Elder Dallin's email 12/2/2014

Elder Dallin's email 12/2/2014
Dear Mom, 

    Hey!!!!! I love you so much!!!! :) Just to answer some of your questions, that picture was taken at our house when Sis. Ward came to our house and gave us a tiny little Christmas tree! Sister Ward calls us all the time and gives us rides every where! She's totally awesome! 

   Anyways!!! We had a pretty fun Thanksgiving! We had a GREAT time playing a turkey bowl on thanksgiving morning! We all had flags and when someone tried to take off my flag, and they TOTALLY ripped my shirt! It like ripped in a circle all the way around me! Hahah! It was pretty funny, but then it happened again, and my symbol was barely being covered, so it was pretty scary!! But we had SO much fun!

     I showed all my missionary friends those pictures you sent me!! I loved them!!! SO MUCH!!!!

I don't have a whole lot of time, I had to catch up with writing some other friends as I have not written back to in a while. 

But I do want to say that everyone's faith and prayers are being answered. With not a shred of self credit or pride, I have been able to teach some of the people that have been taught for a long time in this area and have helped them progress more than ever before. I have been able to bring the Spirit into discussions more than ever before, and I believe it is totally the faith and prayers said by all you guys. Whenever I feel tired and I want to take it easy, I feel sick and selfish, therefore, I forget myself and go to work. When I feel I have wasted any amount of time, I have to repent and do my best to be more focused. And I am SO thankful for the prayers!!! PLEASE keep praying!! I'm really going to make a huge push this week to be the best missionary I can be this week. I'm out of time, but I love you guys!!!!!! I will record a voice message next week and send it!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!

-Elder Judy

Dear Elder Tyler, 
 
 I'm really sorry that I missed writing to you last week!  It feels like it's been forever since I've written to you.  I was working in the ICU last weekend and it's impossible to be able to write to you on Sunday like I can otherwise (like tonight).  It's pretty wild working there; it really takes a huge amount of time to be there.  I'm glad to be able to use some of the stuff I did in fellowship, just to stay fresh with it.  It's just that when I'm there I pretty much have to stay actively working on stuff with patients so it pretty much aces me out of being able to write on those few sundays when I have to be there in the ICU.
 
Dallin was transferred from Porterville (where he's spent a YEAR of his mission) to Visalia this week.  He's excited to go somewhere new and have new challenges.  His greenie and him really got along awesome.   I don't know the details about his new companion, so keep him in your prayers.  He's not training or in leadership at the moment, so he's just doing the work.
 
Tanner is training right now!! We're still waiting to hear much of anything about his new companion, but at first blush it sounds like he's a great guy.  I'm glad that he's finished with his trainer.  Now he gets to show someone how to be a missionary like only he can.  I'm really excited to hear how things are going.
 
Britney got a JOB!!!  She's working at Carmike!  She got hired as holiday help, but I think it may be more permanent if she wants to stay on after the holidays.  I'm not so sure that she wants to, it's pretty late hours so it makes it kind of hard to get going very early in the mornings for school.  I think when rugby comes back around she's going to tell the theater sayanara.  She gets in to movies free, though, anytime she wants to go.  And she can bring a friend for free as well, so she's pretty happy about that.  She has to work every day this week from Tuesday through Saturday so she and I are going to be here for Thanksgiving while Mom and the girls are going to Utah.  Deana and Kevin and their family are going to be there and they really wanted to spend the holiday together as Mary and Auria are going to be leaving on their missions soon.  

 

Oh, yeah, Mary is going to Houston and Auria is going to Brazil Fortelese.  Brie Schmidt is going to Moscow Russia, rumor has it that Danny Rasmussen is waiting for a call.  
 

 

Mom just said that she's probably going to miss emailing you today, but will get a handwritten letter in the mail.  We've been working on a little something for Thanksgiving to drop in the mail, so watch for that. 

 

Highland won state in football this week!  They played in Boise so we watched it on the internet.  It wasn't as much of a challenge as the game they won the week before to get to state.  I think the score was 56-14.  Ethan Williams in our ward got a pick 6 which was pretty cool.  It came at a critical time and really put Highlands foot to their throat.  After that it was just a matter of sealing the deal. 

