September 15, 2014

Hello family,

I have thrown a lot of stuff away that I have been carrying around. Including those shoes that I had the holes in. I took a picture of them and got rid of them.

 

Next Monday I go to transfer meeting and then those who are going home will go to the mission home and have a dinner and then after a testimony meeting. The next day we will all fly home.

We have a ton of investigators in Milwaukie right now. There is a lot of work going on here. We are easily teaching all week long. A lot of them aren't progressing as fast as I would hope, but they are moving nonetheless. We picked up a bunch of new investigators this week as well that I am excited to work with. Two of them are named John and Barbara. We were able to take them to the temple visitor center this week. They seemed to have enjoyed it a lot and we will keep working with them. Barbara voiced to us that she was considering joining the church.

Our investigator Ashley pushed back her baptism again. Right now it is scheduled for the end of this week so we have to do a lot of planning for that still. It should be fun. I'm hoping that it will all work out.

Another lady that we met this week and ended up teaching is Gladys. She is an older lady that knew and respected a few Mormons in her life. We were able to teach her about the restoration and answer some of her questions that she had. I'm not sure if she would be willing to convert at this point in her life, but the spirit can do all things.

There are tons of less active people in this area that we are teaching. Some of them are progressing more than others, but there are some that just don't want to do anything at all. I hate when I meet people that know that the church is true and they know what they need to do and just don't do it, because of the natural man inside of them.

My birthday went well. We did some service for a guy that is less active. I also met this laurel in another ward that gave me some candy. At dinner they gave me a box of birthday cereal. That's about it. Thanks for the presents. I ate almost everything already.

Love, Elder Udy

September 8, 2014

Hello family,

Yes I got the birthday box. Thank you so much.

Love, Elder Udy

I guess not much happened this week or too much happened and no time to write about it.
We did receive the following from a member in Tigard.

To the Udy's,

Emerson is one fine missionary. 

Best to you and your family,

Jeff

September 1, 2014

Hello family,

Happy Labor Day. I haven't emailed from a public computer in a long time. iPads are the way to go. I can email whenever during the day on Mondays.

Lots of drama this week with the area and my companion this week.

Love, Elder Udy

Emerson didn't write much this week but we did receive the following pictures of the missionaries in the Portland Oregon Mission. The new mission president and his family are in the front of the middle section.

Emerson is on the back row the fifth from the left.

August 25, 2014

Hello family,

This week went swell. We talked to some strippers and gave them our number. One of them grew up LDS, but wasn't baptized yet. She didn't really want to learn, but she was nice.

I had a special district leader meeting this week that lasted from 1-4:30. It went well, but I didn't reunite with my companion until about 8 that night. Elder Cantrell stayed in the area and had to teach all the lessons that we had set up for that day so we couldn't meet up.

We did a ton of service stuff this week for a lot of the ward members and investigators. A lot more than usual. The missionaries are kinda like the worker bees in this ward. It's great that it keeps us busy, but stressful as well.

We also had a miracle with our investigator named Junior. He texted us this week and told us he wanted to get baptized with his fiance. He came to church and hasn't been smoking nearly as much. It's great. We have to teach the two of them slow, but they are understanding a bit at a time.

There are three members in this ward that are really cool, the Graham's, Doty's, and the McDonald's. I hope I don't forget them. We do a lot of stuff in this ward together.

That's about it.

Love, Elder Udy

August 18, 2014

Hello Family,

This week was a very interesting week. Tons of emotions and secrets and things to learn about others. I love my new companion, Elder Cantrell. I didn't really know him before, but he did always come up to me during meetings and such and shake my hand give me a firm hello. He is a super, super nice guy. He has a great relationship with everyone in the ward. He is from Kaysville, Utah. He is great.

This ward is nothing like any of the other wards that I have served in. This week was crazy just trying to learn all the people and all the drama that goes on in it. It's crazy. There is a ton of missionary work to be done here, which is great. I think that the missionaries are the ones holding this ward together. No Joke. Their are a few solid members that get things done. Like the Ward Mission Leader is really great as far as the work goes, and there is a member of the HPG leadership that holds things together. I think this ward has about 85% of its members over the age of 70. I have never seen a ward quite like this one, but its going to be super fun to serve here. We have a ton of stuff to do and I have somethings that I want to try and start up in this ward to help the work and to boost the ward. Hopefully with the Lords help we can boost this ward and leave it better than I found it.

The only struggle that I am going to have with this ward is the fact that I don't have very long to build relationships since I won't be here very long. I am trying to get to know people the best that I can. We'll see how this week goes. Our schedule is packed with teaching appointments already.

