Farewell Beautiful Hong Kong!

Hi family and friends!! Wow!! This is it! My last email to you from Hong Kong!  I can’t  believe how fast it goes!  My parents are coming here to play with me in Hong Kong and I’m so excited!  These last 6 weeks I’ve been studying Alma in the Book of Mormon and it’s been such a blessing in my life!  As you know Alma is all about missionary work and enduring with hope and a faithful attitude. Recently we have set apart time to go out finding and we have been rejected person after person, called a cult by so many passer-by’s and given looks of disgust.  We’ve hear people tell their friends, “Keep walking, keep walking, keep walking” and lie after lie and excuse after excuse. People say, “Can't talk, I'm in a rush” or “I'm not available,” or 'I don’t have time for Christ in my life.”

 But Alma reminds us, "And now Sister Webb, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them" (Alma 34:40)  Then He promises" But behold, Sister Webb, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land..." (Alma 36:30)  So no matter what situation God puts us in, He doesn't just want us to endure and have patience, he expects us to endure and have 'trust in God to support us through our trials.'
 

The best way I can explain my mission is in the words of Alma: " 24 Yea, and from the time I left Utah even until now, I have (tried my best to) labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.... 21 Yea, I say unto you, my friends and family back home, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my friends and family back home, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." (Alma 36: 20)

Seriously the words of Alma were intended to be for the ears of missionaries! haha (:  There is so much hope in Alma voice, then just wait till you get to Moroni leading his armies! Wow!   A line that me and Sister Sam quote a lot from Moroni is that he never took offense.  When people reject us or something happens that could lead us to take offense we say to each other "Moroni wouldn't take offense.”

A mission is incredible! My testimony has not only become stronger, it is more solid and changed with deeper roots and lots of experience and a really strong trunk now to support it! I love being a missionary! I love the day to day stuff, personal, companionship and language study, waking up at 6:30 for exercise, falling on your knees morning and night, sometimes falling asleep mid-prayer and having to repent the next day, being rejected and accepted multiple times on just the walk home, testifying of Christ’s name at every and any given opportunity! One experience this week that sticks in my mind is this new investigator we have named Jerry. I have never seen a 16 year old SO excited about the Book of Mormon. It’s AMAZING!! We explain it to him, shared the first vision and he was just mind blown and beyond excited to read the book and receive his own witness. We also taught him the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost can help you know if it’s true and his excitement alone flooded him with the spirit! It was so amazing!!

I’m so excited to come home and see you all!  I’m sad to be leaving such an amazing mission, but I'm ready to see you all! I love you and look forward to amazing homecoming with people I love!

Love Sister Webb

***Amanda's companion sent this email with some things she has learned and loves about Amanda.  I thought it was wonderful, so I'm including it!

There are some great lessons I have learned from Sis. Webb as she has trained me:

1. No need to fear, "You have the greatest man who ever lived standing by your side"

2. "The Savior shed blood for every single one of these people"- her mindset always

3. Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration- the greatest story to share with anyone who will listen.

4. Service service service.- Sister Webb doesn't think about herself- she thinks about other people always- it is incredible!

Soildiers In His Kingdom

I thought a lot about my Dad this last week (: If you don't know what it means to be a soldier in God’s Kingdom, take a look at my Dad for a day or two and you will get an idea.

This week we had an incredible zone conference that helped me see a lot of things in a new light. We talked a lot about obedience. Obedience is so important!  It’s the first law of heaven!

"Christ learned obedience through the things he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8)

"Blessed are they whose feet stand upon the Land of Zion, who have obeyed my gospel; for they shall receive for their reward the good things of the earth, and it shall bring for the in its strength" D&C59:3-4.

The first things we covenant to do when we enter the temple is to be obedient to God. Do you think it’s important to him? YES!!!!  I think a simple definition of obedience could be ACTING on what you know if right.  Acting IS obedience.  Did you know not acting on a prompting from the Spirit is disobedience to God’s commands?  God wants to bless us but sometimes the only thing holding us back is ourselves. I think about soldiers and how obedient they are to their Commander.  God refers to us as soldiers!  Will we LIVE up to it?

This week was good.  My comp already wrote out all the updates on investigators, so my mom will just post that with this.

Hei: Sister Webb and I also met with Hei this week. We are worried his intentions aren't right so we might need to turn him over to the elders. He really opened up last lesson about how he really isn't very happy in his life. He has a fantastic job, but he just seems super lonely with a Lot of time on his hands. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and invited him to do a 7 day experiment of prayer and scripture study.

Kelvin: No progress this week

Nina: Stay in contact with her all week, but couldn't meet or come to church because of father’s day. We are planning on meeting with her this week.