 

I can't tell you how proud I am of you and all that you're doing as you serve the Lord right now.  I know what you're doing is the absolute best thing you could do with your life right now and I'm so glad for the experiences you're having.  Serving the Lord is such an honor and is an amazing opportunity to declare your dedication to righteousness for your life.  There are more people than you now know who will be eternally blessed for your work that you are doing.  Generations after you will be blessed for your efforts both directly and indirectly and only after we leave this life and when all things are made known to us will you realize the full magnitude of the work that you were able to accomplish.  Our high priests lesson this week was on proclaiming the gospel and I used some of your experiences as part of the lesson.  I'm sure you wouldn't mind, but I wanted to let you know, you're blessing more than just the lives of the people you work with directly.  There are so many people you are helping indirectly by your example and by your faithfulness.  Not to give you a head trip, but to remind you of the unique and influential position you hold as a missionary to the Lord.  He exalts everything we do in His name as we perform everything we do in His name. 

 

Love you tons!!!

 

Dad

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Elder Tanner's letter 11/23/2014

This week was the most amazing week of my life... for sure.. I only hope I can type the spirit I felt this week.

 

I want to tell you the long of it to bring the spirit that I felt a little better.

It started out Thursday, when my companion and I cleaned our apartment VERY well for inspections.  It looked really good and the spirit was there.  Then, we planned and had a great experience, but didn't set comp goals for things we could work on together.  I realized this on Friday morning, so we erased a section of our board we didn't use and put our own goals as well as comp goals and had a very open honest conversation.  That afternoon we had planned for 2 hours of "spirit tracting" where we said a prayer to find the elect and went off the feelings we had, so we did.

At the conclusion of the prayer I had a mental picture of a bend in a street 30 mins away from where we were.  Not wanting to waste time, I shrugged it off and we tracted the street we were on with no success.  That picture came back again, so I decided we'd go.  as we came to that particular spot, we saw a man in his garage reading.  A little dumbfounded, we went up to him and committed him to read and he said he would and we'd follow up in 2 weeks.  We were THRILLED.

We said another prayer, this time another street location popped into my head, also 20 mins away.  Remembering the experience we just had we decided to go straight there.  There was no one there so we pondered for a moment, until my comp said "lets go into that park" just ahead of us, so we did. 

While riding through the park we found a lady who told us "I plan on joining the church, but it's not my time yet."   We bore solemn testimonies on faith, and found out she was not in our boundaries, and proceeded to tell her we'd send the correct elders to her and she gladly accepted.

This happened one more time that day, with praying about finding someone else and being led to a house. This guy didn't have time to talk but was excited to talk to us again.  

We are just tickled pink about this.

The same kind of thing happened the next day, Saturday.  We had planned to see two or three people and they all punched including Bhavish.  Undaunted we prayed, got the feeling to turn around.. so we did and sure enough there was a man in his garage that we ended up also committing to read the BOM.  after, he told us he had stopping smoking cold turkey, he said he needed to go to a church just not sure where.  After that we prayed again and I had the feeling to see Bhavish again.  We went over there and she answered!  She OPENED up to us about how she feels the importance of church in her life having a new baby and wants Bhavish to be baptized.  Pretty amazing.

we realized that these experiences happened because of our repentance, when we found out we had not been being EXACTLY obedient we repented cuz we wanted the spirit with us and our hearts were in it.  we knew that following rules and doing everything right would help.    we were amazed by the spirit that was with us.

These experiences had prepared our hearts for the best advice I've ever received.  Our ward mission leader talked to us for and hour about how "that's the way it is for the rest of your life.   If you do all the things your supposed to do you'll be blessed and led by the spirit for the rest of your life.   In raising children, in your job, everything.   Everything will be overwhelming for the rest of you life, but if your focused on the right things you'll be going the right way cuz the only way to grow is to be willing to continually be put in the refiner's fire."

 

We are only led when we are exactly obedient and have our hearts in it.   Our hearts NEED to be in the gospel for the reason of wanting to change to become like the Savior.   Our hearts will be in everything later on (kids jobs etc)  if we train them to be so NOW in the gospel.   The gospel will allow us to have that.

