July 28, 2014

 Gotta' love those awkward mission pictures. The first is Julia's wonderful baptism and the second is the new stadium for Manchester City. After much prayer and pondering I have decided to be a supporter of ManCity. A member took us to visit.

Here's like half the mission at a multi-zone conference in the Chorley chapel.

July 28, 2014

Hiya (that's what they say instead of hello in this strange country),

So you know you're in Europe when you spend $2.50 on a water bottle that is warm because there are no drinking fountains.

Whoa crazy week. The two major highlights were Julia's baptism and transfer calls. I have been so excited to tell you all my next area!!!!

So on Wednesday and Thursday I got to go down to Manchester to the YSA building for some meetings and activities. There are SO MANY Chinese people there. I did a little contacting in the Mandarin language, which was fun, and found out on Saturday that that is my next area. So tomorrow I will go down to Manchester to work with the young single adult ward. I imagine I will be there for six months and probably train the new Chinese missionaries coming in next transfer. Time to do some work with the student population I have dreamed of for the last six months of my life! But my next companion is from Coventry, England, and is Indian (Elder Anoop Sidew). He's not a Chinese speaker either. I met him down at the YSA building, he is really kind and really stylish. I am excited to work with him. I am not sure how everything will go without having a companion that speaks fluent Chinese, so I'll have to learn Mandarin fast!

So Elder Debenham goes home on Thursday, hopefully you get the chance to meet him. He has been an amazing example of hard work and obedience and I have loved my time with him. Usually new missionaries dislike their trainers by the end, but having two of them made it pretty easy to get along. Chorley was an amazing place to work in and a great transition into mission life. 

My favorite experiences from Chorley were working with Lee and Julia. It's funny to me how none of you know these people and it's all I've had to think about for the last four weeks. Julia is going to have a roughish adjustment from her Catholic background to the church, but I think she developed humility and obedience long before we met her. 

Lee has been so amazing to work with. His baptism is in two weeks and I hope I can come up for it. He told us he knows for a fact that he will go on a mission and he asked if he can come teaching with us soon. We had a fireside with all these converts sharing their stories and it finally hit me how amazing it is to see people's lives change through Christ. Lee has given up all these parts of his life simply because the Gospel makes sense to him and he is going against his parents and friends and everything else because he told us that God has a path for everyone, and they just need to take it. I really love this kid so much.

I think I am beginning to understand why a mission is so revered by those who have served one. It is the most difficult thing and the most rewarding thing. There is a special joy and feeling that only is experienced in ministering God's will to His children. It is this deep-rooted, solemn recognition of what life really is about. Sometimes I worry that my letters make it sound like I know what I'm doing, but the simple principle is that God works miracles through very small means and the weak things of the world.

I know with all my heart that Jesus Christ lives. We have a great responsibility to carry His message to everyone and steady those around us. To do so we must sanctify ourselves and develop the character of our Savior. How privileged we are to know Him and help others with the same.

I love you all and can't wait to see how Manchester hits me. It's like a medium if Salt Lake is mild and New York is hot sauce. So I'm a little freaked out, but the answer is always the same and it lies in Christ.

Mom, we teach like 20 lessons a week. That means a variety of things, though. That sounds so fun to go up to Idaho. Our lessons last anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour. I am stilll in 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon hahaha. I ate a traditional pasty the other day, it was really good. You can buy them at lots of places. I don't really have any requests for my package... Pop tarts? 

Not much more to say.

-Elder Webb

July 21, 2014

Dearest Folks of the Land of the Free,

Sorry about pictures, my camera takes too large of files to send very many and I can't figure out how to shrink them yet. Precious time, these two hours. Also, if I say strange things in my emails you can't hold me accountable because my brain turns to mush on P-days and I really am not sure what I say. If you have requests for what is most interesting to read from emails (investigators, stories, culture, etc.) let me know so I can have some focus!

I can't believe I've been here for three weeks. My birthday was fun, we got Korman curry to take out which was tasty and I loved those OREOS! They are seriously so good. Thanks for the package, Mom, the mission office delivered it right on my birthday :) The peanut butter here is not as sweet or peanut flavored as it is back home. Having more stories of my ancestors will be great, I think that will be special since I am in the land of my forefathers. I am a little bit excited for the day I will be a senior companion and can call more of the shots on food; we eat like peasants some meals and like kings for others. 

