Monday, March 28, 2016

Hey Everyone!

 

This week was a pretty great week. We had so much fun and saw so many miracles.

First off, we were able to meet this girl named Tiffany and were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation. We feel like she has been truly prepared because she said that she has talked to missionaries before, but it wasn't until she met us that she really wanted to learn more. 

 

We also were able to go to a baptism this week for a little 9 year old boy named Angel. We invited our investigator Rachel to come and she was able to attend. She was originally only going to stay until 7:00, because she was going out with her friends, but when we told her that it would be a little longer and that they were going to be conferring the Holy Ghost on him she said, "I can't leave now, I have to see this." The next day, we got a text from her thanking us for inviting her to the baptism and telling us that she felt the Spirit there. It was such an awesome experience for her!

 

This week we were also able to meet with Areli for the last time, because she moved to Escondido. It was a great lesson and she always has such a special Spirit that radiates from her. I will miss being able to meet with her each week.

 

So on Saturday, we had an awesome service experience. It all started off with us stopping by a potential investigators house. As we were walking back, we stopped to talk to this guy named Anthony, who was sitting in his moving truck. He talked to us a little bit and we then asked him if we could help him move.  At first he said no, but we insisted and he allowed us to help him out. We then started talking to him and we got on a conversation about how this world that we live in is so messed up and how it is the family unit that is one of the most essential things. He has had some pretty bad experiences with some of his family which was why we were helping him move out. We then were able to talk to him about Family History because he said that as far as he knew back in his family, was his grandfather and that he would love to learn more. We were then able to give him a paper about our family history center locations. It was great to be able to talk to him about that because it is not that often that we are able to. We then helped him move and he had so many cool things! His grandfather was one of the Fortune 500 CEO's and when he passed away, he got quite a lot of collectibles. He even gave us a couple of things, such as a surf board, two boogie boards, and some old military artillery cans. It was a great experience for Elder Urey and I. At the end of us helping him, he said, "Y'all are a God send, you coming and offering to help is probably the first thing that has been positive in my life in a long time." He told us that he would love to have us come over to his new home and have dinner with us and hear our message. Sharing the gospel is so easy as we are good examples and we are serving others, for when we are in the service of our fellow men, we truly are in the service of our God.

 

So, with General Conference coming up this weekend, I wanted to share a quote that someone shared in Elders Quorum yesterday. It is "the problem with the old crow is that he has the wisdom about how to fly and where to go but does not have the energy to do so. The problem with the young crow is that he has a lot of energy but has no direction as to where to use it." What that is talking about is that the Prophets and leaders of our church are the old crows that barely have the energy to stand but they have the wisdom that can help us young crows know where to focus our energy. As you watch General Conference this weekend, I would invite you to take notes and listen to what the Prophets and Apostles have say and head their council. They have lived through what we have and they know how to best help us. 

 

I hope y'all have a great week!!

 

I love and miss y'all!!

 

Love,

Elder Rudd

 

 

Vista YSA District

(Hard to believe transfers are almost here again)

Sis. Call, Sis. Shaw, Sis. Middleton, Elder Rudd, Elder Ellis, Elder Wilson, Elder Urey

 

A couple "rewards" for helping someone move.

Elder Rudd said he was thinking they could be "carry on" items when he returns.

Elder Rudd's Dad has other ideas about trying to get them back to Florida.

Chickens greet the Elders at many of the homes in Vista.

I think Elder Rudd would prefer being chased down by a chicken,

instead of dogs (like several weeks ago).

 

Moving M&Ms for one of the "Minute to Win It" games

Trying to get an Oreo from your forehead

to your mouth is a lot harder than you would think.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Hey Everyone!!

This week was great! So, on Wednesday we had a really neat experience. We picked up this new investigator named Rachel last Sunday and we were able to teach her. She had some pretty deep questions for us and had done her research on what she thought was true about our Church, but by the end she had learned the truth about what we really believe.  We started off the lesson teaching the Restoration to her. It went well and we were even able to teach this guy that was sitting next to us at another table. She had this question about eternal marriage and it was so great because we were a little stumped because of the way she was wording it, so the guy that was sitting next to us gave us a scripture from the bible and it helped her to better understand what we were trying to teach her. That man then thanked us for letting him listen and pretty much bore witness to Rachel that the things we were teaching were true. This man was not a member of our Church.  I think that he just felt the Spirit as we were going over The First Vision and knew of its truthfulness. Then Rachel said to us, I was thinking about just reading The Book of Mormon, cover to cover. We did not even invite her to do that yet and she said that she would do that! It was such a neat experience and we are going to be meeting with her sometime this week as well. She even said that she will make sure to watch General Conference this week too! 

Some other great things that happened this week is that I was able to give a baptismal interview for this awesome lady named Johnna. She was baptized in the 10th Ward the other day. Afterwards, we were able to hold some of their puppies, they were so cute.

We also got to go and help a family out with their tree and moving some cut logs out of their driveway. It felt so good to get my hands dirty and a little rough again. I miss working with stuff like that but I know this is where I need to be right now. 

All of our investigators are doing well! We have a meeting with Joey, Justin, and Monti tonight after FHE and are excited to have a lesson with them.

We also got a new investigator yesterday named Evan who said that he wanted to learn more about the church and so we will be meeting with him on Wednesday.

I hope that y'all have a great week!

I love y'all! 

Love,

Elder Rudd

Johnna's puppies

Johnna was recently baptized in the 10th Ward.

Elder Rudd getting some "Mission Approved" love.

