Letter #18

August 16, 2010

Hello loved ones,

Wow I have been truly touched by the words of encouragement I received today from my dear family and friends. Thank you so very much! I feel silly bawling in the library, my eyes glued on the computer....ha ha! That’s ok....thank you, they have been tender mercies of the Lord and an answer to a prayer....yes EXPECT MIRACLES! And I am today expecting a special miracle of re-commitment!

So this week we have a woman named Brenda except a baptismal date for Oct. 16th, 2010. She smokes, but is very poor and borrows her cigarettes every day. We made a game plan to smoke 2 this week, 1 next week each day and then 1/2 the 3rd week and then on Sept 4th STOP! Not sure of her commitment to it yet. She is very VERY needy and is only 62 and well, just needy and makes lots of excuses. But the Lord wants all his children to have the chance to except and follow and keep his commandments. It’s NEVER too late to turn a new leaf! YES me too! (Funny this ties into my re-commitment to my mission)

Ok, so I studied Word of Wisdom on food and am restructuring how I eat so I don't come home 548 3/4 lbs! Mom, you’d have to roll me home. Or just leave me here, because you could see me from Oregon! ha ha! No, but really that actually led me to a sacred gift my Father in Heaven wanted me to learn today. The blessings of following the word of wisdom in D&C:89 READ THIS!!! And 88 too!

19: "Shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge"...

D&C 84:19

"Any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom and Fail NOT to CONTINUE FAITHFUL in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither, darkened, neither in body limb, and or joint: and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed, and they shall not go an hungered neither athirst".

So my mind will not get tired or darkened: I won’t' forget things, my body will work how it is supposed to! I will be taken care of always. The Lord keeps his promises. It’s us that decide whether we want to show our love through obedience! Did you guess my re-commitment yet!? Yes food and..... OBEDIANCE!!! Isn’t the atonement a great thing!? I tell you something: the Atonement makes the same change in every heart! You 1st must do the hard part and gain a humble sincere desire!!! Ok I'm humbled today truly! Obedience came up in EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY LETTERS I GOT TODAY and in my personal study.....maybe my father in heaven is trying to tell me something...hnmmmmm....maybe....naw!!! ok just kidding.....SO TODAY is going to be a day of reconciling with my savior and my father and re-committing myself to my father's will which is in Heaven by following my savior and brother Jesus Christ who paved the way for each us to follow and partake of not only the fullness of the gospel but also the fullness of HAPPINESS! I feel like some of you reading this are struggling with this? Finding fullness of joy and happiness in your life....Dan. 1:17 (6-20) Mysteries of God will be revealed to those He chooses to reveal them to....D&C 42:14 and through a prayer of faith ye may have the spirit"...."and by the spirit ye may know the truth of all things"...1 Nephi 1: 20 " I will show unto you the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance!"

The Lord knows his children, even though sometimes we don't want him to know us or we don't feel worthy for his gaze to come towards us. So we hang our heads like the leaper until someone says "Jesus is his name"....He is not this overwhelming person we cannot know and he testifies of his father in heaven who sent him, he came to do his father's will. We are children of GOD. Should our purpose not be the same to build the kingdom of God and in reality isn't that simple to invite our brothers and sister to partake of that true Joy or utmost happiness every living soul longs for? WE HAVE IT. Share it with all your heart and the spirit will teach and testify and connect with their spirit (who know each other) and the feeling of peace, love and true joy will come when they find where they belong...when they find home....is in heaven with our family and heavenly family and parents. This is the gift we have to share as members of the one true church on the face of the earth. There is no other way but by and through Jesus Christ and his patterned life. If we could all be saved and live in God's presence because Christ died for us....who would the test of been for? Not me and not you....

