Suppppp - Noche de Blanco - 16 Baptisms
    Monday, April 30, 2012

Hola familia y amigos, another week down in Cali Colombia. This week was good, once again a lot of plans fell through and also had divisions again which kind of threw off the day because we had a lot of plans but anyways, i will start with satuday, we had another noche de blanco, was awesome. i think in total we had 16 baptisms, really cool and fun night. But, still had the same old beans and rice with a plantano....lol today i am making or attempting to make horchata with hermana brinez, hopefully it is not a bust. But today on p day have no fun plans like last p day.  during the white night i baptized 2 of our investigators...or members now, difficult and nerve racking in spanish but not mistakes and all good, then the freking next day in church my companion and i go up to confirm them members, and he says, ok. you are comfirming katherine. ahhhhhhhh i was crapping my pants, i was like you yo odio usted. ahhh terrible, but it went well, at least in my point of view, i am sure nadie understood and just said, amen. haha but overall fun and solid. que mas........i think i will be going to a different area wednesday, because my companion has been in this area for 6 months and i think i wont be introducing a different older companion to this area. but i dont know. i like this area a lot, especially because the familia brinez esta aca. but everything here is good, i wanna buy a real madrid buso, or camiseta, haha no se. soccer is huge here, but obviously colombia is not very good at soccer. umm, we didnt get a chance to meet with ferney patricia or felipe this week, so hopefully tonight. But yea, i will let you all know. Love you all. Miss you all, and stay classy sandiego

Elder Welling

Monday
April 23, 2012
                         YOOO --- Solid Week, Cali Zoo 

What up yall! This was a good week, the zoo was awesome. had another district meeting...i think that we have them every week and also had divisions. I deceided that i dont like divisions. Anyways, start with tuesday. which were divisions It was good, but the missionary that i was with was kinda weird and was really lax about doing stuff, i want to work, because the more meetings and citas that we have the faster the day goes and you feel more accomplished at the end of the day. But on to wednesday umm, we had tons of meetings planned for investigators and they ALL FELL THROUGH. soooooooo annoying. a TON of walking everyday. Absolutely nuts. But then on the night of the flooding....which is not in my town. lol we had an awesome lesson with this 13 yr old girl. she is cool, she wants to be a member, but she wants to wait for her primo....cousin....to return from his mission to do it...which is in 22 months. lol but then she received an anwser and wants to get baptized on the 28th. she is greatt....OPHHHHHH then a kid named Jefferson. what a stud. He had 1 lesson read, got an anwser, and is also getting baptized this week on saturday. then another girl yesterday wants to be a member, litterally taught all 4 lessons and all of the commandments in 30 minutes and she said yes to everything. haha soooo sweeeetttt. so that was our week, also had a baptism last saturday. was sweet. pretty solid week and also have this golden family, but they are being difficult. haha But the kid, named felipe is a stud, i think he is 13. el quira bautismo pero su padres no querian todavia. lol....no se si este es correcto. anyways...today we are going to the zoo again because it was a down pour when we went but still super fun. and then after to a big mall, called chippy choppy, not how you spell it but it is pronouicned that way. lol Love you all, you are all the best, Miss you too and i will send pics today. haha Oh, and the traffic here is crazy btw, always crossing streets, almost getting hit by cars, pretty normal day thgouh. hahaha If you have Qs. emil me and maybe i can anwser them. lol But i am starting to get sick of beans and rice everyday!!!!!.lol but i love the pan here and chocolate. ricco. Love you all. best ever.

Elder Welling.

