Mother's Day And Other Cool Blessings

Dear loved ones,

As you are well aware, yesterday was mothers day! :) I had a pretty good mothers day! I got to Skype home, and see me good ol' family, and it looks like everyone's doing pretty good! I even got to see my big brother Jace for a brief period of time! :) I liked Skyping home again! it was nice! I feel like at this point, there isn't a whole lot of news though... haha it was super nice to see everyone again though!

We went over to the Chacon's house to use their computers (same house I used for Christmas) If I haven't mentioned the Chacon's yet by name, I'm sorry. But they have been there for a lot!!! Betsaida Chacon is their daughter at BYUi, and Joel Chacon their son who is a returned missionary from Phoenix AZ mission who has helped with lots of lessons and given me lots of sweet shoes and belts and stuff, and Brother Chacon is the 2nd councilor of the bishopric and was there with us when all of our computers got robbed a while ago, and Sister Chacon makes amazing Enchiladas and is a missionary-mom for sure. There family is the best and I am so thankful for them. :)

Anyways, I thought I'd give them a shout-out, because I'm probably going to come visit them after the mission. :)

OK! So this week, we saw a lot of blessings for sure. LITERALLY! I must have given 9 or 10 Priesthood blessings this week. So much so that I used an entire oil-vile's worth of oil during one week's worth of blessings! We asked the bishop for a refill of consecrated oil on Sunday during church, and then we continued on with life and were asked to give even more blessings that night! It made me feel so honored and thankful to be a worthy priesthood holder, and to be able to see so many faithful people. I've really started to notice how easy it is to give blessings. When I first started giving blessings, I was nervous and would always hope they would just ask my companion to do it. I would try to think of the best vocabulary I could and say the best things I could think of. I know now that I was doing it wrong.... Lately, I've been doing better at focusing on the person's needs and trying to imagine my true role as a Priesthood holder, and I've noticed that all the anxiety behind giving a blessing completely disappears. I no longer have to worry about what to say because in a very VERY literal way, the words just come.

I testify to the power of the Priesthood because I've seen miracles and I've seen it work.

On another note, we were able to see several of our investigators coming to church lately, which will help them develop a testimony so much faster, so that's extraordinary. We're still planning on having 2 baptisms this summer. Probably in June. I'm very excited for them both, because I've been working with them from the very beginning, and I can see that they both KNOW this church is true, and they both have a solid belief in Christ and His atonement, and now they're just waiting for their schedules to free up enough to become active members. So that should happen in the next couple months whether I'm here or not.

That's pretty much it for the week.

I'm so thankful for my companion btw. Elder Green is probably one of my favorites. He's a hard worker, he helps me, he accepts help, he's fun and funny, and I've loved working with him so far.

Anyways! Love you all! Happy Mothers Day!

Elder Webster

Me and Elder Green

This is My District!!

Back row- Yellowhorse, Green, Webster, Mora

Front row- Collett, Kaufusi

This is my companion's Teddy bear... He calls it Vanessa. It's the creepiest thing ever.

Another Shortie...

Buenas tardes mis queridos amigos!

Looks like Elder Green and are a very successful companionship so far! We had one of the best weeks I've had on my mission so far this week. We currently have 2 VERY solid investigators who are scheduled to be baptized very soon. Elvia Guzman and Mariela Irama. Both of them have shown a huge commitment to the church and shown a desire to be baptized, but Elvia told us she wants her brother in law to baptize her (Who just so happens to be one of my MTC instructors. Small world.) And he is scheduled to come to town in late June, so even though it's a bit of a wait, and I might not even be in the area anymore at that point, she's scheduled to be baptized! :) Mariela Irama is completely set for baptism, has a testimony, and it's obvious to her that the Book of Mormon is true, but she has been working on Sundays. once we can work through her work schedule, we'll be able to set a baptism date for her. But she's golden. We just have to wait a bit for her as well. :)

Teaching the 2 of them has been so pleasant. They crave it, there is definitely a difference between people who just "allow us to come over" and those who "invite us over". They are so easy to teach, and keep their commitments whether we want them to or not, and we've gotten the ward so involved in their progression, the ward members are always asking us when our next appointment is with them. It's so great. :)

Elder Green and I have been experimenting with object lessons a lot recently! I think that's my favorite method of teaching now a days..

