Vale La Pena

September 29, 2014

That's my favorite phrase learned in Spanish so far: Vale La Pena. It means "It's worth it." Also, primero Dios. Which means God first. Hispanics say that ALL the time. They just throw it in conversations and text messages and I love it. Haha. Because even though being a missionary is hard and life is hard, it's worth it. Every trial and struggle we face is worth it because of the hope of eternal life. 

This week we found 5 new, amazing people to teach which was so exciting. As a mission, we've been praying really hard to have the Spirit poured down upon this people so that their hearts and minds are ready to receive our message. The verb in Spanish is "derramar," which I like better than English because it kind of means to dump- to dump a big dose of the Spirit in this area. So what an answer to our prayers- finding 5 people who are ready! They are amazing. 

Also, the guy who got baptized last week, Omar, got ordained to the Aaronic priesthood this week during church. He wore a brand new white shirt and tie, and helped pass the sacrament. Such a beautiful moment to see him progressing in his conversion. 

We are still working with that family with the two little girls. We are hoping to have the daughter's baptism really soon so we took them to the church and showed them the baptismal font. We brought Omar with us and he shared how he felt so happy and so at peace during his baptism. Then we said a prayer with them, and little 2-year-old Madison right at the end of the prayer says "Ameeen." So cute. We all died a little inside. Her mom was so proud of her. Haha. It's the little moments.

Ooooh! Also, Hermana Weymouth is planning on study massage therapy and already has a lot of training, so this week I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and got LITERALLY the most intense massage ever. Bonus! My trainer is the best. Haha. 

After the General Women's conference, I am SO excited for general conference. What a great opportunity to increase our testimonies and receive answers to our questions through a living prophet. Everyone:watch conference and invite your friends! Perfect opportunity for missionary work! :D There's my plug for the week. Haha. 

Love you all! 

Have a wonderful, wonderful week and remember: Vale La Pena. 

-Hermana Webb

Me and my little friends at women's conference!

Omar in his new white shirt and tie! Happy Day!

Hermana Esperanza, which translates to "hope" in English.
She is the hope in our little branch.

B FOR BAUTISMO

September 22, 2014

This week was crazy. Looking back, I'm still not quite sure how we managed to do what we did. On Monday, we had a great family night with my favorite two little girls- Mickenzie and Madison, complete with Frozen-themed cupcakes and a lesson on the role of families in God's plan. Such a powerful moment for me to envision this beautiful family all dressed in white, being baptized and completely clean and then at the temple being sealed as family for eternity.

On Tuesday, we went over to our investigator's house and he had this big meal set up for us outside. It was so nice. He had Mexican sodas and chips and everything was covered in lime and chile. I guess that's the thing to do. Mango with lime and chile. It was surprisingly yummy. And then he served us a HUGE plate of rice, beans, salad and meat. Seriously I don't think a full-grown man could have eaten that much. Plus my mouth was on fire the entire time. It took some serious will-power to get through that plate. 

The next day, we met with Omar. His baptism was scheduled for the 1st weekend of October. So we start teaching him about the commandments, and then Hermana Weymouth says "What do you think about getting baptized this Saturday? You're ready." He said yes! AHHH. So excited. He just had so much faith and knew that what we were teaching was true. So the sooner, the better. 

We frantically planned the baptism, including putting together a special musical number, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," my favorite song in the world, but in Spanish of course. We didn't have any music, so me, Hermana Weymouth, Elder Coles, and Elder Phillips kinda just threw together 4 parts. So, Saturday comes and I was so excited. We had everything set and ready to go. This song turned out so beautiful and Omar almost started crying. The Spirit was so strong as we walked to the baptismal font. Honestly, I kept thinking: "Is he really gonna do it?" They opened the font and PANIC. The water level had gone down like a foot because the drain was broken. Whoops. As I watched him walk down those steps though, I was so amazed at his faith. President Vergaray baptized him, but the first time, his elbow stuck up. So Omar had to kneel down to be able to be totally immersed. Wow. I will never forget that day. Omar was completely clean and he was beaming. And I COULD NOT wipe the dorkiest smile off my face. Such joy. It is indescribable. 

