4-1-13

HELLO FAMILY!
This week was very different from last week.. It was hard. We had 6 member present lessons fall through, 1 investigator drop us hard core, and anther one come to the conclusion that he is a lost cause. We only found one new investigator, the 8 year old son of Miles , and it just generally seemed like nothing was working out. Satan was on a rampage this week and did some damage. BUT THE GAME IS NOT OVER! We had a lot of great blessings this week as well. We got to teach Jaden (the NI). We made a plan of salvation board game so that we could hold his attention long enough to actually teach hims something. It was great. The lesson was amazing. Miles helped his sons read the cards and basically explained the plan of salvation to them. It was amazing to watch. Then Miles invited his less active cousin to come to church on Sunday, and she did and brought her non member daughter with her. Miles and the boys also came to church. We met Artie Knapp, a children's author last night who is just awesome. He was awesome and had some great questions. He requested a copy of Mr. Kruger's Christmas so we will be taking that to drop by tonight. We met a very nice family from the little Miami ward who bought us frozen yogurt, we got to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We were able to give a wonderful Easter Present (Resurrection Eggs..Sister Perryman made them and challenged us and the elders to give them away last night, they're on pinterest) We even got to be the Easter Bunny for Miles and his boys, we dropped off an Easter box that had "Finding Faith in Christ" The Lamb of God pass along card, eggs with scriptures in them about Christ, a copy of "The Living Christ" and of course candy... it was super fun. Consider the Blessings! There are so many wonderful things all around us if we just look and take an inventory! There are such great things all around us. Miracles are happening if we just open our eyes to see them.
Oh! I got to see my friend Margaret from Disney! It was awesome. She flew in from Orlando on Sunday, I saw her Tuesday and Wednesday she flew back to Orlando. Then she goes to Pittsburgh for a masters program! So it was seriously awesome to see her! She told me she tries to read my blog but it hasn't been updated since like January...

So Miles as you have read is doing great. David, our other miracle from last week, is not doing so well. We met on Monday and put him on date for April 13. He was really excited. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he had to work late. Sunday we were going to meet before church but he texted us saying, he had drank a lot the night before and was super hung over. He said "Sisters, I'm a lost cause. Your efforts are better spent on someone else. I'm so sorry. God bless." Just wrench my heart right out! AH! The Elders and a member went over, they were closer, and knocked on the door to try to bring him to church but to no avail. So we will go back over tomorrow. He is not a lost cause. He is so prepared. Satan is working SO incredibly hard on him. And he knows it! He told us "Satan always tempts me and I push away people who are good for me." NOT THIS TIME DAVID! We are fighting for his soul and WE WILL NOT GIVE UP! More importantly, GOD will NOT give up. So pray for him. Please, please pray for him. He needs all the prayers he can get.

No one is a lost cause. The atonement is infinite. It is real. It is the only thing that can heal us from all our our doubts, fears, and shortcomings. I am so grateful for the knowledge and testimony I have of the atonement. I am grateful for how it has changed my life, day by day. I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to learn from my past, work on my present, and change my future because of the atonement. I'm grateful to be sharing that with the most incredible people in the world. I love this work. I love the gospel. I love my Savior with all of my heart.

So the Plan of Salvation game... it was great. It's set up kind of like life. But no ONE person wins. We have to help each other through. So there are stopping points, (preexistence, creation, the fall, the atonement, earth life, the spirit world, resurrection and judgement, and the kingdoms. Nobody can go past one stopping point until everyone gets there. (That way we weren't having all sorts of facts about 8 different things at one time because that would have been confusing!) So then there were activities to do while you waited for everyone to get there. It was awesome. It was super fun to make. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. :-) I'll attach a picture of it :-) OH! And the pieces...this is genius. SO the pieces are made of out cardboard. There is a piece of plastic wrapped around the cardboard with a little person drawn on it. This is your spirit. When you get to earth life, you get a body! So you take a piece of paper with a little person drawn it and stick it behind the plastic so you can see the body and spirit! When you die, you lose your body. At the resurrection you get it back! I love how the Lord knows what we need to do to be able to teach the people we are working with! And he lets us know through the spirit giving us thoughts, ideas, impressions... it's awesome. Basically the coolest thing ever. The other pictures are me and Margaret and the other one is Miles helping Toran play the game. It was so awesome to see Miles teaching his sons gospel principles! Love it!

Oh! Some cool stuff. Last week we met Brother Tines from the Little Miami ward. Years ago he served a mission. One of his areas was...GREEN RIVER, WYOMING! Which covered the Bridger Valley. One day they were looking through their area book and saw some people in Mt. View. They felt impressed to go visit them. So they had to take buses to little America and then get to the valley. When they were there they went to visit... Andy Brisko. This was in 1969. So that's just a fun little tidbit of information... :-) Small world! ALSO I met this lady while we were tracting who is Shawn Busken's best friends mom! So call Katie and Shawn and tell them I met Jeremy Larva's mother in Blue Ash area of Cincinnati. :-) It was awesome. Okay, I think that's all I needed to tell you guys :-) I hope you all have a great week! I love you all SO much! It's April! I can't believe it! Time just flies! I can't believe I've been doing this for a year. There were times when it just seemed so long and now I'm looking at the back end and I just can't believe it! I don't like it! I just don't know where the time has gone. This has seriously been the most amazing experience of my life! I am super excited to see what the next 6 months holds in store! Have a wonderful day guys! Love you all lots!

Annie

3-25-13

Landon’s Letter

Hello :)

Sorry I don't write much and I don't feel too much like writing today but I will let you know how my week went.

To start it off we went out pounding the pavement, then we continued to do that through out the rest of the week. I think we talked with about 160ish people this week. Maybe more but I can't think. I don't even remember what I did yesterday. Oh wait yesterday was church. wow............... Ya these days are just meshing together. It feels like things were forever ago and that things were just this morning. It is getting crazy. I guess we need a change up in our routine. Not in location or companion because I really enjoy serving with Elder Washburn. But we just need to try something new I guess. hm...... Anyways. Ya that's about all that we did this week.

Sorry. :(

It was a good week though, we had alot of fun.

Rachel- I am glad that you enjoyed your week. I am glad that you got to experience a little bit of what we go through.

Natalie- Keep up with all you are doing, The pay off will come for what you are doing know. You reap what you sow.

Annie- I am excited that things are going good for you! I think it is fun to to put together something that will help the area grow!

Megan & Justin- How is young womens Megan? How is the elders quorum Justin? I am glad things are going good for you!

Mom- Thanks for all you do. I haven't sent it yet. I spent the last 2 p-days playing basketball. I might get it off today. I don't know though ;)

Dad- Thanks for all that you do! I appreciate it. I hope your plans go good I know that they will be good!

I love you all.

Elder Webb

Annie’s Letter

HELLO WONDERFUL FAMILY OF MINE! First of all, I didn't get transferred and neither did Sister Bergeson. No surprise as we are in training. So same address. Same AMAZING ward. Same awesome companion. Life is good. So let me just tell you about some stuff that's happened this week...

