Sligo 5/23/16

Hello Family!

8 months in the Scotland/Ireland Mission! 8 months in beautiful Ireland!

Its been a great week!  \

Monday:

We taught our friend Frank! He finally read the BOOK OF MORMON!! SO HAPPY! He actually enjoys it! What a Blessing!!!

Tuesday:

The Mullingar Elders came down for District meeting/ exchanges. We talked about qualifying appointments because a lot our appointments have been falling through and we want to do everything we can to keep those appointments!

Afterwards we went to Donegal to go finding and see if we could teach anyone there. First we went to Bandoran Beach and talked to people on the beautiful coast line. It wasn't very sunny so there were not very many people there. Next we went to Donegal Town. There were a lot of people there! It was more of a tourist town so A lot of Americans and Germans were there.  Afterwards we returned to Sligo and did finding for the rest of the day!

Wednesday:

We taught a man named Eduardo, from Brazil! We taught the Restoration and he loved it! He works in Dublin from Thursday to Monday so we have to figure a way out for him to get to church!

The rest of the day we did finding!

Thursday:

We taught Javad, from Iran, in the Afternoon! We taught about the Spirit. We showed him the Patterns of Light by Elder Bednar. It was a great lesson and he enjoyed it as well!

The rest of the day we spent finding!

Friday:

We saw our friend Ed in the afternoon! We shared about the Liahona and how the scriptures and prayer can be a guide for our life!

In the evening we had Family home evening! We all acted out Abinadi's Story in the Book of Mormon. It was really fun!  It rained so much. I got soaked and I had some nice Hot Chocolate before bed because i was so cold.

Saturday!

We did finding the whole day!

For Lunch, Elder Vasvary did a Irish Breakfast challenge and if you could eat it in 30 minutes, you get it free. He didn't but it was fun!

Sunday:

We had a wonderful church meetings. We heard talks about how to press forward through hard trials!

In the evening we went with our Branch President, President Cunan and went to go see some Potential Investigators. It was good even though none were home, we talked a lot with President Cunan about the missionary work here!

That was our week! It was great!

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

                                   Elder Davis and I at Bandoran Beach on our 8 month mark!

                                                                 Bandoran Beach

                                                               Donegal Castle

Sligo 5/18/2016

Hello Everyone!

This week wasn't the best but It was great!

Monday:

We traveled to Mullingar to stay there for the night. We had a fun hour before bed just talking about how all our missions were going so far!

Tuesday:

We traveled to Dublin for the All Ireland Zone Conference! It was great to see all the Missionaries that I'd become so close with. I talked with the Cork Teams and they were doing well. We had great instructions from all the ZLs, The STLs and the Assistants. President told me to share the experience of Mark to all the missionaries. It scared me so much because there were so many missionaries but I know my Heavenly Father helped me with the words.  I got the package from LDS.org but not the other one, so hopefully i get that soon.  Elder Vasvary and I went on exchanges with Elder Moller, one of our Zone leaders. It was pouring and I wasn't wearing any jacket so my white shirt got soaked.

Wednesday:

We did finding with the Zone Leaders in the morning. We took a train at 3 back to Sligo which took 3 hours.

Thursday:

We had a whole day of finding which was tough. All of the lessons fell through. I can tell my feet are getting stronger because we walk for almost 10 hours a day.

Friday:

We went to Ed's house in the afternoon. I shared a scripture that is talking about Nephi getting down on himself. It continues to say that through God's help he was able to get over his trials. I concluded with my own testimony about that we can always get down on ourselves but with God's help we can pull though and have so much Joy!

We had Family Home Evening in the... Evening. It was Good Craic (Irish for Good times). Loander shared a thought on following the truth and we had a fun game afterwards!

I was talking to Brother Teirnan, our Branch Mission Leader, I showed him the name of my ancestor who lived in Ireland. He said that it might be his clan and If the name went through Ellis Island, the name could have changed. Cool Craic.

Saturday:

We had a whole day of finding today as well.

Some guy gave us a big bag of weed... Seaweed! I had some It was interesting and had a weird smell.

Sunday:

We had some visitors from Dublin. One was a Returned missionary, Rebekah Barrett, who served in the Boston, USA missionary. She told me she loved it there. Where she served resembled how it goes here in Ireland.

We spent the rest of the day finding. Fun Stuff!

It was a interesting week but hopefully our new week is better!

                                                             Crazy hill climbing

Sligo 5/9/16

Hello Family!

It was great skyping with you all yesterday! It made my week and It made me excited for this upcoming week!  Here is how the week went!

Monday:

We did tracting in the evening! We found 4 potential people we could teach! We were more bold with asking for appointments!

Tuesday:

We skyped Mullingar for our district meeting! We talked about inviting more because sometimes we can be to nervous to invite so we are working on being more bold with our investigators.  We had a whole day of finding after that which was tough but we worked hard!

