Letters 7-16-12

Landon’s Letter

Hey Family,

You would not believe this week. It has been such an awesome week! But first to you.

Rachel are you all horsed out? Hey don't worry it's not anyone elses fault that you can't go down, that is alot of time to spend down there and they just want you at home. Remember you are the only one left when Natalie leaves. Also I can understand about how church speakers can be boring. But that being said, Church is always a time to learn not something new. You have been in the church for 8 years and have continually learned since then about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Restoration, and etc. Church is a time to learn a new way to apply these things in your life. Go to church with a question. In fact go in to Preach My Gospel and read in there. There is tons to learn. Someone else just might answer that question.

Natalie, How come I didn't get a letter from you this week? I hope work is continueing to go good and I hope that you are getting more and more excited for school? Hopefully you will have fun while you are there. That is the biggest thing you will only get out what you put in. So if you stay in your own little world and don't expand to more than that you will not get anything more then just yourself.

Annie, How is my favorite sister........Missionary! ya my favorite Sister Missionary. I hope that things are going great for you. Congrats on the Baptismal date that is very exciting. Keep me updated on how you are doing with everything. Keep that light of Christ in your eyes!

Megan & Justin, I hope all is going well for you! Megan howly busy. Mom told me about your shirts that you are making. That is really awesome. You will be and are blessed for fulfilling your callings. You are doing what you have been asked and for that you will receive many wonderful blessings in your life. Maybe not now but you will. I can promise that. Keep up all the hard work. Oh hey I still want pictures. Annie and I can't stress this enough!

Mom & Dad, Thank you for the support. I am really grateful to have wonderful parents like you in my life. I hope that I can be just as good as you two. I have so much to thank you for. As I have been out here I can see just how much you care for me not by just helping me out but also showing me by example the right way to go. I wish every kid could have parents like you. When I read that you named the house the Sunshine House I laughed. It's not yellow is it? and you didn't paint it that color did you? Ha Ha i'm messing but still is it yellow?

I love my family you are all a blessing in my life!

So this week was crazy and I have 10 minutes to explain. First off we went to Sudbury for interviews with President Scott. He is such an inspired man. He is just so awesome. He actually came up to North Bay to give a talk. We didn't get to hear it :( but they said that it was really good! Remember what I told you last week about no investigators? We'll right now we have 3 and 1 got baptized. Ya the very next day, we met with him once and he was so ready to get baptized that we dunked him the next day. (he needed to be rebaptized because his baptismal date was missing from his records). So ya a baptism which always lifts our spirits. I have learned so much from this week. We started out with the same bad drought as the wek before. Our numbers were 0's for the first days. Then after we went to Sudbury we exploded, 1 baptism & confirmation, 1 other investigator with a date (8 year old boy), 3 new investigators (picked up another), 2 refferals, and a total of 16 lessons this week. Our goal as a mission is 20 per week. But still pretty good. We are excited!

We have 3 or 4 families that have children 8 years of age that need to be baptized and we have a couple of other people that could be great to work with. These are pretty much gifts from God to us. But really they are children of our Heavenly Father that need to be baptized and fallow the Gospel.

We continue to work hard by trying to bring others to Christ.

Sorry I have to go but remember I love you all and am so grateful for all of you in my life.

Love your favorite Elder, Son, and Brother,

Elder Landon Webb

Annie’s Letter

when mom told he the new house was called the Sunshine house I just laughed, like Landon. haha. I though "the sunshine room wasn't enough? He needed a whole house?" bahaha. I'm glad that everything is going well and that you have a renter! And that you will possible bet getting Sister Shelton's house...that's awesome! I think renting is much better than stocks as well. Good luck!

Mom you asked about dinners. We have a dinner calendar that is always full! We have dinners every night. sometimes 3 a night! One day last week we had 3. One (actually lunch) with the ward mission leader, Brother Vandiford then we went to Sister Black's and she has us cook (Sister Finefeuiaki and I made delicious fried chicken, mashed potatoes, country grave... mmm), and then we had dinner at an investigator's house. Marcia's. I love Marcia. But none of us felt very good after this night. (remember she is the house with catpoop and cockroaches) We had dinner again with them again this week though and it was great. Vegetable soup. It was actually REALLY good :-)

