August 29, 2017

He's home as of yesterday!!  He's doing great and is already off to college today.  (Already has a golf trip planned, too, with his Dad and Jared this evening :)  We love you, Cam.  We are so proud of how you have spent the last two years!  Thank you~

August 21, 2017

Well, fam and friends- it's my last email on the mission.

It's crazy how fast it goes. I'm in an area right now where we drive a lot so I've had a lot of time to reflect on stuff and I actually think this has been the best 2 years. It's definitely been the hardest, and most frustrating, most fulfilling, etc but so worth it. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to serve in New England and to meet so many amazing people. I feel like when I hear the name "New England" when I get home it will always hit me because it really is a 2nd home to me. 

I think one of the biggest things I've learned on my mission is that I feel like I have actually found myself and who I am supposed to be. At least at this time in my life. Before my mission I wasn't very happy with who I was or things I did and I just thought that was something I would deal with my whole life, and I definitely have felt that on my mission, but I've learned that it's ok to make mistakes and to have imperfections. I don't think it's a coincidence that a lot of people "find themselves" on their missions because it is a time where you truly are participating in the work that is individually, and for the people you serve, your way back to Heavenly Father. I've learned that Christ can make way more out of my life than I ever could and the only way to find that is through pushing in his service to our limits. It doesn't make sense that through our big rule book we have, and all the things we do every day that a lot of people think are restricting, I have found myself and that I'm actually happy with who I am unless there is some sort of divine intervention. 

There's a quote that has rang true to me for a while now and it's from Russell M. Nelson and it says, "Conversely, I promise that as you keep God’s commandments, as you live by his laws, you will become increasingly free. This freedom will unveil to you your divine nature and allow you to prosper personally. You will be free from the bondage of sin. You will be free to be you." I honestly didn't think I would find "freedom" on my mission but I've never felt it more, and it's because the gospel is not a gospel of restriction but it's really there to help us fulfill the potential that we have but we may not see in ourselves. It's been my greatest blessing to live it more than I ever will in my life for these 2 years. 

I'm excited to continue to be a missionary even though I won't have my name tag on anymore. There are so many opportunities that cross our paths back home where someone needs the Spirit, or questions answers, or things resolved, and I have made a promise that I'm going to try to act on it more when I get home so that people, whether members or not, can find the Spirit in more of an abundance, and it's all of our jobs to make sure we remain worthy of it so that we can be the vessels for that Spirit. This last week on Monday before I was transferred, I quickly learned that you never know what impact you have on someone, which is why I feel like it's a big part of my testimony right now. We were saying goodbye to a member that I've grown close with and she told me in a little gift book that a couple months ago when we were there for dinner, she asked my companion and I to bear our testimonies and give our conversion story. Mine was short and I felt like it was just another part of a dinner, but she explained that the testimony I bore of my conversion to the gospel gave her daughter hope because she's been struggling with her testimony and that it had a strong impact on her because she knows her testimony will come over time as long as she works at it. I started to tear up a little because it really made me realize my purpose was way deeper than just teaching non-members or less-actives, but any testimony can have an impact, even if it's short. 

I know I've rambled and I have no idea what to say but I guess I want you guys to know that I've loved my mission. Love you all and I'll see ya soon! 

-Elder Webb

August 14, 2017

Yeah--the family we had dinner with yesterday is way cool. They are the best. 

Well this week was pretty crazy! We had so many exchanges so I hardly was even in Nashua, but throughout the Zone we had some awesome miracles. I went to Lowell for the first exchange and it's a pretty big city so it was really fun! We made it a goal to be uncomfortable the whole day, like trying to talk to everyone even if they are behind a closed fence, or if you see movement in a house go and knock on it....it sounds kind of creepy but it's not bad.  But yeah we were walking and we saw this mom playing tennis with her young daughter in the driveway and so it's always awkward to interrupt people's activities but we went for it anyway and we started talking with her and she literally was the coolest person ever, like super well put together, very successful career, but still is struggling and she said "Man, it's like the craziest thing you guys came over....actually kind of weird".  So I was like, "A good kind of weird?" And she explained that yes it was a good weird and that she just barely started her journey to find more spirituality in her life but didn't know where to find it. She said she also was looking for a church that was family friendly. She cried most of the time we were there too, especially as we showed the Prince of Peace video. When we were walking away from the appointment it was honestly kind of a sacred experience...like we weren't supposed to even be in that part of town at that time and we were going to park at a different street, etc. It was honestly crazy to see how the Lord helped guide us to her. I wish sooo bad I could have stayed there to teach her, but she is so awesome! Those experiences are so cool to look back on and see how we honestly seemed like the Lord's puppets haha like we were just there and were guided without knowing it. 

I then went on exchange with Elder Mann--he's an Elder I live with and so it was pretty ordinary, people just being people and not really listening, and then we ran into this guy named C-- and he's a black guy from the south but he claims he's from Utah.  He said he lived there for 20 years. He then explained the only reason he didn't join the church when he was there was because of the doctrine of baptisms for the dead......so we taught him that and cleared up confusion. Haha it was so bizarre but literally he's like the coolest guy! He told us he graduated from institute multiple times too and has taken all the discussions and would go to firesides all the time, and he said he knows Jeffrey R. Holland.  Hahaha I promise this guy isn't nuts--like he really knows a lot. We are meeting with him again this week. Pretty random but it was cool! Baptisms for the Dead.....it gets a lot of people confused. Classic. 

Anyways. The week was pretty slow other than that, we just tried hard to get people at church and we had 3 come actually which was pretty cool! And our investigator R-- came again and he keeps hinting at joining the church.....but then he tells us not to push him too much hahaha he's such a funny guy. 

Transfers came and I'll be leaving Nashua for the last little bit. I knew it was happening, President told me. So it's not really a surprise, but yeah I'm going to Peterborough literally in the same zone! I'm really excited. I get to be co-training a missionary until I leave so I'm excited to help him out as best as I can. 

Honestly it's just crazy, everything that's happening, I can't believe I only have 1 more P-day. The past 3 months in this area has been the biggest blessing, it has pushed me harder than I ever have before with being in the Boston mission for half a transfer, and then merging the Zone from the Boston mission to ours, and all the things we've been able to do while here. The mission really has taught me a lot and in this area I think one of the biggest things I've learned is patience. It's ok to slow down and make sure everything is in its proper place and what I'm supposed to be doing, and it's ok that the people around me are imperfect because I'm more imperfect than they are. I've always struggled with patience, and I still do, but I think the plan of salvation would have ended at the very beginning if it wasn't for the patience of Heavenly Father. He knew we would make so many mistakes coming to earth, and we would constantly ask him to help us and forgive us, and then we would turn around and do it again over and over again! Honestly I've said so many prayers to Heavenly Father and asked him how he has so much patience for his children haha--like a lot. Because I'm so impatient with them sometimes! Especially myself. But it's ok as long as we are working on it then we will improve. And I actually do think I'm improving with my patience even though it's been a small improvement, but the improvement is what counts and I owe it all to Christ. Hopefully he can keep helping me haha. 

Anyways I just ranted a lot so I'll stop. But I love you guys and I can't wait to see you soon! Last email coming at ya live next week. Love you bye!

August 7, 2017

Hey, sorry, I definitely owe you a good email this week! I'll try. 

Well--yup so the kidney stone is doing fine. I passed it the same day. Holy cow it was like the worst thing I've ever had to go through hahaha and mom!...l I have like 1 soda a week, and it's been like that for like 8 months! I've been doing good but yeah it really got me. Sorry Jared. I know what you feel like. 

