December 29, 2014 Christmas Week!

Heya,

It's been a nice week. It was weird to not proselyte so much and it reminded me how rewarding missionary work is. It's like exercise; it takes a lot of discipline but you feel all good afterwards and get stronger. 

I'm glad my SD card got home. Unfortunately I lost my camera cord so I don't know how I'll be emailing pictures for awhile. It's too bad too because this week we went hiking and got some really pretty ones. I'll find a way to get them to you.

So Christmas Eve was basically eating pizza and talking to you all and then we went to our Zone Leader's flat for a sleepover! They have a nice flat in Lancaster and you can throw bread to the seagulls and ducks and it's hilarious. We woke up about 5:30 am on Christmas morning and drove up to the Lake District to hike Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England.

This shows you the American pride of missionaries in England. I feel like English culture doesn't like the outdoors or adventure as much, but we demanded it. So we went on this super loopy tiny European style road for like an hour and ended up near some cottages with a huge lake spanned by sharp mountains. There were stone walls over dark green grass and hundreds of sheep with some little cottages and a church. All around us was fog and the sun slowly rose over this massive lake. We started hiking basically towards a cloud at the top. So Elder DiPeri, myself, and our zone leaders all went up what we thought was the highest peak in England. 

The hike was fun, not super hard but a good reminder of my love for backpacking. At the top it was frigid and SNOWING! We loved it because we got snow on Christmas Day in England and we sang hymns and left a Book of Mormon on the top hahaha. I filled a waterbottle with spring water from the top as there was a small waterfall the whole way down. It was amazing! I think it may have been one of the coolest places I've ever been. I decided that Matt would love it the most. It was like a mixture of The Hobbit, Skyrim, and Braveheart. Hopefully I can get some pictures to you all.

But the sad part. At the end we asked someone what we hiked and it was actually Great Gable, the seventh highest peak. Needless to say, we're going back.

On Boxing Day we watched some movies. My companion wanted to see Frozen and we saw some other film called Rio. Entertainment is silly these days haha. The rest of the week was normal. Church was really good, I taught Gospel Principles and Elder DiPeri gave a talk and our mission president visited. This week we get New Year's Eve partially off and New Year's Day off. Our plan is to hit the mountains again hahaha.

Fun to talk to you all on Christmas Eve. It was probably the strangest experience of my life though. It was kind of like you weren't actually there though, but like you recorded a video that I got to watch at Christmas haha. I was really nervous and jittery the whole time. I think I realized that since I haven't had older sibling scrutiny I have less pressure to be mature so it was like bringing that back on to see if I have brought forth fruit meet for your expectations. I'm on my only little journey of self-discovery and you saw me before the edges are browned! But it was sad at the end to just realize how much I love you all and how families really are meant for eternity. Thanks for your questions and I was impressed how much you all actually know and care about my mission and emails. If I seemed negative about England I'll have to explain one day, but I do hope to take you all back! It's a crazy place and even crazier to be a missionary in. 

Love you all and Happy New Year (it's not really my new year because I am a Chinese man at heart)!

Elder Webb

December 22, 2014 Happy Christmas!

To those who might actually have some snow,

It's been a great week! We got to go to the Preston temple as all the missionaries which I always love. We ate at the cafeteria too and I think that's what meals in the Celestial Kingdom will be like haha. British people love Sunday dinners for any time of the week so roasts with potatoes and parsnips and brussel whatevers and Yorkshire puddings are common, especially around Christmas. The weather here is mostly the same, just rainy and really windy next to the seashore. It probably won't snow at all, but a little higher north it usually does.

It's been fun proselyting around Christmas. We have special pass-a-long cards for the season advertising the "He is the Gift" video and just ask people if they know why we really celebrate Christmas. Definitely not every house on the block has lights up but usually everyone has a tree and some decorations. Tomorrow is a big dinner in Manchester with half of the mission and then on Christmas Eve we proselyte for about half of the day. Then Christmas Day we might go for a hike in the Lake District in the morning and have a meal with some members in the evening. Then we take most of Boxing Day off the next day and will go to some members or whatever. It's a way bigger deal in England.

It will be a weird week and this last week has been strange, too. We don't have too many progressing investigators. Most of the people we teach have been taught forever and it takes longer to make progress. I've been meeting more and more Chinese people. There are like nineteen Chinese take out restaurants in Morecambe. The man next to me in the library is Chinese actually haha, maybe I'll try to come up with a way to talk to him!

Mom! We were at this member's home and guess what kind of shop he owns? They sell wooden puppets. It's up in an area called Kendal and is called Grandma's Puppets. When he said it I got really excited and said, "Whoa, my mom looooves puppets." Then everyone looked at me really strange haha. If I ever get up there I'll have to send you some pictures or something. It's kind of expensive and difficult to travel in our mission for fun activities.

Otherwise not too much happened this week. We just did lots of street contacting and door knocking. Hours. It's becoming a part of my system to just talk to people everywhere I see them. It's so weird that it feels normal. A Chinese girl was baptized in our ward on Saturday. Her name is Dream hahaha. She speaks really good English though so that will help her get adjusted to the church and the ward. It's really hard for Chinese people here to get beyond their initial testimony and conversion because of cultural and language barriers I think.

That's about it. So for Christmas Skyping I will be at a family called the Gallaghers on Christmas Eve. We are going about 4:30 pm our time and the time difference is 7 hours. So they said I could Skype from his iPad and it will be for an hour sometime probably between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm, which is 10:00 am to 12:00 pm your time. Hope that works! If not I think you can let the mission office know today and hopefully they can work something out to tell me when is better for you all, but that's the plan so far :) I'm not sure how I feel about talking to you all; it will be sort of surreal I think haha. But come up with some good questions for me and it will be great!

Love you all and I hope you remember the true meaning of Christmas. I'm pretty sure people talk about how everyone forgets it just as much as everyone forgets it though. I learned this week in a fuller sense how immense my priesthood duty is to share this Gospel, whether or not it is accepted or people listen. And that duty to serve Him is lifelong; there is no turning back in this life. I know that Jesus Christ truly was born to save all mankind from their own weakness. He cares; that is something I have learned again and again when the days are long. May we honor His gift to us in remembrance and repentance each day.

Love,

Elder Webb

December 15, 2014 From The Vineyard

To Them Across the Globe,

 

Greetings from England.

 

This computer has Internet Explorer and I think I'm running Windows XP, this is ancient! It's been a great week here in the Morecambe and Lancaster area. I think this was one of the fastest weeks of my life and with Christmas and everything this transfer will be over quick. It's weird to have a car in this area. It's so nice though when it's raining or hailing. It actually snows in Lancaster! Not a lot though. It hasn't yet but I've been told it will. Across the bay from us are mountains with snow on them in an area called Barrow and it reminds me of looking over Utah Lake from Provo to where the family goes shooting.

 

I'm trying to think of what we did this week. It's a lot harder than it sounds. On Saturday there was a day when members came out with us on splits for a bit of the day which was fun. It's nice because they know people in the area and we've been doing a lot with the new church video called He is the Gift. We're trying to get people to share it and we have little cards with a link that we give to people. The Christmas season is nice because people are more receptive to religion right now haha. Makes sense, gets people talking to us.

Elder DiPeri and I are having fun. He's really bold with people and I'm a little more sensitive or something like that so we're a good duo. There are a lot of people here who like missionaries and have been taught forever but never really made it all the way. Hopefully we can do some more in this great plan for each of us. The weather is crazy. Somedays the sun shines and it's amazing to walk down the streets in old rustic neighborhoods and somedays it's dark and raining and it feels like I'm in some sort of nightmare town. Good laughs to look back upon in a future day. 

There is a member here who served in Norway and he said the sun doesn't come up for three months in the winter there. I can't even imagine that. It sounds like a factory for real men. It's nothing like that here, but the winter will put a little more grizzle on my beard. I'm excited to hear everyone's Christmas plans over the next week or so. We will be in member's homes for most of the time, which is sort of excruciating according to Elder DiPeri. But the ward here is amazing and I think I will make some good friends.

You know when people say they love how the church is the same everywhere you go? I don't think that is true. It's so different in England. A lot of the members are older here so I feel like half the ward still is like in the 1980s in their worlds and the rest are iPhone friendly. Morecambe has a really weird culture to it. I don't know how to explain it. It's like if you took a Scooby Doo movie with California and put it in Harry Potter. Some of the scenery here looks like it's straight from Brave Heart. Pretty great.

Mom, did you know you always fed me English style meals growing up? All the food is so familiar but strange to my companions. 

My camera doesn't really work with these computers. Would you like me to mail my SD card home so you can see all the pictures I've taken? Obviously I can't explain them all but you might like seeing them. Let me know, it would be really easy.

Love you all, 

Elder Webb

December 8, 2014 Patter of a Seaport Town

Blesseds,

Elder DiPeri and I are in a little library in Morecambe, England. The Lancaster area covers the towns of Lancaster, Morecambe, and Heysham mostly and is in the Preston stake. Pronounced MORE-cum, not More-cam-BEE, by the way haha. Our flat is in a little complex in Morecambe about a five minute walk from the docks and we can see the ocean stretch out over a bay with the mountains (well, sort of) or Barrow in the Lake District on the other side. Every morning I wake up to the crash of waves and seagulls chirping and the white sun fringing the clouds.

That makes it sound pretty romantic, but it's actually freezing here and rain and hail and wind fall like bullets every once in a while. Get me my fishing coat from Doc Warner's! But I'm pretty sure if I had to live in England, I would live in Lancaster. The flow of Morecambe is like a hipster seaport town with Chinese takeaways and little cold English beaches and the homes are impossible to describe. I feel like I'm in mainland Europe now. And Lancaster is probably the closest thing to what you would think of Scotland or Ireland. There's great stretches of vivid green pasture and sheeps and English homes straight out of Harry Potter. Pretty steeze.

The ward here is amazing! Elder DiPeri and I came in to help build it a little more and they are responding so well. They already love us and they love Sister Sun so much haha. We don't have too many investigators from the previous elders but the flat isn't bad and Elder DiPeri is a missionary machine. He didn't believe in anything like a year before his mission and then came to church out of curiosity and investigated for like seven months and got a really powerful answer and most of his membership has been on a mission. He has no fear of anything and he just teaches boldly all day long! So I'll learn a lot from him.

Unfortunately I haven't talked to any Chinese people yet, but hopefully we will find them soon. The city centers are really fun with all the Christmas spirit and there are two major universities here. There is the Lancaster University and the University of Cumbria. As elders we are not allowed to proselyte on campus so we will try to find them elsewhere. I really hope to find some Chinese people that aren't just students, maybe like a family that owns a takeaway. Pray for me :)

And guess what we do that I've never done before? Door knocking. It's painfully awkward but no one is as rude as the legends state. I'm sort of learning that hours and hours of it aren't the way to do missionary work, there are much better ways to use time. We have a car actually that Elder DiPeri drives and we get to keep it until the end of December. It's nice for when it gets really cold but our miles are pretty limited. I think there's a lot of good work to do here.

So far we've only really taught this old lady named Helen and a man named Stuart. Helen's home reminded me of Grandma and Grandpa's Shadowbrook home and she had so many little decorations. It's impossible to explain what it feels like to be a missionary all day haha. And then Stuart is really great, he likes missionaries but doesn't really understand it all yet. It's weird to have somewhat of a focus on English people now, I have to admit I miss basically just doing Chinese but I guess I wasn't called to England by chance. I really respect the missionaries who aren't Chinese speaking here. But Elder DiPeri doesn't give up on people so he's a great example. I think since he's a convert his missionary spirit hasn't died even though he has been out so long.

Sorry I don't have any pictures, I don't like to carry my camera around for fear of rain or weight or whatever. This place and time will be a great way to endure the colder months of the year and build my missionary skills. 

That's about it.

Love you all,

Elder Webb

Oh yeah here's my new address:

Elder James Webb

303 Queen Square, Opus Building

Station Road

Morecambe, LANCS

LA4 5JL

England, United Kingdom

December 1, 2014 Rotenburg

Christmas markets (not actually in Rotenburg) and the thing that always pops up on Google if you type in Manchester.

December 1, 2014 Lancaster!

Dearests!

I'm moving to Lancaster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the area at the beginning of my mission I wanted to serve in most. It's probably the prettiest part of the mission except maybe Wales. It's in the Peaks District or something so get ready for some scenic pictures homes. I'm becoming so European here. So I'm leaving Elder Curtis in the YSA on Wednesday and we'll travel as far north as I'll probably go as a Chinese speaking missionary. I think I am the first Chinese speaking elder to go there, but Sister Sun served there for like half of her mission! I am excited!

Elder Curtis and I became great friends so I will miss him and a few members of the ward, but I was a little ready these last few weeks. I will miss Oxford Road and all the crazy people I have met here. Lancaster is much quieter and smaller with a university with a few Chinese students. And my next companion is Elder DiPeri! He has been an assistant to the president for the last like six months and only has a bit left of his mission. He is going to work me like a bull I think so that will be good and crazy. He is from Arizona and is a convert to the church of only about a year before his mission so I am really excited to serve with him. My second former assistant that I'm ending their mission!

The only other really exciting thing of the week is that Amanda asked if I would baptize her if she does get baptized. So that was exciting and I hope she does before she leaves England back to Brazil. And I went on exchanges this week to Elder Jin's flat. For morning exercise he made some wooden ninja swords and practices with them. I so hope I serve with him.

Today we visited the Christmas markets in Manchester and ate some hot dogs. It reminded me so much of going to Germany way back when. England is a little different than mainland Europe I think though. I got to go down to Crewe with our Zone Leaders this week in the south bit of the mission and it is such an old English town. It was sweet. It's weird that none of you know anything about these places that I hear all day. 

The senior couple in the YSA took all of us out for lunch at a place called Dogs and Doughs. It's like a hot dog place that is supposed to be American. It made me miss the good food we have back home. Be grateful!

Also, I literally can't believe it's ski season already. I feel like it's still summer back in Utah. It doesn't help that England has no snow. The house isn't for sale for the winter! Now you can all take a break. I'm glad all that work I did really payed off :) Haha just kidding but could you ask for the bed cover back from Kevin? I'd like to personally burn it.

But anyway I'm excited to tell you about my next area when I get there! 

Love you all,

Elder James Lynn Herbert-Webb

Scott, that pizza looks wretched and that watch is so nice. I have one with black leather that I wear every other day.

Laura, there was a little bakery called Food for Thought that we bought a donut from this week :)

Marc and Chel, I'm glad Janbo and hottubbing didn't die with me. Marcus your ankle looks so painful. Get me some of that hot sauce if Mom sends me more packages! They don't have ramen in the UK so our junk food is usually just cardboardy cereal. My fellow missionaries from New Zealand and Australia know about this turducken business!

