Big Breath and a Little Prayer

Cheering for Chile (World Cup) -- out of the sunroof -- of the Mission President's Car.

She is having so much fun ... the Wright's deserve a raise.  Is that possible??

This week was great!! To be perfectly honest a lot of the things are the same but I actually grew and learned a lot this week. God is good and I learn every day that I certainly am not here to teach people, I am here to be taught by God. It is a very humbling, very exciting, very hard, and very fun experience all at the same time.

For a quick update on all of the people I love:

Familia B__: They are awesome. They were a little sick this week but they invited us to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. They are doing well and preparing names to bring to the temple on the 3rd of July. 

G_: They are the same. Struggling, but working hard and progressing. V_ and J_ are preparing for the temple also.  The 3rd of July will be one of the best days ever!! 

R_: They know it is true they just don´t want to act. That is the problem with change: we have to act. Staying in your house just does not cut it. If God has prepared a plan so that we can be Gods, getting to that step is a lot more complicated than the things we can get done just in the house.  It all starts in the home but it has to include the church and the temple too!  They are missing that part so the home is not as strong. 

Y__: She is such a sweet heart! I think now she understands that this decision is a big one. Now she is coming up with all of the doubts. Some of them are silly and some of them are good ones. We are working with her so that she prays and asks Heavenly Father if our message is true.  She keeps telling us that she is afraid to do it because she knows the answer is going to be yes and then she is going to have a lot of changes to make. So now we just have to wait until she prays. God is good.  He will help her know. 

Familia S_ They are new. I will attatch a picture of them. We finally got into their house again this week. We contacted them like 7 months ago but we could never get a hold of them again. We had a great first lesson with them and I think they have potential. It is mom, dad and two daughters.  They live in our same apartment building. 

G_ She is also new. She was a reference. She is great! She had a couple of months where they thought she had cancer. They just found out that she does not and now she is interested in our message because she says that she is looking for the truth. 

I think that is about all of the ones that are or have the potential to progress right now. We keep looking for new people but it is kind of a process.

So I wanted to tell you guys what I learned this week. God is a good teacher!! He has this awesome lesson plan to help me overcome weaknesses. You now Ether 12? Well, it is true!! I have been thinking a lot about how weak we are. I have been thinking a lot about how much God has planned for us weaklings.  I think of all of the weaknesses I have that are so real and so hard to overcome.  I think of how angry I get or how offended I feel over small things.  It is really tiring to be so full of so many emotions all of the time! To always be worried, feel guilty, anxious, happy, excited, sad, and angry. It made me stop and I wonder what God plans to do with a daughter as spastic as me. Then I think of what is plans are for families. I see so many families here that are soooooooooooo not perfect. I see marriages that are struggling to get through a day much less an eternity and I start to wonder 'what are You thinking God?'  How are You going to make a God out of me? How are You going to make an eternal marriage with my imperfect half and another imperfect half?  I still don´t get it because it is hard to understand eternity with a very limited brain, but I saw a little piece of it. I have been studying a lot about how God plans to do more than just forgive us of our sins. He plans to make us Holy! (like dad always says.) I have been thinking a lot about temple covenants, Mosiah 2-4 (the talk about the temple), and just experiences that I have had that show me how much more God has planned for me than just making me clean (which is what he did for me at baptism.) Now with my other covenants (in the temple) I have more to do. I did not understand how His atonement was going to make me holy. I understood that it can forgive me of past sins but how was it going to protect me from future sins. I found a good simple example in my study and when someone here was really rude to me:

It seems to me that God had planned this out. He had been guiding my study. He had showed me that the power of the atonement is much more than just forgiving. (even though that part is beautiful too!) This person (who has done it several times before) said something rude, and I felt the anger start to bubble. In stead of just trying to breathe, I said a little prayer and said (Like the people of King Benjamin in Mosiah 4:2) 'please apply the power of the atonement.'  It worked!!! It worked!!  You all may be laughing right now at how excited about this I was but it worked!!  The power of the Atonement really does work!! I thought there was nothing that could stop me when I was with this person who is not kind to me, but the Atonement can!!  It works!  God really can make me perfect through the grace and mercy and merits of His beloved son!!  It turns out "big breath, little prayer" (that mom taught me for occasions when I needed it) can work for a lot more things than a test in school!!  Our ancestors, Lauren, and Nephi were all right!!  We just have to know in whom we have trusted!! I know that sounds simple, but this little experience gave me the hope that I really can overcome my weaknesses, that P_ and E_ really can become a couple together forever, and that God´s plans really are real!!  He really does think of us as princes and princesses! Salvation and change really do ONLY come through the power and the grace and the mercy of our Savior!!  I testify of Him!  If He is in it, things seem to just work out!!  (Just like Lauren said.)