So Julia's baptism was postponed until next week, which was a little sad, but it will be all the more exciting. I never understood what a baptism really meant until now. Even if the person is prepared you have to fight to the bone to get them under the water. But Julia is a saint and has such a willing heart for everything. Teaching her makes the longer days worth it. There is such a remarkable difference between people with the Gospel and those without it. People are just so blessed on every angle when they follow Christ, and there is so much confusion and darkness without it.

So you may remember my elderly friend, Ethel. I am pretty sure old age is the only thing standing in her way for baptism. We gave her a Book of Mormon and the next lesson she was so scared we would be mad that her dog tore it all up. The cover was totally shredded just like if Olive had had a heyday. Ethel is the sweetest woman but I think she might have dementia, so teaching her is really funny.

I will find out this week if I will stay in Chorley for another transfer or go somewhere else. I would be fine to be here another six weeks, but it kind of sounds nice to start learning more Chinese. I guess students really don't get here until September, so it makes sense for me to stay here and finish training or go practice Chinese with Elder Jin from Beijing somewhere else. I will know all of this on Saturday. Elder Debenham goes home to Sandy a week from Thursday so I'll have to send him round to greet you all. 

As far as spiritual growth, one core topic seems to be the most important as a missionary. Any time another elder bears testimony of enduring a trial or how they changed, it all comes down to the Atonement and their personal relationship with Christ. I am reading the Book of Mormon right now with the specific goal of better understanding of how to come to know Christ and use His Atonement. Without this understanding this work is really impossible. It is at the core of all we are and what we need to do with the Gospel.

I am feeling much more comfortable with this crazy lifestyle and a lot less anxious about the future. Missionaries have a very special privilege in their calling. I may not have an iPhone, wear very clean clothes all of the time, or get time to relax on the couch. I also walk everywhere and learn quickly who likes us and who doesn't. But I am so grateful for the sacred privilege of being a spiritual minister to the people of England and seeing God's hand in their lives. Miracles happen like common events when you do this work and I have never felt in my heart such a satisfaction and understanding of what is most important. I am not jealous of anything else because this is the work of God and it is so fulfilling, even in all its discomfort.

I love you all,

Elder Webb

July 21, 2014

Elder Bradley 

An exterior view of our apartment.  We are on the third floor.

My companions. Elder Debenham   

July 14, 2014

Dearest Ones of America, I can't believe I've been here for almost two weeks. I get really excited for P-days to write home and detail these crazy experiences out here. Also, thank you everyone for the great letters on the airplane, I really enjoyed them. I forgot about that last time I was emailing. I am in the Chorley library to email you all, by the way. We live in a city called Euxton that is only a few miles long, I think. I still don't even know North from West here. It's only rained 2 of the days I've been here. I don't know how I'll handle when it starts to rain more, apparently it gets pitch black at 4:00 in the winter. Never realized it, but England is as far north as Canada and Alaska. So my week. Well on Saturday I will celebrate my birthday. Here's the crazy part. The first missionaries to come here arrived on July 19th, 1837. They left on July 1, the same day I left. And my first baptism will be on the 19th! Such coincidences. The lady we are baptizing is a school teacher from Sunderland, England, and has progressed really well. We teach her daily and she loves the ward. It's so cool to see somebody talk about how the Gospel has given them this light that they have never experienced before. The ward here is so helpful; it is full of cute elderly couples that are soooo British. I don't even know how to describe British people. Then we have two dated for August. One is Lee, a 19 year old thug who always comes to lessons with a little boombox playing. We gave him a blessing at church and he says everything just makes sense to him about the Gospel. And then there is Ethel, in her 70s, who is very sweet and gave me a fake daffodil to pin onto my bag. Hahaha I am not totally sure she is accountable. When we asked her about baptism she got her planner out and the business of the proposed date was the first concern... But hey, what do you do? I've gotten to meet a few of the Chinese missionaries, which has been fun. They are kind of this club of elitists who hold mission records and have this totally Asian culture to them. Wonder how all that will be. I'll probably be here till like September working in my native tongue. But! We found this man from China who speaks like no English that said we could come over. That will be really cool, hopefully I can reach him. I kind of blanked when I couldn't speak English to him. My companions saw him and just stopped and looked at me and my heart dropped hahaha. As for any funny experiences, this one was crazy to me. We went into this person's house and started talking about the Restoration. The lady wasn't very interested, they more wanted to talk about world views and ghosts, but after talking about the First Vision for a moment she explained that she believes God is an alien who is experimenting on us. I had to stop myself from laughing; she was totally serious. My companions didn't even think anything of it. And at that point, my friends, I gained my first sense of pride for serving in England. We eat at member's homes almost every night. It's really nice to have a break. Since Chorley has the temple, it's kind of like the Utah of England. So it's a fairly mild area, which is nice to start in. My companions have practically served in Babylon, also known as Blackpool or Liverpool. I can't wait to go to Liverpool eventually, the accent is so cool. My pride makes me feel so ghetto here! We walk everywhere, except for buses a few times a day, and share this old Nokia candy bar with T9. The mission life, folks, haha. But we get iPads in a few months for online proselyting. The church is getting really big on family history as a means of connecting people to the Gospel, so that might be a big part of my mission in the future, as well. We had a multi-zone conference where half the mission got to meet President Ulrich. He is so powerful and enthusiastic. He wants our baptisms to double in a few years. If anyone can do it, it's him. I guess he read a Gospel-scholarly book like Lectures on Faith every week since his mission and has gone to the temple every week. Blows me away; he knows everything. I'm a man for simple doctrine at this point, though, haha. Love you all and hope your week was swell, Elder Webbcaster

