December 28, 2014

Hey Hey Hey!

Let me apologize now, Mom, and say that the usb port on my computer today doesn't work... So I won't be sending any pictures. I'm sorry. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to send you guys some pictures.

Man, the phone call on Christmas went by crazy fast! It was great to see Grandma and Grandpa Garrick, too. I always love talking to you guys!! And I apologize for not telling you all about my hospital stay when it first happened :) And Thank you so so so so much for the Christmas package. You don't know how much I enjoyed it!! You guys are the greatest. I continue to enjoy the toffee and the candy actually so thanks for that!

Mom..... SO YOU SAY ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY.... da da ded dda doo IT's MY BIRTHDAY TOOOO... ahahaha happy birthday, Mom!!! You're the best mom in the world and you look even younger than you did when I left! :)) I literally cannot express into words how thankful I am for you and how much I love you.

Things were pretty slow this week! People take the holidays pretty serious here... everyone is partying like all the time I swear. But we had some good experiences teaching this week, although we weren't able to teach much. But on Christmas it was pretty interesting. We were all gathered together as a zone eating and playing around and having a great time, but at the end of our activity we received paper bags full of candy and a few different bags of bath products like shampoo and soap and stuff to take around to some poor people. At this time of year, a lot of very poor people come in from the small towns outside of the city and they basically just live in the streets for a few days. So we took these bags of candy, soap, and fleece blankets that one of the sister missionaries had brought to a bunch of these people. What a humbling experience for me! Here I was, with new socks, a new tie, and a new watch that I had received from my family, and these people with hearts overflowing with joy to have received a fleece blanket because their daughters don't have any. I truly felt the spirit of Christmas this year, and I will be eternally grateful for that experience that we had!

I love you all from the bottom.... OF MYYY HEEEEAAARRT! hahah

FELIZ NAVIDAD Y PROSPERO AÑO

Elder Webb

December 15, 2014

QUE PASA

What's up family! Gotta love Christmas time--am I right or what? I've got this sweet Christmas card that some buddies here in the mission made.... but I can't send you the picture because the computer isnt working!! Computers these days....

Tell everyone who gave me money how much I appreciate it and that I love them so much. The next time I talk to you guys will be on Christmas!! Did you know that?? pretty weird huh? I'll be calling you guys around 10:30... I can't say that it will be exactly on the dot but it should be right around there. Will you send me your skype info? I'm just gonna use the same password and everything that I had the last time we called. Also, bad news Mom... the packages still haven't arrived :(. But don't worry, we'll be keepin a close eye on them.

I don't have tons of time today... and I don't have tons to write about. This week was a pretty normal week. It was the last week of the transfer cycle, and I think most of the zone was ready for some changes. Ha it was a pretty tough week! A few of the investigators that we've been teaching have stopped listening or haven't been coming to church lately! It's always one of the most frustrating things ever. haha. However we have been teaching this young 12 year old kid named Cristofer. He's a stud, and he came to church yesterday! We're really hoping that he can show his family the way, and be an example. That's a lot to ask from a 12 year old kid but we think he's gonna do it!

Today we had transfers! Elder Hernandez and I are gonna stay the same, but we got a new companion today! We're gonna be in a threesome for this transfer cycle by the looks of it. Our comp's name is Elder Smith, he's from Idaho. He's pretty young in the mission, only been here about 4 and a half months. But he's a stud and is ready to learn! Well family, sorry for the short email today but we gotta jet! I love you all heaps and heaps. Talk to you on Christmas! Don't forget to send me your skype info!

Elder Webb

December 8, 2014

Aloha

We actually had a pretty good week here this week! We're still struggling a bit as far as work is concerned, but we're hanging in there! We actually found a couple of pretty good people to teach this week. But we also had a couple of sweet rejections :) gotta love it! haha. It was a pretty busy week this week, we were running around all over the place! On Tuesday, we did divisions with the assistants to the President. I went out to their area with Elder Hallman, one of my best friends in the mission, and one of my good buddies from the MTC. We had a really good time, we had a couple of sweet experiences together too! 

We taught this guy named Juan, who was born here in Mexico but grew up and spent 30 years of his life in the states, he speaks English better than Spanish, so we taught him in English! Which was weird... I've only taught in English like one other time in my mission! But it was sweet. At the end of the day, we bought like a pound of pastor to make tacos :) I'm attaching a pic of it, it was pretty great. That was on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, I went on divisions with another elder in our zone, Elder Lima. Elder Lima and I are good buddies, I've known him for a while now and so I went out to his area! Just for a few hours we were together but I learned a lot from him.

We did a district service project here in our area. Other sister missionaries from the zone came and we helped build a house for this old member in our ward. This guy's name is Maclovio, and he got baptized like 3 years ago, and has been super strong in the church. He is very very poor, and has no family at all. Lives completely by himself. It was a good experience to help him. He was very thankful for the service that we gave him. Even though we were only able to do a little!  On Saturday, President Jordan assigned us to give a tour of the Temple to a branch that was coming from another city. So we were basically their guides for a few hours, talking about the history of the Tampico temple, watching a few different videos, a little bit of food... just a bunch of stuff! They are awesome people, a lot of them were less actives or investigators, which is why we were assigned to help them out, kind of explain how things are done a little bit better. It was a special experience!

Did you guys watch the Christmas devotional yesterday? We did, and I really enjoyed it! More than anything, I enjoyed the music. I worship Christmas music!! Especially from MOTAB. Just a heads up, now that Christmas is coming up, we've gotta start getting the phone calls set up. I'm gonna be able to talk to you guys any time between 10:30 in the morning til 3 in the afternoon. So you guys think about it, and let me know. Also, mom, would you send me maybe like an attached copy of the scrooge story, and the Night Before Christmas story? I would really appreciate it :) I love you guys so much! Thanks for all you do for me. Have a great week!!

December 1, 2014

Whats going on, family!!

