Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

Hey sweet friends of the Earth,

I'm feeling really happy these days. We had Zone Conference this week and it was so wonderful. President Mullen has a great vision for our mission and we all feel it. He wants to double the baptisms for our mission in 14 weeks. And then keep going. We will build and build and build. I know it's possible. I feel it with my whole heart. I don't know how it will get done exactly, but Nephi had never built a ship before either. 

I really want to be Nephi. I've been thinking that every day in my studies lately. He's so obedient to the Lord and so willing to submit to Him. He is patient and kind with his brothers and he doesn't complain when the Lord sends him hard things. 

And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make ^atools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?

So President Mullen wants us to have 20 lessons each week. 3 lessons every day. It's completely possible. I've taught 30+ lessons in a week before. But if we aren't able to teach non-members, then those 20 lessons include members too. We just want to be teaching. We don't have very many people to teach so we've been packing our evenings full of member visits. There are only a few members of the branch that live on the South Hill but we haven't let that deter us. We have worked with the missionaries in the Stake to find out who speaks Spanish in their wards and we've been visiting all the Spanish speaking members in the Stake. It's been so fun. I seriously have loved it so much. There are lots of young husbands in law school at Gonzaga that speak Spanish and we just love them and their sweet families. Maybe it's because we are sisters, or maybe because we are different, but people just LOVE us. I think it has to do with the fact that we are Spanish speaking and so we remind all these Spanish speaking RMs of their missions and they just feel a tender spot in their heart for this Spanish work. We have seen so many blessings from teaching the members. It has made all the difference for me. 

And our sweet Hondurian family, Ernesto and Vilma are so great. Ernesto has high blood pressure and he got pretty sick this week so we weren't able to teach too much but we're headed over there tomorrow and he says he is really looking forward to talking to us. After our FHE lesson last week he said, "Thank you. Your Spanish was perfect but the lesson was even better. Beautiful!" Yay! 

We got a referral from a Peruvian sister, Marisol, in our branch for one of her best friends. We stopped by a few times but she wasn't ever there. But then on Sunday, she was making food for their Peruvian club and Marisol invited us to come. Oh it was delicious. And so productive! It was like visiting all of mom's family is McAllen. Lots of laughing. Spanish, Spanish, Spanish. Oh I loved it. And SHE asked us for our number so we could come and visit her! YAY!

We've been laughing a lot this week and just loving it. We are doing our best and that counts. 

I love this work. I love my Savior. I reeeeeally love my Savior. I am so blessed to serve a mission. It means everything to me. 

Love y'all!

Hermana Em

behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men

Queridas mias!

What a happy birthday! Thank you SO much for ALL the emails and letters and love. Sister Gardiner popped out of bed singing happy birthday and she had decorated my closet with a sticky note banner of "happy birthday" and she also blew up some little "cherry bomber" balloons that have been hanging out on our book shelf for probably the last 12 sets of missionaries. It was so fun. Since it was pday we didn't have a lot of food in our fridge but we did the best we could and made a little hashbrown, egg, and biscuit breakfast. The potato and biscuits were courtesy of Sister Johnson (yep, two transfers ago :))
 

Then I opened my little package! Stationery galore. I could not have been happier! And I love the messenger bag. And the stamps and everything. We hung the banner immediately. It will probably stay up forever. It's been a fun day. We got some Papa Murphey's and then we are going bowling and picking up some Froyo 'cause there is a new place that just opened this last weekend!
 

This week has been crazy. Sister Gardiner and I have had a lot of heart to hearts. We've been learning a lot about open, honest communication. And it's been really character building. We are a good team. I think we've had a lot of powerful lessons. Not just for our investigators. A lot of members will text us after our lessons to tell us how much they needed the message we shared. It's been a nice blessing to see that we are making a difference.
 

Joel, bless his heart, just isn't receiving his answer. It doesn't mean it won't come. And I trust that the Lord will show it to him when the time is right but how do we know when the time is right? He is gone all this week visiting family and I think it will be a good break. I think he knows the Book of Mormon is true but he just doesn't want to admit it. He need to be compelled to be humble, in the best way possible. Oh I love him.
 

We are working on finding. We need more people to teach. School starts in September for Eastern and I cannot wait. Because that means there will be PEOPLE here in Cheney! Hallelujah.

