Transfer to Chalon sur Saone, France-new address

This past week was a great end
to my time here in France. I
received transfer calls this morning
and the mission president told me
that I will be serving in
Chalon sur Saone, here in France.
It is actually not to far away and I
will be serving with a great elder
named Elder Brady. He is still pretty
young in the mission, but I have heard
tons of good things about him and it
will be a great transfer!
I think I will only be there for a
short time though, but I am really
looking forward for this new adventure.
I will have a car which I am not to
stoked about, but it will be a good
chance to get a lot of work done.
We had another great week of teaching,
and had the chance to teach 22 lessons
this week! It is seriously such a
blessing to be able to teach so much!
I will be doing a lot more finding
in my new city, but I am confident
that the Lord will give me the same
opportunity to teach a lot.
Our Jewish ami is continuing to amaze me.
We attended a baptism with him here
in Lyon on Saturday night, and it was
honestly one of the most spiritual
baptisms I have ever seen. I was able
to do the baptismal interview for this
chosen young woman, she is about 24, and
she had one of the most solid
testimonies I had ever heard. She had
read the Book of Mormon in less than a
week, and also read all of the Doctrine
and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and
the Teachings of Joseph Smith manual, and
understood it all! After the baptism
Our ami turned to me and said that he could
feel the spirit stronger than he had
ever before, and that ha felt like he could
reach out and touch it! It was amazing!
The next day at church he turned to us right
before the sacrament and
said, "I want to be baptized!"
It was so amazing. We are looking at
April 18th for the date, and, although
I wont be able to be here for his baptism,
and I am soo happy and excited about this
choice he has made! Being a missionary is
so great!
Other than that, my week was full of
teaching great people. We found another 3
new amis this week and had a lot of great
moments with the members. The ward
here is great and make it really easy to
bring amis to church.
This next week should be a bit crazy with
the changing of cities, but it should
be great. I don't really know what stands
in store for me, but I know it is what
the Lord wants from me so I am excited.
I will get to go to Dijon, yes the city
of mustard, every week as well which I am
really excited for! I
ts going to be a good week.

p.s. My new address is:

Elder Clayton Henderson Welch
Les Missionnaires
26, rue Philibert Guide
F-71100 Chalon sur Saone
FRANCE

Chillin' in Lyon teaching 23 lessons

Commet va tu?
I had another great week here in
Lyon, France. This could possibly
be my last week here, which makes
me sad, but I am excited for the new
adventure the Lord is going to bless
me with. We will receive transfer
calls next preparation day so I will
let you know next week. I would love
to stay here but I do not think it is
very likely.
Today, for preparation day, we had the
chance to play American football with
16 elders! It was great, although I am
very tired right now. We played Grenoble
Zone vs. Lyon Zone and we lost, but is
was still a great time! There were even
a few members who came and watched
because they had never seen an American
football game before; bizarre, I know.
This last week we taught 23 lessons!
That is the most I have taught in a week
on my mission, and I was so grateful for
the Lord blessing us with so many
opportunities to teach. We found three
new amis this week as well, and the pool
of people we are teaching continues to
grow; its great!
The Mormon monk is doing great, and our
Jewish ami Ladry went to see him get the
priesthood. We also had three other amis
come to church which was a real blessing.
I went on two exchanges last week. I was
actually in St. Etienne on Tuesday and
got to work with a great missionary Elder
Price. On Thursday I had my exchange
with one of the two assistants to the
President, Elder Hanson, from the Valley
in Utah. He is a rad Elder and I learned
a lot from him. He was also a snowboard
instructor before the mish. so we had a
good time and we actually have tons in
common. He ends his mission next transfer,
so unfortunately I wont have
the privilege of serving with him.
The other day we did an exchange with a
couple of members because we had to many
lessons to teach and I got to ride my
first bike on my mission! It was a crazy
experience and riding through Lyon I was
actually a little scared! haha, I am
actually a little grateful that I am not
in a bike mission!
As for our amis, they are all progressing
very well, and, although we haven't
re fixed their baptismal dates yet,
we plan on fixing a couple this week.
Itshould be another great week here.
We are having a little "blitz" here in
Lyon tonight, meaning we will have 24
missionaries here because we have zone
meetings tomorrow. My companion will
have the chance to teach our zone which
I am excited for.I also have an exchange
this Thursday with an Elder named Elder
Goines. He was the former assistant to
the President and is a stud! He ends his
mission next week and I am stoked to talk
with him and learn a lot of great things!
It is always interesting on these exchanges,
for the most part I am the one who is
supposed to be "training" the other
missionaries, but in all actuality I think
I learn more from the other missionaries
than anything. Its great how that
works. I am way excited for another
epic week here in Lyon!

