Letter - May 26, 2009

Hey there sorry this email will be really short because the library is closed so we are emailing from a cafe and we only have 20 minutes. Kinda ridiculous but o well.

This week has been pretty good. We had Ben and Michal at church and also after church Sheelagh came up to us and told us that she wanted to be baptized. I hope you remember Sheelagh. That was a shock to me but i am really proud of her. She finished the entire Book of Mormon and she feels like she needs to be baptized. So we will start teaching her again.

Well we went golfing this morning. It was awesome. I hadn't swung a club in almost a year but it felt so good. I was surprised with how well i did. I was hitting the 175 marker with my 7 iron so i was really happy.

Well i love this gospel and i love serving the Lord. Elder Williams is doing great and we are having a lot of fun together. I love this work and i hope that we will have even more success. I love all of you and hope you are all doing well.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

p.s. i will write a letter today and tell you more about the week

Letter - May 20, 2009

Hey there everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I am doing well and it was good to hear from you.

Well this week has been a pretty good week. We had Zone Conference last Thursday and that is always good. I love it. I always learn so much from Zone Conference. I only get one more with President Moffat. That is a sad thing to think about.

Also this week has been very wet. It has been pouring rain non stop pretty much for about a week. It has been horrible. Yesterday was mission football and we were absolutely soaked. It rained all day. I couldn't believe it. So i have been very wet for about the last week. Hopefully it isnt like this all summer. Mission Football was great but our Zone didn't do too hot. We lost every game we played and i just got so frustrated cause people weren't doing their job on the field. I am not the best player in the world but it was still frustrating for me. I am pretty sore today but life goes on. Also yesterday at mission football President Moffat told us that Elder Wear had gone home for medical reasons. He had his appendix taken out about 2 months ago and he was still having symptoms of appendisidis. (I have no idea if that is how you spell it). He kept fighting through the pain and i saw him at Zone Conference and he didn't look too well. He looked like he was in a lot of pain. When i heard that he had to go home i was devastated. Me and him grew to be really good friends. We have a lot of things planned together when we get home. Please remember Elder Wear in your prayers and pray for him to get back out into the mission field and finish off his mission.

Well at the moment we are teaching a family who seem to be interested in the gospel. Their names are Ben and Michal. She is Jewish but not practicing. They are very nice and they invite us over for dinner all the time. They came to church on Sunday and they said that they really enjoyed it. Hopefully they will be baptized on the 13th of June. That is what we are planning on.

Well that is about it for this week. I'm sorry. I feel like sometimes my emails are just pointless and you get bored reading them. Hopefully not. I'm glad that you still remember me and talk about me once in a while. The answer to your question is yes i still do that whistle. It is great. All my companions have wanted to learn how to do it. I tell them its just a god given talent.

Well i love you all. This gospel is true. I love serving a mission. I could do this for the rest of my life. It is the best thing i have ever done. (Alma 29:9). I have learned so much about myself that i wouldn't have if i hadn't come on a mission. You are the best and i am thankful for all of your love and support. I hope to hear from all of you next week.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Letter - May 12, 2009

Hey there it seems like i haven't talked to you in forever..... Well nothing too exciting has gone on since Sunday. We found a really nice lady yesterday who said she wanted to come to church so we are very excited about that. Just wanted to tell you that i am still alive and that i haven't caught the big pig flu that is going around the world. It was so good to talk to everyone on Sunday. I am very lucky to have you as a family. I am so grateful for your support and love. I love all of you. Elder Williams dad wanted to talk to me on Sunday so i was able to talk to him. That was pretty funny. I got on the phone and the first words he said to me was "Hey Beetdigger." It was fun to talk to him. That is really all that is happening right now. Next week we have mission football which i am very very excited about. I always love it. You may not get an email from me next Tuesday. It might be later. Zone Conference is on Thursday. It might be President Moffat's last one. Mom you and Sister Moffat would get a long great. You will have to "hangout" when she gets home. I love you all and i will hear from you next week.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Letter - May 5, 2009

Hey everyone i hope all is well. It was good to hear from you. This email will be short because i will be talking to you on Sunday but i just wanted to tell you that me and Elder Williams are doing well. We have had a rough first few days with doors slammed in our face and not a lot of success but we will get there. I know we will. We are excited for this week and putting last week behind us. We are getting along great. We have a lot of the same interests. He played football at Bingham High School and he loves the Yankees. The only thing is that he wants to go try out for the school down south football team. He is a big kid. I love him though. We are having a lot of fun.

Jean and Gareth have moved back to their house in the Cannock Ward so we are no longer able to teach them. It was very disappointing and frustrating but we just have to move on from it.

I love you very much and i look forward to speaking to you on Sunday.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Letter - April 30, 2009

Hey well this week has been a very very busy and interesting week. I hope that your week has been a good one with a lot of good things happening.

