TEMPLE WORK

Last area? Not possible. He’s only been serving for about an hour and a half!

Fambams and others,

Greetings! I hope you’ve all had a good week! This week has been crazy. I’d known that I was going to be transferred, and that wherever I was going would be my last area, so I was stressing for a few days before transfer calls. I honestly wanted to get out of the city and into the Sticks again, but apparently the Lord had something else in mind, which I’m okay with. I’m to be serving my final four months in the Ellerslie ward. It’s in the southern part of the city, in the Millwoods zone. It’s a family ward, and I’m no longer in a leadership position. It looks like all I need to worry about now is the work I do in my own area! The change should be good. I’ll be serving with Elder Ergas. I’ve seen him around, but we haven’t officially met. Shouldn’t be a problem. So wild that this is my last area! It’s unreal how fast the time is going. Now I need to buckle down and apply everything I’ve learned over the last 20 months. I’m excited for this test. All I want is to make my Heavenly Father proud. Buckle up, Ellerslie.

Cool story! We were able to do service in the Edmonton temple this week! Not temple work, mind you. The temple is closed for renovations, and missionaries get to help! When Elder Babb and I went we got to help put carpet in. So weird. We were wearing outside shoes and carrying and cutting carpet. It was all messy inside with tools and equipment and glue and cleaner liquid and stuff. We were under the direction of Brother Ranger from southern Alberta. He’s been doing carpet for 37 years, and he’s also done work on the Cardston temple. Such a strange, unique, and still spiritual experience. There was a moment when Elder Babb and I were sitting alone in the Terrestrial room on a step we had just put carpet on. I was repairing my shoe with contact cement because part of my heel had come off in the carpeting process. We were both so weirded out with the whole thing, but it was so wonderful! I’m way more invested in the Edmonton temple than I was before. There’s a part of me in there! Great experience.

Honestly this week was a blur with transfers coming up. I can’t remember much of what happened. We weren’t able to meet with any investigators because they flaked on us, but we’re still maintaining hope. We won’t give up on them! I’m grateful for Heavenly Father’s hand in our lives. If we let Him, He will guide us and direct us down those paths that will lead to our ultimate growth and happiness. Humility is key! He knows best, so let’s follow Him!

Thanks for reading! You’re a wonderful, special, talented person, you. Don’t forget it!

Keep the faith,

Elder Eli

OUR FAVO(U)RITE CANADA MISSIONARY

From last week (then we’re caught up!):

January 19, 2015

This was a great week! A lot happened, so let’s get right into it!

On Tuesday we had the opportunity to attend the temple! I’m so lucky to have one so close! Some missionaries don’t have a temple near them so they don’t get to go for an entire two years! Serving away from one has made me realize how grateful I am to have one so close to my home. Readers, please get to the temple. It’s an excellent benchmark to see if you’re doing what you need to be doing. Go as often as occasion will allow. The spirit that is to be felt there is unlike anything else. Nothing can replace it, nothing can replicate it.

We also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with the Assistants this week! Elder Scott Sorensen is one of our assistants, and I exchanged with him! For those of you who don’t know, Elder Sorensen and I were friends before our missions. We were both at BYU and we spent a bit of time together. We also came out on our missions together, and were in the same zone in the MTC. Basically, I’d been waiting for this exchange our entire mission. It was a good time. 

On the exchange we stopped by a family where the father was less-active and the rest of the family weren’t members. They had four adorable children. The third child was a very shy little girl who was avoiding us the whole time. If you know anything, you know that I love kids and I want to be there favorite. This girl was being shy and playing with her My Little Ponies. I asked her which one was her favorite. No answer. I then reached deep into my reserves of “useless” knowledge and asked, “Is it Rainbowdash? Rarity? Twilight? Pinkypie?” Which made her pretty excited. I was racking my brain for more when her mom said “Her favorite’s Applejack.” Of course! How could I forget Applejack? She ran to show me the Applejack doll she sleeps with, and a good time was had by all. I think I impressed/creeped out every adult in the room. Sometimes you retain things when you have a Brony college roommate (a Brony is a man who likes My Little Pony — don’t get me started). Suffice to say I’m probably that little girl’s favorite missionary. (I used “favorite” a lot in this paragraph and each time this silly Canadian computer tried to get me to spell it “favourite”. Nay nay.)

We met with Matt and Scott this week! I didn’t see Scott because we were on exchanges, but he seems pretty committed to reading the Book of Mormon! We’re meeting with him again on Tuesday. We had a great lesson with Matt. This seems to be something he wants in his life, and he agreed to be baptised on February 28th! I’ll be out of the area, but I’m excited to hear about it! He’s got a lot to overcome between now and then, but if he commits he can do it! It’s so amazing to see people make changes that will lead to their ultimate happiness and success! I’m grateful for these opportunities I have to grow myself then to help people grow in their own lives.

