Bonjour,
So... Wednesday night we were entering our apartment just before 930 when we got a call from president. I answered, and he told me that we would be getting a third companion named Elder Prows on saturday!! So since saturday afternoon, there have been three of us here in Montauban. It's a pretty awesome trio. We're already having a blast together! Elder Prows is a great missionary. He was in the mission for a couple transfers last fall but then had to go home for a little while, but on Wednesday president called him as well and told him he would be coming back out this weekend. The poor guy, I think he only had a day and a half between when president called and his flight. But he's here and he's awesome. He hasn't spoken french for over 6 months but he already is speaking like a pro! He's from San Diego. So we're all americans, but all from different states, which is cool. I've never trained and I always wanted to... and even though Elder Prows has already been trained, Elder Cushing and I decided we are his trainers haha. I've always wanted to be in a trio to have the experience. I'm super stoked!
This week was great. We're trying a lot of new things as far as finding goes. We had a family at church this week that we've been trying to get to come for a whole transfer. We've also been finding some great new amis. Tuesday night, we decided to knock on doors in a neighborhood that I had seen before and had always wanted to knock, but it's pretty far away. But we decided to go out there and on the way a big old van passed us and someone yelled "elder!" out the window, and I didn't recognize the person nor the car. Eventually we got to the place where we were gonig to knock on doors and we saw that van parked in front of a house, so we started with that house. A man opened the door and yelled elder again adn invited us in haha. It ended up being two brothers from Chili that live together that had met a bunch of elders in Chili and they said that their brother was baptized and he went on a mission. It was a miracle! We sat down and discussed for awhile and they were super nice. They kind of got distracted and started talking about some guy in Miami that ate a guy's face. That was kind of weird, but other than that it was awesome and we're going to go back this week. So, we kept knocking on all the doors on that street, and it was the weirdest thing. I think only two people just said no and slammed the door. We were able to have some great conversations and preach the Gospel. One door we knocked on was opened by an African lady who was on the phone, and I thought she was just going to say she was busy, but she said "are you here to talk about Jesus Christ?" ..."yes!" ... then she said to the person on the phone, "I've gotta go, I'll call you back later." Then she invited us in and we went out in her yard to teach her since we didn't have a member with us. We taught her the message of the restoration and the Spirit was really strong. She really wants to read the Book of Mormon and know that there is a living prophet on the earth. When Elder Cushing and I left we were just blown away. I think I can count on two hands how many times people have let us in to teach a lesson while knocking on doors during my mission, and we had two in the same night and a bunch of other awesome people that we met. We're going back tonight to teach the lady we found (E) and we're going to keep knocking on doors over there on what we call "miracle street" this week.
It's pretty funny working in a trio. We've already started creating and naming different formations and stuff for contacting because it's a little too much with three people going at you. It'll take some getting used to, but we're already loving it. Right now we're working with two people with baptismal dates, A and J. We're finding lots of great people though and we should be adding more to that list soon!
President and Sister Murdock are leaving this week and and President and Sister Roney are coming! They'll be coming to Toulouse in two weeks for interviews, so we won't get to meet them til then. They have three kids in the mission field though which is pretty crazy. A daughter in Paris, a son in Barcelona, and another son somewhere else. Pretty crazy. They'll be living here with two of their younger sons.
I'm loving it here in Montauban and I love the Lord and am so thankful to participate in His great work and glory. I love you all! Bonne semaine!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
June 19, 2012
Dear everyone,
It was an interesting last week of the transfer with lots of stuff going on. We had district meeting on Thursday which went super well and then afterwards, both districts went to Place Capitole and we set up our street meeting kit and sang hymns. I played guitar for all the hymns and it was super fun. We're going to start doing it after every district meeting! If you wanna see me, there's a webcam on Place Capitole on the internet I think and you'll see a big white blob somewhere and that's us singing haha. I'll let you know when the next time we do it is.
A was baptized this week and it was fantastic. She and F are a great couple and I'm excited for them to keep progressing.
Oh yeah, we had transfers, and I'm staying in Montauban of course, but I have a new comp named Elder Cushing. He's super awesome and he's from Independance, Kansas (yes, Kansas, not Missouri). He was in Perigeux during my last transfer in Bergerac and he was still there during my first three transfers in Bordeaux so we know eachother pretty well already and I've done exchanges with him. We look alike so everyone is going to think we're brothers. Everyone already thinks we're brothers anyways because we're all named Elder. I'm super excited for this transfer. I'm going to miss Elder Tromeur. He went to Nimes to be district leader. He was a great comp!
