COME!! See for Yourself!!

July 27, 2015

So probably my favorite part of this week: we went to get pizza because we had about 20 minutes to eat dinner quick- and so we get out of the car and the car next to us is full of teenage boys. They were smoking and whatnot and they see us get out and start yelling things-that-shall-not-be-repeated-in-this-email at us. But we get that a lot, so I just ignored it. We walk in, get a pizza, and walk back out. They start making rude comments again and then- to our dismay- feel something running down the back of our legs. And it wasn't raining. We were spit upon!!  We got back in the car and I turned to Hermana Clark and say "THAT was awesome!!!" She just looks back at me like I'm crazy. So I had to find my favorite scripture for her: Acts 5:41: "And they departed from the presence of the council [or a car-full of teenage boys], rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." All those little moments just help me to understand a little more clearly how our Saviour Jesus Christ must have felt as he was mocked, hit, spit upon, and suffered all manner of afflictions. Jesus Christ was accepted and loved by relatively few- hated by many- but that didn't detract from His divine role as the Son of God. Nor does the slamming of doors in our faces or people that yell and spit on us detract from the fact that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, called to preach His gospel to the world!

The other best part of the week was Sunday night. Every month, our mission president has something called "Come, See for Yourself." And it's something that we invite investigators to, and people can bring friends to just to get a feel for the Church. It's an hour long and they show a few video clips, they have special musical numbers (emphasis on the special!) and testimonies from a few people from the mission that have gotten baptized recently. So this month, we got a call from the APs and they asked us if Carolina would share her testimony at it!! She of course said yes, and so we went with her last night and she about passed out when she saw how many people there were! whoops! haha. But she bravely went up there and shared a beautiful testimony!! She was glowing. She said "I finally found what I have been looking for for so long. I'm now in the Lord's hands. I'm His." It was a powerful moment and she truly is becoming an instrument in God's hands to do such amazing things! We were soo proud of her and her testimony was what really brought the Spirit to the room. On the drive home, we all felt sooo peaceful. It was nice.

Especially because during church, we had an AWESOME investigator, and her 6-yr-old daughter come to church for the first time. They came with Carolina and her 7-yr old daughter. And oh my goodness. I never realized what mothers go through at church until yesterday. I was in charge of entertaining the ninas so that their moms could focus and get the most out of church. Which turned into- the peace I usually feel during the sacrament, and the things I learn from the talks- yeah, none of that yesterday. They were crawling all over the place, talking, and getting cracker crumbs everyone! And me trying desperately to rein in all the madness. We played tick-tack-toe (that last all of about 5 minutes ha), we drew minions. I just came to a new appreciation for all the moms out there who bring their kids to church! Kudos to you!  Wowzers.

Anyways...I hope you all can feel that peace that fills our hearts and souls on a regular basis! Seek for the peace the gospel brings and put yourself in the places that you will be most likely to feel it!

-Hermana Webb

The harvest of our garden!!

PIZZA!!

The munchkins!! So adorable!!

Hola!

LYLI AND ELVIN!!

Carolina as happy as can be with her new set of scriptures!!

Meet our friend Chuckie!! We got a picture with the beast! haha

Que Emocion!!!

July 13, 2015

Hola familia!!!!

This week had to be one of the absolute best. EVER. Like ever, ever.

Carolina was baptized and it was the most amazing, spiritual experience of her life and probably of mine as well!!!!!

I cannot even begin to explain how incredible Saturday was, but I will try with the little time I have. The service started and Carolina's best friend, Hermana Terry, got up to bear her testimony and started crying and bore a powerful witness of the restored gospel. She has known Carolina for a few years and helped us to teach and has been such a solid friend and support. Then, Hermana Clark and I sang "Abide with Me, Tis' Eventide." And then, we got to walk Carolina back to the font. She stopped to look in the mirror and started to cry and cry. She was so overwhelmed with so many emotions. We were the only ones to be able to see this precious moment and I was so grateful. We hugged her and she walked down into the 120 degree water (she was very adamant about the water being warm haha). President Waite did a great job and the baptism went so smooth. She came back up the steps and we were there, holding out her towel. She hugged us and got us all wet, and when we walked back into the little dressing room, the Spirit was so incredibly strong. I felt like we were only inches away from heaven. Carolina was perfectly, perfectly clean and pure and the Spirit was manifested with such power. She couldn't stop thanking us and crying, she kissed us both on the cheek and my heart just melted. It was the most sacred moment.

