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