A poem to start off this weeks letter:
The book is blue, the church is true.
missionary work is the greatest, and the blessings are too!!!!!
There are so many great things that happened this week, I dont even know where to start, so i will start with something random: I have a journal that I keep of all my companion's "things".... you could say its a list of their quirks, Things that are unique to just them that I will always think of when I think about serving with them. One is sister Hirst "things" is random outburst of excitement. We will be driving down the road in silence or sitting at our desk reading something or writing in my journal and she explodes with excitement over something. That is how i feel right now, I want to just explode and tell you how great missionary work is and how great it feels to be an instrument in the lords hand to bring souls unto him, and to make a difference. I cant tell you everything because there is so much, but I will tell you a few stories:
#1- The greatness of the members. They take care of the missionaires so well in this ward. They are all so willing to do anything for us. They give us rides, they give our investigators rides, they come to lessons, they give us referrals, They fellowship and introduce themselves whenever we have someone knew at church with us. They feed us every night even when my companion has every food allergy known to man (Dinners have actually gone up since she got here, poor elders... we are booked almost through june and they are only 1/3 of the way full). she is pretty much the talk of the ward because every member has taken it as a challenge to feed her something she can eat besides fruits and vegis. Bro Delp is a bug guy and so he comes to spray our apartments for all the nasty bugs that reside here in Florida. Mama Hollett and sister atchley brought us fruit and vegis for free (even though we told them not to because we were out of money). They dont take no for an answer, and they are great! (Mondays title for the day was "Do you have a need for a watermelon?" because that is what mama hollett called and asked us and her only requirement was that we tell her if it was good. So when we told her it was delicious she said "hot dog, Im gonna have to stop and buy me another one today then!") They are just great.
#2- Tracting experience: We were tracting for like 2 hours and didnt find anyone....BUT there was this nice old lady who must have been 90 or so who we talked to for like half an hour and she kept telling us about all her bibles she has. They when were were about to leave she said "would you like to come inside and see my bible?" SURE we'd love to see your bible. So we went inside and this bible was the COOLEST things ive ever seen. It was 100 years old (her grandmother bought it for 20 cents in 1920) and it was huge (like 9x12 and 7 inches think) it has really cool calligraphic lettering with gold leafing and tons of illustrated and painted pictures in it. It was awesome. Mix being an art major and a missionary together and this bible made my day, it was beautiful. She says that she only lets people she trusts see it, so apparently we made a good impression on her in the 1/2 hour that we were there. (Saturdays title was "HOLY bible!")
#3- This week we've been all about "expecting miracles". and that was the title for Wednesday because it was just an all around good day. But specifically because there was this group of apartments we went to tract. Last week i felt prompted to go see a less active i saw on the list but we didnt get to her, then when we asked the RS presidency a couple days later if there was anyone we should go see she gave us the same name, so we figured that she really needed us for something; but when we got there she had moved out her house had a key lock box on it and a for rent sign in the front yard. We were a little confused and moved on and then later that night we were in the area again and had some time to go finding so we decided to tract, my mind went to that complex. we decided maybe there was someone we were supose to find there. We tracted the whole thing with no success and we were almost at the end when we knocked on a door and a guy named Chad answered. He was really surprised to see us and i was a little confused. Turns out Chad was a missionary who served in Elko in sister hirsts home ward and shes been wanting to find him to say hi since shes been here. She was in a bit of a down mood but running into him was an answer to her prayers and lifted her spirits alot. It was awesome.
#4- Yesterday was the best day this week by far. First off we decided to fast for the work because #1- we dont have alot of investigators despite all our efforts and hard work and #2- because I've never really gained a solid testimony of fasting and I thought that it was about time that i got one (and I sure got one). So saturday we started our fast and ended it yesterday afternoon. We had the greatest day. Diane coming to church again, thats two times for her! Then after church we went to teach Cheryl, she is the referral that brother keisling gave to us last week. We asked her about her blessing he gave her and she said she had never felt anything like it, that she couldnt describe how she felt but that the best way she could say it was "the most overwhelming feeling of peace and comfort she has ever felt in her life." We talked to her about the spirit and what that feels like, and The priesthood power; That it wasnt them giving her a blessing, but that was from god. She didnt get to watch the restoration DVD last week so we watched it with her and the spirit was SO strong. When we were done we asked her what she liked about it and what stood out to her she talked about baptism and the emblems of the sacrament. then she told us about some really incredible experiences she has been having the last couple nights that only point to god preparing her for something. We taught her about the book of mormon and she got so excited about it and asked if she could keep it. She kept talking about the energy in the room and how she could feel it and we committed her to baptism when she gets her answer (which she pretty much has already gotten) and then we taught her to pray and she prayed out loud for us and it was SUCH A GOOD PRAYER my favorite part was when she said something like "Father, I know that there is something big coming, I can feel it. I dont know what it is but you do. I just ask that you will lead me to know what it is" We are going back to teach her wednesday and i cant wait. She is golden.
Then when we didnt think sunday could get any better we went tracting (in the 102 degree weather) and we only knocked 4 doors and found 2 new investigators. One of which immediately let us in (that doesnt happen much). He was a man from puerto rico who had seen the missionaries alot there but never listened to their message.
We were so close to the spirit all day and there were so many blessings that happened, I know it was because of our fast.
Sorry for all the gramatical errors. They are not the best worded paragraphs Ive ever written, but I dont want to go back and edit them.
Hope yall had a great week too!
