Another Week...

Yeah the language is my mainn concernn, it can just be frustrating at times, but that is good advice, and i shall take heed, yatta

 

I can skype so i will probably just do that, and right when yyou get back from church works best, so around 8:15 pm my time

 

and zach is having surgery, too much ab belt you cotton headed ninny muggins, i knew it would give you a hernia haha

 

we drove uup to this onne city; 2 hours east of us, the bishop drove us, we went to help someone move stuff, it was right next to luxembourg, so the drive was really cool

 

we just got to the cyber cafe from pascals, he had the tv on like alwayys while we eat and play phase 10, and some rugby was on, northern hemisphere gay-ness, but still rugby, i would be lying if i said i didnt watch a couple minutes of it haha ill repent later 

 

but its all good, last week was hard, just frustration all the time, nobody to teach, smaller town with too many old grumpy french guys, and my comp having his little diva moments, but this week almost every day is booked with member dinners mangez-vous and what not, so yeah

Doing Well!

well said well said faja...

thats very true; the first couple days i was like <<wow its pretty dark here; rains a lot; very cold; no grass; and full of aethiests and catholics>> hhaha but its all good

 

as for maja and the bretheren; mark my words i will make up for the oportunities i lost to mess around; you better watch out zach and ben; i have two years to think... haha

 

my comp isnt that bad; we are just different i guess; he looks; walks; talks; and acts like a girl, which is disturbing,... but whatever

 

we do a lot of like serving and chillin and talking with members and their kids; thats cool and what not; and my comp loves to do that; but come on dawg! we need to teach some lessons in this bisnizzle

 

but anyway we went to lille for thanksgiving; way cool; owned the noobs in some american football

 

I just got done chillin with pascal; hes like in his late 30s; owns a pizza shop where we help him out; he feeds us pretty often; so good; food is great

 

we ate with the bonnamy family; and the ludrue family; and gorgette annd the membres a week before

 

we went and home taught the vanaquer family last night; and i gave the whhole lesson twas great

 

and we are catching the train early tomorrow morning to paris; we hhave our district meeting there; so thatll be pretty cool

 

as for saint quentin; i think the population size is about the same as provo, probably more; so its not a huge city; or a small town; its very old annd has a lot of old people; its not big enough to have a metro; but plenntyy of buses and a train station; our apartment is nice; its two stories; on this small road right behhin the cathedral; i went into the cathedral yesterday; its actuallyy called a bassilica; becuase it has relics in it; its got saint quentins hand in a glass box haha and some of his bones; but they are still doing some finishing touches onn the far side becuase it got owned in WWII can still see bullet holes; and most of the statues got their heads smashed off during thhe french revolution

 

but all is good; thanks for everythinng; i look forward to the package

 

oh can you also send me some photos from hhhome; hard copies; just of whatever; me; the fam; rugby; the homies; camping

 

the ward members love to see them

 

much love

Josh...

First letter From The Field

suup homies

 

my email will be small cuz the keyboards make no sense here

 

first night i slept at the mission home; it was great; plenty of food and what not

 

Then we went into paris the next day; to the chapel which is right in the middle of paris; the most expensive lds chapel in the world; im not surprised

 

met my new trainer; elder gibbons; whoooo is very femish which is not cool

 

and i feel like he is a bit of a slacker; every day i try ask him if we can do more with our investigatores

 

but we do plenty of stuff; its not that bad; it just could be better

ive eaten 3 meals with members all of them were so so good

 

lamb, pasta, cheeses, turkish kababs, good stuff

 

I introduced myself in sacrament meeting yesterday

 

weve done some door knocking and contacting and what not

 

we give english classes to some peeps,  its good for them but it also helps my french too

 

we have around 7 investigators; and we have taught a decent amount of lessons

 

when i got to my first area saint quentin; we went straight to an investigators house and gave a lesson; so that was pretty scary; i just shared a scripture and bore testimony; and said how the bom has helped me

 

35 rue du gouvernement

02100 Saint Quentin

France

 

this is my new address

 

we ate dinner with pierre and his family a few nights ago; they aren't members; but we teach pierre english; hes about 26 and still living at home; but it was a good dinner ha; it lasted like almost 4 hours i think; me and pierre talked about bball; and his dad likes the perpignan rugby team; so we had soome good rugby discussion ha

 

after church yesterday the membres took us back to their place for lunch which was another 3 hour meal; and we took the train back

 

then pascals for dinner

 

now after a 2 hour train ride i am in lille up north; for a thanksgiving thing with the zone;

 

i hope all is well ha

 

tell shlobus hello

 

Elder Webber

PS.  just a little more; my apartment is right behind this huge huge cathedral; oh so cool

but the first couple nights in the field were hard; im still working on my french

 

i want to get it down so i can contribute more; cuz right now i rely alot on my trainer; and i dont really like that

 

cant wait till i get the language down

Letter From The President...

Dear Brother and Sister Webber,

            Sister Poznanski and I were delighted to welcome your son, Elder Joshua Charles Webber, into the France Paris Mission on Tuesday, November 22, 2011.  He and his MTC companions were enthusiastic and all arrived in good health.  He spent his first day eating some home cooked food, napping, visiting with me, contacting non-members in the heart of Paris, and sharing testimonies in our home.  We enjoyed his spirit.

            The next morning, after a mission orientation, Elder Webber left for his first assignment to work in the St Quentin Area with Elder Gibbons, Ren J. (TR), who will be his trainer.  Their apartment address is:

Elder Webber

Les Missionnaries

35, rue du Gouvernement RDC

02100 St. Quentin

                                                France

            We feel very privileged to work with your son.  We also realize the responsibility we share with you to help him continue to grow spiritually as he faithfully performs his duties.  May the Lord inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging and exciting assignment.  We hope you will join Sister Poznanski and me in praying each day for your son, his companion, investigators, and all of us serving in the France Paris Mission.

            A positive, supportive letter from home every week does wonders to sustain a missionary’s morale.  Proverbs 25:25 states:  As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.  If you have any questions, or if we can assist you in any way, please contact us at our office (001-331-3480-0483) or home (001-331-3976-8402).

Sincerely,

Franck Poznanski

President, France Paris Mission 

Last Week in the MTC

Thank you Mom for the package, and thanks jophus for the drawings haha :)

 

Thank you Dad for the advice, that is very true, and I will remember that, be the companion that I want to have. I looked back on my journal like you said, and it is crazy how far I have come already, with french and the gospel, can't wait to get out into the field.

 

I will be making the call to you guys anytime between 2-4 oclock pm utah time, my flight leaves at 4:55 on monday, so beeeeeeeee ready haha

 

Thankyou mom and dad for all the advice and thoughts, I really do think about them and use them each day, it is extremely helpful, and I look forward to them

 

I am excited to leave and start learning and teaching, pushing myself outside my comfort zone every day, it'll be crazy fun.

 

Talk to you soon....

 

-Elder Webber

A Good Week...

Al goes very well.

The french visas are pretty smooth and easy going, so I should be good to go by November 21 but stuff has happened before so you never know.

 

That is great news on Jared, exciting stuff, Marshall islands, thats crazy, what language do they speak there??   Tell him I say goodluck and look forward to seeing after the mish.

Mom-- thankyou for the quote, good stuff, good stuff, and Dad thank you too, I thought about both of them quite a bit.

 

When I was able to meet up with Aaron it was awesome, it was motivating and inspirational, I mean that.  I later told most of my district what he had to say, and they all got pretty excited to go out into the field and start working, so he helped out more than he probably thought, it was just what I needed as well as my whole district.

 

DAD- as for your email, thank you

I thought about it, and the mission is something you spend your whole life looking forward to, so it's best not to waste any time, I told myself I would use the same strategy that I use before a rugby game; I will have no regrets.  Balls out for the whole two years, as long as I give it 101% each day than really thats all we have to worry about.

 

A couple days ago at the devotional we had a man come speak to us, he was the international legal advisor for the church or somthin like that, he told us all about the work that goes on so we can get visas to different countries, it is so crazy, all these very smart brethren that do all this and trust a bunch of 19 year old boys to go out and do the thing that matters most, go teach.

 

So it is a HUGE responibility, and I realize that more each day, so balls out, no regrets for the whole mission.

 

Anyway, Mom thankyou for the updates on whats going on back home, I love hearin about it, thankyou thankyou thankyou

 

love you all

 

-Elder Webber

Having Too Much Fun...

Thank you for the packages, the rugby shirts and chocolate and everything else, it was very very very very cool thankyou, and thankyou grandma for your chocolate too.  Shlopus (Joseph) how funny haha.  And thankyou mom very much for the rugby pics and news articles, i think i read through all of them at least 3 times. 

 

We are the oldest district in our zone now, so the days are counting down until we get out of here, I am excited to leave.

 

When you sent me the rugby ball I was worried that it would be hard to get my roomates to pass it with me, oh no no no, once we get back to the room every night they won't stop throwin it around, it's funny, they want to pass it more than I do "Elder Webber cmon lets go outside and pass the ball around" haha of course I'm down for that.

 

Sonny Bill to the chiefs, how interesting

 

Oooother than that, nooooottt much goes down around here, I have a haircut today, our spanish companionship moved out of dorm room so now it's back to the 4 of us which is nice, but me and Elder Andrus left their bunk in our room and scooted next to ours so we both have "king" sized beds, shhhooo good.  And let's be honest I'm getting pretty dang good at volleyball, that's all we play at gym time, but we love it, owning the noobs, spiking it into foolish young ones, breaking their watches haha noobs noobs noobs.

 

Pete is doing good too, I see him almost every lunch, he leaves for the D.R. MTC in few days, pretty crazy.

 

And oh yeah, if i could ask for ooooonnnee very last thing, sorry, my byu rugby hoody, i don't have like a normal sweatershirt or anything, so that would be useful.

Love you 

Elder Josh

Happy About Being World-Champs ( a little Distraction)

FINALLY, WORLD CUP CHAMPS, what a hard world cup for them, well deserved indeed.  And good for Stephen Donald and Aaron Cruden. 

 

It's good to hear about shaun, that is really really cool, Elder rockwood is doing great too and is already in florida, and elder harper is doing great too.

 

Yeah i see Elder wilkinson probably every day in the cafteria, so we talk and what not quite a bit, it's cool.

 

Thankyou very much for the play by play, me and elder burgess loved it, and thanks to mom and mariah again for sending me those clothes and cookies, it was really cool to get them, i think i read the whole play by play letter at least 4 times, good stuff, good stuff.

 

And i talked to my Branch President about meeting up with my brother, and he said he has heard of that too and is going to look into it.

 

San Francisco was fun, it was cool to get out of the mtc for a while, and see all the homos in babylon haha

 

Did richie mccaw or anybody cry during after match interviews or getting the trophy, what did the coaches have to say about the game?

I still feel for DC what a cool guy, who knows maybe that will motivate him to go for another world cup. but he'll be getting pretty old, in rugby years, by then.

 

I got to walk down to the byu laundry yesterday with my companion elder andrus because he needed some alterations on some of his suits, aah the old workplace, good times, and i saw Gareth, said hi and shook his hand, he's the guy i used to do rag runs with in the truck, he would always give me advice about the mish, ha good stuff

 

I also finally finished the book of mormon yesterday, so that makes it twice that i've read through it, twas good; twas good, now im starting over in French, so we'll see how that goes.

 

Cool to see that Trey is back, i almost forgot about him ha, im not too sad im missing out on any sevens though ha that was never my scene.

 

And yeah i leave the MTC november 21, so i'm past half way in the mt-sizzle.  Im not sure on anything else though, thats all i know.

 

Richard G. Scott came to our tuesday devotional this last tuesday, He talked about the spirit, how we should write down the promtings we recieve and we'll recieve more, he gave us all a blessing at the end, that we could realize our weaknesses and make them our stengths.

 

That's just about what's gone down here, just studying and reading all day every day, french is coming along.

 

I have come to realize that the biggest blessing in my life besides the Gospel is having 4 brothers.  I don't think anything else has changed or influenced me more than growing up with them (Mariah is also a blessing, but in a different way) Sometimes there's just some elders around here that are straight-up babies, a couple of them in my district, it sickens me almost, they get offended faster than a 10 year old girl, frankly it's embarrassing, one day i just asked one of them, Do you have any brother(s) elder?  And they would say no, wow that answered everything.  It's gonna be a long two years for you until you learn how grow up and associate with other guys.  Sooo it makes me mad sometimes, but on the other side, it makes me grateful for the brothers i was blessed with.

 

anywho, thankyou all again

 

thankyou mom and mariah for sending the letters and packages!

 

word to your motha

 

Elder Webber

The Next Week--getting into a routine...

Ah man craaaazy world cup, me and Elder Burgess talk about it alot, we mourned together over the loss of DC.  Looks like the semi final is gonna be the "final" too bad a european team will be playing in the final, that's retarded.  Thanks again mom for the play by play, I look forward to them. 

 

i just want to give zach and ben a little shout out, "hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!! how are those dishes???" What shmeegs, I hope they like it!  Miss you gys.

 

It's going good over here in "spiritual prison" haha.  All the rules and amount of people are starting to bug me a little, but it's all good.  Funny stuff.  The language is coming along slowly but surely, I've probably learned more in this 3 weeks than the first two years of french class.  It's crazy. 

 

Thanks again for the package, much needed.

Our french teacher Soeur Welch said that my companion and I are the most improved and fastest improving, I can't say I was too surprised to be honest, we work hard on our lessons.

 

Ha ha.... sister missionaries sometimes, yeah... amen.

 

What are Zach and Ben up to?  Just school?

