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!