Bring Him Home... Sept 24, 2011

We were able to go to Sweden to pick up Aldste Adam Webster

September 9, 2011 from the Sweden Stockholm Mission Home!

(Check out my blog for the details in-between at... curitibawebsters@blogspot.com )

We arrived in the states 7:00 pm, September 24, 2011! What a great reunion!!

Welcome Home Aldste Webster! Our last missionary! Kind of a bitter sweet!

WELL DONE ADAM!! WE LOVE YOU!

Äldste Adam Michael Webster's Bittersweet Symphony‏

To All within the sound of my voice... (or, whoever might read this message.)

Yesterday, we were able to see the new missionaries and their trainers. In reaction to the high caliber missionaries (10 elders 2 sisters), one of the trainers came up to me and said... "It's too bad that your going home, you're missing out". With the four of us going home, there are 12 new missionaries which means 4 new areas opening in the mission! It is an exciting time! President has now taken away the 9-week mentality of transfers. Our planners are now 5 weeks long, which means we will be more focused to baptize in 5 week cycles rather than 9 weeks. We have now visited 37 of the 40 wards or branches in Sweden and I know that it will be well worth it! The members have appreciated the time that the president has taken to be among them and show his love and interest for them. The theme of these visits has been "strengthening the church". Each of the missionaries have gotten together with their bishops and ward councils to home teach less active and part member families! The missions approach isn't necessarily to get high numbers, but to strengthen the church, and by doing so we gain the trust of members and obtain referrals that way. I can't wait to see how the missionaries interact with the members (especially in high-popluated mormon towns). The last 3 firesides will be in Luleå (The farthest area north in Sweden on Saturday), and in a chapel in stockholm ( Sunday, where two wards meet.). And so we will be finishing those off just to say we did, and to help the members there. Other than that, President has now given all assignments to the new assistants Elders Olsen and Bracken. They will do fantastic! This occurred officially when we trained the new missionaries and the trainers about the 12 week program that has now started since August 1st. Missionaries are to be together with their trainers for 12 weeks and they have a pretty well-detailed schedule on what they are to do and what they are to become by the end of those 12 weeks. It is inspired and as that Elder said... I am missing out! Looking back, Training was the greatest experience for me on how I decided what kind of missionary I wanted to be. And as the new missionaries were bearing testimony to us (along with the Newells, and the new assistants) President walked up to us and asked us to bare testimony in conclusion of the meeting. That was one of the most spiritual testimonies I have ever given! I told them that I would miss testifying of the savior with the name tag on my chest. It's not the testifying that ends, but the call to represent the savior and to witness of him that does, which I would change any one of their positions for! Even though the calling to be a full-time missionary will end, I hope that I can be a Faithful, Full-time Member!

President was kind enough to allow us this last week to be out proselyting and Finding, Teaching and Baptizing non-members!

This last week we were able to visit the branch of Visby. The island to the east of Sweden. It was amazing because they had, in a branch of 18, 19 investigators who showed up to hear president. That was amazing. That island was so touristic and beautiful. We came back and Syster Rönndahl, who taught us in the MTC, was over for dinner. On Sunday, we traveled to the center of sweden, Örebro. They had tried for a month to get this brazilian investigator to church, and it just so happened that the woman that they were teaching's parents were also in town from Sao Paulo and they all showed up to church when I happened to be there! Hello! The lord definitely had a purpose with that! I was able to translate from Swedish to Portuguese during sacrament meeting and they were very grateful. So after that I got their names and e-mails (for further proselyting in the future). The Lord is SO aware and really does LOVE all of us. He is mindful of our desires, weaknesses, and potential to become as him. Being on a mission has taught me endless things, but the most important is my Love for my savior, the people and myself. He has taught me how to recognize the sweet promptings of the spirit and has blessed me with Joy as I do so. I am thankful for the Atonement, and through it, it enables us to serve the lord with no regrets. I have learned that the Lords thoughts aren't our thoughts. But that doesn't mean that we can't know what they are! How joyful it has been to be out here and do the will of him who called me. I'm grateful that I was counted worthy to represent him. It was the best two years. It wasn't easy, but as Bishop Ralph Murray (Borås) says, "If it was easy, anybody could do it, but your're not just anybody!"

I love this work, and I know who's it is!

Love,

Äldste Adam Michael Webster

MTC (2 months) - Elder Chester

Lund (2 months) - Elder Lords

Växjö (4 months) - Elders Takahashi and Barlow

Borås (6 months) - Elder Bush, Stoddard, Nelson

Malmö (3 months) - Elder Winegar

Täby / Stockholm (6 months) - Elder Jorgensen

P.S. If this letter is all over the place... sorry... mixed emotions!

Fun trips ahead!!

Well family, this past week has been a fantastic one! Now that we are almost finished with visiting all of the wards in Sweden, president felt impressed to go to the ysa centers and give speeches there and yes, he wanted us with on that. I think these trips have prepared me so much for the future. How to be a member missionary, being a good home teacher, using the gift of discernment with those you come in contact with and so forth... We first visited the Göteborg ysa center, then took a bus over to the city of jönköping. We then took a train down to Lund and it was a really amazing opportunity to meet those that I have come in contact with from before. So the branch president in växjö wants me to notify him when and if we go there! So that be will fun to see him there. We have been out of town a lot and so there hasn't been any time to find and teach in Stockholm. But when we went down to Lund we found this really cool student who is from south Africa and she was sooo excited to be apart of the ysa center and to learn more from the missionaries there. She was just all over the place and she took the initiative to find out where the church is, when the center is open, what our number was... She was awesome. So at the beginning of this past week we took a trip to norrland. The first visit there was the first visit in 32 that the branch president thought it was canceled. The missionaries didn't communicate with us so when the plane landed I called the missionaries and asked them if everything was in order for translation and songs and prayers and things and they said.... "you're kidding me right?" I told them how serious I was and they didn't believe me so I told them to send me the branch president's phone number... Called him and then they found out we weren't lying. So they got a long talking to by president about communication... Which reminds me of a scripture in Hebrews 12 or 13 where it talks about how doing good and communicating is a sacrifice. Pretty amazing scripture.. Just so you all know a lot of this that I am talking about Is purely the fact that I am typing on sister newell's iPad 2 right now and I love it! I was just making it work for her and it happened to be in the office so here I am! I will most likely be getting one of these when I get back... Just saying...
After our first visit in norrland we took a 3 hour bus to a place called sundsvall and that city was awesome! I got to spend a hole day contacting and grafting with elder rowley! And we had a fantastic time! We found some people to come to church, set up some appointments for later in the week, and just had a good time together before the fireside that night. I love being a missionary and it seems as though I am learning soooooo much from president and sister Newell. They know so much and have so much experience they said they will give me a bunch of advice in the concluding interview. But we don't have to talk about that right now! This upcoming week we will he going to places such as visby, and Luleå. President told us that this upcoming week is transfers and since there will be 2 new assistants we will be staying in the mission home for our last week and be purely proselyting missionaries! Yay!

I love you all, it was so nice to hear from all who wrote me!
Love,
Elder Webster

Fun facebook surprises!

This was put on Jamon Winegars facebook page by this little gal.

Yidi Zhu

Elder Winegar, still remember us?come to jonkoping and meet with us !!!

So fun to see him... it's been a while! But it won't be long now till we see him

IN THE FLESH!!

YSA Press

Hejsan!

