Emergency Transfer

So I got transferred today! They called me last night around 6pm and said "Elder Welton, you're transferring tomorrow. Be here at 9." So, now I am here and about to go to my area. I met my companion when we were in Sagay, but I haven't ever really talked to him... I have a prediction that I might train this transfer. SO... that means that I have one week to learn the area and then my companion will transfer. BUT, that's not for sure yet. We will see. I haven't been to my area yet, but it's basically the farthest zone of the mission south. I have actually always wanted to be assigned down there, so I am excited! This means I will have been from the farthest area north to the farthest south! That's pretty cool, I think. I have heard the areas are beautiful down there. Yes!

So about that miracle family--

One day, Elder Domantay were just walking down the rode, you know, like missionaries do. All of the sudden someone said "Elders!" Now, we here this about 45 times a day, so I didn't really think anything of it. I kind of just gave the glance, smile, and wave in the general direction of the voice kind of thing. But, then I heard it again! "Elders! Wait!" Then I saw someone getting of of a motorcycle, taking his helmet off, and then he walked towards us. "Elders! I have someone I want you to teach!" Of course we were a little confused... We found out that he was a less active member that was baptized in the 80's or something and he wanted us to teach his daughter, J------. We wrote down the information and visited them later. It was weird because they weren't expecting us, but they welcomed us in right away and everything. As we started teaching them over the weeks, we realized how prepared they were. We gradually ended up teaching all of his kids, the oldest of which is 21. They showed up to church the first week we started teaching them. They understood everything we taught and were fully willing to live all of the commandments we taught. It was so awesome spending time with this family. From the day we met them, we gave them a baptismal date that was only a month later, the soonest possible date that they could be baptized. Man, were they prepared. Now... the best ending to this story would be to hear about their baptism. I would love to say that it was the most sacred experience ever.  That's not quite what happened. BUT it was still amazing. What ended up happening is that the DAY BEFORE the baptism, the youngest of the siblings, Jose, got... um... well he got circumcised... So, you know... he couldn't really walk too comfortably... Poor little guy.  So he and his oldest sister decided to wait till the next week to be baptized together. I wish I could have attended their baptism too, but I got transferred. J---- and W----, teenagers, were baptized on Saturday. And their baptism was great. It was so neat to see their reaction as they came out of the water. They seemed so happy! I am so glad I was able to witness their conversion. I wish I could say that I had a part in their conversion, but I honestly didn't do a thing. This family has been prepared for a while now... I just got the chance of witnessing the final steps towards baptism. Great experience.

Well... I don't really have much more to tell you this week! I am quite certain I will have a LOT to tell you about next week. I am super excited.

Have a great week!

Elder Welton

Be a "DO'er"

Hello Family and Friends!

This was a very good week! We were able to have some amazing trainings and it was just a really good week over all. It was a fairly normal week in terms of work, but we are seeing miracles every day. It's an amazing experience.

I am super excited for this coming week because we have the baptism of the "miracle family" I mentioned a few weeks ago. I am not going to tell the story quite yet, because I want some good pictures to go with it. BUT, now you have something to look forward too! Tune in next week to find out :)

Something I have been really pondering in my mission lately is about "living what you know." There is a section in Preach My Gospel that talks about that very subject and I actually find it to be my favorite. I realized the other day while reading the experience of Joseph Smith's first vision, that we all, to a point, are so very similar to the people in the time of his youth. With so many churches claiming truth at the time, it's no wonder the young boy was confused. But what Jesus said to him was, "They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." We often do that same thing in our life. We think, "hey, I have all these good beliefs and opinions in my head," but then never do anything about it. I wrote someone earlier and gave this advice. "Be a DO'er. It's easy to know stuff. It's easy to believe in things. But it's another thing to show it. And it's an entirely different thing to LIVE IT." Something my mom always said to me, "Be a Do'er," is something I never FULLY understood until I got here on my mission. It's great to know a lot of gospel truths, but it's better to live them, apply them, and make them part of you. "At all times we must teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when necessary; use words." There is so much power in being a good example.

I apologize for now having much to say today. My mind is very busy with all of the things we are doing right now! But I hope I said something that might help someone. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Welton

Another cat....

I have a lot of cat stories on this mission, I'm not sure why, but I will talk about that later. :)

This was a good week! It was also a really wet week. Lots of rain. I mean, TONS of rain... Goodness. I really liked it though because it's been a while since I have worked in the rain. It reminds me of my last area. And it also smells like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland whenever it rains. That combined with the bamboo and island "stuff" brings all sorts of nostalgic feelings to my mind. Man, that's such a good ride...

