April, 25, 2011

Allo!
Well, it's a new transfer... and I'm still in Cannes! But this time with a new companion - Elder Garland! He's been in the same apartment as us the last two transfers so we already know eachother pretty well. He's the red hair British one. We're super excited to work together in Cannes! He's a super good missionary and we're going to see some miracles this trasnfer! It was really sad dropping Elder Park off at the train station this morning. He's being trasnfered to Tarbes (the other side of the mission haha). I'm going to miss him! He has become one of my best friends over these last few months. I love you Elder!
It was a good week. We kept up the momentum from last week and we're seeing progress too. We're teaching a lot and we're getting some good investigators. Mario is still doing super well! He hasn't had any big problems so far and he accepts all the commandments like they're just the normal thing to do (and they are). He's sweet! We have a new investigator with a baptismal date for the 28th of May now. His name is Yves (which means drunk in French, haha). Our first meeting with him is a funny story too. Elder Garland and I were on exchange this friday (in Elder Garland's area) and we taught him in a park in Antibes. We sat down on the bench and president called for transfer calls. Elder Garland took off for a sec and answered while I talked to Yves. I found out that Yves actually lives in my area, so he would become our investigator after the lesson. Elder Garland came back and we started the lesson. It was an awesome first lesson and at the end he committed to be baptized the 28th of May. We were all pretty stoked about it! We set up the next appointment, which would be in my area, and that was when Elder Garland found out that Yves lives in mine and Elder Park's area and would be passed to us. As we were walking away after hte lesson, Elder Garland put his arm around me and said, "well, looks like we've got a baptism for our companionship next transfer!" Haha. So that's how I found out we would be companions. What a sweet way to start!
Elder Garland and I have set some great goals for this next trasnfer. They're going to push us, but we're going to do all we can to achieve them. We know we can with the Lord's help! "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye will have power to do whatsoever is expedient in me." I know that the Lord holds his promises, and that we've got to show and exercise our faith in him by setting goals and doing all we can to reach them, and then we will be instruments in His hands in bringing forth miracles among His children. I have a lot of hopes for this next transfer! Elder Park and I did a lot of planting these last two transfers, now I hope to start doing some of the reaping. Elder Garland and I are ready to do all we can to really get the work going here. Now we've just gotta do it. Thanks everyone for all your support. I hope you have a great week! And happy birthday Courtney!!! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor

April 18, 2011

Salut! At the end of last week I was talking with one of the assistants, and we decided to fast for our area. So, we did, and I can't believe how much it helped! This week we had the most lessons we've ever had and our investigators are progressing super well! To start, Mario is still as awesome as I said he was. We went back to give him a baptismal calendar and we discussed his baptismal date (the 14th of May). He said he felt a little hesitant, but then he just flat out said, "When I commit to do something, I do it. I'm going to do it!" Yeah! He's super awesome. He came to all three hours of church this week too and he loved it. He understands French pretty well, but has a hard time speaking sometimes. We teach him with a member who speaks portugese so that helps a ton. I'm excited for this week to see the progress that he makes. We also got a few new investigators this week. Two of them are from Cape Verde and another from China. Hooray foreigners haha. This afternoon we got a new French investigator too though :).

We gave Sebastian the "real intention" talk this week. By the end of the appointment, he said he would stop smoking again without even being asked. We had hardly even talked about cigarettes during the appointment! It's amazing to see the Spirit work on our investigators as we teach. The Spirit knows exactly what they need, and as our investigators feel it and listen to its promptings, it will show them all that they should do. It's kind of interesting how that works. It seems like a lot of times as missionaries, we worry about saying exactly what the Spirit wants us to say so we will say what the investigator needs to hear, but really, nothing we can say will get them to do anything if the Spirit doesn't testify to them personally as well. As we follow the Spirit the best we can and try to create an environment so that the Spirit is there by teaching and testifying of the truth, the Spirit itself tells the investigator what they need to do! We can teach and invite all we want, but the Spirit is the ultimate teacher. I see that clearer and clearer every day. Zone conference was this week and we received tons of inspired lesson. We were presented with an awesome family missionary plan that we're going to start presenting to all the members in the ward. They used this same plan (except we modified it a bit) in the Portugal mission and the next year their baptisms doubled. It's really simple and powerful and I'm excited to get it going in Cannes! The Stake is really starting to crack down on the ward here. A high council member came last week and gave a talk about how it is the members who need to find investigators, not the missionaries. With that, and this new program, we hope to get the ward excited about missionary work! We've already started and I can tell there will be some fruits from it.

