CDSM Transfer 5

Week 1

Well, it's been quite a week here in the Ranch. My new companions is a boss, just like I knew she would be. Sometimes I forget that I'm technically training her because I feel like she's here to train me. She knows so much and knows how to talk to people and it's great! Sometimes she gets overwhelmed and I remember that she really is still pretty new to this whole thing and then I remember back to my second transfer. Being follow up trained is hard because you think you've finally figured out how to be a missionary (turns out you never actually do) and then a new companion comes in and does many things differently. It's overwhelming and confusing. It's so weird being on the other side of it and feeling that weight and responsibility on my shoulders. Shout out to my follow up trainer, sister Cho! If she can do it, so can I. But anyway, most of the time it's great. We've started figuring out how to whitewash. It's not as hard as I thought it would be. The members in the Roxborough ward that we've met so far are great! Our investigator pool in that ward is at a grand total of 1 right now but we plan on fixing that this week. We also found out that Jimmer, as in the basketball player, lives in this ward and is a ward missionary. I'm by no means a BYU OR basketball fan but I guess some people might find that cool. Of course he's not home right now because during the season he lives...wherever the team he now plays on is (sorry, that was a poorly worded sentence but I don't feel like changing it). Ha yeah I don't actually know what I'm talking about soooo moving on.

As for Westridge, we've met some super awesome new investigators! We did a lot of tracting and I got my first tracting tan. And by tan I mean burn. Whoops. Maybe I'll use sunscreen in the future.

Wednesday afternoon, we were tracting with little success, mostly because no one was home. But the people we did meet were all super nice. We were doing a survey with this one woman when we saw a young mother pass by with two little kids and a dog. I got the impression to go talk to her. Aaaand I didn't. We continued on and saw this mother again. And again, I got the thought of "she wants you to talk to her". And what did I do? I argued back and said she's obviously super busy and wouldn't be able to talk. (I feel so dumb telling this story but every missionary has to have one, right?) Anyway, we continued on. We got to a door that opened and who do you think it was? It was her! Seriously, I felt so dumb. God is incredibly patient. He's just up there like, "Go. Go! Alright fine I'll show you where she lives." So we did the survey with her and taught part of a lesson and ask if we can come back and teach more. Yes agreed and told us to come back the next day! We came back the next day and the lesson went really well. She was excited to read the Book of Mormon and said she'd be interested in coming to church. And I'm just sitting here like, "Wow and you kept passing her by. Way to goooo, sister."
We also got a referral for a woman named Ashley. She referred herself to meet with us! She says she has several LDS friends who she has noticed are happy and dedicated to the church and she just wanted to know more. We met with her to answer some of her questions and teach the first lesson. Ashley's questions many times started with "If I were to join the church..." which gives us a lot of hope that she is interested in looking more into it. She is open to coming to church and has since talked to her husband about it who sounds like he's intrigued as well.

In other news, our zistrict has been split again so there are two districts in the zone with 3 companionships each. Back to boring. Just kidding. Everyone in the district, except me, is new and funny so I'll survive.

You know it was a good week when my email is this long. And it's going to be another good one!

Sister Webster

P.S. I haven't moved so I'm still living with the Earls. Yay!

Dave the Dog and me.

Week 2

This week was a week of tracting. Lots and looots of doors and people walking dogs. We had 20 surveys. TWENTY. And that's just the number of people who actually said more than 3 sentences to us before they shut the door (all of them very polite tho) which was at least double that number. I haven't seen a number that high anywhere on my number reports since I was in Grand Junction. It's pretty satisfying. The less satisfying part is that (1) we only got 3 new investigators (2) I was on exchanges while sister Poulton (my new companion) found all 3 of them and (3) 2 of them have already dropped us. The search for the elect is long and hard. We ended the week with a good crying session, got some very comforting priesthood blessings and now feel much better about ourselves. We are ready to take on the new week! YAY!

We did meet this Catholic Polish woman who is married to a member. She is amazing. She is very firm in staying Catholic but she has picked up on a lot of LDS beliefs because of her husband. And, although not open to changing her beliefs, she loves missionaries and is willing to hear what they have to say. We aren't counting her as an investigator as of now but we do want to keep meeting with her. She's seriously one of the coolest people I've met. Maybe it's just her accent but I'm pretty sure I could be friends with her.

