We do service at this place called House by the Side of the Road and they told us if we ever want something we can just take it. So needless to say I've gotten soooo many clothes. We went there on Tuesday and I got the coolest Michigan coat ever and everyone is jealous. 

Starting on Tuesday night we had to give 2 cats insulin because the owners are in our ward and were out of town. We stupidly volunteered and I absolutely despise cats now. One of the cat's names is Oreo and he's a sweetheart he would let us give him his shot with no complaints. Charlie on the other hand is the spawn of Satan. The number of times I got hissed at and hit by that stupid cat is ridiculous. At one point sister Baker got in a literal catfight with him so that was exciting. 

On Wednesday we went to fill up our car with gas and while Sister Baker was doing that next thing I know she was talking to the guy at the pump next to us and she shared a scripture and now we are teaching him lol!! 

On Thursday we did a blitz in our area with the Saline Sisters and it was so fun!! I went with Sister Davis and then all 4 of us went to give the cats insulin.

On Saturday is when Sister Baker and I got absolutely traumatized. We were doing service for these ladies and they wanted us to weed their flower bed. But instead of just pulling weeds they were showing us this tool that you just swing at the ground and one end of it is sharp and it pulls the weeds right up. The lady was demonstrating so I would know how to use it and literally on the first swing she hits a baby bunny that was chillin in the ground and it was clearly hurt and was trying to hide behind a rock. We're gonna get a little morbid so bear with me but its head was basically backwards. The lady moved the rock and the poor thing was struggling to breathe. I almost had to put it out of its misery but then I just watched it take its last breath. The lady felt so bad because my and Sister Baker's faces were clearly not helping the situation. The lady was just going to leave it there but Sister Baker didn't want to look at it so she picked it up and that's when we saw the blood coming from its mouth and its eyeball was hanging out. I wanted to throw up. After that to make matters worse as I started to use the tool... THERE WAS A BEEHIVE UNDER THE GROUND so pretty soon there were like 50 bees just swarming us. We were fine for the most part and then they started chasing us and that's when I tapped out. On the bright side, the ladies fed us homemade smash burgers so that kinda made up for it. 

On a brighter note, Sunday was really good. We didn't get anyone to church but the lesson was really good. It was on the talk from conference, "After the 4th Day" by Elder Bassett. You should go read it!! But it was a good reminder that even after we feel like there is no hope at all God will always come to strengthen and help us. 

I hope everyone has an awesome week!! I love you all so much as always!!

Trust in the Lord

Love, 

Sister Welch ♡

Picsss

I love Michigan

I'm obsessed with clouds recently 

Blitz

Us right after seeing a murder

More clouds

Icecream

Anyway, on Monday we had a zone activity where we played volleyball, pickleball, and chair soccer. It was soooo fun but at one point during chair soccer one of my zone leaders just kneed me right in the thigh because I am competitive and wasn't going to let him get me out and now I have a gnarly bruise. 

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the EMU Sisters so I went to Ypsi with Sister Gee and it was sooo fun!! On Wednesday we went to their district council and their district leader made us all cookies. They looked good but they looked almost fake. We asked what he put in them and he said he was out of flour so he substituted it with pancake mix and it doesn't stop there. He was also out of vanilla extract so he put vanilla ice cream in them. Surprisingly, they weren't terrible. 

On Thursday we had a STL council at the mission home and that was soooo fun!! I got to see my literal favorite people in this world, one of them being Sister Stevens!! After the STL council we had a pretty full day of lessons which were super solid. We actually picked this guy up named Mike who told us that he has read the Book of Mormon twice AND he believes it's true because he said why would Joseph Smith go through the things he did if it wasn't. Now we are teaching him and he said he has been looking to be baptized!! God is so good.

On Friday it was Sister Bakers 16 month mark and my 13 month mark!! We started the day with having like 5 lessons through out the day but literally only 2 of them happened so that kinda shot our day. BUT because it was our "mission birthdays" we decided to celebrate by going to Texas Road House for dinner and as we were eating our waiter came over to us and told us someone paid for our meal!! Actual tears came to my eyes. 

