Matthew 28:19

Hola familia!

We had a really great week this week. Do I ever start off my emails differently? It´s because the Lord is merciful and patient and blesses us a lot. First off we went to Gibralter for P-day!! Sooo cool, and the monkeys are mean little jerks; they stole food from a missionary and even little children! Ruthless. We did splits with the AP´s and learned a lot from them and are already seeing blessings in our area. And there was a baptism this weekend! Unfortunately it wasn´t Gregorio like we had been hoping, but I do have news about him as well. In the zone we had set the goal to set 28 baptismals dates before the end of the 24th of July, in honor of the pioneers claro. And we got it! All the missionaries worked really hard and in the end we had 29 fechas! The Lord is blessings us like crazy. So then me and my comp fast and we came up with a plan for all of us in the zone, that if we follow, we will baptize. 

Now Gregorio. My comp and one of the AP´s went over there Friday with the intent of having the baptismal interview, and Gregorio knew nothing about it. The only thing that was stopping him from getting baptized was himself. So the plan was to help him see that, and then interview him to be baptized the following day. They got there and he pulled a fast one on us. Before they could talk to him about baptism, he told US that he for sure wants to be baptized! But it´ll have to be in September because he´s starting to work "interna" for the whole month of August. That´s where they go live in someone elses house to take care of the family, kinda like a nanny job, and he´ll do it for all of August. So September 6th he´ll be baptized. Pray for him please!

Funny thing happened at the baptism. A member was baptizing her, and it was his first baptism, him being a convert as well. You could tell that he was a little nervous, a little shaky, but he was trying hard to hide it. So he gets down there and baptizes her well, but unfortunately one of her hands didn´t go under. So we say to him "you have to do it again" and he says "alright not a problem" and then throws her under the water again, immediately, without saying the prayer again or anything! The poor woman wasn´t expecting it at all, didn´t have time to plug her nose or anything. And he shoved her under good this time to make sure she got all the way under. It was a bit difficult not to laugh at this moment. But after a couple other attmepts, he finally got it down. I love the mission. 

So right now we´re carrying 4 bapt. dates and they´re looking good. Thank you for all your prayers and support, they´re being felt her in Jerez. I can only ask that you continue because we need all the help that we can get. Their names are Eldi, Gregorio, Virka, and Lami. 

We´re going to concilio on Thursday and Friday because transfers is next week, the week that concilio should normally be. So in order to avoid a huge crazy mess, President has decided to do it this week.

Live is going good and it´s really hot still here in Jerez, but I¨m loving it. I hope President doesn´t decide to take me out this transfer. I would love to end my mission here, this place is amazing. Anyway, I love you all very much! I hope you have a fabulous week and feel the Spirit lots! Loves.

Elder Webb

Mosiah 4:6-12

Hola familia!

Shout out to two of the greatest and most influential people in my life!!! My dear mother and step-father Bob and Lisa Pier! Happy anniversay! 13 years of marriage, 13 long years of having to put up with me. They've done an admirable job, and I´d say have even passed the test. Keep up with the good work you two. 

Holy cow what a killer week. Our fechas are progressing a ton, and they both came to church! Saturday night we had 8 people committed to come to church, something I like to call the "saturday night round-up". It´s where we quickly try to pass by and at least talk to all the people we have invited to church to double check that they´re coming, and if we can´t find them, than at least call them and it´s one of my favorite things to do every week. Well we did that and all 8 confirmed. Sunday morning comes and we just don´t feel 100% about their commitments, so we run out the piso early and go knock on every single on of their doors. Not a single one was ready for church, or even awake! So we started church with 0 investigators, but then ended church with 3 in sacrament meeting. Nice little tender mercy from the Lord. If He hadn´t of urged us to go out Sunday morning, I don´t think any of them would have come. Listening to the Spirit pays off!

