ZONE CONFERENCE AND P-DAY #10

Just to add a little color in our writings I have changed to blue maybe red that is fun too or pink would be nice--well maybe I will go back to dark blue and keep it that way for a while.

It is Sunday night and have just talked to the  Marriott's everyone wishing their grandpa a Happy Father's day.It was fun to talk on face time with them all at once.  Spencer our grandson was trying to catch on some sleep after having a few seizures this past week, so we did not have a chance to talk to him. Hopefully next week will be better. They are all doing good, the girls are recovering from school, Steve is working hard, and Tricia is  taking care of the home front and surgery on her hand. We love them a lot.

The Judd girls are up visiting their dad for a few days and will go camping at Lava Hot Springs next weekend--what a vacation that will be. Baylee and Megan went on a LDS trek to the Grand Canyon and had a great time cold but fun... We love them alot.

This last week was a busy week.  We prepared lessons and dinners and on top of that we went to a zone meeting. It was the first one that I had been to. Elder Clark from the Seventies took most of the time teaching the missionaries how important mission work is. It was a great time to be in the middle of all those young spirits. We listened to Sister Cusick's talk about prayer and that was really good, and President Cusick's talk about faith--starting from a particle of faith to exceeding faith it was very good also.

Elder Judd's lesson was wonderful, I know this because I listened out side of the room in the hall.  He is trying to build the number of students to come, and of course, in the summer it is hard with all of the students coming and going, but apparently, more students are coming than the usual amount for this time of year. 

We had another lightening/thunder storm the other day. The rain comes down in every direction - hard.  I hope that I get used to it. It is very intense.

 Our little apartment is keeping us dry from the storms and cool from the heat, so we are  OK. We do have a challenge getting around in the kitchen.  We have to make sure we are syncopated  when we move.  That is an experience and we laugh about it.

Elder Judd: 

Wednesday was a combination of preparing for the Mission Prep class and Proctoring an exam for Cindy Comacho. Cindy came to take her exam for her BYU Independent study course.  When she finished her exam I had arranged for the sister missionaries to take her on a tour of the building.  The sisters came back to our office when they were finished and they were excited. Cindy was very interested and touched by the Spirit. She said that she and her husband would attend church this next Sunday. We do hope that they will.

Thursday I finished up my prep for Mission Prep class and helped Sister Judd  with her final preparations for the evening meal which we have every Thursday after classes. This week she fixed a Hawaiian dinner with rice and cinnamon roles. We were a little concerned how it might be received because we didn’t care for how it turned out, but the YSA finished it off and raved about it.  We are learning that they will eat about anything and like it.

On Friday we spent the time together at the Institute preparing for Monday’s Isaiah class and Sister Judd worked on keeping the books for her shopping and cooking as well as the attendance work she does.  I also do some more with planning and preparing for putting up banners to better identify our institute program and the missionary effort. Later we went shopping for groceries for the coming week.

Saturday is our P-day.  After cleaning up the apartment, we left to head south to see what is billed as the best beach in the world. It is called Siesta Key Beach. It is about 70 miles south of here and just west of Sarasota, Florida. If numbers of people present at the beach is any measure of the best, Siesta Key Beach is certainly the best.  It took us about 20 minutes to find a parking place and then we were blessed to just stumble onto one. As we walked to the shore, we could see thousands of people spread over a shore line of perhaps one and a half miles. The sand is pure white and the consistency of powered sugar. The beach is very clean and the water the color of blue-green and 85 degrees in temperature.  There are several life guard stations spread along the shore close to the water and hundreds of multi-colored sun canopies protecting the hoardes from the sun. Everywhere we saw volley  ball games, sand castle builders, bathers sitting in the water, letting the waves wash over them, keeping them cool.  And of course, we had to keep our eyes focused on the water and the sand, the para-sailors, and kids running up and down the beach so that we would not see too much skin. After about an hour taking  in all the sights and sounds, we headed for the car. On the way we stopped to take a picture of one of the Life Guards. He was a full timer and was copper tanned with blond-sun bleached hair of about 40 years old. He was very friendly and full of information about this people magnate attraction. He encouraged us to come back with our swim suits the next time. On the way home, we stopped for a nice dinner at an Applebees. It was a nice day that allowed us to have a needed change of pace.

