May 19

Hello! 

I hope you all have had a great week!! Things here are still great as ever. 

I experienced eating at Golden Corral for the first time ever this week. Golden Corral is a very loved place here in Garner. No one could believe that I had never been. So we went this week with our favorite Sister L and our friend A who is going on a mission soon. The food was just as I expected, not that good. But the company was great and the fresh cotton candy for dessert was worth the whole trip. 

I hit my 9 month mark this week. I am halfway!!! I can seriously not believe it. This has been the fastest 9 months ever. I still remember every detail of my first day like it was yesterday. And the time I have left is just going to go by even faster. I only have 9 more months left to be a missionary. Its pretty sad to think about. But I have high goals set for myself and I hope great things will come to pass over these next 9 months! 

Our investigator T is getting baptized on Saturday!! We are so excited for her. It has been a long time coming and a very interesting path with her but we are so excited she is finally entering into the waters of baptism! She has so much faith and has such a bright future ahead of her! We were really scared she wasnt going to show up for her baptism interview on Saturday. We hadnt talked to her for a couple days. We kept trying to call her but her phone was off. We knew she was working a night shift Friday night so we were really hoping she would still show up. We were waiting so anxiously for her  to come. She is working pretty much every saturday or sunday for the rest of forever so therefore if she didnt show up for her interview Saturday she couldnt be baptized this saturday and then who knows when she would have another weekend available. Basically it was very stressful for us and it was one of the happiest moments of my life when I saw her red car pulling into the church parking lot! Her interview went great and she is just gleaming with happiness and so excited to make this step. 

We had the great opportunity of going to a mission home fireside on Sunday. I dont know if I have talked about these before but its a fireside at our mission president house. Missionaries are only allowed to go if we bring someone who just got baptized, someone who is taking the lessons, or a less active member. Its a testimony meeting that gives these individuals a chance to bear their testimony and share their stories. It is one of my favorite things. Our mission president speaks for a little bit and then the time is opened up. It is always so incredible to hear the stories of how people came to know the church was true or the different trials people have to face and how the gospel is just amazing. Yesterday 2 girls bore their testimony. A 15 year old who was introduced to the church by her friends. She has been going to church for about 6 months now and has been meeting with the missionaries. Her parents though are extremely against the church and not supportive at all. Her testimony was absolutely amazing. Her faith is so strong and nothing will stop her from following Jesus Christ. Then we heard from a  girl who is 18. She just got baptized a couple weeks ago. She was in the same situation. She has been going to church for over 2 years but her parents were also against it. She stayed true to her beliefs and waited patiently until she was 18. She was baptized shorty after her birthday. These 2 girls had never met before. But for everyone in the room it was incredible to see the similarities and it was so awesome for the 15 year old to see someone who has gone through the same thing and could see that there is hope. I am so grateful for the blessing I received to be born into the church. I am grateful for wonderful parents who raised me in the church and taught me the gospel so I can know how I can return to live with my Heavenly Father again. I am grateful for these 2 girls and their incredible faith that was truly an inspiration to me. I just love this gospel so much. I probably say that all the time but its true. I would shout it from the rooftops if I could. There is no other way to true happiness in life, I promise. 

I love you all. Thanks for you support and encouragement. 

Sister Judd 

May 12

Hello!! 

There is nothing better then when everything just falls into place. And thats exactly how this week went! It is so nice, because all to often it seems like everything that could go wrong will go wrong.

We were able to do lots of service this week. It is the time of year when everyone is getting their yards ready for summer. So we were able to spend a lot of time outside doing yard work for people. That was fun! We had great lessons with our investigators. And we were even able to see less actives we havent been able to visit for a while. 

We found out this week that our investigator that we teach at his work office lives next door to Scotty McCreery. We went to our investigators house to do service for them and he pointed out Scottys families house. So I officially know where he lives.. Now we just gotta get up the courage to knock on the door. We heard his family is very strong Baptist. But people change!!! 

Highlight of the week was of course Mothers Day!! I got to talk to my fabulous family! So good to talk to them. 

With the celebration of Mothers day this week I was reminded of one of my favorite scripture stores.. The stripling warriors. 

Alma 57: 21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.

               26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.

               27 Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.

These 2000 young men went to war.. and a miracle happened. None of them were killed. The fought a tough battle and many were wounded but they were protected. They were protected because they were obedient, they had faith, and they did not doubt. We all fight battles each and every day. And we often get wounded by the things of the world. But I know if we first rely on our Faith in God and Jesus Christ and are obedient to the things we know to be true we will always be protected. God is on our side and he will help us succeed. Rely on the atonement to carry you through. And always remember the things your mothers taught you! 

I know this gospel is true and I am so grateful for it! 

Hope you all have a great week!! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

May 5

What a great week we had! So many miracles and steps in the right direction we were able to witness! 

Our investigator S brought her father to church last sunday. We figured he was just visiting for a couple days. We then learned that he had moved in with them. He told us he really enjoyed church and wanted to learn more about what we believe. We went over Monday night to teach them. He is a very spiritual man but hasnt really ever followed an organized religion. He says he has been searching for a while and is waiting for God to tell him which church is the right one. The lesson could have gone on forever. We basically taught the whole restoration and plan of salvation lessons. If we had all night we could have kept on going too. He loved everything we were teaching and it all made sense to him. It was great to have S there to kind of help teach and with the support of her father it will help her be able to progress more as well.

We met another new investigator. Her name is T. She is 14 years old and is family friends with some people in the ward. Her whole family was supposed to go to the Gladys Knight fireside but she was the only one who was able to go. She loved it so much and wanted to learn more. We went and taught her the Restoration and she enjoyed it. She came to church yesterday and is excited to learn more. We are hoping it wont take too long for the rest of the family to join on board as well. I just look at her and want the gospel so badly for her. There is no way I could have survived my teenage years without the Gospel. 

I cant remember if I have told you about our investigator T before or not. Well she is awesome. We have been teaching her for a long while now. She wen ton to mormon.org and requested missionaries. She is a single lady with a 21 year old son. She has something wrong with her back so she suffers from chronic back pain constantly. She wasnt in a good place in her life and she wanted a change. She knew she needed to get back a relationship with God. She has come so far since the first time we met with her. Because of her back pain it is not always easy to get up with her. But she has progressed well and has a set baptism date for May 24. We are so excited for her and the blessings she will see come into her life! 

I love being a missionary. One of the reasons is because I love to be able to serve and help others. This week we went to go visit a family in our ward. It is a single mom with 3 kids. The mom struggles a lot.  We showed up for our appointment and could immediately feel the tension. The mom and kids had just gotten into a huge fight. People dont hold back when missionaries come over so the fight continued after they let us in. We felt a little uncomfortable but knew we needed to be there. After a while everyone sat down on the couch. It was still pretty awkward. We could tell the kids were embarrassed because they were just getting screamed at in front of us. The mom was mad at the kids and we could tell she has just had it. My mind was racing of things we could do. The spirit was not in the home and they were not in a place where they wanted to hear us ramble on about a scripture. We said a prayer and then I asked if they had any board games. The kids then ran into the back and grabbed the game of life. I then suggested that we all go around the table and play it. They agreed and we set it up. After about 5 minutes into the game everyone was back into their happy regular selves. The mom was joking around with the kids and the kids were excited to be spending time together. It felt so good to be able to come into the home and bring the spirit and be able to change the course of there night. We had another appointment so we couldnt finish the game but we were able to leave them happy and spending time together as a family. There is no better feeling then being able to bring joy to others! 

Let me tell you one more story.. It was Friday and we were sitting in our Missionary Leadership Council meeting. It was just a normal meeting we have once a month. Our mission president gets up for his time to teach us. At the beginning of his lesson he tells us that he has some exciting news for us but he is going to wait until after his lesson to tell us so we listen to him and not just focus on the announcement. My mind was racing and my guess was that he was going to tell us that we are finally getting ipads. After a long hour he tells us that he got a phone call at 11pm the night before. It was Elder Pieper of the 70. He explained that Elder Perry, of the quorum of the 12, was supposed to be coming to Raleigh for a Priesthood meeting this weekend. Well because of circumstances he was not able to come so Elder Niel L Anderson of the quorum of the 12 apostles is coming in his place. He saw that there wasnt anything set up to visit the missionaries and he wanted to change that. He asked if he could meet with the Raleigh Mission on Saturday at 2:30... Thats right. Surprise!!  The next day we were going to meet with Elder Anderson. President Bernhisel then stated that we needed to get the word out to all the missionaries. That if we had baptisms or other events we needed to try and move them so that we could all be together the next day to meet with Elder Anderson. We all got on our phones and started calling everyone. We were so excited!! So Saturday came and we all gathered in a building and anxiously waited for Elder Anderson to arrive. He walked in the room and it was so amazing!! He came with Elder Pieper, Elder Parker, and Elder Martinez of the 70. He wanted to shake all of our hands! So we all were able to line up and shake their hands. They all spoke to us. Elder Anderson spoke about our purpose as missionaries. He told us how lucky we are to be serving here and how we need to take advantage of the amount of people that already have faith in Christ. We need to work off that and expand their knowledge. He told us that in our lifetime we will see the Faith of people decrease but that The Book of Mormon will become an anchor for the world. He expressed the great importance of building our testimonies so deep into our hearts so that it can never get out, even during the hard times we all face in life. He walked around the room while he spoke and I was sitting near the front on an edge. Well he kept stopping right next to me and was staring into the depths of my soul. It was pretty much the scariest thing of my life. haha jk. It was awesome. He even used my name in an example. But I have to say one of my favorite things he said was when he was explaining to us a little bit about how the missionary calls are extended. He told us that there is a special category for missions in the United Stated and in his own words he said that some of the best missionaries get sent to stateside missions. He said that missions in the United states are very important to the church. And I have to agree. I am soo happy to be serving here in North Carolina. There isnt any place else id rather be.

