Christmas in Hong Kong!

What a good week! I don't have a lot of time to email because I just got off Skype with my amazing family! It was SO GREAT to see them and talk to them.  In fact it doesn’t actually seem real . . . missions are a complete time warp!

Christmas has been really good here.  We celebrated with our zone and had a fun party!   We have been well taken care of by the ward and they’ve had some amazing events for us to invite people too.  My family sent me the 12 days of Christmas and I’ve been able to open a small gift and read a talk everyday.  It’s amazing how easy it is to focus on the “true meaning of Christmas” when you’re a missionary!  I’m so grateful for my relationship with my Savior and Father in Heaven!   I think about them and communicate with them all day everyday.
  

I was reminded this week how much God protects and loves his missionaries.  We were on the train and met a man from the Middle East named Ahmed.  He was very friendly and seemed interested in hearing more about the gospel.  After a strange sequence of events (and my mom clarified some naivety on our part), we ended up at his home with a jug of milk and 4 cans of beer.   As we started teaching him the plan of salvation, it became pretty clear he wasn’t too interested.  We followed up with a call the next day to see how he was feeling, and he proposed to me over the phone.  We won’t be contacting him again and we’ve had some laughs about this, but I still know that we were being watched over and protected!
 

I really love the Christmas holiday and I’ll treasure this one Christmas that I’ve had as a missionary!  I love where I am and I’m so grateful for the experiences I’m having!

SING DAAHN FAAI LOHK!!!!

Love, Sister Webb

(Here is Amanda's testimony in Cantonese.  We were AMAZED at her ease with speaking and we think she's doing much better with the language than she realizes!! There were 3 other missionaries trying to talk with their families in this little room, so the background noise is a bit distracting :/    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjhmjnzYUlE )

Skyping on Christmas Eve

Loving the 12 Days of Christmas!

We have all loved having a little Christmas cheer and lights in our flat, especially in the evening!

Christmas Eve Day

Christmas morning in my new PJ's with Sis. Peck

I LOVE my comp, Sis. Perez

Setting the table for Christmas morning breakfast

We made the pumpkin chocolate chip pancake mix my mom sent!!

McDonalds Is Like The Gospel . . . It's The Same Wherever You Go!

What a week!  So I was asked to talk about some of the people I meet day to day.  We usually meet a good amount of people each week and I must confess some are crazy, some are super religious,  and some are just flat out amazing!

So we started doing “singing finding” lately. We go to the town center and we sing Christmas songs and pass out flyers.  Last night about half-way through, this lady comes up and starts jumping up and down, clapping and dancing, and trying her very hardest to match our pitch haha (:  So we just kind of laughed and kept singing.  Then she went missing for about 10 minutes and came back with cake!  She comes up to each of us, hands us a piece of cake, and screams "Merry Christmas! I love you!"  We soon found out it was her birthday and started singing happy birthday haha (:   She was funny. . . a little crazy too . . .  but she seemed to have had a good birthday from the look of things!

I was on the MTR (subway) talking to someone this week and we were about 5 minutes into our conversation when this man shows me this app he has and then proceeds to tell me he was a Jehovah’s Witness!  He said that I needed to join his church. He was really happy to meet such a great follower of Jehovah, but he wished I was “preaching the correct doctrine”. Little does he know! (;  Then he handed me a flyer and said to call him when I wanted to know more about the gospel!  One day this man really will meet Jehovah and won’t that be exciting!!

We were one the hing tit (bus) on our way home last night and we ran into the funniest lady.  She had a microphone on her because she had lost her voice.  She was drinking this tea that is called "HOI SING CHAH", which is ‘open voice tea’ and she's been trying to get her voice back all week with it!(:   We got talking to her and she told us she lives up in the mountains.   We asked if she has any kids and she said,  " Oh none!  No time, I have 20 dogs!!"  This woman has been collecting and raising stray dogs.  She tells this story:  'One day I was going home and my neighbors had lined themselves up on the street so that I couldn't get through.  I got in a fight with them (*she does a sassy smile*) and I won!"   Then she laughs! SUCH A FUNNY WOMAN!  I think talking to people is what brings me the most joy on a mission.  It can be hard to start the conversation, but once you do, it brings you so much joy!

So the subject of my email. . . “McDonalds is like the Gospel,  it’s the same where ever you go”. We went to McDonalds this week to teach our investigator, Genie. We had the most powerful Book of Mormon lesson I have ever been in. As we starting teaching it was a bit rough because we seemed to keep going in circles.  Suddenly my companion bears a POWERFUL testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It was amazing! I felt a strong prompting to invite her, right then and there, to experiment on the words of Christ. So I invited her to think of a question and ask God, and there was no denying that the Spirit was there – right at our table in McDonalds!!   So she thinks for a minute and then she says, "Ngoh seung mahn keuih hou dak bit ge mahn taih." (I want to ask him  a very special question.)  As a missionary now your thinking, "This is it!  She is getting baptized this week!!"   Then she says, "Sahn, leih silk jo faahn meih ah?" (God, have you had dinner yet?) I kid you not, we all started laughing, but the Spirit was still so strong!  Without hesitation, I handed her a Book of Mormon and said, "Now you've asked him your question, I want to show you how we get answers.  Open up to any random page."  With much enthusiasm, she opened up the book to see what God had to say.  She opened up to a scripture that talked about perfect resurrected bodies!  With the Spirit filling the air, we explained God’s answer.  He was a resurrected and perfect being, which meant he didn't need to eat dinner!(:  I love God’s sense of humor! I know this book is true. It is! And the words are God’s words.   He will help you answer any question if you just truly and sincerely ask him, then SEARCH! He was able to answer a simple question of a 20 year-old girl, sitting in McDonalds, through the Book of Mormon. He can do it for you too!

I know with all my heart that God lives.  I know that when we are serving Him we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Light of this world, the One and Only Begotten of the Father, Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I know He loves us and He is providing love and miracles for us every day. He has provided SOO many special ways to reach out to all his children this Christmas season through US! I know He loves you! I love you too!

have a Merry Christmas this week!!

Love, Sister Webb

P-Day on a n island called Cheung Sau . . . Beautiful!

Sister Perez & me

More of the Sisters in my mission

Kelly!  One of my favorite members who will be leaving for the MTC tomorrow, serving a mission in HAWAII!

More pics from the island on P-Day

Elders Leong & Chapman (our zone leaders) and Sister Reese (serves as an STL with me)

This is a path we walk OFTEN on our way home from the church. It's BEAUTIFUL!

Mom sent me a Christmas package which included this cute little Christmas tree!  We LOVE it and bought . . . 

SOME LIGHTS to add to the Christmas cheer in our little apartment!!

His Law Is Love

This has become one of my favorite hymns. Sister Perez and I were walking to the church the other night and singing Oh Holy Night. "Truly He taught us to love one another.  His law is love and His gospel is peace." I have had this line stuck in my head all week. His law is love. How simple is that!?

So as time has gone on I have realized how much I'm changing. A friend shared a quote from C.S. Lewis: "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different..." This is so true! Day to day I feel like nothing is changing. Some days are better than others.  Some days I feel like I completely failed.  Some days I feel like I couldn't have done anything more, but overall, change is something that has taken place in me over time.  I’ve realized change doesn't come all at once.  Change requires patience, persistence, courage, humility, trust, and a LOT of Love. With the new year coming up and this amazing Christmas season right here, we need to take advantage of the Love surrounding us.  I have found on my mission that if I do want to change or if I want to do better, it all starts with love.  Love for God, love for my companion, love for the people I talk to on the street and love for myself. Then I have to trust in myself that I can change with God’s help.  As I trust in Him, He changes me into who he needs me to be.

One thing our mission is working on right now is asking everyone for referrals. EVERYONE literally.   This includes the guy on the train that you talk to for 5 minutes, or the guy at the track that you are stretching next to. EVERYONE! And the miracles that have come from this are astounding! Funny story though. . . We got a referral and we were going to call her up. My companion and I were looking everywhere for a good scripture to share with her for a good 20 minutes!   We couldn't find anything, so we finally just decided to call her.  My companion said jokingly, "What if she doesn't even answer?"  (We should’ve knocked on wood!)  She didn't answer, and Sister Perez said, in this sad but funny little voice, "The church is still true!"   That got a good laugh out of both of us. Sometimes things don’t go the way we’ve planned or the way we would like.   Her attitude towards this just made me laugh at the simplicity of her remark. "The church is still true!"  Remember this when hard things happen and you may feel doubt. 

Anyway, I’m running out of time, but I am so grateful for this Christmas season and God's simple Law of Love. His law really is love and his gospel really is peace. Focus on His love this month and the rest the year!   The church has provided a phenomenal way to help the member and other people around the world spread the love of God.  May we all help God spread His love to the world. 

I love you all! Merry Christmas!!

Love, Sister Webb

Sister Perez and I making phone calls

The Fire Of My New Trainee!!

This week I got a new missionary to train, Sister Perez.  I am literally being melted by the fire she has! I love it so much! I miss having that fire. I feel like my sister said it perfectly: "Some missionaries who have been out a while seem to have these missionary goggles on.  Your trainee's view is fresh and new and full of ideas!"  I think I need to focus on her desires and share some of her fire for this work. It's crazy to me how quickly she has adjusted!   She is so laid back but focused and hard working. She is super happy, and charismatic and I feel like I'm going to learn a lot from her!

I was writing in my journal last night and I wrote something along the lines of this:  "I’m super scared that our area is going to burn out this amazing flame my new companion has.  I haven’t seen any progress here in a long time, and I really don’t want to let her down, but I haven’t lost the faith!"  Then I stopped for a minute and reread what I just wrote.  I totally pulled a 'Peter-walking-on-water'.  I said I was scared but then said I have faith in the same sentence.  In my mind now the Spirit is humbly and lovingly whispering, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"   I realized how imperfect I am!   I have been doubtful and I have had so little faith.  If I could advise you all to never doubt and to have faith 100% I would, but we all know that this is something we all struggle with.  Faith without fear or doubt is a real challenge at times.  I’ve decided there is no need to continuously doubt though!  I was reading this really good talk by Elder Stanley G. Ellis called, "Do We Trust Him?  Hard Is Good." My favorite two paragraphs read:

"The hard things in our lives should come as no surprise. One of the earliest covenants we make with the Lord is to live the law of sacrifice. Sacrifice, by definition, involves giving up something desirable. With experience we realize it is a small price to pay in relation to the blessings that follow. Under the direction of Joseph Smith, it was said that “a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”

First off, I love this part because it talks about what sacrifice entails.  Then it reminds us that our religion requires great sacrifice and this is an important part of building our faith and testimony.  Finally, it reminds us that our sacrifice to the Lord is nothing compared to the blessings that wait in store.  Then it goes on:

"Members of the Godhead are no strangers to hard things. God the Father sacrificed His Only Begotten Son to the terrible suffering of the Atonement, including death by crucifixion. The scriptures say Jesus Christ learned “obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). He voluntarily suffered the agony of the Atonement. The Holy Ghost must be long-suffering to prompt, warn, and guide us, only to sometimes be ignored, misinterpreted, or forgotten."

I love this part.  It’s such a good reminder that we are not alone in going through hard times and we aren’t alone in trusting the Lord’s plan.  Just imagine how much more our Savior has suffered and endure than us, and then, and as my sister would say. “and YOU feel bad for YOURSELF!?" Trust in them!  (I’m preaching this stuff; I need to start doing it myself! (haha) but it’s so true!)  I have seen miracles big and small when I place my trust in the Lord and his plan. Then he concludes his talk saying...

"My greatest desires are to stand with Mormon as a true disciple of Jesus Christ (see 3 Nephi 5:13) and to one day hear from His lips, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).

Make this your desire to and do everything you can to be worthy of such words as these from the Lord: "WELL DONE!!"

I’m excited for this next transfer and to feed the fire of Sister Perez!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Webb

Sister Groberg figuatively "died" this week as she finished her mission and returned home to Spanich Fork, UT!  She has been in my apartment since I arrived in HK and we have become like SISTERS!  I love her and will miss her greatly!

Saying goodby to Sister Groberg!

My new comp, Sister Perez!

Ask For Help To Carry Your Cross

So this week was pretty good. We had a zone Thanksgiving party.  It was super fun. It was nice to just be with all these missionaries that I know really well.  I feel like my zone has become like family.  We have all been here so long together!  It’s switching up though this week. We got transfer calls yesterday.  My companion is moving to the area next door to me, so we’ll still be in the same apartment.  I will be staying in the Butterfly area, but I was also asked to be a trainer to a new missionary!  I’m excited to get this new missionary and so is our ward!  I will still be an STL as well and I hope I’m going to be able to do what’s required of me . . . prayers are appreciated!

We visited a member this week and she had a picture story on her wall with this poem:

(and here is the link to the pictures: https://phcwandsworth.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/take-up-your-cross-and-follow-jesus-matthew-1624-26/)

Whatever your cross,

whatever your pain,

there will always be sunshine,

after the rain....

Perhaps you may stumble,

perhaps even fall,

But God's always ready,

To answer your call...

He knows every heartache,

sees every tear,

A word from His lips,

can calm every fear...

Your sorrows may linger,

throughout the night,

But suddenly vanish,

dawn's early light.

The Savior is waiting,

somewhere above,

To give you His grace,

and send you His love..

Whatever your cross,

whatever your pain,

"God always sends rainbows ....

after the rain ...”   

