6th Transfer: Week 5 ~ "This Is the Lord's Work. Not Ours."

Ocean at Heritage Park

Hey my family!!

Well, I have felt very close to my Savior this week which has brought a lot of trials due to Satan and his followers. But nothing too big. It was a wonderful and perfect opportunity to exercise my faith and to strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father. So thank you Satan. I was reading in the New Testament about my Savior and his Atonement. He was spit upon, mocked and slapped in the face. For what?! He was innocent, but Satan stirred up the hearts of the people against him. That is what Satan does, I have noticed that. The Savior is our example. He even says that if we are nice to those who wrong us, our reward in heaven is great! For we have need to rejoice! So that's all that matters to me. Our time here on this earth is so short. Little petty things don't matter. It's just a test to see what our reactions will be. Thats the only way for us to learn.

Everything here is all the same. It is still very hot. I am not too sure if it will ever get cool here. Although this week has been cooler. We have had a ton of rain all week which has been wonderful for a change. It was like England here for 3 days. It was nice. But the sun is out now and ready to kill.

Everything is the same here. My peanut rasta friend I wave to almost every day, although I haven't seen him lately because it's been raining. SAD! I will have to take my picture with him so you can see him. Also the "Repent" guy was not out due to the rain. I was trying to convince Sister Dill to go to the Muslim palace to have a prayer session but we both agreed it probably wouldn't be a good idea. I don't know if I have told you this but we are friends with the Muslims. I bought these little bottles of oil perfumes from them. They were so cheap! And they are lasting me forever. So every time we see them we wave. They always recognize us.

Well as you can see I am trying to make this e-mail as interesting as possible but everything is going the same here. Just pressing forward in the work.

There have been tourists here on Sundays lately. Hurricane season has not yet come to a close so there are price cuts on the cruise ships. 

There was something said at church yesterday that was really nice to hear. In Relief Society a sister raised her hand and made a wonderful comment. One that I will never forget. She expressed gratitude to me and Sister Dill. She said that EVERY time she is having a really hard day she prays then me and Sister Dill show up on her doorstep. It's at the perfect time every time. She said that the message that we share with her is always what she needs to hear. The Spirit is so wonderful. I wish I could take credit but it's not me and Sister Dill it's the Spirit. Without the Spirit we cannot teach. We would not know how to help people. Being on a mission is a wonderful time for me to really begin to recognize the Spirit and to try to act on every prompting that I have. I just know the Spirit leads us to certain people during the day if an appointment cancels. Names run through our minds and we act on it. It was so wonderful to hear her say that. It made us feel good to know that we are doing something right. So this work is definitely a marvelous work!  

Everything has been great. The work is wonderful and I absolutely love everyone here. I am going to be very sad when I have to leave Nassau. We get transfer calls this Saturday morning!

The Ferdinand Family

Sunday was great. We had dinner at the Branch Presidents house. I just love him and his family! Great members! We had a haitian dish which WAS AMAZING. A dish that I have been dreaming about ever since I finished the whole plate. We ate what is called Saspwa which is rice with a bean sauce. We had amazing chicken that was seasoned sooo perfect and the chicken just feel right off the bone with a yum salad with RANCH. He also made his famous juice...Mango and Carrot. It was amazing. So that was a good time at the Ferdinands.

Today we are planning on going hiking down this path by the beach. The other sisters want us to go with them so that should be fun. Last P-Day we went to Heritage Park where the slaves were. They still have some of the original buildings from back in the day. That was very fun.

I forgot to tell you an experience! You remember Eddie? The guy in the parking lot that I was prompted to stop and give a pamphlet to? Well he speaks Creole and doesn't speak good English but we have already taught him 2 lessons! He loves it every time we come. He is so excited about the Book of Mormon and he is willing to have Andrew come pick him up for church on Sunday. He is awesome!! I am so excited for him! I know that some day he will accept this gospel. So again, without the Spirit we would not be able to perform miracles. This is the Lords work. Not ours.

But I love you so very much and tell the family that I said I love them too! I will be decorating Laurens page and probably won't send it til next week ! I am now going to go grocery shopping. But I LOVE YOU MOM AND MY FAMILY!

-Sister Judd

 PICTURES OF HERITAGE PARK!

Slave buildings!!

It was pretty fun....cool experience to see the history here in Nassau.

We are sleeping in front of our hut.

HAHAHA! We had to get this picture. I am trying to find perfect opportunities to find a place where I can pretend that I'm sleeping because every time I come in for lunch I lay down for about 20 minutes on my couch. So, I am all about resting! The sisters think it's hilarious. I can't fall asleep but I like to rest my eyes. Sometimes if I am lucky I can actually fall asleep but most of the time not. Which stinks!

This is a cave that we found. We went off the trail and came to a cliff park. When we looked down we saw there were caves and we were on top of a cave too. We saw a hole that looked like an animal hole but when we went closer we could actually look down inside the cave! It was crazy! It was called the Banana Caves. So I don't know if they have bananas down inside there or what but it was cool.