Calls are next week. Elder Park and I have been together two transfers, so it's likely that we won't be companions anymore. It's too bad! I love him! We've had some good times together and we're super good friends now. Who knows, maybe we'll stay together! I will most likely stay in Cannes, but we'll see what happens. Cannes has been quite a place for me. I've learned a lot since I've been here. I've been humbled - that's for sure - and I've definitely started to see missionary work from a different perspective. I'm so thankful to serve the Lord in this part of His vineyard. Something I've heard a lot, but that I've actually been learning lately, is that the Lord doesn't do things without a reason. It can be hard to accept that some of the things that happen to us can truly come from a loving Heavenly Father. But I know that whatever happens in life is for a specific reason, and there are specific blessings in store for those who recognize the opportunities that God gives us to grow, endure them well, and then thank God for those opportunities. I love the Gospel and I love being a missionary! We could never find anything else that brings us the same peace and joy that the Gospel does - nothing! We have it, so let's live it, let's enjoy it, and let's share it with all those who are without it! I love you all and hope you have a great week. Ciao!

Much love, Elder Tudor

April 11, 2011

Hey everyone! This week was a little like last week, but I can tell some good things are about to happen! Sebastien is still about the same, except he started smoking again... Gah! He said, "God wants me to be happy, and smoking makes me happy." He had stopped for 8 days and then started again. I don't think he knows the difference between happiness and pleasure. He told us he knows it is a sin, but that no one is perfect. c'etait un peu de n'importe quoi. We reminded him that "wickedness never was happiness" but he's still set on smoking. So I asked him to ask Heavenly Father specifically in his prayers if he should smoke or not. The next time we saw him, he told us that he got the answer that he can do what he wants, but he said he's not sure if that's coming from himself or from God. Next time we're going to give him the real intention talk. I was thinking about him this morning and what he can do, and I really think he's missing the real intention of the whole thing. Moroni instructs us to ask with a sincere heart, faith in Christ, and real intent - meaning you REALLY INTEND to do whatever the Lord tells you to when He answers you. If you don't have it, you're not going to get an answer - not an answer from God anyways. "And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such." (Moroni 7:9) I think often when we pray and ask Heavenly Father what we must do, we already have in mind the answer we want to hear. In order to have the real intent, you've got to pray with no biases beforehand, being willing to do whatever the Lord commands, even if it's not what you would have wanted. It's hard to do, but I know that if we do it, we will be able to better walk in the Lord's paths! I'm excited to talk about that with Sebastien. We had an interesting experience Thursday night. The other elders have an investigator who goes to this "Cornerstone Christian Church" and she invited all of us to come to this servce Thursday night. None of us had appointments then, so we went to see what it was all about. Their chapel is the upstairs of a mattress store. We walked in little late and everyone was seaed at round tables eating dinner. As soon as we walked in everyone turned and stared at us, like "who invited the Mormons??" haha. It was super funny. So our friend seated us at an English speaking table (because this is a bilingual church) with about 8 other people. They were finishing dinner and then the were going to start to service. We were all kind of spread out along the table and started talking to different people. Within about 5 minutes all of us were talking about the Book of Mormon and the restoration haha, it was awesome! I was sitting next to a British guy. He asked me what Bible I read, and I told him the King James version, but that I read the Book of Mormon too! He didn't know what it was, so I explained. People have a really hard time understanding that there could be something more than the Bible. To these people, I give 2 Nephi 29. He was pretty interested, but then we had to go into the service so I gave him a card and told him to call. We went into this little auditorium where a band was set up. Before I knew it, they were playing EFY sounding songs and everyone was clapping their hands and singing along. This guy behind me started speaking in tongues, which was interesting. They were all pretty into it! Unfortunately we had to leave before it was over so we wouldn't be late getting home. It was an interesting experience haha. It was cool though, because a bunch of people came up to us and said they see us every day from where they work or whatever, but haven't talked to us yet. Who knows, maybethe next time they'll want to talk to us! This week ended great! Yesterday we had a bunch of appointments with people we met on the road, but they all fell through except two. The last one was wih a man from cape verde named Mario. Let's just say that he's the MAN! He was taught by the missionaries 10 years ago in cape verde and hasn't met any since. I contacted him Saturday night before we went home. We missed the bus because I felt like I needed to talk to him, but it was definitely worth it! When I contacted him he told me that he used to have lots of friends named Elder haha. He doesn't speak French super well, but we got by. It was an awesome first lesson, and he's super sincere. We talked about baptism, and he said he actually went to a baptismal service in cape verde. We invited him to be baptized on the 14th of May, and he accepted! I'm super stoked! The guy is a stud, and he has a beautiful family that we will definitely be teaching too. I hope this is what we've been working for all these weeks where nothing has really happened. I'm so grateful that we met him and I know that he has been prepared by the Lord! I've been trying my hardest to keep positive and push through these last few weeks, and I hope that finally we have something here. But the work isn't really about what we get as missionaries - it's about what these people are getting. We have the Gospel, and they don't, so we're taking it to them! A lot of times it's easy to get caught up in the numbers that show your hard work, but the whole reason why we're here is to invite people - Children of God - to accept the restored Gospel and eventually have Eternal Life. Of course, we'd love to have people flocking to the baptismal font, but even if only one person accepts the Gospel after all our work here, I know that that person's soul is "great in the sight of God." I love this work and I wouldn't trade anything for it. It's a little slow right now, but I'm not going to complain. When Elder Holland came to the MTC, he said, "We're in the business of saving souls." What else would I want to be doing right now? What better and more worthwhile thing is there to do on this earth? I'm trying to do my hardest what the Lord has asked me to do, and that's all I can do. The rest is in His hands. I know that the Gospel is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that all that He has promised is real. By following His example and His Gospel, we will have Eternal Life. It's beautiful how simple the Gospel is! I love you all and I thank you for all your prayers. I pray for you too! I hope you have a great week, Ciao! Much love, Elder Tudor

