i love sarah!!

Let's start with the best part of the week....Sarah got baptized on Saturday!!!!!! :)

The baptism was amazing! Her entire family came, INCLUDING HER DAD!!!! Plus, like half the branch and a few families from the Kirtland Ward andddd a couple of sets of missionaries and their investigators. Jennie, our investigator, & her kids were able to come too. It was so good! We had the talks and things in the chapel because there were too many people to fit in the Relief Society room. It was so good to get to meet Sarah's family. :) The only thing that I'd ever heard about Sarah's dad was that he told Sister Hansen & Sister Lyman that he was NOT interested and to never come back...so I pictured him in my head as a mean and rude person...but he was really nice to us. I don't think he's going to be at church again next week or anything but still...I am sure that he felt the spirit. :) 

SARAH! :)

Sarah's aunt Lisa & uncle David are amazing. They are the ones from Oregon & they are super solid members of the Church. They got Sarah her own set of scriptures and a CTR ring and also, Lisa printed off pictures of the first lady in the family who joined the Church and told Sarah about her story. How neat is that?! So they talked to her all about that and about her uncle's mission and just really neat stories about the people that the Brown family have affected and helped to learn about the gospel. It was really amazing. I'm so glad that they got to come and be here to support her.

And, apparently there was no school in Chardon on Monday, so Sarah's mom told her to invite us over for lunch! That was the first time we've ever been in their house!!! The barrier has been broken :) Hooray!!! She is so wonderful. She was telling us about how she's invited her mom to start coming to church with her and how she loves going on youth.lds.org and watching all of the sweet videos on there. And she's going to give a Book of Mormon away to one of her friends. AH! I just want to be her friend forever!! Really. She is going to be a miracle-worker in Heavenly Father's hands! I can't wait to watch it all unfold.

So now that you can see that I'm pretty much obsessed with Sarah, we can move on.

We've been able to see a lot of members/ recent converts/ less actives this week so far. It's been really good. We got to meet with Sister Hovorka, whose husband passed away last month. She's incredible! Sister Draper mentioned something the other day about how Thia Hovorka was "a student of the Bible" and I've been curious about her conversion story ever since. After our visit, all I have to say is SHE IS AMAZING. I want to be like her when I grow up. She has such an inner strength, and a light that she is going to share with her very less active family in Wisconsin. I feel very humbled to have been able to have that sort of heart-to-heart with her and get to know her better. I just really love the people of Ohio.

 GO TO THE OHIO.

 

Sister Esser & I received revelation this week about how we can get the branch more excited for missionary work! Earlier this summer, Sisters Bills & Esser began keeping track of how many copies of the Book of Mormon they would give away..and they started the flood. We are going to further THE CHARDON FLOOD and challenge the members to a give away! By the end of the year, they are going to have to give out 50 copies of the BoM and we will do that as well! As President Benson said,that is the book that will gather God's elect. I know that's true! We are going to flood Chardon :) It's gonna be good!

 

Other than that, I'm still looking for the dreamers, as it were. We haven't found them yet...but quoting Elder Edman from our training meeting yesterday, "You still have 4 weeks...and miracles happen in 4 weeks!!!" I believe with all of my heart that that is true. And I will find those people if it's the last thing I do in Ohio!!! Seriously.

We found out yesterday that Sister Wheeler is going home tomorrow because she's having neck issues that are causing her to have really bad headaches. That definitely throws a random twist into the already emotional transfer that is occuring with the Quorum of the Ten getting ready to depart from the City of Faith & Beauty. Yesterday was probably the biggest struggle that I've had with balancing my emotions of it all...I'm not going to dwell on it because I don't want to think about it...but this is just a really weird part of my mission to be at. Thank heavens, God's let me know that I still have people to find and teach and influence for good so I'm completely still motivated 100%.

Elder Yukish coined that terminology. :)

I love the restored gospel! This is what makes life worth living. REALLY! It is the truth. Jesus Christ is real...and I know He lives. He does. Prayers are answered. Happiness comes from obedience. That is my testimony!

Love you love you love you,

Sister Webb