December 30, 2014

Hi Family,

It was good to see all of you as well! Especially Em, since I haven't seen him in over 2 years. I hope he liked his sign. 

 

The doctor didn't say why I passed out. We think it was just I was super tired that day and a little stressed and stood up to fast. I have been fine since that though. :-) I have been drinking a bit more. I haven't been dehydrated since the summer though. 

 

I haven't gotten your package (#2) yet, but the mission office called me today and said they forwarded it. Also, I am e-mailing today (Tuesday) because I didn't get to yesterday. The library was closed for some reason.

I did have to teach Gospel Doctrine on Sunday. Same lesson that mom taught and everything. It went pretty well. It's weird that there are great grandchildren now too.

 

Transfers aren't next week, but the week after. We will see what happens then I suppose. Not a ton changed this week from when I skyped you. Just taught people and had Christmas. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

December 22, 2014

Hi Family,

So before I forget, I will Skype you sometime around 11:30 our time, so 10:30 Utah time.
I did go and see the doctor, but I am fine. All of my tests came back normal, and I'm healthy as a horse that isn't dead yet. The insurance went through fine I'm assuming. I didn't have a co-pay because they put it down as preventative maintenance I guess. Things are going well.
We sang God Rest ye Merry Gentleman. It went well I guess. We didn't have as much time as I would have liked to practice and prepare though.
We have people coming to church and progressing well. Not a lot else this week though. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

December 14, 2014

Hi family,

So you guys forgot to e-mail me last night after you did your bills. That's awkward. (We did write it just did not get sent until to late.) Things are going well anyways. 

 

We have quite a few people we are working with right now. Teaching and preparing for baptism so that's good. We have Christmas Zone Conference this week. Everything is fine and dandy still. Also, I got my Christmas Package. Thanks! kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

December 8, 2014

Hi Family,
Yes, I had permission. Haha. I wouldn't have called if I didn't. (Chad called last night and asked to have some music sent.) I didn't leave a message, I never do.  Sounds good that you just pulled those ones out. I was going to tell you not to send the 12 days of Christmas and stuff like that anyway. We are singing for Christmas Zone Conference next week and I needed to get the music this week so I can copy it and get it to the other 2 elders that will be singing with us by Tuesday at Zone Meeting. My instruction on Diligence went well I guess. No one booed or complained, so that's a plus. Instructing isn't all that hard really. My talk went well too. I only had to speak for 10-12 minutes. I thought it went fine.

I got transferred to a little town kind of like Kennett called Hope in the Southwest part of Arkansas. It's a pretty small area, and we just have a branch with about 20 active members. It is looking good though. We have a couple that is looking good for baptism at the end of the month named the Kirby's. They are pretty cool. My companion and I whitewashed in though. Meaning we both got transferred in at the same time, so neither of us knows the area. His name is Elder Zickella. He is a pretty new missionary. Only been out for about 5 months. He is from Jacksonville, Florida. We also found out that we are kind of related. You know Mike and Anna Mae Drechsel that live in Vernal? Uncle Stephens kids. They are his Aunt and Uncle. So that's cool. My cousins are his aunt and uncle! 

We don't have a car this week, we get it on Tuesday at the meeting. I am going to Skype on Christmas. I don't know when or where yet, but I will let you know once I find out. That's about it for this week. kloveyoubye.

I'lll be hoooooome for Christmaaaas..............(next year)

Love, Elder Udy

P.S. Here are some pictures from previous areas.

This is Elder Allred in Kennett at our baptism back in September.

This is Elder Ernst.

December 1, 2014

Hi Family,


We found and taught the person that we baptized. I also got a call this morning telling me that I will be transferred on Wednesday to the Arkansas side of our mission. So that is exciting. Not a ton else exciting happened. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

November 24, 2014

Hi Family,

That's fun that Cameron came home for a visit. Tell him "Hi" for me and that I miss him. 

 

Well one miracle is that we baptized last week. That was pretty cool. Baptizing on the first transfer an area is open. 

 

We had specialized training last week with the mission president. That was fun. It's crazy how much he knows sometimes. I swear he has the bible memorized. 

 

I am instructing for part of district meeting tomorrow on diligence and I have to give a talk on Sunday about the attributes of a successful missionary. 

 

We had stake conference this last week and so we just watched it from our building up here. Elder Bluth from the Seventy was presiding at it. Not a whole lot else happened this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

November 17, 2014

Hi Family,

I haven't burned the shirt quite yet. I will do it on Friday at our branch presidents house in his backyard after dinner.

I bought a sweater at J C Penny the other day. Sweaters work a lot better for keeping warm down here than coats do. Part of the money I spent went to that, the other part is just on things we needed and stuff. They really should give missionaries some extra money if they open an area. We had literally NOTHING when we got here. I think we got most of the stuff we need now, so I shouldn't be spending as much.

