Enjoying the Mission in Malawi...

Hello Family,

So this week has been pretty awesome and it has gone pretty well and things!!!  We are doing pretty well here and me and the comp are enjoying for sure!!!  This area is pretty awesome and the people here are even better!!!  We should have an investigator ready for baptism here in a couple of weeks so it will be pretty awesome to see that come through!!!  We have others that we are teaching but they must not think we are serious yet but we will keep trying to do these things!!!  The branch is pretty good and doing well still growing and the branch president is still really new so it is pretty interesting to see what he is going to do next!!!!  He turns to us missionaries first to know how to do ordinances and blessings and ordinations because he is not sure how to do them quite yet!!!  So we do it a lot and yes I have given many blessing and many confirmations and many ordinations and so on!!!  In fact I am not surprised there is not a week that goes by where we don’t give one of those things!!!  So it happens quite often!!  Although since we live so far away from other missionaries we have a lot of time to study the scriptures and gain more things from them so it is nice but it does get boring out there sometimes!! 

Mom great song lyrics for some reason they sound familiar we have a lot of gospel music in the flatte and It may have been on one of the songs that we have!!!  Anyway Out where we live there are a lot of dirt roads and things there and the dirt is bad!!!  It gets all over the clothes and it is hard to get out for sure but we are managing!  The branch is pretty far from where we stay this is the first time that I have had to pay transport on a Sunday to get to church and appointments!!!  So it is pretty interesting!  Anyway things are still going good here and mission is still going good here and I am enjoying!!!  We got to play soccer again last week and it was way fun!!!  I was able to score about 9 goals this time and it was pretty awesome!!!  I am hoping that we will again be able to play again this coming week!!  It will be loads of fun!!!

It sounds like things are pretty busy there at home for sure with all the activities that have been going on!!!  The soccer games sound awesome and all the other things as well!!  I am sorry that you all are suffering from the heat but I would love to bring you here and see the kind of heat that is here!!!!  I would probably have to start digging graves and things here for some of you!!!  Haha I am ready for some cold weather though and unfortunately it will not happen here so I will have to be patient!!!!  But all things will come together eventually!!!  I hope all of you will have a good week and that Things will be going good for sure!!!!  Happy Anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Welling hope they have a wonderful day!!!!  Also Happy Birthday dad this week  hope it is a good one 44 haha man you’re getting to grandpa stage hahaha don’t worry I’ll get there too eventually haha Love you all

Elder Welling

Insights on Sabbath Day....

Hello Family,

Haha first off the dump truck driver job sounds awesome and even better when you told grandpa about it and he mentioned what he did!!!  I can’t see her doing that though!!!  If that job is still open though when I get home I won’t have a problem with that I can drive a stick and I am a little bigger than she is hahaha!!!  Anyway the week was great we have been teaching a lot of people and doing things to get them ready for baptism!!!  They are all good people oh and to tell you about the pics that are here, the African girl is from Ghana her name is Racheal Quaye not sure but maybe Garrett might know her Not sure I spelled his name right but I am losing my spelling abilities!!!!  Anyway the branch is doing well and things are going good in it!!!  The Branch President is still new but we are working with him to try and help him to know what to do!!!  It is pretty funny because his second councilor came into church the other day with his wife and they both were wearing red!!!  The guy a bright red suit and shades hahaha!!!!  Him sitting on the stand was even more funny because it was all black and blue and then red dot hahaha!!!!  Me and the comp were laughing really hard and doing what we could to keep our cool!!

