Hey everyone!!
The prank you guys played on the new sister missionary was soooooo funny! Hahahaha I'm sure she was just dying on the inside!! I don't think I have ever had rabbit so I don't know how I would feel about it either!
This week has been fast and slow at the same time. Some days went pretty fast and others went brutally slow. Haha
I'm sure everyone over at home. Is ready for summer and excited. It's been raining like crazy here. Well.. Let's put it this way.. Our trailer didn't float away. West Virginia got nailed this week with rain. You know how in Wyoming you can't see the roads when you are driving because of the snow?! Yeah.. Well it's that way here, but you can't see the roads because of the rain.. I didn't even think that was possible, but it is!! We couldn't see the roads when we were driving due to rain! It was crazy!
This week we actually had a lot of little miracles. We had one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission. It was amazing. The spirit made itself perfectly known to our hearts and I never have before felt it like that. The will of the Lord and his work has been perfectly known this week and His love present.
Not gonna lie, I hit a low point on my mission. You could say it was a Mid-Mission Crisis, instead of a midlife crisis. We were walking around Romney this week and it began to rain hard! We were not close to our car so we were getting soaked. So we run to the nearest Gas Station which was Sheetz. We walk in and shake all the water off, and we notice a man looking at us funny. He begins to approach us and sparks up a conversation. He says that we really stick out and that he has seen us before. He gets talking to us about our missions and college and what we will do after. He was actually a pleasant man to start off with. As the conversation goes on we get talking about how he was an electrician and what he did for a living. We then ask him if he belonged to a church in the area? He answers yes and said he went to the Baptist church down the road. My heart dropped. He then immediately asks: "Were you both born into the church?" we answer yes and he says "So what takes Preference? The Book of Mormon or the Bible?" I immediately answer: well Both! And he answers firmly and quite aggressively ".. No." I say: yes and he says "No, I have talked with you Mormons Before.." and then he just starts going off on us right in the middle of this Flippin gas station. Well I went right to defensive mode and I start right back on him. As the heated discussion keeps going I say "I ran into a man from your church about a month ago and he told me I was going to hell. How Christ Like is that?" and he gives off a laugh and says "Well have you been born again?" and I say: well of course, I have been baptized. He says "No. That's not what that means." I the ask "Well what does it mean then?" So he pulls out the Bible and shows us John 3:3 and says if you haven't been born again you will not see the Kingdom of God.. period. And so I say rather sarcastically : "Thanks for the scripture, but you didn't answer my question. What does it mean to be born again?" and he says "I'm not your enemy sir, I'm your friend and I'm trying to help you." I then say "Well if you are my friend, help me out and tell me what it means to be born again." he then looks at me dead in the face and no joke his face was about a foot from mine and has the guts to say "You my friend are spiritually dead." I can't describe my anger in this moment. It made me want to pick him right between the eyes. This man was a jerk. And was in the process of tearing down a church that I love and a Book that I claim and profess to be true. His goal was not to "help" me. But rather tell me how I am wrong and he is right. His goal was to make me angry and he did just that. So I walked away. I didn't even say another word. I walked right back out into that rain and was tore down. Well after a few hours, we again returned to the gas station to fill our car with gas before heading home for the evening. While sitting in our car, we saw a different man approaching. He came to the window and asked if we were Mormons? We answered yes and he immediately asked "Do you believe in the Trinity?" we answered no. He says "Can I show you in the Bible where it proves that there is a trinity?" so he pulls his Bible out right there on the spot and shows us all His scriptures. We show him ours and that was the end of that conversation. He then asks if he can leave us with a scripture to consider? We say yes. And he gives us Revelations 22:18.. He then went to attack mode and starts going on the Book of Mormon just as the other man did.. 2 times in 1 day and 2 different men, came and attacked us for no good reason. They attacked a church and a Book that we love. They told us we are false and aren't Christians. They told us to go home and to not preach false doctrines to the world. As you can imagine we went home quite destroyed and pretty sad. 2 times being attacked for more than 20 minutes each in public. It was a pretty rough experience. It was one of the most awful days I have had on my mission. But it's days like that that make me drop to my knees and plead with God to reassure me that what I am doing is right. That night in the Book of Mormon and the day following I found and reread a scripture. It is Mosiah 24:14. "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." just moments after 2 men tell me that the Book of Mormon is fake, I find a scripture that retestifies to my heart that Jesus Christ is aware of my struggles and my afflictions. The scriptures in the Book of Mormon are not just some old scriptures. They are scriptures and messages with a heart beat. They have the power to heal and mend broken hearts and spirits and that's because the Book contains the spirit of Christ. Let me tell ya.. These men are missing out on this miracle of a book!! The Lord has been so good to me and I thank him for these moments of growing. And to make the whole day worse, guess what happened at the very end of the day?! I slammed my Flippin finger in a car door and messed my finger up.. Haha so I guess you could say it's the worst day I have had on my mission so far. Haha
The prank you guys played on the new sister missionary was soooooo funny! Hahahaha I'm sure she was just dying on the inside!! I don't think I have ever had rabbit so I don't know how I would feel about it either!
