This Weeks Baptism...

Hello family

This week has been pretty fun and i have enjoyed it a lot!!  First things first we confirmed the women that we baptized last week and it was awesome she enjoys the church and she will turn out to be a strong member in the long run for sure!!  Second is the Fact that we baptized another this week and it was pretty cool as well the pics are uploading from it!!  The man that we baptized is 77 years old I am pretty sure and he Loves the church and its teachings!!  He got up to bare his testimony shortly after he was baptized and it was cool because he said that he hasn’t been able to get a job for 5 years now and that when he made the decision to join the church that he was offered a job and is doing well now!!  Which is awesome!!  He is funny doesn’t understand much English but knows that this is the Church of Jesus Christ for sure!!  

My companion is doing really well and is enjoying!!  he is a funny person he drives me crazy sometimes but all around funny!!  If you can remember what me and Nathan were like before i came here it is basically the same so patience is coming but an all-around nice kid and very humble!!!  I don’t mean the fighting part either just the annoying bit hahaha!!  He is not like others though i think he grew up not in town he doesn’t know how to use a phone real well and has no clue about computers so he is very interesting to watch hahaha!!  We have two baptisms coming up this week again two 20 year old boys who are ready for the baptism which is awesome i am excited for it to come!!  

The transfers did come but there were not that many changes i am still the DL and i am still Training elder Maele in the same area so it is good!!  I am sure the next transfer will get me though because there are some more people who will be getting ready to go home!!  It is kind of sad to see some friends go though and it is sad that we won’t meet again for a while!!  The ones from the states will be easier than the ones here in Africa!!  I am going to try and keep in contact with all of them but it is harder than i thought to do so, so we will see how it goes in future!!  

Easter Sunday is almost here and it will be a good weekend i am ready for it!!  I hope that you all will be able to enjoy it and have fun doing all the traditional stuff with everyone!!  hahaha this time next year i will be there to celebrate it with you all which will be great!!  I am enjoying the work and i am enjoying being here the time is flying and I am starting to see that I do not have that much time left so it is pretty crazy!!  I hope everyone has a good week and a great Monday Love you all!!

Elder Welling 

 Yes this is dinner

Baptisms and More Baptisms...

Hello Family

Things are doing well and I am doing fine!!!  Well this week has not been to exciting or fun but we have done a lot of work this week!!  We had a baptism though this week and it was awesome she will be a strong member of the church she is about 30 years old and has two children she is doing good and the husband has been a member for quite some time!!  It was awesome to see her get baptized and the cool thing is we have another baptism this coming week which should be awesome!!  We also have two more baptisms scheduled for April 5th that should also be pretty awesome!!  The weeks are going by faster which is weird but things are going well!!  We should be getting close to transfers this week which will be interesting to see what happens there are some missionaries that are getting ready to go home so we will see how things turn out!!

The stake that has been created is awesome and I am glad to have been a part of it and it will continue to grow and get better and more will start appearing as well which will be awesome!!  The church here in Ndola is getting better and bigger and the meeting house seems to be getting smaller and smaller!!!  All is good though the District is doing well and things are coming along!!  I am not sure if there are that many new missionaries coming this week but it has been nice with the new ones that we have!!  The companion is doing well and he is learning a lot he is almost to the point where he can teach the whole lesson with what he has which is nice!!!

Other than that not too many things are really going on here!!  We are continuing to teach and to do the work like we are supposed to!!  A lot of my friends have gone home off of mission so it is difficult to see how many I have left and what they are doing!!  I am keeping in contact with many of my friends, Parker and I have not written in a while but I will see how he is doing down there on the cape!!  I have definitely built a tight relationship with the elders that I am staying with they are really awesome and they are also having a lot of fun here as well!!  There is one, he is preparing to go home soon though so it will be sad but interesting to see what happens!!

Mondays are getting kind of interesting now days there is not much to do anymore all we do is email and then go home to study and talk!!  This isn’t a bad thing but it would be nice to relieve some stress with a little soccer once in a while!!  You know something I did find surprising is there is a golf course here in Africa and never in a million years did I ever think that I would see one in Africa but still pretty cool if I am still here for another six weeks I may go see if we can rent some clubs and try it hahaha!!  Anyway I hope that everyone will be having a good week and that things will be going well for all of you Love you!!!

Elder welling

 Elder Dolonga

 Elder Dolonga

 Elder Welling and Elder Hill

 Elder Welling and Hill eating beef stick

 Elder Maele

 Elder Maele

 Storms moving in

 Elder Dolonga

 Elder Maele Studying

 Gershon in the backpack

Still Going Strong...

Hello Family,

I am doing really well and I am enjoying the place here!!  This last week has been good I have been having fun teaching and getting people ready to be baptized!!  We have two that will be baptized this week and it will be awesome when it happens!!!!  The new companion is doing really good and is getting better at teaching and different things like that!!  He will continue to get better though over the course of the upcoming weeks!!  We are meeting tons of new people and definitely becoming good friends!!  Also this week someone who apparently had a dad die here came from West Jordan Utah so I got to meet him this week and know him!!  He is from West Jordan so it was really weird to see someone who was in Utah here!!  

Anyway All is going well though and I am not sure if you have sent the package with the books or not but the package that I have just gotten this week was awesome especially the huge snickers if they still are making those I would love another one of those and yes by the way it is already gone I ate it all haha it was awesome!!  Anyway thank you for the things that are in there The summer sausage was really good as well have not had one of those in a long time!!  It was good to get that thank you!!  The retainers work well and I am now using them it was tough for the last couple of nights because my teeth were moving back but now it is all in place and doing well!!

