December 26th

Hope you all had a spectacular Christmas! Thank you again for the 2 boxes (family and grandma). It was so sweet for you to think of my companions- I was especially thankful for Sister Tiroba to have things to open. Sister Snow was also very appreciative because of how sweet and thoughtful you all are! As if it isn't hard enough not to gain weight here at the MTC, having all our favorite candies is making it just that much harder! But ya know it is what it is. Also thank you to the Hoopers for the ADORABLE Christmas card!!! Miss you and love you bunches! Also, Silas hope you had a crazy amazing sweet 16! Ah you are so old. I demand all details about you asking girls on dates etc etc etc. So excited for you!! Family, did you take any pictures at Christmas? And did you get my letters?
PAUSE from the letter: So we do our laundry while emailing and all the computers downstairs next to the machines were being used so we put in our clothes and went upstairs. When I took my whites out of the washer I left my bra on the top of the machine on top of my laundry bag and went and started a dryer. I went back to the washer to get my colors and my bra was gone. I looked everyyyyywhere for it. Double checked all the machines and even my companion's machines. Can't find it. Haha Ya I'm like super weirded out right now. Who takes someone else's bra? So beware of the creepy elder bra stealer here at the MTC people! haha I'm going to go look again when my drying is done and if I haven't found it I'm going to have to send another email asking mom to send me another before I leave. Sorry mom but I should really go to the Philippines with more than one! SO weird.
Well I am starting my 4th week here at the MTC. That means half way there! The ENTIRE zone is leaving either Sunday night or Monday morning and my district will be the only ones left! But only until Tuesday when internationals come in and Wednesday everyone else will follow. We will be getting 17 new Elders and Sisters!! And guess who will be training the new Sisters.... Sister Snow and I! We are so pumped! I will update you next week on that when we have them here and get to interview them etc. It is going to be SO hard to say goodbye to all the other Elders and Sisters in our zone but we're so excited for them to be in the field and meet "normal people" as we call it here. This week has been kinda hard. In some ways I feel like I've hit a wall with the language. It's so important to know that there are 2 parts to the atonement- cleansing and enabling. Paagi-sa Pugpasag-uli (Through the Atonement) we can have more power, skills and capacity than on our own. Knowing this makes all the difference. USING it makes even more of a difference. Hope you all can use this in your life too.
So Christmas here was awesome! Elder Bednar and his wife came and spoke to us and it was THE COOLEST! He had us do something that has never been tried before... They passed out over 200 cell phones and had the Elders and Sisters text.. yes I said TEXT inspired questions to Him (he gave us his number) and he would get the questions on his iPad. It was really cool! One really funny thing that he said to us before they passed out the phones was if anyone called their parents or texted their girlfriends he would "hunt you down and do bad things to you" hahaha He didn't even smile after saying that or anything and everyone kinda nervously laughed. haha But the devotional was also broadcasted live to all the other MTCs around the world and they had his email and he actually answered a couple questions from them too! I want to share a couple insights and things that I thought were really cool from his talk. One of the questions someone asked "what his favorite scripture is and why": He answered by saying he has favorite themes not just scriptures and something he taught about the Savior through this theme was WAY cool! (It made me think of you dad, I thought you would find it fascinating too). He shared 3 Nephi 11:14-17 and outlined where it says "One by One" as the people came and felt the Saviors prints of the nails in his hands and feet. Elder Bednar taught that there were 2500 people in this multitude and that for every person to come one-by-one it took almost an entire DAY for the Savior to individually meet each person. This shows the Savior's love for all His children individually. And the "individual" aspect is what we should truly gain testimony of and know for ourselves. Because he bore the sins of every person individually, not as a whole. Elder Bednar said that this principle is outlines a total of 6 times in the Book of Mormon and that in 3 Nephi 11 that is 1 of 6 of the times it is found. It was also interesting for him to take this principle and have him teach us as missionaries. He said that when we speak in church we are teaching a congregation of ONES. Not teaching 200 people. But 200 ONES. That is how the spirit works and how we should let the spirit teach through us. There is so much more I'd love to share but it means so much to me and I would probably end up writing a novel. But if any one is particularly interested in what else he shared, email or write me! It was SO cool to actually see him gain inspiration as he taught us and as he took each question into careful consideration.