On Saturday we went over to Ron and April's house so they could teach us how to give their 2 diabetic cats insulin while they are out of town for a week. It's a very scary and interesting experience. You should try it sometime. Pray for me that I don't get bitten.

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and our friend Izzy came to church with her roommate that she invited!! Izzy got up and bore her testimony and she's not even baptized yet!! I almost cried. Afterward we got her friend Andrea's contact information and we are going to start teaching her!! I have seen more miracles this transfer than the rest of my mission and it blows my mind!!

Yesterday I had a really good personal study and it's been on my mind ever since. The theme of it was the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I was listening to a talk given by Elder Holland and in it he's talking about when you or someone else has fully repented of something. LEAVE IT IN THE PAST!! He says, "When something is over and done with, when it has been repented of as fully as it can be repented of, when life has moved on as it should and a lot of other wonderfully good things have happened since then, it is not right to go back and open up some ancient wound that the Son of God Himself died trying to heal." That really hit me because it can be really hard to forgive ourselves and we don't need to worry about it because Christ already took care of it!! There was another quote I read in PMG that says "Although we are imperfect and may fall short again, there is more grace, love, and mercy in Jesus Christ than there is failure, flaw, or sin in us. God is always ready and eager to embrace us as we turn to Him and repent." I don't have much to say about these because they are just too good so there ya go. Anyway, I love you all so much and so does our Heavenly Father!!

Trust in the Lord

Love, 

Sister Welch ♡

Picsss

Zone activity .5 

Ann Arbor zone

Tracting w Sis Gee

I cried when I saw her

I should already have my cosmo license 

Institute selfie ft. The Elders who made the cookies

This is JT and he is the cutest

Free food and full bellies 

On Tuesday we did a practice setup for the art fair. That was our main focus this week and I think it turned out pretty good! While we were setting up I managed to slice my finger open on the canopy so if you don't like blood don't look at the pictures... 

On Wednesday we had interviews and those were normal. After interviews, we did service in Ypsi at a thrift shop. We also had a lesson with our friend Charles and HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!! We put him on date and he's so excited so keep Charles in your prayers!! 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday all kind of blur together because we were sitting in a booth all day. Not a lot of people came by on Thursday. Halfway through the day, the tornado sirens came on so we started packing everything up at like 3. That was a bummer. It started downpouring and then the biggest hail I've ever seen decided to come too. After that, it decided to act like nothing ever happened and it was clear skies so we got to walk around the actual art fair. Unpopular opinion... it's kind of overrated. 

On Thursday we had some really solid people walk up to the booth with really good questions so we are working to meet with them. This one guy in particular named Nick came up to the booth wanting to know what we believed. We started talking about the Book of Mormon and he asked if we had any proof of its truthfulness. We all didn't really know what to say and then out of nowhere, really loud thunder just rolled right over us but it was blue skies. He ended up taking the Book of Mormon.

I just wanna talk about how God answers prayers. At the art fair, we had little paper surveys that if people wanted to learn more they would put their contact information. These were all solid referrals that we were excited to reach out to. Well, we ended up losing those papers and I was so mad at myself because I couldn't remember where I put them. I said lots of prayers and low and behold we found them in the middle of a Book of Mormon. The church is true.

Anyway, when people weren't around us we just sat at the booth with the Ann Arbor 1st ward Elders and just hit a volleyball around. It was actually pretty fun. Other than that, I can't really think of what else we did this week. I love you all sooo much!!

Trust in the Lord 

Love,

Sister Welch ♡

Picsss

Boo boo

People are so talented

Sis Baker, Elder Omorogbe, Elder Cline

Pres and Sis Johnson

Weekly planning

Art fair

On Monday I was feeling so anxious because we had to give the MLC discussion on Tuesday. I don't know why I was so scared because I give discussions every transfer but man was I scared. We found a good sushi restaurant that is so good and so cheap so that was the tender mercy of the day. 