We are the only missionaries assigned to this ward. We are close to Portland.

We attended High Priest group this week and it has a totally different atmosphere than Elders Quorum.

That's it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

August 12, 2014

Hello Family,

Soo...I got transferred for my last 6 weeks. Not sure why, but it should be good. Lots to do. I am in the Milwaukie Stake now in the Oatfield Ward. I haven't been here for very long, but I can see that they have a bunch of stuff going on. Lots of people to teach and they have an investigator with a date for September 6. I look forward to actually meeting her and teaching her the lessons.

I am still on a bike. My companion is now a guy named Elder Cantrell. He has been out on his mission for about 8 Months. He is a super friendly guy. Even before we were companions, he would always say hi to me and give me hugs.

This last week was pretty good. I said goodbye to a lot of people. I got a lot closer to a lot more of the members in this area than any of my others I think. Not sure why that is, but it was tough to say goodbye to a lot of them.

We have district meetings every week. As district leader I always get to conduct those and put them together every week. Its kinda tiring sometimes, but its not bad. At first, I was pretty nervous doing it, but now I kinda have it down to a system. Things are always easier when you have a general outline of how it works. In my new district I have 2 sets of Sisters and 2 sets of Elders, including us. Its a bit smaller of a district, but I am looking forward to it. In my last district there was a sister (Sister Schmutz) who was there for the same 6 months that I was, she got transferred out this week just like me. I got home yesterday and found out who was in my district and found out that she got transferred just one ward over from me so she will still be in my district! Crazy...right? Luckily, she is a good missionary and super nice.

In my last area we ate with members about 75% of the time. Our ward mission leader wasn't very good at passing the calendar around, and sometimes he went out of town so those weeks were sparse also. In my new area, it looks like they are pretty good at feeding the missionaries weekly. I don't know for sure though. The goal is to try and have a meal everyday with members.

Anyways, I guess that is all for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

August 4, 2014

Hello family,

This was a pretty good week.

I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with our zone leaders. It went pretty well. I didn't learn much though. We were pretty busy running around doing things for other people. One of their investigators parents died, which was pretty sad.

My bike seat fell off this week so we had to go and get a new bolt to put it back on with. Luckily, a member in the ward was able to help us out with it.

This is the last week of the transfer so I might be moved or maybe not. I have been in my area for 6 months and I have been with my companion for 3 months, which usually means that I am going to get transferred, but I'm not sure if the mission president will, because I only have one transfer left.

Other than that, we had a good district meeting. We learned about the restoration and how it applies to people.

Love, Elder Udy

July 28, 2014

Hello family,

This was a pretty good week.

Yesterday our recent convert got the priesthood. It went really well. He is doing great.

Nothing too exciting came from the dinner other than an increased relationship with our neighbors and I feel like we put a good view of the church into their eyes. Sometimes that can be a powerful thing.

 

I was in charge of the district meeting at the temple, and I will go to the temple at least one more time. The departing missionaries always go on a special temple trip with their MTC group. That will be at the next transfer.

This week we did something pretty unique. In our area they had an emergency preparedness fair that was put on by the city and the LDS church. I was one of the volunteers. It was fun wearing one of the helping hands vests. I mostly was doing ticketing, but I helped serve food for a while as well. It was a fun event and there was a great turn-out.

Also, a month or so ago I found this lady that I taught a couple of times and found out she would prefer Spanish. I brought over the Spanish Elders and they taught her. Yesterday she got baptized, which was super cool. I wasn't able to make it to the baptism, but I saw her afterwards and congratulated her.

President Ballard came to our church building to interview my companion Elder Jones this week. I wasn't in the interview, but I guess it turned out well. President Ballard is a nice guy with an upbeat attitude. He is swamped right now though with everything going on and being new.

Anyway, that's about it.

Love, Elder Udy

July 21, 2014

Hello family,

This was a pretty good week. We had a strange dinner, a baptism, a temple trip, and a sweet district meeting.

On Friday we had the weirdest dinner appointment ever! Nobody from the ward signed up so we thought we would be on our own. On our way out the door that morning a lady from an apartment near ours told us that her birthday was that day. She proceeded to invite us to her birthday party that night. We debated on whether to go or not, because we knew a few people would be drinking. When we gave her our answer she told us that she had hand-selected everyone that was coming. She said she especially wanted us to be there so we could talk with all of them, because some of them need some help. That night we all walked over to the restaurant. The lady that invited us tried to focus all the attention on us. Is was weird. Obviously somewhere along the line we made an impact on her. One of the guests told us that he was a convert to the church, but hadn't been in many, many years. We told him where the church was and all the info about it. The lady that invited us afterwards was very appreciative that we came and said many of them have expressed interest in coming to church and meeting with us, but are afraid to ask us. We will try to follow-up with some of them. It's cool to see how the Lord has prepared people in our own backyard. None of them were members, except that one guy.

 On Wednesday we had a trip to the temple. It was awesome as usual. I learned some new things which were cool.

Directly after our temple trip we all walked over to the visitor center and had our district meeting. It was a really great meeting. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Our training was about how to take advantage of the visitor center and some of the expectations when you bring people there. I thought it was a super spiritual meeting probably because we were all on a spiritual high from the temple. It was a good idea. Since it went well with our group other districts are thinking about doing it.

On Saturday Theodore was baptized. He showed up super late so we didn't have time to take pictures of him in his white clothes. Kinda sad, because he is awesome, but it's alright. Everyone in the ward seems to love him a lot. They are all very friendly to him. He will be a great addition to the ward. The church came out with some new direction saying that we are supposed to remain in contact with our converts for AT LEAST a year. Theodore will be my friend forever. I had the opportunity to give him the Gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting. Giving someone the Holy Ghost is an incredible opportunity. Most of the time it's the first time the person has ever experienced the laying on of hands. 

Our meeting with the 11 year old boy turned out alright. We talked to him about Pokemon a little bit. The mom was supportive of him being baptized, but she said it has to be his decision not hers. We are going to get him involved with some of the other 11 year old boys in the ward as well as scouting.

That's about it for this week.

Love you all a lot, Elder Udy

July 14, 2014

Hello family,

They don't tell the missionaries anything about their flight plans home until 3 weeks before they go home. I didn't even know that they were sending things to you about it.

Interviews this week were interesting. President Ballard is a very cool guy. He is funny as well. Sister Ballard is way different than Sister Morby. A completely different personality. She is the one that gave me things to do on my mission not the mission president. They were great things to think about, but I wonder why she said them and not President Ballard.

Our investigator passed his baptismal interview this week. He is going to be entering the waters of baptism this Saturday. I am so happy for him. Something that has been a theme for our teaching appointments with Theodore has been "By small and simple things, great things are brought to pass" it's a scripture. One way that I have seen the Lords hand in my life this week is how He has blessed us with people to teach. When Malik got baptized we found Theodore the week of his baptism. Now, the week of Theodore's baptism we received a solid referral for an 11year old boy. Heavenly Father is definitely looking out for us. 

President Ballard in his last email to the missionaries he talked about how you reap where you sow. I feel that Heavenly Father is blessing me for my hard work, even if the work that I do doesn't yield direct results. God will help those who help themselves.

Also this week I thought a lot about the phrase, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god. Looking back is not good.

That's about it.

Love, Elder Udy

July 7, 2014

Hello family,

This week was super crazy.

We had a big meeting with all the missionaries in the mission so we could meet President Ballard. He is an interesting guy. He made some jokes, but he is definitely going to be different than President Morby. The Ballard's brought 5 kids with them. They all spoke at the meeting. It turned out well. They did a good job.

With President Morby all the missionaries were their family, but now the mission president and his wife have their family with them so the mission environment has changed completely. It's a big change, but it will be good for everyone. We have zone meeting this week and interviews. The interviews will be about 5 minutes each, but I will get to actually meet him for the first time.

We also helped a lady move out this week. It was a two day process, but all turned out alright.

For the Fourth of July we went over to the Allen's house and played with Lego's. I built the coolest airplane ever! All the kids were jealous. Lol. After that we went over to the Gibbs house for dinner and fireworks. They had a big neighborhood thing going on. There were some non members attending so that was good. The fireworks were super good. They did a few illegal ones, which was fun to see. There was also one called dark science that was super innovative. Somebody put some creativity into it. Then of course the normal fountains and ground blooms. Missionaries can't light any of them so I just watched.

That's about it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

June 30, 2014

Hello family,

This week was pretty good.

We got a new mission president (Ballard) on Saturday. I haven't met him yet, but I am excited to do so. We have a meeting this week on Wednesday when he will address us. I'm guessing he will probably talk about new beginnings and share his excitement about the work. I'm pretty curious to meet him and see what he is like.

Also, this week I had a district leader meeting. Yes, I am still the DL, and I have the same companion, Elder Jones.

This week we spent a lot of time helping this less active lady named Terrine prepare to move on Tuesday. She needed help packing her stuff so we helped her. This Tuesday, she is moving to another ward nearby. Things have been kinda chaotic trying to prepare for that. It's good though.

We had a lesson in elders quorum about the conference talk this last April that talked about the new truck. It mentioned it was because of the load the truck had that it was able to get out of the snow. There was a good discussion about how our personal loads are a good thing. Also, about how the savior helps carry our loads if we yoke ourselves with him.

I learned some cool stuff during my personal studies this week. I am trying to read through the Book of Mormon again before the end of my mission. I am in first Nephi and I was reading about the plates of brass in chapter 5. I searched more on what he actually stole and learned that he didn't actually have the entire Old Testament in the plates of brass, because it wasn't all written yet. Jeremiah was still the prophet. Interesting right?

I do have a farmers tan. It's getting worse as the sun comes out more and more.

One miracle that I realized this week is that our recent convert was sent a friend from New Zealand named Theodore. They both speak Arabic. How crazy is that!

That's about all this week.

Love, Elder Udy

June 23, 2014

Hello family, This was a pretty good week. We got transfer calls and I will be staying here in Tigard for another 6 weeks at least. I might just finish my mission here. It's alright though because I love Tigard and there are some good things going on. This week we met a new investigator from New Zealand and set a baptismal date with him for the 19th of July. He is a super friendly guy and very upbeat. I can't wait to see him get baptized. Also this week there was a balloon festival in the main park near our house. In the morning they launched off hot air balloons so we got to see them all over the sky. We didn't go to the festival because we were too busy, but it was fun to see the balloons. I think today I am going to buy a nice picture of Christ and maybe a picture of the Portland temple from Deseret book. For our district P-day last week we had a BBQ and kickball and basketball. It was pretty fun, but during the BBQ part it started to pour down rain pretty hard. It wasn't good, but luckily we were under a pavilion. I had to give a training at zone meeting this week on having joy in the journey of missionary work. I used D&C 18:15-16 and Alma 48:11 and talked about how helping others is what brings joy. It went pretty good, but I was pretty nervous. I think that's about it for this week. Love, elder Udy

June 16, 2014

Hello family,

This was a good week. We taught some people and went to a dance festival. Our recent convert got the priesthood. It was great.

Dance festival was cool. We got to listen to a lot of unapproved music. Also, President Morby showed the Saratov Approach. First movie I have seen in a long while.

My district is cool. We had a district P-day today. It was fun.

We had someone that we are teaching almost take her life. It wasn't good., but she is better now.

That's about it for this week. Thanks for being a great family.

Love, Elder Udy

June 10, 2014

Hello family,

I'm glad they are thinking ahead about my departure (coming home Sept. 23), but I'm trying to forget about it and stay focused till the end.

The baptism of Malik happened on Saturday. It was a super great baptism. A ton of people showed up from the ward for it. It was great, because he is going to need the support. He is on a spiritual high right now and the ward will need to become his best friend. I gave Malik the Holy Ghost which was pretty cool.

This week other than the baptism was pretty regular. We had some lessons with a few less actives and some investigators. None that are progressing too much, but hopefully soon.

The mission, I think, is going to get tightened down with the new mission president. There are a lot of gray areas right now with the rules. I will miss President Morby though a lot. He will be my mission president.

That is it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

June 2, 2014

Hello family,

This week was pretty good. I gave a training to everyone in my zone about using the scriptures to help them teach better. I based it off of the teaching model in PMG about introduce, read, apply. It went well and they seemed to enjoy it.

Our investigator passed his baptismal interview this week and is getting baptized this Saturday. He is pretty pumped about it. He has to move though soon so we have been trying to find him a place within the ward.

We had about 5 lessons cancel this week so that wasn't good, but oh well. Next week.

We went tracting this week and had a couple cool experiences. The first was with this lady named Shirley. She was an older lady that we talked to that said she wasn't really interested, but as we said our goodbyes and started to walk away she started to cry as if someone had put her in pain. It was super random and then she proceeded to tell us that her husband had died about a year ago and that her crying just happens sometimes. We told her about Christ and about eternal families. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said, "Thanks, I'm always curious as to what others believe about that" were hoping that something will come from it. We gave her something to read and ponder about.

The other experience was with a lady named Paula. She is a Baptist lady that grew up Christian Scientist. We got talking to her about religion and about a few of the differences in our beliefs. One thing lead to another and we ended up teaching her about Joseph smith and his experience. We recited the first vision to her on the doorstep and you could see something click inside her. We showed her the Book of Mormon and invited her to browse through it and read a few things. We showed her Moroni's promise and committed her to it. Were hoping something will happen in the future, but as our investigator says, "sometimes people are afraid of the truth".

That's about it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

May 26, 2014

Hello family,

I brought my camera and here are some pictures.  One of my new companion, one of my bike, and one of The Villa.

 

 

The Villa is actually called Bonita Villa, but we call it the Villa because its our hangout spot. We go there almost everyday and more than half of our teaching pool is down there. Its a low income housing place that is full of Hispanics and poor people. Most of which are on section 8 housing. We know so many people down there and everyone knows us. It's super funny. All the kids that just run around call us pastor. I love it.

My new companion is a lot like me actually, which really makes me think twice about the way that others think about me. I feel like I am going to learn a lot about myself from him. He is a good guy, but every companion is different.

Hmm, we had the same musical number at our ward yesterday. That's weird. We also had a farewell talk. He is going to the Salt Lake City family history center. His name is Sam. I told him that I would come and see him when I get home. He is such a cool kid.

Thank you for the letter about being "Trunky". It kinda made me laugh, but everything in there was so true. I showed it to my zone leader who goes home in 4 weeks. He loved it also. He also said he might quote it in our zone meeting. That will be so awesome.

I'm not sure if I told you or not, but in the time that I was with my last companion, he got 8 flat tires. We are basically master tire fixers.

This week we tracted and found a lady that we talked with for a little while about Joseph Smith. She said that she attends another church, but that we could come back and see her. It was kinda cool. We'll see how this weeks meeting goes. We also met this guy that is a less active guy that said that his wife doesn't like the church so he doesn't come. When we asked why she didn't like the church he said, "because every time you come by you always ask for me and never her" (she isn't a member) #Hopingtoteachthewife.

I didn't even realize that today was Memorial Day until like Thursday last week. Hmm...I must be a missionary.

Our investigator came to church for the third time this week. We are going to baptize him soon hopefully.

That's it.

Love, Elder Udy

May 20, 2014

Hello family,

Yesterday was transfers. I am still in the same area, but I did get a new companion. His name is Elder Jones from Arizona. He is pretty cool from what I can tell so far, but we'll see. He has been out for 10 months. My last companion got transferred just one ward over, which is funny because he is still in my district.

The two Marshallese people I interviewed got baptized! It was sweet. We took our investigator to it in preparation for his own baptism. This last Sunday I interviewed two more people for baptism. They actually spoke English so it went a ton better. It was super cool to see the changes that they had made in their life. I have another baptism interview this Sunday as well.

This week we found a new investigator named Dean. He is a pretty cool guy that knows a lot of Mormons. He is a triathlon coach.

That's about it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

May 5, 2014

Hello family,

This has been a super slow week for us. We did some good things though.

For Mother's Day we will be using Skype. I need your Skype user name though so if you could send that to me ASAP that would be great. We have church on Sunday from 7:30-1 so it will be after 4 that I call. Hm... I have a meeting at 6 also. So I guess the only time that I could really do it is at 5 my time. It might have to be a short conversation. Or I could do it at 7:30 my time after my meeting. It will be at one of those times.

I will talk to you then.

Love, Elder Udy

April 28, 2014

Hello family

This week was good. It rained this week!!!!! But that's not new news. Lol 

Our ward mission leader just moved away yesterday. We won't have a ward mission leader for a little while, but luckily we have an assistant.

Zone meeting went well. We started really late so they had to hurry through some of it. I had my last interview with President Morby this week. He is such a great guy. I will miss him. This whole mission loves him.

This week we taught the young men and young women how to teach the plan of salvation. It went well and there were a few non members there. It was cool.

I can't believe its May almost. It's crazy. Time is flying by.

On Saturday we helped move a few people. Lots of carrying. It was good.

Our ward had a game night this week. It was just a bunch of board games that were going on along side a silent auction. It was super fun and our investigator came and brought his whole family. They were able to meet the ward a little bit more.

Our investigator that had surgery came to church with her mom this week. It was great. It was the first time that she had been out of the house since the surgery.

We didn't really see anything good come from the Easter season except cancelled appointments. But it's alright. Lol

That's about it.

Love, Elder Udy

The following are pictures of us with our ward mission leader who just moved away yesterday.

The Following are pictures of my companion and me (playing Joseph Smith). It was a good experience.

Funny right?