2 Nefi 2:6-8

hola familia!

How´s life for ya´ll?? Things are going well here in spain. Demetrio and Roxana got baptized on Saturday! It was a really nice service, and there were quite a few ward members there as well which was great. This last week was one of the craziest weeks of my mission as we scrambled to get them prepared. They´re a a really great family and have huge desires to set an example for their children and help them grow up with good values. The children decided that they want to wait a little longer to be baptized, so for now it was just the parents, but that´s just as awesome! Thank you for all the prayers in and out of the temple that you have said on our behalf. The focus now is to reteach them everythign and help them start creating new habits like FHE, family prayer, loving and serving one another, etc. 

Elder Hannemann is doing great, I really hardly feel like I¨m training at all. Other than the language barrier, which we all go through, he understands missionary work and is capable of doing things. It´s great and we´re having a lot of fun. We both had the privilage of baptizing and elder Hannemann didn´t even mess up! I was so proud of my little son, he did better than I did on my first. 

We also met a new less-active member that is on the verge of reactivating or going more inactive. He is spiritually hungry and wants to partake of the bread of life. We talked about and he told us about his desires he has to come back, but because of an experience that he had involving some other members, he won´t be coming back any time soon. That made me sad because he´s focusing too much on the people and not enough on the gospel. If you focus on the people and go to church for the people then you´re always going to be disappointed, because we´re all unperfect adn make mistakes. Perhaps whatever happened was something serious and it´s simply just hard to get over and to forgive. While that may be true, let´s not let that be an excuse to not try. Don´t let that stop you from partaking of the eternal blessings and everlasting joy that comes from the gospel. This man´s name is David and we´re going to be working closely with him to try and reactivate him. 

We also had zone conference on Friday and President talked about the Atonement. I love that topic because it´s literally endless. I could talk about this subject all day and I plan on studying it all my life because there is enough thigns to learn to last me a lifetime. And the best book we have to learn about it is the Book of Mormon! I do missionary work because it is how the people of this world learn about and can gain access to Christ´s Atonement. The more we study and learn and understand about the atonement, the greater our desire to share the gospel will be, as Lehi demonstrates in the subject line. I love the Atonement and I am greatful the Christ and Heavenly Father were both willing and loving enough to perform such a large task. The Atonment is everything! And two people on Saturday just gained access to it. Now it´s time for their children to do the same. 

Lastly, general conference is this weekend! I never thought I would get so excited for general conference, but like they say, a mission changes you. Seriously I feel as if it´s Christmas time I´m so excited. So I want to invite all of you to write down one or two questions and take them with you to conference and then listen to the speakers and listen to the Spirit. Because we can all recieve answers to our questions. I´m going to do that, and I´ll let you know how it goes. 

Okay this was way too long. I love you all very much! Have a wonderful week and enjoy conference! Loves!

Elder Webb

                             Here´s a photo of the baptism, it was great!

This is a family photo. my "sons", they all make me proud. Elder Adams, elder Flores, and elder Hannemann

John 16:33

hola familia!

I know I start every email off the same, but seriously, what a freaking
week we had. The Lord never stops surprising me, He is sooooo good to us!
So much has happened. First off I´d like to introduce the world to the
greatest missionary this generation has seen, my new companion Elder
Hannemann! He´s from alpine utah, went to Lone Peak high school, loves to
play football, and is already an incredible missionary. I sware he got
pre-trained by the three nephites because he is too good for how little
experience he has. It´s awesome! We already have great unity and are
teaching with power, and the coolest part is that he´s not afraid to try,
no matter what it is. I¨m lovin life right now. So check out what the Lord
has done for us this week.

Demetrio and his family are getting baptized this weekend! On Saturday at 7
pm. so please send as many prayers up to heaven as you can so that they
reach their day without any problems. They have so much faith and aren´t
afraid at all to exercize their faith. A common fear that inv. have when
accepting a baptismal date or approaching it is that they feel that they
don´t know enough. Well we set the date only ten days out and they readily
accepted it. I anticipated that they would say that they need to know
everything before baptism so I said to Roxana "don´t worry about knowing
everything before baptism, we´re all still learning and that´s not the
requirment for baptism." As I was saying that she interrupted me and said
"yeah yeah I know, I´ve got plenty of time to learn everything like you
guys, I just want to be baptized. That´s what faith is for right?" *jaw
hits floor in same spot as last week* They are so stinking prepared! And
the best part is that I have literally not done a thing. It´s all the Lord.
He´s prepared them 100% and we´re just mere tools in His hands. They came
to church and loved it and even brought a friend with them. The baptism was
announced and everyone in the ward afterwards was congratulating them, etc.
and so now it´s official. This family is incredible. The Lord is too good
to us.

So lastly I want to share some thoughts on an experience we had this week.
We met and taught a lady on the street and she told us about her life. She
has had a rough rough life. Abandoned as a girl, her husband beats her, one
of her children died from a disease and the other committed suicide, and
she is chronically sick herself. Admist all these trials and hardships, she
has prayed and prayed for relief, for help and for Him to make it all
better. But to hear it appears that her prayers have fallen on deaf ears
because nothing has changed, she continues suffering. We simply testified
to her of the power of the Atonement, that Christ suffered so we don't have
to, and that with the gospel we live with a different perspective. An
eternal perspective that changes how we see our trials, and with a hope (in
the resurrection and in His Atonement) so strong that it can carry us
through all the hard times. Unfortunately this woman has chosen to let her
trials control her, and let her suffering get the best of her and has given
up, she no longer believes.

