CDSM Transfer 10

Week 1

My packing skills hard at work. I swear, it just gets harder every time I get transferred.

The traditional stop at The Pinnacles. It was super cool looking that day.

So, I'm in Denver now. It's really weird after being in a small town for 6 months. I forgot how big and busy this place is (and I'm only in the suburbs). And what a ward is like and all that jazz. Not better or worse. Just very different. Sister Holcomb (my new companion) knows her way around pretty well but she's only been here for 6 weeks so we've wasted a few miles trying to find places. The nice part is that I've already driven down the main roads from when I was here before so we haven't gotten too lost yet... I still end up driving in circles a couple times a day tho.

Transfers went well. It's a looong day. We got to the Trufts building around 5:30pm but apparently everyone got the message to be there after they were in dinner because no one was there to pick us up. They did come eventually tho and it was worth the wait because Herman Iraia was with my new companion all day and the other sister that was with me all day (sister Ytac) was Hermana Iraias new companion and it was just wonderful happy reunion/meeting. We went and got smoothies for dinner together. Then we parted ways and sister Holcomb took me to meet our ward mission leader. He's pretty great and it was a good visit but I was so exhausted. And then I started getting dizzy. It's official. I have reverse altitude sickness. Going up in elevation has never been a problem. It's coming back down that makes me sick. We went home and I lay moaning on my bed while trying to help sister Holcomb plan for the next day. I mean, I wasn't any help but I tried. Thankfully I was better in the morning.

Our one and only real investigator right now is Isac, a 12 year old boy. His mom has been a member her whole life but hasn't been active for awhile but wants to come back and get him baptized. His brother, Arthur, who is 14, might have been baptized but we're still trying to find out for sure. Either way, we had a great first lesson with the 3 of them and they're all excited!

We also got a call from our bishop asking us to take a Book of Mormon to this lady named Donnis. Supposedly she has met with missionaries before but the missionaries couldn't answer her questions so it didn't end up going anywhere. But, the bishop said that she's ready to meet again so we'll see what we can do. We're nervous but hopeful!

As for other investigators, we have a lot of potential people but no one really set. Right now we're just trying to figure out HOW to find people. Everyone is gone during the day and it gets dark at 5 so there isn't a whole lot of good finding time.

Our main ongoing service project here is for an upscale resale clothing store that benefits single parent families. It's certainly not 6 Points but its still fun. I had been there a couple times before when I was in Highlands Ranch on exchanges awhile back but it got changed around a lot since I was last there. They recently consolidated their bridal store into this store so most of the store is wedding dresses and formals now. Not gonna lie, it's kind of a weird place to be as a missionary. But also fun to see all the crazy options. I saw a black veil. That was weird. Anyway...

Well, I don't have many pictures today. Surprise!

Have a good one. 

Week 2

Why don't we start with the weather, shall we? Well, it was summer here for about a week. Wednesday it got up to 88 degrees. Then we walked out of district meeting on Thursday to HUGE flakes of snow that was already sticking to the grass which turned to ice on the road when it got dark. It was pretty chilly for a few days and then yesterday it was back to being too warm to even wear a jacket. I love Denver weather. It gets cold but never stays cold for more than a few days. At least in my experience so far.

I forgot to announce this last week but, I have a Jeep again! I didn't think the mission had another one and if they did, they wouldn't have it in Denver. It was my lucky day/transfer! Then again, I forgot that it doesn't have a USB port so music is a struggle. First world problems.

The week started out slow but it picked right up! It started with seeing my follow-up trainer sister Cho after I emailed last week. It made me sooo happy! We kind failed to get a picture. And now she's here at the library and we tried taking a picture but the lighting is awful so we'll try again later. Anyway, this zone has "sports" on Mondays. Basically they go to the church building across from the library and play basketball for a few hours and then volleyball for the rest of the time. We went and sat on the sidelines for BB. Both me and sister Holcomb are too short and don't know how to play anyway. When they pulled out the volleyball net, I was game. Thank you stake young womens volleyball! I'm a little rusty but I still have it. I guess this is a regular thing so by the time I get home, I should be a pro. Not like I really care. I just want to get back into running shape. OK enough about sports.

We found another place to do service called HOPE. It's a thrift store AND food pantry. Both are smaller than the ones in Gunnison but it was still fun. We spent over an hour trying to polish this set of silver goblets. They looked better but they still weren't close to done so we just gave up. 

I went on exchanges with sister Davies this week. It was super fun. She's a giant compared to me so I felt super short all day (she plays basketball, need I say more?). But she's great. She's super chill and actually knows what Kid History is so we could quote it together. It was refreshing.

Well, now that you've heard about the random things in my life, I guess I could talk about your typical missionary work and such. We have some new investigators who are really great. We met with Donnis who turned out to be way more open than we were expecting. We had a good discussion about where she is at, what she had learned from missionaries before and answered some questions. Her daughter joined the church a year ago and she's be curious as to what it was that really interested her daughter enough to join. We're excited to teach her. Anyone who reaches out and asks if they can meet with us is a blessing.

