Thumping in My Heart

To My Best Team:

Lia wanted to include this picture sent from her cousin Morgan, also serving in Mexico.
It says "Your Family is your Best Team"

I want to write about Maria Preciosa, investigator from the stars. I have never, ever had an investigator like her. She's 15. She got married at 11, had a baby at 13. She LOVES the Bible and has listened to tons of different religions, but she said “they always come over and I have this feeling where they make me want to learn more, but at the same time I really don’t want to learn more.” She said, after the first visit with us, “This fills me, this is what I have been looking for. She’s eating up the Book of Mormon and sits for hours using La Guia de Las Escrituras (Topical Guide to Scriptures)  She’s 15, guys! She prayed to receive her answer if the Book of Mormon was the word of God and if Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said: “I’ve never felt a feeling like that before. It was like this thumping in my heart that lasted even after I got off my knees. All day I could feel it.”

I have never had an investigator so in tune with spiritual promptings-- that she could tell just by listening to other ideas that they were not correct, or that Heavenly Father was able to confirm so strongly about the truth. And yesterday she asked us: “What do you guys say about movies and music?” We explained that she should be able to feel the Spirit while she’s listening to them. And she says, “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Yesterday I felt this little twinge while I was watching TV and I had to go change my movie to watch cartoons instead.” That was after the 2nd lesson.

And after the first lesson, she came to us and said “Somebody came to me and told me Joseph Smith was an assassin.” And we thought, “Oh, no... Satan has already been at work” (because that happens frequently and people hear weird things about Joseph Smith and don’t listen to us when we try to explain), but then she says “But its okay, because that’s what repentance is for right? I imagine he was an assassin and then repented and changed his heart so God could use Him as an instrument.” (For those of you who aren’t members of the church, Joseph Smith was not an assassin, though he died a martyr.)

I can’t write extra today because we are going to work for a few hours on preparation day to be able to go to the temple this week. But, I will have more time next week.  Yes!  EEEEEE… THE TEMPLE!

Mucho amor,

Hna Ludlam

AHHH...Eternal Friends!

This is the wonderful Familia Mena Bautista!

Hola Family,

This is Yesamin’s baptism (from a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t have time to upload them.) The best part of her conversion wasn’t as much what she learned (because she’s already very much an angel), but what changed in her family. We taught them more than we taught her. They are menos-activos (less active) and had the habit of attending church every time one of their kids was getting ready to be baptized, and then completely disappearing afterwards. But we focused their teaching on becoming converted to Christ, and actually experiencing Him in their lives. And they’ve started reading scriptures everyday and have been attending every week. Lia, Gregorio, Yamili, Yesamin, Gloria, Gloria mama, y Hna Bautista. We are missing her brother, Jorge.

"I love Yahaira so deeply."

And last week, HOOOORAY. Yahaira was finally baptized. She’s been through a good 4-5 sets of elders because, even though she is as gold and pure as investigators come, her Dad caused some serious problems and refused to allow her to do it. But lo and behold, two SISTER missionaries move into the area and he happens to like us and offer us food and drinks all the time and has no problem with Yahaira baptizing. I love Yahaira so deeply. She is Cinderella. And she DID IT!

Hermana De Leon in Mulsay

​And a picture of Hna. De Leon and our street in Mulsay. Hna. De Leon never looks like herself in pictures for some reason. You guys--she is the best! I think if Presidente separates us for the next cambio (transfer), I will cry.

​Well, I had a big flop on Monday in the Leadership Training Meeting (where the Zone and Training Leaders come together from the whole mission, listen to what President and the AP’s say, and then go share it with all of their zones.) Presidente had told us the NIGHT BEFORE that he wanted us to present on “how to ask good questions.” So we stay up all night and wake up early to scrape together what we’re going to say (It was a topic on which I had a TON of stuff that I had been wanting to have a chance to teach), but then the next day during the conference we keep waiting for our turn but it never comes. We ask the assistants if they’re planning on us presenting and they said no, but they did go ask President and came back and tell us we could have 10 minutes!

So we go and try to present everything we had planned so beautifully in only ten  minutes, and it came out SUPER incoherently and vague and really just bad. It was the first time I had tried teaching something without feeling the Spirit at all. And even though it shouldn’t matter, I was really embarrassed about bombing it in front of all the leaders. I was worried it was going to blow our credibility as a teachers the next time we needed to capacitar (train in) something. And we kept asking ourselves: “What did we do wrong? The planning was inspired and what we thought Heavenly Father wanted us to say.  It was REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF, so why did Heavenly Father make it so we couldn't present it?”

I do know that it humbled me a lot, which was very refreshing. It showed me, “Sister Ludlam, without divine aid, is really a very incoherent mess.” Somebody had to kick me off my horse.

