December 28, 2015

Hey Fam! 

Yeah it was so good to see all of you, too! The tears at the end we're not as bad as you thought haha I was fine 10 minutes after. I just have a really ugly cry hahaha but I was fine right after! Christmas is just a weird thing on the mission haha it's awesome, but it's just so different. I still had a really good day but yeah it's just weird! It's hard to explain. Dad and Jared know what I mean. The members were really nice to us too! It was fun going over to their houses and eat with them and be a part of their families for a little bit. The members here are great! 

This week was fun! It was an interesting week with Christmas Eve, Christmas, transfer calls, the warm weather, etc! We opened up all of our presents on Christmas Eve and it was a lot of fun! All the candy, other good treats, the ties, the picture, the Christmas tree, etc! I don't even remember it all, if I was at the apartment I would but thanks so much! Everyone that sent anything thank you! 

Yeah for Christmas we had lunch at the Scott's, and then we Skyped, and then we went and street contacted until about 5:00 p.m. and then went and had dinner at the senior missionaries' place with some African members! It was awesome! The African members were so confused at what gravy was. They were all nervous to try it haha but then they all loved it! They all think Americans are sooooo unhealthy! It's really funny. 

We struggled to meet with people this week. It was a lot of finding and not a lot of success but it's ok! Our investigators are all still really solid! So we aren't too worried. They are all really busy! But yeah we got transfer calls the other day and Elder Johnson is leaving and I'm staying again for another transfer! It's pretty weird. Elder Johnson and I became good friends but he will be a great zone leader!! I'm staying as junior companion and getting another French speaker so I'm happy! I love the people in this area haha I couldn't imagine being in Elder Johnson's shoes where he's been here for a year straight--these people must mean so much to him! I love this area and I'm so glad I'm staying! 

I'm sorry I don't have a lot to write, it was so good to see all of you over Skype! It was a lot of fun! I have the best family in the world. I hope you all had a good Christmas and that you all will have a good new year, as well! Make New Year's resolutions! Improve! I'm making some and I'm going to actually try to accomplish them so.......try with me! Haha I love you all! Have a good week! 

Love, 

Elder Webb️️

December 21, 2015

My French is terrible! It's not progressing, haha but it's ok. Elder Johnson has just been translating for me during lessons. It's so frustrating haha but it's ok! 

Yes I got the packages! I've already had some of the hot cocoa, which is phenomenal, and I used the snowman mug, and I set up the Christmas tree. It's awesome! Oh and I ate all the toffee in like 30 minutes. I felt so sick after but it obviously was worth it. I got the packages like 2 days ago I think! 

Well I'll start off by saying I can't believe it's almost Christmas! Time has flown by, and second it's been really warm lately! It's supposed to be like 50 degrees on Tuesday! No snow. But the wind pierces my soul I kid you not, it's painful, but we had a really good week! 

We taught J-- about the word of wisdom this week and we were nervous he was going to have a lot of questions about it, but he accepted gladly and has been updating us this week with it telling us that it is going well! He has been busy, so we only saw him that one time but yeah he gives us a call once every few days and tells us. It's been really cool! He's supposed to be baptized Jan. 9th  but we will probably have to move it to February because he's so busy, so we don't have enough time to teach him all the lessons. But he's still very enthusiastic about it all! 

We taught Fe-- once, and nothing really happened. She's very shy. She's awesome! But yeah we taught about the plan of salvation and it went well, but she's just so hard to get a read on! But she has come to church a few times already, and has loved it, especially the other African members so it's still going good! 

And A--, we were teaching him this week and it was funny. He told us "I love meeting with you guys, you're really nice and funny but I just don't think I'm going to gain anything from your church. We both love Jesus, and we both believe in him! So I don't think I will gain anything.".......so I got up and handed him the Book of Mormon and his eyes went HUGE. He was so shocked that he busted out laughing, and trust me it wasn't a "this is ridiculous" laugh. It was a "oh my gosh I was wrong and this is awesome" laugh! And he has been really interested lately. We are meeting with him tomorrow, and hopefully he has read, but yeah it was funny. He got so excited. Elder Johnson bore a super strong testimony about the Book of Mormon, too, after I got up and handed him the Book of Mormon, and it just felt like the Spirit was giving everyone bear hugs. You couldn't deny the Spirit that was there. It's been a fun week, and a really quick one. 

