My Mission Testimony

These next 2 months I have many friends heading out on missions, which makes me super excited! SO I wanted to share my testimony on missionary work.

This week we had transfers and I got my second companion in the field. She is just amazing!   Her name is Sister Flynn and she is from Manchester, England.  She has been in Macau for the past 5 months.  I have been so blessed with companions. Before my mission if you asked me what I was most excited for, I would say a companion, and I still hold true to that. Having a companion out here makes everything 100 times better. They become your best friend, they become a sister, and they become the one person you know you can trust, confide in and be yourself with. It’s such a blessing!

Anyway as this new transfer has started I have been humbled by how little I know. My Cantonese is coming along and my companion has only a slightly wider vocabulary than me (she’s been out one transfers longer than me).  We are both still very new to the field and very new to the work. But I have to testify that the gift of tongues is real!  We've had 2 lessons,  we’ve been to 3 members houses, church, and called tons of people since she got here with me and we have been so blessed to have the ability to figure out what they’re saying and be able to communicate with them!  It’s something else! God is so real.

So I just hit my 5 month mark, and I know that’s not too far in, but I do feel like I've been out way longer. As I’ve talked about before, I often go back to the parable of the current bush.  The gardener cuts it way back, almost to a little stump!  This allows it to grow the way the gardener needs it too.  My second day in the MTC, God cut off a big portion of my own current bush.  I cried for a really long time and I struggled through the many weeks that passed. The 'wind' blew fiercely and it was almost too much to bare. I prayed and prayed, not to go home or anything like that, but I prayed that He would make it easier. Over these past 5 months I have been beaten down by Satan, but then through the grace of God I’ve gotten stronger. I feel like now my roots are stronger than they've ever been and I’m growing into what the Lord needs me to be!  I can feel my ability to hold my ground through the winds of Satan and the rigors of missionary life strengthening me and it’s miraculous!

This has been the hardest 5 months of my life but also the best.   I wouldn’t trade this time for the world! I love missionary work and I love being a missionary. I know God is real. I know that He has a plan for each one of us and he loves us all. 

Gordon B. Hinckley says:  “Now, my brethren and sisters, the time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a season to be strong.  My great plea is that we all try a little harder to live up to the stature of divinity that is within us. We can do better than we are doing. We can be better than we are. If we would hold before us that image constantly of divine inheritance, of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man as realities, we would be a little more tolerant, a little more kindly, a little more outreaching to lift and help and sustain those among us. We would be less prone to stoop to those things which clearly are unbecoming [of] us."

I hope these wise words from Pres. Hinckley motivate all of us to work harder and be better than ever before!

I love you all!

Happy Fathers day!!

Love Sister Webb

Sister Gomez getting ready to leave

My new companion, Sister Flynn

My package arrived from Mom!!

She sent me all EL FUDGE!!  And lots of other surprises!!

We had a fishing game in English class this week

We are still trying to figure out what was going on in the sky this evening??

One of our investigators and a beautiful script she has written

One of the member families brought us dinner . . . McDonald's . . . AND IT WAS SUNDAY!  hahahaha

Still laughing about this!

Antoher awesome investigator

Yet, They Were Diligent

This week has been so busy and our schedule is already booked for next week!  BUT this week has been so good! We are really busy right now trying to meet with all the ward members to present to them personally the ward mission plan. It’s been really cool to see them each get more and more excited to find ways to share the gospel and do missionary work. I hope all of you at home are doing your best to be missionaries too.

I read a quote this week from Joseph Smith that says, "Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons and daughters of God. A man or woman filled with the love of God is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race. This has been your feeling, and caused you to forego the pleasures of home, that you might be a blessing to others, who are candidates for immortality, but strangers to truth; and for so doing, I pray that heaven's choicest blessings may rest upon you".   This was super touching to me because missionaries really do forego the pleasures of home to bless other people with the light of the gospel.

This week I also realized that you really can make your mission your home. Everyone told me that at first but I kept thinking, “There’s no way!”   I have been feeling like I couldn't connect with the people here . . . they wouldn't even hug me! J   I didn't think I would ever be able to call it home. But last night I walked into a member’s home and their kids just loved us!  The parents talked to us like they really cared how we were doing and I just felt so much love. It proved to me that even though I did leave the 'pleasures of home' I can still make these people my home.