Monday, March 14, 2016

President Announced a Period of Jubilee

Hey Everyone!!

So this week has been an AMAZING week!

So this week we had what is called a zone review in our mission where our mission President comes around and speaks to all of the zones. During this zone review, he announced a mission wide period of Jubilee which is where everything goes great and everyone is able to start new. In the scriptures it talks about there being a Jubilee year every 50 years and during that year, everyone is forgiven of their debts and they see miracles happen. We saw so many miracles this past week.

So on Monday we were able to have a lesson with Joey, Justin, and Monti which went pretty well. They are some of the coolest people I have ever been able to teach. They really enjoy us coming over. Yesterday we had a lesson with them again and Joey is going out of town and said he would not be back until next Monday and so he wanted to have our next lesson then because he did not want to miss having us teach him.

Another Miracle that happened was that we were able to teach Daniel twice this week as well. He is an awesome man and is progressing towards baptism on March 26th. He is so excited to get baptized!

So one of our recent converts, Lili, called us the other night around 8:45 right before we were going to start heading home and asked us if we could come and meet her at the Vista Villages because some Christian minister was just bashing on her and she had some questions for us. So we went right over and had a lesson with her. She is such a strong person and knows that this church is true and really what she was asking us about was just, how she can respond better to them without responding in a way that is defensive. She knows the truth and she just wants them to know too. She is so great! She even invited her friend to church as we were sitting there at the table with them. I love it when members do missionary work all on their own.

We also were able to meet with this guy named Troy. So funny and awesome story, so I was going through our old potential investigator sheet and I felt like I should stop by him. So we did and he said that he had spoken to missionaries like a year ago and he had been waiting for them to stop by but every time they stopped by in the past, he was never there. He is such a cool guy that has had a lot happen in his life that has helped him grow closer to God. We will be stopping by his place next Saturday and hopefully have another lesson with him.

I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve here and am grateful for my mission President that was inspired to have a Period of Jubilee for the next 3 weeks. I am so excited to see all of the many miracles that will happen as our mission is obedient and is able to see the hand of God in our lives. I know that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the exact same church that Christ established when he was here on the Earth and I am so grateful to be a part of it.

I hope y'all have an amazing week!!

I love and miss y'all!!

Love, Elder Rudd

Running in the rain this morning

(part of daily exercise)

Elder Rudd & Hermana Young.

SMALL WORLD!

Sister Young's family currently lives in Marion, NC (home of Elder Rudd's Aunt Lara). 

Sister Young's family previously lived in St Cloud, FL (home of Elder Rudd's Uncle Lee).

So, her family was in the same ward as Elder Rudd's Aunt Lara & Uncle Lee.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Has it Really Been 5 Months?!

Hey Everyone!

 

This week was a pretty great week! The highlight of the week was for sure being able to go to the temple! We went to the temple on Wednesday and it is great to be able to go to the temple because it gives me that spiritual re boost that I need. So on the way to the temple we got a call from the second councilor in the bishopric's wife asking if we could give Bro. Remsburg a blessing because he had just had a heart attack. As I heard this I immediately thought about my dad and my grandma that have both had heart attacks. That one hit home for me. We let her know that we could not, since we were already on our way to the temple and had our bishop go over to give the blessing. He is doing well and is at home resting right now.

 

We also had a lesson this week with a former investigator named Gabby and her mom Sue. We were able to have a really spiritual lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation and how they will see their son and brother that they lost 6 years ago. Their whole view on us and on God completely changed after we had the lesson with them. It is so amazing to see how the Spirit can have such an impact on those that truly want to know the truth.

 

So I have also had a couple of Spiritual experiences this week. The first one was when I was going to a potential investigators house and we knocked on the door around 7 PM and as soon as I knock on the door I get this sick feeling like we needed to leave there right then. I decided to wait a little bit longer and then the same feeling came again so I told Elder Urey that we should go. We walked down the street pretty fast and then once I got in the car I told Elder Urey how I felt and he said that he felt the same way. Though I do not know why the Spirit told me to leave, I do know that because I followed the promptings of the Spirit, I was most likely kept from harms way.

 

I have a testimony of the Spirit and how it can influence our lives for the better. The hardest part for me was recognizing whether or not I was feeling the Spirit or if that was just me. I realized that as I acted on the promptings, I began to get more promptings and am now better able to recognize when the Spirit is prompting me to do things. My challenge is for y'all to try and recognize the Spirit more fully in your life and when you get those promptings to act on them.

 

I hope y'all have a great week!!

 

I love and miss all of y'all!!

 

Love,

Elder Rudd

 

San Diego Temple Trip

Vista Zone Photo

(missing a few Sisters that had already entered the Temple)

Elder Madero,Elder Steiner, Elder Groesbeck, Elder Le Tendre, Elder Talbot, Elder Wilson(ZL)

Elder Running, Elder Mangus, Elder Quinney, Elder Saxey,Elder Rudd, Elder Urey, Elder Marchand
Sister Benware, Sister Prather, Elder Ellis(ZL)
 

Those that were already inside were Sister Call, Sister Middleton, and Sister Shaw.

San Diego Temple

(The flowers changed since the last visit)

San Diego Temple

Elder Rudd

2nd San Diego Temple trip since arrival to California

Selfie at the San Diego Temple

Truck covered with Corona bottle caps!

The Word of Wisdom lesson may be a challenge.

Cheaper than a paint job?

Elder Rudd's new found friend - a slug

 

 

Monday, March 4, 2016

Photo surprise from one of the members out in California!

 

Elder Rudd & Elder Urey