Taking Shortcuts

Hello Friends and Family!

Good week this week!

We have a part of our area called Tagnipis that rarely is visted by missionaries, one, because it's kind of small, and two, because it's FAR. Layo gid kaayo! But, we decided to investigate. So, off we went, tromping through the jungle, hacking away at plants with a machete, wiping sweat from our brows... Not really, but it makes the story sound better. But we decided to try and find the mystical "shortcut" that we have been hearing about for a few weeks now. Three hours later, we had walked all the way there and back, and there was no shortcut whatsoever. I even managed to sweat through my clothes and had to go home and change, so that was fun. BUT, the fun we had along the way was when we first started. We found a kitten along the way, that upon coming across him, I quickly identified it as the same cat that belonged to one of our Recent Converts -- the very same cat that sat in my bag just a few weeks ago, if you remember that picture. So, we decided to take it with us. For the next two hours, it sat in Elder DeGuzman's bag, meowing and meowing the whole way. It was awkward to explain to people why we had a cat in our bag, but we knew that it needed to be returned to it's owner.

Something I am thinking about as I write this is that, often times, we want to try and take shortcuts in life. Often times, we think that the rules, or commandments don't necessarily apply to us. Or maybe we do things even knowing that we shouldn't maybe because we think we know more than God. But, what I learned in my journey to Tagnipis, is that when we are searching for shortcuts, we really should just look for the normal way to get there. When we arrived there, we discovered that there was a tricycle(this is what we use for transportation, basically a motorcycle and sidecar) going to and from Tagnipis for only 10 pesos, roughly 25 cents. It's just like life. The way to get there has been established. We have all we need to know to make it back to our Heavenly Father, we just have to follow it. If we hadn't tried to find that shortcut the whole time and gone the way we knew worked, we would have saved about 2 hours of our time.

Things continue to go on. It's hard to get out of bed every day and wonder if I will help someone, but I know that nothing happens until I try to do something.

I love hearing about the things happening at home and hearing all the stories that everyone tells me! Even if it's just the normal details of life, I enjoy hearing it! 

Take care everyone!

Elder Welton

Mission Tour, Crazy Preacher, Feeling Blessed

Hello!

So this week was a really fun week! We had our mission tour on Friday with President Ardern, our Area President. He gave trainings on our work and how we can become better missionaries and everything like that. It was a really cool experience, he's very wise.

It is always fun when we go to Bacolod because we get to stay with a bunch of missionaries. We slept there the night before because the conference was too early to make it in the morning from our area. So we stay in this "hosting" apartment with everyone and we basically just sleep on these pads on the floor. It's super fun, but it's so hard to sleep there! Elder McCleary and I just talked because we couldn't fall asleep until about 12. Speaking of which, Mom - yes, he is in my Zone. He was transferred there when Elder Cruz was transferred and so now I see him a lot. It's way fun! He's actually sitting next to me right now as we email. Sister Schimbeck is on the other side of me. It's always fun to see them.

At mission tour, we had this, like, feast of food and it was so so good! It was the best food I have had so far! I ate a lot and then I didn't feel good, but it was worth it. We also ate at this restaurant called Manginasal. It was so delicious. Basically, they give you half of a roasted chicken and then unlimited rice and you just dig in. It is fun because you just eat it with your hands. I like that.

Earlier this week we ran into this Baptist preacher. It all started out as a normal conversation, but it eventually got crazy hahaha. He started going all preacher on us and it was kind of scary and I couldn't understand what he was saying! We basically got stuck there for about an hour as this man and the people with him started getting into a debate. We eventually were able to close the lesson and just ran.

I had a really good experience yesterday that humbled me. We went to a member's house to give a quick message. Brother Lamis is a return missionary and so is his wife. Only he was home when we went, so we talked to him for a little bit. He told us the story of how he was converted to the Gospel and how he decided to go on a mission. He explained how he was the only member in his family when he decided to go on his mission. He didn't have support from his family to go, and his dad even told him that if he left, he wouldn't have any place to come back to when he was finished. He said it was hard for him, but he knew that he needed to. When he was on his mission, he said that he never heard from his family until it was close to his first Christmas on his mission. He said he was shocked to receive a letter from his dad. The words he read in the letter gave him just enough help to keep going. His dad said, just as he said before he left, "I don't want to see you back here..." but what was different this time was that at the end of this was "...until two years". Brother Lamis said that even this very little bit of support helped him out immensely. And I realized how grateful I am for the support of everyone back home who encouraged me to go and is continually encouraging me to serve. I am very blessed.

