I seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God

Welp loves,

It's so great to be a missionary. I pray that the time will just slow down a bit. This is a moment of my life. A season of happiness. And there will be a thousand more different seasons of happiness but I just want this one to stay a little longer.

Elder Neil L. Anderson came on Saturday. He was so kind and so funny! It was just a treat to hear from him and shake his hand. He took the microphone and walked among us in the chapel. He was so personable and his message was so perfect. About the mercy and merits and grace of Christ. He just had really great insights. Elder Paul D. M. Christensen of the Seventy came and spoke to us too. He shared this neat story about monks in Uganda. The church is true!

But probably the highlight of the experience of having an apostle come was actually moments before he arrived. He asked to take a picture with us and so we all lined up (it was quite the feat because we have SO many missionaries) and then after we were situated for the picture President Mullen suggested that we sing some hymns while we waited for him to arrive. We started with "We thank thee o God for a prophet." I have never felt the spirit so strongly or profoundly in my life. We were like the armies of Helaman. I just felt to happy to be a missionary, to be singing praises to my Heavenly King.

Oh, our trio ended on Tuesday. A Temple Square sister came in and so she was Sister Gifford's temporary companion for the week. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted. But it was good too because it's nice to focus on the Spanish work. Sister Walton and I are grateful we're staying together because no one loves our area the way we do. It's special to me. I've spent most of my mission hidden in the folds of Cheney and out in West stake. I love this place. I love these people. And I just—I know the heart of this area. I hope I can stay here for the rest of my mission.

I "fear busted" (when new missionaries go out knocking on doors for the first time) a little fire cracker this morning. Sister Gosdis. I am already obsessed with her. She's 23 and a convert from Salt Lake. She is incredible. So humble, so in tune with the spirit. She gave me a boost. But at the same time I just want to steal her moment and let it be mine again. You are only a new missionary once. Can I say it one more time? My mission means everything to me.

 

We are starting a Book of Mormon challenge this week. We will read the whole book, cover to cover in the next six weeks. That's about 14 pages a day. Y'all in? I promise you that as you read it, you'll feel an increased measure of the spirit. I'm so excited. It's my favorite book. I want to read it all my life.
 

Juan and Ramon are doing great. Ramon is so close to baptism. He just knows it is true. I think we'll see a miracle with him this week. They are such good, humble young men. I am so grateful to teach them.
 

In the Manito ward we took this guy, Tom, on a church tour. He has been prepared all his life. He has always wanted to know about the LDS faith. One of his best friends from high school was a member. And he has always felt compelled to learn more. He read us this statement he typed out, “I am very serious about joining your church”.Incredible! I mean like he is a well-to-do business man and he wants to join the church. He feels the spirit. He loves it. In his closing prayer he said, “help me find the way.” Oh, so sweet!
 

Well, so much happened this week. This email was all over the place, sorry! MLC was perfect, per usual. LOTS of snow. I'm happy and loving life.

I love this gospel. I just love my Savior.

 

Love,

Hermana Judd

If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me

Hey all you people!

We went fear busting this morning and then we have an appointment at 5:15 tonight and we have not even gone shopping yet so I've got zero time so this email will probably be lame. So sorry!

I'm staying in South Hill/West Stake with Sister Walton. This last transfer flew by, didn't it? I can hardly believe that today is another transfer. And it's the Christmas transfer. You already know how much I love mission Christmastime! 

We had a good week. We are finally meeting people that speak Spanish! And yesterday we had a feeling to stop by some members from an English ward who we thought were probably out of town but we went anyway. They had literally just gotten home! And they were the cutest young married couple ever. The husband served in Chile and he is just so missionary minded. AND he just helped his upstairs neighbor move in and guess where she is from?? ARGENTINA! A Spanish speaker! 

A few weeks back the stake had a returned missionary meeting to reemphasize Elder Ballard's invitation from conference:

"We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior."

I'm so impressed with how all our members are SO willing to help. I probably love visiting members the most. I mean I LOVE teaching people the gospel, but being in the homes of our sweet members fills me with true joy. 

We are finding a family this week. A family of four that is getting baptized in December. We prayed and prayed and continue to pray and we both feel it. I'm excited. The Lord is good.

In other news, Porche is getting baptized on Saturday. Porche from Cheney. YAY! She wrote me a sweet little letter telling me how grateful she was for all I did. I am filled with joy.

Thanksgiving was great. We had a traditional dinner with President Condon and then we stopped by the Rodriguez and had pork tacos. I love the Rodriguez so much. It always feels like McAllen in their home. And they are actually from Texas, so that is probably why. Lots of happiness around here. We are very happy to stay for Christmas. Miracles are so on their way. 

And so is the snow! Freezing!

Love ya!

Hermana Judd

and it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness!

To my favorite people ever!

I am staying in Spokane Valley and so is Sister Sanchez! I knew we would. We just had to. And neither of us had a feeling that we were leaving. I knew when I was leaving Moses Lake that's why I was more surprised when I stayed-but alas, eventually I did leave. I know I keep referring to this but it was our transfer theme and I really feel like the Lord was so, so great to us. We're just two little chiquitas working our tails off and the Lord blessed us with miracles! 

yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

We had nothing happening at the start of the transfer and just this week we have 3 people on-date for baptism and we are working with so many wonderful, wonderful people. It was miracle week for sure. And the miracles will continue to happen, I'm sure! I'm super glad I'm staying here. We are really earning the trust of our members in both the ward and branch. Oh, I love the members in the ward. There is a young family, the Nielsens, who are just the BEST. There is always a family in each area that you just looooove. Like how Jake loved Elder Davis. The Nielsens love us! And we love them! They have two cute little girls, Brother Nielsen is in law school at Gonzaga and Sister Nielsen is super adorable. And this week Brother Nielsen asked three of his friends to start taking the missionary lessons. How cool is that?! I am constantly surprised by how great and willing the members are to share their testimonies!

My first sunday here, an elderly sister, Sister McCullough, started talking to us about her grandson who was living with her and how he really needed to change his life. It was a long conversation and all that came of it was that she didn't think he was ready to start learning from the missionaries. But then last Sunday we went over for lunch before church. We had just had our training about being direct and bold so we asked him straight out if we could start teaching him and he said, yes! Our first lesson was on Thursday and it was amazing! Thankfully we had the pamphlet to teach with because we had three big talkers with us and we would've gotten nowhere if we didn't have pictures to grab their attention. We were talking about how we know that God never leaves us and that he is always reaching out to us, today even through modern prophets. He said that he felt that same way about himself-God is always reaching out to Him even when ,especially when, he makes mistakes. We asked him how happy he was and he said, "I'm 31 and living on my grandma's couch. That's how happy I am."  He really knew he needed to change and so he accepted a baptismal date for April 6th! It is exciting to help somehow change and repent and feel the power of Christ's Atonement working through them. Our Savior can heal all wounds. We can't ever walk outside the bounds of God's love. I know that's true.

A few weeks back, we visited another young couple in our ward, the Judkins. They are both returned missionaries so they really get the importance of sharing the gospel. Sister Judkins had referred us to visit a less-active in the ward who lives in her complex. So we went to go see him. Chris is 24 and living with his pregnant girlfriend right now. We had the most amazing first lesson with him and asked him to repent and change his life. He grew up in the church and so he felt bad like his life was just so different than what people would expect. He felt guilty walking into church because he didn't serve a mission, he's having a baby out of wed-lock and he hasn't been to church in forever. We explained the repentance process and told him that true peace and happiness comes from turning to the Lord. He's come two sundays in a row now and he talked to the bishop this Sunday. It's amazing. Miraculous! Then we had a lesson this last Sunday before church and his girlfriend sat in too. She was so open to listen and learn more. She accepted a baptismal date for April 6th! I feel so excited for Chris and Jessica because as they change their lives spiritually and as they welcome a baby into their family, their life will be so happy! They will make covenants and grow closer to God. 

Our mission leader in the Spanish branch is really great. He told us about a sister to a sister in the branch and that she had started attending one of the English wards in the Valley. Sister Reyes joined the church three years ago and she is a very strong member. I imagined that her sister, Aridai, was interested because she's seen how it's bless her sister's life. Our mission leader, Brother Lopez, didn't have her contact information but he just told us to ask her sister. Later that night, we had two appointments fall through and we sat in the car looking through former teaching records to find someone to go visit. Wouldn't you know it, we grabbed all the wrong records and we only had the addresses for people who had moved. Which basically does us no good. But then we saw a record for Aridai. And there it was! Her phone number and address. So we called her and set up a time to visit her. We went and saw her on Tuesday and it was incredible. She is so lonely, and so sad. She's been looking for the truth her whole life. She doesn't know if God loves her and she doesn't know the reason for living. I felt so much love for her immediately. We taught her a lesson about the restoration and she decided to be baptized on March 23rd! She's been reading the book of mormon this week and oh, she is so great.

Lots of really great things are happening each day. I wish I could tell you about every lesson I teach. It's amazing to be the Lord's hands. People love the missionaries. I've never felt so loved and appreciated in all my life. Members feel the Spirit we carry with us and they love to have us over. The less-actives we visit love us too. They yearn to feel the love of God and as we open our hearts and share with them their faith increases. I'm just little 'ole me but God allows me to be His hands. 

This morning, we got to fear bust the new missionaries. SO fun! I was only fear busted 4 months ago. Can you believe it? I'll be out for 6 months at the end of this transfer. Boy, time flies. There were 21 missionaries that came in today. The numbers continue to soar. Oh, I'm super excited for all those going out! It's so great that the work is hastening!

I love it here. I reeeeeeally am SO HAPPY I am staying another transfer. And I'm so happy I'm staying with Sister Sanchez. Good, happy miracles to come! I know this church is true. I had a dream last night that President Monson came to visit us. Even in my dream I felt his power and the spirit testify to me that he is a prophet of God. We've been listening to the conference talks in the car all week and I am continually touched by the words of these inspired men. President Monson is an example of Jesus Christ in all he does. He testifies of our Savior and invites us to do the same. I feel my Savior's love and I am so touched that He loves me this much. It's amazing. 

Love you!

Hermanita Em