September 26, 2011

So this week was really interesting. A little insight into what I was talking about last week-- I was reading an article from Elder Richard G Scott, from the conference of October of 2009. Its about receiving spiritual guidance. So I had that experience, and even quite similar to Elder Scott's experience, I didnt want to tell the details of what I received, but the manner is in the talk. I have been studying in that particular Ensign this week. The words of the Prophets are true. I recommend the following talks. Read them and highlight the things that stand out to you.

President Dieter F Uchtdorf -- The Love of God

Elder Robert D Hales -- Seeking to know God, Our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ

Elder Tad R Callister -- Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration

Elder Kent D Watson -- Being Temperate in All Things

Elder Neil L Andersen -- "Repent...That I may Heal you"

These talks somehow all had a similar theme to me, the guidance and revelation that can be recieved from the Holy Ghost, and what we will do and know upon receiving that guidance.

I also want to share a scripture from Doctrine and Covenants 98

  1) Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;
  2) Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.
  3) Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.

Ok so lets begin telling about my week. =)

(Sorry, Sarah, its a long one, hope it all fits on the blog)

So this week as mentioned before we were expecting a baptism. Well everything said it wasnt going to happen, there was oppoistion on all sides, and in the end..... it didnt happen. We worked extremely hard
for the baptism, but it didnt end up happening. My faith was in it. but well it was his decision. He is the son of a recent convert, and best of all he knows that the church is true. He just wants to be able to pick his date. We were pretty much devasted. But we have to pick up and move forward. I work in this because I know that God is My Heavenly Father, and that He restored this church, and I am working in this for Him. and as President Eyring said: 

"I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast! I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made; I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I'm finished and done with low living, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tainted visions, worldly talking, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits or popularity. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast, and my goal is Heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, my mission is clear! I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up, until I have stayed up stored up, and paid up of the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till I know, and work till He stops me. And when He returns for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear."

I have to keep going there is nothing left for me to do.
In other news, this week we had lunch with our stake president, and he was pulling up church youtube videos, and Elder schaap says, hey check out this one, and pulls up Reflections of Christ and another one from the same photographer Mark Mabry, The first one is from Christ's visit to the Americas, and the other one is the book you have mom. Its powerful, and I add my testimony that Jesus is the Christ, He is my Savior, and I am His representative. I act and testify in His Name. I know that He suffered for my sins, pains, sicknesses, and for my problems, my burdens, my worries. He has been there, and is there for me and everyone in this world.

"Be of Good cheer, for I have overcome the world."

I love you all and want you to enjoy truly this general conference, follow the advice of President Uchtdorf and go with questions in your hearts and seek the guidance, listen carefully, TAKE NOTES!!! those
spiritual impressions are so precious that we cannot afford to not write them down, because they will stop coming if we do not write them down, in fact we will receive more guidance if we will sit, listen and
WRITE what we hear in our hearts and minds. I am so thankful that God has called prophets in these days to Guide US and restore all the truths that we need to return to His presence, especially the temples.
Because of my release date, I want to do something. I am technically not released until the 8th, and so I want to go for two days of temple work upon my return. Thats my real request. I wont stop working just
because I get home, even though there are many things to do, I want to first go and visit My Father's House. Monday and Tuesday the 7th and 8th: LA temple.

With Love
Elder Ludlow

Ps Still no letter or package, gonna talk to the office today. =)

September 19, 2011

[Ben's first email from this week]

Hey mom
This week was well, full of just incredible spiritual experiences. I mean really spiritual, not sharable. I'm sorry to leave you all in the dark on this one, but this week I had some cool moments discovering myself, and the weaknesses and strengths that I have in my testimony and strengthening myself. This I will say, I know that this is the true church and that the authority of God has been restored. I know that Our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us, He has blessed my family for the service I am rendering, even if we dont realize it. I want to make sure that you all remember that. We have been blessed, even though I didnt realize it. I mean I know that we have been blessed, but its a little bit different when you realize other blessings that the Lord has given you that you havent seen before. On other notes, we have been working super hard and finding and working to get people to come to church and be baptized. This week we had planned a baptism, but we moved it to this weekend. Hes the son of a recent convert, named Ian. He is super confused because of the rapid change of his father, and the catholic school that he goes to. And
looking at his situation I just am reminded to much about Joseph Smith. He is just as confused as Joseph was before he asked the Lord in prayer. I am thoroughly convinced that if this boy will pray and ask with a sincere heart, he will know what he must do. He is prepared, but just needs to recognize his answer. I know that God answers prayers and that He will answer this boy. If he will recognize that answer, through the power of the Holy Ghost, he will be getting baptized this Saturday. Wish us luck. Thats been about whats up here.

Oh please all of you read President Uchtdorf's message for the September Ensign/Liahona, and do what he suggests. We are trying to emphasize the attendance to the General Conference this upcoming month. It will truly be an experience, I know that something grand will be announced in this conference. The Lord has
something prepared, thats why he has asked and emphasized that we attend, and listen carefully to remember and apply the principles of the conference.
Get ready now and hold on to your seat.

