Animal balloons. And prayers

Once upon a time, my companion and I were thinking of different ways to contact people on the street. We weren't having a lot of success handing out things on the street or trying to talk to people, so we decided to do what we do best. And sit. It always seems to work.

We made this big poster that says, "FREE ENGLISH PRACTICE! Tuesday, Thursday, 7:00pm." And we sat on a bench. Within probably 45 seconds, this old lady comes up to us and says, "Hello. You are Mormon?" (The poster said nothing about our church. That was literally all it said.) We were way happy, and the lady sat down with us. She said she didn't know that there were girl missionaries in Lutsk now, and was really happy to see us. She then told us that she met with the first missionaries that came to Lutsk 15 years ago, and there were only 2 members of the church. She talked about how much she loved it, and she thought it was great what we were doing. Although she wasn't very interested in meeting again thanks to her husband and his "selfishness", she was a lovely woman, and I was so happy to talk with her! As she walked away, I thought, "That woman will be baptized one day. I'm positive."

We then had an adorable little family walk up to us. The young dad said, "Do you have anything other than english? Like church services? We want to come." He wouldn't even take an english card after we talked to him. He only wanted to come to church. What?! 

After that two of our investigators walked by and were more than happy to see us. It was Dima and Yuri. They wondered why we hadn't called them to have them help us out, and they took a huge stack of English cards and started passing them out like crazy. It was so fun. 

The next day we decided to do more creative ways of contacting, and decided to make animal balloons for kids at the park. It's actually worked really well in the past. We recently have become great friends with about 15 kids who live in the apartment right next to the church, and when we were walking out of the church to go to the park, we passed all the kids playing. We decided to stop and make them flowers, and swords, and they were going nuts. They thought it was the coolest thing, and had never seen anything like it before. They were freaking out. Then this kid joins the group and asks for something, and then his mom yells down to him to hand us the money. We laughed and told him it was free, and he asked if we could make one for his 15 year old sister. We were hesitant, because we didn't want all 15 of the kids to have us make them for all their friends and siblings too, but the mom hanging out the window yelled down about it. Soooo we made one. After that, we asked if we could deliver it ourselves, and we walked up there with a few of the kids. The mother came out, and she was so happy! We talked to her about our purpose here, and she said, "Yes. I want to meet with you! I'm very interested in hearing more. All the moms and grandmothers in this apartment talk about you all the time." 

One small animal balloon for a child, and eternal life for an apartment complex. Whaaaaaaat. 

As you can see, contacting was very successful for us this week. It was great! Our little Vika who is getting baptized this month is doing very well, and the success of my time in Lutsk so far was when her older sister Olena came to church with us yesterday. I couldn't have been happier, and she was sooooo grateful to be there. The best part was that the whole branch was so warm and welcoming to her. She kept saying over and over how happy she was that she came with us (she's the one I had an intense meeting with about 3 months ago....she finally came to church). 

I love being a missionary. I love being in Lutsk. I never want to leave. I'm having the time of my life! 

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week. Thanks for all the emails, you will never know how much they mean to me. :) 

Love Sister (Ukrainian) Webber

This Week!

This week was awesome. On Tuesday we set sail for L'viv for our leadership conference with President Malm of the 70. It's so fun to be able to do all these little meetings with the mission president. We had such an intense meeting, and we talked about so many random things. It was basically a question and answer thing (with some structure), and we talked about everything from the House of Israel, to Eternal Marriage, to weekly planning, to sowing & harvesting. It was awesome. One thing that really caught me off guard was when President Malm said, "Don't let the grass grow under your feet when it comes to choosing a spouse after your mission." I must've made a face or something when he said that, because then President Lattin said, "Yeah, Sister Webber..." 

I wanted to laugh so hard. We had a wonderful time altogether, but it was great to get back to my area. Because.....

On Wednesday we set a baptismal date with a girl we've been meeting with! she's 9 years old, and is the little sister of an inactive member. She was nervous to get baptized for a while, but she's ready now. After she accepted the invitation to be baptized, she started dancing around like a ballerina, and said how happy she was that she was going to be baptized. Keep her in your prayers. :) She'll be baptized on August 10.

Thursday we had an incredible meeting with a 20 year old girl that was referred to us by a strong family in the branch. She loved the Restoration movie, and afterward asked if she could keep it so she could watch it again and ponder the message. Then at the end of the lesson she said, "I think I want to be apart of this!" Woo!! We're so excited about that. 

One of our investigators,hadn't been to church in months. He kept coming up with reasons why he couldn't come, but finally on Saturday night I gave him a call and he said he didn't have any special plans the next day. I said, "NOW YOU DO! Church at 11am!" He laughed, and said, "Okay, I'll come." Guess what. He actually did. He walked in while I was playing the sacrament hymn, and at the end I turned and looked, and saw him sitting there smiling. I must've made the craziest face because almost every person in the congregation started laughing. I was so excited to see him sitting there. Seriously, who knew I'd get so excited to see people in church. I had no idea. 

Last night we had an intense meeting with one of our investigators, who's been investigating the church for years. She is living with a man, and has always told missionaries that she's not going to kick him out, so she won't get baptized. Turns out....it goes way deeper than I thought it did. And I was choking up when we were meeting with her, because my heart just broke. I want her to feel the joy that comes from the gospel more than anything because she's like a mother to me. But she doesn't feel like she could possibly do that right now. It's such a hard situation. Ahhhh...I hate it. 

Man. Missionary work is the greatest/hardest thing in the world. I never knew I could feel so happy and so devastated about so many things in one day. But the Lord is watching over this work. It is HIS work. I can't do anything without Him. I have felt the influence of the Spirit more this week than I have in a long time, and it's incredible. So many miracles are happening. I love it. 

I love you all, and I'm so grateful for every one of you. This is such an exciting time to be on the earth!

All my love and prayers, 

Sister (Ukrainian) Webber

ps. Shout out to Karl. Thanks for that long email! It meant so much to me! Keep the updates coming. I wish I could send you an equally long email, but you're awesome. 

Loving life

Once upon a time, this was probably the longest week of my life. So much happened this week, and yet....not a lot happened. I was struck flu-like symptoms on Monday

-ish, and did all in my power to ward off the symptoms, but by Tuesday night, it hit me prettttty hard. And the rest is a blur till Friday night. Ale....(however..)

After English class, we had a spiritual thought on service. I showed a Mormon Message from President Eyring, and then talked about my decision to go on a mission, and what my mission really is here in Ukraine. I had an insanely captive audience. I felt like I could've said anything and they would've eaten it up.....so I kept going. And going. And going. And I testified of so many truths, and the Spirit filled the room to the point that there wasn't any room left! I ended my spiritual thought, and I was so beside myself. It was such a simple little thing, but I can probably only count the amount of times I've felt the Spirit that strongly on my mission on one hand. It proved to me that the Spirit of the Lord can be present in even the humblest of circumstances. 

This week I got all the little notes from the Young Women in the ward! It really brightened my day. I loved it so much! 

President and his wife were touring the mission this week, and we had the privilege of them coming on Sunday. We got to have lunch altogether, and we sat and got to ask him questions about anything and everything. Afterwards we had interviews with him, and it was the best thing ever. I don't know what it is, but I'm pretty sure I was best friends with that man before this life. Within 5 minutes I was telling him everything about myself, and bringing up all these things that I would've never brought up to anyone else. I walked out of there feeling so much better about life, and about my mission. He gave such great counsel. I'm so happy to be here!! 

This week I passed my 1 year mark from getting my mission call. That honestly feels like it could be 3 weeks ago. Time never ceases to amaze me. It's so crazy. So much has changed since then, and I feel like I'm a much better person already for going on a mission. Ahhhh....I love life. :) 

Thanks for all the emails! You are the greatest.

з любов'ю,

Сестра Вебер

This is Dima and Yuri with Elder Stephensen. That Elder is normal american boy size, and these are the sisters' investigators. Good thing they love us. They are Ukrainian teddy bears

The Ukraine L'viv Mission

The Ukraine L’viv Mission was officially created 1 July, 2013.  The first Ukraine L’viv Mission conference was held on the  6^th July 2013 with President and Sister Lattin.    These missionaries are the cream of the crop.  We have known them since they arrived in Ukraine.  It is an honor and a privilege to serve in the kingdom with them.   They are very dear to our hearts.   We too were transferred to the new mission to assist the mission president until another mission office couple comes to relieve us of our assignment next month.   Thank you for preparing dedicated, steadfast and immovable sons and daughters who are obedient and are serving with their whole might, mind and strength.    They are examples of Christ-like behavior and have strong testimonies of Jesus the Christ and the Plan of Happiness.

The Ukraine L'viv Missionaries July 2013

Exciting week!

Before I begin: 

President K told us a few weeks ago that we needed to write home and ask our family and friends to write to us about our strengths, gifts, and talents. So here's to that. Everyone email me so I can bask in the words of loved ones. 

Well, our week. I'm pretty sure last Monday feels like it was four years ago, but I'll try to remember what all happened this week.

On Wednesday we set sail to the first Sisters Exchange of the L'vivian Mission! It was a blast to get to be with Sister Kelley and Sister Olds. I went with Sister Kelley, and we had a wonderful time. It was a good experience to get to be with that little bottle of sunshine. It was a new adventure being out in the world with a missionary who just got here, but we saw some miracles happen, and I realized I'm better at Ukrainian than I thought I was. From that exchange, we took a train directly to L'viv to attend the first ever L'viv Leadership Training Meeting. It consisted of my companion and me, Sister Van Stokkom (other STL), the assistants, the 4 ZL's, and President and Sister Lattin. Believe it or not, we only have 2 little zones in our mission. And it's the only mission that opened up in Europe (from what I heard)! Pretty crazy.

First, let me tell you. President and his wife.....are absolutely incredible. When I met him, I thought, "There's no way this is the first time I'm meeting these people." It felt like I was at home. I know they were called of God. And I know that I'm supposed to be their missionary. 

Our meetings went well, and we established the mission culture with him. I'm more than a little excited. Our Mission Conference altogether the next day was so great, and I had an incredibly personal experience that happened during the conference that I'll have to share with you one day. It was a tender mercy of the Lord. But let me just say, that this is where I'm needed. And the Lord chose me to specifically be here at this time, speaking this language, so I could be in the L'viv Ukraine mission when it started. This church is the one true church of God!

So in case anyone was wondering, my language is getting exponentially better. I don't know what happened this transfer, but I think all the blessings of the many prayers that are offered in my behalf are starting to kick in. Mostly because I'm actually believing that they WILL kick in. It's an exciting concept, and I'm learning some good lessons.

 

Well, last night we had an experience that I won't be able to tell you in it's fulness until after my mission, but that woman who can't get baptized due to health is not doing well. She's definitely on her last days. It's a very sacred thing to be with someone for their last hours, and being able to be there for her has been such a blessing. Hearing some of the things she was saying when we were with her last night solidified to me that there really is life after death. That this life is not the end. We will see our loved ones after we pass through this life, and all will be well. It's a glorious moment to be able to face the Savior when all is said and done, knowing that you have a pure heart, and are ready to meet your maker. I want to do everything in my power to be able to feel that way. 

I want you to know that this gospel is real. That Jesus is the Christ. Run to Him. He will comfort you every step of the way. 

Thank you for the prayers, I love you all so much! 

Love, Sister Webber

L'vivski Misi

Today marks the first real day of our new mission, with our new mission president. There is a whirlwind of emotions going on, but I'm optimistic and excited for the new changes. We all have a Mission Conference in L'viv on Saturday, and my comp and I, along with the ZL and Assistants all have a Leadership meeting with President Lattin and his wife. It's going to be incredible. 

This week was great. We have a bundle of investigators that are all coming around, and wanting to meet with us. That's a good start, right? One woman in particular is one who has been meeting with missionaries off and on since around 2008, but no one has ever had the patience to address her needs on a personal, and compassionate level. Her teaching record is full of, "Wants to get baptized, but won't live the commandments. You're better off tracting." Then 6 months later, something similar is written by another companionship....continuing for years.

Enter: Sisters. 

She was the first meeting I ever had with an investigator, and in the last month she has progressed faster than she had in the last 6 months combined. We've been meeting with her twice a week, and she's finally keeping commitments, and is hungry for more. It helps that we love her unconditionally, and really care about her progress. Yesterday we had a great meeting with her, and at the end she committed herself to finally live the word of wisdom (that dang cup of coffee was going to be the death of me)! At the end, she gave us a big hug and said, "Thanks for believing in me." My heart was filled with the love of the Savior, and I could see her the way her Father in Heaven sees her. It was a very special experience for me. 

We had another woman that we had been teaching for a few months, I mentioned her 2 weeks ago and she's the wife of a member. She's been extremely sick for the last 16 years, and hasn't been able to leave her bed. Her osteoporosis is so bad, and they don't really have adequate medicine for it. She was the one who told us that she wanted to get baptized so badly, so we talked with President Klebingat. He told us to do whatever it takes since she is worthy and has a sincere desire, even if that means to get all the Priesthood holders in the branch, rent a car, get her there, and have her get baptized. We went back to talk with her, and she started crying and told us that her bones are so weak, that if someone tried to lift her, she would literally just die. I don't think my heart has ever hurt quite like that before. The Lord knows her heart though, and she's already made arrangements with someone in the ward to do the ordinance for her after she passes away. Way sad.

This week our companionship had a meeting with 2 of the elder's investigators that were going no where fast. I have a good relationship with them since I've been here for so long, and so I suggested that we meet with them to....recalibrate. Call me The Enforcer. We set up a meeting for 5pm, and at 5:30 they still hadn't showed up, so we called. They said they weren't coming because they were in the village. Then I told them that we ARE going to meet, and they ARE going to come to the church. There was a pause on the other end, and they said, "We'll be there at 8." At 8:03, the two came strolling into the church, and we sat down. And we ended up having one of the most incredible lessons on my mission so far. It was so great, that they even called us last night and set up another meeting themselves because they had more questions. I'm way excited about that. 

This week we have exchanges with Sister Olds and Sister Kelley in Kmilnitskiy, and I'm so excited to get to spend 2 days down there with them. I'm excited to learn from them, and apply different aspects of missionary work to our service in Lutsk. 

Keep praying for me. Keep writing me.

I love you all, and I'm so grateful to be a missionary! 

Love, 

Sister Webber

 

District Lunch

Kiev Ukraine temple

Sister Webber at the Kiev temple

The Book of Mormon in Ukraine

Kiev Temple

Sister Webber and President Klebingat