homes. One of the members was a returned

missionary who served in Nigeria. The guy is awesome and

he has a wife and 2 kids already. I was surprised looking at

his mission pictures to see him swimming in his mission

… I guess they didn’t get the memo.

Thursday was a busy day and we saw a less active member

and taught him how he needed to endure to the end. I really

hope he starts coming back to church soon.

I also saw a goat spit that day and it was pretty funny for

some reason just because I didn’t understand how it was

even possible. Goats don’t even have lips really!

Also my companion told me he knows how to talk to

dogs that day.. Interesting.

Saturday we had that leadership training and set up

an appointment with an R.M.’s “daughter and son”.

They are really his sister’s kids but he takes care

of them. They even came to church on Sunday and

we committed them to baptism for November 12^th

after the first lesson.

Sunday was good despite not having O baptized.

Next week I know it! We also had a few good lessons

with some young adults and finally had an F.H.E.

at the Branch President’s house.

It’s been a good week and even today I think we

know a place where we can find a Dr. Pepper!!! Just wait

for lots of pictures of that moment next week haha.

I was reading this week in the Book of Mormon and read

Helaman Chapter 11. I was thinking about how

“history repeats itself” and how “the Book of Mormon

was written for our day”. How true. As you read this you

can see that this is exactly how times are now with the

U.S. in Afghanistan fighting the terrorists. The thing I

found the most interesting was that this is like 11-7 years

before the birth of Jesus Christ. For me this is a testimony

of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how we

need to prepare for the second coming of the Savior.

We need to humble ourselves always and constantly

repent because the Savior could come sooner than we

all think. I love you all so much and keep the faith.

The church is so true.

Elder Welch

Another Great Week

I’m doing great!
Another good week here in Uganda.
On Monday we did go to Bugagli Falls
and it was pretty awesome! I tried to take many
pictures so you could see all the amazing sights
there are to see here.

On Tuesday we had Zone conference so President J
and the AP’s came down for that. We were also
interviewed so it was good to meet
with President J. The four Elders from Mbali also
came and spent the night at our place Monday and
Tuesday nights since Mbali is about
a 2 hour drive from Jinja. The conference was
good and we were able to learn much.

On Wednesday we saw this couple, T and R, who are
pretty awesome and even came to the couples party
they had for all of Jinja on Saturday. They really
liked it too! I was surprised cause we saw
them at church last Sunday and I didn’t expect to
see them ever actually coming to church. It’s nice
because they are actually close and remind me of an
American couple the way they actually like cuddle
and show affection for each other which is almost
non-existent here in Uganda.

On Friday J passed his baptismal interview and it’s
so nice to see the way his life has changed for the better.
He was suicidal before and now he sees the purpose in life.
It’s awesome. I hope he progresses and serves a mission
himself someday since he’s about 22.

Sunday was a good Sabbath day. We were supposed to have
2 baptisms but O had to work again so he missed. J was
baptized which was awesome! He really was feeling the
spirit and couldn’t wait to be baptized. We also had
Family Home Evening at the Branch
President’s house. It was good. He served us samoosas
and batunda juice which was a really great meal to
tell you the truth!

I was reading In Moses Chapter 5 this week. I love
verses 6 and 7. I love when the angel asks Adam
“Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the
Lord?” and how Adam responds “I know not, save the
Lord commanded me.” That’s how I feel about anything
that is confusing or I might question
for a second in life or in the gospel. We won’t ever
know on this Earth why the Lord commands us to do some
things, but he does command us, and we need to do them
simply because the Lord wants us to. Adam
does find out what the sacrifices symbolize but for us,
we might not ever find out some of the questions in life
until after we have passed on. I just do the things
because I know that the Lord will provide a
way, because he never commands us to do something,
save he were to provide a way.

Elder Welch




Well that’s been my week.

"in the middle of freaking Africa!"

My adventure is still going and crazy as ever.
I think I’m just getting used to being in Africa now.
I used to say to myself every few
days “I’m in the middle of freaking Africa!”
Nowadays I don’t say that as much.