That's pretty much all for now! Tomorrow is our "Temple Day" which means today isn't my actual pday. I'm only really allowed to email for one hour, so once again, I'm sorry if I didn't get to reply to many personal emails. But I Love you all! :)

Elder Webster

3 Items of News

I don't have a whole lot of time to write this week, sorry in advance for not getting to reply to many personal emails.

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD AND JAXON! I'm glad you got the package. Looks like the fair was fun. That's crazy about Hailey getting hypnotized too... haha

Also, Hailey! you looked awesome in your prom pictures. Hope it was fun, but not too much fun!

As far as updates goes, I only have a couple big ones.

1. My new companion, Elder Green, is from Michigan! (I was wrong) and he has been out about a year and a half, and was pretty bitter about being assigned as my junior companion... haha But so far we get along decently. He's a lot like Kurt from Glee... pretty much a direct copy.

2. I've learned a lot about planning this week! This was the first real time I've had to show someone the area, so I've had to think a lot about how to plan our routes effectively, and try to see the people who would really benefit from visits. I've tried using the area book a lot more instead of relying on my memory and best judgement. So all in all, this week has really made me step up a little bit. And Elder Green doesn't stress me out nearly as much. haha So that's nice. :)

3. Mormon Helping Hands service project was this last Saturday! We went to this nice park in Martinez and trimmed some growths and weeds from around the base of all the trees there! I thought it was a blast! :)

That's pretty much it for the week. Things are going well! I've got hopes for Elder Green and I this transfer. We even found a new investigator that looks good for baptism in the next couple weeks! :) Her names Elvia Guzman! Keep her in mind.

Love you all! Sorry I had to keep it short this week. We just finished mopping our car.. Long story, but yeah.. We had to "mop" our car today.

Love you all!

Elder Webster

Goodbye Elder Muniz!

HELLO!

Got some cool updates from home this week. Looks like the buggy has been put to good use and Hailey keeps on seeing my favorite band live without me.

So that's cool.

This week went very very well for us! Last week I mentioned how our numbers weren't very good even though we felt like we were working our hardest. WELL! This week our hard work showed up on paper! We were able to visit so many people this week, I actually beat my personal best. One time we even got 5 lessons in a single day. Seriously, things just went right for us quite a bit. :)

We did get our transfer calls on Saturday. It looks like I'm staying district leader in Richmond for another transfer. But Elder Muniz is leaving me to serve in Pittsburgh with one of my old companions (Elder Curay) They'll be great together! And my new companion will be someone named Elder Green...? I don't know much about him yet. But he has been out for about 18 months, and I think he's white and probably from Utah! But I'll meet him tomorrow officially. So I'll have more updates next week. :)

We had the lesson about Sabbath day with Mariela as planned (minus the church tour) and it was such a blessing. She seems to come closer to Christ no matter what we do. She puts in all the effort in the world. Before we even started talking about her coming to church with us, she started telling us about how she's going to talk to her boss and ask for a day off to come to church. We set a day in the future when she'd like to come! So on May 3rd we should be able to bring her to church for the first time. That's one step closer to baptism eligibility!

Lastly, we had a baptism yesterday! I don't know if I've mentioned her before, but her name is Nayeli Aguirre. She's about 20 years old, and she was an investigator I used to teach back in January. I only got to teach her the first half of the lessons, and then we had to hand her off to some other missionaries. She got baptized yesterday and we were invited to come watch and help! (pictures attached) Everything went well, she is such a cool girl. She knows what she wants, and she decided that becoming a member of the church was what she wanted, so there was no stopping her.

All in all, a pretty good week, and a good way to end off this transfer with Elder Muniz.  I've been blessed in this area, and It's pretty cool to be able to stay here for so long. This will be my 6th month here in Richmond, and when the time comes, it's going to be hard to leave.

Thanks for all the love and support.

Shout out to the Somervilles for the letter!

Happy Early Birthday Jaxon and Dad!

Love you!

Elder Webster

This is Nayeli after she got baptized

This is Elder Yellowhorse standing next to a yellow horse.