My prayer is that all of you reading this are really trying to fellowship and help out your missionaries. A mission is hard and the members are our “FAMILIES” for those 18 months to 2 years. So please make them feel at home and really love them!

Love you all!

Sister Webb

This has been by daily planner cover since I arrived in HK!  It's fun to have people ask me all about these two people that I love!

These weather captions/warnings CRACK ME UP!  YES!  I's VERY HOT!!

Do they make these in the US?  They are our newest find and they are delicious!

Another weather warning - Tropical cyclone signal 1 equals a big rainstorm:)

peanut noodle soup! SOOO GOOD! in Kwai Fung

Dinner at the Bishop's house.  We love their family!

I was TRYING to schedule investigators and members for the week.. haha (: Gonna miss this girl! We have to much fun during weekly planning. 

Making sushi at a members home

Waiting for the Elders to arrive . . . we seem to be waiting for them a lot!

Faith

With this transfer coming to an end, I have to say goodbye to my best friend out here, Sister Gomez.  She has been the most amazing companion. She is full of optimism, hope, love, courage, happiness and hard work. She has set some AMAZING footsteps for me to follow in, and has taught me more than I thought I could learn in a lifetime. I have cried with her, laughed with her, had some amazing times with her, and some not so amazing times . . . but most of all, together we have come closer to Christ than I ever thought possible. I'm super nervous for my next companion but I am full of hope (:

I have been trying to find ways to strengthen my faith and I read something that said, "faith will come one layer, one experience, one challenge, one setback, and one success at a time." This is so true!  I think it’s true on a mission too.  Your mission will go by, one layer, one challenge, one setback, and one success at a time.

This week one of our recent converts started smoking again.  We challenged him to recommit to stop smoking and then to fast with us this Sunday for strength to overcome this weakness. That Sunday at church he was full of hope and joy. Fasting is an amazing way to build faith.  Fasting is so amazing to me because I just feel so weak, and humble. I love it! I hope you all take fasting seriously. It is a privilege to be able to fast.  I have received blessings, peace, and a greater perspective on the Lord’s hand in my life as I’ve fasted.

I also have fallen in love with primary songs! I don’t know how many times I've said that, but they are my saving grace. They change everything. So I can testify that when you just 'hum your favorite hymn' and 'sing out with vigor and vim, then you will find it clears your mind' so just 'hum your favorite hymn'!

Also right now I am having the opportunity to watch one of our investigator’s faith grow. We read the Book of Mormon with her every week and she is understanding so much! Each times she understand even more and I hope it is only a matter of time before she realizes that she wants to be baptized! The Book of Mormon is SO powerful!   I have found it’s a powerful tool in sharpening my testimony and I love reading it!

Love you all, praying for your all!

Love Sister Webb

Dragon Boat Racing is a  BIG deal in Hong Kong.  Everyone takes the day off to watch the races!  So fun!

This is Romain, an investigator we taught this week.  He just moved to Lousiana for 4 years though . . . DANGET!

This is another investigator we are teaching.  She is really sweet.

HK is SO HOT!  We get to turn on the AC when we get home in the evening and we are always dripping wet!!

Elder & Sister Cook's visit to the HK Mission!

AMAZING FOOD continues here in HK!

Me teaching English class:)

Oh Be Wise, What Can I Say More

This week was just incredible!   Jacob 6:12 simply says, "Oh be wise, what can I say more?"  I feel like I could just leave it at that and say love you all, have a good week. But so much happened this week and I learned so much!

First, I have always known in my heart that this church is true. I have just always believed it. I've also believed Christ is real and near me. But this week I came to KNOW that Christ is there.  And I know with even more surety that this church is true.