Monday
April 16, 2012
                                            One Month in Cali, Colombia - Weird

One month down in Cali, Colombia. Weird. Today we are going to the Zoo! i am so stoked to go and actually do something on Pday. But yea, this week was solid. He had another District and zone meeting. They were good. Talked about our goals and promises for this month. it was a slow work week, a lot of meetings feel through and havent found many new people to teach, but i do have a story about a crazy man, saying he was god and stuff and other good stuff. all written in my journal. kinda of a sketch situation but i felt ok. lol, proly need to be more aware here in cali because it can be kinda sketch. especialy for a little gringo like me who doesnt know what is going on all the time. haha but yesterday, we taught the first lesson to an investigator, his gf is a member and his name is jefferson. It was great, he was so accepting and is preparign for the 28th of april for baptism, h is golden. I think he said he was praying to god to know which church he should attend then the next day his gf invited him to church and then later that day we taught him a lesson. So that was great. One thing that gives me struggles in spanish is having phrases in english not work in spanish. makes me angry. But i am learning poco cada dia. what else happened this week ohhhhh, we had a conversation with an investigator in the street for about an hour and 30 min. it was good, he asked how will i receive my anwser and how did you receive your anwser and other things like that, then i shared the scripture that Blake gave me in his email to me, haha galations 5 verse 22, haha it was sweet. Had other good lessons, but we ned to find some new people.

as blake told me before, everyday here we have beans and rice, usually with a planane too, or a banana. Also, everybdy here drinks juice with sugar. lol My favorite juice is called Lulo. soooooo goooooodddddd....But, a lot of times people drink nasty juice and it sucks at lunch when i hae to drink it. haha just chug it down. lol Oh, and on friday i had an arapa con huevo. soooo goooodddd. cook the arapa normally and then you cut it open pour the egg in and fry it. so god. Of, also here in colombia everyone fries everything too. loco, the food overall is really good though.

In the BOM now i am reading it over in spanish and in english, but in english i am in Mosiah, Abinidai is freaking awesome. Such a boss.lol Also, gideon is freaking dope too. haha And i am in like primero nefi capitulo 8 in spanish. lol i read it everyday then translate it. lol

Luckily in our new house we hae hot water, and it is actually clean which is sweet. lol, and also in the streets everyone plays music, i will send pictures next week because i forgot to bring my camera this week. But Colombia is getting better, just still want to learn spanish quicker Love you all, miss you al, sounds like everyone is doing great which is great to hear. you are all the best and i have thebest life ever. love you all

Elder Welling
Como un Jefe.

Elder Tyler's Birthday Video-Colombian Style

April 1, 2012 -- Elder Welling's Birthday

Sister Brinez, Elder Welling's angel mission mom, sent me this great video clip of Tyler's birthday celebration. She and her family were amazing - they had Tyler over with his companion (Elder Duque) for Birthday cake, empanada's and a fun celebration. We think cracking an egg over his head must be a true Colombian tradition:)

My 3rd Week in Cali - Food Poisoning

April 9, 2012

Hola family and friends. How are you all doing. I am doing ok, just had a good lunch. Hot dogs to be exact and then later tody we are moving our house. i am so stoked for that so hopefully i can have hot water now. but this week oni tuesday started off with a small mission conference with president prince. It was fun saw other missionaries such as elder watts and other gringoes. so that was good. I didnt really get much out of it because everything was in spanish, which i am improving, but still terrible. I wish i could just speak it already. But then this thursday night we had 2 dinners and i got super sick, i was throwng up all night and then next day, it sucked so much. But i feel better now. Pretty slow week of work, not many members are helping out so we had to go search a lot. But for april 28th we have 8 baptisms set, and one in 2 weeks, so nine for april, hopefully all goes as planned. 3 of the 8 planned are for a family. their names are ferney, patricia, and their son felipe. but they are great, hopefully it works out good and everything goes as planned. Sundays are sweet here except Colombians are ton deff. There is also no Piano here at the church which doesnt help, so people sing really slow, stop when they are supposed too and are off key. So, it is no bueno. I wish i would start to progress in spanish, there are so many words and conjugations that it is hard to remember everything, i just hate sitting at lessons and sitting there like....yup. dont know what they are saying when they ask a question. It is just difficult. This week, I dont think we have too much planned, just another week of work, hopefully get hot water, even though i am kinda of used to the cold water. Oh, Cali is always hot, it is terrible. lol, especially when i am sweating sitting in a house and the member or someone says, ohh. hace frio.........are you kidding me, it is so freaking hot outside. lol Here also, they do not know what Humid is, so it is hard explaining different types of heat...let alone seaons. lol But it is good. I just want spanish faster. I love you all, miss you dearly, hope everything is good back home.