First, not last Wednesday but the Wednesday before Sister Johnson were on exchanges and found David, I think I told you about him. HE told us that he had been praying, pleading on his knees for direction. The next day, no sooner than he got home from work, we appeared at his door with a message of the Savior, Jesus Christ. Sister Bergeson and I went back on Tuesday with Sister Winther and had the most incredible lesson ever! It was seriously amazing! We were meant to see him Friday but his little girl was sick :-( so we didn't see. him. Sunday morning we knew he had to go into work for a while, but we took over orange rolls and invited him to church. He said "if I can't make it this week, what about next week?" We told him church was 3 hours and that he should just come whenever he could. Then we trotted off to Loveland to make breakfast for Miles. Back up...
Saturday we were out visiting potential investigators in Loveland. We parked the car and tried to contact 2 potentials down the street and then walked down to Tony's. We knocked, and knocked again. And Tony didn't answer. So we got back in the car to go see some other potentials. We went down the street (Tony lives at the end of a cul-de-sac so we were going to turn around). We saw Tony outside at his truck! So we pulled over, got out and went and talked to him! He had been in the restroom C'est la vie. So we had a great chat with him and invited him to watch conference and told him we would follow up with him after conference. Then he told us to go talk to his neighbor, Miles, who was out washing his car. He told us to go wash Miles' car for him. So we walk over and said "Miles, Tony told us to wash your car for you." Miles wouldn't let us wash the car :-( BUT we started having a good conversation with him and then.... He went and turned off the water and sat on the trunk of his other car and just gave us his undivided attention. He really only had one question: "Do you believe that your family on earth will be your family in heaven?" WHAT A GREAT QUESTION! So we got to talk about that and it was fabulous. We challenged him to read the Book of Mormon. accepted. We asked him if he would be baptized. He said he had already been baptized by a priest who was like a father figure. We explained more about the priesthood. And asked him again if he would be baptized. accepted! MAY 11 IS THE DAY! It was SO exciting! Then we asked him if he and his children (Jaden 8 and Toran 5) would come to church with us tomorrow. Because why put it off finding out if this is true!? Accepted. We asked if we could come and make breakfast. After a little coaxing he accepted that too! SO we called Brother Smith who is basically amazing! and asked him if he would accompany us to breakfast in the morning. He said he would. We have used Brother Smith a lot this week. He is seriously just amazing. And he's not even a ward missionary! But totally willing to help us whenever! So Sunday morning. We wake up and get everything ready. Drop off orange rolls at David's, drop off orange rolls at Ryan's. And then go to Miles'. We go in and start talking about this and that and the Book of Mormon while we're taking over his kitchen (which is BEAUTIFUL! He totally redid his kitchen all by himself!) We made a great breakfast! Bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes...it's not about the food, but it was seriously great! We were asking about the introduction, which he read to his kids the night before, and there was definitely a concern when he started talking about the 3 and 8 witnesses. What it came down to was "why does everything go back to Joseph Smith?" So we explained a little about why Joseph Smith is important, but not central. So then we left and went to church. Brother Smith swung back by Miles' to drop off a white shirt! How awesome is that?! I've never had a member do something like that before! It was awesome! So we get to church and Miles' boys were SO GOOD in sacrament meeting. Better behaved than most of the members kids! The talks were about general conference and prophets...I was a little concerned because no one was really talking about Christ. But then a sister started talking and while her talk was still on the same line as the others, it was completely focused on Christ. It was amazing. Definitely an answer to prayers. Then we went to gospel essentials and the teacher was talking about eternal marriage, we were a little nervous, Miles' isn't married. But it worked out really well! She taught it in just the most perfect way, totally guided by the spirit and it was wonderful. At the end of class, President Wallis brought David in. He was going to text us when he got there but I think President Wallis got to him first, which is totally awesome! At the end of the lesson, Sister Winther introduced David and asked him to tell the class his story of how we found him. And then the teacher asked me to share any thoughts I had about it. The spirit was so strong. It was just seriously amazing. Then Priesthood went great for both of them! David and Miles both introduced themselves and told their stories of how we had found them and their background. David participated in the lesson a lot! Miles less but that's okay, he is a much more quiet person than David. After priesthood David asked someone "is every Sunday like this?" He really loved the whole atmosphere and the discussions. He is definitely coming next week and he is excited to bring his little girl as well. Miles found out that he has family in the ward! He thought his entire family was baptist...until yesterday. So that was awesome! He is also going to come back next week! David went and invited his own member (Sister Winther) to the lesson we set up. So awesome! All day we had members calling us and wanting to tell us what happened in priesthood, or how awesome the Miles' kids were. The young men were all trying to imitate Miles' voice because it is SUPER DEEP! We had dinner with the Smith's last night (the same Smith's mentioned before) They called and asked if we thought it would be okay if they invited Miles and his boys to dinner. FREAK YA! So they did. So there were 18 people in their house that night. We were able to watch the Restoration movie and explain more about Joseph Smith and how really it all goes back to Christ even though Joseph Smith is hugely important. It was seriously just SO amazing! The members in this ward are super amped up to do missionary work. Honestly President. You should come to church here. It starts at 11 am the address is 8250 Cornell Rd. Cincinnati, OH. These members are the most amazing member missionaries ever. I have never seen anything like it.
Our investigators walk in and we don't see them again until after church. They do more than fellowship. They friendship. I am very lucky, blessed, to be serving here. I hope someday I can be as incredible as these wonderful people are. I am just so excited about this work! It's so humbling and exciting to be a part of it. To be able to teach people like David and Miles the gospel. It's not a sacrifice at all. Only the best thing ever!

We also had the privilege of having the amazing Sister Kimball with us Saturday and Sunday. She is just finishing up her mission. She extended for a couple weeks and is doing a tour of the mission, all the sisters areas. She is just amazing and I love her. I'm gonna miss her a ton! She is an amazing example and I am so grateful that we got to spend 2 days with her and learn from her! Seriously amazing missionary. She goes to BYU! So we'll be friends. :-)

OH! this morning during personal study I was thinking about how we can help Jaden, Miles' 8 year old son pay attention to our lessons because this far he was been super distracted but we really want to teach him as well as his dad. Inspiration struck. The next lesson is the Plan of Salvation. SO today and tomorrow I am in construction. I am making... A PLAN OF SALVATION BOARD GAME! Like the game of Life but for the entire plan of salvation! It's going to be awesome. I'm super excited! I love the spirit!

Mom-haven't talked to Dr. Giles recently. I'm feeling great though. Also, in the picture that the Neiderer's have...Elder Taylor is the red head. I don't know if there are many of those but he is one of them.

Dad-Thanks for taking such good care of me! I am so grateful for how awesome of a dad you are! :-) Also, I bought Sister Bergeson a birthday cake last Monday that we shared with the district because it was her birthday and I wanted it to be amazing! Also I'm out of $ for this week. Stupid having to pay for laundry. It's expensive. $10 a week and we don't get reimbursed for it... Sucks.

Meg and Justin-hope all is well for you! You're both amazing!

Natalie- Have fun with school! And wedding planning! Don't stress too much. Just relax. Get stuff done but make sure you have time to have fun too.

Rachel- I am so proud of you chica! I can't believe how much you are just growing up! I don't like it at all. You're amazing!

Landon- you're such an awesome example. Keep working hard buddy! I know tracting all the time isn't fun but it does pay off. 6 of our 7 investigators are from tracting. The 3 most solid ones are from tracting. It really is effective. Ask a lot of questions. Get to know them and their background that way you can work with what they already believe. PMG says to build upon the faith people already have. If we don't ask questions, right from the beginning, we can't do that. Also, when people discover their own answers to their questions they own them and they mean a lot more. So questions are good. :-)
I love you all so much! I know I say it all the time, but I seriously have the BEST Family ever! Thanks for all your love and support. Love you all!

Annie

3/20/13

Annie’s Letter

Hello wonderful family of mine! It's the first day of spring! And there's not snow on the ground! That makes for one very happy sister missionary in the land of Montgomery! It is still cold here though. But the sun is shining and the skies are clear! And it is getting a little warmer. Apparently on Saturday it's supposed to be 70 degrees! yay! It's been a long cold winter. Yes mom, lots of layers. Thermals, tights, leggings, socks, fuzzy socks, sweat pants, boots. We learn how to layer up and keep real warm haha.

This week was...a long time ago haha. We are working on creating a 2-2-5 binder. This is a binder that every area is supposed to have. Since we came into a new area we are creating one. It's a long process. Our area book was empty when we got it, so we are working on filling that up, but trying to keep the former investigator section empty and just fill up the recent converts! haha. But we didn't have a 2-2-5 binder and that is SO important. SO we are trying to take some non-productive time and work on that so that our planning can be more effective and we can increase our finding! We are discovering that there are a TON of part member families and SO many prospective elders! So we are excited to be able to utilize that wonderful resource...just as soon as we get it resourceful. 2-2-5 binders have info on all the members. So it is broken down into mini areas and then we can see what members, less active members, part member families, prospective elders, potential investigators, former investigators and so on live in a specific area. It really helps with planning so I'm super excited to get that all put together. Plus, I think it's fun to make. It's organizing stuff! FUN! So we in the great Ohio, make breakfast every Sunday to help get people to church. We found an investigator 2 weeks ago, his name is Ryan. He is super open minded and willing to learn. We had a return appointment on the following Wednesday and he wasn't there. :-( So Sunday morning we decided to drop by some cinnamon rolls and invite him to church. So we did. He said "ya, I'll go, just let me get cleaned up so I don't look like such a rag-a-muffin." What's a rag-a-muffin anyway? ... So he came to church and the members just completely took charge. He sat with the Stevens, Bro. Davis introduced himself and took him to Sunday School and Priesthood. The members were all super friendly. Most everyone introduced themselves to him, and the ones that didn't thought he was a member. The Bishop explained that we have a different vocab and Ryan said "I'll learn it" and after church he was talking to us about "elders quorum" and stuff. It was awesome. So he came up to us after church and said "so the elders said that there were lessons I could take, and I needed to talk to you." We just smiled and set up an appointment for tonight! He is really excited. The reason he wasn't there last Wednesday was because he had to work late. But on Sunday he said "I'll just tell them I have to go. I'll be there." It was great. He is super awesome. Another awesome story... The same Wednesday that Ryan wasn't there, earlier that day Sister Johnson and I were tracting (exchanges) and we tracted into David who said "I was praying for guidance just last night, and now you're here. That's odd." So we went back yesterday and had the most amazing lesson ever! We had an incredible member with us, Sis Winther. She is the most bombin ward missionary ever! She has a huge testimony of missionary work and makes it a priority. She served a mission in Sweden a long time ago which is super cool! She's just awesome! And we talked about the restoration of the gospel . The spirit was really strong and it was just so great. We have a return appointment on Friday, he is coming to the baptism on Saturday and then to church on Sunday. It's awesome. It's amazing how the Lord really does prepare people to receive the gospel. Everyone is ready at different times. Sometimes that boggles my mind. Shouldn't everyone always be ready? It's the gospel, who wouldn't want that?! But then I have to back up for a second and remember that everyone has agency and that if Heavenly Father wanted everyone ready at the same time to accept the gospel, they would. But that's not how the plan works.

I am so grateful to see how the work is progressing! I'm grateful to be a part of such a wonderful army, marching in the ranks of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING!

OH SOME SUPER IMPORTANT INFORMATION! MISSIONARIES ARE NOW ALLOWED TO EMAIL EVERYONE AND ANYONE! SO PLEASE POST MY EMAIL ADDRESS ON THE BLOG AND ALSO ON FACEBOOK SO PEOPLE SEND ME EMAILS! Thanks! But also encourage them to still send me letters too :-)

So another cool connection to the Neiderer's. My friend from the MTC, elder Taylor, is serving in New Zealand. They had a zone conference a little while ago and guess who he met?! Elder Neiderer!So that's pretty exciting! It's such a small world!

Mom and Dad you guys are awesome! Thanks for the gold! We also had green pancakes on St. Patrick's day! and also green eggs. It was exciting. I was so stoked to get gold! I'm glad the leprechauns didn't forget me :-) Seriously, you're the best ever. We are so lucky to have such wonderful parents. I am just so thankful every day for you guys. You raised us so well! You taught us to be respectful and to be good people, but also to have fun. I've discovered that a lot of people just don't have that balance. It's really quite sad. :-( So thanks! Also, tell Ed and Grandpa to get feeling better soon and I love them! Tell the whole extended family that! I just got a letter from Aunt DeAnn. I love getting letters from her! They are greatly appreciated :-)

Megan and Justin I'm glad things are going well for you! I'm excited to meet your boys someday! I'm sad that I missed the whole puppy stage :-( Do you have fun plans for the summer?

