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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