Salut tout le monde,
What a week! I LOVE Bordeaux! We've got some great investigators who are progressing well and the work is going great. We're set some great goals for the zone and we're really trying to improve the vision that the missionaries in our zone have and raise the bar of expectations. December is giong to be "miracle month". As soon as our faith increases, it will be.
Well, I guess I'll cut to the chase since you're probably wondering about the subject of this email. Thanksgiving was a crazy day. But I should probably start with Wednesday night. Wednesday night we met with a chinese investigator named F who has been meeting with the us for about a month now. He had a baptismal date for last Saturday but didn't feel ready, so he was praying to know if he should be baptized this week. So we met him at the church and sat down for hte lesson adn said the prayer. As soon as the prayer was over, we asked him how he was doing. His response: So, I looked at my calendar, and I can get baptized next friday or tomorrow. Elder Buss and I looked at eachother like we were making sure we both heard right. Then we said we'd be in Lyon next friday so we have to do it tomorrow! So we called everyone and got him an interview and got everything set up that night. I'm still a little in shock about it. We were freaking out haha. Thanksgiving day was crazy. Us and the Sisters were at the food bank from 8 til 12 sorting out food and throwing away the nasty stuff, which was super fun. Then Elder Buss and I drove home and changed, and went to the giant supermarket to find a turkey (which is rare in france) because we had planned to eat thanksgiving dinner as a district and invite investigators. We found a turkey, and it was the last one in the store... and it was MASSIVE. It weighed like 25 pounds. It was a beast. We had to get it! So we did and they put it in this giant box for us. We had to leave it in the car while we taught a lesson, but we didn't get sick from eating it, don't worry. We took it to the church after and prepared it (Elder Meservy's family had sent turkey bags and a bunch of American thanksgiving food!), but of course we took some pictures with it first. Then we left all the other missionaries to cook while we went and made programs for the baptism at the institute building, and we got back at five minutes to 6, which is when the baptism started. Phew! Traffic in France is terrible. We had the baptismal service, and it was amazing. We were so happy that a lot of members showed up even though it was last minute. The Spirit was very strong and F was so happy. I can't wait to get to know him better. He'll be confirmed this next Sunday because it was stake conference this weekend. Then we all ate Thanksgiving dinner together. There were 6 elders and 4 sisters, and 4 or 5 investigators. It was great! And there was a guitar, so Elder Buss and I did a little number which was fun. The turkey was amazing, as well as all the food. We even had stuffing! It was great. We went around the table and everyone said what they were thankful for and it was really spiritual and it was just a great moment for us and our investigators. So we finished around 830, but it's not over. Then we drove to Bergerac so we could do an exchange there the next day! It was insane; but somehow it all worked out, which was a miracle. Probably the best thanksgiving I've ever had.
This thanksgiving, I was just thankful for the Lord's promises. He gives us commandments and promises us that He will bless us. It's so simple! Missionaries work hard, and they see success, which is nothing that comes from themselves, but is a gift from the Lord for obedience. Investigators keep commitments and keep the commandments, and they receive answers to their prayers and they get baptized. That's what happened with Fu. He prayed about it and really wanted to know, and that's all the Lord asks, so he got his answer and was baptized. I know God loves us. I'm starting to see more and more that He asks us to do the smallest little things compared with the great gifts he bestows upon us for our obedience. If we only seek Him in every aspect of our life and keep our end of the many promises he offers us, we will be blessed with His gifts, and eventually the greatest gift, Eternal Life. All He asks is obedience. It's so simple. I love it. I know it's true.
I love you! I'm thankful for all of you, espeically my family. Thanks for your love, your prayers, and your support.
Love,
Elder Tudor
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
November 21, 2011
Bonjour à tous,
Oh Bergerac Oh Bergerac, I bid thee farewell, I'm going to Bordeaux to be zone leader! Yep, right now I'm in Bordeaux and my comp is Elder Buss who is a stud. We were actually in the mtc at teh same time, but he's chinese speaking so we didn't really see each other there. It's so awesome to be in Bordeaux! It's huge! I feel so overwhelmed after 6 months in Bergerac haha. And I'm still pretty shocked about being zone leader. I'm super nervous. I don't feel qualified at all. When president called Friday morning and told me, the first thing that ran through my head after the shock of hearing that I would be zl was "I'm going to have to learn to drive a stickshift... in France!" haha. Yeah, I'm pretty scared. It'll be ok though. I'm so happy to be here and to serve all the amazing missionaries in our zone. This is going to be a really humbling experience.
