Is it January or June?!

From the warm tundra to the frozen tundra,

So after hearing accounts that the temperatures in the US of A were hitting -50 F, I was pretty amazed.
I'll have you know that we had Sports Day on Saturday, and I was really bummed that I had worn pants. That's how hot it was. I think it must've hit 50 F here. It was so warm! It was incredible. I won't talk too much about it, because I don't want it to come back to bite me from all of you who can't open your doors because of how cold it is. 

This week was really good. We had a meeting with two of our investigators every single day except Christmas. They are so prepared and ready to accept the gospel. At the end of every lesson they say, "Do you want to meet with us again tomorrow?" My answer, "Does the sun set in the west?" (I just watched that this week, Lacey, and thought of your mom.)

We have been spending more time on the street than I have in probably 6 transfers. It's really amazing how far I've come since the last time I was contacting that much. It's probably one of my least favorite things to do, but when your 3rd back up plan falls through, you gotta do what you gotta do. The more I'm outside, the more I realize how important it still is to spend time "out and about". I think they're past contacting and tracting in America, but here, we sometimes still have to do that. Unfortunately, we don't have people lined up outside waiting to be taught the good word. But all in due time. Ukraine will be there one day, it's still pretty new. 

I so wish I could attach pictures. We had a pretty eventful week, in terms of pictures. I also took a picture of me wearing my brand new USC shirt that I got in the mail...and I wanted to send it in honor of Gramma and Grandpa this week. I hope you have a wonderful week attending Gramma's baptism! Like I always say, TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES! :) 

Also, for everyone else, send me pictures. :) Those are always super fun for me to see. I'm sorry that I'm such a hypocrite. But these computers are from the 90's. It's just a struggle. 

Sorry that this is so short, I'm really pressed on time today. But know that I love you. Know that I'm super grateful for all those who take the time to write me. It means the world, and I'll never be able to express adequately how much I appreciate it. :) 

All my love, 

Sister Webber

ps. thanks for the slamming videos. Those made my day. :) You're well on your way to being a Ukrainian missionary. Get ready to slam with me when I get home, alright?

also, did anyone get a video of mom slamming? I'm waiting on that one. ;) 

pps. HAPPY ONE YEAR MADI! I can't believe it.

The Elect, and Christmas part 2

  

Getting back to my city was exciting, but also brought on a lot of anxiety. Where are my investigators? What did they do while I was gone? Are they still interested?! Luckily my comp did a great job at keeping in touch with them for nearly 3 weeks when I was gone, but I was still nervous.
The first day back, two of my investigators, Julia and Sveta came to institute and loved it. I got a call from Julia the next day and she said, "What time is our Mormon lesson today?" Ha! So we met, and we talked about the Plan of Salvation. We went over it simply, and then they had a hundred questions about everything. We even got into the council in heaven, the veil, the resurrection, translated beings. It was crazy what kinds of questions they had! Normally, I would never go into that much detail, but the whole time the Spirit was there. At the end, they said, "Missionaries have been drawing that diagram on the board for us for 5 years, and it's never made any sense to us. This is the first time it has actually clicked."
Phew. 

So we met again last night, and it was awesome. We talked more in depth about the purpose of life, and how we can find happiness, and they were both so thoughtful and accepting. We had so many long pauses during the lesson where the Spirit was so strong! There were tears coming from everyone in the room. It was incredible, and really sacred. They both are working toward baptism, and we all have that as our goal. We fasted for them yesterday that they would accept Joseph Smith as a prophet, regardless of the (polygamy) issues they have. That's their only hangup that we have found so far. I think it'll be totally fine though as their testimony is strengthened.

It is such a privilege to teach people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it's one of my very favorite things, to be the means of helping someone feel the Spirit of the Lord, and to bring things back to their remembrance. To see someone recognize truth in that very moment is one of the most holy parts of my mission. Ah! I love it so much!! 

We have something of eternal worth to offer to the world. Go out and share it already.

Keep on keeping on. 

All my love, 
Sister Kate Webber

ps. Merry Ukrainian Christmas Eve! :) 3 Rizdvom Hristom!

