Long Awaited Pictures!!

Humility. Week 5!

Aloha All :)

Well, I'm just gonna be completely honest with yall... this week was really hard. we kept missing people whom we thought we needed to see. our appointments kept falling through. I got a migraine on Thursday, so we had to cancel an apt and I was feeling really bad for us Friday morning. Well, Friday afternoon, to top off the week, we tracted into a guy whom's goal in life seemed to be "tear down sister smith and sister judkins' testimonies and make them go home".. yeah... it was rough. I won't go into detail, but we went home in tears and while smith went into the bedroom, I grabbed the phone and dialed my momma's number. I was about to click "call" when a voice said to me "you're not going to talk to your Father first?"

ouch.

So I set the phone down and dropped to my knees. Long story, short, I needed a priesthood blessing. A couple Elders helped me out with that one...

Luckily, the next day was exchanges! It took my mind off of myself as I took over the area for the first time. My companion was Sister Soriao from the Philippines! I became focused on the service project (Just Serve), tracting, and I realized that as I focused on the people we were visiting and the lessons we were teaching and where we needed to get to next, that everything was okay. This week was definitely a humbling one. I guess I didn't realize before how worried I was about my own testimony, about my own feelings, about myself... Truth is, I'm on the Lord's time. That means there's no time to waste on my stupid little feelings!!!!

Tomorrow we have zone conference and all of us missionaries were assigned to write a two minute talk about humility. Go figure. These past two days I've been studying a lot about humility, and about the ultimate example: Jesus Christ. I've come to learn that as we turn completely to our Heavenly Father and lean on the atonement of Jesus Christ, we can get through ANYTHING. If we humble ourselves and make everything about our Savior, everything in our lives will fall into place. Maybe not the way we would like it, but the way it's supposed to.

This gospel is incredible. Missionary work is hard but totally worth it! On Saturday we participated in a service project called Just Serve. Sister Soriao and I went around to the homeless and talked with them and handed out cans of food, clothing, and books. The people we met were amazing and the conditions were... no words can explain.... but as we helped clean up the area, and talked with these people, I had an even deeper understanding of Christ's love for all of us. I promise you that God loves you! Make sure you're doing the small things, like talking to your Father. haha :) it matters a lot.

I love you all! Thanks for all the support and love!!!! ALO-HA!

Sister Judkins 

One Month!

I DID REMEMBER MY CAMERA THING SO HOPEFULLY I GET YOU SOME PICS TODAY YAY! :)  I can't shut up about my wonderful family to sister smith haha! I'm sure she is way bugged by how much I talk about all yall :) she is particularly excited to meet my mom and dad because I've told her funny stories about the both of you and just all kinds of wonderful things hahaha!

I am going to answer the questions from up there and then share a brief description of my week and then send pics! :) LOVE YOU MOM CAN'T WAIT FOR MOTHERS DAY!

1) brown sandals, chocolate (from megee), no sweats I guess unless I get sent to the big island then i'll probly want them :) ummm other than that, just love in a package :) haha!

2) either way, since I will be here a while :) but the mission likes for you to send it thru them first just in case I have moved areas since you've sent it haha either way tho :)

3) Sister Smith is from Minersville, UT! She went to Beaver High School like whaaat?? Crazy. She's the greatest trainer anybody could ever ask for :)

4) We are serving in the Aliamanu Ward in the Hon-West Zone :) the most amazing ward ever.

5) the apartment is super nice! a nice kitchen with lots of leftover food from other sisters and elders, and a descent bathroom and bedroom! We even have a couch and a small dining table!! And we have a nice view of the mountains so we can always see when there's a "storm" coming! (I use "storm" cuz it's just light mist or rain but no thunder or lightning and just light wind haha) By the way, I live in Salt Lake hahahaha dead serious. that is the name of this city/town/neighborhood :)

6) I don't remember what my first experience was teaching .... whoops ... but we have taught a bunch of people and perhaps the coolest experience so far was inviting one of our investigators to be baptized. We walked into the lesson thinking we would just get to know her a bit more and ask her about her background with religion, etc. the spirit totally led the lesson and brought to my remembrance a couple different scriptures that I shared with her and then before you know it, I was asking this sweet woman to be baptized!! Like what? :) she didn't fully accept, but I think the spirit really touched her that day and hopefully we can get a commitment and date for her soon :)

7) YES! P day is always Monday in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, unless something crazy happens haha!

8) I heard there are 47 sister missionaries in the mission, but only 17 of those are proselyting. the rest are in the VC ... Sister Smith and I are the only sisters in the Hon-West and Honolulu Zones. .... kinda sucks but hey! Some people feel bad for us and make us goodies :) We are the only missionaries serving in the Aliamanu Ward. As for Elders and sisters combined, I think it's about 170 or something... but I could be totally wrong :P

So this week was totally amazing! Our car was being fixed for half the week so we walked around a lot! Which means we met a lot of new people and we actually met 3 new investigators this week which is HUGE! We are getting really excited about a number of different individuals and families we are teaching! EVERYONE IS JUST INCREDIBLE HERE AHHH :) one thing that was really interesting to me this week was hearing different women tell their conversion stories! One sister we were talking to was raised anti-Mormon and told us people like her were the reason that so many missions in the south had to shut down for a bit years ago. She started dating this really great guy and after two or three months he invited her to church... she freaked when she found out he was Mormon, but eventually (and I mean after a lot of things made her to decide this) she decided to read First Nephi and pray about it. The spirit told her SO STRONGLY that what she had read was true... and after a long road to join the church, she was baptized and was sealed in the temple and she now has 7 children. They are an amazing family.

The members of the Aliamanu Ward are SO MUCH HELP to us as missionaries. The work would not progress without them. I would invite you all to do whatever missionary work you can! Serve! Share your testimony! Love others! Invite people to learn more and do more! And help the missionaries in your area because I am serious that member missionary work does SO MUCH. Remember to email me any cool experiences you have :)

funny story... there's a three year old kid in our ward that's obsessed with... LEGS. yep. no joke. he will sit under your skirt or lean up against your knee and stroke your leg with his hands or his cheek!! Haha it's hilarious. He is adorable. We went and had dinner with his family this week and he sat there the entire time stroking Sister Smith's legs and holy crap I just about died laughing.

sad story... the other day we were studying in the front entry way of the stake building.. I was sorta out of it (no surprise) and I was kinda staring off out the window when BAM! a little bird hit the window and fell dead on the ground ah :/ it scared me so bad. I think it was sorta God's way of saying "stay focused! It's your fault that bird died.. cuz you weren't focused on your studies." jk I don't think God works like that.

I came to realize this week that time is flying by. It's like just yesterday I was dropped off at the MTC. Now i'm hitting a month mark! Only 17 more of those and I'll be home :/ bittersweet I guess! I also came to realize this week that being a missionary means so much more than preaching the gospel... after a long evening of tracting and door after door being shut in our faces, I felt a little bit of what the Savior felt I guess. I feel so deeply the love He has for each of those people behind those doors. I feel his pain when they don't let Him (us) in. It's crazy and wonderful and horrible but most of all it's inspiring and it makes me a better missionary and a more effective follower of Christ. 

I love you all! Have an incredible week!

Aloha,

Sister Judkins

S/O to my Aunt Colenda, Cammi Miller, Emalee Tate, Tyson Palmer, and Elder Matt Stringham ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY YALL!

Week 2!!

Aloha everyone!

these two weeks have been awesome!! So i was called to serve in the Honolulu West Zone! At first i was honestly very disappointed... the two sisters i had been with in the MTC got called to the big island, and i was staying in a practically landlocked zone only one area away from the mission home. I was really bummed too because i thought i'd be able to serve in a Polynesian ward and be with all these islanders! but the ward im serving in is the army, military, and airforce ward. So i'm just with a bunch of white people...... yeah, i know you'd be bummed too ;) but it turns out that it's a bit of a mixture in the ward, and the people are INCREDIBLE!!! How are people so nice? it's great. Also, the place is still beautiful! it's still Hawaii, right? haha.. :) seriously tho, this ward is amazing!

my comp, sister smith, is AWESOME! We are seriously best friends already. i love her, and she is a wonderful trainer! We didn't have much success last week, but yesterday we fasted and really asked god to help us out. We ended up having two wonderful lessons and it was just absolutely incredible. the spirit was so strong! We had been trying to contact a guy all week, and yesterday we were headed to a family's house when i got the impression to go try again... so we went over there and HE WAS THERE!!! He told us how excited and happy he was to see us and that he had been waiting for us! We will start teaching him this week and i am so pumped :)

I don't have a lot of time so here are some highlights of this week!...

- i had to say a prayer in sacrament yesterday :/ ah i'm too young for that stuff lol and also church here goes from 3-6 which is 7-10 Utah time so like holla! it's nighttime and i'm at church what? haha...

- the last night in the MTC, Vocal Point came and performed!! super cool :)

- my mtc comp, sister robinson, met her second cousin as we were sitting in the in-field orientation with like hundreds of people... one guy got up and told his great-grandmother's conversion story (which brought chicken skin to everyone holy crap) and my sister robinson was like holy moly! that's my great-grandmother's conversion story... haha cool :)

- there's this thing called the MTC cereal challenge, where one district will take on one of those huge buckets of cereal and eat in in 30 minutes. yeah, we were the ones stupid enough to take it on. let's just say im never eating cheerios ever again.

- mason Sutton, who is in my home stake back in Utah, has been serving in Vanuatu (he just got home) and due to the big destroying storm, some missionaries were sent to a new mission. I met four of Elder Sutton's fellow elders from Vanuatu! They're awesome, and they had some really amazing story. Most of them came here with barely anything because they gave all their stuff (including socks and shoes from their feet) to others back in Vanuatu :)

- my new favorite scripture is a straight line across the page of the book of Mormon found in Moroni 7:26 and 31. go look it up :) if your book of Mormon is a newer print, it's one word off. but still! so cool.

- running in Hawaii every morning is amazing.

-  i wish i could send pics but i forgot my camera today ahhh i apologize from the bottom of my heart.

being a missionary is the greatest thing ever. i see miracles every day, and i can see myself becoming more susceptible to the holy ghost and in turn, to service opportunities and the love of Christ, and just so many wonderful things!

remember, god loves you!!! if you open your eyes and look for the tender mercies, you will realize they're all over. Thank you so much for the thoughts, prayers, and support! it's a german proverb that everytime you get the hiccups it's because someone is thinking of you somewhere in the world... and guys! I've had the hiccups so much this week. So thank you :) haha i love you all! peace n' blessins xoxo

aloha,

sister judkins

ps. my current address is 925 Ala Lilikoi Street #302 Honolulu, HI 96818 send me letters :)

Week One!

ALOHA!

first off, sorry you had to wait a whole dang week to hear from me :) haha! also, thank you for the brownies (all the elders and sisters love you!) and for the awesome letterS! it seriously is the greatest thing at the end of the day to have your district leader hand you a bunch of letters :) 

anyway, mom i love being a missionary. the mtc is incredible. i feel the spirit 24/7. I was able to get the bottom bunk wahoo! haha. my companion is incredibly amazing and i love her so so much! her name is sister robinson and she is from orem (went to timpanogus) she runs with me every day and we have had a lot of fun teaching and learning and studying together :) I was able to see Jess, along with a bunch of people, sisters and elders, from svu!! so cool. Sister robinson and i share a room with sister Maher (the one i found on instagram that is from phoenix!) and her companion, sister Blanchard (from brigham city going to austrailia!) It has been so fun! It is just us four sisters in our district and then four elders, Elder Butterfield (utah-austrailia), Elder Ika (tonga/utah-austrailia), and Elder Longino (Louisiana-austrailia). The district is AWESOME! 

I'm really sorry that this email is gonna jump all over the place haha! just bear with me, i only have like 15 minutes to write :/ and i promise i'll get better!

First off I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. Holy cow, it's incredible. The very first day we were separated into groups of 40 and had an incredible experience teaching a single man who's child died at the young age of 12 due to cancer. One elder stood up and bore his testimony to the man about the Plan of Salvation. He also shared a scripture from D&C 189 (i think..) haha. Then we told the man of prayer and long story short, we were able to all kneel down... all 40 of us with this man... and the elder offered a wonderful prayer. We, including the investigator, all had tears in our eyes. 

We teach every day, members and nonmembers, investigators, and actors. We don't know which are which :) Sister Robinson and I are teaching two investigators regularly. Nico is just a teenager and we've been talking about God and about the restoration with him. He has an incredible way about him and it's been so fun to teach him and get to know him.  Devan is a BYU student from San Fran! She is a southern baptist and we've had some great discussions about Christ <3 she has been reading from the book of mormon :D its awesome. it is incredible that as a missionary, i totally feel God's love for them so so much!

So Sister Robinson and I were called to be Sister Training Leaders for our Zone. Due to this, we had the awesome opportunity to teach relief society on sunday. it was on the book of mormon :) we also had an incredible fast and testimony meeting with our zone. Sunday night, we also got to watch the "Character of Christ" devotional from years back by Elder Bednar :) it's a great talk and i invite all of you to go watch it!!! 

We've also been able to teach member lessons, once over skype, twice in person. I love it so much. I never really realized how much members matter in the missionary purpose! Members can and should help the members as much as they can!!!! 

Days at the mtc are filled with teaching, learning, role-playing, and THE SPIRIT! Ahh, I just love being a missionary so much :) 

Today we were able to go to the temple as a district and that was really really beautiful! I feel so blessed to be here and to have this opportunity to serve! It's awesome.

So many incredible things have happened since being here and i can feel gods love so intensely it's crazy. I know that God loves all of us, and that He is just a prayer away!!! I am so excited to get to Hawaii and get to work :) this gospel is absolutely incredible, and i learn more and more each day through the scriptures, PMG, prayer, and the wonderful people around me!! 

Thanks for the prayers, love and support i really do feel it :) hope yall have a wonderful week! & happy easter, happy conference, and happy birthday to cousin courtney, lindsey richards, kasi palmer, and anyone else :) peace n blessins!

aloha, 

sister judkins

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P.S. My flight leaves at noon on monday, april 6th,Delta flight 1105 and i will call you either there or when i get to hawaii :)