July 29, 2012

July 29, 2012

Hey family, I’m doing well. Its been a very frustrating week, but it came with a lot of learning experiences, and I feel like I’ve grown a little bit because of it. My companion is doing well. He has been feeling sick recently and he thinks its because his tonsils are infected. He also is feeling a little discouraged because of this area, but I’m trying to do all I can to help. He’s a great missionary and teaches me something new everyday about how to teach. He is teaching me tongue twisters in Spanish which are super hard but they do help with pronunciation. The area is just tough because the branch has a lot of inactive members.  We spend a lot of time visiting them. We have a few investigators that we are working with. Each of them have their own problems. Paublo is one of them; middle aged man raising 4 girls. All of the girls are a little bratty. I can see now why it’s important to have a house hold with a mother and a father. With him, whenever we teach him something, he always brings up something to contradict us that is just ridicules. He thinks too much…that is his problem. We taught him about prayer and that we can’t receive any spiritual knowledge unless we pray about it. If you read the book of Mormon and don’t pray about it, you won’t receive an answer. That’s his problem. We’re going to visit him tomorrow, hopefully he prayed to receive an answer.

I’m very excited to hear about dad and his new job. That’s amazing. I remember I was struggling through my prayers last night. I didn’t know what else pray about so I asked what I need to be praying for. The answer came: my family. I prayed that you guys are doing well. I’m glad new opportunities are arising for you dad and you guys.

I think Lauren should just try out anyway, she might look back and end up regretting it if she doesn’t. I don’t know. Maybe you can pray about it together and read the scriptures for an answer.

We went contacting all of Saturday, we were fasting that day that we could find someone prepared to receive the gospel. We contacted about 25 houses that we’ve never been to before on the outskirts of town. We didn’t get into a single house. That took up the whole day biking from house to house. We were dead by the end of it. We are just trying so hard to see the fruits of our labor.

Church on Sunday we had the first counselor of the stake come and talk to us. He said a lot of things that I really liked. He talked about his mission that he and his companion spent a lot of time contacting and not really finding anybody, but they saw a slow flowing of people returning to the church that were less actives. So he told us if we just do the best we can God will bless us. Sometimes in a different way than we wanted. He then also talked about how we as converts can stay converted. Sometimes in the church there are people who go to church but aren’t active in the gospel. He talked about living the gospel is being a convert. He talked about Lehi’s dream and that the people who held to the bar and grasped to the word of God where the ones who endured. He also read Alma 32: about diligently working with your seed. It was a great talk for what I needed to hear…and how to help people stay converted.

Answers 1, and 2. I haven’t gotten letters the past 4 weeks because There was actually a strike with the mailing system here in Uruguay and it messed up the whole mailing process, so who knows when things will get back together.

3. The house is ok. It has some ups and downs. I forgot to take a picture of the house. I’ll send picture of it next week.

4. The bike riding is better now. I can keep up with my companion now, but I still come home dead. I do like riding

5. My companion is great. He’s just a little discouraged and a little sick. That’s the mission

6. I will upload one

Questions: How are the Olympics? You’ll have to keep me posted.

Maybe you can have Lauren say something to Kyle Davies through Facebook for me. Just to say “good luck and congrats on the call.” I’ll be praying for him.

Ok. love you guys. Elder Webster

July 22, 2012

July 22, 2012

Hey Family how is it going? I’m doing very well here in Colonia 18. Well, mass o menos. Our new area is huge and biking this past week has been very painful on my legs and my rump. The roads are mostly dirt with tons and tons of rolling hills.  It’s been pretty tough on my body. I almost couldn’t get up out of bed after the first day…my legs were so tired. I really like this new area. It’s really pretty out here in the country side. There are fields and fields of Orange trees and strawberry bushes. Its strawberry fields forever. My house looks like the house from the man from Snowy River. Just like a little shack cabin. I like it. I’ll write more about the details in my letter that I started this morning. P-days will be a lot more tranquil and I’ll have more time to write.

Right now I’m in a branch and it’s in bad shape. It has a lot of members, but a lot of them have gone less active in the past 4 months. I’ve never seen anything like it. They just called a new Branch President and he’s only been a member for 2 years. he’s trying but he just lacks gospel knowledge. What can you expect from a recent convert? He’s really cool though. He looks like Ted Mosby from the tv show: How I met your mother.

Friday we went on a really far bike 10 or mass kilometers to a house with a lady that really wants to get baptized. Her only problem is that she can’t get to the church because its soo far away. That’s the big problem with a lot of these people. We shared the restoration with her and her daughter. I always love telling the Joseph Smith story, but when I told it this time I felt the spirit over whelm me like never before. That lessen felt really good, and she was very animated to go to church. However, when Sunday came she said she couldn’t go because there were drunk people in her house and she didn’t want to leave them there. Stupid alcohol. Her Name is Olga and we’re going to do all we can to help here get baptized.