There have been tons of baptisms here in Montauban recently, actually 13 over the last 12 months to be exact, and I think 12 of them have been since January. Pretty insane. That's what happens when you strive to find and baptize families! I'm super thankful for the work of the missionaries who were here before me. Now we're on the hunt for some new investigators. We've got a few families we're working though and things are doing great. We've got the son of a member who is 27 that has a baptismal date for the 21 of July and we hope to help him progress towards that.
I can't believe this is the start of my last transfer. It doesn't feel like it at all. I don't want to feel like it is, but I want to work like it is, because it is! I know the Lord expects many things from me this last transfer. I hope I will accomplish his will in all I do. I love what president Murdock says, "How long does it take for the Lord to perform a miracle?" I love to have that constantly on my mind. I know that our God is a God of miracles and that He changes people's lives. A change of heart and a new start is among the greatest of all the miracles the Lord performs in this world. I'm so blessed to be a part of it and I pray that I may be an instrument in His hands. Miracles happen every day of our lives. If we put our trust in God and open our eyes, I know we will see them as we seek and follow His will. Have a great week everyone! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
It was an interesting last week of the transfer with lots of stuff going on. We had district meeting on Thursday which went super well and then afterwards, both districts went to Place Capitole and we set up our street meeting kit and sang hymns. I played guitar for all the hymns and it was super fun. We're going to start doing it after every district meeting! If you wanna see me, there's a webcam on Place Capitole on the internet I think and you'll see a big white blob somewhere and that's us singing haha. I'll let you know when the next time we do it is.
A was baptized this week and it was fantastic. She and F are a great couple and I'm excited for them to keep progressing.
Oh yeah, we had transfers, and I'm staying in Montauban of course, but I have a new comp named Elder Cushing. He's super awesome and he's from Independance, Kansas (yes, Kansas, not Missouri). He was in Perigeux during my last transfer in Bergerac and he was still there during my first three transfers in Bordeaux so we know eachother pretty well already and I've done exchanges with him. We look alike so everyone is going to think we're brothers. Everyone already thinks we're brothers anyways because we're all named Elder. I'm super excited for this transfer. I'm going to miss Elder Tromeur. He went to Nimes to be district leader. He was a great comp!
There have been tons of baptisms here in Montauban recently, actually 13 over the last 12 months to be exact, and I think 12 of them have been since January. Pretty insane. That's what happens when you strive to find and baptize families! I'm super thankful for the work of the missionaries who were here before me. Now we're on the hunt for some new investigators. We've got a few families we're working though and things are doing great. We've got the son of a member who is 27 that has a baptismal date for the 21 of July and we hope to help him progress towards that.
I can't believe this is the start of my last transfer. It doesn't feel like it at all. I don't want to feel like it is, but I want to work like it is, because it is! I know the Lord expects many things from me this last transfer. I hope I will accomplish his will in all I do. I love what president Murdock says, "How long does it take for the Lord to perform a miracle?" I love to have that constantly on my mind. I know that our God is a God of miracles and that He changes people's lives. A change of heart and a new start is among the greatest of all the miracles the Lord performs in this world. I'm so blessed to be a part of it and I pray that I may be an instrument in His hands. Miracles happen every day of our lives. If we put our trust in God and open our eyes, I know we will see them as we seek and follow His will. Have a great week everyone! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
June 11, 2012 + Pictures
C's baptism and our baptismal font
Friday we locked ourselves out of our apartment on accident and had to stay with the Van Tonder family. They provided us with these rockin PJ's and a pancake breakfast.
Hedgehog that I almost stepped on on the way to district meeting. He's so cute.
Salut,
This wednesday we were in Toulouse for zone conference. It was a great meeting, as are all zone conferences, but it was different as well because it was president and soeur Murdock's last one, and therefore the last time we'll see them during our missions. I've really grown to love them and I'm so grateful for their love and their example. I'll never forget the amazing zone leader councils we had with president Murdock. He's such an inspired person and he has helped me personally so much during my mission. It was weird saying goodbye to a mission president AGAIN. It's amazing to see the influence one person can have on so many.
