December 25, 2017 - Phone Call Home! - Canandaigua, NY

Elder Judy didn't email this week because Christmas fell on p-day and rather than emailing we got to talk to him!  It was awesome!!!  He looks and sounds great!!!!  Sure miss him!

December 18, 2017 - 6 Month in Canandaigua - Canandaigua, NY

Hey y’all! The latest news, got our transfer calls this morning from President and Elder Churchill and I will be staying together in Canandaigua! 4th transfer here! Not sure how I feel about it because I've already tracted this place out a couple times. Going to be hard to keep the faith that God is preparing people in places I've been a million times! I love the ward and we should have 2 baptisms this transfer! 

Monday, it was great day until our most progressing investigator texted us and said “the mormons are not for me.” We dropped everything and went and talked with her, turned out she fell into temptation and smoked over the weekend and was thinking she wasn't worthy. We prayed with her and she asked god if he wanted her to be baptized and after the prayer she said her heart felt light. And committed to continue meeting with us. Thank goodness.

Tuesday, was a day full of finding in 6 inches of snow! We did lots of tracting and didn't find a soul... we had a lesson with Sarah, a lady that we found a couple weeks ago, we taught her the gospel and she committed to come to church. And to end the night we tracted in 10 degree weather from 8-9!

Wednesday, we had exchanges and I went to Geneva with Elder Emry. This is his last week in the field and he was super trunky. But we still got stuff done! We put one of their investigators on date and found a couple people to teach! It was great! And we also got to go to Cam’s Pizza in Geneva... I ate there a year before my mission! Crazy! Haha. We had a lesson with their recent convert Jack. I had the opportunity to interview Jack for baptism. It was good to see him again and see the progress he's made since he was baptized! 

Thursday, first thing we had district meeting. I trained on testifying to peoples needs through inspired questions. It went really well. My district is just so awesome. It’s been a great transfer. After district meeting we came back to Canandaigua and finished up studies. And we had a half hour before a lesson so we prayed and had God lead us to an apartment building and the first door we knock on we met Sam. She was very open and accepted the invitation to meet with us! That was awesome! She seems really interested. We had a lesson with Chris. I’m worried about her... we had dinner all our appointments fell through so we ended up finding from 6-9...

Friday, we had a great weekly planning session. We had a lesson with Colleen and we had President Pitts come along and we put her on date for January 4th and committed her to live the word of wisdom. I think she's got it this time. We did some finding until dinner. Did some more finding after dinner and ended the night seeing Amanda Steele. She’s progressing really well! Its been cool to watch! She’s on date for January 6th. 

Saturday, we had a lesson with Nichole Lapointe. She’s 17 years old and has been taught by the Sister for a while. She comes to the Canandaigua Ward. She’s awesome. Just waiting to turn 18 to be baptized. We also found all day today... I also got to FaceTime to my first area and talk with Mike Gates because he got baptized today!!! Exactly a year after we started teaching him is the day he gets dunked. Super cool. Mike is the man.

Sunday, we had 4 people at church! That was awesome! Had a great block of church. After church we planned out our day then hit the pavement. We went to Bloomfield and did some door knocking. Had dinner then stayed in Canandaigua for the rest of the night.

The theme of this week was flakey appointments. We had lots of growing time. I loved it, even though it was really hard to tract in 10 degrees. My body was freezing but my heart was full and warm. I love being a missionary. 

Mosiah 28:3

“Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.”

Love,

Elder Judy

December 11, 2017 - What a Week! - Canandaigua, NY

Hello friends and family!!

Another week gone and closer to Christmas! I love being a representative of Jesus Christ at this time of year! There is just a bigger meaning to the words JESUS CHRIST. I LOVE it! 

Monday, we had dinner with the Record family. They are my favorite by far! They invited me to come back after the mission to go hunting with them! I think dad would love Craig! He reminds me a lot of dad. He actually served in Milwaukee and everything! Pretty cool! Afterwards we had FHE with a less active family the Labombards! They fed us some deer tenderloin! Missed it. We did some finding in Manchester... (yes my area has the village where some of D&C was revealed) literally do god's work under the shadow of the Hill Cumorah. Pretty awesome. We had a lesson with Christine. She seems to be progressing really well. It is really cool to watch through just prayer and reading how much a person can change.

Tuesday, was a tough day. It was pouring rain ALL day long and we only had 2 appointments. We had lots of rejection but found a cute little family at the last minute before we went and saw Amanda Steele. She is still searching for an answer. It’s been tough to find different ways to teach the Holy Ghost. Seems to be at a stand still now. We will do everything we can to help her! Also today was the day Colleen quit smoking! She went all day without a cigarette! So proud of her!

Wednesday, we had district meeting in the morning. I trained on teaching and testifying immediately of the restoration. Felt like my district liked the concept and will implement it! Hope so! We did some country road tracting. It was really cold and every door that opened was a Jehovah Witness... Awkward. Haha! That night we did some tracting and we met some really cool people! We met Shawn. Elder Churchill drew down the powers of heaven and testified of the restoration and he let us right in. At the end of our lesson he said “I believe this.” Super cool. Sometimes I forget how powerful and important our message really is. BE GRATEFUL!

Thursday, we started the day off knocking on doors and met Kristin, a young mom who once she opened the door said she's been on the search for a true church. That was cool. Had a lesson with Chris Ketchum. She opened up with her concerns with the temple and baptism... she's waiting to be approved by the church to be baptized but hasn't been to church in 2 months. We had dinner with the Weed family in Manchester! They. Are. Super. Cool!  Brother Weed works in Idaho mainly and travels back and forth. That night we did some more finding in Manchester then saw Colleen. She has continued to quit smoking and is getting really excited for her baptism on the 23rd! Her interview is tomorrow! 