It was pretty sad to leave Bergerac, but it was good. I love everyone there. I got to give a talk in Sacrament yesterday which was sweet. All the members there are so amazing, and I was really touched while talking with many of them yesterday after church. We were invited all over the place Sunday afternoon and I got to spend some time with the B's, the T's, and M and M before I left. It was great. It's crazy to look back at all the things that happened in Bergerac. I'm so blessed to have served there. I made lifelong friends there. It wasn't always easy there, and there were many times when I wondered how the work was going to advance, but everytime, Heavenly Father gave us something to go on. Something to keep our faith and hope alive. I think that no matter what situation we're in, Heavenly Father always provides us with some beam of hope and something to keep us going. This last transfer was kinda tough on me, but I loved it, and I've learned a lot from it. And now I'm moving on to another challenge! It's going to be an amazing transfer and I'm going to learn A LOT. At least I should anyways, if I do all I can. I'm so thankful to be here and to have been given this learning experience and this opportunity to serve. My mind is everywhere today haha sorry, but I'm sending you some pics of Bergerac, and I'll probably have more to say next week.
Thanks for all your support and your testimonies and your prayers. Maybe by next week I'll know how to drive a stickshift and speak a little chinese! :)
Love you all,
Elder Tudor
Oh Bergerac Oh Bergerac, I bid thee farewell, I'm going to Bordeaux to be zone leader! Yep, right now I'm in Bordeaux and my comp is Elder Buss who is a stud. We were actually in the mtc at teh same time, but he's chinese speaking so we didn't really see each other there. It's so awesome to be in Bordeaux! It's huge! I feel so overwhelmed after 6 months in Bergerac haha. And I'm still pretty shocked about being zone leader. I'm super nervous. I don't feel qualified at all. When president called Friday morning and told me, the first thing that ran through my head after the shock of hearing that I would be zl was "I'm going to have to learn to drive a stickshift... in France!" haha. Yeah, I'm pretty scared. It'll be ok though. I'm so happy to be here and to serve all the amazing missionaries in our zone. This is going to be a really humbling experience.
It was pretty sad to leave Bergerac, but it was good. I love everyone there. I got to give a talk in Sacrament yesterday which was sweet. All the members there are so amazing, and I was really touched while talking with many of them yesterday after church. We were invited all over the place Sunday afternoon and I got to spend some time with the B's, the T's, and M and M before I left. It was great. It's crazy to look back at all the things that happened in Bergerac. I'm so blessed to have served there. I made lifelong friends there. It wasn't always easy there, and there were many times when I wondered how the work was going to advance, but everytime, Heavenly Father gave us something to go on. Something to keep our faith and hope alive. I think that no matter what situation we're in, Heavenly Father always provides us with some beam of hope and something to keep us going. This last transfer was kinda tough on me, but I loved it, and I've learned a lot from it. And now I'm moving on to another challenge! It's going to be an amazing transfer and I'm going to learn A LOT. At least I should anyways, if I do all I can. I'm so thankful to be here and to have been given this learning experience and this opportunity to serve. My mind is everywhere today haha sorry, but I'm sending you some pics of Bergerac, and I'll probably have more to say next week.
