CONTINUED MÉXICO

December messages . . . delivered in December!

December 21, 2015 — ’TIS THE SEASON

I’m over it not being cold now. It can be Christmas and be warm, I guess. I still miss snow.

So this week, we went to Reynosa for our mission Christmas party! It was really fun, and it’s the only time the whole mission is together at the same time, so I got to see some elders from my MTC District that I hadn’t seen in a year (since the previous Christmas party). Then we realized the next time we’ll all be together, it will be in the airport. So we stopped talking about that and changed the subject.

On the bus ride there, I was telling an Elder about a dream I had had the night before. To spare you the details, I will share the exact line I said to him. “Actually, after Shia LaBeouf was cursed by the bite of a Down’s Syndrome baby my girlfriend had turned into a demon, he protected me really well from the SWAT Team’s bullets.” Yeah, I dunno. It was weird for me, too.

Then the party went really well. We had a good time, we ate well, I got a watch, and we had to sleep in Reynosa for 2 nights. I got to see some old friends, and it was a good trip (the bus on the way back was playing Cirque du Soleil or however that’s spelled), but I’m glad to be back home (that is, in Valle Hermoso).

So this week, we celebrate the birth of our Saviour. He who gave us life, who has given us hope, who will heal all of our wounds and who will make right every injustice this life can throw at us. Let us really remember him. Who he was, what he did, and what it means for us. What can we give to him, who has given us all? What does he ask of us? Are we doing all we can to show him thanks for all of the many blessings he has given us? If not, what can we do to change? Remember why we do the things we do. Help someone in need. Tell someone you love them. Lift up their burdens. Help them to remember the Lord by showing them through your example that you do remember him.

I love y’all. Remember that nobody’s perfect, and you make mistakes too. 

Elder Webb 

December 14, 2015 — TIJUANA

Yesterday, we got to attend a broadcast of the Tijuana Temple-Dedication. The new Tijuana Temple is my new favorite temple. It looks like a Persian Castle. It’s awesome.

We got to go to all 3 sessions of the dedication (different speaker each time) and it was wonderful. In the third session, Elder Oaks started and ended his talk with a really good attempt at Spanish. He gave it a good try, then after about 3 pretty painful minutes, he said, still in Spanish, “I would like to be able to give my whole talk in your beautiful language, but I see myself obligated to use a translator”, at which point he beckoned rather desperately to his translator who had remained seated during the Spanish-ish portion of his talk. It was really cute, and he actually did a pretty good job.

It was a really beautiful service, and I was grateful to be part of this historic occasion. México now has 13 temples! We’re still waiting for them to announce the Valle Hermoso, Mexico, temple. Maybe this April?

The night before the dedicatory services, we got to see the Tijuana cultural event. It was pretty interesting. During the 1920’s portion (during the prohibition, Tijuana was a pretty good place to get booz, and they included that in the program [?]), they played the cantina music from STAR WARS. It was a pretty tragic reminder of that thing that we don’t mention around Elder Webb that’s happening this weekend but that’s not really happening this weekend because it’s not happening until July of 2016 (If anybody tells me anything about the movie, I WILL hunt you down. I’ve made some dangerous friends here on the border).

I don’t remember even kind of how this got tied in, but they also Rick-rolled us, and threw in some Daft Punk. All in all, it seemed like there were too many deacons and not enough rehearsal. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

I love you guys. Please please go to the temple. Most of you have it like 10 minutes away. I was talking to a man who said that their temple excursión used to take 2 weeks because the closest temple was in Mesa, Arizona. Then he expressed how grateful he was that they now have one in Monterrey, a mere 4 HOURS from Valle Hermoso. Count your blessings. Go to the temple. 

Elder Webb

  

December 7, 2015 — IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR

It’s still not cold. Christmas can’t really happen if it isn’t cold.

I don’t have a lot to report on this week. We had good trainings and an average week here in Valle Hermoso (any week in VH is a great week to be a missionary).

I’ll be sending lots of pictures, so prepare yourselves for full inboxes.

Pbbbbbtthh. I scored a goal in soccer last week. I’m also becoming a pretty adept goalie. Sorry, I’m sure more interesting things happened this week, but I can’t remember.

Our ward had a Christmas party! It was supposed to be a mission-minded activity with lots of references for the missionaries, but only 2 non-member families went, and only 1 of them was even mildly interested. I also learned that there is a lot of traditional Mexican Christmas music I don’t like. Our bishop keeps teasing us because he’s going to see Star Wars Episode VII and I have to wait until next summer. He’s a good guy.

Love you guys!

Elder Webb

Bautismos

Every church should have a dog...

Look closely enough and you’ll see bullet holes...
and a really smiley missionary.

November 30, 2015 — DECEMBER

I’m going to be quick, because I wrote a lot last week and I like some variety.

We baptized Luis this week! I might have forgotten to mention him. He is Dinora’s son and Berenice’s brother. He’s great. He’s been really excited to get baptized, but he had a problem with his work that only recently got resolved. He had already been to church and when we saw him last week, he said “So when are you going to baptize me?” So we committed him to fix his Sabbath Day thing, and he did it! So we baptized him on Saturday. He’s already talking about when he’s a missionary (he’s 17). When we had changed and we were both in White in the bathroom, he was looking at himself in the mirror and said “Is this what I’m going to look like when I’m baptizing on my mission?” It was pretty cool.

Then, I wanted to share something cool that happened yesterday at church. There’s a sister here who is preparing to leave on a mission, but she needs a certain vaccine that is apparently really expensive or something, and only comes in containers of 10 doses, so if somebody needs one, they need to find 9 people to take it with them. So this sister and her brother were going to do it, and they needed 8 volunteers to take it so she could cross that off her list of mission-preparation. They announced it in the combined third hour and they got 8 volunteers in about 4 seconds. It was excellent. Vivan los Santos.

Remember that we are children of God, and therefore have a responsibility to obey, as we would want our own children to do.

Love y’all.

Elder Webb