Friday, we had some good planning. First one that Elder Churchill didn't have a anxiety melt down so that was good!  I had a district leader conference call with president! That was super cool. We do that every Saturday or Friday morning. We had a lesson with Brother Schwab. We did some finding in Farmington and found a guy named Micheal, he also let us in and we taught him the restoration and he was so engaged and excited. He said his first ever prayer with us at the end. He is really sincere about learning. We had a gritty lesson with Amanda. We asked a bunch of inspired question figuring out where her heart and intent is behind meeting with us. It was cool to see her realize how god has answered her prayers and that this is true. We fasted with her this Sunday for a confirmation. 

Saturday, was a sloowww day. We had finding all day long and until 9 after dinner. We did talk with everyone and we saw miracles from it. Elder Churchill had a melt down in the middle of the day... its hard. It’s mentally draining trying to help him. But because I love him and this work I will do anything I can to help him. We had dinner with the Aldrich family and had a good night of tracting!

Sunday, we had Amanda and Nikki at church along with 3 less actives! That was really cool! I gave my testimony, it was the first time I've cried while doing it since I got on my mission. But I felt like I needed to share something that was close to my heart. I read Mosiah 18:30 and talked about my “Waters of Mormon” and how we will all have a place and time where we will come to the knowledge of our redeemer and sing praises to Him forever.  It turned out a lot of people needed to hear it in the ward! Super cool!  We did some finding before our dinner appointment in Farmington. We found 3 people! That was a huge miracle! The Maloy family had us over for dinner. They are great! Sunday night was really tough. We knocked doors for 1 1/2 straight and every door opened... and every door we either got cussed at or told to leave the church. It was frustrating but we had a great lesson with a guy named Esteven to end the night! 

This week was great, there was so much opposition and persecution, but so many huge miracles. It is hard. The past month of my mission has been the hardest yet but I have loved every second of it. I've grown so much. Through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ our weakness can become and made strong. Ether 12:27

Love you all!

Elder Judy 

December 4, 2017 - Interviews! - Canandaigua, NY

Monday, was a great day! All of our appointments fell through so we spent a couple hours knocking doors in a ghetto trailer park! Haha good experiences found in trailer hoods.

 

Tuesday, we started off with district meeting! I gave a training on being an extraordinary missionary by helping our investigators over come barriers and resolve their concerns. We did exchanges right after and Elder Kelly came to Canandaigua with me  for the day! We had a lesson with a new investigator, Charles.  Not too sure about him and his progression. We will give him a chance! Haha We did some finding and the first door we knocked on it was a guy named Rudy and he invited us in and we shared the Restoration with him! It was great! 

Wednesday, we exchanged back in the morning and Elder Churchill and I went out to the country part of our area and did some country road tracting! As we were knocking a New York State trooper pulled up the drive. Someone called the cops on us at 11am! Haha!! We got a call from a former, Deongela! She wanted us to come say hi and teach her! That was super cool! We had interviews with President, I’ll talk more about that at the end of this letter. We ended the night teaching Christine Pasquarrel. She had some really bad things happen to her this past weekend, she basically told us how god isn’t real and how prayer is dreaming and all these things... it was really sad. We committed her to pray to know if god is there for her during this trial. 

Thursday, started off with weekly planning! And then every appointment canceled and we found for the rest of the day. Haha Brother Simpson was with us when our appointment fell through so he drove us all around the city contacting less actives. We finished the night tracting from 8-9. Those are the miracle hours!

Friday, I got invited to attend Missionary Leader Council! It was good to see all my best friends again and President! At MLC we talked a lot about being a Nephi Leader and developing the attributes Nephi has. We also were trained on giving loving correction, something I am horrible at... but now I know and will apply! Friday night as Elder Churchill and I rejoined each other, we went tracting and really put effort in praying and seeing where God wanted us to be. We felt a certain pull towards an inactive family. They ended up not answering so we did some door knocking on their street. Nothing was happening and the things that went through my mind is what am i doing wrong?!? I knocked on this door and as we were waiting for it to answer I told Elder Churchill “what do we need to be more obedient in so we can see more miracles?” Then the door opened and Sarah said hello. Sarah meet with missionaries 4 years ago and wasn't ready for the gospel then. She is now on date for December 30th! :)

Saturday, we had lots finding during the day. Found a nice lady who just had a baby and is looking for a church! Her name is Grace! Saturday night we had a lesson with a less active. We applied help and she will be coming to church this coming week! :) We also got to see Christine, we followed up with prayer and she said she has felt someone is there for her as she has done so! Gave us an opportunity to testify to her of God's love and support for her. We had a wonderful lesson on faith and repentance and she accepted baptism!

Sunday, we had stake conference and we had 3 of our investigators there! The talks were all centered on families and the power of Christ! It was great! We did some finding afterwards until dinner and after until our lesson with Colleen. Today was one of the first days that I really felt an over whelming feeling of power and authority with my calling. It’s all worth the sacrifice. I LOVE being a MISSIONARY!

D&C 84:88

“88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

In the past 15 months never have I felt more fully this scripture than I have in the past month. Since I really have given it my all I really feel the spirit of Christ in my heart and I feel my angels bearing me up. I shared this scripture with president in my interview, it was a powerful experience and we both wept.  I’m so grateful for my guardian angel that pushes me each and every day. Thankful for this Christmas season and the opportunity I have to remember her and her life. 

