4th of July and Meet the Mormons

Kia Ora Family! 

it's kind of terrifying how fast this week went by! it was so fun to see all the adventures yous had this past week! I'm glad you had a fun 4th of July! i got to celebrate it as well so that was really fun. it wasn't the scorching hot July that i know because i was wearing a huge scarf and a coat but it was still so fun! 

This week my scarf that i'm knitting has doubled in size and i still think i'm not going to be finished until next winter. it's taking AGES! but i definitely feel like an old lady because when we go to dinner appointments with the older ladies in our ward (there's a lot of them) we recite scriptures with them and knit. it's an experience. 

We're working a lot with the less actives in our ward these past couple weeks because there are SOOO many people who just stopped coming to church and have all these kids that should be baptized already! so we're just trying to find the ready and prepared and we have a lot of potentials. this work is amazing and i love it so much! 

Thanks for all the love and encouragement I LOVE YOU ALL 

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

New Zealand 4th of July.... It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

FAMILY! it's me you're favorite daughter who also is living in New Zealand, hey.

This week has been C-RAZY! I'm really excited for the 4th of july because they is a family in my ward and she's from the states so they put on this big celebration and invited us to come so i still get to have hot dogs and a bbq! we're just hoping it isn't raining because it's winter so that's weird.... 

story time: the weather is trippin me up because it's opposite so it's cold and wet and my body and brain keeps thinking it's christmas time, because it's winter. all week i've been bracing myself for christmas music when we walk into shops and such but it's not happening. and i've been subconsciously singing christmas music, it's been crazy. every time i start a song my comapnion just looks at me and says, "it's june sister" it's so funny! i was in the shower last night singing chestnuts roasting on an open fire and she yelled through the door "IT'S JUNE SISTER JUDD THERE ARE NO CHESTNUTS!" It was seriously so funny.  

anyway, we are teaching these three kids Nadia, Kases, and Llaiton and they are the best! their mum was baptized last year and they finally want to be baptized! we play rugby and basketball with them and have them say gospel principles before they shoot or run to a tri (pretty much like a touchdown but rugby words). they are such a fun bunch of kids. 

we also met another lady on chat this week! Her name is Molly and she's from Florida. we called her (that's how we do the teaching) and by the end of the lesson she was set for baptism!! she is solid and the spirit was so strong as we taught her! we're so excited to teach her even more and help her make covenants with our Heavenly Father. again, it's just so crazy to me that i get to teach people all over the world who wouldn't have received it unless they for some reason get on chat on mormon.org and we talked to her. it's a freaking cool experience. 

as you can tell with the pictures we've been obsessed with our projects. we don't have a lot of free time so we knit during our meal breaks and before we go to bed. so the past couple days we've been getting back to our flat and the common phrase that is said is "let's plan so we can knit" it's a sad life. but it's fun bro! 

i love you all! stay safe as stooge drives you around everywhere ;) 

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

Knitting and Mighty Miracles

Kia Ora Family!!

i would just like to start out this email by saying "RAIN IS A GOOD THANG" we've been singing this part of the song ALL week and i just needed to share. rain is a good thing and i love it. 

This week i learned:

1.  How to knit (i'm making a scarf be jealous)

2.  To love raw onions. yeah.....

3. That people go to "sleep" by 6 in the evening because it's pitch black by then. it's a weird concept.

4. To teach a Quite Smoking Class

It's been a crazy week but the miracle that happened came from us going to see a less active that we haven' seen all transfer and when we got in we helped with the laundry and clean up and we had a really good lesson with her after. She said that she craves the spirit again and that because she has a new boyfriend she needs to be an example for him and her kids. So we committed her to come to church and that we could have a lesson with her non member boyfriend later in the week and so as we're waiting for her to come to church on Sunday she walks up and guess who was with her?? her boyfriend! he had heaps of questions and nek minute we had a new investigator. he's so keen and excited to learn about the church! we're going o teach him here at the Visitor's Centre  tomorrow and he's so excited! This new transfer is going to be SOLID!

oh yeah, transfers happened. it's pretty irrelevant when you're not getting transferred which is good for me. Sister Puaina and I are still together at the VC! REPRESENT! We're really stoked to smash this transfer. Missionary smash it. 