I love you all so much!!! I wanted to invite you all to put Jesus in a weakness that seems impossible to overcome. Then with patience, take that weakness and face it with a big breath and a little prayer. It works!! God is good!! I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!!! 

Hermana Webb

NEW, updated (and hopefully better) address for Hermana Webb.

Misión Chile Santiago Este
Cristobal Colón 6824
Las Condes
Santiago, Región Metropolitana
Chile
51

When everyday problems seem to scream louder than the Hope.

Monday, June 16, 2014

How are you all!? I am doing great! Are you watching the world cup!? that has been pretty exciting Chile won!! 3 to 1! It is way fun to be down here during the world cup. Chile is not one of the crazier countries for the world cup, but they are pretty crazy about it. Everything is red! When they play, our mission president makes us go inside and study but we still know what the score is by the reactions of all of the people.  I think it does not matter where you are, when Chile has a goal the whole world screams and blows horns. It is prety exciting. My comp says that it is even crazier in Argentina. She LOVES soccer!! When we pass apartment doors during games with Argentina, she listens to what they say to see if there is a goal. She says that they put big screens in all of the major plazas and people just go out with their chairs and watch the game. We don´t live close to any major plazas but I am sure central Santiago is pretty crazy. It is a fun patriotic spririt.  I like it!

This week was one full of ups and downs!  As a missionary I get to testify of eternal families, but I am learning that to have that prize never was and never will be easy. No family is the exception. I am learning what it really means to have faith in Christ. The missionary purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ Repentance, Baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.  Faith is a lot more than I thought it was. It is one thing to believe He exists and that He suffered and died for our sins, but it is another thing to trust in Him enough to move forward with relationships that the sister missionaries are promising that through Him will be eternal and perfect some day, when now it looks so imperfect. Having faith in Christ that he can take a normal couple with normal problems and make them perfectly united forever is a lot of faith when the everyday problems seem to scream louder than the hope. This is the kind of faith that does not just require going to church and praying every once in a while, it is the kind of faith that goes on forever!! The kind of faith that changes every minute of every day.  And it means we make really big decsions like getting married, baptized, and sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. That kind of faith is a bigger scale.  I love P and E so much!  It is a lot of work to help them get ready for these big steps but we are excited. They are getting married on the 2nd of July, E_ leaves the next day to work in the mines on the 3rd, so that night he is going to get baptized and confirmed!  So that means that exactly one year after I got to Chile Santiago Este, Las Condes Apoquindo B, my favorite family in the world will be getting married and E_ will be getting baptized and confirmed, to prepare himself to baptize his new wife!  Wow!  God is good! It is pretty fun to think about one year ago, when I met this family and how much they have changed.  God is not asking for faith with nothing of evidence.  He has taken good care of them this year and I can´t wait to see what he does next year.  God is also good to me!  How sweet is it that I get to finish the BEST year of my life watching my favorite people get baptized. We called E_ yesterday on fathers day and I picked up the phone and said "how is my Chileno dad doing!?" he laughed and said "good, daughter how are you?" They really are the closet thing I have to family here. (don´t worry daddy you still win in every country it just so happens that while you are not here E_ is a good temporary replacement;)) It will be a really sweet ending to my time in Apoquindo. Yes, president called me and said that si o si I am going to another sector for my last four months. ;) I think that will be good ... I am getting a little tired of Pichidangui (A street we are on almost all of the time.) 

G_ family is really the biggest update of the week. B__ family keep being amazing!!  It is funny, I had to almost fight with president to win teaching rights this week. We all want to teach them;) They are a pretty amazing family! Mom sent me popsicle sticks for Easter and I made two of her famous games for G_ and B_. We played it with both families this week. It is pretty fun to hear A_ explain priesthood blessings by saying "Oh! this is what my dad is going to be able to give me when he gets the other priesthood." Or when she is explaining eternal families, she says "This is what I am going to have in a year!" God is good! He has changed that house just like he has changed G_!  I can't wait for them to get married in the temple!  What a sweet experience that will be!! A_ and M_ got confirmed this week and it was beautiful!  They are going to be a great family in this church!!  They are already driving people from our ward everywhere and are part of all of the activities.  They are such good friends!!  They have their anniversary this week and are inviting us and president to dinner!  What a change!!  I am sure one year ago their anniversary would have been very different!  But they chose faith in Christ and now the fruits are real!!

R_ continues with problems.  They are such good people but I just don´t now how to help them! The brother loves learning! It is actually fun talking to him because he knows a lot and thinks deeply about things. But it is also frustrating because now he trusts more in himself than he does in God. That makes things complicated. I like learning from God. I like learning His way, because the more I learn the more I realize how much I need Him!  It is weird because when I just trust in Him my brain seems to understand things a lot faster.  We talked about truth and wether it is relative or absolute. (Yes! I had an educated converstaion in Spanish I love it!!) (The word for relative is relativo and absolute is absoluto ... that is why I love Spanish!!) I am so grateful for the absolute truths in my life! It is something interesting to think about. Think of the world of Rodrigo´s brother. Think of what our world would be if truth was relative. 

We are really trying to look for new people now. It is pretty funny because right now we have some of the highest numbers I have ever had on my mission. But now that everyone is getting baptized I am going to leave my comp with nothing!  he he he!  So, we are really trying to step up our game to find other families to teach. We are pretty blessed in our sector.  I almost forgot how it felt to feel the urge of finding new people because we were always so worried about who we had. But now we are dropping old ones, baptizing the good ones, and getting left with like five investigators.  That is not very much for Apoquindo.  So please pray for us we are wanting to find more people to teach. 

I love you all so much! I really do have faith that Jesus really can do what He said He would.  He does it different than I thought He would but He does do it!  So many times I just wish God would carry some of these people here that I love so much out of their problems but He never seems to do it. I am starting to understand why now, He is a loving older brother that is teaching us to walk on the water.  If He did all the walking and all of the carrying, we would not learn how to walk on the water.  It shows that He loves us even more when He patently waits and calls our names while we try to learn how to do it.  Like a good parent teaches their child to walk. I am glad He does not carry me over the waters (even though I want him to in the moment the waves come) but He teaches me how to do it!!!  It gets frustrating watching other people in the waves, but I am learning to have faith in Christ just like I am trying to help other people do as a missionary. It feels good to know that his hands are as sure and as good with P_ as they are with me. We are both pretty crazy with doubts and fears, but He is always good and always mighty to save!!!  I hope you all have a great week!! I love you all so freaking much!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Webb

"Please don't take away my gringita!!"

Monday, June 9, 2014

This was a week of miracles!!!!! I wish I could explain!! I am so happy! Let´s start with the first one shall we?

My companion has been having a hard time being here. The first little bit of the mission is always really hard, especially if you are a fresh missionary who is barely 19 and is very used to your house.  She has felt like maybe she should not be here, and that she is just wasting time. So the beautiful part of the story, is that before my companion even wanted to go on the mission, she had a friend who dreamed of her on the mission teaching her family who lived in La Deasa in Santiago Chile.  When she heard that she laughed and said that is funny because I don´t even want to serve a mission. God obviously had other plans.  Awhile later she got her mission call; Santiago Este. Her friend was way excited because that was just the mission of her family.  Then she came here, and her first sector?  Apoquindo, the closest barrio that there is to La Deasa, because La deasa is a little dangerous, so the only missionaries there are elders. But, of course, our first district leaders, Elder Cotter and his comp who were in La Desa and just that day they were going to teach them.  It is amazing all of the things that should not have happened that totally did! Anyway we could not go visit them becuase it was against the rules. So we anxiously asked our district leader how they were every week but there was not much else to do. This week we got a notice that we needed to do a capilla abierta. (it is like a visiting center but on wheels. Wow!! I learned that I never ever ever want to be a visiting center missionary;)) And of course the capilla was in... La Deasa!!!! So we were excited.  We went to the capilla abierta and hoped they would come: and when they did not, we got permission to go looking for them.  When they opened the door ,they screamed!  We went in the house and told them we could not stay long but that they had to come to the church.  It took some convincing but we got them there.  We were in charge of doing the first part of the tour.  It was really sweet, becuse we started the tour and my companion in the middle of the tour just starting crying (hard) and said 'I am here to testify that families can be together forever, and if I am going to be testifying to families like you, I guess it is okay.'  It was so sweet! She could not stop crying.  It was a beautiful tour, and it looks like this family will be coming back to the church now.  What a miracle!!  The elders had been working with them for a while and they had been coming on and off, but now it looks like they are going to come every week.  What a blessing!!  My companion was so happy!! God really does answer prayers! 

