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