October 31, 2016 - Week 9 - Medina, NY

Howdy!

This week started with my 2 month mark! It's been a 2 month roller coaster! So much fun! Haha! Monday I learned that serving a mission is literally the best thing I could be doing in my life, the joy it brings to me and others is priceless. I love it!

Tuesday was spent trying to find a kingdom building family! We walked around all of Medina to all of the really big nice homes and tracted them!  There's was only a few... and we had no luck! We are praying for a family that will help the Medina area grow and expand to the best of its ability! It's really hard to wake up at 6:30... the sun
doesn't rise until 7:30ish and it's freezing and you want to stay in bed! Haha! But we are being exactly obedient! We have received so many blessing from it! Tuesday we also carved pumpkins with a the Biesinger family! They have 10 kids and make up like half the primary here! Haha! they are way cool!

Wednesday we drove to Middleport with a member.  We drove out there to contact a potential and didn't have any luck... so we were driving to Lyndonville  to contact a referral and stopped at a Amish store that sells HUGE donuts for 50 cents, can't pass that up! Haha!  The address we had for the referral wasn't right so we met a strong baptized woman. She was interested in what I had to say. We helped the AP's move the senior couple apartment out of Medina. We did the move then they came with us to our dinner appointment. After dinner we got to do something really rare! We got blitz Medina! I got to go tract with Elder Aloha! He's from Finland! We got 4 new investigators off of one street! It was so fun! Usually the AP's don't do anything with missionaries unless there zone leaders so it was a really cool opportunity!

Thursday we taught Jackie! Scott came with us to the lesson cause we usually meet with her outside but it's been to cold lately! She is set to be baptized for November 12th! We had district meeting and ward correlation! After all the meetings the Buffalo YSA elders came and exchanged with us! Elder Lawrenz and I went to Buffalo! It
was so cool! We were in the MTC together! So we didn't really know what we were doing! But we figured it out!

Friday Elder Lawrenz and I went to Canal Side! We did some street contacting there and we handed out 9 book of Mormons in an hour! We came in contact with some really cool people! It was a lot of fun! It was a big change of gears going from a tiny town to a huge city with a bunch of people! Our exchange was a lot of fun! We got to figure a lot of things out by ourselves!

Saturday, was the best day of the week!!!! Scott Smith was baptized! Brother Rylander baptized him. I was so happy! So proud of Scott! He's the man! He loved it! The service had a really small turn out but it was so great! He felt the spirit so strong he teared up... he told his eyes were sweating! Haha! I love Scott so much! We also taught Donald and Tessa! Donald is a returning member and Tessa isn't a member but is so excited to be baptized! She loves going to church! She's changed a lot since we started meeting with them!

Sunday, we had 4 investigators at church! And Scott was confirmed! I had the privilege to confirm him! It was so awesome, it's so amazing to hold the authority of god and to speak for the spirit. I love this work! Scott said he feels renewed! So happy! Couldn't be more proud! He loves coming to church also! Tessa was at church and
she was talking to me and she said Margret Pace told her to pick her favorite missionary, she told me to guess who. And so I said Verdine? And she was like, "no it's you judy"! Haha! She's so awesome! Love them so
much! This week was a great one!

Well everyone, this work couldn't be progressing as much as it is if it weren't for the lord behind it all. I know this church is true. No doubt in my mind it's not. I love this work. I may not be the best at it, but I'm surly trying my best. And that's all the lord asks of us, give it our best and things will be okay. Every time I get discouraged
I read D&C 31, it refuels me! Restates why I'm here and the blessing I will receive from doing so! I know the Book of Mormon is the true word of god! Read it! It will bless your life! I promise! Don't take it from me, take it from the 3 witnesses and the 8 witnesses in the Book. Jospeh Smith is the true prophet of the restoration. And god loves all
of us.

Love and miss you all!
 - Elder Judy

October 24,2016 - Transfer #1 ✔️ - Medina, NY

Hello everyone!

