Email 1.29.12

Mi Familia,

How are you? It has been yet another long trip a ton of driving again we spent the week up in Fargo, ND. We went to Gillette on monday and came back and went to sleep and woke up bright and early and took the trek to Fargo. I tell you what I am never so glad to be out of a car in my life. I do not care who you are that there is a looooooonnnnnnnggggggg drive. Woah.

Momma, That is Elder Kidman and yes he is in my apartment. And no we were not there. We were out of town. I would not drink raw eggs. Eggs are too good to fry up and eat :) But yes i love Elder Kidman. When we get home at nights me and him just talk forever. I love him. He is so sweet. Love that guy.

I am starting to figure out Elder Ellefsen. The lord has really blessed me with a ton of patience. My patience has for sure been tested but as soon as I opened up my heart the lord blessed me and filled me with that love for him and we are getting along really well now. We are teaching great together and our trainings go really well. So things are so awesome, I never want to go home. I know you have alot of questions for me so I will answer them. . . . .

What is Kendalls MRI for?!?!?!?! Someone might have told me but please tell me :) I must have forgot.

You got my travel papers!!! HOLY BUCKETS!!!! Thats is not cool. Why do I leave so late?!?!?! I dont know any of this. Sister Hawkes is goin to get a talkin to in the morning!!!

For dinner, I would really like to stay at home. And..... for dinner.... simple. Steak and Mashed Potatoes. I know you knew I was going to say that i am sure. But I love it. I have had some good taters out here but not my mommas :) and ROLLS!! :)

Birthday... Nothing yet dont have anythng set up. But who knows. i dont expect anyone to do anything. Its all good. its really okay. Its Valentines Day. Its all good.

I seriously can not believe that you have my flight stuff. Not cool. But oh well.

Our week was really short. We taught two lessons. Not cool. We were in our area for two hours. Oh well though.

Wendy Beaumont is so amazing. I love them so much. They are so wonderful. She came up to us and was like hey, I have someone for you to teach. Solid referral they are so converted to the gospel. I cant wait to see them flourish in the gospel. To be able to say that Me and Elder Pape had a part in that made my mission. I love them so much!!! :)

Kassi is doing so well. She is a normal member in the church. She doesnt sit by us no more and just is Sister Kassi Blue.

I cant tell you enough how much i love being a missionary. If there is a young man who is thinking about or doubting to go on a mission within these words.... DO IT!!! You will never regret it. it will be hard! But, It will be worth it. :)

I know this church is true with all of my being. I love you so much!!!

Lots more to tell you next week!! We will be in our area for a whole week!!!! :) YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Assistant to the President

South Dakota Rapid City Mission

Email 1.15.11

Family,

Wow. Thats literally all I have to say best weekend of my mission for sure. It has been such an amazing roller coaster we have been on and the tracks keep going the work moves forward.

The baptisms were amazing. I baptized Wendy. Elder Pape baptized Ron and Brother Blackhurst our ward mission leader baptized connor. Elder Pape baptized Kassi. It was such an awesome day the spirit was so strong and so many people came in support of them. We started the baptisms at 11 with Ron, Wendy & Connor and then We had a huge potluck lunch we probably had about 100 people there. The ward came out in support. We pushed so hard to get a ton of people there and were glad with the turn out. It made me feel so good to look back and see so many people. President & Sister Layton came too. It was amazing. Has been the highlight of my mission. Kassi Blue's mom came too. Her mom was the big hold up in the whole baptism and now she is the one who came to support her. It was so awesome. :) WOW. The Beaumonts daughter Jodan knows now so you can tell her congrats or whatever if you want. :)

The Lord blessed us so much with the opportunity to meet Kassi & The Beaumonts :) Ron was pretty ticked when we told him he had a wait a year to go to the temple. :) But he understands now. He was really hoping to be sealed to wendy as soon as possible :)

Today I had the privilige of Confirming Ron & Kassi. What a special blessing Heavenly Father had for both of them. People came up to me and said that was a very special blessing for both of them good job. I had to inform a couple of people I didnt do anything at all.

Since Elder Pape is going home... I do need a new companion and his name is Elder Ellefsen from Kaysvile, Utah. He will be officailly my last companion... really weird to say that. On monday we started Transfer Boards so I am the first one to know Presidents choice. That is the only transfer I have no say in. Other than that We sit down with President and Sister Layton and do the rest of the Transfers for the rest of the mission.

I report the 22nd huh. Alright whatever works for them. Why not the 15th? Just curious but whatever works.

Thats great that the No talking DJ can do some gigs. Nice work.

I have not heard from sister langford for ever I have sent a couple letters but never heard back.

Just so you know for the most part when I get home I just want to relax and hang out with the family. I am looking forward to the trip to WY & SD but I would really enjoy our usual hanging out playing cards and all that fun stuff. We dont have to plan everything. My schedule has been booked for almost two years. But whatever works. I would just enjoy to relax more than anything. Thanks :)

I havent really thought of anything for birthday. I really dont need anything honestly. But I will try and think but not much is coming to mind.

Elder Pape is outta here on thursday but the work moves on. Tomorrow new missionaries come in and we train them all day and tuesday transfers start and we do it all over again. Oh yeah. :) I have never been so tired and I have never been so happy. I love you all so very much. I love you :)

I love you :)

Love,

Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Assistant to the President

South Dakota Rapid City Mission

Humidity

Hey!

Well I can honestly say this has been the hardest week of my mission. Me and Dalton basically wanted to give up. The work has been really difficult this week. We were kicked out of 5 apartment complex's. Yelled at by our ward mission leader. Yelled at by one of our investigators (the yucky one mom) and to put the cherry on the top, "OH THE HUMIDITY!!!!" MY GOSH! This is worse than Kansas City!! It was 90 degrees today with crazy humidity. Our zone leaders came down and wanted to hang with us on p-day. So, we went and played frisbee golf at one of the golf courses here. It was fun. But oh my golly humidity was killing us. Some of the holes are straight up hill and straight down hill which was really rough on my knee. But it was a blast. I was winning there for a while but the 12th hole I had like a 15-shot. It was a bummer. But lots of fun. I want to find a couple in Mesa when I get back. Its fun. But the humidity is nasty. I think I might need more short sleeve white shirts. My gosh its nuts!!! Everyone is like "this is just the beginning!!!!" When people say that. i just say will you stop it!!! Dang! But yeah this past week has been rough.

Getting kicked out of 5 apartment complex's wasnt a big deal. Just normal. But five is alot. Just knocking doors and security came and esscorted us off. :) It was actually pretty fun. I tried to share a message with one of the security guards. He wasnt very interested :)

Ugh! I am so jealous!!!! I love the temple!!!! Yeah, all of you talk about going to the temple. How much of a blessing it is. But I cant go. Dang. Depending on where I am in december or if I ever serve in Bismark I can go to the temple weekly if I serve in Bismark. But if I am on the east side of the mission when december rolls around then I can go to the bismark temple at tri-zone. If I serve on the west side its Martins Cove. So yeah!

But the Gila Valley Temple Dedication sounds like it was wonderful. That is so awesome. I am excited that the whole state had that oppurtinity to go to that!! Im so thrilled to hear that. You know mom what you said made me think that President Monson is so proud of his missionary force. Which is wonderful. But even better, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is so proud of his Missionary Force. I know that this is the greatest work on this earth. the best part is we all have an opporunity to be apart of it. Yes I am called for two years in full-time service. But we all are disciples of jesus christ. He needs each and every one of us. I know that there is atleast one or two or even more that are waiting to hear the message from us! From you individually. There is a couple in our ward going to be Mission Presidents in the phillipines cant remember what mission. But he native from there. Brenda & Rudy Carlos. They leave in two weeks. My gosh so awesome. its funny to think and how he explained it. Its not like most calls in the church. He said when he was a gospel doctrine teacher in Lake Oswego, Ore. He was interviewed by Bruce C. Haven. Didnt know why he was being interviewed when we wasnt part of the stake presidency or nothing. But yeah! That was 8 years ago!!! When he was in Omaha, Neb, 5 years ago he was interviewed by Earl C. Tingy when he was a primary teacher. They are watching and learning and following these individuals called as 70 and Mission President and all. What a amazing man. Has President Smith got called to be an apostle yet? We think when President Layton is done being a mission president he will definitly go GA. He is an awesome man. I tell ya. I love you mom and dad so much. Of course I miss you so much. But its great to have someone here who cares about you almost as much. They are wonderful. I was talking to pres. layton telling him I was scared to do anything with my knee. He said: "Elder Rudd, you are a worry wart!" I was like wow! He is right on! :) He told me to call Sis Layton and get it taken care of so I can bring souls unto christ. My gosh! What an awesome individual. I am so grateful to have a mission president who truly and honestly cares about me and the elders & sisters in this mission.

