I love you!

добре ден!

(good day!)

 

Where to begin?!

Thursday: The rumors were stewing about which special guest we'd get to see...mostly just people guessing their favorites. At breakfast I nonchalantly said, "Elder Holland's coming today." My district looked at me as if I knew something they didn't know (they really think I have connections with everyone. Little do they know, they're right.). I said it with such assurety that they had to believe me. It didn't come as a surprise to me when Elder Holland walked through the doors of our morning devotional. Everyone was out of their minds excited! As he walked in the room---it was like a wave swept over me. The Spirit of God came with him, and it was one of the most distinct moments in the history of my life. It hit me before I even saw him come in, before anyone even stood up. In that moment, I KNEW. as if anything I've ever known before was the most shallow belief. I could feel it in every ounce of my body, that this was the literal power of the Almighty God that accompanied this man. I was 12 rows away from an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. I could feel an overwhelming sense of love as he and his wife spoke. He testified the most powerful testimony I've ever heard of Joseph Smith. The spirit impressed me with some incredibly sacred things while Elder Holland spoke, and my purpose as a missionary has been made concrete in my heart. I couldn't be more excited and ove joyed that I get to have this humbling privilege to be a missionary. What an honor.

The Hollands told us that we needed to divorce our families for the day because they were adopting us as their children for Thanksgiving. I thought it was a cute and heartfelt gesture. As I looked out at the sea of missionaries, I realized that we really are all brothers and sisters; sons and daughters of Heavenly parents who love us. I always knew that, but in that moment, it was retestified to me.

Our meal was cafeteria food--instand mashed potatoes, but dont' worry. They had brown sugared yams. It was great. :) I also got to eat that delicious pumpkin bread you sent me! Thank you so much for that!

That night we watched 17 miracles and they handed out the most amazing kettle corn popcorn that's ever graced this earth. It was incredible, and I bawled like a baby during the movie. Gets me everytime. All the elders in my district were stealing all of sister olds' tissues that she brought.

The Ukrainian is coming. Last week for TRC we didn't have volunteers since it was the night before Thanksgiving, so we just practiced "door knocking" with each other. I prayed that I would take it seriously and not think of it as a silly Elder in my district. Let me tell you, it was so cool. I had a really neat experience and realized that I'm actually going to be okay when I'm in Ukraine. My teacher was so impressed with how we were doing with the language, and told us that we shouldn't worry as much as we do. Ukrainian is such a beautiful, simple, and refined language. I just need to get all the rules, conjugations, and cases in order and I'll be okay.

Madi-I was so grateful to hear all about your temple experience this week. I prayed that I wouldn't be distracted all morning long thinking about it, because I knew it would kill me if I did. I was at gym, and honestly hadn't thought about it all morning. All of a sudden I looked down at my watch and realized that you were in your session RIGHT at that moment. It was such a tender mercy of the Lord, because I was overcome with feelings of love and respect for your decision to serve a mission. I love you Mad! Thanks for being such a great example to me. You're going to rock it in the NC.

I got called as coordinating sister for our zone this week. We have a huge zone, and had 20 sisters up until recently when they all left for Russia. I'm excited to be able to serve these wonderful sisters, and get to know them better. I already felt an increase of love toward them. I'm also considered the Mama Duck for all the new Elders that came in last week. I already love those Elders.

My branch pres, Pres. Cranney loves our district. He said this week that we're the strongest, closest, best district he's ever had while serving in the MTC branch presidency. We thought he was saying that to every district, but last night he came to our district meeting and talked to us for a long time. He said some things that I really needed to hear, and I was so grateful for him. I seriously LOVE my district. I already know I'll be friends with them forever. They are my brothers. I love my companion, my Elders, and the strong relationships we've been able to build with each other. It's been the biggest blessing.

This week I got treats from home, from Jenny Smith again (I love you so much! Elder Hadfield is starting to be self-conscious that you love me as much as you love him.), from the Miller family (Wow...those drawings and notes are the most adorable, precious gifts. Thank you so much), and from GRAMMA! Thank you for those skirts. I love them so much! I have a letter for you that I'm sending out this morning. I love you Gramma! You're the best!

I'm doing really well. This week has been so incredible, and I've learned so much about myself. I still love the MTC, but I'm incredibly excited to go to Kiev and start teaching the gospel. We get our travel plans at the end of next week. I can't BELIEVE IT! :) :) I couldn't be more excited.

So something funny that happened this week: we've been challenged to memorize a scripture in Ukrainian pretty much once every 3 days. So we're pounding those out. My teacher has this list on the board of all the scriptures we need to memorize before we leave, and once everyone in the district passes it off he puts a check mark by the scripture (side note: we pretty much only speak in Ukrainian in class, and throughout the day). When we were passing something off, our teacher said (in ukrainian) "Good job! Check mark for that one!" and then stopped for a second and said in english, actually... "I don't think that means check mark. I think that means baby rabbit."

I love Ukrainian. Haha.

Thanks for all the love and support. You are all the best. Thank you for all the letters and the kind words, it really brightens my day! I am so grateful for eternal families, and the chance I have to share that blessed truth with the people of Ukraine. I love you all!

 

You're in my prayers constantly!

Love Sister Webber.

Sister Olds and Sister Webber with the sisters they share a room with. 

(From Argentina and Spain serving at Temple Square)

Thanksgiving Dinner! :) 

If ye love me, fill my mailbox

Dobre Den Seemyu i druhi!

good day family and friends!

 

I love you all! This week was definitely a rough one, and I'm realizing that I know absolutely nothing in Ukrainian. I honestly don't know what I'm going to be like on the plane going to Ukraine (that rhymes. ha). I might be a stress case, or I might just laugh at myself thinking that this is going to be one crazy adventure. Probably the latter.

Well the highlights for the week: At the temple this morning I got to see my dear friend Trevor Smith! I couldn't have been more excited, I almost started crying even. He's been such a big support to me, and I sure love that kid!

Also at the temple, the lady who was helping us get our temple dresses was asking about where we were going on our mission. When we said Ukraine she said, "Have you seen the Seinfeld about Ukraine?! It's hilarious." Then proceeded to tell us all about it. It was really funny. You should look it up! Ever since then our district always says, "Ukraine is not WEAK."

So we have a baby genius in our district named C. Schindler. He's a musical prodigy and put together a medley of hymns and we sang a mash-up of "I know that my Redeemer Lives" and "I stand all amazed" while he played the violin. We sang it in Sacrament meeting and it sounded so SWEET! Our teachers even came to listen. When they walked in the door I about cried I was so excited. We know that we're their favorite district ever, we don't even have to ask them if we are.

I still love the MTC, and I still love my district so much. They are a hoot. The MTC food, however, is pretty gnarly after 6 weeks. Let me tell you. Madi thinks I'm joking when I ask her weekly to send me a frozen pork burrito and dressing....but I assure you, I'm not joking.

Tomorrow should be great. We have a fireside in the morning, and a fireside in the evening. I'm pretty positive we'll get to have some special guests. :) I'm excited about that. We also get to be involved with 2 service projects for the people affected by the Hurricane. We watched a little documentary about the Helping Hands in New York, and I was shocked at how bad the storm was. I had no idea. The ignorance of being a missionary....but I'm so excited to get to help out in any way that I can.

So I hear they have different wording on the mission calls now. You should compare Madi's and mine. Apparently they put the scripture Matt8:21-22 that talks about letting the dead bury their dead. My teacher talked a little about that, and said that basically means, who you were before your mission doesn't matter. Leave that in the past once you've repented for it. There's absolutely no need to go dig up your past after you've been set apart, and you need to be focussed on your purpose once you get to the MTC. I thought that was interesting, and insightful.

I'm gaining such a strong testimony of prayer. I can't believe I ever went a day without praying. I feel so close to my Father in Heaven, and I can feel His love more than ever. It brings me so much joy and happiness, and I can't even describe how excited I am to be able to share this happiness with the people of Ukraine. It's going to be here before I know it!

Madi--I'm so excited for you to serve in NC! I couldn't stop crying that night because I was so happy, and so torn because I wish I could be with you this Saturday as you go through the temple. Just know that I'll be there in Spirit, and the Lord will help me be comforted because of it. But you are a rockstar. I can't believe we get to do this together, and only be apart for 21 months instead of 3 years like we thought. Ahhhh I love you, and I couldn't be more proud!

Quinc--Heard you played in the JV game!! What on earth! Look at you. I'm so happy for you. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just remember how much you love basketball, and work as hard as you can. It'll be worth it if you just remember to enjoy it and be happy :) Hope I get to hear from you this week! Love you girlie.

Janae and Harrison--I'd love to hear from you soon. It's been about a month! I think about you and pray for you all the time. I sure love you tons.

Tell Brother Durrant congrats for me, and send him my love!

  

As my MTC experience is coming to a close, I have one word to ask for anyone reading this. If ye love me, fill my mailbox. :) It's going to be difficult to have regular correspondance once I'm on the other side of the world, so here's your chance. I have only a few weeks before I depart to the land of the icicles, so send me a note this week! No note is too trivial...trust me. I love you all, and am so grateful for the support and prayers that are in my behalf!

 

all my love and prayers,

sestra webber

 

I'm so excited!

I'm not going to take too much time emailing today because I want to get on later to see where Madi gets her call! I apologize in advance! :) :) :) :) AHHHHHHHH!!!! I'm FREAKING OUT!