Dad, I got to visit a dental office in England! Elder Curtis had a problem with his permanent retainer so I am glad you wouldn't let me get one. But they had the exact same wooden toys that go along the metal rails like your office! I guess it's universal. I haven't driven here yet, I honestly will be terrified if I do. They have pretty crazy traffic rules.

Mom, that picture of Sister Gish is where we email from in the YSA! It's where I am right now :)

December l, 2014 Ching, Chang, Cha

 Adam, my favorite Chinese investigator so far!

 Totes making this my cover photo for Facebook in the future. You probably thought you were getting junk mail with all these!

 The picture says it all. Elder Jin

 From left to right: me, Elder Curtis, Mario (Brazilian who teaches with us all the time), Amanda (the investigator from my emails from this area), and Susie (a member from Chorley who was Amanda's good friend).

 Last laughs and grub with the district. Hopefully you can see my personality hasn't changed, just come out in full fledge.  Dogs and Doughs!

Here's the Senior Couple that serves in the YSA. Find 'em on Instagram!

Judy and Enloe Pew

November 24, 2014

November 24, 2014

Greetings,

I can't think of letter titles anymore! But hey, what do you do?!

This week we had a General Authority visit our mission. His name is Elder Dyches and he is in the Europe Area Presidency. He had just visited the Adriatic South Mission! He said the missionaries there have it really different than us because in the smaller branches they don't have ward mission leaders and things so the missionaries have to do a lot more. Sounds like an adventure. My mission is the longest running in the world I think! Crazy. 

But anyway his training was good. He was a mission president in the Portland, Oregon, mission a while back. I guess our mission won't be getting iPads for a while now. I honestly don't even really want one because of the rain and weight and dropping my bag all of the time.

I had my first Stake Conference in England! They know how to do it here. It was really powerful. English saints are stalwart and there seems to be a greater sense of urgency to serve and repent here. You kind of lose that in Utah when everyone is a member. It's like Utah is the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, prospering among the Saints, and England is like a smaller people among the Lamanites.

Our foremost investigator Amanda is doing okay. We might drop her for a little bit since she's not really progressing. I think if I wasn't a member I would think like her. It's hard for her to believe anything but obedience is easy. It's weird. Our teaching pool sort of crumbled this week except for a few. Transfer calls are on Saturday and President Ulrich already told me I'm leaving so it's kind of tough to care anymore here haha but I'm going to pretend like I'm staying, especially if I actually do! 

This week was not great as far as attitude and finding new investigators between Elder Curtis and I haha. It's good it's Thanksgiving so I can repent with the world! We kind of rollercoaster with the weather and our investigators. But I'm becoming stronger so it's worth it! We did meet a Chinese girl named Zoe though who had met loads of missionaries and loves the church who we hopefully will start teaching. I think at the very last minute when I am spent we get little miracles :)

The picture is of Elder Macmeikan and I. He's from Essex, England, and goes home soon. He was in my first district and I really like him, he sings amazingly and has a cool story of deciding to come on a mission. And not to be vain but isn't my British haircut crazy? They do things weird here.

I am grateful this week for all of you and the roles you played in helping me become ready for this little adventure. I wouldn't be able to do it without relying on your examples and support. I am grateful for the hope that Christ brings into others' lives, especially my own right now. I think a mission is hard mostly to show missionaries just how amazing the life He led was. I truly have learned that He has all power and knows us perfectly. I am grateful for His sacrifice to change eternity forever and invite you and myself to make Him a more active part of your day.

The Internet is really bad today so I'm going to stop here.

Love you all so much,

Elder Webb

Mom, I got the package to open on December 1! I am excited. And we ate all the Reese's Puffs. They were amazing. No one does cereal like the USA! Elder Curtis is making a scripture case out of the box. Glad what I sent home got there and thanks for sorting it all out :)

November 17, 2014

Beloveds,

What a fine week. To be honest I now sort of know why missionaries sometimes miss a few weeks writing home because everything feels the same to me so I don't know what to say, but there are a few highlights to send back!

The best part of the week was probably when our investigator Adam came to church. He is from the north part of China and is more like a Kenny rather than a Silas. He wears hipster boots and sweat pants and colorful coats and grows a thicker beard than any Chinese person I've ever met, so maybe I truly was called to teach him haha. We've been teaching him for a few weeks and he finally came to church. I think he's my favorite investigator.

But I think it made me realize better what missionary work is really about when he came to church. I have taken the Sacrament my whole life and take it for granted, but then to be able to see someone with no Christian background do so for the first time was really special. He's definitely not the first Chinese person we've had at church but we've put a lot into teaching him so for some reason it made all the work I've done in the YSA worth it.

I don't think while I am here in this area any of our investigators will get baptized, but it doesn't matter to me so much anymore. I can see small miracles happening everywhere and I really do see that the Lord's working through us to help people progress. There's just a singular happiness to working all day and finally laying down at night knowing you did the most important thing you could. I need to repent hardcore though, I am getting super tired of street contacting and I don't use enough Chinese at all haha.

There's a Chinese baptism this week in the YSA from one of the other companionships that I'm really excited for. His name is Ted and he is quite a vibrant personality. We are teaching one of his classmates so hopefully his faith gets her going too!

Keep up the good work back home, family. Whatever stage of your life you are in is just as important as the one I'm so blessed to live right now. It's interesting to me how strong my testimony of eternal families and fatherhood and the priesthood has grown as I've been here. I think the Lord is showing me why He's teaching me everything I am learning now. All of you inspire me in your examples of the everyday dedication to the Lord.

I love you all and I know that Christ is the way. Nothing stirs my heart more than learning more about Him. He is simply an example we cannot compare to. Elder Curtis and I have noticed how much more sensitive you become as a missionary. Anytime feeling the Spirit and I can pretty much cry. We were listing things we were grateful for in the spirit of Thanksgiving (partially in rebellion to England not celebrating this essential holiday) and we had to stop because we were getting choked up or something haha.

Mom and Dad, I am excited to read your talks. It sounds like you have your work truly cut out for you and maybe after all this you'll want to settle with a nice home in Tropic, Utah haha.

Matt, I missed it by like two weeks but Happy Birthday on the 5th! Are you 35 now?  Get ready for a bishopric calling, I think this is when they usually come :) There is an Elder in my district from near Fillmore and everytime I'm around him it makes me think of the elk hunting trip there. 

Marc, Happy Birthday this week! Are you turning 31? I hope you do something fun and try a new restaurant or something haha. And tell Kenny happy birthday for me too!

Love,
Elder Webb

November 10, 2014

The Chinese Market sells frozen baozi that we cooked on Bonfire Night when we had to go in early to our flat. You should have seen how we rigged to cook them. #mandarinmissions

November 10, 2014

There is this neat little music shop in Manchester that we finally went into. I couldn't leave empty handed.

November 10, 2014

Beloved Family,

I feel like I have nothing to say this week. It went by so fast. Time is so warped!!! Let me try to think of some highlights.

We've had some good sun this week. By that I mean about three of the days this week had a few hours not completely submerged in clouds. I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining but it's actually crazy how little he comes out for us. It doesn't really rain that much and when it does it's only a little drizzle. I can't think of the temperature because they use Celsius so I'm still lost.

We heard that there is a Chinese man in another area that we are going to start teaching once a week. I hope that goes through! We have about five Chinese students that are investigating but none are too far along. It is easy to get them to come try Sacrament meeting but it's usually just a cultural curiosity and they don't want to be seriously taught. There's kind of a divide between the Chinese members and the British YSA so honestly none of them are that strong. It's sort of sad and I almost wish they would go back to China where church would be more comfortable for them and they would get the support they need from the branches. 