So my thoughts are this. We can all say that we would still believe if we
asked God for something and He gave it to us. But can you say the same if
He doesn´t give you want you ask for? I suppose that is the real test. What
we decide to do with our faith admist trials and suffering. The Lord
teaches us that in this life we will have trials and afflictions (subject
line) but He also assures us that all those things will be for our good
(DyC 122:7-8) because He has overcome the world. So lets all make sure that
we can say within ourselves "no matter what happens, no matter who or what
I lose, I will never stop believing in and loving my Heavenly Father and
His Son Jesus Christ." That is the unbreakable faith the apostle Paul talks
about, and that the prophet Jacob talks about. So that´s my invitation to
ya´ll for this week. Don´t let your trials nor your situations control you
and change what you believe. Rather, you control them and learn from them
the lessons that are to be had.

This guy´s kinda long, sorry bout that, it was a really good week! So
please continue to pray for our investigators. The family´s names are
Demetrio, Roxana, Anthony, and Kimberly. 27th of Septemer they´re getting
baptized. Thank you for all your prayers and support! I love you all so
much! I hope you have a great week and feel the Spirit lots. Loves.

Elder Webb

Mormon 9:21

hola familia!

First off, happy birthday Bob on the 11th! I hope it was great. Also, congrats to Brad for getting married! Now,

Such a miraculous week. God is a god of miracles! And He works miracles according to our faith. From the beggining of the transfer elder Merchan and I have been praying for jsut 1 family to teach and baptize before the end of that transfer. Well last Sunday He answered our prayer and brought Roxana and Demetrio to church, then on Thursday we set a fecha with them and their family! They´re 5 people in the family! Sooo good! And sooo prepared. We hadn´t even taught baptism yet in the lesson, we were talking about growing closer to God and living with His promised blessings, and they said "the best way to do that would to be baptized right?" *jaw hits the floor* They agreed to be baptized on the 27th and the ward is doing a really great job at supporting us, always offering to bring them over to their homes, or come out with us to teach them. They´re great people. I¨m so exciting for them! Please pray for them to keep them protected from the temptations of Satan! They´re a beautiful family that needs this Gospel!

The trainers training was really cool, I got to see a few of my old companions. Elder Patterson and Curtis are both training. President talked about helping the new missionaries create new and good habits in the mission. Like planning, keeping the schedule, talkign with everyone, finding, and staying together, etc. I¨m really excited to train. Tomorrow I will pick up my new companion in the evening here in Málaga and return to my area. So we´ll be a trio until Wednesday morning when we drop elder Merchan off to go to Fuengirola for his exit interview. These are going to be some fun and miraclefilled 3 months, I¨m sure of it. 

Quick thing that I learned this week in one of my studies, I was studying the parable of the 10 virgens. The 5 that were prepared were able to enter into the wedding feast because they had extra oil. So what does the oil represent? The Spirit and it´s promptings. We prepare ourselves for Christ´s coming as strive to always be worthy of the Spirit and as we listen to and act upon the promptings of the Spirit. It´s vital! ¡Sumamente importante! So reembmer that, if you don´t want to be shut out when He comes, bring some extra Spirit with you always! 

So that´s pretty much it, we´ll be focusing hard core on Roxana and her family to help them progress and be baptized. Please pray hard for them, we need it! I love you all so much and I hope that you have a fabulous week and that the wedding goes well. I will pray so there is no rain. Loves!

Elder Webb

this is my new mission car. We have real class here in the Spain Málaga Mission

also the Oasis of the Seas made a stop in Málaga, and it is a very large boat. very large.

Mormon 8:35

Hola familia!

Life is great. Sometimes really crazy, but that´s also what sometimes makes
it good. This is elder Merchan´s last week, and he and I are both
determined to make it the best week possible. There are in fact, 3
missionaries in my district that are going home next week. Kind of a weird
situation to have so many "dying" in one district, but it´s bee a fun
experience.

First off let me just tell you how much I love miracles. They make me
happy. And in reality they are what move the work forward, because it´s His
work not mine! Anyway, last Tuesday we go visit some recent converts and
the first thing they say to us is that they have invited a family to come
to church, and the family said yes! Jolín are you serious?! A whole family,
with three awesome kids. They´re named Roxana and Demitrio and they´re from
El Salvador. We have an appointement with them tonight and they´re so
getting baptized! They loved church and have been super prepared by the
Lord (they lived in the US for a while and listened to the missionaries
there). So please pray for them!

I´ve been talking a lot about the Book of Mormon lately, it´s because I
just stinking love that book! The zone leaders asked me and my comp to give
a "taller" (it´s like a talk) in zone meeting on Saturday, on that same
subject. Well let me just say ladies and gentlemen, not to brag or
anything, but this discourse was general conference worthy. I just wanted
to share what we spoke about. There are many many reasons why the Book of
Mormon is important, but after anlyzing it, we narrowed them down to two
big ones.