The week went well. We're helping A, F's wife, prepare for her baptism this Saturday. She has quit smoking which is awesome. F is the man. He's trying to get the whole Slovakian community baptized haha. He took a family to stake conference this weekend as well.
We also working with R, an amazing man from Quebec. He's the one that bore testimony last week during sacrament meeting. He came to stake conference, and when I asked what he thought, he said, "it was too short!" He loved it, and he's just thirsting after the word. We hope to set a baptismal date with him this week for early July. He's so sensitive to the Spirit!
In general, things are going great, but there is a lot of opposition lately with recent converts, whether that be ones that were baptized before I got here, or the two that we've had since I've gotten here. It is evident to me that the most opposition comes when we are doing the most good. Satan never leaves us alone. We can't take a break, because he doesn't. If we do, we give him power over us. I testify that he can have no power over us if we keep the commandments and our covenants, and I also testify that we can keep the commandments and our covenants always, DESPITE our circumstances, no matter how hard they are. The Gospel was made to be applied in any circumstance and I know it answers all of our questions and needs. Of course, the Gospel isn't a big fix-it-all manual, but it is a guide and an outline. The solutions to our problems will come from our diligence in prayer, study, obedience, fasting, receiving inspiration from the Holy Ghost, and putting it into practice. That is why we were given the Holy Ghost. There is one gospel, and it applies to everyone in every circumstance, but exactly how the gospel applies to us and our situation is given to us through our own personal revelation. My mission has made me realize how important it is to be spiritually independent and how important it us to qualify ourselves to receive the inspirations of the Holy Ghost and learn how to recognize them and act on them.
I can't believe it's almost mid-june. Luckily, it wasn't super hot this week! I'm getting more used to the humidity. Transfer calls are this friday, and Elder Tromeur and I think he will be leaving because it's his 4th transfer here. It will be sad to say goodbye to him if he does. He's an amazing missionary. W X is coming to Montauban today and we're going to eat lunch and tour Montauban a bit for pday. Should be fun! I love you and pray for you. Thanks for everything, and have a good week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
June 4, 2012
Allo,
The Lord is infinitely kind. I feel so blessed. I am so blessed. That's basically how I can sum up the week. I love it here in Montauban (despite the scorching heat and humidity. I've started taking 2 showers a day. If you count the endless sweating as a shower, then that makes 3). This week was the baptism of C, who is a cousin of the T's, a recent convert family. He's about 40 and he's romanian. The first time he met the missionaries he said he was orthodox and wouldn't change. He didn't even want to touch the BoM. But he decided to open it up one day and read because he was curious. He read the first page and couldn't stop. As of yesterday, he was at the end of Mormon, and was also a member of the church. The Book of Mormon is a book from God! He doesn't speak french or english, but through the power of the Spirit and the Book of Mormon, and with some translating help from the family, he understood and accepted the restored Gospel. His baptismal service was filled with the Spirit as well. A, the 10 year old daughter of the T's, translated all the talks and everything. The Spirit was really strong. Bro. Van Tonder (jeanpierre's dad) baptized him and confirmed him.
Yesterday was an incredible day. I attended, what I believe to be, the most spiritual fast and testimony meeting I've ever attended. Testimony after testimony was born, and with each one the Spirit grew. Recently less active members who are now active testified, as well as recent converts, long time members, and even R, one of our investigators, gave the last testimony. He said he knew that Christ was in this church without a doubt and that he could feel it ever since he's started coming. I had to play the closing hymn right after his testimony and I thought I wasn't going to be able to because the Spirit was just so strong and I couldn't see the music because his testimony just made me cry with joy. I made it through somehow without mistakes, thankfully haha. That was a little miracle as well. I don't know how to describe it, but I've rarely felt the Spirit so strongly in my entire life. It was just a feeling of complete joy and comfort. I think that's what they mean in the scriptures when they say, "My joy is full." After the meeting, everyone was just happy and the Spirit didn't cease to grow. A member that we work with a ton and does so much for us who was totally less active a year ago, has been working with another less active we teach. This less active showed up for sacrament meeting and I just wanted to cry because this member worked so hard to help this less active and when he walked in and sat down next to him, I could see the tears rolling down his face. As I went up to him after sacrament, we just looked each other in the eyes and smiled, and we didn't really need to say anything, but we totally understood the joy that each of us was feeling just through the Spirit, and we gave each other a big hug. You can't express these feelings with words. The Spirit is a feeling of truth and joy. It's a vision of things, not something that can be expressed verbally. When we got back to the apartment for lunch I was just exhausted. It was crazy. I've never felt like that after church. The Spirit was so strong it just took everything out of me. It was like when Ammon collapses when he sees Alma in the Book of Mormon. I didn't think that really happened haha. It was an amazing day.
To finish the day yesterday, we had another miracle. There was a man that we saw while hurrying to an appointment for which we were late that smiled at us and said hi and we said hi back but didn"'t have time to talk . Three minutes later he came running up behind us and asked us who we were. He said his pastor said he was eternally damned. We testified of the Atonement and the restoration and ended up talking for about 20 minutes. He was so awesome and we set up an appointment. When the time of our appointment came, he didn't show up. We were pretty bummed. Saturday night during planning, we decided we would pass his address sunday night because we had a little extra time at night before coming home. So we went around 830 and it was a big building with lots of apartments. We started ringing allthe doorbells on bottom and no one answered. Then when we were about tlo leave, he showed up with his wife and his 2 kids and was super happy to see us. They invited us into their apartment and we taught them. They are such a humble couple and they listened to everything we said so intently. The Spirit was so strong and I just felt so much love for them and their family. I knew that Heavenly Father wanted us to be there last night in order to teach them. We're going to return tonight to teach them again. It's incredible how Heavenly Father can help us be where He wants us to be at the right time. I know this work is true and I love it! Thanks for all your support and prayers. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
The Lord is infinitely kind. I feel so blessed. I am so blessed. That's basically how I can sum up the week. I love it here in Montauban (despite the scorching heat and humidity. I've started taking 2 showers a day. If you count the endless sweating as a shower, then that makes 3). This week was the baptism of C, who is a cousin of the T's, a recent convert family. He's about 40 and he's romanian. The first time he met the missionaries he said he was orthodox and wouldn't change. He didn't even want to touch the BoM. But he decided to open it up one day and read because he was curious. He read the first page and couldn't stop. As of yesterday, he was at the end of Mormon, and was also a member of the church. The Book of Mormon is a book from God! He doesn't speak french or english, but through the power of the Spirit and the Book of Mormon, and with some translating help from the family, he understood and accepted the restored Gospel. His baptismal service was filled with the Spirit as well. A, the 10 year old daughter of the T's, translated all the talks and everything. The Spirit was really strong. Bro. Van Tonder (jeanpierre's dad) baptized him and confirmed him.
Yesterday was an incredible day. I attended, what I believe to be, the most spiritual fast and testimony meeting I've ever attended. Testimony after testimony was born, and with each one the Spirit grew. Recently less active members who are now active testified, as well as recent converts, long time members, and even R, one of our investigators, gave the last testimony. He said he knew that Christ was in this church without a doubt and that he could feel it ever since he's started coming. I had to play the closing hymn right after his testimony and I thought I wasn't going to be able to because the Spirit was just so strong and I couldn't see the music because his testimony just made me cry with joy. I made it through somehow without mistakes, thankfully haha. That was a little miracle as well. I don't know how to describe it, but I've rarely felt the Spirit so strongly in my entire life. It was just a feeling of complete joy and comfort. I think that's what they mean in the scriptures when they say, "My joy is full." After the meeting, everyone was just happy and the Spirit didn't cease to grow. A member that we work with a ton and does so much for us who was totally less active a year ago, has been working with another less active we teach. This less active showed up for sacrament meeting and I just wanted to cry because this member worked so hard to help this less active and when he walked in and sat down next to him, I could see the tears rolling down his face. As I went up to him after sacrament, we just looked each other in the eyes and smiled, and we didn't really need to say anything, but we totally understood the joy that each of us was feeling just through the Spirit, and we gave each other a big hug. You can't express these feelings with words. The Spirit is a feeling of truth and joy. It's a vision of things, not something that can be expressed verbally. When we got back to the apartment for lunch I was just exhausted. It was crazy. I've never felt like that after church. The Spirit was so strong it just took everything out of me. It was like when Ammon collapses when he sees Alma in the Book of Mormon. I didn't think that really happened haha. It was an amazing day.
