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