MISSION EXPERIENCES # 9

Several mission experiences  this last week to report on:
    Sunday we were able to able to go to a  Stake Missionary Meeting with President Cusick and Elder Thompson.  It was just for the ward council members and all the missionaries that attend their wards.  It was a good meeting especially for  all the wards to encourage using the missionaries in their  ward activities.  He then gave several examples of activities that the missionaries could or should participate in-- cub scouting, ward parties, youth activities,etc.  President Cusick even mentioned dinner for the YSA after Institute was over. He wanted to know if  Elder Judd agreed with him.(It was Elder Judd who told President Cusick that food always brings in young people. And It does!!) So everyone  had a good chuckle about this.  We have had some great success with these dinners bringing in less actives and none members.  Food is a great motivator.
  The Temple Terrace Ward building is a very busy building, we go to meetings here.  It houses the Mission Office, the Institute and three wards, plus a lot of missionaries bring investigators through the building just to see what the inside of a LDS building looks like. The missionaries show the pictures of Christ and teach of Christ all around both halls.  They teach about his life, the miracles he did, coming to the Americas, Joseph Smith, Prayer,and baptism. They always end in the chapel and talk about the sacrament ,committing them to come back, coming to church, prayer,and even baptism.  It is amazing how the spirit works with these young missionaries.  I have been able to  walk with them as they have brought investigators through the church. One such young man came  through and was just interested in  the  building but committed to be baptized by the time he finished, he has been back and been taught many lessons already. His baptism day is set for June 22. This is happening daily.  It is a great experience to be apart of.
   We served dinner Thursday night -- pulled pork, vegetable tray, and fruit pizza.  I was surprised that many YSA members did not even know what a fruit pizza was, but once they saw and tasted it IT WAS GONE IN A MATTER OF MINUTES!!Thank goodness it is too hard to save. Elder Judd took a picture  of the last one that was half gone and he had to hurry to take that picture. It is a lot of work but every one is always so grateful and it seems that all of a sudden we have a lot of young people come and eat and socialize which is what we want them to do.
  We were able to go to the Orlando Temple Saturday afternoon.  It is a beautiful place to go. The YSA had their assignment of baptisms for the dead and had asked Elder Judd to assist. While he was doing that  I did a endowment session . The room was freezing but the spirit was strong. One little old lady kept changing chairs hoping to find a spot where the air conditioner would not hit her.  She did not find it, but told one of the officiators she would not come back until the air conditioner was fixed.  I hope that works because I froze too.

LIGHTENING 8

      WOW WE EXPERIENCED OUR FIRST MAJOR LIGHTENING/THUNDER STORM.  OK now I have been in lightening storms before but I don't think that I have ever been this close to the crackling --the booms-- the sounds of the torrential rain that I was in this last Thursday evening.  All  that happen in a one hour time frame..I wished that I had taken a picture of the rain coming down but I was just to stunned by all that was happening . Joel was teaching a class when some of the  lightening and thunder hit hard just outside the building. EVERYONE JUMPED. I CAME INTO THE ROOM WITH TERROR IN MY FACE.  The students said, "Get use to it, because this is only the beginning  of the daily summer rains and this is the way they come every day."  It rained so hard that we could barely see across the street. 
      We had our first experience Tuesday with bringing in the new elders and sisters from the MTC and then transferring about 1/3 of the mission's elders and sisters to different areas in the mission.  The first part of the day was devoted to the new missionaries --moving them from room to room for individualized instructions  It was fun to see their excitement, and their nervousness of what was to come.  I was asked to help move them around when they looked lost or unsure of where they were going.  That was a great experience.
  (Joels thoughts:)  At 1:30 pm the Transfer Meeting started, directed by Pres. Cusick. We were invited to attend. It was impressive to sit among about 130 young missionaries. There is a Spirit among them and it is an uplifting experience.  With the eleven new ones, there were eleven going home. A tribute was given to each along with a high compliment to Elder and Sister Keyes, a senior couple who were finishing two years of service in the mission office. The Keyes are parents to two young men I taught at Weber Seminary years ago, Sterling and David. President Cusick gave a great talk praising the missionaries and encouraging them in this great work and then sent them on their way to their assigned areas.  It was a great experience being there to see and feel the spirit of this work.
   (Joels comments: ) Monday was Memorial Day, so there was no class or FHE.  So We drove to a local nature park near our apartment called Lettuce Lake. It is a nature reserve centered around a river and lake with heavy growth and much water like the Everglades which are located about 150 south of here. There is a board walk that meanders thru it that we took.  We saw heavy growth, water lily fields, old growth trees growing right in the water.  Turtles, alligators, birds, and snakes are all seen here, and we saw it all.  How different it is from our desert home in Utah! In fact, until coming and living here, I did not consider Utah a desert setting. The contrast is very pronounced and now my perspective is changed. Florida is one continuous garden from one sea (the Atlantic and the Gulf) to the other.

