Monday, February 29, 2016

February 29, 2016

Na sa iyo na ang lahat, minamahal kita agad

Hey what up mga kaibigan.

SOOOOOOOO this week was good. Had a lot of great experiences. So I might just cut the small talk and jump right into that. Sooo the good stuff started this last Wednesday. I did exchanges with Elder Uhler from Virginia. He is a cool guy, he is still in his training so he has been in the field for about 3 months, so he didint really know Tagalog that well so I was kinda in charge of the speaking most of the time, which was cool. It wasnt hard at all. I finally feel comfortable speaking, I am not perfect but its still good. But yeah exchanges were really fun with him, we had this cool experience while we were working. So we were looking at our ward directory trying to find a less active. (thats a big problem in the Philippines, less actives) Our ward has about 500 less actives... So yeah we were looking and we asked this lady at this little store and she said she had no clue so I kinda just looked up and saw their neighbors house and the number 102 and then I looked at the paper again and I saw 102 and turns out a different LA lived at that address so we went and knocked on the gate and a guy came out and I asked him if the LA lived there and he said no not anymore so then I said oh okay, but were missionaries and then he said come on in haha so we went in and taught him. He is way awesome and has a wife and a kid. Turns out the LA used to live on their lot but she moved away but he knows a lot about the church but he was never taught by the missionaries. So we taught him and it was a great lesson. Then a couple days later we went back to teach him and he had read the intro of the book of mormon and took notes haha dang it was cool. 

As a district leader I have the pleasure of interviewing the candidates for baptism by the missionaries in my district. So I had 3 interviews last saturday and it was a really cool experience and the spirit was really strong. One in particular was this 12 girl who is a part member of an inactive family. She is really special, every sunday she comes to church by herself and stays the whole time. In the interview she was bearing her testimony and she began to cry, and I started to tear up a bit then as she continued I was so amazed by her testimony that I began to have tears too. It was really one of the coolest moments of my mission. 

So in our ward we have 4 missionaries and the 3 I just interviewed are from the other companionship but me and my comp have 2 investigators that were interviewed as well, so this upcoming saturday on march 5 we have 5 baptisms in our ward so that is awesome! Missionary work is hard but fun.

Earlier today we had an activity with our whole zone and we just hung out and did an obstacle course. I cant believe how out of shape I am hahaha. I almost collapsed. It was the hardest I had worked out in my whole 8 months hahah man i was weird. Its like I am an old man. Oh yeah I have to shave like every other day now. I am man now. 

But hey I love you guys!! Keep it realllllllllllzzzzzzzzz

Love EW   




Sunday, February 21, 2016

February 21, 2016

Hey everyone! 

Hows everyone doing? Awesome. So yeah this week was really interesting but it was way fun. A lot going on and we were super busy. So people were saying they like the the day to day thing so maybe I will do that again:)

MondayMonday again was just the pday and we kinda just hung around, read, it was nice. Had a couple of lessons at night then went to bed nothing too special.

Tuesday- Today was District Meeting, it was my first time giving a workshop. Because I am the District Leader I have to give workshops to my district. So my topic was better understanding the God Head so we can help our investigators become more converted. But I was focusing on the Holy Ghost. I realized that here in the Philippines that everyone believes in God but they all believe that he is only one. But its important for us as missionaries to teach and testify that God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are all different and they all have different roles but have one purpose. So thats what I did and it was pretty good.

Wednesday- Today we had exchanges with the zone leaders which was pretty cool. I went there Tuesday night and slept there. We spent the whole day in the Baliwag area which is the zone leaders area and it was cool to see another part of the zone. I went with Elder Goodwin and he is a cool guy he has been our for a while I think he goes home in November. 

Thursday- today we had weekly planning and then we had a cool service project at members house. (thats the picture of me on that termite hill) The project was just to take down termite hills hahas, it was actually pretty hard. It took us like 2 hours to get one. The filipinos have this urban legend thing that some believe that dwarves live inside the termite hills, sometimes they are black sometimes they are white. If they are white then they are good and give you treasure and if they are black they are mean and hurt you. Hahah kinda funny. So yeah we tore down some hills. Then on the way back we took some pictures in this really cool field and thats where I took the picture with the Carabao. (the black cow looking thing). Then that night we got ready for our big day on friday.

