December 27, 2010

Bonne Fette!

Joyeux Noel, tout le monde! I hope you all had a great Christmas this year and were able to feel the love of the Savior even more abundantly during this season. So.. my first Christmas in France!

It was strange not being home or around my family for Christmas, but everything that wasn't there for Christmas this year was filled by enormous amounts of FOOD! We ate at members houses multiple times, and they cook to feed armies when they have the missionaries over. It's ridiculous! I probably gained a few pounds this weekend, but it's ok because I think I've lost a good twelve pounds since I've been out here (yes, despite all the French pastries). In France, they eat seafood mostly for Christmas. I thought it was kind of strange, but I wasn't complaining! On Christmas Eve we ate with the Pleitain family with our investigator Marcelline. It was really sweet, especially since Marcelline probably would have done nothing for Christmas Eve if we hadn't invited her. Christmas day, we ate at the Aslan's with a whole bunch of members and also stayed to play games. We played white elephant (but in French they call it a Chinese Auction) and I ended up with a showerhead that has built-in LED lights that light up the water as it comes out, and it changes colors with the temperature of the water. I was pretty stoked, and we've already installed it in our shower haha.

We ate at with the Giacomin family Sunday and the dad is a chef for the Bishop's restaurant, so needless to say, it was amazing! This year it was a lot easier for me to not get caught up in the worldly part of Christmas. Christmas is to celebrate and remember the greatest gift that was ever given to the world, which is our Savior Jesus Christ. And as we remember Jesus Christ, we think of his infinite love and charity for every single person he came in contact with. I had the opportunity to go around with Elder Call and give cookies that we made to homeless people on the street. I remarked something that was interesting, in that there were many who acted very grateful for our gift, and others that didn't want anything from us and even got mad at us for offering. We often talk about how giving is the best part of Christmas, and not receiving, but how can others give to us if we don't accept their gift? Receiving is just as important! I think that often times we are too prideful to accept the service or gifts that others offer us. Being a missionary, I see that a lot! We share the message of Christ and Eternal Life, which is the greatest gift of all, and we get rejected day after day. I guess the little message I'm trying to get across is that not only do we need to be charitable, but we need to be grateful and accepting of the charity people offer us! Christ has paid the ultimate price for our sins and has offered us the greatest gift in the world, but there are always two parts of a gift exchange: giving and receiving. Let's show our gratitude for Christ by accepting Him, and living the principles He has taught us every day of our lives, so that we can RECEIVE the gift that he gives us, and let's also be more grateful for others and their charity towards us by letting down our pride and letting others give their service and charity to us, especially during this Christmas season. I promise that as we do this, we'll feel the Spirit more abundantly in our lives adn we'll have a greater desire to exercise our own charity. I love you! Bonne semaine! Que Dieu soit avec vous!

Love,

Elder Tudor

December 21, 2010

Zone Christmas Party

Joyeux Noel!
Bonjour tout le monde! Transfer calls were Friday..... and I'm staying in Nice! I'm glad because I already know the ward here and I can have a good Christmas with the members. I'm excited! Also, I received a new companion: Elder Graham from Spanish Fork. He was serving in Pau before he came here. He's pretty old in the mission and only has a few transfers left. I'm super happy to be companions with him! I've only been with him one day now, but I can tell he's going to be an awesome companion,and he's just a super nice guy. And the rest of the apartment is still the same, with Elders Dorton and Call staying here. This weekend we've got all kinds of invitations to eat with the members and celebrate Christmas. I'm excited to eat plenty of Buche de Noel. This past week was a good week. We didn't really have a lot of success as far as numbers ago, but we felt like we worked hard and at the end of the week. Saturday night we went (us and the other companionship) Christmas caroling for our investigators and less actives. We sang, gave them sugar cookies that we made,and gave them a Joy to the World DVD. It was super fun! We visited one of our old investigators, Nelito, who was going to be baptized last month, but then he said he didn'thave time. He was super happy to see us, and he even came to church the next day and we're going to see him this week! A little singing and gift giving goes a long way in missionary work apparently haha. But that was a huge blessing, and I'm so excited for him to continue and progress. I spent all of Monday in Marseilles waiting for Elder Graham to arrive on the train. I was with three other Elders, and we went and saw Notre Dame de la Gare, and ate "the best" kebab in Marseilles. Then I met up with Elder Graham at the train station and we got to Nice around 7 p.m. We had a rendez-vous right then. I felt bad for Elder Graham because we went right to a rdv and he was probably exhausted from starving all day, but he's a soldier. I love working with him! Right now I have some more responsibility because I know the area andour investigators,and he doesn't. I'm pretty excited to be able to do more of the work than I was doing and have more responsibility. Well I gotta go, but I love you all! Merry Christmas! During Christmas, remember the greatest gift that was ever given, which was the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ for us all. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died for us all, and most importantly, that He lives! Let us think often of him this week and strive to have the pure love of Christ with us always and look to help and support others as He did. Remember, "Every good gift cometh of Christ" Moroni 10:18. Bonne fetes!

Love,
Elder Tudor

Pictures...

Planting trees in Aix-en-Provence

Dressed up as a mannequin at a Halloween party

Visiting Marcelline and baby Nova

Edvin's Baptism

Monaco

Monaco bling diamond flash drive

Some sort of deliciousness

Missionaries of Nice

December 13, 2010

Edvin's Baptism
Bonjour à tous!
This Saturday, I had the sacred opportunity to attend Edvin's baptism. It was incredible! It was my first time seeing a baptism on my mission. The service was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. So many members showed up to support him, and his mom, brother, and one of his friends came too! We started by singing Joy to The World (he loves Christmas Hymns haha), then we heard a couple talks from members about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then Elder Blosil performed the baptism, and another member and I were the witnesses. After that, Edvin told us he wanted to take the opportunity to share his testimony. I was truly touched by his testimony. He is a spiritual giant, and he has been prepared from the foundation of the world! He invited the rest of his family to be baptized during his testimony. He wants them to experience what he has so badly. We've actually already started teaching his family. During the baptism I was reflecting on the progress that he has made in the past month. I thought of the crucial moments in his conversion, and it was always when he said he felt the Holy Ghost confirm his prayer or comfort him when he needed it. I better realized my role as a missionary. All we did was teach, bear testimony, and invite. As he made the efforts on his part by keeping his committments, it was the Spirit that converted him and confirmed to him that the Book of Mormon was true, or that Joseph Smith was a prophet, or that he needed to be baptized. All we did was invite, and the Spirit, along with his efforts, did the rest. I also reflected on what will become of him after his baptism. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, reception of the Holy Ghost, and ENDURE TO THE END. The baptism was amazing, but I'm even more excited for him to endure to the end - to become an awesome member, go to the temple, serve a mission, etc. Baptism isn't the end, it's just the beginning, and the Gospel is all about improving yourself every day. I'm so excited for him! And I pray that he will continue to endure and progress in the Gospel. Sunday, I had the opportunity to participate in the conferring of the Gift of the Holy Ghost (which was done by one of the members who Edvin has become friends with). Edvin told us he instantly felt the difference and he felt the companionship of the Holy Ghost. So cool! That night we ate at a member's house and we invited him to come with us. On the bus ride over, I mentioned to him that he could serve a mission if he wanted to (he's 20). As soon as I said that he got super excited, and he wou ldn't stop talking about it! Then at the member's house, the member asked him what he's doing right now in life. He told her that he's gonna finish some school, then serve a mission. What??? He's the man! We explained to him a little more how it works on the way home and he's going to talk to the bishop about it and all. He can't at least for a year I think, but he's ok with that. What a stud. He talks to all his friends about the Gospel already. He's an amazing example to me of humbleness and willingness to follow and serve the Lord. Elder Blosil and I can't stop talking about it. It's interesting how when people are truly converted, they just want to share it with everyone else! He reminds me of Alma and the Sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to find more like him! I'm out of time, so til next week! I love you all! Happy Holidays!

