I'M IN HONG KONG!!!

What a week!

It’s been a really rough transition, and I have like NO time to write, so my letters from here on out will be very brief!

1) I got a ticket on the Hing Tit (kind of like a bus) because I didn't have any money on my bus card!

2) I broke down twice. Adjusting to missionary life is a lot harder than I could’ve ever imagined!  BUT!! So many miracles!  First was D&C 6. A really good friend told me to read this when I got to Hong Kong. SAVED MY LIFE!  And working.  Just work work work. I was getting really down and I read a talk by President Holland. He got in my face a bit, nose to nose and heart to heart. He says, "Experience is not easy, welcome to the church. Welcome to the life of the Savior, who knows quite a bit about cups from which one does not want to drink, and paths one does not want to walk." Got it Elder Holland. I'll stop complaining!

3)  Cheng Outs: These are going to a member’s house to eat.  Instead of calling it a take-out the missionaries call it a cheng out. So it’s not often you get these supposedly. But in my special case, and because God loves me beyond measure, I have had a cheng out EVERY night but last night since I arrived in HK. WOW!  Good food over here!  I've eaten squid, lamb, full scaled fish and shrimp, crab and eggs and LOTS of rice.  What a week!

4) GENERAL CONFRENCE IS COMING UP!!!! ASDKFHSKDFHQKJF!!! I’m so excited!!!

5) Leung Hing Diah: A recent convert I get to teach all the lessons to. I watched his confirmation this Sunday, (and they made me speak!!! BLAH!) but it was so cool!

6) Nico and Sarah: Sarah is Nico's mom. They are investigators.  They are amazing!  Sarah loves the ward (so do I by the way) and we are teaching her right now. Her baptism date is May 7, so I’m super excited I get to be a part of this for the next few months.

 Overall I've had a really busy week.  Some parts beyond amazing, some harder than I could have ever imagined! Thank you for all your emails! Sorry those of you I didn't get to email back! I still love you, but the rules of this mission are more important (:

Thanks for all the prayers! It’s helping more than you know! Love you all!

Love Sister Webb

Arrival at the airport in HK

The mission home is right across the street from the HK Temple!  Pres. & Sister Lam are WONDERFUL!

There are four of us in our flat.  The dark-haired girl, Sister Gomes, is my trainer.  She is from Florida and has 2 months left in her mission.  She is INCREDIBLE!  She speaks Canto so well and is kind and patient and SO HARD WORKING!

My little corner . . . little being the key and we have one of the biggest flats in the mission!

A veiw outside my window

We ride the bus and use the MTR (subway)

My first warning from public transit for not having money on my bus card

Our ward meets right above this store

A Relief Society activity with the sisters in our ward.  I LOVE THEM!  They've been so kind to me!

Our Relief Society . . . none of them speak English.  I'll admit I fell asleep in church yesterday a few times.  Still not over the jetlag . . . 

Reflections on my MTC experience . . .

WOW! I can't believe it’s my last week in the MTC. It has been amazing, horrible, humbling, joyful.. name an emotion!  I’m sure I've felt it!  Just like anyone else who’s served a mission. But God is real. I am beyond grateful for the prayers and fasts this week, oh my gosh it has helped! Thank you so much. I seriously love all of you! I had a very humbling experience this week. The stress of leaving for Hong Kong in a week started to set in and I let a tear or two escape me.  But then I closed my eyes to start taking deep breaths, a moving picture came to my mind. I was curled in a ball on my knees crying and praying. I looked up and Christ was standing there reaching down to me. I grabbed both His hands and He pulled me up into a hug. If you've never envisioned a hug with Christ, close your eyes and try it.  It brought me so much peace and comfort!

So I want to kinda share a bit of my journal with you. It will give you a good laugh..

Day 1: 'Wow. It’s been a day.'

Day 2: I’m having an even harder time today.  I think I cried all morning and now I've cried all night. I really don’t like this, I want to serve. But this is so hard.

Day 4: Today was really good! WE EXERCISED!! What a blessing!

Day 6: WOW! Today has been Amazing!  God is literally carrying me through this!

Day 11: Today was really rough. I've been on the verge of tears since about 2pm this afternoon.

Day 12: Today’s been amazing!

Day 13: BEST DAY EVER!!

Day 17: Today has been really hard. 1) my companion  2) home sickness 3) LANGUAGE BARRIER  4) the food hurts.

Day 18: Lesson learned God. This work is not about me!

Day 24: How to begin describing today.. Long, hard, emotionally exhausting, feeling the natural man, painful, relieving, unqualifying, tiring. Wow.. it’s been rough.

Day 30: I’m sick.

Day 36: Today was sooooooooooooooooo LONG! but so good!! I learned that we make plans and sometimes God laughs at us a little.

Day 40: Today was AMAZING

Day 41: wow. bad day.. really, really, bad day

Day 45:We have an amazing God, and missionaries have such an incredible purpose. Today has been so enlightening. I love Sundays!

Day 50: Time is going by so fast! Oh my gosh!!

Day 51:  Technically I should be exercising right now

Day 54:  Don’t ever pray for God to test your faith. ouch...

haha (: wow. what a transition.

I just want to testify of a few things right now

1. Unity in a companionship and relationship. Me and my companion started companionship prayers together last week.  At first it was just because we're both STL's and the girls around us were struggling. But our prayers have turned into so much more. We prayer for each other aloud, we bare testimony to each other every night aloud in our prayer to God.  We ask for things we need as a companionship, we are honest with each other, and talk about everything. She has become my best friend here and my saving grace. I want to testify that I know that is because we have directed all our efforts towards God. We have realized our first priority is God. Our love for each other has increase 100 fold. Prayer will SAVE relationships with any companion you have. It’s a fact! When you let God know you put him before your companion, He will bless you BEYOND anything you can imagine! I am a witness of that this week!

2.  “A man in a row boat” - This pilot is flying a plane. His plane crashes in the ocean.  The whole plane goes down, leaving him with a  life raft and two ores. He can see no land anywhere. What would you do?  You would row. So did he. But after two hours your back starts to hurt. Your hands start to blister. So you stop. You went as far as you thought you physically could go. You are preparing to die. Then a current comes. So while you rest, the current moves you through the ocean.  You’re thirsty, exhausted, and done . . . but then you see land!  What happens now?  HOPE!  You now know you have the ability to live!  All the sudden you don’t care about the blisters on your hands or the throbbing in you back. You just row, you push, faster and harder than ever before.

I testify this is how God works. We are sometimes pushed to that very limit. We are face to face with a falling fall.  But the second you feel you have no ability to go on, God comes into the picture. He shows you His love, He holds you in His arms. I know God is real. I know His love for each and every one of us is personal. I don’t know how and I can’t comprehend it. I'm just extremely grateful for it!

Sorry for the novel. I know God listens to us. I learned that so many times this week. I love this gospel and I love God’s plan. I know God loves you!

Love Sister Webb

Sister Milan decided to make a fort one day:)

Emily - thanks for drawing these just for me!  I've kept them in my room and they make me happy!  The Payson Temple where I received my endowment and the Hong Kong Temple - Where I'll be in ONE WEEK!  Love you EM!

My mom sent banana chips per my request and we didn't want to ask the kitchen for a can opener . . . 

Our last trip to the Provo Temple this morning

They think they're all that

Many new Elders  in our zone

CPR and Other Lessons I Learned This Week

So many amazing things this week but I don’t have a lot of time!

First lesson I learned this week is that CPR saves lives. Church, Pray, READ!!!  If you are not doing these basic things, YOU WILL NOT SURVIVE SPIRITUALLY!!  Even if you think these things are too hard to do, or think you don’t have time, or whatever your reason is, it is SOO important to go to CHURCH, say your PRAYERS and READ the word of God!! If you don’t believe me, and feel like your life is going just fine without doing these things, take a step back.   Be honest with yourself and examine any pride you may have.  Think of Christ waiting at the door for you to open it to Him.  He is always there waiting to literally rescue us, but we must let Him in.  I testify that the blessings from God for doing these 3 basic things are immeasurably generous!

Second lesson I learned this week was that the word “someday" is a like a thief in the night. It can rob you of the now and it can distract you from God’s will. Do NOT under any circumstances start desiring or procrastinate the "someday".  You will never fully be able to live in the NOW!! God has work for you TODAY!  So stop thinking about the SOMEDAY and GET TO WORK!!

Third lesson I learned was that the Holy Ghost is most often not going to come to you in a loud, abrupt "this is what you need to do manner".  If you are doing the right things, trying to follow God’s commandments and doing your best, He WILL GUIDE YOUR FOOTSTEPS.   Sometimes you might not know why you are doing something, but you just do it.  You might not even feel a prompting or a thought or anything.  You just do something. THAT is God guiding your steps.

Fourth lesson is BECOME LIKE CHRIST! Every minute of EVERY day, try your best to become like Christ. D&C 4: 6 describes Him so well!  Try every day to develop these attributes and I testify your life will change. Mine has SO much!

Fifth and most important lesson to me this week. I had a really cool experience with the MTC 2nd counselor in our Branch Presidency.  At the end of our meeting he looked me in the eye and said, "I know that God loves you. And because I know that God loves you, I love you."   What a profound lesson. WE ALL need to strive to see people like this. God loves all of us, and because of His love, we need to love each other!  This includes all of His children.  Looking at people through this lens this week has changed SO many things for me!! I can’t even begin to tell all of the miracles that have come from this simple lesson.

I love you all!!

Love Sister Webb

This is the view I see first thing every morning when I walk out of our room building.  I feel the Spirit so strong for some reason when I look at this mountain.  The mountains are beautiful!  

Here's the Elders.  Girls WIN!

These are the girls in my zone.  We have a contest with the elders to see who can create the craziest pictures.

These are the new Sisters in our Cantonese District on our Sunday Temple walk.  It was SO windy!

This is one of our teachers, Bro. Seth Anderson.  For some reason all but a few of the girls think he is the cutest thing to walk the face of the earth.  So one of them was reading D&C 107:43 this week which says, "Becaue he (Seth) was a perfect man, and his likeness was the express likeness of his father, insomuch that he seemed to be like unto his father in all things, and could only be distinguished by age."  Hahahaha!  We have laughed and laughed as we introduced him to this scripture!

In class memorizing . . . EVERY DAY!!