The Week of Unexpected Turns

Hi Everyone!  We've had a good week and alot has happened . . . 

1.  J and G- So yesterday we went to a lesson with Brother P (LOVE HIM- he has a daughter on a mission that went to the MTC the same day as me).  We walk in and we asked if they had read the BOM... they hadn't (surprise surprise).  So we read the best chapter in the whole book (3 Nephi 11). Then we talked about the importance of reading the Book of Mormon.  The spirit was strong and I invited them to be baptized- as I have done with them many times before- and they said "I've already been baptized".  I just thought, oh great here we go again. Let's explain the priesthood and flip to that one old same scripture and blah blah blah blah... WELL he was like, "Let me explain" and he told us how he was baptized catholic and then he told us how he was BAPTIZED MORMON!  He is totally a less active member. He just busted up laughing and I know I'm a sinner but I wanted to hit him over the head with my bible.  Do you want to know how many times we counted him as an investigator lesson!  He is such a tease!  He said he was testing us to see if we were good missionaries.  He isn't on the ward list or anything, and nobody in the ward had any idea- but he wants us to come back and his wife is interested.  

2.  So we had an appointment scheduled with a man who is investigaing.  I was an idiot and started going to plans from the day before (I don't know what I was thinking, I guess I was just tired and had looked on the wrong day).  We pulled up and I realized my mistake, but we decided to contact a few people outside.  This big Hispanic guy with tons of tattoos started to walk towards us- and we decided we could probably take him (or not) but we decided to contact him.  Turns out he is the less active son from an active member of our ward.  He had gotten heavily into drugs and he told us he wants to change his life. So we went over a few days later and did an ARP lesson with him.  His parents are so happy.

3.  BROTHER W is one of my favorite people in the ward and he made us a chocolate cake :) He's amazing. As a missionary, you feel so much gratitude for ward members who take such good care of the missionaries!

4.  "J"  CAME TO CHURCH "J" CAME TO CHURCH "J" CAME TO CHURCH- we went over to his house and made chocolate chip pancakes on Sunday morning (the good kind that I'm allergic to) and he said he would be there.  So he came to church and bishop gave him a calling. He is officially the primary pianist- and he is so excited. He is also going to come to our lesson with another less active man in the ward.  I love this kid!  He is so awesome!

5.  We were contacting in the park on Saturday (I totally understand why missionaries everywhere say they hate Pokemon Go..... but our church building is one of the safe houses or something, so we have almost given a few church tours because of that game. I think God should re-vamp it and direct everyone to our church building on Sunday at 9:)  We talked to this guy named Joe. We had a good time and we told him to come to church with us the next day. It was a pretty normal contact but HE ACTUALLY SHOWED UP AT CHURCH!  We picked him up as a new investigator at the end of the meeting.  That is the first time that has happened to me on my mission. I wish my actual investigators would come to church sometimes!

It was a GOOD WEEK! Sorry for the long letter but I bet at least one person will read it! 

Love, Jess

A Fast Week!

This week flew by... So I'll just tell you some of the highlights

1) We contacted a guy who had a baby possum sitting on his shoulder. That was pretty cool. 

2) We set plans to go by a potential investigator, and California streets are a mess. They were created by the devil. So we get on the street I think I'm suppose to be on, and it turns out there is another street with the same name.  I was frustrated so we went to the other street, and couldn't find the address again... so I search the map and found ANOTHER STREET with the same name.  We pull up, get out of the car, go knock the door, and a car pulls up.  A 21 year old boy gets out with his family and tells his family to go inside. He then asked us what we are doing here. We proceeded to tell him we were messengers of God and that we were sent here today to tell him the gospel of Jesus Christ is back on the earth. He said, "I just got released from rehab 2 hours ago. I've been praying that Jesus can show me His way so I can stay off drugs forever." We taught the entire restoration and will be going back in a few days. 

3) We were going to see a less active but she wasn't home.  We got back in the car to go see a former investigator. I felt like we should get out of the car and walk to the former investigator. So we got out and start walking.  This big old guy with a ton of tattoos and a massive beard was outside and we have to talk to everyone- so I start talking and he looks a little off.  I ask him some questions and he starts telling us about how his brother died a few months ago and how his dad died 2 days ago.  We shared the importance of eternal families and we are going to see him in a few days! 

4) Yesterday we got in the car and my comp had the impression to call a less active we hadn't seen in weeks.  He messaged us and said we could come by.  We had a super spiritual conversation and watched Elder Uchdorfs talk from Spring 2016. It was SO spiritual. 

5) We picked up a former investigator, and her son is mentally handicap.  He started talking about cow udders and I almost died. I was crying because I was laughing so hard. He was so funny. 

I'm reminded again and again that God is in the details of missionary work!  It's incredible

Love you all,

Jess

The Sniffer

So I'll tell you a story or two from this week and some of my favorite highlights: 

1) THE SNIFFER-  We prayed with members and we told them we were going to find in their area and return and report on how it went. Well their area is SUPER RICH and quite religious. So... we knocked a few doors and I wasn't getting anything. Then we decided to pray.   You're going to think I'm crazy, but previous to this God has led me to a house through the wind or through sounds or something to do with my senses.  BUT THIS TIME I got the distinct impression that I needed to use my nose.  I personally thought it was hilarious and ridiculous, but I did it anyway and guess what, there was ONE HOUSE that smelled like Asian food!  A Filipino family answered and they were very interested in our message!  