Sister Webb
Monday, May 28, 2012
May 21, 2012 letter
I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i just had to get that out of my system because sometimes that's all I want to scream in my emails. It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I know that's super selfish to think about all the things I have gained from being here, but its true there is just so many blessings I have seen. I know I will never be able to give it all back and i will forever be the unprofitable servant that is talked about in mosiah 2:21
21 I say unto you that if ye should aserve him who has created you from the beginning, and is bpreserving you from day to day, by lending you cbreath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own dwill, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your ewhole souls yet ye would be funprofitable servants.22 And behold, all that hearequires of you is to bkeep his commandments; and he has cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ekeep his fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you. 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. 24 And secondly, he doth arequire that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bbless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
I feel so grateful for all the blessings I receive and this week has been so good.
I feel so grateful for all the blessings I receive and this week has been so good.
First off my new companion is the funniest girl EVER. I love her so much and I forgot 95% of the time that she is a brand new missionary. She works so hard and teaches really well. The only times I remember that she is new is when she stumbles through a door approach every so often. We have so many funny moments and we are really similar in personality (meaning we laugh at everything) so every time anything mildly funny happens we are laughing about it. Its great. someone yesterday at church asked if when we knock on someones door if they ask if we are really sisters because we look similar enough and we have similar mannerisms and what not. Its like having my real sister back with my again!
We started titling out days. At the end of the day we pick the funniest/coolest/scariest highlight for the day and we come up with a title for the day. Here are a few this week:
Tuesday: "soggy shoes and fallen through appointments"
It has been RAINING and POURING here the last couple days and Tuesday was the worst. the streets were flooded with water so we just tromped right through it all on our way to our appointments. We had a full day all set up with confirmed appointments, and they all fell through. This isnt really uncommon with missionary work but more than usual fell through, and we had soggy shoes the whole day long.
Wednesday: "Rejection on Ida..... I dunno about Ida"
So we had half an hour to go tracting so I told sister Hirst to pick a street to tract. She immediately flung open the map book and pointed to a street (revelation? inspiration? maybe, maybe not.) and it wasn't too far from where we were at, so we decided to go tract it. we started driving down the street and I told her to close her eyes and tell me when to stop and whatever house we stop at is where we will start. She did and the house we stopped in front if had no one home. So we started on our way and the next house was a very rude preacher who tore down everything we said, confused us with the Jehovah's witnesses and then got mad at me because i said Revelations in stead of revelation. That was rough... so we went to the next house and got rejected again by a baptist lady. Tracting time was up and we had NO success, only rejection on Ida street. So we went to our next appointment with a part member family. We had an awesome lesson about eternal families and she said that she wants an eternal family but she will never ever convert to the LDS faith. But we can still come teach her, so we are going to. Wednesday was full of rejection.
Thursday: "I've got a concealed weapon"
Thursday: "I've got a concealed weapon"
haha we went contacting and we stopped to talk to this crazy looking college age black man who has a toothbrush behind his ear. We talked for a minute and then told him a little about what we believed and asked him if he wanted to learn more. He didnt say yes or no he just kept telling us that he had a concealed weapon..... then he pulled out of his pocket three pairs of chopsticks. We left him and he had some pretty sketch body language going on as he walked away. We cant really figure out if he was crazy, if he really had a weapon, or if his concealed weapon was the chopsticks.
Friday: "The Devils Interference"
We had some really great lessons friday but SO many fell through because of stupid things.... we blame satan. Like 2 of our appointments fell through because they were blaring music inside and couldnt hear us knocking or ringing the doorbell. The first was catrina and she had some great soul music turned up really loud, so we decided to just wait until the song ended and try knocking between songs (which it was the longest song ever) but it didnt work. She didnt hear. and Amy had some crazy rock music really loud.
Saturday: "No trespassing.... beware of dogs"
We were tracting this street and went to knock on the door and no one came, but from around the corner on their raised porch came the biggest pit bull I have ever seen. He started barking so we backed away slowly. Then a couple seconds later a second HUGE pit bull came running over and looked like he was about to attack so when we were far enough away and just a little ways from the car we booked it away. It was super scary. People raise their pit bulls to attack and to fight here, so we were lucky they didnt come cause he was on his way off that porch. we drove to another area to finish tracting and somehow we missed the "no trespassing beware of dogs signs out front of that yard"
Sunday: "People in the south talk..... ALOT"
We had the longest meetings after church and all our appointments lasted so much longer than an hour. No matter how hard we tried to get out in an hour people just keep talking. At dinner we got out backpacks.... they were still talking.... pulled out PMG (where our lesson came from)... still talking... opened it up and asked to share a message..... still talking. half an hour later they let us give our thought. This is what it is like to teach in the south haha. you ask one question and an hour later they let you get in a word. I dont think I am going to know how to really converse when I get home.
So those were some of our stories from this week. We had so many more. The best lesson this week was yesterday with a lady named Cheryl. She was especially cool because she came as a result of a lesson we shared with the keisling family a couple months ago. We taught them about eternal families and challenged them to give the family proc to someone in the coming weeks. They gave it to their neighbor cheryl. The other day brother keisling was talking with her and she told him she was having a rough time and asked him to pray for her. He offered to give her a blessing and to have the missionaries come over to talk with her. She agreed to both, So we went over yesterday and taught her about the priesthood so she would understand her blessing better and invited her to take the lessons and she agreed. The keislings are going to invite her to their house for FHE tomorrow to watch the restoration DVD. I am super excited about her. She could use the peace and the comfort that comes through this gospel!
I love you all so much!
Hope you have a great week.
