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