Miracle number two!! B___!!!!! What a miracle!! They were so ready and excited for their baptism! They are a great family!! C_ says prayers with his daughter every day before A_ can leave the car for school; M__, and C__ read together from the BOM every night, and they do family prayer with A__ (sometimes.) What a blessing!! They are amazing! They really have changed their lives, and they really want the blessings of the gospel.  It is something incredible to watch.  They understand their work now and they are going to do it!! They were talking about how their job is to endure to the end!!  I hope they can do it!  I love what dad said about how the really important things are the family!!  It really is true.  If you want to be truly happy, you have to look for it in your family!  It was so fun to watch them take this step together!!  The only one left now is A_. he is a good kid!  I think he will get baptized some day.  It is more in the process than the actual moment of baptism but it was sure fun to see C_ use that authority that he had rightly, hold and baptize this wife and daughter that he loves so much!!  He was so cute when he baptized them.  He was so afraid of hurting them that he did super slow.  He had to baptize M__ three times. Poor thing was very cold but very happy!  Speaking of cold, they are so cute!  They always give us random gifts when we go to their house and they just bought us very expensive tights that are VERY warm!  Thank you B__ family!

Last miracle of the week was P_ and E_. They are getting married the 2nd of July!!  They are so cute!!  They waited until today to take out the date so they could take out the date with us.  So, early this morning we went with them to the state place and they got their date!!!  It was so fun!  We followed them everywwhere in the process and when the lady looked at us at the counter weird like "what are the mormon missionaries doing with you guys to get married!?" Edgardo just looked at us and said: 'what? They are our daughters!' I love them so much!  Afterwards I kept bugging P__ with being too happy, but I could not take it! They are finally getting married!!  They are so excited!  They were calling all of their family.  I did not know but they had not told anyone!!  So all of the Mormons know but their own family did not. They will all be coming to the wedding. E_ already has a date to get baptized on the 20 (It has to be two weeks after because he works for two weeks far away in a mine and then comes back for just one.) P_ wants E_ to baptize her so they are going to wait a little while so that she can get baptized too. What a blessing!! I just hugged P_ all day and told her how much I love her!! 

After we went with them I was reading my emails from you guys and I just cried and cried. Everything is soooooooo good! Have you guys noticed how blessed we are!? I know we have been through a lot but God is sure good to us! Taylor and heather have a new baby that could not be more precious their son Alden gets cuter everyday and they even have a garden in their backyard.  Sara is in love, is winning amazing awards and has graduated with honors and is working with what she wants to do.  Mom and dad have a precious new grand baby who could not be more adorable, they are going to Peru next week, and they have four fabulous kids who (If we do say so ourselves) have done quite well with our lives and are pretty happy.  I am surrounded by people that love me here and there and I love them all so much and they are all so happy!!  So right now I am just enjoying the hand of God!  It is real.  I hope you can all feel it because it is real!  God really does give us what we ask for, we just have to ask for it.  I just broke down crying reading your emails in P__s house today. They are all pretty used to it now, but they started making fun of me. But when I explained why I had every reason to cry they accepted it.  I was right!  My life is good enough to cry about!!  God is good!  Pray for His help!  He really does come with answers! 

Other than my three miracles, I don´t have much else to say.  Everyone is happy that I stayed. E_ (the converso reciente who is a cute little old lady who is probably 3 feet tall) is so sweet.  We visit her every week and when she saw that I had not left she was very happy.  At the end of the lesson she asked God to please not take away her gringita.  I don´t know if she has learned my name yet but I love her so much! She makes me happy!  She is doing better too.  She is a fun little roller coaster!  But I have really enjoyed visiting her every week. You kind of fall in love with people after a year of visiting with them. 

I think that is it! Thanks for everything family!! I sure do love you all!! We are blessed! We should like mom says be more grateful because He really is in every step!  What a blessing!!  I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Love 

Hermana Webb

He keeps making it better by giving me this message to share with other people.

