Cherokeeeee

Holy macaroni! What a week! I don't even know where to begin! First of all, my dear Brenna Miller: Get better cutie! I'm praying for you and I love you! I hope you are feeling alright! Keep being the tough girl that you are!

This week was probably one of the hardest yet most rewarding weeks I've had on my mission. We had a rough start last week and had a few hard days but after some serious prayer, soul searching, and priesthood blessings, my companion and I hit the ground running.

We contacted a referral we had received from two different ward members who said that this lady needed to be baptized 50 years ago. Turns out they weren't kidding. We went and saw her earlier this week in the care center that she's living at and the minute she saw us walk up, her eyes got wide and she said, I know who you two are! You're lady Mormon missionaries! She went on and on about how much she loved the church and that she had a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. She told us that the missionaries first came to her house in the 50s and that her entire family of 8 siblings and both of her parents were baptized and that she was the only one who hadn't been baptized because she couldn't give up her smokes. Over the years she has gone from smoking two to three packs a day down to three cigarettes each day and explained to us that she wanted to stop so she could be baptized because she knew that is what she needed to do. We had a lesson with her about how if she prayed for strength and did everything she was able to do, the Lord would help her overcome her smoking addiction. She commited to be baptized at the beginning of May and she came to church yesterday. Everyone in the ward was so excited to see her there.

A few weeks ago we gave a Book of Mormon to a friend of one of our investigators. We call him Cherokee Joe. He's the gnarliest looking guy I've ever seen and every time we've seen him, he's been wearing the same clothes and the same taz devil bandana and without fail has a beer in one had and a ciggy in the other. We ran into him again on Friday and I asked how his Book of Mormon reading was coming and he surprised me by saying he had read all of Moroni. We had lesson with him yesterday and he said he is amazed that the history of the Book of Mormon "just makes sense" to him. We told him it was a history of his ancestors and he got a kick out of that.

We had exchanges this week! For sisters! Crazy huh? It's kind of unheard of for sister missionaries but President wanted us to have one. A sister came to Cherokee with me that has been out for 15 months. She's a powerhouse and really set an example for me of things that I need to work on. It was the best 24 hours. We had 4 really good appointments together and were able to share some really good things with one another and get advice on different things for our areas and our companionships.

We got transfer calls on Saturday and I'll be in Cherokee for at least another transfer. So you can continue to find me in the hills of Bryson City for a while.

Janae babay: Thanks for those vids of Sunday night dinner:) can't wait for those crazy nights with the Nonster again:)

Here's a funny story, family. My companion and I are helping with a temple prep class and all the people are in it are kin to each other so we just have it at their house because two are daughters in-law, two daughters, and one son who are all preparing to go to the temple. Anyway so last night we were having a lesson and it was about symbols and Brother C. (the dad) held up a picture of an American flag and asked what it symbolized and people called out; freedom, liberty, yada yada. and then I called out, Rosa Parks! (Meaning to say Betsy Ross) And then I started laughing and laughed so hard that I couldn't get the words out to correct myself and everyone was laughing and like..."okay Sister Webber".. and then Bro C. said, "what are some holidays?" and one of the daughters yelled, Christmas! And they all looked at her and Sis C. said, NO. 4th of July! What is wrong with you people? Rosa Parks and Christmas with the American flag? All this time, I'm laughing so hard I can't breath and it was like a classic family night with the Webber family. It made me miss our giggly times together:)

Well family, I sure love you. I pray for you each so very much. I hope all is well in each of your lives. Trust in the Lord. He's there to guide you in every decision you make. I know he hears and answers prayers and that He blesses us if we are obedient. Study the Book of Mormon. I can't tell you enough the strength and guidance I receive from studying that book.

Have a good week! and good luck to all my Colony and BYU loves with finals this week!

