"they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his"

Hey family!

I love the Shadow Hills ward! These people are so great. The desert is warm, and there is a lot of sun and sand. Indio is awesome. There are many gated communities with nice homes. Everybody has beautiful homes. We also cover a small Indian Reservation in the corner of our area. Also, we drive a truck.

My new companion, Elder Fife, is awesome. He is near the end of his mission, but he has only been in the Redlands mission for a few months because he was one of the missionaries who was taken out of Ukraine because of the danger there. So, he speaks fluent Russian. 

Shadow Hills is a new ward, just made 2 months ago. Our Bishop is incredible. the members are excited to do work and reach out to friends. I am just excited and grateful to be here. This week we have been working to get to know the members because we're both new to the area. 

I have already seen miracles.

On Friday, we met Sam. He was baptized in Kentucky years ago, but lost contact with the church. He lives part time out here, part time out there. He started meeting with missionaries again a few months ago, but he just recently told them that he was already a member. He was afraid that missionaries wouldn't meet with him if they knew that. He's a funny guy. He is solid, and we'll be meeting with him more this week.

Saturday morning during personal study I had a feeling to study about Family History. I didn't know why. But I followed the impression. 

Then in the afternoon, we met Israel and Inri, while they were sitting in their garage. They are brothers, and they're neighbors of a member family that wasn't home. They were funny and gave us water. While talking with them, we learned they are from Mexico. I told them my grandparents were from Mexico too, and Israel said that the 2 places were very close. The Spirit reminded me about the things I studied about that morning. We talked about Family History. Inri looked at me funny and was like:

Do you think we are primos?

Not remembering what 'primos' meant, I thought for a second that I had somehow offended them. It was funny. They said we could come back to share more. 

That's all I have time for. I know that my Redeemer lives!

Love,

Elder Judd

"could we have supposed when we started ... that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?"

Malo le soifua!

It is transfer week. And I am leaving Samoa. And I am going to the desert.

I can't express everything that is on my mind and in my heart. These people have a home in my heart. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and the experiences He has given me.

I will be going to the Shadow Hills ward, and I think it is in Indio. But I don't know for sure, and I don't know how to spell my new companion's name because I learned it over the phone. Elder Faif. I hope this is the way it's spelled because "Faife'au tala'i" means "missionary". Elder Holcomb is leaving too, and both Samoan wards will now be covered by a pair of Sisters. 

Anyway, this week was great. Many, many miracles.

We started teaching Emo and Su. They just moved in from Alaska and they are living with Emo's aunt and uncle, who are members. We actually met Emo on her 21st birthday, so we brought her cookies the next day. Su is Emo's boyfriend. They are awesome and came to church on Sunday.

Also, a long time ago we met a guy named Joe (We've taught a lot of Joe's). This is Joe P. He has daughters that live in McKinney. Joe said we could come back, and we did, and tried many times, but could never catch him. We ended up meeting his wife, his neice, and his son over time, but they all said to come back later. But we finally caught Joe again this week. He is an older man. He invited us in and we mostly tried to get to know Joe. We learned that his wife passed away 3 months ago. He misses her very much. He loves his family and the Lord. We invited him to read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and set a return appointment. Really, it was a small experience. But I am so excited for Joe because I know the Book of Mormon can change his life. 

We also met with Lea and Jordan again. Lea insists that she be baptized in our ward, and then she will attend the English ward in Redlands. She is awesome. She quit drinking coffee before we even taught that God has commanded us not to drink coffee.

We also brought a young man named Keli out with us to teach Lea and Jordan and he spoke sincerely about how keeping the Sabbath Day Holy has blessed his family. He said this and I could feel it was true: 

God will bless the other six days when we keep His day holy.

On Saturday there was the monthly Samoa temple day, where the Temple service is offered in Samoan. Like always, we met up with the ward at the Temple after they had finished serving in the temple and they went out with us to visit people. I love these people.

I am really excited to serve in the Shadow Hills ward. I am excited for the future. I love my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ!

Faith is always pointed toward the future!

Alofa atu,

Elder Judd

pictures: 

a bunch of people that I love. more description later.

Matapula family

Sai and Amy and their boys