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