Nov 25

Hello all!!

I hope you have all had a wonderful week!

It was an interesting week over here to say the least! It was a pretty slow week. Not the easiest week to be a missionary. But all is well!

We are on the search. We don't have any people to teach right now. Things have slowed down a ton. We spent much time out in the cold knocking on doors trying to find. Not much luck but we are not getting discouraged!! We know that there are people out there ready to accept the Gospel. We are doing all we can and being obedient and we know we will be able to find them!

We had quite the experience in one of the wards this week. You all know B.. Well she became interested in the church because of her friend A. A, who is also 15, was baptized earlier this year and told B all about it and that's when we started meeting with B. Well on Tuesday this week A overdosed on drugs and tried to commit suicide. We got a phone-call late Friday night finding out about this. We were in shock and couldn't believe sweet A would do this. She was in ICU for 2 days and then was moved to the children's hospital to be watched over closely. We were told she had been requesting a visit from us. We of course said we would go visit her as soon as possible. Saturday afternoon we went and saw her. I was extremely nervous, not knowing the condition she would be in. Well we were able to go and had a wonderful visit. We just let her know that we love her and that most importantly our Savior and Heavenly Father love her. We were reading the general conference talk Like a Broken Vessel By Elder Holland with her. She has a nurse that has to be with her 24/7. After reading the talk the nurse was asking about it and then we got onto the topic of religion. She was so interested as to what us missionaries did and all about Mormonism. We ended up sharing the whole first discussion with her and was able to give her a Book of Mormon. A was able to chime in and share her testimony also and help bring the spirit back into her life. The Gospel of Jesus Christ can turn any bad situation better. When we know that Jesus Christ atoned and died for us we can have immediate peace and be able to come closer to Him. All in all, A just wanted some attention and will be okay. She is still in the hospital and will be until her emotions are settled.

This week we were also given the opportunity to serve dinner to a battered womans shelter.
What a wonderful experience! These woman were so appreciative and so sweet. They all come from not the greatest of backgrounds but i'd say 95% of them had some sort of faith in God. It was so neat to be able to share with them that God does loves them and is watching over them. I figured we were going to a more dangerous place so I didn't bring anything with me. Didnt think I would need it.  As we were talking with them 2 woman asked for a Book of Mormon. Here I was, a missionary, and I didn't have a Book of Mormon to give to them. I was so ashamed and felt so awful for not being prepared. After that I promised my Heavenly Father that I will carry a Book of Mormon in my hand anytime I step out of my apartment to be readily available to give to people. I did just that and in the next two days I was able to give out four Books of Mormon. I know that those opportunities were given to me because Heavenly Father trusted me and knew I was prepared with the Book of Mormon in my hand. My testimony was strengthened. We must always be prepared for what is ahead of us. We must put on the armor of God every morning so we can go out and fight against the temptations of Satan. As a missionary and for all of you! Pray and study the scriptures. You will notice a difference in your life when you do these things!

Funny story of the week, we had pulled over in a neighborhood down the rode from one of our members houses waiting for our dinner appointment. We had a few phone calls to make. As we were sitting there a cop pulls up behind us with his lights on. We were so confused. He comes up to us and asks us what we were doing. Sister Fullmer is in the drivers seat and is freaking out. We tell him we were just making some calls and would be on our way. He then asks sister fullmer for her license. He then takes forever to run it. He comes back and says the owner of the house we were in front of called the cops and wanted us to leave. He let us go and said to just watch where we park our car next time. It was pretty funny. I wonder how many times I will get the cops called on me over the next 18 months.

I also just have to add that I had a nice surprise in the mail for me this week. The return address was The Office of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. I was like "what in the world is this?" My first honest thought was that I was sent a new mission call and I was going to be sent somewhere else. I had no idea what to expect when I opened it. Turns out it was the sweetest personal letter from Elder D. Todd Christofferson. He sent me a letter telling me what an honor it was to be in Bakersfield to call my father as the new Stake President of Bakersfield South Stake. He shared with me the love he could feel the people of the Stake had for my family. He told me he used to live in North Carlina while he attended Duke University to go to Law school. He expressed his gratitude to me for serving the Lord here and that I was missed in Bakersfield. It was such a kind gesture for him to take the time to send that. And he personally signed it (the ink smeared when I put my wet finger on it). A letter I will treasure! Its great to be a missionary!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I will be very well fed out here, no worries about that!
Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Love,
Sister Judd

Nov 19

Hello!!!!

