8th Transfer: Week 2 ~ A Week of Surprises!

So this week has been a week of surprises. Let me try to update you on what took place.

--> My new companion's back has been hurting her for a while, even to the point where it hurt her to move. We didn't know what to do. I made her hot herbal tea and boiled hot water to dampen a washcloth so we could put that on her back hoping that would work. Since we didn't have hot water I boiled up 3 pots of water at a time and filled up the bath (that took a while haha). The bath she said helped her for a little bit but NOTHING worked. We took her to see this one doctor and she pretty much told her "well it may be bruised but even if it is broken there is nothing I can do. I will give you this donut foam pillow". She didn't say those exact words but in essence she told her it would have to heal on its own.

A day passed and the pain got worse and worse by the minute. She cried throughout the night....alllllllll niiiigggghhhhttt due to the pain that she was feeling. She did not get 1 hour of sleep that night. So I called President Brown that morning and told him what was going on. He then called the area doctor who is in the Dominican Republic. The doctor gave us a call and I had to explain everything that was going on and he then told me to find an orthopedic surgeon. I was like oh no.... so I called Sister Reid (since she is a nurse) and she told me that I would need a referral to get her into see an Orthopedic Surgeon. By this time Sister Mouritsen was just beside herself. She was crying and yelling due to the pain. Oh man, it was like a horror movie! So I just rushed her to the emergency room and 

Sister Mouritsen....she's doing better!

before I knew it the doctor came and told me that she needed surgery. She had a really bad infection that was getting bigger and bigger and they needed to wash it out. It is called Pits. Pits are made by the tail bone rubbing on the tissue. In these pits infection had grown to a pretty large size. My poor companion.

I had to call President Brown about everything that was going on and he let me know very boldly that I am her guardian and that Salt Lake, the area doctor, him, and Sister Mouritsen's family are waiting to know what is going on

Our view outside the hospital room

and that I needed to act as if he was here. So I had to get every little detail about what was exactly going on in surgery and so forth. They needed to know that the doctors did everything properly so they could decide on whether or not she needed to get sent home. So at that moment I was soooo stressed out. PLUS they were so dang rude. They didn't make anything else easier for me. I had to ask everything. What medication they were giving her because she stayed overnight in the hospital. I had to ask for a surgical report and what medications they will be putting her on after she gets out. Man...they got tired of me real fast. I tried not to give them attitude back but they were so rude. We even asked if she could get a blessing before surgery and the nurse didn't answer us at first. She then said that when they take her up to the room she will have 5 minutes before they take her in. We were like fine ----.----.  I hope I never have to go to the hospital here oh goodness. Also, I am still waiting on a surgical report. I have asked for it a billion times and when I took her in for her check up the doctor said "oh, I didn't know I had to write one out.. next time when you come I can give it to you." This doctor...Nosa....

The beast!

Now she is on 5 different medications. Beolgin, Cleocin, Valtaren etc. I forgot what the others are called. I wanted to sound very smart:).  BUT all is well with her. She got home Thursday and is now sitting on her donut pillow right here with me talking to her family. She was able to call home twice...after her surgery and when she got home. She had to stay in bed for the rest of the week so we didn't get any work done but we did do our best to occupy ourselves. I was reading Revelations 13 to Sister Mouritsen so we decided that I would describe the beast to her and (since she is an artist) she would draw it out hahaha. Talk about being bored!! So John saw this huge creepy lookin beast comin out of the water. He decides to count all the horns, the heads and the crowns HAHA. So she drew John looking at this beast and counting. We had a good laugh.

We have to pick up President Brown today at the airport. He is flying in to do some branch business here in good ole Nassau so it will be good to see him today after a stressful week. |He (and everyone) is still thinking about sending her home for recovery which would stink. If that happens then I probably will be staying here for another transfer. We will just have to wait and see.

