Helloooo everybody!! This week has flown by and it was so fun so let's start at the beginning.
Monday: For p day we went to Findlay which is the district leader's area and it's about 45 minutes away. I had thought that it was about the same size as Tiffin but right as we got there we knew it was boujee ahaha. Thye have an Olive garden, Chik-fa-la, kohls, tj max, and a sephora plus A LOT of other things. They are livin nice over there. Anyway, we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and it was soooo good I hadn't been there in forever! Then we went thrifting. It was a solid day.
Tuesday: Tuesday was a way chill day. We did some service at a womens shelter. They had us just shred the papers they didn't need from 1998. The rest of the day was just normal missionary stuff that I can't remember because I have been awful at journaling the past 2 weeks. I need to improve on that.
Wednesday: There are these mentoring sessions we have to do because I am a new missionary and we signed up for one over zoom with this Italian guy. He had a really thick accent and during our meeting, Sister Nelson started coughing because she chocked on something. The guy asked "are you sick?" and she heard "are you safe?" so she said yes! We talked about it afterwards and we thought it was so funny we've been asking each other if we are safe anytime we cough or sneeze. We had our first apartment inspection so we DEEP CLEANED the apartment. Let's just say I don't think the apartment has been cleaned in a looooong time. There were things I found I don't even want to talk about because I feel the spirit leave my body when I think about it That night this member family named the Watts that was just visiting took us out to dinner to this Asian buffet and it was realy good. The family was so nice and they asked us to come over to the Airbnb the next night for a spiritual thought. Later we started teaching this new guy named Alex! He's been in contact with missionaries for a while but never taught. He told us he wants to be a missionary so we said he had to get baptized for that and he said he hated water but he'll do it!! He was going to come to church but he had to go to the hospital because his stitches popped from a surgery he just had. So everyone pray for Alex pls!
Thursday: We had another zoom meeting for new missionaries and this one has a bunch of other missionaries from all over. As I joined the call, I was just looking through who was on it and I saw 2 elders from my MTC district!! Elder Cleverly and Elder Murray! #shoutout. Anyway, that night we went back to the Watts and talked with them and it was so fun. As we were leaving, they gave us 2 FULL grocery bags of food! It was so nice. When we got home, there was a package for me from my sister and it was the best! One of the highlights of my week!! That night we had a zoom with the entire mission called "Why I Believe" and there were 3 people that shared their conversion stories and why they believe in Christ. It was really cool.
Friday: I went to my first zone conference!! We had to leave our apartment at 7:30 in order to get there on time. Once we got to Parrysburg, we got to the church and I met sooo many new people. I met all the sisters in the zone plus another and they are the best. As ZC was starting, one of the A.Ps was announcing and he said "Sister Welch is going to give the opening prayer" My head shot up because I didn't know that was happening. He just laughed and so after the opening song, I had to basically climb over all these elders to get the pulpit. And because my feet are gigantic, I tripped over all of their feet and it was just embarassing but I got through it lolol. We had one activity where the STLs asked if we liked spicy food and whoever did to come up to the front. Even though I like spicy food I didn't go up because I didn't feel like getting heart burn ahaha. There's an elder in my district named Elder Parry and he is just insane. He HATES spice but started saying to our whole district who can't stand it, "I'll go up if you go up" so obviously we all went up and they gave us a jalepeno and a grape and told us to eat them at the same time. I did and the spice wasn't bad at all. Elder Parry however, had it in his mouth for about .2 seconds and ran to the trash can to spit it out. It was hilarious. Elder Ashworth was struggling with the spice and he was sniffling still dying like 20 minutes later ahahaha. At one point he turned around and asked how we were holding up and I and Sister Nelson were both fine so we asked if he was ok lolol funny times. It was sooo nice to be around other missionaries and get a spiritual recharge. We talked a lot about assuming you're inspired and following promptings from the spirit. It was sooo good and I learned a lot. On our way back we went to chick-fa-la there and the cashier paid for our milkshakes!! come to find out she is a member and is just the sweetest lady. As we were leaving, a man named Ron stopped us and asked if we were Latter-day saints. He said he was from Vegas and all of his neighbors were members. He was so nice and I told him I was from Nevada so we bonded over that. Too bad he doesn't live in our area.
Saturday: This day was by far the slowest. It was Fostoria day and we were going to go over to this old lady's house fro 2 hours worth of service. We literally scheduled it right in front of her and she told us we came on the wrong day so there went 2 hours in our schedule we had to fill. We had a lesson on 3:30 and they bailed on us too. Our whole schedule got wiped and that's never fun. As we were driving back to Tiffin a huge rain storm started and it had been down pouring for 2 days straight.
Sunday: When we got to church we sat behind Praylyn (the girl who just got baptized) and her brother Preston who isn't a member. He turned around and told us that he wants to take the lessons and be baptized!! We are so excited about that. I and Sister Nelson had to give talks in church and it wasn't too bad. My topic was on finding peace in troubled times. That was perfect because everyone we talk to is going through a troubled time and I have definitely had my share and they're definitely not stopping lol. As I was writing it, I learned a lot and turning to the Savior is the most important thing. He will always support us through our trials if we turn to him. While he won't take the trial or trouble away, he will make it a little easier to get through. He will provide that peace and comfort we need in those times. I just love that. That night we went to a members house for dinner. Their names are the Padula's. They live20 minutes away and neither of us had been to their house. All we knew about it was that it was a big house. We pulled up and we were shocked. The best way to describe it was if any of you have seen pride and prejudice it fulfilled all dreams I have of living like that. Literally the best. As sister Padula was giving us a tour her husband who is a pastor for 2 other churches was cooking dinner and she told us he's 100% Italian so I immediatley knew the food was going to be good. My predictions were so right. He made 2 whole chickens, this garlicky pasta, corn on the cob, salad, AND homemade ranch. If you know me, you know I love homemade ranch. I absolutely LOVE this family. They are so funny and sweet and me and sister Nelson both had like 7ths. Needless to say we were definitely fat and happy hehehe. After dinner they gave us brownies and they kept asking if we really had to leave. It's so nice when people actually want to talk to us ahahha. Anyway we had a really good discussion with the Pastor about out favorite scriptures and he pulled out his own quad of the bible, book of mormon, d&c, and pearl of great price. He told us he watches the chruch movies all the time and he loves it. We watched a few of the church videos with them and we felt the spirit so strongly it was amazing. As we were leaving the wife asked how often we can come back and we literally said as often as they want haha. It was the best meal I've had here by far.
Anyway, I love all of you so much and I'm so grateful for your love and support!!
Trust in the Lord<3
Love,
Sister Welch
picssss
The AMAZING food and the Pastor (he looks like one of the guys from Cheech and
Chong idk which one and he sounds like him too)
Mine and sis Nelson first picture together
Storms
Chick-fa-la
Sisterssss
Selfie w the elder that took the picture
Me and sister Nelson matched at ZC
A quilt my sister made me (I was supposed to get 2 years ago hehehe)
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