Man I miss you guys this time of year! I'm not trunkie I promise I'm just saying :) Looks like you all had a great time at Scott and Julie's! Thanks for sending me some of those great pics! We kinda had a Thanksgiving dinner here, too. It was pretty great. On Friday, we had a mission council meeting for all the zone leaders in the mission, and afterwards we went to the mission home to eat! Sister Jordan made basically a Thanksgiving dinner. It was awesome! It was a pretty special experience eating pecan pie after such a long time.

Things are going pretty good here! All in all, things are pretty normal! This week on Tuesday I went on divisions with Elder Bartholomew. I went out to his area, and we had a really good time! He's a stud missionary, he's one of the district leaders in our zone. We had a great day together. We found a bunch of new people to teach and had just a spirit packed day preaching the gospel! haha. It was pretty great, we taught this one lady and her son early in the day. This lady owns a little cafe thing, and she always has a little taco stand that she puts out at nights (that's the only time taco stands are open by the way... super annoying because we aren't ever out at night). Anyways, they do a lot of tacos al pastor here, which is like this special marinated pork that is awesome. ha. Anyways, she told us to pass by her house before we went home and she could give us some tacos. So obviously we said yes. When we passed by, she came out with this big take out box, a big pack of flour tortillas, and a bunch of salsas. In total, she gave us like 2 pounds of meat!! haha so we cooked it all up when we got home. We ate pretty good that day :)

This week we faced a lot of rejection as far as the work goes! Sometimes it happens. Some weeks it just seems that no one wants to know anything about the gospel. It's tough sometimes but I don't get down on myself. The Lord always blesses his children who have a good attitude during times of trials. I definitely saw that this week. We were blessed to find a few new people at the end of the week that we're really excited about. We're really excited as missionaries to start this new He is the Gift campaign! I imagine you guys have heard all about it. If not, look into it it's awesome!! I love you guys with all my heart. Have a great week this week!!

Elder Webb

#sharethegift

November 24, 2014

HEEEYYYYOOOOO

What's going on everybody! Hey, tell Greg and Miriam and their family that I say Hi!!

As far as the Thanksgiving package, I haven't received that yet. I don't know if it's waiting for me in the mission offices or not, which could be a possibility. Fingers crossed! haha. And I'll do the best I can to wait until Christmas to open my Christmas package. I mean, It would probably be a notable feat if it gets here to me before Christmas in all honesty. But if it does I'll wait until Christmas to open the gifts :)

Man, this week went by sooo fast! It just keeps going by faster and faster. Things are going well though! Really nothing to complain about. I've got a great companion, we're working hard and seeing some success in our area as well as in our zone... things are going pretty smoothly right now! (knock on wood). This week wasn't too eventful, just about as normal of a week as you can get. Aside from that, we had interviews with President Jordan! Always fun to have interviews! Ha.

 We had a pretty decent day at church yesterday! Sundays are always pretty tiring for us because we have to go to all 3 blocks of both of the wards. But it's great because there's this sister in the second ward, just the sweetest lady of all time, that always brings us little sandwiches before the second ward starts :) gotta love her! Beti came to church as well! She is progressing really nicely and we are looking to baptize her the 13th of December! Carolina and her two little kids came as well! I don't know if I've mentioned her before, but she's an investigator that we're teaching right now. She learns a little slower but she's really excited about the church and she looks like she feels comfortable there.

This week we had a couple of interesting experiences. One was actually pretty funny. We went to contact a reference that we had received the other day, and we got to the house but no one was home. We look across the street and we see a lady with her arm in a sling setting up a bunch of chairs in her front yard thing. So we were like, perfect contact moment! So we went over and offered some help, she denied our help but we started to talk with her a little bit and present ourselves and what not. Something wasn't quite right in this contact, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. We asked if we could pass by some day and she said yes, but in a really weird way and it was then that I realized it. This "woman" wasn't actually a woman... It was a man. Turned woman. My comp and I both realized it at the same time, and after that it was just SUPER awkward. Needless to say that I don't think we'll be going back to visit.

The other experience we had wasn't so much funny as it was just awesome! I told you about the "half-drunk guy's sister" a little bit, well, we went to teach her about a week and a half ago and we left a Book of Mormon with her other son that was there with us. We went back this week, only a couple of days after our original visit. She wasn't available to talk but her son was, and we sat down to talk with him for a minute and we asked him if he had been able to read a little bit of the Book of Mormon. He goes, "Yeah, in fact I read the first 15 chapters. It's pretty cool!"  We were like.......uh......... AWW YEAH!! haha the kid's a stud and he's getting his mom a little bit more excited too!

Well, everybody, I hope you all have a fantastic week and remember that I love you all. This is a picture of me and my comp with our autumny ties. Peace!!

Elder Webb

November 17, 2014

Hey Hey!!

What's up everybody. Man, just gotta say, things are going great here!! H--I'm loving where I'm at and how things are going. My companion, Elder Hernandez and I are getting along really well and are working great together! He's a funny kid, super happy and smiley all the time and literally just loves everyone. He's so smooth! We've got a few investigators that are progressing that I'll tell you about in a sec, but to answer your question mom, The "half-drunk guy's sister" is progressing in every aspect except for going to church. So... basically she's not progressing....  but she's getting there :) It was a great experience working with Abad before his baptism but man, I'll tell you what, he's really hit some tough times! He STILL hasn't been able to be confirmed!! And he's literally disappeared--like we have no idea where he could have gone to! Keep him in your prayers, please.

