May 30, 2012 Letter from Elder Ludlow

Hey,

It's transfer week so my P-day is on wednesday. I apologize for not sending the memo. Hope you figured it was something like that.

Thankyou again for telling me about what everyone is up to. I appreciate it.

From what I've heard, it's starting to heat up over there in the Holy Land. It was really rainy and moderately cold for a while here and i was wishing every day for warm weather. Then sunday and Memorial day came around and we were burning up outside. Missionary clothing is not the most comfortable when it's hot. However, yesterday it cooled down and we enjoyed it.

So the Pentecost is going on right now? I have just been reading about it lately.

Things are going pretty good then? A quiet week in Jerusalem is still a significant one. I have to tell you about my Middle Eastern phase that's going on right now. I started reading the Book of Mormon in Arabic again in the evenings. And I love it. I've forgotten a lot so I want to build my knowledge back up. Also I walked into a store and saw some writing that looked like arabic and the worker seemed Indian or similar. I got excited but it turns out that he is from Pakistan and speaks Urdu (?) Close but not quite.

There is a mosque in Fitchburg. I have to resist the urge to walk inside. Although I do have that problem with the Chistian cathedrals all around too. That's what Jerusalem will do to you.

Q's and A's:

Food- We usually don't cook much besides lunch. I've been making a few things from recipes in the cookbook. My mind is blanking out on the things I cook for lunch but they're mostly simple. I eat fast food probably once or twice a week. It's a tradition after district meeting to go together to a place. The members still feed us well. I find myself looking to that part of the day. It's relieving to be with people that accept all of the doctrine that you teach :P and to rest a little bit.

Yes, transfers are happening tomorrow. I didn't see much speculation beforehand. The transfer texts are somewhat suspenseful though because they come one at a time and you can infer from them things like: who is training, shotgunning etc.. A few people were expressing that they did NOT want to be transfered. One missionary from our district is leaving and he was really sad. We developed a quick friendship and had an exchange this last week so it's tough for me too. From the texts we believe that he will be shotgun training. So in other words, training a new missionary in a new area. Fun!

Personal study... I read from each of the testaments (O,N,BoM) and Jesus the Christ (Almost done) plus Preach my Gospel (Which is gold)

What does it mean to pass off teaching? Im assuming I don't do it

I could do better with spanish study but I enjoy it. It's hard to improve rapidly in that area when >75% of our teaching is in english.

Had zone meeting this last week. Down in Ludlow again :) It was pretty good. Afterwards we played Cricket with the Mission Pres and wife plus the Corbins, who are an awesome senior couple from England; they taught us how to play. They know about Ludlow England and think it's one of the most beautiful parts of the country. It was fun to see how enthusiastic President Evans was. Sister Evans is pretty awesome too.

It was tough again to get investigators to attend church which lead to other discouragement but the work keeps moving forward. It seems like excellent weeks are always followed by slow ones. It's a rollercoaster.

We have contacted a ton of people in the last few days and we'll see what comes from that. They came from trying to find past investigators. I met some guys from Brazil. One from Campinas (Sp?) and they wanted a portugese book of mormon.
Do the new students like to watch a lot of movies? Do they hangout in the main hallway late at night like we did? Are either of the classes (Harp or Hunts) remotely close to being as fun as mine was?
Im glad that my bros and sis' are involved in a bunch of things. Don't waste a single minute!
 Mom, I'm with you. The history is so rich and expansive that there is always something more to learn. It intrigues me a lot. We'll see what I do with that after my mission.

I dont have any cool stories to share this week. I'll try to do a better job of recording them when they happen. I also decided that Im going to take at least one picture a day. So keep me committed to that. Every week I'll send about seven pictures. Don't worry, I wont let this get in the way of my missionary duties.

Shalom and talk to you on Monday! Hasta Luego!

-Elder Jared Ludlow Jr.

May 21 Part 2- pictures of the MTC and Massachusetts!

Companion

Branch Presidency

 Teachers....

 Here are some pictures of the area he is serving in Massachusetts...

May 21 Part 1- the letter from Elder Ludlow

Hello hello my people

I've received some excellent updates. Everyone seems to be active doing great things. This was a

really awesome week! I attached some of my MTC pictures and I'll send my Massachusetts ones in a seperate email.

To start off, the Lord has been blessing us with success lately. I'll be sharing how throughout the letter. I thank all of you for your prayers that have helped guide the process along. The Lord's hand has been evident in everything.

One thing that we have found in teaching, like dad said, is that focusing on the Atonement is very important. I feel like our focus this week has been more on that first, along with faith in Christ, followed by the message of the restoration. Before it seemed more like the other way around.

Josh went to Crete! That's so cool. If he could send an email himself talking about his experience that would be most appreciated.

Im glad that Mom got my card and liked it. Mom have you been able to contact those people that I told you about on skype?

It's too bad that you didn't get drenched on Pergamum. I honestly can't imagine that place without a dark sky and buckets of water coming down.

I have missed the Israel culture a little bit. There have been a few times when I have seen a picture with Hebrew caligraphy or a Jewish worship center and stared hungrily.

Church was fun this week. I was asked to speak in Sacrament Mtg about five minutes before it started so I hastily spoke about invitations. I used the story of Abinadi (You never know what effect you can have) and D&C 18:9-16.

Eileen walked in while I was speaking! And with her two kids! It was a miracle because the night before she told us she couldnt go because her son crashed on his scooter and was in pain all afternoon and into the night. However, her sons went to Primary and the hurt one was playing and running around like nothing had happened.

Eileen heard the things she needed to at church and im sure had an amazing time.There was a "Linger Longer" too, so we had a lunch afterwards and it was excellent.

I went on companion exchanges last thursday with the zone leaders. So I was down in Ludlow for a day :)  They actually mostly work in Springfield but Ludlow is where they live and the church building is. It was interesting and different. There were a lot of African-Americans, where as im used to Puerto Ricans and white americans. We did a ton of street contacting so I didnt get very many comments about my name. 

An interesting guy talked to us. His name was Adriatic (or something like that) and he told us we couldnt be "ordained" to preach the word, that we had to choose the life of Christ. John 15:16 would be enlightening :P As such he doesnt have a place to lay his head. I.e. a house. He also said that the scriptures were his "wings" and that he flies above the world and looks down. His choice canon of scripture is the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon. Welcome to Springfield.

There was also an adventure in a crazy apartment building. It used to be a motorcycle factory.

The hallways were narrow and confusing. We thought that we were going the right way until Elder Clay opened a door and an alarm went off. So we hurried the other direction and tried a different route. Eventually after riding on two different elevators we found the right place and the past investigator wasnt even at home. (Which is ridiculously common)

Now to answer questions:

My three journals-

1. Daily journal with what happened. Like events and people

2. Spiritual with scriptures and thoughts

3. Missionary journal with companions, meetings, etc..

We have a nifty agenda that has a schedule, space for goals and key indicators, which is the numbers that we keep track of.

Right now we have five baptismal dates. All of them in June. 

I do use cell phones, and it's very useful for daily contact with investigators, verifying appts and so on.

I have district meetings every friday down in Worcester.

Spiritual highlights- I have really enjoyed teaching the people that have been prepared and are making changes. They have started to consider themselves as members already, as in it's a solid decision. They just need to be baptized. But it's testimony-building to be with them.

The setting is beautiful. I love driving through the forest. Last night i saw the late sunset on the woods and lakes on the way back home.

Have fun at Jericho! Eat some sycamore nuts for me. Keep up the good communication.

Love you. Trust in the Savior!

 

-Elder J Luds Jr 

May 14 Letter from Elder Ludlow

Aloha,

It's great to receive your letters as well. There are many amazing things happening for you, too many to comment on. Im happy for all of the experiences that people are having.

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity of talking to my beautiful mother and the rest of the family on skype (with dad through the phone as well) it was nice to talk to everyone again. It feels like it hasnt been a very long time since I was there.

Thankyou for the support. If there is one thing that I would ask you to pray for especially, it's that my investigators can attend church. Which still hasn't happened yet, but im not giving up hope.

I would like to thank grandma ludlow for all of her letters, they are a shining light for me. I read them all but I dont have very much time to write back.

Im grateful to Haley for the music that she put on my ipod. It relaxes my soul every evening; has some great songs that I like.

My investigators are great, I enjoy working with them. Most of them are actually latino people that prefer to speak english. There are some fairly new investigators (One lesson or will have the first this week) that we're hoping to have success with.

Zone conference was pretty good. Required a lot of driving. Down to connecticut. I'll be going down to ludlow today for zone p-day. Some basketball finally. And later this week i'll return for exchanges.

Language is progressing still. Kind of slowly but im comfortable with it. We still work about 70% in english with invest.

Yes i have started to build some good relationships, with part members as well.
Im trying to keep a good journal, I actually have like three different kinds. So we'll see how that turns out after two years
Sounds like Mom is being quite the adventurer.

It's interesting, I've found that as ive been reading the Bible a lot more and studying the book of Isaiah has been one of my favorites. And chap 53 especially. There are so many prophecies that he made and that came to pass. I try to read from each of the testaments every day.

So yes sunday was a great blessing. Its amazing how small miracles happen. We got out of church and went over to start my call and i realized that i didnt have my card. Then we took a different route than normal, going into the building instead of around. And one of the members came and asked us for a blessing in his difficult times. After that I went and sat on the front steps, tried to call but the card said it was expired. At that moment Brother Aliomeleh came outside and asked how we were doing. Which led to him helping me skype with the family. It all worked out, and was definitely not coincidence.
I dont have much more time today (we're going down to springfield soon) but I liked speaking to each of my brothers and sisters. And mom of course. I hope you did too. And it wasnt just boring or something.

Have a good time in all your endeavors.

Love you,

Elder Ludlow

Mother's Day Phone Call May 13, 2012

JJ had written that he would be calling us at about 2 PM his time so we waited excitedly at 9 PM our time for the phone to ring. When it got to be ten after I turned on my skype wondering if maybe he would be skyping instead. Then there was a skype request from a person I didn't know. I was about to delete it when there was an IM saying it was JJ trying to skype from a member's home. This family is the cutest family of three little boys, the father proudly introduced us to the three week old baby and the four year old CJ popped into our conversation once in a while. We are so grateful for the Ameliolemeh family for letting JJ skype at their home. We had a great conversation about their investigators, food, weather, family and friends updates. He looked happy and healthy, his mom's prayers are being answered. He also sent me a beautfiful Mother's Day card.

May 7 Letter from Central Massachusetts

Hello to everyone from Central Massachusetts,

My district is pretty good. We meet up every week and it's always fun. Elder Torgesen and I are the only spanish missionaries. There is a trio of sisters. And then a companionship of english elders. So seven in total. We dont have a lot of success in this area of central mass but i believe we're all great missionaries.

The ward mission leader is a good man. Elder Troop. We mostly only see him on sundays but he always has good advice and tries to direct the ward missionaries. The ward is getting more organized in this area every week.

Have not gone on splits yet but we will later in the month. ACTUALLY, and this might give you a chuckle, I will be going down to Ludlow for a day for exchanges with the zone leaders. We'll see how that goes. Thats in like two weeks I think. Also tomorrow is zone conference down in connecticut.

In reality, I was being super sarcastic when I said tracting was unbelievably fun. New englanders are good people but not especially inviting to LDS missionaries. We have some great investigators from previous tracting (before me) though so apparently it sometimes works. No I have not used to fake number check routine. Probably should. Citas (appointments) are about as solid as butter.

Im glad my brothers are having good spiritual experiences.

Sorry about the picture. And I really dont know how to get photos to you. The computer wasnt cooperating with my camera last time I tried. I have no idea how to work that out.

Yeah I did notice that with the faculty. You're all really great though. It was an honor to be a pupil. Be sure to tell Bro Hunts and Bro Harper "Hi" for me. I was just saying the other day to my companion that you three would be an unstoppable trio in missionary work, if such a fantasy were to happen.

Once again it was a tough sunday to swallow as we waited anxiously for our investigators to show up and they didnt. However, a lot of them were sick and that held them back. Some of them are progressing really well. We extended two baptisimal invitations this week and they were both accepted! So now we have three dates to look forward to. One of the women that we're working with decided she wanted it to be on her birthday. That will be two days after Joe's birthday.

I told you I would share some stories so here goes :)

-So we went to district meeting as usual on friday but when we showed up at the church building in Worcester it was locked (not as usual) With the result that we had the meeting at a little hilly park (more like a backyard) overlooking a neighborhood closeby. It was muddy and a little distracting but it felt good to be outside and there was a good view.

I think that the area is absolutely beautiful. With tons of trees and low rock walls and lakes. It has been raining frequently but that just makes everything greener.

-Next story, a kind of negative one

-We were searching really diligently for a new investigator. Someone that has been prepared. So we prayed very specifically and fervently to be able to find them. Anyways we drove into a neighborhood that looked nice and decided to knock on some doors. The first man we talked to was nice but when we asked if he knew anyone that might be interested he said these words that stuck in my head. "I really wouldn't go to any of the other houses in this neighborhood if I were you." I took it as an omen but my companion wanted to try a few more houses. The next three people quickly rejected us and then a man yelled out his window at us and then came outside to argue a little bit with E. Torgesen. I was getting into the car so i wasn't involved. I wont go into details but the verbal volley didnt really end well and we left on kind of a sour note.

-This morning during personal study a lady called our phone, which my companion answered, and talked to him for nearly 45 minutes, asking him a lot of questions and, we presume, trying to shake his faith or find a weakness in our church. He did a great job, giving good answers and really holding his own. That one sort of ended as a victory.

It's interesting that my companion has been the target of these directed attacks and i was just an onlooker. It's only a matter of time before it happens to me. Nevertheless, I welcome the challenge. I find great strength and peace in the church. There's nothing weak about it and Im "not ashamed of the gospel of Christ"

Sorry for giving a really long message, I hope you get something from it. Love you all. Godspeed and stay true to the faith.

 

-Elder Jared Ludlow Jr.

April 30 Letter from the dashing Elder Ludlow

Hello everyone.

It sounds like a really exciting and active time over there. You said that the new group has arrived? Im sure mom has already started to talk to them about me. Be sure to say hi for me. And to make the most out of their time in the Holy Land.

You're right the area has reminded me a little of upstate new york. We have some of those smaller towns in our area like you said, in fact, right now im in one of those libraries next to a church in a town square. In our town of Lunenburg. There are definitely a ton of hills, my legs can testify to that, and i've experienced Jerusalem.

Fortunately, yes, we spend a lot of time driving in the car. Our miles are supposed to be limited but it's difficult in an area that is so spread out. We are often required to travel long distances through the forest to get to members' houses.

However, we try to spend the majority of our time in the cities where we work on finding and teaching people. I learned pretty quickly that appointments are very fickle things. My companion and I are focusing on learning how to set appts with people so that they dont disregard them as much. Because whenever an appointment doesn't work out, or schedule is thrown off track and sometimes we have to resort to tracting. Which is unbelievably fun.

It was a tough week as far as teaching people.

I get a monthly allowance to buy food and things. We're lucky to be fed dinner almost every night by members so we save money.

There's only one ward in the area and most of the members are english speaking. We do have translators though for spanish and the numbers for the hymns are always announced in both english and spanish. I heard that there used to be a spanish branch but it fell apart for certain reasons. Kind of sad.

The ward is great though, i have enjoyed it.

With the language... Yeah the accents and the ways that people talk have been a little hard to pick up. I had gotten really used to my teachers that spoke with the styles of Spain and Panama. Plus they usually spoke loudly and clearly. The people I have worked with have their own vocabularies that they like to use and speak softly, quickly or both.

Actually most of the people I work with have been Puerta Rican. with some Dominicans and a scattering of others.
Something to always improve on is loving the people and still being bold while doing so. Still working on finding the right mix there.

How was Josh and Joe's time in Tel Aviv? And what were the first impressions from Donald and Amy?

It's kind of sad that you have to go through another set of goodbyes with the students. I bet that their facebook profiles will be fairly downcast for a little while. So Eliza got engaged? Thats fun. Was it the guy that she dated immediately after returning from Israel?

No your note wasnt too long. I really enjoyed it. I have much more time now to do email. The library where we usually go allows us 90 minutes on the computer. On a typical p-day we usually do those routine things that you said like laundry, writing, cleaning, shopping. Today we took a few pictures. I thought I would be able to share them along with those from the MTC but the computer has not been cooperating :(

Honestly, there arent a lot of fun things to do around here. Our district lives pretty far apart so we dont often get together on p-days. I havent been able to play any sports, which is hard for me. I might go insane if i go a few months without basketball.

By the way i think I forgot to tell you that I saw part of Boston and surrounding area on the way to the mission home. Caught a glimpse of Fenway Park even. I think the city is awesome. Hope to serve there at some point.

Sorry for rambling on and not asking very many questions.

Have the professors developed a close relationship after being together so long? Are any of the sites getting "old" for you? (haha) Have any of the new girl students caught a rapid interest in the absent member of the family? The mysterious and dashing Elder Ludlow?

What is every person in the family up to right now? Im curious.

I'll have a cool story to share next time, I promise.

Praying for all of you. I appreciate the support as always. Shalom and Salaam.

 

-Elder Ludlow