july 21

Hello!! 

Well it was a  great week but pretty uneventful as in stories tow rite home about. 

It was a pretty typical week involving lots of lessons, lots of finding, and lots of biking. 

Everything has gone well with T and she will be baptized on Saturday!! We are looking forward to it. Her mom was able to receive a priesthood blessing which gave her a lot of comfort and she is supporting T 100%. She even said she would come to church with T! She doesn't realize that she will also be baptized before she knows it ;) 

We are having transfers next week. I thought for sure that I was gonna be a goner. But we should have gotten a call from President on Saturday and we didnt. So looks like I am staying in Garner for at least another transfer(6 weeks). I am happy about it. Even thought it is a long time in one area I love Garner sooo much. This place is so amazing. These people are my family. And Sister Treu and I have so many good things in store! 

Well there really isn't much else to report. Things are going well and the work is continuing to hasten! I dont know how I got so lucky to be able to serve a mission here in the wonderful land of North Carolina! 

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for all your continued love and support!

Sister Judd 

july 14

Hello hello!! 

We had a much better week this week! Thank goodness. And thank you all for your prayers for Kyle Treu. He is still recovering but has made a lot of progress. You can look at the blog his wife set up kyletreu.blogspot.com to read the whole story and see the updates. 

I had a little tender mercy this week. I needed to go to the dentist for a regular check up. The dentist I was told to go was located in raleigh, practically in my last area. So I went to the dentist and then I had arranged to meet up with my favorite person Sister W for lunch after. It was soo nice to be able to see her and her cute kids again. Just like old times! Then she told me that Sister R's (another favorite) mom was about to pass away and that she would love to see me. So I got to go see her as well. It was so much fun and great to catch up. Not very often you get the chance to go back to a previous area! 

We went on exchanges with the Spanish speaking sister this week. I went to their area to be Hermana Judd for the day. It was a  lot of fun even though I had no idea what was going on half of the time. We went to one lesson and they had a 1 year old son. I couldnt teach any part of the lesson because I know no Spanish but i knew my role being there was to entertain the little boy so the parents could fully pay attention to the lesson being given by my companion. I was also able to enjoy a very good authentic mexican dinner complete with some delicious flan. 

I am grateful for the wonderful language of English that I get to share the gospel in! 

We had a crazy Sunday! I was asked last week to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. My topic was on the Constitution of the United States and how that played a role in the restoration of the gospel. It was an interesting topic and a little bit of a challenge for me. But I am grateful for what I was able to learn and it went well. I would send you a copy but it is handwritten. Maybe I will get around to typing it. We also were asked to teach sharing time in Primary. We had a good time with that. We also had 4 investigators come to church and it seemed like everyone in the ward needed something from us. I felt like a chicken running with my head cut off for those 3 hours but it was a great day! 

We are having so much success I am just so excited to wake up everyday! 

Our investigator T is getting baptized next week. She is the 14 year old girl who attended the Gladys Knight fireside. We love her so much! She has been such a blessing to be able to teach. She as come so far and has such a light in her eyes now! She is loving everything about the gospel and just soaking it all in. We are so excited for her baptism! 

We are also teaching a woman named M. She is 66 years old. She lived next door to a member who introduced us. She is such a sweet lady. She is loving everything about the gospel. She has a desire to be baptized but currently has a problem with smoking. She has cut down from smoking 7 cigarettes a day to 4 in less than a week. We have grown such a close connection with her. We are on the phone with her often being her cheerleaders to help her quit. We are hoping she can quit by this weekend so she can be baptized august 2nd! 

We are also teaching a man named C. He is the brother of a member. He lives with her because he has dimensia. He just recently expressed a desire to come to church and learn about the gospel so we have been teaching him. It has been a very humbling experience. Even though he doesnt remember a whole lot there is a light in his eyes every time we teach him and a desire to learn more. We are working with him very patiently and are excited every time we see some progress. 

We are still teaching S. Things are going well. We are just waiting for her to receive answers to some of her questions. Sometimes we just have to be patient. 

Life is good out here in the great NC. Despite the humidity and all the bugs. It may often feel like I am living in the rain forest most of the time, I wouldnt have it any other way. 

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I love the Book of Mormon more than words could ever express. I know that God loves me and that he loves YOU! 

Thanks for all your love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

july 7

Well I think the best words to describe this week is that we have gone through the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and we survived a hurricane.

I guess I will start with the bad news first. On Tuesday we had just finished our appointments for the night and we had about 30 minutes before we had to go home. The member we were with offered to take us to get ice cream so we of course agreed. While we were there the phone rang and it was President Bernhisel, our mission president, calling us. We decided not to answer and we would call him when we got home. We walked in the door and sat down and then called him. He asked how we were and then asked to talk to Sister Treu. Immediately I could tell something was wrong. We got the news that Sister Treu's older brother Kyle was in a very serious car accident. He was driving to work on I15 to Salt Lake. There was a sudden stop and he swerved to get out of the way and then his car started spinning and then a big dump truck came and hit him on his side. They had to cut the car to get him out and had to be revived a couple times. He was rushed to the hospital and immediately went in for brain surgery. He had many broken ribs and a punctured lung. At the time we got the news they didnt know if he was going to make it and they considered it a miracle that he was even still alive. We got off the phone with president and we both in complete shock. 

I dont really know how to describe the rest of the night other than God is good. Tears were shed, prayers were said, and the spirit was with us. It was a rough situation. If you think about it.. Sister Treu just received some of the worst news possible, we are two 20 year old girls all alone in some ghetto apartment complex in North Carolina, we only have each other, our families are over 2000 miles away,  we have sacrificed everything for the Lord, we still have to get up the next day and act like everything is fine, and there is nothing we can do. But that all doesn't mean anything because the Holy Ghost is real and angels were with us that night. 

The next few days consisted of trying to receive updates, trying to not worry, putting a smile on our faces and working as hard as we could. I am happy to report now that it will still be a long slow recover for Kyle. He is still in a medically induced coma and has a long road ahead. The doctors still dont know what damage has been done and what the rest of his life will entail. But the doctors believe he will survive and because of the knowledge of the gospel we know that everything will be okay! Much comfort is found in the gospel and in the wonderful plan of salvation! 

Now on to better things.... 

We were still able to have a great 4th of July! Despite the horrible events earlier in the week this was probably one of my favorite holidays on the mission thus far! 

On the 3rd the town of Garner was having their annual event. There was booths, and games, and live music, and food, a firework show with the North Carolina Symphony, and all things great!! We had signed up to volunteer at the event and had been looking forward to it for a while. And it turned out to be better than expected! The usual attendance at this event is 20,000. But a little thing called hurricane Arthur decided to hit that night. The rain was coming down and the wind was blowing and it turned many people away but it didnt stop us!  Pretty much the whole ward was there so we were able to have a good time with them in the rain as we all waited for the firework show. You are probably thinking why would anyone sit out in the rain and wait for fireworks. Well the bets part about NC summer rain is that it is warm. Since we cant swim as missionaries sitting in warm rain is the next best thing. We were drenched but  we had a great time and it was so fun to be out in the community!
The next morning on the actual 4th we had a ward breakfast and celebration. That was so fun!! Sister Treu and I had been planning out matching outfits for a while and the whole ward got a kick out of it. We had a great time celebrating out country and eating a nice meal. The rain aint stopping any of these parades!

We had a fabulous zone conference this week. Sister Treu and I were asked to give a lesson on having a vision and setting goals. Well we had the genius idea to do a little demonstration. We have many cops in our ward and we asked one of them if we could borrow some fatal vision goggles. These are goggles that make your vision the same to someone who is under the influence. We did a little demonstration and asked an elder to walk a straight line to eternal life. Of course he couldnt and then we tied it into the importance of having a clear vision. We had a good time with them and everyone wanted to have a turn after the meeting. We of course came home and had some fun with them ourselves. Never would have thought that I would be using drunk goggles on my mission! 

We have so many great investigators and are having so much success!!! I am running out of time but will hopefully have some time to write about them next week. 

Despite the hard times we are doing well and being a missionary is so wonderful! Truly an experience I wouldn't change for the world. 

Please keep Kyle Treu and the Treu family in your prayers. They need it! 

I love you all! Thanks for all your love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

june 30

Hello!!

I hope you all are doing well as I sit over here and am just blown away that it is already the last day of June!! Where is time going?! 

This will be a shorter email. My apologies. 

We had a great week! We are having lots of success. We were able to find 3 new investigators and taught lots of lessons! 

One morning we had appointments all lined up. They all fell through, nothing new. So we decided to go tracting! We picked a street and just couldn't decide where to start. I was driving and Sister Treu said that she would close her eyes and when she said stop that was the house we would go to. The spirit can work in many ways right? So we got the house and parked the car and walked up. We are teaching a lesson to our zone on Tuesday about having a vision and seeing people as they can become, not as who they are now. We decided we should put an extra emphasis on it ourselves so we can know what we are saying when we teach. Well this lady answers the door. She is wearing a tank top, has multiple tattoos, and has red spiky hair. The spirit immediately came over me and I could see her dressed in white in preparation for baptism. We started talking to her and she told us that she was a minister and she wasn't interested. But for some reason I was not going to take no for an answer! We continued talking and asked if we could meet and maybe just share beliefs with each other. She agreed and we were able to make an appointment to come back the next day. I am grateful for that experience. In previous times I probably would have just asked if she knew if anyone might be interested and then walked away. But when I could see this woman as a daughter of God who needs the saving ordinances of baptism and confirmation I was going to do all I could to be able to meet with her. I hope to be able to do this always. For the rest of my life. Everyone is a child of God and we should treat them so. We were able to go back the next day to teach P. We had a great visit and will be going back again. 

We were also able to have a special experience this week. We were visiting with a lady in the ward who we love very much. She was having her friend come over. She told us before hand that the doctors just told him that he had 8 months to live. He is dying from prostate cancer. He isnt a member of the church but has very high feelings towards the church from experiences in his life. He came over and shared his story with us. We were able to teach him a short lesson and bear our testimonies. This might be the last time he ever hears about Gods plan. I couldn't help but become emotional while we were talking. I wanted to be able to just tell him everything I knew and reassure him that everything will be okay. It was a very great experience and made me so grateful to be out here sharing this message! It is such an amazing thing to be on the Lords errand. I love being a missionary! 

To learn more about Gods plan read here .

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Judd 

June 23

Hello again!! 

Well I survived transfers and the results are wonderful! Sister Treu came and joined me here in Garner. She is from Orem Utah and has been out for 6 months. She has been serving in Zebulon which was near where I was in my last area. I was actually her Sister Leader for a transfer and have known her since she came out. We were excited to hear the news that we would be together. It has been so nice to have her. I am very grateful for good companions. We are both on the same page and are so excited to work hard, be obedient, have fun, and see miracles! This transfer will be so great. As long as we can survive the heat. 

We are working really hard with T. She is doing so well and is loving everything about the gospel! We had a great lesson with her the first night Sister Treu got here. We had a young women in the ward and her mom join us. The spirit was so strong and it went well. T's mom sits in on the lessons but has really never showed interest. But this week we all bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and then offered one to her mom. She accepted and said she would read it! This was a huge step and we are so excited and hoping the whole family will join in soon! T also spent the weekend attending youth conference and had a great time! 

Let me just say that it is officially HOT!! We didnt have the car this week so we ended up having to bike some days. Holy cow, this humidity thing is a killer! Basically we just have to accept the fact that for the next 2 months we are going to be covered in sweat and there is nothing we can do about it. We luckily survived and have been counting down to today when we will receive the car for the week! 

Do you all remember S? We were teaching her from February-May. We set a baptismal date for her in May and she got really scared and stopped talking to us. She has been MIA since then.Well we are sitting in church and all of a sudden she walks in!! We were so shocked and surprised and happy. I almost jumped up from my seat to run to her. We were able to talk with her and we set up another lesson for this week. Hopefully she will realize the blessing that the gospel is and is ready to commit! Praying for a good lesson this week that will be able to resolve all of her concerns.

We were able to get 2 new investigators this week. Both of them came from media referrals. Meaning they went onto Mormon.org and requested missionaries. We are excited to start teaching them and hope for the best! 

Many good things are gonna happen this transfer and I am so excited for whats in store! 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE!! If you dont know that for yourself read THIS. It will change your life forever. 

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

Love, 

Sister Judd 

June 16

Hello!! 

Good news to start.. Our investigator T accepted a baptismal date for July 19th! T is the 14 year old girl that went to the Gladys Knight fireside. We are so excited for her to progress. Her mom is totally on board and is very supportive. This last time when we were leaving she gave us a hug and thanked us for being such a blessing in T's life. It is always great to feel appreciated. We are hoping the whole family will have a desire to be baptized soon as well. 

Do you all remember D? She was a lady who we taught in my last area. Then after I was transferred to Garner she just so happened to also move into this ward so I began teaching her again. We have been meeting with her for a while but she has been so hesitant about baptism. She finally accepted to be baptized on June 28. We are praying she wont back down again! She is so prepared. 

We had a day of service this week for our ward activity. It was an all day event. We started early in the morning at a community garden. For those of you that live in Bakersfield it is like Murry Family Farms but smaller scale. They had a lot of projects for us to do so we got to work. We worked on a project to build flowers to line the front fence. We had to pull the weeds, then lay down cardboard and put mulch on top of the cardboard, then we had to go get dirt and shovel it into our wheelbarrow the bring it over and lay the dirt. Then we planted all the flowers. It doesnt sound like much but holy cow, it is a lot of work! But it was so much fun. In all the service that we do as missionaries I have gained a love for yard work and gardening and a strong dislike of painting and moving. After we worked in the garden for 4 hours we went to the church to have lunch. Then a couple came and did a presentation on the volunteer work they do in Haiti and how they are still in disarray from the natural disaster that hit. It was very humbling to see and made me grateful for all the blessings I have in my life! It was a great day to spend with this ward family that I love! 

Like I said last week we had a zone conference this week with Elder Corbridge of the 70. His wife accompanied him. It was so amazing!! Probably one of the most spiritual meetings of my mission thus far. He had so many great things to say and I would like to share a story with you. 

He shared a story about Noelle Pikus-Pace. She competed in the olympics this year in the event of the Skeleton. She won many medals and is also a member of the LDS church. During the olympics someone had asked her how you steer in the sport of the skeleton. Now the answer is that you shift your weight and move body parts in specific ways. But without really thinking Noelle responded by saying"you go where you look". 

You go where you look.. what a powerful statement that is so true to life. Where are you looking? Where do you want your future to take you? What are your priorities? In the Doctrine and Covenants section 6 verse 36 Christ says "Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.". Are we looking to Christ? I know that when we put Jesus Christ as the center of our lives we will be headed in the right direction. Look to the good in the world, look to our Savior Jesus Christ and all will be well. 

I hope you all have a great week! It will be a good week here. Transfers are on Tuesday, excited for a new companion to join me here in Garner! 

Thanks for all your love and support! 

Sister Judd 

June 9

Hey hey hey! 

Another great week come and gone.. whats new? 

I guess the most exciting news is that K got baptized on Saturday! It was a fabulous day and we are so happy for her. She will be able to find so much comfort in this gospel. Its truly amazing to be responsible for other people being able to receive the blessings of the gospel! 

We went on exchanges this week with some sister that serve in Cary. I spent the time in Cary. We had a great time! I set a goal at the beginning of the transfer that I wanted some kind of miracle to happen while on exchanges to give the other sisters a good experience. I am grateful for Heavenly Father helping with that goal. While in Cary we had an appointment set up for that night. They ended up not being home. We then went to about 4 other houses and all the back up plans and no one was home! It was an easy situation to be frustrated in but we kept going. We felt inspired to try one more person. We knocked on the door and nobody answered. We knocked on the door again and no response. Then a pizza guy walked up to deliver this house some pizza. We knew they would answer the door to the pizza guy. So he called and they came to the door. The woman who answered was very surprised to see all of us. She took the pizza then invited us in. After we introduced ourselves all she kept saying was "who sent you here?". She started crying and began telling us that she was at the end of her rope. She is in a very demanding position right now and just didnt think she could take it any longer. She said that she was losing faith and asked God to send somebody. We were there for her and she knew it was an answer to her prayers. Its always a great feeling to be an answer to somebody's prayer and to be exactly where the Lord wants you to be. 

Being in Cary was fun but it made me realize how much I love Garner! Cary is a city and many people there have come from other places, mainly New York and New Jersey. We were walking around dowtown Cary and saying hi to everyone we passed like we always do. But in Cary nobody said anything back! I was blown away. In Garner everyone always says hi back and many people will start up a conversation. I am grateful for my country town and for the true southern hospitality here. It might be full of bugs and some crazy cat lady hoarders but I love it! 

Speaking of Garner we found out Sister Langarica will be getting transfered on June 17th and I will be getting a new companion. I will still be a sister leader with my new companion. I am excited for a new companion and for the many more good times to come! I have no idea who it is and wont find out until the day of. 

We have been riding bikes a ton lately. I love it! We even rode our bikes to church yesterday. We love to ride our bikes in the evening starting at about 6. The weather is absolutely perfect! And the lightning bugs have started coming out so we see them lighting up all over the place. Its so beautiful. The mosquitoes are also joining them and my legs have been getting the wrath. Thats not fun but oh well. The weather has definitely warmed up but I haven't died of heat yet so we are good. Not looking forward to the long summer days. And so far I love the humidity! 

We are having a zone conference this week with a General Authority coming! We are really excited for that opportunity. It will be Elder Corbridge of the 70. Lots of things to look forward to! 

I hope you all have a great week and always remember how much God loves each of you and he is truly in every detail of your lives! 

"We all search for happiness and we all try to find our own 'happily ever after'. All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd