October 28, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week went by pretty slow but it was a good week. We have been trying to focus on getting members to go out with us and we were able to do it. We were also pretty limited with time. We had to go to Santiago on Wednesday and didn't have any time to proselyte and then we had to do divisions with the other Elders that we live with because one wasn't feeling very good. But we are making progress with some people. Bernardita is doing well as well as a girl named Solange. She is the girlfriend of a member and she has been coming to church for quite some time. We were able to teach her about Priesthood Authority because she had a lot of doubts about it, but it appears that she understood. We are going to invite her to get baptized, so fingers crossed everyone! My new companion is pretty cool. He is pretty inteligent and really good with the scriptures. He is a workaholic which is exactly what I need to keep me focused. It has been a blessing so far, so hopefully he won't let me die haha. Well I love and miss you all! Have an awesome week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

Return with Honor

Remember who you are and who you represent

October 20, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week went by pretty fast as well. We had some really good lessons. Bernardita is progressing pretty well. She couldn't come to church this week because she had some problems in her house, but she is reading the Book of Mormon, and praying. We have a lot of potential investigators, the trouble is being able to visit them; because everyone works and is free from about 7:00 pm forward but we have to visit all of the less-actives, recent converts, and investigators in that time span. Chileans make things way more difficult or exagerate a lot of things as well. Such as: I don't have time, I worked a lot, or I'm tired. They have a few priority issues but we are slowly making progress with them. We have changes tomorrow, and Elder Mendoza is leaving. I'm pretty bummed because we got along so well, but I also understand that we almost go home together so it would basically leave the sector in a whitewash. My new companion is a Peruvian (my 4th...). I don't know anything about him besides the fact that he was Elder Gillins' companion about 10 months ago. I can't believe that this is my last change...It seems so unreal. But I'm not "dead" yet so I'm going to keep working hard and help the people that need me. I love and miss you all! Have an awesome week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

Return with Honor

Remember who you are and who you represent

October 13, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week absolutely flew by!!!!! I honestly can't believe that it is Monday again already. We had a really good week. We had 3 investigators that came to church. Bernarndita is progressing quite a bit. The one big thing holding her back is that she lives with her boyfriend (who is the father of their child). She seems to be pretty fed up with him lately so we will see what happens. We have a FHE planned with her and her sister's family tonight so hopefully we can help her clear up some doubts that she has. On Saturday, there was a multi-stake YSA activity and all of the young single adults went out with the missionaries from the 2 zones here to contact people. Our companionship alone had like 20-25 contacts in a little over an hour. It turned out to be a lot of fun. We had Zone Conference this last week and it was really good. President Warne and the Assistants really focused on using our time more efficiently. Lately we have been having better numbers as a mission so we are definitely seeing the hand of the Lord as we strive to be more efficient with our time. Well, that's about it for this week! I love and miss you all! Have an awesome week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

Return with Honor

Remember who you are and who you represent

October 6, 2014

Hola Everyone

This was one of the fastest weeks of my mission so far. Everything just flew by! I'm not sure if it was because I was so focused on General Conference and helping others go or we were just working extra hard. We had 2 investigators that went to General Conference. One, Bernardita, went to 2 sessions! She didn't really want to go but her sister and brother-in-law (members) convinced her to go. The first time she just went in street clothes but the 2nd session she went in a dress. She said that she felt like she needed to go in a dress, not because anyone forced her. The other investigator, Constanza, also went to 2 sessions but only went because her mom went. We didn't get a chance to really talk to her about it though, so hopefully we can find out what she thought about it. I really enjoyed General Conference. I'm only going to share my thoughts about a few talks that I really enjoyed. Elder Ballard: 1) Stay in the boat because the Lord will guide us right. 2) Always wear a life jacket; study the words of the apostles and prophets. 3) Hold on with both hands; avoid the distractions that surround us that tell us to "leave the boat". Elder Scott: 4 tools to help us stay active and live the gospel. 1) Prayer 2) Daily scripture study and studying the words of the modern prophets 3) Weekly family home evening 4) Regular trips to the temple. I feel like Elder Scott's talk was specifically directed at me seeing as how I will be finishing my mission soon and will be a "normal" person again. And of course, Elder Bednar's talk. I have always enjoyed his talks and this one was especially good. I'm only going to touch on one specific detail. He said that there are a lot of people who think that absolute truths don't exist. They DO exist! And we can know them through prayer and the Holy Ghost. And for those that say absolute truths don't exist obviously haven't read the Bible. It says that "every knee shall bow...and every...should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians 2:10-11). There are many other absolute truths and I know of a few of them. I know that this is the same church that Christ established during his mortal ministry. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that is was translated by Joseph Smith through the power of God. I know these things for myself because God told me so through the Holy Ghost.   That's all I have to say about this week. I love and miss you all! Have a great week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

Return with Honor

Remember who you are and who you represent