Recuerdate Quien Eres

November 24, 2104

Hello hello! 

Well, no trips to the hospital this week! I'm finally back to full health! Yay. 

This week has been full of trials and growing experiences. I've had to learn a lot about patience and letting things happen in the Lord's time. As missionaries, we're in an area for 6, 12 weeks. Then we go to a new area. So we develop a lot of love for the people we're teaching and we want things to happen now! We want people to progress and be baptized now! Because we want to be there and we're on a way shorter time frame. But I've learned that good things will happen in the Lord's time, which is the right time for these people. Once again, always learning patience (:

I also gave a talk in church this week so that was exciting! All in Spanish! :D It was scary, but I just decided to get up there and go by the Spirit. I ended up telling everyone about Dad's favorite thing to say: "Remember who you are." Recuerdate quien eres. Every day before I left to school, he said that to me. And I will never forget it. I testified that we are sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father. We have eternal potential and divine worth. And no matter how much the world and Satan want us to think that we are nothing, we can't afford to forget who we are. We are EVERYTHING to Heavenly Father. The worth of one soul is great in His eyes and we can rely on His love and grace in the darkest moments. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Webb

All of the Spanish crew together for Diana's baptism!

Diana's baptism

Tender mercy when I ordered a burger and
opened the bag to find two!! Haha

We make enchiladas and play futbal
on P-days! Basically hispanic!

WELCOME HOME ALLYSON

November 17, 2014

Well, all I can think about this week is that my big sis is home from her mission in Cape Verde, Africa. I am SO incredibly proud of her and her service to the Lord for this past year and a half. And I'm so happy for my family to have a daughter back. 

This week was wonderful! We've been focusing a lot on the Ramirez-Lopez family. Their family is doing AMAZING! They are all reading the Book of Mormon and praying and marking off the days on their baptismal calendar! Unfortunately we just found out the other night that the mom isn't actually married to the dad, but they are still living together :( but that's okay! We talked to her and she is going to talk with him about getting married at our church! She wants to get baptized very badly and it is amazing to me to watch her work out the problems for herself. I think that's a moment when you can tell that a person is becoming truly converted; when it isn't the missionaries that are working out every single detail, but the person. Priorities change, lives change, hearts change. So I better start brushing up on my wedding planning skills! :D Ah I'm so excited for this beautiful family. 

Funny story about them, we taught them the 10 commandments on Tuesday, then went back to teach them again and July says "So we've been reviewing the condiments!" Her mom just starts dying laughing and says "July, the 10 commandments!" Hahaha.

Also, Sunday was great because we are teaching so many families! So first, Valeria shows up with her 5-year-old son and we bring him down to primary. Then the Ramirez-Lopez got there with their 3 kids and 3 cousins. Then Carla and Esquivel's family with 4 kids. Haha. It was just an army of kids heading down to primary. Soo cute. I love these families more than life! 

A cool story about our recent convert, Avelino. He's doing awesome and he paid his tithing for the first time this week. He calls us the next morning and is all excited. We asked him what was going on and he said that the next day at work, his boss randomly gave him a raise!! The DAY after he paid his tithing. Like it says in the Bible, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse..and prove me now herewith, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." That promise is so true and what a testimony builder for him and me! Incredible.

I am so blessed and am feeling 100% recovered after my surgery thanks to lots of help from Heavenly Father. I am praying for you all! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Webb

Preparation Day Bowling! (:

The Ramirez-Lopez family plus cousins

Best family night ever with Ramirez-Lopez family.
Putting on the armor of God to withstand "fiery darts of the adversary."

