Sorry we haven't posted-Here's 3 weeks of news!

Jan. 5, 2008
Quoi de neuf? I am doing so great!
This week was great for me. We had
a zone meeting up here in Lyon
which went well. My companion and
I taught on "All Glory to God!"
It is really nice being able to get
together as missionaries and spend
a short moment together. For New
Years Eve some of the members held
a little New Years Eve party at the
institute, a building in downtown Lyon.
It is great, there are classrooms, a
kitchen, and big room for dances and
ping pong and what not and a couple
offices. They had a little dance,
and no,I did not dance, they didn't
start that til after we left, we played
games like twister which is weird as a
missionary, and we ate food and hung
out. A member made some great
homemade pizza which was really great.
We had our ami there, Frederic, and it
was a great time. It is a lot easier
to get amis to come to activities than
it is to get them to come to church.
Other than that, we had a good week of
teaching and finding. We are teaching
a Chinese couple, Shang and Ying, and
I love them. They are not married yet
but they live together. They are both
students here and are really focused
on their studies, as are all Chinese
people are. Well they are friends of
some Chinese members here and they
asked us last time about the word of
wisdom and this week we went over and
taught it. It went really well and the
only concern they had was coffee and
tea for when its late and they are
studying; especially because it is just
a couple weeks before Ying's finals.
After I promised some blessings from
the Lord if they obeyed it and chose to
drink something like juice or water when
they got tired, they both accepted it
and are going to study for their finals
without coffee or tea! It was so great!
They have such amazing faith and I know
the Lord will bless them for it. We are
actually trying to fix a little party
for the Chinese new year with them,
January 26 which should be fun. We had
a bunch of other great lessons and I met
some really cool people.

As for this upcoming transfer, we received
transfer calls this morning from our mission
president. As expected, my companion is
going to a small city in Switzerland called
Sion, which is literally translated as Zion,
and I will be staying here. I will be
getting Elder Waller who is actually coming
from Metz, France, my birth place. He is
going onto his 12th transfer, but it is his
first transfer as a zone leader. But he is
a way good missionary and I know I am going
to learn so much from him. He is way
obedient, really good at French, and
literally always happy. I am stoked.

This week will be pretty normal aside from
the changing of companions on Wednesday,
and also that I will be going to Grenoble
Wednesday night til Thursday to work on
becoming legal in France. I have to do a
medical visit, which is required in France,
so I will be there for a couple of days. It
is a great start to the year and I know
that 2009 will be the best year yet! I
loved your goal "to be happy" mom! That is
actually my goal as well! Good luck on that
and just remember that if your ever not
happy, change it. haha I don't know if that
makes sense, but that is what I am trying.



Dec.29,2008
Not to much has happened since I talked to
you last. It was a pretty good end to the
week. For Christmas night, after I got
off the phone with you, a couple of
Elders here in Lyon came over with some
"steaks" which were terrible haha, and we
ate and played a little game of risk. It
was fun, but it was nice to get back
focused on the work after the crazy week.
On Saturday night we attended a stake
single adult activity with one of our
amis and had chili and watched a little
talent show. It was a great time. We
actually had a great Sunday as well. We
ate with a young couple in the morning
and headed over to church all together and
then after church we went over to this way
French member from Paris's house with a
couple other single adults and had a way
good meal with sushi, jambon, lamb, and
rice and finished off of course with bread
and a tray of like 8 cheeses and this
desert they all eat at Christmas called a
buche (sp?) which is like an ice cream
roll cake. It was way good. And then
last night we stopped by an American
couple who are members here because they
wanted to give us a little bit of cheese
cake which was way good. So it was a way
good day.

This week was actually cold. Yesterday
morning it was way chilly and it snowed
a little bit on Friday morning, but
melted almost instantly. We don't really
have too much planned for this week. It
is the last week of the transfer so I am
pretty sure this is the last week with my
companion. He is really old in the
mission so he is probably going to a
little city for a couple of months to
'die.' I will let you know next week what
happens. I am pretty positive that I am
staying here in Lyon.

Dec. 24, 2008
I am so glad that everyone has arrived
safe and is all together. That makes me so
happy. Its like in "Into the Wild" when
Chris McCandles discovers at the end, that
the family truly is the most important
thing. I love you so much and I am so
grateful for all that you do.

To respond to some of your questions:
You mentioned you stopped people with you
trainer. Is that someone different than
your companion? hah, yes. My trainer
Elder Current is a missionary here in Lyon
as well. He isn't a zone leader but a
missionary in the suburbs of Lyon and he
was at the singing activity and he wanted
to go out contacting together. How did
your exchange with the AP's go this past
week? SO good. One of the AP's, the one
I did the exchange with, is the other
former snowboard instructor in the mission
and he even had his own long boarding
company before the mission! He is probably
the most rad missionary I know. How about
the half-mission conference? It was way
good. We talked a little bit about the
member lessons, but our mission president
said that is was really just for us to get
together, to celebrate Christmas as a family
and to talk about Christ. It was an amazing
experience. I got your letter you both wrote
me with your testimonies in them, and I can't
tell you how amazing of a Christmas present
that was to me. I think I cried for like 10
minutes, haha. But tears of joy. Thank you
soo much.

Speaking of presents, thank you again for the
12 days of a Christ centered Christmas; they
are amazing! I loved the statue. You know me
too well. I mailed you an envelope with
pictures and a CD with pictures on it over a
week ago. I hope you get them soon!

I am still playing the Harmonica, but not too
much. I just have no time. I have been really
busy, but its all good. I actually end up
just reading if I have any free time now.

For Christmas Eve we were going to go to a
families home, but they all got sick so
tonight we are going to the church to celebrate
with all of the single adults in the ward!
Tomorrow we are spending a bit of time with a
sweet family from Ghana; I love Africans!
Joyeux Noel!
Love,
Elder Clayton "Bubba" Welch