Let Go and Let God

June 22 2015

I am sorry I didn't send an email last week, believe it or not they are kind of annoying to send. But, I love you all so I will continue to write them. This last week was really good, we actually had some lessons! It was a nice little break from knocking on doors. It is really starting to get hot here. When I first got here everyone would say, "Just you wait! It is not even hot!" Now I know what they are talking about. Lets just say I burn lots and lots of calories. Sometimes I want to knock on someones door and say, "Hi I am Sister Sweatsalot and I am from Frizzville" The humidity makes my hair look beautiful! I pretty much look like I have a fro, my hair gets so frizzy. Anyways, now I am just rambling. 

  This last week in my studies I was reading in 2 Nephi 31 when Jesus Christ is baptized. Something that really stuck out to me was the fact that he didn't need to be baptized, and there are several reasons why he didn't, but one in particular really stood out to me. "Witness unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments." He didn't need to be baptized, it didn't apply to him. But, because He loves our Father he did it! In the tropical guide it says that obedience is walking with the Father. I know we all have the desire to walk with the Father, In order to walk with Him. We have to obey the commandments he gave us. Sometimes we pick and choose the commandments we want to follow, because we don't think they all apply to us. That is not the case, we need to follow ALL of them, they ALL apply to us, every single one of them!! God is all knowing he has a purpose to everything he asks of us. 

 So Sister Sutton and I knocked on this old guys house. He opened the door and said" Now which one of you is the most attractive one?" we started laughing pretty hard, he then said " I know what your name is, your initials are G.B, Giggle Bottoms."  He was the cutest old man! Unfortunately he was not interested, but we got a good laugh out of it! 

 Well Folks I love you all, and I know that God loves each and everyone of you! I hope you have a fabulous week!

P.S. HAPPY FATHERS DAY! Also, Happy birthday to my brother Samuel!

Sister J

I stole this headband from Erica.. so Erica if you are wondering where it went.. sorry..

Typical

6 MORE WEEKS!

June 8 2015

I am pleased to announce Sister Sutton and I get 6 more weeks together! We are thrilled! I can not believe I am already on my third transfer. Time flies! There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the area, so I am really excited that I get another transfer to get this area progressing!

 A lot has happen this week! We are trying to get the Henderson family ready for baptism. This Is mine and Sister Suttons first baptism, so we are pretty excited and nervous! They are so prepared! They are definitely what people would call a golden investigator! The Lord sure blessed us!

Last Pday we went to the beach for a mission party. It was really fun to see my companion from the MTC, and to just get to know the missionaries. The beaches here are beautiful!

Sister Sutton and I were walking back to our apartment one day, and on our way we passed a Jewish church. out of no where this Jewish guy pops out and starts following us, we started walking faster, and so was he. I was starting get a little nervous because every time we would walk faster he would too, and finally he stopped us and asked if we were Jewish and if we believed in the Messiah. Then he pulls out his wallet and says do you want to see the real messiah? He is 107 years old. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Well folks I love you all!

Sister J

Yes, we are twins. We were just separated at birth.

Look it is Sister Sackley!!

Check out my rain boots

You have such a glow about you.. No it's just sweat.

June 1 2015:

Hello friends and family! This week has been amazing! WE SET A DATE!  We have been working hard for the past few weeks, and haven't had too much luck with finding people. But we didn't lose faith, we kept being diligent and The Lord blessed us with a FAMILY!!! We are so excited!
   Sister Sutton and I were biking down the street and passed this homeless man, he was looking straight ahead and just yelled, "Praise God for beautiful women!" That is when I say, "Oh Tampa! s
  In District meeting we have been really focusing on planning, because we are more effective and efficient when we have good solid plans. I never really thought that planning was so important, but it is very true. Something that really stood out to me was; are you planning to fulfill our fathers plan? It made me really look at where I am right now, and where I plan on going when I get home. My end goal is to live with my Father in Heaven, am I taking the steps that will lead me there? These were kind of the questions I asked myself after district meeting. I think they are very important questions, that will help you evaluate the path you are on in life, and see if that path leads you to what your end goal is. If its not look to your father for strength in changing directions. He will help you, and I can testify to that! I have asked for SO MUCH HELP on my mission, and I have received every bit of strength I have needed. God lives and He loves each and everyone of you! 

  Well Folks I apologize for all of my short and random emails. I love and miss you all!

Sister J

Yes this is a cricket

Because I have an aunt named Nance, and I love her.

Florida storms are amazing!

We aren't soliciting we are saving!!!

May 25th 2015:

First of all, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! This week was a long but fast week. Not too much happen this week, Sister Sutton was sick on Tuesday so we spent the whole day literally doing nothing. That was fun. And yes, we did attend the aquarium for free! We were like little kids on Christmas morning. 