Love,
Elder Tudor

December 6, 2010

It's a Girl!

Cher tout le monde,
Interesting/fantastic week! I'm loving my mission more and more each day, I'm loving our investigators more every day, I'm loving the ward more every day, and I'm loving the people more every day (even when they yell at me that we're a sect :)). It's amazing how mad some people can get just when you say hi to them on the street! Haha but anyways, this week went really well. Edvin is still on track to be baptized this Saturday!!! (the 11th) He's going to be such a strong member. He's already doing missionary work haha. He talks to all his friends and neighbors about the Church and invites them to church, his baptism, and to meet with us. So all is going well with Edvin still, but I think the highlight of this week goes to our investigator named Marcelline. She is about 35 years old and is from Madagascar. She lives with her little boy named Livio and isn't married. She's super sweet, super humble, and super pregnant. We knew she was going to have a baby sometime soon, but she said it would be near the end of December. Then on Friday night we get a call from her saying that she's in the hospital and that she's having the baby that night! I think she was even having contractions when she called! We had no idea what to say to her haha. We were just shocked (and a little terrified haha) that she called us. Here we are, two 19 year old boys, with no experience at all as far as childbirth goes, and we're the first people she calls. She wanted us to come in that night to visit her before she had the baby, but we had some rendez-vous. Haha I have no idea what we would have done! But anyways, she calls us again the next day to tell us that she had the baby at 11 o'clock Friday night and that it's a girl! Woo hoo! Haha after we talked to her on the phone, we started wondering what we should have said. Elder Blosil kept saying, "I didn't even ask how much it weighed!" Haha, we don't know what to say. But she told us she'd like for us to come visit, so Sunday night we stop by the hospital to visit her. On the way to her room we saw a lady sitting in a chair having contractions. ça m'a fait peur! Haha I never thought I'd be in the maternity section of the hospital on my mission. But we got to her room finally and she was so happy to see us. It was really cool. I felt bad that she had no one else, but I was glad that we were there and I could tell how happy it made her. We took pictures, chatted, shared a spiritual thought, and then we offered to give her a blessing. She said she'd love one, and then when we asked who she would like to give it, she asked me if I would. I was really touched, and probably just as much nervous. I'd only ever given one blessing before this, and it was in English. I prayed so hard that I could express what Heavenly Father wanted me to say in French, and that my lack of ability to speak the language wouldn't impede the blessing. But as soon as I laid my hands on her head and started speaking, my fear left. I felt so natural and at ease. It was really bizarre because I was so anxious before. There wasn't one moment during the blessing when I wanted to express something but I couldn't. To me, it was a miracle. The Spirit was strong, and even if Marcelline hadn't understood anything I said, I know she would have felt the love of her Heavenly Father and heard the things she needed to hear through the Spirit. It's in moments like that one when I realize just how much Heavenly Father loves us. I'm so thankful for the Priesthood that He has given us so he can bless His children through those that hold it. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father answered my prayers and sent His Spirit to comfort me and make up for my weaknesses in that moment. I have a strong testimony of the Power of the Priesthood and of the hand of the Lord in His work. I see it every day, and it's such a blessing. The hand of the Lord is in all of our lives, and if we look for it, we will see it, and we will see just how blessed we are. I love you all and I'm so thankful for your support. You're amazing!

Bonne semaine!
Elder Tudor

December 1, 2010

Bonjour à tous!
J'espere que vous avez passé une bonne semaine! I had an interesting week! First of all, I had my first Thanksgiving outside of the United States. It was weird waking up on Thanksgiving and being one of the few who even knew it was Thanksgiving haha. But a few of the members decided to acknowledge Thanksgiving with us and we had a Thanksgiving dinner at the church. Each companionship invited an investigator (Edvin came) and it was super cool. It wasn't exactly an American Thanksgiving turkey dinner, mais ce n'est pas grave. Well actually it was pretty close. We started with a salad, then we had some turkey and some other meat (not quite sure) and mashed potatoes. Then we had some sweet potatoe casserole (not with sweet potatoes, but regular potatoes baked in sugar and marshmallows) made by the sister missionaries. I loved it! But the French people were appauled at the thought of it. I watched Edvin as he tasted it, and he instantly gagged! It was hilarious. Most of them didn't even try it. Then they started to go on about how crazy Americans are and that they don't know how to cook haha. Then we ate some of Elder Call's grandma's, apparently famous, apple pie and some pumpkin pie. So there you go, I celebrated Thanksgiving in France! Being the companion of the District Leader, I'm kind of all over the place because he has to do an exchange with each Elder in teh district each transfer. It kind of sucks because I love workign with Elder Blosil, but it's alright! I learn so much from exchanges and I get to know more missionaries and how they work and learn from them. So I was in Cannes two times this week (because there is a threesome there and Elder Blosil went on exchange with two of them). Cannes is beautiful! There are a lot of old people there. I think everyone goes there to retire. The work is going well here! Elder Blosil and I have four people currently committed to baptism. Edvin the 11th, Nelito (sweet portuguese guy) the 18th, and Marcelline and Semere the 15th of January. We're working our hardest to keep them committed and on the path! I realize more and more every day just how much this really is the Lord's work. I'm reminded of the scripture I chose for my missionary plaque Alma 26:12 - "Yea, I know that I am anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will bnot boast of myself, but I will cboast of my God, for in his dstrength I can do all ethings;" I've started realizing just how little I can do without the Lord, but also, how much I CAN do with His help if I let him. It's easy to want to do everythign yourself as a missionary. But there's only so much you can do, and you have to let the Lord do the rest. It's like the story of the Brother of Jared. He asked the Lord to show him how to make light in the boats, and the Lord said "What would you have me do?" rather than handing him the answer or doing it for him. Most of the time, the Lord leaves us to do all that we can to accomplish our goals, get through our difficulties, or overcome problems. And after we have done all we can, he makes up for what we cannot do. In the case of the Brother of Jared, teh Bro of Jared went and found a way to fix the problem by making the stones, but it was the Lord that finished the job for him and touched them to make them light up. I know that if we work our hardest to follow the Lord and overcome our difficulties, the Lord will help us through. But if we just sit around and do nothing, we have no promise. We can pray all we want for something, but if we do nothing to obtain it, we will never reach it. For "Faith wihtout works is dead." We show our Faith in the Lord and his ability to help us by first taking the initiative, in faith, knowing and trusting that he will compensate for our weaknesses after we have tried our hardest. I know that Ammon didn't convert thousand of Lamanites just because he trusted in the Lord, but he worked for it and the Lord gave him success!

Je vous aime tous! Passez une bonne semaine!
Elder Tudor

November 22, 2010

Cher tout le monde,
Allo! This week just flew by. Wow. I've only got a few minutes to write, sorry! We went to Monaco last monday. It was so sweet! We ate at the Bishop's pizza place that he owns there. Super good! And we all ate for free. I had a pizza covered in ham and eggs. Haha you don't see that in America. Monaco is pretty ridiculous. Within the first five minutes, we saw probably 6 ferraris, a few aston martin's, and a Mercedes Mclaren. It's a beautiful city, and everyone there is way too rich haha. I'll send some pictures next week, but we looked in some store windows at some of the crazy stuff for sale. For example, there was a diamonded crusted flashdrive and iPod shuffle. "Look honey! Now all your files can be encased in diamonds!" Haha, I don't get it. But anyways, Monaco was cool, and we got to walk around the casino (not the gambling floor though, haha). We talked to the guy at the door to the gambling room, and he told us all the famous people he had seen in his 20 years there. Including President Reagen, Bush, a few of the James Bonds, famous athletes, he just kept going on and on. This week, one of the members is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for us Americans and we're all inviting an investigator. I'm stoked! It will be interesting to see how the French interpret a Thanksgiving dinner. But anyways, the work went pretty well this week. We weren't able to find as many new investigators as we wanted, but we've got a lot of 1st lessons set up for this week so we're pretty excited about that. And our investigator Edvin is progressing like crazy! He comes to all the church activities and meetings and just loves it. He's been to institute the last two weeks, and he read the institute manual on eternal marriage and told us he read about the law of chastity and that he was willing to follow it if it's necessary for baptism. I love that guy! Everything is going well for him to be baptized the 11th. We're so blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with one of his elect. I'm so excited to continue to see him progress and learn and receive all the blessings that are in store for him! We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Teixeira, a 70, this week in Aix. It was pretty awesome to be taught by a General Authority. I swear he was just making up his lesson as he went, but it was some of the best instruction I've ever received! He had time to interview a few Elders at the end, but unfortunately I didn't get an interview with him. That would have been sweet! Well I gotta go. Sorry about the short email. I'll save more time next week. Love you all!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

