Busy wonderful week

Commet ta vu? Oh man, this week was great.
You asked me a few questions so I will try
to respond to them. The art museum was great!
I found out that it is the second largest,
in terms on monetaryvalue on their products,
in all of France, next to the Louvre! It was
beautiful. The modern art exhibit was
closed so we plan on going back because
they have many Claude Monet paintings, as
well as several Picasso.
Are you getting fed by the members occasionally?
Funny question. Not really, but I did
eat at the Bishops the other day and he asked
me that question. I asked him if he wanted to
know honestly, and I told him no. The funny
part is, that in Priesthood the other day he
made an announcement as well as the ward mission
leader that the ward wasn't helping us enough
and that they need to start feeding
us and supporting us both spiritually, and
physically. So, that should change soon.
But thank you so much for the euros!
It was so nice of you. How are the
new shoes working out – are they comfortable?
They are actually my Sunday shoes
and for special occasions so I only wear
them occasionally, and by old Sunday
shoes I wear to work in now. And they are
French, if that answers your questions.
The French are about style first,
then comfort!
Are you still using the smoothie maker and
eating plenty of fruits and veggies?
Not as much, but I am going to make a goal
to start using it more. But I really am
glad to be in Lyon and I am having
a great time.

This week was one of, if the not the,
busiest weeks of my mission and I am so
grateful for it. This week I taught
21 lessons! It was so great! The Lord
blessed us enormously and I am so
grateful for His help in this great
work. We also found 6 more of the Lord's
choice children who are searching for
the truth who are excited to learn more.
I am so grateful for this opportunity
to have this occasion to teach my
brothers and sisters.
Our ami Frederick's baptism is this
Saturday which I am very grateful for.
We our having his home teacher Brother
Coulon, the hippie, baptize him which will
be great! He has prepared himself very
well and I am excited to see him make
this sacred covenant with the Lord.

I want to take a minute and share an
experience I had this week; an experience
that has helped my testimony grow, and
was a confirming witness to me of the
priesthood on the earth today.
Well, on Wednesday night, the night of
transfers, we had just gotten back into our
apartment after a long day of buying
people metro passes and making sure elders
and sisters caught their trains and
buying them train tickets. So we got in
and during our planning at about 9:15
we received a call from the sisters in our
district that one of the sisters was
having a serious panic attack and was on
the floor shaking uncontrollably. They
told us to come now and that all she was
asking for was for a priesthood blessing.
We ran to their apartment, while calling
the mission president at the same time who
told us to go in and give her a blessing,
because we were unable to find a member
that lived close to us at that short of
notice. We went in and my companion
immediately anointed the oil and prepared
this sister for a priesthood blessing.
I then proceeded to give this sister a
priesthood blessing of health and comfort.
I testify to you that I was not the one
giving this blessing, but it was the Lord
working through me. I was unaware of the
words I was saying and literally, as I
said the words "relax and be healed," this
sister missionary instantly stopped shaking.
I bear testimony to you with all my heart
that I witnessed the immediate healing of
this sister through the power and authority
that I have with the privilege of serving
others. I know that the priesthood is real
and is the power to act in the name of God
on this earth. I know that through faith,
we can be literally healed if it be the will
of the Lord. I am so grateful for this
experience and pray that you may also be able
to have an experience as wonderful as this.
I know that God lives and he still
acts today.

This week will be great. We have a zone
leader council in Geneva tomorrow,
where I have the privileged of teaching
about a new contacting method for 40
minutes. We also have a zone meeting on
Thursday here in Lyon where my companion
and myself will be teaching about the
things we learn at zone leader
council. I am excited for these
experiences for these occasions to
continue to be spiritually edified.

I pray that you have a great week!
I can't believe it has been about a year.
Elder Clayton Henderson Welch

Commet va tu? I am doing very well!
Today was transfer call day, and so,
for the second time on my mission,
I did not receive a call and will be
staying here in Lyon with my current
companion Elder Waller. I am actually
very happy about it, and am excited to
stay here. We are getting along well,
and I know that this is where the Lord
wants me. I am also grateful for the
opportunity to stay in this great city.
Lyon is such a great place!
This week was amazing.
Last preparation day we had the chance
to go to the Basallic, this beautiful
church on the top of the hill in Lyon.
It was so beautiful. There were 6 of
us Elders who went up there. We also
went to the old roman theaters there
are relatively close this the Basillic.
They are beautiful rock theaters,
two actually, where they used to hold
plays, and I believe they still do every
once in a while.
As for missionary work, this week was
good, but a little slower than the
last couple. We still taught about
12 lessons, which is such a blessing
from the Lord.
Friday was amazing. Being able to be
in a chapel with 90 missionaries, an
apostle (Elder Bednar), a member of
the 70 (Elder Kapichke), an area 70,
a stake president, and a mission president
(President Peterson), and all of their
wives, was one of the greatest experiences
of my life. I was privileged enough to sit
in the front row, right in the middle,
just feet away from an apostle of the
Lord, and following the conference, I was
privileged to shake his hand. Elder
Bednart taught us, but it was unlike
anything I expected. It was actually in
the form of a question answer meeting where
for 2 hours he talked to us and about
missionary work, and asking for our
questions all of the time, and than,
for the last hour, he had us ask any
questions we had relating to the gospel.
It was such a spiritually uplifting
experience.
I would like to testify to you, that
I know that Elder David A. Bednar is a man
called of God. He is a prophet, seer,
and revelator, and has been called and
literally set apart as a prophet of the
Lord. The spirit which I felt was a
confirming witness for the things I had
already believed to be true. I know
that under the direction of this inspired
man, along with the other living
prophets of the Lord, we can receive the
direction necessary to receive exaltation.
I testify to you that I know that I have
been called of God and have also been set
apart to teach the people here, and that
I know that each and everyone of us are
children of our loving Heavenly Father,
who truly wants nothing more for us than
for us to be happy, but to also learn
and grow and to become like him. Thank
you for everything you have done to help
me better understand all of these
principles in my life and for your great
example.The spirit I felt is still
carrying over, and I hope I can continue
to use these great feelings to help
others find this same happiness in
their lives.
This week will be great.
Tomorrow, we have a zone meeting here in
Lyon which will be great. I love having
the chance to gather as missionaries.
Today we, about 12 missionaries, will be
going to "Le musée de beax arts," the
beautiful art museum here in Lyon which
I am very excited about.
We have a lot of lessons planned already
and I am excited to continue
progressing the work of the Lord.
Sincerely,
Elder Bubba Welch

New Contacting Approach

This week was way good! I don't have
any crazy stories about monks or
anything, but it was still way good!
Actually, the Mormon monk, Jean Marie,
is going to move to Utah because he is
loves Mormons and says that the business
market is to difficult for a foreigner
here in France. So keep your eyes open
for a Mormon monk.

Interviews went way well with the
Mission President last week. We have an
interview, every missionary, each transfer
with the mission president. We talked
about, and learned how to use, a new
contacting approach. I am not going to
lie, its hard, but I did have a confirming
witness from the Holy Ghost that it is
revelation from God, and that he really does
need us to find the elect as soon as possible.
We don't introduce ourselves when we stop
people anymore, we just say,
"bonjour, and then start teaching about the
gospel, for example, nous savons que Dieu
a crée une plan pour que nous trouvions
le bonheur." (we know that God created a
plan so that we can find happiness.)
The reactions we get are pretty funny,
but those whom the Lord has prepared
will listen.

My exchange with the assistants went
way well. I was with Elder Goines,
a great missionary who will be
finishing in the next couple of months.
We did a lot of finding, so we got to
work on the new contacting approach
together, which was a little bit easier
because we would start in french and since
there are so many people who don't speak
french, half of the people don't understand
the awkward intro! haha, too bad we don't
have that luxury in Lyon. But it really
was great and I learned a lot. I feel it
a privilege to work with a lot of way good
men, inspired by God. He mentioned
something to me that I have thought a
lot about, he asked, "what are you going
to sacrifice when you get home?" that
is a question I am going to think a lot
about the next year, and I am excited
to continue to progress in this great
cause.

The rest of the week went very well.
We taught another sweet man named Topi
from the Congo who has decided to be
baptized later next month. I love
seeing all of this chosen people find
the answers they are looking for.

This week will be way good as well.
Today, a bunch of us missionaries
are going to the Basallic, a sweet
church on the hill in Lyon, so I am
stoked for that. Wednesday I will
be going on an exchange with an Elder
named Elder Waldron, just in the
southern Lyon area which I am excited
for. But what I am most excited for
is this Friday. This Friday we have
a whole mission conference in Geneva
where we will hear from Elder Bednar
and his wife (apostle), Brother Kapishka
(1st quorum of the seventy), and another
area seventy. I am soo excited.
I have the chance to listen to an apostle
address less than 100 of us! This
will be a great week!