My new companion is elder Rivera. He’s from Honduras. He’s awesome. I knew him before while I was in Mercedes. We were in the same district. He was very excited to have me as his companion. He’s really great. I’ll send a picture of him next time. We are using the computer in the church and for some reason it can’t send photos. We are going to go into town next week to send photos.

It sounds like you guys had fun with girls camp and everything else. Dad with the tour de France. and I’m really happy that Stephen went to church. I’ve been praying for him a lot to have the desire to go. I hope Lauren is doing better. Sometimes it’s better to be in the house with family. They are the ones that are most important and will be with you for the longest.

I had to give a talk yesterday about charity. I really like what Mormon says in Moroni 7:40 something, sorry can’t remember exactly. It’s about praying for this gift of charity. I’ve really tried praying so that I can have a love for this people to help motivate me to work. So far I can see a big difference from when I started the mission and now. I have a great testimony in the power of prayer and charity.

Answers: 1 My companion is great. We get along really well and he’s helping me out a lot with Spanish and with teaching with power and authority. We like to wrestle and play catch with the football. He’s really interested in football.

2. We have some people but our best person is Olga, she’s in her 60`s but she’s still up and moving everywhere.

3. I`m going to buy a scarf in town tomorrow when we go in for district meeting. It’s really not that cold. I have my sleeves rolled up during the day and I just put my sweater vest on at night.  It’s not cold when you are biking everywhere.

4.Our Apartment is small but its home. It has washing machine…which is a bonus. We have to turn on this water tube thing every morning to fill up a water tower by our house. Other than that it’s nice. I’ll take some pictures.

5. We have a washing machine. The tough thing is getting food. The closest store is about 2 miles away from our house. We just carry everything we can in our back packs. Sometimes we have to ride slow, especially with carrying eggs in my pack.

6. The District is really cool. I’m in the Salto Zone; which is the best zone in Uruguay. They are always getting tons of baptisms. Its called the promised land. However, I’m kind of in the loop hool out in the country side. That’s ok. I know a lot of the elders from before and we all get along really well. This is my first p-day here so I’m not too sure what we are going to do.

Questions. I really don’t have any questions for you guys today. Maybe you can tell me what you guys are learning as a family with scripture study and other stuff like that. I know there are a couple movies coming out that seem really cool. Spiderman and Batman. Tell me how those are if you get the chance to go.

You guys can pray for my Spanish that it will improve and that people will be able to understand me better. I’m struggling right now and I get really frustrated when people don’t understand.

Well I love you guys. Thank you for all of your support and love and prayers. If you need anything just let me know.

Love Elder Webster

July 16, 2012

Howdy Family Webster. Last night we heard our transfers, and I am leaving Mercedes and going to a place called Colonia 18. This place I guess is very country. All dirt roads and the houses are very spaced out. So spaced the Elders need bikes. (I am very exited to have a bike, hopefully it will help me lose some of the extra weight I’ve gained here in Mercedes.) My Companion is Elder Rivera. He was here in Mercedes a transfer before. I already know him really well. It will be a fun transfer. In Colonia 18 they just have a branch, but it is super active and it is growing really fast. 

This last Sunday was a day for a lot of first times in my mission. It was the first time that I’ve ever eaten cow stomach. We eat it with a member. It was the first time that I was bitten by a dog. He was pretty big too, bit me in the calf. Not bad though. Also first time that I through up in the mission. (Think it was because of the cow stomach from earlier.) Yes, a lot of first times this past Sunday.

I hope you chicas have fun at girls camp. I always hear crazy stories about that place. I expect some good stories for next week. 

That’s really cool that Ashley is putting here papers here. Maybe she’ll get called here to Uruguay. There are already so many family members here as missionaries.

Answers: 1For right now I’ll pass on the peanut butter. I know you can find it here in Uruguay if you look hard enough. I’ll probably change my mind next week when I see how small my town is. I’ll see.

2. I still have some vitamins. I take vitamin c everyday and grandma sent me some pills from Christmas that I still have.

3. I think I can just buy a scarf if I need to. Its not too cold really when you’re walking all day.

4. Maybe you can find out if Kyle Davies got his mission call yet. Maybe you can look on his Facebook.

Questions: 1Heard anything about Desert Hills football?

2. Are you guys going to do anything else fun for the summer.

3. How’s Lauren doing with here friends?

4. Mom, if you had to tell someone one of your favorite hobbies what would you tell them?

Well I love you guys. Thanks for everything.

Elder Webster

Here’s a foto of my birthday cake. I blew all of the candles out. I’ll get better at sending pictures

July 9, 2012

Hey Family, how is it going with everyone? I hope you guys are enjoying the nice heat of St. George. I’m actually enjoying the cold weather here. Not sure why, I like wearing my winter gear, and making hot chocolate for myself every night. Our heater broke yesterday, not that it did that much for us. So it’s been cold. 

