labor diligently, be blessed. simple as pie.

And it’s Monday…yet again! Most people dread Mondays because the weekend is over…but in the world of the OCM, Mondays are a most glorious gift! :)

So…I left my old planner at home so it will be interesting to see how this email plays out. Let’s see how much of the last week I can remember.

We got to go to Kirtland on Wednesday with Sister VanDyne for transfer lunch. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Kirtland?! I am grateful for the chance to serve out of the Kirtland zone because I’ve been able to get to know more of the elders in the mission and I’ve gotten to know a few of the full-pros sisters but I LOVE MY SISTERS. (The full pros sisters are my sisters too, don’t take that the wrong way.) It’s just that when I walk into the visitors’ center, I am at home. KIRTLAND IS MY HOME! I just needed to get that off my chest. I love that place. I miss Sister Andersen and Sister McAlister greatly though. They are 2 of my favorite sisters and they are both out full-pros so I never see them. I still have my dear Sister Maughan so that’s good. :) Ha…I guess when I don’t have my planner to remember what we did this week, you get a lot of the feelings of my heart. Here they come!

I forgot to mention that we saw the Barnes :) Here's me and Kelly!

On Wednesday, we also got to go teach the Littles with Brother Fortson. The spirit was really strong! Sister Little committed to be baptized when she comes to know that these things are true. She really is opened-minded and I have confidence in Moroni’s promise that as people sincerely read, ponder, and ask God about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, they will get an answer.

Thursday was SO good. We were at the Johnson Home for the last Thursday ever. They cut our schedule back because it’s slowed down a lot. Sites-wise, now we only go to Kirtland on Tuesdays and Johnson on Saturdays. So we have another day in our area, which is good. We were asked by a lady from a girls’ camp to come and speak to “the girls” that evening. We thought it was one of the ward leaders. It was definitely the lady in charge of the entire girls’ camp so we ended up talking to 150+ people. It was amazing!

They started off the meeting by calling on different girls to say what their favorite hymn was and why and then we would sing 1 verse of the hymn. They planned on doing that for 20 minutes but ended up doing it for about 30. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. The Spirit was SO strong! You’d think as a missionary you’d feel this overwhelming spirit all the time but the thing is…you don’t. So that was a much-needed and appreciated pick-me-up! Then, Sister Scott & I had the opportunity to speak. I don’t even remember what we said but you could tell it really touched the girls. After the meeting, a bunch of them came up to us and said thanks and just talked with us. It was cool. The leaders were like “That was perfect. Everything that you said was just what they needed to hear.” We ended the night of a spiritual high. I loved it.

Friday was rough. It involved a lady who was baptized 2 years ago complaining about everything possible plus some more and taking 2 hours of time and making it completely void of spirit and completely useless. And then we had to go teach Sister Manning .  It went all right.  Grams sat in and again…and I love her as a person but she is not open and is just a big distraction in our lessons. She gets things COMPLETELY off topic and I think that Sister Manning would progress a lot faster if Grams wasn’t present at the lessons….sigh. But Sister Carey made us pancakes for lunch. So that was good! She is a doll. I <3 her.

On Saturday, we got to take a few tours at the Johnson….including one with JAMIE TAYLOR and BARBARA DOERK!!!!!!!! And Lindsay Maas. J LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! I was having a depressing previous evening that was carrying over to the morning and it was such a tender mercy to have them show up for a tour! They are coming to Kirtland on Tuesday so I can take them on tour there so I am going to give them a package that I have for you, Mother Dearest. They can give you that + that big hug. :)

Me and my TEXAN darlings!

Yesterday we had some wonderful appointments with less-active members. We also received 2 referrals this week from Susan Horning (who is actually Sister Messegee from Mayfield’s mother…random). She’s in a different ward but has 2 people that she used to work with who live in Ravenna and she wants to share the gospel with them! AWESOME!! We are looking forward to meeting them this week.

Have you noticed how I talk in plural now? I sound like I have a multiple personality disorder or something. I swear I don’t! I’m still normal…ish!

Oh so remember how I was so ready to go to bed on Friday night? Well, I got SEVEN bug bites on my feet the night before and woke up at 4:00 in the morning and couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up and read the Book of Mormon until 5:15. I read in Jacob 5…which is the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees. There’s a bunch of good stuff in there, especially talking about how the Lord is always working WITH us!

-v. 15 “Come and let us go down into the vineyard, that we may labor in the vineyard.”

-v. 28 “the Lord of the vineyard and the servant of the Lord of the vineyard did nourish all the fruit of the vineyard.”

-v. 61 “Wherefore, go to, and call servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the vineyard…”

-v. 62 “Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time”

-v. 71 “if ye labor with your might WITH ME, ye shall have joy in the fruit”

-v. 72 “the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them”

The Lord Jesus Christ is always laboring right there beside us. In every little thing we are asked to do, He is there. I KNOW THIS. I’ve seen this in my mission. I am grateful for the chance to serve and pray that one day I will hear, “blessed art thou; for because ye have been diligent in laboring with me in my vineyard, and have kept my commandments….behold ye shall have joy with me because of the fruit of my vineyard. (v. 75)”

 I love you all! And I haven’t forgotten my first name, thanks Mom.

Love,

Sister Webb