June 25, 2018 - Enter In By The Way - Niagara Falls, NY

Hello familia! 

2 Nephi 32:5 

"5 For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do."

This week we participated in two confirmations. Jeannie and Hunter were confirmed members of the church and they received the holy ghost! Wow! It was awesome. I truly felt like a disciple of Jesus Christ. I felt the power of God confirm to me the things I have done and the truthfulness of it all. This is ALL true. Both of the recent converts are really excited about sharing the gospel. Hunter brought his friend. Jeannie has been bearing her testimony every time she has an opportunity! Pretty awesome. They will do great things! 

We had zone conference this week! We gave a training on goal setting and reversing the goal and knowing exactly what we need to do each day to accomplish the goals. It was really good. When Elder Maynes came to the mission he trained us on it. We just echoed and shared what we have seen as we have applied it to our area! It was my last time seeing my past companion Elder Jarett Gardner... he will be missed. Right after zone conference we did exchanges. Elder Davis came with Elder Blosch and I. We had a great time in Niagara Falls. We found a few solid people! 

We got to spend a few days up in Wilson! Love that little town. We actually had lots of success there! We taught quite a few people! It was great! Caught a great view of the lake Sunday night! 

As for the work and for people we are meeting with.. Tiffany is doing awesome! She is progressing towards her date really well. She is also sharing the gospel with her family. Sunday we got a call from a random number and it was her 21 year old son who asked for us to come and study. We went over and taught him a lesson. The spirit was so strong! He will be baptized soon after his mom! 

Amina is doing great, her son graduated high school this week so we only met with her once. But she accepted baptism!! She wants to be baptized in August. Wahoo! 

Cool experience, while out knocking on doors Sunday afternoon. We met this lady named Desiree, she has been Muslim for the past 3 years but woke up that morning and decided she didn't like the life style and went to a Christian church. She loved it and we knocked on her door later that day! She let us right in and is excited to learn more about Jesus Christ. We are meeting with her tonight! Exciting things are happening! 

This is ALL true, the Book of Mormon shows and testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ. He is at the head of this great church! 

Love,

Elder Judy 

June 18, 2018 - Baptisms X2 - Niagara Falls, NY

Hello friends and family :)

This week was one for the books! Even tho I have been really slacking on my journal habits... 

The week started off with a very jam packed p-day. We barely got everything done. Haircuts took 2 hours!!! I was kinda fired up. That's okay. We got all things done and hit the pavement a little early! 

We made a effort to talk to everyone and to not let anyone by us without sharing something with them! We are striving to have 10 quality gospel conversations each day! It's been a very stretching goal but it's been huge to help us find those who will he baptized in the coming months. 

We had an exchange this past week. Elder Garrison. He goes home on the 17th of July! It was a huge example to me of how I want to be when I am in the last week's of my mission. I learned a lot from him! He is serving in the South Niagara Falls area. Elder Blosch and I stayed in our area and had Elder Garrison come up for the day. We spent a lot of time in Lewiston, it was rough. 

I don't know what else to tell you, so much happened!! The highlight of this week was defiantly yesterday. Sunday we had 3 baptisms from 3 different families in the ward. 2 from our area, Hunter and Jeannie.  And Jack from the south Niagara Falls area. It was a special Father's Day! To watch 3 and participate in 3 baptisms and help them come and be part of God's family. They were grinning from ear to ear! President Evans came as well! Not to often 3 baptism in 1 ward on 1 Sunday. Pretty awesome. Made NYRM history. 

Tiffany came to the baptism and had such a revelatory experience!! I came up to her after and asked how she liked it and she said "you are winning" haha   We saw her later that night and she committed to baptism on July 29th. It was answered to prayer! She finally acted upon a promoting!!!! Wahoo! We screamed and jumped for joy after that lesson. :-]

As I'm coming to the last week's of my mission my prayers have become a lot more meaningful and I have taken more seriously the invitation in 2 Nephi 32:9. Not to do anything save in the first place you pray to God in the name of the lord and he will consecrate your performance for your gain. The Book of Mormon has brought me the answers to the questions of my soul. There is safety for the soul found within its pages! Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Judy 

June 11, 2018 - I LOVE Being a Missionary! - Niagara Falls, NY

Howdy, 

This week was great! Elder Blosch is awesome! Having 3 Zone Leader is super weird. Karen was confirmed and we are baptizing 2 this Sunday!!! Wahoo!!! 3 baptism in 2 weeks...  whaaat? 