November 15, 2010

Salut,
Well, after another week filled with crazy people, wonderful people, running to appointments, speaking French, trying to understand French, Chinese food, the occasional French meal, appointments falling through, amazing appointments, disappointments, and countless miracles -- I think I'm ready for another! I'm loving it here. It continues to be the hardest thing I've ever done but also the most satisfying and worthile! i had an awesome exchange with Elder Dorton this week in my sector. I was pretty nervous at first because we had a lot of first lessons planned and both of us our new - and I was the senior companion because we were in my sector. You learn to take responsibility real fast as a missionary! One of our appointments was with a 20 year old Muslim guy named Mohamed and his friend (girl) Sira who was about his age. Muslims like to argue about prophets and Jesus Christ a lot so I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't fully understand them when they had concerns and that the lesson wouldn't really go anywhere, but we went in with Faith and optimism. We started teaching them and they were both quite interested, but Mohamed was very opinionated about his own beliefs and kind of disrupted the lesson at times, but Sira was super open and loved what she was hearing. So we continued on, and right before we got to Joseph Smith and the Restoration, Mohamed left and said he'd be back in a few minutes. I wasn't sure if I should wait for him to come back or continue with Sira. I was prompted to continue, so off we went. Sira totally related to the Joseph Smith story, it was so awesome! She explained to us how she knows the truth is on the earth, or that there is more truth, and she wants to know where it is. The Spirit was super strong when I recited the first vision. After, she explained to us that she knows the Lord's representatives are on the earth, she just doesn't know where! She believes we are, and that we speak the truth, but she has to find out for herself first, which is awesome! And of course, that is why the Lord gave us the Book of Mormon, to testify of Christ and the fulness of His Gospel, and to testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness! We invited her to read a chapter and pray to know if all this is true. I'm excited to follow up with her. We had another awesome first lesson Saturday morning with a 20 year old guy named Edvin, who was born in Albania, but has lived in France basically all his life (we think). It was at the church, and Elder Dorton and I missed the bus, so we ran basically all the way up the hill to the church in our suits and it was super hot haha. Not fun! But definitely worth it. So we finally got there and thankfully he was there. The Spirit was super strong right from the beginning. He explained to us how he's had a lot of bad experiences in his past, especially with his family, and he wants to be healed from those. Wow, what a time to testify of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testified to him of the reality of Christ's sacrifice for us and his power to heal. I've never felt the Spirit so strong while speaking. I don't even remember really what I said, I just remember what I felt. That basically set the tone for the rest of the lesson. We ended up discussing baptism most of the time, and at one point I was prompted to just straight up ask him if he would be baptised into our Church and he said yes, then accepted a date for the 11 December. This guy has been searching for the Gospel, that is for sure. He told us he feels like he's not sure what he's doing right now and needs a new start, and that he can't wait for his baptism. He's already invited family! Haha what a stud. I'm praying that he'll continue to progress and prepare for his baptism. I can tell that he is sincere when he says he wants to be baptised. Yesterday he came to church in a suit, white shirt, and tie! He's legit! During the lesson in the investigators sunday school class, he asked if he needed to give up doing magic tricks to join the church, and if he had to, he would. Haha super random, but he's so humble and just so willing to follow the Lord and do whatever it takes to do it. I can't wait to keep teaching him and see him progress! He played volleyball at the church with all the guys in the ward saturday afternoon too which was sweet. He's already making friends with the members! Well I'm about to catch a train to Monaco. Sorry of this email was scattered and random. A lot happened this week! I love you all! Bonne semaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

November 8, 2010

"Je reste à Nice (I remain in Nice)!"

Bonjour tout le monde, Transfer calls were this last Friday, and I'll be staying at least another 6 weeks here in Nice and Elder Blosil is still my companion. I'm stoked! I finally know the city and the ward well, so I'm super excited to stay here another transfer. This week was a little bit crazy. I spent Tuesday night in Aix, took the train to Toulouse Wednesday morning where we had "La Conference des Bleus" (conference for the noobs). I got to see my district from the MTC (except the Cote d'Ivoire ones) again which was sweet. We all sang together like old times. When we first got there we had a medical exam which allows us to live in France for a year. Je ne sais pas. But after that we were instructed by the assistants Elder Miller and Elder Birk. Elder Miller dies this week which is pretty sad (which means he goes home this week, not really dying). But I found out that Elder Geoff Ritter (Rytter?), whom I went to high school with, is the new assistant. Then we were also instructed by "President Carter" (french accent) and his wife. That night we took the train to Marseille and stayed in Aix for the night again, then returned to Nice the next morning. Lots of traveling! Then on Friday and Saturday I was on exchange with Elder Call in Nice - he demonstrated how to cassé a Jehovah's Witness with their own Bible which was pretty awesome. Haha he's insane. So I was basically only with my real companion a few days during the week because he stayed in Nice while I went with the other Bleus to Toulouse, so the week felt kind of weird. Well a new transfer is here. I can't believe I've been in the field six weeks... has it really been that long? Has it only been that long? Time is weird on a mission. But I'm loving it! I'm stoked for this transfer. We're determined to have a baptism this transfer. We've been working like crazy, but I guess we're going to have to work harder. I know we can see miracles if we put our Faith in God, then go to work! We have an investigator named Semere who is the coolest guy. He doesn't speak French or English very well at all. So when he speaks to us it's a mix of mostly French and English phrases, with probably at least three other languages thrown in there every once in awhile. Understanding that guy is a workout. He's the man though. He's come to church every week since we met him. Our first rendez-vous with him we taught him the word of wisdom because he told us he wants to stop smoking. He took out all his cigarettes and just broke them in half and threw them on the ground (we were outside on a bench) and he hasn't smoked since then! (It's been two weeks). Today we asked him if he had smoked since that day, and he pulled out two big packs of gum and said "these are my cigarettes now." He's a stud. He doesn't have a permanent home nor very much money, but he's happy. And since we've been meeting with him and he's been coming to church, I can see him getting happier and happier. He can't really understand much at all of what is said at church or what we say to him, but for some reason he keeps coming and still wants to meet with us. It's truly a miracle and a manifestation that the SPIRIT teaches people, not us. We've just got to do all we can do invite the Spirit, and it will testify the truthfulness of our message to the hearts of the people and bring them feelings of peace, comfort, and joy. We can hardly communicate with Semere in speaking, but I know that the Spirit can communicate to him all that he needs to know. We are finally getting a Book of Mormon in his language (Amharic?) this week. I'm stoked! Je souhaite une bonne semaine à vous tous (I wish you all a good week). à la prochaine ('til next time)! Je vous aime (I love you).

beaucoup d'amour,
Elder Tudor

November 1, 2010

Bonjour à tout! It was kind of a crazy week! I went on two exchanges. The first was on Wednesday with Elder Zobiri and we stayed in Nice. E Zobiri is from Paris and speaks only French, so that was an awesome experience to work with a native and speak only French all day long! Then after zone training on Friday in Aix-en-Provence, I went on exchange with Elder Yang (one of the Zone Leaders in Aix) for Friday night and Saturday. Holy cow, Aix-en-Provence is beautiful! Saturday morning we did a service project for a family in the ward there. They have a plot of land in the countryside where they're going to build a house, and we went there with the other Elders in Aix and planted 100 of these little trees called "charms" for them. They are obsessed with these trees! haha. We also cut down a bunch of huge cherry trees that were overgrown. It was pretty fun and we got to see the beautiful countryside. The wine vineyards in the fall are all orange and red and they're all nestled between rolling hills with green trees. What a beautiful place! After that we had a couple rendez-vous and one of them was in Chinese (Elder Yang is a Chinese speaking missionary too). I didn't understand anything, but it was cool to be there and still feel the spirit that came even though I had no idea what was going on! Saturday night I returned to Nice and we went to "La Soiree d'Halloween" at the Chapel. I was surprised how many members came! Halloween is hardly celebrated in France. We as missionaries participated in most of the activities, and for one of them, everyone got to dress up me and E Blosil however they wanted from a pile of clothes. I looked pretty crazy! The best part was the leopard skin jacket they put on me. It's weird how well they knew my taste. Then E Blosil and I got to lead the kids through a little haunted house thing where they could touch the insides of a Mummy which were hot dogs and stuff. It was a fun night!
The work was a little crazy and scattered this week with all the exchanges and the zone training. We have an investigator named Hakim who is just awesome. He has a baptismal date for the 20th of November and I'm so stoked for him! He came to church yesterday and I sat with him during Sunday School. Afterwards he told me how much he felt the Spirit during the lesson and how good he felt. It was awesome to be able to testify to him that what he felt was the spirit and after baptism he will be able to have that feeling with him always! He seriously has such a great spirit. He's so humble and so willing to follow his heart and to follow Jesus Christ. This week my Faith increased greatly. I've been opening my mouth and it has been filled. I've felt the influence of the Spirit so much more since I've started showing my Faith more. I have a much stronger testimony of my calling and the power that it brings. We had a "mangez-vous" in Aix (eat at a member's house) with this super sweet Sister of about 40 and her 6 year old son. She explained to us during dinner how one of the Sister missionaires came back and visited her after her mission, and how something was very different when she saw this Sister missionary after her mission was over. She said there was a power missing when she talked with her and it just wasn't the same as it was when she was a missionary. It was pretty powerful to hear that testimony from a member. As a missionary, it's sometimes hard to feel the power and authority of your call because you're just used to being around it all day. But that strengthened my testimony so much about my calling. I know that I have been called by a prophet of God, and therefore by God, to be a representative of Jesus Christ and teach His word to His people. My calling is truly divine, and that knowledge helps me to open my mouth when I have fear and to keep going even when I feel like I could sleep for a day and a half straight. I know that this is the most important work that needs to be done in the world, and I'm honored to be called to the work!
Today we have a sweet p day planned. A member named Benjamin is going to the Church with us where he will teach us to make pain au chocolat, croissaints, and all kinds of French baking goodness. Then toinght we're going to Monaco to eat with a family who is friends with Elder Blosil's dad. It should be great! I'm so thankful for all of you. I think of you when I work and you motivate me to do my best work! I love you! à la semaine prochaine!

Love,
Elder "Tu dors"

Pictures

Me on the train to Nice my first day

This sweet Castle city we saw from the train

Me and Elder Blosil

The view from our apartment during the pouring rain

Me and E Blosil again

Me at my desk

Elder Call accidentally bought me black man shampoo,

I have greasy hair now!

église Russe! Shrimp chips, our favorite snack!
This is before they pop open.

The Russian Church in Nice

Marseille awesomeness- Beautiful!

Marseille at night from the train station-beautiful!

A little dinner we brought with us to Marseille and ate while waiting for the train

October 25, 2010 ~ What a Week!

Cher tout le monde,
I have so much I want to say... but I have a dang French keyboard! It takes me forever to type on this thing haha so this email will probably be short. This week was insane. We got 7 new investigators 4 of them are committed to be baptized on the 20th of November. The names of the ones with baptismal dates are Ying-Ying, a college student from China, Samir and Sanayt, a couple from Eritrea who are in their early 30's and have a baby girl (yeah, I don't think I had ever heard of that country before either haha), and Hakim who is a young student from Algeria. It's pretty amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared these people to receive the Gospel! We were teaching Samir and Sanayt about the plan of salvation the other day and we were talking about the three degrees of glory. We asked him to turn to 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the third heaven, and he had that verse marked in his Bible because he had questions about it. I''m pretty sure everyone else usually ignores that verse. So when we talked about the three degrees of glory it made perfect sense to him. Pretty awesome, especially since that is one of the hardest doctrines for people to accept about the plan of salvation because most people believe there's just heaven and hell. It's seriously amazing to find people who are elect and ready for the Gospel - it just needs to be brought to them! The French is coming along pretty well! It's hard for me to get up the courage to go contact people sometimes because I worry about being able to communicate. But I seriously need to stop being a baby about that. What do I have to lose? Nothing. What do they have to gain? Everything!!! I know my Faith and my French will improve as I throw myself out there. "The Spirit of the Lord is not the spirit of fear; but of peace, and love, and of a sound mind." I can't remember the reference on that, but I just remembered it. Well I have to go. Sorry this email wasn't very good! This keyboard is driving me insane haha. Have a great week! Je prie pour vous! Je vous aime.

bisous bisous,
Elder Tudor

October 18, 2010 ~ Je ne sais pas (I don't know)

Bonjour à tous!
This week flew by! This e-mail will be short because the cafe closes for the night soon. We had a lot of success contacting this week, now we just need to get more lessons taught! We set up so many rendez-vous, but they often fall through. But we're not worried about it. There are definitely many elect people here, and we're teaching some of them. One of them is a couple from Portugal named Jacinto and Dina. They're some of the nicest people I've ever met! Two sundays ago, we went to pick up Jacinto for church, but he told us his family told him not to talk to us anymore and that he didn't want to see us anymore. We knew that Dina was out of a job and looking, so we searched around and asked the members for some help finding a job for her. We found a lot of sources and we just stopped by one night during the week and showed them what we found. Before we left, we asked Jacinto if he would be interested in receiving more lessons, and he responded with an enthusiastic yes! So we taught them again this week and Jacinto attended church with us! I learned a great lesson from this: ALWAYS be looking for ways to SERVE others!!! I know that Jacinto's heart was softened because of our efforts to help Dina find a job. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I should always be "going about doing good" just as He did. I know that simple service is one of the most powerful ways to show someone that we love them. I love the quote by President Hinckley, I'm not quite sure of the exact quote, but something along the lines of, "Do you want to be happy? Lose yourself in this work and in the service of others!" I know that the best way to find happiness is to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking of others! When we serve others we see that everyone needs help with their problems, not just ourselves, and soon we forget ourselves and our own problems and find happiness in helping others! And of course, when we're serving others, we're serving God and doing His work!I've met all kinds of people this week. It's insane how many people I talk to just in one day. I've met a lot of interesting people too. We met a man and his son on the street today who were delighted to chat with us. Both of them were sporting Van Halen shirts. They told us they were Catholic and weren't really interested in our Church, but the Dad told us he plays in a band called "Les Electriques Mormons" (The Electric Mormons) hahaha. There's a band name for ya! I wonder how they came up with that one. He didn't tell us that anyone in his band is Mormon. It's got a good ring to it though! Also, we were on the bus the other day contacting people, when this lady signaled me to come towards her. I came over as she fiddled around in her purse. Finally she pulled out this big badge, flashed it at me, and told me it was illegal to talk to people about God on the bus haha. We told her it was a public place and that we have every right to! Anyways, that was interesting. This week is going to be crazy. I think I'm going on exchange twice. Once will be with one of the Zone leaders, Elder Wilson. That will be awesome! Well the cafe is closing now. I love you all! Thanks for everything that you do and for all your support. Dieu vous benisse! Ciao!

