I served the Lord...where the Savior showed His face.

Okay...let me start off by telling you about the totally LAME thing that I did last p-day.

I left my memory card that had all my pics from July 20 until NOW in the machine at Wal-Mart and didn't realize it until 9:00 that night and it has not yet been returned. SO DUMB!!! AH. The thing was Sister Esser was printing pictures from it so I wasn't really paying much attention...yep. So, the moral of the story is I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! But the blessing is....I've emailed some of them home, I took some from Sister Scott's camera & she's going to email me some of mine that she emailed home from my camera, and Sister Decker got a CD of some my pictures when we were in the triple up so I have just about all my bases covered. HOORAY! So thank heavens that even though I am a little bit DUMB sometimes, Heavenly Father still provides plenty of tender mercies! :)

Other than that to end my mission, I tracted into Amish people for the first time ever yesterday and they were very much scared off by Sister Esser's HOT PINK coat! Ha...just kidding. Sort of :) That was a funny experience.

I'm just going to come right out and admit to the fact that I am still in denial of the upcoming events that will be occuring later on this week. I haven't even started packing yet. Uh oh.... How can it already be December 6th?!?!

Truth be told, I am feeling a little anxious about getting back into "the real world". I just love being a missionary SO much and love being able to focus all my time, thoughts, and efforts on helping others come to Christ. I know that I myself have come closer to Christ in this process. He really has become a FRIEND to me on my mission. He's helped me so much! I know that Ohio will ALWAYS be a part of my life from here on out. I will never forget the people that I've grown to love, and the places that I've been able to serve. Obviously though I'm excited to see all of you....but really, this has to be the most BITTERSWEET thing I have EVER EVER EVER experienced!!!

However, I found this scripture in D&C 71 the other day that helped me to feel better..."Behold, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant [Sister Webb], that the time has come that it is necessary and expedient in me that you should open your mouths in proclaiming my gospel, the things of the kingdom...according to that portion of the Spirit and power which shall be given unto you....Verily this is a mission for a season, which I give unto you."

A mission of this variety is only for a season...I guess now I'm on to my next mission in life. I'm so grateful to God that I was able to serve in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. Here in Ohio, I really have learned what my purpose is. And even though my mission is ending, my purpose is eternal! As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I will continue to invite others to come unto Him, just as He did.

I LOVE YOU! I love the gospel. This is the real world! The gospel is what is real...this is what matters. I know that God lives and that Jesus Christ is His Son and is literally our Savior, and our Friend. He KNOWS us! He will be there to help us out of the darkest places and will be there to celebrate with us in the sweetest and most joyful moments imaginable! His Church has been restored to the earth...I know that it has. This is it. There is a prophet on the earth today, Thomas S. Monson. He is a literal mouthpiece for the Lord. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the word of God. I have come to know these things for myself through study and through prayer. I am grateful for the Spirit and for the way it has helped me and answered me prayers. I know that happiness comes as we keep God's commandments and we do His will. And so, I intend to do those things for the rest of my life.

Like Enos, I can say "I have declared [the truth which is in Christ] in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world."

Sure love ya,

Sister Webb

enduring & enjoying to the end :)

Alright, so it's been a pretty darn good week!

Thanksgiving was great! I don't think I told you but the members we were supposed to eat with cancelled dinner on us! Hahaha so we ended up eating at the sites with a bunch of the senior couples. It was delicious & just lovely! I love them all so much, so it was fun. Thanksgiving was our p-day so after lunch, I took a nap while Sister Esser set up a Christmas tree that was in the basement of the Boynton.

I seriously cannot believe that it is Christmas again already!!!! It feels like a month ago that I was caroling to the people of Shaker Heights, and Cleveland Heights, and South Euclid, Ohio!! And it was a year. TIME FLIES! But anywho, that night at the VC we had a get-together for the sisters and we got permission to watch Emma Smith: My Story. We were allowed to wear p-day clothes so I was in jeans...watching a movie.....it was a scary foreshadowing of things to come. Yikes!

Saturday was Jennie & Noah's baptism! So let's back up for just a second. Last Wednesday night was their baptismal interviews, and the zone leaders found that they were ready to be baptized. President Draper came to talk with Jennie & just invite her to come every week to the Chardon branch since this is the unit she's assigned to. (She'd been going to the Youngstown ward because she has a friend over there who was the one who referred her to the missionaries.)

