"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

"I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand"

Dear Family,

It was great to talk with you yesterday.

Here are some great experiences from this week:

We taught a man this week about one of God's commandments which many people struggle to keep. At the beginning of the lesson, we shared the Mormon Message Reclaimed. He then shared his thoughts and told us:

Every time I to church, or you guys come, or you bring a someone with you—I get exactly what I need in that moment. 

The Holy Ghost works in our lives when we have the faith to listen. I know that Heavenly Father knows our needs better than we do.

We also began teaching an older gentleman who's neighbor is a member. His neighbors invited him to listen to the missionaries. We could feel a great love for him as soon as he opened the door and let us in. He was frank with us:

I've just agreed to listen. I'm only doing this because of that young woman across the street. She is very loving and kind, and so is her family. So, I'm doing this because I love and respect them.

I love missionary work and member missionary work. This is all so fun. Hearts change and people change everyday. 

Love,

Elder Judd

"Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him"

Dear Family,

This has been a great week. This will be a short letter.

Transfers are this Wednesday. Elder Raff is leaving to the desert. We're sad because we had a lot of fun serving together. Elder Raff is an incredible missionary. But this is going to be another excellent transfer. My new companion will be Elder Gunter.

On Tuesday we saw Job again. We seriously love to teach him. We pray that our simpleness and the plainness of the Book of Mormon touch his heart. He has so much faith.

Thursday was my birthday. It was excellent. Stan's girlfriend's stepfather took us out to lunch at Del Taco and gave me a brand-new KJV Bible Concordance. I won't be able to use it until I'm home, but I love it. Some of our favorite members took us to Macaroni Grill for dinner. 

We also had an excellent lesson with a man I'll call Dylan. He's been taught everything multiple times in the past, but we started teaching him a couple weeks ago. We felt to start reading the Book of Mormon with him from the beginning. We feel changes are happening in his heart, because he was more engaged and asked good questions about the Book of Mormon--like:

Who are the Nephites?

What time period is the Book of Mormon?

What's the difference between the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses?

On Saturday we helped with the local Mormon Helping Hands service project. We helped replace old wood with new wood in bleachers at some baseball fields. 

Then, I had the privilege to head back to 29 Palms to see the baptism of a good friend of mine. They had a great musical number and the baptismal service was very well put together.

I have a mix of emotions about beginning the final transfer of my mission. The most prominent feeling is a desire to serve the Lord with ALL my heart, might, mind, and strength. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I love the Book of Mormon. I love this work. It's all true.

Love,

Elder Judd

Cookies & Cream ice cream from Elder Teichert and Elder Hall at the end of the day, after they heard me say in the morning that I had dreamed the night before that I had eaten cookies n' cream ice cream and woken up to realize it was just a dream.

Me and a great young man in the ward

Elder Seright, our friend, and me

"Ponder anew What the Almighty can do"

Dear family,

Great things are happening here. 

Last Monday night we went to pick up a young man to come with us to a lesson. Sadly, the young man wasn't home. But on the way, we met his neighbor, whom I'll call Job. Job was unloading large pieces of an shed he is going to build. We offered to help later in the week, and he accepted.

When we got to the appointment, our friend that we were going to teach needed to reschedule. At the same time, our next appointment texted and cancelled too. This left us with just over an hour of open time. 

What a blessing! Because in our hearts we had wished that we could have helped Job right when we met him! So we went back to Job.

We helped Job and his wife carry the rest of the large metal pieces to their backyard, and while we worked, we talked. We learned that Job was a pastor in his faith for 30 years, and that he had met with missionaries years ago in another part of California. He has read the Book of Mormon. He and his wife were very grateful for our help, and Job said he would be willing to meet with us again. 

We taught him the next night. Job has many great questions. We love teaching him. And we love him. And we feel a great love the Heavenly Father has for him, so we're excited to teach him more.

We had several exchanges this week, which were really fun. First, I went with Elder Pierce (side note: his first companion was Elder Langi, whom I love) in his area. We taught a man from Myanmar-Burma. He is eager to learn, but unfortunately there is not yet a Burmese translation of the Book of Mormon or other church materials and he still has great difficulty understanding English. He showed us his English-Burmese dictionaries--three thick volumes. And nobody else around here knows Burmese--only his son, who only understands just a little. His son told us:

Thank you for visiting him. He loves it. He talks about you guys all day.

Our hearts were pulled for his situation. I just felt a lot of love for him, so I wanted to write about it.

I love to think that if somehow I can feel great love for people that I don't know very well--how much more does our Father in Heaven love us?

He knows all things!