Natalie and Jon it sounds like things are going awesome for you two! I'm so glad! Enjoy temple prep! and how special to be taking it with Jon's parents! That's just super awesome! I am so proud of both of you!

Rachel what is this seminary mission thing? I'm super confused about the whole thing.... So if you could explain that, it'd be great. I hope everything is going great for you! Hang in there, summer is coming!

Well dearest family of mine, I love you all and hope you have a great week! I'll email again on Monday! Oh, today is pday because tomorrow is transfers. I probably won't go anywhere because we are new to the area and in the middle of training, but you never know! :-) Have a FANTABULOUS day!

Annie

3/18/13

Landon’s Letter

Hello my family!

So I have decided that I don't like all of the holidays. Canada has one just about everyother week. It is quite rediculous. That means that people are usually gone. So this week here was March Break and we had 0 lessons with investigators and 4 lessons with Less-Actives & Recent Converts. It was really boring. We talked with 150 people this week so that was good. We will have to see how things go this week.

Some sad news Michael's mother told us to not come back. Sad but I was so glad that we got to meet him. Opposition in all things. So I hope that he does meet missionaries in the future when he is not living with his parents. But at least for now something was planted. Hopefully it will sprout.

REally this week was not very fun or exciting. I did get to go onto the Mountain, Hamiltons Escarpment, and work up there with Elder Bergeson. That was really fun. Oh I forgot to mention and Natalie I think you would find this very interesting. On the Mountain there are two areas. Mountain East and Mountain West. Well a couple of weeks ago like you know was transfers and we got a ton of new missionaries. That is when the Mountain Area go split into two areas. Well the Elders took the East area and Sisters took the West area. As we were going to District Meeting we walked in and there were 2 new sets of sisters that opened new areas (Mountain West and Simcoe). Well one of the new sisters, Sister Tebbs, who serves in the Mountain West area went to Western Wyoming Community College and ya I knew her before. It was crazy. So Natalie if you know any of the soccer players she was on the team, Crystal Tebbs I think? Anyway her boyfriend who also is on a mission was my hometeaching partner. Small world huh? Who would have thought.

Well that is pretty much it for this week. Sorry I am not so much into writing today. Our schedule was messed up and we couldn't get on the computers till later because they were all down.

Rachel- Just remember Annies email from last week. Exactly Obedient and you will be blessed so much! Even that you are on a Seminary Mission you can still recieve blessings from that. Do you have to wake up at 6:30? What else do you have to do?

Natalie- That is way exciting that you are taking Temple Prep classes. That is crazy! Can you see the difference that the Gospel makes. There is a quote from Boyd K. Packer in Preach My Gospel that says, not word for word i can't remember it :) something like living the gospel changes behavior more than a study of behavior changes behavior. Keep it up!

Annie- You are doing awesome. Do you want some more snow? We will gladly give you some! It's not bad here but We will give you more ;) I am excited for you! Keep up the awesome work!

Megan & Justin- Wow I can't believe that they are both over 1 years old. That is crazy! Hopefully they will be full grown by the time I come back. It will be a huge change from the first time that I was little Orion.

Mom- Thanks for the package I got it today! I am glad that things are going good! I know what you mean with Spring. We are seeing glimpses here and there. So we are excited as well!

Dad- Thanks for the photos. I love to see things that are familiar. I hope that things did go good at the party. Do you have your class that you teach this year? I Hope things go well!

Thanks for all that you do and sorry this letter is so short. I Love You All. Remember Stand in Holy Places, The Young mens and womens theme this year. We all need make every place we stand Holy and also Lift where you stand. There was a story of a group of guys standing around a piano trying to figure out how to move it. One man finally said Lift where you stand. I guess one more thing. We need to answer the call because who else will. We are the only ones who can help our brothers and sisters who have not yet partaken of this Gospel. How else will they get that opportunity we don't answer the call. The Stake President here last week gave a talk about how him and his family would swim a big distance to a place called the rock in the early summer in Lake Superior. Brrrrr. Then they would swim to a place called far rock where which was twice the distance. His daughter decided to make that trip as well. About half way he had the impression to see how she was doing. She was struggling so he went back to get her. He was the only one who could have reached her in time and he was the only one who got that impression. So I guess just remember; Stand in Holy Places, Lift where you stand, and Answer the call when it comes.

I Love you all!

Love your favorite Brother, Son, and Elder

Landon Webb

3/11/13

Landon’s Letter

Hello my family!

I hope things are going great for you!

This week things here have been pretty well the same as it seems like any other week. We are still trying to increase our teaching pool. Those people that we are teaching right now are Kydia, Amber, Keith, Eva, and also Irene. None of them are progressing in the gospel right now but we are still helping them as best as we can to help them receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is true.

A really cool experience we had this week:

We stopped by last week at a guys house, his name is Michael. We were finally able to talk with him this week when we dropped by on Saturday night. As we started talking with him we realized that he didn't really believe in God but he wanted to learn more. He wants to find out for him self if God is there or not. So that is what we talked about. We talked with him and he has had a rough life and has made alot of improvement from where he was a while ago. We told him that if he would pray he could find out for himself whether or not God was there. He wouldn't do it. He absolutely wouldn't do it. He wouldn't even kneel because he said that was a sign of weakness. As we continued he told us that when he would get into trouble he would pray for his freedom and then he said that he would never really get it. We talked with him more and he was able to come to know that God did answer his prayer. He was now out of that situation that he was in. It was an amazing eye opening experience because it let me see just how powerful the Spirit teaches us. We didn't have anything prepared but we were able to teach by the Spirit to help him understand that God does hear and answer his prayers and that he can pray to know it He is there or not. To make a long story short for the first time in that mans life he knelt down before God during prayer. There is no way two 19 and 20 year old boys could have done that. The Spirit confirmed to him that what we were saying was true and he knelt down in prayer for the first time in his life.

I just thought I would share that with you guys. I know that prayer is powerful and that God does answer prayers. I hope to send back a talk I gave yesterday along with the goodies from Niagara Falls hopefully today if not next week.

Rachel I was actually thinking about Scotty and I even was telling my companion about Scotty and the song. So when I read your email today I was smiling the whole time. That is really awesome! I remember little fun demonstrations in Mr. Copleys class. We had some pretty cool things happen in that class.I am glad things are going good for you!

Natalie I hope things in school are not too crazy. Just remember your priorties. Institute, classes, homework, and then extra. Or what ever you have them marked as. Just remember that you need to have fun and find times to have fun but also stay focused on your school work. It will get even harder as the end of the year comes up. You will be more swamped if you don't keep up plus it gets harder to. You can do it! I just felt I should tell you that. Dont' ask me why cause I don't know.

Annie I hope that things have been going good for you! What do you do for finding? What are you standards of excellence for the mission? Do you have any? How is Cincinatti doing? When is your transfer? I have your late birthday gift but I want to sent it with safe time before or after transfers. If I remember you have them next week? You might not get it for a while still sorry.... :(

Megan and Justin I was actually thinking about you two this week. How have things been going? Do you have any plans for your house, lawn, garden, or anything this year? Justin are you and whoever it is that golfs with you going to enter that compatition in Evanston again in July. I know that is a long ways to think off but I was just wondering.

Mom thanks for your letter! I was really grateful to hear that you tried really hard to write a letter even though there were troubles. I know that there have been lots of times that you have done so much for us just so that we can hear from you or to help us with something. I am truely grateful that you are my mother! I love you. Really thanks for all that you do!

Dad thanks for all the sport updates this year. I really miss being able to play sports whenever I would like. I see people playing basketball in an apartment complex, so we really can't play basketball. I always look forward to playing ball with other Elders on P-day. Thanks for all that you have helped me with and all that you have given to me. I love you!

I just want to say I have an awesome family. 2 Amazing parents that do so much for me. 4 Fantastic sisters who are all my favorite ;) and 1 brother-in-law and 1 soon to be brother-in-law who are awesome. I was thinking this morning that this Gospel brings happiness. What does this Gospel do? It helps us to live a way so we can return to live with our Heavenly Father, lets us live better lives (ex. look at the world today and how we live. There is almost a 180 degree difference. Satan is at work and we will conquer him with this Gospel), and it bring families closer to be united forever for eternity. What a blessing! What a great blessing! I am grateful for this in my life and I am grateful for Jesus Chris! I am more grateful then ever to be out here serving Him. This is meaning more and more to me everyday that I get to serve the Lord. "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." (3 Nephi 5:13)

I love you all

Love your favorite Elder, brother, and son

Landon Webb

Annie’s Letter

HELLO WONDERFUL FAMILY OF MINE! I totally agree with Landon. BEST FAMILY EVER! So, let me tell you what is going on in the GREAT OCM! Today, I am emailing late because we had a mission party! It was SO FUN To be with other missionaries! Just half of them (the Cincinnati areas and the Dayton areas). I didn't see the elders from Sidney, well I don't know who they are so couldn't tell them to tell ElDee hi. But tell her hi for me! I'm excited to get her letter! :-) Anyway, we had a party because President promised us a party if we got 500 baptisms in 2012. At the end of the year we had 499. But when we got the official report back from SLC... 500 BABY! So today was the day. We played games and just had a grand old time. It was weird to see 100 missionaries in normal clothes... haha. Also, this Friday we get to have a zone conference (again with the Cincy and Dayton zones) with Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Quorum of the 70. So that will be awesome! Super exciting!

