Suffer Ye Thus Far

I can’t even put into words the things I have learned this week. I want to start off though by sharing a scripture:  Luke 22:51.  This chapter is about Christ’s Atonement in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Imagine Christ walking out of the garden after he had just performed the first part of the Atonement. He is tired, weighed down, and wearing a blood stained gown. He walks out of the grove and He sees this multitude of people coming to take him captive and kill him.  Then Judas walks up to Him and kisses his face. You can only imagine the sense of betrayal He felt. When His disciples realize what’s happening, you can imagine they themselves were a little terrified.  In an effort to scare off the multitude of people, one of the disciples of Christ smites the ear off of one of the servants. Jesus answers in the most profound, loving way possible.  He reaches up and He touches the ear of the servant and says, "Suffer ye thus far." Tears come to my eyes as my heart hears these words.

I have been sick this week, and it hasn’t been the easiest. I lost my voice so I couldn’t talk to anyone.  I got a high fever and pinkeye, so I didn’t have a lot of strength and I couldn’t see very well so I had to stay inside and "rest" (a word I resent on as a missionary).   One day it got so bad a Sister asked me if I had considered a Priesthood blessing.  I had, but being the selfish prideful person I am, I didn’t feel confident enough to ask for one.  So when she mentioned something I jumped at the idea and the Elders came over in the next 10 minutes. He gave me the most beautiful blessing in the world. I could feel the love Jesus has for me.  The blessing was full of hope and promises and gratitude.  I got the blessing, then took a nap and when I woke up it was just me and this other Sister.   I was still not in a good position to go outside and proselyte, so we stayed in and she and I talked and listened to General Conference talks and cried at the realization of God’s love for us.  Then the next night, the same things happened but with a different Sister . . . And then again the next day with my companion!  As I had the chance to sit and talk personally with these three Sisters, I saw something that I have never seen before. . .God will only let us 'suffer thus far.'

As I talked with these Sisters and we talked about our missions and our lives, I felt so much gratitude that our suffering can be lessened through Christ.  He suffered even until death, and during His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, even past death, it is said that no mortal man could have suffered the pains and anguish he suffered.

This reminded me that even when I’m feeling horrible and crying out for His help, He is carrying so  much of our sorrow, pain and suffering.  He lets us fight a little and suffer a little because of our mortality, but he will  ONLY let us 'suffer thus far.' Oh how grateful I am for Christ’s character and His loving sacrifice. I know with assurety and all  my heart that Christ lives, loves, guides and protects us. I know that He suffered even until death for you and me and everyone else.  Please remember the love and mercy He has for you and the people around you. Please remember that whatever you may be suffering, to turn to Christ and say, "Thank you for loving me enough to carry most of my fight with your might."

I was in the doctor’s office waiting for my appointment, and the thought came to me to start a discussion with these sick people waiting to see a doctor. Had I had this though in a hospital in Utah, before the mission, I would have thought I was CRAZY! But this was a distinct impression that turned into a desire in my heart to start a conversation.   So with my voice that you couldn’t hear very well and in my broken Cantonese, I complimented someone’s contacts from the other side of the room.  Me and my companion started a conversation with everyone in the room!  This led us to finding out the lady at the desk had some Mormon friends give her a flyer about the church. Then the woman across the room moved closer to us so she could hear us and we gave her our number.  Then the guy in the corner of the room learned that not all Mormons are insanely rich! (haha).  There were many more miracles as well.   Open your mouth you guys! God puts people in your path for a reason and has blessings to poor out if you are willing to do this marvelous work that has come forth among the children of men!

I love you all and wish I had more time to write all the miracles that happened this week!

I hope you all stay healthy, but  if you get sick, try to figure out what God wants you to learn from it!

Love, Sister Webb

My Sick Days Begin . . . 

Don't Worry! Be Happy!