Bye Bye Appendix

November 10, 2014

So this week started off with a bang. We were pulling into our apartment on Monday night and my stomach started feeling pretty weird. I was thinking it was probably something I ate, so we just kept going, getting ready for bed. The pain kept getting worse and worse, but I told Hermana Weymouth I'd just sleep it off. I sat there for 2 hours in the most INTENSE pain of my life, not really sure what to do because it was the middle of the night. Finally, I woke up Hermana Weymouth and told her we needed to get to the hospital pronto. So we had to drive into Everett, and I'm sitting there just crying out in pain and poor Hermana Weymouth is speeding like crazy and running red lights to get me there. Ha- I felt like a pregnant women in the middle of labor, screaming at my husband to hurry the heck up. So we got to the hospital, they put in an IV, and starting pumping the pain meds. I am SO grateful for modern medicine. The pain was gone in minutes. I told the doctor I was feeling fine and probably didn't need the CT scan. He just laughed. Haha. So after the CT scan, the doctor came in and told me that my appendix had almost burst and that I needed to be operated on in a few hours. That was some unexpected news!! So the anesthesia kicked in, I had a nice little nap, and I woke up minus an appendix and with 4 new incisions. Fun stuff. They caused me a lot of pain at the beginning of this week, but now I'm able to walk and do almost everything without much pain. 

So it was a slow, painful week of recovery, trying to be patient and not overdo it. Why am I always learning patience? Haha. I hated being down when there was so much work to be done! But everyone here took such good care of me! Our fridge was stocked with food people brought over, and my heart was full with all the calls, texts, visits, and cards from the wonderful people here who I love so much. 

The highlight of my week was definitely church though! Wow! We had 8 investigators come to church, which is like doubling the size of our little branch. (Ok that's an exaggeration). Ha. We had Lorena and her daughter, Ivet, come. And the Ramos family! Miracle! I totally played the "I need a mom to take care of me at church" card, and it worked! Ah. Mary and her two daughters came and I quote, had a "wonderful experience!" Ahhhh. Mary is Catholic and feels like she might be betraying her faith if she accepts a baptismal date. So this was SUCH a big step in the right direction for their family. She really is like my second mom. Well, I have like 6 moms here and a grandma. Haha. Our branch is full of some of the most loving people I've ever met! Also at church, MiKenzie got confirmed! She was baptized a few weeks ago, but because of stake conference and other things, wasn't able to complete her baptism by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost until yesterday. It was such a beautiful blessing with some incredible promises. She walked backed beaming, a big smile on her face. She is going to be an incredible member of the Church and a great example to her family. I was sitting with her family on the back row, just looking at everyone, all the families with their arms around each other. And the new people squished in between, and I was so happy. It felt like a big family. I couldn't feel an ounce of pain because my heart was SO full of love for these people. It's one of the most incredible blessings as a missionary- the amount of Christ-like love you develop for others. 

Thanks for all your love and support! I felt it lifting me up in the hardest moments this week. Stay strong in the happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "Lift up your head and rejoice," and let others around you see the light that you have to share with the world. 

-Hermana Webb

Yep, this pretty much sums up the week

My favorite family-the Ramirez-Lopez
family gave me this card after surgery

Happiness and Healing

November 3, 2014

So this week has been well, rainy. It was so nice and sunny here for the first few months, and I was starting to doubt all these stereotypes about rainy Washington. But no, definitely is true. Haha. It rains every day now, without fail. And if you use an umbrella, you look like a total outsider. So you just get soaked everyday. Fun stuff (:

But don't worry, a little rain can't get this Hermana down! This week was so full of joy. The community is still having a very hard time with the events of last week, but we have been able to help so many families this week just by talking with them, hugging them, crying with them, and laughing with them. We can choose to be happy even in the darkest times, there is light. 

We were able to teach Lorena's family with her three kids about the Plan of Salvation, and testify that through Christ, there is more than this life. There is hope in a better future. At the end, we asked them what they thought about this plan. Ivet and Juli both said "It is a MARVELOUS plan!" Hahaha. I love those kids! Then, we ended with a hula-hoop contest. The little 10-year-old boy, Emiliano, got so into it. He was moving his hips like I have never seen! We were all on the floor, doubled over laughing. I've seen this week how important laughing and smiling is to healing. 

We also met with two teenagers who were friends with the victims. We had a very tender moment with both of them. Laura started to cry as she explained how lonely she felt without those friends. She told us that she had went to her room and said a very long prayer after she found out and began to read the Book of Mormon. She felt so comforted. This is when the tears started to come to my eyes. We have the answers. My favorite song this week has been, "where can I turn for peace?" I've been singing that song all week. Personally, I found peace after this tragedy sitting in church. I was sitting listening to the speaker and I just felt an overwhelming, almost like a wave, of peace of calm come over me. God granted me the peace I needed to move on and now I can share that with others. I am so glad Heavenly Father put us in Laura's life so she had the resources to go to in a time like this. 

