Pre-conference!!

Hejsan!

Thank you mother for the 2 memory cards. That's incredible that you got two, it will definitely last the rest of my mission. And a lot more! Mother I actually haven't gotten anything for quite a while from connor, mitch, b-man, riley.... they are all kinda slacking, so if you have pictures of them feel free to send them! At the beginning of this past week it was around 40's and things were beginning to melt! But now as Iook out the window. It is snowing again!

I'm really looking forward to conference this weekend! This past week has been an interesting time for me because the way I can get answers during conference is if I ask the right questions! And I noticed that I won't be having another conference here on the mission. Sad story... So it's been a great time of reflection for me thinking about what kind of a person I want to be by the time next general conference comes around. I read a talk from Elder Bednar today about how missionary work really should go down. (Ask in Faith talk) The full-time missionaries are full-time teachers of the gospel. The members are full-time finders! So I am just thinking about what things I can do here on the mission (as I find, teach and baptize) to prepare me for Finding (spreading gospel, finding a job, wife... etc) when I am a returned missionary. No, this is not trunky talk... this is preparation.

Anyways, I am loving it here with my 4 companions here in the office. This past week we have been preparing for a Sisters Training for tomorrow. The plan mainly is to strengthen their confidence in doing missionary work. Because they don't have that many opportunities to go on exchanges so this is a time where they will all get to change companions... go out and do what we all love to do, just building the courage to DO it! Also Elder Jorgensen and I have been talking about the messages that we want the Sweden Stockholm Mission to know, do, and love. We were reminded of the re-dedicatory prayer that President Monson gave for the land of Sweden. He says that as the missionary force and the members combine their efforts, the objectives that the mission and stake leaderships have will become a reality! So we wanted to focus on combining our efforts in "Accessing the power in Priesthood Leadership" so that what has been impossible in Sweden, will become possible.

The investigators we have are slowly, but surely coming!

Gary (england) is not doing so well. We taught him and his daughter Kimberley at the church and they had accepted baptism in the teach previously. It just so happened that we were going to teach them lesson 3 and we committed them to a specific date. They got a little scared of the date so we just invited them to church. The next day, Gary called us and said that they had been talking and they didn't feel so comfortable. But he would still give church a try. So we are going to invite them to General Conference and feel that spirit that is there as we listen to the Prophet!

We tracted into this man from Montenegro whose name is Mario, who had just moved here a couple of weeks ago. He speaks English, catholic, and really interested to find out about the Restoration. He prayed at the end and we felt the spirit there. This man feels really positive!

At church we had invited at least 7 to come but 1 man came, which I am so grateful. He is a swede named Anders, at the beginning of sacrament meeting he wasn't willing to sing the hymns... just excuses. But the fast and testimony meeting was so spiritual it was amazing! By the end he was wiping his eyes a little bit, could really feel the spirit there and sang the closing hymn! This man had a weak Faith in God, but because he chose to come to church, no doubt, his Faith was strengthened!

Those are just a few highlights from the week. This Sunday I will be going over to Brynn's friend Biskop Koch's house for dinner with my companion and the elders in their ward between conference sessions! So I will for sure be taking some pictures!

I love you all, thanks for your letters and prayers and support!

Love,

Äldste Wad

Great Weekend!!

Hello! well this weekend is quite the weekend to report about! The Lord has blessed us so much and I am so grateful to be where I am right now. So one of our investigators named Julia (Poland) is so great. She is probably in her 50's or 60's and is the most relaxed, happy person there is! Just this weekend we found out just why. A while ago she was bitten by an insect of sorts. And because of this, it led to her getting a brain infection (meningitis?) So she had forgot pretty much everything we taught her. But this weekend my testimony of that we are made out of both Body and Spirit has been strengthened! As President and Syster Anderson picked her up to go to church, she just up and came (because she forgot she had to come). We saw her there and the members welcomed her so well. A few asked her "is this your first time here?" And she answered no, right after we had to correct her and say yes it IS your first time! But as we sat down for sacrament meeting she was just so into it all and so happy! She stayed for all 3 hours.