--> I also started this thing with Sister Lewis. Before Sister Bailey left a sister of the branch gave her a big horse to give to one of her family members. She couldn't fit it in her suitcase so I started hiding it in the other sisters room and now its kind of like a hide and seek thing with the horse. Whoever finds the horse gets to hide it next HAHA. What missionaries do for entertainment I swear. Also, when I took Sister Lewis to an appointment to see our little recent convert Shanae, her little brother Shawn came out to sit with us. In the middle of the lesson he stands up and goes to the grass right next to us (cause we teach her outside on the porch) and he pulls down his pants and starts peeing!!! I was in shock. Sister Lewis and I were like "what did we just witness here?!" hahahahaha....oh my goodness.

Wellll thats pretty much all what had happened this week. If I think of anything else though I shall let you know :)

Can't wait to hear all about your week!!!  I continue to pray for all of you. I hope you guys will have an amazing weeeeeeeeeek!! I need to go clean the car now since we are picking up President Brown around 3. haha!!

LOVE YOU MY MOM AND THE REST OF MY FAMILY!!

-Sis Judd

So we were trying to make Raspberry Duff.

We didn't really have the tools to make it but we found what we could use. HAHA

Our duff turned out looking like a huge stiff slug.

I tried the duff..... lets see what happens.. is it good?

It was the most disgusting thing I have ever had.

I even ran and got milk.

Sister Lewis' face at our duff. HA

We did learn at this experiment that Baking Powder and Baking soda are

2 different things. Next time.. we will use Baking Powder. HA

Our nasty ole duff:)

8th Transfer: Week 1 ~ Transfers ): and a New Companion! (:

At the airport with my sisters!

Hi family! Here is the rundown of my week!

Sister Dill eating her pizza on the
 way to the airport:)

Transfers..........it was very hard to say goodbye to Sister Bailey. I didn't think I was going to cry but when the time came to give her a hug and say bye it was hard! but I know I will see Sister Bailey again and Sister Dill I just loved. Two of the greatest friends that I have. Sister Dill said that she just received your Christmas package. She said she just loved everything and that she loves you to mom! Transfers make me soo nervous!! The companion is what worries me the most. But I have a wonderful new companion, her name is Sister Mouritsen. She is awesome! She is the new district leader here off island (which is exciting). She holds District Meetings every Wednesday morning with the Freeport Elders. They Skype in. I just love her! She reminds me of myself! No drama, she loves the gospel, doesn't like gossip, etc. The Lord knew I was supposed to meet her! It's so weird. I can actually get along with an American! She has been out for almost 9 months.

Sister Etienne and Tony!

As for the work here this week, it was a little slow at first due to transfers and helping Sister Mouritsen get to know the area but it has been great. She is from Kaysville, Utah. She has a BF who is on his mission in Fort Worth, Texas.

I forgot to mention, me and Sister Mouritsen learned how to make this dessert here in the Bahamas. It's called Guava Duff. Guava is a fruit here in the Carribean and it is disgusting. It tastes more like a vegetable. But anyway, we will be making a strawberry and banana duff. It's so good! So if we make it here and its a success, expect to be having duff when I get home. :)

I had a baptism, his name is Jerome and he is awesome. He has been coming to church every single Sunday! and President Ferdinand told me that he will soon receive the priesthood. 

My sweet family!!The Sineas family!
Elder Sineas is an amazing
Elder who is serving in the JKM.
Bannie and Clodette:)

We will be having another baptism soon, his name is Kevin and he is a taxi driver. He was a referral from tourists months ago. He was pretty hard to get in contact with and the desire wasn't there at first. But then I called him one more time and ever since then he has been so diligent in meeting with us and hearing the message that we have to share. As I kept asking him if he would come to church , his reply was always "sure, I will try to make it". I was fed up with it and I used much boldness. I pretty much said, "you read the Bible and you know it through and through. You speak to others about the Bible and it's doctrine but you are not acting upon what you are saying. Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is a

