Merry Christmas y'all! - December 21, 2015

Hello family!

I'm probably going to make this a pretty short email today because I have a ton to get done today and I'm talking to y'all on Friday! I'm am so excited for that!! Seriously, it's going to be so great to see y'all again! Mom, you better get your box of tissues ready because I already know your going to cry! Haha don't worry I already bought my box of tissues! Mom, I'm still not sure what time you wanted me to call because you never set a specific time. I am planning to skype from the Tompkins home and they said 10:30 or 11 should work for them. So what if I call y'all around 10:30? That would be 12:30 my time. And if that time doesn't work well with the Tompkins I will have Brother Tompkins email you to tell you otherwise. It really all depends on when their son is skyping them. But we will plan that I will call y'all at 10:30. Also you need to accept my request on skype, otherwise, I will not be able to call... And I'm not sure how skyping everyone works so.. I'll just let y'all do that part. Haha oh and one last thing, I only get like 40 minutes so... No rambling and wasting time! Haha 

So my week was pretty good! We had a few miracles this week! On Monday night we were able to teach our investigators Isyss, Jenesyss, and Trista, they are all just young girls. Isyss and Jenesyss are sisters who happen to be living at the home of a less active member and then Trista is their friend who lives down the street. Well anyways, we set baptism dates with them!! Yay!!! They are planning to get baptized on January 23rd!!

Another miracle that happened this week was on Wednesday we were able to have 3 unexpected lessons and also gave out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon! It was a miracle! That rarely happens!

Saturday we got to go up to Gainesville with the Tompkins to see Savior of the World. It was really good! Our stake was putting it on this year and the Tompkins got us tickets to go with them! It was a lot of fun! They sent you an email with a picture of us there, I don't know if you got it or not because you never said but you should have!

So you now have their email so email them back! They have become my second family here! They have basically taken us in for the Christmas week! We did Savior of the World with them Saturday and then today they are taking us out on a glass bottom boat ride at the springs and then invited us to go caroling with their family later tonight. They invited us over on Christmas Eve so that Sister McGregor can skype home and then again on Christmas so I can skype home! They are honestly the best!!! So make sure to email them!! They also want to meet you when we Skype! Haha I got my packages from you mom! Luckily Sister McGregor got hers y'all forgot to put the apartment number.. Haha it is taking all I can do to not rip them open or to touch them! Haha I already know I got the watch and some clothes! I'm hoping you didn't just get me underwear and individually wrap them! Haha I also got a nice package from my friend Alisha that I use to work with! It was great! She just loaded it with a bunch of food!! I loved it! Y'all got my packages I sent! I was going to send some Christmas cards but never got around to sending them... My bad! I'm such a lazy person! Haha maybe y'all will just get them late and I'll just try to send them this week!

So yesterday I had a neat experience at church. So lately I've just felt like numb to the spirit and it was really stressing me like I wasn't feeling it or something. So yesterday I prayed and asked to feel Heavenly Father's love for me and to be able to feel the spirit more. While during sacrament we had the Christmas program and dang, I should be careful for what I pray for... The spirit was so strong! They had the missionaries who were serving from our ward write to their parents their testimonies and then the parents got up and read them! That was so good! It really invited the spirit into the meeting!

Then Brother Read who is the high priest leader gave a talk and shared a story of the best Christmas he had experienced as a child. He shared how he was about 4 or 5 years old and his dad had died and his mom was living in a different state working on planes during the war so she could have money to support them. Brother Read shared how he was living with his grandma and this particular Christmas all of his aunts and cousins had come and his mom had sent a present for him and he was just so excited to open it and all of his cousins were placing bets on who could wake up the earliest and then he shared how he woke up and everyone was still asleep and he was just so excited to open that present his mom got him. His only problem was he couldn't read. So he ended up opening all of the presents. Well, when everyone woke up they were not happy and he got yelled at and sent to his room for the rest of the day to spend Christmas alone. He said how he spent most of the day crying and finally his grandma came in and shared with him the greatest Christmas present he got. Love! She explained how love is such an important part of Christmas. Heavenly Father loved us so much he sent Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ loved us so much that he came and suffered and died for all of us! His grandmas also explained that his mom loved him so much as well because she had save what little extra money she had just to buy him a present. It was a really good story! I was tearing up like crazy and the sweet old man behind me had to lean forward and say, "It's ok Webb, don't cry.." Haha but I was a neat experience. I truly felt Heavenly Father's love for me and the spirit!  Prayers are always answered!!

So, this week I have been thinking lots about all our Christmas traditions and I've realized I'm so sad I will not be there Christmas Eve to have Dad read from that old white bible Luke chapter 2 and I won't get to play Mary in the nativity.. Haha but then I remembered I needed to think of my gift I was going to give to Christ this year. I think this is one of my favorite traditions and I plan to do it with my family someday. So, I thought of my typical answer of be kind to my brothers and sisters but then I realized.. Crap, I'm a missionary and I won't see them this whole year.. So, then I had to switch it up a little bit. Instead of the usual I've decided that this year while being a missionary I want to try to share the gospel more with my family and friends. I'm out here sharing it with random strangers but then I realized that I have plenty of family and friends who are struggling and I plan to choose one person each month and write and bear my testimony to them! I also set a goal early this year with my mission president that I wanted to read the Book of Mormon 5 times while on my mission and since I will not be coming home until the end of the year I would like to accomplish that as well. I plan to read the Book of Mormon 4 more times before I come home! So that is my gift to Christ this year. Mom, if you could type that up and put it in the box for me I would appreciate it!

So, one last thing that I remembered.. They are extending the time that missionaries will be staying in the MTC to 3 weeks. This means that all missionaries who are currently serving will have an extended week to their missions. Well, at first, I was like, oh no big deal it's only a week. But then I realized, I was going to make it home before Thanksgiving but now with the extended week and then don't send missionaries home the week of a holiday I will be staying here til December!! What is this!!?? I don't think I signed up for that when putting in my papers.. Haha but yeah, I am now coming home in December instead of November!

I just wanted to end this by bearing you all my testimony that I do know this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore Jesus Christ's gospel to the earth. And that through him the priesthood was restored. I know that we have a living prophet on earth today, Thomas S Monson. I know that he does lead and guide us in these last days, and that if we will follow and be obedient to what he says our lives will truly be blessed. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have come to grow such a great love for this book. I know that it is holy scriptures just as the Bible is and that together they do contain the fullness of the gospel. I know that this book can answer all our questions in life and that we can find so much peace and comfort, and happiness as we read it. I know that these feelings are the spirit testifying to us that this book is true. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior that he was so willing to obey Heavenly Father and he came down to earth for a purpose just as all of us did. I know that he suffered, bled, died, and was resurrected for us. So that we would be able to live with Heavenly Father again! I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time. I couldn't imagine doing anything else right now! My knowledge and testimony of this wonderful gospel has grown so much these past 7 months and I know they will continue to grow through out my life. Missionary work isn't easy. In fact it is really hard. No one ever told me how hard this was going to be. Probably because they knew if I really knew I wouldn't have made it out here. But I know even though it is hard. It is so worth it! It's worth it when you see miracles every day. It's worth it when some one you are teaching accepts baptism. It's worth it when that less active you have been working with for months finally comes to church. It's worth it when you go to church each week and you feel love from the ward members you are serving. It is worth it when you see your investigators feel the spirit. It is worth it when you are just about ready to say "I quit" and then you get an encouraging email or letter from home telling you how much you are loved and how proud your family is of you! It is worth it when you help others receive the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! It is worth it because I am out here serving my Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ! My mission has been the best decision of my life!!

Thank you for all of the love support and encouragement you have given me throughout the years to get me to this point in my life.

I love you all and hope you all have a Merry Christmas! I can't wait to talk to you on Friday! Accept my skype request and I will call at 10:30 your time! :)

Love you!

Sister Webb