I Belong to the Church!

Hey Y'all!

"I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Some big news this transfer! :D My dear sweet companion Sister Davies will be transferred to another area and we are no longer STL's. I will miss her dearly, but she has lives to touch in another area and I'm sure my next companion will add greatly to the work here. :) It's going to be strange not being an STL since that is all I have known since I've been back, but I'm also a little excited to just be a normal missionary.

"I know who I am.

I know God's plan.

I'll follow him in faith."

So we had a pretty amazing week. :) Jessica came to church! Yes, this is the Jessica with 5 children all 6 and under. She and her kids got picked up by a member and they went to all 3 hours. It was perhaps the craziest church service of my life! We were helping her with her wild kids, and so were several members. The oldest child, Christian, was super good. He LOVED every second of church! We were told after church that he even offered to say the closing prayer in his primary class! This was especially amazing because he didn't even know what a prayer was a week ago! Even though it was crazy, Jessica was so happy and excited. At the end she kept saying that she would come back every single week! :)

"I believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ.

I'll honor his name."

We have another investigator on date! :D Her name is Harriet Starks. The sisters had met her in December after she asked for a Book of Mormon. Shortly after that they got her on date for February. She was drinking it all in! But then her mother got really sick with cancer, requiring her to come and help her for a few months. On top of that she herself ended up in the hospital for a short time because she had some terrible kidney stones! Finally, after all that, we had a lesson with her last week where she told us that she wanted to get baptized, just tell her the date! :D She has been reading her Book of Mormon everyday and is just so ready! She came to church yesterday and loved it! I know that Harriett is ready and I can't wait to see her get baptized. :D

"I'll do what is right;

I'll follow his light."

One more cool thing that happened actually worked in a sequence. At the beginning of last week we met a woman heading up the stairs in our apartment building. We talked to her a little and discovered that she was the daughter of a woman who lives her and that the daughters father had just died. We expressed our condolences and then offered to come and teach the family more about heavenly fathers plan for us. She said maybe some time and we continued on with our day. several days later we met the sister of the woman who's husband died! And we did the same thing with the same response. All this happened and we never met the woman, Vigivie, herself. Then yesterday, we saw a woman walking a big load of trash to the dumpster. We stopped by and took it for her. On our way back she thanked us and introduced herself as Vigivie! Yes, the woman we were wanting to see! :D We sat down and talked to her for a while. Then we gave her a Book of Mormon and Plan of Salvation pamphlet, then set an appointment for this Sunday to come and teach her more. This was so cool, but the coolest part was that we only went home because we were waiting for a member to text us back and let us know if we could come over. As soon as we were done with Vigivie, we got a text from that member saying we could come. This was a real show and testimony to me that God cares about ALL of his children and will make time for EVERY one of them to hear the gospel. :)

"His truth I will proclaim."

A lot has happened this week. And it has been quite crazy. :) But I'm glad to be out here. I'm glad to be serving in Dunwoody and North Point YSA now, and I'm glad that I have so many amazing investigators to work with. Ones that are honest seekers of truth and that want to progress in the gospel. Being a missionary has taught me a lot, but most of all, it has taught me to trust in God. It has taught me that He is working in the details to give us every opportunity to hear his word. But it has also taught me that God can't do it without me. Without every one of his children there to be his instruments and to teach others the way. For the path is straight and the gate narrow. I know that this Gospel is true. I know that this church is the one that was called of God to be re-established upon the earth. And I know that I am a representative of Christ himself. There is a lot of power in that statement alone. It makes me grateful to be a missionary, even after all the trials I have been through to get me here. :)

Y'all's Southern Bell,

Sister Welch