September 22nd

Hey Family, How`s everyone doing? I`m doing amazing here in Artigas. We had a really positive turn out at the church yesterday. we had 143 come. In June President gave us the goal of doubling our assistance. In June we were having 100 people on averege. and we want to reach 200 by years end. so right now we are on track. I now feel like I`m really doing my part in helping in the work. before it felt like everyone was just in a compitition to see who could baptize the most. and it caused a lot of problems. but now the focus is in rescueing our brothers and sisters that are lost. and working with our ward leaders and become one. So far we have been seeing really positive results. The Stake President called us to be the Counsolars to our Elders Queorem president. Its been fun working with him. Yesterday I gave the lesson in Elders querom. Which was pretty fun. Sometimes its a little weird teaching a lone and not having your companion to help you out but its something that I`m just going to have to get used to it. but working in the Elders Quorem is pretty fun. Its fun working with the other elders in the ward. right now we do not have a lot of active elders so we are working a lot on helping activate some other elders. This last week we had a BBQ. and we talked and taught about how to give some of the Priesthood blessings. very cool. 

One of our investigators that we have is leaving town and going to work in Monte Video for about a month. He had been to church 2 and he and his wife were planning on getting baptized my last week in Uruguay. but now he is leaving, I`m a little bummed that he left especially because I have been teaching him and his family for over 4 months now. And now that they have just been going to church. well I`m sure god has a plan for this family. I know it`ll all work out in the end. 

IMPORTANT. The mission is telling me know that they had a few problems with the travel plans of all of the missionaries of our group. and that they haven`t sent any of the release information to any of the Stake Presidents. but they told me that they will just send it with us when we go home and that I will personally give it to my stake President. 

Well family. I love you guys a lot. and I hope all is well. I`m trying to work hard up to the last second as a missionary. but I`m enjoying it. and I`m happy to see progress in my area and in my ward. 

Love Elder Webster

September 16th

Dear Family, Well how is everyone doing? 

I`m doing good, trying to do my best to finish strong. I`m doing a really good job of not getting trunky. Its a little embarrassing seeing some of these other missionaries end their missions.  

I also feel like god is not letting get trunky. Every day I feel like there is something more I need to do. We are now trying to work with a lot of the less actives that are in our ward. We`ve been seeing little sparks of hope here and there, and we have been seeing lots of members return. 

It was raining a lot this last weekend. which affected our Church assistance a little. we were usually having 120, but this week we had 85. Which was really good because usually when it rains everyone just decides to stay home and not get wet. I guess it is a little bit harder when everyone walks to the church. We have it pretty good in the U.S. to be able to drive to the church every week. We had two less active families come to church. Everyone was pretty happy to see these two families. 

unfortunately the Familia Rodriguez could not come because of the rain. They didn`t want their little kids to get sick (Uruguayans are really touchy when it comes to weather. because they are horrified of getting sick) but it was quite a bummer because We had a really great lesson with the mom this week(Laura). We shared a little about the Restoration. and we talked a little about Joseph Smith and how he had a question and that he needed an answer. After we shared this with her she started commenting about Church and that when she went she felt a peace, and that it wasn`t like any other thing she had ever experienced. She talked about how she wanted to do be baptized in this church. We were a little disappointed that she and her family didn`t come. 

But today I was reading in 1 Nefi chapter 3 about Nefi and his brothers and how they had to go to Jerusalem 3 times to try to get the plates from Laban. sometimes we are more like laman and lemuel and want to give up after the first time we try something. but we need to be more like nefi and be more persistant. I like what nefi says 15. 

I think they`ll send me my travel plans tomorrow. I`m pretty sure I sent the records to President Bangether. Thats the information that I gave them when they asked me about all of that. 

Whats going on with the friend of Lauren, is she still taking the lessons? 

Well I love you family. try not to get trunky. I still have a lot of time left in the mission.

Love Elder Webster

September 9th

Hello Family. Another week has passed by flying, we had a huge heat wave here in Uruguay. especially here in Artigas, where we are in the northest part of Uruguay, and it just gets hotter the farther north you go.  This was a pretty good week. but it felt like we did a lot of walking. Right now we are working a lot in the "rescue" of the people here in our ward. The goal is to double the attendence of the ward. When they gave us the goal we had 100 people. so we are trying  to get to 200 people attending church before years end. This last Sunday we had 120. so we've gone up 20. but we still have a lot to go. 

 

This week we helped a woman go to church who haden't been in over 5 years. She's been going through a tough time with her husband and she also has a child with a mental handicap. which is tough. 'we had a lesson with her where we shared 1nephi chapter 2. 1-7 Where god calls Lehi to leave his home in Jerusalem and to go into the Desert. God did this in order to save his family. This Sister was so worried about her son and his handicap that she said that she knew what she needed to do to help her son. and that was to go to church. It was great seeing her in church.

 

We also had a chance to help a lot of the active member families this week. Including the family of the bishop. Obispo Lopez. and the Familia Paz. We both shared the first Chapter of the the book of mormon with them. and changed the names of Lehi and his family and put the names of all of the people in the family. It sure does change our perspective when we are putting our families in the book, and not just strangers.

 

I really feel good with helping the ward reactivate families, but we are struggling with all of our investigators. I'm praying that we can have one more baptism before I leave.

 

Im trying really hard to finish my mission strong, Please Pray for me this last couple of weeks that I have left.

 

Answers. I don't know anything yet about travel plans. I just know I should be home October 10. That Thursday night or Friday in the morning. but I'm not really 100% sure yet.

Love you Family.

Elder Webster

September 2nd 

Hola family. How`s everyone doing. It`s pretty strange to hear our family going to pineview games now. but I`ll have to admit their games are fun to watch. but I`m doing good here in Artigas. I`m very happy that I get to end my mission here. It was pretty tough saying goodbye to my son Elder Evans. but its part of the mission. My new companion is named Elder Call. From pleseant view Utah. or Weber. He`s really tall. 6 5. so now there are two really blond headed missionaries strolling around artigas. How awesome is that. We are sure to get some attention now.

 

This was a pretty good week for us. We are really working hard with a family(family Rodriguez) that are investigating the church. The parents are both reading the book of mormon but have a problem getting to church. President Smith gave us some advise in helping our investigators get to church. In zone conference he talked about giving tours of the church for the people who are investigating the church. We gave a tour to this family and we explained all of the simbolism that there is in the church. we also showed the baptismal font and in that moment we felt the spirit really strongly. after that we showed them the sacrament room. and explained the importance of the sacrament. It was a really great experience. and the results were that they all went to church the next day.

 

We also helped reactivate a family that haven`t gone to church in over 2 years. HOY ES EL DIA. or Today is the Day. Thats the motto for the mission. god is quickening his work today.

 

I`m loving the mission right now. I feel like I`m at home glued to the tv screen playing a video game and all of a sudden mom yells at me saying ¨Chase come take out the trash¨  I yell back, ¨mom and can`t leave my game, I`m saving the world¨

Thats how I feel as a missionary. I can`t leave, I`m out saving the world.

 

Packages. I don`t think I need anything.

 

but with laurens friend Jaden. I don`t know if she has gone to church before, but I think if you did a tour. that would help her feel more comfortable. and let her know where she is going to be. what she is going to do, and with who. That helped us out this week.

 

Thanks Family. I love you all.

 

Question. Are there any types of Souvenirs  that you guys want? I need to start planning a little.

August 27th

Hola family,

Well, we just had changes and Elder Evans is leaving and I’m staying here in Artigas. I’m going to finish my mission here in Artigas. I’m pretty excited about that. This has been my favorite area so far. I am a little sad that Elder Evans is leaving. I’m going to miss him a lot. Training was really fun and I feel like I learned a lot more this time as a trainer, and I can’t believe that these two transfers have gone by so fast.

We helped two inactive families come back to church this weekend. We were so happy to see that the first people at church that day were these two families…even though it was on the coldest day that we have seen here in Artigas. I love the mission. I’ve been doing a lot of jump rope these past two changes and I really feel like I’m in a lot better shape now.

Right now, we are working with three different families. I’m really hoping that one of these progresses. They are all reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. This week we are going to do a tour of the church with all three of these families. It should be great. People always feel the spirit when they take a tour of the church. We show them the different rooms and the baptismal font and the sacrament room and the different things that we do there. We also explain the sacrament and why we take it every week.

That’s awesome what Lauren is doing to help her friend. I’m very proud of her. I’m glad that she is enjoying high school.

Elder Evans was showing me some of the pictures that he had from the MTC in Buenos Aires. In one of the pictures I saw Courtney Weeks (volley ball player from DHHS) its one of the friends of Berkley Bundy. I guess she is serving in Paraguay. I had no idea. I guess I’m really out of touch with a lot of my friends.

Well thanks family, I love you all.

Elder Webster

August 19th

Dear Family,

This was one of the best Weeks that I’ve had in the mission. We had Zone Conference and we also had Stake Conference.

First With Zone Conference. I was completely blown away with all of the things that President Smith taught. He talked a lot about ¨Hoy es el Dia¨ Today is the Day in that the Lord is quickening his work and that we as missionaries need to have this testimony. We also talked about practicing and practicing and re-practicing. He also showed us a completely new way in presenting the 1st lesson about the restoration and about presenting the Book of Mormon…that we don’t just teach lessons…we teach people. You need to help them have an experience the first time that you go to visit them…and it’s true. The president Smith also talked about doubling the attendance in all of our wards by 100%. He said so much that I’ll need to write a letter to you guys.

