7/3-4/12

Annie’s Letter

Talofa dearest family! I have been learning a lot of Samoan this week! So... o mai oi? How are you? Sorry this email is coming so late today. We had to go to Dayton today because... I had a doctor appointment. Then we went to the Smiths house to have lunch and play some fun games! Including the game with the golf balls and the pvc pipe that we learned in Amana Colonies. I don't remember what we called it but they call in Hillbilly golf. I won the first round and then me and Sister Smith won the second round (and I kept score in Samoan) and then we played another game called Corn Hole (basically a bean bag toss) and Sister Smith and I won the first round of that and then Sister Va'asili and Brother Smith won the second round-barely. It was good fun! I was going to attach pictures... but Sister Finefeuiaki dropped my camera hard core this week and so now it has issues, it still takes pictures just fine it just detects an error sometimes and turns off (E23 is the error code-i think) and so then I have to turn it back on. And apparently I can't get pictures onto the computer... dang! I'm irritated because it's a brand new camera and she basically threw it onto the ground! On accident of course but still... frustrating. So you will just have to wait until I fill up this card to get to see the pictures. Too bad for all of you. I hope you got the pictures I sent last week... will you let me know if you have them or not? Oh, and I'm sure you're wondering about why I went to the doctor. Well, let me tell you. A month ago my knee hurt REALLY bad for about a week. I couldn't bend it at all, which made praying very difficult. It hurt soso bad but I figured no big deal ignore it and it will go away. And it did. and then one day my ankle hurt really bad in church, I couldn't walk on it so I just stood there for a while and then it still hurt but not as bad. Well THEN my wrists started hurting. and my shoulder. and my fingers. and then my arm. and my calf. Basically everywhere. Not all at the same time but somewhere always hurts. and it's the same pain every where, but not the the extreme of my knee or the ankle. But it's like the bones hurt. I try to stretch to make it feel better but it doesn't do anything so I'm convinced that it's not the muscle. So I went to the doctor today and she couldn't see anything that was wrong so tomorrow I have to go and have blood drawn so they can run 10 blood tests. So hopefully I'll find out what's going on soon. With my luck... the tests will all come back negative (which would be good I guess) but then I wouldn't know what is wrong with me. All I know is... I hurt. So I'm kind of hoping one comes back positive because then at least I would know WHY I'm hurting and be able to take care of it. Es no bueno. Anyway... I'm glad to hear you all are busy. Rachel, I'm so glad that you got to go the the horse shoes! That sounds like a ton of fun! and the parade! Plus being with the Smith's on top of that... FUN STUFF! Megan and Justin, I'm glad you had so much fun in Yellowstone! I need to go again. I honestly don't even really remember it. I only remember Landon being in his harness leash and a really blue hot pot. That's it. I'll have to go back in... 15 months. Haha. Man! In 2 days I will have been out for 3 months! That's crazy! Time just files out here. It's Monday and then suddenly it's Friday and then Sunday and Monday again. and Landon you've almost been out for a month! How do you feel? How's Canada? How do you like your companion? I'm bummed that you don't get to write this week. I was excited to hear from you! Next week, next week. :-) Mom and Dad I'm very excited that you bought that house! Do you have prospective renters yet? I hope you get someone to fill it soon! Natalie I haven't heard much from or about you. How is your summer? How's work? How's Jon? Write me girl! right now! And I hope to be getting pictures from you guys soon! *hint* pictures are so great! And get on Travis. That punk hasn't written me! So the crazy weather. It's been crazy! Friday when the first storm hit we were at home. Yesterday we were actually at Bingham's house (members) and a big tree fell...right across their driveway so we were stuck their for a little bit until the storm subsided and we could get a chainsaw to move the tree. It was funny. But we are okay. We have been really lucky that our electricity has stayed on although a lot of people have been without it for several hours to several days. It's nuts. There are huge trees that are knocked over everywhere! I would send pictures...but again with the camera. Apparently 14 people have been killed in these 2 storms. No one that we know though. It's just been crazy, I haven't seen anything like it before! The wind yes but not with the rain and everything... it's crazy! There isn't anything too new to report with the investigators. They are still learning and progressing. Hopefully we will have another baptism to plan shortly. :-) Or 2. Stay tuned. Well, thanks for being the greatest family in the entire world. I love you all and I'm so proud of you, especially you, Landon. You're my favorite Elder! (and that's saying something because I know a lot of cool Elders! haha) speaking of cool elders, one of my MTC buddies who is currently in California send my and my companions shirts! They say "I'm a Mormon" on the front and "mormon.org" on the back! How cool is that!? Well, I've got to run. Love you all! I can't wait to get your next emails and hear all your adventures!