April 4, 2011

Bonjour a tous! It was kind of a slow week, but an amazing general conference capped it off! We had some interesting first lessons this week. One of them was with a lady named Josianna that we met a couple weeks ago and she came to church last week. Apparently she has met the missionaries in Paris before, but orginally she comes from somewhere in Africa. We saw her at the chapel with one of the members of the ward. The lesson was a little all over the place because she talks about a lot of random stuff, but before we were really able to bring it back around, our member said he had to go and just got up and left haha. We couldn't stay because we can't be alone with her in the chapel, so we ended the lesson real quick and she started leaving. But before leaving, she gave Elder Park an enveloppe. Luckily, before she left, Elder Park looked inside and saw 100 euros! We stopped her and told her we couldn't take it, but then she said she would never see us again if we didn't accept it, and that she would be offended if we didn't. Then she left, and we were just there with the money. So we called president because we had no idea what to do with it haha, and he told us to keep it and just said, "Elders, consider it the fruits of your labors." We were stunned! So we have 100 euros now that we don't know what to do with. We think we might use it to go to Marine Land next p day haha. Or maybe the ZZ top concert :) Just Jokin! The other strange lesson was with a guy named Yonel. He knew a ton about Joseph Smith already and after the lesson he took us into the basement of the chapel and to the baptismal font and told us one time he went swimming in it. What? Apparently he's baptized? We asked the bishop who he is and he has no idea. Strange!

Sebastian is still kind of the same. He told us he still won't be baptized until after he has finished the Book of Mormon. He's so ready besides that! He's been keeping the word of wisdom for over a week now too. We're doing our best to resolve his problem with baptism. We're going to try and dig deep this week, relying on the Spirit, to see if there is another deeper problem that is stopping him.

Elder Park and I have decided that we really need to start working close with the members. It's getting harder and harder to find new investigators, and so far we haven't had any referrals from the ward here. The other companionship in our apartment that works in St. Raphael has a lot of people to teach, and over half come from the members. That is truly the way to do missionary work! Well I can't say we haven't had any referalls yet because we got our first onethis week, but after seeing how much more efficient that was, I really want to get this ward going here and doing missionary work! When an investigator comes from a member, that investigator automatically has a member who is a friend. That is one of the hardest parts of missionary work - getting the investigators attached to the ward and not the missionaries. We're excited to start doing more of that!

We had to go to Nice for General Conference because for some reason it wasn't working in Cannes. That was nice, because it is in French and English in Nice. I also got to see Marcelline! She's doing so well! Livio is now baptized too and he was wearing this little tuxedo haha he's awesome. Baby Nova is so big now! (She had the blanket that you made, mom) Marcelline is doing great, and after I talked with her for awhile, I thought about when we first met her. My heart was filled with the love of God as I noticed the light and joy in her countenance now compared with when we first taught her. It's truly a miracle. It is the effect that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring about in all of our lives. As we fill our lives with righteousness through the Gospel, light replaces darkness, happiness replaces misery, and hope replaces despair! I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to help people find this light that they are all looking for. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts it, but even one soul is worth all the work! We're going to keep working hard here in Cannes. Even if there is only one person here that we will help accept the Gospel, it will all be worth it. And if not, it will all be worth it anyways, because we have been sent by the Lord and if we are obedient and diligent, we will do the work that we were sent here to do. I love you all! Sorry if the email was scattered. I was listening to the conference sessions I missed while typing haha. Ciao! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tudor

