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!

CDSM Transfer 4

Week 1

So, it's not been the most successful week. You know those investigators I was super excited about? Yeah, they already dropped us. We also got straight up yelled at by a person who was less than happy for us knocking on their door. We finally found a guy we talked to awhile back and he quickly turned us away. The YSA sisters, my dear MTC friends, got switched out for elders. Sister McBride is in a neighboring zone so I'll bump into her occasionally but sister Smith is now in Grand Junction in a ward bordering Pear Park so she's super lucky and I'm super missing her. Ha yeah it's been a sad week. I wish I had some kind of happy news or something but...hmm nope. Can't think of anything.

Before I came to Highlands Ranch, the district was also the zone. Last transfer, when I got here, they decided to split the district so we could have a normal zone with two districts. But that meant there were only 3 companionships in each district (you following?). Well, I guess they didn't like that so we're all back in one big zistrict, as I call it, but now there are 4 sets of elders and 2 sets of sisters. The other sister companionship has 3 sisters now so that's fun!

This weekend was stake conference and the main focus was missionary work. It's a great topic! The members in the area are so great and I'm excited to see all their efforts in the work.

I also have no pictures this week so...I'm sorry this was just a boring, downer kind of email. This week WILL be better!

Advice: don't forgot to be kind, tell your loved ones that you love them and be positive!

I love you all!

Sister Webster

I totally forgot to mention that I finally got to go to the Denver temple this week! We can only go every 3 months IF we're on the metro side of the mission. I missed the last one because I was definitely not metro side at the time. Anyway, here are the pictures. Twas a good day. The end.

Week 2

Thank you all for your kind words this week. Sounds like a lot of us had an off week. It happens. We move on and it gets better.

In fact, it's been a much better week. Week did a looot of tracting and got 3 new investigators! It's nice to know that there are nice people. It just takes some work to find them. And that's what missions are about: work, work, work. We also contacted 4 referrals. They all turned us away but we contacted them so that's an accomplishment. No one is ever home around here. Why would you be if you could be out in the mountains?

I went on exchanges with the wonderful Sister Messenger. She had a meeting in the early afternoon so I spent 2+ hours just hanging out in the mission office waiting for her. You wouldn't believe how interesting that place is (that wasn't sarcasm by the way). And how many of my missionary friends go through there during the course of a 2 hour period. After Sister Messenger got out of her meeting, we spent the rest of the day tracting. Her area reminded me much of Pear Park. It was a good day.

Friday was the stake youth variety show. The person who put it together really wanted some missionaries to be in it so she asked some of us to sing. We, along with a set of elders agreed. The catch was that the song couldn't be spiritual. Yeah, coming up with a song we'd be allowed to sing took us a few days. We finally decided on My Country Tis of Thee. Not sure how we sounded but it was fun anyway. Singing with people who know how to and want to sing is refreshing.

Saturday was kind of the biggest bummer of my life. See, Brad Wilcox (an LDS motivational speaker) and David Archuleta (the American Idol runner up from forever ago who is still famous) were doing a fireside in our stake center. The missionaries were invited IF they brought investigators. We had a few that said they'd come and one by one, they began cancelling. We had one left that was a "maybe" right before the devotional started. And he didn't show up. And we had to do the walk of shame out of the building along with a lot of other missionaries whose investigators flaked. I wasn't super sad about missing brother Wilcox since he had spent a day at youth conference in 2013 (although he is pretty cool). It was missing David that was super sad. I mean, I saw him walk in but I didn't get to hear him sing or anything. And so we went tracting. Completely unsuccessful. Completely disappointing. OK I need to stop with this pity party. I'll survive just fine. I'm here to be a missionary for Pete's sake. Speaking of which, I came across a couple scriptures today that gave me some comfort that I wanted to share. Being a missionary is hard so the only way I'm going to make it is to put my full trust in God and never ever give up.

Alma 26:12 & 27

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

End of the day exhaustion.

Hope you week is looking up!

