January 27, 2014

Hola familia!

Well my dear family, it was quite a week. We worked really hard and at the end of the week all I wanted to do was take a big ol' nap. For starters we had a baptism! A part member family here in the ward was finally made into an all member family, and are now on their way to the temple! Her name is Laura and she´s super chill, really smart tool. Her mom wants me to teach her piano. I said, for every friend that you bring to church, I will give one free lesson! I think that´s a fair hand off right? The baptism went really well and the bishop was really pleased; he performed the ordinances. He´s happy to see the ward growing and excited to see families in the chapel, not just individuals. 

There was also an elder sick in the hospital for the whole week, he got a stomach infection, poor guy. He´s still in there as I write this, but should be leaving this evening. Having to help him out added to the crazieness as well, but miraculously their area didn´t totally and completely die this week while they were gone, so that was good. We also went out and did exchanges with the elders in Huercal-Overa. It´s a small town in the province of Almería. The area is a pretty tough area and the elders needed some help and motivation, so we both went out there and knocked it out with them. They got really excited after that and their area is already starting to improve. I¨m happy.

In some sadder news, Maru did not get baptized. She said that she did not recieve an answer about the Book of Mormon within the week that we were shooting for. That´s okay though. The truth is that I know she´ll get baptized, it´s not a matter of if, it´s a matter of when. She feels that she´s fine off in the eyes of God becuase she hasn´t commited any serious sins and says she´s recieved forgiveness of the ones she did have, so she has no need nor desire to be baptized. We´re still going to work with her though. We´re going to read the Book of Mormon with her two or three times a week. I know that by doing this, one day, one of these verses will jump out and just sing to her and she will recieve a testimony of the book of the prophet Joseph Smith. That´s happened for me a dozen times, so I know it´ll happen to her. 

I´m companions with my best friend. Serisouly though, there are times where he IS Logan Hone. His jokes, mannerisms, the way he talks, everything! It´s super weird, but makes for really fun work. Funny thing is, his name is Logan! Logan Ryan Patterson. And he´s my best friend and my companion. We both read a great talk by Tad R. Callister (who, my bet says will be the next apostle) called Becoming a Consecrated Missionary. I had read it before and it changed my mission, but we read it together and have decided to become a consecrated companionship. There´s always room for improvement, and we not only want to become the best missionaries we can individually, but as a companionship as well. I´m really looking forward to the coming months becuase we´re just going to work as hard as we can and see miracles here in molina! And have a lot of fun at the same time.

Cool miracle that happened yesterday. Saturday night I called Gustavo and his family to see if they were going to come to church. They said no because they had some other commitment. I was kinda sad becuase they´ve been progressing so nicely. That night Elder Patterson and I prayed for a miracle from the Lord so that we could have more people in church. The following day at church, I´m up putting the numbers in for the songs and guess who walks in? Gustavo and his whole family! Super huge miracle. I´m not sure what happened, but the Lord blessed them and helped them have the desire to come. And they got to see the baptism as well. :) Now it´s their turn to get baptized. They have a fecha for this friday but want to move it back a couple of weeks to get more prepared. We´re going to meet with them a couple of times this week, so it´s possible we could have another baptism, or we might not. We´ll see what the Lord wants. Please continue to pray for Gustavo, Marisol, Josue, and Alejandra, that they feel the Spirit, that they aren´t afraid, and that they have the courage to make the decision to be baptized. It´s another family that can be an eternal family!

Well my dearest family, how I do love all of you so very much. The work is going good here, I´m feeling the Spirit, the people are feeling the Spirit, they´re coming to church, testimonies are growing, and I´m companions with my best friend. Life is good because in all of that, I´m feeling the love of God that He has for me and for His children, and that thing is "the most desirable above all things... and the most joyous to the soul." (1 Ne 11:22-23). There are lots of ways that we can feel the love of God, like by doing missionary work for instance. So I invite all of you to look in your lives for areas to improve, and things to change so that you feel the love of God more abundantly in your life. I promise that a joy and happiness beyond measure will fill your heart, even if things aren´t going exactly how we want them too. We feel His love through the Spirit, and the Spirit fills us with hope, light and more love, which last and endures through diligant prayer until it grows brighter and brighter until the perfect day. (Moroni 8:25-26; DyC 50:24). I love you family and pray for you every night. Please pray for our investigators so that they feel the Spirit and have the courage to make the dicision to be baptized. I hope you all have a good week! Love love love!

Elder Webb

                                        This is Laura and the bishop. 

                                     And her family on the day of her baptism.

                 And this is David. He´s a stinking pill. He´s Maru´s son and I love him.

January 20, 2014

HOLA FAMILIA!!