Although it's been a not so interesting week in the way of investigators, we have had some good interactions with less active members. We met some very nice ones in fact. Which leads to the story of the week. Trash = miracles. Just ask our district. All three companionships met great people by trashcans/dumpsters this week. For us, it was after taking the trash out for a member. Two men walked by the dumpster and, while the first was not interested, the second agreed to talk to us. We quickly found out that he was a less active member we were actually planning to go meet right after that. After a few minutes, he told us about some difficult trials he is struggling with and we were able to share a scripture and other words that really touched him. We told him that even tho his personal family situation wasn't the best right now, the ward family would be happy to bring him in and support him. He thanked us for our words and said he just might come to church.

Things I've learned this week: Patience is key to your sanity, Polish people are awesome, and hang out by dumpsters more often. The things you learn on your mission...

Yeah I don't even know.

Me in the morning.

Week 3

Guess what everybody? I get to Skype my family this Sunday!!! Mothers day for the wiiiiin! I'm a tad excited. Anyway...

This week I have a story of following the Spirit the first time. I like it better that way. On Tuesday we were trying to contact a less active family but they didn't answer. We felt strongly that we needed to stay in the neighborhood and find the reason why. We got in the car and started driving one way and felt that we needed to go the other way. So we drove a couple blocks the other way and knew we had passed where we were supposed to go. We turned around one more time and this one particular street caught our eye. We got out and knocked on 3 doors that we felt lead to, all with the answer of "not interested". At that point we were running out of time before we needed to leave but we decided to knock on one last door. There were two houses to chose from that we felt like might be "the right one". One was in the shadows and one was in the light. We picked the light, of course. A nice, young lady named Mia answered the door and immediately invited us in to do the survey. We sat at her table, did the survey and the entire first lesson. It was our most unified lesson that we've taught so far as a companionship and the spirit was strong. We found out that her brother is actually a member and she is open to learning more! Basically, it was great.

We met with Ashley (the woman who referred herself) again after we started thinking she might not be as interested anymore. Turns out she had just been busy but really wants to keep learning. Her husband, Mike, was there for the lesson and he is also interested. Ashley had read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and Mike had read the restoration pamphlet and the first chapter of the Book of Mormon just out of curiosity. They even wanted to come to church but they all got a stomach virus and weren't able to come. But they definitely plan on coming soon and we're sooo excited!

We had zone meeting. Always a fun time. Our zone this transfer is on fire! We had a few trainings that gave us new ideas and encouragement and just overall goodness. And to top it off, our zone leaders made us all cotton candy during break time. To be totally honest, it was quite entertaining to watch to guys in suites make cotton candy.

And yep, that about sums up the exciting parts of my week. Good news is, I have a lot of pictures this week to make up for the lack thereof last week.

Sister Webster

Week 4

It happened, I skyped my family yesterday! Boy, do I love those people. It was way too short of course but it's fine. I came to the realization that next time I Skype them, I'll only have 4 months left before I go home. SO WEIRD! Time warps in weird ways on a mission.

In honor of mothers day yesterday, I want to share the ultimate mothers day scripture: Alma 56:47-48. It's a classic.

"Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers , that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. 

And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers , saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

Shout out to all you AMAZING moms out there who are raising the warriors of the future! OK that's enough sap for the day.

This week pretty good but fairly uneventful (other than skyping, of course). We had another successful lesson with our investigator Carolyn. She's been meeting with missionaries on and off for...a very long time. She's never really gone anywhere in way of progression tho. BUT! We are getting somewhere! Things are slowly starting to click for her and she said a prayer at the end of the lesson. These are big steps for her and we are sooo happy.

This week we tracted into this nice man who ended up being pretty interested (we think). We taught him a quick restoration lesson and by the end he was ready to pay for a Book of Mormon. We gave one to him (for free of course) and he said he'd start reading it that night.

Aaaaand...yeah I don't have much. We did a lot of member visits and such because getting to know a new ward takes time but you don't have time so speeding it up is really nice. Sorry, that made zero sense. I'm not going to change it tho. That reminds me, I have daily arguments with my companion, who is an English major, about various things involving language (all in fun of course, I love her with all my heart). It's super nice to have the last name of Webster so you can tell all those English majors that you can do what you want and add anything to the dictionary. Yup, that's me. Winning every argument involving English since 1996. Thanks for the name, dad! Alriiiiiight now that I'm way off topic...