Love,

Elder Judy

November 27, 2017 - Howdy! - Canandaigua, NY

This week was grand! I have never felt so much power and authority in my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Thursday was a wonderful Thanksgiving! We were able to spend it with the Simpson family! They are so awesome. Thursday night we spent from 6-9 finding! We found some wonderful people! One guy was a bum and asked us why we needed the Book of Mormon for salvation.. I’ll tell ya why. It’s the proof of the priesthood being restored. 

Friday was weekly planning, always a wonderful thing. We spent most of Friday knocking doors. One man let us in and we started testifying of the restoration and he cut us off and began to tell us how god is an alien. It was awesome. Very interesting. We had dinner and then spent the night finding! Trying to find some new people to teach! 

Saturday we had 4 appointments and they all fell through.... it was great! We found Charles! He met with missionaries awhile ago in Newark, NY and seems prepared for the gospel. We will be meeting with him this week! 

Sunday was a wonderful Sabbath day, we had Amanda and Colleen at church! Colleen is progressing very well just needs to quit the smoking! She’s so close! After church we did a little bit of studying and then hit the streets and found this lady from Puerto Rico that is interested in the gospel! We had a lesson with Amanda, she is still trying to get an answer and we committed to go to the grove, I told her of my experience there and how it has changed my life. The grove has such a special place in my heart. 

Mosiah 23:10-11

10 Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth.

11 Nevertheless, in this I do not glory, for I am unworthy to glory of myself.

I LOVE being a missionary, cold or hot, rain or shine, I’ll be out there serving my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Love,

Elder Judy 

November 23, 2017 - Still Alive, 10 Days Later - Canandaigua, NY

Howdy! I don't think I've knocked so many doors in my life than I have in the past 2 weeks. Haha! My knuckles have calluses on them from knocking doors. I LOVE it! Training Elder Churchill the right way! 

11/13 Monday - Elder Churchills first p-day! It wasn't too eventful. Prepared to work for the rest of the week and got to talk y’all. From 6-9 we knocked doors. We met Danny. He invited us back! 

11/14 Tuesday - we had zone conference! It was weird not conducting or giving a training but it was good to be on the other side and receive direction from the lord! Now that our mission is being exactly obedient the big push is to live the safeguards to technology, they are basically a lock on a temple door, to keep all the evil out of the house of the lord. Their awesome and we are seeing miracles from living them, but the cool thing is there not only going to bless us on our missions but our future families as well. After zone conference we did some more door knocking, had dinner with the Yoder family, had a lesson with Colleen, she's still struggling to quit smoking. We had a lesson with Amanda Steele, she's struggling on recognizing answers. We did some knocking from 8-9pm and got the cops called on us! Haha 

11/15 Wednesday - lots of finding today... we had our return appointment with Danny when we taught him he brought us into his smoking room... and now when I get around or breathe that crap in I get super sick, so for the rest of day I was a stuffed up zombie. Haha not sure if Danny could progress... We had lots of canceled appointments. It was a great day! We spent dinner with Adam Record and his girlfriend Megan, they're my age and both are members returning back! They are awesome. We spent sometime contacting in the trailer park they live in. We met Pete and got a return appointment with him. We ended the night knocking doors in Canandaigua.

11/16 Thursday - was more tracting... haha seems to be the thing to do now a days. We did have dinner with the Edwards family! They are awesome. We had a lesson with Tera right after and it was great! She’s now on date for December 30th. We had a lesson with Chris... she's not progressing anymore. She won’t come to church. 

11/17 Friday - weekly planning! Elder Churchill was overwhelmed and stressed and asked if I would give him a blessing so he could have a clear mind while we planned. It seemed to have worked! We did some tracting up in Farmington then went on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Hunt came with me to Canandaigua!  We knocked some doors in a apartment complex and ended up getting kicked out...haha We had another lesson with Colleen! We also saw Christine, shes the lady with no Christian background but is searching for more direction in her life. We got her to pray at the end in the name of Christ and spirit was so strong. She’s awesome!! She also accepted baptism.

11/18 Saturday - we had a district leader meeting in the morning. It was over the phone. I love meetings with President. He’s so inspiring. Elder Hunt and I had lots finding to do. It was great. We exchanged back and Elder Churchill and I taught Pete the restoration. He was wearing lots of rainbow colored things, he took his jacket off and his shirt said “don’t underestimate a gay man born in October.” Ummmm... I got kinda nervous after that. He accepted baptism and said he wants to read the Book of Mormon.

11/19 Sunday - we were suppose to have 5 people at church, 3 of them showed up. Grateful for all the people we have to teach. Church was great! Afterwards we finished up studies and taught Amanda Steele, and did some finding. We met a guy who said he was 6 days away from going on a mission, and decided not to go and his family disowned him and he hasn't been active ever since. Super sad.  He wasn't interested in us coming back either. We had a lesson with the first person that Elder Churchill contacted. His name is Steven, we taught him the restoration and he loved it! He accepted baptism as well. 

11/20 Monday - we had district meeting in the morning. I gave a training on how to set goals using the scripture 1 Nephi 5:5, read then told how I applied that to goal setting. It went really well. Afterwards we did some finding in the bottom of our area. We met some less actives, came back to our apartment and did studies. 12 week is so much fun, role playing door approaches. Haha!  Elder Churchill is killing it. Doesn’t even need me. We had a lesson with Colleen to end our night.