Kenny and Ayan: THEY FINALLY CAME TO CHURCH AGAIN!!!!! Yay! They have both been so busy with school, so we haven't seen them since that last week of May, and Ayan, even longer than that! By the way- I think it is really cute in Chinese culture- Ayan's name is actually Yan- but the A in front is just an endearing term that they sometimes add to their names :)

I got to go on exchanges with my first baby, Sister Perez this week! SUCH A BLAST!  She is amazing. I have been SO blessed with companions! They have taught me so much and I’ve come to love them as a true sister!

We also have Whatsapp now. I have a love hate relationship with it. I can be very useful and also VERY distracting. So I decided this week it’s ALL Sister Sam’s, I won't touch it! I got so sick of it last night I turned off the data and took Sister Sam to a park to have comp inventory. So ya.. not excited for a phone. I can’t believe I’m done next week. So fast!  Excited to see you all! Love you!!

Love, Sister Webb

More Miracles!

What a week. la.

Biggest miracle: NINA!   So we received a text half way through the week from the office elders.  They had run into this woman on the street and exchanged numbers really quickly with her.  She then went on vacation for the next 2 months, so no one could et in contact with her. When she came back to HK she texted the Elders and they gave her our number and told her to text us.  She texted us this week and we met with her and WOW!!  We were with her for two hours and she was just Phenomenal and Prepared as prepared can be!  She needed the gospel more than anything!  She is AMAZING!   She has a Buddhist husband who she worries will reject the church.  He parent and her in-laws keep telling her that we are a cult. But her testimony is too strong to be swayed by them! It’s unbelievable how much opposition she has had in the one week she had met with us, BUT she still came to church.  She cried and bore testimony of how amazing the feeling was at church and how grateful she was to be there.  I feel so much gratitude and I’m so happy to get to teach her!!

We are trying to work really hard and stay focused. God has to remind my daily, if not hourly of my purpose. I never realized how hard the end of a mission could be. If anyone has tips for focusing, send them my way. I'll only have one week left if you send them to me next week! So fill me up with ideas on what you did to stay focused!

I finally gave my first talk in Church on Sunday.  It was so fun! I really just love teaching big groups haha (: I actually had a dream last night that I was asked to speak at a primary school and teach them about the Book of Mormon. Cool dream!  I taught the WHOLE SCHOOL and committed all the children to read the Book of Mormon! If only that was reality... maybe... give me a week…I'll see what I can do!

Anyway, I just want to testify of the reality of  this work. Elder Holland describes it perfectly when he talks about the atonement and missionary work.

"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?

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."

 I believe all of us will have to pay a token, just a token of what Christ went through. So pay it with optimism and hope for the future. It wasn't an easy task for Christ, SO it may not be easy for us

Also I heard a missionary say this week, " Keep workin hard, smart and havin fun!”  So take a step back, look at your life, work hard, and be smart.  I know God did not mean for us to trudge through life miserable, so find a way to have fun, (be obedient la...) it’s that easy.  .  . just be obedient!

Love you all! See you in 3 weeks!!  (actually 4 since my Mom & Dad are coming to visit for a week!!)  So fast la!!!

Love,  Sister Webb

BEAUTIFUL hike up to Castle Peak!

Sister Sam (my baby and companion) LED OUT this week!!

So just to clarify again, when we have a new missionary and we train them, they become our "baby".  Sister Sam is my baby.  I let her lead these last 4 days. SHE DID SO GOOD! It was such a blast too. She has so much enthusiasm for the work and she is SO good at staying happy, funny, optimistic and positive. I don’t know if any of you really know Sister Sam's story, but she is an inspiration to me. I have looked up to her since the second I picked her up in the office as a brand new missionary. She is older than me by just 2 months and she had a hard time deciding to come out on a  mission. She is a piano major at BYU and probably one of the best in her class (which says a lot because the BYU piano department is INCREDIBLE), but she wouldn’t tell you that if you asked her. She is humble and full of so much love and patience. She is someone who will submit to the Lord’s will, (once she is certain it is the Lord’s will) without hesitation, and she prays and prays for Her own will to align with the Lord’s will. She will allow the Lord to stretch her as far as He can until she break.  Then when she breaks she just turns right back to the Lord and relies on his mercy to pull herself back together, constantly remembering that she is imperfect and has weaknesses, but realizing that every weakness only brings blessings. She never lets Satan get to her. She is the happiest person I have ever met. Sister Sam is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met!  I’m so grateful that God gave me such an amazing companion!