Love,
Elder Tudor

October 12,2010 ~ Où niche l'hibou? (Where does the owl nest?)

Bonjour! What a week! My companion is district leader, which makes me "district monkey" according to Elder Call (an Elder in our apartment). So that means I get to go on lots of exchanges! On Tuesday, my comp went to Cannes and I stayed here in Nice with Elder Snickers (haha). He's as new as I am, but he already speaks French because he's from Quebec. It was interesting trying to find my way around Nice without Elder Blosil! I felt so lost but we did make it to all of our rendez-vous somehow. I enjoyed being with Elder Snickers. He's quite the guy! He almost got us stuck in an elevator more than one time, but it all worked out thankfully haha. Then on Friday I went on exchange in Marseilles with Elder Kirkpatrick, who was in the same district as me in the MTC. Two bleus walking around Marseilles, I'm not sure who planned that one! It was an awesome experience though. Both of us are new, so we just had to have faith and go for it. We actually were able to talk to people well and be effective despite our lack of experience with the language. I'm thankful for that experience because it pushed me way out of my comfort zone! When you're with your trainer, he's always there if you can't understand what people are saying, but we were just on our own! It was really cool and helped me to grow and also showed me that faith in the Lord truly brings power. Marseilles is quite an interesting city too. I think I'll just leave it at that haha.One thing I've learned this week, or I guess I should say relearned, is that this is God's work and he is truly at the head of it! My role is to do all I can to help it move forward, and he will make the rest fall into place. This week we had a new investigator to teach that we had contacted in the street. We set up a rendez-vous with him for Wednesday, but when we called to confirm his appointment he told us we had the wrong number and that he'd never met any missionaries before (people we contact say this from time to time), so we decided not to stop by his apartment and do something else with our time. Then on Sunday we were on a bus on our way to an appointment that we had confirmed, but we were running a little late so we called the investigator to let him know we would be late. To our disappointment, he told us he was at work and that we couldn't come by to teach him. So we contacted people on the bus for a little while then just got off at a random stop to figure out what we wanted to do. And guess who was sitting at that bus stop? The same guy we had the appointment with on Wednesday, the one we called to confirm and he said we had the wrong number. He told us he had waited for us on Wednesday and we never came by. It ended up that we had taken down his number wrong, so we really did call the wrong number! He was still interested in hearing our message though and gave us his right number and we're going to see him sometime this next week. That's pretty awesome. The Lord's work always moves forward despite our weaknesses as missionaries. In this case, we wrote down that guy's number wrong, but the Lord placed him in our path again! There's no way that is just a coincidence in such a big city! That experience was a great comfort to me and strengthened my testimony of just how much the hand of the Lord is present in our lives, especially as a missionary. I know that the Lord is always there to pick us back up and give us opportunities to get back on His path when we fall short or make mistakes. I also know that the Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he does wants us to always be learning, progressing, and striving to do our best! And I know that after all we can do, He is there to make up for the rest. I testify that this is true.Sorry this e-mail was kind of short, but this cafe is closing for lunch soon. This e-mail is a day late because we had zone conference in aix en provence yesterday so today is my p-day this week. Je vous aime! Thank you for all that you do for me! Til next week!

Love,
Elder Tudor

October 4, 2010 ~ Quelle Semaine! (What a week!)

Salut!
Wow, what a week! I've probably never been more tired, lost, and confused in my life than during this week haha, but it was awesome! I honestly don't know where to start, so I'm sorry if I start rambling about random things. I'm starting to get used to the city and know where I am, and I'm understanding the language better every day. They talk really fast, but I can hear all the words now. My comprehension doesn't really depend on how fast they're speaking, but more on their accents. Some people have some crazy accents! I had a good 5 minute conversation at the bus stop with a nice lady a couple days ago. It was cool! I can't wait until I can get to the point where I can talk to anyone and not have to worry about understanding what they'll say when I talk to them. But I can tell that will come soon! I love the people here! They like to keep to themselves, but when you initiate a conversation with them they're very polite and most of them will open up about anything. Actually, once you get them started it's hard to stop them sometimes haha. Some of people we walk up to and ask how they're doing just look at us like, > I guess people here don't really talk to someone they don't know unless they have to haha. But they're great! There are definitely people who have been prepared to receive the Gospel more than others. We've just got to find those that are prepared! It's our responsibility to do all we can to give people an opportunity to hear and accept our message, but it's always up to the people to listen to us. I love the ward too! Everyone is super nice to me and compliment me on my French (haha). But they do say I'm super far along for someone who hasn't even been here a week! I hope the Lord will continue to bless me in the language so I can be competent as soon as possible. All of the members love my name. 90% of the conversations I've had with them have been about my name. We either talk about how there are a lot of Tudors in France, or the Tudor kings in England, or my favorite, > which means > in French. So I get > a lot haha. All the members are really happy and chill. They like to bring their dogs and play outside the church between conference sessions. I now know how to command a dog in French and Russian haha (there's a man in our ward right now from Russia who is interested in learning the history of the Church in France, I'm not sure why. French with a Russian accent sounds interesting!). The work is going well here. Right now we don't have an investigator with a baptismal date, but we're planning on committing a few this week. I'm excited! There are 100 members in the ward in Nice, and they're very willing to help with missionary work which is great! They're all very strong and great people.It's awesome how many people we talk to in just one day. I love talking to the people and getting to know them and their history and their questions about life. It's amazing because the Gospel really does answer any question of the soul! We're teaching some really great people too. One in particular is named Rommel and he's from the Philippines. He really wants to follow the Lord! It's crazy how much the adversary tries to stop the work. The other night we had a rendez-vous with Rommel and we had him pray at the end to know if our message and the Book of Mormon were true. While he was praying, the baby woke up, a bunch of people outside his apartment started shouting, and a bunch of police cars and an ambulance drove by outside with their sirens blasting. Insanity! Fortunately, it didn't really distract from the Spirit. It was an amazing prayer and he told us after that he definitely felt the peace and comfort of the Spirit! This just goes to show that Satan can do everything in his power to distract us and drive away the Spirit of the Lord, but we always have the choice to ignore his temptations or distractions and choose to serve the Lord. Like the Prophet said in this last conference, God has given us the RIGHT to choose, the RESPONSIBILITY to choose, and there are always RESULTS for our choices. I know that when we take responsibility and choose the Lord in every thought and action, the results will always be for our benefit! I love the Lord. I love the Gospel and I know that it's true. I know that we can and should always have confidence in our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ because they love us and always know what is best for us! I love you all!

à lundi,
Elder Tudor

September 29, 2010 ~ Je suis arrive!

