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)