2) MORMON.ORG- President told us to use our time wisely and mormon.org time is an hour a week that we get to spend on the computers researching things for our investigators and looking up videos and such for people who need it.  In other words, most missionaries tend to waste time on it. So this week we decided to skip mormon.org in an effort to use our time more effectively, and we went tracting in the awful heat. A nice Indonesian lady and her husband invited us in and we got to teach the entire restoration! We are going to go back this week. I'm so excited!

3) DESTINY AND CARLOS!  They are the foster kids we have been teaching, and we finally met with their social worker.  It looks like they will probably get to BE BAPTIZED SOON!  I really hope I get to stay in this area to see it. It should be amazing! 

4) Brother M will be going to the temple soon. I really really love him.  He has been feeding us dinner lately and his BBQ is the best in the whole world (sorry Dad). He has changed so much!  The ward just gave him a calling too. 

5) Brother O bought me gluten free oreo's (YUMMMM) and we got to have dinner with the Ferkins. They are some of my favorite people in the ward. They are really nice to us. 

This week I relied heavily on prayer.  I really love praying out loud. I feel like it helps me concentrate more and I feel the Spirit more when I pray out loud.  There was a time this week that I was easily annoyed with things I shouldn't have been.  I recognized this and didn't want to feel this way.  So I just started praying that God would help it go away.  I basically asked if he could take away my feelings of being angry and annoyed AND GUESS WHAT, HE CAN DO THAT TOO!  He can do anything. So if you are annoyed, mad, sad, or anything and you don't want to be, try sincerely ask God for help!  

I love you all so much

Love, Jess

They have the coolest trees here

This spider lives outside our complex and her name Nancy

Working More With The Members

So this week was pretty good.  We are adjusting to our new mission president and he is doing things quite differently than our last president.

We have been challenged to work with the members more, so we committed to be better. We called some of the members who are less inclined to do missionary work and asked them if we could come over. Then we shared a powerful scripture about the work and we would ask them to pray while we were out in their area.  Then we go to work and work and work and work.  We didn't have an area or experience where we haven't seen a miracle.  And we did it six times!

We also got to teach a less active member of the ward who is gay. He is going through a rough time with the church because he is gay, and so my goal of the entire visit was to reaffirm the love God has for him.  We told him God is aware and loves him.  We read some scriptures with him.  The most basic, fundamental principle of this church is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. That is the first thing we teach.  It was a powerful message and we all walked away in tears.  I don't know if he will ever come back to the church but I know he felt love. Hopefully he remembers how much he means to Heavenly Father.

We also ran into a guy who said he wishes the church still practiced polygamy... that ticked me off.

Then we talked to another lady who hates the temple and that made me mad too.  But it's okay I'm over it! 

We also met another less active girl who started crying because she needed us that day, and that was neat.  We didn't even hardly share a message with her and she started crying. I still don't know how to react to tears but I'm getting better!  I LOVE YOU ALL!

Love, Sister Webb

We really love frozen yogurt!!

44 of 72 Weeks!

SO MY NEW COMPANION IS GOLDEN (I love you Julie Rose).  She is an incredible missionary and she really wants to be a missionary. She works hard and does everything she is supposed to do. She is so incredible. She was on the BYU color guard team and she is so nice to me.  I really love her already. 

This week we were walking away from seeing a less active and we bumped into this super nice boy named Daniel.  We started talking to him about how the priesthood had been restored and he was really interested.  He asked so many questions and we had answers to all of them!  It was so cool! He invited us back, and we taught a powerful restoration lesson.  We always invite them to be baptized in the first lesson. He said yes, so we will get the YSA sisters over to his home. 

We had an incredible lesson with a  less active member. We have started bringing members to our lessons with less active members because we feel like it helps them have friends to be with when they come to church. So we had a lesson with Sister D and we brought Sister K.  I had been inspired earlier to share a video about drug use with Sister D and it was a perfect video on repentance. We taught repentance to her and she loved it. She said she wants to come back to church! 

Then we took our young investigators, Destiny and Carlos, to the LA visitor center with Sister Ingram. I am really scared for this week though because we have to meet with their social worker. They are foster kids who want to be baptized. They will probably be baptized next month or the month after if everything goes well... we'll see though. 

When I was young, like every other kid I would cause contention with my siblings- and I remember one time my mom was fed up with me. She told me to go to the laundry room (aka - time out central) and to stay there until she came to get me.  I was sitting there being super moody and grumpy, and she walked in ready to talk.  I remember being mad and yelling at her for a few seconds. She tried to talk some sense into me but I just wasn't accepting anything. She let me finish my rant, and took in a deep breath. She looked really tired, sad, and worn out. I remember her saying to me, "Jessica, I'm worried that your biggest struggle in life will be your pride."

I won't ever forget that.  My mom left and I left too. At that age I didn't want to think I was prideful, but she was so right. The only think that keeps me from progressing in life, the only thing that keeps me from reaching my maximum potential here is my own pride. Pride is my greatest struggle, but I am determined to be better. I am who I am because of God. I know He can do anything and I know He can strengthen my greatest weakness. I am so grateful for a mother who has helped me recognize my flaws and who helps me become better. 

I love you all! Thanks for the conference talks!    

Love, Sister Webb

At the LA Visitors center 

My new companion, Sister Hicks, from Eagle, Idaho