Yes we had the Sabbath day training and yes it was quite interesting but we did grow in a deeper understanding of the doctrine behind it and what we could do to make the day better!!!  Also Sabbath in the home was interesting as well and what we need to do in the home to be better at worshiping on the Sabbath day!!!  There is a scripture in Isaiah that is quite interesting about the Sabbath and it is a great one!!!  58:13-14 I think that talks about turning away our own pleasures and things on the holy day of the Lord!!!  It is interesting that Isaiah said this because Christ used David in the Psalms and said something even more interesting!!!!   In Isaiah he said if thou wilt turn away thy foot from doing your pleasures and call the Sabbath a delight then blessings but in Psalms 41:9 it says " yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me" which means us instead of following Isaiah’s counsel and turning away from our pleasures (US, his friends who have eaten of his bread at church lift up our heel(or turn in opposite direction of him) against him and start going away!!!  This wasn’t presented to me but it was an insight that I received after!!!!  It might help.   Also in D&C 59:8-12 and the ones after that are interesting too!!!!  but It says that "we will offer a sacrifice to the Lord" but some may wonder why this is so, since the Lord was the great and last sacrifice as recorded in the Book of Mormon!!!  But we offer a broken heart and contrite spirit!!!  Then it says "we will offer up our sacraments" Not the Lords sacrament but ours!!!  We are his because of what he has done for us and that means that we are indebted to him through everything we do!!!  The Lords sacrament was his body and blood for us!!!  But are we willing to give the same thing back to him as it says here in the scripture!!!  Our lives and doings do we offer them to the Lord each week when we offer a sacrament to him each week we take of this to recommit ourselves to him and promise that we will remain faithful in magnifying our callings serving others always standing as a witness of him at all times in all things and in all places!!!  This is not just for us to be renewed it is to show the Lord we are devoted and willing to submit to his will each week Hence offering up our sacraments!!!!  Just like Ezekiel 20:20 it shall be a sign between me and you!!!  Well what’s the sign, the recommitment each week if we don’t follow road signs we can die but when we follow them and use them we are safe and can make it to the destination safely same with sacrament it is a sign that we follow each week that we lead us home and keep us unspotted from the world as it says in D&C!!!!!  This ordinance is a life and death situation As physical beings we need food everyday to survive but what happens when we come to the Lords table we get the spiritual food that we need to heal them and push on through the week!!!  Without it and if we miss a week or don’t come prepared spiritually then our spirits die and we perish by becoming a part of the world and pushing farther and farther away from the Lord the savior from both physical and spiritual death!!!!

There are other things I could say but this should suffice I hope this can help dad!!!!  Anyway the comp is doing very well and is awesome we are getting along and doing very well!!!  I am enjoying my time with him and things!!!  Things are going well and I am enjoying the things that I am learning here are amazing and the insights and things that come from the spirit are amazing!!!!  Any way things are good here and I hope that you enjoy the pics this week I will work on the others next!!!!  Don’t worry mom I am reading your emails and your quotes every week and I enjoy them but sometimes I forget to go back and look at your questions!!!  I am glad everyone is enjoying that side and all is well with soccer and things going!!!  I also got to play soccer this week with the branch missionaries and it was pretty awesome!!!!  They didn’t think that I could play and things so I couldn’t disappoint them!!!  I scored six goals and had a great time!!!  They came to me after wards and said " man you weren’t lying you can play" haha I laughed for a while!!!  Anyway Love you all and I hope you have a great week!!!! 

Elder Welling

 Elder Kapande and I

Elder Welling, Sister Quaye, Sister Tuai, Elder Kapande

Sister Tuai, Elder Welling

 Elder Kapande

New Companion and Area are Great...

Hello family!!

Things are going good this side here in Malawi!!!  I am enjoying a lot for sure there are a lot of things to do here!!!  I wish we were allowed to do certain things because I would be all over them!!!  This week has gone by fast but all is going well!!!  We are teaching a few investigators and they are progressing so hopefully they will make it to the waters of Mormon!!!  Yes mom I did get the graduation announcement it looks very nice and thank you for it!!!  I really like the book and it has a lot of things contained in it so I am happy to have it!!!  I don’t have to travel any more than I did in Zambia because I am still on foot so it is pretty interesting plus I live 30 min out of town so it is weird!!!  The new comp is cool and a lot like Mwambu he is funny and really chill so I am liking him!!!  Living conditions are good, big flatte three bathrooms and bedrooms, kitchen and dining area so it is awesome!!  The best part is there are only 2 of us!!!!  The best thing as I said last week is the bike taxis so they are really fun to ride haha!!!  Well it is really dusty so it is my least favorite thing about the area!!!

