Kickball Epiphony

So I always have these weird epiphonies (sp?) in gym.

This week for district gym we played kickball, which was so fun and took me back to elementary school! Anyway, there I was in the outfield, minding my own business when what should happen but the ball come straight to me in the air and they all expected me to catch it. Well I was scared and doubtful and disbelieving, because I'm just not good at sporty stuff and catching things. And I'm sure you all saw this coming, but I didn't catch it.

And I Realized something. The only reason I didn't catch that ball is because I didn't believe I could. If I had believed I could catch it, and had the faith, chances are it prolly would have found its way in to my hands. Just some food for thought.

Oh yeah, and after that happened, I was up to kick and I was like I'm gonna get on base with this kick AND not get any of my team mates out! And I did a sweet little punt kick and it rocked.

I have found it is the same way with teaching and with most other things in life!! We are teaching in tagalog now and it is a running leap for me. When I believe that I can teach, doors open and I find sentences that I know how to say. When I get discouraged and doubtful, I get stuck worse. So yeah, there really is something in that first principle of the gospel, FAITH!!

Brother Slade said if you can do something about it, why worry? If you can't do something about it, why worry? So true.

I have returned again and again to 1 Nephi 3:7 "I will go and do". It is a sweet verse and no wonder they made a primary song out of it. We actually sang that primary song as a district right before our teaching appointment thursday and it was so powerful. I know the Lord provides a way!

Yesterday was awesome and busy.

My companionship taught the lesson for our district meeting. We focused on the Savior and it was awesome. You can never go wrong when you just bring everything back to the Savior. One of the major points was His love. A love that motivated everything He did for us. I have gained a strong testimony of that love over the past month and it is that love that motivates me. It is such a strength for me to know that even when I don't believe in myself, He believes in me. When I feel alone and confused and discouraged I know that He is always by my side and that He will never give up on me.

The sisters in our zone sang "When He comes again" In sacrament meeting. It was interesting.

We had another awesome fireside by Stephen B. Allen. He showed a whole bunch of the really old LDS commercials and talked about the messages in the little slogans for each one. It was actually very powerful.

A few that stood out to me:

"It's not who you aren't, it's who you are, and being yourself is being great"

"It is often the smallest moments that brign the greatest memories"

"When everything says you cant, believe in the part of you that says you can."

He said "The greatest fun that I know of in missionary work is followign the spirit--When you become the junior companion and let the Godhead become senior companion you will have so much fun because you'll never know what you're going to say or where you are going to go".

This week for service we got to clean the showers! We got to clean a disgusting amount of hair out of the drains. It was FANTASTIC!

Thanks Aunt B for the cookies!! They were delicious!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, letters, and love!

I love you

The church is true!

Don't forget to read and pray!

Love sis Webre

Yeehaw!

Life is good!

Our new district came in this week. It was weird seeing them go through all the stuff I had to go through when I first came in. I felt bad for them and I was so grateful that I am not in their shoes right now. I hope I can help them through this first big adjustment.

There are two new sisters. They are awesome. They are having some big problems with their companionship though. It makes me SO grateful for my companions. I am trying to help them understand and work out differences. Really the only thing to do is talk to each other heart to heart. So that is what I told them and I hope they can work it out.

So Elder Burton is the Elder in the picture who looks like he is 14 years old. He is so hilarious. He does and says the most random things everyday and I just laugh so hard. The first week I mentioned something to him like "are you really 19?" or something, just joking around with him. He said "No, my parents thought this was EFY. They dropped me off and so now I guess I just have to stay here." You had to have been there but it was hilarious. He said he ran for student body and on his posters he had an old lady talking to a student and a talking bubble that said "pish posh, vote for josh". He's just that kind of kid. The kind that doesn't even try to be funny, he just is.

I'm really glad he is in my zone.

Also, Tanner Jennings is in my zone! At first I couldn't remember who he was, I just knew he looked really familiar, and then it all clilcked. He is a good kid.
We have a district gym day where we play together. This week it was four square. I like foursquare. It reminds me of Becca and my first semester in Rexburg. Good times. Anyway you can save people if you want to. You can hit the ball for them if they can't or don't reach it. But if you decide to save someone and it goes badly then it's on you. You're out and not them. So in a way, you sacrifice yourself for them sometimes. There is this Elder in my zone who really tries my patience. He is just a goof ball and he acts as if the world revolves around him most the time. I still love him, but its true, this is how he acts. Anyway, I could have saved him one time in four square but I didn't do it. I didn't save him, not because he is not my favorite person, but because I still haven't grasped the concept of hitting the ball if it didn't bounce in my square. He gave me a lot of flack for not saving him and I was thinking, well even if I did think to hit the ball for him, would I have done it? Even though he is such a stinker?