Cher tout le monde,
Yesterday was the longest day of my life! Well it was actually longer than a day haha. I was awake for a solid 30 hours! I only slept a couple hours at the most on the plane but I thought I would be ok because I heard that new missionaries usually stay at the mission home the first night and they're allowed to go to bed early. That's what I was planning on, but that didn't happen haha. President Carter and the APs met us as soon as we got off the plane. President Carter is awesome! He's super nice and is so excited about the work here. I got to drive with him to the chapel where we had dinner with all of us bleus (in French, the term for a new missionary is "blue" not "green", so I'm a "bleu" not a "vert") and all the trainers. They usually do this at the mission home but they've never had so many bleus so they had to do it at the stake center! During the drive to the stake center, President Carter told us that we would all be leaving that night (we arrived at noon) and a few would be leaving at 1:30 - not what I expected! So after the meal and interviews, President Carter announced who our trainers would be and what area we would be serving in. So here it is! My trainer is Elder Blosil (he went to Orem High) and we are serving in Nice!!! We left right after he made all the announcements and hopped on a train for Nice around 2 p.m. We stopped at Marseilles to grab some food and change trains. We ate at the Mcdonald's in the train station and talked to a few people. We talked with an older man who spoke English, but he's from France. The first thing he said was that we have four wives haha. It's amazing that even on the other side of the world this seems to be common knowledge. Then we talked to a man who we think was from Paris - he couldn't decide if he was from Paris or Germany haha. But we talked to them about the church, gave them a pass along card, and then caught our next train. We finally got to Nice close to 11 p.m. We took a little train thing similar to trax to get to close to our apartment, then we had to walk another mile or so to get there. There are some interesting people out and about at night in Nice, that's for sure. We got to our apartment around midnight and finally got to sleep around 1 in the morning! So here I am in an internet cafe in Nice. I'm super tired but I'm SO excited to be here! I love Elder Blosil! I can already tell that I'm really lucky to have him as my trainer. He speaks French 24/7, as does everyone else in France, so it looks like I'm going to be learning quickly. Everyone has told me that the work in Nice has been very successful recently. There are 8 Elders in this area which is almost unheard of in our mission. The mission as a whole has improved a ton over the last year. The President told me that in the last year, the number of missionaries serving in this mission has been cut almost in half, but baptisms have about doubled. That's so awesome! Elder Blosil told me there were about 150 missionaries when he was born (when he came to the field, which was 18 months ago) and right now there are 60 something. So that means about 25% of us are bleu right now because our shipment was so big. Elder Blosil and I are in the same apartment as Elders Dorton and Call. I'm way excited about that because four Elders in an apartment is rare and because Elder Dorton was in my district in the MTC so we're already great friends. This morning I unpacked a bit and we had our studies. I haven't been this tired in a long time haha, but I know the Lord will bless me with strength as I strive to serve Him - especially when I'm dead tired! Today is sort of a half P day, but after we get some shopping done we're going to visit some investigators and less active members. This is the real deal!!! This isn't the MTC, these are real people now - real people who need someone to help them come unto Christ and receive the Restored Gospel. That's my purpose as a missionary. Pretty amazing, isn't it? I can't believe I'm on a mission and I have this opportunity to help people find true happiness! This is definitely going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I have confidence in the promise made in Moroni 7:33. After being in the field for about a day, I've realized the importatnce of faith in Missionary work. Missionary work is quite intimidating, especially when you can barely understand what people are saying! But fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is a principle of action and power. It's the hope and belief that your actions will bring about the desired results. I'm going to need a lot of faith these next few months! I know I'll be afraid at times to talk to people in French, but if I don't try, do I really have faith? Do I really trust that I can do all things with the Lord? I hope I will never lose this vision or get discouraged during my training, but that I will do all I can to learn and rely on the Lord to make up for my weaknesses. And I know that He can do that. I know that it is through the Lord that we are made strong in whatever we do! I'm so stoked to jump right into the work! Like I said, we have some appointments tonight, and we're also going to Monaco to teach the Bishop's son on Friday. I'm going to Monaco! Crazy. The Bishop lives there and owns a restaurant there. Elder Blosil said we're going to eat there and that the missionaries get to eat in the VIP room haha. How awesome is that? But anyways, the Bishop's son's name is Eduardo. He's 18 and he's a member, but he's less active. He has some word of wisdom problems and doesn't go to church because he likes to party all night and then doesn't want to wake up for church. He goes to an international school and speaks English as well as French. I'm super excited to meet him and help him. Well we've got to go do some shopping now. Oh by the way, P day is Monday, so that's when you'll get e-mails. Elder Blosil said people usually send him letters through the mission office, but that takes about a week longer for us to receive. So if you want to send directly to me, here's my address:
Les Missionaires/Elders
143 boulevard de Cessole
5ème étage
Nice
06100

Je vous aime! Ciao!
-Elder Tudor

September 24, 2010

Salut! I just got my "leaving the MTC haircut" and that was quite the experience. I've never had anyone cut my hair without using scissors, neither has anyone ever used a vaccum to clean my head. It's not too bad though! I was a little worried because there was no mirror for me to see what was going on up there haha. This week has been pretty exciting because we're so close to leaving! We got to be hosts this week. It was strange hosting new missionaries because it feels like that was me only a few days ago. Both of the missionaries I hosted were from Orem, but one went to Mt. View and one went to Orem so I didn't know them. It's funny to see people get dropped off because some families don't even get out of their car to say goodbye to their son while some stand there for 15 minutes bawling. It was interesting! We also had a health meeting that to help us stay healthy in the field (and yes mom, I am healthy). That was a bizarre experience, I think we talked about diarrhea for 45 minutes of that hour. I guess that's a big concern! I can't believe the MTC is almost over. I feel like I just got here! I love this place. I love my district - I feel like they're my brothers! It's going to be hard to leave all of them. I travel with all of them except for the two that are going to Cote D'Ivoire, they leave Monday afternoon and fly straight from SLC to Paris, then to Cote D'Ivoire. It's hard to sum up my MTC experience in this limited time, but I think the main thing I've learned here is that a mission is about love. As I learn more and more about the Gospel and the Atonement and realize how it has blessed my life, I just want everyone to have it! When I think about what life would be like without this knowledge, I just feel horrible. I don't want anyone to feel that! I want them to know that Heavenly Father knows them and loves them, and that he's given us the way to find true happiness! And that way is His Son, Jesus Christ, and his Atonement and his Gospel. Now that I'm leaving to France, I pray that I will always have this desire to bring people the truth, that I will always have Faith and Confidence in the Lord, and that I will always commit my whole self to the work. Most of all, I pray that the Spirit will be with me so it can touch the hearts of the people I meet. I love all of you so much and I'm so thankful for all of your support! It means so much to me. Dieu soit avec vous!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

September 17, 2010

Bonjour tout le monde!
We got our travel plans yesterday! It's pretty close to what I guessed last week, but here's the real deal: on the 27th we leave SLC at 9:45 a.m. arrive in ATL at 3:40 p.m., leave ATL at 5:50 p.m. and arrive in Paris at 8:10 a.m. (on the 28th), leave Paris at 10:25 a.m. and arrive at Toulouse at 11:45 a.m.! Only ten days now! It's hard to imagine leaving the MTC, it hasn't real hit me yet that I'll be in France soon! So there are my travel plans.This week we taught the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom in the TRC, en Francais. My first week here I would have never thought I could teach the Plan of Salvation in French - it's hard enough in English! The gift of tongues is real. I'm starting to be able to express myself a lot better and I can find a way to say whatever I want to say almost every time. It's pretty awesome! My teacher, Frere Drean, said I'll most likely have the language basically down after 3 months in the field and definitely by 4 months. It's weird to think about that now, and I'm sure it will be even harder to believe my first couple weeks in France, but I have Faith that if I put forth the effort the Lord will help me get there. This week an Elder in our district went home. We were all in shock for a day or so, but we're glad he made the right decision. That really opened my eyes and made me realize just how lucky I am to be on a mission! My time at the MTC has taught me that the Gospel is truly for everyone. God's plan for us is perfect. I know that I won't be converting anyone in France, but the Spirit will! When people learn the Gospel, it just makes sense to them! And I know that when people learn its principles and apply them in their lives, they will feel the Spirit and the peace that it brings, and they will be able to know for themselves that it's true through their own experience. Sorry this e-mail is kind of short, I spent most of my time reading e-mails. They'll be better when I'm in the field! I love you all! The Church is true. I testify with all my heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that without Him we would be hopeless and lost, but with Him, we can have nothing but hope and peace in our lives!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

Finally a Picture!

Bryson's MTC District

September 10 ~ Salut!