So Gregorio is doing very well. He´s made some phenominal progress. He wants to be baptized, but is just a little iffy on when. His date is for this saturday and he still feels like that is too soon and it looks like he would rather be baptized later. But no matter, sí o sí he´s going to get baptized, it´s just a matter of when. It truly is amazing the progress he has made. He used to be anti and call us a cult, but now he loves reading the book of Mormon and watching I´m a Mormon videos and mormon messagas on his phone. His stinking phone has been a HUGE tool in helping him progress haha, so I am very grateful to the Lord for inspiring people in this world to make the technology that we have. It really is a huge blessing the accessablilty that everyone in the world has to scriptures and other church material. Our bishop yesterday was telling us about in his mission they were extremely privalaged to have a huge clunky projector. Now the missionaries are going out with iPads. Blessings man, blessings.

As a zone we have set the goal to get 28 fechas before the 24th of July, and right now we have 25!! We´re so close! And there´s not much time left! Everyone has been working really hard to try and get those fechas. Thank you for all your prayers, we really have felt them here. 

Last thing, some thoughts from my studies recently. We are all victims of the pride cycle. It´s what caused the downfall of the Nephites and it´s what causes the downfall within one individualy. So I´ve been trying to study how to beat the pride cycle. My thoughts are this, if you want to beat the pride cycle and remain humble, you must improve the way you REMEMBER. King Benjamin shares some really good thoughts on that in his amazing discourse in Mosiah 4:6-12. He says that if we can always remember our own nothingness and our dependance on God, that we will always be filled with joy, we will always retain a remission of our sins, and we increase in knowledge of who God is, and of all things just and true. That´s a ton of blessings! Also, I think that is part of the reason the Lord wants us to be in the church each and every week renewing our convenants with him, promising to always remember Him week after week. There´s some genius in there that has the potential to keep us out of the pride cycle and carry us long distances. So my invitation this week is that we all improve the way we remember our Savior, not only the frequency of it, but the way in which we do it as well. 

This coming week will be a crazy one, splits in Algeciras, then a meeting with Pres. Deere and Pres. Morales on Wednesday, then splits with the AP´s on Friday and Saturday. It´s gonna be crazy! But fun at the same time. I love you family all so much! I´m glad you got to enjoy the weekend. God bless America. Loves! 

Elder Webb

2 Nephi 25:26

Hola familia!

We had a stinking good week. Were able to find 4 new investigators, we placed another baptismal fecha, we taught a lot of lessons, and the other we have, Gregorio, is progessing a lot. He unfortunately was not able to come to church yesterday because he was working, however he will come this week. The goal with him this week is that we help him get to the point where he´s firm about his baptism and has no fears, so that then on Sunday at church, we can announce it to the whole ward. So please pray for Gregorio!

The new fecha we have is with a lady named Eldi. She´s the sister of a less active member and has known about the church her entire life. She just now has decided to take some time and see if she likes the church and if it´s for her. She´s a really great person and is genuinely interested. She came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. The ward does a good job at fellowshipping. Everyone greets our investigators and makes sure that they have someone to sit by. It´s a really great ward here in Jerez. So here date is for the 09 Aug 2014. Please if you wouldn´t mind, also pray for her that she will be able to recognize her answer and have the courage to act upon it. 

We still haven´t had the chance to teach people about family history, but we´ve got a big activity in the works! We want to bring all of our investigators and have the members bring friends to the chapel one night and we´ll all learn more about family history and all will have the chance to do a little and get started on their trees. I¨m really excited about family history, my heart has definitely been turned to my fathers. The other day as I was looking at my family tree, I saw the name of my great grandpa and decided that I will name one of my children after him. His name just really sounds good to me. Benjamin Lower Webb. It´s got a really nice ring to it. So there you go, let it be known on earth that a child of mine shall carry that name.

So that´s that. Things in the area are going good, things in the zone for some are going good. Lo que pasa es the missionaries sometimes see what President teaches them and what we teach them as like "flavors of the month", that they don´t need to apply and do ALL things, just SOME, the ones they like you know? However, there are a few that are doing all things and they are the ones that are having success, that are baptizing regularly. So we´re going to talk about that in the next zone meeting in August. 

That´s all I have. It´s stinking hot here in Jerez and I¨m burning. But it´s all good, this experience will hopefully make me more of a man in the end. I love you all family and I hope you have a really great week this week! I hope you feel the Spirit in many different ways. Loves.

Elder Webb

God bless Amurca

Hola familia!

