Dumbarton 8/29/16

This week has been kind of difficult but the Work moves on!

Tuesday we went to Glasgow for our District meeting! We talked about being anxiously engaged in the Work of the Lord! We must do all we can to help the Lord in this work!

Tuesday night we saw David. We taught the Word of Wisdom and Follow the Prophets. I am grateful that he was able to see why we are given the Word of Wisdom and why we need to follow the prophet!

Wednesday morning is where the week was difficult. David called us and told us that he doesn't want to meet with us anymore. Please keep him in your prayers. I hope that in the future he will like to meet with Missionaries again!

Wednesday night, we went to the Gallacher's house for dinner! I always enjoy going to the Gallacher's for dinner because It always makes me happier and they are so kind and welcoming! Afterwards we went to go see a family with Brother Gallacher. We saw a woman in the Ward, Esther and her foster child, Briny. We talked about knowing who we are, Children of our Heavenly Father! We were also able to give Briny a blessing. I am grateful for her faith and taking a step to ask for a blessing. I know with her faith she will be helped with whatever she needs.

The rest of the week was spent in finding. We know that we can find the prepared as long as we are anxiously engaged!

The church service on Sunday was great. Brother Gallacher spoke on being Spiritually strong. He told us that we need to be prepare for anything that comes our way! Our priesthood lesson was great as well. We read the talk, See yourself in the temple by Elder Cook! We also talked about the promise that Spencer W. Kimball gave to the Saints of Scotland, that someday there will be a temple. I look forward to that day and I know that promise from a prophet will come true. I am truly blessed to serve here in Scotland.

That was our week! I look forward to this week. We have our Glasgow Zone Conference. I look forward to the instruction we will receive there!

I hope you all have a great week

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

Dumbarton 8/22/2016

This week has been great! Crazy but awesome!

Here it is!

We able to teach our friend David! On Tuesday and Friday we went with our Ward MissionLeader to visit David. On Tuesday we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ! So when we got to Baptism, I felt a really strong impression to invite David to Baptism. With the strength of the Lord, My English was understandable, I extended the invitation for him to be Baptized! His baptism is on the 17th of September. We might move it to the 10th because he is progressing really well! David came to church as well, which was great! I am grateful that Heavenly Father was able to lead us to David!

What was crazy about this week was that I had to go to Glasgow, 2 times, for doctors appointments. It was kind of annoying but that was the past and now its on to the next track. They took me off Concerta which is kind of been a trial. Its really hard to focus on studies and conversations. Hopefully all will get better!

On Tuesday we were able to do service for a member, Pat Burns and her husband! I pulled weeds, ah yea, pulling weeds. She said I did a good job, so I'm glad I didn't mess her garden up! She fed us some yummy Cheeseburgers! I know I don't usually eat them but these ones were really good! I am glad that we were able to do that service for her!

Dinner at the Gallachers was fun! They have a student/member from France staying with them for a year to so she can get better with her English!

On Sunday we had a great church service. In priesthood, we were in the Howard W. Hunter manual on the chapter about Eternal Marriages. It was interesting, learned some advice for after my mission, haha.

We attended Ward Council after church. The meeting was great and we were able to speak about the needs of the Missionary Work. I love this ward because they are so willing to help out with building the Kingdom!

Other fun facts!

Elder Thayne, my previous companion is now in my district! He is training a missionary from Ukraine. It will be exciting to see him at District meeting on Tuesday!

I'm hoping this next week will be a even better week!

I hope you all have a great week

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

Dumbarton 8/15/2016

Hello Family!

This week has been great and we were able to actually teach this week! I am grateful for the prayers and fasting, I know it helped.

We received our moves call this week and we are both staying in Dumbarton!

Here is the Rundown of the week!

So we were able to teach our friend Mark a couple of times this week. We lost contact with him and we saw him while we were on a bus to loch lomond. He has been involved in some serious Word of Wisdom issues. We met with him several times to help him get off the drugs. Hopefully through his desire will come motivation to actually stop the drugs so he can think clearly. Please keep him in your prayers as he is struggling.

