Elder Bryson Tudor

February 27, 2012

2012-02-28T14:00:00.002-08:00

Dear everyone,
It really was a great week. We had to let a few amis go who haven' treally been progressing. We know that the Lord will bless with new investigators who are ready to progress towards baptism. It's always hard letting people go. We had multiple lessons with new people this week. One of them was this young catholic "missionary". He's a university student here and we found out quickly he just wanted to bash us. It was the most interesting lesson I've ever been in haha. He just didn't listen to anything and it was so frustrating. It's hard to convince a catholic using true doctrine, even using the bible, because they don't really believe in the Bible. So we testified, but he just left without even taking a BoM. We met some really humble guys from Cameroon though who were really receptive. The search continues! We still have a couple investigators who are really solid. T H. is doing great, he just has a hard time keeping a couple commandments, but it's mostly because he just doesn't know the commandments very well, so we're gonna help him out there this week. We really think that's the only thing that's holding him back from accepting a new baptismal date. H is doing great. She saw her bf in Paris this last week. Apparently he's really awful with her. We don't know why she's with him. But she's afraid to tell him she wants to keep the commandments because she thinks he'll be angry. We had a great lesson with her yesterday. She'll have faith sometimes and then sometimes she'll say that God is just something that is learned in society and doesn't really exist. But then she talked about how she's the third child in her family. In china, if you have a 2nd child you have to pay a big fine and then the mother isobligated to have an operation so she can't have children anymore. H's mom had that operation after her 2nd child, but she miraculously got pregnant again and when they tried to abort her, it wouldn't work. She told us that she knows God is there because of that experience. Wejust need to keep building her faith so she'll get over this bf thing.
I got some responses from you last week that I found kind of odd. I didn't mean for my letter last week to sound like I was down. I'm happier than I've ever been in my life and I'm working hard and being obedient every day. I haven't slowed down a bit and I'm not trunky at all. I just want to push myself to do more and more! I want my mission to be a constant push upward and I don't want it to want it to plane and flatten out near the end. I want to give myself completely to the Lord and let Him change my desires completely. I want to be totally consecrated to the work. That's all! :) This week went great though. I found myself looking at the work from another perspective. I told the Lord that I wanted to give Him my whole heart. When I did that, I started seeing things with different eyes. I feltmore guided than ever and more confident and happy that I was fulfilling my calling. I realized that I don't need to try to convince anyone of anything during contacts or lessons. If I simply teach the truth, testify, promise, and invite in the name of Jesus Christ and according to His will, The Lord will do the rest. I love the verse in DC 84:88. There are angels all around us not only bearing us up, but influencingthese people and preparing them for the gospel. Elder Gubbay and I presented something in a district meeting this week about how we are working in the Lord's vineyard. We shared scriptures from Jacob 5 and DC 101. Iwasreally touched this week by Jacob 5:71-72, especially when it states that "the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them." I know that God is not only with us, but that he WORKS with us. I found myself working with a lot more Faith this week, remembering that the Lord is the senior companion in this work.
Today we're driving to Tarbes to do an exchange and we're going to Lourdes with the whole tarbes district (bayonne, pau, and tarbes). It should be great! The weather is beautiful as well. Tuesday night we'll drive back and get right on a plane to Lyon for jedi council. Wednesday night we'll take the plane home. Thursday we'll finally get to work in our own area - crazy!!! The zone did awesome this week and just totally exploded. Areas who have hadn't a thing just shot through the roof and had the best results of the zone. I know that prayer and hard work brings miracles. I love the missionaries in our zone. They have so much faith.
The D's and R are doing great as well. R attended the preparatory class for the Melchezidek priesthood yesterday and the teacher asked him, "so R, what do you know about the priesthood?" "Well, I know that it is God's power given to man so he can act in God's name and accomplish ordinances like baptism and without it we can't have salvation. And it is only so we can serve others and we can only use it if we're righteous." I love this guy. He's the strongest recent convert I've ever met. P passed the sacrament yesteday and R blessed it. It was great! P looked good passing the sacrament with his tiny pony tail. Apparently he has a sweet afro that he promised me he'll show me in the future. I'll be sure to get a picture. Things are great here. Elder Gubbay is a great missionary and we're working hard together. I love all of you and I thank you for your prayers. Bonne semaine à tous!
Love,
Elder Tudor

February 21, 2012

2012-02-21T19:47:00.001-08:00

Bonjour,
It was a crazy week, like always. We were all over the place. We have the car again which is fantastic! We can get around a lot easier now, except when there's horrible traffic, which happens often. Highlights of the week would most definitely be, first of all, L's confirmation. I had the blessing of confirming her yesterday during sacrament meeting. Just seeing them walk into church Sunday morning with smiles on their faces was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. A brother in the ward hooked P up with a white shirt and tie, so he received the Priesthood during the first hour of church and then he got to bless the sacrament (which is the last meeting here). As soon as sacrament meeting ended he disappeared and 5 minutes later he came out of the bathroom holding the white shirt and tie and just wearing his sweater. L said it was the first time he's ever worn a tie haha. He'll get used to it! The poor guy. The person he was blessing the sacrament with gave him the wrong prayer to read. He was supposed to bless the water and the member gave him the bread prayer, so he had to start over a few times. It was so great seeing him up there. I love that man!
In other news, we were able to see C this week. He made us this carbo-load dinner - A giant plate of fried rice and a giant plate of chinese noodles. He's not doing too great rright now. He's got some issues that we're working on with him. RIck is doing awesome as usual. It's that mongolian blood - descendant of Israel! (according to president Carter and President Murdock). H is doing well, but she has been in Paris all week visiting her boyfriend.
Right now we've got some investigators, but they're not progressing a lot, so we've gotta kind find a lot this week and kind of cycle through our amis. (ami means investigator. I'm gonna right tha tfrom now on because I'm sick of writing investigator haha). We found a few sweet amis this week. One of them is from Bulgaria but speaks fluent spanish, and since Elder Gubbay grew up in spain, we can teach him. We taught a new chinese guy yesterday and I played ugitar with him after. We both loved the same music so it we jammed a little bit. Sometimes it really catches people off guard when they see a missionary play guitar haha.
I'm really excited to work with Elder Gubbay. He's a really inspiring missionary. We really want to change the attitude of the zone. This morning we had a great discussion about the work in general. I remember at the beginning of my mission how I was such a little fireball. I absolutely love the mission still, but it's not always easy to keep that fire going when you do the same things every day. I work hard every day, but I just want that extra fire back that I had. I read through a few of my notes this morning from Elder Holland's talk that he gave us in the MTC. A few of my favorite ones were "this is war" and "you are saviors and redeemers without the captial 's' and 'r'." This literally is a war. We are literally soldiers in God's army. If these people don't accept the Gospel, "they will be destroyed" (president Murdock). This is the real deal. We can't hold anything back. This is the only chance I'll ever get to completely consecrate my time and my heart to the work. Satan is doing all he can to make God's children miserable. Elder Holland taught once that sometimes we as missionaries are the only thing between a person and their salvation. We've been put in this part of the Lord's vineyared and we need to take care of it. Some people will say that France is a poor part of the vineyard, but as the Lord said, "Counsel me not." I know that the Lord can bring forth good fruit in any part of His vineyard. I know that He is working among His children here and that He is always with us. One thing I've realized lately is that I rely too much on myself. It's surprisingly easy as a missionary to forget that this is the Lord's work, and that if we simply obey with exactness, pray, and work as hard as we can, He will take care of it. He is literally with us. I can't every let myself forget that. I know that every soul is precious to God and that when we become instruments in His hands, the work of redeeming His vineyard moves forward. I know the church is true. I know that Christ is our Savior and King. I love Him and want to serve Him and all of God's children the rest of my life. Love you all!
Bonne semaine.
Elder Tudor

February 13, 2012

2012-02-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

Salut,

Friday morning we got a call from president. He told Elder Buss that he would be going to Toulouse and that I would receive Elder Gubbay! It was sad news because we wanted to stay together a third transfer, but we really feel like it's for the best. Elder Gubbay is the man. He's French, but grew up in Spain, and his parents live in Dubai. He's 24 and he's already got his master's from this amazing school in Paris. I'm super excited to work with him.

In other news, it was one of the best/most dramatic end of a transfer that I've ever seen. It was just filled with miracles. P and L have been going through some difficulties that are keeping L form being baptized, so at the beginning of the week we called all the members and asked them to pray with us for her and P so she can be baptized. We also asked sister Wilkey to talk with her and she ended up going to L's house and they spent a few hours together and that helped her so much. Friday night, L sent us a text telling us that she wanted to be baptized on Valentine's day. But when we told her Elder Buss was leaving on Monday, she wanted him to be there for the baptism because it was us two that started teaching them. So, on Saturday we decided to have the baptism on Sunday after church. So we started calling like mad men and getting it arranged and making sure they fixed the hot water at the church. Sunday came and we were at church, as well as 8 romanians and 7 chinese people haha. 11 of them were investigators. It was ridiculous. Right after church we started the service. Sister wilkey gave a talk and Elder Buss and I sang Love Is Spoken Here. Then Elder Buss baptized her. We both wanted P to do it, but she wanted it to be Elder Buss because he baptized P and she wanted to be baptized by the same person as him. She said she wanted me to give "the speech" (the confirmaton haha). She was baptized, and I've never seen someone so filled with joy after the baptism. She just changed this week. It was such a miracle. Everyone's prayers and Faith really helped change her heart. They are two of the most amazing people I've ever met. They were so ready for the Gospel. I can't stop smiling just thinking about it.

That's why we're here, to baptize and give the Holy Ghost to families and prepare them to be sealed in the Temple for time and all eternity. What else could be more worthwhile?It was sad to see Elder Buss go. We had a great little gathering at the Wilkey's last night though with us, the sisters, and all the recent converts in the ward. We ate and played games. It was one of the best nights of my life to see all these people whose lives had been changed by the Gospel and just feel the happiness eminating from them. If being with our converts here makes me so happy, I can't wait til we can be in the celestial kingdom together!R is doing awesome as well. He is one of the strongest converts I've ever seen. He has helped us with teaching and he's coming to more and more ysa activities and is really getting integrated quite nicely. I love him!I got to do an exchange with Elder Brown in Agen this week and that was super sweet. I've missed that Elder!I'm so happy to be here. I feel the pressure a little more now since I'm senior comp again and Elder Gubbay doesn't know the area yet. He's a genius though and I know we're going to see miracles together. This week I was feeling a little discouraged. I just didn't feel like I was the missionary I could be. I was just seeing all my weaknesses and it was really discouraging. But then I remembered that God's strength is in weakness. I'm thankful that I have weakness, and lots of them haha. Because that makes me humble and reminds me that this isn't my work, it's His work. If I recognize my weaknesses and put my faith in Christ and work despite my weaknesses, He will work miracles. Like it says in the first section of DandC, the weak things of the world will defeat the carry forth the Gospel to the entire earth. I love my Savior and I have learned on my mission that I can have total trust in Him. I'm so happy to be a missionary. I don't want it to end! I've still got lots of time, fortunately. Thanks for all your love and you support. Bonne semaine!

Love,

Elder Tudor

February 6, 2012

2012-02-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

Allo,
We were all over the place this week, but we were able to throw a solid week together and we had some amazing experiences. Transfer calls are this Friday and neither of us want to be transfered. We really want to stay together! We'll see what happens though. We love our area and our invesigators! Sunday morning I woke up to snow for the first time on my mission! There were only about 2 inches and it was still lightly snowing. We thought it wouldn't be a problem, but we greatly underestimated the French freak out to snow. They cancelled ALL the buses and ALL the trams. So our 9 or 10 investigators who were coming to church couldn't come. Then we got a call from our bishop saying that all meetings were cancelled, but the ward that goes earlier still had church so we could go to that one, but then he said, "it's not worth the risk!! stay home!!!" Elder Buss and I just laughed as we looked out the window at the 2 inches of snow. So we did go, but had to take the car, with special permission from president. We were able to take our recent convert R and he was able to meet with the Bishop who came to the other ward's meetings; afterwards, R received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of a priest. He showed up in a white shirt and slacks and we gave him a tie. He's the man! P was supposed to as well, but their car wouldn't make it in the snow. They said they kept sliding off the road, so they weren't able to make it to church. L is doing well, and still wants to aptized, but there are still some complications. Pray for them please!
The rest of theweek was crazy because we had interviews this week and Eler Buss and I did a zone training. We had a ton of fun with it. It was on contacting with the Book of Mormon. We did "speed dating" or rather "speed preaching" where there were two lines of chairs facing eachother and everyone had a partner across fromthem. One partner would ask a "great questio nof the soul" and the other would respond using the Book of Mormon within a minute and a half. It was a really fun and cool activity that strengthened my testimony that the BoM can answer every sincere question. We also prepared a slideshow for th zone which was great. I put the picture of that demon cat from Bergerac in it haha. Then Elder Buss and I performed the Bordeaux Zone Song that we've been working on. It was so much fun. It was just me and Elder Buss, we both sang, and I played guitar. I'm going to try to send you a video of it. I had a really quick interview with president because I was last, but it was good. From what I could tell, I think I'm staying in Bordeaux at least another transfer. I hope so! I told you last week about how we challenged the zone to read the BoM cover to cover during the month of February. As I've been doing the speed read, I've found a side of the BoM that I've never seen before. It is just so apparent in my mind and in my heart that no single person could write this book in just the space of a few months. I know that it is the word of God and that it is here to convince every soul of the divinity of Christ. This morning, I started the Isaiah chapters in 2 nephi, which is usually a block in my BoM reading. But today I read all of them all th way through and I understood them for the first time in my life. It was pretty amazing. I just couldn't put it down during studies, but I wanted to read more and more. I was so happy because the Isaiah chapters always frustrate me because I want to understand but don't manage to. Reading it all at once really helped. I'm really excited to keep going with this til the end of the month. When you read it so fast, you can see just how inspired the Book of Mormon is and how well set up the book is. I can't really explain it. If you haven't done it already, try it for yourself.
I always want to be a missionary! I love it here, especially in Bordeaux. I'd love to finish my mission here. I know this is the Lord's work and that nothing will stop it. Today Elder Buss and I came to a realization while discussing some problems some of our investigators have. In 2nd nephi 27 the Lord says, "I am capable of doing my own work." I know that's true. We were really frustrated because we wanted so bad to help these people, but it was a little out of our hands. The Lord asks us to invite people and show them the way, then he takes care of the rest. There are many things that we have to do in order to invite them in the best way possible, but the Lord is the one who changes their lives and their hearts. I'm so thankful to have been and to be a witness of this process in the lives of people. I know that the Gospel changes people. It changes hearts and desires. I know that it is not always "easy", but God supports us, and in the long run, it is the only way. I love you all! Bonne semaine.
Love,
Elder Tudor

January 31, 2012

2012-02-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Salut,

What a week! I don't know where to start, but I guess I'll talk straightaway about R's baptism. So, before he left to China, he said he wanted to be baptized in the ocean, and we were like, "sure, I don't see why you couldn't!" Then the Sunday before his baptism we told the Bishop and he wasn't really for it. So we explained that to R and he said he needed some time to think. So we were stressing about it all week because we didn't want the Bishop to be mad but we didn't want R to be disappointed. R didn't make a decision til Friday afternoon after his baptismal interview, and it was... The Ocean! We prayed all week so that the Bishop's heart would be softened and it worked because when we called he said it was great that he decided to do it there. So, Saturday morning we played basketball with our investigators and the other missionaries as usual (including R, who put up 10 blocks on the day, like always). Then we ran to the Wilkey's, got dressed, bought a kebab, and hopped on the train to Arcachon. It was us, R, the sisters, and a couple members. Luckily, one of the members grew up in Arcachon and he took us to a good beach and we had to take this tiny little eletric bus that we didn't think would make it with all of us inside it. We ended up at this beautiful beach, and down the coast we could see the giant sand dune that arcachon is famous for. Elder Buss and R found a little nook to change in, then we started with a hymn, a prayer, and a few of us shared our testimonies. Then R was baptized. He looked so cold when he came out haha. ELder Buss said that the font in the church was colder though. I gave R a big hug when he came out, even though he was soaked in salt water. The wind was blowing super hard and it was pretty cold. The poor guys had to be freezing! It was such a beautiful baptism though and I felt so blessed to see a baptism like that. R has such great faith. He bore testimony in our investigator sunday school class about how much he wants to be a part of the church and continue til the very end. I confirmed him in sacrament meeting (in English, since his french is a little shaky). It was my first time confirming someone. It was a really spiritual experience.

In other news, Sunday right after church we took the train to Lyon and got to the apartment there around 1030. Monday morning we had zone council and we took the train afterwards and got to Bordeaux super late. So that's why I'm writing you today. We learned a lot in zone council, espeically about working with members. We have interviews coming up this week and Elder Buss and I are preparing a zone training about contacting with the book of Mormon. Today we called all the missionaries in our zone and challenged them to read the entire book of Mormon during the month of February. We both felt impressed to do it and we're excited to see the increased power that book of Mormon will bring into the zone if we read it together in such a short time. I've never read it even close to that fast. I'm really stoked! We've also written a zone song that we're going to present and our zone meeting haha. It's pretty sweet. More on the Book of Mormon, we have an awesome chinese investigator named H. Lately though, she has been saying that she can't be like us and we only believe because we were born in it etc. And every time we tell her to read the BoM and pray she just complains because the book of Mormon says "and it came to pass" too many times. But we decided to sit down and read a chapter with her to teach her how to study the BoM; We even got her some colored pencils to highlight with. We were at the institute building because we had a meeting to go to right after. So we read Mosiah 3 with her and then told her to read Mosiah 4 while we were at the meeting. When we came back after the meeting she was in the bathroom, but I took a look at her BoM, and she had highlighted a bunch. I looked at the verses, and she had highlighted all the key doctrines. When she came back, she showed us all the scriptures she liked and why. Then we read part of Mosiah 5 with her, and when it talked about the change of heart that the people had, she said that she wished the whole world would have that. We talked about the baptismal covenant with her and testified. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had. The Book of Mormon completely changed her heart. Afterwards, we were talking abotu R getting baptized in the ocean, and she said, "I want to do that!" So we asked her when, and she said she's not sure yet, but she wants to be baptized. She said she needs to take it slow. But wow, last week she was so hard hearted, and just one study session of the Book of Mormon opened her heart. Everything she was saying was under the influence of the Spirit and she was a totally different person. I couldn't believe it. Well, I could, because the Book of Mormon and the Spirit combined are our most powerful tool for conversion. I love it here in Bordeaux. Elder Buss and I want to stay a third transfer together. We bribed president, telling him we'd write a song for the mission if he left us together haha. He said that it was a good promise. We'll see! P and L are doing awesome. L should be getting baptized soon! Lots more happened this week, but I never have time. The church is true. I know it. Have a great week! love you!

Love,

Elder Tudor

January 21, 2012

2012-01-24T12:26:00.000-08:00

Salut,
It was a week full of Romanian madness, and Romanian awesomeness, of course. P was baptized on Tuesday and was confirmed Sunday. The baptism was basically a nightmare, except he got baptized, so that can't be considered a nightmare. When we got to the church, the baptismal font, who always has had hot water, would only spit out cold water. So, we went to work trying to fix the problem. P, who is the ultimate handyman, was determined to find the solution. He went around the entire church looking in every little room for some pipes and valves. We had the main water room, but everything in there was functioning correctly, so the problem was elsewhere. Eventually, P hoisted himself up into the ceiling and started walking around up there and checking the pipes above the font. So, rather than the baptism smoothly starting on time, at 7 o'clock, at that time, the baptismal candidate was walking around in the ceiling banging on pipes with a piece of metal trying to find the hot water pipe. Eventually, we gave up the cause and decided we better just do the baptism in cold water (and it was REALLY cold). So, the baptism started finally after 730. There were only about 10 members there, if that, because it was a weeknight, and the Bishop couldn't come. Sister Wilkey gave a great talk though and so did the 2nd counselor Alban (he's an RM and is 23). Then Elder Buss and I did a musical number where I played a medly of the primary songs 'baptism' and 'when I am baptized' and Elder Buss sang. It was really cool and simple. Then we followed P into the baptismal room. As soon as Elder Buss entered the font, you could see on his face how cold it was. But P just strolled right down into that font and took it like a man haha. While Elder Buss was explaining to P how he was going to baptize him, I had to stop C who was in the middle of filming the baptism on his phone. Then P was baptized and we all went back into the relief society room. There we got to hear P's testimony. I've never heard, and I probably never will hear a crazier/funnier/more awesome testimony. He started off by saying how 16 years ago in Romania he wanted to be baptized, so he went to the Pentacostal pastor and asked to be baptized. The pastor told him his hair was too long (he always has a long braided pony tail) and he couldn't baptize him, and P argued that Jesus had long hair, but the Pastor didn't agree. He also told him he couldn't be vegetarian. So P abandoned that idea. Then a couple months ago he was in the house here in Bordeaux and his mother in law asked him if he went to church. He said no, but that he would look for one. A couple days later, he was at G and V's house, when Elder Buss and Elder Bollero showed up ( we were on exchange that day) and he spoke with them and was interested. Then he explained how we came and taught etc. Then he believes that the Book of Mormon is true even though he hasn't finished it because it has already answered questions for him that can't be answered with the Bible. He said that originally, all the answers must have been in the Bible, but the Catholic church took them out so they could control people. Then he went on for a few minutes about how the Catholic church keeps the rest of the Bible in the Vatican and it is the only reason they have the Vatican, just so they can control people haha. I've never been on the verge of laughing so hard during a testimony, but he was saying all this with a straight face and his hilarious romanian accent, and it was hard not to laugh. I love that guy. Then at the end he said that he believes Joseph Smith is a prophet as well, even though he hasn't read all that he taught. He said it's like the atmosphere, I know it's there and that it's real, but I don't understand everything about it. He said it's the same thing with his testimony. He has so much faith. and at the end of his testimony he didn't close in the name of Jesus Christ, he just stood there silent, and then he said, "you don't have any questions?" My favorite baptism ever. L said near the end, "Tuesday must be an unlucky day. No hot water, no books (we were supposed to have a triple combo in Romanian), and no bishop. But! P was baptized, so it's not totally bad luck!" L will be bapized soon we hope. They're so amazing. L was afraid that P was going to have to bear testimony in Sacrament meeting after his confirmation haha.
Sunday was the craziest Sunday of my mission. P and L came of course, as well as T H. The rest of the chinese investigators didn't come because it was the chinese new year and they all called their parents. But, we've been teaching one of P's friends, D, and he showed up with 3 other Romanians and 2 random hardcore looking dudes. I bet it looked so funny when we were filing them all into the church haha. Then Elder Buss and I had an interview with some journalists who are doing a report about the church and missionaries because Mitt Romney was a missionary in Bordeaux. We were originally supposed to do a filmed interview for a 4 minute news run this week, but they decided to do that part in Paris and not in Bordeaux. It was pretty cool though! After church, one of the Talence Elders' investigators from India made us some super good curry.
Dang, I'm almost out of time already! Well, R will be baptized this week, but we're not sure if that will be in the ocean because the bishop doesn't agree. He's totally ready. I'm loving it out here and I learn so much every day about the Gospel, about God and our Savior, about people, about myself. I wouldn't give anything for this experience. I know the church is true. I know that people can and do change their lives to be freed from the chains of sin that keep us from our Heavenly Father's presence, and that it is only possible because of Christ's atonement and the principles and ordinances of the Gospel. I love you all! Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Tudor

January 16, 2011

2012-01-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

Allo,
What a week! So much happens here every week that I never have time to write it all, which is sad, but it's all in my head so no worries there. So, P and L are doing great! P is having his baptismal interview tonight and will be baptized tomorrow night! L said she wants to wait and see P be baptized first, then she will. They're such a riot. So funny. Last night they had us taste this three month old saurkraut juice. Elder Buss almost died. They're so ready for the Gospel. L is really searching to have peace in her family and raise her kids on a good foundation. I think P is giong to be my favorite member of the ward. So, R is back, and he's getting baptized on the 28th in the ocean! We also invited T H. to be baptized the same day with R and he's going to pray about it. R is the man. We went through the baptismal interview questions with him and he did great. At the end he said, "sometimes I have doubts and thing I'm not ready, but then I just say to myself, you need to have more faith!" It was like music to our ears! He's doing so well. He came and played bball with us on Saturday and he's super tall and just rejects everyone, including the sisters, everytime they try to shoot. I heard the Elders in Toulouse found a chinese investigator named Y Ming :). C go tback from England on Friday. he want there with part of the Wilkey family. He's still crazy as ever. F is still doing great too, he should be getting the priesthood pretty soon. I love being a missionary.
Friday and Saturday, basically all our plans fell through. Saturday night all our backup plans fell through as well. So we were at place de la victoire and we had 2 and a half hours left to proselyte. Before us was St Catherine, the longest pedestrian road in all of Europe, and it was full of people for the January sales. It was freezing cold, but we just looked at eachother and said we were gonna do it. We walked down the entire road and talked to everyone we could. I remember just dreading the thought before starting, but as we started going, I started loving it. I wasn't cold, and I was happy. We didn't have tons of success, and after about an hour and a half we still hadn't gotten to the end of the road. Then I saw this rich looking guy who was pretty chic, and usually I wouldn't contact that kind of guy if there were other people to contact, but this time I did. His name is J and he's from Bolivia but he's lived in France basically his whole life and he plays rugby. he said he's searched his whole life to know if God exists and he's read all the books on religion. I simply asked him, "have you read the book of mormon?" and showed him a copy. He said he had read about it on the internet once but had never really read teh book. Then I just testifed of how I found out for myself that God exists through prayerful study of the Book of Mormon, and that this book could bring Him closer to God than any other book. I offered him a copy and he accepted. We talked for awhile and he was so awesome and so humble, despite his appearance. He said, "Rugby is my religion, at least for now." Not for long, buddy! Haha. I got his number and he said to contact him this next weekend. I remember leaving that contact with just such an amazing feeling in my heart.
The Gospel is for everyone. EVERYONE has the light of Christ and can be guided to accept the restored Gospel. I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon which, with teh Spirit, has the power to convert people durably and for life. Sunday morning I studied the talk The Power of Scripture by Elder Scott. As I read, I felt like I was reading the exact words I would have written down teh first time I read the Book of Mormon and all the times I've read it since. Last week I talked about how teh BoM helped me be converted, but this week I found out just how deeply the Book of Mormon has healed my soul. I testify that the Book of Mormon heals the sinner's soul, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and even physically. The Book of Mormon adn the Spirit bring true conversion. Together, they destroy any desire in us to do evil, and replace it with a desire to good and serve God and His children and keep His commandments. I know it's true, because it's doing it to me. I love the Gospel and how it changes lives. I love the words of our prophet from last conference. We live in a world filled with evil influences that threaten to destroy us, but will we hang our hands in despair? No! We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I honestly don't know if that's what he said, but it was something like that. How thankful I am to share it with God's children. Every soul needs it. The longer I'm here, the more I realize how the sons of Mosiah felt when they couldn't bear that any human soul should perish. That's what I want to be like! I'm not even close yet, but in moments of reflection and meditation, I realize just how important this message is for every human soul. Now I just need to conform my actions to this knowledge, which is easier said than done, but I know the Lord will help me through prayer, study, obedience, and diligence. I love this work, and I never wanna stop! Thanks for your prayers and your love. Jesus Christ is our Savior and this is His church and His Gospel. Have a great week - love you!
Elder Tudor

