Yay Baptism! & He's clearing up our Schedule

Hello family! I agree with Gwen.. this week has FLOWN BY! It's been a roller-coaster week. LOTS of ups and downs..
This week our golden family investigators dropped us, this week we taught a pastor for the 7th Day Adventist church, this week we attended a funeral, this week I got lice, this week I saw a rat the size of a cat and I screamed when I saw it just inches from my head, and this week we finally had another baptism!!! Not to mention transfers! I'm so sad that Sister Respicio transferred. I really love her and had such a good time this transfer with her! We all knew she'd transfer though because she's been here for 6 months (her first area). I just found out this morning that I will train! I will get my new (brand spank'n new) companion this thursday! So Sister Davenport and I (she is my STL companion) will be together until Thursday. My stomach hurts from anxiety when I think about how this is my last transfer.. but that is reality! This will be my last companion. This is for sure my last area. I am starting my last transfer! Bring it on! :)
The Baptism of Tatay Bornes was so awesome!! You can just see in his picture how excited he was! He kept saying over and over that he felt like he was in a dream and that it didn't feel real! He even said that he couldn't sleep the night before because he was so excited. He is the best ever! He is 63 years old and his wife Sister Norma is (was) a less active (loooong time member) but now is active again as she's been coming to church with her husband! Their 3 children are all also members and Sister Norma always cries as she tells us that it's a miracle that her husband has decided to change and loves listening to the missionaries when back then.. he wouldn't even join the lessons and wanted nothing to do with it all! I wasn't here when the missionaries first met him but his testimony is so amazing as he explains when he first met the missionaries he just felt in his heart that he needed to listen and he came to church right away and hasn't missed since! He loves to tell stories about all the times that God has answered his prayers from saving one of his grandsons from dying, helping him support his children to graduate from college and the dreams that he's had that has strengthened his testimony that God really exist and communicates/reaches out to us. No matter how many times I've heard his stories.. (he likes to tell them over and over again) I realize how much he has been prepared by the Lord to finally accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. He also had a looot of Word of Wisdom problems when we met him. He went from smoking a pack of cigs a day to only 5 for 3 days and then 1 for one week and then none! He also used to drink whiskey every night and coffee sometimes up to 10 times a day! He has so much drive- I've never seen someone change so much in just one month! He's the one that threw his cigs out the window when we taught him about the Word of Wisdom :D hahaha. Oh brothers I just love him! He's on fire and has so many people that he wants to introduce us to "so that they can also feel the happiness that he feels" :) it's just like 1 Nephi 8:10-12 (we haven't even read that section with him.. it just goes to show how true it is!). Sister Respicio and I have seen baptisms fall through over and over again this transfer but we were both so grateful that we were both here still when his date finally came :)
Speaking of baptisms falling through and investigators dropping us.. oh brothers has this transfer been FULL of rejections. #rejection (every missionary knows how this feels).. but something profound that really hit me about all of this was "maybe Heavenly Father is clearing up our schedule to fill it in with the people that we need to meet and teach..". I've never thought of rejection that way and I know that this was inspiration received from on high the moment that I needed it the most. My testimony has been strengthened that the Lord has a plan for each and every person that we are teaching and is waiting for us to meet the other people that are ready to accept the restored gospel! We have to give up our own will and accept HIS will... and just continue in this work. I know that this is HIS work. These people that we are teaching are not just our investigators.. they are HIS children that He is preparing to return to live with Him again. This work is so important and the best thing in the world. Despite the many challenges from this week.. there's been many miracles. (it's just like President Eyring taught in the Women's Mtg. this past conference.. joy follows sorrow! Not that I feel sorrow.. but for me right now as a missionary this helps me to know that joy and happiness and miracles follow disappointments and challenges.. IF we face them with the right attitude and strive to build our faith.)
This week Talisay ward hit it's ALL TIME highest attendance at church of 280 members. This work is hastening and progressing and I want to do my 100% best to continue to help this ward progress pa in these next/last 6 weeks that I have.
I love you all so much!
I love how Gwen and I both eat crispy pig skin off the roasted pig and we're not even in the same place.. :) Yay for missionary sisters!!! It makes me so happy :))))
PS. It's ridiculously hot here. My tan lines are so funny. I wore a black cotton shirt the other day and you could see my sweat soo bad. All the people were like "abaw sister judd.. grave ang bal-has mo vah!" (wow sister judd.. you're sweating soooo much!) ha..ha.. embarrassing! haha
PPS. We had a ward activity and ate lunch at the church and there was mountain dew.. I kept emptying my cmall plastic cup and then refilling it and then drinking it and refilling it over and over again until the 2 liter was gone and I saw this Relief Society sister watching me from across the room and read her lips as she said to herself (i kind of heard her too) "palainom gale sya soft drinks"- while smiling (ohh, she's always drinking soft drinks)- like she was so surprised to see how much soda I was drinking. hahaha I just laughed to myself and tried to find if there was any more mountain dew to drink some more! We can't buy ourself soda but we can drink it when it's given to us.. i'm just trying to make up for all the times I crave soda and can't drink it! :)

Thank you for all of your support and love!
Take care, and stay safe always!
Sister Judd

GenCon & BOM is true

Hello family!!!!!!!!!! What a great week! I sent a lot of pictures with captions of some of the high lights..sorry kind of picture over load earlier. I get excited to send you all pictures! Hope you don't get sick of them. If it makes you feel better there's still toooons to look at together when I get home. :)
So we watched general conference this weekend and I was in heeeeeaveeeeennn!!! I LOVE general conference! I'm not going to lie I thought about crepes a time or two or three. But some of my favorites from conference was Elder Wilford W. Anderson's talk with the analogy about dancing without music. I was blown away with his talk. I even printed it today along with President Uchtdorf's talk so that I can reread them because I can't wait until the Liahona conference session comes out. (you are all so lucky that you have lds.org at your fingertips!) I also LOVED Elder Gerald Causse's talk about never tiring to discover gospel truths. He testified how the gospel is like a fountain that never runs dry.. if we diligently seek to learn from the scruptures or from sacrament meeting or any other church setting that we've been in more than a billion times... we will FIND. I'm so grateful for the scriptures that CONTINUALLY open my eyes to gospel truths and help me better know the Savior. That is also what Elder Kevin W. Pearson taught about. He taught that the Book of Mormon is essential for our spiritual survival! Something that I realized as I listened to His talk is that I never want to miss a day reading the Book of Mormon for the rest of my life. Wow that's a statement! But it's TRUE!! "Daily enduring to the end determines our eternal destiny" is one of the things that he said that has helped me feel even more determined to set goals for myself and follow through with them when I get home. I also realized as a missionary that this should ALWAYS be our focus.. even though sometimes we get a little tired of hearing ourselves ask the question in every lesson every day all day "kamusta ang pagbasa mo sa libro ni mormon?" (how was your reading in the book of mormon?). A LOT of the times many excuses follow but there are also many many times that we get to hear what they learned in their reading. Instead of focusing with the less actives why they aren't coming to church and how we can get them to church this sunday.. maybe we'll focus a little bit more on their scripture reading. Elder Pearson taught that anyone that has lost their way and that starts reading the Book of Mormon will find their way back. The Holy Ghost will open their eyes and guide their life! That's the same promise for all of us whether active members.. investigating members.. new members.. long time members that go to church... long time members that no longer go to church and everyone in between. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of this religion and it is true! It guides lives and WILL change our lives. I'm so grateful for the testimony that I have gained of the Book of Mormon here on my mission. I remember in college I took religion classes and even though it was part of my grade.. I STILL had a hard time reading the Book of Mormon every day. I always thought I was way too busy or too tired. I understand those people that we teach every day that have these excuses too. Let's face it every member has or is facing this challenge. But I know with all my heart that sincere study of the Book of Mormon can give us so much peace and happiness! We will better understand the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can return back to live with our Heavenly Father again! I add my testimony to Elder Pearson's.. we need to Book of Mormon to spiritually survive!
I love this gospel so much! I loved how much the brethren talked about families. I look forward to someday having an eternal family of my own. I also am so looking forward to being able to spend time with my family again!! Families are the best. MY family is the best :) I love you all SOO so so so much. Thank you all for your love for me!!
Keep the faith! I pray for you all every day!
All my love,
Sister Judd