We knew that President Draper had a been a little apprehensive about a couple things so we talked with him afterwards to see if he felt better. Basically, he gave us his strong opinion that if it were him, he would push the date a few weeks and just make sure that she had a flaming burning testimony. Sister Esser was feeling really stressed and overwhelmed because she was feeling like we needed to move the date. I didn't really feel that as much...I felt like Jennie has a calm understanding of the gospel and is ready. But we decided it would calm Sister Esser's nerves and President Draper's to move the baptism so we resolved to do that.

When we went to see them on Thanksgiving day we had plans of moving it....however, as we talked with Jennie that day and asked inspired questions, we found out more about the beginnings of her interest in the gospel. We found that she had been on mormon.org and read and studied about this before inviting the elders over. We asked that if heaven forbid, Roy, her friend who referred her, was out of the picture, would she still know that this was Jesus Christ's original church? That this was true? And she said, Yes! Sisters, I'm not going anywhere. And we both just felt at peace and felt relieved and didn't feel like we needed to move the date. So we didn't.

Sister Esser was kind of going back and forth on it again the next day but when we prayed to feel that peace again, a line from a blessing that I actually got back in February ran through my mind:"Promptings and impressions may come differently than you may expect or from counsel of others but remember, the Spirit is first." I knew without a doubt that the supreme peace & relief that I felt when we left Jennie's house on Thanksgiving day was the Spirit. And I couldn't look back after that. The baptism ended up being AMAZING!! There weren't a whole lot of people there but the Spirit was so strong. :) WOOHOO!

On Saturday night, we went over the Sarah Brown's house & taught her and her brother Carey!! He actually sat in on the lesson and was really talkative...a lot more than he was at the baptism. SWEET! I love the Brown family! Sister Brown made us a crumb cake and ran and got milk so she missed the lesson part BUT she and Carey came to church with Sarah on Sunday!!!!! SO COOL! When we were leaving church, Sarah ran back inside and grabbed a Book of Mormon to write her testimony in and give to her brother before he went back to college in Columbus that night. SHE'S SO AWESOME! But the best part of that whole thing was that her MOM was the one who told her to go grab a BoM for him!!! Sister Brown totally has a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. She will be baptized one day, I know it. It was just interesting to note how she came to church when Brother Brown was out of town, hunting....hmm.

But back to Sarah, she came with us to the sites on Sunday and shadowed us there! :) We took a tour and made phone calls with her! I know when I first started in the call center, I only called those who were members of the Church but Sarah wanted to start with people who weren't members of the church so she could share her testimony with them!! Isn't she incredible?! Seriously. She also told us more about how she had been planning to join the church in college (for a number of years) and so her requirements when she was looking at colleges was that they had a Russian program and that there was an LDS chapel somewhere nearby. :) I really still am not sure how I got so lucky as to be one of "her" missionaries! I LOVE HER! She loved being at sites with us and said that she wants to come back every Sunday :) We'd LOVE that!

On Tuesday, we had the most wretched training meeting ever! It was a departure testimony meeting pretty much. We never have training meeting on the week of transfers so that was my last one. They had the 10 of us, plus Sister Lyman, who is leaving 2 weeks after us (so she can make it back to BYU in time for the semester), get up and share our testimonies with all the young sisters & the senior couples. Wow. It was pretty much a cry-fest. It was great. I don't know why we had to do it so early, when we still had a week left, but oh well. It was what it was. Sister Debenham wrote a song about Kirtland and a few of us sang it for a musical number in that meeting. We're also going to be singing it at the transfer meeting on the 7th. It's amazing. I'll just share a couple stanzas from the song. It's called Stories of Kirtland:

"And now the path is pointing me home now
It's like a voice, it's calling me
And every time I walk by the brook now
I'm overcome with memories"

I feel that! It feels surreal that it's already been almost 18 months. There is no way!!! Gosh, it goes by SO fast! But no worries all of you who are freaking out, I still have one more p-day left on Tuesday, December 6th so I'm still going to need some emails to read, OKAY!!