Friday- This was the day we got to hear President Russel M Nelson speak. So my area is like 3 hours away from where we went to hear him speak, so early in the morning our whole zone piled into a jeepney and we took off. So we got to the meeting place at this HUGE chapel. Bigger than anyone I have ever seen in the states. It was 3 floors, and yeah it was just big and awesome. So there we got to take a picture with our whole mission and President Nelson. So we gathered into the culteral hall and got our spots then waited for President Nelson to come in. When he came in everyone got silent and it was just so cool. I I felt the spirit when he came really strong and I just thought, "Wow, I wonder what he has seen" But yeah it was just really cool. Then we all got to shake his hand and gather in the sacrament hall. I was looking at him a lot and he just looked kinda strange, just looked like he wasnt in this world. But when he got up to speak and his whole demeanor changed. And he was funny, happy, and just spoke so well. He called up our APs and told them to ask him questions and he just based all he talked about from those questions. It was amazing that he talked with such power for 2 hours having no preparation. He talked a lot about repentance and how a lot of people focus on the PEN in repentance, the penalty, penitentiary haha, stuff like that haha. But then he broke down what repentance really was. It was way good. Then he told the story of Gideon in the Bible, in Judges. At the end of all the tests he was left with 300 men and they fought 150,000. That ratio turns out to be one man against 500. So he related that to our membership in the church. We have 15 million but then he said for the sake of numbers lets just say we have 14 million active, and we have 7 billion on earth. So that ratio turns out to 1 to 500 as well. Then President Nelson said "its just perfect" and everyone laughed haha. But yeah it was funny but true. He said that Lord wants us to do impossible things. That is how its supposed to be. It was awesome.

Saturday- Today was just a regular work day. But I had a cool story to end off that day. So it was getting to be about 7:30 and we were going to go to our last appointment at a recent convert. We had plans to go to this other investigator Do-dong but we didint have time. So we called the rc and told her we were coming but she said she wasnt home so we headed to the investigator instead. So the investigators name is Do-Dong and he has a hard life, he works as a truck driver and makes 135 pesos a day which is like 3 american dollars. And he works 13 hours a day. But he really really wants to come to church but he just cant because of work. But when we got there we were just talking to him the first few minutes someone knocked on his little bamboo door. It was his brother in law Ramil who looked at us and said youre mormons right? We said yeah, and he said yeah I was baptized there but I just moved here and I havent been to church in a long time. So it was just really cool that we met him there at that time. So we were talking to Do-Dong about hopefully finding a new job so he could come to church and he agreed so were gunna help him find a new job. But yeah it was also way cool because Ramil came to church the next day for the first time in a long time.

So that was my wrap up for the week. It was a good one. Hopefully I didint bore you guys. I love all you and hope you have a great week:)

Love Elder Webb











Sunday, February 14, 2016

Weekly Letter for the real homies Feb 14, 2016

HEY!! I am happy right now. Life feels good. I hope all you are happy. 

Mannnn we had an awesome week. Very busy, very rewarding. 

So I took some little notes every day this week so I could have a little bit of a better letter for you all... So I will just kind of go day by day..

Monday- This was just the pday I emailed last week but later on that night we usually always have FHE on monday nights here so we had a couple family home evenings this day. So the first one we planned on going to at about 5:30 but we were late and they were late also so we started at about 6:30 and our next FHE was supposed to be at 7:30 and it is like 30 minutes away... So we came way late to the last one haha we knocked on the door and the dad is just sitting there watching tv and the rest of the family was sleeping... Haha so it was pretty awkward and we felt really bad but they understood and we just shared a quick message and left.

Tuesday- So today wasnt anything too special we had a zone training meeting where our whole zone got together and we had some workshops and stuff. Then we all set goals as a zone. One of the goals we set is called "Magic 6" which is we get 3 referrals obtained and contact 3 referrals every day. And every time we got that we would text magic 6 to the ZLS letting them know that we got it. This was a fun thing and our whole zone got into it. The other goal is called "Magic L.A.M.E" (Less Active Magic Excitement) This means that every week we find at least 2 new less actives that we have not met before. This one me and my comp are leading in it. We were supposed to find 2 per week but we were finding 2 per day haha. But these are some fun goals that have got us motivated to open our mouths.

