The Baltimore Leaners

Hey All!

No worries, I am still alive and well here in the City. Haha I'm loving it here and I am definitely having a good time ;)

This week has been another good one here on the West side of Baltimore! The city life just makes time feel so much faster. I love it here! You always see something new, and you are always being surprised by the things you see on the streets. Haha it's great.

This area is super sweet because it's the first area I've had on my mission where I can actually use ASL! This week we had 3 lessons with 3 deaf people and it was so cool! In church we are also asked to translate and interpret for the deaf members in sacrament and Sunday school! So I will be getting lots and lots of practice with ASL this transfer! Elder Shepherd is also an ASL elder so we get to do language study every day, and we are also teaching Elder Griffin ASL. We are hoping that President will assign him to be ASL after this transfer, because here pretty soon the 6 ASL elders in our mission will all be home! So we will be needing some new ones!

With this being my last transfer I have been thinking a lot about everything that has happened on my mission. The trials, the life lessons, the miracles, the experiences, and the accomplishments. There really are so many things that The Lord Blesses you with as you serve Him. He gives you these life lessons and experiences so that we can appreciate what He has done for us, and become more like Him.

There are so many miracles that happen daily and each one is orchestrated so perfectly that it is impossible to deny the intervention of Divinity. God is in every detail of our lives and He knows each one of us perfectly. One of the greatest miracles of my mission has been the opportunity to watch as God directs these happenings and miracles. God promises that if we follow His Spirit it "will show unto [us] all things what [we] should do." All we have to do is say and follow the thoughts He will put into our hearts, (Even if it sounds crazy at the time.. Haha) and miracles will happen every time. Large and small. God will use you as an instrument in His hands to be an answer to someone else's prayer. There is no greater feeling than knowing that God used you to be His miracle in that moment.

So something I don't think I have mentioned in any of my emails is The Baltimore Leaners! I first experienced this when on a bus. A Baltimore Leaner is a person that is so high on drugs that they are completely out of it, but they somehow stay standing. The kicker though is that while they are standing, their entire upper half of their body is bent completely over towards the ground. Almost as if they are bending over to pick something up. Some learners fall eventually. But for the most part they stay standing up and it amazes me.. Haha I have no idea how they stay standing up and not fall all bent over like that.. But they do it! Haha that's why they are called Baltimore Leaners!

Throughout my entire my entire life I grew up a Pittsburgh Steelers fan thanks to my dad. Haha when I received my mission call to Baltimore one of my first thoughts was the fact that The Baltimore Ravens are rivals to the Pittsburgh Steelers! The two teams hate each other. Well this past week we were walking around the streets of Baltimore talking to people about Jesus Christ. We see this guy on the street and we were trying to teach him about the gospel. While doing so I told him that I liked his Baltimore Ravens Jersey.. But then afterwards I made the mistake of saying: "I am actually a Pittsburgh Steelers fan.." and this guy seriously stopped talking to us on spot and walked away.. Haha mid conversation he just walks away without another word. I've learned to not open my mouth about The Steelers right in the middle of Baltimore. Haha

Anyways I am loving my time here and I love my mission. The people and members are great and I love them! Thanks for the email and the updates. I can't wait to see you all in 4 weeks! I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling 

The West Side of Baltimore

Hey All!! 

I have officially started my last and final transfer and it has been a wild ride so far.

I am so grateful for every transfer on my mission. All of my companions and all of my areas have blessed my life in ways that I never knew they could. I'm going to miss the relationships that I have had with all of the missionaries and members here on the East Coast! 

On Wednesday morning a member of The Chesapeake Ward came and picked us up and drove us all the way to Columbia Maryland to the Stake Center there. When we got there all of the missionaries that I have served with for 2 years were all getting ready to go home that next day! So we said good bye to all of them and that was pretty sad. Elder Jex, Elder Coombs, Elder Zuniga, Elder Winn, Elder Brown, Elder Howell and lots of other ones. Haha there group had 30 missionaries go home!