This week was good! It was defiantly a slower one, but it was good! So Monday for p-day we stayed in Medina because we are low on miles and don't wanna waste them so we just chilled in town and did shopping
and laundry! Not too exciting. We had dinner with the stake president, President Pace and his family live in Medina! They are so cool! They are from Utah and then moved out here so there more normal than
everyone else in western New York! Haha after dinner we had an appointment with Susan and Cordel! We started walking over there and Susan was walking towards us... so we walked around a little bit with her and talked about life... she's so strong! She said once she saw us her evil thoughts and worries went away. That just one example of the Christ light that we all have in our lives. It's so amazing!! Well we walked to her house and Cordel was there so we sat down and we were gonna lay the law down, Cordel ended up dropping us. So we are a stick in mud now. We are working on him but with small and simple movements.

Tuesday was a simple day we did some service in the morning for a DI type thing, then we went and handed out some Book of Mormons then we had district meeting and ward correlation, Brother Rylander, Elder Pederson and I went out to go see Scott Smith our investigator and just check up on him and make sure he was reading and praying, which he is! So excited for Scott!

Wednesday was so sweet! We went to the sites with Scott! He loved it! Elder Shaw and Elder Peterson had a less active come with them so it was a whole district event! It was a lot of fun! Scott loved the Sacred Grove, who doesn't? I will never forget the feeling I get while walking through that sacred place. We had Scott say a prayer to ask if baptism was the right thing and if the Book of Mormon is true, He said he hopes to get an answer! Scott loved the sites so he posted a picture of us and him on Instagram! Haha so cool! We went to all the sites, the grove, temple, hill, and publication site! It was a really fun day!  When we got back to Medina we had exchanges with the Lockport  elders so I went down to Lockport with Elder Pederson!

Thursday was exchanges it was a lot of fun! We went up Olcott,New York to contact a referral, they didn't answer.. we couldn't street contact cause it was pouring rain,  so we drove around to members homes up there and left messages with all of them.  One was Sister Johnson! She's the cutest old lady ever. She got a big print Book of Mormon for her birthday and was so excited to take it out of the plastic and use it! We read Helaman 5 with her and she loved it! She's so sweet.  Then we exchanged back before dinner and we went to go say goodbye to Elder and Sister Woodhouse, a senior couple from Oakley, Idaho! Next to Albion/ Twin Falls! They are way cool and I miss them so much!

Friday a lot of our appointments fell through in the morning and it was just a really long day. After lunch we had
an appointment with Zoe, she is 14 and really wants to join the church! But she can't until she's 18 because of some situations at home, so we will hopefully just teach her and study with her for 4 years then she can be baptized! But that appointment fell through... haha we had another appointment with Scott Smith we taught him half of the commandments, and he said is there anymore? So we gave him all the laws and ordinances as well! Haha then asked him the baptismal interview questions. He's so ready! His baptism is the 29th of this months! So excited! He's so prepared.

Saturday we went to go see Felton Pool, a man we tracted into a little bit ago. We knocked on his door and he told us to come in, we walked in and he had been throwing up all morning so he said to leave and call him later. Missionary work in the winter is going to be slow... haha need some finding activities! We went and walked around
and felt the need to knock on this one door, so we did. We knocked and this old man opened the door and we gave our spill, then he said we were a cult.. and started to anti us. I had no idea what to do. I was just standing there dazed by the things coming out of his mouth! Elder Verdine cut him off, told him to have a nice day and we walked off. Haha what an experience to grow from. The man was a born again Christian. We played football with the Biesinger family in our ward in the afternoon! It was a lot of fun! We also taught Daniel Zimmerman, he asked us about the Word of Wisdom, he asked if coffee was part of it and we said yes. He said not a problem, I'm done. So sweet! This week was a good one!

Sunday was just another Sunday, we finally got Donald and Tessa to the Lockport Ward! We had 3 investigators come to church! It was a good day! We went home teaching with bishop! That's a thing we are trying to kick in the butt is home teaching. The home teaching percent for our ward is 4%.. bishop isn't too happy. Then Sunday night at 8:50ish we got our transfer emails! I'm staying here in Medina. So happy!

That's my week! Hope you y'all had a great week and have a great up coming week! Keep sending the support my way! Love hearing from you! Don't be shy, I wanna hear from all of you back home!