Sioux Falls is definitly the hardest zone in this entire mission. We cover such a big city and so many different people here and in so many different positions. Its a great place though. I am loving it here. The ward has been slow to accept us. Which it is getting better. About a year ago. There was another Elder Rudd in the mission. Weird I know! But he served in 2nd ward. He was a zone leader and he and his companion decided it would be a good idea to cancel a dinner appointment to go with a different member to watch the byu vs utah football game. Lets just say there was a van to pick them up the next day. It is bogus. So those elders have given us a pretty bad name. But yeah. we are working alot to gain the trust of the ward back!! :)

Rachel went back to Minnesota on thursday. She was really sad to leave. She calls us all the time and has some good questions for us. She will be baptized this summer for sure!! Her Ex Boyfriend. Not exactly sure what to call him is leaving on his mission on sept 8th to Consepcion, Chile South I believe. Not sure where CJ is but either north or south. But she is an awesome young woman.

I have some new recipes! :) My gosh I make some good taco's! :) Super spicy and exactly what I like. Dalton doesnt like cooking too much. The guy doesnt like cream cheese!! Jeesh!! But we are having a blast together. Last week we taught 23 lessons. We had 14 other lessons which is great but members need to come out with us a little more. But its okay. We are doing really well. We had 7 new investigators here this last week which was awesome. Some are very promising.

For the stories. I have too many to type out. But the yucky guy we basically have to babysit some days. we had to spend alot of our p-day today helping him get some assistance from the ward which isnt our job. But no one from the ward will help us out get him places. So, we are stuck. There are a couple families in our ward that are just awesome!!! The Thorins, Sis Thorin makes some awesome salsa (she is native of I cant remember but awesome fam) The makinsons (Less Active Family) But loves the elders. We are definitly working on them. Next P-day is the senor wiener challenge. oh my gosh. Okay CheeseBuger Cheeseburger. Member? Whatever you want on the hamburger. Senor Wiener whatever you want on the hot dog. They have a philly dog. Oh man! Yummy! They even dom flour tortillas and toppings and a dog in there. So good! But the challenge is 10 dogs in an hour with 2 toppings. like tomatoes, ketchup, relish, mustard. there is about 50 toppings to choose from. But so good. You have to be sitting at your own table and do it. But me and elder johnson from pipestone are going to do it. I think I can do it. Pictures will be taken no worries.

I love being a missionary. I dont think you guys will ever know how much I love it. To wake up everyday and get ready and put the missionary tag on is sooooo awesome. I am serving the lord, my redeemer, savior, and dear brother. I am part of the lords army. I am serving him. When I was in the MTC they switch the words around to "Army Of Helamen" from "We will be the lords missionaries" to "We are now the lords missionaries" I cry everytime we sang that song there. We sang "Called to Serve" on sunday I was getting ready to belt it out and stand up, but i forgot about the rest of the ward.

I want each and everyone of you to know that this is true. The true church on the earth today is The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Through the prophet Joseph Smith the lords church was restored. Today it is lead by Thomas S. Monson. What a great blessing it is to have a modern day prophet. Receive an unshaking testimony. Whatever you go through in your life the greatest thing you can have is your family and your testimony in the words of the best friend, my coach and my dad "This is the true church, what else matters" Satan gets at us in countless ways! But! We know what we know. Stand strong!! When you think like you can't take it anymore. Think of 1 cor 10:13 "I will not give you anything that you are not able to bear" We are on this earth for a reason. To create his kingdom. HE CAN NOT DO IT ALONE!!!! He needs each and everyone of us to kick it in to gear!! He needs me! He needs you! Everyone! Let us not be scared to open our mouths and share which has greatly blessed our lives and given us numerous blessings. the greatest feeling and experience you will ever have on this earth is to see someone make that change in there life and enter into the waters of baptism!! How wonderful it is to know that we are on the earth for a reason to help our lord and savior jesus christ!! Lets start now to help him.

I love you all so much and am so grateful for a family and friends who prays for me everyday and loves me soo much. Thank you, I know its because of the wonderful family I have that I am who I am today. The lord has greatly blessed me. I love you so much. Mom & Dad Happy Anniversary! I hope you got my card. I love you all so much.

rudd 1:1 "remember, remember that this is the true church of jesus christ of latter day saints. The only one on the earth and through it and the gospel of jesus christ we can gain eternal happiness."

I love you!
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
3008 Louise Apt. #304
Sioux Falls, SD 57106

(keep em coming)

Another Week in Sioux Falls

Hello!

I hope things are going well at home. This past week has been super busy me and elder dalton have been teaching crazy crazy. We taught 24 lessons last week. We have a goal of 30 this next week! Its a high number but me and dalton can do it. We are freaking super elders! :) We get along great. It's fun knowing so much about each other and all. Knowing where each other is from. We always talk about AZ. Its fun. HE plans on going to Yavapai community college when he gets home in four months. It's pretty crazy. He thinks after he leaves I am going to train. HA HA! He's nuts! He thinks that not only will I train but i will get called DL when my grand-pa Elder Correa goes home at the end of this transfer. He's nuts!

Rachel Biederman, She goes home on thursday, we are so bummed. Rachel is so awesome. She will get baptized in Minnesota!! She wants me to baptize her!!! But we asked President Layton when he came through Sioux Falls today and he laid down the law!! He said Elders "we can't leave the mission" Which is true UNLESS!! Given permission by your mission president. And last time I checked thats who he was!! But he wont let us leave. We called Rachel after he left and she was major bummed and so were we! dangit! But on wednesday is our last lesson with her and on thursday we are helping her move out. But we are doing our own version of Bro. Anderson's push-up lesson!! :) It's going to be good. I have dalton doing 200 push-ups every morning and every night. He is so excited to do it too. (You probably thought I was going to do the push ups huh?) :) I cant my max is like 5,000 I dont want to rip right through my nice white shirt! Come on now!

Exchanges! Last week was Zone Leader exchanges! Elder Shepard and Elder Maxfield are our Zone Leaders in Brookings, SD. An hour away. I went to Brookings with Maxfield and Shepard came down with Dalton. Brookings is a cool place. It's a little bit bigger than Sheridan but not much. Our stake president is President Steele and he lives there and thats why the Zone Leaders are in Brookings rather than Sioux. But brookings is where South Dakota State University is. Its an huge Party school. School just got out so its barren over by the school. I did not like the exchange. Elder Maxfield is super super trunky!! He leaves the end of the transfer and all he talked about was home. We were driving somewhere and finally had to tell him to zip it. He is a bum! But anyways. Brooking during the summer BARREN! I missed 10 appointments in Sioux Falls too! Super bummed! But it had to happen. Oh well!

But yes, back to Sioux Falls. We are teaching some great people. Don Soulek has came to church twice. We dont know what to think of him to be quite honest! He is a little nuts! He lives in assisted living and he is a little bit crazy. He got assistance from the ward for prescriptions and all. But we think thats basically all he wants. He talks to a member on the phone who lives in salt lake. they met over the internet and all and she told him he could get help from the church and he called us. I hate when members do that! Its happened three times on my mission already! I've been out three months dangit! We think he has other motives. But we will keep teaching him. He is a pretty nasty individual. His hands are always brown, we never shake his hand because of that. its gross. But yeah, ugh! Thats don for ya.

I sent out an email to the elders last week. Greg, Gus, Jake, Lucas and Elder Romero responded. he is loving Brazil. He is with three other elders and he says they are all leaving this transfer and super trunky. But he is so excited to have so much left of his mission as am i! He says he loves the food. the people are great and time is just blowing by. Me and him will get back very close to each other. Which is cool. I love it.

