March 26, 2018 - Good Things To Come - Niagara Falls, NY

Hello family and friends!

This week was great! I’m loving Niagara Falls and the people. I missed Buffalo:)

This week was like any other week of the mission, did lots of finding. And found 11 new investigators! And a couple of those people have already been put on baptismal date and are excited to start progressing in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! What a beautiful thing.

Jeannie is doing good, she had a rough week with her husband... he is inactive member and no longer believes in god. And he was telling her if she wants to be baptized her would divorce her... and of course that is not our mission... we don’t want to split families. We want them together for all eternity! So we did lots of praying and fasting this week for her. And now they have moved back together and are currently in Lake Tahoe on a vacation. HUGE MIRACLE! God answers prayers. :)

Another wonderful thing that happens this week, while tracting one night I got a very strong prompting to go to an apartment building we had just walked by and knocked on a door. As we went in and started knocking no one was answering and I was starting to second guess myself... then we knocked on apartment 5 and as he opened the door I felt the spirit and knew that it was going to be good. As we talked with Dwayne he let us right in and we began to teach the restoration to him. He stopped us and said he has been praying for guidance from god and knew we were an answer to his prayers. He was in awe of the restoration and is excited to be baptized in the coming months. We met with him Sunday and he had read the Book of Mormon and believes it’s of god! Dwayne is awesome and a blessing to me and my life. I know the spirit of god is the only thing that matters in this work. And sometimes I feel as if I’m not worthy enough to receive its guidance. But aren’t we all? King Benjamin puts it best in Mosiah 2, We are all “beggars”

I can’t describe or explain to you how excited I am for this week and weekend! This week we can commemorate the life of Jesus Christ. Starting with his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and ending with his Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. One thing I did last year to make this week more memorable and to think of the savior each day, I read the story that had to do with the certain day. Today would be the day of cleansing the temple. I invite you to read the story and choose some things that are in your “temple” and cleanse them out. I plan on doing the same today!:)

3 Nephi 17:3 says something along the lines of “prepare your minds for the morrow.” I also invite you to prepare now for the special opportunity we have to hear from a prophet of god and Christ's apostles! I know this church is true with all my heart!

Love you all so very much!
Elder Judy

March 19, 2018 - The Falls - Niagara Falls, NY

Hello friends and family, 

Whatta week! My new area is amazing! Not as good as Canandaigua... but it is great! We cover the northern half of Niagara Falls and the surrounding towns and villages! And the work is booming here! Elder Mechem is my new companion. He’s been here for 3 months. He is awesome! He’s from Las Vegas. We both have the desire to work hard and be obedient! It’s been a great week and will be a great transfer! 

First things first, I’ll tell ya about the people we are teaching here. We are teaching a Jamaican man named Gladston. He came to church for the first time yesterday and loved it! He really does have the desire to change his life and follow Christ. Super exciting. We are also teaching a lady named Jeannie. The elders found her the week before I got here and she is SOLID. She’s read up through Jacob in the Book of Mormon and has already received a witness that it’s true. The story she told us was life changing. Here’s the story, Jeannie has a daughter that passed away when she was 5 from a tragic accident. Before her daughter passed away they would go on hikes all the time and Jeannie would be a couple steps in front of Emily cheering her on saying “your almost there! You can make it!” Thursday night Jeannie had a dream of her daughter in front of her, and her daughter was cheering her on. Saying “mom your almost there! You can do it!” Jeanie woke up from the dream knowing her daughter was cheering her on to be baptized. Jeannie asked us if she could be baptized on April 15th. She came to church on Sunday and loved it! Those are the 2 most progressing people we are working with. We found 10 new investigators this week and we are excited to see how it turns out with them! 

Cool experience from tracting this week. We were knocking doors in a well off neighborhood. No one was answering and we were deciding if we should leave or not and we decided to knock on a couple more doors and Paul answered the door. Paul is really seeking Christ in his life right now and invited us in, we taught him the restoration and invited him to be baptized unto Christ’s church and he gladly said yes! He is on date for baptism for May 6th. Super exciting! God is a god of miracles. 

Also as zone leaders we are trying and implementing the new technology before everyone else. So we got smart phones this week! It is super weird and I’m still trying to figure out how to use it. Wish me luck!

I love this area! We’ve got a mix of about everything. And from the top of the hill just outside of Lewiston you have a beautiful view of Toronto, Canada! Pretty awesome. I appreciate all the love and support from all of you! Hope you have a blessed week! 