To answer your question, Mom -- Tagalog, Cebuano and Hiligaynon are all very different, but similar concept. Hiligaynon, from what I can tell, seems to have come from broken Cebuano. A lot of the deep words from both languages are the same. Tagalog is the national language and they study it in school, so everybody knows it. A lot of people here tend to mix Tagalog into a lot of their languages, so it is helpful to learn both. In my area, I am on the border of the Cebuano/Hiligaynon areas, and so they are mixing English, Tagalog, Cebuano, and Hiligaynon. It took me about a transfer to realize that about half of the people we teach are speaking Cebuano - that's how close Hiligaynon and Cebuano are. From how I have heard it explained, Cebuano and Tagalog are further apart than Hiligaynon and Tagalog, but that Hiligaynon is closed to Cebuano than to Tagalog. Really, this place is just a mess of language and I have no idea how people know what anybody is saying. I think that's why that bag of Sweet Corn says "etc.." on the ingredients. It really explains the quality of the communication here.

I have no idea if I will be transferred. President transfers people randomly, you never know when he is going to do it. I guess we will see if I am or not!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Elder Welton

Photo from mission tour lunch

President & Sister Ardern (Area)  President & Sister Lopez (Mission) 

New Companion

Hello Family and Friends!

As the title of my email says, I now have a new companion. Pretty cool, right?

It's been a good week getting two know Elder De Guzman! Before he came here, he was studying to be in general education. He will probably become an elementary teacher when he comes home. He's super nice. I imagine it must be weird watching us two walk down the street talking because I speak English to him and he responds in a different language. He mixes a lot of Tagalog (different Filipino language) in with his Hiligaynon, so that's kind of fun. Pretty confusing, but it's good for me!

This past week has really shown to me how much I have grown since I have gotten here. When I was with my trainer, I could always count on him to fill in the gaps and it discouraged me from making the effort to explain things. I have started to realize how much I can actually understand now and I have started becoming a better missionary, willing to try new things and to talk to people. Even still, I can really only understand about 20% of what people are saying, sometimes even less, depending on the topic. But I have been amazed to see the help I get from Heavenly Father as I start to depend on him and try my best to accomplish this work.

To your question, Mom, this is THE top mission in the world, from what I have been told. From the statistics our Mission President has been showing us, each companionship in this mission is essentially doing the equivalent work of one district in other Filipino missions, and then sometimes the work of an entire zone in other missions. It is quite the standard to try and live up to, and especially as a new missionary, it's hard to keep up with the pace. But I know that, eventually, my capacity will be increased to be able to keep up with the pace. It requires a lot of diligence and energy, so I am usually dead tired when I get home. Every day, we usually eat lunch around 11 and then get home at about 8-9. We are allowed to take an hour for dinner, as outlined in the missionary handbook, but nobody ever takes it because we are so busy. So often times we don't eat for about 9-10 hours. BUT, because of our diligence, the Lord has blessed us with the capacity to just work.

"Therefore, take ye no thought for the morrow, for what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed...For your Father, who is in heaven, knoweth that you have need of all these things."

I have seen this promise in my work so far. When we put our minds on the things that matter the most, we will see miracles in our lives. Blessings come from obedience to the commandments and to our callings, as missionaries AND members alike.

So, I forgot to ask you this the other week, but I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants the other day, Section 76. I was surprised to see my very own last name above the section heading of 76. At the end of Section 75, someone with the last name of WELTON is mentioned. WHO IS THIS?? It has to be a relative of some kind, because nobody is named Welton..? So, that's your assignment this week. I imagine someone in our family must know, right? Anyway, just a fun experience.

I'm hoping I will be able to use Skype at Christmas! I guess we will see what's available when the time comes.

Also, I loved seeing all of those snacks that you guys bought! The Pancit Canton, imagine eating that almost every day. My favorite kinds are the Lemon Calamansi and the "Original" flavor. I'm not sure what "original flavor" means or what it tastes like, but it tastes good, that's all I know.

Hope you all have a great week! Stay safe!

Elder Welton

Attached are pictures of my technology success from last week and then a lovely portrait of me trying to wear a poncho (I think it is sized for Filipinos).

Technology, Transfers, and Skeletons

Hello Family and Friends!

So this has been a CRAZY week. Let's start from the top.