Sister Webster

Week 3

My oh my where do I even start? It's been a week of true miracles. I've definitely learned that fasting with a group of people helps those miracles pour in faster. Back when I was in Grand Junction, our zone did a fast for miracles and the following weeks were some of the most successful while I was there. Last week, one of our wards fasted for an increase in missionary work. Once again, the success has poured in.

It started Tuesday night when we ate dinner a less active members house. Her husband and kids are not members but they were all very friendly to us. We asked if we could share a message after dinner so she and the kids sat down and listened. Sister Broederlow shared her favorite story from the Book of Mormon. The kids loved it! And the mom said, "oh, that was a short message." Sister Broederlow and I looked at each other and pulled out a Restoration pamphlet. We gave them a full lesson. The kids asked questions and sat there completely enthralled. I've never seen anyone that into a lesson before, let alone a 9 and a 12 year old. At the end, we asked them if they thought that what we had taught was true. The 12 year old boy wasn't sure so we invited him to pray about it. He readily agreed. Then we turned to the 9 year old girl. She said with all the sincerity she could muster, "I know it's true. I know God gave us the Book of Mormon because He loves us and he wouldn't leave us in a sea of pasta [meaning apostasy]." I have never heard such a simple yet profound testimony in my life. The spirit was there so strong. We asked if we could come back and teach more and the kids basically jumped out of their chairs to beg their mom to let us come back. We handed them each a pamphlet to read and learn more about what we had taught and they ran to the couch to read it immediately. The girl told her mom, "Throw out all my other books. I just want to read this." The boy kept thanking us over and over again for coming and teaching them. I went home and cried that night and thanked Heavenly Father for leading us to this family.

The other huge miracle we experienced this week happened Saturday. We have been looking for this former investigator, Angela, for a few weeks now. She had been on date to be baptized but then she got very sick and the missionaries had to drop her. Unfortunately, these missionaries had not written down her address. {{{NOTE to current and future missionaries: Don't ever make that mistake. Take the area book seriously. Like the salvation everyone you teach is at stake. Because it is. Thank you.}}} Fortunately, the Earls keeps in contact with the missionaries who stay in their home. We asked sister Earl to contact those missionaries and ask if they remembered where Angela lives. One of them sent directions to the best of their memory. We then knew it was in a certain apartment complex and thought we knew what door had been described in the directions. We've been trying that door ever since but no one has ever answered. Well, Saturday we tried again with no luck. We decided to try the door next to it. A man answered and quickly told us that he wasn't interested. We began walking away when we heard a faint voice behind us. I almost thought I was just hearing things but we turned around and a tiny, frail old lady stood there beckoning to us. She asked us what religion we were and we told her. She sighed and said, "That's what I thought," with relief in her voice. She told us that her son was a little grumpy but that we were welcome to come back and teach her when he wasn't home. Was asked her what her was and she told us that it was Angela. We found Angela! Or rather, Angela found us.

One last story from the same day. It was an hour that I was able to experience the extreme ends of missionary life. We started tracting on a street that, in the past, had a lot of success. The first door we knocked on had a woman behind it who absolutely did not want to see us. She slammed the door. Not once but twice. And then as we continued on knocking on her neighbors doors, she came out to stand on her driveway and continued to yell and cuss at us. She was so angry that I was honestly worried she'd call the cops on us. Thankfully, everyone after that was very nice to us even if they weren't interested. The last door we knocked on, a nice man named Franco answered and agreed to help us with our survey. He was very animated and happy. He asked a few really good questions about religion because he was at a point in his life where he was wondering what is actually true. We got pretty excited by that and asked if we could come back and answer some of his questions later because there was what seemed to be a family gathering in the background and we didn't want to take more of his time from his family. He said, "Yes! My wife would love that."  During all of this, people kept walking by assumedly to see if he was almost done. While we were writing down our number to give to him, another man walked up and said, "Girls, just come on in! We're about to sing Franco happy birthday." We were like, "Wait, Franco, it's YOUR birthday? And you still talked to us?" He just chuckled and told us that he didn't want to be rude. We joined the family in singing happy birthday. It was good day.

OK enough stories for the day. Needless to say, overall it's been a GREAT week! Also, probably my record for longest email.

Sister Webster

Bonus: sister B and helium fun.

