Tuesday July 17, 2018 I Absolutely Loved My Mission!

This week was wonderful! We had some amazing miracles with the people we are teaching. Shon finally prayed in the proper way and had an experience where he felt light completely come over him. He has real intent. Francisco and Larissa are so great. They came to church and have had great fellowship with the ward and Francisco had an experience where he feels that the Book of Mormon is true! It really was a great last week of my mission. 

Wow. I have filled with so many emotions. I am eternally grateful for the sacred blessing and opportunity I had to serve a full time mission. I have grown even closer to my Father in Heaven and my Saviour. I know they are real and that they are very present in our lives. I know that there was a restoration of all things through the prophet Joseph Smith and I can’t even put into words how much that means to me. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and I testify of its truthfulness. I know Christ lives and that this is His work! I have been changed forever because of the experiences I have had in this green and pleasant land. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. 

Thank you all for your support over these last 2 years! 

-Elder Ludlow 

July 9, 2018 Lots of Emotions

This week was a pretty good one! We didn’t get much time for finding
but we saw progress in our area and found joy in serving the
missionaries in the zone. We were able to go work in Warrington and
Southport! We are especially loving our work with the Brazilians.

We saw some miracles with the Bizera family from Brazil. We taught
Francisco the father and his daughter Larissa on Monday and it was
amazing! They are so prepared! Larissa is 10 and she understood and
loved so much of what we taught! And to make it better the wife works
with a member of the church (we’ve never met the wife) and the member
invited her to come to church and she accepted! Unfortunately she
wasn’t able to come but it was disconnected from the work that we were
already doing with Francisco and Larissa. So this family has some
great connections!

Random highlights:
On Tuesday we had to help clear out a flat in Wigan which was fun! Had
my last MLC on Friday and it was really emotional. Last night we had
the member missionary fireside in Chorley which was wonderful! It was
really hard to say goodbye to some of the people that I’ve grown to
love so much. It’s honestly been really hard. I’m going to ask for an
extension ;)

Hope you all have an amazing week!

-Elder Ludlow

P.S. our P day will be on Tuesday next week, if you want to email me
for the last time! :)

July 2, 2018 Ludlow, England!

So surprise! I finally got to go to Ludlow!! It’s honestly one of my favourite places I’ve ever been to. The castle is absolutely amazing, the greenery was beautiful and the little town was cute. (Don’t know how else to describe it haha) It was a really good experience and I’m grateful for the members who drove us down there so I could finally see it. 

This week was good! We continue to see progress with our vision. We have seen progress with working with the Brazilian families and are starting to get some great referrals. We have seen progress with Shon and looking for other YSA. We have seen some great success with working in new housing estates. Finding this week was a lot better. We are just wondering why, when we are doing the same things, we will have such different results from week to week. We will be praying to find out exactly what the Lord is planning on for the area.

We had the fun opportunity to take part in a stake youth fireside yesterday where we talked about sharing your light now and tied it in with President Nelson’s devotional from a couple weeks ago (which is honestly amazing, everyone needs to see it). We also had exchanges with the assistants which was really great and it was nice to be back working in Man South for one last time.

-Elder Ludlow

Pictures: 

Saw some former missionaries who I served around for a while! 

Ludlow, England :)

June 25, 2018 Brazilian Miracles

This week was pretty good! We were able to teach some really great people and we really feel good about our vision for the area. We were able to teach our friend Shon (Shawn) quite a bit this week and he came to church!  He is 25 and is from Bulgaria and he is a very deep thinker but has been making some good progress. He asks a lot of really good questions but refuses to pray, so we are focusing on that. We were able to teach a recent converts mom this week a couple times and she is really wonderful. We haven’t really been able to see Pedram and he isn’t making the gospel a priority right now.

One big part of our vision is to work with all the Brazilian members we have here in the ward. We found a really solid Brazilian investigator Shirley a couple weeks ago and this week we took her a Portuguese Book of Mormon with a member from Brazil and it was amazing! They were able to speak in Portuguese and you could feel a difference in the Spirit when the member started testifying. She also even works with some other members of the church from Brazil and so she already has connections!

