Elder Tyler's letter 6/29/15

Dear parents,

Gosh I just love reading your emails!!  They are so edifying!! 

My time was well spent listening to Dallin and lyndsie's talks, so it'll be a little short this week!

I'll just cut right to the chase, this week has thankfully been maybe the hardest week of my mission! I don't want to bore you with details, but my companion has severe depression, and that takes a tole on me. I have had no problem helping him with his problems and being patient with him, because I frankly don't understand what he's going through, but I am filled with this enthusiastic urge to help him in any way that I can! But it got really lonely and overly stressful when I was having a hard time with no where to turn and no one to help. I testify that I couldn't have made it through without the Savior. He was waiting in the depths of humility with an empty spot on his yoke for me when I was ready to put down my personal yoke I had put on myself. I am so glad he brought me down to His level and showed me what a happy place the depths of humility really are! I know I always have someone temporally or spiritually to turn to because of Him and His watchful care over me. This really hit me when I read in Alma 26 about Ammon boasting in the Lord and He says, 

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Also, 

16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

All his rejoicings were in the Lord, and I can add my witness that I know that that's where true happiness lies. In the Glory of the Son of God, now ascended to heaven dwelling at the right hand of God in all power and perfection. The first emotion I'm filled with when I read these words is gratitude. So much gratitude. I love you family! Thank you for your support and prayers! They were probably the only way I made it through these past few days! 

Love,

Elder Judy

Elder Tanner Judy 6/27/15

Elder Tanner Judy  Texas, Fort Worth mission

Good morning afternoon or evening! whenever you read this hahah. 

This week has been pretty crazy and fun!  Lots going on! 

Monday we had dinner with members who did residency in the University of Iowa and they we within walking distance of the Coralville mall!!!  WHAT!?  That's right where my dad was when he was in Iowa!!  We talked about things down there and had a ton " remember this?"  "Oh yeah!!"  Remember this?  Oh yeah! Hahah so that was super fun! 

Tuesday we went to zone conference in a different city and helped the fleet coordinator  inspect all the vehicles in that zone and that was fun!  Also, Tuesday we were going to have a meeting with Deliah, the lady who was supposed to be baptized TODAY and she was offended by something's that were said at church and she felt uncomfortable about it all so she said "I didn't want to be baptized" ..... What...... Luckily later she called and explained and said she still knows the church is true but just needs some space.  PHEW  so we are kind of waiting on her.  Hopefully she will be at church!!  That experience taught us about true success.  From PMG: True success is found not in achieving goals alone but in the service you render and in the progress of others.

Wednesday we had another zone conference to inspect the cars. Then later in the evening we went to a the family history consultants house and asked him to teach us about family history because we were sitting in pep boys and got to talking to some guy and family history got brought up.  We pulled up family search on our iPads and I was like.... Uuhh... Idk what I'm doing.... Haha #embarassing so we've got to learn that so it doesn't happen again. 

Thursday was really cool.  So in my personal study I read a scripture I had no idea it even existed.  It was in Doctrine and Covenants 131 and it says 

7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes;

8 We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.

And we met an Atheist as we were tracting and I felt impressed to share that.  We have an appointment to meet with him again about what that actually means and how he can feel it.  Elder Wallace brought up hope and I felt impressed to go to Moroni 7:41 and I didn't know what it even said and I went to it and it says 

41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

So that was just a spiritual experience. Plain and simple. It was amazing.

And then last night we vacuumed 30 live wasps with our vacuum. Long story. All I gotta say is Texas is rubbin off. Hahaha

Well I love you all and I know that the Lord loves all his children. I hope that you all may each chose to feel that love because it is there and will always be there. Have the greatest week ever!

Elder Judy 

I sent him pictures of us boating....

NICCEE!!!! I love those pictures!! Literally yesterday I rode on the
place between the trailer and truck while holding onto the trailer and
quoted Pirates of the Caribbean, "Alas my children, this is the day
to remember as the day that you almost caught.. Captain Jack
Sparrow!! And I totally thought of boating how me and Britney and
Tyler would say that! Haha

Elder Judy

Elder Tyler Judy's letter 6/22/15

Elder Tyler's letter 6/22/15 Arizona Tucson mission

OH MY GOSH!!! Dallin's home!! hahaha That makes my mission seem to shrink sooo much!!! I thought missions never ended!! haha... geez! I don't like this feeling!! Anyways,

That's so great to hear about scripture study!!  I can just picture it all happening in our living room! :)

