October 10, 2011 letter

Another week down, and this week I have some VERY exciting new. Sister Horan and I are expecting :) haha. Yep, thats right.. in the middle of my training, I will be training. I cant really figure out if I should call her my daughter or my sister because technically she is both. We got the call wednesday afternoon that we are getting two new children here in troy. Both sister horan and I will be training and Elder Olsen will be training a fresh missionary as well. Im pretty excited for it, It will be fun to have a 3rd sister and another companion.

This week was full of some of the most spiritual times and some of the funniest moments I've had so far. We'll start with the funny:

#1 So first off, last monday we went to the Ryans house for dinner, which was delicious. and usually I can stomach anything, even if I dont like it but there was something about that night because i was having the hardest time eating the cooked spinich.... YEAH, Spinich. Not even anything weird. and I had a heaping serving of it on my plate. Naturally i didnt want to be rude and NOT eat it, but everytime i ate a bite I started to gag a bit, So every opportunity I had when no one was looking I would take a huge forkfull and throw it onto Sister Horans plate. Then she would laugh, everyone would look at us confused, and then it would happen again. No one ever found out.

#2 Elder Egbert is going home this week and for the last 6 weeks has been telling people that hes been out a little over a year. So this week he started to tell them the truth. Most of them were a little shocked but President Salmons reaction was the BEST. The conversation went something like this:
Elder Egbert: So I have some bad news, I wont be here in troy any longer, Im actually heading home. This was my last transfer
Pres. Salmon: Well ELDER, You need to get on the phone with Salt Lake Immediately, like today, and tell them you are staying for another Transfer.
Elder Egbert: haha yes sir, I would, and i would love to. But I have commitments at home now.
Pres Salmon: What commitments, you are needed HERE.
Me: Under my breath... oh hes just got a couple dates lined up (which is true, but i didnt mean for anyone but sister horan to hear it... turns out president salmons got ears like a BAT)
President Salmon: ELDER, IF THAT IS TRUE AND I GET AN ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE NEXT COUPLE MONTHS, I WILL COME UP THERE AND SHOOT YOU!!!!!

President Salmon is super funny and has a very booming voice that is semi scoling whenever he gets passionate about whatever he is saying. It was hillarious.

#3 mei mei is one of the chinese students that we are teaching. Usually we meet them, there english is terrible, and then three weeks later they're english is amazing.... Mei Mei's english is getting worse I think. She is super funny all the time and never really understands what we are talking to her about. I think we have taught her the restoration like 7 times because she isnt getting it. This week we are trying flash cards and pictures to explain. Cross our fingers. Saturday we were at the church for the Baptism of Alicia and I overheard mei mei asking like 3 or 4 different people if she could just call them sister, because she cant pronounce or remember their names. So she just calls everyone she meets brother or sister.

I really dont know if any of those will be funny to anyone that wasnt there... but we have some good laughs over them, Especially right after dinners because we all get on sugar highs from all the desserts we are fed. Then like an hour later we crash. I have never had so much dessert in my LIFE!

Now a few of the other cool things that went down this week:
Hector (cheng) Baptised Alicia on saturday and he did AWESOME! It was so great to watch him use his priesthood. Then Sunday he blessed the sacrament for the first time. President Salmon is trying to get him and Alexander (another recent convert) prepped to recieve the melchizedek priesthood soon. Im super excited for them!

We have been visiting a less active lady at work (her name is jessie) and her coworker miss hassie is a non member. Usually Jessie doesnt let us share a message because they are at work, but the last couple times she has let us. The best part is, is that Miss Hassie then takes our message and shares it in her sermons at her church. Last time we gave her a talk on the atonment and this last week we gave her a testimony of the book of mormon from the October Ensign. THEN  Jessie let us say a prayer, which NEVER happens. EVER. So that was awesome. We got talking about temples and geneology because her husband is very into it and she said we could come teach her at her house. We are making progress :)

Jason is progressing really well, He is golden. He just eats up everything we tell him and then goes and shares it all with his family. This week we taught him about the plan of salvation and talked to him about baptism. He hasnt picked a date yet, but hopefully will in the next couple lessons.

