Still Loving the Work....

Hello Family

So it has been a pretty good week so far but really crazy haha!!!  The week has also gone super fast and most likely it is because I was busy the whole time but I am still loving the work and all the other things we are doing this side!!  It is very hard to explain exactly where I am but I am in the mid center of Lilongwe now but we work on the outskirts of it so it is really funny!!!  Also it has been kind of funny because Tuesday we spent the day literally moving missionaries around for transfers and the same with the next day!!!  Funny thing was because of all the moving we lost our mileage for the month and we didn’t have a truck for four days so we got some great exercise on the bikes my legs feel like jam and it’s because we went a distance for the truck on the bikes plus the hot weather made it ten times worse and things hahaha!!!  It still was awesome though!!!  It will be a little more difficult to baptize now because of the distance but a challenge never bothers me hahaha!!!  The flat we are in is a little smaller and things but it is still awesome!!!  Although we have a pretty sweet Zone after this transfer which is awesome!!  Kapande lives next door to us so I am liking it a lot it should be good!!!

The comp is really awesome though I am liking him and the best part is we have a lot in common already so it should be a pretty fun rest of the mission with him and things like that!!!  The new branch is pretty cool we are liking it, it has a way to go but we will get there in getting it to a branch soon right now it is really a group but growing very fast and they moved two more elders into the area!!!  So we should be good!!  There will be some sort of a Christmas devotional thing that we will be going to here in a few weeks it should be fun we will be going down to Blantyre and things I will enjoy it a lot!!! 

It seems like everyone up there is enjoying the holidays and the family can’t wait to do that again!!! Being here as the ZL is definitely challenging and very busy but it will be good to keep me busy for sure!!!    Hope everyone will have a good week and a great Monday Love you all

Elder Welling 

Transfer and Called as Zone Leader...

Hello Family,

This week has been pretty good and things are going well here!!!  We didn’t have too many events but things are going well and me and the comp are enjoying here for sure!!!  So this last week first of all I have been transferred to a new area so I will be leaving Elder Gangire and going to another area in the same Zone but I have been called to be a Zone Leader of the Zone which should be interesting for sure!!!  It will be different, but I am leaving some very good friends here in the branch behind!!!  Especially Joseph so it is pretty sad for the things that have happened but as I have said and learned it is not my will but the Lords!!!  I am leaving today to go to the new area and the new comp is name is Elder Cunningham he is a white guy from the states and things he is a pretty cool guy likes the outdoors, hunting and country music all the same things I like except on one thing haha he is a wrestler and I play the bball!!! Other than that it has been pretty good here this week!!!

We also were able to have another baptism this week which was great I enjoyed it.  The guy’s name is Patrick great guy too bad I won’t be here for the confirmation but we were still able to do the work to bring him to the knowledge of the truth which is always a good thing!!!  The branch is cool I am just sad to leave it behind and for sure if it is this hard to leave just a branch then on the way home it is going to be even worse feeling not going to be a joke!!  We didn’t get to play soccer this week but I am hoping in the weeks to come it will be available!!!  It is definitely weird to be 21 hahah didn’t think that I would make it to this age haha but it is here and for sure it will continue to climb haha but as it does others are always ahead of me hahaha that is a joke!!!

Anyway Joseph leaves for his mission in 5 weeks so it will be good for him to be going he is ready and for sure he will enjoy he is already very powerful in the Gospel and this experience will make it better!!!  Anyway I hope all will enjoy the holidays and the week and all will be going good for all!!!  I love you all and talk next week!!!!

Elder Welling

Baptisms and More Baptisms.....

Hey Family

Hope all is going well there on the home front and things!!!  We are doing good here and having a good time for what we are doing!!!  There are a lot of things happening down here and it is good!!!  First off I am trying to upload some photos so people can see them so I hope they will be on the dropbox by the time that I finish!!!  The baptism yesterday was pretty good and we enjoyed for sure he was excited even though he is pretty old and things!!!  The branch is doing pretty good and things we actually got a new branch presidency and things so we will see how it goes and if things will be better than they are now!!!  We have been trying to get this branch back to doing well and running smoothly for sure but all is well!!!  It was pretty funny there was a branch here in Lilongwe where they had some funny things happen it is too bad it didn’t happen here I could have killed them!!!