A few weeks ago (might have been a few months ago, I don't know), I accidentally sat on my mini speaker that I use for music while it was charging. So, because the charger was plugged in, it broke of the little spot where you plug it in. (For all you tech savvy, the charging port broke off, it ripped the solder out and some of the traces). Naturally, I had two choices: enjoy the time I had left with it because I wouldn't be able to charge it again, OR I could fix it. So that's exactly what I did. I fixed the thing. How did I fix it, you ask? That's a great question. Being here in the Philippines, it's a little hard to find tools to fix it, so I got creative. A few pieces of tin foil, paper, and super glue were all it took! The thing is working like a champ now. I have a picture that I can try and send next week. I am honestly shocked it worked haha.

BUT, now let's get to the crazy part of my week.

On Tuesday, our phone broke. This is our only lifeline to the outside world, and luckily for us, this ended up being the most inconvenient time possible for it to break. I managed to fix it long enough to get all of our contacts and to contact the office about it, but it ended up breaking again later that day. So we managed to go the rest of the day without our phone, what a pain that was trying to contact people through other people's phones. Then on Wednesday, we needed to contact our President about something, and luckily we had his number. So we ended up calling him and talked to him. At the end of the call, he mentioned something about needing to contact Elder Cruz later. We informed him of our phone being broken and that we would call him later. So we called later and he said that Elder Cruz will be transferring. He wasn't sure where yet and didn't give a date, but he said he would. On Friday we found out that the AP's had been trying to contact us the whole previous day and we hadn't responded. Apparently they had a transfer call for Elder Cruz before the actual transfer day. He ended up being transferred on transfer day anyway, though, because they had to find a new assignment for him. 

So, now I have a new companion! He seems really nice, he's a Filipino, and he is 26, a little bit older than me. There is a little bit of a language barrier right now, but I imagine that will start to disappear as time goes on. Hopefully we will be able to work hard and get to know each other at the same time!

It was kind of hard leaving Elder Cruz. We had some good talks this week as we foresaw the coming transfer. But I felt it was really time for us to split up. It is scary that I have to lead now, but I really feel this is the only things that will help me to grow. No more being babied by a trainer. I'm not sure what I am doing yet, but I have faith that I will be able to do whatever the Lord asks. "For God giveth no commandment save he prepareth a way." Not an exact quote, but it gives me so much comfort. Faith truly is what will get us through the hard times in life. A former AP in our mission, Elder Sablan, would always say, "You don't need to be sagad (kind of like "skilled") to be a good missionary. You just need to have faith." Right now, with as little as I know as a new missionary, my ONLY option is to have faith. 

We also learned in our zone conference about our attitudes. We were taught "to treat things, not as they ARE, but as they OUGHT to be, or COULD be." The potential we all have as children of God is something we know not. But everybody and everything has the potential to be something great, so why not treat them as such. Not sure why I shared that, but I felt like it was important.

We had an opportunity to proselyte in the cemetery yesterday because of "All Saints Day." This is essentially their version of Halloween, except it's a two-day-long party. So that's pretty cool, I guess! Basically, people just hang out by the graves of their family members and have food and stuff. So we went and taught a lot of lessons on the Plan of Salvation. It was cool! Most of the graves are above ground in cement boxes. One of them was like, broken open. And guess what was inside of it? Yep. A real human skeleton. I noticed it while I was teaching a lesson, so of course I kind of stammered through the rest of it, because the whole time I was thinking, "Am I looking at a real skeleton? Is this real life?" I wanted to get a closer look, but I thought that might be disrespectful. It was kind of cool though. I hope someone fixes it. 

This week was even crazier than I have time to describe in an email. But I hope you all have a great week!

Take Care,

Elder Welton

Answers to mom's questions:

How are your contacts working?  I don't see you wearing glasses in recent photos.  

Contacts are working awesome! I am able to wear them just fine here! Everytime I go into air conditioned places, I start to feel the dryness again. Yay. They have hurt a little lately, probably just because I wear them constantly, so I have been trying to take a break whenever I can and wear glasses.

  

How is crime/safety there? 

Crime is fine, no crime really. Pretty safe. I don't think people could afford any dangerous weapons here haha.

 

 Is the concept of tithing difficult for people to accept there because of limited means?

  The tithing thing is something that I am actually surprised about. There aren't very many who question it. I think maybe because it's common to ask for donations in churches. For sure I will run into some people with the concern, though.

 

Do you show church videos to investigators?  How...on an Ipad?

