Massachusetts Boston Mission

Monday, February 29, 2016

Specific Prayers

Wow. I will never forget this week. One of the best of my mission. 

We had exchanges with the Portuguese sisters, Sister Couto and Sister Capece, and I spent the day with an African goddess. Hahaha She is from Mozambique! We had a great day together. Some of our appointments fell through, but the Holy Spirit led us to the home of Oscar Monterroso, who was baptized as a member of the church when he was 12 years old in Guatemala, but since coming to the USA (nearly 20 years ago), has never gone to church. He's not on any of the our records, we just decided to knock on his door. The Lord truly guides His servants. He told us to call him and that we could come visit him. 

Well, the next day we had a SPECIAL MLC. Two men from the board of proselyting in Salt Lake City came to visit our mission and train the leaders, Brother Hemmingway & Brother Donaldson. They are MASTER teachers. It was super cool because ALL the power was out in the Weston chapel where we met, and they'd planned on showing us lots of videos/presentations/etc. but instead, we all ended up in the Relief Society room (which was the best sunlit room in the building) and we discussed, learned and were trained. What we learned was 100% led by His Spirit. I'm so grateful the power didn't work that day! 

They taught us SO many things. My big take away was to truly let God do His work through me. I often get in His way, but I am working on letting the Holy Spirit guide. 

After our special meeting on Thursday, Hermana Hafen and I decided to put to practice what we'd learned. They'd taught us a lot about finding the Lord's "elect," and if you want to find the people who are truly prepared to receive the gospel, you've gotta ask the Lord to lead you to them. Be SPECIFIC. 

MIRACLE: 
On Thursday night, as we planned out our day, we sought guidance on what to do between the hours of 5-7. As we prayed, a very strong impression came to me that we should go visit Oscar, the man I'd met on exchanges with Sister Capece. We penciled it in and went to bed. 

Friday morning, Hermana Hafen and I decided we were going to be REALLY specific with the Lord. We prayed and asked Him to lead us to a family with two children, and a father who has a job. 

Miraculously, we found TWO families. 

We'd gone to visit a recent convert (14 year old Frederick from Guatemala), but his mom wasn't home, so we couldn't go inside. We asked him if he wanted to come knock on the door across the street from his house with us. He agreed because he's great, and we ended up finding Jill, Antonio, and Anaya, an ADORABLE little family Jill LOVES Jesus Christ and teaches he TWO kids all about him. He husband owns two companies. We taught them the first lesson, gave them all Books of Mormon, and they invited to come and teach them more. 

GOD IS SO GOOD. 

Then, that night, we went and visited Oscar, as we'd planned. We discovered he has a wife and together, they have four sons, none of whom know about the church. Oscar also has a job... We taught them how to pray and set up another appointment for tomorrow

GOD IS GREAT. 

If you ask him a specific question, He will give you a specific answer. 

I love the Lord. 
It breaks my heart to know I only have 2 months left as a full time missionary. 
I will live the rest of my live as His disciple. 
I love you all! 
God guides this work. 
It's HIS work. 

#LetGo&LetGOD

Love, 
Hermana Webber

Then, that night, we went

Sorry I'm not good at writing home haha

Hello.
So, I've been in Providence for about a month and I figured it was about time to send you my new address. :) 