Then I thought of the Savior. His sacrifice was for EVERYONE. He desires all to come to him and he suffered for those who will never accept him. He suffered for the ones who mock him and don't believe in him. He suffered for the people that kill and steal and don't do good things.

It just really hit me that the Savior, He didn't pick and choose to save only those that loved him, only those who He knew would be humble and good. He suffered for all, even the most rebellious. So infinite and perfect is His love for us!

So that's what we do at the MTC, we make everything into an analogy for the gospel. It's fun!

A shout out for Mandy! She has written me almost every day so far. Not even kidding!

Happy Birthday Heather, I wish I could celebrate with you!

I have so many blessings and I keep getting more!!

The old coordinating sister gave me a memory foam pillow when she left. It has been passed through 5 CS's. It is the BOMB. I need one of those things when I get home!!

Have a happy week.

Don't forget to pray!

Yours,

Sister WEbre

Has it Already been a WEEK?

Hey everybody!!

P-days are supposed to be a day to prepare and catch your breath, at least that's my impression, but they are always the most stressful for me. I am writing like a mad person to try and get all my letters done and laundry and everything else! It is insane. But it is good to be busy.

This week was wonderful. Yesterday our devotional was Jenny Oaks Baker (Elder Oaks daughter) She plays violin professionally and put on a very beautiful fireside. I miss music! Elder Oaks was there too! We had Sister Elaine Dalton come speak to us last week. She is a wonderful lady.

I also saw the music and the spoken word sunday morning. It was AMAZING. I was so grateful for those 30 short minutes. Heather, I forgot to tell you this, but you gotta watch it. See if mom recorded it because I know you're bound to LOVE at least two of the songs. I think I just miss music ALOT. It is so powerful and brings the spirit so strong.

There are also the most amazing musical numbers before each fireside and a lot of other meetings. There are so many talented people at the MTC.

So a typical day here goes about like this:
Wake up at 6:30 (or 6 if you want to shower)
At seven you have to be out of the residence hall
700 is breakfast for us
Then we usually have class twice a day with our two different teachers for 3 hours each time
Lunch is 1130
We get a three hour block to do personal, companion, and language study
Dinner is at 430 (don't know if I'll ever get used to that. I am never hungry. I usually eat cold cereal)
We start planning the next day from 900 to 925 and then we close with a song and prayer with our district.

So that is it in a nutshell. The order of things switches around sometimes. We have devotionals on tuesday and sunday nights and they are always SUPER good.

Thursday is our day for TRC. That is where volunteers can come in and we contact and teach them. But if you come and volunteer I wont be teaching you because we only teach people who speak tagalog. Next week we have to teach in Tagalog!! It is going to be so crazy. There is no way we can do it but I know we will. That is what is so crazy about this whole missionary thing. It seems so hard and so impossible, yet there is a way. I'm so grateful for my Savior. He truly does save me every day!

My favorite district in my zone is leaving today. It is really sad. There are three samoans in that zone and they are so AWESOME. They are so random and hilarious and I love them. It's weird how much older than us they seem when they are really the same age. It's weird to think that we will probably seem old to the newbies coming in this week. Speeking of which, I am officially the new coordinating sister. I get to take care of the sisters in the zone, do their interviews and go to meetings and report stuff. I get to help give the newbies a tour and show them how to do companionship inventory and a whole bunch of good stuff. It will be fun.

I got to play the piano for sacrament meeting and another meeting. IT was GREAT! I miss piano.

So they are changing the dress code for sisters. Has anyone heard about that? Yeah, so those hideous pictures in the book they send you with your call that are about 3 decades old---they are getting rid of those and putting in new, stylish ones. The best news is that we don't have to wear nylons! WOOHOOOOOO! We are partying about that one.

Have you ever played Kings court volleyball? It is my new favorite. I played it at gym this week and it is SUPER fun with a lot of poeple. If you don't know how to play, google it! It is way sweet.

The church is true! Don't stop believin and don't stop the love. (letters/prayers)

I love you

Sister Webre

Snail Mail

I forgot to tell you about our 4th of July celebrations. We got to watch the stadium of fire fireworks from the mtc grounds!! I was so happy. And before that we had a cool fireside about how the reformers and founding fathers were led by God and paved the way for the restoration of the gospel. It was great.