This week has been fantastic! I am now sitting at the institute center in Göteborg because we are having a YSA fireside tonight with the Young Single Adults.But first, investigators. For the little time we have had to be in our areas the Lord has continued to bless us with people to teach. Steffany wasn't able to come to church, but the week before she brought her sister, but she just needs to meet with us and we are hoping to see her baptized soon. Johan was interesting, he was very set for baptism and we acutally had an amazing lesson with him. He expressed that his deepest desire was to have a family settled down and a joyful life together with them. We were able to bare strong testimony of the temple and how the temple could help him reach his greatest desire. We outlined what else we needed to and teach before he could be baptized and he was good with it all except Tithing, he tells us that he is very spiritual and he didn't understand the need to belong to a single church. And so after that teach he told us that he was going to think it over, talk to his friend, and then talk with us this saturday (because we will be back in town on saturday). So hopes and prayers are with him! The other day we went to a new area of stockholm where we hadn't contacted in before. And we found this man from Congo. His name was Albert. We only had a few hours to proselyte so we were hoping to get somweone into the center to teach. And he was the man! Albert, as we talked on the way to the Center we realized that it was FHE and that other YSAs would be there. He told me that he liked singing and he enjoyed singing in the Gospel choir. On the way there, he actually sang me a song. It was quite uplifting actually. As we walked into the FHE at the center we were there half way through the lesson. Played a name game and then after, for treats he played the guitar and sang for all of us! I loved it because he was so into it and comfortable with the environment! We set up to meet him on saturday and he could very much be baptized! Last saturday we went to Gävle for a fireside and there happened to be a baptism on that day as well! And so that was an amazing experience, a son baptized his father! Also, my son (Elder Stoddard) is in one of my old areas (Växjö) and he called me up one day and told me that the 3 kids of a part member family I had worked with were being the taught the lessons and decided to be baptized! That was so good to hear! On sunday, we were mainly in Göteborg. We started out with a combined Priesthood/relief society meeting in Kungsbacka. And then we went to Västra Frölunda (the biggest ward in the Göteborg stake) and that was amazing. That ward is on FIRE! Then we went up to Trollhättan for a fireside there. It was over-all amazing. My companion got permission to attend an old investigator's wedding and he took with him another elder in the Zone who also taught these investigators. And so I went on a few hour contacting time with another elder in the Zone. We found some great people. We found this swedish woman who was a part of a church and wasn't so sure about the Book of Mormon... had some assumptions about it so basically I told her to READ THE BOOK before she "shuts the door". She agreed to meet.. also this saturday! When elder Jorgensen got back we found this man from Peru... after agreeing to come to the center, and a five minute conversation, he told us that he had actually ben baptized into the church, his wife and children were all catholic and wanted to meet with us! It was a miracle to not only to be guided to those who will hear the gospel but to those who have HEARD and felt of it's converting power already and that they have family to join along with them! This is the greatest work!

I love you all and I am grateful for all those who wrote!

Love,

Äldste Webster

(you can delete this out) Noticing my convenient time of returning home the first real saturday that I'm back will be General Conference weekend! (crazy)... my companion and I noticed that it would be a good time to meet up and be focused... so I expect to go on a date with someone there... along with my companion and one of his dates... So we were wondering if we had to reserve tickets for that special session where grandfather speaks. And Elder Jorgensen is also wondering if I could hook him up with tickets for his family of 7 to whichever session and then 3 for the priesthood session WHEREVER in the center.

I hope you know that I am very focused when I have things to focus on! I am working hard. It's just when there is a lot of travel time and time away from investigators, thought tend to prepare for the future. But I am loving the mission and the time I have to be with the Newell's and learn so much from them!

Pride week

I saw that you all were at Mantua yesterday from Nelson News so I assume the reason ya'll didn't write is because of that. No problem! So this past week has been pretty cool. The first highlight would definitely be the baptism of Marcus Joakim Isaksson. A while back Elder Jorgensen and I were contacting in downtown Stockholm and we were impressed to talk to this man. He was swedish, he was passing out scientology brochures, and so in exchange with his brochures we gave him a book of mormon and he wanted to meet with the missionaries. This last saturday we attended that mans baptism and confirmation. After his baptism, he bore testimony of the reality of the spirit in his conversion process and the power of the book of mormon. I was so thankful to see but a part of what that man is going to become! It actually brought tears to my eyes the power of his testimony. Because this overwhelming feeling came upon me on how quick the Lord can change someones heart and give them a tesimony! The Gospel is real. Steffany, our Peruvian investigator, got to attend the baptism along with her sister. So she was able to feel of the special spirit there. During the week we were able to teach her with the Elders that we will be giving her to, which I am excited for because the ward she is going to has a bunch of peruvians and chileans. I am so thankful to be a part of this work. Proselyting in stockholm is the ultimate referring work. a couple of baptisms are on way by people that we have found. And it still makes me happy even though they don't join the ward i'm in, they still are brought into the fold and have the blessing of the gospel in their lives! Johan, luckily, is in Stockholm ward's boundaries and he wants to be baptized on September 3rd. He was able to come to church, loved sacrament meeting, and could very likely be moved up to August 20th or something as long as he keeps commitments! Emma and Adam in Täby are doing fantastic. We were able to go by them and give them a Book of Mormon and FHE guide book to them and they appreciated it so much! I love that family, and am so excited for Mom and Dad to meet them! Sunday night was also a cool experience where we were able to do a fireside in the Södertälje ward COMBINED with a baptism. This father was being baptized by his son and they both came from a city north of Londrina, Brazil! So I spoke portuguese with them and caught up on good memories of brazil so it was a great experience! This week has been a pretty crazy week because we happened to have a lot of time to contact and proselyte WHICH IS A BLESSING! but when it is also Gay Pride Festival the same week, it makes things a little complicated. I would compare it to Carnaval in brazil, but gay... but it strengthened my testimony that you can find the prepared NO MATTER the environment. As we were contacting people on the street, the parade was coming. And so it seemed to me as if the (straight) people were walking away and the other were walking towards. So we walked on the side streets where people were walking away and we found this 22 yr old swede from congo who said he was in the direction of where we would be going. So we took him to the Institute center, away from all those abominations. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he told us a very personal experience about how he knows there would be life after death. He told us that after his father had passed away he had a dream and in the dream his dad was wearing a white suit, tie and shirt (coincidence?) He said he was in a cafeteria with his dad and his dad headed into another room and said "jag kommer snart" which means i'm coming soon. Interesting because the way he described it was exactly how the stockholm temple is arranged! Hmm... And so we taught right then and there about the Temple and it just clicked for him. So we look forward to seeing how he progresses in the gospel. We contacted this man last night from Dominican Republic. As we approached him he said he was hungry and tired and didn't have time. As the conversation carried on he told us that He has a strong belief in Christ but will never join ANY church. He said he was sick of being so easily tempted and wished that he would have more strength. He said "last time I helped the mormons they build me up a lot" It happened to be FHE in the Institute that night so we brought him there and there was a couple of people who spoke spanish there, played guitar with him and just welcomed him as one among the rest. It was AMAZING!

I know that the lord has his eye on all of us! He knows his sheep and it is ours to be worthy to be guided to the ones we can help! I love you all! Thanks for your prayers and support!

Love,

Äldste Webster (Wad)

P.S. I got my flight itinerary today... gross!

traveling the world in 7 days!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I last e-mailed. Either that or how much i've been doing the past weeks. WOW. Brace yourselves for the length of this letter.