Love,

Annie

PS Megan... do your dogs like pancakes? I hope so

PSS Dad... I really miss your sourdoughs. :-( I would like to eat some.

O Te Alofa Eti Oi!

(I love you!)

...and I may have spelled that wrong. haha. BYE! :-)

 

Landon’s Letter

Hey fam!

It is so beautiful here in North Bay Canada. I can't believe that I am here, it is just so cool. We'll I got on the computer here this morning and I had 16 emails. Ya that took 30 minutes to read because the computers are also really slow. So it took 4 hours driving to get here from Brampton, which is where the mission house is. The first night we got to President Scott's house and we had a wonderful dinner and an awesome testimony meeting. It was so great! Then the next day we met our new companions and said goodbye to our friends. I hope that I see them all again. They are really awesome people. When we got back we went straight to contacting. It was pretty darn awesome but scary. Elder Sparks is a really awesome guy. He is a hard worker and has been working with the ward to get a 5-5-5 program going. He has put in alot of hard work with his last companion. He has only been out 3 months. How crazy is that! We have currently 1 investigator and we are meeting with 2 new people this week. (1 tonight and 1 tomorrow). The one that we are meeting with tonight was a referal that we got on Sunday and the other was a really funny story. We were street contacting Sunday (after we had dropped by the referal and had up a returning appointment). As we turned down a street we saw 2 guys sitting there drinking beer and smoking. We started talking to them and they kept saying that they were impressed that we were out trying to help the lives of other people. They really appreciated that. We'll the girlfriend of one came out and started talking to us about how she was going to baptize her baby when she had it. We scheduled an appointment to meet with her tomorrow so we will see. They are both good potential and it will be good. So North Bay is a small town with 54,000 people. Ya small ya right. But it is relatively small to the other cities out here. There is only 1 ward and from the looks of it there are about 250 memberships in the ward. About 30-40 are active. So ya that is one of the biggest things we are working with. Bringing back the less active people and building the strength of the ward. By this we are hoping that we show the ward that we are trying to help get their numbers back up and also that we will gain their trust for referrals of people to meet with. As President Hinckley said, tracting is not the best way to gain members. It is by the members of the ward and their referals that will be the best option. He said something like that. This time of year is very peculiar here. It is pretty much the only place that a certain event happens in a large portion. During this time of year they have what are called shadflies (i think that's spelt right) or mayflies I think we call them but they are bigger then the one's we have. They are 1 inch long with wings and there are so many of them that telephone polls look hairy. There are huge piles of dead bugs everywhere. I'm serious there was a pile about 10 feet in diameter and was 3 to 4 inches deep of dead. We'll I have 14 minutes left and I still have to email President Scott.

I love you all

Your favorite Elder, son

Landon Webb

PS. (to sisters) Ya Dad is still spoiling he out here, I got 2 rockets

6-18-2012

Elder Webb

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

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

Your favorite son, brother, and elder;

Landon Webb

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

Sister Webb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sister Annie Webb

6-11-12—LETTERS FROM BOTH MISSIONARIES!

ANNIE’S E-MAIL

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

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

Tata! Love you!

Annie

LANDON’S E-MAIL

Hey everyone,

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

Love your favorite Elder and Son,

Landon Webb

Elder Webb

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

06-04-2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annie

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

05-29-2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annie

5-21-12

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

Hello family!

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

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

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

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

I found a new friend!

ElDee and I! :-)