I think my companion would like ANYTHING that you want to give him, not kidding. He's a super humble guy from Mexico City. So like.... honestly, anything. haha. Just surprise us both ;)

So anyways, this week was pretty sweet. A little frustrating at the beginning of the week because I was a little sick with a bad cold but that only lasted a couple of days. We found a couple of investigators this week that are gonna be baptized in about a month!! Haha they are awesome. Both of them are middle-aged women, one named Rosa Maria and the other named Carolina. They both went to church yesterday and Rosa Maria had a special experience with us after sacrament meeting as we taught her, and she accepted a baptismal date for the  for the 20th of December! We're super excited for her. 20th of Dece

Our other investigator, Beti, (pretty sure I mentioned her last week?) is also progressing! She went to church yesterday and everything. On Saturday we had a lesson with her and we had assigned her to read Alma 32 about the seed of faith, and she told us all about her experience. She said that that has been one of the biggest questions on her mind for the last little while, 'how can I increase my faith?'. She said that when she was reading she felt "illuminated", and she felt this deep, strong feeling in her chest that she had never felt before. So we were like, um.... ya that's definitely the Holy Ghost!  And so she's starting very nicely along the path to conversion. This week we're looking forward to a lot of work. The wards here have never been so excited! :) Things are going great. I'm so happy to be a part of this great work! I love you guys with all my heart. Thanks for everything :)

Elder Webb

(Elder McNamara and I at the temple)

(Baptism of Abad)

November 10, 2014

Hey Hey everyone!!

Man... I gotta say, that's terrible to hear about Hunter Dahl. I hope and pray that their family is alright and that they can get through this tough trial.

Things are going well here. The heat/humidity is starting to calm down now, and it's starting to cool off. I'm probably gonna die when I get home because the coldest it will get here this month is like, 60 degrees fahrenheit. And I've already got a cold. haha. But my leg is all better! I've been back to normal for the last week and a half about. Elder McNamara finished his mission today! He ought to be on the plane headed back home already. He'll be going to UVU so maybe if Cam heads over there he'll run into him. Which, by the way, would be way cool if Cam could go to UVU! 

So yes, I got a new companion today. His name is Elder Hernandez. Not the same Hernandez I had as a companion like 4 months ago, but a different one. It's just a super common name in Mexico. haha. But he really is awesome. I love him to death! We were in the same zone some time ago so I got to know him a little bit over there. He's a super humble kid and super ready to get to work! I think he's a little nervous to be zone leader but I'll see if I can help calm himself down :)

This last week seemed to drag on a little bit. With Elder McNamara going home, things just kinda seemed to go slow. It was weird being in a threesome companionship, and I think we probably took it a little too easy this last week and a half that I was back. I think it was a little hard for Elder Mcnamara to focus ;) I don't think I can blame him though. But I'll tell you what, we had some pretty cool experiences this last week. Abad got baptized! It was a really cool experience. He passed through a TON of trials this week, but instead of deterring him from his goal, he took it as a greater testimony of the truthfulness of what he was doing. The computer I'm on today doesn't have a usb port again! So hopefully next week I can get that figured out and send some pics. 

The other night, we were planning on doing a family home evening with a family in one of the wards that we're working in. We show up, and it turns out that they had totally forgotten that we were gonna go over. So, we headed out thinking, "Great, what are we gonna do now?" But we remembered about a half-drunk guy that we had contacted the week before that lived right around the corner, so we decided to go see if he was home! We went, and this lady came out and we told her who we were looking for and she said, "That's my son! Surely Christ sent you!" haha... so we got excited and went inside! We get in their, and she introduces her son to us, but he didn't even say anything to us before running out of the house! He totally didn't want to talk to us hahah it was kinda funny. But the weirdest part is that it was not the same guy that we had contacted before. So we were confused, why were we there? Until the guy's sister came in and sat down and started talking to us with her son. She was confused about religions and really wanted to know the truth. She was so sincere, and even accepted a baptismal date. It was awesome!! My testimony grows each day that God is preparing his children to receive the gospel!!

Well, I love you all. very much. have an awesome week. :)

Elder Webb

November 3, 2014

Hey hey everyone!!

Pictures coming next week. I promise. Mom: while I'm thinking about it, I'm gonna answer your questions :) Things that I would like for Christmas.... hmm.... thats a tough one. In all honesty, I don't need much. More than anything, what I think I would like the most are letters from anyone who wants to write me! But you know, the normal beef jerkey and mom's toffee and some peanut m&ms are great too :) anything Santa wants to send me this year. I've behaved pretty good and stuff.

I don't get many opportunities to play the piano anymore, but every once and a while I'll sit down and tickle the ivory a little bit. I really enjoyed the music you sent me, though! Thanks a ton for all that! Also, THANK YOU for sending me hunting pictures I loved it :)) That was a huge buck that Gary killed! Did he get it in Idaho or Utah? It makes me excited for next fall--not gonna lie :)) 

SO! I'm finally back in my area. I've been back since Friday. Right now, President Jordan put another elder with us for the rest of this transfer cycle, his name is Elder Mercedes from the Dominican Republic. I think President just knows that I get along well with Dominicans so he puts them all with me or in my districts ;) haha but Elder Mercedes is a super funny guy. We have a good time together, although it is a little weird working in a trio like we are, I had never really done it before. But I'll tell you what, There will be a ton of changes around here by this time next week! Elder Mcnamara is going home, Elder Mercedes will probably be assigned to another area, all of our district leaders are also finishing their missions... It's gonna be nuts! But I'm excited for it. I've absolutely loved being back in my area. It's been stressfull, but awesome. After two and a half weeks of not worrying tons about my area and the missionaries and blah blah blah... I've been thrown into the deep end again! But I love it. 

Yesterday especially was just a very spiritual day. Elder Lopez of the area seventy came to our stake conference and he spoke purely about the atonement. I absolutely loved it! He talked all about changing our nature and the importance of coming to an understanding of the atonement and what Christ has done for all of us. He is the reason for everything. I'm starting to understand that much more profoundly lately. But afterwards we just had a lot of spiritual experiences! I think we were just filled with the Holy Ghost. That's the only explanation I can come up with. For example, just a quick experience, we were almost ready to head back home, there were like 20 minutes until we had to be home, but we decided to go and quickly visit a family who had been sealed and everything but havn't been going to church for a while for whatever reason. We stopped by, and we literally shared just small thought and a scripture to them and I was thinking, Man I feel like we just came to teach a lesson and not actually focus on the people. But right as we finished, the Sister started to cry! She started to just thank us for coming to visit her and how this little tiny visit was exactly what she had been praying for and exactly what they needed to boost them back up! Talk about a testimony building experience!