After we talked to the departing missionaries for a little bit, Elder Shepherd and I went into the meeting where the Trainers and all the new missionaries were. All the trainers sat on one side of the room and all of the new missionaries sat on the other side of the room. President Mutombo called each missionary up one at a time and then announced who their trainers were going to be. President Mutombo called up Elder Shepherd and I and told everyone that we would be training in Inner Harbor Baltimore! President Mutombo then announced that we would be training a kid named Elder Nathanael Griffin from Colorado Springs! He is super tall, and he is quiet and reserved. Haha but he is awesome. I feel bad for him sometimes because only a week ago he was chilling in the nice Provo MTC where everything is nice and clean looking.. And then only a week later he is thrown into downtown Baltimore City for his first area.. Where the constant smell of weed makes him sick, and the ghetto gang talk scares him. Haha we keep telling him to not look down and act scared and shy or these guys will stab him.. Haha we tell him to look up and act confident like he knows what he is doing. He is getting used to the city.. But you can just tell that going from Provo UT to Inner city Baltimore has him a little freaked out. Haha

When you first come on a mission you get a trainer. And missionaries call their trainers their "Mission Dad" so of course Elder Shepherd and I joke around all the time that our new little trainee has 2 dads.. Haha training a new missionary in a trio is actually aloooooot more fun than I thought it would be! We have been having a good time and these last weeks of being a missionary are going to FLY.

Elder Shepherd is from Idaho Falls and he goes home with me in 5 weeks, so we are both trying to not get superrrrr trunky because if we get super trunky, then we would wreck our brand new trainee.. Especially because he has 24 months left to go! Haha so pray for this kid.. He is going to be watching us pack up to go home, he will watch us do my plan, he will watch us get our departing interviews with President Mutombo, and he will watch us both get on an airplane and head home here soon. Haha

The West side of Baltimore is CRAZY. Holy cow. I didn't think it got crazier than what I saw on the East side.. But the west side is insane. We get to ride the Metro and the light rail all throughout the city and that is actually pretty fun. The Metro goes underneath the city and I've never been able to ride anything like that, so I have enjoyed all of this new stuff! Even the advanced ghetto stuff that I am now seeing! ;) haha the West side of Baltimore is definitely a lot more wild than the east side. 

On Elder Griffins first day as a missionary, we got on the metro at 6:30pm and headed into downtown Baltimore to a Bible study. When we got on the metro the sky was mostly clear with some clouds. An hour later when we got off, we got up to the ground level again and it was DUMPING rain. Like this rain was harder than any other rain I've ever seen out here on the east coast and I've seen it rain a TON out here. Haha we all look at each other and no one has an umbrella.. So since our church building was pretty close we would ran there and got inside. So we booked it to the church and we got SOAKED. Like when I stepped into the church building it looked like I had just climbed out of a pool and was dripping wet everywhere. Haha so yes, on Elder Griffins first day in the mission field, he got drenched by the Baltimore rains and he was cold and wet for the rest of the night.. He will never ever forget his first day as a missionary now! Haha

We also have this sweet senior couple in our ward here in the Inner harbor named the Stubblefields! They feed us every Sunday evening and they help this ward out a ton! I was super excited to come here because I have never really served around a senior couple on my mission, so this transfer will be sweet! 

My week has been so good, and I am so excited for everything that will be happening these next 5 weeks! Thank you for everything and for the love and support. I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!

Last and Final Transfer

Hey All!!

Another week has come and gone.. Time is a weird thing sometimes. Haha it's seriously going so fast.

My prayers have been answered and my mother's nightmares have come true.. Haha my entire mission I served in rural areas and as people say "the BOONIES".. In 18 months I served in the Maryland Baltimore Mission, but never touched Baltimore!! My prayers were answered 5 months ago when I was sent to Chesapeake area which sits right on the Chesapeake Bay and covers the entire east side of the city.. Then in the recent weeks I knew I would be getting transferred and I was super sad that I would be leaving the city of Baltimore. My mom and dad were probably pretty excited that I was getting transferred because of how sketch the city life is.. Butttttt this week I found out that I am being transferred out of The Chesapeake area (Which I'm super sad about. I love the people and members here a ton.) and I am being transferred to The Baltimore Inner Harbor Area!! Which covers the entire West Side of the city!!! Hahaha I'm staying in the same stake, just opposite side of the city. I thought that was pretty funny. And on top of that I am going to be training a Brand New missionary in a trio!! So Elder Shepard (who came out with me) will also be training this new missionary with me in the Inner harbor area! So I will be in a trio for my last 6 weeks of being a missionary as well! Crazy stuff.. Haha it's going be a wild ride. I am super excited to be training a brand new missionary again though! It's so much fun and I can't think of a better way to end my mission.

We have had some serious miracles this week here in the Bay!! We have met with our friend Herman a few times this week and his progress is amazing. He called us before Sunday and told us that he knows that this is the right church for him because every time we come we bring a different kind of feeling with us and he notices that the feeling comes and goes when we come and go in and out of his house. He said that he feels this is right! So we invited him to be baptized on August 3, 2019 and he without hesitation said: "Yes!" I am Soooo excited for him! He then came to church yesterday and we over heard him talking to a member, and the member asked him who he was, Herman said: "My name is Herman and I am preparing to become a member of the church and be baptized." The member was a little shocked at the answer but congratulated him. Haha it's been so cool to see Herman progress over the last few weeks, he wants a fresh start on his life so bad and he knows that baptism is the way to do it! So August 3rd is the day!!