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

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

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

Annie

5-14-2012

So i don't really have too much to say today because we just talked. AND IT WAS WONDERFUL TO TALK TO ALL OF YOU! I was debating whether or not I should divulge my ukulele secret or just wait til I got home and surprised you all... but I love it so much I had to share it! Megan and Justin your puppy is so stinking cute! I can't wait to get to see him for real! He'll be so big by then! I love the picture of him hiding under the couch. It reminds me of Rachel falling asleep under the table cloth and we couldn't find her anywhere... haha. So to all of you... I love getting pictures on email but send me real pictures too so that I can look at them all week! Dad, I definitely want to learn those songs, especially Come Thou Fount" so if you could find some music with the chords and lyrics... that would be awesome. Even if it's just the words with the chords written above them. That's perfect. Although if piano music is also involved that's okay with me :-) I would love to have something I can play! Currently I raid old new eras and pull the music out of them. There are some awesome songs in there! So I won't send a ton of pictures but I wanted to send some...but apparently that is also something that doesn't work on my camera anymore... It was just a picture of me and ElDee and then one of me with the skeleton of a fish that I had eaten clean and one of me and a golden retriever. I walked into a memeber's house and there was a golden! I was so excited! Anyway... I'll send them after I get a camera (friendly reminder daddy :-) haha) I'm very excited because we have another appointment with Josh tonight. It's going to be awesome. We are teaching about the Plan of Salvation. Just the first half though becuase we are going to take it very slow to make sure he understands everything. This kid is so awesome. I just can't even tell you how awesome he is. So my heroes today are Ammon and his brothers. Read Alma 26:27-29. He is talking about their missions and how they went door to door and taught in the streets and were rejected... sound familiar? It does to me! But then he talks about how they were persecuted. spit on, smote, taken and bound, stoned. I am so lucky that I don't have any of that in my mission! They went through all that and kept the faith and always relied on our Heavenly Father. They are such wonderful examples of missonaries! Why? Because they totally gave themselves to the work. They really worked with their hearts, might, minds, and strength. They dealt with so much and kept going. It just reminded me that I have absolutely nothing to complain abuot. Not that I have anything to complain about anyway. I love being a missionary. I love being able to teach and invite others to come unto Christ. This is the greatest work ever! IT brings so much joy! Now read verse 30 in Alma 26. I would like to echo Ammon's words. "That perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." Not if we could save some, but if we could be the means of saving some." This work is not ours and we cannot do it by ourselves. It is the Lord's work that can only be accomplished if the Spirit is teaching through us. In chapter... 8 (?) of Preach my gospel (How to begin teaching) one of the points is that we are imperfect teachers, we are guides, helping people come unto Christ. How lucky that we have the Spirit, who is a perfect teacher, to help us! Well that's really all I have for today. I love you all! Keep smiling! I do! :-D Annie PS Tealofa ei te oi! PSS Fiafailemu! PSSS that means I love you! Take it easy!

SEVERE CHASTISEMENT!

As her sister… may I just say that we had no idea that her P day was a day earlier than the week before… that’s why there were no e-mails!

Dear Family,

I am SOO tempted to not write you toady. Wanna know why? I DIDN'T GET A SINGLE EMAIL FROM ANYONE THIS WEEK! Can I tell you how depressing it is to open my email (its a very exciting time when I get to read your letters) and there is NOTHING THERE?! Seriously I almost cried. I was expecting at least 4 emails just from Saturday telling me how awesome your day was and about a new puppy... It's a good think I got a card from mom this week. And a bunch of letters from friends otherwise it would have been really sad! :-( Okay, now that we have that out of the way...

How is everyone? I hope all is well. Landon, you got to go through the Temple on Saturday! I was thinking about you all day! I'm sure you had an amazing experience! I can't wait to hear about it! Megan and Justin you got a new puppy! I'm so excited for that! What did you decide to name him? Have you been getting any sleep? Send me pictures soon! On Saturday night we were going to sleep and I told my companions I had got a new nephew that day. THey were like... what? I said ya, my sister and brother in law got a new baby today! And they were super confused...until I told them it was a baby puppy! It was funny. I love my companions so much! They are awesome. Speaking of awesome... I was in church yesterday, leaving the chapel after Sacrament meeting and this lady comes up to me and says "I thought I would go to church with you today" it took me a second to realize who she was... ELDEE! That was super exciting! It was awesome to see her and chat with her. And I discovered that her grandson, Ben  was best friends with one Trey . So, Brother Elton if you are reading this, please pass the word along to Brother Sikehema that his good friend Ben is the grandson of my aunt :-) awesome huh?! Also, remember how I was telling you about Brother Lowell (the man from Green River) well he took piano lessons from Aunt DeAnn! and I learned that Buffalo Bill is a Lowell so next time I see him I will be asking if he is related to Buffalo Bill. If he is he'll know who I'm talking about! haha.