I love this work. I love my savior. I love my family.

Elder Webb

October 27, 2014

FAMMMM

Hey what's up everybody??  Glad you're really enjoying your new calling, Mom!  I'm itchin to see any hunting pictures Dad and Cam have! Things are going pretty well out here. I've never been so happy in my life. Sooo thankful to be a missionary :)

Alright, so first things first, to clear up a little bit about this infection that I had: the doctor never really shed light on how this infection started... I pretty much think that it started as an in-grown hair that I tried to fix myself and that under the heat and humidity of Mexico just got infected. Don't worry mom, I'm doing my best to stay away from the machete-weilders ;).haha. But I'm doing good now! Almost back to normal. I'm gonna be "resting" until Thursday this week. Since last Monday, I haven't been in my own area. While I'm kind of in the recovery stage, they have me in a threesome with the two mission secretaries. So for the last week, I've been archiving and sending out missionary referrals here in the offices. I'm getting my time in as a secretary, hoping that that will look good on a resume in the future ;) But I'm with Elder Olsen, who was my companion in the MTC, and Elder Fausett, who is from Pennsylvania. We're having a blast together, we all get along great. Most of the day, we're in the offices doing office work and we spend very little time actually in the area. But these guys are great. It's really funny because, as I'm not supposed to walk around too much, I totally am I huge responsibility for these guys haha like they have to lug me around to all these places that they have to go and I have to walk real slow. It's pretty dang funny, but I almost feel kinda bad. But Elder Fausett and Elder Olsen are great, they never complain. But yeah, basically this whole week we've been here doing office stuff! I'm looking forward to returning to my own area this week to continue working. Elder McNamara misses me, I just know it! haha. 

I should apologize for this letter, and the one from last week for not being so entertaining or informative. Lots of sitting around, lots of resting, and lots of little office jobs have been the highlights of this week :) But I'm trying not to get too impatient. The offices are fun.  Aside from Elder Olsen and Elder Fausett, Elder Hallman who was also in the MTC with me and Elder Granda who is from Ecuador are here as the assistants to the president and I know them both really well so we all just have a good time! But things are going well. I promise a better letter this next week :)) I love you guys sooo soo much!! Keep up the good work!

Mucho amor, 

Elder Webb

October 20, 2014

HEY everyone!!!

Soo...... this week was very interesting! haha. It was actually reeeeallly boring. We were resting almost all week! It was frustrating for me.... But I had a small infection on my right thigh, so we went to the doctor to get it checked out. He told me I needed a lot of rest and he had me on some antibiotics. I'm feeling good now, but I've still got a few days of rest ahead of me. Haha I've been killing all my free time reading James E. Talmage's 'Articles of Faith'. It's a great book so I've been pretty caught up in that :) But ya, that was basically my week! Lots of rest and lots of reading. 

We did work on Monday and Tuesday of last week before I had to rest, which was good... At least we could get a little something done! On Tuesday I went on divisions with Elder Grover. He's from Idaho. I love him to death--we had a really good time! We worked in his area, and we  had a couple of really good experiences together. We were teaching a recent convert and we asked her for a reference for someone new that we could teach. She told us that her neighbor there across the street just had her husband pass away. We decided to jump at the chance and contact her! We got there and she was really apprehensive at first, but we were extra loving and we talked about The Plan of Salvation and how she will have the chance to see her husband again. That really caught her attention, and she accepted another visit. It was a cool, but very simple experience of how the gospel fills the holes that we have, or create for ourselves, in this life. 

Ha I'm sorry that this letter probably wasn't the greatest one ever... a little pressed on time and a little short on experiences this week, but just know that everything is good with me and I pray for you guys every day.

Thanks for everything!! Get well soon Grandpa!!

Elder Webb

October 13, 2014

Heyyyoooo

I'm looking at these pics from the state golf tournament, and instead of being proud of Cam and the team, I'm looking at the gear and clothes that they've all got and I'm super jealous. Why didn't I ever get that kind of equipment in my glory days??? Nah--just kidding Cam I'm so pumped and so proud of you and the rest of the team. Thats so awesome!!!

We're staying busy here! My companion is from Ohio, but lived in Draper for about 2 years before coming out on his mission. He's on his last transfer in the mission so I'm just trying to keep him alive ;) haha no he's a stud we have a good time together. This week we had a lot of good experiences. We're working, as I think I mentioned, in two wards. Back home, I don't think it's abnormal for missionaries to be assigned like a whole stake or more right? Here it's a little unusual to have two wards for one companionship. It's tough to stay organized, and on Sundays it is a looooong day at church because we have to go to both of the wards. But things are going well! We're seeing the hand of the Lord in our lives and in the area. We've been really praying lately to find the people that the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel, and I think we got an answer to that prayer, at least in part.

We went to look for a young man from the ward named Cristofer, who is preparing to go on a mission and along with his family only have a few years of membership in the church. Now, we had never been to visit this guy before, nor his family, so we show up and we call out to them, and this rough looking guy with a beard and a big earring in his right ear comes out and doesn't say anything to us, but goes back in to call for Cristofer's mom. She comes out and she lets us inside to share a message with her. We were talking to her for a minute, while this other guy was cutting up meat to get ready to put his taco stand out later that night. (Ya dad, I know your mouth is watering right now). Anyways, we start to talk and he actually was a really cool guy! We shared a little bit about Joseph Smith and the restoration, left him a Book of Mormon, and we invited him to go to church and he said we could pass by some other day. 