Wednesday- So wednesday was an interesting day... It was way hot and we went to go work. So we went out and started to find some less actives. So we found one and then we started to teach them, and they had a couple dogs that kept walking around me and I was sitting down talking and then all of a sudden I felt a warm sensation like a dog was licking me then I look down and freakin peed on my leg! My first appointment of the day and I already have dog pee all over my leg... I didint even go home to change I just kept on working.

Thursday- Today was all right. Kind of tough. I just kind of had a bad attitude so that is my fault. But we have this awesome investigator named Crisanto and he came to church for the first time last week but didint come yesterday:( But he is still way cool and we had a great lesson with him today. He really understands what we are teaching. And he understands his role as an "investigator" he knows that he is searching for the truth so its been fun to teach him and we can tell he always loves our visits. So we are working on him and praying that he will continue to progress.

FridayOn friday we found the funniest and cutest old lady less active. She was funny and it was way fun to teach her. She is in a tough situation she has been in and out of the hospital so it has been hard for her to go to church but we are trying to help her out. later that night we were just walking to an appointment and me and my comp just stopped and we saw this family outside and we both felt like we should go talk to them so we went over and did. The mom wasnt very interested but we taught the dad and he loved it. It was awesome to teach them, it felt really good after and me and my comp both kind of new that it was an impression.

Saturday- Hahaha this was an interesting day.So on friday night when we sat down to do planning for this day and usually on saturday we go to this part of our area that is WAY far away and just kinda pointless when we could focus on the area that is much closer to the chapel so its easier for people to come to church. So we sat down to plan and we just had no clue what to do, we made a plan but that soon fell apart so we just said ya know what lets just go out and work and see what happens haha obviously not the best example of what a missionary does but thats what happened. That day we just walked around and talked to people and taught them lesson 1 and we had 6 lessons that day and they were all lesson 1. We got a lot of new investigators and found some new LAs. I was way nervous for that day but it actually turned out alright and it was a good day.

Sunday- Kind of tough. I got sick again... I think I am getting allergies here which  really sucks but yeah we still went out to church and worked but it was tough. My body was way week and I am still kinda sick right now but its all good. 

So this is kinda a different approach on my weekly letter. Let me know if you like it or want something different. I love all of you and I am so grateful for you all!!

Have a great week!:)

Love Elder Webb





Sunday, February 7, 2016

Feb 7, 2016

Hey everyone... Sorry that I didint write last week I didint have too much time and I forgot my camera so I wanted to wait until I had it to send this. 

HELLLLOOOOO,

I hoped you all enjoyed the pictures!!! So yeah that is my area! San Miguel. Im lovin it. 

So how is everyones week going?! Mine was pretty good!! It was up and down, I am still adjusting a lot to where I am at but it will get a lot better soon. This week was a busy and rewarding week. We had 5 of our investigators come to church which was of course awesome. 2 of which are in pictures that I sent you. One was the cute little boy and the other was the guy sitting on the couch not looking at the camera when I took a selfie haha ( he is way shy) The little kids name is John Carlo and the guys name is Ramil. Ramil is a great guy and progressing in everything right now EXCEPT word of wisdom. He has a smoking problem. He comes to church every sunday but he is just taking some time getting over his smoking problem, we are here to help him and he is making some good process. Our area is SO big, I am trying to just focus on a small part in our area right now close to the chapel so people can easily get to church. Because we have a few less actives and an investigator wayyyyy out in the bukid (farm) And they just cant come to church because they cant afford the price it takes to travel there. That is the hardest part about this area and most of the Philippines is just the price it takes to get to church because they dont have any money and of course they have no cars. This place feels so different that I dont even feel like I am in the same place, the people are different, the area is different, and the work is different. But its all a fun new adventure. One thing thats really cool about this area is that we have ward members with motorcylces with side cars so when they work with us we have a ride to all of our appointments haha it is awesome. I dont know what much else to say sorry. I need to take notes through out the week so I can write better letters sorry, i just get to the computer and I go blank. But I will take some notes this week so it will be better. 

But yeah I love you all and hope you all have a great week this week and stay warm ;)


Love Elder Webb