There are a lot of things that are happening this side but all is good!!  The missionaries that had typhoid are doing well and are getting better!!  The symptoms are a lot like flu but amplified and it looks like you are going to die when you have it but it is just because the body is weak!!  It is not transmitted through being around the person it is given from someone who prepared food and had poop or pee on their hands it isn’t a pretty picture to have but that is probably how he got it!!  They are better though and doing well!!  It sounds like everyone had a good time at state it is too bad that Alek had to be sick his year at state and that they lost to Gillette I hate that team with a passion as well!!  

It sounds like the dance teams have done pretty well this year as well as cheer that is really good!!  No offense to anyone in those sports but I always thought it was a little long and boring!!  But it is good that they did well!!  I didn’t take too many photos this week so we will see how it goes in the upcoming one!!  I don’t give one word answers to people that email me I give just about as long as the one I received so it is all good!!  I am sorry that I don’t write a lot I just do not like to type and put all the little details of things in it!!  It is a guy thing because all the missionaries here that I am with do the same!!  Anyway have a good week and love you all talk to you next week!!

Elder Welling

Everything is Going Great....

Hey family

I am doing good and things here are going really well for us!!  There are a lot of people progressing towards baptism and it is really cool to see and experience!!  We have about 8 solid people that will be getting ready for baptism there are 4 for sure that will be baptized the other 4 are still getting there but it is cool to watch!!  There are two this week on Saturday that will be getting baptized which will be fun to watch and experience!!  Hopefully they will enjoy after that I am guessing about three more weeks and then we could have maybe two more so I am excited for that!!  This week has been great and things, didn’t do much though just doing the work!!  The leadership meetings went well and they were very awesome to be in!!  Hopefully there will be some more like that!!

It has also been eventful because I have now had two people in my district come down with typhoid really not a fun looking sickness the one is an elder and the other is a sister!!  It is crazy!!  The other elder that got it is from California and his name is Elder Hill and his comp is Elder Dolonga from South Africa!!  It is pretty crazy to see what is going on though, with it all he is taking some pretty big pills for it!!  The package is still not here but I believe that it is in Lusaka and they just have not brought it up to me yet!!  Yes I do know Katie Jones she just left, she served in my district when I was in Lusaka and then we were both up here in copper belt in the same zone!!  She is a very nice girl and she did enjoy her mission for sure!!

You should definitely go to her homecoming to see her talk and you can tell her you’re my parents she will be very happy!!  I think on one occasion I even gave her a blessing while she was here so I know her very well!!!  It is pretty weird to be one year done and moving towards the end now it is pretty crazy and thank you for the pics Katie got them to me, you all look really good and Nathan and Katie are tall haha that will be a weird experience to see!!  haha I am really enjoying though and the work is getting better and better as time goes on!!  As you start to figure out how things are done it gets easier and more and more people start to be taught and progress it is awesome!!

Anyway I am going to put some pics in drop box but you don’t necessarily have to show them to everybody haha my comp decided while I was working out he wanted to take some photos which is ok haha you will see them but other than these there are not many photos to put on!!!  Anyway I am in a hurry today the shop is closing early so I will talk next week and I am getting taller and bigger for sure!!  Have good week love you all!!!

Elder Welling

 Copper Belt Zone

The Work is Progressing....

Hey family!!

Things are going good here and the work is progressing for sure!!  The new comp is doing well and is enjoying being here on mission!!  The training I think is going pretty well and things will continue to go well with him!!  This week has been pretty awesome and the Lord definitely prepares people for this gospel!!  This week we have about 7 people that have committed to a date for baptism and it is pretty amazing that we have found all these people!!  I am pretty excited to see if they will progress all the way!!  They all have a lot of potential too!!  For sure about 2 will be baptized on the 14th of this month which is coming up so it will be an awesome time!!  It is crazy to think that the half way mark has been hit but it is flying by I did not think i would get to this point this fast!!  I will see what I can do Thursday because we have a bunch of meetings for District leaders and trainers!!  It will be pretty interesting but we will see how it goes!! 

I have been talking to comps in the past and they are doing really well especially my trainer Mwambu he goes home in 4 months which is crazy I was his comp when he was only nine months!!  So interesting to see him almost home!!  The weather here is still up and down super-hot but super rainy all the day and when we walk out of the flats in the morning we are never sure what it is going to do!!  The rain clouds roll in so fast, it can be completely clear when you walk into a lesson and after 40 min there are dark clouds everywhere it is crazy!!  There have been a lot of funny things this week that has happened but everything is good!!  

There is not much going on here that is exciting though The branch is getting bigger which is really good and hopefully they will find a new meeting house because people are starting to have to stand which is really bad but it is good it is growing!!  Mondays there is not that much to do anymore so we spend most of our time emailing but we are working to find something productive to do!!  Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we can get something going!!  A store guy that sees me looking in his sports shop quite often wants to play bball with me at some point so maybe in the next week we can get that set up!!  Pictures should be in and they will all be uploaded by the time I am done emailing!!  Last week the comps were ready to go home and if one wants to go we all go because the taxi home is cheaper that way that is why I wasn’t able to go back and forth!!  Sorry that everyone is sick there hopefully you all will get feeling better and be able to return back to your normal activities!!  Also good luck to Katie and the teams to be able to do well this week!!  Love you all have a great week!!!

Elder Welling

 Sister Jones and Elder Welling at Zone Conf.

Elder Welling

 No this is not our dinner

 Elder Hill and Elder Welling

 Elder Moya and Elder Welling

 Elder Hill and Elder Moya

 Elder Welling and Elder Maele

 It Rains in Africa

 and Rains

Elder Maele in Rain