I continue to be a very imperfect, spastic, but willing servant.

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes, Casilla 27.144
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile 

How are you all this week!?  This week was full of ups and downs.  But don´t worry, we are doing good.

To start off M__ did not get baptized. Her husband C__, was really sick.  The poor guy had like three things happen to him all at once and spent all day Sunday in the hospital, which obviously makes it pretty hard for him to be able to baptize his wife. We were pretty bummed when we found out but then it turned out good, because she is going to get baptized with her daughter.  The good news is that day is going to be really special and fun because they are making the most important decision and doing it as a family.  The bad news is they are making that decision for the Sunday after Hermana Webb will be transferred.  That is the only bummer of the story. C__ was really cute about it. He said that at like four a clock in the morning he woke up and said to his wife that he really wanted to go church.  His wife told him I love you but you are not going to church.  He had problems with strep, blood presure and liver problems all mixed togother so he was definitely too sick to go to church. He is a lot better now so that make us happy.  Their family really is progressing a lot!!  I am really happy for them!  They are working hard and everyone is chaging.  A_ continues to listen to all of our charlas and we gave him a Book of Mormon last night.  We watched the end of Elder Holland´s talk when he gives a powerful testimony of the 

Book of Mormon.  I think they liked it!  I am hoping that is what gets A_ to listen to us a little more.  That book is true!  You can even see it with your logic!  He is a very smart kid.  He works for his professor all of the time with bacteria.  He reminds me a lot of Taylor -- when he tries to explain what he is doing and NO ONE understands.  It is fun now though because I really feel comfortable now in their house.  I feel more and more like it is my house.  They all make me so happy! 

So this week we visited L__.  L__ is the lady who got baptized like 6 months before I got there.  She is adorable! Her Daughter M__ got baptized in September.  Anyway we went to talk to her and it was super cute because she answered one of my prayers.  We had a really beautiful conversation about how we really cannot be successful in the way we want to if we do not have Christ in our hearts.  She has this leader that she really looked up to but when he treated her and her people bad she realized that successes at work are not the kind of success she is looking for.  At the end of the conversation her daughter joined in and said she would go to church!  She has two daughters.  One is a member ( M__ ) and the other is not yet, so it was really exciting to see all three of them in Church on Sunday. 

There is not a ton to update this week.  We are doing really well.  We keep working with our old investigators and we have found a lot of new ones. They are all great like always but there are not very many stories that are very exciting. 

Everyone is asking about changes. They are this week and I am 95% sure that I am out of Apoquindo.  I am full of mixed feelings.  I don´t want to leave but at the same time I feel like Apoquindo could use a fresh face.  It has been a very long time. I am going to have a really hard time leaving my companion, B__ and most of all G__ family, but I will get over it.  It has been a really beautiful time here.  Like dad said in his letter, Apoquindo will always be really important to me.  It is crazy to think of all that has happened in this short year!  God has been so good to me and has taught me so much!  I feel humbled to have been blessed to be a part of such a great area and to have been able to visit so many families!  They all make me so happy!  This week I had to say goodbye to E__.  That sucked!!!  I came home crying.  I know it is going to be even harder to say goodbye to the rest of them. That is where I have to remember the stinkin' song  I'll go where you want me to go... even if that is where I DON´T want. ;)  I am learning to trust God more.  If He put me here in Apoquindo and part two of the mission plan is half as good as Apoquindo, I think it is going to turn out pretty good!  Faith is a word that runs a lot deeper than just believing.  I am going to be leaving what feels like my family AGAIN and trusting that God will be doing the rest.  I love these people!!!!  Just like I love you guys.  It is not fun to just leave and not even get to watch what God has planned.  But I trust him.  He is going to take good care of P__, E__ and their family, C_, M__, and their family, and all of these other people that I have grown to love so much!  I trust Him because he has taken dang good care of all of you!!  I love to see how happy you all are and how much you have all grown!!  His plan works!  It is just the Trusting Him part that I still need to work on!!