We can start off by Malmö's Zone Conference. It was amazing, it was about Strengthening the church through the missionaries home teaching. It was awesome because the bishop from Malmö cqame in after we had taught it all to give a little spiritual thought and at the end he was so enthused he said "As a matter of fact, I would like to ask permission from your mission president to get the full-time missionaries out teaching with the part-member families.. would that be alright? After a couple of laughs in the audience President said "permission granted!" It is amazing to see the spirit move the leadership of the full-time missionaries and membership for the same cause. And that is to strengthen the church! The following day we did our ward visit with the VÄXJÖ branch! ( that was my second area with Elders Takahashi and Barlow as my companions) And it was amazing to see the members there. Too bad Marvin wasn't there but he was with his family in another town! But he is very active and doing great otherwise. But the biggest highlight of going to Växjö was to see a woman that we had taught. Her problem was that she was co-habitating with this man and so her decision is if she had the faith to leave her partner (he didn't want to get married) and join the church... or not. During my time I remember praying so hard that a path would be provided. As soon as I left Växjö, her problem was solved and she was baptized. Coming back to visit I found out that she married a member of the church, he moved to Växjö and and they are both working on the kids to get baptized! The climax was to walk in and to look at her and see hoe much her countenance had changed! The gift of the Holy Ghost is real and changes lives if they just have the faith to follow the influence of it. What stunk the most is that we were in a hurry to get to the next fireside and we were in some Elders car. And I left my backback with my quad, camera, preach my gospel and study journal in there. So the past week and a half (a lot has happened) Elder Jorgensen has taken pictures for me. Luckily we will be headed down to Malmö later in the month so I'll get it back. So that sunday morning we saw thast we would be very busy and wouldn't have time to eat. And luckily we were staying in a hotel the night before and my companion had a brilliant idea to make some sandwiches in the morning. So we used napkins and new (un-used) trash bags to pack up our sandwiches for later use.

P.S. I would tell you each of the wards and branches we visited but I figured I can just print out a calendar later as we look back at it all! Crazy.

On Monday the 25th of July we had Joseph (Congo) invite his family over for dinner and it went amazingly well. We found out he wasn't in Stockholm's area. So we invited the mission leader in his new ward to the Newell's house for dinner. So it was Joseph, and his sister and mother with us there. They can only speak french for the main part. So the Newell's taught them the most because they can speak the language! Joseph told us that they had been reading in the Book of Mormon together for the past couple of days so that's super nice! He is super willing to be baptized and the mom doesn't seem to mind so we will be trying to get the whole family into the water.

We then had Stockholm Zone Conference and the following day was Stockholm South's Zone Conference. This weeks special hymn that Elder Jorgensen and I have been singing has been "where can I turn for peace?" It's got a great tenor line. The following day we went to Norrland Zone Conference and it was very special. The following day we spent in Skellefteå (second highest area in sweden) and we had an amazing contacting time together. We found a bunch of people from Ethiopia. For lunch, the Elders there surprised my companion and I with a Swedish delicacy. The fermented baltic herring (syrströmming). It was served with Potatoes and Meatballs with dill sauce. Let's just say it tastes like sewage. Anyways... I got a really good video about it all and ya'll will love it.

We then took a quick flight back down to Stockholm because we found out that Emma's husband was in town and so we met with him and the Newell's and had an awesome dinner with them. He is willing to be baptized but is under pressure with his career and government so he is just going to wait until the opportunity presents itself for him! Once that family gets sealed in the temple I am going to China to witness of it!

The next day President Newell gave a speech at Fest i nord (which is a YSA's around Europe gathering). He was crazy enough to invite my companion and I along and it was pretty fun! I got to see a bunch of YSA's that I had gotten to know in Lund and Växjö (including MARVIN!) and Borås and Malmö. Very happy time for me. We then were able to visit Vingåker which is this factory outlet place where they sell Tiger of Sweden suits for cheap so we went there for Thomas to go mission shopping because this is his last week here in Sweden before he leaves for his mission! The following day we took a flight to Gothenburg and went to Borås that sunday! There I was able to see Joseph and Elvis there at church and others that I had baptized were out of town (unfortunately) but I told them I would be back with my parents on September 11th! The ward is very excited. I got to bare my testimony there and after the Ward mission leader there (my hero) volunteered to giving us a ride to the next ward we would visit and gave us food for lunch! He is fantastic. I gave him your e-mails so he will be contacting ya'll soon. That night we went to a fireside in Jönköping and stayed at Sture Nilsson's house and he told me to tell grandfather hello because he had had him at dinner with his family there in Jönköping before when he visited!

The following day we had FHE with an investigator we found whose name is Johan. He is a swede with a wife and 3 kids. I would not be surprised if he was baptized in the next month either. He is a very good listener, honest and a warm peronality. We had a strong lesson about Christ and the Book of Mormon and he committed to read in it and pray to know if it's true!

A while back Elder Jorgensen and I had contacted this man right in the middle of downtown Stockholm as he was passing out Scientology pamphlets. After talking to him he told us of his interest to find out more about the Book of Mormon and he was very interested to hear about that.

Just two weeks later (just yesterday) the elders who we referred him to call us and tell us that he knows the book is true and is getting baptized this saturday! Wowee that is fantastic!

I am so thankful to being a missionary! I am loving life, staying busy, and feeling the spirit stronger and stronger every day guiding me to do HIS will. I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and support!

Love,

Äldste Webster (Wad)

Mission Flesh Press 1

Well here we are mid-way through this wonderful week and we are BUSY as ever! So a while back, President Newell felt that he, along with us and his wife would visit each of the units in Sweden (40-43) by the time I go home. Each of these will consist of a talk/testimony given by the Newells and it would either be a Fireside (during the week) or during sacrament meetings. And also it would consist of a music number (given by us two). So just this last sunday, the games began. Just this last sunday we went around to 5 different wards / branches. You know, the smart thing to do would have been to take pictures at each of these places... but I'm not! HAIGH.

We got up early sunday morning and our first stop was a ward where Elder Jorgensen had served. Immediately following we went to the Stockholm ward where we had some investigators coming so it was a little stressful but it ended up working out! Elder Jorgensen went with Thomas to pick up the investigators at the train station and I was in sacrament meeting. The saacrament rolls around, then presdient newell's talk, and then up comes mine and Elder Jorgensen's duet... was he there yet? no! So I go out of the church to see if he was coming and he was no where to be found. So I walk back in, they turn the time over to us. I walk up to the stage, syster Newell asks me "are you going to do a solo?" Seeing how they couldn't just skip the number... and I don't back down.... I got up there and sang a solo for a long 3 verses to Joseph Smith's first vision! Man that was scary! But it was fun! half way through the song he walks in with both of our investigators... it made me happy! The following meeting we a place called Jakobsberg and that ward was amazing! Half of the members came from Chile so it was really cool to see and feel like I was in Brazil! Also, I'm pretty sure I can understand spanish 90% now. My plan is to study Spanish, Portuguese and swedish while I am here because the Lord provides a way to learn really fast here! Then on the following monday we spent booking train and flight and hotel to travel around the south this week, and also prepare for Zone Conference which would happen on the FOLLOWING DAY! So we did that and woke up early the next morning for a flight to Göteborg! we were about to print out the tickets and then it machine told us that we were too late to print them out so we had to go to the service desk (ironic right?!) so we got our tickets, ran to the plane and as soon as we got in our seats, the plane was off! Thank goodness! Zone Conference went really well! It is always so good to be back in the Göteborg Zone in the summer! It reminds me of Borås! Loved it. Our message ended up being about Strengthening the church. It was a message about how as we go to the bishop... we don't say "How can we help?" thats just the attitude we have. We gave a comparison to how the bishop has so much on his plate! So we had someone hold a jug of water, and then told some bread (food), and then have a blanket over their heads (shelter), going to the temple (picture of the temple)... and then we had an elder come up and put 4 books on his hands as well. And it said "HOW" "Can" "We" "Help?" To compare to the fact that sometime the bishop doesn't really know what the missionaries could to... so to ask him that type of a question would be putting more on his plate. So throughout the mission we are putting an emphasis on home teaching and how strengthening the members by "lifting the load" would enable trust with missionaries. After that we took a train half way down to Malmö to a place called Halmstad. So that's where I am today because we have a fireside here tonight. So Elder Jorgensen and I stayed in a Hotel (classy.. i know..) last night because we would usually stay with the missionaries here... but they are sisters... so thats a no go!