On Monday we had the special opportunity to meet Elder Cook and hear him speak.  At the end, he bore His apostolic testimony saying, “I know His voice, and I know His face." His testimony touched the center of my heart and I have been thinking about what he said all week!  The next day, my mission president shared a scriptures with me:  D&C 93:1  “Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;"

This is a very sacred but real promise. I never realized or felt the truth of this before. You really can develop this kind of a relationship with God. I haven't imagined getting to the point in my life where I could “see [His] face” or hear His voice, and while I haven’t had this happen to me literally, perhaps we can receive this promise in powerful, personal ways as we serve others and watch Chirstlike people around us. 

As I have tried this week to find ways to come unto Christ, I have felt his presence more than at any time in my life. My prayers are becoming something more than just a prayer.  My scripture study is more than just reading the Book of Mormon.

A wise person once explained that I love my family because I know them and I've developed real relationships by learning about them, listening to them, and spending time with them. How can we truly love the Savior if we don't know Him?  So this week I've been trying to get to know Him, to recognize His voice in my head compared to my own voice, and recognize His love that He shows me every second of everyday.

Everything I'm doing on my mission is helping me more easily and quickly develop this relationship with Him.  It’s difficult to express in words the love and closeness I've felt with Christ and Heavenly Father this week. I know we can all have this! Find Him in your life, talk to Him in your prayers. I testify He's listening and His voice in your mind will become louder and more clear.  You know how to develop this relationship now, so do it. Be wise, what can I say more? (:

We also had the opportunity to hear form Elder Cook and his wife at a special stake conference.   They both emphasized the importance of teaching the gospel in the home and making your home a safe place for your children. It was super touching to hear some of their experiences that came through keeping the gospel the center of their home. I know from growing up in a gospel centered home, and teaching the gospel to others, that there is nothing more important than building a strong foundation for people who are young in the gospel. That foundation is everything for their future, so parents, KEEP GOING! Don't give up and just have faith that the foundation you build will hold up the walls they will start to build. 

We called our old investigator, Sara, the other night to see if we could visit her before sister Gomez goes home, and she was not very nice. She said some really rude things that were hurtful.  She questioned our love for her and our love for God.  She said she wanted to see us acting on what we were teaching her.  We felt we had been acting out of love and trying to exemplify what we were teaching her.  We were able to stand as witnesses of God and tell her about the sacrifices we were making to be in Hong Kong by serving as full-time missionaries.  We also shared our witnesses with her of the truthfulness of this gospel.  Sadly, she was not able to receive what we were trying to tell her and we left in tears.  It was really hard.

Afterward though, we talked about what had happened.  We both agreed that our faith hadn't moved.  Because of a strong foundation that we had both been given from years of living in gospel centered homes, we “ . . . could not be shaken", as the Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob teaches.  So to all the parents out there,  KEEP BUILDLING THAT FOUNDATION AND BE AN EXAMPLE TO YOUR KIDS OF HOW TO STAND FIRM AND UNSHAKEN FROM THE WORLD! 

Love you all so much! Praying for you all!

Love, Sister Webb

An awesome family in our ward that fed us dinner

English Class

Our sweet investigator, Shelly

Sister Gomez's birthday celebration with our district

It's crooked, but we decorated the apartment and threw confetti all over her when she walked in on her birthday!

My roomates.  Love them!

The Snowman In The Snowglobe

I have thought a lot about skyping my family last week.  It was so fun! I loved seeing the family and hearing about all of their lives. The next day though, I felt like that snowman from the short Disney Pixar film. If you haven’t seen it, find a way to watch it (: It’s about this little snowman in a snow globe.  He’s trying to escape, and when he finally gets close to escaping the globe, he finds himself right back where he started. That’s how I felt after Skype. It was like a little escape, then we got back to work and I was back in the snow globe. But I think God noticed how down I was feeling because he started throwing miracles at me like nothing else!

Wednesday we went to Crossroads where we do service each week.  They took just a handful of us in a car to this place to paint fences. The miracle in this is that it was a change from the “normal”.  I got to ride in a car! I haven't been in a car since my first night in Hong Kong driving from the airport to Kowloon. So that was super fun and exciting AND we got to paint! Who doesn't have fun when they're painting?!

 Then I was able to pass off two parts of “language pass off’s” in one day!  Probably doesn't mean much to you guys, but that was a miracle. I was able to remember so much vocab and grammar and the people who passed me off were very impressed! So yay!!