On Tuesday was MLC and we gave our discussion and we think it went really well. I was still scared out of my mind but everyone said ours was their favorite and they didn't even tell us that. I guess the APs were asking people who their favorite discussion was and everyone said ours! Anyway, we drove back from Southfield and finally got to sit down to do personal study and this is when everything went wrong. I was feeling good about everything and then I sat down after praying to start personal study and my phone starts ringing. It is the Lapeer sister missionaries (my last area) so I answer it and I was really confused. They asked me if I remembered a lady named Debbie (she was the lady that reacted to my post about temples and we started teaching her if anyone remembers that). Debbie had called them looking for me. Anyway, I say yes and they continue to tell me that Debbie's neighbor, Matt,  told Debbie that I told him that he was doing some really nasty things to her and they both wanted to get the police involved. This is just my luck. So I decided to call my mission president and ask what I should do and that's when the tears came. We got it all sorted out (I think). Later that night  I had another heart attack moment. To preface, as missionaries, we aren't allowed to be on our phones after 10:30 p.m. so I wasn't on mine. At around 10:35 my brother Landon starts calling me. I initially thought it was a butt dial and then I started getting scared that someone died because when that happens my family likes to just randomly call me. I decided to answer it and Landon was crying so I for sure thought I was going to have to join a funeral over Zoom again. I asked what was wrong and he said he got called as bishop for the 1st ward!! I think it's funny now but at the moment my heart was in my butt! I felt special though because I was the only one out of my sisters he told (I'm his favorite).

Moving on. We have been planning the Ann Arbor Art Fair for a while now and it's been stressing me out. On Thursday we got a call from the guy in YSA that we are working with and he told us that our request to get it on the DIAG where they had it last year got declined. So we still don't know if our booth will even be a part of the art fair because it might have to be on the institute front lawn if they decline us for a different spot. 

On Friday a less active member of our ward that we meet with every week randomly told us that it is because of people like us that she is leaving the church so that one just felt great!!

Not only did all of this stuff happen but we also could not find anyone to teach to save our lives. Like we were trying so hard to be so diligent and when I say everyone I mean everyone. EVERYONE was saying no. 

Now, I'm ranting about this because God works in mysterious ways. Fast forward to Sunday night. Sundays are always crazy for us because we cover 2 wards so we don't have a lot of time to find people. It was 8:30 Sunday night and we hadn't found a single person all week. As we were street contacting we were feeling really discouraged and Sister Baker pulled me over into a parking lot corner behind some trees and said "We need to pray" I agreed so we poured our hearts out asking to find someone to teach. As we were praying I remembered a guy that I saw right across the street just casually playing his keyboard. We decided to go to talk to him. His name is Alex and I had an in because I asked him how long he has been playing piano for and he asked if I played. We shared a scripture with him and he said we could share more with him!! GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! I bet you thought this story was over. We were walking back to our apartment and we were literally around the corner from it and we saw this old man and so I said hi and he stopped walking and started talking to us!! His name is Mike. We talked for a while and shared a scripture with him and he said we could share more!! 

Sometimes God just needs us to go through really hard weeks and all He wants is for us to turn to him completely!! On my mission/life it has been in those moments when I didn't know what else to do so I finally put everything in His hands. I don't understand why it takes me so long but I'm working on it. That experience really has strengthened my testimony of the power of prayer and how God is so aware of all of His children. I end all of my weekly emails with "Trust in the Lord" and I think I do that for more of a reminder for me more than anything. Anyway, that was my week and I hope everyone has a good one! I love you all sooooo much!!

Trust in the Lord ;) 

Love,

Sister Welch ♡

Picssss

Sis Parke

Sis stevens

Sis Johnson

The sisters

Sis baker

Sushi

This is how close the seat is when Sis Baker drives 

Moments after the miracle 

On Monday it was a pretty standard p day. We bought caramel apples so that was good. 

