7/14/13 HI EVERYBODY!

Thank you all SO much for your emails this week. They really do just make my whole day. Knowing that i have so much solid support back home has become such a priceless asset. This week has been SO great! To start off, Arvis is still doing so strong. He's halfway through Alma right now which is crazy because he's only been reading for a couple weeks. He's still progressing like crazy and if his step mom gives permission he'll be baptized at the end of this month! We're praying and fasting that his step mom's heart will be softened and we're going to be calling to meet with her today right after this, wish us luck! We don't have any other progressing investigators at the moment but we've talked to loads of potentials this week. On Saturday we were going through a really cool park and this young guy was standing on the corner smiling and it appeared that he was waiting for us.....This never happens! we of course go and start talking to him and it's all in Latvian and then halfway in the conversation he just switched over to English like it was his first language! You have to realize that the people here that speak English are always the young trouble makers and the reason they know it is because of school. needless to say but it really isn't all that good for the most part. This guy spoke FLAWLESS English. Honestly better than most people back home and he didn't even have a hint of an accent when he was speaking English. He told us that he really just wanted to talk to us because he figured we were American and because he loved English more than anything. He told us that it just stuck to him one day and he's been addicted to the language ever since. It was incredible to listen to this guy talk. Overall he wasn't super interested in our message but then again, most young aren't. The one thing that did come from it though was that I invited to come to our district language study which is a meeting with the missionaries that are in my district come to for the purpose of trying to learn the language better. I told him to come and that we could really use his help with him being a native of Latvia and a pro at English. He said yes and we're so excited to get him in the church with us. Sometimes people need to see what we're like first before they want to meet and find out more about the truth that we have. Missionary work is the greatest thing in the world and I'm so happy that I'm doing what I am! Last night we had a strange experience (actually is really wasn't that uncommon) that I wanted to share with you. My companion and i were walking down the street when a couple of hoolies (teenage trouble makers) across the street yelled at us about religion and then waved us down to come over. Of course i started walking over with my companion because where else do fun stories like this come from if not from moments like these right? ha  We went over and the three of them were pretty drunk but not super hammered. They asked us what we were doing and we gladly told them what we tell everyone. We're here in Latvia because we want to share the message we have about Christ's church on the earth again today. They all kind of laughed and smirked and started talking about useless things. I told them that we had things to do and that we didn't want to waste our time but they kept on talking to keep us there. We talked about their life they had at the moment and it was so eye opening for me. These guys were 23-25ish and literally had nothing better to do with their lives other than to sit around drunk and high. They went to their jobs everyday and drank every night. One of them was actually fairly receptive to what I was telling him and it really hit him hard that here he saw 2 young men that were using their life to actually do something worth while and hard. He told me that he didn't do much other than drink smoke and work. I tried to bear a simple testimony to him about how life should be so much more than that. Life isn't about going out, becoming dizzy, passing out, and then waking up the next morning with a killer headache. Satan has blurred people's dreams by alcohol and drugs to where he keeps them from gaining their full potential. After I was walking away from these guys I just thought to myself where I would be if it wasn't for my faith in Christ. Honestly I probably wouldn't be much different from them. Id be lost and smothered away y one of Satan's tools against young men today. I'm so grateful for the life I have and the reason I'm here is because I want to share this light we have with everyone. If people could just be aware of Satan destroying their lives piece by piece, I know that they would get out of the hole they may be in and try to better themselves through a better power, that being Christ of course. Anyway, sorry for my soap box but it just hit me very hard last night and wanted to share it. I really am doing so well here and I'm loving everyday more and more. bad news bears though...I think I'm getting chubby :( all this work and no time to work out and play. Mom, do you promise you'll still love me even if I'm a little plump?hahaha no I'm not that bad I promise but it is kinda funny haha

I miss you all like crazy and I hope everything is going great! Love you!

-Elder Connor Webb

P.S. in other news this week, I caught a pigeon in my house!

 

 

 

 

7/7/13

hey everybody! I'm down to my last couple minutes this week but I thought I'd share an experience with you. About a week ago my companion and I were at the church and we found a random number in our planner. My companion decided to call and set up an appointment and it turned out to be a young teenage guy named Arvis that wanted to meet the very next hour. This was Friday and we were just going to go contacting so we set up the appointment. He wasn't super enthusiastic the first time we met but wanted to meet again. The next day he came to a YSA BBQ thing we had all day and then even proceeded to come to church the next day for all 3 hours! We've met every day this week with him and he's getting baptized this month! The only hold up is that his parents really aren't supportive of us and refuse to allow him to be baptized but I feel really confident that their hearts will be softened. We're actually going to meet with his parents this week. The 17 year old kid is incredible. He's halfway through the book of Mormon already and comes to church every week. He texted us last night and sent a super long message telling us all about his new found faith in Christ. Definitely keep him in your prayers! Today I'm going biking with some missionaries out to the caves in the countryside and I'm sure there will be loads of pictures to follow. Thanks for all the support and I promise you that I can feel it here when I'm starting to have a rough day. I'll send a picture of something I've found that really helps. It was something Bryson Toth said in his homecoming talk years ago but it came to mind and now I absolutely love it. I love you all so much and you're smiles and prayers make me so happy!  You're the best! 

-Elder Webb

P.S. Learn how to cook while you can at home. Long story short, my companion and I almost burned down our house this week...hahaha oops! 

 

6/30/13

It's so nice to hear from you! you're a pretty good mom :) just kidding, you're the best! but really though, I find myself talking about you and Dad all the time here. MAN! I miss hoopfest!!!! those were crazy days back then but I'm looking forward to watching them again. I'm glad  to hear about everyone having jobs. Here in Latvia it really isn't all that common for people to have jobs and I know it really hurts them personally and with whatever family life they may have. My language is getting better and better everyday and I know that it's ONLY because of my prayers and studies. I'm meeting with a man named Mark Vanderhart who's from Chicago (teaches Hebrew, Greek, and the Bible...no big deal..) and I love him to death. He's about 60 years old and he's probably the smartest scriptorian I've ever known. Our lessons are so awesome 1 because they're in English (Tender mercy for sure) and 2 because he knows EVERYTHING about the bible. It was actually a super cool experience last week ill share with you. This is probably the 5th time meeting with him and meetings normally goes as follows. We meet and say hi of course and go into an open room. I always ask him to pray because he wont pray with us thanks to the fact that he wont pray with any non Christians (EVEN THOUGH WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) but in an incredibly respectful way. he says the prayer exactly like we do and we start with answering all his questions. he has a lot... This last week was super cool though because I was on an exchange with other elders when we were teaching and one asked, "Mark I don't know you very well but I'd just like to know why exactly you're meeting with Elder Webb if that's alright to ask?" he replied by saying, "Well I'm here because I truly do want to learn about your church but I never want to learn about the Mormons through anti material. I want it straight from the teachers. In short I guess I'm here to learn but also to challenge your doctrine a little bit to see if it can be put to the test (PERFECT!)" and then the coolest thing happened. he turned to me and asked my while looking right in my eyes " Elder Webb, Why in the world are you here? you know that I'm a pretty hard nut but why do you keep on wanting to meet?" I paused for a moment and held eye contact with him and said, "Mark I'm here because I feel a genuine love for you and I love meeting because we both learn so much. Granted I don't have 60 years of bible knowledge under my belt but this I do know without a doubt in my mind, Nothing has ever blessed my life more than the Book you're holding in your hands. I'm only 19 years old but I can tell you that I know with the utmost truthfulness that this book is directly from God and that along with the Bible, you can come to a full knowledge of your Savior Jesus Christ. I'm here because I love you mark and because I want this to bless your life like it's blessed mine." what he said next brought the strongest spirit we've ever had in a lesson so far. He looked at me and said after waiting for a moment, "I want you to know that i love you too. Not just as a missionary but I love you as a real person. I want you to know that I want to see you after this life. We may have some differences on doctrine but I want you to know that I love you Elder Webb. When I'm in my hotel room reading your Book of Mormon, I've asked myself many times....What if this book was true.."after he said that he paused holding the book of Mormon just staring at it we waited for a moment and gave the Holy Ghost a chance to flood the room and believe me it did. It was incredible! He flies back to Chicago this Thursday so I'm meeting with him one more time on Tuesday and I talked my mission president into coming with me. it's going to be an incredible lesson. I can already tell. I'm going to get his email and try to keep in touch with him but i think you should send him a message or a letter or something. you know, do what moms do :) anyway he's incredible and I cant wait to see him accept this gospel. Other than Mark, we have Martinš who's progressing in every way except for attending church! come on! people here have the custom that even if they live in the city, the family always owns a small home in the country side where they travel to every Sunday. It's called the Laoukous in Latvian English and I HATE IT. we also just found a new investigator names Arvis who's 17 and totally GOLDEN. We don't even know how we got his number but we've met with him everyday for the last 4 days and he came to church yesterday! he's reading the book of Mormon like crazy and told us yesterday that it brings him a strange feeling of hope that there's something better than just average life...YEAH BABY! ill keep you posted on him too. LIFE HERE ROCKS. it's way hard at times but I'm right in the heart of finding the lost tribes of Israel. We have branches here that have a member from every tribe. We literally are gathering Israel. Also, I started reading Jesus the Christ and it's changing my life. tell dad to give it a look. It's an incredible book all about the life of Christ that opens your mind to so many insights. well, I love you all of course and I love hearing from you. you're the best family in the world and because of the picture that we have together from the morning I left, I've been able to talk to so many people. I've kinda been showin you off :) love you loads!

-Elder Webb