We didn't have p-day yesterday because Sister Esser got a call from President Sorensen on Tuesday asking her to train a new missionary who is coming out!! :) She, Sister Tokunaga & Sister Mayer are training. That means I'll get to have a picture with my grandbaby before I leave this place :) So, anyway, the three of them had to go to Cleveland for meetings yesterday so p-day was shifted to today.

I just want you to know that I have a testimony of enduring to the end. I'm not done. I still have 6 days left with stewardship over the Chardon area and I intend to see to it that this area is taken care of and these people are loved and taken care of the way they need to be. My work is not yet finished! I know that the Lord can work miracles in 6 days. So I plan on seeing many. I love you all!!!!!

Love,
Sister Webb

P.S. I forgot my camera in my coat pocket in the car soooo you'll have to wait til Tuesday for any pictures. BYE!

think to thank!

It has been a wonderful week!

We've been preparing Jennie & Noah for their baptism which is on Saturday at11! Well, we think. They still haven't had their interviews with the zone leaders yet so nothing is set in stone. But most likely, Saturday at 11 is the time!

We were able to see Sister Warren this week with Brother McClellan and get her a blessing. It was really good for her and really helped her to have that eternal perspective that is sometimes so hard to keep in difficult times. Oh my gosh, we saw Jimmy & Stormy  this week and guess what!! We didn't even ask but their mom told us that they are aiming for their baptisms to be over Christmas break!!!!! :) HOORAY! Jimmy is 12 and Stormy is 11 and they are at church almost every week but they are waiting on their dad to become worthy to baptize them again. He has been working with Pres. Draper and it looks like things should work out for next month! Oh, that makes me so HAPPY! These kids are darling and have been so patient. Let them be baptized!!

Sweet Sarah  was supposed to come teaching with us this week but our lesson cancelled and so we just taught her instead. She will be coming to the sites with us on Sunday and shadowing us though! So, what that means is that she'll make phone calls with us and come on tours with us. She's going to be amazing! :) We are really excited!

when Sarah attempted to come teaching with us :)

We saw Pam & Raye again on Saturday. They are doing well! Well, sort of. Half of them. Raye is doing really well...Pam is lukewarm. But Pam, Raye & Fred (Pam's 13-year-old son) came to church on Sunday!!! And they stayed for all 3 hours! We saw them Monday night as well. Pam opted not to sit in on the lesson this time, but we started teaching Fred! And set a baptismal date with him...Raye & Fred are going to be baptized on December 17th. Currently, Pam is scheduled for that date as well but she's not quite on target for that so we'll probably have to move hers.

 

It's been really humbling & really interesting to observe what a difference reading from the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it is the word of God makes on a person's progression, though. Pam has not been good at keeping reading commitments, and she's progressing very slowly. Raye on the other, who started out as an atheist if you remember, has been keeping up on the reading and even started highlighting things that she liked and things that she was confused about. It's amazing to see how she's changing! Her progression is occuring so rapidly! She is developing a love for the scriptures and has started carrying them around in her purse!! She's softening and her prayers are becoming more meaningful, and more full of faith. It's SO COOL to watch!

 

And now Fred is added into the bunch...Fred is quiet but he really gets it. When we were teaching him about prayer, I asked why it would be important for us to pray in the name of Jesus Christ and just said, "Because He's our Savior." And we hadn't even used that word in the lesson! I like Fred. Sister Esser like LOVES Fred! Haha. She says he reminds her of herself. :) Too funny. We are going over to see Raye tomorrow because her whole family is going to Pennsylvania today & tomorrow but they are leaving her at home....why? We aren't really sure...but no one should be alone on Thanksgiving!! We are seeing her and the Jones (Jennie & Noah).

 On Sunday, Brother Tate from the Mayfield ward was the high council speaker and he got up and was like "I only know 2 things about the Chardon branch...and one is that Sister Webb is our family's favorite missionary! Seriously, she is like the best missionary so if you've been hiding anyone from the sisters, you better give them to them now while she's still here!" It was really embarassing but really nice!

Last night was the Thanksgiving service with the Community of Christ in the Kirtland Temple. It was really good. I couldn't help but think about last year and how a year ago, I'd spent the whole night sick from bad salmon and then spent the whole day sleeping on the couch of the Boynton until the Temple service started. Haha...I'm glad that didn't happen again! It was weird knowing that that is one of last times that I'll be in that beautiful & special building.