Thank you so much for sending me letters! I did get one from Mom on Saturday and I look forward to getting more this week! But...don't send any more letters to Derr until I tell you if I'm being transferred or not. I will find out tomorrow night if I am being transferred or not. So I will tell you next PDay :-)

sorry to scare you all last week... I really didn't mean to. We decided to go to the Temple after the previous P-Day so we weren't able to email until...Thursday. And we only write letters on PDay as wel (there just isn't time!) My pains are still very active. and spreading. They are in my wrist, ankles, fingers, toes, knees, shoulders, and now moving into arms, calves, chest, and back. Not all of them all the time but enough that it drives me crazy. and hurts. It's just like... not like my muscles hurt but like my bones hurt. I don't know. But I don't like it. C'est la vie. I'm doing okay, I am still able to work despite the ouchieness. :-) No worries.

hutch and carrie are coming! I'm so jealous!! Please take lots of pictures of them and their girls and henry and tell them all hi and i love them! I'm bummed I won't be there to see them! But I'm sure they'll understand :-)

Rachel I am so proud of you for almost being done with your Personal Progress, that's awesome! Congrats girl keep up the good work! I can't wait for you to have a beautiful necklace too!

Also, we get to go to the Temple quarterly

Landon- CONGRATS ON YOUR BAPTISM BUD! AND MORE INVESTIGATORS...THAT'S SO AWESOME! Your week sounds incredible! The Lord really blesses you when you do what you are supposed to be doing. I am so excited that you have had such a wonderful week!

So let me tell you about my week.

This week has been super incredible! The Lord is very involved in the work in Springfield!

Most importantly: We met with Josh twice this week! We dropped in on his family on Friday and it was not super awesome. We surprised his mother... she was smoking and just stared at us when we walked in. I feel so bad for her. She is going through a lot right now. She is off work because of a surgery, her work is not paying her what they are supposed to while she is on leave, they are struggling with finances especially because they have had to buy some plane tickets for their kids, and she has cancer. She is just feeling really overwhelmed which is why she went back to the cigarettes. But she was just bawling because she knows she shouldn't have smoked and she is just overwhelmed, but she is strong and I know she can get through this! Sister Finefeuiaki and Teina taught Josh on Saturday and they said it went really well! Josh is praying about a baptismal date. We wanted him to pick his own because we extended one and then it got postponed and then another but he was still in Arizona that day. But he is still progressing and it's just going great! :-)

We had 3 lessons with Marcia. She is just growing so much and learning so much. She has a testimony and she is sticking to it! When we asked her what she read she just goes into it. She really is reading and picking up a lot of good things! One thing I really love about Marcia is that she is working so hard to turn her life around. Not just spiritually (although that is most important) but we have been doing service with her to help her get her house in order. Every time we come over she says "look at what I did..." and shows us the cleaning/sorting/organizing she did since we were there last. She really is trying! She is going to miss Sister Va'asili though. They really connected very well.

We also had a lesson with Heather and Don this week! Sister Finefeuiaki taught that one with a member while Sister Va'asili and I went tracting. She said it went very well. I am concerned however because it has been a while since they came to church. Excuses, excuses, excuses. We have the kids, we were out of town, we didn't have gas..." :-( They have been progressing so well and they can see the blessings that the gospel will bring and they want them... I just don't know how to get them back into coming to church. Any suggestions?

Braelynn... we had 3 appointments with her this week but they were not home for any of them. That was really disappointing. But she did come to Zoey's baptism yesterday and to church so that's good. Hopefully we will be able to see her this week. She was on date for the 15 but that didn't happen. Bummer.

Saturday was a great day! We were able to go out, as you know, with Teina Hazleton. It was so good to get to know her! I briefly met her the day I got here and she left...but it was fun to be able to work with her. We made sure we had a marvelous plan and great backups! We wanted to be sure we worked hard all day! We had 3 member present lessons and an RCLA. Plus we had some great tracting time! 2-2-5 is the best! 2 of us would go to visit the less active member (most of them weren't home or had moved) and the other 2 would start 2-2-5ing and then the other two would join in the tracting fun! It worked great! We were able to do a lot of work!

Yesterday we had Zoey ‘s baptism! She is 8 years old, daughter of a less active member. Because of Zoey her grandma is active (and soon to be marrying a very nice member I think) her grandpa is active, her great grandpa is active (actually baptized her) and her great grandma is active as well! This little girl has had such a far reaching effect on her family! Her mom has even been to church twice (which is a super big deal!) So we are very excited about her and the wonderful example she has been and will continue to be to her family.

As for Sister Webb, she's doing pretty well. I am going to miss Sister Va'asili when she leaves to go home this week! But I am excited to keep the work progressing in Springfield...or wherever I go. I had a wonderful study this morning all about marriage/families. Elder M. Russell Ballard's talk about finding the lost one... I forget it's title...from last conference... WOW! It's basically amazing. Read it when you get a chance. I absolutely loved it! Then I was reading in True to the Faith and every topic that I read about today said something about marriage/family. It was a very wonderful study this morning. I love personal study. It is always so inspired.

