July 2, 2012

Bonjour à tous,

Hey everyone!  Our first week as a trio was an interesting one.  We worked hard and had a lot of fun.  We're doing a lot of finding and we're finding plenty of people, the only problem is that 8 or 9 or them said they would see us and then never s howed up for the appointment.  Oh well, that happens!  We'll keep looking for the elect.  It was blazing hot at the beginning of the week but has cooled off since, which is good. 

We had a miracle this week named T.  She's slovakian and we've been teaching her for awhile now, but she's kinda been between us and the TJ's (Jehovah's Witnesses).  But she came to church last week and prayed to know the truth.  She then had multiple answers to her prayers and said she wants to be baptized.  She came to church again this week and loves church.  She has a baptismal date in August because she has to have surgery soon and won't be able to get in a baptismal font.  So awesome though.  We've been working with her for awhile, then once she finally came to church she really started progressing.  We're stoked to keep working with her.  A is still preparing for the 21st and he's progressing well, he just needs to stop smoking.  We're finding lots of other awesome people that we hope will have baptismal dates soon. 

We had an interesting day yesteday.  We found this magic bag in the apartment that is made for baking potatoes in the microwave.  So, for dinner, we made some potatoes.  We had made a couple and I put another one in.  A few minutes later I went in the kitchen and there was smoking pouring out of the microwave.  I opened it and the bag had caught on fire so we grabbed the fire extinguisher and dowsed it.  It was pretty crazy and now the apartment smells terrible.  We'll have a lot of cleaning to do this week.

We also had district meeting this week and got to do an exchange.  Elder Noyce came to Montauban with me and Elder Prows for the exchange.  It was awesome!  Elder Noyce was my MTC comp if you remember, and now he's in Toulouse in our district.  It was great workign with him, he's a great missionary! 

I learned some great things while studying this week for district meeting.  Our meeting was about creating new ideas and methods for finding new investigators.  Sometimes we can fall into the trap of doing the same thigns over and over, but as I was studying the scriptures, I realized that that isn't showing much faith.  I love the example of Nephi whan he and his bros are given the commandment to get the plates.  They go, and the first time they fail.  Laman and Lemuel think they've done all they could adn want to turn back.  But Nephi says, nope!  Let's try something else!  And finally, the third time, they succeed in getting the plates.  I think it's an example for all of us in our lives.  We all have tasks in life, the biggest of all is to keep the commandments.  Sometimes we find it hard to overcome opposition and just feel like things are going nowhere.  One of my favorite quotes from president Carter is, "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."  We know that if we are given a commandment, there is a way to accomplish it, and we know that we can do all things that are expedient in Jesus Christ.  But it doesn't always work at first.  God let's us grow and struggle.  He wants us to find new ways that we wouldn't if we didn't struggle and take a little step of faith.  I know that whatever our problems may be, the Lord will help us, but He wants us to take the initiative.  Like the Brother of Jared, we must look for ways to overcome our problems, not just expect the Lrod to do everything if we ask, and once we think we have found the solution, just like he did, we can present it before the Lord and say, "therefore, touch these stones, O Lord," and He will provide the rest of the way.  I know that Heavenly Father is with us the whole way and He guides us as we seek to overcome our problems in life.  He doesn't do it all for us because He loves us.  And when we do our best, He will consecrate our efforts for our benefit and the benefit of those we serve.  I love you all and bonne semaine!

Love,

Elder Tudor