Feb 22

Sooooo...... This is it. The last email you will ever receive from Sister Judd. 

And I have to admit.. I dont really know what to say. I dont know if words can really express how I feel. 

This week has been weird. It has been so good, and so hard. My emotions have been riding at the top of my throat and the second anyone said anything about going home or saying goodbye I choke up. 

My brain has been going a little something like this.. 

Oh yay, I get to see my family next week! But wait, next week I have to leave all my family in North Carolina. 

Thank goodness this is the last time ever I have to weekly plan. Oh, this is also the last time I can just show up at someones house, invite myself in, share a scripture and change their whole day. 

I will get to watch tv! But how could tv be better than sitting around with a companion and laughing so hard we are crying quoting the district to each other? 

You get the picture.. I am sooo happy to go home. But I am also sooo sad to leave. 

My mission here in north Carolina has changed my life forever. I will thank God every day for the experiences He has given me here. I have learned so much and grown in ways I never would have imagined possible. Now it is time to return home and use the skills he has given me, grow in even more ways, and experience more of the wonderful events life has to offer. I am so grateful for a loving Father in Heaven. 

I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ. I have a testimony that Jesus Christ lived and died for us. He had a hard life so we dont have to. I am grateful for the Atonement in my life. I am grateful for the days and moments I have had to fully rely on the grace of Jesus Christ because I just couldn't do it on my own. I am blessed beyond measure to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Joseph Smith restored Christs church back to the earth today. How blessed I feel to have  been able to share that message with the people of North Carolina for the past 18 months. I am grateful for the courage that young  Joseph had to follow the promptings of the spirit. To not deny what he knew to be true. I love the Book of Mormon! I know, because it has happened in my own life, that anyone will become closer to God if they read the Book of Mormon and apply the teachings in their life. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the father and Jesus Christ and that through him priesthood keys were restored back to the earth. I  know that the priesthood is real and that the powers and keys of the priesthood are within reach. They are found here in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. Because of this I know that I can be with my family forever. I know that I return to live with God someday and live in never ending happiness! This testimony is the reason I got up every single day at 6:30 am for 18 months. It is the reason I still smile after being threatened, harassed, embarrassed, and rejected time and time again. It brings me joy beyond all joy and peace like no other and it can and will do the same for you! I know it. God loves you! 

I cant say thank you enough for the love and prayers and support you have all shown me in the last 18 months. It has truly been felt. 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

Feb 16

Hello!! 

This is another email told by pictures! 

This week was started off by eating squirrel! Yes you read that correctly. We were signed up to eat dinner with the Michaels on Monday night. Well Brother Michael recently retired and has been spending a lot of time hunting squirrel. Everything he kills he says needs to be eaten so we told him we would help him eat one of his squirrels for the experience. He first boiled it and then fried it with some batter and made a gravy out of the drippings. It honestly didnt taste too bad. Everything was going fine but then I found a piece of fur that was still attached! We then stopped eating and finished dinner off with a pizza. 

Sister Yeates (a member) has been on a trip for 2 weeks. She gave us this flower to take care of while she was away. Sounds dorky but we have seriously loved this little plant. Everyday almost it has bloomed a new flower and it has brought us so much joy to us in the dead of winter! Sister Yeates wanted us to document how the flower is doing so thats the reason for the picture. 

Our ward mission leader wanted to celebrate my last supper with their family so they took us to this amazing BBQ place. Just look at that food! It was as good as it looked. And it fed us for about the whole week! 

On Thursday night we went heart-attacking! Where you put hearts all over peoples doors and then quickly run away before you get caught. Sister Michael took us and we did 9 houses of people in the ward who might have needed a little extra love this Valentines day. We didnt get caught at a single one so we considered it a success! We had so much fun doing it. We knew this lady wasnt home so we were even able to sneak in a selfie. 

And last but not least I had to get a picture with my favorite Sister Moore. She is a member in the ward who loves her missionaries. She is a mean cook and has a contagious testimony and smile. I will miss her dearly! 

This week has been so good I dont even know where the days went! 

Welp I gotta run. I have about 10 sister missionaries who need me to cut their hair today! 

Pray for us this week as we try and survive the highs of 20 degress. Expecting a storm later today. 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

Feb 9

Hello! 

So you are all probably wondering.. Wait Saturday was February 7th, weren't J and A supposed to be baptized? 