That evening we visited her and asked her how she felt at church. She didn't remember a single thing from church, but she told us she could remember the feelings that she had while she was there. She told us she remembered how much of a "familiar feeling" it had and how welcoming the members were. She felt like she was apart of a great family. It is clear that she doesn't remember the small details, but the Still Small details... she remembers! The next day we taught about the Word of Wisdom. She committed to live it, but as we came back yesterday, there was cigarette's all over the place! So she forgot about what we taught her. Elder Jorgensen and I felt like something like this would happen. So we got a notebook for her to write in. What we are going to have her do is write in this book, what she learned during our lessons and how she felt. So that as she progresses, she'll be able to read and remember what she has been taught! We taught her about the gospel the following day and how christ cleans us from sin. And so we invited her to be baptized and she brought up her concern about she had been baptized as a baby. We answered her concern quickly and simply and she understood. We showed her how we baptized and she kinda just shouted for joy. So we invited her to be baptized on the 9th of April! She accepted. So we had her write down what she committed to and what it's going to take to get her there. On her refrigerator lies a Baptismal Calender. As we teach her it reminds me of 50 first dates. But i'm going to call it, 50 first teaches! How she continually forgets what we teach her, but through repetition and her feeling the spirit, she will remember that baptism is the right thing to do! Really amazing actually.

This weekend some of President Anderson's family came to Sweden and they have a 16 year old grandson. We were able to take him out for a night teaching. And he loved it. We met with this man from England, his name is Gary. He has lived here for 20 years. He has two dogs and my companion has severe allergies and asthma so he wasn't able to teach the whole time. (Because he couldn't breathe). But he endured and so it was me and Presidents grandson. We taught him the plan of salvation and as soon as we got past pre-mortal life his 16 year old daughter walked in! She spoke swedish better but her dad is from england so she spoke fluent english. She joined us in the lesson. It was a great teach, after that we asked him if he had any questions, he didn't have any questions and said it seems right and I think this is something I can follow! As he said that we asked the daughter (Kimberly) what she thought, and she said, "I think it's good, there are some parts that I could really connect with." She loved the 3 different kingdoms of glory and she was just staring at the kingdoms. So we talked to them about what they needed to do to get to the celestial kingdom. We invited them to be baptized individually and they both said yes! So today we are taking President Anderson and giving them a chapel tour, teach about the Gospel and invite them to be baptized! Today will be an amazing day!

Much more happening, but those are the highlights! yay for baby blessings! Elder Stoddard says hello! (my first born who is a secretary here) Next week the P-day will be on tuesday!

Love,

Äldste Webster

Christmas Zone Conferences 2010 in Sweden

Adam's mission President's wife just posted these from Christmas time! I thought I'd pass them along to his blog... just to keep track! See if YOU can find the little Aldste!

Malmö and Göteborg Zone Conference

Stockholm, Stockholm South and Norrland Zone Conference

The Christmas season brought the zones together for combined conferences to enjoy time together and be taught by the spirit. We learned from the Assistants to the President, about the importance of being unified and working together. We also received instruction on committing our investigators to be baptized and how it is important to use the exact words found in Preach My Gospel.

Listening to the Assistants Message about being Unified. We learned a lot but we also had a lot of fun, eating food and Secret Santa gifts.

Getting ready to go Home.

Every body headed back to their areas after an enriching Zone Conference filled with the Spirit and filled with goodies and presents that would last them through the Holiday Season.

The oldest church in Sweden!

Aldste Jorgensen, Aldste Webster
The assistants at the oldest church in Täby, Sweden

Meetings!

