Monday, January 30, 2006

Letter 23 Jan 2006

Excerpts from Sister Welker’s letter:
Hi How are you? I love and miss you tons. The most exciting thing that has happened is that I got my travel plans. . . I have a five-hour layover in Los Angeles. . . I get to stay in Fiji for three days and then I go to New Caledonia. That will be way fun. I am so excited to go and preach the gospel. . . I finally heard from Thomas. That was really cool. I also got a package from Ernie, Tori and Jordan today. It was so cute. The box had finger and hand prints from Jordan and Tori. . . Quick update only ten days. Woo Hoo!!! . . . I have learned all the discussions. I taught the fourth on Saturday. I am hoping I can remember everything now.

Letter 16 Jan 2006

Excerpts from Sister Welker’s letter:
How are you guys doing? Just a little reminder I get to talk to you in two weeks. Woo Hoo!!! . . . I am getting really excited to leave but I am also kind of sad because I have to say bye to all my friends. They are all way awesome. . . On Friday, I had a really good class on Church History. . . These stories gave a lot of confidence in myself and comforted me because I know that the Lord is watching out for me. . . Oh on Saturday we had another milestone. I taught the third lesson. I didn’t make an outline at all. I just went with the spirit. I thought it went really well. . . On Sunday Bonnie D. Parkin, General Relief Society President, came and spoke in our Relief Society meeting. She was way awesome. She talked about the importance of Relief Society.

Christmas Day with roommates. Posted by Picasa

Where you stay? Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Letter 09 Jan 2006

Excerpts from Sister Welker’s letter:
Hi! How’s it going? . . . Thanks for the way cute card too! I got your CD today also. You guys are so cute. . . If you ever see Joey Manke or Tyler Kaleikini tell them that they better write me. I haven’t heard from any of my guy friends. They are in trouble! . . . Oh my goodness I can’t believe I have been here six weeks already. Time has just flown by. I love going to class and learning spiritual stuff. The French is slowly coming. The Lord is definitely blessing me. . . I taught the third lesson in French for 10-15 minutes on Saturday. . . Melodee came in on Wednesday. It was really fun to see her. She updated me on everything that has been going on with everyone. . . I got a calling on Sunday. I am the new music leader for our branch. I have to pick music for Sacrament meetings and other meeting we might have. I have to lead (which I don’t really know how to do) and I have to find someone to play the piano because our piano player left on Monday.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Letter 02 Jan 2006

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
Happy New Year!!! How are you doing? How was New Year’s?. . . We were going to try and stay up until midnight but we were way too tired. . . I only have four weeks left here at the MTC. We get our travel plans in about two weeks. I’m getting so nervous. I’m also getting sad about leaving this place and leaving my friends. . . I saw Christine on Wednesday. She was way excited to be here. We talked for a little bit. I have seen her a couple times since then but not very often. I am so excited for Melodee to come in on Wednesday. It is going to be way fun to have a good friend in here. . . My knowledge of the gospel has grown so much. I really enjoy going to class and learning more and more. . . My French is slowing getting better. It is not great though. I gave the whole second lesson (25-30minutes) on Saturday. . . This week we are learning the third lesson. We are about two weeks ahead. On Tuesday, we had an awesome devotional. Stephen B. Allen talked to us. He was a really good speaker and he really got us involved. . . Yesterday at our fireside we had Ed J. Pinegar come and speak to us. He gave a very spiritual talk but was hysterically funny. It was awesome. I have never heard so many good talks in a row, before I came into the MTC. . . I love this place mom and dad. It is one of the greatest places on earth. . . The package the ward sent me was huge. It had so many goodies. I was so grateful for it. . . I love the work so much. My testimony has grown so much. This gospel is true and I know that with all of my heart. I can’t wait to go out and share it.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Letter 26 Dec 2005