Well, he shows up at church all fixed up with a tie and everything, telling us that he had read the part in the Book of Mormon that we had left him and that we could pass by later that afternoon. So we go by, and we just had an awesome lesson with him! We were talking for a little bit, and when we started the actual lesson, he gets up and grabs a notebook and a pen to take notes. We kind of laughed because honestly we had never really seen that before! And so he goes, "If you asked me why I grabbed this notebook, I wouldn't know how to answer. If you asked me why I read the Book of Mormon, I wouldn't know how to answer. It just feels good, I like it!" At that moment it totally hit me that, just as Boyd K. Packer says, The gospel will sound familiar to people who have never heard it before because of the light of Christ that everyone has inside of them. Haha and to prove his point a little bit more he tells me, "Grab that book that's on the dresser, and ask me why I read it." So I grabbed it, just a big thick novel titled, 'The eyes of my princess'. I couldn't stop laughing! He said, "I have no clue why I read it. But I did. And I liked it." And he explained that that was how he felt with the Book of Mormon and everything. We proceeded with the lesson and taught him about the Gospel of Christ. Such a powerful lesson. He understood every little thing, to the point that at the end of the lesson he was asking us about all the things that he's gonna need to bring to his baptism on November 8th. Haha. Talk about a golden investigator.

I really feel the Lord is blessing us. Every one of us. Out here in the mission as well as back home. I'm just so thankful for this marvelous work and such a great family that I have to support me. I love you guys so much. Have a great week!!!

Elder Webb

October 6, 2014

Hey Hey Hey!!!

Is it really state tournament already?? Dang.... I was just getting used to the fact that he was just starting golf season again. Man that's just insane to me!! I'll be cheerin you on, Cam, all the way from Mexico! I'd send you a golf towel from Tampico but golf like doesn't exist in Mexico.....sorry....

But wowww this week was a little stressful! haha They put me and my companion in as zone leaders just barely, neither one of us had been zone leaders before, and they put us in charge of two areas instead of one, and obviously neither of us knew the area so we were getting lost all week. But it was good!! Haha Elder Mcnamara is a fun companion. It's weird having an American as a companion in all honesty... we talk in English most of the time, but neither one of us is used to talking English to a companion so like half of the time we have to talk in Spanish just to get the point across. haha it's kinda funny. But we're working well and just trying to get the hang of things as zone leaders and being new in the area. We're in charge of 18 missionaries I think... and like 8 of them are sister missionaries. But I'm loving it. I love working with people! We'll see how these next few weeks go... hopefully more smoothly :)

Was conference not the best thing ever?? I absolutely loved it. It's funny that you mention that, Mom, about the Spanish speakers. We were all watching the session on Saturday in English in the stake center in a group of about 6 missionaries. We watched it in the High Council room. So when the Spanish speaker came on, we went into where everyone else was watching it to be able to watch him speak in Spanish without the English voiceover. It was a cool experience! And I really enjoyed his talk! I think my favorite talks were Elder Holland's in the Saturday session about caring for the poor. I loved that one so much, and I always love Elder Holland's sincerity in his messages. I also loved President Uchtdorf's talk in priesthood session when he talked about taking personal responsibility for everything and being able to see ourselves clearly. "being able to see ourselves clearly is the beginning of all wisdom." We really enjoyed the conference here, I hope you guys did too!!

Well, I'm still thinking and praying for Grandpa Webb to have a speedy recovery. Get well soon, Grandpa, I love you! And I love the rest of you too! Thanks for everything. Tear it up this week Cam!!

Elder Webb

This is the picture of when Jesus was baptized in my last area. Abimael, who we had baptized just 4 or 5 weeks earlier, baptized him  :) it was a special experience and an absolutely beautiful place where we did it!

September 29, 2014

Wassup fam!!

Man... what a week! Lots of traveling, but I'm feelin alright. Good luck to Cam in his big tournament this week, and good luck to Dad up at the deer club guiding! Everything is going well here...we had a tough week this last week workwise, with a couple of trips to Tampico interrupting that a little bit. The definite highlight of the week was Jesus' baptism on Saturday!! It was soo awesome. We hiked up to this one spot about a half hour away just tucked way back in the forest, (very similar to sliding rock in Alpine) to do the baptism. Jesus was so excited and expressed how happy and how good he felt after getting baptized. He told me on the walk back down from the river, "Now, I can declare that this is the true church!" haha it was a good memory.

The bad news of the week is.......... I got transferred :(. I'm trying not to be too sad but, dang, I was so attached to my last area and some of the people we were teaching. It was such a good experience to see that place progress and see such great people get baptized and reactivated. That place is just gonna explode one of these days! I loved it so much. They sent me to be zone leader. They sent me to a neighboring city to Tampico.  

I'm with Elder McNamara, my first American companion!! Haha he's a stud, we actually know each other pretty well from other areas and stuff. We're super excited to be together and get to work here. They've got a lot of problems in the wards (we've been assigned to work in two different wards), and the leadership in the stake in general, but we're gonna have a good attitude and hit the ground runnin! haha It's just a matter of learning the area. We're both brand new here so we'll probably be roamin around, just lost for the next couple of weeks haha. But we're pumped.

I took a few good pictures of the baptism that we had on Saturday, but I forgot my camera in the house! ha so you'll have to wait until next week to see those pics, sorry! But everything's good with me here, I'm so happy to hear that you all are doing well at home. I hope you're all pumped for General Conference this weekend!!! Haha General Conference in the mission is like better than Christmas for me. I'm getting excited! Take care, everybody!! Love you all to death.

Elder Webb

September 22, 2014

YoO

Hey what's up everybody?? Real quick I want to wish Grandpa Webb good luck in his surgery this week. I'll be thinking about you tons, Grandpa! And Gradnpa Garrick sounds like he's making a good recovery which really makes me really happy. Thoughts and prayers with the both of you.

Glad to hear everything is going well at home. Things out here are going great! Loving the work and this area more and more every day. We had a good week overall. It was a little tough in some ways, but we hung in there and were able to see 7 investigators in church this week!! We were super excited about that.

