Dance Festival in Hillsboro this week!

President Morby, Sister Udall, Sister Morby

hello there family! 

poor baby kate! tell her i'm sorry about her ducklings and i wish the cows would've died instead.

This week has been stellar! we have just been finding like crazy! we taught a lady named Laura Taylor this week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. it was amazing! the spirit was there so strong and you wouldnt believe how amazing this woman is. she is an honest seeker of truth and i just love her! her book of mormon is all marked up and she is always cross referencing between that and the bible. 

This weekend the entire mission came together and went to a dance festival in hillsboro. in the middle of it the director had planned for us to walk in singing  "to bring the world His truth" but he didnt tell anyone about it so it was a huge surprise. it was so awesome. 275 missionaries walked in to the gym and sang to the very people we serve. it was really cool. a lot of people were crying and they all stood and clapped a lot for us. the spirit was so strong and its times like that when i really really love being one of God's missionaries. a few ladies came up to us with tears in their eyes and told us that they have children on missions and thanked us for coming. it was such a cool experience and to top it off i got to stand by President Morby as we sang and we were on the big screen! it was weird. the camera man was all up under my face! we had 4 performances to do so we had to stay in hillsboro all day which was really fun. president morby got a wild hair and decided to let us watch the saratov approach! it was sweet! 

I wish i could tell you more about what happened because we teach so much in this area! we teach over 25 lessons a week and i only ever tell you about a few and in very small detail. theres just so much to do here that i dont have much time to email. we actually are teaching a lesson in half an hour to a lady we tracted into this week named besse so im going to have to make this even shorter than normal.

I will just tell you one more story. so yesterday we got cancelled on all day long! it was terrible. both of us were frustrated and the spirit just wasnt there. so we decided to kneel down together and say a prayer to know 1 thing that we can accomplish today. after the prayer we both had the distinct impression to visit our apartment manager, who has rejected us on countless occasions. so we went and knocked on her door and she let us right in. we started talking about her life and that led to her faith in Jesus Christ. we ended up teaching her the restoration. there is nothing that compares to sitting knee to knee with the elect, looking them in the eye, and reciting the account of Joseph Smith's first vision in his own words and then hearing the girl to your left bear witness of the savior and his actual appearance to the prophet Joseph. our apartment manager began to cry and expressed her own love for Jesus Christ. i know that this is God's church. He is a God of love, miracles, and order. the organization of this church alone bears witness of its truth. transfers are this coming week and im really stressed that i'll be leaving since ive been in sherwood for six months now. i really hope i dont! i love it here so much. anyways, i really have to go. sorry my emails are so short compared to rulons and macys! i love you all! happy birthday in a few days baby kate! work hard, pray hard!
sister udall

Of all the other titles that He could have used, He chose to be called Father

                 Looks like she is still mentally 11 years old and mayber her companion is too!  She is definately a child at heart!
                                                                   But also wise beyond her years at the same time!!

Hi mama!

Sounds like dad is really milkin it right now. Tell him to man up!
Just kidding, love you dad. So Kate is a chip off the old softball block eh? She rocks. And I'm proud of the baby boey for being such a cute, tiny trecker. 

 

This week was great! We were able to teach a part member family that is super interested! The little boy is nine and he was begging his dad to take him to church at the end of our lesson.

Children are so Christlike and I see that more and more as I teach them. We also taught the girl that is my kindred spirit this week. We brought sister Dillon, a convert that rocks, to the lesson and she told her conversion story. She related so well with Riley and the spirit was overwhelming. She admitted that she knew everything was true, she is just scared to be a member of the church and all that it entails. She is so sensitive to the spirit. 

 

It was really funny because she told us that if this church wasn't true, no one would join. No one would believe that God appeared to and spoke to a 14 year old boy. No one would go to church for 3 hours each Sunday. No one would give up coffee, tea, alcohol, cigarettes, immodest dress, and everything the "world" esteems to be right if it wasn't for the spirit testifying to their hearts that it's all true.

