First Proselyting Trip

Hola Famlilia!!


I am glad to see that all of you decided to write me this week! I was very excited to read what you all had to say and you all had...nothing! What is up with that? I get one day a week and you give me nada? Ok now that the chastisement is over, how are you all doing??!! I miss you all very much!!


It is good here in Peru still nice and hot siempre. [siempre: always; all the time] Hoy [hoy: today] I went to the Interpol service place thing, and had to get all my fingerprints taken and my teeth looked at. I have to have residency to stay here and those are some of the requirements.


Well like I have said before, here they just get right into the swing of things. On Saturday we went proselyting to the city of Cinineguilla and boy what a culture shock. The people here live in nothing. It is all dirt and there are gross stray dogs running everywhere and garbage. It was very strange. Most of the houses were just thatched together with woven lattice type stuff and some plywood. They are not really protected from the environments at all either. They don’t really have roofs and no windows; it is all just open. Our first family we taught had been inactive for 7 years. She and her husband work all the time and have three kids; the youngest is three. She was very unresponsive to our teachings and did not have much to say. However it was very interesting still because it was just an awkward situation. Even more interesting was during the lesson at least three separate times she whipped out her breasts and started feeding her youngest. Wow talk about awkward and strange... so we made it through that crisis and started talking with people trying to find our next house. We talked to a woman who had never heard of the church before. We committed her to reading the Book of Mormon and to going to church!! It was cool. Our last contact of the day was the most touching experience I have ever had. His name is José and he lives in a dirt floor shack in the back of someone’s house. He has one tiny light and a camp stove. This place is like a camp site with a roof. This man is about 4 ft tall and is 95 yrs old. He lives there all alone and he has no teeth. He is nearly blind and deaf. We offered him a blessing and he accepted. He told us a little about his life there. He cannot go to church because he cannot make it all the way down to the church, it is about 20 min walk, and he is physically unable. He cannot work; he had no money and no food or water. I gave him my water bottle and we talked with him some more. It was very hard to understand him because he is so old and he has no teeth. He is a very nice old man and continued to tell us that he cannot eat anything and all he gets is soup form the lady everyday; maybe twice a day if he is lucky. All the clothes he has are on his back, and no one in the pueblo is able to help. My heart cried for this man. Never in my life had I seen anything like it. He thanked us many times, and as we went to leave he thanked us again and began to cry. We were the only visitors he has had in two years. I felt sad and sick... it was an amazing experience and I loved it but every day since I have thought about José and how alone he is and just his situation. The conditions are awful.


Anyways everything else is great!! Please write!! I love you all so so so so so so much!!! Please forward to everyone!! Make sure Grandma Blackwell is in the loop.


I Love you all!! I hope your birthday was a good one Hannah!! I love you.


Elder JETT Hudson

hola familia!

Greetings from the HOT and humid; no snow here. It is beautiful and totally different being in this environmemt. Today is preparation day which is why I am writimg you:)

Troy Note: I asked Jett about when he receives letters and emails...

On the letters, I can get letters anytime but they only send them out once a week. (Pouch Mail goes out once per week) I e-mail once a week and honestly the spanish is wracking my brain so hard I dont think about much else than what is happening in the mission. Here they just throw you right into it.

I have taught two discussions a day with my companion for the last week and even have to teach one tonight! Talk about pressure and frustration woo!! I get so frustrated because I have so much to say and want to share and I just don't have the ability. It is ok. With patience, hard work and a HUGE blessing from the Lord, I know I will learn spanish. It is frustrating at the moment but I know it will pass.

Today I went to the temple here in Lima. What an experience!! We had 23 Latinos receive their endowments today!! I woke up at five and didn't get back until 2. It was amazing going through a session in spanish though. I am so glad I went to the temple as much as possible gefore I left! I understood what was happeneing and going on the whole time; I just can not pronounce any of the words. :) haha However I was lucky enough to have my companion receiving his endowment today. I was his escort. :) It was a great experience; the spirit was so strong and from the moment I saw the temple to the very end I was fighting tears. It is amazing to see the lord's work fulfilled and the people here receiving the sacred ordinances and making important commitments. The people here are incredible!! It was amazing.

Afterwards, because it took so long, we had to walk back, in the heat, in suits for 20 min. It was HOT! It was a very eye opening experience to walk through the city. I bought a bottle of water in spanish. The stores are just so different. It is such a different way of life here. So far I have eaten octopus, yes seafood, and well the rest of the menu consisits of rice and chicken and potatoes... always. It is good though. The rice is way better than anything in th US and I have not been sick!! :)

So the CCM (Peru MTC?) is great. We had a devotional last night and I had to sing in a trio a song that one of the latinos in my room wrote for everyone and a member of the 70, in spanish of course. Wow that was different. It was just a tune with words. No music or anything. It went well but everything here is just so different!

Thank you for the up date on In-n-Out! (In-N-Out is looking in to having a restaurant in Draper. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11683841/) I wore my t-shirt last night and everyone was like, "ah! I love In-N-Out. I miss it!!" It is good to know that they are wise enough to think of their biggest fan :)

I played my first game of soccer in probably about six years. I am not too bad. In fact I even had a goal, and I even kinda like soccer... I know I said it. Well my time here is short and I have more I want to say but it will have to wait.

Thank you all for all the love and support. I love you all so so so so so so so so much!!!!!!!! I hope to hear from you soon in a letter but if not there is always next week :) I love you ALL!

Much love!!

Elder Hudson

Troy Note: For those who did not know, Jett and I drove 300 miles to St George so we could eat at the In-N-Out Burger joint there. I bought him an In-N-Out Burger T-Shirt.