I know this church is true! There's so much evidence it is! As I read more of the Book of Mormon and have stretching experiences here in Medina, I know that Heavenly Father is there for me. He loves me and all of us. He is pushing his work forward. And I know all this to be true. He loves us so much he put the Book of Mormon at our finger tips, and we all take that for-granted! Read the Book of Mormon! It's the keystone to the LDS religion, so it has to be the keystone to our personal testimonies. If we have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, we have a testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. And everything else falls into place. I have seen this growth so much in the past 2 months! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to serve my savior, my redeemer.

Love,
Elder Judy

October 17, 2016 - Howdy! - Medina, NY

Hello everyone!

Wow this week was full of great things! And weird things! Haha on Monday Elder Verdine got some bad news from home and was upset for a little bit, but now he is good and things are looking better at home! Prayer is real! For P-day we went to Amherst and had a small zone gathering and played basketball and chilled with most of the elders in our zone! Sister Firman and Sister Van Kampen were there as well! And we had a crepe eating contest with our bishop and his family! I ate 13and totally won! Haha! Verdine ate 7 and a senior couple, Elder Woodhouse ate 8! That was a lot of fun! Medina is so cool, all the solid members in the ward live here instead of Lockport so we get fed every night! So nice!

Tuesday morning I had the strong impression to go back to one of the houses we tracted on Church Street, so after studies we walked over and knocked on their door! They let us right in and we were able to teach the restoration and put Rowllie and Ruthy on baptism date for Nov. 30 they also are interested in ARP that the church provides so we got them some  manuals for them to use! They are way cool! We had district meeting and ward correlation, we went and visited some less actives and one of the sons of Sister Walsh wasn't feeling good at all so we got to give him a priesthood blessing! It was so cool!

Wednesday we had interviews with President Evans! That was really cool, it's always cool to be with and talk with president! He is the man! It was also an interesting day... this old man from Brockport was driving and slammed on his brakes and calls us over and tells us he's a member and talked to us for like 20 minutes on how he doesn't support Romney and he supports Trump, it was really weird! Haha we did some tracting later that day, met a man named Felton Pool who is interested and invited us back to learn more! We drove to Albion to teach Donald and Tessa the word of wisdom and gospel of Jesus Christ! Donald is a less active marrying Tessa, she is not a member. Donald is a huge smoker. We asked him if he would clean up his act so that he would be able to baptize Tessa. He really likes the idea and asked what he had to do so he could! He ate it up and committed to all of it! The church is so true! We then went over to Susan and Cordell's, things aren't good there anymore. Cordel said he did his research on us and thinks we are rapist and cray stuff like that, so we have been trying to clear it all up! Susan is still strong and wants to move out so she can be baptized. So cool! We gave Susan a comfort blessing! She said she slept the best she had in along time! So sick!

Thursday marked 1 month in the field! We had the adjusting to missionary life meeting in the morning! It was way cool! President and Sister Evans gave a sweet training on controlling stress! After the meeting a bunch of us went to IHOP! It was good to see all my MTC buddies! Then we drove back to Medina and had dinner with Susan and talked with her a little more about the situation going on. After dinner we drove up to Yates to see Scott Smith and we taught him and his dad Adam the word of wisdom, and law of chastity in one night!
Haha! It went really good and he committed to live them! He is so sick! He will get baptized. Then we had exchanges! I went to Lockport with Elder Shaw! Shaw is from Ketchikan, Alaska! So cool! It was a lot of fun, Elder Shaw is just barely finishing training he's been out for 11 weeks! So we are both still pretty new so we didn't know what was going on! Haha! we were walking around Saturday and this young guy
pulls his car over, yells over at us and says he wants to talk with us! So of course we did. The first thing he asked was if this makes us happy, I immediately replied and said oh yeah! Nothing I'd rather be doing. But long story short he just felt bad for us because he knows a lot of people slam the door in our face so he was being nice and talked with us. Haha for the most part Saturday was slow cause there was nothing really planned!

Sunday was so sweet! We had 4 investigators at church! Another investigator we got was a referral from awhile ago but Elder Verdine taught him the restoration while I was in Lockport and put him on date for Nov. 19! He is awkward but way cool! He will be baptized as well, he is solid! We had like the most effective weekly planning session ever Sunday as well, we didn't finish it all on Friday so we split into 2 different days! Well there's my week! It was awesome!

