"And now ... I would ask if all is done?"

Dear family and friends,

There is so much in my heart right now. It is hard to put it all in words. It has been such a great week.

On Wednesday I went to the temple with President and Sister Van Cott and the other departing missionaries. I love the temple!

This week we made another new friend. I'll call him Brad. After facing a difficult change in his life, Brad found himself chatting online with missionaries. They referred him to us, and we began teaching him. We LOVE Brad. As we began teaching him he said:

I know that it's not a coincidence that I'm here with you guys. I need this right now. I even had a dream of this moment, with a park table, and 2 guys like you, and a tree in the back, just like I see it right now.

We had a lesson with another man I'll call David, who is not a member of the church. David loves music and is great at singing, so we decided to sing "I'm Trying to Be like Jesus" with him at the beginning of the lesson. Just as we finished, we heard a surprise from the kitchen:

Another! ... 'I Am a Child of God'.

We could not hold back the smiles. It was David's wife, who has never joined us for a lesson and is also not a member of the church. We learned she had been to an Inside-ut concert some time ago and had always wanted to know how the real version sounded. We fulfilled her request; the Spirit filled the room. 

On Saturday I went to the baptism of one of my favorite people in Indio. When I asked him what his college plans are he said: I'm going on my mission first.

It was such a great, great thing to hear.

Thank you to those who have supported and encouraged me throughout my mission with emails, letters, and gifts. I have felt love from heaven through you.

Tomorrow I fly home. I am so grateful for my mission. Heavenly Father has been so good to me. I am so grateful for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Father in Heaven loves us. Jesus is the Savior of the world. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is true. I know these things are true!

Love,

Elder Judd

"angels did minister unto him daily"

Dear Family,

I am so grateful for my mission. I am grateful for Elder Gunter and for all of my companions and all the wonderful experiences Heavenly Father has given me in my mission. It was a really really great week.

Here are some miracles:

On Wednesday after dinner we stopped by a few members in a certain area to give them prayer lists (small lists of people we are teaching and their needs, so people can pray for them). On the way, we met a small group of people talking outside of their home and digging a walkway. We talked with them and they agreed to learn more about the Restoration. (It was fun, because it's not often that we get to talk with large groups of people at a time. It felt like a street meeting, almost)

Well, we began teaching the couple that owned the home and we love them. They have such solid faith! After our second lesson, the husband told us:

You guys are like angels. I mean, growing up, I would see you different places and other people would joke about you guys or say rude things. But I've always seen you as angels.

I love the privilege I have to be on the Lord's errand, serving and teaching in His behalf.

On Sunday morning we went to visit several of our friends to remind them about church and help them get there. After stopping by a certain man in a certain complex, we began to head back to our car. Just as we were getting in we noticed a man and his son several houses down the street. A strong feeling told both my companion and me:

 

Invite them to church too.

So we went to them. The man was now inside, and the boy began shooting us with his toy gun, which made laser noises. From outside their chain link fence we called through their open front door: Hello!

Eventually the wife came and asked: What do you want?

The husband now came out too, carrying a big box. We invited them to church, and they politely declined and said they were moving. We offered to help them pack and move, and they again declined. Something kept pulling us to keep talking with them, so we did. The wife now inside, we talked with the husband by the fence gate. Then, the man confessed:

Yeah, I actually know about you guys, and Mormons. Because, I was actually baptized Mormon.

We learned that he had joined the church, and his whole family too, some years ago. He began meeting with missionaries after they knocked at his door. He decided to be baptized after having a powerful dream that told him personally that it is all true. But, years after baptism, his family faced difficulties and divided, a new job pulled him away from the sacrament on Sundays, and he fell away from his faith.

We did not know any of these things—but God did. It is our Father in Heaven who sent us to the man and his family. He knows us by name and loves us! I know that He is aware of us!

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me"

Dear Family,

Another great week. 

On Tuesday we had a zone meeting. The focus of the meeting was Matthew 28:19-20.

On Wednesday we went to the hospital to visit several different people to administer priesthood blessings. One of them was a woman who only spoke Spanish, so we had a member translate for us and give the blessing.

On Friday we went to see a certain family. They are from another country with another language and have no background with Christianity. They are so friendly and we love them. We obtained a copy of the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ in their language. We explained Moroni's promise to the mother and a son at the doorway. As the boy translated for us, he became excited and said:

Momma! The God will answer! The God will answer us!

His excitement excited me. It's true!

On Saturday, on our way to see the same family, we met a woman who stood by the side of the road, waiting for a friend to pick her up. We talked with her and she told us about her family. As we spoke with her, she told us of the concern she has for one of her sons who is facing difficulties. She paused, tears formed, and now struggling to speak, she said:

I have so much in my heart right now, and I feel like I just need to talk to someone. And something--God, I think--is telling me to talk to you. I feel like God sent you here to me.