Kabalo ako nga matuod ang simbahan ni JesuCristo. Kabalo ako nga mga anak nia kita. Ginpadala kita sang Dios sa Kalibuton, agud mgtu-on kag muguswag. Palangga ang Dios sang mga pamilya.
I know that this church is true. I know that we are His children. God sent us to earth to learn and grow. God loves families.

LOVE YOU ALL!!
Sis. Judd

Merry Christmas from Sister Judd!

Sister Judd was able to send us a letter for Christmas and we are so excited!!

I'm so happy to be able to email to you all today! First off, THANK YOU THANK YOU for the packages Pamilya kag Grandma Barbara!! It was so thoughtful to get gifts and especially for my roommates to also get a little something from you all. I can't send pictures today because they have it down to a science how long we're on the computer for, but tomorrow is still my P-day so I will write again and send pictures! Christmas is so fun here! Last night we had Elder Evans from the Seventy and on the Executive Counsel for Missionaries serving with Elder Nelson and Bednar. He gave a wonderful message and there is just so much love here because we're all each other's family today:) I'm hoping that you all are enjoying Christmas!! Christmas is all about love. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us SO much, more than we can ever comprehend. So much so that he sent His son to the earth as a Savior and Redeemer- The Prince of Peace. Today the whole world celebrates Jesus Christ's birth and it's such a special season for a reason!! Christ loves us, He even died for us. We can show our love to the Savior by remembering what this Christmas season is really about. Love :) Show your love to EVERYONE! As we do that we will feel more of our Savior's love for us, which will allow us to continue to keep loving others more and more. Everything about missionary work is about love too. The love I feel for the people that we teach and the love that I feel for my companions, district, zone and teachers is and originates from that love that Heavenly Father has for us. The more we love, the more love we will feel. I love my Father in Heaven and I know that he loves me. I know that He loves ALL OF YOU! Take some time today to remember what Christ's love for us really means. To me, it means that we can use the infinite atonement in our lives (an infinite amount of times) in order to gain eternal life. I'm so grateful that we are sealed together for eternity through the priesthood that has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Christ really is the Prince of Peace. I can't wait to share this testimony that I have with the people of the Philippines! I hope that you all never hesitate to share what you truly know with those that you come in contact with. The happiness and PEACE that this gospel can and will bring to our lives is immeasurable. And that happiness is BECAUSE of Jesus Christ. I'm so glad that He was born. I love you all so so so so so so much and I'm excited to write you tomorrow too!!! I hope to hear how amazing your Christmas was!! I'm thinking of you all!

All my love,

Sister Judd

PS. Watching The Nativity made me miss holding a baby like a bajillion times more. Hold a baby for me today Nanay (Mom)! :)
PPS. I would LOVE a picture of the extended family!

December 19th Letter!

Sorry for not posting last week but finals are over so here is Sister Judd's letter from last week!

Kamusta Ka Pamilya!!

