6-18-2012

Elder Webb

Hey sorry not much time at all because today has been sooooooo busy. It was suppose to be my P day right. Wrong. So they moved infield orientation to this monday because on Friday there will be the new Mission Presidents coming into the MTC for training so we are pretty much on lock down. I won't go into what I have learned but I will fill you in on events that happened. So The P Day that was suppose to be today ya I don't know what is going to happen. We have the orientation for the rest of the day and its really not too bad I enjoy it. We have seen 2 people from the District 2 and we are all dorkishly freaking out saying that they are famous and it is actually pretty cool. The two that I have seen are really really short even compared to me they are really really short like almost shorter then Annie maybe the same but still short. By the way I have not heard from her since before I came into the mission tell me if this is the email she is using.  I have been really wondering how things have been going and if she has been getting my emails. Its not fun I think she might be sending them to my other email address. So Annie if you do get this email send something to me. I really haven't heard anything from you. Ok also one of my teachers stopped teaching us this week not because we were just that bad but because she is getting married on Friday which is pretty darn cool. I have learned lots this week and I am sad that I have less then a week before I am gone. I feel that I will be leaving home for real soon. I can see the BYU Y from my building so I know that I am really close to home and its not so bad. It will be really fun though. I really can't wait to go out into the field. And I know that I will be slapped in the face with what really happens. Ok I forgot to mention how I am writing this email right now. Well we have a 2 hour lunch and a 2 hour dinner so during the lunch me and my district have been doing laundry (so we don't stick and have clean clothes) ha ha. So I just hoped on a computer in my white long sleeve shirt and tie sitting in the laundry room and it is the one and only place that you can get on a computer without being in dress clothes. So ya it is really hot but its not too bad. Hey so I can't sent pictures because I don't have a cord to download them off the camera so you will just have to wait until I get alot more pictures to see how things have been going. Oh and also I have maybe 10 pictures if that so you have a long time. I will see when I go to Toronto if the library has a place to plug in a sd card if not I'm not going to worry about it so much. Um that is really all I can think about now because my brain is really scrambled. I am not only thinking about orientation day but also everything that has happened and what is really going on today. So that is why everything is just so random. No i'm not stressing out, I am having a blast but I have not organized my thoughts so I am just randomly throwing a dart and talking about a specific point.

Ok family time, RAchel have fun at girls camp, Natalie your card will be coming I promise, Annie where the heck are ya, Megan & Justin I am so excited that you got a new puppy they are both cute, Mom sounds like a busy week with everything hope everything goes well, and Dad good luck on finishing the shed and Casper. Well I love you all and am very proud of all of you. Thank you for everything. You really are an amazing family!

Your favorite son, brother, and elder;

Landon Webb

P.S. Really I am sorry that my thoughts are all over the place I am freaking out because it is 1:04 and class starts again at 1:25 and I still have to do alot of stuff. anyway I love you all!!

Sister Webb

I'm gonna wash that [shampoo] right out of my hair...

How could I not have a line from South Pacific when both of my companions are from there? Also... Landon's companion has a poly name! I would guess Samoan because the g at the end has a ng sound. Samoan. In Tonga they would use ng. Look at how much I'm learning :-) So let me explain the subject line... after planning last night it was pouring and still light outside so we did something we have been talking about for ages! Washed our hair in the rain! We were soaked but we had so much fun playing in the rain. It was just great :-) Plus my hair is SUPER soft. rain water is the best! And yes it was raining hard enough that we could actually wash it all out of our hair just by being outside. It was awesome!

We worked really hard this week, it has been so great! Last week we met with all of the auxiliaries and they each gave us 5 names of people they want us to work with to help become more active. It's quite the list! So we have been visiting them, tracting their area, and visiting the other less active members that live around them. Busy busy busy! It's been awesome! On top of that, we have our investigators as well!