Things with our "news" are going pretty well! They're all pretty difficult to get in with because they're college kids with jobs, but it just makes each lesson opportunity more and more vital to have the spirit as strong as we can make invite it, which has caused for a LOT of going back to basics!!  God is our Loving Heavenly Father and what that means to me, Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and how it has blessed my life, Repentance, the message of the Restoration!  It is such a powerful message if you think about it!  As I was praying, I kinda came to the realization that our message is simply that God has called another prophet to lead his children!!  Just like Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground, or Noah and his family to build a ship so they would drink too much water, like everyone else, we have a prophet alive today that can lead us through this life, if we are willing, with all of it's difficulties, trials and forbidden paths on dry ground, or safely on the ship's deck with the greatest happiness! But first, we NEED to know if that really has happened!  We need to know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet, and if we have a modern- day prophet!  We need to have that firm conviction, otherwise, we won't have that hope that He will lead us through our personal red seas, or give us a boat pass.  We also won't know what is coming next if we don't heed His counsel! So simple.  So powerful!  To be known the truth must be stated.  This week I am going to focus on teaching as one who has authority given from God!

Our upcoming baptisms are still on, and are doing really well!  One of our investigators invited 2 of his friends to church!!  This is the second investigator I've seen engaged in missionary work one week into the lessons!!  If that doesn't testify of the hastening of the work, the preparedness of the hearts of this people, and the work the Lord is putting into helping his brothers and sisters return, nothing else will!  Except for prophets and apostles stating it and re-stating it... but that makes me want to double my efforts in preaching the word!! Jesus Christ is laboring all the time in His work! He's paving the way for us!  That has been soo obvious lately as we have worked hard and had much success!

Things on a zone leader level have been progressing for sure... still learning, and still a lot of growing room! but confident the Lord will help me :)  If nothing else, being called to leadership has been the biggest call to repentance I've ever experienced!  The spirit is magnified soo much more powerfully highlighting all my weaknesses, and puts them on display for the whole world to see.  hahah  I am soo grateful though, because I feel like my ability to recognize the spirit is increasing a lot on both spectrums!  times and things that the spirit leaves, and also when the spirit is there!  That, honestly is probably one of the most valuable things I feel like I am learning on my mission.  Working with the Spirit, and learning His will to not need the bumpers put up to roll down the straight and narrow path ;) (dang i'm good with analogies) hahah just kidding.

Ok!  Gotta run!  I love you all family!!  You have a package coming your way with something for almost everyone!  Dad for Father's day, Lyndsie for her birthday, Kayl for her... late mother's day present ;) haha you all are such wonderful people!!

Love,

Elder Judy

On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM, claine Judy <judycoldsteel@hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear Elder Tyler,

This week has been a joyous and fun week!!!  ...and busy!!  Dallin arrived home Wednesday!!  It was so much fun to see him and hug him.  We have had fun showing him off to everyone here.  

Wow!!!!  I was so excited to hear about your new assignment.  I know you mentioned immodesty, and I thought about that too.  Bro. McKay in our ward served in a YSA on campus in Texas and came across the same challenge.  It is a sad thing for sure.   

I am grateful you love your new companion.  I hope things continue to go well.  

How are your "news" and upcoming baptisms?  We are praying for you all the time and know the Lord is blessing you in his work.  

Tonight was really special.  Dallin lead us in scriptures.  I asked him what the last lesson he taught was.  He share Alma 34:17-28.  He did what he did with the people he shared this message with.  We each read a scripture and then said how it applied to us and added upon any other scripture that had already been shared.  The spirit was strong and it was a perfect message for us.  I loved what everyone shared.   We were reminded that we need to remember to demonstrate our faith by praying for the things that we need.  Then, in verse 22, Kaylee pointed out that it almost shifts gears and tells us to pray for other, namely our enemies, and Abe talked about that when we are tempted to do small things or to become distracted from doing things that it's the devil and we need to recognize that it is his influence.  We need to guard against it.  Dad talked about not forgetting the Lord in all we do and praying many times daily.  Dallin pointed out that the people who were being taught were poor already, but they were commanded to care for the poor and needy and that we are not to turn away the poor and needy.  Dallin then testified of the spirit and of the Book of Mormon.  He taught that as we read and study the book, impressions and feelings come to our mind that aren't necessarily written on the page but that are answers to our prayers.  He taught that learning and living the precepts taught in it will bring us closer to Christ.

I just loved it.

Tomorrow, we are off to Kaylee and Abe's new place to help them unpack and organize.  Abe needs to look for a job and so does Dallin.  I am grateful for this small time we have to regroup, get organized and to hang out together before things get crazy again.  

We are so blessed and so grateful for our blessings.  We are remembered and loved by the Lord and he will guide us as we do our part to ask for guidance.

We pray for you and for your safety and protection from harm and from satan's influences.  I know that as you stay safe and keep the rules, you will be blessed.  

Love- momma

Elder Tanner Judy (Texas Fort Worth) 6/6/15

Elder Tanner Judy's email (6/5/15)

Dear family and friends
Wow I just realized I have been out for 10 months today! Thaats... Crazy.
Well I am terribly sorry I didn't get to sending an email last week!
It got pretty wild there towards the weekend. The biggest thing that
was happening was our mission got iPads!! On the 27th of May the head
of the missionary department from salt lake and a companion gave us a
spectacular training about the use of iPads being "tools for hastening
the work". Was fantastic and I felt the spirit soooo strongly to quote
the song the spirit of God- " the Lord is expanding, the saints
understanding" and "the knowledge and power of God are expanding"...it
was a very cool meeting.

The next day Elder Wallace and I got our iPads (5 days before everyone
else) and president wanted us to have some experiences with them
before we gave them to everyone else.  After that, the following Tuesday
and Wednesday Elder Wallace and I as well as 4 zone leaders and the
assistants broke up into teams and distributed all the iPads to
individual districts and trained them how to use them and share our
vision with them. It was a pretty big responsibility. I remember what
President Ames said " I trust you ( the 4 teams) to set the tone for
iPads in the mission. I trust your vision for them. as you share with
the other missionaries, your vision will become theirs." And every
time missionaries opened iPads it was a spiritual experience. I want
to tell you an impression I had and that I shared with everyone we
gave iPads to. I'll share the condensed version.  One night my thoughts
went to the war in heaven, and how it was fought with testimonies and
influence. I think there is a parallel in our day, that the devil has
an eternal influence for evil on the Internet. I know that giving
missionaries iPads is the Lord making his move to rally the forces of
Him together and establish Zion in every nation kindred tongue and
people.

In Doctrine and Covenants 29:34 it says "...all things unto me are
spiritual and not at any time did I give unto man a law which was
temporal.." I know that the advances in technology are all for the
sole purpose of gathering and establishing Israel. I feel so blessed
to be a part of that, because over here we have tons of gated
communities and things like that. How do we get into those places to
teach them?  The Internet.

Quick update on our investigators!
Delia- she is so solid for her baptismal date of June 27th it is
awesome! We taught her again last night and it was really spiritual.
We had a member there to answer some of her questions and I could feel
their bond growing and it just excited me to no end!
Franco- his mom kind of blew up on us and said she didn't want us to
come over any more,then I remembered what president said " when you
ask people to hear the gospel the correct answer is NEVER no" and
shortly after that he said "when our investigators "drop" us we RUN to
them." So I called her 4 times and she didn't answer... finally we
called her again and she answered!! Long story short we are going over
there with a member today

We've had some pretty crazy storms lately! When It rains it POURS and
I mean POURS it was literally scaring me for a bit haha lightning
would CRACK right over us and I usually get excited when I hear
thunder, but this time it made me want to run and hide under my bed
covers! I'll send some pictures. But we're ok  no problems. But
other people's houses actually burned to the ground being hit by
lightning! And being on the second floor gave us great reason to fret.
But all is well.

It's hard to pile two weeks into one email in the short time we have
but I have grown sooo much in my testimony for the Savior and of this
work in which we are all anxiously engaged! I wondered why I am out
here on occasion knowing full well it was the adversary, but it has
strengthened my testimony knowing that we are out establishing peace
and bringing others to a "unity of the faith" which reminds me!!!
We got to go on an exchange with President Ames!! It was absolutely
amazing.... The way he instantly connected with them and desired for
them to understand and taught from the scriptures.. It was so
inspiring to see him in action. He is truly a man of God.

Kind of a long one today or at least it feels like it haha but I love
you all and all is well! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!
Elder Judy
Sent from my iPad

Elder Tanner Judy's email (6/5/15)

Dear Momma 

I am so sorry I wasn't able to send you an email last week it was crazy we had to drive to Killeen again to help with bed bug problem and give them sheets and spray. 

I don't have too much time cuz I did that huge mass email now my iPad is going to die cuz. I didn't charge it all the way I guess last night. 

But thank you so much for the package! I got it and was sooo relieved when I was able to charge my camera after 12 weeks of not having it!  

That is really awesome about all the happenings back at home. 

I want to let you know how grateful I am for your spiritual insights for me it really is great to hear of the spiritual golden nuggets because it gives me something to think about as wel as fills me with joy to know that you are reading your scriptures deeply and trying to apply and understand them. I think it's great it goes with the principle that I learned just this past Friday about doing things because we love God. 

Thank you for the update and for your love and care and support I can't believe that I've been out for 10 months and I totally can because I miss you! 

 It's so exciting to hear that Dallin is coming home I'm sure you're just vibrating waiting for him to to walk off the airplane come home not to make you miss him more than you do just remember to send pictures!

Elder Judy