The time is absolutely flying by here! It has already been 7 months
since I left home! Like, what?! This week we went on exchanges twice
so I think that made it go by even faster! Tuesday I was with Sister
Peterson who is the sister that took my place on the Papago Rez. She
and I are a lot alike so it was funny to be together for a day :) In
the morning we went and helped the zone pick fruit at a part member
family's house. I think we must have picked hundreds of oranges and
grapefruits. I had no idea that Arizona was such a hotspot for citrus!
They even have just decorative fruit trees, like the fruit is so hard
and gross that you can't eat it, but it looks nice so they keep
them... So weird! It was good to spend some time with the missionaries
in our zone, we have some really great ones! After service we didn't
have any set appointments so we used the lists that the bishops gave
us to contact less active people and potential investigators.
Unfortunately no one was really interested or the people we were
looking for had moved, but that didn't stop us from trying! Finally at
the end of the night we were able to see a less active family that the
missionaries and the chaparral ward have been trying to contact for a
long time. The Mowatt family moved here from England a few years ago
and haven't really been to church since, they were actually kind of
against coming when they got here. But slowly their hearts have been
softening and we were able to schedule an appointment to come teach
them this week! As we were leaving their apartment and walking back to
our car a girl on a skateboard rode past us and said, "SISTER
MISSIONARIES!!!!", skidded to a stop and chased us down. She had just
moved from Utah and didn't know where her ward would be so we gave her
our number and told her about the singles ward. She was so sweet! That
contact made up for the slower day that we had for sure :)
Wednesday we got to see Danielle Scott and her daughter Allison. I
always really like teaching them because even though they have been
learning about the church for a long time, their desire has really
just began to grow. We went through the baptismal interview questions
and Allie, who just turned 8, was answering so enthusiastically to all
of the questions. When they finally get baptized they will probably
know more than some life long members! Haha We also go to to teach a
young woman named Amaica that night. She is from Ecuador and is living
with an LDS family while she goes to school for business. She is so
sweet! She told us about how she is having a hard time being away from
her family and really feels alone. We talked with her for a long time
about the Atonement and how because Christ suffered for us we never
have to truly be alone. By the end of the lesson almost everyone was
crying. Well except for our YSA elders quorum president who came with
us... But he claims that he doesn't have feelings...
And then that night we began another exchange, this time with sisters
in Phoenix. Sister Ferre is going home in two weeks and Sister Doxie
came out on the mission with me! She stayed in Scottsdale with me so
Sister Colina could go do Spanish work in Phoenix. We had such a good
day! Sister Doxie was so willing to just jump in with anything and
everything. First off, we were supposed to see a former investigator
Debbie who was interested in having us come back but we called and
texted and knocked on her door but she didn't answer anything!
Sometimes it feels like people set up appointments with us just so
they know what time to not be home... Haha BUT it worked out because
as we were driving back to North Scottsdale I thought of a less ate
that we hadn't been able to see for a couple weeks. We decided to stop
by and not only was he home, but his other less active roommate and
his nonmember roommate and his girlfriend were all there too! We had a
really nice lesson on Christ and the atonement, the real reason we
celebrate this time of year and invited them to come to the Easter
pageant. Anthony, which is the one that we usually visit, is so sweet!
He really is trying to make some big changes in his life and Satan
sees that and is doing everything he can to stop him. But he has a
really good attitude about everything and is still trying his best to
do what is right. And the miracles continued after that! We got a call
from our investigator Theresa and she had a small window where she
could meet with us. We have not been able to see her the week before
because she works three jobs and has two young boys, so we were so
excited she wanted to see us! We got to teach her the plan of
salvation and she loved it. She said of all the things she has ever
learned this makes the most sense and feels the most correct. She is
slowly making some progress.
Another cool event of Thursday was that we got to teach a YSA young
man named Will. He was kind of taking a break from the church for a
while and called us last week to come back. The whole day we were
trying to find a girl to come with us to the lesson so we wouldn't
have to sit outside (missionary rules) but no one was free to com with
us! Finally we had the idea to bring the mission secretary Sister Bass
( she is and older lady from TN) and she was so excited to get our of
the office! It ended up being perfect because Will is such a momma'
boy and having Sister Bass there was perfect for him because she
really turned in to that mother figure for him and was really
respectful of everything she had to say. He is really changing too. He
had a few questions about faith and repentance and told us that he
knows that baptism is his next step but he wants to make sure he is
doing those two things right before he makes the commitment. It really
did make a difference in him to go over these things and just reminded
me that sometimes it is good to just go back to the basics. Really
faith and repentance are the foundation for progression in the gospel
as long as we are building our faith and continually repenting or
changing then we are on the right track.
Friday we had Mission Leadership council and even though those
meetings are really long they are always really good. We got to see
some missionary friends that we usually don't get to and learn a lot
too. We had an extremely good lesson on family history work and we
now, as a mission, have permission to go on for two hours a week and
do family history work! We got to do some the other night and it was
so cool to actually find new names in my family tree! And what is
extra cool is that now that family search is linked to ancestry.com
you can access all of those documents and stuff for free now too! It
was amazing to see the actual records that had my family's names on
them. Friday evening we had a wonderful lesson with CJ, our
investigator that is being baptized in two weeks. Ever since he has
made the decision to be baptized it is like he is a whole new person!
His countenance is truly glowing. He really has become more humble and
used the atonement. It was amazing to see that difference in him.
Sunday evening we were able to attend a YSA devotional with Elder
Durrant speaking. He is the member of the 70 that gave the talk about
ponderizing. It was so cool! Mostly it was him asking some of the
people in the congregation what are some of the scriptures they have
ponderized and the difference it has made in their lives. I'm glad we
serve in the YSA ward so we can go to stuff like this :)
I love you all!
Sister Welch
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