I´m excited, and a little tired. We´ve been doing a lot of running around and dealing with a few problems, but things are starting to work themselves out and really I have no reason to complain. The Lord blessed us this last week like crazy. So we redivided the area lines here in Molina, now that we have a car we have been given all the pueblos around here and a small part of Molina. We had to pass all of our investigators over to the other elders and that one was a little painful, but we kept one, a lady named Maru. She has a baptismal goal for the 25th of January, this saturday! So please please please, pray for her. We need a lot of help. She still hasn´t gotten a sure answer and we´re working really hard with her to help her recognize the Spirit and understand the need of baptism. Please pray for God´s miracles to bless Maru so that she will make the decision to be baptized this Saturday. 

The Lord handed us another freebie this week too. Last week it was Angel and Milenka (the less active and investigator couple that walked into church last week). This week is was another new investigator in the form of Laura! She´s the daughter of some recently reactivated members and she finally has decided that she wants to be baptized. So this coming Sunday we´ll be having a baptism. That right there is a straight up gift from the Lord. They live in a pueblo really far away called Cehín. There´s also an American family that lives there, but they´re in the US right now. But when they get back, together with Laura´s family we´re going to baptize all of Cehín!!

A missionary in our zone got really sick this week and has been in the hospital. It´s possible that he has appendicitis and they might have to operate on him. Please remember him in your prayers. His name is elder Baker. 

There are only 11 days left in January, and we still have our goal to baptize 7 people this month. Right now we have 6 baptismal fechas and they all have real potential to be baptized. Please remember these people in your prayers at night. They are Laura, Maru, Gustavo, Marisol, Josue, and Erica. We´re going to be doing a lot of driving this month becuase they all live in different pueblos in this area, and it takes kind of a long time to get there. We´re also going out to some elders area tomorrow to do splits with them and help em out in their area. We´re going to a place called Huercal-Overa. It´s a tiny little town in Almería and is like a hub for english tourists in the summer when they want to come to the beach. Apparently there are some really good nude beaches in that area too...   

Last thing I want to say is something that I´ve been pondering about lately and that is one´s potential. We all have a potential that has no limits. We are children of the Allpowerful God, and therefore we are heirs to all things divine. We have the ability to become like Him, and in fact part of this life is to give us the experience we need to be more like Him. But sometimes it´s difficult. Sometimes we get down on ourselves and say that we can´t do it (whatever it is that we´re doing), and our vision of the possilbe becomes blocked out. We are the ones that put up barries and the limits of our own potential. And God is the One that is able to help us break those walls down and reach our full potential. Have I ever baptized 7 people in one month? No. But is it possible? Yes. And I´m going to do everything in my power to do make it happen, and He is going to help me with the rest. So now the question is, what´s YOUR potential? What do you want to accomplish? Where would you like to see yourself in one year? And what are you going to do to reach your potential? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV2YlnbXgAs

this is what got me thinking on this subject. Let´s all find our inner potential and then reach it! Let´s all become who we´re destined to become, who we should become, who we want to become. Christ and His Atonement will help us get there (Mosiah 3:19), but we gotta start searching and start the journey. 

I love you all so much! I hope you have a fantastic week! My week is going to be very busy. Missionary work is the best. All that can should experience being a missionary, being an instrument in the Lords hands. Love love love!

Elder Webb

January 13, 2013

Hola familia!

Holy cow such a crazy week. First off, I started driving the car on Wednesday and let me tell you, it was rough. It´s a manual transmission and I think I killed it at least 20 times in the first hour. Pobre coche. But I quickly picked it up and am now driving like a champ, more or less. I got my new companion on Wednesday, Elder Patterson, and it´s ridiculous how much fun and how hard we are working together. I´ve gotten yet another companion that has only one desire: to work hard. We´ve already seen lots of miracles and we´re just going to keep forward with this attitude so that they don´t stop coming! So here´s what´s happened.

On Monday we had concilio with President. We talked about how we´re going to achieve our goal of 250 baptismal fechas and 104 baptisms in one month. We talked about inviting people to be baptized in every moment and how to invite the Spirit so that this is possible. We also talked about a couple of housekeeping items in the mission and President has decided that we will no longer be playing football on Saturday mornings with the members and investigators. Talk about heart breaker. But it´s okay. The potential blessins far outway every goal I´ve ever made in football. So after recieving the training from President we came back to Molina and taught it all to the missionaries and set some goals as a zone for baptisms. Our goals are all really high, and kind of intimidating for some people, but we can do it. I know we can! We all just need to dig in and give it our all, to work as hard as we can, and JUST DO IT!

So elder Patterson and I have the goal as a companionship to baptize 7 people this month. We started the week off with 2 fechas and not knowing if it would be possible. But the Lord guided us and blessed us a lot and now we have 6. We worked really hard with them this week and had all 6 signed up and ready to go to church. I was so stinking excited because all of our fechas were going to be coming. But then in the end none of them came, once again. And I was sitting there in sacrament meeting grumbling to myself when the Spirit whispered me a soft little lesson. Negative comments and feelings towards my investigators when they fail like this is not going to help them reach baptism. If anything it will keep them from it because my mind is filled with negative comments towards them and my faith lowers because of that. Satan wants me to be thinking like this, not the Lord. But what will help them reach baptism is love. If I can love them even when they don´t keep their commitments, eventually they will, and eventually they will be baptized. So I learned to still keep and smile and the Spirit of love and concern for the people I teach even when they aren´t following through. They all have real potential so we´re going to keep working with them. And there are still two and a half weeks left of the month. Plenty of time for them to read and for the Spirit to talk to them.

