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
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
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
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
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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
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
Monday, November 1, 2010
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"
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"
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