Anyway apparently two returned missionaries in the branch were a little mad that they were denied PEF and they came to sacrament meeting and took the bread and threw it out and tried to shut down the meeting as well as to make people go home!!!  It was quite interesting to hear about here!!!  These branches are funny and for sure they are doing good but have some things where they need to improve!!  There are a lot of other things that are happening here and it is quite interesting but we will endure them and try to do better!!!  Other than these things we are trying to find some more people to teach and help them out and things as well as there should be another baptism this Sunday for another individual which will be awesome!!! 

We got to play soccer this week which was fun and I enjoyed although we were not able to win it was still fun i have been sunburned though so I should get a little darker and it is hot and humid right now here I am not doing anything but sitting here and i am sweating and dying!!!  Hopefully the air conditioning at home will be going well!!!  There has not been much of anything else here that is going on but we are doing pretty good!!!  It seems like you all there are staying pretty busy which is good keep it up for sure!!!  Anyway have a good week and a great Monday Love you all!!!!

Elder Welling

Things are going well....

Hey Family

I hope all is going well this week and things are going good!!!  For us here we are doing well and having a great time in teaching people and helping them to the best of our abilities to come to the knowledge of the truth!!!  This week was pretty slow because we had interviews this week which was pretty good and also a lot of meetings that we had to attend to so not as many people were seen but this week we are hoping to hit a lot more people than the last week!!!  The comp and I are doing well and having a great time together in what we are doing!!!  It is too bad that he is possibly leaving in the upcoming week or two if the visa is going to be ready i actually enjoy him!!!  His training is going well and is going fast the past 3 months have flown by and I am not sure where the time is going and things it is fast!!!  We are getting ready to have an awesome baptism on this upcoming week that I am really excited for!!!

His name is Vincent, a great guy really he was born haha in 1937 and is quite old but has a strong abiding testimony of the gospel and will be baptized next Sunday I am excited!!!  Just a side not if I haven’t said anything already he has read the BOM three times almost a 4th and knows the story of Joseph Smith backward and forward!!  he was told by a former member of the church one day to burn the BOM and to read a pamphlet by the Christs Embassy church here and funny enough he told us this and then he handed me the pamphlet of the church and said Can you read this for me tell me what it says and then burn it hahaha something like that it happened some weeks ago but it was funny!!! Really a great guy and I can’t wait and then after him we will have another baptism I think by the end of this month as well which will be awesome for sure!!!

Sounds like things are going good there besides the negative things but those are to be expected haha there is an opposition in all things !!! The holidays just are not the same as they are there because down here they don’t do much of anything except Christmas and even then there is not much!!!  It will be hard to leave here though especially the branch and the friends I have made here and things as the time nears I can feel the time is soon at hand to leave them and it will be sad because all of them have become very close to me and things!!!  Anyway I hope things will be good there this week and good luck to all the sporting events that are going on and have a great Monday Love you all!!!

Elder Welling     

Still Doing Well.....

Hello Family

Things are going good this side and we are doing well!!!  We had a pretty good week this week and we have had fun!!!  The baptisms and things went well and we confirmed them this Sunday it was great we are working on 2 more and trying to help them progress and things!!!!  We are also getting ready because my comp is getting ready to depart here for South Africa this coming 24th which will be sad but great that he is going to his actual mission and things it will be good for him!!!  It most likely means that I will be in this same area for another transfer or so but we will see what happens!!!  It will be interesting to see what happens!!!  The branch still doing great and we are enjoying!!!  

The recent converts are doing good here and it is awesome, we now have 11 since I have been in this branch and they are all doing well here!!!  The ones from copper belt in Zambia are also doing well!!!  My former companion Elder Maele is back in the area that we were in in copperbelt and is still helping them that side so it is awesome!!!  Even the ones from Zambia are doing great as well and continuing!!  Bongani is now in South Africa and is there playing soccer and things which is awesome!!!  He is doing good and told me today that he is planning on attending the temple there and things, which is awesome I am pretty excited for him since he was the first baptism that I have had!!!

Me and the comp are still doing good and having a fun time as well we are doing good with working with the branch missionaries in the areas and Joseph is doing great he is excited for mission and is ready to go and things for sure!!!  All the branch missionaries will soon be all gone so we won’t know who to work with but all will be well in the near future and oh by the way to my parents haha thanks for going to a Garth Brooks concert without me, that guy is great hahaha just joking but glad you enjoyed!!!  Anyway that is it from here glad you all enjoyed Halloween and all went well even with the doughnuts which I missed haha Love you all!!!

Elder Welling