Three more weeks’ worth of Elder Webbisms! The Thanksgiving season brings our gratitude for Max’s service, his spirit, and his growth. And his safety... definitely his safety.
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| “Hastening” the work? (Sorry . . .) |
November 23, 2015 — ”MEANWHILE,
IN MÉXICO . . .”
That was a quote from our
hilarious Bishop, who speaks English and is hilarious. We had a baptism this
Friday (more on that in a second), but first, we had to prepare the baptismal
font. I imagine that this isn’t a universal missionary problem, so I’m going to
run you through the process:
First, you have to check
the status of the font. It’s a mystery as to why this is the case, but the font
will always be full to about mid-shin and be full of dead, soggy cockroaches.
One time there was a grasshopper, a beetle, 9 cockroaches, and a tiny
frog. This time, just 4 roaches. Not too bad.
Now, we have to leave the
font and go to the outside of the building to empty the font so it’s cleanable.
To do so, we have to open the faucet, attach the hose, and put it on the
bushes. Then we go to the maintenance área to fill up a small pipe with water
so the pump doesn’t overheat, but you have to fill it fast, then close it.
Count to 10, open the other lever on the pipe, and turn on the pump. Normally,
you can just wait about 20 minutes for it to drain the rest of the water. This
time, the pump is so rusted out, it doesn’t move at all and trips the
breaker. Crap.
The Bishop’s working, so
we have to figure it out ourselves (a valuable lesson I’ve learned filling up
fonts). So we grab 2 small trash cans and 2 mop buckets, my companion (a true
champion) takes off his shoes and socks and jumps (not literally) into the
gross water. So we’re dumping it with buckets.
1 hour later, we’ve got
the font emptied and cockroach-free (a handy side-effect of emptying by hand).
Now we just mop it with some stuff I found in the member’s closet, whose only
ingredients were “Water, Hydrochloric Acid”.
0 injuries later, the font
is clean. Now we’ve got to fill it. Hopefully you’ve checked the cistern the
night before to see if the chapel has enough water to be able to fill up the
font. This time, we had (I learn from my mistakes). But now there’s a problem
with the boiler. It’s cold! The Hermanas we’re going to baptize are tiny. We
need warmish water, at least. The Bishop assures us they have filled the gas
tank located on top of the chapel. We go read Spanish instruccions on the
boiler fixed to the wall as best we can, turn it on, and wait (from a safe
distance). After a lack of any kind of explosion OR hot water, we check again.
Nothing. So we check the stove in the kitchen, and there’s no gas in the
church. “Ni modo” is an expression which basically means “Forget it. Can’t do
anything now”, and has lots of really useful applications. Like in that moment.
So we filled up the font with water that could have been a lot colder.
I’m playing piano while we’re
waiting for it to fill up, and my companion goes to check on the water. As he
goes outside he sees people on the roof. Right as he turned off the water to
our now already-full font, they inform us we have a full gas tank. Ni modo.
So we had a beautiful
baptismal service with cold water in a clean font. After almost dying, María
(the mom who got baptized) said “That was really cold. But I feel so good, if
they asked me to do it again, I would.” We love them. They are freaking rock
stars.
Be grateful for running
water and drains and boilers and easlily-accesible cleaning supplies. I
certainly will be, if I ever see such things again.
Elder Webb
PS This system only
applies to our chapel in Valle Hermoso. Every single chapel has its own secret
formula.
• • •
November 16, 2015 — ”NOVEMBER
WHAT?”
So it’s kind of November,
but not really because it isn’t cold. The last two holiday seasons have been
really weird for me. I feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s were
put on pause because I’m on a mission. Nobody’s really celebrating it, because
it hasn’t snowed. It’s not cold, there’s no turkey, there are a few new
Catholic holidays in between, yadda yadda yadda. I dunno. It’s a weird feeling.
It’s like I’m in a different country.
If you don’t like your
name, just remember that I met a girl this week named “Egla”. She’s in my
prayers.
The work continues, María
and Itzel are going to be baptized this week, we’re working on their
son/brother Raúl who is great, but isn’t making God a priority right now.
Please pray for him so he can join his mother and sister on this wonderful
journey toward the Celestial Kingdom.
We’re doing really well,
all happy and safe and stuff. I’m getting the hang of being a District Leader,
and we’re working really hard.
I love you all. Tell those
you love that you love them, and tell them often.
Elder Webb
• • •
November 9, 2015 — ”A
COUPLE OF ANGELS”
That is NOT a
reference to my new roommates. I’ll explain the subject line in a minute. Right
now, the people living in my house are 1) me, 2) Elder Farabee (my current
companion), 3) Elder Arjona (my companion from about 4 months ago), and 4)
Elder Moreno (my companion from about a year ago). So that’s weird. It’s cool
though, because I don’t really have to adjust to anybody, because I’ve already
done it! But it’s weird living with 3 of my companions.
Speaking of companions,
Elder Farabee’s great. He’s from Arizona, he played volleyball and practiced
diving, and he’s going to BYU to study to become a doctor. He’s a really good
guy and an excellent missionary.
So. To the subject line.
That was actually referring to my companion and myself (I’ll pause so those who
know me can scoff). I think I mentioned María and her daughter Itzel last week?
Well, they’re the most amazing investigators any missionary has ever had on
their mission. I’ll try to remember all the reasons and stories. They are very
fearful people. They almost never leave the house, and never open the door.
But, when Elder Berry and I knocked on their door and they saw us through the
window, Maria, as she puts it, “just had to open the door”. She said she didn’t
know why she did. (We knew why.)
Later, when we returned to
visit her, they told us that they felt really good the last time we were there,
and that they didn’t want us to leave, but they didn’t know why, or what it
was. (We knew what it was.)
Then they were amazed
because once when we left their house, they walked out after us to see where we
were going, but that we had already disappeared. They thought it was because we
were literally angels. I explained it was because it was 8:50 and we were
a 20-minute bike-ride from home, so to make it home by 9:00, we had
to almost literally fly (we made it home in 5 minutes).
THEN they went to church
yesterday, said they felt really good, asked lots of really good questions,
yeah. Then Maria asked us again how she might receive her answer that the Book
of Mormon is true. We explained the fruits of the Spirit, and she said that she
and her family have felt different since we’ve been visiting them. That they’ve
had more peace in their house and that they’ve all been happier. So we were
already jumping out of our seats for joy, when she said “also, I’ve had some
really weird dreams lately. The last 3 nights, I’ve been dreaming about a lot
of water. Like, that my family and I are waist-deep in the canal, which is
weird, because we’re all afraid of water.” Holy crap. They’re going to get
baptized.
This week, I’ve gained a
testimony that all things testify of God. Think about all the miracles that
surround us. A plant can produce a seed that, given the correct conditions, can
grow, and progress, and become everything that was/is its parent plant, even
unto producing more seeds that can turn into more plants of equal stature,
beauty, potential, and perfection within their own sphere. The same goes for
us! We, as God’s children, and under the proper treatment and care, have the
potential to inherit “all that the Father hath”. We may be unable to comprehend
what that means, but we know it’s true. The sunlight, and water, and soil, that
are necessary to a seed’s progression to a full-grown plant, are prayer,
scripture study, and church attendance in our own application. It’s posible,
and it’s promised, and it’s true.
Thanks for your prayers.
They are felt and appreciated. Be grateful for the comfort you live in, with
things like hot water, and carpet, and houses that keep out mosquitos and
the cold.
Elder Webb
• • •
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