I Love General Conference!

Every week I am trying to eat
healthier and healthier. I
haven't bought any carbonated
beverages for weeks now, and I
think I bought more vegetables
and fruits than ever this week.
Its great. I can definetely
feel the difference in my body
from trying to better respect it.
I have been doing a lot of
reflecting on Section 89 of Doctrine
and Covenants and I am grateful
that I am better living to that.

You both had mentioned,
"I think all of the sessions were
great and the theme was definitely
about love and trying to show that
to those we come in contact with
whether it is family, friends or
those we associate with."
I think you are exactly right.
I had those same feelings.
I had actually just been studying
in Romans 7 and 9 the day before,
and it confirmed to me how important
the love from God is in our
lives, and how much we need to
love others. Mom, you also
mention, Pres. Eyring's talk and
when he mentioned his grandmothers
saying..."Families are
Forever, Please No empty chairs ."
I really liked that too.
I thought of you when I heard that.

As for your questions:
Do they drive really fast like
they do in other parts of Europe
like Germany?
in Switzerland nobody goes over the
speed limit, literally. There are
cameras everywhere, and people are
really good about respecting rules here.
Do you get exhausted? not to bad,
I have a great companion and we always
end up talking the whole time or
rock out to a hymn.
Do you get to text at all?
no, thank goodness. I hate phones.
We have 2, an international phone and
a Swiss phone, and I usually hold on
to the Swiss phone because I turn it
off when we are on France. I wish I
didn't have to have a phone when I
get back, but, we all do.
Are you speaking mostly French? yeah.
We teach only in french except for
that one investigator. That's because
there are English speaking missionaries
here in Geneva.
"Remember when you were young you
would tell me you would be willing
to be a missionary for 3 years if you
could do service and not knock on doors?"
Haha, yeah. Either way, being a
missionary is great!
General Conference was definetely the
highlight of my week! Watching it from
Saturday at 6, up until last night
at midnight, listening to the prophets'
words helped me with literally every
question I was having. I went into conference
with 2 major questions, both of which
were answered. Its amazing how that works.
Living here at the mission home we have a
few perks. We were able to watch the
Sunday afternoon session on the TV on
the mission president's side of the
mission home. It is always shown here
from 10 pm til midnight, and since the
mission president didn't want anyone
traveling after midnight, let us watch it
on the other side! It was great being
able to watch a session of conference in
PJs and with a bunch of treats, though,
honestly, nothing beats being at the
church and feeling the spirit. But
it was nice to relax for a second.
I loved the talk given by Jeffrey R.
Holland on the Book of Mormon, and Joseph
Smith as a prophet. I would encourage
everyone to read it after this Thursday
after its online. His testimony was
so genuine and so sincere, I couldn't help
but to have the desire to cry out to the w
orld my own testimony of this restored
gospel.
I also loved the talk by Elder Tad
Callister on the apostasy and the
restoration of the church.
It was definetely for missionaries.
This week, we also had the chance
to go to three zone conferences,
all over the mission. With that being
said, it was a very tiring week
spiritually, along
with a lot of driving.
Long story short, I parked the large
mission van (we were shuttling people
for zone conference because there
was a large subway/bus strike) in
Lyon on Monday night where we were
sleeping for the zone conference
the next day. When we went
out to get it it had to be towed.
We spent all morning getting it and walking
across the city jumping through hula hoops.
All I can say is that I am grateful
that I was able to sit through a
spiritual meeting after being so
flustered all morning!

This week will be more low key.
We will be working a lot here in Geneva,
finally focusing on our investigators.
We will also be going to Lyon on Friday
for an exchange.
Thanks again
for all of your love and support!
I pray that you have a great week!


Love Always,
Elder Clayton Henderson Welch