Semana 40

October 21,2013

FAMILIA

We had another lesson with Enrique and Adalida last night. SO SWEET. Tomorrow we will be cooking with Adalida. I'm so excited. I feel so much love for them when we are in their house. I'm really not sure when they will be baptized or how all of the legal things will work because they will need to finalize their divorces in Mexico and then marry each other, but they are so amazing.

This last week we have been able to teach so many families. Can you beleive it? We are following up with about 400 referrals in our stake. All of these referrals came from the surveys that we had the public fill out at the Warren County fair. We have 3 sets of missionaries in this area now (an english set of elders and sisters and us) and we are doing our hardest to visit all of these referrals. Sister Jensen and I have taken on several referrals in this other town over called Smithville. Let me tell you, SMITHVILLE=ZION. We have found so many gems up there. We are doing mostly English work in Smithville, but it is so rewarding. We found a family of 7 the other day. A FAMILY OF 7. We taught all of them in their pretty run down trailer with all of them sitting on their parents bed listening to what we had to say. When we came back a few days later, three of the girls and the Mom (Crystal) all had their Books of Mormon out and had so many questions for us. We probably haven't gotten through a complete lesson yet because they keep overloading us with so many questions. (What a great problem to have as a missionary!)

Before I got my mission call whenever I thought of what my mission would be like I pictured myself teaching in a run down house, in the middle of nowhere Central America with critters and all around... who would have thought that exactly what I pictured myself doing is what the Judkins family is like. It is a trailer that has been added on to and the house is pretty... humble. Really, we go into the most humble places out here in good old Tennessee and Kentucky. I can't even describe to you what their house is like. But I can tell you that I saw a rat running above us while we were teaching... yum.

So cool to be able to teach such a large family. We know that the Spirit directed us to these people!

Something that has been really hard for me on my mission is teaching so many people that I absolutely fall in love with, but not seeing them repent (aka keep commitments like go to church, read, pray... follow through and be baptized.) But guess what our numbers were last night with taking on the fair referrals. NINETEEN progressing investigators. I guess we are doing something right (because the Lord is blessing us with so many of His children who are ready to repent), even though my heart aches for my brothers and sisters who choose to use their agency and not change.

I can't beleive that my mission is halfway over. It scares me. At the beginning of my mission I would think a lot to when I would come home and all the things that I would do. I wanted to be on my mission, but I still thought about what my life would be like after. The longer I have been on my mission, the more I can't even think about going home. I can't leave! There are still so many things that I need to learn, so many things that I need to change about myself, and so many of my brothers and sisters that I want to share the gospel with while I'm still a FULL TIME MISSIONARY (Every memeber a missionary, right?)

Like I've talked about in a couple of my other emails, I've been struggling to gauge if I'm actually a "successful missionary" I keep trying to compare my outward success to that of other missionaries, but as our stake president here in the McMinnville Stake (where I have spent pretty much most of my mission) has told us there are FIVE things that we do as a missionary, and we only have control over ONE of those things:

1. WARN- We choose who we talk to

2. TEACH- Our investigators choose if they want us to teach them. Sure we control what lessons we give and how we deliver it, but "nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach."

3. INVITE

4. BAPTIZE

5. RETENTION WORK

Like I've written you before, the only thing that I have control over in misisonary work is who I choose to warn. Everything else is dependent on other people.

Sorry I have to go. I love you. I miss you all alot. I've learned a lot about getting my priorities straight on my mission.

1) The Gospel 2)Our Family

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Hermana Rich

 p.s. dad asked me to send a couple pictures of our investigators... unfortuantely I don't have that many. I do have one with betty and oscar's daughters though! the angle on this picture is super weird, and my companion and I look really silly, but I hope you enjoy!