So This week was just full of laughter and smiles, and lots of lessons learned for Sister Sam. I literally turned “baby” on her and made her lead everything. We had lots of time on some of the days where Sister Sam had to figure out what to do.  I think she was a little anxious when she realized there was a good four hour chunk of time that she had to fill. But she did it!  And not only did she just do it, she did it with a smile on her face and she would turn to me and say, "Okay baby, are you ready to see miracles today?!" This is something Sister Sam has said to me since day one! "We're going to see a miracle today Sister Webb!" Every time she says it, a miracle happens. So much faith in her tiny little frame haha (:

So we did have success this week, but one of our investigators got drunk the night before church and didn’t wake up on time for church haha (:  The other ones are all testing, so they have locked themselves away and turned off their phones. They literally go into hibernation!  We are mainly working with the ward and finding. (: It’s been a really fun week. President Lam always says, "Work hard, Work smart, and Have fun!" That’s his motto and it works!! So 大家 (daaih gaa) WORK HARD! WORK SMART, and HAVE FUN!!   Also, learn to trust the people that you think look up to you, let them lead, let them learn and let them have fun!

Love you all

Note from Julie:

**I enjoyed Sis. Sam’s recap on their investigators this week, so I’m including it below**

Kelvin: Kelvin is 30 years old and we met with him twice this week. The first time we met, we were able to get a ward member, Jyu Hoi who is a convert and also 30 years old, to come help us. He was a great help! The first couple of lessons Kelvin had- he seemed so sad. He has a really close friend dying of cancer. The second lesson we had was unexpected because Kelvin called and scheduled us to meet! We were a bit worried about his motivations, but were really surprised at the lesson. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and he had so many good questions to ask us. He isn't able to come to church now because of a job until July. But, in his closing prayer, he asked to have time to come to church! He seemed so much happier this second lesson- I hope he continues to have interest!

Hei: Hei is 25 years old and is doing pretty good. We have taught him twice now and he has been to church once. This week we taught him about the Restoration. Hei is a really smart guy, an engineer, and we feel he is looking for more information about the gospel and are hoping he will start gaining more of a desire to develop faith in what we are teaching. He actually has a baptism date set for June 23rd though we'll see if the date sticks- we hope so!

Kenny: Kenny is doing well, he is still praying but is super busy with school. People are so busy here with school and testing and once testing ends they have to prepare for more tests! I feel so bad for these kids- there are a ton of schools around where we live, and these little school kids carry backpacks as big as their bodies!! Some kids we talk to say they have 18 tests for 18 different subjects. They go to school, than after school they have tutoring. So busy! We probably won't see Kenny for the next two weeks sadly. But, Sister Webb calls him to read the Book of Mormon with him- he says he will be much more free to meet with us after his tests are over.

Viann: Tracy's friend is doing well. It is super hard to meet with her, but she comes to church with Tracy- except for this week because she was not in HK.

The Holy Ghost Is My Best Friend!

First, Elder Gong visited with us for about 2 hours this week.  It was really amazing and I got to lead the music!  We are so blessed to have Latter-Day Apostles!

There is a lot on my mind right now as I’m writing this email, but the one thing that sticks out to me is a General Conference talk I read recently that taught me that the Spirit is “no stranger to rejection.”   As a missionary, we are rejected multiple times a day, especially if we are opening our mouth often and trying to talk to other people. (I think this builds characterJ) What helps me get through this is to try and understand how the Spirit must feel.  I personally felt and understood the Spirit in powerful ways this week.

We had a flash of inspiration to set up our church to look like the Plan of Salvation and invite people on the street to come in and walk through the path to their own salvation.  It was inspired and brought miracles into our missionary work in our area!  I know this was direct revelation from the Spirit and it worked beautifully!  The people that came through our tour were incredible and God picked them up off the street for us!  Three became new investigators and one picked a day to be baptized. Also, two of the people we took in got to the point of earth life.  Then suddenly the Spirit COMPLETELY flipped the lesson and turned it into EXACTLY what that person needed to hear.  There was no denying we were working very closely with the Spirit, and as a result had SO much success.

I really am also learning what it means to "work like it all depends on you, and pray like it all depends on God".   I know I have said that before. But this week we really learned the truth of that. It was in direct contrast to two weeks ago when Sister Sam & I got very distracted, didn't try our hardest,  and as a result had little to no success. This week we worked our tails off organizing this plan of salvation lay out and finding people to tour it.  It was also incredible to see the ward get involved!

Our ward threw the best party this week! They cleverly organized games and had prizes, but in the end it was all for the missionaries to get new investigators AND WE DID!  We received 20 REFERRALS  from it and ALOT of members got excited to start teaching their friends.

