September 23, 2013

Hello Family,

This week was pretty good. We found a couple more people that we will be following up with this week. Hopefully they will be interested. We are trying to work with the ward members more as well.

That's sweet that Chad is going through the temple already. That was the best thing ever. I have gone through the temple here a couple times and I learn new things every time. It's amazing how things you find in the scriptures relate to the temple endowment.

This week somebody fed us liver and onions. It was actually pretty good. The lady who made it for us is such an amazing cook. She has a goal to feed us something that we have never eaten every time we come over. I especially like going over there because we get to talk with and share a message with her non-member husband.

I found out that one of my recent converts gave a talk in sacrament meeting already. I was so happy when I found that out. It's amazing to see how people change when they are part of the gospel.

We had a really cool experience happen this week. Last P-day we were at the senior center playing ping pong and this guy walks in. After talking with him, we found out that he was an inactive member. Too bad he went to another ward. We strengthened his faith though and alerted the other elders.

I almost forgot. This last transfer another Elder Udy came into the mission. Guess who his trainer is...my last companion (Elder Awtry). Grandma can you find out if we are related to him. His name is Andrew Udy from Utah. I don't remember the city, but I will find out.

That's about it for this week.

Love, Elder Udy

September 16, 2013

Hello Family,

My birthday was very different without family around. We did some fun things though. We went to goodwill and I found a business type folder that I could take to meetings with me and take notes and also it has a place to put papers that I get. It is going to work out great because I don't have to carry around loose papers at church anymore and worry about them getting destroyed. Also, it worked great for this weeks district meeting since I was in charge of doing the training and practice portion. I was able to just open my folder and read my notes and outline from it. Much more official than a random sheet of paper or a notebook of some kind.

Also for my birthday, one of the members in the ward found out it was my birthday so she brought me over a red velvet cake. We invited over the missionaries that lived nearby and ate cake together. We also gave some to our non-member neighbors.

This week has been pretty good. We are still trying to find some people to teach, but we were able to find some great potential investigators this week. I am hoping this week to teach them all the restoration. That would be awesome. During ward council this week something I did notice is that, although the work is slow, we have built up this ward a ton and increased their involvement in missionary work. There are a lot more members that have missionary work on their mind now than when I first got to the area. Hopefully things will start being brought forth soon.

That's about it this week.

Love, Elder Udy

September 9, 2013

Hello Family,

Well I am 21 now. It feels like an ordinary day. It's cool having your birthday on a P-Day and a transfer day as well. We met this morning for a zone breakfast. I haven't told anyone that today is my birthday. Although, my companion found out a couple weeks ago and near the end of the breakfast he remembered and blurted it out to everyone. Today we are planning on going to Goodwill. It's a store basically like Deseret Industries. We'll see if I find anything interesting.

Mom both you and grandma sent me the same thing. The 11 tips for missionaries thing. :) Those were awesome tips though. All of them are true and obedience is definitely something that we should strive for. Not only as a missionary, but when your not as well. D&C 82:10 is applicable to everyone wherever they are at in life.

This week was a pretty good week. Stats are not important (Chad), but they do tract your progress really well. This week we were able to increase ours. We didn't find any new investigators, but we did go on a blitz this week with some other missionaries and found some awesome potential investigators. Hopefully they will investigate after we emphasize the importance of our message. 

 

I read Alma 26 this week and if you haven't read it it's about Ammon when he is teaching his brothers. Ammon talks about how if it weren't for God being involved in the work, nothing would happen. That alone should be a reason to rejoice in God and to believe that he is real.

We did teach a bunch of less-active members this week and they came to church as well. We were able to find a bunch while tracting as well. It has been interesting bringing up these names in ward council of people that they have no clue about. Many of them have said to us that they would like to start coming back to church, they just have some things to work through. One lady stated, " This is the closest that I have ever been to coming back to church." That proves that the work is moving forward and that god has people prepared for us to find.

I am staying in Canby for another 6 weeks with the same companion (Elder Clark). Interesting fact: everyone in our zone is staying where they are.

I think that is about it.

Love, Elder Udy

September 3, 2013

Hello Family,

Sorry I didn't write last week. We got busy doing a bunch of stuff so we didn't get around to it. Also, my companion doesn't really like emailing, because often he doesn't get any mail. Yesterday was Labor Day as you guessed so things were closed all day. Just like you predicted.

Things have been interesting here. Since I last wrote the only two investigators we had left after our baptism's are now gone. One moved to Idaho to be with her dad. The second we soft dropped, due to lack of commitment. We will eventually go back to visit him though.

Other than that we have been trying our best to find some new investigators. I have never been this low on people to teach, so it has been a humbling teaching experience for me to realize how hard it is to find people to teach. We have been tracting quite a bit, along with visiting members. We are going to start teaching members the message of the restoration to gain their trust along with keeping our teaching skills sharp. Hopefully people will see that we bring the spirit with us and that they can refer us to their friends. It kinda feels like a waste for me a little bit, because out of any other companion so far, Elder Clark and I teach the best together. Too bad we have nobody to teach. We'll find some people though. This morning we got a media referral that will hopefully turn out to be fruitful.

Did I ever send you pictures of my last two baptism's?

Chad is super lucky his mission president called him. I love President Morby so much. He has taught me a ton and has been an awesome example of what I want my relationship to be like with my wife one day. The way he acts around people and helps others is extraordinary.

Sounds like you have a lot of work to do Chad in Arkansas. I keep hearing that the church is growing down there. That means a lot of teaching opportunities. That will be good. I am stoked for you to get down there and start sharing the gospel with others. It's the best thing ever. I bet you will get to see stakes get divided while you are down there. That would be awesome.

Transfers are on September 9. I'm not really sure if I will get transferred or not. I have been in this area for about 4.5 months so I could leave.

I think that is about all for today.

Love, Elder Udy

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