December 19, 2011 letter

Hey Everyone!

My emails always seem to start like my daily journal entries "today was...... " fill in the blank good, bad, frustrating, discouraging. Except my emails always mention how fast time is going and then I tell you that my week was great. This week is no exception. December has gone so fast! Christmas is in 6 days, I cant believe it. This week was so good. I keep hearing from my family that people like my emails... which means people are still reading my emails. Thats great news!

 

For some reason our teaching always tends to go in cycles. We end up teaching a particular lessons over and over and over some days. This week the plan of salvation has been heavy on our teaching as well as in other ares of our work, So since its been a big part of my week, I think I will just talk about that.

 

First off we had some of the most incredible lessons with Emma, Ting Ting, Sarah and Lulu about the plan of salvation. We took one of those little kid drawings of it and showed them that and the visual just opened their eyes. After we had finished explaining it to Emma she said that she has learned this lesson from a couple sets of missionaries and always had alot of questions, but never knew how to ask it to them, so never did. We cleared up alot of the things she was confused about and for the first time since she has been meeting with missionaries, She got it. What a great feeling.

 

The more I learn about the plan, the more incredible it is to me. It just makes sense. We came from somewhere, we have a purpose of why we are here and we have a destination. The fall was absolutely necessary for us to come to this earth. Our heavenly father knew what was going to happen so he gave us a way to still return to him, that was was Jesus Christ. Everything in this gospel does and should revolve around him and the atonement he performed for us. All things from the beginning down to present day point to christ being our savior and the need for him to suffer for our sins. We are here to learn and to grow and to go through trials and temptations and to learn to have faith and rely on Christ and our Father in heaven. We cant, and shouldnt have to do it alone. Then when all is said and done christ does a little more by making up for our short comings. It takes work to be good and to be faithful, but in the end it will all be worth it. Some of my favorite scriptures are in Doctrine and Covenants when Joseph Smith is in Liberty Jail and he thinks that god has forgotten him. Heavenly father then tells him that this life is but a small moment and to endure it well and that it will all be worth it. How true is that. and when you think about it, if life is but a small moment, the moments we have IN life are even smaller. We just need to endure it well and the happiness will far outweigh the pain and sadness that we go through. So we see the big picture. Thats incredible to me. All of this leads back to the first point in the first lesson. God is our Loving Heavenly father, and he is. We are his children and he loves us. Everyone has a chance at some point in time to hear this great message. I love that.

 

We have been able to see different parts of this come into reality this week starting with Marriage. Our good friend/investigator Miss hassie renewed her vows with her husband on Saturday. She was nice enough to invite us, so we went and watched. It was great, however in the back of my mind I couldnt help but think how much better it was to attend the sealing of one of my good friends right before I left on my mission. Families can be eternal through this gospel. I hope to see Miss Hassie in the temple someday being sealed to her husband. Then we had the baptism of Grey. Another vital step in heavenly fathers plan for each of us. We had two of our most recent converts (heather and hector) speak at his baptism and he bore his testimony at the end. It was amazing. He has now entered the gate that leads right back to living with Our father in heaven.Yesterday we attended a funeral. As we sat in the back and listened to President Salmon talk about the Plan of Salvation to a group of people that maybe only 4 or 5 of which were LDS and had a knowledge of where granny had gone, I felt grateful to know and to have a testimony of this plan and to not have to be sad when loved ones die, but to know that we can see them again. Lastly, being christmas, the thoughts and messages of christ have been everywhere we go. I am so grateful for him and for his sacrifice in my behalf. His atonement should be a part of our everyday lives and I am so excited to celebrate his birth in just a few short days!

 

I love you all so much and hope you have a great christmas!

Sister Webb

 

PS. The post office no longer will be forwarding mail, so dont send anything to the mission office! my address here in troy is:
408 Elm street Apt 1-A

Troy AL, 36081