A lot of the less active members have the same concern from years ago, they didn't feel welcome or comfortable in the ward. So we try to tell them how much the ward has changed and how great it is and invite them to come back out and see those who they did become friends with and feel the love in the ward. Home and visiting teaching is so important! I think that will be a very important piece in getting these people coming back to Christ! It's hard with a ward of 700 members and only around 150 active members to get the home/visiting teaching done. But it is so important and so powerful! I know that they will be blessed as they do their home and visiting teaching. And the less active members will feel of the spirit and the love of the ward. So for all of you out there who are struggling with home/visiting teaching remember that you are visiting precious sons and daughters of God. They need to know that you care about them, on more than just the last day of the month. The standard for home/visiting teaching is to visit your families at least once a month. Call them, visit them, let them know that you love them all the time not just on the last day. It's SO IMPORTANT! Especially to those who are teetering with their testimonies and those who are new to the ward whether they be new to the area or new converts. On top of all the work we have with Less active members we also have our investigators! They are awesome. Josh actually went to Arizona for a while for the birth of his first nephew. I think it is really good that he is there for his brother at this time. And I'm sure he is setting a fabulous example for all of his family. I hope they can see and feel the change in him. He is a wonderful young man. We are working on getting the missionaries in Arizona to go and visit him and then as soon as he comes back we will get his baptism planned. He is on date for July 8! We are very excited. Our Ward Mission Leader's son has become a very good friend to Josh. He even took Josh home teaching with him last Sunday! And Josh has been talking about a mission. He is really a special person who has such wonderful potential and a great future awaiting him. We also have Heather who believes the gospel is true, she even shared her testimony with a non-member who is debating if she wants to get involved with the church. I think Heather's testimony and empathy really helped Jessica to not feel quite so nervous about the gospel. Hopefully we will begin teaching Jessica and her mother soon. The mom was really quite anti when we first heard about Jessica and Kelly (who is a member and Jessica's fiance) but she has had some health problems and been in the hospital lately and people from the wonderful Springfield ward have been visiting her and one of the members has really done a lot to help this family. She told us to not be surprised when she shows up at church! Members really are so important!

Speaking of kj we heard of them through the Lowell's (and they might be going to Wyoming this summer or his parents might be coming out here, I'll let you know). At first the Lowell's did not want us going over there to teach them. But Kelly and Jessica started coming to church. Whenever I would try to talk to Jessica she would be really stand-offish. But I kept saying hi, sitting by her in relief society, trying to talk to her and now... She has actually started conversations with me! So this week we went over to their house to do some service... man. Mom, thank you so much for teaching us how to clean. This house would be really quite nice...if there wasn't cat poop dried to the floors. We were literally scraping it off the floor with a paint scraper. That was in interesting experience. But they were working with us and if it helps them come unto Christ then that's what we'll do! We'll go back this week to keep cleaning. They put locks on the doors of the rooms we cleaned so the cats can't get in. They really are making an effort to change their lives. Kelly is so supportive and he wants the church for his family so badly. he know the blessings the church brings. We also got a new investigator, his name is Paul. his wife is the vice mayor of Springfield! Cool huh? He was actually a referral of a man we met while we were tracting. We asked if he knew anyone who might need some help with anything and he told us he had a friend with a HUGE garden. So we went and saw him and told him we wanted to weed his garden and he said... "are you for real?" After we assured him we were he said "There is a god." It was funny. We told him no worries if he wasn't interested in learning, we just wanted to help in the garden. He said that he actually is very interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. Someone gave him one a couple years ago and it has been his readers digest basically. haha. so he has read quite a bit in the Book of Mormon and is really curious about the history and so on Wednesday we get to wear our jeans (!) be outside, weed a garden (who knew I would be so excited to weed a garden huh? We love weeding.) and talk about the Book of Mormon. So that should be awesome.

Rachel it sounds like you have had a very fun summer and that a lot has changed at the barn! I only know Wes! Tell him hello next time you see him. And Stan, Em, and the boys of course. And Alaska. He's my favorite :-)

Megan that's so awesome that you got another dog! I'm so glad Orion has a playmate. And I'm glad you got to break in your new trailer. Sounds like a lot of fun things are going on!

Dad happy fathers day yesterday! I hope you had a wonderful day! Thanks for being such an awesome dad! I love you!

Natalie happy birthday tomorrow! You're going to be 18 that's so crazy! I'm so proud of you girl. Keep being awesome. Tell Jon hello and that he needs to send me a letter!

Mom Sounds like you're crazy busy! I hope Shirley's leg is better. Didn't one of her kids break something on the Alpine slide...? I hope you have so much fun at the reunion. Tell everyone hello! My allergies are doing okay. Some days I can feel a little bit but nothing too bothersome.

Elder Webb I am so proud of you! I vote you write more in emails so I can read them :-) just sayin... ;-) I hope you got my letter. I hope you got some laughs out of it. Sounds like your district is awesome! Too bad you don't have any sisters though. We're pretty awesome. If you ever see Elder Wilson from Provo going to Fresno-really tall blonde kid- tell him hello for me. and of course brother crandall. and brother elton. I'm so glad you're loving the MTC. IT's so wonderful. Write me :-)

Well, I am out of time! I love you all! Have a WONDERFUL WEEK!!

Sister Annie Webb

6-11-12—LETTERS FROM BOTH MISSIONARIES!

ANNIE’S E-MAIL

Hello everyone! It's a very rainy day here in Springfield, OH! However, unlike the old man we do not get to snore all day... nope, WORK WORK WORK! always :-) It's the greatest. I'm so excited Landon is in the MTC! I can't wait to get an email from you buddy! Too bad for me, I'll have to wait a week to get your email! That's okay. I have a letter written for Landon and I was going to mail it today... but I realized that I don't have his address! :-( So if someone could please stick his address in the letter that several of you have told me you'll be writing... :-P haha. seriously though, I need his address ASAP. I want to write my bro! Emails are great but when the DL walks up with a handful of envelopes at lunch/dinner or whenever... you just really want to have one! The snake was around my neck because I was being very brave. I was just going to hold it and I was super proud of myself when I did and then I was like... I can do this! So I did. :-) It was only a little 4' ball python. So nothing too scary. And now I can say that I have had a snake around my neck. Yes! I'm going to send home by filled up memory card from my camera. I hope it gets there... i was going to save my pictures to my flash drive to be safe but it will take like 3 hours... so yeah. I hope it gets there! Cuz I have fun pictures! And don't worry. I have not broken a single mission rule! We have some pictures that might look like it a little... but don't worry. I'm being a good girl :-) I'll explain all the pictures to you when I get home in 16 months! :-) If you have questions about any of the pictures attach the picture and I will tell you all about it :-)

District Meetings are awesome. We are really lucky that the other 2 companionships in our district come to us in Springfield. That's super awesome because we use up our miles anyway going to Urbana and South Charleston every week! But we have been catching rides with members lately so that's been really good. It decreases our miles a lot! (THANKS SPRINGFIELD WARD!) We went out with members of the ward 5 times this week! On Tuesday we had 3 members go with us! From 12-6! It was super awesome! When we are with members we will go visit less active members. Either their visiting teachees or members in the area we are working that day. Sometimes we'll even get them to go tracting with us! Sister Vandiford and Sister Lowell went tracting with me this week (we split up 2 missionaries tracting and then the other missionary and the member visiting less actives) Sister Vandiford is a natural! and it was awesome with sister Lowell because she didn't want to go tracting but the LA wasn't home so she did! And she stuck up an awesome conversation with these 2 ladies. I didn't have to do anything! It was great. Members are the best! So if you get the opportunity to go out with the missionaries... DO IT! Oh dad, one thing you would enjoy. I was talking about Wyoming with one of the members, Sister Roguski. I was telling her about how you think Wyoming is a temple because we don't have one but you must be wrong because we're getting one now... she told me that she has heard people say that Wyoming is where the city of Enoch was, because there is nothing there now so it must have all got taken up. haha. I thought you would enjoy that. Oh, and tell Mags that I hope I get to see her sometime while I'm on my mission. Hopefully I'll be in Columbus sometime. And tell her of course she can send me a package! :-) Well, I'm out of time. So I'm gonna peace out. I love you all! Read the Book of Mormon! Read Preach my gospel! They're awesome!

Tata! Love you!

Annie

LANDON’S E-MAIL

Hey everyone,

I have 21 minutes left on the computer till it kicks me out so I will write as much as I can as fast as I can. Well sorry I did not send a letter last week you will understand when I send them. (I will send it after I finish my laundry which is where the computers are at). Ok down to business. I have learned so much this week and have really had my eyes opened to the gospel. I am having a really good time here in the MTC. The hardest things for me is that I cannot watch sports (GO OKC!!), play music (I can sing but I can't play anything), I can't play sports anytime I want, and I most importantly I hate the fact that I am away from my Family. Ok thats enough of the negative now for the positive my companion is Elder Sooaemalelagi (So-o-a-e-ma-le-la-ngi) good luck he is from Calgary Canada. He is such a spiritual companion it is great to have him as my companion. In my room the other two elders are Elder Dewey (his father is a painter for the church so look up some of his paintings) he is from Cardston Canada pretty cool huh. Also in the room is Elder Rowley who is from Boise Ya  BSU! There are 10 elders in my District Elder Hewitt who is from London England, Elder Smith who is from Canada some where in Alberta, Elder Holmsted who went to BYU, Elder Rupp who lived in Japan on a military base, Elder Coker from Canada very think canadian accent and also Elder Merrill I don't know where he is from. We have so much fun but we also study really hard to. Ok so there are 12:30 left I am trying to type as much as possible. I have just written a letter (a very intersting letter) but a letter nun the least. I am also going to add this about my letter to you guys. I know that Mom and Dad have meetings and I didn't know if you knew this or not but a meeting is not just a review. It is a time set aside for Spiritual Revelation about what to do to help others. Just keep that in thought. The letter will be sent today I promise. I am sorry there is just so much I have written I don't feel I need to write it again. My first day was hard just because it was so much to take in all at once but I am slowly becoming more use to this experience here. I love being here. It is sooooo weird, I want to read as much as I can and I don't get bored to much. It is such an interesting thing to witness personally. I was so scared that I would fall asleep but no it hasn't happened yet. The Spirit is so awesome. Ok there is still 6 minutes left but between this and the letter I don't have much more to say. I have written this week completely. Well all the huge points I felt impressed to share. I love you all and hope that I hear from you. Please write me on DearElder at DearElder.com so I can get updates on your life. I don't get to read my email until Mondays which is P-Day by the way. So all those emails I recieved earlier from Dad was not read until today. Well thanks for being such a great Family. I love you all so much.

Love your favorite Elder and Son,

Landon Webb

Elder Webb

Elder Joseph Landon Webb entered the MTC on Wednsday at 1:25p.m. He was pretty excited! We can’t wait to get our first letter!

06-04-2012

Hey all! So this morning we walked out of the apartment to come to the library to email and the mailman was outside so we just waited for him... and guess what?! I had this box! And guess what was in it!? Mangos, fruit rollups, M&Ms, a SUPER cute skirt (from Christopher and Banks), a letter, and... UKULELE MUSIC! We are all very excited for this box! I have the greatest family ever! And today, my companions even agree with me! Well, they did this morning. After reading the letters from their families they may have changed their minds but don't worry, I still think I have the greatest family ever! Okay housekeeping items...

1. Mom: I would LOVE to write grandpa, but I need his address. Keep me updated on him... strokes are a big deal. But I know he won't stay down for long. Oh Grandpa. Oh... I just read your card, it's there :-)

2. transfers are this week. So currently I still have both of my lovely trainers. :-) AND ITS GOING TO STAY THAT WAY! None of us are getting transferred. It's just not happening. (knock on wood)

3. Natalie: that sounds SO painful. But...kind of funny at the same time. Only because you're not seriously injured. I'm glad you're getting feeling back in your foot. I hope you took pictures and that you send them to me soon :-)

4. Rachel: Sorry I wasn't there to do your hair. I'm sure you looked beautiful anyway. Sounds like you have a way busy summer coming up. You will have so much fun!

5: Megan and Justin, Happy anniversary! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! And that's awesome that you bought a new 5th wheel. I can't wait to see it!

So thank you all so much for your letters and emails. You have no idea how much they boost me up and make me want to work even harder! You guys really are the best. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family!

Update on our investigators: Josh was going to be baptized yesterday but due to scheduling and trips and jobs... we're not sure when he will be baptized. But he will be. He is an awesome young man and really excited to be baptized. We moved his date because we didn't want to have to rush through the lessons. Scheduling is hard because they pick up jobs whenever they are available and so their schedule is rather unpredictable. Also he might be going to Arizona for the birth of his nephew... they're not really sure yet. So if he is the missionaries in Arizona will finish up the lessons and then he'll get baptized when he gets back OR if he doesn't go we'll just finish the lessons and set a date. Hopefully we will have a more concrete plan sometime this week. Zoey, who is 9 is also planning to be baptized. We are just waiting for her great grandfather to be ready to baptize her so we're not quite sure when that will be. But we will talk to the Bishop sometime today and hopefully get that all figured out too. Since Zoey started investigating the church she has brought so much of her family back to church! This little girl is having a profound effect on her family and it's just so exciting to watch what her example is doing for all of them! Sorry this is a really fast email but I have some other things I have to do on the computer for my training before I get off. Oh! Landon, I love you and I'm so proud of you going to the MTC this week! I'll be thinking of you! Have a wonderful time and learn a lot at the MTC! And give us some details in your emails! names, experiences... details. I know you can do it! Don't forget to send the emails to me at this address, and I'll remember to send you emails at your myldsmail address! And don't forget... Brother Crandall! haha. K. I love you all so much! Thanks again for the emails and the package! TTYL!

Annie

PS I'd put more pics on but it's SUPER SLOW! so enjoy this one :-) I'll be sending my memory card home soon anyway so you can see them all then :-)

05-29-2012

So Memorial Day is sad because the Library is closed :-( so that's why I'm writing today. PDay is still Monday though! This week has been super awesome! In fact it has been so awesome that it deserves a CACHOW! (In Honor of Elder Orton). All cachows must be said outloud. So if you didn't say it out loud, please go back and say it now. Thank you. We met some awesome investigators this week, Matthew and Ashley. They just had a new baby girl and they really understand the importance of family. They are changing their lives around and coming to Christ so that their daughter can have the best life possible. I am excited to continue to teach and learn from them. We also met a couple, Michelle and Wesley, who have actually been studying the Church. Michelle was very surprised at how much our beliefs mirror her own. They have a lot of good information and really great questions. Unfortunately, they will be in Chicago for 3 weeks so we can't talk to them again until the end of June. But they want to meet with us again and ask more questions and learn more! We are very excited.

Exciting news: this week is my very first exchange! I will be going to Marysville with Sister O'Brian on Wednesday so that should be super fun :-) I'll let you know all about it next week!

My hero today is Jacob. The scripture is 2 Nephi 9:49. Read it and figure out why :-) (I love the word 'abhorroth' it's pretty great).

Also check out Hebrews 6:10-20 (especially 10-15); 1 Timothy 4:12; 1 Peter 4:8 and page 118 in PMG about charity. Those are things that really stuck out to me this week.

Megan and Justin... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I can't believe you've been married fr 5 years! I love you both and hope you have a wonderful anniversary celebration!

Landon... you're down to 8 days! I'm sure youre very excited to go! I was told that your farewell talk was amazing! I am so proud of you bud. You will love the MTC. Just make sure you want to love it and you work hard.

Natalie... you're a high school graduate! I thought about you Friday night. I can't believe that you're out of high school! Now you get to say "when I was in High School..." try it, it's fun!

Rachel... I bet you're so glad school is out for the summer. But you probably won't even notice beasue you'll be so busy with so many awesome activities this summer! Have fun! try to find time to write me :-)

Mom and Dad. Thank you so much for your letters. They really mean a lot to me. You guys are the best. I am so lucky to have you as my parents.

Well, that's all for now! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Annie

5-21-12

*First off… sorry I haven’t been updating much lately… maybe now with both siblings out, I’ll do better!

Hello family!

Sometimes I feel bad becasue I am always asking you to do stuff for me... Megan, could you look up some more addresses for me?Also, i DID get the new camera and case! Thank you so much! I love it! At first I didn't think I would becasue I wasn't sure if it would have all the settings my old camera had- I really loved that camera- but I managed to find them! yay! so thank you thank you thank you! Also Mom, I did get the box of clothes thank you thank you thank you! and yes the stuff I bought at Goodwill was summer clothes. I found some fun stuff. Most of it is waaaay too big but with belts and stuff I can totally make it work. One skirt is about to undergo massive reconstructive surgery though. It's super cute but needs changed. Good think I learned how to sew! (Thanks mom!)

Okay, now to the important stuff! I had my first baptism yesterday! It was very awesome! The spirit was so strong and Kris was sooo ready to be baptized and you could just see the peace and joy he felt radiating from him! I was lucky enough to be playing the piano for the baptism and the room was SO PACKED that I just sat at the piano the whole time which meant that I got to see his expression during the whole meeting. I could just see his testimony written all over his face! He knew that he was making the right decision and coming closer to his Heavenly Father. It was such an amazing experience! Another way awesome experience regarding him... on Tuesday Sister Boxx (an awesome ward missionary who reminds me SO Much of Megan) and I went to teach Kris (he is really shy so we don't have all of us and the Boxx's go--waay too much!) so it was just us two and we were teaching the Commandments (lesson 4) neither of us had ever taught it before. I hadn't even taught it in the MTC beacsue we foucs on the first 3 lessons. I told her that I didn't have the scripture background that Sister Va'asili and Finefeuiaki have so we probably wouldnt' be able to use many scriptuers in the lesson... well during the lesson these scriptures just kept popping into my head! Like daisies! (name the movie... it's Mulan in case you couldn't do it). The spirit will bring things to your rememberance when you need them! I remember being in Seminary and memorizing the scripture mastery scriptures but I would always forget them. Brother Palmer always assured us that since we memorized them they would always come back to us when we needed them. Man was he right! Thank you Brother Palmer for being such an amazing seminary teacher! (someone can get on facebook and tell him I said that!) Speaking of seminary, we got to go on Friday! They have morning seminary... I am SO grateful for release time seminary! We are lucky lucky people! Also, their teachers are called. It's not what they do for their living like it is at home... weird, huh? ya. Anyway, we had the students all write their testimonies so that we could put them in the Books of Mormon that we give out (name the movie with the Books of Mormon/ Book of Mormons argument.... Best Two Years for those of you who didn't get it). Anyway, we all bore our testimonies and some of the students did as well and it was basically just super amazing. The spirit was so strong and it was an incredible morning! It does make me a little jealous of people who get to start their day with seminary. But not jealous enough that I would have wished for early morning seminary. nope. not even a little. This week on Wednesday a little girl from the ward is getting baptized so we get to go to that and the next week we have another awesome investigator getting baptized. I am SO excited for that one! The work is progressing here in The Great Ohio! It's pretty wonderful. So here are some pictures (since I can put them on now!)

me eating...something out of a mayo jar... no worries, it's potato salad! yum yum!

]The baptism! Sister Va'asili, Malynda, Kris, Sister Finefeuiaki, Me :-)

I found a new friend!

ElDee and I! :-)

hopefully these pictures don't delay your getting this email. There are only 4...

Well, that's the update for today! I love you all!

Love your favorite missionary (I still have that claim for 2 weeks!)

Annie