January 9, 2012

2012-01-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

Salut,
Hey everyone! I'm actually emailing you from Tarbes this week - a pretty little town just above Spain. We're doing an exchange with the district leader Elder Bowen here tomorrow and we came down and spent Pday with him and Elder Frazier. We went to Lourdes and spent 3 hours there. That's the place where Mary apparently appeared to Bernadette 18 times and now it's the second most important place for Catholics after the Vatican. There's a massive Cathedral there that's built on the Spring where Bernadette was getting water when it all happened. I remember going to the Vatican before my mission and thinking how cool it was, but when we were at Lourdes today it just made me sad. It was the epidamy (epitimy? mom, you can correct me) of the apostasy. We said "say apostasy!" as we took pictures of each other instead of "say cheese!" haha it was funny. On the side of the church they have these little fountains that pour out Holy Water from the Spring that Mary blessed and we got a bunch of it in these little bottles that they had there. Not sure what I'm going to do with it haha. We went into the little cave where the vision happened and everyone goes there and kisses the side of the cave and rubs it and the rock is like rubbed smooth now. That's pretty gross, there's no way I was kissing that thing!
Anyways, it was a great week for the work! P and L Dragon are committed to be baptized the 17th. P is more solid, but L will get there. As well, H (E), one of our chinese investigators has a baptismal date for the 21st. She has opposition from her boyfriend, but her faith has grown so much and she's keeping all her commitments. She really committed more solidly to be baptized and is a lot more sure that she wants to do it now. Great news! W Z. (R) finally got back from China and we talked to him yesterday on the phone and he said he still wants to be baptized, if it's in the ocean haha. So we'll see him later this week and set up a date for him. He read a lot in the BoM while he was in China and he talked to his parents and they're ok with it, so he's ready to go! We're super excited for him to be baptized.
We had kind of a crazy week because we had jedi council in Lyon. We flew out from Bordeaux Thursday night and got to the apartment in Lyon that night around 12:30. It was so strange taking a plane. I never thought I would until I went home, so it kind of scared me haha. Jedi council was on Friday and was awesome of course. President Murdock is so inspiring and it was great to see the other zone leaders again. Fridaynight we took the train to Tolouse with teh Toulouse ZL's (we got there around 12 because of train delays) and stayed the night there and then got back to Bordeaux Saturday morning. It was a long trip! We talked a lot about contacting with the BOok of Mormon during jedi council. I've been thinking a lot about the Book of Mormon lately and its importance in missionary work. It's literally, tangible proof that God exists and that he chose Joseph Smith as His prophet and that he still talks to us today through a modern prophet. I love the talk by Elder Holland titled "Safety For The Soul". He talks about how anyone who discredits the Church or our message have to go ignore the BOok of Mormon to do it. I've read the Book of Mormon multpile times now, and I know without a doubt that it is the word of God. It amazes me how it answers all of our investigators questions. It makes missionary work so much easier! I definitely wouldn't be out here if it weren't for the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, I neglected the BoM most of my life. I never even read it through until my BoM class at BYU. That class saved me! I remember reading it every day as part of my homework, and how I just would go in my room, close the door, start reading, and never be able to put it down. It changed me spiritually. It invited the Spirit in my life and my heart changed. I've prayed about it and I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true. I love testifying of the BOok of Mormon and the Restoration, because it's brought me more happiness and peace than anything. I'm so thankful to be a missionary and invite others to come unto Christ. I've seen the Book of Mormon change people during my mission. Those who read get baptized, those who don't read never get baptized. It's the foundation of our testimony. Let us never neglect it, because it will always remind us why we believe what we do and confirm to us time after time that it is the truth. Have a great week! Love you!
Elder Tudor

January 2, 2012

2012-01-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

Heya,
Friday came... and no transfer call! Elder Buss and I are staying here in Bordeaux together! We're super stoked. We've got some amazing investigators who have so much potential and we've fixed some great goals for this next transfer and we're super excited to start anew. It was a crazy week, as usual. I'm loving this part of my mission. I'm learning so much about my role as a missionary and how our investigators can be truly converted. There's so much to learn and so many habits to develop as a missionary it seems overwhelming at times, but in the end, it's all very simple things that come naturally to missionaries who are truly converted and love the Lord and their investigators. If we're truly committed to find, teach, and baptize people, the rest will come through study, prayer, and work.
Our investigators are awesome. T. H., a chinese investigator, is so ready to be baptized. He just has slip ups with the word of wisdom, and as a result, has "answers" to his prayers that tell him he can't say when he will be baptized and won't set a date as a goal. He'll get the real answers soon though. We had a great lesson with him yesterday and he is going to stop drinking. I love the guy, he's so sincere. Then there's H, a chinese girl, who is very committed and so awesome, but she has a french boyfriend who could be a problem. She had a baptismal date for last week, but was out of town and there are some complications. She's committed to talk to him about it though and she wants to follow the commandments. Then, there's P and L, and we found out this week that their last name is Dragon. Yes, Dragon! Just when we thought they couldn't get any cooler haha. They're the most amazing people. They're Romanian and have been here for about 2 years. They feed us soo much every time we go to teach them. Usually it's really nice food, but last night we got a little surprise. They made this dish where you take the leg of a pig and you boil the bottom part of the leg until all the jelly on the leg comes off and then you cut up the meat on the upper leg and cook it. Then you put the two together in a bowl and let it cool. Soon you have what I like to call pig leg jello! It's random pig meat set in pig jelly. I ate a lot of bread with it. They also made a soup out of it where they put the pig skin in. It was nice and crunchy; They said it's traditional New Year's Romanian food. Tant mieux!
Transfers were this week and about half our zone is changing. We're super excited about the changes and it will be a nice opportunity to start afresh in the zone. A new ville is opening and there will be a new district, so we will have 4 districts in our zone now. Pretty exciting stuff, but probably boring for you. Sorry! Next week is Jedi Council in Lyon. I'm really excited to hear president speak and get that extra fire. It was an awesome week, but no real crazy stories, except for the pig meal. I love our investigators, and one of our chinese investigators, R, that was in China for a month is coming back this week and he said he wants to be baptized in the ocean. I love it here. I'm so happy. I can't believe it's 2012. La fin est proche! just kidding. We've heard so many people talking about the end of the world in 2012, it's ridiculous. And they're all Catholics. I just want to say, "If you read the Bible, you would know that no one knows when the end is except God himself." I'm so thankful for the restored Gospel, and how we don't need to fear if we live the commandments. that is one of the greatest gifts of the Gospel - peace of mind. I'm so thankful to be here to help the Lord prepare the world for the Second Coming, and it's so humbling and inspiring to meet the people that hearken unto the Spirit and are prepared to receive the Gospel. Have a great week everyone, love you!
Elder Tudor

December 26, 2011

2011-12-27T19:48:00.000-08:00

Salut,

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Année! Well it's almost 2012. I never thought it would be! It seemed so far away back in 2010! This was one of the best Christmas's I've ever had. On Christmas Eve and Christmas night we ate with a Romanian family. We spent Christmas eve with G and V B. They prepared SO much food. Honestly, I have no idea where they get all this food, because they just sell newspapers all day for 40 cents a piece. They're so humble, generous, and jsut full of charity though. V made a wicked good egg salad, but it was called beef salad. Don't ask me why, there wasn't an ounce of beef in it haha. On top of the big egg salad, which looked like a cake, she had decorated it with trees and snowmen and a sleigh all made out of olives, carrots, and peppers haha. She's so awesome. We all sang Christmas carols together after dinner and just had a great time. G played his guitar and sang us a Romanian song. He's the man. I played have yourself a merry little christmas for them on the guitar :). After we finished singing, we watched the Joseph Smith movie with them because G wants to know more about Joseph Smith's life. The spirit was very strong, and at the end, G said, "I know Joseph Smith was a prophet." Hearing investigators bear testimony is the greatest thing ever! I was so touched by the whole evening together. When we left, Elder Buss and I talked about it, and we were just so happy and agreed it was the best Christmas ever. We were invited to a member's house that night, but were invited later by the Bostacas adn decided to go there instead. I'm so glad we did, because if not, they would have just been all alone on Christmas Eve. We were so happy so blessed to celebrate Christmas with them.

On Christmas we went to the Wilkey's, an English family, and ate with them and opened presents; Everyone in their family got each missionary a present. It was so nice! I got some sweet union jack socks haha. Then I skyped you, as you all know. It was so great seeing all of you! It gets less weird every time I call home. I remember the first time was awkward because I had no idea what to say haha. Sophie and Mia are so huge! So is Colin! Colton, I knew you would grow back teh beard haha. It was nice to actually see you this time, Ally!

Christmas night we went to P and L's, the other Romanian family. It was hilarious because they prepard almost exactly the same meal we had had the night before. I guess it was the traditional Romanian Christmas meal! We taught them the plan of salvation. They are so golden. At the end, L asked, "but when I die, will I still be able to see my husband and my children?" They're so ready for the Gospel. So many miracles! I love it here, and don't want to go anywhere. Transfer calls are Friday. Elder Buss and I want to stay put. I'm so blessed to be able to work with Elder Buss. He's the man. I learn tons from him and he's such a good missionary. I hope we stay together another one! Well I'll leave this email a little short since I just talked to all of you, and I have to write a big thing to president this week and probably already have less time than I need for that. I love you guys. Thanks so much for your love and your support. You're the best!

Love, Elder Tudor

December 19, 2011

2011-12-19T13:14:00.000-08:00

Bonjour à tous,
It was a miraculous week. I can't even explain everything that happened! It was such a crazy week haha. We had zone conference on Wednesday and it was our zone and the Toulouse zone all together here in Bordeaux. Elder Buss and I threw together a pretty sweet presentation complete with a musical demonstration on how the Spirit works in the conversion of our investigators. I wrote a story about a family and started from before they met the missioaries, when they met them, when they were taught etc, until they got baptized. As I told this story, Elder Buss played this beautiful song on the piano, and we said that the Spirit was like the sustain pedal on the piano, so as I read, everytime the misisonaries did something to help the family have the Spirit, the pedal would go on, and it would sound beautiful, but every time the missionaries failed to follow up or something and the family lost the Spirit, he woud take the pedal off and it would sound strange and not very pretty. Near the end, the Spirit is constant because the missionaries are diong everything they're supposed to in order to help the investigators have the sustaining influence of the Spirit and the family is baptized and Elder Buss just plays the end of the piece as normal and it's such a beautiful piece, and for the last few moments of the song I read Mosiah 2 verses 2 and half of 5. The Spirit was really strong, and half the missionaries were crying at the end. It was a really spiritual experience for me to write the story and I really gained a strong testimony that our investigators really depend on us in order to be converted. Of course it's the Spirit that converts, but we are teh ones that invite them to do things that will help them have the Spirit and we create an environment for them to feel adn be converted by teh Spirit. The image with the sustain pedal worked out perfect.

We had a great white elephant gift exchange at zone conference as well. I ended up with a pineapple. Elder Buss and I brought a second tree that we had cut down with our leatherman and wrapped it up in big garbage bags. It looked like a body bag. We also brought a big can of baby milk powder that G and V gave us haha. We told them we don't have children, and V just looked at us and in her awesome english pointed at us one at a time and said, "baby - baby" haha. So we gave it away as a white elephant.

After the zone conference we went on exchagne with the assistants and that was really fun. Me, Elder Bollero, and 6 other misisonaries went to place de la victoire and sang Christmas Carols and contacted people. It was really fun but it was raining and freezing cold haha.

Tuesday and Wednesday were crazy picking up the assistants at the airport and doing zone conference and everything, and then thursday was insane because Elders Duncan and Allen flew in from Lyon to do their legality in Bordeaux and so we had them and the assistants all day long and we had to help them get all their legality sorted out and it was just complete chaos haha. And to top it off, we got a call from president informing us that we no longer have the right to drive in France. Apparently after one year in France, our US licenses are no longer accepted, so we've been driving illegaly. So now we have this giant area with sparatic buses because it's mostly a residential area and we don't have a car anymore. We were nervous about it at first and it's been hard to be effective with our time because we can't just drive around everywhere whenever we want, but we saw miracles this week and just had new investigators coming out of the woodwork. We found four new Chinese investigators this week, and an awesome Romanian couple. The Romanian couple came to church with V this week and we taught them after church. They speak english and they're named P and L. They are so golden. When we sat down before the lesson started, I asked if they had any questions. L said, "Yes, I was wondering... because there's so many churches in the world and how could anyone know which one was right? I've always wanted to know and I've prayed many times to know which one was true, but God hasn't answered my prayers yet. How do I know?" They have a baptismal date for the 7th of January. I've never during my whole mission hear someone say that during a first lesson. I love this work. Both Elder Buss and I agree that we don't deserve to teach these amazing people that are just coming out of nowhere. We feel like we didn't do anything, these people just show up. Miracles always follow faith and works, even if it's not when, where, how, or who you expect it to be. The Lord truly prepares people to receive the Gospel!

G and V are not married so V is moving out today, pray that everything goes well and that she finds a place to live. She has so much faith and is so Christlike, it is incredible. She cuold be baptized this week! we'll see how everything works out. We've got 6 investigators with baptismal dates for the next few weeks, so we're really praying and doing our best to help them get there. It's miracle month, so they will!

I'm living my dream out here. I've always wanted to serve in Bordeaux, and the miracles are just flowing! I know this is God's work, and that we can't even comprehend His love for us. I know Jesus Christ suffered pains and temptations of every kind in order to overcome everything that separates us from our Heavenly Father, and I know we can use His power in our own lives to overcome ourselves - if we only choose to. I'm so thankful for the Gospel and for my mission. It's just flying by, I can't believe it. I love you all! Have a great week, et Joyeux Noel! Je penserai à vous tous, merci pour tout ce que vous faites, je vous aime!

Elder Tudor
P.S. N'oubliez pas de regarder Christmas Vacation pour moi! :)

December 12, 2011

2011-12-15T11:14:00.001-08:00

Wow, it has been a totally insane week, and I don't have enough time at all to write about it! But anways, my chinese is coming along quite well if any of you were wondering :). Really though, Elder Buss is teaching me! That's what we do in the car haha. Speaking of Chinese, we found a new chinese investigator this week named H, or Ava is her French name. She's a student and has only been here a month but studied french and speaks really well. She knows nothing about God, but we've already seen her a few times and she is progressing really well. She has a baptismal date for new year's eve. She's already best friends with like everyone at institute as well. We're so excited for her! In other chinese news, one of our recent converts, C, invited us over for dinner the other night. He usually makes really good chinese food (well, Taiwanese, he's from Taiwan and would be mad if I said Chinese haha). So we got there and there was rice on the table like usual. Then he brought out this meat dish and it was like nothing I'd ever seen. I asked him what it was and he just said beouf, so we went for it. At first we thought it was just fat or somethign cuz it wasn't really meat and it was all chewy and gelly like. It was really odd, so we asked, "C, what part of the cow is this?" - "The foot." Elder Buss and I took a second look at what we were eating, and sure enough, I was holding a cow's hoof in my hand and I was gnawing on the ankle, but we didn't notice at first because it was all brown and cooked. After realizing this, we both tried to contain our laughter while not throwing up. Probably the first time I've ever had that sensation before. Oh C.