I hadn’t seen it before.  As I looked at this boy picking up his cross by all of his friends, I was intrigued.  They all start walking and the boy puts his down and says, "God this cross is a little too heavy, can you cut it down a little for me?" so God allows him to cut the end off.  This continues until the boy's cross is cut back quite a bit, but then he reaches a divide and needs to  get across.  His friends lay their crosses down across the divide, but his is now too short, so he can’t make it over.

The poem above touched me and I thought how we all bare different crosses.  Marvin J. Ashton talks about all sorts of different crosses people bare.   He says that some may include “lack of trust, or lack of self confidence, pride, or the tendency to make caustic comments—to ridicule, putting others or oneself down, to cause contention, or to engage in slander or gossip, or even adulation."  Whatever cross you carry, just know that God is aware of you and will help you to "take up your cross” and follow Jesus Christ.  Each person is given their individual cross and we can each learn from these.  I’ve decided instead of asking Heavenly Father to take it away or cut it down, instead to help me carry mine. 

This week I had a little break down, which has happened quite frequently on my mission.   I wasn’t sure what to do . . .I’m still having a hard time speaking the language and understanding what is going on, even at church.  When we got to church none of our investigators or less actives showed up, and that was hard.   I just felt I was lacking something, so when we got home from church I started personal study and prayer, but it was kind of pathetic. I just knelt there and cried. 

I decided to end my prayer, I sat up at my desk and pulled out the general conference Liahona. I decided to open up to the Priesthood session because I haven’t read that yet. I opened up to "Bearers of Heavenly Light" by Elder Uchtdorf and he described how I was feeling perfectly:  " ...Sometimes spiritual breakdowns come so gradually that we can scarcely tell what is happening. Like layers of sedimentary rock, spiritual pain and grief can build over time, weighing upon our spirits until it is almost too heavy to bear. For example, this can happen when our responsibilities at [missionary] work, home, and church become so overwhelming that we lose sight of the joy of the gospel. We might even feel as though we have no more to give..."  Then he reminds us, "Every time you turn your hearts to God in humble prayer, you experience His light. Every time you seek His word and will in the scriptures, the light grows in brightness. Every time you notice someone in need and sacrifice your own comfort to reach out in love, the light expands and swells. Every time you reject temptation and choose purity, every time you seek or extend forgiveness, every time you courageously testify of truth, the light chases away darkness and attracts others who are also seeking light and truth." 

This just confirmed to me once again, that I am doing all these things!  I have the light of Christ. I need to remember that and not let the "sedimentary rock" build up over time. There is light in us!  All of us!  And the more we shine, the more people around us will shine. So bare the cross that you have been given, do it with courage and a smile, and know that if you bare it well, you will have everlasting joy.

Love you all!  Hope you had a good Thanksgiving!

Sister Webb

We got to go to HONG KONG DISNEYLAND for our P-DAY!!!

We had a Thanksgiving Feast with our Zone and I was in charge of games!  Thanks to Susie Smith for introducing all the young women in our stake to ORANGE LIGHTNING!  It was a huge success!

My 2nd game was SIGNS.  It was hilarious!

Our Zone

A real turkey!!

And a pizza night to celebrate the holiday weekend!

An Eternal Perspective

THANK YOU so much for all of the Birthday wishes!  I had a great birthday and felt loved and remembered!

Wow was I enlightened this week. I have started to dive into the New Testament and I once again realize I have so much to learn and I am really excited about this!  I’m grateful I still have 8 months to study an hour a day without interruption.  I’m definitely taking advantage of this!  As I’ve been reading this week, I’ve realized how important it is to have an eternal perspective. I went on exchanges with a Sister this week, who (in my opinion) gets it. She understands, obviously not perfectly, but she understands God’s plan and is constantly asking herself, "Where do I want to be in the eternities?  Where do I want to be in 50 years, 10 years, today?  What can I do today to help get there?" She is a great example to me of what it looks like to have an eternal perspective. I had so much fun learning from her this week.

I also had an "AHA" moment as I read Helaman 12:7-8 this week.  He tells us that when men disobey God they are lower than the dust of the earth, because the dust of the earth obeys God’s command.  I felt a desire to be more humble and was reminded how important it is to be obedient.

A few weeks ago a member called us up and they said they had a friend who was interested in learning about the church.   We started meeting with her and she started coming to church.  This week we extended a baptismal invitation to her for December 23rd. She was the cutest thing ever. We extended it and asked her to prepare herself to be baptized on that date and she kind of nods her head, and then says, “Let me check my calendar real quick!"  She checks her calendar, says she's free, and then she was quiet for a moment and said, "This stuff is so true!" It was a really good lesson haha (: I haven't had one of those in a long time. But I am BEYOND grateful to have a part in her conversion. She has been prepared for the past 3 years by this member, who has been patient and so loving with her. This is that incomprehensible joy they talk about in the Book of Mormon.  Keep trying to find people out there members! This is your JOB!

Love you!!

Love, Sister Webb

Thanks Jessica for sending me Mac n' Cheese for my birthday!  It was the BEST

It turns out one of my missionary friends knows Melissa Bradford, a YW leader I had and LOVED in Singapore! I just had to do a Shout-Out to you Sister Bradford!  We love you!

Sister Groberg cutting all of our hair!!

Christmas has arriveed in HK!

This was an interesting combination . . . Christmas, Moulin Rouge, and a glass grand piano???

Why I'm Not An English Speaking Missionary

I have got this personality trait in me that I didn’t know I had before. I kind of like to take control of things when nothing is getting done. As you all know from last week, as of right now, we don’t have many investigators, in fact we barely have one. We have been finding and finding all week, but you can’t knock doors in Hong Kong and you can’t proselyte in a lot of places, so our finding places are limited. We have been meeting with members and asking for referrals.

I had the thought this week that it’s probably a good thing I’m not an English speaking missionary.  If the people here could understand English, we all might be in trouble!  I am finding that I want to be BOLD and DIRECT when someone doesn’t want to receive our message.  It really pains my spirit to see one of my brothers or sisters reject the message we have.  I picture the soul of that person dropping their head in sorrow.  I almost feel their soul talking to my soul, perhaps a tear or two rolling down their cheek, and in a disappointing tone telling me their mortal self just isn’t ready yet.  It’s so sad and my overbearing missionary self wants to say in a BOLD voice, “Look what you’re doing to your spirit! You are missing out on giving yourself the opportunity to have eternal life! You are rejecting a plan you already agreed with and your Spirit is suffering because of your pride and unwillingness to let God into your life!"

THEN I just have to remind myself what God would say: "You've helped nourish or plant a seed. Now let Me be the gardener and nourish that seed the way that I’ve had planned from the beginning!" It is a good thing we have such a wise gardener nourishing the seeds we plant!  I have to ask for help and faith  to  trust in His timing A LOT!

Otherwise this week we had a really good time meeting with members. We presented a ward mission plan to them and it was fun to see some of them get really excited to accomplish all the things on the mission plan. They all shared stories of times they have shared the gospel with someone in their life and how it has touched the person.  Some shared stories where they shared the gospel and were rudely rejected. Most of all I love hearing the member’s testimonies. The member’s love for missionary work in Hong Kong is unreal. They are all trying so hard, even the kids. God has a plan for the people of Hong Kong and I am grateful to be a part of it.  I feel the majority of growth is coming from these phenomenal members though!  It’s just astounding! So keep up the good work fellowshipping and helping the Lord’s missionaries back home. Remember that they are called of God to serve in your area for a reason.  Do all you can to help them find out why they were called to your area.  This is only 18 months to 2 years of their lives!  Help make it memorable and meaningful to them.  Let them know that they are doing a great work and that you’re proud of them, even if they don’t have a big teaching pool or many baptisms.  I’ve come to feel that the members here are my family.  Think of your missionaries as your family and help them feel loved and appreciated!

I went on exchanges this week, and I brought one of the Sisters here to Butterfly. She goes home at the end of this transfer, so she’s quite a seasoned missionary. She taught me so much. I learned the importance of remembering that your schedule (full or not) that you write out in your planner is all still the Lord’s work.  Every minute you spend that day (whether useful or not) is on the Lords time and His errand.  It was a good reminder for me.  She shared some of her own experiences and it gave me hope that 1) the language will continue to come 2) God will eventually provide 3) talk to EVERYONE 4) no time is wasted.

I want to challenge you all this week to find someone, less active or non member, and invite them to do something with you. Maybe you could make cookies, invite them to go to church or go to an activity. Maybe you could just invite them over at a time your family is doing family prayer and scripture study.  As we love those around it, I believe they'll get it one day!  Just don’t give up!

Love you all,

Love Sister Webb

A great hike up to Lions Rock

Beautiful Views!

My roomates!!!

This is Wong Ji Muih, a member in the ward that  prepared a birthday celebration along with Sara and Nico!

The Birthday Feast!

Me and Nico

Sweet Sara, our most recent convert.  She loves the missionaries!

Isn't this the cutest thing ever?

Check out the necklace I'm wearing (not the medallion)

This was Sara's gift to me.  She went a bit overboard.  It is a pure gold band with crosses on it and from my calculations, she paid about $100USD for it:O.  She is a wonderful woman and I felt her love as she presented me this gift!!