Love,

Elder Judy 

Miss this family so much!  Shout out to the Record Family!

 Elder Churchill

P-Day hike to the river

March 12, 2018 - 7.5 Months - Canandaigua, NY

Some bittersweet news this morning... after lots of hard work, exact obedience, tears, and many more things to keep the work going here In Canandaigua, I will be transferred back to the land of Buffalo! I will be a zone leader serving in the Niagara Falls area! I would say I’m excited but I think I’m more sad to leave my home. Have I told how much I love this place? Elder Gardner will be the district leader here and is going to do good things! 

This week was great last week here! All of our investigators took some big steps in faith this week, Amy met with us multiple times! And the Heltemes family is rocking it! They are eating the gospel right up. They message us on Facebook every day telling us what verses they liked as they read from the Book of Mormon, and to make it even better they came to church for me and my last Sunday, they have a special place in my heart. Jarod Crystal is going to be baptized this coming week, on Sunday evening! We finished up teaching him this past week. 

We had a special meeting this week, it was based on technology and how to use it more wisely and such, President also announced that we will be getting smart phones! What the heck?!  Missionary work has completely changed since I started my mission.. lol. We will have 2 gigs of data a month and the ways that we will be using it will hasten the work so much! I’m excited! The MLC will be getting phones this Friday! 

I had exchanges with Elder Jones this past week. He is a great missionary! 

Did lots of door knocking, like usual. Last night as we were knocking doors on the lake we had back to back let ins and taught the restoration! It was pretty cool! I love the feeling of doing the lords work when things actually work out! Not much more to report on, it was a pretty normal week. 

My new address 
440 Ridge Street #2 Lewiston, NY 14092

The biggest thing I’ve learned in this area is the having the attitude of faith, in all things having the hope for better. As I learned the attitude of faith I saw miracles, I know god is preparing many people to receive his gospel. He is also preparing each of you to further give yourselves to him and His son Jesus Christ. The life of discipleship is the life to live!

Love,  

Elder Judy

March 5, 2018 - Fill the Font🚿 - Canandaigua, NY

Howdy, 

This week was great! I only spent about 3 days in my area... but we still saw good things and Amanda Steel was baptized by her brother-in-law! 

Our teaching pool dried up by 1 person. Amanda Steele was baptized on Saturday. It was so awesome to see her enter the waters of baptism. She was so excited. I’ve been working with her since November. All the hard work, sweat, and tears have all paid off. I can leave Canandaigua feeling that God is proud of me and the work I’ve done here. Oh and also a person that I worked with in Freedom, Tyrone Mott was baptized on Saturday! Two people that I worked with entered the waters of baptism on Saturday! 

I went on exchanges with the coolest zone leader out here, Elder Hunt. I got to go back to my old area that I was in a year ago! Fairport! It was cool to be back. We had a good time. Learned lots of new techniques to use Facebook and different things. I also got to go on exchanges with Elder Smith. We were serving right where it all started, the streets of Palmyra. It was pretty cool. Their area is just north of Palmyra in a town called Marion. Elder Smith and I did lots of tracting and it was cool to see the persecution, it gets worse and worse the closer you get to the restoration sites. Gnarly. 

Not a whole lot else happened. The good ole grind of missionary work. Knocking doors and testifying to people of god's unconditional love. Greatest thing in the world. 

One lesson we had this week was really weird... we taught this lady the restoration and at the end she was asking us how prophets are chosen and things, we told her the process and she just opened a can of worms, so I just testified of the Book of Mormon and invited her to take a copy and read it and ask god if it’s true. She started crying, so I’m thinking, oh yeah, props to inviting the spirit. Then she says she won’t read the book and kinda chewed me out... I guess she didn’t think I valued her question. The lesson ended up being two hours long. Afterwards me and Elder Gardner looked at each other and both had puzzled faces... haha the member was pretty confused as well. 

Alright, let’s get spiritual. 

D&C 18:10-13

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

12 And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

13 And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!

Repentance seems scary, but it’s a path that leads to a more joyful future. God finds great joy in those who repent and draw closer to him through his son Jesus Christ. 

Loves,

Elder Judy 

Bought these shoes when i first got to Canandaigua. Working hard? 

Or hardly working?  

Amanda Steel's husband - Zach Steel

 Video chatted Sister Tucker for a lesson. She served here and is now home. 

She got close with the lady we taught, Lesta!