I gotta go
Love you
Elder Ben Ludlow


[Ben's second email this week, in response to his mother's email, informing him of his travel plans to return home and that his dad is now the bishop of Ben's home ward]

Um yeah I am writring again, but really quick.
I thoguht I was gonna be done on the 8th but it appears that I will be
home on Saturday. Who knew

DADS THE BISHOP?!!!?!?!?!?!?
bhahahahahahaha

So who does my recommend interview? Isnt there some kind of rule about
that, family members cant sign your recommend?
Give dad a big ol hug!
bye bye

September 12, 2011

Hey Mom

This week was really good, we had a zone conference with Elder Bradley D Foster, who apparently served as the Mission President of the Arcadia mission before the Ventura mission existed-- he had Thousand Oaks in his mission. He was remembering a few things. Pretty cool. Aside from that he explained to us basically where we all fall through as missionaries. He says we are great, but we are not working with the members enough. If we start helping and getting help from the members things will change dramatically to the point of baptizing 200 a month, and at some point the missionaries will just teach discussions to the members' friends (kind of what we do in the states supposedly) and the missionaries will baptize them, but the members will do all of the finding and fellow shipping alone. At that point we could baptize 500 a month. and with 14 missions in South America South that would be....7000 baptisms a month. Now imagining that as a goal. and the impact that would have worldwide. Its impressive how much work we could be doing if we did things according to the Lord´s plan. But that's just
silly numbers and things like that. The really cool part was when he brought out this presentation that talks about and interesting statistic: Only 50% of active church members are sure that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers, or that He knows them personally
by name. ACTIVE MEMBERS! Did you know (and this is for everyone) that God is your loving Heavenly Father? That He knows you by name, where you live, what you do, and knows the true desires of your heart? He knows you better than you know yourself, He is your Creator, and He has made you in His image, with your strengths and your weaknesses. Don't believe me? Ask Him. He is there with His arms open to you and wants to hear from you. In other words it doesn't matter what you have done, where you are from, what color skin you have, what your political party is, what religion you are from, or what you are struggling with, your Heavenly Father loves YOU! I know this. With all of my heart and soul I know this. I felt a very personal confirmation of this fact as I sat there listening to this presentation. I love my Father in Heaven, and I want to please Him. For you who are still learning and growing in your testimonies, or if you are passing through some doubts I encourage you, to kneel down in prayer or meditate on this subject, read the scriptures and when the Lord speaks put your name in the lines. He will reveal himself to you through your thoughts and feelings, and you will know that He is your Father.

Gotta go for now. Thanks for the update, Miracles would be well... In what way have we been blessed as a family, by the mission I am serving? What about the people you share the gospel with. Help the kids realize that its not just the guys in white shirts and ties that do this, but that it is them inviting their friends and families to church that really blesses everyone.

Love you
Elder Ben Ludlow

PS: In other news, I am pretty sure I am definitely related to Uncle Brian, because I have achieved the 12 o clock shadow. I shave daily, I swear.

September 5, 2011

Yeah Labor day!
Things are good here in the field. (Out here in the field!...thank you Teenage Wasteland) Working a ton, trying to keep up with this kid, who has unlimited energy, and me with the tank heading to Empty. This week we did a lot of new studying and tried a lot of new techniques to help our investigators to progress. We have had a long stretch of women who are recently separated because their husbands have abused them. It brought my reading in Ether and Moroni to life, because as Moroni described the perversity of the people I was drawn back to the experiences that these people tell us that they have passed through. The good thing is that there is a solution. His name is Jesus Christ, and He has provided the way that all of us can be healed; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I know that He suffered for us to be able to find relief and peace in this life and the next. He is Our Savior. I finished the Book of Mormon this week, and read from Ether 12 to Moroni 10 They are always talking about Faith, Hope, Charity, Patience, Humility, and Love. There is no substitute in days like ours that are similar in wickedness to those of old than to move forward seeking these gifts of the Spirit, and attributes of our Savior. If we want to change the world we have to start with us. That's what missionary work is: Carrying our light into the darkness and shining it forth. I love this work and I dont want to ever part from it. This is only the beginning of my mission. Two years dedicated to learning how to be a missionary, and finally near the end I am figuring things out, and I can see the impact and power of this work on people.

Gotta go keep moving forward, and putting my shoulder to the wheel and all that jazz. I love you all and wish you the best, Read your Scriptures, they will afford you strength and protection, Pray to know the truth of all things and put your life more in line with the Gospel, and seek after the good gifts that the Lord wants to give you, Attend your church meetings, and search the answer to your questions and share your experiences with others, they probably needed to hear something you have had happen to you. Magnify your calling, by not just completing but over achieving the minimum. Go the extra mile, and help someone in need. you will be rewarded for every sacrifice you make with an even bigger blessing.

With Love
Elder Ben Ludlow

August 29, 2011

Hi mommy! guess what. I´m 21!

had a good week, worked real hard. Dont know if you will be able to write me in time but I dont have much to report, just that we worked REALLY REALLY HARD this week. We had a complete opposite of last week. but we also tried to baptize suddenly a few investigators. Its didnt work out so well. but we tried. This week we gotta keep working and even harder. Its all that I have left. Work work work its the secret to happiness.

Im stoked for this week, and we will see what kind of surprises it presents me. we can never know

love

your son

Elder Ben Ludlow