Thanks for all your support and your testimonies and your prayers. Maybe by next week I'll know how to drive a stickshift and speak a little chinese! :)
Love you all,
Elder Tudor
Thursday, November 17, 2011
November 14, 2011
Salut,
Hey everyone! It was a good week filled with lots of big and small unexpected miracles and experiences. Our investigators are doing good but most weren't available at all this week so we didn't really get to see them. So, naturally, we did a lot of finding. I wanted to share an experience in particular that we had Thursday night. It was Elder Willett's bday and we wanted to celebrate, so for dinner we took M to a restaurant, but it ends up that all the restaurants dont' serve dinner til 7! So we just went and got kebabs haha. But afterwards, we passed by a girl that told us to come back when we were knocking doors one night, and since we had M with us, we decided to go pass her so we could actually enter when we got there. No one was home when we went, so we just started knocking doors in the same residence to show M what finding is like. A big hefty middle aged guy opened up at the second door we knocked on. I explained that we had a message about a living prophet and asked if he had a few minutes for us to leave him a message, adn he said "yeah, come on in!" Just to put this in perspective, I've never been let in while knocking doors in Bergerac. It's true that we haven't done a lot til recently, but still, we were shocked! So we all walked in and he sat us down and he just left us there while he went and finished up some food in the kitchen. He came back in and said hehad half an hour. So we prayed and started talking. His name was N, by the way. He explained had just recently found his faith in Christ and I could just feel the Spirit right from the get go in that lesson. He bore testimony about how Christ had changed his life the last few months. He was just so prepared. We taught the restoration and the Spirit didn't cease. He accepted everything and even said that the Book of Mormon completes the Bible before we even explained that it does. All of us, including M, bore testimony and we invited him to be baptized the 17th of December and he accepted. Before we left, he said "il y a une chaleur dans mon coeur" (there's a burning/heat in my heart) and he said it about three times within the space of a few minutes. He thanked us so many times, and we finally left, all of us basically on teh verge of tears because we were so happy. We walked a little ways, and then put our arms around eachother in a circle and prayed (M said the prayer) for N. (We call him Frere N(Brother N) because it sounds like Pere Noel (Santa Clause) haha). I honestly don't remember many details of the lesson, apart from the burning he said he had in his heart and the extreme joy that I felt. I wrote in my journal about it, and didn't really know what to write, which I thought was weird, because it was the best lesson I've ever taught in my whole mission. All I wrote was that I felt a joy that I've never felt anywhere else but on my mission. My mission means everything to me. I don't think I ever really knew what joy was before my mission. I've never really understood what it means to love others either. Not that I do now, but I'm starting to understand a lot more what love is, and I pray that others will feel Heavenly Father's love through me as I serve them.
The next day, we went for the follow up appointment. We found a chair on the porch with the Book of Mormon on it and a note on the door that Noel had left saying he didn't wish to continue. It broke my heart. That Book of Mormon on the porch and that note taught me many lessons. I know Heavenly Father loves Noel and that he will accept the Gospel one day if he listens to the Spirit. I wrote him a note saying the Book of Mormon was a gift and he can keep it. He'll read it.
Last Sunday we fasted and prayed to find a family to teach. We didn't find a family knocking on doors or contacting. Actually, didn't really find anyoen this week. But our fasting and prayers were answered without us even realizing it. Tuesday, V T called us up out of the blue and invited us over for dinner with her and F (it had been quite a few weeks since she talked to us. We've been passing her house and calling, but no answer.) We got there and she explained everything that happened and why she has been avoiding the church for so long. She just opened up right in front of us without us even asking one question. Then they grabbed their book of Mormons and said, "So, what are we going to read tonight?" and we had a lesson and then ate together. She said she wants to see us still and talk about the Gospel, it's just the members that she avoids for the moment because she was offended by somethign that happened at the talent night awhile ago. We walked out of there just thinking "how in the world did that happen?" It wasn't til the next day that I realized it was the answer to our prayer. It's true that it's not a full family because it's just V and F, but it's a family! But it's not over yet. We had promised F that we'd make her a pie Friday because it was her bday, but thursday V called and invited us to come eat at her son's house Saturday night for a surprise party for F. So we went and it was us, V, F, two of her friends, and V's son K, his wife, and their kid. We had a great opportunity to get to know K and his wife and it went so well. We're hoping and praying that we'll be able to continue to see them and be able to teach them. It's crazy how despite all our finding efforts we find hardly anyone from it, but it seems like when we're making the efforts, we find new people, even if it doesn't come directly from our efforts. The Lord is definitely at the head of this work and he knows if we're doing our best to find people and baptize them, and he rewards us accordingly.
L went to Paris all week and might be gone for 3 months over there. It was pretty hard news too since we had set a baptismal date with him as well, but we'll see if he stays. He's not sure. But anyways, I've gotta go. I hope you have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
November 7, 2011
Salut!
Another week in Bergerac over! I can't believe I've been here since the beginning of June. That flew by! We're already getting close to Christmas. Crazy. Well we had a great week! We ended up doing alot of finding with a lot of appointments falling through and such. It was great though. We're really concentrating on finding a family to teach. We've fixed the goal to find one this week and we're praying and working hard for that. A little update on people that people have been asking me about. Madame T just kind fell off the face of the earth. We've passed by a few times but she never answers anymore. It's ok, it'll happen one day, in the Lord's timing.
