March 29, 2010

Hello Friends and family,

Another week has come and gone and it's going by fast. This week has been great for me and i've really been able to feeling the healing power of Christ atonement in me life.

I've always have been a pretty prideful person which i'm not really proud of. I know that Satan has used this against me alot too. But this week i was feeling as though I was all alone like i was engulfed in darkness. This was the worst I've ever felt in my life and it was very unpleasent. That pride within me has always made me feel as though more was expected of me and that i couldn't repent or maybe that i was to good to repent but whatever it was it held me back from completely humbling myself before the lord.

But everything else had failed me. Fear of god had failed me Duty to god had failed me, every last thing had failed me untill i found the love of god. Untill i completely humbled myself before the lord and asked for his forgiveness and help to overcome. Than i knew than i felt his love that love that never faileth. I testify to the world that god lives Jesus is the Christ his beloved son. I know that only through him can we overcome satan. I know this is his church and that his atonement is real. If you are reading this i would tell you to not kid yourself if you think you can do this alone you are sorely mistaken you could never do this alone. Call upon him and he will heal you. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love Elder Judd

March 22, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Another week has come and gone and i seriously mean come and gone the weeks just seem to fly by now. In fact i just found out today from another missionary that I've been our for over fifteen months and for some reason i still don't believe it I think I'm still at about 14 months but who knows and who cares.

Any how the work is going great, however i wouldn't say that i was completely thrilled about the way i worked this week. I did work hard but there were a couple of times when I could have worked a little harder but now i know what i can work on and how i can overcome some the big problems i have so that might really lighten the load that i have.

Well even though i didn't have my best week ever the fruits were their Betsy Manncini her husband and two children all came to church this last Sunday. I almost jumped my feet off the ground when I saw them but i held it all inside except for the huge ridiculous smile on my face that i don't think anyone could have missed. We just found Betsy tracting which is really cool because i'm really not that good at tracting, I do it cuz i know the lord blesses me for it but like i said i'm not good at it. In fact i have not baptized anyone on my mission that i have found from tracting so hopefully this will be a first.

Well as for Florida it really is becoming Florida again or were here again at sweat season as it's commonly referred to. For anyone who is familiar with Florida you only have two seasons winter and SSSSSSSSSSUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR.

seriously that's how long it is last year summer didn't end until after Halloween it was not fun but we still would find ways to enjoy it. Well i love my mission and i love you all and i hope that you all will have an amazingly blessed day, but it will only happen if you make it that way.

LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE ELDER JUDD

March 15, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it is still really nice in Florida but it's getting ever closer to sweat season, and you'll never quite understand what I'm talking about unless you have or you will have visited Florida. We got a lot of rain this last week with a couple of tornado warnings but don't worry we get them quite often and nothing really happens, it's sort of like when Florida gets a warning for snow of Las Vegas gets a warning for snow hahaha.

Well everything in Florida has been great and I must tell you of one of the tender mercies that happened to me this week. Well there are two families we have been trying to start teaching and finally were able to get them all together to teach them. The first family is the Badarnis AJ and Courtney, AJ is not a member but has a Muslim background. Courtney his wife is a less active member and they have been attending church for the last several weeks. However when they come they only come for Sacrament meeting and then they split. AJ has been taught before and is open to the church and that's really why he's been attending. Now the other family is also a very interesting situation. The Dewberrys, Angela and Justin, are both great people however Angela has been less active and Justin is excommunicated. They have one daughter who is three years old named Ava, and the Badarnis have three children all under the age of four.

part 2 THE LESSON. Well we set a dinner and lesson with them for this Thursday, and the dinner was great. The end.

jk but really the food was good. We had spaghetti which believe it or not i haven't had for a long time. Any how after the dinner we started the lesson only Justin was trying to be sly and get out of the lesson which he pretty much did. He acted like he needed to take care of the children. Well we started teaching Angela and the Badarnis and boy that's when is all broke loose ?'s galore and really random questions and things that really don't matter. For any of you who have been missionaries you have probably had one of these lessons before you know the ones you dread. Well it's a very good thing that i didn't know how it was going to be because otherwise i don't know if I'd have gone over just kidding but seriously!!!!!!

Any way we found out pretty quick that AJ and Courtney were not truly that interested. We told them that we really don't have all the answers but that they could ask god for themselves. Courtney replied and said i hate that answer, apparently she didn't want to ask god anything, that's why people don't know the church is true because they won't ask. Any how we found out really quick that the Badarnis were not interested and that our lesson was for Angela. Now Angela also had some tough questions to especially when we talked about Adam and Eve oh bad idea.

Now for the good part the reason we were over there and the tender mercy that took place. She started telling us about how she didn't feel she was receiving answers to her prayers and every since she was about sixteen she'd ask and never felt that she had received an answer. Well i promised her that is she would get down on her knees that night she would receive an answer and she would know. She was surprised a little when I said this and was like are you sure and kept saying I'll receive an answer tonight right. It was sweet we were also able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and how if it's true then the church is true. But the end of the lesson was the part that really got me and her. I felt prompted to let her know that I was here for her, that I had come to the Clermont Area for her, and we both started crying and she left the room for a couple of minutes. At that time it was really late and we were out later than we were supposed to be so we closed with a prayer and left. That night she read the book of Mormon for two hours.

Love Elder Judd

ps I called the next day; she got an answer

March 8, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

What a great week it has been for me and Elder Hunt and really what a faith builder. This week we had three people a church and church has been one of the tough things for us lately but i guess it all was just a trial of our faith.

Issaih and Isabella Rojas came to church they are nine and eleven years old and come with their grandparents usually. We are going to be teaching them this week and hopefully be challenging them for baptism, well actually challenging their mom to let them be baptized because they already want to be. We are just hoping that their mother will let them make that descion in their life.

AJ Badarni was the other person who came to church this last week, he is a partmember family and his wife is the member. She's been on and off active for pretty much her whole life but they've been coming a lot lately only to sacrement meeting though. He actually has a muslim background but he's not to tied down to it it was more just his father who was who has long since passed away. He'll be moving in about five months to Oregon where he got a job i'm so glad he did because it was an answer to his prayers.

As you can see we've really been blessed down here in Florida and i've seen many miracles in my life here. I know god lives and Jesus is the Christ the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

Love Elder Judd

p.s. We went to a Gladyss knight concert last night........... I mean fireside. No she didn't sing midnight train, but it was sweet the choir she sang with was so cool. Just think completely southern baptist black quoir and than you might be able to imagine it a little bit.

March 1, 2010

Dear Family and Friends,
What a blessed week, however I must say it had some tough parts but the results were totally worth all of it.
I don't think I've ever had so many appointments cancel on me in my whole entire mission. Day after day we would get phone calls of people canceling their appointments and that can be hard. However we had a great hope that the lord was going to bless us so we just kept working harder.
By the way I got a new companion Elder Hunt from Lehi Utah just like Elder Mansfield. Elder Hunt is a good missionary and relaxed which I do enjoy because sometimes i can overwhelm myself with all of the things we have to do. Last night we were crazy busy trying to fill out our stake correlation reports and week ending reports and so it was a little crazy.
FINALLY Bridget Rojas came to church and when i say finally I don't mean it in a mad was but in a very grateful way. Finally after all the excuses I really think she sort of ran out of them hahaha. Just kidding, it was great though because it was fast and testimony meeting and the power of the testimonies was seriously almost overwhelming. Ilove It. Her daughter Isabella also came to church again for like the seventh time. We hope to be able to set a baptismal date with her soon here so she can get progressing towards that day.
Well on Sunday we had an amazing fireside on the life of jesus Christ that I headed up. It was a lot of fun to do and it gave us some more opportunity to get more involved with the members and get them all excited about missionary work. Well this last week we had three of our speakers President Darrington, Bishop Wilson, and Bishop Jackson all cancel on us oh boy that was fun. But the best part about it was that the backup speakers did amazing and probably even better than our original speakers that was a huge blessing.
I thank you all for your prayers I truly have seen the miracles of god out here and I will never forget how merciful he really is.
Love Elder Judd