I really do love Kirtland, Ohio! I am SO thankful that I was called to this special place to serve my mission. I am convinced that there is no better place in the world. I am grateful for a Savior, Jesus Christ, would give up His life, so that eventually we can all live forever! I am grateful for the blessing of a wonderful family and AMAZING friends and sisters here that have so richly blessed my life. I love Thanksgiving because it gives us all a time to reflect on the blessings that our Heavenly Father has provided for us.

 

I want to challenge you all to do something tomorrow that Sister Esser & I will be doing: make a list of 100 things that you are grateful for. I saw this challenge on the youth.lds.org website when we were chatting the other day and I LOVE IT! We have so much that we've been given....let's acknowledge some of that! Thank you for all of your love, your prayers, and your support. I could not do this without you!

Love,

Sister Webb

the gospel gives us great cause to rejoice!

I can't even believe that November is already half way over! What is this?!?!   Most of the nativities are up and the Christmas trees in Kirtland just went up yesterday so I suppose there is no denying what time of the year it is. Wow. I remember all of these things going on last year, when I was companions with Sister Law! The last year has gone by so fast!!!   I've got a couple stories/experiences to share from this week.... Let's start with zone conference! We had to cover the sites the day of the Kirtland zone conference so we ended up going out to Cleveland with a couple other companionships the next day. It snowed that day just a little bit...Zone Conferences are so necessary as a missionary! There's just like an extra concentrated spirit there and personal revelation just flows. I love that!   And roleplaying with other missionaries is so neat too. You don't even know their investigators but you just pray and ask to know what you need to teach, and what questions to ask and they just come and it almost always ends up being what they need. It's really amazing how wonderful Heavenly Father is to impart some of His knowledge about His children to us.   By the time we got out of zone conference, the snow was all melted in Cleveland and Kirtland, but that night when we drove out to Chardon, it was like BLANKETED! Aaaah. Blasted snow belt! Everyone says it dumps here...I'm not going to lie, I am pretty glad that I will be missing out on almost all of the winter! :)   Raye (13-year-old "atheist" granddaughter of Pam) came to church this week!!! We found out that she knows the Eging boys, Denee (one of the Eging's foster kids) and also Brock Juker because she goes to school with them. It was just like she had instant fellowshippers! :) She is so funny because she claims to be atheist but you can see how she just is craving the love of God. She just wants it so badly but she won't admit it. Silly girl. Yesterday we found out that her uncle, who is also 13, wants to come next week too! We really are going to help that family.   We saw Jennie & Noah  a few times this week. We moved their baptismal date back to November 26th so that we have enough time to teach them everything. They are doing pretty well though! Noah is hands down the most profound 9 year old ever. He like gets it. It's really neat. We asked him the other day how he felt when he prayed and he was like, "I feel good. I feel fresh."   So, the they came to the Chardon branch for the first time this past Sunday (they've been going to Youngstown ward) and Noah and Zach participated in the primary program!! It was so cute! We saw them the night before and Noah said the closing prayer and he was like "Please Lord, let us be able to sing tomorrow so we can just, ya know, praise you." :) Gosh...he's adorable!   The kids had a great time at the branch but Jennie had a pretty negative experience in Relief Society. Sometimes I wish I could just tape some people's mouths shut! Or maybe just put a brain in their heads...either one works. Somebody made a comment in a negative tone of voice about born-again Christians which is what Jennie currently is. GREAT. She was so hurt by it that it sent her into tears after the lesson. Ay. We are seeing her tonight for the first time since then. She's still doing well though. We fasted with her on Monday (and she found out that night that Noah fasted too...the 9-year-old!!!!) so that she could find a job and yesterday she texted us...she got one! She starts working December 12th. Yay!! I got a picture with them this week so I''ll be sure and attach it.    Gabriella (3), Noah (9), Jennie, Zachariah (7), and me :) I love them! So another neat experience...after all the post-church drama on Sunday, we had to talk with a couple more people and then head straight over to the sites for our 12:30 shift. I was SO exhausted it was not even funny. Just like so mentally, emotionally, and physically tired. And then, they called us on tour. I seriously was almost in tears because I HAD NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE! Like nothing....zero. But this is my calling and this is why I'm here and so I sucked it up and just kept fighting back the thoughts that wanted me to just go back inside and take a nap, and we started the tour.   It ended up being SUCH a blessing! The couple that we took on tour were SO cute, and had just put in their mission papers. They made the tour so worth it and I really felt the ennabling power of the Atonement as I prayed for the strength to fulfill my calling. Energy came rushing into my soul and everything was okay. It was really amazing. I love Heavenly Father and His tender, tender mercies!   We didn't find the dreamers this week. Sister Esser & I both felt really good about this certain area on Saturday so we went over there and everyone wasn't interested and almost everyone was rude! Ugh. It was a little bit discouraging but I know that Heavenly Father will lead us to these people who need the gospel and just don't know where to find truth, just as He led Alma in the Book of Mormon:   "And it came to pass that Alma... began to be very sorrowful; nevertheless the Spirit of the Lord did not fail him."   I know that that same Spirit that was with Alma is with me, and it won't fail me either!! Really, I have "great cause to rejoice" (Alma 8:15)! I have an amazing companion that I love SO much, my area is fantastic, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are with me! It's the truth. There are forces, seen and unseen, preparing the people here in the Ohio, and throughout the world. I love the gospel! I love YOUUUUUU!!!   Love, Sister Webb

i love sarah!!

Let's start with the best part of the week....Sarah got baptized on Saturday!!!!!! :)

The baptism was amazing! Her entire family came, INCLUDING HER DAD!!!! Plus, like half the branch and a few families from the Kirtland Ward andddd a couple of sets of missionaries and their investigators. Jennie, our investigator, & her kids were able to come too. It was so good! We had the talks and things in the chapel because there were too many people to fit in the Relief Society room. It was so good to get to meet Sarah's family. :) The only thing that I'd ever heard about Sarah's dad was that he told Sister Hansen & Sister Lyman that he was NOT interested and to never come back...so I pictured him in my head as a mean and rude person...but he was really nice to us. I don't think he's going to be at church again next week or anything but still...I am sure that he felt the spirit. :) 

SARAH! :)

Sarah's aunt Lisa & uncle David are amazing. They are the ones from Oregon & they are super solid members of the Church. They got Sarah her own set of scriptures and a CTR ring and also, Lisa printed off pictures of the first lady in the family who joined the Church and told Sarah about her story. How neat is that?! So they talked to her all about that and about her uncle's mission and just really neat stories about the people that the Brown family have affected and helped to learn about the gospel. It was really amazing. I'm so glad that they got to come and be here to support her.

And, apparently there was no school in Chardon on Monday, so Sarah's mom told her to invite us over for lunch! That was the first time we've ever been in their house!!! The barrier has been broken :) Hooray!!! She is so wonderful. She was telling us about how she's invited her mom to start coming to church with her and how she loves going on youth.lds.org and watching all of the sweet videos on there. And she's going to give a Book of Mormon away to one of her friends. AH! I just want to be her friend forever!! Really. She is going to be a miracle-worker in Heavenly Father's hands! I can't wait to watch it all unfold.

So now that you can see that I'm pretty much obsessed with Sarah, we can move on.

We've been able to see a lot of members/ recent converts/ less actives this week so far. It's been really good. We got to meet with Sister Hovorka, whose husband passed away last month. She's incredible! Sister Draper mentioned something the other day about how Thia Hovorka was "a student of the Bible" and I've been curious about her conversion story ever since. After our visit, all I have to say is SHE IS AMAZING. I want to be like her when I grow up. She has such an inner strength, and a light that she is going to share with her very less active family in Wisconsin. I feel very humbled to have been able to have that sort of heart-to-heart with her and get to know her better. I just really love the people of Ohio.

 GO TO THE OHIO.

 

Sister Esser & I received revelation this week about how we can get the branch more excited for missionary work! Earlier this summer, Sisters Bills & Esser began keeping track of how many copies of the Book of Mormon they would give away..and they started the flood. We are going to further THE CHARDON FLOOD and challenge the members to a give away! By the end of the year, they are going to have to give out 50 copies of the BoM and we will do that as well! As President Benson said,that is the book that will gather God's elect. I know that's true! We are going to flood Chardon :) It's gonna be good!

