January 15, 2018 Service

This week was good. We were able to see the Tatlocks with their main fellowshipper and it was great and they had everything planned out to come to church and again it fell apart last minute. We won’t give up though! The Hotchkiss family continue to progress. There are a few member families who are progressing with their friends that they are working with. 

In Elders Quorum in ward 4 yesterday we had an amazing lesson on service that kind of opened my eyes. The President mentioned how everything that is worth something involves service and also how every ordinance we do involves service. We either covenant to serve or we help others by doing the ordinances for them. He mentioned how we need not come to church thinking what can I get out of it, but instead who can I serve? Lastly in one of the talks in Ward 2 this was said: “The darker the world goes, the brighter the church glows.” The church is true and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve the Saviour and the people in the north west of England! 

-Elder Ludlow 

January 8, 2018 Prayer

This week was a good one, they continue to go by quickly. The Tatlock family was doing really well and were excited to come to church and another thing came up. It’s pretty annoying that this is a reoccurring cycle but this next week will be the one! Gavin and Cassandra continue to progress towards being rebaptised. Member work continues to move forward really well. We found some new families and followed up with others who are working with friends. Lots of potential ahead, we are super excited!

We had some fun miracles happen this week! We were able to reestablish contact with Marcella who was the one who we cleansed her house and had very powerful spiritual experiences! We taught her with the same fellowshipper and we should be seeing her this week. We also reestablished contact with a mother and son who Elder Tuipulotu found in our first week here (4 1/2 months ago). 

Highlights: went to MLC which was good. Georgina, Emma, Lyn and Mick all spoke at the new member fireside yesterday which was in Chorley this time. It was really fun and was a super powerful and uplifting meeting.

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about prayer and we’ve been reflecting on how many amazing experiences we’ve had with prayers answered. We aren’t alone in this work, the Lord wants to hear from us and talk to us. One of my favourite scriptures is Helaman 10:4-7:

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

6 Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people.

7 Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.

I hope one day the Lord can have so much trust in me that He knows that anything I ask Him will be according to His will and He will grant it unto me. I love Nephi’s faith and obedience.

-Elder Ludlow 

January 1, 2018 Happy New Year!

This week was good, we’ve seen some great progress in the area. At the beginning of the week Sister Tatlock dropped Jakes baptismal date but then when we went over he explained that he was thinking about his baptism and felt like he wasn’t ready yet. So we presented January 13th to him and that felt right to him. He has really been trying to listen to the Spirit which is amazing. Gavin and Cassandra really progressed this week and they met with the bishop yesterday and are on track to be re-baptised! Super excited about that. We weren’t able to see the Heyes but we saw some progress with Tom. The work is really moving forward but we need to find more people to teach. We are very excited to find those people who are looking for a fresh start in this new year!

-Elder Ludlow 

December 26, 2017 Christmas Fun

Good news! I will be staying in Chorley for another transfer! I will be staying with Elder Tuipulotu for a fourth transfer which never happens! I am very happy and excited. 

This week was good! We were finally able to see the Tatlock family again after 3 weeks and we have committed Jake, the 12 year old, to be baptised on the 30th of December! The family is ready to come back to church and we are excited about them. We also had a member approach us and ask us to go by a family that he is really close with who used to be members but had their names removed. We went by them and they are the nicest people ever. We taught them twice and they actually came to church! Their names are Gavin and Cassandra and we really feel like they have so much potential!

We were able to go do baptisms for the dead with Georgina and Emma and it was an amazing, powerful experience. They actually brought their own family names to do work for! There was one point I was doing the confirming and Elder Tuipulotu was standing as proxy and the member that had helped them with their family history was in the room and after one of the confirmations said: “that is Emma’s grandfather” and the Spirit just hit me so hard and I got very emotional. Emma and Georgina also felt that Spirit and it was a very special moment for everyone there. Unfortunately Lyn and Mick came to the temple but Mick’s Aaronic priesthood hadn’t been approved by salt lake yet so he couldn’t go to the temple last week but we will be going this week!

Fun highlight: had the Mission Christmas Party on Wednesday and it was a blast! We had to do loads of preparation because it was at the Chorley chapel but it was worth it. This year it was really chilled out and we mostly just talked and relaxed. There was a talent show though and as a district we did a Hawaiian dance (there is a Hawaiian Sister in Chorley) and that was super fun haha. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I am very excited to see my family on Monday and will have P Day on Tuesday! 

 -Elder Ludlow 

December 19, 2017 Staying in Chorley for Christmas!

Good news! I will be staying in Chorley for another transfer! I will be staying with Elder Tuipulotu for a fourth transfer which never happens! I am very happy and excited. 

This week was good! We were finally able to see the Tatlock family again after 3 weeks and we have committed Jake, the 12 year old, to be baptised on the 30th of December! The family is ready to come back to church and we are excited about them. We also had a member approach us and ask us to go by a family that he is really close with who used to be members but had their names removed. We went by them and they are the nicest people ever. We taught them twice and they actually came to church! Their names are Gavin and Cassandra and we really feel like they have so much potential!

We were able to go do baptisms for the dead with Georgina and Emma and it was an amazing, powerful experience. They actually brought their own family names to do work for! There was one point I was doing the confirming and Elder Tuipulotu was standing as proxy and the member that had helped them with their family history was in the room and after one of the confirmations said: “that is Emma’s grandfather” and the Spirit just hit me so hard and I got very emotional. Emma and Georgina also felt that Spirit and it was a very special moment for everyone there. Unfortunately Lyn and Mick came to the temple but Mick’s Aaronic priesthood hadn’t been approved by salt lake yet so he couldn’t go to the temple last week but we will be going this week!

Fun highlight: had the Mission Christmas Party on Wednesday and it was a blast! We had to do loads of preparation because it was at the Chorley chapel but it was worth it. This year it was really chilled out and we mostly just talked and relaxed. There was a talent show though and as a district we did a Hawaiian dance (there is a Hawaiian Sister in Chorley) and that was super fun haha. 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I am very excited to see my family on Monday and will have P Day on Tuesday! 

 -Elder Ludlow 

December 11, 2017 Snow!

This past week was pretty good. We taught Mark with a member who is a psychiatric counsellor and he asked Mark some questions and we saw Mark as he really is and he isn’t fully stable to be baptised. It was unfortunate but we will see how Mark is after he gets out of hospital. We have been trying to teach other investigators and haven’t had much success but we did finally see Harrison and he is back on track. 

We have been doing lots of work with our recent converts and that has been great, they are doing well. We did family history with Georgina, Emma, Lyn and Mick! All are going to the temple this week! We have seen a big change in the members in the Chorley area. They are catching the vision and there are many members who are working on their friends! The leaders are noticing it and are excited about it. It’s amazing, we’ve had many members come up to us and compliment us and express their trust in us and that has been a big blessing. Of course all the credit and glory goes to the Lord but it is a privilege to be an instrument in His hands. 

We had a couple ward Christmas parties this week which was fun. Also IT SNOWED which was crazy! It was a little scary driving in the snow (mostly because I don’t trust the English drivers in snow) but it was so fun. We had loads of snowballs thrown at us by youth and we may or may not have thrown some back  Another fun highlight is that we got to show about 10 university students who are preparing to be religious education teachers around the temple site and answered any questions they had. It was fun to be with a bunch of people around our age who are genuinely interested in learning about our religion!

Hope y’all have a wonderful week!

-Elder Ludlow 

P.S. Transfers are next week and I will be writing on Tuesday. 

December 5, 2017 Emma Was Baptised!

This week was amazing! Emma is a miracle and was baptised! The baptismal service was really lovely, it was in the font area which is smaller so it was a real family feel and the Spirit was really strong. Everyone involved was very happy (Especially Emma:)!

Here is Emma’s full story:

She was introduced to the church when she came to Georgina’s baptism and enjoyed it. She came to church the next day but didn’t really think much of it. Georgina would tell Emma everything and even made her posters with all the PMG lessons on it so Emma could learn. Eventually after going to institute a couple times and the missionary fireside, Emma decided to meet with us and started progressing very quickly. Then on Saturday the 25th of November I was saying my nightly prayer and prayed for Emma to have a powerful spiritual experience in Church the next day. Then in sacrament meeting the next day she basically saw a vision of herself getting baptised and Georgina speaking at her baptism and then she saw herself getting baptised for her grandma in the temple! What an amazing experience!! So she decided she needed to be baptised so we presented December 9th to her. On Wednesday this week when we went to follow up on the date she said she couldn’t do it because she is having a minor surgery this Thursday and then the Bishop of Ward 4 invited to be baptised on the Saturday! 3 days later! She accepted and it was all just too amazing to put into words. Also to make the story even better, Georgina and Emma were actually called to be ward missionaries yesterday! 

Mark is back on track to be baptised! We feel that the event that happened is now a defining moment for him and he has been change by it. He is doing better but satan continues to work on him. 

We had a visit from Elder De Feo, a Seventy on the Europe area Presidency and it was a super super powerful meeting. We also had the Christmas carol Concert this week which was soo good and we have a few people that will be working with soon who came with members. 

Y’all are amazing and I hope Light the World is going well! 

-Elder Ludlow