Letter to Dad- Leon Spain

Hey pops, thanks for the email(s). I hope you know that i really, really appreciate, and need your advice, so keep writing.

I think that i was able to answer most of your questions in the big email, but if you have more, then ask them.

So i have been really fine the whole time that i have been out, but man, those first few days of being out in the field were exceptionally hard. It's not like the walking or anything, but we definitely walk at least 10 or more miles a day here, i was just kind of emotionally hard. Before my mission, i thought that i was pretty good at a good number of things, but since i have been here, the lord has most certainly humbled me, especially with the language. It is so hard, because i understand the grammar, and i completely understand when people talk, but i feel like Moses, i cant speak really anything except for very simple phrases. There is just so much more that i want to say, but that is probably the reason that i can't speak well, because that gospel is simple, and if i could talk more i think that i would just get in the way of that.. Its strange being here, because its not like i miss everyone a ton, i miss you and mom, and jo, and nana. But its not like overwhelming, crying every night or anything, but the longer that i am here, the more i feel not only more love for you, but i feel of the Saviors love for you, and  that is overwhelming.. Oh and also, now that i am here i see how much everything that I have  done, like working long hours, or living somewhere cold, or learning how to study, or how to live with someone else, or doing anything has totally prepared me to be here. Well i love you sooooooo much, and rocky, and i cant wait to read the sage advice you have for me next.

PICTURES of Leon

Letter to Mom from Leon: 

Hey mama! SO i wanted to tell you just how much i love you. Not gunna lie, this week, but mostly the first two days were really, really hard for me. Like I didn't have any idea how i was going to do this,and learn Spanish, and help people.. I didn't cry, but i definitely felt like it... so i was praying for comfort, and i honestly am completely fine now, actually i love it here, but especially the people.

Area 1-Leon Spain- Companion Hermana Snyder

Hello All!!!

So I am currently sitting in the Leon, Spain branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Oh man there is just so much to tell you! Okay for starters I will talk about tuesday

Tuesday

Okay so my MTC companion and I woke up early and watched as everyone else going to the Malaga, and Barcelona missions left at 5:45 A.M. And then we got ready, got all of our stuff, and then went down to the stake center caddy corner to the temple. So we brought  all of our stuff down and then from there they took us in a few cars to this really high lookout, and we had a mini- devotional with President Pack, ad it was way cool! Then they took us to the mission home and fed us and we got lots of training. After that, we went back to the stake center and got a little more training, I fell asleep twice, and then they gathered all of us, and all of the trainers into the chapel. They had a big power point up, and would show a picture, nd a little info about the trainer, and then would call out who their new companions would be. SO of course, as with everything in my life, I was the last one (WEBSTER), but only of the girls. So i got up, hugged my trainer, HNA. Snyder, and then she told me to get my stuff, because we had to leave right then to catch the train to Leon...
So we ran to the car, and the AP's (or Missionaries who help the president), drove us to the train station, and from there we left. So for some reason I thought that i should buy the biggest bags that they make, which is awesome for holding my mounds of clothes, but not awesome for trying to shove into tiny cubbies for baggage.  So they wouldn't fit, so i just left them out, and the conductor guy came over and yelled at us telling us to move them. So we walked over their and waited for him to come, because we couldn't touch anyone elses bags, so he ended up moving my bags onto their.. But It is like a two hour train ride from Madrid, to Leon. By the time we finally got to Leon, it was like 8:45, so we dropped my stuff off at the piso (apartment), and then we went to the capilla (chapel). So every Tuesday our rama (branch) has a N. D. JAS ( basically a night for young people to play ping pong, and eat chips.. SO i got to meet some members of your rama, and ping some pong. From there we went home and went to bed.

So I forgot to bring my journal, so i will just tell you all of the things that I remember, and dont worry....I HAVE PICTURES...

SO a few things I have noticed so far. Everyone here dresses super nice, I'm talking Nordstroms nice. All of the men have shaved legs. Every single person here smokes, even the little kids. There is graffiti everywhere, but i kind of like it. Oh, on the doors, like a front door of a piso, the door handle is right in the middle of the door, it serves no purpose, just for show. Every bathroom has a ( Bday), pretty sure thats not how you spell that but.. There are an outrageous amount of old people here, it's all that i see everywhere. And also pigeons. Oh so they have these fountains everywhere, for like decorations, and people drink out of them, like everybody, like my companion...  I dont know if I'm there yet. So everyone should look up pictures of leon because it is seriously beautiful! So basically no one has a house, everybody has a piso. It's kind of like how my apartment in college was above those restaurant, it's the same ting here. So when I as on the train with my companion, we were talking and she told me that the hardest area that she has served in so far has been Leon, and also that the spanish in leon is really difficult to understand, because they cut words off before they are done saying them, kind of like when you shorten crazy to crae...   Ugh.. Glad that i had loving family to prepare me for that challenge. Everyone here has a dog. I swear everyone i see outside has a little white dog. Also everybody has these little tiny backpacks, or fanny packs that they wear like a backpack, i am totally getting one. So all of the buildings here have elevators, but they are tiny like 1 person elevators, kind of funny.