This week we have been working on being exactly obedient. It is definitely a focus. Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brins miracles. We need miracles! So this week... we inadvertently ended up in a man's house where there wasn't a woman. And we didn't like it! We got out asap and are being more aware and bold in our surroundings so it doesn't happen again. Also, after we talked to on old man one night about family history he gave us a hug... ah! So we have set a determination to be more bold and brave in defending our rules! We are also working on being more bold in making sure that people understand that this is the only true church on the earth. No ifs ands or buts about it. This is IT! Then only ONE! We did some good finding this week but I know that as we strive to be more exactly obedient we will see the blessings of heaven poured down upon us. We are struggling to get member present lessons, partly because we have been struggling to get investigators to take members too! So this week we had one planned but it fell through. Jerry called and cancelled on us right as we got to the members house. :-( He also said he wasn't going to come to church. YIKES! We have set a tentative date of March 23 with him (that will be solid soon) but if he didn't come to church on Sunday that was NOT going to happen. "Not no way, not no how!" Anyway, I talked to him for a while and explained to him that he needed to be at church on Sunday! He said he would come. So we go there... and we waited and waited and waited. No Jerry. Sacrament Meeting started... so we went in. We were devastated! But then, wonder of wonder, miracle or miracles... JERRY WALKED IN! He stayed for sacrament meeting and Sunday school. Then he had to leave. :-( But he absolutely loved both of them and is excited to apply some of what he learned in Gospel Principles to his home and family! Next week he is planning on staying for all 3 hours! Yay!! So that was a huge miracle for us! Also, next week we already have 4 member present lessons scheduled! yay! We are still working hard and doing everything we can to find people, progressing people, to teach and baptize. It's so crazy how fast missions are. Talking to everyone today... it's crazy cuz like all the people that were here when I came out are gone or going. :-( I'm becoming an old missionary! Yikes! It's sad. You make such wonderful friends on missions. I'm gonna miss them all like crazy! Thankfully, a lot of them go to BYU so I'll see them sometimes! If I go back to BYU...maybe I'll transfer to UW! HA!! JUST KIDDING! Sorry dad, that would NEVER happen. ;-P

Landon, I'm glad you got to go to Niagra Falls! That's super fun! I bet it was a blast! My transfers are on the 21. But I think you have my office address. Either PO BOX 939 or 19 Clairedan Dr both in Powell, OH 43065. So you can just send stuff there and I'll get it. Don't worry about sending it to my apartment. Thankfully my mission is really good about forwarding mail. :-) Love them for that!

OH! I don't think I ever told you guys! Remember Kieran, he came to my farewell and left his shoes? Well... He is now Elder McGrath serving in the Denver South mission! So that's exciting! Yay for missionaries!

Natalie, good luck with wedding planning this week! How fun! I want to know all your plans and details! Flowers? colors? Dress (picture!) Cake? Center pieces? Location of reception? Decorations? When are you going through the temple? Also, when does track start? How is school going for Jon? Lucky you're on spring break! That's exciting! When is graduation?

Rachel, I still need a picture of your dress pretty girl! Congrats on getting into NHS! That's super awesome! You have some fun trips coming up! I'm glad you got a bit of a break for morning stuff. I guess I should stop complaining about waking up at 6:30 every day! haha. You're amazing chica! Keep being awesome!

Meg and Justin! Hi! Hope all is going well for you and your cute dogs! You guys are super great! I hope to hear from you soon! I'm still waiting for my letter Justin!

Mom and Dad. You guys are the best. For real. People tell me about their parents and I'm just like... man, mine are the best. No one else compares to you guys. Us 5 kids super lucked out! Thanks for all you do for us!

Oh! Something else cool... On Saturday we had dinner with the Mickelsens. Brother Mickelsen served his mission in Uruguay. At the same time as Shane Neiderer! So we're sitting down and I tell them I'm from Wyoming and he asks if I know the Neiderer's. OF COURSE! So ya, they were good friends and apparently Brother Mickelsen set up Shane and Sarah! Haha. It's a small world after all!

Another fun story! Sorry this email is super random! On Wednesday it snowed like a ton! So we weren't allowed to use our cars because there was a winter storm warning. So we walked and walked and walked. 9 miles in the snow. FUN! IT wasn't too cold but it was a lot of snow. And Ohio doesn't believe in sidewalks! So it was a lot of on the side of the road! And... I lost my name tag in the snow. It's the 3rd one I've lost in like no time at all. I lost my pin one a while ago and my new one... I actually would have got on Wednesday morning but zone meeting got cancelled because we couldn't use our cars. So I only had my magnet one and it falls off my coat sometimes. Well it did. Into the snow. And I couldn't find it. we looked for like 20 minutes and the space where it had to e was only like 10 feet long. Stupid. So I had to call Sister Wursten and tell her that I lost another tag...she just laughed and laughed! So maybe someday I'll have 2 tags again. We'll see. Sigh. Anyway... 9 miles in the snow! It was awesome! Sister Bergeson wasn't a huge fan... but I thoroughly enjoyed myself! We built a mini snowman and threw snow at eachother and took some fun pictures! So I attached some for you guys :-)

Well, I'm gonna jet. Love you guys! Thanks for all your amazingness! For real! I"m a super lucky hermana! Tata for now!

Annie

3/4/13

Annie’s Letter

Hello wonderful family of mine! So we did get to go to the Temple on Thursday and it was amazing. So story on the shooting. We were at President Wallis' house (he is in the temple presidency) when he got the phone call so he told us. There were some people fighting and they pulled into the parking lot. The temple parking lot shares a parking lot with a ward building. And the shooting commenced. They weren't members, had nothing to do with the church. It was a coincidence that they were at the temple. It was at about the time a new shift of ordinance workers was going in, so lots of witnesses and statements. The temple was closed for the rest of the night. However, at that time, there was a sealing going on ! What a cool wedding story! haha. But it was up and running again by Wednesday and wasn't even a thought on Thursday when we went. I am so grateful that we were able to go to the Temple. It is always such a wonderful experience and I just love it there! I wish sometimes that I could just stay in the Celestial Room forever! It is so beautiful and peaceful. I am amazed at the sacrifices that members of the church put forth to go to the temple. I think of the thousands of members who save for their whole lives to be able to take one trip to the temple so their family can be sealed for time and all eternity. They walk and ride and sacrifice everything they have. Sometimes people are sacrificing greatly to go to the temple and we don't even know it! Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice. It really does bring forth the blessings of Heaven. I am so grateful that I have so many temples so close to me. How lucky! I hope I always remember how lucky I am and take full advantage of the temple and attend it often. Please go to the temple soon! All of you! To do a session or baptisms....JUST GET THERE! Keep your focus always on the temple. In our training this week we were learning a lot about family history and how to use it in missionary work. It was awesome to be able to study that and then to be able to go to the temple! To make it even more special, a member of the ward gave us family names that we were able to do. It was just the perfect week to go to the temple! yay! We were also able to go the the family history center and learn some of what goes on there. It was so cool. I can't believe how far back our genealogy is done! Kudos to all the people who have been on that! The family history center...leader guy was super impressed by how far back it was done. Ya for awesome family. Tell grandpa and Aunt DeAnn good job and thank you! And anyone else who has been working on it. :-)

Things here are going well. Slow, but well. We are still tracting... A LOT! We found a woman this week, Jean. We had an incredible lesson on the plan of salvation and the spirit was really strong. We arranged to come back. We did and had another good lesson. She was all set to come to church on Sunday, we were going to bring breakfast and it was going to be wonderful. But then she called us on Saturday night and said "I changed my mind. I'm not going to give any excuses, I just don't want to go." [Heart Break!] It was really sad. But hopefully when we see her this week we will be able to address her concerns and help her see that church will really help her feel the comfort and peace that she is lacking in her life. One day while we were tracting we knocked on this door and a man opened it and I just had nothing to say. No words in my mouth. The spirit was SO not with this man or in his home, it was just weird. It was like my heart was in a vice. I am so grateful for the spirit! I just don't know what I would do without that constant companionship in my life! I love it so much! I'm so grateful for it!

So this ward is super awesome. Very missionary minded. We have taken 4 laurels out tracting with us! It has been a lot of fun to go with them! They have really enjoyed their experiences. They have all got a pretty good idea of tracting. Nice people and not nice people. It has been awesome. And the sisters in the ward are organizing a splits calendar! They want to come out with us...to do whatever! Lessons, tracting, visiting less active members... whatever it is, they just want to do missionary work! And we aren't even having to beg or plead! They are just super awesome and want to help! A very missionary minded ward. I am so grateful to be serving here! It's been wonderful. It's a struggle. Every day Satan is working hard against us. But there is such potential in this area! I know that as we keep working hard and being diligent and relying on the Savior we will see miracles happening in this area! I know it! As we continue to sacrifice our time and our energy and keep tracting.... the blessings of Heaven will be poured upon us!

Sorry this letter is a little disjointed. I guess I'm just a little scatterbrained haha. But know that things are well here. We are in good faith and good spirits. We are enjoying the journey and working hard to fulfill our missionary purpose! To help our brothers and sisters come unto Christ that they may have the blessings of eternity! I love my calling. I love my companion. I love my ward. I love my purpose. I love my family.

By way of announcement... this is a 5 week transfer. So transfers are on... the 21. Which is like 2 days before Sister Bergeson's birthday so better not get transferred! I don't think we will because she is in training and we have only been here for 5 weeks So we should be safe...but who knows. I gave up trying to guess transfers a LONG time ago! Anyway... why, you might ask, is it a 5 week transfer? The answer, my dear family is: because the MTC time is shortened. This next transfer of new missionaries will be the first group that we get that is in the MTC for 2 weeks instead of 3. So our transfers didn't line up with the new missionaries coming in so we had to adjust. Which also means that (providing I stay in the Columbus mission) my mission just got shortened by a week. :-( Lame. anyway, thanks for your emails! It's so fun to get them! And Lando, I got your letter and sent you one back! :-) I love you guys lots! Keep smiling! Be happy! Look for opportunities to invite people to come to activities or church of family home evening or whatever. And always be aware of opportunities to share the gospel. Love you guys!

