November 24, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well, the time has finally arrived...It seems just like yesterday that I was being set apart to serve the Lord for 2 years. l still remember the day that l entered the MTC so vividly. lt was one of the happiest days of my Iife but also one the saddest as I said goodbye for 2 years. I honestly never thought that I would make it through the MTC or to the end of my mission because my conviction of the truthfulness of the gospel wasn't very strong when I started. But the Lord provided the way to help me make it through those 9 weeks in Provo; he did it with Elder Olson. He became my best friend in a few short weeks and we helped support each other as we strived to find our testimonies. When I arrived to Chile I couldn't imagine being able to understand spanish. Chileans talk so fast! But once again, the Lord provided the way. I was able to learn spanish relatively quickly. I'm not fluent by any means but I can understand and speak well enough. The gift of tongues is real, I am a witness. I want to take a part of Alex's and Max's last emails home because it really does transmit some of my thoughts:

I love looking down and seeing next to my name the name of my older brother Jesucristo (Jesus Christ). It has meant the world to me to know that, I can do anything, ANYTHING, because I am on His team. The battle and war has been won. It was won long ago when my best friend suffered, fell on His face and cried. Then after being beaten, spit upon, and crucified, He gave up His life for me and all of us who are on this earth. But he rose again on the third day, triumphant over death. That is when the battle was won. I know that Christ suffered and died for all of us and that He invites EVERYONE to come unto Him and be partakers of the blessings that he has prepared for each of us.

I have had lots of ups and downs during these two years but each and every one of them has taught me a lesson. I have come to know that God knows every single one of us personally. I know that He knows me, a simple missionary from Twin Falls, Idaho, and he knows every single one of you. I feel like I have come to know my Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ just a little bit more. It is a lifelong journey and I can't wait to continue on this journey that we call life.

I won 2 state championships and I never thought that anything could beat those feelings. I was dead wrong. The feeling of sharing the gospel with someone and seeing them accept it, cannot be beat. There is no greater joy than sharing the gospel with others. I love being a missionary and it makes me sad to think that I won't be able to put the name tag on in a week, but I feel content with what I have done. I have strived to do everything that He has asked me to do. I wasn't perfect, far from it, but I know that overall, I did my best. I love how I had to lose myself in order to find myself. I know that it sounds cliché but it is true.

These last 2 years have been the best 2 years that everyone talks about. I never understood that before, but now I do. And no one will ever understand it until they live it. I am almost 100% sure that I will have 2 years that will be better as I get married and have a family, but I will never again have another 2 years that will bless me as much or prepare me as much as these have. I also never understood how my dad could tell me that I would learn to love a people that I never knew. But I understand now. I love Chile and the Chilean people. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

I know that God and Jesus Christ live. I know that Christ suffered and died for me. The Atonement is real and it can carry us through whatever stage of our lives. I know that this is the work of God. I have seen his hand in it. I know that this is the only true church. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove. I have no doubt about it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is the word of God. I know that if I strive to do everything that They ask me to do, I will return to live with Them again with my family. I love my mission and I love the Lord. I will be forever grateful to Him for giving me this oportunity to serve Him.

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

November 17, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week went by pretty quick. We taught a lot of lessons! I think that we taught more lessons than I have taught in any of my other sectors during a week. The odd thing though is that it felt like we were out in the street most of the day contacting people. I have been here for 2 years and I still don't understand why we focus so much on contacting, but whatever. Preach My Gospel teaches us that we have to adapt ourselves to our circumstances so I guess that is probably why. I would have liked to have been able to help more people understand their role in the Work of Salvation. But we would get in trouble if we weren't teaching more lessons, so I have been in a rough situation. We found quite a few more people this week. We started teaching a lady named Leticia and her boyfriend Juan José. He is from Venezuela and has some different ideas about God. They are both really smart though; they understood the Plan of Salvation pretty well. They couldn't come to church yesterday because they had other commitments with family, but they promised to come this next week. We tried to get with Cristian and Paulina but their landlord is really rude and won't let us on to his property. So we're trying to find some members to help us out with their house so we can teach them. Time is just flying by! Next week will be my last letter so I'll be sure to share my testimony and everything that I have learned next week. I love and miss you all so much! Have an awesome week! Try not to freeze to death!

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

November 11, 2014

Hola Everyone

Well this week was just full of curveballs. I got special changed out of my sector for something that I didn't do, so now I'm in a trio with Elder Adair (UT) and Elder McGee (MO) in Talca. I'm not going to lie it has been really hard to deal with; but whatever, the mission goes on. This week we were able to find some really receptive people who want to learn more about the gospel. We actually found a young family of 3: Cristian, Paulina, and their 3 year old son Oliver. They came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it. The problem is that they aren't married. But Paulina wants to get married so hopefully we can help them do that soon. We had a special mission conference yesterday. Elder Christensen from the 70 Presidency was here with his wife and they talked a little bit to us. That is why our PDay is today. Anyways, he talked about sanctifying ourselves. There were lots of other things that he talked about but I heard a lot of things that I need to do within the next 3 weeks so that when I get home, I will continue strong in the church. I don't want to focus on coming home so I'm just trying to stay focused as much as I can and just work, work, work. I have to keep myself focused because I don't want to do die; so please keep me in your prayers. I love and miss you all so much! Have a fantastic 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

November 3, 2014

Hola Everyone

This week was pretty interesting to say the least. The weather, Halloween, and Stake Conference made this week just all sorts of crazy. The weather was acting all sorts of crazy. It was really hot and then all of a sudden the wind started to blow like crazy and it got really cold. It happened 2 days in a row. We had a ward Halloween activity that turned out pretty good. It was absolutely nothing like a ward party in the states but it was still good. We also had stake conference this weekend and I really enjoyed it despite the fact that I had a 24 virus that was brutal to deal with. Elder Norambuena (Chile; Area Seventy) presided and I really enjoyed his comments. He really stressed the importance of member-missionary unity. He invited all of the members to commit to be better disciples of Christ. He also focused a lot on really studying the scriptures and not just reading them. I honestly think that is one of the hardest things for me because I just love to read. But I have already made the commitment to be better. Seeing as how I am in Curicó again, I was able to see a lot of members from my other 2 sectors here. I was so happy to see all of them and it seemed that they were pretty happy to see me as well; or maybe they were happy that I'm leaving soon. I'm hoping that it was the first reason haha. But the most special moment for me was being able to see Yilda again. Almost a year later, she is still strong in the church and is absolutely loving life right now. She is a primary teacher and the branch Family History advisor/consultant. She looked so happy but she started to cry when we had to say goodbye. It will be the last time that I see her unless I come back to Chile. But seeing her happy, made me realize that every single second of my mission has been worth it. It was worth helping her accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and become a better person. Getting back to my sector that I'm in now...Bernardita accepted to be baptized on the 23rd of this month, but she is really struggling with some doubts. She doesn't want to make the wrong choice but she is scared of receiving an answer. All we could do was testify and promise her that she can't be misguided when she follows the Spirit and its promptings. Hopefully she will be able to overcome her doubts and be able to make the decision to take that leap of faith. Well that is about it for this week! My PDay next week will be on Tuesday so don't freak out when my email gets to you a day later. I love and miss you all so much! 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 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