Last in the news of the week is that we got our zone shirts! No, this isn't a normal thing. Our zone leaders and another set of elders just wanted to make zone shirts and somehow convinced us to pay for them. They're pretty cool I guess. We are the Humble Heros of Highlands Ranch!

Sister Webster

Week 5

I'm not in much of a story telling mood today so this is probably going to be boring. Sorry. The pictures are cool tho.

So basically the highlight of my week was volunteering at the Roxtrot. It's a 5k and 10k race the Roxborough ward has hosted for a few years now and it was pretty legit. The race goes through the beautiful neighborhood of Roxborough Park and it's totally something I'd come back and race after my mission if I have the chance. Most of the missionaries in the zone came too. Sister Poulton and I were cross guards since the course crossed the road quite a few times. It was a pretty cold day tho so I was frozen for about two hours after that.

Investigator wise, it was a slow week. We had another powerful lesson with Carolyn so that was good. The movie "What About Bob" has been quoted quite a few times this week. "Baby steps. Baby steps." Baby steps are waaay better than no steps.

Our biggest miracle was when one of our newest investigators called and told us he needed to reschedule our lesson. At first we were disappointed but then he went on to tell us that he has been reading the Book of Mormon and finds it fascinating and enlightening. He is currently in the process of moving so his life has been hectic this past week but is still eager to meet with us and says he will call us if he has any questions as he reads the Book of Mormon.

Other than that, our ward mission leader is suuuper fired up right now. You have no idea how great that is. When your ward mission leader basically dares you to wear him out, you know you have a good one. He wants to work, we want to work, we all want to work. Work, work, work!

And yeah, like I said, not much to say. I'm sure I could come up with more but I don't really feel like it. Enjoy the pictures. You're welcome.

Sister Webster

P.S. Here's another shout out to one of my other childhood best friends, Mary! She got her mission call and leaves in July. KC 1st ward represent! Wahoo!!!

Week 6

It's madness at the library today because there are a bunch of people making reservations for computers so everyone is getting kicked off and it's transfers tomorrow so we're already short on time and AAAAAAA!!!!! I already got kicked off and will have to keep this short because my companion needs to get back on a computer too. Bottom line, transfer Mondays are anything but fun. Rawr. Anyway, I have to type quick. I can't think right now. *sigh*

SO, big news: I am getting transferred. Far. Far. Away. My new area is called Gunnison and supposedly is absolutely gorgeous in the summer and the coldest place in the country in the winter. So basically, I'm blessed. I get to go when it's just warming up. It'll be good. I'm super bummed tho because I have really come to love Highlands Ranch and I finally feel like I'm really getting a hold on the area.

A few weeks ago we tracted into a former investigator named Chuck and he said that he had met with elders a few years ago. He said he would be totally willing to meet again but didn't think we'd be able to get very far before he disagreed and would refuse to go on. We said that we would love to teach him anyway. Yesterday we finally got the chance to teach! At first it felt like he might try to bash but the Spirit poured into the room and you could physically see him soften. He explained that he felt distant from God at this point in his life, that he was searching for more but that he had already read the Book of Mormon twice and disagreed with it so he didn't know if we could help him. We bore testimony of the purpose of the Book of Mormon and part way through the lesson, he stopped trying to resist everything we were teaching and he began thanking us for it instead. At the end, he said "You know, this meeting was not at all what I expected." We asked him what he had expected and he said he really thought it would turn into a battle which explained why he seemed so on guard at the beginning. But when he realized that we really were only there to teach him what we know because we cared about him, his hearted opened. He seemed really excited to meet again. He's so hungry to know the truth and to find how to fill the void that is in his soul right now. I'm really sad that I won't be here to see what happens next but I have high hopes for him and the missionaries who continue to teach him. 

Anyway, that's about all I have time to write about. RAWR! I'm sorry. I won't be so frazzled next week. Probably. We had zone conference this week so here's a zone picture.

Talk to y'all next week when I'm living in the mountains!