This is the way teaching Chinese people works I think. They often don't really care if it's true as long as it has good principles and they look at the Book of Mormon maybe how we would look at Confucian writings. Prayer at first seems like meditation to them and most of them don't really care about what happens after they die. Unless you can connect the Gospel to something right there in their life that they want help with, it all seems irrelevant. And for some reason because it's taught in China that God doesn't exist they use that as an excuse for not believing and think that all belief is cultural. Those are some of the concerns that are often raised. But what is great about teaching them is that they are curious and have no Christian precedent and just have a natural humility to them even though sometimes you have to push them to do anything haha.

Sometimes when Elder Curtis and I go street contacting I find a random scripture that is supposed to predict our day. This week I was sitting in the building and didn't really feel like going out and I turned to Alma 60:22-23. You'll have to look it up, it was a good chastise! I think this will be my last transfer in the YSA though. That's what my mission president said but he might change his mind. So maybe I'll spend Christmas in a new place, weird. I realized, craziest thing, that I have been in this area longer than the time between getting my mission call and leaving for the MTC. It must feel like I've been out forever. Do you all still remember me? They say to remember who you are because when you go on a mission, no one else does. But then they say to forget yourself!

President Ulrich is really inspiring. He is a man of faith! He sort of feels like an Elder Holland when you're around him, but he's so simple and loving too. The mission is trying to have higher goals and things which is good I guess. Whenever a new mission president comes in it takes a while to readjust the mission. But hopefully it's all for the better. I realized that the missionaries I love the most are the really humble ones from places other than Utah that don't always have the most success or get all the glory but humbly serve their best. I think there is a great lesson to be learnt from them. 

Dad, your mission is going to have some crazy adventures! Maybe you will have a father and son come home teach you and hear about it all and be blown away like Bishop and Sister Holt.

Love you all so much,

Elder Webb

I forgot to mention, you pray a lot on your knees as a missionary. Like an average of 13 times a day. And guess what? My knees look like my elbows now! I am so proud of it.

November 3, 2014

I won't deny I sort of missed watching the Nightmare Before Christmas. We realized our flat is Halloween colors by nature. Do you see the seeds to the right?

November 3, 2014

My Loved Ones,

I am unbelievably happy right now because we found a Chinese Market in Manchester and reminds me so much of Taiwan. They had Mochi and pineapple cakes and pocky sticks and lychee fruit drinks and everything and today it's really sunny so I'm the happiest missionary alive! So that's really all I'm thinking about if my email is otherwise unrelateable.

Halloween this week was fun. We went in at 5 pm and I'm pretty glad after we saw the city the next morning. Let's just say the university student life is not for me. But we bought a pumpkin and I got to carve it! Then we roasted a few seeds over tin foil and the candle which was so fun to think back. We didn't shop last week for who knows why so we kind of scavenged our meals this week. Lots of oatmeal, but we made sweet and sour chicken on Halloween.

England has so many old buildings. Sometimes I force myself to just stop and appreciate it. They look like super hipster taverns, but a lot are boarded up with loads of advertisements on them. So it has kind of a weird feel. Fall is definitely coming. It doesn't really rain as much as I expected, although I'm told that changes. But it's warmer than Utah in November if I remember correctly so I don't think I'll be too cold.

Our pool of Chinese investigators is growing a lot. None of them are really up to like baptismal dates, but they are interested. The hardest thing about teaching Chinese people is that they either are simply curious about the ideals or too polite to say no or they have a moral interest but don't really care if it is true. Missionary work feels like a game of the Spirit sometimes to recognize where to spend your efforts and time.

Elder Curtis and I will be good friends for the future I think. We probably have a few too many conversations about fly fishing and the outdoors that get us excited haha. He finds it hard to learn Chinese when no one really speaks it here, which I understand but not it's probably a lot more frustrating than I can see. It's interesting that Heavenly Father put so many Elders here who don't have Chinese backgrounds when no one can really train them. You need that gift of tongues in this mission!

I was told I don't sound American the other day. Someone thought I was Scottish so I think my voice is going all over the place. I met someone from America and her accent drove me crazy. I see why British people make fun of us haha. I guess I'm just getting too immersed. Haha just kidding but it's weird because I have to actively see if someone is speaking with an American or British or Irish or Scottish accent and then the accents in England change everywhere so now I can sort of tell like Manchester, Preston, Birmingham, London, and Jordy accents apart. Crazy, right?

Our most progressing investigator, Amanda from Brazil, is doing well I think. Later today we are going to see if she will commit to a baptismal date with the promise that her prayers over the Book of Mormon will be answered if she does. So hopefully that works out. It's funny to actually be a part of all the stories you hear from returned missionaries and see what it actually feels like. The same way I felt waking up for a day of school is like waking up to go do missionary work haha, it's bizarre how you can adjust. I still have so much to learn to really get this down though. Preach My Gospel is immense!

I think as far as the most spiritual thing this week it was yesterday at what we call the Mission Fireside. Every month all the recent converts from the mission gather in this chapel in Manchester and they speak and tell their conversion stories. We can go if we have an investigator, and luckily I've been able to go a few times. They are really inspiring and get me excited to find more people to teach. But the thing about this chapel, it's one of the biggest in the mission and it has thing really distinct old smell. It's in a place called Wythenshawe and all the transfer meetings and everything basically in the mission goes on in there. So every time I am there I get really nostalgic for the feelings I have had in there and am yet to have. This time just sitting and pondering, I realized I really know why I am here.

I can easily say the last few months have been the hardest of my life and at times I really do miss you all. It's been more terrifying than learning to ski, more anxious than any new school year, more hard work than all of my AP classes, more spiritually stretching than any study or prayer in the past, more discouraging than any fly fishing trip, more socially exhausting than any drama at school or in the family, and above all this it has been so hard to conceptualize doing it for two years and never seeing any of you. So sitting there I recognized in myself that the reason I've been able to do it is because I truly know that God lives. I know He stands at our side in all things. I know His Son is our Redeemer, the Great Healer of mankind. I have come to trust Him so much more on my mission, although the testimony I have hasn't really changed all that much. It is that He is there, and He is always aware. I have never been alone.

I love you all so much,

Elder Webb

Phill, I light-heartedly told our Brazilian investigator to add you on Facebook haha so if you get a random invite you will know why hahahaha

Scott, one of the two things happened you told me to tell you about. I woke up and some dumb song from high school that was played at assemblies was rolling through my head all day. I'll tell you when the second thing happens.

Mom, the mission asked if I want the flu shot and I said no. I don't really trust British medicine. Is that okay? I am taking my herbs and still have silver shield haha.

October 27, 2014

 My favorite meal.

Fried rice. I am officially a Chinese speaking missionary now. It wasn't very good.

October 27, 2014

Fam around the Block,

I have used 1% of my Google Space. Never had I so many emails in my non-missionary email account. It's amazing.

Highlights of the week. We have cleaned our flat like animals. Now it is worthy of my OCD standards except some of the things we don't have the funds to buy cleaner for, but nothing bad. Elder Curtis and I have been buying really good food and made pesto chicken with toast and balsamic vinegar/olive oil the other day. It's definitely not restaurant quality, but boy did it bring me back to summers at the Webb estate. 