I think this song was meant to go in the hymn book!  Don’t Worry, Be Happy!  I have fallen in love with Elder Uchtdorf’s talk, “Three Sisters”. It has WAY deeper meaning than is taught on the surface and I’m reminded that our modern day prophets teach in parables just like the Savior did.  ( I loved hearing Pres. Nelson speak to us this week also!  I know He is called of God!)

Anyway, back to the talk by Elder Uchtdorf. . . he talks about being a disciple of Jesus Christ:  "The third sister represents the authentic disciple of Jesus Christ. She did something that can be extremely hard to do: she trusted God even in the face of ridicule and hardship. Somehow she maintained her faith and hope, despite the scorn and cynicism around her. She lived joyfully not because her circumstances were joyful but because she was joyful."

So in HK we'd say, "Mh saai daam sam!"  = Don't worry!  Just be happy!   We are all going to have bad days and have to do hard things.  What matters most is how we endure it.  Did we have hope and try to find joy in the journey?  Did we exercise faith and pray?  We don’t have to be happy and smiling all the time, but if we understand God’s plan for us, we can trust Him and be patient with His timing.

I think about Jesus Christ a lot.  I’m sure He wasn’t smiling when He was spit on, scorned, mocked, or nailed to a cross. But His faith and purpose and understanding was full. He was perfect.  He knew what He was about and He knew He had to willingly do what He did.  In the end, 3 days after His death, He rose, full of joy! He maintained his faith and hope, He trusted God’s plan,  and even though His circumstances weren’t all that joyful, He was joyful.  So people!  Don’t worry, be happy!

Two quick stories to make you laugh:

My companion has named herself, "My glorified secretary” (:  The other day she was trying to talk to someone and was going to compliment this woman’s coat.  She says, "ngoh hou jung yi leih ge leuih." (English: "I really like your daughter." hahaha )  We didn’t get to keep talking to that woman.

I don’t remember if I told this story, but we taught a lesson and I tried to tell them that the Spirit is different for every person.  I said, "Some feel love, warmth, peace and comfort.  Some "faht peih hei" (English = throw a tantrum)... I meant to say, "hei gaai peih" (English = goosebumps.. aayya!)  What can you do?  I guess none of us are perfect!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Webb

A member invited us to the go on a day trip this P-Day to the island of Tai O.  Tai O is a small little fishing village and it was charming.  They say this is a look into "Old World Local Hong Kong"

The Kwun family invited anyone in the ward who wanted to come over for FHE.  We had a great time!

Learn of Him

This week has been really good.  I got to see President and Sister Lam twice!  I sure love those two people so much! I have been reading about the new curriculum this week and the new theme for 2018 "Learn of Me", and I am so excited. This really fits our world today. We need to learn who Christ is and learn about His teachings.  We will all be given opportunities to teach the way He taught, so we need to learn how He taught!   We need to study His doctrine, study His life, study the way He went about doing things, and copy it!  He promises this is D&C 84:88:  “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also.  For I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

We need to trust this promise. If we do, He will literally be on our right hand and on our left, He will bare us up, carry our burdens and be in our hearts! And He’s NOT lying! I have realized on this mission that I have a hard time sometimes trusting God . . . trusting that He will provide, trusting that He will help me learn the language, trusting that what I've put in is accepted and appreciated and enough.  Then I am reminded again and again, "Sister Webb, STOP WORRYING!"

I love being on a mission. It’s where I need to be and it’s what I need to be doing.  I am reminded of that every time I talk to someone. They are excited to learn who I am, why I speak their language, what my purpose is, and hopefully I can give them a chance to feel even just an ounce of the love the Savior has for them.

We met the most amazing girl on the train the other day.  Her name is Angie. She is such an optimistic little thing.  She is 22 and trying so hard right now to learn English.  She was so happy to have "two new friends"!  We invited her to learn more about God’s plan for her, and she has just immersed herself in the scriptures.  She loves prayer and it has been amazing to watch this fire come alive in her eyes.