One of the miracles we saw this week happened in church. After learning that lesson from the Spirit, we went to Gospel Principles class and after about ten mintutes, and woman and a man whom I´ve never met walk in. The man isn´t a member and the woman asks, "who are the missionaries from Molina? This is my boyfriend, he´s not a member." Wait seriously? So it turns out that this lady was in active and living in a small town out side of Molina and up and decided that she wants to go back to church, so she brought her son and boyfriend. The Lord handed us a new investigator, and two members to rescue. I felt even worse for having complained after that one. So here in Molina we´re not lacking at all on the part of people to work with. We just need to invite the Spirit strongly and help them feel the love. Spirit and love. Missionary work. 

So this week we´ll ust be focusing hard on them and trying to help the zone meet their goals. And driving. I love driving. Now that I got the stick down, it´s stinking fun. Anyway, I love you family! I know the Church is true and that it´s the best thing that any of us can ever have. I stand with Paul when he says "for I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto Salvation." Being Mormon is the best. We have the truth. We know who we are. We know what´s right, and we are not decieved. I invite you all the deepen your love and understanding of the "power of God unto salvation" and to search for the Saviors love daily. I love you all very much! Have a good week this week! Love love love

Elder Webb

January 8, 2014

Hola familia!

Alright we had a super awesome week last week. President came and gave us some instruction, we talked about the goals for the year and what we´re going to do to meet them. And we talked about the Atonement which was really cool, about how the Atonement is the root of everything. There´s a line in PMG that I really like it says "as your understanding of the Atonement grows, your desire to share the Gospel will increase." It´s so true and something I´ve experienced time and time again. As I more fully understand the Atonement and repentance my drive, my excitement and commitment to missionary work and God in general increase and things go better! And this is something that we can apply in any phase of life, missionary or not. So I just want to invite you all, if things are a little down right now, you need a little pick me up, and want to feel the fire and excitement of the Gospel that you have felt before, go study the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Alma 7 is a good place to start, one of my favorites. So now all of us here are totally pumped up and excited to start the year and be working. We have the goal of 600 baptisms in this year, 50 baptisms a month. It´s a high one, but we can do it! 

After the training from President, we had a talent show and it was really cool. I played "O How Lovely was the Morning" with Hermana Poulton who is a classical piano performance graduate from the U and plays piano like it´s noboy´s business. I also played the guitar and sang with three mexicans "La Bamba" and sang with some other elders the song "Danny Boy" and the final talent I participated in was a small skit about Moses (me) when he has his great vision and then is confronted by Satan (elder Allsop who really just looked like a ninja). The best part was seeing Moses raise his staff and slam it on the ground while shouting at satan "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!" Props if you get the reference. The talent show was a lot of fun and really cool to see all the talent there is in the mission. The Lord really blesses us with gifts and talents, especially if we use them to bless the lives of others.

Best news for this week is WE GOT A CAR!! Ahhhh I am so excited! Now we´ll be able to do lots of work in the neighboring small towns and I¨m stinking excited! I¨ll be driving with my new companion Elder Patterson. Did I mention that it´s transfers today? Elder Lucero is going to Motril! Pretty cool huh? They sent another pair of misisonaires there because the work is progessing so well. My new companion is Elder Patterson from Arizona and Logan Utah. I was with him in the MTC and he´s one of my best friends and I¨m suuuuper stinking excited to be with him. Molina right now has a ton of work that we can be doing and this month of January is going to be a great one. The goal is to have 250 fechas and baptize 104 people in the span of one month between the 13th of January and the 16 of Feburary. In Molina we have about 4 families that all have crazy good potential and we´re going to be working really hard with them. The ultimate goal is just that they feel the Spirit and recognize it, because once that happens they´ll feel good and want that feeling always, which naturally leads to baptism. So please, pray for our investigators that they will be able to recognize the Spirit. And pray for us that we will be able to bring the Spirit! Please pray for Vivianna, Raul, Reinaldo, Erica, Rosio, Emilio, and Maru. God hears our prays, we just need to pray with faith and then go and DO! 

Well I´ve definitely talked long enough. I love you all so much! thank you for all your prayers and support! This is the greatest work that exists. It can´t be stopped, and we all participate in it together! Let us make God, His cause and His glory our number one priority. Then shall we find the greatest happiness and reach our true potential. Thank you for everything! Love love love!

Elder Webb

Adios a mi compañero Elder Lucero. Hasta la gloria hermano. 

 

Moses and the team. We have God, Moses, the Narrorator, and Satan (Ninja). We performed this for some members.