Week 4

So remember the grand adventure we took to Red Rocks and such? Well, while we were there, sister Fetuli fell and thought she had just bruised her knee or something. Weeks later, after dealing with increasing pain, she found out she had torn her ACL. She is now recovering from surgery at our house because she can't handle the stairs at her apartment. We sat down with sister Murdock and 3 companionships in the area and set up a rotating schedule of having someone sitting with sister Fetuli every day while work continues to happen in all of our areas still. It's been a circus in the Earls home this past week and they have been very good to us as up to 8 sisters can be in the house at once when we're shuffling around. But, sister Fetuli is recovering quickly so all is well! We just feel bad for her because she was supposed to go home on April 13th but because she had to have the surgery here (she's from Tonga so it was better for her to stay for surgery) she also has to have physical therapy well past that date. We just try to show her as much love and encouragement as possible. Anyway, Project Sister Fetuli has dominated our week but that didn't stop us from continuing to see miracles!

Monday night we stopped by the Johnstons because they hadn't set up an appointment with us. They welcomed us in and we were able to teach them again. We set up to come back later in the week but the kids got sick so they had to cancel. The mom texted us to apologize and then told us how much her kids loved us. She said we teach them in a way that they are engaged and she really hoped that we wouldn't get transferred before we could meet with them again. We reassured her that transfers are still a few weeks out and we proceeded to do a happy dance. Her words of gratitude made our week.

We still haven't been able to meet with Angela because things keep coming up and she had to cancel but she left a message telling us that she still really wants to meet with us and she trusts in the Lords timing.

While out knocking doors, we got a text telling us that we had a referral. The man had actually referred himself because he had been meeting with missionaries and had just moved to the area. I called him up and set up a time the next day to meet him. He and his girlfriend had just moved here a few days before and were very welcoming. We can tell he knows it's all true. He just has to make the commitment of taking the next step. We're excited to help him!

We went back and taught Franco this week. His wife sat in the lesson as well. They were both receptive and interested. When we asked if they'd read the Book of Mormon, he said that they might as well and she eagerly agreed. Seriously, the enthusiasm I've been seeing lately tops all that I've seen in the past 5 months combined. It's very encouraging, let me tell you.

And those are the highlights of the missionary stories this week. One more funny story:

There's a man named brother Guthrie in one of our wards who served a mission many years ago in a mission that did not allow nametags. Don't ask me why. It was considered unprofessional or something. Well, he's spent the last 40 years complaining about it and reminds all the missionaries to be grateful for their name tags and take good care of them. Sister Broederlow and I schemed up a plan to order him one. It's really not that hard and we don't know why someone didn't do it earlier. It came in on Saturday which was perfect because we were going to the Guthries the next day. We handed brother Guthrie a "thank you note" which had the tag in it. His eyes grew wide as he opened the envelope and gasped. He was genuinely so happy and thankful. He thanked us over and over and declared that he'd post about this on facebook and "be a missionary that way". Doing something so simple that makes someone so happy is the best. You should try it sometime.

And I managed to write a long email again. I don't know what is happening to me. Oh well. Hope you enjoy my take on life. It's great if you make it great!

Sister Webster

Week 5

Twas a week full of sickness, snow and spring break...for everyone but us. Which doesn't work out too well because we still have to work but everyone else is busy playing and can't meet with us. Haaa it's fine. We were sick and snowed in most of the week anyway. Which means there's not a lot to report on.

Tuesday was my day to stay in with sister Fetuli. She is doing great and starting to go on outings now. We spent the day coloring and singing and...I don't even know. The day was over really fast even tho we hardly did anything. 

Wednesday we woke up to a blizzard but we went out anyway. We had sister conference and it wasn't cancelled so off we went. I'm proud to announce that I never got us stuck or in an accident. I guess I'm pretty good in the snow. It was pretty scary at times tho. The stop lights were completely covered with snow so it was a real gamble at times going through intersections. As we left the meeting, most of the sisters were getting stuck before they even left the parking lot so we all helped each other get unstuck. Turns out, it's a great life skill to have. 

