January 24, 2011

Bapteme!

Wow, I can't believe I'm already at the end of another transfer. Next time I write, I could be in another ville! We'll see what happens. But what an awesome week! Marcelline was baptized, and although the baptism was a near disaster, it ended up being a beautiful event! Elder Graham and I had a rendez-vous before the baptism, so we arrived about 20 minutes before it was about to start, and there were only a few members there, and Marcelline wasn't there yet. That made me pretty nervous, but I figured she would show up soon and I went and changed into my baptismal clothes. Then while I was changing, I was informed that they were about to do construction on teh baptismal font, and they had cut all the hot water lines, so all the water in the building was as cold as ice. Then I went to the font to see how cold it was, and there was NO water in it!! The person in charge of filling it up hadn't even started yet, and at this point, the baptismal service was supposed to start in 10 minutes (it takes a good 45 minutes to fill up). So we started filling it up with the ice cold water, praying that it would be full enough before the baptism. Then we were afraid that it would be too cold for Marcelline, so we put two giant multigallon pots full of water on the stove in the kitchen and started boiling them (that comes into play later). So the font was filling up and Marcelline had arrived finally (about 10 minutes after we were suppsoed to start haha, but that's ok because all the members were late too). So at this point we were late, and the font wasn't full, but at least the baptism looked like it was going to happen after all. The baptismal font in this chapel can be accessed from the changing rooms behind the font (for the person baptizing and the person being baptized) but there is a cover that hides it from the actual room where everyone stands to watch the baptism. So, I went to press the button that electronically lifts up this cover - and it didn't work. We tried lifting it up by hand, but that didn't work either. So now we had a font with freezing cold water that could be seen by no one because the cover was broken. You could say I was a little stressed out at this point! But Elder Dorton, Sister Enyegue, and I said a prayer just pleading that everythign would work out somehow. The baptismal service was about to start at this point, so I went in and sat with Marcelline so the service could start while the other missionaries and a few ward members tried to figure out how to open that cover. I was praying so hard during the beginning of that service that they would be able to do it haha. I was just imagining us all walking in there for the baptism and no one would even be able to see the font! So the service started, and we heard two great talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost, then it was time. At this point I realized that I hadn't even asked Marcelline for her full name yet (because I have to say it during the baptismal prayer), but I asked her and luckily she only has one middle name. I was worried she would have 5 crazy Madagascian (?) middle names that I would never be able to pronounce or memorize haha. We walked into the baptismal room, and our prayers had been answered! Somehow they had opened the font cover! My next worry was the water temperature. The other Elders took those two giant pots of boiling water and poured them in the font right before we got in to make it a little warmer. But that water was still as cold as a mountain lake!!! I got in and tried not to show on my face how cold it was. Marcelline got knee deep, stopped, and started saying "Oooh la! c'est froid!" I wouldn't have blamed her for running out of that font at that piont, because it was seriously cold! But then she stepped forward again and got in with me. We were both shaking haha. I started the ordinance as fast as I could so she could get out of the freezing water. It was so cold I couldn't even think! But as soon as I started saying the prayer, everything went calm, and the cold didn't bother me anymore. Maybe my voice was still trembling from the cold haha, but I didn't notice. The baptism was well done the first time, so we didn't have to re-do it, thankfully! We then changed and finished the service. Marcelline gave a short, and super sweet testimony right before the closing prayer. It was a beautiful baptsim! And I know Heavenly Father was looking out for us there, because so many things were going wrong! But Elder Call told me after that "it's not a baptism if nothing goes wrong" haha. It was amazing to see the joy in Marcelline's face after her baptism. She never complained once about the cold water either. She's a soldier! I'm so excited for her. She has made so many friends at the church and has really been able to restart. What an honor and joy it is to see the Gospel change peoples' lives. Elder Call gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day and she was confirmed a member of the church. The last part for her now is what we are all trying to do, which is to Endure to the End! I know she has taken her covenant seriously and that she can do it. I can't wait to see her progress in the Gospel and help those around her endure to the end as well. Baptism is the gate by which we enter and only the beginning! Let's all remember that and strive to keep our covenants that we have made with the Lord by taking upon us His name and keeping his commandments so that we can attain eternal life. Well I'm out of time, but have a great week everyone! I love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 11, 2011

Well it was another eventful week in Nice. I had a pretty cool moment this week. While we were working, I realized, "Hey, I can understand all these people!" I can't believe it! I remember my first few days in France, and I was just lost, but now I can understand basically everything and say everything that I want to say in French. It's pretty incredible to look back at the difference between now and when I arrived, and a testimony to me that the gift of tongues for missionaries is VERY real! I'm stoked to keep learning and improving the language! This week we worked a lot with Edvin, our recent convert. He had a lot of opposition right after his baptism from his uncle from Germany who is a strict Catholic, and he basically convinced Edvin we were a cult. But with help from members, and assuredly his own testimony of the Book of Mormon, he has been able to overcome this opposition and is doing great now. When he first told us about what his uncle said, he was totally freaked out and didn't even want to come to church anymore. I was completely distraught, since I had been with him through his whole conversion and I know how strong he really is. While he was saying all these things that his uncle said, I looked him right in the eyes and told him "you know that the Book of Mormon is true, and you can't deny that." I don't think I've ever been so bold in my life, and it was definitely a prompting of the Spirit to say that. Since then he has overcome the opposition from his family. Edvin has such a strong testimony, and I think he just needed a little reminding. The lord gives us trials or doubts so that we become stronger. Every time he bears his testimony I feel the Spirit so strong, and it's truly amazing to see a recent convert with such a testimony. He's doing great now and will be coming to church this week! He wants to meet with the Bishop about going on a mission too! Marcelline will be baptized this Saturday! (the 22nd) She chose me to baptize her. That will be the first time for me! I'm soo happy for her, and it's been amazing to see the changes in her since we met with her the first time. I can tell that the Spirit is more abundant in her life and she simply just seems happier! She has such a hard life being a single mom with two little kids, but has found so many friends and support at church, and most importantly the support of the Savior as she has made decisions to come closer to Him. I'm so lucky to get to see so many miracles and to help people come closer to Christ every day. I love the Lord, his work, and I know that what I am doing right now is the most important work in the world! Sorry it was short this week. Have a great week everyone! Love you!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 10, 2011

Bonjour ma famille!
Ca-va? It was quite a week here in Nice. It's been raining for about three weeks straight now, but at least it's not that cold. We did see a little sunshine today and yesterday though! We had a super awesome week. The week before we didn't have a whole lot of lessons, so we had to do a lot of contacting, which isn't bad, but I'd rather be teaching people! But this week we were running all over the place to lessons and it was great. We found a lot of new investigators who are super sweet and I'm really excited for these last few weeks of the transfer.
One of these new investigators is a pretty cool story. When we don't have rendez-vous, a lot of time we'll pass by old investigators just so we'll have a sense of direction while we contact people on the way. Pass backs almost never work (at least as far as I've seen so far), but a couple weeks ago we just randomly picked a guy named James who was in our area book. He hadn't seen the missionaries for over 6 months. We passed by his apartment, and he was there and he let us in. We just talked for a few minutes and set a rendez-vous for the next week. He dind't seem super interested, but took the rendez-vous anyways. We invited him to the new years activity but he didn't show up. So the next week (this week) we met with him. We sat down, said a prayer, then right when we finished praying he started explaining to us that since New Year's, he's been thinking about resolutions and things, and he decided he wants to quit drinking, smoking, and be baptized, becaues that would be the best thing for him right now. The expression on my face was probably just like "yep, it sure is!!!" Haha we were totally caught off guard with that one. The Spirit was so strong, and I felt to testify of Christ and that through His Atonement, and ONLY through his Atonement, he would be able to reach his goal and be fully healed in the process. This next week we're going to work out a plan for him to quit smoking and drinking and fix a baptismal date!
Needless to say, that boosted our spirits, and the rest of the week was a lot like that! We see so many miracles every day here. The story about James testifies to me that the Lord is at the head of this work and htat he leads His servants to those He has prepared. It is obvious that the Spirit of the Lord had been influencing James to make those kinds of commitments to draw closer to our Heavenly Father, and I'm so thankful that the Lord trusted us enough to lead us to him to help him find the peace that comes from the Gospel.
I wouldn't trade anything for my mission. I love taking a moment just to reflect every once in awhile on what we are doing here, and every time I do, my testimony is strengthened that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and it's spreading throughout the world is the most important work in the world. I love it here and I'm so happy! True, it is hard, but I love the picture of Christ with the quote underneath that says "I never said it would be easy, I just said it would be worth it." And I can testify to you that it is! Anything we do to bring ourselves and others closer to Christ IS worth it! Even if at times it may seem like we sacrifice too much to bring ourselves closer to Christ and align our lives more with His will, it is NEVER too much. Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice so that in turn he could give us the ultimate gift if we only accept His will and sacrifice those things that keep us from following His commandments. "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?... And Jesus said unto them... And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matt. 19:27-29) I know that this is true, and that when we make sacrifices for the Lord to follow His commandments, we receive blessings that only He is capable of giving us, and I know that these blessings are more precious than anything else in this world! Bonne semaine a tous, et que Dieu soit avec vous! Je vous aime!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 3, 2011

