Good but Sad Week

My week has been really good and sad at the same time!!!  Well the time has come for me to reveal the place where I am going! Yesterday in church we were having a great time. I was super sad telling all of the ward members bye. I took lots of pictures and still missed a few. But I am so sad that I am leaving this area. We were anxiously waiting for a phone call last night and finally got it at 9:40. The District Leader calls and tells me that I am leaving and Elder Cook is staying!  Elder Cooks new companion is coming from Columbia MD, and I’m not sure where my new companion is from but his name is Elder Brown, he is the current District Leader. Oh!!  And By the way, I’m being shipped off to Romney, West Virginia! 

    Not going to lie, I was a little bummed. I have been a little sour over this new area. I haven’t had the best attitude about it either.  Romney is a branch, and it is a tiny, tiny, tiny town. I am pretty sure Woodruff UT is bigger than this place. I was pretty bummed when I found out. But we will see how it goes! I have been packing all of my things up and I will be in Romney by Thursday! 

    I am going to try and do the Book of Mormon challenge and then I will send you a picture at the end of March with the chart filled out!! I’m super glad that the stake is challenging the youth to do that! There is a lot of power found in the Book of Mormon along with protection. 

    This past week I hit my 6 month mark and I burned a tie!! It was an ugly tie that I found in the apartment but I burnt one!! haha It was awesome. I took a video and all that so it was super fun! This past week I have been going around visiting ward members and saying goodbye and taking lots of pictures! I can’t tell you how sad I was to be leaving this area. I love it here so much. Missionaries all over the mission when I first came in, told me how dead Cumberland was and just kept saying "Good luck in that area". But now, Missionaries all the way over in Baltimore are recognizing how alive the area really is. They have begun to call it a mini Zion! This area is way more alive than people thought. People are ready to receive the gospel everywhere we go! But do we have our eyes open to see them? The people here in Cumberland will forever be my fav. They are all so awesome and I love them. I will especially miss the converts I have had also.  But Change will be good and we will see how Romney goes.  Romney is 1 area down from Cumberland. I am not moving far. Less than an hour away.

          The Headquarter referral we haven’t seen in a while.  We see her Wednesday, well, Elder Cook will see her Wednesday!  We get our phones at the next zone conference so it will be in the next 2-3 weeks!  I am really excited.  Not much has been going on this week besides us going and telling ward members bye.  Ray loved the scriptures by the way!  He really loved how his name was on the front and everything.  He was very appreciative and loved them!  So thank you for sending them!  Those cats that were outside my apt were born when I first got to the area! They all grew up and I fed them occasionally.  But the Land Lord came and took them all away! So they are gone now!! haha

    I do remember how to pack everything up and it’s going to be weird! Cumberland has been my home for the last 6 months!  But I am starting to pack it up already! 

    Thanks for the quote and all of that good stuff. I love hearing about the home life!! It sounds like everyone is doing well and life is going on whether Nate is there or not ;) 

    Sorry, there isn’t much to tell you all about this week.  But I’m headed to Romney and we will see how it goes. I know and can tell that the Lord is hastening His work everywhere!! Even in Evanston Wyoming! He is building up the kingdom of God on earth. We are all very privileged to live in a time like this. The Lord always promised that His church would be built up in the last days and His promises are coming through!  

    Thanks for all you do for me and thanks for the continual support! I love and miss you and I too know that this is where I am supposed to be! It has been hard to leave all other things behind. But the rewards will be much greater than the sacrifice!  Keep being awesome and thanks for the chart. I printed it out!! I love ya! Have a great week!

Here is my new Address:   P. O. Box 412,  Shanks, West Virginia 26761

Love ya,

Elder Welling

Probably Final Days in Cumberland 😭😭😭

This week actually has been a really good week! We didn’t have a Zone Conference this week. But we did have interviews with President Christiansen! The interview went very well, and I tried very very hard to convince him to leave me in Cumberland another one.. But he said this with a smile on his face..  "The Lord would really have to be telling me that Elder Welling needs to stay in Cumberland, but the chances of that are slim.." So.. I am pretty sure I will be getting transferred out of here next Wednesday! I’m super sad about it, I love my president and he has blessed my life!  I love my ward and the members and the area here. I will for sure miss the area and the people that I have met and came to love.

      We have not received the phones yet.. in about 2 weeks we will have a zone conference and we will be setting up our face books and our phones!! It will be awesome! I am super excited to use them and all of that! All of the missionaries here are very excited for them as well. Our zone leaders and assistants already have a phone as well! They have been using them for everything and it is super weird to see! 

      This week has gone veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyy fast! When we have busy weeks they go by very fast! This past week we met with a woman named Virginia Dale. She was a referral from headquarters and it was a referral from way back in December. We get there and she decides to tell us her life story. Everything in her life has seriously gone bad. Her husband divorced her, her kids left her, her house burnt down, her other husband cheated on her and much more! As we are sitting there, she then says "I was going through the darkest moments of my life. I was begging God to send me something or someone to help me in anyway." She says that has soon as she did that she opened her phone, got on the internet and while doing that, The church website randomly popped up. With tears in her eyes she tells us how she knows that wasn't a coincidence. She tells us that God wanted her to see that website for a reason. She told us that she knew she ran into our religion for a reason. So we come back another time and we teach her the message of the Restored Gospel. We tell her how much it will bless her life and how it can change her life for the better. Again, with tears in her eyes she says "When you guys walked in my house for the first time last week, I could automatically feel something good but different. And as soon as you both left that feeling left. Then again today I felt the same thing." We told her that it wasn’t just a coincidence that she ran into this religion or church. She is doing great and we are going back this week!!