The rest of the day was spent inside cooking, cleaning and studying as well as outside shoveling. My back still hurts from that. It snowed several feet so it was a project. The good thing about Colorado snow is that it doesn't turn to ice so shoveling it actually works instead of just revealing the ice under the snow as is common in the Midwest. Plus it melts so much faster here. It snowed again the next day and yet the roads were completely clear within 24 hours. Seriously such a miracle. I love Missouri but winters here are much easier even if it snows more. Oh and it's never bitterly cold either. I shoveled with bare hands and was just fine.

Easter was really just like any other Sunday schedule wise. Which wasn't a problem. As long as we remember Christ, that's all that matters. Speaking of which, I totally forgot to send the links for the Easter videos this year. Many of you have probably already seen them but they're so good. You can't miss them! Follow Him and find new life. #Hallelujah

mormon.org/easter/hallelujah

mormon.org/easter/follow-him

Have a good one!

Sister Webster

Week 6

My companion has been sick for going on 2 weeks now but that hasn't stopped work from getting done, although not as much as we'd have liked. Sister Richards (in a neighboring ward) has been sick as well so her companion, sister Uhri, and I have been tag teaming most days to get some work done while our companions try to recover together. And that has been on top of taking care of sister Fetuli. Which, by the way, she is doing very well! She is out and about more and more often, although she hasn't been cleared to do actual missionary work yet. Sadly, President Murdock has decided to house her at his house until she goes home so that we all can get back to work (assuming the sickness will pass). We will have to say goodbye to her tomorrow.

We almost put our little friends Evan and Avery on date for baptism this week. We're just waiting to hear back form their mom to see if their dad approved it. They are some seriously passionate kids and I love it.

Sister Broederlow felt prompted to text a former investigator, Apiffany, that we had previously been unable to contact. Apiffany soon texted back and said that she had been looking for our number everywhere but couldn't find it. She had wanted to go to church but didn't remember what time or what building we'd be at and was too shy to just show up. She is a sweet, young mother of an energetic 3 year old boy and she is pregnant with her second child. She's had a crazy, hard life but her love for her children and husband is undeniable. It always impresses me when people pull out of the rut they were raised in and rise higher.

It was General Conference this weekend! I was sure that I would finally be able to make it through the 8 hours without falling asleep. And yet I managed to nod off for a few minutes during one talk. It's a struggle. I really don't have much insight from conference to share right now. I've finally come to terms with the fact that I don't learn auditory very well. I will have to wait for all of it to be written out to really share what I learned. There was one talk that I liked that talked about home and visiting teaching (a program in the church that involve the members in caring for and teaching individual members and families in their congregation). I don't remember for sure who it was that gave it because I left my notes at home but I think it was Mervyn B. Arnold. But basically, I was sitting there saying amen in my head the whole time. It wasn't until my mission that I realized how important visiting (and home) teaching is. It's missionary work for the people who are already members. It's a way to know how each one of "the sheep" who are in the fold are doing and being aware of their needs. A way to make sure everyone has a friend and no one is lonely or left out. I guess I have a different perspective as a missionary. My whole focus right now is to bring people to Christ, members or not. I'd do it all if I could but my main duty is to the people who haven't heard the gospel yet. Please, please, if you have a home or visiting teaching route, take it seriously! Reach out. Don't give up on people. Love and care about them because they are precious children of God. Some of the most amazing people that I've met on my mission have been those people on the ward directory that no one in the ward know. Don't miss out on a great opportunity to meet these unknown people and strengthen the people you already know. *steps off soapbox*

Aaaaaanyway, yesterday I saw a new Mormon Message taken from President Uchtdorfs talk that he gave at women's conference last week I believe. He talks about receiving the shower of Gods blessings by not putting up our umbrellas of doubt, disobedience and other blessing-deterrents. Sorry the link is so long and ugly...

lds.org/media-library/video/2015-03-009-a-shower-of-heavenly-blessings?category=mormon-messages-2016&lang=eng&cid=HP_TH_3-24-2016_dPFD_fMM_xLIDyL2-3_

And speaking of President Uchtdorf, if you were watching conference yesterday, he said something in German and then said something to the extent of "for those of you who do not speak the celestial language...". I didn't hear the translation because the whole group of missionaries we were sitting with were laughing way too hard. What made it really funny was that one of the elders in my district is straight from Germany and he turned around and looked at all of us with great pride in his eyes. It was probably way funnier in person. Sorry to bore you with that silly story but it really was funniest thing I'd seen all day.

