Christmas as a Missionary!!

December 29, 2014

 FELIZ NAVIDAD Y ANO NUEVO

Highlight of the week: 45 minutes of Skyping my beautiful family of course!!!! The best gift of Christmas ever as a missionary!! I had headphones in while I was Skyping and when I finished, I looked over at Hermana Gonzalez, and was like "Was I talking really loud?" She said "Oh my gosh Hermana, I'm pretty sure the next door neighbors could hear you! I've never heard you be so loud and excited!" Hahaha. Let's just say there was a lot of laughing, squealing, and tears involved in those 45 minutes. I'm sure every other missionary/families with missionaries out know exactly what I'm talking about.

It was a great week to be a missionary! We got to share Christmas joy with so many people, and like we all know, the best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear! It was a tradition in my family to make treats and go caroling and drop off the treats to all of our friends on Christmas Eve. I remember doing that year after year, so of course I made my companion join in on the tradition this year! We went to the senior citizen center and sang Christmas songs with them during our exercise class, we made cookies and dropped them off and sang to our investigator and member families. It was so fun and I got to carry on the tradition with a new twist! (:

Another couple of highlights of the week include when we were tracting and knocked on this Hispanic guy's door (you could tell because there were like 20 cars outside haha) and he opens the door and we start talking to him and asking him about his beliefs. Like 2 minutes into the conversation, he's like Hey are you guys married? Nooo...He said You know I have 2 brothers and they are both young and live around here. This guy literally spent like 10 minutes trying to convince us to marry his brother. Hahaha. We were dying!! He's like hey I could set up a dinner so you guys could meet. I mean after your mission, you'll need to find someone, right?

Also, on Saturday night, we had an hour left and decided to go tracting around our apartment and just walk. So we start out and it starts pouring rain! Not that it's anything unusual in Washington, but man, it was cold!! I was so wet! I felt like I had just taken a shower. We walked up to this apartment where there was more light and Hermana Gonzalez looks at me and says "Wow. You look terrible!" Hahahaha. Yeah Hispanics can be kind of blunt. But it was a good experience. Makes ya tough (; And veryyyy grateful for the car you have!

Update on the people we are teaching- we found a new person who lives just down the street from us. His name is Adalberto (took me about a week to learn how to say his name correctly haha). He is an angel!! He asked if he could meet us at the church building for our lesson..umm YES! And then he asked for a copy of the Book of Mormon and is so genuinely interested in changing his life around and receiving the blessings of the restored gospel. So he is working towards baptism right now and is just awesome!

So family- since you told me to write longer letters during the Skype call, here ya go!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

May we all take some time to think about the changes we went to see in ourselves this year and work towards a deeper conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ!

-Hermana Webb

Christmas morning with our neighbor/grandma Judy

Opening Christmas packages

Matching jackets from Avelino!! Haha!!

Christmas with the Sotos!!

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!

December 22, 2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!

Sorry I literally have NO time today, but to say have a wonderful Christmas!! Enjoy this special time with family and friends, all focused for a day on the joyful birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

-Hermana Webb

And...Merry Christmas from my district in our absolute ugliest sweaters! :D

Me and Elena. I've adopted her as my little sis for now.

Newest member of our branch. Sooo adorable.

The Soto Family-where we will be for Christmas

#10DAYcountdown

December 15, 2014

Christmas time= Happy time for Hermana Webb! There is so much joy in the Christmas season and I have been so happy! Seeing all the Christmas lights and decorations everywhere we go, and there's so many opportunities to serve (I've basically been begging everyone to let me help them decorate/cut down their Christmas tree! ha) and of course, most importantly, to remind them of the true Reason for the Season. The birth of the Savior of the World. The Prince of Peace. King of Kings. And the perfect example for us to follow. 

We are starting to teach a new family. The dad is the brother of Rafael Salcedo, a non-member married to a member who loves everything about church, just doesn't have the desire to be baptized. So we've started teaching his brother- Alejandro and his wife and son this week. And after one lesson and an invitation to come to church, they showed up on Sunday with a Book of Mormon in hand!!! We had not even taught them about the Book of Mormon yet, but there it was in Alejandro's hand! Haha. My vision is that this family is baptized, and when Rafael sees this, he will be baptized too!!

The Ramirez-Lopez family is doing good. Lorena, Juli, and Ivet came to church. And they brought their grandma, aunt, and all her kids! It was the fullest I've seen our little branch in a long time. Lorena has expressed to us so many times how much she loves this Gospel. She tells us how many good changes she has seen in her family. They all asked for a blessing after church, and I think we all received a lot of peace that Heavenly Father is very aware of their circumstances and is willing to help in every way.

I love you all! Can't wait to talk to my beautiful family in 10 days!! Always remember that we are sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father, who loves us. Even in the saddest times, we can find peace through our Savior, Jesus Christ. Pray and search for His presence to be with you this Christmas season.