Anyways... one really good thing that happened during the week is that just before we had to leave, we got to teach out investigator from Peru and she is awesome! We brought her to a Peruvian family's house and just had a great time there. Her only concern before baptism is the Word of Wisdom and so we had a Famly Home Evening with another Peruvian family and it went incredibly well! Every member of the family ad a very strong testimony of it so it was perfect!

Thank you all so much for your Love and Letters and look forward to hearing from you all! I love being here and can't wait to report to you all about this coming week! It will be exciting!

Love,

Äldste Webster

Last Sharpening with the Andersons

Pictures and news from the Blue and Yellow!!!
Can YOU find Aldste Webster??

"The beginning of June we all met together to learn and be edified. We learned that we were prepared and sent to the Sweden Stockholm Mission for a purpose at this exact time. We are here to serve the Lord and help bring the people of Sweden into his fold."

Göteborg Sharpening, 14 June 2011

Norrland Sharpening, June 2011

Sharpening, Malmö 16 June 2011

Stockholm Sharpening June 2011

Stockholm South Sharpening, June 2011

Busy Busy

Hello my dearest family! How grateful I am to have each one of you in my life. I don't know what I would do without the love and care that each of you has had for me! I'm sorry to hear about Grandma, I found out just before sacrament meeting on sunday so it was a good time to ponder about my testimony of the Atonement and it is REAL. I had the opportunity to bear testimony with personal experience of how the Lord answers prayers! Our investigator from Peru, Steffany, told us of an experience when her Uncle had passed away and how when she prayed, got didn't give her what she wanted. But I was able to tell her sincerely on how my prayers to Heavenly Father (hoping that I could see grandma when I got home) were answered in the sense that he comforted me and told me that it was the right time and she had more work to do on the other side! I am so thankful for this Gospel. It's interesting how both of my grandma's have passed away while I have been in a foreign country. I love them both, and I am always strengthened by them knowing that they're cheering me on on the other side!

So this past week Elder Jorgensen and I have been arranging The Mission President's objective to meet all 43 units by the time we leave Sweden. He told us he wouldn't let us go until we got that done! So we have been calling every bishop and branch president in Sweden, arranging times when they won't be out of town, and getting an hour with each of the units where we will either visit them on sundays, or fireside during the week! We are about 75% done! All of July is scheduled! We will be going to Borås on July 31st so I am very excited to see the members and the converts that I love there! We also picked up the new missionaries this last week and then 2 more came on tuesday! Thomas Newell (their son) was able to fill in and go to an area for a week and be a missionary! They challenged 2 people to be baptized so that was really cool for him! The other day as we were contacting in Stockholm we ran into 2 people (at 2 different pasts of the day) that could only speak French. One man was visiting from Paris and we got his number and address so Thomas (who is going to Paris on his mission) can teach him! The next man (from Congo) who spoke French with Syster Newell and Thomas on the phone, will be meeting them at the mission home on the weekend!

On Sunday, we came to sacrament meeting where Steffany and her little sister came. She loved it because it reminded her of our church in Peru! The music was really slow (which explains why "the ward is tired" remark from our Bishop.) so that will definitely be fixed by next sunday! The investigator class was really cool because there is a new chinese convert who brought his friend to church who comes from Nanjing (the same place where Emma and Adam came from!) We also contacted a chinese family downtown so that was really cool because we called Emma and she talked to them and the family was interested because of it!

We ended up coming late to a teach with a new investigator (Joseph from Ghana) and he came late as well. Once he showed up to the YSA Center it was time for the teach with the Peruvian family! So Elder Jorgensen took the Ward Mission Leader with the family and I took Joseph into the other room! I taught him the restoration, he committed to read and pray. He told me he believed in it already. so I challenged him to baptism and he said he was excited to be baptized on August 6th and on the following day (HIS BIRTHDAY) to be confirmed. he told me that while growing up his father (a priest) would always tell him to be baptized and he always rejected it! And so he told me that now he knows the word of God better and feels ready to be baptized!

I love being in the Stockholm ward. The institute (YSA) center is an amazing place. Elder Jorgensen and I basically go up and down a main street, bring in a person to the center and teach them, and then go back up and down the street until we find another! There are so many prepared people in whatever area you are in! It's just the attitude you take with you that makes the difference!

the same night President and Syster Newell came home from Mission President's seminar, we had the Zone Leaders come to the mission home for Zone Leader Råd (council) the following day! It was amazing! We ran to a lake in the morning. Syster Newell talked about Health with Journal writing, exercising, and diet. President Newell talked about Strengthening the church and how the mission will now be giving a large focus on home Teaching and really serving the members in our ward. It is inspiring to hear the life-changing experiences that the Newells have had because of home teaching! I look forward to become a better home teacher myself. I have always looked at it as a time to share a scripture, and ask if we could help with anything. But it really is a time to help them come closer to Christ, discern needs and act upon the impressions you receive to help your families! Also, just imagining the power that will come as the missionaries, along with the members home/visit teach and discern needs and respond to their needs by charitable service.

This week has been a week of contemplation, hard work, stretching, and edifying of the Lord and I am glad to be a servant of the Lord while I am still here!

Thank you all for your love and support!

Äldste Webster

Transition COMPLETE

Wow, there has been so much happening this week! Where to start... The baptisms of Emma and Adam! It was a success! We had 2 Chinese investigators there and 1 korean father of 3 kids. They loved the service a lot. The Korean dad texted us yesterday and asked us if we had another service that he could watch! (Of course, to ourselves we thought "if it was YOURS!") So he is very positive. President Anderson had his first and last 2 baptisms while here in Sweden in the Täby chapel on the 29th of June! But as soon as we get these very positive investigators, Elder Jorgensen and I get transferred to the Stockholm (Inner-city) Ward! We are very excited to see what will be happening there. So we found out this week officially that Elder Jorgensen and I will be spending the last 6 months of our missions as companions. To change things up the assistants now serve in a different ward! So that is a good change! We met with the Bishop because that is the number 1 stop to go to when you get transferred! And it was really positive. The ward has just gotten a new bishop and ward mission leader 3 weeks ago so we thought it was an opportune time to help them carry out their vision! At first we asked him what his Vision was and he told us that the ward was very tired... and they needed some energizing into the ward. For transfers the most energized elder in the mission was sent to the ward and he was so excited to see that there would be 4 missionaries in his ward now! He also said that he wants to put a big focus on keeping new converts active and fellowshipping the investigators. We had a feeling that he was saying that to just please us. So we continued talking and eventually the conversation led to Home Teaching and rescuing the less-active and part-member families! It went so well and the bishop is REALLY excited to see what's about to happen! As soon as President Newell got here, he has changed me so much. The family is all just so spiritual! They came with their 18 yr old son Thomas! He is amazing! The first two days they wanted to bring ALL the missionaries in from Norrland and Stockholm North and South Zones and do a little conference. So that was very neat. We had a message out Moses and Joshua and how Israel was in a period of transition... and in Joshua 1:16-17

"16And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go. 17 According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee: only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses."

We gave a little comparison to Moses as President Anderson and Joshua as President Newell! It was pretty cool actually! He is the one that will bring us to the promised land and across the river jordan! IT was awesome!