This gospel really is true.  May we learn of Him, come unto Him and trust Him!

Love you all!

Love, Sister Webb

This is a man in our ward who turned 98!  We went to his birthday party:)

Me, Sister Perez, and one of our favorite girls from our ward

This is the text we received from the 22 year old girl we ran into on the train this week.!

We love this family in our ward!

Sister Perez was frying french fries and the grease got her a bit!

It All Comes Down To Love

So this week Christ's Atonement has been on my mind. We have been focusing a lot on talking to everyone, literally everyone! So you have to rely a lot on Christ to fill your mouth with the right words.  What that means is that His love is felt in powerful ways when we talk to others, and it really happened this week!

SO I really have been wanting to know how to rely on Christ’s Atonement more. We learn about relying on His Atoning sacrifice to help us repent and feel peace. But his Atonement covers so much more! His Atonement can literally be what holds us up throughout lives. If we learn how to humbly and willingly love and apply Christ’s Atonement, we then will have so much more peace in our lives, and we will be able to follow His will more easily.

My sister sent me the sweetest thought this week.  She said,  “It’s just that you could be the scum of the earth, the worst person that ever lived, the person who always fails, always disappoints, always misses the mark, and is never ever perfect- and He would still give you anything He possibly could. I so often feel I’m falling short and don’t deserve to receive His grace- but the thing about grace is that it is very simple, and completely free. There is absolutely no cost. You receive grace because He loves you. It is grace that motivates faith and works- NOT works that motivate grace."

I have realized that His grace will always be there for me! I read a really touching talk by Elder Anderson, and Elder Christofferson. "A Witness of God" and "Abide in My Love".  They talk about doing what we are asked to do because we love God, and that’s all it comes down to in the end. Don't do things out of guilt, or pity or just because everyone else is. Do it because you Love God. For example, in our mission I choose to talk to people because I love God!  I think that’s all that matters in the end. If we know the power of Christ’s Atonement, why would we not want to tell the person next to us that God shed a drop of blood for them, He shed a tear for them, and that He loves them?  Tell them! God loves you and He loves them! His grace will save all ends of the earth!

I love you all! I know God’s love is there for us, and we can show Him how much we love Him in so many ways.

Regarding the passing of our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson . . . we were in MLC (mission leader conference) when we heard about this.  We all sang, “We Thank Thee Oh God For A Prophet” with tears in our eyes. Angels were definitely among us!   I know they will continue to push us and help us!

Love, Sister Webb

A BBQ in the park with some members

Change In Myself Continue Into This New Year

Happy New Year!

It seems everyone has been busy celebrating, so we have had a tough time teaching and contacting.  It’s been a pretty slow week, but I have had a lot to think about this week and I kind of broke down to my trainee for a quick 5 minutes or so . . . not in a bad way . . . it was more like a 'realizing how much God loves me' kind of breakdown.  It was a really humbling moment. I realized I have kind of started falling back into a less productive slump, which happens every once and a while on a mission.  Honestly a mission wouldn’t be a mission if it wasn’t hard, which for me includes crying.  It seems failure is another part of my mission experience as well.  Elder Holland said:

“Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, ‘Why is this so hard?  Why doesn’t it go better?  Why can’t our success be more rapid?  Why aren’t there more people joining the Church?  It is the truth.  We believe in angels.  We trust in miracles.  Why don’t people just flock to the font?  Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?’”

He continues on to say, “You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.  Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,”  then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

So I’m learning that a mission is supposed to be hard and is supposed to stretch you and take you out of your bubble.  But I can testify that it can change a person. It can change you for the better. It’s an amazing experience and I wouldn’t trade this last year for anything.  I know I’m far from perfect, but it’s been humbling to realize that God’s love reaches all depths and his love catches all tears, worries, doubts and fears.  I've had a lot of those this week, and had to be reminded that God will take care of you if you do what he asks of you. Keep up the faith. Love you all!

Love Sister Webb