We also met with this middle aged couple who apparently always lets missionaries in. They've never really gotten far because they're pretty set in their beliefs but they still like to talk about the gospel. We took a couple from our congregation who is about their age to the lesson with us and they all really clicked. It was a good conversation about our beliefs and finding that we had a lot in common. Not sure if it will go anywhere but we'll meet a few more times because they are so great!

 Thank you to the KC1st Young Women for my surprise package full of puns! I'll admit, I laughed at quite a few of them. I was very impressed at how stuffed that little box was.

We stopped by the mission office on Friday to find out that the secretary, Sister Van Wagoner, was celebrating her birthday that day! So we enjoyed pie together with another set of sisters who stopped by at the same time. Oh and finally, here is a picture of Sister Holcomb. She's the one on the far right in the picture.

Week 3

I know, you want to hear about my Thanksgiving. Well, let me tell you. We had two dinners (I paced myself pretty well and wasn't completely dying at the end of the day) with great company at both. The highlight of the day (actually, the entire week) was the gravy that sister Rice made. I have never had such wonderful gravy in my life. I was, no joke, about to drink the stuff. But the problem is, she cooks like my mom which means that she just dumped a bunch of stuff together and adjusted it until it tasted good. Why is that a problem? There is no recipe and therefore it will never be made the same again. It's so sad. Another sad thing is that I didn't take any pictures. It's just going to be one of those transfers, folks. Very few pictures.

It was a rough week, being a big holiday and all. We had a couple appointments scheduled at the beginning of the week and all but 1 cancelled. No one would set anything for the rest of the week because they were either crazy busy or out of town. So, the work was slow to say the least. We still saw miracles tho! Isac and his family finally made it to church and, at least from what we could tell, they loved it! It's always good when people that we're teaching love church. It makes our job so much easier. Also, we were trying some people in this one condo complex yesterday and none of the people we wanted to talk to was opening their doors. It wasn't in our plans but we decided to knock on the door of this part-member family. The dad is a less active member as well as at least one of the kids but the rest of the family aren't baptized. Before I got here, the sisters had talked to the wife who said that her husband wants to come back to church and wanted his family to meet with us and she was all for that. Unfortunately, they hadn't gotten back to us about that. Anyway, we knocked on the door and a teenage boy answered the door and before we could get more than a greeting out, he asked, "hey, um, what time does church start?" We gave him all the information and said that we hoped to see him there. Gotta love pro-active teenagers!

OK, so the church building that our ward meets in is the strangest layout that I have ever seen. It's hard to explain but the most awkward part about it is that you have to walk thru the kitchen to get to one end of the building to the other. Well, church starts at 11:30 which is a weird time to begin with but is extra weird to deal with as a missionary due to regular meal times. We have to be at church before the time that we usually eat lunch but by the time we're done, dinner is in 2 hours. So, I've decided to quickly eat around 11 at the church. It wouldn't be the first time I've done something like that. The difference tho, is that usually the kitchen is off in some hidden corner. But here, EVERYONE walks through the kitchen. Even if they don't, they still come to see what smells so good (its just microwave noodles usually but apparently it smells really good). Anyway, random, first world problem adventures of sister Webster for ya.

It's that time of year again. Christmas. Yay. Ha I'm kind of a bahhumbug but I'm here to let you know that the Christmas video that the church puts out each year is here! And they've expanded it to more than just a video this time. It's all about service and being a light in the world to honor Christ. Check it out! mormon.org

This is a bad picture of it but this is the front yard of a members house. It's even more crazy in person. You can see it from blocks away.

Guess who I got to see this week? HERMANA IRAIA! 

Week 4

If I had to describe my week in one word (OK I guess technically it's two), it would be: roller coaster. So many crazy highs and some deep lows.

It started out with a great lesson with Donnis which turned into a return appointment the next day to keep talking. We had left her with some reading assignments about pre-earth life because she said that she really didn't see how the scriptures told us that we existed with God before this life. Well, we returned the next day with the member who usually comes with us as well as sister Gifford (the mission presidents wife). She had gone above and beyond in her studying and had started seeing what we were talking about and said that she believes that there is a pre-earth life now! It was a super long, intense discussion. She agreed to baptism if she came to find out that it was all true. She also served us a yummy lunch so it was an all around amazing few hours. Then, the bad news (for us) came. She was suddenly moving...in 2 days. It was an answer to her prayers but it was super disappointing to see her go, especially after some of the most powerful lessons that I've been in was with her. We're finding that this is a common problem in this area and have started to call it the Cornerstone curse. We've had so many people move out of our area. You find someone who has potential aaaaand they move.

And then there's Isac. This week, he committed to a baptism date and he was SUPER pumped about it. We were talking to him and his mom about it and he was all, "I want to get baptized as soon as possible!" Then, he came to a baptism this weekend to see what its like and again, he was super excited. Seriously, I haven't seen a kid so excited about the gospel since I taught those two kids in Highlands Ranch. Of course, we got another bad news text yesterday: we can't meet with him anymore. We don't know the details of what happened and we're super hopeful that we'll be able to work around the roadblock that is keeping us from teaching him. It's just going to take lots of prayers and a miracle.