July 13, 2014 Letter about James from Sister Sun

Dear Family and Friends :) This has been an other crazy week :) But I am loving life :) There are a lot of hard times but honestly I really don't remember them because :) there are too many fun times and happy time :) something I learn this week, is the power of love and the power of forgiving. I know that sometime people can hurt you and it's hard to forgive them but I really do know that when you do and not a big deal out of it :) you will be much happier :)

 we are all just having fun right in front of our beautiful chapel :)

 Life can be so much fun WHEN ALL OF YOU ARE FRIENDS :) we all need friends and happiness :) Sister Fetuli :) and Elder Caleira :)

Guess who I saw last night :) It's Elder James Webb :) he is amazing :) his Chinese is amazing :) he has only been out for 5 days :) but everyone keep telling me he is an power house :) I love that so much :) 

Sorry this week I Don't have a lot of time :( but I really do know that God lives and he knows and love all of his children :) I know Heavenly Father loves us so much that he want us to be happy :) I know life can be hard but as we put our trust in Heavenly Father Than we will be able to be ok :) I know that as we pray and ask we will be able to have his help in our lives :) I love you all so much, I know when we make mistake though the Grace of God and Jesus :) we will be able to be ok :) and as we repent :) you wills ee the chance :) in you :) I love you so much and miss you all :) Keep smiling :) Love/Sister Sun