I have been at the MTC for 2 weeks now and it feels like I'm never going to leave this place! The Elders and Sisters that came the same day English speaking all left the beginning of this week and a whole ton new ones came in yesterday. We're no longer the newbies. It's sad that the rest of our zone is leaving so soon though! Out of the 3 districts in our zone we are the only ones not leaving a couple days after Christmas. My companions and I will be the only not new Sisters in our zone after they leave.. and then we leave just 2 weeks after them! Kinda crazy. But it's not all about leaving here.. pasensya (sorry) :) Man this week has been a bit of a doozy. So much happens yet all the days just moosh together in my brain. Fist thing first though, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY HEBER!!!! I wish I could give you the HUGEST hug ever and I hope you had the best birthday eva! You're gonna be like 6 foot nothing by the time I get back. Oh and my voicemail password is (79317) with a pound after. I'm so glad that you were all able to go to Moriah's homecoming last week! I miss that girl!!! Give her a ginormous hug for me!! I can't wait to hear from her and I just wish her the best as she jumps back into the real world. Question for KEETHAN: Do you know Brother Hong? I think his first name is Brandon. He's Korean, went to Mountain View and served in Bacolod about a year ago. He is one of the teachers! He was our first "investigator" and spoiler alert.. your investigators turn into your teachers. Sister Tiroba had a really hard time wrapping her head around that in class when he first become our teacher. Whenever he would call on her she'd laugh and blush and be like "Marieneto??" (his investigator name). But the people that they role play for are real people from the Philippines that they taught so it's still very real and a cool experience to teach and learn with them. Oh and after we first taught him, like the 2nd day Sister Tiroba was here out of the hospital, we got out of a rough lesson and she was all "He gave me a blessing at the hospital". I thought that she was mixed up or something because he was our investigator.. haha but it makes much more sense now. No wonder why she was so confused!! Anywho I asked him if he knew the Koozers and he doesn't think that he did. Kinda a small world that we're from the same place huh? My other teacher Sister Tamang is just the cutest/sweetest thing on the whole planet. She actually was in Bacolod when Megan (my friend that's there now) (and Dallas) were there so she probably met them and served with them! I just can't wait to be in the Philippines!!!! And also, it would be sooo cool to come back and teach at the MTC. We spend so much time with our teachers and they're so dedicated. They have such an impact on us, I just think that would be an awesome experience! The Ilonggo teachers have admitted that they're slightly envious of the tools that we have here at the MTC because January of 2013 was the first of when they started teaching Ilonggo here. All the other missionaries learned Tagolog and got into the field and had no clue what anyone was saying. Most of them also served in areas where they learned Cebuano (What the rest of our zone is learning) so our teaching understand Tagolog and Cebuano really well but teach Ilonggo because they served Ilo-Ilo or Bacolod the majority of their missions. And here we are with book after book of the language and while we don't have as much as some languages translated pamphlets we at least have chapter 3 of preach my gospel so all the lessons sa Ilonggo! It's a blessing :) Sister Tamang told me something the other day that I'm really trying to work on with the language and that I need to treat it like the ocean- letting the language flow over me like waves and not trying to catch every word and stop the teacher to pull apart the sentence that was just said because while doing that I've missed 10 other sentences and ideas in the mean time. Because the wave comes back and I will pick up more the next time and the next time and the next. It's true how every day I can understand more, the trick is practicing it constantly and using SYL here "Speak your language" to make things stick. Our lessons are going smoother and so far I haven't embarrassed myself too much.. except this last lesson I think I told him that Joseph Smith is the current prophet. Whoops. We'll have to try and clear that up next lesson. Something I thought was too funny and coincidental this week was learning what the word for "ouch". It's "agay" which is pronounced uh-guy. Yep, of course I thought of Gwen and how she'd always point out when I'd say "guyyyyyy" about things. Well now I really get to and it means ouch! and it actually makes sense now. So booyah sistah! :) (miss you a bajillion). Sister Snow reminds me of sometimes (she's 19) and it's so easy to love Sister Snow because it's like being with GwenElise (in some ways) 24/7 :) Another thing with the language that we learned this week applying to our investigators is that you don't knock on doors there.. you just yell "TAGBALAY" (tug-buh-lie) which is calling to see if anyone is home and then they'll open the.. well here it's a classroom door but I'll let you know what it is when I get to the Philippines. Another couple funny stuff in learning Ilonggo is that they use "lang" pronounced (long) for.. well I don't quite know how to explain it because I'm not sure I understand it completely but when you say "it's okay" your say "okay-lang" and we always say "joke-lang" after making a joke or something. So another example would be when my teacher wants us to share or write something but wants it to be short she'll say "short-lang". And I'm thinking soooo medium length?? haha Also my teacher was telling us how you can have a complete conversation only using "bala". "bala" is a word you put in a sentence to indicate a question is being asked. But it also means "up" in some Philippine languages with emphasis on the last a. So if you're in an elevator and the elevator person asks you "up?" it would be "bala bala?" and you would answer "bala" indicating that you're doing up. Crazy huh. haha We did a wake-up exercise yesterday learning head, shoulders, knees and toes and it's way cooler than ours because the words are cool! Also they say eyes, ears, noes and mouth because the words flow together better.
So last week, I don't even have a clue what day it was, I got out of class and was taking a break. My brain was moosh and I round the corner and this Elder was opening 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. I just looked at him and was thinking "I think I actually had a dream about donuts last night" and while I was thinking that he's all "I take it you're from somewhere that has Krispy Kreme's?" He was from California and he was so nice to offer me one! I felt bad taking the magical pastries that he beheld but he said that he'd rather give it to someone that appreciates it rather than his district of elders. haha I had to hold back tears. Yes, I admit that this is a ridiculous story but it's true! I even took a picture with the precious gem of a perfectly glazed donut to remember and prove it. So Heavenly Father is truly looking out for me.. he even made my dreams come true! I think tonight I'm going to dream that I know 100000% Ilonggo and that it's summertime in Provo and that I can be a misisonary for 4 years instead of 1 1/2. :)

