2nd Companion July 22nd, 2013

So I am officially done with training and now I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Barlow and she is from SLC, Utah... and one transfer ahead of me! Aka she has been in the Philippines for only 4.5 months lol but she is awesome in Tagalog thank goodness so I am really lucky. Two Sisters I was in the MTC with, Sister Gerard and Sister Taylor are companions, so they are each others follow ups! And same with Elder West and Elder Hausia (who was in my district at the MTC). So we are all really relying on the Lords help over here in the Naga mission. I think this has been happening in a lot of missions with so many people coming out all at once. People keep telling me next transfer I will train! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh

So honestly nothing too funny has happened this week lol. Been pretty busy week. We did take two of these young women in the ward with us yesterday and they definitely did not dress the part. The one girl was wearing wedges as we balance beamed through rice fields, where its super slippery and muddy with all the rain lately. She was squealing haha I think we might tell people next time if they come be prepared to walk A LOT and wear the right shoe attire haha.

This week has been a busy one, and pretty long. It is always different getting use to a new companion and learning how to work together in lessons, but we have been picking it up pretty quick. We have been working hard and trying to add more people to our teaching pool, because it has gotten pretty small since they cut our ward boundaries in half and there are 4 missionaries in our ward now.

But I am also the last missionary who will have served the Goa 2nd Ward as a whole ward! Sister Barlow bore her testimony during Sacrament yesterday so we were sitting up on the stand and I was looking out at all the people who were in the congregation realizing I knew them all! And better yet I loved every single one of them. I have cried and laughed with many of them, taught them in their homes, heard them express their love of the gospel, and the trials they have had in life. I have become a friend to many of them, and someone they can trust, and I don't even fully speak their language! I am so grateful to have been able to get to know the people I have here.

It was weird too during the ward council meeting Bishop would turn to me and double check with things or people, or about events we have had since I have been here. it is so weird to realize that I am in the know, and a part of this ward! They really have become my ward family and I love feeling so a part of something and that I am needed. It reminded me of service council meetings when they turn to me and ask about my programs I worked with. I am responsible for the missionary work in this area, and I want to work harder to make sure I do my best.

One neat experience I had this week was with one of my families I love so much, the Baers (I send a lot of pictures of me with the kids in this family). They are the sweetest family. We were teaching them about service in the church, they have been less active but are coming back now, and the daughter, Sister Liezel, comes with us about twice a week teaching. They all expressed their love for me and how much impact they say we have had on their family. I was tearing up, they were crying, and we all just started laughing. They have honestly taught me more than I feel I have been able to to teach them. I also know that even with my lack of the language, the Spirit has been able to testify of the things I do try to say to them. I love seeing the change in lives and the difference the gospel of Jesus Christ can make. I will always hold this family near and dear to my heart. They have been a miracle in my life as a missionary.

Sorry this is not a long email this week but I have so much to do today! Wooo the life of a missionary, never ending work haha. But so rewarding (: I hope this finds everyone happy and well. One talk that I read this week, by Elder Christofferson, "As Many As I love, I Rebuke and Chasten"-definitely a needed talk for me this week just with all the adjustments. But I love what he says here:
The very experience of enduring chastening can refine us and prepare us for greater spiritual privileges.
I am grateful for this opportunity to learn at grow and it has been hard, but I know I will come out a better person because of my "chastening" I experience. We just have to find the good and do our best with what we are dealt.

May God bless you, and may you find a way to recognize his hand in your life.
Love always, Sister Webster

Here is the talk I loved:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/04/as-many-as-i-love-i-rebuke-and-chasten?lang=eng

Sis Morales and Sis Webster

Baer Family, Love them !

Great day :)

"Philippino Style"

Love this family !

Sis Morales and Spokane Sisters (Webster, Atkins)

Goa zone

Transfer Week July 15th, 2013

Soooo Transfer week! 

My companion, Sister Morales will be transferred tomorrow and I will travel to Naga to meet my new companion! I cannot believe that I am all done with training. It does not seem real and I half think, wait am I ready? hahah but I know I can do it. I will be "leading" the area, which means I know the people and the area so I will have to show my companion around and start out the greetings and hellos with people. Which I do that now, but I can't always carry long conversations because of the lack of vocabulary or understanding of what they say but I am going to do my best (:

But yeah, I am excited for what lies ahead of me, and it will be good to have a new companion, new view, and teaching styles to help me become a better missionary, and more experienced in the language. 

So Sister Morals and I made T-Shirts with our pictures on it.... so funny. They turned out being very girly, pink, and almost kid like haha but I love it. Just makes it even funnier to wear. 

So funny story before I tell the miracles and good.

This week we were teaching a lesson on temples and I felt something pinch my butt, I turned around to see a duck right there pulling away from me... haha it didn't hurt but it totally caught me off guard and luckily no one noticed and the lesson just kept going hahaha 

Oh and it is for sure rainy season! We went to our one area we call the "jungle" when it was pouring and I was slipping and sliding everywhere and fearing snakes would be in the ankle high water we walked through, but we made it safe and sound lol My umbrella may have broken through, so that is on my list of to buys (: we embrace the rain and have fun singing, walking through lakes of water, and being soaked to the bone haha

So to the miracles or things I have been blessed to be a part of.

We had 96 people at church yesterday, which is so high for our ward! Two less active members who have not been in ages and we visited this week were there! I was so happy to see them! Hopefully they keep coming.

The really neat experience happened after Relief Society class (for the women). We meet this woman who came with a friend and she came to the visitors class (Gospel Principles) and right when she sat down she started sobbing. We were worried and my companion went over to talk to her, She said she felt that by being at church, she felt her burdens lightened, peace in her heart, and a warmth that was filling her whole body! She was so happy to be there, and she wants us to teach her now. She has had a lot of hard trials and I am so happy she was able to find peace at church. It made me realize that there is such a peace at church and we can feel the comfort and peace if we open our hearts to it.

I have realized this week that I can try my very best and some people will not accept the message we have to share, and there are the people who we don't say anything, they come to us and are so ready to hears the message of the Gospel. What it really comes down to is the Lord is preparing His children for missionaries, and some harden their hearts, but we are here as representatives as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to teach to all, and find those who are ready and help them come closer to their Father in Heaven.

I feel so grateful for this opportunity to be amongst the Lords' servants and be doing Hid work. It is rolling forward, people are more ready, and the work is being hastened, I can testify to that. But we don't need nametags on to do the Lords work, it helps, and gives me an authority to do so, but all can come to know the blessings of missionary work through sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others. Fear and faith cannot coexist, so we must not be afraid of what lies ahead or fear the unknown. The Lord is all knowing and He seeks to bless us, IF we turn towards Him, and Follow Him (:

When things get hard and all seems to fail, get down on your knees! The Lord knows you better than anyone else.

Love you all xoxoxox

Don't Make Sis Morales Mad !

Homemade Girly Companion Shirts

My Lil Shadow 

Stormy Weather

Stormy Weather

We start out not having water at 8am so… no shower, we cannot do our laundry, and we have cleaning checks but can’t wash the floors or anything else hahaha

Then our electricity went out, aka no fans, and we have no air conditioning haha

Then our gas stove ran out of gas so no food (:

We all were laughing so hard. I am learning to really understand that these things are all important but they do not define or make us truly happy and the temporal things all work out. We adjust!

So this week...

We went tracting! Woot woot! It was a fun experience and we had some people seriously placed in our path. We talked to people as we walked and stopped at some houses along Zones, 4, 5, and 6 in Gimaga. So zones are kind of like more defining of what area they live in the neighborhood. We taught this woman and came back yesterday and taught her the first lesson. She is a devout Catholic but is willing to learn more about our message so we shall see how that goes. We also found 2 less actives who we don't have records for so that was neat!

The awesome experience though was when we went to go find a less active on our list and we were talking to her, and she was pretty much telling us she had no time to listen and was busy, BUT she owns a tindahan (little shop) and there was this girl buying powdered milk there and she said to my companion "Could you come teach my family and I?"..... UH yes! hahaha

So we went to visit with them and the mother was so nice! They loved talking to us and we were there for like 30 minutes. They pretty much asked us when church was and we invited them to come to church and gave them a Book of Mormon. They seemed so willing to listen and they wanted to know more. We have gone back to visit but they have not been there. But when we got home I was looking through Former Investigators, and found the father of the family had been taught in 2011- 5 lessons! So I will fill you in on how that goes. They said they would come to church, but there was a big baguio (storm) Saturday night so a lot of people were not able to come to church yesterday. 

So about the storm... IT WAS CRAZY! We had a Missionary Fireside we had planned this whole month... well with the pouring rain all day and no one really showing up haha the people who did show up, we decided we'd all clean the church and put pictures on the bulletin board. So it turned out probably being more use of our time and we were flexible. But President said to stay close to our areas but by the time we got done we figured we should go in and we were right. There was no power and it was POURING and so windy! Quite scary. So we did companionship study by candlelight and found leaks in our ceiling so we had a pool of water on our floor haha it was crazy.Sister Christensen and Sister Farnes were stuck in it. They came home soaked and their umbrellas completely broken lol. 

One miracle we had yesterday though is we have a less active Priesthood holder, who went through the temple with his wife, but she left him and he had not been to church for 3 years. But we have been teaching his daughter and she was baptized. We encouraged him to come to the church and talk to the Bishop to see if he could baptize his daughter, and he was able to. He came a Sunday before the baptism, then when she was confirmed, then we had the Bishop and Elders Quorum President come with us to visit him and he came to church again, and said the opening prayer in Sacrament! 

Miracles can happen and I am grateful for the chance to be a part of them! 

I am realizing more and more every week that I am so grateful for challenges and the chance I have to grow. I love the mountains that I have to climb and they are rough, but I know the view will be great and I want to keep enduring and learning to be more Christ like through my trials. I love the people here and the examples they are to me, especially my companion. I have learned so much for her and will be forever grateful for the lessons she has taught me and the example she has been. I miss people from home aka my family so much, but I will be back, after I am more refined and molded into the person the Lord wants me to be. Thanks for all the love and encouragement. Like in the Worldwide Broadcast, we ALL our missionaries so go out, act and make the difference. I have a name tag to authorize me to share the gospel here in the Philippines, but we ALL have the call to share the gospel with everyone we know. We an example to the believers and stand as a witness of Christ at all times and you will see miracles in your life and others (: xoxoxox

Until next week

Ahoy Mates ! 

Loves Sis. Webster

A Rainy Fiesta