Elder Welling's Al Jazeera Interview - It's Up Online!

We found Elder Welling's Al Jazeera MTC Missionary Interview tonight online - it's up for the world to see and listen to. Please check it out, and fast-forward to approx. the 11:00 minute mark to see the MTC and his interview.

Elder Welling was the only missionary they kept in the final edits of this documentary film, "People and Power - Mitt Romney and the Mormon Factor."

We are so proud of you! Excellent, beautiful and from your heart, Elder Welling.

Here's the link below (it looks so small, but just double-click), enjoy and share.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/04/201244114433199395.html

Hola Familia! My 2nd Week and Birthday

Monday, April 2, 2012

Hola famila y amigos.

This was my second week in Cali Colombia, Calima to be exact. It was better than the first, taught a good amount of lessons, luckily on thursday we got to go on exchanges with the ZLs. tha was great, mostly because he was a gringo. so nice to have someone to talk to and ask for advice. So that was fun, also had Zone Conference, which was nice to be able to relax and chill for a bit, sucks tho because it was in spanish and hard to know what is going on still. I still hate spanish, but i am learning every day. Myself and my companion are doing well. Still sucks not knowing spanish at all. especially because i try to communicate but it makes no sense, then people say. No entendi......ahhhhh drives me crazy. And my companion kinda strings all of his words together and sometimes doesnt not finish the words which also sucks. lol But i guess i will jump into the questions, the food here is good. Like you said Blake a ton of rice, beans, plantanes, and random stuff. umm, this was the best weekend...why......conference! I loved all of the talks but my favorite had to be Elder Erying...talking about challenges. I feel that was solomente written para mi. lol but ya, conference was great, they played my two favorite church songs, then after conference we went and had cake at a members house, then after that we went to the Familia Briñez casa, and had dinner Cake and empanadas.....ricco. As you say my companion smashed my head in the cake, also before i got water poured on my head, and an egg cracked on my head...why I will never know. But overall this week was better, still sucks not knowing spanish, but i know that i will get it eventually..I am reading the BOM in spanish now, i think it ta

Love yall, miss yall a ton.

Elder Welling ( solomente un jefe.)

Hardest Week of My Life - My 1st Week in Colombia

Monday, March 26, 2012

Hello family and friends.

First off let me start by saying this has been the hardest, longest week of my life. I am ahaving a very h ard time because i miss all of you so much. you all have no idea. But i guess i will start my first eail by where i left off when i talkd to youall on the phoneI was in georgie the flying over florida, and all of those countries and landed in colombia. It was nutso, the spanish i learned in the mtc is not what thy were speaking, it is so hard to understand. Then we met the president and his wife who are very nice. We got to have a couple of good meals and stuff. >So it was fun. then after basically went back t the house, (by the way HUGE FREAKING CULTURE SHOCK!! USA has it easy and people need to suck it up. lol. ) and waysbasically had an oreientation then got sent to my area. It is called Andes, it is alright. People here drivfe crazy, jwalk across the street all the time. Luckily i have no been hit by a car yet. I will eventually. But ya, also the bread here is amazing. But anyways, first day was the longest day of my life. This whole week has been extremely long. I am struggling so much because of many reasons. mainly because i love so many people back home so it is hard to forget myself for 2 years and got to work. Love you all. But anyways first day we went around to members and introduced myself kinda....i couldnt understand anything. then i think this first week we have had like 30 lessons. I invited 3 or 4 people to baptism and they all said yes. But we were talking to one man, i believe he was catolico, and basically said why i am here, what i have given up to get here and everything. It was really cool, then after that. I blessed the house. Talk about hard in spanish when i do not know spanish. Super ifficult, then the rest of the week has just been teaching new people. I believe that we have 8 new investigators. But, it is good.l just a huge culture shock, and yes no hot water sucks. Just going to be difficult for me. But yeah, now i am here today. Just emailing you all.Thnks for all of the emails. Food is average here. Everything is `platnos....and rice and you pour beans on everything. But no need to complain. Love you all so much, I can not ask for a better family than all of you. seriously, best family ever!

Love Elder Welling