I say it every week, but there is so much I love about this gospel. There are so many blessings that come from living life the way we should and I know that it is true. I know without a doubt that the book of mormon is the word of god and I know that god loves each and every one of his children. I know that the smallest of problems we face are big to him because they are a problem to us. I know prayer works and I KNOW God and his son Jesus Christ Live. I love you all! Have a great week. and if you have time watch this testimony of the Book of Mormon by Elder Holland. It is one of my favorite talks I have EVER heard. There is power in his testimony. http://lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng&media=video

Sister Webb

we did some service saturday for a lady and this is the spider we found...

Our chinese converts made us a whole chinese meal friday for lunch.

these are our friends we made last week: Hans, frans, Helga, and sandy

what we did with our friends shortly after making them

October 3, 2011 letter

What the?! how is it October already? and how have I been on a mission for almost 2 months and in the field for a month already? Time is flying and it is crazy. I am going to be home before you all know it, and life will be completely different!

 

This week was a great one, as usual. I did however have my first 'I feel completely inadequate to be doing missionary work' break down that lasted about 5 minutes. It started with my laughing about something ridiculous that I did, which happens quite often as a new missionary, then i cried for a couple minutes and realized that I didn't want to be crying and that I am doing just fine and so i started thinking about funny things that had happened and so i was laugh/crying and ended with more laughter. All this was happening while my companion sat across the table from me not really sure if she should console or laugh with me or at me.. so she concluded by just saying "that was the weirdest crying session/missionary break down I have ever seen, and I have seen alot"

 

In all reality those feelings happen quite often. Its amazing that the lord trusts 19 year old boys and 21 year old girls to do something as important as being missionaries and spreading his gospel. We walk away from lessons just being so thankful that we have the spirit and the lord making up for our shortcomings. Such is life though. We try as hard as we can to be the best we can and its never quite enough. THAT is why we need the savior, because at the end of our lives we WILL fall short, but through the atonement and grace of Christ we can still make it to where we want to go and if we do our best, he will make up for the rest. Its such a comfort having that knowledge to pick me up those days that I feel down.

 

So on a happier note, It was conference weekend!! How great is the prophet!?! I love watching and hearing him speak and his funny mannerisms. He always has the greatest stories and is always so happy. There were so many good things that I learned. I loved the talk about 'its better to look up' That sometimes in life (and on a mission) you feel weighed down by the things that you have to do, but instead of looking at the floor and letting it affect you, we can always look to god and with him anything is possible. I loved Richard G scotts talk about the scriptures (he always hits home for me) I loved that he refered to them as our friends that if we just read them they are aquaintences and if we study them they become friends and then if we memorize them they become the deep rooted friendships that you know you can always count on when you need a pick me up. I love all the talks that were given on charity and service. and President eyrings talk on what we can become through our baptismal covenants.... OK they were all really good. So now everyone should email me back immidiately and tell me what their favorite part of conference was!!

 

So this is already a long email.. So i will just leave you with a couple cool experiences that happened this week:

#1- The Elders have a girl that they have been teaching for a while that is getting baptized this weekend. Her name is Alicia. They were getting her baptism program all worked out with speakers and such and they asked her who she wanted to baptize her and she decided to have Cheng (or Hector) one of our converts that was just baptized do it for her!!! He was so proud and honored and the spirit was so overwhelming when she asked him... it was incredible. I am so excited for his to already be exercising his priesthood that he recieved last week. Its going to be an amazing experience.

 

#2- Cheng and Heather (two of our converts that got baptized a couple weeks ago) are now dating, which is great! We taught they about missions and the temple and they both said they want to go to the temple and to serve full time missions in a year. Cheng is already studying preach my gospel and we are getting one for Heather this week so that she can begin preparing also. They talk to all their friends back at home in china and are such good missionaries. Even with their limited knowledge of the gospel, they stand up for everything that they believe and the few things that they know. Its so great.

 

Well i think that is good... I usually write a list of things that i want to talk about so my emails arent so long and scattered, but I didnt have time this morning... so i appologize for the length and hope that you are still reading this. :)

 

Love you all! Keep on Keepin' on!
Sister Webb

September 26, 2011 letter

HI ALL!

This week has been great, as usual. We are running a little late today, so this email has to be brief (I still need to email my mission president too) Highlights from this week:

#1- We had Zone conference this week, which was awesome! It was so uplifting to hear from our mission president and the other leaders in our mission. All the elders are scared of the sister, which is funny. We have such a unique area here in troy because we see and interact with the two Elders here on a daily basis, so we are pretty close with them. Elder Egbert said that when he use to come to Zone conferences with the Troy missionaries he thought we were breaking rules because we all hung out together and rode in the same car and what not... but now he understand that it is just part of the area that we are in. We talked alot about having faith and finding people and serving everyone. It was great.

