Hello everyone! The beginning of this week was interesting! It poured rain Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday. Tuesday my umbrella busted in the wind! (Don't worry mom, I bought a new one). I've never seen so much rain in my life! When it rains here, it rains for 3 days straight and it comes down in sheets. It's probably nothing compared to my buds in South America though haha.
Because of the rain, the work started out a little slow this week, but we saw a huge miracle Wednesday! We went to buy a new umbrella in the morning (it was still pouring rain), and we ran into one of our old investagitors, Sebastian, who disappeared a few weeks ago. I can't remember if I wrote about him already, but he told us he heard the voice of God when he prayed about the Book of Mormon, and then he disappeared and we couldn't get hold of him. I made eye contact with him at the bus stop and he tried to act like he didn't notice we were there, but then I went up to him and asked him where he's been haha. He just said sorry, and "I have to finish the Book of Mormon until we talk again." (It's so frustrating when investigators think they have to read teh whole book of Mormon before they can believe it!) He was being really stubborn, so we said we'd call him in the future and went on our way. Then a couple minutes later, he ran up from behind us and said, "Ok, I'm sorry, my friends told me not to see you again, but it's my life and I don't care! If you want, we can go to my house and talk right now." Of course we said yes, and so we went! The first thing we did was ask him about his experience while praying about the Book of Mormon. He told us he read a few chapters, prayed, and he heard the audible voice of a man say, "You can believe these things, they are true." Wow! Then before we could really even respond he told us he wanted to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon that touched him. He opened up to 1 Nephi 8 (his book of mormon was all marked up and highlighted up to 2nd Nephi) about Lehi's dream, and he read the verses about how some of the people who made it to the tree and partook of the fruit and then fell because the people in the great and spacious building were mocking them. He told us that he feels like he's one of those people because after he met us his friends told him that the Book of Mormon is jsut a book of men and that he shouldn't listen to us anymore, and that's why he cut contact with us. He told us that he knew those influences were from the devil and that he doesn't need to listen to them. Wow. This guy didn't only read the Book of Mormon. He read it, studied it, and APPLIED it! So awesome! I love the Book of Mormon. He told us he jsut felt so happy and so relaxed from all his worries while he read it. He told us that there's no way this book is just a book of men. "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful tool in conversion." - Preach My Gospel. How true that is!
We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and about his situation, and we came back Saturday. On Saturday, we basically just explained to him what that means if the Book of Mormon is true, because he has a testimony, but we weren't sure if he was seeing the significance because on Wednesday during the lesson he kept saying that he is in the middle of doing his confirmation in the Catholic church and he wants to finish that before he does anything else. We were just really straightforward and clear with him on Saturday about how the Book of Mormon is the proof of the prophet today, the Priesthood, and the truthfulness of the church, but during the lesson he kept saying, "Yeah, I'll come over to your church after I'm finished joining the Catholic church." Gah! Obviously somehting wasn't clicking, so at the end I asked him, "Do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?" "Yes" "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that his successor is the prophet today?" "Yes" "Do you beileve that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Christ and kingdom of God on the earth?" "Yes." "So what's keeping you from joining it?" And he went on to explain that he felt good at teh Catholic church and that he needs to finish waht he started there. He told us that after he finishes what he's doing there, he'll come to our church. I was pretty frustrated, but I didn't want to push him. We were so clear and direct, and he knows these thigns are true, I just don't understand what's stopping him. I learned a good lesson from that. No matter how great of a witness someone has of the truth, that person can still use their free agency and choose to refuse it. It's up to us as missionaries to give people the best opportunity possible to use their agency in the best way possible. Then it is up to them to act for themselves. We pray every day for investigators to receive a witness like he did, and he isn't acting on it! He accepted to keep seeing us though, so we're going to keep teaching him, praying for him, and hope that he makes the right choice!
We found a new investigator this week from the Ivory Coast. When I first started talking to him, I didnt think he was speaking French. His accent is insane! African French is very different. He's an interesting guy and would randomly get up and do stuff during the lesson haha. He didn't have much of an attention span, but we're going to keep working with him. It should be interesting, because I don't understand everything he says,and Elder Park said he hardly understands anything haha, so we'll see! Hopefully the gift of the interepretation of tongues will help us out there.
I'm doing good! Elder Park is awesome, and we're becoming super good friends. We're starting to becoming pretty good cooks too. We're inventing our ownlittle creations. We decided if we're both not married before the age of 30, we're going to move to Cannes together, open up a restaurant, buy dogs, and take them on walks every night at the Croisette like all the old French people do here. That's a pretty good back up plan if you ask me!
The work is still moving a little slow. Things were really picking up last week, but it seems like every time that happens we hit some kind of wall! We saw Diyana and Manoj on Tuesday,but then on wednesday they sent us a text saying they're leaving to Paris and they don'tknow when they're coming back. Andre, our old frenchman, has had the flu all week and told us he couldn't receive us all week. Hopefully we'llbe able to see them soon!
Last night we got a call from a member we've never seen before. She needed help moving stuff out of her apartment because she's moving to Australia today (And you think I'm a procrastinator). She had a LOT of stuff! She gave us a little barbecue and one of those vibrating,bubbling, water foot massagers. We're pretty stoked about that since we walk so much all day. I think Cannes is turning us into old men.
