January 27, 2014

Hello Family,

This was a great week for me here in Oregon.

On Tuesday we went tracting with some of the Spanish missionaries in our area. That was super exciting, because 3 out of 4 houses that we knocked on had Spanish speakers inside. My companion and I both felt good about taking the Spanish missionaries there that day and I guess that was a good decision. Amazing how the spirit tells you things.

On Wednesday we were able to teach our investigator about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has a date for February 22, 2014 for baptism.

We have been having a lot of success with the above investigator. She came to a baptism to see what it was like and then she came to church Sunday and she signed up to help the youth with their dance festival thingy. It's amazing to see how the lord blesses us when we do what is right and keep the commandments.

When I first got to this area, we went tracting and found a guy named Steve that we taught and are teaching. This week he came to church for the first time as well. It was great! He also said that he had an amazing time in High Priest Group with all them. We had no idea until we got there that he actually knows two of the high priests already so he was instantly fellow shipped into the ward by them. A third high priest came to him a few years ago to record something in his studio so he knows him as well. Steve, I don't think, remembers him though. It was such an awesome day at church having two investigators come for the first time ever. There were a lot of talks about missionary work though, which I thought wasn't the best for them, but that's alright. It looked like they both had a good time.

On Thursday we were able to go to the temple. A couple days prior to that morning we started calling people to see if they would be able to give us a ride. We must have called about 25 people and had a bunch of rejections. Finally, we did find someone, but it took forever. The temple is always such an amazing place to go to feel the spirit and to learn about the savior Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. After the session we went down to the baptismal font to check it out and one women, that I taught when I was in West Linn, was there doing baptisms for 300 family names that she found through family history. That was the cherry on top to be able to see her in the temple! I remember the night that My companion and I went to the dinner appointment with her and some members. We ate and then afterwards I remember we invited her to take the missionary lessons. She said yes and then we taught her. Now, she is worthy and able to be in the temple. It makes everything that we do as missionaries worth it. When we get to see someones small seed of faith to accept missionary lessons, grow into a plant, and then that develops into a tree of knowledge and understanding.

We were able to find a new investigator this week named Gustavo. We taught him about the restoration and I know that he felt the spirit, because it was there. I don't think that he recognized it though because he wasn't really looking for it. He said he enjoys learning about others views on religion. We taught him and he agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, he is working full-time and is working on his dissertation for his doctorate degree so we're not going to be able to meet with him very much. I know that he will for sure read though.

On Saturday we were blessed with the opportunity to hear and shake hands with Elder D. Todd Christofferson an apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It was an amazing experience! He shared a few words about discouragement to all of us missionaries and then he opened it up to questions from all of the missionaries. The first two questions were sorta about policies and so Elder Christofferson had some of the other people with him get up and and answer them. I noticed that every single time that a question was asked that he could testify of Jesus Christ he answered it. If it had to do with policies then he had the stake president answer it. He talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ a ton! The fact that it cleanses our sins and removes the stains as well. He read in 3 Nephi 27 about how if we come unto him that we will be guiltless AND spotless at the last day. He taught us that the foundation of our testimony should be on the Book of Mormon. He talked about offering our whole souls unto God and read Omni 1:26. He taught us that during times of affliction we should come closer to Christ not farther from him. Listening to him speak towards the end of the meeting when he bore a powerful testimony of our savior Jesus Christ was amazing. He is just an ordinary man, but he has an extraordinary calling and brings the spirit of an apostle. No words can describe how strong the presence of the spirit was in that room. It was just as powerful, if not more than the temple experience that I had this week as well. I know that he is a true apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He blessed our mission that the Lord will let us know that we are approved as missionaries, that we will be able to teach with greater power, and testify with greater persuasion. It was awesome and probably one of the most powerful things ever.

This morning we started working out with one of our less-actives who's wife is taking the lessons. He is a military recruiter so he worked us super hard. Probably one the hardest work-outs on my mission so far. Hopefully it will get easier.

Love you all.

Elder Udy