We knocked doors for 6 hours on Thursday. And man was it hot! We were exhausted and thirsty! We prayed that someone would offer us water, and SOMEONE DID!  Prayer works guys! I was getting really tired of people saying they weren't interested in our message. They aren't interested, because they don't know the importance of the message. I decided was going to pull out my puppy eyes (the ones I use on my dad), and tell them that I left my family for 18 months to share this very important message with her. She said she was just about to leave, but we could come back another time. I learned that not only do they work on my dad, they also work on pretty much everyone. 

 Let me just tell you about all the great looks people give us on Bay Shore, when we are biking in a skirt. Some people even take pictures of us, so if you see some random picture of me in a skirt on a bike, please don't forget to tag me! ;) jk don't do that. But I would not be surprised if there was some random picture of me on instagram, it happens more than you would think! 

 Well I hope you all have a great week! I love and miss you all!

p.s. My mail box is starting to collect dust. I would not be apposed if you guys sent me letters! :) 

502 s Fremont Ave

apt. 816

Tampa, fl, 33606

How many pictures do you think I took before I actually ate the pizza?

It's free! Who doesn't like free?

Work hard, Preach hard!

May 18th 2015:

Man, Tampa is starting to get really hot! But the Lord blesses us with rain everyday around 5:00. so last Monday we were complaining that it was too hot, so the Lord deiced to dump a huge bucket of water on Tampa, unfortunately we weren’t near any kind of shelter. We had to run to a prespertarian church near by to hide. 

 I have also come to realize that Tampa is just one big mixing pot; I have met people from all over! It is actually pretty cool. Oh, I almost forgot I ATE ALLIGATOR!!!! It was soo good. I would highly recommend putting it on your bucket list of things to try. Well like I mentioned earlier it is hot, and one day Sister Sutton and I wanted ice cream. We went to the nearest grocery store and bought a half gallon of gelato and finished it in 5 minutes. Don't worry I am not getting fat, I do lots of sit ups in the morning. ;) 

 Sister Sutton and I are still pretty new to this whole missionary stuff, and half the time we don't know what we are doing, but apparently we know how to plan. Our STL's called us this week and told us that we were brought up around 4 times in the leadership meeting. President kept telling everyone how good we are at planning. We were really shocked by that. Haha 

   Last Monday we had an appointment with a LA at 3:30. (we were ending our pday like 3 hours early) So we weren't the happiest we were ending our pday to go to a less actives house who isn’t the nicest to the missionaries. We went to her house, and she was in a great mood, she loved our message. Towards the end of the lesson her daughter came over, Sister Mcara (the senior missionary) asked her daughter if she was a member. Sure enough she wasn't, sister Mcara asked her if she would like to hear the missionary discussions! She told us she would love them and set up a return appointment without us even asking her. We had the appointment and she just soaked up everything we said, her husband loved our message and kept saying “It all makes sense now!". The Lord truly does bless those who are diligent! 

 Well TTFN I am going to the aquarium for free! Perks of teaching cool people. ;) 

Sister Judkins

Rain

Alligator!

No one told me I had another sister.

May 11th 2015:

 Sister Sutton is my long lost twin! We are the exact same person! Everyone asks us if we are sisters. It is pretty funny. Well this week was another great week of missionary work. My week consisted of; knocking doors, knocking doors, and knocking more doors! Sister Sutton and I make the best of it, we have a pretty good time! But we have been working hard, and it is paying off. We actually have lessons scheduled for this week! 

  I leaned a valuable lesson this week, don't trust the chocolate shops here. I know, I took it hard too! Unfortunately you don't get to hear the story. Maybe another time! 

 I actually learned another thing this week, this one actually is a valuable lesson. Coming on my mission was a very hard choice, many of you know I didn't really want to go on one. It was a huge leap of faith to submit those papers and answer the call of the prophet to come to Tampa. And guess what, the Lord caught me! He has carried me the whole time! If you take a leap of faith the Lord will catch you. Now it doesn't mean it is going to make it easy, it is still going to be hard. But he will give you the strength to keep pushing through! So trust in the Lord! 

 oh and HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you great women out there especially to my mom! I love you all! sorry I don't have much to write about this week. 

Sister Judkins

Check out my double chin.

Knocking Doors Builds Character

May 4th 2015:

What a stressful and sad week! Sister Sackley is gone! :( She got transferred. But I have been blessed with another great companion, Sister Sutton. She is from Queen Creek Arizona. The both of us don't really know where we are going. We haven't gotten too lost yet. Everyone thinks we are sisters. Unfortunately no one wants to hear our message, they just want to talk about how adorable we are! Haha We have knocked a lot of doors this week and have gotten the same response; " No sorry we already have Jesus in our life, but you guys are adorable!" 

 We are teaching this guy named David, he is a shark wrangler and works for Rippleys Believe it or not in Canada, oh and he is Brittish. He is the coolest guy EVER! Sister Sutton and I worked our charm to get free aquarium tickets out of him, So we will be attending the aquarium in the near future.

I didn't fall of my bike this week, so that was good! We are working on trying to flip south Tampa, We have knocked a lot of doors and had no success, well we planted a lot of seeds so I guess we have had success! I hope you all have a splendid week!

Sister Judkins