An Elder from Marshall, MN went home this week for medical reasons and he stayed the night with us last night and he is awesome. Super bummed. But I have been having some problems with my knee and im scared to tell sis layton and pres layton. But I just wrote him an email telling him. So, he will tell me what to do. But I hope its nothing serious. I dont think my LCL has every recovered. I am pretty hard on it. So i dont know? :( I sent a ton of pictures, i hope that you got them. :) I hope you enjoy as well. Sioux Falls is gorgeous I am sure you will see from the pictures. I have a surprise as well. But you will have to see it in picture rather than telling you. So yes.

Oh Yeah guess what game I played last night!! FARKLE!!!!!!! The makinson family is a less active family. We had dinner last night with them. They are from Mesa!! By the way they will be coming down to be sealed in the temple in the summer prob july. But yeah FARKLE! I got second!!! I rolled like 8 1,000's Oh yeah!

-Soap Box-
I know that my heavenly father loves me and he loves you. He is always ready and willing to hear and answer your prayers! Take time to listen after you pray.
Be like Enos. He prayed all day and all night and he got an answer. He cried unto the father and his soul Hungered. Does your soul hunger for an answer to your prayers? Do you put that much effort into your prayers? Do you use vain repetitions? What are you thinking about when you pray? Are you listening or just demanding an answer right away? Do you have faith that he will answer your prayers?

D&C 10:5 "Pray always that you might come off conquer"
2 Ne 32 8-9 "Pray always and not faint!" "the evil spirit teaches a man not to pray and teaches him that he must not pray"
Enos 1- The faith of enos is so strong that he did have his sins forgiven and his prayer answered.

-Soap Box Quote of the email-
"Heavenly Father is always listening for your prayers. Are you listening to his answers?" -Elder Rudd (copyright 2010 SDRCM)

-End-

I hope you all know how much you mean to me. I know there are tons of prayers offered in behalf on my name and the thousands of missionaries all over the world.

Let me tell you one thing before I close.

We are the ARMY OF GOD we will not give up! We will not stop tracting, we will not stop teaching and we will not stop serving the lord! We are his army! His army that can not be beat! He needs our help and we are helping!

"The standard of truth has been errected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing! Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine and armies may assemble (Nothing like OUR ARMY :) ) But THE TRUTH OF GOD will go BOLDY, NOBLY, AND INDEPENDENT til it has PENETRATED EVERY CONTINENT, SWEPT EVERY CLIMB AND SOUNDED IN EVERY EAR! Til the purpose of god shall be accomplished AND THE GREAT JEHOVAH SHALL SAY THE WORK IS DONE"

As a personal representative of my lord and my redeemer Jesus Christ, I can promise you blessings without end. The way to receive those blessings is through Faith in Jesus Christ. Sharing the gospel and serving mankind which is the crux of the gospel of jesus christ.

-end of soapbox now!-

I love you all so much. I am so grateful for the love of my eternal family. Know how important that is! know that heavenly father loves you so much, he gave his only begotten son. Jesus Christ loves you so much he laid down his life for you. All is well!

I love you!!

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
SDRCM
3008 Louise Apt. 304
Sioux Falls, SD 57106

(you know why I put that there!!!)

Awesome Mother's Day

Mi Familia,
What a mothers day! Got to see my family! I love skype. its pretty cool. Not even kidding. Its got some cool things about it. It is weird being behind the technical curve. :) But oh well. I hope that you enjoyed your mothers day Momma. I love you so much. I am grateful everyday for the family that I have and their love for me. I know i am truly loved. I am so blessed to be a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Whats a blessing that is! What love I have for my father in heaven for blessing me with the opportunity to be a member of the church. But to know that I am out here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to bless and to work and to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

Today, is p-day. We email from the wegner library. Its part of Sanford Hospital and is Part of South Dakota University. The Pipestone, Minnesotta Elders spent the night last night and we are going to celebrate Elder Oborn's year mark today. We dont know where or how, but boy will we celebrate of course the celebration has to include the burning of the HUMP mark shirt. I know that my time is just blowing by. Before I know it I will be there. Mom, im glad you liked your card. hopefully you dont burn the battery out too soon. :) How is the ward doing? Any news there? New calls? Releases? I hate to say it but nothing can compare to the Grandview 1st ward. I have alot of pride in the wards I serve in. BUT! Nothing can compare to our ward at home. Sheridan 1st ward is awesome too. Sioux Falls 1st awesome also. But then comes Grandview 1st. I tell ya. Wow. :)

Rachel Biederman, 18- year old from Maple Grove, Minn. She attends Augustana University here in Sioux Falls. Knows the church is true but cant convince her parents to let her get baptized. But she told us that basically no matter she is getting baptized. She will probably get baptized this summer in Minn. But no matter where she gets baptized she is an awesome, young woman and we are so excited for her. Her family is United Methodist. Very strong and devout. During High School she dated an LDS young man and he is leaving on his mission soon. She wants him to baptize her. So hopefully that works out for her. She has been accepted to BYU as well and her parents dont want her to go there either. But she plans on doing what she knows to be right. We are very proud of her. Elder Dalton's family is sending a nice triple and a nice bible so that we can write our testimonies in it for her and give it to her before she leaves back to Minn.

Debbie- we met debbie tracting and we were knocking doors and she had passed us while we were talking to people in the apartment complex. But we asked her "before we knock on your door, can we talk to you?" So we did and she was a little bit drunk but was cogniscent (sp?) but we went outside after about 15 minutes inside. We got to know her and she said she didnt feel important. She didnt think that heavenly father knew her or cared about her. At one point, she took off her glasses and said, what do you see in my eyes? Me and Elder Dalton both said "A Daughter of God" she started to cry and gave us big hugs. At the end of the lesson we said a prayer with her and she said the prayer she said: "Thank you for sending these two fine holy men to come see me, i know not by chance they were from you. Because i was on my way into my apartment about 2 minutes away from killing myself. But you sent them and now I know that you care and you are listening to my prayers." Debbie is an awesome woman she is in her late 50's and really wants and needs help. We have taught her about 3 times now. She is moving to washington to be closer with her brother but what an awesome woman.

Jon & Heather- They are an awesome family. We met them tracting also. Heather said we could come back and we came back and she said well this isnt a good time but we wiggled ourselves and were able to get inside and share a lesson with them. Jon does native american art work on blinds, paper, rocks, feathers, drums. Whatever it be. He is awesome. He was involved with alot of Native American gangs in Rapid City. But he quit them and also has been sober for 9 months. He sees what he needs to do in his life. They have two little boys. Very cute. They care so much about each other and there family. We are going to teach them how important families are to us. Again im going to ball again how important my family is to me. Dangit!

Jessica Kenegy- She is a recent convert of about 7 months. She is awesome. She is about 25. She works very hard. Has too little kids. Dante who is 5 and Sierra who is 2. Dante has a pet iguana. When we came over he wanted to hold "iggy" so much so he did. But! "iggy" got scared and pee'd all over Dante. Dante just chucked him. It was funny. He was very angry. Jessica has had a rough couple months. Her boyfriend is very abusive and it is very hard for her to just leave him. But she has gotten better the last couple weeks. Jessica is such an awesome woman. She is our Missionary Meal Cordinator. Cool Huh? She isnt doing a very good job dangit! :) But we will continue to work with her and strengthen her faith.

~Soap Box Time!~
Lets all think of the song for a second: "I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I know who i am, I know gods plan, I will follow him in faith." What a blessing that first line is. You belong to something so powerful, that it is changing to world every second of the day. You know what you know, why not share it. You have the happiness, let others have that. Let us be missionaries always!!! Yes, i am called and set apart as a full time missionary of the church. But! That doesnt mean those who arent cant be missionaries. Elder Bednar said: "Missionary Work isn't temporary its forever!" Stand together, stand resolute in your belief. Stand side by side. We are admist a battle every day of our life. Satan does not quit! HE WILL NOT QUIT! He wants us to sink down to his level. He wants us to be sad and miserable just as he is. He doesnt have a body he doesnt need rest. He is always working on our thoughts, our actions and everything we do. We are as the ARMY OF HELAMEN! We are called of god to be here in this latter day to fend off satan and create the Kingdom of God. Let us not fall. Let us not stumble. Let us stay on the straight and narrow path and hold to the Iron Rod, it is the word of god. Put on the whole Armor of God!!!. We can do this and we will do this. We know Satan can not win. He will not!!! He is trying to get every soul into his corner!! He is robbing them of the Celestial glory and giving them utter misery and eternal damnation. This work is too important! This church is too strong. This is the work of our saviour Jesus Christ. He is always with us. Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave thee nor forsake me." I know for a fact that we are here on this earth at this time to create his kingdom. What a blessing it is to know that Jesus Christ Lives!! He lives!!! But most of all, he will come again to rule and reign. What a wonderful blessing that is. By pledge and promise to each and everyone who reads this letter is from President Hinckley: Be a little bit better today than you were yesterday." Work! Read! Pray! "Satan cannot be in the presence of righteousness. Everytime a righteous saint kneels to pray, satan trembles! Annoy the crap out of the advesary!!! Give him the utter misery and damnation he has put upon himself. Its a battle! He is real and he hates us! As a personal representative of Jesus Christ, I can promise you that you have the power to overcome anything. 1 cor 10:13 "he will not tempt you, more than you are able to bare." He will not give you more than you can handle. It might seem like that at times but! you have the promise from heavenly father that you can do anything you can handle all that comes in your way." I challenge you if you do not believe my words, to prove him. If you believe you are dealing with too much on your plate or with any promise heavenly father has in store for you. if you dont think that you are in store for that blessing or cant receive it. Prove him.