So we following our leaders council, On Wednesday, we picked a small town to do finding  by inspiration. We went to a small village called Rhu outside of Helensburgh. We did some tracting. While we were tracting (probably less then 10 doors in) we met a man named David. He let us in to hear what were saying. David himself, had done some research on the Mormons. He found a Book of Mormon in a Charity shop (Thrift Shop) and had read up to Alma 60! We taught him about the restoration and he accepted the goal to be baptized when he receives a answer! We also met him at the Dumbarton Ward building and gave him a tour. We taught him in the chapel, The Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong and he felt more at peace. We will be meeting him on Tuesday (Tomorrow) with our ward mission leader hopefully to teach him again!

Our District meeting on Tuesday was also great. Each team instructed on a bible story. We instructed on the story in Mark 6 and Matthew 14 about the apostles crossing the sea. In the story the Apostles are struggling and Jesus is there watching and passes by them. For us we can see that Jesus is always watching, always there for us to reach out. We just need to put our faith in him!

On Sunday service great. In Sunday school, we we taught about the war chapters in the Book of Mormon. We really focused on having the whole amour of God on and always being prepared for spiritual dangers that may come our way!

Just to let you a fun fact. It rains a lot here. One day it rained the whole day. I got drenched. After almost close to a year of being out, The rain just makes the work more interesting and fun! I love it!

Sorry the emails have been shorter hopefully they will be longer in the future.

Hope you all have a great week

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

 

Dumbarton 8/8/2017

Hello Family!

This week was kinda slow, we didn't get to teach anyone but there were some great events during the week. My birthday was great as well!

Here are this weeks highlights:

On our P-Day we went to a kilt shop to check out the tartans. Its the Scottish tradition for the male to get the tartan that is on your moms side. So when I get my kilt it will be one of the Hamilton tartans. I also ordered two tartan ties from the Mission Office, The Morison Red Tartan and the Hamilton Tartan! 

After our P-Day I saw Frazer McKechnie who is a member in our ward and is a podiatrist. My tendons on my left foot have been wore out so it hurts to walk on. He helped figure out the problem. On Wednesday he got me arch insoles to help keep my feet at a arch.

On Thursday we had our All Scotland Conference in Edinburgh. We woke up at 4:45 and a caught a train to Edinburgh at 6. It was a great conference. Elder Herbertson of the Seventy presided. He spoke about being positive  in missionary work. He talked a lot about his mission to Atlanta Georgia. I also got to see Elder Vasvary which was great! He goes home at the end of this transfer! I also was able to see and talk Elder Van Staden!

I got my birthday package and book at the meeting!

My birthday on Saturday was great! I loved all the gifts and cards! We had a great day of finding. The day before we made Texas Sheet cake which we enjoyed in the evening!

Sunday was great. In priesthood the High priest group leader, Brother Couper, led a lesson on missionary work. He had everyone share their family mission plans! We got to speak how missionary and members need to work together to bring souls unto Christ!

We had dinner at the Coupers, Sunday evening and we were able to talk about sharing the gospel with our friends!

Sorry that this weeks email is shorter but I got some great pictures to make up for it!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

 

 

Dumbarton 8/1/2016

Hello everyone!

It was a tough but great week!

This is how it went!

On Monday, we went thrift shopping. We are lucky to have a lot in our area so we had a bunch to choose from. We also found a little Chinese shop in Helensburgh that sells A&W! We also got our hair cuts #Thatwasexpensive.

On Tuesday, we went to Glasgow for district meeting. The train decided not to stop at the stop nearest the chapel so we had to have some of the missionaries with a car pick us up.

We had a great district meeting. We talked about motivation in our missionary work. I shared about my motivation. I talked about representing Jesus Christ and also my family as a strong motivation when things start to get challenging!

Our Mission President and his Wife, President and Sister Donaldson, showed up after our meeting! It was great to talk with them

After district meeting we went on exchanges! This time i was with Elder Scholz. He is from California. For the day we spent finding on the one and only Buchanan Street. The day got so much greater when we ended the day with 2 dozen donuts from The king of all donuts... Krispy Kreme.. and it was legit... I got a Reese's peanut butter and jelly donuts and the original glazed... so Good!!!

On Wednesday, we traveled back to Dumbarton. We went finding for most of the day!

I the evening we went to the Gallachers for Dinner. They made a really delicious curry. They had their granddaughter there as well so she made the entertainment for the evening!

Afterwards we went on splits. I went with Johnathan and we went to see some less active members! After we tried by them, Johnathan got me a banana milkshake from McDonald's! It was delicious!

On Thursday, It was just a whole day of finding. We talked to some really nice people!

On Friday, Most of the day we spent finding.

In the evening we went to Sister O'Rawe's house for dinner. We had a great evening. She just got a new triple combination (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price) and she was reading a lot! She gave us some homework for the next time we come back!

Saturday was a great and interesting day. Dumbarton hosted the National Bag Pipe championship. While walking through Dumbarton, you could see so many people wearing kilts, it was great. You could also hear hundreds and hundreds of bagpipes! It was great! So it was very interesting to find during that.

In the evening we went to Sister Ann Brownings house. We mowed her lawn for her! It was tough with electric mowers we got it done. Afterwards, she fed us some hot dogs and root beer!

Sunday, we had a great sacrament meeting! We had a joint priesthood/relief society meeting! Some visitors from the stake talked about overcoming addictions. I really like the 12 step program and the integrated gospel principles that go with it!

For lunch, we went the Coupers again. We had a wonderful chicken roast that was very delicious. The new harry potter book had come out that day, so they were telling me about it!

The rest of the evening we went finding!

It was a great week!

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes! I look forward to the packages this week!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love

Elder Joseph Udy

Dumbarton 07/25/2016

Hello Everyone!

What a great it has been! We taught a few lessons. It was really hot at the beginning of the week and raining by the end of it!

This is how the week went

On Monday, I had a doctors appointment in Glasgow so we went to Glasgow for basically the whole day! It honor of Aunt Jill, I went to the Hard Rock cafe and bought a Hard Rock Glasgow shirt! We also went to a American sweet store in the Buchanan galleries. I bought some A&W root beer for my birthday of the 6th of August.

We took a train back in the evening and went to Helensburgh, where we went finding for the rest of the evening!

On Tuesday, we traveled by train to district meeting in Glasgow. We talked about teaching simply so that our investigators can understand. We also practice relating objects to the Gospel. It proved very useful to help our investigators relate to the Gospel by the things they use everyday!

In the evening we taught a man named Mark at the Church! We taught about the Holy Ghost and the Restoration! He was taught before by previous missionaries but he didn't really understand it seems. Hopefully we can meet him again so we can help him grow a knowledge in the Gospel.

On Wednesday, we taught a man named Jeremiah, who we found the day before. He grew up in Birmingham, England but is originally from Jamaica. We taught him the Restoration and focused on the Book of Mormon. He said he liked the way he was living but we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and pray to really know if what we were sharing is true.

We went to the Gallachers that evening for dinner! We had a really good shepherds pie and chocolate cake! Afterwards we shared a message on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I related the Gospel to a map that we can use to direct our life's in the right path!

After that we went with Brother Gallacher to visit some less- active members! We visit two older ladies, Morrag (My spelling) and Henrietta. We shared to both about the Sabbath day and why we come to church.

On Thursday, we taught a woman in the evening named Dorthy Bryce. She really likes the church but has a hard time committing to Baptism because of Health problems. We hope to continue to meet with her to help her understanding.

The rest of the day we spent finding!

On Friday, we had our appointments fall through so we spent the whole day finding.

Our ward mission leader brought a BBQ ranch pizza for dinner which really helped after a long day of finding!

On Saturday, We met with a woman in our ward, named Ann Browning. She took us out to lunch. She took us to a really good pub! I got a Southern Fried Chicken sandwich with fried Mac and Cheese on top. It was HUGEEE, I had a hard time taking a bite into that thing! She also bought us desert there which was so nice of her! Its really nice to be supported by the members!