There is lots of solid progress in the work but it was one of those weeks where we were working hard but there weren’t many visible results. We did have a zone street display in Liverpool and it was good! There were 20 missionaries there and everyone seemed to enjoy it! There weren’t a lot of fruits and it was a little too busy but was a positive experience.

We had zone conference on Tuesday and it was a powerful meeting. I had to give my departing testimony which was super hard and emotional. I am cherishing every moment I have left! There’s much more work to be done :) 

-Elder Ludlow 

Pictures: zone street display and Jack from Oldham came all the way to Liverpool to visit! (He is doing really well in the church)

June 18, 2018 Life Is Great!

This week was good! We were able to find a lot more and had some great success! We have found some new solid people that we will be working with. We weren’t able to see Tim and he didn’t come to church but we hope to see him soon. We were able to reestablish contact with Pedram and he just feels like he is too busy but he will be getting a new job soon which is great! 

We had an amazing miracle with a self referral! His name is David. He went on mormon.org and started chatting with the missionaries online. We went and saw him on Saturday night and taught him a full restoration lesson and he is so prepared! He was not satisfied with the other churches he attended and agreed with what we said and said he wouldn’t mind being baptised! The only concern is that he lives in the St Helens area with his girlfriend but we will get over that hurdle when it comes (The St. Helens elders will be teaching him). 

Random highlights: 

Had a district leaders training conference which was great! Also participated in the stake service day in Warrington on Saturday. Life is just so great! 

-Elder Ludlow 

June 11, 2018 Busy Week in Liverpool

This week was good! Didn’t get as much time as we would hope to do finding with everything happening and also with the finding we did have for some reason we didn’t see the usual results but we feel that we have done our best and that we are successful in the eyes of the Lord. We were able to teach Pedram last Monday and he is still committed to be baptised but it might take a little longer than expected. We were able to see Tim, the 15 year old a few times this week and he is progressing. We can just feel the energy in the air and that there are many great things ahead, I am so excited for the miracles to come!

We had MLC on Friday which was really great. Always uplifting and motivating. We've also taken a lot of time as I’ve been trying to help Elder Masekeomeng get used to the area and also his new responsibilities as a zone leader. I am really grateful and excited to work with him. For my birthday on Thursday we got to do some service which was exactly what I wanted for my birthday. We also had a member who prepared my favourite meal for tea!

Hope y'all are doing great and that you have a wonderful week!

-Elder Ludlow

Pictures: 

MLC

Zone P Day and the Liverpool docks

June 4, 2018 Finishing in Liverpool

I received news this weekend that I will be serving my last transfer
in Liverpool! I am super excited! I will be serving with Elder
Masakeomeng from Kent, England, but his family originally comes from
South Africa. I have always wanted to serve with someone from Africa
and England I got both in my last transfer! We’ve served around each
other before and it should be a really good transfer.

This week was pretty good. We have been able to teach some good people
and met some good new people. We are working with some kids that are
staying with a member and that same member also introduced us to his
friend who we will be teaching tomorrow! Pedram had an accident last
weekend where he fell down a hill and got some scratches and bruises
and a smashed phone so we haven’t been able to see him but we will see
him today. The work will improve, I know it. I know there are many
more prepared souls out there just waiting.

One big tender mercy from this week was seeing some of the people I
taught before from Chorley and Oldham yesterday at the fireside! Also,
I have 3 of my companions Elders Hargiss, Vincent and Tuipulotu going
home this week, it’s crazy. I love this work and I am so excited for
the miracles ahead!

-Elder Ludlow

May 28, 2018 Fun In the Sun

This week was good. The weather was amazing! Slow progress in our area and with the people we are teaching but it will get there! We have been working more with the members this week and we’ve seen some great success. We went by one and they gave us two referrals straight away. There are some great members and I look forward to working with them more! Pedram is doing pretty well. We taught him some of the commandments and he wasn’t fully expecting it and wasn’t sure at first but he said that if God commanded it then I will follow it because God is always right. We were not able to see Charlie and Zach this week. 

One fun miracle, stopped a man at street display who has died and came back to life, had stage 4 cancer and survived and also had to bury two of his kids. He has been through A LOT. And he has such amazing faith in Christ. He had met missionaries in the past and loved what they said. He lost contact with them and then he met me while he was in Liverpool for a job interview. He called us the night after we met him and he said he had gotten the job and that he would be seeing us on Friday. Unfortunately he ended up not having the shift and we haven’t heard from him since but we hope to be seeing him soon. 

I know that there are many miracles ahead and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan!

-Elder Ludlow 

Pictures:  

Liverpool Chapel

Liverpool District 

Member made shawarma for us! 

May 21, 2018 Smartphones?!

This week was good! Went by extremely fast but some great things happened. Pedram is progressing well and there is a man that just moved to Liverpool from Iran last week and is a member of the church. It’s so inspired, they are good friends now. We taught our friend Zach and he is progressing well. He is preparing to be baptised on the 9th of June. He has really enjoyed the lessons. Charlie is doing pretty well. He knows the church is true but just needs to have more faith and take more action.

We had zone conference this week which was great. Talked a lot about using our teaching skills in finding. We also received our smartphones which is just crazy! It has really helped in the work honestly. It is a lot easier to get in contact with people. 

I love you all! 

-Elder Ludlow 

Pictures: the beautiful city of Liverpool 

May 14, 2018 Liverpool Miracles!

This week was great! Full of miracles. One in particular that happened
on exchange in Warrington. We were in district meeting and the elders
were reporting about their week and they spoke about a John McIntyre
who was a former investigator who they were going to be teaching
again. I was like wait what, I taught John and he dropped us because
he got into some anti Mormon stuff and it was really hard. I then
found out that we would be seeing him that day! When we went to see
him he expressed all these things that had happened since the last
time we met with him (over a year and 3 months ago) and the Lord has
been completely preparing him and also myself to find each other again
and he is now ready to accept the gospel! We had a super powerful
lesson and he accepted to be baptised and when I extended the date of
June 2nd he expressed that it was his birthday! What an unbelievable
miracle!

Had another miracle with finding our friend Charlie at a street
display. He is from France and is an exchange student at Liverpool
university so he is here for only a few months. As we talked we
discovered that we both had been to Jerusalem and had the same love
and passion for it and that he has a friend from Orem Utah! After all
these connections he was excited to learn more and expressed that he
would be willing to be baptised! Another miracle that shows that I am
meant to be here in Liverpool. I am so grateful to be an instrument in
the Lords hands.

We had another miracle where a member invited his friends over to
their home for us to teach! It’s a family from Brazil and the mom used
to be a member. We had an amazing lesson and we hope to see them very
soon. Finding also was really good this week. We were able to find
some great new people. We were not able to see Pedram but he came to
church and is still progressing. Our focus really is to find those who
are willing to progress and to progress those who we have found.

I am filled with so much gratitude for the many blessings my Father in
Heaven gives to me and that includes all of you! Hope you have a great
week!

-Elder Ludlow

May 7, 2018 Crazy Week!

This week has been crazy! Liverpool is a huge city and it was a bit of a culture shock this week seeing so many people. The work has been good just really trying to get the hang of things with the area, members and investigators. There are loads of prepared people here though. We taught our friend Pedram from Iran this week who is progressing towards baptism on the 26th of May. He is great and has lots of potential. We also found some people through the phone, especially one named Muhammad who seems very prepared. I am really excited to get more used to things and to find more people to teach! 

The Liverpool ward has about 200 active members (a little smaller than Chorley 4) and has members from over 40 countries. One thing that I’m really excited about is that there are MANY Brazilian members (@mom and dad). The Bishop is super on top of things and there are many strong families. It’s a great ward, I love it! 

We had MLC this week and it was super powerful. Sad that two of my former companions, Elder Tuipulotu and Vincent will be leaving at the end of this transfer. Another fun thing was that we got to go visit Warrington to help one of the new district leaders and it was so crazy to be back! Also, finally got to see Eleanor! (The one I taught in Chorley) she goes to uni in Liverpool and so I got to see her! 

It’s been amazing to see and experience many many witnesses this week that I am meant to be in Liverpool. One example, there was a lady yesterday who randomly was walking around the church and so we started talking to her and she said she was from Blackpool but was in Liverpool for a couple days and she happened to be walking by. To make it better she also has been to Utah and lived in Ludlow, England for many years! There is no way that is just coincidence. #divinedesign

-Elder Ludlow 

Pictures: 

Saying bye to some members in Oldham and Jacks family. 

MLC with 5 of my companions! (Elders Quinton, Casadibari, Audrlicky, Vincent and Tuipulotu) 

April 30, 2018 Angelina Was Baptized!

Angelina was baptised this week! What a wonderful service it was and her good friend Pedro, a returned less active was able to baptise her. Mary is doing well, she is really recognising the blessings of the gospel and she is getting closer and closer each week. Our friend Michael went to church in Estonia last week when he was there which we were very happy about but unfortunately he didn’t come to church this week and we can’t get ahold of him but we have faith he will be baptised! 

Boback and his wife and 11 year old son Daniel came to stake conference which was wonderful! They are just waiting for asylum. We found a really prepared, solid Romanian family this week that should have lots of potential. They have 8 children and the kids speak pretty good English. We haven’t been able to see Jacks family due to illness and being away but we should be seeing them today. 

So I received some very unexpected news this weekend that I will be transferring to Liverpool! I’ve been in Oldham for a short time and I was hoping to finish my mission here but I trust in the Lords will. It’s not exactly what I want but I know it’s exactly what I need. I will be finishing my mission pretty much back where I started (Warrington is in the zone) and will finish where the early missionaries first arrived! I will be serving with Elder Casadibari from Italy. He has been out for 17 months and is a great missionary. I am excited!

This week we had the sacred privilege and opportunity to learn directly from an apostle! Elder Christofferson came to the Ashton stake conference! He said that the brethren don’t go to single stake conferences very often so we were so lucky and blessed. We were able to go to the leadership meeting, adult session and main session! The Spirit was unbelievable. There is so much I could write about it but the main thing that he said that stood out to me was that much of our success in life is rooted in a deeper understanding of the Plan of Salvation. And the opposite is true. Much of what doesn’t go right is because we don’t understand the Plan of Salvation. I KNOW that the Plan of Salvation is true and I love learning more and more about it everyday. 

-Elder Ludlow 

April 23, 2018 More Progress in Oldham!

It was a great week! The weather was literally perfect, finally got to wear short sleeves.  Angelina passed her baptismal interview and is excited for her baptism this Friday! We taught Mary a couple times and yet again we felt we should teach something (specifically the Atonement) on Friday and then Gospel Principles on Sunday was on it. It was really inspired. She is still in the same spot though, just seeking for an answer. I really would appreciate prayers on her behalf to receive an answer! 

We taught our friend Michael from Estonia and had a miracle! Last Monday at the beginning of the lesson he told us that he had been researching our church on the internet and that he had some questions so of course we got worried. He then asked us about polygamy, word of wisdom and LGBT and so we answered it and was fine with what we said. He then opened up and said that he is worried about death and so we taught the plan of Salvation again and he said well you’ve answered all my questions and I want to be baptised! We were shocked and so happy! We ended up teaching him with a girl named Iris who is a recent convert from Estonia from the Man South Ward! She was the first person from Estonia that Michael had met in this country and she happened to be a member! We taught with her on Wednesday and it went super well. He is amazing. 

Finding this week has been good. We found a super prepared man from Spain named Sabrin and taught him on Saturday. We spoke about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration and he asked some great questions and has good knowledge! He said he will pray about everything. We saw our friend Steve (he’s actually English haha) again and he is honestly so close to accepting the gospel and being baptised but just needs to act in faith more and overcome his fears. We are working with him though. Great things are happening right now, we are so blessed! 

I love y’all so much! 

-Elder Ludlow 

April 16, 2018 Prophets in the UK

This week was one of the craziest, busiest weeks of my life! We
continue to see miracles and our teaching pool seemed to explode this
week. We found lots of people last week and a good amount of them
progressed this week. We seemed to be teaching all week. Angelina is
doing well. Mary hasn’t had a powerful spiritual experience yet but we
were able to teach her and her partner Dean this week and had some
amazing lessons and they are excited about things at the moment. We
have faith she will be baptised next week the 27th with Angelina!

We taught Jacks parents and grandma this week and it was great! They
aren’t very religious but are open minded and seemed to enjoy what we
said and are interested and willing to learn more! We were able to
teach Fernando from Portugal, Michael from Estonia and we had a
miracle where we were let in to the home of a man named Steve and he
recently had a turning to God and we saw him a few times and we hope
to see him progress more this week. We also had another member bring
their friend to church. His name is Agostino and he is from Angola and
we hope to teach him this week. We are honestly so blessed.

Wow oh wow hearing our beloved prophet President Nelson and also Elder
Holland speak this week to the UK was amazing. We had a special
missionary broadcast on Thursday as well as the main broadcast in the
evening. Both were super powerful and I have no doubt that these men
are called of God. Some of the big things I took from the meetings
were:
Elder Holland spoke a lot about his mission and how much it meant to
him and how we are Gods investigators and He wants us to be converted
and to stay even more than we want it for our investigators.
Sister Nelson spoke about how there are ancestors beyond the veil
cheering on their descendants to accept the gospel and so we need to
pray more to find those whose ancestors have already accepted the
gospel so that they can do the work in the temple for them!
President Nelson spoke about loving without limit. As the Lord would
love them. And he was inspired by saying that the gospel is so
exciting he can’t wait to bounce out of bed in the morning. So if the
prophet can do it at his age I can definitely bounce out of bed with
excitement as well!

I love this gospel. I know it is true and that it works without a
doubt. Hope you all have a great week and are able to review the talks
from last Conference!

-Elder Ludlow

April 9, 2018 Jack was Baptized

This week was wonderful! Jack was baptised! It was a great service and he was very happy. Many of his family members were able to come and we actually found out that his dad was baptised over 20 years ago here in Oldham! We hope to teach his family soon. Angelina is still doing well. Mary is doing great! She has increased in her faith this week. She is now committed to seek for an answer by the 18th of April and if she does to be baptised the following week. She also came to the church, the fireside and even fasted yesterday to receive an answer! Deborah and Jack both spoke at the fireside last night which was incredible!

Finding this week was crazy good. We continue to be blessed with miracles. We are finding so many prepared people, there is so much potential in this area and we are excited to reach it. One of the people we found, Fernando from Portugal came to church yesterday and seemed to enjoy it.

We had MLC on Friday and I loved it. I always feel so excited and ready to improve after MLC. It’s also so fun to be around former companions. It’s been such a joy to be with Elder Audrlicky again, he is amazing. 

I was reading “The Character of Christ” by Elder Bednar this week and I just love that talk. Here is an excerpt from it: 

“Perhaps the greatest indicator of character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us. Character is revealed, for example, in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward. If such a capacity is indeed the ultimate criterion of moral character, then the Savior of the world is the perfect example of such a consistent and charitable character.”

I hope to exemplify this as much as I can in my everyday life and I invite you all to do the same! 

-Elder Ludlow 

March 26, 2018

This week has been great! Jack and Angelina both are just amazing and are really happy and excited about the gospel. We were able to teach a family from Iran for the 3rd time this week and they are really wonderful. We found them at a street display and then starting teaching them and the sisters this week met the mom randomly on the street as well and they really took that as a sign. They will be coming to church next week! 

One of the ward missionaries who is from Nigeria brought one of his Nigerian friends to church and we are going to be teaching him on Thursday, such a miracle! We found a really great couple from Bulgaria and we are excited about them. We also were able to teach Mary, Deborah and Brandon’s sister and she has lots of potential! We continue to be blessed with more and more people to teach and I am so grateful for it. 

-Elder Ludlow 

March 19, 2018 "Training" in Oldham

I got the most exciting news ever this week!! I will be staying in Oldham and will be serving with Elder Audrlicky! He is the one I trained in Warrington and is one of my best friends in the world. He is amazing. He will be a new Zone leader so I will be training him yet again. When President McReynolds called he said: “teach him everything you know. Again.” I am SO happy :)

This week was great! Jack continues to do really well. He seems to be telling everyone about his baptism, he is super excited about everything. We haven’t been able to see Michael. We were able to see our friend James though and gave him a baptismal goal of the 14th of April. We spoke a lot about the Atonement of Christ and had a really powerful discussion on repentance with him.

We were able to find some more really good people this week! There was one family that is originally from Congo but just moved to Oldham from Holland (random I know) and they were so nice and the day after I met them at a street display they met the missionaries in Ashton! (The area right next to ours) We hope to see them soon. Angelina is great, she is planning on bringing her aunt to church next week! (church was cancelled this week because it snowed again) We continue to see great miracles.

Life is just great!

-Elder Ludlow 

Here is a random picture from Costco the other week: 

March 12, 2018 Brandon Was Baptized

What an amazing week! Brandon was baptised and it was a wonderful experience! I had the sacred opportunity and privilege to baptise him which was special. He is doing really well. Many investigators were able to come to the baptism: our friend Jack, lots of Brandons family and some from other wards in the zone with missionaries. 

Jack is doing super well. He was able to talk to his family and they said they are okay with everything and so he has now fully committed to be baptised on April 7th!! We were able to see our friend Michael and give him a baptismal goal of the 7th of April and he really enjoyed our lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, especially about repentance which was really good. Angelina continues to progress and is bringing her aunt to church next week. We also were able to find some really good people this week! We are honestly so blessed. 

We had MLC on Thursday and I think it was my favourite meeting from my mission. I learned so much from it and was able to take a lot from it. I also really love and feel how every meeting is a time to recommit myself to improve and to learn and grow. We talked a lot about how we need to increase our faith to find people, to invite at all times and how to become more powerful and persuasive teachers. After we went up to Chorley and got to do baptisms and confirmations with our recent convert Deborah! We also got to see some of my Chorley friends :). 

I hope you all know that this Gospel works. It changes people. As a zone we started doing this study to really prepare for Easter and I invite you all to have a look at it and to do your best to do it! 

-Elder Ludlow

March 5, 2018 Snowldham!

This week was great! Brandon is doing well! He passed his baptismal interview and overcame some personal struggles and is excited for his baptism this week. We saw Jack a few times and he is really progressing and was meant to come to church but had a band concert (he plays the trombone). He came to the fireside though and really felt the Spirit and expressed his desire to be baptised and eventually serve a mission! We were able to teach our friend Michael and he has been receiving answers to prayers and we were meant to date him for baptism the next lesson but our car got stuck because of the snow! He also was meant to come to church but overslept, but we will see him today. Angelina is doing great. 

Random highlight, went on exchange to Bolton and when I got there I realised that Carol and Rory live in the area! (We got permission to teach them, Bolton is right next to Chorley) So we tried by them and she was really surprised and hopefully the elders there get to teach them. 

The weather was crazy this week. It was one of the biggest snowstorms for this country and it affected lots of people. The English have no idea how to handle snow haha. Like I said earlier our car got stuck and we had to leave it at a members home overnight and get it again in the morning. There were some huge crashes on the motorways (freeways). MLC was cancelled and church could’ve possibly been cancelled but we shovelled the car park and the path so it could happen! That actually helped build up more trust with the members. All in all it was a great week! 

I hope you all are doing well!

-Elder Ludlow

Pictures:

Another from the hike last week, the snow outside our flat, spent the day in Manchester today. 

February 26, 2018 Repentance=Change

The work continues to roll forward in Oldham! We have honestly been so blessed and I am really grateful for the people we are teaching. Angelina continues to progress and Brandons heart continues to change. I think my favourite thing about being a missionary is seeing people change. Right in front of your eyes! We have been able to teach Jack 3 times this week and he is doing well! We gave him a baptismal goal of March 24th. 

We taught Deborah’s brother Ian who is a member and his wife Rachel who is not a member and they expressed how they feel that they need the gospel in their family.  They came to church with their 5 kids on Sunday and it was so fun to see them take up a whole pew! We were also able to find some great new friends this week and I’m excited for what is to come! 

Thought from church this week: 

It’s not always the big things that happen occasionally that change us but the small things that happen on a consistent basis. 

-Elder Ludlow 

Pictures: 

The sun came out this week! Also, went on a hike to a place called Dovestones and it was really pretty but was snowing almost the whole time. 

February 19, 2018 More Adjusting

First off, a huge birthday shoutout to my littlest sister and twin MELIA! I can’t believe you are 15!  I hope you have the best day ever on Saturday! I love you lots 

It has been another good week in Oldham! Our friend Brandon has progressed really well. On Tuesday we had a lesson with him and we showed him “The Hope of God’s Light” video and the Spirit hit him really hard and it was amazing. He has now committed to be baptised in March! We found a really solid new friend Jack at a street Display and had a great Restoration lesson and he has lots of potential. We were not able to see David which was unfortunate. Angelina continues to be doing well. 

We have been focusing a lot on the missionaries in the zone and we’ve seen tons of success! The missionaries are achieving their goals and are increasing in their faith. It’s such a privilege to serve as a leader and to really just love the missionaries. I’m grateful to now have stewardship over more missionaries because there are now more missionaries to love. I love being a missionary! 

Thought of the week: 

Our bodies are 80% water. Just like how light cannot really pass through murky, dirty water, if our bodies aren’t clean, the Priesthood/ His Light cannot pass through us to those around us. We must keep our temple clean. 

-Elder Ludlow 

P.S. there is a Costco is our zone now and we’ve already been twice in two weeks haha.

February 12, 2018 Good Ol' Oldham

Joseph Abram Ludlow <joseph.ludlow@myldsmail.net>	Mon, Feb 12, 8:26 AM
to Mama, Victor, Verna, Sydney, Vrichrubio, me, Melia, Mark, Marissa, Joshua, Jared, JJ, hyrum2nelson, Emily, Elder, Elder, Elder, Elder, chase.hales, stephensestes, Sister, glaziertyler

It has been a good first week in Oldham! It was really hard to leave Chorley and the members there and it’s been a bit of a hard adjustment but we’ve seen some amazing miracles and we are excited to see the work move forward in our area! We have a great friend Angelina from Portugal who has been taught almost everything and is just waiting until she is 18 in April to be baptised. We received a referral from Mormon.org named David and he is from Romania and we were able to teach him yesterday and he is halfway through the Book of Mormon and asked us some really good questions. He has lots of potential!

Our recent convert of 3 weeks Deborah is amazing and is doing lots of missionary work! Her sister and her sisters boyfriend, Mary and Dean came to church last week and we were also able to teach them this week and it was great. Deborah’s brother Brandon has always been in the lessons and he just laughs and asks unnecessary questions and it was quite annoying. But he came to church yesterday with his girlfriend and he loved it! He seemed to have a total change of heart and he asked us later if we would meet with him and he said he’s not ready to be baptised now because he needs to work on the commandments but what a miracle! My testimony of the power of attending church was strengthened even more from this experience. 

So just wanted to share a little bit more about Oldham! It is in the northern Manchester area and so because of that there are people from all around the world. The ward has just over 100 active members and there are some really solid members but also lots of old people. Our area borders the Leeds mission and has lots of hills and colder weather. I love the people and am excited to serve them! 

Random highlights: had MLC and is was really good. Also got to see my MTC President! He lives in the stake and is the high councillor over Missionary work!

-Elder Ludlow