1/14/13

Annie’s Letter

Hello amazing family of mine! I hope you all had an incredible week! Our week was AMAZING! but also very very long. Tuesday we had a specialized training in Reynoldsberg. Wednesday Shelly (who is going to her mission in Sapporo, Japan in 2 weeks) went out with us all day! It was so fun! She came over for companion study in the morning and then went tracting with us and to all our appointments, and planned with us at 9... it was really awesome. I think we are going to try to do that again before she leaves. It was awesome!

A song popped into my head this morning. It is from "Guys and Dolls" but I thought it was totally appropriate for missionary work! "Follow the fold and stray no more!" That's what we are trying to help people do, come into the fold and move with us following the lead of our Great Shepherd! How much happiness and joy comes from following the fold! The True Shepherd! We were so blessed this week to find 3 new investigators! One is Ed. He is a referral from Mark and Olivia! Ed is amazing. He believes that we were sent to him from God to help him learn more and build his faith. Which is already incredibly strong! We were talking about what it would mean if the message that we have been sharing is true. We asked if he would be baptized. He said "Well, I don't know. That would be like you believing all your life that the world is round and then someone gives you indisputable evidence that it is flat. What would you do?" I said "I would stay away from the edge!" anyway, he said he would have to pray about it. Which is fine with me because if I know my Heavenly Father at all, Ed will know exactly what he needs to do. We also found Sarah and Dustin. Sarah actually did some work at BYU-I for her software development company. So she knows a little about the church. We tracted into them last week and she told us we could come back so we set an appointment. They have both been studying up on the religion on mormon.org! yay! When people tell me they have been looking stuff up I always get super nervous because there is SO MUCH ANTI CRAP! But when they are on mormon.org... LOVE IT! They weren't raised very religiously but they want to raise their kids right. So they want a church that has young people that they can relate to instead of just old people who are getting ready to die and are scared. And a church with a strong youth program. check. check. We are excited to keep things going with them.

we were sad this week because one of our investigators, Brooklyn, finally felt like she got her answer. And that it was no. It's so sad. she has a testimony of a lot of things in the church. But she just can't believe in prophets or that we lived with Heavenly Father before we came to earth. "You can't force spiritual things...." (PMG p 102) Brooklyn is trying to figure out what she believes though. She believes the Bible but doesn't really know why, so she is trying to study that and figure out just where she stands as far as religion goes. Someday she will be ready I am sure of it.

So Sunday morning is rough for me. It is SO STRESSFUL trying to get people to come to church! We had 2 breakfasts planned. Saturday night 2 of our investigators decided that they were not going to come because Olivia was sick. shocker. I think she has a chronic disease that only manifests itself on Saturday night. Actually, Mark and Olivia have really strong testimonies, but their motivation isn't very great. They are working on getting married, so that's good news! FINALLY! But they still struggle with coming to Church. So we have only one more lesson to teach them. Then we are handing them over to the members. I think they'll come a long but it is too easy for them to say no to us. Members, it's a little harder. I really thing that it will all come together eventually. Then Sarah and Dustin texted us. We were going to make breakfast for them but they decided that they weren't ready to attend yet, they want to learn more first. They will be there next Sunday. So then Sunday morning we took breakfast to Ed. But he was sick.I think that is Satan's favorite tactic. grrr! So we went to Jared and Marie's house. They had been invited by the Ellington's the day before but we thought we would stop by and invite them too. "They had a busy night and really needed to sleep." So we went to McKenzie's house. No answer. So we went to Tito's house. He was getting ready to go to church... a different one. :-( MAN! I was really sad. We had done everything we could do, we wanted people at church so badly! So we got to church. Sarah and Barb showed up! They almost weren't able to make it. Barb said "the devil tried to keep us away, but we weren't gonna let him!" What amazing people! No excuses, no justifications, they knew where they needed to be! Then Sister Nichol's showed up (a less active member) and MACEN! Macen is also less active. He went to the missionary activity on Saturday night with his friend, Dexter. While President was speaking, he was in the front row or really close to, but he was GLUED to President's face. Sunday Dexter was speaking in church so he invited Macen. Macen said that part of the reason he came to church was that Dexter was speaking. I don't know exactly what is going on in his head and heart. But Macen used to have such a strong testimony. And then he started feeling like he didn't need the church now. Someday, when he had a family he would but it wasn't important for his 16 year old self. But something changed at the missionary activity. I don't know what, but something. And it sparked something. I am excited to see the progress of this wonderful young man. The Lord does bless us as we exert all our efforts. It's not always in the way we want or expect but He does bless us. I am so thankful for that!

So the missionary activity. Sister Rappleye is the Stake Young Women's President so she asked us to present a class on preparing temporally for your mission. The assistants did preparing spiritually. It was an awesome activity. It was very well planned and had so many fun things going on! President Nilsen, a missionary game, the 3 classes, the Temple President speaking, dinner, and a dance. Fun fun fun.

So on the subject of Landon's Book of Mormon challenge: DO IT! The Book of Mormon holds so much power! It is amazing to get into the lives of these incredible people and see how the Lord's hand was so evident in their lives. That book really will bring you closer to God than any other book! It is amazing! As you read and study it, you will always learn new things! It NEVER GETS BORING OR OLD! Believe me, I have been reading it over and over again for 9 months. And it really does always have new things to learn. The stories are always exciting. The lessons always so prevalent. Please make studying the Book of Mormon a part of you daily lives. It is so important! Well, I've gotta run. I love you guys and I am so thankful for all that you do for me! nat, I did get the ensign and pictures. I love your ring! Good job Jon! And the picture of you sticking your tongue out. very funny. I love all of you. Thanks for your incredible examples and especially for your prayers. Also, come up with a family mission plan. Things that you can do this year. Write it down. and do it. It can be just little things, pass a long cards. Gospel discussions. Inviting friends to church or an activity. Get involved. It's the greatest work ever! Have fun!

Annie

Landon’s LetterI don't have to much to write about this week. Nothing new, nothing exciting, not a whole. I honestly don't know what to write about. We have just been trying to talk with people and trying to find people to teach. I have loved being here in Stoney Creek. There is so much work here to do. There is alot the Lord has trusted us here. I hope that we can start picking up everything soon. I know that we have been struggling finding, teaching, and helping investigators progress. There is somethings we need to work on I guess. Transfers are next Monday so wait until next week until you hear from me to send something.

Rachel: I am glad to hear that things have been going so good for you. Congrats on the grades. That is awesome.

Natalie: I am glad you are back at school and that you had a great adventure in Salt Lake.

Annie: Thanks for being a great example. It is so awesome we get to serve at the same time!

Megan & Justin: I hope things have been going great for you guys! Love you

Mom: I am so glad you are getting so much from studying D & C. It is a huge part of our church of where we came from.

Dad: I can't wait to get the next letter. I will tell you next week if I am still here.

The weather here has been really warm. 14 Celcius so about 55 degrees. This is Canada? I think Wyomings weather is worst then what is going on here.

Sorry again I don't have much time and I don't have much to say this week. I will be better next week.

Love,

Landon Webb