    Thursday was of course dinner preparation day so I was busy as could be.   We had chicken enchilada,salad, and a poke cake(you know the one with white cake and jello in it.) The students  loved the dinner and of course I was pleased with that.   It is a challenge though to know how much to fix for 35 YSA's.  I think that I get it figured it out and then I have to think of the new week menu.  I have relied on all of my old ward cookbooks ---they are the best, so thanks to you all for the wonderful recipes.
     (Joel's comments:)On Friday, after our work at the Institute, while driving over to Sam’s Club, we called Madisen, Emily and Katie to congratulate them for their excellent grades this year in school.  Madisen got a 4.0, Emily got about a 3.6 and Katie got about a 3.7.  We are so proud of them. Madisen announced that she would be getting her Patriarchal Blessing on Sunday, June 8.  How pleased we are to see their righteous desires blossom and lead them into beautiful young women.  Madisen said that she had been thinking about getting her blessing and decided to ask God if it was the right time. Following her prayer, she began scripture reading for the day.  She said that as she read, she came across the phrase; “I will bless you” that the Lord spoke in one verse. After she read that phrase, she stopped and went back and read it again. It was then that she realized that the Lord had just answered her prayer.  When she told us that, it just brought tears to my eyes.  Madisen knows how to hear the voice of the Lord.  How wonderful it is to see my grand-daughter grow up with faith.
      Also this week, our oldest grand-daughter graduated from high school with honors. We are so proud of her. Also Megan's sister's Baylee and Heather  have bee earned  honors awards for their grades.  Megan called to wish me happy birthday (I turned 70 ,Wednesday. )She also announced that she was going to the Dominican Republic to do humanitarian service at the end of July for ten days. She wanted to know if she could fly into Tampa to visit us for a few days on her way home. How exciting for us.  It just happens that the day she will fly into Tampa will be our last day of the summer semester. Then we have two weeks before the fall semester begins.  That is just perfect. We will have some time to take her to the beach, to the temple in Orlando, to meet the YSA and to have her team up with the Sister missionaries for some experience associated with her next goal.. to serve a mission. Needless to say, Marsha and I are thrilled to have her come for five or so days.

BUSY WEEK!! 7

   I Fixed dinner #2 for the Institute. Bro Patrick ( he is our boss)  came in before he had to teach Thursday night and asked how everything was going, I told him it wasn't to bad . He said well you have accomplished 2 of the 43 meals that  you will cook while you are here and both of them have been really good. Those were  nice words of encouragement. He did give the dish the OK, so maybe I will make it through.    The dinner was a 4 pasta beef bake, green salad, bread sticks, and lemon squares.After the dinner the YSA had to help clean the church house yes they even have to take a turn  at it,and yes it is hard to get them to do it. Sounds like everyone else though at cleaning the church it is hard to get total commitment. That being done, they went  into the gym to play a rousing game of volley ball.  We were the cheer section. I still can't believe 43 meals for 40 people every week!!!

  

White Sand

White Beaches 

Elder Judd at the  beach

Seagulls coming in for a chip

We went to the Fort Desoto beach Saturday it was a beautiful beach with white fine fine sand. Joel told a little more about that experience.  It was a great afternoon..