Then we went back out where everyone else was waiting (and writing their testimonies which we are going to put in a book for her!) and Carolina got to share her testimony. She's been wanting to share it for a while, but she really wanted to wait for her baptism. It was so powerful and you could tell her much the gospel means to her. She had been searching for so long for the true church, and when she shared how grateful she was that she had finally found it and how it filled the hole in her life. She's deeply converted to the doctrines and in her confirmation the next day, President Waite blessed her with "a testimony of all of the principles of the gospel" and he also mentioned being able to enter the temple, so that was pretty neat!! And then, Alberto was able to say the last prayer, and that just brought everything full circle for me! 

I've had a lot of great people that I've met and taught on my mission, but Carolina has been the most amazing conversion to witness, hands down. From the very first time we went to teach her, she has progressed and learned so much. She always extended her own invitations to study, come to church, and she was even the first to ask US about getting baptized. The other thing that's so special about her is that she's always known what her bigger goal is- the temple. The first time she came to church, it was a testimony meeting and a lot of people were talking about the temple and the temple trip they had just been on. She leans over and asks what in the world the temple is and why is everyone talking about it? haha. I whipped out the temple pamphlet and showed her a few pictures and explained how we can do the work for our families there. Ever since then, that has been her goal. She knows that baptism was the first step, but when she realized that she could seal her parents together for all of eternity in the temple, she began to cry and told us "that would be the biggest blessing in this world." And literally 3 hours after her baptism, she texts us and says "what's my temple status??" hahaha. She is fascinated with the idea of holding her own recommend and asked Presidente Waite for an interview yesterday. Haha- she CANNOT wait to go to the temple.

Remember, 98% of a mission is hard work, disappointment, and heartache, but 2% is pure joy...and that 2% makes it all worth it. This is the most PURE joy I have yet to experience in my life. It is the PURE love of Christ that purifies my heart and the hearts of all those who accept the fulness of the gospel, the fulness of joy.

HERMANA WEBB

Carolina Got Baptized!!!!!

President Waite baptized her!

I LOVE HER WITH ALL MY HEART!!

Carolina works for the guy who owns Cinnabon so we got
some free cinnamon rolls to celebrate!!

Selfie!!

I finally got corn on the cob. Tastes like home!

The Party is Back

July 6, 2015

This week was great!

Two of my favorite people ever got back!! Carolina and Lyli! Yay!!!

Lyli has been in Guatemala with her daughter for the last two months and I have missed her so much! We went over the night she got home and she gave us some Guatemalan candy and was soo happy to see us! Now we can get back on track with getting this wonderful family to the temple to be sealed forever and ever!! 

Carolina got back from a trip and was soo happy to be back. She came to church this Sunday and when they announced her baptism this Saturday to the branch, she just about started crying!! She is friends with basically everyone in the branch, haha, we don't even need to introduce her to anyone. We walk away for a sec and look back to see her talking to a new person, exchanging numbers, hugging everyone. She is the MOST prepared person I've ever taught!! She's had so many incredibly experiences studying the gospel and praying to know the truth. She told us that she had talking to her family and some friends about her baptism, and she had invited them to church and to come to her baptism. She told us that they all made fun of her and don't support her, but that it didn't sway her even a bit. Her testimony is already rock-solid!! She told us she wants us to come to her friend's wedding that she's helping to plan, and share a message so that all her friends have a good impression of the Mormons and want to come to church with her! Haha- best missionary ever! AND- oh my gosh, yesterday was fast Sundayand we had taught her about tithing and fasting already, so when she saw us paying fast offering, she asked if she could too!

And then after church, she had us over for dinner, and mad us these amazing Mexican hotdogs wrapped in bacon and smothered in guacamole, tomato, onion, and all good things. SO YUMMY! And then she pulls out this big cake with 2-0 candles on top and they start singing happy birthday!! Haha, she felt soo bad that she forgot. Me and Hermana Clark always laugh so hard because she literally thinks our names are Webb and Clark, even though the nametags clearly say "Hermana Webb" and "Hermana Clark". Hahaha, it's so funny that we don't even correct her. So when they were singing, it was "Happy Birthday dear Webbbbbbb!, Happy birthday to you!" Ok, so yeah, you get it- I love Carolina! A lot!!!!