Letters, Packages & Email

TROY NOTE: I am in contact with someone who knows someone that can get packages to Jett... Check back for details!

EMail from Jett. RE: Contact and packages:

"As far as packages go don't send them; they are way too expensive to claim and it takes FOREVER to get them. I can receive e-mail from anyone and reply to anyone but I only have 30 min a week to do so. All mail comes within about a week i am told, so send encouragement and love my way and encourage others to do the same :)

... thank you so much for everything Dad and keep off the hard stuff;)"

Much Love Your favorite Elder,
Elder Jett Hudson

MTC - Lima, Peru 12 Feb 2009

Hola!!
Hello family!! I am in Lima Peru!! On another continent!! How Crazy is that!? Well I made it safely to the MTC here at approximately oh three in the morning and my lovely energetic and enthusiastic new companion Elder Nicho woke me up for the day at six!! WOO!! We are two hours ahead here and I am feeling the effects of no sleep as well as the time difference. On the plane to Lima I sat next to an elder named Elder Bakker, He is an awesome elder and we really hit it off. I fell asleep on the flight for a total of like oh thirty minutes?? When I woke up Elder Bakker was teaching Charlie, the guy sitting next to him on our row, the first lesson!! I of course being a missionary :) joined in the teaching. He is very interested and we gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to reading it and outlined and marked specific passages for him to read, which he read on the flight. It was a cool experience. I love teaching the gospel!

Then I got the rude awakening landing in Lima; there is no English here! HAHA WOW you can not teach very well when you can not speak their language. However I know I am doing what is right and that God sent me here for a reason. I keep reassuring myself this is going to be hard but I know the Lord will bless me through my faith and I have to turn it over to Him. Today was my first Peruvian breakfast! My first breakfast ever eating pork ribs, platano chips ??, and a bowl full of yogurt, really it was exactly like tubby custard. It was strange but it was good. The weather here is incredible. I am loving it!! Once i get over this language barrier I may never come home! just kidding. I will come home I miss ALL of you very much!! I love you all and am so grateful for all the support you have shown me thus far, but keep it coming!! :)

To send me letters via POUCH mail send it to

Elder Mark (or Jett I guess), Hudson
Lima North
Lima Peru MTC
PO box 30150
SLC UT 84130-0150

I think you all already have that but there you go. Also regular mail to

Apartado Postal 12-167
Lima 12- Peru
Elder Jett Hudson
Lima Peru North
Av. Melgarejo 159
Urb. campo Verde
La Molina, Lima, Peru

I love you all so so so so so so so much!!! Write soon! Thank you all so much!!! I LOVE YOU!!

E-Mail Letter to Family - 2/4/09

From: Mark Hudson

Date: 02/04/09 07:39 pm

Hello Family! !
I see you have not e-mailed me yet. It's OK though no big deal. Well anyway since i have 1/2 hr to write an email i will write you now. So how is the family doing??thank you for all your letters!! It is hard for me to respond very promptly and often because i only get one day a week to do so, but the letters are very appreciated! It really helps so much!! i never thought a letter would make so happy in my entire life!! The recording is awesome I LOVE IT and it almost makes me cry to hear it, the music is such an awesome help and inspiration so thank you thank you thank you!!!

Well i have 2 weeks down and one to go until i am in Peru, i have a direct flight to Lima i leave at 8:55 AM and land 11:55 PM.. Woo Hoo!! what an adventure that will be!!

Here in the MTC we go to what is called the RC or the referral center. We make calls to nonmembers who have received pass along cards or who have ordered something from the church. My first time doing it was last week and it was amazing. I called what seemed like thousands of people but no one wanted to listen to what i had to say. or was not home. Finally it was time to leave .. I said a very prompt and pleading prayer for someone to listen to me! when i finished a name of a woman living in LA came up on the screen and right when my instructor said to sign off i hit dial.. bad huh? Already disobeying .. The spirit had prompted me to call her and it was incredible!! One of the first things she said was it is so glad to know that someone cares.. how sad and pleading it sounded to me, being full of the spirit and super excited i bore my testimony. She said she was glad i had called and was very interested in meeting with the missionaries. You can imagine my response. :) I quickly got some help from one of the instructors in the RC and we located a church and the number for the bishop. While talking to this woman, Roxana, she told me she had been to church a couple times back in 2006,she told me how she has just been praying and praying. I asked her why, and she said she doesn't know where her husband is and she is not in contact with her kids.. my heart broke .. I never before have felt such a strong compassion and worry for someone i didn't even know or let alone could not see. It was the spirit and how amazing of a feeling that was. I could truly feel the mantle of love for this woman and i was on fire, literally i felt so warm and fuzzy throughout my entire body, it was incredible!! i set up for her to go to the church this Sunday and gave her the number to the bishop so she could meet with the missionaries. I bore my testimony again and wished her the best, and then asked if i could call back later to see how she was doing and to share a message with her. she said yes. :) WOW what a feeling!! the spirit was so strong! I felt like i could Fly!! it was awesome and my first investigator!! It is amazing here and the spirit is so strong. Please give all my love and concern to the ENTIRE family i love you all and please keep sending letters!!! I miss you all but know that this is the best thing i could be doing and no greater work is there than that of The Lord's. i hope everything is well with all of you you are all in my prayers!

ADIOS FAMILIA!!!

Love, Elder Jett Hudson
P.S. My e-mail is markjhudson®myldsmail.net. it is the fastest way to communicate with me, drop me a line!! I Love You!! Happy Birthday Hannah!! You are incredible and i miss you sooo much!!! your letters mean so much to me and I love you more than you could ever know. Be good and keep getting smarter! But stop that growing
thing;) Happy Birthday i hope to hear from you soon!!!