Pictures from Lyon

My "senior picture" pose at the Roman ruins in Lyon.



4 Mormon missionaries
+
4 Catholic monks
+
1 "Mormon Monk" (taking the picture)
=
One heck of a great day.



Giving a speech at an ancient Roman theater in Lyon




myself in the "mus'ee de beaux arts" (Museum of beautiful art



"I have a dream..."



Hotel de Ville chilling in the beautiful old French architecture



I spend a lot of time doing this; looking out windows on trains. I feel like a businessman.

European pizza and questions answered for Steph's RS lesson

As for my week, it was another great
week here in Lyon, France. The "Mormon
monk" was actually here in Lyon on
Wednesday so we went out to lunch
with him and I got a real European
pizza, which are always interesting
(they have an egg cracked over the
top of it!). He actually helped us
teach a lesson which went very well,
and I felt like I was being taught,
almost more than our investigator
which was a great experience!
I actually wanted to tell you a little
bit about this ami that we taught with
the monk. Our amis name is Landry,
and he comes from a Jewish background.
We have been teaching him for a couple
of weeks now and he has quickly become
one of my favorite people I have been
able to teach. He is 23 and actually
a "cool" french kid. He is trying to
start up a publishing company and is
just working on jobs in the mean time.
We were able to teach Landry with 3
different members this week, and we
went to like 4 church activities with
him, which were all great! But it is
just crazy to see the amazing change
that has taken place in his life.
He met with us with the desire
of understanding why we believe that
Jesus was the Messiah, a question most
Jewish people pose, and he now he
understands the importance of Christ
and the need for his atonement and that
Joseph Smith, along with the Book of
Mormon and each succeeding prophet
even until today, is true!
We were at the other chapel with him
in Lyon last night and we actually
had the opportunity to take him into
the baptismal font and demonstrate
how it takes place. We will be
asking him to be baptized this week,
and hopefully he will be baptized
the 29th. What is so great is that
he will still be able to serve a
mission, and I really feel that
he will! I know that Landry is one
of the elect, someone whom our Heavenly
Father has prepared and I am so excited
to see him continue to find the answers
he is searching!
This week we also were able to go to
Geneva to hear from an area 70 for zone
conference and also had a zone leader
council; both of which went very well!
I love Geneva, and I cant believe how
much English I hear there! I think I have
met maybe 2 native English speakers here
who aren't members of the church, where
as is Geneva almost half of everyone is
American or English! Its crazy!
We also had an American party this week
Chez one of our members who is from
England. It was a blast and we ate
burritos. We had it because her friend who
is a law study at George Washington
University was coming to visit. While we
were there she said she was from Houston,
Texas and when I said wow, that's where
I am from, well, actually from Kingwood.
And she was like No Way! I am from
Kingwood. Wait, your last name is Welch,
are you Patty's brother? haha, it was
crazy! Her name was Cynthia Andres, and
she said she was in the other Kingwood
ward. its just a small world as a member
of the church.
This week should be another great week!
We have interviews with our mission
president this Wednesday and a couple of
cool activities going on, and I think
our whole week is completely planned
already with lessons! It is such a
blessing working in a big city!
I pray that you have a great week!
Your loving son,
Elder Bubba Hooch

Salut Moores!