We have some cool people we are teaching. We are teaching a guy who is the son of a Church of Christ preacher and his friend. They are pretty cool. They really like everything we have taught them so far. We have been seeing some really awesome miracles also.

We have quite a few people in our mission on church and government aid. It is a BIG problem in some units here. That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

November 10, 2014

Hi Family,

I burned a shirt on my hump day!!!! :-D It was one that had a stain on it, so I didn't wear it anymore anyways.

We are finding some good people to teach. The branch is growing well still.
Our week was pretty unexciting. I went on exchanges back to Blytheville. I was with Elder Scott. He has been in the field for about 3 weeks now. He is also from Australia, so that's fun.

We have no snow really. Occasionally a light dusting. And it is quite cold now. That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

November 3, 2014

Hi Family,


Dyersburg is pretty awesome. We are having a lot of fun and success here. The branch was good yesterday. There were probably about 60 people there. We have a building that we meet in. It is starting to get a tad bit small though, so we need to turn it into a ward fast to get a bigger building and stuff.

We had a branch Halloween party on Wednesday. It was pretty fun. The branch is really supportive and helpful.

We live in an apartment in town. We actually live down the stairs from the other Elders. Closest sets of missionaries in the mission. Literally downstairs. Elder Ernst has been out for 6 weeks less than me, so I'm senior companion again. We are still getting along well though. I have hump day on Thursday. Not a lot else happened. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

October 27, 2014

Family,

My new area is good. I am serving in Dyersburg Tennessee. My companion (Elder Ernst) and I  actually opened up a new area. So we got a new apartment and everything. The hard part is neither of us know where anything is, and we have literally no investigators or anything. The other elders in the area (we share the area with them) have been able to help us out though.

The branch is super supportive. We have literally had dinner every night since we showed up. A big change from never having dinner with members. We have a car right now. We will be on a car share like always though. Some weeks with a car, some without.

We did have dinner with David(Chads cousin living in Cabot) and Amanda's old friends. Their names are the King's. He used to be the Bishop in the Cabot ward until 6 months ago, so he knew them.

Elder Ernst is from Cedar Hills Utah. He is a real cool guy, and we get along well. We are going to have to just work real hard for awhile until we can get the area to start moving along well. That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

October 21, 2014

Hi Family,

 

Sorry I didn't e-mail yesterday. Me and my companion were at the temple all day (woohoo) and the library had closed when we got back to Kennett. Exciting news though. I'm getting transferred this week. I will be somewhere on the Memphis side of the mission still, but no clue where exactly. I will find out tomorrow. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff other than that though.

We are teaching a few cool people. I will be sad to leave before seeing them be baptized. We don't work with many less-actives. There aren't many of them close by.

 

Isaiah is fun. I use Isaiah 1:16-18 to help teach repentance occasionally. I am reading the Book of Mormon again. We are reading it as a mission in November. Also, we are sacrificing the last 4 hours of our P-days throughout November to help us reach our goals. It is giving up a lot, but the Lord will bless us for it. That's all. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

October 13, 2014

Hi Family,

 A lot of the people that I see around Kennett do know that we are missionaries. I have been here so long though that I recognize a ton of people when we go around. I can name probably 75% of the people that we see on the street, so it is kind of weird now. 

 

Our biggest stumbling block is probably preconceived notions about the church. People that don't actually know what we believe and don't want to, or (my personal favorite) when people "know exactly" what we believe better than we do. People have basically told us that we don't know what we believe, they do though. So that is fun. 

 

Our baptism is hopefully going to be rescheduled. We are trying to catch them still.

 

I have heard of Meet the Mormons. We saw it Wednesday morning last week before it was in theaters in a zone meeting. It was really good. Hopefully it will help put down some of the false ideas people have about us. That's about it for the week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

October 6, 2014

Hi family,

Yes. I watched conference. My favorite talks were probably Lynn G. Robbins, D. Todd Christofferson, Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Saturday morning and priesthood), Jorg Klebingat, Jeffrey R. Holland, Quentin L. Cook, Henry B. Eyring (priesthood), Thomas S. Monson (Sunday morning), and David A. Bednar. There were a lot of good talks and sessions this time around. The whole foreign language thing was awesome too. 

 

We don't have a baptism for Oct. 12th anymore. They didn't make it to church. 

 

We  exercise every morning and throughout the day depending on if we walk, bike, or drive. 

 

Not a ton happened this week except General Conference. We were out of Kennett for a lot of the week because of that. That's all. kloveyoubye.

 

Love, Elder Udy

September 29, 2014

Hi Family,

Our meeting with Elder Zwick was awesome. He brings such a powerful spirit with him. 

