Monday, August 25, 2014
FIRST WEEK IN Terrafal CAPE VERDE
Africa. I can´t even begin to explain how amazing it has already been. The Mission president and wife are so wonderful! i donºt have the time to correct anything, by the way. everyday just gets better and better, i really donºt know why i have been so blessed. the first night in praia i went out teaching with this legendary missionary from brasil, he was so awesome and i actually said some stuff in the lessons. the portuguese has been the hardest part for me to get used to because nobody speaks portuguese! Everyone only speaks in Criole so I am pretty much always lost. And in that first lesson the lights totally went out and so we taught half a lesson in absolutely pitch black which, by this point, seemed totally normal. the things i have seen already would definitely not be seen in the United states but this has made it all the better!
I got my trainer on thursday and the mission president gave me the absolute best! Elder Drawe from Hurricane Utah, and I know you will all unitentionally judge him off of that but he is honestly the best mission dad i could get. my mission grandpa (my trainerºs trainer) is one of the APs. the missionaries here are absolutely awesome.
The ride to my new área, Terrafal, was beyond stunning. it had rained recently and so on our ride through the mountians we drove up into the clouds. The 12 person van we fit 23 people into it, with a driver who knew how to get around without hitting anyone, not getting him, and going as fast as was possible.
We had a talento show this past saturday, which was a great activity for new investigators. Dancing and singing is a huge part of cabo verdean culture. Everyone here is much more open with everything and people will always say hi when you walk past them in the street. We had a record number of people come to church this sunday, 82, where we only expected 60.
We taught a chinese lady who only knew mandarin who had a friend that could translate to criole. We then had Paulo, a member of the bishopbric,, translate from criole to portuguese then when i wasnºt understanding everything, Elder Drawe would translate to English. This is life here in Cabo Verde. I think I am the first greenie to get called to Terrafal, I already love it here but there is sure a lot of work to be done.
One lesson was supposed to be to this great lady, Na, but when we started there were some women from the relief society who showed up and wanted to be part of the lesson. After a minute a few more women showed up, then a few more, then a few more, then a few kids, then a dog. Soon there were almost 15 people packed into this tiny super hot room...Mom, I donºt know how you do it, that many ladies together spells trouble. They were super chatty and the lesson was super difficult.
I have so many other experiences I could share but we get next to no time here. Ether 12, great chapter, really helps.
Love always,
Elder Judd
Thursday, August 21, 2014
HE IS IN CAPE VERDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got in this morning, am alive, and and am in love with this place! Some of the things I've seen already, oh man! Write soon.
(Did a mother's heart good to get this one!) He called from the airport in Minneapolis to talk to me. (He choked up when he heard my voice, he hasn't missed us at all, so that was a very sweet moment.) Boston layover he was able to talk to the kids after school and Jon who had just flown into New York. Jon got to the airport in the morning right as Chandler's plane was leaving. I thought he should go a little early for his flight, but Jon was sure he wouldn't recover from another goodbye. It seems like FOREVER since we have seen him. 6 weeks down, 98 to go.... Poor boy was so sick, what a way to take a 30 hour flight.
Last email from the MTC
I leave to Cabo Verde in less than 9 hours and it is nuts!!! I am so excited! I will be calling while in Boston tomorrow around 3~5pm. Unless you want me to call at ~9:30am from Minneapolis? Only ~30 hours of travel, it could be way worse. You can answer if you want or not, it's all cool, but please do.
I don't really know the language of Portuguese, and this is going to be a big and, not going to lie, tough change but it is going to be so worth every second of it. I love you all. SO much!!! I need to rely on the Lord more than ever, which is apparent here. It is not quite as apparent when it is a normal summer and starting back at school. I don't even want to be the best missionary anymore, I want to be the missionary who relies on the Lord more than he thought was possible for him. I have grown so much and so much closer to Christ. God has blessed me more than I ever truly thought. Charity=Atonement=Christ=
Cabo Verde, Here I Come!
Pray for the people of Cabo Verde, Thanks!
-Elder Judd
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Less than a week before jet plane time!
August 12, 2014
Somehow every week just gets better and better. God is truly so good to us. I have learned that we find greater miracles when we appreciate the small and simple things. I have seen irrefutable evidences that God has reached his hand down during the day and directed me to a scripture or touch my heart with patience I didn't know I had. I feel him when I pray, and I can tell now better than ever the people who have met God in their lives. We must become more than just acquainted with our Heavenly Father but must become an obedient child that will do all they can to make their father and mother proud. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little. God is personal.
This past week a spiritual giant left our district's lives here in the MTC. Our teacher Irmao Nielson, the most honest and gentle man I have ever met, got married to another Portuguese teacher who was nearly perfect for him. The last day was hard to say goodbye to him, how strange? A man whom we had only known for several weeks had become a friend to each one of us. He was as gentle as Christ, quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. (he actually doesn't get angry, it isn't possible for him)
During the week I had the most difficult day so far at the MTC, I had not been as diligent and my patience had worn thin and my pride was too puffed up. We slowly, very slowly, become desensitized to the things in life that are not at full potential. Desensitization. I was comparing myself to others and when I compare it is all too easy to get distraught and see how worthless I can be, but those thoughts are not of God. To call someone worthless (including yourself) is to mock a creation of God. "It was never between you and them anyway" (Mother Teresa) it is only between you and God. But overall that day was still a wonderful day, oh, how blessed I am. Oh, how blessed we all are when we focus on what we have been gifted from our Father.