11/21 Tuesday - we spent all day in Farmington. Elder Churchill was able to use his mission language, Spanish while we walked around a trailer hood (park). We found 2 new investigators! It was awesome. Jason and Priscilla. They are searching for answers to there religious questions such as “Is there a God?” Amanda and Zach Steele had us over dinner. We ended up tracting for the rest of the night in Manchester, NY. Knocked doors in the town where a lot of the Doctrine and Convents was revealed. No big deal! Haha love my mission.

11/23 Wednesday - it was freezing cold and it was another day with not to many teaching appointments. We saw Christine this morning before she left outta town. She has changed in a short amount of time just because of praying in the name of Christ. She’s SO much happier. It’s humbling to see changes like this in people. For the rest of the day we did some knocking and met Cameron. He invited us back Friday!  Sister Headworth took us to Applebee’s for dinner. We had nothing but tracting for the rest of the night. The very last door we knocked on, Nicolas opened the door. We began to testify of his self worth and of God's love for him. We brought the restoration back into the approach and I invited him to be baptized on the door. He accepted. I asked if we could come in and share more about this important message with him. He said yes. We sat down and taught him the restoration and we invited him to be baptized on December 30th and he accepted. Coolest miracle of my mission.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

“...humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship god, in whatsoever place ye maybe in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you.”

I’m grateful for my God, and his son Jesus Christ and his great atoning sacrifice. I love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Judy 

November 13, 2017 - Miracles?!?! - Canandaigua, NY

Hey y’all, hope you had a great week! So many good things are happening in the Canandaigua area it's great! 

Monday was a bittersweet day, had to help Elder Hardy pack up... it was tough to say goodbye to him! We had a great 3 months together full of laughs and hard work. We saw lots of cool things together. Monday night was full of lessons.

Tuesday I dropped Elder Hardy off at the mission office so he could get to Buffalo, while I waited for my temporary companion Elder Mills I went out with the zone leaders and did some door knocking in their area for a couple hours. It was a blast. Elder Mills came to Canandaigua for the day. We saw lots of miracles. We met Cody, he just got out of jail and is a recovering addict and really wants God's help. We were able to teach him about the Atonement and he loved it! We did some door knocking, had dinner with Chris and ended the night knocking some doors, it was freezing cold. The cops got called again as well! So much opposition in the work right now!! It  is nuts. Haha

Wednesday was the day I got to pick up my trainee! His name is Elder Churchill! He’s from Provo, Utah. He’s also a Spanish speaker.... kinda weird that they are having me train him but god has a plan! We left the mission office and got right to work and through out all that day we were constantly finding if we saw someone on the side of the road we would pull over and run after them and share the gospel with them! It’s awesome! LOVE being a missionary! Elder Churchill was able to invite 4 people to be baptized that day and one accepted a date! It was great! Miracles! I also had the opportunity to give another baptismal interview. Jake was his name and holy cow was he prepared to be dunked. It was an amazing privilege. I love giving baptismal interviews.

Thursday we had district meeting, I'm the district leader and gave a training on helping our investigators overcome conflicts and resolving them as well. it was great! It’s fun being a district leader!  I have a huge district now, 4 elders and 5 sisters. It’s awesome! And they are all really hard working and great! After district meeting we had a couple lessons. It was a good day.

Friday was Elder Churchill's first taste of weekly planning. Haha Elder Churchill has been struggling with some depression issues while we plan and study so we try to do it fast so we can get out and forget ourselves and work. Today it was freezing cold and we didn't have any appointments and I was upset because i didn't want to overwhelm the new guy... but God provided so many people to be placed in our path! It was awesome. Building up the teaching pool! 

Saturday we had all of our return appointments and about half of them went through. It was great. We saw lots of miracles. We helped a lady move this huge TV from their apartment to their garage and we were able to share the message of the restoration. God is great to us.

 

Sunday we had Amanda Steele to church! She’s doing really well and progressing nicely. Elder Churchill got a little overwhelmed at church and had a couple members really worried about him because he just shut down... I was really nervous about what happened and we were able to talk it out afterwards. We did some finding right after church and talked to some great people. Came back and did studies and then went back out and found some people before dinner! Colleen canceled our appointment but she only smoked 2 cigarettes today!!! That’s huge for her! Keep her in your prayers. We are really pushing to get her interview for baptism this week! We had a lesson with Chris, and really helped her out. She’s been struggling lately. As we were walking back to our car we decided to contact at a gas station really quick and try to get someone new. We ended up talking to Micheal. He said the last 4 years of his life have been miserable, he works with a lot of Mormons from Utah and had nothing but good things to say, he took a copy of the Book of Mormon and said he will take us out to lunch... HUGE miracle!

“Jospeh Smith, the prophet and seer of the lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it....”

~ D&C 135:3

Love,

Elder Judy 

November 6, 2017 - Big Changes... - Canandaigua, NY

Hey ya'll!  It was a fantastic week in New York!  Big things happening here! So the big news:
- Elder Hardy and I were released as Zone Leaders and both called as District Leaders.
- Elder Hardy is going to Buffalo
- My new companion is... a trainee! I will be getting him on Wednesday.

Monday was a day full of tracting. We had lots of good conversations and found a guy named Dieter. We set a return appointment. That night all of our appointments fell through so we did some gnarly high rise apartment tracting. As we knocked on this door the guy opened and we began to help him feel the love of god. As we were testifyjng a lady walked in and was going into her apartment right next door and before I could think, my feet were already moving and my mouth was already talking to her. This was one of the coolest, most spirit-filled contacts I've had on my mission, Christine broke down and was saying how lost she felt and how just an hour earlier she was looking things up about higher powers. She invited us back and we will be seeing her tonight!

Tuesday was a great Halloween! We pounded the pavement from 2-5 and had to be in the apartment by 6. Dieter didn't show for his return appointment, so it was a good 3 hours of knocking doors. Haha growing is the best.

Wednesday we had district meeting, we had a surprise visitor... Sister Evans came and sat in! It was great! We had a FaceTime interview by President Evans. That night we had a couple lessons in some apartments in Farmington and they all fell through so we did some more door knocking and the first door we knocked on, the guy says, "oh, I'm already Mormon. Come on in." Haha we read the Book of Mormon with him and now we are going to begin working with him! We had a lesson with Chris. She's lovin' the gospel and the blessings from it!

Thursday we had a lesson with Brother Schwab and then did weekly planning and had a good time! Then we did some tracting across an anti church and got hardcore antied 3 times and got the cops 🚓 called on us. Haha it was great! We had a lesson with Colleen. She's doing so good! She's quite smoking and and loving the church and Book of Mormon. It's so cool to she her change!

Friday we had mission leadership council meeting! Some of the best trainings I have ever received by President. He talked a lot about repentance and how it is a path to a more glorious future. How true that is. It was good to be with all the Zone Leaders! After the meeting President pulled Elder Hardy and I aside and released us, and
called us to be District Leaders! I'll do whatever the lord wants me to do. Even if I feel like I'm not good enough, cause I know the lord has qualified me. After the meeting we had exchanges with the Penn Yan elders. Elder Griener, my old companion came to Canandaigua with me! It was good to be with him and see how much we both have grown! We had a lesson with Adam Record and his girlfriend. They are returning members and super cool! We had dinner than did some finding, we had a lesson with a part-member family and we put the mom on date for
December 9th! We ended the night tracting and met Ralph who let us in and accepted a return appointment!

Saturday was a cold slow day! We did some tracting in the morning and saw Colleen, we taught her tithing and she loved it! We did some more finding and exchanged back! It was great day! We went to Bloomfield and saw a couple friends there! We invited Lesta to be baptized and she accepted! We also tracted into another less active who said he needs the church in his life. It was so awesome!

Sunday was a good day. We did lots of finding and didn't see much from it expect getting drenched!  We had 4 people at church tho! It was awesome!

I love you all thank you for the support! ❤️

Love,
Elder Judy

October 31, 2017 - Bye Bye Fall - Canandaigua, NY

Hey y'all! 

Hope it was a good week back home! This week was great! met lots of new people and saw so many miracles. God is good. I can truly say... if you want more faith, be more obedient.

Monday was a great p-day! We spent lots of time cleaning up our apartment and rearranging the furniture and making it more comfortable. We had dinner with the Gulick family, they are super awesome. Monday night we went to this little village south of Canandaigua called Cheshire. We met Julie there! We were able to share a message with her and helped her understand the importance of the Book of Mormon, it was awesome to see her face light up when we taught her about the restored gospel.   We ended the night doing some finding in the city of Canandaigua.

Tuesday was such a good day! We had so much success, the spirit was within our planning session that day! Haha we met lots of new people and found 7 people to begin teaching! It was awesome! We did lots of street contacting at the lake and tracting later in the day when people were home. It was a good day! We had dinner with President and Sister Pitts. They're the greatest! We did some finding on some old country roads, and ended the night with Chris and teaching her!

Wednesday we had district meeting, it's always good to see the Penn Yan Elders. Elder Griener gave a great training! We did lots of tracting and finding. Our lessons during the day fell through... it was good tho! We tracted Ontario Street and met Jeremiah, he has lots of really good questions about who god is and the role he has in our
lives. So we set up a time to meet with him! We had dinner back at the apartment and then went and did some  more finding.  We ended the night teaching Colleen, she's so great! GOLDEN.  We had President Pitts come
along and we taught her the word of wisdom. It was great! She accepted and is going to start working on not drinking coffee and she's already began to quit smoking! She had no problem with it what so ever! She's
great!  We had a lesson fall through right at 8 o'clock, so we said a prayer and followed the guidance of the spirit and god lead us to Thisn Street and the first door we knocked on, Dave opens the door and I said "Hello! We are the local Mormon missionaries..." he looks at me right in the eyes, "Oh! Come on in..."  We were able to comfort Dave in times of death in his family and shared a powerful message with him.

Thursday we went to the Fayette district meeting and got to have it at the Peter Whitmer Farm. Pretty cool. Then we went on exchanges, I was in Geneva with the elders there. Elder Emry and Elder Kelley. I had the opportunity to serve with them for the day! Elder Emry is close to going home and this is Elder Kelley's first transfer. We had
a good time talking to everyone and setting up lots of return appointments! Geneva is a cool little town (we went to the pizza place we went to while we were here for pageant as a family!! How cool is That?! Haha) I was able to give a baptismal interview to one of their investigators who's preparing for the 11th of November. It's always
humbling to interview someone for this sacred ordinance. It was a good day in G-town.

Friday I came back to Canandaigua and helped the senior couple Elder & Sister Jeffries move the sister's apartment. The Jeffries leave this week... they are going to be missed. The new couple, Elder & Sister
O'brian are from Driggs, ID so that's super cool!  They are awesome. We got to help them move furniture for the morning then we did some weekly planning and then went out and pounded the pavement for a little bit. Knocked some doors. Got flipped off by a 87 year old man... it was hilarous. Haha Friday night we had lessons with Chris and Colleen.

Saturday was a great day! Met some new good people! Met a weather man in Syracuse, who is interested in learning more! We did lots of tracting today. Love it! We had dinner with the Meadows family. Then we had a
lesson, and did a little more finding before our lesson with Matt.  We taught Matt the plan of salvation. He ate it up! He's loving all the things we teach him and is excited to be baptized at the end of November.

Sunday was a great day, I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. The youth speaker took about 30 seconds.... and Sister Johnson took about 7-8 minutes... so I was left with about 30 minutes to fill all by myself... haha I basically just chucked the plans I had and said a prayer and stood up and talked about ways of showing faith and what faith is. I filled 28 minutes. Good enough right? Haha it was ridiculous! Matt came to church in his sweet bright baby blue suit! It was awesome. All It rained all day and we had no lessons planned... so it was one of those days. But we were expecting miracles. After dinner we decided we would tract in this certain neighborhood. After about 40 minutes of rejection, we knocked on Ken's door and immediately he let us right in and we taught him the restoration. He's so interested it's a miracle! God is good! And later that night we met JP and he also let us in and we were able to share the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon! It was such a good night!

Monday was freezing. Haha no more sunshine for a long while. Here in New York it's overcast 98% of the winter. Yay. But it doesn't stop us from pounding the pavement! We met Dieter, we tracted into him and we were able to share the message of the restoration with him! It was awesome! We did a little bit of tracting. Did some service for a
member, Sister Record. She's the relief society president. Had Chinese dinner. Had a lesson with a family that was former investigators and want to get back into it! We also dropped by Ryan McNeal, he's a guy that I taught when I first got to the area and he's still really interested in the gospel! So we are going to start teaching him and his wife again! It was a successful day! We did some tracting in an old apartment building and we were talking to this guy and this young lady walked behind us and around the corner to her apartment and I went and talked to her and it turns out she is searching for what she needs to believe in. She was looking stuff up about higher powers an
hour before I talked to her. I was able to teach her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon and she set up a time for us to come teach her more! Success!

This week I started a challenge of reading the Book of Mormon in 10 days! I'm 4 days in and ahead of the schedule! It's so cool to see how the stories go right along and how much more I've learned as I read it like a book and reading it for that reason.

Showing faith in being obedient to the commandments of god is the single most important thing we can do in this life to help us prepare to meet our god again. Being more obedient brings unwavering faith in your savior Jesus Christ. Just over the course of 2 weeks I've seen huge changes in the way I pray, in the way I act, and how I study the words of Christ. It's a beautiful thing. I LOVE my savior Jesus Christ with all my heart.

Love,
Elder Judy

October 23, 2017 - New York Rochester Miracle Mission! - Canandaigua, NY

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic week! It was another great week of serving my Lord!

Monday was a good p-day, we cleaned the apartment and car. Feels so nice to have everything spotless. Haha we hung out at the church for a little bit and emailed and shot hoops. We spent Monday night in finding mode for the first hour. Then we had a lesson with Colleen and Sheena! We taught more about the Book of Mormon and gave Sheena her copy. It was awesome! They are great! We had President Pitts come along, he's the pageant president!

Tuesday we had another zone conference, it was a follow up to the mission tour of Elder Bennett. And president is emphasizing the white handbook and how it's the way to miracles! So we have some new rules, we can only email for 1.5 hours on p-day, also the dress code, had to get rid of some ties and pants! It's okay tho! Doing it for the lord,
sacrifice is worth it. Specially for the miracles that have been happening in this mission, and it's only the beginning. After the meeting we had some finding and dinner. We also had another lesson with Sheena and Colleen, Sheena wasn't feeling good but came and sat in at the end. She had read up to 1 Nephi 12 and did the quiz of the plan of salvation on the back of the pamphlet! She's golden! We had a lesson with Chris. We are preparing her for her baptismal interview!

Wednesday we did some service in the morning for a former investigator. They had us bury this 6 foot deep hole in their yard dug by a tractor.... so it was huge and they had us using our hands and shovels to bury it. Haha it was ridiculous. We had a lesson with Kristy, then saw Kenny Eib. He's a recent convert to the ward, was baptized in February! Then we headed off to Gates/Chili to blitz the assistants area. I was with Elder Davis, he's from Kansas! Just outside of Kansas City. He's a great man! He came out in the same group I did. Lots of the people I came out with are in leadership. It's awesome. We spent our time that evening in the nicer part of their area and we did some tracting. We met some really great people and got them some more people to teach!

Thursday I was still with Elder Davis! Today we spent all of our time in the ghetto of Rochester. It was awesome. Haha talked to tons of people and even met a prophet... ha Job Smith. He's a great guy! Thursday evening we spent back here in Canandaigua we did some tracting and then we had a lesson with Rex. He's a great guy!

Friday was a good day of planning and was an all around really good day, super nice weather so we went to the lake to talk to people and we found a ton of new people to teach! One lady named Allie was a huge miracle on how the contact happened. Elder Hardy was talking to people on a swing and I saw Allie walking away from us so I took off after her and stopped her. I asked her if she's ever heard of the Book of Mormon and began to testify of its truthfulness. Then I pulled out a scripture that I wrote on a note card that morning, Mosiah 24:14 and that just hit home for her and she took a copy and we are going to teach her now! God is good! I love the Book of Mormon. ❤️  We had dinner with Chris, she fed us steak! We had a lesson in Bloomfield with Matt, he is the man! He's my homie! I love this guy! He's had really cool experiences with the Book of Mormon changing his bad moods into good when he reads it in the morning! So awesome! We also had another lesson with Colleen, she told us right before our appointment Sheena had gotten arrested.... there goes our golden investigator... Colleen is an awesome missionary tho and brought along another one of her friends that we are going to start teaching now!

Saturday was a really good day! Spent a lot of time running the streets of Canandaigua. We spent time at the lake again. Not too much luck. It's hit or miss there. Had a church tour with Colleen! She loved it and is preparing for baptism on November 11th. We had dinner with the Simpson family! They are so awesome, their son Ammon is 8 and has been dieing to have a dart war with us so we had a little nerf war before dinner. Haha Saturday night was spent knocking doors until 8:30 cool story: knocked on this guy's house and he let us in, not interested just wanted to show off his car in his garage. Haha let us sit in his lambo! Crazy! then we went to see Chris and did one last run through of the questions for baptism!

Sunday was a great Sabbath day! Chris and her daughter Sam came to church! After church we hit the ground running, had a lesson with a kid we met at the lake, named Mahommad. Speaks no English... so that was hilarous. Downloaded gospel library and got it in Abric for him. Haha our 4 o'clock appointment fell through so we got to do some more finding. What a blessing! We had dinner with the Weidner family. They bought us Subway... haha it was a crazy day for them. We did some tracting in this neighborhood in Farmington and we didn't even get to get one word out before every door was slammed in our face. Haha until the last door this little old man comes out and talked with us he's a very nice man, but catholic. Ha! It was a really good day! Chris was interviewed by President Evans, because she's on probation she has to get approved by first presidency. Sad, but it'll be so good for her!

The greatest saying in the world: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me... when the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other — this is my beloved son. Hear him!"

What joy this brings to my heart. God lives. He loves us all. I know Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. And the Book of Mormon is the convincing evidence of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,
Elder Judy

October 16, 2017 - Miracle Mission - Canandaigua, NY

Hello!

This week went by so fast, it's crazy. So many good things are happening within our area and in our zone, thanks to Elder Bennett in teaching us how to be exactly obedient.

Tuesday was a great p-day! We got all the necessities done, and had a district p-day, Elder Griener and Harvey came up here to Canandaigua and we got some lunch and hung out, it was fun! When p-day ended we went out
to Bloomfield to do some finding and met with a less active family. We found Matt, we've taught him multiple times since then, he's great! We had a great visit with the Rougex family as well.

Wednesday was another day spent with Elder Bennett, all the zone leaders and sister training leaders got to have MLC with him. It was great! He basically told us what our mission needs to improve on...  we are obedient just not all the way there yet, people are reading the white handbook to loosely. He said to read as if your companion is President Monson! So lots of changes are coming soon! So excited for the miracles we are going to see from it! We got to go to the Hill Cumorah and President invited us all to choose a chapter in the Book of Mormon and to go read it on the hill and look for ways that it will help this mission. I read 1 Nephi 3. We had a lesson with
Sue, but she was sick....  we had a lesson with Colleen, and then we gave Kristy a church tour!

Thursday was our first full day of work.. haha we got to help out a member of our church clean his living room in the morning. Then we went and had a lesson Kristen a nice lady we met a couple weeks ago.  We had a couple other lessons then went up to Farmington and had dinner with Sister Allgood and her grandson Blake. They are super fun! Blake is a returning member, we've been working with him a little bit. We ended the night teaching Chris, we taught the law of chastity and the baptismal interview questions! She's almost there!

Friday was a long day...  we met Erin out by the lake we sat down and taught her the whole restoration and she loved it and wants to learn more. We did some door knocking and had dinner, then went to Bloomfield again and had a lesson with Matt. In our first contact with him I promised him he would feel something he's never felt before, and he said that after he read the pamphlet he couldn't take the smile off his face. I thought that was really cool. God provides! And this is the Miracle Mission... we had a lesson with Colleen one of our most progressing investigators. We walked in and she had a friend there, we thought ok cool. Well turns out this lady, Sheena had spoken with Brother Potter earlier that day. He's a bus driver for the city of Canandaigua and he bore his testimony to her and she wanted to learn more so she came along with Colleen. We taught her the restoration and she asked for a priesthood blessing. It was crazy. God is just providing as we are striving to be exactly obedient.

Saturday we didn't have a single lesson.... it was a really long day but god is good and we found a ton of new people to teach. We knocked into Cherokee, she's a young mother with 2 kids that invited us back. Roger Peterson is also in that same neighborhood and he invited us back! That night we ran into Bailey, she's a younger lady who had lots of really good questions and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she accepted a return appointment. Then while walking to a formers house we walked by this dude and just asked "you wanna hear a message about Jesus Christ?" And he said ya why not so we set up a time. He's name is Jeff. For how long of a day it was we saw lots of success. Oh and also this dude named Rex just walked up to us on Main Street and gave us his address and said come over tomorrow... haha super cool!

Sunday was a really good day! We had all of our return appointments today! But most importantly it was sacrament meeting! Kristy came to church! She was really nervous and only stayed for the first hour. Chris also came! She's so awesome. After church we had a lesson with Kristen, she still hasn't read... so we are giving her one more
chance. We had personal study and then went to see Jeff and had our follow up lesson, he invited us right in and we asked why he invited us back and he said oh, just because I've seen you around and I'm curious. Haha we taught the full Restoration and he loved it and invited us back. We had another lesson with Matt. He's doing great! We had dinner with the Langan family, their house is crazy with 3 kids all in a row and 2 of them are twins. Haha we did some stop bys in Bloomfield then went and had our lesson with Rex. He basically taught us the restoration and he believes this is the true church. It's nuts, blew us away. Haha we had a lesson with Kristy but here's the catch to this one... she texted us earlier and said that she doesn't want to continue to go further... we texted back and said can we still come by tonight? Ended up going and we taught her and found out she has really bad social anxiety. She has a therapy dog so we solved the problem, she's going to come to church with her dog!

This week I've been studying hope out of preach my gospel and one scripture that I loved is 2 Nephi 31:20 it tells us to have faith, HOPE, and charity but I love the way it says it. Having a perfect brightness of hope. Hope and faith are connected and related attributes, and they help us obtain the perfect love of Christ for everyone around us. I love this gospel and I LOVE being a missionary.

Love,
Elder Judy

Sorry no pictures this week.... still love ya tho!❤️

October 10, 2017 - Elder Bennett - Canandaigua, NY

Hey you guys 

This week was grand, saw lots of miracles with little time in our area! God provides! 

Monday was a great p-day, we got bored so we went to the motor sports dealership and sat on some dirt bikes... haha Monday night was spent in Farmington, we did some tracting in a back road and tried visiting some members, we visited with the Johnson's. They're a couple that was baptized when Mark Barrie was here on his mission! Super cool! They are really good people. We had FHE with the Labombard family, Patrick got his mission call to Mesa, AZ so excited for him! 

Tuesday was a busy day! We had to plan a training to give to all the districts in our zone, Good, Better, Best. Focused around using our time to the best of its abilities! We then got out and hit the ground running, tracted in the morning and had a lesson with Kristen. A lady we met a couple weeks ago! We then went up to Farmington and found Sue early, she's had lots of contact with the Mormon church throughout her life and we are going to start meeting with her! We found her in a trailer park. Those things are GOLD.  we had a lesson. With Jonathan, ended up passing him off to the YSA branch in Rochester. That night we did door knocking in Canandaigua. We had a lesson with Chris, asked her the baptismal interview questions and she's so ready to be baptized! Just gotta get her interviewed and find out a way to get her immersed in water with the disabilities that she has. We had another lesson with Colleen, she's so awesome. We are teaching so many wonderful people! Don't know why god is providing for us this well....

Wednesday we had district meeting in the morning and then we took a 2 hour journey to the bottom of the mission on the border of NY and PA, to a little, tiny place called Wellsville. We were able to blitz the area with the elders there and help them out! Elder Peters and I were together and within the first 30 minutes we had handed out 4 copies of the Book of Mormon. It was awesome! We didn't even get 100 yards away from the house before we had to go back and refill our bags! Elder Peters was AP a couple transfers ago and is getting ready to go home to Washington state after this transfer... he will be missed, he is such a stud! 

Thursday... man was a tender mercy.... GOD IS GOOD. You will never guess who called me, awhile ago, about 10 months ago there was a man named Mike Gates who was interviewed by President Evans for baptism on the 14th of January. Well I got a random call from him and he had gotten his letter of approval and is going to be baptized! And he wants me to baptize him! Oh, god answers prayers. Made my day, and my mission!  We went to the Wellsville district meeting. There are six elders in the southern tier that are absolutely killing it. We gave our training and stayed for the rest then climbed back into the Fusion and made the 2 hour drive back home to Canadaigua. We did some tracting after dinner. Been doing a lot of door knocking lately... we met Scott & Debbie Vanduyne at the lake and we were able to testify of the restoration and they felt something, they invited us back over to their house! Scott drove bus for the pageant cast so they know a little about us. We had another lesson with Chris, we taught her the law of tithing. 

Friday was a good day of planning, then we exchanged. I went to Penn Yan with Elder Harvey. We spent lots of time knocking doors cause the work is slower in that area, but I was determined to show that there are people to be found in every area. We were able to get 3 phone numbers and 2 return appointments in a little town called Hall! 

Saturday morning we spent it in Penn Yan, and we found a FAMILY! Haha god is good! (That's my new saying) I actually found this family last time I was in Penn Yan and they didn't follow up, so we went to follow up and the mom invited us in and we were able to teach a short lesson and set one up for the following day! Saturday afternoon was spent in Canandaigua back with Elder Hardy. We did some door knocking. 

Sunday was a wonderful fast Sunday. I love fast sundays, and I Love the sacrament. It's became a huge part of my life and I can't and won't go without it. It's so important! We had Nikki at church, she's been investigating for a little while. She's 17 and has made the decision to be baptized! Very soon, this coming Saturday! Haha Elder Hardy is going to baptize her as well! We had a lesson with Kristy, she's been reading the Book of Mormon so much! She told us about how she's applying it to her life and how much it's helping her! Haha golden. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes without hesitation. So awesome. We did some more door knocking at these really nice townhomes just out side of town. We met Roger, He's got some Wicked blue eyes. They are gnarly. But he was really cool. We taught him the restoration and he loved it! Inivited us to come back! 

Monday was a day I'll never forget... haha the hammer came down. Elder Bennett of the seventy came to the mission. He trained us on things that our mission needs to improve on, he promised huge blessings if we act on the things trained on. He talked a lot about having Faith, Hope, and Charity. Something I felt very strongly I could improve on... and he also said that our purpose is to Help, Not to Invite and Hope they do the commitment. We need to HELP them keep the commitment, really opened my eyes. A scripture he focused on is Matthew 20:36-39 I know that everything we do should be out of LOVE especially when we share the gospel. I do know the savior loves all of us, with His perfect love. Now we must obtain that and let others feel it. Pray for it. Faith, Hope, and Charity are essential attributes to help us prepare to meet god. 

Love you all! Thanks for the support! 

Love,

Elder Judy