Called to Serve

Man, New England is flippin' cold. 

This week was amazing on so many different levels! 

I don't even know where to begin! We've had so many miracles here in Bridgeport. 

I've also realized something really enlightening. 

I have not been called to serve in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. 

Well, literally I have been, but spiritually? No. 

I have been called to certain PEOPLE. 

I have been called to Sister Heileson. 

To President and Sister Packard. 

To Sister Riggs

To Sister Buttars

To Sisters Tantillo & Hanson

To Elders Dahl & Waters

Elder & Sister Pack

Natalie

Ana 

Emily

Denise 

Karla 

Jaouad 

Antonio 

The Sanchez Family, The Maldonado Family, The Flores Family, Nelson, Luis, Ana, Gloria, The De La Merced's, Julio, Evangelina, Soledad, Sugey, Jose, Anita, Narcizo, Yssenia, Luz, Maria, Rosa, Leo, Gabriel, Hno Falcon, Dani, Lindsey, Rocio, Milena, Ricardo, Rodrigo, Lucia, The Cartagena's, The Figueroa's, Carmen, Hno. Toledo, Jenny, Christopher, The Remosco's, The Perez's, Valentina, Maggie, Estabon, etc., etc., etc...

Even though these names probably won't mean much to you all, THEY ARE MY CALLING!

This is why I am here. 

I think it's really interesting that we don't choose our mission calls. It's a rare time in life when we give total control to The Lord. And I know, without a doubt, that I am exactly where I need to be when I am with these people. They always say, "It's not about where you go. It's about who you're with."

I testify of that truth. I have been called to serve the greatest people in the world, and I happen to be doing it in New England. 

We are seeing so much success! Not only in our physical area, but in our digital area too! We set a baptismal date with a man from France this week! I am going to copy and paste what I sent to my father about this experience:

"I met a man named Jaouad, a Moroccan from France, on this website called interpals and we have been trying to skype each other for like a month. We haven't been able to, though, because of various reasons (a big one being STUPID SNOW STORMS!!! hahaha). Anyways, this Thursday we FINALLY got to skype him!!! and guess what! We asked him if he would be baptized on March 28th if he received the answer that this church is true... and he said YES!!!! So we set a date with a man from France. How cool is that?!?!! He gave us his address and we were planning on sending missionaries to his house sometime this week, but I had a feeling we should try to figure it out today!

So, We looked up Jaouad's address in lds.org and found out what ward he is in where he lives (Amiens, France). We gave the address to the digital mission Zone Leaders and they gave us the number of the branch president there. Apparently the branch president's name is Christian Guy Billiotel. Hahaha oh my goodness. 

So, we call the branch president from a skype account that our mission has set up with credits on it so that we can call people from all over the world! We called the president and he didn't speak a lick of English. 

NOT. AT. ALL. 

I told Sister Heileson, "PRAY FOR THE GIFT OF TONGUES!"

So, I tried to tell him we are missionaries in some weird, made up French language (I don't know any French) and he understood me! I don't know how because I don't speak French!!!! hahaha so he started rambling on in French and we pulled up google translate on our computer and we were putting stuff in and it would translate it and then I would read whatever it said in my best French accent. Hahaha I don't know how to read French either. 

He understood us and told us he would give us the missionaries' phone number in his area. Then he started telling us the number and we couldn't understand the french numbers, so he had to say it like twenty times, but we finally understood and we called the missionaries! They were both from Utah, Elder Barber and Elder Player! Hahah we told them we had someone for them to teach in their area with a baptismal date and they were just like.... "WHAT?! That's amazing!!!" hahahaha oh my goodness, I am still laughing about it! So, we are going to skype with Jaouad tomorrow and figure out a time when the missionaries can go to his house. We are probably going to skype with them while they are there and help them teach The Plan of Salvation."

THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL, YO!

I am still cracking up about what just happened. 

We have so many funny experiences here! 

We are braving the subzero temperatures here in Connecticut. It's FREEZING out there, but it's cool how, even despite the bitter cold, we can feel the warmth of The Holy Ghost with us wherever we go. 

I am so grateful for this chance to be serving a mission! There is nowhere in the world I would rather be! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Hermana Webber

There's SO MUCH SNOW!! They have close to 4 feet!! 

Yummy cookies the sisters made to keep from starving after they were snowed in at the church! 

Girls night at the church while being snowed in!! 

Sweet little Ana Eastmond

Jose and Yessenia taught the sisters how to make Empandas! YUM!

Empanadas!! 

#snowselfie

Valentina's Baptism! 

The font wasn't filling fast enough so they improvised!! 

"The most wonderful sound I ever heard is the sound of water running in the church"

The BEAUTIFUL De La Cruz family

The sisters love Valentina so much and they had the opportunity to teach her all the lessons before her baptism!! 

Return and Report in Mass

Miracles, Laughter, and LOVE

Buenos dias, mis amigos! 

Estoy muy feliz para escribirles! :) 

It's been such a hilarious week! Filled with miracles, laughter and lots of love! 

I guess I can start off with our sleep over in the church... We felt kind of bad about it, but we were totally safe, warm, and we even had some food. It was great and we had a lot of fun. I took some pictures, but I'll have to send those next week. 

We picked up another new investigator this week! We've also been inviting lots of people to be baptized. They haven't accepted, though... Yet :) 

So, yesterday was probably one of my favorite days in my mission so far! We had church and then we went over to the De La Cruz's house to help them get ready for their daughter's baptism. Her name is Valentina and she just turned 8 on Saturday. I love this family SO MUCH (I'll be sending pictures of them next week). They are very special people. Jose and Yssenia are her parents and they invited us over to show us how to make Colombian empanadas! It was so much fun and Yssenia makes the best empanadas in the world! 

Afterwards, Sister Heileson and I went to the church to fill up the font and get things ready for the baptism. We made sure to get there 2 and 1/2 hours early to make sure it would fill in time, but as the baptism rolled around, it wasn't filling fast enough, so Sisters Tantillo and Hanson (our lovely Sister Training Leaders and roommates) came and we found some coolers and started filling them up in the showers and dumping them into the font. It was absolutely hilarious because we got SUPER wet, and we were just laughing and trying to hurry. 

Well, Jose ended up inviting like a million people to the baptism. There were probably about as many people there as there usually is at sacrament meeting! A few of our investigators came, which was really great, and Jose invited a few non-member families, whose numbers we got and are planning on visiting soon. :) 

I'm telling you, when you have members like Jose and Yssenia (among many others in our ward... our ward is incredible) who are willing to help you out with missionary work, it makes all the difference! 

Valentina's baptism was beautiful and you could feel the spirit really strongly, especially for how many people were there! We gave her a blanket and told her that The Holy Ghost is just like it... It gives us warmth and protection. Apparently that's only a Utah thing because my companion and roommates had never heard of giving someone a blanket at a baptism ahahah I just thought that was funny. 

Anyways, I am loving every moment here in my mission in New England! I really believe that God is hastening His work here and that it is a sacred place to be serving. I have the privilege and blessing of getting to work with some of God's elect people. I feel truly blessed to get to wake up every morning and know that I will spend a day serving my Heavenly Father. What better way can we live life?

I love you all and I want to testify that this church is Christ's church on the earth today! It's exactly the same as the church he established when he lived here on earth. We are so blessed to have this knowledge of the truth in our lives and to be able to share it with others! 

Love, 

Hna. Webber

THE WORK NEVER STOPS!

It has been the coolest week ever! And by coolest, I mean COLDEST!!!

*Please take a moment to appreciate my humor*

So, last Tuesday, we were SNOWED IN! 

All. Day. 

Storm "Juno" hit the New England area pretty hard. You'd think that would put a bit of a damper on missionary work, right? 

Well, think again!

Sister Hanson (one of the sisters we share an apartment with) and I decided to visit some people in our apartment building to pass the time. We ended up finding 4 New Investigators and setting 2 baptismal dates! I couldn't believe it! It just goes to show that rain or shine, day or night, sleet or snow... THE WORK NEVER STOPSThis was just one of many tender mercies we saw this week from our dear Heavenly Father. 

Today, we are in the Trumbull chapel, here in Connecticut. It's snowing wildly and we probably won't be able to leave for a few hours. New England winters are crazy! We couldn't park in the chapel parking lot because there was a good two feet of snow covering it, so we had to park across the street in a mall parking lot and walk over. Unfortunately, I chose a really bad day to wear sandals... My feet were frozen and it made me wonder, "How did the pioneers do this?!?!" 

But I think the same concept that I talked about earlier applies to the pioneers and what they went through... THE WORK NEVER STOPS!!!

When typhoon Yolanda hit The Philippines, did the missionaries give up?? No! They are still there! Sara, among them, pushing, working and laboring to invite as many souls to come to Christ as they can! THE WORK NEVER STOPS! 

When Jesus Christ suffered for us in Gethsemane... When He experienced pain so excruciating that it cause Him to sweat drops of blood from each pore... Did He turn his back on us? Did He give in to the pain that we as weak, mortal humans will never even be able to comprehend? Did he stop? 

No. 

The work never stops. 

This week, Sister Heileson and I visited a member of our ward in the hospital and we sang to her a song... It's called, "Soplando Vida" which means, "Breathing Life."

It goes like this:

"Quiero vivir alla donde hay una casa en las montanas... 

Cerquito de cielo

Cequito de Dios

Qiero vivir alla donde el aire es puro y sano

Donde puedo respirar el mismo sol

Pero todavia no, no...

Y aqui estoy en este valle de huesos

Estoy soplando vida y aliento aqui estoy

En este valle tan disierto, tan sediento de tu amor

Aqui estoy."

"I want to live where there is a house in the mountains

Close to Heaven

Close to God

I want to live where the air is pure and clean

Where I can breathe the same sun

but not yet, no. 

And here I am in this valley of bones

Here I am, breathing life and encouragement, here I am

In this valley life a desert, thirsting for Your love

Here I am."

I know I've said it a million times so far, but I know that this work that we call being a missionary really will never stop... Not until the day comes when this message of Christ's true church has sounded in every ear and been proclaimed to every nation... We still have a long way to go... 

There will come a day, however, when our church has spread through every corner of every continent on this earth, and God will be the one to proclaim, "The work is done." 

And at this day, we will be able to leave this valley of bones like desert that we call earth to return to live with our Father in Heaven. 

But until then, here we are.

The work never stops.

I love you all!!!

Love, 

Hna. Webber

                        BEAUTIFUL SISTERS!! We love Hermana Webber and Hermana Heileson!! :)