57 Petteys Ave. Providence, RI 02909
There it is! 
Sorry about last week. 
Apparently myldsmail.net wasn't working, which explains why none of my emails went through.
We got to go to the temple on Monday, though. We took Felipe Duvon, who is a recent convert from Guatemala, and he was baptized for his deceased father and grandfather. 
THE CHURCH IS TRUE! 
We also took pictures outside the temple doing heel clicks. I'll send some pictures so you can appreciate it.
Highlights from the past two weeks:
- We had a great Zone Conference! The Spirit was tangible! 
- We received STRAIGHT UP REVELATION from The Lord as to what we need to do here in Providence. The Lord is with us. Truly, he is. 
- I got to go back to Boston for a night and see one of my investigators get baptized! Her name is Iluminada "Julie" Hernandez and she is ADORABLE. She had asked me to come back and give a talk about the Holy Ghost. Her baptism was beautiful and I got to see many people that I love so dearly. 
- We were in the service of the Lord. That's always a highlight. 
- Exchanges with the Providence sisters. I learned a lot as always and we picked up a new investigator at a World Famous restaurant called N.Y. System Hot Weenies. Look it up. It's delicious. 
- Exchanges with the Central Falls sisters. We found 7 new investigators that day. A family of 5 women who just came to Rhode Island from the Dominican Republic. They are absolutely ADORABLE. We are going to start working pretty closely with them starting this week.
"Morale is high!"
The Church is true. 
I love my mish! 
I love you all!!!
Love, 
Hermana Webber

Saturday, February 20, 2016

No Time!

Hello, beautiful family! 
I don't have any time to write today because we are about to go eat pupusas with our Bishop here in Providence... Hahahah Anything for the kingdom!!! 
Anyways, things are great here. I love this area. 
It's an area filled with miracles every single day.
We had MLC this week and I learned a lot. We talked about the role of the Holy Ghost and what helps us increase the power with which we teach. 
It snowed a lot this week, and we got stuck inside the chapel one of these days, but things turned out just fine. We even had to postpone our zone meeting a day because the roads were pretty bad. Our zone meeting was great. We all committed to being a model zone for our mission. The Spirit was strong and the church is true. I love the Lord!
Also, Cruz was baptized this week. Which was a huge tender mercy from the Lord. 
His baptism was beautiful and he has a beautiful testimony! :)
Have a great week, everyone! I hope I'll have more time next week, but we might be at the temple, so I can't make any promises. I'll be sending some pictures soon too. :)
Love, 
Hermana Webber

This Is LOB City

Love & Obedience = Baptisms

So, I'm in my new area.
New zone.
New companion.
New people.

This is LOB City.
 This zone is a special place.

Hermana Hafen, is my new companion. She's from St. George, Ut. and she is practically perfect in every way. I'm not kidding. She is extremely Christlike and I cannot wait to learn from her. It's only her 2nd transfer in the mission, but she seems as if she's been out forever. She is wonderful.
We work with Elder Cagle and Elder Felt. Elder Felt is fresh out of the missionary training center and Elder Cagle is new to the area too. They are GREAT elders and I'm super stoked to work with them! 

In the month of January, our zone had a goal to find 132 new investigators. Although I wasn't here to witness all the miracle finding for most of the month, I arrived here with just 4 days left in the month. We still had a ways to go to accomplish the goal, and Hermana Hafen and I have been in charge of keeping track of how many investigators have been found and updating the zone through text messages about our progress. We told the zone that if we reached our goal, they could throw a pie in ours and the Zone Leaders faces at the next Zone Meeting. That lit us up a little!

Yesterday, the last day of January, we started off the day needing 10 more to accomplish our goal. Everyone went out and worked hard, and by the time 8:30 rolled around, we only needed 6 more. Hermana Hafen and I had been going around to visit potential investigators all day, but had no luck... We decided to go by Joselyn's (an adorable Recent Convert from Guatemala who is preparing for a mission!). None of her family are members of the church. We shared a message about the Book of Mormon with her mom, and she agreed to taking the missionary discussions!

We only needed FIVE more.

It was 9:15 and we sent out a text to the zone, announcing we only had 15 minutes to find five more investigators... Then, A MIRACLE HAPPENED!

Hermana Hafen and I were prompted to stop by a home that we had already visited twice that day, but they hadn't answered. They were a potential family from Guatemala. We prayed REALLY hard, and knocked one last time.

At 9:15 they answered the door and let us in.
We entered, taught them how to pray, invited them to hear our message and set up a return appointment. The entire family.
Five of them!

GOD IS SO GOOD.
We immediately prayed to thank the Lord for blessing us with the faith to knock one more time and to witness a MIRACLE. His hand is ever present. He is truly with his missionaries, and I am a personal witness of that.
We are teaching a family here, Alexis, Lesbia and Daniel, and we set a baptismal date with them last night. They are preparing to be baptized on February 21st. This is a great area. I am following in the footsteps of some fantastic missionaries and I feel so blessed serve.
I love the Lord. 
Love, 
Hermana Webber

I'm Getting Transferred!

This week was another great one here in Boston!

We found 5 new investigators and set a baptismal date with four of them in the first lesson! God is so good to us. He literally guides every step we take.

One thing I've learned a lot here in Boston is that God's hand is present EVERY SINGLE DAY of our lives. It's our job to look around and recognize it.

On Friday we received news about transfers...
I'm leaving Boston after 7 and 1/2 months.
I'm going to PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island!
Man, I am SO excited! I will probably finish my mission there.

Hermana VerHoef was called as a Sister Training Leader here in our zone. I am really proud of her and excited for her. She is going to continue to do GREAT things here, not only for her investigators, but for the missionaries too. She is a great missionary.

On Wednesday, I'll meet my new companion. Her name is Hermana Hafen. She's been out for just 6 weeks, but she and I have been called to serve as Sister Training Leaders in the Providence North zone, so she must be AMAZING! I met her at the temple this week and she seems SO kind. I am stoked to work with her. Stay tuned on more info about what she's like! :)

What I learned in Boston...

I don't think I could ever put into words how much the past 5 transfers here in Boston meant to me. My time here truly changed me.
I think the most important thing I learned in this area (there are SO many thing... Obedience, diligence, faith, hope...) is LOVE.
The enduring power of the pure love of Christ... Charity.
I've been blessed to receive a portion of this love for the people here in this branch. I love them beyond my own understanding and this area is truly my home. It will be hard to leave, but God needs me in Providence, and I'll go where he wants me to be!

I am ready to run. I'm gonna give it my all.
There is no time to stop!
I love you all. Thank you for your love and support.
It means more to me than you could ever know.
God lives.
Christ's church still stands.
Some people call us Mormons,
but we are LATTER DAY SAINTS,
and we will spread His Gospel until it's touched every corner of the earth.

I LOVE YOU!
Love,
Hermana Webber

Hector

This week was a week of miracles in Boston. 
We found 5 new investigators, taught 23 lessons, and best of all...

Hector Castillo was baptized. 

So, last Sunday we met with him and he wasn't sure he had a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon... We worked with him everyday this week to help him resolve that concern. We tried everything we could think of! President Miller met with him on Tuesday night and bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. It was such a powerful meeting and Hector ended up asking President Miller if he would baptize him. He still wasn't sure about The Book of Mormon, however. Our next appointment with him was on Friday, and we knew it had to be something special. This man needed a SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE.

We had the thought of taking him to the temple. So, on Friday night, we borrowed headed to Belmont and sat outside the temple and had the most spiritual lesson of my mission! 

We called his parents from Guatemala (who are both recent converts to the church! Rene is his father.). And we talked about how testimony is similar to a puzzle (we even used a real puzzle to demonstrate). Sometimes we have pieces of our testimony, but we haven't connected them to see the big picture. 

His sweet parents bore their testimony to him over the phone, then his brother Carlos testified of Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon. We sang, "Grand Eres Tu" and bore our testimonies to him. I asked him how he felt and he said, "joyful." We explained that was the Spirit, touching his heart and showing him the way.

That same night, we drove back into Boston where our zone leader interviewed Hector for baptism. He came out and congratulated us, because Hector was ready. 

The next day, Hector was baptized by President Miller. He even said the baptismal prayer in Spanish for Hector. This experience has forever changed me. 

The Castillo's are my mission! :) 
I'm gonna be there when they are all sealed as a family. 

I cannot boast of myself, for I know that God is the reason these things occurred this week. He is a God of MIRACLES and He blessed me beyond my understanding to be able to teach this family. 

I love this work! 
I love you all!
Thank you so much for your love and support. 
Love, 
Hermana Webber

Hector's Baptism!! :)