Not gonna lie Tuesday was not the funnest day... I absolutely LOVE the 4th of July but let me tell ya that Ann Arbor Michigan is not very patriotic it was kinda depressing. I hit my year mark on the mission tho. Isn't that absolutely crazy?? I never thought I'd see the day. I have absolutely loved my mission and everything it's brought into my life. On Tuesday night my brother was kind enough to send me a gift card to a restaurant me and Sister Straatman wanted to try so we went there for dinner and the guacamole was really good. 

Wednesday started out like a normal day but it quickly took a turn. Sister Straatman was showering and then all of a sudden the phone started ringing so I jump up to see who it was and it was the Mission President. We answered and he told us that Sister Straatman was getting transferred!! We really didn't think she was going to get transferred because he said she was going to stay another transfer with me. But she's now up in Bloomfield and I have a new companion named Sister Baker!! She's the cutest!! Thursday was full of Sister Straatman saying  goodbye so it was pretty sad.

Friday we went to transfers and it was so fun!! I always love seeing all my friends and I saw Sister Stevens!! It was the best thing ever. 

Something cool that happened this week was we were out stopping by random people and had the feeling to stop by this former who was going to get baptized last year but he canceled it 20 minutes before the baptism. We knocked and he came right out and was so happy we stopped! He asked US if we could start meeting again and then he came to church on Sunday. The Lord does provide. 

Anyway, I think those are the biggest updates! I love you all!!

Remember trust in the Lord!!

Love, 

Sister Welch♡

Picssss

District poloroid

The 4th

Gramma Jo

Aa1 vs aa2

Last straat Pic

Sis stevens!!

We were dying

So as I said last week, our power was out because of a mild wind storm. Well, it didn't come back on until Wednesday night so we had to drive to Saline every night and stay with those sisters over there. Let's say that I definitely took electricity for granted but man am I grateful for it. That day we decided to make ourselves feel better by going to Olive Garden and it helped a little bit. 

On Tuesday something really cool happened. So as we were leaving Saline in the morning, a lady named Margeret started randomly calling us. For a little background, Margaret was supposed to get baptized the first Saturday that Sister Straatman was here but she ghosted the sisters the week of her baptism. So she randomly called us and she was bawling her eyes out saying she wanted to meet with us again so that was the miracle of the week. 

On Thursday we went to institute and the course is world religions so they brought in a Lutheran and we learned all about their religion. It was really interesting to learn about it. Now for the story you're probably not even waiting for but here you go. Thursday night after 9 I was putting clothes in my hamper and as I was doing that, I saw a sock in between my dresser and the wall. I bent down to get it and completely smack my forehead on the window seal that is covered up with a blanket so I kinda forgot it was even there. I got a good goose egg and it's still bruised and tender to touch. So I think I'm a little concussed but it's fine.

Friday I got absolutely fried on the back of my neck from street contacting so that was fun. 

On Saturday we were doing yard work service and the mosquitos decided to literally feast on my right leg so I've been going absolutely crazy since then.

I don't know what day this story is but we were waiting at a red light and a man carrying a whole sword just ran across the street and I thought I was being punked, only in Michigan. 

Last night after we got home I went to check the mail (because Michigan delivers mail on Sundays I guess) and I opened the mailbox the biggest spider of my life was just chillin in there and I think I wanna cry about it just thinking about it. 

Anyway, yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and I'm super lucky because I get to go to 2 church meetings. While we were in the YSA ward, the theme of the testimonies was that even though life can be hard, Heavenly Father is always there with us. Even if it feels like He's not, HE IS!! He loves each and every one of us so much!! He just loves us too much to let us stay the same so He makes us go through hard things so that we can grow. 

That's all I have for this week!! I love you all so much!!

Trust in the Lord!

Love,

Sister Welch ♡

Picssss

absolutely drenched from the rain after carrying our groceries into the institute because we had no power

us mad that our power is still off

Canada is still on fire

fat goose egg

concussed

dairy queen

me literally icing my forehead