I Feel Excited and Ready to Work!

My MTC Companions a year later!

Hi Family!!

How is everyone? I had a great week! I am now serving in Las Caobas with Hermana Salazar!! She was in the MTC with me in Mexico! We're from the same travel group, and we're working Villa Aura to the ground.

Hermana Salazar is my second companion from the Federal District of Mexico, and she is a rock star. I am really excited for this transfer. Out of all my companions, she knows the Book of Mormon and Bible the best-- and that comes in handy here, because there are some really stinkin' stubborn people here! Everyone in the DR loves to hear the word of God and they are happy to invite you in and are very accustomed to missionaries from all different faiths coming and preaching to them. And everyone believes strongly in God and everyone prays, but no one knows the Bible! Until I got here. Now everyone wants to prove to us why they're right and it's very frustrating. We get into a Bible bash every day. Luckily, Hermana Salazar isn't afraid of anyone and she courageously speaks truth.

Jenna and Hermana Day

I have been thinking a lot about Bup in his new calling this week! I ate lunch with our Stake President of Las Caobas and asked for advice. He quickly responded that we should read the talk by Elder Renlund "Through God's Eyes". https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2015/10/through-gods-eyes   Everyone else is invited to read that, too.

My new area at night

I met a member of the Quorum of the Seventy this week. Actually two. We had a mission-wide conference on the day of transfers and it was a little crazy. Elder Godday talked about how we as missionaries (or stake presidents) have this big, big mantle/ calling placed on us and we really only fill a fifth of it. Inside, we're just little Jenna or little Daddy Bup, but on the outside, we're Hermana Ludlam or President Ludlam. As time goes on the Lord prepares us and gives us hard things so that we eventually grow and fill all of it. Then when we're all grown, the Lord calls us to do something else so that we can grow into the new position. Until you're big enough to be a mission president, Bup! I just wanted to say that I have full confidence in Dad Bup as our new Stake President and that I have been praying and thinking about him all week.

Ice cream: "Don't leave even a tiny bit" in Dominican

This week I felt really good in my new area. I feel excited and ready to work. It's not like any of my other areas (certainly the richest of all my 7 areas!) but I feel like God has been preparing me in all my other areas to be able to confront the challenges in this particular area.

I love you family! I hope you have a great week. Hermana Ludlam

Hooray for Julio!!

Family!

Happy Julio Day!

I have the best news! On the 15th of February, 2020, Julio Esmerlin Castill Soto was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ! And it was a happy day.

I met Julio my first day in Independencia, the 4th of December. He was walking home from school and me and my two comps were contacting. He asked if we spoke English. We told him we did. He said he was interested in the Book of Mormon and wanted to know where the church was. He said he was an atheist. We met with him the next day and he explained why he didn't believe in God (he didn't understand why bad things happen if God is good). Julio kept every commitment and read everything we gave him. On the last day of my second transfer in Independencia, he got baptized!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach Julio, but now I am being transferred. I've never found and taught and baptized anyone on my mission, so this was a really special experience. I made him promise that he's not going to stop going to church and that he's going to get sealed in the temple. :) It was so sad to say goodbye 😢 but I also felt so much JOY from being able to introduce Julio to Heavenly Father's church. My favorite thing is when Julio prays because I know he is communicating with his Father, and it's very sincere and pure. And when he bears his testimony, he looks like a future missionary. He has come so far!

Also this week, my comp decided that she was going to do something about my leg hair because she's confused as to why it's so thick and black. She was convinced I was shaving wrong and that I just needed shaving cream. So I bought the cream which was really expensive and she told me she was going to shave my legs for me. The smoothness lasted for 12 hours. Then my hair grew back!

I bear my testimony that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. He directs His work here on the earth. He leads and guides us personally in these latter-days. I'm so grateful and blessed to be a member and that I am a missionary! And I get to share my testimony to EVERYONE. I'm also really grateful to be in the DR, where testifying of Jesus Christ and His love is a normal thing. Last night, a guy casually stopped to talk to us just to tell us his testimony. Everyone lets me tell them what I know is true. 

It's not fair that I only have 3 transfers left! 18 weeks.

I love you, Fam!

Love,

Hermanita Ludlam

Politics in the DR "Viva Dona Trump"

Henry and Vielka grilling for the hermanas

Jenna Heaven.  She ate two! "Him-bebes!"

 

I know in whom I have trusted!

  

Hi Family!

This week went by really fast. No one was sick, still haven't found a house, and we just went around trying to find people the Lord wants us to talk to. We had Julio's baptismal interview this week. We had lots of other teaching appointments planned that day, but we didn't go to a single one because the whole ordeal took the entire day. The interview itself took over an hour!! Hermana Layme and I sat in the Primary room with the fans full blast and tried to entertain ourselves. Julio and our district leader were just echando la chercha and lost track of time. Then we bought Julio ice cream for passing his entrevista.

Jen, Julio and Hermana Layme

We ate lunch with a lovely family yesterday. The dad has been to the states several times and he told us why he'd rather live in the DR (where the power goes out sometimes) than in the states. He says if you're in the DR and waiting in line, you can ask the person behind you to hold your spot while you go buy something somewhere else. Anyone, anywhere is always happy to strike up a conversation and tell you their whole life story, and you will automatically be friends. They'll even invite you to their house for dinner. People are too friendly and more than willing to go above and beyond to help strangers. There's a lot of things about the DR that I'll miss.

There was a personal study activity in Preach My Gospel (Jen's study manual) that I did a while ago to help me learn about conversion, and so when I read 2 Nephi 4 this week, all I could think was "this is what conversion looks like." I think in order to stay converted (which is a continual process, like continually holding fast to the rod) we have to always have the mentality of Nephi.

"Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.... nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted." (verses 17, 19). 

 Always repent, prepare for the sacrament throughout the week, and remember to let the Lord's Atonement work in your life. And then, even if you mess up a bunch, the Lord will be able to apply his grace/ enabling powers in your life to make you more like Him.

I read this talk again this week because I love it so much. "The Atonement of Jesus Christ" (click here) by Tad R. Callister.  Have a lovely week, family!!

Love,
Hermana Loomloom

Keepin' It Real

Beautiful Jenna in the New Year

Hi Family!

I'm afraid not much exciting stuff happened this week. Sadly, the sister I stayed with in the hospital last week went home and Hermana Geddes got emergency transferred to another area in the capital. 😕We're back down to a house of four.

I still have a fever and achy feeling after breaking my fast yesterday and I don't know why, and we went to get my companion checked for tuberculosis this morning. She is not showing any symptoms right now, but she taught someone we later found out has tuberculosis, so the mission mom is having her take the test.

I hit 13 months! And we finally got the signature from Julio's mom so he can get baptized on the 15th!  We had three people we are teaching come to church this week.

So the missionary manual changed and now sister missionaries are not allowed to proselyte with any boys, unless their spouse is accompanying us. It's been really challenging to figure out how to teach these people because everyone in our ward is very busy with work and school and kids. We are trying to move forward with faith in our leaders, but we also feel very stuck.

Also my companion and I are continuing to be ever diligent in getting references from members, and this week, we received the reference of a beautiful new couple!! I'm so excited to keep teaching them.

Hermanas in the back of the bus

I love you family! I hope you all have a great week, like always.

Love,
Hermana Ludlam

You must become a rock a river cannot wash away.