Hello Family! - June 21, 2015

Family!!

I hope ya'll are having a great week! I've had a pretty good week! This letter may be a little small because not much has happened this week and I have to get my bike fixed today so I can start using it. The Lord is truly testing me. Last week I was super homesick, this week it was just super hot and miserable... It hit 116 degrees this week!! And to top everything off, we got a call on Tuesday morning from the elder in charge of the cars and he told us that they are cutting back on cars and that we will be loosing our car and have to start biking... I think I may die!!! We have been driving around 35-45 miles a day and now I will have to bike that in the 100+ heat?? Man, the Lord really does have a sense of humor.. Haha so ya'll can keep me in your prayers that I don't die.. Especially cause ya'll know how well I ride a bike... And put me in a skirt on top of that and it's going to be one comical week! Haha 

So we mostly did a lot of service earlier this week for ward members. We helped an older lady box things up in her house to move and then helped her clean out her garage so she can have a yard sell.. Let's just say some people keep the strangest things! Haha the other service that I did earlier this week was juice a huge box of grapefruits. It was a very sticky activity. I had sticky grapefruit juice all over me by the end and oh boy did my arms feel the burn the next day from hand squeezing all of those grapefruits! Haha 

So on Monday I had the funniest thing happen to me while we were out tracting! So we run into this boy who is probably like 10 and he wants to show us this huge cockroach type bug that is dead on his neighbors drive way. Haha so we look at it and we start talking to him and ask him if he thought his parents would be interested in us coming by sometime to share a message with them. He was like, "my mom would probably be interested but my dad will say no because my grandma is visiting and she does not speak English. So he would have to translate the whole thing for her." Seconds later the dad came out and starts watering his lawn and he basically said the same thing the little boy said he would say. So we start walking away and I get so excited that there is an older lady walking up the street and we will be able to stop her and share a message. Well we get super close and I say "hello" and she just keeps walking and doesn't even acknowledge that we are there... I thought it was super strange so I kept talking to her and asked if we could share a message with her. By this point the little boy and the dad are laughing hysterically at me. The dad then just says she doesn't speak English but we can keep trying if we want. And the little boy looks at me and says, "That's my grandma!" Haha boy did I look stupid!! Haha but at least I gave everyone around me a good laugh! Haha 

On Tuesday we were able to teach Heidi again! We taught her the word of wisdom and she loved the lesson! She says that she always wants to be as healthy as she can so she is going to quit drinking tea and start living the word of wisdom! It was an amazing lesson! We had to move her baptism date to July 12 because she has not been able to make it to church yet. But we are planning the 12th for a beautiful baptism day! I can't wait! 

I got the package from Racheal's family this week! I loved it!!! All the pictures and letters cheered me right up! It was probably one of the highlights of my week! It was just the cutest package ever! So thank you! :) 

So on Wednesday night Sister Sorensen and I had the wonderful opportunity to have two dinners... I thought I was going to explode! So every Wednesday night we eat at the Matzke home. They are a recent convert family to the ward and they feed us faithfully every week. And on top of that someone else in the ward had signed up to feed us.. So at our first dinner we had steak, stuffing, veggies and coconut cream pie. And then straight from that dinner we went to the other members home and they fed us pasta with chicken and garlic bread and then made us green smoothies for a treat! I could hardly walk when it was time to leave because I was so full.. We got double scheduled again this Wednesday so it looks like I will be privileged of having two dinners again! Haha the funny thing is most nights we don't get fed and we have to eat at home.. Oh and while I am on my food topic, I finally had yummy Mexican tacos!!!! A member took us to this cute little Mexican restaurant the other day for dinner and they had steak tacos so I had to get them.. They were good! Definitely not like my street tacos back home but better than nothing! Haha I have been so sad that there are no taco stands here... :( 

Well, we were able to go visit Aleidon and his family this week. We were able to have their girls read the restoration pamphlet and teach them some of the principles in it and commit them all to come to church on Sunday! Our efforts are finally starting to pay off!  Yay! And my Albanian is coming along as well. I can now say thank you in Albanian and a few other words! Aelidon said that we can teach them English and his girls will help us with Albanian so I guess that's what we will have to do in order to get our lessons in with them. Haha

So I told you last week about Brother Matthews and how he is this old man in our ward who is the choir director. Well we stopped by his house this week and he says to me, "Sister Webb, I hear you have been keeping a secret from me.. Someone told me that you can sing!" Haha I assured him that I don't sing at all but he wouldn't believe me and he is having me sing in church. And to top it all off he wants me to sing the alto part... I have never sang in church in my life!! Let alone I don't sing alto cause it is too low! Haha hopefully the ward can invest in earplugs before next week when I sing in church! Haha I also sang in the ward choir this week for sacrament meeting and Father's Day! There are like 5 people in the ward choir so it has been real interesting.. Haha especially cause most of us can't sing! Haha 

So we have had two miracles happen this week! So on Thursday night we were out tracting and we met Vincent! He was just sitting on his porch and we walked up and started talking to him about the Book of Mormon. Well we were able to get a whole lesson in and he was really interested and said we could come back, and. That he had been looking for a church he could start attending! What a blessing! We had been having no success in finding people this week... 

The other miracle we had was on Friday. So after our weekly planning we decided that we needed to go visit some people who we were unable to get a hold of. We I got this feeling we should go visit this lady named Erica. We had tried visiting her a couple of times. The first time she told us she was way to busy and shut the door in our face. The second time they came to the door looked through the curtains and then refused to answer the door. They even came outside and when we tried to talk to them they refused to acknowledge us. So when I got this feeling we should go visit them I thought I had gone crazy!! Haha well, we get to her house and Erica's answers the door and invited us right in. We start talking and we decide to just start in on a lesson before she kicks us out. Well that lesson was amazing and the spirit was so strong! Erica said how she wanted to come to church and then we invited her to be baptized at the end of the lesson and she said yes! We said a date for her on July 5th!! Wow! We were planning to drop her and then we got a baptism date out of it! Lesson learned! Always follow the promptings you receive no matter how crazy they may seem! 

So last week I shared with you about Sister Roberta, I am still laughing about her. We went to visit her this week and the first thing she asks us is why we are not wearing the scrunchies she gave us in our hair... Hahahaha I tried to say it was a wear your hair down day and that is why I didn't have mine in but she told me that was not a real thing.. Haha we are going back to see her this week so it looks like I will be having an 80's day and wearing a scrunchie! Haha

This week I was able to go to a member in our wards home to help them practice for the ward choir song. They are the craziest family and it turned into a giant karaoke night! Haha we jammed to hymns all night! We didn't make it back home til 10... I'm such a rule breaker... Don't worry I repented of that though! They are the family that I held the bird at their house. Well this week their son comes out holding s giant snake!! I have never been that close to a snake ever! I wanted to scream! Haha he asked if I wanted to hold it but I chickened out! I have decided that I will have to get brave and hold it the next time I go though cause it will make an epic picture! So get ready for that! 

Oh another funny story we had tracting this week, so me met this older guy named Lebarron, he was just sitting on his porch having some beer... we taught him a full lesson on the restoration and he was answering all of our questions and it was going so great and he wanted to read the Book of Mormon and learn more so he said we could come back some time. Well, we got his number and we called him the next morning to set up a time to teach him again.. He must have been so drunk cause he couldn't remember who we were and why we would be calling him.. So, sadly we dropped him cause he said he wasn't interested.. But it was really funny teaching him. 

That has basically been my week! What a week full of adventures! Wait til next week when I share all my biking adventures! Haha 

This gospel is so amazing and so true! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be out here on a mission and serving Heavenly Father's children here in Florida! I may be hot and miserable but I know this is where I am meant to be and that the Lord is truly preparing people for me to teach! I know that the Book of Mormon along side the Bible are the word of God and that as we read them we can come closer to our Heavenly Father and strengthen our testimonies. 

I challenge all of you to read in the scriptures every day! It has become such a blessing in my life! Before my mission I hardly ever read them and I can see such a difference in my life already from just reading them every day! 

I love you all and miss you tons! 

Love, Sister Webb :)