It gets dark here around 5:30 which is honestly sort of sad. I think I'll be a creature of the night the rest of my life. When everyone talks about the rain here it's like in Utah when everyone says they hate the snow but never are willing to move or do something about it. I had like this life changing moment the other week when the sun peeked up for a few moments and Elder Curtis and I just stopped and basked in the short lived rays. Haha so maybe I'm making it sound a little intense but I am surprised at the weather here.

There is a new companionship in the YSA and one of them is from Fillmore! He is like six foot eight and learned Farci, the language of like Iran and other places, on his mission. Pretty sweet! They will be fun to have around and hopefully this is a good transfer with some success and things. Did you know that every student in England dresses like a hipster? Doc Martins are the shoes, green jackets or tight polka dot oxford shirts, skinny jeans, everyone! And then the Chinese students wear like their Air Jordans and love the Utah Jazz haha. 

Halloween is this week and I hope I can carve pumpkins or something! Maybe I can roast the seeds in the tin foil too. Oh yeah and food is really expensive here but they have take-outs everywhere with fish and chips and kebabs and things that are not too expensive that I love. Kebabs are sort of scary to eat though if you're not careful. They are illegal in the states because the meat is on open display, but Mountain Dew is illegal here because of the chemicals we put into it.

We taught an English class that was hilarious this week. There was this old Portuguese lady there and a man from somewhere in the Middle East I have never heard of and a Chinese couple. We went around playing a game where one person would say, "I went to the shop and bought ____." I was dying inside. Sometimes I complain to myself about hard work, etc. but then I realize how hilarious people are and get all giddy inside. I honestly can't think of much else this week. Amanda is still reading and praying and things and the ward has fellowshipped her amazingly but I don't know how it will pan out. We are teaching a few Chinese students but commitment is really tough for them. They are receptive but it is hard to explain how important it all is. 

Oh yeah and we visited a university in Salford this week and there was a giant river! It was amazing! I love nature so much. And fish and chips places are called chippies here and there was a place called Chung's Chippy. We've got to try it. There was a hotel there called the Black Horse Hotel with all this graffiti on it. It looked like a mixture of indie culture and Lord of the Rings. Pubs are seriously on every street in England and they all have such classical names, like Greyhound Inn or The Hartwood or whatever. It is one unique culture and I definitely did not understand it before I got here. Haha I think I get frustrated that no one knows what England is really like. 

Love you all and hope your week is proper good,

Elder Webb-under-Lyne

October 20, 2014

October 20, 2014

Wo Qin'ai de Jiaren,

Another week down! Transfer calls were this week and I learned I am staying with Elder Curtis for another transfer. I have a feeling this will be my last in the YSA, but you never really know. It will be good and I'm sure it will be bittersweet to finish out here. I can't believe how fast a transfer goes. I honestly feel like my entire life has been spent as a missionary, but I never have shaken the feeling I got when I stepped off the plane and it feels like 20 minutes ago. It's so hard to explain haha.

So here's my funny story of the week. Have you ever heard that the First Vision gets interrupted everytime a missionary says it? It's not even a joke. Every time we tell Joseph Smith's story a phone rings or a bus whooshes by haha. I thought that was some legend but it's forreaaall. Anyhow, the best interruption and most comical happened this week. We were telling this student it on the street and then an old man with this super long beard walked up leaning on one of those tennis ball walkers and just stopped and looked at us. At first I was like, "Oh man, here we go." Then he just smiled really big and said, "I've got one too, lads. I'm gonna' put it in the boot (that means trunk)." Then he opened his walker basket and had a Book of Mormon in there. Hahaha I don't really know if this transfers over well as a story but it was hilarious. I think every time I think I've seen it all something like that happens. Or other religions pass around their tracts to us and loads of funny things. People are so entertaining!

So I've run out of my first bottle of Cholula hot sauce and I have already bought a second tube of toothpaste here in England, so I think it's really hit me that I've left the nest. It's so weird that I'm a nineteen year old kid who lives in England and walks around all day teaching people about the truth. Elder Curtis and I are either really excited or really terrified every time we leave our apartment haha.

The best part of this week was the Chinese Activity! We all went to Liverpool with our investigators and all the Chinese people from the mission. It felt like I was back in Taiwan as we took the bus over. I have to tell you, Liverpool for some reason feels like a second home to my heart. I had this MASSIVE deja vu in the chapel and I feel like I am destined to serve there. And there was this old Chinese man there that I looked at and just hope I find a Chinese family to teach. Several have been baptized in the history of the mission. Anyway, I got excited and Elder Holland served there so I pretty much have to. The activity went well, mostly just awkward Chinese people and food and otherwise Asian things.

So on Sunday I was having one of my weekly inner breakdowns about street contacting and I realized the most amazing thing. I have always learned the most powerful lessons in my life from Heavenly Father through comparisons of random, normal events in my life. So I have always been able to compare missionary work to fishing, but honestly it really hit me this time. Every time out on the Provo River that I wanted to break my rod and never return, every time even after all my Youtubing and dreaming and studying, that I never caught a stupid fish. I was having one of these moments really strongly and the Spirit clearly spoke to me that it is not the fish that make the fishermen, but the river.

Family, I love you all. I know it is not any success here or great stories that will really define what I truly think of this experience. It is my personal relationship with Christ that slowly forms a little more strongly each day. It is the time that I cannot go any further and I realize that I'm right, and then He will carry me to the end of the day. It's those times I wonder why I am willing to do this when nothing amazing ever seems to come of it and I realize the most powerful convert is myself. But yeah, I'm doing well.

Julie, they do have Halloween here but it's sort of a joke. We have to come into our flat early which is a relief with all the college students here. I am learning to love wards outside of Utah as well. It's like a little family and it shows you why the church is so important outside of strong Priesthood families!

Dad, Sister Sun sent me the photos. It sounds like you are just a church man all of the time now haha. Are you still a dentist anymore? Haha just kidding you will have some amazing stories from that ward

Mom, I ate one of those Cliff bars this morning and it was a weird feeling to have one again. That picture of Sam and Laura and you is so cute. I know what you mean about such weird experiences and so much need. It just becomes normal as a missionary. It's interesting how confident now I am to do things that made me feel awkward back home even though I was a theatre kid and goof all the time. Haha I remember when we gave food to some homeless people downtown and I was so scared and now it's nothing.

Love you all,

Elder Webb

PS The picture is my favourite snack for those days that I'm too lazy to make a proper meal. One half is nutella and one half is peanut butter with a banana down the center, then you roll it up. Elder Curtis made a pact that we would never eat it again because it's all we were eating.

October 13, 2014

Fam,

I just need to start this email with the best story that ever happened. So Elder Curtis and I have some similar interests and relationships with our siblings and other little random things. We were testing the ring tones on our phone and this one reminded us both of something... BANJO KAZOOEY! It was the last thing I thought I'd talk about on my mission. I hope that brought some memories back, Laura and Scott. It's like part when you leave the house and the witch cackles or whatever hahaha.

And then my other funny story. So we are still teaching Amanda the Brazilian girl and she was talking about how she doesn't want to interpret things as answers from the Lord if it's just herself imagining it. One day she was walking down the street and someone gave her a flyer that said, "Repent, and be baptized." She said she started laughing really hard and couldn't read the rest of the flyer. Hopefully she starts taking the signs haha I think she will.

I have realized I don't really tell you all very much about who we are teaching. It's because it changes almost every week and there hasn't been a baptism in the YSA ward since like the beginning of August, which is sort of crazy with how many companionships are here. At first in my mission I could never understand how some people go for two years without any baptisms and now I see that it really isn't about that and there are many other things to keep you going. 