Me with the babies!!!
Vago, Minnie and Emery.
Every time we come they
 come running with their arms
open for a hug:) So cute!

commandment, and you are not keeping it." Ever since I told him that he has not missed 1 Sunday of church. He has come to church 3 times already. So 2 more Sundays and he can be baptized! On Saturday he expressed to me that he was sad he couldn't say this to Sister Dill before she left but that he is now ready to make that commitment to be baptized. I was so excited! He will make a great addition to this church. He knows the doctrine and he knows it to be true. He has read the Book of Mormon that we have given to him and he has marked a ton of verses! He was touched by "The Restoration" movie that we showed him and he loves how in this church the members have unity. He said that's something he has never seen before. 

Emery! He kept saying "Mommy
I look good!" Bannie kept trying
to get him to change. He loved what
he was wearing:). 

Here is something about Eddie, you are going to be amazed at this. We dropped Eddie due to him not remembering the lessons. We decided to give him a little break but he comes to church every Sunday! He has come these past 2 Sundays. I told myself that if he came yesterday to church that we will pick him back up and teach him and he came! So we will be teaching Eddie again this week. We will see how it goes.

Well my sweet mother I love you very very much! My time is about up, tell everyone else that I love them. Tell Adam that I miss him and love him. Tell Lauren that I love her very muchhhh and miss her toooo. Tell Dad that I LOVE HIMMMM and am happy for his new job, he will do great! Tell Chandler and Brittany that I love them booothhhh and am glad they are having success in Idaho and Utah. LOVE YOU MY MOTHER! Thanks for the e-mails and the laughs and the love you share with me every Monday. Have a great and wonderful week! STAY SAFEEEEE!!! LOVE YOU!!

-Sister Judd

Sister Dill and I taking pictures of this awesome 

view we pass by about every other day!

Look at this cool sun dial I found on Paradise Island. 

It looks like it was in the Medieval times. Too much history on these islands mann.....

AND THIS GUY calls himself Prince Charles

(which is the name of a well known street here in the bahamas) haha 

He lives in that little house in the bush.

7th Transfer: Week 6 ~ TRANSFER CALLS!

So... I know you want to know about transfers first so....here it is!!  
    DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!
Sister Bailey is going to Boulevard in Kingston to be a STL. Sister Dill is going to Maypen, Jamaica which is by Mandeville where she was last. Sister Lewis is staying here and.... I am also staying here as well! Yayyyyyy!! Now, I was sooo very sad that Sister Dill and Bailey are leaving! They are like my other half! UGHHHHHHHH. They are happy to be going back but Sister Dill cried because she will miss the people here. Sister Dill and Sister Bailey are my 2 greatest friends. They will forever be a part of my life. I don't know what I would do if I had chosen to not serve a mission and would have not met them. I can't even imagine that! I will see them again but not with my badge on. That will be different. oh man. I love these people. You all have to meet them!!

Sister Bailey and I have an inside joke. In Ochi we had this older woman we called "Aunt" (Marj's mom) and we always tried to sneak up on her in her yard. She has this dog that we can tame when we enter. One time we were trying to sneak up and I let Sister Bailey go first. So she went in and we hear Aunt sayin "Who is there?" because she is going a little blind. She doesn't have great vision. Aunt was freaking out and she was like "You betta tell me who up n me uh yad" and I was rolling. Then I pop out and start comin in the yard and she said "oh its the missionaries" HAHA. She said she knew it was us because I GLOW! "There is no white girl comin in no yad here in the Caribbean but the missionaries". HAHA! I love missionary experiences.

Here are my Relief Society sisters! Everyone
 looks so nice. I love this picture! 

But anyway, everything will be okay without them here. By the time transfers are over I will have officially been here in Nassau for 7 1/2 months.... almost 8 months. Almost half my mission so we will see if they are planning on keeping me here for the rest of my mission. HAHA goodness. But I know that it's the Lord's decision. I honestly feel like my work is not done here so I am glad that I don't have to leave. I absolutely LOVE the people here and will cry when I have to leave this place. By the way, TODAY is my 10 month mark! I am 2 digits! and I now have 8 months before I come home. Oh my goodness .. that is so short!! AHH

My new companion is an American. Her name is Sister Mouritsen. She is actually in Ocho Rios right now, so I will be making conversation with her and seeing how my peoples are doing there in good ole Ochi. I don't know when she is flying in but I do know that Sister Dill and Bailey are leaving Thursday. The other sister who is going to be Sister Lewis' companion is Jamaican and her name is Sister Wint. Me and Sister Wint came out together and we are good friends as well. When we were together at the sister training meeting in Kingston, she and I stayed up all night talking. I love her! So thats good.

Here is all that happened this week!

--->The Etienne family said something that was hilarious!! We were over there one day and like always, we were jokin around and they said "every time I see you, I don't picture you as a white person, you are a black person!" So mom, you gave birth to a black child. I will tell dad that he is still the father though no worries. I got you.

This is the Burger King taxi driver holdin up
 the line! I still don't know why he didn't
go inside.

--->We were going through the Burger King line so I could get myself an "angry whopper" which is very, very good. All of a sudden we see this taxi driver in front of us. His steering wheel is on the right side and the drive thru speaker was on the left side. Most things here in the Caribbean are on the left side but they do have cars here with the steering wheel on the right side. Luckily, ours is on the left. So anyway, we saw him get out of his car and stand right in front of the speaker to order his food. This continued until he got his food. It was hilarious. I even got pictures! 

---> I don't know if I have ever told you this but I will tell you anyway. It was hilarious. We were in the Haitian village seeing Clodette and Bannie. They are the only family that we see there. There are a lot of Mormon haters there in this village. We experience it every time we go. People literally run from us hahaha! Anyway, we were there and after we taught Bannie we were headed back to the car (which is a good little walk out of the village). As we were heading back we went through a chill spot (where the whole village chills out), and we said bye. The men said "oh, bye! yeah, I would take you out honey!" They kept saying these kinds of things and we were laughing. Well here comes Clodette out of her house yelling "THOSE ARE MY MISSIONARIES!! LEAVE THEM ALONE THEY GO OUT AND SPREAD THE GOSPEL!!" HAHA it was soo funny!! I was like "yeah tell em Clodette". I just love her. Her son is out on a mission in my mission. Me and Elder Sinea came out at the same time. Love that family!

--->We dropped Eddie for a while, but no worries I am planning on picking him back up again next week. He still came to church yesterday even after we dropped him! 

Jerome was baptized!!!  He's amazing!

 --->HERE is Jerome!! It took months for him to get baptized BUT we DID IT!! He will now be the next Branch President. Just kidding, but maybe....who knows? 

--->I gave a talk yesterday as well. I got to choose what to talk about and I was prompted to speak on the Love of Christ. The weird thing is that he told Evans (one of the young men, recent convert) to give a talk as well and he gave him a topic. Now I had no idea what he wanted him to speak on and he told me to choose what to speak on. Evans (as the youth speaker) gave his talk first and his was on the "pure love of christ!" CRAZY! The Lord works in mysterious ways I tell you. It was crazy because when I was giving my talk I was not even nervous. I even joked around a little bit to get them laughing. It was crazy, but I know its because the Lord comforted me and I do this all day every day. I know every single person who was in the congregation anyway. I have never been so close to the members of the church as I have been on my mission. I am just soo happy because of the members of the church and our investigators! I just love being a missionary. I will be so sad to take off this badge in 8 months.

Catchin all the sisters tryin to wash
this morning! (Sister Bailey)

-->Also... everything in our house is like totally broken. Let me give you the run down real quick...

--> No water heater

-->Washing machine and dryer is broken and have been broken for a while now

-->Toilet seat is sliding around all over the place

-->Our kitchen light doesn't come on unless I keep playing with the light switch over and over again. If I get lucky it comes on. 

-->The power goes off all of the time here in the Bahamas. Like 5 times a day. No joke. 

-->Infestation of spiders and roaches which is a blast (no worries I bought bug spray and have been spraying haha)

Hilarious!!! (Sister Dill)

This morning Sister Bailey and Sister Dill were hand washing. It was hilarious. They had to wash their clothes for their transfer on Thursday. Anyway, this has been such a great experience thus far. Memories that I will never forget! Don't worry though, we are getting a repair guy tomorrow :)

--->Oh my goodness! This is something that happened to me last night! So I always keep the phone under my pillow because the alarm goes off and I don't like to get up. With it under my pillow I can just put my hand under there and turn it off. After I do that, me and Sister Dill get up as we groan. But last night President Ferdinand called the phone at 2:00 in the morning!!! and he woke me up!! I was like why is he calling?! So I ignored it. Then it buzzed again because he left a voicemail!! Then it buzzed again because he sent a text!! I was like what is going on?! As I read the text he was freaking out because he wanted to know if we were okay. I guess my head called President Ferdinand in the middle of the night so he thought we were in trouble. HAHA my bad!!!

My haircut:)

--->I got my haircut and the lady styled it. I don't think you can see the layers. But I got short layers in my hair so I won't have to cut it til I come back home to you guys!

I am so glad that it finally kicked in about eternity! Since I have been on my mission that is all I think about. That is my goal! Honestly, every single day of my life that is my top goal. I will do anything He wants me to do as long as I can just live with him again. I want to be with my family and with my Heavenly Father. If this place is so beautiful I can't even imagine how it looks where our Father lives! THAT IS MY GOAL. TODAY and FOREVER.

Something that came to mind is.... you know how we travel to San Antonio? and how we traveled to Atlanta sometimes? We always planned trips to go somewhere and do something fun. But the temple was not on our to do list. Then I was thinking maybe, even when we get home if we are going to Sea World or something that we can stop by the temple and do work there. I love TEMPLE WORK! It is an amazing work. I just can imagine the smiles on the peoples faces when we do part of their work here on this earth. It makes me so happy! So every time we plan a trip to do something, we should always put the temple in our plans as well.

Well mom thats all I can think of at this point in time but I had a great week! I can't wait to see all about your week! LOVE YOU!! Tell the family that I said I love them!! Please be safe and take careeeeee!

-Sister Judd

7th Transfer: Week 5 ~ Funny and Crazy Experiences:)

Sister Dean's Christmas Tree!

So I have some really funny and crazy experiences that happened to us this week. Let me start with Sunday.

---Last Sunday right after we had the closing prayer in Relief Society, this sister started giving a speech about a big political event that she was having in the Bahamas. We 4 sisters sat there listening to her when she announced that there would be a special guest. So me and the other 3 sisters were like "oh I wonder who the special guest is going to be" then all of a sudden with her arms stretched out towards us she said, "AND THE SPECIAL GUESTS ARE GOING TO BE THE 4 SISTER MISSIONARIES!" I was like "NOSA!" We can't do that. She then

My pretty scarf that Sister Dean got me:)

came up to talk to us to tell us what she wanted us to do for her. Apparently she wanted us to talk about the Book of Mormon on TV at this political event and immediately we told her that we as missionaries cannot go to political events and she told us not to worry that she will make sure we are taken care of so President Brown doesn't need to worry. And again we told her that our missionary handbook states that we cannot go to events like that and we apologized. We are actually going to her house tonight to eat.

--For New Years, we blew up air mattresses and put them in the living room and we all just

New Years Eve:)

slept there. Well I guess that every New Year's Eve they have big fire works that they shoot over Atlantis. We happen to live in a neighborhood next to Atlantis, so all of a sudden at midnight (after I finally went to sleep) we started hearing "BOOOOM!!" "BOOOMM!!" I was like.... are you kidding me?! But when we looked out our window we could see these huge fireworks, so that was pretty fun. And of course we were very tired the next morning, but nevertheless we got the work done that day!

----We went over to see a sister and her family and out of the blue they asked us when transfers are. We told them transfer calls are this Saturday. Oh my goodness you would have

Our socks!

thought something tragic happened. They were like "we hope you both get to stay with us! Before you leave we have to have a picture with you and our family!" And we told them that we probably are not leaving but we won't know for sure until transfer calls. It was so sweet. It made me and Sister Dill feel happy. We love their family. Every time we go to their house the kids run out yelling "Teachers" or "Sisters". They come running to my side of the door. I have to lock it, then roll down the window and tell them we need to pray first before we go inside the house. Sweet little babies! But I truly do love everyone that we have met and taught here in Nassau. I am hoping and praying that none of us leave!

---Also, when we were walking back to our car from an appointment some mechanic guy was out there and he said "Oh your hair is so beautiful!" with this creepy look on his face. Some creepy people out there! ha!

---LAST BUT NOT LEASSSSSSTTTT!!! JEROME is being baptized this SUNDAY morning at 8:30 in the morning!! Woohooo!!! we are soooo excited!!! President Ferdinand even said that he can see him becoming a branch president some day. Its true, he is awesome! He was the one that I saw in our phone and in the area book, and I was like who is this guy? and I asked Sister Oman and she said that he had been taught before. So I called him up and we taught him. Now he is going to be baptized. I am so exciteddddd!!

---Learning experience: President Brown and the Lord have taught me a valuable lesson. When I get upset due to different things President Brown always asks me the same question. "Well, what did you learn from this experience?" and I always find something that I have learned from it. The Lord works in mysterious ways in our lives. Without opposition we would not learn. We would not progress in becoming like our Savior, Jesus Christ. This straight and narrow path is not easy, but as we endure it well we will find, that in the end, we will be able to return back to our Father in Heaven. Even then when we are with him, he will be willing to continue to teach us all things.

OH YAYY!! I am so glad you all loved everything. As for Brittany's jewelry, yes I was not able to ship that. They said that someone would steal it. So I will hold on to it til I get home. But I was happy because I know that she has jewelry and will make use out of the jewelry box anyway. You can just take off her note, because it mentions the jewelry on it. When I went to DHL he ripped up everything that I wrapped of course, so now I know not to wrap anything if I go through DHL. Also DHL was so expensive. I am soooo sorry I had no idea it would cost that much. I felt so bad. But on a more positive note I am so glad you all liked everything I picked out for you guys. Did you get the painting for the family you guys can put up?? It is a coaster, to put plates on but I loved the painting. The guy who painted it is a good friend of mine in the straw market. He gets excited to see us! so he was happy to do that for you all :) I told him what to put on it! I am so happy you loved everything!! He also put patois on your gift and on dads drum too :) I'm so glad that Adam liked that clock! When i was in the straw market I saw that and I was like "I think adam would like that! " It was between that and this huge boat that I thought was cool, but then I was led back to that clock. That screams Bahamas. It's all about the pirates here in the Caribbean. There is so much history here. Wherever you drive you see ruins and forts that belonged to the pirates who were here here back in the day. :)

I will be getting my hair cut tomorrow! finally!! of course it's just going to be cutting the dead ends off and getting my layers put back into my hair. My hair has gotten extremely long. I can't imagine how long it would be if I didn't cut it for another 8 months.

Well, that is all that I can think of about my week thus far, Sorry for this long e-mail but on the other hand I think you will enjoy reading it. I can't wait to see what all has happened there in good ole Del Rio!!

Continue to be safeeee todayyy and have a great weeeeekkk!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL MY FAMILY!! We will be having transfer calls this Saturday morning so you will know what happens next Monday. LOVE YOU ALLLL!!

-Sister Judd :)