Transfers were great! Lots of changes throughout the zone. There are 4 trios. Pretty crazy. We were talking to President about it and he was telling us that 40% of the mission leaves in the next 2 transfers. So they have been combining areas to prepare for that. 

This week we did a lot of teaching preparing Jeannie and Hunter for their baptismal interviews! Jeannie was interviewed yesterday and passed and will be baptized on Sunday!! Her conversion story could be in the Ensign. She's amazing!  We worked shoulder to shoulder with President this week. We were on the phone or with him almost everyday this week. It was fun. I had a training in an over the phone MLC on using the Book of Mormon immediately. Went well! 

While knocking doors in the rough spots of Niagara Falls this past week there was a loud bang... one of the ladies on her porch yelled "that ain't no firecracker..... that's a bullet!" Then she ran inside. It was hilarious. There may have been a shooting.... 

I was privileged to confirm Karen a member of the church and give her the gift of the holy ghost. It was a wonderful experience. 

While out and about teaching people on the street on Saturday there were lots of jets flying around for an air show! So we had a show while out teaching people! It was quite fun! Lol. 

Tiffany is progressing nicely! We spent a lot of time this week focusing on the need of authority to baptize. She was going to come to church yesterday, but had to babysit. 

Mesha, one of out investigators is in a coma... She relapsed on her old addiction and it's not looking too good. Sad. 

We found another esha who is super excited to be baptized already and we met her on Saturday!! She is searching for truth. Super cool! The lord has placed some very serious people in our path the past few weeks. 

As I have strived to use the Book of Mormon more in my ministry I have seen miracles. Amina, a Muslim lady who is searching for God has said about the Book of Mormon "I have never felt this much love before... thank you for bringing me this book." As I have read it more with my brothers and sisters they have been touched by the holy ghost. We read it with Tiffany this past week and as we read Alma 32:28 she started crying and said she had never felt the spirit so strongly. I might add my witness to that as well. The spirit of the Book of Mormon is powerful!!! There is power in the book. If you aren't reading it... you are denying yourself spiritual progression that can't and will not come until you feast upon its words.

Love y'all! 

Love, 

Elder Judy 

June 4, 2018 - Whatta Week! - Niagara Falls, NY

Wow, I can't describe how this week was. Life changing for sure! We saw miracle after miracle and also heard from a general authority! Elder Maynes visited the mission and gave us council on hoq we can baptize monthly. Super cool. 

Also, transfer news! I'll be staying another transfer here in Niagara Falls!! Wahoo! Elder Hershey will stay with me. Elder Thornton will be going to Orchard Park. His replacement will be Elder Blosch, who will be zone leader #3. Kinda weird that there will be 3 zone leaders... it's going to be an exciting transfer! Baptism coming soon. 

Tuesday night Elder Hershey and I had the opportunity to participate in a MLC with Elder Maynes and the other leaders of the mission. I made a comment about things happening in our zone and he roasted me.... it was pretty funny. He enlightened our minds on new ways to do the work! If we have 10 gospel conversations that lead to a return appointment a day. The odds are there will be a baptism a month. He did the math and proved it. 

Thursday the Buffalo Zone was able to meet together with Elder Maynes and he did a training on the things we talked about in the MLC. He really hyped up finding constantly and not wasting a minute. It was very uplifting and showed me how I can sprint to the end! 

KAREN WAS BAPTIZED! That was awesome. We met Karen a little over 4 weeks ago and she entered the waters of baptism yesterday. She has been the most prepared soul I have ever met. The baptism was great! We had a few of our investigators there, one being Amina, Amina grew up Muslim and is new to the belief in Christ. She attended church and was in tears during fast and testimony meeting.... She also loved the baptism and is looking forward to the day she can follow the example of Jesus Christ. We met her last Sunday and she has come so far in just 1 week. 

Jeannie Harris is preparing for baptism. She is excited to finally be baptized into Christ's church! I love Jeannie! She has taught me a lot of how to handle trials in life. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Hardy again. He's a stud and my best friend. On exchanges with Elder Hardy we taught a lady on the street named Tiffany. She was very open with how her faith isn't where she wants it to be and is searching. Tiffany is the Joseph Smith in women form. She has met with us 3 times since Saturday and is hungry for truth! 

We are teaching some of the most wonderful, prepared, kingdom building people I have ever met! Pray they will be protected from the adversary. 

I'm so excited to be able to stay another transfer here in Niagara Falls. Things are happening here, I'm excited to see it all unfold the next couple months. 

This week I'm going to try to be more of a celestial example to others. I would invite you to try the same! Strive a little harder, to be a little better. 

Love y'all! 

Elder Judy