 

Other than that, I'm still looking for the dreamers, as it were. We haven't found them yet...but quoting Elder Edman from our training meeting yesterday, "You still have 4 weeks...and miracles happen in 4 weeks!!!" I believe with all of my heart that that is true. And I will find those people if it's the last thing I do in Ohio!!! Seriously.

We found out yesterday that Sister Wheeler is going home tomorrow because she's having neck issues that are causing her to have really bad headaches. That definitely throws a random twist into the already emotional transfer that is occuring with the Quorum of the Ten getting ready to depart from the City of Faith & Beauty. Yesterday was probably the biggest struggle that I've had with balancing my emotions of it all...I'm not going to dwell on it because I don't want to think about it...but this is just a really weird part of my mission to be at. Thank heavens, God's let me know that I still have people to find and teach and influence for good so I'm completely still motivated 100%.

Elder Yukish coined that terminology. :)

I love the restored gospel! This is what makes life worth living. REALLY! It is the truth. Jesus Christ is real...and I know He lives. He does. Prayers are answered. Happiness comes from obedience. That is my testimony!

Love you love you love you,

Sister Webb

 

How is it already the end of transfer #11?!

Hello hello hello hellooooo, welcome to my thoughts today, HELLO!

It has been a great week. Neat things have happened this week!

-We were called on to take a Spanish tour because Sister Esser speaks a little bit of Spanish and all the others sisters who can kind of speak Spanish had appointments in their area and we just had tracting planned...so, we took Adolfo & Carmen from Mexico through the sites. They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary by doing a small church history tour. THEY WERE ADORABLE!! They were really petite but packed a powerful spirit. To be honest, I don't know if I've ever had a more spiritual tour on my mission. They came prepared and really brought the Spirit with them. It was incredible.

-After that tour, we were running late to an appointment with a less-active member but Sister Esser felt like we needed to stop and talk to her neighbors who were raking the yard in the rain. So we did. The kid that we talked to, Derek, is in high school and knows some of the girls from the stake. He took a copy of the Book of Mormon and when we called a couple days later had read from it! We are going back to see him this upcoming Sunday. I'm really excited!!

-We saw Debi, a less-active member who I love. She hasn't smoked in like a month! She's doing really well. It's really neat because she said that something that I told her in one of our lessons about how others (some not here on earth yet) were depending on her has really helped her to quit smoking and motivated her to be better. Yay for the SPIRIT!!

-We took people from Australia on tour this week! They were the cutest family and so grounded in the gospel. I really grew to love them!

-We saw Mario, a less active member! Sister Esser & I met him for the first time. He is actually only 13. Sister Lee (the one from Louisiana) and Sister Schumann taught him and his mom. Mario progressed but his mom did not. So he was baptized and Aisha was not. When we first got there though, little 6-year-old Jaleya was like THE SISTERS ARE HERE!!!! She was SO cute and so happy to see us! Aisha is really nice. I love her already.  I know it's not PC or whatever but I LOVE BLACK PEOPLE! There. It's been said. :)

Mario hasn't been to church since before his birthday in June...sad day! A lot of that is because Brother Hovorka was his home-teacher and was really interested in his well-being....and I can't remember if I told you about Bro. Hovorka or not but he just passed away of brain cancer a week and a half ago. So, as more tumors were in Brother Hovorka's brain, he couldn't remember anything anymore. Mario hadn't heard yet that he had passed so we had to tell him. It was really sad. But...on a happier note, we are seeing the Aisha, Mario & Jaleya again next week. Hopefully we can get Mario AND his mom back at church.

-OH! I almost forgot! We literally almost DIED on our way to Middlefield that day. We were coming down a hill on a slick, rain-covered road, and a car in the lane coming our direction turned left, and that was nerve-wracking enough but then a car turned out INTO our lane from the street where the previous car had turned, and I saw this car RIGHT NEXT TO ME! It was right there! And there was a car coming the opposite direction. I screamed and braced for the impact expecting that we would get thrown around somewhere but somehow Sister Decker was able to guide our car DIRECTLY between the other 2 cars. Seriously, there was probably like 2 inches of room on either side of the car. It was miraculous. But then again, the Spirit is a miracle-worker! We DEFINITELY said a prayer of gratitude after that, so thankful that we were still alive and that we didn't have to waste the precious time we have to teach the gospel by filling out paperwork for an accident.