The past 2 weeks have been pretty exciting! So we get this referral named R--, and so we go to contact him and no one was there. So a few days later we decided to call him and see if he is still interested in getting a Bible, and he was, so we set up an appointment to go see him the next night. We had a priest-aged kid with us the next night (he was teaching with us) and we go to see R-- and he wasn't home again. So we called him while we were on his doorstep and he answers and in tears and a way-shaky voice he says, "I crashed my motorcycle into a kid and I think I broke my leg please come to the park!" ..... k alright so we headed over there and he's just like laying in the bushes grabbing his leg and his motorcycle is laying to the side of him and he explained he was coming back to his house to meet with us and then a kid ran into the middle of the road and he hit the kid and launched himself off of the motorcycle and wrecked himself. His brother pulled up and we helped him up and got him into his brother's car. Hahaha man I shouldn't be laughing but it honestly was really funny because the priest we were with was so shocked and just terrified and then after we helped R-- into the car with tears running down his face he looks at me and says, "Can you come back over tomorrow?" Hahaha so we said, "Sure! Of course, if you'll be alright by then." It turns out he broke his leg in 4 different places. But he still kept the appointment the next day--it was priceless. R-- is a good guy. We are going to wheel him to church on Sunday in his wheelchair. He lives like 1 minute from the church. Haha the poor priest we were with....honestly, it was so funny. Good stuff!

So we have really been working on rebuilding our teaching pool because we have a few great people, but not nearly enough so we've been working on that. It's always a frustrating process doing that but it will pay off and get back to running really well.

We have this less-active we are working with--his name is Brother J- and he has no leg and has struggled with coming to church because he was just really nervous to go back, knows it's a struggle for him to move around, hasn't been in over 2 years, etc. But he finally came! We tried so hard to commit him to come for like 3 months and he finally came.....the thing is he's perfectly worthy, and because of his disability people have been bringing him the sacrament at his house but since he is coming to church now he's ok to exercise priesthood. So it was a really cool experience for me because less-active work has been a problem for me my whole mission, I feel like I've worked with so many people who were sooo close to coming but never really made the final push. But Brother J-- did, and what made it truly a cool experience was I got to push him in his wheelchair around to pass the sacrament to the congregation. He was so happy to be able to do that again, and for me it was just way sweet to be able to participate. 

I also was able to participate in a baby blessing! First time I've ever stood in on one. It was different, and the baby started to lose its mind mid-blessing. First time for everything! The past couple weeks have been good, we've taught a lot and found a lot, just trying to rebuild! 

Love you guys! See you soon.

July 31, 2017

Hey thanks for the clubs!! That was a sweet email to get. Sometimes I
act entitled to stuff when I shouldn't be, sorry about that. They look
way sweet though. And yeah Trevor comes home this week and same with
Big Red! They are all coming home ha it's weird. But hey I guess it's
coming up for me too. I don't know if it was like this for you, but it
just doesn't seem very real ha like it just seems like it will be
another transfer. Oh well! I'm excited though. I love being a
missionary but definitely excited to see everyone again and get back
to life. And wow you're pretty far! Keep it up!

Hey also this email is for mom because I don't have like any time to
write, I know I'm lame, and she'll probably be mad at me but I
promise I'll send a good email next week. One thing though--so we were
driving back from a meeting and all of a sudden there was a big thud
on top of the car and I was so confused so I pulled over and saw my
iPad laying in the road....I left it on the roof! It was actually ok,
but I had to get the screen fixed because it has like my whole mission
on it. Definitely sucked to have that happen. Also, I had to spend a
little money the past 2 weeks because some of our investigators didn't
have clothes for church and my clothes didn't fit them so if you see
I'm a little lower than normal, that's why. Gotta go but love you and
thanks again for the clubs! I'm excited to see you guys in a few
weeks!

July 24, 2017

Hey fam! This week was a way good week. Wednesday was awesome, we were able to go to the temple with our investigator, J-- which was so cool! It was really fun and a super neat experience. Although we couldn't go into the temple past the front desk or anything we were able to spend a lot of time walking around and enjoying the temple grounds. We taught him all about the temple and told him how special of a place that it is. He loved it a lot. He had a lot of great questions and we were able to have a good conversation with him about how it really is the House of the Lord and a truly sacred place. J-- is a champion. 

Another amazing thing about going to the temple was on the way we went to the city of Lexington, Mass., which was awesome to see all of the cool history there as well as just be in the place that the revolutionary war started. Then after we went to the temple she pulled over at a cool spot and we had and AMAZING picnic--she made all kinds of great food as well as different lobster and crab stuff too, it was purely amazing. I love seafood. 

