Hey
family,
I
don't even know where to start with this email. It's been on crazy week!! But
I'm happy to report me and my new companion Sister Anderson have survived our
first week in the YSA branch! Seriously though, what a week!
So I'll just jump
right to Wednesday because nothing exciting happened before that. So on
Wednesday we had transfers and I finally got to meet my new companion! I will
be training Sister Anderson for the rest of this transfer and then someone else
will come and finish training her. So Sister Anderson is awesome! She is from
Surprise, Arizona. She is actually a cosmetologist! So, I'm super excited
because that means I can have her dye my hair and cut it before I go home!! She
is super sweet but really quiet. We have had quite a few awkward silent moments
but hey, sometimes we all need a moment of silence. She reminds me a lot of me
when I first came on my mission so it's been good to be able to help her.
So
after we had transfers on Wednesday we didn't have an area book because it
hadn't been updated on our iPads so we blindly decided to go try to find UNF
campus. Well let's just say that was an epic failure. My GPS is a bit outdated
so we had some struggles. So we then decided that we had a note from the sisters
that we had two appointments that night. So we headed to those. We get to the
first one and it was for a lady named Saul. We show up and this man is outside
who must have been her husband and said she was not home. So we tried the next
appointment and she ended up having to work late. By this point it was about
7:30 so we decided to do a golden hour and do some finding. I wasn't sure how
we were suppose to do that in the YSA so we called the elders. They told us
that you don't knock doors in the YSA. You just go to campus and it is a
gold mine. Well, we decided to knock doors and hope to find some one YSA age to
teach. We manage to find this guy named Jose. He was surprisingly YSA age. That
ended our first night together.
On
Thursday we had district meeting. After district meeting we once again
ventured out to find the UNF campus. This time we used google maps on the iPad.
Once again the freeway system of Florida threw me off and we got lost. So we
ended up going to the mission office and having them look up directions. Sadly
we still never made it to campus that day. We then did a golden hour of
contacting potentials and formers who lived in Mandarin. Then we had dinner
with a member from one of the family wards in Mandarin. He took us out for
tacos he told us we could only eat if he could order for us. He ordered me
chicken, pork and beef head. Then he ordered Sister Anderson chicken, beef head
and tongue. I felt so bad so I ate my pork taco and beef head and gave my
chicken taco to my starving companion because all she could manage to eat was
her chicken taco. After that interesting dinner we went to institute for the
rest of the night. It was fun!
Friday
we had weekly planning. Boy was that rough. Try not knowing the area and
people you are working with and then having to explain what you are doing to
your companion. After about an hour and a half I just gave up and made our
entire week next week straight golden hours. After weekly planning we went to
the mission office to pick up Sister Anderson's bedding. We then ventured out
to UNF campus and finally made it there!!! Yay!!! It was a happy moment until
we found out it was going to cost us 5 dollars to park. We decided that we
would just bite the bullet and pay the 5 bucks. So we then spent the rest of
the day from 3-7:30 at the college campus. We then saw some less-actives and
called it a night.
Saturday
was quite the adventure. We started our morning off by doing some service at
the dog park with the elders. We were scooping up some mulch and spreading it
in a play area. So as we were doing this we had a pitch fork to scoop it with
and all the sudden we went to scoop and there was this giant red and black
snake!! I wanted to die!! Luckily the elders were there and we killed it with a
machete! It was crazy!!
So
later that day we were able to knock some more doors. We had a few super
awkward moments. So first off we knocked and this young good lookin' man opened
the door and he was just standing there in a pair of underwear! Well, me being
a super awkward missionary instantly stretched out my hand and went to shake
his. By this point I realized that I felt super awkward and I was stuttering
and all I could get out was "hi, we are missionaries..." and then I just basically
threw a card at him and said "call us, bye!" Haha
Sunday
was such a good day! So we get to church and we find out on Saturday night that
we would be teaching Sunday school. So I plan a lesson because my companion
doesn't talk and I knew I would have to teach by myself. Then we get in Sacrament meeting and the first speaker said "to be announced". Well, guess who
was privileged enough to speak. You got that right, Sister Anderson and I. Then
we taught Sunday school and then hung out at church and did our studies. After
church we went and ate dinner with the Mandarin sisters. That was the best.
Ok
so here is when our final miracle of the week happened! So remember how we told
you that we were suppose to have a lesson with a lady named Saul on Wednesday
but then it fell through. Well Sunday we got this text from a random number and
the lady said that her husband had met with the sisters last week but she was
having some family problems and wanted to know if we could come by and see her.
Of course we said yes. So we look up her husbands info in our area book and we
get to her house to realize that it was the same house we had a lesson at on
Wednesday with Saul. So we just assume Saul is this investigator's wife. So we
go in and she is really upset but we were able to teach her and her 9 year old
daughter the restoration and we set baptism dates with them!! After the lesson
we went to put in her lesson to find out that the only Saul we had in our area book
was a man. So wow, we found 2 new investigators and set 2 baptism dates in one
appointment! It was such a miracle! I know that we were able to experience this
miracle because we were diligent and obedient all week!
So
yeah, life is good! YSAmy be the death of me. I've never felt so stressed but
so blessed at the same time! Hopefully this week will be a lot smoother and
less stressful. Keep us in your prayers and pray that we will be able to find
the elect to baptize this transfer! I can't believe time is running out! The
reality is finally hitting and I'm not sure how I am feeling. I almost had a
melt down this week but I managed to pulled myself together! Get ready for more
YSA adventures next week! I love and miss y'all!
Love,
Sister Webb