Then on Saturday of this last week Latif Sedefoglu got baptized into the Elizabethtown ward in PA my old area! Latif is the husband of Sarah and the Father of Ayla who I had the chance to teach and baptize while I was there, and Latif the dad just got Baptized this last week!! So the whole family in the space of 7 months have been baptized! It made me so happy to see that a family that I worked so much with ALL joined the church and were baptized. That family has changed my life and I love each one of them as if they were my family. The Sedefoglu Family is without a doubt one of the reasons God sent me to this mission. He knew they would change my life!

So this week I have another Baltimore bus story! Haha it was 8:50pm and we were bussing home after a long day of walking and talking to people in the hot heat. And while we were sitting there, a man in a wheel chair sat across from us and was like very upset at something or someone. He kept cussing and swearing, and then he would stop talking and he would start crying. Then he would start cussing again and swearing, and then cry some more! I had no idea what he was mad about, but while I was watching this whole process he reaches in his back pack and pulls out a little red straw. When I saw it I didn't think much of it. But then he reaches in his back pack again and pulls out a little bag of powder.. He then dumps the bag of powder out on a flat price of paper and straightens the powder out on the paper with a credit card and makes a straight line out of the powder. Then he gets the red straw into position and yep... He snorted all this powder up his nose... I about fell off my chair. Haha I was like what the freak?! So now this man had my undivided attention. Haha then five minutes later this man bent over forwards in his wheel chair and was OUT. like he wasn't moving, and for a time it didn't look like he was breathing.. So I legit thought that he was dead and I was gonna have to be the one to tell the bus driver to call 911.. Then to my relief I saw him breathing again. Haha but whatever the drug was, it knocked him OUT cold! Crazy stuff. Haha

Anyways, thanks for the love and support! I love and miss you, and I can't believe that I'll see you in only 6 weeks.. Hopefully you are ready for that. Haha love ya!

Love, Elder Welling!

Getting to teach in ASL

Hey All!! 

Another week down here in the Chesapeake area! I really do love this area and will definitely be sad if I am transferred out this upcoming week.. We will be fining out if I am staying or leaving this coming Saturday, and it will be the last time I will either be staying or leaving to a new area on my mission! The next time this comes I will be Transferred back home to Evanston Wyoming ;) time is seriously flying though. I never knew how fast time could go until I put a name tag on.. Haha when they say it was the fastest 2 years of their lives, they are not kidding. Haha it's crazy!

This week has been sweet!! We have been working with our friend Herman this week and he came to church again this week!! So we are planning on putting him on date to be baptized this week and hoping that we can get him baptized soon. He told us yesterday that his wife really wants him to come to her church.. But that our church is the way he is leaning more towards. So we have great hopes of him joining here pretty soon!

Earlier this week something happened that threw me off guard at first.. Haha we found this lady named Adriane on the street in a place called Rosedale! As we approached her we found that she was deaf and she also spoke American Sign Language!! When she first started to try and tell us that she was deaf and she only spoke sign language, I was in complete shock. Haha first off I haven't had very many opportunities at all since my assignment had been changed from an English elder to an ASL to talk to any deaf people.. So when I found that I was in front of the real deal here I actually froze like a brick. Haha I understood what she was saying but I just couldn't respond.. Haha it was awkward. Finally after like 30 seconds of her talking I started to sign back to her and told her that we would love to come back Friday and teach her about The Restored Gospel! So we are going back Friday and I'm gonna teach her a whole lesson in ASL.. Haha pray for me. This will be my first ASL lesson completely by myself. I will need all the prayers I can get. Haha

For the 4th of July this year we really didn't do much other than proselyte.. And boy was it HOT. The humidity and heat out here is killer. It's been above 90° the entire week and the humidity has been in the high 70s-80s too so that means that our weather app tells us that it feels like 104° outside.. It's been blazing. Haha I've never appreciated Air conditioning so much in my life until my mission.

