This email was sent by Sister Welker on March 27th.  We received it on March 26th.

Week 33: Greenie Fever, Family History, Brother Shaw, and Not so Picture Perfect

So I don't have much time left, but I have heaps to write so this will be a miracle.

Sister Garbutt got transferred to Tauranga!! So we basically switched places.  I came to Alfriston and she went to Tauranga.  She is not serving in the Mount/Welcome Bay ward, but she's serving in Whakatane.  I'm gonna really miss her, and I wish her the best.

So I'm now companions with Sister Chimedbattar, or Sister C for short.  She's from MONGOLIA!!! How cool is that!??!  Now I've had an American companion, a Filipino (from the Philippines) companion, a Tahitian companion, and a Mongolian companion. She's the 3rd Mongolian missionary to serve ever!! So I'm pretty spoiled.  She's super cute and sweet and one of the most humble individuals I've ever met.  She has a desire to follow God, and wants to be the best missionary she can. It's been funny attempting to communicate at times, as her English isn't her 1st language, so I have to attempt to use my poor acting skills, haha.  And she has been a miracle to the area and for me.  I feel like I'm a new missionary all over again, and I can start on a new chapter and have a fresh start.

I saw Brother Shaw this weekend.  He was my ward missionary leader in the Welcome Bay ward and it was funny to see him here all the way in South Auckland.  It was really good to see him and brought back some funny memories of serving in Tauranga.

I taught the Gospel Principles Class this week.  That's probably one of the most favorite things I look forward to throughout the week.  It didn't use to be something I looked forward to, but now I really enjoy teaching the class.  In the past, I usually get an idea of what I should teach a couple days before Sunday.  This week nothing.  I had no idea what to teach.  Saturday night came and I still didn't know what to teach.  I desperately asked Sister C if she had any ideas, and she told me to teach about temples/family history.  I thought about it and slept on it hoping to get a confirmation from the spirit that that was the right lesson to teach, and by morning, I still felt nothing.  Even though I was disappointed that I hadn't felt guided by the spirit, I prepared the lesson anyway.  When it was time for me to teach the class, I felt the spirit, and it was guiding me the whole time.  A lesson I didn't think would turn out well ended up putting myself and the whole class in tears.  I haven't had much experience with family history myself, but the spirit told me to tell the story about my Grandpa Vish.  I wasn't originally planning to tell his story and hadn't even thought about using it earlier, but as I was telling his story I felt the spirit so strong, and I could tell that those in the class felt it too.  Elder Stevenson said in his last Gen Con Talk that "we spend an average of 7 hours a day on technology."  7 HOURS!!!  That's like a whole day at school or work!!!  Can we not sacrifice 30 min of our time to help those that have passed do their work for salvation?  I regret not spending more time with family history prior to my mission, but when I get home, that is one of the things I really want to do!!

And real quick "God really does love me."  Long story short my SD card got a virus and all my pictures with Sister Jabeque and Sister Garbutt got destroyed!!  Even though I was heart broken, I had for some reason printed out all the photos that mattered most to me just hours before my SD card got the virus.  So even though those photos are my only copies, I'm glad the Lord was watching over me and that I even have one copy at all.

Love you heaps and I hope you all have a good week.

Sister Mandy Welker

(So sorry, there my not ever be pictures attached on my emails ever again!)