 

That woman that was baptized got confirmed yesterday, so that was cool. The scheduled baptisms are in Kennett. That girl is doing well. She is still working on preparing for baptism and all. She has a date for the 12th also. 

 

We don't have iPads yet, but Elder Zwick announced them and showed us the programs and stuff when he was here. He said we should have them by the end of the year. 

 

We will watch general conference down at the church building in Blytheville, Arkansas. We will drive down there Saturday morning, watch all the sessions and then spend the night with the other elders in the Blytheville house. Then wake up and watch the rest on Sunday. kloveyoubye.

Love, The Only Elder Udy

September 22, 2014

Dear Family,

 

We have a meeting with Elder Zwick from the Seventy in Memphis on Wednesday. It should be good. 

 

We have a bunch of good progressing investigators. We have 4 baptisms lined up for October 12th weekend. We also had a baptism yesterday, so that's cool. We also have back to back appointments lined up for the next 3-4 days. So we are staying plenty busy. We also have this awesome girl that we are working with now. She called and ordered a Book of Mormon, and then when we brought it to her, she said that she wanted to come to church with us and get baptized and she loves the temple and stuff. So it is awesome. We are super excited for her and how much effort she is putting into the gospel in her life. It will bless her forever.  kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

September 15, 2014

Hi Family,

 

I was supposed to be transferred last week, but then I didn't need to be. I am still with Elder Allred. I sent his mom your number so that she could call you guys. Just thought you might like to talk with each other. Your sons are serving together and all. 

 

Things are still good with those people we are teaching from the Less-Actives. We should be seeing them this week hopefully. 

 

Our investigators directed Plaza Suite and Superhero Support Group. It was community theater. We have many good investigators and will hopefully be having some baptisms in the next few weeks. That's all. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

September 8, 2014

Dear Family,

So it turns out I'm not being transferred this week after all. Which is really surprising. One of the reasons I thought I was going to be transferred was because Elder Allred was supposed to be training. 

 

The library wasn't open on Labor Day, so we had to use some members computers to write home. We are supposed to be getting iPads soon. We actually have them already in the mission office, but they aren't giving them out yet for some reason. The pilot program was a couple of years ago for them. We are on a pilot program though. We have Book of Mormon download pass-along cards that we can hand out. We are the only mission that has them.

 

Elder Zwick is going to do some sort of conference while he is here. It is in the next couple of weeks. 

 

We went to this less active woman's house and she invited us in, sat us down, and told us she had 2 people for us to teach and baptize. So that was awesome. Also, We went to this other woman's house and when she answered the door, she told us that she had been praying for us to stop by that morning. So that's cool. And then We also got to go see a play that some of our investigators directed! So it was a good week over all. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

September 1, 2014

Dear Family,

Elder Allred is the one in the picture I sent last week.
The weather has cooled down, but we have a car now anyway. We share 2 cars with 2 other sets of elders in our district.
We do get a lot out of zone conference and stuff. We have Elder Zwick coming this month for a mission tour.
We have transfers next week, and I am most likely leaving the area so yeah. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

August 25, 2014

Dear family,

The cops that showed up during our lesson last week were just looking for a guy. He wasn't there...anymore. He had left a couple minutes earlier. It was funny. They just asked if he was there and then left. 

Zone conference was really good. President Wakolo has completely changed the focus of the mission. It was entirely about "Increasing the Spiritual Capacity" of the missionaries. It was really good. We didn't have to memorize the study guide. We barely had time to go through it a little bit. 

We have some good people that we are working with. One is a pastor that we met this week. He says that he has always respected Mormons and how they carry themselves. He thinks that we "exude Christ-like love and qualities" and he wants to know how and why. So we are excited for him. We have some other good families that we are working with right now too. 

The weather actually got hotter this last week. On Saturday the heat index was 112 degrees and Sunday it was 114. We were also on bike week. Elder Allred and I actually couldn't go out in it. We did for awhile, but only until I got heat exhaustion and almost passed out both days. Then we went in. I have been staying hydrated, but I guess that it was just too hot for me. I'm hoping that it doesn't continue. It would really hurt the work if I couldn't bike in it.

That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

August 18, 2014

Hi family,

Since there are not many members in Kennett we do most of our own cooking.  I could use some simple fast recipes I guess. Elder Allred and I  usually cook pretty well. We made biscuits and sausage gravy from scratch the other day. It was pretty good. 

 

Not a ton has happened this week really. Kept working with people, met more people, etc. One of our lessons was interrupted by cops knocking on the door. So yeah. That was interesting. Life as a missionary just keeps on going. 

 

Our mission president sent us all a 4 page study guide that we all need to go through before Zone Conference on Thursday. So we will be doing that this week for a bit. Not much else really. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

August 11, 2014

Hi Family,

I just finished reading through Psalms and Proverbs! The Old Testament
is one of my favorite things to learn about, study, and teach!