Last week I forgot to write about a funny experience. Last Sunday we were sitting in Sunday school when the fire alarm went off. I thought for sure that G had set if off haha but he was in hte primary room so that wasn't possible. We all walked outside immediately to get away from the noise, and the first thign we saw were two Jehovah's witnesses walking around the back parking lot and then there were like 4 or 6 more out near the front of the church. Hmm.... I'm not going to assume anything, but I guess we could say it was a little fishy.
Anyways, this week we saw a miracle. Her name is Mme F and we've been teaching her for a month or so now and she lives in La Force which is about 10 km from Bergerac. She's always been against coming to church, but on Monday we went there with the Branch pres and his wife and taught the Sabbath Day. As soon as we brought up the subject seh went "geeze, you really want me to come to church dont you!" and we said yes, of course haha. But we had a great lesson and the Spirit changed her and she just all of a sudden became open to the idea and at the end we invited her and she said she she wouldn't say yes or no. I asked her what could keep her from coming and she thought for a few seconds and said "well... I guess nothing really!" Then she accepted to come adn said she couldn't not come at least once and see what it's like. Sure enough (even though she had slept in) she got to sacrament meeting sunday morning! It was such a miracle for us because we have some great investigators right now, but it seems like all of them have the hardest time coming to church and all have something blocking them whether that be their schedule or a desire. I've never had such a problem in my mission getting investigators to come to church. That was a great tender mercy we were blessed with this week though.
This week we developed a new technique that we call "musiking". As much as we love contacting and talking with people, when you do it a lot, it can get old and hard to keep the excitement. So we decided to put my portable speaker and my ipod in my backpack and put the Motabs on. It was just loud enough that anyone within 5 to 10 feet or so could hear the hum of motabs. It was so awesome! . People we talked to could hear it but the looked super confused like they were wondering where the music was coming from haha. It was great. The best part was that as soon as we did it we had more success in contacting! We were having a good time and enjoying being missionaries. You've gotta do stuff like that every once in awhile to boost your morale and keep things interesting. And doing that helped us find people that were interested because we were having more fun and enjoying the work more. Plus we were inviting the Spirit into our contacts with God's choir playing in the background :). Good times!
I went on exchange this week with Elder Dorton which was a blast as usual. We went out and visited that Irish family again in Beynac. We ate hot dogs with them. I thought it was ironic that I went all the way to Beynac France to eat a hot dog. Anyways, it was pooring rain all day that day, and poor Elder Willett and Elder Caldwell in Bergerac biked to an outer city 4km away in the pouring rain and got soaked! The guy was there though and became a new investigator. He believes in some prophet that lives in Bordeaux and gave us his book of revelation. We'll see what we can do there. Only in Bergerac!
We've been seeing B, Sister B's dad who is an ex catholic bishop who sits in his house all day smoking and drinking with his boyfriend. He's one of my favorite people ever. We're really trying to help him because he has such a good heart, he's just so taken over by addiction though, it's terrible. When we pray, we always have to stand up, because that's how the catholics do it apparently, but this time at the end of the lesson I told him we were going to pray on our knees. He flipped out saying "Oh la la! ça ne va pas la tete!" and said he would never do it! But Elder Willett and I got on our knees and waited for him for 5 minutes and finally he got on his knees too (after a few expletives) and said the prayer. The Spirit was so strong and he was so humbled, and so was I. There's power in a kneeling prayer, and we're starting to invite all our investigators to do it during our lessons. It was a miracle!
We were in the newspaper last Thursday under an article about evangelist churches. They had a pic of us in front of our chapel and it was pretty legit. The article wasn't that great and she mixed things up a bit about what we said in the interview, but that's ok. Some people we've contacted said they saw us in the paper, so that was cool haha. In the article, they said that we believe the prophets are living, instead of we believe in a living prophet. So everyone probably thinks we believe that Moses and Abraham are still walking around somewhere.
Last night L, our investigator who is half catholic half muslim, accepted a baptismal date for Christmas eve! Woo hoo! We were so excited! He's the man. The work is going great here. Things are a little slower than they've been in the past, but it'll come. I know this is the Lord's work and not mine, so I can't complain about the results if I'm doing my best to be an effective instrument in His hands to bring forth His work. I can always do better, of course, but I'll be working on that my whole life. I know the church is true and that Heavenly Father has truly called prophet in our days and that He inspires all his servants. The Priesthood is on the earth, and by its power and the power of the Spirit this work will keep rolling forward all around the world. Have a great week! I love you!
