March 14, 2016

Wow congrats Dad! You've made it through 2 straight bishoprics pretty
much! That squad will be a really good one. Matt will be the Bishop
when I come home!  He will do great. Also, I went and got some x rays
this week and I'll find out the results soon.

Wow this week was crazy. We were able to meet with G-- twice and we
taught him the Word of Wisdom and he was all for it! He is so
motivated to do what's right, it's really cool. The 2nd lesson we had
with him, we actually we talked about the word of wisdom again. It
wasn't what we planned on but it just went that way. And during the
closing prayer I had this thought to ask him if we can eliminate the
temptations with the Word of Wisdom. Aka I asked to dump his beer on
his lawn. LOL. He was a little shocked but he's like "heck yeah!" So
we all went outside and did that. It was super fun I'll be honest.
When we were leaving he told us how much he appreciates us and how he
loves us, and actually started to cry. That made my week haha because
not that it's that important to hear that, but it just makes you feel
like you're actually doing something good for someone. It's easy to
get down on yourself on a mission, because you don't always see the
fruits of your labors, or ever see the fruits of your labors, but I
considered that a fruit. Other people might not but It meant a lot to
me. G-- is the best. And to see how much he's changed! He's working
right to baptism which is the coolest part. We are really happy for
him.

E--. Well, E-- is tough. She's not really progressing. We
met with her twice with week as well and we taught about the 10
commandments, the law of chastity, and once again coming to church
haha and when we asked if she would commit to living them all this was
her response...."I plead the fifth." Hahaha she's such a pill but I
actually started laughing. She doesn't like commitments, she likes to
do everything on her own time, and is brutally honest sometimes haha
which is why she won't be baptized as soon as we thought haha she's so
funny. And patience is a virtue. For some people it even takes them a
couple years but that's fine! Just as long as they finally do it haha
we are still going to work close with her. She gave me 2 boxes of Girl
Scout cookies too and that was way cool. Thin mints in case you were
wondering.

We have done quite a bit of service this week and will continue to do
more this next week because that lady I told you about that had cancer
passed away. She and her husband were the ones that started the branch
here in Wolfeboro, and have been a huge influence on a lot of people
in the area. And missionary work has been a huge part of their lives
as well, so for the funeral they are having my comp and I, and 2 other
missionaries, come and be ushers (and something else but I don't
remember what it was). But it should be good. The members were very sad
to find that out that she passed, but she's definitely in a better
place now. And probably is being the missionary in the spirit
world that she was here! But we've been helping them out quite a bit at their place. I
love going over there. They live on like the most beautiful part of
the lake since they live in the Marriot estates. It's so cool. And
when we do service we usually use a golf cart to get from one house to
another on the property sooooo ya that's cool too.

My spiritual thought is more of a challenge to you all. The church put
out a new Easter video and I hope you all will go watch it and think
about what stands out to you, and then what Easter means to you, and
then post it to Facebook or Twitter or whatever you all use. It's so
good!

I love you, I hope you have a good week!! We did videos of us pouring
out his beer I hope it sends!

Also the picture with the members, from right to left is my comp, Elder
Bundy, and then the H--'s and one of their kids. He's our branch
president here. He's like 30 haha and then on the left that's the
W--'s and sister W-- is related to a girl I knew in high school
named Bailey Andrus, and Sister W graduated from Lone Peak
actually. Sister H-- is related to a girl I went to high school with too! Brooke Demille. 
Kinda funny how small of a world it is. Also, that last picture is
when I was going to get my x Ray.

March 7, 2016

Hey Fam!

The lady with cancer is not doing well, we went over a couple times this week and gave a little service and taught a couple lessons too. They are a great family. We will go over a couple times again this week to help them out. E--'s baptismal date is no longer good because she is not ready yet. The key word is YET. Because I think she will be ready someday but it was s little rushed. G-- is still on, though, and came to church this week and loved it! It was cool. 

So we met with E-- this week and had a long chat about sacrament meeting because she doesn't like to come to it AT ALL. Haha She understands the importance but just doesn't like the speakers and the little kids that are loud, etc haha trust me we've tried about every option for her to come but we eventually just got to the point where we told her it has to be out of a desire for herself and that no one can make her come! And that over time she will learn to love it, especially when she feels the importance of the sacrament. But she still is doing great, that's her only hiccup pretty much. Slowly getting there.

G-- is doing great, we met with him 3 times this week and he lovessssss the plan of salvation. He loved it so much ha it was a lot of fun to see him get so excited about it. And yeah, he really liked church too and got a lot out of it. Sacrament meeting is always great for investigators because it's always a personal connection for them in some way. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ too and he liked that a lot too! He's making his way! The word of wisdom will be the next lesson. He has some struggles with it, but we are praying that he will be able to follow it! 