The following day we traveled to Göteborg and right after the conference I was able to baptize Kleber Fernandes Alves from Sorocaba, SP Brazil! (I think that's where Sam's mission is) MY very first in Portuguese! It was really cool actually! My whole mission as I had tried to speak portuguese, I kept blending it with Swedish. But once the baptismal service had finished I talked to a swedish man and blended in portuguese with it! Crazy how the mind works!

After this, the following week was transfers! And it went great! Elder Stoddard (my first-born in the wilderness) is now gone from the office. But we got an Elder TAK from West Bountiful in the office with us! He knows Bryson Miles! They were in the same choir together or something so that is exciting! Also... he is a U fan! You gotta love it. Speaking of which, the Newells are BIG BYU fans so that is unfortunate but I'll forgive them in the long run! Hehe

So the first night that we had to contact the in downtown stockholm we found an AMAZING PERUVIAN family (CONGRATS to B-man for serving an amazing mission! Tell him he owes me a letter! Make sure you take pictures and record his talk or something! It will be cool to hear him!) it was a mother and three daughters VERY attached to her. So we talked to them about Families and one of the daughters told us she was getting lessons from Jehovah's Witnesses and the other two were Catholic, after we got an appointment with them we found out our mission leader is from Peru as well and the mother told us that her brother was Mormon as well! Would not be surprised if this family were to join the church! So we will meet them on saturday!

There is just so much going on, but I am loving my new area, my companion, my president and the family and the WEATHER! I am so grateful to be serving the Lord at this time! It is an exciting one! I am thankful for MY family and how much all of you mean to me and the spirit that the Lord provides testifying OF families. I have felt recently of the importance of families for the swedish people. There are so many that are broken up, and it is because of the lack of living the Gospel in their lives!

Anywho,

I love you all! Upcoming this week: President & sister Newell head to Germany for the weekend, and then Zone Leader Council and the following week is Zone Conferences. After that, President Newell wants to embark on the journey of visiting all 40+ units in Sweden BEFORE we go home. Yikes! Keeping Busy! Effectively too...

Love,

Äldste Webster

Change.

I have got 2 very busy weeks ahead of me! Today my companion was asked to give an interview for a baptismal candidate in our ward (the secretaries investigator). And so his service will be tonight! We have invited a couple of our investigators to come and then we have Adam and Emma set for tomorrow night at 7pm! This is really exciting! the ward hasn't had 3 baptisms in the same week for over a decade. So the bishop will be baptizing a man named Jan Nyd today and then President will be baptizing both Adam and Emma! His first and his last baptisms in Sweden! It is really cool. This past week has been really cool to see their Faith in Christ really strengthen. My personal favorite has been to hear their amazing prayers! It has taught me an amazing lesson on heart-felt prayers. They have been "Dear Heavenly Father, thanks for this meeting.... in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." or "Dear Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that we can be baptized on Wednesday, it will be a great day! Please bless Adam Michael Jorgensen, and Adam Michael Webster. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Yesterday we were able to have our interviews with President Anderson. And since HE was going home he gave us OUR finishers interviews (not cool). But he talked about Institute and the Temple and how much I need to keep that personal study after the mission! Before he gave us both our interviews we talked to him about how the Assistants roll had changed since we had been there. We have done a lot more of a proselyting focus. And since our area that we are in (not big) has had 4 missionaries for the past... 30 years maybe.... and so he decided to put us in DOWNTOWN STOCKHOLM! We got a letter from President Newell and he said that he wanted to have us two as his assistants for the remainder of our missions. I am looking forward to being a missionary in downtown stockholm where we have the YSA Center and another pair of elders along with the Stockholm Zone Leaders in the same church building! So that is excitng! The only downside to it all is the following: training new mission president, working with a new ward and just BEING in downtown Stockholm, and having monthly Zone Leader Råd along with Zone Conference. All before my last days... time will go by WAY too fast. But I guess it is meant to be!

So in summary, Today we have a baptism, tomorrow we have a baptism, thursday we pick up President Newell, Friday we have a coordination meeting with Pres. Newell, a conference with Norrland Stockholm and Stockholm South zones. Saturday we have a flight for a conference with Göteborg and Malmö Zones and baptizing Kleber from Brazil right after and a train ride back. Sunday we have Adam and Emma's confirmation. Not bad right?

Well... just know that I love you all and I have a CD that I will be sending ya'll this WEEK!

Love,

Äldste Webster

I am released at 8a.m. on September 9th so ya'll can come anytime after that! I love you all so much! I actually spoke with the WML in Borås and promised him I would be there on September 11th for that sunday. So I was hoping that we chill in Stockolm for the weekend and then on Sunday we can drive/fly?(cheaper) to Borås. and then be there monday as well. Then we can do whatever ya'll want! I'm all yours after that!

Love,

Wad

Closing time...‏

Hej!

There has been a lot going on but I have little time and a headache and allergies from an adventure we went on last night. You all might know that yesterday was the LONGEST DAY in Sweden. Which means that the sun set for 30 seconds? So the office elders decided to put a tarp out on the front yard of the office and camp outside! It was a blast! Elder Overstreet took pictures throughout the night so I will get those to ya'll!

This week has been amazing! Adam is up two ______ in the book of mormon! (Oh no, I didn't mispell two... He has read through the Book of Mormon TWICE!) What a kid! He has been reading through Gospel Principles now and getting the real doctrine (not the kind from the internet) in his mind! So that is a blessing! We took Emma and Adam to the temple after the Stake Conference broadcast and it was AMAZING! As we taught about the Plan of Salvation she thought the doctrine of the family was very "attractive" to her. So showing her the temple was great! We had the privilege to see that Elder Olsson was there! So Margaretha, Emma, and Adam took a short lesson from him! It was amazing!

We were also able to teach Pansy (also from China) and as we walked in we just said hello. As we began teaching we expained that we were going to teach about how she could have the Holy Ghost more in her life. We opened up to Moroni 10:5 and she just started crying! And she just told us, sometimes the truth is too hard to accept! She wasn't talking about the truthfulness of the Gospel, but she commented about things that were happening in her life. And then we were able to testify that no matter what would happen to her Jesus Christ and his Gospel, would help her. Because of these humbling circumstances she has been a lot more open to our message. At the end of the lesson she told us that she has a friend who wants to learn about Jesus Christ as well! Miracles are happening! We are trying our best with the members, and the Lord has blessed us as we do go out and continue to find someone to baptize! We ran into this man who is from Kazakstan (added that one to my list) named Slava and he is awesome. We contacted him on the street, and I think it was the first contact of my mission where we contacted, he said yes and walked us to his house to teach him. He wanted his life changed and corrected. What better than the Atonement and all that accompanies IT?! He is great and prepared! the stake conference broadcast was amazing where we were able to hear from Syster Beck, Per G Malm, Elder Bednar and President Eyring! What a spiritual feast, in summary they had about 3 main ideas, Protect the Family, Follow the prophet, and don't let your wealth prevent your spiritual growth. they were AMAZING message. Elder Bednar said Now is the Time about 7 times in his talk (referring to follow the prophet) and that has been a motto in the mission as a testimony of the second harvest, that thousands of swedes will come into the church! What more of a witness need we? I look forward to see the changed President and Syster Newell will bring to the mission and see this mission explode because of the many "hook-ups" he has here in Sweden. We gave our message and showed our video at the adult session before the broadcast and people were in tears! Today we learned how to make some juice out of flowers... it's called "flädder saft" So I might be bringing some seeds home so we can grow a tree to make this juice! I love this work! And I love you all!

Love,

Elder Webster

(P.S. "Closing time" because of the Anderson's last week with us!)

Also send the Miles and Irion family my love and congrats for JOININg me in the GREATEST WORK EVER! I hope dad and David had fun on their trip, and for some reason I came in contact with my ward mission leader in Borås and I told him we planned on being there on September 11th! (Hope that's a part of the plan)

I love you all!

ONE MORE THING! Remember how I went to teach the brazilian guy (Kleber)? We taught him with a brazilian member (it was a blast) and he decided to be baptized! On July 2nd! That day happens to be the day we will be in town with the new mission president and he asked if I could baptize him! A brazilian convert!!!! What a blessing!

Love you momma!

Äldste Webster

Surprise! A great week!

Hejsan kära familj!

It has been a marvelous week, Emma and Adam (from China) are doing AMAZING! but before I get to them, I want to give a shout out to Swa (or Jake) for writing me! It was a well appreciated letter! That is exciting that you will be closer to the homies in Bountiful! That is incredibly exciting! And Jake and Ailin are going to Bountiful and Sam and Lara are going to Foothill! That is some crazy changes but good ones! Speaking of changes... The Miles and Irions farewell are this Sunday?! insane! Tell Rachel I wish her the best of luck through the temple and I will pray for her! And also the not so good news of Grandma... I hope the at most "six months left" really can much to the latter end of that scale but if not, there's a time and purpose for everything! That I know for sure.

Alright let me fill you in with Emma and Adam... they are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me on my mission! I think last week I already told you how we found her but one week in let me tell you the progress they have gone! So President Anderson came with on a teach, the following teach was with a woman in our ward in the relief society! When President was there (3 days after we found them) the 10 year old boy Adam read to Mosiah 12! (I am on Mosiah 12 and I began at the first of the year!) And the 2nd teach we had with them was a very spiritual teach! Why? He had read to 3rd Nephi 20!!! In ONE week! Is this boy a genius? yes! He's the kind that reads college text books for fun! He is a prodigy! Elder Jorgensen and I believe that he will be an apostle some day... also one of the missionaries that will open up China! The teach was so good, we watched Finding Faith in Christ and Emma had a question afterwards... she asked us what Christ going out for the one sheep meant! We gave a comparison to how Jesus Christ goes after the lost sheep and compared it to THEM! How they came to Sweden at THIS time for a reason and we knocked on their door so that they could come unto Christ. the member that was with us lost it and cried her eyes out but it was a great teach! They then came to church the next day and they had translation head-sets and everything went smoothly! Adam went to primary and they had a party in Primary for the kids who read scriptures or mastered them. Adam didn't master any but he told the class that he had read to 3 Nephi 20 in a week and it just got silent! They congratulated him and he was well welcomed into primary! After church, the office along with Emma, Adam, and another family from the US all had homemade pizza together and it was awesome! We had a testimony meeting and sang I am a child of god together and they loved it. The FOLLOWING day we had a Family home Evening with them and a family in the ward and they had done their homework! They read on the internet about tithing, word of Wisdom, plural wives and all that good stuff. So we figured to talk to her about tithing. For some reason she mis-understood and thought that she had to quit her job and volunteer all of her time to be as a missionary (one down side about teaching others w/o a christian background) but we told her she didn't have to quit her job... and she burst out in tears of relief! We told her that God only asks for 10% of what we already receive and not our job! Adam clarified it for her so she could understand (He catches on quick). So we sang songs together and treats and taught about Tithing and just had a great time! After that, Emma comes up to us and says, so is it alright if Adam is a member of the church sooner and once I understand more I can join later? YES! They had thought about it and did their homework assignment and asked both of their Fathers (In heaven and In China) and they both approved! They thought about him being baptized in October for his 11th Birthday but that was WAY too far away! So we told him that Dr (President) Anderson had the authority to baptize and he would love to be the one to baptize Adam before he left! And Adam said REALLY?! So he was really excited for that and said, " I hope that God makes that day a REALLY happy day! I love this family! There are plenty of others that I could talk about but I just want to tell ya'll about this lovely mother and Son who plan on being baptized on the 30th of June (happy birthday Dan!)

The Lord is blessing the entire mission right now! I'm not sure if you recall me talking about when Elder Jorgensen and I met with all the stake presidents. But the one in Stockholm South has now invited us to each speak for 5 minutes of our testimony and then to SHOW the ENTIRE stake (during the Adult session) the movie of the second harvest! We are SO EXCITED! There is so much good going on and when the Newells come it can only get better! Well I love you all so much and I hope to hear from you next week!

Love,

Äldste Webster

P.S. I am in Göteborg again and ANOTHER MIRACLE HAPPENED! Cleber from Brazil just came into the YSA Center here in Göteborg so I am going to go teach him with the sisters!

A suprise picture!

It's always so great when I get surprise pictures from people in Sweden! This was taken from an office couple who are currently serving with Adam in Sweden... The letter follows the picture!

Look how old he looks... and like he knows how to cut hair!! FUNNY THING!!

"Dave: Thought you would enjoy this photo of your son serving in Sweden. The photo is from my sister and brother-in-law working the mission office in Sweden. [The next time you see Dave Webster will you please show him this picture of his son Elder Webster who is giving Elder Overstreet a haircut.]
See you this week in SLC.
Thanks,

Kelly Adams"

Families!

Well this has been a fantastic week! It has been sad but there is
opposition to everything! This week is the beginning of Sharpening
where we have been invited to go around to Sharpening with President
and Syster Anderson for their concluding testimonies! Our part in
sharpening is challenging the missionaries to the MONTH of Invitation!
This month the Europe Area Presidency has asked that the members fast
for MISSIONARY WORK! And seeing how it was a combine fast and the
members will be going the extra mile, we decided to have all the
missionaries go the extra mile and commit ALL of their investigators
to baptism! Unless prompted NOT to, they will commit all of them to
baptism in the month of June on the first teach! It is exciting! To
not be hypocritical, we had three teaches lined up the night after we
did it with a zone in Stockholm. First teach, Miguel (Colombia) is a
man who has been to church once, one time he couldn't meet with us so
he sent his wife to the church instead to be taught and she was into
it. Anyways, we taught Miguel at a new converts place (where he
actually might be moving into) and it was me, elder jorgensen,
Margaretha (new convert) and Elder Oscarson (new financial secretary),
and Miguel. The trick is that Miguel could ONLY speak Spanish. So all
five of us were there and I ended up sitting next to him. And so it
went to all five talking, and me translating (I'm surprised how much
Spanish I understand) for them, to just me teaching him out of a
Pamphlet that we had about the Restoration, and the Gospel. So I
taught my first lesson in Spanish! At the end he completely understood
authority, and he said so... basically I need to be baptized again,
but with the right authority this time? And I said, "exactamente!" Ha
ha so I committed him to the end of June, and he just wanted to make
sure he knows everything before, but he ACCEPTED! Him and his wife
Maricel will go far! The teach afterwards we went to a Korean family
(yes, I told them about the Ringwoods) and they were christian! It was
the parents, a 19 year old and a 14 year old! We taught them the
Restoration and it went so smoothly! We committed them to read and
Pray about the Book of Mormon and the Father said, I won't let my
family read something that isn't true. So I will read and Pray about
it first! So we took that! Very sincere follower of Christ, he'll come
around. The teach after, we invited President Anderson to come along
with us! This was to a Great Chinese mother and Son we tracted into
(2nd to last door in the building) Emma, and ADAM! Adam is a 10 year
old. Super smart, wants to be a scientist, looking for the right
church to join, and reads COLLEGE texts books for fun! We taught him
for the first time the other day and he told us that he didn't like
the catholic church because he they killed scientists so he knew that
wasn't the true church! But we brought President with because he is a
scientist! the teach was amazing because we talked about commandments
and the path that leads to eternal life, and as we taught about the
Holy Ghost the 10 year old said "Well I will DEFINITELY follow the
Holy Ghost ALWAYS because he will never go the wrong way! That give
the phrase "become as a little CHILD." more meaning! As we asked him
where he had read... over 3 days... the 10 YEAR OLD said "Mosiah 12!"
Are you kidding me? All I am saying is ya'll will DEFINITELY be
meeting this kid when mom and Dad come! Stud! So we challenged
him to Baptism and he agreed to it, but he had to ask his Dad
who lived in China before he would accept! So his homework
assignment was to ask his Father in Heaven, and his Father
in China! haha He liked that one. The other day we were

trying to get a hold of an inactive member that we teach who has a
non-member wife. And we were tracting around his house, it just so
happens that my bloody nose, leads me to their house (because I needed
tissue) and they were just outside... plucking weeds in their yard! We
we said hi, and then went in and taught them both the Restoration!
They committed to read and pray so that was AMAZING! the following day
we went by surprised and De-weeded their WHOLE yard! In the last part
of the evening! (you can do that here in sweden... it's VERY BRIGHT at
9 p.m.) Afterward, he called us and said that he was going to thank
us... at church! Charity NEVER Faileth. Another great miracle... My
companion and I have been invited to attend a stake conference from
the Stake President. He told us that he wanted us to show "The Second
Harvest" movie with a 5 minute presentation before at the Adult
Session of stake conference! How crazy is that! the members are
catching the vision! There is a great feeling in the air now in June,
and we can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for us! There will
be a broadcast from Salt Lake City the day after from the Area
Presidency and we look forward to see what they have to say!
This is a great time, change is happening for the better, and
President Anderson has laid an amazing foundation for President Newell
to hit the ground running!
Thanks for your support! Congrats mother on your lovely iPad 2 (iPod 5
for Wad with Verizon when I get back why not?) and HAPPY birthday to
you and Brynn! I will be sending you a letter but know that I love you
both! This upcoming week I will be in the Southern zones so I will be
out of town. It's best if the family just writes every Sunday night...
that way I won't miss it!

I love you all!

Puss och Kram,
Äldste Webster

Member Mysteries

Well surprise! my e-mailing is today on Wednesday... but I'll just be
able to see the emails next week! no problemo!
This weekend was pretty exciting! Recently Elder Jorgensen and I have
made a list of members in our ward. We were thinking about all the
great missionaries that had been here before and how hard they worked.
Our first transfer together we were worked really hard. I think we
tracted almost every single building in Täby. So we began to think...
we had been doing everything the sam which we had done in our previous
wards... go to the bishop, have effective missionary coordination
meetings, well thought out progress record, carry out ward mission
plans... and talking to everyone we saw. But something just didn't
feel right. Recently we have tried something new. Member visits. So
what we do is we either plan in member visits (15 minutes each)
throughout the day and in between members we Find people, people who
live around them, on the way to and from... wherever. Come to find
out, that is really what this ward NEEDS! Besides the members that
always invite missionaries over for dinner, the members haven't had
that missionary spirit in their homes for over a couple of years.
Elder Jorgensen and I have found at least 7-8 part member families
that haven't had home-teaching or visiting teachers in 10 years. We
really feel that this is going to be a great way to bring the ward
back in the right focus, and love the people that reside in their
wards! So we have already gone through the ward list with the bishop
and picked out people that he would have us visit. We are also going
by people that the ward knows nothing about to see if there is
potential, and there IS! The other day we went by a "?" member to see
what his status was. We arrived at his house and he was home! he said
that his dad and he were both members but he also had a brother and
his mom who haven't heard much about the church. He said his family
would be busy in the up-coming weeks but we will be meeting him. He
told us that he came from Mongolia and in the stake they have a
Mongolian night every Saturday! So we invited him to that and he was
very excited! So we are going to be taking him this saturday, and
re-activate this kid so his family can be sealed! The other day we
didn't know how to find these people so we typed their address into a
GPS and we were driving along and we noticed that the road was ending,
come to find out that drove us right on top of a ferry! so
unexpectedly we got on a ferry, had to park and it just took us across
the river and we drove along and this ladies' house was probably the
furthest east you can get in our area. But this lady had also not been
visited for 10 years. She gladly accepted to read the Book of Mormon
and to bring someone in the ward along next time. I really feel like
things are just coming together in the Ward. It is something that
Elder Jorgensen and I have never done, because we always just felt
guilty about having our main focus be visiting the members. But we
strongly feel that this is what the Lord needs done here. Not to
mention, the Lord is blessing us with more investigators than ever
before! This is kind of like the Fisherman comparison elder Oaks gave
in PMG about keeping our line in the water all day long, except it
seems like the "bait" we are using is really strong and the fish jump
out of the water and come to us! The Lord's work is a miraculous one.
I found a quote the other day that will probably be my favorite quote
for my mission, which I have a strong testimony of!

"Faith is the power
Love is the motivation
Obedience is the price
The Spirit is the key
Christ is the reason"

I love this work! Talk to ya'll next week!
Love, Äldste Webster

Leadership Training in Göteborg‏

Hello lovely family!

Sorry my letters are getting smaller and smaller, but once
again we had a Leadership training. This time on the west side
of the country! A highlight of the training actually wasn't in the
training itself. While we were preparing for the training and setting
things up, the sisters in that area came in and asked me if I spoke
Portuguese, Itold them that I could try! During I training I slipped
out and taught a man who came from BRAZIL! I real live Brazilian.
He came from Zona Oeste... of sao paulo. His name was Cleber!
It was so cool to be thereand translate for the sisters. This man
took the message full-heartedly! We read through the plan of salvation
with him. And as we were reading he would always stop and ask a question
that would be answered right on the next page! It was so amazing to see
the FULLNESS of the Gospel be unfolded to him. He had always believed
in God, but as long as you follow your heart, God won't lead you astray.
He didn't know what the atonement was, the sisters and I were able to bear
strong testimony of the cleansing and enabling power of the atonement.
He felt it was real! He had so many questions that he realized
couldn't be answered in the first visit but the sisters there will be
meeting with him more. Experiences like that are really special for
me, yes it was a VERY ACCEPTING brazilian, but the memories that came
flowing back to my mind about how much I love those people and also
came to a realization (as we drove back to Stockholm) on how much my
love has grown for the people here in Sweden! As I think about this...
In and outside of missionary life, one tends to generalize, judge or
assume things that we shouldn't. The atonement has been done so that
we don't have to judge! What a blessing! In the wise words of mother
teresa...“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” You
often search for ways to make things easier, unfortunately in
missionary work, we tend to do the same. "This is how you contact a
swede" or "this is how one can teach an african" My testimony has
grown more and more that there is no formula to teach people from all
over the world... but there is a way. Let the spirit teach you what to
say as you listen with Love and a desire for the salvation of THIS
loved son or daughter of God. What we do in our life isn't as
important as who we have BECOME. The objective is to BEcome as he IS.
Anyways...
Yesterday my companion and I had a great day. We taught a lady from
Vietnam in the house of a member and it was really great to see them
bond as bothers of young 3 year olds. The down-side of it was that the
kids were there. We had a plan to invite her to baptism, but it just
wasn't happening with their kids hitting, screaming, running and
climbing around to make it a spiritual experience. We had a plan to
teach an inactive member with a non-member wife but he was out of
town. So we decided to tract the area! And what a blessing that was.
We found this man who is from California who said he had a very strong
Orthodox belief and he would be out of town. We asked him if he would
be interested in talking more later and he gave us a card, told us
what we worked with and we found out that he worked with skateboards
"tip technology" to improve thm in some way. We asked him if he could
show us a board so he ran upstairs and grabbed a board, explained it
to us and then said "here" and gave us the deck. Now... for all of you
who don't know how much skateboards cost... look it up because I don't
either but I know it's expensive! He insisted that we keep it! So we
got a skateboard! The floor just below him was a Swedish lady with a
10 year old daughter and they were AWESOME! She had met the
missionaries before in a different city. But loved having us over. The
girl was talking so much and telling us how she felt towards religion
(really positive) and how the family insisted on the fact that there
is no way to know what will happen to us after we die. But we showed
them a scripture and they loved it. We asked if they could read the
Book of Mormon and come to church. The mother said YES we can read
together tonight and throughout the week. Then the girl said and if
she doesn't read with me then I will read by myself! haha The mom
didn't want to come to church but the daughter said "But I want to go
to their church so I can sing!" They had plans this sunday but we look
forward to seeing them in church and getting to know the members!