As for your questions:
1) Have you been influenced in some way
through the work of the early missionaries
organized under Joseph Smith?
Of course! Apart from the great mission
that Joseph Smith was himself, the
early missionaries whom were called in
our dispensation have influenced me
enormously. I would say out of all of
the missionaries who have influenced me
the most would be Samuel Smith, the
first missionary for his ability to
pave the way for us all and also his
fearless approach to the work. I also
really admire Dan Jones, who served in
Wales. His ability to talk to everyone,
more specifically, to write letters to
mayors and literaly have cities listen
to him, has inspired me to talk with
all that I can.
2) What are some characteristics we need
to be effective missionaries?
We need to have faith in Jesus Christ.
We mush Love the people. And We must be
obedient. And also we must try and
establish all of the Christlike attributes
found in Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel.
3) Why should we preach “the first principles” of the gospel?
Because it is through these acts that
we can be saved. But it is interesting
actually. Two days ago I heard a member
of the seventy personally tell me that
we must teach the doctrine
(ex. The atonement) before we teach
the principles(ex. Repentance) in order
for people to truly understand. But I
think that we must teach the principles
because they lead to the action,
which are the saving ordinances of heaven.
4) What can be the consequences of contending with others on the
subject of religion?
You get Nowhere! The golden rule,
"do unto others as you would have
others do unto you." If you want
someone to listen to you, you must
listen to them and be open for us all
to learn more. Contention driveth away
the spirit. A priest the other day tried
proving our faith wrong and20I told him
to come back when he want to talk about
Jesus Christ and was willing to help each
of us grow our faith in our older brother.
5) What do you think it means to “let every word be seasoned with
grace” when preaching the gospel?
Good question. I would say it reflects
the necessity of teaching with the Holy
Ghost, which we are told that if we do
not have, we can not teach.
6) Why can’t we preach the gospel without the Holy Ghost?
Its like what I tell everyone I meet.
I cannot convert anyone. It is only
through the Holy Ghost and their
personal desire that they can be
converted. Only the Holy Ghost
can convert.
Testimony:
I know, as well as I know anything else
in my life, that Jesus is the Christ,
and that his gospel was restored through
the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that
a living prophet stands at the head of
this church, and that as we heed to the
council of Thomas S. Monson, we will
know what we must do to obtain eternal
life. I leave you this small, yet sincere
testimony, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Your loving bro,
Elder Bubba

Baptizing a Mormon Monk!

My week went very well.
I had the opportunity to travel to
Geneva last Tuesday which was a great
experience. I love being able to be
around the leaders of the mission and
we received great council from our
mission president on gratitude.
He paralleled chapters 22 and 24 in
Mosiah, and how the people of Limhi
and the people of Alma both escaped
Lamanite bondage, but how one did in
through their own efforts, and the others
did it through working hard and
continually praying to the Lord.
It is interesting to see that in
chapter 22 there are zero references
to deity, whereas there are over 20
in chapter 24. Although I know
that the Lord will always take care
of us, I know we receive blessings
that much more quickly when we show
the Lord our gratitude! I also had
the opportunity to teach about the new
contacting approach we implemented,
and I really was happy to have the chance
to teach others. Its funny, I have
really grown to love teaching, especially
in English!
Our zone meeting went really well as well.
It was great to have the whole zone
together and we all had the chance to go
out and have Kebabs together!
The baptism of our ami Frederick actually
did not take place last Sunday. We
felt that we wanted to make sure he was
completely prepared before making such a
sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father.
We have changed the date for the 22
of March, such in just 3 weeks. I will
still be here since it is still this
transfer which will be great! The sad
thing was is that it was his birthday the
1st, the original date of his baptism, and
he was left with no plans when we decided
to move it. So, my companion and I threw
him a birthday party at the church last
night with all the members he is friends
with! It was so great! A member made a
cake for him, and everyone brought
something to share and we had a
potluck! Frederick was very excited about
it and was very understanding about
us changing the date, and has the desire
to be ready to be baptized on the 22!
Although I didn't get to see our ami
baptized this week, I did get to see
someone I taught once be baptized.
Last week for preparation day, we went
to KFC, yes, there is one if Lyon,
and we to a little castle that the
"Mormon monk's" friend actually owns.
We hung out there and on the way home,
I was in front with the other 4
missionaries in back, Jean Marie and I
were talking and he told me he
wanted to be baptized. That night,
the St. Etienne elders fixed a date
with him and he was baptized last
Saturday! I was able to be one of the
witnesses and I gave a talk.
I cant believe this man, who had been
a monk for 8 years, decided to be
baptized and is already sharing the
gospel with his friends! It was such
a great experience and I am so grateful
for it!
This week we have a zone conference
in Geneva, and also another zone leader
council where a member of the area 70
will be at both. So I have the privileged
of going to Geneva again this week which
will be great! We have a long of great
things planned for this week and I am so
grateful for this chance to be where I
am right now!

Elder Clayton H. Welch

Halfway Celebration! It's been a Year!

We can't believe it. He has had such a wonderful spiritual adventure.
We are so grateful for the awesome missionary he is!