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 

Dec 15

Hello everyone!! 

We have had a great week! The sun has been shining, I couldn't ask for anything more! 

We gave the elders the best Christmas present ever this week. We decided it would be best for the elders to teach M so we handed him over. We hope that the Elders will be able to continue meeting with him and we look forward to hopefully attending a baptismal service of his in the near future. 

So that leaves us down to 1 investigator, S. She is doing well.  We watched the restoration dvd with her and she agreed with it all. She is putting up a little block and refuses to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. But we know that the spirit will soften her heart. We had a ward Christmas party this week entitled "A night in Bethlehem". When we told her about it she got so excited and we were able to make costumes with her since we were supposed to come dressed up as people did back then. She had a great time at the party and is starting to feel more comfortable. We hope to see a miracle happen soon with her! 

We went Christmas Caroling with the youth and some members in the ward on Wednesday night. As a whole we were able to visit 54 houses delivering cookies and an invitation the the Christmas party. It was such a great event and so fun to get the youth involved in missionary work. The youth were so excited to see that one of the less active ladies that they went to and invited actually showed up at the party and had a great time! 

We had a wonderful Sisters training this week. All the sisters in the entire mission gathered together. There was about 80 of us. Our wonderful President and Sister Bernhisel addressed us and then a few sisters. We were able to have a wonderful lunch put on by the Wake Forest 2nd ward. Which means I got to see many wonderful members from the first ward I served in. Cant believe it has been a year since I was there! The spiritual learning was great but lunch was probably my favorite part. In our mission we call it an Alma 17 experience. It is just so fun to be able to sit around and talk and laugh with so many sister friends. And then the wonderful Ben Howington aka Mormon Guitar came and played for us. If you haven't heard his music I suggest you go to http://www.mormonguitar.com/ right now and enjoy his wonderful music. It was such a wonderful uplifting day!

After the sisters day I went on exchanges with my sister leaders.. and who is my sister leader now you ask? The one and only Sister Treu. I brought her here and showed her around Durham. We had such a great time reminiscing on all those we love back in Garner. 

The work might be going a little slower than we would like but we have no reason to complain because we know we have the Savior Jesus Christ on our side! This work is so wonderful and I love every single day I get to be a missionary! And its a good thing every member is a missionary because that means I can be a missionary for my whole entire life! God is good and the church is true! 

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

dec 8

Hello!

I guess the best way to start out is by thanking my wonderful trainer (shout-out to Chelsea) for everything she did for me! Man, this training thing aint easy stuff! But so far so good. We are chugging along just fine! I forgot what is was like to not know how this whole missionary thing works out. But luckily my companion is wonderful. Her name is Sister Muder and she is from Arizona. She is 19 and just graduated high school in May and is excited to be here! We are getting along great and she hasn't ran away from me yet so I think we are gonna do just fine. 

I introduced her to the beauty North Carolina the best way I could by planning a day full of service her 2nd day here.The leaves are almost all off the ground. Almost. 

I dont really have much else to add. Things are going great! 

Have you checked out christmas.mormon.org yet? If not I highly suggest you do so now. This holiday season is so wonderful and it is given to us all because of our Savior Jesus Christ. Let su all remember the true reason for the season!! 

Love to you all, 

Sister Judd 

Dec 1

Hello!

Well it was a great Holiday week! I forgot how great it is to be a missionary during the holiday season. People are so nice!!

Ever since I got to Durham we have been trying really hard to excite the members to do missionary work. Its hard for us to do this work alone. We have been praying and doing everything we can to "build super trust" as we call it here in the NCRM. 

So this week we were praying one morning and I decided to be more specific. I asked Heavenly Father for the members trust us enough to give us referrals. About 3 hours later we were going about our daily business and our phone rings. Its a man in our ward and whats does he have to say? "Sisters, I have someone I would like you to teach." Music to our ears! Then guess what else happens.. Later on in the week we had 2 more members do the same exact thing!! We havent gotten any referrals from members since I have gotten here and this week we got three! We were so excited and we know the Lord is blessing us for our efforts. 

Our investigators M and S are doing well and continuing to progress! Yay! 

After District meeting this week us and the other sisters went out to lunch. As we were eating our food a guy walked up to us and said "are you going to be in the area for a while?" we were a little bit confused but responded yes and then he walked away. We thought it was strange and then got back to eating. A couple minutes later this man comes back. He begins to say how he used to meet with missionaries before when he lived in Oregon. He went on to praise us and thank us for all we did. He told us that he was comfortable in his beliefs but that he appreciated all the good we do for the world and then gave us a $30 gift card to the place we were eating at. This little act of kindness meant so much to us. It is not easy at all doing what we do. Especially during the Holiday season when it would sure be nice to be at home with our families. But what we are doing as missionaries is important and it is a great feeling to be able to know we can change peoples lives. I am grateful for that man and his charitable act towards us. Its good to be a missionary! 