Wednesday (May the 4th be with you!):

Today we did finding for the whole day as well! We tried picking streets by the spirit. Trusting in the spirit is so important in knowing where Heavenly Father wants us to go!

We took some cool lightsaber pictures in honor of May the 4th!

Thursday: (Revenge of the 5th/Cinco de Mayo)

We taught Jesus and Loander, the Venezuelans, with President and Sister Thompson! It was a very spiritual lesson the spirit was so strong. I know that they will soon have a desire to be baptized once they have a personal witness!  IN the evening we taught our friend Frank! He still asks us where does it say in the bible that we need the Book of Mormon! We told him again that he needs to read to know that it is true! He said he will try his best to read!

Friday:

We visited our less active friend Ed, he had been suffering from loss of blood, we hope he will be able to recover!

Mary Holmes, a member in the branch who is from Scotland, invited us over for dinner along with some other members! She made some really good curry. I shared a message about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how we can find out for ourselves if it is true.

Afterwards we ended our evening at Family Home Evening! We did Book of Mormon face characters (The game where you try to guess the topic on your forehead) It was fun!

Saturday:

We taught a man named Chris, from Cameroon, that we met the day before! The lesson was great and we talked about our love for Jesus! We can't wait to go back and teach him again!

Sunday:

Was a great day!

I gave a talk on Faith Precedes everything. Faith goes before anything we do and we can see the blessings from trusting God. I again related the Gospel to Star Wars because my mind works through Star Wars alot! Everyone seemed to enjoy it which made me happy!

Skyping was the Highlight of my day. I was so happy to see that my family is doing well! It made me happy as well for the support they give me!

Sunday night we went to Eds house and gave him a blessing because he hasn't been feeling to well

It was a great week!

I'm so excited for our all Ireland this week!

I hope you all have a great week

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

                                            Our Friends from Venezuela Jesus and Loander

Sligo 5/2/16

Hello family!, Its been another wonderful week here in Sligo, went by in a blink of an Eye. Monday: We met with our friend Frank again. We talked about the importance of the Sabbath Day! He is very busy to read and come to church but we promised if he does that he will know of the Truthfulness of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! Tuesday: Our hot water and pump for our shower had been out for 4-5 days so the pump guy came and fixed our pump so we could take showers. I had been heating up water in a kettle and putting it in milk jugs so I could be clean. It was a interesting experience! We went to visit Less Actives in the area to see how they were doing. None of them werehome which was sad, but we tried! The rest of our day was spent Tracting! Wednesday: The Mullingar Elders came up for District meeting and exchanges! We had a district meeting on pushing forward member missionary work! It was great because its been kind of hard because of where the members live.   After I went on exchanges with my MTC companion Elder Davis. We had 3 lessons for the day but they all fell through:(   So we had a long day of finding. There is a homeless Hungarian man that Elder Vasvary usually speaks too. When I was with Elder Davis we had a hard time talking to him, I used some interesting hand signals to help him understand us.   For dinner we got Kebabs at the best Kebab Place in Sligo! It was so spicy but really good! Thursday: We had finding for the morning and most of the afternoon. We taught our friend, Javad from Iran, In the evening. We taught him the Plan of Salvation! He really liked how clear and simple God's plan is!  We taught Jesus and Loander in the evening! WE taught the law of chastity, word of wisdom, and tithing and fasting. They accepted it and they said they they agree 100%! We know that they are progressing towards knowing that this is The Church of Jesus Christ. Friday: We had mostly a finding day. We taught Mensah, the member from Guana, about the priesthood. We shared how we should use the priesthood worthily and use it not being lazy. In the evening we had family home evening! We did gospel charades! It was really fun and funny to see how everyone acted topics out! Saturday: We did some service for our branch mission leader and his wife, Joe and Charlotte Tiernan. We helped move their furniture from their house in Leitrim to their new house in Carrick on Shannon. It was fun and we really bonded with the members! They fed us a lot! Shepherd's pie and pizza! We did finding for the rest of the day after that! Sunday: We had Stephan's Confirmation. I was able to be the voice for it! It was my first time confirming someone so i was nervous! I felt the spirit so strong and I felt God speaking from my mouth. I was so grateful for the chance to do that for Stephan! Sister Ducusin said in her testimony how grateful she was for the short message she received from "Elder Udy's mom." The was really happy to receive it! In Joint Priesthood and Relief Society we were able to speak alittle bit on Member missionary work. We shared our testimonies on the Importance of sharing the gospel. After the meeting the members talked to us and asked if they could help us. I love the members here and all that they do for us! That was our week! It was great! I can't wait to skype on sunday! Have a great week! Love, Elder Joseph Udy

Sligo 4/25/16

It's been a great week!

It was more of a finding week, but we found some good potential investigators

Monday:

We went to a huge toy store called Smyths. it's like Toys R Us. They had a ton of Star Wars stuff so I was checking that out!

We went to the Sligo Park and did some excising and passing the ball around. It was a nice way to prepare for the week!

We did tracting in the evening. It's getting really warm and we ride bikes a lot so its physically demanding, but good at the same time.

Tuesday:

We skyped  Mullingar  for our district meeting because they have no car at the moment. We talked about ways we can use our time wisely and different ways of finding.

We did finding in the city until we needed to catch a bus to Tubercurry.

In Tubercurry, we talked to Stephen and helped him set up his computer to Skype the Zone Leaders for his interview.

On our way back we got a call from the Zone leaders saying that Stephen was so prepared and excited for his Baptism! We were so excited!

Wednesday:

We did finding most of the Day.

In the evening we went to go visit Less Active members that were on our Branch List. None were living there anymore.

After we had a quick lesson with our friend Frank. We invited him to read from the Book of Mormon when he has some free time!

Thursday:

We did a lot of Street Contacting as well this day.

In the Evening we taught Jesus and Loander with the Ducusins. I have been studying the priesthood keys and shared my studies with them. It was a interesting lesson, but they are slowly progressing!

Friday:

It was another day of finding!

We taught Ed and his Girlfriend Caroline and her son Brian. They just had bought the New Star Wars and asked if I wanted to watch it. If I wasn't a Missionary I would have,  but I am focused to teach the Gospel. We shared how important it is to Endure to the End.

At night we had Family Home Evening. The Ducusins taught about the  importance of  maki good decisions and being  accountable. The picture the Ducusins sent was us with Jesus and Loander. Jesus has the Yankees cap and Loander has the little pony tail in the back. I told them that you would enjoy the picture so they gave me their ipad so i could put your email in. They showed me the Message you sent on Sunday. I'm glad you liked it!

Saturday:

We did alot of finding as well this day!

We did service finding today, which was interesting! We went out in our service clothes and asked people if they needed any service done. They told us to come back next week earlier on in the day because every one already done with any chores.

At night for dinner we went to Tesco and bought some Lindt Chocolate to celebrate the Baptism on Sunday! It was on sale so it was good for us. I got Dark Orange and Dark Lime. So GOOD!

Sunday:

Such a great day!

We had so many people at Church. Most were visitors from the States. There was 5 from Dallas and San Antonino. They told me about the Flooding that had happened in Houston.

President Thompson and Sister Thompson came for the Baptism!

After Church we had the Service then we went to Glencarr Lake for the Baptism. Stephan was so excited that he got baptized. It was a great experience!

Ireland was also celebrating the 1916 rising of Ireland, so the city was packed and a concert was echoing through the city!

It was a wonderful week!

                                                                Stephen's Baptism

                                                                       Waters of Mormon

Sligo 04/18/2016

Hello Everyone!

It's been a great week and my sixth transfer in the Scotland/Ireland Mission is on its way!

I can't believe that yesterday (Sunday the 17th was my 7th month mark). Missionary work here in Sligo is going well!

Monday:

We taught our friend Frank. We read the Book of Mormon with him because he never has time to read it. We see him today, so hopefully he had a chance to read!

Tuesday:

We taught a woman named Lovett. She is from Nigeria. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She is new to Sligo and isgetting used to English but she understood what we had to share.

After that we went to Tubercurry to see some friends. But they were not home so we had to catch a bus back to Sligo

Wednesday:

We taught a man named Javad in the afternoon. He originally is from Iran. He was very receptive and was excited to start meeting with missionaries again!

After we taught a woman from Brazil named Angelica . She wasn't very religious and we found her in the former investigator section in our phone. One thing that I find funny is that every one here thinks I'm 25-28 but when they find out I'm only 18 they are shocked, shocks me too. She was really shocked as well. She was interested in reading the Book of Mormon because she loves reading.

Later on we did some tracting until dinner.

Thursday:
We took our bikes to the bike shop to get repaired. They were missing brake pads so we need to fix the bikes so we could travel around faster!

After we taught a man named Andrew. He is from Africa. We teach so many people from Africa that its hard to get track of where they are from in Africa. He met missionaries before so we talked about why he wanted to meet us again. He has always lived far from the church building so that's why he stopped going but we are glad that he can see us.

After we went finding by the Sligo I.T.. We met some interesting people a few were interested in meeting us at a later time.   

We taught Jesus and Loander, t he Venezuelans, In the Evening we met up with  the Ducsins, a Wonderful member couple from Philippines. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how we can find out if this is the truth.

Friday:

We went to church early in the morning because we were going to skype into Dublin for a leadership training. The Ducsins lent us their IPAD so we could Skype instead of traveling 4 hours to Dublin. It was interesting because we were the only leadership team that wasn't in Dublin, but it was good!

In the afternoon, we visited our Less active friend from the Bronx, Ed. Ed was asking what my favorite baseball team was and I said the New York Yankees. He likes the New York Mets so he was determined to make me a Mets fan. Its always great to visit with him. I shared about being grateful for what God has already given us because he blesses us so much!

We had Family Home Evening at night. The Ducsins talked about the stories in the Book of Mormon. We were assigned in group to sing verses from Book of Mormon Stories and act them out. My group had Samuel the Lamanite and the 2 thousand stripling warriors. It was fun! If you find the Ducsins on Facebook you can ask them for the videos!

Saturday:

We picked up our bikes and we got the other parts we needed.

We planned to ride to a beach town close to Sligo to do some finding. It was called Strand hill. It ended being mostly up hill and 4 miles to the town. We got there and it was so beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Kennebunkport because of all the shops and surfers. I took some nice pictures of us in our bike gear at the Atlantic ocean! We talked to some very nice people.

The 4 mile trip back was tough but it was good. We did finding in the city until our dinner time!

Sunday:

We had a wonderful church meeting. The speakers talked about being grateful for all we have!

We talked with Stephan about his Baptism. It will be this coming Sunday after church in a Lake! He seems really excited and we are excited for him!

After church we did a lot of finding and rode our bikes out to tract!

It was a great week!

Joseph

                                                  Elder Vasvary and I at the Atlantic Ocean

Sligo 04/11/2016

We got moves call yesterday! Elder Vasvary and I are staying in Sligo! We are going to celebrate by buying some cool stickers for our new planners!

Monday:

We taught our friend Frank in the evening. We shared scriptures in the Book of Mormon that show why the Book of Mormon is important to help us with understanding. Frank has been asking this every time, the spirit helped us to teach clearly and to testify of the Book of Mormon.

Tuesday:

We had district meeting in Sligo. We talked about teaching people and not lessons. We also talked about how we need to use our priesthood more and not be lazy as President Nelson said in General Conference.

Afterwards we did finding for most of our day. We met some interesting people. One guy said he likes to shoot people. Kind of scary but I testified of Jesus Christ because that makes me feel strong.

There is a homeless Hungarian man that we talk to everyday. He can't really speak English so he just speaks to Elder Vasvary. He seems to like me because he always asks if I'm doing ok!

We met a guy from Oklahoma. He was wearing al ot of Oklahoma State gear. I told him that I lived in Norman and started speaking against Oklahoma University. Funny guy!

Wednesday:

We went to a town outside of Sligo called Tubercurry. We taught our investigator Stephen there. We talked to him about the Law of Chasity, Word of Wisdom and Tithing. We are working with him on the tea but he is excited to get baptized on the 24th of April!

We taught a Slovakian family after that. We talked about  the 10 commandments to the kids. Really funny kids. The oldest son drove us to the bus stop in his custom gangster Mercedes!

Thursday:

We went finding for most of the day. We were let into a house where some drunk guys were singing karaoke. They sang for us some gospel songs. We had a hard time leaving because they wanted us to stay and sing with them but we manged to leave!

Later on we taught a recent convert named Mensah. We talked about the Pioneers with him. We related it to him and how he is a Pioneer for his family. He left his family in Ghana and is waiting for citizenship here so he can some day bring his family here.

So something earlier in the day happened. A less active member named Ann texted us and said she wanted to meet with us because she wanted to return to church. She also said her Fiance and Kids (From another Husband) are interested. We met them later that night and it was great. Ann's Fiancee's name is Micheal and he is from Florida. Her kids are Daniel(13), Anita(11), and Owen (7). We taught the restoration and they loved it. It reminded me of Dallin, Madison, and Jack because of their Personalities. They said they hope to be at church on Sunday!

Friday:

We taught a man named J.K Finnegan. It was interesting lesson.. That's all I can say because it was really intense.

We had family home evening that night. They did family history for the new and non members. I was able to talk to our Branch President and members about who we working with!

Saturday:

We did finding for the whole day. It rained a lot and during the evening it snowed really hard. We were soaked by the end of the day but it was a good day of finding!

Sunday:

We had so many people at church. We had Ann's family, our Venezuelan friends and a lot of visitors. There were some members from Idaho visiting. One of the visitors's was Tom was a former superintendent of Idaho and now works Nationally for Education. I told him that I would be attending BYU Idaho in Fall 2017. He told me that BYU Idaho was now the biggest (Size) university in the state of Idaho passing Boise State.

I taught Gospel principles. I taught Charity and how we can strive to have the pure love that Christ had!

The members made us a Irish Dinner after church. It had potatoes, steak, and corn. It was filling and then they gave us cheese cake and ice cream! I am grateful for the members and what they do for us!

The rest of the day we did finding!

Hope everything is going well back at home!

Joseph

                                                             

                                                             Practicing my ukele