Dear Everyone: Many of you have asked about my travel plans, so here you go! I actually don't have them yet, but when I got my visa in San Francisco, my visa information included my flight plans so I got to glance at them. It went something like this: On September 27th, at 9:45 a.m., I fly from SLC to Atlanta, then I fly from Atlanta to Paris, and then Paris to Toulouse. I arrive in Toulouse on the 28th at around 11 or noon, I think. I'm not sure about the layovers. I didn't look at all the times. If I'm doing my math right, they shouldn't be that long though. My district is singing the day before we leave, the 26th, at Mission Conference, so we have plenty of time to better prepare! I've been doing MTC choir, too (which sings at the Tuesday night devotionals) and that is fun. I found out that the MTC choir is singing at General Conference. I'm going to barely miss it!!! I was a little sad about that, but I'd much rather be in France doing the work!I still love learning French. It's such a cool language! It's hilarious to speak it sometimes too, my district and I love speaking in heavy accents. Something as simple as a "Bon!" just makes everyone crack up. I told you everything is funny at the MTC. I'm learning that there are a lot of similar words and phrases that if you say the wrong one, mean something totally different. For example, "la foi" means faith, and "le foi" means liver - yes, one time I said I have liver in God. There are also a lot of things we say in English that mean a totally different thing in French. You can't say "I'm finished" (that would be je suis fini, which means "I'm dead"), in French, you say "I have finished" (j'ai fini). It makes me wonder how many of these exist! They also never say "I'm hot," but they say "I have heat" instead, and I won't explain why here, but you can probably guess. I'm sure I'll make a fool out of myself in the field by saying one of these!I've been pondering a lot lately, especially about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. People often talk of the miracles Christ performed on earth, such as healing the sick and walking on water, but the greatest miracle that He performed, and the greatest miracle that will ever be performed, is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I usually don't think about the Atonement as a miracle, but it truly is the greatest miracle! To think that one man would take upon him all of our sins, sicknesses, afflictions, pains, guilt - EVERYTHING - is truly a miracle and I know I can't even begin to comprehend what He really did for us. But I do know one thing, and that is that He DID do it, and He did it for each one of us! I feel like all of us who have this knowledge have an obligation to use it in our own lives. How could we let this truly amazing act of love go to waste when it is right there before us? I can't wait to help people find the power of the Atonement for themselves and the joy it can bring to their souls!

Love you all,
Elder Tudor

September 3, 2010 ~ ca-va?

Salut! This week flew by! I can't believe It's P day already. I can't believe I'll be in France this month either. I'm enjoying the MTC though! It's basically the same thing every week, which is awesome, but there's not a lot more to say that I haven't already about it. I'm starting to get tired of the food. Eating is like a chore here haha. They feed us too much! Yet I always get back to my room at night and eat all the goodies everyone is sending me... so go figure! We taught the first lesson in French this week at the TRC, and it went really well! I can express myself better every day that I'm here. Hopefully when I get to France, it will sound like they're speaking the same language I'm learning here. We got a new teacher this week, and this is her first time teaching at the MTC (we still have Frere Drean, just not Soeur Redd anymore). Her name is Soeur Altimirano (I think?) and she just got back from her mission to Geneva. She's really good! We were all surprised how good she is because she's new, but she's doing a great job. She can't be more than 4'10", which I think makes her a legal midget. She has great French and I can tell she has a passion for the work. Everyone enjoys it! We have been working on a song as a district the last couple weeks. It's called "I Love the Lord." It's arranged by someone at BYU, and the BYU Men's choir performed it I think. It's to the text of 2 Nephi 4 and the tune of "Be Still My Soul" a cappella. It's an amazing song. We tried out yesterday to see if we could sing it in a devotional or fireside... and we made it! The lady loved us! So we'll be in a fireside or devotional before we leave. We could be performing in front of an Apostle! I'm pretty nervous though because I have a little solo. I grow to love the Gospel more and more the longer I'm here! I love the Book of Mormon, and I know that it's true. Every day I find more ways to apply it to my own life and the lives of others. I don't think anyone could read that book with real intent and claim that it is not the word of God. I know that we can come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and feel their love for us in our lives if we read it daily! As a missionary, I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon, because it is a testimony that this is the Church of Christ and that we have a prophet on the earth today. I hope you all have a good week! I'm praying for you always. Dieu soit avec vous!

Much Love,
Elder Tudor

August 27, 2010 ~ C'est moi encore

Bonjour tout le monde! I'm still loving the MTC. Elder Holland came this week for devotional and gave an amazing talk, of course. It was very similar to the one he gave in 2002 (I think?), and tell Rob that he did the yelling thing again telling us not to go home, and never waste one second! I thought it was awesome that 8 years later he's still saying that! One of the things that he said that inpsired me the most was, "This is war!" Right then it really hit me what I am doing here. I am literally in the Lord's army. We're in the business of helping people overcome the adversary and come unto Christ! He reminded me that a mission isn't something to do half-heartedly. There are people that the Lord is preparing for me to teach, and if I'm not prepared, I'm not going to be able to it effectively! He made this analogy: which "Russel" of the 12 would you rather have heart surgery from? Nelson or Ballard? Obviously Nelson! He had 20 years of training before he actually performed a heart surgery. I'm glad Elder Holland reminded me that I need to be learning and studying at every opportunity, because I have a responsibility to those people I will teach to be prepared the best I can to help them receive the Gospel. We have "progressing investigators" here at the MTC. They're usually teachers who pick an investigator to be from their own mission, and we can go teach them every week. I love this because it helps focus my personal and companion study on their needs. As we've done this, I've found that by finding how much the Gospel of Jesus Christ can help other people, you truly can realize and appreciate how much you have been blessed by it. I testify that if we forget ourselves and focus on the needs of others, they will feel the Savior's love and we will feel His love like we never could by thinking about ourselves! I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to help others find Christ's love in their own lives and to grow closer to the Savior myself! I love the Lord and trust in him more than anything. I can see His hand in my life every day as I learn here at the MTC. I testify that He will never fail us if we put our faith and trust in him!

Much Love!

Elder Tudor

August 20, 2010 ~ Greetings from the MTC

Bonjour! Things are going well here at the MTC! I don't really have anything too special to say. I'm finally used to the routine of waking up at 6:30 every day which is nice. It took about three weeks! I've seen Tracy quite a few times, his classroom is actually in the same building and on the same floor as mine. I also saw Sam this morning while I was eating breakfast. It was great to see them! It's weird how many friends I have here. It's awesome to see all of these people I've known my whole life here and to be serving with them. The language and the teaching is getting better every day. This last Wednesday, we started our goal as a district to only speak French from 8 a.m. til 9 p.m. every day. Or at least to try to say everything we want to say in French first, and if we don't know how to say something, we'll ask someone else how to say it or write it down to look it up later. We were afraid that everyone would just stop talking once we started this, but that hasn't happened! We've been pretty dedicated so far and have learned a lot from doing it. These last few days our French has improved so fast! Tonight I'm teaching in French for the first time. I'm nervous about it. We're not going to be learning the lessons in French til next week sometime, but my companion and I signed up to teach someone in French, so we'll see what happens! You never know how much you know until you try. I think it will be great for us to see how much we've learned already and how much (which is a LOT) we still need to learn.This week at the TRC we taught the second lesson (the plan of salvation) and it went great! We decided to go in without a detailed lesson plan. We just studied the doctrine, prepared scriptures, and went in there. It was the best lesson we've ever taught. We were able to connect with the investigator and get him involved, instead of just teach a lesson. The spirit was so strong, I even teared up a few times! I still can't believe how real it can feel when we're teaching role play investigators. It's as real as you make it. It makes me so much more excited to get out and teach real people!I don't really have much else to say. It's hard to remember all the things that happen here, because so much happens! When I write in my journal at night, it takes me awhile to remember what happened that day before dinner. The longer I'm here, the more I realize that this is the most important thing I could be doing, and the more I realize that I would trade nothing for this experience. I know that this is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and that there are millions of people searching for the truth. I hope and pray that I'll be an effective tool in the hands of the Lord to help His children receive the Gospel. I love you all and I pray for you every day!

-Elder Tudor

P.S. we got a new district this week, so we are no longer the French noobs. We're the "old" missionaries now because all the older districts left to the field. It's weird!