M was baptized on Saturday November 16, 2013. What a glorious day!! It had surprisinlgy been a pretty easy week for M. Every day she would text us and say something along the lines of "I dont care what Satan thinks, I am getting baptized!". And she sure did. We met her at the church a little before and she was smiling from ear to ear!! She had gone shopping the night before to get some new church clothes. She had been wearing dress pants for the past couple of weeks to church but she wanted to find a skirt for her baptism. She looked happier than ever. The baptism service went wonderful. We had asked if she would be willing to bear her testimony after she was baptized as part of the program. She was hesitant but agreed. We promised that the spirit would put words into her mouth. She did a wonderful job and there was not a dry eye in the room. She shared her story on how there were 3 specific times in her life that she felt completely alone and overwhelmed and quite frankly just wanted to die. She says on those 3 days exactly were when the mormon missionaries knocked on her door. She knew that God was answering her prayers. She has such a strong testimony and I look forward to seeing her learn and grow in this wonderful gospel!! Her kids keep asking me if I will move in with them, after my mission I might not be able to turn down the offer. Included is a picture of us on her baptism.

J was able to come to the baptism. He is excited to be baptized in December. We sadly found out that he lives in another ward boundary. So he will now be being taught by other missionaries. But it will be good for him to learn from these elders. They are great! We will continue to meet and see him when we go to M's house. He also will still come to our ward. We found out this week that he is an ex-nfl player! he played for the Giants. Its didnt come as a complete shock seeing as he is the biggest guy I have ever stood next to in my life. It was funny because yesterday someone at church invited him to play turkey bowl on thanksgiving. He doesnt tell a lot of people that he played in the nfl. So sister fullmer and I joked that this nice man didnt realize he just invited a ex-nfl player to join in on a turkey bowl game. Wish we could watch that game go down. 

On Wednesday we had a wonderful visit from Elder Baxter of the 70. He taught a lot of wonderful points, especially to us in our missionary work. He made a statement that stood out to me. We are the New Testament church brought back to the earth! I couldnt say it any better. We are the church of Jesus Christ. His church that he set up while He lived. I love this gospel and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has given us this truth so we may know exactly what we need to do to return to live with him and live in complete joy for eternity. It is always a special time when a lot of missionaries gather together. It is my favorite! A picture is included of part of my district from the MTC. We all got so close in the MTC and it is so fun to be able to reconnect and share stories on how we are now applying what we all learned together. 

So tomorrow is transfers and guess what.. i am staying. And so is Sister Fullmer!!! We were both in complete shock when we had our interviews with President Bernhisel on Thursday. Sister Fullmer will now be in this area for half of her mission. We are excited to be together another transfer, especially since it will be during the holidays. The reason she is staying is because we were called to be the Sister Training Leaders. Basically we are in charge of all the sister missionaries. We are a little shocked, definitely a calling we were not expecting. But we are excited for the adventure. We will be going to all the leadership meetings and going on exchanges with other sister to make sure they are doing okay and keeping everything in line. Wish us luck!! 

I am sure you all saw on facebook but I now have a blog. It is sisteremjudd.blogpsot.com. I will hopefully be posting throughout the week. 

I love being a missionary! I love this gospel! I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!

Have a wonderful week.

Love,
Sister Judd

Nov 12

Hello wonderful family and friends!!

I just have to start out by saying this... Mis getting baptized on Saturday!!!! Words can not express the joy that I have felt as she has committed to following the example of Jesus Christ. This path has not been easy for her or for us but we have grown so close. She knows that the true church of Jesus Christ was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that nothing else in the world will be able to bring her greater joy or happiness! We are so happy for her. Prayers in behalf of her this week would be greatly appreciated. 

Now let me introduce to you J.. J owns a personal fitness gym. M is a personal trainer at this gym. M and J have been close friends for 7+ years. John has been able to see the change in M and M has been telling him all that she has been learning. J has some struggles in his life and has been looking for help. He has realized that he wants what M has. Therefore we are now teaching J! It is amazing.  He has been able to come to church twice and after the first time he said, " I know we are supposed to surround ourselves with the people we want to be like. And if there is anyone I want to be like it is those Mormons." He is so prepared and excited to have this gospel in his life also. We were able to go clean his house and have been able to get him on the path to getting his life back together. We love him and are excited to see him learn and grow. 

On Friday M texted us in the morning and said "Come to my boot camp class this morning. For free. I will help you obey the word of wisdom". We laughed and couldn't turn down a good workout or the chance to apply our teachings . We had a good time and it was fun to see M in this different setting. J said the gym was open free to us anytime we wanted. Perks of teaching personal trainers.

Tomorrow we get to hear from another general authority. Elder Baxter of the seventy. We are excited to learn from him. I am so grateful for all the opportunities that I get to enjoy while being a missionary. There is nothing better.

Next Tuesday is transfers. We will find out on Thursday what is happening. Sister Fullmer is most likely leaving and we are very sad. She has been in this area now for 7 1/2 months. She has become one of my best friends and it will be so hard to have her leave. But I am excited for the change and to see what happens!

www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2714780496001&cid=HPWE110613145

Take a minute and watch this video. It has become one of my favorites. God knows what he is doing, always. Continue to press forward in faith.