 

#2- We put together a fireside on campus for people to come and attend... we have them every couple weeks and slowly they are gaining people. This week We had the Ryans come and speak to us and they did such a good job. Sister Ryan grew up in Chile and shared her conversion story and told us how she came to be in the US and talked about how christ has an influence in her daily life. Then brother ryan talked about becoming child like and thus becoming child like. He shared this awesome quote: "Some of us most wish ... that we could be born old and grow younger and cleaner and ever simpler and more innocent until at least with the qhote soul of little children we lay us down to eternal sleep" - channing pollock we had a couple investigators come to that, so i think it was good for them to meet some of the members.

 

#3 We had another really cool finding experience this week with a guy named Jason. We showed up for a lesson at our meeting place about half an hour early. (usually we are 10 minutes late, so this was a miracle) there was a guy standing outside waiting for the rain to pass and so we stopped to talk to him. It was a very easy conversation that we eventually turned into the gospel and he seemed really interested. We told him about the book of mormon and he asked if he could get one of those. We gave him one and then told him we were about to have a lesson and that he could stay if he wanted, so he did. He asked alot of questions during the lesson and seemed very eager to read the book of mormon. We have invited him to a couple things and he has come and we are meeting with him again tomorrow to teach him a second lesson. He told us at the end that he didnt feel like anything happens by accident and that meeting us wasnt an accident. It was awesome. I cant wait for tomorrow.

 

#4- We got to go to womens conference saturday which was amazing! the messages shared were so good, I especially loved Elder Uchdorfs talk on things we must not forget. I was sitting there with 15 other women in our small little church watching all the people that attended the conference and realized how much I have always taken living among so many mormons for granted. The vast number of people that can fit in the conference center has never had that big of an impact on me until saturday night because i was in this small town called Troy alabama watching thousands of mormons gather in one place. The church really in incredible. I feel so blessed to be a memeber of it.

 

#5 I get those same feelings when I go to church. Fast and Testimony meetings are so great here because you have the silence that so many people are scared of. It give you time to ponder and to feel the spirit and to LISTEN to what the holy ghost is telling you. I have received so many personal revelations during church the last couple weeks and I know that if we go to church expecting to have our prayers answered, that we will get our answer.

 

I taught the primary kids again this week. I dont know if I mentioned the last time I taught it a couple weeks ago, but the children were OUT OF CONTROL. i did not know how to keep the entertained and quiet, and I dont think they learned a single thing...but THIS WEEK was much better. We created a sticker chart so they have to be good the whole class to get a sticker and when they get 6 stickers they get a treat. The kids were so good. It was awesome. The chinese students get so excited every week because we allow one of them to come to teach the primary kids with us.

 

One last thing about church: Cheng got the priesthood! :) We were so happy. He is such a solid guy. I'm so excited to see the things that he is going to do in his life and in the church.

 

....Well I always say they are going to be short, but they never are. That was kind of long. Missions are hard but so rewarding. Life is good. The church is true and I have a more solid testimony now than ever before. If you feel like you are losing site of that, just read the book of mormon because it does as joseph smith said and brings you closer to god. It testifies of christ and it contains answers to every questions you could ever have.

LOVE YOU ALL!

 

Sister Webb

September 19, 2011 letter

What a great week its been this week! I always feel like I have so many things that I want to share about the incredible things that happen on a mission, but I wont share them all.... Here are just a few highlights:

We had our Baptism on Saturday and it was GREAT! We baptised 3 chinese students (Cheng, Ting Ting, and Heather). We had to scramble a bit to find white clothes that fit them all, but we got it all worked out and had some amazing talks and the spirit was SO strong. One of the guys that baptised is named Alexander and he has only been a member for like 3 months, so that was an awesome experience for him. After we were done, we were talking to Heather and she just smiled at us and said "it feels SO good". At coordination meeting with the branch president sunday he told us some pretty amazing things about the Troy Area. He said that Troy is an area that the first presidency is constantly keeping an eye on. That they often ask about the work that is going on here because of the international program here at the school. He said that he has had many spiritual impressions concerning Cheng and Heather, that they did not come to Troy to go to school, but they came to learn about the church, to become strong members so that when they go back to China they will be instrumental in spreading the Gospel in their country. I can see that in them. They have only been taking the lessons for a little over a month each and Heather has read the whole Book of Mormon in chinese and is reading it in english now and she is already talking to everyone about the gospel; and Cheng, He is INCREDIBLE his spirit is so strong, he does everything we ask him to and is so determined to live ever commandment for the rest of his life. When we asked him to get baptised he laughed and said "I wonder what my parents will think.... *pause*... It doesnt matter what they think, I want to do it" Its such an amazing feeling to know that I get to be a part of such an important work, that the people that I am teaching will someday bring the gospel to China.

We are teaching so many people, it is great. We go to set up an apointment with someone and we have to schedule them into the next week because our schedule is so packed. We found 8 new investigators this week and that is on top of our 10 or 11 that we are already teaching consitantly. Its great to see that when you do what you are supose to that the lord blesses you and puts people in your path that he knows is ready to hear the gospel. We found one guy the other day, Kai, He was sitting on a bench in the park and we were talking to a girl close by. When we finished talking to her, we headed in his direction and stopped to share a message with him. We didnt even get a chance to really say much before he said... You are missionaries? What do you believe? So we asked him about his religious background (baptist, as most people here are) we told him about why we are so unique and told him about the book of mormon and gave him one, We challenged him to read some of the chapters in 3 nephi about christ coming to visit the americas and he said "honestly" at this point we thought he was going to say that he didnt think he wanted to, because that is what we get alot... but then he said "I will probably read more than that" YEAH!!!! we were so happy. So we gave him a couple more chapters to read and we are meeting him on wednesday.

Things are great with my companion as usual... We get alot done and get along really well which is important in a companionship. She has alot of great ideas and is very motivated.She knows why she is on a mission so she works very hard. She has spent her whole mission so far in Troy so she knows what she is doing here and where to go for answers when we need them. I am so grateful for her as a trainer, I learn alot from her.

The gospel is so amazing and I am growing more and more grateful for it each and every day. I might not know everything that I feel like I need to in order to teach people, but I know that the church is true, that God has a plan for each of us and it started before we came to earth and will continue after we die. I know that Central to that plan is our savior Jesus christ and that Without him and his atonement, the plan would fall apart. That He didnt have to suffer for all our sins, that he had a choice, and he chose to go through with it because he loves us that much. I know that the happiness we feel here on earth when we do what is right is only a small part of what we will feel in the next life if we are faithful to the end. I hope that we can all keep the eternal perspective and remember that we are all children of a father in heaven that loves us very much and only wants the best for us.

I love you all and Hope that Everything is going well.
Sister Webb

September 11, 2011 letter

Looking back on the week is always so crazy to see how much one can really accomplish in such a short amount of time. Even the emotional roller coaster that you can go through from day to day is incredible. as promised this week.....PICTURES! 

This is sister thomas, my companion from the MTC.

all the sister from my district in the MTC. sister thomas went to louisianna, but the other two are here in tallahassee with me.

The whole district from the MTC

Some other sister. We all look awkward. my companion (sister horan) is the one doing the thumbs up.

Sometimes we feed the Elders, but they arent allowed in our house... so they sit outside and we put the table in the doorway. People must think we are so strange.

So this week has been awesome. We started off with an awesome fireside last tuesday where president jensen came to speak to us about the docterines of christ. It was set up by us for invesigators so it was a small crowd, but he threw down the baptism card pretty hard and it was extremely beneficial because CHENG IS GETTING BAPTISED! he is such a stud. He is super smart and takes it everything we teach him. He has been in america for like a month and met the missionaries after being here for like 3 or 4 days. He chose to be baptised with the other two so Saturday we have 3 baptisms. Its going to be so great. We are hoping to get Li to commit soon, she believes everything but because of the culture, she has reservations with a man baptising her... So we are trying to teach her about the priesthood, and hopefully she will commit soon.

