Welcome Home Elder Tex!

We Love you!!!

ONLY ONE MORE WEEK!!!!!!!

Well the week has been basic. Again, my last emails will be short
especially since we’re short on time. Elder B is still building
the relationsips with everyone so that they can lean on him when I
leave. We are hoping to have 5-6 baptisms for these last two weeks
which will be great. We finally got J to get a letter signed
saying he was married to his wife so he and J, a guy who is on the
rowing team here in Uganda should be baptized next week.

Today we went to the zoo which was fun. Sorry for no pictures but
you’ll see them in two weeks anyways. Plus I went to the zoo here
about a year ago and saw similar things. I wonder if the animals
remember me from last time? Just kidding.

Anyways that’s about all that’s going on right now. I look forward to
sending you guys my last email next week. I love you guys so much and
I’m thankful for all that you do! I can’t wait to give you guys some
hugs in person. I will probably cry when I get home but that’s only
because I’ll probably cut some onions right before I come down the
escalator, it won’t be because I’m a wuss or anything…… Haha I love
you guys so much!!!!

Love,

Elder Welch

The week was basic. We have just been trying to follow up with people but the only problem is that school just started up again for people here and so the kids are all gone, and the parents are usually out working. It’s been hard to follow up with people and find them home. The days are a bit slow until 5 or 6 at night because no one seems to be home!

W and his family are doing well. His kids came to church again but him and his wife didn’t again. He had to go somewhere to buy some land for a new home possibly. We went to his home and he had his cousins over and they were drinking… I guess we need to teach the Word of Wisdom tomorrow night haha.

The Branch is doing well and the Branch President is a good guy. The only thing that’s a little frustrating is that church has gone until 1:30 the last two weeks. It reminds me of 3 Nephi 11:40. The church should just be three hours, for our investigators benefit, and everyone elses too haha.

Well nothing too new besides that. I’m enjoying my time here and the other Elders in the apartment are fun and I haven’t laughed this much my whole mission. Actually one of the Elders has a cousin who was in this mission for my first 3 months out named Elder F who I really liked and laughed a lot with too. Reminds me of that. Both of them Are Elder F so it was pretty cool.

Can’t wait to see you soon!

The Sudanese were just wealthy and it was strange but it turns out the father is just a wealthy businessman from Sudan and is away a lot. We finally met him on Saturday and he’s a cool, but very tall, guy.

Well another week close to seeing you guys! It’s been a good one but pretty basic with a lot of finding and rebuilding the teaching pool. They only had 1 baptism in this area last transfer and they didn’t have much prepared for this transfer.

This week we did find 3 pretty cool families. All of them live somehow near the church. The head of one is named W and he’s a great guy and ready to learn. He sent his kids to church this week because he had a friend come from out of town. His wife is also very nice. We followed up on a lady named R and we met with her family which was nice. Her husband looked really young but they had 6 kids and seemed really interested. We also have been teaching this guy named F and his sister since his wife is always doing hair at the salon. He sent his sister and her two kids to the church and they seemed to enjoy it. We really need the fathers to come though because we won’t baptized a part of a family, but we want the whole!

Church was great, we had 116 and they installed a new branch president who was in the Stake High council here. He seems like a really great guy.

We are still working on the Sudanese but the father and mother were here this last week from Sudan and we were able to give the mom a blessing. The only problem is the mom, dad, son, and one daughter are going to India this week. It was cool to give them the Book of Mormon in Arabic because I’ve never heard anything but the Qur’an read in Arabic. Pretty sweet.

That’s about all we’ve been up to. Nothing else too new besides all the finding.

I love you guys so much and look forward to seeing you soon! Take care of yourselves and I’ll be home in no time. Thank you again for everything!

Elder Welch

 I really received a testimony that this is where I need to finish my mission when I first got here. On Tuesdaimmy who had a baptismal date and was supposed to be baptized but he wasn’t fully married yet so they had to wait on him. When I met him though I thought I knew him. We just talked briefly with him but as I was walking away one of the Elders mentioned that he played Tennis. I asked “has he been to Kenya for that?”  They said they thought so because he had a Kenyan necklace. I realized I did know this guy.