Other than that we have just been meeting with members and tracting. It was really cold this past week! But I hear it should be like 60 degrees this week so I'm way excited for that! I'm sorry it is short, I don't have a ton to write about, but it was a good week still. And I'm in a little bit of a hurry, but I love you and hope you are all doing well! 

Sorry that I don't have any pictures either. I forgot! I'll be better next week! 

I've been reading in the Book of Mormon and I just got to 3 Nephi 11 and, man, it is so incredible to read about Christ coming to the Americas. I challenge you all to read chapter 10 and 11 and 12. No matter where you are in the book, it brings a special spirit! And it just takes 10 minutes! 

I love you all, have a good week! 

Feb. 29, 2016

Well this week was a great week. Like I said last week we set that baptismal date with G-- and are very excited about it, but we struggled to get a hold of him this week! We eventually saw him on Saturday and we had a great lesson with him about the restoration. He loved it! We told him we would like to meet at least 2 times a week now so he can prepare for his baptism and he willingly accepted so hopefully that will happen and he will continue to progress! 

We had a zone meeting this last Wednesday too and it was so good. It was weird being in a new zone with so many new faces but immediately I had something in common with almost all of them. They all know Lone Peak or people that went to it haha it has blown my mind how many people know Lone Peak and the people that go to it. Most of them have bad opinions of Lone Peak but hey that's ok haha "don't hate us cause you ain't us!!" Just kidding, but it's funny. The people in my zone are so great and a lot of fun, and I can tell are great missionaries. I'm excited to continue to serve around all of them. 

What really made this week cool was we met with E-- on Thursday and later that night she texted and set her own baptismal date! Haha we did not see that one coming! She set it for March 19th and we are very excited for her as well as G-- for that day! 

In our branch here there is a family that has been here forever, and even started the branch in Wolfeboro! The B-- family, and they haven't been to church ever since I've been here because sister B-- has very serious cancer, and finally was able to come home this last Friday. She is on hospice (I think that's what it is) and we were able to go and see her and her family just yesterday. It was a very cool experience. Her husband has been by her side through the whole thing, literally. He won't leave her side! He's nervous if he left and she passed away he wouldn't be able to see her, or share that last moment with her. It's very tiring for him, and sad for everyone to see, but it's what he wants to do, and gave me a taste of what true love really is. It reminded me a lot of when Mom was having her surgeries and how you could always count on Dad to be there. There is a special spirit that was in that home yesterday and I'm glad I was able to be there and feel it. I can tell they are a great family! And I feel bad for them, but the plan of salvation is amazing and brings comfort to us all because all families will experience a death eventually but it's never permanent. And they really love missionaries, so Brother B-- asked us to come over more. Sister B-- can hear us and see us and stuff but can't talk anymore or really be involved, but Brother B-- says she has always enjoyed them coming over so I'm excited to be able to go over and see them.

And they live on the Marriott estates which is this big group of houses, like 15 or 20 that the Marriotts have for the summer when they come up, so it was really cool and the houses are HUGE. Brother B-- worked for the Marriotts so they just gave him a home there haha it was so beautiful. And it's right on the lake so that explains the picture and the other picture is our zone. 

PS- sorry my eyes were closed. I have no excuse.

Love you all! Hope you have a good week! 

Elder Webb

February 22, 2016

Hello everyone! 

Well this week was a good week. We met with a ton of members to continue the mission vision and it was really good, the members here are so willing to help and it's a good thing because we need them! Haha and I found out one of the ladies in the branch here graduated from Lone Peak so that was kind of funny! And this other lady came up to me and said that she lives right next to Rhonda Bromley (the Principal at Lone Peak) and that they are great friends, and then there is that guy I told you about last week that played golf at BYU Hawaii last year with Zane and how they are like best buds so there have been some weird connections here! But it's really cool! 

So I'll give a little background on our investigators:

B-- super nice guy, works Everyday for some construction company, and has been meeting with the missionaries for a few months and hasn't progressed a ton. His work schedule gets in the way a lot so it's hard to meet with him, so we are trying to kindle some faith in him. We met with him yesterday and talked to him about Alma 32 and it went really well. We challenged him to read the whole chapter, to pray about it and to come to church and to just give it a try. 

P-- is an older guy, probably like 70 but has been very interested in what we believe, he's really good at keeping his commitments and the thing is that he is a very active Catholic. So there are some barriers with that but we had a really good lesson with him about the restoration and about the apostasy especially. He just had surgery so we haven't met with him since Tuesday but he's sincere which is really good!