Ok, one more story. On Wednesday, we were going to teach this family- Jessica and Jorge and their two little girls. We found out they were really sick so we offered to have someone from the church bring them dinner. Jessica was so grateful. So we called our Relief Society president, and she said she could do it. Well, turns out she must have forgot, because Jessica texts us asking when they will get there. We panicked!!!! So we drove over to Little Caesar's as fast as we could, grabbed some food, and went to deliver it. And I kid you not, the EXACT second we got out of the car, it started POURING rain. Like big, big droplets. We, and the food, were soaked in a matter of seconds. So we rang the doorbell, two little wet, sad hermanas, and Jessica opens the door and almost starts to cry because she was so grateful that someone cared about her enough to bring her a wet, Little Ceaser's pizza. Ha.

I'm grateful for this week of healing for me and many others. Thank you for your prayers for these people. 

-Hermana Webb

District pumpkin carving

The finished product

SUNNYSIDE SPANISH SQUAD

This is Juli and Ivet. I love them so much!

And the Melchor family! 5 kids! So dang cute!

Making caramel apples for Halloween

And…Avelino! I almost died laughing when I saw him
wearing this shirt. He kept saying he was just chillin!

Take No Thought

October 27, 2014

So this week was very emotional for a lot of people here. Because of the shooting that happened at the local high school. Me and my companion were actually one street over from the high school when it happened. It was a terrifying thing to witness as students ran from the school and parents ran to the school, praying that their child was ok. We were able to say a prayer with a big group of students that stood crying outside the school. We have been praying everyday for everyone involved, especially the families that lost a precious child. Please pray for them as well. We have had some very neat discussions with people about the Plan of Salvation after this event. This life is NOT the end. There is more. We have hope in our Savior Jesus Christ. Personally, I've received so much peace as I've prayed this week for comfort in trying times. I'm so grateful for the peace of the Gospel and grateful that I can share this message with others in this sad time. 

 On a happier note, we found an AMAZING family this week that we are teaching. They have 3 kids: Juli, Ameliano, and Evet. Absolutely incredible kids. We taught them the first lesson and they had such profound answers. Me and Hermana Weymouth were blown away! Ameliano told us he wanted to sign up to do what we do. He said he wanted a name tag like ours. Evet said "me too!" They are adorable. Two future missionaries. The next lesson, they wrote us both a note about how much they loved God. We told them we had a present too, and gave them both a copy of the Book of Mormon. They about wet their pants with excitement. We set a baptismal date with them for the 22nd of November and we are SO excited. 

 Also, we started teaching a family named the Gaspars. When we finished teaching them, the dad starts telling us about how much he loves to fish. And then he pulls out this 8-pound beautiful king salmon and hands it over to us. Our jaws just dropped. Haha. So Hermana Soto is going to filet it for us and we're going over soon to have a delicious dinner :D Tender mercies.

 So, one of Hermana Weymouth's themes is "take no thought", as in, as servants of the Lord, like is says in Matthew 6:31, "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, Whatshall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" 

 So we ran out of milk and eggs on Thursday, and we don't go shopping until Monday. So were wondering what we were going to do. When we pulled in that night, one of our neighbors was unloading some groceries and we offered if we could help. She said no, but asked us if we by chance would like a gallon of milk and a carton of eggs because they had too much. Whaaaaaat?! Wow. Heavenly Father is aware of us and our smallest needs. 

Love you all,

Hermana Webb

Que Honda!!

October 20, 2014

Hellooooooooooooooooooo everyone!!!! :D:D:D How is everybody!? 

