November 25, 2013

Hello family,

That picture of Chad is the funniest thing ever! He looks super young. I'm stoked that he is in the field now though. It will be the best thing ever for him.

This week was a great week. We were able to teach a ton of lessons and found two new investigators. They are two single woman that have struggles in their life. One of them has three boys that get into a lot of trouble all the time. When we talked to her she said that they went to a friends house about three days ago and now she has no idea where they are. They don't have phones or any way to contact them. For all she knows they could be in jail. On top of that, she was asked by the manager of the apartment complex to move due to all the vandalism and trouble her kids have caused. She has read the bible a little, but doesn't understand and hasn't felt comfortable in any church. Wait till the gospel comes into her life. :)

When she talked about having three sons It reminded me of our family. The only difference is the way we were raised. I can't even imagine doing something that would send me to jail. Or get into enough trouble to the point that we had to move. For them that's probably a natural part of their life. We are lucky.

Singing in stake conference went great. We got lots of compliments from everyone so that's always a plus. We sang "Savior Redeemer of My Soul" from 17 Miracles and "Because I Gave Been Given Much". For Savior, we all had a little solo part and a bunch of 4 part harmony. On the hymn, the two sisters sang the melody and Elder Stone and I sang the alto line. It turned out well.

Anyway, I'm done typing. I love you all and hope everything is going well.

Love, Elder Udy

November 18, 2013

Hello Family,

This was a pretty good week. Our investigator passed his baptismal interview and is ready for baptism on the 30th. He has been meeting with missionaries for a while. He self referred himself on mormon.org.

Also, we had zone meeting this week and they talked a lot about family history. We are trying to use it a little bit more in our efforts this month to share the gospel. I shared about how I have an awesome connection to family history back home and how it relates to our family. Later in the week we actually talked to a guy that said he wasn't really interested in our message, but loved all our resources for family history. We talked to him about coming to the family history center that they have here at the church and he said that he would come. It was super cool to see that at work. Also, at zone meeting, there was a challenge that was given to us: To leave a commitment at every dinner appointment. We have been challenging all the members to invite a friend or neighbor over for dinner within the next two weeks so that they can feel the spirit in the home. Also, to help them work on Elder Ballard's promise of preparing someone before Christmas.

Chad is headed to Arkansas this week. That will be fun.

Our stake conference singing hasn't happened yet. We are going to be rehearsing for it Thursday. They asked us to do some prelude as well and asked us to sing "Because I have Been Given Much".

Thanks for everything!

Love, Elder Udy #1

P.S. I bought some new brake pads today so don't freak out about the charge. My bike will stop a lot better now. Rather than rubbing metal on metal.

November 11, 2013

My New Companion. Elder Udy

Hello Family,

Another great week in paradise. No flat tires, no late appointments, no new investigators (wait, what?!!) Ha ha. It was a pretty good week though. Biking is getting easier or maybe I am just getting stronger. I am trying to drink more milk. In other words, eat more cereal. It says it has protein in it. It must be healthy.

Anyways, this was a pretty funny week. Elder Stone and I laughed a lot. He is a pretty funny guy when he wants to be. We went tracting this week and found a bunch of new people to potentially teach. One of them actually set up an appointment for us to come back. We went back and then he re-scheduled again for the next day and he wasn't there. :( It was sad, but it happens. We also were invited in to a house that just wanted to bash with us about how we are going to become gods one day. That was fun for my greenie. We had a couple lessons fall through, but we were able to teach our Hindu investigators. They are going to continue reading and they agreed to come to church sometime!

Oh, we sang in church on Sunday. That was fun. We did an arrangement of Savior, Redeemer of my Soul. The one from 17 Miracles. It was us and the sisters serving in our ward, It turned out well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Our ward mission leader set us up to sing at the adult session of stake conference on the 23rd. That will be fun also.

Last night we gave a blessing to a less active family. It was Elder Stone's second blessing ever! I had to coach him through the anointing.

My new companion, Elder Stone.

I think that's about it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

November 4, 2013

Hello family,

Yes, I did buy some lights for my bike. The lights work great though.

Yesterday was the first day that I rode my bike in the rain. That was fun and will continue to be. It seems like we ride about 6-7 miles a day about. I a working off some of the fat that I have gained out here. :)

I think I am going to make a list of things I am grateful for.

My new companion is doing well. He taught the restoration for the first time this week. He did great. Much better than I remember doing my first time. He already has a strong desire to be obedient as well so that helps. I am working on teaching him to plan better though and on how not to talk to girls. He is a funny guy though.

On Halloween, we stayed inside and did our planning for the week. It was a lot of fun... We live in an apartment so nobody came to our door. Apparently, we were supposed to have a ghost on our door to allow them to come. Whoops. It's OK I didn't really have any candy to give to them.

I'm excited that Chad is leaving this week. Seems like yesterday when he got his call. Is he nervous? He will do great. Tell him to just listen to his trainer and have fun with his trainer. Being a trainer, you have a lot of stuff weighing on you and you forget to have fun. I'm glad that Elder Stone reminds me to have fun sometimes and to laugh. Make sure you ask questions as well. Your trainer doesn't know what is on your mind unless you share it with him. Umm... that's about it. Be happy, work hard, and be obedient!

That's about it for this week. Thanks for the prayers. I love you guys a lot.

Love, Elder Udy

October 28,2013

Hello family,

This week has been super crazy! We had about 15 hours of meetings that we had to go to. I had to quickly coordinate rides to get everywhere that we needed to go, due to our lack of transportation. It really humbled me this week and helped me realize how much of a blessing a car really was for me. When you can just get into it and get anywhere within 5 minutes, it saves a lot of time.

We did get a couple of bikes and a member bought us each a new helmet, water bottle, bike lock, and water bottle holder. What a blessing. Seriously, without the members nothing would have happened this week. They are crucial to this work and my testimony of them increased so much this week. We need to buy lights for our bike still so we can ride in the dark.

It was crazy, Elder Stone got two flat tires this week that we had to spend time repairing. We were able still to teach two lessons and set up a bunch for this upcoming week also. Hopefully things will start rolling along soon. We got a referral on Sunday as well. It's the first one that I have received in a few months. Yeah!

On Sunday they had their primary program. It was super well done. The rest of our meetings went well also. Something that has to happen in this ward is that the ward has to fill up two separate dinner calendars due to the two sets of missionaries. Things are crazy with two sets of missionaries in one ward. Tons of coordination has happened between the two sets. The ward all seems supportive though. Everyone was super stoked to finally have sisters in the ward. Their calendar filled up way faster than ours did. It's alright though I would probably be the same way. Change is exciting.

Please just send letters to the mission office they forward all of them to where I am at currently and I always get them. Nevertheless, you have your agency. 

I took Elder Stone tracting for the first time this week. It was awesome. He was pretty scared just like I was at first. It's sweet to be able to help him in his first stages of mission life. Training is going to be fun.

Miracles are happening all over the place in this area. It's a miracle that we were able to get everywhere that we did this week considering the situation.

Also, this week the ward had their ward party, which we went to so that we could meet the ward. They had one of those guess how many candies are in the jar game and I won it. Everyone in the ward gave me kinda an evil look since they didn't really know me very well. I got to stand in front of them all so they could see me though. Later, I felt kinda bad so I gave the candy to the bishops son. He'll appreciate it more than I would have.

That's all that I can think of for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

October 22, 2013

Hello family,

This was a crazy week. I got transferred to a new area yesterday. I am also training a new missionary so I had to "white wash" into a new area. (A white wash means that both companions get assigned to a new area that neither of them know about until they get there. We have to start from scratch without any help from other missionaries. The Ward mission leader can help sometimes though with a very general idea of what is going on.) It's crazy, because I have no idea as to what is going on here. I will figure it out though. The first day here we met the ward mission leader and talked about the ward and how the work was going in it. OH!! also, there is another set of sister missionaries serving in this ward as well. Two sets of missionaries for one ward. That is proof to me that the work is moving forward. The sisters are taking the west half and we are taking the east. Also, I am going to be on a bike here so that will be fun. I think that the mission will give me a loaner bike, but I am not sure. I might end up having to buy one, but I am not sure. In the meantime, will you transfer over some money to my debit account.

The ward I am serving in now is Cooper Mountain. I have met just a couple members here, but I have loved them all so far. I can't wait to meet the rest of them.

Something really cool happened to us on our walk to the library just barely actually. We were walking and these two ladies walk around the corner and we started talking to them and  explained where we were going and who we were. They told us that they had been looking for a church and they haven't had good experiences anywhere yet. We invited them to our church and asked if we could come by and talk with them again and then we set up an appointment. It didn't take long before I realized that I haven't even been to church yet and I am inviting people there already. Haha. Kind of funny right. Does that count as being a hypocrite?

I am training a new missionary also so he loved that experience way more than I did. It was his first real encounter with an investigator on his mission. Pretty good right? Heavenly father has big plans for him I think. His name is Elder Stone from Houston, Texas. He loves singing and cooking. Also, he was really into Calculus before his mission. He just barely graduated and came out here at 18 years old. Super cool.

That's about all that is going on here. Thanks for the prayers and yes I got the box. :)]

Love Elder Udy

October 14, 2013

Hello Family

This was a good week for us. We were able to teach twice as many lessons as the previous week. We also started teaching our recent converts son. He is really confused with religion because his biological mom is wicken. She doesn't approve of him joining our faith, but ultimately it is up to him. He is only 9 so he has a big decision to make that will impact his life.

This week I studied a lot about the priesthood, the oath and covenant in particular. Holding the priesthood is such a huge responsibility to uphold and to honor. I have seen a lot of people that depend on worthy priesthood holders. In Doctrine and Covenants it mentions the oath and covenant that we enter into. We promise to also be worthy to hold it. Something that I heard someone say once was that there is nothing that we can use the priesthood for that is for selfish purposes. The only uses of it are to bless the lives of those around us. I especially liked how they talked about it in conference and how much the priesthood blesses families. I am grateful that dad has always been worthy of his priesthood.

This week we also had an amazing ward council meeting. The ward has started doing splits with the missionaries twice a week. Also, in ward council, they discussed their home teaching. I was super happy when they did that because they will start introducing themselves to the less-active and inactive members. Hopefully the members will start getting on board with doing the things that they need to do.

I also had an interview with the mission president and it is outstanding how personable he is and how much he cares for all his missionaries. I love President Morby so much.

That's about it for this week. Bye!

Elder Udy