We had Zone Conference this week. We received a training about really applying the Atonement and keeping our lessons centered on Christ. It has had a powerful effect on us. I love my Savior. I learned so much about who He is and what He does for me this week.

I love you all so much! Happy birthday!

Hermana Em

Here's lots of pictures, ok?
 

Last week we made cookies with Hannah and Ellie McCombie. I think they are the cutest girls on the face of the earth. It was SO fun.

Zone conference with sister kunkel, sister dishong, sister senger, sister mullen, and sister webb.

And here are some birthday celebration pictures including a wall of the many cards she has received.

they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

We are glowing. We are SO happy. This is mission life bliss.

Seriously. Since last Saturday to today it's been a complete 180 for Sister Johnson and I. I love her so much. We've been getting along swimmingly since the start but it was pretty tough that first week. It always is. Missions are hard. They are not what you expect. And I think it was almost too much for Sister Johnson to swallow. But she is incredible. She got to her lowest, close to breaking point and then she went to bed and decided to start fresh  and she's been climbing up everyday since. I'm so thoroughly impressed with all that she's done in the last week and how much her testimony has grown. She speaks up more in lessons, she is persistent in her street contacts, she tries to participate in daily and weekly planning and she is just all around more filled with the light of Christ. I'm just really grateful for Christ in all of this. Because even when I was having a hard time seeing her potential, God did. He softened my heart, inspired me to keep working hard and to be kind. And I know that helped her. And it helped me too. Missions change you. In a moment of weakness I had the thought, did God really mean to say that 19 year old girls could start coming out? But through Christ, anyone can be transformed. You only need a sincere desire to serve, and Christ will be there to lift you up. God knows exactly what He is doing. His work is hastening and He needs all the help He can get. Whomever He calls, He qualifies.

We were joking the other night that she is living proof that the Atonement is real. But it's true. We are nothing without Christ. But with Him, we have the potential to become amazing instruments in His hands.

We had Zone Conference this week and it was as amazing as it always is. I couldn't imagine it being my last Zone Conference with President and Sister Mullen. Maybe it's not. Either way I don't like thinking about it. Last week they spent a few days with Elder Holland. It was a small, intimate group of about 9 or 10 and so they really got to talk with him and have an amazing experience. President Mullen wanted to share everything that Elder Holland would have if he was there with us so he showed us a similar clip from a talk at the MTC.

It was spot on. It hit Sister Johnson and I so hard that it's motivated us completely. It was really similar to his talk in October conference about Peter and "do you love me?" but it was geared more towards missionaries. As all Elder Holland talks do it moved us and inspired us. It gave us a resurgence for the work and it will probably shape the rest of our lives too. We have walked probably more than 25 miles in the last two days. All of Cheney twice! And we didn't have one lesson. It was hard. But we were so happy. We stayed positive because we remembered why we were here. We love God. We love our Savior. This is His work. There is no other time like this in our lives. We must do all we can to serve Him right now.

I feel so grateful this week. I really love Sister Johnson dearly. My heart has been so touched this week as I've watched her really try her best to grow and improve. She bears her testimony with so much feeling. I know she means it. I know she knows it too. Christ has really been there with us this week. She's pushed herself to do better and I know she will be a powerful missionary her whole mission.

We are teaching Leslie, Jake, Porche, and Saud. Not a lot of huge lessons took place, but I know a miracle is coming. We've had too many slow days for a miracle not to take place. That's the cycle in missionary work. We are working diligently and trying our best and the Lord will bless us. What a guy.

Well, I love y'all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermanita Judd

But Ammon said unto him: Nay, but I will be thy servant.

To you whom I love,

I'm so happy today. It's definitely March. It was 56 degrees on Saturday and basically heaven. We are putting away our big coats and soon, so so soon we won't be wearing tights! I'm just so happy for the sunshine everyday. It was a really good week for us. We had Zone Conference on Friday and it was so great. I needed the boost, I needed the encouragement and support to know that God does know me. He is aware of who I am as a daughter of God and as His servant. Sister Mullen shared something that really was profound for me.

We love God. 

It is inherent in all of us, as children of God, that we feel love for Him. What we always teach and share with others is that God loves us (which is very, very true!) but sometimes we forget that we, in turn, love our Heavenly Father. We yearn to be near Him and follow Him. That is our sincere desire. We recognize when we sin and distance ourselves from Him and we desire to progress towards Him. We want change. We want to repent. She told us that we love God and I knew and felt it. I love my Father in Heaven. That's why I'm a missionary. I love Him and want to serve Him. I want to return to live with Him. As I've shared that with my investigators, (that they love God) they have felt that truth too. We are children of a loving Father and we love Him.

Anyway, she also had us close our eyes and meditate on our blessings. We have bodies, we can feel, we have families and we have learned in our homes, we have the gospel and our Savior, Jesus Christ. She went on for maybe ten minutes listing blessings. I felt so peaceful and calm. I've been trying to meditate every morning since because it helps me stay grounded and focused. I need to recognize the joy it is to serve each and every day. Today I woke up and just felt so grateful that I am a missionary. I love it so, so much.

Yesterday we had our Branch activity. Oh what miracles. We had been planning this activity for a month but yesterday I just woke up feeling like, "oh gosh, what have we done?? are we ready????" We really wanted the activity to go well and we wanted to leave the Spirit with our members so that they were inspired to do their own missionary work. Church starts at 1 pm and since many members travel pretty far for the meetings, we knew that Sunday was the only day we could really draw a crowd. But that meant after church at 4 pm. On Fast Sunday! Like 5 hours at church! Yikes! So we planned dinner and then prayed that people would be willing to stay after that for three 15 minute segment training sessions. I was stressed all day that it might be a disaster. That perhaps we didn't really know what we were doing. But it was a great success. We planned a taco bar for the dinner. Which you might be thinking something like ground beef with taco seasoning and maybe some taco shells?? No way, mis queridos amigos! This is a SPANISH branch. These tacos were so legitimate. Sister Lopez, our mission leader's wife, is a saint. She made all the meat and beans and rice and then we asked the members to bring the toppings. Pico, guacamole, cebolla, limones. It was definitely the best break-the-fast meal I've ever had. But it didn't start that way. We got to church and there was a package of tortillas and some cilantro sitting on the kitchen counter. I said a prayer in my heart that somehow this meal would be like the 5 loaves of bread and fish story and miraculously the meal would feed everyone sufficiently. And then suddenly, all the food showed up. The Lord inspired Sister Lopez. It was incredible. And what more was miraculous was that all the branch members came and stayed! And they loved it. We had three break-out sessions and taught simply and powerfully the importance of member missionary work. I really felt the Spirit testify to me that this is the Lord's work. Members were really touched and I think it really inspired them to act and think. Our Branch President loved it. I think he was worried too that it would be a flop activity. But we showed him that we are diligent missionaries and that we plan well. It helped to earn his trust. I'm still really grateful that somehow the Lord allowed the activity to work out and be really successful. 

Also, Aridai is the best, best, best! I just love her with my whole heart. We were having a hard time catching her this week and I thought for sure that she was losing interest but we stopped by on Saturday night and we sat down and had a real heart to heart with her. In Zone Conference we talked about asking soulful questions. And to ask with the love of the Savior and so we did. We talked to her about why she needs to read the Book of Mormon and come to church to feel God's love and she just agreed. She wants change so bad. She wants to leave everything behind in her life. We were planning her lesson today and I got so excited thinking about sharing scriptures with her. We will read Isaiah 1:18 and Alma 36:17-20. Sweet, sweet is the joy that comes from the powerful joy of change and repentance. I can't wait to share that with her. 

I really love everything about being a missionary. I have never felt so close to my Father in Heaven. I have been praying this week to be more converted to the Lord and to the work. I want to lose myself in the work. I want to be an Elder Holland and give every fiber that I have to this gospel. And I've felt His help this week. It's hit me hard this week how every moment that we live is short. We've got to live! My one regret on my mission is that I only have 13 months left. I want to savor every sweet bit of being a missionary because this is incredible work. We are the Lord's hands. And more than any sacrifice it takes to be a missionary, the Lord blesses us triple, quadruple. I'm a better person. I was reading in my journal from my first weeks to now and I've changed. My heart has changed. I still have a long way to go but the Lord is helping me to change. 

I'm forever grateful that the Lord trusted me to send me here, to marvelous Spokane, Washington, to bring His precious souls back to Him.

I love you! 

Love, Hermana Judd