 

I want those of you who went on the trek to reflect on the spirit you felt there. Think of how exhausted you were and how hard you worked. The want for food and water alone would be enough to leave this gospel if it wasn't true. I know that the pioneers had firm faith and they crossed the plains because it was a commandment from God through His prophet. I love the pioneers for their unwavering faith because I can't imagine the struggle they endured, but that struggle strengthens my testimony that this is Christ's church on the earth today. As true followers of Christ, we have to expect to pass through trials and hardships just as He did, but we can "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope" (2 Nephi 31:20) knowing that just as He was, we can be resurrected and reunited with our families.

 

I know that this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God and I know that our Heavenly Father looks forward to that meeting very much, because above all, I know that He loves us with a perfect love. "Of all the other titles that He could have used, He chose to be called 'Father.'" President Boyd K Packer. President Packer also says that "Your secret yearnings and tearful pleadings will touch the heart of both the Father and the Son." Pray to God. I challenge each of you at this time to read the Book of Mormon, ponder the message it contains, and then ask God, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if the book is true. I bear my witness that I know it's true.

 

We taught a Chinese man this week that we call Peter. He is in his 80's, is basically deaf, and speaks little English. I'm in my teens, am basically deaf, and speak little English too, so you see the problem that arose as we began teaching him. Luckily I have learned that I'm not the one teaching, the spirit is. The spirit was undeniable as we relayed Joseph Smiths vision, in his own words, to Peter. He told us that he feels good in his heart, that God led him here, and that he knows it's true. I promise it's true. It's as true as I am short. I love you all with my whole heart! Work hard, pray hard!
Sister Udall
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weirdest and hardest weeks

I had the weirdest and one of the hardest weeks of my mission this week. there were so many miracles and so many heartaches I can't name them all! But I'll name a couple of each. 

 

So we received a referral this week at one of our dinner appointments ( members should give referrals at every dinner appointment. It helps) and we went immediately to contact her. She is a pretty young girl dating a very less active member of our ward. We went and talked to her and she was so open and awesome! We were able to teach her the restoration of the gospel but the real kicker was that she found out that her old neighbor and role model was a member of our ward! She is deceased now but it was such a miracle! I am so grateful for the amazing legacy that woman left and that she is still doing missionary work even now that she is passed! 

 

We also taught a woman in her 50's this week that we have been teaching for a few weeks. She is so sensitive to the spirit and is an honest seeker of truth and I love teaching her. We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ but she was so hung up on the fact that we have the Dead Sea scrolls on the earth but not the gold plates, so in her mind the Book of Mormon can't be true. I was silently praying the whole time she was telling us this to know what I can say to help her feel the spirit and recognize the truth. Suddenly, it came to me! I read her the scripture in John 6 where the people are saying that Jesus can't be the Christ because they know Him and His parents. But then I showed he scripture in Matthew 16 where Peter claims that Jesus is the Christ and that God revealed it unto him. It was so awesome because I could feel the spirit testifying through me.

 

On Saturday I went on an exchange which really took a toll on me. I was paired up with sister Lawson again which was great! We planned a lesson that morning for a less active lady in her ward. We got to her house and pounded on the door. No answer. Her neighbor came over and said he hadn't heard from her in a couple days and he was worried because she was sick. She was 65. Being from a small town, my instinct is always to walk in without knocking, so we did and searched and called for her. As we looked around we were quite upset to find her laying on her bed in an unnatural position and not breathing. She was cold, pale, and lifeless. I couldn't believe it. The rest of the day was spent talking to police and trying to contact her family. 

 

I was really not prepared for something like that and when I told my ward mission leader about my experience he offered to give me a priesthood blessing. I thank God daily that He loved us enough to restore His priesthood. Later one of my best friends in the world, Elder Austin Davis from St. John's, got permission to call me. He bore his testimony of the power of the atonement and I know Christ's suffering covers everything. I am so grateful for my family and the knowledge that we can live again and be together forever. I love you all so much and I love my mission! Work hard, pray hard!

 

 Sent from my iPad

Tracting and working hard!

Alright folks!

 

Get ready for the best email of your life.

First off, good news: IM ALIVE! No stomach flu can keep this tiger caged, no sir! Sister ferrel and I were up and running by Wednesday night because I literally could not handle doing nothing anymore. It was almost the death of me. So we went out and about contacting potentials since we didn't have any set appointments. It was so good to be out! 

