Hello

Hey Fam!  
   It sounds like you all had a wonderful time in Mesa for Brynn`s blessing.  I loved all the pictures that dad sent.  Everyone is so big!  I almost started crying when I saw the picture of Mom and Dad and all the grandkids!  Everyone is getting so big!!! I honestly can`t believe it!  Sniff sniff!!!! Wow!  I can`t even imagine how big everyone is going to be when I get back!!! Oh well!  

My mom and dad with (almost) all my nieces and nephew!
Alice, Adalynn, Brynn, Jackson, Claire and Charlotte.
Lydia had the nerve to sleep through picture time!
Brynn and Claire were born after I left, I got to hold Lydia, she was born the
week before I went into the Provo MTC.

   Well this week went really well.  We had a baptism this last Saturday and even though no one in the ward came it was still a spiritual experience for Jhon.  Jhon is 19 years old and three of his siblings and his cousin were all baptized within the year.  We just have to focus on his parents for now!  He is a great kid but man, we really struggled with him during the lessons.  He doesn`t really express how he feels or what he is thinking so when we would ask, "do you think these things are true?" He would shrug his shoulders and say, "yea... I guess they could be?" and when we would ask him, "Did you read and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true?"  He would always say, "I didn`t have time."  So teaching Jhon was kind of a nightmare but at his baptism he bore his testimony saying that he knew that these things were true it just took him a while to notice.  So that was nice. 

    I didn`t eat any crazy food this week or run into any drunk guys.  The area I am in is pretty easy going.  But it is hotter than Hades down here in Ecuador and people are telling us that things are just going to get hotter and hotter........... Nooooooooooooooooooo I don`t know if I can handle any more heat!  But I am going to have to. I am excited to experience a rainy season down here.  They say that when it rains it RAINS!!! And I have never really experienced real rain before.  However, my companion informed me today that the rain is awful.  She explained that it hits the ground and the heat in the pavement makes steam that rises up your legs and body  just making it muggy and hotter than usual.  So I guess that I don`t need rain anytime soon.  People down here just need to get some air conditioning and things wouldn`t be so bad!  haha

   This week my companion has been experiencing some abdominal pain and some indigestion.  She says that the food in this area is really bad... I must have a stomach made of iron because it is just like all the other food that I have eaten in this country, and I am fine.  She makes this oregano water stuff and drinks it when we get home and she says that the water is suppose to help with digestion and stuff.  Well after about a week of her saying that her stomach hurts I suggested that she should call the President and ask if she could go to the doctor and get it checked out.  She said she didn`t want to do that.  Then I suggested why don`t we go to the pharmacy and get you some medicine.  Well she didn`t want that either, basically she just wants to keep drinking this oregano water and wait for a miracle.  

   On Friday we met with a member who is an older woman in our ward. She is probably about seventy years old and lives alone.  Well we went to visit her because she wants us to teach her neighbor.  When I went to greet her with a kiss on the cheek she backed away and told us that she is really sick. It turns out that she has had a cold for close to three weeks now and is not getting any better.  On top of her cold she told us that her ears are really hurting her and she says she can`t hear a thing because her ears are so clogged.  I suggested that we could run to the pharmacy and buy her some cold medicine and she said no.  Then I asked her if she wanted us to call someone from the ward to give her a priesthood blessing. She didn`t want that either.  I doubt she is going to go to the doctor either.  Guess what she told us she is going to do?  She is going to walk to the little corner shop, buy some rotten lettuce that has been sitting on the shelf, not being refrigerated, take the lettuce home, boil it and put three drops of the lettuce juice in her ears.... I came to the conclusion that people down here don`t like the doctor. 

   Well this week it has been a constant battle between me and the insects that seem to creep into our little apartment. There are always ants and spiders in our apartment.  The ants here are attracted to anything and everything.  We find them gathered in our bathroom sink.  We find them gathered at our desks when we study.  They are always in our kitchen and we even find them in our beds!!!! It is insane!  They are attracted to toothpaste so they are always in the bathroom.  We don`t have a kitchen table so they are at our desks because we eat at our desks.  We started finding ants in our beds this week too. 

   At night my companion uses lotion and she spilt a drop on the cardboard box that we use as a nightstand and the ants are attracted to the lotion.  The cardboard nightstand is close to our beds and the ants thought it would be a good idea to climb into bed with us... NOT!!! So that was fun cleaning up.  I don`t know how the ants are finding their way into our house, we live on the second floor but they always seem to find a way in.  I need Kirby* down here!  

   Well this coming Saturday we are going to have another baptism!  The Macias family is finally going to get baptized.  We are pretty excited for them.  It has been a really great privilege to teach them and see how their faith has grown over the past month.  I am always impressed by the faith that our investigators show when they start living the commandments and going to church on Sundays. Change is so hard and seeing them exercise faith so that they can change their lives is probably the best part of missionary work.  They actually listen to us teach and then they take our teachings and choose to accept and live the principles that we are presenting. 

  Well I need to wrap this up but I love you all and hope you are doing really well.  Mom and dad good luck in Ireland and Emilee don`t worry they will be back before you know it!  Love you all more than I miss you!  
Love Hemana Welch #1(Jess)


*Kirby is my mom's bug man back home in Vegas.  Kirby kills bugs!!

(Jessica sent pictures but I couldn't get them to open :(  hopefully next week.  Thanks for reading! Cindy)