I hope you have a wonderful week and stay cool. if you get too hot just envision what it feels like here you'll be better. oh i used my gloves for the first time last week. still hate gloves but my warm fingers don't. good idea mum! 

keep reading and praying together it'll bring you all closer then you imagine. and do a fun FHE activity and send me pictures! I LOVE YOU ALL

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

ps Happy Birthday Stooge. Stay cool bruh

Hail and Christmas Miracles

To: Steve and Neola Judd; Jessica Judd; Kortni Judd; Kylee Smith; Kacie Leigh Moss
Subject: Hail and Christmas Miracles

 

KIA ORA MY BEAUTIFUL FAMILY! 

 

Hi. This week it hailed. This week we saw so many miracles. This week was CRAZY! 

 

So i know school is starting and summer is ending but, winter is going full throttle over here in the NZ. Guys, i'm so pasty it's a bit ridiculous. but it's fun and i love it. As we were walking yesterday in our area it started to rain and then the rain got really loud and i looked down and the rain drops were bouncing....welp not rain. It was so fun being in the hail. it was sticking to our hair and we were eating it from the sky. My companion was flippin out because she had never seen ice come from the sky before. it was a fun time. So that happened. 

 

And then because we were out in the crazy weather and not driving in our car we found some amazing people!  We're teaching a lady who is way prepared!! We're sacrificing some of our P-Day today to teach her and we know that as we sacrifice miracles come. I've seen it heaps of times here. 

 

I hope ya'll have an amazing week! Remember that Heavenly Father is mindful of each of you and that He loves you and has a specific plan for you. As you trust Him and follow the prompting of The Spirit you will see blessings come into your life and the lives of those you touch. 

 

I flippin love all of you and i pray for you every stinkin day!!! 

 

Be amazing in school boys and make good choices 

"Have a good day sweety"

"you too hun" 

 

LOVE YOUS! 

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd 

Transfers and New Investigators

ATTENTION ATTENTION: THE SUN CAME OUT THIS WEEK! I REPEAT THE SUN CAME OUT. The weather was nice, the week was wonderful, my life is good. 

 

So it's transfers week! i can't believe i'm already done with my fourth transfer! IT GOES BY SO FAST MAN! I'm pretty positive i'm staying at the VC so next week i'll update you on the news :) 

 

But this week has been beautiful. We've been working harder than we've ever worked before and have DEFINITELY seen the results. a couple weeks ago we got a call from this guy in another ward saying that his friend was moving into our ward soon. He has been a member his whole life but has been less active for 20 years. recently he just reactivated himself and is ready to come back to church in our ward when he moves in. So we met him last week and he told us that he has three kids and two of them are living with him and are keen as to get baptized! so We met the daughter, Tara, yesterday at church. she's 14 and knows like all the YW because they go to school together. She told us that she wants to get baptized and that she knows it is what she wants. We were talking with a member after church and we told them about it and i said that it felt like we were just handed these kids and their already wanting to be baptized we just have to teach them the lessons. like no work required. he said that it was because we have been diligent and faithful and Heavenly Father has recognized that and is rewarding us for our efforts. 

 

i know that is true and that is happens in our everyday lives. as you work hard in whatever you're trying to accomplish and you are faithful, Heavenly Father will see that ans He will reward you for the things you are doing. Rely on the Lord and He will guide you in the things you are doing. i know He will because i see it happen in my life every day. 

 

I love you all. 

Stay sweet.

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

I'M A MUM!!

Well heelo ther family! I am mother!!!! and i am very excited to share this news with yous! I am training a new missionary Sister Lualua. She is from Samoa and was in the MTC learning english for 6 weeks. She came to me on Thursday and we are having so much fun together. All day thursday i as thinking about the Grinch when "tiny who-girls and tiny-who fellas" come to the door and the two of look nothing alike so it's even funnier "hey honey! our baby's here....he looks just like your boss" too meke. (funny) But i love being a mum...if training a new missionary is anything like having a baby then i am definitely not prepared for that time in my life haha. But i love Sister Lualua she is teaching me samoan and making me SO much islander food. i'm gonna get chubby again, but it'll be worth it because her cooking is beautiful. 