         Oh, by the way, I received the package!! Everything was in it and all was well. I got the scriptures.. I have not given them to Ray yet, But they look awesome! I can’t wait to give them to him! Thank you mom and dad for getting them for him. Ray has been a blessing to my life, and will forever have a place in my heart. I can’t explain in words how much I love the guy. I will write my testimony in them and give them to him! I can’t wait either!!

          Well.. We had lunch with the guy who was giving us a hard time about Ray. The whole entire time he didn’t talk about Ray.. until the very end. It kind of got a little heated. He continually told us again and again how Ray couldn’t change and how there was no way he has stopped smoking and drinking. We tried time and time again saying that he repented and changed. I then turned to him and said "If the Savior walked in that door right now and told you that he had forgiven Ray, then would you believe him?" He says "Even then would I have a problem with it." You should have seen the look on my face when he said that. I’m sure I looked at him and was just boggled at how stupid that answer was. 

       I am also glad that everything is going great at home! Everything is going great here as well! I hope you all have a great week and that you guys are all doing great! I love and miss ya!! 

                                                                         Love, Elder Welling!

😭😭😭

New Investigators and Hurtful Members!

I am excited to get the package, I’m very sure that Ray will love the scriptures you bought him! He is still coming to church every week and he is coming to lessons with us! He is doing great. 

Elder Fitzgerald is training again over in Baltimore. And He calls me every once in a while, and we see each other at mission meetings! He is still doing great and he goes home in 10 months!

       The Elder that was with me in last weeks pictures was our District leader from Hancock.. His name is Elder Dakota Vu and he actually just went home last week! He was very excited that he was going home. I love the kid! He is the funniest guy ever! He will be one I will stay in touch with after my mission. He gave me all of his info so we can do that!! When people trap possum out here they just throw them away. They set the traps for Raccoons or something else and the possums end up getting into the trap instead!! 

        Well this past week has been pretty good!! Not a whole lot has gone on! I am not sure if I mentioned this last week or not, but Elder Cook and I found a family last week knocking doors! The father is James, the mother Sharlene, and 4 kids! 3 of which are baptism age!! We were just knocking doors (which I am not a fan of) and they answered and actually had a recent death in the family!  So we shared the message of the Restoration and gave them a Book of Mormon and they have been reading it! It was so awesome to be a part of!

        This week we have been dealing with a member of our ward that doesn’t believe Ray deserved the Gospel. It is mind boggling when a member would say something like that. He doesn’t think a man like Ray could have been forgiven or could have repented of anything. He actually is being pretty rude to us as well.. I walked up to him and asked him if “we had met yet” and he said "If you would have shaken my hand, I would have cringed"  So I kind of want to deck him in the face. But the bishop doesn’t think I should.. ;)  It just bothers me that we worked so hard with Ray and there are more people in the church going against him, then outside of it!

        We are planning on going to the temple Saturday with Ashton to do baptism for the dead!! I am super excited. We don’t get a preparation day today due to the temple trip Saturday.. which is okay because it’s worth it!! We also have interviews with President on Friday so that should be fun! I am excited for that!!

          Transfers are on the 28th.. I’m thinking I will be gone after this one.. I’m kind of sad. I hope I go to Martinsburg to be honest!! I would love Martinsburg! I want to stay on the west side of the mission.. I don’t want to go east. Knock on wood. lol

        Other than that nothing huge is going on right now! We are just focusing on finding people to teach and hopefully get some people progressing towards baptism! Everything is going great and I am doing great! I hope all goes well for you this week and I love you and Pray for each of you! Love ya and have a great week!

                                      Love, Elder Welling!

Baptism and New Investigators

Well how’s everything going??  There are days when it feels like the mission has gone by super-fast. But then there are days when it feels like I have been out for years! But I have almost been out 6 months! I’m just happy I’m not the "new" missionary anymore! Lol

          Everything is going good! It snowed here yesterday and we got 3-6 inches. Everyone here freaks out when it snows!

        Well everything with the baptism went very well! Dakota was baptized on her husband’s birthday and everything went smoothly! Then on Sunday I got to confirm her in Sacrament! I have been pretty lucky, I have gotten to confirm 4 out of 5 of all the people that I have helped be baptized. I’m very blessed in that aspect. My first area on my mission has for sure been a blessing to my life. I have learned a lot and it has shaped me on what kind of missionary I want to be the rest of my mission. I have found what works and what doesn’t! 

         This last week we actually found 4 new investigators! It was a great finding week! The coolest one was a woman named Virginia Dale. She was a referral from Church headquarters, and we went and knocked on her door! She lets us in and she is there with her two 25 year old daughters. One daughter is Pentecostal and the other is Southern Baptist. Virginia is a super nice lady but is also Southern Baptist.. For now. ;) Anyways, we get talking to Virginia and she starts to tell us everything that is going wrong in her life. She tells us that she was done with everything and that it all seemed to be crashing down at once. Her house burnt down and she lost everything. She told us how she was praying and asking God to send her someone or something to help her. Anything she said would help. And she was on the internet one day and she said she didn’t even know how it happened, but our website popped up. So she requested it and then we show up and she tells us that she knows God is pointing her our way for a reason! So we told her we share a comforting message about Jesus Christ and his Church. And she eagerly said.. Come back Tuesday and tell me all about it!!

         My week has been pretty good! I’m enjoying the area and learning a lot! Thanks for everything you do for me and the prayers sent my way! We will also be getting our phones at the end of this month. So I am super excited for that!! 

          Well other than that nothing big has been going on out here in the East! I’m starting to like the east coast more and more. Thanks for all you do for me and the continual support I get from you. President always tells me that he knows how much love and support I get from you all. And it’s a lot!! Thank you! I have the best family to go home too

         Well I hope you have a great week, Love ya!

                                                                         Love, Elder Welling!