Because of the rain, the work started out a little slow this week, but we saw a huge miracle Wednesday! We went to buy a new umbrella in the morning (it was still pouring rain), and we ran into one of our old investagitors, Sebastian, who disappeared a few weeks ago. I can't remember if I wrote about him already, but he told us he heard the voice of God when he prayed about the Book of Mormon, and then he disappeared and we couldn't get hold of him. I made eye contact with him at the bus stop and he tried to act like he didn't notice we were there, but then I went up to him and asked him where he's been haha. He just said sorry, and "I have to finish the Book of Mormon until we talk again." (It's so frustrating when investigators think they have to read teh whole book of Mormon before they can believe it!) He was being really stubborn, so we said we'd call him in the future and went on our way. Then a couple minutes later, he ran up from behind us and said, "Ok, I'm sorry, my friends told me not to see you again, but it's my life and I don't care! If you want, we can go to my house and talk right now." Of course we said yes, and so we went! The first thing we did was ask him about his experience while praying about the Book of Mormon. He told us he read a few chapters, prayed, and he heard the audible voice of a man say, "You can believe these things, they are true." Wow! Then before we could really even respond he told us he wanted to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon that touched him. He opened up to 1 Nephi 8 (his book of mormon was all marked up and highlighted up to 2nd Nephi) about Lehi's dream, and he read the verses about how some of the people who made it to the tree and partook of the fruit and then fell because the people in the great and spacious building were mocking them. He told us that he feels like he's one of those people because after he met us his friends told him that the Book of Mormon is jsut a book of men and that he shouldn't listen to us anymore, and that's why he cut contact with us. He told us that he knew those influences were from the devil and that he doesn't need to listen to them. Wow. This guy didn't only read the Book of Mormon. He read it, studied it, and APPLIED it! So awesome! I love the Book of Mormon. He told us he jsut felt so happy and so relaxed from all his worries while he read it. He told us that there's no way this book is just a book of men. "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful tool in conversion." - Preach My Gospel. How true that is!
We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and about his situation, and we came back Saturday. On Saturday, we basically just explained to him what that means if the Book of Mormon is true, because he has a testimony, but we weren't sure if he was seeing the significance because on Wednesday during the lesson he kept saying that he is in the middle of doing his confirmation in the Catholic church and he wants to finish that before he does anything else. We were just really straightforward and clear with him on Saturday about how the Book of Mormon is the proof of the prophet today, the Priesthood, and the truthfulness of the church, but during the lesson he kept saying, "Yeah, I'll come over to your church after I'm finished joining the Catholic church." Gah! Obviously somehting wasn't clicking, so at the end I asked him, "Do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?" "Yes" "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that his successor is the prophet today?" "Yes" "Do you beileve that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Christ and kingdom of God on the earth?" "Yes." "So what's keeping you from joining it?" And he went on to explain that he felt good at teh Catholic church and that he needs to finish waht he started there. He told us that after he finishes what he's doing there, he'll come to our church. I was pretty frustrated, but I didn't want to push him. We were so clear and direct, and he knows these thigns are true, I just don't understand what's stopping him. I learned a good lesson from that. No matter how great of a witness someone has of the truth, that person can still use their free agency and choose to refuse it. It's up to us as missionaries to give people the best opportunity possible to use their agency in the best way possible. Then it is up to them to act for themselves. We pray every day for investigators to receive a witness like he did, and he isn't acting on it! He accepted to keep seeing us though, so we're going to keep teaching him, praying for him, and hope that he makes the right choice!
We found a new investigator this week from the Ivory Coast. When I first started talking to him, I didnt think he was speaking French. His accent is insane! African French is very different. He's an interesting guy and would randomly get up and do stuff during the lesson haha. He didn't have much of an attention span, but we're going to keep working with him. It should be interesting, because I don't understand everything he says,and Elder Park said he hardly understands anything haha, so we'll see! Hopefully the gift of the interepretation of tongues will help us out there.
I'm doing good! Elder Park is awesome, and we're becoming super good friends. We're starting to becoming pretty good cooks too. We're inventing our ownlittle creations. We decided if we're both not married before the age of 30, we're going to move to Cannes together, open up a restaurant, buy dogs, and take them on walks every night at the Croisette like all the old French people do here. That's a pretty good back up plan if you ask me!
The work is still moving a little slow. Things were really picking up last week, but it seems like every time that happens we hit some kind of wall! We saw Diyana and Manoj on Tuesday,but then on wednesday they sent us a text saying they're leaving to Paris and they don'tknow when they're coming back. Andre, our old frenchman, has had the flu all week and told us he couldn't receive us all week. Hopefully we'llbe able to see them soon!
Last night we got a call from a member we've never seen before. She needed help moving stuff out of her apartment because she's moving to Australia today (And you think I'm a procrastinator). She had a LOT of stuff! She gave us a little barbecue and one of those vibrating,bubbling, water foot massagers. We're pretty stoked about that since we walk so much all day. I think Cannes is turning us into old men.
Well I love you all and hope you're doing well! Cheer for BYU for me. Is it still cold there? Today it's perfect weather. Blue skies and about 70 degrees. Hopefully it keeps up and doesn't rain again this week. Rain kills missionary work here! Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! A la prochaine!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Elder Tudor
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