July 30, 2013

Hello Family,

Well things just got changed up dramatically here in Canby, Oregon. Yesterday was transfer meeting and I got a new companion named Elder Clark. He is 18 years old and I am follow-up training him. It's interesting. He seems like a super cool guy, but he is either really shy or in shock, because he doesn't talk much. Oh well it will be fun nonetheless. Also, Before transfer meeting we were serving in both wards here in Canby, but they just got split and now we are only in the second ward. Also, what WAS my district just became a zone by itself because of the increase in missionaries. Crazy!

Elder Clark is from Brigham City, Utah. I know you would like to know that.

He only had 15 minutes to email this week, because he couldn't get a library card. so he is sitting there waiting for me so I need to go quick so he doesn't have to wait very long.

This week went pretty well though. Lots of changes.

Love you all, Elder Udy

July 22, 2013

Hello Family,

Our teaching pool did increase a little bit. We found a new investigator that is super interested in the church. She has some member friends. Also, by working with the members, we were able to make ourselves aware of a bunch of people the ward is working on by inviting them to church, activities, lessons, and such. There are actually quite a few. Also, on Sunday, we received a referral from a member that she said had questions about the church. I guess she has taken the lessons in the past and was on the edge of getting baptized. I can't wait to go and meet her this week.

I haven't heard a single thing about pioneers the whole time I've been here. I forgot all about that holiday. I have started reading Our Heritage. It's a super good book so far. I learned a bunch of stuff about Joseph Smith and the process of translating the plates. I knew about about the 116 lost pages, and luckily the lord knew it would happen.

Chad, I am super excited for you! My call came after 3 weeks.

O, this week we went and bucked hay for like 5 hours with the district. That was fun.

I think that's about it.

Love, Elder Udy

July 15, 2013

Hello Family,

My poison oak is pretty much healed all the way, but I think the scars with be there for a while. You could see the poison oak on my skin as it was totally elevated and red. The steroids that the doctor prescribed helped a ton. The drug seemed to make my skin dry and killed a lot of the skin that was infected. Now it just looks like newly healed skin.

A really cool miracle happened this week with us. Even though we didn't do much teaching, which we are working on, the Lord used us as instruments. On Wednesday we had our lesson cancel and our backup plan didn't work so we were trying to figure out what we should do. Elder Awtry asked if there was anyone that we needed to follow up with. I don't know how I thought of it, but for some reason I said that we should go follow up with some members in the ward that we had seen a few weeks ago. We had eaten dinner there and did some role-playing with them to try and get them out of there comfort zone. When we arrived there we asked if we could come in and follow up with there missionary work. The family gathered and shared some of their efforts with us. As we were leaving the father walked out with us and told us about a 7 step program the bishop showed him to help his missionary work. He had just finished the program and prayed to ask "what should I do now?" Right as he did we rang the doorbell. Good timing right? Pretty cool.

This week our new convert Kevin got a calling as a young single adult leader. Also, he received the priesthood. Pretty cool. Loren, our other recent convert, is preparing for the priesthood and for a calling. He brought his daughter to church this last week for the first time as well. I hope that we can teach her soon.

You should be glad that in Utah weeds don't usually have thorns. In Oregon, when people say weeding they usually mean tear out blackberry bushes. They are everywhere in Oregon and dominate all plants in there path. We spent a few hours tearing those out of a rose garden this week. Also, We haven't had rain here in like 2 weeks or so which is weird. It has been in the high 70's with lots of humidity.

We also had dinner with a family that the parents weren't members. That was fun. I always feel that when I am in those situations that I have to be extra careful as to what I say.

I think that is about it this week.

Love, Elder Udy

July 8, 2013

Hello Family,

Well this week was honestly kinda dumpy. The 4th of July kinda messed everything up and on top of that I had to go to the doctor and also one of our investigators dropped us.

Last Saturday Elder Awtry and I went and did some service for an older lady in the ward cutting down blackberry bushes. It was a ton of fun until I started itching. My arm started to turn red so on Friday I went to the doctor to get checked out. He said that I had gotten poison Oak. Not fun stuff at all. He gave me a prescription for Presnidone. It seems to be helping out a little bit, but I wish it would work faster. I'll be alright though. It took away most of the itching which is good.

Both of the people we baptized last week are doing super well. I will send Pictures.

There are a lot of people that don't have jobs still. I will start praying for them specifically.

Well I guess I will tell you about the 4th. We started out by doing our weekly planning for the week. Then we went to the parade that they always have in Canby. The parade consisted of a bunch of local school groups and super nice cars both old and new. Also, some military organizations were represented. The parade goes through the streets of Canby. The streets are blocked off by police just for the parade. Afterwards everyone crowds the streets and hangs out. There is a car show and many booths set up selling food, advertising, and games to play. It lasted from about 2-5. I took a few pictures.

After that we went to our dinner appointment with a lady in the ward who invited family and friends over to her house. They had a party with good food. There were a bunch of non-members there also so we got to talk with them. Around 5 or so we went to the Perez's house and had food again and played volleyball and badminton. Then the family had purchased a bunch of fireworks and we set them off. They were fun to watch, but I wish I would have been able to actually light them. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to do that. They were still fun to watch them though. Around 10 Canby had a big firework show for everyone at the park. Luckily the Perez's live right next to the park so we had great seats sitting in the street. Then we went home.

This week we also had to do a spiritual thought about how to esteem Christ in district meeting. It went alright I thought.

Yesterday one of our investigators sent us a horrible text saying that we were not very good missionaries. It's alright though. We are here to find the elect and at the very least we planted a seed with her and missionaries in the future can harvest her.

I think that is about it. I love you all.

Elder Udy

July 1, 2013

Hello family,

Last week was super hectic. We had a baptism on Saturday, which went really well, but preparations for it were sudden. We had to suddenly move one of the investigators getting baptized because of his living situation. Good thing though he did get baptized. Also, another investigator of ours got baptized. Two investigators in one day getting dunked. That is the best.

One of them was Kevin (the guy that randomly showed up at church).. He is 21 and he has a huge desire to go on a mission now. Also, he went by himself to the missionary broadcast for our stake. Also, he signed up to go do baptisms for the dead by himself. All of that the same day that he got baptized. Sweeeeeet!!! I am going to remember him forever.

Also, this week was zone conference. It went super well. Elder Awtry and I were picked by the mission president to do some of the role playing during one of the sessions. It went alright, but now I know what I need to work on. We were role playing on how to invite less active members to take the discussions from the missionaries. President Morby had a bunch of messages, but the biggest message that I took away from the whole conference was Love. In every aspect of missionary work you can relate everything back to love. Whether it be the love you show or the love you receive from others or the love of our Heavenly Father.

Yes, today is the first day of the new missions. It's pretty exciting except there isn't that much of an uproar about it today, because we have been preparing and anticipating it for a while now. It's actually kind of a sad day for people. From my MTC district there is only one person that went to the new missions. His name was elder Klapheck. I wasn't super close to him, but in the MTC he was in my same room. I had no idea that he would leave when I was with him there. It's kind of a weird thought. Other than that though nobody that I really knew left the mission..

Good Job Dad!!! I am proud that you were able to step up to the plate and fill in when someone was in need of your help. That's one of the responsibilities of the priesthood. We are called to minister to those around us in whatever ways we can. You never know when you are going to be called upon to use your priesthood, thus we must always be ready and willing to administer to the people around us. Stay worthy and always look for ways to serve those around you.

I think that's about it for this week.

I love you guys, Elder Udy