The ward Christmas party was Saturday night, and Elder Buss and I did a song. I played guitar and we both sang. It was a song by a french member of the church. It"'s pretty cool, I'll try to send you a video. At the end of the video, you can hear C yell from the back of the auditorium super loud, "well done, Fish!!!" He calls me fish becquse the first time he met me we were at an English member's house, and when they said my name to him in their English accent, it sounded like "Tuna". So now I'm Fish. all the missionaries and the ward mission leader sang a hymn as well. It was far far away on Judea's plains, and we forgot to plan an accompaniment, so I had to make up one onthe spot on the guitar haha. It was intense. I think it worked out ok though.

The Lord blessed us with an amazing miracle this week. A couple weeks ago we found a new investigator named I. She is really sweet and we had a really good first lesson. Then a couple day sbefore our return appointment, she called and left a message and said she didn't want to see us anymore. We decided to let the Spirit do it's work and not call her back, because we knew she knew our message is true. A couple days later she called and left a message saying that she wants to see us again and that she knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet and wants to learn more. We saw her the next day and had a great lesson. I'm so thankful to be a missionary. It makes me realize how much teh Lord does for us. As I think back on this week, we didn't do anything special. We just worked, were obedient, and kept a positive attitude, and we saw so many miracles. I love Bordeaux. These last few weeks have been some of the best of my mission. Elder Buss is the man and I love working with him!

Since it's Christmas, Elder Buss and I decided to go out into a little forest today and cut down a little Christmas tree. I'll send pîcs. It's a long story. To make the story short, all we had was a leatherman. We have a tree now though!

There are so many more things I could write about this week, but don't have the time. The church is true and I love the Gospel because it makes people happy! Have a great week! Love you!

Elder Tudor

December 5, 2011

2011-12-15T11:11:00.000-08:00

Hello!

It was a crazy week! We weren't even in Bordeaux for a big part of it. Thursday at noon we left Bordeaux on the train for Lyon and we slept there Thursday night with a bunch of the other zone leaders, and Friday morning we had Jedi Council, which was pretty amazing. It's just the zone leaders, the assistants to president, and the president. We just discuss things that have been working in the mission and areas we can improve and every zone gives a report about their zone and goals that they have. Basically President Murdock just like receives revelation and talks to us and we try madly to write down everything he says haha. It was so inspiring and was such a blessing to be there and be in such a spiritual environment. Then Friday night we took the train back through Montpellier and stayed the night in Toulouse and then took the train to Bordeaux in the morning where we went right to Samedi Sportif (sports saturday) where we played basketball at this giant park with members, other missionaries, and investigators. We had a couple of investigators there. Louis and Rick came, who are so awesome. They're both chinese, and super good at basketball actually. I guess Yao Ming isn't much of a mystery after all! Rick is super tall and at one point he totally stuffed (blocked) a sister missionary hardcore. He wasn't messing around haha. He's going back to China for a few weeks though, but then he'll be back. Luckily I'll most likely still be here when he gets back.

While I was at Jedi Council, I saw Elder Garland! I love meeting old companions again. He's in Lyon now and he came by the institute building where we were having the council because they were doing a lesson there. I missed him! And I got some great news about Yves, remember him? He got baptized just a week or two after I left Cannes. Apparently he's still super strong and active and even helps the missionaries often with teaching. Yes! I love hearing news like that. And I couldn't write him because I don't have any of his info, so I was really happy.

We had a great/crazy Sunday this week. F was confirmed, which was so great, and I had the blessing to participate. Then after church, a chinese recent convert named Charming was given the Aaronic priesthood and F got to watch. He also got to watch as we gave a member a blessing for the sick. Then afterwards, we taught F about hte priesthood, and he was super excited to receive it because he had seen so much Priesthood in action that day. I'm so excited for F! He already finished the Book of Mormon. What a stud. He's progressing like crazy. Then we went to this Romanian couple's house. They told me their son's name is Tudor haha. We taught them. The husband speaks pretty good english and french, and the wife not so much, but he translated. They accepted to be baptized on Christmas Eve! The poor people though, they live in such a terrible house. There was a fire in the house before they bought it so everything is just charred and the walls are all burned and everything, and there's just burned clutter everywhere. Not the greatest place to live. I felt so bad for them. We're going to go help them clean it Monday morning. Before we left, the husband played the guitar and sang us Romanian songs haha it was great. Then they gave us this huge bag of food even though we told them that it was ok and we didn't need it a hundred times. They're so nice. Some of the food was pretty sketch though. It was really interesting! So we drove aroudn the rest of the day with that big bag of food in the back of the car, and there was this goat cheese in it that just smelled terrible. Later that night, Elder Buss was driving and I was in the passenger seat, and all of a sudden Elder Buss started rolling down my window and yelling "that spider is so big!!! it's so big!!!" and I had no idea what was going on. I looked outside for a spider somewhere but was still confused, then to my absolute horror I noticed this big white mass right up on the little ledge by my window in the car, and I looked and saw this massive white spider who's abdomen was probably the size of my thumb! Of course, I screamed like a little girl and when the window was down all the way, I hit it with my cell phone out the window. We kept freaking out for 10 minutes after that haha. It was so scary. We figured it came from the big bag of food cuz the bag had been in the garage. I've never seen a spider like that! I'm pretty uneasy in the car now haha.

I love being in Bordeaux and time is just flying here. We're really busy and I love it. Even though I'm so busy, I don't think I've ever been as focused on the real reason why I'm here as I am right now. When Elder Causse came, he said that sometimes we lose teh Pearl in the box. The story is that this Jewler bought this giant magnificent pearl and wanted to display it in the window of his store. Because it was so amazing, he had this special hand made beautiful box made so he could display the pearl in it. The only problem was that when the people walked by and looked at it, they only noticed the box and the pearl kind of got swallowed up in the box. Sometimes, whether as missionaries or as just members of teh church, we lose the pearl in the box. There's so many techniques and theories and ways to do things in missionary work, and sometimes, we focus too much on finding the best "box" to present the Gospel in, and we forget a little about the precious "pearl" that is the Gospel itself. It doesn't matter what box you have if it doesn't draw attention to the pearl! As members we can get caught up in big extravagant activities etc. and we can get distracted from what is really important. Let's all remember how simple and precious the principles of the Gospel are and how rich the blessings and promesses are that come with them. Out here, I'm not just going contacting, I'm offering people salvation through Jesus Christ, their Savior. I'm not just teaching lessons to say I taught a lesson, but I'm teaching people the way to come unto Christ. Let's remember why we do everything we do in the church. The purpose of the church and its teachings is to invite everyone to come unto Christ and partake of salvation. I know the church is true and that the principles of the Gospel and the commandments are REAL. They make us happy for eternity. Well gotta go, but I love you all!

bisou,

Elder Tudor

November 28, 2011

2011-11-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

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

November 21, 2011

2011-11-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

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

November 14, 2011

2011-11-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

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

November 7, 2011

2011-11-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

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

October 31, 2011

2011-11-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

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

October 24, 2011

2011-10-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

Salutations, Things are going well in Bergerac. I've been here a long time it seems like! I remember the first 3 transfers felt like they went by so fast, but this 4th one seems like the first three all together haha. Our investigators are having a hard time progressing right now, but they're getting there, and we're still finding new ones. But M is progressing still! He got the preisthood yesterday and was ordained a priest and even prepared the sacrament. He was so excited and he was SO happy! We were so happy for him and it's so amazing to see his progression still. All 5 of the people that have been baptized since I've been here are all still active and progressing in the church. It's such a blessing to see it! The work is going well, a little slower with the colder weather, but it's goin. Finishing out this transfer is going to be great and take a lot of faith. Today we met up with a reporter who is doing an article on all the churches in Bergerac. We explained our beliefs and answered her questions and it was great. It's funny to explain to reporters our religion because they can never get it into their heads that we're not a branch off of catholicism or protestantism. I'm really excited to read the article. It will be in the newspaper Thursday. There will be a picture of us two in front of the church as well haha. This week we had the huge blessing to hear from Elder Caussé (born in Bordeaux) of the seventy for a special zone conference in Bordeaux. What a spiritual experience! General authorities are so inspired and the spirit is so strong during these special zone conferences. He got up and asked us what the purpose of the church is, and we responded "To invite others to come unto Christ." Fortunately, we were right haha. He took that phrase and split into two sections. We first discussed coming unto Christ. He asked us what it means to come unto Christ. Of course we talked about the principles and ordinances of the Gospel and so on, and that coming unto Christ is to be saved. Then he asked what it means to be saved, and why be saved? And we were throwing out answers like "to have everything the father has" or "to be perfect" or "to be in his presence" etc. But every time we threw out an answer he just kept asking "but why do you want those things and why does Heavenly Father want you to have them? Just so you can create worlds and be Gods?" It took us awhile, but finally one Elder just said, "Because He loves us." Elder Causse had the answer he was looking for, and we discussed this topic for quite awhile. I felt the spirit so strongly and this discussion really opened my eyes. I'm just going to briefly resume some things he said and thoughts I had. Love is the motivation for everything. The reason God created His plan was because He loves us. The reason we want to return and live with Him is because we love Him, and we want to feel His love as we once did before coming to earth. All of us are searching that love that we once knew. Elder Causse asked us this question, and I just loved it. He said, "Imagine Heavenly Father and the Savior were in the room with us right now. Can you imagine the love you would feel in their presence?" As I thought about that, I just felt an incredible peace and love for Father in Heaven. LOVE is why we're here. LOVE is why we live the Gospel, and the reason why the Gospel exists. We then discussed Lehi's dream. We read in 2nd Nephi 11 when the angel explains to Nephi the meaning of the dream. The Angel tells Nephi that the tree and its fruit represent the Love of God, and then right after, the Angel says "look!" and Nephi sees the Christ and His ministry. I had never noticed that before. The tree, or the love of God, is the Christ, but more specifically, the blessings of His Atonement. All of God's love is manifest in one single event - the Atonement. And to feel that love, is to feel the power of the Atonement. So how do we feel that love? We follow that straight and narrow path that is described in the dream which is the Gospel. We hold fast to the word of God and apply it to our lives, we don't just "cling" to it. When we have Faith, repent, are baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and continue to partake of the Sacrament worthily so that we feel the Holy Ghost's influence and the Love of God in our lives, we are at the tree because we have the blessings of the atonement in our lives. I wanted to share this because it's something I had never realized before. I always thought that we got to the tree at the end of our lives and that the straight and narrow path was our life's journey. But we can well see that even some people who got to the tree and tasted the fruit fell away after a time, so this couldn't be after this life and after judgment that we can taste of the fruit. It is right now. The purpose of the Gospel is so that we may feel the Love of God throughout our lives and partake of the fruit daily. We can and should be at the tree, not just spectators hoping to get there some day. It all just kinda clicked in my head. God will not transform us after this life into somethign we have not become in this life. Especially as a missionary, I need to be at the tree. Elder Causse said we need to be Lehi in the dream. He tasted the fruit, looked around, and invited his family to come and partake. We have to be at the tree, eat of the fruit, be filled with the Love of God, and then we can and will invite others to come and partake because we are filled with His love. We discussed many other thigns and I'd love to share all of it, but don't have time! The week was amazing as I thought about this. I just felt the love of GOd so much this week. This is His work and he created it because He loves us, so as His servant, I must do the work out of love as well! One experience from yesterday sums up my week. We went to a member's brother's house yesterday because he has a serious sickness (not sure what) and can't walk and can't really talk either and is in a bed and can just make noises and move his limbs a little bit. We went with another brother in the branch and gave him a blessing. When we walked in the room and talked with him (and he's about 70), his face just lit up and he was smiling, and moving all around, and his wife said she had never seen him move like that in months. We all felt the spirit. We all felt God's love for him. We loved him. He loved us. That's why I'm here. To help others feel His love! And the only way is through the blessings of the atonement which happens when one follows the restored Gospel. I know God loves us, and that our purpose in life is to make our way back to our Heavenly Father's presence and feel and enjoy His love in His presence again one day. After all, we are His children. I love you all!
Love, Elder Tudor

October 17, 2011

2011-10-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Cher tout le monde,
Well another week gone in Bergerac. It's flying! I've been here so long, but at the same time, it feels like I just got here. That's basically how it always is during the mission. We're here with M who just showed up at the cybercafe. He's trying to read this outloud and he doesn't speak a lick of english and it's pretty funny. Speaking of M, it was quite a week for him. He went to the hospital with stomach problems for a few days, but they found nothing wrong with him. We went and visited him though and he looked pretty miserable. He was in a room with an old grandpa who moaned all night and he could never get to sleep. Poor guy! Yesterday, M showed up halfway through priesthood (we start with priesthood here) and he walked in in a pink dress shirt and a pure denim suit, except the pants had patches of khaki sewed on, and on one pant leg in big red letters was "G-UNIT". I had to contain myself to not laugh and interrupt the lesson haha. He was looking pretty gangster, and he came and sat next to me and said, "Ca vient des Etats-unis ca!" (that's from the United States!) pointing at his pants. Funniest thing ever. Next week he'll be getting the priesthood (Not in his G-Unit costume I hope) and it was announced in Sacrament meeting yesterday.
We saw so many miracles this week! I don't have time to write them all, but we found some new investigators who are great and we made contact with a few old investigators. One new one is named D and he's from Russia, but he speaks English and spent most of his life in Lithuania. He met the missionaries over there, but it's been a long time, and right now he's living with his girlfriend in Bergerac. He believes in God but has a hard time accepting the fact that Jesus took our sins upon Him, but we used the BoM and testified of the role of Jesus Christ in the plan of salvation and that he is the only way we can receive mercy, and he understood and accepted everything, when at first he said it was impossible for one person to atone for another. It was pretty amazing, and I know that the BoM and the Spirit are our most powerful tools and can help anyone come to realize the truth. We also met an old man on a bench in the park that we were going to walk past because we were on our way somewhere, but I stopped and talked to him. He said right off the bat that he wasn't interested in our message, so I asked him, "Do peace and happiness interest you?" and we started a great conversation and we taught him part of the plan of salvation. He had lost his wife, and after we left he had hope to see her again. Those are the greatest miracles, when we can just help someone come a little closer to Heavenly Father by their hope and faith in true principles. The best part about it was that his name was Rambo! I told him he needed to repent because of all the people he's killed haha. He understood the joke, thankfully.
On Thursday I went to Brive on exchange with Elder Caldwell which was great. He's an amazing missionary and we learned a lot together. Friday night we had another miracle. We've passed the T's a few times in the last couple weeks but with no success. We decided to pass by Friday night and they were there and let us in! We were shocked haha. I was just thinking of how much of a miracle it was while we were there, and they even invited us to eat with them and we did. Mme. T told us how she was offended by some people at church and we were able to talk about it for awhile which was great. We're gonna pass by again next week and keep in contact with them, and I know they'll come around. They're such great people.
This morning during my personal studies I read the BoM first like I always do, and then I didn't really know what to study. I just felt like something was missing and that there was something that I needed to study. I felt like I needed to take out Preach My Gospel, so I did, and I flipped to the first section that came into my head, which was about the power and authority of our calling. I read a quotation by President Kimball about the setting apart of a missionary, and how it is a literal setting apart from sin and the things of the world which puts us above carnal things, and that the blessings of our calling depend on our faithfulness to this setting apart. I thought back to my own setting apart from President Hughes. It was a reminder of how I need to be above the thigns of the world. In the world but not of it. I set a goal to completely separate myslef from the world, even any thoughts of old music or movies or anything. I know the Lord will bless me as a try my best to do this. Then I felt to read "The transforming power of Faith and Character" by Elder Scott, which is one of my favorite talks ever. I love this line - "We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day." I want to become separated from the world. I want to be the best instrument in the hands of the Lord as possible. Sometimes it seems like a huge task, but after reading that I realized that in order to become what I want to become, I just have to take it one day at a time, I need to be what I want to become every day, and then I'll become it. There's no trick or magic about it. You've just got to want it and then do it and be it day after day. And through faith in true principles and acting on them, we become something as we do it consistently. I also liked this quote..."The measure of your character is what you are becoming." If we're not becoming something better, we're not being the best we can be. I know there's so many things I can do better out here and I'm trying to be humble enough and work hard enough to overcome my weaknesses. At the same time, I know that the Lord is happy with my work as I try to do this. I know he'll help me and all of us as we try to become more like Him. That's why he put us here! Anyways, I just have had that on my mind all day and that's what came out in my email, sorry haha. I'm doing great! I'm starting to feel the love of Heavenly Father for His children more and more. I'm starting to understand the true nature of my call more and more as well. I'm not there jsut to do things that missionaries do, but I'm there to be a Christlike missionary and invite all to come unto Him as He would do it. I love this work. There's nothing more simple and beautiful than the Gospel, and nothing that brings more happiness. Never let anything get in the way of living by its principles - anything! Nothing is worth more than what we become and what our Heavenly Father grants us when we live the Gospel. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Thanks for all you do for me!
Love,
Elder Tudor