E-- The lady that grew up Atheist her whole life. Not much to update her on because she's been busy this week but she came to church! Which was a surprise to all of us because she said she didn't think she could make it but she did! And we are meeting with her this week!

We picked up a new investigator this week named G-- just the other day and he had been taught in the past but his wife and daughter were pretty anti, so it held him back a little bit. But we stopped by on Saturday and he let us in and told us that him and his wife had separated and his kid went with the wife, which is really sad and he was really emotional from it, but now he has an opportunity to accept the gospel.  He pretty much forgot the happiness he felt from the gospel when he was being taught before. And we talked a lot about our Heavenly Father and how he gives the strongest soldiers the hardest battles because they can handle it.  By the end of the lesson he committed to a baptismal date in the end of March! He was very excited. And obviously so are we! It was cool! We are meeting with him in a few days and will continue to teach him the lessons again to prepare him for it! He couldn't come to church this week because he had to take care of his sister that lives with him who has a big health problem, but he organized people to come over on Sunday's from now on so he can come to church! 

It was a really warm week this week too! It was like 35 degrees all week! The week before it hit 40 below with wind chill so it was a hugeeee difference and felt amazing to be in some warmth! Well I hope you all have a good week, and will pray for missionary experiences like we have committed all the members out here to do! Because they are truly everywhere, you just have to look and pray and then act! I love you all! 

Oh and my new address is PO Box 15 Wolfeboro Falls,  New Hampshire, 03896

Elder Webb

February 17, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day yesterday! I love you all, too!

Yes, I really do like the new area! It's such different work, as in
we are driving like all the time ha but I enjoy it! And this place is
absolutely beautiful! I can see why Mitt Romney and the Marriotts like
to live here!

Well this week has been very interesting. But we were able to get a
ton done! So there are a few investigators the elders before have been
working with, but there has been absolutely zero progression with any
of them ha they all have a long ways to go but there is potential in
them. We met with one named Elizabeth and she grew up atheist and
knows NOTHING about religion and so she's been looking into church
lately just to see if she can gain something from it and she is very
nice. But she has a long ways to go. And that's perfectly fine! Don't
we all? We have a lot of hopes for her. 

One thing I instantly fell
in love with when I got here was the members. So as I've said before,
we are tying to meet with a lot of the members and to teach them the
lessons and to have them bring a non-member friend over to be taught
by us, so we set a date for them to invite someone by and it's really
gone well. The members care about the missionaries so much here and
it's been so cool to see how motivated they are to help us out! Or I
guess to do their part as well;) because every member is a missionary
too! But anyways, they have all treated me very well for the first
week and I've felt right at home.

The branch president asked my companion and I to give talks yesterday
in church so we could talk a little bit more about our mission vision,
and then I talked about obedience as well. All I do is talk to people
every day and I swear I still will never be comfortable giving a talk. I
think it went ok, but it's funny how that hasn't changed at all
hahahaha.  I just get so nervous and I have no idea why! But it was
still fun. And a few of the members here know people from Alpine which
is really funny haha and oh also something pretty crazy is one of the
members found out I played golf because HE played at BYU Hawaii with
Zane this last year! And he's good friends with Berkeley Stulce's
brother too so yeah that was a really funny connection! He said if I'm
here for a little while he will take me golfing at a course around
here on P day so I'm excited for that:) hopefully that day will come!
Hopefully I'll be here for a while! But yeah I've enjoyed it a lot
here so far.

One thing that really caught my attention this week was how strong the
church is everywhere and NOT just in Utah as some of us think (which
included me, kind of) but even though there aren't as many members out
here as other areas or even states, the members never slow down. They
are always trying to increase the membership almost like they are
trying to catch up to Utah haha--they work so hard! It's such a
testimony to me about how all members should be, and how grateful I am
to have grown up around members like that. Not just in my home ward,
but my family, friends, other members in my friends' wards, etc. they
are everywhere! And we should always stay that way as members. We are
all missionaries! So be one! And I want to challenge you all to pray
for those missionary opportunities in the future and to prepare for
them. And if you need a little more motivation then go read Enos 1:15
(the last half of it) and D&C 6: 22-23. I love you all! I hope you
will take this seriously and do it!

Also my companion is named Elder Bundy (the first thing I asked him
was if he was related to Ted Bundy and he said he doesn't know lol)
He's a good elder and we have fun. It's always new adjusting to a new
companion but I think it will go very well! I'll send some pics. A
member took us out to pizza so that's where we are in the pic I love you all!
 I hope everything is going well! And mom, I'll let you know with updates 
on my rib thing:) love you!!