I know that this is the work of my lord and redeemer Jesus Christ! I know that he lives!! He lives! He is always with us. All we need to do is turn to him. When things get too hard in our life. Jesus Christ has been there before. He has suffered for our pains, our sorrows, our sadness, our weaknesses and all others. HE KNOWS! When people ask you whats wrong? You say "Oh you dont understand or you wont understand" I can tell you who does! Jesus Christ has walked in our shoes he knows what we go through each and every day of our lives. Turn to him. Have faith in him. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can we know these things for ourselves. Elder Anderson of the Quorm of The Twelve "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is Jesus Christ! " You have help you arent alone!!. You dont have to go through life alone! Jesus Christ promises "He will never leave us nor forsake us!" He has us engraven upon his hands, his feet and he wrists. he knows who we are individually.

I know that my redeemer lives! I know that he is my savior and brother. I know he loves for me and suffered for my sins and sorrows. I know through my faith in him. I can do anything. I know that my Heavenly Father hears and answers my prayers. A song I sing in my head (thanks for the tip dad) "He lives, Oh He Lives and he's listening, He Lives, Yes! He Lives And He's wiping away my tears." I made that up and i love singing songs in my head. I love being a missionary. I know this is the true church on this earth. I have a testimony of satan and that he lives as well. He lives and he is waiting for his chance to get at him but we can not let him. I know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of god to restore The true church of Jesus Christ here on the earth today. I know that he kneeled and prayed in the sacred grove and that he was visited by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of god. I know it is another testament of Jesus Christ. If you dont believe me? Prove Joseph Smith? Read it and ask for yourself with sincere and willing testimony if this book is true, I can promise you that it is and you can know. We are given this knowledge to help others. To give them happiness we have each day of our live. JUST DO IT - (President David O. Mckay) "the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step"

~End Of Soap Box~

I know i get going and cant control myself. But yeah. I love you all so much i am so grateful for my great family and their love, prayers and sweet testimonies to me. Mom i love you so much. Your example of love and kindness helps me grow each and everyday. Knowing what I know from you has given me such knowledge and protection. Dad, i love you so much. I look at so many young men who dont have a dad and I cry. Because i look at my hero my coach, my partner in crime, my dad and i know that I have been blessed to learn and be strengthened because of you. Whitney & Kirk & Cayden & Riley Thank you for your love and support and testimony. I Love you all so much! Chelsey & Mark, thank you for your letters of love and support and encouragement. I love you so much! Ryan & Shannon & Raegan, Thank you Ryan for being the best big brother. I look to your example alot. Thank you for your example of serving a mission and showing me it is the best thing to do. I truly know that. Thank you three and all the letters and support that you show me. I love you all!

Know that I am doing great. The lord is with me everyday and I know all of you are as well. I appreciate all the prayers for all missionaries all over the world. We are part of this latter day army. Putting on the whole armor of god. We will do and Will work everyday to protect the lord's kingdom.

I love you so much!!!
Mom again Happy Mothers Day, I love you!
I think i knew your question, Yes the cookies you sent me in sheridan held up. they were a little crumbly but still yummy. Everyone died over them. Thank you!

I love you!

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
South Dakota Rapid City Mission

Elder Michael Corey Rudd
3008 Louise Apt. 304
Sioux Falls, SD 51706

Finally....

Well I can imagine you are not too happy with me. Since you havent heard from me in about 2 weeks. Im sorry. Been soooooooooooo busy. Being whitewashed is crazy.
Well, good news is i get to talk to you on sunday! What a day. Also, on monday we have Zone conference. So we had to drive to fargo, nd where it floods and all. It is about 300 miles from sioux falls it takes about four hours there and four hours back. It was alot of fun. president layton is the man. By the way. i am no longer a greenie!!!! A new batch of elders came out. So im no longer a greenie. Im big time now. :) I cant reply to everyone who wrote me emails. Im sorry. I havent emailed in about 2 weeks and i got on today and had 25 emails. So im sorry. i will get to all of you though. I promise.

But, I plan on calling you between between 1 and 3 your time. I am two hours ahead of you. Oh yeah when i got transferred i changed time zones too. I love this mission.

I am not going to go into alot of details. But there is alot. alot. To tell you but i will save most of it for mothers day. If you have alot of questions for me. write them down. I will answer all of them for you. But Im sorry i know i didnt really give you a set time. But I hope that works out okay. i dont believe we have a dinner appointment on mothers day. So i can probably talk for about an hour to an hour and a half. Im not quite sure. We will just have to roll with it. I love you all so much. I love being a missionary. Sioux Falls is awesome. Dont worry. its way cool. I love you all. I will talk to you on sunday. Momma, i love you so much. I cant wait to talk to you.

I love you!

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Transfer!!!

Hey Mi Familia,

Well the topic of this email is somewhat bitter sweet and prob should be weird that you get an email from me on a saturday but Elder Anderson is getting transfered to Casper, WY he will be a zone leader until the end of his mission. Man, i will miss him alot! Dang. So sad!!

But thats not the only news......... Elder Michael Corey Rudd is also being transfered. President Layton is WHITE WASHING SHERIDAN FIRST WARD!!!!!! How crazy! I have been in Sheridan for a month and I am already being transfered. Its pretty crazy. Everyone is 1st ward is really mad. They have called the mission office. They are really ticked. Me and Elder Anderson are really sad. But these people are really mad. They are whitwashing the area (taking both elders out of the area) and bringing sister missionaries into the Sheridan 1st Ward. Really weird because the 1st ward is the best performing ward but they whitewash us??! Whatever. The lord needs me in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. So there will i go! If you have sent some letters to Sheridan for me, the elders will send them to me. But i am pretty sad myself. I just am getting comfortable. Just met all the ward and now sent out. But its okay.

Sioux Falls, SD is the biggest city in the entire mission it has 175,000 people there. In my patriatichal blessing it states. "You will have an influence over many people, even though you might not visit there particular land." also it states "You will be given the gift of tongues, as you communicate with people not of your culture" Sioux Falls has has Swahili people there, Mexican, African Americans, Peruvian, Guatemalan (Dad!!) and Brazilian, Its a huge cultural melting pot. So here is my chance to maybe fulfill that promise from my heavenly father. Great people. There are two wards there. I will be serving in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota 1st Ward. So i am staying with the whole first ward thing :). You will be happy to know as am I. Arizona is taking over the mission. My new companion is from Prescott, Arizona!!! His name is Elder Dalton. He leaves the same time Elder Anderson does. But he is awesome. I met him when I was in Rapid City. An awesome guy. So I will probably be in Sioux Falls for a while. Crazy I Know!! But the lord has need of me in SIoux Falls and to Sioux Falls I will go. Oh yeah by the way. They whitewashed Sioux Falls First Ward as well. So we are both going in cold to an area we have no idea about!! It will be hard but it will be good!! :)

I am called to serve the lord for the next 22 months. Happy two month mark today. It seems like so much longer. I love the lord. I love you sooo much. I know this will probably come as a big shock. But no worries I am where i need to be. Tell Kymber & Ryan I am mucho dissapointed in the letter flow. Shannon gets a thank you. She sent me a letter and raegan sent me a letter too. I am loving the mission. I am really going to miss sheridan. Amazing people. We had 4 Baptisms planned and they will all go to the sisters!!! Bummer huh!! Oh well, we helped them along there journey.