From Sofia to Sophia

Well, Ukrainian Christmas. 

This week was a crazy week, and there is way too much to say, so I'll just write the highlights.

(Also, because I had 54 emails this week and just spent all my time reading those. Ooops....)

Thursday morning, I woke up and felt so anxious. I was nervous, and upset, and was trying to not get discouraged. I went to personal study very prayerfully, and ready to get some real revelation from my Father in Heaven about the whole situation. There was a reason I was in Bulgaria, and I needed to figure it out. 

On Thursday afternoon we got word that we would be in Bulgaria until January 10th because the embassy was going to be closed the next day for the holidays. So we only had 24 hours to get a call from the embassy, or we'd be stuck for another 2 ish weeks. 

What did we do next? 

Sister Olds and I decided to start a fast. We were praying harder than I've prayed for anything in my life, that I can recall. To be set apart as the Lord's anointed with a sacred trust for missionary work in a certain part of the world, and not be able to be there, is seriously one of the hardest things in the world to handle. I had no idea I would feel that way, and in the beginning I was actually quite excited for the whole thing. But by this time, I was ready to go back and be a missionary again. 

So we prayed. And we fasted. And I was getting really antsy, but kept feeling like I needed to have faith, and not get discouraged....even though by this point it was so easy. 

President Wilstead told us that the man in charge was really upset, and told him that there was nothing he could do, and he needed to stop going over his head and trying to talk to other people to get it fixed. There was nothing we could do to change the process. But we held strong, and kept the faith.

Thursday night something very special and sacred happened. I have learned throughout the course of my life how the Spirit speaks to me, and the Lord normally answers prayers in this specific way because He knows I can recognize them better. I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do....nevertheless I went forth (In Nephi's words), and my answer was found. I felt deep in my heart the words, "There you go. This is why you're in Bulgaria." 

I'm not going to share with you what happened, but just know that I acted in faith, and was shown the way. The next morning we woke up, and I felt a calm assurance come over me. I didn't know what was going to happen, but I knew we would somehow get back to Ukraine faster than they told us we would. 

The first scriptures I read for personal study were these:

D&C 98:

 1 Verily I say unto you my friends, ^afear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give ^bthanks;

 2 ^aWaiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.

 3 Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been ^aafflicted shall work together for your ^bgood, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.

Within an hour of reading this, President Wilstead peaked his head in and said,

"2:30 today you're going to pick up your visa from the embassy."

And there was our miracle. 

The next day we hopped on the plane to Kiev, and stayed the night in the Sophia hotel. The next morning, we were picked up from the hotel from none other than President Jorg Klebingat and his entire beautiful family, and went to church with them in the International Branch. Literally couldn't have dreamed up a better Christmas present than to get to spend the entire day with my favorite people in Ukraine. I LOVE THE KLEBINGATS! It was such a blessing to get to see my mission president before the end of my mission. I cannot describe the feelings in my heart.

We ate dinner, went on a long walk, and were dropped off at the airport, and picked up by the Lattins. It was so great to finally get to be with them again. 

We're home for the Ukrainian Holidays. It truly is a Christmas miracle from God. 

Prayer is real. It works miracles that are out of our hands. Remember that.

Love,

 Sister UKRAINIAN Webber

Katie and the Klebingats at Christmas

It's a Holiday in Bulgaria

Wow. It's been a wild week. That's a definite understatement.

Where to begin?

Well, for one, we got word this morning that we'll be here for another 14 days. It can't be real, but it is. Sister Olds has hope that we'll be out in a week, and deep down I do too, but I'll try not to get my hopes up. Yesterday I had a really intense personal study on consecration, and I wanted to jump out the window and run to Ukraine to preach the gospel.

I came down with a bad cold, and thought my life was really hard, until the next day when I woke up and BAM. I had the bulgarian stomach flu. I felt 10x better after I had a head-on collision last summer than I did on this day. I honestly spent 5 hours trying to get out of my bed and just crying the whole time. Then I threw up. My eight year record of not throwing up went down the drain within 48 hours of being in Bulgaria. What a joke. 