 

Anywho I don't know what else to say, same old same old over here.

 

First Week!

Thankyou so much mom! i love hearing about home, and Rugby! both equally haha.  nah jk.  But i didnt know my password and stuff so im only down to a few  minutes to email you, so i have to make it short.  the french is coming along pretty good, im studying so hard everyday, and when you are in a small classroom for 6 hours straight with 8 other guys and no air conditioning it can get pretty hard, but i love my companion and my district, i was so blessed to get this group of guys, they are all alot like me, want to do the right thing, very righteous dudes but still know how to have a good time and crack some jokes every now and then, maaaaybe a little too much sometimes, but all good all good the Lord understands haha. I told dad that my companion is Elder Andrus, we were in the same french class in Junior high, what a crazy surprise, another one of the elders in my district went to church college, he knows jared and joshua and ezra, so it's prettty cool to have some fun with him.

 

so hows the mtc you ask?

 

wake up early, (which is not as hard as you and dad made it seem like it would be!) personal study, then breakfast, then companion study, then language class for three hours, lunch, more personal study, then maybe a meeting or somthing, then dinner, then Language study again for 3 hours, and then we teach a person from byu who pretends to be an investigator, her name is fanni, she is very very fluent in french, so she doesnt say a word of english when we try to teach her.  we had to give her a 30 minute lesson in complete french the second day!!! we tried to teach her about the plan of salvation, but she doesnt believe in God (which is like the majority of europeans) so our next lesson was on prayer, but then she said she wouldnt pray, so then we taught her on faith, its a process i guess, its how most people will be in paris.  Elder Foley in our district was telling me how hard it is to talk to people in france, he lived in france for 4 years, most french people won't answer their doors if they see missionaries, and they will just ingore you or pretend you're not there when you try to talk with them.  they dont like americans too much because we are the opposite, very outgoing and loud kind of people, french are very reserved and quiet i guess.

 

but anyway, tell ben to work on his kick and left handed pass, tell zach he needs to start the work now if he wants to win a championship, and have more fun with his highschool years haha, tell mariah i love her and joseph too.

 

love you mom

Doing Well!

Yes it is true, i am a little depressed, Dan Carter's injury what an awful thing to behold... i feel for the man.  however i cannot dwell on babylon haha.  Thanks mom for the packages, my companion loves his french ctr ring ha, and thanks again for the play by play, i'll have to buy and watch the 2011 world cup dvd once i get back... only if the ABs win.  Yeah i got a letter from Pete, man i am excited to see him, it'll be awsome, and i see Elder Harper almost every day, he's doing great and it's great to talk with him every once and a while.  Tell mariah i really appreciated her letter, it meant alot to me and inspires me to work harder. 

 

My french is coming along slowly but surely, we practiced street contacting last night with our zone, and once i get talking i find that i know more french than i think i know. 

 

Conference was great, alot of missionary directed talks which was great, i had questions answered, and i loved it.  My companion was able to fall asleep through two talks and a hymn where everyone in the room was standing up and singing haha what a noob.  Just like young mens and scouts, our district is the loudest and can get a little crazy sometimes, but hey thats how we relieve stress and relax, haha we joke around! but we know when to get serious, i think we study harder than most. 

 

What do you guys think about the new provo temple? Pretty cool i thought, really close to byu campus too.

 

I've met a couple of the byu rugby boys here too, once of them teaches fijian, so it was good to see him and think of some gooood times, goooood rugby.  Elder Burgess and I are getting pretty tight, i'm trying to convince him to come up to BYU after his mish and play some rugby, he wants to.

 

Also have Ben and Zach read Doctrine and Covenants 107, mainly versus 40-65 but ESPECIALLY versus 99 and 100 haha just somthing for them to think about, the seriousness of Bens calling, and it would be cool for zach to read it too.

 

Tell scropus jobus i say hi

 

Tell zach to start working on his kicks, left handed pass and watch how the 12 runs lines

 

I apreciate the letters and advice that i get from you and dad, it is very helpful and it is somthing that i always look forward to.

 

Oh yeah last P day my district went over to the medical building cuz we had to do some more tests, we all had to get our blood drawn, and Elder Gunter was also just as scared as needles as i was haha so it was all good.  Then they told us we had to give a stool sample, probably the most disturbing thing I've had to do ever.  The cup they gave us was soooo small, it was ridiculous, and then after taking a duce in that tiny thing, we had to scoop out a "marble" size piece and mix it into a vile and give back to them later that day haha, oh my word we couldn't stop laughing, we were all in the same bathroom in stalls next to each other, such interesting noises, geeze.

 

haha but nevermind that.

 

Love you all, and thank you