So I wanted to apologize for how my last letter might have sounded, chastising you all for not writing me when you really were! I knew that there must have been a reason for not hearing from you all and it's my fault because I had no idea you had to choose Provo MTC! I'm so glad that got figured out and I hope no one is continuing to make that mistake! I honestly can't express how much even a couple sentences means to hear from you.. anyone! The District Leader is cruel and thinks it's funny to give package slips and dear elders and envelopes to the wrong elder/sister on purpose so as to get their hopes up only to realize it's for their companion. haha But I'm getting better at feeling comfortable here. I seriously feel like I'm going to be here my whole mission.. it's a weird experience in some ways but I surprise myself everyday with the amount that I am able to learn and grasp with the language kag feel and be enlightened by the spirit through the scriptures, devotionals and other study/lesson time. I love the learning here! For example, Elder Rasband was our devotional speaker this Tuesday and it was such an inspirational message. He talked about spiritual gifts and promised us that if we share our spiritual gifts with other this Christmas Season, that we won't miss the physical gifts. He reminded us that one very important spiritual gift can be your knowledge of truth. To make missing Christmas easier I just want to share with all of you that I truly know this Church is true. Kabola ako nga mapinalonggaon ang Dios. (I know that God is loving.) Kabola ako nga matuod and Simbahan ni JesuCristo sang mga Santos sa Ulihing mga Adlaw (I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true). Kabola ako nga importante ang Libro ni Mormon (I know that the Book of Mormon is important) kag that it will bless us in our lives through peace and direction. Through reading the Book of Mormon and sincere and constant prayer to Amay Namon sa langit (our Father in Heaven) we can see His hand in our lives and He will direct us to doing good and put us on the path to return back to Him again. Kabalo ako nga that eternal life (kabuhi wala nga katupussan) is the greatest gift that is available through the Atonement of JesuCristo. Kabalo ako nga propeta si Thomas S. Monson kag (I know that the prophet is Thomas S. Monson and) that Kilala kita ni JesuCristo (Jesus Christ knows us). I'm so grateful that the Priesthood has been restored on this earth so that we can make covenants to return back to live with our Father in Heaven and with our families for eternity. I love you all SO SO much and though I miss you dearly, I'm so grateful to have this oportunidad to be a misyonera. I know that Heavenly Father wanted this for me and because of that I'm so glad to be here. I hope you all have just the most amazing Christmas EVERRRR!!!!!!! It doesn't feel like Christmas here... but I will be thinking of you all!! Remember the importance of Christ's birth and how that affects all of us in these Latter-days.

PS. See if you can look up a video by David A. Bednar called "The Character of Christ" it was when he spoke last Christmas here at the MTC and let me just say WOW. It changed my entire perspective on how to be more Christ-like. Or how to TRY to be more Christ-like.. because truly I realized how selfish I am so much of the time. Amazing message from Elder Bednar.

PPS. Gru is not getting the shrink-ray

(joke-lang)

PPPS. I don't know what I want for Christmas other than Ghiradelli Caramel Chocolate. I was silly to think that I wouldn't bust into my stash of it.

PPPPS. Mom I'm an idiot, my first week I put all my clothes in the dryer and shrunk 2 of my skirts :( poo poo. My turquoise one from Forever 21. and the Navy Blue one that grandma got me from Seagul. I was so mad at myself! But I brought a ton of clothes compared to most sisters and I'm SOO glad because I haven't even had to wear an outfit twice... even though I'm superly going to miss those 2 plain ones that I can wear with more. I'm going to take them to the alterations place today but I'm not sure they can do anything they shrunk like an entire size all around (width and length) If you want to try and find the turqiouse one again from Forever 21 they also had the same one in red that is adorbs. (buttons all down the front) I think I'm a medium in it. If you can't find it though no worries:)

& BYE DAVID!! Wish I could have been there for your farewell!! You'll be amazing. Work hard and remember to rely more on the Lord than your own ability because that will be the only way to success as a missionary. Love ya!!

And I almost forgot!! I can email on Christmas so I'll be talking to you then!!!! SO soon.. weird.

Sister Judd

First Email!!

We received our first email from Sister Judd yesterday! She is LOVING the MTC and everything about it. Here is the email:

Kamusta Pamilya!!
Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike Mike... guess what day it is?!?!?!?!? 

P-DAAAAAYYYYYY!!
Oh my goodness I've been so excited to type out this email to you!! I had to start writing things down in my notebook to remember all of the things that I want to tell you! I feel like it's been a month since I entered the MTC. For reals though. I am going to attempt to give you the low-down but imagine Charlie trying to explain everything in full detail after he came out of the Chocolate Factory (not easy). Let me start out by saying I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!! I feel so much excitement to be training to go to the Philippines and while this is by far the hardest thing I've ever done, it already feels so rewarding. I can't imagine how I will feel after my first real investigator agrees to follow the example of the Savior and be baptized by someone with proper authority (I will explain the "real" part in a second).
SO DID YOU GET MY LETTER!?!?! Not gonna lie I thought for sure I'd hear back from youz (I'm starting to talk like the Polys in my zone haha.) before today but please don't forget about DearElder! Shout out to Lavonne Norris for being the FIRST person to write me since I've been hear! That's the beauty of DearElder, if you send it in the morning I will get it at lunch time that day! It's like Christmas every lunch time here when the district leaders go and get the mail and pretend to be Santa handing out the letters and package slips. Even if it's a couple sentences I could use the pick-me-up peeps. For reals though. Another shout out to my main gurl Sydni Prince for being the second person to write me!! Let me just say, Heavenly Father is so aware of us. Your DearElder letter could not have come at a better time! I thought for sure after the first 2-3 days of being here that I was 100% made to be a missionary. I felt so comfortable and loved everything about this place. But I forgot that even as a missionary (even especially in some ways) Satan is a jerk. I was so overwhelmed the other day and the lesson my companions and I taught that day tipped me over the scale and I sorta broke down for like point2 minutes. But I'm okay! I just needed to let it out. The MTC can be such an overwhelming place. I don't want anyone (mom) to worry too much because I really am emotionally and physically sound haha but wow I'm rambling my whole point in embarrassing myself just now with that story was to tell Syd thank you! Not 10 minutes after coming out of the bathroom with a puffy red face the mail came and it was such a tender mercy to me to hear from you! Love ya Squid.
Now back to the lovely stuff. I love it here! I honestly can't remember a bit of what I wrote you in my letter so I'm just gonna empty out my brain right now. By the way, about 11ish every Thursday until the week of January 15th you will get an email from me! I can read any emails you send to myldsmail.net email then too. So my mga kaupod (comanions) and I are really close and things are finally flowing. Sister Snow and I were companions from Wednesday to Friday evening and then Sister Tiroba joined us! We are the only 3 Ilonggo speaking sisters here so we really have to rely on each other! Sister Snow is from Provo and is the perfect companion in so many ways. She is so patient, kind and funny. I just love her! It's one of those things where we will walk by the classrooms in the hallway of our zone and people yell "Sistah Snow!!"  out of their classrooms. haha Most of the time people just call me Sister Snow too because I'm her companion. And Sister Tiroba. Man where to begin. haha She is from Kitibas (I still don't know if that spelling is right) but it's pronounced (kid-eh-pess). She doesn't know a ton of English but understands most of it.. well for the most part. haha She was in the hospital with pneumonia when she first got the the MTC the Saturday before I arrived and the found serious lung infection and damaging in her lungs. She is still not at a safe oxygen capacity and we've been to the doctor with her like 3 times now but she has to be on life time medicine to prevent another infection. She isn't contageous or anything so no worries there! We spend ALOT of time Sister Snow and I on the bench outside the single-person bathroom next to our classroom as she does this breathing treatment/exercise thing 5 times a day and it's sometimes hard because as a companionship you cannot leave each other's side. Like there's been times we'll go to the bathroom and I'll go, we'll go back to studying and then Sister Snow will just start laughing and be like "now I have to go!" so back to the bathroom we go. haha we've been trying to train our bladders to sync and we're getting better! So some other little funny things about mainly Sister Tiroba because in so many ways she just facinates me. haha So I guess in Kitibas it's normal to be an avid "Butt-slapper". haha Sister Snow and I have to literally watch each other's backs because Sister Tiroba will getcha! haha She also is SO funny. She also imitates us and it just cracks us up. Pasensya (puh-sen-shah) means "sorry" sa Ilonggo (in Hiligaynon) and Salamat (suh-lah-maht) means "thank you" so we also say "thank you" or "sorry Sister" and she'll make her voice really high and bat her eyelashes and say it like us but really exaggerated. haha She also like to try and hide from us when we turn our back or something and there's been times I'm thinking "okay this is not okay" because we really can't be alone haha so Sister Snow and I have to check around every corner and dark room until we find her. There was one time I was like so worried we wouldn't find her before someone noticed and I walked by a room and the only way I found her was by her cute little giggle. haha She has darker skin so I didn't see her sitting in the corner of the dark room and she was laughing and laughing and said "me, African American" pointing at her skin. hahahahaha Speaking of that, she has this.... thing against dark skinned people. hahaha It seriously kills Sister Snow and I. She get's all weird around them and like side-eyes them and makes these funny faces and when their backs are to her she points and pretends to laugh. Like we can't figure out what it is but even like a dark-skinned person in a picture will get her to laugh and make a face saying "african man". I can't really explain why it's so flippin funny but it just is. haha She is also SO shy. like cannot talk to a group of people. worste case I've ever seen of shyness. so pray for her because we're really trying to work on it with her but it's so hard. Also we've had to teach her how to use a water fountain. And the shower. And anything automatic. Even the hand santizer machines she has trouble with. It's so humbling to realize the living conditions that she has come from and how she comes from so little but wants to serve the Lord. I know that I was put in the companionship that I'm in for a reason and I'm learning so much about myself and about how much our Heavenly Father loves ALL of his children.
So a normal day in the life of Sister Judd is wake up 6:15 AM. Personal study in the classroom at 7 AM. Breakfast at 8:10. Class at 8:45. (during this time we'll teach a lesson. Do language study. Preach my gospel study etc.) Lunch at 1:10. Class at 1:45. (during this time we might have language study on the computers and a half our alotted time to have a daily planning session but it's mostly language study with an instructor). Dinner at 6:10. Additional Study time until gym at 8:10. Then companionship study and personal time at 9:10. lights out by 10:29 PM. So basically we LIVE in our classroom and only leave to eat. It's crazy how much we learn in a day but it takes A LOT of self determination and discipline. My instructors are AMAZING. I mentioned it in my last letter (Gwen could you maybe type some of that letter and put it on my blog??) but they ONLY speak Ilonggo to us.--Here is what she said in her letter: "I walk into my class (escorted) after dropping off my suitcases and my teacher is only speaking Ilonggo. I was just like "meh....." awkwardly in front of the whole class. I sorta wanted to cry, but I didn't. I don't really know how I finally got to sit down but I found out the 2 elders before me just went through the same humiliation and the sister after me too. The weather is cold cold cold. The teachers are so so awesome and the church is SO true!"-- If we don't know a word they will right the definition on the board but it's crazy how much I can already understand of what they say as they teach. My speaking the language though is rough. I can't imagine trying to learn Ilonggo any other way than at the MTC though. The best way they tell us to learn is to use SYL (speak your language) and erase the English words from our brain. So even using "I" I should be typing "Ako". So pasensya if my letters are rough to read! Ilonggo is translated into English as YODA TALK. So the sentences are 100% backwards and it's taking time to get used to that but I'm sure it will come! I can pray and bear my testimony sa Ilonggo, so I'm just trying to add on to those things and work hard to make my brain a Spongebob brain. Let's see the food here is interesting. I'm still not really sure what to think of it. They for lunch have a wrap bar which is pretty much like a mini subway but with wraps so I eat a wrap almost every day. And they make pretty good salads every dinner too so I find myself eating that a lot. But what I call their daily mystery food usually tastes good too. It's sometimes just a mystery as to if it really is what it says it is. Like Shrimp Nuggets or a Turkey Burger. haha Oh there's also "Eternal Life" cereal here. haha
The many many Polys in our zone (from Australia, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand etc.) LOVE the snow. Like LOVE IT! I get snow smashed in my face on the daily and it's funny to have huge snowball fights with them after gym every day after we're all hot from playing an intense game of volleyball.

