Hello,
Well it was a crazy week! I can't believe the end of the transfer is already coming up - we're already starting the 5th week! Crazy. I'm loving it though. Bergerac is doing alright. It's a small town to be in for a long time haha. We see the same roads and the same people every day, but I love it. We didn't see as much success as we would have wnated this week, but that's alright. We only had one investigator come to c hurch when there were a lot more planning on it, which is always disappointing, but that'll come! A is still doing great! She's the sweetest lady ever. She might have a couple things to overcome before her baptism, but we have faith that everything will be alright (She told us she doesn't drink alcohol, but the B's do her groceries for her, and they told us that she asks for wine each time... so we're not sure what's going on there haha, but we'll see). Elder Willett and I are really trying to do our best to find joy in the work (not that we don't usually, we just wanna have as much fun and work as hard as possible!) The other day we crossed a guy on our bikes who was playing basketball in the street, and we decided to stop and play a little round of horse haha. He probably thought we were super weird in our shirts and ties. It was a sweet experience though. He ended up being pretty young actually - 15 - but looked older. He couldn't believe we had been to NBA games haha. He plays on a club team in the region and dreams of seeing NBA stars. He was surprised we were two short white guys, because when he thinks of americans playing basketball he thinks of giant black men haha. We shot around for about 15 minutes then went on our way. We asked the kid if he or his family would be interested and he said no, but it was cool because it showed the kid we're human beings too! Who knows, maybe he'll meet Elders in the future and remember of his basketball game with them and be more open! Haha it was just a fun opportunity when we had a few extra minutes - and we hadn't shot a basketball in ages! (we also got to know french basketball lingo as well :)) We also had a branch talent show which was funny. Bro B demonstrated self defense (he was in the army) and I was his subject for part of the time. It was scary. A miracle happened during hte talent show too - the T's showed up out of nowhere! We haven't even been able to contact them for over two weeks and they came to the talent show! We have no idea how - we think a member called them, but it was so awesome. They're doing good. V found a litltle job picking grapes in a vineyard, but apparently it's really hard and long. She's having a really hard time. F brought her guitar, and naturally everyone started yelling "elder Tudor play something!" just on the spot. They eventually convinced me to do it so I played a number for them (Hallelujah - requested by V. I decided it was ok since basically all the lyrics are taken from the Bible haha). I couldn't remember all the words, but I could've made up whatever I wanted since none of them understood haha. It was fun. Then at the end I accompanied the closing hymn. It was cool to be able to share some music! It's been awhile!
In Priesthood the lesson was on President Monson's talk about the temple from the last general conference. For the first time since I left the MTC, I realized just how much I miss the temple! I really felt the Spirit during the lesson and felt a huge desire to go to the temple. I thought about all these members in France who don't even have one yet that's within 800 km. Even if they're going to build one in Paris soon, it will be just as far away for these people that live in the South as the other temples are. We are so blessed to have so many temples so close! When I get back, I'm not going to take it for granted. Every week! That's my goal. We're so luck to have the restored Gospel. The temple is one of the evidences of the restored Gospel, and I know that the sacred ordinances that happen there are done by the power and authority of the Priesthood. It's also the evidence that God loves all His children. Just think of how many people have died without ordinances! The B family is getting ready to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. They've prepared thousands of names already - it's incredible! I'm so excited for them! And I found out that they will be doing their endowment and getting sealed at the beginning of August next year - which is right when I'll finish my mission. I wanna go to their sealing so bad! (it will be at the Madrid temple) That would be so amazing to see. I love this work. I know that the family can be eternal, and that the principles and ordinances of the Gospel are true and eternal, and they are the key to our eternal happiness as families. Working among His children has helped me see just how marvelous the plan of our Heavenly Father is. I love the people here in Bergerac, and I wish they would all accept the Gospel! I wish that God's plan could be brought about for every one of His children, but just seeing a handful receive it has already brought me more joy than I've ever felt in my life. This is God's work! I know it. Have a great week everyone, love you!
Much love,
Elder Tudor
Monday, September 26, 2011
September 19, 2011
Hey everyone!
