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Hey how are you all doing!!!!  I got my birthday package!  Thanks so much, it was so nice! I cried over the little plate that I got... That song means so much to me!!! I can`t believe that you found a plate with the words on it. My companion asked why I was crying over a plate and when I transferred the lyrics she was crying too... "May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back...."  So, thanks so much! It was a wonderful birthday gift.

Dad mentioned in his email that there have not been any letters from me in a while....  I can explain ;) I have five letters sitting on my desk ready to go and the post office is far away so I am going to ask a member to send the letters for me.  Sorry I have not had time to send them. When the mission refers to p-day...that is a lie!!! It is more like three hours to do everything we have to do... Because we still have to study and clean our house and go shopping...and when you take the bus...Your whole day is practically gone. -__-

This week was a really good week. On Friday we got a call from our Zone leaders saying that our mission president was coming to Duran to interview us all.  I really like getting interviewed.  I don`t know how, but the President always knows what to say and just how to help his missionaries. I am really happy that he isn`t a million miles away and that he can pop into our zones pretty frequently.  He gave me some pretty good council saying that I have to stick up for myself. I have a history of kind of being a push over here in the mission so I need to be braver! It is easier said than done... Especially when I can`t quite fully explain or express what I am feeling in Spanish.  So it will be a work in progress. But I am working on it. 

This Sunday the Guatapi family was confirmed. They are an awesome family.... We taught them about Tithing and Fasting on Friday night, we challenged them to live the law of tithing and fasting and they accepted. On Saturday night we challenged them to bear their testimonies in church on Sunday.  They said they would think about it and seemed a little reluctant, but as we were closing the lesson it came out that they had already started their fast for the next day!!!! Hermana Tirado and I were blown away... This family is AWESOME!!!! I can`t believe how much faith they have.  They are willing to follow all the commandments and it doesn`t matter the sacrifice. Then on Sunday, Hermano Gido (The father) got up and bore his testimony! I have to admit that his testimony was the best one given during Sacrament meeting.  He seems like he has been a member his whole life. I also saw them give their Tithing envelope to the Bishop on Sunday.  

But what probably topped the whole week off was on Sunday night we taught them the Plan of Salvation.  At the end of the lesson they mentioned that they learned so many things.  They didn`t know really anything about Adam and Eve and why they had to eat the fruit and why it was all part of Heavenly Father`s plan.  They also mentioned that they are going to start doing their family history work and are excited to go to the temple.  We ended the lesson my bearing our testimonies about the Book of Mormon... And without it we wouldn`t know the whole plan that our Heavenly Father has for us.

I am so grateful to be here.  I really feel like I am receiving so many blessings and I am gaining so many experiences that are shaping me into who Heavenly Father wants me to become.  I am so blessed... I don`t think I would have realized how many blessings that I have in my life if it weren`t for my mission.  I am learning so much about the Gospel and I am strengthening my testimony.  That is just part of it...I have found that I am part of this great work.... I am helping bring people unto Christ.   I am experiencing a joy that is unlike any other.  I am seeing lives change and in turn I am changing as well.  I love this Gospel and I love this work.  I am so blessed to be a part of it and I will never regret making the decision to respond to the Call to Serve! 

Love you all more than I miss you! 
Love Hermana Welch#1 (Jess)