"Best and Worst" Week... and last...

Well this was the best/worst week to end on.. best because everything went exactly how we wanted it too. We taught a ton of lessons and after 10 long months of draught here in quifica theres finally a twinkling of water as Ivandro was baptized! Worst because everything went how we planned and the área is progressing perfectly. Its super hard to leave the mission after having a week like this where everything went perfectly and we didn't have any problems.. but life continues.

Since i don't have much news other then we had an awesome week i decided i would answer some commonly asked returned missionary questions,

1. Did i like my mission? stupid question doesn't even deserve an answer.. yes of course i LOVED it

2. Did you like the country? There is no other people that i love more then the people here in angola, i loved the culture and everything about this country. If i could come back regularly i would. 

3. Do you have any funny stories? To be honest all the stories that i have are centered around the work, i didn't have time to joke around and make memories like that, i came to serve a mission, not have a cultural experience.

4. Did you make friends on your mission? My goal for the mission was to serve a mission, not to make friends, the friends that i made came as a blessing from the lord for my hard work and diligence. But with that being said, i made many life long friends that i will never Forget, and i hope to see again and will continue to speak with.

5. Do you want to come home? Yes and No, do i want to leave this country... no. Do i want to leave these people... no. do i want to stop being a missionary.. at this point no. but i'm excited to come back home and start the next chapter of my life, i know all things must come to an end and i came to terms with that. Im excited to see what else life has for me. 

6. Do you have any regrets? Yes of course i do, im human. But i'm comforted in the fact that in every single second that i served i strove to be exactly obedient, and diligent. SO i don't have any regrets that plague me.

My number one goal for my mission was to serve in such a way that in the last week of my mission and on the last day i would get the feeling of the lord saying well done thy good and faithful servant. You did all what i sent you to do and i am pleased with the work you have done. Im glad to say that this last week i have had an overwhelming feeling of exactly what i just described. I know i worked with all my heart might mind and strength to be exactly obedient and to work hard so that i could be the tool the lord needed to do his work here in angola. I will be terribly sad leaving this country and these people, i will be missing it with all my heart and i will have a huge desire to come back and visit regularly, but i will be able to come home with a smile on my face and a weight off my shoulders knowing that i did all that i could and worked as hard as i could to be the missionary i needed to be. 

Elder Webber

A Intense week... And Loving a Companion

This week i was in an glass case of emotion on an emotional rollercoaster. It started off with the stress of the classes and that good stuff, then it was a district meeting with zero lessons after, moved to trying to get to the mission office for my comps interview, on friday it was a division with elder sena the zone leader and the majority of our lessons fell through including our baptismal interview, so after all the appointments falling we went to an integration night at the church and it was a surprise farewell that the branch made for me.. its was pretty sweet.. so saturday was the day that would only happen a week before the end of the mission. We left early to try and get a baptismal interview.. we did it but he didn't pass so hell get baptized a little later.. no big deal.. we then had to run all the way across our area to do the other interview with Ivandro who turned out had to be interviewed by president.. ahhhh so we had to catch a taxi and ride 30 minutes to the zone leaders house to met my comp and president, we go in president's car and went all the way back to our area to do the interview... and he passed!! (after 10 months of drought Quifica will finally have a baptism!!!!) After we had to leave president and sprint up to a lesson at around 4, during the lesson my brain wasn't working due to the concussions of my life, stress, and hunger (we didn't have food from 7 am until 6pm) so after that lesson we went to another lessons which thankfully we had a nice meal after wards.. It was VERY stressful but we taught some sweet lessons and got Ivandro ready for baptism so its all good. 

I love this area and this branch. We are teaching some families that i just love, the kids look up to us so much and i fell like a superhero every time we walk into their houses. Thats probably gonna be the hardest part about leaving. Also my comp just gets cooler and cooler as the days go by.. its been so much fun serving with him.. i would happily stay 2 more transfers if i could serve with him. Hes super funny and we are a lot a like.. so its never a bad moment.. i've never once been frustrated or upset at my companion and he feels the same way.. i've been on cloud nine all transfer long its all been going super well. Other then the fact that i have an overwhelming feeling of sadness about leaving this branch and country. I love all the people here, theres some people that if i could i would bring them home with me and stay with them or come back regularly to visit them, and though i feel this sadness about leaving i'm trying to keep smiling and be happy making good memories for myself and others so i don't leave like a johnny rain cloud. 