To finish the day yesterday, we had another miracle. There was a man that we saw while hurrying to an appointment for which we were late that smiled at us and said hi and we said hi back but didn"'t have time to talk . Three minutes later he came running up behind us and asked us who we were. He said his pastor said he was eternally damned. We testified of the Atonement and the restoration and ended up talking for about 20 minutes. He was so awesome and we set up an appointment. When the time of our appointment came, he didn't show up. We were pretty bummed. Saturday night during planning, we decided we would pass his address sunday night because we had a little extra time at night before coming home. So we went around 830 and it was a big building with lots of apartments. We started ringing allthe doorbells on bottom and no one answered. Then when we were about tlo leave, he showed up with his wife and his 2 kids and was super happy to see us. They invited us into their apartment and we taught them. They are such a humble couple and they listened to everything we said so intently. The Spirit was so strong and I just felt so much love for them and their family. I knew that Heavenly Father wanted us to be there last night in order to teach them. We're going to return tonight to teach them again. It's incredible how Heavenly Father can help us be where He wants us to be at the right time. I know this work is true and I love it! Thanks for all your support and prayers. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
May 28, 2012
F's baptism was this saturday and it was a great occasion. There were probably between 30 and 40 people there, and I think 20 or 25 were slovakian and were non memmbers haha, it was so sweet. He has all kinds of family here. All the slovakians are somehow related in Montauban. He has something like 200 relatives here. Hopefully that will make for 200 baptisms and a slovakian ward. Jean Pierre Van Tonder baptized him which was great; He helps us so much with our work. F is the man. His wife, A, quit smoking last week and so she'll be baptized really soon as well, possibly even this weekend. Sunday after church, F came to a slovakian investigator family's house, who are some of his good friends. He bore an awesome testimony to them. The whole family is kind of between us and the TJ's (Jehovah's Witnesses), but they all came to the baptism and they all loved it. The mom said she wants to be baptized in our church. We're gonna get her going this week!
It's starting to get super hot here. I miss winter! It's mostly just the humidity. Today we helped a member's fiancé who isn't a member paint the walls in his house and I was dying because it was so humid and hot in the house, but afterwards we ate some bbq out in the yard and the kids started squirting us with water guns and it ended in a big water war. It was really refreshing! Probably the most wet I've been except when a car intentionally drove through a p uddle in Bergerac and sprayed us.
Things are going great here. I LOVE the branch! Like I said last time, everyone is very missionary oriented. We had a culture night saturday after the baptism and we had quite a few members participate. Everyone just did a presentation from their country - a song, a food, a dance, etc. I didn't know what to do, so I just talked about cowboy culture (everyone here loves it) and performed "Desperado" Don Henley style. It was fun. A slovakian kid played guitar and we had about 20 slovakian people singing gypsy music. That's probably a first for the chapel here in Montauban.
I had a simple, but really cool experience this week. On Friday we were with the B family (the slovakian family that is seeing the TJ's as well). The TJ's had told a bunch of lies about hte BoM and said a bunch of random thigns that weren't true about the church. So we corrected all that and we showed them a few things out of the Bible that aren't in harmony with TJ doctrine. They saw pretty well that the TJ's don't exactly follow the Bible. But then people started just pulling scriptures out everywhere and it kind of got crazy. So I just said, In the middle of all this confusion, that us, and the TJ's can show you all kinds of stuff out of the Bible, but I know both the Bible and the Book of Mormon and I know that both are books from God because I read them and asked God if they were true, and He answered me through the Holy Ghost. That is the only way you will ever know that which church is true. One of the daughters was really listening to me (the others were talking amongst themselves in slovakian) and I looked her right in the eyes as I bore my testimony. When I finished, she nodded her head, "That's right. That's exactly what I need to do." It was a really powerful moment for me, and it reminded me of the pure power of simple testimony bearing. She was invited to go to the TJ's church on Saturday, but she came to the baptism instead.
I can't believe it will be June this week. I'm trying not to let it freak me out. During my interview with president last month, I asked him for some advice about the end of my mission. I loved his answer. He said that one time, Francis of Narciss (or something like that) was out doing work in his garden one morning when someone passing by came up and asked him, "If the world were to end in one hour, what would you do with that one hour?" He replied, "Well, I would keep gardening." I love that. I've just gotta keep doing what I'm doing and go until the end. I love the mission and I'm thankful that the Lord has called me here. I'm having a great time here in Montauban and my companion and everyone are fantastic. I love you all! Bonne semaine!
Love,
Elder Tudor
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