I had contacted J about 4 months earlier when I had come down to Uganda from Ethiopia for a Zone Leaders Council. Right before I was getting on the airplane to go back to Ethiopia I had gone out to get a coke. I was sitting at a place near the mission office drinking the coke and some guy sitting across from me started talking to me and I told him a little bit about the church and where it was. He told me of how he coached the Ugandan tennis team and stuff like that. I gave him a pass-along card and thought nothing of it. He was literally the only person I contaced the 3 days I was there. I guess a couple of months later he saw the missionaries again and paid for their taxi. They then started teaching him and he came to church and was about to be baptized. Now for my final area I see him and it was so amazing. What a miracle. What a tesimony and help that to me it is to know that Heavenly Father puts us just where we need to be, to be with the people who need to hear from us, at the exact times. It has given me the motivation to finish these last few weeks strong.

That was the big thing for me this last week. Other than that we are doing some finding. We started teaching these Sudanese in this huge mansion on the top of the hill. I took a picture so I’ll see if I can send it but if not I’ll just show you in a few weeks.  It’s cool. Hopefully we’ll keep finding new people and we’ll have success by the end of the transfer. We’ll see.

Well I love you guys! I can’t wait to see you in a few weeks. Keep it real and thank you for everything you do for me!

Elder Welch

6 Weeks More!

Another good week and I pray they keep going fast so I'm back home soon. It's hard not to think about home and returning. Things are much different here and I look forward to going back to the comforts and commodities that I used to take for granted. Never again.

Anyways the week was good. A lot of teaching and such still, nothing out of the ordinary. We did finish up preparing C, B R and R for baptism. R wasn't able to be baptized this week though because he had work in a village outside of town. C and B R were both baptized and it was great.

We also went and saw J. We came up and found him reading the Book of Mormon on his porch which was a great sign. The only thing is that we found out his family and his wife's families are doing their best to make sure that J and P do not join the church. They are facing a lot of pressure not to be baptized again from them and it's effecting them. They want to make sure they are making the right decision too and they don't want to change again if this is the church that they decide to join. I really pray that they will be able to just cut the cord and make the decision that will be the most beneficial to their family.

We also keep trying to see F but he is never around when we go to see his family. J is still very interested in the church and doing well but it's hard that her husband is dodging us. It's the same thing with J and P for him because his friends are telling him not to listen to us and how are church is still new and all this stuff. It's frustrating that the thorns prevent people's seed from growing, but it chokes it out. I really understand the parable of the sower better now because of that.

Well on Sunday we had all three of the guys who needed to be confirmed there. They were the first 3 in the church and all looked very 'smart'. I took a picture with them as well as one of the new grey suits I got. I didn't wear the vest because it's hot, but I figure I'll start whipping out the three-piece when I get home and it's cold.

That's about all that has been going on. Not a very eventful week but it's been good and quick. Quick is the most important part right now! I hope you are all doing well and remember how much I love you guys! Keep being awesome and keep the faith. The church is true and the book is blue. Love you guys!

Elder Welch

Well the week has been good. We are still focusing on the main teaching pool which we accumulated the first week or two we were here. We have been trying to see J and F but we have only been able to find J at home so we're hoping to find him and her there together soon! She came to church again this week with all of her children so that was great.

Jo also finally came this week. This guy and his wife we have been seeing are really cool. They are young and pretty well off already. He drove his van to church (which having an investigator with a car is a huge thing by the way) and brought his two kids because his wife was on her way back from Kampala. We are seeing them tonight but they did seem to like church although they had to go early.

On Saturday we had our leadership trainings over in Lira which is about an hour and a half away. It was good to be there and get trained by President as well as to see the other missionaries there. I did get my package there, so again, thank you!

On Sunday we had President Jackson at our sacrament meeting which was good. He talked about 1 Nephi 8 and the Iron rod leading to the tree of life. It was very good and he encouraged the members to keep enduring, and to never let go of the rod and call it close or good enough. It's hard but we have to hold fast to the rod, not clinging barely. We had 13 investigators there. We hope to have some baptisms over the next two weeks but people here are a bit flaky so we'll see what turns out.

Today we had our zone activity and went out to this fort constructed by protestant missionaries when they first came to the north here. It was cool and built on top of these stones. We also went and hiked up this large rock hill thing and got some good pictures. It was a great time and gave me some much needed outdoor exercise. I took some pictures so hopefully you can see how cool it was.

Well that's about all the highlights for this week. I love you guys and hope all is well! See you soon!

Elder Welch