Yes they were, but no they did not. We hit a little rough patch. About 3 weeks ago J got sick and didnt make it to church and canceled our lesson. The next week she didnt show up at church again so we got a little worried. We texted her and she told us she had mouth surgery. Alright, legit excuses here but it was still a little frustrating. Then A has missed 3 weeks now of scouts and J has stopped texting us back. We got really worried and thought something bad had happened. Maybe some anti material or something we or a member did offended her? We had no idea and members kept asking about them and we had no idea what to say! This is honestly missionaries worst nightmare. Golden beyond golden investigators and now they have dropped completely off the face of the earth and we have no idea why! So finally after weeks of frustration and prayer and trying to figure things out we finally caught J at home last night. She let us right in and explained that this mouth surgery she had was actually a major thing. She has been knocked out and has been on high pain meds and now it might be getting infected so it has been a mess. A has had basketball games the past couple of Wednesdays so thats why he has been missing and then the most comforting words "dont worry, we still want to join your church life has just gotten a little crazy". PHEW! So all is well, they just need some time. 

One of the miracles of the week.. We had been wanting to go by a less active for a while now but it just never fit in our schedule. On Wednesday night as we were planning we really felt inspired that we needed to go see her on Thursday at 11 am. So Thursday morning we show up and she is home and lets us right in! We have a great visit with her. At the end she tells us that she was thinking about us earlier in the week and wanted us to come by but just couldnt think of a time that would work out. She just started homeschooling her son and that has been hectic. His lunch time varies everyday so she couldnt decide when she could fit us in. Well we showed up on Thursday right when he began lunch so we caught her for the hour that she had available that day. It was a testimony builder to me that the Lord really does place us at the right place at the right time, even when we sometimes dont see why. 

We were having dinner with the bishops family last week. The mom teaches seminary as her calling. She was expressing to us how her life has been overwhelmingly busy lately. We offered to teach seminary for her one day so she could have a day off. We had a great time teaching! It brought me back to my wonderful seminary days that I have such fond memories of. I am grateful for the teachers I had that truly taught  so much and gave me the uplift I needed before I entered the world for the day. 

We did lots of service this week! There is a 91 year old lady that we go do service for occasionally. She isnt a member but missionaries have been helping her for a couple years now. We went and cleaned her house for her because she is expecting company. I also did  3 peoples hair this week. I think it might be a sign to prepare myself for returning to the career I love. 

Thats it for today. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

feb 2

This weeks email will be said in the form of pictures. Pictures speak a thousand words right? 

Picture #1. Probably the best meal I have ever eaten. Ever. This place has been raved and raved about and it was time for Sister Muder and I to try. So last Monday we ventured to the one and only Dames Chicken and Waffles and man, we were not disappointed. The fried chicken is just oh my goodness to die for! The waffle is divine and that pink blob you see there? Its called schmere and is basically strawberry heaven in your mouth when you put it on the waffle. Then the homemade mac and cheese is so savory you just never want it to end. Now, who wants to come back and visit Durham with me to try it for yourself? 

Picture #2. We survived our freezing week without a car. Sometimes when you think you are going to die of being froze to death its good to pull out the camera and take a selfie. So thats what we did. It was bitterly cold but we had an appointment to get to! Yes we have bikes but it was already windy and when you ride bikes it just adds more wind making it even colder. So off on our 2 trusted feet we went. And we survived! 

Life is so great! I think Sister Muder and I spend most of our time laughing. The people of North Carolina are the greatest and the gospel is true. 

Love you all. Thanks for all the support! 

-Sister Judd 

jan 26

Hello!

We were talking to our bishop yesterday and he asked "how are you sisters doing?" Our reply "We are doing great!" And then we all laughed and made jokes about how that's the only answer we ever give. Even if we might be having a bad day, or a bad week in the eyes of everyone else we are great! It can be exhausting at times but here is to another great week! 

Last week on Saturday night we were doing our regular rounds trying to visit people. We arrived at one home of a less active woman and her husband who isn't a member. I have knocked on that door probably 20 times since being here in Durham and never have caught them home. Well we caught them rushing out the door. We quickly introduced ourselves and asked if there was a better time we could come back. The non member husband then replied " We are both off work Monday". We were so shocked. Usually the response is "We will call you" Or just straight up no. They wanted us to come back in 2 days!! We said how about 7. Then to our even greater amazement they said, well that's close to dinner time, wanna come for dinner? Umm.. YES! 