October 10, 2011

2011-10-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

Bonjour enfants des hommes, Oh Bergerac, Oh Bergerac, I bid thee... not farewell! Yep, I'm staying a 4th in Bergerac! I was so surprised!!! At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it haha, but I'm happy about it now. If there's anyone left in the city that I don't konw yet, I'll know them all by the end of this transfer haha. I'm pretty stoked. And I'm still with Elder Willett which is great. Apparently only two missionaries in our whole zone got transfered (there's about 12 or 13 companionships in the zone) because president thought our zone was too far away and didn't want to move us haha. that's what someone told me anyways. SO, lots of news this week. First of all, A was baptized!!!!! It was so amazing. Miraculously, all of her problems were sorted out and she got all ready to go in this last week. Bro B baptized her, which was so great. Her baptism was quite an experience. First, I need to explain to you that ever since she set a baptismal date she has told us how afraid she is of going underwater during EVERY lesson haha. The day before the baptism we went to her house to see how she was doing, and she was so scared. We read a few scriptures about faith and fear with her, and by the end we got her to say at least that she wasn't scared. She looked terrified though haha. I felt so bad for her, but I knew it would work out. I was a little afraid though because she has really bad respiratory problems and has to sleep with a machine hooked up to her at night so she can breath, and she can hardly get up and go to the bathroom without breathing like she ran a marathon. So Saturday morning the B's picked us all up and off we went. Almost the whole branch was there which was awesome. We took pictures before the meeting started, and she looks absolutely terrified in all of them. I felt so bad! This should be a happy day! She was happy to be baptized, I know, but she was just so terrified of the water. It started half an hour late, as usual (you think it's bad in the U.S.). When it was time for the ordinance, A, bro B, and I got in the font (I was there because she wanted an extra person in case something went wrong, but Bro B actually baptized her). We got her into the font, and waited a few minutes for her to catch her breath and got her all situated, and of course everyone watching was shouting out orders of how to do the baptism like how she needed to put her dress between her legs. The poor lady, she could barely even breathe at the moment! Then Bro B performed the ordinance. Let's just say he didn't exactly ease her down into the water. It happened pretty quick and I just saw her terrified face go into the water and we all heard her scream as she went in. I think he pushed her to the bottom of the font, then finally brought her back out. When she came back out she started coughing really bad, I'm sure she inhaled some water when she went in screaming. I was terrified! Luckily the coughing subsided after a few seconds and she was ok! It was quite a baptism! She's pretty brave to do that with her respiratory problem, I was so happy for her! The service was amazing and the Spirit was there. A cried through all the talks and was so touched, especially knowing that she now is part of a huge family. Sunday, she only planned on coming to Sacrament meeting (which is the last meeting here) for her confirmation because she was so tired after the baptism. But apparently there was some kind of race Sunday morning and when she went to get in her car she noticed that all the streets were blocked off, so she called us and was panicking, but a member went and picked her up in his car and it worked out, and she was confirmed! She was so stressed that she was late haha I felt so bad, but she loved it, and felt so much better after her confirmation. We officially named her "French Granny" of Bergerac. There's a french granny in every city in the mission. The responsibilities basically consist of cooking for the missionaries every once in awhile and reparing their clothes haha, and in return she gets to be called "Mami" which means granny in French. She loves it. In other news, Mb is getting the priesthood next week! I'm so excited for him!!!! He is progressing so well. This week he came with us to visit A once before her baptism. We had only brought him teaching with us once before and it was... interesting haha. But we asked him to bear testimony of his baptism to A. It was one of the most powerful and pure testimonies I had ever heard. I had never really heard his full testimony about his baptism, and wow. I wrote it all down in my journal because he had some experiences and some miracles happen that he had never told us about prior to his baptism. It was so amazing, and it helped A so much. A testimony is one of the most powerful things one can have. Now Mb wants to help us with teaching all the time, especially with A, he loves her and calls her Mami too haha. I love the guy, and I'm so excited for him to receive the Priesthood! So, here we go again, Bergerac. I remember when I got here and saw how small it was. I thought to myself, "well, I have two choices. Be discouraged because of how small it is and how little work there probably is, or work I can work as hard as I can with what I have." I'm glad I chose to work. The Lord has blessed me with more success here than anywhere else on my mission. It's because it's the Lord's work, not mine, and if I'm here, that means He is preparing people here and he wants me to be an instrument in His hands in finding them and helpling them come unto Christ. The greater the opposition is, the greater the miracles are. It's been a year of miracles for the branch in Bergerac, and I'm so happy for them. The branch has strengthened so much, and it will continue to do so. I'm so glad I get to keep serving here. Sometimes I have doubts that there's much left to do here, but i know I wouldn't be here if that was true. The Lord has left me here for a reason, and I want to do all I can to fulfill His work here. I'm going to grow a lot this transfer, as if I haven't already grown enough here in Bergerac. It's quite a testing ground, especially mentally, but I'm stoked! Elder Willett and I have fixed some good goals for this transfer and I know we'll see miracles if we work with the Spirit. Thanks for all your support back home. I love you! Bonne semaine! Love, Elder Tudor

October 3, 2011

2011-10-06T01:29:00.000-07:00

Bonjour a tous,
Frenchmen translating for the the prophet, apostles, and other GA's = bizarre!!! Yep, I watched in French this time. It was good though! I understood everything and that's all that counts. It was just weird seeing these people I know speaking French in different voices! Haha. We got to watch GC at the B family's house which was awesome (on the internet). They didn't have it at the church because they don't have a satellite yet. Mb came as well, and of course he loved it, because he wants to be prophet someday. I liked listening to it in French actually because I payed a lot closer attention and I took pages and pages of notes. I'm so stoked for the Ensign! I didn't get to see the last session or Pres Monson's talk in the Sunday morning session which is too bad, but that's ok. I love conference! It was fun listening to the translator translate Elder Holland's talk in priesthood session. Super intense! I really felt the Spirit during conference and received lots of personal revelation. I hope you all did as well! I loved Elder Scott's talk on the scriptures. I set a goal to memorize a scripture a day til the end of my mission after hearing his talk.
I forgot to tell you last week that we had a really fun experience. We contacted an investigator who lives in La Force which is a tiny town about 8 km from Bergerac, so we took the bikes out there one morning to teach this lady. The road to get there is this tiny road barely big enough for two cars out in the French countryside - it was super epic! And the lady was there thankfully, because it took a good 25 minutes to bike there, and there was a huge hill at the end haha. We were sweating pretty bad when we got to her house. Also, she has this dog, and the first time I looked at it I thought it was a lab, but it's about half the size of a lab. It was so strange. So I asked her waht it was, and she said it was a Labrador/Jack Russell mix. It was so funny looking! It was a mini fat yellow lab basically haha.
I did an exchange in Perigeux this week with Elder Williams. Their area has been struggling a bit for awhile now, but we had a great exchange and turned a day with basically nothing much planned into a really effective and successful day. I hope they see how much is possible there now! Sometimes being in an area a long time gets you discouraged when things start going downhill a bit and it's hard to get your hopes back up, but exchanges always help change things up and helps to find new ideas. So, we have this new method called street meetings where we take this big white wooden board and put it on a tripod in the middle of a public place and contact the people who pass by. We usually put pictures on the board and a question or statement. Elder Williams' board is probably my favorite one haha. He cut out giant letters from this plastic/foam material and painted them and glued them on, so it said "DIEU VOUS AIME" (God loves you) and just put a picture of Jesus next to it. You can see DIEU VOUS AIME from like a thousand feet away haha it's great. So we walked to the place where we wanted to do the street meetings, but we had to carry it there obviously, and as we walked on the sidewalk, Elder Williams would hold it so everyone on the road driving by could see it, and every single person looked at it and either just stared or yelled something lilke "yeah, I love him too!" haha. We got to the place and set it up and were able to talk to a few people for awhile about our message. This one girl was passing by and did a double take of the board, then she pulled out her camera and told us to stand next to it and took a picture of us. Maybe someday I'll find that pic on the internet or something haha. I don't know why, but for some reason that board attracts girls, and girls kept driving by blowing kisses at us. Hmm... maybe we'll have to change it after all. Anyways, It was great to see how well it worked though. President put this method into place a couple months ago and we've all been pretty hesitant about it because it's kind of a Jehovah's Witness kind of thing to do, but we've obeyed president and we're seeing results from it. I know he's inspired and knows what's best for the mission! Speaking of president, he and Sister Murdock came to our apartment this week to consecrate it. It was great to have the President in Bergerac! Haha. They've been doing a tour of the mission consecrating all the apartments. They've got to be exhausted. Their visit did us a lot of good and it was great to feel the spirit that they brought.
We also got invited to have a drink by an old WWII vet in Perigeux that we contacted right outside his house. He was such a nice old man and had lost a kidney and all the toes on his right foot in the war. He had just lost his wife though and was very sad. We taught and testified that he would see his wife again, but he didn't listen. He wouldn't even think that it was possible. He had no hope. It was one of the saddest experiences I've ever had on my mission. My heart goes out to him, because there is just no hope when you don't believe that there is something better waiting for you. There's only despair! And that was his state. We tried our best to help him come to realize that his wife is waiting for him, but he wouldn't accept it. Why wouldn't you accept that? Or at least HOPE it? Hope is so essential to have faith. The man couldn't believe that God existed or that he would see his wife again, simply because he had no hope that it could be true.
Well, next monday we get transfer calls. Crazy! That FLEW by! I might be leaving Bergerac... I feel like I just got here. I don't care if I stay or leave, I'd be happy either way. Changes are always nice, but I love the branch and the investigators here! A should be baptized this Saturday as well, and she wants Bro Bouchet to baptize her, and she wants me to be in the water too in case something happens (she's paranoid that she's going go drown). There's a couple things that might keep her from being baptized this Saturday, so pray for her! I know she can be ready, but it's up to her. This work is amazing. It will never stop. Seeing General conference strengthened my testimony so much that this is God's church. We are in the world, but not of the world. While everyone around us conforms to the world, we don't need to, because we know a better way. How blessed we are to know this way, which is the restored Gospel. Like President Monson repeated, the difference between the world's morals and the Lord's is getting bigger and bigger, which is making it a bigger and bigger battle to bring people unto Christ who are so in the world - but, it's possible, and it is happening anyways. Satan's influence will always be all around us, but we can always separate ourselves, and we can always prevail against his temptations. I know that as we try as hard as we can to separate ourselves from the world, we will have the Spirit more abundantly with us and we will become instruments in God's hands. I know that the Gospel leads to happiness, so I'm going to live it! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor

September 26, 2011

2011-09-26T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Well it was a crazy week! I can't believe the end of the transfer is already coming up - we're already starting the 5th week! Crazy. I'm loving it though. Bergerac is doing alright. It's a small town to be in for a long time haha. We see the same roads and the same people every day, but I love it. We didn't see as much success as we would have wnated this week, but that's alright. We only had one investigator come to c hurch when there were a lot more planning on it, which is always disappointing, but that'll come! A is still doing great! She's the sweetest lady ever. She might have a couple things to overcome before her baptism, but we have faith that everything will be alright (She told us she doesn't drink alcohol, but the B's do her groceries for her, and they told us that she asks for wine each time... so we're not sure what's going on there haha, but we'll see). Elder Willett and I are really trying to do our best to find joy in the work (not that we don't usually, we just wanna have as much fun and work as hard as possible!) The other day we crossed a guy on our bikes who was playing basketball in the street, and we decided to stop and play a little round of horse haha. He probably thought we were super weird in our shirts and ties. It was a sweet experience though. He ended up being pretty young actually - 15 - but looked older. He couldn't believe we had been to NBA games haha. He plays on a club team in the region and dreams of seeing NBA stars. He was surprised we were two short white guys, because when he thinks of americans playing basketball he thinks of giant black men haha. We shot around for about 15 minutes then went on our way. We asked the kid if he or his family would be interested and he said no, but it was cool because it showed the kid we're human beings too! Who knows, maybe he'll meet Elders in the future and remember of his basketball game with them and be more open! Haha it was just a fun opportunity when we had a few extra minutes - and we hadn't shot a basketball in ages! (we also got to know french basketball lingo as well :)) We also had a branch talent show which was funny. Bro B demonstrated self defense (he was in the army) and I was his subject for part of the time. It was scary. A miracle happened during hte talent show too - the T's showed up out of nowhere! We haven't even been able to contact them for over two weeks and they came to the talent show! We have no idea how - we think a member called them, but it was so awesome. They're doing good. V found a litltle job picking grapes in a vineyard, but apparently it's really hard and long. She's having a really hard time. F brought her guitar, and naturally everyone started yelling "elder Tudor play something!" just on the spot. They eventually convinced me to do it so I played a number for them (Hallelujah - requested by V. I decided it was ok since basically all the lyrics are taken from the Bible haha). I couldn't remember all the words, but I could've made up whatever I wanted since none of them understood haha. It was fun. Then at the end I accompanied the closing hymn. It was cool to be able to share some music! It's been awhile!
In Priesthood the lesson was on President Monson's talk about the temple from the last general conference. For the first time since I left the MTC, I realized just how much I miss the temple! I really felt the Spirit during the lesson and felt a huge desire to go to the temple. I thought about all these members in France who don't even have one yet that's within 800 km. Even if they're going to build one in Paris soon, it will be just as far away for these people that live in the South as the other temples are. We are so blessed to have so many temples so close! When I get back, I'm not going to take it for granted. Every week! That's my goal. We're so luck to have the restored Gospel. The temple is one of the evidences of the restored Gospel, and I know that the sacred ordinances that happen there are done by the power and authority of the Priesthood. It's also the evidence that God loves all His children. Just think of how many people have died without ordinances! The B family is getting ready to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. They've prepared thousands of names already - it's incredible! I'm so excited for them! And I found out that they will be doing their endowment and getting sealed at the beginning of August next year - which is right when I'll finish my mission. I wanna go to their sealing so bad! (it will be at the Madrid temple) That would be so amazing to see. I love this work. I know that the family can be eternal, and that the principles and ordinances of the Gospel are true and eternal, and they are the key to our eternal happiness as families. Working among His children has helped me see just how marvelous the plan of our Heavenly Father is. I love the people here in Bergerac, and I wish they would all accept the Gospel! I wish that God's plan could be brought about for every one of His children, but just seeing a handful receive it has already brought me more joy than I've ever felt in my life. This is God's work! I know it. Have a great week everyone, love you!
Much love,
Elder Tudor

September 19, 2011

2011-09-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!
It was kind of a tough week, but there were miracles as always! We have a new golden investigator named A. She's actually one of the family B's friends. She's an older (not super old) french lady who has lots of health problems and lives all alone and isn't visited often by her family. We gave her a priesthood blessing when I first got to Bergerac, then she left to another city to have some kind of treatment, but now she's back and she's been wanting to see us! She came to church the last couple weeks and we starting setting up teaching appointments. We've been able to see her often and she already has a baptismal date for the 8th of October! She's probably one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met in my life. She has hard health problems, mostly respiratory, but she says that ever since we gave her that blessing and we started coming over she has been so much better. She even did her grocieries the other day and it's been a long time since she's been able to do that! She's already well integrated in the branch, mostly thanks to the B's. Sister B goes over there once a week for her and does groceries for her all the time. She has lots of problems, but she prays every day for strength and it's amazing to see her faith grow! She always ends up crying during our appointments, then I end up crying too haha. But they're tears of joy of course, because we preach the Gospel of joy :). We're SO excited for her! She is excited for her baptism. The other day though she said she was a little afraid for her baptism. We asked her why... and she said it's because she's scared of water. Phew! That's gotta be the best reason that an investigator has ever given us for being scared of baptism haha.
Unfortunately, we haven't had any contact with the T's lately. Apparently someone said something to them last week at church and a couple other thigns happened that offended them. They haven't really talked to us since or wanted to see us. There's some members who still have good contact with them I believe, but for now, no missionaries. I'm confused about the whole situation because I don't really know what happened or why. All we can do is pray for them. Please pray for them this week that their hearts might be softened and that they might be touched by the Spirit. Thank you!
I did an exchange with Elder Dorton this week which is always a good time! The district is doing well and I'm loving being their district leader. I feel like I can do a lot better as a district leader though. There's a lot to learn on a mission! There's always ways to improve and things to better. Kind of like life in general. Thankfully God gives us weaknesses and helps us recoginze them so we can humble ourselves, work on our weaknesses, and progress in life. One of the hardest things to do though is to recognize and accept that you have weaknesses, but that's pride, and where there's pride, there's no progression! That's one thing I've learned recently. Humility = progression, pride = regression. When we're humble and realize we need to change things in our lives, we change, improve, become better people, and qualify ourselves for more blessings from the Lord. But if we constantly tell ourselves that we're doing fine and that our weaknesses aren't "serious" ones, we'll never do anything about it, and we'll just sit and never become anything. That's satan's plan. One thing I've learned on a mission is to never feel too comfortable with yourself. Of course you need to accept yourself and love yourself for who you are, but we need to always keep the vision of what God expects of us - to become like Him! That's God's plan. And I know that He will help us do it as we humble ourselves and exercise faith in Him by overcoming ourselves and our weaknesses! Well gotta go, but I hope you have a great week. I love the mission and I'm happy right where I am :) love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor

September 12, 2011

2011-09-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Bawnjur (american, for bonjour),
Hey everyone! It was a great week here in Bergerac. We're still seeing miracles every day, and we'll keep seeing them as we work hard and look for the small and great miracles God shows us every day. Elder Willett and I are having a great time. It's weird being with an American again, but I like it. I got used to being with Elder Coenen, and now I've gotta switch back to American mode haha. It's totally different. Anyways, we were really blessed this week. 6 of our investigators were able to come to church this week, which was great. One of them was a new one we found this week named D. He's from Brasil, about 30 years old, and loves to talk! Haha the poor sunday school teacher... D would raise his hand every two minutes and speak for a good 2 or 3 minutes every time haha. And it wasn't just talking, he talked like he was preaching. I think he talked during half the class. I've never seen an investigator do that haha. It was interesting! and a little awkward. Speaking of sunday school, do you remember Bro B? Well, this Sunday he got called as the sunday school teacher. He's been a member for 3 months!!! I couldn't believe it! I'm so excited for him. He's such a stud. He's already read the whole book of Mormon and he's like halfway through Doctrine and Covenants. That's so great that he'll have this calling to really push himself. Mb is doing well. He's so hilarious. If you put him and Maurel in a room together, after about 30 minutes they're both on the ground rolling around laughing to death. It's the funniest thign I've ever seen. I got a video of it. And no one understands what they're saying because they speak half french and half lingala when they joke around like that. Mb still comes to church every sunday and he's progressing well. M still wants to be baptized but won't decide on a date yet. He said he has one in his head, but doesn't want to tell us. We'll see! The T's are doing well, but there's still just so many problems in their lives, and V refuses to talk about baptism for the moment. F is doing great though. She reads the Book of Mormon and really understands it.
I learned quite a bit htis week from the scriptures and from Preach My Gospel. One morning I devoted my study to personal revelation and guidance. First I read the talk by Elder Bednar "the Spirit of Revelation" which I love. I love when he says, "In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, God requires us to do our best, to act and not to be acted upon, and to trust Him." Then I read this quote in Preach my Gospel by Elder Oaks, "A desire to be led by the Lord is a strength, but it needs to be accompanied by an understanding that our Heavenly Father leaves many decisions for our personal choices. Personal decision making is one of the sources of the growth we are meant to experience in mortality. Persons who try to shift all decision making to the Lord and plead for revelation in every choice will soon find circumstances in which they pray for guidance and don’t receive it... We should study things out in our minds, using the reasoning powers our Creator has placed within us. Then we should pray for guidance and act upon it if we receive it. If we do not receive guidance, we should act upon our best judgment." That quote really struck me. I often question myself and wonder if I'm really acting on the Spirit and doing what I'm supposed to do every day out here. I pray for guidance and I search it, but I don't always necessarily feel guided or directed. This quote helped me realize that God will not push us in one direction or another in all things, if so, we would always be "acted upon" and never be able to act. We need to be able to judge right from wrong for ourselves, with the assistance of the Spirit. I have often found that I have been guided by the Spirit long after the fact. Like in Elder Bednar's talk when he talks about how sometimes our revelation is like the sun rising on a cloudy day. We've all been given the light of Christ, and us church members have the gift of the Holy Ghost. As long as we live worthily and serve the Lord with all our heart, we won't need to worry! We will be guided. We just need to use our best judgment, ask for guidance, then do whatever we feel is the best thing to do, listening for the still small voice. The worst thing we can do is just wait around avoiding making the choice. We just need to put our trust in that Spirit that leads us to do good and follow Christ, and we will always make the right choices, it's simple! I know that God is at the head of this work and that we are truly His children. I know that we can all find our way back into His presence as we search the guidance and inspiration He offers us every day through our obedience to His commandments. Have a great week, love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor

September 5, 2011

2011-09-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

August 29, 2011

2011-09-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello,
Well, early this morning we got transfer calls... and I'm going far, far away... not. I'm staying right here! Elder Coenen is leaving though, which is sad. We've had some good times together!! He's going to Aix, lucky duck. My new comp is named Elder Willet (I think) who is in his 4th transfer and was just in Lyon. I'm excited! I think the rest of the district is staying the same. I'm surprise, because the rest of the mission had super crazy changes. I'm stoked though.
The work went pretty well this week. Maurel still has a baptismal date. Muamba should be getting the priesthood soon. After two weeks of searhcing and searching for new investigators we finally got some and we found quite a few people who are interested. We didn't really do anything a whole lot different. We did a lot more knocking on doors than usual though. I used to not be a fan of that, but I'm growing to like it more and more. Victora and Flora are still doing okay. They're still coming church every week and Victoria is sitll looking for an apartment in Bordeaux. A ward member is moving out this week, and another member suggested that Victoria takes that house and works at home taking care of old people (that's a big business here in Bergerac and there's a high demand). That would be awesome! Victoria was stoked about the idea so we're hoping that things will work out so that that can happen, because it's not looking good for housing right now in Bordeaux.
I don't have a lot of time, but I'd like to share something I learned out of the scriptures this week. I was reading in Moroni 7, when Mormon talks about how every good thing comes from God and every bad thing comes from the devil. He also addresses the point that if we don't do good, or "give a good gift" with a good heart, but if we do it "grudgingly; it is counted unto him as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God." That scripture struck me. There's three ways we can do the work of the Lord: grudgingly, out of a sense of duty, and out of a sense of charity. Sometimes I just try to get to the end of the day and finish because I know it's my duty, but I don't really do it out of love for the people. It's hard sometimes to overcome the natural man and do it out of charity! But that is one of my goals for the rest of my mission - to do everything I do out of charity and love for the people. Charity should be the motivation for every work we do for the Lord, because it is His work, and everything He did and does for us is out of pure love. Sorry, I'm out of time, I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor

August 22, 2011

2011-08-28T12:20:00.001-07:00

Bonjour a tous,
It was a week of ups and downs! We saw miracles and disappointments. Basically, it was like every other week as a missionary haha. I'll start with the miracles. So, Wednesday, Victoria had a big job interview for a job at a big 4 star hotel in Bordeaux. First of all it is a miracle that she got the interview. She happened to run into one of the owners or something and he was sympathetic towards her situation, so he said to come back for an interview. We fasted and prayed that everythign would go well during her interview and that she would be hired. So she went and had the interview, and she got the job! She couldn't believe it. During the interview, someone from a job search agency called the lady who was interviewing her. The agency was searching work for a person who had worked in hotels before, and the interviewer asked the person on the phone "has this person ever worked in a 3 or 4 star hotel?" the person said no, and then she replied, "well, we can't hire that person, goodbye." That didn't exactly comfort Mme Tudor who had NEVER worked in a hotel haha. But, at the end of the interview, the lady told her she would start in September! What a tender mercy. We came to her house and saw her and Flora the next day and she told us all of this. We were so stoked. Then we talked about their baptism, because the last time they were a little hesitant, adn said they didn't think they were ready. Well apparently, the night before, they were at the table just talking and drinking a glass of water, when Flora spilled a full glass of water all over teh table and it got Victoria's book of mormon all wet. Of course she was super frustrated adn sent Flora away. Then she took up the Book of Mormon to dry it off, and just seeing it there all wet, she said to herself, "that's it, that's my answer. I need to be baptized!" When she told us this story, Elder Coenen and I just looked at eachother in amazement haha. Apparently the Book of Mormon being all wet was a symbol of her being baptized in this Church, and she took that as her answer. I've never seen an answer to a prayer like that! The Book of Mormon works miracles, even when it's soaked.
We were so stoaked after that, but then some opposition came. We were going to teach tithing in the next lesson, but she found out about it before we came through a member of her family. She didn't really mind it, but I think she was a little disappointed that she didn't know about it yet and her baptism was next week. But the main problem was the word of wisdom. She smokes, adn her life is so crazy right now. She has to find an apartment in Bordeaux because she starts working there next month and she is so stressed. She's been putting off quitting smoking. She said she can't quit smoking right now, and she doesn't even want to try until all of this is figured out and settled in Bordeaux. So in the end, she told us that the baptism wasn't possible next week. We testified, but she jsut doesn't have the willpower right now. But It's weird, I didn't feel totally disappointed. I was super sad of course, but I felt something and I know that they will be baptized, even if it's not next week, or if it's not in Bergerac - and that's what counts. Preach My Gospel, and Elder Holland, teach us that we need to be patient with our investigators and go at their pace, not ours. It's true. A lot of times as missionaries, we're so excited about baptizing that sometimes we don't realize that the investigators can't keep up with all the committments. That doesn't mean they don't have faith or that we haven't done a good job, that's just how it is, and if the person is ready for the Gospel, he or she will be baptized eventually. The work of the Lord cannot be frustrated. We're going to continue to teach them all the lessons and commandments and see their faith grow. I'm so excited.
In other news, Maurel, Muamba's buddy, has a baptismal date for the 17th of September! He wan'ts Muamba to baptize him. We're pretty stoked. I just sent in my renewal for my carte de sejour. Super weird. That means I've almost been in France a year! Things are great here adn we're working hard and having fun. Exchanged are this next weekend, we'll see what happens! Love you all.
Love,
Elder Tudor

