Hermana Webb in Washington: 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