God did send us to her! He cares about her. He cares about you. I love the words of the prophet Spencer W. Kimball:

God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power"

Dearly beloved family,

Here are some great things that happened this week:

On Wednesday we helped with an annual international bike race. We were "Race Marshals" and stood at a street corner to mostly make sure traffic didn't get in the way of the race. It was fun, and when we didn't have people to talk with or traffic to direct or racers going by, we read the Book of Mormon.

Also on Wednesday while driving between planned activities, we saw a small family loading something big onto the bed of a truck. Led by the Spirit, we pulled over, not knowing beforehand what we should do or say. Sadly, they were done with the load. But we made good conversation with the mother of the family. We soon learned that they used to attend a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in San Bernardino for a little while. But they just moved to another part of town. They happily accepted the invitation for missionaries to come to their new home to teach them the restored gospel. They even had friends and family that they wanted missionaries to visit. The whole experience was invigorating. And as we drove to our next plans, we remembered how we had specifically prayed that morning that we would have the spiritual sensitivity to recognize the subtle promptings of the Spirit and have the faith to do whatever it led us to do.

Also on Wednesday, we were asked to give our neighbor a priesthood blessing. She is a sweet woman that we see daily and she gives us treats from time to time. She makes GREAT guacamole. She is not a member of the church, but the sisters teach her. She has been mysteriously sick for the last several weeks, and she didn't know what else to do. So, as James suggests, she called for the elders. It was a sweet experience, and afterward, we asked her how she felt. She told us:

When you put the [consecrated] oil on my head, I had a warm feeling go through my whole body--and not just on my head. 

The priesthood of God has been restored to the earth!

Yesterday, we had another great lesson with the Lee family. We read the Book of Mormon with them. They were at 1 Nephi 4. Sister Lee was not raised with the restored gospel, but Brother Lee was. So when Sister Lee had questions, Brother Lee would explain the whole story in his own words. I loved it. I could feel Heavenly Father's infinite love for them. The Book of Mormon is so good for us!

I love you all,

Elder Judd

Me, Elder Raff, Elder Van Dyke, Elder Teichert

There was so much fog on the drive up and down

Our hike last Preparation day

                                   The geo-cache at the top

"if the salt shall lose its savor wherewith shall the earth be salted?"

My family,

These are some of the happiest days of my life. 

I forgot to write about this last week, but last Saturday Lea was baptized back in Rialto. In our mission, we have permission to go to baptismal services of people we were privileged to teach. We just have to find a member ride and arrange for another member to stay and work with our companion. But, Rialto is about 1.5 hours away, which meant it was going to be about 5-6 hour trip, total. I really wanted to be there, but after praying about it all, I felt I should continue working in Indio. Hopefully soon I will be able to write a letter to Lea and Jordan congratulating them.

I don't know if I have already mentioned this, but we did service a while ago for an older lady, Pat, who hasn't been to church in years and didn't want any contact from the church. Her daughter, Barbara, who is very active in the gospel and the church, just moved in and had asked help moving things. We believe the experience softened her heart. 

Pat and Barbara had us for dinner this week and we brought another brother from the ward, who was great company for them. Barbara talks about her mission in Canada when Elder Ballard was her mission president. She is amazing. She listens to Preach My Gospel on audio every day (which I didn't even know existed). She is awesome. 

On Friday there was a ward dessert social. We were asked to be the judges of the desserts. They had a get-to-know-the-members jeopardy game. It was a fun time.

This morning we went to seminary. One of the teachers asked for our help in teaching about the Holy Ghost and missionary work. The youth of the church are awesome. It made me think about Andrew, because I was in the Junior's class. 

Cool story: we were out trying to meet a less active family. They had moved, but the current resident referred us to a family she thought was Mormon. We pulled up to the house and before we even got out of the truck this man came up to Elder Fife's window, slapped his hands on the door, and said: 

Which cult are you from?

He told him that we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The man, Dave, said that he knew our church well. Dave went on to share claims and research and attacks about how our beliefs were false. We shared our testimony of how the boy Joseph Smith had seen Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how we knew that the Book of Mormon and all these things are true by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

Dave brought up more claims against our faith and asked to see our bible. While he searched for a scripture that he knew would prove us wrong, we talked with him, and listened. We learned that Dave had a sincere desire to believe in the Savior. He eventually stopped bringing up claims, we shook hands and went on our way. and the Spirit was there. I felt love for Dave. And although I felt nervous at first when he approached us, I prayed for help, and I felt help come.

God is our Father! Jesus is the Savior! This work is true! 

Elder Judd

picture: driving with Elder Fife