Jinja is a pretty big city but it has lots of
parts to it. So Bugembe is just like a suburb kind of,
of Jinja. Bugembe used to be where all the rich
lived in Jinja but than people just starting
building mud huts everywhere so it has a lot of people,
mostly children, just everywhere. A lot more Muslims
here too than there are in Kampala for
some reason. I can’t even guess how many people are
in Bugembe because
it would be pretty hard to get a good count.

Speaking of Conference I listened to the Afternoon
session of the April 2010 conference and I nearly
cried like 5 times for reasons I
don’t even know! I think it’s because I realized
I’ve been taking all the blessings and things I had
in the United States for granted.
Honestly I even took for granted being able to go
to conference live with Clayton because I fell asleep
when we went! Even being with my
brother was truly a blessing I would never give up
and will never give up. Also the family stories
they told really touched me. I love
hearing President Eyring just announcing things
because you can tell in his voice, that he is just
so close to the spirit of God, he has
such emotion with each word he speaks.

Well enough of that. My week was short as usual.
I feel like I’m always here emailing now. Well last
Monday the highlight of my day was
buying new sunglasses since I lost both of the pairs
I had brought out here. They are fake RayBans.
They say “Roy & Bon” on the side. They’re
pretty legit though.

Tuesday was teaching as usual and we left a Book
of Mormon with these two girls as well as
read with them 2 Nephi 31. I’ll realize
that was a bad decision later on in the week.

Wednesday we had lessons and a Family Home Evening
with a member and her recent convert sister.
It was pretty good and we’re trying to help
them both stay active in the church

Thursday we had a District meeting and Elder D
set a goal for Bugembe to have 10 baptisms this month.
I thought it was reasonable but apparently the Zone
Leaders thought it was not an achievable goal.
With 5 per companionship we could do it. For us
we have those planned out for the next 3 weeks so
it will depend on Elder D and his comp
to get their 5. Maybe we’ll help them out and get 6 haha.
The Zone Leaders and everyone else in Jinja set
goals for 4 baptisms for the
month per district so we’ll have to show them
that if you aim high, even if you miss, you still
fall high. We had also gone back to those
two  girls and their mom came and answered and
said she didn’t want us deceiving their daughters
into another religion.
On Saturday we went to the hospital to see
Sister D’s brother who had hot water poured
on his leg and it hasn’t been healing. We gave
him a blessing and were there for Sister D.
We also saw a member who just had twins but
lost them both shortly after. It was really
sad. The woman has been inactive in the church
for 6 months and her husband is an active R.M.
who we’ve been trying to get him to bring
his wife back to church. We were just there
to show them support and
it was a really solemn and humbling experience.
I haven’t felt so bad for people in a long time.
We told them we were always there for them
though.

Sunday was a good Sabbath day.
We were going to have 2 baptisms for
our companionship but one of the guys couldn’t
get work off so we set his back for next Sunday.
O was baptized though and it’s good to
see him and his two friends all baptized. J
even was found worthy
to receive the Priesthood for next Sunday.

Today we are going to go to Bugagali Falls
after emailing. I hear they
are pretty sweet so I will make sure to send you
guys the pictures next week.

I have been noticing in
the scriptures a theme that shows God’s love for us.
It’s about mercy and justice and how God is both.
Because of Justice we need to repent
and make sure we are clean if we are to enter Heaven.
Mercy allows us to get there. A good analogy of this
I heard in a talk was about the
Civil War and a soldier who was on guard duty. He fell
asleep during the night and his battalion was attacked
and many men were killed. The soldier on guard duty was
held responsible for the men killed and
sentenced to death. A week before he was to be
sentenced to death. the mother of the soldier sent a
letter to President Lincoln. She said
“Before this war I had 4 sons, and one by one I’ve
lost them all. I’m left with one, and he is sentenced
to death. Please spare a devastated
mother of having to lose all 4 of her sons.”
President Lincoln wrote her back and said how the boy
deserved the punishment for his crime,
but that he would allow him to go, not for his sake,
but for his poor
mother’s sake. This shows the kind of love and
mercy the Savior has for us. When we get to be
judged, Jesus will be there pleading our
case, saying he took upon him our sins, so that
we could enter Heaven.
Heavenly Father will then say,
“I will let them in, not for their
sake, but for your sake, my only Begotten.”
Oh how much are we loved.


Elder Welch