Thank you for your prayers and support.
Have a wonderful week!!

love, 

Sister Judd

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. 

and the last picture is of me and b. we showed up to a church meeting matching so we of course had to take a picture :)

Oct 28

This is me in front of our mission logo. I love the NCRM! (North Carolina Raleigh Mission)!

Hello family and friends!

Time goes by so fast here I cant believe it! I feel like it was just yesterday I was writing you all telling you about C's baptism. It has been another fabulous week here in North Carolina!

C is doing fabulous! We will continue to meet with her. This week we taught her about family history and then taking the names of her family member to the temple to be baptized so that they can enter into the kingdom of God. We pulled up the wonderful familysearch.org website. We typed in the name of the only deceased family member she knew. We were then able to track her family back a little while. She was so excited to see the names on the computer of family members that she had heard stories about before. The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has the largest collection of family history and genealogy resources.What a wonderful resource we can all use to find our deceased family members! She is excited to get names put together to take and do work in the temple for them so that they will be able to feel the same peace and happiness that she has found by being baptized by the proper authority of God.

M is doing just wonderful. I have so much love and respect for this woman. A single mother trying to survive raising her children and do the right thing. She will be so blessed to have this gospel in her life! This week we went and saw her. We were talking with her at the end of the lesson she says "you girls want to hear a joke I heard yesterday. My co worker said that mormons cant drink coffee. The rumors people say are so funny". We then started laughing and kindly told her that that wasn't a joke and she had complete shock on her face. M loves her coffee. We told her we were grateful she wasn't believing all the rumors that she hears and we would come back tomorrow to teach her the Word of Wisdom and the blessings we receive by being obedient. The next day we went over prepared to teach her this commandment. When we explained that our bodies are a sacred gift from our Heavenly Father and we need to do everything we can to take care of them. Just like when you buy an expensive car or item we will do everything we can to protect that certain thing, we need to do that for our bodies. Just like alcohol or drugs, coffee is an addictive substance that can come in control of our bodies. Addictions are dangerous for many reasons. M then said that this commandment was an answer to her prayers. Her doctor has been telling her for years that coffee is ruining her intestines. She explained to us that she never has been a drinker but recently she has been drinking wine with her friends. Every time she has something inside of her tells her that it is wrong but she didn't know why. She is grateful now for the explanation and has committed to living her life following the word of wisdom. We know that the Lord never gives a commandment without blessings in return for obeying. She will now be blessed with a healthier body and mind in which the spirit can more heavily reside. We will all receive blessing when we obey the commandments. 

As I said last week we had a fabulous visit from 2 general authorities. We had Elder Zwick and Elder Pino if the seventy. The whole mission gathered together in Fayetteville North Carolina. This is the first time the whole mission (over 200 missionaries) has been together in over 18 months! There was a wonderful spirit in the room! Elder Pino and his wife both bore wonderful testimonies. They are from South America so their talks were translated by a spanish speaking elder. Elder Pino shared this story with us. A little while ago he was invited by an apostle to sit in on missionary calls being assigned. He said as they were going the apostle stopped on the North Carolina Raleigh Mission and said "this is a great mission". As he was with us yesterday he said he could now see why and he was grateful to be here. I agree that this is a wonderful mission and I am so lucky to be here! Elder Zwick gave a fabulous talk also. He talked about the scripture found in Mark 1:16-17..

16 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become^afishers of men.

He pointed out the word become. We are all becoming. It is line upon line, precept on precept. None of us are perfect, we are all learning. We are all becoming better. He stated that we must not stop ourselves on what we think we can do but we must allow the Lord to expand our capacities. We must trust in the Lord because through Him all things are possible!! I can testify of that.

I am out of time but I hope you all have a fabulous, blessed week! I pray for you all! 

Thanks for all your love and support!

-Sister Judd

This is the pumpkin I painted at our Relief Society activity this week. Inspired by my wonderful farewell cake Heidi Hunt and Mia Brooks made. 

God loves you

Sister Fullmer and I were walking to try and contact one of our referrals. We had our cameras on us from the baptism so we took some pictures. Here I am showing you North Carolina. All you that you ever see is trees. Trees trees everywhere. You probably had no idea there are tons of houses right behind those trees did you?

On Saturday October 19, 2013 C was baptized! Oh what a glorious day. Who knew planning and preparing for a baptism could be so stressful? I didn't sleep much the night before with so many thoughts going through my head but when the moment finally arrived I was filled with so much joy! It was wonderful to be able to see the fruits of my labor and change somebody's life! Ward members came and supported and even our mission president was in attendance! Funny story, we had a lady in the ward doing a musical number. About 30 minutes before the baptism started she was practicing and said her voice was a little rough that day. She then asked if Sister Fullmer and I would sing with her. With much hesitation we agreed. Now in case you didn't already know, I am not a good singer. I would never choose to or volunteer myself to sing in front of people. A mission definitely changes you in ways you would never imagine. We sang the song and by the end much to my surprise there weren't very many dry eyes in the room. I know the spirit was helping me sing that song. It was one of those "I wish my friends and family back home could see me doing this" type of moment. All in all it was a wonderful day and I look forward to seeing C grow and strengthen herself in the gospel! 

Yesterday our investigator M came to church for the first time! We had a little rough patch with her. She was supposed to watch general conference with us 2 weeks ago but instead of showing up she sent us a text saying "I don't think it would be fair to myself or the children if I made a commitment to the mormon church without researching other things first". It was a heart breaker! We were deeply saddened but we knew that was not going to be the end. We have been able to resolver her concerns over that past weeks and now she is stronger than ever! She had a wonderful experience at church yesterday and we are praying for a baptism sometime in November! She is just fabulous.

So some exciting news... We are having 2 General Authorities come visit us this weekend! We found out on Saturday. We have been expecting one and preparing for one to come in November (which is still happening) but we are also getting graced with the presence of 2 this weekend! We are so excited. We have no idea what is happening all we know is that it is a "very special occasion" and they have "something special to share". All the missionaries will be gathering together in Fayetteville. So we get to go on a little road trip about 2 hours south. We are very anxious and cant wait to learn from them!

Thought of the day is about FAITH! What a powerful principle!

2 Nephi 26:13 And that he manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men according to their faith.

We were promised by our mission president that there are at least 10-20 people in our ares that are prepared and ready to accept the gospel. We also had the goal set that our mission would double baptisms from last year in the months of October, November, and December. Now this kind of seemed daunting at first. Sisters have been in this area for about a year now and there has been one baptism, C. How in the world are we supposed to find those 10 people and also be able to double our baptisms?! One word, faith! As the scriptures say miracles can and will happened, according to our faith. How do we develop faith? The bible dictionary says this "strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness" We must be obedient to the commandments in order for our faith to increase and in order for miracles to happen in our lives! 

I know that God has not ceased to produce miracles. He is a God of miracles. But we must have faith in order to see those miracles in our lives! We must be obedient to the commandments and we must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ! I challenge you all to strive to increase your faith and I know that you will be able to see those miracles start to happen in your life.

Thank you all for your continuing love and support. 

Have a wonderful, blessed week!

With love,
Sister Judd 

October 14

Hello!!

Well I am still here and alive. Hurricane Karen didnt come into Wake Forest too strong. A week full of rain but that's about it.

Just ended week 1 of my 2nd transfer. Today marks my 2 month mark! I can not believe how fast time is flying! Only 16 more months left of my mission and the rest of eternity to think about it. To say I am loving this experience would be an understatement. I could not think of anything else I would rather be doing right now. Of course sleeping in for an extra hour would be nice or sitting down to watch tv would be relaxing but I can do that for the rest of my life. For this 18 months I get to wake up every single day with a purpose. I get to serve others and bring happiness into peoples lives. It is the most rewarding and life changing experience. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for sending me here and blessing me with this opportunity. I feel as though I am on cloud 9! Even during the moment this week as we were walking up to a house and before we even got to the porch the lady we were coming to visit runs out and yells at us to stop harassing her.. oh well.

This week has been wonderful. We have been preparing for C to be baptized! Yes, this Saturday October 19 C will be getting baptized. We are SO EXCITED! She is truly prepared and we were placed in her path for a reason! Her life has made a complete 180 from when we first met her. She is happier than ever before and she will continue to be blessed throughout her life as she continues on the right path.

We had a mission home fireside last night. All missionaries are welcome but the catch is you have to bring an investigator or a recent convert. Well luckily C was able to go so we attended. Our President spoke for a little and then he opened the time up to have the investigators and recent converts bear their testimony. It was remarkable. The testimonies of these new members is such an example to me. They are so simple and full of so much power and spirit. C bore her testimony first and she testified that she knows that this church is where we can find the most happiness in our lives. She told the story of after the first time she came to church she went to her moms house and the first thing her mom said to her was "you look so happy". C realized that and knew it was because she came to church and has come to know that this is the best place to be. That true joy is found when we are coming closer to our Savior Jesus Christ. And I can testify of that myself. 

Look forward to pictures from her baptism next week. And keep C in your prayers this week as she continues to prepare and Satan will be trying to tempt her hard.

3 Nephi 19:25
And it came to pass that Jesus blessed them as they did pray unto him; and his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them..

The power of prayer is real!! I dont know about you but I would love to know that Jesus is smiling because of something I did. Pray to our Heavenly Father. He will be listening. And he will answer your prayers.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for all the support.

Love, 

Sister Judd