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