Merry Christmas... And a Happy New Year

 It was so good to skype with Tanner on Christmas Eve!!  After answering all the questions we'd been saving up for him, he shared part of a discussion with us in Hiligaynon.   As he spoke, a woman in the background (internet cafe)  moved closer to listen.  She probably wondered why 6 people were crowded around a camera listening to this young man with huge smiles on their faces.  Nevertheless, we got to see missionary work in action. Amazing.  Nothing quite compares to hearing your child share the gospel in a language they didn't know 6 months ago.   What a great gift to receive for Christmas.

Hello Friends and Family!

I am a little at a loss for what to tell you this week because I just barely talked to you on Skype... But Christmas was great! I got a pair of socks from our first counselor, so that was super awesome. I know it sounds kind of lame, but I was honestly so stoked about that pair of socks. I love a new pair of socks.

Not a whole lot happened this week. We continued working, as always, and we were blessed to have some investigators come to church with us! Hopefully they will continue to progress.

The bishop in my current ward seems to really be on top of things. He said something while he was speaking yesterday in sacrament that really stuck with me. He said something to the effect of, "I am so grateful for the weaknesses I have as a leader because it shows you all what you DON'T want to become. I hope that the mistakes I am making as a bishop will be of benefit to you when you become a future leader in your ward." I really liked this because I have never thought about it in that way. Perhaps sometimes we are given weaknesses not just to make things difficult for us or to test our faith, but maybe we are given them to help other people be BETTER than we are. That's not to say that we should stop trying to improve ourselves, but that we should be patient in developing more-Christ-like attributes because we might be helping someone to improve themselves as well. The example he gave was about his mission. He said he was once with a companion that did not have the desire to follow the mission rules. What he learned from that companionship is that he DIDN'T want to become that kind of missionary when he became the senior companion. And he didn't. He was a better senior that his companion was to him. And he said that he hoped he still had visible mistakes so that his junior companion would notice so that he could become even better than him. Very interesting thought...

I hope you all have an awesome New Year! This is a great time of the year.

Elder Welton

Frozen 3 ?? --- Toy Story 6 ??

December 21, 2014

Sorry, family and friends -- actually mostly just friends -- but this will be a short email.The reason I'm not apologizing to my family is because I get to Skype them this week! So, hence the short message.

I really miss snow and everything. It really doesn't feel like Christmas without it. But that's okay! Because the spirit of the season is still the same. It really helps me to focus on the "purpose" of this time of year rather than the "environment" of Christmas. I guess it's kind of a blessing.

The Philippines continues to be as crazy as ever. I would like to share some pictures with you to illustrate how much I love this place.

You will in the attachments, that we have the "Sing-Along Version" of Frozen 3. I was very tempted to buy this seeing as I love sing-along versions of movies. But I decided I would withhold for now because I haven't even seen Frozen 2 yet. I don't want to spoil the 3rd one, right? I also found a copy of Toy Story 6. I am super excited to see the other two that must have come out while I've been gone. They just crank those movies out these days, don't they?

About my new area; I love it here. It's so weird being in a more city-area. Everyone is feeding us all the time. "Elder, eat this! Elder eat that!" Much different from where I just came from. Also, the people here have the best intonation in there voice. Filipino languages have different tones, and I think Hiligaynon is the best by far. Old Sagay was mixed with Cebuano, which has a super flat tone that almost makes it sound like they are mad all the time. But here in the pure Hiligaynon areas, people are almost singing their sentences. It is almost a lot like an Italian accent I think. Everyone sounds so pleasant.

My new companion is Elder Monzalez, he's from Manila and he's a really good teacher. He speaks English really well and so I can ask him about language questions. I like him.

We are also in a nice apartment. We have a small washing machine, I'm not sure how, but it is SO nice. I forgot how to use it kind of because I was so used to hand washing. But our apartment is wonderful. There is another companionship with us, so it's fun to talk to them after we get home and are done doing everything.

I am so excited to talk to you on Thursday, family! I will be trying to skype you around 12 pm Philippines time on Christmas Day. That should be around 9-11 Utah time on the 24th, right? I can't remember if there was a time change or not. But be ready! If we can't get the Skype working well, I will give you my cell phone number and just call you. Let's hope for the Skype though!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Elder Welton

Love for the people

This was a great week! One of the most gratifying weeks of my mission, actually.

