Catching up on the catch-ups, Bold River-style. Scroll down for more pics!
(Note: The pics do not necessarily represent the geography or timing of the posts. Luck of the draw, as it were.)
14 March 2016
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| Not Elder Webb’s bike (but he wishes it were) |
CYBER SNORES
The guy in the internet
café just passed out and he’s snoring like crazy. I have headphones in and I
thought it was thunder, then I saw my companion laughing. Poor guy. I bet his
wife’s really patient.
This week was kind of a
drag. We were expecting a lot of great things, a lot of people in church, a lot
of success from our zone, but it just kind of puttered out. Actually, the guys
in Progreso (a city where gringos aren’t allowed) are on fire. 2 of them opened
an area and they already have 2 baptisms this month and expect some 11 more
before April. As for us in Río Bravo proper, we’re kind of struggling to get
our investigators motivated. Today, my District Leader, Elder Arismendi, gave a
training in the District Meeting in which he said “Our attitude has been gross”
and it made me think. He’s probably right. We’ll do better this week.
Today, I want to share my
testimony about breakfast. We’ll say it has to do with the Word of Wisdom. I
accidentally skipped breakfast two days this week, and during the whole day I
was just feeling super snacky and weird. I wasn’t ever really hungry, I just
had a huge appetite. So if you want to lose weight or get healthy, be diligent
about eating your breakfast. On that note, I’m going to paraphrase a
conversation from Adventure Time:
As a potential enemy is
walking towards the horizon, Jake the Dog wants to chase after him, but Finn
the Human detains him:
Jake: Why?
Finn: Because that idiot’s
about to walk right into the sun.
Jake: Finn, did you eat
your breakfast this morning?
Finn: No, why?
Jake: Because you forgot
how the sun works; it’s not sitting right there on the horizon, it’s actually
millions of miles away in space
Finn: ... Oh...
Jake: You need to eat
breakfast, man. You gotta have that protein.
Entonces
Also, a warning for my
dear family and loved ones: I’m going to be super weird when I get home. I
realized that I am so comfortable walking around streets covered with garbage,
and stray dogs, and crazy people, and tacos, and gross houses, and dirt roads, and
humidity, and all of the things that make my mission wonderful and unique, that
coming back to a clean house and neighborhood where everybody’s rich and
everything is in order and where law exists and people are normal is totally
going to freak me out. Like a Wrinkle in Time,
perfect-society-creepy-planet-ruled-by-a-giant-brain kind of thing. So heads
up. I’m probably going to sleep on the floor, or outside.
Love you guys!
Elder Webb
7 March 2016
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| Elder Ockey (not Max’s comp) is from Eli’s mission (Edmonton, AB) |
THE VAMPIRE
So I’m in Río Bravo! My
companion is Elder Grange from Utah! I wanted to type up a chart of my
companions and their origens, in order, because it’s possible that Elder Grange
and I finish our missions as companions here in Río Bravo
Elder Santana - Ecuador
Elder Moreno - México
Elder Altamira - México
Elder Arismendi - México
Elder Arjona - México
Elder Ramírez - México
Elder Alva - México
Elder Berry - USA
Elder Farabee - USA
Elder Maughan - USA
Elder Grange - USA
I’ve got them all grouped
up pretty nicely. We’re all pretty organized here.
A couple of weird things
about Río Bravo: We have bikes! We are the only missionaries in the city who
can have bikes, so I’ve been in 3 of the 4 areas on the mission that are
allowed to do so. Pretty cool. Also, the church is in a pretty central location
on a pretty busy street, but very few people know where it is. Luckily, there
is a licor store right across the street called “El Vampiro” that everybody in
the whole city is familiar with. So we just tell them to cross the street and
they’ll find themselves in the much better of the two locations.
There is also a car that
goes around selling something and has a little song that it plays. This is
actually very common here in México, but this one has something odd about the
melody that forces the song “Trololo” into my head. So I’ve been singing that
for about a week straight.
