Monday, September 23, 2013

and He did know the thoughts of their hearts



Hey. Hola. Hi.

I'm in love with the seasons. Fall is glorious. I love the crisp air and the yellow leaves and the boots and sweaters. I'm constantly shocked by how fast time flies. I distinctly remember typing out, "i love spring!" and then "i love summer." and by golly it is definitely fall here in Chee-town. And yes, we can all quietly admit that I'm coming upon my one year mark. But just quietly, because it is weird for me. I can't even believe it. I can't wrap my brain around this past year and all that has changed in myself. I went back through my emails to see what I first wrote about being a missionary and I know I'm so different from that Hermana Judd of yesteryear. I know a lot more. I'm more kind, and my heart is sooooo much deeper in the work. 

I've had a lot of thoughts this week and now I'm just stumped on what to say. We had interviews with President and Sister Mullen. Sister Mullen and I had a good conversation about becoming more personal with the Lord and she even called me later on in the week so we could talk more about it. When I sometimes feel pangs of sadness or jealousy that I am not serving in Othello or Royal City where hispanics are just abounding, I have to count the blessings I do have. And top of the list are the Mullens. They will forever be dear to me and I know I'll be dear to them. They were absolutely supposed to be my mission parents. And that's probably number one why I stayed. And I'm ok with that. I'll admit to you that this is probably one of the greatest trials of my mission and I'm continuously working through it. I know I'm supposed to be here. There is a great work for me to do. But I'm still a human. I'm still a little selfish and I sometimes wish Heavenly Father would just do it the way I want it done. But that sounds a lot like pride. And I'm learning more and more about humility the more I seek His will and love. 

I am happy to be here. I really, really am. I'm grateful the Lord really does know better than I do. His way is right, and it's best.He doesn't put us through trials because He wants to see us suffer but because He knows there is a greater happiness that can come as we turn to Him. I have loved every bit of serving here in Cheney and underneath the Mullens on my gratitude list is about a billion more people and experiences like the Taits, McCombies, Holloways, Anthony, Joel, Leslie, serving in the YSA, serving on a college campus, etc. I could go on for weeks. I love every bit of my mission. I do. 

Cheney is coming alive. It's so great. When I first got here, school was just letting out and we met a ton of people who were all leaving for Summer and guess what?? Now they are back! So we called a ton of people to set up appointments and a lot of them were still surprisingly interested. Que genial!

Also, really funny! So you remember Cameron? Great guy just super nervous to commit. Well, he wasn't interested and hewas kind of avoiding us for a while but we would run into him on campus and he was always embarrassed or like panicked for words and then last transfer one day, Sister Gardiner and I were praying in the car and I opened my eyes and there was Cameron walking down the street so I just quickly closed the prayer and hopped out of the car to stop him. Haha. We set up an appointment with him but he was a no-show. WELL that was like a month ago and then on Saturday we went to visit Vilma and Ernesto, our sweethearts from Honduras. They are like our besties now and they invited us over to eat some bread that Vilma made and in precisely the right moment (because God is SO good and always orchestrates things the way He wants to) we decided to stop by and thank them for the bread and as we were walking to their door we see a boy and girl in the parking lot, kissing. No big deal, this is a college town. We had a suspicion that it was Cheri (another girl from Honduras just staying with Vilma and Ernesto) but we didn't think much of it. So anyway, we are sitting at their table when Cheri walks in. I was just thinking to myself, "Oh it was Cheri outsi-CAMERON!" And then he walks in. His eyes are wide. "Sister Judd??" He was SO embarrassed. SO panicked. SO 'at a loss' for words. It was like maybe the funniest moment of my life. I told him it was NOT a coincidence because we didn't even know that he knew Cheri or that he would even know OUR Hondurian friends. All I can say is that this is God's work and if He wants to find you then He'll find you. I may not know a lot but I know I'm just His little hands working in Cheney. Needless to say, we have an appointment with him this Wednesday and I think he knows it would be foolish to try and dodge us again. SO funny.

One of our members, Virginia, started dating this boy, Chris, who is perfect and soon becoming my favorite person ever. Hehas a good Christian background but he is SO open to learning more. We took him on a church tour and already he's reading the Book of Mormon everyday and he came to church yesterday and oh, he is so great! I think he already knows it is true buthe is just waiting to learn more. He asks good questions and he is just so nice. Bishop Tait came on our church tour with us and afterwards, Sister Tait looked at us and said, "Chris reminds me of Bishop when he was learning about the church." umm. YAY?!

Also, Anthony is great. Came to church again yesterday. He has a lot of ideas about lots of things but I can always carry my own with him. At the end of the day, the Spirit has the final word and Anthony really does know it is all true. I can't tell you how many times he has born his testimony to us that "this is the restored gospel." "I know the Book of mormon is absolutely true." etc. It's pretty awesome. We changed his baptism to October 12th because it worked out better.

We made some Mexican meatballs with Maria this week and so already we are doing more Spanish work than we have in the past. Ok, so maybe all our Spanish work involves making and eating food but that is a step forward :)

Love you all!

Hermana Judd

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