Oh, What a Wonderful Week!!

August 11, 2014

I hope everyone had a fantastic, happy, and joyous week!! It truly has been a great week because God is a God of miracles! He still blesses his children! And I have seen so many instances this past week where he has done that.

Here is just one simple story.  Last night, we went to a lesson and as we were walking back to the car I saw a man getting out from his car. We both started walking over that way and we said hi to him. He was really nice and we started talking to him about who we are and what we have to share.  He opened up a little bit and shared with us how he is not sure which church is right. He has been to a lot, but has noticed that they all contradict and say that they are the right church. As we kept talking, we taught about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how Joseph Smith had a lot of the same questions as he had. He was so sincere in knowing what God wanted him to do.  At the end of our time together, he thanked us for talking to him. He said that he had  really enjoyed the time he spent talking to us. He said that he noticed us talking with a man outside of his apartment complex last week. Once he said that, I remembered him as well! I had seen him pass by us, and had wanted to talk to him, but I was in the middle of a conversation. I was almost awkward about it because I went to talk to him, but stopped myself.  And apparently he had noticed that I had wanted to talk to him. So Jordan, this is the guy's name, told us that he promised himself he would talk to us the next time he saw us! Not more than a week later, we talked to him! SERIOUSLY SO MIRACULOUS!!! I'm so grateful that we took the time to talk to him. I'm continually learning how important every person is! Everyone has a story. Everyone is loved in God's eyes!

Simply put, the lesson that I learned this week was that when we focus on others and helping them everything else falls into place.

We went on two exchanges this week and saw so many miracles come from it!  I am in awe about how when we give Christ our heart (as imperfectly as we give it to Him), he takes it and gives us all of His heart and blesses us way more than we can ever serve Him!! It is amazing to see the amount of love that he has for us!

One thing that I love about exchanges is that I see so much greatness in these sisters! They are truly wonderful!! I just hope they know how wonderful they are and how much God knows they can do! They have so much potential because they are God's daughters.  And while I was thinking about how much God loves them I thought to myself...He loves me this much too!! I shouldn't sell myself short and put myself down all the time. I need to remember that I am no exception to his love! None of us are an exception to his love! I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to feel of a little bit of the love that God has for us all. And I know that has come from service.

I don't usually do this, but here is a challenge for the week (if you wish to accept it):

Pray for opportunities to serve someone every single day. Pray to recognize those opportunities to serve.

And the second one (which can sometimes be harder) is to accept the opportunity to be served. If someone wants to serve you, let them do it!

You will be surprised at how much you feel God's love for you and others as you do both of these things. I know I was surprised!

I hope that you are each doing well and seeing God's hand in your

life. I know it's there!

Love you all so much!

Sister Udall

Sister Udall on an exchange with Sister Harris.

Sister Udall with Sister Fakatou for an exchange.

Consecration.

August 4, 2014

So this week was one full of a lot of activities and meetings that don't happen every single week. I'll give you a low down of the schedule and of what I learned from all of it.

Monday night we went to a funeral.  It was really comforting to see the healing power of Christ working in all of our hearts. And the Spirit truly does edify us, empower us, and uplift us.  There were a lot of nonmembers at the funeral, and they all felt very peaceful afterwards and there was a happier spirit afterwards.  The chapel is such a peaceful place.  It is a refuge for our soul!

Tuesday was a "normal" day. We had our district meetings and set really big goals for the transfer. Sister Akin and I both feel that there will be big miracles that come from the six weeks that we are together. I know that we have a long ways to go to get there, but it is POSSIBLE! Our area has so much potential! God would not have sent us here if he didn't have a work for us to do!

Wednesday was our Missionary Leadership Counsel meeting.  This is the second one that I've been to and my favorite so far! We talked a lot about the principles of leadership and studied about Christ's example. He was so compassionate and charitable. He really loved each and every person one by one! My words don't do it justice, so go to the Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 17.  It is packed with so much!! President Riggs also posed the question:  In this battle against Satan, what are you fighting for? That is a powerful question. We all talked about it, and I realized how motivating it is to think about why we are out here serving missions! Here are some of the things I am fighting for... happiness, freedom, my Savior, God's work and his glory, my family (past, future, and present), and for God's love. When I think about all the blessings that I have and all the blessings that others don't have, I just want to share this with EVERYONE! As I have come closer to my Savior and have realized just how much he has done for me, I want to be a little better, a little kinder, and a little bolder in sharing this great gospel with others! That night we talked to so many people and it was so enjoyable!!

Thursday we had an interesting lesson with one of our investigators. She has become really closed off to what we are saying and won't really internalize or listen to what God is trying to tell her.  So it was a sad moment when we realized that it's best not to teach her right now.  We have had multiple experiences this week where people are flat out rejecting us and choosing not to listen to what we have to say anymore. It's sad, but I know we will find those that do want to listen to this happy and oh-so important message!

