Love Watching Lives Change

Hey All!

Well another week has come and gone and I'm still loving life in the Chesapeake Bay area! This week has been FULL of experiences and good times.

To start off the week, we went to a place called Fort McHenry last Monday and that is where the star spangled banner was written! It was super cool to see all the history here in Baltimore! We got to stand on the fort and look out over the bay and see exactly where the British navy came into the bay. It was pretty sweet! A cool couple in our ward named The Huebners took us all and Brother Huebner is like a walking history book so we had quite the tour ;)

We had exchanges with the other elders in our ward, Elders Coombs and Jackson! I went with Elder Coombs for the day and we went and got it done here in the area! We came out on the mission together so we had a pretty good time talking to each other all day. We also ate at this super good place that is only in Baltimore! It's called Hip-Hop Chicken! By far the best chicken I have ever had. Haha it looks like it wouldn't be that good at first.. But then you go into the restaurant and you buy and eat the chicken and it seriously changes your life. Haha best chicken ever, and it's only in Baltimore ;)

While on exchanges with Elder Coombs, we were teaching a lady named Kelly. We sat down with her and her family which consisted of 6 people and we taught them all the Plan of Salvation! It was such a sweet lesson. My favorite thing about teaching people is being able to witness a light come into one's eyes as the Holy Ghost testifies in their hearts that what we are saying as true. As we were teaching The Plan of Salvation, she kept looking at us and kept saying, "These are all things that I have always thought about! It's just that no other churches have ever taught me all of this. I have always had questions about this." it has been a miracle in my life being able to witness things like this. To be able to sit down with individuals and families day after day and teach them the restored principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ has changed the lives of the people I have been privileged to teach, but it has most definitely changed my life forever. Being able to teach people and help people answer the questions they have had their whole lives is such a miracle to witness. There are people searching for the truth EVERYWHERE we go!

Elder Beus and I have been finding and finding like crazy here in Chesapeake. Now we just need to work on getting these people to come to church! Haha which is the hardest part.

While serving here in Baltimore, I think I have listened to more rap music in just 12 weeks than I have my entire 20 years of living.. There is seriously someone on every single street that is pounding the rap music here in the city.. Haha this week we found a guy that had moved all of his stereo and speaker equipment out to his front porch in middle of the city and then just started blaring his music. You could hear this man's music 3 blocks away.. It was insane. Haha to make it all better though, this guy had a microphone and was acting like the DJ for all the neighbors. Haha if I were is neighbor I would go crazy having to listen to that all the time. We were sitting on the porch next to his house talking to a lady and this DJ turned the volume up so loud that you could seriously feel your chest vibrate.. It was a good time though. I got some videos of him pounding the music. Hahaha

I also found out this week from Sarah Sedefoglu, who is a woman I baptized back in Elizabethtown PA, that her daughter Ayla (Who I also taught while I was serving there) got Baptised on Saturday! It made me so happy to see her finally get baptized!! Sarah's family is and has been such a blessing to my life. They too have changed my life forever.

My week has been great and I am loving the missionary life! I'm taking as much in as I can, because I will soon have to take the name tag off and it will be finished! Thanks for all the love and support! I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!

Finishing Strong with 100 days left

Hey All!

What a week it has been here in the Chesapeake Bay! The humidity and heat have officially hit and we are in the summer weather! It's getting to the point again where you just walk outside and feel wet all the time. Haha I'm not a huge fan of that feeling!

Elder Beus and I have been Killin' it here in the Bay, we found a lot of new people to teach this week and have been helping them progress. We found a sweet African family that seriously lives across the street from us.. Haha so they will be super easy to keep track of!

Earlier this week Elder Beus and I were walking around a place in our area called Dundalk Maryland. While walking around it was super hot and we were trying to locate the bus. We checked when the next bus would be there to pick us up and we had 20 minutes until the bus came to pick us up. While deciding what to do, we stood at the corner where all the busses stop and were deciding between walking away and working for 20 minutes in another area and then coming back to the bus stop to get on the bus or to just stay at the bus stop and wait for the bus. Then a strong thought came across my mind, and I just felt that we shouldn't walk away from the bus stop and work in another area for 20 minutes, but that we should stay at the bus stop and wait 20 minutes for the bus. So we did stay at the bus stop, and sat down on a bench. Only 30 seconds later, after sitting down at the bus stop, another bus pulls up and parks right in front of us. (It wasn't the bus we were waiting for. We were waiting for a 63 bus, the bus that pulled up was a 62.) any ways, as the bus pulled up a lady got off the bus in front of us and approached us. She got over to us and said: "Are you all Mormon?" we answered yes and she then says: "Can I have a priesthood blessing? My boyfriend was murdered a week ago in downtown Baltimore and I really need help right now." We were a bit shocked, but agreed to help her and give her the blessing. She then told us her story about how she is from Ogden Utah and is a looooong lost member. After the blessing that we gave to her there, she agreed to come back to church! It is such a cool experience to witness God orchestrate divine events. It all started with a strong feeling to stay at a bus stop. We didn't understand the prompting at the time, but as we followed the prompting from the spirit, The Lord led us to a woman who desperately needed help at that exact time. Time and time again over the Last two years, my testimony has been strengthened of how much God is aware of us, how much He loves us, and how much He directs this great Latter-day work!