This week we had a zone conference where a challenge was issued that Elder Holland gave missionaries in Michigan. Basically you fast for a day and write down all those things you are doing that drive away the Spirit and then "fast" from them for 40 days. Elder Curtis and I started. I mostly just put the big things so I don't go crazy, but it's really good and hard. And then we got a huge packet for a 31 day study of the Atonement from President Ulrich so hopefully this time can really help me as I try to become sanctified and commit everything to the work. Honestly all of the culture and talk about missions are just a mask for a journey to come to understand our Savior on a different level. Manchester has become for me a little spiritual battleground where every day is an uphill battle.

Mom and Dad, congratulations on your mission call! That is so amazing. I can't believe it's the same church we visited all those years ago, Dad. The Lord works in truly mysterious way. Just remember that deacon seven years ago now would find those experiences pretty mild compared to where I am now haha. I love you both so much and I really hope it becomes an amazing experience. 

As for the rest of the week, mostly just talking to people and working on goals and Chinese, etc. The time goes so quickly now I can't believe it. Halloween is in just a few weeks and it feels like only a few months ago that I was celebrating it back home. Elder Curtis and I have lots of good laughs and there's some good days out here. I honestly have no idea what to tell you all about because nothing sounds interesting if I put it into your perspective haha. You get the most entertainment out of the littlest things as a missionary. 

I think the best part of being a missionary is the unique power and cleansing feeling that comes when you share the Gospel full time. I make so many mistakes everyday and there are definitely some long prayers in our flat throughout the week but nothing is more important than the Gospel. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know He truly died upon the cross for each of us. These truths that are so passing for most of the world become everything to you as a missionary. You cannot teach a Gospel that you do not powerfully live. Thank you for all your prayers and I really feel of your love.

I remember back home when I would read missionary emails that are all just full of scriptures and testimonies and I was like, "Oh, classic. They're at it again, all spiritual and boring." But honestly if I'm supposed to report my weeks to you that's all I have haha because it is what dominates your thoughts and it's really all that becomes important to you. But again you should tell me what is interesting so I can share it better.

Love you all,

Elder Webb

October 13, 2014

So maybe it's not always that effective. Basically I've explained to my trainee that missionary work is sort of like being a Jedi that rides a velociraptor and I'm teaching him how to saddle up and everything. He finds post-it notes with pictures of dinosaur Jedi combos in his journal sometimes.

October 6, 2014

 I feel like this is picturesque.

October 6, 2014

Family,

Wow. I love you all so much. I love being a missionary! I am never coming home (well, one day)! This is the best work that ever existed. It is so hard but all I want to do is do better because of the doctrine of Christ. If you didn't watch conference I can summarize it for you with the apostolic plea and warning to come unto Christ. Truly He is the way and I think I am finally starting to understand that a little bit. There is nowhere our path can go that He cannot safely guide us back each step of the way. No burden is too heavy for Him to lift. I love Him with all of my heart and that is why I am a happy missionary. I no longer care about what is ahead or what is behind, only what is within me and that is a burning testimony of Him and His patience to all people.

General Conference was so great. It is weird here in England. We watched the first session on Saturday at like 1 pm and then the other four were on Sunday at like 10 am, 1 pm, 5 pm, and 9 pm. We will watch the 9 pm one later in the week. And guess what! Amanda came to every session except Priesthood! I seriously don't know why she isn't baptized yet. She is the Brazilian girl we teach. The ward never put up the Chinese translation so we didn't really have any Chinese investigators come. 

And here are miracles. Between sessions on Sunday we went out to talk to people on the streets. I wasn't really feeling it but we did anyway and we saw all these good things. We met a man who spoke Portuguese from Angola and a family from Portugal was at the YSA building for conference so they took him under their wing. And we met a girl from Taiwan who had met missionaries and it seemed like the Lord has been knocking at her door for a while. And then we took two students from China on a tour of the building and said a prayer with them in the baptismal font. All in two hours, and that is basically what comprises my life! Those types of experiences are common here. It's so amazing! AHHHHHHH!

Elder Curtis is doing well. He might be one of the few from my mission I will stay friends with afterward. It's funny and I'm sympathetic to see him get used to what England and missionary life is like. He also has a beagle and we figured out we even have the same type of compound bow for archery. But our personalities are pretty different as well. He reminds me of Ian Webb sort of. I don't know what happened in the few months I have been here longer than him but I don't even remember a lot of stuff about America until he brings it up. 

Mom and Dad, I am excited to hear about your mission call. All the missionaries were crazy about my Halloween candy and one of the YSA saw the package secretly and came up to me later and was like "James, can you open the door for me?" He was laughing so hard at my confusion when he used my first name haha. Oh yeah and could you ever mail me some pretty landscape pictures of the different parts of Utah? I miss how pretty it is there. Tell Uncle Greg that he is right that the USA really is a choice land even though I am beginning to love England.

Oh yeah and just so you all know we don't just eat garbage all the time I included a picture of our weekly fajita sautee.

Love you all, happy happy, 

Elder Webb

September 29, 2014

 The Kid!

 Sewing on my first button.  This was a big moment.

We swapped the ties we liked most of the other's collection. Dangerous move.

September 29, 2014

Dear Ancient Inhabitants of the Americas,

So this week has some crazy news! After I emailed you last week I got a call that night that I would be training one of the new Chinese missionaries and that they were coming in the next day. So basically they got here on Tuesday and came over to the area on Wednesday and Elder Sidhu left for another area today. He's going to a place near Preston. The last week has been weird with Elder Sidhu saying goodbyes and also Elder Jin from Beijing came into the YSA ward to train the other Chinese speaking missionary, Elder Harris from Ogden. We call them the lost boys because they look a bit confused at how to do things here haha.

So my new companion is Elder Eli Curtis. He is from near Logan and he was companions with Elder Harris in the Provo MTC learning Chinese for the last two months. We have so many weird similarities like the same journal and he has a beagle and he loves fishing and hunting. So it will be a fun transfer and although he doesn't know it yet, he'll be a great missionary. It's crazy to train just after I finished my first 12 weeks which is the technical training period so I hope I can figure out how to do everything and teach him and help him. Mostly they just need someone to emotionally rely on until they adjust to things here. It's funny to see myself in him as I was so bugged by the little things like British vocabulary and gross water that I don't even think about anymore.

And guess what?! I apparently have a British accent now. Elder Curtis says that when I talk to British people I automatically switch and sound British. Then I switch back when I speak to Chinese people and simplify my grammar. Haha it's so funny. GIFT OF TONGUES!!!

Oh yeah I should tell you about all the people we teach. So there is Joulia who used to be Muslim and then Ella who was baptised in London. They are really solid and we just help with retention by teaching them weekly. Then we have Tom from China who finally came to church and has a deep desire to know about Jesus Christ. There is Varind, the Indian shopkeeper, but with Elder Sidhu gone the connection might be lost. The Mongolians kind of dropped off the grid with us but maybe a later day will bring them back. Meryem from Turkey goes back home tomorrow sadly but she really felt the Spirit at church and hopefully she finds some missionaries back in her home country,

There is a missionary in our district who stayed at our flat who sleeptalks. He gets really mad and starts singing and then yells at us. It was super scary but really funny to. He goes back to an earlier place in his mind so we were all his old companions as we talked to him as he slepttalk. Crazy!

