july 7

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

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

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

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

Now on to better things.... 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, 

Sister Judd 

june 30

Hello!!

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

This will be a shorter email. My apologies. 

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

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

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

To learn more about Gods plan read here .

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Judd 

June 23

Hello again!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, 

Sister Judd 

June 16

Hello!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for all your love and support! 

Sister Judd 

June 9

Hey hey hey! 

Another great week come and gone.. whats new? 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for all the love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

June 2

Hello! Its me again! 

Exciting things are happening here in Garner! I dont even know where to begin! 

I"ll start at the beginning of the week. We had interviews again with President Bernhisel! I always love interviews. Then after interviews Sister Bernhisel had asked to come out on exchanges with us. I was super nervous and stressed. I wanted to make sure she had a good time and that we could show her the fabulous missionaries that we are (ha). Our lessons ended up going so well and I had no reason to worry. I love Sister Bernhisel.

 After our exchange with her we went on exchanges with the spanish sisters in our zones. I stayed here in Garner with one of the Hermanas. We had such a great time! She is a new missionary and was actually just baptized herself only a little over a year ago. She had friends in high school that were members. She had wanted to go away for school but out of state tuition was so expensive. Her mormon friends convinced her to go to BYU Idaho even though they werent even going there. So she went to BYU I as a nonmember and joined the church about 6 months after being there. It was so fun to hear her stories and experiences. She has so much faith and I couldn't imagine her not being a part of the gospel. We had a good time teaching. Then we decided to go tracting. There was a neighborhood I have been wanting to go to for a while. We started knocking on some doors with no luck. Then we get to a door and a hispanic woman answers. I said my thing and then she responded by saying that she didnt speak english. Then Hermana R whipped out her spanish. The look on the ladies face was priceless. Hermana actually looks a lot like me. Blonde hair, green eyed girl from California. The lady definitely was not expecting spanish to come out of her mouth. She agreed to let missionaries come back and teach her more. And the best part is that it happened again! We got 2 new families for the Spanish elders to start teaching. Truly a miracle and it couldnt have happened without Hermana. I could have gotten used to her being around!   

                   

Another tracting story of the week. We are working on serving with our whole "heart, might, mind, and strength". I had made a goal this week to act just as Jesus Christ would in every situation I am faced. Whether it be with my companion, or on the street, or in lessons.. whatever. Well of course whenever you set a goal it gets tested. We had about a 30 minute window before our dinner appointment so we decided to knock doors. About the 5th door in this lady answers. Sister Langarica starts talking and I could tell the lady did not want to hear us. Well then the lady start yelling at us and starts going off on all this stuff. I will spare you what she said but basically she was trying to tell us what we believe. And was not being nice whatsoever. I was standing there with a smile on my face trying to be nice. I wanted soo badly to just put her in her place and tell her how it really is. It took every ounce of being in my body to just keep standing there quietly and not say anything. She then slammed the door and we walked away. Its not easy to be a missionary. And its especially not easy when you are trying to do whats right and work even though we could have just sat in the air conditioned car for that 30 minutes. And then to have a lady literally verbally abuse you on her porch.. man it sure is trying! But I thought back to my goal. And then I thought about Joseph Smith and all he went through. And then I thought about all my scripture heroes and all the trials they had to face because of their commitment to always follow Jesus Christ. And then I remembered why it was all worth it. Because this gospel is amazing. Because Jesus Christ died for us and gave us the opportunity to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father. And because I would do anything to give this gift I have of the gospel in my life to other people. So when a door gets you down, just keep on knocking! 

We had some fun experiences this week. I had the opportunity to help out at the Young Womens activity this week. They were having a princess academy. They had a nice dinner then there was 4 classes the young women rotated through. I was asked to teach the class on beauty. I taught about hair and makeup and did some demonstrations and taught them some new hairstyles. It was so much fun to be a part of. We had ran into rite-aid right before to grab a last minute supply. As we were checking out the worker asked if we went to the church. We said yes and started talking. He then said that they have some easter candy they would love to give to us to give out at our church. He then went to the back and came back with a bag full of candy and 2 big baskets. It was pretty much awesome. Free stuff for the win!! The word free takes me to my next story. We had gotten a flyer on our door for the Baptist church down the street having a little get together. The key words that stood out to us was "free event for all. Free food. free activities. free..." We decided we had to go. Free lunch!! We did a little drive by and didnt see a single white person. We knew we were going to definitely be the odd balls out. Other than our lighter skin, we are obviously missionaries from the Mormon church. We decided to go up anyways. We were greeted very kindly and they were all very nice. They had that pastor giving his little message and some bands. We got our hot dog and chips and had a seat and enjoyed the show. It was basically awesome. People watching is taken to a new extreme at a baptist church in the south with people feeling the spirit all around you. We enjoyed ourselves and got to talk to some very wonderful people. We might have been the only white girls there but that didnt stop anybodies party. It was a great time. 

Other good news, a miracle happened and K is going to be baptized on Saturday! We are so excited for her commitment and faith and her desire to follow Jesus Christ. She is awesome! 

Anyways, out of time but I hope you all have a fabulous week! Look for the good all around. 

Thanks for all your love and support. 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

may 26

Happy Tuesday! 

Well T was baptized on Saturday, as I am sure many of you already saw on Facebook. It was such a wonderful day. She was glowing immensely and looked like the happiest girl in the world. It was such a special day to be by her side and she made the first step to eternal life. We got there a little bit early and picked out a couple dresses for her to try on that she could wear. She picked one and went into the bathroom to change. She was taking a while so we yelled through the door that if the dress wasn't working we could get her a new one. She came out a couple minutes later and said "sorry, the dress fits perfectly. I was just praying". The spirit was so strong that day. T was so prepared and so ready to be baptized. This decision will bless her life forever. 

We have been teaching lots of lessons and keeping busy. 

Our investigator K has come such a long way. I dont know if I have talked about her before or not. We met K about 3 months ago. She was referred to us by her friend that is a member. At first we were a little hesitant to teach her. She was in a rough situation financially and we thought she just wanted the church to help her with some bills. After we got that settled she still was meeting with us and kept coming to church.English is her second language so she is a really slow learner. I am not gonna lie and say it wasnt frustrating after teaching the restoration 3 times she was still calling Joseph Smith John Smith. The spirit just kept telling us to keep hanging on and teaching her. And of course the spirit was right, she has come so far. And I have come to love her so much! We had one of the most amazing spiritual lessons with her this week. We have the faith that she can be baptized in the next 2 weeks. It is going to take a lot of prayers and work and patience but it can happen. She wants it so badly and has been working so hard. I am grateful for all the many lessons Heavenly Father teaches us! 

We have been teaching a less active man named J. He is 25 years old and has barely survived cancer twice. During his second cancer treatment he had to be placed in a medical induced coma for a month. Because of that he lost a lot of his memory. We stopped by to visit with his whole family who hasnt been to church in a while because they have been in and out of hospitals. They let us right in and we began talking with them, very very wonderful people. As we were talking J  said that he got the impression that he needed to ask us to teach him the discussions. We happily accepted. It has been awesome to be able to bring back to his remembrance the teachings of the gospel. He wants to go in depth more on the lessons so it is fun to be able to teach things differently and with more detail. He is working on gaining strength back in his body so he works with clay to strengthen his hands. After every lesson he gives us each a new thing he made out of clay. I will have a whole collection by the time we are done! 

I don't really have much time to really stop and think these days. It is always go go go. But when I do stop and think I am just amazed. How grateful I am to be a missionary here in North Carolina. This week two older ladies in the ward (When I say older they are both over 70. No offense to anyone) signed up to take us out to lunch. They came and picked us up and we headed to the restaurant. The car was driven very carefully, the walk in was very slow, the conversation revolved mostly around family history, and it was so fun! 5 years ago I never would have pictured myself in that situation but it filled me with so much joy. I love every single opportunity I have as a missionary. Life Is so good! Look for the beauty all around, because it is there! 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Judd