 

I have received too many answers to my prayers and too many spiritual experiences to deny what I now know. I don't know it all, but I know that obedience brings miracles.  I know that for myself.  Living the spirit of the law as well as the letter of the law are both needed.  The spirit of the law meaning our hearts are in it too.

 

I wish I could impart of more of the spirit!  but like Nephi, I am weak in writing haha.

 

I love you all! Hurrah for Israel!!

 

Elder Judy

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Elder Tyler's email 11/24/2014

Dear Dad,

Oh my gosh I wish I could email all day! did you read Tanner's email?!  holy crap!!  that was freakin awesome!!! ...Britney getting a job?!?! ...all the mission calls?! ...HIGHLAND FINALLY WINNING STATE?!?!   holy.. I need to calm down.  Now I know how Alma and Nephi feel when they said that their joy was so exceedingly full unto the consuming of their flesh!  my heart is burning, and my fingers are trembling!! hahah

Oh man.  I just can't get enough of mission life!  it's tough, but that's what makes it fun!  you can see yourself grow if you look around.  it's soo important to not compare yourself with others, but to compare yourself to yourself.  when you do that, the growth is undenialble, and you become motivated that your efforts are availing to something!  Track was (is) one of my favorite sports because you can see week to week yourself take two steps forward, one or two back, but then two more forward, and it's so thrilling, and driving!  this realization is probably one of the greatest tender mercy revelations I've received so far on my mission!  it had helped be to see past other people's numbers  (my comp is the district leader, so I see them all)  and focus on mine,  my personal goals of becoming more chirst-like, and continue to grow in grace!  I'm not saying this to boast in myself, but to show that comparison to others is an effective tool of the adversary, and decreases your spiritual effectiveness.  when you can see change in yourself, your testimony of the Atonement grows, and you have a greater respect for it's power and an increased desire to share it with others!

I really appreciate what Elder Judy said about obedience!  I recently (this morning) re-studied the story of the stripling warriors, and found out that their exact obedience, and the desires of their hearts were the things that manifested the power of God in them.  In alma, it says that none were lost, but EVERY one of them suffered MANY wounds.  This I believe was to testify that it wasn't in their strength that they did this, because were it up to them, they would have died due to these injuries.   but despite their injuries on battle, their faith was unshaken, and they continued in their desire to protect their fathers and families.  sometimes in the work of the Lord we receive many wounds.  this isn't because you were doing something wrong, it's so that the power of God can manifest itself in you, and to other people.  though they never fought before, and their inexperience may have lead to injuries, their unshakable trust in the Lord provided the miracle.

I want to share an awesome experience!  I thought before my mission that the "fun" times and the "awesome experiences" would be in doing something crazy.  I was right only in that it's through following the spirit that this happens.  we walked passed this group of people eating at our apartment complex, and I got the crazy impression to go offer to them a blessing on the food!  I told this to Elder Roper who grinned in reply, and we turned around.  when we offered to say the prayer, it started with introductions for everyone, handshakes all around, and a warm welcome. one young lady said "I already ate, so you'll have to bless my stomach." so I offered the prayer over their food, and blessed this young woman's stomach and the contents therein to nurture the body. it was such a fun experience, and it left me smiling the whole rest of the evening!

I love being a missionary! I can't get over all the awesome opportunities that are put in our path to share the gospel, to be the message of love, and to show others the happiness the gospel brings.  

I love you too Dad!! thank you for your faith and prayers!   I wouldn't be where I am now with the attitude I have now without them!  same goes for all that read this letter!  thank you soo much for your faith.  I'm overwhelmed at times when I pray to thank Heavenly Father for all the prayers in my behalf.  Thank you again.  They are the reason I can press forward with a steadfast faith in Christ!  I love you all so much!!

Love,

Elder Judy

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Dad!!!!! Hey!!! I miss you so much!!!! Give mom a huge hug for me k? But you have to sneak up on her and slightly surprise her if it is truly coming from me. 

   But Visalia!!!! It's SSSSOOOO crazy to finally not being a trainer or a leader. It's definitely a little weird and is taking some getting used to, but it's coming! I'm with Elder Madsen right now!! He's from Nauvoo, he loves theater stuff, and he's super energetic! We're still kinda figuring each other out, so I hope it gets a little more comfortable soon. I've never been transferred to a new area with someone that knows the area better than me. 

