April 1-Finding Fire

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Man, it has been a crazy good week in San Clemente! Elder Esplin and I went on a super cool hike this morning right next to our apartment and saw the sun rise. Good vibes.

We had a ton of amazing experiences this week. Here are a couple:

1. I gave my Brazilian friend a blessing. We hasn't been able to meet with them for a while so we just decided to stop by. When we came over, he told us how much he appreciates us and how they wish they could meet with us all the time. I could see how stressed he had been for a while now and I offered him a blessing and he accepted. I felt God's love for him as my hands were on his head. I have gained a strong testimony of the power of priesthood blessings. The spirit was very strong and afterwards I could see that he felt it. It was amazing giving blessings is one of my favorite parts of missionary work. I love this Family.

2. This week I have tried to give Elder Esplin more opportunities to contact and lead out. So I did what my trainers did to me and I left him out to dry. As we went up to contact a lady in the park, I let him lead the contact and when he looked at me to finish it I looked at him blankly and he awkwardly stated talking to the women again and asked her if we could share a message, and she said yes! It was super cool to share the Restoration on the fly like that. It has been a while since I have been able to have an impromptu lesson like that. After that, I realized I need to have more trust in my companion and give him the opportunity to learn and grow. It was refreshing to have an experience like that.

3. Since that lesson in the park, I have had a desire to find like I have never had before. On exchanges with Elder wilsher, we hit up all the parks we could in our area and contacted as many people as possible. Elder Wilsher was a little skeptical going up to people who were obviously preoccupied with kids or other activities, but I knew that God wouldn't let us down when we put our faith in him. We had a couple cool contacts like a group of basketball players who stopped the game and listened to us when I said "Hey do you guys want to talk about Jesus?". We had a ton more of supreme contacts but the best one was with a cool dude with a beard. He was playing in a baseball field with his boys and we struck up a conversation. It turns out that he works with a ton of members in our ward. We talked for a while about a ton of things and we became super good friends with him. He wants us to come over this week for pizza. He took some pics with us and had tons of questions about our missions. It proved to me that a successful contact doesn't mean you gave out a book of Mormon or got a return appointment, but you show genuine Christlike love.

It was a super good week. The best part was the change in myself. For the first time in my mission I didn't have a great fear of finding, but I saw the people around us as children of a Heavenly Father. This perception has changed me. I want to talk to people, not because someone told me to or I want to get numbers for the week, but out of love. I feel my heart change  everyday as I serve. This week I have thought a lot about Alma 29

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!
2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

 This week Esplin and I have set a goal to give out 25 Books of Mormon. This goal is really to push us to get outside our comfort zone and see things we haven't seen before. We don't care about the numbers but we do care about those in our area who need the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is going to be a fun week.

Hoorah for Israel!!

Love,
Elder Judd






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