March 27, 2017 Mission Tour

S/O to my father, Marissa and sister in law Syd for their birthdays
this week!! Love you all 😊

This past week was good. Things were going super well with Lee and
then he got offended by one of our texts and suddenly shut off and
didn't end up coming to church. Really annoying. But he will be
baptised! He has such a great testimony of the Gospel. We were able to
start teaching a great young couple named Kirstey and Callum and they
are so prepared but unfortunately decided yesterday that they had too
much going on to commit.

We found Kirstey street contacting and when we went back for the
return appointment her boyfriend Callum was there and so we taught
both of them! We had a great restoration lesson and they seemed to
accept it well and expressed their interest. Unfortunately they
weren't able to come to church and don't want to meet again for now
but they have so much potential.

Lee has had almost all of the lessons and has a testimony of the
Gospel but gets easily offended and sometimes it is hard to
communicate with him. Whenever we are with him he is great but when we
aren't satan has a great affect on him. We hope to be seeing soon but
it's up in the air at the moment. We have some other great potential
Investigators but nothing super solid. We will find those precious
prepared souls though!

Today we went on a tour of the church historical sites in our mission
and it was super fun. So very grateful to be serving here. The church
is true!

-Elder Ludlow

March 20, 2017 Glue..?!

So our first couple days of the transfer were interesting.. when we
first arrived at our flat it was an absolute disaster. We had to spend
our first day deep cleaning it and then  getting groceries. Then we
spent the next morning in the hospital.. haha :). So I FINALLY got to
play basketball for the first time in SEVEN MONTHS and of course I get
hurt.. so I was shooting around and I ran and picked up the ball when
it rolled near the wall and I picked it up and went to shoot and when
I jumped up I hit my head on a metal cage that was on the wall
protecting a light. There was a good amount of blood but luckily not
too serious. Went to the hospital and really lucky only had to get it
glued together. Might have gotten a very mild concussion but really
fun stuff!

This past week work wise was great though! The work here in Man South
is amazing. There are so many prepared people and it has been amazing
the little miracles we have had finding great people. The work is
moving forward and there is so much potential! We are working with an
investigator named Lee who the former elders taught and he is doing
pretty well.

We saw Lee on Friday and had a great first lesson. He has a testimony
of the Gospel but just struggles with smoking and fully committing. He
said he would come to church but then cancelled last minute. Satan is
working hard on him and we helped him realise that when we saw him
last night. The Spirit has been super strong as we have taught him and
he seems more committed now. We are working towards April 8th for
baptism for him!

We are excited to work with the ward here. There are about 100 active
members and they are really good with working with missionaries. And
yes there is a basketball court at the church!

I am excited to work with Elder Hargiss. A little more about him: He
is from Arkansas and played American football before his mission and
is planning on trying our for the BYU team when he gets home. He is
only 18 like me and we are the youngest people in our groups that we
came out with. He is very persistent and that has been really good.

I am happy and am doing well. Hope you all have a great week!!

-Elder Ludlow

Got a picture with Kate last week before leaving Warrington. It was
hard to say bye to the wonderful people there.

March 13, 2017 Transferring to Manchester South

This past week was pretty good, probably the fastest week of my mission (time is so weird). We were able to see Andy and he has great desires to be baptised and is doing well but can't come to church at the moment because his legs are in bad shape. It is unfortunate but Heavenly Father has a plan. We were able to see Mark and give him a baptismal date of faith for March 25th and he seemed excited about coming to church this next week. He said church would be pivotal for him and his decision to fully commit.

We are working really hard to find new investigators but haven't been able to find anyone solid. We got in contact with Oliver again and he said he was really open and felt like he needed to meet with us and then didn't show up to the appointment.

Forgot to mention but two weeks ago we got let into someone's home just right away and it was the first time that has happened on my mission! We had a really good Restoration lesson with him. His name is Joel and he has great faith in Jesus Christ and seemed to understand what we told him. He was really kind and the Spirit was there as we spoke. He is like Mike and Tricia in the way that he is a truth seeker and we are just waiting for him to receive his answer about the Book of Mormon. We will call him this next week. (We still haven't heard from Mike and Tricia).

On Saturday we had a nice little miracle happen. We were planning on going finding in an area and I just felt like we really needed to go try by some people on the ward list near there. So we went to this man's house and his name is Ben. He let us right in and told us his story about how he grew up in the church but fell away when he was 18 and hasn't really gone to church since but has always appreciated the Gospel and how it shaped him into who he is (He is 42 now). He said he had very recently been thinking about going back to church and felt lost and then we showed up. He kept expressing throughout the visit how we were 100% meant to see him that night. It was great.

On Sunday we had a special video broadcast in Liverpool. Elder Ballard, President Clayton, Sister Reeves and someone from the Seventy spake and it was really good. I love hearing from general authorities. 

I've been thinking a lot recently about testimony. Even though people will reject us and say negative things to us doesn't mean that we are wrong. I have my own testimony of this Gospel. Nothing can change the witnesses I have had from the Holy Ghost and there are no doubts in my mind that we represent God's true church on this earth! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to find comfort and answers through studying the scriptures and sincere prayer with my Father in Heaven. My testimony is the most important thing I have and no one can take it away from me. I love this Gospel with all that I am and sharing it with others is the best thing ever.

Hope you all are doing well and don't do nothin' unless your hearts in it!

-Elder Ludlow

March 6, 2017 Testimony

This past week was pretty good, probably the fastest week of my mission (time is so weird). We were able to see Andy and he has great desires to be baptised and is doing well but can't come to church at the moment because his legs are in bad shape. It is unfortunate but Heavenly Father has a plan. We were able to see Mark and give him a baptismal date of faith for March 25th and he seemed excited about coming to church this next week. He said church would be pivotal for him and his decision to fully commit.

We are working really hard to find new investigators but haven't been able to find anyone solid. We got in contact with Oliver again and he said he was really open and felt like he needed to meet with us and then didn't show up to the appointment.

Forgot to mention but two weeks ago we got let into someone's home just right away and it was the first time that has happened on my mission! We had a really good Restoration lesson with him. His name is Joel and he has great faith in Jesus Christ and seemed to understand what we told him. He was really kind and the Spirit was there as we spoke. He is like Mike and Tricia in the way that he is a truth seeker and we are just waiting for him to receive his answer about the Book of Mormon. We will call him this next week. (We still haven't heard from Mike and Tricia).

On Saturday we had a nice little miracle happen. We were planning on going finding in an area and I just felt like we really needed to go try by some people on the ward list near there. So we went to this man's house and his name is Ben. He let us right in and told us his story about how he grew up in the church but fell away when he was 18 and hasn't really gone to church since but has always appreciated the Gospel and how it shaped him into who he is (He is 42 now). He said he had very recently been thinking about going back to church and felt lost and then we showed up. He kept expressing throughout the visit how we were 100% meant to see him that night. It was great.

On Sunday we had a special video broadcast in Liverpool. Elder Ballard, President Clayton, Sister Reeves and someone from the Seventy spake and it was really good. I love hearing from general authorities. 

I've been thinking a lot recently about testimony. Even though people will reject us and say negative things to us doesn't mean that we are wrong. I have my own testimony of this Gospel. Nothing can change the witnesses I have had from the Holy Ghost and there are no doubts in my mind that we represent God's true church on this earth! I'm so grateful for the opportunity to find comfort and answers through studying the scriptures and sincere prayer with my Father in Heaven. My testimony is the most important thing I have and no one can take it away from me. I love this Gospel with all that I am and sharing it with others is the best thing ever.

Hope you all are doing well and don't do nothin' unless your hearts in it!

-Elder Ludlow