My time is coming to an end in Rainbow Valley! I’ve still got a week, but I’ve loved my time here. I’ve seen amazing things happen and I’ve learned a lot. Excited to see what these next three transfers hold! Thanks for reading!

Keep the faith,

Elder Webb

BLAST 2 FROM THE PAST

Editors’s note: Elder Eli’s and Elder Max’s parents recently accepted a call as part-time service missionaries, working with a Spanish branch in Kearns, UT. More on that shortly:

January 12, 2015 

Hello readers!

Alright, it’s official, I’m learning Spanish when I’m home. With only Max speaking it, my reasoning for not learning was, “Meh, I’ll probably be so busy when I’m home. Besides, by the time Max is home I’ll have moved out, so when he and Dad have their dumb Spanish parties I’ll be long gone. Psh, who needs Spanish anyway? Not this guy. Definitely not this guy...”

But now that Mom’s going to be learning Spanish, it’s more along the lines of, “ALERT! ALERT! Def Con One! Exclusion from dumb Spanish parties is not an option! I’ve got 14 months between my arrival and Max’s homecoming. I can find time to fit in an hour of language study every day, minimum. Food and sleep can be sacrificed! Friends? Who needs ‘em? I’m sure BYU offers introductory Spanish courses. I can visit Mom and Dad’s Spanish ward every now and again. I’ll have returned missionary friends who spoke Spanish that I can practice on. 14 months, 14 months. Failure is not an option!” Brace yourselves, world.

For the time being, however, that is not my reality. Here and now I’m still in the tundra. We’ve had some reasonable cold these last few weeks, but apparently starting tomorrow the temperature is going to be above zero for the rest of the week! It’s a miracle! (By the way, above zero degrees Celsius is delightful after you’ve had around -30 for the past little while.)

Congrats to Mom and Dad on your mission call! That is so cool. Our entire family is on a mission! It’s going to bless all of us in so many ways. I am so jealous that 75% of my family gets to be around chunky little niños. There are very few things cuter than children speaking a different language. A brother and sister were behind me last week when I emailed. The brother must have been 2 or 3, and the sister was probably 4 or 5. Forgive my ignorance, but they were speaking Chinese or Korean or Vietnamese. I want to say Chinese because I’ve mostly heard that and I’d say it sounded like it, but I don’t want to be wrong. Regardless — adorable.

The work slowed down considerably during the Christmas season, but now things are starting to pick up again. We’ve got appointments scheduled this week with Scott and Matt, and hopefully after those we’ll be able to meet with them more consistently! Jessica is still not committing to a time, but we’ve been in touch with here and we’re still on good terms. It’s been great to be able to get a hold of people over Facebook who were previously pretty hard to reach. We get on Facebook every day now. Our tasks include (but are not limited to): teaching investigators and less-actives, posting inspirational goodness, getting connected to new investigators through members, keeping in touch with contacts from previous areas, researching inspirational goodness to post, etc. It’s amazing how the Lord has prepared a way for this to be a productive tool in bringing others unto Him. The mission is still working out some kinks and figuring out the best way to do it, but we’re already seeing cool things! For instance, I was able to get in touch with a less-active member we were meeting with in Red Deer, and while we were catching up I found out that he was no longer meeting with missionaries. I told him that he knew better than that and that I was going to send the missionaries over, and he agreed! Thank you, Mark Zuckerberg. The church is true!

Thanks for all of the love and support! Y’all are wonderful people. God loves each of you and He wants you to be happy. Many of us have habits or behaviors that hold us back from being happy. Through Christ, those weaknesses can become strengths and we can find joy! Evaluate what’s holding you back from being happy right now, then take the necessary steps to change it! Keep reading!

Mantener la fe,

Elder Webb

BLAST 1* FROM THE PAST

*Blasts 2 & 3 to follow...)

Right to it:

January 5, 2015 

Hello friends and family!

This was a great week! Happy New Year! New Year’s Eve was a blast. Since we live with members we were able to go upstairs and enjoy the new year with them. They had some of their kids and grandkids over so it was quite a parade. We played games and had pizza and a good time was had by all. Sadly, the Oilers lost to the Calgary Flames in overtime that night, but that was the only downside I can remember. By the way, I’m totally a hockey fan now. I’m not sure why it’s not more popular in the States. The majority of teams in the NHL are from the States anyway! It’s so fun to watch. I can’t fathom that kind of talent. I’m going to subscribe to whatever channel plays hockey once I’m home. Part of me wants to be able to choose which team I support, but I realize that I am sort of obliged to be an Oilers fan. Too bad they’re garbage. That’s alright. They could be good in a few years. GO OILERS!

We had our Mission Leadership Council on Saturday. I love being able to get some more personal trainings from President Manion. I can honestly say that I haven’t disagreed with any decision he’s made. I trust that he’s called of God and that he really does love us and want what’s best for the mission. It was at this Council that we got trained on Facebook! I’m on Facebook officially. I cleaned it up so now it’s ready for missionary work! Very exciting. So weird being back on! My goodness, I’ve got a lot of engaged/married friends. Shocking! I guess that’s the way life goes! I’ve been out of the loop for 19 months. It’s really going to be great to see how this affects the work in the mission. Since Heavenly Father provided a way, I know that if we’ll all do what we’re supposed to, we’ll see miracles happen! It’s strictly a missionary tool for now, though, so I won’t be able to have social chats! Just wait five months, folks, we’ll be okay.

Five months! Can you believe it?! I can’t. Time is flying. I’m really trying to make the most of it. Something I’ve been studying is how to make a change last. I’ve wondered why we go through amazing spiritual experiences and then somehow the next week we seem to be back where we started. There’s a lot that goes into it, but apparently it takes effort to maintain a changed heart. Alma the Younger talks about it in the Book of Mormon. Remember his change of heart? He was called to repentance by an angel and struck down for three days. I always thought that Alma had it easy. To me, it was, “Well sure he was such an awesome missionary and prophet and human being, look at his conversion! I’d be that good if I was struck down by an angel too!” But apparently, that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t that easy. A changed heart requires maintenance. Alma outlines some ways to do that, but I’d like to refer you to a talk entitled “Preserving the Heart’s Mighty Change”. I just heard this talk yesterday in priesthood, and it was such a testimony to me of Heavenly Father’s love and care for each of us. He knew I was studying and looking for answers, and that was such a wonderful answer! It’s definitely contributed to my study and given me some more clarity on how to make change last. The church is true!

Matt is alright. We haven’t really progressed with him since last week. He’s hard to get a hold of. But he does want to change! Like we know, change requires work, but all things are possible through Christ! We’re looking for new investigators now, since our teaching pool is somewhat stagnant. If we do what we’re supposed to, Heavenly Father will provide a way! That applies to everyone, by the way, not just missionaries.

Thank you all for reading and writing! I’m going to be sharing thoughts and gospel tidbits on Facebook from now on, so don’t be afraid to share them so your friends can see! Facebook proselyting is only effective when the members are on board! I love each of you, even if we haven’t met. Heavenly Father loves you too, and a lot better than I do! Have a good week!

Keep the faith,

Elder Webb

THIS POST IS SO 2014 . . .

Parental slacking again. This is last week’s report, with this week’s to follow sometime this week. (Promises, promises . . .)

December 29, 2014 

Hey-o!

It was so wonderful to see your mugs! Max, your Spanish is cool. Mom, you look great. Dad, your beard is pretty white. It’s so nice to see you alive and moving and stuff! Thanks for being such a great family. I laughed a ton talking to you guys. We really are an exceptional kind of funny. Outsiders, you may see this as bragging, but have you been around my parents? Hilarious. And the apple doesn’t fall far, if I do say so myself.

This was an excellent week! Christmas was wonderful. Our ward took excellent care of us. We were fed breakfast, lunch and dinner. We played lots of games and had a good time. Also, I won Settlers of Catan, Quelf, and Rummikub. So there. Thank you for the packages and love! I don’t deserve any of you.

We had a cool experience a few nights ago. There’s a less-active member we visit frequently, and when we dropped by this time he had a friend over. The friend was having a rough day since he had just broken up with his girlfriend. He was convinced that he was supposed to marry this girl, so he was having a pretty hard time. He’d been on his own since he was 13, and since then he hasn’t felt like he’s had anyone to turn to. He had a brother he was close to pass away, and he’s felt alone for quite some time. When we came and started talking he totally opened up to us. His name is Matt. He said it felt so good to finally have someone to vent to, then he started asking questions about how to be happy and get out of his bad situation. We were able to testify of God’s love for him, and now we’re going to meet with him this week and start teaching him! It was cool to see how Heavenly Father put him in our path. Initially we had another appointment set, but they cancelled last-minute, leaving us with nothing to do. We swung by the less-active member’s house and lo and behold! Now we’ve got a new investigator. The Church is true!

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year! Set some appropriate goals and stick to them! A message we’ve been sharing with members has to do with the New Year. Go watch the Mormon Message “Look Not Behind Thee”, then reflect on something you can change this year that will bring you closer to Christ. I promise that your efforts will be noticed and you will be blessed. Thanks for reading!

Keep the faith,

Elder Eli