.: Nov 4

Hello wonderful friends and family!

I hope all is going well with you.

I wish I could explain into words how beautiful North Carolina is right now. As I have made it known before there are so many trees here. Well now that it is fall every tree is changing into a different color. I wish a picture could do justice for all the beauty around. You will just have to make a trip out to N.C. and see it for yourself ;)

Another fabulous week has come and gone!

It started with a lesson on Monday night with M. We had prepared to teach her some of the commandments and start going over the baptismal interview questions to prepare her for her interview that was going to take place on Saturday. As we got to talking she let us know that she wasn't quite sure she knew that Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the Book of Mormon was true. That being the keystone to our religion we knew we had to stop everything we had planned on and focus on that. She told us she believes that Joseph Smith existed and she tells us all the time how much she loves our Prophet today, Thomas S Monson. She watches his videos on the mormon channel all the time and has come to love and respect and believe his words. So now we just needed to connect the dots. M has a deep desire to know. She reads the Book of Mormon and prays daily. We had taught her before about fasting and while we were discussing she brought up the idea that maybe she needed to fast to receive her answers. We told her that was a fantastic idea and that we would fast with her. We had already planned that we would be having dinner tuesday night with M and a member so it was perfect. We would fast all day and then break our fast when we had dinner together.

Now to Tuesday.. probably one of the hardest days of my mission thus far. We couldnt drive our car on tuesday so it was a biking day. We bike quite often so it was nothing new. Well tuesday turned out to be one of the hottest days we have had in a while. Also we were fasting all day. We had a route with stops at different houses and people we wanted to visit that we were going to bike. It was about 20 miles long roundtrip. Well after about 2 hour of biking and knocking doors in the sun with no energy because we hadnt had any food or water we were pretty exhausted. And let me just throw in that North Carolina is not flat. Well every single person we had planned to visit wasnt home. And then at about mile 12 my tire blew. I dont know what happened or what I ran over but bam, immediate flat tire. We then walked with our bikes about 2 miles to the closest members house. They let us keep our bikes in their garage as we then walked the rest of our route. Satan was really working on us. It was extremely hard not to be discouraged as every single house we knocked on no one answered. We werent able to talk to anyone that whole day except for the member who let us put our bikes in the garage.

But we just had to keep pressing forward because we wanted to do whatever it takes to help M receive answers to her prayers. Dinner time couldnt have come soon enough.

M was able to successfully complete her fast. We were so proud of her as it is not easy going a whole day without food or water. We met with her a couple other times the rest of the week. She is continuing to do all that she is supposed to and we are being patient the best we can as we wait for her to know these things are true. I can not express to you all how much I love M. She is the greatest! She is not going to be baptized on November 9th anymore but we are hoping for sometime later in the month!

As we were sitting in church yesterday we realized it was just one month ago that C came to church for the first time. Now a month later we had taught C, she was baptized, and yesterday she was received a calling to be an assistant activity days leader. We were so excited for her and she will be wonderful in helping with the 8-12 year old girls. So much can happen in a month and her life has truly taken a turn for the best!

I hope you all had a happy Halloween! I have to say I had a wonderful weekend full of festivities. On actual Halloween we didnt do much. We were brought lots of candies and goodies. That night we went to the church to go the the ward party for the other ward that meets in our building. Then Friday night was the Wake Forest 2nd ward party. It was trunk or treat and chili cook off. Guess who were the judges, the missionaries of course. I will include a picture of our table. That is 24 bowls of chili on the table for us to judge. we were slightly sick and yes, by the end they all ended up tasting the same. But it was great fun! Saturday night was the Falls Lake ward party. It was a bbq and cake auction to raise money for the scouting program. All your years of going to ward actions have you ever wondered what the people actually do with the food they buy? Well let me tell you, they give it to the missionaries! Between the elders and us we were given 8 cakes! Everyone had the same idea to buy cakes to support the fundraiser and then give the cakes to us. We gave the elders 5 cakes and we took 3. I included a picture of me with our 3 cakes. We gave 2 to the other elders we serve with and then the last one we took a couple bites of and then it ended up in the trash. We are sure loved by ward members! It was such a fun weekend being able to spend time with the people we love and serve!

I want to leave you with this.

2 Nephi 9:52
Behold, my beloved brethren, remember the words of your God; pray unto him continually by day, and give thanks unto his holy name by night. Let your hearts rejoice.

God is great!

Love, Sister Judd

PS: Next week is Veterans day so I wont be able to email until Tuesday.