God continues to humble me and teach me.  And I continue to be a very imperfect, spastic, but willing servant.  I love my companion and I love where I am.  I am sure I will love the next place too.  It will just take some getting used to. 

I love you all so much I hope you have a great week!  I hope all goes well this week!  Thanks for your prayers! They mean a lot to me!  I am praying for all of you!!

Love Hermana Webb

Soy Mormon!!

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes, Casilla 27.144
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile 

I love you all so much!!  It was so much fun to read all of your letters and get all of the pictures.  What a great family I have!!

Also I want to say to Heather that I love your face and I am sure you are even greater with your 28 face! I am sure it is very cute! I hope your birthday was very happy! I love you so much!

The week was just great!!! I am serious ... the weeks get better and better here in Apoquindo and my desire to leave this place gets smaller and smaller.  I am going to miss Apoquindo! I hate it when God takes away people I love! 

To start, Y__ continues to progress little by little.  She is a sweetheart.  I love her face!  We went to a members house to show her some videos on Mormon channel.  She liked it a lot.  At the end I told her that we are taking her to a lot of houses so that she can get to know all of the members so that she can have friends when we leave.  She started to cry because she knew that that meant I was telling her that I am leaving.  It was really hard.  She wants out of the world she lives in.  She tells us all of the time that she would do anything to have the hope we have but the problem is having the courage and the self control and the faith to actually take the steps. It is not easy to give up alcohol  and smoking when the end goal seems so far away.  I love her though because she continues with her energy and her laughter.  She loves everything.  Super buena onda!  She always finds something to be grateful for even when her story seems bleak.  We will keep working with her. 

C__ is probably my favorite person ever! I love that woman!  She is just quietly good! She goes about doing good and never expects anything in return.  Her daughter is very sick mentally and they took away her kids because of it.  Now C__ and the other grandma are in charge of taking care of these kids (nine and four). It has been really hard on her but she moves forward with a faith like I have never seen.  I think that after losing my own son in my very house because someone killed him would have made me give up a while ago but she continues to move forward even though now her only family left has gotten so sick that she cannot even take care of her kids.  Her grand kids are so cute though!!  She finally came to church and it looked like it really helped her a lot. I learn a lot from her example. 

P__ and her family continue to be as cute as can be.  I love them! E__ has new work where he works at a mine in the middle of a desert. He carries these giant cables all day and puts them some where that helps take out the copper. I am not really sure how it works but he was really cute about it because he said that he had been praying for work really hard.  There was one day when he was working hard in the hot desert sun and he was thinking about quitting and then he realized that God had answered his prayers.  Then he told us that he stopped complaining and went to work.  What a great way to look at life!  Sometimes it is hard to accept answers from God because it usually means more hard work, but once we realize that it is becuase we have a loving Heavenly Father who answers our prayers which always means progression in some way.  I feel like that with love.  When I pray for love, He gives it to me and then when I complain to Him for making it hurt so much when people don´t progress, He has to remind me that I asked for it! 

L__ came to church again yesterday!  That was pretty fun! J__ is a saint.  She is trying so hard to get this guy to come.  It is frustrating because when he listens to us he likes it.  He knows it is true, but the fact that he likes it and knows it is true means that he is going to have to make some changes in his life which is never easy and people usually like to avoid that. We did find a new investigator this week in her house.  He is from the south and he listened to the whole lesson and had questions at the end.  It was really exciting.  I hope he continues to progress. 

C__ could not be cuter!  I put "Soy Mormon!" in the subject line for him this week.  We were giving a lesson and he said, I don´t mean to be mean or anything but I could not beileve it when I found out these people that I knew in everyday life are Mormon.  I don´t know how I did not know before every time I walk in to a new place I want to throw my hands up in the air and yell "Soy mormon!" (I am mormon!)  I love that guy so much!  I realized he has a point.  Why don´t we do that more often!?  We should be like grandpa and C__ and remind people all of the time that we have something that they want!  And share it with them!  It is so fun to watch him change and watch him share it with other people!  The gospel is real!  I love being a part of it!  He got the priesthood this week and went back and kissed his cute wife.  I love seeing them together now!  They are so united!  I am so happy that all of the blessings of the priesthood and the Holy Ghost are filling their home!  What a cool equation God has for us.  Now C__ will be able to baptize his cute wife!! 

M__ is getting baptized on Sunday!!  I am so excited!  She is ready!  She really wants to get baptized!  And to make things even better their daughter has a date!  She is going to get baptized on the 8th of June!!  God is so good!  I cannot even begin to describe the changes that have happened in that family!  We are usually there pretty much every day!  Wait!, there is more!!  Al__ is listening to us!  He has listened to one whole lesson and we ate lunch with him!  He is a really good kid.  First we have to help him believe in God and then we are on our way!  But really, this family is really sweet.  And this gospel really does strengthen us and bring us together. 

I love you all so much!!  I am still learning a lot about love.  I know I talk about it all of the time but it makes me so happy!  I love love!  When I love other people and there are no other silly emotions that take up room it is really as sweet as Lehi says in his dream.  I love the Mother Teresa quote when she says "don´t judge people, because you won´t have time to love them."  I think that is true of all of the emotions in Moroni 7 that are bad. When Moroni was telling us the emotions or the things we should avoid he was telling us that we would lose the sweetness of the love!  I don´t know if I am explaining myself well.  I just am saying that I love loving without any other motivaions attached to get in the way.  I love loving each and every one of you!  Like mom says it just proves that God lives to me!  This is the kind of joy that He wanted us to enjoy when He said that in 2 Nephi 2. It is real!  I love you all so much!  I am learning little by little to clean that love even more so it can be more and more like my Savior´s love.  The kind of love that is free of selfishness, pride and anger.  Of course, that kind of pure love only comes from Christ.  He really is the source of everything, good.  Which makes it even better that He is also the promise keeper!  I love what mom said about hope!  I hope in Him!  He keeps His promises!  I love you all!  Have a great week!  Share the gospel with someone!  Declare that you are Mormon! It is fun! 

 

Hermana Webb

He filled me with His love, just as He said He would.

Hermana Webb and Hermana Paolantonio

(Gracias Paola Flores for the photo!)

(Only Carlie can make us laugh hysterically and cry in tenderness in the same e-mail!)

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes, Casilla 27.144
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile 

carlie.webb@myldsmail.net

May 12, 2014

How are you all doing!? I am doing so great! This is fun becuase this email is going to go to all parts of the world.  We are so cool! ;)

This week was absolutely wonderful!  B__ progressed a lot!!  We went to their house on Wednesday just to talk to A__. She has been going to more of the charlas recently so we thought we would find out what she was thinking.  One of the rumors we had heard was that her parents were obligating her to listen to us and we found out that that was not true.  She likes listening to us and she has seen a change in her family and so she is interested to find out more.  That made us very happy!  We want this whole family to participate in this gospel.  And, the ward has been open to them.  Good job Apoquindo ward for welcoming this family!  Anyway we finally had the chance to know what she was thinking and she is happy!  I love what this gospel does.  I asked her if she has seen a change in her family since we started coming and her eyes got really wide and she just nodded her head!  What a great gospel this is!  It really does work. The scriptures say that we will know by the fruits, and our church really does have amazing fruits!

We are working really hard and it seems that time just flies by without us even noticing it.  We had a cool miracle this week with a family from Colombia. There is a family that WAS menos activo but now they are awesome and gave us the reference of their maistro (contractor) who was making their apartment bigger.  His name is M__. We have been teaching him for a couple of weeks but he does not progress a ton.  Anyway one day a lady on the bus contacted the other sisters in our sector and asked THEM to visit HER!  That never happens!  Lucklily enough it was our sector.  So we went to their house and found a slightly crazy but very interested lady.  She has three kids, and lives with a Chilean. (Hence the person from Colombia in Chile.)  We were teaching her and who walks out of the back room?  M__! What!?  This women was his daughter.  So now M__ is progressing more and is more willing to listen to us.  God is good!  It is just in time too, because M__ was recently diagnosed with cancer.  I am not saying that knowledge of this gospel will make that more easy for him but it will at least make it a little more bearable.  He is a good guy.  I was really bummed to hear that he has cancer.  That was the bummer part of the week. Hopefully the gospel will bring in a little light.  It looks like the cancer is not growing, so that is a blessing. 

We had a lot of people in the capilla this week which was fun. B__ and G__ went like they always do, but R__ finally went.  I am so worried for that kid.  His parents are so lame!  His dad never sees him and when he does it is always on a Sunday DURING church and his mom just sleeps all of the time!  That family just sleeps.  I don´t know how they do it so much.  Anyway, I really love that kid and it was nice because I think this week he finally saw it.  I always bug him at the end of lessons and say 'what are the two things you have to remember?' and he always rolls his eyes and says que ustedes me aman y Dios también.  (That I love him and God does too.)  And I always say "very good!"  I think he is starting to realize that I am not just saying that!  Also this kid C__ (Menos activo) went to church.  He always goes once a week to pay his tithing, (he still has a testimony of that) and he refuses to tell us a time when we can visit him.  But this time he not only gave us a time to visit but he also was a little excited to see us!  I don´t now what happened, but I am excited to find out. 

You guys are all so funny all of you talked about how sorry you were that we did not talk yesterday.  I knew that part was coming.  It was totally fine.  My comp talked in P__'s house so I planned to have P__ as a companion and entertain myself with them while my comp talked to her family.  It was great!  We had a very fun Mother´s Day.  I LOVE that family!!  P__ showed me the video of me opening my call that mom put on Facebook and I just cried and cried.  (The video of Carlie opening her call is the first post on this blog.)  I was so excited to come here ... I was ready for an adventure but I had no idea that I would end up in P_'s house!  I think I would have peed my pants if I would have known.  (only Carlie.)  The only awkward part was waiting for my companion to talk and having P__´s nephew try to hold my hand and kiss my head!!  I hate men!!  Why do they all stink and what do they not understand about MISSIONARY? ... we are like nuns! We are not allowed to touch men .... I don´t know why he did not get that part.  Oh well, what are you going to do!?  I am sure I looked hilarious.  He caught me off guard and put his arm around me and started kissing my head ... That had to change fast.  EWWWW!!  (Only Carlie.)

Other funny story of the week ...  just because you are all in Spain and you are thinking about Christopher Columbus.  Here, his name is Cristobal Colon.  I did not know that that was his name but there is a super big street here that we always use with that name.  (It's in the address we send snail mail too.)  I never had made the connection before after like 7 months here.  Anyway, one day I was in the metro station of Cristobal Colon and I was reading this thing about this explorer who went to the Americas. (I still had not made the connection) Then I read about his three boats. (You all have to remember that I was reading in Spanish so in my head I read the names of the boats in my spanish accent;))  When I read the Ñinña the Pinta and the Santa Maria, I got all excited and thought: 'Wow!!  He used boats really similar to Christopher Columbus.'  Then like 30 seconds later I got it..... Wow! Classic Carlie.... You would think my intelligence would have grown in this time... ;) It was pretty funny when I realized!!  You guys can think about that while you are learning about Cristobal Colon or Christopher Columbus ....they are the same person;)!