Elder Tudor
Another week in Bergerac over! I can't believe I've been here since the beginning of June. That flew by! We're already getting close to Christmas. Crazy. Well we had a great week! We ended up doing alot of finding with a lot of appointments falling through and such. It was great though. We're really concentrating on finding a family to teach. We've fixed the goal to find one this week and we're praying and working hard for that. A little update on people that people have been asking me about. Madame T just kind fell off the face of the earth. We've passed by a few times but she never answers anymore. It's ok, it'll happen one day, in the Lord's timing.
Last week I forgot to write about a funny experience. Last Sunday we were sitting in Sunday school when the fire alarm went off. I thought for sure that G had set if off haha but he was in hte primary room so that wasn't possible. We all walked outside immediately to get away from the noise, and the first thign we saw were two Jehovah's witnesses walking around the back parking lot and then there were like 4 or 6 more out near the front of the church. Hmm.... I'm not going to assume anything, but I guess we could say it was a little fishy.
Anyways, this week we saw a miracle. Her name is Mme F and we've been teaching her for a month or so now and she lives in La Force which is about 10 km from Bergerac. She's always been against coming to church, but on Monday we went there with the Branch pres and his wife and taught the Sabbath Day. As soon as we brought up the subject seh went "geeze, you really want me to come to church dont you!" and we said yes, of course haha. But we had a great lesson and the Spirit changed her and she just all of a sudden became open to the idea and at the end we invited her and she said she she wouldn't say yes or no. I asked her what could keep her from coming and she thought for a few seconds and said "well... I guess nothing really!" Then she accepted to come adn said she couldn't not come at least once and see what it's like. Sure enough (even though she had slept in) she got to sacrament meeting sunday morning! It was such a miracle for us because we have some great investigators right now, but it seems like all of them have the hardest time coming to church and all have something blocking them whether that be their schedule or a desire. I've never had such a problem in my mission getting investigators to come to church. That was a great tender mercy we were blessed with this week though.
This week we developed a new technique that we call "musiking". As much as we love contacting and talking with people, when you do it a lot, it can get old and hard to keep the excitement. So we decided to put my portable speaker and my ipod in my backpack and put the Motabs on. It was just loud enough that anyone within 5 to 10 feet or so could hear the hum of motabs. It was so awesome! . People we talked to could hear it but the looked super confused like they were wondering where the music was coming from haha. It was great. The best part was that as soon as we did it we had more success in contacting! We were having a good time and enjoying being missionaries. You've gotta do stuff like that every once in awhile to boost your morale and keep things interesting. And doing that helped us find people that were interested because we were having more fun and enjoying the work more. Plus we were inviting the Spirit into our contacts with God's choir playing in the background :). Good times!
I went on exchange this week with Elder Dorton which was a blast as usual. We went out and visited that Irish family again in Beynac. We ate hot dogs with them. I thought it was ironic that I went all the way to Beynac France to eat a hot dog. Anyways, it was pooring rain all day that day, and poor Elder Willett and Elder Caldwell in Bergerac biked to an outer city 4km away in the pouring rain and got soaked! The guy was there though and became a new investigator. He believes in some prophet that lives in Bordeaux and gave us his book of revelation. We'll see what we can do there. Only in Bergerac!
We've been seeing B, Sister B's dad who is an ex catholic bishop who sits in his house all day smoking and drinking with his boyfriend. He's one of my favorite people ever. We're really trying to help him because he has such a good heart, he's just so taken over by addiction though, it's terrible. When we pray, we always have to stand up, because that's how the catholics do it apparently, but this time at the end of the lesson I told him we were going to pray on our knees. He flipped out saying "Oh la la! ça ne va pas la tete!" and said he would never do it! But Elder Willett and I got on our knees and waited for him for 5 minutes and finally he got on his knees too (after a few expletives) and said the prayer. The Spirit was so strong and he was so humbled, and so was I. There's power in a kneeling prayer, and we're starting to invite all our investigators to do it during our lessons. It was a miracle!
We were in the newspaper last Thursday under an article about evangelist churches. They had a pic of us in front of our chapel and it was pretty legit. The article wasn't that great and she mixed things up a bit about what we said in the interview, but that's ok. Some people we've contacted said they saw us in the paper, so that was cool haha. In the article, they said that we believe the prophets are living, instead of we believe in a living prophet. So everyone probably thinks we believe that Moses and Abraham are still walking around somewhere.