A couple "whoops" moments-- We were standing in line for dinner, and we had only our trays anone empty glass each. We had gotten some water to drink while we waited. Then before I knew what was happening, my glass was tumbling off my tray, and little pieces of glass shattered halfway across the dining hall. Okay, not really, but it was pretty bad because we were standing next to a fruit line with about 5 different bins, and they had to throw them all away because of the glass. Then somebody came out to sweep up my mess, and I looked around for a dunce cap I could put on.

Whoops #2 - There I was, turning the faucet off and gust getting ready to towel off from my shower when I noticed there was not towel. Whoops. I had forgotten my towel. Should I call out "help" to the sisters in the bathroom and tell them where to locate my towel? Hmmm...it could take some time to drip dry. Well, I voted out having the sisters fetch my towel, so I just dried off half way with my PJ t-shirt and put my clothes on. It worked.
Last Sunday we got 16 contacts at the temple. That means basically we just bore our testimony to other missionaries in tagalog, and introduced ourselves, found out who they were, etc. We only knew about five different phrases for testimony, but we would switch it up, and people were so impressed because we'd only been at the mtc 3 days. Then yesterday, a week later, we feel like we can't say much more than those five phrases we knew a week ago, and we just have noire to contact. We know how to say a lot more now, but the sentence structures are a little more comoplex, and it takes about five minutes for each of us to get one sentence out.

We could spit it out a lot faster if we each memorized one or two phrases in tagalog, but if we do that, we don't think about what each word means and how to put it together, so it's no good, we don't learn.

So we're just trying to be humble and still do our contacting even though it's awkward, and it takes time. I know that speaking the language as much as possible is the key to really getting it down, so I'll struggle through! It is very easy to understand, putting it into practice is a little trickier. Speaking of language - awesome quote I read in PMG this week. "When you are struggling to express yourself as clearly as you would like, remember that the spirit is able to speak to the hearts of all God's children." Pres. Monson

You wanna know something strange? I'm kinda the leader. It seems like my companions always look to me to talk first whenever we start things, and I'm making a lot of the decisions because nobody really speaks up. It's different for me. I mean I wouldn't have considered myself a follower before, but it's different being a leader in this way. They have recently started to speak up a lot more, and that has been good. I still love my companions. They are awesome!

So one last funny story. We get to watch a movie every Sunday night, and last night it was "Legacy". Well I wasn't even watching it because I took that opportunity to write in my journal, but all of a sudden, I har this "oohing" and cheering and cat-calling, so I look up and that one guy had just kissed Eliza. It was just funny because normally a little kiss like that wouldn't have gotten such a dramatic reaction, but in the mtc it almost feels like we're breaking some rule, and we feel guilty watching. Sister Tillmann said, "We need to get out more," after the gasps and cheering died down. Hee Hee.

Mandy has written me almost every day. She is AMAZING! And she has the best advice too! Love her. So grateful for her.

Well, I must say adieu. Sure love you. Yours, Sister Webre

Two Weeks Down

This week has been so crazy.

Satan is REAL! Oh my goodness, the opposition I have felt this week has been incredible. Don't worry Mom, I'm not coming home! Sunday's and MOnday's always make it all better. Plus we just barely had sweet teaching appointment and our investigator felt the spirit. We all bore testimony that God is in the details of our lives and that he cares about EVERYTHING. She committed to pray tonight and pour out her heart. Woot! :)

So it's kinda hard to teach fake investigators but one thing that they always tell us is that the investigator may be "fake" but the spirit is NEVER fake. SO true, I can testify of that. Teaching is really hard. I have been struggling with that the most. I really thought the hardest part would be the language or the absence of all the things from my former life but it is not any of those things. It is teaching. I stink. I can't tell someone about the things I have known my whole life without making a complete idiot out of myself. I repeat stuff, I make things too complicated, I bring up something they don't know about and then I feel like I'm trying to explain one thing after another and I totally overload. I had no idea it would be so hard!

BUT, I think we learned something today in this TE that will help us a lot.

And yesterday I was reading Nephi's psalm and the feelings of my heart were very close to those scriptures. He says he will give place no more for the enemy of his soul and I decided I have to do the same. I have just been letting Satan get into my head and discourage me and tell me that I can't do it. Well I'm not going to let him do that anymore. Goodbye Satan!

The longest word I have learned so far is pinakamakapangyarihan. It means "most powerful". It's pretty sweet. You should try to use it whenever possible. Also some more fun words that we get to say ALOT : Hindi--"no", Mabuti-- "good", o-o (pronounced oh-oh) --"yes". One of my favorites is hindi mabuti.