Okay, so we have about 25 members in our branch that are active. I met them all yesterday at church, and there really are only 25, i thought my companion was kidding when she told me, just because it is a big city, and i just figure there would be more members. So we have abut 20 inactive members, who dont or can't come to church. So in leon, there are only my comp, and I, and one set of elders. Everyone here is catholic. Every time that we stop, or try to stop someone, the say " soy catolico', (I am catholic) and then ive us the dreaded spanish finger wag. Let me tell ya, contacting here is rough, because when i was in madrid it was way easier to contact, or in other words, to stop a stranger on the street, and talk to them about Jesus...  It would probably freak me out a little bit too, but people stop more for us now because we are two blond Americans trying to speak spanish, well one us is trying the other one is doing.  Everywhere that we walk, people stare at us. Were kind of a big deal..

Oh so for teach, we have taught lots of lessons, and currently have two progressing investigators, one is a girl who is 18, and the other one is this sweet 40 something and her family.

So we have founds lots of potential investigators this week while we were contacting. So like i said, everyone has a piso, d the are really hard to get into, because you have to have a key, or to have somebody buzz you in, so on the outside of the doors, they have a panel with the floor number or letter and you ring it, and they hypothetically answer, and let you in. So, piso are never just left "ajar" ( vocab word of the week). We were walking, as always, an out of nowhere we see an open piso, so then we ran inside, and jumped in the tiny elevators, and went all the way to the top, and started knocking doors. So we met this super crazy lady who thought we were trying to get her money...But then the next door we met the sweetest older lady that have ever met!. I say that because every old person in spain is super rude, i swear. Okay, not every one, but most... Anyways we talked with her for a little while then, and then later that week we had a lesson ith her, and we are supposed to meet with her again on Thursday i think. So things are definitely looking up here in Leon!

But all in all, i love it here, it has a really cool culture here. Spanish has been going okay. So here i can understand like 80% of what they are saying, not every word, but my issue is the talking part. The lord knew what would humble me, and make me better, and trying to speak spanish is definitely it. I can tell i am getting better, but its just frustrating, because i totally know what they are saying, but i dont know how to say anything back. But i know you can learn this stuff over night, but I sure wish that you could. Oh so yea, my P-day is on Mondays, so that is when i will email, but i can read your emails any time during the week. Oh and also i get like 2-3 hours to email now, instead on just one, so thats pretty cool.

Well i love you a ton, and thank you for the emails.

Letter from Hermana Pack-

Dear Family of Hermana Webster,

We had the great pleasure today of welcoming your daughter to the Spain Madrid Mission.  We spent the day together at the mission home where she received training and orientation on her missionary assignment.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time together and felt a wonderful spirit present.  We appreciate all that you have done to prepare your daughter to serve the Lord and for the sacrifice you are making in giving her to the Lord for a time. 

Hermana Webster has been assigned to labor in León with Hermana Snyder. 

We thought you might enjoy these pictures that we took in the backyard during our lunch break.

May the Lord bless you and your family in all of your endeavors.

Sincerely,

President and Hermana Pack

LAST DAY IN CCM 8-23-16

Hey,

SO today is our last day here, and tomorrow morning we will leave for the Madrid mission home, and will find out who are trainers will be, and what ur first area will be. So i found out the for emailing in the field: we can receive and read emails anytime during the week, but we can only write back on our P-Days. Oh so when I get to my new area, I will be able to email you then and tell you where I am going. Depending on my first area, I could go and be there Tuesday, or Wednesday night. 

Yesterday, we all got interviewed by President pack, and sister pack, and they are seriously the most layed back, awesome people ever. They are totally great people, (with southern routes). Oh, i found out that there are like 4 more missionaries from TEXAS, also in this mission.

So we just finished packing, and let me tell you, those vacuum seal bags are seriously a life saver. Oh and good call on making me bring my pillow because it is so nice to have a comfy pillow to sleep with, because the pillow that they have here are trash:) JK, but mines totally better.