Otherwise the best part of the week was our Brazilian investigator Amanda. We got her to fast with us yesterday to see if she should be baptized on October 23. It's so amazing as you teach a lesson that thoughts and impressions just flow into your mind to know how to work with people's concerns. She is so sweet and made us this Brazilian dessert called Brigadeiros. But anyway we promised if she would fast she would know what we are teaching is true so I'm excited! There is this deep, deep feeling for investigators that are progressing when all you care about is their spirituality that I don't know how to describe. Hope it all goes well!

Not much else for the week. It will be a good transfer as Elder Curtis is committed to working hard and we hope to see some good things happen.

Love you all and I love reading you emails!

-Elder Webb

September 22, 2014

We put this on display for the Fresher's week for all the tours. Arabic, Teleguu, Greek, Zulu, and plenty else.

 I can't remember if I send this picture already but I broke and got some. Good for the rain.

 Missionary selfies.

Study and proselyting gear.

September 22, 2014

Family (and close friends),

This email may be a little short as I'm sacrificing time to send pictures this week, but I don't have a whole lot to talk about. The time in this area is really flying now and it feels like I was writing you two days ago. 

This week was fun with a lot of students coming in. There are members that came in for university from all over and lots of RMs that can help us fellowship and whatnot. The members sometimes go street contacting with us which is kind of fun. 

I finally had an investigator make Chinese food for us this week. Actually he's a member called Ethan from Hunan. He made pork and peppers and garlic green been beef with a mushroom soup and salmon salad. It was all amazing. 

Fun part of the week, probably playing basketball. We went to the court and there were all these Mongolians there. I thought they were from Hong Kong at first because I couldn't understand their language but then we figured out that they know our Mongolian investigators. They were actually pretty good at basketball, luckily one of the other missionaries played in high school.

Man, student lifestyle is crazy. There are all these flyers for parties and I'm just happy to say I didn't apply to anywhere except BYU and the U. It really isn't a scene I could live in as a student. But it's kind of fun and scary to be a missionary amidst it all. I think everyone who goes to England has to come home with a very strong testimony. It's hard to explain but to reach people's hearts here you have to be so bold and put up with a lot of rubbish from people. I haven't had the craziest things, but you know those mission stories everyone loves of someone yelling at missionaries or rebuking them or whatever? I think if you are a good missionary here it will happen at least once a week, at least in the big cities. Joseph Smith and Enoch are good examples for us all haha

As far as investigators, we have a kid from China named Tom who is dated for baptism! Woohoo! He had to go back home after being taught a month or so ago but he is back and he understood the Plan of Salvation really well. Hopefully it all works out, it's hard for him to get to church though.

That's a wrap folks and I hope you enjoy the pictures. What other questions do you have?

Mom, I don't really tailor these emails with stuff I don't want other people to know because I don't have anything that I want to share with the family and not everyone else. The package was the best thing ever! I loved the pictures and the photobook and the journals are all perfect! I was an excited boy that day. Thank the Mayletts for me and thanks so much. My companion better enjoy that beef jerkey. It's so funny looking at all the pictures of my life before now, it's like a totally different world.

Phil and Matt, so we have a Brazilian investigator named Amanda that I think will be baptized. And there is a man named Mario from Brazil who helps us fellowship and teach. These people are so amazing! There is something special about their testimonies that I love so much. I imagine you saw this so much more deeply on your missions but I have loved the taste of it.

Dad, we ride buses sometimes but no subways or trains. I have been to maybe four conferences with loads of missionaries, it's fun to see where they are all from. The Chinese missionaries are supposed to come tomorrow or next week, so we'll see what I do.That sounds crazy fourwheeling. Just enjoy those mountains while you have them! You and Mom are getting a taste of waiting for a mission call haha it's long waiting. The Preston Temple has the new film so I got to see it. I think they only do English here though. 

Love you all,

Elder Webb

September 15, 2014

Family,

I am just laughing at the computer right now with all the random stuff that I learn about your lives back home. I can now say I am an uncle to eight! That is crazy as it comes. Keep those kids safe for me. They are so lucky to grow up in a Gospel centered home. I realized that in Utah church leaders play a much smaller part in our lives because of the strong Priesthood families. Without this the ward has to be much more of a family and it really is a blessing to live in an area where the Gospel is so widespread.

So Sister Sun left this week, Sister Mangelson's niece. It is so weird because I remember her announcing her mission call in mission prep two years ago and thinking how strange of a mission call that was and now I served around her in her last transfer. She was an amazing missionary and sort of like my trainer, she walked away a mission legend. I hope to do the same! There is a clear difference between missionaries who understand their work and those that don't.

So did you all know my mission is called the cradle of the Restoration? There is this mission song we have that I listened to the other day and I realized I will really miss this place one day. The most special part is that where the original Saints came from, Liverpool, Preston, Manchester, and Wales, is where I will serve to lay the groundwork of the Saints in China one day. It is so powerfully symbolic and I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be here.

I realized this week that I can finally say I would rather be on my mission than back home. Don't take that to mean I don't love and miss you all, but it really is such an important time. There is nothing like being a missionary; it is an exalted lifestyle. It is odd that the aspect of my mission that I was least excited for, all of the trials and hardships, is what has made me love it. Everything in this like is about redemption through Jesus Christ and His doctrine. Please focus on these things!!!

As for the activities of the week, I honestly don't even remember. This week is when all the freshman come in and they are sending ten companionships down each day to work the universities. Pray that we might find those who are prepared. There are supposedly 50,000 students at least moving in this week, so it should be pretty crazy.

Mom, your pictures came in the mail and the stories. I am so excited to read them and I think I will get my package from the Mayletts on Wednesday. The office has it right now. I couldn't stop laughing at all the pictures you sent me hahahaha. I usually don't have time to read Spencer's emails so I don't know what goes on. I hope to get a letter from Kaden! I hope the ward is talking about how handsome I am in my mission plaque picture. Hey also can you call BYU and see if my AP test scores from 2013 will expire by the time I get back. I can't remember if I sent them.

Dad, maybe you can take up fly fishing with Brother Holley haha. I am jealous you got to go to Mirror Lake. Mom's pictures of you working at Matt's were so funny, I can just imagine all the drama of getting things down.

Scott, I can't believe that is what your workplace looks like. Make sure you go fellowshipping to those recent converts, they need just as much help as investigators! I see now what you mean about wards outside of Utah, they really are so much fun. Also they love the fact that they aren't in Utah. I haven't seen sunshine in 2 months so enjoy those clouds! Haha just kidding but I have forgotten that it's always sunny in the US.

Love you all and go out and find someone who needs to feel God's love in their lives. Take a retrospective chastisement to myself before my mission, if you think you are too busy to serve or share the Gospel or there is no one around you who needs help, you are missing out on one of the most important parts of following Jesus Christ.

-Elder Webb

September 8, 2014

Heya,

So this was a good week. Sorry this email will be really short but my email time was encompassed by deep thought and pensiveness and imagined burritos so I hope to be able to write more later in the day. Probably the best part of the week was teaching a girl named Amanda from Salvador, Brazil. She is so sweet and we got a Brazilian family in a nearby ward to come help teach her. We have a casual date for baptism for her so I hope that goes through. Then there is Vicky from Beijing who looked like she had seen a ghost when I started speaking Chinese to her. I was told this week that I hardly have an accent and someone told me I have the best Chinese of any foreigner they have met, so I'm feeling a little pompous at the moment. Haha too bad I can't say most words of the language, even if I can speak it well. But Vicky said we were her angels this morning when we helped her move flats haha so hopefully we can teach her more. The further I get into my mission the more I think about the people I am helping and care about little else. But it's not easy and there are so many distractions. Many missionaries are unhappy and I think it's because they don't understand what they are teaching. Elder Sidhu made curry for a family this week that was tasty and we are together another transfer which will be good. But the new Chinese speaking elders come in mid transfer and the assistants told me I am likely to start training them. Wish me luck :) Sorry I haven't responded to personal emails, I really am distracted right now because of A CERTAIN SOMEONE'S mission call that I am trying to wrap my head around. That was an inside message, sorry to everybody else.