This week was so good. Probably the best one yet. Our Russians are leaving this week and next week, and our district will finally be the 'olders'. I can't believe it. The older districts were so smart and advanced in the language when we got here (or so it seemed). There's no way I'm in their position now. We get new districts in our zone today, and I'm so excited to be the mama duck and help them out. I can't wait! 
Sunday I got to watch the Testaments. All I can say is: I'm stoked to preach the gospel to people and tell people of those miraculous events. Jesus Christ really did appear to the people in the Americas, and He really IS risen. This is His church. I was so excited after I watched that, and am getting way ready to go to Ukraine. 


taught our district meeting on Sunday, and it went really well. For Sacrament meeting, they give everyone the topic and everyone has to prepare a talk in their new language. The way they assign talks is just picking someone randomly out of the congregation after the sacrament is passed, and they have to go up right then to speak. We call it Russian Roulette. (ha. get it?). Anyway, all Sunday morning I knew I was probably going to get picked, even though they hadn't picked any of the newbys yet. My branch president came and sat by me at lunch, and that pretty much sealed the deal. He told this story about how when he'd get interviewed to be stake pres, he'd always joke around about making a presentation and saying "These are the reasons you should pick me as stake president", just so they wouldn't pick him. An Elder in my district said, "Well these are the reasons sister webber and I should be your speakers today...." Well guess what. That backfired. I was chosen as the Sacrament meeting speaker. I told a little joke in Ukrainian at the beginning, and when my district were the only missionaries that laughed, I knew the Russians didn't understand anything. So I was free to say whatever I wanted in Ukrainian, and only 7 people out of the 50 in the room would understand. Score. But I feel like I did a really good job, and everyone was pretty impressed with how "good" my Ukrainian was (only because no one knew what I was saying). It was fun!

I got a package this week from Madi, it was so great! I also got another package from the Miller family! They are the GREATEST! Tell her I say thank you so much! :) I'm writing their family a little love note this week.
So this week I've really been trying to work on SHOWING how happy I am. I'm truly happy all. the. time. I just have a hard time showing it. Basically every time someone saw me this week they'd say, "Why are you so happy??" I think I'm finally able to express the emotion that I'm actually feeling. Who knows why that's always been a problem for me! It's funny. 

My language is coming along. I'm feeling much more confident in my lessons, and am able to express a lot more than I ever have. I still have a hard time, and always am confused with the grammar and the way they say things. It's so backwards and different than English. Yesterday I was translating a passage with my teacher during language study, and he kept saying, "Come on, you know this word." I felt like my brain was about to explode because I couldn't translate half the words. It was so hard. I was getting a little frustrated with myself after about 10 minutes of translating, and finally I stopped and said, "I feel so dumb, and everyone is listening to me." My teacher said, "Don't feel dumb, and don't you ever talk about yourself that way." I almost started crying. I realized I need to stop caring about where I am compared to everyone else. I just need to work as hard as I can and the Lord will help me out. I was allowing myself to feel overwhelmed, which is not a good emotion to allow myself to feel in the MTC. It's toxic. This language thing is tough. I'm not going to lie. But when I look at how far I've come in the last 5 weeks, I'm amazed at where I am. I studied the alphabet for 8 weeks before coming here, and still couldn't sound out a single word without my cheat-sheet. In 5 weeks I've been able to teach people about the Restoration of the Priesthood and the importance of sacred ordinances--in a different language without notes. It's a struggle. It's mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically DRAINING. I didn't realize how taxing it would be. However, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm here because the Lord needs me here. He needs me to be stretched, and tried, and shoved to my limits. It's working, and I'm still only in the MTC. I know I'm well on my way to being the missionary God called me to be. 

This is the true church. I know it. I know that people can feel so much peace and comfort from coming unto Christ, and reading the Book of Mormon. I've seen it in my own life, and have confidence that every person in the world can know for themselves if this is the true church. I love being a missionary! I can't wait to share this experience with my SISTER! :) :) :) I'm praying for you today Madi. You're the best. I love you!

I love you family! :) 
love, Cectpa Webber.

ps. something funny that happened this week:

My teacher was asking an elder who had our back out there in the mission field.
What he should have said: The Savior
What my teacher thought he said: Michael Jackson
What the elder actually said: My companion.

It gave us a good laugh for a while.

love you!

"This tree smells like creme soda"

During a three hour weekly planning meeting. C. Hadfield got a little tired of planning. 

Cectpa Webber and Cectpa Olds 

What cute companions. 

All the Elders

 "The Ukrainian 8" 

Many are called, few are frozen

Hello my dear family and friends!

 

I'm doing well here at the MTC. I can't believe my month mark is on Saturday! Can you believe it? The subject line was a quote from one of the Russian elders in our Zone. He said that, and I thought it was perfect. In about 6 weeks, I'm going to be FREEZING all the time. But it's okay, because my excitement is growing.

First of all, this week was so wonderful. I was able to progress a lot with the language, and do a lot of things that I haven't been able to convey before with our investigators. The whole idea of investigators in the MTC seems ingenuine and fake to people not in the MTC, but it feels so real to us. It's hard to describe, but it really is so beneficial. Our teachers just role play their hardest/most difficult investigator, and we have to figure out what their problems are and why they won't just get baptized if they know it's true. It's tough, but it really helps.

What I learned this week: Missions aren't for wussies. I'm not even in the field yet, and realizing how tough this work is. The Lord is on my side, and it makes it easier, but you really have to be exactly obedient and diligent in order to have the Spirit with you at all times.

Sunday I kept getting the impression to ask C. Kelley for a blessing because I really needed one, but since he wasnt the district leader, I was hesitant. in sacrament meeting he got called as our new district leader, and afterwards I immediately asked for a blessing. It was one of the most powerful, humble blessings I've ever recieved. He was a little nervous, but I could feel the Spirit so strongly, and it was exactly what I needed to hear. I love this gospel so much. The church is true. 

Sunday night at the Fireside an Elder sang the song, "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul". I think that''s what it's called. Its the version that we always would play on Sundays. I seriously couldn''t help but tear up the whole time because it made me think of Sunday dinners at the house. I sure love you all.

I got to see so many people that I love and adore this week :) :) I could use all my time talking about it, and talking about the different people I got to see, but just know that it really boosted my morale, and was a tender mercy. (Also, I met Laura and Richard's nephew who works at the MTC. It was cool to talk about our shared cousins. I love the small Mormon world we live in).

Speaking of seeing everyone I know, my district is convinced I'm some sort of celebrity or something. I see people I know everywhere. The Elders will always comment about it, and will go up to random people when we're walking around and say, "Excuse me, do you know Sister Webber?" It's funny, especially when I actually know them. I just have to laugh at them sometimes. I could NOT do this without my wonderful district, they keep me sane. Laughing truly is such medicine to the soul, and it really takes away the stress of being in the MTC. I love them so much!

My comp and I have had our own room up until last Wednesday. We got two new roommates who have been here for 8 weeks. They're just re-doing their floor, so they had to move in. One's from Argentina, the other is from Madrid. The one from Madrid said her mother served in Barcelona around the same time as Dad. Her name was Hma Morales. Her daughter is beautiful, so I'm sure she is too! Do you know her? That would be sweet.

I was playing basketball on Monday and jammed my finger. I didnt think it was a big deal because it's happened to me before, but after a day my pinky was the size of my thumb. So I had to get it taped yesterday and have to keep ice on it. Typing is rough right now, and fairly slow.  :) I couldn't close my hand yesterday and kept forgetting, so I would drop everything I tried to pick up with my left hand. I poured skittles in my hand, forgetting that I couldn't grip anything, and they fell all over the floor. You can imagine how I'm the brunt of every joke in my district. Oh boy.

Last night I got 3 package slips. I could've cried. My DL came up and said, "Now, remember, computer time is for language study. Stop ordering packages from Ebay." They were from the family (thank you for the banana bread!!), Jen Smith (Someone get her address for me, she never puts it on anything! Ps. JEN. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Thank you thank you.) and Trevor Smith/Colony Friends. I started tearing up when I saw all the letters and the cookies. To my Colonists: You are the BEST. I promise I'll write you all back. I love you guys so much.

Oh, I also saw a co-worker from Ancestry on Sunday. Shout out to Ancestry friends. Write me, okay? :) Miss you guys.

I havent heard from Dad since last Monday I believe. Is he still alive? Let me know, I'm getting worried.

That's too bad about the election. Shout out to my main man Mitt for giving it his best. Is it funny that I'm kinda excited to be in a former communist, currently socialist country for 18 months? Joking, but not.

Last night Elder Zwick came for devo. It was the best one so far. He said in the last 30 days, they have had more SISTER missionary applications than the number of sister missionaries out in the world right now. Look out! Here comes the 10,000 strippling sisters. What an army of sisters we'll have! He also said we are the most important group of missionaries the world has ever seen. We'll have to be training this army 6 weeks into our mission. Pray that I pick up this language thing quickly. I'm going to need it.

Well, everything''s going great. I love the MTC, I love being a missionary, and I love this gospel. It's true. I testify of that. The Lord is mindful of each of you, and knows you by name. I promise he will answer your prayers if you earnestly seek for answers. What a blessing it is to have this knowledge!

all my love and prayers

-Cectpa Webber