"for the learning and the profit of my children"

Dear Family,

This week at church we taught the Primary children about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. We sang songs and shared stories. I think it was the first time I've been to primary since I left primary, and I loved it.

Last week we taught a man about the Word of Wisdom. He commit to live it and he said he would throw out his coffee pot that day. Surprised, his friend said: 

Really? You're going to give it up just like that?

The man turned to us:

It's a requirement for baptism, right? Then I'm doing it.

 

His determination to be clean surprised us. Several days later, we remembered how he had been on our prayer lists with this need: Desire to be baptized. Miracle of prayer!

On Wednesday we had a mission conference in which we were introduced to the use of new technology for missionary work, like mobile devices and online proselyting. There is so much good to come for this rising generation of missionaries.

At the conference, I also learned that some of my favorite people in Indio and 29 Palms will be baptized this week. It makes me so happy!

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles"

Happy Thanksgiving, Family!

GREAT week. 

On Monday night some of our plans fell through, and long story, but we were biking and a taxi pulled over beside us. The driver asked if we were missionaries. Then he asked if we could meet with him this week. Found out he's a member of the church and has a lot of struggles and hasn't been to church in a while. God places us right where he wants us!

District meeting on Tuesday. It's funny because our district is just the 4 of us in 29 Palms, and we live together. But we still have district meeting at the church, because we are dignified. and we all love 29 Palms. It's a great district.

Thursday morning we went to Desert Hot Springs and helped feed the homeless at a nice church of another Christian faith. We had Thanksgiving dinner with the Panzarella and Tavai family. Just one dinner this year, and it was great. We also dropped off thank-you notes to families in the ward during the day.

Really Cool miracle on Wednesday. We were biking down a main road and passed an Auto Zone parking lot. We saw a man and woman fixing an Astro van. We had almost passed them, but something urged to us to pull over quickly and offer to help. We started to talk with the woman and she recognized us as being from the Mormon church. I had a hunch she was Samoan. She talked a lot and we listened and asked questions and she said she used to meet with missionaries about a year ago and was baptized in Samoa as a child. (Sadly, she speaks very little Samoan) Her name was Ti. She wanted to meet with us. Her name was really familiar to me.
I thought a lot about it, and at night I looked for an old letter from my good friend Sister Morris, serving in Reno, Nevada. I found the letter, and it confirmed that Ti was meeting with Sister Morris and her companion in Nevada, but then moved to somewhere in California.  Little did we know it was 29 Palms! There are no coincidences! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has been merciful enough to send me to the desert to 29 Palms and help me and my companion have the faith to open our mouths about His gospel! I love this place! And I know that God is mindful of me. And I know that God is mindful of you! None of us is lost to him. 

Jesus said:

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he cometh home, he calleth his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Everyone should watch He is the Gift. Do it! Share it. It's great. You're great. You'll love it. 

#ShareTheGift

Love,

Elder Judd 

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded"

Dear Family,

This week was incredible. Many mighty miracles. 

On Monday we had planned to be in an area we rarely go to. It takes a good drive to get there, but we had felt to be there. We went to the 3 member families that live there (we didn't know any of them). 

The first had a big gate that was locked, so we couldn't meet them.

The second had moved away about 14 years ago.

Then we went to the third. It was now dark, and their lights were out, and we almost didn't stop to meet them. But something told to go anyway. The wife heard us coming, called for her husband and invited us in. We talked, and learned that they had not been to church in a long while. They told us of some difficulties they have been having in their lives. The husband paused for a while, and told us that he felt that our visit was God giving them an answer. 

We set an appointment for them to meet the Bishop the next day. Their visit went great, they want to come back to church, and they accepted the invitation to meet with missionaries. Miracle!

On Wednesday we went to see this guy Jose (I've talked about a lot of Jose's, but this is a new one). He was busy, but we were able to schedule a return appointment with him. 

But while we were in Jose's area, we had a feeling to go see Collin. Collin came to church with a member family about a month ago, and we made an appointment to teach him, but it didn't work out and we lost contact with him. 

But we stopped by, Collin was home, and he let us in. We taught a little, set a return appointment, and it went great. The spirit was so strong, and I felt like Heavenly Father helped me to be able to focus on Collin and what he needs. He commit to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. And then we asked:

Collin, when you come to know that the Book of Mormon is true, will you be baptized by someone who holds this priesthood?

He responded:

Yes. Definitely. I'm ready to go. We could do it next week. We could do it tonight. I'm ready!

Collin is funny. We set a date as a goal for him to be baptized, and our member friends have told us that he's really excited.

On Thursday we met Andrew2 for the first time this week and he is awesome. He is so prepared and wants the gospel in his life. He had already started reading the Book of Mormon before we even met him and he really likes it. And Andrew2 watched conference! Live!

The priests in the ward went together to Salt Lake City, UT to watch General Conference, and they invited him to come along. We are so excited to see how Andrew2 liked it. 

Last night we went to our appointment with Jose with our fearless ward mission leader, Bro. Verduzco. Turned out Jose intended for the appointment to be at 8:00am, not 8:00pm. We rescheduled. But as we were leaving, we saw a home with a moving truck outside. Some men were working to unload it. We offered to help. They only spoke spanish. They declined. But Bro. Verduzco speaks spanish. So he kept talking with them. While they spoke, Elder Fife and I just went ahead and started to help them unload. We tucked in our ties. We finished within the hour. And when they were done, we found out that one of the men had come to church before and recognized Bro. Verduzco. He allowed us to send spanish missionaries to his home.

Conference was great! Listen to the Holy Ghost, and go and do what it says. 

God will not lead us astray. I know He will not.

Love,

Elder Judd

Pictures:

My watch has been through a lot.