Monday, August 29, 2011

Hola familia,

Hey thanks for the letter Dad. So first to answer your questions, about the campout, I think I'll have to skip on that being the day after I get home. I would love to but, not so soon. Oh and I got my flight itinerary. You guys didn't say that you received it, which you should have received, but I'll tell it to you anyways. So my flight leaves Monday, Oct 10th at 9:05pm. I fly on LAN airlines to Lima, Peru. Then to LA, California. I should get to LA at 650am. Then I take US airways from LA to phx. My flight leaves at 955am and I should get to PHX at 11:15am. Alright so now you know.

Well back to the work. Well so we got transfers last night and.... I'm leaving Almendral 2. I'm going to another area in the same zone. I'm going to the ward Centenario in the city of Los Andes. I'm gonna be training a new missionary again wooo! And opening a new area. It should be a great experience. Tough but fun. Its really hard to leave an area after just one transfer. I love the people here in San Felipe. And we were really getting a lot of stuff done here. In September this area is going to have at least 5 baptisms with 2 more depending on their divorce papers so that they can get married. I always seem to get transferred before seeing a lot of baptisms but well, its the Lord's will. The good thing is that I think President Essig will let me go to their baptisms. So Francisca, this week, has progressed a ton. She is one of the best investigators ever. We taught a lesson to her friend and she bore her testimony of the first vision and explained how she's going to get baptized in 2 weeks. Actually she advanced her baptism date so that she can be confirmed on September 11th to be able to go to the temple with the youth the following week. She is awesome! And the Lord blessed us with more people to teach. I love this work so much and its going to be sad to have to leave it. This week I could feel the Holy Ghost testify to our investigators as we bore our testimonies to them. I love that feeling. Its the best.

Well so you know, Elder Bravo is leaving the island and is going to be campanions with Elder Fuentes here in Almendral. Next week I'll tell you how my last companion is and everything because I still don't know. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I love you guys and hope you have many missionary experiences this week. Take care. Con amor,

Elder Webb

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Dearest family,

Hey thanks for the letter Mom. Oh and I got to vote in the 2008 election remember? I had barely turned 18. Anyways, I'm glad things are going good. Sounds like you're enjoying the lovely summer heat. Here thinks are warming up a tad but its still cold and there's lots of snow in the mountains close by. It almost snowed here this week. Freezing rain was falling.

Well the incredible experiences this week have been numerous. First of all, yesterday, Oliver Meza got baptized. He chose me to baptize him. Well, its always a great experience to participate in a baptism. He's such a great little guy. He was talking about how he wants to be a missionary. His family will make sure he stays in the gospel. Alexis, who is only 10 years old, has got an incredibly strange personality. He was progressing so well and then the other day he told us he hadn't stopped drinking tea and we explained everything well to him and got mad because he doesn't wanna stop drinking tea and now doesn't want to get baptized. I've never seen a 10 year old tea addict but well, everyone has their agency. Maybe this next week he will have an attitude change because wow, he's a bit stubborn. So we had a cool experience with Francisco and her mom this week. We just had arrived at their house and her mom started saying, "Well, look, we've been thinking about what we've learned lately and we've learned a lot and everything, but well, we just want to say that we believe its all true." It was such a special experience and we then asked them, "How do you know its true?" "Because of the Holy Ghost," they said. The Lord guided us to their house 3 weeks ago as we decided to knock their street and knocked their door last (it always seems like its the last door haha). But I know that the Lord has prepared them well. Francisco is making some big sacrifices because she spent up to 3 hours a day, 4 days a week in her other church and now she's changing completely but she knows its true. Its pretty amazing. And yesterday, our new ward mission leader told us about a non-member and his daughter that want to be baptized and soon. We already met him and tonight we will have our first lesson. Woo! The Lord keeps blessing us with people to teach. I love teaching people the Gospel. Its the best thing ever... spend your whole day talking with people how they can better their lives and return to live with God. Yes mother, I have 7 weeks left... haha. But I will enjoy them exceedingly.

So tomorrow we're going to move out of our apartment and go live with the other missionaries in our ward. I'll send pictures next week of our old and new house. And next week we have transfers but I don't think I'm going anywhere. Anyways, I love you all and I know that this Church is true. Les amo y deseo que les vaya súper bien. Compárten con todos lo que ustedes más valoran. Chao,

Elder Webb

Monday, August 15, 2011

Dear Family,

Thanks for the letter Pake. Its quite amazing getting a letter from another sibling haha. No but its good to hear from you guys. Sounds like you're doing good. So to answer those questions, yes I still have my CTR ring as you can see in these pictures I sent. Also I don't have my flight plans yet and I won't get them for a couple more weeks I don't think so don't worry about it. But yes they already bought our tickets and our flight leaves in the evening on October 10th.