Love,

Sister Webber

Hi y'all:)

What a wonderful weekend! I could talk about General Conference for a week. You would have thought Santa was coming for a visit around here with how excited I was all week for conference. It was all so wonderful. During Sister Dalton's talk I had the thought that it would be her last. She did such a wonderful job. I am so grateful for her example and for the love she's shown to our family. She is truly one of a kind. I wanted to fist bump every speaker after their talk. They were all SO great. It was the most uplifting, motivating, and inspiring eight hours. I wish conference was every weekend. All during Elder Andersen's talk I wanted to scream, YAY for missionary work! I loved Elder Holland's, Bednar's, President Uchtdorf, everyone. They were all so wonderful. Such good counsel from men and women who are truly called of God.

We got a wonderful call out (mass voicemail) this last week from President Craven. The message went on about how our mission has been stuck in a rut for years and hasn't been able to hit over 35 baptisms in a month. 30-35 has been the average for years and he called us to tell us that in the month of March the North Carolina Charlotte Mission had 58 baptisms. Fifty-eight. We had Zone Meeting on Friday and our Zone Leaders went on about how our zone is leading out the mission. It's such a privilege to be part of it all. There so many people prepared to hear the gospel, we just have to be worthy of them. The Lord isn't going to place those people in our path if we aren't doing all we're supposed to be doing.

 We're working with a few great people right now. We're doing all we can to meet their needs. There is a big push in our mission right now about teaching people, not lessons. They say when someone has a baptismal date set up and doesn't get baptized on that day, it's because we as missionaries did not meet and address their needs. Woah. But I know it's true. So we're working our hardest with each of them to know what they need and know what gospel principles and fundamentals we need to focus on to strengthen their faith in Christ.

I know that when we rely on the Lord he'll bless us and help us with anything we are in need of. As Elder Holland said, I know that as we "come and cast our burdens" that God will send help from both sides of the veil. How true that is. Every word Elder Holland spoke yesterday pierced my heart. Hope on. Journey on. Be not afriad-believe. All things are possible for those that believe. As we trust in the Lord and rely on Him through our hardest times, He will be there to guide us and uplift us no matter the affliction we're suffering. This is Christ's church. He is the head of it and we are lead by prophets and apostles who are men of God. I'm so thankful fo rthe opportunity to serve! 65,600 strong with 26,000 more on the way. A literal army is preaching the gospel to every nation. What an exciting time to be a member of the church!

I love y'all. Thank you for the love and support and prayers you send my way. I'm praying for each of you.

Love always,

Sister Webber

P.S. Mom and Kate- We were teaching a lesson the other day in Dunkin Donuts and in the middle of me sharing Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision, Roll to Me came blasting on the radio and made me think of the two of you:) It was funny. Definitely not having a lesson there again..a few too many distractions. ha.

Methodists, Baptists, and Mormons

Hola mi familia,

Sounds like everyone had a good Easter and looks like y'all had nice weather! Hooray for nice weather! The Appalachians don't know what the sun is yet. :) It was a good Easter in Cherokee. It is a four day holiday outside of Utah! School and work all shuts down from Thursday-Sunday for Easter weekend so everyone we came in contact wished us a Happy Easter this week.

Each week that we're here, we improve.

Tracting here is a whole different ordeal than it was in Colfax. I thought Colfax was spread out until we got here. The houses are so so spread out but we do our very best. 9 times out of 10 the response is, "well girls...I'm a baptist but I appreciate what y'all are doing." I'd be one rich missionary if I got a penny every time I heard that. They all think that by telling us they're baptist that we'll turn away runnin. We ain't afraid. :) It's a common occurrence to say the least.