July 7, 2014

This is coming to you from your British friend, Elder Webbshire! Dearest Loved Ones, So my first area is the Chorley 3 ward about 30 minutes north of Manchester. It is a fairly quaint suburban area with plenty of old English buildings to gaze upon. I don't even know how to tell you everything that has happened in the craziest 4 days of my life. Being a missionary is the weirdest, scariest, coolest, and most shocking thing I have ever done hahaha. Before I get into things, here's the business side for informational purposes. All packages should be marked as gifts, be under the value of about $60, and sent to the mission office: England Manchester Mission Springwood, Suite G5 Booths Park, Chelford Rd Knutsford, WA16 BG5 United Kingdom You can also buy things from amazon.uk and send them to there for me, if you want to send something over the value of roughly $60. If they guess that it is worth more I have to pay a big tax. I can get them at like zone meetings and stuff maybe once a month. If my transfers are coming up then letters should be sent here, too, in case I leave my area. So I'll let you know when to do that. But in the mean time I can be reached at: 11 Regency Gardens Euxton, LANCS PR7 6NW England I am almost overwhelmed by the loads I have to say, so I will just do it categorically so I don't miss anything :) The plane ride. I met some cool people. A Cherokee lady from North Carolina and some lady whose fiance lives in my mission. I didn't really do any missionary work like they wanted, but I got to know the people just to see if there was an easy way in haha. I met a lady who was going back to Manchester with her husband with their kids because they both served here. So cool. The mission home. The assistants and President and his wife picked me up and they were nice. We went to the mission home for lunch and some training/information. It is so scary how they drive on the left side of the road; still getting used to that. I didn't realize how dazed I was at that time until looking back. President Ulrich said I will be serving in Chorley to be trained in English until the school year starts again where the Chinese work really starts happening. So I don't have the language stress right now, but I still need to learn it. All of the Mandarin elders save one will be home at the end of the transfer I think, so with the two coming from the MTC we will have work to do. I don't know what's ahead in that regard, but I think it will be crazy! I might train in Chinese hahaha. My new companions. We drove up to Chorley and my new companions are Elder Parker Debenham and Jeffrey Bradley. Elder Bradley has been out six months. He is from Yubi City, California and is really funny and mellow. He served in New England while waiting for a visa and hated it compared to here. Elder Debenham is the best. He goes home at the end of this month and is like a mission legend. He graduated from Alta in 2011 and we know so many of the same people. He has like 23 baptisms under his belt, which just means he works hard out here, so I'm learning from one of the best so it's awesome. I really like him and hope he comes to visit you all back home! He's so Draper, he loves Golds Gym and Cafe Rio. It's so nice to have a trainer like this. He is so bold and loving. People. I am definitely serving in Europe. For any RMs, we teach like 20 lessons a week and get like 2 potential investigators a day. We contact on buses and in the street on our way to appointments, mostly, and work with less actives and everyone in between. We have one lady dated for baptism on my birthday and another who will probably be baptized shortly after. I don't take credit for any of this work, but it is fun to see. It is kind of tough to be trained this way because they can just do all the work and forget to explain things to me, but I am still learning a ton. My companions have British inflections and vocabulary; it is ridiculous. They call a stove a hobb here and Elder Debenham forgot what they call it in America. I can't imagine that. So I say posh, brilliant, dodgy, and many other weird words now all of the time haha! Our investigator dated on the 19th lives three floors down from our flat (apartment) and is very sweet. Her name is Julia and she's super solid. The other possibility is Lee. He is 19 and says things like "I was atheist before I met these Gs." This may all sound detached, it is because none of this is real to me yet. People are amazing. The temple is in Chorley, so a lot of people know who we are and don't like us, but sometimes people say the most inspired things. British people are like dignified and quiet when they reject us, in this way that is sometimes rude and sometimes not. I didn't know what it is like to be so disliked and to have sacred things made light of. That's probably all the negative you will get out of me, but suffice it to say I will have a very bold testimony when I come home hahaha and there is a lot of darkness out here. And then so much light in good people, wow! Everyone I have met feels like a reflection of someone I know back home. This is the craziest thing. People look so different here. I honestly feel like Link from Legend of Zelda when I go out. And the people look and act like all the types you meet in the different cities of the game. Some are short or tall or awkward or nice or grumpy and their voices are so different, with such different facial structures. British accents are unreal. They change every 20 minutes driving. I spoke Chinese twice; a man from Vietnam who speaks Chinese walked our way and a lady from China. The man might take us for a lesson, I don't know yet but kind of cool. We would teach him in English anyway. So that all will be a future chapter. Talking to people is so scary for me. I was so nervous the first day and am getting more comfortable now, but I just don't like starting conversations on the bus or street when people act so uninterested. That will be an interesting progression. I don't think I'll ever be as persistent as my companion Elder Debenham. But I could be very wrong once I really get into the work. I don't know how to explain how I feel because the culture shock is too much to figure myself out yet. Getting there :) Our flat. Missionaries are sort of stinky, but I am growing immune. I'll just clean a lot haha when I have the power. It's not bad and I enjoy the flat life. The ward here is so great. The bishop reminds me of Uncle Shawn and the ward is really engaged to help us. So I am sort of running short on time. I get two hours for email, at least for now (President Ulrich is changing a few things and is very engaged, wow!). There is plenty more I hope to tell you but you will just have to wait! If I had to sum it up I would simply say that God is real and that He knows us. His power is above all things on the earth and His influence is in every part of the world. He will work with us according to our faith only and His blessings are supernal. The world is full of hate and darkness and such misguided notion. Happiness cannot be built on anything but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If I can see only one thing for sure at this strange point of my mission, it is that I will not come home the same. You know what they say. Send a boy to Provo and he returns a boy. Send him to South America and he returns a man. Send him to Europe and he returns a missionary. But send him to England, and he becomes a General Authority. Hahahaha just kidding but this is all amazing and I love you all so much. I have a lot to learn out here and a lot to learn to love, but I will only be able to do this because of my testimony that Christ is the Son of God. And that testimony I boldly leave with you and the world. Love, Elder Webb .