Well the big news of the week is that i didn't get transfered out of Lichfield. I am still here. Elder Bedford has left though and gone to a city called Worcester. (Pronounced woo-ster). He was a bit sad to leave Lichfield but it will be good for him to get a new area and new companion. He has pretty much only been in Lichfield. So i am excited for him. Me and him got a long great and it will be different without him but we will move on from it.

On Monday afternoon we were riding our bikes out in the pouring rain. It was absolutely pouring. All of the sudden i get a phone call and it was from President Moffat. I quickly pulled over off of the road and answered the phone. He asked me how i was doing and i told him i was very wet. Well during the call he asked me if i would be a trainer for this next transfer or so. I was very surprised at this but i told him that i would do it and that i would try my best. So i am now training a brand new missionary. I am very excited for this opportunity and i will work as hard as i can to be the best example to him that i can be. So my companion, or my boy, as we call it out here is named Elder Williams. He is from South Jordan and he went to Bingham High School. He played football and he is a very big muscular kid. He is about my height and weighs about 220 pounds. He is an awesome kid and we know some of the same people. He is very excited to be a missionary and to get to work. His excitement is contageous and it makes me even more excited to do this work. I love it. I can't wait to see what this brings.

Well this email will be short because we have to go out and go to work, but i thought i would just email you and tell you about the amazing blessing and opportunity i have from the Lord. I am excited and i will work as hard as i can.

I love this work. We continue to work with Jean and Gareth and they are progressing very slowly but we are getting there. It will be a long journey. I am so grateful for the time i have to serve and to do this work. I love it with all my heart. I love my Savior Jesus Christ and everything he has done for me. What a great example. I love all of you and i hope that all of you are doing well. You are the best.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Letter - April 21, 2009

Hey there everyone. This email could be short but there isn't a lot of time. We just got back from hearing Elder M. Russell Ballard speak. What an experience. It was so great to be in the presence of an Apostle of the Lord. The whole mission was able to be there and we all gathered in the chapel and we waited and waited for him to come in. We sat there for a good 45 minutes. Just waiting. Eventually he came in and all of us stood up and he said, " I sure hope you haven't been standing up for the past 45 minutes." After that we all took a picture and that was really cool. I can't wait to get that picture back. Elder Robert Oaks, the area president, was also there with him. It was a very short meeting but Elder Oaks spoke to us along with his wife. Then Sister Ballard got up and told everyone that they had a grandson in the mission. She was looking directly at Elder Brower. She just bore her testimony and then Elder Ballard got up and spoke to us for about an hour. He spoke about how we as missionaries need to become master teachers. He said that is where success comes. He taught us that if we are better teachers, then the spirit will be more present and people will recognize it and feel it more in their lives. It was a great talk and i learned so much from it. After he spoke he told us that we could ask him any questions about missionary work. He didn't want us to ask him where Kolob was or anything like that. We did that and then after about 20 minutes he had President and Sister Moffat bear their testimony and then Elder Oaks and then he bore his testimony. I can't tell you how strong the spirit was in that room and that moment. You had to experience it for yourself. I loved being in that meeting. I didn't want to leave. I would have listened to Elder Ballard all day and all night. At the end of the meeting he had all of us come up and shake his hand. That was really special.

I love this gospel. I know that there is a living day prophet on the earth and that there are 12 Apostles leading the church. This is the true church of Christ. I know it is. I am so grateful for my membership in it.

This week is interviews as well. I am excited for those. I always love learning from our leaders. Elder Ballard got up and told the whole mission that we have as good a mission president as you will find in the church. That was a real honor for President Moffat but i knew that it was true. I am grateful to be in this mission and to be serving the Lord. The church is true and i hope that i can make the Lord proud. I love all of you and am thankful for you.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Latest baptism...

This is Lauren Taylor, Sam's latest baptism!

Letter - April 14, 2009

Hey there it was really good to hear about all that has gone on this last week. It has been a great week and full of blessings from the Lord. I just love this work more than anything else. So this week was really slow. We didn't have a lot of new people to teach. We were out there working hard each day, all day long. I was so tired. We found a really nice lady named Sharon and we taught her a couple times during the week. She read part of the Book of Mormon and she said that she really enjoyed it. Too bad her boyfriend isn't too interested and so she didn't want to take it any further without him. We were really disappointed from that. So that is really about the only person we taught this last week.

Saturday night came and we had no one that was committed to church. I was not very happy. I was very frustrated and i wasn't quite sure what else i could have done. So i went to bed and i just pleaded with the Lord that someone would come to church. I pleaded with him. So sunday morning came and we walked to church with Lauren and I was just hoping that someone would show up. We got to church and i looked into the chapel where the Relief Society meets and i saw a lady who was recently baptized and she had a friend with her. I was hoping that she wasn't a member. So i was in Priesthood opening exercises and the Ward Mission Leader came and got me and brought me out in the hall. He explained that this member had brought a friend and that she wanted us to teach her and her son! I was shocked. I asked him if he was serious and he said yes. So i was about to jump through the chapel roof, but i didn't and so i went back in to priesthood.

After priesthood got out i went out in the hallway and the member stopped me and told me she wanted me to meet her friend. I shook her hand and introduced myself. I set up an appointment for Sunday night to go and teach her at the members home. I was still in shock at this time. I had no idea why this was happening. After sacrament meeting got over i went and talked to Jean and her son Gareth. They said that they really enjoyed church and that they wanted to come again next week. So obviously with that in place i asked them if they would be baptized. They said yes and were very very excited about it. WOW!!! Jean and Gareth will be baptized on the 2nd of May. I can't tell you how excited i am. The Lord truly did bless us. I am so thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who looks after us and who prepares his children to enter into the waters of baptism. I know that this is the Lords work. I know that the Lord prepared and made a way for Jean and Gareth to come to church, to have a spiritual experience, and then have a desire to be baptized. I know that without a doubt in my mind. I love the Lord. Please pray for Jean and Gareth. They both have dislexia and Jean has a slight case of epilepsy. They struggle very very much to read the Book of Mormon. They want to be baptized though and i know that the Lord will provide the way. I know with all my heart that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Well other than that we had Zone Conference this week. It was such a good one. We learned about how to become a successful missionary from Preach My Gospel pg. 10. The England Birmingham Mission (EBM) has the best missionaries in the world. We really do. It is amazing to see all of these other missionaries working so hard. President Moffat is the best mission president that anyone could have. He takes his job very seriously and he has accomplished miracles while out here. We all love him and we will all miss him very very much.

I am pleased to hear that Stake Conference went well. I miss coming to stake conference and learning from the leaders of our stake. We are very very lucky to have leaders like we do in our ward and our stake. Leadership over here is good, but its not great like it is in the states. Church members have a lot to learn in those regards. They are coming along though.

I can't believe our condo changed. You will have to send me pictures. Also send me pictures of the basement. You can send pictures in emails. Just attach them to the email and i will get them. I haven't seen a lot of things. The basement, dad's car, mom's car (if she got a new one yet), etc. I wont even recognize anything when i get home.

Well the church is true. I know it is with all of my heart. I will be devastated when my mission is over but i hope that the Lord will bless me with opportunities to share the Gospel with pepole. I love Jesus Christ. He is my best friend. I have felt his love. I love serving the people of England. Even though they are a pain most of the time. I love all of you and i hope that you are all doing well. My prayers are with you.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

Letter - April 7, 2009

Hey there i hope everyone is doing well today. I hope that everyone isn't too sad about Conference being over. Conference was great. I loved it. We don't get to watch the Sunday Afternoon session because it is too late so that is always disappointing. I was especially disappointed this time because i missed Elder Bednar's talk. He is one of my favorite's so i will just have to wait a couple of months until we get the ensign to read it. General Conference is so amazing though. I was suprised to see how many lighter gray suits there were. President Uchtdorf's was the best though. I loved both of his talks. I loved how he said in the Priesthood Session that the gospel is not someones best guess. It really is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is so true. I love this gospel so much more after hearing conference. I can't wait until October so i can hear them again. I am very happy to hear about Elder Anderson. I knew he was going to go in. He will be great. I am proud to say that i have eaten dinner with one of the Apostles. He will do great. I was also very sad to hear about President Dahlquist. I thought for sure he would be put in as a General Authority. He is a great man and he did a lot of good for the Young Mens organization. Maybe they are just giving him a break.

This week has been an alright week. We have found a lot of people and the Lord is blessing us. We have been able to teach some people. We have been faced with a lot of challenges but we face them and we try and work as hard as we can. We hope that this week is a great week.

Brother Withington is so funny isnt he. I love him so much. He reminds me of Steve Scott. I am glad that he was able to get to the house and that you were able to meet him. I will be friends with him for a long time to come.

Well time is running out but i want you to know that i know that this gospel is true. I think my favorite talk in Conference was Elder Holland's talk on the Savior. It was an amazing talk. Jesus Christ does live. I can testify of that. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Lord's kingdom again established on the earth. I know that without a doubt in my mind. I love this gospel so much and i want to dedicate my life to it. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet on the earth today. What a blessing. I love all of you and i am thankful for the time i have to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.

Love Elder Sam Rudd

HUMP DAY

Sam's been gone 1 YEAR TODAY!!! I can't believe that it's been a whole year since we were saying goodbye and wondering how we were going to survive the next two years! We are so proud of Sam and the things he's accomplishing on his mission! He works hard everyday and is teaching people the gospel. It's amazing the blessings that have come to our family with him serving. We miss him, love him and pray for him daily. We hope he has another great year!