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.
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