March 28, 2011

It was a fun week! We taught a little bit more than we have been, and we had some sweet experiences! We've continued teaching Sebastian. We saw him Wednesday and we taught the Word of Wisdom because he has a pretty big smoking problem. We read the commandment from Dotrine and Covenants (which he accepted easily,but we thank that he might think that Doctrine and Covenants is called the Word of Wisdom haha, he wants to read all of DC now) and talked about it. He told us that he feels like cigarettes and coffee are good for him and that they don't really affect him, but after we testified of why God gives us commandments and reminded him of his testimony of teh BOM and Joseph Smith, he said, "Well, I feel like these things are good for me. But those are the thoughts of the world and not the thoughts of God." And he committed to stop smoking and drinking coffee! The next day we brought him a 7 day stop smoking plan and we came with the Bishop. The Bishop invited him to church at the end of the lesson,and Sebastian told us that he has to finish the BoM before he comes to church. Pourquoi?? Then the lesson started to move from the subject a little, but I wasn't going to take that for an answer haha. I spoke to him pretty boldy, and honestly I don't remember what I said, but right after I said it he turned to the Bishop and said, "Can you draw me a map to the church?" It was pretty awesome, adn I'm glad I was prompted to be direct with him and be more persistent, and I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost and its power to the convincing of the hearts of men. We saw him again Saturday and just talked about reading the Scriptures and praying every day. He told us Saturday that he smoked his last cigarette that morning. He is super awesome! Every time we come, he shares us spiritual thoughts from the Book of Mormon. Usually it's the other way around! I love this guy. And guess what? He came to church Sunday! And what's better is that President and Sister Carter came to our ward this week. Both of them quit smoking to join the church and they were able to talk to him a lot which is super awesome. Sebastian is still set on getting confirmed Catholic, but president showed me some things in the Bible that I'm going to show Sebastian this week about how confirmation should be done and how they do it in the Catholic church. It should be interesting haha. I lvoe president, he's got a scripture for everything. But I really think Sebastian could have a baptismal date at the end of this week. He really trusts us and listens intently to everything that we say, and I know that we can be bold with him and that he will harken to the promptings of the Spirit. And by the way, he still hasn't smoked since Saturday morning! Besides Sebastian, not a whole lot happened this week, except we had a rendez-vous with a TJ (Jehovah's Witness) that we met the other day. We contacted him and he told me that Jehovah is God the Father, and I told him Jehovah is Jesus Christ, and he told me he wanted to talk another day. It was a pretty simple contact haha. So we went to his house saturday morning and he was waiting for us with his TJ bible (their "original translation" of the Bible, which is basically the Bible with the name Jehovah thrown in it 4,000 times and a few verses are missing from it). He's a super nice guy though. We came in and asked if we could start with a prayer, and he told us no because he prays to Jehovah, and then he asked me why I think Jesus Christ is Jehovah. We opened up to Isaiah 43:11 in their own Bible "I, even I, am Jehovah; and beside me there is no saviour." (In our Bible it says "Lord" not Jehovah) and then to Luke 2:11 "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Or in other words, Jehovah = Jesus Christ. He thought for a second, then rambled off something about what Christ means in ancient greek or something, trying to prove his point haha. It was interesting. Then of course we talked about how we know what we know to be true thanks to a living prophet and we told the Joseph Smith story, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon. At the end, we invited him to read and pray about our message. He said that he wouldn't, and that he had already read the Book of Mormon and didn't think it was the word of God. We asked him if he had prayed about it and he said no, so we explained that that's why he didn't think it was the word of God. Then he just gave us his TJ speel, and told us there is nothing other than the Bible. Instead of giong to the scriptures to try to disprove him, we simply asked him, "How do you know the Bible is the word of God?" And he jsut said, "Because it's the Bible, it has to be the word of God." "But how do you know?" "Because it was written by prophets." "How do you know they were prophets?" "Because they say they were." "How do you know they were telling the truth?" we took him in this circle for a little while, and then we jsut said, "We asked God if these things are true, and He told us by the power of the Holy Ghost that they are. That's how we know this is true, and we know that you can know for yourself if you ask God." He still refused our invitation, but I feel like we got the point across to him that he doesn't have a testimony of what he believes in. Hopefully he'll think about it! I know I talked abotu it last week too, but that experience showed me again just how important a personal testimony is! And I also learned how important it us to use that testimony and testify! We could have sat there all day and had a Bible bash, but it all comes down to the personal witness that we all need from the Holy Ghost to know if something is true. I'm so thankful to be a memeber of Christ's church and also to be a missionary in His service. I'm so thankful for the testimony I have gained through scripture study AND prayer of the things I teach every day. I'm so grateful for and I know that we have a prophet on the earth today. This weekend we get to hear his counsels and teachings, as well as the apostles, which are the counsels, teachigns, and commandments of God. Let's listen to them so we can be more happy and more in line with our Heavenly Father's will! I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Tudor