This week has been fast and slow at the same time. Some days went pretty fast and others went brutally slow. Haha
I'm sure everyone over at home. Is ready for summer and excited. It's been raining like crazy here. Well.. Let's put it this way.. Our trailer didn't float away. West Virginia got nailed this week with rain. You know how in Wyoming you can't see the roads when you are driving because of the snow?! Yeah.. Well it's that way here, but you can't see the roads because of the rain.. I didn't even think that was possible, but it is!! We couldn't see the roads when we were driving due to rain! It was crazy!
This week we actually had a lot of little miracles. We had one of the most spiritual experiences I have had on my mission. It was amazing. The spirit made itself perfectly known to our hearts and I never have before felt it like that. The will of the Lord and his work has been perfectly known this week and His love present.
Not gonna lie, I hit a low point on my mission. You could say it was a Mid-Mission Crisis, instead of a midlife crisis. We were walking around Romney this week and it began to rain hard! We were not close to our car so we were getting soaked. So we run to the nearest Gas Station which was Sheetz. We walk in and shake all the water off, and we notice a man looking at us funny. He begins to approach us and sparks up a conversation. He says that we really stick out and that he has seen us before. He gets talking to us about our missions and college and what we will do after. He was actually a pleasant man to start off with. As the conversation goes on we get talking about how he was an electrician and what he did for a living. We then ask him if he belonged to a church in the area? He answers yes and said he went to the Baptist church down the road. My heart dropped. He then immediately asks: "Were you both born into the church?" we answer yes and he says "So what takes Preference? The Book of Mormon or the Bible?" I immediately answer: well Both! And he answers firmly and quite aggressively ".. No." I say: yes and he says "No, I have talked with you Mormons Before.." and then he just starts going off on us right in the middle of this Flippin gas station. Well I went right to defensive mode and I start right back on him. As the heated discussion keeps going I say "I ran into a man from your church about a month ago and he told me I was going to hell. How Christ Like is that?" and he gives off a laugh and says "Well have you been born again?" and I say: well of course, I have been baptized. He says "No. That's not what that means." I the ask "Well what does it mean then?" So he pulls out the Bible and shows us John 3:3 and says if you haven't been born again you will not see the Kingdom of God.. period. And so I say rather sarcastically : "Thanks for the scripture, but you didn't answer my question. What does it mean to be born again?" and he says "I'm not your enemy sir, I'm your friend and I'm trying to help you." I then say "Well if you are my friend, help me out and tell me what it means to be born again." he then looks at me dead in the face and no joke his face was about a foot from mine and has the guts to say "You my friend are spiritually dead." I can't describe my anger in this moment. It made me want to pick him right between the eyes. This man was a jerk. And was in the process of tearing down a church that I love and a Book that I claim and profess to be true. His goal was not to "help" me. But rather tell me how I am wrong and he is right. His goal was to make me angry and he did just that. So I walked away. I didn't even say another word. I walked right back out into that rain and was tore down. Well after a few hours, we again returned to the gas station to fill our car with gas before heading home for the evening. While sitting in our car, we saw a different man approaching. He came to the window and asked if we were Mormons? We answered yes and he immediately asked "Do you believe in the Trinity?" we answered no. He says "Can I show you in the Bible where it proves that there is a trinity?" so he pulls his Bible out right there on the spot and shows us all His scriptures. We show him ours and that was the end of that conversation. He then asks if he can leave us with a scripture to consider? We say yes. And he gives us Revelations 22:18.. He then went to attack mode and starts going on the Book of Mormon just as the other man did.. 2 times in 1 day and 2 different men, came and attacked us for no good reason. They attacked a church and a Book that we love. They told us we are false and aren't Christians. They told us to go home and to not preach false doctrines to the world. As you can imagine we went home quite destroyed and pretty sad. 2 times being attacked for more than 20 minutes each in public. It was a pretty rough experience. It was one of the most awful days I have had on my mission. But it's days like that that make me drop to my knees and plead with God to reassure me that what I am doing is right. That night in the Book of Mormon and the day following I found and reread a scripture. It is Mosiah 24:14. "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." just moments after 2 men tell me that the Book of Mormon is fake, I find a scripture that retestifies to my heart that Jesus Christ is aware of my struggles and my afflictions. The scriptures in the Book of Mormon are not just some old scriptures. They are scriptures and messages with a heart beat. They have the power to heal and mend broken hearts and spirits and that's because the Book contains the spirit of Christ. Let me tell ya.. These men are missing out on this miracle of a book!! The Lord has been so good to me and I thank him for these moments of growing. And to make the whole day worse, guess what happened at the very end of the day?! I slammed my Flippin finger in a car door and messed my finger up.. Haha so I guess you could say it's the worst day I have had on my mission so far. Haha
Sorry for the long rant session I had up there.. But also thanks for all the emails! I'm sure you are all excited for summer and all the good stuff that comes with it! I hope you have a good week! I love and miss ya!
Love, Elder Welling!
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