Well thats just a little summary of what's been going on. I'm loving
life, my area, the members and my companion. There's also a guitar
laying around here in the office, so I have a goal to learn to play
the guitar, so I will be off doing that!

I love you all and thanks for your support!
Love,
Äldste Wad

Leadership Training in Stockholm‏

This past week has been pretty great! It was great to hear from Mother

this week (as always)! And Brynn too! (oh wait... that was just a
hacker warning)... Last weekend we had leadership training and it was
a good experience. We had all the District Leaders from Stockholm and
Stockholm South Zones come to the mission home. It wasn't as amazing
as Zone Leader Råd was. But we did have a great time. These district
leaders will be leaders as the new mission president will come in...
and they are all young missionaries. So we were really just teaching
them the basics of being a district leader. So I had the chance to see
my 2nd Son (elder Nelson) there and other fire-filled young
missionaries! As we got back from Training we taught a lady from
Tanzania who has a 7 year old son. We watched "Finding Faith in
Christ" movie with her, and challenged her to be baptized. She
accepted the invitation and is set for the 18th of June! It's going to
be exciting! We made up a little calender for her and she is excited!
her name is Saada. Keep her in your prayers. This week we have made a
HUGE focus on our members. Elder Jorgensen and I have really felt like
Member work hasn't been a big focus in our missions. The other day we
went to Ward Council and it was amazing! it was so cool just to be
there, ask some questions, and turn it into a missionary work
discussion. As we walked into the Ward Council, the Bishop told us
"hey! I am so thankful that you will have come today. We won't be
talking about missionary work that much, but names that we as a ward
are focusing on." That was a downer.... but with time, and just being
there and showing our interest... they began to ask favors and trust
in us more and more, the focus eventually led to how they can carry
out their Ward Mission Plan! It was an exciting time. So we are going
to help out the Ward council by going around to the members and
talking about Prayer and Faith in Missionary work! It is exciting!
Other than that this sunday we were able to see some fruit that came
from our day of consecration. instead of eating lunch at home, we took
sack lunches out with us. During Lunch, we sat on a bench and this guy
came up to us and asked us for a lighter. we told him we had a
different fire that he could take with him. Talked to him about the
book of mormon and he came to church the following day! It was a great
blessing to see him there.
Other than that... this week is going to be a NORMAL MISSIONARY WEEK!
So we look forward to teaching a lot more. We will also be preparing
for Leadership training NEXT week in Göteborg. I can't wait!

Thanks for your love and letters and we'll talk to you next week!

Love,
Äldste Webster

Pictures courtesy of "Blue and Yellow" Mission blog

I LOVE it when the mission posts pictures on their blog! With Adam being an assistant, I get to see him more! (Can you find him??) :D I LOVE IT!! Anyway, here are pictures of their zone conference groups, plus some commentary by the Andersons. I love the idea of this training, being blindfolded and relying on each other to do what is needed!! We did that in our mission... VERY effective! Adam and Elder Jorgensen also made an incredible video for all the stake presidents/wives... I'm still trying to figure out a way to post it here, but until then.... Enjoy!

Norrland Zone Conference April 2011

SS Zone Conference

Stockholm Zone Conference ... April 2011

Malmö Zone Conference April 2011

Goteborg Zone Conference

"The past month all the zones met together and were edified by our leaders and the spirit. We were taught about extending commitments, revelation through church attendance and how we can work with the church members to help full fill the prophecies in the Re-Dedicatory Prayer of Sweden. We learned from the Assistants that it is only by working with the members in our area that we will see the work in our Area's progress."

"Part of the Assistants activity was some activities on how we can work better with our ward leaders. All the senior companions were blindfolded so the junior companions had to take control and lead them around during the activity."

"And as we learned about working with our ward members, we realized that it would be the key to seeing success in the Sweden Stockholm Mission Explode!!
(Working with Members, works!!)
Because............ In the Sweden Stockholm Mission........... We BAPTIZE!!"

I love my Mother!

Hello!
Long time no talk! This saturday is going to be a "day of
consecration" so we decided to change P-day to today! What an amazing
time it has been to talk with you all! I think my favorite was little
Reed telling me his memorized Article of Faith! The man knows it
better than me! David and Laurie should be proud! It was also really
good to hear Brynn and Brian's voice! (I had started to forget what it
sounded like!) You guys are the best family one could ever have thats
for sure! It was funny to see (Elder) Jamon Winegar hold baby
Oliver... lucky man!
These few days have been amazing! Yesterday we had an amazing Zone
Leader Council. We started out with personal studies in the mission
home. Then at the end of that, we blindfolded them all... and read
(because after their studies they were filled with the spirit) "And
being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision"
So the theme of ZL Råd was "making your Vision your mission"
Meaning... brainstorming what their vision is... and then, with Faith
and Prayer... going out and realizing your vision! We walked them to a
castle and took them to the top where they could all overlook
Stockholm! And it was beautiful! A while ago, grandfather came to the
mission. Elder Jorgensen got up and asked a question, how can I have
the Eye of Faith (that it mentions in Ether 12) in missionary work?
Right after, grandfather answered with a scripture out of Joshua 4. It
is amazing that we didn't realize how exactly this scripture could be
applied, but we knew what it meant, and it sufficed us for a season.
As we became companions, we began to see a deeper meaning. It talks
about the lord commanding Moses and then making Joshua great in the
eyes of Israel. Now with the new mission president coming.... we
compared Moses to President Anderson and Joshua to President Newell.
Joshua commands the 12 priests ... who is that? (10 Zone Leaders and
Elder Jorgensen and I) to take the Ark of the covenant to the river
Jordan (what is that?) Well you have the Wilderness (where we are
now), the Waters of Jordan (the barrier), and the promised Land (the
second harvest). And so it is the Ark of the Covenant that will enable
us to pass through the waters of Jordan! What is the ark of the
covenant? (see "a child and a disciple" by Elder Eyring) It is the
testimony that the members and the missionaries have of Christ and
Prayers of Faith that will get us there! It made perfect sense, and as
the Zone Leaders counciled together, we could just see the Lord's hand
work through us to make this possible! We showed The Stake Presidents
and their wives a video, and also the Zone Leaders this video about
the prophecies of Sweden, what the Lord has blessed us with in the
past, and what we are doing in the present to make these prophecies
come to pass! I will send the video to you guys (translated in
English) that we will also be showing Elder Teixeira. The work is
moving along! And I am so grateful that I can be a part of it! Ahead
this week we have some more trainings for district Leaders. This week
is very important because these are the training that will carry over
for the New President!
I love you family, not much to write about but I have a good feeling
about the future here in Sweden!
Love,
Äldste Webster