I'm excited to talk to you this weekend! It will be fun! If I cry I promise I'm still a big boy. I just get it from dad, so you can blame him if it gets weird. I love you! And Merry Christmas to everyone! If you emailed me and I didn't respond, I'm very sorry! I am making a list of who to respond to next week and if you've sent me one, I promise you will be on the list. Once again, I love you all! Have a good week! 

Elder Webb

December 14, 2015

Hey Fam! 

Well this week was hectic haha--I went on 2 exchanges with other elders because Elder Johnson is district leader, so on Monday and Tuesday I was with Elder Steely because he had a missionary training thing in New Hampshire, and then we did a district exchange between us and the other Portland elders on Wednesday and Thursday so I was barely even with Elder Johnson this week! Haha it was crazy! But during those few days, I had A LOT of fun. It was hectic but I realized how great the missionaries there are in this mission. They all really are huge studs and I look up to every one of them. 

We taught a few lessons during those few days. We taught the less-active brother P-- again and the lesson went well. I was stressed because the Elder I was with obviously didn't know anything about him so it was mostly up to me with the lesson plan but I felt pretty good about it hah I think he enjoys us coming over. Even if the lesson we gave wasn't very good, I think he still enjoys the company hahaha and then we taught F-- again, and we taught her about the Book of Mormon with the senior couple in our mission, and it went very well. The spirit was so strong and we could see it working through F--, because that was one of the only times we had noticed her light up during a lesson, something clicked with her and it was cool to see, I hope it keeps going in a good direction! She's awesome.

Elder Johnson and I did a lot of finding the past few days and haven't had any success really. It's been hard but we saw an amazing miracle yesterday with J-- one of the recent converts that I talked a little about. In Burundi there has been another big outburst of killings apparently because people tried rebelling against the government. They sent out these trucks through the neighborhoods to knock on doors and kill the young men if there were any in the home. And J--'s kids are still in Burundi, and the trucks were in her neighborhood yesterday and Saturday. She knew about it before church but she said she knew that she needed to keep it together and to come to church and take the sacrament. And we didn't know about any of this until after church, but the people in the trucks went to the kids' house, and broke down the door but they were hiding in a place in the basement. They saw clothes on the floor which were her son's who is about my age (so a young man obviously) and they for some reason had the idea that the house had already been checked and taken care of, so they left. And J-- said that is an absolute miracle that they didn't search it anyways just to make sure. But yeah anyways, it was amazing to hear. Talk about conversion. In her time of need she decided that taking the sacrament and doing what she's supposed to by coming to church in stead of staying home nervous and unsure (which she had every reason to stay home and worry), and she was blessed for it. It was a huge testimony builder to see that for sure.

Well, have a good week! And remember the true meaning of Christmas! I love you all so much!!

Elder Webb

December 7, 2015

Good luck, Grandpa, with the knee
replacement! You're still young, so I bet it will be fine but know
that I'm praying for you and hope you get well soon! 

My French is terrible haha it's not really coming along, it's hit a road block, and
I can't speak it to save my life but I can understand it pretty well.
But yeah it's not very good haha.

Well this week was an interesting week! A lot of ups and downs for
sure, but it was still pretty good. We have had a rough past 4 ish
days, I don't know what it is about this place right now but everyone
cancels appointments! Ha we have gone to the appointments and they
weren't there or they say they aren't home anymore after we call them--
but yeah we've had a lot of that the last few days! But I've really
learned to keep my head up, and I've been humbled a lot lately too. We
were seeing a lot of success in the area for pretty much the entire
first transfer, and I have needed this humbling to show me how I
handle these kinds of situations. Patience seriously is a virtue. It's
hard to have patience, but it's something everyone needs. At the
beginning of the week I was on an exchange with another Elder in
Yarmouth and it was a lot of fun, and we had a lot of success talking
with people. We set up a few return appointments and people were just
showing interest in what we had to say. It was awesome!! We are
encouraged to hand out these little Christmas cards that have a link
to the church website on it and that really has helped, because people
at this time of year are always nicer haha especially towards a
message about Christ. 