August 15, 2011

2011-08-21T14:01:00.000-07:00

Salut tout le monde!
It was a special week! This Saturday I had the blessing to baptize Muamba in the Dordogne. It was so great. Almost the whole branch was there, and he was so happy! He was confirmed Sunday by Bro Faucher. Anyways, the baptism was awesome! We actually started at the river. We sang, we prayed, and then we did the baptism. Bro Bouchet had set up a makeshift "changing room" for me and Muamba (it was two tarps tied to a few trees haha), so we changed, then we headed to the chapel to finish the service. Elder Coenen and I sang "Seigneur Mon Dieu" (How Great Thou Art) at the end. Madame Tudor and Flora came, and Madame Tudor was crying the whole time we were singing and for a few minutes after. We were shocked because we had just come up with it that morning! Muamba had asked us to do a special number, and of course, we procrastinated haha. But wow, it was a great baptismal service. Pray for Muamba so he can continue to grow in the Gospel!
Victoria and Flora are doing great! Well, as far as their progression in the Gospel goes. Actually they're in a really tough situation right now. Victoria can't find any work right now and there is nothing in Bergerac. She's searchign in Bordeaux for work, but doesn't have the money to take the train all the time to Bordeaux. She was really discouraged about that this week. But we can see how much joy the Gospel is bringing her already. And Flora is just great. She's 11 years old, but is super intelligent and very sensible. She understands the principles of the Gospel so well and finds answers to her questions in the Book of Mormon - yes!!! We're so excited for them, and the branch already accepts them as their own. They always stay and talk for an hour after church with everyone and members have even invited them over for dinner. That's pretty rare as far as France goes! The branch is great!
I'm doing well. I think I need to endure Bergerac a little better though. It's a small ville, but I need to keep my faith in it, and keep my expectations high as to what we can accomplish here! Now that I look back, we've had 4 baptisms since I got here, and that's double what I had my whole mission before I got to Bergerac, and we'll have two more in a couple weeks! There are always people who are prepared, and we've got to do ALL WE CAN to find them. The mission is too short. There's too much work to do! Sometimes I feel like my mission is never going to end, because I don't see it ending. I don't see the work ever ending. It's a weird feeling. But, as Gandalf once said, "We must do what we can with the time that is given us." (I've been waiting a long time to whip out that quote :) ). But it's true. I won't be a full time missionary my whole life. I need to do what I can, and all that I can while I'm here. It's similar to life on earth. We won't live here forever. We will die one day, and we need to have done all that we can overcome ourselves, our weaknesses, in order to be pure before God when we return to His presence. This life is the time. This mission is the time. It's kind of scary to think about that sometimes. We want to make every moment count! But I love this quote by Pres. Hinckley that a friend send me this week in an email. "I don't worry too much about the future and I don't worry very much about the past. The past is gone, and you can't change, you can't correct it. The future, you can anticipate, but you can't necessarily do much about it. It is the present you have to deal with. Reach out for every good opportunity to do what you ought to do." If we act NOW, without dwelling on the past or in the future, and do what we know we should do, we will have no regrets and our future will be secure. The church is true, and I know it. God lives and loves us and we are His children. He hopes and expects us to do everything we can to return and live with Him one day, but WE have to decide. I am ever grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who makes it all possible. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to help people make this decision all day every day. I wouldn't rather be anywhere else! The mission is the best. I love all of you! Bonne semaine!
Love,
Elder Tudor

August 8, 2011

2011-08-10T23:13:00.001-07:00

Allo!
Muamba's baptism didn't happen this week because he had to go to Bordeaux to sort out his papers. But it's all set and ready for this Saturday. We're so excited! We're going to do it in La Dordogne (the river) at his request. He says he has to follow Jesus Christ with exactness, and Jesus was baptized in a river, so he has to. Can't argue with that! Anyways, we can't wait, and we're so happy for him.
Last week I talked about an investigator named Victoria Tudor from Romania. By the way, I'm pretty sure we're related, we'll have to do some family history work there though haha. Anyways, we went adn taught her this week and her 11 year old daughter, Flora, was there, so we taught the message of the restoration. The Spirit was so strong, and we invited both of them to be baptized the 27th of August. They both accepted. They both came to church this sunday and they've been reading the Book of Mormon together every day and they love it! What's more is that they're already super good friends with a bunch of ward members even though they just barely met. They came and ate with us at a member's house and they stayed with the memebrs and talked for 3 hours after we left. So no integration problem there. They're already talking to all the memebrs about how excited they are about their baptism. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it on my mission. It's a little surreal. It's a miracle. Every heart that the Lord prepares is a miracle. I know that they were prepared. All we had to do was open our mouths and invite. I love this work, and there's nowhere that I'd rather be. I'm happier than ever and I know that this work is real.
We had interviews with president Murdock this week. He told me during my interview that he used to be a 70 - I had no idea. All of a sudden I got a little more nervous, haha just kidding. It was sweet. He is so inspired and he knew exactly what to say to help me in this moment. I really appreciate him. I'm so excited for the second half of my mission and all the miracles I'm going to see and all that I'm going to learn. But I'm more excited for the people who's lives will be changed because of the Gospel as I work as hard as I can to help them come unto Christ. What else would I rather be doing? Nothing. Anyone who is reading this and is thinking about a mission, don't hesitate. It's the right choice. I know the church is true and I know that Christ lives and he directs his church today through a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I love you all and I hope you have a greeeat week!
Much love,
Elder Tudor

August 1, 2011

2011-08-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

Cher tout le monde,
Well, it's happened... I've been out over a year! I can't believe it. I feel like it flew by, but at the same time, I feel like I've been doing this my entire life. It's a weird feeling. This week I've been reflecting a lot about this last year. I thought back to right before I entered the mtc and everything I was expecting. The mission has been totally different than what I expected, but it has been even better than I had ever imagined, and I'm only halfway through! I specifically thought back to what I wanted to become on my mission. As I was reflecting, I looked back and of course I found a thousand ways how I could have done better during the first year of my mission. But then I decided to take a look at what the Lord has enabled me to do, how He has changed me, and what I've become up until now during my mission. When I realized how blessed I have been this last year, it made me cry. The Lord has truly changed me. I'm still old Bryson, but something has definitely changed. I took time to write in my journal the main things that have changed about me and what has caused these changes. Sorry, I won't share my journal with you haha, but it was a really spiritual experience and I realized that I've grown more in this last year than the 19 years that came before it. I've obtained SO much more knowledge of the Gospel than I had before, and I just want to keep finding more and more! This knowledge has pushed me to better apply the Gospel in my life and to apply it for the right reasons. The blessings and the understanding that has come from this application has pushed me to help everyone apply the same principles in their own lives, because I know - I truly know - that it is the only way. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to true peace and happiness in this life and for eternity. There is nothing more important in this world, or in any world, than this work. Every once in awhile, Satan puts thoughts in your head, or simply people on the street tell us, "No one will listen to you. Why are you here wasting your time? You could do so many other things with your life right now." We even hear sometimes, simply, "You're crazy." That causes you to think. But I have confidence in the Lord and His mission. I know that this is His work. President Murdock said in a zone conference last transfer, talking about testimony, "Once you know, you have to go." I knew and I still know - that's why I came. Alma 43:1 "And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth." Ether 12:2 "And Ether was a prophet of the Lord; wherefore Ether came forth in the days of Coriantumr, and began to prophesy unto the people, for he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him." Sometimes we're tempted to let up a little bit or take a break, but we KNOW, so we have to GO. We can't be restrained! I'm so thankful for this Gospel, and for the personal testimony that God Himself has given me that it's true. I pray that I might be an instrument in the Lord's hands this last year of my mission in bringing as many people to the truth as are ready to accept it. I pray that I will become what He wants me to become, and I know that I can do it by living the Gospel and serving Him and others with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Thanks so for all your support back home - it helps more than you know. I love you and pray for you! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Tudor
P.S. Muamba should be baptized this Saturday!

July 25, 2011

2011-07-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Gael's Baptism

Fireworks
The District last transfer

Bonjour à tous,
Gael's baptism was amazing! It was this saturday at noon, and his dad, who just received the priesthood a couple weeks ago, baptized him. It was perfect. The spirit was so strong, except for maybe when I goofed on the piano once during a hymn haha. Oh yeah, I don't know if I've told you, but I've been playing the piano for sacrament meeting and other meetings often since I arrived in France. My hymn skills have improved greatly since I left haha. Better late than never. Anyways, Gael is the funniest little kid. He bore his testimony after at the end of the baptismal service. He started out by saying it's too bad he wasn't able to stay and swim in the nice warm water haha. He said it felt like the weight of sin had been lifted off his shoulders, and that he would never sin again - maybe. Haha. We'll have to talk about that one with him. It was a great experience though. I got to participate in his confirmation as well. Muamba came to the baptism and he loved it, but he told me that he wants to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized in a river haha. We'll have to talk to the president and the city of Bergerac about that one, but that would be so sweet!
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you last week that on the 14th of July we got special permission from president Murdock to go watch teh fireworks late at night with the Bouchet family. They were super amazing! They were on the riverside, and they had some fireworks that shot out of the river which I thought was pretty sweet. Happy Bastille day!
This week started out pretty slow, but ended great. We found a new investigator friday who is awesome. And what is her name, you might ask? Madame Victoria TUDOR! Haha. She is from Romania but has been here for many years now. She's very sincere and she came to church and loved it. We talked about all the jokes that people in France make about our name haha. We'll be seeing her again tomorrow. I actually wasn't there for the first lesson because we were on exchange with teh zone leaders, so I'm stoked to get to know her better. We endured well at the beginning of the week and we were blessed at the end of the week for it. Today we found a new investigator who is amazing. Her name is Monique. She's black and is in a wheelchair. She's so humble and so receptive to the message. After hours of searching new investigators, it is so uplifting to find such humble, genuine people, who are willing to make place for the word of God.
As you know, it was transfers last week, but neither Elder Coenen nor I were trasnfered, so nothing too exciting! Elders Carson and Noyce left the district and we got two new missionaries who came over from the old Swiss Mission - Elders Williams (from Las Vegas) and Caldwell (from happy valley). Elder Caldwell told me on the phone I worked with him at coldstone, but I dont remember his name. I guess I'll know when I see him haha.
Things are going well her with me and Elder Coenen. I like having a french speaking companion. With english speaking companions, we try as hard as we can to speak french all the time, but every once in awhile we speak a little english, but with a french speaking comp there's no break haha. My French has worstened a little I think because I can never speak english, so I can't get out the english that's in my head, and I'm starting to really speak Franglais. I can hardly say a few sentences without slipping a word of English in haha. It's pretty funny, espcially because I don't notice it and Elder Coenen has to tell me. I hope that doesn't last too long haha. Well that's about it for this week. I love you all. The church is true. Jesus Christ is truly our savior. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a true prophet, President Monson is the prophet of God today, and all of the saving ordinances along with Priesthood authority are on the earth. And everyone is able to know that it's true if they seek and ask in faith! Have a great week :)
Much love,
Elder Tudor

-I forgot to tell you that Yves was baptized by Elder Garland a couple of weeks ago in Cannes. Woohoo! Apparently it was quite a story too. He just found a job but he had to work Sundays all day. He went into his new boss and told him he was going to make covenants with the Lord and that he would not work Sundays, at first the boss refused, but Yves bore testimony to him about his baptism and the commandments, and in the end his boss said he didn't have to work Sundays. Stud!

July 18, 2011

2011-07-25T06:39:00.001-07:00

Dear extremeties of the earth,
So transfer calls are normally Friday, but they took longer with the joining of the missions, so we were supposed to get them this morning, but it's 4 30 and still no call haha. A good week in Bergerac! A lot of things could have gone better, but we'll take what we can get. We definitely saw the hand of the Lord. Gael will by baptized by his papa this week! Muamba was in Bordeaux all week and he was able to attend a baptism there. He loved it so much and he keeps getting more and more excited for his baptism. We taught him tithing this week just before he left to Bordeaux. Teaching tithing to an investigator committed for baptism can be nerve wracking sometimes because we never know how they'll react. But Elder Lumakaso and I went in with faith (we were on exchange). We said the prayer and introduced the topic. Immediately he stopped us and started talking and talking about how he paid tithing to churches all the time in Africa and he talked about all the blessings he had received from it. Elder Lumakaso, the member, and I just looked at eachother like... Wow, ok! Haha Muamba is a stud. He said one time he had no money to pay tithing with, so he gave all he had really which was a nice watch that he had bought. He said that three days later, someone gave him a watch for free! Then he bore testimony about tithing. All we had to say was how much he had to pay, and he accepted. He even asked if he can pay more haha. I'm so thankful for how much the Lord has prepared him to receive the Gospel!
I had a cool experience this week. Elder Coenen and I were crossing the street and on the sidewalk on the other side there was a big group of people and just to the side was a lady alone who looked like she was about to cross the street but was just standing there like she was waiting for something. I was debating whether to talk to her because I could tell she wanted to cross and if I stopped her I would block the group of people behind her from crossing the street, but I felt like we needed to talk to her. I said bonjour and told her we present a message about Jesus Christ. She looked the other way and said, "sorry, I'm completely atheist!" and was even mad. I wondered why I had been propmted to talk to her because it was pretty rude how she said it. But then I felt like I needed to insist a little bit and I simply asker her "why?" Then she opened up and talked about how she had just lost some family members and how her life is just misery right now. I told her God loved her and I testified that God gives us trials to make us stronger and happier in the longrun, and that he hasn't left us alone to get through it, but He sent His Son Jesus Christ to help us. Next thing I knew she was tearing up, and started saying how much she needed to hear that and that we were the answers to her prayers, her "angels" she said. The Spirit was so strong. Even though we were there with people all around and cars passing by, the Spirit spoke to her heart and she knew that what we were saying was true and that she needed to hear more. We set up an appointment, and we'll be seeing her this week. I learned a lot from that contact. Probably half the people we talk to say they don't believe in God, and sometimes we persist, but often times we just ask them if they know anyone else who would be interested. But that contact reminded me that the worth of EVERY SOUL is great in the sight of God. As missionaries and as members, we need to try our best to bring every soul to Christ, no matter how heard hearted they might be at first, the power of the Spirit will humble them and help them recognize the truth.
Sunday night we had an interesting, random experience. We found an old man in the road who had fallen and had a huge gash in his head and it was bleeding like crazy. Some people had stopped and looked but hadn't really done anything. Elder Coenen and I picked him up and asked him what happened. He told us he was staying at the hospital but had left to get money from an atm. We told him we had to get him back to the Hospital right then, but he wouldn't until he had his money! Stubborn old man haha. So we walked with him because with every step he almost fell over. The atm was a good half mile away too. That was probably quite a scene, two missionaries walking the streets of Bergerac with an old man with a bloody face and hospital clothes on. Finally we got there and he got his money and we walked back and got him fixed up at the hospital. Poor guy, he had a big old gash in his head. I have no idea how he was conscious. Good thing we were there to walk with him, or I think he would have kept falling and eventually hurt himself a lot more seriously. Well I'm out of time. Sorry I don't know about the transfer yet. You'll find out soon enough. Love you! Bonne semaine
Love,
Elder Tudooooor (that's how Muamba says my name)