So that was the highlight of my week! 

I want to share a quote from an amazing talk called The Infinite Power of Hope: "To all who suffer- to all who feel discouraged, worried, or lonely- I say with love and deep concern for you, never give in. Never surrender. Never allow despair to overcome your spirit. Embrace and rely upon the Hope of Israel, for the love of the Son of God pierces all darkness, softens all sorrow, and gladdens every heart."

I know that we can overcome all darkness through the light of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Never give up on Him.

-Hermana Webb

PS Omar is the one on the right! (:

My first baptism!! Omar!

Hey look! They have barns and cornfields too. Feels like home(:

My feelings about authentic mexican food...

My first full on mexican meal. SUCH SPICE!

SUNNY SIDE UP!

September 15, 2014

I've been assigned to serve in the Sunny Side Spanish-speaking branch here in the Marysville Stake. With Hermana Weymouth as my trainer! Love her to death. 

I could literally write a novel from only one week in the mission field. So much happens every day it's unreal. I've never been so busy in my whole life. But I love it. I get to teach people about the Restored truth and Jesus Christ all day every day. As Alma said in the Book of Mormon, "O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious....; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our bretheren, again unto thee." This is my prayer every day. The people that I am teaching are so precious to me and to their Heavenly Father.

Well, I left Mexico and my wonderful MTC family on Tuesday and got on a plane to a whole new unknown. Me and Hermana Frei got 3 hours of sleep and so it was kind of a struggle to stay awake the whole first day. We got to the Atlanta airport, and came up the escalator to find...FAST FOOD. Oh it had been so long. I was about ready to cry when I saw that first McDonald's golden arch. Merica. It was also super hard to speak English surprisingly. I kept speaking to everyone at the airport in Spanish! Ah. 

And then I got to the mission home in Everett and got assigned to Sunny Side and Hermana Weymouth. One of the first things she said to me I'll never forget: "I'm going to train you the way my friends taught me to snowboard. Start at the top of the biggest hill and keep up." GULP. Haha. You really have to start swimming right from the start or you're gonna drown. So I'm grateful for her determination. She is AMAZING at Spanish. After 6 weeks in Mexico, I was feeling pretty good about my Spanish abilities. HA- No. I am like level 0. It's crazy how humbling this first week has been. So much to learn still. 

We have 7 people on date to be baptized within the next month which I am so excited about. There is some great work going on in this area right now. I've met so many amazing people and my second day here, I got to see what a mission is all about. We drove over to Gustavo and Jessica's house and started teaching them and their two adorable little girls- Mickinzie and Madison. It was so beautiful. A whole family sitting and listening to the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time and feeling the Spirit with them in their home. At the end of the lesson, little 2-year-old Madison comes up and gives me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. O mi corazon!!!

And then the next day was the biggest miracle!! Hermana Weymouth had been teaching this lady named Mary. We stopped by and she wasn't home but her daughter was so we started teaching her about the Restoration. I testified that God loves us and He gives us prophets to help us return to Him. I promised that if she would ask God if the things we taught were true, she would get an answer. Then Hermana Weymouth asked her to do it right then and there. She did and after her prayer, Hermana Weymouth asked if she wanted to be baptized. She said YES! My soul was singing. Such amazing faith on this young girl, Laura's, part. 

Also, I had my first authentic Mexican meal with Alejandra and her 2 little girls. She made us posole. It was actually super good. And then there was the salsa...oh boy. Me and her little girl dared each other to try it. I was chugging my water bottle and she was gulping down her Danimal for like 5 minutes. Haha. That stuff had some serious kick!!!