We had a few really good appointments with a couple that have been in contact with the missionaries since August or so. (they're the ones who sent that picture to you mom. we were in the middle of a lesson and Shirley whips out her phone and said, OH I always send pictures to the missionaries moms!) They're children are all members and they have a grandson on a mission in Utah and initially let the missionaries in because they wanted to see what their grandson does. The first time we saw them this week we asked if they had prayed to know if what they've learned from the missionaries is true and the husband said, "I pray every night!" And I said that's good! Do you pray to know what the missionaries teach you is true? And he said not specifically so we talked about why it's important to be specific in our prayers and how God will always answer our prayers. He told us he prays to be led to truth...*ding ding ding* we hopped on that and explained that the missionaries were led to his home for a reason and that missionaries pray and are led by God to where we should go and who we should talk to. His wife looked at him and said, "Oh!" and he took a while to respond but didn't know what to say. We had another appointment with them a few days ago and got hit by questions from Oz. He's been a Methodist for years and years and can't get past it. At our lesson with them on Friday we invited them to be baptized. Shirley said yes and looked at her husband and he sat there, deep in thought. When we left she walked us out to our car and told us to not give up and texted us later and said the same thing. We're praying hard that he'll soften his heart and be open to what God has put right in his lap. They'll progress. I know it.

We took the mighty trip to Charlotte this week for the training meeting. It was quite a journey but always a beautiful one. I learned a whole lot. We role play for hours at these meetings. I love to listen and see how other missionaries teach. There's so much we can learn from each other so it helps a lot. President Craven focuses a lot on "Today, Tomorrow, and Forever" principles. He always says, "we're more concerned about where you'll be in 5, 10, and 15 years than where you'll be at the end of 18 months and 2 years." He talks to us about our spouses at every meeting, especially with the Sisters. Pres. Craven wants to approve every one of our husbands. :) Also learned that next transfer there are 19 new missionaries coming in. SIXTEEN are sisters. Only three Elders. It is crazy. Lookout I'll probably be training my whole mission...and I didn't even get the last 7 weeks of training..something is not right about that. Pray for me. I'm still a brand new missionary who doesn't know anything:)

Happy General Conference weekend! I cannot wait. It's hard to believe that six months ago the place I'm now in was not a possibility. It's amazing how things can change so quickly. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary! The Lord's work is hastening and the elect are being brought into the gospel! Such an exciting time!

Fun fact about our mission. The average for baptisms in a month has been around thirty for years and years. In March we had over 50 baptisms. President said he got an email from Salt Lake asking if there had been a typo. The south is growing in the gospel. As tough as the Baptists and Methodists are....I never knew a good Methodist OR a good Baptist that didn't make a reaaaallly good Mormon. We're here to give them a new kind of heaven.

I love you all so very much. You're all in my prayers. Thank you for the love and support. I couldn't do it without y'all.

Love always,

Sister Webber

You'ns sound goooood

My people!

First of all, shoutout to my besties. Congratulations to my dear Curly and Aar bear!!! I'm so excited for you two!! I wish I could be there for all this crazy business but I know it's going to be such an exciting few months for the two of you and an eternity of happiness!! I love you both so much and miss you like crazy!! Good luck with all the wedding prep!!

OH, this week. Holy moly. I never know where to begin in these emails! We've been working our little tails off dealing with the firey darts that come our way. 90% of our investigators are really flakey so we are working hard to kick butt and take names with them and trying to figure out who is for real about wanting to learn the gospel and making and keeping commitments. But we do have some really good people we're working with too. There are three siblings (I don't know if I've mentioned them before) but they're step grandma was the one who got baptized at the beginning of the month. They're living with her and their grandpa right now and we've taught all three of them the lessons, they come to church every week, and they want to get baptized. We're just waiting on mama's permission. Pray for them, please. They want it so bad and I hope it all works out.

We're teaching a lady right now that we found her through a member who passed away the week we got here. She is a neighbor and we've been helping her with a bunch of different things the last few weeks. We helped her put together a little memorial service for the member. She is a Cherokee woman who means business and she has such a strong belief in God and wants to learn more. Funny story: The night before the service we went over to her house to see if there was anything else she needed help with and we ended up making a picture poster of Pinto (the member who passed away). It was all a funny, weird experience. We were sitting on her floor, covered in cat hair, making a big bright blue poster for a memorial service in a home reaking of cigarettes while she blasted Christian country music. I put my head down so she couldn't see me laughing but the whole situation was a little odd. We asked her if we could turn off the music, but she couldn't hear us talking over the good tunes. I wish I had the whole thing on film. It was hilarious.

