New year; same ol’ dad...
18 January 2016
This week was awesome.
Raul got baptized! I’ll send pictures. He is María Azucena’s son and Odalys
Itzel’s brother. It was awesome. Apparently, after he got baptized, he was
super obnoxiously happy around the house. Joking, María and Itzel said they
wanted to un-baptize him. We ended up leaving him baptized.
So on Sunday, he was
confirmed, and it was really nice. Also also also, one of my best friends and
best converts on the mission, Dinora, said the opening prayer in sacrament
meeting! She did a great job. then, her daughter Berenice, was presented in
front of the Ward in her new calling as Young Women’s Secretary! THEN, we
confirmed Raul! THEN, María Azucena said the closing prayer
in sacrament meeting! It was a fantastic day to be a missionary.
We are also teaching a
13-year-old girl named Gisela who is preparing to be baptized on January 30th.
She’s really interested in religión and asks really good questions. Her mom is
less-active, and is actually a great help. She has a lot of desires to come
back to church, but is really poor and lives pretty far from the chapel. Luckily,
Valle Hermoso is heaven on earth and our members offered to pick them up before
we could even think to ask.
So the work continues.
I was thinking this week
about trials. I was thinking about the things that used to be so important to
me, and how our trials/perspectives change as we get older. When I was a baby,
I probably got really mad when I couldn’t play with a certain toy, or cried
when I fell down. To me, that was the worst thing in the world. As I grew, my
problems got more complicated, and I looked down on my older problems with
nostalgia. I got bullied in school. I got in trouble with my teacher for
talking. My trials kept growing and evolving as I did. I was really worried
about how I looked or dressed. The girl I liked had no idea I existed. I got
grounded and couldn’t go to the party everyone went to. Then, I got fired from
my job. My friend died. I can’t afford to pay the rent. I recognize that there
are problems facing me that I haven’t encountered yet. How will I raise a happy
family in such an ugly world? How will I be able to be the husband my wife
deserves? What if I lose one of my children, or what will I do when my parents
finish their time in this life?
Thinking about how, with
each phase or level of gravity, the past problems seem trivial, I feel like I
gained something of an understanding of how we will one day see our lives here
on earth. After everything, after we have been resurrected, judged, and
(hopefully) found worthy of the kingdom of our Father, what will we think about
these experiences? With a truly infinite perspective, I believe we will almost
feel embarrassed at the importance we now give our earthly, mortal problems. So
please, let’s remember that this is just a step in an eternal process. Be
patient. Remember how much you’ve grown from your past trials, and try to look
for what God wants to teach you from whatever you may be facing now. Someday,
we will all laugh about this together.
Elder Webb
11 January 2016
As the Valle Hermoso Zone,
we planned an activity for Saturday, January 9th. We planned a really
special conference about the family. It was going to be really spiritual, and
really awesome. I learned to play “Families Can Be Together Forever”, “I Am a
Child of God”, and another hymn that’s not in English, and I talked
about eternal marriage. I’ll try to send a picture of the attendance. We
invited around 200 people (probably. Who’s actually counting?), and when we
started, the only people in attendance were my converts (Dinora and Berenice)
and the Bishop from the other Ward. Then 3 more members from the other Ward
came. Then finally, right before the last hymn, 2 less-actives, our most recent
baptismal date, and like 4 niños walked in. So they only saw the last hymn and
the closing prayer. It was pretty sad.
That said, I still love
Valle Hermoso. We went to the Bishop’s parents’ house to ask for something, and
his mom just kept bringing out cookies and cheesecake squares and milk and
sweet bread. I was about to pop when her husband said, “Elder, you have too
much milk in your glass, you need to eat more cookies to even it out”. And
then, the sister said “And when you finish, we have more milk”, with a huge
smile. People here are awesome.
This week was pretty
chill. We found a less-active member who hadn’t been to church for like 9 years,
and her 13-year-old daughter is really excited about religión. She’s got a
baptismal date for January 30th. Raul, son and brother of María and Itzel (of
the adorable prayer in English) is getting baptized this Wednesday. It’s been
kind of hard to get him motivated, but now he’s set on making it happen, so we’re
excited for him.
This week, I’ve been
thinking about trust. It’s kind of a weird concept, and it’s really hard for
some people to do. To trust our emotions, or histories, or secrets, or dreams
with others can be a scary thing. What if they judge me? What if they reject my
ideas or laugh at my fears? Thankfully, we have someone always available,
always listening. He will understand us, he will help us, and we can trust him
completely, because he is perfect. Our Father in Heaven will be the best friend
we can always rely on, if we learn to trust him. If we have the faith to talk
to him and tell him how we are, we will realize that he is really there for us.
Love you guys. Smile at
someone who looks sad this week.
Elder Webb
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| “Valle Hermoso” means “Beautiful Valley”... We’re not buying it, México. |
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| This was either at the beginning or at the end of a major event. (Pick sadly.) |
4 January 2016
Happy New Year! I hope all
your wildest dreams come true.
This week, we had 2
baptisms! Whoo! Abigail and Elizama (16 and 15, respectively) got baptized on
Saturday, January 2 (whose idea was that?). It was freezing. Luckily, we have a
boiler now, so it was actually nicer in the font than outside it. It was a really
nice service, and they are really excited to be members of the church.
There’s something in the
wáter here in Valle Hermoso, because everybody wants to be missionaries. First
of all, all the members, brothers and sisters, served missions. But now, all of
the sisters, and all of our converts also want to serve missions! Berenice,
Luis, Itzel, and Abigail all want to be missionaries! It’s pretty special.
We’re really excited. So this next October/November/December/January 2016/2017,
we’ll see if they can get their papers in. Whoo!
I wanted to tell you about
a prayer that our convert, Itzel said last week: she has studied English in
school, and decided to use her knowledge to say a prayer in English.
Unfortunately, my compañero and I were not present for said prayer, but they
informed us that Itzel asked for special blessings for her mom, brother,
grandparents, cat, apple, lime, pencil, red, green, seven, and teacher.
On Saturday it was raining
like crazy and absolutely freezing cold. We learned later that, with the wind
chill, it was 0 degrees Celsius (I think that’s 32 in Farehendisitt). If you
haven’t ever ridden a bike through rain and 0-degree winds, you didn’t serve a
real mission. The church is true.
The church is really
really true. I promise. Live its precepts, have faith and give it a chance, and
you will know. You can actually KNOW that it’s true. I’m not trying it anymore,
I already KNOW. I still need to keep doing it for the rest of my life, but I
will never know better than I know now that La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los
Santos de los Últimos Días is the truest of all churches upon the face of the
earth (because the church feels truer in Spanish).
Loves,
Elder Webb
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| Anything to get in a door, Elder? |
28 December 2015
Happy Christmas, all! I
hope you had a good one.
I had a great time.
President gave us permission to be out until 10:00 PM! Whoa! At 9:30, I kind of
already wanted to be in bed, but I put on a brave face and ate some really good
food until 10:00. All in all, I received a new tie and candy from some of our
converts, ate 2 deliciously huge meals, and fell off my bike. It was a good
Christmas.
Then, on Christmas day, we
visited some more converts, ate a lot more food, and talked with our familiar
units! It was grand.
For this week, we’ve got
two baptisms prepared for two sisters, Abigail and Elizama. They’re great. They’re
going to church, they go to Seminary, they have friends in the ward, and they’re
doing it all alone! We’re trying to get their family excited, but they don’t
seem super into it (yet). Last week, Elizama wasn’t really sure about her
baptism either. We left her Alma 5 to read (maybe a harsh chapter?), and she
totally received her answer! Last Tuesday, she was saying “No, I don’t want to
get baptized, I’m not sure if it’s right, I don’t know what to do”, so we
assigned her that chapter and told her to pray and ask God if she should get
baptized this next Saturday, January 2nd. Then yesterday, we asked if she had
read and prayed and she said “Yep. I want to get baptized now. You said
Saturday, right? That works for me.” It was awesome.
And, amazingly, we all
have that same right to revelation! Not because she’s an investigator, or
because God loves her most, or because her missionaries were exceptionally
awesome (even if that were the case) did she receive such a testimony, but
because she acted in faith, with the “real intent” to act upon whatever answer
she received. Remember that, my friends. Ask God, and he will tell you.
Miracles like that happen all the time in the life of a missionary. Invite
miracles into your own life. Ask God for miracles! He has not ceased to be a
God of miracles, and only requires our faith to bless us with everything
he’s got! The prophets Enoch and Ether literally moved mountains with their
faith. Why not you?
Think about it, think,
think about it.
Elder Webb
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