And, happy ending, we taught the same presentation in our zone meeting, but we had all week to prepare and I was praying for it all week. And it was VERY excellent and incisive and everybody was really involved. I think it really changed a lot of missionaries and the way they approach teaching. And their investigators.  I like working in the Spirit a lot more than I like not working in the Spirit.  If I have time, I'll write my capacitacion (training seminar)on “How to Teach People, Not Lessons” and “How To Ask Good Questions” and Basically How To Teach and Learn in General.

Stake Baptism for Zones Mérida, Centro and Aeropuerto

We had a MASSIVE stake baptism that I’ll have to tell you about later. Jesus and Juvencio were there and there is such JOY that swells in my heart every time I see them. AHH… eternal friends!

Love you, my eternal friends and family.

Hermana Ludlam

Receiving Answers to Prayer

México Mérida Temple

Hello Beloved Family,

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? PRESIDENTE CHANGED THE RULES SO WE CAN GO TO THE TEMPLE WITH OUR INVESTIGATORS!! AHHHHH!!  Sister De Leon and I just about died in happiness. That has been my secret dream ever since I got here. Heavenly Father loves me.

My letter this week is some thoughts I put together about how to receive answers to prayer. I’ll write a newsier, less-preach-ier letter next week, I promise.

Receiving Answers to Prayer

I’ve noticed that my ability to receive answers to prayers actually depends a lot more on how and what I ask.

First of all, we have to ask, and we have to ask specifically. There are tons of blessings Heavenly Father wants to give us, but that He can'’ give us until we specifically ask for them, because to give them to us without our will would be a denial of our agency. We have to specifically demonstrate our will by specifically asking for them. D&C 46:30. Basically we are putting our will in line with His (I think that’s the definition of prayer, actually.).

Usually, the 'will' of Heavenly Father has to do with you being given greater capacity to do something, not dumping blessings on other people’s heads. (Example: “Please bless the homeless and the needy” vs “Help me find people who need help, and inspire me of how to help them.” D&C 46:28 and 30. D&C 11:13.

I think the reason we need to ask like that is because He can’t infringe on other people’s agency. He can’t give other people things they haven’t asked for or make them change in the way you want, but if YOU are willing (Alma 34:28), He can use you as an instrument (Mosiah 23:10, Alma 34:28).  Instead of praying that other people will change, pray to be made an instrument to help them change-- the Lord can’t force them to soften their heart, but through the things He inspires you to say you can you can be the tool He uses to soften their heart. This type of asking requires that you have to GO and DO the thing you need help with, go TALK to the person you want to change, go STUDY the thing you want to understand and He will take those efforts and make you better (2 Ne 32:9. 2 Ne 33:4).

To receive answers we have to pray in Faith. (D&C 42:14). What does it mean to pray in faith?
To me, faith means...
1. Asking for specific things. There is much greater risk in asking for something specific, so sometimes we’re afraid to do it.  When I ask for general things, Heavenly Father does give me what I ask for, but the answers are general so I don’t recognize them.

For example, general petitions:
-Please give me patience
-Help me to understand the scriptures
-Bless my family
-Help us baptize every week

-Help me be an effective missionary

And more specific petitions for the same ideas:
-When my companion takes forever to do nightly planning, help me to not get irritated.
-Why was it okay for Nephi to kill Laban if that’s against the commandments?
-Help Dad to not get overwhelmed or discouraged in His new calling.
-Tomorrow in our weekly planning, please give us good ideas when we brainstorm about what we can start doing to baptize every week.
-Help me make a good impression on this person so they’ll listen to my advice.

Asking for specific things helps us to be able to receive the specific answers we’re looking for, which is point number two.

2. It takes faith to look for specific answers. If we’re really convinced God is going to answer our prayers, we will be looking out all day watching for how He’s going to answer them.

How do I receive answers?
Sometimes it’s while I’m on my knees, if I stop to think about the problem again or assess how I feel about something. More often than not, the answer comes through very clear and direct thoughts than through feelings.

Lots of times, though, the answer comes during morning study-- through SEARCHING and also EXPLORING the scriptures. Sometimes it’s revealed little by little throughout the week. Sometimes it’s as I’m talking to someone and I’m inspired of what to say, or they say something inspired to me. Sometimes really good ideas come to my head as I’m planning something.

Sometimes, if I’m asking for inspiration to make a decision, (like hoping for a confirmation of something I’ve decided), Heavenly Father doesn’t always give me an answer. I’ve realized that wanting Him to tell me the right answer in every decision is a little like having someone give me all the answers on a homework assignment. I don’t learn anything! I’ve realized we’re here to make errors, too. Sometimes we learn more from errors than we would if He had made the right decision in the first place.