-We did service for the Hovorka's & raked their leaves while they were in Wisconsin at their father/husband's funeral. That felt really good.

-We taught Pam & her granddaughter Raye this week. They have ALOT of life issues. It was interesting as we taught them, they had some concerns come out. Mainly, they don't have a testimony of the Savior. Raye is 13, and a self-proclaimed atheist who really just wants to feel some love in her life. She has had a really hard life. Her parents were 16 and 13 (if I dwell on that fact, I will literally throw up. DISGUSTING.) when they had her so she's lived with her grandma since she was 9 months old. Her dad is now in jail. When we talked about Christ's sacrifice, she was like "I don't WANT him to do that for me." And we were just like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH on the inside. We are teaching them again this week and will focus on finding faith in Christ. Ayayay.

-Also, this week on Saturday, we took a group of people from Michigan on tour. It was a family and 2 people that have met with missionaries that they are friends with. On the tour, I really felt like Kai (pronounced Ky), the husband, was holding his wife, Naomi, back. I had Naomi read the John Murdock experience in the School of the Prophets and you could tell that she was touched by what she read.

We ended their tour with the movie so on the way back from the Johnson Inn, I was able to talk to Naomi a little bit more. She really loved John Murdock's quote and testimony of the Savior. She said that she's been soul-searching because of events that have happened in her life and that it had been really good to be around the Shumway family.

And I was pretty bold with her and asked if when the missionaries had come over they had ever talked with her about baptism. She said that they had but she'd had religion forced down her throat when she was younger and she just didn't want to rush anything. I was able to then just bear simple testimony of the great blessing of not just being baptized but of having the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, all the time.

She sincerely thanked me for that and I knew that she was leaving Kirtland, with a full heart and a mind full of things to think about. I got her email address so I could email her John Murdock's quote and that way, I'll be able to keep in contact with her. Oh....I can't remember what all I told you about chat but now we have email addresses where we can keep in contact with those we chat with, with former investigators from previous areas, etc. It's awesome!

-Then we had stake conference yesterday which was really good, and Sister Park and her family were back visiting! It was fun to see her again, and to meet her parents and her brother & sister-in-law.

-Oh, I saw my old roommate Jasmine Sawyer again, with her husband Mark. She is super pregnant!!! She is due December 10th. When she said that, I was like....oh my gosh, that's when I leave Ohio!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHHH.

-But the best part of yesterday was that we got to take Sarah and her mom on tour of the sites. IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! :) Oh my gosh. Well, actually, we had a picnic first which was really fun. And then, we went on tour. Sarah's mom most definitely knows that this is Christ's church. You could tell! She started crying the second we stepped into the Whitney store! On the tour, I invited her to pick up the Book of Mormon again and in the School of the Prophets Sister Esser told her that we would never deny her the blessings that come from being baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that the door was always open. Sarah LOVED the sites! She is so wonderful! I hope that she does end up going to BYU and we can be best friends forever. Pretty much.

Other than that, not too much has happened! We haven't heard anything about transfers because for some reason the APs/zone leaders can seem to understand that we need to know TODAY so that we can pack if someone is being transferred. ARGHHHH I'm just a LITTLE bit frustrated with them. We think Sister Decker is being transferred. We shall see.

My quote of the week for this week is really good so I thought I'd share it:

"When you come to the end of all the light you know, and it's time to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things shall happen: Either you will be given something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly." Isn't that lovely? It's true too.

Once a friend told me that that this is the most important time of my mission. I agree. I want to make this last transfer the BEST ONE EVER. I am going to work harder than I have before. I am going to talk to EVERYONE! I am going to share this message because I know how much it blesses lives and I know how quickly time flies. Jesus Christ lives! We are privileged to get to learn of Him and His ministry through the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I know that that book testifies of Christ's divinity and that it is truly the word of God. I know that Heavenly Father LOVES US! He really does. He is so aware of us, and desires nothing more than for us to be happy. I want that for each of you too, and for my brothers and sisters here in Ohio.