So far, I love being a
zone leader, I love my zone and I love my new area. We found a family of 5 on
Saturday, and three of them went to church yesterday! We’re super pumped. More
on them as they progress, and as I remember their names :P
Try to accept that life
isn’t going to be easy, because once we can stop feeling sorry for ourselves
that it doesn’t go how we want, we can start to see all of the many blessings
with our Father in Heaven has given us, and we can start to get over the poopy
stuff about this life and start to enjoy ourselves! So let’s do it.
Love you guys.
Elder Webb
29 February 2016
ANOTHER ONE
I’ve got transfers again?
I mean, ¡I’ve got
transfers again!
After a little less than a
month here in Florida, I’m off to Río Bravo as a zone leader. My companion will
be one Elder Grange, who is also from my generation, so we’ll be ending our
missions as companions, it seems. My time here in Florida has been really
weird, and it’s really only felt like a transition from the beginning, so I’m
not too torn up about it. I’m actually really excited because I’ve heard great
things about Río Bravo, and it’s the only city in the mission I haven’t been
to.
This was a week of firsts.
I found 50 pesos on the ground, I saw a real, large, apparently legitimate
cockfight stadium (including a huge bronze rooster at the entrance of the
parking lot), I saw a 30-something-year-old woman wearing nothing but a pink,
zip-up vest, I found out that I am older than a woman with an 11-year-old
daughter (don’t do the math on that one), and I have seen like 7 recent mothers
breastfeeding in weird places including the grocery store, the church, on the
bus, and on the back of a motorcycle. I’m only kind of going to miss this area.
They’re also telling me I
might be going home June 25th. That’s the last date I heard. I think it’s still
up in the air, but apparently that’s what President Morales is saying. So that’s
been a little distracting. But only a little. I’ll be home for the 4th of July!
I love you guys! The next
time I write, I’ll be writing from probably my last area in the mission.
I’ve still got a lot to
learn.
Elder Webb
22 February 2016
DONUTS
That’s really what’s on my
mind right now. Yesterday, we ate with some of the recent converts of the other
missionaries in my ward, and we made [read: MADE] donuts, and ate them, and
were filled. Pictures to come.
Man, it’s been a weird
couple of weeks! I’m kind of in a weird limbo, where the days go fast but the
weeks go slow. I feel really busy all week, but then I don’t feel like I have
anything significant or funny to say when I write this letter.
We found a dog who had
gotten his head stuck in a big Folger’s coffee can on the side of the highway,
so we decided to help him out. After a short attempt to yank it off, the dog
kind of spazzed out and then held really still. We were going to walk away,
when I had the impression that we should help him. So I went back and was
surprised to see that he was very calm as we worked it off. Something about
what we were doing helped him to recognize that we were there to help him. He
was very patient as we pulled and adjusted his head and ears and face to be
able to pull it off, and after we did, he sat there looking at us as we walked
away. I don’t really know if there is any particular significance to that, but
it was a really special experience and something I want to remember.
Special thanks to the
Serdar and Elggren families for their Christmas cards! Now we know that if you
want to send a letter to Mexico by normal post, it takes about 2 months. Love
you guys!
Elder Webb
15 February 2016
HAPPY PRESIDENT’S DAY!
Dang! I’ve got to think of
something to write about! I think it’s being in a new area that fries my brain.
I’m just barely getting to know our investigators and the members, my companion
is great and we live in a house with 3 Americans and 1 Canadian.
I scored a goal in soccer
today! Whoo.
Oh! Here’s something I’ve
learned! Change requires a constant effort. I kind of thought that I would be
able to change and become better or more motivated or a harder-worker or have a
stronger testimony just by coming on a mission, but I have since learned that
it requires a real effort! I did have to make the sacrifice to come out here,
and that’s really important, but it requires so much more than that! I need to
be obedient, give my all, use my head, fall down and get up again, and rely on
the Lord through it all. The good stuff comes AFTER all I can do. I have to be
trying hard and forgetting myself and stuff, and THEN God makes me better. It’s
a losing-myself-to-find-myself sort of thing.