It takes faith to be patient waiting for answers. The counsel is to knock (3 Ne 14:7-8). But nobody opens their door instantaneously! (especially in Mexico.) We have to trust that if Heavenly Father promised us He’s going to open the door, He will. We just can’t walk away before He does it.

3) After we’ve watched for and received answers, it takes faith to recognize (or admit) that the answer came from Heavenly Father. That is gratitude. D&C 46:32. If we never acknowledge and thank Heavenly Father for the specific blessings we asked for and then received, He’ll probably stop helping us.

Thank you, by the way, for all of the people that pray for the missionaries. Maybe that is why the missionaries are so powerful is because there are so many good people praying for them.

Love you all muchisimo.
Hermana Ludlam

You don't have to take my word for it!

FAMILY!

How is your first couple days of bishopdom?

PLEASE save me a reunion T-shirt. And some groats, too.

I got the Easter package! Thank you for the socks and for the beautiful picture, Luci! Your use of pasta shapes is most innovative. Hermana De Leon (her new companion) and I sat and ate all the pretzels in one sitting.

I don’t even know how to describe Hermana De Leon. She’s so powerful and intelligent and a very compelling teacher, but at the same time she’s so humble and...soft, I guess. She’s so peaceful. I love spending all day with her.

Thank you also, Jenna, for the foto of the egg. I get all fuzzy inside when you guys think of me like that.

Mom asked in the letter in the Easter package what was it that disillusioned me or made me so interested in finding real truth. It wasn’t one thing in specific, more that realizing that my thinking was so deeply permeated with 'false doctrine' about so many things.

Even in the church, unless we are feasting on the scriptures and making everything a matter of prayer, we are wrong about so many things. And we don’t even know, because our ideas feel fine and are accepted.  Most of the time we don’t even consider them as something we’ve chosen to believe. I guess I just realized how very narrow and fine is the ray of real truth. That’s why I like the definition of repentance in Preach My Gospel so much: “our love for [Christ] leads us to repent…to change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with His will.  Repentance includes forming a fresh view of God, ourselves, and the world.”

There is also the little gem-let that says: “No one can know spiritual truths without prayer.”

Man, if there was one thing I could beat into the heads of the people here is that THERE IS SUCH A THING AS FALSE DOCTRINE. People are so content to say to me “you have my beliefs and I have mine” or “we all are worshipping the same God just in different ways.” Or, something I hear probably two or three times a day, “Soy [religion] de mi manera.” (I live in the [religion] tradition)

I bear testimony that there is such a thing as false doctrine, and that NOT all paths lead to the same God, but rather there is ONE path that leads to ONE God. Christ taught ONE, VERY SPECIFIC doctrine, and if there are two different ideas about what that doctrine is, it is impossible that they are both correct. And if you do not believe in the CORRECT doctrine, the CORRECT instructions Christ gave us to return to God, or if you do not believe in God as He REALLY IS, you are not in the "straight and narrow path" that leads to eternal life, in the "broad path" that leads to destruction. So you had better be really sure that the things you believe in are THE truth.

And the way to do that is not to ask a bunch of people, or study and think really hard, or search the internet. It is to ask God, who is the SOURCE of the truth and cannot lie and WANTS us to know the right path to come to Him because He loves us. So of course He will answer us, His children, to confirm to us the correct path to come to Him.

And as the Reading Rainbow guy says, “You don’t have to take my word for it” that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true and only true church of God. READ THE BOOK! If the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith had to be a prophet and therefore the Church of Christ really has been restored to the earth and this is it. And the way you can know it is true is to-- ask God.

Phew! I explain that to people probably ten times a day.

On a different topic, here is a question I have been thinking about: Why does giving service help us to develop charity? What is it about service that engenders love? How does that work?!

Thank you for your letters, fambly. I LOVE YOU.

Love,

Hermana Ludlam

"Joy is the love of good things"

Lia's new companion, Hermana de Leon

Hola Fambilia,

That is my lesson for the Young Women that I was telling you about, Ava-- sorry it turned into a sermon. I'm not sure how I would have given all of that to you in our 5-minute Skype conversation. 

In broaching the subject of dressing modestly, I would like to reference an excellent talk in the April 2014 Ensign called “Eye Single To My Glory.” It talks about how our bodies are glorious creations of God, and how when we dress immodestly it’s like we’re trying to take the glory that is owed to God and bring the praise to ourselves. It’s evidence that the glory of God is not our first priority.

Please:  Go read that talk.

Also, immodest dress is an indicator that we are looking for happiness in something that CANNOT last, i.e., people being physically attracted to us. There’s no doubt that feeling attractive is something that brings happiness, but it is not complete happiness and it is not lasting happiness. Really I’s “distraction of Satan” happiness, who wants us to waste our thoughts and energy towards something that in the end will leave us with nothing (because physical beauty and attractiveness doesn’t last forever.) You've paid the price of your integrity for an empty promise.

Christ tries to warn us to not put our affections and energy on things that won’t last. (2 Ne 8:7-8) I’ve always wondered why the scriptures talk so much about moths eating things and things getting corrupted and the “frail existence”, but it’s because Heavenly Father is trying to help us to discern the lies that Satan is telling us by evaluating what will bring happiness not only now but in the long-term. Like the eternal term.

Christ instructs us to love things that will last (3 Ne 13:19-20). Elder Uchtdorf wrote a FANTASTIC, best-ever, the-whole-point-of-existence talk called “The Love of God.” He says... “Joy is the love of good things.” Oooh-- that is profound. In my less-credible-than-Elder-Uchtdorf thinking, I would also say that joy is “real and lasting happiness.” And we can only have real and lasting happiness when the things that we love are real and lasting.

Go read that talk.  Also, see also Hebrews 1:9, 11 -12.

Also, just as an extra comment, I remember one time in a Youth Conference, some speaker said:  “Dressing immodestly is like rolling around in mud. Sure you will get attention, but from pigs and flies.”

So what do you do if you want the things that bring short-term happiness more than you want the things that bring long-term happiness (like the things they talk about in church or the scriptures). How do you change what you want? Well, you should know that that problem is completely natural and is kind of the whole point of the Atonement. It is to have “a might change of heart” (Mosiah 5:2).  In the last days, God is going to give us exactly what we desire, so we’d better make sure we desire things that will bring real and lasting happiness (Alma 29:4). Christ should be the center of your process of changing your heart. Because of His Atonement, you can be forgiven after wanting and doing things that are wrong and you can be strengthened and-- through a process I still don’t understand-- given a change of desire. But it requires the faith to turn to Heavenly Father and ask.

Hermana Garcia and Lia in Tiger Country

It also requires faith to even decide you want happiness in the long-term-- because you’re trading instant and certain happiness for something in the future that you don’t really even know what it is or if you want it. But you decide to trust God that what he promises is something that you want, you’ll start doing what God has told you to do to achieve that happiness.

My suggestion would be to start with the scriptures. Look for what it is that Heavenly Father is actually promising you, what is eternal life after all, and why would it be something you would want? If the goal is for us to become like Heavenly Father, what is He like that would make us so happy to be with Him and be like Him? (Starting hint: Christ came here in order to show us what Heavenly Father is like.)  And what is it that we have to do to be able to be more like Him?

Other hint: The Book of Mormon answers all of those questions rather fantastically and only in 500-something pages.

And the more you learn and apply, the more you will start to taste this real and lasting happiness that Heavenly Father promises and you will want to ALWAYS and FOREVER have it.

I love you all very much and wish I had another hour to write to you.

Presidente said he’s going to switch the Lideres de Capacitacion (Training Leaders) every transfer, so I’m soaking her up while it lasts. Hermana De Leon is like waves of the sea and white sands all the time...

​

Love you mucho!

Love,

Hermana Ludlam

Baptisms and Botched Transfers

Hola Familia,

I had actually been getting kind of homesick before the call, which hadn’t happened before. I actually thought of you guys and I felt sick. But after the call, I felt all better and now I’m able to concentrate.

Centenario Zoo in Mérida

I know we couldn’t really communicate super well because of the background noise, but I liked it better than when I talk to all of you together, because I feel like we talk about more superficial stuff when it’s not one-on-one. And I don’t really get a feel for how you are doing individually. So I thought it was great.  I WISH I could have had another hour with you though.

Ava, I pretty much wrote you a talk that I was going to give to you. I’ll write part of it in my fambly letters and part of it to your email. 

Here is some family counsel. PLEASE continue in your musical endeavors (that means practicing.). There are lots of things that money can buy in life that really don't give you all that much happiness, but MUSIC is one thing I wish everyone could afford. If I could give one thing to people in Mexico (besides the gospel), it would be first learning how to read and second, being able to really learn music. Even if you guys don’t want to stick with violin because you love violin, stick with it so you can learn how to be a musician. It’s something you can’t do without practice and a lot of routine work, but it’s also priceless. 

Angel's Baptism

Can you tell, I miss music a little bit...?

This is a picture at Angel's baptism (his brother Rolando is the blur, his mama Angeles, Eurinice, Lia, and Hermana Garcia.) Angel can recite you his folletos (pamphlets)and the sacrament prayer. And he already started inviting his friends over to his house to meet with us.

​

Rosa's Baptism

And Hermana Rosa cannot read, but her retention of gospel information is incredible. We use lots of images and props, and she can even explain principles like apostasy and priesthood. She had to be baptized 6 times before Hermano Willy sort of man-handled her under. She didn’t like getting wet I think.

And... the touristy picture! In a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, Cinco de Mayo fell on a lunes (Monday). The Centenario Zoo in Centro is never open on lunes (p-day) except for last week. There were a lot of ties and white shirts at the zoo that day. It was an impressively high-quality zoo. Lots of Kitties... 

Thank you for the humility quote, Mum! I think one of the most valuable skills I’ve learned on my mission is how to pray and get results (pretty much how to work the system). God can only give us specific answers when we ask specific questions. And God won’t give us things unless we ask, because it denies our agency to give us help we don’t want, or if we don’t demonstrate that we want His help by asking for it. So I pretty much pray about everything. I’ve realized my whole life my prayers were never really a communication with God, just talking to myself or a ask-thank sort of interaction--instead of communicating both ways. It takes faith and hope to ask for specific things, and it takes faith and trust to be looking for the specific answers throughout the day.

Oh you guys-- it was a mission nightmare come true! Last night (at like 11 pm) our district leader called us to tell me and Hermana Garcia were staying together (hooray). And so we were happy and went to bed contentedly thinking of the wonderful, worry-free p-day we were going to have the next day. And then the next morning we just happened to be talking with Elder Olson who casually asked what Hna Garcia thought of her new transfer. And we were like “Elder, that’s not a funny joke,” but he was dead serious. You guys THEY MESSED UP OUR CAMBIOS (transfers). That’s a big deal! Cambios are a very emotionally-invested affair.

So we called the assistant and learned that Hermana Garcia was moving to Chitchinitza with a different companion and we were supposed to be at the stake center in an hour! So amid the tears of Hermana Garcia we start shoving all of her stuff into suitcases and trying to do the last-minute cleaning and... ya estuvo. Mi nueva compañera es (My new companion’s name is) Hermana de Leon, who is everybody’s favorite sister missionary. She is SO sweet and composed and just kind of like having a mom. She is from Mexico but lived in PORTLAND for a few years. Pictures next week.

Also, I gave a lesson in Young Women’s class on Sunday about modesty that I want to write about next week too.

Eternal Love,

Hermana Ludlam 

A Whole Hour on Mother's Day!

Dear Family that I Love,

Hermana Garcia did Lia's hair.  Mexicali Trensas!

I had to put your Christmas card picture away because I kept getting distracted. I get to call on Sunday the 11th at 6 pm my time. I’m not sure what time that is for you. And... we get to talk for a whole hour!!! In the leadership conference, one of the sisters asked: “President how much time do we have in the call, 40 minutes or an hour?” and before he can answer all of us sisters (we all sit on the front row) start mouthing at the same time and holding up our fingers. And he looks at us for a second and then says, “Oh... okay,” and the whole chapel cheers. I love our President.

Can we do more one-on-one conversations this time?

I typed up my presentation for the conference. :) It went SO well. I think people were not used to receiving practical, applicable advice in trainings so everybody got really excited about it. I’m attaching it too because I don’t know how well the formatting will send. For you future missionaries (and your names all end in 'a') and for member missionaries, too (all Lia's sister's names end in 'a').  (You can find these notes in a separate blog post below, “How to Contact Effectively”.)

I think this training will actually make a big difference. The reason we aren’t baptizing as a mission is because everyone just keeps teaching and teaching the same problem investigators that they never have time to go out and find the people that are actually going to get baptized. One of the reasons we are doing well in our area is because we contact a TON of people and drop a ton of people, and the ones that we keep are all de oro. Teaching is fun.

Baptism of  Juvenicio, Tuzcano (Harper's comp), Harper y Jesus

At first I felt bad because I was basically making decisions about who was going to be saved or not, but one of the elders in the conference was inspired with a great analogy: That in the emergency room, the doctors can’t treat everyone. They assess the patients to see who is the most likely to survive, and work on them first. If they don’t choose, they both die.

It’s true. We have a VERY precious limited amount of time, and if we waste it on people who are not going to progress, not only are those investigators not going to be saved, but neither all the people who WOULD have listened that you never found. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt for the prepared ones.

Look what we found at Church Distribution!  No more backpack.

I was also thinking about why it is that God prepares some people and not others. I thought “if he loves us all the same, why would he put things in the life of SOME people to prepare them to hear the gospel so they can be saved.” I found a great answer in Alma 5.

Nobody ever responded to my question about what was the difference between a full-time missionary and a member missionary.

Love,
Hermana Ludlam

Lia's Notes: How to Contact Effectively

How To Contact Effectively

(D&C 42:8-Have to FIND those who will receive. D&C 29:7- The chosen will listen to you. Alma 13:24- People being prepared before you get there)

Characteristics of Effective Contacting

1.       DECIDE (to yourself) and COMMUNICATE (to them) that the person is someone that you want to get to know (shh… ‘flirting’). The person is a potentially glorious child of a Divine Being.

a.       “We don’t make contacts, we make connections.” (’MTC Experience’)

b.      First make observations (Mormon 1:2-quick to observe) and then ask questions. It should be a conversation, meaning that you listen to the person and then respond specifically to what they said. The contact should talk more than you. (Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary, Elder Bednar, June 2011)

c.       Should be normal and happy and real. Smile. (PME 176- should be ‘warm and genuine’)

2.       Pray to find them (before) and what to say (during). You’ll only make an impact if you’re doing and saying what Heavenly Father wants you to, and He can’t tell you that unless you ask. (D&C 42:14- Spirit only received by the prayer of faith, 2 Ne 32:9- Pray always, do nothing without first praying)
3.       Use scriptures. That is where your power comes from. (Alma 31:5- Preaching of the word more powerful effect than sword.
4.       If a person isn’t moving, they are your target. (On the bus, in line, sitting in street, waiting for a bus, working in their lawn, etc.)

 a.       Need to teach lessons short enough and far apart enough that you’re not always in a rush to the next lesson and can stop to talk (D&C 61:3 – Don’t move so swiftly while people on either side are perishing in unbelief.)

5.       Fill ALL the forms of your Future Investigator table in your agenda (FULL name, address with HOUSE NUMBER, phone, when available, and how/where you met them) , and in the area book when you get home. Put them on the map. Write yourself clues to remember who they are. (Mni 6:6- record so you can REMEMBER)
 6.       If possible, teach a lesson in the moment. If not possible, set a specific appointment.
 7.       Give EVERYONE a mormon.org or passalong card with your names, number, direction of the chapel, and the meeting time. Write the date and time of the appointment if you made one.
 8.       If it becomes contentious, end it immediately. You might say the perfect thing, but when they aren’t listening you are wasting precious time. (3 Ne 11:30- contention is not of me, should be done away.)
9.       Ask for references from EVERYONE.

a.        Question is not ‘Do you know someone?´ but ‘Who do you know?’ (PMG 159)

 What should I say? (The Key, Mind-Changing Principles to bring up)

·         The Restoration. In every conversation. (PME 159)

o   There are lots of people who say ‘I’m not interested in changing religions—it doesn’t matter because they all lead to God.’ Lots of times, people don’t want to listen until we say something like ‘Christ only taught ONE doctrine of how to live with God and be happy, not multiple. Many of these truths were lost because people took them out of the Bible or changed them. But because God loves us, He doesn’t want us to not know the way to come back to Him. He’s restored the truths that were lost. Would you like us to visit you to teach you more about these restored truths?´ You’d be stunned at how many people change their mind and give us their datos.

·         Families Can Be Forever. (PMG 159)    

o   People like to talk about their families, almost everyone has one, and usually it’s one of the things people feel most strongly about and want help with. Really, the whole point of the first bullet point, Restoration, is about how to have eternal families.

o   Also, the Gospel helps families have more love, purpose, unity, peace.

·         Purpose of Life (They are a Child of God with Divine Potential, Here on Earth to Learn to Be Like God.)

o   Lots of time this leads to the idea of PRIORITIES (almost always ‘work vs. church’) and you can back them up to the wall of faith. Often people realize they don’t really have faith and need to learn how. (3 Ne 13:28-33)

o   Teach that our actions and what we do with our life have CONSEQUENCES now and for the eternities, so you’d better be doing it right.

o   Then tell them there are specific instructions from God about how to live life correctly and happily.

·         There really is guidance in life to discern what is truth – Modern prophets, Restored scripture, the SPIRIT
·         Their current religion and relationship with God/Christ.

o   Instead of ‘How is your relationship with God/Christ?’ (answer: ‘bien’), rather ‘Do you have a relationship with God?’ (works much better.)

·         Use the 10 points of ‘How To Begin Teaching’ (PMG 176), in a way that is part of the conversation.

Maria's Baptism & Gerardo's Answer

Maria's baptism

Hola Familia!

Thank you for sending the Easter fotos! 

Do you guys know what the difference is between “Preaching” the Gospel and “Sharing” the gospel? Like, what things do I lose the authority to do when I get back home? I don’t actually know the difference between a full-time missionary and a normal member, except that there are less rules and no name-tag. We’re both supposed to 100% consecrate our souls to the Lord and put him first in our life and try to save everyone possible by sharing gospel truths and be a representative of Jesus Christ and do what he would do and be obedient with exactness. 

I’m thinking it’s that members don’t have the authority to teach the principles to investigators, but I’m not sure if that’s true. Are you allowed to contact people in the street and teach them a few principles? Or the person sitting next to you in the airplane? Or can you only bear testimony and give references to the full-time missionaries? It says in Doctrine & Covenants that you “shouldn’t think you are called to preach until you have been called” but then it says “if you have desires you are called to the work.” 

We definitely have problems with the members we invite to accompany us trying to teach things-- and we can tell that they don’t have the same spirit of discernment (or training) that we do of what the investigator needs to hear. Not sure what the rules on that are. 

Vanessa, Harper, Hassiby, Lia, Lorena Miguel Gonzalez Ramirez

By the way, good job, Mom, for doing what they said in General Conference and sharing what you are learning in PMG with your missionary. :) Maybe you guys could start studying PMG for family night again? I remember we did that a long time ago and it didn’t work very well, but that was back when I thought I knew what PMG was talking about and assumed I knew it already. Psshhh.

I put the Christmas card you sent me on the bulletin board and I have been thinking about you all a lot this week. I love you. OH GOODNESS we get to call in like 3 weeks!!!

Harper, Monica, Monica (mom), Lia, Norton, Alexander Lugo Briseño

We have a teenage investigator named Gerardo who said in the last cita (appointment) “Last night when I was asking God if the Book of Mormon was true, I was asking him what path was the correct one. I thought about what you said the first night we met, about how when we ask specific questions God can give us specific questions. And then I thought about how you said we need to ask with faith-- to decide to believe it and THEN ask God for a confirmation. So that's what I did.” He got an answer. :)  I don’t even remember teaching him that-- or if I did it was something very brief. I love how the Spirit carries things into hearts and into remembrance.

And that principle is SO true-- that is how I am learning everything I am learning is by studying for specific questions and thinking about it and coming to conclusions and having faith and then asking for confirmation and it works.

I love you forever, fambly.

Love,

Hermana Ludlam

49 Lessons!

Hola Familia:

I finally got my camera to work. 

Sister Garcia and I have been on fiiiire all week. 49 lessons! We are super happy together.

Lia and her new companion, Hermana Garcia.

Hermana Garcia is so great. Her past couple companionships have been a little rough so she’s estatic that we’re working so productively. I still crack up every time she uses English-- she actually speaks pretty well just from what she learned in school. I’m not sure why I get such a kick out of the English phrases she throws in, like “Nice.” or “Gosh.” or “Not anymore.”

One Spanish phrase I’ve picked up from her is how she always says “Ya estuvo” which is yucateca for “it already happened,” like, “it doesn’t matter anymore” or “whatever.” Last week we had a traumatic spider-killing (the first of about 10 in our new house--they are the big palm-sized kind), and after the frenzy of tennis-shoe smashing and shrieking subsided she looked down at it and said, after a second, “Ya estuvo.”

 "Los Almendros" where Lia loved the live musicians.

We are teaching a family that was a reference from a couple in our ward. They invited them over for a family night with us and they wanted to keep listening (that would be an excellent idea for you guys, by the way). At first it was just the parents, Luci y Carlos, that wanted to listen and were thrilled at all the tools the church has for building strong families. But they were told us “our teenage daughters are never home, and they’ll never want to listen.” Never underestimate the power of the Spirit. We caught the daughters late one night because they are on vacation for La Semana Santa (Holy Week). They both accepted fechas (dates). I LOVE seeing them kneel in prayer together as a family. I love seeing how the restored gospel

A Lovely Park in Mulsay.

CHANGES LIVES.

Since starting the intercambios (exchanges, the trainers meet with different sisters for a short visit and help with training) with the sisters I’m in charge of, I’ve learned a lot about judging. At first I was really worried because I was afraid it was wrong to try to look for people’s problems and try to judge what they needed to work on. I realized the way I judge is a mix of righteous judging and the bad kind of judging. The talk “‘Judge Not’ and Judging” by Elder Dallin H. Oaks really helped me. More on that next week.

Thank you all for your emails. 

Mucho amor,

Hna Ludlam

Did Conference not blow your socks off?!?

Hola Familia,

Did Conference not blow your socks off?!? I think if I had to pick three or four things I had been thinking about the most in the past few months, they would be: How to Know What Truth is, How to Be Obedient, How Christ Actually Loved People, and The Family's Role in Eternal Happiness. And they just happened to be the theme of the entire conference.

It makes me feel like Heavenly Father really is thinking about me. He really wants me, Sister Ludlam, to be able to be with Him and to grow and progress. He really takes into account the things I am struggling with and then finds ways to help me. Of all the wonderful things in my mission, I think this sense-- well really this perspective change-- of my personal relationship with my Father is one of the most important things that has changed in me. Even though my understanding of this relationship has changed drastically since I left home, I still feel like it’s in the baby stages. And even that tiny taste of what He is really like makes me want nothing more in the entire world than to be with Him.

Guys didn’t everything that they said about families make you SO EXCITED? The joy of eternal life IS being with families. It IS Love. But this love that brings a fulness of joy is not natural; it is something that only comes through Christ-- by living the principles and ordinances He has taught us. Good thing we have the restored gospel.

I love you all, by the way.

Lia's sisters had a little fun with her photo.

I also can’t tell you how much I love prophets. I have never felt a sense of urgency before to know what they are saying, because I think I have never had such a hunger for truth before or so suddenly aware of how rare real truth is. It's so nice to be able to hear someone talk and be able to trust what they are saying, because I know they have authority from God. Prophets are such a good idea.

I wish I could send you pictures of Hermana Garcia! For some reason, even though all the pictures are on the card when it’s in my camera, the drive shows up empty no matter what computer I plug it into. Maybe it’s the card reader. I'll try a different cable next week.

Anyway, it’s been a great week. It started off a little edgy because I’ve never had to be a companion with someone who wasn’t either a trainer or a trainee, because usually either my trainer had her habits of how to do things and I had none, or I had my habits and my trainee had none. But with Hna. Garcia, the BOTH of us have our ways of doing things and we’ve had to figure out how to reconcile. But it’s been groovy.  The words of Elder W. Craig Zwick about how to communicate and empathize are so true. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hjl5YAFS_Y

Wish I had time to write about what she’s like. Next week!

Love,

Hermana Ludlam

Sister Training Leader in Mulsay 2!

Hola Familita,

Pues cambios otra vez (We have transfers again).  I am going to open the new Mulsay 2 area (which is actually right next to Madero) and... serve as Sister Training Leader! My companion is also a Training Leader, Hermana Garcia. She is from la Republica Dominicana and she has got some FUERZA (power, strength). Pictures next week. 

Parque Chino in Mulsay 2

Did you know I have been on my mission for 6 months?! That’s like a third already!

Oh, you guys, I am leaving so many beautiful investigators.  You know, before my mission, I never thought I would have this kind of relationship with the people I taught. I thought I would kind of touch down into their lives for a few months, teach them and take off again but it’s like we’ve forged these eternal bonds of love and then I just LEAVE! It’s probably a good thing, though, because one of the things H' Harper and I have noticed is that when we are too much of friends with our investigators, we worry about telling them what they really need, in fear of hurting their feelings or making them not like us. Or they become more attached to us that to the things we’re teaching them. So it’s probably good, it just hurts.

I’ll get to see everybody from Gineres next week at General Conference, though. :) (The church broadcasts a worldwide conference via satellite)  I AM SO EXCITED FOR PROPHETIC COUNSEL. My favorite part from the women’s conference was “to not only love each other more, but love each other better.” (B.L. Oscarson) That is a good line. I think that’s kind of the whole point of the góspel, really.

Hay que triste (oh so sad)... I have pictures of Maria’s baptism, of eating lunch in a fancy restaurant with Jesús, of lots of people from Garcia Gineres... but there’s something wrong with gmail I think. Next week, I guess.

Man, I wish you guys could have gone with us to the restaurant in Centro with Jesus. He took us out for preparation day and was very much the host (he is probably our classiest investigator. He didn’t even order food so he could talk to us the whole time.) You guys, there was LIVE MUSIC!  This band of 3 guitarists stayed in the corner, and I think I enjoyed the music more than the food! One of the guys was super virtuosic and--Grant you just about would have died!

I got your package that you sent the FOURTEENTH of MARCH! It got here in two weeks! Thank you for telling me about your baptism, Luci. And thanks for sacrificing your conference Ensign, Mum. It will be heavily utilized. Livi, mum sent me the video of you playing bass and I watched it illegally. Bieeeen hecho (well done).

Something I’ve been thinking long and hard about is how we can know what things and what truths we can trust... because I kind of want to know everything. I’m starting to realize that there are an awful lot of explanations for everything and real, pure, solid truth is very rare. Truth IS the Word of God, but sometimes it’s hard to know what really is the Word of God. Man has lots of different interpretations. That’s why it’s so wise of Heavenly Father to tell us that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the truth be established-- the search for truth involves an awful lot of cross-referencing and experience-comparing and hard-core praying and seeking for confirmation of the Spirit. And just a lot of patience and faith because I’m never going to understand everything correctly. I can try.

I love you guys. I love your letters, too. They are still as good as the first one six months ago.

Amor,

Hermana Ludlam