Our main focus right now is the part member families, all of which are less active. We called all 25 of our part member families one morning and got a few appointments so we're hoping for good things with each of them. We've met with a few of the families already and seeing a desire in these less actives to come back to church. We're working on actually getting them there.

We had interviews with President Craven yesterday. I feel like phone calls, meetings, and interviews with him come at just the right time. He always says everything I need to hear and gives so much good counsel and advice. I leave every meeting with him thinking, YES. Baptize EVERYONE!! It was great. I feel so loved when I'm around the Cravens. They are both called of God. I know that to be true.

Well I'm glad everyone is doing well! I know that when we trust in the Lord, it all works out. That's the only way it can all work out. We can't do anything alone and we need to have faith and trust that He is always there for us. I know that to be true. I know it. I love this gospel. I love that I have the opportunity to serve in this mission at this particular time. I love y'all and pray for you multiple times a day.

Hope y'all have a Happy Easter this week and a happy beginning to spring break!

Love always,

Sister Webber

P.S. People say phrases here that you only hear on movies. I'm not kidding. I didn't think people really said fixin, reckon, you'ns, younder, youngn's, and all that stuff. it's reaaaaal southern talking in the Cherokee nation y'all. 

P.P.S. The west needs to look into getting a Bojangles chain going out there. Best chicken and biscuits in the world. Good thing they're putting us on bikes soon so I don't get fat, ya know? :)  

Sister Webber and Sister Sellers

Cherokeeeeeee

Family!!

Hey y'all. First of all, I love, love love you all. Thank you for all the letters and emails. Keep them coming. I'm glad to hear everyone is doing well and that life is treating y'all good! Grandma and Grandpa, thank you for the card! It made my day! And tell your sweet sister missionaries there that I said thank you for the Plan of Salvation baggie! We are teaching a few families right now that have little kids so it is PERFECT! So thank you! I love you! I'll get a letter out to y'all as soon as I can!

Man alive! This week has been quite a week! First, my companion and I survived being attacked by dogs. EVERY person has a million dogs. This one house in particular had SIX, identical wolves (they were probably dogs but we can call them wolves) running after us, ready for dinner. Luckily, we survived-Book of Mormons in hand, ready to swing away if it needed to happen. But we are still alive to tell the story so that is a good thing;)

We are still so scattered and turned around with everything because we're new but everyday gets a little bit better. The ward members (that are active) have been helpful. This ward is HUGE but you'd never guess it looking at the number of people at church every Sunday. We're putting our focus on part member families who are less active but trying to find where they are is half of our problem right now. Most people only give the church their PO box so we are working our hardest at tracking people down with the limited miles we have and the huge, spread out area that we cover.

We are working hard and trying to turn our investigators into solid investigators. Seven people we are teaching right now are under the age of 15 so that goes about how you would think it would. They are all good kids though. Three of them are our strongest investigators right now and are so ready to be baptized and are just waiting on their mother's approval (who is a less active member)  It'll hopefully happen in the very near future. We're still working with the lady who's husband passed away who we talked with about being married forever and briefly about the Plan of Salvation. We were being mighty persistant and calling her everyday to set up an appointment but she's been sick so she keeps putting us off. She called on Saturday night and said, "Girls, I've been thinking a lot about the things we talked about and I'm really sick so I can't come to church tomorrow but I will come next week. I want to meet you somewhere and follow you there and I can only wear dress slacks because that's all I have so I hope that's okay." So I'm really excited about that. We talked to her some more and explained things about church. She's doing our job for us. Inviting herself to church and everything! She's so prepared and so ready for the gospel in her life. I pray she continues the path she's on. She's doing great.

We had a Zone Meeting on Friday. There are FOUR of us Lone Peakers in my zone alone. Our high school is literally taking over the planet. But it was fun to see so many familiar faces. President had the Zone Leaders sit down with the missionaries who have opened areas and have a meeting with us to answer any questions we have and to give advice. It was helpful and eye opening to realize we aren't the only missionaries who struggle with things. But it is clear that they are all concerned for our well being. We got calls from our District Leader, Zone Leaders, the Assistants, and President Craven all in one night. My companion and I are the only two sisters opening an area in our zone and neither of us have much experience. I didn't realize that until we had our meeting and felt like we were getting the short end of the deal but it has helped me realize how much the two of us need to rely on the Lord. Every time we have dinner with a family in the ward we share a thought about how we all MUST rely on the Lord and I realize I need to take my own advice. I'm still a brand new missionary and I have a companion who is an even newer missionary and we are an in area that we know nothing about and didn't receive any help from previous missionaries. I have truly learned to take the things that are in front of me and hand them over the Lord because I cannot do it alone. I continue to learn so much about the gospel everyday and I learn more about myself everyday. I'm amazed everyday at how my capacity to love has changed. I feel like my heart is going to explode all the time with how much I love my family and my friends as well as these strangers that we come in contact with each day.

I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a missionary right now especially at the same time as Katie. This is a one of a kind experience and I'm learning things I couldn't learn anywhere else. We have to put our trust in the Lord and trust that He knows what is best for us. He can see our full potential when all we can see is right in front of us.

I love what Kate said about reading in Mosiah. When I hit a major rough week, I was in the middle of studying Mosiah and I haven't received greater strength or hope from any other book before. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I love reading it and I love telling people about it. I love when someone commits to read it and when they can see the blessings that come in their lives when they put the Lord first. The classic quote stands true about how this is not an easy thing but it is OH, so worth it.

I love you all! I pray for each of you all the time. Be strong!

Love always,

Sister Webber

Two months and a baptism

Family!!

I don't have a ton of time to write. There is a countdown on this computer that is stressing me out so I'll go as fast as I can.

This week as been LOCO. Seriously. I forgot to tell you last week that before I left the Colfax area, my comp and I thought it would be a good idea to "tract into" Chris Daughtry's house. He lives in Oak Ridge. Surprise, his property is top notch security and we had little success there;) Just thought I'd let y'all know;)

Anyway. Tuesday transfers were crazy and good. I got my little trainee. Her name is Sister Sellers and she's from Woodruff, UT. She's a nice girl. She's barely 19 so definitely one of the new rush like everyone else.

We drove three and a half hours to the Cherokee nation on Tuesday night and got to our place which is oddly above a shop in Bryson City, NC called Madison's on Main. Whaaaaat. Yeah it's a cute little shop just like Dear Lizzie.

The rest of the week was kind of all over the place.  Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are kind of all a blur. We met with members of the ward and the ward mission leader and tried to get our bearings straight. We had district meeting which obviously you can tell from maps that everything is so spread out so it took us well over an hour just to get to district meeting last week. We have a really good ward though with a TON of less active members. There are close to 400 members in our ward boundaries and I think there were about 125 at church yesterday. So we'll be working hard on that.

Saturday we had a BAPTISM! Everyone in the ward was joking about how good we must be for having a baptism on day 4. Yeah. We're that good. But it really was such a great experience and we had the opportunity to plan out the whole thing and actually finish teaching this investigator, Judy the rest of the missionary lessons. She had a baptismal date set of March 9th and when the Elders who were here previously tried to give us details, they just said...well nothing is planned, we don't know if it's still happening so that was the main focus for us this week.

On Saturday we planned to go visit a former investigator who wasn't home when we stopped so we decided to go tracting in their neighborhood (neighborhoods are RARE here, seriously) anyway...we met a lady who asked if we could pray for all these things going on in her life. After we prayed we were just talking and she was telling us about her husband who died in the late 90s and how she used to ask him if they'd be married forever and he would tell her no and she said, that just doesn't seem right to me. I feel like we should be married forever. My companion and I looked at each other and my eyes got real big and I got so excited and practically yelled at her, YOU CAN! You can be married to him forever and her eyes got huge and she just said, I can!? And then we went on about the Plan of Salvation for a few minutes and she gave us all her contact info and said to give her a week because she had to deal with the "crisis" going on in her life right now but she was so excited about it. She said, everyone tells me we can't be married forever! God sent you two to me! I know he did. --so that was a really fun experience.