Oh, about the subject line... we went to Young's dairy today with a member and I got ice cream there called cow patty. It was SUPER DELICIOUS! It is such a fun place! Look it up! youngsdairy.com we had a great time! Sorry this letter is crazy random and nuts I am out of time! I'll tell you more later!

Annie’s Letter 7-12-12

but we went to the Temple today! So we switched our PDay to today because that's just what we do when we go to the Temple. MAN the Columbus Temple is TINY! But it's still beautiful and wonderful and feels the same as the big Temples I have been in. It was so great to go, I haven't gone since I was in the MTC. Speaking of that... I've been out for 3 months! That's crazy! I feel like I have been out for a much shorter time...and also for a much longer time! Does that make any sense at all? Probably not, but it's me right? When do I ever make sense? Haha. So this week we got to go to Columbus TWICE! we went on Wednesady for a Sister's specialized training. We all wen to the mission home and (all the sisters) and had a lovely meeting with President and Sister Nilsen, the assistants and Kim (the director of adoption for LDS family services). It was super awesome. And President Nilsen gave us all roses! awww... I love it! anyway it was an incredible meeting. A lot of it was focused on our roles (present and future) and the role of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (which is of course hugely important) it was super fabulous. And then we went again today for the Temple. And we will go to Columbus again next week for... TRANSFERS! I don't know yet if I am getting transferred or not, I will find out on Tuesday night. But we will be going to the transfer meeting because Sister Va'asili is going home. Man, I can't believe she is leaving! I will miss her so much! But such is mission life, eh?

So here is a little bit about our investigators...

First of all, Marcia. man, it has been so awesome to be a part of seeing her come unto Christ. Her life is changing so much! Their house is continually getting cleaner, she is happier, and healthier! She is getting rid of over half of her cats! and more importantly... She is getting baptized on July 29! We extended to her on Saturday and she was like "ya...we'll work on it..." But she had an amazing experience Saturday night where she KNEW she needed to be baptized! So on Sunday the first thing she said when she came into the chapel and sat down by us was... "I'M GETTING BAPTIZED ON JULY 29!" It was super awesome. We had a lesson with her on Monday and it was incredible how much she had gotten out of her Book of Mormon reading. We have another lesson with her tomorrow and we are very excited to teach her again :-) It's amazing how much love you can have for people who you ordinairly might not... I have learned a lot about not judging and just accepting people, loving them, and inviting them to come unto Christ. It is life changing.

Braelynn was on date but they went to a family reunion in New York and her family wants to come to her baptism! So they are working on a date... which honestly I think is good because we won't have to rush through the lessons quite so much. I know Sister Va'asili wants to be here for the baptism, and I SOOO wish she could be but this is better for Braelynn. We have an appointment with them tonight so hopefully they have looked at a date for her baptism and we can continue to plan :-)

Josh is back from Arizona! We are very excited! Unfortunately, Arizon is not the greatest enviornment so we have some review and catch up to do, but he still is a very bright young man, still the same kid. And still very willing to learn. I hope that he will see the stark difference in the enviornment in Arizona and here where the gospel is part of his life. We will meet with him tonight again too! Yay!

Those are the main ones right now although we do have others we are working with too :-)

Mom and Dad- good work with the house! I agree with Landon... Pictures. (LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS!!!) Please. I am glad you have been staying so busy this summer! And I'm glad that you have already found a renter! That's so stellar!

Megan and Justin... go do something fun will ya? haha. No, it sounds like you guys have had a lot of fun with your new trailer and your two cute dogs. PICTURES! please.

Natalie- I'm glad you are busy this summer. Tell Jon hi. Are you getting nervous for school? Excited? Did you ever figure out who you are living with? What classes are you taking? This pool...is it a real pool? or like a kiddie pool?

Rachel- I'm glad you have got to spend so much time in Utah with Stan/Emily and the boys. I'm a little jealous! I want to ride horses and go to horse shows! Man!

Landon- keep up the good work bud. It sounds like you have a great companion and are staying busy. I'll get you a letter in the mail soon. Write me and tell me your stories too! I need more letters in the mailbox (that is a hint to all who are reading this email...

