Tuesday, January 11, 2011

White Out

Greetings from Gillette, Wyoming. Yes I did say Gillette. We had to drive through a white nuckle storm last night that happened to be a white out. For you Arizonans who dont know what a white out is. Its when there is so much snow that you can not see in front of you. Tempatures got down to -10. But we made it. In Casper we got about 7 inches of snow yesterday. The reason that we are in gillette right now is because it is our pit stop on our way to Rapid City. Every month we have Zone Leader Council in Rapid. Zone leaders from Fargo, ND; Rapid City, SD; Sioux Falls, SD; Bismark, ND; Gillette, WY and CASPER, WY go to Zone Leader Council. We spend two days at the Mission Home. Being instructed by our Assistants and President & Sister Layton. We get all home cooked meals from Sister Layton. All get to hang out and have alot of fun. I am very excited. It will be a blast. But in about two hours we leave for Rapid City with the Gillette Zone Leaders.

On our way up last night we drove right through Wright so, I got to stop by and grab a couple more things. Its not even the same place but its all good. Elder Hammond was happy to see me but was very sad to see me leave. I was welcomed with a Marshmallow in the face. Thanks by the way!!!

Casper is awesome though. The town of Casper is about 70,000 people. We cover all the way to Martins Cove. We cover everyone out at Martins Cove. We cover the Casper 1st Ward and we will be covering the Singles Branch. Me and Elder Hilbun have come to the conclusion that the singles branch needs to be covered by elders again. The sisters in the 8th ward here cover it right now. But they are having a hard time actually covering both. So, we have taken back the singles ward here in Casper.

I told you last email that our former ward mission leaders wife and daughter were hit by a snow mobiler on Dec 24th and the little girl was killed on instant. The wife is still in ICU but making lots of improvement. She is going to be transferred to a rehab in Denver to get better. But the day after I got to Casper we attended the little girls funeral. Elise Johnson was her name. The cutest little girl. She has a sister who is three and is having a really really hard time. But Chauncey is the dad and we have been able to be there for him alot. Do alot for him. It has been good. We always call him and have given him a blessing. What a wonderful man. He is so strong. He has no anger nothing at all. I admire him so much. His belief in the Plan of Salvation is PERFECT. I am sad to know that he has been released as our Ward Mission Leader but he has alot more on his plate right now. Keep the Johnson family in your prayers if you could. They are having a hard time.

Our du-plex in Casper is awesome. Its way cool. I have my own room for all my stuff. Huge bathroom, huge kitchen, garage and all. Its great. The driveway is slick and steep so we always slide but thats okay. We drive a brand new Pontiac Vibe, its all wheel drive and awesome car. This might be the car I get when I get home its really nice. Lots and lots of room.

Here in Casper 1st ward we have four people on date for baptism. Two are Kelly & Sierra Burke. She hasnt given up smoking and that will be hard but the date is January 29th. But it will be good. Kelly is the Mom and Sierra is here 9 Year old daughter. She asked her mom what baptism was when we were there and she said that baptism is what you do to come closer to Jesus Christ so her little daughter told us that she wants to be baptized.

Also, we have Tina & Ken Gleason. My gosh they are awesome. Bad news is that they live in 3rd ward boundaries which means... that we have now given them over to the 3rd ward missionaries. But darn! But we had 4 investigators at church on sunday which is awesome. ALOT ALOT ALOT ALOT BIGGER THAN WRIGHT I have never seen so much people in my life. It was close to our ward numbers. It was awesome. But this ward is awesome.

We have been very busy we thought one night we would be able to get to bed by 9:45 on our way home at about 9:05 we got a call and got the privilige of giving a blessing to a man who is working overcoming Mersa the staff infection that is so contagious. We had to run home and take off everything and wash it. But I gave him the blessing and told him through your faith in Jesus Christ be healed from all that burdens you. He is feeling loads better and is able to re inlist in the National Guard now. The miracles are out there for us to use. Will we use them? Will we let christ bless our lives.

Casper is 2 1/2 hours away from Wright and Three from Gillette. and 7 from Rapid City. But either way its a long drive. Basically to rapid is saying lets drive to Anaheim. But rapid is one hour farther. Crazy huh?

Me and Elder Hilbun decided to resolve a matter in Douglas, WY which is in our Zone. So we packed up and headed about an hours and a half to douglas, wy and went on a two day exchange with each elder and resolved the conflict. While we were there a recent convert had an original copy of the book of mormon and i was looking at it and HE GAVE IT TO ME! So now I have an original copy of the book of mormon. It is so cool! Everyone is so jealous. I would be too. It is so cool. But we have planned so many exchanges. We have one planned in every area in our zone except the sisters. But they will be alot of fun. I am excited to see how it goes.

Every sunday we have to fax in numbers so we got to buy our own fax machine!!!! It was lots of fun. We went on a hunt and found a fax/copier for 39.99 with ink cartridge and paper. It was awesome!! One of our district leaders didnt get numbers to us til about 5 and they are supposed to be in by 4. Then we faxed them in and they were upside down (which didnt make any sense) so I had to call them in, in the middle of the white out. It was scary!! But it was lots of fun.

I am very busy these days. I love it though. Time is just flying by. We have a new sister coming out or out I dont know. But she is from Mesa. I dont know if that is the one you told me about mom. But us from Mesa are excited. We have two zone leaders from Mesa me and elder foulger who went to mtn view. Way cool.

But we have a couple things we have to do around here and I got to get off. I love you all so much It really means alot to me. If you could. Could all of you write your testimonies down for me and make me a cool little booklet of them or something. I would really appreciate. Tell Ryan and Mark and Chelsey and Kirk & Dad that there Books have been handed out. Thank you all so much. I love you.

I love you!!!!!

The new address is

Elder Michael Corey Rudd
180 Columbine
Casper, Wyoming 82604

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
South Dakota Rapid City Mission (S.D.R.C.M.)
Zone Leader
Casper, Wyoming Zone

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