We had some really great experiences contacting this week. We found a couple gentlemen who are deaf, but they were very friendly and we talked to them with the little bit of broken sign language that sister horan and I have and we are meeting with one of them tuesday so we got special permission from president to brush up on some signing skills. Then later that day we started talking to a lady who is a janitor here at Troy and she just kept telling us to do what we do. She said that even without our name tags she can tell that we are doing good and that we carry christs name because of the light she can see in us. That even from a distance she can tell it is us because we glow. We've all heard that we have the light, but it was amazing to hear that she could see that light. I guess the sisters have tried teaching her, but she isnt really interested in another faith, but it was awesome to talk to her, she said that if she ever has anyone that needs to hear about the gospel she will get their name and number for us so we can go teach them.

I wish I would have studies more on other beliefs before I got out here. Its been really interesting talking to people about what they believe. We had a guy tell us that he believed that the gods mated with giants and that earth was a punishment for that, and we talked to a man about being agnostic and another about the hindu religion. We also went to an old abandoned masonic temple this morning and maybe besides the first guy, most of the time you can see that every religion has a little bit of the truth. You can see where the apostacy has played its role, but that so many people are searching for the truth.

Sundays are always great. Sister Horan and i switch off teaching primary each week, so It was my turn.. 7 children between the age of 5-7... they were out of control haha. I brought one of the chinese students with me (temporary splits so that some of them can go to RS)... it was a disaster to say the least haha. I think they took advantage because i was knew. They were all really funny though. We also got to watch the CES fireside with the YSA sunday night and it got me so excited for conference in a couple weeks. I had prayers answered through elder oaks and his wife.

This upcoming week is jam packed, We have so much going on and not enough time to do it, which is every missionaries dream I suppose so I am grateful to be in an area where the work is going so well!

I hope everyone is doing good. I love the work and I love the gospel. Study the scriptures and pray often and you will see miracles.
Love,
Sister Webb

September 6, 2011 letter from the mission field

Hi All!

P-days are usually mondays, but because it was labor day, everything was closed yesterday.

 

Welp, I made it through my MTC experience. The last couple days of the MTC were great. We were all ancy and ready to get out in the field and the lessons we had got us way pumped to get out and serve. The final lesson we had in the MTC was one that my teacher (brother prawett) decided to teach based on prmptings of the spirit and it felt like it was for me. We talked and practiced teaching how the savior would teach. In our role plays we taught the first lesson (the restoration) and halfway though he stopped me and my companion and we talked for a while and he said that although we were teaching great and that we had the spirit that the story seemed insignificant; that besides the atonement of christ the story of the restoration is one of the greatest moments in history. So we tried again. I then got one of the most powerful witnesses I have ever recieved of the reality of what happened in the sacred grove. It was so amazing... so that is what I will try to do through my whole mission. Teach as the savior taught and try my very best to become like him.

 

We spend tuesday traveling. I got a whole 2 hours of sleep before we had to wake up and take sister thomas to the bus to head out to baton rouge. I got a chance to talk to most of my family in the airport which was great! President and Sister Jensen are incredible people. When they were called to serve they got rid of everything. they sold all that they had, gave their cars to their kids, invited a less fortunate family in the ward to live in their house, rented out their land to be farmed and sold or DI-ed everything inside the house because as sister jensen said 'it was all just stuff we didnt need to think about while we were serving the lord'. i thought that was such a great attitude and something that I could work on... not worrying about anything but the work I am doing. We came out with 16 elders and sisters, which is a HUGE group so we all just got to know eachother talked about the mission rules and went to bed. Sister Jensen made us breakfast and we left to go meet our trainers!

 

So I am in an area called Troy. I am in Alabama...the most northern part of the mission. There are two sets of missionaries here. My companion (sister Horan) and I are assigned to the Troy campus and the surrounding apartments. The elders here are Elder Olsen, who has been here for about 6 months and Elder Egbert, who is also new and is on his last transfer before he heads home. I love it here, it is so different than the missionary work i was expecting because I am on a college campus but it is great. We participate in alot of the YSA activities and when we contact people we just walk around campus talking to students instead of tracting (although we do tract the apartments every once and a while) There are great things happening here. We are teaching a handful of people, half of which are students that are here from China. Troy university had a great international program, so alot of the students here are from other countries. Its so great teaching them because of the simplicity of everything we are telling them. They learn about the most basic things to our gospel and it changes their lives.  It has really even helped me to take a step back and remember the most basic things we base our testimonies on. Its so great. We have 2 investigators that are set for baptism on the 17th of September (heather and ting ting) and a couple more that are getting really close. We also do things like scripture study, where they come read the book of mormon outloud to practice their english and we teach an ESL class and help them with any questions they have with classes and to help them with their pronounciation.

