Elder Judd in California

Not much to report on this week. We have tried meeting with all of our potential investigators but we weren't able to make any return appointments. On Saturday we had our ward trunk or treat and decided we needed to dress up so we scrounged up everything from our apartment we could and dressed up as Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The whole ward was crazy about it and wanted to take pictures with us. we gained some major ward respect from it. The sisters in our ward brought one of their seekers of truth who we met and talked to Also loved our costumes. His name is Daren, and soon the sisters are going to pass him off to us. He is completely interested in joining our church but he wants to learn more. He is amazing, and we look forward to teaching him soon. A scripture that has stuck out to me this week from my studies is Nephi's testimony about speaking in plainness, he says 2 Nephi 31:3 3 For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord...

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 w...

On Tuesday We had the craziest move ever. We had to move a lady's two storage units into one across town. The hard part was that her storage units were on the second floor and someone had to use a forklift to bring us up and we had to load the crate and bring it down. It took us 3 trips and roughly 6 hours to do it all. With these types of moves I constantly remind my self that I am only in the service of my God. The good news is that she said we could come over soon and teach her. On Wednesday we had an awesome zone conference, and I am pumped. I was really inspired to become more obedient to all of the rules of the mission. I know that true joy on the mission comes from strict obedience and diligence. Thursday, was not so good. After meeting with a less active in the ward, a man comes out and says that he wants us to come over and talk to him. He was super nice and we were super excited. He invited us in and he told us that he was Muslim and he has always wanted to talk t...

Wow! General Conference was amazing. I have never been filled with so much inspiration in my life, I felt that every message that was shared was truly inspired from God. So many of the talks hit home for me, there is no doubt that general conference is best on the mission. My favorite talk was from Russell M Nelson when he shared the importance of the name of our church. I hit me hard because I wear that name on my heart everyday and it is something to always remember, and the most important part of our name is often taken out. I know that the power of the atonement comes through the name Jesus Christ. I also loved Elder Brough, Ballard, Bowen, Andersen, and Eyring. I felt those underline message of those talks was that there is that we can overcome all hardships in our life through Jesus Christ. I loved it all. Other than Conference, we have had a good week with tons of transfer meetings. I know it will be a great transfer.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! love, Eld...

Transfers!!!! I am staying in Aliso Creek, but whit washed out of Live Oak. I love Live Oak. I thought I would never love a ward like Newport but Live Oak is awesome. Both my companions are leaving, Elder Loveland is staying in the zone, but Elder Edwards is going to Mission Viejo. I am getting Elder walker! I knew him from NP and he is super cool! I am very excited! we are Co district leading the whole zone, they are not splitting the zone into districts. It is my first time only having one companion! its going to be different, but a good change. Not much else happened this week, but we did bake cookies with The Cheney family from the Live Oak ward. We delivered them and said goodbye to the members last night. I am super excited for the change this transfer and what I will learn from Elder Walker. I always think about the song "I’ll be what you want me to be" especially the words from the chorus. i’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain...

Its been a great week here RSM, filled with many awesome miracles! Tuesday - We went street contacting in a sports park near our apartment, and there was not as many people out as there usually is. We tried contacting a few people but they were running and we couldn't chase them down. Just as we were about to go home I saw a man to the side of us sleeping on a bench. I had such a strong prompting to talk to him but I ignored it at first because he was sleeping and I was scared to wake him up. When I said that I was scared, Elder Edwards stepped up and just went and woke him up, I am grateful for companions to back me up. He ended up being a super nice and humble guy. He and his girlfriend, who we didn't see at first wanted to hear a lesson from us. We shared the plan of salvation with them right there. They were so kind and said that they felt that they really needed that message. As we got to know them better, we found out that the guys grandmother is a member of the Churc...

This week we have focused our efforts on member missionary work. So many of the days were filled with calling members of both wards and trying to meet with them and share a message about missionary work. The first night we did this, Tuesday we experienced a cool miracle of prayer. We had no one to visit with after dinner and we were very bummed. We said a quick prayer of guidance and immediately we got a text from a family in Aliso Creek saying that they wanted to meet with us right then. It was awesome, They are a super awesome young family and they promised to invite their neighbor to church. We were so happy that night after heavenly Father answered our prayer in a simple way. The rest of our week has really just been filled with meeting with members and inviting them to hand out a Book of Mormon or invite their friend to church. Sunday, We met with the Judd family from the Live Oak ward. Because of a time crunch we couldn't be there for their real dinner, Sister Judd gave u...