Week 13 - 6/24/15

Aloha All :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you fathers and father-figures :) thank you for all you do. Remember to honor that calling, "father"... just as we should honor our Father in Heaven <3

this week was AMAZING!! We were able to have another mini missionary with us, Sister Suda! She and her little brother are awaiting their calls! They also have two older sisters that are currently serving! Yes, FOUR SUDA KIDS will be out serving soon :) so cool. And guess who makes it possible? Their ward! They all come together to support the missionary fund. It truly is incredible.

Well we also had exchanges this week, and Sister Ranck from Salt Lake City, Utah joined me and Sister Suda in Aliamanu Ward. We had a lot of fun, and they taught me some great uke songs. We invited two people to be baptized that day and they both said yes!! -- Junior is one of those people. He is a 12 year old Hawaiian kid that lives near a lot of our members! One day he came running up to us and exclaimed "Youre the missionaries!!" I said yes and we began talking. He knew us just from passing, but he said he always wanted to learn more. We gave him a BOM and he began reading it immediately :) he told us his birthday was coming up on the 19 and after S. Smith and I left, I told her "I really hope we see him on his birthday" and GOD ANSWERED MY WISH! The day of exchanges, we were going to visit someone i'd never met, in a complete different area than where Junior lives.. This kid went running behind the house and I called out "Junior!?!" He skidded to a stop and sprinted over to us. IT WAS HIS BIRTHDAY :) we were able to talk about the BOM, the Restoration of the Gospel, among other things. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes! His family is amazing and they have so much faith. It'll be really cool to see where this all goes :)

This morning we went to the LAIE TEMPLE! (BTW Dad, I know how to say Laie now wakaka (that's LOL in Chukese.. yes, that's a real language)) anyhow.. it was absolutely beautiful and I had a wonderful experience inside the temple. We also had one of our members, Hailey, come up with an investigator, Jennifer, to meet us afterwards! We went through the Visitor's Center and we had lunch at a local burger place it was spectacular, very ohno (Hawaiian for good).

We've seen many miracles this week and S. Smith and I are having a blast here in the Aliamanu Ward! Transfers are next week, we're crossing our fingers to stay here together..

I love you all and am so grateful for the love, prayers, support, and all of your testimonies <3 Mahalo Nui Loa and Much Aloha

xoxo,

Sister J

Week 12 - 6/15/15

Aloha All :)

allow me to break it down for you...

not because y'all need "breaking down" but just cuz I guess that's what I'm supposed to do in these weekly emails..

this week was s. smith's birthday!!!

...we ate way too much cake...

for her bday we got a...

MINI MISSIONARY!!!

s. wachter came and stayed with us for 3 days

she is getting ready to put her papers in

and that was fun :)

funny story..

s. smith and I pull behind a Colorado license plate

at a stoplight..

here's our conversation:

J: "Colorado!?"

*sees PIONEER sticker*

J: "Pioneer!?"

S: "Do you think they're... one of us?"

J: "MORMONS!!.. let's follow them!!"

and we did.

funniest part was our windows were down,

and the lady next to us got a kick out of our conversation :)

and the Colorado-PIONEER lady was

DEFINITELY MORMON.

Okay so this week was awesome.

and what I learned is that it's vital for us to be receptive to spiritual promptings.

I had multiple experiences where the spirit told me to go somewhere or to visit someone,

and each time I followed that prompting,

something came out of it!!

I got a feeling to go see Gwen,

a former investigator whom is never accepting of us

but we went anyway

and she was home!

and she was a little hesitant at first,

but the spirit whispered what we should say

and she totally opened up to us, prayed with us, and set up a return apt!!

Smith got a feeling to go see Esther,

a potential investigator and really sweet Filipino lady whom is NEVER HOME.

but I felt good about it too,

so we went.

and she wasn't home.

haha

BUT we met Adam walking by their house.

Adam was baptized at 18, he is now 29 and is inactive.

we gave him a Book Of Mormon and invited him to church

AND HE CAME.

The Lord works in mysterious ways <3

We must be worthy of the spirit so that God can use us in His work.

And we must be receptive to being led by Him.

Just think of how many lives you can bless if you put yourself in a position where God, the greatest and perfect being, can lead you to those you can help.

Have a fantastic week everyone! Mahalo for alles :)

HBD to Jana Bennett and anyone else with bdays :) and

BIG S/O TO SISTER CORTNEY HANSEN whom enters the mtc this week :)

mahalo nui loa & much aloha <3

xoxo,

Sister J

Week 10 - 6/1/15

Aloha All :)

This week was incredible.

We had Pearl Harbor service last Wednesday, which means we've been to Pearl Harbor 3 weeks in a row...

... and we're going again today :)

on Friday we attended an elementary school Mayday!! One of our investigator's sons had the celebration and invited us! His name is Jayden. He was the prince of Maui for the celebration, pretty much I would describe this program as a luau type deal but all the different grades learn a dance and they perform it. and yeah it was amazing I loved it dearly! They have a prince and princess for each island that are "royalty" and they sit and overlook the stage after the opening ceremony/dance. So Jayden is royalty and he's awesome. I totally got the chills with each dance they performed. the music has just such good vibes and I felt honored to be a part of it. I feel so lucky to have some Hawaiian in me now :)

Like I said, this week was incredible.

and that is because of the members in our ward.

this week was a miracle! we suddenly have a lot of members stepping up to help us out, and giving us referrals, and inviting people over for dinner. it is great. we really need it, and anyone can see how much the ward has grown just from a couple people stepping up.

Like I always say, MISSIONARY WORK IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE MEMBERS.

Yesterday for 5th sunday we had a combined meeting yeah? yeah. and holy cow you could feel the love so strongly. the church is true. the love is real. its amazing :) this ward is a family. they are my family :)

we are looking forward to this month of june, because we have a lot of great goals and a whole lot of people to visit :) plus we are going to the temple this month YAY!

happy june everyone! and happy birthday to EMILY MCKENNA and anyone else with birthdays :)

Mahalo Nui Loa and Much Aloha <3 xoxo

Sister Judkins

We also finally received a photo (although Sis Judkins isn't in it..)

Week 9 - 5/27/15

Aloha all and happy Memorial Day!!

Today we were able to attend punchbowl which was pretty cool. :) thank you to all you veterans and service men and women out there! 

These past two weeks have been crazy busy, which is the greatest thing to say as a missionary :) last week was transfers.. my trainer and i are staying together in Hon-West Aliamanu, yay! Smith and i have been working a lot with less active and part member families and its been so fun to get to know the different individuals and families. From Family Home Evening to Temple Prep to service to just chilling with the families, the people in my area are DEFINITELY the most amazing people ever. We are still working on getting members involved. Like i've said before, the work cannot progress without the members' help.

Lately it seems like we do so much work but we haven't had investigators at church and it really sucks not seeing the "fruits of our labors" but we have begun to see more progress this week and we will never back down ;) thank goodness for sister smith who always stays positive. 

The women in our ward threw a baby shower for a nonmember military wife who recently moved in. Smith and i helped out with food, decor, and games. it was a huge success and we were able to have a couple investigators come :) super super cool!! This whole past week was full of service projects and not a lot of appointments, but i feel like we got a lot done. People are too good. God is good. The church is true. Book Of Mormon is the BOM. And God Loves YOU! I love you, too. Mahalo Nui Loa and much aloha xoxo 

sister j

ps happy birthday to my cousin brandon wallis yesterday and Zoe Loftus this week and anyone else who's aging this week... oh wait that's everyone... XOXO

Week 8

We just received a short note from Brigitte telling us she was doing great and had no time to write.  Hopefully she will write more next week as we are all dying to hear more from her!!

Week 7 - 5/12/15

Aloha All!!

This week went by so quickly, and I honestly can't remember much of it haha it seems like time is just all smashed together as a missionary, and you'd be surprised at how much I rely on my planner. S. Smith and I have seriously learned to write EVERYTHING down. EVERYTHING. haha it's great :)

We met so many amazing people this week, and the main focus we had was on the women and mothers of our area. (Happy Mothers Day btw to all the Mothers and Mother-figures out there!!) I had such a great time seeing and talking with my family yesterday!! And Happy birthday to all those with birthdays this week :) I forgot to double check my calendar so ... yeah hbd to whomever you are!

One really cool thing is that we are teaching an old german guy and we speak german together. we call him Opa :) it's great. it makes life interesting and he and his family are really really awesome. His wife and her family are all baptized in the church, but he is not (yet) haha there seriously are just so many incredible people around here and like I've said before, I can feel our Savior's love for them. Each and every one of them. I just want you all to know that you are loved. The church is true! Please do the things that you know you should be doing to continually build that relationship of you and your Heavenly Father. One thing that Smith and I teach people over and over again is that HOPE IS VITAL. Like it says towards the end of Moroni chapter 7, hope in Christ is the only way to have faith, and we NEED faith. So, WE NEED HOPE.

Don't lose hope, no matter what you or a loved one is facing. I promise Christ is there, and through Him all is possible.

Mahalo Nui Oi and Much Aloha,

Sista J

Week 6 - 5/4/2015

Aloha All :)

This week was awesome! We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, I learned a lot. Smith and I were able to meet a lot of new wonderful people this week. The work is progressing and it is so fun. Yesterday in Sacrament I heard a ward mission leader say, "I don't think I'm doing it right, all I'm doing is making friends!"... YES. I had another women tell us on Saturday, "You have the BEST job in the world" IT IS SO TRUE. Before I cam out here, I worked for a bit at FedEx with my aunts (I love you Kim and Lisa!). I thought I had the greatest job in the world because my job was to doorbell ditch people all day :) ... and now im a missionary! and its even greater because after I ring the doorbell, I get to wait and find out who is on the other side of the door, and I get to share the most glorious message with them! The message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I get to make friends. All. The. Time. Every day. We have slow days, and even hard days, but we NEVER have a bad day.

I just want to encourage all of you to take care of the missionaries in your area. feed them if you are able to. offer your house for skyping their mothers this sunday. be sure they have work to do. help them with the work. without members, THE WORK IS NOT POSSIBLE. So, help! The blessing that will come to you through helping the missionaries will be abundant, I promise.

Happy Mothers Day this Sunday to all you mothers, especially to my sister Micadyn cuz she's a brand new momma :) Happy birthday to Monica and all those who have bdays this week :) happy May!! ... time flies too quickly.

I love you all, thank you for all the support and love. Aloha!

Sista J