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!

4 - 18 - 12

i would like to start this email by telling you all a story about how Heavenly Father manifested His love to me. yesterday we were leaving our classroom after a very awesome teaching appointment on our way to lunch. i told sister palmer how i wanted a sandwich but that i wouldnt get one because they never have on in the cafeteria. i had resigned myself to the sad truth that i would not be getting a sandwich until i was in the field, but then i would get one! well, we walked into the cafeteria and for the first time in 2 weeks guess what they had?! a sandwich! it was very yummy. and i was a very happy little girl. so as you have figured out i leave the mtc on April 25. at 4 am. early! so if you could all be at home that would be great and i can call you all before 7;30 and then i can also call meg and lando on their phones so i only have to make 3 calls instead of 6. my travel group consists of 7 people. the 4 elders from my district, 2 elders from a district in our zone whom we love and me. so that'll be fun. but all the sisters in my district leave on tuesday morning which means wednesday my companions are the 4 elders. party! except i can just see it... "excuse me elders, i have to go potty...could a couple of you take me? im not allowed to go by myself..." haha! Also next tuesday at the devotional i am saying the closing prayer! that means i get to sit on the stand! and pray infront of 2500 missionaries and very likely a general authority. awesome huh?! im excited! now for the most important thing... happy birthday megan! i hope you had an awesome birthday! ps forgive the horrible caps and stuff in here...the left shift key on this computer doesn't work and quite frankly using the right one all the time is hard. so... deal with it :-P (yes i used the right shift key to make that face haha). on sunday at the fireside elder archuletta sang the spirit of god. it was so powerful and so different from seeing him live in a normal setting. he was shaking sooo bad and choked up at the end and had to fight to get every note out. it was so amazing. you could just feel his testimony and you know without a doubt that he is doing what his Heavenly Father wants him to be doing. also, right after he sang elder ballard stood up and told him that he was doing what He wanted him to be doing. How cool is that?! I love the devotionals and firesides.They are always so awesome and full of such amazing words. These men are truly men of God, me who know God. So this week for zone teaching (where we teach missionaries in our zones as investigators) i am teaching boyd and truman. and truman doesn't know a thing about God so i'm not really sure where to start. So the challenge for this week is to tell me how you would teach someone who doesn't know anything about God who He is. Please send your responses ASAP via dearelder.com and I expect more results this week than the few I got from my challenge last week! Also...just more letters in general please. So about my challenge last week, I was pondering what that verse meant when it said he "thought" he saw God so I was talking to some other people about it and the answer I got was that God doesn't give us the whole picture at once. Revelation is like a puzzle that we get piece by piece. sometimes we get a piece and we don't know where it fits so we just have to set it aside where we think it might fit and eventually it will fit right in and be super exciting! i also decided that that particular vision on lehi's was being told as a play-by-play instead of a recap. so it was pretty awesome. isn't it amazing that we can all study the same thing and learn something new and different from anyone else? the scriptures are so amazing! i just love them more and more every day! now, shout out to the Provo smiths and jessi- thanks for the flowers and balloons and cookies! they were so yummy! unfortunately i did not see Elder archuletta again before he lefts yesterday for a mtc in south america so he did not get his yummy cookies. :-( also elder beverly says thanks for the balloons because he had lots of fun with the helium... oh elders, what shall we do with them? haha. also a shout out the the tubbs family! thanks so much for sending me cookies as well! they are very delicious! and i was SUPER excited when i saw who that cute little package was from. Also mom thanks for sending me that box. it was perfect and i am currently snuggled up in my disney hoodie :-) there is an elder here, elder keech, who is going to sweden and he loves disney too! so we talk about it and its awesome. there is another elder, maness, also going to sweden (they are in our branch and awesome! we love the swedish elders) and he has an amazing voice! im not sure if i already told you this, but he asked me to play the piano for him so he could audition for a special musical number. well...we did! and we got a yes! which means that we in the pool of performers they can pull from for musical numbers. awesome huh? he is going to sing it on sunday as well because i want to make sure he gets a chance to perform it because its so amazing. his voice is so powerful and beautiful and i just love it. im super close with the music coordinator for our branch so i managed to get that in. (im the music coordinator for our branch) natalie: could you make me a cute little sign that says "expect miracles" please? that's one of the first things i learned here and it's so true. Heavenly Father is dying to give us miracles and all we have to do is ask for them. I see so many miracles every day! every night, go over your day and think about what miracles you saw. little or big. and then thank heavenly father for them. we don't show our gratitude nearly enought for all that he does for us, that's something im trying to work on. oh the chocolate chips, one day we were learning about fundamentals and how they are like the chocolate chips in a chocolate chip cookie and our teacher said "what's the difference between a chocolate chip cookie and a regular cookie?" and elder herzog who had been half asleep said "chocolate chips" in a "duh" type voice. so we always tease him about that now "chocolate chip" haha, it's super funny. just believe me. we have a funny quote of the day every day. its awesome. Well that's about all the time i have. but know that I know that the church is true! that jesus died for us that we might live with our father in heaven again. He loves us. He knows us and He will never give us a challenge that is too great for us to handle. We can do it even if we don't know we can if we just rely on Him. Read your scriptures, ponder them. dive into them so you get more than the surface meaning. read PMG. it's inspired. I love you all! Send me lots of letters, i love hearing from you! Love, Sister Webb PS there is nothing quite like watching the testaments at the mtc...especially during the romantic scenes. it's super funny. gotta love missionaries! :-)