We don't show the movies to people here. We have a dvd player, (no iPad, people would be so distracted by the iPad itself) and we can show a movie at the church, but I haven't yet. 

Sugar, Corn, Sweet Corn Powder, Etc...

I would like to start out with a picture I have been meaning to send you guys for a while. It really seems to describe my feelings here in the Philippines. There seems to be a lot of confusion here, I think maybe because of communication issues. Pay close attention to the Ingredients list --

I would like to talk about that last ingredient, "Etc..." It's almost as if the manufacturing process of this product, "Sweet Corn", is simply common knowledge..? Surely they neglected the MSG that is, no doubt, included in this. Despite the fact that the packaging is quite vague, the actual stuff inside is super good. It is honestly the coolest thing ever - it tastes like real corn! Like, I don't know how you reproduce that kind of flavor, but they managed to do it! I gave Sister Schimbeck some of it at our Zone Training one time. She was shocked. It really is so cool.

As I write this, it makes me think about prayer. Sometimes we often get into the habit of, "I need this, I need that, etc, etc, etc..." I know I do that all of the time. For example, I often use the phrase "Please bless all those that need help at this time, that they may receive it." This is essentially a blanket statement. It's laziness. SO, perhaps we can take a little more time in our prayers. And before hand, we can think about those people we should be praying for. I have seen how the Spirit is much more present as I pray for people individually, and for SPECIFIC things in my life, not just vague statements asking for "help of some kind."

We baptized another investigator on Saturday! Sister G. B. has gone through so many sets of missionaries and has attended church for years and years, but has never been baptized because hadn't gained that testimony yet. It's hard to think about what must have been different with us compared to the missionaries before us. But what we think opened the door for her was Joseph Smith. She had not yet gained a testimony of Joseph Smith. But as we challenged her to pray about it, she had a change of heart. After her interview on the Sunday before her baptism, her mother was in tears because she never thought that she would be baptized. It was quite a good experience and I am so happy to have been able to be a part of her conversion.

(answering questions from mom)...

I'm going to have to think about my missionary plaque scripture, I will try and let you know next week!

You asked about my companion, and I really haven't told you anything about him yet, sorry! Elder Cruz is from Manila and he is one of the most unique people I have ever met. He is constant energy and it's so funny. The funny thing is, he has only started being the way he is on his mission. Before, he was very secluded, read books by himself all the time, and didn't really talk to people. He is the exact opposite now. He has migraines all the time though. Sometimes he has a really hard time with it, but he's a good sport about it. It makes me grateful to not have a problem like that. He goes home in January, so he's almost out of here. It's weird to think that he is finishing while I am just now starting my mission. It will be sad when he goes home or he is transferred.

Speaking of mission time, my four month anniversary was just the other day! It's hard to think I have been gone that long already. Seems like just yesterday I was dropped off at the MTC. Now I'm 1/6th done with my mission. Whenever I think about it, I start to reflect upon what I have experienced in the last while that I have been here. And then I think about how much more I will learn in the rest of my time here. It's exciting to think about the person I will become by that time!

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! Sorry I haven't been able to answer all of your questions, there really is only so much I can tell you in the time I have.

Love,

Elder Welton

Barefoot

(This letter is from 10/19/14)

This week was a week full of adventure!

First of all, I got that package, Mom! Thank you so much! It was nice to have some America here. And some good food.

There was so much rain again this week! At one point earlier this week, I had two options presented to me: wet shoes and socks for the rest of the day, or take those shoes off and barefoot it like a man. Needless to say, I took the more manly option and tromped through the mud and rain. Of course, I did not look manly at all with my man purse and rolled up pant legs. That's okay though.  I will attach a picture for your enjoyment.

I had a super cool experience yesterday. I had to give a talk for sacrament meeting (there's an answer to one of your questions, mom) and so I wrote it out in English and I thought it was pretty good. I planned on giving it in English because I'm still not confident enough just to get up there and speak whatever I want. But during the sacrament I had a thought come to my head that I should just try it in Hiligaynon anyway. So, I said a prayer asking for help, that if I opened my mouth, it would be filled with what I needed. I was shocked to realize that at the end of my talk, I had just given the entire thing in the language! I truly have witnessed the gift of tongues, and it was awesome! HOWEVER... even though this experience was quite the faith-builder, I have dug myself into a bit of the hole. After having given this talk, people now assume that I can understand fluently. Little do they know, I have no idea what they are talking about 70% of the time. So now, I need to catch up a little on the understanding part hahaha. But people said I had a really good accent compared to a lot of the Americans they've met, so that was cool!