A day after we had the prompting to wait at the bus stop, we were walking around Dundalk again! While walking this time, we happened to come across a random driver's license that was laying in middle of the road. We picked it up and looked at it and tried to find a phone number on it so we could return it to the girl that had supposedly lost it. We found no number, but we did find a name and so we decided to search her up on Facebook and send her a message. We sent her a picture of the drivers license and told her who we were and how we found it. She messaged back and said: "OH MY GOSH!! YES THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH. A GROUP OF KIDS STOLE MY PURSE OUT OF MY CAR!!" We then set up a day and time to return the license back to her. It was another time this week that showed me how aware God is of our situations. He knew that she was worried about all of her things that had been stolen from her car. And His missionaries happened to walk past it laying in the road a couple days later. God leads our paths a little more than we think He does. He is always involved a lot more than we think He is!

Other than these things our week was a basic week of walking, talking and riding the sketchy busses of Baltimore! Haha no gun shots were heard this week while walking around so that is a plus I guess ;)

And yes, as of today, I have 100 days left!  That is insane and it will come fast.  I can’t believe how fast my mission is slipping away and almost over.  I want to finish strong.  I am gonna go and get the work done!

I hope you have a great week! Thanks for all the love and support! I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!

Last Mothers Day in the Field

Hey All!! 

This week FLEW. I talked with the family over Skype yesterday and gave them a big update on everything that is happening with me on the mission.. The gist of the Skype call was that I love the city of Baltimore! Yes, it's a wild city.. But it's growing on me and I love the diversity here! So many good experiences I will remember the rest of my life and I will be forever grateful for them! 

Elder Beus and I are still going hard out here on the streets and talking to every living soul we see.. Trying to anyways. It's hard when you have a thousand of people passing you all the time. Haha but we are loving it! 

We are officially in the rain season on the east coast. Elder Beus and I got caught in the rain three times this week and the busses decided not to work in our favor those three days.. So we got wet and had to wait for busses as well! Haha

Not a whole lot to report on this week.. So sorry this is such a short email this week. There will be more next week! ;) We did the same Ole same Ole missionary work! I'm loving life and look forward to grinding out these next few months! I love and miss you all!

Love, Elder Welling

Finding the Elect

Hey All!!

What a week it has been here in Chesapeake! Elder Beus and I have been getting work here in the Bay and have been having a good time while doing so. Haha

This week we saw many miracles and spiritual experiences. We have been praying daily each morning for The Lord to place elect persons in our path and every single day The Lord has placed people in our path that are searching for the truth. It's been Soooo Legit.

One time this week we felt like we needed to be in an apartment complex that was somewhat close to our house. While being in the complex we were stopping by some formers and potentials. One door we knocked on turned out to be the elect person the Lord had sent us there for. Vanessa Parker opened the door and expressed her interest in what we shared. She had some great questions which included what our church believed on healing? We talked to her for a little bit about The Atonement of Christ and finding healing through Him, and then a scripture flew into my mind that didn't make sense at all to say at that moment. Moroni 8:25 came into my mind and I felt that I needed to share it with her.
"25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;" even though baptism had nothing at all to do with what we were talking about, my companion and I taught her that divine spiritual healing comes through living the commandments, being faithful, and repenting. We then said that healing would come through baptism by someone holding authority. After we taught her this she looked at us and said: "You know what.. I was baptized before in another church.. But After listening to you two talk, I feel like I need to be baptized again. I want to feel the spirit in my life." so what originally felt like a funny prompting from the spirit to share with her Moroni 8:25, turned into this lady committing to Baptism! It was so crazy! The Lord is preparing people daily for His gospel and it is amazing to witness.

This week I officially turned 20 years old... I'm a quarter of the way dead! Haha it's pretty crazy not to be a teenager anymore. But to be honest I don't feel much different being 20 instead of 19 ;) my birthday was alright, I actually got sick on my birthday. Haha last Monday I bought these pork chops from a cheap cheap store here and then I ate one the day before my birthday. Then when I woke up on my birthday I felt like complete trash. Haha and I felt like that the wholeeee day. So I blame the nasty/cheap pork chop.. Haha

We have been bussing around Baltimore this week and as usual we have seen a bunch of wacky things that make you wanna look twice to make sure you saw it correctly the first time, and then we see some things that make us look once and never want to look again. Hahaha there is never a dull moment on a Baltimore Bus.

This week was great, and I have loved serving God. I'm grateful for this opportunity and these experiences that will stay with me the rest of my life! Thanks for the email and for all of the birthday wishes this last week! I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!