This past week we had an investigator die. She passed away in her sleep last Monday. She’d been talking with the missionaries for a while now. But only just now was she thinking about baptism. It was a very sad experience to be apart of. It’s hard to think about what’s going to happen to these people after this life. I just know God will make everything right.

We Found a really cool lady the other day named Erika. We were walking in the street and two little girls ran by and said ¨hey that person believes in God and wants to talk to you.¨ We went and knocked the door and this 20 year old girl came out. We shared a message with her and she seemed Golden just from talking to her. Hopefully she’ll progress.

Transfers are next week. I’ll be talking to you guys on Tuesday. it’ll be interesting to see if I stay here for another transfer or not. usually the max is 4 transfers in the same area. We’ll see.

Answers.1. the Reason I haven’t written a letter in a while is that the Elders in our district always want to go and do something that will take up the whole day. The past 4 weeks we’ve been out of the house doing things. Kind of frustrating. I’d much rather just take a relaxing p-day instead of just trying to rush everything. Today I’ll finish a letter for you guys.

2.I don’t really need anything. You guys already sent me a lot of things. I feel bad you guys spent that much money on me. I’m very thankful for what you guys sent me. I loved the tape you sent, and the soccer jersey and hat, and the cake mix and everything else. My comp really enjoys the beanie bags that you sent. He really likes to juggle. I’m good for now. Thanks.

3. This week was good and bad. We found some people and we lost some people. I feel like things are getting better. I’m just trying not to get frustrated or upset with the work. I know I’m doing something here that’s good wether its planting seeds or helping the spread the word. 

4. Answer to dads question about Spanish. Everyday I write down 5 new Spanish words and 1 verb and memorize them through the day. Also I’ve been trying to memorize scripture mastery scriptures in Spanish and English. 

Questions: 1. When you say you are sending letters are you meaning through email or letters? I haven’t received an actual enveloped letter from you since February. 

2. Did you guys go wake boarding? I hope you enjoyed the river. I look at our river here in Mercedes and think about the Columbia River in Washington. 

3. Anything I can do for you guys?

Well Thanks you guys for everything. I love you guys so much. Les Amo muchísimo Elder Webster 

July 1, 2012

Hey Family, I’m doing great Here in Mercedes, it’s been really hot and humid here, I decided I will never leave out east in the states where there is a lot of humidity. I hate the feeling of always being wet with my clothes and everything else in my apartment.

My companion is doing well; He’s not really used to city life yet. He’s been in country areas his entire mission. He says he still feels lost when we go walking around. He’s had problems walking because He has two ingrown toe nails. They look pretty nasty. He’s been salting his feet every night and has been taking antibiotics. That seems to be helping.

Our week went pretty well. We had a lot of lessons. We just don’t have any investigators going to church. We have seen little progression with them. But I still care about them, and I worry about them. I hope we are teaching them the right things that they need. Sometimes my Spanish seems good…sometimes it seems bad. I just know I need to study more.

I weighed myself this morning and I was up to 200 pounds. I know I’m exercising everyday. But my body doesn’t feel like the 200 pounds I had during football season. I think I need to work on eating less at meals and running more.

I hope things have been going well at home with you guys, and that Lauren is keeping you guys busy. I’m sorry, but I feel like I don’t have many cool things to report to you guys. I’ll try harder to remember my experiences here, and to share them with you guys. I just hope Heavenly Father knows that I’m trying, even though If I’m not getting baptisms. I just hope I’m contributing somehow here.

I’ll get better with writing.

I just know Friday and Saturday I was having a tough time because we had a tough lesson with a man who’s been going to our church for 2 years now but doesn’t want to get baptized. He always likes to argue and always says things that just puts doubt into me.  I’m good now and I’ve put those doubts away.

Answers: 1. The weather has been crazy here. One day it’s really cold and I’m all bundled up, and the next day its really hot and I’m in a short sleeve shirt. I don’t like this humidity. It’s never the perfect temperature.

2. We have one family that we are still working on the Pareiras. It’s the one family I’ve talked to you about before. We brought the Bishop over to have a lesson with them and it went really well. They have great respect for him for some reason. But it was the first time that we have felt a Great Spirit presence during a lesson.

Questions: 2. The only thing I really need is maybe some more stamps. I’m almost out. I can use the stamps they have here. But I guess they don’t work as well.

3. Have you guys looked at Mormon messages recently? There is one about a man in Uruguay, he’s pretty cool. You might have to look for it. It’s a I’m a Mormon ad.

Ok Family I love you. I’m working on a letter for you guys today and for the Smiths. Take care

Love Elder Webster