Elder Webb

February 8, 2016

Well, this week was a crazy week. It started out with a lesson we had with a Methodist pastor.  I think I explained a little about him last week but we met with him this Wednesday and oh man he is awesome. I think I mentioned how he met with missionaries about a year ago and almost was baptized and even committed to quit his pastor job. He explained this week that he has found that the Methodist church isn't the true church, and he's known it for quite a while but it has just become how he has paid the bills so he hasn't quit. He was a little hesitant to jump in to our church and lose his work. He said h'es been so lost since and was so happy to see us again. It was a lesson where we pretty much just got to know him and his situation and, yeah, he's really cool! The crazier part was that he came to church yesterday and that is the first time he has ever come to church even when he was investigating very seriously for a few months last year. He was fellow-shipped very well by a lot of the ward and it was really cool. And he said he was coming next week too--he seems very serious about it! 

Earlier that day we were looking for some less-active members and we knocked on their door and they weren't home, so we decided to box out which is just going to the few houses around it and trying them too.  So, we finished that and Elder Hales stopped me and said "Hey we need to go knock on that door" and just randomly went for it and I was like, "kayyyy its pouring rain and we already boxed out and we have to go to the other houses we planned for." Well, that's what I was thinking. So we go and this middle aged guy answers the door and we tell him who we are and that we were here to share a message about Christ, and he hesitated but he was like "yeah sure come on in" and we had a good chat with him and he was telling us how he has never let missionaries in before but just had a feeling he needed to. He explained how he has been very religiously lost his whole life and his wife takes care of little kids with terminal illnesses so she has a hard life as well because of how often she sees these kids die and he was really excited to talk to us more and for us to present the plan of salvation to him and his wife. He committed to come to church, too! He didn't make it this week but he said he would come this next week.  

And we have a new investigator, too, named J and he/s from Angola and he is very cool. He really has a desire to know too and we taught him the restoration. With Africans, talking about baptism is touchy because they pretty much ALL believe that you can't be baptized twice, so he asked about that and we talked about how you could and how it's that proper authority that is what matters and he said "well hey if God tells me that i need to be baptized again then who am I to say no? I can't go against god and this sounds pretty good, but yeah I'll pray about it."  And he's been to church the past 2 weeks now so he's doing great as well! 

Well, the sad part about all of this is that we got transfer calls this week and I'm leaving to New Hampshire. I have had the funnest time serving here in Portland, Maine--it is incredible! And the people I've been serving around have blessed my life so much. I'm excited to go to Wolfeboro, New Hampshire! its actually where the Romneys live and I heard they feed the missionaries sometimes so it would be pretty cool to have that happen! I leave tomorrow and I'll give you my new address next week, so don't send any packaged or letters yet just in case! 

Africans will always hold a special place in my heart. They are the most humble and happy people I have ever met and they have every right to not be happy, that's for sure. Some of the things they have been through is unbelievable. Well, life moves on and I'm excited to see the other parts of the mission! 

i love you all, and thanks for everything you do. It means so much to me. Have a good week! i love you!

                                     Showing a picture of Brinley! :)

Feb. 1, 2016

This week was an interesting week. We had some really cool things happen! We have been praying a lot to find people that are prepared to hear the gospel and to get in contact with certain people and....it happened! We have been looking for this lady, O--, for a while. She's from Burundi and is just the sweetest lady ever and we met with her once and we haven't been able to see her since, so we tried to just stop by her apartment building and see if someone would be there to open the door so we could go up to her door and knock. We walked in to the building door, and it has a room where you need a key to get into the next door, and right when we walked in she all of a sudden was walking out. And we set up an appointment for the next day! And then right after that, we walked over to another guy's apartment building with pretty much the same problem, and right when we walk up to the door he's walking out! And we met with him the next day and the lesson went super well! 

The next day we went and visited less-actives and potential investigators and we weren't finding much success with any of themt but we get to one of the last people on our list and we ring the doorbell and he was so excited to see us! He was an investigator a year ago and he is a pastor for a Methodist church and is way cool. But what made it cool was he said, all surprised: "So I have no idea how you knew to come here but just earlier today I was thinking about you Elders and wondering if you were ever going to come back!" And we were like "kayyyyyyyyyyy".  But yeah we are meeting with him tonight! And when we were setting up the appointment he had our number memorized and said he'd call us. It was interesting! And very cool to see. 

We met with J-- again this week and once again he's slowly progressing, he is very smart but is still struggling with the Word of Wisdom. But he is trying! It was a good week. And very fun! That's about all I have but it was a great week! And it's been so warm this week, too, which was a huge blessing! Also, thanks for the package I loved it!! Thanks for all the prayers, I really appreciate them. And they are a blessing my life. So keep it up! Hahaha--they help a lot!

I love you all! Have a good week!