Afterwards, we went to help a Sister in the ward, Sister Burns, mow here lawn. Her husband is unable to because of medical problems. After mowing, we were able to sit down with both of them. David Burns, her husband, isn't a member so it was good to get to know him!

In the evening, we had Ward Coordination with Johnathan Martin, our ward mission leader. Before he took us to get Fish and Chips at a really good chippie! We had a good ward coordination meeting and we were able to discuss the needs for missionary work!

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On Sunday, we had a wonderful church meeting! We talked in Priesthood about "Always retaining a remission of your sins" by Elder David A. Bednar off the Quorum of the Twelve apostles. It was a great lesson and a talk i recommend reading!

After church we had dinner at the Coupers, a big family in the ward. They made a great dinner, a roast dinner! We were grateful for letting us come to dinner! We shared about what Heavenly father

In the evening we went finding and it poured! We got soaked. Someone was even water skiing during the storm!

What a great week!

I love being a missionary! Its great and I feel great!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Joseph Udy

                                                                 Loch Lommond

                                                        My desk

Dumbarton 7/18/2016

Hello Everyone! I can't believe i've been out for 10 months, It goes by so fast! I love Scotland, I'm starting to get used to the accent! This is how the week went; Monday, We went to Dumbarton castle. It was amazing and a took a ton of pictures! You can see the start of the Highlands from the top of the Dumbarton rock! I also bought some Clan books for the Morrison clan and the Hamilton Clan, I'll have to send them home so you can all enjoy them! Tuesday, We went to district meeting in Glasgow. We had a great district meeting. The Zone leaders were there and also the assistants! We talked about having a spiritual Sabbath day experience, for us and our investigators. We need to love church or our investigators most likely won't because they see what we do! The assistants gave us some manuals on Safeguards using technology. Some thing might be happening in the future.. IPads... but I don't know.. After the meeting I went on exchanges with Elder Parsons, who is the district leader. We went to a Buffet with some of the other missionaries. Elder Salinas birthday was that day so they sang to him!  Afterwards we went finding on Buchanan street, which is the 2nd busiest street in the UK. There were so many people! They are building a Krispy Kreme here... At their apartment they have Pancake mix from Costco.. THEY HAVE A COSTCO HERE AND PANCAKE MIX.. too bad its not in my area.. but we had a pancake party for dinner! Wednesday, we traveled back to Dumbarton. It was fun because Glasgow central station is huge and we had a hard time finding our train. We did finding until we had dinner with the Gallachers. They are so nice! After dinner we went on Home teaching splits, I went with Brother Gallacher and Elder Roylance went with Johnathan, our ward mission leader. We saw a member named Esther. She fed us some really nice Cadbury cake. She has a foster child and they had their member friends over! We talked about enduring to the end! Thursday, not much happened we had a whole day of finding Friday, we did a lot of finding as well. We also tried by a lot of former investigators! For dinner, we went to a really good fish and chip shop that does a lot of deep fried things. I had deep fried pizza, it was alright. It was good to try! Saturday, we taught a women named Amanda. It was a intresting lesson. We taught her in a town called Bolloch. That day the Highland games were in Bolloch, so it was hard to teach over so many bagpipes but it was fun! In the evening we had Ward Coordination with Johnathan. He took us out to KFC! He is really cool. He has been home from his mission for 18 months. He served in the Birmingham Mission. We talked about how we can further the work here! Sunday, today i gave a talk. It was on Spiritual Rebirth. I learned a lot from studying for it! I will put a attachment for my talk in this email. After church we had lunch at the Cattell's. They made us a ham and potato lunch! It was really good. Sister Cattell actually has a article in the ensign from this month and on LDS.org about teaching in the saviors way. They also filmed some videos about it and put on the website as well.  Link: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2016/07/the-teacher-council-difference?lang=eng&_r=1&c id=HP_TU_5-7-2016_dPFD_fLHNA_xLIDyL2-3_ It was a good week and we hope to do better this week! I hope you all have a great week!  Love, Elder Joseph Udy                                                       On top of Dumbarton Rock                                                                   Fried Pizza