Sister Mandy Welker

This email was sent by Sister Welker on April 24th. We received it on April 23rd.

Week 37: Yellow Tree, Miracle or Weird Visit, 20, Hello from Grandma

I know it must look weird to have an email sent at noon, and to have another email sent at 4:30 pm (New Zealand time), but I can explain. Long story short, we are allowed 90 min on the computers, and with the computers at the library we can use them for an hour and extend our time if we'd like for 15 extra minutes. Sadly, there were so many people that wanted to use the computers today that they wouldn't let us extend our time and I only had 60 min on the computers earlier today. So basically, I have 30 more min now on the computer.

Last Tuesday (I think) my companion wanted to take a picture by a yellow tree. We had already taken a picture by this yellow tree before, but that day she happened to be wearing a yellow skirt and so she wanted to take a picture so she could match the tree haha. As we were taking pictures by the yellow tree a family walked by. One of the children said something like "Look mom, it's the Elders." Her mother corrected her and said, "No those are sisters. The boy missionaries are the ones who are called Elders." Surprised that she knew a little about missionaries, I asked her if she had had missionaries before. She told us that yes she had, and gave us her address to go and visit her. Turns out Katie (changed the name) is less-active and her 9 year-old son Timothy (named changed) is meeting with the missionaries when he visits grandma's house. They are an awesome family!! I can't wait to meet with them again tomorrow!! All thanks to my companion wanting to take a picture by a yellow tree.

So Easter Sunday we were trying to visit a referral that was given to us by a member. We knocked on the address we were given and instead found Paige (name changed). She was nice enough to invite us into her home so we could share a message with her family, but they were all so drunk!! I felt really uncomfortable and was concerned that my companion and I weren't in a safe environment. After sharing our message, Paige told us that she had been praying for us to come visit her, and she asked if we could come visit her again. We agreed and left, not knowing whether that was a miracle or a really weird visit. Later we were looking through the ward list and saw Paige's name in the list. We were surprised to discover that she had been baptized and we decided we would go visit Paige on Thursday again. I informed my companion on how to activate a fake call if we needed to leave her home. This time Paige welcomed us in again, but was not drunk at all. It was such a contrast from our original 1st impressions. She began to tell us of her current concerns and told us how she wanted to come back to church. By the end of the visit, we gave her a Book of Mormon and found another time we could go back and visit her. So in the end meeting Paige was a miracle.

Thanks to all who sent me Birthday Wishes!! :D I'm sorry I haven't responded to them yet, but I couldn't help but smile to see all those who sent me a "Happy Birthday" note, so I just wanted to say "Thank You." And I know you're all curious to know that yes, I'm now 20!! Crazy, I'm getting so old haha :)

Thursday was a great day. I received a number of phone calls from everyone from the Zone Leaders to Sister Cummings!! The Alfriston Elders informed some members that it was my birthday and one of the members volunteered to make me a birthday dinner to celebrate. Little did I know, she had also prepared a cake, and even bought me a gift as well. In her culture it's tradition to have the guests all feed the birthday person a sample of the cake, so I had 3-4 people spoon feed me a piece of my cake haha. I thought it was a really neat tradition and I might have to start feeding my family cake on their birthdays haha.

That night, we went to the family history center to find out 1) how to do family history and 2) how we can use family history as a finding tool. We didn't spend long at the family history center but we spent long enough that I came across my Grandma Welker's name. When I saw her picture, I felt so spiritually overwhelmed. My grandma

passed away in December 2015 to cancer and it was probably the 1st time since then that I've seen a picture of her. I don't really know how to describe it, but I felt as though she was with me in that moment and I could feel her near me. It's almost as if she wanted to wish me a Happy Birthday too.

Well that's all the time I have. Sorry about the random delay with the emails, but I hope you all have a good week. And thanks again for all the love,support, and prayers.

Sister Mandy Welker

These first two photos are from last week--Easter & the Mongolian Meal!