Letter from the Mission Pres.

Dear Judd Family,

We are thrilled to welcome your wonderful daughter to the Guatemala City South Mission. It lifts our spirits when we greet the new missionaries and see their combination of faith, wonder, and youthful exuberance. We love each one of them already and rejoice in seeing them learn to communicate, to love one another, and to work together in the service of the Lord. My quiet interview with your daughter filled me with gratitude for the faith, righteous desires, and testimony she has developed over months and years of preparation.

Sister Judd´s first companion is Sister Campos, one of our trainer missionaries, who has been very successful in missionary work and exemplifies many of the attributes of Christ found in the sixth chapter of Preach My Gospel, including attributes of charity, patience, diligence, and obedience. I have witnessed the Lord’s guiding hand in both the selection of the trainers and the assignment to serve alongside your daughter. Sister Campos will help your daughter adjust to the mission life and set a worthy and foundational example. Surely the Lord will bless them both abundantly as they labor with their might, and they will experience great joy in witnessing many come to Christ through the restored gospel.

The most productive missionaries are oftentimes those who receive active support from their families, priesthood leaders, and associates through frequent letters or emails, which are positive and inspirational. We invite you to have them join you in contributing to your daughter’s success by corresponding regularly with motivational and uplifting thoughts.

We will do all that we can to lift and strengthen your daughter while we serve together in this part of the Lord’s vineyard, Guatemala – the Land of the Eternal Spring. Thank you for sending her to labor with us.

With warm regards,

President and Sister Shumway

Guatemala City South Mission

New Years!

New years was not much different from any other day here at the CCM. But I think that was fine. New years eve there was some fireworks I've been told but I went to bed and was out for the entire night. It's exhausting work, learning constantly. But I love it here anyway. Even though I love it I'm also excited to get out of here and start teaching people! And guess what!? This is my last week! So this time next week I'll hopefully be in the field with a companion probably struggling to communicate to people in Spanish. But that's ok. I'm expecting that so hopefully it won't discourage me too much. 

Anyway besides the normal grind and prepping myself mentally for what comes next it's been a pretty normal week. I really love Sundays here. They're the days that I get to teach the most and in consequence feel the spirit the most. #tears This week it was just extremely prevalent how much God loves each and every single one of his children. And the whole purpose we're here on earth is to have Joy. He want's us to have that. And on multiple occasions, I've cried just thinking about it and people think I'm a weirdo. So in case, you don't know....God loves you! I love you! And this life is meant for us to be happy! 

Till next time! 

p.s. sorry it's so short. I had a lot of emails to reply to. And no offense I like the one on one conversations better than the group. If you ever have any questions about my life or questions about the church feel free to ask me! I love you guys! 

Christmas time is here...

 Sing like from Charlie Brown!

JK anyway it has not felt like Christmas. Like at all. It's been so warm and green and idk not Christmas like. But I will say Christmas is cool here. Christmas Eve is apparently the time to celebrate here. For dinner we had traditional tamales and potato salad with fruit in it. It was interesting but really good. Then I stayed up until Midnight with all the Latinas until the fireworks went off. I have never in all my life seen so many fireworks. It was insane! Really loud and really pretty. 

My Norte sisters left me last week for their missions and I thought it would be lonely but to be honest with you I'm having even more fun with my Latinas! They're all super close and are super inclusive. If I have no idea what's going on they're sure to stop and have someone translate for me so I can be included. And not only that, but just hanging around with them and sitting with them during meals my conversational Spanish has improved loads! It truly is amazing. I love my Hermanas and I'm sad I only get to go to the mission field with only a couple of them. Most of them are going off to different countries. 

My actual Christmas was super chill. We had a more American traditional Christmas dinner with Ham and potatoes and all that. And the Temple pres. and his wife brought over tons of cookies. That made me happy inside. No doubt about it. And may I just say I really love the old ladies here. That sounds truly horrible but the mission pres's wife, the nurse, and the emotional health lady are so kind and supportive to me. They gave me a stocking and little presents and just are such sweet people. Really I think this Christmas has just helped me to love people. Everyone. Hopefully I can keep that feeling for the entire time I'm on my mission. But we'll see. 

