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