The headquarters for L.L. Bean is in Yarmouth
and they have a massive shopping mall there so we walked around it and
talked to a ton of people, and Mom you would be obsessed with this
place!  Dad too, because there is a big hunting section that I saw
through the window, too, but yeah it was really really cool. I'll send
some pictures. But yeah it's always fun talking to people, and there
were a select few that totally crossed our path for a reason. And this
next district meeting I will DEFINITELY be checking up on the Yarmouth
Elders and see where it has taken them! I'm excited to find out. And
we are still working with Fe-- and she came to church again and we
were able to meet with her a couple times this week! Things are moving
in the right direction with her so it's going great! She's nervous to
dive into it, but she is slowly lightening up to it. And she's ENGLISH-
SPEAKING WHICH IS AMAZING BECAUSE I CAN ACTUALLY TALK TO HER haha but
yeah overall it was a good week.

My message this week is short, but it's about the cards we were
handing out that I talked about earlier. If you haven't already
watched the Christmas video that the church made, go watch it!! It's
truly amazing. And I encourage you to post it onto social media so
everyone can see it. If you go to Christmas.mormon.org it's right
there, and put the link on Facebook or something, then it helps. You
have no idea who's life it could change, member or not, so please do!
We encourage everyone to do that, so hasten the work:) I love you all!
And hope you have a good week! Mom, I'll work on that list:) and I
hope you get some snow soon!!

Elder Webb 🎄

November 30, 2015

I'm glad you had a good week! And a fun thanksgiving! There is no snow here, so I haven't bought any 

boots but man it is SO cold here. The wind pierces your face when you walk, it's brutal but it's just 

more motivation to get lessons with people!! So we try way way way hard when we street contact and 

tract! Haha we always do, but the people see the extra want in our eyes I swear. The people here are 

pretty nice, they don't want to hear the message but they feel bad for us so they will bring us inside to 

warm up haha I wish they would listen but at least they let us warm up! 

We had another interesting week with everyone that we are teaching. Well not everyone, but most. 

The lessons just fell through and they couldn't find any time to meet and it was pretty frustrating. Even 

our recent converts J-- and A-- struggled to keep their appointments but they are still doing 

great. We met with A-- only once this week, but he is still strong as ever and just got his work 

permit! So he's pretty happy about that. And he passed the Sacrament this week at church too and 

he loved it! 

But with other people we are teaching......there is a new girl named Fi--. She's from 

Tanzania and she was Muslim there, but she met with Christian missionaries and converted to 

Christianity and her family did not like it. They actually tried to kill her. With Muslims we have to be 

really careful about teaching any of them because of that, even here in America. They have to be 

interviewed to make sure they are ok to teach. But anyways, yeah so she fled her country, hasn't talked 

to her family 

since she left (3 years ago) and ran into us! So we just started teaching her and she's the nicest girl ever. 

Also, our investigator J-- that read half the Book of Mormon in like 2 days, he is being baptized in 

January! I don't know if I already told you that last week, but yeah we are excited! He really is ready! 

Haha and we just picked up another named M-- and she is very interested, as well. Our teaching 

pool is really big but other than the ones I just talked about they have all fallen through this week. It's 

been a cold week but it's been really good. We met with a less active named Brother P-- and we had

a great lesson with him. It still blows my mind that he is less active because he's so amazingly nice and 

has such a burning testimony but yeah we are just trying to help him find that desire to come to church 

It's an interesting situation. 

J--, I talked about him a while ago, we really have high hopes for him still, it's been a month 

since we have met with him last but keep him in your prayers that he will find time to meet with us. 

He needs the gospel so bad, it would help him so much. 

It's been a good week, even when it gets tough we joke around and have a good time. But I'm enjoying 

this work, I truly love it. And I love being in tune with the Spirit. You never have to worry if you are in tune 

with the Spirit and it's a great feeling. I love you all! Oh, and our Thanksgiving was great! It was the usual 

food too:) no seafood! I wish! But it was great. I felt right at home! I love you all, and I hope you have a 

good week!! 

We are terrible at taking pictures. It's too cold to pull the camera out during the day and we just don't 

think about it but I took this one because I got a new hat and I'm pumped. My ears get sooo cold so 

this hat will be awesome.