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.