It was kind of a tough week, but there were miracles as always! We have a new golden investigator named A. She's actually one of the family B's friends. She's an older (not super old) french lady who has lots of health problems and lives all alone and isn't visited often by her family. We gave her a priesthood blessing when I first got to Bergerac, then she left to another city to have some kind of treatment, but now she's back and she's been wanting to see us! She came to church the last couple weeks and we starting setting up teaching appointments. We've been able to see her often and she already has a baptismal date for the 8th of October! She's probably one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met in my life. She has hard health problems, mostly respiratory, but she says that ever since we gave her that blessing and we started coming over she has been so much better. She even did her grocieries the other day and it's been a long time since she's been able to do that! She's already well integrated in the branch, mostly thanks to the B's. Sister B goes over there once a week for her and does groceries for her all the time. She has lots of problems, but she prays every day for strength and it's amazing to see her faith grow! She always ends up crying during our appointments, then I end up crying too haha. But they're tears of joy of course, because we preach the Gospel of joy :). We're SO excited for her! She is excited for her baptism. The other day though she said she was a little afraid for her baptism. We asked her why... and she said it's because she's scared of water. Phew! That's gotta be the best reason that an investigator has ever given us for being scared of baptism haha.
Unfortunately, we haven't had any contact with the T's lately. Apparently someone said something to them last week at church and a couple other thigns happened that offended them. They haven't really talked to us since or wanted to see us. There's some members who still have good contact with them I believe, but for now, no missionaries. I'm confused about the whole situation because I don't really know what happened or why. All we can do is pray for them. Please pray for them this week that their hearts might be softened and that they might be touched by the Spirit. Thank you!
I did an exchange with Elder Dorton this week which is always a good time! The district is doing well and I'm loving being their district leader. I feel like I can do a lot better as a district leader though. There's a lot to learn on a mission! There's always ways to improve and things to better. Kind of like life in general. Thankfully God gives us weaknesses and helps us recoginze them so we can humble ourselves, work on our weaknesses, and progress in life. One of the hardest things to do though is to recognize and accept that you have weaknesses, but that's pride, and where there's pride, there's no progression! That's one thing I've learned recently. Humility = progression, pride = regression. When we're humble and realize we need to change things in our lives, we change, improve, become better people, and qualify ourselves for more blessings from the Lord. But if we constantly tell ourselves that we're doing fine and that our weaknesses aren't "serious" ones, we'll never do anything about it, and we'll just sit and never become anything. That's satan's plan. One thing I've learned on a mission is to never feel too comfortable with yourself. Of course you need to accept yourself and love yourself for who you are, but we need to always keep the vision of what God expects of us - to become like Him! That's God's plan. And I know that He will help us do it as we humble ourselves and exercise faith in Him by overcoming ourselves and our weaknesses! Well gotta go, but I hope you have a great week. I love the mission and I'm happy right where I am :) love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
It was kind of a tough week, but there were miracles as always! We have a new golden investigator named A. She's actually one of the family B's friends. She's an older (not super old) french lady who has lots of health problems and lives all alone and isn't visited often by her family. We gave her a priesthood blessing when I first got to Bergerac, then she left to another city to have some kind of treatment, but now she's back and she's been wanting to see us! She came to church the last couple weeks and we starting setting up teaching appointments. We've been able to see her often and she already has a baptismal date for the 8th of October! She's probably one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met in my life. She has hard health problems, mostly respiratory, but she says that ever since we gave her that blessing and we started coming over she has been so much better. She even did her grocieries the other day and it's been a long time since she's been able to do that! She's already well integrated in the branch, mostly thanks to the B's. Sister B goes over there once a week for her and does groceries for her all the time. She has lots of problems, but she prays every day for strength and it's amazing to see her faith grow! She always ends up crying during our appointments, then I end up crying too haha. But they're tears of joy of course, because we preach the Gospel of joy :). We're SO excited for her! She is excited for her baptism. The other day though she said she was a little afraid for her baptism. We asked her why... and she said it's because she's scared of water. Phew! That's gotta be the best reason that an investigator has ever given us for being scared of baptism haha.
Unfortunately, we haven't had any contact with the T's lately. Apparently someone said something to them last week at church and a couple other thigns happened that offended them. They haven't really talked to us since or wanted to see us. There's some members who still have good contact with them I believe, but for now, no missionaries. I'm confused about the whole situation because I don't really know what happened or why. All we can do is pray for them. Please pray for them this week that their hearts might be softened and that they might be touched by the Spirit. Thank you!
I did an exchange with Elder Dorton this week which is always a good time! The district is doing well and I'm loving being their district leader. I feel like I can do a lot better as a district leader though. There's a lot to learn on a mission! There's always ways to improve and things to better. Kind of like life in general. Thankfully God gives us weaknesses and helps us recoginze them so we can humble ourselves, work on our weaknesses, and progress in life. One of the hardest things to do though is to recognize and accept that you have weaknesses, but that's pride, and where there's pride, there's no progression! That's one thing I've learned recently. Humility = progression, pride = regression. When we're humble and realize we need to change things in our lives, we change, improve, become better people, and qualify ourselves for more blessings from the Lord. But if we constantly tell ourselves that we're doing fine and that our weaknesses aren't "serious" ones, we'll never do anything about it, and we'll just sit and never become anything. That's satan's plan. One thing I've learned on a mission is to never feel too comfortable with yourself. Of course you need to accept yourself and love yourself for who you are, but we need to always keep the vision of what God expects of us - to become like Him! That's God's plan. And I know that He will help us do it as we humble ourselves and exercise faith in Him by overcoming ourselves and our weaknesses! Well gotta go, but I hope you have a great week. I love the mission and I'm happy right where I am :) love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
September 12, 2011
Bawnjur (american, for bonjour),
Hey everyone! It was a great week here in Bergerac. We're still seeing miracles every day, and we'll keep seeing them as we work hard and look for the small and great miracles God shows us every day. Elder Willett and I are having a great time. It's weird being with an American again, but I like it. I got used to being with Elder Coenen, and now I've gotta switch back to American mode haha. It's totally different. Anyways, we were really blessed this week. 6 of our investigators were able to come to church this week, which was great. One of them was a new one we found this week named D. He's from Brasil, about 30 years old, and loves to talk! Haha the poor sunday school teacher... D would raise his hand every two minutes and speak for a good 2 or 3 minutes every time haha. And it wasn't just talking, he talked like he was preaching. I think he talked during half the class. I've never seen an investigator do that haha. It was interesting! and a little awkward. Speaking of sunday school, do you remember Bro B? Well, this Sunday he got called as the sunday school teacher. He's been a member for 3 months!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm so excited for him. He's such a stud. He's already read the whole book of Mormon and he's like halfway through Doctrine and Covenants. That's so great that he'll have this calling to really push himself. Mb is doing well. He's so hilarious. If you put him and Maurel in a room together, after about 30 minutes they're both on the ground rolling around laughing to death. It's the funniest thign I've ever seen. I got a video of it. And no one understands what they're saying because they speak half french and half lingala when they joke around like that. Mb still comes to church every sunday and he's progressing well. M still wants to be baptized but won't decide on a date yet. He said he has one in his head, but doesn't want to tell us. We'll see! The T's are doing well, but there's still just so many problems in their lives, and V refuses to talk about baptism for the moment. F is doing great though. She reads the Book of Mormon and really understands it.
I learned quite a bit htis week from the scriptures and from Preach My Gospel. One morning I devoted my study to personal revelation and guidance. First I read the talk by Elder Bednar "the Spirit of Revelation" which I love. I love when he says, "In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, God requires us to do our best, to act and not to be acted upon, and to trust Him." Then I read this quote in Preach my Gospel by Elder Oaks, "A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it... We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment." That quote really struck me. I often question myself and wonder if I'm really acting on the Spirit and doing what I'm supposed to do every day out here. I pray for guidance and I search it, but I don't always necessarily feel guided or directed. This quote helped me realize that God will not push us in one direction or another in all things, if so, we would always be "acted upon" and never be able to act. We need to be able to judge right from wrong for ourselves, with the assistance of the Spirit. I have often found that I have been guided by the Spirit long after the fact. Like in Elder Bednar's talk when he talks about how sometimes our revelation is like the sun rising on a cloudy day. We've all been given the light of Christ, and us church members have the gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthily and serve the Lord with all our heart, we won't need to worry! We will be guided. We just need to use our best judgment, ask for guidance, then do whatever we feel is the best thing to do, listening for the still small voice. The worst thing we can do is just wait around avoiding making the choice. We just need to put our trust in that Spirit that leads us to do good and follow Christ, and we will always make the right choices, it's simple! I know that God is at the head of this work and that we are truly His children. I know that we can all find our way back into His presence as we search the guidance and inspiration He offers us every day through our obedience to His commandments. Have a great week, love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Hey everyone! It was a great week here in Bergerac. We're still seeing miracles every day, and we'll keep seeing them as we work hard and look for the small and great miracles God shows us every day. Elder Willett and I are having a great time. It's weird being with an American again, but I like it. I got used to being with Elder Coenen, and now I've gotta switch back to American mode haha. It's totally different. Anyways, we were really blessed this week. 6 of our investigators were able to come to church this week, which was great. One of them was a new one we found this week named D. He's from Brasil, about 30 years old, and loves to talk! Haha the poor sunday school teacher... D would raise his hand every two minutes and speak for a good 2 or 3 minutes every time haha. And it wasn't just talking, he talked like he was preaching. I think he talked during half the class. I've never seen an investigator do that haha. It was interesting! and a little awkward. Speaking of sunday school, do you remember Bro B? Well, this Sunday he got called as the sunday school teacher. He's been a member for 3 months!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm so excited for him. He's such a stud. He's already read the whole book of Mormon and he's like halfway through Doctrine and Covenants. That's so great that he'll have this calling to really push himself. Mb is doing well. He's so hilarious. If you put him and Maurel in a room together, after about 30 minutes they're both on the ground rolling around laughing to death. It's the funniest thign I've ever seen. I got a video of it. And no one understands what they're saying because they speak half french and half lingala when they joke around like that. Mb still comes to church every sunday and he's progressing well. M still wants to be baptized but won't decide on a date yet. He said he has one in his head, but doesn't want to tell us. We'll see! The T's are doing well, but there's still just so many problems in their lives, and V refuses to talk about baptism for the moment. F is doing great though. She reads the Book of Mormon and really understands it.
I learned quite a bit htis week from the scriptures and from Preach My Gospel. One morning I devoted my study to personal revelation and guidance. First I read the talk by Elder Bednar "the Spirit of Revelation" which I love. I love when he says, "In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, God requires us to do our best, to act and not to be acted upon, and to trust Him." Then I read this quote in Preach my Gospel by Elder Oaks, "A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it... We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment." That quote really struck me. I often question myself and wonder if I'm really acting on the Spirit and doing what I'm supposed to do every day out here. I pray for guidance and I search it, but I don't always necessarily feel guided or directed. This quote helped me realize that God will not push us in one direction or another in all things, if so, we would always be "acted upon" and never be able to act. We need to be able to judge right from wrong for ourselves, with the assistance of the Spirit. I have often found that I have been guided by the Spirit long after the fact. Like in Elder Bednar's talk when he talks about how sometimes our revelation is like the sun rising on a cloudy day. We've all been given the light of Christ, and us church members have the gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthily and serve the Lord with all our heart, we won't need to worry! We will be guided. We just need to use our best judgment, ask for guidance, then do whatever we feel is the best thing to do, listening for the still small voice. The worst thing we can do is just wait around avoiding making the choice. We just need to put our trust in that Spirit that leads us to do good and follow Christ, and we will always make the right choices, it's simple! I know that God is at the head of this work and that we are truly His children. I know that we can all find our way back into His presence as we search the guidance and inspiration He offers us every day through our obedience to His commandments. Have a great week, love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Friday, September 9, 2011
September 5, 2011
Bonjour a tous,
It was an adventure of a week! Wednesday I went to Bordeaux to pick up my new comp Elder Willett. I spent the day with Elder Allen (we were in the same district in the MTC) and Elder Cunningham so that was super fun. Elder Willett is a stud! He's from Mesa, Arizona, but he grew up in Provo. Apparently he was always at Riverside when he was little just like I was, so who knows, we probably met once! But anyways, we're already having a blast together. He's in his 4th transfer. He spent his first 3 transfers in Lyon. Bergerac is a little different than Lyon! haha. He loves it though. We've been working super hard straight from the get-go, and we're seeing fruits. The Lord has really blessed us this last week. We had 5 solid investigators at church, and we're finding new investigators, and having a blast at the same time.
This Friday we helped a sister in the ward move, and that was a great experience. Muamba came too and helped out a lot, so that was a great opportunity for him to become more integrated! He is so hilarious. One of the Bouchet's sons was playing some music on his phone, and "thunderstruck" by AC/DC came on and every time they would say "Thunder!" in the intro, Muamba would yell "Muamba!" and dance around playing the air guitar haha. He's crazy. I love him.
This week my heart was just filled with gratitude for the tender mercies of the Lord. People were just more interested this week, we had more success, and our faith was strengthened. Both of us just had relatively "hard companions", and were a little worn out from that (don't get me wrong, Elder Coenen was one of my favorite companions), but getting together gave at least me a second wind here in Bergerac. I'm so thankful for the hand of the Lord in the work. It's so much easier with Him!
This week I finished the BoM again and restarted. I love reading the BoM, because every time we I do, we find new insights and applications into our lives! As I read the first verse in the Book of Mormon, I was intrigued by what Nephi says, "I, Nephi... having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days." I pondered over these words for awhile. On my mission, I meet many people every day who say God couldn't exist because their lives are too hard. Well, the thing is, life is hard. If life wasn't hard, what would be the point? As I continued to read the story of Nephi, I realized that he went through a lot of persecution and hardship, yet he says that he was highly favored of the Lord. We all face trials in life, but do we let these trials control our lives and our thoughts? Or do we still dedicate our lives to the Lord and continally ponder upon the wonderful mercies and blessings He has given us? Do we complain to the Lord because of our hardships? Or do we thank Him for the opportunity He has given us to put on our divine nature and ask Him for the strength and wisdom to become what he wants us to become because of this trial? It's all about how we look at it and think about it. Our thoughts will change our actions, and our actions will change who we are and what we are becoming. Instead of becoming weakened and helpless by our discouraging thoughts, we can choose to see the positive and face our trials with courage and faith in our Savior. "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of delivrance." (1 Nephi 1:20) I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and that He wants us to become like Him and have ALL of the blessings that He enjoys. I know that this life is part of the plan that He has created so that we can accomplish this. "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves - to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." (2 Nephi 10:23) We decide! And I know that Heavenly Father will support us as we decide to follow Christ and choose eternal life. I know that He will deliver us out of ALL of our trials if we back up our faith with action. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
It was an adventure of a week! Wednesday I went to Bordeaux to pick up my new comp Elder Willett. I spent the day with Elder Allen (we were in the same district in the MTC) and Elder Cunningham so that was super fun. Elder Willett is a stud! He's from Mesa, Arizona, but he grew up in Provo. Apparently he was always at Riverside when he was little just like I was, so who knows, we probably met once! But anyways, we're already having a blast together. He's in his 4th transfer. He spent his first 3 transfers in Lyon. Bergerac is a little different than Lyon! haha. He loves it though. We've been working super hard straight from the get-go, and we're seeing fruits. The Lord has really blessed us this last week. We had 5 solid investigators at church, and we're finding new investigators, and having a blast at the same time.
This Friday we helped a sister in the ward move, and that was a great experience. Muamba came too and helped out a lot, so that was a great opportunity for him to become more integrated! He is so hilarious. One of the Bouchet's sons was playing some music on his phone, and "thunderstruck" by AC/DC came on and every time they would say "Thunder!" in the intro, Muamba would yell "Muamba!" and dance around playing the air guitar haha. He's crazy. I love him.
This week my heart was just filled with gratitude for the tender mercies of the Lord. People were just more interested this week, we had more success, and our faith was strengthened. Both of us just had relatively "hard companions", and were a little worn out from that (don't get me wrong, Elder Coenen was one of my favorite companions), but getting together gave at least me a second wind here in Bergerac. I'm so thankful for the hand of the Lord in the work. It's so much easier with Him!
This week I finished the BoM again and restarted. I love reading the BoM, because every time we I do, we find new insights and applications into our lives! As I read the first verse in the Book of Mormon, I was intrigued by what Nephi says, "I, Nephi... having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days." I pondered over these words for awhile. On my mission, I meet many people every day who say God couldn't exist because their lives are too hard. Well, the thing is, life is hard. If life wasn't hard, what would be the point? As I continued to read the story of Nephi, I realized that he went through a lot of persecution and hardship, yet he says that he was highly favored of the Lord. We all face trials in life, but do we let these trials control our lives and our thoughts? Or do we still dedicate our lives to the Lord and continally ponder upon the wonderful mercies and blessings He has given us? Do we complain to the Lord because of our hardships? Or do we thank Him for the opportunity He has given us to put on our divine nature and ask Him for the strength and wisdom to become what he wants us to become because of this trial? It's all about how we look at it and think about it. Our thoughts will change our actions, and our actions will change who we are and what we are becoming. Instead of becoming weakened and helpless by our discouraging thoughts, we can choose to see the positive and face our trials with courage and faith in our Savior. "But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of delivrance." (1 Nephi 1:20) I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and that He wants us to become like Him and have ALL of the blessings that He enjoys. I know that this life is part of the plan that He has created so that we can accomplish this. "Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves - to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." (2 Nephi 10:23) We decide! And I know that Heavenly Father will support us as we decide to follow Christ and choose eternal life. I know that He will deliver us out of ALL of our trials if we back up our faith with action. I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
August 29, 2011
Hello,
Well, early this morning we got transfer calls... and I'm going far, far away... not. I'm staying right here! Elder Coenen is leaving though, which is sad. We've had some good times together!! He's going to Aix, lucky duck. My new comp is named Elder Willet (I think) who is in his 4th transfer and was just in Lyon. I'm excited! I think the rest of the district is staying the same. I'm surprise, because the rest of the mission had super crazy changes. I'm stoked though.
The work went pretty well this week. Maurel still has a baptismal date. Muamba should be getting the priesthood soon. After two weeks of searhcing and searching for new investigators we finally got some and we found quite a few people who are interested. We didn't really do anything a whole lot different. We did a lot more knocking on doors than usual though. I used to not be a fan of that, but I'm growing to like it more and more. Victora and Flora are still doing okay. They're still coming church every week and Victoria is sitll looking for an apartment in Bordeaux. A ward member is moving out this week, and another member suggested that Victoria takes that house and works at home taking care of old people (that's a big business here in Bergerac and there's a high demand). That would be awesome! Victoria was stoked about the idea so we're hoping that things will work out so that that can happen, because it's not looking good for housing right now in Bordeaux.
I don't have a lot of time, but I'd like to share something I learned out of the scriptures this week. I was reading in Moroni 7, when Mormon talks about how every good thing comes from God and every bad thing comes from the devil. He also addresses the point that if we don't do good, or "give a good gift" with a good heart, but if we do it "grudgingly; it is counted unto him as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God." That scripture struck me. There's three ways we can do the work of the Lord: grudgingly, out of a sense of duty, and out of a sense of charity. Sometimes I just try to get to the end of the day and finish because I know it's my duty, but I don't really do it out of love for the people. It's hard sometimes to overcome the natural man and do it out of charity! But that is one of my goals for the rest of my mission - to do everything I do out of charity and love for the people. Charity should be the motivation for every work we do for the Lord, because it is His work, and everything He did and does for us is out of pure love. Sorry, I'm out of time, I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Well, early this morning we got transfer calls... and I'm going far, far away... not. I'm staying right here! Elder Coenen is leaving though, which is sad. We've had some good times together!! He's going to Aix, lucky duck. My new comp is named Elder Willet (I think) who is in his 4th transfer and was just in Lyon. I'm excited! I think the rest of the district is staying the same. I'm surprise, because the rest of the mission had super crazy changes. I'm stoked though.
The work went pretty well this week. Maurel still has a baptismal date. Muamba should be getting the priesthood soon. After two weeks of searhcing and searching for new investigators we finally got some and we found quite a few people who are interested. We didn't really do anything a whole lot different. We did a lot more knocking on doors than usual though. I used to not be a fan of that, but I'm growing to like it more and more. Victora and Flora are still doing okay. They're still coming church every week and Victoria is sitll looking for an apartment in Bordeaux. A ward member is moving out this week, and another member suggested that Victoria takes that house and works at home taking care of old people (that's a big business here in Bergerac and there's a high demand). That would be awesome! Victoria was stoked about the idea so we're hoping that things will work out so that that can happen, because it's not looking good for housing right now in Bordeaux.
I don't have a lot of time, but I'd like to share something I learned out of the scriptures this week. I was reading in Moroni 7, when Mormon talks about how every good thing comes from God and every bad thing comes from the devil. He also addresses the point that if we don't do good, or "give a good gift" with a good heart, but if we do it "grudgingly; it is counted unto him as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God." That scripture struck me. There's three ways we can do the work of the Lord: grudgingly, out of a sense of duty, and out of a sense of charity. Sometimes I just try to get to the end of the day and finish because I know it's my duty, but I don't really do it out of love for the people. It's hard sometimes to overcome the natural man and do it out of charity! But that is one of my goals for the rest of my mission - to do everything I do out of charity and love for the people. Charity should be the motivation for every work we do for the Lord, because it is His work, and everything He did and does for us is out of pure love. Sorry, I'm out of time, I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
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