Family!!!
There is so much to tell you this week I don't even know
where to start. I tried to take more notes during the week than I usually do,
so I could tell you more of what happens from week to week, but it just made me
realize how much the ups and downs happen. I know I've said that so many
times before, but this week had CRAZY ups and downs. Like every other day. I'll
try and just go day by day.
Monday: We spent our zone activity at Lion's Park in our
area. It was cloudy (first day in a week) but then the sun came out :) Monday
night we went to the "mid-singles" FHE group they have ha, ha. It's
always soooo awkward, but there's a nonmember who goes that we're trying to
start teaching.
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| Starting to rain again |
Tuesday: Lots happened. We did an exchange with Seabeck
elders, I was with Elder Nebeker in Manette. Elder Nebeker was trained in
Raymond by Elder Hansen! So we had a LOT to talk about. He gave me some updates
on Raymond. Brother Oneto (was in Bishopric) is now their ward mission leader,
and the Morenos (we baptized Israel) are ward missionaries and Terry is
preparing to receive the Melchizedek priesthood! Some sad news: remember
Machel? She was someone I found and was baptized after I left, but had
problems, relapsed on her drug habit, and overdosed. Her son AJ who was also
baptized is living with his grandma now. Super tragic. On the other had, her
friend Kelsi (I also found and was baptized after I left with 3 of her kids) is
super active and went through the temple a little bit ago for her endowments!
It is amazing to see the effect of missionary efforts in the long run. Elder
Nebeker also met this super weird angry old man who kept telling us we weren't
Christians and that the foundation of the Christian world is the Council ofNicaea (utterly and totally false). He slammed the door before we could defend
the faith, so we just kept knocking.
Wednesday: We had a great zone meeting on planning, and
using tools like "grouping" where you organize the area into groups
and save time in visits. Elder Anderson and Slavens and I did it in Tacoma. I
also read something called the "Elder Ricciardi letter." A letter
from a returned missionary to a friend about his trainer. He wrote about a lot
of things this stalwart trainer had done, such as opening his mouth always, being
bold and loving, working hard all day + obedience = success, praying a lot and
courageously following promptings, rejoicing in persecution, dropping
noncommittal investigators to focus on the elect, the doctrine of teaching by
the Spirit of Truth, and why God calls us on missions (our own conversion/ that
"one soul" unto Him). Anyway, lots of good stuff that I cannot fully
explain but I have loved learning, applying and experiencing. There are so
many good ways to do missionary work. Wednesday was a good day, I felt happy
and successful and confident. Elder MacCarthy opened up more by sharing some
personal things and a powerful testimony with this lady we met. He is great.
Thursday: We applied all that we learned about planning in
our "mega" weekly planning session and set crazy goals for next
week!!! Like 60 lessons! I did the math on how many lessons per day we need to
reach our area baptism goals (March-3, April-6). It's about 9 lessons a day
which is A LOT. But we will work crazy hard, pray with super faith and see what
happens :) We also went to Lion's Park to talk to people and met a nice
family that seems interested.
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| Exchange day with Elder Goodwine back in Bremerton |
Friday: Friday was a blessing straight from Heavenly Father.
I got to go on an exchange with the ZLs with Elder Goodwine in BREMERTON!!! MY
FIRST AREA! It was so so so fun and brought back dozens of wonderful memories.
I could remember doors I had knocked on, streets where my trainer taught me things,
and people we met. I even got to go visit my converts! We tried Kyla, but she
wasn't home, only her brother and her mom. It was funny saying, "Remember
me? I baptized your sister!" Chris, Annette, and Xavior have all moved,
but I did see Amick!!! That was so cool! It took him a few minutes to recognize
me, but when he did he smiled and we got to reconnect. He said he's meeting
with the Bishop next week to prepare for the Melchizedek priesthood!! Ah!
Saturday: The opposite. Bad news, guys. We finally saw Tina,
but she told us that she has decided to stick with a church more like the one
she grew up with, so she's going there with a friend. She is no longer
interested in visits :'( Inside my heart broke and my mind was pleading,
"no, no.." but as we talked I realized she had not understood the
Restoration doctrine, plus she had stopped reading the Book of Mormon and
coming to church. It's hard to keep the spirit with you when you stop keeping
commitments. We told her we loved her and that the doors of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints are always open and invited her to receive the
future missionaries. Planting seeds or something. As devastating as it was, I
had the odd comfort and assurance, from the Holy Ghost, I think, that she was
always in Heavenly Father's care and not ready at this time. I hope we
fulfilled our purpose. I was bold in testifying of the truth of the
Restoration, and we left it at that. We also got dropped by another
investigator family, and passed our most solid guy over to Spanish. Then we had
these investigators feed us dinner. The husband is from Nigeria, I think. He
made us goat. The first time I've had goat and I hope the last. Let me tell
you, it was weird. Had a different taste and was tough and lean. We had it with
this fried kale and corn meal. We usually don't get weird meals like that
in the WaTac, so hopefully it was a good experience, ha, ha.
Sunday: Church turned me upwards again. Even though Dave
didn't make it (still works Sundays, fell off his baptism goal date, but we're still teaching
him), we had Ward Conference and Ward Council, and the Stake Presidency came to
both. Our Stake President, President Anderson, is amazing. He's one of my
mission heroes. He is a scientist and incredibly brilliant. His gospel
knowledge is exceedingly great ha, ha. His training blows my mind and expands my
understanding. He applied Preach My Gospel chapter 8 to ward councils and probably changed my
church service for my life. I feel like a mission is sometimes just leadership
training for the rest of your life. We get to meet with so many experienced,
smart Church leaders. We are having dinner with the Andersons tonight, they
live in our ward. I'm excited :) I'll probably bring a notebook ha, ha. We also
had dinner right after church with the Frazier family, they fed us venison stew
(ha, ha I know right?) from their backyard and homemade apple and blackberry pie,
also from their backyard orchard. This meal was delicious though. We challenged
them to prepare a friend to be taught by missionaries and they accepted! That
night we also got to knock in the rain again. Finally!
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| Tommy's apartment with St. Patrick decorations from Mom |
Well, my family and friends who might have actually made it
through this exhaustive e-mail, I love you and I love my mission more than
words will ever express. I love being dedicated to God, living my covenants
with Him, and striving to have my will "swallowed up" in His. There
is no greater joy, I can testify.
Have a lucky St. Patrick's Day, and a very happy birthday,
Mom.
Love, Elder Webber
Scripture: *Mosiah 15:7
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