Last night L, our investigator who is half catholic half muslim, accepted a baptismal date for Christmas eve! Woo hoo! We were so excited! He's the man. The work is going great here. Things are a little slower than they've been in the past, but it'll come. I know this is the Lord's work and not mine, so I can't complain about the results if I'm doing my best to be an effective instrument in His hands to bring forth His work. I can always do better, of course, but I'll be working on that my whole life. I know the church is true and that Heavenly Father has truly called prophet in our days and that He inspires all his servants. The Priesthood is on the earth, and by its power and the power of the Spirit this work will keep rolling forward all around the world. Have a great week! I love you!
Elder Tudor
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
October 31, 2011
Hey everybody!
Well it's still pretty warm here in Bergerac, even though it's supposed to get super cold here in the winter. Luckily the cold hasn't arrived yet. On the way to the cybercafe there was a bunch of kids walking around with masks on, but Halloween doesn't go much further than that here. They're not super creative. We had another great week full of miracles and spiritual experiences. I'm so lucky to be on a mission! Every day my testimony is strengthened so much and I can see the Spirit working in my life more and more and I know more and more how to recognize it. Elder Willett and I talk often of how it's such a blessing to be here and to be able to grow so much spiritually. I would be lost if I hadn't gone on a mission. Every day I feel more committed to the path to eternal life. I love it here!
We had interviews with president this week which went really well. I love president Murdock and he's such an inspired man. They missed their flight from Geneva adn showed up at 1:30 for interviews instead of 10 haha but it all worked out. The zone leaders made a sweet slideshow out of pictures that we all sent in and played some Josh Groban to it. It was a good time and we really felt the Spirit. Our investigators are doing well, but just having a hard time getting to church! We are finding some good people right now though and it's great. We have a russian investigator named D who is the man. He's not Christian, but I know with the BoM and the power of the Spirit he'll come to know that Jesus is the Christ. We're teaching a sweet guy from Morroco named L who is catholic/muslim. Go figure! He's so sweet though. Every time we see him in the road he says "Les etats-unis! La family!" He says that the US is family with Morroco for some reason haha it's hilarious. He doesn't have a job and just barely got out of a shelter adn found an apartment. The poor guy has nothing but he's so happy. I love him! We're also teaching G (the other son of the B's) and that is going well. We invited him to be baptized twice. The first time he said he'll do it when he's 70. The second time he said he'd do it in his 20's. We're getting closer! He's sweet, and I'm so excited for him. It'll take some time, but their whole family will be members soon. They're such an amazing family! I never would have thought I'd see a family like them here in France. We're really focusing on and praying to find families right now. We've contacted a few and we hope they'll take the lessons soon. We found a new investigator this week who's in her 60's and has one tooth right in the middle (maybe two.. I dunno) of her mouth and it's pretty crazy looking. She has the highest little girly voice but when she laughs it's a big low man voice. The first time we taught her I thought there was a man in the other room laughing every time she laughed. Pretty scary, she's awesome though. Right now we're really trying tobuild a base of new investigators and get them progressing. Pretty soon we'll be seeing lots of progress if we keep working hard.
One thing I've learned this week is that the company of the Spirit is the greatest thing we can have here on earth. When we have the Spirit, we're just happy! We're filled with teh love of God and we loev everyone. We don't judge, but we love, are patient, kind, and we feel an inner peace that everything is simply ok. It's something that I've learned to appreciate on my mission. The longer I'm out here, the more I can tell when I have the Spirit or not, and the difference between the two is incredible. I'm so happy I have the opportunity to learn to gain the company of the Spirit and keep it, because it's the Holy Ghost that will lead us in the paths of eternal life. Not only because he guides us, but because we have to live worthy of eternal life to have it! This sunday I was sitting in church thinking abotu our investigators who didn't come to church. I was about to be discouraged. But instead, I looked ahead and thought of ways we can get more investigators to church in teh future. I thought about our efforts and was happy that we tried to get them there, but they always have their free choice. The Spirit really is the comforter. A missionary couldn't survive without it, not only because he needs it to teach, but because sometimes the mission can be so discouraging that you just need a little comfort! I'm so happy to be here and I can't believe I've alreayd been out so long. I don't wanna think about it. I've got tons of time left still! I don't wanna leave! I'm so thankful for our Heavenly Father and the fact that he has reached out to us through modern prophets today to restore and keep pure the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so we can be happy by living by it. Stay strong, never let Satan have you. He only wants you to be miserable. Wickedness never was happiness - trust me, there's lots of wickedness out here and a lot of sad people. But those that humble themselves and come unto Christ feel the love of God adn are filled with a joy that can't be felt elsewhere. I know the Church is true and that the restored Gospel is the path to eternal life with our families. I love you all and thank you for everything! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Well it's still pretty warm here in Bergerac, even though it's supposed to get super cold here in the winter. Luckily the cold hasn't arrived yet. On the way to the cybercafe there was a bunch of kids walking around with masks on, but Halloween doesn't go much further than that here. They're not super creative. We had another great week full of miracles and spiritual experiences. I'm so lucky to be on a mission! Every day my testimony is strengthened so much and I can see the Spirit working in my life more and more and I know more and more how to recognize it. Elder Willett and I talk often of how it's such a blessing to be here and to be able to grow so much spiritually. I would be lost if I hadn't gone on a mission. Every day I feel more committed to the path to eternal life. I love it here!