Elder Webber

food preference i'm not bothered.. its whatever.. but ill  have a couple of sweet surprises for you guys when i get home... i think you'll all love it

Loosing fat and going to miss Angola...

Well another day another dollar. Ive lost a lot of fat but ive put on a little bit of muscle because i do work outs twice a day.. once in the morning as i should and again at night. Since we have 2 and a half hours to stay at home at night and reading the PMG gets old after a while i've been doing work outs at night.. i've felt pretty good so i ain't mad about it at all. All the members though say that i'm thinning down and that ill disappear soon.. they just don't under stand that i'm loosing the fat reserve i've gained on my mission and replacing it with muscle.. but it still doesn't stop them from offering us lunch so once again.. i aint mad. 

We had zone conference this week, my last zone conference of the mission. It was pretty strange, as always we had the missionaries leaving share their testimonies, so elder delano, elder mitchell, and i (the only 3 leaving this transfer) got up and shared our testimony.. its slowly starting to hit me that here in a couple of weeks i wont be walking around these angolan streets any more and ill be back at home. Back to crappy social media, school work, sucky live drama and having to actually work.. not gonna lie i would rather stay on the mission. SO with that said i've been trying to live it up and do as much as i can here so i can savour the flavour of angola and living here. Its been fun and ill miss it terribly. 

I don't have much of anything to say.. the days are all flying by and i cant seem to distinguish between this week and last week. Just gonna say its all good here in the hood, we are doing work and having fun while we do it. Ive changed a lot in my opinion, and i love the changes that i've made.. i feel great about life and excited to put in work after the mission as i did here on the mission. 

Elder Webber

In LOVE with Angola and looking forward to a REAL Shower

This week i saw a guy cutting a metal pole with an electric saw in only a short shorts and a tank top with his buddy behind him welding also only in short shorts and a tank top with only sunglasses to protect his eyes, he had spark flying all over and around him... its just one of those things that you see here in angola that just makes me giggle. We had a fun week this week trying to help a few of our investigators get to church and progress towards baptism.. we should have 3 this month so i guess we will see how it goes. We once again were out of water for a few days this week, it'll be strange to come back home and actually have energy and water consistently and to actually take a warm shower... i don't remember the last time i took a real shower with warm water.. MENTAL STRENGTH!! WE had a fun family night last night, Paulo and Helga were there with a lot of other members.I really have grown to love family night, not only because its one of the only times that we can have fun but also because it works miracles with families. WE played a fun game were we had to imitate a cat.. its was funny. 

The word on the street is that the benfica branch will split again this month on the 25... which i'm dreading... i wanted the branch to stay the same the whole time until i went home.. but it hasn't been confirmed yet so hopefully it'll happen after i go home which would be really nice. Im loving my companion.. hes grown to be one of my favorite companions on the mission.. we are really a like so its easy to work with him and live with him. Its been super cool to be able to serve with a companion like him for my last 2 transfers. These transfers have flown by and its crazy to see the weeks pass by one after another. 

That would be cool if we could go to the provo city center temple.. i would like that a lot.. Also speaking of elder mitchell.. he hasn't received his talk assignment.. i assumed it was the same as mine so i already told him about it a little bit ago but i just wanted to confirm it with you. 

Other then that theres nothing new.. the work continues.. trying to make the moments last with all the members and investigators and trying to take in all the wonderful things here in angola... many people don't like this country... but i have fallen in love with the culture, land, and people.. I would do anything, if i could come back and live here for a little after the mission. Words can't explain how awesome this place is

Elder Webber

Pentecostals, Cockroaches and (no) Water..;;

Well this week was a fun week. We have 2 investigators who are confirmed baptism for this transfer and we are super excited about that.. Its been a long time since anyone in this area has seen the shining water of the baptismal font. We are slowly but surely getting this area to be super cool. The members are limited but awesome and the people that we are teaching are elect.. the weather is cooling down which is also really nice. We had a fun little lesson with one of our investigators and his "friend". THe investigator is on date and is doing really well, when we wanted to sit with him he invited his friend to come and sit with us as well.. BIG MISTAKE!! He a strong member from the a igreja assembléia de deus pentecostal de angola  (the church of the assembly of god pentecostal of angola) Let me see if i can describe these people for you. They are great people with a lot of faith, and are very firm in their believes, but i would say that they are jehovah witness on steroids, but don't have as much bible knowledge. All they wanna do is bash and fight with their crazy.. and i mean CRAZY doctrine. Sooo long story short it was about an hour of trying to stay calm, testify of truths and trying not to enter into their mind games of bible bashing. Its pretty hard to do when you hear things like god is christ and they are a spirit the size of a building but went into a mortal body to teach people the truth with magical water and crazy healings. And that we don't need to be baptized by water before the holy ghost and blah blah blah... its was one of those moments we just had to sit and listen trying to not to laugh or blow a cap. It was a true test of patience.