Heavenly Father loves each and every one of you so much. He knows your name individually and wants to talk to you. Please talk to him. Always keep that bond between you and him. Nothing is more powerful.

"Be steadfast and immovable, ALWAYS abounding in good works!" (Mos 5:15)

I have scripture study for all of you to do!! :) yay!!

Jeremiah 29:13, Alma 32, Alma 37, Helaman 5:12, DC 82, DC 123

Keep those letters coming people, COME ON!

Psalms 25:25 : As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country."
KEEP THIS MISSIONARY POSTED!

New Address

Elder Michael Corey Rudd
3008 Louise Apt. 304
Sioux Falls. SD 57106

May the lord bless you each day of your life. May you have a strength and a bond with him that can never be broken. I promise you as you do these things in your life, you will be strengthened and will grow so much. The lord is the way and the only way that things can be done. All things are possible through him! I love you

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
Sioux Falls, SD!!

Branding!!!!

We had a great week today. Worked alot. Didnt make any progress with either Manuel or Mary so we just have the Becklunds still on date but they still arent coming to church. So, they cant get baptized unless they do come to church, So that is a tough one. Here in sheridan there is the VA Hospital and we cover it in the area so we get about 10 referrals a week from there. Its crazy. And they all want to be taught. They are all really different and all suffer from some disease or distraction. It is tough to teach them but most of them come to church and all. So they are really liking church and all.

Wednesday- The youth MTC. We had our whole district there. 2 buffalo elders. 6 sheridan elders. 5 Gillete Elders. I taught the restoration all the youth liked my class the best. :) The group is really awesome here. The ward is awesome. HOW COME NO ONE TOLD ME DAD WAS THE NEW WARD MISSION LEADER!!!!!!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!! Really cool. I am so excited for him. Please tell him to write me and tell me even though he is the best writer. :) I am way excited for him.

Tuesday- We got a call from one of our investigators who works at the girls school out of town its for troubled young woman and all. But she gave our number to a woman who wanted us to give a blessing to her 16 year old grand daughter (The woman is a member, the grand daughter is a member but not active.) Our church doesnt come up to the school but, her grandma wanted her to have a blessing. So we got a call and set up an appointment at bro anderson's house (ward mission leader) and the young woman just poured her heart out to us. She is involved with Heroine, Cocaine, Anphetatmines, Smoking, Alcohol, Choking herself, sex, everything you can think of she did. The girl told us these things and it was just killing me. But, we cleared up alot of her issues and she has had just an amazing cleansing go through her and its awesome to see. You can see it in her spiritual being. She is a great young woman and have cleared alot of things up with her. Me and Elder Anderson gave her the blessing and everything went good. She seems to be doing better but she will be coming to church every sunday now. We have arranged a ride for her and all. So, she is doing good. She is on the right path.

Saturday- We went branding!!!!! Bro Trembath, (Bro. Wessels Grandpa-in-law?) He has a ranch about 30 miles out of town. We had alot of fun. Our whole district headed out there at about 8 in the morning we got pretty red. But what happens with branding. Is there are the small calfs and they are in the pen and you go in and pull one out and another missionary is waiting to flip it over and stabalize it so it wont go anywhere. Then the missionary who pulled in out would hold on to both legs and sit and lay on its legs so it couldnt get loose. Then, someone would give it a shot, then they would castrate it, then they would apply the brand. We did about 150 calf. It was a huge workout. I am still so sore. But it was fun. (Pictures are being sent)

Sunday- I spoke in sacrament meeting without elder anderson just myself and I spoke on Joseph Smiths first prayer. It went really well i thought but. I enjoyed it. The ward is great here. Its going great.

We will be spending a little more time in ranchester so that we can get to know the people a little more. But the work is going really well. Transfers are at the end of this week and Elder Anderson could be leaving or could be not. He is almost back to about 100 percent. So, I am glad we are a little more mobile. But its still limited.

We now have a booth at sheridan college the sheridan elders do. We each spend time there and answer alot of questions so its good. We also will be showing a movie here in the sheridan movie theater so that will be fun and exciting. We are either thinking Joseph Smith: Prophet Of The Restoration or The Testaments. We arent sure.

But, All is going well. Nothing can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine. Armies may assemble, calumny may defame but the truth of god will go forth boldly, nobly and independent. Til it has penetrated every land. Swept every country and sounded in every ear. Til the purposes of god shall be accomplished. The great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

Sorry this one is a short one. But everything is going really well. enjoying the work alot.

I love you all so much. Mom I am glad you enjoyed the rose and the name tag. My name tag got trashed because of my recliner. It slid in there and got ate up.

Happy Almost B-day Kirk.

I love you guys so much, I miss you lots.

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Almost Two Months

Isnt it crazy. The Total Package has almost been out for two months. I have been in sheridan for almost a month as well. The work is going great! The Becklund Family (Shawn & Ashely who are on date for May 15th) they were supposed to come to church yesterday. But they did not come. They will receive a stern rebuking! :) Also we have a less active Tiesha Abeyta she got baptized about a year ago and started not coming to chuch we had a really powerful lesson with her and she was in tears and promised us she would come to church and we even stopped by an hour before church and she said she would come but! did she!! NO! oh by golly wolly she will receive a super stern rebuking! :) Mary Witworth in Ranchester. She is doing great! She is still smoking which is ugh! but anyways. She doesnt want to seem like a hipocrit about being baptized and smoking which we were going to address anyways so! It will be good. We are going over there on Thursday and give her, her very own stop smoking plan and set a date with her to work towards. So we will have three on date and also we will probably set an date with Manuel Merange. Manuel's sister is Sis Byington, she was baptized about a year ago. She married a member he went on a mission and all. Awesome family but her brother Manuel lives with them and now we are teaching him and got him to really really pray to know. Elder Anderson went to Ranchester last thursday night and i stayed in Sheridan and went on splits with Brother Anderson. But Manuel is real close he is 14 by the way. Elvin Slack. wow! So, Elvin is about 48 he is a hippy basically. We went to his house this week and when he opened the door the smoke just billowed out. He was high as a kite. He told me he loved me like 5 times. But we came back on friday when he was actually able to talk to us. His big problem is that he doesnt pray for himself he thinks he doesnt need anything else in his life. But he is so lonely and he smokes, drinks, chews and drinks coffee and tea so he is 5 for 5 which he doesnt see the need to change anything. He has been taught for a year. We are working really hard on him, it looks like we will have to drop him which is really hard because he is such an awesome guy! :( But we will work real hard on him. The Perry family they are a part member family Troy the husband is a member. Evon & Chancelor & Heartly are not. Evon is troy's wife an chancelor just turned 17 and heartly is 16. The whole family loves us. We are so close with them they have taken us out to eat and fed us like 3 times already! Troy is an amazing chef. Me and Elder Anderson made Chancelor a birthday cake and brought it to them and chancelor whenever he see's us gives us huge hugs. Heartly tried to once but we were like ahhhh.. hahaha. SDRCM Missionaries are the best (South Dakota Rapid City Mission) Troy is an awesome cook he made bacon wrapped shrimp and deep fried. oh man! so good. elder anderson freaked when he found out that they were in beer batter, dont worry mom I cleared it up :) but elder davis doesnt see a problem with buying beer on a mission. Oh elder davis what a crazy. But to fix that elder anderson bought soda today and made a soda batter which was actually really cook. We fried Okra, Cheese, Brownies and leaks. Really good. Clair Bourke basically the missionary mom of sheridan. especially 1st ward though. She was baptized about a year ago and she is awesome. Next week we are going to make shirts at her house that say "I served in sheridan" on them. She is so awesome. She has a major rocky past and me and elder anderson go and see her like 2 times a week because we are worried about her and want to make sure that she is doing okay. She started a new job at the holiday inn here and hasnt been able to come to church. But we are working it out so that she can. She is awesome.

Today we had district meeting we have it once a week. There is a town about 30 miles from here called buffalo and there is a set of missionaries there (elder dean and elder christiansen) they are in our district. But today i taught district meeting. It was really good we talked about when it was necessary to drop someone and to use the spirit of discernment. District Meetings get really heated sometimes. But its good. To drop someone it is really really hard but! it's necessary! Also, our district is putting on a youth MTC this wednesday. President Layton will be coming from Rapid. The gillete spanish speaking elders will be here. So the youth will learn how to teach in spanish and english. We made real call letters and all. We delivered them to our youth yesterday there should be about 70 youth there on wednesday. it will go real good. I will be teaching the restoration and how to teach it. After they will go through and teach it. president will be one they teach it too and we are bringing people from the wards to act like people. It will be real good we are really excited for it. Me and elder anderson are putting on a member mtc for the 1st ward in may. (Transfers are at the end of this month. he thinks he is getting transfered i highly doubt it! he has doctors appt's and physical therapy here, i dont think that president will transfer him, but the lord is the one who will do it so idk.)

Me and elder anderson are getting along so well we love being here. Elder Erickson (2nd ward) goes home at the end of the month and elder anderson has 4 months left. I know my time will just blow by. I have already been gone for 2 months! (basically) Its insane!! Mom, you should be getting something from me today check the door step and also something left today for you. I hope you like it.

The work here in sheridan is great. I am so excited to work. I am so excited that i have time and to get the lords work done. I made a missionary pledge for myself.

"For i am a missionary, I am called as a personal representative of jesus christ. he has entrusted me with his work. As a missionary I will work everyday and every night. I promise to work with all my heart, might, mind and strength. the lord has called me to do his work and his work i will do. I will live worthily to be lead by the spirit to teach and preach in his name. I will keep an upstanding image with me every day i work. For i work for the lord. I will be all that i can in the time that i have FOR I AM A MISSIONARY"

The church is true i am so excited to work in the lords errand. I can promise all of you as you follow the savior he will not lead you astray. Follow him.

I love you all so much. Happy Birthday Mom, Whitney, Chelsey, Brylee and Kirk.
I am so thankful each and everyday that i grew up in my family.
I am so thankful for all of you and all the letters they are much appreciated!

Love,
The Total Package
(It just needs to be there)
Elder Michael Corey Rudd
Sheridan, Wyoming (Or God's Country) :)

Conference!!!!!!!!!!!

Conference!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow what a week this week. I love to hear the words of our prophets and leaders. They are awesome. They are truly messengers of the lord Jesus Christ. Before I go into anything else. I want everyone who reads this to know. That beyond a shadow of a doubt. The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the ONLY TRUE church here on the earth today. Because of our faith and love of the savior. We know that the opportunity we have to be members of this church is wonderful. We are so lucky. We are so lucky to be shielded from many of the devils tactics. Because of our beloved savior who gave up his own life. We have been blessed to know our eternal destiny. We live in a very scary and twisted world. We know that because of our faith we know what will happen and what we can do to make it.

The lord knows that this is a very very very scary place and he knew it would be. But he gives us loads and loads of help. He gives us Modern Day Prophets to aid us through our life and to give us his counsel in the latter day. We have been given scripture to read and to understand and to help apply in our life. I can promise you that through each of our faith and love in the savior all is well.

General Conference was awesome. We got to watch it at the Ward Building all 6 of the elders watched it there. We had a blast. We were note taking fools. I have never wrote that quick in my entire life. I probably ended up about 30 pages of notes front and back for all the sessions. I went in to conference needed a boost and I had specific questions in which I needed help to answer. I promise you the messages we heard this last week are straight from the lord himself. D&C 1:37-38 The lord speaks through his prophets. I know that the Savior loves us. Because of his love he gives us help. All we have to do is listen to that help and apply it in our lives.

PLAN OF HAPPINESS

If we can all do these things in our life I can promise you we can all be happy and we can be ready for what lies ahead in our lives.

1. Pray night & day. Have an open relationship with heavenly father. Trust me that is the only way to get through things. Like it was said by Neil L. Anderson. "Two people can do anything, as long as one of them is Jesus Christ.

2. Read from the standard works. (Book of Mormon, Bible, Pearl of Great Price or D&C) for about 5 min a day. Be diligent and the lord will bless you. (2 NE 32:3)

3. Give service freely and the lord will bless you. (Mosiah 2:17)

4. Be kind to those around you. Tell someone hi, say please and thank you. Just be kind.

5. The most important one.... SMILE! The lord loves you. Why be sad?

We have been so blessed in our lives. We are given the chance to know the end from the beginning. I cant say enough how important it is to know what we know. Think for a second if you had know idea. In D&C 123:12 it says that many are kept from the faith because they know not where to find it. How sad is that? That brought me much sadness. Many other people are not shielded from much of Satan's tactics so they are crushed by his tricks BECAUSE THEY KNOW NOT WHERE TO FIND IT. They are kept from happiness BECAUSE THEY KNOW NOT WHERE TO FIND IT. The don't know that they have a loving Heavenly Father BECAUSE THEY DONT KNOW!!! They dont know!!!!! How sad is that?! Its been very hard for me with Elder Anderson down because it has slowed us down big time. We still teach as much as we can but we cant do very much because he has to rest. We cant go tracting because he cant walk without his crutches. It stinks. But it is working out.

My favorite talk during conference was President Uchdorfs during Priesthood. It was amazing. One of the quotes he said just was awesome. "Through Patience you can win mastery over your souls." How awesome is that. All of you know i need more patience in my life and quite frankly I think everyone does. That is one of the hardest things I struggle with in my life. But Patience is definitly a virtue and through it all things are possible.

Sorry I just keep babbling. But! This week went really well. It has snowed twice this week they thought it would be about 6 inches but it only was about 3 inches.

Good news we have our first two baptisms. May 15th Shawn and Ashley Becklund. They are 10 and 8 so one counts as a investigator and one is just normal. But it doesnt matter. It is awesome. Me and Elder Anderson have been teaching them for about 2 weeks now. Their parents are members but Less Active so, we need to teach them the discussions and get them to church before they can be baptized but! its going well. We should have two more dates this week one with Mary from Ranchester and another is an excommunicated woman and her daughter. The work is going forth.

Monday we headed up to Gillete and slept the night there, Stayed with 6 other elders in a tiny appartment. Then we woke up and headed to casper at about 6 in the morning. We got to casper at about 9. Long drive. Zone conference was awesome. President Layton is amazing. I love that man he is so amazing. Each week we write him an email. Great time there. We had the Casper Zone and The Gillete Zone it went great. Got to see Elder Dahl. Hasnt changed one bit. He will put on a couple pounds. I havent lost any more. If we didnt have the car then I would be but dangit Elder Anderson. Transfers are at the end of April I am pretty sure Elder Anderson will get transfered. But, who knows. He has been in sheridan for 6 months so yes.

I am cooking up a storm momma. We are having a district dinner and me and elder anderson will cook. We bought some ribs and mashed potatoes and asparagus and all. It will be good. We make alot of mexican. YUM! Sheridan has a Taco Bell, Walmart, Wendys, Arby's, Subway and a burger king and a really good steak place its kinda pricy but a member of the bishop brick took us there monday night. Super good!! So yeah basically Sheridan has the "Whitney Neccessities" :) (I will take a moment to pause for the laughter) Oh and it has two Mcdonalds. Who would of thought? Anyways.

We are working really hard though. Today we cleaned out our entire fridge. I cant tell you how nasty it was. Ugh!

What about Caseym Mack??! When does he get his call. Just to let you know their will be letters heading out today to Alec, Casey, Mom, Whitney, Kirk, Dad, Chelsey, Mark and The Lewis's. I have been really busy i am sorry its taking so long. Mom I loved the easter package! We are having lots of fun with everything. I also got chelseys and the Lewis's Package. Today I received my baptisimal clothes. I will need those. Oh and Wayne and Michel have letters coming too. Tell Douglas he owes me a letter!!!! I have had no letters the last two days. How does that make you feel? Your beloved Total Package in who knows where, Wyoming with no mail!! :) Just kidding but seriously mail is much appreciated :)

I know you all want pictures! I am working on it! I really am. Its been hard on P-Days we are working really hard and have no time.