Well i love you a ton, and i miss you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. Oh make sure you send me really long emails this week so that i can finally not be insanely rushed to read them. 

Oh i was going to tell you not to worry about me because im not worried. I am ready to leave the CCM, and to start teaching. Love you..

Oh tell JO that i love her soo much too, and "dont forget to pray".
Oh tell rock-star thanks for all of the kind, and thoughtful emails.

WEEK FIVE! last week in the MTC

ALOHA!

So I was beginning to be a little lax of the whole "write in your journal so you dont forget all of these precious memories," but i got back of the wagon this week so my email should be slightly more detailed which i have heard is a requirement.

I swear that writing these emails for one hour a week, for everyone I know is both the most challenging and scary thing I have ever done. I really should have taken a typing class, but at the same time, Reading the sweet, and informative emails that I get from y'all is the highlight of my week!!! Oh, but I did find out that when I get to the field on Monday or Tuesday (I wont find out until my mission president comes to interview the Madrid missionaries on Sunday), that we will be able to read the emails any time we receive them, but will not be able to write back until p-day, which I think is going to be on Mondays... Anywho, I'm not sure if that is accurate, i heard it from a few people, so i will ask president pack, my mission president.

FRIDAY:

Okay so Friday's are the day before we get to go to the park, which is by far the best part of the week because we get to proselyte for 2 hours to random Spanish people!! So let me just tell ya now, it is not "fun" most of the time, but it is "funny" often. okay so i found out that my companion for the park will be HNA. Matsu, which totally sounds like a Tongan name, because it is but she is just a regular white girl from Provo, Utah, who is seriously super cool, just a misleading name... SO i was excited because I share a room with her, and she is just really funny, and can habla (talk) the espanol..Thats pretty much it for Friday, our routine in the CCM(MTC ) is pretty much the same, except on Fridays they give us ice cream for dinner which is fun because i get to watch everyone else eat ice cream.... 

Saturday:

Alright then, Today was park day!!! SO it is pretty abnormal for a companionship in the park to get a ref feral, so when I got 4 last week, It was pretty irregular, but i figured if i could do it last week, i could do it this week.. And that was my downfall, I lost sight of the fact that without the lord, I am nothing. So we went to the park, and every single person that we talked to except one either was an atheist, gave us the Infamous" Spanish finger wag", told us to get out of dodge, or thought we were trying to sell them something.. The lord sure humbled me quick. But I am so much more grateful for my park experience two weeks ago now knowing both sides, working with the lord, and without. SO needless to say that the day was pretty rough, but right when I realized my pridefulness, and prayed for the lord to help my find the people he wanted me to, we found this cute girl from japan, WHO SPOKE ENGLISH!!!! She was here studying Spanish, and was lost, so we assisted here and in return she allowed us to share our message, and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon, and get a referral from her. Miracles all around us here in Spain..

Sunday:

Hola! so today was Sunday, which is such a good day. I love my district so much, the are a hoot. SO today in leadership council, which is a council of all of the zone leaders, district leaders, and STL's, we picked our sacrament meeting topic which is "becoming a disciple of Christ", because that is what missionaries are, nothing more than disciples. Also in LC, we decided as an MTC, that we were going to speak nothing but Spanish, until we leave the CCM, which is a bit of a lofty goal, but president packer promised us that if we did it, we would not be nervous to go the field because of the preparation that we did before. So today I just started 3rd Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, which talks about when Jesus Christ, our Savior visited the people in the Americas after his Resurrection. It is incredible, and if you get the chance to read it this week, do so, because as I have been reading it, it has brought me closer to my savior..

Monday:

Hello, It's me..   HAHA.. Never gets old. SO im hoping to finish the BOM tomorrow because im in the middle of 4th Nephi, so close. I am grateful for the day that I was able to hae today, because today was the first day of our MTC goal to only speak spanish. The only speaking Spanish is not the hard part, its the not speaking english part that is hard. I can normally say what i want to say in Spanish, but most of the time, the jokes I make dont really translate so then i get mad!!! Oh Spanish, it is so pretty to here, but just not quite as clever or funny as english I think. I know that by the end of the week I will be making goo jokes in Spanish. I know that by the end of the week, with the help of the lord, I will be 3X as fluent as i am currently.

Tuesday:

SO my favorite Spanish meal that I have had here is a toss up between two, They have this piece of toast, kind of like garlic bread, and then you put some spicy tomato soup thing on the bread, and then you put Jamon, which is like procuittio, (pretty sure thats spelled wrong). IT is really tasty but the other one is of course Paella. Oh so today was the first time that i have had to teach the law of chastity to both of our invstagatorsa today, I WAS DYING.. but i think that the second time around, we got it. 