But anyway I am hoping to step up my game as a missionary and really try to understand this work. It is all a learning curve and I have realized a simple thing about myself that makes all the difference. The God I know has never failed me and we can put all trust in Him. He will always be there to deliver in the hardest moments and for that I am ever grateful. Matchless is His love and His Gospel is asking to be dedicated to. Please look for ways to uplift those around you and know there is a story to every scar and a tear to every wearied face.

I love you all,

September 1, 2014

Friends and Loved Ones Afar Off,

Chalk another one up, as Grandpa would say. I can't believe this is the last week of the transfer. Time flies when you're doing the good work! I was thinking about how I would be going back to school right now if it were the last like eleven years of my life and I'll easily say I'm not jealous of them! 

I don't think anything too interesting came up this week except for continuing to teach our Mongolian investigators. We gave them copies of the Book of Mormon in Mongolian and taught them about the Atonement and prophets and dispensations this week. Random stuff sort of. As for any Chinese investigators we're a little short but hopefully the freshman week will bring them in by the boatload. Chinese students are really afraid of Christian missionaries sometimes and they don't like to talk to you if they are around their friends. Usually it doesn't work to talk about the Gospel the first time you meet them, maybe just tell them you will teach them English or play ping pang haha. 

The flat Elder Sidhu and I live in is like a Chinese missionary legend. I think almost every Chinese Elder in the mission has lived there except the first few. We were looking at their progress records and no offense to the past but I have higher expectations of myself haha. Elder Lybbert, the Michigan man, will be an amazing asset to the Chinese work as well. He bears an Elder Holland-esque testimony.

I decided this week I would map out my days and what I do because some of the questions I get indicate I haven't explained it well enough. But before that, Elder Sidhu and I figured out that in this transfer alone we have taught at least a principle to people from:

Peru, Russia, Portugal, China, England, Lebanon, Libya, Mexico, Tanzania, Romania, Greece, Turkey, India, Nigeria, Mongolia, Brazil, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cypress, and Mauritius.

Isn't that crazy? I am so privileged! Everyone needs His light and truth, but there is so many false ideas out there that plague our spirits.

So my days go as follows. Wake up at 6.30 and pretend to exercise for half and hour. Shower and almost fall asleep/eat cereal and soymilk and muffins if it's a good day till 8. Then we do personal study in the which I mostly read the Book of Mormon or Conference talks or study Preach My Gospel. Then we do an hour of companion study which basically means a prayer before we talk about the day and maybe listen to a talk, read from the white Bible. We're pretty bad at using that time haha. Then I do my Chinese study for an hour, which is either really entertaining or I stare blankly at my desk wondering what to study about. Then we eat lunch, maybe some fajitas or chicken and rice, the usual. If I take a nap during this time my motivation sours like old milk so I try to stay awake haha.

Then it's time to hit the streets! We usually are out proselyting by 1, which is pretty late for missionaries but England doesn't even wake up until then anyway. We go out on Oxford Road and talk to people, or sit at a little desk talking about family history. If it's raining we lie in wait underneath the subway to pounce on the innocent Asian who happens to be walking by or just hope people are attracted to our umbrellas. Dinner time comes around 5 or 6 and we head back to the flat for whatever is lying around. It's a ten minute walk to the flat from the YSA building, so that's about all the travel we do in this area. Usually there is an activity at night like YSA FHE or Ping Pang Tournaments that we go to if we have an investigator.

We come in at 9 to 9.15 usually and do our planning for the next day, hoping we turn the page and have at least one appointment in there. It's a pretty simple area and you don't have to be too creative to use your time, and we teach most lessons at the building, which is really nice. At 9.30 about I get into my PJs and write in my journal or we listen to a talk or something until 10.30, at which time we sleep. I have never in my life been so tired every single day. By the time my head hits the pillow my body feels like I'll never move again and I always wake up with plenty of little kinks to stretch out. 

So that's the life and it gets easier everyday. We can adapt so well as humans. My feet have thicker soles and what would have bothered me a month ago just rolls off now. It really is the best lifestyle. Except for those days where I can't believe how long my mission is going to be haha I really do love it. Something about dedicating almost every minute of the day to other people fills your heart with a new power and satisfaction and joy that comes in no other way, and it accelerates learning, growth, and healing. Missions are an amazing time of healing, nothing else like it. I feel so much stronger everyday and "set apart" has a new meaning to me now. 

Love you all and go do some missionary work! 

-Elder James Manchester Webb

August 27, 2014

Manchester Night Light.

August 27, 2014

Dear Residents Abroad,

So I'm emailing late because we went to the Preston Temple for our P-day, which was so amazing. The inside is beautiful and I was really inspired there. Did you know they have a third new temple video? I'm sure every member in Utah has their opinion about whether they like it or not haha. My mission president loves the temple so hopefully we can go a lot. It was a bank holiday on Monday so it was open to missionaries.

Can't think of much that was too crazy this week. The Mongolian students that came to church are officially investigators and have started praying. We have to teach them very simply and ordered copies of pamphlets and the Book of Mormon in Mongolian. Other than that we don't really have any investigators we are seriously working with. The YSA ward is crazy because there are four companionships, three of which are Mandarin, and we all kind of fight for whom to work with haha. I have realized I have no desire to look back on my mission and remember silly missionary drama, so I just want to find the Asians who will hear the good word and call it a night. The Manchester Zone is supposed to be the really powerful one full of assistants, zone leaders, sister training leaders, and the elite breed haha so you can imagine there's competition and distraction.

Nah but it's all good, there's really intense opposition in the mission right now. My companion said this week was like the hardest of his mission with just random things that get in the way. It kind of excites me because I know there is something good on the way. I know this is such a missionary thing to say but I have never been more grateful for how hard this is because I am coming to know my Savior so much everyday. President Ulrich has basically explained to us that we are setting too many precedents and he wants to see Brigham Youngs and Heber C. Kimballs out here! And it all has to do with family history and retention and things.

So here is my missionary challenge to all of you. I get so frustrated when we have an investigator come to an activity, or we know someone is less-active and hardly wants to be there, and no one reaches out to them. The YSA ward here is helpful, but I think too often we come to church activities to be social with our friends and not really progress Heavenly Father's purpose of the church. I am guilty of this myself when I was home, and there's nothing wrong with enjoying your member friends, but I have a commitment to look for people who need strengthening when I come home at every angle. You feel me? Missionaries sometimes have to shoulder this alone but people can't really become active, happy members unless the ward puts in just as much effort.

So it's a grand time out here in the work. I can't wait till the day when I can send you a picture of the font filled and a little man from Hunan or Hubei or Shanghai next to me, but it takes a lot of work.

Dad, we only walk. I rode buses in Chorley a lot but here we are pedestrians all the time. Only leadership has cars and biking areas are something I hope to avoid haha.

Sorry all if I can't respond to your individual emails, we don't have loads of time this week 'cause we gotta' hit the streets!

Love you all,

Elder James Lynn Heber Weggberts