At the end of Zone Conference, we always get to hear the testimonies of the “greenie” missionaries (the new missionaries) and the “faithful” (missionaries ending their missions). I got to hear my son, Elder Evans, give his first testimony. He did an awesome job. He has a very strong testimony for being in the mission only 3 months. After that, me and 3 other missionaries had to share our testimony for the last time. I was chosen last to share being a Webster, W. They asked us to bear our testimonies based on using 3 words. ¨Yo sè que...” or “I know that...”

After Sharing my testimony, President Smith thanked the faithful missionaries for their testimonies and then said, “I didn’t know Elder Webster was going home, it’s too bad because we are going to miss him.¨ I was surprised to hear that. I wasn’t really sure what President was trying to say.

I remember praying with Elder Evans about really knowing if “today really is the day that the Lord is quickening his work.” We decided to pray together, so that together we could receive this testimony. I remember praying first, and pleading and asking for a response, when I said amen we stopped to listen for a little while. I felt peace and comfort but I needed more. I asked Elder Evans to pray. during his prayer he knew that I felt doubt in my heart and he prayed for me asking that I would be helped to receive an answer. When I heard those words, the spirit touched me and I knew what President Smith had taught us were true.

We had Stake Conference and President Smith and a Seventy both spoke. Later that day we received a reference from President Smith. He and the Seventy both stayed at the same hotel and they stopped to talk with one of the receptionists named Patricia. She had talked to President Heaton a couple of times in the past. President Smith said that he felt something when he talked to her and he told her that she had a strong spirit about her. He asked if he could write her name and direction down and give it to the missionaries. She said yes.

We went to the reference later that very same day. We Found Patricia and her family, her dad Leonel, her mom, Raquel, and her brother, Leonel Jr. We had one of the strongest lessons that I have ever had in my mission. I felt the spirit. At the end of the lesson, Patricia asked an interesting question. She asked if we believed if we all had a body and a spirit. Because she had talked to Jehovahs Witnesses and they taught her that we don’t have spirits, only a body. That had always bothered her. When President Smith told her that she felt something and felt like that, she needed to talk to the missionaries. We are going today to talk to them again.

PLEASE pray for this family. The Suarez Family.

I was so happy to hear that Laurens week went so well. I was praying very hard for her. I’m also very happy that she is inviting friends to talk to the missionaries. THAT’S MY SISTER!

Love you guys. I’m praying for all of you. Especially you Steve, keep working hard.

Thanks so much for everything. Love you guys.

August 5th

Hello family,

Well it’s been another exciting week in Artigas, Uruguay. I’ve been doing well just trying to do my best. The mission president called this last Thursday when we were eating lunch with the bishop. He extended a challenge to us to double the attendance in our ward from 100 to 200. Our ward has over 1000 members, but only about 100 attend. He gave us the challenge to double that number. He talked to us and the bishop and we both agreed that it was possible and that if we worked hard and had great faith we could achieve that goal by years end.  We had a few special experiences this week with less active members and helping them come back to church. One was with the husband of the 1st counselor of the relief society. We went with the bishop to his house and told him that the Lord needed him and that his family needed them…and that we needed to set goals for him so that he and his family could go to the temple. He accepted and said that our visit was what he needed. He came to church this last Sunday.

Another experience that we had was with a less active member that lives in the area that assists our Branch. It’s been about 6 weeks since she’s gone to church. Her name is Teresa, but we convinced her to come this week and she came. To our shock, we only had 3 people show up to the meeting, five in total with us. That’s the smallest number of people that I’ve seen in a sacrament meeting. In the end, Teresa gave her testimony for the first time in public, and she felt so honored to be member of the church and that she knew that it was true, and that she promised that she would work harder to bring other people to the church so that they can feel her same joy. Teresa is horrified of talking public, but she over came her fear and bore a powerful testimony.

Gabriela once again could not go to church. I feel frustrated for her and upset that her parents and other family members don’t show her more support. They are always telling her “why would you want to go to a church?” It’s frustrating, but I know with time she’ll be able to be baptized.

1. My debit card is now working. Hooray!

2. Lauren’s situation reminds me of John Bytheway’s situation when he wanted to get married. He said, “I will go and do, not sit and stew.” And that he did not get his spiritual conformation until long after the time that he made his decision to get married. He always said, “I’m going forward but stop me if I’m wrong.” I like that thought. I feel like Lauren will make the best decision.

3. I’m fine but I feel a little reckless. I feel like I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I would like to do before I end my mission.

Thanks so much for everything. Love you guys