(Grave of Christopher Columbus/ aka Cristobal Colon in Seville, Spain)

Yes, we took the photo for Carlie... Now that she knows who he is in English AND Spanish :-)

My study for this week was in Moroni 7: 

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

So, you all know that I am an anxious person ... (surprise, surprise.)  I had a few moments this week when anxiousness seemed to take over and make me miss out on all of these wonderful people.  I found myself more anxious than usual and really, really troubled over this weakness of mine.  I was really frustrated and tired.  I thought again about what Mom said about 'running to the tomb to find it "as he said" it would be' ... without really realizing I was doing it, I went to my knees and did as this scripture said and praying with all of my heart and finding myself filled with His love.  All of the things that seemed so disproportionately important went away, leaving behind only the essentials.  What I needed to have removed from me left a lot of room for His love and allowed me a calm heart without anxiety ... to love the people.  I love that He took this weakness with anxiety of mine and helped me to find strength instead.  He filled me with His love just as He said He would!!  I didn't realize I was running back to the empty tomb until He completed it with His promise.  He is a perfect creator and He continues to mold and shape me and I love being in His sure hands.

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!!!  Have a great week in all of the parts of the world where you are! Mom!! Happy Mothers Day!!! I love you! 

Hermana Webb

In exchange for living a few limitations, God gives us relationships without limits!!

Our "Mother's Day" hangout was on May 3 for Lauren's 20th birthday.

How we LOVE Carlie's dear mission presidents for making it possible!

She looked fabulous, was happy, and was excelling at her adorable sense of humor!

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes, Casilla 27.144
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile 

carlie.webb@myldsmail.net

May 5, 2014
How are you all!? I loved seeing your faces so much on Saturday ... it was so much fun!! What a great blessing it is to have you guys as my family!  Sorry I talked so much.  After I hung up my comp asked me what you guys told me and I kind of realized that I kind of told you guys everything;).  He he he I have a pretty good life ... lots to tell but you guys too! I loved the pictures of the graduation and my adorable nephew!! How fun is that!?

There is not much to report since Saturday.  I did have a cool expeirence that night after I talked to you guys. We went to visit R__. He is an example of one of the families that his been torn to bits because his parents made bad choices and did not put their God and their family first. His parents have separated, and all they do all day is sleep.  It is hard for me to see someone I love in a situation like that -- that can be fixed!!  The dad was in the house that day because he was helping A__ (the mom) clean the very messy house for R__ older brother´s birthday.  He started telling me that he does not like the church because we put too many limitations.  I told him that when God gives us limits in the end he is actually trying to set us free.  And because I was all hopped up on love for my family I used you guys as an example.  I said "take my parents for example."  "God has given them a couple limitations of things they should avoid, but thanks to the fact that they have kept all of his commandments, they will be together forever."  "God has given them a relationship without limits!  A relationship that does not even stop with death."  I told him that it is the same with me and I used the example that I used today that dad will always be my daddy!  We are sealed that way but only if we follow those limitations that God has given.  R__'s dad got really quiet for a second and said... "I would like to get to know your parents because I did not know relationships like that existed really! I don´t know a single couple!"  I do! My parents are sealed together forever!  And because God is so good and they have kept their covenants, it is a reality that is very sweet for me as their daughter!  So, in exchange for living with a few 'limitations', Got gives us relationships without limits!  He is so great!!

Sunday was great! C_ is progressing so much!  He wants to sign up to give us lunch, he has a week to clean the chapel, and he is ready for a calling.  So basically, he even likes the boring part of being a member! :-) That is a good sign!  He is a good man who has changed his life completely for this message.  The past can be ugly, but the mercy is real!  I am now understanding more of the Atonement than ever!  What a blessing it is to be made clean!  The real kind!  He is clean!  It does not matter what is in the past ... Christ has washed it away.  I love the message of this gospel! 

As for other things I am just really happy! Life is good! I really like you guys! I learned a lot from what you wrote me!  I love how we are all learning more and more about who is our Savior!  He lives!  Thanks for your testimonies!  I add mine!  What a blessing it is that the tomb was empty and for that through Christ, we have the ability to trade ashes for beauty! 

Hermana Webb