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord"

Dear family,

So many great things happened this week. I really love serving in Loma Linda again. I just love my mission. Missions are so great. And I love you all.

I'll just kind of spill out some great things that happened this week:

On Friday, we were walking between appointments and we saw a lady sitting on a plastic lawn chair outside of her apartment. We went up and started talking with her. Then we stopped talking to her--because she could not hear. She motioned that she was deaf, and that we needed to write to her. I'll call her Dawn.

We spoke with her thru the spare room of the pages of our planners. A silent, 10 minute conversation. She told us she used to meet with Elders in Riverside, but church became too far. We invited her to our friend's baptism on Saturday and gave her a Book of Mormon to read. She excitedly accepted.

We went to work calling members to find someone who could give Dawn a ride and someone that knows ASL. We found both. 

Then we came to her place with the ride at 7:30pm on Saturday, and could not get an answer. We knocked and waited, and knocked and waited. We feared she could not hear us. Time until the baptism almost gone, but we prayed that she would hear us, and we felt to stay and knock again. Finally, she peaked thru the window and found us at about 7:55. She got ready real fast and we drove to the baptism, which started at 8:00. As we drove (separate cars), we prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for helping Dawn to know we were there. We also prayed that somehow we would would make it to the baptism service in time for Dawn to witness the baptism ordinance. 

We arrived at 8:20 and walked in as a woman gave the final words of her talk and they opened the curtains for the baptism font. We made it. Dawn loved it. And afterward she had an excellent conversation with the interpreter we called.

Last week we met a family that recently moved in from another country. They haven't been to church actively in years. I'll call them the Lee family.  We began teaching the Lee's this week, and they also had us over for dinner. At dinner, Sister Lee told us about how she has been struggling with headaches with her pregnancy and other challenges. She said that last week she went to her room and cried and prayed for help. She also prayed for a church to which her family could go. The next day we knocked at their door. 

I know that there is no person of which He is not infinitely aware. 

We also had a mission conference with Elder Brent Nielsen on Saturday. He will be speaking in General Conference on Sunday! Everyone, watch General Conference!

And the new Easter video BecauseHeLives was released! Everyone, watch it. And share it. And watch and share it again! 

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me"

Dear family,

I love serving in Loma Linda again. Sometimes throughout the day, I re-realize that I'm here again and I get really excited and it is just really fun. We've already seen many miracles.

On Wednesday, just after I moved in from 29 Palms, we went to see a woman that came to church on Sunday who hasn't been coming regularly for a long long time. A man answered the door. He welcomed us in, sat us down, and immediately began telling us his religious background. He told us he is now really interested in learning everything about Mormons, and he has questions, and just wants to listen to what we teach. I'll call him Stan. We LOVE Stan. Stan was the boyfriend of the woman, and he also came to church. He had already started reading the Book of Mormon, and we started teaching him the next night.

Here's one cool experience with Stan: For the past while, Stan has been trying to rebuild his standing with God. On Thursday he said that while he was in the Del Taco drive-thru he broke down and cried in his heart:

God, I'm just not sure if I can hear you. I'm not sure if I can hear you.

That night, we started teaching him. Stan told us that some of the first things we said seemed to bring an overwhelming feeling of peace as if God were speaking directly to him:

You can hear me. I am right here. You can hear me.

On Saturday, we had prayerfully planned to visit a certain man at a certain time. We parked down the hill so we could walk and talk with people. Just across the street from where we parked, another man had parked, and was picking small fruit from a tree. We called out to ask what kind of fruit it was. We began talking with him and introduced ourselves and he said knowingly: I already know you.

Then, I remembered him. It was Lee! A man that Elder Buers and I taught only once. Soon after, we lost contact with him. He said that he's moved since then and has been working in other parts of California. And he said that he was actually just thinking about us last week and that he only came in town that day to look for a new home. 

God is aware of us. I know He is. Even when we feel small, or weak, or neglected, or unloved, or unimportant--we matter to Him. He will never forget us. He is in the details of our lives!

I love the gospel. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I love the Book of Mormon. I am so excited for General Conference. Everyone, watch it. 

Love,

Elder Judd

Pictures: With friends in Loma Linda

"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

"if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief"

Dear family,

Another great week. There have been some sad moments, as a few have decided not to continue to learn. But there have also been some exciting miracles, and we have met some really great people who want to learn.  I love my mission.  I have felt so much joy lately. 

On Saturday, I went to Yucca Valley for another exchange with Elder Tingey. It was excellent, as usual.  We taught a high school student I'll call Dante. Some back-story:

A few weeks ago we had a powerful stake conference which boldly inspired members to invite their friends to meet with missionaries to learn about the gospel. A young woman felt to invite her friend Dante. So she invited him that week. Dante now loves the gospel. He has since said:

This has filled a hole in my heart that I didn't know was there.

He is on fire. He says he has been feeling more happiness than he's ever felt in his whole life. I felt light and goodness radiate from him as I spoke with him.

The wonderful part about this is that Dante is not the only person that Heavenly Father has been preparing to receive the gospel! There are literally hosts of people around us who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it! It is exciting! 

Well, we have been continuing to teach Rory, and like Dante, he is also on fire. A while ago, Rory told us that some other Marines one day gave him grief about reading the Book of Mormon. When they left, one remaining Marine turned to him surprised and said: You're investigating too?  

We started teaching his friend shortly after. I'll call him Mark. Mark is awesome.  He started learning about Mormons after starting to date a Mormon girl just before she left for her mission.  Not knowing anything about the church, he began a sincere search to learn everything he could about it. He's one of the nicest guys on the planet. We have been really trying to help him receive a personal witness that what we teach is true, specifically thru reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. 

Last night we met with Mark and Rory again. We had felt a strong impression to read Alma 32 with them. Mark loved it. 

Here's the miracle. This morning he texted us and said that his missionary friend emailed him this morning and encouraged him to read Alma 32. Mark hadn't even mentioned to her that he had just read the very chapter. 

This is the Lord's work, I know it.

I love you all,

Elder Judd

"he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them"

 Dear family,

Our good friend was baptized on Saturday! We made invitations and invited everyone. It made it extra fun to talk with everyone. 

We taught Sam again and he came to the baptism. He is really excited for his own baptism. He told us during a lesson, kind of out of nowhere:

One month from Saturday, I'm gonna be baptized!

And then after the baptism on Saturday we asked how he felt, and he smiled and said:

Filled. 

I love it! That was how I felt too. And I know the Holy Ghost was there. 

On Tuesday we had Zone Meeting, and there too I left feeling filled. We focused on helping people attend baptismal services and sacrament meeting, and teaching members the doctrine simply to find the people who are prepared to be taught.

Then last night we taught Jim again. He is doing really well, and we've taught him most everything, and he feels really prepared for baptism. He comes to church every week, and usually he is full of energy and light. But he missed church on Sunday and he seemed a little down last night. We soon learned that his newborn grandson, just born on Saturday, passed away early Sunday morning. I felt a pain for him in my heart. 

We noticed that he had a heaviness with him, and a small voice told us to offer a Priesthood blessing. he accepted. I just felt a love for him. And he prayed at the end, sincerely, and thanked Heavenly Father for taking a pressure off of him.

I know that God cares about us. 

Jesus said:

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Love,

Elder Judd

Elder Seright and our porch view

Another friend of ours and me

Elder Soelberg and me

At the baptism

"it is usually through another person that He meets our needs."

Hello family,

I love missionary work. I love 29 Palms. 

We are busier than I've ever been on my mission. Sometimes it seems like there are more people to teach than we have time in our planners. Heavenly Father is just sending people to us, like a young man I'll call Rory. We started teaching him yesterday. 

We met Rory because he Googled the church to find the nearest Mormon church, then showed up to church. He grew up in Utah but isn't a member, but recently he has had strong desires to learn everything he can about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church fascinates him. The restoration fascinates him. So he's been reading a lot of church material.

After starting his search about a month ago, Rory learned a lot, but didn't know if it could all be true. He talked with a friend from home about it, and his friend suggested that he pray to know. So Rory began praying really hard. For a short while he didn't feel any answer. But then something interesting happened. He said that a few days after his first prayers, another good friend, whom Rory hasn't seen or spoken with in a few years and who recently returned from a mission, messaged him on Facebook asking how he is doing. 

Though it may have been a small thing, Rory felt immediately that God was trying to tell him something. So now he's continuing to study and loves church and loves it all. He is full of energy and questions and he's just funny. And he's in the Marines, like most young men out here. 

Well, I know this is all true. I know there is a God. And I know that He is aware of us.

We also started teaching a young man who was baptized years ago, but he hasn't really ever been active in the church. At the end of the lesson we invited him to pray. He hesitated, then said: I'll just pray next next. I promise. 

We explained how God works and how Satan tempts, and he was still wasn't all for it, but he prayed anyway.

Then a moment after he finished praying, he said: I'm not gonna lie, that felt really good.

We were pretty happy. Prayer works.

Missionary work is just fun. It's all fun. And it's all true. I know it is! 

Love,

Elder Judd