We have a new baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is so much fun! I am so happy! You guys should have seen my reaction. I could not contain myself. I write to you guys in this library thing and the lady came over and got really mad at me becuase I was screaming. What a blessed family we are!!!!  He would never take way the ones we love and He just keeps adding to us!!!  I think that is too fun!!  What a privilege it is to fall in love again with a little baby boy.  God really is good to us.  I could not stop crying all day.  I am in love with him and with all of you and I just get cornier by the minute.  But you all have to admit it.  God is good!  He gives me this beautifrul family with parents and siblings that I love with all of my heart!  But then He makes it better because it keeps growing with adorable sister-in-laws and someday a brother-in-law and then cute babies.  And then to top it all off He promises me that these angels that he has blessed me with will be mine forever through the love and power of His son´s atonement.  What a great plan!!  That is the kind of hope and joy He wanted us to have and it is sweet! I was absolutely filled today with the joy of having a new little member, the hope of having again the ones we have lost in this life, and the reality of an eternal family on the other side of the world! That is fun! And then He keeps making it better by giving me this message to share with other people.

We have a menos activo that is just not progressing and it is frustrating because they should.  She knows it is true. She just seems to be full of fear and maybe a little case of laziness. Her name is MC.  I have written about her before her and her family have been menos activos for a long time.  She has two daughters who live close and who also have children of their own who have not been baptized. The daughter looked at me and said 'but if I don´t go to church that does not make me a bad person right?' And suddenly it all made sense to me.  I told her our story ... They already know that Lauren passed away.  I told them our story more about how we always went to church to help us become closer and obviously it helped us a lot.  And thanks to the protection we got from things like the temple, the Book of Mormon and church when cancer came it did not knock us down because we were built on the most important material, our faith in Jesus Christ.  I started telling them of the magic that is us!  I told them about how dad always gives the council I need at the specific week that I needed it, or how mom always testifies of the specific points of doctrine that I was doubting that week.  Or how absolutely happy it makes me when my siblings are happy and cared for.  It is something magical that does not come from just a normal heart.  It is something so real that it has to come from a loving God who has all power and understands things a lot better than us!  I certainly did not know how to love you guys this much ... this had to come from a different Divine source!!  It left them speechless!!  he he he he he!  They still don´t want to come to church though.  bummer! 

Okay enough about you guys;). This week was crazy!  I was packing and writing letters all week and saying goodbye.  I was sure I was out!  We knew the news was going to be spread on Friday and on Friday when everyone had been told about changes I could not take it anymore and I called the zone leaders!  They told me I did not have changes!!  I was pretty excited!  I screamed and made the twins hug me like ten times! (We were in P´s house waiting for the news.)  It was funny because all of the people we visit were saying there was no way that we were out.  They were all saying that I was going to stay.  So when P__ walked in and I told her the news she shaid "viste!!"  That means 'see!! I told you!'  (Basically!)  I was pretty happy!  I did not want to say goodbye.  The bad news is Hermana Bohman did get kicked out.  She is going for a whitewash in Puente Alto. She was pretty nervous but excited (Kind of like that song called nervous but excited;)) So I am still in Apoquindo to finish training my dear hija Hermana Paolantonio.

Other than that things continue to go swimmingly.  C_ is preparing to enter the temple so she can take her husband, and her sons name to the temple and watch them get baptized.  C_ and his family could not be any cuter.  We are going to be with them all week this week because we are getting ready for two baptisms, and we have found some new investigators that I am really excited about.  Life is just good!  I continue to learn how true the scripture is that says that if we ask he will give it to us!  It is so true!  God wants us to use Him!  He wants us to go to Him with our problems.  Like Hermana Wright said, 'in our weakness we find our greatest strength becuase it is when we finally go to Him!!'  I love that!!  I love that He really responds in the way we need it and even though it is not always this way it is usually so fast!  He loves us!  It feels so good to know he is watching over not just me but all of the people here that I love so much!!  I hope you guys ask Him always!  He is the best protector, the best psycologist, the best teacher and the best friend we could ever have! It is fun to realize that and even funner to realize that He does the same for all of you that I love so freaking much!!  I love you all!!  Thanks for the fun news this week.  We are blessed!!

LOVE!

Hermana Webb

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