But it was really pretty hard leaving Porterville, lots of people were shocked! I had a few members come to our house and visit right before I left to give me things and presents, which was very touching to me. I got a lot of calls and texts from people too! I'm really going to miss that place.

    But I guess the Elder that I replaced was here for 15 months!! So there were a lot of open wounds on people here as well as far as what happened with transfers. But I'm pretty sure as soon as they start to get to know me, they'll warm up to me.

   But I was actually welcomed to Visalia in a very unique way! We were talking to a member in a very sketchy part of town, and she was busy and couldn't talk, but this drunk guy walked up to us at the  door and started to argue with us and the member let us hide in her house for a few minutes while he left, and when we came back out, someone had stolen the back light on my bike. I was SO angry, but we have a spare in our house, so I was good.

   But I love this area so far!!!! We have a lot of members that really love missionaries and really help us! It's very awesome!!! And I don't know what it is, but finally being out of my comfort zone, I have this HUGE desire to have the Spirit with me and to help us and for him to be the main teacher. My companion is kinda like Brian Regan when he teachs, he likes to be very unserious and joke around a ton. 

I made a trivia question this week!!!! Here it is: You see the star, the sign of Jesus' birth, in the East. Who are you? Are you the Nephites? Or the wise men?

But the news about Britney getting a job was quite the surprise!!!!! I can't believe that!!! I'm SO impressed with her stick-to-it-ness with everything that she has been doing lately!! She is probably like a totally different person from the Brit I knew when I left!!

And all those mission calls are totally awesome!!!!!! I had no idea that that many people were serving!!! This is wild!!! I'm going to go home to an empty town!! Haha!!

Oh!! And my companion had an ingrown toenail fixed today. I promised myself to not only clip my toenails right, but to also never be a foot doctor. Holy. Moly.

Anyways, I had a really cool experience this week, but I'm running out of time. We were in dinner, and I bore testimony of sharing the gospel and told the members how we as missionaries all hit our knees at 7:55 every morning and pray for our members and to help them have the courage to share the gospel with their friends. Then I told them how much I love all their comments. And as I was speaking, I felt this force enter the room, like I've never felt before. I felt it right when it came, and right as it did, the mother of the family started to cry. It was incredible. I know that God won't leave us hanging and won't leave His promises undone if we just obey His commandments. It was a spectacular experience that I will remember forever. It came because I have had a controlled obsession to get the Spirit and to be worthy of His guidance. 

Thank you SO much in advance for the package!!!! I can't wait to get it!! I have literally starved this week because the last Elder didn't get any food for me when he left. But no big deal, I've got food now!!! I love you guys so much!!!!! I hope you guys are always happy and have all the happiness you can possibly have!!!! Have a great week!!!!! Thanks again for all that you do for me!!!!! I LOVE being a missionary!!!! 

-Elder Judy 

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Mom!!! 

   Thank you so much for the amazing letter that you sent me!!! That was really one of my favorites. I could really feel that Spirit of your testimony in it. I really could. I LOVED your scriptural insight that you sent to me. It's true that many things have already happened in the past and we can absolutely learn from them and apply them in our lives if we are looking for answers in the scriptures. I've have come to figure out that revelation usually comes most clear when we have a clear question or concern. If we don't know what we want out of reading His word, we won't know what to look for as we read His word, because all the answers we need are in there. Thanks again for your testimony Mom!!! You're the best!!

     A little update on what's going on around here!! I am finally getting transferred. To Visalia. A big town 25 minutes north of Porterville. There were a few tears shed by members and investigators here, which was pretty hard, but this is what needs to happen, because there are never mistakes in transfers. I learn that every time they come around. It's going to be really hard to leave all the things that are familiar to me, but in many ways it will also be a good thing. Elder Pace needed so extra practice, so we stayed in a few hours extra for a few days to help him out. And I could not believe that difference!!! He had an investigator, Chris, who had really started to stop progressing. She went on a church tour with us, and loved it, but just felt like we were pushing her too much. So he is leading the area this week and he had a SPECTACULAR lesson! He really helped her and her husband out. She actually came out of the house and swore at us because she was in a bad mood, but by the time we were teaching and reading, she was smiling and laughing. I just couldn't believe the turn-around!!! We have had a few lessons were I just had to turn and smile with how well he was teaching. I have had SUCH a great time with Elder Pace and I have made many great memories with him. 

But I am going to be a normal missionary for like the first time EVER!!!! No training! No leading! No nothing!!! I just get to buckle down with a missionary that I don't even know yet and do WORK. I am pretty excited!!! I've heard not the greatest things about him, but that won't sway my impressions of him at all and I will love him no matter what! 

This week we had a miracle!! We had someone that got married to a member, and wanted to get baptized!! He just wants to walk to the font!! I am so thankful for him!! He is the answer to many of my prayers and fasts. I won't be here to watch him get baptized, but Elder Pace will, and THAT'S what I care about! We've got high hopes for him! His name is Richy! 

My helmet was stolen off my bike. And get this, it was IN the church!! There was mutual going on and I put my bike right were I always put it, and for some reason someone steals it. But don't worry, I found a spare, so I'm happy! It works perfect! 

This week we went to a members house that made us a meal that was named the artery cloggger. yeah. clogger. I'll tell you about it later. 

This week I helped set a wedding that had 4 pizza hut pizzas and candy. Such as is life in Porterville. I'll tell you about it later. 

I gave a talk in Sacrament this week! SO embarrassing. I'll tell you about it later. 

Thanksgiving plans? I have none. I will be transferred to Visalia a week before Thanksgiving. So I hope my new ward is nice to missionaries!!!! 

I love you guys!!!!! Sorry I was late!!! We went to a indoor sporting place on Monday. But I love you with all my heart!!!!!! 

-Elder Dallin Judy

This is Romi and her family!! They came to church!! She was crying a lot because she found out that I was being transferred. She is such a nice person and I will sure miss her family!!! 

Holy! I'm gonna print that out and read it later!  wow this week's email is gonna suck!   haha!  I'm sorry, Tanner was on at the same time, so were you, so I don't have a lot of time haha.

I love when Alma says all things denote there is a God, and the fact that even In those times they knew the earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around!  ALL things denote to god!

this week has been really great!  I LOVE the priesthood!!  I think it's one of my favorite things to give blessings now haha.  I don't solicit them or anything, but I love when people have the faith to ask for them, because then I get a little sneak peak into how much God loves ALL of his children!  I gave a blessing to a sister missionary, that was really amazing, because I don't even remember what I said, but that the spirit had filled my mouth when I opened it!

ok!  miracle time!  I decided to fast yesterday and consecrate it to the Lord to accomplish some (lofty) goals I have set for myself.   by like 2, I'm exhausted.  in this heat, biking at least 15-20 miles a day, takes it out of you in a hurry!  so I'm biking up this hill on 5th street (dodging potholes) and I look up and realize how easily I'm making it up this hill!  then I look down at my bike.. nope.. no one's pedaling for me, no motor, or anything.. look back up, ever so happily confused.   I almost wanted to stop to see if the bike would just continue going by itself, but something immediately told me that if I stopped, the help would stop too, so I hastened my pedals!  haha it was soo amazing!  it was like I could feel a crowd of angels, some on the pedals, some pushing the wheels, and some pushing my back, all helping me get up this hill!   I knew it was a miracle, because when I got to dinner that night, I was literally trembling with fatigue, and could barely stand, or walk.  I knew that there was NO WAY I could have biked all that I did without divine help!  what a testimony builder that the Lord will never leave us comfortless, and when we trust-fall completely into his arms, he will make miracles happen with us.  when we give him all of ourselves, he in return gives us all of Himself.