Just wanna let y'all know that I know this church is true, no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in the sacred grove. I have been there and the feeling that you get is undeniable. I know the Book of Mormon is the true word of god. I'm grateful for god's love for me and the atonement. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and the foot steps he left behind for all of us to follow. There is no evidence that this church isn't true, that is something I have come to know these past couple weeks. It's so amazing to be able to be a representative of Jesus Christ. This truly is the lord's church. It would've crashed long ago if it was supported by God and Jesus Christ. They are the creators, they know all things. And love
all of us very much.

I love and miss all of you and hope your week is great!

Love,
ELDER JUDY

October 10, 2016 - Another Week - Medina, NY

Hello everyone!

Wow what a great week! This week was defiantly all I'm the lord for missionary work. I saw his hand so much throughout the week pushing us and his work forward. It is so awesome being a representative of Jesus
Christ. The blessings are countless just 2 months in!

This week a lot of great things happened! One thing the NYRM is pushing and stressing is invite everyone to be baptized, everyone we come in contact with should have the opportunity to hear the question, "will you be baptized by someone who holds the priesthood authority of God?" Ever since I got to the mission President Evans is pushing that. We have doubled our baptismal dates as a mission in only a few weeks! Crazy! There's missionaries asking people to be baptized on the streets right after meeting the person! It's awesome!

First of the week was P-day! We went to the stake building to play basketball and chill with most of the missionaries in our zone! It was a lot of fun! It was also good to hear from people at home! We were
going to get hair cuts but ran out of time, So hopefully I'll get one today! Haha! Tuesday was a typical day in field most of the appointments we had fell through, so we went to go visit a lot of less actives and talk to them! It was really good!  We met up with the Lockport elders and went to Rudy's! A restaurant that has a burger that
the patty is 1 pound it's self! It was huge! I finished it and got a sticker and my name on the wall! Haha! Wednesday morning started out rough, things weren't going right then after lunch everything fell into
place! We met a less active named Adam Smith, and he has a son named Scott! And Scott isn't baptized. So we went up to go teach them and we put Scott on date for baptism for October 29! So excited! Scott is so
sweet! He is 18 too! Then we tracted the ghetto of Medina, Church Street! We got a really solid contact out of it! Chris and Ruthy! They want us to come back and talk more, We taught a 5 minute restoration with them and said a holding hand closing prayer with them on their patio! It was so sweet! Then we taught our family again! We taught them about the law of the fast and tithing! They took it very well and committed to do it as well! There baptism date is for October 22.... not looking good as of right now. They're still not married! I hope they get married or one moves out so they can be baptized! Thursday we went and taught the restoration to Jackie!   She is way cool and has been investigating for 9 months... the disobedient missionaries would just go kill time at her house because she sits and talks and won't be quite! Haha! Well we finally got her to be quite so we could

teach the restoration and Elder Verdine invited her to be baptized on November 12th! After he asked she looked at him and said, "that's my dead mothers birthday... I'm taking that as a sign that this is what she wants me to do it!"  Haha it was so cool! Jackie is a sweetheart!

Friday was a very specIl day! Elder Curtis from the Seventy came and did a mission tour! He talked a lot about faith and having the faith to move your blanket in the morning! It was very cool! He spoke in the priesthood session in general conference about the power of the Book of Mormon! It was a very special experience to listen to him and get to talk with him! He is the man! Saturday we went around to everyone we could possibly think of and invited them to the Medina meeting! The Medina meeting is a sacrament meeting in Medina for people who don't
have cars or live in Albion or Lyndonville and can't make it to the Lockport or Brockport Wards. So we hold the Medina meeting every fast Sunday at 5 for all of these people! So we went and invited a bunch of less actives and all of our investigators to it! We had a great turn out! 5 less actives and 2 investigators came! It was so solid! Medina meeting is so cool! Defiantly something I will miss when I leave here!

So throughout my time here in Medina so far I can tell of you that the 9 months that disobedient missionaries were here there was nothing going on. That was Medina's refiners fire! We have 6 on date for baptism in  2 months! All of them are solid and want to be baptized! I'm so grateful to be apart of this great work! The lord needs me here at this special time in Medina, New York! I love it!