Some Memorable Stuff!

Dear Loved Ones,

Sounds like everything back home is going alright!

Shout out to Hailey for rocking that dance recital! If you can figure out how to send the video, that'd be cool!

Shout out to Elder Fredrick for once again being a spiritual GIANT! *and for calling me yesterday*

Shout out to the family for going rock climbing. you ROCK! :)

This week went alright I think. In the past few weeks, I've felt like we've been seeing more and more progress with investigators, and a lot of our numbers have been on the rise! a lot of things really have been going pretty well for Elder Muniz and I! This week seems to have been a little slower for us, but we've been working really hard, so despite our lower numbers, I feel like we've done as much as we can.

The first (slightly boring) update was this Saturday, Elder Muniz and I were asked to give a training at a Zone Training meeting! I had asked Elder Muniz to give a training a couple weeks ago during a District meeting about how to work with members. And whatever he did, he did an excellent job. So they asked him to give the same exact training again, but this time, in front of a larger crowd. It was the same as the first one, except for this time, we split it between the 2 of us. It went pretty well I thought! :)

The only investigator that we're working with that is getting close to a baptism is Mariela Irama. She's just a miracle. I love her. Unfortunately, one of the requirements before a baptism is that she would need to have attended 3 or more sacrament meetings, and she works on Sundays. Tonight we're giving her a church tour and teaching about the sabbath day. We're going to ask her to request this next Sunday off so that she can attend with us. I'll let you know how that goes next week! :)

Transfers are next week, so I MIGHT be moving to a new area soon. I'll find out before next week if anything changes. I've been in the same area for about 5 months now, and I LOVE IT. I've really gotten pretty close to the ward, and I feel like I've really helped quite a few people here. But I'm still excited to see if I'll be moving somewhere else! honestly, it doesn't matter to me either way. It's cheesy, and I'm sure everyone says this as a missionary, but this really is the Lord's work. No matter where you're living, or who's in your area, there's always someone there who will benefit from coming closer to Christ.

Here's some random pictures for the week to make up for the less-than-exciting update! :)

This is a traditional Mexican sombrero that an awesome member named Jose Largaespada gave me :)

Just a random dog that came up to the window while we were painting a lady's house. Elder Muniz and I helped it to have more swag.

General Conference #2

Dear loved ones,

What an amazing conference that was. I'm fairly confident that this years' annual spring General Conference was my favorite conference of all time.

Just a couple quick thoughts about what I really liked about it :)

Last week, I told you about how I was going to write down some questions I had, and try to find the answers in the Conference. Saying "it helped" is an understatement. I realized things about the gospel that I had been completely ignoring. I received answers to all of my questions, multiple times.

Question 1: What defines a Successful mission?

Answer: I learned from the Priesthood session of a missionary whose brother was a Zone Leader with many baptisms. The young missionary went on his mission with the desire to become like his brother, receive a calling as a zone leader, and baptize just as many people. He soon learned, however, that NONE of these things will help determine whether your mission was successful or not. It doesn't matter how many baptisms "you got" or what your title was, or even how many companions became your friends. But instead, the success of your mission should come from your dedication to the Lord, and your willingness to submit your will to His. Under closer examination, I was thinking about all these so-called "success definers" and one thing REALLY stood out to me. Nobody will EVER be able to accurately describe to someone how successful his/her mission was.

You can tell someone how many people you baptized. But it doesn't matter. You could tell someone what your callings were. But it doesn't matter.

You could tell someone about your mission buddies. But it won't matter.

The ONLY people that should know how successful you were on your mission is YOU and the Lord.

I loved that.

Question 2: Obedience Brings....???

Answer: As you know from last weeks email, I've been putting a real focus on obedience lately, and after that exchange with Elder Yellowhorse, it's been on my mind a lot. It is a very basic church belief that Obedience to the commandments brings Blessings. But I learned something from this conference that completely changed my perspective about following the commandments.

Previously, I knew with all my heart that if I follow the commandments and the mission rules, then I will be blessed. I would receive blessings that would help me in the field and for the rest of my life. Blessings I wanted. Therefore, I would have to follow the rules. Often times, my only motivation for trying to follow the rules was because I wanted to earn some sort of reward. But. I've been doing it wrong.