Friday we had a Half-Mission Conference.  We talked all about keeping our covenants!! I was reminded about how simple the gospel really is. I tend to overcomplicate things in my mind, and the truth of it is that everything will work out when we are keeping the promises that we have made with God. When we do that, he will bless us and guide us to do what is right.  I'm grateful that the gospel is so simple. We also talked about CONSECRATION. I really do want to be a consecrated missionary!! I love the Savior, so I want to give all that he has given to me back to him again!!

Saturday was the Nationals Game 2.0!! I got to go again. This time was a different experience because I was really wanting to continue on missionary work and be a missionary the entire time I was at the game.

We talked to people on the metro and made friends with the custodians at the game and talked with people.  It was really fun to see all the missionaries again and I just loved feeling so happy!! It was a really enjoyable night. We taught a couple people about this wonderful gospel and shared Book of Mormons with others!!

Sister Udall and Sister Akin at the Nationals game!

I hope everyone had a wonderful wonderful week!! Think about what cause you are fighting for!! It makes a difference :)

Love you all!

Sister Udall

What a week!! What a week!!

July 28, 2014

Well, this week was definitely a roller coaster. There were a lot of ups and downs.  It is amazing how God gives us the really good times right along with the bad times so that we can get through it all. Sister Akin and I were talking about how even on our really bad days, we still feel this underlying happiness inside.  And I know why!! I'm sharing the best and happiest and most important things with everyone!! Even when they all say no, or people don't like me (or what I say), or when we forget to do something, I know that my heart is in the right place. I am doing my best to share all about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with others. And that's why I'm happy! I also realized another reason why I am happy...Jesus Christ is MY Savior and Redeemer!! I know that He loves me. I know it! I know that Christ loves each and every one of us and suffered for all of us. I know He will never leave us comfortless (John 14:18).  I know that He will be there for us in ALL things, because He has felt ALL things

(Alma 7:11-13).  I know that because I feel the Holy Spirit touch my heart and tell me it is true. Oh, it's a wonderful feeling!! And not even others being grumpy, or me being grumpy, can make that change. In District Meetings (on Tuesday) this week we talked a lot about

happiness. We talked about how God's entire purpose for us is to be happy! His whole purpose for us is to have JOY!! I've been really pondering about that and God really does love us! Everything that he asks us to do is just so that we can be the happiest we can be.  And

we can be happy NOW!

Here are some of the happy highlights of the week:

Monday we did a random, unplanned act of service and got to meet two wonderful and sweet ladies from Sierra Leon!  I was brave enough to just get in there and start helping her put branches in the bag even though she had said no the first time.  Once I started, you could tell she really appreciated that. Serving and sharing the gospel made me feel so happy inside! I know that is where God wanted us to be Monday night!

Then on Tuesday we had a great district meeting! We also talked a lot about repentance with a member of our ward. And I LOVE REPENTANCE. That is something else in the gospel that screams happiness. It's so happy and merciful that Heavenly Father allows us to repent and use Christ's grace so that we can return to live with Him again.  It was also a happy moment because I felt prompted to share certain scriptures and sentences from certain talks. It is always a good feeling when you know that hard work and preparation has paid off to

help someone else.

Wednesday we had a very interesting day. We knocked on a door that looked like any other American home.  A Bhuddist monk opened the door. We were both really shocked! He invited us in to the temple. As we sat

there and talked to him it was interesting to feel the stillness that was in the temple, but there seemed to be an absence of happiness and fulfillment there. The monk was so nice, and he took a Book of Mormon to read.  We also ate lunch there with all of the people  that were there for the day. Everyone was so friendly and nice! It was a great and spontaneous experience!

Thursday morning we went and cleaned a home of a family in our ward that needed some help.  The mom had just passed away, and so we helped clean and clean and clean! It felt so good to clean! I was in charge of cleaning the fridge. We had lots of people there to help, and it is always so happy to see so many friends and family helping out!! Then we rushed over to transfer meeting! Yes..it was transfers, but neither one of us was getting transferred!! That is something that we have to do now as Sister Training Leaders. I'm grateful I got to go to the meeting because there were a lot of missionaries leaving and their departing testimonies were wonderful! I realized how little time we have to serve a missionaries now, but that the Lord's work goes on and as long as we are doing His will, all is well!! Friday I had a really neat experience with someone on the street. He was weeding his garden and he started to tell me how him and his

fiancé and looking for a church to get married in, but he feels that church is just one big business now.  I felt prompted to show him a picture of the temple and told him that he should consider getting married in the temple!! I was so excited and happy to tell him about

it! Then we got to share about Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  As we talked about the First Vision, I WAS SO HAPPY!!! I knew that it was all true! I knew that because the priesthood power was restored, we could have eternal families!! We have a temple, a place where we go to feel peace, happiness, joy, and where we fell the Spirit of The Lord. Oh, we are so blessed!! I've never outright told anyone on my mission that they needed to get married in the temple...but it felt so right to tell them all about how wonderful it is!!

And Saturday was happy because one of our investigators prayed for the first time and really felt God's love for her! It was an amazing experience to be there!

Sunday was one of the worst days ever, everything seemed to go wrong, but I was still happy! I was happy because God hears my prayers and answers them! He comforted me when I needed it the most! There is so much more I want to say, but I've run out of time! Look for the happy moments this week! God wants to bless us with happiness, we just need to seek it out and keep his commandments!!

Love you all!

Sister Udall

BE REAL AND LOVE THEM!!!

July 21, 2014

So this week was an interesting one! :) 

Interesting becasue we did a lot of fun activites this week that broke up the usual to do of missionary work.  

We did a lemondae stand of Friday that was a HIT!! The Elders in our zone played in a community basketball tournament.  It was 3 on 3 basketball.  They were all dressed up in their proselyting clothes (white shirts, ties, and slacks). The sisters set up a free lemonade stand and talked to all of the people there. At first, Sister Akin and I felt very stiff. We didn't know what to do (this wasn't the "normal" missionary work we were used to....we had never done a lemonade stand before.)  We both realized that these people just wanted us to be thier friends and be "real" with them (as they would say). I'm pretty sure the missionaries were some of the only white people there. I love how friendly and open everyone else was. They let us come in and give them lemonade and let the Elders play basketball with them. It was a really neat experience. Once we both relaxed, we had a really good time!! :) Sister Akin and I ended up talking to one of the referrees (who happened to be the most respeced man there). He was really interested in what we were doing and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and sharing the Restoration with him.  Another cute little story: we had this little boy that came up to us and asked us how he could be like them when he grows up!! 

The other fun thing that we did was an open house on Sunday. Our stake opened up the church for tours and members brought their friends and people came to see what the church was like. We also had the mission's New and Returning Member Fireside there at the Mt Vernon building. It was really fun to see people come in and see the church. I remember being in the chapel before there were a lot of people in there and felt so much peace!! I love the Spirit that is in the chapel!! 

I also learned a great lesson in planning inspired goals that will help us to reach the potential that God has for us! 

On Monday we didn't do our usual preparation day activities. (So if I repeat a little bit of what we did on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, bear with me!)  We did our weekly planning. We hadn't done a good weekly planning session the entire time I was here. So we buckled down and did it! I felt that we were setting goals that God wanted us to. Sister Akin and I both felt inspired to do certain things that week and to focus on certain areas of the work. One of them was geting to know and visiting the members. ( I will talk a little more about this later.)  

Tuesday we went to District meetings as usual. We had a really great District meeting. We set goals as a district of things that we wanted to work on.  I was so excited about going out and working after that! It was a big pick me up! I felt that the Lord was really on our side and that he wanted us to accomplish these goals!! One of the goals we wanted to work on was getting 7 member visits this week.  We only had one or two set up, so on the way home from District Meeting we were calling members. We got two appointments set up for that night!! The Lord truly blessed us becasue of our willingness to set a high goal and ask members if we could come over and meet with them! And we hit our goal this week for meeting with the members! 

Here is another quick story that I remembered on Tuesday that helped me to be so excited about going out to acheive the goals we had set: 

I had a really neat experience with Sister Donato two Saturdays ago. We did a little biltz in their area and we prayed together that we would find three new investigators. I was the voice of the prayer and I remember the Spirit specifically directing me to pray for patience in our work today. And I asked that as we exercised patience that we would see miracles!! Well, we did! The last person that we talked to became a new investigator and said that she would be baptized on August 30th! It was a testimony builder to me of the power of prayer. 

Sister Udall with Sister Donato.

So God does hear and answer our prayes. He will help us to acheive the goals that we have set with his guidance. So don't be discouraged when the results don't come right away. It will take time and patience. (Whether it's patience for 1 1/2 hours or for days or months, the blessings will come!) God has promised us blessings when we do his will. 

It was a really great week!! God is so good to each and every one of us!!
I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Udall

"In the Strength of the Lord..."

July 16, 2014

Hello!!!

Oh, I have so many thoughts and things that I could say! Where to begin!? This week was a really amazing week! We have seen so many miracles (as always, because this is God's work!)!!

Well, one thing that I do want to say is that I have learned a lot about humility lately.  I have studied about it for the past two days, and it is amazing!! I'm realizing that God's way is ALWAYS better than mine, and when I trust in his way and do my best to follow it, he blesses me a billion more times than I could have ever done for myself. He is too good to us!! I've learned that humility literally strengthens us.  We are strengthened because we now have God's power, and not jus our own. I have also been working on noticing God's power and hand in my life, and there is so much of it, I couldn't even begin to write it all down now. I am so blessed!!

So these are some of the things we have done this week "in the strength of The Lord":

We had an investigator come to church. She always has a million questions for us, and she was able to have most of her questions answered. She was apprehensive about coming to church. She said that she didn't need church because church was in her heart.  Well, I promised her that if she came to church she would see why it is so

great and she would want to come more. She saw that everyone's testimonies are powerful. Her questions were answered by other members who said the right things at the right time. We could not have answered her questions on her own!!

I played the piano at two baptisms!! And I didn't have much time to practice either. It's a miracle that I made it through!!

We have had a rental car for a really long time...and it was time to get our car back!! Well, when we went to return the rental car there was a lot of complications, but we got through all of it and we now

have our car back!!!

We went on a blitz with the sisters in Crystal City. I was really scared because the busy city intimidated me. We said a prayer before we went out, and by the end of our hour and a half, we had met and taught this really sweet girl!! She loved the restoration and wants to get baptized!! It was an amazing experience and a testimony to me that when we are patient, God will work miracles!!!

Oh, there are so many, many more!!

I don't think I've ever been this busy and happy before on my mission. It truly is a testament to me that we find ourselves the happiest when we lose ourselves in the work of God!!

I love you all!!

Sister Udall

Happy Independence Day!

July 7, 2014 

Hello all!

Well, this week was a hard, but really good week.  The week started off with a lot of miracles! We had two lessons all within one night and talked to so many people! All I can say is that when we are willing to work and do the Lord's will, he blessed us!  Here is a quote from President Eyring that I love! "God will put prepared people in the way of His prepared servants who want to share the gospel."(Sharing the Gospel Heart to Heart). I know he will bless us with these opportunities when we ask for them!

I lead the area by myself for the first time!  It was great! The sweet sister that was with me kept saying, "Enjoy being new!" I loved that! That was a good reminder for me. I haven't even been here a week, so don't stress. Let The Lord guide!

I had a fabulous Independence Day!  We went to a little parade, that lasted about 10 minutes, with one of our investigators and her children.  We had dinner with one of our investigators, and then they took us to see the fireworks! Then we watched the National fireworks at the Target parking lot. They were really far away, but you could see the National Monument still.  That parking lot is on a hill, so we had a great view!  And there was hardly any traffic! It was a great day!

Their view for the fireworks.

I don't know how to describe my entire week in the few minutes I have left. But I learned a great lesson...the sacrifices that we make to keep our covenants help us to receive more of God's power and strength.  We have been striving to be exactly obedient this week, and we have definitely seen the power that God has given us because of that!

I'm grateful for the freedom that we have because of Christ and because of all
those who have sacrificed so much for us to have a free country!

I love you all!!
Sister Udall

Sister Udall and her companion showing their National spirit!

I am brave when I am myself and let God take over!!

June 30, 2014

Well, this week was an unexpected one! But I'm glad that I had this opportunity to learn all about how much Heavenly Father is willing to help me!!

On Tuesday, my birthday, I got a call and was informed that I was being transferred the next day. I didn't know where I was going, who my companion was going to be. All that I knew was that I was called to be a Sister Trainer Leader. What is a Sister Trainer Leader? Basically my companion and I go on exchanges, and spend the day with another sister from another companionship. One of us will go and work in thier area. The other one will stay in our area and another sister will come with us.  We have the opportunity to learn from all of these wonderful sisters that we serve. We have six companionships that we serve.  Right when I got into the area, we had two exchanges that we went on. Since I didn't know my new area at all, I went to the sisters' areas. That means the first full two days in my area were really not in my area...they were in other areas. But I LOVE getting to know all of the sisters better and work with them!! God has truly called so many amazing missionaries to come out and preach the gospel!! 

Oh yeah, and my new area is Fort Belvoir!! Right next to one of my old areas :) 

One thing that I feel that I should share is that my goal is to just be myself during this time of craziness and change. Both Sister Osmond, my old companion, and Sister Akin, my new companion, and I have talked about how when change happens, we tend to revert back into ourselves and stop being our true self. Well, the best way to get over all the scariness of change is to just open up to others and BE MYSELF. So my mantra for the rest of the transfer is.."I am brave when I am myself!"  It has been amazing to see how much it has helped so far!! 

I know Heavenly Father is aware of all of us! I know that he has paid so much attention to me in the past week and has literally carried me through all of the craziness this week! I know that he will continue to do so!!

I love you all!!
Sister Udall