October 22-God is the Gardener

Holy Cow! what a week! probably the best finding week I have ever had! We were able to pass out 7 Books of Mormon, which is totally crazy here!

Thursday - I had the sudden urge to go finding, and when I brought this up to Elder walker he said "Okay, where?". So I went into our room and prayed while looking over a map of our area, and by the power of the spirit, I narrowed it down to a house. We went there not expecting anything to come from it, maybe just a test from God or something, but when we knocked on the door a lady, we will call her Sally, answered. Sally Said that she went to Saddleback church, a huge non denominational Christian church in our area, but she has "Mormon" friends. Eventually we were able to give her a book of Mormon and she wants us to come back this week. Later that day at an Elders Qourum activity we met one of the friends of a member, We'll call him José. After talking for a while he asks us "what does Elder mean?" then we got in a conversation about our purpose as missionaries. At the end of the night we gave him a book of Mormon, and he said that he would love to meet with us and the member soon. I know that God answers our prayers and that there are prepared people for us. 

Friday - On another power hour with Elder Johnson we knocked a single building and gave out 3 Books of Mormon, the most promising was a woman, We will call her Alison, who we met in front of her door. Alison just recently started going to a catholic church because she had been looking for a church to join. We told her how great our church is and invited her to come. Her family is very kind and humble and wants us to come back later this week.

We have had so many other great miracle happen this week, but not enough time to write them all. With all of these great miracles Elder Walker and I didn't truly feel worthy of so many blessings when we know that we are not the most deserving. Elder Johnson told us something that really hit me, "We are never worthy for Gods blessings, but gives them to us anyways because he loves us" All these great blessings have wrought a change in us leading to some major sacrifices in our companionship. We are now more willing to serve serve at our full capacity, this was a huge reminder of our commission as missionaries.

Our Missionary Commission by Bruce R McConkie

”I am called of God. My authority is above that of the kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master and he has chosen me to represent him. To stand in his place, to say and do what he himself would say and do if he personally were ministering to the very people to whom he has sent me. My voice is his voice, and my acts are his acts; my words are his words and my doctrine is his doctrine. My commission is to do what he wants done. To say what he wants said. To be a living modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of his great and marvelous latter-day work. How great is my calling!”

My calling as a missionary truly is great! I love serving others in the California Irvine mission, and I know that this is exactly where I am supposed to be. I know that Heavenly Father looks over us and loves us and wants us to succeed. He blesses us even though we don't deserve it and he wants us to become the best we can through his son, Jesus Christ. God will direct us through the spirit when we pray for his guidance. I know that success as a missionary is not measure by baptisms or the amount of Books of Mormon passed out, but by our willingness to change to become a greater disciples of Christ.

Love, Elder Judd