Sister Webb
oh yeah, I moved apartments so my new address is:
111 Valencia Dr apt G
Tallahassee FL, 32304
May 14, 2012 letter
Happy mothers day yesterday to all the mothers and future mothers out there :) I always feel weird getting a mothers day gift when I am not even married, and it was even weirder getting one when I am a missionary and not even thinking about marriage right now (except for the continual reminders from president Jensen that if we are not valiant missionaries we don't deserve a valiant future spouse) It was so GOOD to talk to my family yesterday. It hardly feels like its been 5 months since the last time I talked to them on the phone, my my how time flies.
For those of you that are not my family and didnt get to hear some of my stories, here is how the last week has been:
So the surprise of sister Siefert staying in Tally 1st while I trained was short lived. We talked to president the next morning and he decided to send her to Troy alabama instead. Ive heard a couple times that transfers arent over until a couple weeks into the transfer... now that makes sense. I am a little Jealous that she gets to go to troy and spend time with all the people there that I came to love so much, but she will do so great there.
I got a greenie This week and her name is Sister Hirst. She is SO great! Training last time was alot different because i was still so new that I barely knew what I was doing, let alone knowing enough to help sister Christian through the things that she needed, but now being a little farther out I feel like I have some valid experience to help sister Hirst get off on the right foot. New missionaires bring a magic with them that can only be given from our father in heaven. You get to see so many miracles when you train because God knows that a mission is going to be hard and that you need them in the first couple months. We have seen LOTS of those this week. We tracted one street and found a whole bunch of people that are interested in learning. I was joking with my dad yesterday talking to him that we are going to do it like the early days of the church... soap box in the street to the whole neighborhood and then baptize them all. that would be sweet. I am excited to start out from the beginning with some of our new investigators and help sister Hirst get the hang of things.
There is a cheesy part of the training videos we watch where the sister missionaries are talking about training and I feel like one of the quotes is very applicable to sis H... one of them jokingly say "I didnt train her, She came PRE-trained" haha thats how I feel about sis Hirst. She is already so solid, she just jumps in on teaching and making commitments and isnt scared at all to go tracting and talk to people. Its already a really great companionship. She is from Elco (sp) Nevada. Went to BYU for a year before coming out and wants to be a geologist when she grows up. She is allergic to pretty much everything but fruits and vegis so this is also probably going to be the healthiest transfer of my mission also because we eat alot of salads and drink alot of fruit smoothies (she packed her super nice blender and brought it with her) and the members have already jumped on board in providing the most delicious salads EVER! Sister Hollett made us one that was lettuce, apples, red onions, strawberries, feta cheese and the southern nut: Pecans topped with an orange citrus dressing. IT WAS SO GOOD. I had a great plan of making her a greenie breakfast and dying all the food green, but then she was allergic to it all.... so I didnt :) maybe the next one!
This transfer is going to be awesome and I hope everything at home is going well.
LOVE YOU LOTS!
Sister Webb
001: Sis Hirst
002: Sis Eckles and Hirst
003: Sister horan and I dancing
004: Puddle jumping
For those of you that are not my family and didnt get to hear some of my stories, here is how the last week has been:
So the surprise of sister Siefert staying in Tally 1st while I trained was short lived. We talked to president the next morning and he decided to send her to Troy alabama instead. Ive heard a couple times that transfers arent over until a couple weeks into the transfer... now that makes sense. I am a little Jealous that she gets to go to troy and spend time with all the people there that I came to love so much, but she will do so great there.
I got a greenie This week and her name is Sister Hirst. She is SO great! Training last time was alot different because i was still so new that I barely knew what I was doing, let alone knowing enough to help sister Christian through the things that she needed, but now being a little farther out I feel like I have some valid experience to help sister Hirst get off on the right foot. New missionaires bring a magic with them that can only be given from our father in heaven. You get to see so many miracles when you train because God knows that a mission is going to be hard and that you need them in the first couple months. We have seen LOTS of those this week. We tracted one street and found a whole bunch of people that are interested in learning. I was joking with my dad yesterday talking to him that we are going to do it like the early days of the church... soap box in the street to the whole neighborhood and then baptize them all. that would be sweet. I am excited to start out from the beginning with some of our new investigators and help sister Hirst get the hang of things.
There is a cheesy part of the training videos we watch where the sister missionaries are talking about training and I feel like one of the quotes is very applicable to sis H... one of them jokingly say "I didnt train her, She came PRE-trained" haha thats how I feel about sis Hirst. She is already so solid, she just jumps in on teaching and making commitments and isnt scared at all to go tracting and talk to people. Its already a really great companionship. She is from Elco (sp) Nevada. Went to BYU for a year before coming out and wants to be a geologist when she grows up. She is allergic to pretty much everything but fruits and vegis so this is also probably going to be the healthiest transfer of my mission also because we eat alot of salads and drink alot of fruit smoothies (she packed her super nice blender and brought it with her) and the members have already jumped on board in providing the most delicious salads EVER! Sister Hollett made us one that was lettuce, apples, red onions, strawberries, feta cheese and the southern nut: Pecans topped with an orange citrus dressing. IT WAS SO GOOD. I had a great plan of making her a greenie breakfast and dying all the food green, but then she was allergic to it all.... so I didnt :) maybe the next one!
This transfer is going to be awesome and I hope everything at home is going well.
LOVE YOU LOTS!
Sister Webb
001: Sis Hirst
002: Sis Eckles and Hirst
003: Sister horan and I dancing
004: Puddle jumping
May 7, 2012 letter
"God is greater than any problem I have" - I love church signs!