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
How are you? Everything is going great here. How was Christmas? Did you guys get my package I sent you? It was a lot of fun making the tape. . . On Tuesday at out devotional, Elder Merril J. Bateman, President of the Seventy and former President of BYU came and spoke to us. It was really good. . . I am so excited to have Christine come. She is going to love it here. And Melodee comes in a week, which will be way fun. Rachel is dropping her off. . . On Wednesday we had a zone meeting. It was incredible. The spirit was so strong I could not believe how spiritual it was. We had Gene Hill come and speak to us. He is the President of all the international MTC’s. . . The focus of the conference was the atonement of Jesus Christ. We met again and had a huge testimony meeting. There was a lot of missionaries at this meeting probably around 80-90 people. I felt the spirit so strong that I had to go up and bear my testimony and I did. My testimony has grown so much since I got here. . . On Saturday I had to give the second lesson in French for about 5-10 minutes. I was really nervous because my teacher and my companion would not let me write it out they made me just make sentences in my head. I think I did pretty good though. Oh, also on Saturday, I talked to one of the French teachers from the other district who went to New Caledonia. . . She showed me her scrapbook of her mission. She told me all about it and showed me on the New Caledonia map where I will probably be serving. . . I know the Lord wanted me to go here so I just have to trust in Him and have faith. She also told me what they ate. You won’t believe this but they eat bat!!! Yup that’s right, I said bat. That is so gross. . . This weekend on Friday and Saturday we were secret Santa’s to the new missionaries. After the fireside on Saturday me and my roommates came back to our room and had a slumber party. In the morning, we opened presents. Thank you so much for all the gifts. I love the picture and we all love the CDs. . . Rachel also sent me a package. It was really nice of her. . . In the evening we had a humanitarian project where we made first aid kits. It was really fun.

In front of the Provo Temple. Posted by Picasa

These are Sisters in my Branch. Posted by Picasa

Letter 19 Dec 2005

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
I am so glad you write me everyday, it really helps boost me up. . . We had Elder Uchtdorf come and speak to us the first Tuesday we were here. That was absolutely so amazing. The spirit was so strong as soon as he walked in the door. We were really close to the stage. When we were standing for him it was so amazing. When we sang ‘Called to Serve’ to him I got tears in my eyes! It was such an incredible feeling. He gave an outstanding talk. I did not want him to stop talking and I didn’t want him to leave. I have so much love for that man. And I know he loves us. It was almost like Jesus was there watching and listening along with us. That experience has been one of my favorites since I got here. . . I did the whole first lesson in French 20-25 minutes by myself on Saturday. . . Sunday we had a good Relief Society. Mary Ellen Edmund talked. She was so funny. Everything is going well here. The work is moving forward. . . I haven’t opened my presents yet. You should be proud. You know I’m not good at surprises.

Letter 11 Dec 2005

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
I came up with a new theme that will help me stay strong “I can and I will”. I no longer will have “I can’t” in my vocabulary. . . I love it here my testimony & knowledge of the gospel has grown tremendously. I love my roommates. We get along so well it feels like we have known each other forever. . . I love this gospel it is the best!

Letter 05 Dec 2005

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
I'm having such a good time and a good experience. First off I wanted to let you know what my schedule is. Monday we have our PD. We go to the temple at 8:00 and have laundry @ 11:00 and then we have personal time till 6:15 and then we go back to class. All the other days we have about 10 hours of class everyday and gym 5 days a week. The only day we are allowed to write letters is on Monday. I have so much to tell you. My companion , Sister Kim is so awesome we get along so well. She is from Buffalo, New York. She is tons of fun to be around. My roommates, Sister Eyre and Sister Wikle are so very cool. Sister Eyre is from Taylorsville and Sister Wikle is from Portland, Oregon. We laugh so much. . . . On Saturday I was very proud of myself I taught the first lesson (15-20 minutes) all by myself. It was so fun I loved it. It was so exhilarating. The spirit was so strong I loved it. The words flowed right out of my mouth. There was a teacher who was sitting in listening to me teach. At the end he said he was really impressed. He said I did an excellent job. He kept asking questions and I was able to answer each one without hesitation it was awesome. If you are wondering, I have not gained weight yet. I don't think I will either because the food is not that great. So I eat a lot of salad.

Letter 03 Dec 2005

Excerpts from Sister Welker's letter:
I am really enjoying it here. . . After I went thru that infamous door they had us walk to another building. But on the way there missionaries were saying hi to me and welcoming me to the MTC it was really awesome. . . My companion's name is Sister Kim. Isn't that cool! I feel right at home (she's Korean). We click really well. . . We went to orientation for new missionaries. We then went to dinner and met some people from our branch. We then had a district orientation where we met our branch Presidency. . . We had an interview with our branch President one on one, which was really cool, he is awesome. He gave me some enlightening words to help with not being worried about learning the language. . . I can't believe how many missionaries there are here. . . The spirit is so strong here and I'm already learning a lot.