Dear Family,
I'm just loving it out here right now, it's really tough but I understand my purpose and the lord really blesses us so much every day here.
For example Tiffany whom we are teaching right now is receiving so much anti literature it's ridiculous. She asked us if other churches receive this much anti and we told her no. I seriously think she might find her answer just from all of the anti people that have been talking to her. This week has been tough for her. Her mom came over and got into an argument with Louis Rodriguez Tiffany's husband the less active member. She tried to tell Louis that he was brainwashing Tiffany and that made Louis really mad. In fact he was so mad that he called the cops so that they could handle. It just goes to show how hard Satan really doesn't want Tiffany to become a member because he knows she's going to be great. It's really tough to work with them but I know that they have been prepared there's no doubt in my mind. On Sunday morning we got a call from them saying that they wouldn't be able to come to church because their daughters were both sick. I thought to myself my eye your not coming to church. We went right over gave those two girls a blessing and brought the family to church and guess what they loved it. That's right loved it I mean seriously who wouldn't love it. Sometimes the gospel really gets my blood pumping. Everyday when I wake up Satan says oh shoot Elder Judd's awake.
Just yesterday we talked to Mikey Feleciano who has been coming to church for six months and we asked him why he has not been baptized and he told he doesn't feel his testimony is strong enough. We found out really that's not the case it is just that he has a few issues with the word of wisdom. On Tuesday we are going to address that concern and challenge Mikey for Baptism and he's going to accept I love it.
Thank you for your prayers I have really been blessed lately. And if I sound a little prideful I am. I feel as Alma did when he told his brothers that he dost boast in the lord and not his own strength. For I know I am nothing compared to the power of god, but with the power of god i am everything and powerful I love it.
love Elder Judd
ps mom send pictures
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Dec. 8, 2009
Sorry family,
Sorry i didn't write yall a letter this last week. I needed to because of the wonderful letter i had recieved for my birthday. I only wish i could've been there to here it all but it still really touched me. However as you all must know I was packing on Pday so that's why i really didn't have much time.
My New area is called Clermont where i am companions with Elder Mansfield from Lehi Utah. Elder Mansfield comes from a family of 13 so we can relate quite a bit. I really enjoy Elder Mansfield and we really get a long. It makes me more excited for Christmas to have elders who'll be fun to be with. As for Clermont though it's the most hilly area in our mission so my legs have been real sore the last couple of days and i've been building up my stamina and leg stregnth. By the time i leave here my thighs will be cut. But i told my president that he needed to send me here as my last area so i could get in shape right before i came home.
I've been having some good succes here with Elder Mansfield and we are excited to work hard. We set a baptismal date yesterday with a kid named Eddie Moore. We were both pumped and that day just did a lot of challenging and testifing. We also have a kid in our ward who's been living with some members and has been taught everything. We just found out last week from bishop that he wants to be baptized so that makes us even more happy.
The Ward here is so great and they are so genuine. None of the members here are fake and they all like to tell you exactly what they're thinking. Really i can appreciate that especially when we have investigators who give us retarted excuses all day long.
Well that's pretty much it for the life of elder judd, and sorry for not writing it totally feels like i'm just way out of the loop.
Love Elder Judd
p.s. send all packages for Christmas to this address
2550 Citrus Tower Blvd.
apt.7202
Clermont Fl 34711
Sorry i didn't write yall a letter this last week. I needed to because of the wonderful letter i had recieved for my birthday. I only wish i could've been there to here it all but it still really touched me. However as you all must know I was packing on Pday so that's why i really didn't have much time.
My New area is called Clermont where i am companions with Elder Mansfield from Lehi Utah. Elder Mansfield comes from a family of 13 so we can relate quite a bit. I really enjoy Elder Mansfield and we really get a long. It makes me more excited for Christmas to have elders who'll be fun to be with. As for Clermont though it's the most hilly area in our mission so my legs have been real sore the last couple of days and i've been building up my stamina and leg stregnth. By the time i leave here my thighs will be cut. But i told my president that he needed to send me here as my last area so i could get in shape right before i came home.
I've been having some good succes here with Elder Mansfield and we are excited to work hard. We set a baptismal date yesterday with a kid named Eddie Moore. We were both pumped and that day just did a lot of challenging and testifing. We also have a kid in our ward who's been living with some members and has been taught everything. We just found out last week from bishop that he wants to be baptized so that makes us even more happy.
The Ward here is so great and they are so genuine. None of the members here are fake and they all like to tell you exactly what they're thinking. Really i can appreciate that especially when we have investigators who give us retarted excuses all day long.
Well that's pretty much it for the life of elder judd, and sorry for not writing it totally feels like i'm just way out of the loop.
Love Elder Judd
p.s. send all packages for Christmas to this address
2550 Citrus Tower Blvd.
apt.7202
Clermont Fl 34711
Thursday, October 1, 2009
September 28, 2009
My Family,
Oh the greatest truth on the earth today, and we hold it right in our hands. What a blessing it is for me to share it with everyone i meet. This last week has been tons of fun, I've come to love the members in the Lake Mary ward. What amazing missionaries we have here. They are sharing the gospel with their neighbors like crazy and we are reaping the benefits. Ruffin i didn't quiet understand what you meant when you said the members were your best tool, although i thought I did. The members are my best tool here, but that means that i have to use them. So we have been challenging members to share the gospel and most importantly following up with each of them. We have seen success, and it has come in abundance.
I also didn't quiet understand what you meant Brent when you said that i needed to be bold and just tell them what they need to do. I had a member help me recognize it though. He said, Elder Judd you are to nice, I thought are you crazy. But i was in a teachable estate and he let me know that i needed to be more bold whether or not people liked me. The next day we went to a non commital investigator and asked them if they would be baptized in the church. She declined and we dropped her, because i have come to find I'm here to reap the harvest. If they are not ready than I shouldn't be wasting my two years with them. Just last night once again we had the same problem. We asked the guy we were teaching if he felt the spirit testify to him that the church was true that he would join the church. He told us no, so we dropped him.
I know that as I drop these people the lord puts more in our path. He's always just waiting to bless us and sometimes we get so frustrated. The problem is that we hold on to things, such as investigators, Movies, or our favorite sin, and don't allow the lord to bless us. May we always remember this and give up those things so that our heavenly father may show us his miracles. God is a god of miracles, but only according to our faith to act.
My love and prayers go out to you my family, may god bless you and may you be open to recieve.
Love, Elder Judd
Oh the greatest truth on the earth today, and we hold it right in our hands. What a blessing it is for me to share it with everyone i meet. This last week has been tons of fun, I've come to love the members in the Lake Mary ward. What amazing missionaries we have here. They are sharing the gospel with their neighbors like crazy and we are reaping the benefits. Ruffin i didn't quiet understand what you meant when you said the members were your best tool, although i thought I did. The members are my best tool here, but that means that i have to use them. So we have been challenging members to share the gospel and most importantly following up with each of them. We have seen success, and it has come in abundance.
I also didn't quiet understand what you meant Brent when you said that i needed to be bold and just tell them what they need to do. I had a member help me recognize it though. He said, Elder Judd you are to nice, I thought are you crazy. But i was in a teachable estate and he let me know that i needed to be more bold whether or not people liked me. The next day we went to a non commital investigator and asked them if they would be baptized in the church. She declined and we dropped her, because i have come to find I'm here to reap the harvest. If they are not ready than I shouldn't be wasting my two years with them. Just last night once again we had the same problem. We asked the guy we were teaching if he felt the spirit testify to him that the church was true that he would join the church. He told us no, so we dropped him.
I know that as I drop these people the lord puts more in our path. He's always just waiting to bless us and sometimes we get so frustrated. The problem is that we hold on to things, such as investigators, Movies, or our favorite sin, and don't allow the lord to bless us. May we always remember this and give up those things so that our heavenly father may show us his miracles. God is a god of miracles, but only according to our faith to act.
My love and prayers go out to you my family, may god bless you and may you be open to recieve.