My week was great! Pretty exhausting as usual, but wonderful as usual :) My Sabbath day was beautiful! It was the Primary program and it was so cute! We also had a big meeting the last hour of church about something that is called JustServe.org and it is incredible! It's this new website that the Church has created that helps you find service projects near you. You just sign up and type in a place and it sends you back notifications of all the service projects that are near you. It was such an inspiring meeting! I am so excited because they are getting the missionaries involved in it as well and thinking about it just gets me so excited and I feel the spirit so strong! I love service! :D 

Also, we had three people come to church this week! One of them's name is Javier and he brought his little 8 year-old niece with him :) she is so cute! Cool story about them though: We got a referral like 2 weeks ago that was for Javier and it said that he had come up to missionaries in a store and had been trying to ask them where the church was and that he wanted to take the lessons. So we were pretty excited about going to meet him, but then Elder Gressier left and he took his GPS with him that he had lent us. We tried so hard to find him and we just couldn't find him! It was so frustrating! Finally though last Saturday, a member came with us that has a GPS and we found him! And turns out that he had been going to church with his brother in Spokane and he had loved it! Then he moved here with his sister and apparently he has been reading the Book of Mormon to them and has been trying to teach them about the gospel! CRAZY! So we got him the address to the church and him and his sister and her whole family wanted to come to church the next day! Unfortunately, the sister and her other two kids weren't able to come because the little boy had a soccer game :/ but Javier came and he brought his little niece! He is incredible! 

Another really cool thing that happened on Sunday was that we went to visit a new family that we found just last week who are incredible as well! And we had the plan to finish teaching them the Restoration; the part about Joseph Smith's first vision and the restoration of the Priesthood and praying to know if it's true. This part is always super intense for me because this is usually the part where the people decide whether or not the believe and want to keep learning. So needless to say we were praying really hard. We taught and the Spirit was strong and and they just kept nodding their heads and making positive comments. It just made sense to them. At the end, we have been leaving them "tarea" homework haha, and the homework was to pray specifically together as a couple to know whether or not the Church was restored and Joseph Smith was a true prophet. They said they would do it and let us know how it went :) I'm so excited to find out about their experience on Wednesday! 

So yeah, the work is progressing, my spanish is progressing (I can now understand about 85% of the conversations we have with people- yay! :) And I am happy as ever! Thank you all for your support and love! Have a wonderful week! 

-Hermana Webb

PS I am starting to like real hispanic food! Slowly. Haha. And my tolerance for spicy stuff is increasingly rapidly! :D

Avelino's for lunch! 

YAY for Fall! And Hermana Weymouth!

I love sunsets on the lake! Prettiest area ever!

Celebrating Fall with beautiful trees & caramel apples!

Busy, Busy Week of Baptisms!

October 13, 2014

Where to start?

Ah, sooo two baptisms that I've gotta tell y'all about! :D

First, Avelino was baptized!!! After 9 months of meeting with missionaries, Avelino finally made the necessary changes in his life because he had such a strong desire to get closer to Heavenly Father. He loves the commandments, which is awesome. He has such a rock solid testimony. He has had a very rough life, more so than anyone I have ever met, and it was such a sweet moment to see him go down into the waters of baptism and see that all erased. He gets to start over. He said that as he went down, his mind was completely clear and at peace. He is so happy, now having the Holy Ghost with him all the time. He called us last night and said "Sisters, thank you for showing me the way." That's really what it all comes down to: we've found the way, the way to happiness and peace and hope and how to return back to a loving Heavenly Father. Now, we have to show others. 

Second, beautiful little 9-year-old MiKenzie was baptized after church on Sunday. She walked in wearing her beautiful white dress and looking like a little angel. Her mom and dad still need to get married before they can get baptized, so MiKenzie is leading the way for her family. Her mom, Jessica, invited her whole family to come and we really wanted them to have a good first experience with the Church. It was such a beautiful day. And somehow Hermana Weymouth convinced me to sing a duet with her during it of "I know that my Redeemer Lives." I sang the first verse as a solo. Uhh, yeah. Hermana Webb sings, whaaat? Haha. I was so nervous I almost passed out. But I got through it. Whew. The things you do as a missionary because you love your investigators. Haha. 

And my absolutely FAVORITE quote possibly ever from a talk called "The Fourth Missionary:"

"Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withhold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more, than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary man. He will create a God."

Give your whole heart to God and He will mold you into something extraordinary. That is my testimony this week. 

I love my mission. I love the Church. I love my family. And I love my Savior Jesus Christ,

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Webb

Love this little angel!!

Avelino is on the left. The most humble, kind person.

Mikenzie Marie Marroquine Doucette and her parents.