I realize now, thanks to Elder Uchtdorf, that although it's true that I'll get blessings for my obedience, that should never be my "motivation" for following God. As it says in John 14:15 If you love me, keep my commandments. It's as simple as that. There's my motivation. I now know that I should be obedient because I feel a desire to show my love for God. Never again just to receive some sort of prize.

I loved that too.

Question 3: How can I bare a testimony with power?

Answer: Keep On Practicing

I loved that as well.

I know that Thomas S Monson is a courageous and inspired prophet of God. Through prayer and fasting, he receives the God-given inspiration to speak to us, and it's an opportunity that, if properly taken advantage of, can really help us and inspire us to be better. I know that you aren't perfect. That's ok, because neither am I. But you and I both have the chance to pray and fast, and work to master the Christ like attributes that will help us to have happy and successful lives. I know that Christ was our perfect example, and that even though he was the most perfect of us all, he still had to endure the same temptations that we do. He always chose right, and it's possible for us to do the same. I know that He lives, and loves us both. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love you all!

Elder Webster

Portuguese Luiz

This week was great!

Glad things are going well back home!

Thank you for the emails!

(the beginning of my emails are probably pretty repetitive, but they usually go something like that!)

OH! and Shout out to everyone who sent me pictures this week. :)

So from last week, do you remember Oscar? I really thought he was golden. And he really is a good guy. But here is some updates from good ol' Oscar:

The Elders I gave him off to, Elder Castleberry and Elder Yellowhorse, got to visit him a couple of times, and in a nutshell, they were told that the environment was too dangerous, and they probably shouldn't visit him any more. But they do send him occasional spiritual thoughts and church invitations. So we'll see how that goes..

So I was talking to the other Elder Webster a little while ago, and he told me that he's been trying to pick up Portuguese recently! Props. Portuguese is sooo weird. I've looked into it a little bit, and basically, if you're fluent in Spanish, you can probably understand Portuguese! There isn't really an equivalent in English that I can compare it too. But they are close enough to each other that even though they're not EXACTLY the same, and the accent is a little different, it's not impossible. SO! That being said... Elder Castleberry found a man about 8 weeks ago from Brazil who ONLY speaks Portuguese. His name is Luiz Souza, and unfortunately, we don't have any Portuguese speaking missionaries here to teach him, so Elder Casteberry was the one that got to teach him. He's had various companions along the way, but Elder Castleberry was there as they taught every single lesson to a man who doesn't even speak the same language. Crazy right? WELL! I got to give his baptismal interview this week! I did it in Spanish, and he spoke nothing but Portuguese, but we did a whole 45 minute interview with each other, speaking different languages, and had ZERO misunderstandings. I got out of the interview completely amazed at the story line that I saw. Elder Castleberry and I didn't know any Spanish before the mission, and purely through some incredible help from the gift of tongues, us as missionaries have been able to communicate well enough to help the spirit bring a man to his conversion. isn't that powerful? I thought it was a huge testimony builder.

(Pictures Attached)

I also got to go on Exchanges this week with Elder Yellowhorse, one of my Zone Leaders, and he really taught me a lot. I really just wanted to shut up and listen to his counsel, because his obedience and his diligence is just incredible. We were together for about 24 hours, and we saw so many miracles. Not even "blessings" or "improbabilities" but full blown Miracles. Like, one in a million chance-type things happened all day long. They were unavoidable. He inspired me to live more obediently. It's almost ironic, because the BIG blessings seem to come when you pay attention to the SMALL and SIMPLE things. like... "obeying the laws of the land" including using your blinkers and parking within the lines. and being "Modest with your language" including avoiding slang and slurs. any one of those things wouldn't be enough to convert a crowd right? but I now know that God blesses us for however much effort we put in. You should try it out some day. It works.

And that's the big highlights for the week! Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa and Mom and Dad for the St. Patrick's day stuff! I actually went to McDonalds today to buy a shamrock shake for the first time, and they said they were SOLD OUT! So I have to rush to a different McDonalds after emailing. hahaha

Happy Conference! Happy Easter!

Love you so much!

Elder Webster

Me and Portuguese Luiz