Obedience

I am so glad to hear that the football game
went so well on Tuesday!  It sounded like a
great game and Trey did great as usual. 
He is a stud.  And that is to bad about the
game on Saturday, but I am glad it was still 
a good game and that they went out with pride. 
I can't believe that we are both done with football. 
That is crazy.  I remember when all I cared about
was football, and girls I guess; haha. 
Although I still love both of those things, it is
interesting to see how the importance of things
in our lives change as we mature, and how our
retrospect alters when we have a better
understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
I can honestly say that I know that the most
important things in life are Family, Church, and
Education.  I am so excited to get back 
involved with the first and latter.  I think
I will look at schooling in a whole 
different light when I return and will try
a lot harder.  Never thought you 
would hear me say that, did you?

I can not believe I am 8 months done with
my mission today.  I can't tell you how crazy
that is.  I feel like I just got here. 
I have grown so much though and I am
excited to see my personal growth and change
in the upcoming 16 months. This week was
pretty mundane (sp?) to say the least. 
Sorry about all the spelling errors. 
The French language kills your spelling. 
No one here can spell their own language
because you only pronounce half of the words. 
But this week was good, but nothing too out
of the ordinary.  We found 4 new investigators
this week which was great.  Two of them are
here on business from Ghana for the next 
three months and are really excited to find
out if "the stick of Judah, and the 
stick of Ephraim"/the Bible and the Book of Mormon
really do strengthen our 
testimony's in both and in our understanding
and belief of Jesus Christ.  I really feel they
have the faith necessary to receive an answer
and am excited to share in this experience with them.
One of the others was a man named Franky 
who we actually met by asking him where he
got this sweet coat he was wearing.  The fourth
new ami we found is probably the weakest,
but the story is a miracle in itself.    We were working and we had
just had to people bail on us for rendez-vous. 
He started to get frustrated and wanted to go in
for the night because he felt like he was doing
no good as a missionary.  It was 8 o'clock and
we still had another hour of work before we
should have gone inside.  There was no one
really on the streets and he felt that it was 
pointless just to walk around for an hour. 
I told him that I knew that God had prepared
someone for us that night and that through
obedience, we would find him/her.
I told him that we would keep working
and we would contact every single person
that passed.  Well, the first person we passed,
we stopped and asked him if we could talk
about the gospel of Jesus Christ to him. 
He said he had just got off work and was
headed home.  I told him that's great and if he 
wouldn't mind, we would love to go back to his
place and teach him about the restoration of
the gospel of Jesus Christ for about 15 or
20 minutes.  He said yes!  We went to his place
and taught him about the restoration and
have an appointment for this Thursday. 
I know that we found this man, Asefaw,
thanks to obedience and listening to the
promptings of the spirit!  It was a huge help for
my companion and we both learned a lot
from the experience.  I love how blessed 
we can be through listening to the spirit
and following the commandments we have 
been given!

This should be a great week.  We have
 district meeting tomorrow in Neuchatel, 
one of the most beautiful cities ever. 
Then we are going to Granoble, France 
Tuesday night and Wednesday to do
some French legality.  Then we have an 
exchange with the zone leaders so I will
be in Yverdon on Thursday, and then we 
have Zone Conference in Lausanne on Friday. 
And then we have stake conference 
on Sunday in Lausanne again.  It will be
a crazy week and i will be all over 
Europe, but it will be fun! 
I am excited to eat another French paticerie (sp?) 
and receive counsel from the mission president!

Elder Bubba

Cultural Night

 I am doing so well!
As for the questions:

How is your new companion, Elder Nelson?
He is sweet.  We actually have things 
in common and he is probably one of the 
most likable missionaries in the mission.
He is rad.
Where is he from and how long has he been out? 
He is from Lehi, Utah.  He has been out for just
over 6 months.  He is one transfer younger then me. 
I am his third companion.
Do you have anything in common? 
Yeah, he played football in high school and he likes
to snowboard.
Were you able to reschedule any of the appointments
and did the amis show up? 
A couple but I am really trying my hardest to find the
"elect," those whom God has already prepared, and
I don't feel that we have found anyone who could be 
baptized this transfer.
Did you have your cultural night with the branch
yet and did they like the Special K bars?  Yes! 
They LOVED them. 
Thank you so much mom for making them!  
I had a couple of people who asked me for the recipe,
so if you wouldn't mind sending it, I wouldn't mind
it to much either!
Have you seen any impact to the world falling
markets in Switzerland?
Honestly, not really.  People haven't really talked
about it much.  I know there was a 
pretty big hit last week though. 
But everyone still seems pretty chill as usual.
Have I gotten sick/health? Not really. 
There have been two nonconsecutive days 
where I had a runny nose but that's it. 
I drink a lot of this multi-fruit drink 
and I am taking a vitamin everyday.
So this week was good.  We unfortunately
had several other lessons fall, but we 
were able to find three new amis. 
It was sweet!  The cultural night was way fun 
and it was cool to "hang out" with the ward. 
Church was good.  The stake president was
there and he is way cool.  I taught the priesthood
lesson again and I gave a 15 minute talk on how
we need the members help to achieve a couple 
of goals we set for the end of the year, and
how they corresponded perfectly 
with the branch goal they set for the end of the year.
Now we are just talking about ways we 
can better follow the rules and be "exactly obedient"
to better have the spirit 
with us in our companion study. 

Have a great week 
Elder Clayton Henderson Welch

A new companion

Whats up?  Nothing much here.

This week was the last week of the transfer 
so we received transfer calls this 
morning.  I will be staying in Bienne, 
but I will be receiving a new companion:  
Elder Nelson.  He is a way sweet elder 
from what I hear.  I am now going to be 
senior companion so I am excited for 
this new adventure. 
This will be a fun transfer.
 
Nothing to crazy happened this week.  
We were supposed to add 7 new amis but 6 
of them fell through with was disappointing.  
We were able to reschedule some of 
them and this should be a much better week.

That's great that you were able to go to 
stake conference Mom.  I went to one in 
Nancy my first transfer, and we will have 
the Laussanne Stake conference on the 
second of November I believe.

As for my birthday present I have actually 
thought of something I may want.  I 
think the money will be best used as a 
donation to someone in more need but I 
have been thinking about how great one 
of those "magic bullets" would be so I 
could make smoothies and stuff for breakfast 
and be more happy.  I don't know how 
much those cost but if not to much maybe 
that and a smoothie book or something.  
But that is not a need, so don't worry about it.

I hope you have a great week and 
I will have more to say next week!
Elder Clayton H. Welch

Exchange week

Wow, this week has flown by.

As to the questions you posed pops:
What was your favorite kind of chocolate?  
haha, tough question.  I actually am not a
huge fan of chocolate, I am surprised 
you didn't know that.  I think Mom knows that.
But it actually was way good.  I have actually
grown to really like it on my mission.  I like any
chocolate with nuts in it, preferably almonds.
But, there was this one chocolate called "air 
chocolate;"  haha, it was pretty good.
Strange, but good.  It was just kind of bubbly.

So how far away are Brul and Yverdon from Bienne?
About 30 some minutes on train to Yverdon and
an hour in the car to Brul.  We rode in the car with the 
zone leaders because they have one.  It isn't that far
away but you have to go like around lakes and
find interstates.

What are the rest of the missionaries in your zone like? 
Here is the line up.  
Elder Hamilton: One of the two zone leaders.
Biggest kid in mission.  Football player from California
and that is all we talk about.  haha, he is one of my 
favorite people in the mission.  He is actually 24 and
already graduated from college at BYU and getting
married a month after he gets home.
Elder Cook:  Other zone leader.  He is pretty cool.
He talks like Napoleon Dynamite a lot, haha.
Elder Rennick.  He is in neuchatel and is one of my
favorite missionaries in the mission. He is about to go
home but he is from California and was on the 
us national cycling team (juniors, under 25).
He is the man.
Elder Buhinin:  my age in the mission.
He is way good at the piano.
Elder  :  Kind of feminine but way nice.
Elder Schmidt:  Don't really know him to well.  and my 
companion Elder Barber who likes cartoons and
stuff like that. haha, but he is still pretty cool.

What is raclet?
The greatest thing ever!  Oh man!  Ask Patty for further 
enlightenment, but it is potatoes boiled and smashed up,
and then you have cheese that you cook in a raclet cooker
that you put on the potatoes and then put some cooked
salami or other meet on top.  That and fondue are
really big in Switzerland, though, I have yet to have fondue.

Did you get a chance to watch or listen to all of conference?
If so, what was your favorite talk?   All but the Sunday
afternoonsession.  It was soo good!  I LOVE conference.
I loved Elder Wirthlin's talk, especially when he talked about 
his daughter's blind date;  probably one of the funniest things
I have ever heard in my life.  But they were all way good.

How are the potential amis coming?
Do you still call them amis in Switzerland also?
Yes, they are still called amis.  Oh man, I don't know.
It has been a crazy week here, but this week I hope
to find a couple way solid amis and help 
some of our current amis to become solid.

But this week was crazy.
I was actually only in Bienne for 2 days.  I was in 
Brul Monday, Yverdon Tuesday for the exchange,
I went to Neuchatel on Wednesday for an exchange
with Elder Renick because both of our companions
had legality to do in Lyon, and was in Bienne on Friday,
and then Neuchatel again on Saturday and Sunday to
watch conference!  I honestly didn't feel like I did
much work here in Bienne, but I did do work other
places I guess.  But it was still a good week.
I love to travel so that was alright with me.
And I am just like you mom, I love the scenery on trains,
especially through the Swiss hills and mountains.

As for my birthday and Christmas, no worries.
My mission is my presents.
If you don't want to count that, the coat I bought today,
with a pair of gloves, can count as my presents.
And if you still aren't happy, I think that there is a
charity or 2,you could maybe donate to in my behalf.
But I will think about which ones if you like
or if there is something I need.
But have a great week and keep being you! 

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch

Swiss Chocolate

I  am actually in Yverdon Switzerland 
right now for an exchange here the next few days
and also to go to a chocolate factory for preparation day.
haha, yes, that was my preparation day today.  As a 
zone, all 8 of us missionaries went to the Nestlé
chocolate factory in Brul (sp?) right next to Fribourg.
Travel time didn't allow for a whole bunch of 
time there but we were still able to take the tour
and you will not believe it but at the end of the FREE tour,
all of it was free, there was all you could eat 
FREE Swiss chocolate, fresh... oh my goodness.
It was like heaven in my mouth.  
We will definitely make that a destination on our travels
if we decide to come back.  But it was a really great day.
I will try to send you some Swiss chocolate soon. 

Sorry I am not the best at answering questions.
It is much easier for me to answer them if you put them
in like a question format, haha, sorry, its just hard to go
back an forth.  But here are some of the question you
asked and some responses.

Are you still driving or just public transportation?
Public transportation.  I am probably on a train at least
one hour every day going through the amazing 
suisse countryside.

How many members and is it a ward or branch?
There is a German speaking ward which i believe is big,
but the french speaking branch has probably 20 members 
with 10 couple missionaries.  That is because the suisse
temple is in Zolikhofen (sp?), just 20 minutes away,
so the french temple workers go to our branch.  But 
the branch is great.

Do you do much door knocking or are the members providing
enough contacts to teach?
I do a lot of street contacts, visiting former investigators,
and some doors.  I prefer to talk to people in the street
although my companion doesn't.  
Door knocking is easier, but I just feel stopping people
in the busy streets is a lot more effective.

What’s the food like and do you get many dinners with
member families or mostly cooking on your own.
I actually ate with 3 members this last week!  haha, the 
first three since I have been here.  But they were way good!
We eat raclet every district meetings every Tuesday
which is WAY good!

Is the scenery different – it looks like it is colder there than in Metz?  
completely The scenery is way different.  Switzerland and
France are different.  I think I prefer Switzerland, but cities are
just really small.  I like big cities.  But it has been cold,
but when I wear a sweater and a suit jacket its 
great.  They didn't have my size in the jacket I wanted
so i had them order it so I should be getting it this week.
Thank you for that.

But everything is way great!  I love being a missionary.
It is a really kind of surreal to me, but its a great opportunity. 

The branch here is having a "cultural night" and want me to 
talk about Minnesota.  Could you maybe make me a bunch of special k bars.
Thanks again for all that you do and cheer Trey on for me at
the Homecoming 
coronation and game!
Your Eternal Loving Son,
Elder Bubba