 Then the day before that I was on exchanges with one of the sisters I knew in the MTC and we had to teach a lesson!! Neither of us can understand or speak very much Cantonese, but the Spirit was SO SO present in that lesson and the gift of tongues was given to us as we attempted to speak and as our investigator spoke to us!  Yes we struggled, but it was a powerful learning experience to just really rely wholly upon God and trust in His ability to help us.  We know He understands and can speak Cantonese perfectly, so we patiently waited for Him to help us.  (:

 We also had a Korean activity that we and a few ward members put together for the ward, investigators, and less actives.  The turnout was a miracle! So many people came, and we were able to get phone numbers, lessons scheduled, and invite people to church!  Its success alone was a miracle and it was a super fun evening, so that was a tender mercy as well.   At the activity we learned a little taekwondo, Korean, and ate Korean food. Over all it was a good week to be a missionary!

 Then I had a moment to sit down and study a bit, and read some really hopeful words. I was reminded that we don't know what will happen 7 years from now, or even 4 months from now. If we're being honest we don't even know everything that will happen before the week ends. But God does know. That’s where our faith needs to take over. We need to show God that we have faith by not stopping.  To have fear for the future is telling God we don’t trust His plan for us. His plan is happiness not fear.

One of my favorite scriptures about not fearing is 2 Timothy 1:7:  “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." How powerful!  Through God we can have power and have a clear conscious. Yes, the future can look scary. This week I felt that fear really strong, especially on Tuesday, but when I was able to study the scriptures and these wise words, I was filled with hope and happiness. I know that as we turn to the future with eyes of hope, focusing on what we CAN do, we will have overwhelming peace and blessing without number.

I love you all so much and I hope this next week all of your days are filled with miracles like mine was.  It makes you realize that God really is in the details of our lives!

Love you all!

Love Sister Webb

All of these apartment pictures were taken right after we deep cleaned!!

Sister Rodriguez and I  on exchanges.  Yes, we taught a lesson in Cantonese and neither of us speak it well, but we were helped!.  We rewarded ourselves with M&M pancakes.  

We are trying to get you to think this is all sweat.  Reality is that we layed down on the grass to do situps and the grass was wet!

This planning session took us 3 hours.  We went a little crazy!!

Walk With Christ!

I LOVED talking to my family!  It was fun to see Jessica on the other side of the camera and it was fun to laugh with them!  I told them that I’m understanding about 20% of Cantonese conversations now.  It’s coming!  I also told them how much I LOVE the food in HK!  We definitely get fed WAY too much by the members!  We don’t have much luck finding new investigators, but we keep trying.  To put this in perspective, our district goal is 2-3 new investigators to teach per week.  We struggle to meet that goal.

We do spend a lot of time with the members in retention and reactivations efforts.  We are not allowed to proselyte in our area.  We can only teach referrals and people who approach us and ask questions.  Surprisingly, we stay plenty busy though.  We teach English class 3 days per week, we spend one day doing service.  My trainer, Sister Gomes, leaves for home in 4 weeks.  She has been an amazing companion, and become like a sister to me!  I also LOVE my mission president and his wife.  They are so loving!  I feel like they are my parents in HK!

This week I’ve been thinking about the story of Peter walking on water.  I’ve thought about Peter’s courage to get out of the boat and come to Christ.  We’ve been working with an investigator who “won’t get out of the boat”.   She believes Christ is real, she’s coming to church, and reading the scriptures every day. She believes everything is true . . . which you then would think would lead her to be baptized. But no, she denies the invitation every time we extend it. So this has reminded me a lot lately about the need to get out of the boat.

I've found it really helpful in hard times to ask myself, "Where do I stand? Am I in the boat or on the water with Christ?"

Last week I talked about how simple Christ’s invitation to “Come Follow Me” is.  We have to decide if we will stay in the boat and watch him from a distance or walk with Him?

I love something my mission president said about the straight and narrow path in the scriptures.  He told us that it says “straight way” but it sounds like “straight AWAY”.  Perhaps the Lord is urging us to obey and follow Him quickly!