Wednesday:

Vale (okay), SO today was pretty alright. Today was our last gift of tongues workshop, which is basically a class with this really awesome teacher who totally reminds me of nacho libre, like a twin. It taught us how to make language study plans, and how to set achievable goals, and how to track your improvement.. I wish i would have learned all of that before college but, you know. Oh and thats about it, except that it is P-Day eve!!!   I cant believe how fast it comes..

Thursday:

We didnt really do anything cool, we went back to the residency place and picked up our spain ID's, which is kind of cool. I am a citizen of Spain, almost. Except I can vote...

Love ya, cant wait to hear from you more!!!

4444444444444444444WEEK FOUR4444444444444444444444

HEY!!!    

Hows it going? Thanks for all of the emails from everybody!!! It's great to hear that seth got a job, Congrats.

SO I'm gunna change the letter for today a little bit because normally i just write in my journal everyday and then copy it into the email, but i forgot my journal and so im just gunna write:

1. Spiritual experiences this week
2. Something I learned in my studies
3. One of my major accomplishments

1.     Saturday:

So my most spiritual experience this week was my time proselyting in the park. So on Friday of last week my companion and I were having a bit of a hard time with stress, and our investigators so we decided to fast separately and then ended up finding out that we were both fasting at the same time, kinda cool. I'm not sure what she was fasting for, but I was fasting for the park, and that the lord would give me strength beyond my own to talk to people, and that I might find one person who could understand my broken Spanish, who I could teach a lesson too. Teaching in the MTC is great and I love it, but teaching real people is way better. So that was Friday, and I had been feeling the spirit really strongly the rest of the night, and Saturday morning. So I found out that HNA. Caroll was going to be my park companion, which I thought was pretty rad. So when I flew into SLC to get my visa, he was the first person that I met. So we prayed, and then we went to work. She was kind of shy because she doesn't think that she can speak that great, but i think that she can, but needless to say I did most of the talking because i dont really care if I speak terrible Spanish, because people here are nice, and they help me! SO we take a metro, or subway to the park, and everywhere, but it is really hard to proselyte on the metro, because its kind of awkward. SO i normally dont really carry on conversations with people on the metro. SO we were at the metro about to walk on and i could see this lady through the glass in the window and something like pulled my arm and made me talk to her, so i went and sat besides her, and talked to her, and because we were having such a good conversation, we missed our stop by two stops, but were able to give her a book of Mormon, and share the restoration with her. I got here ref feral, or information also, so missionaries in her area can start to teach her the lessons! It was crazy.  SO after that we went to the park and had just walked through the entrance when we passed this man, and said hi to him. So the president of the CCM and his wife go to the park with us to proselyte also, so i saw president talk to him and move on, so we walked by, and again i just felt like there was a wall in front of me and that i couldn't move until i talked to him, so we turned around and talked to him and were able to teach him, and give him a book of Mormon, and his a referral from him. That exact thing happened 2 more times in the park, which is amazing to me because as i have stated, I DO NOT SPEAK SPANISH, like at all. Oh and the last lady we talked to was from GEORGIA!, the country; she spoke Russian, and Spanish, no English though. SO i dont know what it is, but i have run into some one who speak Russian every time i have gone to the park, and all of the people who are here learning Russian are soooooo jealous of me because they want to talk to some one in Russian, so i have just learned that when i got to the park, i need to bring pamphlet and BOM's in Spanish, Russian, and english. Oh, but yeah i was able to give that last lady a Russian restoration pamphlet, and BOM. I was fun to talk about in testimony meeting with everybody because i could see all of the jealousy:) Money! 

2.

Okay, so I'm about half way through with the BOM, just finished Alma. President challenged me to finish it before I leave the CCM, so i have accepted the challenge! Anyways to ive been studying on how to make my prayers more effective, and meaningful, and have been studying Alma 31: 26-38, which basically has all of the answers to everything that we will ever need in our life, there is some Yahtzee verses in there. SO i have been trying it and let me tell ya folks, it works!

3.

SO i think that my biggest accomplishment this week was just getting over myself, and my fears, and insecurities and just opening my mouth and talking to people. And who knew, they could understand me, and laughed at my jokes, and were excited and willing to listen to the message that the lord has given me to share! SO I really appreciate the lord giving me the strength and courage to open my mouth, and when i did, he filled it with words... 

Major Props to the DON DE LENGUAS ( the gift of tongues).

LOVE YOU!!!   

