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