I want all of you to know that God is your loving Heavenly Father. He loves you so much more than we all think. And throughout the past weeks I have felt his love for others, I have been able to see people as Christ does. And I'm so grateful for that. I love being a missionary. I love representing Jesus Christ, it means the world to me. It's not easy at all! But with every break down there's a rebuild the makes you stronger than when you were before! I'm grateful for my trials out here! I hope all of you are doing great back in Idaho! Love and miss all of you! Have a great week and always have the savior as your screensaver in your mind. I promise you will see a change in your
life as you do so! I have seen a great change in the past week as I focus on the savior more. Love you all!

 Love always,
 Elder Judy

October 3, 2016 - THE WORK - Medina, NY

Howdy!

This week was awesome! This church is so true it's unreal! Haha this week was full of tracting and street ontacting in downtown Medina!  The member missionary work in our ward is nothing, so we do a lot of finding activities. So if there's any ideas for finding activities in a small town... please email them to me!!!

Monday was P-Day and Elder Verdine and I and the other set of missionaries in our ward drove up to Niagara Falls! While we were driving it started to pour.... haha our luck! But we didn't let it stop us from going, we went and walked around and realized we were getting drenched so we ran back to the car and drove over to the
outlet mall. We walked around there and talked with people and had a good time! After all that we went to Buffalo Wild Wings! Elder Peterson from Utah did the blazin challenge and won a shirt! Then we drove home and went out to do some street finding, we walked around all of Medina and everyone was rejecting our message. It was super
sad. On our way home we ran into Johnnie who is a potential and we talked with him for a little bit till we got rained out, it poured and we still had like 2 miles back to the apartment! We were soaked by the time got home!

Tuesday was a super slow day, a lot of walking around knocking on doors. With no luck all day long.  We were walking back to the apartment after a lesson had fallen through and a lady was walking towards us, I built up that 15 seconds of confidence and started a conversation! I asked her how her day was and she said lovely, with a
lot of sarcasm! So I said really? What's wrong? And she was like, oh not much I'm just going to get arrested! Right after she said this a cop pulled up and called her over to his car and Elder Verdine and I looked at each other and said have a nice night and walked off. Haha weird street contacting experience!

Wednesday we taught a lady that has been a potential for a very long time and she doesn't want to be quiet while we try and teach her, she is a talker. We started the restoration and got to the principle of the gospel blesses families. Which is only the second principle. We were there for 2 hours. At the end she admitted to her talking and
said she will be quiet next time so we are keeping our fingers crossed about that! Her name is Jackie Pletcher. She will make an amazing member.

Thursday we drove out to Middleport, which is about 10 minutes west of Medina and we did some finding there. We went and tried to contact people out of the area book but had no luck so we went and knocked doors. Elder Verdine told me it was my turn to take charge, so I chose the street, and did pretty much everything. We tracted out Park Ave, and only handed out one Book of Mormon, and I got my first door slams!
Haha it's pretty interesting to see how many people reject hearing a message about Jesus Christ. It's pretty sad. After tracting in Middleport we went down to Lockport and had dinner with some members who own a candle business! They let us make some candles free of charge! It was a lot of fun! After dinner we headed back to Medina and taught the word of wisdom to Susan and Cordel! They said  they are committed and that they are setting their mind to it. Everyone in western New York smokes, every where we go and everyone we teach
there's always a smoker.

Friday was a slow day we had weekly planning and district meeting took up all day! District meeting was way awesome,  we had training on Teach when you find, find when you teach! And that's been something
I've been struggling on this whole time here! So it was very helpful for me!

Saturday and Sunday we watched general conference with the Pace family!  The stake presidents family! That was a lot of fun! Conference was so  awesome! I loved the Saturday morning session and how it was on
prayer, it answered a lot of questions that I had and I hope it did the same for all of you!

I want all of you to know that I know Joseph Smith is the true prophet of the restoration, he is a prophet of god. I know that he saw god the father and his son Jesus Christ in the sacred grove. I know this church is true without a doubt in my mind. I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers. And I know that prayer is a very powerful thing.
Prayer is the passport to peace, it brings miracles. The Book of Mormon is the greatest book upon this earth, I have read it and I know it. The Book of Mormon is what brings true conversion to all people. So if you have not read it, I invite you to! You won't regret it! I love being a missionary, I love being a representative of my savior.
It the greatest blessing. I hope all of you have a great week! God speed.

Love,

Elder Judy

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