If you have any new, advice, new nails, flat tire, stubbed toe, I want to hear about it and i want some pictures of it.... Maybe not the toe though.

Hello!!!  

Okay so I am going to start by writing a little more about my last P-day (7-28-2016). 

Thursday:

We went to the Archealogical museum, and it was cool. We saw some mummies, and some Roman statues, and some coins. Its just nice to be out of the CCM (MTC). I got to wear my sunglasses for bout 4 minutes, definitley worth carrying them. One of the Siser who is going to portugal wrote all of the HNA's a letter and we were all crying. She told her teacher and then she translated it into english, and she just told us about how she really appeciated beig on a mission, and getting to know us, and that she kknows that e are all daughters of god, just really tender! 

Friday:

So today we taught our last lesson with mitchie, our fake investagator, and we just felt the spirit really strongly. She agreed to be baptized; big surprise there. Oh so in our classrooom we have this big yellow verb book, with like 501 verbs and there definitions, we all it the "BIG YELLOW ALL KNOWING VERB BOOK". IT is seriously a life saver. So i got to conjugate some verbs from that the today. Oh, so we watched this devotional from Elder Uchtdorf about this missionary from italy who was just this amazing missionary, and he gave us some pointers on how to be better. "BE BOLD", and "FEAR NO MAN", were some of my favorite quotes. 

Saturday:

So today was park day!!! MY favorite day of the week. It went swimmingly. MY companion for the park was the one and only Sister Salas, who is from spain, who speak english, but is serving a mission in Portugal. She is so cool, and a monster at basketball. Okay so the CCM is in a big building right next to the MAdrid Temple. We walk about 2 blocks to get to the metro station, and from there we ride 

the metro from pavones, to ibiza, and then its like a block from there to get to Retiro park. So sister salas and I we almost to the park, about 300 ft from the entrance and we started to talk to this guy, and ended up getting a refferal from him, of basically his contact information, and were able to give him a book of mormon. God answers our prayers!! 

We had a lot of success in the park, becuase Iwould just say hi, and talk to everyone, but when they started tlking the actual hard core spanish, I turned it over to the Spainard. So we ere able to get two more refferal and place three more BOM's  (Book of Mormons).

Sunday:

MY favorite day of the week. Chruch in the CCM is the best. SO we were sitting in our classrooms this morning studying, when Presdient packr came in and asked if he 

could talk to us. I thought we were in trouble. So we sat in his office, and he shook our hands, but i felt bad for him becuae my palms were so sweatly, but i guess he wiped it on his pants:) SO he asked us to be the STL's (Sister training leaders) for Zone 2. I was shocked in the least!!! But i figured my comapion would ge called to be one. Okay, so an STL is basically a zone leader, for girls. You are president's eyes and ears and arm and hands. He said the biggest thing is just being a perfect example. Might i stress, he said a PERFECT example. I mean its okay, just a little bit of pressure. Okay so we are getting 22 new missionaries on tuesday, and 14 are leaving, so thats all of the russians, and the protugese missionaries. Any who, all of the new misssioaries are going to be in our district. CRAZY.

Monday: 

So today was the first lesson with our two new investagators; yep, I said 2.. Stress city.  But they are both 

so sweet. The firs ones nae is Alejandro, and the second one is angelica... The worst names, i know. But our teachers who are acting in the role plays are using actual investagators that they had on their missions, so its kind of awesome. I noticed also that I am able to speak way more every day, so i guess the work does pay off, but its mostly the gift of tongues, no joke! SO we played soccer today, and its ws just money..Our team killed it, it was just a mess.

Tuesday: 

Okay so quick recap, 

-Russians left
-Portugese leftt
-We are STL's
-All of the new girls in our zone are native spainish, or russian speakers, so no ingles!
-Second lesson with alejndro, angelica, and it went okay, but angelica is super catholic and when we were saying the peing prayer she was looking the virgin mary picture she had with her... Creep city. 

-Kind of stressed out becuase were supposed to make sure all of these girls have a great experince, but its just hard to talk to them in only sign language:)

Wednesday: 

Okay so we finally got th chance to meet and talk to all of the girls in our zone today, What a blessing! They are all so sweet, but I'm about 83% sure that they could not understand anything we said to any of them. Oh and e finally got to meet President and sister Pack! MY MISSION PRESIDENT!!!    So cool, they had just flown bck from tenerife, and gran canaria, which are some of the island's in our mission. Cant wait to get to know them more, but we only got to talk for five minutes, but i will se the again in 2 & 1/2weeks. Ultimate frisbee today for sports, which was super fun.

Love you guys! thansk for all of the emails!!