So now you see I was quite serious about the novel thing. Haha. But honestly, thank you so much for all your support and love! I feel your prayers for me all the time. I LOVE what I'm doing in bringing people to the joy of the Gospel. When I fall down exhausted at the end of every day, I know that every ounce of energy and effort I put in is worth it. Because the Gospel doesn't just change people's lives, it changes their eternity. 

Hermana Webb

ADIOS to my amazing MTC district

Herman Weymouth and our awesome mission president's wife
Sister Bonham

Wearing baby ties under sweaters

Prayer mat selfie! So much praying!

It takes all my will power not to go jump on these every day

WASHINGTON IS SO BEAUTIFUL

       

Adios Mexico! Holaaaa Everett!

September 3, 2014

 I leave for Washington in less than a week! Whaaat???!! So unreal that I´ve already been here 5 weeks. Times flies and this week has been one of the best. I don´t know if I´ll ever  feel ready in the Spanish department, but my testimony has grown so much and I´m so ready to start sharing it with everyone that will listen.

My favorite day this week was Sunday. Our branch president asked me and Hermana Frei to teach the lesson to our whole zone before church started. So 60 missionaries and our branch presidency. For an hour. But thank goodness, we got to teach in English! Although we did bear our testimonies in the end in Spanish which was awesome. We taught about the talk that Elder Bednar gave called "Learning by Faith." I learned so much preparing to teach. You all should read it- it´s amazing. Basically there is a cycle of faith. Assurance-Action-Evidence. Just like in Joshua 3 when the Israelites have to walk into the water before the water parts and they can cross over, we have to walk a few steps in the dark before we are illuminated. I love this analogy. So we made a little handout in the shape of a foot that said "Get your Feet Wet." Such a cool opportunity. Then our district sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in Spanish. My favorite song EVER. And then Hermana Eddy gets called to give a talk. The topic was the Restoration, and she´s up there and starts to read a scripture that she had picked out about the Restoration. Well, we still aren´t pros at Spanish, and halfway through the verse she says "Yeah, that´s the wrong scripture." And starts to read the right one. Anyways, we looked up the scripture she read first- Alma 16:11- read it if you want to laugh REALLY HARD. Oh my goodness so funny. Poor thing had no idea what she was reading. 

And then that night, we walk into the cafeteria and they had burgers and fries! So exciting. That burger filled a hole in my heart I didn´t even realize was there. Haha. This Elder goes "It smells like America!!!" Tender mercies. 

We also celebrated our one month mark on Saturday. We celebrated with the brownies that you sent mom and some sparkling apple cider that one of the Elders got in a package. So fun. We´re all so excited to get to our areas and start teaching though! 

This week was also rough as far as physical limitations go for the district. First, Hermana Eddy got hurt in soccer and was in a wheelchair for a few days, then crutches. She´s all good now though! And then a day later, Elder Olsen gets slammed in the knee during basketball and gets put in a wheelchair. Hence the picture of him and his wheelchair being carried down the stairs. He really hates that wheelchair life so hopefully he heals quick! Me and Hermana Frei still played ping-pong with him in his wheelchair. I kept leaning over to get all the shots so he wouldn´t hurt himself. He says "Hermana Webb, stop stealing all my glory!" Hahaha. He really does have a great attitiude about it though. 

So yeah, this week was fantastically full of the Spirit. My heart just feels so full all the time here. I love all the people I have gotten to know here and all the opportunities to learn and teach. I feel the Lord blessing me so much as I do His work. Hastening forth the message of the Gospel in these last days. What a great opportunity. Eso es marvallioso!  

Love, Hermana Webb

Romans 8:18

I love my Hermanas!

Sweetest mural ever! Mexico!

All the varieties of yogs para bebs. es vida.

Nacho Libreeeee

Celebrating that Mexico independence

Our handout for our lesson. Elder Valentine's
sarcastic rendition on the left. Haha.

That wheelchair life = struggle