Appril 5th racles with the Drillon Family! & Love this Easter

Hello Family!!
I’m almost out of time but I want to tell you all about my week! Sorry if it’s not super exciting…haha I’ll just try my best to keep it interesting!
So the highlight of my week was with our investigator family Drillon! They are so awesome and we saw so many miracles with them this week! The first one was with the Book of Mormon. People here (just like most everywhere else in the world)..it’s hard for them to accept the Book of Mormon because they are so converted to the bible. Brother Drillon is the one that I mentioned a couple letter back how when he was a kid he’d climb up a coconut tree and read the bible for hours. Well we taught him about the Book of Mormon and committed him to read and we thought all was great and dandy and then we came back and asked how his reading was and he didn’t read. He is afraid to read the Book of Mormon and only wants to read the Bible. So instead of just moving on with what we planned to teach we taught him again about the Book of Mormon and this time he actually got it. He understood that through the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ Heavenly Father reached out in love to His children and gave us the Book of Mormon because He didn’t just communicate and show himself to one part of the world…He did the same thing in America after He was resurrected. This time he really committed to read the Book of Mormon.. the next time when we followed up he was serious. He read the Book of Mormon. He prayed about it and he had a dream. When he woke up from the dream (all he really remembers is that he was at the Mormon church with his family) and he said “matuod sia gale..” which means like “oh. It IS true…” He accepted baptismal date and we were stoked. Then we came back and his wife who is Iglesia ni Cristo (very verrrry popular church here that hates Mormons) she usually joins the lesson but doesn’t want us to focus on her. Well we taught about the plan of salvation and they were loving learning about how to enter into the Celestial Kingdom. We extended baptismal date to Sister Drillon and she had sooo many questions! It turns out that she’s having so many doubts about her religion and she wants to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. What an even greater miracle that happened this week with Sister Drilon! We actually were on splits and me and a sister preparing for her mission taught them. When we told Sister Respicio what happened she almost didn’t believe us! I know 100% that it was a miracle. Heavenly Father truly has a plan for this family!! I hope that I am still here when they are baptized. But if I’m not.. I’m happy as long as they are baptized so that they can start preparing to go to temple and be an eternal family!
The woman’s meeting was soooo goooooooood. Me and Sister Respicio couldn’t hold back our tears when they played this movie/song

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-03-0002-musical-presentation-the-family-is-of-god?category=general-womens-session-march-2015&lang=eng

I KNOW that families are sent from God and that they are our greatest treasure! I miss you all so much and I felt the spirit sooo strong while this video played because I know that “this is how God shows His love..” through families :) LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!!
Also I hope you all had a happy easter!!! For all those who haven’t seen it.. I’m in love with the Easter video that the church has put out. We celebrate that He lives!

http://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_SA_4-4-2015_dMIS_fMRMN_xLIDyMSTHD1_
The culture here (catholic) is to celebrate his death. There’s parades and people acting out his crucifixion… I’ll show you pictures when I get home because it’s kinda sac-religious. But I’m grateful for the knowledge that He died, He rose from the dead, and He still lives to give His love and support and help to each and every one of us when we seek him!

Ps. It’s weird to commit someone “Brother, will you only smoke 30 cigarettes tomorrow??”…. only? But it’s a challenge for him. A REAL challenge!
Pps. Gru will not get the shrink ray…
Ppps.  I love you more than you all know!

The heat is ON here in Bacolod. People think we’re crazy walking around in the heat and then they let us stop and share with them so it’s all good in the hood for us :)

Until next week!!!! Halong kamo pirme! Palangga ta kamo!
Sister Judd