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