Anyways, back to missionary work... this week was great! We are being extremely blessed here in Almendral. We will have 2 baptisms this Sunday, Alexis and Oliver. They are two great kids. They have some great members that are helping them make friends in church. Member referrals are always the best. So we had 7 investigators come to church on Sunday. We had 6 planned and another one got drug there by a member but he really liked it and so we are teaching tons of people. We have some amazing investigators, really, they are awesome! One is Francisca, who we found by knocking doors. I talked about her last week. She's super evangelical but now is getting ready to get baptized in September. She told us some funny experiences this week. She said she was praying one night and asked if our message was true. She said that night she had a dream and saw the word ELDER and a watch. Haha we asked her what she thought it meant and said, duh you guys know what it means. She said she told her friend from her church about the dream and she said, "no... that cant be a revelation. If I trip and fall then I'll believe its a revelation." Then like 20 mins later she almost falls on her face tripping over the curb. Well, we thought... the Lord works in mysterious ways. She is gaining a strong testimony and will be a great member. Her mom came to church also, who is a less-active member who got baptized when she was 15. So we've been busy running to lesson after lesson. Its been great and the Lord has prepared the way for many people.

I've learned a lot about self control and agency lately. I've realized that I have complete control and agency of what I think, say, and do 24/7. I love the fact that I can choose to think about my investigators all the time, and choose to think about how I can help them more. I love the fact that I can CHOOSE the right all the time thanks to the wonderful gift of agency. I've developed a great love for choosing the right thanks to the atonement of Jesus Christ. Agency is a wonderful principle, as Clayton said, it really is the ability to make good choices.

I'm loving the mission and loving the people here in Chile. Thanks for everything. I'll send more pics next week. Take care. Les amo muchísimo y siempre recuerdo el buen ejemplo que han sido para mi. Chao,

Elder Webb

Saturday, August 13, 2011


Dearest family,

Thanks for the letters this week. Glad to hear that you're doing alright Dad. So I still havent gotten the package but I bet tomorrow in our zone class I'll get it. And I know you'll like this dad. There's a new missionary in our zone called Elder Silva from Bello Horizante, Brasil. He speaks little spanish and a lot of portugues so I've learned some stuff. And yes I understood what you wrote.

So this week has been pretty nuts. We've been teaching a lot of people and had some great lessons. This week we were knocking doors and out came some guy named Cristian. He didn't seem that interested but he was really nice and we set up another appointment to come by and visit him. We went by and his daughter told us to come in. We taught them both but it seems like the Lord has prepared his daughter to learn about the Gospel. We had a really spiritual lesson and when we got to the 1st vision, the Spirit came into the room and I could tell that she could feel it. We invited them to church on Sunday and Cristian said maybe... but she (Francisca) said yes. She went to church yesterday and said she felt really comfortable there. We're hoping that she'll be baptized in September. She's very... Evangelist, but the Spirit can convert every willing heart. We're also preparing Oliver to get baptized in 2 weeks. and Carlos and Javier are to young men that want to get baptized at the end of the month. The best part, is that yesterday we had 5 investigators come to church yesterday!! Yes. We should have a lot of success here in September. All we have to do is work hard. And its true, at the end, its just natural to work harder. I have two months left so I'll give it all I got.

Well I'm loving the mission here. San Felipe is great! I'm learning everyday about who Christ really is and what it means to love Him. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Yes, it says Babylon Bar. Haha. And I got to baptize an investigator from the other missionaries in our ward. The water was freezing! Well take care. Les amo mucho y oro por su bienestar todos los dias. Chao,

Elder Webb



Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Dear Family,

So this week has gone by fast. Thanks for the email. I hope everything calms down a bit at home haha. Sorry I havent taken any pictures of our place yet. Next week I'll have a lot of pictures for you guys. So happy August! I can't believe we're in August already. Unfortunately the time is flying. And yes I did sing a solo in church but it didn't turn out that bad and no its not video taped haha.

So we've been working hard here this week. I think I'm used to being surrounded by lots of people now because hardly anyone lived on the island. We've had some great lessons and found a lot of new investigators. The people are willing to listen to us here. But its still hard to get them to progress. We are preparing some people for their baptism this month. One is a young boy thats 9 years old. His parents have been inactive but now want their son to get baptized and he really likes going to church. And so he's preparing and we're determined to help that whole family get going. The ward here is great! There are lots of members willing to help out with the missionary work. I have a feeling that this week is going to have a ton of results. So last week we went to visit a potential investigator and she said, sure come on in. So we shared a short message with her family because they didn't have much time. Its in those moments that you have to depend on the Spirit. She didn't show much interest but I felt like we needed to give here a Book of Mormon without explaining the message of the Restoration. So we gave her a BoM and she opened her eyes and said, Wow thanks! I love to read!! She asked us how much it costs and when they ask that question its because they´re willing to buy it. We said it only costs your committment to read it and she said of course. So this week we have another appointment with her family and we hope some miracles will come with it. This ward here is great and has 2 companionships so there's a baptism basically every week in the ward. The members love the missionaries here. So I'm doing great and loving the mission. I'm studying a lot about the life of Jesus Christ from the Bible and learning how he does everything and says everything because He loves them. He gets after a lot of people because he loves them. Our Savior is the key to our lives and everything we do. Hopefully we all could be true Disciples of Christ in absolutely everything we do. This Gospel is true and I know the Book of Mormon is true. We need to read it in order to strengthen our testimony of Christ and put into practice its principles.

Thanks for everything. I love you guys and hope everything goes well this week. Oro por ustedes todos los días y sé que el Señor les bendice mucho. Chao,

Elder Webb