Bonne Année! (Happy New Year)

Happy New Year everyone! New Year's was great here in Nice. I guess in France, New Year's Eve is the holiday of Saint Sylvestre, and we live right on the corner of Place Saint Sylvestre in Nice, so there were thousands of people outside our window partying. It was crazy! I woke up at midnight thinking I was in a warzone with all the fireworks going off right next to our apartment, but no, it was the opposite of a warzone, it was thousands of drunk french people lighting off fireworks on new years eve and yelling "Bonne Année!" I couldn't help but join in on some of the fun and jump on Elder Call while he was still asleep yelling happy new year (even though he told me before we went to bed that if I did he would kill me).
The work was kind of slow during the holiday because there are so many tourists here and our investigators are on holiday. I wish I could speak Italian! We weren't able to have a lot of lessons this week, so we did a lot of contacting. But our investigators are doing well. Marcelline is still preparing for the 15th. She came with us to the "Raclette" activity at the church New Year's Eve. Raclettes are a European tradition. You take Raclette cheese (which you can only get around here) and melt it in this little machine, then you poor it over a boiled potatoe with meat on it, and it's amazing! We also ate at a member's house on Sunday. Her name is Dawna and she's from England, and she lives in Francheville (probably one of teh most beautiful places I've ever been, it reminded me of Positano). She made us "death by chocolate" which included chocolate crepes, chocolate fondants, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ice cream. And yes, I did die. But I can tell you that here chocolate fondant is the best desert I've ever tasted! And after I died from that, we had another eating appointment with a member. Death!
We taught a lesson after that, and I was trying not to throw up the whole time. I'm starting to realize how important the members are in missionary work. Ideally, it should be the members who find all of the investigators, and the missionaries who teach them with the members. When a member invites a friend to be taught by the missionaries, that investigator already has a friend in the church, and that is probably the hardest part for a new convert - having a friend after the missionaries leave! There have been a lot of baptisms in Nice this year, but there are hardly any converts who are still active. What's the point of baptizing people if they don't rest active and endure to the end? As members, we all have a responsibility to befriend members, less actives, and nonmembers and to be concerned for the welfare of their souls. Elder Graham and I want to really start focusing on involving the members as much as we can, and I know we're going to see miracles because of it! I encourage all of you to invite people to hear about the church, or if you know someone who is less active, to invite them to come back to church. It is YOU, the members, who have the biggest impact when you invite people. I wish I had a bigger testimony of that before I came on a mission, and now that I'm here I realize that I had a responsibility for the people around me even before I was a missionary. So wherever you are, and yes, even in Utah, you can always find opportunities to invite people to come unto Christ, and I know that as you do, you'll see so many blessings in your life! The First Presidency says in "Preach My Gospel" that missionary work is the most important work in the world, and the work that brings the most satisfaction! As a missionary, I testify that that is true! Have a good week everyone! I love you!

-Elder Tudor

What cute little missionaries!

Dawna's house

View from Dawna's House

Notre Dame de la Gare

Elder Tudor with Elder Kirkpatrick

Views of Marseille

Chateau D'if


shhhshhing baby


Best kabob in Marseille

Elder Tudor and Elder Dorton with lettuce?