 

So, as you know, I have the worlds most spiritually inspired mission president. His latest revelation goes by the name of "Finding Friday" which means every Friday from 5-7 I'll tracting, no exceptions. This also means no dinner, but President promised that if every missionary in this mission will be faithful to the very minute of these two hours, and coupled with fasting for that meal, we would see miracles in our area and would without a doubt find people to find, teach, and baptize in our tracting. Many missions in the US have cut out tracting, but that's where 19% of our baptisms come from in this mission and it hits home for me because that is how we found Devon and Gerise! So yeah, tracting is kind of a big deal.

 

Anyways this Friday was sister Ferrel's birthday and we had so many people inviting us over for dinner and birthday cake. Satan is cruel! But, sister ferrel, the gem that she is, withstood these temptations and we worked hard during our finding time. We seriously had the best tracting in those two hours than I've had my whole mission. We had a meaningful conversation with each person that answered the door, handed out a bunch of Book of Mormons, and found a lot of potential investigators and 2 new investigators! One of them is a young Mennonite boy. We knocked on his door and he looked so shocked to see us! He said he was just reading his Book of Mormon a few days ago that missionaries had given his family years before. So cool! It made me realize how important it is to get a Book of Mormon into every home! You never know who or when it will be read, but it will be! As we were tracting I was prompted to visit a former investigator that we had dropped. She was avoiding us like the plague for a really long time and we hadn't seen her in forever. I didn't want to go back because every time we try she just sits in her living room and stares at us but won't come to the door. But, I told sister ferrel we needed to stop by so we did. As we were walking up she was sitting on her porch and jumped up when she saw us and gave us both a hug. She brought us right in, sat us down, and asked us if we really believe that God loves us. This was the perfect intro to the restoration where we taught her all about the immense love God has for us. We are His world! We introduced the Book of Mormon and she just loved it! She said "oh good, so you're Christians with bonus material? I always thought that God had more to say than what was written in the bible alone. He knows everything! There's gotta be more!" So we told her that we continue to receive his guidance and counsel today through a living prophet. Goodness me, it was the best lesson ever! She has two kids that are 5 and 3 and a niece that is 15 and they all sat in on the lesson and loved it! We are going back this week to teach them more! 

 

If I've learned 1 thing on my mission, it's that God comes through. He keeps His promises. He's got our back. If we do our part, he'll never fail to do His. I know that to be true and I know He loves us. I am so happy to be with my new companion! She has the same sense of humor as me. She is my best friend! We get along so good and she always makes up raps to teach the gospel haha they're so funny.

 

Mom I loved the shirts and I needed them! You rock! Anyways, I love you all!
Work hard, pray hard!
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So Sick today and a new companion!

Hey mom!

Just want you to know, I'm alive. But barely! I've been throwing up non stop for the past 24! So on Monday I got my new companion, Sister Ferrel. She's from Maryland, which is refreshing, and has been out for 10 months. She is so sweet and really funny. She's short too which is nice.

While we were at transfer meeting two sisters came up to me and said that there is a brother and sister Udall in their ward that want to meet me. And now for the life of me I can't remember either of their first names, but brother Udall grew up in Eagar! He lived by the old Udall barn across from Arby's. He said I must be the granddaughter of Little Gay and Ann Bigelow and told me all about them! It was so fun. His dad's name was Joseph I believe. Not sure. Anyways I sent a picture of me with them so you'll have to ask grandma if she remembers him. 

Yesterday I woke up feeling completely awful. I decided to just muscle through it and do personal and companionship study anyways and then go to our appointments. Yeah, that plan failed. Halfway through comp study I was camped in the bathroom puking my guts out. Sister ferrel and I decided that i probably shouldn't go out, so I stayed with our relief society president while sister ferrel went out with members to our lessons. She is such a hardworking and faithful companion! She's excited to be here because we average about 30 lessons a week. This area is exploding like it's nobody's business. I need to go throw up now, but I'll talk to you next week! Love you mom!

 

It was so good to Skype yesterday!

Hi mom!

It was so good to talk to you and see you last night! Everyone in the ward kept coming up to us at church yesterday with watery eyes and asking if we've skyped yet. When we said no they got all sympathetic and offered their houses and computers. This ward loves missionaries. I am taken care of so well here! I wish I could stay in this area my whole mission. I hope I stay for a long time like Goodes did in his first area.

I'm super stoked for smellie Stellie's call! Korea! You and John are going to love kimchi together. I eat kimchi here at an Asian members house and it's pretty good so don't fret. 

Not much is new that I didn't already tell you over skype last night but I will tell you of an awesome experience we had with a man named Paul. Paul is the husband of a former less active that we helped reactivate in our ward. A few days ago we took them to the visitors center and had a lesson there. We are so blessed in this mission to have a temple nearby AND a visitors center. We started with the narration of the Christis which was amazing. Paul commented on how seeing the open arms of the savior gives him hope and helps him know that Christ's hands are always reaching out to us, hoping we'll grab on and come to Him. 

Then we watched Gods Plan for the Family, which is the tearjerkingest video known to man basically. Every time I watch it I think of the time cammie and I bawled through the entire thing at the Mesa temple visitors center. Anyways, Paul loved that too! We walked the grounds with him and talked about the sealing power that is only available in God's holy temples. He was so excited to do the work for his ancestors and he isn't even baptized! So, we invited him and he said yes! It was amazing! Leilani was so happy and so was Paul. 

I love this gospel so much and how happy it makes people. I know it's true. I know it's the most important thing in the world. In fact, coming to know God and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent, is THE most important thing we can do in this life. I hope we never hesitate to share it. I love you all with my whole heart! Work hard, pray hard! 

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Cinco de mayo reminds me of Tell

Hola Mama! Happy Cinco de Mayo! I hope the high school kids in round valley are doing the cinco de mayo parade tonight! I feel like that should be done every year in honor of its founder, Tell Udall. He is the only person I can think of that would start such a wicked awesome and completely ridiculous tradition like that and have it catch on haha Tell will forever be a hero to me! I am so thankful to know that families are forever. That we are still a family in heaven and he will always be my big cousin. I look forward to the day he leads us all in Telga in its most perfect state!  I'm also so stoked for Kenny Cakes! My companions dad served in that same mission and loved it! He says it's the best mission in the world. I'm in favor of the OPM, but the Dakota's are like a sister to me or something. And I can't believe stellaphants papers are in! What a woman! Portland is my prediction and I'm almost never wrong. Things are going swimmingly here in Sherwood! Riley did not get baptized this weekend because she has decided to wait for her brother that we are working with to get the priesthood so that he can participate in the baptism. I am so excited and I love to see how this gospel brings families closer. This week I went to Portland for the first time and went into the world infamous Voodoo doughnuts. It was wild and semi-satanic but really funny. The people in there hate missionaries, both the employees and customers. The doughnuts are shaped like voodoo dolls and have strawberry jelly in the middle for their blood. They have pretzel sticks stuck in them everywhere too. Creepy right? Portland prides itself on being super freaky weird, but i love it! I never want to leave Sherwood, but if I must, I hope to serve in Portland! There's this family in our ward that has a million kids and they are all the most missionary minded family on earth! They are always finding us people to teach and they call us all the time to meet their non member friends. Anyways, we had the chance to teach one of their friends the restoration this week. She has two small boys and has been struggling. She told us that she wants the light that we have. She wants to know how Mormons can be calm with all that's going on in the world. So we taught her the restoration. About how God loves us so much that he has organized us into families and called prophets to lead and guide those families back to Him. We taught her that God is listening to her prayers and He will answer them, just like He did for 14 year old Joseph Smith. We taught her that through the prophets we've receive the revelation that our families can be forever if we abide by the laws Christ has set. We taught her that she has a savior that has paid the ultimate price because to Him she is worth it. The gospel is so simple, and these simple truths help us as members to be calm despite the chaos around us. We have a hope for brighter days to come and the knowledge that God will not fail us, nor forsake us. "Above all, never lose faith in your Father in Heaven, who loves you more than you can comprehend." - Elder Jeffrey R Holland. I hope you all are having missionary experiences! Don't forget, Elder Ballard challenged us all to find people for the missionaries to teach at least four times a year. That was a commandment from God through one of His servants, so it is not to be taken lightly :) I love you all so much! Work hard, pray hard!  Oh, and by the way, the pictures are of me at voodoo and of me lifting a tree out of the road so we could get to our appointment :)