 

Let me tell you about my new Comp.... She is awesome. Her name is Sister Horan. She is from colorado and has been on her mission for about 6 months. I am the second missionary she has trained (she was only out for 6 weeks before she trained her first missionary) and she is such a strong missionary. She has been in Troy here whole mission so far. She is a music major that plays the trumpet and sings really well. She is way funny and very outgoing which is great. She is super patient too, which is also great because you need that to be a trainer. They started a new training program where you are with your trainer for 12 weeks instead of 6, so I will be her companion for at least 3 months.

 

There is so much i feel like I could tell you! I would be lying if I didnt feel inadequate from time to time. I want to be the best of the best and instantly good but that doesnt usually happen. It takes time. I feel like I have so much to learn and to grow that how I can teach these people when i am still learning myself. But they I follow and prompting of the spirit and I realize its not me teaching anyways, its the spirit. So i continue to trust in that and amazing things happen.

My favorite part of the work so far is the simple prayers of an investigator. They are so incredibly humble and sincere. They bring the spirit so strong and you cannot help but smile. Prayer is powerful. There is nothing like it. heavenly father hears and answers them.

 

I love you all and hope the best for everyone!

Scripture of the week: either 12:27

 

Sister Webb

August 29, 2011 letter from the MTC

P-days are not a relaxing day here at the MTC... we run from thing to thing all day long and this week we added packing on top of everything, so its been crazy today and we are currently skipping dinner to email (dont worry they feed us so much here skipping meals is a good thing)

 

I cant believe its my last day here at the MTC. Its gone by SO fast. I look back to where I started 3 weeks ago and i can already see how much a mission has blessed me and I cannot wait to get out and focus on everyone BUT myself for a while.

 

I am so sad to leave my companion and the other girls in our zone. They are all such amazing sisters, they will tear up their chosen missions. A couple nights each week the elders get to have a sit down with the president and ask him any deep spiritual questions that they want and we sisters were feeling a little gypped (spelling might be wrong) because we just have to talk about our feelings every couple nights. So sunday we got to have our own sit down with the branch president and one of the sisters asked him why he thought there were so many more sisters serving now-a-days and so we had the most incredible lesson on the importance of women in gods eyes. It was amazing to hear the things that he told us, and I got the most powerful confirmation that I really am a daughter of god and that he loves me so much. we also talked about random things like what happened to the good people during the flood times and about the spirit world. AWESOME!

 

There has been some drama here in district 24... one of the sisters has a BF who is also serving here at the MTC and they are not following rules very well, but not breaking any that will get them sent home... so that has been interesting. Then my companions ex-fiance turned up as a security guard working the front booth and she ran into him... that was extremely awkward to be standing there for because that was the first time she had seen him since she called off the engagement (she didnt call it of to go on a mission but called it off then had some amazing promptings that a mission was where she was suppose to be in her life)

 

I went to the temple for the last time in a year a half. I am really sad about that. I love going to the temple. I am going to miss going every week. Last week we did sealings which was awesome and this week we did a session with our whole district plus alot of our zone. I wish I could send you pictures of everyone, but the MTC computers wont allow it... so i will send some pictures next week WHEN I WILL BE IN FLORIDA! 

School started this week, so we got new teachers. It was weird switching half way through and having to get use to new teachers... Everything they are teaching is so new and constantly changing... So we might be the least prepared missionaries to ever enter the field. (its ok we'll learn fast) because our teachers switched... we had to start over with our lessons that we teach them so i have yet to ever actually teach the 3rd or 5th lesson to a fake investigator.... i guess i will learn fast in the field! also we havent had planners at all while we have been here, so i have no clue how to fill one of those out. again. I will just learn it from my trainer. 

 

Sister thomas and i made a goal one day for 100% obedience in EVERYTHING... which usually we are pretty good, but we did awesome the day we tried and it was so cool to see how we were blessed for our obedience. We had killer lessons where we committed to baptism on the first lesson. Our TRC lessons went awesome. sister thomas swears she played better in volleyball than she ever has in her life that day because of our obedience haha. 

