"I want to be the best I can and live with God again."

Name the song that's the subject and get a gold star! Ha. It has been such a good week! I am officially freezing my tush off! It got down to -3 during the night this week and when we were getting ready this morning, it was 7. As in like 1 2 3 4 5 6 SEVEN. Sickkkkk! But other than that, we had such a great week. Here’s some fun things that happened:


-We met a guy named Q, spelled just like that. We were actually sitting in our car making phone calls and he walked by and I felt like I needed to talk to him so I jumped out and started running after him and asked Sister Mayer to bring her planner and a pencil. Ha I love chasing people down. They think you’re kind of crazy and well, I kind of am! We called Q up a couple of days later and set up an appointment with him. After we hung up, he called right back and he was like “Before you come over, I want you to know that I’m a sinner.” HAHA! Like I’m not? Please, nobody’s perfect! We’re all just doing our best.

-We contacted another guy named Reggie. He was smoking who knows what when we walked into him but he was really sincere and said he wanted to get to know Christ. He sounded really neat and we were supposed to see him at 4 yesterday but he flamed us. BOO!! We’ll try back again.

-We had interviews with President Sorensen. So a while ago, the standards of excellence for the mission were changed. We are now expected to baptize monthly, teach 20 lessons a week, and teach 8 lessons a week with a member present. Sites sisters are held to the same standard as full-proselyting missionaries so we have to be extra productive with our time to make that work. In my interview, I was telling President that I get kind of overwhelmed with trying to get all my lessons in and see all my people and do everything and he was like, “Sister Webb, do your best and let God be God. Be still.” Okay. I guess I can do that.

-On Friday, we tracted for the first time since Sister Mayer came. It was BITTERLY cold and the wind was KILLER. Really, any exposed skin hurt. But to leave pass-along cards on people’s doors when they’re not home, you need your fingers exposed to be able to separate the cards from one another. I got some hobo gloves so that only the tips of my fingers are exposed but they still hurt. It was a grand adventure. When we got back in the car, Sister Mayer was like “Sista Webb, I can’t move my face. Really.” Welcome to the Ohio winter! Yuckkkkk.

-The Butterfields left :( Sad day! But we met the Edman's and they are really nice!

-Thursday night was the memorial service for Joyce’s friend! I LOVE JOYCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great things happened. We were there, along with about 7 ladies from the ward, plus a couple of other people. Then Joyce called Polly (the mom of the girl who passed away) and put her on speakerphone and had all of us introduce ourselves to her and then I said a prayer for their family. It was a really good experience and Joyce was really touched. So touched in fact, that when Chris invited Joyce to her baptism the next evening, Joyce said she would come. AND SHE DID!!!!!!

Me and JOYCE! I don't know why she didn't smile.
Doesn't matter- she's adorable anyway!

Joyce Ely was in the church building ladies and gentlemen! And she was singing the songs and she was emotional during the talks and the presentation of the 1st lesson. AAAAAAAAALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! Seriously, it was nothing short of a miracle. See here’s what we found out, Joyce has been really good friends with Sis. Joan Potiker, a lady in our ward for like 16 years but she never knew that Joan was Mormon. So when we announced this event last Sunday, Sister Potiker was saying she knew her! So on Thursday when we walked in Joyce was like GUESS WHAT? My good friend Joan Potiker is a Mormon! (No surprise to us.) Ha it was hilarious!

All of the LDS ladies...and the soon-to-be one!

I guess at the baptism Joyce was talking to Sister Messegee and said, “You know that story where there’s a flood and the flood is really bad so this guy climbs up to his roof, where the water is at, and he’s praying and he feels like God’s going to take care of him. So a boat comes by and they’re like ‘Get in, come on, we’ll take you where it’s safe.’ And he’s like, ‘No thanks! That’s nice but God’s gonna take care of me.’ Then later, a second boat comes and the same sort of thing happens…they offer help, he brushes them off. Well then even later, a helicopter comes and lets down a rope and they say, ‘But seriously, you need to come with us. We’ll take you to safety.’ And the man still says, ‘That’s alright. God’s gonna take care of me.’ And then he dies. Well, Joan Potiker was the helicopter.”

DID YOU JUST READ THAT? The Ely family is on the verge…..stay tuned to next week’s episode of The life of Sister Webb to figure out what happens next. (I’m really, really excited!)

Friday was a big day….FIRST BAPTISM OF THE MISH! Chris’ baptism was SO great! Tons of people came to support. Joyce was there, Kia was there and it was AMAZING! The ward really needed it. I was so happy because Chris was so happy! When she came out of the water, she was just glowing!! It was so neat to see. It was just like….complete peace and joy in my soul. It was wonderful!


CHRIS!!! Yay for baptisms!

 To finish off the awesome weekend, Reggie & Man’tima came to church. They both read and made comments again and Reggie was the first person to volunteer to stay the prayer in Gospel Principles. We haven’t even taught him how to pray yet! And it was SO GOOD! Oh and in sacrament they both were singing the closing hymn! I won’t lie I started to tear up a little. They’re like my children and they are slowly but surely progressing. Yay!

It was really interesting because the lesson in GP and the RS lesson from Teachings for Our Times were both on agency…something they both struggle with because of addictions. I love how Heavenly Father works! We’re going to start teaching them in the Howerton’s home which will really help them progress. They’ll be in an environment that’s safe, that’s a refuge from the world, that’s a place that they can really feel the spirit. I am excited about that as well :)

I think that’s pretty much all of the exciting things that are going on in this direction of the country. Last night I was flipping through my journal and I apparently found this really great scripture a year ago and I just re-found it. It’s AWESOME! It’s in 1 Chronicles 28:9.

“And thou, [Sister Webb, my daughter], know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee.”

What a beautiful promise! I am doing my best to serve with a perfect heart and willing mind. Not all days are easy. But I can tell you that in the last 7 months (yesterday was the 7th month mark..yikes!), I have changed. My life has changed because of my mission. I want you to know that I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is the best book in the world! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are real beings and they are involved in the intricacies of our everyday lives. They love us. I know it.

And I love you! God be with you till we talk again :)

Sister Webb