We had zone conference on Tuesday with President Jordan with our zone and the other zone of Elders that are in this area. Man, it was a great meeting!! He talked to us a lot about diligence and success and hard work. He pointed out that our zones are working really hard and doing really well, but we had been declining as of late. He talked about how "the distance from where we are now compared to the success that we desire, is only a small thing", and he talked about how it's really the small and simple things that make the difference. It was a really cool conference, I felt really good about it and felt like I learned a lot.

We've got a lot of good investigators that are progressing right now! Jesus didn't get baptized this weekend, we felt it better to wait until this coming weekend so he could be a little better prepared. But he's doing really well so we're still excited for him.

Marisol, (the sister of Angelica who just got baptized a month ago), is also super excited to get baptized the 11th of October! We actually had a really cool experience with her this week. She had accepted a baptismal date about two weeks ago, I don't know if I ever mentioned that, but we realized that, being under the age of 18, she needed permission from her parents to be baptized. She lives with Abimael and Angelica, and her parents live like and hour away. But her parents are Catholic and do not want any of their kids changing religion. All of them told us how stubborn and tough they are and how they will NEVER give her permission to get baptized. But, the thing was, if she wanted to get baptized, she needed permission from her parents. So, we gave her a priesthood blessing, and did a fast, and prayed and prayed that their hearts would be softened to let her get baptized. At first, the answer from her parents was no, but, sure enough, as she kept sharing her feelings with them and what she really desired, their hearts were softened, and they gave her permission to get baptized. We were so pumped!!!! It was such a big blessing to see that this week. My testimony continues to grow about the power of faith and prayer and priesthood blessings!!

I got your package this week. Those garments and shirts were much needed. Almost as much as I needed those Peachy-O's. Thank you. :) Hope you guys have an excellent week!! Love you all to death.

Elder Webb

Sept. 15, 2014

HEEEEEEEEEyYYOOOOOOO

Wassup famm!!

Man this week was a great week. First and foremost, I'm so glad to hear everyone is doing well, and that Dad and Cam live up at the deer club now. Oh, and quick --s/o to my boy Dillon Headen "big red" for getting a taste of the deer club. I'd better be getting some sweet pics next week! Alright so now that that's out of the way.... This week was great! We got a lot of things done, and continue to see miracles daily. So many people are prepared to receive this gospel. My testimony continues to grow about that. My new companion and I are working super hard and are getting along just great. I'm absolutely loving it :) 

It has been raining a tooooon though. It always gets bad here in September. The good thing is that we're like on the side of a mountain in this area so there aren't many big puddles of water and our house is on the second floor so I'm pretty sure we're not gonna get flooded this year :)

On Tuesday this week I did divisions with and Elder Pantoja from Colombia. I learned a lot from him, he's like 26 years old and he barely got baptized like 2 years ago! He's really a humble guy and we had a good time together. We were invited by the branch president to accompany him and a few others from the branch to go and visit a member family that lives in one of the bazillion native communities outside of the city. so we traveled out to visit them because they haven't been to church in a long time. Man, I thought that being here in this city was humbling but to take a trip out to there was even more so. These people live just off the land and in super humble conditions. It was a good experience and an absolutely beautiful place to visit.

We've been working a lot with one of our investigators named Jesus to get baptized. He's ready and he's been to church a bunch of times with us, but he just needs a little more time to stay away from some addictions that he had. If he keeps clean and everything, we're hoping to be able to baptize him this week. We also had a really good experience with Marisol, Angelica's (the wife of Abimael, that just got baptized) sister this week. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel, and from the get go it was just a spiritual visit. As I shared Joseph Smith's first vision, the spirit was so strong. We all felt it, and in that moment, we invited her to be baptized. Without hesitation, she said yes. We were soo pumped!!!! The spirit is honestly so important in everything that we do as missionaries and members of the church. I've learned that time and time again in my mission. We should do everything possible to always have the spirit with us.

Well, Family, I love you guys so much and am so thankful for your support each and every day. Have an awesome week. ¡VIVA MEXICO! (tomorrow is Mexican Independence Day) :)

Elder Webb

September 8, 2014

Wassup Fam!

Glad to hear everyone is doin well!! And dang, Cam, I'm so pumped that you took 7th at Antigua! That's awesome!! Just gotta work on finishing strong eh? ;) And that's awesome to hear about Lindsey teaching her class. 

Things are really going well here. I am honestly, like, way excited for the direction that things are going right now. We got a surprise this week though, we had special transfers! They changed my companion out of the area and now I'm with a new companion named Elder Espino. The change was way unexpected, and Elder Hernandez was really sad to leave, but Elder Espino and I get along just great and we are really working hard here! This week, we had a lot of success in teaching and finding people to teach and preparing people for baptism. I feel like we're seeing miracles left and right here. Abimael and Angelica are doing grreeeat!! Abimael recently received the Aaronic priesthood, and yesterday he and I blessed the sacrament together. It was a really cool experience! 

One of the biggest blessings that we're seeing right now is that a lot of Abimael and Angelica's family are progressing as well! Yesterday, for example, Abimael's brother Kike, and Angelica's sister Marisol both came to church. They are both starting to get real excited about the church! Kike is a little rebellious but we're workin on it haha. We were gonna have Jesus' baptism this week but he's got just a few things we gotta work on so that he's right ready for his baptism. But he is just great. Such a sincere guy. Yesterday, he even decided that he would get up and bear his testimony! He's a great example to me of how much someone can change if they put their mind to it and if they seek the guidance of our Heavenly Father.