 

Friday we had in-field training where they pretty much told us that everything we are learning here is nice, but its really all about getting people to be baptised. If they are not baptised they can not receive exaltation... so that is that... It got us all pumped to get out in the field and start though! President gubler gave us some pass along cards for the plane rides and i bought an extra book of mormon just in case! 

 

The departing district on our branch has to perform the musical number in sacrament on sundays... so a couple of us sang come thou fount. it was awesome! Yep, that is right.... I sang in front of people and not in a big choir. I was worried for a while that i was going to be the only sister, but the other two stepped up and sang with me. But its always been on my bucket list to sing in front of people... so check check! 

 

I love this gospel, I love the things that I am learning. I have a testimony of the book of mormon and the power it can have in our lives and in conversion. Hope everyone is doing well. If anyone would like to send me a letter in the field my address is:

1535 Killearn blvd ste C-3

Tallahassee FL 80239

 

Love you all!

Sister Webb

August 22, 2011 letter from the MTC

Hello!

So this might be the fastest email I ever write in my life, my companion and i are running really late for everything today  (even though it is P-day) because her ear has been bugging her so we just sat in the doctors office for the last hour and a half for a 5 minute appointment. We were suppose to start our laundry at 430 and didnt get in there until like 4:45... so here we are.

Anywho, this week has been AWESOME! seriously, I love it here. I have zero regrets about coming on a mission now that I am here. I will be honest, i was getting really nervous that last week. They say that once you hit your first sunday that the rest of your time here flies by (they call it glory sunday) and they were right. I dont know where this last week has gone. Its gone by so fast, and I leave in one week from tomorrow for the field. We got our travel itinerary a couple days ago.

 

we got 4 new sisters in our branch this week, they are going to Minnesota, Jamaica and California.one is a convert and its cool to see/hear her side of missionary work. Its been nice having more sisters! I have had to juggle my schedule around alot this week because of my coordinating sister duties, and I always feel so bad because I have to drag my companion around to everything, but I guess she got me back today by dragging me to the doctor with her.

 

Things are really great still with sister thomas. I feel like I have been best friends with her for years. We get along so well. It just reminds me so much of what Bishop Ross use to say about laughing together and worshiping together.... its the perfect combo. We can laugh and have fun when its appropriate and get down to business and be very spiritual when needed. I couldnt have asked for a better first companion to start off my Mission with.

 

There has been a little bit of drama within our branch because one of the sisters has a boyfriend that is also here at the MTC. She is way more focused on him that she should be so all the leadership has had to get involved and its been crazy trying to deal with that. Lets just say that the mission has made me way more confrontational than I think I have ever been in my whole life. I think its a good thing. Sister tuliloa is still one of my favorite people ever. She has such an incredible spirit, plus shes Polynesian... so that makes me love her so much more.

 

We have had so many awesome experiences teaching this week. We finally committed one of our 'progressing invetigators' to baptism which was awesome for us, because sister thomas and I have very different teaching styles. We've had to really work on how we teach together to be most effective for the investigator. We also teach at a place called the TRC which is where they have all the volunteers come or staff that we only teach once and all of our TRC investigators are golden, they love the messages that we share with them and seem like they really want more when we are done teaching. I cant wait to get out into the field and teach people for real.

 

I also have learned so much about prayer while I have been out here. I mean I have always had a strong testimony of it, but it is amazing how fast prayers are answered here. We counted this morning and on average we are saying about 20-25 vocalized prayers a day, plus all the prayers you say in your heart before you start teaching or while your companion is teaching. The other day sister tuliloa joined us for our companionship prayer and night and we asked her to say it... so she did.... in SAMOAN! the spirit was so strong when she was praying that it really just engulfed us!

 

This week we had David F Evans from the seventy come speak to us as well as stephen allred last night and he is over the missionary department. They both gave incredible talks. Sometimes it is a little exhausting to be preparing for investigators all the time so its nice when you get a little bit just for yourself. I have started taking my Book of mormon with me to the gym and read it while I am biking or something so that I can read a little for myself.  

 

sorry for the abrupt ending, but i am almost out of time....
I love the work, the church is true and letters are always welcome! :)

 

Sister Webb

August 15, 2011 letter from the MTC

So this week has been awesome. It feels like I have been here for weeks already. You really learn so much when you are at the MTC. I am sure you know what goes on here, but basically you are just in class or teaching an "investigator" or practicing teaching an investigator all day long. I came in thinking I knew how to teach, and I was wrong. I am learning so much about following the spirit when I teach, I have already had so many incredible experiences with it, and I have only been here for 4 days. I grateful for the blessing of retention that President Downs gave me when I was set apart because you need it here. It gets really overwhelming at times trying to remember and practice everything they are teaching you to do. There have already been highs and lows and I am sure that the mission will be the same way.