So on Monday we enjoyed a great dinner with this amazing couple. We hope to be able to continue to keep a great relationship with them! 

We had a great lesson with our investigator Wendi who is the friend of Sister Yeates. She opened up to us about how she doesnt have a belief in Jesus Christ but that she would like to have one. We taught her about the plan of salvation and the need for a Savior. We talked about the atonement and the power it could have in her life. It was a wonderful lesson and her faith was definitely increased. Now we just hope and pray that as she reads and prays she will be able to know for herself! 

Invitiation Sunday happened yesterday! I was asked last minute to give a talk in sacrament meeting. Then Sister Muder and I taught Sunday school. It was a little crazy and busy but it was a fabulous event! Not as many people came and we would have like but lots of people were invited and some did come so we are marking it as a success! 

We got the most amazing news this week that we are having a general authority visit on February 20th. 5 days before I leave. And who is it? The one and only Elder D. Todd Christofferson. I was soo happy. Let me explain why.. In October 2013 Elder Christofferson went to Bakersfield and called my dad to be the Stake President. A few weeks later I received a personal letter from him telling me about the weekend and thanking me for my service. Now I get to meet the man himself in person right before I go home! I mean, he has spent more time with my family in the past 18 months than I have. I just feel like a tiny amount of a personal connection to him and I am excited for him to visit! 

I hope you all have as great of a week as I will be having! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

jan 19

Hello! 

This has been a wonderful week! Nothing really exciting or extraordinary happened but things have just been great. We are two happy girls doing the best we can to spread God's word. 

We were able to get in with a lot of people we havent been able to for a while so that was wonderful! We love when people let us in. And we had more lessons taught this week than I have had here in Durham yet. So no complaints here! 

We got 2 new investigators this week! J who is 13 and E who is 11. They are a cute family from Ghana Africa. The Spanish sisters in the area ran into them and taught them a little about Joseph Smith and then they were referred to us. We went by on Saturday and were just amazed. The mom doesn't understand much English but was totally fine with letting us in and teaching her children. The dad was asleep in the back room. The kids remembered everything the other sisters had taught them. We taught them about the Book of Mormon and they were just so engaged and wanted to learn all about it! I think E is a kid genius. We had them read a passage with us and then E was able to put it in his own words and explain exactly what it was saying. Most adults we teach dont even do that! They are a very spiritual family and we hope to be able to get the parents engaged in some way as well! They have such great potential. 

This Sunday every ward in our mission is participating in  ' Invitation Sunday'. We have been preparing for this for a while now. OurSunday meetings are supposed to visitor friendly. Now yes, visitors are welcome every Sunday and yes every Sunday should be invitation Sunday but this one is going to be special. We have been pushing members to invite lots of friends, and family, and anyone they meet. The talks in Sacrament meeting will be based on simple true doctrine that we believe. We will be having some people who recently joined the church share their testimony. The ward choir will be singing with the Primary Children as special guests. We as the missionaries will be teaching a Sunday School class about the church Christ set up when he was on the earth and Christs church today. Then we will have regular relief society and priesthood meetings. We are really hoping and praying that a lot of people will come and participate and see what the Mormons are really about! 

I hope all is well wherever you are! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

Jan 12

Hello!

What an eventful week! 

Story time first..

We had a wonderful zone conference meeting on Wednesday. Always a great time but afterwards we needed to rush home to a very important lesson we were having. (will tell more about this lesson later). We get home and realize that our house is at 64 degrees but we didnt think much of it and rushed off to our lesson. Then we had another lesson and didnt get home for a couple hours later. Now it was about 5pm and our house was at 60 degrees. Something was definitely wrong. We went outside to look at our water heater because that controls our heat as well and there was water all in the storage place where it is stored. We called our landlord who was still at work and left a message. About this time we receive a voice mail that was sent to our whole mission from our president. He called to warn us that tonight was going to be the coldest night of the year and that with a wind chill temperatures might reach in the negatives so we needed to be prepared and be safe. Great! Coldest night of the year and we have no heat. We made lots of phone calls and made arrangements to stay with a member, Sister Rider. We were able to get our heater replaced the next day and enjoyed a nice sleepover with our favorite Sister Rider. And our house only made it down the the 40's that we saw. It made us very grateful for heat! 

So the very important lesson.. The best thing that can happen is when a member finds you someone to teach. Well Sister Yeates has a neighbor who she has been friends with for a little while now. She has talked about the gospel a little bit but has really just been a good example. Her friend, W, takes care of her father who is 87 years old and has major health problems. He cant really walk or move and he is missing half of his jaw but he is still fully mentally there. W's father F has been an atheist his whole life. W was blessed to be able to turn to Christ when she was in her 20's. Frank doesnt seem to have much time left in his life here on earth and W would really love for her father to find Christ before he dies. So Sister Yeates told W about us and told us that is what we love to do, talk to people about Christ. W got very excited and really wanted us to come over to teach both of them. The lesson went pretty well. At first F was very adamant that he didn't want to change but by the end and after some inspired questions he agreed to pray on his own to find out if there is a God. It is a very interesting experience teaching someone who doesn't believe there is a God. It made me so grateful for my knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ! We dont know what will happen with F but W is very excited and really wants to learn more! 

J and A are doing so well! They came and enjoyed all 3 hours of church again and are still progressing wonderfully! 

This week starts my last transfer.. I have been getting asked a lot so I will just let you all know that I return home on February 25th. It is very bittersweet. So very sad to leave this place I love so much and these people that have changed my life. But I am so excited to see my family! And to continue on with what life has in store. 

As for now, I will make these last 6 weeks count and finish strong! 

Things are going very well and I couldn't be happier.

Love, 

Sister Judd

Jan 5

Hello and Happy New year everyone! 

I can not believe it is already 2015! 

This week was well...a  little rough. There must have been some announcement on the news or something that everyone needed to leave town this week because NO ONE WAS HOME! Not even members to drive us places. And without a car we definitely racked up some foot mileage. Luckily the weather hasn't been too bad and we are happy because we have the knowledge of the good news Jesus Christ! 

We did have a great miracle with J and A though. There was a baptism service happening for an 8 year old girl in our ward on Saturday. At our lesson last week we had invited Jennifer and Alec to attend. We called J on Friday to see if they would be able to make it to the baptism at 1. She told us that they were having basketball down in Raleigh from 10-12 and she thought it was highly doubtful that they would be able to make it back in time but that she would see us at church on Sunday. Well we ended up going to the baptism anyway and guess who showed up.. J! She said she really didnt want to miss it and she wanted to come so she could see what her own baptism would be like. The spirit was so strong and she loved it. The next day they both showed up to church and stayed for all 3 hours and loved every second of it. Then we had a lesson that night.. during the lesson I asked her "J, do you believe that Jospeh Smith was a prophet?" She replied" Oh, I  know he was a prophet and I know that the Book of Mormon is true".. I think both of our mouths dropped open. She is so elect and has been so prepared! This is truly a miracle and we are so grateful that the Lord has allowed us to teach her and be apart of their lives! She also is already talking about how excited she is for Alec to go on a mission someday. February 7th just cant seem to come quick enough for them!

I think that wraps up the week.. 

all my love, 

Sister Judd 

Dec 29

Hello!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!! I surely did!

Let me start from the beginning of the week.. 

On Monday for preparation day we had a Christmas party for all the sisters in our zone. We held it at the institute building in Chapel Hill. We had a white elephant gift exchange, clothing swap, and ate a lot of treats. After everyone got what they wanted from the clothing swap there was a lot of clothes left over from past sisters, and lets be honest nobody wanted it because it was all pretty ugly. Well we decided we all needed to make the most hideous outfits we could. So that is the story behind the  picture below. We had such a great time all together laughing and enjoying this special time we have to be missionaries! 

Christmas Eve was a great day. We had district meeting in the morning and then we made some cookies to deliver to people which was lots of fun. Then for the evening we went to a family in the wards house. They had invited lots of people over so we just sat around and ate and talked. It was great company and a great evening. And then of course we came home that night and had to open our pajamas from our parents and head to bed. 

Christmas was such a wonderful day!! 

We woke up and opened our presents. Then got ready for the day and did a little studying. We had invited the sisters in our district, Sister Treu and Sister Ashworth, to come over for breakfast that morning. We made a big breakfast consisting of german pancakes with buttermilk syrup, sausage, bacon, gingerbread pancakes, and fruit. After we ate we had a joint companionship study and read Christ birth story out of  the book Jesus the Christ. We had a great time but then we had to rush off to our next thing. We went to have lunch at Sister Riders house. She had invited some other people over who also might have been alone on Christmas. We were still full from breakfast but we had a good time visiting with them. We then had to rush off to our next place. We went to another family in our ward, the Newharts, to spend the rest of Christmas day with them. We got to skype (which of course was the greatest thing of all). We did a puzzle and just hung out and relaxed until dinner. Time passed so quickly as we rushed home to be back before 9pm. It was such a great day! So great that we were really dreading waking up the next day and having to go back to the normal routine. Cant it just be Christmas everyday?! Our Christmas decorations are still up and probably will be for a while. We are still mourning. 

So we have been planning this thing for a long time but the rain kept getting in the way of our plans. But Saturday it finally happened, we set up a free hot coca booth at one of the busy parks close to downtown Durham. We had gotten everything donated from people in the ward and we were hoping that this would be a great way to meet people and give out some material along with hot cocoa. It turned out really well. We handed out about 60 cups of hot cocoa and talked to many people. We didnt get any new investigators from it yet but we know seeds were at least planted! 

Things are going so so well with J and her son A. We had another great lesson with them this week. J accepted to be baptized on February 7th and she said she would talk about it with A but most likely he will get baptized then too. They are just so amazing and so prepared and so elect. I am so grateful for the chance I have to teach them and then get out of the way so that the spirit can work in their lives! Miracles are happening. 

I can not believe the year is coming to a close this week. I can almost officially say that I spent the whole year of 2014 as a representative of Jesus Christ and a missionary for His church. This year has truly changed my life forever! I am so grateful for my time here in North Carolina. I wouldnt have been able to learn the things I have or experience the things I did in any other way shape or form. Bring on 2015! I am ready for another great year with different  new experiences and lots more to learn. 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

Dec 22

Hello!

We had some Christmas finding miracles this week!

We have been struggling to find people to teach. For a while now. Our faith has been strong and we know that there are people out there for us, they are just reallyyyyyyyy hard to find. 

BUT! This week we found 2 of them! 2 new investigators and another 2 with great potential. 

On Tuesday morning it was rainy and cold and we had no car but we knew the investigators weren't hiding inside our apartment. So out we went tracting. After a few doors with nobody interested we kept going along. A man named J then answers a door and we give him our spiel and he says "yeah I have time right now, teach me". We started telling him a little bit about what we believe and asked about him. He just moved here from another part of NC to find work and he has actually been church shopping. We realized we couldn't really go much farther on his doorstep and since he was a single man we couldn't go inside. We had a member coming out with us later in the day so we asked if we could come back and 2 and talk a little more. We went back at 2 and he let us right in. We introduced the Book of Mormon and read from it with him. He seemed genuinely interested and was excited to read more. We are excited to go back after the Holidays and see how it went! 

The other person we are now teaching is J. She is amazing!! J's son A has been attending scouts at our church for a few years now. She just finished Grad school and with A now 11 she has decided it is time for her and her son to join a church. She has enjoyed everything she has seen and the people she has interacted with from our church during the time A has been in scouts. She approached us and said she would like to learn more. We were able to go and teach her the Restoration yesterday and she really loved and understood it. She has already been reading out of the Book of Mormon and has really enjoyed it. She accepted to be baptized if she came to know the church was true and wants A to start taking the lessons as well. J's mother also lives with them and she might be interested too. Miracles happen! We are so excited to see what happens with this cute family. 

We had a wonderful Christmas Zone Conference this week. We got to hear and be instructed by our Wonderful Mission President and his wife Sister Bernhisel. Then we had a delicious lunch and did the 12 days of Christmas "Bernhisel style". They made up a little dance with motions to the song. It was fun to do that with them and all the missionaries. We then had a musical fireside. My district had the best performance if I do say so myself. Our district leader somehow got his hands on a set of hand-bells from a member. So our district learned a song a surprised everyone with 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing" by the Durham Bells. Everyone pretty much laughed the whole way through because it was unlike anything anyone else had performed. I wish I could send videos through email because it is pretty good. We also got all the sisters from the Durham zone and performed "The 12 days of Missionary Christmas" that a sister wrote. That was fun. there was lots of singing and lots of good talent shared. It was a wonderful day full of the Spirit! 

I am so grateful for this Christmas season. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the opportunity that I have had to really learn about who He is and what He has truly done for each of us as I have served my mission thus far. I am so grateful to be here for another Christmas and to be able to spread Christmas cheer through the gospel of Jesus Christ. May we all remember Christ this beautiful week and always. 

Merry Christmas!! 

All my love, 

Sister Judd