This week we also had Zone Conference and those are always super fun, because the spirit is always so strong as well as a bunch of my other missionary friends being there. Part of the meeting Elder Thorpe and I had to give a two hour training which was really fun. We were able share a bunch of stuff on working with members, building trust in the ward, obedience and consecration, and setting goals and working to accomplish them. The setting goals part of the meeting was by far my favorite part to teach on. We had all the missionary's go outside and then we had an interactive lesson using water balloons and chalk. We had them throw the water balloons however they wanted and then after went and drew a circle around where it hit and told them that they did great. Then we drew a giant target in the middle of the parking lot and had them throw the balloons at the target and taught the principle of setting targets to shoot for instead of drawing targets at where ever we hit. It was really fun and a great way to show the importance of setting goals. Preparing for it taught me a lot. It was basically from the talk by Dieter F Uchtdorf where he says life without goals is like shooting an arrow at the wall and drawing the target around it. 

We had some really cool experiences walking the street and running into people that were really prepared! It's always a cool thing to turn back and think about the experiences and see how the spirit helps us. Like random prompting to go down certain streets and run into someone outside, or feeling that even though a person may not seem interested to keep pushing, and keep trying to get them to open up, and then they start crying because they explain that the reason they stopped believing in God is because their Dad committed suicide, and then being able to testify that they can see them again one day and that Christ can help everyone to know that, and see their countenance change and their burden lifted.....it just doesn't happen anywhere other than the mission. Well, at least not as often. I'm lucky I get to do it every day! Trying to take advantage of it while I can. 

Love you guys! Have a good weeeeek

July 16, 2017

Hey fam!

Ok no problem for my homecoming, whatever works! And cool I'm excited
for that topic.

Well this week was way awesome but it also was super long. It started
with a leadership meeting Tuesday that went from 8:30-6:00, then
District Meeting the next morning, and then another leadership meeting
that afternoon with President. Then we were given the assignment to
put together a bunch of excel spreadsheets for our stake meeting which
happened the next day too. So up until Thursday we were completely in
meetings and I am not the biggest fan of meetings but oh well it
happened. It is hard to start your proselyting week on Friday because
you set these goals and then have so little time to try to accomplish
them but we went at it and saw some amazing miracles. We have really
pushed to get our investigators to Sacrament Meeting. Doing anything
and everything we can. So we had a church tour with our investigator
D-- and took him around and showed him everything and it was really
spiritual and we felt prompted to try to set a date with him and he
did! August 26! It was way cool. So we talked with him about the
importance of coming to church but he said he didn't have church
clothes so I gave him some of mine and I'll be honest he was looking
really good.


So we get to church and first D-- walks into church and we were
really excited, so we walked with him into the chapel and then we saw
our other investigator, J--, and we were like "hey cool" and so they
both came and sat with us. My comp and I then looked at each other and
were like "Hey, we called C-- last night, I hope she will be able to
make it." And we then look over at the door and C-- starts walking
in haha cool stuff, but then while we were sitting, maybe like 15
minutes into the meeting, a member comes up to me and says "Come with
me" and so I did I started following him and he took me to the back of
the congregation where he said one of our friends was sitting and it
was a guy we met a few days earlier--haha I was so pumped he came. Then
I realized we texted our investigator J-- to come, too, and thought
"Hmm pretty sure he said he would come" and I looked over and he's
there and he brought his little family too! Then I look over at the
sacrament table and G--, the guy that was baptized about 3
weeks after I got in this area, was passing the sacrament. It was such
a cool thing to look around and have the spirit testify to me of the
power of missionary work. Seeing a recent convert passing the
sacrament and our investigators at church. It was one of those moments
where I am kind of ashamed to admit (only because I don't like doing
it), but I got a little emotional just seeing these people fulfill
their potential. At least taking the first step to fulfill it. Cool
stuff! Definitely made my week.

I had interviews with President this week and it was really good
talking with him about stuff. It was really nice to know it wasn't my
exit interview haha-- I was able to have one last regular one! He is so
helpful and gives me good advice. Definitely lucky I have a mission
president like him. And his wife, too, she is awesome.

It was a good week! Excited for the one upcoming. Nashua is such a fun
place to serve--there really are a ton of good people here. There are
ton of crazy ones too which makes every day enjoyable. If I proselyted
in a place full of normal people I would feel pretty out of place.

Love you guys have a good week!