It's been a challenging week, but it's a climb to get to the peak, then we get to jump off and hit our knees on a knee board (prayer) and grab the rope (spirit) and hold on for dear life as the spirit leads and guides us, but if I get lazy and jump late or lose strength I'll fail...but not if I have the right board (obedience) the one dad got with the clips that you put the rope in the ease the burden on your arms so that you can keep going. And then take hold again! (The lord takes our burdens Luke 5) if we ask. Ok can you tell its summer and I MISS OUR MALABU!!!!! Is she doing ok!? I hope ya'll are play'n with her and having fun for me!!! Daddy, It’s time to have fun!!! No more worries k!?

My companion and I have been struggling, I am just telling her how I feel with out yelling and getting mad, but sometimes she is so good at helping me make my blood BOIL!!!! She doesn’t want to be here in Tomball anymore. I can see it, she's done here. She told me that she feels like she is leaving and the mantel is coming off, so I have 3 more weeks with her and we need to make them count!! It's important not to give up and this is a HUGE part of my re-commitment today being P-day....a re-commitment to my companion so that I can help keep the peace and lift her up and keep the peace and oh did I mention keep the peace!!! Through the spirit nothing is impossible, right!? Ok breathe in and out and grab the rope and fake it till you MAKE IT!!! BOOYAAA BABY@!!!!! I can so do that....John I just thought of me and you dog fighting on the knee boards (boogie boards) :) totally better be ready for one when we see each other again! :D YEAH DOG FIGHT!!! Miss you bro. :) I haven’t gotten a letter from ya'll for a while maybe you could show some love yeah!? And send a letter!!!??? Thank you! Been miss'n you every day! specially when I feel the wind (which hardly ever blows) and I close my eyes and dream I'm sitt'n in the front of the Malibu....mmmm.....ok....RE-COMMITMENT!!!! :D ha ha!!! I feel good today. I feel something is going to happen very well and I need to be prepared!!

I got a fortune that said "someone in my family is going to do something that will make me proud" .....it's true now....I'm so PROUD.....yes I used it...the p-word...and I liked it!

Ok we have Zone conference and guess what!!!! ELDER CACOCHKIE is coming!! Can’t spell his name he's Chinese, SO AMAZING!!! It’s in 2 weeks, and oh boy I was asked to give the opening prayer....!!! :D I think they got me confused with somebody else....I'm a little baby greenie! YUP and always want to be! But I feel honored by being asked to do that. What another tender mercy there must be something the Lord wants me to learn or say to someone. Hmmm.....COOL!.....can't wait to figure out what it is!

We also met this awesome guy names Jesse and he is so cool, old musician his son is something Dakota he is Mormon and a musician, but not sure about the rest. He has a book of Mormon and has read it for inspiration sometimes; he is not a fan of organized religion and wow!!! He is just so cool. he lives in a nice trailer house and has cd's hanging on his trees (he planted 50 years ago) and has bottled trees too.....so, my comp went there before when we were on splits and he wasn't interested, when we were walking my comp said that and I said, "ok, lets talk to him again" and said "HEY!" he talked and said didn't ya'll come bay a few days ago, and I said "yea, she did, but I didn't get to!" And he laughed and we talked for 30 minutes about life and God and the book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and he said he had a book of Mormon and read from it...I asked "have you ever prayed to know if it was truly the word of God?" he looked at me with childlike eyes and looked up to think and said..."ya know what....no....I haven’t". WOW!!! He is very neat. What a blessing to talk to him.

Well I love you thank you for writing and caring about me! Oh and mom, sister Cottle sent me the "getting to know you" about you!!! I LOVED IT! It lifted my spirits. It was fun to read about you and your likes and how dang similar we are momma! Ha ha! Oh and I'm not in the missionary news part, must have forgotten. At first I was sad, then I just wrote myself in and said, "oh, how sweet!" ha ha!!! I love LOVE LOVE OUR WARD!!!! GO LAKE OSWEGO!!!! Tell them how much I love them and thank sister Cottle give her a big hug and tell her congrats to the mission!!! WOW!! I'll write her too, but if you see her before, I want her to know how much I appreciated her thinking of me!!!

Lots of love family!!! Lots of love friends......now I have to go work hard and stay HAPPY!!! :D

Love you from here to home!

-Sister Judkins