4-11-12

Guess I'd better get this e-mail up here, before her next one comes :)

Hey all! Thanks so much for your emails! I loved reading them! Sister Zibetti and I were talking last night and wondering if Cristina was engaged...I'm so excited she is! Amber leaves this morning for Nauvoo so keep her safe travels in your prayers. Life here is super crazy! The first day I got here I didn't think I would ever really figure it out but by the next day I was pro. I did see Elder Archuleta, his classroom is in the building next to mine so I have seen him a lot. No big deal, he's just another missionary here to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ just like the rest of us but I know you guys (Natalie) were wondering if I've seen him, also tell Dawn. I can't believe how much I have learned since I got here. My testimony grows so much each day it's ridiculous! I love it! My companion is sister palmer and she is from preston idaho and she's pretty much awesome. I learn a lot from her and we work really well together. The other people in my district are Sister Harnish (who is Shei's fiance's sister) and who is so great! She's from Wyoming and so it's fun to have someone from home with me. Then there is Sister Worthington from Bosie. Both of them are going to Atlanta Georgia North. Oh, Sister Palmer is going to Utica New York. Then the elders. Elders Herzog and Beverly are so funny. They were such 19 year old boys when we got here but the growth I have seen in them is amazing. Elder Herzog was called as the district leader and I can't believe how much he has changed since he got that call. The Lord is truly with him. You know how people ask why we send out 19 year old boys? Well, I've figured it out. They have the ability to learn and grow so much. I don't see them as 19 year old boys (except in gym). They truly are powerful priesthood holders with the power to change with world! I decided that they wait to send the sisters until we are 21 because we need those extra years because we can't change and grow in the amazing way they can. Then there are Elders McMichael and Castro and they are both pretty quiet but have really amazing insights. And all 4 of those Elders are going to Columbus as well. finally there is Elder Cook. He has been here for 5 weeks. His district left a while ago but he had to stay for medical reasons. He finally got approval to leave so he will leave sometime this week. The people of Philedephia just don't even know what is going to hit them. although we were sad for him that he had to stay for extra weeks Sister Palmer and I both feel that he was here for our district. His insights and testimony of the gospel of amazing! On Sunday President Packer came and spoke to us in a MTC wide sacrament meeting. I was humbled because there was President Packer this amazingly spiritual man who has such a deep personal relationship with God taking the sacramanet with us, a bunch of crazy kids trying to figure this mission thing out. If the sacrament is so important to him, an Apostle of the Lord how much more important is it for me? I wish I could really describe how amazing Sunday was. It was our first Sunday as missionaries, Easter Sunday, fast Sunday, and we had that awesome sacrament meeting. We all sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives together. All 2500 missionaries. That was so amazing, I could just feel us all really testifying that we know that our Redeemer lives. The feeling in that room was so incredible. 