I am stoked for out new mission president
as well. He sounds like a great man.
Does Aunt Vicky know him personally?
I am sure he will do tons of great things.

I hope you have a great week!
Elder Clayton Welch

Spiritual Day

Real quick I want to tell you about
my week, and then tell you about my day,
which was probably the best day of my mission.
This week I had the opportunity
to go to Clermont Ferrand for an exchange
with an Elder named Elder Bellamy.
Clermont Ferrand is way far away, 2 and
a half hours by train to the next closes
city in our mission. We taught an English
class, and the next day we taught a
lesson to a man named Martin.
It was only his second time meeting
with the missionaries, but after
teaching him about the restoration
I felt inspired to ask him to be
baptized, which does not happen
here in France. Usually we don't
ask people to be baptized, because
of the culture, until after many
rendezvous. But I asked him,
and the spirit was way strong
and he said yes! He was stoked
and he will be baptized on the
22 of this month and I have
confidence that the Clermont Ferrand
elders will do a great job of getting
him ready. Other than that, it was a
pretty standard week. We taught over
10 lessons which was very nice and we
had a great Sunday at church.
I love hearing members testimonies and
I know as we share our testimonies with
others our testimonies grow. So my week
was great and we saw a bunch of great
miracles thanks to the Lord.
OK; today.
Last night my companion and I
took a train to St. Etienne, after
asking the mission president first
of course and stayed the night
there because we were going to be
leaving early this morning.
I hope you remember about the
man named Jean Marie, the Mormon Monk
whom I mentioned last week, well, today
was the catholic holiday for monks and
nuns and he invited us to go with him to
the monastery and go to mass with,
pray with, and eat lunch with the
monks at the monastery! It was the
greatest day of my life.
I feel so spiritually filled.
Here is a little play by play of
what our day was like.
We arrived at 9 o'clock
to the monastery and Jean Marie
gave us a tour of the place.
Different buildings, chapels, and
also the classrooms (the monks
receive a free education
on philosophy and theology
for three hours each day but Sunday).
First off, like I said last week,
there are only 550 of these monks
in the world and they are all over.
But here if France, actually in
Chalon sur Salone (sp?) is the
forming of these monks, so about
100 of these monks are here.
After the tour of the premises,
we went into a preparation room
where we sang hymns with the monks
and nuns. The monks and nuns only
interact twice a year, and this
is one of the two times!
It was such a blessing!
So we sang hymns and lit candles in
symbolism of the Light of Christ.
Then we walked together to the chapel
where we attended an hour and a
half mass, but different than most
catholic masses. Most of it was
kneeling on the floor, bowed,
with your head to the floor in
reverence. It was such a great
experience to view their faith and the
similarities they had to our religion.
Their church was much like ours and the
had no statues, and only prayed to Mary once.
After this great service, we all
went together, well the sisters (nuns)
ate by themselves, but we ate with the
monks. Normally they eat in silence
while someone reads scriptures, but since
it was a holiday the priest rang a bell
halfway through and said all could talk
and enjoy each others company. So
actually 3 African monks played African music
while I got to know a couple of sweet monks.
Next, we went into this little visitors
lobby and hung out with 4 monks who were
about our age, and the gave us juice which
they thought was weird because we don't
drink coffee or tea. We had a
great time and I got a bunch of great
pictures which I will send to you later.
At the end of it our talking though,
all of us, the 4 20-23 year old catholic
monks, Jean Marie, and us four missionaries
went into a chapel, into a special
prayer room, and we went want they
called "50/50" on the prayer. They asked
me to offer a "Mormon" prayer,
which they kept thanking me for,
and then we said the Lord's prayer together.
It was one of the most amazing experiences
of my life. These men were so humble
and so excited to hear what we had to
say and what we believed and did nothing
but listen. They were the most humble,
spiritual men I had ever met.
I am so grateful for this experience.
I know that these men truly love God,
and there is no doubt in my mind that
they will accept the gospel in the next
life and not a doubt in my mind that God
will accept them. I am so grateful for
this opportunity I have to build my faith
each day and to learn from others.
This week will be great. I will be
going on an exchange with the Gerland
district leader tonight until Wednesday
morning, and then Wednesday we have
interviews here in Lyon. Then, this
Friday to Saturday morning, I will be in
Geneva for an exchange with the assistants.
It will be a great week!
I am sorry if I didn't share much
more about my week, but it was
great and I learned so much!
Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch