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