Love, Elder Judd
Monday, July 13, 2009
July 13, 2009
hey,
Sorry my emails are so short. i won't lie one bit i really do not like emailing people and would rather just reply to letters i recieve it seems so much more convienent. Well i will tell you a little bit about a couple that we've been working with. Jason and Kysia. They are sweet and have such a great desire. They both had a date to be baptized this Saturday, and also a date to get married on the ninth of july. Well they got married on their scheduled day and it was way cool. However only Kysia got baptized on the eleventh. But it's ok because Jason knows the church is true and has a great testimony. He just has some things he needs to take care of before he gets baptized. They are way sweet, and have brought me a lot of joy. Thank you for all of your prayers they really mean a lot to me. Keep up the missionary work in your own lives and remember each week you covenant to take upon yourself the name of christ.
Sorry my emails are so short. i won't lie one bit i really do not like emailing people and would rather just reply to letters i recieve it seems so much more convienent. Well i will tell you a little bit about a couple that we've been working with. Jason and Kysia. They are sweet and have such a great desire. They both had a date to be baptized this Saturday, and also a date to get married on the ninth of july. Well they got married on their scheduled day and it was way cool. However only Kysia got baptized on the eleventh. But it's ok because Jason knows the church is true and has a great testimony. He just has some things he needs to take care of before he gets baptized. They are way sweet, and have brought me a lot of joy. Thank you for all of your prayers they really mean a lot to me. Keep up the missionary work in your own lives and remember each week you covenant to take upon yourself the name of christ.
Monday, June 22, 2009
June 22, 2009
Dearest Family,
Well this sure has been a long week in fact the hottest week of my mission. Oh man it's been tough but at the same time we are finding a lot of new people to teach. I first got to Lake Mary, my new area, on tuesday and we went to work. Throughout the week we were able to teach nine lessons with a member present and also were able to help four of our investigators get to church. Really the lord is just blessing us so much. We also were able to find eight new investigators and get to help them get to church which really will be our challenge this week.
Well i'd like to really thank you all for your prayers and for the help yall are giving to build up the kingdom of heaven.
Love Elder Judd
Well this sure has been a long week in fact the hottest week of my mission. Oh man it's been tough but at the same time we are finding a lot of new people to teach. I first got to Lake Mary, my new area, on tuesday and we went to work. Throughout the week we were able to teach nine lessons with a member present and also were able to help four of our investigators get to church. Really the lord is just blessing us so much. We also were able to find eight new investigators and get to help them get to church which really will be our challenge this week.
Well i'd like to really thank you all for your prayers and for the help yall are giving to build up the kingdom of heaven.
Love Elder Judd
Monday, June 15, 2009
June 15, 2009
What a week,
Today we were talking in companionship study and Elder Stuart was talking about how blessed we really were. We talked about how thankful we were just to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. I want you all to think about that for a minute and recognize how important that really is. This allows us to first act in the name of the lord and perform saving ordinances here on here binding us together forever. Now i would like to have you think of the responsibility we have because we are of his church. The lord said "He who shall loose himself for my sake shall find himself, but he who shall find himself shall surely loose himself." I know this is true as we work to help others with their problems and overcome their concerns we build up the kingdom and find ourselves. This allows us to overcome the things attacking us. If ever I feel alone or have a hard time with something i seek to help others and everything's alright.
Anyways for the real important stuff now, my work here in St. Cloud. Well as you know i've been here for awhile, and so now i'm being transferred to Lake Mary within Orlando. I'm way excited and Elder Snow will be my new companion, and yes mom i will be sure to ask or seek to find if he's related in any way but I do doubt it.
This final week in St. Cloud i decided to work on the Christ like Attribute of Patience. The lord knows exactly each time what I want to work on and puts tons of trials in my path having to do with that exact subject oh it is glorious. But I really have learned a lot especially in the heat of about 94 degrees. Oh yes 94 sounds like winter in st.George i know but out here with the humidity it's a killer and the summer has not even began technically. But I'm so excited to work through and see the lord bless his almost humble servant with people to help into the waters of baptism. I love you all and hope you are all doing well hope the summers hot hot hot for you so you can maybe feel a little of what i do right now jk but seriously.
love Elder Judd
Today we were talking in companionship study and Elder Stuart was talking about how blessed we really were. We talked about how thankful we were just to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ. I want you all to think about that for a minute and recognize how important that really is. This allows us to first act in the name of the lord and perform saving ordinances here on here binding us together forever. Now i would like to have you think of the responsibility we have because we are of his church. The lord said "He who shall loose himself for my sake shall find himself, but he who shall find himself shall surely loose himself." I know this is true as we work to help others with their problems and overcome their concerns we build up the kingdom and find ourselves. This allows us to overcome the things attacking us. If ever I feel alone or have a hard time with something i seek to help others and everything's alright.
Anyways for the real important stuff now, my work here in St. Cloud. Well as you know i've been here for awhile, and so now i'm being transferred to Lake Mary within Orlando. I'm way excited and Elder Snow will be my new companion, and yes mom i will be sure to ask or seek to find if he's related in any way but I do doubt it.
This final week in St. Cloud i decided to work on the Christ like Attribute of Patience. The lord knows exactly each time what I want to work on and puts tons of trials in my path having to do with that exact subject oh it is glorious. But I really have learned a lot especially in the heat of about 94 degrees. Oh yes 94 sounds like winter in st.George i know but out here with the humidity it's a killer and the summer has not even began technically. But I'm so excited to work through and see the lord bless his almost humble servant with people to help into the waters of baptism. I love you all and hope you are all doing well hope the summers hot hot hot for you so you can maybe feel a little of what i do right now jk but seriously.
love Elder Judd
Monday, June 8, 2009
June 8, 2009
Super duper,
Sorry but really that's the way I feel right now here in St.Cloud Florida. I'm really coming to love these people and feel of the importance and urgency of the message we share. I would like to share a little experience that really built my testimony that the lord is preparing people for us to teach.
At the beginning of this week I was really just going through the motions doing things because that was what I was supposed to do as a missionary. Well on Wednesday we were tracting in a little gated community and were having a typical day of rejection and no interest. But we came to a house of a twenty five year old who had just carried in some groceries and put them down when we knocked on his door. We started by telling him we were representatives of Jesus Christ and proceeded to ask him a couple of questions. These ?s sparked his interest and so we started to teach him. He was so astonished by the Book of Mormon and how it was a record of the people here in the Americas. When we offered him a free copy he pretty much took it right out of the hands of my companion Elder Delucchi. He was so excited to have the opportunity to read it. So we left him with third Nephi Eleven and set up a return appointment for Saturday.
Well we gave Tim Lenhart, the guy we taught, and call Friday to remind him of our appointment for Saturday. On Saturday he called back with a not so enthusiastic voice and left a message. In his message he said. I was wondering if we could move back our appointment . I only had a chance to ready a few chapters and would like to read more. We were so happy that we probably literally leapt for joy, any missionary knows sometimes how hard it can be to get an investigator to read. Well really i can't express the joy and happiness that has fallen over me because of brother Lenhart, This is some of the most joy I have felt on my mission second the the baptism of the Meadows.
I know that our heavenly father is preparing people to hear the message of the restored Gospel. To every one who has been warned, to him it is given to warn his neighbor. May we all share the gospel with those we love and who need it in their lives.
Love Elder Judd
Sorry but really that's the way I feel right now here in St.Cloud Florida. I'm really coming to love these people and feel of the importance and urgency of the message we share. I would like to share a little experience that really built my testimony that the lord is preparing people for us to teach.
At the beginning of this week I was really just going through the motions doing things because that was what I was supposed to do as a missionary. Well on Wednesday we were tracting in a little gated community and were having a typical day of rejection and no interest. But we came to a house of a twenty five year old who had just carried in some groceries and put them down when we knocked on his door. We started by telling him we were representatives of Jesus Christ and proceeded to ask him a couple of questions. These ?s sparked his interest and so we started to teach him. He was so astonished by the Book of Mormon and how it was a record of the people here in the Americas. When we offered him a free copy he pretty much took it right out of the hands of my companion Elder Delucchi. He was so excited to have the opportunity to read it. So we left him with third Nephi Eleven and set up a return appointment for Saturday.
Well we gave Tim Lenhart, the guy we taught, and call Friday to remind him of our appointment for Saturday. On Saturday he called back with a not so enthusiastic voice and left a message. In his message he said. I was wondering if we could move back our appointment . I only had a chance to ready a few chapters and would like to read more. We were so happy that we probably literally leapt for joy, any missionary knows sometimes how hard it can be to get an investigator to read. Well really i can't express the joy and happiness that has fallen over me because of brother Lenhart, This is some of the most joy I have felt on my mission second the the baptism of the Meadows.
I know that our heavenly father is preparing people to hear the message of the restored Gospel. To every one who has been warned, to him it is given to warn his neighbor. May we all share the gospel with those we love and who need it in their lives.
Love Elder Judd
Monday, June 1, 2009
June 1, 2009
Well well well,
It sure has been a long and tough week and the lord really is trying my patience in some many different areas. It all reminds me of a quote I was reading yesterday that said, " They never said it would be easy, but they did say it would be worth it." I'm trying harder each day to remember this because sometimes it's tough. We taught so many people this week and had nine lessons with a member present, with zero investigators at church so you might see why I might be a little frustrated.
But this means that I can work harder to love these people and help them understand the blessings of coming to church. So a lot falls on us and how we are going to improve our teaching and charity to help our investigators progress. We've made improvement and I'm very excited our teaching pool is so big, but we have a long ways to go and need to find more of the elect.
Yesterday at church we finally, half way through the year introduced the ward mission plan. It went very well and I'm super excited to see the members get more excited about the work here in St.Cloud. My companion and myself were able to present the family mission plan to help the members on a more personal level to help accomplish the ward mission plan.
Love Elder Judd
It sure has been a long and tough week and the lord really is trying my patience in some many different areas. It all reminds me of a quote I was reading yesterday that said, " They never said it would be easy, but they did say it would be worth it." I'm trying harder each day to remember this because sometimes it's tough. We taught so many people this week and had nine lessons with a member present, with zero investigators at church so you might see why I might be a little frustrated.
But this means that I can work harder to love these people and help them understand the blessings of coming to church. So a lot falls on us and how we are going to improve our teaching and charity to help our investigators progress. We've made improvement and I'm very excited our teaching pool is so big, but we have a long ways to go and need to find more of the elect.
Yesterday at church we finally, half way through the year introduced the ward mission plan. It went very well and I'm super excited to see the members get more excited about the work here in St.Cloud. My companion and myself were able to present the family mission plan to help the members on a more personal level to help accomplish the ward mission plan.
Love Elder Judd
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
May 26, 2009
Hey my family,
Well i guess you might wonder a little bit of why you didn't get the email on Monday. Than you probably remembered it was Memorial day and so the library at which i email home was closed.
Well i'm very excited here, first of all i'd like to thank you dad for the letter you wrote me it really meant a lot to me. Second of all before i forget i would like to get the address for Tommy Semmens, the Gillespies, Clark Wilkey, and Josh laub.
As for the work in St. Cloud i guess you can say our dry spell is over. For a long while there we were really being tested with finding new people to teach. It was so hard because i wasn't so excited to do the work but i knew it needed to be done and so we pressed on. Well now we have been blessed after the trial of our faith. We have so many new investigators. In fact today we have six scheduled appointments with member exchanges for all of them. We are way excited and i'll let you know how it goes.
Two of our investigators made it to church so we were very excited. Burnedet Lorentz and her daughter Jazmin are very awesome. Their understanding is not the greatest but they have so much desire to learn. We are going to teach them today with a baptismal date in mind and we are extremly excited. Next we have Paul Ceballos who is a part member and has already been to church twice but didn't become a investigator until yesterday. He to has a huge desire to know if these things are true and already has a support system with his mother who is a member.
I cannot tell you how much your prayers mean to me. I've truly felt their power in my missionary work.
Love Elder Judd
Well i guess you might wonder a little bit of why you didn't get the email on Monday. Than you probably remembered it was Memorial day and so the library at which i email home was closed.
Well i'm very excited here, first of all i'd like to thank you dad for the letter you wrote me it really meant a lot to me. Second of all before i forget i would like to get the address for Tommy Semmens, the Gillespies, Clark Wilkey, and Josh laub.
As for the work in St. Cloud i guess you can say our dry spell is over. For a long while there we were really being tested with finding new people to teach. It was so hard because i wasn't so excited to do the work but i knew it needed to be done and so we pressed on. Well now we have been blessed after the trial of our faith. We have so many new investigators. In fact today we have six scheduled appointments with member exchanges for all of them. We are way excited and i'll let you know how it goes.
Two of our investigators made it to church so we were very excited. Burnedet Lorentz and her daughter Jazmin are very awesome. Their understanding is not the greatest but they have so much desire to learn. We are going to teach them today with a baptismal date in mind and we are extremly excited. Next we have Paul Ceballos who is a part member and has already been to church twice but didn't become a investigator until yesterday. He to has a huge desire to know if these things are true and already has a support system with his mother who is a member.
I cannot tell you how much your prayers mean to me. I've truly felt their power in my missionary work.
Love Elder Judd
Monday, May 18, 2009
May 18, 2009
Well pday once again,
It's almost like i dread p day now because i know i'm going to have to write about my week and sometimes you just don't feel like it. I know that sounds bad and I'll probably feel bad and start repenting for it. Or not depends on if i want the spirit with me so i guess i won't haha just kidding.
Well for the good stuff now, if you were able to get through the nonsense. This week has been really tough, we've only been able to find one new investigator and tracted like crazy you wouldn't believe. It is getting hotter in St. Cloud but the one nice thing is that it rains about every day, In fact if it stops raining for like a week the people here start praying for rain. At first this was a huge surprise for me, obviously these people have never been out to Utah where it might rain like three times a year.
Anyways more about my week, like i said we've been working extremely hard and have not been able to find very many new investigators but we know this is a trial of our faith and the lord is about to just start blessing us like crazy with baptisms galore i'm so excited. The standard of truth has been erected, no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. So why don't we all grab a hold and heed the words of the prophet and find those searching for the gospel.
Thanks for the prayers, I have truly benefited from them. May god bless all of you my family and friends.
love Elder Judd
It's almost like i dread p day now because i know i'm going to have to write about my week and sometimes you just don't feel like it. I know that sounds bad and I'll probably feel bad and start repenting for it. Or not depends on if i want the spirit with me so i guess i won't haha just kidding.
Well for the good stuff now, if you were able to get through the nonsense. This week has been really tough, we've only been able to find one new investigator and tracted like crazy you wouldn't believe. It is getting hotter in St. Cloud but the one nice thing is that it rains about every day, In fact if it stops raining for like a week the people here start praying for rain. At first this was a huge surprise for me, obviously these people have never been out to Utah where it might rain like three times a year.
Anyways more about my week, like i said we've been working extremely hard and have not been able to find very many new investigators but we know this is a trial of our faith and the lord is about to just start blessing us like crazy with baptisms galore i'm so excited. The standard of truth has been erected, no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. So why don't we all grab a hold and heed the words of the prophet and find those searching for the gospel.
Thanks for the prayers, I have truly benefited from them. May god bless all of you my family and friends.
love Elder Judd
Monday, May 11, 2009
May 11, 2009
Judd Family,
Well this email won't be quite as long just because i was able to talk to you all on Sunday. So for anyone who happens to read my emails outside my family sorry, not that they're very interesting in the first place.
First off I would like to thank all of my family and let them know of how much they truly have helped me. This week for me was a long week and very tough. We did work a lot but i'm afraid a bit of it was in vain for me. I wasn't really keeping the faith and hope that the lord was preparing people for us to teach. I was tracting because that's what missionaries do i guess. But when i was able to call home i was able to feel renergized by the calming voices of my family. I really love the greenie spirit and hope and lost a little of it. So now with reasured hope in my life i'm going to regain that spirit and find those who are being prepared by the lord.
I would also like to let Clark Wilkey, Kevin Steck, and Zac Zabriske know how happy i am for them congratulations.
Love Elder Judd
p.s. Zac oh baby the heat out here is nothin like St. George be ready to sweat.
Well this email won't be quite as long just because i was able to talk to you all on Sunday. So for anyone who happens to read my emails outside my family sorry, not that they're very interesting in the first place.
First off I would like to thank all of my family and let them know of how much they truly have helped me. This week for me was a long week and very tough. We did work a lot but i'm afraid a bit of it was in vain for me. I wasn't really keeping the faith and hope that the lord was preparing people for us to teach. I was tracting because that's what missionaries do i guess. But when i was able to call home i was able to feel renergized by the calming voices of my family. I really love the greenie spirit and hope and lost a little of it. So now with reasured hope in my life i'm going to regain that spirit and find those who are being prepared by the lord.
I would also like to let Clark Wilkey, Kevin Steck, and Zac Zabriske know how happy i am for them congratulations.
Love Elder Judd
p.s. Zac oh baby the heat out here is nothin like St. George be ready to sweat.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
May 5, 2009
Oh my family,
What a good week it has been. I'm so excited for the work that is going on in St. Cloud right now. This week has been very hard and difficult and we've slacked a little. We are going to have to work twice as hard to allow the lord it bless us and consecrate our efforts.
Well we really have worked hard to find new investigators and I guess you would say we have relied enough on the members. We have really turned our focus to the ward members and they are all searching hard. We have been leaving commitments with all of the members and are writing them all down in a book so each week we'll be able to follow up on their goals. This way we will be able to find more people to teach and also help the ward members achieve their goals and get excited about the work.
I'm really excited about the work here but at times it gets very frustrating. Especially when you have so many things to do and that you can do. Pretty soon it can all just get so overwhelming and you can loose focus and I think we might have a little this week. But we are done with the past and are on to the new and upcoming week. We are very excited especially with the members right at our back ready to help and fellowship.
However I am a little disappointed this week because of something that i read. BRENT and RACHEL after everything I can't believe you told Kami Sister Judd before you told me about Tyler walking and talking. Just kidding but i really think that is so sweet, and now that I sent yall pictures you'll have to send me pictures of him walking.
Congratulations to the Ruffin Judd Family. That is so sweet that Liz had her baby and I'm so excited for you all. Thanks for letting me know and sending me pictures i appreciate it. I also really love the name, I believe our family is the best at picking out some of the sweetest names.
Well that pretty much all for me until next week talk to you later, literally talk to you later haha like on the phone yeah.
Love Elder Judd
What a good week it has been. I'm so excited for the work that is going on in St. Cloud right now. This week has been very hard and difficult and we've slacked a little. We are going to have to work twice as hard to allow the lord it bless us and consecrate our efforts.
Well we really have worked hard to find new investigators and I guess you would say we have relied enough on the members. We have really turned our focus to the ward members and they are all searching hard. We have been leaving commitments with all of the members and are writing them all down in a book so each week we'll be able to follow up on their goals. This way we will be able to find more people to teach and also help the ward members achieve their goals and get excited about the work.
I'm really excited about the work here but at times it gets very frustrating. Especially when you have so many things to do and that you can do. Pretty soon it can all just get so overwhelming and you can loose focus and I think we might have a little this week. But we are done with the past and are on to the new and upcoming week. We are very excited especially with the members right at our back ready to help and fellowship.
However I am a little disappointed this week because of something that i read. BRENT and RACHEL after everything I can't believe you told Kami Sister Judd before you told me about Tyler walking and talking. Just kidding but i really think that is so sweet, and now that I sent yall pictures you'll have to send me pictures of him walking.
Congratulations to the Ruffin Judd Family. That is so sweet that Liz had her baby and I'm so excited for you all. Thanks for letting me know and sending me pictures i appreciate it. I also really love the name, I believe our family is the best at picking out some of the sweetest names.
Well that pretty much all for me until next week talk to you later, literally talk to you later haha like on the phone yeah.
Love Elder Judd
Monday, April 27, 2009
April 27, 2009
Family Judd the baker's dozen,
What up my family. I'm so excited to be able to write you this wonderful Monday morning. I've really been spiritually fed this week and hope to really make something of it.
As yall probably know I was able to hear from Elder Foster of the quorum of the seventy this last Saturday. He was very humble and spoke of being a greeny compared to the man he was speaking with. He taught a lot of important things we could do to increase the baptisms here in the FOM. We are really looking forward to the ideas he has given us. We are going to try a lot of them this coming week and see the difference in our work.
But the speaker yall really want to here about is, the one and only, Jeffery R. Holland. Oh what a joy it really was to have a prophet seer and revelator of the lord speak to and share his personal witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. He focused a lot on letting us know how much he loves us. He told us he owes everything he has to us the missionaries of the church. I could really feel the sincerity of the words he spoke. His humble demeanor was unbelievable, I did not expect it especially from him when he usually gives the chastising talk in conference. I really enjoyed listening to him and can't tell you how great of a spirit he truly has.
Anyways back to the week that i had because it was a good one. We were able to find a few new investigators but our numbers are still down a little. For anyone who's been a mission you can relate to what I'm going to say. It is very hard to stay focused on the goals that you set, not really the daily goals but maybe the weekly or monthly goals. But I am working on it and will get better at doing it.
Our investigators are Ransom, who is about sixteen years old, and I met him playing football the first time. The second time we were tracting and tracted his house and taught him. The spirit was strong, I've really been pondering the last week on why it was so strong. I came to the conclusion that it was so strong because he was being prepared. He was truly looking for more he has been looking for something more and we've been able to bring it to him.
Heather is an interesting story and real testimony builder. We were biking and ran into a twelve year old kid named Jeremy Fisher. My companion started teaching him a little and set up an appointment for later that day with his family. I thought this was very strange because usually if you talk to kids you just give them a card but he actually set up an appointment with him. I was thinking that my companion was crazy, but then I thought to myself there has to be some thing else that was no coincidence so we made sure we went there at four o'clock. Well it turns out that we didn't meet Jeremy Fisher at his house, in fact it was not his house at all but we met Heather. Heather is a single parent about twenty five years old and has a friend on a mission. She really has a lot of questions and I know the lord has been preparing her to recieve the restored gospel.
Ashley Gonzales is the last but not least. We met her family tracting and they were very awesome. However they've been really hard to help progress, but their daughter(Ashley) is about thirteen years old and has been once to young womens and came to church yesterday. We are really excited to work with her. She really could be the means by which her family comes into the church so we are very excited to work with her.
St.Cloud's new bishop is amazing and really a big help to us. Bishop Forte is such a strength and very missionary oriented. He's very good and doesn't seem new at all. St.Cloud is really going to explode and I'm so happy I'm going to be a part of it. Well I'd just like to say good bye and also tell you once again to send any letter to the mission home address not the St. Cloud address because I could be transferred at any time and would not receive your letters for a long time so please write to the mission home address.
Love you all Elder Judd
What up my family. I'm so excited to be able to write you this wonderful Monday morning. I've really been spiritually fed this week and hope to really make something of it.
As yall probably know I was able to hear from Elder Foster of the quorum of the seventy this last Saturday. He was very humble and spoke of being a greeny compared to the man he was speaking with. He taught a lot of important things we could do to increase the baptisms here in the FOM. We are really looking forward to the ideas he has given us. We are going to try a lot of them this coming week and see the difference in our work.
But the speaker yall really want to here about is, the one and only, Jeffery R. Holland. Oh what a joy it really was to have a prophet seer and revelator of the lord speak to and share his personal witness of the Savior Jesus Christ. He focused a lot on letting us know how much he loves us. He told us he owes everything he has to us the missionaries of the church. I could really feel the sincerity of the words he spoke. His humble demeanor was unbelievable, I did not expect it especially from him when he usually gives the chastising talk in conference. I really enjoyed listening to him and can't tell you how great of a spirit he truly has.
Anyways back to the week that i had because it was a good one. We were able to find a few new investigators but our numbers are still down a little. For anyone who's been a mission you can relate to what I'm going to say. It is very hard to stay focused on the goals that you set, not really the daily goals but maybe the weekly or monthly goals. But I am working on it and will get better at doing it.
Our investigators are Ransom, who is about sixteen years old, and I met him playing football the first time. The second time we were tracting and tracted his house and taught him. The spirit was strong, I've really been pondering the last week on why it was so strong. I came to the conclusion that it was so strong because he was being prepared. He was truly looking for more he has been looking for something more and we've been able to bring it to him.
Heather is an interesting story and real testimony builder. We were biking and ran into a twelve year old kid named Jeremy Fisher. My companion started teaching him a little and set up an appointment for later that day with his family. I thought this was very strange because usually if you talk to kids you just give them a card but he actually set up an appointment with him. I was thinking that my companion was crazy, but then I thought to myself there has to be some thing else that was no coincidence so we made sure we went there at four o'clock. Well it turns out that we didn't meet Jeremy Fisher at his house, in fact it was not his house at all but we met Heather. Heather is a single parent about twenty five years old and has a friend on a mission. She really has a lot of questions and I know the lord has been preparing her to recieve the restored gospel.
Ashley Gonzales is the last but not least. We met her family tracting and they were very awesome. However they've been really hard to help progress, but their daughter(Ashley) is about thirteen years old and has been once to young womens and came to church yesterday. We are really excited to work with her. She really could be the means by which her family comes into the church so we are very excited to work with her.
St.Cloud's new bishop is amazing and really a big help to us. Bishop Forte is such a strength and very missionary oriented. He's very good and doesn't seem new at all. St.Cloud is really going to explode and I'm so happy I'm going to be a part of it. Well I'd just like to say good bye and also tell you once again to send any letter to the mission home address not the St. Cloud address because I could be transferred at any time and would not receive your letters for a long time so please write to the mission home address.
Love you all Elder Judd
Monday, April 20, 2009
April 20, 2009
Dear Family,
I'm having a stellar time out here in St. Cloud Florida. The members here are super awesome and have such great families. In fact we had a family home evening last night in one of their homes with the Meadows family who were baptized and confirmed yeah. Any ways after the lesson i told jokes with the four little girls they have and we laughed like crazy. In fact one of the girls really had a hard time stopping so i kept trying to make her laugh even more. It was so nice and reminded me a lot of home so i felt just as though i was home.
Like i said though we had three baptisms this Saturday and on Sunday they were all confirmed. This family is really just amazing i'm so very excited for them. They have a lot of desire and becoming what their heavenly father wants them to be. It was really funny because at the interviews for their baptisms they were so nervous to answer one of the questions wrong. In fact while their dad was having his Mitchel turned to me and asked me what else they were going to ask him. I said it's OK and gave him my planner to look over the interview questions so that calmed him down.
Well sorry about not being as good at sending pictures, for any one who knows me you would know that i'm not much of a picture taker so i really don't have a lot but i am sending some that should get to you probably on Saturday if not Monday. Well not much else going on with investigators in fact we probably didn't spend enough time finding this week so we only recieved one new investigator. We are going to focus all our efforts on finding this week.
Well in the middle of no where yesterday at sacrament meeting we received a new bishop Bishop Johnston was replaced by Bishop Forte, I guess our stake is notorious for switching in the middle of no where. i am however very excited because Bishop Forte is very missionary minded and is just very excited to help.
Well i love you all so much and i feel your prayers out here. In fact i've really been strengthened by them this week you don't even know.
Love Elder Judd
I'm having a stellar time out here in St. Cloud Florida. The members here are super awesome and have such great families. In fact we had a family home evening last night in one of their homes with the Meadows family who were baptized and confirmed yeah. Any ways after the lesson i told jokes with the four little girls they have and we laughed like crazy. In fact one of the girls really had a hard time stopping so i kept trying to make her laugh even more. It was so nice and reminded me a lot of home so i felt just as though i was home.
Like i said though we had three baptisms this Saturday and on Sunday they were all confirmed. This family is really just amazing i'm so very excited for them. They have a lot of desire and becoming what their heavenly father wants them to be. It was really funny because at the interviews for their baptisms they were so nervous to answer one of the questions wrong. In fact while their dad was having his Mitchel turned to me and asked me what else they were going to ask him. I said it's OK and gave him my planner to look over the interview questions so that calmed him down.
Well sorry about not being as good at sending pictures, for any one who knows me you would know that i'm not much of a picture taker so i really don't have a lot but i am sending some that should get to you probably on Saturday if not Monday. Well not much else going on with investigators in fact we probably didn't spend enough time finding this week so we only recieved one new investigator. We are going to focus all our efforts on finding this week.
Well in the middle of no where yesterday at sacrament meeting we received a new bishop Bishop Johnston was replaced by Bishop Forte, I guess our stake is notorious for switching in the middle of no where. i am however very excited because Bishop Forte is very missionary minded and is just very excited to help.
Well i love you all so much and i feel your prayers out here. In fact i've really been strengthened by them this week you don't even know.
Love Elder Judd
Sunday, April 12, 2009
April 12, 2009
Dear Family,
This week has been a good one but also had some of its downs. We were supposed to have baptized sister Hines this week but she told us she's not ready to do it. We are helping her still and hope she'll be able to understand the importance of what our message can bring into her life.
The Meadows family is supppppppppppperr awesome. They are all going to be baptized this weekend on the eighteenth of April and we are so excited for them. You can really see the change they have made in their countenance. He gave up coffee like it was nothing and said he never really drank that much either. Oh man I'm so excited for them and so is the St. Cloud ward. In fact they are helping us so much. This really has got them all excited and they are really looking forward to helping us out is much as possible. In fact a lot of them are looking for missionary opportunities and are being blessed with them.
My Easter was amazing but i won't lie after hearing Jeffery R. Holland's talk on the atonement was incomparable. The talks that were given though were very heart felt and you could really feel the spirit so strong. We have been very blessed in St. Cloud and have been able to find eight new investigators this week. They are very cool and have made missionary work all worth it.
I guess by being and staying away from the world you gain a prospective on how unimportant the world really is. You are able to see those who have the gospel and stay away from the world prosper. While those who don't have the gospel and are of the world struggle especially in this economic crisis. I'm very thankful for all the things my mission has really taught me, and look forward to learning even more.
Love Elder Judd
This week has been a good one but also had some of its downs. We were supposed to have baptized sister Hines this week but she told us she's not ready to do it. We are helping her still and hope she'll be able to understand the importance of what our message can bring into her life.
The Meadows family is supppppppppppperr awesome. They are all going to be baptized this weekend on the eighteenth of April and we are so excited for them. You can really see the change they have made in their countenance. He gave up coffee like it was nothing and said he never really drank that much either. Oh man I'm so excited for them and so is the St. Cloud ward. In fact they are helping us so much. This really has got them all excited and they are really looking forward to helping us out is much as possible. In fact a lot of them are looking for missionary opportunities and are being blessed with them.
My Easter was amazing but i won't lie after hearing Jeffery R. Holland's talk on the atonement was incomparable. The talks that were given though were very heart felt and you could really feel the spirit so strong. We have been very blessed in St. Cloud and have been able to find eight new investigators this week. They are very cool and have made missionary work all worth it.
I guess by being and staying away from the world you gain a prospective on how unimportant the world really is. You are able to see those who have the gospel and stay away from the world prosper. While those who don't have the gospel and are of the world struggle especially in this economic crisis. I'm very thankful for all the things my mission has really taught me, and look forward to learning even more.
Love Elder Judd
Monday, April 6, 2009
April 6, 2009
Hey Family,
Well another great week in the mission has just come and gone. It's very interesting how the lord works in mysterious ways. He has sure done a lot of it in the last couple of weeks. Both our baptismal dates are still good. However we might move Micheal Meadows back so that we can baptize his children with him. We can only meet with his children on the weekend because they stay with their mom on the week days.
Well we are also teaching a new investigator. His name is Caesar and has been able to see the difference the gospel makes in a family. He's really longing for something more and he knows he's finding it in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm very excited for him and know he will do great. So far we've had the chance to teach him once and we taught the restoration. He also came to a members home with us on Sunday to watch conference and said he liked it. At first he was a little uncomfortable because he didn't know everyone. But by the time it was time for him to go he really didn't want to leave and in fact he wanted to stay but that's because he could feel the difference.
Well keep praying for me because I need your prayers every day. It's sort of weird but Florida is beginning to look more and more like home. Even though I still miss my family I'm doing a lot better with that feeling of home for me. The members here are awesome and they are part of the reason I feel more at home here. Thanks once again for all the emails and letters you are all way awesome. Dad say hi to all the priest for me, tell them to get into preach my gospel because it will help them the most on a mission.
love your favorite missionary we all know
Elder Judd
Well another great week in the mission has just come and gone. It's very interesting how the lord works in mysterious ways. He has sure done a lot of it in the last couple of weeks. Both our baptismal dates are still good. However we might move Micheal Meadows back so that we can baptize his children with him. We can only meet with his children on the weekend because they stay with their mom on the week days.