Well that was longer than expected. Better get going. Oh! Transfers are this coming week so all mail needs to go to the mission office. Thank you!

Sister Webster

Bonus: me singing in a quartet with sister B and a set of elders.

Week 7

This week I went on exchanges with sister Poulton. She has only been out for one transfer but she is an amazing missionary. Like, really, I want to be like her when I grow up to be a missionary...(oh wait...). While on that exchange I kept thinking "I could totally be companions with her". Apparently God overheard my thoughts because, starting tomorrow, she will be my companion!

Also, besides getting a new companion, I will be whitewashing (that means both my companion and I will be going into a new area together). The weird part is, I will still be covering the Westridge ward. They (President and whoever else makes these decisions) decided to reassign some areas in the stake. So, goodbye to Summit View ward. I will miss you! Hello Roxborough ward! I hope I can figure out what I'm doing sooner than later... Oh yeah, and all but 4 of the 12 missionaries in the zone are being transferred. That's a lot of whitewashing happening around here.

I left my old planner at home and can't for the life of me remember much of what I did last week. We had a birthday celebration after district meeting because 3 of the elders had birthdays this past week. We asked one of our members if she could make a cake (because she makes realllly good cake) and she did. It was delish. 

We stopped by to see Evan and Avery. They haven't gotten permission to be baptized yet but I have a good feeling it'll be a yes. I seriously love those kids and I'm glad I'm staying in their ward so I can keep teaching them.

Ummmm I know I'm forgetting something. But oh well. I'm sure I'll have plenty to say next week.

Have a good one!

Sister Webster

CDSM Transfer 3

Week 1

Well, I'm on the other side of the state now. Highlands Ranch (Denver metro) is where I landed this transfer and let me tell you, it's different. If you were to compare neighborhoods in KC, I went from Ruskin to Shawnee. So, yeah. Different. Not better or worse. Just different. Tracting (door to door) doesn't work here, I found out. We have to be best friends with the members or we don't have anyone to teach. And thats pretty much where we're at right now. Starting from scratch and finding ways to fill our teaching pool. Other differences: not only do we not have another set of missionaries in our ward, we cover two wards by ourselves and the boundaries are way bigger than the 2x2 mile ward I was last in. We are now just a 15 minute drive from the mission office so if we need commissary, we can just go pick it up instead of waiting weeks for it to arrive. It's a dream, no joke.

My new companion is sister Broederlow. Her name is German-American but she's mostly Polynesian. I'm followup training her (meaning she's only been out 6 weeks and has another 6 weeks of training to go) but it feels like she's the one training me. She is super bold and is here to work. She says she doesn't know what she's doing but I beg to differ. You should've see her the other night at a lesson bearing hard testimony and making the family cry (in a good way). It was amazing. We're here to change Highlands Ranch for the better!

Us with sister Earl and Dave the dog who we live with.

Funny story, sister Broederlow got proposed to by a little boy (about the age of 5 or 6) the other night while we were doing a member lesson with his family. He wouldn't let it down and she told him she'd pray about it. He was pretty excited. Hopefully he's not too heart broken when she tells him the real answer.

Have a good one!

Sister Webster

Week 2

Not a whole lot to report this week. Sister Broderlow has been having trouble sleeping since she got to Colorado so some days we have to take slower than others because she's not feeling so well. The last couple of nights we've been sleeping at the mission home to see if that helps in any way. Somehow it has and she slept through the night last night. But, the mystery continues. Hopefully we'll find an answer sooner than later.

This week I met some of sister Harshaws extended family who live here in one of the wards I serve in. Super cool!

Yesterday was my first day at church since sister Broederlow wasn't feeling well last Sunday. You think 3 hours of church is long? Well, I'm going to have to get used to 5 hours of church for now since I have to go to both wards. We just miss third hour in the first ward because the second ward starts at 11.

I have to say, most of the members here are super cool and on fire to do missionary work. We will be spending a bit of time in members homes working with them to become the best member missionaries they can be. This way, we can start getting referrals from them because, well, as President Gibb (first counselor in the mission presidency) has said, "I've lived here for 22 years and I've seen one baptism come from knocking on doors. Bottom line, it doesn't work. We still tract to show our dedication but members are the key to success."

Sorry it was so short and boring today. I'll try to have a more adventurous week to write about this week.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Sister Webster

Week 3

This week two awesome miracles happened. The first one was when we went to go try a referral that a member, Natalie, had given us. We knocked on the door and the husband opened it. Before we could say anything he said, "Oh, come on in! Natalie said you might be stopping by." And yep, he just let us in. That's never happened before... We said hi to the family but the wife wasn't home so we scheduled to come back.

The next day, it was 8:30 and we weren't having much success. We were about to get in the car when sister Broederlow said, "I don't think we're supposed to leave yet. There's someone else." I agreed and felt like we needed to go check on a member across the parking lot.  So, we turned around and walked that way. Before we got the apartment, we walked up to a man who was walking his dog. We asked if he would help us with our survey and he readily helped us. Before we knew it, we had been standing there for about 15 or 20 minutes talking to him. He mentioned that he and his wife had just recently moved to the area and were still looking for a church to call home. Sister Broederlow quickly got excited and invited him to visit ours. He said he might. We plan on visiting him this week if we can.

We also had zone conference this week and won the Golden Hubcap Award which meant we had the cleanest car. We honestly weren't expecting that. I mean, our car was pretty clean but certainly not perfect. But hey, we weren't  complaining. We got subway gift cards, candy bars and 100 extra miles to our allowed weekly mileage! It was a good day.

Oh, and sister Broederlow had a doctors appointment and it was outside of the mission. Suuuuper weird. We actually got to see down town Denver. A bit reminiscent of when sister Smith and I escaped the MTC for a doctors appointment and got to walk down the street to the BYU health clinic. I don't know what I'm going to do with these companions of mine. Ha, jokes. I love them.

These past few weeks have been super warm (up to the 70s on a good day) but that has come to an end. It's now snowing like there's no tomorrow. Our car doors got frozen last night. That was fun... I'm just grateful I have a car.

OK so I really don't know how to end these emails. So, I'm just going to say goodbye. Pictures to proceed.

Sister Webster

Week 4

So as I said last week, it was snowing like crazy. It continued to do so for another day and so we had a snow day on Tuesday because there was no way our car was going to be able to plow through that snow. We actually ventured out for dinner and got stuck when we got there and on the way back. Super fun stuff. Well, a week later it's melted pretty well.

That wasn't the end of the car problems tho. Thursday was the first day since I got to Highlands Ranch that we had appointments scheduled all day so of course it would be the day that our car decided to give us a hard time. The snow was decently melted so there was a lot of water everywhere. We went through what looked like a small puddle which turned out to be a much bigger dip in the road causing us to bump pretty hard. Shortly thereafter, we heard scraping under the car. We got out and looked to find that there was most definitely something dragging. We called our zone leaders to come look at it but the car is so low to the ground that they couldn't fit under it to even look at it. So, we called a member to ask for help and he said to come to his house. The was the loudest, most obnoxious mile ever, not to mention scary because who knows what could be dragging. We got to the members house where he quickly took off the dragging part. It was some kind of cover plate or something. From there, we've just driven without it. We wouldn't normally do that except for the fact that we were scheduled to get a new car soon so there wasn't a point in getting it fixed. So far nothing has exploded so we're just eeking it out until we get our new car.

Yesterday we did Sharing Time in primary (the main lesson for the children's Sunday school). That was...interesting. Takes me back to the days when I was in primary. I didn't really like it for the last few years I was there so it gave me some appreciation to my teachers who were planning lessons for kids ages 3-11. Not easy to keep everyone's attention with the big of an age range.  

So the Broncos were in the super bowl. President and Sister Murdock learned from experience that very little work gets done on super bowl Sunday when the Broncos are in the game because all of Colorado is "busy" that day. So, they just invited the missionaries over to their house for the evening if we didn't have anything to do. Knocking doors would be highly ineffective and most members were watching it too so there was very little for us to do. Thankfully, a family volunteered to feed us and recorded the game and another family didn't care about the game so we spent some time there but after that, we went to the Murdocks. I called it the anti-super bowl party. We just sat there for a few hours talking to the other missionaries who came.

Those were the adventures of the week. Our teaching pool is...getting better. Still really slow but it's increasing.

Have a great week!

Sister Webster

Week 5

Holidays on Mondays was a bad idea. Then again, maybe not. I didn't get to email yesterday but I still get to today so I just had an extra 2 hours yesterday! We spent that time well sightseeing with the woman we live with and another set of sisters. We went to Arrowhead Golf Course, the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Lookout Mountain where Buffalo Bill is buried. It was unbelievably windy everywhere. Overall, it was a super fun-filled day!

One of the men giving a talk on Sunday quoted the priest in Princess Bride (mawage!) as well as Kip Dynamite from Napoleon Dynamite. Haha it was a great Valentines day talk about love.  It was funnier if you were there. Just thought I'd share.

In the life of missionary work: just the same old, same old. I wish I had exciting things to report but we're just teaching the same small handful of investigators, recent converts and less actives. We did a little tracting the other day and made a big mistake. We were able to do a survey with a nice man but for some reason we just left without sharing anything with him after we finished the survey. For the rest of the evening we felt awful. We knew we had to go back. We finally went back and knocked on his door, not knowing what we were going to do. I wish I could say he felt our sincerity and let us in to talk to him but it was far from that. He was a little irritated that we had gone back and said he was happy to help us with the survey but he didn't want to talk to us any further. Note to all you missionaries out there, open our mouth when the opportunity is there and the moment is right. Follow the spirit the FIRST time. Save yourself some embarrassment and dignity. Needless to say, I learned a huge lesson form that experience.

It's been a rough week because sister Broederlows health has gotten bad again so that has affected how much we've been able to do each day. There was an evening where she blacked out and doesn't remember much from the rest of the night. Everyone is stumped about what is going on at this point. We're just hoping to find answers soon so she doesn't have to keep dealing with this.

Thanks for all your support!

Sister Webster

Week 6

This week has been filled with lots of service, amazing experiences for recent converts and drum roll please...NEW INVESTIGATORS! Those are hard to come by around here, let me tell you. It's something to celebrate.

Our new investigators came as a referral at the beginning of the transfer. A member in one of our wards simply asked their neighbors to meet with us. When we showed up at their door, they let us right in, although we weren't able to stay to share a message with them at the time. Finally, after working through scheduling, we were able to meet with them. Sara and James are super open to learning. They have been thinking of taking their kids to different churches to expose them to religion and see what they like, our church being one of them. We are super excited to see where this goes!

We were able to go with Dennis and Martha (a recent convert couple) to the temple where they did baptisms for some of their ancestors, including Martha's parents. They had such a wonderful experience and Martha was so happy that by the end she was in tears. Having grown up in the church, sometimes I don't realize how important temple work is. Watching someone who has just found out about it, experiencing the joy and relief it brings, is quite an eye opener. I know we can see and live with our deceased loved ones again through this work. THAT is one of the reasons I'm on a mission. There is greater happiness than just the here and now and I want everyone to know that.

Well, transfers are tomorrow and I'm staying here in HR with Sister Broederlow. God took me literally when I said I like things changed up all the time and gave me a new companion every transfer but I think He's finally giving me a break. We'll see. Gotta expect the unexpected around here. Speaking of transfers, we stopped by the office today and got to peek in at at the new missionaries who had just gotten there not an hour before. It's so weird to think that that was me not that long ago and yet it seems like ages ago. Time is the strangest thing on a mission.

Well, toodles til next time!

Sister Webster

P.S. Shout out to two of my bestest friends! Atlanta entered the MTC and Bille got her mission call to Cali last week. Childhood friends unite in the missionary work force! AWYEAH! OK thanks for listening to my excitement. Buh-bye.