Like I said, we had a few really special experiences this week. I really believe that God is putting prepared people in our path. Yesterday we were leaving church and we passed by a little park bench area and this guy calls after us. I honestly thought to myself, "Oh great, probably someone else who wants to argue about doctrine or something like that. A little reluctantly, we walked over to him. He started to talk to us about how not so long ago he had met other missionaries in a different city, and that as he saw us passing by, he was really curious as to what it is that we do. He said that he is really open to religion and was very very interested when we told him about the Book of Mormon. He told us that he was definitely gonna read it, and we have an appointment this week to go back and teach him. But, the story doesn't stop there! Towards the end of our little chat we had with this guy, another guy from behind comes up and sits down next to me and he asks, seeing the Book of Mormon, "Is that the New Testament?" and so I thought to myself this time, "Alright, if this first guy didn't want to debate about religion, this guy definitely does." But he started to tell me how he was in prison for about 4 years, and that he had found the Book of Mormon and it really helped him to forgive those who did him wrong and he said that thanks to the Book of Mormon, he left the prison a better man. We also set up an appointment with him to teach him a little more about the church. :) 

Just little things like that have been happening this week but I know that when we are constantly doing our best and working our very hardest, God blesses us. I really believe that if we put forth our best effort, God will bless us, often in ways that we could not have imagined.

THanks for everything family!! You know that you're the best family in the world and I love you all. Have a great week and enjoy this pic of me with a stuffed Mexican jalapeño. Peace!

Elder Webb

September 1, 2014

HEEEEEEEY

Man, sounds like things are moving right along back home. Glad to hear Lindsey is doing well out in Mass. and that she's happy. We had a weird week this week... we just kinda felt out of rhythm the whole week! We got a lot of good things done and had some good experiences, just felt a little out of rhythm.

We did have to go to Tampico this week, which is always fun but especially where we're at right now, it's a little bit of an interruption to the work in our area. We had a meeting with all the rest of the leaders from the mission with President Jordan. It was a great meeting! Very spirit packed. Sister Jordan, President's wife, said something at the beginning of the meeting that was really interesting to me and it helped me grasp my calling as a missionary a little more. She said that we are all humble servants of God, and as humble servants of God, we don't deserve ANYTHING for ourselves. I really believe that's true, and I guess I'm trying to become a more humble servant of God. haha.

I learned a little bit better this week the importance of sticking it out until the end of every day. On Saturday we were just having one of those tough days. No one that we had planned to visit was home, not even the member family that had planned to feed us was home for our lunch appointment! haha. It was just one of those days. We had hoped to be able to find a few new investigators that day, but everything was just fallin through. But, I kept tellin myself and my companion that we were gonna be able to find a new investigator by the end of the day. So we stuck with it. We left our last planned appointment at 8:15 at night, and with no other plans, and still without having found any new investigators, we were about ready to call it a day. But we kept walking and decided to go visit a less active member that lived a couple blocks away. On our way there, my companion looked down one of the side streets and saw that the car of a former investigator named Yovani was in the driveway. Neither of us had ever met him before but we new that at one time he listened to the missionaries. So we decided, what the heck, we'll go check it out. So we show up, he was super excited to see us, and he started to tell us how his life has been missing something ever since he stopped talking to the Elders a while back. He was super receptive to the teaching and accepted a date to be baptized. I know now that many times, God waits until the 4th watch to answer our prayers. But he does answer them. Like Thomas S. Monson once said, "Bread cast upon the water returns often times only after a few days. But it does return."

I love you guys so much and I thank you for all your prayers and support!! Good luck, Cam, this week in your tournament and Dad--good luck on the elk hunt this week!!

Elder Webb

August 25, 2014

FAMM

 

How's it goin, everybody?? Wow Lindsey is out... Cam is 17... Time is flying by, is it not? Glad to hear that you guys had a safe trip though.

 

Man, the weeks just keep getting better here! We're starting to see a lot of the fruits of our labors. On saturday, Abimael and Angelica got baptized!!! It was an awesome experience. We had about 40 people in total show up, which is about as many people as we usually have at church on Sundays! haha it was awesome. Our branch president owns a big public transportation bus that he used to take us up to a river about 45 minutes away to do the baptism. (I think I mentioned that we don't have a baptismal font here right?). It was a really special service, there were a ton of investigators there! It was very spiritual and we're hoping to be able to teach a lot of the other investigators that were there. We invited Elder and Sister Watkins, the senior couple missionaries that are working in the district right now to attend the baptism. They accepted, and they invited President Jordan and his wife! haha so they all came out to see the baptism too, which made it even more special. After the baptism, Abimael and Angelica both bore their testimonies. What great testimonies they have! Even I was surprised! I feel like they have better testimonies than some of the members here in the branch.... haha. But the next day in church, even though, as missionaries we aren't allowed to baptize, we are allowed to confirm. So Elder Hernandez confirmed Abimael, and I confirmed Angelica in Sacrament meeting. And THEN, in priesthood class, Abimael received the Aaronic priesthood. It was just a weekend filled with blessings for them, and they are the first ones to acknowledge it. I sent you guys a couple of píctures from the baptism.

 

A lot of this week was dedicated to planning for the baptism and getting all of it prepared, but we were able to have a good work week as well. We're working with a lot of Abimael's family members right now, and about three of them have baptismal dates already!! Hopefully we can stay with them and keep them going but I wouldn't be surprised if real soon, that whole family gets baptized. And there's like 10 of them! Yesterday in church, the branch president got up in priesthood class and said something that I thought was kinda cool. He started talking about how much the branch has progressed in such a short amount of time. He said that not too long ago, when they would pass the sacrament, they would only use one tray for the water, and they would only fill up the outer edge of cups. But now, we have to use almost two full trays so that everyone can partake of the sacrament. It made me feel really good for the work that we've been doing here. And I know that things can only go up from here. We still got a long ways to go if we want to really grow, but we're getting there.

 

Cam, happy birthday bro!!!! hope you have an awesome day. Big 17 whaa whaa! I'll think about buying you a souvenir maybe :) haha. But thanks for everything guys, I love you all soo much and I couldn't have ever expected such a great blessing as serving a mission would be. Linds, have a great time in Massachusetts. Be safe. PREACH THE GOSPEL :)

 

Elder Webb

August 18, 2014

Wassup, everybody!!

Dannnnnnng--you guys are all growin up now aren't ya!! Lindsey, gotta say, nice touch on the glasses. And Cam doesn't look too bad in flannel. Is that even flannel? I don't remember anymore. Is Cameron taller than Dad now??