I am so grateful for the ability to gain and strengthen my testimony. Sometimes we don’t realize how important a testimony is.   We should always work to strengthen it and make it our best friend. Without a testimony in any of the principles of the gospel, we have no way to progress or muster enough faith to get out of the boat.

Finally, a quick message of love to Mothers!  I want to first thank them for their gentle chastisements. Thank you for your gentle and loving ways of teaching us how to change and improve so we can live in harmony with the Spirit. Thank you for being there every step of the way . . . for making us laugh, laughing with us, watching us cry and crying with us, and guiding our steps so lovingly. I am so grateful for the mothers that have surrounded me throughout my life. You have each taught me something and I hope to emulate your examples someday!  I love you all and hope you had an amazing Mother’s Day!

Love, Sister Webb

This little thing everyone is doing with their fingers is super popular in HK!  It is suppose to look like a heart:)

This is pic looking up from our flat. The building is 34 stories high and we live on the 32nd floor

Our district

Yummy dim sum at a members home

This is Helaman, a member that helped us Skype today from the church

70 x 7

God is amazing and real!   I love God’s promise of 70 x 7 in the scriptures.  He will always give us another chance if we are repentant!  I have felt His love and forgiveness this week many times.

 Lately I've felt like I was kind of failing as a missionary.  During this time, the words of a wise MTC teacher came to my mind, “You will flail but you won't fail!”   And that has been more true than ever!   I am flailing all over the place here in Honk Kong, but I know I'm not failing. God's hand is always ready to help and will always be there to catch us. His love will always be there to comfort us, and his words are 100% accessible for us to use so He can guide us.

This week we taught a man named Ben.  Ben is an interesting one (:   So he always wants to meet at McDonalds, which is hard because worldly songs are always playing and there is just lots of noise (and it always makes me and my companion want ice cream! The struggle!!). But anyway, we were teaching him and by the end of the lesson I was starting to get really impatient.  Then a song that I loved came on, and I just couldn't hold back the frustration anymore and started crying.  We got on the hing tit and my companion started crying too.  There we were, these two crying American missionaries on a public bus in Hong Kong.   We got off the bus and walked home, but that night we evaluated ourselves, our companionship, how we were spending our time, and how we could improve.  We made 4 sticky notes of goals to improve on ..it pretty much included everything.. BUT I want to testify of the importance of making plans to achieve the goals you make! You can set as many goals as you want and feel super good about it! But if you don't make a plan on how you will achieve those goals, it will become almost impossible to accomplish any of them. Thank goodness Heavenly Father is patient and forgiving as I try and sometimes fail in my goals here!  I have made so many goals in the last 3 months and  I can honestly  say I've only accomplished a handful of them!  The moral of the story . . . make plans to accomplish your goals!

This week I also read D&C 121 and learned a lot about relationships through it. Yes, that section is about the priesthood, but if your replace the word priesthood with the word relationship, BOOM, God gives you answers to improving  relationships!

First let’s look at D&C 121:5   Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs.

This verse makes you acknowledge that fact that there might be a problem in the relationship, and that you need to stop having anger toward the other person in the relationship.

Now  verse 7:  My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

This verse  teaches a powerful lesson, not only for relationships,  but for any trial you face in life. Have peace and turn to God because all your trials hardships and pains shall be but a moment. I love this one A LOT!

God is so simple and his doctrine is so simple.  In a talk I read this week, I learned that He is always there with arms stretched out, but he won't force us into exaltation and happiness. He INVITES us to "Come unto me." (3 Nephi 12:23) " turn to me" (Nehimiah 1:9) and  "draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you". (D&C 88:63)

His gospel is simple, His love is simple and everlasting. Turn to Him, trust Him and He will be there 70 x 7.

A mission is hard, but so far the best thing I've ever done with my life. I've learned to turn to God in so many different ways and I pray all of you will turn to Him too. He's there and He loves you and He is willing and desirous to help all of His children!!

Love you all.   Have a good week!

Love Sister Webb

The Sister on the right is Sister Curtis.  She has been one of our roomates and just finished her mission.  Her parents came to HK to pick her up and visit some of Southeast Asia.  I will miss her!