Despite a week that ended so poorly, from our perspective, I'm strangely peaceful about it all. I haven't dealt with disappointment in the past very well but this time, I'm OK with it. Maybe I'm starting to trust Gods plan more. What an idea, right?

We also had some great fun during the week. We were able to volunteer at a local garden that has a Christmas light display. Perfect for #LightTheWorld! Our toes got frozen but it was worth it. 

We also went on exchanges. This time I got to spend the day with sister Walker. This is only her first transfer but she's a firecracker. She kept me laughing all day with her spunky personality. I swear, she has no fear and doesn't care a drop about what people think. She knows how to strike up a conversation with anyone and keep them engaged. We taught a powerful lesson to this less-active man. He had so many questions and I just wanted to answer them all. I've never had so many answers and ideas flow through my mind in a lesson before. I managed to keep it under control and just give him a few chapters in the scriptures to read. It was so weird because I can never remember scripture references but that day they just came to me. Teaching by the Spirit is awesome because he does the remembering for you! I also just love teaching people who have sincere questions. 

So yep, that was my week. Hope yours wasn't as emotionally bizarre and trying. 

Week 5

OH boy. So much to talk about. And good news. I got lots of pictures this week!

Monday was fun because I got to see the Earls. So last Monday we broke down and went to Walmart (sorry dad!) because none of the other stores closer to us have everything we want. Don't even get my started about the bazillion stops we made this morning because of that problem. But since we were in Highlands Ranch anyway, guess who I got to see? The Earls! I love them and miss them dearly. I finally got a picture with brother Earl in it.

Then we stopped by the Lathens (a family in sister Holcombs last area which happens to be right down the street) to pick up a little Christmas tree for us to borrow (no picture yet but I got a tree, Mia!). While we were there, brother Lathen got a call from his neighbor asking for some help to move a man that they knew. Missionaries are basically professional movers so it was perfect timing. The man was moving into our ward so it was even better. As we talked about the details, sister Holcomb realized that she recognized the name of the man and that he was someone being taught by elders in our district. We called the elders and sure enough, it was Tom, the same man. So, we helped with the move the next day and the elders will be passing Tom off to us soon. I feel bad taking one of their investigators because I know how disappointing it is to have investigator move seeing as that is all that has been happening to us lately. Anyway, that whole situation was quite an interesting turn of events.

Wednesday we woke up to some snow. It was supposed to be a huge storm or something but it really didn't turn out to be all that bad. We went to the temple and it was great as it usually is. I bumped into some old friends/companions which added to the greatness.

We knocked again on that one family's door with the teenage boy who asked about church. This time the mom answered and let us in for a few minutes. We talked to her and she asked about when church is. We asked if they would want to meet with us and she said not right now, they'll start with going to church first. We're still hoping something will come out of all of this!

We went to the Relief Society (women's group) dinner and I was asked to sing for it. I thought it would be a whole program so I picked a song that usually isn't thought of a Christmas song: When He Comes Again. Someone suggested that when I asked what I should sing (because it was up to me) and I thought it was a good idea. Turns out, I was the only one on the program so oh well. Christmas is about Jesus so it works.

We had a mission tour with Elder C. Scott Grow of the Seventy. It was a long but wonderful day. I learned a lot and my list of things that I need to improve on grew about 10 feet. I just have to accept that I won't be reaching perfection in this life. When we showed up, everyone gathered in the gym. I had brought breakfast with me and was eating. Sister Ytac and sister Iraia pointed out to me that every time they see me, I'm eating...and sadly, they wouldn't be wrong. I really do eat all the time. It's a problem.

 I got to see all but 2 of my past companions!

Yesterday we had a lesson with a man named Robert. Our ward mission leader and his wife came with us. At first, Robert really didn't seem interested but when we introduced the Book of Mormon he started paying attention. Of course we gave him a copy and he said it was a really nice gift and he said he'd read and pray about it.

Another tidbit about my daily life: I cannot escape football. It's everywhere I turn and the Chiefs show up a lot. This week I've been extra homesick for my hometown. I love Denver and could totally see myself living here but my home is KC. Go Chiefs! Being in Broncos territory, I really should go take cover after saying that...

And transfer news! If it felt like a short transfer it's because it was only 5 weeks. This coming one will be 7 weeks. Anyway, as of now, we're both staying. Originally, sister Holcomb was leaving for Meeker and I was getting my very first companion, sister Harshaw, back and I was super excited. But then some dominos fell and transfer news got switched up and now we're all just staying where we've been. We'll see. Sister Holcomb really felt like she was going to leave and still thinks she might end up being emergency transferred. Whooooo knows.

I think that's enough for this week. 

Look mom! The Ralph Moody school!

I drew a map of my mission and it turned out surprisingly well.