All in all it was obviously a great week. There isnt much better than being able to meet an apostle of the Lord. And be surrounded by all the missionaries here that I love so much. 

The Gospel is the best thing that has ever happened to me and i hope it is for all of you! If its not, ask me how it can be! 

I love you all. I love my savior Jesus Christ. Thanks for all your support. 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

April 28

Hello!! 

What a week!! It might be safe to say that this was one of the best weeks of my mission! We were able to do lots of service, teach great lessons, and see miracles happen! I love being a missionary! 

We were able to go to the temple this week! We are only allowed to go every 6 months so we have been looking forward to this since October! It was a great time! We went with the fabulous Sister C. We love her lots. 

After the temple we went back to her house to help her make cupcakes for a yard sale her neighborhood was having the next day. Sister C used to have a cake business so these cupcakes are good stuff! All the money made from the cupcakes went towards a mission fund to help her daughter start saving for her mission. We helped out at the yard sale on saturday morning and had such a great time. We passed out of Mormon.org cards and lots of cupcakes were bought. 

The moment we have all been waiting for finally came! The Saints United Voices Choir directed by Gladys Knight came to town!! And oh my goodness, it was everything we could have imagined and more. We were able to go to 2 shows. We went Saturday at 4 o clock with a less active woman and her non member mother. They are both huge Gladys fans. They had the greatest time and so did we. The show was absolutely fabulous. The choir sang lots of arrangements of gospel songs. Gladys bore her testimony and how she came to the church and sang a couple solos. It was all amazing. Nothing beats a gospel concert in the south. Nothing. Sunday we went with the Wiggins. They are a family we love in the ward. Brother Wiggins actually served his mission in Las Vegas. He was the first missionary to knock of Gladys door. After that first lesson they had to give her over to the Assitants to the President. Well Brother Wiggins got transfered before she got baptized so he hasnt been able to see her since. He spoke with some of the people in charge yesterday and he was actually able to meet her! It was so awesome. The whole way up the the concert we were going through different scenarios of how we were going to get them together to meet. He even brought some old mission pics in case she didnt remember him. It was too funny. We were so happy it all worked out. Sister Campos also came to the Sunday show with her neighbor, our investigator, S. We have been teaching her for a while now but she has just kind of been at a standstill. After the concert yesterday she told us that this is exactly what the church needed and that it answered a lot of her questions (Gladys sure did have a way of talking) and now she was ready to be baptized!! We were so excited! We are meeting with her tonight and setting a date! She should be baptized within the next couple of weeks! 

Another highlight of the concert was that I got to see tons of people from Wake Forest and Falls lake!! It was like a huge family reunion. It was soo good to see so many people I love so much! 

It was all just amazing. I would say at least half of the people there were non members and I think each show held  about 1,000 people. There was a card attached to the program for people to fill out. If they filled it out a bag would be brought to their house by missionaries with CD of the show, a Restoration DVD, and a Book of Mormon. Lots of card were filled out. We are excited to get those referrals this week and deliver these bags and find new investigators!! Last but not least, Gladys herself gave me a high five. She comes in from the back when she starts the show. I was sitting in the aisle so I stuck my hand out and she high fived me! Pretty awesome. 

I am officially a huge fan of Gospel music. And the south. No questions asked. 

I love this gospel so much! I love the Book of Mormon. It is truly another testament of Jesus Christ and it can change your live! Read it and I promise you will be happier! 

Hope you all have a great week!! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

April 21

Happy Easter everyone!!! 

 

A great week was had here! I loved this week leading up to Easter! It was so great to be able to talk about and share the true meaning of Easter with all we met. 

Easter day was great! We had a very nice church service and had a wonderful dinner with some families in our ward. 

I went on exchange this week to a town called Morrisville. I love being able to go and spend time in lots of different wards. It amazing how fast I just love all the people I meet! I wish I could serve in every ward! But everyday I just love Garner more and more! I hope I can be here for a while longer. 

We are keeping very busy and are teaching lots of people. No complaints about that. 

Not much time today to email. 

I want you all to know that Jesus Christ lives! Because of Him we can all make it to live back with our Heavenly Father. Its never too late! Jesus Christs grace is efficient for all of us! I would not be here today without our Saviors love. It is there for each and every one of you. He is risen and we will all live again! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

April 14

Hello!! 

A and L got baptized!! It was a fabulous day! They were smiling from ear to ear. The ward came out and supported and everything went as planned! Couldnt have asked for a better Saturday! They were confirmed on Sunday and were given the sweetest blessings and are the newest members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! 

I got to participate in the funnest day of the North Carolina Raleigh Mission this week. We had our activity zone conference! Once a year, in April, this event takes place. All missionaries talk about it and we have been looking forward to it for a long time. We gathered on Wednesday in Durham at the institute building. We had a normal Zone conference in the morning. Was instructed by our Mission President and His wife and a few other leaders. We then had lunch and then the fun began! We changed into our activity clothes and then we were all put on a team. We then rotated stations playing soccer, capture the flag, ultimate frisbee, and volleyball. I was lucky to be on a team with Sister Fullmer and Sister Hall. Two good friends. We had the best time! It was so fun to almost feel like a normal person and get out some stress in the games. I was able to let my competitive side show just a little bit. Fun was truly had by all! Unfortunately it couldn't last all day and before we knew it we were back to work. But memories were made that will be cherished forever. 

This week I felt a little bit like an angel. D, an investigator from my old ward, is leaving to go to California for a couple months but has been staying at a house in my new ward for a couple weeks. We made the connection and have been able to see each other a few times. It has been great to catch up and continue teaching her. Well since D is going to California for a while she is leaving her car here. She had a place to put it but it fell through. She was telling us that she didnt know what she was going to do. Well immediately a light bulb went off in my head. Sister L, a member here in the ward, has been desperate for a car but has no money. We thought it would be a perfect situation. We told D about Sister L and she thought it would be a great idea to let Sister L have her car while she is away. We then called Sister L to let her know. It was one of the best phone calls of my life. We felt as though we had just given 1 million dollars away. As I was explaining the situation to Sister L she was immediately in tears. She started hysterically crying of pure joy. She just could not believe it. We were so grateful for the two we were able to put together. Its a testimony builder to me that the Lord truly knows every detail of our lives!!! 

Well thats all for this week. North Carolina sure is beautiful this time of year. All the blossoms are so pretty. We are trying to enjoy it the best we can before it starts getting too hot to handle. The Lord loves each and every one of you! I am so excited for this week to celebrate Easter and to really reflect on our Savior Jesus Christ and all that he did for us! Let us all remember the real reason we celebrate Easter this year !

I love you all!! 

-Sister Judd 

April 7

Happy monday everyone! 

Wow! Was general conference this weekend not the best thing ever?! Holy cow. It was definitely better than Christmas..as a missionary. How lucky are we to be able to hear from living apostles and prophets! I never fully understood how much a blessing it is that we even have a prophet to lead and guide us in this day and age until I came on my mission. It was just the norm. But now my eyes have been opened to so many people who are lost and confused and have no idea where to turn or where there is safety in this evil world. But we do!! We have guidance and direction and know exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to hear!! Its truly amazing. I am so grateful for this gospel in my life. And only 6 more months until we get to hear it again! 

Good news! A and L are getting baptized this Saturday!!!!! We are so excited for them! They are truly incredible boys and are sure headed in the right direction. It has been such a blessing to be able to teach them and see their faith grow. 

This week we went to contact a referral we received. The person we were trying to contact didnt end up being home. We had plans to go somewhere else but the spirit prompted us to stay in the neighborhood. We knocked on a couple doors with no success. Then I had the prompting that someone in this neighborhood needed to go to Gladys Knight. We decided to say a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to lead us to the person that we needed to talk to. After a couple more doors of uninterested people we finally found the one. We knocked on this ladies door and told her who we were. She said she already belonged to a church and wasnt interested.. normal response. Then we asked if she knew who Gladys Knight was. She perked up and said yes. We then did the little spiel we were taught about how Gladys and her Grammy award winning gospel choir were coming to our church in Durham and that she could go. She was so excited. We told her we would come back the next day with a flyer. Well the next day we went back and she said "now, how many tickets am i allowed to get". we told her as many as she wanted. Turns out she had already talked to the pastor of her church and many members and she has a list of about 30 people that want to go. We were so excited and told her we would get her all the tickets they needed.  

We have another investigator T. We have been teaching her for about a month now. She is amazing and is supposed to be baptized at the end of the month. Well she suffers from chronic back pain. She was having a really rough week so we wanted to do something nice for her. She had told us a previous week that her favorite treat was ice cream from coldstone.. We thought bringing her favorite ice cream to her would be just what she needed. We knew she liked the cheesecake ice cream with nuts and graham crackers but there was one topping we could not remember. We thought about it for a good 10 minutes. Nothing came to mind. But we knew that with God all things are possible. We prayed that Heavenly Father would bring to our remembrance what the other topping was. Just like that as soon as we said amen.. Heath! It was heath bar. We were able to bring the ice cream over and brighten her day.

I share these two stories because it taught me a lesson this week. When we have faith, pray, and then act on those promptings miracles can happen!! I have seen it time and time again. Heavenly Father wants to lead and guide us. He wants us to be happy and to follow him. Those are 3 powerful resources in our lives. 

I LOVE THIS GOSPEL! I dont think I can say it enough.. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!! 

love, 

Sister Judd 

March 31

Hello all!! 

Short letter this week.. Not much exciting has happened. 

Everyday but Tuesday we had a meeting, so that's where the week went. 

Thursday was so fun. We had a meeting to prepare us for the Gladys Knight fireside. All the missionaries in Raleigh, Apex, and Durham zones got go go. I got to catch up with all my friends and hear all the details of whats happening in Wake Forest/Falls Lake now. It was so great to see them all. And we are all counting down for this event! 

Saturday night was the wonderful Women's broadcast. If you didnt get to see it I would highly recommend watching it here. Well we had an extra added excitement to ours. All the women in the ward met at the church building for dinner and to watch the broadcast. It started at 8 pm (thank you eastern time). Well at about 9pm a tornado hit. Everyone's phones started going crazy with tornado warnings. But we all stayed calm and just continued on watching the conference. After the conference ended we were all told we needed to stay in the Chapel with all the doors closed until it was declared safe to leave. We all sat in there until about 10:15 PM. The tornado touched down just a couple blocks away from the church building. Everyone who was watching the radar on their smartphones said they saw it go directly around the church building. We know we were blessed and there wasnt a safer place we could have been! We made it home at about 10:30. Only an hour and a half after curfew. ha. 

A and L are still doing fabulous and we are so excited for them. This week we have been teaching them commandments and how obedience brings blessings. We taught them the Law of tithing and decided to do it with a little visual aide. We gave them both 10 cheerios and asked how much tithing of that would be. They knew 1 cheerio was 10% and paid it. Then we brought out some easter candy and told them they could buy it for 10 cheerios. That would mean they wouldnt be paying their tithing. It was quite the temptation. After thinking long and hard A decided it wasnt worth it and he wanted to pay his tithing. L on the other hand wanted the easter candy so badly that he took back his tithing and bought the candy.  Well we had just taught them and we know that when you keep the commandments and pay tithing the Lord will always bless you more than you could ever imagine. So out of our bag came a bag with a brownie and some easter candy in it. We gave it to A and said it was his reward for paying his tithing. The look on L's face was priceless. He knew he had made the wrong choice. Luckily there is always repentance and L wanted to repent for the wrong choice he had made. He paid his tithing and was granted the blessing of a brownie with easter candy. 

Sometimes in life we have to learn lessons the hard way. It is not always easy to have faith when we cant see what blessings Heavenly Father has in store for us.  May we always remain faithful and know that Heavenly Father will always bless us when we follow him. I know that to be true without a shadow of a doubt. 

Mosiah 2- 22: And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

              41: And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

Heavenly Promises are always kept. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth today! Nothing brings me more happiness than that! 

Thanks for all the love and support. 

Sister Judd