"What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?"

Dear family,

It's transfer week, and I'm leaving. I'm filled with a mix of emotions. I love 29 Palms so much. I love the people here. I am so grateful that my Father in Heaven has sent me here to learn and to serve Him. I am sad to leave.

But on the other hand, I am very excited for where I am going. Loma Linda! Back to Loma Linda! The place where I began my service as a missionary. And I'll be with the great Elder Raff, whom I love, and whom I served around when he began his mission in the Rialto area. This just feels like a great opportunity to redeem myself of the missionary work I did when I really didn't know much about missionary work. I just want to give everything I have in the remaining time I have as a missionary. So, I'm excited. 

Well, here's more from 29 Palms:

Our friend Paul hasn't chewed tobacco all week! We are so happy!

This week we taught a young man man I'll call Chris. Chris's member friend invited him to meet with us, and he accepted. He is from the Philippines. In a lesson with Chris this week, we taught about prayer. Chris told us that it has been a while since he has really prayed. And he has been struggling with things that he knows Heavenly Father wouldn't want him to do. As he spoke, some tears came:

I don't feel worthy to pray. ... I feel bad that I haven't been speaking with Heavenly Father.

Earlier in the week, we also started teaching a man I'll call Noah. For the last several years, Noah has turned against worshiping Heavenly Father or Jesus Christ. Difficult circumstances have led him to feel an anger towards them. But we knelt in prayer at the end of the lesson. Noah prayed. It was simple. And after about 2 sentences, he paused. He was finding it hard to speak. We waited. He continued briefly and ended the prayer. Now with tears in his eyes, Noah looked to us and said:

Every time I do that, I know that I'm doing things that I shouldn't be doing, and it makes me want to cry. I know I need to do that more.

There is power in prayer. I know there is. I know that Heavenly Father listens to our prayers--no matter who we are, no matter where we are, no matter where we might have been, no matter if we feel like He loves us or not. He listens to us. He loves us. I know He does. 

Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day.
So, when life gets dark and dreary,
Don't forget to pray.

I love you all,

Elder Judd

Pictures: Me with friends

"Make us thy true under-shepherds; Give us a love that is deep"

Dear Family,

Transfers are this week and I'm leaving. I'll be moving to 29 Palms, on the other side of the desert, and I'll be serving in an English ward and a Samoan branch. And I'll find out this week who my new companion will be. He will be a brand new missionary, so I'm excited! And honestly surprised. I didn't expect to be leaving at all. But I know that the Lord is in charge and knows all things and I am excited to see what great things He has prepared for me. Obviously, He wants me to learn something from Samoan people. 

This week was great. We were blessed to meet Joe, who seemed to come out of nowhere.

Joe was raised Jewish, but had Mormon roommates in college and really likes Mitt Romney. He recently moved into the area. He had a guy, Chris, come to his home to notarize something and Chris is Mormon and reminded Joe a lot of Mitt Romney. They got to talking and Chris invited Joe to meet with missionaries. So we came. And Joe is awesome. The first time we met him he said he had already stopped drinking coffee 2 days earlier because he read online that Mormons don't do that. And he came to church the next morning, 30 minutes early. 

We didn't see Collin all week, but we left a tie hanging from the handle of his front door with a note saying we hoped to see him at church. He didn't have any ties. But then he came to church the next morning, wearing the tie! It was a great little miracle.

We haven't seen Andrew 2 in a long while, and we are praying that he is doing all right. Please pray for him.

We met with Frank and Jane again and they are doing so well. Frank told us that when he was in Utah a few weeks ago he met up with an old friend he hadn't seen in years. He told his friend he had been coming back to church. His friend then gave him a lot of opposition about the church. But after a moment Frank responded:

You know what, I know the Mormon church is good because there is an empty void in my heart that is being filled with love and peace and joy.

As he told us this, I felt that his words were true. I know that Jesus Christ is at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know it. And I know that God Loves us and that every person can know these things for himself.

I love you all!

Elder Judd

pictures:

Me and Frank and Jane

Me and Elders' quorum president

"for they are not lost unto the Father, for he knoweth whither he hath taken them"

Hey family!

This week is transfer week and I'm staying! I love Indio!

On Wednesday, we did more service at the food kitchen and it was great again. We cleaned tables, unloaded breads, peeled potatoes, and put away dishes. 

We are really looking for more service opportunities. So, on Friday, we borrowed our Ward Mission Leader's lawn mower, went to the Indian Reservation, and went door-to-door offering lawn service for free. It was warm and fun. 

We also helped a man clear away many many books from his bookshelf. Many were cookbooks of his late wife. We're going back this week to finish the job, but for now we have stacks of cookbooks in our apartment until we can take them to a donation center somewhere.

So we learned this week that a young man in the ward named Andrew 1, has a friend, Andrew 2, who has been coming to seminary with him. Andrew 2 had asked about seminary and asked if he could come.

On Tuesday, we learned that the door we knocked on last week--when we met Enrique--was the home of Andrew 2!

It is a miracle! And I could not stop smiling after we found out. There is a God and He is our Father and He knows every one of His children and He knows exactly what needs to be done to help them--His children--us. He loves us! He wants us to become happy and strong!

I'm so excited for General Conference too. Everyone should come listen to a prophets voice!

We also had the opportunity to see Meet the Mormons as an early showing. It will be in theaters on October 10th. It is great! everyone should see it. It is a great family movie. and funny. Go see it and invite everyone!

Love,

Elder Judd

pictures:

elder allred, me, and elder weaver - the district, minus elder fife

the desert

"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

"Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal."

Hello my family,

Transfers today! I'm staying in Samoa! And Elder Holcomb is staying too. All is well in these wards.

Lots happened this week, but not much time to write. 

We've been trying serve people more, so on Thursday we went near a busy street and picked up trash for few hours. It was awesome. I love service! And we met nice people while we were out. Several times people stopped to give us cold water that they bought for us.

We started teaching a young girl named Taumari. She is the cousin of an active family and just moved in with them. We taught about prophets and sang the song Follow the Prophet and the spirit was so strong, and Tau just has a sweet spirit. 

On the 4th of July we had dinner at Ola and Maria and Alex and Brandon's house with a few other awesome families in the ward. Ola is a great cook. And the whole family is doing really well. Someone in the ward who was good friend with Ola in Samoa 30 years ago told us that Ola said he's seen a difference in Alex and Brandon--they pray with the family now. The Gospel changes lives!

Love,

Elder Judd

"God prepared a more excellent way; and it is by faith that it hath been fulfilled."

Hey Family!

Transfers are this week. And I'm staying in the Samoan wards! Elder Holcomb is staying too. It will be a great transfer. 

It was a great week.

I am always amazed at how much Heavenly Father has been working here. We see miracles daily. We have been trying to plan with greater faith.

Last week, something told us to plan to be in an area in Riverside that we don't visit often. So, on Firday, we were there at the time we planned. We found that the family we went to see are actually members of the Church and attend an English ward. But, they pointed us to a Samoan family down the street (a family we had tried to find months ago, but never found). We went immediately. We knocked and knocked, with no answer. But, at the moment we decided we had knocked enough and turned around to return to our car, the family pulled into the driveway. We shared Talofa's. They were home only for a moment to switch their car. But they gave us a time that we could return to share our message.

God prepares the way. I have learned that the Lord has not lie when we promised:

I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. (Doctrine&Covenants 84:88)

I know this is the work of Jesus Christ and He leads us personally through a prophet today, Thomas S. Monson.

Alofa atu,

Elder Judd