Feb 17

Hello!

Well, I am not in Wake Forest anymore!! That is for sure. 

Garner North Carolina is... 45% country folk. 45% ghetto. 10% people from the west who didnt realize where they were moving.

This place is so different but so great.

Lets back up to the beginning of the week. Saying bye to everyone was awful. Monday was a preparation day spent packing. That night we went and said goodbye to M and kids. They surprised me with a valentines day party. They made me cards and we had cupcakes. Then M and S(J's daughter) put on a show for me. Lots of dancing and signing. We took pictures and they just had to shove cupcake in my face. Good times. They are missed dearly! 

Then Tuesday was the big transfer day. I was grateful I knew where I was going but you never really know what to expect. It was fun to have lots of missionary friends there. I finally got to see Sister Fullmer again after 6 long weeks of not seeing each other. haha. 

After the meeting we drove home to Garner which is only about 30 minutes away from Raleigh. 

My new apartment... lets just say it is an adjustment. It is a little smelly, and old, and gross, and in the total ghetto. but hey! I am grateful I am not on the 3rd floor anymore! 

My new companion is great. Her name is Sister Langarica and she is from California. She has been on her mission for 8 months. She has been serving in Garner for 1 transfer. So we are both learning together! We have got along great thus far. She is super sweet and I have lots to learn from her! 

The ward is fabulous. Everyone that I have met I have loved so much. Garner definitely has its fair share of crazy people but it is great. So much entertainment everyday! 

The work here is fabulous! The week before I got here they taught 40 lessons. In my last area we were lucky if we got 15. So this is a great change and I am excited to be kept busy!

We had a major snow storm this week. It happened on Wednesday while we were at district meeting in a town about 20 minutes away. After we had lunch we decided to make the trek home. We didnt realize what we were getting ourselves into. The 20 minute simple drive took us 3 hours to get home! There were cars sliding all over the road and accidents like nobody's business. They dont plow or do anything to the roads here so it is a disaster. We were driving on the Raleigh 401 and people said it made national news so look that up and you will see what we were in. It was a mess. Luckily we were with the elders and an elder from Utah was driving. We only slid a couple times but I know that the Lord kept us safe! What a blessing. We made it home and decided it would be best to stay inside. It wasnt too bad because it gave me time to unpack and clean our apartment the best I could. 

I now have to share a car (booooo) and it wasnt our week to have it. We didnt want to stay inside the next day so we went out to walk and try to contact people. The roads were all snowy and icy so we didnt ride the bikes on it. As we were walking I saw a house with a ramp that was still covered in snow so I figured an old person lived there. They had a shovel sitting on the porch. I told Sister Langarica we should go ask if we can shovel their driveway. An older lady opened the door and was in shock that we were offering to shovel her driveway but thanked us for our service and let us. As we were doing it the neighbor who was also an older lady started to shovel her driveway. A job that was clearly much too difficult for her. I then went and took over her driveway for her. They were both extremely thankful for our service. I am grateful for being in the right place at the right time. There is no way those two woman could have done that alone. Afterwards one lady offered us some water so we went inside and talked with her. She told us that a lot of her family was LDS. We thought it was neat but isnt unusual. The next day the Bishops wife in my old ward messaged me on facebook asking if I shoveled a ladies driveway in garner. She told me that that is her aunt and that she had posted on facebook that 2 LDS missionaries came and shoveled her driveway. What a small world! The Lord definitely put us there for a reason and we hope to go back and keep that door open.

This week has been a challenge but good things are in store. I love the Lord and I love this gospel!!

Have a fabulous week!!

Love,

Sister Judd