I've got a testimony of "sacrifice" (even though when what we want is the Lord's will, not what we want, so it's not even a sacrifice) and consecration of ourselves is powerful.  this week we got to attend the dedication of the Phoenix temple (broadcast) and it really hit me that our bodies are temples, and we can dedicate our temples to the service of the Lord!  during that dedication I really took the time to re-dedicate my life to the Savior, and It was a very powerful spirit that was there! 

love,

Elder Judy

First things first.  i'll tell you about my son!  Elder Jacobson is a great missionary!  he already came out prepared and with SUCH a solid testimony.  he definitely knows why he's out here and it's been great to be his trainer!  it was really hard to say goodbye to my trainer.  it felt like someone popped my life raft in the ocean and said "figure out how to make a life raft with out your own" haha.  it was weird and hard at first taking the lead in lessons and leading a greenie around and stuff but as I've been teaching him, it's reaffirmed what I have been taught by my trainer so it's a blessing for sure.  a call to leadership is a call to repentance, so I've been focused even more on being the best I can be and being led by the spirit and striving for a "perfect missionary" example.  while still being Elder Judy of course.

great this week though!  we've done much tracting and working with members.  I decided to take him on a tour of the area our first day haha he's a construction site manager so he's not used to biking so that was fun haha.  he was in charge of managing 6 sites at once at times.  that's crazy and cool.

we got to teach Bhavish and his wife this week!  a little update: so she was a member till highschool ended then church wasn't a priority so she didn't go, not cuz she decided not to really just cuz it happened like that.  so we taught them the plan of salvation and it was a little rough cuz it was my first lesson leading out and taking control, but luckily he soaked it up!  he was making his own anaoglies to understand the doctrine, she actually was tearing up.  it was so it was pretty powerful.  im so glad to have the spirit and that it taught them something.

we've been working with a less active member, named Vicki.  she is kinda stubborn but she's had one heck of a history so I don't blame her.  she had cancer and her husband died then this and that and I don't wanna make anyone cry, but she's been improving a lot!  last month she was NOT gonna even read the BOM then we committed her to read and she did!  so we're very happy.

we taught Kenny again this week, and it went well!  we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was very receptive.  also the father and wife sat in for the first time and he actually had some good input!  he knows his bible and there is definitely something there.

I learned a ton in church!  i'll share a few qutoes: integrity is our relationship with God and how much we value it and how much we want to be true to it.

the Atonement extends to our infirmities so that in ALL circumstances we can become like Christ and he can say "I know".

making covenants is what yolk us to the savior.

MIND BLOWING COOL STORIES:

so I saw this lady at walmart  and I was nice and smiled and she shook my hand.  we started talking and she's a member.. then I told her I was from Idaho.. "oh what part??" "Pocatello" "oh really??  that's cool! I have a brother who used to own a dental practice there!  but he moved" "oh that's so cool! who is that?"  I don't know if you knew the McWorters?"   I MET CHASE MCWORTERS AUNT IN WALMART!!!!  my mind was sooo blown!!!  she took a picture of us and sent it to Rusty!! crazy eh??

ALSO! we had dinner with a family that I knew the dad had gone to highland which is wild!!  we were talking some and he told me about how he spent a lot of time in the canals on SIPHON ROAD.. CANAL SURFING!!  so my mind was hence forth blown again...

last one: IT SNOWED IN TEXAS YESTERDAY!!  I could NOT believe it!! the snow flakes were big too! I was soo happy cuz I had written snow off as something I would NEVER see again!  it was beautiful...

fantastic week this week!  I have felt the strength of many many prayers and I TRULY, really am eternally grateful.  I know that I could not do what im doing with out help.  I know that there is power in prayer and if we petition the heavens for our needs, desiring in righteousness, they will be given us.  my prayers were answered many times this week.  I know that the savior has provided a way to become sons and daughters of god.  "Becoming something new is what the plan of salvation is all about.  It is the desire of God that we all become new creatures so we can inherit all that he has and become like him."- President Ames.  I love my mission president.  i'm so glad he is so inspired and it so excited about the work!

God is good Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Judy

Elder Tyler's letter 11/11/2014

Dear Dad,

Wow that sounds like such a blessing having that golf trip!!  I'm so glad you gents were able to unwind for a season and enjoy each other's company and spirit!  That makes me so happy that you're getting a break every once in a while from your labors!  Tell the Bishop I love him and thank the Lord (almost) every night for him!!  He's truly an inspired man and has been a huge blessing and influence for good in my life!  He deserves a lot of love :)

I loved the quote from CS Lewis!!  What quote from him isn't good I guess is the question.  haha  And that thing about clouding our eternal perspective is so good!  That's a huge tactic the father of LIES uses!! He's constantly trying to destroy our agency I've come to realize while teaching people.  Take any sin, and I'll point out at least 2 ways it's destroying your agency.  This is God's greatest gift to us.  Even Eternal Life can't be granted.  Only through the gift of agency can we attain it!  I guess a really close second is the gift of the Holy Ghost and covenants, but they require agency on our part again!
 We had such an amazing lesson with this lady about the Plan of Happiness!  First, when I prayed to know what to teach her, I opened with prayer then started to ask what we should teach.  "Plan of salvation" I just wanna be sure... "plan of salvation" should we teach the gospel of Jesus Christ? " ...ABSOLUTELY nothing.  Couldn't even feel the spirit".  I thought, well I guess we're teaching the Restoration!  haha  We talked with her for about 10 minutes about her life (listening to the spirit).  When we told her how the Plan of Happiness would answer some of her questions and silence a lot of her worries about this life, we started!  When we told her that we used to live with God before this life, she was sooo surprised, but soooo excited!!!  She said it really, really made sense.  But she asked at least 100 times if we really did?!  Then, as we went step by tiny step through the plan (it took about an hour and a half of meaningful discussion to get tot he 3 degrees of glory) she was hyped on life!!  She couldn't believe what we were telling her!!  She loved it sooo much and wanted it to be true soooo badly!  It just really made me realize how we, as children of God recognize truth when it comes, because it's familiar to us.  It's a gift from God to be able to feel truth!  IT was amazing!

(to tanner)  The baptism went soo great!!!  ish...wow I just wish you coulda been there to see this!  I'll get a hold of the pictures next week, but Sydney asked me to baptize him!  What an honor that was!  So we practice the hand-hold and what's gonna go down in the font, but when I finish the prayer, and go to baptize him, he wouldn't go back!  Instead, he was fighting me to get on his knees!  I was like "oh man, he just wants to go in vertically!!  That still counts, right!?!?"  But he got to his knees, then went back, and I felt like I almost drowned him trying to get everything submerged at one time!  haha It was not your dream baptism, haha but then it was, because when I helped him to his feet, he turned and smiled a smile at me that I'll never forget.  Who knew you could feel the spirit from a smile??  haha  Then when we were getting changed, I asked him how he felt, and he said that felt whole, like a hole was filled that he didn't know was empty.  That was really profound.  What a blessing that was!

p.s. I love hearing updates about how Highland's doing!  So, even though I don't respond to them mostly (focused on the work/no time) I appreciate them!

Love

Elder Judy

Elder Tanner's emails 11/11/2014

So I just got a call to train this week!  I'm super excited but I'm also super nervous!  Elde4r Simmons has been such a great leader.  I don't know if I have the strength to lead a brand new missionary but I've been praying and the phrase whom the Lord calls, he qualifieth, so I'm about to put that to the test!  haha

Pretty great week this week!  I'll start with bad news.  The Severinos just dropped us :/  We got an 8 page message of thank you, but don't come back.  That kinda sucked cuz we had a lot of faith for them  but the counsel that came from it was priceless.  I learned a principle from a question:  The Lord's prupose is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of all men.  If everyone doesn't gain eternal life, did the Lord fail?  No.  A little deeper, if the Lord appeared personally to a man and told him to repent, and he doesn't, did he fail then?  No.   It comes down to agency.  So, I got another testimony of how much agency is a factor.

Kenny is progressing just as well as ever!  He brought up the word of wisdom on his own and said "I can't drink tea after I'm baptized, right?"  We said "no", then he was like "Ok, I can do that!" ...so yeah, his faith constantly blows my mind.  He wasn't able to come to church this week cuz of serious medical conditions.  He wasn't even able to come out to talk to us on Saturday, so we're praying for him.

Oh crap, my ride is here early.  SHOOT.  Well, I'll let you know how the Chaddas are doing (the referral) and Kenny and Shelly next week!

I love you and miss you all!!

God is good.  Hurrah for Israel!!

Elder Judy

Dallin's email 11/11/2014

Dear Family, 

    Thank you so much for the letters that you guys sent!!! All those experiences that you shared are very inspiring and uplifting and awesome!!! I have the BEST family in the WORLD!!!!! :)

But as far as winter stuff, I'm great! I have a great coat, gloves, and an AWESOME scarf from lest year that I kept! I'm all set! And actually this year, it might be better if you didn't send me anything. I have everything I need, and I don't want to make it a big thing for you guys to have to send so many boxes. If you happen upon a cool cheap sweater, I would love some variety, but you really don't send a lot. I'm not going to be out here for much longer anyway. 

But Jazzmen didn't make to church again. She's going to be dropped if she doesn't make any progress soon. I'm kinda tired of her anyways. 

But transfers are on the 19th! It's kinda lame that it is so close to Thanksgiving, so if I end up getting transferred, I'm going to be with a new ward that won't even know me! But I've been here for a long time, and tons of people ask me when I'm going home hahah!

But I haven't quite gotten the box, but if you said that you put some clothes in there, I am SO much more excited to get it! Sometimes I get sick of the same few shirts and shorts I have.

But all the spiritual experiences that you guys have shared with me are very inspiring!!! Mom your faith in prayers is just motivating and unmatched!! The verse that comes to mind when I think about your faithfulness in in prayers is Alma 31:38. With faith in prayers, all things are truly possible. 

And Dad, I love what you said about the CS Lewis quote! I have studied happiness a lot lately and I have found that some people think that when you get things, your happy. Getting an A in class, winning a game, going on a date, things like that. But if that's true, then the opposite must be true right? Statistically, missionaries have 99 bad things happen to them before we get a "yes" or something good. Which is SO not true! I'd say we are the happiest saps in the world!!! We just immerse ourselves in the teachings of Jesus Christ, and that's what brings lasting happiness. (Mosiah 2:41). I also learned that paraplegic people are just as happy as lottery winners!! Isn't that crazy? It is my hope that I can categorize every one of my desires, and repent of the bad ones, and keep the good ones! It's pretty hard though. The natural man is a pretty hard one to kill. But I'm sure that when I do, I will be the happiest person alive!!! (Moroni 10:32-33)

But me and Elder Pace are doing pretty good, we have been working really hard, and we actually broke my lessons taught in a week record! But we still don't have an investigator that is really progressing well. One thing that I learned this week is teaching with charity is everything. If you don't have charity, you are truly nothing. You're just a "tinkling symbol". And I learned that on the path to gain charity, it all starts with prayer. With the way you pray for the gift of charity and also by the way you pray for others. Which is something that I will be doing this week. 

  Well!!! I'm out of time!!!! I love you guys so much!!!! Have a great week!!!! 

-Elder Judy

Elder Dallin's email 11/2/14

Dear Family, 

    Hey guys!!!! It sounds like you guys had a really great Halloween!!!!! We had a party that our ward put on and it was actually very cool! Instead of a trunk or treat (because here I guess we get some unwelcome guests) we had a little carnival thing! They had made a spook alley and had food there and stuff, it was very cool! I had lots of investigators come and they said that they had a pretty good time! 

    I've been very stressed lately because I still feel this area is struggling even though we had more lessons this week than we ever had together, but we still don't have anyone really solid yet. Romi is progressing very well, and as you can see in the texts she sent me, she found and talked to her birth mom for the first time in like 45 years! Which was like a huge miracle to her! And since she's Jewish, I did some studying on the Law of Moses, and we were really able to teach her to her understanding. She promised to read from the BOM, and promised to come to church next Sunday, as this Sunday she was down on the coast with her mom. 

   Me and Elder Pace are doing great though! He is honestly the funniest person alive sometimes. He says the darnest things. He would rather talk about cartoons and farytales rather than sports and hunting and stuff, but we're finding a happy medium! He is by far one of my favorite companions!! 

But Dad, I loved what you said about being with the Lord face to face and just having no one to blame but ourselves. It makes me want to be a better person and  develop myself and be a person that would be comfortable in the presence of perfection. 

But earlier this week, President Clark came to one of our zone meetings that just so happen to be in a members home, and gave us some very good counsel. But you are right about this ward loving me and me loving this ward! I know everyone and many know me! It's really a lot of fun to be on such a personal relationship with so many people and have so many friends! 

  The Kirkendalls sent me a wonderful package with a SWEET tie that I look forward to wearing! I have a meeting on Tuesday that I'm doing to be flashing it around at!! I love them so much and I'm going to try and write them back soon!!