Caroling

Salut Mere et Pere! Commet va tu?

This week was good.
I had two exchanges where
I worked outside of my area
which is always interesting
because I don't have total control.
But its good for me though to learn
how to follow as well as lead.
I worked in Gereland, which is
the southern part of the city of Lyon,
and in St. Etienne, which is about an
hour south by train and is a ville
consisting of about 60% Muslims,
which isn't bad, but when talking to
Muslims about the gospel you just
get the same responses like,
"of course God always called
prophets to deliver a message!"
me-"Exactly! So what wouldn't you
think it would be important to know that
there is a living prophet today?"
"No, no, no! Not possible!
Mohammed was the last prophet!"
You get that one every time.
There are many other cliché
responses such as "there can't
be a prophet. Look at all the wars!"
Me- "Mr., you know there were wars
during the time of Moses with their
captivity in Egypt, with Abraham
and the Assyrians, and even Mohamed
with all the conflicts in the
middle east during that time?"
"Umm... yeah.. still not possible!
Mohammed was the last prophet!"
But they are way nice though, honestly,
and are more open to talk then most
"Christians" so it is all good.
We did caroling in downtown Lyon
which was really fun and surprisingly
effective.

We had 10 missionaries carol the
last night of the Fete de Lumiere
where there were tons of people passing
by and then Friday night in Downtown
Lyon we had 10 missionaries and
2 members singing and then
myself and my trainer, who is
in Lyon but in a different Zone,
stopped people in front of the singing.
I couldn't believe how many people
stopped and listened to us!
Almost everyone!
It was so good!
Speaking of the "Fete de Lumiere,"
it was so amazing and we
need to come back and visit one of
these days! Lyon is so beautiful.

This week should be really good.
I have an exchange with the assistants
to the president here in Lyon on
Wednesday, they do that with the
zone leaders once a transfer,
and then we have a half mission
conference on Thursday here in Lyon
where it will be Christmas music
based along with the implementation of
this next years plan, "Member Lessons,"
where the members receive lessons
we have made.
I am very excited about it.
I hope you have a wonderful week

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch

Lyon Festival of Lights "Le fete de Lumiere"

My week was great, thanks for asking.  And by the way,
I make a smoothie, with only fruit and juices, for
breakfast and dinner, so I am eating a lot healthier. 
Thank you so much for that.
But this week was great.  The work is a little different
as a zone leader, but it is still great. 
There are a lot more opportunities to serve which
I am very grateful for.  This last Tuesday I went to
Zone Leader Council in Geneva which was great.
I love hearing teachings from our mission president
and the assistants.  We drove down with the 1st
counselor in the Mission Presidency, Frere Mocelin,
who was just released as Lyon's Stake President
for 9 years and who was the First Counselor in the
Stake Presidency for 9 years before that.  He
is only 46 so he has spent half his life in the
stake presidency!  He is a spiritual giant! 
We spent the 3 hour trip there and back hearing
his stories about meeting different prophets and
apostles.  We had a zone conference and
interviews on Thursday where I taught on
Prayer which went really well actually. 
And then I had an exchange here with a
missionary who is Swiss.  It was a really
great week.  But actually, the best part of
the week is that it is "Le fete deLumiere,"
the festival of lights here in Lyon; the biggest
celebration of the year.  It went fro, last
Thursday until tonight and there are millions
of people here visiting for it.  All night there
is just music and light shows and we have
taken our dinner hours just going and
walking through it.  It is so amazing.
I WILL send you some pictures of it, haha.

Questions:
how many zones are there are in the mission? 9 

How far do you have to travel and how many
elders in your zone? 
8 Elders and 4 sisters.

That is interesting that the ward doesn’t meet in
a chapel. 
How many members are there in the 2 ward? 
about 90 people each week. 
There is a chapel in the suburbs of Lyon but
this is just the church for the city.

But all is well.  thank you so much for all you
do and for all the love and support. 
We set another baptismal date this week for
the 28th, so we will hopefully have two
baptisms on the 28th. 
They both look possible right now.
But thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. 


Elder Clayton H. Welch

(photos were not Elder Bubba's but some Patricia showed me on the internet as examples of the festival of Lights in Lyon.)

Lyon, France

I am doing great!
My birthday and Thanksgiving were good. 
Thanksgiving we actually ate at a recent converts house
 and we had a huge wok full of vegetables! I
t was way good.  He is like a hippie teacher here so
it was a blast.  That's whats great about 
here, the people are sweet city folk. 
My birthday was good.  I went to church 
as usual, but my companion got really sick in
the middle so I left church early for the first time in my
mission and he slept while I cleaned the apartment 
because it was pretty gross when I got there. 
He got sick from the pizza we had from pizza hut for my
birthday the night before, haha.  It was stuffed crust but 
spicy stuffed crust.  He is better now so its all good. 
I opened your presents last night when he got up and
they were so good!  Thank you so much.  I am 
already using the pen, i am wearing the tie, and we
went shopping this morning and bought tons of fruit to
use in the blended!  I am stoked for it!  Thank you 
so much!
I will try to answer some of your questions though. Lyon?
I love it.  It is huge and I love big cities/ 
Where is he from:
Alpine Utah.
How long has he been out:
a year and 8 months.  He has had three french
companions and speaks way well!
Was he a football player: 
no, but he did ski tons which is cool.  He is a 
really nice guy. 
Do you think it will be a good companionship
and will be able to work well together? 
Yeah, he is a good leader and I am going to learn
tons from him.
What is your apartment like?  old, haha. 
Your address is Villeurbanne - is this a suburb?
Nope.  It is us two, and two sisters who have pretty much 
ALL of downtown Lyon. 
How far are you from the church? 
really close.  The church is actually not a chapel. 
It is a like in the city so its just in a 
building with businesses.
Will you take the subway most of the time?
Yup.  Everyday.  It was raining the other day so
we contacted people on the subway for 
like 3 hours/  It is really scary but fun. 
The weather: its cold.  I wear a coat, scarf,
and gloves all the time.
But the work is going well.  It will be a good transfer. 
I am going to learn a lot.  I am excited.
But thank you for all your prayers and thoughts. 
I do feel them and they do help.

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch