Apparently It's Easter Soon....

Hello Family and Friends!

So, I just barely found out that it's Easter soon... I always just remembered that it was sometime in April, I forgot when exactly. I know that's horrible, but I totally forgot! I'm excited now! And even more excited for General Conference!! What a great time of the year to reflect on the life of the Savior.

This was a good week! I think I write that every week... but it's because it was. Sure, there are the ups and downs every week, but I don't think I have had a week yet where it WASN'T over all a good week. We have had a lot of progression in my area lately. It's kind of sad for me to see all of this right now because, with the looks of the mission right now, I might be transferring... Hopefully not, but we will see. But as long as they get baptized and endure to the end, that's what matters.

We went on a hike this morning at Mambukal Resort. It was SO cool! There were seven waterfalls and it was really really exhausting. But I have good pictures! I sent them to my mom so if any of you want to see them, I'll have her put them on my blog. (Can you please do that, mom?) Very pretty.

Thinking about Easter and General Conference makes me think about the life of the Savior. I remember listening to a talk by Jeffrey R. Holland last week where he talked about what the Apostles did after the death of Christ. After I listened to the talk, I read the Bible verses he discussed. So after Jesus died, the Apostles had no idea what to do. They were basically thinking, "Okay... well, now what?" They were never trained on what to do AFTER his death, they only knew how to follow him. One of these twelve said to the others, paraphrasing, of course, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm going fishing," because that's all their life was before this! That's all they knew - FISHING. So the others followed him to the ocean. They got on the boat and fished all night and caught absolutely nothing. All of the sudden they heard a voice on the shore say, "Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No." (John 21:5) They come ashore and eat with Jesus who had prepared food for them to eat. Jesus speaks to Peter at this time and asks him the question, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs." Jesus then repeats the last phrase TWO MORE TIMES, "Lovest thou me?" Jeffrey R. Holland pointed out that perhaps Jesus asked so many times because maybe Peter just didn't quite get what exactly Jesus was asking him. But his question to Peter is the same question he is asking to us all; Lovest thou me? If the answer is yes, his answer is the same; Feed my sheep. 

I read something the other day that I really liked, I think it was in the Ensign or Liahona or something. But the impression it left on my mind was that most of our opportunities to help people (in this case, to "feed his sheep") will not come in big ways. We may not be sent to save someone's life or to help a "lost sheep" (since we are talking about sheep right now) turn their life around, but to do the little, simple things. One thing I have learned on my mission so far is this - The best thing you can give to someone else is your time. Giving your time and devoted attention to someone even for just a few short moments can make all the difference in the world for someone. So that's just one of the many ways that we can "feed his sheep."

That's it for this week. Have a great Easter and Conference! I still have to wait an extra week...

Elder Welton

  This is on our way up to Mambukal Resort where we went hiking.  

 My companion, Elder Domantay is on the far left.

 This is a picture of my companion on a bamboo "bridge" above 3 carabao

Here is a picture of the falls we saw on our hike.  There are a total of seven falls, but we only made it to four before we turned back.  We asked the tour guide if he was used to the hike because it was a bit brutal, straight up!  He said, "Yeah I'm used to it, but it is still so exhausting"

 Here is a cute kid in my ward who has two extra fingers next to his thumbs.  

We had him count on his fingers and, yes, he does in fact count to twelve.

 This characterizes the Philippines.  Someone needs to check the English there.  To add to the funniness is that this place is a chain restaurant, so the mistake wasn't made just once.  haha

  I made nachos with the refried beans you sent. 

 I had to splurge a little on those chips...very rare here.