What a week! WHAT A WEEK! There were all sorts of mix ups in the mission with transfers. Almost all the sisters are being switched up. I got my trainer letter this week so it was official, but then we got a surprise: Sister Siefert is staying in 1st ward. SO we are going to be in a threesome whilst I am training the new sister. It will be good I think because then when we role play there will be two to practice teaching together and then one investigator. There are always benefits to being in a threesome. She will be going on 11 months in this area. WAY too long for me to be in an area, but I think its good for some people. The funny thing is, is that we were so sure of it she has already told people that she is leaving and everything and taken pictures and one of the men in the ward even took her information because he wants her to date his brother in law when she gets home. haha, they are in for a real treat when she is still around this transfer! She says its going to be awkward, but we are missionaries... we do awkward things! We knock on strangers doors bearing our testimonies. We try and teach less active people that dont want anything to do with the church. We say things boldly that others only think and we do it with confidence.... We are missionaries, we do awkward things!
So we had an awesome lesson with Rod. He is SO prepared! He already has a baptism date which is great. we told him he has to come to church 3 times so he committed to three weeks (of church) plus 2 weeks. Sadly, when we got his address (because we were teaching him at the church) he doesnt live in our area boundaries so we will be passing him onto the 4th ward elders. He is one of the first investigators (besides Shirley) that we've been able to use the D&C with. We were talking about the nature of god and how he has a body and he was really shocked by that and how bold we were in declaring that belief so we talked about the scriptures in the bible that alludes to it and the book of mormon and then we showed him the one in the Doctrine and Covenants and he LOVED it. It was a powerful lesson for sure.
The campus sisters have had a lack of things to do this week because of the break between spring semester and summer semester So they came out in our area a couple times with us. Its fun to have sisters so close to be able to see every couple days. Sister Sorensen is going to Troy this next transfer and I am so excited for her. I loved Troy. I would go back to troy. They are opening a new sister area in Alabama and closing down Georgia. Sister Eckles is coming to serve with sister Horan, which I am super excited for because i served in the MTC with her and she is so great! The work will go forward and I am so happy to be a part of it! I love being a missionary at this time and I love my savior. I can see a change and a growth in myself that I am so grateful for. I even got up and bore my testimony yesterday without being nervous AT ALL and not even coming close to crying. I feel so much more confident in the things I know and the roots of my testimony are going deeper and deeper. I love this gospel so much and just wish everyone would accept it right now, but its all in gods time and I know that he is preparing people everywhere to come into the fold.
Have a great week everyone!
Sister Webb
April 30, 2012 letter
Hey all!
Another week down and it has been a great one, I cant believe that another transfer has pretty much gone by as well. Summer is in full swing here, 97 degrees the other day and its HUMID! some people love it, but I have to say I miss the dry Utah summers. Also the grass back home. We were volunteering at a garden place the other day and every patch of beautiful grass had to have a sign that said "do not park on the grass" because that is what people do here, they just park on the lawn. Its great, but you rarely see a nice green grassy yard. My first week on my mission (back in troy) i suggested we have our comp study outside on the grass and my companion said "oh, you dont want to even sit on that sister... there are chiggers and ants". So enjoy your beautiful green utah grass too :)
So many good things happened this week I dont even know where to start. Its just awesome how many times minor set backs will allow for something great to happen. So here are a few stories:
We found a girl named free (tafreesha) this week and had a super spirit filled lesson. There were so many things that had to happen for us to find her, it was incredible. So lets start from the beginning: A couple weeks ago we got a referral from the spanish elders of a lady named Arlivia. we went to find her and she was there. we went in and as it turned out she was visiting her daughter from quincy (she she doesnt actually live her) and she had been baptized before but is less active. So we talked for a while with her and her daughter (who is not baptized) and were trying to rekindle her testimony while still teaching her daughter a little bit so we offered to watch the restoration DVD with them. She said no she had to leave pretty soon, but her daughter said that she wanted to watch it with us so that we should come back. So we set up a return appt. and went back a couple days later. Her power had just been shut off, not because she didnt pay her bill but because they had lost her check. We were super sad, but set another appointment and went back again. Just as we were coming in her friend Free also showed up. With 3 children in the room and 2 sleeping babies we made it through watching the restoration DVD uninterrupted (that NEVER happens). so we started talking about it after and robin seemed semi interested but not really. Free however had so many questions and she felt the spirit so strong while we were watching it. We talked to her for an hour or so and invited her to church AND SHE CAME! that also rarely happens. no matter how many times you call them in a week and ask if they are coming, something always comes up. She definitely felt the spirit so we are going to teach her again this week. Super awesome.
Then when we thought that our sunday couldnt get any better (because we FINALLY had an investigator come to church) up walks the bishop of another ward with a guy. He says, this is Rod.... he just showed up to church today and he wants to take the lessons. So we talked to him and he has an incredible story of being led to this point in life. He has been every religion out there starting with non denomination, then baptist, then athiest, then jewish ortodox, and none of them "fit". He started looking into the LDS church on his own reading books and looking at the sites and even watched a part of general conference. He read about the word of wisdom and was use to living diet restrictions from the jewish faith so he decided to give up coffee and alcohol. We are teaching him tomorrow. The elders want us to give him the them, we shall see. we talked about alot of different things like missionary work and The last thing he said to us before he left was "so..... if i decide to get baptized, do i HAVE to serve a mission? cause in kind of introverted" haha No no Rod, you dont HAVE To serve a mission. Good things are happening :)
Man, I have alot of stories... but this is already getting long. I will be staying here in tally first because .....drum roll........ I'M TRAINING AGAIN! unless something happens in the next couple weeks I will be training the new sister coming in. I am super pumped. I dont feel like I know the area as well as I should, but I am coming to realize that you just always feel that way being a missionary. You always want to know more than you do.
LOVE YOU ALL!
Have a great week.
Sister Webb
April 24, 2012 letter
Hey Everyone!
So we found a way to be able to email on mondays again. So We will most likely be emailing every Monday now instead of Tuesdays. Its really nice to be able to keep all the P-day time together. Doing it on Tuesdays feels like 1/2 the week is spent not working as hard. So if you email me, send it on Mondays again!
Exciting news this week:
We got BIKES again! When I came out they told us to buy a bike and by the end of the MTC I had an email from my mom saying that they decided not to have sisters ride them anymore. I was really excited to ride them, and then I got here and sisters had to walk to or have a car. My first area wasnt bad because we didnt have a car and I loved walking everywhere and then I came to a car area. We passed so many people on the street in the car, we werent seen, we couldnt talk to them.. but everywhere we went was a 15 minute drive. So lately President has been talking to us about miles and saving them. When I was transfered to Tally I told him I was sad he took bikes away from sisters and he said if I was ever put in an area where I could use a bike to let him know. So I got here and we live on a really busy street with no shoulder so it wasnt really possible. Then talking to the Zone leaders, they said they had an extra bike rack, and sister Siefert had a bike already (Because sisters were still using them when she came to the mission) and I remembered that Troy had an extra bike that an old sister left there. So I called president and let him know that if we could get a bike rack we could carry our bikes with us and ride them once we got off of old bainbridge road. He got so excited he had the office couple go and buy a mission bike for me to use and so now we get to ride bikes again! I guess he took them away because sisters were complaining... So as long as I have a willing companion we will be riding bikes!
It rained really really hard this week, so we had to modify our proselyting activities, but it was a great week. The elders had a baptism Friday, which was really awesome to see. He is an ex of one of the ladies in our ward and she wasnt a member either when they were together. Over the years and through alot of different life situations he has come to learn about the gospel from her and from their son, so he was what we would term a 'golden investigator'. He was ready to get baptized before the elders even started teaching him. Tyler (his son) got to baptize and confirm him, and it was incredible. The spirit is so strong at baptisms, and it is so great to see them make that first covenant with god. Our ward has a temple trip coming up, so the focus on the temple is really being pushed. It makes me miss it so much. I feel so blessed to live so close to so many temples at home. I cant want to be able to be inside again, there is nothing like it.
I got an email from one of my converts from Troy, and He told me that he is getting the Melchizedek priesthood this week. I am so excited for him, and even though I am not there I am so proud of the progression that my converts are making. I cant wait to see what they do with their lives as they stay on the straight and narrow.
I think it is so interesting how leaders across the board tend to be inspired to talk about the same things at the same time. My branch president in Troy use to always talk about how he felt inspired about something, and that his sons mission president was inspried about the same thing then we'd read our presidents email and he would be telling us the same stuff as well. This week Elder Oaks was visiting and spoke to the Dothan Stake Missionaries (I'm in tally now) and alot of what he spoke about was the kingdoms of glory and our desires to get there, which is something that president has been telling us for the last 3 or 4 weeks now "BE CELESTIAL". They relate it to missionary work, but I it can be applied to everyone. Just as Elder holland stated in his last talk (which if you didnt hear, you should go read it right now) that we only have as much time as the master of the vineyard says we do... "dont delay, its getting late" now is the time to prove ourselves for eternity and how easy it is to get wrapped up in the meaningless things of life. I am so grateful to be here and have to oportunity to see people progress and make covenants! I hope we can all live up to the ones we have already made.
I love you all!
Sister Webb
So we found a way to be able to email on mondays again. So We will most likely be emailing every Monday now instead of Tuesdays. Its really nice to be able to keep all the P-day time together. Doing it on Tuesdays feels like 1/2 the week is spent not working as hard. So if you email me, send it on Mondays again!
Exciting news this week:
We got BIKES again! When I came out they told us to buy a bike and by the end of the MTC I had an email from my mom saying that they decided not to have sisters ride them anymore. I was really excited to ride them, and then I got here and sisters had to walk to or have a car. My first area wasnt bad because we didnt have a car and I loved walking everywhere and then I came to a car area. We passed so many people on the street in the car, we werent seen, we couldnt talk to them.. but everywhere we went was a 15 minute drive. So lately President has been talking to us about miles and saving them. When I was transfered to Tally I told him I was sad he took bikes away from sisters and he said if I was ever put in an area where I could use a bike to let him know. So I got here and we live on a really busy street with no shoulder so it wasnt really possible. Then talking to the Zone leaders, they said they had an extra bike rack, and sister Siefert had a bike already (Because sisters were still using them when she came to the mission) and I remembered that Troy had an extra bike that an old sister left there. So I called president and let him know that if we could get a bike rack we could carry our bikes with us and ride them once we got off of old bainbridge road. He got so excited he had the office couple go and buy a mission bike for me to use and so now we get to ride bikes again! I guess he took them away because sisters were complaining... So as long as I have a willing companion we will be riding bikes!
It rained really really hard this week, so we had to modify our proselyting activities, but it was a great week. The elders had a baptism Friday, which was really awesome to see. He is an ex of one of the ladies in our ward and she wasnt a member either when they were together. Over the years and through alot of different life situations he has come to learn about the gospel from her and from their son, so he was what we would term a 'golden investigator'. He was ready to get baptized before the elders even started teaching him. Tyler (his son) got to baptize and confirm him, and it was incredible. The spirit is so strong at baptisms, and it is so great to see them make that first covenant with god. Our ward has a temple trip coming up, so the focus on the temple is really being pushed. It makes me miss it so much. I feel so blessed to live so close to so many temples at home. I cant want to be able to be inside again, there is nothing like it.
I got an email from one of my converts from Troy, and He told me that he is getting the Melchizedek priesthood this week. I am so excited for him, and even though I am not there I am so proud of the progression that my converts are making. I cant wait to see what they do with their lives as they stay on the straight and narrow.
I think it is so interesting how leaders across the board tend to be inspired to talk about the same things at the same time. My branch president in Troy use to always talk about how he felt inspired about something, and that his sons mission president was inspried about the same thing then we'd read our presidents email and he would be telling us the same stuff as well. This week Elder Oaks was visiting and spoke to the Dothan Stake Missionaries (I'm in tally now) and alot of what he spoke about was the kingdoms of glory and our desires to get there, which is something that president has been telling us for the last 3 or 4 weeks now "BE CELESTIAL". They relate it to missionary work, but I it can be applied to everyone. Just as Elder holland stated in his last talk (which if you didnt hear, you should go read it right now) that we only have as much time as the master of the vineyard says we do... "dont delay, its getting late" now is the time to prove ourselves for eternity and how easy it is to get wrapped up in the meaningless things of life. I am so grateful to be here and have to oportunity to see people progress and make covenants! I hope we can all live up to the ones we have already made.
I love you all!
Sister Webb
April 17,2012 letter
Summer is here in full force... It is getting HOT here in florida, and from what people tell me soon the highs we are seeing right now will soon be the lows. Woot woot, Sacrifices for the lord. I already have some pretty sweet tan lines going on on my feet and arms. I cant wait to see what they look like at the end of the summer haha.
This week was great. I cant believe its been a week already. Each day goes so fast and is full of so many life lessons to be learned and so many prayers answered. I am so grateful for it, and so very very blessed.
Alright... story time:
#1- One of the YW leaders who is over the beehives from this ward has felt for the last little while very strongly that the younger girls need to be around and get to know older people that they can look to for an example. So a couple weeks ago she asked us if we would come do an activity with the beehives. We agreed so she asked us to come up with a list of ideas of things we could do and she would let the girls pick one. We did our activity this week with them and it was so fun. I came up with this idea that I adapted from a game Ive played a couple times at bridal showers where you get a roll of toilet paper and you have to create a wedding dress with it. So we first talked about modesty with them and then had a bunch of different things (like colored tissue paper, and ribbon and toilet paper) and they had to create a 'modest dress'. Then we talked about being temples for the spirit and taking care of ourselves inside too and had smoothies. We took pictures and found some good modesty quotes and as a gift from the sister missionaries we are going to make them a cute picture frame with the quote on it. It turned out to be way fun and now the other leaders want us to do activities with them too. We are having an activity tonight that we co-planned with the priests. We are having a mini MTC.... member training center. We invited the whole ward to come and find out how to be better member missionaries. It should be really good.
#2- I have been thinking this week alot about how important it is to have faith in people. There is a lady we are teaching. Jackie. She is the sister of one of the ladies in the ward and she lives with her. She has been taking lessons from the sister for like 3 years. We stopped teaching her for a long time because she wasnt going anywhere. She called us a couple weeks ago and said she wanted us to come back and teach her some more, so we did, and we had a great lesson about faith and told her that as missionaries we teach the people that want to exercise their faith and make changes in their lives. We told her that the only way we could come teach her was if she started to make changes. We talked to her about giving up her coffee and her smoking and many other things that she needs to change, but she said "Girls, I am never going to be able to be a mormon because I will never ever ever give up my coffee. I just cant" So we told her to start small and just come to church for now, and she did. She came to church and then watched conference. Well this last week we went back to talk with her and started talking about faith some more and what she has been thinking about and praying about and we asked her if she was willing to try to give something else up. We talked about giving up coffee and she said she was willing to try but that what she really wanted to give up was smoking. She has never expressed anything close to this. Without us having faith in her, she would never have the chance to try. I have noticed that sometimes people are around for so long that they lose faith in those around them, they see that someone has been less active for 2, 5, 20 years and has never tried to change so why would they change now? This experience we have had with Jackie and with a few other less actives in the ward has taught me that it is so important to never allow your faith in people to die, that it only takes one experience for people to decide to come back to make the change in their lives to come back to church or to begin repenting again. The Lord never gives up on us... as it says in the Book of Mormon "but his hand is stretched out still"... So we should never ever ever give up on anyone.
#3- I was thinking this week about how to bring the spirit more in our lessons. For the people we are teaching, it is the first time they are hearing the first vision or the plan of salvation. For us, it is the 100th time we have taught it. So I was trying to figure out how to make it more meaningful, how to make it more than just words. Because sometimes I recite the first vision and its just words. So I started praying this week for it, and we had the BEST lesson yesterday. It was the most spirit filled lesson I have been in in a while. It was with a guy named Ken. He started to tell us about his life story and his search for God that he has been on all his life. He started to tell us about when he was 14 and how he started going to different churches but none of them felt right to him and how he has been searching for it for a long time.... Sound familiar? I was so excited to then say, "ya know your story remind me of another story I know. It was about a boy named Joseph smith who also was 14 searching for truth..." it was incredible to feel the difference between really teaching it with the spirit verses just saying the words that sometimes tends to happen. It was incredible. Sister Siefert and I walked away from the lesson so full of the spirit that we didnt even care that it took most of our dinner time to tell him about Joseph Smith. :)
I love this gospel. I know that its true. I love being a missionary. I know that God wants to give us every righteous desire of our heart. We just have to ask in faith.
Have a great week!
Love you all,
Sister Webb
This week was great. I cant believe its been a week already. Each day goes so fast and is full of so many life lessons to be learned and so many prayers answered. I am so grateful for it, and so very very blessed.
Alright... story time:
#1- One of the YW leaders who is over the beehives from this ward has felt for the last little while very strongly that the younger girls need to be around and get to know older people that they can look to for an example. So a couple weeks ago she asked us if we would come do an activity with the beehives. We agreed so she asked us to come up with a list of ideas of things we could do and she would let the girls pick one. We did our activity this week with them and it was so fun. I came up with this idea that I adapted from a game Ive played a couple times at bridal showers where you get a roll of toilet paper and you have to create a wedding dress with it. So we first talked about modesty with them and then had a bunch of different things (like colored tissue paper, and ribbon and toilet paper) and they had to create a 'modest dress'. Then we talked about being temples for the spirit and taking care of ourselves inside too and had smoothies. We took pictures and found some good modesty quotes and as a gift from the sister missionaries we are going to make them a cute picture frame with the quote on it. It turned out to be way fun and now the other leaders want us to do activities with them too. We are having an activity tonight that we co-planned with the priests. We are having a mini MTC.... member training center. We invited the whole ward to come and find out how to be better member missionaries. It should be really good.
#2- I have been thinking this week alot about how important it is to have faith in people. There is a lady we are teaching. Jackie. She is the sister of one of the ladies in the ward and she lives with her. She has been taking lessons from the sister for like 3 years. We stopped teaching her for a long time because she wasnt going anywhere. She called us a couple weeks ago and said she wanted us to come back and teach her some more, so we did, and we had a great lesson about faith and told her that as missionaries we teach the people that want to exercise their faith and make changes in their lives. We told her that the only way we could come teach her was if she started to make changes. We talked to her about giving up her coffee and her smoking and many other things that she needs to change, but she said "Girls, I am never going to be able to be a mormon because I will never ever ever give up my coffee. I just cant" So we told her to start small and just come to church for now, and she did. She came to church and then watched conference. Well this last week we went back to talk with her and started talking about faith some more and what she has been thinking about and praying about and we asked her if she was willing to try to give something else up. We talked about giving up coffee and she said she was willing to try but that what she really wanted to give up was smoking. She has never expressed anything close to this. Without us having faith in her, she would never have the chance to try. I have noticed that sometimes people are around for so long that they lose faith in those around them, they see that someone has been less active for 2, 5, 20 years and has never tried to change so why would they change now? This experience we have had with Jackie and with a few other less actives in the ward has taught me that it is so important to never allow your faith in people to die, that it only takes one experience for people to decide to come back to make the change in their lives to come back to church or to begin repenting again. The Lord never gives up on us... as it says in the Book of Mormon "but his hand is stretched out still"... So we should never ever ever give up on anyone.
#3- I was thinking this week about how to bring the spirit more in our lessons. For the people we are teaching, it is the first time they are hearing the first vision or the plan of salvation. For us, it is the 100th time we have taught it. So I was trying to figure out how to make it more meaningful, how to make it more than just words. Because sometimes I recite the first vision and its just words. So I started praying this week for it, and we had the BEST lesson yesterday. It was the most spirit filled lesson I have been in in a while. It was with a guy named Ken. He started to tell us about his life story and his search for God that he has been on all his life. He started to tell us about when he was 14 and how he started going to different churches but none of them felt right to him and how he has been searching for it for a long time.... Sound familiar? I was so excited to then say, "ya know your story remind me of another story I know. It was about a boy named Joseph smith who also was 14 searching for truth..." it was incredible to feel the difference between really teaching it with the spirit verses just saying the words that sometimes tends to happen. It was incredible. Sister Siefert and I walked away from the lesson so full of the spirit that we didnt even care that it took most of our dinner time to tell him about Joseph Smith. :)
I love this gospel. I know that its true. I love being a missionary. I know that God wants to give us every righteous desire of our heart. We just have to ask in faith.
Have a great week!
Love you all,
Sister Webb
April 10, 2012 letter
Hey everyone!
I dont have much time today, so here are a few short experiences just to show yall how great the lord is and how he really is watching out for all his children:
#1- We got a referral from the Spanish elders this week for a lady named Gracie. She was in a trailer park that we spend alot of time in because we tracted it about a month ago. We thought it was strange that we hadnt met this lady because they said she seemed super prepared. We went over to see what house it was and turns out that they day that we tracted it, there were a couple people outside that particular trailer that were yelling a little so we decided not to go over there and talk to them or knock it. We asked the Elders if they had tracted alot of it or if they just tracted a few and they said they only knocked a couple doors while they were there but that was one of them. I loved that because it really just goes to show that the day we were there we weren't suppose to find her, that she wasn't prepared yet, or maybe she was and the timing was wrong but that god knew her situation and that she needed to talk to the missionaries, so he sent more to find her. We are going to go and try to see her today, so hopefully things work out well.
#2- Yesterday we were invited to a BBQ by a man who is the landlord to a house the elders just moved in to. There were like 20 missionaries there and a group of boys that he made burgers for. They boys were the boys choir of Tallahassee and turns out they are a really popular singing group. They are all boys that have been pretty much raised in the ghetto without many opportunities for life. So the choir director started this group in like 96 or something where he sought out these boys, taught them to sing, made sure they were on the right tract in school and stuff and made it so they got opportunities in life to be something and to go somewhere. It has become really popular and hes done things like perform on Operah (I have no idea how to spell her name) and they have sang for the last 4 presidential inaugurations, and last year they went to the Vatican and sang for the pope. They sang for us, and they are INCREDIBLE.. you should Google them, because they were really good. So then one of the senior missionaries decided we better sing for them... haha.... we sang I am a child of god, and armies of helaman, and called to serve...... we werent quite as good as they were. It was really cool though, and now I can say because we sang for them and they sang for the pope that we indirectly sang for the pope :)
Have a great week!
Love you all,
Sister Webb
I dont have much time today, so here are a few short experiences just to show yall how great the lord is and how he really is watching out for all his children:
#1- We got a referral from the Spanish elders this week for a lady named Gracie. She was in a trailer park that we spend alot of time in because we tracted it about a month ago. We thought it was strange that we hadnt met this lady because they said she seemed super prepared. We went over to see what house it was and turns out that they day that we tracted it, there were a couple people outside that particular trailer that were yelling a little so we decided not to go over there and talk to them or knock it. We asked the Elders if they had tracted alot of it or if they just tracted a few and they said they only knocked a couple doors while they were there but that was one of them. I loved that because it really just goes to show that the day we were there we weren't suppose to find her, that she wasn't prepared yet, or maybe she was and the timing was wrong but that god knew her situation and that she needed to talk to the missionaries, so he sent more to find her. We are going to go and try to see her today, so hopefully things work out well.
#2- Yesterday we were invited to a BBQ by a man who is the landlord to a house the elders just moved in to. There were like 20 missionaries there and a group of boys that he made burgers for. They boys were the boys choir of Tallahassee and turns out they are a really popular singing group. They are all boys that have been pretty much raised in the ghetto without many opportunities for life. So the choir director started this group in like 96 or something where he sought out these boys, taught them to sing, made sure they were on the right tract in school and stuff and made it so they got opportunities in life to be something and to go somewhere. It has become really popular and hes done things like perform on Operah (I have no idea how to spell her name) and they have sang for the last 4 presidential inaugurations, and last year they went to the Vatican and sang for the pope. They sang for us, and they are INCREDIBLE.. you should Google them, because they were really good. So then one of the senior missionaries decided we better sing for them... haha.... we sang I am a child of god, and armies of helaman, and called to serve...... we werent quite as good as they were. It was really cool though, and now I can say because we sang for them and they sang for the pope that we indirectly sang for the pope :)
Have a great week!
Love you all,
Sister Webb
April 3, 2012 letter
Hey All!
Happy April! Wasn't conference the best?! Conference to a missionary is like to super bowl to the rest of the world. We get so excited for it! I have always loved conference, but never felt so much inspiration come through the words of the prophets like I do on my mission. I love that we can all take our questions with us and through the spirit we can each get our own various answers even if it is something that is not specifically talked about. I always think its interesting that there seems to be a theme through alot of conference. The speakers dont talk together and assign topics to be discussed, but through prayer and revelation they are told from the lord what they need to speak about. I felt like this conference was very heavily family based. We know that the family is being targeted by the adversary and that the family unit as defined by "the family, a proclamation to the world" is slowly falling apart. Just as the family was the pattern established by god in the pre-existance and it is how we will live in the next life, it is so important to make sure that those relationships are as good as we can make them (president Uchdorfs talk about forgiveness was great). Heavenly father entrusts us with his children to teach them and lead them in the way they should be living. There is nothing more important in this life than this. I am so grateful for my earthly family and my spiritual family. The knowledge that we are all brothers and sisters, children of our heavenly father makes loving everyone I meet so much easier. There we so many great talks given, but I think my overlying message I got for myself would be that sacrifice brings forth blessings, and that we need to trust in the lord. He has given us ways to tell if we are on the right path and that includes: being able to partake of the sacrament worthily, holding a current temple recommend and going as often as possible and being willing to sacrifice for others and for god. I cant wait to get the ensign and read them all again!
This week has been a good one too. We didnt teach much as far as investigators go, but we saw alot of less actives this week. I know I probably say it alot, but it just breaks my heart every time i go see someone that has left the church and forgotten those covenants they have made with the lord. We went to see a girl last night who is in the process of deciding what she wants to do. If she wants to leave the church or stay and fight her family for her beliefs. In a very selfish way, it feels so good to be able to testify to these people. To review my own conversion and to think about all the experiences I have had in my life telling me that the church is true. From an outsider looking in, their stories just scream about gods love for them. They have had prayers answered and beautiful conversion stories; And I cant help but think (while they are telling me about their conversion and then their reasons for leaving) 'If it was true then... why isnt it true now?' God is the same yesterday, today and forever. If his church was true when they were baptized, it is still true today. Like one of the General Authorities said in conference "its true isnt it? Well then what else matters?" nothing else should matter to us, but it is just so easy to forget and to be swayed if we are not always looking to god and Jesus Christ.
We went to a place yesterday for P-day called wacolla springs. We got to take a boat ride (for all those RMs reading thinking that I broke a rule - it was a commercial boat so not against the white handbook) and saw a bunch of gators and other Floridian wild life. It was pretty sweet. There is a young couple that do so much for the missionaries and they decided to invite us all and take us all with them. So they brought their 12 passenger van and took 10 of us with them. It was pretty sweet.
It was a great week especially with conference.
Now begins the 6 month count down till October!
Now begins the 6 month count down till October!
Love you all! Have a great Easter Sunday this week.
Sister Webb
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