Hey there thanks for the email. It was great to hear from you and i am always happy and relieved when i hear that everyone is doing well. I am so glad that you were able to meet the Moffats. They are truly amazing. I love them so much. They have changed my life forever. I miss them very much but i know that i will see them again and be able to share all of our experiences together. What Elder Ballard said is true. President and Sister Moffat truly did know how to motivate us. All of the missionaries knew what was expected of them and we are the happiest group of missionaries in the church. I don't know if i ever told you this but i know their grandson. He was in the super sport program at Dimple Dell and i found out that he was their grandson a few weeks before i left. I always talked to Sister Moffat about him and so it was great to already have a connection with them. I love the Moffats.
Well still on the topic of mission presidents, i finally was able to meet President and Sister Ogden. They are great. The interview was great and we just got to know each other a little more. President Ogden is really excited and he seems to already know what he is doing. It was interesting to find out that he grew up in Florida. He moved all around Florida and he joined the church down there in about 1961 or 1962. I told him that Grandpa was a mission president down there but he was baptized before his time. It was pretty interesting. I love President and Sister Ogden and i am not worried about the mission at all. The England Birmingham Mission is the best mission in the world and the Lord is watching out for us and blessing us more than we deserve.
Other than that we have had a pretty good week. We continue to teach Mark. He is doing great and he is looking forward to his baptism on the 1st of August. I am so excited for it but the only thing is that i might not be here for it. We will see though.
Here is a little story for you. Yesterday we were out finding and we were both in short sleeve shirts and it was a beautiful day. No clouds in the sky to begin the day. Hotter than Africa. After lunch we went out and it was still nice and still hot but there were a few clouds in the sky. Then all of the sudden this big huge gray blanket of clouds comes over the entire sky and the heavens start to open. Neither of us have rain jackets or anything. Luckily we were talking to this lady and she let us stay under her overhang until it stopped raining. As soon as it stopped raining we took off towards the church and as we were running to the church the rain picked up again and we were getting a little wet. We got to the church and went inside and about two minutes after we got in it was back to blue skies. We left the church and walked up and saw a less active and as soon as we stopped talking to her the sky was gray again and it started to rain. Except it rained even harder. It was pouring rain. Keep in mind we have no waterproof stuff at all. Just white shirts and ties. We just started running and got under a tree. That only did us good for about 5 minutes and so we ran to another tree. Same story. Then we got to another tree which treated us well. It kept us out of the rain until it stopped. Moral of the story. Always bring your rain jacket and your waterproof trousers with you. I was pretty wet. But it was fun.
Well that was all the excitement for this week. I am glad that everyone is doing well. I hope to hear from all of you next week. I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Sorry about the envelope Dad. I didn't want it to rip open so i just taped it all up. I guess it worked.
I love this work that i am doing. I love this gospel. It is the only way to true happiness. We talk to people every day that their beliefs are so close to ours but they are just missing a few things. I know that this is the Lords Kingdom on the earth. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he is the only way back to our Father in Heaven. I testify of the power of the Atonement. Apply it in your life. As we do we are more happy. We are more obedient. We strive to do His will instead of ours. And as on Preach My Gospel pg 2 says. " As our understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ increases, our desire to share the gospel will increase." I love my Savior. He has helped me through the good times and the hard times. Joseph Smith is a true prophet. Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah. I love the Book of Mormon and all that it contains. It does contain the fulness of the gospel. I love all of you and i am so blessed to be in the service of our God.
Love Elder Sam Rudd
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Letter - July 7, 2009
Hey there how is everything going? I am glad to hear that you had a good week at Lake Powell and everything else that went on. Tell Grandma Rudd Happy Birthday from me and that i love her. Also tell that to Grandma Lancaster as well and tell her thank you for all of the letters and postcards that i get from her.
Well this week was a good week. We have been teaching Sheelagh's son, Mark, and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He is dating one of the members in the ward and he has come to church almost every week for the past 9 or 10 months. He has never wanted the missionaries to teach him but for some reason he started wanting us to. We asked him to be baptized on August 1st and he accepted and so we are working with him and we are really excited about it all. He is a really good kid and he is already living everything in the church but he will be out of town for 2 weeks and so we can't baptize him before August. That was a bit disappointing but its alright. It will be great to have Sheelagh and Mark come into the gospel so they can support each other. Sheelaghs husband isn't interested but maybe one day he will be.
I havent met President Ogden yet but i will on Thursday. We have interviews on Thursday and i am really excited for them. President Ogden had a meeting with our Stake President on Sunday in Lichfield and so we were hoping to catch him and meet him but we missed him by about 5 minutes. Everyone who met him though said that he seemed like a great guy though so that just made me more excited to meet him. I know that he is the man who should be leading this mission at this time. I support him in whatever he does even though things will change and be different to what President Moffat did.
So i mentioned something about the so called "heat wave" that was happening. Well it only lasted for about 3 or 4 days. It is back to normal British weather. Rain, wind, cold, humid. I love seeing the reaction of the English when they get bad weather or they get something that is totally normal to me. I love it. The British are funny.
That is about all that has happened this week. Ben and Michal are doing great. Michal fasted on Saturday and Sunday and she said that it felt really good. They still continue to have a strong desire to come to church and to learn more about the church.
The church is true. I know that it is. Not a day goes by that my testimony is not strengthened in one way or another. All of the yelling and the people who just want to try and destroy the church and telling us that Joseph Smith plagerized the Book of Mormon, i love it. I love how satan just attacks our church and tries to tear it down but he can't do it. God won't let him. I love this gospel so much. It means everything to me. The time that i have been able to be on my mission has helped me grow as a person in so many different ways. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know that Jesus Christ lives. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith restored this church back to the earth and that he did many many things in our behalf. I am so grateful for all of you and your prayers and your support. You are the best.
Love Elder Sam Rudd
p.s. We have our own washing machine in the flat so that is how we do our washing. Then we just hang it up to dry. It is a pain but o well. I tried to get a lady to wash them but it didn't happen.
Well this week was a good week. We have been teaching Sheelagh's son, Mark, and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He is dating one of the members in the ward and he has come to church almost every week for the past 9 or 10 months. He has never wanted the missionaries to teach him but for some reason he started wanting us to. We asked him to be baptized on August 1st and he accepted and so we are working with him and we are really excited about it all. He is a really good kid and he is already living everything in the church but he will be out of town for 2 weeks and so we can't baptize him before August. That was a bit disappointing but its alright. It will be great to have Sheelagh and Mark come into the gospel so they can support each other. Sheelaghs husband isn't interested but maybe one day he will be.
I havent met President Ogden yet but i will on Thursday. We have interviews on Thursday and i am really excited for them. President Ogden had a meeting with our Stake President on Sunday in Lichfield and so we were hoping to catch him and meet him but we missed him by about 5 minutes. Everyone who met him though said that he seemed like a great guy though so that just made me more excited to meet him. I know that he is the man who should be leading this mission at this time. I support him in whatever he does even though things will change and be different to what President Moffat did.
So i mentioned something about the so called "heat wave" that was happening. Well it only lasted for about 3 or 4 days. It is back to normal British weather. Rain, wind, cold, humid. I love seeing the reaction of the English when they get bad weather or they get something that is totally normal to me. I love it. The British are funny.
That is about all that has happened this week. Ben and Michal are doing great. Michal fasted on Saturday and Sunday and she said that it felt really good. They still continue to have a strong desire to come to church and to learn more about the church.
The church is true. I know that it is. Not a day goes by that my testimony is not strengthened in one way or another. All of the yelling and the people who just want to try and destroy the church and telling us that Joseph Smith plagerized the Book of Mormon, i love it. I love how satan just attacks our church and tries to tear it down but he can't do it. God won't let him. I love this gospel so much. It means everything to me. The time that i have been able to be on my mission has helped me grow as a person in so many different ways. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I know that Jesus Christ lives. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith restored this church back to the earth and that he did many many things in our behalf. I am so grateful for all of you and your prayers and your support. You are the best.
Love Elder Sam Rudd
p.s. We have our own washing machine in the flat so that is how we do our washing. Then we just hang it up to dry. It is a pain but o well. I tried to get a lady to wash them but it didn't happen.
Letter - June 30, 2009
Hey i hope you had a great time at Lake Powell. I heard that the Hulets have a new houseboat. I will be excited to hear about it. I hope that dan got some good skiing in and that he wakeboarded.
Well the big news of this week was that we had Zone Conference and that is where we said goodbye to President and Sister Moffat. That was no fun. That was the hardest thing that i have had to do. I don't want to see them go. I know that they have to and i know that President Ogden will be great but i will miss them greatly. There were a lot of tears shed from me thats for sure. At the end of Zone Conference we sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again. Talk about a horrible song to end on. I was already in tears by the time the song ended and then after the song President Moffat said that him and Sister Moffat wanted to say goodbye to us each individually and so we all got up and went a made a line. I was trying to stay calm but it was so hard. I never thought that the day would come when they would leave. I finally got up to them and i hugged President Moffat and then he told me a few things that really helped me and then i went and said bye to Sister Moffat. It was tough. I love them so much and my love for them goes beyond this life. I love them for eternity. I will have to admit though i think it was harder to say goodbye to them than to you guys. I'm sorry but its true. I can't wait to see them again. You will have to let me know how their talk goes and tell them that i love them. Please.
Ben and Michal are ok with everything now. They came back to church and loved it. They really regreted what they did and they said that it was just a difficult decision for them to make. They are doing well though.
We are in the middle of a "heat wave" England style. It rains all the time and can't make up its mind but it is hotter than Africa over here. Everyone told us that it was going to be a "heat wave" but they don't even understand what the meaning of that means. Even though it is very very very humid and i am soggy and moist all the time, i love it. I love preaching the gospel.
Well that is it for this week. President Ogden comes in tomorrow night at about 7 o clock. I don't think we will meet him until interviews which are next week. I am excited for that. He flies into Frankfurt, Germany today to spend a day with the Area Presidency and then he flies over here to England. I will let you know all that happens. I love all of you. I am grateful for your love and support. I am thankful for your prayers. I am thankful for this gospel and all that it blesses us with. It is true. Its as simple as that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I hope to hear from you next week.
Love Elder Sam Rudd
Well the big news of this week was that we had Zone Conference and that is where we said goodbye to President and Sister Moffat. That was no fun. That was the hardest thing that i have had to do. I don't want to see them go. I know that they have to and i know that President Ogden will be great but i will miss them greatly. There were a lot of tears shed from me thats for sure. At the end of Zone Conference we sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again. Talk about a horrible song to end on. I was already in tears by the time the song ended and then after the song President Moffat said that him and Sister Moffat wanted to say goodbye to us each individually and so we all got up and went a made a line. I was trying to stay calm but it was so hard. I never thought that the day would come when they would leave. I finally got up to them and i hugged President Moffat and then he told me a few things that really helped me and then i went and said bye to Sister Moffat. It was tough. I love them so much and my love for them goes beyond this life. I love them for eternity. I will have to admit though i think it was harder to say goodbye to them than to you guys. I'm sorry but its true. I can't wait to see them again. You will have to let me know how their talk goes and tell them that i love them. Please.
Ben and Michal are ok with everything now. They came back to church and loved it. They really regreted what they did and they said that it was just a difficult decision for them to make. They are doing well though.
We are in the middle of a "heat wave" England style. It rains all the time and can't make up its mind but it is hotter than Africa over here. Everyone told us that it was going to be a "heat wave" but they don't even understand what the meaning of that means. Even though it is very very very humid and i am soggy and moist all the time, i love it. I love preaching the gospel.
Well that is it for this week. President Ogden comes in tomorrow night at about 7 o clock. I don't think we will meet him until interviews which are next week. I am excited for that. He flies into Frankfurt, Germany today to spend a day with the Area Presidency and then he flies over here to England. I will let you know all that happens. I love all of you. I am grateful for your love and support. I am thankful for your prayers. I am thankful for this gospel and all that it blesses us with. It is true. Its as simple as that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I hope to hear from you next week.
Love Elder Sam Rudd
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