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