This has been quite a week! And I can't believe March is half way done! Throughout the week we have gone throughout the mission and visited some district meetings, had leadership training, went on exchanges and drove everywhere! Every Monday we have staff meeting where the Andersons, assistants, secretaries, and the office couple (Lundquist - they have family in Bountiful) come together to talk about things that are happening and need to happen throughout the mission. After that we meet with President to talk about specific district meetings he would have us go to, or areas we could do work-overs at. One of our investigators who we found who's name is Julia (Poland) we were able to teach on Monday before we left. We were able to bring Syster Anderson with us to practice her swedish! She did an amazing job! We taught her the Restoration and syster Anderson reminded me so much of Mom and her portuguese. Even though she wasn't able to get off 100% of what she wanted to say, the love that she had for that person and the spirit that was there could patch up whatever miscommunication there would have been. She was able to invite her over for lunch on friday and that is a story within itself! Tueday morning we took a trip in our car (named Julius) to Göteborg! There I was able to see my 2nd greenie Elder Nelson (and yes, we did get a picture on our knees) we participated in a district meeting there at the institute center and then we went to Alingsås for the day to do workovers. I was with a brand new missionary Elder Hinkson and we had a great time together and found a teenager who is willing to meet with them! Fun stuff. we then took a drive over to a city called Kungsbacka for the night and stayed over there. In the morning I noticed I had no voice and a very bad cough. So we took a drive down to Lund, got some medicine, but no dice. But I continued to smile and just support my companion as he gave the majority of the Leadership training. That day in Lund was the Leadership Training where the district leaders and Zone Leaders from Malmö and Göteborg came together. I was able to see Elder Winegar again and Elder Bush! they are both studs and seeing a lot of success down in Malmö! We went on exchanges that night and I was with Elder Bush. We taught an ex-member of the church and we invited him to be baptized and he said that he would be sometime in April so that's rally exciting! Then we taught an investigator that I knew, named Joseph and gave him directions to the church! Then, the following morning we drove back from Malmö to Stockholm where Elder Jorgensen drove for the very first time after 1 and 1/2 years! that same day it snowed and he told me that it was his first time driving in the snow EVER! which was quite frightening but he did a good job! haha We got back and the following day we had a lunch with Julia and President and Syster Anderson! It was an amazing time we had together. We talked a lot about families and how important they are to Heavenly Father's plan for us. At the end, syster anderson invited her to church so that she could see their family that is coming in to Sweden today! We should be having a good church tomorrow! Not that exciting of a week as far as investigators go. But I'm learning a lot in how to prepare for meetings, teaching with the spirit, and praying for the gift of discernment. It's amazing to see hoe vital that gift is throughout our lives. Whether it be in teaching, being a friend, raising a family... Heavenly Father will help us out to discern what we can do to bring them closer to christ. Pray for the gift of discernment. That's my tips for the week!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your wonderful letters and support! Too bad the U isn't in March madness. But there's always next year! Boo ya!

Love,

Äldste Webster

Busy Week!

Hejsan!

What a CRAZY week this has been! So... just so ya'll know P-days aren't entirely for sure yet. The people in the office usually take P-days on Saturdays but we were probably going to change it to Tuesday or Wednesday. Some day where it is less-productive during the day. Because Saturdays are really nice here. But, this up coming week we have a leadership training in Malmö so we will be traveling all week so we might just end up writing you guys this upcoming saturday as well. I'm sure we will just be taking P-day whatever day just fits the best! But I guess just write me on Fridays and that should do! Anyways, The beginning of last week has been crazy, President has only "doubled-in" the assistants twice so learning what to do, staying on top of everything, preparing for leadership conferences, and still doing missionary work has left me quite tired! But I am learning A LOT!

Last weekend when we first got in, we got to train the new missionaries that had just come in! An amazing experience was that we got to introduce the standards of excellence to them all. And we asked them all a question "In the Sweden Stockholm Mission we..." and an elder said, "baptize?" timidly. Another said "Baptize." Another, "Baptize!" And then we picked out the large elder from the group and we said, "what do we do in the sweden stockholm mission?" And then he shouted, "We BAPTIZE!!" And right as he said baptize he BANGED on his table and the glass that he was drinking out of SHATTERED all over, so there was glass EVERYWHERE! It was very dramatic and more than we could hope for to get these missionaries psyched to baptize!

On tuesday we had Zone Leader Råd (council). And it was really good. I was able to see Elder Winegar after a few days and we just had a great time up here in Stockholm. We practiced "empowing our district leaders" through phone calls by poking holes in the bottom of plastic cups and tying a string between two cups. Like phones! I remember as a child trying to do those and it didn't work. But it did here! Must be the climate or something... HAIGH.

On Wednesday we had Leadership Training where the Zone Leaders and District Leaders came to the mission home. We mainly talked about VISION for the transfer and what to do to accomplish them. (Exchanges, district meetings, etc...) The days before we were basically preparing for both of these conferences! It is definitely different than a normal missionary life. It was pretty cool, as we were preparing for one of them, we were completely running out of ideas. And so we decided to go out and find for an hour or two and as we came back we were able to think of plenty! We now know that its good to take some breaks once in a while and go out and PREACH!

The last assistants didn't leave us with any investigators so we started from ground ZERO. We found a man from England who has lived here for 20 years. Gary, we were able to teach him about the Restoration and he was going to go out of town but he told us that he would be reading it on the plane and as much as he could. After the prayer, he told us that he might have his daughter read as well! This man is prepared.

We also tracted into a guy named Muntir from Iraq. He is christian. the first time we talked we gave him the Book of Mormon. The second time we came by and he told us "I read some, you can have it back." Grandfather's talk has always helped me tell everyone "That is not the right answer for someone who has read the book of mormon!" As we clarified more about the Book of Mormon he understood it's role and what he needed to do. He asked us if we had a church and he committed to come and see! Him and maybe his family will be coming this week! It was so cool to see he countenance change as we were able to testify of the book of Mormon.

We also tracted into a girl who is 20 years old who speaks swedish, english, arabic and persian. She (Kim) was so happy as she saw us! She didn't believe in God but enjoyed going to churches. She was interested in meeting and coming to church sometime! We'll see where that goes. We contacted this woman from Kenya (Miriam) and she was with her husband. The husband was atheist but we mentioned the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she got so excited! We set up an appointment and she said that she had 4 other friends she would like us to meet! EXCITING! Täby has got some great things happening soon!

We were able to meet president for a bit and he basically told us that he called us both so that we would both be ready to take over the mission when they leave in July. So me and elder jorgensen will most likely be there when the Newel's come! That will be quite the task. President asked us to look over a booklet that they would be sending to them in preparation for Sweden. It reminded me of the experience where a 20 minute car ride ended up taking 3 hours from the mission office to the home! So if Mom and Dad have suggestions about mission president transitions let me know!

This up-coming week we will be driving through Borås, Göteborg and finally Malmö for Leadership training! So that will be an adventure. I was able to take the prayer picture with elder Winegar. But not with Elder Nelson in Borås so when we go through there we will take a picture! Then I will send them to ya mamma!

As you can see there are plenty of things going on... but thats all I feel like talking about for this week!

Thank you all for your support and e-mails! I love you all so much.

Love,

Äldste Webster

Farväl, Malmö‏

Hello dear family,

This past week has been quite a great one. Congrats to Jake and Ailin for allowing me to be an uncle once again! (make sure he knows me) Eli. What a great name! I hope Benjamin is doing great as well!

I have been loving this transfer so much! Last sunday one of the recent converts came up to us and said he had a friend he would like us to meet. Her name is Patricia (Uganda). We were able to teach her a bit about the Restoration, half way through the lesson she said "here, have this mans number, he needs God in his life too!" So she gave us his number, days later we taught him the restoration and this man is PREPARED! We also have been able to teach Xiao Yang Wen from china and we taught her the Restoration. She loved it and is wanting to read and pray about the book of mormon! We had invited her to go to a baptism of a woman (Wei, who I was able to interview) in Lund. And she said that she wanted to! So last saturday we had Xiao, Patricia's sister and daughter (Flavia and Sara), and Sebastian (a recent convert's 9 year old son) there at the baptism in Lund! Sebastian, during the service, turned around to Elder Winegar and said "Jag vill döpa mig" meaning.. I want to be baptized! So at church we talked with him and his dad and arranged for him to be baptized the 19th of march! Sunday at church Patricia and Flavia weren't able to come, but instead they send 3 of their kids to church! So we had a great time in primary! It was great because I had an amazing opportunity to give a talk in sacrament meeting about the Priesthood! Overall, we had a very good week. I wouldn't be suprised if there was 5-7 baptisms in Malmö next transfer. Then came transfer calls, Elder Winegar will be in Malmö for his last transfer and training a new Zone Leader (elder Bush... my first companion in Borås), and then he said Elder Webster, I would like you to come join me in the office and be my assisstant, where you will be with Elder Jorgensen. After he had said that he went to tell Winegar who would be in his zone, unfortunately I was half in shock and wasn't listening at all. I felt somewhat humbled during this phone call. I'm excited to be with Elder Jorgensen (he is 1 of 4 in my MTC group), and I know that I will be learning so much while I am there! President "white washed the assisstants" so there will be much to learn in these beginning weeks as me and elder jorgensen try to tackle the tasks that we'll have. A very positive thing is that Elder Stoddard (my first son) is a secretary, so he will be in the same apartment so we'll have a blast there!

So family, letters will get to me quicker now because I live at the office! when you send to the enebybergsvägen address you send straight to me!

I'm thankful for the many experiences I had in Malmö. And look forward to sharing them with Elder Winegar later in the future! Sorry, the letter is short today but we gotta take care of transfers and things! I'll be in contact with ya'll later! P-days should be on Saturdays now if i'm not misunderstood so GOOD THINGS!

Love,

Äldste Webster