December 26, 2016 - MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL - Medina, NY

Howdy!

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, what better of a way to celebrate the savior's birthday than on a day we worship him! So awesome! Love this gospel!

Monday was just another plain Jane P-day, we played some basketball with the zone and just chilled. It was fun. But Monday night we came back to Medina and had an appointment with Melissa and Dustin. Elder
Marks and I had tracted into them a transfer ago! And we haven't taught them till now. And they are honest seekers of truth. They are so awesome! We taught them the restoration and they both want to be baptized, along with their daughter Journey! They are way cool!

Tuesday, the landlord came and inspected our apartment... haha missionaries before me were pigs... I'm not a mess I promise! But the apartment was dirty, so she was a little mad with us. But we had been trying to clean it as much as possible! She came and after she left we took a couple hours to just dejunk the place. We ended up taking out 10 gargbage sacks full of stinky blankets and trash out of the apartment! So it was pretty cluttered up! We taught Jeremiah the laws of fasting and tithing. He is kinda steering in the wrong direction as of
progressing in the gospel as of now. But we are working with him. We saw Susan and Marques! Last time we were there Susan was telling us she had concerns about race and the priesthood, so we addressed it the best we could. Then today we had an article we were going to read and she said she didn't want to read it because the problem is in the past and that she has moved on and it doesn't bother her anymore. And now they will be baptized January 7th!!! So awesome!

Wednesday, we taught Jackie Pletcher about the plan of salvation, she loved it! But we will end up dropping her cause she doesn't come to church. Then we had exchanges, Elder Jaynes came up to Medina with me!
And we had a really good time! Elder Jaynes is so cool! We went to the Bible study at the Gateway to Heaven again, and they showed us their baptismal font... haha it's like 10' deep! It was crazy! I couldn't help but laugh!

Thursday, Elder Jaynes and I had a good day of tracting! We handed out 4 book of Mormons, and our goal was to have a lesson with every Book of Mormon! We met it! We had a lesson with every Book of Mormon! It was so sick! Then we had district meeting!

Friday, we taught Mike the Word of Wisdom, he has some problems with it but he said he will be willing to give it up if he gets to become a member because of it. Mike is so awesome! I love going to their house! They are so nice and so inviting. I know he will overcome his stumbling block. He's a great guy.

Saturday, Christmas Eve! We went to Pittsford! We had a huge mission Christmas conference! It was a lot of fun! Got see everyone in the mission, it was a really good time! Had a really spirit felt devotional at the end. It was a really good conference!

Sunday, Christmas Day!  We opened presents in the morning and had an hour long church! Then spent the rest of the day at member's homes! Then at 6 o'clock I got to FaceTime home! It was awesome to see my family! It was just what I needed! Missions are literally the best! I'm loving mine!

I love you all! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Hope you had a great week and one to come!

This church is so true! The knowledge we have of prophets and apostles is amazing, only if people knew what they are missing out on. Haha!

Love,
Elder Judy

December 19, 2016 - Merry Christmas - Medina, NY

Howdy and Merry Christmas!

This was great! I learn and grow every second of my mission! I love it so much! The week started out with Pday spent at the Amherst church building which is that stake building. We played lots of basketball and hung out, it was a lot of fun. We had dinner with bishop biesinger and his family, we also burned a suit for verdine, since he was leaving, And served his 23 months.

Tuesday was every missionary dreads... it was full of finding and door knocking. Oh man so much fun! Haha we didn't get one new investigator... so that shows how effective tracting is. But that's about all we can do in small town Medina in the winter months. Haha Wednesday we woke up and went straight to a less actives home to help her move out a couch and move a new one in. It's a miracle we didn't get bed bugs from her house... hahah we had district meeting also. And we finally got in contact with Susan McFarland. It had been 16 days
since we talked to her last.... and Cordel moved out! So Susan can be baptized when ever now. But she has one thing holding her back... and that's blacks and the priesthood... frustrating but we are taking baby
steps.

Thursday was the first day I wore my Klimt boots! It had snow a bunch over night! We had a lesson with Jeremiah and we taught him the sabbath day and word of wisdom. He said he would live the word of
wisdom but he's not sure about the sabbath day cause he thinks the sabbath day is Saturday. So hopefully that doesn't keep him from baptism. Haha Jeremiah is a great guy! We went shovel tracting... that's when we grab our shovels from our apartment and pretty much shovel everyone's driveway in return for a message. We shoveled about 10 driveways and shared 0 messages. Haha people are ignorant.

Friday we drove down to Amherst first thing to drop off Elder Verdine! I had to say good bye to my trainer. Kinda crazy, I didn't think I was going to cry but I teared up a little bit. He's home and doing well now. He's a great guy. I love Elder Verdine. He helped me through a lot of hard times on my mission. I've asked myself a lot this week, "how ami happy while doing this?" Haha we walked a lot in the freezing cold. And got rejected more than excepted. That's how it goes tho and being selfless brings the joy into our lives. That what makes me
happy, is being selfless. Just giving yourself to the lord and doing all you can to help the people that I'm around.