The one and only thing I need you all to remember from this though is to watch the new Mormon Message "Hope of God's Light". It will touch you in a way that a thousand emails couldn't. Please watch it with this in mind: 'Never. Never give up hope in that one person, we all have people that come to mind who are struggling. How can we help them come unto the Healer of all.' (I cannot help but cry each time I watch this video)
In less then a week I will be on a plane flying to the Islands of Cabo Verde, into a Land of Light, into a land where English will not be heard, into a land where God's influence is. And I have been blessed to go there.
(Romans Chapter 8 is a good 'must-read', on a random note.)
Love, always,
-Elder Judd
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
August 5, 2014
No week is just like any other here at the MTC. Which I can thank the Lord for. The Lord is mindful of us whether we acknowledge it or not: while we were walking to the temple last Preparation day, one of the Elders in our district was complaining about how we never get to see the outside world, and how the MTC is a prison, and how nothing is ever different. Right then, we all look up from the ground to see a deer bound across the field RIGHT in front of us... we decided as a group never to complain again, hahaha. It was a miracle to us, how often does a deer appear literally out of nowhere in the city of Provo and run right in front of a group.
We had two missionaries go home that were close to us and it was hard to see their potential for good yet see their faces so down trodden. We have another who almost got sent home but is trying to rely on the lord and become serious as he dedicates his life to service. I am grateful for God's knowledge of all and faith he has in us.
The toughest thing for me this week is seeing how judgmental, immature, prideful, and even racist people here in the MTC are. It has been difficult for me not to focus on how ridiculous these things are to exist in the MTC. It has made me very sad. All I can do is control my own actions and pray with all my heart that the Lord will help these missionaries.
The Lord knew that there wasn't anyone better to have as my first companion as to have Elder Conway. I learned a valuable lesson of persistence: I knew that something was bothering him and he would always just say that he was tired and if I didn't have the spirit as a constant companion I would have left it at that. Luckily, I kept digging and digging and digging and we finally got through and were able to have fully open communication which not only strengthened our relationship but also the relationship with our Heavenly Father.
As a district and zone we have really gotten into sand volleyball. The Cape Verde team will always beat Mozambique and the Brasil teams wouldn't stop talking trash so we had to go and show them what Portuguese country is the best, haha.
The biggest inadequacy I have felt thus far is not knowing the scriptures like I should. I have learned through this:
-Do not compare yourself to others... Ever
-Don't expect yourself to be perfect right off the bat
-The spirit can guide you to the scripture your investigator needs
I have had amazing experiences that I could share about each one of these but there isn't ever enough time to do so. One experience regarding the last one (the spirit can guide you to the scripture your investigator needs) involved not an investigator but my teacher.
We were done with this activity of practicing finding scriptures and were supposed to talk about how it went, my companion in this activity, Elder Mortensen, had the spirit influence him (he didn't realize it at the time) to ask if we could practice with Irmao Nielson, our teacher. Irmao Nielson is feeling overwhelmed because he is getting married in a week, and so I decided to share how Christ calmed the raging tempest. I thought this scripture was in Matthew 14 and when I got there I found out that it was about Christ and Peter walking on water. I was led by the spirit to explain to him that when Peter was focusing on Christ he could walk on water and when he started to focus on the change going on around him that is when he began to sink. "Immediately" the Lord stretched forth his hand and didn't let Peter drown. It was a short 2 minutes but by the end we all had tears in our eyes.
The Lord has provided the Cape Verde missionaries with an opportunity to focus on him and not the stormy sea. We were told of the E.Bola outbreak in North West Africa and we heard rumors that it is already in Cape Verde, if this is the case we will be reassigned until the pandemic clears up. This is horrible for me to admit but when a lot of the missionaries looked so scared and worried and began to complain about going stateside I thought it was so funny how they didn't really understand that if we get reassigned that is where we are supposed to be. Being 18 and 19 and think we should have learned that already, haha.
I was planning on finishing the New Testament this week but the Lord had other plans for me. My branch president chastised me for reading outside the Book of Mormon and Preach my Gospel. I was so excited to read more in the Bible but then after thinking about it I realized how little I knew about the resources in Preach my Gospel.
Oh the tender mercies of the Lord. Last night, as you know, there was a massive rainstorm and during our free study period we all went outside and got absolutely drenched. I have never had such a joyful experience before, perhaps in my life. Everyone was laughing and personally thanking their Lord for a rainstorm. Before, we never really appreciated a rainstorm, especially not in church clothes but we splashed each other, gave each other crazy hairdos and loved every last second of it. The rain. In many African languages there is no word for "God" but they use the word "rain". Enjoy the summer.
Too Selfishly Happy,
-Elder Judd
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