Church is at 1 pm and very very reverent, not a pin drop could be heard.  It sure gives one time to reflect on the Savior and the  Atonement.   The YSA numbers are different every time especially in the summer. We have met some really great young people.


    May 24, 2014  Elder  Judd's words:

This week began with my second class on “Isaiah and the Latter Days.” The student attendance increased by about six and three of them were graduating seniors from a local high school. Two of them are members and they brought a non-member friend of Jewish descent. Our discussion centered around Isaiah’s call to the ministry and the appearance of the the Lord to him in the temple. Renada, the Jewish non member, was very much interested in our discussion and told her friends that she wanted to come again. I felt that she felt the Spirit.

On one of the days this last week, Marsha was making some bread sticks for the dinner on Thursday and the Sister Missionaries came in and asked if she could go with one of the Sisters to take a student on a building tour. The sisters were in a threesome and two of them were teaching Antonio, a young man who came into the building last week looking for his lost keys.  Now the sisters are teaching him the gospel while the third sister directs a building tour with Marsha.  Marsha was asked by the sister missionary to explain some of the pictures around the building. So even though Marsha does not want to teach, she is having her opportunities to bare her testimony  and teach.  She has also sat in on a couple of missionary discussions with the sister during which she has born her testimony. We have both felt the spirit of the work and it is very strong.  What a great experience to be here in this particular capacity.

The two sisters who were teaching Antonio asked me if I would give him a blessing of comfort in as much as he was struggling emotionally with some challenges of life. With another young Elder, I had the privilege of laying my hands upon his head and giving him a comforting, lifting blessing in the name of Christ. It was a  great experience.

Yesterday, while do some preparation for an assignment I was given, Elders Lloyd and Milmont came and asked if I would join them with Jaimee, a student of USF, to help explain Jacob’s writing of Enos’ Allegory of the Olive Tree. For the next hour we all sat together reading the last 27 verses of Jacob 5. It was a great experience to bare my testimony of this great witness in the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful to have studied and taught this chapter several times over my career and then help an investigator catch the spirit of its message. At the end of our discussion Jaimee commented that he was excited to learn so much that made such a difference in his appreciation of the Book of Mormon

Saturday we went to the Fort Desoto beach off the St. Petersburg peninsula.  as you look at the map it looks like a V and it is the one of the last of the islands off that peninsula.  We had to cross one long bridge and causeway that has a  four lane highway This area has bridges and causeways all over the place. As we drove to the Fort De Soto area we were struck by the wide expanse of water all around us. We would drive for miles on narrow cause ways with the huge Tampa Bay all around us. On a map it looks like we are driving right out into the middle of the gulf. Once we arrived at the meeting place we found thousands( it sure seemed like that many) of people all set up in gazebos preparing, eating or cleaning up after a meal. While looking for our YSA group we ran into an LDS group of the older generation saints in one of the gazebos. It took us a few minutes to realize this was not our group. But they were very nice and welcoming. It took us over an hour to find the YSA.

The Fort De Soto North Beach is a large, white sand beach with beautiful blue water which was about 80 degrees in temperature. The Gulf does not have big waves like the Pacific or Atlantic seaboards. The sand feels and looks like white powdered sugar.  It was gorgeous and marvelously soft to walk.

We talked with many that were there, had a burger and chips and sat in our new beach chairs on the beach and enjoyed talking and taking in the view of sand, sea, sky and sun. With a pleasant breeze from the gulf, even though the sun was hot, the breeze was great and took the edge off the heat.

After sunset we all packed up and headed home and got home about 9 pm.

WE HAD A GREAT WEEK 6

      We have been one busy couple!  Elder Judd started out teaching on Monday with  Isaiah and the latter days. He had about 5 students attend hoping that more would come --maybe next week.  (After all these people do not know how great he is.)  I listened in as he was teaching  and of course it was fantastic.  I really think that the word will spread and after all this the summer semester  and a lot of students come and go during the summer time.  Thursday night he started a mission prep class.  He said that it is a lot like teaching Sunday School because these young people need to learn how to teach. He is having a great time teaching anything ---he loves it.
      I started to prepare our first meal for Thursday night.  I choose a chicken pasta salad for a crowd.  It feeds about 30 people with one recipe.  Not trusting the knowledge I had about this recipe I decided to make 2 batches of it now it feeds 60 It just kept multiplying. We only had about 25 students so we had a lot of salad left over. A great lesson learned--Summer does not have the students like fall/winter. It was a success and I am grateful that  the first week is over.