BUT! Oh Yeah! People actually live in Wyoming!! Their is a place called Big Horn. Its South of Sheridan about 15 miles. Its 2nd wards area. Our dinner appt changed to lunch yesterday so we went with them upon invitation from them. The Gilbert Family really nice. But Big Horn is where all the big wigs live./ The owner of Coca Cola lives there!!! Atleast some of the company. Then Mr. Mars lives there. The owner of Mars Bar. (m&ms) He has a HUGE house. I will send pictures. Also, the owner of better home & garden lives there. They are gigantic houses and they all are at the bottom of the Big Horn Mountains!! Everywhere in sheridan, ranchester or big horn you can see the Big Horn Mountains its beautiful. I will send pictures.

I am very sad to hear about Bro. Degroff. He is in a much better place now. Also, Aunt Patty. I hope all is well with her. I hope she will be okay.

Again, I want you all to know that Jesus Is The Christ and he loves you as does your Beloved Heavenly Father. He knows you individually. All you have to do is ask with real intent and he will bless you through all your endeavours.

I have an unshaking testimony of jesus christ. This church is true.
If Satan comes against you dont let him in and dont serve him tea and crumpets!!! You shouldnt be drinking tea anyways!! Oh Elder Holland he brings me great joy.
Be bold and tell him to get the hence. Do not waste time with him.

I belong to the chruch of jesus christ of latter day saints i know who i am i know gods plan and I WILL follow him in faith.

I love you all so much.
Please Keep Me updated.
I am always there for each and everyone of you.
Please let me know what I can do for you.

I love you!
Your Missionary (Who is annoying the advesary with all he has)

Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Greetings from Sheridan, WY

GREETINGS FROM SHERIDAN, WYMONING!!! Never in my life would I think that I would be living in Sheridan Wyomin!! So Crazy! But it is wonderful! At one point the city of Sheridan was named the number one western town in the united states. While I am here I will have the chance to brand cattle and eat rocky mountain oysters!!! (YUCK!)

Well I arrived in Rapid City on Monday. Met Pres. & Sis. Layton. Went to the MIssion HOme and relaxed for most of the day. Got introduced to alot of the mission rules and conduct. That night Pres. Layton sat the five of us down. That being Me, Elder Dahl, Elder Woods, Elder Kocherhans and Elder Getz and told us where we weree heading and who are companions would be. Elder Woods went to Detroit Lakes, MN about 22 hours away from Sheridan. Elder Getz went to Eagle Butte, SD about 10 hours away from Sheridan and Elder Dahl went to Casper, WY 2 hours away from Sheridan.Me and ELder Dahl are in the same zone.

So the next day Tuesday Elder Getz, Elder Woods and Elder Kocherhans loaded up on the transfer train. (okay its not really a train its a big chevy bus that holds about 15 missionaries and pulls a trailer.) They headed to eastern part of the mission. Since me and Elder Dahl are going to the west we stayed in Rapid with some missionaries and did work their for a day. The day we were there was great we got to teach lots of lessons. We taught a woman who had wicken beliefs and if you remember the sho "Hoarders" this woman is going to be on the next episode. You couldn't walk into her house. Her kids were riding the laundry mountain from the couch. Not even kidding. But food was just laying on the floor. Cockroaches and rats were present. That's all im saying. I don't want to scare you mom! But it went really well and the elders are close with here. After that, we went and talked to "spanky" he is a DJ on the radio and in a club in Rapid. So the elders found that out and sent me right over. It was great talking to him and I related alot of the lessons on DJ terms and he seemed to understand great! The elders there now have a baptisimal date with him! After that we went to a young woman named Kirstens house, she is about 21 and her and her husband just got married. Her husband is in the air force and is at Ellsworth in Rapid. We knocked on the door and her husband was the only one home. So we got to talk to him for a while then she showed up and we got to teach them both the 1st and 2nd lessons and they understood it great. But the entire time we were teaching him he was chewing tobacco and spitting into a water battle and his tabaccy jusice. Everytime he would do it I would turn and look at Elder Clark (My Rapid City Father) it was nasty! But Yes! Then we had dinner with some members named the Gerrards. Very nice family. Great food and then they took us out to DQ, it was great. I had a great day in Rapid City.

The following day Wednesday we loaded up onto the Transfer Train and headed to Gillette, WY first and dropped off elders there. Then we went to Buffalo, WY and there was a car there already that took Me and another elder to Sheridan, WY. It is awesome. When I got there I still haven't met Elder Anderson. He was in a dinner appt. So I went on splits with Elder Erickson and Elder Miller (They are the 2ndf ward elders) and we ate at a family named the Littles very nice young family and she made this delicious sweet and sour chicken so good! But then for dessert her 17-year old daughter made like 2 inches thick of a peanut butter dessert!! :((( Everyone knnow I love peanut butter. And of course they gave me 3 helpings. I was gagging it down. I would take a bite and drink some drink and swish it around. I was so full from dinner and they gave me that. Whew. I cant believe I got through it!

After that we headed to our appartment on 1st street and there I met my real father Elder Devin Anderon from Shrewsberry, Massachussets!!! He is an awesome guy. We have lots of fun together and we work and teach great together basically we just slid right into comfort with eachother. It was great.

Our appartment is weird to be honest. We live on top of an insurance firm in which we rent from. To get to our appartment we have to hike up these old rickity stairs and at the top is us just one door with a picture of Jesus on it. We call it the stairway to heaven. :) but its funny it is such an old school appartment. Its way cool though. All of our stuff is from Habitat for Hummanity (We give service there every saturday. wich is lots of fun) But, we have old rickity recliners and couches with holes in them!! I know its awesome but the best thing about our entire appartment is our kitchen table you will never guess what it is!! Its an OLD MCDONALDS BOOTH!!!!! its awesome. :) I love it. The appartment is totally me. Just the most random things you can think of just thrown into an old rickity appartment! I love it! We live with the Sheridan 3rd ward elders Elder Davis (Sandy, UT) & Elder Hilbun (Edgewood, NM) They are lots of fun, but Elder Hilbun hates music and everything fun so I see a problem there. Me and Elder Davis get along great though! But yes Me and Elder Anderson are the 1st Ward Missionaries. The ward is great, we get fed every night. One night we got Papa Murphys!! Yup there is one here!! Sheridan has about 15,000 people here. The ward has about 200 in it and about 100 show up every Sunday. So alot of our work is with either Part-Member or Inactives. Alot of the ward members have offended alot of people. Even though it shouldnt matter we deal with that alot amongst them. But the ward is great. Dad, the bishop is Bishop Brinkerhoff his wife is Joann Brinkerhoff or Joann Pearce she grew up with Shauna in Mesa and she went to westwood. Tell AUnt Shauna and tell her she says hi. Crazy how small the church is. Alot of the members are from either Arizona or Utah or born and raised in Sheridan. One older gentleman Bro Raush went on splits with us one night and he has lived in Sheridan for 87 years. Crazy! I konw! But yes, Great members. I love the ward. But, we also have another responsibility. There is a town called Ranchester, WY and its about 20 miles away from Sheridan and they have a branch there. Me and Elder Anderson also cover that branch. The branch building is about the size of the garage and the living room put together. Its tiny!! But there are about 50 members in Ranchester. We head up there usually atleast once a wekk and talk to the farmers and the less actives and go tracting. Bro Trimbath used to be the Branch President up there and he drives us up there every week. But, another crazy story! I was telling him where I was from and what I did and things like that and he said "hmmm Mesa, I have a grandaughter who lives there. I said cool he said yeah her husband teaches seminary there, I was like hmmm whats the last name. Maybe I know him? He said "WESSEL!!!!" I was like you have to be kidding me!!!! He taught me seminary last year!!!! They are coming up this summer to visit him so, I will prob get to see Bro. Wessel because I should be in Sheridan for 6 months! It is so crazy how small a world we live in!!

Me and Elder Anderson are teaching about 50 investigators right now. Only about 30 are really interested we might have to drop alot because of not holding commitments. But we also teach about 15 part member families and less actives.

We teach Amy and Bobby-Joe(both women and bobby-joe is a member) at Wystar its a drup and alcohol treatment facility. They are great. Amy wants to get baptized after she is out. But she will prob have to wait a little while but she is okay with that. After we were done teaching her we prayed with him. They wanted us to all hold hands in a prayer circle and we did. Usually thats what they do. But yes, it was a very spiritual experience i felt the love for them i want them to feel there saviors love so much.

