August 19,2013

Hello Family,

Yesterday we got to witness our investigator receive the Holy ghost in sacrament meeting. It was sweet to see the gospel in progress. Later that day we were able to baptize another one of our investigators named Josh. He is an 18 year old guy that has been wanting to be baptized for over a year. He finally got his moms approval this week to get baptized. His mom was a member, but had her named removed a long time ago so it was hard for her to let her son do this, because she knows the commitment involved. I know that he was ready though and that he will always stay faithful. Hopefully he will inspire his mom one day. The dad hopefully as well.

Other than that we don't have many investigators left so we are doing our best to find some more investigators and people to teach. Working with the ward and tracting are what we are doing now.

We had a lesson with one investigator this week that was crazy. It happened on their front porch and we basically ended up just answering all of their questions. We tracted into them so they had a bunch. Turns out though they actually had a member friend in California and they called her up and she helped us answer some of the questions over the speaker phone. It was sweet.

This week we served dinner at a Lutheran Church. It was pretty fun. It was a ward activity so a bunch of the ward went. We weren't allowed to proselyte, but they all saw us when they got food.

We also did service at the adult center that they have here in town. We prepared and served food there as well. We do that once a month.

Also we did service for one of our less actives. She has a really big yard and isn't able to do all the yard work at her age. We did a lot of thatching for her. I am glad that there isn't any moss in Utah, because it isn't fun to get out of grass. I am glad that I was able to help her out though.

Something funny and also pretty dumb of me happened this week. We were visiting this older less active lady that is in the assisted living facility. We came in and she didn't say anything so we tried to start up a conversation with her, but she was only giving us one word answers. I had a brilliant idea  come to me to ask her about her family. I should have thought about it more, because what came out of my mouth was, "So, do your parents live nearby?". Not the best question ever to ask an older lady, but my companion and I laughed about it later.

We also went to a BBQ at a non-members house who invited all her family that are non-members. It was fun to associate ourselves with them.

Anyway, we did a ton of service stuff this week.

Love, Elder Udy

August 12, 2013

Hello Family,

That's super cool that Chad is going to Arkansas! The mission will be the best thing you ever do Chad. I Promise.

My new companion and I get along great. He is such a cool dude once you break him out of his shell. We are going to start doing an Ugly Tie Tuesday. That will be super fun.

This week we had the baptism of Chad. He is a great guy and has been meeting with missionaries for over a year. He finally entered the waters of Mormon though. He will receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. I hate how he has to wait an entire week before that happens, because Satan is going to try his best to stop it this week. We will be having daily contact with him. I hope all goes well. I might be giving him the Holy Ghost so that will be fun to do in Sacrament meeting. This will be my second time doing it.

This week I went on an exchange with a brand new missionary. It was his first exchange ever! I took him tracting and talked with him about his mission thus far. I gave him some tips that helped me when I started, but I think I learned even more from him. He reminded me of when I first came out here. I saw where he was and where I am now and saw how far I have come. It was weird. We got ice cream while we were tracting though from a guy we gave a book of  Mormon to. He was really nice. I also gained an appreciation for my trainer and how amazing he was. I had an amazing trainer and I didn't realize it until he left. I think that I will write him soon.

Anyway, this was a good week. I can't wait and am super excited for Chad!

Love, Elder Udy

August 5, 2013

Hello family,

Too bad chad didn't get his call. He needs to get it soon so he can get himself out here. Heavenly Father needs his help! It's alright, because he will arrive when he is supposed to. My mission president is always saying that the people that arrive are foreordained to come exactly when they are supposed to.

This week was my first week with Elder Clark. He is a pretty funny kid, but I found out that he turned 18 in January so he is probably the youngest missionary out here right now. It was also my first week only covering one ward. It's super weird and we really depend on the ward members to do their part in fellow shipping and and finding. Luckily, they have been helping us out as best they can. We had a lesson with one of our investigators at the bishops house this week that I was stressing out a lot for. I knew that it would be more than just a lesson for our investigator. It would also make or break our trust that we have with the bishop. I knew he would be evaluating our teaching and our testimonies. Luckily the lesson went super well. The spirit was really strong and our investigator agreed to baptism this Sunday. It's funny because we had planned to talk about the first part of the plan of salvation, but the lesson didn't even get to that point. We ended up just talking about baptism the whole time along with the temple. We talked about how it should be a goal to get you and your family to the temple. Last Sunday, in priesthood opening exercises, the bishop told everyone there about the lesson that we had at his house, and how the spirit was strong and about what a great experience it was for the investigator and also his family. PHEW!!!

Also, our other investigator set a date for the 17 of August. He has been wanting to get baptized for a few months now, but his mom didn't agree. Hopefully this date will go through and he will enter into the fold.

Elder Clarks' first area was somewhere in Portland area. He has been out only 3 months so I am trying to be as obedient as I can to set a good example for him the rest of his mission. Luckily, his trainer was also obedient and taught him well.

Love, Elder Udy

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