Monday, October 28, 2013

2-FOR-1 WEEK

The “2-FOR-1” reference is, in fact, due to a glaring fault in the missionary’s father: Somehow one week slipped into a second, and he (I) blew it and didn’t post last week’s on its own. Since last week’s post is tardy, it shares space with this week’s post:


21 OCT 2013 
Friends and family,

This week has been fantastic. It's interesting, sometimes a mission can feel monotonous, especially in the day-to-day schedule, but when you look back you realize that you do different things all of the time. Pretty much the only consistency is when you wake up and when you go to bed.

Our teaching is going well. Just last week we got a woman on date for baptism! Her name is Julie Goulet, and she is 80-something years old. She never stops. She's constantly busy with something, whether it's yard work, cooking, playing cards, volunteering at the senior center or doing things around the house. I think it keeps her young, because I honestly wouldn't put her past 70. She's a delight. She's been taught by missionaries for over five years, so it's pretty big that she's committing to baptism. No credit to us, though. People get ready in their own time, and the Spirit has really been operating in her over these last few months.

We're meeting with our Japanese couple tonight (the Andos), and we're hopefully going to get them on date as well! Fingers crossed. While we still have trials and struggles out here, when something good happens it tends to sort of blur the memory of bad things, which I appreciate.

The Church is true. I have no doubt. If any of you have doubts, ask your Heavenly Father, because I can promise that he's dying to give you an answer.

Thanks so much for reading!

Keep the faith,
Elder Webb

•  •  • 
28 OCT 2013 Greetings to all!

This week has been excellent for me, and I hope it's been excellent for all of you as well! I pray for most of you just as much as I hope you pray for me!

We've found a lot of good potentials out in Grimshaw, and we're also seeing some good things happen with some recently-found less-actives. Somehow, even though it's just ordinary Elder Webb and Elder Murray (and even maybe a less-than ordinary Elder Webb), the Lord still sees fit to bless us with so many miracles!

It felt like it took a while to get the ball rolling, but now that it is we've got to make sure we can keep up! We're still looking forward to Julie's baptism, and hopefully she is too! Kidding, of course she is.

In regards to the temporal aspect of the work, I would just like to clue my audience in to what our latest project has been: deer antler knives. They'll probably end up being twice as cool as they sound. We've spent the last few weeks getting materials together (on P-Days), and we're finally putting them together today. I'm expecting good things. Pictures to come. I think I'll have to put a sheath on my next project: mukluks.

Thank you all for reading and praying. Keep it up! If you do, I promise to keep missionary-ing. Sound like a plan? Aces.

Keep the faith,
Elder Webb

•  •  •




Thursday, October 17, 2013

CHOPPING WOOD, NOT SPEAKING JAPANESE, AND BEYOND

A letter or two ago Eli talked about wood-chopping season, and this week we have the photographic evidence of ... well, he does wield an axe, and there is wood on the premises, and some of it appears to have been chopped. There’s even another, more convincing shot on Facebook in support of the premise. This, in addition to great mission stories (further below), brings his family joy.



Friends and Family,

Hullo all! This week was great. Elder Murray and I realized that for the past few weeks it’s like we’ve been collecting people to teach, but now we feel like we can move on from the collecting phase and move into the teaching phase.



We had a companionship fast last Thursday for a number of things, and it’s interesting to see the sort of blessings that came directly from that. It definitely strengthened my testimony of fasting. It reminds me of Alma, Chapter 32. In it, Alma talks about faith and basically says that if you want to believe in something, try it out and see if it works. For instance, if I want to have a testimony of fasting, or even know if it works, then I should probably fast. It seems crazy obvious, but I think a lot of times as Latter-day Saints we want a confirmation of something without really putting in the effort.

So that’s the challenge to you for this week: if there’s something you’ve had questions about pertaining to the Church, try it out! Experiment and test it! Heavenly Father wants to give you the answer, but he needs a little bit of effort on your part.