The first night we planned Elder Anderson was telling me about the Perry family(Troy, Ivan and there two kids Chancelor 18 & Heartly 17) I felt such a connection to this familyI want them so bad. Troy is a member but he doesn't want to ruffle and feathers by going to a church when his wife and kids dont want to. But, the kids are really big into a church group in town that does alot of fun things. But, we have enlisted members who are friends with Heartly and chancelor to bring them to mutual and members to be friend Troy and Ivan. Oh we have a plan and they will come to church and they will be BAPTIZED!!! I love the family they even have us over for dinner!! We came and talked to us for a while. Oh this family will be members!! I want them to have the happiness our family has!

There are much more people to tell you about. Also I love the blanket! It means a lot! Thank you everyone for signing it.

My time is running short. Letters on the way today so be looking for them. Also I am sending Pres. Smith's to our house because I don't have his address with me.

And, oh yeah elder anderson might have to have surgery with his knee, so yeah. Bummer but good news because of that WE GOT THE SHERIDAN CAR and because he cant drive guess who drives you guessed it ELDER TOTAL PACKAGE hahahaha yes well time is cutting me off here at teh Sheridan Library. I love you guys soooo much. The work of the lord is going for it will penetrate every continent and it will visit every clime and by golly it will sound it every ear til the purposes of god shall be accomplished and the great jehovah shall say the work is done.

I love you momma!!!
I miss you!

Love,
Elder Michael Corey Rudd

Week 2!!!

Hello mi Familia! Yes I know I am not learning Spanish but it is still very much fun to speak it. Wow I have been out 2 weeks already! how crazy is that! Again, theses keyboards are not good at all! They stink! I want to start off with thanking everyone who writes me. It is the best in the world to open that mailbox and see Elder Michael Rudd. I love it. When I don't' get a letter it is like darn!!! But its good stuff. I love letters so don't stop sending them. I don't know if you have gotten one of my letters yet. But! On March 15th 2010 Elder Michael Corey Rudd lands in South Dakota, Rapid City!!!! I leave the MTC at 6 am! It is so surreal! I finally get to go to work! I am so excited to get out there and serve the Lord with all I have! The church is true!!! So true! I want you all to know that I know with all my heart that the church is true!!! I had two amazing experiences in the Referral Center Yesterday and on Friday! On Friday I called a prior investigator and asked him if he had received his Book of Mormon he had ordered through the church and I got to teach him the first discussion!! He was so overwhelmed and wanted to hear more about the church. I was so sad that I couldn't be there to teach him in person!! I so wanted to! But anyways, as I taught him he t0ld me he hadn't received his Book of Mormon!! I told him well let me re-send that to you. He said okay. Then the next thing I know is I am checking where he lives and his address and guess where he is living. NORTH DAKOTA!!!!! Guess What!! As soon as I get off the plane I am having the Mission President call the Elders in that area and getting him a book of Mormon!!! Who Knows!! That could be my first area!!! How cool would that be!!! It was such an awesome experience. So, I told him tell you what I can personally tell you that your book of Mormon will be there with 2 representatives for the Church and I am actually one of them going to be serving in your area. He was so excited!! I sure hope I get to serve in his area!!! I can't wait to get out and serve!!! The Church is true! I want everyone to know it! I want to shout it from the rooftops and tell everyone of the message I have for them!!! I love the Lord! I am so overjoyed and so happy!! There is no greater place that I would rather be!!! The other story is about a 17 year old girl named JoyAnn from Cleavland, Ohio. How I got to talk to her was through mormon.org. If you go to there you can talk to someone from the Church and they will help you with problems you have!! So, I got to talk to her. She doesn't believe that her Heavenly Father loves her and she doesn't believe that she can be forgiven of her sins. I talked to her for an hour and a half!!! The conversation went on and on and the Spirit was so strong just like over instant messaging! That's so crazy!!! I was so excited I couldn't wait for her to respond after I would show her of her Heavenly Father's love and of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how she can be forgiven of her sins. She would type and say I don't know why I am crying. You Mormons are awesome. The conversation ended with two missionaries being sent to her house with a book of Mormon for her!! I am so sad I can't hear about her progress! I love this work!!! Another story!!! On Monday me and Elder Dahl were teaching an investigator in the TRC (teaching resource center) Most of them are members but the one we had was actually an investigator! How cool is that!! He is a Catholic and would ask us about this doctrine and this doctrine. But me and Elder Dahl would throw this at him and show him the truth!! He would say dang!! You Mormons have all the answers!! You two 19 year old boys have the power of God and you have convince me it is true. I hope something happens with him!!! I love this work!! I am so excited to be here as a personal representative of Jesus Christ!!! Also as a ANNOYER OF THE ADVERSARY!!! I love it! I want to annoy the adversary for the rest of my life. I love you guys so much! Thank you for all you do for me! I miss you. But my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and give them the same happiness that I have. Thank you sooooo much! I love you sooooo much!

Love,

Elder Michael Corey Rudd

P.S. The next letter will be from SOUTH DAKOTA!!!!!

First Letter (My Dearest Family)

HEY!! Okay these keyboards are ridiculous!!! You cant press the return key!!! Its Wednesday! MY PDAY!! Awesome I know! I love it here!! Of course my first couple of days were really really hard adjusting to the missionary lifestyle but I love it!!! My district is awesome. My companion is ELder Dahl from (Oak Harbor, Washington). He is a little guy 5'8" about 120 lbs!!! Imagine me and him companions! haha he is an awesome guy!! Its been hard getting used to him. But its getting there. I wake up every morning at 6:30 no problem though. I have adjusted to the time very easy! IT feels great going to bed so early! I probably should of tried to do that before! It's awesome! :) I can't tell you how much I have learned. I am just itching to get out there and serve the Lord!! I am so glad I am an English Elder because I am only here for 2 1/2 weeks!! My departure date is weird! They tell me either the 15th, 16th or 17th!!! I want to know!!! But yeah I was conducting my district meeting the other night. Wait why would I conduct a District meeting?? Because I was called as District Leader!! :) I love it! Such an awesome calling. My district consists of 8 people. 5 elders all going to South Dakota. Me, Elder Dahl, Elder Woods (the guy from Phoenix), Elder Kocherhans (Orem, Utah), Elder Getz (Tree Mtn, Utah!!!) Elder Woods is a funny guy. Elder Kocherhans and me have so many things alike. We have the same Ecco Shoe, CTR Ring, Basketball Shoes and we are both the youngest! So cool! Elder Getz is a good ole farm boy!!! He lives on a farm about an hour from here. Nice guy. He is an auctioneer!!!!! He talks so fast!! He has the coolest accent!!!! So cool! I love the gospel so much! Last night for our Tuesday devotional a General Authority came!! Guess who came?!?!?!?! Richard C. Edgley!!! The presiding Bishop of the Church!!! How awesome is that!!!! He gave such an awesome talk!!! I go get the mail and I am so excited everytime I get a letter so far I have got letters from Pres. Smith, Brynae (kymber's sis), Whitney, Chelsey, Lee Anderson, Dad and today Mom I got your package!!! Lets just say I needed it! :) I love it! Our Zone (or branch) has people going to Tacoma, Washington, Hungary, Albania and SDRC!!! (South Dakota Rapid City) I am so excited to share the gospel to all the world. Today we got to go to the temple! How awesome is it!! The Provo temple is so different than either Salt Lake or Mesa. Nothing compares to the Mesa Temple to me though!!!! Family & Friends the gospel is true! I am here as a PERSONAL representative of Jesus Christ!!! To teach and preach the gospel to all the world! I am here for a purpose and I know I am here. They keep you so busy here!!! I am running all around. Being DL I am in tons of meetings plus my classes and breakfast, lunch and dinner. The food here isn't that great. Its edible but its alright, but not amazing. Every now and again there is something good, but it is a huge adjustment to eating 3-square meals a day! Oh by the way I have lost 4 pounds here! haha Sometimes I don't eat dinner because I am so full or in a meeting. Its not a big deal they give you soooooooooooo much food. But they give you a 30 min timer on email and I am going crazy typing. I hope this all makes sense, but I try and write as much as letters as I can. I write them whenever I get a chance. But let people know I am always wanting a letter. Either through Dear Elder or just mailed. That Dear Elder is a huge thing though!!!!!! Mom, I lover you so much!!!! Dad, I love you so much!!!! I love life!! I am so excited I don't know if you are getting that yet!!!!! Well I just want you to know I am doing great! I love you all so much!

Your Elder,

Elder Michael Corey Rudd