Unfortunately I don't have any good Baltimore Bus stories this week.. We chose to stay out of Baltimore for the 4th of July because we were told that on the 4th of July in Baltimore you never know if the people are shooting up or at you.. With guns or with fireworks.. So we chose to stay away from it this week. But we will be there all this week, so I'm sure I'll have a good one next week. Haha this best thing we saw all week was "The Soap Guy".. It's this dude that legit steals soap from stores and then brings them on the bus and sells them and everyone on the bus goes crazy and buys them like crazy. Haha this guy gets loads of money doing this. It's super weird to watch, but we have become accustomed to it. Haha

Anyways, thanks for the emails and support! Time is flying and I'm excited for everything that is coming! I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!

More Adventures on a Bus

Hey All! 

This week has been CRAZY.  Haha so many things have happened and time has flown so fast.  I just wish I had a video camera attached to me 100% of the time and you could tune into watch anytime of the day.  Haha you wouldn't be disappointed at all.

First and foremost, our friend Herman who we have been working with day and night finally came to church this week!  It was so sweet to see him finally come and be with the members. So hopefully he continues to progress.  We are going to invite him to be baptized this week!  I'm sure you are familiar with Shaquille O'Neal.  Our friend Herman is legit a mini Shaq. Haha he is so cool and big, and would be a sweet body guard while walking around the streets of Baltimore!  Haha

Again this week we had another wild adventure on a Baltimore bus. We were headed back to our apartment from Baltimore city and a man in a white tank top, dreads and baggy pants gets on.  I didn't think much of it, that's the usual thing we see.  But then as he made his way toward the middle of the bus I noticed that he was limping pretty bad. He couldn't walk very well either.  He looked like he was hurting every time he took a step. Well, about 5 minutes went by and everything is fine.  But then he shot up out of his seat and hobbled to the front and demands the bus driver to drop him off right there and then. (The bus was stopped at a red light in the middle of an intersection) The bus driver said “no” and that he would have to wait for the next stop. Well of course, our injured friend blows up and yells: "Lady!! I've been shot in the leg and I can't walk!! I got on the wrong bus and I need to head the other way towards the hospital!"  This guy had been legit shot in the leg and was trying to get to the hospital but got on the wrong bus. The bus driver again told him that she couldn't drop him off right there but he would have to wait. That of course made our shot friend very angry and he started using every swear word imaginable.  Seriously I have heard them all now.  Haha after arguing with the bus driver for a good while, he saw that she wasn't going to drop him off until the next stop.  So he called her a few choice names, and then started hobbling to the middle of the bus. He is still throwing off the F-word every 2 words. Haha when he gets to the middle of the bus he pulls the emergency latch on one of the windows and opens the window up and jumps out. When he got to the ground, he looked back at the bus driver and called her a few more names and then slammed the window so hard that he broke it.  But this guy legit jumped out the window with a shot leg. It was crazy. And this all happened while stopped at a red light in downtown Baltimore.  Haha good times.

We also got a new ward mission leader and he is sweet!! His name is Michael but we call him Nikita!  He is from the Philippines and he brought his 2 other brothers with him as well!  They all served missions and they are so sweet!  They are all trying to save money up at the moment so they can bring their wives and kids over to the states.  But they are killer guys and they are always on top of things.  We are going to start going on runs in the mornings with them for our morning exercises at 6:30!

Recently President Mutombo invited the entire mission to consecrate 20 minutes of our personal study time each day to study and ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So I began to do so and I found a general conference talk by President Russell M. Nelson in April 2017. (SWEET talk btw, you should definitely read it. Haha) and President Nelson challenged us to do this in his talk: "I ask the young adults of the Church to consecrate a portion of their time each week to study everything Jesus said and did as recorded in the standard works. I invite them to let the scriptural citations about Jesus Christ in the Topical Guide become their personal core curriculum.  I gave that challenge because I had already accepted it myself. I read and underlined every verse cited about Jesus Christ, as listed under the main heading and the 57 subtitles in the Topical Guide. When I finished that exciting exercise, my wife asked me what impact it had on me. I told her, “I am a different man!” I felt a renewed devotion to Him."

When I read that challenge I decided that I needed to do that myself. So the next day I started doing the same thing President Nelson asked the young adults to do 2 years ago, and as I did so, I too found a new sense of gratitude and conversion to Jesus Christ and all that He has done for me personally. I know there is power in following God's Prophet, because as President Nelson promised, I also felt a renewed devotion to Christ and a new look on His Atonement.  I'm definitely not finished with the challenge yet.  There are 57 subtitles and hundreds of scriptures, but I'll finish before I come home! ;)

Time keeps ticking down, and the weeks and days are falling off the clock like crazy. I hope you are ready for me to come home cause it's coming whether we are all ready or not.  Haha thanks for the love and support, I love and miss you!

Love, Elder Welling!