Alberto's still doing greattt! :D When we went over to visit him, we took a selfie cause he was still in his Panda uniform! Haha- see below for pic!

Hope y'all had a wonderful 4th of July!! At church, after testimony meeting, we all stood up and sang the Star-Spangled Banner in English. Haha. All the hispanics truly love this country! We looked up to see Lyli and Elvin holding hands and Lyli was crying as she sang! By the way, she's totally got a baby-bump going on now and it is SO cute! She's due in November! :)

Love you all!! Favorite scripture of the week!: "I [Jesus Christ] am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." The gospel truly makes our life abundant and so full of joy and blessings!!

-Hna Webb

Heart attacking Carolina's door for when she got home!

Look at these crepes we made! I still try to keep
up the Saturday tradition of the Webb home!

Yum, Yum!!

The big 20!!! On my mission!!

Air Conditioning Though...Be Grateful!

June 29, 2015

First things first, Alberto got baptized on Saturdayy!!!!!!!!!!! It was an incredible, incredible day! I can't even do it justice with words. But it was a crazy week trying to get everything planned and for things to run just perfectly. Alberto was so happy and excited! He asked Elder Wittmaak to baptize him because he had got to know him pretty well. First, Elvin (the coolest Guatemalen ever) got up and shared his testimony. He has been a good friend and big support to Alberto. He was really nervous and did not want to do it at first, but we practiced with him and he said he wasn't scared at all once he got up there! He gave a great testimony!! The baptism went perfectly and the best part was when Alberto walked back into the room, wearing a tie for the first time (that Elder Rasmussen helped him tie) and his white shirt. He had the biggest smile on his face! We had asked him a few days before if he wanted to share his testimony after his baptism and he said he would! So he stands up in front of everyone and he shared the most powerful, mature testimony I've heard in a long time! I started to cry as I heard him bear testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it's healing, redeeming power. How it gives us the strength not to fall into the same mistakes over and over again. He bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. And then thanked all those who have helped him and specifically my name for teaching him all that he knew. But the truth is, that I did absolutely nothing. The Spirit of the Lord is what converted, changed, and healed his soul. I can look back over the last 5 months and remember all the times in lessons and church tours that I know Alberto felt and recognized the Spirit. And then on Sunday, he was able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and he was all smiles. Such an exciting weekend!!

  And right after leaving Alberto's baptismal service, Hermana Clark and I were just walking up the street and we see a man across the street, struggling to carry his groceries and clearly handicapped. I thought about crossing the road to go over to help, then tried to reason that we had other places to be, then clearly the thought came to my mind "Never postpone a prompting." So I started booking it across the street and asked if we could help. He tripped over a bump in the road and I was able to catch him and took his hand and walked him back to his apartment. He was so sweet and we started talking about how Jesus Christ is with us in every step of our lives. He said "Sometimes I wish Jesus could physically carry me as well, I have a hard time by myself." It hit me that we had been sent, as representatives of Jesus Christ, to lift and carry those- sometimes physically and sometimes spiritually- to better places. I am so grateful that we can be the Lord's hands as we listen and follow the promptings we receive!

  And just in case you're wondering whatever happened with our little pit-bull friend (ok he is NOT little)...anyways, we went back for the return appointment this week to find Chuckie (that's the beast's name) lurking around the fence. He saw us and starting barking like crazy and boy were we scared! Haha. Poor little Hermana Clark was about to have a heart attack. So anyway, we decide to say a prayer to give us courage to walk through that fence (to a certain death ;) haha exaggerating just a little). And we walk up again and Chuckie jumps up on the fence and has half his body sticking out, we thought he had jumped over the fence, and if I shall live to be 100 years old, I will never forget Hermana Clark's face!!! haha- sheer and utter terror! Ha I felt like a protective mom and we ran back to the car. We decided to go back later..ha. So we go back later that night, more fortified with faith, and we end up finding not the people we had the appt with, but their sister! She let us in and we started talking to her and ended up teaching her about the Restoration. Turns out she had been going through some really hard trials in her life and was starting to doubt God completely. We asked her to pray and she was a little nervous, so I offered to pray first. Then she started to pray and you could tell she was praying with a lot of power and real need. She started to cry and after she closed the prayer, we just sat there in silence for a few minutes, as she cried and we all felt the Spirit wash over us. She told us that we were a testimony to her that God was aware of her needs. If we had gone in the first time, we would not have found her and we were just amazed at how the Lord turned that experience into a real miracle!

 As you can see, miracles truly never cease!! They have occurred time and time again on my mission and I know that with a little faith and a lot of hard work, the Lord can bring to pass great and marvelous things!

-Hermana Webb

PS: I'm still trying to figure out why Washington does not believe in air conditioning!! Literally, no one here has it and we've all been blistering in the 90 degree weather lately! AY!

ALBERTO'S BAPTISM!!! :D BEST DAY EVER!!

I met Alberto 9 days after I got to this area...and 5 months later,
I got to see him walk into the waters of baptism!!

Decided to curl my hair while we waited

He was just glowing it was so perfect!!

Getting dressed up to represent Peru in our Festival de Comida Internacional!

Eugoneia representing Mexico

Stayin Alive!

June 22, 2015

Hello Family and Friends!

How are you!?

This week was FAB.

I'm just happy like all the time! It's crazy how much joy missionary work brings.

The most exciting happening of the week: we go to contact this referral. We had to go through their fence to knock on their door. So the fence closes and out of nowhere, this huge pitbull rounds the corner and starts bounding over to us. Hermana Clark just yelps and turns her body to me curls into like a fetal position. Haha. I was just like "Hermana, dogs can smell fear. Don't be scared." Haha so I try to brave as the senior comp and I try to pet the huge beast and calm it down. And it's just jumping all over us, way taller than Hermana Clark, with its huge claws. I couldn't even get to the door to knock, so we're just standing there trapped! And then, thank goodness, the lady heard us and comes and opens the door. She was like "oh my goodness! I don't know how to control him. Just come in!" We got home that night to find some pretty sweet scratches all down our bodies. Ha. But at least we lived to tell the tale! And the family actually turned out to be super solid and we got to teach them a good lesson, so it was all worth it! (I'm just a little scared to go back for the return apt haha)

And just to show you that 11 months of the missionary schedule really starts to wear one out, let me tell you another story. So every morning we wake up at 6:20and Hermana Clark and I say a prayer together. Well, as many of you know, I am NOT a morning person. And this morning, it was my turn to pray. I start saying it and the next thing I know, I'm popping my head up again. "What just happened?" I asked Hermana Clark. She just starts laughing and says that I suddenly stopped talking during the middle of my prayer and I had fallen asleep again. haha. Whoops!! I had to explain to her about the rule that all my college roomies know: no talking to Hermana Webb for the first hour after she wakes up. Ha. Hermana Clark probably thinks I hate her cause when we go running or do some Jillian Michael's in the morning, I do not talk to her at all. Ha, so I had to explain to her that I in fact do love her, I just am not really awake for the first hour of the day!

So, good news! Alberto has resolved everything and is sooo ready to be baptized this Saturday!! Yay! He is incredible- he smiles bigger and bigger everytime we go over. The gospel has changed him so much! He is RADIATING with the light of Christ!! He works at Panda Express, so we went to visit him at work this week, and we walk in and he sees us as he frying this huge pot of orange chicken! YUM! He walks over and says "Welcome to Panda!" It was sooo funny to hear him speak English. Haha, I was dying.

I just love these people and I'm so grateful for all that I learn every single day! I know that this Gospel is true and that it changes lives! What a joy to have a front row to seat to see the miracle of the Atonement!

-Hermana Webb

Pic: Celebrating 20 years of life! :D

My birthday cake from Avelino!!

Me and Elder Allen the exact same day!! Crazy! We celebrated together!

Olive Garden for the birthday dinner! Glad I got to carry on tradition!

Happy Father's Day!!

We are ALL enlisted!

June 15, 2015

So last pday we went to the beach with our district and that was BEAUTIFUL!! And fun. And refreshing. Ah. Received a new appreciation for God's creations to say the least. Needless to say I am going to have a long "post-mission" to do list...BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT right now!:) so moving on...

We had an awesome zone meeting this week in Arlington (about 30 minutes north of us)We learned a ton about praying with faith. At the end of the instruction, the zone leaders asked, "so who has the faith to find? who has faith that the Lord will guide you to those who need this message?" Of course, everyone stood up. Then they said, alright, now lets put that faith to work. They proceeded to switch everyone's companionship and assigned you to a place in the area and sent you off with the task to pray in faith and have the Lord take you to those who need this message. Our adrenaline was seriously through the roof! Ha. We all zoomed out of the parking lot to our assigned street corner and got to work. We were able to contact so many amazing people- one mom who had lost a child about the Plan of Salvation, one about the book of mormon, and one about the Restoration in just 45 minutes! So cool! It gave us all a renewed feeling of urgency for the work! Our time is short and there are soo many people to teach!

So our mission has a goal to contact 16 people a day this month (which requires A TON OF WORK) and it has given us a new enthusiasm and drive to find find find! We have met people from EVERYWHERE!!! Mongolia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Cambodia, Egypt, Russia, Ukraine..you name it, we met them. We have such a love for people we don't know...it's kinda weird, but you gotta love it!

Alberto is doing great!! He came to church for the 5th time this week and just loves it. He's started singing the hymns, and participating in the classes and it's just awesome to see how he's finding this new family and love in the branch. After church, we asked him if he'd been praying about a baptismal date and he said he's decided on the 27th of June! A little bit more time to work things out, and a little more time to study the Book of Mormon he said! Right on!!!!

Karolina came to Eugenia and Andres' baptism this week and absolutely loved it. She went around telling everyone "Me bautizara..." "Me bautizara" (I'm getting baptized). It was soooo cute! We started planning what she wants to happen at her baptismal service, and we told her we would sing for her. She straight up started crying!!! This woman is incredible!! 

Wow. As a missionary I have a new appreciation for church. For a billion reasons. But the peace has a new meaning. Missionary life is crazy and hectic, so when we get to come to church, it means the world to us. It's kinda funny. We sit in a row with all our investigators and recent converts...all men except one. It is so fun though, we really are just a big family! Sometimes we try to take the 10 minutes during the sacrament for ourselves as missionaries...but the reality is that even then it's not about us, we are always trying to help our investigators have a good experience. When it ceases to be about me, I know I'm doing the right thing:)

So I love to study the words of Elder Bednar and I was studying a talk called Ask in Faith (READ IT https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/ask-in-faith?lang=eng) and something he said that IS SO TRUE. He said:

Asking in faith requires honesty, effort, commitment, and persistence. Let me provide an illustration of what I mean and extend to you an invitation.
We properly pray for the safety and success of the full-time missionaries throughout the world. And a common element in many of our prayers is a request thatthe missionaries will be led to individuals and families who are prepared to receive the message of the Restoration. But ultimately it is my responsibility and yourresponsibility to find people for the missionaries to teach.
Missionaries are full-time teachers; you and I are full-time finders. And you and I as lifelong missionaries should not be praying for the full-timemissionaries to do our work!
If you and I would truly pray and ask in faith, as did Joseph Smith—if we would pray with the expectation to act and not just to express—then the work ofproclaiming the gospel would move forward in a remarkable way. Such a prayer of faith might include some of the following elements:

• Thanking Heavenly Father for the doctrines and ordinances of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which bring hope and happiness into our lives.
• Asking for courage and boldness to open our mouths and share the gospel with our family and friends.
• Entreating Heavenly Father to help us identify individuals and families who will be receptive to our invitation to be taught by the missionaries in our homes.
• Pledging to do our part this day and this week and petitioning for help to overcome anxiety, fear, and hesitation.
• Seeking for the gift of discernment— for eyes to see and ears to hear missionary opportunities as they occur.
• Praying fervently for the strength to act as we know we should.

I cannot stress the importance of members enough. I know he was using this scenario only as an example, but he also extended it as an invitation. And that is what I will leave you with as a challenge with this week; a challenge not just from me, but from an apostle of the Lord. Follow the counsel of Elder Bednar. We appreciate the prayers as missionaries, but we need your help. The members are truly the source of success. I've seen it in realtime in the past month I have been here. The blessings are real and eternal.
I love being a missionary. Sometimes for fun I look for something to complain about, but the truth is I can't find a thing. I am on the errand of the Lord. It doesn't get any better than this.
With all my love,
Hermana Webb

Finally got to the beach!!

We found a wittle crab!! (:

Our crazy district!

My two hijas!!!

What happens when we have absolutely no time for dinner...haha