So, to some of your questions, mom:

What type of technology do Filipinos have where you are?  

The Filipinos have some technology here, a lot of the stuff we have in America. The only difference is it's about a solid 10 years behind, give or take. The Nokia cellphones of the early 2000's are what we carry around as missionaries and what the majority of people have here. Also, the computers are super old here, usually. I saw a computer running Windows 2000 today in the "hospital." There are quotations around that for a reason...

How long will you be with your trainer?

From what my trainer was told when the President talked to him, he will most likely be transferred on November 5th, the end of this transfer. So, following this, I will be leading the area and trying to figure out what to do!

Have you done any service projects?

No service projects yet!

(We'd love to hear  about who you are teaching or a particular experience)

And teaching people, I have plenty of stories to tell! I wish I could explain this place to you guys! It's so hard to explain in words. I am so excited to talk to you all at Christmas, so I will try to write some notes of what to talk about!

That's about all for this week! Love you guys!

Elder Welton

Letting the Cat out of the Bag

So, hello everyone. I hope things are at least a 7 on a scale from 1 to 10.

Basically, General Conference is the best. I loved every minute of it. I have never been so excited for it, it honestly felt like Christmas for me.

Ever since the MTC, I have always loved hearing Elder Bednar speak. So you can imagine my excitement when he was announced as one of the last speakers. He gave a great talk that I could go on and on about.

Lately I have been realizing something that I had never thought about before. And especially during this conference, it reaffirmed the same thing. But I am so grateful that my native language is English. English is the language of the Restoration. The Book of Mormon was even destined to be translated into the English language. Our mission president and even church leaders are constantly encouraging members, missionaries, and other leaders to learn English. The ability we have to fully understand the messages at conference is so valuable. I'm sure you noticed how much harder it was to learn from the translated versions of the Conference talks, I know it was for me. It's because so much gets lost in that translation. So, we are very blessed.

This week it has rained SO MUCH. Goodness. It was relentless. But it was actually kind of fun trying to navigate all of the mud and stuff! My feet were soaking wet, so whenever I stepped, it made this satisfying "squishy" sound. The mistake, though, was when I took off my shoes and socks in someone's house. The biggest trial for me this week was putting those wet shoes and socks on after my feet had already dried. I'm sure you all can understand how much I truly suffered.

Also, I am attaching a picture of a cat. This little cat was so cute. We were teaching a lesson with someone and it kept wanting to lay next to me because it was cold, and apparently I'm warm. I ended up putting it in my bag. It was the perfect spot. I even put stuff on top of him, but he kept sleeping. Probably could have proselyted all day with him sleeping in there. And I almost did! But I decided to let him roam free with his mother. I think he is happy.

Hope everyone is doing well! Have a good week!

Elder Welton

ANSWERS TO MOM'S QUESTIONS

Do members ever get to go to the temple, or is it too expensive?

 

 Members rarely go to the temple. The temple options are Cebu and Manilla. Usually people go to Cebu because it is closer. But many have to save up for quite a while to even go once. I don't know how many people have returned to the temple after being endowed and sealed.

Do you use your English scriptures when you go out - or Hiligaynon?   (Kyle bought a mini set of scriptures on his mission to carry around - would that help?)

 I actually never bring my personal scriptures out. My companion gave me a little book of mormon that I carry around with me and then I carry a Hiligaynon version usually. A little set of all of the scriptures would be awesome if you can find some!

 

Do you have an oven?  Refrigerator?

 

We have a refrigerator. and a toaster oven the size of probably a normal toaster. Very small. And then a burner.

 

What are the meat options there, or do you not each much meat?

 

 Meat options are beef pork and chicken. There is very little meat on the animals here, though. And we often substitute pork for beef because it's a little pricy for our budget

  

What interesting food have you tried there?

 

 I have tried a ton of food here. I wish I could explain it to you guys. I really miss American food, because here, it's not that good, so I don't eat a ton. Yesterday we made mexican food though! We had to use these white beans because pinto beans dont exist, and then we made the tortillas by hand. It was actually so good. We made a lot of friends with our burritos haha.

 

Anything you'd like from the US (I.e. food, toiletries, clothing)? 

 

I WANT STUFF FROM THE US haha. I will start making a list as I think of things that would benice. It's hard to figure out what doesn't go bad in three months while it's shipping though.