Well I  hope you all have a great week! 

It will be a crazy one here. I am excited to get my new missionary tomorrow. Hopefully we survive this first week! 

Pray for us! 

I am grateful for all of you and your support and love.

-Sister Judd 

nov 24

Helllooo! 

Well this week was another great one! How could it not be? 

So here in the Durham ward we have some ladies who we call our "3 reliables". They do everything and anything for us. From taking us to appointments, driving us around town, picking us up, feeding us, loving us, and are our biggest supporters. Its weird to think that these three ladies who are 60 years of age and above have become my greatest friends here in Durham but they truly have. They are such an inspiration to me. One is a widow, one has a husband who has suffered from Alzheimers for over 10 years and lives in a facility, and one who's husband works away. They haven't had easy lives but they are so strong and have such good wisdom for us. If you haven't gotten the message yet, I love them a whole lot. We decided we needed to do something special for them because I am telling you, they do so much for us! It is weird if we go a day without seeing at least one of them. We had an open day for dinner on Monday so we invited them out to an appreciation dinner. We cooked dinner for them. (Mom you would be proud. I made Sesame chicken, rice, broccoli, and oranges). Then we had dessert and we planned earlier a little Family Home evening for us to all do together. It was so much fun! I love the people of North Carolina!!

Winter definitely hit this week! We didnt have the car so we had to bike it the freezing cold. Let me tell you, that is not easy! But we survived and it is a crisp 70 degrees today and we are stoked! 

We had interviews this week!! With Sister Turley going home next week I knew changes were going to be made. I found out I am going to be training! After spending practically my whole mission as a sister leader I am excited for the chance I have now to train a brand new missionary for my last 2 transfers. I am a little bit nervous but I know it will be great! I have already started praying for the both of us and I hope she is enjoying her time in the MTC right now! 

I went on exchanges this week to the Durham 1st ward. It was so much fun! It made me realize how blessed I am to be able to meet people from all walks of life all day everyday. 

We started out the day teaching a lady who didnt quite receive all the lessons she needed on personal hygiene. She was wearing dirty clothes, teeth or hair hadn't been brushed in days and maybe weeks, the house had no carpet and bugs were crawling all over the place. Spider webs covered most of her belongings. But she had the sweetest heart. We then taught a family who moved here not too long ago from Africa. Their big loving family was squeezed into a small apartment. The kids were running around and cooking dinner while mom was working her janitorial job at Duke. They had a strong desire to learn more about God and the whole family was celebrating that the 17yr old girl had gotten her first job that day at McDonalds. They were trying their best to live their life the best way they could. We then went to a lady who was living in government housing. She had spent the day in court fighting her baby daddy for child support because he just got out of jail. She does her best to support her 2 kids working 20 hours a week at McDonalds. Her son was getting baptized on Saturday and they were so happy for him. Later, as we were walking down the street  a man came up to us. We quickly learned that he was partly deaf and couldnt really talk. He was so excited to see us and had the biggest smile on his face as he tried to tell us that he used to meet with missionaries before. We got his information and then he gave me the biggest hug. (as missionaries, we really arent supposed to hug people of the opposite sex so this moment was a little awkward for me but he was so happy I just couldnt help but be too). And then we spent the evening with wonderful young moms and wives who are doing their best to support their husbands who are in law, business, or medical school at Duke. Can I just say it again, I love the people of North Carolina!

We had the greatest lesson with M this week!! We were able to have it in a members home. The couple we were with said exactly what he needed to hear. M accepted to be baptized on December 27th! And he came to church yesterday!! One of the best feelings ever is seeing an investigator walk in the doors to the church building on Sunday morning! We are excited about his progression thus far! 

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving this week and find  much to be grateful for!! 

I am grateful for this time I have to be a missionary and to share what brings me joy with others! 

I love you all!

Sister Judd

nov 17

Hello!

We were able to make great progress with our two investigators this week!! Thats the best news. We were able to have another lesson with M. When we went to pick him up he asked if his cousin could come along. Sure! His cousin M who is 12 joined us. We decided to have the lesson at the church so they could see what it is like and maybe be more comfortable to come to church. We showed the Restoration dvd and then did a little church tour. It went better than expected! The spirit was so strong and we could tll they both could feel it. They looked at us like keep on telling us more and more! Sometimes I wish I could just plug people into my brain so they will know automatically everything about the gospel that I know. But it doesnt happen that way. M said the sweetest prayer at the end of the lesson and we look forward to seeing them progress. 

I got pretty sick this week. I think it was just some virus that was going around. We were still able to go out everyday but on Thursday it was the worst. We called our investigator S who we usually do service for on Thursday mornings and told her we wouldnt be able to make it. SInce we didnt see her Thursday we decided to just stop by on Saturday. Luckily we caught her home and she let us right in. We were able to have the best lesson with her. She has been reading the Book of Mormon everyday and she told us that she has totally seen a change in her life. She has a lot more peace and hope. We are so happy that she is experiencing that change like we knew she would. Now we just wish more people would actually do what we invite them to do. We are representatives of Jesus Christ people, listen!! But anyways, things are going well.

Things are going well here. We are slowly but surely able to meet with more and more people each week. Its great to be a missionary!! 

"Now is the time and today is the day to learn or reaffirm for ourselves that the gospel is true. " -Elder Craig C. Christensen

I hope you all have a great week! 

All my love, 

Sister Judd 

nov 10

Hello! 

We got a new investigator this week!! (finally).  His name is M and he is 17 years old. We have spanish sisters in our area and they ran into his family. He said that he wanted to learn more about God so they passed him along to us. We started talkign with him and set up a time to meet. He said his house wasnt a good place to meet and asked if we could meet at the library. Sure! The only thing is he doesnt drive. So for our appointment we got a member, had them pick us up then we had to go pick up this teenage boy none of us had ever met and all go to the library. I was a little bit nervous of how it was all going to work out but it went better than expected! M comes from a very very rough background. Pretty much has been raised in the projects his whole life. He has a strong desire to believe in God and make a better future for himself than what will probably happen. The lesson went so well. He had great questions and was able to understand what we taught. I hope he will progress in the gospel. It will give him the change of course he needs in his life to turn it around. Keep him in your prayers that he will continue to meet with us! 

We went back to help S this week and she read from the Book of Mormon! We were so excited she actually took the challenge. She had a different light about her and we knew why. We just pray that she will continue to read and learn! 

Every other week we hold a Book of Mormon class, like I have mentioned before. Well this week we had a Book of Mormon "fireside". We help the class around an actual fire! It was Sister Turley and my turn to teach. We taught about how the Book of Mormon answers questions to the soul. We had a great turnout and fun was had by all! 

Last Monday for preperation day we travled a couple minutes down the road to Duke University campus. A member was bringing us and the spanish sisters. Then on our way we saw the sisters that serve in another Durham ward. We pulled over and invited then. They hopped in the car and we kept going. We first went to go look at one of the original Book of Mormons that Duke has in their rare book library. We were also able to see oen of the first Hymnbooks they made. It was so neat and sucha  strong spirit radiated off the book. How could it not be true?! Then we walked around the beautiful Duke chapel. One day I will attend a worship service there. It was magnificent. We felt a little bit like we were on a fieldtrip. 6 sister missionaries and an adult. It was so much fun and I dont think we ever stopped laughing. Its always a fun time to be with other sisters. 

Well thats the report for this week. I hope this email finds you all doing well! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

nov 3

Hello!!

We had a pretty good week this week! We feel like the work is slowly but surely picking up. 

Wednesday was one of those days where I went to bed wishing I could be a missionary forever. Wanna hear about it? 

We woke up early(6am instead of 6:30) and got picked up to go serve at bishops storehouse at the stake center. We arrived and went straight to work. Bishops storehouse is basically like a food pantry that our church puts together. After all the food was put on the tables we got to go around and pick up different peoples orders. We delivered some to peoples houses and then we rushed home to clean up and head off to district meeting. I look forward to district meeting every week and have for my whole mission. I love that we can gather as 18-21 year old boys and girls and have a spiritual uplifting meeting and all leave better people because of it. Where does that happen in normal life with no adult supervision? The church must be true!  There is a special spirit being around other missionaries, one that I will never get tired of. Then we had lunch and did our online proselyting. We then were off to a lesson with a lady who got baptized last year. She invited a friend over and we watched the restoration dvd. The friend was so uplifted and enjoyed it so much. Even though she is strong on her faith is was great to meet together and enjoy the spirit. We then had a lesson with a member who we love. We are preparing her to enter the temple. We were able to talk about the many wonderful blessings that come from the temple. I pondered on how blessed I am to have the blessings of temple covenants in my life. We then headed off to our dinner appointment at our ward mission leaders house. Its always a fun time going there. They spoiled us with our favorite pizza from a local place. When else in my life will it be someone else's job to make sure I have a dinner every night? After a great dinner we headed off to the ward fall festival. It was so much fun! They had all kinds of carnival type games for the kids, fall treats, a costume parade, costume contest, and then trunk or treat! It was a hit. So many people attended and fun was had by all! The day came to end with nothing but gratitude in my heart for my Heavenly Father and for the blessing I have to serve here in North Carolina. 

We didnt do much on actual Halloween. We spend the whole day in our monthly leadership meeting. They celebrated by having bowls of candy for us on the tables after we ate our lunch. That night we had dinner later than usual. We went to a lady from China's house. It was the first time that she had signed up to feed us. She is hosting 2 exchange students from China as well. And guess what we had for dinner? Chinese food! This was no panda express. It consisted of Tofu with beef, some egg and tomato dish, and chicken in this weird seasoning. Lets just say it wasn't my favorite and I counted my blessings I'm not serving my mission in Asia. The best part was seeing how excited the exchange students were for trick-or-treaters. They dont celebrate Halloween in China. After dinner we went home and stayed in for the night. 

We went to help S in her yard again this week. We have been going every week. After spending most of the lesson we had frustrated because she just wasn't progressing or really wanting to learn we were about to give up. Just as we were about to leave she broke down. Telling us she had been feeling like she had no faith and that God has abandoned her. She was willing to do whatever we told her to try and build her faith. We then promised her that if she read from the Book of Mormon every single day she would see an increase of faith in her life. For the first time ever she actually committed herself to do what we asked. She then prayed and asked Heavenly Father to work in the crack in her heart. It was such a great lesson to see her change. She really has such a strong desire to do whats right but she is just lost, and thats why we are here. We hope to see great things come from it! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

oct 27

Hello All!!

I hope you have all had a great week. 

I apologize but there just isn't much to write about this week.

We spent most of the week tracting. We didn't have any doors slammed in our face so that was a plus, but we weren't able to find anyone too interested either. 

We were able to meet with some less actives and share messages of hope. 

We spent our usual time raking more leaves and doing crafts with the old people. 

We had some great meals with members and were able to enjoy their spirit. 

We were able to be entertained with a wonderful Primary presentation put on by the kids of the church on Sunday. 

And we were able to spend another week enjoying life as a representative of Jesus Christ! 

Doesn't get much better. 

We were able to go to Young Womens yesterday. One of my favorite places to be. We had such a good lesson on gratitude. This video was shared and I just couldn't help but pass it along to all of you. Watch here!

Thanks for all the love and support and prayers! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

oct 20

Hello!! 

I have been in Durham now for a full transfer! I cant believe how fast time goes. Transfer meeting happens this week. Everything is staying the same for us. 

We had a miracle this week! One day our phone started ringing and we looked down and saw that M was calling. M is the lady we were teaching when I first got here. She was doing so well and then one day we showed up for our appointment and her son came to the door and told us that after studying and thinking his mom was no longer interested and wanted to give us the materials back. We told him to keep the Book of Mormon and other pamphlets we had given and to tell his mom to give us a call if she ever needed anything. We walked away very disappointed.. So now here we are about a month later and we see she is calling. She tells us that she has been praying and God keeps telling her she needs to call us. We set up an appointment for the next day and went to see her. She said she has been feeling this huge weight on her shoulders and knew that she needed to invite us back. The second she did call us the weight was lifted. She said she was tired of ignoring God and realized that we were really the answers to her prayers and she was tired if resisting it. She is now excited to continuing learning and we hope to see some great progression with her! 

We continued to do lots of service this week. Carver living center had their fall festival. We went to volunteer and we got to watch old people take 3 hours to eat lunch. I even was given the great privilege of feeding an old woman her pureed food while she coughed it up all over me. Reminded me of my sweet days feeding soupa to the kids in Ecuador. 

Fall has officially begun therefore so has raking leaves season! We raked leaves for our investigator S. She has a neat leaf bin that she puts all her leaves in to turn into mulch. Pictures included because who doesnt love playing in a pile of leaves? 

We had stake conference this weekend. We received a new Stake President here in Durham. It was wonderful to witness revelation flow to man from God. We had Elder Carlson of the 70 and Elder Parker our area 70 here. Elder Parker is amazing. If you watched meet the mormons he is in the movie. He is the guy who argues with the Mormon Bishop over whose BBQ is better. He is your typical southern Baptist converted to Mormonism. Every time he speaks you just cant help but love him. And his testimony is contagious. He is so devoted to missionary work it is amazing. He shared a great story.. When the announcement came out about members and missionaries working better together his wife decided she wanted to get involved. She didnt know what but she knew she needed to do something. The next week she came up with a plan. The HOA of their neighborhood had recently stated that all mailboxes needed to be freshly painted all black. Her mailbox needed to be painted and she knew everyone elses did to. She came up with a plan that she would go around and paint everyone's mailboxes for them. The catch was that while she was painting the mailbox the homeowner had to talk with the missionaries she brought along.. Now I had heard this story about a 8 months ago when it happened. I might have even qwortoe about it in a previous email. I thought it was such a great idea and was happy she had gone out to do that.. This weekend he extended the story. Out of 182 mailboxes in the neighborhood his wife painted 161. And from that the missionaries got 22 return appointments. And 1 baptism happened because of Sister Parkers efforts. Elder Parker is now the new home teacher to his next door neighbor because his wife wanted to get involved with the missionary work. How inspiring!! 

Happiness comes when we keep the commandments. Missionary work is a commandment. I can testify that when you share your beliefs and what matters most to you to others you will be filled with joy! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love

Sister Judd 

oct13

Hello!!

Hope you have all had a great week like we have here in Durham! 

Let me start by telling you about our investigator S. She is the woman we met while walking on my birthday. She is currently our only investigator so we love her a whole lot :)  We have been going to do service for her a couple times a week. She has a giant yard and lives alone so she is in need of help. When we serve her we talk a little bit about the church but we dont have full on discussions. It is amazing to see just how serving her has made such an impact. The second time we went to serve her she told us that ever since she met us she has felt closer to Jesus Christ. The next time we went she told us that she felt that she needed to start praying everyday and so she had started doing that, without us even inviting her to do so! The next time we went last week she told us she felt the need to go to church and she did. The only problem was that it wasnt our church, she actually went to the church that is directly next to our church! At the point she didnt know where are church was so we told her she just needed to go the next door down the street next time. Then we went this week and invited her to come to our church and she did!! We havent had anyone attend church with us since we got here and we didnt think she was really going to come, but she did! We were so excited. We are amazed by just how us serving her is bringing her closer to Jesus Christ. Which is what we are here to do! I love how the Lord works. Hoping for great things to happen with S! 

We got to see Meet the Mormons this week!! Did you? It was sooo good! After our zone conference meeting they set up the movie on a projector and we all got to sit and watch it. I think we were all pretty excited to be able to sit and watch something entertaining, other than the district. And I also think that all of us missionaries and our missionary humor made it even better but nonetheless it was such a great movie! It brought out every emotion you could think of and left me so inspired and with a desire to be better! If you havent had the chance to watch it yet I highly encourage it! 

Here is the semi-funny story of the week. As we planned Saturday night we realized that we were pretty  much going to be at the church building all day. We had church, then choir practice until 3 and then we had to be back at the church at 5 for a mission prep class. Because we dont have the car the easiest thing for us to do was just stay at the church and eat lunch there and then do our facebook for an hour. So Sunday morning we packed our lunch to bring the the church to put in the fridge while we were in our church services. As I was making my lunch the thought came to me to make 2 sandwiches. I had no idea why, I never eat 2 sandwiches. I debated back and forth and then just made 2 thinking I might be really hungry after the long day. After all of our meetings we go to the fridge to grab our lunch which is in a plastic bag with our names written on it and it's tied. We go to grab our stuff and realize that Sister Turley's sandwich is gone and one of mine is gone. Someone had gone into the fridge and taken them. We were a little upset, we are starving poor missionaries with nothing else to eat and our substance is gone. Sister Turley then tells me she had a feeling while we were sitting in one of our classes that our food was going to be gone. She prayed that Heavenly Father would calm her and not make her so angry if that were the case. I told her how I had no idea why I made two sandwiches. Well now we knew why! We still had 1 sandwich to share! I am amazed how Heavenly Father prepared both of us in our different ways for that moment. We just tried to think that someone else really needed that food. But we are grateful for our loving Heavenly Father who is in every detail of our lives and is watching out for us. Funny now, not funny in the moment. 

Well I hope you all have a great week! "Seeking the kingdom of God leads to joy and happiness." —Elder Allan F. Packer

-Sister Judd