Tata!

Annie

PS nat, don't worry about doing bad on a test. Everyone has one. Just keep on truckin along! and Landon, how do you keep track of how many people you talk to?

Landon’s Letter

Hello my family,

Today we got to go to Niagara Falls. It was kinda cold because of the mist. It was almost raining it was so thick but we did get to see Rainbow bridge, the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, and also the UNITED STATES. haha. It was great. I couldn't believe that that was us those years ago. It was great but I wish that all of you were here. The members that took us were Bob and Karen Ayers. I am grateful for them and I will have to write them a thank you card. It was great!

This week we are focusing on Finding. We didn't have a very fruitfull week in our key indicators but we did work hard. We are trying out a new way to focus on finding. We have divided up our area into reasonable walking areas that we can walk around for a couple of hours. Then as we plan for an area we run through these points.

1. Are there any Recent Converts in the area and can we schedule an appointment with them.

2. Are we having a Baptismal service this week or coming up? Who will we invite?

3. What Part Member families are in the area that we can drop by or schedule an appointment?

4. What members, active or less-active, can we drop by or schedule an appointment?

5. What former investigators are in the area?

6. Do we have any referrals from our investigators in this area?

7. Are there any Media Referrals? How can we influence the Media Referrals?

8. As we walk around from place to place we are looking for any kind of service.

9. Tracting, Pre-noticed tracting

10. Talking with Everyone

11. ESL / Stop Smoking Workshop

It has been fun and a bit challenging. I hope that it's not too much and it is to help us focus on finding.

Nick was confirmed this week which was exciting. It was so great to see that happen!

Sorry there isn't much this week. We just are trying to build back up. It seems like every end of the transfer the areas I have been in have died off. I don't know if that's my effort which might be or I don't know what. It is something that I need to focus on getting all the way through the transfer. Any suggestions? So we are building up....again. :( So we are back to finding.

Sorry I don't have much to say this week but a picture is worth a 1000 words ;)

Rachel- I hope that things go well for you. Pretty soon there will the the Lagoon trip. Is that going to happen this year? Do you have any festivals? What is going on in your work life? I love you!

Natalie- Don't worry I got under 50% on a test in Physics last year. Granite I was late and that scattered my brain but still don't worry congradulations no more pressure of being perfect ;) You are doing great.

Annie- I was so excited to read 2 of your letters! You are a great example to follow! I hope that you do stay with your new trainee. We just had a 5 week transfer as well. Fun huh? All of the sister in my mission are training or being trained.

Megan & Justin- I am glad that things are going great for you two. Are you planning on going camping in a couple of months in the spring or are you going to wait until summer to go? Are you ready for summer? I am it's not much to tract in the cold.

Mom- Sounds like a fun week. Paws week. I remember that week. Sorry it wasn't my favorite but I hope all goes well. How are things going around the house? Do you have any summer plans yet for any of the houses?

Dad- You are right those memories are worth more then all the money that could ever accumulate in the world. That was a fun time! I was glad to go again and see where we stood.

I love you all!

Love your favortive Brother, Elder, and Son,

Landon Webb

Do some of the pictures look familiar?

2/25/13

Landon’s Letter

Hey everyone :)

This week as you could see was transfers and we are staying here again! I was so excited but I hate when they don't call because then we are pacing back and forth till 10:30 waiting for a call. I wish they would have just called us telling us we were staying. We got a text this morning. We have to pick up a compaionship at 6 a.m. to drive them to Brampton tomorrow morning by 7:00 a.m. So that means that we have to wake up at 4:45. so 2:45 your time. Then after that it's right off to work. We are going to be so tired hahaha. I hope when we talk with people we aren't zombies. That is actually what Hamilton is famous for. People call it the Zombie Apocolypse here. haha. I haven't actually gotten to witness the famous Jackson Square myself but I want to. I think that would be a great story. They are all children of God to. But sadly you won't find anyother place like Hamilton.

This week was really exciting. It went by really slowly from Tuesday to Sunday because we were so excited for Nick's baptism. Which he was! It was such a great service. The spirit was really strong there. The transformation that we have seen in him just over a month was amazing. We met him on January 23 in a resturant that a member invited us to. Then from there on he took off. He already had a strong testimony on the power of prayer. 15 years ago he was having an alcohol problem. He wanted it gone so he prayed to have that compolsion taken away and it was. He has been wanting to be baptized for 10 years but couldn't find the right church or even feel like he could because of his addictions. After he quite his addictions he was such a different person. He was smiling more. You could see the Light of Christ in him glowing. He was also happier. He absolutely loves the change. I got to talk about baptism so I have to send off 2 talks now. It was a really good experience. It just showed me how if we put our trust and exercise our faith in Jesus Christ he will truely help us to overcome our trials.

3 Scriptures. I love trying to be like Nephi and Liken the scriptures.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Alma 7:11-13 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according the flesh how to succor his people. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he may take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverence; and know behold, this is the testimony which is in me."

Our Heavenlly Father loves us all so much that he sent Jesus Christ into the world to redeem us so that we can return and live with Him once more. He knows how to help us he knows "how to succor his people." He can lead us and guide us in the very way we most need it in any aspect of our lives. But there is some things we have to do first. There are things in our lives that feel like they way us down, like things don't make sense, or that things just don't seem fair. But there is a great promise to all that we go through.

Ether 12:27 "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then I will make weak things become strong unto them."

We are given things to help us come closer and become more like Jesus Christ. When we submit ourselves to the Fathers will and exercise faith in Jesus Christ we can become strong. Through Jesus Christ all things are possible. There is nothing we can't overcome. That doesn't mean that we will get things to work out but it means that things will work out to better us to become who we need to become. There is a lesson to be learned from everything we go through to better ourselves. This last month in the Ensign there was an article on grief. The lady who was going through grief learned more about love, compassion, and also long suffering. That is the Character of Christ. That is who we need to strive to become more like everyday in our lives.

I will leave you with one more scripture that John Bytheway gave in a talk.

1 Nephi 11:17 "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."

Our Father in Heaven loves us. He truely does. He loves all his children. What a great thing to know. I cannot imagine not having this gospel in my life.

Rachel- I am glad you had fun at the vocal point concert. I wish I could have seen it. That would have been cool. I can't believe you went through the line twice. No excusses we know why. ;)

Natalie- I am excited that you have spring break really soon. It is a nice break to have. I think it is just a way to break up the year from Christmas to the end of the school year. Have fun.

Annie- I am excited to hear how you are enjoying your new area. I will have to read about it next week. Keep up the hard work and being such a great example. I love you!

Megan and Justin- Sounds like things are going good for you guys. I hope things continue to go good as well. I really appreciate all that you do. I really do. Thanks!

Mom- It was nice to talk to you for even just a few seconds. I was really excited to do that today! I was looking forward to see if I could all morning. Thanks for all you do!

Dad- Thanks for all you do. I did activate my card. I will be going to try that out sometime today. Thanks for all that you do as well. I really appreciate all that you have done for me.

I love you all and thanks for everything!

Love your favorite Elder, Brother, and Son,

Landon Webb

Annie’s Letter

So you're probably wondering why I am emailing so late today. Well... today isn't actually our pday. We are still emailing and stuff today because we won't have time on our pday...Thursday. We are going to the temple! I am SO excited! Partly because we get to go to the temple and that's always amazing! And also because we are going to the temple on February 28! Why is this date so significant you might ask? BECAUSE THAT'S THE DAY I WENT THROUGH THE TEMPLE FOR THE FIRST TIME! So that's pretty awesome. I think I'll have to make this a yearly tradition! I am super excited! So vocal point... I'm jealous. I LOVE vocal point. Austin Ellington gave us a vocal point hymn cd so I listen to that a lot. I don't know if you guys knew but I went to a concert a couple years ago. and it was amazing! At that point, there was a guy in it who was from Cody, Wyoming. And another guy who was Sean Pickup's roommate. So that was pretty cool. That's awesome that Bryce is in vocal point! I totally remember him! Although, he may not remember me lol. He was getting ready to go on his mission when I knew him. I'm glad you all enjoyed the concert so much. So many wonderful things come from BYU. :-) In other news... I am loving Cincinnati. It's great! I will be excited for it to warm up a little more... I'm sick of walking around in the cold all the time! But it's totally worth it so no worries. This week is going to be pretty cold. There was an ice storm last week and that was really interesting. It was different than anything I'd seen before. I have been super blessed and haven't been sick at all. People have been getting super sick all winter and they can't get over it. It's been no bueno. But I haven't come down with anything (knock on wood). On guard! It's amazing stuff. So my area includes a couple of little towns or townships or whatever they call them. There is Loveland (where we are a lot) and Sharonville! and Wyoming! So that's super exciting. But when I tell people that I'm from Wyoming I have to clarify that I am from the state of Wyoming. Haha. So that's been super fun. I'm glad everything is going well for you guys. Thanks so much for the emails! And the letters! It's been great! After a week of no mail.. we had a full mailbox! Sister Bergeson got a bunch of letters and I did too! Including one from mom! And then the next day I got one from dad! Yay for mail! Just for future reference... next transfer is on March 28. I think. There have been rumors that this is a 5 week transfer in which case transfers are on the 21 (or something like that) but I haven't heard that officially. So no idea really. I don't know why it would be a 5 week transfer... I'll try to find out this week. It shouldn't be hard since we talk to the zone leaders like every day. That's what happens when you share an area! lol.