Sister Compton is helping set out the food!

We added a roll and a cookie it was really good!

On Saturday we had the privilege of going to  the Orlando Temple with the YSA. That is one beautiful temple.         The temple grounds were so peaceful and beautiful--it was like we were in heaven.  We were able to take 3 YSA members with us and that was a fun experience getting to know them Steve Compton and Melissa Compton (brother and sister) and Jacob McNeal.
I think that the inside of the temple is built much like the Mt. Timpanogos Temple  the celestrial room was especially wonderful.

After the temple was excursion was over we went to the Lakeland ward to a devotional just for this age group. There was a strong spirit as Elder Christofferson and Elder Rasband give great council to the YSA youth.  We felt the love he had for this age group.  It was a long tiring day but well worth it.

GOING TO THE INSTITUTE --- EVERYDAY!!

MAY 10, 2014                                            5

We worked  hard learning what we needed to do all week long.   Joel spent a lot of time working on his Isaiah in the latter days class-- it will start on Monday  at 5pm.  I know that some of you wanted to hear him teach Isaiah again so come on down!!!   He will be teaching a mission prep class later in the week. I have been looking over what kind of meals I can fix for  $82.oo. It will be a challenge but Sister Compton--the S&I Secretary said I can do it. Thanks for all  the cooking ideas everyone gave me, they have been really helpful.  I will have to go shopping Monday or Tuesday to do the cooking, so that will be the next challenge--finding the stores. !!  All the stores are hidden in the trees --really you cannot see any stores on the side of the roads, you might be able to see a little sign designating that they are there.  CRAZY!  just hope that the GPS will work right.  I NEED MOUNTAINS for my guide points.!!

I was able to sit in a discussion with the sisters the other day. The man had some interesting questions. They did not know that he had emailed them the questions so they were going to research the answers for the next visit. It was my first sit down lesson with an investigator.  It was very interesting how the sisters asked the questions that would lead into a discussion  they were great.

The institute is located on the corner opposite the University of Southern Florida. The institute  building is attached to the main building where 3 wards ( one of the wards is the YSAward) are housed. Next week the mission offices will be moving in at the other end of the building.  It will be a very busy building when that happens.

ELDER JUDD
 

Saturday, May 10, was our first real “P-Day”…  we slept in a little and then started our day with exercise and breakfast. As we sat at the table after eating, Marsha check her iphone for messages and discovered that Veronica, the YSA R.S. President had just sent a message that she was all alone at the church cleaning for Sunday.  We rushed over to help. It turned out to be a great experience getting to know some of these faithful young single adults who are so committed to serving.  By the time the building was cleaned, we had 8 or 10 show up and all pitched in to get the job done.  As is the case when ever the Lord’s work is being carried out, the Saints get to know each other. This effort turned out to be a great opportunity to get to know several of the YSA.  I worked along side of Joseph, a great young man for North Carolina who joined the Church three years ago. He is the only member in his family. He is committed to the Gospel and gives the Lord credit for his successes and happiness. Joseph (his real name is McKinnley Joseph) is training to be a firefighter and paramedic. We also met Travis, a very sharp young man who takes a leading part in the YSA ward. He was born in Guam to a military family.

It is an exhilarating experience to work with the Young Single Adults. As has been stated by many, working with the young people keeps a person young, at least at heart.

In the afternoon we decided to drive to the beaches on the Gulf coast, which is suppose to be about an hour away. With all the traffic it took two hours.  It was bumper to bumper the last five miles. What we saw was beautiful but the press of people was too much.  We saw powdery white sands on the beach but we couldn’t stop because of the heavy traffic so we turned around and headed back to the apartment.

LOOKING AT TAMPA BAY

 

PALM TREES ARE IN THE BEACH AREA -CLOSE AS WE COULD GET

WE ARRIVED!! 4

      We made it to Florida, YEA YEA YEA!!!  That last leg of the drive was the longest, wetest, and windyest.     
    We arrived late Friday right in the middle of the torrential rainstorm only to find out from the regulars  that was a normal rainstorm. Well I was the one driving and could not hardly see the cars in front of me so I did not believe them. They all said just wait and see.  We missed the tornados-- we had a lot of wind and more wind and a lot of rain but nothing that the people in Mississippi had.

      We found our apartment and started the move in.  It is not so bad of an apartment --- carpets were clean, 2 bedrooms, 2 small bathrooms, 1 very small kitchen, 1 sofa, 1 love seat, 1 chair, 1 dinner room table and a dishwasher-clothes washer and a dryer.  All in all we are in a good location with palm trees all around, ducks walking around, alligators in retention ponds, 2 tennis courts and  2 swimming pools. Our apartment is one of  25 buildings with  about 16  dwellings places   It is huge!  and to think we have been fighting against  multi-dwelling units in Pleasant View~!!  

    We of course had to find a grocery store --Walmart did the trick and Costco too.  We had to buy sheets,a couple of rugs, soap, food .  By the time Saturday night we were exhausted .  

  We live in a 25 building complex with about 10-15 units in each building. Lots of palms and tall trees with lots of moss hanging from the limbs(I think that the moss is killing the trees  sad!).  It has 3 med. swimming pools (when everyone is gone to work or school I will get in), 2 tennis courts, 2 retention ponds (they told us not to wade because of alligators--that is what they said and I believe them).  4 sets of missionaries live in the complex which is nice to see them in their white shirts and ties and the sisters looking so good too. It is a quiet place--- except for the building's air conditioners are set right under our bedroom window. Everyone turns them up at night too.

  Sunday we were privileged to go to the Fort Lauderdale Temple dedication. We went to the Tampa Bay ward building.  Pres. Uchtdorf did the dedication and it was very delightful.  He let about 8 children help in setting the corner stone and of course they were thrilled.  Doing the hosanna shout is always a thrill to be a part of.

  Monday we met with the Mission President, it was an interesting meeting. He thinks that the CES Support Missionaries would be able to handle more responsibilities. He does not know how hard Joel works for the lessons he teaches.  Well we think that we might be helpful in some way for him to see how important CES really is for the youth of this church.  He is a nice man with lots of responsibilities on his shoulders.  He came into the Tampa Mission with just 150 missionaries 9 months ago and now he has 245 missionaries.  The church is really moving along. We then met with the area director for the S & I program, and found out that we have more programs and responsibilities than we thought we would have.  I do not think that we will have much time left to do anything else. We came to the institute building on Tuesday and met with the secretary (who I think is really the person in charge of  everything) and found out what we will really be doing--a lot!!!!!  

  While at the Institute yesterday, I was asked to sit in with the sister missionaries while they gave a lesson to an investigator. It was a good experience.  He had some interesting questions for the Sisters. The spirit was definitely the teacher here.  It was good to be apart of this.!!

  I think that we will enjoy this experience especially after all the encouraging words we received from everyone. Oh, everyone answers with a Yes Sir or a Yes mam that will take minute to get used too.

  Love and Blessing to you all ,      Marsha (dang I forgot again) Sister Judd

Elder Judd:
At about 3:00 pm we decided we better make another run to Costco and Walmart to pick up additional items that we need to settle into the apartment. While at Walmart I had two interesting experiences with people and my Missionary badge. I was waiting in line to return something when a lady just started at my badge. So I told her I am a missionary for my church. She said she first thought it was here church but then realized it was not. I asked her what church she belonged to and she said that she was Methodist.  I then said that we have a lot in common and that we both love Jesus Christ. She smiled and agreed.  Then while walking down an isle looking for Marsha a young, smart looking black man starred at my badge and thought I was an store worker.  Then he realized that I was not he looked closer and said, “Oh, you work for Jesus!”  I responded, “Yes, I do!”  “That’s good” he said and continued down the isle. My thought was that it is good to wear the name of Christ and represent Him.  As a duly set apart representative of Him, I truly do work for Jesus.