aug 12

Hello hello!! 

Another week bites the dust!

Everything is going so well here in Garner! To think that I will probably be leaving in 4 weeks makes me really sad. But I will live these last weeks up! 

Investigator update...

S... She had signed up to feed us last Monday. We were really looking forward to it. Earlier that day we get a text from her. It reads "sisters, its monday night. We are supposed to be having FHE. Will you bring a game?" We were in shock when we read this. We hadn't taught S about FHE. But she knew about it and she wanted that for her family. She is progressing so well now if she would just commit to a baptismal date!! Pray for her to have a desire to be baptized! She is just scared of the commitment. So anyways, our minds then begin racing of a fun game to play with them. We tried to think about classic mormon games their family might not know. Then the genius idea of "dont eat pete" came into my mind. Sister Treu then exclaimed that she loved that game. I thought that was a game only my family knew. But she had grown up playing it. It was also funny because the next day we were talking with elders and we told them about what we did and one of the elders said that he thought only his family knew about that game. Anyways, its a pretty awesome game. We made our own board the best we could and it was a hit. The poor 4 year old daughter got a little scared the first time we yelled "dont eat pete!" and started crying. I couldnt help but laugh because my dear sister Hannah would always start crying when we yelled it too loud too. (remember that Hannah ;) ). ha. We then continued the night on teaching them primary songs and reading the Book of Mormon. Great fun with one of my favorite families! 

C... He is doing so well!! He is all ready to be baptized! He will be interviewed this week and then baptized next! He will forever probably be one of my most favorite investigators. I love them all but he has a little special place in my heart. This week we were teaching Him about prophets. We showed him a picture of President Monson. He said "oh yeah, I know him. He helped me find the mens restroom on Sunday". We laughed and then explained a little better that he isnt at our specific church. We then asked him if he believed President Monson was a prophet of God. He replied yes and then we asked him how do you know that. And in the most humble, sincere way he answered "because of faith". I am seriously amazed how much he really cant grasp a lot of things. But he is grasping the gospel!! You just cant deny the Hand of God helping him out. 

M.. The cutest woman you ever will meet. Saturday was her quit smoking day! Last week she only smoked half a cigarette each day and now she is done. (hopefully no relapses). We went over and brought her some of her favorite candy and sang a little happy quit day song. She has a lot of faith and knows with Gods help she can do it! We went to a fireside at our Mission presidents home last night. This is a chance for new converts and investigators to bear their testimonies. M was the first one up and gave such a sweet testimony. We are so proud of her. 

T (who is baptized) is doing well. She also bore her testimony at the fireside last night. She talked about how she has come to know God more fully in her life and that she knows if she continues to come to church and read and pray she can continue to grow closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus. I am so grateful she has that knowledge. Its very rewarding to know that the first day I met her she sure didnt know that. And to see how far she has come. That is definitely worth every sacrifice it takes to be on a mission!! We went to teach her this week and her mom expressed desire to learn more so we got to start teaching her! We think it will be a little slower with her mom but 

hopefully she will also come to know of the same things to be true! 

We had a great experience this week. We have been wanting to volunteer in the community for a while now and got to this week. Not only in the community, but more specifically we volunteered at the baptist church food pantry. We got there and it was like two aliens walked into the room. It was kinda funny to see peoples reactions to us. We just tried to be very friendly and nice and Christlike. We helped people get their food and walked them to the car. We hope to do this every week so we can leave a good impression and help them see that we arent crazies who believe in a different God than them. 

We are happy as can be here in North Kakalacki. 

Have you seen this video yet? If not, watch it now! 

""Spiritual light rarely comes to those who sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a switch. It takes an act of faith to open our eyes to the light of Christ."

Take that step of faith. Do what you need to do to get Christ more fully into your life. Whatever it takes, it will be worth it. 

The church is TRUE!!! Gods love is REAL!! 

Thanks for all your prayers and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

aug 4

Hello all!! 

Not much to say this week but I would feel really bad if I didnt send out an email. 

We are enjoying life in Garner so much. This week we were on bikes and Heavenly Father blessed us with the most beautiful weather. We had a lot of rain but when it wasnt raining it was in the high 60's and 70's. We had to wear long sleeves one day because it was actually cold! This summer has been so good to us and we are very appreciative! 

Our investigators are doing so well!! 

M is just wonderful. Before she can be baptized she has to quit smoking. Now this is no easy task. She is 66 years old and has been smoking since she was a teenager. When we first met her she was smoking 8 cigarettes a day. This past week she only smoked 1 a day! She is making strides and we are hoping this week will be the final week and she will be able to quit smoking for good! We taught her a lesson about tithing this past week. Then we are sitting in sacrament meeting and Sister Treu elbows me and motions for me to look over at M. I look and she is filling out a tithing slip! She has such great faith and a desire to follow God. Its little moments like this that make everything worth it. 

C is doing so well also! We had one of the best lessons with him this week. He remembered almost everything we taught him!! This is huge for him with his dimensia. We know that Heavenly Father is completely helping us know how to teach him and helping him remember the things we teach him. He always makes the comment that things in his room keep growing legs and disappearing (he says this in all serious not realizing that he just forgets where he puts things) but he knows that God is real and that he loves Him. That's what is important!  

I was reading through an old general conference magazine this week and came across one of my favorite talks Mountains to Climb. This part stuck out to me especially.. 

You know how the Lord answered that question for the Prophet Joseph Smith in his prison cell:

“And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

“Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.” -D&C 122:7-9

This scripture has been one of my favorites while being out here in the mission field. We must not fear what man can do because God is with us. We will all go through hard times and fear. But we must conquer that with faith. Always knowing and always believing that God knows all and we will win if we are on His side. Let His will be done. 

Thanks for all your support! 

Much love, 

Sister Judd 

july 28

Hey hey hey!! 

Well so many great things happened this week I dont even know where to start!!

Last Monday we got to go to the NC museum of natural sciences in downtown Raleigh. We are actually only about 10  minutes away from downtown Raleigh here in Garner. We met up with some sisters and members from Sister Treu's last area. We had lots of Fun walking around and chatting. There was a huge storm going on outside. Nothing new. I love the huge thunderstorms we get here.  

A couple weeks ago I got a message from my past Relief Society President in the wake forest ward. She was informing Sister Fullmer and I that our convert M was struggling. Satan was really working on her and she just wanted to let us know so we could pray for her and try and send a message to uplift her. This was of course heart breaking to hear and I knew something needed to be done and so did Sister Fullmer. Well Sister Fullmer called our President and we were given permission to go visit M after the meeting we were having on Friday! Best news ever! We were so excited. So Friday after our leadership meeting Sister Treu and her companion came to Garner and Sister Fullmer and I went to Wake Forest. It was the craziest thing. Almost a year later Sister Fullmer and I were back on our old stomping grounds out to save M. Something that was all too familiar to us. It was a true tender mercy that we were able to do this. We had a great meeting with M. She opened up to us and we were able to help her out. She has gone through her fair share of trials but she will be just fine. She knows the Gospel is true and nothing will come in the way of that. We got to see E and M as well. We surprised them and they were so excited. Never did I imagine we would be going back to that house together but it was awesome. After that we had to come straight back to Garner and meet up with our companions. 

We had a bit of a scare this week. Sister Treu and I were going to go to an appointment that we had set up the day before with a very  nice family. We show up and they have two great big German shepherd dogs out roaming their yard. As soon as we pulled up they started very aggressively barking at us. We bravely just continued walking up to the front door but I was terrified. They kept their distance but kept barking. We rang the doorbell but no one answered so we decided to knock on the door. The only thing is that they have a screen door. So as usual, I opened the screen door and then Sister Treu went up to knock. The second she went up to knock the bigger dog bolted straight at her. I thought she had for sure been bit. I yelled watch out not really knowing what to do. The dog then stopped in its tracks and didnt bite. We then knew we needed to get out of there. Sister Treu whispered "just slowly walk to the car". And that we did with our hearts racing. The dogs made sure we got to our car and continued barking at us until we drove away. We got in the car and both of us were pretty shook up. It took us a while to settle down. This probably doesnt sound very scary but it was! I knew that Heavenly Father was protecting us in that moment. Something stopped that dog from biting her. And we are grateful for it. I can now officially mark getting chased by a dog off my bucket list. 

The best news of the week is that T was baptized!!!! It was such a  beautiful baptism. T had spent this past week at Girls camp with all the young women from the stake. We knew this was going to be a great experience in preparation for her baptism. All the young women got home form camp at 11 that morning and they all showed up clean and ready for the baptism at 4. We had a lot of support from the ward there. The young woman did a musical number which brought the spirit so well. And T had a lot of family and friends that were non members there. It was truly a success and T was so happy to be making such a righteous decision that day. Her family even came to church the next day and stayed for all 3 hours. We will soon begin teaching the rest of the family, we pray! 

Well life is good here in North Carolina. The humidity is in full force and it is HOT. Buts its all good. 

We had an incredible lesson in relief society yesterday. It was on the talk given by President Uchtdorf in the last general conference. I challenge you all to re-read this talk. It is amazing what a difference your attitude can make! "How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

Read the talk here. 

I hope you all have a great week! Always remember God loves YOU!! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

july 21

Hello!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sister Judd 

july 14

Hello hello!! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for all your love and support! 

Love, 

Sister Judd 

july 7

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

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

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

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

Now on to better things.... 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, 

Sister Judd 

june 30

Hello!!

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

This will be a shorter email. My apologies. 

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

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

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

To learn more about Gods plan read here .

Well I hope you all have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Judd