Today I was reading a talk from General Conference and it made me think of the song in the subject line. "Because you live and breathe, because you make me believe in myself when nobody else can help...because you live, I live." I just think that describes the Atonement of the Savior so perfectly. Because He DOES live still we can also live. For eternity. I am so thankful for my Savior. This week I have been very grateful to be working along side Him. Sister Bergeson and I have been doing a lot of tracting and trying to figure out how to make it more productive. We are getting referrals from members fairly consistently, but we have a lot A LOT of finding time. It has been awesome to be able to coordinate our efforts with the Elders and see the miracles. We are lucky to be working with some awesome elders. Elder Smuin (from Vernal, UT) and Elder Whiting (from AZ). It is a lot of fun. We have been working hard and just trying to have faith and work as hard as we can and be exactly obedient so that miracles can be poured out. We are really working on not taking "no" as an answer when we knock on doors. Sometimes the answer is still no but we are really trying hard to get past people's concerns so that we can share the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We have an investigator, Jerry, and he is amazing. He just let us in immediately and we started talking to him. This week he came to church and loved it. His wife is a little more reluctant. She is a little wary of church it seems but she is open minded and so we are working with her as well. But we extended baptism to both of them. Ericka was a little more hesitant. The first time we asked Jerry said "I've already been baptized" so we talked about the priesthood and asked again. And he said yes! So we were super excited! We are hoping to get him on date this week. He loved church and the members. He is planning on taking his son to play basketball at the church on Thursday! And...so cool! We found out that one of the boys in the ward knows Jerry's son! He plays sports with him! So we were super excited about that! The Lord really does prepare people in advance to be able to accept the gospel in their lives!

Sister Bergeson is amazing. Her birthday is March 23! She is really a great missionary and really just incredible. I hope all the other 19 year old missionaries are as awesome as she is! I am sure they are. She works hard and is willing to do whatever it takes to get the work done. She is bold, which is good for me because that is something that I am working on. I am loving having her as a companion.

I was so excited about the announcement of the 58 new missions! Including the Cincinnati mission! That is HUGE! Everyone here is super excited. The work is progressing! The standard of truth has been erected! No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! It's true it's true! How lucky we are to be a part of this great and marvelous latter day work. SO LUCKY! So how it will work here, that July transfer people will get transferred into or our out Cincinnati and that will be the determining transfer of who is in the new mission. So I could be or I could not be. Chances are I won't stay in this area for longer than 2 transfers because there are so many new sisters coming in. 16 more in May! But that doesn't mean anything at this point...so yeah, we will just have to wait and see what happens. 3 missions in Ohio! The OCM, OCM, and OCM. The Ohio Columbus Mission, The Ohio Cincinnati Mission, and The Ohio Cleavland Mission. Haha.

Well, dearest familia... I love you guys. I still have a box I need to send home..it's on the back seat of the car. Maybe someday I'll have time to send it. We'll see. It's nothing exciting, just clothes. Wanna know something super awesome!? I have 3 library cards from Ohio. I can go to a lot of libraries. haha. Those are fun to collect I've decided. Although, my library card from the Provo library is still my favorite. It is yellow and has a cute little green frog on it. I love it.

By the way, my bishop is Bishop Proudfoot. When I heard his name I asked if he was native American too. He's not. He's British. He has an awesome accent. He served a mission in England, his wife (also British) served in Haiti! Their kids have mostly grown up in the US, a little in England and they also lived in China for 4 years. But they are settled here now. They have a son on a mission in the Washington DC North (I think) Mandarin speaking mission. SO that's pretty awesome. They are great. The whole ward is just amazing. I love being here with them. It's super fantastic! K, I gotta peace out! Love you guys like frogs love files! :-) Tata for now!

Annie

2/19/13

Landon’s Letter

Hello my wonderful family,

So as you probably guessed, we didn't go to Niagara Falls. It was raining so we didn't go. Then we rescheduled for today. It's raining again. So I guess that it must not be time for me to go to Niagara Falls yet. :( We will see what happens after transfers. We have transfers next week so we will see what will happen.

This week we set out to talk with alot of people. usually we talk with about 110 people per week. Well in 4 days we talked with 160 people. I have never talked with so many people in such short time before in my life. So we are pretty excited. We were able to find alot of potential investigators but we were able to schedule at least 5 return appointments with potential investigators. Out of this whole time we found a new investigator. That is pretty exciting for us. We have been very well blessed this week. With this being our last week things we hope will be a good transition for the next transfer what ever happens. We have done just about everything I can think of. We have had to result to tracting. We went through former investigators, plotted them out, and stopped by each of them. We also did that with potential investigators and have been trying to go through those things. So now we really need to focus on asking for referrals from the ward. I love getting out and going to work but it's not too much fun tracting till 9:00 at night.

We are really excited for Nick Carson, our investigator, who is preparing to be baptized this week. He is right on track and is looking forward to his baptism. We are trying to be in communication throughout all of the days this week. He has had an amazing story. I will tell more about him next week.

Also we were able to bring an investigator and her 6 and 7 year old sons out to church this week not for church but for a meet and greet. It was good to have them there.

For this week we are hoping to have a good week. We are excited to see what will happen. Sorry I am short of words this day.

Rachel- I expect to see a picture of your prom dress and you before the end of the school year. I am glad that you were able to work with Megan at work just the 2 of you. That is awesome! Hope you have a great week.

Natalie & Jon- Jon I hope you had fun prom dress shopping. Now you get to see what I have lived with for the past 19 years. Natalie did I mention I got both of your letters. I am trying to write everyone a letter today. I have like 10 so I will try. :)

Annie- I knew you would be training. We have 33 new sister missionaries coming in and only 31 sister missionaries. That is awesome. Have fun and continue to work hard!

Megan & Justin- I am glad things are going good for you guys. Did you go shopping with Rachel? Sorry running out of time.

Mom- I hope that I can catch you sometime. Next week I should be on MOnday around 10:30.

Dad- I still havent' heard about the card. I will get back to you as soon as I can even if it is a letter. I will let you know.

Sorry I love you all and I am running out of time. We are trying to just have 1 hour today because we have alot to do.

Love your favorite Elder, Son, and Brother,

Landon Webb

2/18/13

Annie’s Letter

"And from thence let my servants, Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Jun., and Oliver Cowdery,[and Annie] take their journey for Cincinnati;

So as you know I am in CINCINNATI! So now I have accomplished my goal of serving in Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

I'm excited to get your letters!

SO I am training again! And very excited about it! My new companion is Sister Bergeson from Boise Idaho and she is... 19 years old! How sweet is that!? She turns 20 on March 23. Man, I'm officially old. I'm in a different decade than my companion. haha. She is incredible. She is a very natural missionary. She is willing to work hard and just loves this work. I am very excited to get to work with and learn from her in the next months. Hopefully she'll learn something from me too. I'm glad you guys got that box and liked the pictures. I kind of miss them! haha. I'll just have to take lots more :-) Dad, sure you can send that movie to mormon.org. That would be fun. So Sister Bergeson and I were doubled into a new area! We are in Montgomery 2. There were already elders here (Elder Smuin and Elder Whiting) and they are the zone leaders. So now we have 2 sets of missionaries in this area! It presents an interesting challenge though. Typically when missionaries get doubled into an area they inherit the area book. But since the Elder's are still here... we didn't. So we got a map, a ward roster, and a blank area book and have been starting from scratch. The ward is super awesome though. This is the most missionary focused ward I have evern been in, on or off my mission. It's absolutely fantastic! We are working to get to know the ward and to find, teach and baptize! So we have had lots of time to find. My testimony has grown so much this week, I know that Heavenly Father really and truly blesses us as we are obedient to the things that He asks us to do. We prayed that we would be able to find a new investigator and that we would find someone that we would be able to take breakfast to. (Beacsue in this mission, we make breakfast for someone every Sunday to help them come to church). Saturday night rolled around, we tracted until 9:00 and the very last house that we knocked on was Jerry. He was very nice and we talked to him for just a couple of minutes and set up a time to come back next Friday. We asked if we could bring breakfast (and if he wanted to come to church, obviously) but his son had a basketball game on Sunday morning so he was not going to be able to go. So then we drove home. We had gotten 3 pretty solid potential investigators, return appointments with all of them for this week but no new investigators and no one to make breakfast for. So we were discussing what we were going to make for breakfast and who we were going to take it to because even though we didn't have any planned, WE WERE MAKING BREAKFAST! I do have a testimony of breakfast, I know it works. I know that sounds weird, but church attendance in this mission has just SKYROCKETED since we have started making breakfast every day. So we pulled into the apartment and got a phone call. It was Jerry. He didn't have a basketball game in the morning and so we were going back! Prayers answered! We had someone to make breakfast for! So Sunday morning we got up and made breakfast for Jerry! We had an awesome lesson. Unfortunately, he was not going to come to church that week but we were obedient and blessed. The Lord poured out miracles upon us! And we are so grateful! Last night we were texting another potential that we met on Saturday night, Kara. She feels like God is trying to tell her something. She told us that she wants to get closer to Him and wants to know how we are so close to Him. I was thinking about that during studies this morning. She is not the first person on my mission to comment on how close we are to God. It reminds me of James E. Faust's talk in October 2005 General Conference (which may be the best conference EVER!) about the Jerusalem Center and the "light" in the student's eyes. Sister Bergeson and I were talking about it and we determined that people can tell that about us because we have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. How lucky are we! I am so grateful for that wonderful gift and for the opportunity that we have to share it with others. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING! I think that may be the theme of my mission. I think that all the time! HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING! I love this work. I love my calling. I love my Father in Heaven and my brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have a testimony of the gospel. I know it is true. With every fiber of my being I KNOW it!

So a little about the ward. It is big and active! Which is awesome! They just got a new ward mission leader 2 weeks ago and they are just on fire! The ward missionaries are super on it! The Bishop, Biship Proudfoot, is from LONDON!, ENGLAND! SO he and his wife have awesome accents. Their kids have sadly lost theirs. This ward is very diverse. You have a lot of ethnicities and the economic situations are really diverse. You have the wealthiest of the wealthy and then not so wealthy people. All walks of life. It's really neat. The ward mission plan is exciting and is all based on inviting. Go buy Clayton Christensen's book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" it's seriously amazing. I haven't read it, obviously, but the things I do know about it are just stellar. I want to read it when I get home. The part that I love, and really the only part that I know says:

Most of us fear failure. Once we have realized that we succeed as member missionaries when we invite people to learn and accept the truth, much of the fear that kept us from sharing the gospel vanishes. We gtive them the opportunity to exercise their free agency. Some will use that agency to accept the gospel and others will not, and that's fine. We succeed when we invite."

WE SUCCEED WHEN WE INVITE!

That is what missionary work is all about. Inviting people to come closer to Christ. So a challenge for all of you. Invite a nonmember, recent convert, or less active member to an activity, to church, or to the house for a family home evening or whatever. INVITE! DO IT! That is what the Lord expects us to do. Give people opportunities.

I love you guys and I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the good work! Thanks for all you do for me and Landon. We really appreciate your love and support. it means a lot. I am grateful to have such a wonderful family. Love you guys!!

Annie

2-13-13

Annie’s Letter

Hello wonderful family of mine! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes! And presents! Thanks SO much for the camera! I am sending the other one back, maybe Spencer can fix it. :-) Meg and Justin thanks so much for the awesome package! I love it! The boots are so awesome! And SO comfy! And SO cute! :-) I just love you guys. Seriously, best family ever. So let me tell you about my amazing 22nd birthday.

Monday wasn't pday because TRANSFERS ARE TOMORROW! So we have pday today so that we can pack and say goodbye to people if we want without wasting time. We did have lunch at the Whipples. Sister Whipple invited Sisters Skaggs, Ellington, Rutter, Hansen, and Thomas and we had a birthday party! Yummy pizza and texas fudge cake... Even 22 candles! I wished that we would find a new investigator and I blew out all my candles! And guess what...?! We totally found a new investigator. Reva's little sister Maddi! :-) yay! It was just an awesome day. And we don't have dinner at members houses on Monday's anymore. So that night for dinner we had... beans! I had to make them from memory so they weren't quite as good as dad's but still pretty good :-) and the next day they were even better. So that was fun. Then yesterday we had dinner at the Madsen's and they had cupcakes and I got to blow out more candles. It was just a fun fun birthday. :-) Sister Twitchell and I will definitely go out to lunch today! It's possibly our last chance! We haven't got transfer calls yet... but we'll keep you posted :-)

2 Nephi 10:23. WHAT A WONDERFUL SCRIPTURE! What a wonderful gift to be able to choose to be happy, to have eternal life. Agency is such an incredible blessing! It has been amazing this week to see people and how they are choosing to be happy. Mom, you're such an incredible example of this. you always taught us that people can't "make" us anything. They can't make us happy or sad or mad. Those are our choices. When I was younger I had a really hard time understanding that. It would "make" me so mad when you would tell me "you're choosing to be upset right now." Of course, that would only make me more mad. However, the older I got I realized the wisdom of your counsel and how true it was. It's not always easy, and I am certainly not perfect at it, but definitely something I have been working on for years! On Sunday Josh was planning on coming to church. We took him breakfast and he was having a crappy day. He hadn't been working as much as he needed and so his rent was past due. He had been given a 3 day eviction notice and although he had been trying to get the money, even tried selling his truck, he was unable to cut it. Last week we had an amazing lesson with him and ended up talking about Priesthood blessings. He was interested in having one, so the member that was with us called her husband and another brother in the ward and they came right over and gave Josh a blessing. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong. Part of the blessing said that as he improves his spiritual well being his temporal well being will also improve. How amazing! So Sunday we went back to his house after we delivered breakfast and went to knock on the door so they could follow us to church, but they were already in the truck! So we went to church, and he was just feeling really upset. A "terrible day." :-( 3 hours later he was just happy. Smiling, playing with his daughter...it was amazing. And guess what? He was able to pay his rent and they are still in their apartment. Heavenly Father really does take care of us. It was amazing. He loved church. Absolutely loved it. But of course he did. When the spirit is so strong and you are so enveloped by love by so many complete strangers...you can't help but love it. He wanted to find a church where people didn't stare or judge him for his tattoos or his daughter (single dad). And no one did. People came up to him and introduced themselves to him and just brought him right into their embrace. It was amazing. I love this ward. It is seriously so amazing. Wonderful examples here.

Now, Reva. Reva is just amazing. She has been such a great missionary to her little sister. We are actually teaching Maddi now! The young women's organization has just completely banded around these 2 girls. They absolutely love them. And vice versa. It's just amazing. Reva was on date to be baptized on March 9. But now she's not. No worries though... FEBRUARY 23!! She is just so ready to be baptized! It's wonderful! And it's going to be great for Maddi to see Reva be baptized! Reva is another wonderful example of choosing to be happy. She decided to turn her life to God, she met us and she just feels so happy now! She is so sweet and the happiness and love that just emanates from her is amazing. She has really risen above a rough situation. We finally met her mother too. She is sweet and totally supportive of Reva. And I think that after Reva and Maddi are baptized, Amy will follow. It's going to take time. Maddi isn't going to be as fast as Reva, and their mom might not either, but before long this family will be united in faith and... man, miracles. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Seriously, who wouldn't love this work!? I just don't understand. Every day we have the amazing privilege of inviting others to come unto Christ. I can't think of a better way to choose to be happy than by dedicating your life to the Savior and helping others come closer to Him!

Rachel have fun prom dress shopping! I definitely want pictures! What is your theme for prom? I hope school keeps going well! Sorry your pops concert wasn't all that fun. What a bummer! Also, I LOVE "
To Kill a Mockingbird!" Such a good book! Good luck on your speech!

Natalie- thanks for the card! And yes, I got the package! I'm excited to eat it tomorrow! :-) Keep up the good work chica! Jon, make sure Rachel gets a pretty dress ;-) are you excited for track to start up!?

Landon- you are such an awesome example! We didn't get any of the snow. There is absolutely zero snow here right now. It's practically balmy. 41 degrees is the high today. Yesterday I didn't even wear a jacket! haha. Keep up the good work, bro! I hope you had fun at Niagara Falls!

Meg and Justin- hate to break it to you meg... you're 24... Not quite 22. old lady! ;-) but it's okay because Justin is even older! :-P

Mom- thanks for all you do for me! I just love you! You're the greatest mom ever! I am so lucky to have you to be my mommy!

Dad- you're the greatest daddy a girl could ask for! Thanks for all you do! Sister Twitchell says thanks for lunch! She is excited to meet all of my amazing family! :-)

Also, I'm sending a box home today. It will have in it: a memory card full of pictures and videos. Dad, there is a video for you that I made for father's day but couldn't get any of these stupid library computers to send it. So happy father's day late. Also, I hope you enjoy the songs that Sister Twitchell and I wrote. We have had lots of fun with this. There is also a blanket that a very sweet old woman, Victoria Kirkland, made for me when I was in Springfield. She is amazing. She is from Austria and Germany... (WW II) and then went to Texas and then to Ohio. Her accent is the coolest. :-) There is also a Lion King piano book and "The Complete Chronicles of Narnia." I found these at the dumpster and thought it was appalling, abhorrent even, that someone would just throw then away! So I saved them. But can't have them here. Haha. Oh, and a beautiful picture! The financial secretary, Sister Wursten, bought these for all the Sister Missionaries. There is an Elder's version too called "Called to serve" I think. But you have to go directly through the artist to get them! Deseret Book discontinued them. Sad. Anyway, it was so sweet of her! It is an amazing picture! I love it and I don't want to lose/ruin it! So keep it somewhere safe please! :-)

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do for me and Landon! We really appreciate it! You're just the best family EVER!!! I love you all!

Tata!

Annie

PS cool story with Reva! After our lesson on Monday she was talking to Maddi and she was upset. Reva said "okay, I'm going to open the Book of Mormon to a random page and point to a scripture." So she did...and it related perfectly to what Maddi needed! It was just amazing. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and wonderful and just great! I love it! Keep reading it! Every day!

also... the subject line was a joke from the MTC. One of the men in my branch presidency was talking about being accountable but it definitely sounded like a cannibal. And then a man in a general conference session from the past said "heed the prophet every day" but because of his accent it sounded like eat. haha :-)

and tell grandpa thanks for the valentine's card! :-)

2/11/13

Landon’s Letter

Hello my Family,

Happy Birthday Annie! You are 22? Really holy cow ;)

I hope that you have had a great week! I know we had a pretty good week. Things were pretty boring and then Friday hit. I don't know how bad it got Annie if it got her at all. But I know that we got between 15-17 inches of snow. Let me tell you it dumped and hit us hard. There are mountains of snow on the sides of the street. You almost have to just slowly creap out because you can't see over the banks. They are about 5 feet high in places. They are about 3 feet in most places. Crazy huh? We helped 3 people shovel out their driveways and on top of that our own parking spot. Then we also helped 2 cars get unstuck and we have been stuck 3 times but we got unstuck each time. Our car is an all wheel drive car. That's because they don't plow the inner street roads. We got baned from driving past 7 on Friday. So we had to cancel an appointment with a Less-Active family. It was very exciting! I am glad that I was here to experience it. They say there has not been a storm like that for some while. It was great!