Well we are also teaching a new investigator. His name is Caesar and has been able to see the difference the gospel makes in a family. He's really longing for something more and he knows he's finding it in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm very excited for him and know he will do great. So far we've had the chance to teach him once and we taught the restoration. He also came to a members home with us on Sunday to watch conference and said he liked it. At first he was a little uncomfortable because he didn't know everyone. But by the time it was time for him to go he really didn't want to leave and in fact he wanted to stay but that's because he could feel the difference.
Well keep praying for me because I need your prayers every day. It's sort of weird but Florida is beginning to look more and more like home. Even though I still miss my family I'm doing a lot better with that feeling of home for me. The members here are awesome and they are part of the reason I feel more at home here. Thanks once again for all the emails and letters you are all way awesome. Dad say hi to all the priest for me, tell them to get into preach my gospel because it will help them the most on a mission.
love your favorite missionary we all know
Elder Judd
Monday, March 30, 2009
March 30, 2009
Fam,
Wazzzzzzzzz happenin? I just received a new companion this week. His name is Elder Delucchi; I'm not sure but i might have already told you that. He's super awesome and we are doing a lot of good in St. Cloud. Just so yall know I'm doing great and a lot better so don't worry too much about me.
Well first off we have two baptismal dates for the eleventh of April. We are super excited and are going to set two more with the children of Michael Meadows. He is one that we've set a baptismal date with. We are really looking forward to the next couple of weeks out here. There really is so much to do in our area of St. Cloud.
Probably the best news of all is that we are going to have a zone conference next month and none other than elder Jeffery R. Holland is going to preside booyahh. We are soooooooooo lucky wow. In fact I'm super excited for conference to hear our prophet speak to us.
I'm very grateful for all that yall are doing for me and all the blessings I've been receiving.
love Elder Judd
Wazzzzzzzzz happenin? I just received a new companion this week. His name is Elder Delucchi; I'm not sure but i might have already told you that. He's super awesome and we are doing a lot of good in St. Cloud. Just so yall know I'm doing great and a lot better so don't worry too much about me.
Well first off we have two baptismal dates for the eleventh of April. We are super excited and are going to set two more with the children of Michael Meadows. He is one that we've set a baptismal date with. We are really looking forward to the next couple of weeks out here. There really is so much to do in our area of St. Cloud.
Probably the best news of all is that we are going to have a zone conference next month and none other than elder Jeffery R. Holland is going to preside booyahh. We are soooooooooo lucky wow. In fact I'm super excited for conference to hear our prophet speak to us.
I'm very grateful for all that yall are doing for me and all the blessings I've been receiving.
love Elder Judd
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23, 2009
Familly,
First off i would like to say that I'm sad Marci that you did not send me a list of instructions for card for talking. I was really looking forward to playing it on this wonderful fine p-day, but who knows maybe you sent them in the mail because that would be better anyways.
Well hopefully yall don't think i'm just playin on my mission. Oh this is definitely hard work, in fact just today i said good bye to my companion who's going home on Wednesday. In fact i will meet my new companion on Tuesday, his name is Elder Delluchi. I'm way excited to meet him and get out teaching and all.
Well I've had a few sweet experiences this week and a couple from hard day's I'd experienced. This week, as yall who've been on mission can relate with, i had a couple of days where i didn't want to go out and work at all. Shocker i know who wouldn't want to go share this message to the world huh. Well I did go out and work anyways and really was blessed. We had a pretty tough week finding new investigators this week though. People most of the time seem very interested but that's usually where it ends. In fact we'll get done teaching them and ask them when we can come and teach them again and they will say uh just stop by some time when truly they have no desire to learn more.
Well because of this hard week I've been able to learn that doing are Heavenly fathers work is not always going to be fun. In fact some times it's going to be down right hard to get out of the house and start tracting. But when i went to church I saw one the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. Throughout sacrament meeting, which was super spiritual, the speakers spoke on tithing. They told of the blessings that truly come because of paying our tithing. They also hit on the subject a little in Elders quorum. Well to get to the point we have an investigator who's been to church twice and is super excited. We've only had the chance to teach him once without his kids. We only taught him the restoration and really introduced him to the Book of Mormon. After church he came up to me and asked me what the branch number was to put on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HIS TITHING SLIP OH MY GOODNESS
He had engulfed the principle of tithing before we had even taught him about it. We are going to set a date with him on Wednesday and I'm super excited for him. I've never seen something so eternally joyful in my life.
I'm way excited for Michael Meadows, I know he will experience the blessings from paying his tithing and will receive an answer if he has not already. But also Mary lou came to church again and already has a baptismal date for the eleventh of April. She's in 3Nephi right now and has only been reading for three weeks, boy is the work here amazing or what?
This ward is absolutely on fire right now. I'm so stoked because the members are fellowshipping our investigators like crazy. They are also throwing out some many referrals for us to start teaching. I love the work and I'm glad I'm a part of it.
Love Elder Judd
ps hope you had fun in Mesquite and Arizona
First off i would like to say that I'm sad Marci that you did not send me a list of instructions for card for talking. I was really looking forward to playing it on this wonderful fine p-day, but who knows maybe you sent them in the mail because that would be better anyways.
Well hopefully yall don't think i'm just playin on my mission. Oh this is definitely hard work, in fact just today i said good bye to my companion who's going home on Wednesday. In fact i will meet my new companion on Tuesday, his name is Elder Delluchi. I'm way excited to meet him and get out teaching and all.
Well I've had a few sweet experiences this week and a couple from hard day's I'd experienced. This week, as yall who've been on mission can relate with, i had a couple of days where i didn't want to go out and work at all. Shocker i know who wouldn't want to go share this message to the world huh. Well I did go out and work anyways and really was blessed. We had a pretty tough week finding new investigators this week though. People most of the time seem very interested but that's usually where it ends. In fact we'll get done teaching them and ask them when we can come and teach them again and they will say uh just stop by some time when truly they have no desire to learn more.
Well because of this hard week I've been able to learn that doing are Heavenly fathers work is not always going to be fun. In fact some times it's going to be down right hard to get out of the house and start tracting. But when i went to church I saw one the coolest things I've ever seen in my life. Throughout sacrament meeting, which was super spiritual, the speakers spoke on tithing. They told of the blessings that truly come because of paying our tithing. They also hit on the subject a little in Elders quorum. Well to get to the point we have an investigator who's been to church twice and is super excited. We've only had the chance to teach him once without his kids. We only taught him the restoration and really introduced him to the Book of Mormon. After church he came up to me and asked me what the branch number was to put on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HIS TITHING SLIP OH MY GOODNESS
He had engulfed the principle of tithing before we had even taught him about it. We are going to set a date with him on Wednesday and I'm super excited for him. I've never seen something so eternally joyful in my life.
I'm way excited for Michael Meadows, I know he will experience the blessings from paying his tithing and will receive an answer if he has not already. But also Mary lou came to church again and already has a baptismal date for the eleventh of April. She's in 3Nephi right now and has only been reading for three weeks, boy is the work here amazing or what?
This ward is absolutely on fire right now. I'm so stoked because the members are fellowshipping our investigators like crazy. They are also throwing out some many referrals for us to start teaching. I love the work and I'm glad I'm a part of it.
Love Elder Judd
ps hope you had fun in Mesquite and Arizona
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 16, 2009
Judd Fam,
Hey how's everything going, well i guess i already got my answer. I wish I had been able to go through a temple open house, but I guess just going through it is a lot better haha. Well Florida here is just great. One of the most amazing things to me is how people can just really care less about the commitments they make. They really don't care and take all we do for granted.
Anyways I'm really not mad I just think it is pretty funny. We dropped about four of our investigators this week because they are not putting forth the effort to progress. Angela Disney just flat out told us she had got in trouble for talking to us, and told us the please never come back again. We also had Dale who got sick and is also not willing to progress, while we have the Navaros who are on the verge of being dropped.
Put it this way we did a lot of weeding out this week. In fact we had Mary Lou Hines at church this week, remember she's about seventy five years old and read to Alma fourteen after we gave her the book of Mormon. She really has been a joy to work with and we are very excited for her. We are going to set a baptismal date with her on Tuesday. Yes Grandma I love setting baptismal dates in fact I'm doing it quite often.
I really was having a tough week and i couldn't see the fruits of our labor and we really had a lot of fall out. But just as i had said the lord works in Mysterious ways and that's a fact. We were walking home one day from about two hours of contacting and a lady stopped us and bought us a drink. We talked to her and asked if we could come share our message with her. She agreed and so we are going to see her on Tuesday.
Also another blessing came from a member who saw that we really were working hard. He said he had been given a referral from a lady in Orlando. In fact is was a guy who said he wanted to visit her church so she gave him the address to the chapel and told our member about him. So he went over got in contact with the guy and committed him to listen to the missionary lessons. We didn't see them until Sunday at church but they are super excited to learn. I was able to teach gospel principles class and he was just soaking it all in. In fact we are going to teach them tonight. I'm super excited and know they are just going to love the restoration.
Thanks my family for all that you do and for all of the letters that just make my day. Love you all so much. And dad get better.
Love Elder Judd
ps who is still working out every morning watch out!!!!!
Hey how's everything going, well i guess i already got my answer. I wish I had been able to go through a temple open house, but I guess just going through it is a lot better haha. Well Florida here is just great. One of the most amazing things to me is how people can just really care less about the commitments they make. They really don't care and take all we do for granted.
Anyways I'm really not mad I just think it is pretty funny. We dropped about four of our investigators this week because they are not putting forth the effort to progress. Angela Disney just flat out told us she had got in trouble for talking to us, and told us the please never come back again. We also had Dale who got sick and is also not willing to progress, while we have the Navaros who are on the verge of being dropped.
Put it this way we did a lot of weeding out this week. In fact we had Mary Lou Hines at church this week, remember she's about seventy five years old and read to Alma fourteen after we gave her the book of Mormon. She really has been a joy to work with and we are very excited for her. We are going to set a baptismal date with her on Tuesday. Yes Grandma I love setting baptismal dates in fact I'm doing it quite often.
I really was having a tough week and i couldn't see the fruits of our labor and we really had a lot of fall out. But just as i had said the lord works in Mysterious ways and that's a fact. We were walking home one day from about two hours of contacting and a lady stopped us and bought us a drink. We talked to her and asked if we could come share our message with her. She agreed and so we are going to see her on Tuesday.
Also another blessing came from a member who saw that we really were working hard. He said he had been given a referral from a lady in Orlando. In fact is was a guy who said he wanted to visit her church so she gave him the address to the chapel and told our member about him. So he went over got in contact with the guy and committed him to listen to the missionary lessons. We didn't see them until Sunday at church but they are super excited to learn. I was able to teach gospel principles class and he was just soaking it all in. In fact we are going to teach them tonight. I'm super excited and know they are just going to love the restoration.
Thanks my family for all that you do and for all of the letters that just make my day. Love you all so much. And dad get better.
Love Elder Judd
ps who is still working out every morning watch out!!!!!
Monday, March 9, 2009
March 9, 2009
Dear Marcilee,
I understand your frustration in fact i had a little bit of my own this last week. You see we had eight solid commitments to church, or so we thought. In fact we had six new investigators and all the people we taught seemed to be accepting the message very well. On Sunday however we had no investigators show up to church, and because of that we will now have to reset our three baptismal dates with Cameron Blanco, his sister Madison, and Dale Buster. You can just tell dad that I'm not happy I'm not getting any email from him. Y'all expect letters and emails with out writing hahahaha, if only if only that's how it worked out.
Well I've had one busy week this past week. We taught a lot of lesson and found six new investigators. They are all way sweet first there is Cameron and Madison. They are relatives to some less active members who have a daughter who is not baptized either. They will come to church if the less active member family does. Henceforth they've been tough but are coming around and their daughter, Ashley really wants to be baptized also.
Second is Dale, who is a potential investigator from about a year ago. We went through them and decided to go to his house. He was really receptive. In fact the second time we taught him he was waiting right by his door for us. He's very nice and we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ as outlined in preach my gospel. He's scared of coming to church so we really have to work on it and teach him the importance. He had a baptismal date but since he didn't come to church we will have to reset it.
Third Mary Lou Hines, she is an eighty year old who is very nice and receptive to the message we share. She needs to come to church but she's reading. We will commit her to baptism this week.
Fourth we have Angela, who's about thirty years old and believe it or not prayed us there in a way. We were out in the middle of nowhere just tracting and found her. She said that she needed a bible and told us her mom was a ladder day saint. She said she had be looking for the church but couldn't find it. We haven't been able to teach her again but when we do we are going to commit her to baptism.
Fifth on our list would have to be Sandr. We just found Sandra painting and had made many stops but never convenient so we were about to give up and drop her. But we didn't and our first lesson with her was on an exchange. She was very receptive to the message and is reading the Book of Mormon. She is also going to set a baptismal date with us for herself in the coming week.
Sixth, oh y'all thought i was done huh. Ha ha Devin who is about seventeen is very interesting and really loves to learn and wants to learn more. We also have goals of setting a baptismal date this week with him. We also saw Brandon Barber at church again two weeks ago and are still trying to teach him but he will be a gradual process.
Well as you can see I'm really busy out here and I'm working very hard. I'm very excited for the coming week in which we have over ten appointments scheduled throughout the week. y'all just wait and see I'll be setting dates and baptizing the heck literally the heck out of St. Cloud forgive my language, love y'all.
Love, Elder Judd
I understand your frustration in fact i had a little bit of my own this last week. You see we had eight solid commitments to church, or so we thought. In fact we had six new investigators and all the people we taught seemed to be accepting the message very well. On Sunday however we had no investigators show up to church, and because of that we will now have to reset our three baptismal dates with Cameron Blanco, his sister Madison, and Dale Buster. You can just tell dad that I'm not happy I'm not getting any email from him. Y'all expect letters and emails with out writing hahahaha, if only if only that's how it worked out.
Well I've had one busy week this past week. We taught a lot of lesson and found six new investigators. They are all way sweet first there is Cameron and Madison. They are relatives to some less active members who have a daughter who is not baptized either. They will come to church if the less active member family does. Henceforth they've been tough but are coming around and their daughter, Ashley really wants to be baptized also.
Second is Dale, who is a potential investigator from about a year ago. We went through them and decided to go to his house. He was really receptive. In fact the second time we taught him he was waiting right by his door for us. He's very nice and we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ as outlined in preach my gospel. He's scared of coming to church so we really have to work on it and teach him the importance. He had a baptismal date but since he didn't come to church we will have to reset it.
Third Mary Lou Hines, she is an eighty year old who is very nice and receptive to the message we share. She needs to come to church but she's reading. We will commit her to baptism this week.
Fourth we have Angela, who's about thirty years old and believe it or not prayed us there in a way. We were out in the middle of nowhere just tracting and found her. She said that she needed a bible and told us her mom was a ladder day saint. She said she had be looking for the church but couldn't find it. We haven't been able to teach her again but when we do we are going to commit her to baptism.
Fifth on our list would have to be Sandr. We just found Sandra painting and had made many stops but never convenient so we were about to give up and drop her. But we didn't and our first lesson with her was on an exchange. She was very receptive to the message and is reading the Book of Mormon. She is also going to set a baptismal date with us for herself in the coming week.
Sixth, oh y'all thought i was done huh. Ha ha Devin who is about seventeen is very interesting and really loves to learn and wants to learn more. We also have goals of setting a baptismal date this week with him. We also saw Brandon Barber at church again two weeks ago and are still trying to teach him but he will be a gradual process.
Well as you can see I'm really busy out here and I'm working very hard. I'm very excited for the coming week in which we have over ten appointments scheduled throughout the week. y'all just wait and see I'll be setting dates and baptizing the heck literally the heck out of St. Cloud forgive my language, love y'all.
Love, Elder Judd
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
March 3, 2009
Sister Jenny,
Well you be the lucky one because I'm going to write you the email and you'll have to be the one to forward it to every one else because dad didn't send me an email this week.
Well the mission has been getting a lot better as each day goes by, and really, as Ruffin and Brent know, you only remember the good times you have and not the bad i think that's why every one comes home and says i wish i could be back on my mission.
The members out here have been really great to us and feed us every day. Funny thing about how we got to eat all those interesting types of food.
Berris our top investigator is doing well and is scheduled to get baptized this week. He didn't come to church this week because he felt bad that he only had sneakers and jeans and felt he wasn't showing enough respect wearing them. i was so glad that he said that was his big problem cause we thought it might be something worse. Anyways today were taking over nice Sunday clothes for him so all will be well.
Analia and Ricardo did come to church though and we were able to teach Ricardo and he's doing awesome. Analia hasn't come to the second hour yet but is showing her desire to learn by coming to church each week i'm very excited for her.
We got a new elder this week to take the place of Elder Bakker his name is Elder Smith and he rocks the piano, he's really amazing. He's way cool and is from Pleasant grove so we are way excited mom.
Ruffin i was glad to get your email and when i read over the last part where you put uncle Verle i thought i sound old it was really funny. I said i don't think that's me I'm not an uncle but i guess i am. I hope your deal on the house will go through there are so many houses for sale here and nothing happening with them, it's definitely not a sellers market right now.
Jenny about face book i gave you more information in the letter i sent you so don't worry about it. I got the Valentines you sent me and I really enjoyed it. In fact I've been eating a lot of candy lately which really isn't good. I just keep gaining weight and can't keep any off but who cares it's not like I'm trying to impress anyone out here haha.
Love Elder Judd
Well you be the lucky one because I'm going to write you the email and you'll have to be the one to forward it to every one else because dad didn't send me an email this week.
Well the mission has been getting a lot better as each day goes by, and really, as Ruffin and Brent know, you only remember the good times you have and not the bad i think that's why every one comes home and says i wish i could be back on my mission.
The members out here have been really great to us and feed us every day. Funny thing about how we got to eat all those interesting types of food.
Berris our top investigator is doing well and is scheduled to get baptized this week. He didn't come to church this week because he felt bad that he only had sneakers and jeans and felt he wasn't showing enough respect wearing them. i was so glad that he said that was his big problem cause we thought it might be something worse. Anyways today were taking over nice Sunday clothes for him so all will be well.
Analia and Ricardo did come to church though and we were able to teach Ricardo and he's doing awesome. Analia hasn't come to the second hour yet but is showing her desire to learn by coming to church each week i'm very excited for her.
We got a new elder this week to take the place of Elder Bakker his name is Elder Smith and he rocks the piano, he's really amazing. He's way cool and is from Pleasant grove so we are way excited mom.
Ruffin i was glad to get your email and when i read over the last part where you put uncle Verle i thought i sound old it was really funny. I said i don't think that's me I'm not an uncle but i guess i am. I hope your deal on the house will go through there are so many houses for sale here and nothing happening with them, it's definitely not a sellers market right now.
Jenny about face book i gave you more information in the letter i sent you so don't worry about it. I got the Valentines you sent me and I really enjoyed it. In fact I've been eating a lot of candy lately which really isn't good. I just keep gaining weight and can't keep any off but who cares it's not like I'm trying to impress anyone out here haha.
Love Elder Judd
Thursday, January 15, 2009
January 15, 2009
I just received a letter from Verle in the mail, and thought that I would share it with you all, because it was so sweet. I keep thinking of Verle as a little boy and young and a bit immature, but I can tell that he learning a lot through his service out there, and I am humbled to be a part of it. Here it is, in his own writing/language:
[Dear Sean and Marci,
Thanks very much for your letters they really mean a lot to me. As you know Sean they can brighten your day out here. I would be lying if I said it was easy out here. I've been deeply humbled. Just when I think I'm doing good, and maybe get a little prideful it hits me like a load of bricks. Oh man I didn't know there was so much to learn out on a mission. I thought they called us greenies just because we were new. They call us greenies, because we really don't know anything yet. I'm very blessed though. My companion is amazing. Elder Crystal is a hard worker and leads by example. I never really appreciated Sundays enough though. Out here Sunday is the best day of the week because it is a rejuvenation. We've been truly blessed out here though. My first area, St. Cloud, we were white-washed but got seven new investigators the first week and nine new investigators the second. The people here are awesome, and just so you know the weather here is like St. Gerge in the beginning of September and that's as cold as it gets.
We taught a new investigator in the church on Sunday, his name is Brandon and one of the members brought him. He is solid and actually called the members to let him know he wanted to go to church with them. We were able to teach him the first lesson because we still don't have a gospel principals class set up, it was amazing. As for the good part Sean, you would not be doing good out here. You would be so sick because every member who we visit wants to feed us a lot. My first Sunday was fast Sunday. We ate dinner at the Clarks, and they fed us potatoes, ribs, beans, and carrots. then we had this Perubean type of salad that had a little sour taste and a couple of little jalapenos. Also within this salad we had baby shark, that's right baby shark. Tonight we had fried bananas, amazing rice, way good meat, and eggs. We do a lot of contacting at a place known as the lake front. So far we've been fed twice. First by a J-Dub (Jehovah Witness), who was way nice. She cooked an amazing Brazilian meat for us, oh my goodness. It was awesome. Then we had a Pentecostal family feed us a couple of hot dogs. Oh, they were good.
I don't know about you and your mission Sean but it is hard to teach the importance of preisthood authority. Especially when a lot of the people are really illiterate and not very smart. We have to really focus on teaching to their understanding.
Love Elder Judd
See yall in two years - good luck with little Sean]
[Dear Sean and Marci,
Thanks very much for your letters they really mean a lot to me. As you know Sean they can brighten your day out here. I would be lying if I said it was easy out here. I've been deeply humbled. Just when I think I'm doing good, and maybe get a little prideful it hits me like a load of bricks. Oh man I didn't know there was so much to learn out on a mission. I thought they called us greenies just because we were new. They call us greenies, because we really don't know anything yet. I'm very blessed though. My companion is amazing. Elder Crystal is a hard worker and leads by example. I never really appreciated Sundays enough though. Out here Sunday is the best day of the week because it is a rejuvenation. We've been truly blessed out here though. My first area, St. Cloud, we were white-washed but got seven new investigators the first week and nine new investigators the second. The people here are awesome, and just so you know the weather here is like St. Gerge in the beginning of September and that's as cold as it gets.
We taught a new investigator in the church on Sunday, his name is Brandon and one of the members brought him. He is solid and actually called the members to let him know he wanted to go to church with them. We were able to teach him the first lesson because we still don't have a gospel principals class set up, it was amazing. As for the good part Sean, you would not be doing good out here. You would be so sick because every member who we visit wants to feed us a lot. My first Sunday was fast Sunday. We ate dinner at the Clarks, and they fed us potatoes, ribs, beans, and carrots. then we had this Perubean type of salad that had a little sour taste and a couple of little jalapenos. Also within this salad we had baby shark, that's right baby shark. Tonight we had fried bananas, amazing rice, way good meat, and eggs. We do a lot of contacting at a place known as the lake front. So far we've been fed twice. First by a J-Dub (Jehovah Witness), who was way nice. She cooked an amazing Brazilian meat for us, oh my goodness. It was awesome. Then we had a Pentecostal family feed us a couple of hot dogs. Oh, they were good.
I don't know about you and your mission Sean but it is hard to teach the importance of preisthood authority. Especially when a lot of the people are really illiterate and not very smart. We have to really focus on teaching to their understanding.
Love Elder Judd
See yall in two years - good luck with little Sean]
Monday, January 12, 2009
Verle's new address
Verle left the MTC on the 29th of December and flew out to his mission in Orlando, Florida. I just received an email this morning from him, giving me his new address and such. I will post any email forwards and updates from other family members here on this blog. We are hoping this may be a keepsake for him to print off or enjoy looking back through memories anyway when he gets home. If you have received any news, stories, interesting facts from Verle while he is out, please send them my way at marcipants@gmail.com and we'll get them posted to the blog for Elder Judd. I know he is grateful and expresses his thanks often to all of his friends and family members for their support. So, thanks!
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