Saturday we did a lot more shovel tracting and we got antied again. Haha this time I couldn't help to laugh while the guy was yelling at me. He pretty much said we don't Neil e in Christ and heaven or anything like that. This all happens off a street contact. After he said that we don't believe in Christ I looked at the front cover of

the Book of Mormon and read it out loud to him, another testament of Jesus Christ. Then he talked about how the Book want true and those things, so I was  just blunt with him and asked if he has read and prayed about the Book. He kinda shut up and walked away slowly. It was hilarious. We had a less with Rebecca Hetrich, a less active in our area Saturday night. We got there and we were talking with her and having a good talk. And her husband came out and some how they started talking about there past and things like that. Well I shared Alma 32 with them and we talked about faith. Well mike then soon asked us what the difference is between the Bible and the Book of Mormon. That's when I pulled out 2 nephi 29 and we read some versus. And that's when
he said "teach me more." So we sat down and taught the restoration. Mike told us that he would hang out in the kitchen while we were there every other time because he wanted nothing to do with us. So the
spirit has been working in him a little bit every time we go over tell finally he said teach me. He wants to learn more and accepted baptism!

Sunday was a great sabbath day! I felt like I needed to fast so I fasted. We didn't have a lot go in we drove up to lyndonville to visit some potentials and former investigators. Had dinner with President Pace and his family. I love sundays in the mission. There a lot of fun.

Anyway, I know this church is true. No doubt in my mind. I love this gospel and the opportunities I have to share it with the people of western New York. I can't wait to see what the future has to bring. #20moremonths

Love y'all much! Miss ya tons! Hope y'all have a great Christmas week!
Elder Judy

December 12, 2016 - Another Week in Medina - December 12, 2016

Hey y'all!

Hope all is well in Idaho! Hope all of you had a great week!

Monday was just another Pday but it was full of goodbyes to the missionaries that were being transferred. Elder Larson, my first zone leader. Got transferred to be AP! We got super close, it was kinda sad
saying goodbye. Haha but other than that we played some basketball and got to talk to all of you! I got a package from home and it was fullof letters from the judy family! It was awesome, defiantly made my
week! Loved it! Thank you so much!

Tuesday we drove down to Amherst to pick up Elder Hahne! Got to know him a little bit and then we had some lessons and we got to introduce him to some of the members of Medina! Elder Hahne is pretty cool, he's super quiet. He's from Toole, UT and has been out a transfer longer than me so we are both pretty new. So excited for this transfer. Wednesday, no more 12 week training for me. All done! Imma big boy now! Haha after having 3 baptisms here in the promise land of Medina the waters of Mormon are starting to shrivel up into a drought. The
work hit a brick wall last week. We went from 15-18 other lessons a week to 7 this week.... we did a lot of tracting in the cold snowy weather. We tracted for about 1.5 hours today, we invited every person who answered the door to be baptized on there porch. We extended 7 invitations and no one excepted! Haha so sick! We are trying so hard and working our bums off but no one is having it. Kinda depressing. Thursday elder verdine had his exit interview and elder hahne and I went and tracted some more. We don't wanna waste anytime. We had no luck again. The lord will eventually answer our prayers, I know for a fact he will. It's on his time we just have to have faith and trust him, he won't give us anything we can't get take on. As we stay exactly obedient he will bless us even more. We had lunch with President Pace and president Evans! It was awesome! The 2 most
spiritual men in western New York and I had lunch with them. It was an awesome experience.

Friday we taught Jeremiah the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah is 22 years old and an honest seeker of the truth. He's so cool. He's on date for January 7th. I know for a fact he'll be prepared for that day. He's so solid. He's like the only person that we are teaching steadily right now as well. So once he gets baptized we are really
going to be hurting! Haha! Jeremiah is the man, he always asks really good questions and always addresses his concerns, like he had a concern that the Book of Mormon was altered version of the Bible but then I said let's turn to 2 Nephi 29 were it talks about the 2 testimonies one being the Bible and the other being the Book of
Mormon. And that cleared everything up with him. So awesome! We also had the Lockport Ward Christmas party! It was a lot of fun! Saturday we woke up to a blanket of snow! It was awesome! We met with
a couple less actives, just  trying to help them not get offended again, that's a huge problem with the Lockport ward. Everyone gets offended so easy. It's weird. We contacted some member referrals, they weren't interested at all! Haha and we also knocked on this sketchy house and this girl opens up and let us in and we just set up an appointment and got out of there cause all 3 of us didn't really have a good feeling about the house! So we set up an appointment for next week with them at the library! Haha!

Sunday Jeremiah was at church! He loved it! Said that Mormonism is looking better and better for him! We also had the buffalo stake Christmas concert in Amherst! We rode down with Stake President Pace. He always blows our mind with scripture. Love that man so much. He tells us his mission stories all the time and there so inspiring! He's a man I look up to! We had a conversion story testimony meeting in his car in the ride home, Cause the roads were bad from the snow and he was driving slow so we had like an 2 hour drive just sharing each other's conversion stories and how we've seen the gospel in our lives. It was so awesome!

Well there's my week! Medina is good. Loving my mission more and more everyday. Don't wanna come home. It already seems to close and I haven't even been out 4 months! Haha these past 3 1/2 months have changed my life. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life, I'm grateful for all of the support you guys give me. It makes life out
here a lot easier when I hear from ya! I want y'all to know that this gospel is true! The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, and it really does change lives. I've seen it happen in 4 people's lives, 3 of my recent converts and myself. Im grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the opportunity to use my agency to use the atonement everyday to become more like Jesus Christ, cause that's all this life is about. Earth is a state of time were we should prepare ourselves to meet god. I know that everything about this
gospel is true without a doubt in my mind. I say these things in the name of thy son, Jesus Christ, amen.

Love,
Elder Judy

December 5, 2016 - Transfer Week! - Medina, NY

Hey y'all!

First off, I'm staying in Medina. And I will be in a trio with Elder Verdine... and Elder Hahne! Elder Verdine goes home the 17th so we will on be in trio for 10 days. Hope you all had a great week and life is treating you well!

Monday was like any other p-day! It was so nice to talk with people back home! We had a crepe eating contest at bishops house again, except we were on exchanges so Elder Shaw was with me! It was a lot of fun! We had a really good time together!

Tuesday Elder Shaw and I had a super solid day. We walked every where cause we were short in miles so that was the only down side. We taught a couple lessons but we taught a lesson to a recent convert, Daniel 
Zimmerman! The first question I asked him is if he has been reading and praying. He said "nope" that was depressing. So we kinda tried to give him a pep talk. We read 2 nephi 29 with and showed him a Mormon
message about prayer. 2 nephi 29 is the chapter that has changed my view of the Book of Mormon 180 degrees. It's an awesome chapter. And some how we ended up talking about general conference and we showed
him the most recent conference talk by president thomas S. Monson! He said he had chills and shivers down his spin while watching so we immediately testified of that he was feeling the Holy Ghost. I can't stress the importance of daily prayer and scripture study in our lives. It's so important. Wednesday we met with sister Gardner! She is an original member of the Medina branch! So awesome! She gave us a ton of referrals! She is the sweetest old lady ever. We went to another false churches bible study! it was fun! The gateway to heaven. I'm just waiting for them to allow us a little time to preach at the end of the Bible study! I have the faith one day they'll let us! Thursday we had a really good lesson with Jeremiah! He's a guy we met street contacting in the ghetto of Medina! We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ at Levi paces house! Turns out they were friends in high school! Pretty cool! Haha Jeremiah is still studying with JW's we are trying to tell him nicely tell him to stop... haha he's on date for the 17th but most likely we will push him into January.

Friday we did weekly planning, we deleted 12 week from our days... we have so much open space. It was so hard to fill that extra hour with things to do! I'm just saying we have to tract a lot more now... haha didn't ever think I would be doing that a year and half a ago. We have a goal to tract an hour a day. And I have a feeling we might have to extend that to more than an hour. Haha we were walking to go see a potential investigator and we walked past this house and a guy comes out and asked us if we were Mormons we told him yes! And he said that
his masonry group has been wanting Mormons to speak at there meetings! So we set up a time to go talk to him this coming week! We tracted into his fiancé a little bit ago, so we will start teaching them! Saturday was mainly a service day we helped an old couple in the ward move across town from Lockport to new fane. It was a big disaster. Haha 

Thursday I was super ready for change within my companionship.Elder Verdine only talks about home and nothing else. Even in our lessons. My best lessons this week were on exchanges cause me and Shaw are pretty new still and home is way to far to even think about but Verdine talks about going home with investigators. It's really
frustrating. Happy I'll be in a trio. Haha should be good! 

Sunday we had church of course! Scott smith, my first baptism! He received the Aaronic priesthood!!!! So proud of that kid. It's literally the best. Such a great example to me. But fast sundays are different in Medina! Why? Because we get to go to the Medina branch! They have sacramenting and Scott got to pass the sacrament for the first time! and gospel principles and then a big pot luck at the end of the day! It's so much fun! Absolutely loving my mission.

Just want y'all to know how grateful I am for this gospel in my life. I'm grateful for "goodly parents" that raised me in this gospel. I love having the knowledge that death has no sting and life does not end at the grave. We are so blessed. The Book of Mormon is the most correct book of any book upon this earth. That is so true. I've read
the Book of Mormon and took the promise at the end that Moroni gives to all men. I prayed and the feelings and emotions I had I can not deny that the Book of Mormon is a another testament of Jesus Christ. Prayer is our only communication to our Heavenly Father... why wouldn't we talk with him everyday or countless times a day? Prayer is the passport to peace. If we want anything and we have the faith we can get it, all we need to do is pray and ask, miracles are brought through prayer. I've been in the sacred grove multiple of times... the feeling that is there and the experience I had there in the past has convinced me that god the father and Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph Smith and they did restore the gospel of Jesus Christ back onto the earth through him. This church is so true, and I love being a representative of my savior Jesus Christ.

Love all of you! Know that I miss you tons! Have a great week! God speed.

Love,
Elder Judy