Yesterday while we were tracting we knocked this door and a man opened it wearing...nothing but his underwear. It was weird. So he stayed behind the door and we definitely focused on his face. We had a lovey conversation about keeping the commandments and doing what God wants us to do and believing in Christ, the Savior of the world. I felt strongly that we should sing him a song (with the ukelele!) so he went into his apartment and put on a sweater....but still no pants. and we sang him "choose the right" and then we left. It was an interesting experience to say the least. But we'll go back a little later to sing another song (that he requested) and hopefully teach him. Wouldn't he have the best conversion story ever!? ha! Something I have learned is that while we are tractng I have two options. I can get discouraged becasue there aren't a lot of people who want to learn OR I can stay happy and positive and remember that even if they don't accept the gospel now we are planting seeds and they will hopefully be open to the message of the the gospel in the future. Knowing me...which one do you think I choose? The happy one of course! So I have basically been skipping from door to door. I love being on a mission and having the opportunity to teach God's children! It really is awesome. Landon, I'm so excited for you to get out here in less than a month! It's going to be awesome for you! You will love it!

Something I have started doing in my study every day is pick a hero of the day. Someone from the Book of Mormon in the scriptures that I read that day that jumped out at me beacsue of their faith, diligence...whatever it was. I write it in my planner so I can look at it and think about it all day. I also have a special Book of Mormon just for my heros. I mark the passage and the date for everyday and write a list of my hero in the back. The hero of the day becomes my inspiration for the day and I try to remember them and live and do like they did all day. I have had some awesome heros! Nephi, Ahaz, Alma, another Nephi, Zoram (the servant of Laban), the other Nephi... It's super awesome! What are things that you do to help in your study and help you live the gospel? Think about it and if you're not doing anything specific, pick something and do it! Study with a purpose! You will learn so much more! There was something else I wanted to say here but I forget what it is... maybe it will come to me later. C'est la vie. So I will call home on Sunday. I'm not sure what time exactly it will be but I'm thinking around 6 my time... if everyone could be at home that would be great. That way I only have to call one and I can spend more time talking with all of you.

I love you all! Try to repent and improve in your letter writing... ;-) I'll talk to you on Sunday!

Annie

PS keep cold water bottles in your car all the time and when you see the missionaries out and about give them to them.

PSS NEVER go a a whole week without writing ever again. It's sad. I don't like it at all.

A nose in need deserves puffs plus indeed! 5 - 1- 12

Unfortunately, the MTC doesn't believe in that. Or they haven't seen the commercials. But let me tell you... I LOVE PUFFS! So I am getting over my cold...not completely there yet. My companions made me stay inside one day and sleep and although I didn't want to it was really good because I got a lot better that day. So hopefully I'll be completely over it soon. So the flights were unevenful. On the way to detroit I talked to this man who is like 72 years onld and rock climbs and is a scuba master and like a master roofer. He goes all over the world helping archeologists figure out how roofs of buildings went together. Like the parthanon. No big deal. And he spends a lot of time in Israel and Jordan and really knows a lot about the Bible...but he's Buddihst! So that was a way fun conversation. Also, when I get back I'm going to learn to how fly. So dad you can renew your pilots license and I'll get mine. Won't that be fun!? When we got the airport in Columbus President and Sister Nilsen were there waiting for us with the APs Elder Cannon and Elder Robbins (who is like 6'8") We went back to President's house and ate grilled hamburgers and homemade mac and cheese and strawberry shortcake... oh my gosh. After almost a month of MTC food this was heaven! Not that MTC food is bad, for how much they have to make it is actually really good! But this was just awesome! The hamburgers were really juicy so one of the elders, Elder Hein, was like squeezing it and was like... "It's bleeding..." it wasn't. it was just juicy. Plus juicy tomatoes. It was awesome lol. Okay, really quickly becasue computer time is almost over and then I'll write a letter with more. My trainers are Sister Va'asili (Va (like Vaughn) ah (like at the doctor) silly) and Sister Finefeuiaki (Fine (Like Tina) Fey We Aki (like in hockey) Sister Va'asili is from Samoa and Sister finefeuiaki is from california (but is Tongan) They are way awesome. and I love them a lot! I am learning so much here! I love the ward and the people! There is a man in the ward from Green River! and he is related to the walkers in lyman. so... a lot of people lol. The hardest thing for me is tracting. it is so hard when people say that they aren't interested in the gospel. How could they not be interested in something that brings them so much joy? It's just heart breaking. But The work is great and brings great joy as well! You know what else brings great joy...? LETTERS! (hint hint). So I'll write a letter today and tell you more! Bye!

Sister Annie Webb

Pictures: (sorry I couldn’t download them all for everyone to see)

 

My trainers!

5140- Beautiful flowers I got! Thanks! and Elder Herzog loved them too! (whenever I walked around campus with flowers everyone thought it was my birthday... it was awesome!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!