Also we are having a war of wars in our house. Its currently us 2 against thousand of ants and hundreds of cockroaches and i'm sad to say that we are losing. It came to the point this week that as i ate my cereal i would see ants running around in it.. and i cant go hungry and the cereal was expensive so i am sad to say that i lowered my standards and kept eating.. Its become natural at this point. This is even after me sealing the cereal bag and putting it into 2 plastic bags.. they still get in! the refrigerator isnt even safe from cockroaches.. I also believe they play with us.. we will be studying or eating and they run on the ground wall just out of our reach taunting us.. its pretty frustrating. We were also out of water for 4 days this week and used all of our reserves.. we came of the 5th day after a long day of work and still.... nothing... so we tried our best to drink some water and clean our selves and went to bed... but around 10:50 i hear the rushing of water.. if sweet dew falling from heaven had a sound it would be this.. so i quickly got up, cleaned dirty dishes that have been there for days, filled the reserves and cleaned a little.. some would say it was disobedient.. but i say it was survival.. 

Thats about it.. the adventure continue and miracles keep popping up. Time is flying by and i'm trying to hold onto it as much as i can but the harder i work and the more i try to use my time with wisdom and have fun the faster the time flies.. pretty frustrating.. 

Shout out to Elder Brett Mills... you're a fubeca that i love and will see you on the hipster band-wagon soon

Elder Webber

"Just" Another Week...

This week was pretty cool nothing to big happened, we are just doing the usual work and having fun while we do it. We are finding new people and slowly getting this area to be an area that all missionaries would want to serve in. SO we continue on following the spirit and doing what we know best. Its interesting as i enter the last transfer how the lessons that i should learn are learned and the things that i need to become are slowing becoming. I

ts been fun to serve in a branch that i know and that i'm familiar with. WIth a lot of familiar faces and people its easy to work with the members and have fun while you do it. I also had a fun little division with Elder Mielacher, hes an Austrian. Hes super cool, its always fun going on a division and mixing things up a little bit. 

Other than that nothing's new, life continues on. 

We saw a car crash this week... that was pretty crazy.

Elder Webber

Life Lessons... (and no water)

This week was pretty solid to be honest, we just taught some sweet lessons, found some new investigators and slapped some people into shape. Ive noticed in myself that i am slowly losing my patience with retarded people, i've turned to be more direct and honest with everyone and its come to be a big time help especially here where so many people beat around the bush. I realized a little bit ago its better to be honest and direct then to beat around the bush and drag it on a little bit. So that's what i've learned recently. Its really come in handy. My comp elder chiua is a boss, he doesn't talk much which is perfect he leaves me to myself and allows me to ponder and think about life and reflect on things that i need to change. Hes super funny though, he just says the funniest things sometimes and we all have a solid laugh. He doesn't speak a lick of english and i haven't seen anyone more determined to learn something more than him. Every free time he has hes reading the dictionary or asking questions to try and learn english.. its pretty impressive. 

This week though we've been out of water for almost 4 days.. i bet aaron josh and zach didn't take showers with mineral water on their missions.. cause here in angola we do.. living the high life. We are hoping and praying that water comes tonight because if not we have zero water to drink, to take showers and to cook with.. We will see how it goes i guess. Yeah elder mitchell and i are coming home on the same flight.. how we went is how we come back.. together!! 

Man i have learned many many lessons on the mission.. its hard to choose just one or just a big one to focus on, i have summed up my life and mission with 7 motivational quotes that i have lived by for a long time and that i will continue to live by for the rest of my life. It is true.. the mission changes people, you will change on the mission, whether its permanent, or temporary you will change. I read something somewhere that said you can tell who was a great missionary by what hes doing 10 years after his mission.. its interesting.. if you just change your behaviour for 2 years nothing will benefit you, but if you change your nature on your mission you've just opened many doors and many ways for the lord to bless you and use you to do many great things.

For Mothers' day, we will give you a call around 6:30 our time.. we have to be home at 8

Elder Webber