June 11, 2012 letter

God makes miracles out of mistakes

Hey everyone, this one is going to be short because we are using a members computer to email. the family history center computers internet wasnt working, so we had to come find some members to let us email at their house.... long story short, we have to be home soon for curfew and so this is going to be short. (also there are 2 little kids running around screaming, so if this letter is scattered.... I apologize, its a little hard to think about what I am saying)




Its been a good week, we have done alot of finding and it hasnt yielded much fruit, but I guess that is missionary work. Luckily we have cheryl mars to teach or we might be a little sad because of our lack of investigators. She still hasnt come to church so her baptism date has to be pushed back but its ok cause she read the book of mormon this week and is praying so as soon as she gets her answer she is going to be awesome.



Like I said we did alot of finding and we had a couple really cool experiences. First was on Wednesday. We went to the homeless shelter as usual, but mama hollett came with us (we call her mama hollett because she takes care of the missionaries... shes the BEST!) afterwards she took us to lunch and then she needed to run some errands, but we knew we needed to do missionary work and that we couldnt go with her to costco and sams, but we were already on that side of town.... so we decided to proselyte in the parking lot while she was inside. We waited until people had pretty much emptied their carts and then we went and asked them if we could take them for them and in return we gave them a pass along card or a pamplet and told them what we do and a basic message of the restoration. Most people just took it and moved on, but there was one lady I felt really strongly that we needed to go talk to. Her cart wasnt even 1/2 empty but we went and talked to her anyways and she was really excited to see us! we told her that we were missionaries and she said that because of the political stuff going on her and her husband had been wanting to learn more about the church but didnt know who to talk to. Then a week ago she met someone at a prayer thing that is for every denomination that was LDS and got a book of mormon. She thought it was really funny that as soon as she wanted to learn that missionaries approached her. She called in coincidence, but we know better :) she lives in thomasville so we got her info and passed it onto the missionaries up there. She was so nice and I hope to see her and her husbands names in the weekly baptism report soon haha.



We have also been trying alot of different methods of finding some a little more serious than others. The other day we were sitting at a stop light and the car next to us had the window down so I told sister hirst to give him a pass along card. She laughed and said ok. So I inched the car up so we were neck and neck and we rolled down the window. She turned to him and said "Hey were missionaries.... do you want a free bible?" he said ok and took the card, then we had to sit at the light for a little longer.... that was awkward, but it was funny. We were hoping that he would call us so it would be us that showed up at his door with his free bible. It hasnt happened yet, but heres for hoping.



Well I am going to end this email now because I cant think of anything else to tell yall except that I know that this church is true. I know that members are SO important to the work so if you are reading this I challenge you to find a way to do missionary work. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel or strengthen someones testimony or do something. It doesnt matter if you are inside of utah or out, there is ALWAYS something you can do to build up the kingdom of god and strengthen those around you. I love this gospel and I know that all the blessings that come in our lives come from living by the commandments that God gives us either in the scriptures or by the mouth of the prophet and apostles. Every blessing is attached to a commandment... so if you want a blessing, figure out the law that is it attached to and live it. I know that Heavenly father is there and that he loves each of his children. He has an intrest in each of our lives and wants us to be happy. Rely on him and the atonement of his son Jesus Christ and life will work out for the good.



I love you all and hope you have the BEST week!

Sister Webb

June 4, 2012 Letter

There is nothing like this church in all the world.... there was a conference talk by Donald L Hallstrom who talks about being converted through the gospel through the church. How the two things are inseparable. He talks about all the incredible things our church does for humanitarian aid and welfare and self sufficiency and the programs we have for the youth and the missionary services etc. he goes on and on. Then he talks about the gospel and church. Its an incredible talk.




I think about these things all the time, but really those not the most incredible things about our church and about this gospel. Its the power it has to change lives, to make bad men good and good men better. It is the authority and priesthood of god that makes it so incredible. It is love of the members that know what they believe and serve god and eachother with all their hearts. Its revelation from god that we can gain on ANYTHING for ourselves and for those within our stewardship. We can pray to our loving heavenly father ask him a question and he will answer. We have temples to understand better gods plan and to be sealed as families forever. We have the promised blessings of exaltation if we do the small task of keeping the commandments (which are really given to us to make us happy... so why wouldnt we want to follow them?) We have a prophet and apostles and leaders and visiting/home teachers. Its the knowledge we have of the fulness, and its through the restoration of the gospel we have these things. This is our unique message to the world and its the only thing we need to have a testimony because if we know the book of mormon is true and we know that Joseph Smith is a prophet then the rest of it falls in to place. it happened or it didnt, and I can testify that it did happen. Thats that. Its that simple, but somehow people think its much more complicated. I hope that even if you are not a full time missionary, that you watch for opportunities to help people build their testimonies in this member or non member, we all needs strengthening in our testimony and this, next to knowing that Jesus Christ is our savior, should be the strongest part of our testimony.



This week was a great one. The highlight of the week was with Cheryl Mars- we set a baptism date with her! YAY! She was a little hesitant, but we knew that she would be confident in her decision after teaching her a little more (We've only had a couple lessons with her). So we went to teach her yesterday at the Keislings home (they are the family that referred her to us) and it was a great lesson. We were planning to talk about the plan of salvation but when we started asking her about what she was reading she had questions about the book of mormon still, so instead we spent the lesson talking about the book of mormon. It was an intense lesson, where brother keisling just layed it out in the boldest way possible. Every time I read 2 Nephi 29 I want to read it with the people that tell us that they have the bible and thats all they need. Brother Keisling pulled out the big guns and read it to her. I dont think it would have the same effect coming from us, two missionaries who have been born and raised in the gospel, but coming from brother keisling it was POWER! He is a convert of 8 years and his father is a baptist minister, so as soon as he started talking about authority from god it was all over and the things he said made her thing. by the end of the lesson she knew all she needed to do was to read the book of mormon. I cant wait for her to progress and to start reading. She is so prepared and so incredible. I love this gospel and I dont deserve for one bit all the blessings I get from Heavenly Father. I am so lucky to get to teach her!



One really funny moment before I wrap this up: Wednesday we showed up for an appointment early and so we parked by our investigators (diane) house and we were going to just go talk to other people so we were praying before we got out of the car and 1/2 way through the prayer there was a knock on the window. I rolled down the window and there was Dianes granddaughter and she said "oh, HI, are yall prayin'?" we laughed and said yes and she just asked if we were there to see diane and if we were planning to knock when we were ready to see her. haha we told her we would knock in like 20 minutes, we just had some other people to talk to. After she left we went back to praying but we laughed through the whole prayed because it was interrupted by someone to ask if we were praying.



Well. I think thats enough for today. I am grateful for all my many many many blessings and for this gospel. It can change your life no matter what stage you are at.



Love you all!

Sister Webb