2500 testimonies being raised in such a beautiful song. We had a branch sacrament meeting after that which was awesome and then a musical devotional by the BYU Men's chorus (It was SOOO good to hear them again! They sang La Cacuracha with little mexistaches on...it was helarious.) Then we watched the talk that President Bednar gave to the MTC at a sacrament meeting like the one we had but on Christmas Day. It was all about the character of Christ and turning outward instead of inward. I decided that the atonement is like the ultimate steroid. Guaranteed to make you stronger. Side effects include loving your fellow men and losing your self (If you lose yourself you will find yourself). So I drew a cute little pill bottle that had that on it... "Oh the cleverness of me." That talk was amazing and I wish you all could watch it but it's a MTC devotional so I don't think you can. I have honesty never felt my testimony grow SO MUCH in a single day in all my life. My heart feels like a balloon here. My testimony is increasing and I can't believe how much love I feel for the missionaries in my district as well as for the investigators we have. We teach every single day and it's such an incredible learning experience. You really can't do this without the spirit. Sister Harnish loves to sing. and I love to sing. Consequently we sing a lot. We love to sing "Sisters" from White Christmas, but we changed some of the lyrics so it totally fits us! and we sing a lot of Disney. One time we were walking outside and singing "I'll Make a Man out of you (Mulan) and these Elders joined in and it was great! we randomly burst into song all the time. Sister Worhtington likes to give me random words and see what song it triggers because I always have one. It sounds like everything is going good there. send me lots of pictures of everything! Mail them I get them faster (funny huh) also, send me letters on Dear Elder.com because then I can get them throughout the week. It makes me feel loved and it also gives me more time to email you guys. But send emails too! Do both! write lots! We love getting letters! OH! Sister Harnish has a tshirt that has.... GUY ON A BUFFALO on it! how awesome is that!? I have a picture so I'll send it, but I forgot my camera today so I can't send any pictures. Maybe I'll print somelater today and mail them to you. Challenge for the week: Read 1 Nephi 1:8 where it says "and he thought he saw God" think about what that can teach you (the whole revelation) and let me know. When you tell me your answers I will tell you mine. I had this awesome learning experience with that this week! Well that's all the time I have so I love you, the Church is TRUE! never doubt it. Read your scriptures. They are filled with the most incredible information! Don't forget to send that stuff please. and write me lots! Love you!

Annie

First Letter

Hello Family!
Guess what? You get my first letter after all! They told us we could write to let you know I'm alive and have a bed to sleep in. So I'm alive & have a bed. And yes Natalie, they're just like the ones Stan bought!
My companion is Sister Palmer & she is awesome. And she know's Traci and Chris! Crazy, huh? She is going to the Unich NY mission. The other 2 sisters in my district Sisters Hernish & Worthington are going to Atlanta North. And Sister Harnish is from Cheyeene! We are the only 2 from WY that came in on Wed. and we are in the same district! AND her brother is Michael who is marrying Shei! Small world eh? The 4 Elders (Harzog, Beverly, McMichael & Castro) are all going to Columbus. Also I met a couple today from Midway. Elder & Sister Bonner. They are going to Estonia & know grandpa! I've ran into 4 sisters I know including Amber! We made quite the little scene in the hallway. My "Residence hall" is almost Right above hers! Well, that's all for this quick little letter. I'll email a better on on Wednesday.

Love You!

Annie

Day 1—Sister Webb MTC

Sister Annie Webb was set apart last night, and entered the MTC today at 1:10. She will be such a wonderful missionary!

MTC Address

I got my MTC address today! It is

Sister Annie Lamae Webb
MTC Mailbox # 196
OH-COL 0425
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

So starting April 4 send me lots of letters there! Keep on eye on this blog to see updated addresses once I get to Ohio!