We don't get fed much out here. We are far away from most
members and there aren't a lot to begin with. We just buy our own food
and cook for ourselves. I am getting pretty good at cooking though.

The humidity is fine. It hasn't been to bad recently. Except the days
after the 2 lightning storms this week. Oh yeah, by the way we had
lightning storms and the streets of Kennett completely flooded. So
that was fun! :-D

Me and Elder Allred get along well. We have a lot in common actually.

Only a few of the people we met panned out, but we have some
good people that we are working with still.

Not a ton happened this week except for a guy passed
out in church while giving the closing talk. We had to rush onto the
stage to help him sit down so he didn't fall. He has diabetes and was
low on sugar. Kind of scary, but he is okay and fine now. We had
breakfast with him this morning actually. Nothing really exciting
other than that. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

August 4, 2014

Hi family,

 

It's nice that I can keep in touch with my friends serving missions. Share experiences and stuff between each other and find out what they are doing that works in there mission to help me improve. 

 

The Blytheville missionaries are back now. Working 2 areas was kind of tough, but it all went okay.

 

I got my new companion of course, Elder Allred. He is from Lapoint Utah. It is a small town that has about 300 people in it, just outside of Vernal. He is pretty cool. He is pretty ripped to...it scares me a little. He picked me up and threw me onto my bed the other night. I have never experienced that before. It was fun! 

 

We were on bikes this week. We met a ton of new people biking around in between appointments. We had something like 37 lessons and 11 new investigators, so it was good! Bikes do have advantages. That's about it for the week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

July 28, 2014

Hi Family,

 

There isn't a huge problem in Kennett with unmarried people. There is in Memphis though. Tons of people just have their baby daddy's and stuff. 

 

Of all the lessons we mostly teach the restoration when contacting and finding people. 

 

The famous singer that came from Kennett is Sheryl Crow. 

 

We had a pretty crazy week this week actually. On Friday we got a call from the other missionaries in Blytheville saying that they were going to be out of the area for a week (another long story) so we were going to be covering their area as well as ours. We have been up and down for the past few days. And one of the other missionaries also had to speak on Sunday, but wouldn't be there. So I had to fill in and write a talk in about an hours time that we had free. My topic was Obedience. It went pretty well I guess. And we got a call this morning and Elder Jelte will be being transferred on Wednesday. Transfer week already. So I will be getting a new companion. So it has been kind of hectic, but good. 

 

We had those people come to church again and they are looking forward to their baptism so that is awesome. That's pretty much it. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

July 21, 2014

Dear Family

 

We actually did have a few people at church today! A family of 3! They have a date for marriage and baptism too, so it should be good. 

 

This week we had specialized training with Pres. Wakolo it was really good. He is taking the mission in a whole new direction that should be good for us. Focusing a lot on Personal Development rather than what to do to baptize people.

 

That was pretty much my week. We still teach and stuff. So yeah. That's cool. kloveyoubye.

 

Love, Other Elder Udy (not Emerson)

July 14, 2014

Our investigators are progressing well. We have had several tell us that they know the Book of Mormon is true and the church is true, but they just have no way to make it to church. (Church is a 45 minute drive to Blytheville, Arkansas) It's kind of rough. We will figure it out though. Some of them just need to be more committed. A couple of them say yes it is all true, but won't even try to find a way down to church. They will only come if we set it all up for them. We will keep trying though. Not a ton is going on other than that though. 

 

We have specialized training this week with President Wakolo. This is the first time we will see him teaching a whole meeting rather than just part of a zone meeting. We are all pretty excited for it.

 

That's all. kloveyoubye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

July 7, 2014

 

Our meeting with President Wakolo was awesome. He is really intelligent and knows tons and tons about doctrine. It's gonna be a good few years for teaching and learning doctrines in all kinds of ways. I can't wait for it. 

 

Our investigators are good. It's hard to get them to come to church though, since it is a 45 minute drive to get to the building. The ward is pretty good. The people are nice and helpful when they can be, we are just out of the way of most of them. We just drive the car down for church, or if we don't have a car one of the members is willing to come get us. We had 2 of our investigators make it down to church this week, so that was good. Hopefully we will see some baptisms pretty soon here.

 

Elder Jelte came out the transfer after I did. So I am only 6 weeks older than him. On the fourth of July we went down to Blytheville and had a BBQ with our Bishop and his family. Played some Frisbee with them. It was fun. 

 

That's all. Love you all.

 

Love, Other Elder Udy

June 30, 2014

My companion, Elder Jelte, is actually from Sandy. He went to Hillcrest. He also went to Churchill for a year apparently. He was in 8th grade when I was in 7th. He lived up in the cove for a while too. He was in our stake I think for a bit. His grandparents lived in the cove for a long time. Denver and Lucille Harper. Did Grandma and Grandpa know them? (Well she is dead, but the husband isn't yet)

Only 1 family in the ward lives in Kennett. So we are pretty much on our own, but it's alright.

 

I met President Wakolo a little bit last night. We were at a stake thing and he was there. He just shook all the missionaries hands though. I haven't really met him a lot yet. He does have a super deep voice and a thick Fijian accent which is just about the best thing ever. He seems like an awesome guy, and I'm excited to work with him.

 

I have gone through the Memphis temple once already, and I will probably get to go through at least a couple more times before the end of my mission.

 

That's all.

Love, Other Elder Udy

June 23, 2014

We had transfers last week, and I got moved away to a new area actually! I'm in Kennett, MO. The only area in our mission that is in Missouri! 40 years ago, you could be shot here just for being a Mormon! Not anymore though. It's an awesome little small town though. We barely even need a car to get around. Our bikes can get us around just as fast basically. 

 

We are part of the Blytheville Ward. There is another set of Elders in Blytheville, and a senior couple also. The ward is super small. Only about 30-35 active members. My companions name is Elder Jelte! I love Elder Jelte! I knew him from my first transfer in Walnut Grove. We were in the same district. We have been good friends since, so it is awesome that we get to serve together now! 

 

The humidity isn't too bad up here actually. We are further north, so it's not as strong. Love you.

Love, Other Elder Udy

June 16, 2014

Everyone will miss President and Sister Petersen a ton out here. One of the first things I'll do after I get home is going to be going up to Ogden to see them. That's cool that the Ogden temple dedication is on my birthday.

 

We didn't really find anyone too interesting this week. The sisters that we share the ward with had a baptism this weekend though, so that was cool. 

 

Transfers are right before President Wakolo gets here. They are this week actually, and I am getting transferred out of Walnut Grove. Rumor has it that I am going somewhere on the Arkansas side of the mission. We will find out on Wednesday though.

 

That's all.

Love, Other Elder Udy

June 9, 2014

I'm excited to meet President Wakolo. I'm sad that we are losing President and Sister Petersen though. I'm gonna miss them a lot.
The weather is even more warm and humid than it was before! And there are massive thunderstorms! Literally for the past few days every single night when we go in there has been a massive thunderstorm and there have been 2 tornado warnings also. I'm sure mom wanted to hear about those. :-) I will get used to it though. It's no problem.

Not a ton happened this week. We talked to some people, we taught some people, etc etc. That's all. Love you!

Love, Other Elder Udy

June 2, 2014

Hi. 

 

I can see Memphis having the worst eating scores. We do eat pretty well out here. We stay pretty healthy though. 

 

We pretty much contact however we feel here. We walk streets, parks, knock doors, etc. Just whatever we feel we should do. I want to try a new approach though when I first contact people. I want to try and walk up to them and say "Hi, we're representatives of Jesus Christ, and we baptize dead people." I feel like it could work out and start a nice conversation. :-)

We went to a baptism on Saturday though! It wasn't ours. It was for a couple that I taught in my first area. They wanted me to come and be there for it, because I was the first missionary that taught them. So that was cool. The following is a picture from that baptism. The couple that was baptized is on the left, I'm in the middle, and the couples parents and brother are on the right.

 

We had another cool experience this week too. Friday we had a feeling we should stop by and see a guy whose wife is a member in our ward. He let us in and we talked with him for awhile. We didn't think anything of it at the time, but in testimony meeting on Sunday his wife got up. She said that he was actually feeling very sad and alone that day when we stopped by and that he was really happy that we stopped and talked with him. He said that after we left he was much happier and that he realized he needed to make some changes, even though we didn't really teach him anything. It was a cool experience that helped us to know that we are following the spirit when we do our best, and that the spirit works on people, even if they can't tell it for themselves.

That's all for this week.

Love, Other Elder Udy

May 26, 2014

Elder Garner and I are getting along just splendidly. We pretty much have fun all the time. We keep each other laughing and such.
The humidity is awful. You can walk outside, stand in the shade, and just start sweating without doing anything. It's gross.
This is my 3rd transfer here, so I might be getting transferred in a few weeks.
Not a lot happened this week. It was bike week, and we spent about 40 hours or so just walking around trying to meet people. Pretty boring week.

May 19, 2014

Dear family,

Our week was good. We are both fine from the accident last week. We were just rear ended. We don't have a car right now, but that is because we are on bike week. It doesn't have to do with us being hit. It was just our turn to be on bike. We will get a call when we need to take the car in for repairs.

We got to put the chapel together this week. They took all the pews out so they could replace the sprinkler system, and we were asked to help carry them back in and bolt them down. We did something else exciting to that I can't remember. That's all!

Love, Other Elder Udy

May 5, 2014

Hi Family,

We actually never had to clean up the tornado stuff. It didn't really hit Tennessee bad. 

I haven't had my final interview with President Petersen yet. 

I will be skyping home on mothers day. 

Nothing really exciting this week. I found out David Lynn's number and stuff this morning and gave him a call and talked to him for a bit. Nothing else is happening really.

Love you! talk to you on Sunday.

Love, Other Elder Udy

April 28, 2014

Dear Parents,

We want you to know that all missionaries serving in the Arkansas Little Rock Mission are safe and accounted for.  They have been asked to stay in their apartments today so you may not receive an e-mail from your missionary this week.  Some of our communities have sustained considerable damage so many of our missionaries will be involved in on going service to help those in need.  Thank you for your prayers and faith. 

Sincerely, President Steven M. Petersen 

Hi Family,

 

I got my package. I love my pillow tie. I wore it to district meeting on Tuesday. It was good fun. 

 

I don't really get involved in the music. They want us to let the ward take care of that kind of stuff and we focus on teaching and stuff. 

 

We have a few investigators. Not to many though. We are constantly looking for more. None are really progressing right now. Things are going to pick up though.

 

We were in the tornado warning for Little Rock. We didn't really have to worry a ton about it though. We had a lot of flooding in our area though. 

 

That's pretty much it. Love you!

Love, Other Elder Udy

April 21, 2014

Hi Family,

I have read that bio and seen the picture of President Wakolo already. (He will be going to Arkansas in July to be the new mission President). He seems like he is going to be a really cool guy. Hopefully he speaks English (he and his wife are from Fiji, he has been a seventy) well. Ha ha. 

 

For Easter we had a breakfast and Easter egg hunt at the church for the little kids. It was pretty good. For sacrament meeting the entire program was practically just singing. Music plays a lot bigger role out here than it does in Utah.

 

That's all.

Love, Other Elder Udy

April 14, 2014

Hi Family,

I'm still just studying the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel. Occasionally I will read part of the bible too. We are in Exodus in our Sunday school too. 

 

We have an Easter activity planned in the ward. That and the church wide Easter missionary reach out thing. The whole thing is on mormon.org. You should check it out. It's pretty cool. 

http://easter.mormon.org/

 

That's funny you met Emerson's new mission president. Now you just need to meet mine. His name is President Wakolo. He seems like he will be an awesome guy.

Love, Other Elder Udy

April 7, 2014

Hi Family,

We did watch conference. All 10 hours. My favorite talk was probably the one President Monson gave in priesthood about having courage. Will you send me a CD of conference so I can listen to them in the car and stuff? Thanks. All the warnings about whirlwinds and stuff were funny, because we were having a lightning storm during conference over here. How ironic. I really like that thought of being on solid ground though. It's something I have been thinking about a lot lately. I was starting the Book of Mormon again and I read 1 Nephi 1:6. I was wondering why Nephi thought it was important to mention that the pillar of fire that Lehi saw was on a rock before him. Why not just assume it was by him, or on the ground, or in the grass. The best answer to that question I could come up with was that revelation comes to the steadfast and immovable. We must be strong in our faith like a rock, and build our foundation on Christ.(Helaman 5:12) We must pray in faith, with nothing wavering. (James 1:6) Revelation and help from our father in heaven doesn't come unless we can give him a good base to lay it on. Love you all.

Love, Other Elder Udy

March 31, 2014

Hi Family,

I'm surprised they let you near the tractor dad. Much less drive it. 

 

The liahona award you asked about is another statue. It is a little replica liahona. You get it by memorizing another 42 scriptures and completing every activity, scripture study, personal study, and companionship study that is in Preach My Gospel. I don't know how many missionaries get it. I know that it's not hard to get if you are willing to put in some effort and try. 

 

Elder Child and I get along really well. We are both perfectly happy being together for 6 more weeks. My interview with President Petersen went well. He is an awesome guy. He is very supportive and caring about us. 

 

Nothing really particularly new to report. We are on bikes this week and are having trouble finding new people to teach. I sent a letter home with a drawing I thought you would like. :-D

Love, Other Elder Udy

March 24, 2014

Yeah. I got my Hold to the Rod award. See the previous post to see the picture. I should have my Liahona in the next few months. I already had a bunch of things memorized. 

 

We had transfer calls this week. Elder Child and I  are going to be together for another transfer. And I am going to be here for another transfer after that most likely. So I'm going to be in Walnut Grove for another 3 months or so most likely, which I'm fine with. I like the ward and the people here. Not a lot has happened. We had our interviews with President Petersen this week. Nothing super exciting though. Love you.

Love, Other Elder Udy

March 21, 2013

Elder Udy received his “Hold to the Rod” statue at the specialized training meeting this past week.  He successfully memorized 42 scriptures.  I thought you might want to see the attached photo.

Sister Warnick (Mission secretary)

March 17, 2014

 Hi Family,

My current companion is still Elder Child. I have attached a picture of him relaxing. We just had a normal week, nothing exceptional. We haven't found anyone new to teach in awhile, but we have an appointment tonight, so that should be good. 

 

Our weather has been pretty comfortable now. Not too hot or cold. I have a question for you. When was the last time you read the Book of Mormon? I decided I'm going to order a hard cover Book of Mormon and some stuff like that. That way it will last. I want to read it several times over my mission and highlight all the different things relating to each missionary lesson. It should be fun. That's pretty much all for this week.

Love,

Other Elder Udy

March 10, 2014

Hi Family,

I have had some good experiences. We usually try to work through the members if we can. Otherwise we just do street contacting. We don't knock on doors. Our ward is really good here. I like it here.

Nothing exciting really happened this week. Bye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

March 3, 2014

Hi family,

My bike works fine. We don't have to use them a ton though, because we get a lot of help from members.We are teaching 4 people or so right now.

The terrain is somewhat hilly, although the hills aren't big. The weather was good and then it rained, snowed, and iced yesterday and today. So we will see what the week brings.

My companion was actually put into the ward only 1 transfer before me. We did find something interesting out though. We know his Aunt and Uncle. Janene and Kent Burton back in Mount Olympus. Grant and Clark are his cousins. He has met Cameron before too when he was hanging out with them. So that was cool. That's all pretty much.

We had a baptism on Saturday so that was cool. Bye.

From, Other Elder Udy

February 24, 2014

Hi Family,

At zone conference we learned about how we have to convert ourselves, before we convert others and that we all need to stay strong in the gospel and not loosen up at all.

 

This ward is really good, even better than my last one. There isn't a choir. Our mission leader is awesome and super helpful though. So is our bishop. It is a good ward just ready to help.

 

We had a baptism on Saturday. A guy named Clarence. He has a cool story. So the Spanish elders found a guy named Nelson. He is a member who was considered less active. He wasn't though. He had just moved and didn't know where the church was. So they ran into him and found out he was a member and called us in to see him. We went in and met him and told him where the church was. He had been reading and studying the scriptures everyday so that he could remain spiritual in his life. He also started to teach his friends Clarence and Kay. They pretty much already knew everything because he was teaching them. So we baptized Clarence on Saturday and Kay will be baptized in the next week or two. On Sunday when Clarence was confirmed, he also was given the Aaronic Priesthood and he and Nelson were both set apart as Ward Missionaries. They are going to do amazing things in that calling. They actually called us this morning to tell us how it was going and that they have a few people in mind that they are going to go and try to teach today. They are going to be keeping in close contact with us and try to teach every person that they meet about the gospel. They are so fired up about it and it is going to be super cool. They want to magnify their calling in every way that they possibly can. They will bring a lot of people into the church that way, and I'm excited to be able to help them do it.

That's pretty much all for the week. Love you!

Love, Other Elder Udy

February 17, 2014

Hi family,

I'm now in Walnut Grove. Just north of my last area. Walnut Grove is a very rich area. So people are just happy where they are and aren't interested most of the time. We have a couple of baptisms coming which is nice.

 

We are in a car until Tuesday then we lose it for a week. My companion is Elder Child. He has been out 18 months and is from Farmington Utah. 

 

This weekend was stake conference and Elder Steven Thompson from the Quorum of the Seventy was there. I have finished reading the BoM. 

 

We have zone conference this week and we will get our mail from the mission office.

Love,
Elder Udy

February 13, 2014

Here are some pictures of Chad sent to us from a member in Memphis.

 

Chad and the other Elders in the area at Corky's Restaurant for Elder Derricks birthday. 

 

Chad does love ribs.

Elders eating mini cheesecakes on Elder Derricks birthday.

 

Chad saying goodbye to to the Swansons. Chad has been transferred to the Walnut Grove Ward which is part of the same stake in Memphis.

 

February 10, 2014

Just a note to let you know I am getting transferred. I find out where I am going on Wednesday. My BoM reading is going good. I'm pretty much done.

It has been kind of cold, but not too bad.

I have to go pack and stuff, so I can't write much. Love you!

Love, Other Elder Udy

February 3, 2014

Hi Family,

I have transfers next week.

We had a pretty boring week. Elder White got sick, so we were in for most of it. I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon in 30 days. So far I am on Mosiah 5.

Oh yeah I forgot one thing that happened on Friday.

So remember how I told you about how Elder L. Tom Perry came to the MTC and I got to hear him speak live? Well I got to again on Friday night! He came down here for a regional stake conference and it was in the building right next to the one that I normally attend, so we were invited to go hear it live! He has such an incredible spirit about him. It was Elder Perry and 5 other General Authorities of the church, including the President of the quorum of the seventy, and a bunch of the seventies. It was insane! He is really funny too. He spoke about missionary work and how we all need to increase our efforts. Both missionaries and especially members. The work is hastening right now. By a lot. He says that this time right now is just as significant in the history of the church as the restoration of the priesthood was. I am so blessed to be a part of this great time when the work has been hastened. This is an event that was foretold in the Doctrine and Covenants (88:73), and now it has come to pass. It's incredible.

Love, Other Elder Udy.

January 27, 2014

Hi Family,

I did remember my camera today so I can show you some pictures from it.

 

We have had a few new investigators. Mostly from part member families. We should have a few baptisms in February. We ended this month with 6, so it was pretty good. Most places only get 1 or 2, so we are doing something right I guess. The other 4 members of that family I told you about all got baptized on Saturday. When we were preparing them this last week the mom suddenly told us that she didn't feel ready to be baptized and that she wanted to wait, but let the kids do it now. We didn't know how to help her, so we ended up leaving for the night. We prayed and fasted for her the next day. When we went to go and see her that night we had an awesome lesson with her and were able to convince her to be baptized with her family. She said that even though she didn't tell us about the problem she was having, we had answered as if she had. It was like Ammon with King Lamoni in Alma 17. The spirit helped to answer her questions, before she asked them. Fasting really does work miracles.

 

I also got to ordain one of the people that we baptized before to be a teacher and gave him the priesthood. So things are going well here. 

 

I had to give a talk in church yesterday actually. I spoke on the Law of Tithing. Everything else during the day seemed to be focused on the family though and how important it is. 

 

The weather was warm yesterday, but it dropped again last night. and it is supposed to drop even more tonight. Nothing else is really going on. bye.

 

From, Other Elder Udy

January 20. 2014

I forgot my camera at home today, so no pictures. I need to go soon though. My companion and I have some differences, but we get along pretty well usually. 

My bike is working out well. The landscape is all flat here which makes it good for biking.

We meet regularly with the ward mission leader and go to ward council.  Bye.

Love, Other Elder Udy

January 13, 2014

Hi everyone,

 

In answer to your question, sometimes the members do the baptizing. It depends on who the person wants to do it. We let them choose. 

We are in cars this week still, but we should have bikes next week. The members tend to help out a little, but mostly only if it's convenient. It isn't too cold out here anymore. It was really bad last week though. It got down to about 8 degrees without wind chill. It is around 60 now though. Our transfers are halfway through February. We just had them at the new year. I'm still in the same place and stuff.

So this last week we had a baptism for two kids planned that were 15 and 16. We really had to fight for every inch. It took them about 2 months to finally be ready. As we went to fill the font for them on Saturday morning we discovered that the ice and cold storm that we had the week before actually broke the pipes to fill it. The water started leaking from the roof. We immediately turned it off, but then we weren't sure what to do. Postponing it would have been easy, but we didn't feel right about that. So we called the Walnut Grove bishop to see if we could use their font. They had something going on already that day. So then we called the Southaven bishop. He gave us permission to use his font. We then called the missionaries in that ward and asked them to go and start filling it immediately, as we drove down. We then called the investigators, members, bishop, speakers, and everyone else who was planning on coming. It got a little hectic. In the end we got everyone down there and had 2 baptisms. A lot of members showed up as well to show there support. The rest of there family was there as well. We now have 4 more dates with the rest of the family. Our persistence paid off this time.

Love, Other Elder Udy

January 6, 2013

They celebrate New Years weird here. At midnight, instead of party poppers and cider, a ton of people take guns outside and fire randomly into the air. It was pretty exciting, and deadly. We all were inside during it though. 

 

We do give church tours to our investigators. Our exchanges are with the people in our district (My companion is the district leader) and with the zone leaders. 

 

It is pretty cold here. It was about 18 degrees coming to the library this morning. My coat is enough though I did buy some gloves and a hat at Walmart today. 

 

We don't have facebook or anything like that set up yet and we haven't been told to. We are getting iPads on the 16th of this month most likely. If not we will probably have them next month. We still just use paper for now.

 

I forgot to tell you last week though. I did my first baptism on the 28th of December. I actually never taught the girl, but my companion had to do the interview for her. After that she chose who she wanted to baptize her. She said she wanted me to even though I just met her that night. Not the elders who taught her. It was weird, but kind of cool. So yeah. I also have 2 more baptisms coming up on Saturday.

 

Love, Other Elder Udy