We had interviews with president this week which went really well. I love president Murdock and he's such an inspired man. They missed their flight from Geneva adn showed up at 1:30 for interviews instead of 10 haha but it all worked out. The zone leaders made a sweet slideshow out of pictures that we all sent in and played some Josh Groban to it. It was a good time and we really felt the Spirit. Our investigators are doing well, but just having a hard time getting to church! We are finding some good people right now though and it's great. We have a russian investigator named D who is the man. He's not Christian, but I know with the BoM and the power of the Spirit he'll come to know that Jesus is the Christ. We're teaching a sweet guy from Morroco named L who is catholic/muslim. Go figure! He's so sweet though. Every time we see him in the road he says "Les etats-unis! La family!" He says that the US is family with Morroco for some reason haha it's hilarious. He doesn't have a job and just barely got out of a shelter adn found an apartment. The poor guy has nothing but he's so happy. I love him! We're also teaching G (the other son of the B's) and that is going well. We invited him to be baptized twice. The first time he said he'll do it when he's 70. The second time he said he'd do it in his 20's. We're getting closer! He's sweet, and I'm so excited for him. It'll take some time, but their whole family will be members soon. They're such an amazing family! I never would have thought I'd see a family like them here in France. We're really focusing on and praying to find families right now. We've contacted a few and we hope they'll take the lessons soon. We found a new investigator this week who's in her 60's and has one tooth right in the middle (maybe two.. I dunno) of her mouth and it's pretty crazy looking. She has the highest little girly voice but when she laughs it's a big low man voice. The first time we taught her I thought there was a man in the other room laughing every time she laughed. Pretty scary, she's awesome though. Right now we're really trying tobuild a base of new investigators and get them progressing. Pretty soon we'll be seeing lots of progress if we keep working hard.
One thing I've learned this week is that the company of the Spirit is the greatest thing we can have here on earth. When we have the Spirit, we're just happy! We're filled with teh love of God and we loev everyone. We don't judge, but we love, are patient, kind, and we feel an inner peace that everything is simply ok. It's something that I've learned to appreciate on my mission. The longer I'm out here, the more I can tell when I have the Spirit or not, and the difference between the two is incredible. I'm so happy I have the opportunity to learn to gain the company of the Spirit and keep it, because it's the Holy Ghost that will lead us in the paths of eternal life. Not only because he guides us, but because we have to live worthy of eternal life to have it! This sunday I was sitting in church thinking abotu our investigators who didn't come to church. I was about to be discouraged. But instead, I looked ahead and thought of ways we can get more investigators to church in teh future. I thought about our efforts and was happy that we tried to get them there, but they always have their free choice. The Spirit really is the comforter. A missionary couldn't survive without it, not only because he needs it to teach, but because sometimes the mission can be so discouraging that you just need a little comfort! I'm so happy to be here and I can't believe I've alreayd been out so long. I don't wanna think about it. I've got tons of time left still! I don't wanna leave! I'm so thankful for our Heavenly Father and the fact that he has reached out to us through modern prophets today to restore and keep pure the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so we can be happy by living by it. Stay strong, never let Satan have you. He only wants you to be miserable. Wickedness never was happiness - trust me, there's lots of wickedness out here and a lot of sad people. But those that humble themselves and come unto Christ feel the love of God adn are filled with a joy that can't be felt elsewhere. I know the Church is true and that the restored Gospel is the path to eternal life with our families. I love you all and thank you for everything! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
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