3rd Transfer: Week 6 ~ I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

We were still in Utah and I wasn't able to chat with her. I can "hear" the tone of this email. I can tell this was hard for her but she knew this would happen. That's the way the Lord works with her. Their relationship is one she knows very well:). 

Last Zone Meeting on Montego Bay

Hey Mom,

So I have some news. We got our transfer calls and me and Sister Bailey will be transferred to Nassau, Bahamas this Thursday. We will be staying in Kingston on Wednesday and will leave Thursday morning. Me and Sister Bailey were sooo very sad but we were happy that we will be staying together for another 6 months at least! haha! Nassau is a little island where people from Africa and Haiti live so I am excited to go and experience it. They also eat cat there which is disgusting. Hopefully I won't have any dinner appointments where they serve me cat. I hear they have a pretty big (church) building which I am excited about. There will only be the 4 of us (sisters) there. My new companion is Sister Woolf and I am so excited because we both are from Georgia and she is a lot of fun. The 4 of us will live together but of course different companions. It will be one heck of an experience just us missionaries on a little island. Well.. time to convert the whole island then. I was really sad to know I am leaving my country, Jamaica, but I know the Lord needs me in Nassau at this time. So it is a privilege. Everyone has been telling us congratulations (which I wasn't excited to go to Nassau so the congrats didn't help) but I have realized it is a privilege to go to these islands. So it will be an experience for sure. But no worries I will get excited. 

Anyway, I am so happy that you all got my box!!! Woo Hoo!! I am so glad you all loved everything I got you! Those suckers is the one thing that I have to buy so I can eat it while driving. They are the best! But I love you all and am so happy that you are all safe and well!!
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In a previous email (June 30th) she said this:

"Pres will send me wherever he is prompted to send me.. I swear. Heavenly Father really does have a sense of humor. I know I will get sent to the Bahamas since that is the only island I do not want to go to. You watch. HAHA! I swear he likes to put me in situations to get a laugh."

Boy, was she right!:)

3rd Transfer: Week 5 ~ "This Mission Is A Wonderful Experience"

Me, Adam and Lauren traveled to Utah and Idaho to pick up Chandler from BYU Idaho and to visit with Brittany so I wasn't able to get on the computer that day. She sent me these couple of sentences and the rest was sent to her Dad. She continues to press forward with a steadfastness in Christ. While she is having some hard experiences her faith is strong and her love for the Savior is unwavering. She's such an inspiration. 

I know you all are on a fun road trip I pray that you guys get their safely! Please be alert and aware on the roads. Love you all soooo verrrryyy muchhh!!!! LikkleMore!

- Your Daughter
Sis Judd

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I am doing great Dad. This mission is a wonderful experience. I absolutely love Jamaica. I had a funny experience. We went to see this less active lady. Her name is Sister Whiley. She is hilarious. She had this beautiful picture up on her wall of a family! So I said "Oh Sister Whiley that is a beautiful family that you have! Who are they?" and she started to name them off. After I got done speaking with her I got up to go look at it more closely and the picture was a sample picture that came with the picture frame! I saw the 8 X 10 in the bottom right hand corner and immediately I started to laugh so stinkin hard! Once I start laughing I cannot stop! It was soooo hilarious! My companions started rolling to. We had to cut it short so we could leave because we just kept on laughing. I love Sister Whiley though. She is a very, very old lady and she worked in the temple over in England. She came back to Jamaica and she has been going to the 7th Day adventist church. I am guessing because it is really close by. She is so old she can hardly walk so I don't blame her. But it was a funny experience.