Until next week,

Sister Webb

great ending to a long week :)

What a week!

On Tuesday, we had ZDM and I went on exchanges with Sister Voievodina because Sister Wheeler was sick. It was fun :) I like her alot. Elder Bills, who used to be my district leader a year ago, is now one of the zone leaders in Kirtland. I just love that elder!! He's such a good missionary, who just totally gets it. I feel like he's my little brother. I love being back in the Kirtland zone. <3

On Wednesday, we had surprise president's interviews. The zone leaders forgot to tell any of the sisters when our interviews were so we found out about an hour before. I don't like that! I prefer having time to figure out what I need to ask President about. We talked about ways to get Sarah's family more involved in her conversion, and about a couple other investigators. President also told me a few stories about other OCMers that have gone home and are still being purpose-driven. I really don't want to go back to the way I was before when I come home and I know it could be easy to do.

 

So besides that we had a BUNCH of finding planned. We tracted in the cold rain at a trailer park for an hour, and then moved on to a long country road, Chardon-Windsor. The houses are pretty far apart but we felt good about going there. So we're tracting and we were going to do one last house and we cut across the lawn because the house was like 300 feet back from the road, and there was a ditch.

 

I didn't like the idea of crossing the ditch but the other sisters thought it would be okay. (It was a pretty small ditch). But anyway, we jumped, and my left foot  landed, submerged in the nasty thick muddy brownish blackish water and the swamp went into my shoe. I let out a nice scream of frustration because I totally saw that one coming. SICK. So I had a dirty foot/shoe the rest of the evening. We taught Sarah on Wednesday too! She is wonderful, and at the end of our lesson said, "My mom told me something about tithing...when do I need to start paying that?" She really just gets it.

Sister Esser, Sarah, me, & Sister Decker

Nothing terribly exciting happened between Wednesday and yesterday, except that we found out that Sarah's aunt and uncle who are active members of the church in Oregon are flying in for her baptism!!! For some reason yesterday morning was one of the hardest I have ever had on my mission! It was very cold, rainy, and DREARY outside and I was feeling just like really hormonal or something and I did NOT want to be there and all we had scheduled was tracting. It was FREEZING and I was about to cry and it was just lame.

 

But...we met with Sarah and taught her about tithing right after church which was wonderful. And, we found a potential family!! When the lady opened the door, she was like "Are you here to help us move the furniture?" like sort of jokingly and we were like "yes, actually!" and so we helped them move a bed downstairs and sweep and clean out a dresser and we left a Book of Mormon with them and they invited themselves to church on Sunday!! Awesome.

 

One thing I forgot to mention that President Sorensen told me during my interview was that we should focus our finding efforts around clusters of members and around the church. And this family lives like 2 minutes away from the church!! :) Then we taught John Powell...in Taco Bell. On Sunday. It was great. He is our new investigator and he's really going to read the whole Book of Mormon. You could tell. He's very open and honest and sort of quirky. I like him.

 

Then, we had dinner with the Hoenigmans and offffffff to the fireside in Kirtland!! :) I love those firesides! They just like fill you up! This one was neat because President & Sister Sorensen spoke at it, and also because a ton of people that I love were there! I got to see: The MESSEGEES!! (Mayfield), Sister Carey & her daughter Kira, who just got off her mission in Germany like a week ago (Ravenna), Sister Morgan (Ravenna), and SISTER HENRY!! She is down to the last week and a half of her mission. She is my favorite. I love her so much! Sister Calder has been such a good companion for her and this last 5 weeks since I've seen her has really good for her! Hoorayyyy!

Sister Wheeler, Sister Southwick, Sister Voievodina &
Sister Esser, and me & Sister Decker on the floor.
That's my new haircut!

Today, I got my haircut! It feels SO good. It hasn't been cut since January sooooo it was KIND OF disgusting. Yay. Also, we ate lunch with Elder & Sister Southwick and the Painesville sisters. Love love love it.

My spiritual thought of the week is if you are feeling down, or feeling burdened, COME UNTO JESUS. Trust Him and find rest. It will come, I promise! He will pour out tender mercies and you will have reason to say, How great thou art!

Love,

Sister Webb