We’re teaching a Japanese couple and we have to go very slow because of the language barrier. They speak broken English and we don’t speak a lick of Japanese. We try to teach them and testify to them, but, interestingly enough, the Spirit sometimes isn’t there unless they experiment on what we say, which is often the case with any investigator. We invited the husband to pray after we taught the first lesson, and they had been pretty confused throughout, but when he prayed he say he felt comfortable and that it was a good experience. It was especially cool because we told him that God spoke Japanese as well, and that if he wanted he could pray in Japanese. He did, and the Spirit testified of that experience. That was what made him want to learn more, and he’s been praying ever since.

Thanks so much for reading and for your prayers! Remember, if you want to know if something is true or right or good, test it out. That’s all Heavenly Father asks. Have faith that you’ll receive an answer after you do what you can, and I can guarantee you’ll get one. Thanks again!

Keep the faith,
Elder Webb

Gotta love that boy! (We’ve tried not loving him, and it’s just not worth it.)

•  •  •


Thursday, October 10, 2013

THE PEACE RIVER BUTCHER

Love the spirit in this boy. We’re still trying to determine whether he’s a missionary who loves adventure, or an adventurer who loves his mission. Either way: He’s happy, so we’re happy!


Hello friends!

This week was wonderful for a number of reasons. Obviously, conference was great. Those men and women are so inspired. Study their words! They are the words of salvation and happiness.

We’ve been able to do some sweet service in the past while. The highlight of recent service was going out to a part-member family’s farm to help them butcher a deer and prepare some sausage. Yes I did wear the white butcher coat, yes it was very bloody, yes the meat we prepared was delicious, yes it was a deer they killed the week prior, yes we did grind up the deer with some pork, yes I did wear gloves (mostly), and no I did not gag. It was a blast!

They also have a Mastiff on the farm named Brutus, who may be the most wonderful dog on earth. I’ll try to get a video of him running.

For this last P-Day we drove up to the Northwest Territories border, which was about 5 1/2 hours north of Peace River. We had a member from Fairview take us, and the Fairview elders came too! So fun. So long. Worth it? Yes. Pictures to come.

The work is going great, and we’re making good progress. Thank you for your prayers and love, and thank you for reading. Keep it up!

Keep the faith,
Elder Webb

How fun.

Of course, it wasn’t until later that we learned one of the elders on the NWT sojourn was one of Elder Eli’s cousins (son of Berta’s first cousin), so there’s still room for growth on the “Sharing Information” path.

Again . . . Love the spirit in this boy. <imagine here the sound of a tiny, muffled scream>


•  •  •


Monday, October 7, 2013

STILL WAITING FOR THE COLD

Elder Eli’s reports include mostly generic info, so there’s likely some evil undercurrent to his parents’ curiosity about the weather. He’s just not uncomfortable enough:

Greetings loved ones,

Cold weather gear. I already have my winter coat. I purchased it off another missionary for super cheap. We do have a place in Peace River that sells good winter clothing, so I will be making my way there within these next few weeks. The cold isn’t anything remotely bad yet. Just a bit brisk. Nothing I’m not used to. The most I’ve worn has been my peacoat. I haven’t even had to break out the thermals yet. Fret not.

This week, like most others, has been great. We’re continuing to work hard, but we’re also managing to have a lot of fun. We are remaining obedient, if you can believe it. What? You mean you can have fun on a mission and be obedient? That’s exactly what I mean.

Granted, I’m not a Saint. I still make mistakes here and there. Consecration is a process, my friends, and not a short one. I still wish I could sleep in just boxers. I still would rather nap than tract. I still spend time trying to determine whether or not the “Fiddler on the Roof” soundtrack is kosher*.

But, in spite of my weaknesses, the Lord still trusts me with his children, and that is a phenomenal blessing, because he’s willing to help me through the entire process.

We teach as much as we can, and we serve as much as we can. We tract as little as we can, especially now that the weather is getting chilly. Nothing bad, yet, but tracting isn’t really a blast to start with, and when you add any amount of poor weather, it gets that much worse. But hey, some people are meant to be found tracting, so I’ll do it when I need to.

Thank you all for the prayers and support, and thank you for reading! Write if you feel so inclined. God loves us equally and infinitely, and he only wants us to be happy.

Keep the faith,
Elder Webb
elijah.webb@myldsmail.net

*Kosher? “Fiddler on the Roof”? Anybody? You’re welcome.
 All (most) kidding aside, we’re glad he’s well and anxiously engaged in generally worthy causes.

•  •  •