June 16, 2014

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all had an enjoyable Father's Day, Dad..... and everyone else.... no one here really recognizes Father's Day. It's like a holiday but no one really celebrates it. haha.

Answers to mom's questions: That thing on my forehead was either a bug bite or a pimple.... one of the two.... My release date next summer is June 8th according to my sources. And.... was there anything else? Can't remember.... But YAYYY I'm gonna get a package :))) And Congrats to Josh Southwick for his mission call!! How many missionaries are out from our ward now? Who are the next ones to come home?

Things were weird this week. Very up and down. On Tuesday this last week, I went on divisions with one of the zone leaders, Elder Granda from Ecuador. Man..... I learned so much from that guy. He's 25, literally knows more about the doctrine of the gospel than anyone I've ever met. He's just an amazing guy and we had a great time together. We had an awesome experience together teaching. We went to say hi to an "investigator" that lived close to where we were at at the time. She really had never been interested in the missionaries, and was always glued to her catholic roots. We stop by, she comes out, and appears very antsy, like she doesn't want to talk to us. But after a minute or two, we found an entrance into talking about prophets and the restoration of the gospel. It was amazing, as we taught, I was personally taking note as her countenance began to change, it began to soften. But, you could still tell that she was holding back, not wanting to give in to what we were saying completely. But we get to the part about Joseph Smith's first vision, and I was gonna share it. Before I shared it, I asked her specifically to pay attention to her feelings as I recited it. So I recited it, and the Spirit came upon each one of us so strongly, it was undeniable. 

When I finished I asked her, "How do you feel?" and she said, "I.... I.... don't know...". Jumping to the rescue, Elder Granda asks, "But you did feel something, right?" To which she responds, "Yes......but I don't know how to describe it.... it was.... indescribable." As we testified that it was the Holy Ghost bearing witness that our message was true, The strength of the spirit that we all felt was intensified. She finally committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know the truth, and went inside to grab a glass of water for us. As she did so, Elder Granda and I put our arms around each other and he said to me, "God brought us here, Elder." It was one of the most special moments so far in my mission.

As far as the downs go.... now Mom, please don't freak out... I came down with a foot infection. I had to go into Tampico on thursday and stay the night. They checked me out, prescribed me rest and anti-biotics, and I came back home. So for the last few days we've just been cooped up in the house, watching all the church movies we can find. It was a little frustrating but my foot is getting better which is the good thing. Well, thanks for everything guys. Love you all to death!!

Elder Webb

June 9, 2014

¡Family!

Well things are going well here. This has been a hard area for me. We've never struggled with having people to teach, but it's been so hard to get them to progress! This week we spent a lot of time trying to find new investigators, and we were able to find a few good ones that we think can progress! Yesterday, we went to contact a referral that we had received from a less active member. She was very friendly and invited us in. She's very catholic (like all of Mexico) but she was very atent and willing to listen. The lesson went well, just normal until we introduced the Book of Mormon. I don't know what changed, but there was just a different spirit in the room. As we testified of the truthfulness of the book, her countenance started to change a little bit. She promised us she would read it, and so we decided to close with a prayer. I offered the prayer, and it was another additive to the spirit that was there.  After the prayer, the spirit was undeniable and we knew that she was feeling it too. My companion asked her, "How do you feel?" and she started to cry... and said, "Good. I feel at peace." We told her that it was the Spirit that was testifying to her that our message was true. She was very excited to invite us back :)

Yesterday, I also had a cool experience with Bernarndo, the taco chef, at church. At the end of the gospel principles class, he pulled me aside and said, "Elder Webb, I'm never gonna forget you. Even though you may be far away, you'll always be special to me. You'll always be the Elder that brought me back to church. And I thank you for that." I was like, taken back a little. I had never really heard it like that in my mission. Those are some of the experiences that a missionary lives for. I know that I don't deserve credit for bringing Bernardo back to church, I'm just on the Lord's errand, but it's a testimony builder to hear things like that. Makes you want to keep working and find more people that can have that same experience.

I love you alll sooooooo much and I wanna wish the best Dad in the world a happy father's day. Dad, have a good one. You deserve it. Thanks for being the best example for me in my life. Love you. Take care everyone!

Elder Webb

June 2, 2014

So..... Mom speaks Spanish somehow? Google translate? Or did Mom order Rosetta Stone and become fluent in Spanish in one week? Something's going on here...

*(For those reading this, I (Peg)  had Lindsey's boyfriend, Dallin, help me write a whole paragraph in Spanish at the beginning of my recent letter to Jared. :)*

Yes Mom, that was me in the middle with the glasses on. They were Elder Spellacy's glasses, I just stole them for a second. Elder Spellacy literally has the worst eyesight ever, and the glasses that he has reminded me of Mom's glasses that she used to wear. Only Elder Spellacy's were like half the size of Mom's ;)

The food is great, Mom, thanks for asking. Actually, today we did something pretty cool as a zone. My companion and I went and bought a whole pig leg the other day (like 15 pounds) so that we could do tacos al pastor today for the whole zone. Bernardo, who I think I've mentioned before, came to do it for us because he's the taco chef. He absolutely loves me.... haha and I love him, too. He's one of those special people you meet as a missionary that you help return to church and you just create that relationship. But for that, he wants to cook for us every Monday! haha. So cool :) So today, he came to the church early to cut up all the meat and do the special recipe for the pastor flavor. I'll have to make it for you guys when I get home--it is soooooooo good!! So Elder Bartschi (from Vegas) and I were in charge of cutting the meat up into small pieces for the tacos. So that's what we did this morning and it turned out unreal!!! mmmm. Can't get enough tacos, man, I'm tellin ya.

This week was alright.... We're really strugglin with our investigators, none of them are really progressing. I've been getting down on myself a little bit lately because in my time here, we've only had one baptism, and we aren't anywhere really close to having another one. But I realized something yesterday at church. Even though we aren't bringing too many investigators to church, we are bringing a bunch of old less active members. People like Bernardo, this other guy named Mario, A 17 year old kid named Carlos, a 30 year old return missionary named Julio, who has been struggling with alcoholism for years now, and an older sister named Berna, all came to church with us yesterday. I consider that a success... and every one of them is showing great progress. 

I feel like sometimes, we need to widen the vision to see the areas that we really are doing well in. Sometimes, we focus too much on one area, and when we don't see success there, we think we're failures. But there are always other successes, especially when we're involved in the Lord's work. Because in the work of the Lord, no effort is in vain. 

Love you all TONS!! Have an awesome week!!

Elder Webb