It has been very hot here. But I still freeze at night! I have 4 blankets on my bed and last night...I still froze! haha. some nights its very hot though and so I kick 3 of them of. Dad- thanks for the tornado warning. We haven't heard anything about crazy weather this week, it's actually been cooler. I don't think it has hit 100 yet! Well, I am definitely out of time on the computer. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! My PDay is back to normal so I'll write ya'll again on Monday. Love you!!

Annie

Landon’s Letter 7/9/12

Hey Fam!,

Congratulations on almost finishing the house and from what I read you most likely have someone that is going to rent it out from you. Awesome!!

I am actually really jealous about the stadium of fire. I have yet to go to it so you are all spoiled. But Rachel, Scotty (Mcreery?) really?

Anyways I have to laugh Natalie, when I read what Dad did to you and your birthday cake I couldn't help but laugh. I only wish that they had recorded it so I could have seen your face. I can only imagine and its priceless. That is so darn funny!

Megan you sound like nothing has changed except the dogs. Well I guess thats what you get for being old(er) ;) Even Mom and Dad have something going on in their life. Hey don't take it too personally I do love you! Oh and I guess the same is with Justin ;) I'm serious though don't take it too personal I have to mess with you still!

Annie what is going on I won't read an email until next week so I will keep you in my prayers. I hope everything is going great for you! Keep up the hard work and you will be blessed because of your faith and diligence.

Mom & Dad, keep up the good work with the house I hope that you finish before the new person moves in. I still yet have to see a picture of the house so maybe you could sent that in your next letter to me this week along with alot of other pictures.

(For next week) How have you all been? How are things going? How is summer vacation? Anything fun happening yet or in the near future?

This week has been absolutely hecktic. Like really this week has been rediculously weird and hard. To start off I will tell you the bad.

We had 7 dropped appointments this week. All of them were at the last minute drops so you really have to rely on your backup plans in cases like these. For the first couple we really didn't have back up plans. Opps. But we figured out later that it is something we need to keep in mind when we are planning because people are still people here. Oh and ontop of that we lost our 1 and only investigator. We got called "false prophets in sheeps clothing" and that the Book of Mormon was not fit to be the word of God. Ya it was really sad to hear that person say that stuff but we knew he would be dropping us soon enough. He just couldn't grasp the tithing concept and we had not even mentioned the Word of Wisdom yet. Plus he was not reading so he wasn't getting anywhere.

On the bright side we have so much potential that its not even funny. There are 4 or 5 families with children who are older than 8 who have not been baptized yet so that is a great way to help a less active family become reactivated and also baptisms. Then we have met 4 other people who when we talked to them seemed interested in the gospel so we have been trying to coordinate a time to meet with them. It has been crazy. We just have to keep our heads down and moving forward.

(Still on bright side) So those shadflies that I told you about are gone. They all died! Which means when you walk over the remaining bodies it sounds like you are walking on rice crispies. Just a crunch. Oh and also they smell when it rains. Why is this on the bright side? We'll they are all dead and it hasn't rained for a week! Also this week we helped out the mission ward leader by helping him with his road out to his land. He has some property out of town that is in the middle of the forest here. It is so beautiful and it's by 1 of the millions of lakes here. We didn't do much but we moved alot of rocks out of the way so he can continue building the road. So it was really great and a good stress realiever to be out in the woods doing some physical labor and throwing rocks :D! Ya it was pretty fun. Then today we mowed the lawn today where we live becuase the people who live there are gone for 2 months doing some college thing.

I can't believe about Nate that is so crazy he will be as big as me. I don't think I have gained much weight but I don't know. I'll have to get back to you on that. I only gained 4 pounds at the MTC and I had weighed myself after I had eaten.

Keep writing letters because it is nice to hear from the outside world every once in a while. What I mean by the outside world is Lyman, Wyoming, Utah, Sports, people, ya know. Oh and that letter you sent me Mom, I got that on Thursday. It should take about a full week to get from here the there and then another week to get from there to here.

Oh yesterday we were sitting out in the car calling people to make appointments and a group of 3 people walked by and they had a ring tailed leamer with a diaper walking down the street. It was so cool! I should have gotten a picture of it but sadly I didn't it would have been awkward to just to take a random picture and I don't know why we didn't get out of the car. I think we were talking to someone on the phone.

We'll thats my week in a nutshell and I told you that my next letter would be more organized.

Please continue to write letters and emails like you have been! Maybe you could sent a couple more ;)

I love you all and thank you for all the support you have shown me through out the years. Believe me when I say me and Annie really appreciate all you have done for us and the support you have given us while we have been out.

I love you all,

From the FAVORITE, best, and greatest (don't forget Awesome) Brother, Elder and Son,

Landon Webb

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