Sunday was really stressful but good at the same time. I've been given the calling of music director in my rama here at the CCM. So that means picking out all the songs and figuring out who's playing the piano and conducting for every single song that is sung on Sunday. So I did that. I taught a relief society lesson, I gave a talk (in Spanish, it was ok), I played piano in one of the meetings, sung a musical number with my district, and I taught a 10 min lesson in Sunday school. And as much as it was a lot it was really amazing. Before I left I got a blessing from mi papa that said don't hide your talents. And I'm definitely not doing that even though at times I really want to. So I want to encourage you. No invite. Cause that's what missionaries do. To not hide your talents and just go forward with confidence in all that you're asked to do. 

Oh and a fun fact. It's a good thing I've been kind of improving my voice by singing to my sibs every night because I've been forced into more singing here than anywhere else in my entire life. I was asked to sing Alto in a choir performance for a bunch of Guatemalan dignitaries, sung a christmas song in Quechi which is a dialect here that sounds freaking weird and is hard to speak (the native Spanish speakers here have to spend 9 weeks here at the CCM to learn it.), and I had my musical number with my gang of boys, and (last night was really cool) I sung with all the american's out of the Children's song book. But being the only girl I had to sing soooooo loud. 

Anyway I love you people! Don't hide your talents whatever they may be! I hope you had a fantabulous Christmas! Till next time!

3 Weeker

Well I'm a 3 weeker. What does that mean? Nothing really besides I've been here for 3 weeks. And all my latino friends left and my Hermana companions are gone on their missions. Except one. She's here for a couple days more because she was supposed to go to Honduras but apparently that country is having some political unrest and they don't want to send the missionaries till it's absolutely safe. So it's nice for me that I won't be the only Norte Sister but I have no idea how long that will last. 

Before I get to far I've heard some rumors that people want to send me letters and packages and such. So here's the info for that! Send them now so I can get them as soon as I get to the mission home! :) Oh and it's suggested you send them through a private carrier like UPS, DHL, FEDEX and other companies like that cause Guatemala shut down their postal service last year and haven't brought it back. 

Address it to: Hermana Marley Mae Judd 

Gautemala, Guatemala City South Mission

Packages: Ave. Reforma 8/60 Galeris Reforma

Torre 2 Nivel 6, 606 Zona 9

Guatemala

Guatemala

Letters: Apartado Postal 340-A

01909 Guatemala City

Guatemala

And they say if you do send it through a private carrier you'll need the mission office phone number. So here it is:

502-2331-1923

Anyway this week has been really good. Spanish I think is continuing to improve. But It's kind of hard to tell. 

As for spiritualness I feel like I've had many experiences pointing out how important it is to be aligned with God's will. And I know that's a really hard thing to do. Believe me I wanted to travel more instead of go on a mission. But I think when we try our best to be aligned and figure out what he wants God blesses us. Because I was willing to go on a mission I was sent somewhere where I could continue my love of travel in a way. I mean I've never been to Guatemala before! And now I live here! So I'd like to encourage you to pray and ask what you need to do to be better aligned. And it might be small or large or nothing at all. But I know if you do you'll be able to be blessed because of your willingness. 

I miss you guys and I love hearing from you! Keep me updated! Till next time!

Semana Dos

Well it's week two! This week has literally flown by but at the same time dragged on forever. I think time at the MTC doesn't exist. Maybe that's why. 

The Holy Ghost is no longer my only companion. I have five! The three sisters who share a room with me are my companions when I'm outside of the classroom and I have two elders I'm companions with during class. I know. The scandal. 

I'm really glad for them though because it makes teaching our "investigator" so much easier and takes a lot of stress off of me. Because before I was pretty much teaching all on my own with the occasional help from a teacher. It was hard.

Speaking of teaching I had a really cool experience. Even though our current investigators aren't real and we're just learning how to teach in Spanish I know that the spirit can be brought out at anytime. We were teaching the plan of salvation. And if the spirit didn't testify it to our investigator it testified to me and to at leas one of my companions that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the lord. Through God's power he restored the true church. And that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. I was able to bear my testimony about the Book of Mormon in Spanish and still manage to tear up because the Spirit WAS there. It was really amazing. 

And the past two weeks I've had the slight fear that I wouldn't be able to share my testimony effectively and bring the spirit the way I know how because of the language barrier. But that wasn't the case and it makes me so happy that the Spirit can be there even if my Spanish is crap. 

Anyway that was a really cool spiritual experience for me. But besides that I've been chilling here at the CCM. Learning Spanish. Learning the Gospel in Spanish. And trying my hardest to speak Spanish as often as possible. If you can't tell there's a lot of Spanish. I did really well yesterday. I went three hours without speaking a single word of English. I didn't talk as much. But I didn't speak any English so success! 

Anyway I must go! They're kicking me off! But I love you guys! And I love hearing from you! Till next time! 

My Mission- Week 1

My first week as a missionary started off crazy by missing my flight. Aww yeah guys! I only really have myself to blame I misread the departing time and I spent too much time saying goodbye to my family. But in a way it was nice because I had a whole extra night to be with my family. I even got to sing to the girls one last time! 

Next I got to the CCM or MTC (whatever you prefer) and found out I was the only new american sister missionary coming in. So that means for probably the entire time I'm here at the CCM I won't have a companion. But I do have a companion. Espiritu Santo es mi companero. At least that's what I say when people ask where my companion is. 

Although now I'm pretty well known. I'm the sister without a companion, the only sister in her district, and the sister who lost her luggage. So to say the least it's been crazy. But now that it's been a week I'm finally settling down. My luggage got to me yesterday, I hang out with my roomies a lot who are in a different district, and the elders in my district are all really fun and nice to me. One of the presidents here says I'm their reyna. Queen! Woo!

Now for some spiritualness. I've cried several times in the past week due to my great Judd gift of crying when the spirit is felt. But all of the experiences have been really cool. My spanish learning is coming a long but as you can imagine it's still hard learning a new language. I'm kind of struggling remembering words and such but then one day during language study a thought came to me. The Holy Ghost brings ALL things to our rememberance. And that just brought such a wave of peace, comfort, and relief and since then I haven't struggled as much at remembering words. I know the spirit is there and he can help us in everything! 

Well my writing time is up. But I love you guys! Till next week! 

10 Days Left

Well people I've only got 10 days left in the states! Then I'm gone forever! So that's a little crazy and a bit unreal. But hey it's happening! I figure now would be a good time to get all of your information for my weekly email. I'll have that email posted here as well but let's be honest it may not get posted every week. Like we'll try but it's iffy. And as for contacting me....

My Email: marley.judd@myldsmail.net

For Letters: Apartado Postal 340-A 01909 Guatemala Guatemala City Guatemala

For Packages: Ave. Reforma 8/60 Galerias Rforma Torre 2 Nivel 6, 606 Zona 9 Guatemala Guatemala 

I think for these two addresses things will be sent to the mission home and in turn will be given to me. I don't know my actual address yet since I don't actually live there yet. In fact I won't even known for the first six weeks of my mission. In those first 6 weeks I'll be at the MTC and I think the way to contact me will be by Email. But I'll gladly accept letters and try my best to respond to them quickly after that. 

Other than that I don't have much new mission info. But I figure that's fine because starting next week that's all you're going to hear about. 

Now what have I been up to lately? Mainly work. And where do I work? WEGMANS! May I just say working at Wegmans is probably one of my favorite jobs I've ever had. When I leave I'll only have worked for two months. That makes me pretty sad if I'm being honest. Like I cried when I gave my two weeks notice. But in those two months I've made so many friends and everyday is just so much fun. I always feel so fulfilled at the end of the day and just the work environment in general is sooo nice. I'm sad I'm leaving and all the people I've met but they say I can come back and work for them when I get back. Even though it's 1 1/2 years away. So that's amazing. But we'll see if that actually happens. If you're ever looking for a job I suggest Wegmans. 

Other than that I've been hanging with my family. I went on a date with Townsend and ate some delish Mexican food. A Pho date with Mom. And last night I went and watched the new Thor Movie with Cella. That movie was fab btw. It's been a fun couple weeks and I'm sad that I won't be able to hang with all my sibs like this in just a couple weeks. I really do love them.

Sometimes I think about how my life is going to majorly change but then at the same time it's such an extreme change that my mind can't even comprehend it. But I'll occasionally get small glimpses. Like today I taught singing time in Primary at Church and they kept referring to me as Sister Judd and it was a strange realization to realize that's going to be my name for the next 1 1/2 years. Forget Marley. Nope! Sister Judd. Scratch that. Hermana Judd. Pronounced most likely hood because Judd is not a Spanish name in any way. So exciting! 

So yeah it's a short update but I don't have much to tell you people. I've been savoring my sleep and my music. 'Cause I won't be getting a lot of either of those when I go. But it's a sacrifice that will be well worth it. Hopefully. 

Oh and Next Sunday the 26th I'm having a going away party at my house at 6 p.m. if any of you people want to come. It's a dessert potluck kind of deal so it'll be delicious and fun! Fun times! Well till next time!