So you do it too! Stop
worrying so much about what makes you lame or weak or human, and fix it! Get
off your duffs (can I say that?) and get to work! It’s actually really
fun!
Love you guys.
Elder Webb
8 February 2016
SUPER BOWL 50
Just kidding, I’m a
missionary!
Speaking of land-marks, I
finish 18 months on the mission on Saturday, and I currently have less than 5
months remaining until I return home. So that’s all I’ll say about that.
I’m in Reynosa again! It’s
actually been pretty hard. Not for anything having to do with my current area,
except that it isn’t Valle Hermoso. I left my family in Valle Hermoso. That
said, I’ve got plans to return, so I’m trying not to complain so that God will
bless me and let me go back before I go home. So I’m trying to be positive. I
actually do really like the area, my companion is great, and we are already
teaching some great people.
I don’t know what to write
about! This was a quick week.
The church is true! I’ll
send some pictures.
1 February 2016
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| The burning of the pantalones (tradition at 18 months) |
FLORIDA
That’s the name of my new
ward. I’m leaving Valle Hermoso! I’m actually super bummed. I have a real
family here. This was that área for me, where I found the people I came on the
mission to find, where I made the most changes and learned the most stuff,
where I set the most goals and made the most decisions (so far. I’ve still got
5 months left). I am so grateful that God put me here and placed these people
in my path. I will remember them for my whole life, and I will see them again,
either when I come back and visit (definitely on my list), or in the Celestial
Kingdom. I have given my best effort here, and I feel good about the work I
have put in. Now, I can go apply what I’ve learned to my new área in Reynosa. I’ve
got more pictures to send, so I’ll make this shortish.
Gisela got baptized!
Saturday was the most stressful day on the mission so far. What with the
baptism, 2 Elders who fought and had to go to mission headquarters, the zone
leaders having to go with them, leaving me in charge, organizing the baptism
for the other missionaries because they didn’t know how to empty/fill the font
(see my email from November 23, 2015), and wanting to deliver cakes to my
converts, our bishop, and the bishop of the other ward because they have helped
us a ton, it was a busy. It ended with 3 baptisms, 4 cakes delivered and
enjoyed, and a very tired Elder Webb. I want to explain that day with a
principle I just learned on my way to the internet café:
So this morning we were
way far away eating delicious hot wings with a member (a Valle Hermoso tradition).
We decided to mix things up and come back by way of horse-trail. With the wind
at our backs, we were tearing it up, but decided to get back on the highway to
take advantage of the awesome tail-wind (that and hooves on a dirt trail make
for a really uncomfortable bike-ride). I was in the back, and saw my companion
pull off onto the dirt road that leads to the highway. As I followed him and
Elder Shipp (we were in a trio today), I Heard Elder Shipp say “Woah, I almost
fell off” as I felt my own bike slip out from under me. I was going too fast,
and I tried to turn too hard on the gravel, and my momentum turned slippery.
The principle I wanted to
share is this: I CHOSE not to fall. As I felt my center of gravity approaching
the ground, I had this quick conversation in my head: “I could fall. I could
put my arms out and roll, and it wouldn’t hurt too bad. NO. Why do you need to
fall? Stay on your feet.” After 3 heavy steps, I hadn’t fallen, and I was able
to stop completely, unharmed. My point is, it’s a decisión. I could have let
myself fall. I could have said, “it’s going to take a lot of effort,” or
something else lame. But I made the decision to stay up. Don’t let yourself
fall! Make the decision to use what you’ve learned and be strong! Stay up! I
was able to laugh during that ridiculously stressful day (if I didn’t portray
very well the stress that was caused, it was because of literary weakness on my
part, not for any lack of stressfulness from that very special day) because I
CHOSE to stay up, to stay happy and excited. I didn’t do it perfectly, and I
started shouting or groaning every time the phone rang (they never had good
news), but I was still able to be a good missionary and feel good about my
work. So be strong keep yourself on your feet.
I love you.
Elder Webb
❦ ❦ ❦
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