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 .