-Hermana Webb

And hey, remember there's always a rainbow on the other side.... ha

Hermana Martinez! She is the best! We went on exchanges this week.

Our awesome neighbors window!!

I Love Being A Missionary

December 9, 2014

So this week was very...different! My new companion, Hermana Gonzalez, is from southern California, but originally from Mexico. Yes, a native speaker! Yay!! She's 23 and is very mature and serious. She graduated from UCLA recently and is a convert to the church. Her whole family lived in Mexico and were Catholic. One day, the missionaries showed up at their door and her grandma, aunts, mom, and her were all baptized. After a few years, they went inactive. But about 2 years ago, the missionaries found Hermana Gonzalez and her little brother and started teaching them again. Both are now active. She has a pretty incredible story. Her desire to serve is strong! I'm learning a lot from her. 

This week we started something so fun! There's a webiste called justserve.orgthat was produced by the church to find local service opportunities. And as missionaries, we LOVE service! :D So we signed up and started helping at a senior living center. Twice a week, we do an exercise class with a big group of senior citizens. It is SO fun. I love it. So I get up there and lead the group in exercise moves. They use their little 1-pound weights and just go to town! Haha. They love it and always hug us and thank us for coming. So I've adopted about 12 more grandma and grandpas this week :)

We are still working with the Ramirez-Lopez family and their three kids. They are doing so great. The are all reading the Book of Mormon, and are always watching Mormon Messages and on the Gospel Library app :) They also told us about awesome experiences with praying. Emiliano was running late and thought he had missed the bus. He said a prayer and a minute later, the bus pulled up. And every time July gets off the bus, there's a big dog that runs after her and she gets really scared. So she prayed and the two days she prayed, the dog never came out. These kids are full of faith! Their little testimonies are growing and growing. We have set another date for them to get baptized for the 20th of December. They are praying hard that their dad will allow them to be baptized this day. And I know that Heavenly Father is listening to His precious sons and daughters. Not a prayer goes unheard or unanswered in the Lord's time. 

The church is true! 

-Hermana Webb

He Is The Gift

December 1, 2014

Adios Hermana Weymouth! Just found out mi mama, my trainer, is being transferred!! I'm getting a new companion tomorrow but I won't know who until 3. AHHH. Transfers are crazyI will miss my mama so much! I've learned so much from her, but I'm excited to learn from a new Hermana.

This week was fantastic! First of all, Thanksgiving! We had a big game of soccer with some members from the branch and one of the families we are teaching. So fun! Me and little 9-year-old Jasmine whooped em all ;) Then we went over to the Soto's house for dinner. I was in heaven. The mom is such a good cook and we ate until we could eat no more. Later that night, me and Hermana Weymouth were praying and I started to cry as I thanked Heavenly Father and realized all the wonderful things and people in my life. To be a missionary is the greatest blessing in the world.

 Second of all, it snowed!!!! Yay. I love snow! It is a winter wonderland here with all the billions of pine trees covered in beautiful snow! Apparently it only snows like 2 or 3 times a year, so I am taking it all in while I can. When we woke up and saw white, we went crazy. Haha. Built a little snowman, all the while singing Frozen (I have taught Hermana Weymouth basically the whole soundtrack since she left before it came out ;). And then a giant snowball fight after branch coordination. Like seriously, my shoulder was in some serious pain the next day from all the launching. Too fun. 

We got a sweet opportunity to serve at a Food Bank all Monday morning, bringing families in and putting together a big Thanksgiving meal for them, turkey and all. It was so fun to see their faces light up as they chose a pie, a turkey, and everything else you could possibly need for a nice meal. True joy from serving others. 

Another INCREDIBLE thing this week is the "He is the Gift" initiative of the church. Stop what you're doing and search "He is the Gift" of youtube. The video is 2 minutes long, and it is incredible. We have special cards to pass out, in Spanish it's El es La Dadiva. And on the back, there are three parts:

Discover the Gift: Learn about Jesus Christ, Discover your Savior and all that He did for you

Embrace the Gift: Accept that you can be made clean and whole through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He already paid the price so that we do not have to suffer. 

#SharetheGift: Share the true Spirit of Christmas time! Share the video on Facebook, with friends, and family.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and realized how blessed we are! Never forget to have an attitude of gratitude for the blessings that our Heavenly Father pours upon us. And have a great start to the Christmas season! It is such a joyful time of year. Share the Gift of Christ's life with all of those around you and it will be a very special Christmas indeed. 

-Hermana Webb

mormon.org/christmas- check it out

Thanksgiving dinner at the Sotos! My second family!

Post soccer game. Lots of mud.

My little Olaf

WINTER WONDERLAND

July, Emiliano, and Ivet made us a temple

All of the missionaries sang during church so we tried to match

The Ochoas! Love this family!