And she is off to the Philippines!

Hey everyone it is Courtney, Vanessa's little sister. Vanessa is currently on a plane to the Tokyo right now and then headed to the Philippines. I got to talk to her for a while this morning. She is SO EXCITED! You all know how happy Vanessa is right? Well try multiplying that happiness by 5. Not even joking! She has the light of Christ burning within her. I am SO SO SO proud of her and I KNOW its where she needs to be! She bore her testimony to us in Tagalog. I truly think that was the first time i realized the power of the spirit. The spirit speaks in ALL languages, it is from the heart. I could feel the spirit so strong! I love her so much and she is a great example to me!

Love,

Courtney<3  as Vanessa would say Baby Woo!  

Last Week of MTC Letter!

KUMUSTA PO KAYO? (How are you?)

Today is the last Pday i will ever have at the MTC! How weird and crazy is that!? I am so excited and cannot believe that the time is here and I will be flying to the Philippines next week.

Here are my flight plans:

Delta SLC flight#4789 9:48am --> LAX 10:50 am April 22nd

Delta LAX flight#283 12:30pm --> NRT (Tokyo Nanita Japan) 4:25 pm April 23rd

Delta NRT flight#173 6:20 pm --> MN Manila Philippines 10:20pm April 23rd.

We stay the night in manila and then will take a flight the next morning to Naga to the mission home. We dont' have those details yet though!

So yeah this is REAL! I am going to the Philippines and I got to say goodbye to English. haha okay I will hear it a bit while I am there but I doubt it!

Soooo I had a list of things I have been wanting to say but I may have left the sheet back in my apt and it was a pure battle for this computer so I am sorry if I don’t answer any questions that all of you have!

This week was so good! I feel so uplifted every day! I am tired everyday haha but I am adjusting to the lack of sleep and the eat, sit, study, eat, sit, study hahaha thank goodness that routine will only be for a couple more days! Dont get me wrong I LOVE the MTC but it sure is a lot of sitting and not so much moving. Gym time is awesome though! I play volleyball every time, sometimes run..... sometimes haha, and it gets intense. My whole zone and the missionaries we share gym time wih, for the majority, are from all around the world. We have a lot of missionaries from Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, or Australia and man can they play volleyball. Like some girl got a concussion a few weeks before I got here from someone spiking it! Ahhhh.. Don’t worry i am so careful and I play half the time in the more fun court and occasionally go to the intense one. It feels good to play volleyball again!

But yeah.. hmmm one night we had our personal gym time which is we do our own thing for gym at night.. Wednesday night and we ran around the MTC with the elders in our zone and had races, found a duck waddling around, and played four square with a tennis ball they found. Haha and then did a random circuit... jumping jacks and lunges for a few minutes. I love the people in our zone and we have had so much fun!!

What else..

OH so this week, our Investigator "Jonar" was asking us a ton about baptism and faith and how we can return to our Heavenly Father... and we asked him to be baptized... and he accepted! Yayyyyy (: this may not seem like a big deal because he is a pretend investigator and he is our teacher, but he really plays the role and has been hard to teach at times. It was so neat and I cannot wait until that is real life and someone follows the example of Christ and is baptized (to baptize-binyag). Which by the way Tagalog is hard! haha but I am working through it and trying to keep the energy rolling. I get burnt out at times but I know that it is not going to be easy, but it WILL come eventually with a lot of hard work, perseverance, and praying to the Lord for help.

So earlier this week we had a devotional... and this guy from the Media department of the church came and talked on the power of media and taught what the church is doing to change how the world perceives us and the negative things people thing about us. The church is awesome and I love that we are not afraid to stand up for what is right, but we don't make it a "battle". Mormon.org is an awesome website! I love that we can share our beliefs and want to help others come closer to Christ through missionary work.

I love being a missionary and knowing the amazing message I have to share with people, that God loves us, He sent His Sin to atone for our sins, so we can return to live with Him again, and the church Christ established while on the earth has been restored in its fullness and is led by a living Prophet today! The Lord loves us all so much! He is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow. I am so grateful to be a member of His church and know my purpose in life. God has a plan for each one of us, and it is our duty to turn our hearts towards him and humble ourselves. I hope that everyone is doing good and my prayers and with each one of you reading this. I can't wait to serve the people of the Philippines and help them know Christ.

xoxoxox next time... I will writing from the Philippines!!!!!!!!!! (: ahhhhhhhhh sooooo excited!

Sister Webster

PS I am kinda nervous about the big spiders (gagambas) in the Philippines... but I am ready to conquer my fear haha!

Week 4 in the MTC! Almost out of there! General Conference Weekend:)

Kumusta po kayo?

How are you!?

I have been so spiritually fed this week it is not even funny! I love Conference so much and it was so nice to have it this weekend! I hope that everyone heard what they needed and that we all can reflect on it so much. Like President Monson said we need to study the messages of Conference further and long remember the words we hear!

So one thing that I have been reflecting on and asking a lot is... okay why me? why out of all my friends was I meant to serve a mission and not be married? (don't get me wrong I am so happy to be here, but I have just been wondering why this was my exact path) and we had Brother Ringwood from the Quorum of the 70 come speak to us at a Devotional last week and he said exactly what I needed to hear. The most important work, yes, is in the walls of our own homes, but serving the Lord and the people of the Philippine sis going to my my most important work even stronger and build me up to be good mom. Missions are not the only way to become a good mom, but I have come to realize that it will help me in the future and life President Gordon B. Hinckley once said "everything good in my life, i can trace back to happening because of my mission" (not exact words, but close lol). I know I will be so richly blessed for this and that this will help me endure to the end and set me on the right path.  His wife also spoke and quoted Elder Perry, "Jump out of bed, and set the world on fire" and I am hoping to do just that. This is the Lords work, and I am sharing the best message in the world, we all should be jumpin gout of bed, or doing what we can to share it. I loved that (:

So after conference the BYU singing group Vocal Point came and did a fireside and my was it amazing. They have the best voices and I feel the spirit so strongly through music! I love it (:

Sorry this is not going to be a super long letter because I have to go get my laundry and there is a line waiting haha but I will share a couple of my favorite talks/experiences from this week!

So for conference, I loved...

Pres. Boyd K. Packers talk when he said, "all are born with the light of Christ, what we do with it is the test"... we are all given the light of Christ, but we have agency to choose and make wise choices with it

Dean M. Davies said "prayer should be natural like breathing or eating"..... I have learned that A LOT lately! I have never prayed so much in my life and felt so close to my Savior! My new favorite hymn is "Did you think to pray?" and I ask myself that often here. When I am sad, down or frustrated, I know i can turn to the Lord for comfort.

President Eyring said, "We are witnessed of these things!"... and I am witness of Christ and I KNOW he lives and I am so excited to share that with people around the world. He also said "as we serve the Lord, our families will be blessed and come closer to the Lord also". what a special promise (:   .... and also he said "I promise that the Savior will draw close to you and your family, His hands are outstretched with yours" (: how neat is that statement. Not only is he there for me but He is helping me, with His arms outstretched with mine!

Richard G. Scott said "recognize the goodness in others, not their stains". All of us are imperfect, and we need to not judge! With God those stains can be taken care of but it is not out place to judge them for those stains, it is our job to lift them up and help them.

I liked all the talks that mentioned Africa a) because it made me think of Elder Larson teaching all the amazing people there and b) because it was such a testimony to me that people have little or who live in hard circumstances can be happy, if not happier because they humble themselves and come unto Christ, and are so wonderfully grateful for what they have. I yearn to be more grateful and to know that money, nor things bring happiness

Russell M. Nelson mentioned a lot on missionary work and I loved the bit about Ward Mission Leaders... Dad (:... your role is crucial and so important to the Lords work!

In the Young Women broadcast I loved Pres. Uchtdorfs talk and when he said "Everyone you see is family, remind them they are not alone and love them" and "happiness is a destination, but it’s also a path"

Then his talk in the next session... WOW “Darkness exists, but don't dwell there, dwell in the light" and "Gods light is real, it can be a healing bond". What an amazing metaphor. He also mentioned that we need to learn OF Christ, not about Christ... to learn of Him we must act and become more like Him. We can study all we want, but unless we act upon Christ's example we are not truly learning of Him

Jeffery R. Holland stated... "When doubt or difficulties come, don't be afraid to ask for help, God will send help from both sides of the veil". I love this because I like to think that He sends those we love and those who have passed on to help us feel comfort!

Haha soooo in summary... I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE! If you have never watched it before or haven't watched all the talks I strongly encourage people to! Lds.org is an amazing site and has all the talks there! I love the message of Christ's gospel and I feel so blessed to hear from the Lords apostles and prophet who live today. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and I KNOW in my heart and mind that Christ lives. He loves each one of us and He has called me to serve in the Philippines. I am so happy to be going there and can't wait! 2 weeks! ahhhh Love you all and I hope all is well! xoxoxox

Sister Webster

Pictures at the MTC Week 1&2

Second Letter Home! YAY

Hey guys crazy week so sorry its up late but her third letter will be coming soon! But here is her second letter:)

Kumusta pamilya at friends!

This week has been 10x better and I feel a lot more adjusted. It takes some time to adjust to the craziness of the MTC and all the scheduled times but I really love it here.

My kasama Sister Simonson (companion) and I are doing well and we have taught so many lessons I have lost track. We have had some good and bad. Right after I wrote the first time we had the most awkward lesson. We were teaching about Joseph Smith and the First Vision and we had him read the account and we didn't realize in the section we had him read that it didn’t explain that it was God the Father speaking and Christ, but we didn't understand that he didn't know who we were talking about so there was very long awkward silences so we had him write down his questions so we could answer next time. Haha! Good thing he is not a real investigator, but nonetheless it was so scary and embarrassing. But we came back the next day and the lesson went a lot smoother and it felt great.

I have learned so much about what it means to be a missionary and really am so happy to be here. I feel like every time I read my scriptures, certain verses stand out to me and I never realized how many scriptures talk about or involve missionary work! It is so great!

I am singing in the choir tonight for the devotional. I am not sure if they are broadcasted on BYUtv but I am excited. Thennnnn... (: I am singing on Sunday in the choir for Easter and we have been told that someone in the First Presidency will be coming to speak to us! I am SOOOOOO excited and know I will burst into tears while singing, probably choke up and not be able to sing a word, but I am looking forward to it. So I am not sure if we are singing in conference, but I think they would have let us know by now! Sad day! I went to the temple and it was so great this week and we went this morning again! Maybe soooo tired! haha but it is so worth it (:

So I I pretty much LOVE my district! There is Sister Simonson (my comp), Elder Hausia (from California and is hilarious!), Elder Sorensen (from Idaho Falls and is the sweetest elder), Sister Adkins (from Spokane woot woot and so helpful with Tagalog), Sister Longson (from Cache Valley.. and her name is Karly! just without an e.. aka she is so hilarious too and makes me think of Kar), Sister Harroff (from texas and was baptized a little over a year ago and has such a strong testimony) and then there is Sister Siola'a (she is from Tonga and literally the funniest girl... and also such an inspiration to me.. she is going to be an amazing missionary). Yesterday her and I were playing volleyball in gym and she hit the ball and was going to run into the net and was stopping herself but rolled her ankle. She sprained it pretty bad! I totally flashed back to when Kar broke her leg and I was the one saying "take deep breathes... everyone back away and someone go get someone"... I have been helping her and wrapping and icing it so it should be good in no time (especially since I gave her some of the 800mg Ibprofeun grandma and grandpa bought us). It should heal way before we leave so I am glad it happened before it was too close.

The sisters in my room (which is all 6 of us sisters) in my district referred to me as Mom haha and especially after yesterday when my motherly nurse instincts kicked in and I am helping Sister Siola'a, I think they name has stuck.

I have loved all the Dearelder.com letters that people have sent! It is the BEST thing to get mail and read them during the week. It honestly keeps me sane haha but keep them coming while I am at the MTC.

Can you believe I am going on my 3rd week here? So crazy!

We are the oldest missionaries in our zone now! The older group left yesterday and are almost to the Philippines as we speak. They were all going to different missions though!

Haha so funny thing.... I think I cry like at least once if not 3 times a day... in a good way! Haha I seriosuly have not gone one day since I have been here, not feeling the spirit so strongly or feeling so uplifted and happy and some point in the day! The Lord really is so happy with those serving Him and I feel so blessed to be here and able to be Hid hands here on the earth. I may not know or speak the best Tagalog, but I KNOW that through Him and with His help, if I am humble and pray, He will be there to make up for the rest and what I can’t do.

I have attached a bunch of photos.... hopefully it works! (: Time is running out but I love you so much! Miss you lots always!

xoxoxox

Sister Webster

PS so just for info.... the pics attached... the one of the girl pointing to me.. Sister Sherwood (a girl who grew up with Megan in Iowa and we met up... aka live right next to each other at the MTC haha and recognized each other) ....and those are the sisters in my district and my kasama and i kicking in the air!