I discovered "the wrap" this week in the cafeteria. It is now one of my favorite things to eat. My favorite is the spinach wrap with chicken, bacon, tomatoes, sprouts, spiniach, green onions, cranberries and honey dijon dressing. Oh, and cheese. It is most masarap. (delicious) Also this Thai Curry soup I found is the bomb!

I have gotten at least one letter almost every day and three packages so far so keep it up everyone! ONe sad story--I got einstien bagels from Tawnya's mom. (I saw tawnya by the way and she is so cute.) But I had just eaten lunch so I decided to save them for that night when our district prays together before we go to our residence halls and share them with everyone. But then at dinner I discovered it was fast sunday the next day and so my plan was foiled. So I just saved them and I couldn't refrigerate the cream cheese and by the time I got to try my first einstien bagle it was two days old. Oh well. Just a bagel right?

Aunt Betty also sent me about two million cookies that were very delicious and I was able to share with many. Thanks Aunt Betty!!!

My comps are from Sandy and Murray and we all have seven in our families. Weird huh! We all leave on August 23.

Mom please send me my winter coat, I freeze all day long these people are crazy!!

Love you all and I'll send more in my snail mail. and pictures!

Love Sister WEBRE

First Journal Entry

Journal Entry:  6/28/10

Well, here I am, it's P-Day.  I have literally had no time whatsoever to write in my journal until now.  I entered the MTC on Wednesday, the 23rd.  I feel that I have been here weeks instead of days, and I feel awfully worn out, but I love every minute of this stuff.  Some really neat experiences yesterday -- it was an emotional and spiritual night, and that's a huge understatement.

 

At the nightly Sunday fireside our speaker introduced us to the mormon.org website that will belaunching the 7th of July.  It is going to be absolutely incredible, powerful, unstoppable in it's influence and ability to assist in God's great work.  As they showed us some clips and profiles of members on the site, telling their stories, I was filled with the spirit until I was fit to burst.  I know this is going to be a monumental milestone for the Church, and I am so excited.  Brother Allen told us that God gave us the internet for missionary work.  His purposes for bringing about the internet were to take the gospel to the world.  Now it will be done like never before.  I don't think there is anything more exciting or thrilling than missionar work.  Certainly nothing of more worth.  Brother Allen said that they have done research, extensive research for two years about people who were not interested in the church or religion in general and found a common interest among these people.  What was it?  PEOPLE.  They love people.  So Mormon.org will have thousands upon thousands of real profiles of real people telling about them, their interests, and most importantly, that they are "mormon".  Mormon.org will be advertised on billboards, busses, radio, TV, internet, everywhere.  The church is really going to great lengths to get it advertised.  I felt such an amazing power as we watched the clips and looked at a couple profiles.  I thought of the standard of truth and just thought how almighty our Godis.  A marvelous work and a wonder is coming froth among the children of men.

 

After the fireside, our district leader shared a strory with us.  He shared the story of a friend he had who's dad had been killed.  This friend was the right age and desired strongly to go on a mission, but could not because his mom had cancer, and he had to drive her to her chemo appointments.  Well Elder Crowley got super emotional while he was telling this story...He said it made him think how easy it is to be a missionary..."I have two healthy parents and 5 great siblings."  How blessed we are. It was just a really touching experience.  I feel that our district has grown very close.  I want to give them all hugs but I can't (frowny face).

 

So it's really amazing here at the mTC.  One of my favorite things is just walking around the buildings or outside and hearing so many different languages.  We are all encouraged to SYL (speak your own language) as much as and whenever possible.  So we say "Hello" Kumusta, to someone and they answer back in Russian or whatever else.  Or we will contact someone and bear our testimonies in tagalog and they will answer our questions in the language they are learning.  This MTC is just such a unique and wonderful place.  I know God is here and that He works miracles here everyday through the Holy Ghost.

 

Sister Rather, a teacher subbing for ours, said something powerful about the people in the philippines and our duty.  "You promised these people you would find them.  If you are worthy of the spirit you will - if you are not, you will pass them on the street and not recognize them."  I do believe we had a bond and a special relationship with those people we'll be teaching, and we told them we WOULD find them.  I hope I will be worhty enough to recognize them.  I will work as hard as I can, they are my brothers and sisters!

 

One sister bore her testimony to us in Japanese or something, and the translation was beautiful.  I loved her message - "I'm from America, but God has sent me here to find you and tell you that He is your Heavenly Father and He loves you.  He wants you to follow His sons's example and be baptized so you can live with Him forever.  Will you be baptized?"  For some reason that just REALLY touched me.