So I lost about 10 pounds in 3 days, and then today Sister Olds and I were feeling a lot better, and we went to Dunkin Donuts and gained it all back. It was a good choice. 

We went site seeing in Sofia (emphasis on the "O". We got some flack from a very particular missionary who said he wanted to "gag" when he heard our "American accents". Too good).

Anyway. Enough of that. Long, really boring story short: I'll be spending Christmas in Bulgaria. And New Years. And possibly Ukrainian Christmas (January 7), and maybe even Ukrainian Old New Years here too (January 14).

But they said at least 14 days. At the least. So guess what? We've got some time on our hands. And we saw everything there was to see in the last 5 hours, so I'm not really sure what we're going to do, but in the meantime, Sister Olds and I haven't run out of things to talk about amazingly enough. She's like a combination of all my favorite friends, and we're practically sisters now. I'm planning on her being an extension of the family when we get back....heads up.

Also, there's an H&M here, and we definitely went in there. The style was wacky, and kinda scary. And I'm hoping that's just the European H&M, and hasn't reached America...

How scatter-brained and trunky do I sound right now? Visa trips+Flu. Gotta love it.

Meanwhile, pray for my investigators that they don't disappear while my companion is stuck in L'viv for the next 2 weeks. Kill me! Ah!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. Drink some homemade eggnog for me.

Love all of you! 

Sister Bulgarian Webber

Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Having fun with Sister Olds in Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Sister Webber loves donuts

Dunkin Donuts in Bulgaria

Deep thoughts in Bulgaria

Derpin' in Bulgaria

I have too many details to include into my story, so I won't even try to weave it into a funny tale...because I just don't have that kind of time. Forgive my grammar mistakes. I know you'll forgive me anyway.

• Packed my bags for one week. they said could be 3 days, could be a week. I just needed to leave the country for my visa trip. technicalities.
• All they say is that we're going straight to Bulgaria
• My MTC district got sent to Armenia, but Sister Olds got to come with me. Good thing.
• We get to the airport, and President says, "Have fun in Germany!" as he drops us off.
• We realize we're stopping for 5 hours in Germany. Good to know.
• Get a call from the assistants while in the airport, "You don't have your approval to re-enter the country as a missionary....could take 22 days. We'll put extra money on your card. Buy yourselves a nice little Christmas gift. We love you!" 
• Realize I packed for one week. 
• Really confused...and also amused.
• Almost missed our flight to Germany.
• I eat Asian food in Germany while on my Ukrainian mission, en route to Bulgaria. Trippy.
• They charge through the nose on money exchange (mom, I got you a german magnet)
• Got to Bulgaria and ran into 4 other missionaries from our MTC stay. Happy Reunion.
• They keep telling me I'll be in the country for 22 days.
• Stay in the Mission Home with Ally Modersitski from Alpine. She's incredible, and already fluent in Bulgarian (as far as I know) 4 months in country.
• Realize that I'm supposed to be speaking at Zone Conference with Sister Olds on Friday.
• Not happening.
• Get word that I may be leaving Bulgaria tomorrow, and going back to Ukraine as "American Citizens" unable to proselyte for the next month, return to Bulgaria, and then do this all over and see what happens.
• Still not sure what's going on.
• To top it off, Nodding your head means "No" and shaking your head means "Yes" in Bulgaria. I keep thinking these are the weirdest missionaries on the planet. 

But I'm here in Bulgaria, and things are great. And Sister Olds and I are having a really nice time together, despite the potential anxiety that could be caused by this shindig. But really, I'm just easy like Sunday mornin'. 

I'll know tomorrow if I'll be in Ukraine tomorrow...or if I'll still be in Bulgaria by the time ya'll go back to school and stuff. Crazy. 

Well....we're not allowed to proselyte here so I don't know what to do with my hands. I'll just  automatically point to my collar bone every time someone asks for my name #nonametagwoes.

Anyway.

I'm excited to see you all on Christmas! I'm praying that things work out and that I'll be able to talk to you! We'll see what crazy things are in store for us. :) Keep sending emails, because you all are way too funny for me to not hear from you. I love it.

Love

Sister Webber

Real Quick

Hey mom and dad!

 I don't have any time, but I hope that you are all doing great. I'm leaving to Bulgaria this morning, and I will hopefully have time to email later this week. I have no idea. But I love you all, and I'm sooo excited to see you at christmas! ahhh! I seriously can't wait!
You are all so awesome. I miss you so much. I hope things are good. stay warm! 

I'm safe. don't be worried. I love you all. 

kate

Honey, Aussies, and Orphan Annie

Thanks for all the pictures everyone! Photos are my love language. Keep them coming.

To start off, I was reading a bunch of scriptures this week (obviously), and I felt like a lot of them really applied to sister missionaries. For example:

• Eat thou honey, because it is good: Prov. 24:13 

Mmmhmm. Honey. This applies to Ukrainian missionaries more than anyone else. The honey here is seriously to die for. You will never know....unless I send you some. Get excited. I go through a jar every other week...and it's pretty obnoxious how much honey I consume.

• He that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat: Prov 28:25

Also applies to sister missionaries. (As Trevor always warned....)

• Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves: Matt 10:16

On a more serious note, this was totally written for sister missionaries. I can't count the amount of men I've encountered where they start with a big ego and have in their mind that they're going to end up with a date or something, and then we confound them. And they're struck dumb. This scripture rings in my mind whenever that happens, and it's pretty fulfilling, if I say so myself.
This week was a little all over the place. We had exchanges, and the sisters came to our neck of the woods. We had some really neat experiences with them, and we always seem to come out of exchanges with so many miracles. I love it.
We went to English club again--I love that place. The guy leading it last time was an Australian in the Peace Corps. He's too legit. I love him so much. We've had some really cool experiences with him over the last few weeks, and his humor is right up my alley. He's a future leader of the church, and I would put money on it (but I don't gamble....soo....). I left the last club saying to my companion, "If Kerry isn't one of the 6 people I meet in heaven, I will be SHOCKED." I was supposed to meet him. I'm sure of it.
Yesterday we were getting off the bus to go to the church, and a little girl got off. She was a baby-face version of Sister Garrett, my MTC teacher. I tried to be nonchalant about it as she walked in the church behind us, and started up the stairs. She hesitated at the second floor, and I said, "Come with us." She followed us up to the third floor, took off her coat, and came back to the sacrament hall with us. The elders' faces were priceless as I said, "We found a stray". She sat next to me while the prelude was going, and I asked her a few questions, let her look at my photo book, and tried to figure out where she came from. Her name is Julia, she's 9 years old, has no family here, and has been to church one other time. She sat next to me all during Sacrament Meeting. During the hymns, she kept looking up at me, and I'd smile back at her. The words of her loving Savior came to my mind as clear as a bell as I looked at her, "For of such is the Kingdom of God".
If the feelings I'll have when I'm a mother are anything like the feelings I had yesterday for this little angel, I will be perfectly happy for the rest of my life. I was getting so choked up feeling the overwhelming love our Father has for each and every one of His children. She slipped out before the meeting ended, and just like that, she was gone. One of the missionaries said, "A young, innocent child sees two representatives of Jesus Christ on a bus. Of course she's going to follow them."
That statement changed my life. I feel like my perspective of my mission was altered with a single experience. We really are representing the Savior. We should do as He does. We should act as He would. I know most missionaries have figured this out, but it really just sank in a little deeper yesterday. What a blessed experience that Heavenly Father allowed me to have.
During personal study, the lyrics to a hymn were going through my mind. It was getting louder and louder, and I couldn't get it out of my mind. As I flipped open to this hymn, I was reading the lyrics to the verse that was in my mind, and then read the other less-known verses. It was the Spirit trying to teach me something. Incredible. No one will ever fully understand what I've gone through on my mission except for my Savior. And He's the only one who can help me through this.
"Fear not, I am with thee, oh be not dismayed, for I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand--upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand."
"When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, my grace, all sufficient, shall by thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine."
If you ever wonder if God is aware of you, know that He is. He's very aware. You can bet that the tears were flowing freely. I know I'm being prepared for something much greater. This mission thing is pretty great.
I love you!
Love,
Sister Kate Webber