February 24, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week went by a little bit faster. We didn't have very much success as far as lessons and numbers and such. We had to "kill" Elsa because she is going to live with her mom for a couple of months, until May at least. So that was kind of a bummer for us. We really struggled finding new people to teach. So we were basically in the street all day long. On Tuesday we literally went to 30-40 houses and not a single one opened their door to talk to us. I can't lie it sucked pretty bad. And our family that we are teaching didn't go to church either. But we were able to talk to a few members who want to help us with them so hopefully that works this next week. I know that all the adversity that we are having is for our benefit because yesterday made all the struggles worth it. We found 2 teenagers who are really receptive and want to do whatever it takes to know if our message is true. I know that the Lord wants to bless us but sometimes He wants us to learn something or to show him our diligence and obedience before he blesses us. I can't say that I do everything right all the time but I try to do the best that I can and be the best missionary that I can be. I know that this church is the only true church upon the face of the earth. I know for some of you that may seem egoistic but I only say what I know to be true. And I say it because God answered my prayer. And he answered my prayer because I put in the effort to read the Book of Mormon. "[I] invite [all of you who are reading this email] to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in [your] hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost". I promise you as a servant of Jesus Christ, that if you will do it, with real intent, you can come to know as well as I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. 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

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February 17, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week was pretty slow again for us. It seems like everyone just magically receives more vacation time because hardly anyone is home. It's super frustrating being out in the sun (with no O-Zone) for 4 hours a day. Our investigators are doing okay. We moved the date for Elsa to the 15th even though she went to church yesterday because she doesn't learn as fast as other people. We also put another baptismal date with our investigator Diego for the 15th. He might make it, he just needs some motivation to go to church. Our family with the soccer prodigies is progressing slowly. The kids went to church and the parents showed up at the end of sacrament meeting and then left afterwards. We're going to really focus on a baptismal date for the 22nd. Our other investigators Angela and Pablo told us they were going to go to church but they never showed up. We're going to find out what happend though. I've haven't been feeling very good lately. Lots of headaches and my stomach doesn't cooperate with me very well. So we'll see what the mission people have to tell me. It's nothing serious (I hope) but it has been bothering me quite a bit. Not much else happened this week. Love and miss you all! Have a great week! 

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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Remember who you are and who you represent

February 10, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week passed by without too many big surprises. We have changes tomorrow and Elder Ramirez and I are staying here together for another 6 weeks. Elder Loar is going to be in Rancagua to finish off his mission. I'm gonna miss him a ton. I learned a lot from him and we got along really well. He had family in Twin but they moved to Arizona a little while ago. One of the biggest moments this week was yesterday in church. We had 4 of our investigators in church! It was seriously a miracle. Up until last week we had never had investigators in church since I got here, and now we have people are actually going and who have some interest in the church. We have been teaching that family with the 2 soccer prodigies and they are starting to slowly progress. They were the ones who went to church (except for the dad). But he said that because his family liked it so much that he is going to go this next Sunday! They feel like we are there for a reason and believe a lot of what we are teaching but they just don't quite understand what their answer means. We are trying to help them with that, but I think that it will be a slower process. Other than that our week was pretty normal. Lots of sun which means getting sunburned (even though I use sunscreen), and lots of walking. Hopefully things start to speed up as everyone's vacation time is almost over. Love and miss you all. Have a great week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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Remember who you are and who you represent

February 3, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week has flown by! We worked really hard in our sector this week with the in-active people. We didn't necessarily have a ton of "success" with them this week but they are somewhat willing to listen to us. And thanks to the work of looking for them, we were able to find a family that is super awesome. We contacted the mom on Tuesday and taught her the Restoration. She was pretty receptive. And then we invited her two kids to play soccer with us, and...I don't really have words to describe how good they are. I have seen a lot of people play soccer down here and these 2 kids just blew every single one of them out of the water. The entire family is really loving. They invited us over to eat lunch yesterday with them, so that was cool. We really got to know them and I really hope that they will give our message a shot. Our families that we had before have pretty much fallen. We haven't been able to meet with any of them over the last 4 weeks. But we just have to keep holding out hope. Yesterday was pretty cool for us, we had 2 investigators come to church. It's the first time in my 2 changes here. They seemed kinda timid but said that in 2 weeks (they won't be here this next week) they are going to bring their two kids to church and stay the full 3 hours! It was pretty satisfying to know that after a lot of struggle, hard work, and a ton of patience the Lord blessed us in that way. I know that this work is true and I absolutely love what I am doing! I love and miss you all! Have a fantastic week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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Remember who you are and who you represent

January 27, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week was pretty normal. It didn't go by fast but it didn't go by slow either. The thing that has really caught my eye is that we only have 2 more weeks to go in this change already. I guess I haven't really paid that much attention to the time in the change but it has really snuck up on me. We had interviews this past week on Wednesday with President Warne. It was really the first time that I've really felt like we had a real interview. I was able to talk to him about some of my concerns regarding mission work, training, etc. But it felt really good to be able to really talk to him. We also had a special training for the new missionaries on Friday in the mission home. So we had to go to Rancagua for that. It was pretty good. I just hate traveling, and I was just absolutely dead tired the rest of the day. Not a whole lot happened this week. We taught a kid named Diego about the Book of Mormon on Tuesday and then he came to play soccer with us on Thursday. We are going to be meeting with him more this week. We also taught a kid named José last night and the Spirit was super strong and he accepted a baptismal date of March 1st! So we'll see how it goes with him. He's a really good kid but kinda shy so hopefully we can get some help from the ward with him. Not much else happened this week. We did make bread with a sister from the ward about 2 hours ago and it was sooooo good! (but not as good as yours mom). I'm doing well and enjoying my mission, that's somewhat important right? Well I love and miss you all! Have an awesome last week of January!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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January 20, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week went by pretty quickly even though the work was really slow. We had divisions with our District Leader on Tuesday and he was with me in our sector. We found a family that had listened to the missionaries 15 years ago near Santiago. They were only a day away from getting baptized but one Elder said something and acted childish and it upset the family so they never got baptized. They said we could come back and teach them again but not until the middle of next week. I don't completely understand why or how an entire country takes vacation all within 2 months. It just blows my mind. So there have been very few people home. Our investigators that we had, we weren't able to meet with them this week at all for the same reason of vacation. Oh well. Just have to keep moving forward. Elder Ramirez is really progressing with his teaching ability and is really starting to relax a little bit. That's about it for this week. Hopefully we can find some more people this week. Love and miss you all! Enjoy your week!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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Remember who you are and who you represent

January 13, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week went by pretty fast. We have been working hard to find new people to teach and it is slowly coming. Like I said last week, most people are on vacation so our sector is pretty dead for most of the day, every day. But we are still just pluggin' along. We have been able to meet with the 2 families that Elder Cano and I found. The one, José and Cecilia are slowly progressing. They loved The Restoration video and 3 Nephi 11. We are only able to meet with them about once a week because he gets home from work really late. The other, Juan and Alejandra are really starting to progress. We taught them on Tuesday and Saturday. We just re-taught them the Restoration on Tue and then the Plan of Salvation on Saturday. On Saturday Juan said something really interesting. He said, "You two have something that drives me. I don't know what it is but you have it." I'm not sure that we have found out what his need is but we sure are trying hard. Juan and Alejandra are coming with us to a Family Home Evening tonight so hopefully they like it! That's about it for this week. I hope that you all have an awesome week! Love you!

With love,

Elder Jayson Welker

Remember who you are and the family name you bear

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Remember who you are and who you represent

p.s. I asked for 2 new name tags and this is what the mission office gave me. Close enough right?…