To explain my district and zone.. my district is made up of my companionship that I'm in and 2 other sets of elders. 2 of the elders (Powell and Turley) arrived the same day as Sister Snow and I and then the other 2 were assigned to Tacloban speaking Cebuano but were reassigned just like 2 days before we got here! They're now going to Ilo-Ilo (spell check?) and that's where Sis Tiroba is also going. They speak Ilonggo in that mission too (well duh. haha) So that's our classroom. Then our zone is I think just 2 other disctricts who all speak Cebuano going to different North and South missions. They all leave before our district and have been here for 3 weeks now. So we've been called "the new sisters" since arriving. Love them all! Oh and our President is like oober strict. He doesn't smile and says it how he means it so everyone kind of tiptoes when he's around because our zone is actually really crazy!
OH! The Shurtleffs- You know an Elder Cravin huh?!? He's in my zone! The Elders in my district (class) are besties with him so I see him ALOT! I love that we both know the amazing Shurtleff pamilya (family) :) I'm keeping you all in my pagpangamyo (prayers)!
So the MTC is so incredibely filled with the spirit. Like every day Tuesday in General Conference and every Sunday is General Relief Society Meeting. On Sunday Sister Marriott (2nd counselor from the Younng Womens Presidency) came and talked to the new sisters and then Quentin L Cook was our devotional speaker this Tuesday. I can't wait for Christmas, at least 2 general authorities are supposed to be visiting!! And my companions and I are in the MTC choir and on Tuesday we were on the jumbo tron close ups on us and it was shown live at all the MTCs around the world too! So basically we're missionary famous. Oh funny story about that.. you know "The District"? Well it's these episodes of real missionaries that were filmed as they teach investigators and one of them is an instructor here and he walked into the cafeteria the other day and we are were just like jaw dropped. We study this guy when he was a missionary! Then I'm like thinking okay this guy isn't Channing Tatum or something.. but all our first reactions were as if it were. haha
Some of the main spiritual whacks upside the head that I've received this week as that me being a missionary has nothing to do with me. It is 100% The Lord's work. I am trying to learn the doctrine from Preach My Gospel that He would teach and I am trying to humble myself and love like He would love. It's such a challenge to give up myself completely. Learning the language is not about me. It's about the faith that I have that no matter how much I learn, Heavenly Father will qualify my words and my teaching so that they are enough. Just look up D&C 12:8. It sums it up perfectly. Elder Cook told us "If you are anything but humble, you cannot be a successful missionary". Well let me tell you, faith and humility take alot of effort and it's something that I have to remind myself even every hour of the day. With humilty comes gratitude and with gratitude comes brotherly love and charity. With these attributes we can be more like Christ and therefore be more effective missionaries in sharing His gospel. 

Kabola ako nga matuod and ebanghelyo. (I know the gospel is true.) Kabola ako nga importante ang pagtuod kag libro ni mormon. (I know faith and the book of mormon are important.) Kabola ako nga Manluluwas si Manunubos. (I know that the Savior is the Redeemer.) I love you all so much and I am so grateful for your support! Pray for me to not learn the language, but for me to have more humility and faith in Christ. Pray with a grateful heart when you're feeling down and Dios (God) will bulig (help) ka (you) realize how much you are loved and blessed. He's there to help us with anything we need.
I'm out of time and want to send some pictures. Don't forget DearElder please! Love you all!!

PS HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAREST ABIGAIL!!!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DOOFUS! WISH I COULD BE THERE TO TAKE YOU TO LUNCH AND GIVE YOU A GINORMOUS HUG. LOVE YOU!!!! 

PPS I saw Spencer our cousin!!!! We were walking to the Provo temple on Sunday and we were at the crosswalk and he drove by in a black mini cooper (I think that was the car). haha I think he saw me but I'm not sure and I didn't realize it was him till he was driving away. But anyways if it was him tell him I saw HI!! 

All my love,

Sister Judd

Here are some of the pictures that she sent: