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