That was pretty well the buzz of the week. Nick is doing great! He is still on track for the 24th and is excited for it. We were low on lessons this week. For the past 2 weeks we have taught 33 lessons. We tried for 14 lessons per week. This week we only had 9 lessons. On the bright side we talked with 120 people. 20 of them came from Monday and Tuesday leaving 100 for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So we were pretty happy with that. We are improving.

Not much else happened this week here. Like I said the snow was the most exciting news we had this week. We are going to Niagara Falls today! We are very excited. I haven't gotten the letter from Dad yet but I hope that I do today. I think it will but the postal service here isn't that good so we tried.

Yesterday at church was so great! I heard 2 talks that blew away my mind. The first was from a sister in the ward who talked about faith, asking ourselves questions and questioning, and also doubts. It was really great the way she explained how that we should always be asking questions about the gospel but it is when we question whether or not it is true is when we are in trouble. It was good. Then a brother from the ward got up to speak. I thought there was no way he could live up to something after that. Holy Cow he did! It was awesome! He gave the example of the Greek and the Persian war. Also about how the man ran 26 some odd miles to tell Greece they won the battle. Basically how the marathon came to be. But he made an interesting point. When the man ran back to tell everyone, he didn't have to but he did because he probably didn't want to miss out on the reward even though he died. He also made the point, and this is where I find it the most interesting, the war had already been won. He didn't need to run and tell these people because they would have heard eventually. The war for us has already been won. Christ suffered and atoned for our sins. The war has been won. We just have to finish the race. I thought is was a good example of how we must endure to the end.

Rachel- I hope things cool off for you soon. Have fun buying a prom dress. It will be fun for you. When is prom? I hope your homework slows down. Are you going to do track this year?

Natalie- good luck on your chem test. You will do fine. Who is your teacher? It's not Nicole is it? I hope you have Rocky. Or is is someone else? Thanks for both of your letters. I got them both this week!

Annie- Happy Birthday. I am going to wait to send your birthday present until I can buy it from Niagara falls. Don't worry it will be a little more ;) I will also be writing a letter and sending it.

Megan & Justin- I am gald your dogs have fun in the fluffy snow. They would have loved it here. We were walking around and a dog was out. He cam and was playing around us. He loved the snow and was playing in it so I can only imagine your dogs!

Mom- Thanks for the portugese! That was awesome! I am gald you fed the missionaries! They need all the meals they can get. We had 5 meal appointments for this week and 3 of them canceled. Oh well. Glad things are going good.

Dad- That sounds awesome. We should totally do it! That is stinking way up there! Do we have to let it go at a certain time so it doesn't interfer with a plane? Do we have to get it okeyed by someone? I am giving a talk this week and I am totaly using a plane analagy. I will have to send a copy of the talk back so you can read it.

I love you all!

Love your favorite Brother, Son, and Elder!

Landon Webb

p.s.

Faith to Follow

By Lisa South

I dream of being a Moses,

An Ester,

A Nephi-

And despair that I

Don't have that

Greatness in me.

But then

I remember-

God doesn't require greatness,

He requires faith;

And some of us must have

The faith to follow.

2/4/13

Annie’s Letter

So funny joke...

This man was walking down the beach and just enjoying his nice stroll. He looked out into the ocean and saw this man splashing around. He noticed that the water was all bloody and the man was yelling "Help! Shark, Help!"

The mad laughed a little and said "That shark's not gonna help him!"

Bwahahaha!

So this week has been really great! We met Josh, and it was amazing! We were walking, even though it was cold. It would have been so easy to drive but we knew that we needed to walk. So as we're waling we ran into Kyle and chatted with him for a while which was great. And then we were waiting to cross a street. As we were waiting this man's truck ran out of gas. He got out and started pushing it, so we helped him! We got it to Marathon (a gas station) and then started talking to him. It was so cool. He actually asked us if we could come to his home and teach him! Freak ya we can! So the next day we went over with Sister Guinther and had an incredible lesson! He so wants to do what is right for himself and his little girl, Cheyenne (after Cheyenne, Wyoming!) He has a lot going on but it's gonna be alright!

We also met Ashely. We met her a couple weeks ago actually and had a return appointment but she was sick so it fell through. Well, this week our plans and our backup plans had fallen through. So we prayed and felt like we should go visit Ashley. So we knocked on the door and no one answered. So we knocked again and no one answered. So we went back to the car, and I couldn't unlock the door! So as I was struggling to open the car door...a different door opened. Ashley's. So we were able to talk to her and set up a return appointment for the next morning. So we came back and it was awesome! We had such a wonderful lesson. The spirit was so strong! We are so excited to go back this week and teach her more about the wonderful Plan of Salvation and how she can be with her sweet family for eternity. It's gonna be great. I love the spirit and how we really are led and guided by the Lord in this work. D&C 84:88.

Also, I got to teach Reva again this week (she is so awesome!) We were talking about the Gospel of Christ (faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end). Sister Dunlevy went with me (we were on splits) and it was amazing! The things sister dunlevy talked about were exactly what Reva needed to hear and something that I could never give to her! It was so awesome! Reva has been trying to get her little sister maddi involved in the lessons but maddi won't have it. But that night, Maddi asked if we could pray for some people and so Reva invited her to come join us for the prayer. Which she did. Then last night some of their family friends got in a bad accident and I think it really shook Maddi. Reva told us that she taught Maddi the plan of salvation and the word of wisdom! (We haven't even had the word of wisdom lesson with Reva yet but she is already living it! She is just that awesome!) It is so amazing to be able to be a tool in the Lord's hands. Every single member of the church, no matter their age, has the ability to touch someones life and bring them into the wonderful gospel of our Savior. How awesome is that!? Abraham Lincoln said "when I do good I feel good. When I don't do good, I don't feel good." Well...sharing the gospel is good! And I PROMISE that there is nothing that will make you feel better than sharing it. Even in the people you share with with don't accept the wonderful message of the gospel, that's okay because they have their agency. But as YOU share it you will be so much happier! That is a promise! I love this gospel. I love this work. I am so grateful to be serving! It's not always easy, but it is ALWAYS worth it!

So, ya. really great week :-) I'm glad sister skaggs sent you that picture. It was so fun. I love those kids. We have decided that after I get home I have to come back and watch the Avengers with the Skaggs'. Fine with me! haha. Seriously love them. Plus, they wanted shrimp. So last night... I had shrimp for dinner. Jealous? You should be! It was sooooooooooooo good! :-)

Also...10 months today! Where has the time even gone!? I just don't know! And I'll be 22 in a week! Yikes! I'm getting old! haha.

Well, I love you guys! Have a great week! Write me letters! :-) and Landon too!

Peace out! :-)

Annie

Landon’s Letter

Hey mi familia,
I hope you had a great week. I know we did. This week we started off by going to a FHE for the ward here. It was really fun. Following that we got to work. We kept track of how many poeple we talked with and it was 104 people. It really helped that we talked with a combined 68 people the last 3 days of the week. So we are working up. Of course I love to see the numbers as a goal. It was a really fun 3 days. We want to keep going but just as in anything I do there are ups and downs of motivation. It really comes down to hard work. If we are willing and if we are set on doing what we have set out to do. I hope that I can learn to master setting goals and making plans.
This week we were able to meet with Nick. We met him last week and scheduled an appointment to meet with him at the church on Wednesday. We say them pull up so we went out to meet him and the member and the first thing he says to us is, "I know I need to be baptized." I didn't know what to say after that. He still needs to do everything that any investigator needs. Develop more faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement and repentance before he can be baptized and the only way he can do this is by gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon, Word of wisdom, etc. But that is the whole part of our purpose. "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. We were also able to meet with other of our investigators this week. It is really cool how we get to see them gaining testimonies of things. For example last week at church one of our investigators mother came to church for the first time since I have been here. She is a member already but she just had a hard time getting up. She still came last week and she had a good time. You could just hear the tone in her voice. Well on Saturday night we called them just following up if they were going to come to church and she said they were. They Beat Us There to church and we arrived 15 minutes early. It was amazing to see. It grew my testimony that going to church really does make our week go by better so much.
During our finding on saturday night around 7:00. We were tracting..... ;p But it was actually really fun. We were just cruising, having fun, and just letting the work go. During that time we got invited inside a house and we were able to talk a little more to a woman. While standing in the door way we didn't see any other male so we were hurrying to get out the door. We were able to schedule a return appointment. That was then we saw her son come around the corner. Dang. But we are going back on Wednesday which I am excited for so we will see.
Rachel- how are things going for you? I hope that things in swing choir settle down. Why did he try to cancel it? It sounds like a very interesting week. How are you doing about it? I hope that things work out for the better.
Natalie- thanks for delivering my letter to Cameron. Thanks for the info on the Superbowl. I was cheering for the Ravens to win. They are a team that I like to watch. That is cool that guy is on that team! Hope you have a good week.
Annie- Keep up the awesome work. Do you have standards of excellence to strive to achieve every week? Are you doing a lot of tracting or more contacting? What are you doing to try and find new people. Keep up the hard work
Megan & Justin- Thanks for the hi Justin. I knew I would hear something from you ;) I am glad that you guys are enjoying your puppies. Well they are probably too grown to be called puppies anymore huh. Is Orion a little bigger then Levi. Who is taller? I still need to know what you want to get from Niagara Falls.
Mom- That is awesome that you took that spider. Which teachers did it scare? You will have to tell me how the rest of pig out week went. I remember I scared the bishops wife in Heber really bad with it. opps. Hope you have a great week!
Dad- I will let you know next week if I can call that phone number or not. I am excited to get those pictures I will try my best to find that location. We are going next week to Niagara Falls. Have a great week!
I hope you all have a great week. I love you all!
Love your favorite brother, Elder and son,
Landon Webb