Man, things are rollin along out here! First off, yesterday was the last day of this transfer cycle and we found out that Elder Hernandez and I are gonna be staying together for another transfer! We're super pumped about that because we're seeing a ton of good things goin on here and we don't want to leave just yet! Speaking of good things goin on... Abimael and Angelica are gonna get baptized this Saturday!! They are soooooo pumped!! I'll have some pictures comin next week. They are such a blessing to us... And they WILL be such a blessing to this branch. They truly are converted to the Lord and his gospel and are just anxiously waiting to enter into his path. Jesus, one of our other investigators, is still progressing really nicely and will probably be baptized at the beginning of September! Things in this branch are really starting to turn around in the good direction!

This week went by so fast for me.... I like swear I didn't notice that today was already Monday. Haha so I'm struggling to remember things that we did this week! But one of the highlights of our week was on Saturday, when we had a big branch activity. We got up at like 6 in the morning and we hiked up to one of the famous places in this city. Its kinda like a monument, the they call it the Hill of the Cross. It's just a massive white cross on top of this big mountain, so as a branch we hiked up to it! It was a great time. We sang songs, we played games, we had a carne asada with a ton of food, and took a lot of cool pictures! I sent you guys a couple of them. But it was really a good experience, and it really helped the branch to gain more unity. More investigators went than members! All of the investigators are game to hike up to the cross but nowhere to be found on Sunday morning.....hmmm...... ;) haha. But it's all good we had a good time.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is doing well. It's crazy that golf season is already here again! Time just flies by for me in all honesty.... The work is really picking up here, and we're super excited to keep going. With the transfers that we just had, they made me district leader again. I was kinda enjoying my little break--not gonna lie.... haha but whatever I'm still excited. I hope you all have an amazing week! Know that I love you!!

Elder Webb

August 11, 2014

YOO

Man, I can't believe Cam's about to start his senior year and Lindsey is gonna be on the other side of the country! We're all growin up so fast aren't we mom? hahaha. Man time is flying by I swear.... and, ya, Nick told all of us last week that he would be going home. I'm gonna keep emailing him and stayin in touch. But I hope everything goes well in his surgery... we should all pray for Nick with the hopes that he can recover and finish his mission.

Man this week was great! We had a normal week teaching-wise and finding people-wise... but things are just changing around here in the branch! This branch has really struggled for a long time in a bunch of different things, but it appears that FINALLY the branch president is getting excited to work a little bit, and the rest of the members are showing a little more unity. We've been doing a lot of different things to try and help out the branch, but I'm convinced that when the members see that the missionaries are working hard and having some success and they see investigators coming to church and progressing, they all start to get a little more excited about the work. 

Abimael and Angelica are awesome and are continuing to progress!! For a little while, every other week they would go and visit Angelica's parents that live an hour and a half away from here so they could only go to church once every other week. But we taught them about baptism and how they have to go to church EVERY week in order to be able to do it, and we promised them that if they did it, they would receive the blessings they needed to be able to visit their family. So they did it and they began to come to church every week for the last 3 weeks. And just barely this week, Angelica pulled us aside and told us that they had offered her new work! With a much less busy schedule, that would give her time to visit her family, AND go to church every week!! We were so excited, and so was she! It really was a testimony builder for her and her husband, but it also was for us. "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God and it's justice, and every thing else will be added upon."

On Saturday, our branch had a baptism! The other Elders in the branch, Elder Wall and Elder Delgado (ya, the same Elder Delgado that I trained around Christmas time. Remember the guy that kept popping up behind me when I was skyping with you guys? haha) have been teaching this middle-aged guy named Marco Antonio. He's such a stud and it was a way sweet experience!!! We went about 45 minutes away to one of the rivers, because we don't have a baptismal font here. It was soooo cool!! I took a few photos, here are a few of them. 

Love you guys... thanks for being the best family ever ever ever ever. 

Elder Webb

August 4, 2014

:);)

Hows it goin,everyone!!

Man this week fleww by! I felt like we spent more time on the bus than we did working! This week we had interviews with President Jordan, and I know you guys already know it because I mention it literally every time we have interviews but, I love that man!! It's always an edifying experience to be one on one with him. I learned a lot in the interview we had! He said something that has really stuck with me and that I have been striving a little bit better to keep in mind. He said, giving me counsel on how I can keep progressing, "Pray just a little more than you do right now. Every so often, just take a step back and ask yourself, 'What am I doing?', and then say a prayer asking for guidance." I think that that is counsel that we can all take to make our lives just a little bit more meaningful. But the days of the interviews always takes away a lot of work time for having to travel 2 hours to and from. But aside from the interviews, i received my stuff to renew my visa, and so I sent it into the mission offices but there were some things wrong on them. So they had me go allllll the way to Tampico just to sign a couple of stupid papers. haha. So that took away like half of friday and all of saturday..... haha but it's all good!

Abimael and Angelica and Jesus all went to church on sunday!! They are soooooo awesome. They're getting ready to get baptized onAugust 30th! We're getting super excited too.

For the most part, not too much was goin on this week! Lots of travelin, little bit of workin! haha. Yesterday, we did find this crazy new investigator though. We went to contact a reference that some other elders had given us and when we got there, we saw that there were two guys there, and one of them was like half drunk with a huge bottle of beer at his side. We introduced ourselves and started talking and the drunk guy just would not shut up! Haha like we were trying to teach a little bit but he kept asking questions and doubting everything we were saying. But we finally talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he kinda sat up and started paying more attention. After a minute the half drunk guy goes, "Is that for sale?" And when we explained that it was for free he goes, "Alright, give me two months. I'm gonna read the whole dang book and analyze it, and then we'll talk." haha we were kinda surprised at his response but we agreed and said our goodbyes. So, i guess we'll see what two months has in store for him! haha. The power of the Book of Mormon is real. I'm tellin ya.

Love you all, thanks for always being the greatest examples for me. Peace!

Elder Webb

(a couple of sweet views from our area)