We ended up catching the former investigator at home right after that. Turns out this husband and wife act (and are) Mormon and they just don't know it. We walked into their house and saw The Proclamation and The Living Christ hanging on their wall. They read from the Book of Mormon together everyday and the wife is working on reading a section from The Doctrine and Covenants everyday. I was thinking, so why aren't you two baptized. So they are one of our main focuses right now too. They have a grandson on a mission and are really interested in the church.

We're also working with a family right now, it is actually the family of Judy who was baptized on Saturday. Her husband's grandkids (I guess they'd be her step grandchildren) are all three over the age of eight. They want to be baptized and they come to church with their grandpa every week. I think there is a wait on parental approval...But they are GREAT kids. We went over and spent time with them last night and talked to them about church and baptism. I see some really good things happening with them hopefully really soon in the future.

Well I'm running out of time very quickly. But I LOVE YOU. Thank you for all the love and support. This gospel is TRUE. I can't say it enough. I want to scream it from these small mountain hills. I love being a missionary, as hard as it is. I love this work. I love my family. I love that we are FOREVER. I'm so grateful for each of you.

Quinc-you're looking like a babe. I'm excited for your big dance;) :)

Mommio! Thank you for the newpaper clippings. It's killing me that I'm missing all of that. Every house we go into they say, Oh! We're just watching a game. it KILLS me. I'm missing two months of March on my mission. That'll be so fun:) haha but thank you for keeping me updated.

Dad; I love you so much! Thank you for everything

J; love you pumpkin. write me a letter.

Someone tell my cute Rose Carter that I said good luck this week and that I love her!

I love y'all. You're in my prayers

Love,

Sister Webber

Madi: The trainer who trains.....

Family! Hello! 

As you know its been a crazy week!

We found four new investigators in two days and I was so excited about it. My mind is so scattered right now that I can't even think straight to tell you all that happened this week but it was a great week. We taught a lady named Rena and her sister Mary. Rena has cancer and is going through therapy right now and received a blessing from the previous Elders just before we got to the area. She said that blessing is the only reason why she's alive and she is SO receptive to everything we share with her. We taught her three times this week alone and she cries every time we pray for her and the Spirit is always so strong. They are both so wonderful. I'm sad I'll be leaving them but I know they're in good hands. 

We have another investigator who was a "former investigator" but recently had a change of heart and wanted to start meeting with the missionaries again. He's been at church the last two weeks and said as soon as he has a sure answer to his prayers, nothing will be stopping him from getting baptized. He knows it. He'll be baptized before the end of the month.

As you know, I got a call Saturday night from President Craven telling me that I'd be transferred this week to a new area and that I'd be training.. Tears started streaming the minute he said it all and I have felt 100% overwhelmed since then. I'm still a baby in the mission field but I know that I'll survive with the Lord's help. I may not know what I'm doing but the Lord knows what he's doing and I need to always remember that. I was in shock all day. Right after I got off the phone with him, a member of our ward was at our apartment to pick us up for dinner. I don't remember a thing that went on at dinner that night. My head's been spinning ever since. 

It's a crazy time in the mission field but it is so exciting. It's such a privilege to be a missionary at this time. Anything is possible when we trust in the Lord. I'm learning that more everyday. This is an experience of a lifetime and I am loving it, as hard as it is. 

Kate bo bate: I am Yuri the trainer who trains :) We both will be. I sent a letter to you last week. I don't know how long it'll take to get there but I put in some good stuff:)

Mom and Dad: Thanks for all the encouraging words! I love you both so much! Thank you for all you do for me and thank you for the picture of all the cute Colony boys. I sure miss them! 

Gramma Patti: Happy birthday!! Hope you had a great day! Sure love you! 

Well. I'll let you know my new address as soon as possible. I love y'all so much. Keep me in your prayers this week....it's going to be a little crazy. But i KNOW the Lord is mindful of each of us and blesses us tremendously when we are exactly obedient. 

keep on keepin on! 

Love y'all, 

Sister Webber