 

This week we had the most cliche and by far the best miracle so far on my mission. We met this guy at the visitor's Centre because he came in just wondering about this big white building that he sees on his drive everyday (it's really hard not to miss the temple when you drive over here because it's up on a hill so day or night it's bam right in your face) so we taught him about the temple and then about The Book of Mormon. We gave him a copy and left 3 Nephi 11 with him, because everyone loves reading about when the Saviour comes. And when he left it was about 2:15. later that night at about 9:45 he texted us and said "hey sisters it's Ryan...thank you for that book yous gave me i haven't put it down since i got home" W.H.A.T. i seriously thought i was dreaming. like that only happens in movies and like Preach My Gospel. Def not in real life. so we texted him back and invites him to read the introduction and guess what? he had read it already. So we invited him to pray about it, and then taught him how to pray. We called him yesterday and taught him and are calling him again tonight. We know 100% that God orchestrated all of that and we were just placed into that moment to help him. 

 

I know Heavenly Father is mindful of each of us and that He loves us. 

 

Stay safe

Be happy

Soak up some sun for me

Stay cool bros

and Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

 

 

ps jess this is for  i thought about you the WHOLE time i was watching it http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/give-back/serving-the-community-immunization-awareness

Hurricane NZ and 24th of July

Kia Ora Whanau! 

 

This week has been mental! i can't believe it's Monday already and that we're i our last full week of transfers! i feel like i just started this transfer! Life in the VC is so good mate! i love meeting all the different people that come in from all over the world. so that's been really fun. 

 

On Saturday i went on exchanges with Sister Clarke and we got attacked by a hurricane which we are now calling Hurricane NZ. we're just walking along the road with one umbrella and it's raining pretty good but nothing we're not used to and then all of a sudden it raining in sheets! the rain was coming from an angle so i don't know why we were fighting with the umbrella hahaha our skirts and legs got soaking wet and the wind was blowing us around everywhere. we couldn't even see in front of us. my chest hurt because i was laughing so hard. it was so much fun! when we got back to the flat to change our skirts to go to the vc we took off our boots and literally poured out water from the inside of them! the rain was coming from such a weird angle water just seeped inside. it was so funny. In the pictures that i sent the rain was coming straight at our faces so we shielded ourselves with the umbrella, people probably thought we were crazies. 

 

The past couple days Sister Puaina and i have had an RM come out with us and it's been so fun. She just got back from Manila and so she sounds just like a Filipino, so its been fun to have that little connection with jess even though it was a different mission that she served in. 

 

So i've had Pioneer Day on my mind because i  know how much fun the family was having in Pima so i told my ward about it in ward council and nobody knew what i was talking about. they thought it was so weird one was like "wait, you have a rodeo for the pioneers? and the WHOLE town celebrates together?" it was such a foreign concept to all of them. so we're going to have a ward get together for pioneer day and they're all really excited. it's been fun sharing it with them and telling them what family traditions we have. 

 

i hope all of you stay safe and happy this week! soak up some sun for me! 

i just ant to leave with a quote "I bear witness that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of the living God. He stands at the head of the Church. Through His Atonement and the power of the priesthood, families which are begun in mortality can be together through the eternities. The Atonement, which can reclaim each one of us, bears no scars. That means that no matter what we have done or where we have been or how something happened, if we truly repent, He has promised that He would atone. And when He atoned, that settled that. There are so many of us who are thrashing around, as it were, with feelings of guilt, not knowing quite how to escape. You escape by accepting the Atonement of Christ, and all that was heartache can turn to beauty and love and eternity.  -President Packer

I just want to add my testimony to his. I am so grateful for the Atonement and i know that as we accept the atonement in our lives we will be happier, made whole, and who Heavenly Father knows we can become. i love each of you and so does Heavenly Father.

 

Kia Kaha

Sister Judd

I'm a KIWI!!

Kia Ora Whanau this week i was told that i don't sound like an American! i was so excited i cried do you know how excited i was to get an accent and i didn't even know i had it! It's official friends i am a kiwi. I drive on the opposite side of the road. i eat sea urchin and lamb. and i talk like the locals. I AM A LOCAL. sorry but this was really exciting for me and i had to share. 

 

I'm stealing Ky's email idea and giving you New Zealand updates:

-it's been raining ALL week. i literally haven't seen the sun. 

-frost and ice are a thing and i've been singing Let It Go ALLLL WEEK like all week. at least it's not christmas music anymore eh? 

-i've mastered writing with gloves, they are now a new extension to my wardrobe and i love wearing them...but not really. 

-ATTENTION: there are hedgehogs here! i repeat NEW ZEALAND HAS HEDGEHOGS. Just ponder on that gem forever, because it is the best news next to be asked if i were a local. 

 

We've been working with this a lady, Lisa that we met last week. she is KEEN AS to learn about the Plan of Salvation and it's so exciting to see her desire and devotion to want to be with her family for eternity. YAY FOR ETERNAL FAMILIES! 

 

We're also teaching a man from California and he has been through some crazy stuff mate. He wants to change his life and be forgiven. on saturday we called him and taught him about the atonement and the sacrament and how they work together. that as we repent of our sins and use the Atonement the sacrament is that extra buffer for the week to help us get through all the craziness of the world. the sacrament is such a blessing and im so glad and thankful i have brothers who can bless and pass it to help others feel of the love of our Savior. 

 

i love you all HEAPS 

stay cool. 

love your Kiwi daughter

chur 

Short Email June 7th

Hello Family! 

This week has been crazy!

 

We had a really cool opportunity to meet with one of our investigators that we had been trying to contact for two weeks and he read the pamphlet we gave him THREE TIMES and is really excited to learn more. he is SOOO busy though so hopefully we get to see him this week! He has been so prepared by Heavenly Father it's crazy! We just gotta continue to pray for him and be there to help him!! 

 

Yesterday we had a fireside at the VC and it was so good! There was a 13 year old that played the harp i literally felt like i was in heaven. it was so cool! 

 

sorry this email is so short i don't have much time! 

LOVE YOU ALL 

Sister Judd

Feeding Cows and Teaching Old Ladies

Kia Ora Whanau!!

WHAT A CRAZY WEEK and this week is going to be even crazier with zone conferences and Elder Cook and i'm so excited!!

 

This week has been all about FINDING INVESTIGATORS! When i got into my new area we didn't have any people to teach so we've been going through all our records and walking through our area talking to LITERALLY everyone we see. now coming into the third week of the transfer we have two progressing investigators and HEAPS of potentials that we've met! it's so amazing seeing the hand of The Lord so prominent in my life. i know that we didn't find these people on our own, Heavenly Father sent them to us because we had the Faith that He would. These people have all been so prepared by Heavenly Father and i know they are specifically meant for me and my companion. 

 

One of those people is Margaret. Margaret is 80 and she has lived in New Zealand all her life and she is the PERFECT example of Old Lady. she can talk for AGES but she is so stinkin cute that i don't even mind. she has so many questions about the church and what to believe. she knows she's been living her life and believing in the wrong things and she knows that we were sent to her from God because she prayed for the first time in 50 years and we came and knocked on her door one hour later (the funny thing is that we would have probably been there and hour before if we didn't get lost.....Hand of the Lord). She is so solid but still has so far to go. there are some things that we have to work through with her but that's what i love about teaching older people. They've been living their lives one way for so many years and if they've been prepared by God they will change EVERYTHING they've been doing for 80 years and listen and learn from the Holy Spirit. it's truly a miraculous thing to witness. and i love it so much. she is already making the changes needed and we've only met with her once (but it practically was two lessons seeing how long we were in there with her). She is so funny and i just feel like im at Grandma's house when i'm there. she's a miracle!

 

Something that made me SOOOO happy this week just happened yesterday when we went out to a member's house for dinner and they showed us around their farm and saved feeding time for us so that we could help! IT WAS THE BEST MAN. Baby cows, alpacas, ducks, dairy cows. IT WAS ALL SO AMAZING AND I WANTED TO STAY THERE FOREVER AND PET THE COWS AND HAVE STARING CONTESTS WITH THE ALPACAS. those are some weird animals. 

 

This week has been wet, challenging, full of cows and most importantly MIRACULOUS. I love this area SO much and i know that I was sent here for a specific reason and for specific people. i love you and. thank you so much for all of your support and prayers. i truly can feel your love here in this amazing country. stay safe and remember who you represent! 

 

Kia Kaha! 

Sister Judd