My companions name is Sister Thomas. She is from Lindon Utah and she is AMAZING. We get along so well. I am so blessed to have her as a first companion. She works hard when we need to work hard, and we laugh alot when we can have a good time, we have the same goal of being the best missionary we can be so it is easy to be motivated by her. Every idea I throw out she runs with and she is super open and makes great suggestions too. I dont feel like either one of us are carrying the other, which I love. I was asked to be the coordinating sister for my zone, so I had to go to training meetings yesterday and leave her with the other two sisters in our district, and I was so sad to leave her. It was weird to not be eating or talking to her. we've only known each other for 5 days, but it already feels like we've been friends for years. I know that I will not have this kind of a connection with every companion, which makes me that much more grateful for her. I will send a picture of us next week when I email so you can see her.



The other two sisters in our district are sister tuliloa, who is from America Samoa. She is a little more quiet and reserved but can say the funniest things when she opens her mouth. My favorite one so far has been when we were practicing inviting investigators to be baptized she asked if we were suppose to do that after a first discussion and the teacher said yes. She sat there for a minute and got a panicked look on her face and said "I just pictured myself doing that in my head.... and it did not go so well". The other sister is Sister Eckles. She is from northern california and we get along with her really well too. She is the balance between us all. She can be really quiet or joke and laugh with us. She has a boyfriend here at the MTC too which is crazy, but she doesnt seem too distracted by him. Both sister tuliloa and sister Eckles are coming to florida with me and sister thomas is going to Louisiana (which I am really sad about).



The Elders in our district and our zone are really awesome, and so is our branch president (President Gubler). He is an institute teaching usually and so he gives some really great lessons when he takes over out classes. Their wives have taken on the motherly roll on our lives. They come to relief society with us and give us lots of hugs. Its amazing how close you can feel to people in such a short time when you leave everyone else behind.



I am starting to get use to being here, it really feels like I have been here for weeks. The days are long, but not as bad as I expected them to be. Going to bed early makes waking up at 6:30 every morning lots easier. They say that things get even better after you make it past your first sunday (which was yesterday) So I am excited to see what this week brings.



I am so happy to be on a mission. I know that it was the right decision to come and that I think makes it alot easier to leave everything else behind. I have really come to rely on the spirit this week and recognize the constant companionship that I have with him.



I love you all and hope you are doing great!

Love, Sister Webb

Seven Day

I saw this today on pintrest. Its true.

I cant even believe I am leaving for my mission in one week from today. I am so excited but the nerves have definitely set in. Saying goodbye to people has been the hardest part of everything so far (remember the end of this depressing post). I am, however, way excited to go and teach people about the gospel and share something that has made such a difference in my life. 

Let me tell you about the weeks before you leave on a mission: 

#1. every night i fall asleep thinking of some other little nick nack that i need to buy from the store like safety pins or moleskin for blisters .. tonight i just realized i should probably take some envelopes to go along with my stamps, paper, and pens.

#2 Everyone and their dog wants to see you before you go so you end up scheduling out every meal that you have open to different people. i hear thats what happens on your mission, so it makes sense why you tend to gain weight.

#3 I have thrown out or D.I.-ed more stuff in the last couple weeks than I have in the last couple years.
#4 I have realized that a year and a half's worth of stuff can fit into two bags

#5- the only thing people can think of to say to you is ' the people of ____ are lucky to have you', 'you'll be an awesome missionary' or 'your opinion doesnt matter, your leaving... followed by laughter'

#6 you finally get to start hearing stories of what really happens in the MTC.

#7 You get more gifts when you leave on a mission than you get on your birthday... I had a 'mission' shower from my family (kind of like a bridal shower but for a missionary) and a BBQ thrown by my awesome friend jessie, where people just brought me random stuff... my personal favorite was from Emilee and thats just because of the note attached to it:

(the note says 'just in case you forget something, here is the muggle version of a remembral')


That is all I can think of because I am getting tired.
I have such great friends and so much support. I will love and miss everyone!