I am also super stoked because next week is MOTHER'S DAY. I will be Skyping, that is a must. I should be calling on Sunday night for you, Monday morning here. So yay! Be ready. Also, maybe you could put Sarah on a conference call or something. Her phone has Skype. Look into that for me. It would be a lot better if it were just a group call!

We have some families that we are teaching right now and they are amazing. They never cease to surprise Elder Domantay and I. We have some of them that want to come around and work with us and to become missionaries. We had one investigator ask the question the other day, "Elders, do you think that after I am baptized and am involved in the church for a while, that I might be able to become a missionary like you two?" We were so amazed! We had just barely finished introducing the Book of Mormon and suddenly we had this question! It's really amazing to see the preparation that God has done in the lives of those we are teaching right now. I wish I could claim these investigators as "my convert" or "the one I taught", but I really can't do that. The faith and conversion that I see in these people could not have come from me or even Elder Domantay. These people have been being prepared their whole lives. I just got the opportunity to be a part of their journey for a little bit. And I also realized that we aren't called here to prepare people from absolute scratch; the very beginning. We are simply here to jump in midstream to the preparation that is ALREADY happening in their lives. We are here to build upon what Christ himself has already built. That's something I learned this week.

Now, about that cat:

Last night, after we had just finished a quick lesson with a new investigator we had just met, we were headed to go eat dinner. It was raining. It was pouring. I'm not sure if anyone was snoring, but probably not because the rain was so loud! It was really one of those - "I'm half-way around the world, tromping around in the mud and rain, what am I doing here?" - type of moments. But all of the sudden, I hear this small little whining sound. From my previous adventures with cats in my mission, I recognized it immediately as the call of a feline in peril. I found, next to some garbage, a little tiny kitten who looked like he had just been born only a few hours ago. Maybe a day. I don't know. But he was so tiny, his eyes still aren't even open yet, and he was just squirming around in the mud. I said, "Elder! Look at this!" His response, "Ay kalu-oy saiya!" In English that's like "ah, poor guy!" We put him in a small plastic bag and carried the little guy home. Then we thought, "Okay, now what do we do??" We made him a little bed in a box and then I tried to feed him some milk. (that's the only thing I could think of) I was trying to feed him the milk and he just wouldn't take it! Elder Domantay said, "Hey he probably doesn't want cold milk." So now I'm thinking, "Oh great. So you're telling me this guy's a picky-eater. I see how this is gonna be..." So I heated up some water, mixed it with the cold milk and got a nice "lukewarm" temperature. I then tried to put it in a straw and feed him. Even though I literally had the straw INSIDE of his mouth, he still was trying to push it away. The whole time I kept saying, "Hey, this isn't fun for both of us, but I'm trying to HELP you! Come on little guy, just drink this. I know what's good for you!" Eventually he drank the milk and then fell asleep. I was worried that I might have killed him, but he was still alive this morning, so I guess I did the right thing :) If I am doing the wrong thing, please let me know.

But as I was watching this little guy struggle for life, I really started to think about life here on earth and everything. It was so intriguing to watch that little cat wiggle around, no control of his little body, not being able to see anything, and just struggling to live. We are all a lot like that in so many ways. We came here to earth, not knowing what in the world is going on, expected to learn and grow and contribute to this world, without even knowing where we came from our what our goal is. Luckily, we have so much help from God in our lives. I got just a LITTLE taste of what it must be like to be our Heavenly Father. In the moment that I had the straw in my hand, trying to feed that cat, I realized how similar that is to God. Here he has given us an example, his son, Jesus Christ, for us to follow. He has given us this gospel, our leaders, and everything we need, yet we all still reject it. If Heavenly Father weren't perfect in his judgement and thinking, I imagine he would probably be saying the exact same thing that I was saying last night: "Hey, this isn't fun for both of us, but I'm trying to HELP you! Come on little guy, just drink this. I know what's good for you!" Even when the straw is already in our mouth, or the gospel is already in our lives, we still try and fight against it. Why? I don't know. But perhaps the only thing we need to learn to do is: Learn to recognize the straw.

That's all I have for today! Hope everyone had a good week! I look forward to Skyping you on next Sunday!

Love,

Elder Welton

The included pictures are;

A picture of the cat in his little bed. We have since remodeled his house. Also, we are trying to find an owner for the poor guy because we aren't supposed to have any pets.

A picture of me using the primary cut-outs that you sent me, mother. :) It is super effective! Thank you.