1. the writers saw our lives (read scripture in subjuect line), and
therefore new what to write. They knew of the temptations we´d have, of the
problems and diffeculties we would have. The Book of Mormon contains the
answers to all the problems we have in our lives today.
2. it is Heavnely Father´s tool to gather Isreal. There´s two kinds of
gathering, the world wide one that consists of missionary work, and there´s
the personal one that consists of growing closer to God. In the
introduction we learn from Joseph Smith that reading the Book of Mormon is
an incredible tool to grow closer to God. It´s Heavenly Fathers tool to
gather us all a little closer to Him, each time we read it. And that is
evident from the Spirit we feel as we read, and from the impact that it has
on our lives.

So my dear friends and family, we should all love the Book of Mormon! If we
better understand it´s importance, we will love it more. And if we really
love it, then we should read it every day of our lives, even if it´s just
for 30 min. or 15 min. Read the Book of Mormon!

So other than that the progression of our inv. is going pretty good. It´s
small, but consistant. The Lord is defininately doing His work here. I¨m
excited for my new companion that I´ll be getting. President called me and
told me officially that I´ll be training again. Which is perfect because
it´s how I wanted to end my mission. Tomorrow I´m going to the mission home
for a "trainers training" and then next Tuesday I pick up my new companion.
Exciting! Anywho, I hope all is well at home. I love you all so much! Don´t
forget to read the Book of Mormon! Loves.

Elder Webb

Book of Mormon!

Hola familia!

Kind of a crazy week this week. First off, we´ve been spending lots of time
with two of the greatest men I´ve met in my life. The old stake president
of the Granda stake, President Muñoz lives in our ward, and his good friend
Williams (a member from Venezuela that´s been living here for a long time
and I´m convinced that he´s one of the 3 Nephites). Pres. Muñoz was moving
pisos and we helped him moved a few times. Such inspiring men! And So much
revelation from them haha. They both gave me some realyl good, and hard
council about the Book of Mormon and I think for the first time in my life
I realized how much of a stinking treasure it is. Seriously people, it´s a
HUGE treasure for us! Those prophets saw our day and knew exactly what we
needed. Everything they wrote is of great worth and we need to learn to
appreciate every *word* in the book, and to study it as if it were the only
book left on earth! We as members, but even more so as missionaries (every
member a missionary...) should read it every day of our lives.

Our studly investigator Ramon had to go to the hospital this week and be
operated on. It was a minor operation, just clearing out some calcium build
up or something like that. We went and saw him in the hospital and got to
meet his sisters while there which was a nice little tender mercy because
we´ve been begging for their addresses from him for weeks. He unfortunately
couldn´t come to church, but he´ll make it there next week. The moment he
recieves a testimony of the Book of Mormon, he´ll be getting baptized.

We got to visit a really cool PMF from colombia too. They live in a nearby
pueblo near the coast, super fancy place haha. The husband Karim isn´t a
member and has been married to his member wife for 17 years. So, in
essance, he´s been coming to church with her for 17 years and hasn´t ever
gotten baptized!! Crazy. His problem is that he struggles to believe in
Jospeh Smith. What´s the best way to get a testimony of him? The Book of
Mormon. But he´s not too willing to do his part, but we´re working closely
with him. He´s a really great guy and practically lives all of the gospel
already, he just needs that really important testimony. Estamos en ello.

We also played night football with the ward in this really cool hidden turf
field and it was probably the best match of football I´ve played on my
mission haha. I´m not too shabby actually, I can´t dribble to save my life,
but I´m good at defence. I was proud of my performance anyway. There was a
non member youth there, Jose, who is seriously a straight up champ. He was
going to be baptized before but his parents prevented him. Well December
3rd he turns 18 and is determined to be baptized soon there after! He´s a
chill kid.

My comp and I are doing EVERYTHING that PMG tells us to in order to find,
we´re litterally working our butts off, but we aren´t finding through those
methods. However the Lord is consistant and drops little blessings and
miracles in our path weekly. We have few investigators, but they are all
solid and interested and progressing, so I¨m not complaining. We´re just
going to keep plugging away and letting the Lord do His thing through us.
My comp has 2 weeks left and it´s starting to show haha. But it´s all good,
I¨m not going to let him "die" too early.

So family that´s it for this week. Read the Book of Mormon every day! Even
if it´s just for 15 min. It´s a valuable treasure that the Lord has given
to us through lots of great preparation. We need to take advantage of the
revelation contained in it, and the revelation we can recieve through it.
My love of the Book of Mormon has increased in these few days as my
understanding of what it is increased, and as my appreciation for it
increased. I invite you all to do the same. Learn to love the Book of
Mormon more than gold and silver and fancy mobile phones, because it´s
worth more than all of that. I love you lots family and hope you have a
great week and feel the Spirit! Loves.

Elder Webb

look who I ran into! my second "hijo" elder Adams, he´s right next door in Fuengirola.

         This is a nice sculpture at the cathedral.