This week.. wow.. I can't even put into words the miracles God performed. I know it’s because we worked really hard and we worked with the Spirit on all of it. The Holy Ghost is real. For those of you who are questioning His existence, He feels your rejection and He is often ignored by us, but He is a real person!  He lives and you can have free communication with Him if you desire and believe He's real. I can testify that the three members of the Godhead are real. They are as real as me and you and they can have a relationship with each of us!  They want to help us.

We had an investigator this week look at the picture of Christ knocking on the outside of the door without the door knob.   He looked at the picture and said, “How do I let him in?"   We told him to PRAY!  Pray, pray, and pray harder AND THEN BELIEVE that He is actually on the other side.

I’m so grateful for this week and the help we received as missionaries for the Lord.  This church is true!  God lives and loves us.  The Holy Ghost is full of long suffering and love, and he will NEVER give up on you, so DO NOT give up on Him!

Love you all!

Love,  Sister Webb

Sister Sam and I enjoying a minute looking out at the beautiful coean in HK

Have I mentioned that HK has the BEST FOOD in the world?!!

Preparing for our Plan of Salvation activity:)

A Lesson I Needed To Learn

Do you ever feel bad about something...and then you feel guilty for feeling bad? And then you feel even worse for feeling guilty, which makes you feel even more guilty? That was me and Sister Sam this week!

I hate it when I'm so prideful that God has to force me to be humble and teach me the lessons He needs me to learn hard way. I was certainly taught the hard way this week. Sister Sam & I learned a lot about self control, turning to the Lord, learning not to worry too much, and learning what happens when you slack off.   We didn’t put our all into the work this week and it was a really discouraging week for both of us.  We had one night where we desperately wanted to feel the Spirit, so we went o the church and went into a quiet room to pray and read out of the scriptures. Ironically enough we opened up to the Savior’s Atonement and His crucifixion and resurrection. We read the whole thing and I it’s difficult to describe the peace that came over us in that little room at the church.  Then for the first time in a long time we prayed in English, and the Spirit brought us both to tears. We realized that we did not do our part fully this last week and realized that we let down the Lord as His missionaries and we felt so sorry!

But the chance to partake of the Sacrament on Sunday changed EVERYTHING for us!   There is power in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  We knew we had been forgiven and we had a fresh start!  I’m so grateful for the mercy and love Heavenly Father pours out on us so generously.

Look forward to my email next week because we are ready for a week of miracles! DAAIH GAA!! Love you!

Love,  Sister Webb

Our Skype with Amanda on Mother's Day was great!

She started trying to call us from the Apple Store in HK, but that was unsuccessful so she had to walk 40 minutes to a gaming store where several other missionaries were gathered calling their mom's.  It was noisy and chaotic, but still so good to see her face and hear her voice!

Amazing food in HK!

Work Like It Depends On You, Pray Like It Depends On God

"Work like it depends on you, pray like it depends on God!" is a principle that I think I finally understand. It took me 15 months!

We had the most amazing  meeting yesterday in Church. It was phenomenal. It was a broadcast specifically to Hong Kong and Taiwan. They addressed the Hong Kong people specifically and the work being done and listed some names of people throughout Hong Kong who have been pioneers in the work.  They personalized it so much for these people, and it was incredible! They talked about ministering, reading the Book of Mormon and prayer. Elder Anderson had a simple outline to help us . . .  he said, "Pray, Listen, Write it down, and Act". This is where the 'work like it depends on you, pray like it depends on God' quote plays a role. Elder Anderson played these 4 steps out in hope that we would live these 4 steps and grow closer to Christ so we are better able to receive more blessing and revelation. I just want to testify that these 4 steps WORK!  If you’re missing something in your life right now, it’s right there.. "Pray, Listen, Write it down, ACT" which part are you missing. If you’re missing a part, get to work!

This week was so full of miracles! What an incredible week. Tracy was baptized!! I think I would come to Hong Kong and do it all over again just for her! I am so blessed to have her in my life! WOW!  We started off her baptism with a song and then our ward mission leader talked a bit. Then us missionaries and the youth stood up and sang, and it was so beautiful that Tracy started crying.  Then I started crying. So sweet! Then she was baptized.  While she was changing, they let me stand up and give a talk.   This was incredible because we had about 8 people who were either investigators or less active members.  I taught the Restoration and it was SO FUN!!

I’m running out of time, but this week was a highlight of my mission. We met so many amazing new people and started teaching new people!  The work is getting busier and busier, and we finally are getting the ward more involved in family history!  I have found more investigators in these last 3 weeks than I have in my whole mission!

Love you!!

Love, Sister Webb

Getting ready for Tracy's baptism and visiting with so many awesome investigators there

AN INCREDIBLE BAPTISM

Oh how I love these people!

Lunch with Shelly