March 16, 2015

Hi Family,

I haven't had my interview with President yet. He had to reschedule them due to an emergency of some kind. He hasn't told us when yet. We probably won't find out for a bit. 

Specialized training was about living the higher law and some of our key indicators and goals and stuff.

We don't know how long we will have Elder Miner with us, but we are enjoying having him here while we can. 

By the way, I bought new scriptures off of Amazon. That's what the charge was. My quad fell apart last week finally after 12 years of service. So I bought some used ones and a new case to last me the rest of my mission. 

We went to a funeral on Saturday. A recent converts cousin had died, and he wanted us there for support. It was at a black baptist church. Imagine a church service where you have a band playing for half of what the preacher says and people are shouting "Hallelujah" and "Praise the Lord" every 6 seconds. Everyone is standing up almost dancing to the music, and the music is so loud you are almost going deaf. That's what it was like. All of those movies where it seems over exaggerated are exactly right. It's exactly like that. 

Everything else has been pretty normal. Just teaching and stuff. We have been able to see some of the less active members make some progress and attend church again. So that's good. 

The above picture is of all of the elders in Dyersburg. I'm in the middle, Miner is behind me in blue, Ernst is on the right in the white shirt and tie, Mulvey is on my left in the green, and Mohetau is on the far left in white without a tie. Mulvey and Miner are my companions, and Ernst used to be my companion.

This picture is Elder Miner and me next to a giant snowman. So that was fun.

That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

March 9. 2015

Hi Family,

Yup. I am  training. Our apartment is pretty nice. The trio is going well. We are all able to speak up and help each other. It also lets us see people that we couldn't see otherwise. So it is pretty good. 

I forgot to tell you something that happened at transfers last week though. After President had done the transfer meeting, the Temple President came into the room.(The Memphis Temple and the stake building share a parking lot.) He said that he had a couple of surprise visitors. Then David Archuletta and a guy from the Nashville Tribute Band walked in. So that happened. He talked to us about his mission briefly and then sang I Know That My Redeemer Lives. He had just done a session in the temple, and the Temple President told him that we were having a meeting in the other building. So that was kind of fun. All of the sisters practically fainted. 

We did have to change our clocks here. We were snowed in again for part of this last week, so the work was kind of slow. We continue moving onward though. We have Specialized Training and interviews with President Wakolo this week, so that should be fun. That's all for this week. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

March 2, 2015

Hi Family,

It has warmed up thankfully. We were getting stir crazy for a while. Exciting news though. I am actually in a trio now, and I am training a visa waiter who is going to Taiwan! So I will tell you about them individually. Elder Mulvey is the first one. He is a little bit older in the mission than I am, and is going home soon. He is from Las Vegas (Henderson). I don't know a whole lot more than that about him. He is an awesome guy and a hard worker, so that's good. 

The other new elder to the area is Elder Miner. He is from Saratoga Springs, Utah. He was assigned to serve in Taiwan, but they didn't get his visa in time, so he was reassigned to our mission for the next while. He is learning Mandarin, so I am learning a little Mandarin in the mornings too now. He is pretty cool. He is excited about the work and ready to learn. So that's the biggest news I guess. 

I don't have my camera with me, or I would send some pictures. Testimony meetings are good here. A lot of faith building things and such. Like any other branch or ward people anxiously wait for a turn to share their testimony. 

Not a lot else happened this week. Just finding and teaching. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

February 23, 2015

Hi Family,
I am just about frozen to death. It warmed up a little bit though. Then we had freezing rain again last night. We are all fine though and it wasn't icy this morning so we got to go e-mail like normal. It's about 20 degrees outside with a windchill of -8.
Our investigators are doing well. The lawyer guy is really awesome. He is keeping his commitments and should hopefully receive his answer soon.
Zone conference was good. They talked about our purpose, studying, and then we did some zone goals stuff. They did some activities and all. It was a good time.
Sunday was good. Church like normal. We had to get there early and smash all the ice in the parking lot so people could get in safer. We had 2 extra meetings yesterday beyond normal Sunday services. PEC and Branch Council. They didn't have a celebration for Mardi Gras. In fact, no one even brought it up. We did hear a lot for Ash Wednesday though. It's a lot bigger over here.
Missionary life is always exciting. Things come up all the time.
This week was pretty boring actually. We were able to get out on Saturday finally after the roads melted off. We got a bit of work done then. This morning we had transfer calls though. I am FINALLY staying in an area for more than one transfer again. Elder Gollaher is leaving me though. So I will find out on Wednesday who I get. Not a lot else to report. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

P.S. I got to hold a goat and puppy.

February 18, 2015

Hi Family,

Sorry it took me an extra 2 days to e-mail. We were iced into our apartment. No missionaries allowed outside while the roads were covered in ice and all. We got the okay to go out today though. President said to send you a text to tell you we were okay, so that's why you got the text. 

I will probably get the package you sent tomorrow at zone conference. It is on Thursday. We have a few investigators. One of them is a lawyer. He is a really nice guy. Seems genuine and all. Not a ton of interesting experiences while trying to find people to teach. Just keep on looking everyday for more and more people. Mostly talking to people on the streets or in public and stuff.

Our neighbors across from us are a younger couple that are dating. The apartment beneath us is vacant, and across from that one are the other elders. I don't know any of our other neighbors. There are only 4 apartments in our building. I keep my journal when I remember to. I forget to write in it a lot though.

We didn't do anything special for Valentines day. Just a normal day for missionaries. Our week was pretty boring. Same as most weeks. Just finding, teaching, etc. etc. Zone conference should be exciting this week though! That's all for now. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

February 9, 2015

Hi Family,

This week was pretty standard. We had Zone meeting on Wednesday and went on exchanges with our district leader. Then we changed back and just were finding and teaching all week. The other elders baptized on Saturday. So that was fun. Not a ton else happened though. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy

February 2, 2015

Hi Family,

I'm glad to be better too. I only had it a couple of days. So not to bad. The branch is really good. They seem to be excited to have me back. Or at least it isn't morbid for them I hope. 

 

Pretty standard week over here. Finding and stuff. Not anything super exciting really. That's all. kloveyoubye.

Love, Elder Udy