Also last night me and my companions were coming home and we passed by a pentacostal church. All of these churches have microphones and windows and doors open and the whole town can hear it cause it is sooo loud! We ended up stopping by because we hear them every Sunday night. We walked in and they were standing up and praising because they had the "Spirit". It was so sad to see! They got excited to see us walking in and they all were waving at us but these poor people actually think they are feeling the Spirit. It was sad to see that they actually think they are doing something good but they are totally confused. Satan is really working hard here on this earth. Him and his followers. Jamaica has so many different kinds of churches here. They are everywhere. I have never seen anything like it. But the work here is going okay. We have been feeling discouraged lately because the members are starting to become less active. We have to encourage grown adults to go visiting teaching and to call church members to check up on them to see how they are doing. Our investigators have been making excuses for us not to come by. We went to church yesterday and its like noone is coming to church. I swear less than 20 people were there to actually partake of the sacrament. Then the rest of the church members came in after the Sacrament. Why come to church if you missed out on partaking of the sacrament? That is the main reason why we go to church! It is just aggravating. It feels like I have been here for so long and I feel like I have done absolutely nothing. We work our butts off every single day. So i am getting very discouraged. Satan sees it and he has been putting things in my head. Last night I swear he put this in my dream. Someone (I don't know who it was) came up to me and said "Oh I only went on a mission for 6 months and then I just went home , it was no big deal." I don't know where in the world that came from it was so random. But Satan wants me to go home, and I have definitely realized it. But no worries I am very strong in this gospel. Nothing can bring me down. I just have to put my trust in the Lord and keep pressing forward. In the Lords time Ocho Rios will grow. I know that I have planted many seeds though which is good. If I leave this transfer I hope the other set of missionaries will know what to do. I have figured that this area is more about working with the members and getting referrals. You have to strengthen the members here in Ocho Rios then thats how this branch will grow. I know it will. But like I said, in the Lord's time it will. Ochi is the hardest area, thats what all the missionaries say and I agree with them.

Also, will you tell mom that I said Happy Birthday! I know her birthday is coming up! Thanks dad!

I love you very much and tell Mom, Adam and Lauren that I said I love them all and that I hope they have a wonderful time in Utah! Okay dad you have a good day. Love you! :) Likklemore!

-Your Daughter,
Sister Judd

3rd Transfer: Week 4 ~ A Fresh Start

So this week was such a fun week! Even though I have been thinking about home almost every day I have been trying to have some fun and focus on the work! We are dropping almost everybody in Limehall. They just don't have that desire anymore and they don't act on the commitments. The hardest part is that they lie to us saying they will come to church but they never do. Its frustrating. That's one hard thing here in Jamaica. When you teach lessons its hard for them to sit still and to listen. Most of them just love to chat! So they will cut you off and say "not to cut you" and they start talking for 30 min about what they want to say. I just want to finish the lesson and try to help them. So its frustrating but its okay. We will still be going up to see Brother Wayne and Humphrey and the Nelson family (they moved) up in Lime Hall. So its been going okay. As for my companionship we always joke and goof around its so fun! Don't worry we work very, very hard as well but there is always time to have fun. Remember when I told you we picked Ricardo back up? Well,  he called us on Friday and told Sister Bailey that he thinks about her all the time and has feelings for her. HOW STINKIN AWKWARD! Mom its so hard to teach the GUYS here. Even when they are 40 and you think you are safe they end up not listening to the lesson but just think about YOU. Can I just teach the restored gospel please? Samrick is a really good investigator. He is actually reading! And this guy named Eli who works at the car wash is a good one too. Its just getting them to church, but once they have that desire they will come.

Thank you for sending my box I am excited to receive it! Sea World?! How fun! I am glad she got to go and have fun! I am also glad all of you are doing well and are safe! Sadly enough I don't have pictures to send home today . Sorry! I will try to take pictures this week though. Also, Brother James hasn't been coming to church...such a bummer. We went to teach him and he had a friend there. He (his friend) then started talking about his feelings about Americans and white people. I hear it all the time here. So I always have to stop them and talk about something else. Its annoying but oh well.. they all love me anyway. I just don't like hearing bad talk about the promised land:). But Ocho Rios is going good. I have been out for 4 months. Of course some days I feel like I have been out for years and am ready to come home but some days it feels like its flying by. I pray to focus on the work and not to get too home sick.

Last night I taught this lady about Lehi's vision and the iron rod. She had never heard of that story and she's a member! Crazy huh? But I really love that vision. You see how happy the righteous were because they held on to the iron rod and partook of the fruit. It was delicious to them, and they wanted to have their families taste of the fruit. Sadly enough some of them did choose to go into the darkness. They got lost and took part in the world (in the spacious building) and as we all know the people who chose the ways of the world got their reward. For they had Gods anger come upon them and the building fell! Thank goodness for the justice of God. But I am also so very thankful for the arm of mercy He extends to us each and every day so that those who do fall away can come back through the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. In Alma we read Ammon boasting unto God and not of himself! That is how we all should be always giving thanks and praising Him for everything that he has done for us. He is so wonderful and I am so happy to have this gospel. I thank you so much for raising us up in this gospel and for holding onto the iron rod. Let us keep pressing forward with faith in our Lord and Savior.

(Transfer calls are coming) Sister Bailey is ready for a new area. She has been here for a long time. I would like to go to Junction. They see the ocean too and its more country (bush area) and I like the bush. Its fun even though you sweat like crazy but that doesn't matter. So I would like to go to Junction or wherever the Lord needs me.

So my sisters ended up playing a prank on me but I didn't know. On Saturday it started to rain pretty hard and I was like, "Oh my gosh a hurricane!" and Sister Walker said "yea for real a hurricane comin man." and I was like "Sister Bailey call Elder Lee to see if he has heard of a hurricane". And she pretended to call him and she got off the phone and said "yeah its coming tonight! Its Category 6!" It sounded real so I really believed! They kept playing along with it all day! to where I even asked Eli our investigator if he had heard of the hurricane and he said "uhh hurricane? no". I looked like an idiot! but they finally confessed. So I thought we were going to be in a hurricane this weekend but thank goodness we weren't :) They are so cruel! I always say poor American girl and they think that is the funniest.

I will love my box. I love getting mail. I get my mail from the zone leaders and the senior couples. They pass them out during Zone meeting or District meeting sometimes. Our new senior couple, Elder and Sister Hardy, came last Sunday! So its been nice to have them! This is their first week out in the mission. This is their second mission. They served in Hawaii last time so they like islands :). They are a sweet little couple.

You mentioned the gift of tongues and you are so right on that. This language is definitely not English but I have been given this gift to understand what they are saying and I can speak back to them. A funny thing is that I speak patois and I don't even know it. We were at Burger King and I was so hungry. I started speaking patois and Sister Bailey has made it a joke. She's like "Sister Judd speaks patois when she is hungry!" Its funny cause I have no idea even when I am.

I felt bad for the new senior couple. We have been showing them around this area because there are no addresses and they don't know anybody. When we are in a lesson Elder and Sister Hardy are totally lost because they can't understand anything that we are saying. A member was talking to Sister Hardy and she would turn to me and ask me what she said. I remember when I was at that stage in my mission :) I am just grateful for the help I have been given from my Father in Heaven to do this work here in Jamaica.

Okay mom I am going to go now. I love you and all of you have a good rest of your day! Stay safe and have an amazing trip! LOVE YOU MY FAMILY :) AND I MISS YOU ALL!

-Sister Judd:)

3rd Transfer: Week 3 ~ "It Has Been Such A Funny Week"

Almost there!

Hey Fam! So..this is a picture of us going up the mountain to Sister Robinsons house (less active). We have to endure going up there almost twice a week. I call it Mt. Everest. But this is a picture of the last "hill" that we climb before we reach her house. The other picture is the view that we see as we are climbing up Mt. Everest to Sister Robs.

Well, this week was pretty hilarious. A lot of things happened! Where do I begin... Okay so we went up to Limehall this week to proselyte with Brother Wayne (recent convert). We went to this investigators house who is his ex's sisters house. We have been teaching her. While we were there his ex girlfriend (they have a daughter together) came over and said "Wayne I gotta talk to you" and he told her he is in a lesson but he will come out after. She started yelling and screaming then he got mad and went out to her . She started punching him and he started

Our view from Mt. Everest

hitting her!! It was this BIG thing. All of a sudden a chick threw a big rock towards his head and luckily it missed. He picked 

up a broom and started wacking her. Then someone finally got Wayne. We had to stay with him for 2 hours in Annies house because he was heated and was going to go back out. He was saying he doesn't care if he goes to jail.. Oh my goodness! It was crazy!! Then the next time we went up to Lime Hall the rasta man (that we are going to teach) came up and started saying this foolishness while we were teaching Maxine. He was telling his beliefs and started going into slavery or something. Maxine started yelling and reciting things from the Bible. It was hilarious because every time she had some thing to say she hit me and said, "Sister

Me, Maxine and her Book of Mormon 

Judd I got ANOTHER THING TO SAY!" hahahahahaha I laughed sooo hard. I then had to calm down the situation. It was so funny.

Then we asked this old lady named Daris to say the closing prayer (investigator) and I was bowing my head ready to hear the prayer when all of a sudden she hit me and said " you say the prayer for me!" HA! Therefore I have been hit twice thus far. Then we went to Shelly's place to teach her and she loves to joke with me because I have a sense of humor. That's what we do. Then all of a sudden she hit me on the arm to! So I have been hit plenty of times this week. It has been such a funny week.

Daris, our sweet little investigator

We went to this less actives house to teach him (Brother Francis). He lives right by the beach. We decided to go down and have the lesson on the beach. 

Brother Francis flexing:)

He started flexing for us and telling us how he wants to go to the temple some day and trying to be romantic! Oh my goodness... this week was such a funny week. Also I really grew to love Sister Walker, she is so hilarious. We are just alike! We love to joke around and goof. So I really love my companions, but too bad it will change in 2 weeks. Oh well, part of missionary life. 

This is at Brother Francis House! The first picture a wave came and crashed me and Sister Bailey HAHA We got soaked. But at least I can say I have been in the Caribbean sea :)

I've been in the Caribbean Sea!:)

Oh, I forgot to mention we are also teaching this guy who is an artist here in Jamaica. He has legit songs on the radio that are pretty big here in Jamaica. I hear them on the radio every time we taxi around. He is a really good investigator. He is actually very interested so it has been pretty cool to meet with him and teach him the gospel.

We also taxi'd to Port Antonio for district meeting which is 2 hours away. I got to talk with the Elders and get to know them better which was really fun. We picked Ricardo back up so that was pretty much my week. The Sister Training Leaders will be meeting with us this Wednesday to see how we are doing.  

I have now read the Book of Mormon twice. I will (hopefully) have read it three or four times before I come home. I have not been cooking because there are no ingredients here to cook anything that I am used to back at

home but its okay. (She was bitten on her legs by a bunch of ants) And yes I stood in the ant pile and i had no idea I was in it . I am so happy that you and Lauren are little waterbugs this summer and are going out and doing fun things! I am glad that you are having a stress free summer too! Tell Grandma that I just received her package and tell her thank you so much for me. 

Ocean!

Tell me when you get your box! I have been thinking a lot about you guys this week! I am glad you all are doing well. Can you believe this Saturday will be my 4 month mark?! crazyyy

What did you guys do for 4th of July? I thought about you all on Friday! 4th of July is always fun!

Jamaica has been soooo stinking hot these past couple of weeks.. some days I feel like I can't even breathe. The humidity is horrible and the sun is just on me all the time. Yesterday reached

115 degrees! It was horrible! The humidity does make it worse but it's okay!

A Mango Tree!

We have been having hurricane weather. This week has been sunny almost every day. So it hasn't been too bad but we have had heavy rains.

We went in the backyard of Brother Barbajees house (First Counselor) to pick up mangoes for us. So we are in the bush (forest) and this is a Mango tree!

Well mom I am glad all of you are doing good and safe and had a fun fourth of July! Tell Lauren that I love her. I am glad Brittany found herself a job and Dad is trying for San Antonio. I will pray for Chandler. His time is about up though which is good for him! I feel sorry for him. I bet this break will feel good to him. But my time is about up on the computer. I am glad all of you had a fun and safe week :) And I am staying safe so don't worry about me ya hear? :) 

But I love you mom, and tell everyone I love them too! I need to go grocery shopping now... I don't know what I am going to get but I should find some thing :) haha.  LOVE YOU ALL SOO VERY MUCH!!!! BYE!! Don't worry Heavenly Father is taking care of me! BYE MOM!!

-Sis Judd :)