Happy stinking indapendence day! The fourth of July is one of the best hollidays. Ya got yer barbeques, yer rodeos, yer country line dancin', and end it all with a good ol' fashin' Amurica bred FIREWORKS show! Yeeehaww! 

I spoke like a cowboy all day Friday in honor of my beloved country. Anways...

Oh how I love the goodness of the Lord. He is so good to us! Life is really good right now. Things are starting to pick up in the area, we have a baptismal date with the husband of a recent convert, and after almost a year of him saying he´ll come to church, he finally came to church last week! He really liked it too. His name is Gregorio and he´s super awesome, super chill homie if you know what I mean. He is from Bolivia and his wife is from her in Spain, she´s part gypsy and is very proud of it. They´re both great people and Gregorio´s heart lately has really been opening up. He´s set to be baptized on the 26th of July, but still has some preparation to be doing. Please remember him in your prayers that he can recieve and recognize a answer from God to his prayers!

So Friday we all went up to Sevilla for a tri-zone conference with President and Hermana Deere. It was super great. We talked about the new vision that President has for the mission: ¡dos veces en blanco! We´re going to look at people and try and imagine them in white two times, once for baptism and the other for the temple. We´re going to try to see people for what they can become, for where they can arrive rather than just soley what they are. Remember "who we are is not who we can become." (Hallstrom April 2014) We also talked about family history and involving it more in the work. We need to take advantage of the spirit of Elijah so that it softens the hearts of the people and prepares them to recieve the restored gospel. We all got copies of the little "my family" booklet, which by the way is sooo awesome. I recommend to everyone that they get one and fill it out, pronto. We´re going to get our geneology charts and start talking to more people about that. It´s a great tool for reactivation and for helping a stuck investigator, and it´s a great way to find too. I´m honestly, and surprisingly, really stoked to be using the my family booklet and trying to talk to people more about family history. Perhaps ya´ll can do that there in the good ol' USofA to get yer friends interested in the church. I encourage ya´ll to do it! 

I´m just going to give a quick shout out to my comp Elder Allsop and how much I love him. He´s the greatest, he´s got so many great ideas, he wants to work hard, he has a lot of fun, he´s focused and is down to run a million miles an hour with me. I think I´m in love. But seriously family, he´s the greatest comp I´ve had. 

Lastly, let´s talk about what I´ve been studying in personal study this last week. I got sick of going for my goal and missing the mark. Of always falling short, always messing up, of just not being good enough. So I decided "no more"! I´m going to be better and that´s that. So I studied Self-mastery for a week. I also found a couple of really cool talks that have shed some really great light on the subject. First of all, we all have our own "goliaths" that plague us, things that we want to get rid of, but just seem to be bigger than us. I believe that in order to get rid of them we need 3 things. 1. we need to have faith in Jesus Christ. Believe that He CAN help us, and believe that He WILL. 2. We need His grace, without this enabeling power we won´t accomplish much. 3. we need willpower, or in other words, our agency. God´s grace is suffecient for all of us (ether 12:27) and His strength is perfect in our weakness (2 Cor 12:9). When we combine these things and are actively seeking and trying to climb these mountains we have, He will help us make it up, and when necessary, carry us over the top. The amazing part about Christ, His Atonement, and the love He posesses is that He´s fighting for our success just as much as we are. We´re all trying to be better, and He´s given us the tools how. So don´t feel bad if you miss the mark. Just repent, get back up and get going again. It´s part of the process, and in the end it makes us stronger. 

This week we set the goal to get 20 referrals by the end of the week. It´s a challenge! We´re going to do it though. We´ve got lots of plans and have been practicing asking people for referrals. We also set the goal as a zone, in honor of our pioneer heritage, to set 28 fechas by the 24th of July. Go Mormon Pioneers!  We´re going to baptize this month, I can feel it. Please pray for our beloved Gregorio, he needs all the help he can get. And know that I pray for all of you every night.

Okay family I love you very much! Stay safe and have a fun week. Go fill out the "my family" book and get it going around your friends! Let the spirit of Elijah talk to them and turn their hearts to their fathers and prepare them to recieve the restored gospel! Hey I love being a missionary, I love repenting, I love helping others repent, and I love obeying the Lord. I love you all! Until next week. Loves.

Elder Webb

Read these!!

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966&tid=7

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=251