So with pics it is difficult here because they don’t load and the thing is not compatible with my card reader for now so we will see!!!  I will work on getting them up and running for the best of my abilities this next week!!!!  So about the 200 years in the past thing here it goes!!  The houses here are made out of mud bricks that are sun dried and then stuck together with a mortar like substance so it is pretty interesting and the toilets here are really interesting!!!  It is a hole in the ground!!!  The aim here for both things has to be really good hahahahahahaha  I am serious about this by the way it is interesting to see that these people can do that!!!  The public places are better but not by much!!!  Also people make money differently here and in the movies you see the women going to the river to get water and then lifting the heavy buckets on their head well it is the same here!!!  It is pretty weird these women here are muscular they look like they could beat up their husbands which is pretty funny I think!!!  But things will improve over time for sure!!!  

P-day is still pretty boring here but I think this week me and the comp are going to buy a ball and play with it at the flatte so that we don’t get too bored!!!  Oh and I got to play ping pong last week here against some people and was kicking butt haha It is weird because usually churches have bball courts and things well this one had a table so I decided I would kill some guards and missionaries!!  Although probably won’t get to again the comp doesn’t like that game and doesn’t want to go but other than that things are going well here!!!  The branch is great and I am enjoying it for sure!!!  If you could get me the email of Brother Brown I will for sure give him a thank you letter for those!!!!  And also I am losing track of my mind about who’s birthday is coming up and things I know when dads is but others is difficult so if you could remind me every so often that would be great!!!  Anyway have a good week everyone and love you!!!!

Elder Welling

 Copperbelt Zone - June 2015

Lilongwe Zone - June 2015

Transferred to Malawi...

Hello Family,

OK SO FIRST OFF EVERYONE CAN RELAX HAHAHA I AM OK AND I AM NOT DEAD AND NOTHING WENT WRONG HAHA I WAS TRANSFERRED!!! It is too bad that I missed Elder Moya coming back that would have been awesome to see him for sure!!!  So now that all of you know I am not dead I will proceed to answer the ten million questions that people have asked usually after an accident has happened!!!!  So.......  I am in Malawi exact location is longitude 46 degrees latitude 73 when you land here you go down the airport road till you hit a junction, take a right and follow that road a couple clicks to a sign that says area 25, take a left then after you have done all that you can call me on the phone and tell me to come let you in the gate!!!!  Hahahahaha I am just kidding I do not know the coordinates but thought it was funny anyway!!  I am in Lilongwe in Kalambo branch it is pretty awesome down here for sure!!!!  Yes Obviously I have a new comp and his name is Elder Kapande!!!  He is from Zimbabwe and is 24 years old very nice guy!!!

It is a little different than Zambia for sure but I will get used to it like I always do!!  Yes they have put me back in as the District Leader here and it is pretty crazy to be back in a position again!!!!  I am enjoying the area though and I am loving the branch!!!  It is a lot easier to teach down here though and there is now another language to learn so I will have to adjust the language again it is pretty crazy!!!!  Although the transport here is a lot better and I am having fun with them, we take them everywhere!!!  So there are these bike taxis here called kabazas they are fun and they are not expensive they have seats mounted on the bike and they take you anywhere it is pretty awesome!!!!

We are teaching a lot of people and it is way more than the people we had there in the Copper belt so I am pretty excited for it all!!!  The Zone conference is coming here this week and it will be awesome to be able to see it again, the first time I had a great time attending!!!  Um it feels like I have stepped 200 years in the past though!!!!  So we will see how things go!!!  Anyway I got the book and I am glad it came, it is filled with a lot of awesome things for sure!!!  Thank you for it!!!  Anyway I hope that all will have a good week and things will be going well for everyone!!!  And sorry if I had time I would have wished Mom and Dad a happy anniversary last week but have fun Love you all!!!! 

Elder Welling

No Letter this Week???? - 6/1/2015