Wednesday, August 20, 2014

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER POST

In which Elder Eli returns to his previous neighborhood of Coronation Park; arises early for actual gym workouts; and serves the young, single adults of the area — which is totally fine! (“Young Single Adults” is the moniker given to, well, young, single adults aged 18–29. They have their own congregation and everything. [And it’s run by Old, Married Adults, so fret not.])

Hello to loved ones worldwide,

This was a crazy week! Like I mentioned last week, I was transferred. Now I’m back in Edmonton as a Zone Leader, and I’m serving in a YSA. Basically everything I’m doing is different. Now I wake up at 5:40 every morning to work out at the gym for an hour. My companion had a personal trainer when he was home, so he knows his stuff. I’ve also had breakfast every morning I’ve been here, so that’s a welcome improvement.

The work is crazy! We’ve currently got four progressing investigators. We put two investigators on date for baptism last Saturday. I’ll give you a quick rundown. Skyler is amazing. He teaches himself everything before the lesson, then when we go to teach him and bring up a principle he’ll say something like, “Oh, they talk about that in the pamphlet!” Then he’ll turn to it and tell us about it. He’s going to be baptized on September 6th. He wants to serve a mission and he’s so excited to be a part of the church. Travis is engaged to a member in our ward. He’s a firefighter and he works for a railroad company up here. He’s very humble and genuine. He’s going to be baptized on October 18th. Vince is a little tricky, but he’s got a good heart. Remember my investigator Rob, from Coronation? Well, Vince is his best friend, and we get to teach him because he’s YSA. He’s got a harder time understanding the message and why it’s important, but he does want to find out. He’s working towards being baptized on October 25th. Eric has not yet agreed to baptism, but he’s on the right track. He keeps all of his commitments and it seems like he wants to know. He understands what we teach and he asks excellent questions. He also gives excellent answers to our questions. I believe it’s only a matter of time with him.

YSA is so different! Everyone texts, everyone goes by their first name, and sacrament meeting is really quiet without babies. It’s so social, too! You can just talk to everyone and relate to them and get to be buddies. It’s wild.

With all of this teaching plus what we have to do as Zone Leaders, we’re constantly busy. It’s awesome. The days have flown by because it’s just one thing then the next, but it’s good. My muscles are sore. Elder Ganley is awesome. He’s from Arizona, and he actually lives just up the street from my MTC companion, Elder Monks! Crazy. He’s a hard worker and he likes being a missionary. Phew! He goes home in November, so I’ll probably be his last companion. There’s so much I’m doing now that I’ve never done on my mission, and I’m having such a good time! What’s especially amazing is that we’re still teaching the same Gospel. Even though the people and experiences are completely different, the Gospel is universal and all-encompassing. I’m grateful for a Heavenly Father that knows each of us and cares about each of us enough to give us a Gospel that each of us can relate to. The Church is true!

Thanks for reading! I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this scripture before, but I still love it and it’s still true, so check out Mosiah 2:41. Keep praying, keep trying, and keep loving.

Keep the faith,
Elder Eli

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Sunday, August 17, 2014

OUT OF THE RED DEER...

... and into the Young Single Adult ward. It’s apparently one of those good news/bad news reports: Good news about going back to Coronation Park and with a new companion he knows; bad news about having to leave Red Deer so soon.

Loved’ns,

Greetings to all! This week has been all sorts of crazy. We haven’t been able to meet with Mitch and Des this week, and they aren’t getting back to us. We’ll see.

Or maybe we won’t see. Turns out, after spending only two transfers in Red Deer, the President wants me to be a zone leader. I got a call from him last week telling me that he wanted me to stick around for leadership training after our zone meeting, but he didn’t specify what exactly I’d be doing. I was figuring I’d go back to being district leader and get trained for that again. (I think I was kind of in denial about leaving, so district leader was what made sense to me.) But, I got to the meeting and President handed me a paper titled, “Zone Leader Responsibilities”, which cleared it all up. The problem was that on Thursday, President didn’t know where or with whom I’d be serving, so I just got to sit and worry about it for four days. Not good for my health.

Finally, we got our transfer calls this morning and I am to be serving with Elder Ganley in the Rainbow Valley YSA! I’m actually so excited. Really sad to be leaving Red Deer so early, but I’ve got complete faith in this process and I know that this is what Heavenly Father wants me to do. It’s also exciting because I’ll get to go on exchanges to Coronation Park! I’ve come to know Elder Ganley pretty well from serving around him in other areas previously, and it’s going to be a blast. It’s a lot of responsibility, and I know that I can’t do it on my own. I never could, really. None of us can! We need to constantly rely on Jesus Christ. I hope that this next phase of my mission will be conducive to me being able to more wholly rely on the Savior. Of course it will be. I guess I hope that my state of mind will be conducive to that dependence. Maybe I’m not making sense. I want this next part of my mission to make me better. Whew!

Max is officially out and doin’ his thing! So awesome. P-Day is Thursday for him, eh? Curious. I wonder what his companion is like. I wish I could see Max in the MTC and everything! I’m dying to know how he goes about everything. Tell me about your companion and stuff! Good times in the MTC. I have no idea what the luxury section is. (Was the guy just kidding or is there an actual luxury section?)

Gosh. Overwhelming times. I’m sad to be leaving so soon. I’m excited for this next adventure, and I’m glad that Heavenly Father and President Manion trust me with this. I just want to do y’all (family, friends, leaders, Heavenly Father) proud!

Thanks for reading and writing. Pray for me!

Keep the Faith,
Elder Webb

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Sunday, August 3, 2014

HE [VISITED] A ZOO

Service comes in many forms and varieties, and some of last week’s service came in a form Elder Eli likely has dreamed about for approximately two decades (since he’s 20):

Hello to friends and family and the like! I hope you’re all having a grand week, and I hope that in some way I can make it even grand-er.

This week was a good one for me. Mitch and Des are doing well. Like I mentioned previously, they’ve got a lot to overcome, but they’re both taking steps toward discipleship! It breaks my heart to see them struggle and hear what they — particularly Des — have gone through. Des agreed to be baptized in September, and she’s been telling us how excited she is and how she thinks it’ll bring her closer to God and help her feel clean. She’s struggling to give up her addictions, but I have hope for her. What’s amazing about all of that is that God still loves her just as much as He loves everyone else, and that she can still be forgiven and be healed through the Atonement. That forgiveness and healing are available and accessible for each and every one of us. I’m so grateful for that. I’ve really been able to feel Heavenly Father’s love for each of us as I’ve been able to feel this love and concern for Mitch and Des. I’m grateful for the perspective, but it’s just a little bit disheartening to think of the sadness Heavenly Father must have felt when he saw me making a bad decision. I know I’m going to continue to make mistakes, but thanks to this experience I’ve got even more motivation to repent consistently and try to be right in Heavenly Father’s eyes.

Went and visited Bill this week. He’s doing well. He was happy to see us and we’ve got a great relationship. We didn’t manage to see Noelle, but we’re hoping to see her this next week and do some service. When we did play cards with the other residents, I won both games of Crib. Sorry, old folks, not even you can quell the competitive fire. Also, old people have some of the best smack talk. If they dish it they’d better be able to take it.

We had some unique experiences this week. We went out to do service for a member with a bit of land, and when we were finished he said, “Oh, it looks like we’ve got time for you guys to check out the bees.” So he took us to a little bit of land that he has where he lets some people keep their bees. We got all geared up in the beekeeping suits and checked them out. I don’t know what it was, but it was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. I just kept geeking out. It was nuts to be able to have them just humming around you and be totally safe. We looked in the box hives and everything! Amazing. I totally want to keep bees when I get home. I’ll make sure I’ve got some land first.






Another cool experience was that we volunteered at a zoo! We were staining some buildings, and it was a great time! The best part was after we were done serving. We got to go hang out with some animals! I held a baby arctic fox, a baby lynx, and a baby cougar. The cougar was getting really feisty, though, so we couldn’t get a picture. I got pictures of the other ones, though! I also got pictures with a bear. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to cuddle with it.





I love my mission. I’ve really felt more invested in the work lately, and I want to keep improving and doing what Heavenly Father wants me to do. Max, congratulations on your successful farewell, and congratulations on your successful jokes at my expense. Hopefully you end up looking like Chancho so you can give me some material. So happy for you and so proud of you. Lucky Mexico.

Thanks to all for reading and thanks to some for writing! You’re all wonderful people. Prayers are answered, so give it a shot! I promise it’s really fun. Until next week!

Keep the faith,
Elder Eli

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