August 13, 2010 ~ San Francisco

Hey everyone! It's been a crazy week. I went with nine other Elders that are going to France to San Francisco on Wednesday so we could get our visas. It was weird driving by the 1600 North exit! It made me miss home. It was so cool being out in the real world though! Everyone at the Salt Lake airport loved us of course. The most exciting thing about getting out of the MTC is that we got to talk to real people about the Gospel! While sitting at our gate at SLC we got to talk to a lot of non members and one companionship even placed a Book of Mormon! We talked to a middle aged couple from Austria, which I thought was super random for the SLC airport. They were really nice people! Once we got to San Francisco we got in a van and went to the Consulate. We got our visas there and then hopped back in the van to go to Pier 39. Everyone there stared at us, but I just gave them a smile and a wave. We ate some clam chowder in a breadbowl (best food I've had in weeks) and went and contacted people. It's so cool to get to know all sorts of different people and their backgrounds. Even if we never got to talk to them about the Gospel, I just loved getting to know them. Then we went back to the airport to find that our flight had been delayed two hours. We decided to walk around and see if we could share our message with anyone. I saw a young guy playing guitar waiting for his plane, decided I wanted to talk to him, and took Elder Heywood (from Mesa, AZ. also going to Toulouse) with me. We just sat down and talked with him for almost 20 minutes about his life. He basically told us his life story and it was so fun to get to know him. It's pretty amazing how much people open up to us! We connected with him pretty well and we could tell he was happy that we came and talked to him. He realized we weren't there to sell anything or force something on him, but that we were genuinely interested in him. He even asked me if I wanted to play his guitar!!! It felt like I hadn't played in years.. when it was only two weeks. As I was playing, he told us he picked up the guitar at a Bible study. We found out he was a non denomination Christian. Then, out of nowhere, I brought up the Book of Mormon. I didn't expect that to come out of my mouth, at least at that moment. I explained what it was and asked him if he'd like a copy. And he did!! We handed him a copy with Elder Heywood's testimony in it and a page number for Moroni 10. Both of us bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and asked him if he would start to read it and ask God if it was true. He told us he would and he acted quite excited about it actually. I know some people probably take Book of Mormons and say they'll read it just to get us to go away, but I felt that he was sincere, and he kept wanting to talk to us. He asked us if we had Facebook because he wanted to find out more. We told him he could go to Mormon.org and find out more. It was so cool! He had to go, but I wish we could have kept talking. I can't believe I've placed my first Book of Mormon! And I can't believe what an amazing opportunity I have to invite and help people come unto Christ like that every day. This has made me even more excited to get out in the field! Missionary work is all about love. It's not about me learning a language, being in France for two years, or just being able to say I served a mission. It's about loving others and showing that love by offering them the most precious thing we have to offer, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think the best way to follow God's commandment to love one another is to spread His message so others can receive it and find the joy that comes with it. I hope everything is going well at home! I love all of you and pray for you every day!

Much love,

Elder Tudor

August 6, 2010 ~ Hullo There

Bonjour! So guess what? I'm going to France next week! Just kidding... But, I AM going to San Francisco on Wednesday the 11th! In order to get our visas to France, we have to make a "personal appearance" at the French Consulate in San Francisco. We leave at 5 a.m. and get back some time that night. It should be interesting! I hear that you can get out and contact people for awhile because there's some down time. I'm excited! I love the MTC. It's a strange place though. It feels like one, long, never-ending day. I can't believe I've been here over a week, but at the same time, I can't believe I've only been here just over a week! It's weird. The laundry room here is insane. There's way too many people doing their laundry at the same time, so it's impossible to get a washer. And when people see that someone else's clothes are done washing, they take them out and put them in a random dryer, so a lot of people can't find their clothes. Madness. The MTC is also strange in that every little thing here is hilarious. I don't think I've laughed this hard so much in one week. I think part of it is that we're all super tired. I love it though, plus my district is hilarious. There are so many different personalities and the funniest things go on! We all enjoy singing though. Two days ago, I got everyone to sing parts during our hymn before class started (we only sing hymns in French, which is pretty awesome)... Now we're all harmonizing in the showers! (usually to hymns or disney songs) It actually sounds pretty good. Our teacher, Frere Drean (Frere means brother in French) said that we'll start getting weird and making jokes that relate to church subjects. I was the first one this happened to. We were having a discussion at lunch a couple days ago about whether Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip was superior, and I said that Mayonnaise was the great and abominable church and that Miracle Whip was the restored gospel. Probably the dumbest joke I've ever made, but for some reason we all laughed for five minutes. Go figure! I had a really cool experience at the TRC on Wednesday. I'm not sure what TRC stands for, but it's where you go teach a lesson to volunteer investigators. My companion and I were pretty nervous going in. First we got to contact three different people in French. One of them was a black guy from Haiti. He spoke some crazy fast French, but I actually had a conversation with him and in less than five minute I explained in French that Joseph Smith restored Christ's church to the earth. I don't know how I did it. We ended up teaching two girls and a guy (all in their lower 20's). Luckily, we got to teach the lesson in English. We taught the first lesson, which is about the restoration. It went really really well! We got them to committ to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it's truth, and also to pray to know if what we taught them about the restoration was true. They were all pretty receptive, but the guy had a few tough questions that I somehow answered to his satisfaction. I know it's just a role play, but it's amazing how strong the spirit was while we were teaching. My eyes even started watering! It was really awesome, and my testimony of the guiding power of the Holy Ghost was definitely strengthened. I love the scripture in D&C 100 that says the Spirit will give you what to say in the very moment you need it, and it really did. We had a plan for our lesson, but we said so many things that we hadn't necessarily planned. It was definitely better than what we had planned though! A few times, after I said something, I wondered to myself, "where did that come from?" Pretty amazing. I know that if we make an effort to share His message, the Lord will help us and give us words to say!I love this Gospel. I'm already so excited to get out in the field and find and teach those who are searching for the truth. It's hard to imagine what living without the Gospel would be like. It has blessed me so so much, and I want everyone to have it! The most important thing we can do with our time on earth is spread the truth. This is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I miss you all! The church is true.

LOTS OF LOVE!

Elder Tudor

July 31, 2010 ~ Bonjour!

Bonjour tout le monde! My first few days at the MTC have felt like weeks rather than days, but they've been some of the best days of my life! I love the MTC so far. My companion is Elder Noyce from Taylorsville. He's a little on the shy/quiet side but he's a great Elder and I'm excited to get to know him better. My district is mostly from Utah, but there is an Elder from Washington and one from Fresno, California. It's pretty intense being in class basically 16 hours a day. I'm so glad I had a lot of exposure to French before the MTC. Most of the Elders have too, but Elder Lewis (a short, stalky, black full back from Syracuse UT, our nickname for him is BEAST) had no previous French. I can understand and talk to all the Elders who have been here for 6 weeks which is awesome! Almost everything we do is in French, inlcuding prayer, which is really cool. J'aime la langue! We had a meeting and met our branch presidency. Among other things, they told us that every one of us has to prepare a sacarament talk for sunday...In French... and the branch presidency will randomly select Elders to give their talks during sacarament meeting just on the spot. Pretty intense! But I'm super excited to improve more and more with the language.The MTC is quite the place. Everyone is so happy and nice, and the spirit is stronger here than any place I've ever been. We've been doing a lot of role plays with acting investigators which is an awesome experience. I can tell already that everything we do here will help me to become an effective servant of the Lord! I'm not quite used to the sleep schedule yet and we're all pretty tired, but the older Elders say that after the first Sunday things get a lot better. During gym time my district usually plays soccer. I'm surprisingly not that bad, considering I've basically never played in my life. I even scored a goal! I thought about taking my shirt off and runnind and sliding on my knees, but I thought that might not be appropriate at the MTC. If anyone wants to write, don't be shy! I'm running out of time, but I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that being by being faithful to its teachings and ordinances, we can be saved. I love my Savior and the Atonement. I know the Book of Mormom is the word of God and that Joseph Smith restored the Gospel. This is a great work, and I'm honored to be a part of it. I miss and love all of you!

Love,

Elder Tudor