The biggest news right now is that I am transferring. I received the call yesterday around noon when I was in another area for a baptismal interview. So right now, I am currently emailing with two other Americans as we wait for our companions to show up. It's awesome because I am with one of my MTC friends, Elder Graves, and then another one who is a transfer behind us two. So none of us actually know enough language to get around, so that's pretty fun. It's quite the adventure.

I am being transferred to Bacolod South Zone, so right in the city, a little bit of a change from little Old Sagay, tucked back in the fields. It will be a bit of a change for sure.

This last week in Old Sagay was amazing though. I had the feeling that I was going to transfer because all of the sudden my work just changed. We have been finding new families and investigators and the impressions I got as we have been teaching are that these people are not mine to teach. I really felt almost a sense of completion and satisfaction with the area, it's hard to explain. What I really learned this last week is how important it is to love the people. For some reason, something just clicked this week. I was filled with such a love for these people and I really just desired their happiness. And I realized that I was given the words to say as I began to love them more. I think that was what I was supposed to learn in my first area... Those are just my thoughts, sorry if they are a bit jumbled. Figured I would just share :)

We had a baptism this week! I have been hoping to see these kids get baptized since I got here, and after months and months -- it happened. I am not sure why these kids are so hardcore in the picture, but they are the funnest kids. The funniest part of the baptism -- FYI, baptisms are a little less reverent in the Philippines, this place is really just different. I can't explain it -- but the funniest part was when Jeffrey, the one furthest right, stuck his tongue out as he was being baptized, as in a "rock on, Gene Simmons' tongue" style. It was quite the baptism to be a witness of. But the ordinance was still performed correctly, so I think it still counts as being baptized, even despite the presence of Gene himself. The were so happy when we visited them later that night.

About the Christmas Day call to you, Mom and Dad -- I am still not sure on the details. I will have to email you the details after I talk to my new companion and see what we can do in this area. Hopefully the internet will be fast enough for Skype, but I don't know! I am SO excited to talk to you though! If we can't get Skype to work, I will give you our companionship cellphone number, according to President's instructions, and then YOU will call me. I'll let you know for sure next week!

Take Care!

Elder Welton

Here are some photos from stake conference that Tanner's mission president posted:

with Elder McCleary - also from Riverton

transportation looks a little more fun in the Philippines

 

Typhoon Ruby

Well, we survived the storm. That's pretty exciting I guess!

So, Thursday we had a Zone Training which was really nice! We were told in the training however, that because of the storm that was coming, we needed to be in our apartments by 6pm Friday night, and stay home all Saturday. As I wrote in my journal, "I am not really nervous about this storm because nothing interesting usually happens wherever I am." I felt like I was always that kid in high school, that the only day I happened to get sick and stay home, something awesome would happen at school. "Elder Welton, these two kids got in a fight while you're gone!", "Elder Welton, we just watched a movie in class today and ate food", "Elder Welton, they gave out free money while you were gone!" ...  That last one never actually happened, but that's how it felt. So, based on my luck in the past, I figured I was a blessing to the Philippines at this time, seeing as my presence alone would probably cause the storm to either take a different path or to disappear.

Friday came along and we got a call around 3 o'clock. The Zone Leaders said that we had to move to Sagay City and stay with the other Elders there because our apartment was too close to the beach. Now things started getting serious... So we left the church, where many of the people in our area had evacuated to, and then went home, packed, and then hurried off to Sagay. We ended up arriving and found that there were 4 companionships in one apartment. So it ended up being pretty crowded. We then received word the the storm would pass over our zone on Sunday night. So now the lockdown was extended to Monday -- today.

The next three days proved to be a real struggle. Not with the storm or anything, but really just with trying to find things to do in this apartment to fill our time. We got some studying in and really just talked for hours on end. And as bad as the storm sounded, nothing actually happened. The wind and rained picked up a little bit on Sunday, but we actually never saw much of anything.

The coolest experience I had during this time was on Sunday. We received permission from the bishop in the area we were staying in to hold our own sacrament, seeing as they were not holding one at the church because it had been turned into a sort of shelter for the time being. But the Spirit that was felt during our small sacrament meeting, in an apartment of eight elders, with a plate with two pieces of bread, two cups of water, and an ironing board holding them -- it was truly sacred. I realized at this time that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, whether it be in the mountains in a special sacrament meeting, in lockdown in an apartment, or in a beautifully constructed chapel -- the doctrines and ordinances of the gospel are the same. Despite the conditions we were in, this was probably the most sacred sacrament meeting I have had in my life. It emphasized the importance and symbolism of the sacrament. And although it's hard for me to explain in this email alone, I truly realized how important the Atonement is to our lives and how wonderful of an opportunity it is to partake of the sacrament each week.

So this was really kind of a weird week. And I am really just excited to be out of that house, I missed going out and working. And I am also grateful that everyone here is safe.

I loved the setup you did for the Christmas party! I hope it went well! It looked amazing! I wish we had stuff like that here. The costumes looked great!

Hope everyone has an AWESOME week! Stay safe!

Elder Welton

Gratitude

Hello Family, Friends, Pastors, Teachers, Evangelists and so forth.

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It turns out, the Filipinos don't really care much for Native Americans and the Colonists, so we didn't really celebrate anything here. But I was full of gratitude nonetheless. Everyday should be a day of Thanksgiving!

I actually have a good story to share about gratitude today, now that I think about it. So earlier this week, I had quite the surprise one morning. I woke up, just as usual, and started getting ready for the day. I wasn't wearing my glasses after I woke up and I went in to the bathroom. I look over into the mirror -- this mirror is HUGE, by the way. It's also super awkward because that's also where we shower and there's just a giant mirror right there on the wall. But, anyway, I look into the mirror and I realize that my face is kind of red. I can't really tell because, again, I'm not wearing my glasses, but as I got closer I began to realize that I had rashes all over my face! I discovered that the rash had spread over almost my entire body, more concentrated on my upper body, though. Then I realized it was kind of itchy too. Yay! (MOM I AM OKAY I PROMISE. Don't worry.) I called the nurse and we figured out a medicine I could take, which would help with the itching. So off I went to a different city to try and find the medicine, looking like a leper and everything. It got worse as the day went on because of the heat, which made the work harder, but I also thought it was super funny because I realized what a good story this will be to tell. When I got home that night, I was trying to think of how I could manage the rest of the week like this, because I had been told it might last about a week. I prayed for the strength to be able to make it through.

The answer to my prayer came the next morning in the form of a storm. This may sound ridiculous, but that storm was what saved me this week. I was filled with so much gratitude for that rain because that rain meant that there would be no direct sunlight, which irritated my skin so much. And not only that, but the heat was so much less intense because of it. Of course, this meant we had to trudge around in the rain, soaking wet, but it was much better than if it were hot. I realized during this that there is a positive to EVERYTHING, no matter how difficult the situation. And I also learned that sometimes we are given the strength to endure our trials in ways that we wouldn't expect. Heavenly Father could have easily taken away the rash, made it heal instantaneously if he wanted to do so. But instead of REMOVING the trial, he gave me a way to MANAGE the trial. And he does this in every one of our trials, we just have to look for it.

I would like to answer one of your questions, Mom.

So about my clothes drying, sometimes they just never do. Usually we have to leave our clothes out in the sun all day and then come back to them. Usually they can dry in a few hours on the line. I can't tell you how many times that I have left my clothes on the line, almost dry, but not quite. What happens is that we go out when the sky is clear and the sun is out, but mid way through the day, my clothes that were so close to being dry get rained on by some random storm that rolled in. Whenever it starts to rain and I remember my freshly washed clothes back at home, I want to cry a little bit. The phrase has become way too familiar to me now; "Elder.......Our clothes......." is all we have to say and suddenly we understand the pain that we are both going through inside.

I want to answer all of your questions, I just don't have the time to explain them!! I am so excited to talk to you all at Christmas, make sure you plan out a list of questions that I can try and answer for you. And pick them carefully because the time will go super quick.

Thank you again, Mom, for the Christmas package. This morning we opened the first present in our stockings. We picked the socks package, I love new socks! Elder DeGuzman loves the stocking you made for him, and he loves the socks and said to tell you "Salamat gid!" for him. (Thanks you so much!)

And thank you Dad for the experiences you keep sending me. I really am inspired by them and it helps me a lot to hear that you were once in a situation so similar to mine. I really do appreciate them and love getting them.

And just FYI, the rash is totally gone now. No need to worry Mom! The nurse takes good care of us here!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Welton

Here is a picture of us this morning opening the first present! (we had to use a timer and it was so hard, so that's why it's kind of awkward framing)