July 11, 2011

2011-07-17T10:11:00.001-07:00

Birthday card a member gave me and my birthday kabob

Reporters in our apartment

Beynac

Crazy cat who stares at us everyday

Allo!
It was an interesting week! We started out by being filmed all day long on Monday. They filmed us doing groceries, our emails, shopping, and then when we worked. They filmed us during a lesson with Maurel and Muamba and it was a super spiritual lesson too. Maurel and Muamba are doing well. They weren't baptized this week, unfortunately. They were hesitant and didn't make up their minds. Friday night, Muamba said he wanted to saturday, but it was too late! So we have to delay it. The sad part is that he's going to Bordeaux for three weeks then coming back here, so we set the date for the 6th of August. We're still workign with Maurel. This week we talked a lot about their testimony of the Book of Mormon and they're really gaining their testimonies little by little. Yesterday Maurel said he wants to be baptized, but in the United States haha. I'm not sure what he's talking about. Gael will still be baptized the 23rd, and we just starting teaching his bro Guillame who is super sweet (16 yeard old).
I'm loving the mission every day. Bergerac is tiny, but it's sweet. My district is awesome too. Tomorrow we're having district meeting in Perigeux, then I'm giong on exchange with Elder Lumakosa here in Bergerac, then Wednesday I have to do an exchange in Brive because the rest of Frank's family is getting baptized and need interviews! So I'm stoked. We get transfer calls this Friday, I can't believe it! The mission just keeps flying by faster and faster. It's kind of frightening haha. So at zone council, I guess the president said that he's going to totally mix up the missions next transfer - meaning that he's going to try to put a toulouse missionary with a geneve missionary in each companionship. So chances are I'll have a new comp next week. Especially because Elder Coenen is European and they'll need him in Switzerland since us Yankees aren't allowed. So we'll see! I've always wanted to be a trainer, I hope I'[ll be able to this transfer. If I do, I'll get to take an airplane to Geneva haha. Sweet! Our mission is huge.
This week I learned the power of testimony. A lot of times we teach and explain really well, but forget to testify. Monday, we were with Maurel and Muamba (for the cameras too) and we were talking about how their testimony of the book of mormon would resolve their concerns. We explained over and over how they can gain a testimony from the Holy Ghost and why it is so important. They kept interrupting us and wouldn't let us finish what we were saying. It was like they weren't really listening to us. Then out of nowhere, we all just started testifying about how we received a testimony of the restoration and what that means to us. Elder Coenen bore such a powerful testimony as well. They didn't interrupt while we were testifying, but they just listened. And after we finished, they were quiet, and pondering. The Spirit was so strong, and even the camera lady looked shocked haha. It reminded me of the scripture in Alma 4:19 "And this he did that he ahimself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might bpreach thecword of God unto them, to dstir them up in eremembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure ftestimony against them." Alma saw no way to save the people, except to bear pure testimony. Our most powerful tool as missionaries is the Spirit, which manifests itself through our testimonies. After we bore testimony, they accepted to read and pray to know, despite their defiance five minutes before. I've said it before, but we really are nothing without the Spirit. We tried to explain for a half hour how they can get a testimony, but the Spirit told them in an instant what they need to do. I'm humbled by the power of the Lord every day out here. I know it is real. I know that God speaks to His children through his spirit, and anyone that searches diligently will find. Thanks everyone for all your support! It's super weird being 20 and not being home on my bday. The Bouchets took me out to McDonald's for my bday - yes! Haha it was great. Thanks for your letters and emails. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Tu Dors

July 4, 2011

2011-07-06T22:38:00.001-07:00

Salut!
Vous allez bien? It was a good week! Kind of crazy, but good haha. On wednesday we went to Bordeaux for a zone conference and we met president Murdock. He's awesome! It was really weird holding zone conference in English though. At one point I had to get up and saw a few words, and all that was coming out was franglais. I tried as hard as I coudl to speak normal english, but every other word was coming out in French! I never knew it could be so hard to speak English haha. Then I went on exchange with my boy Elder Dorton in Brive. It was super fun! It reminded me of when we did exchanges in Nice together. Except now our areas are nothing like Nice haha. Brive's a pretty small place too, but not as small as Bergerac I don't think. Anyways, I did a baptismal interview there and they had a baptism this saturday. It was the daughter of a recent convert. Woohoo! But anyways, back to Bergerac. Maurel and Muamba are doing alright. Maurel said he still needs more time before the baptism. Muamba isn't sure, so if someone is baptized this week, it will be muamba. We hope!
So right now, Elder Coenen and I are being followed by a couple journalists with cameras. It's super weird. Apparently they're making a documentary about the missionaries and eventually it will be on tv in France. When they're finished they'll send me a dvd haha. So yeah, super random! They've followed Elder Coenen off and on during his mission. They were there at the MTC and then when he arrived in Toulouse, but this is the first time really since he's been out in the field. And they'll follow him throughout his whole mission I believe. They called us two weeks ago to ask if they could come today, and we said yeah sure. They said they'd call us back to confirm and tell us when they wuold show up and everything. But they never called us, so last night Elder Coenen and I decided they weren't coming. Then this mornign at 7:30 we got a text from them saying they'll be there at 10:30..... So we scrambled around cleaning up the apartment and everything and re-planning the day haha. It was insanity. But we managed to get everything done. I'll probably give you another update about how the day finished in next week's email.
With the new president we have a half hour less to do our emails, so I won't be able to do as many emails to my friends and stuff. So, whoever wants to write me, they can send me letters! :) This week was kind of like the last. More perseverance! There were a couple of days where nothing was working and no one wanted to talk to us, but we kept going and the week finished great and we had one of the best weeks we've had yet. It seems like at the end of every week I look at our numbers, and I say to myslef, "man, I don't know if we'll be able to repeat that next week." But somehow every week, we keep improving! If we apply our faith, we can do anything. This town is pretty tiring, but we can't let up.
I've been thinking a lot this last week about why I came on a mission, and why I'm doing what I do day in and day out. Of course it's something we're expected to do as young priesthood holders and it's something that will help us the rest of our life, but really the reason why we're all here is the infinite love and atonement of Jesus Christ. I know I'll never be able to fully understand Christ's atoning sacrifice, at least in this life, but I understand it more and more every day that I'm here. I still can't really put it into words, but spiritually I understand it more and more. Christ suffered and died for every single person who lived, lives, and will live. He didn't just suffer for the members of the church, but for EVERY child of God. Think about how many people are members of the church compared to how many people are on the earth or have been on the earth. The only way to apply the atonement is through the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we going to let the most marvelous act that has ever and will ever be accomplished go to waste? Not a chance. Of course peopel have their agency to accept the truth, but the more I understand the atonement, the more I desire teh salvation of every person we meet. As Lehi said, "Wherefore, aredemption cometh in and through the bHoly cMessiah; for he is full of dgrace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a asacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto bnone else can the cends of the law be answered. Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, asave it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who blayeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the cresurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise." That's why we're here! Let's all apply the atonement in our lives by living the Gospel and accept the gift that Christ offers, and just as importantly, let's make these things known to all those around us, because it is offered equally to them! I know that Christ truly sacrificed himself and that it is only by Him that we can obtain happiness in this life and the eternities. Well, I'm out of time - I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Bryson Nathanael Tudor

June 27, 2011

2011-07-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hey there!
Today it was a 100 degrees and tomorrow it will be 104. And right now in this internet cafe it's at least 90. Gah! Mais ça va. Il fait beaucoup plus chaud à l'amerique de sud. Except it's winter there... hmm, I dunno! This week was good! I did an exchange with Elder Carson in Perigeux, and that was fun. Then we went to Bordeaux friday to say bye to President and Sister Carter. They both gave beautiful talks/presentations. I love them! I really appreciated a story that President Carter shared about a missionary who had his last interview with the president before going home and said he felt likle he had wasted his time because the only person he baptized was one 12 year old boy. This mission president kept track of this 12 year old boy his whole life. He served a mission, had a family, etc. In the end, more than 1,100 people came into the church because of that one boy. Sure, we're not baptizing people every week here in France, but we are still doing the lord's work with all our heart. It's impossible to tell what will become because of our work, only God knows. Today, I had one of those moments where I realized my work had paid off. In Nice, Elder Graham and I found a Russian man who understood almost nothing in French. He was hardly progressing, but he did read the Book of Mormon often, so we kept teachign. It seemed like he was getting nothing out of it though. And then I went to Cannes. Today I found out he was baptized last saturday. What a sweet surprise! The work doesn't always go exactly how we want it at the moment, but "the works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught... Remember, remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men." Sometimes we need to remind ourselves that this isn't our work, but it is His, and all will be done according to His will.
President Carter also talked a lot about marriage, which was funny haha. He gave us the eleventh commandment: KTWH - Keep Thy Wife Happy. Of course, any time that anyone talks about marriage around a group of missionaries, the discussion goes crazy haha. He talked a lot about the family though. I was really touched to hear his story about how he and Soeur Carter came into the Gospel. At the time he had a big beard, mullet, and played bass in a rock band (which could be my future as well, but on lead guitar ;) ). Because of the Gospel, they got married ( the same day as their baptism), they had kids who went on mission, and when they get back they're going to bless a grand daughter, baptize a grand daughter, and marry one of their sons in the temple all within three weeks. Wow. The Gospel is pretty amazing, isn't it? Simply put, that and the family is the most important thing in the world. I'm so lucky to have the opportunity play a part in this work of salvation here in France.
Something funny - we all stood in line to say bye to president and sister carter. The sister missionaries went first, and they all hugged president carter (usually its not allowed - just a handshake), then when it got to the Elders, the first Elder didnt know whether to hug Sister Carter or not, but he went for it haha. She hugged him and have him the bises (the little kisses on the cheek) and she did the same for all of us. Haha it was such a funny awkward moment. And the president didn't mind, donc ça va haha.
Gael, Maurel, and Muamba are doing great! Fr Bouchet will receive the Aaronic priesthood this sunday so he will baptize his son Gael. That's seriously one of the most beautiful things to witness - a family accepting and living the Gospel together. I can't think of any experiences in particular that I had this week. It was a crazy week haha. But I do remember one thing - perseverance. That's basically the theme of Bergerac! And one of the main principles of the gospel. There are days here when I feel like no one will listen, but we keep talking to everyone anyways, and it's always when we feel the most discouraged and the most like giving up on the day that we receive the blessings. I've found that a good 80 percent of phone numbers we take come in the last half hour or so before we come home, or while we're on our pday and we take a couple seconds to contact someone that we feel is ready for the Gospel. The Lord always pushes us. Why? Because he loves us! Unfortunately, there are few in the world who understand this and lose their faith. But it's ONLY AFTER the trial that we receive a witness that it was all worth it. I ask myself almost every day why he has to push us so much, and every day I learn why if I hold out faithful. That's where we show our faith. We couldn't show faith in God if all was going good. Heavenly Father sent us here to walk by faith, and it is by faith that we follow principles of the Gospel that will allow us eventually to gain salvation. I'm so thankful for a God who allows us to suffer so we become stronger, and more like him. He's given us all we need to combat oppisition in life, we just need to trust him, have faith in him, and apply it! I know the Gospel is true. I know that it is a living Gospel and that we are led by God himself through personal inspiration and our inspired leaders. I love you all and hope you have a great week! And oh yeah, I got to see Elder Park in Bordeaux on Friday! I missed my boy! He's doing great in Tarbes and it was sweet to catch up. Anyways, bonne semaine, ciao!
Love,
Elder Tudor

June 20, 2011 plus Pictures!!!

2011-06-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Last moments in Cannes...

Me and Sebastian

Me and Elder Garland

Me in front of church

Me and Brother Perez

Me with Caroline and Matthieu

Me with a Tahitian brother from St Raphael whom I love

Me and T Moo

Bergarac
Me and Elder Coenen

Bikes!!!

Bonjour à tous,
Well, looks like I'm just gonna have to get used to this french keyboard haha. It was a good week! We actually had quite a bit of success. A lot more than they've been having here recently. Like I said, Gael will be baptized the 23rd of July, and this week we committed two more for baptism! Their names are Maurel and Muamba. They're both from Congo, but Maurel spent quite a bit of time in South Africa and speaks English too. They're 27 and 30 and super awesome. They're committed for the 9th of July - my Bday!!! I'm super excited for them! They're so awesome. I'd go into details but I really only have a couple minutes. Things are going well here. I rode a bike for the first time on my mission. I felt like the "classic" missionary haha. It was sweet. This week went pretty well, and it's thanks to the Lord. We worked our butts off, but there's still a lot of things we could have done better. We'll get there. This town has already exhausted me haha. It's gonna be a crazy transfer. Well, gotta go, I love you all and hope you have a great week! Sorry for the short email!
Love,
Elder Tudor

Juen 15, 2011

2011-06-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

Allo!
So, it was a crazy first week in Bergerac! Unfortunately the cyber café is closed and I only have a few minutes left on this free internet in the library (still with this blasted French keyboard too! But I'm getting better). Well the higlight of this week was definitely... the baptisms! A beautiful couple was baptized this week. Their names are Valerie and Emmanuel Bouchet. They've been taught since December. It was an amazing baptism and I can't wait to get to know them! We just started teaching their son (10 years old) named Gael, and just today he committed to baptism the 23 of July. We had planned to do it on my Birthday, but he'll be out of town for that weekend and the next one. Oh well! He's sweet! They have one other son, Guillame, who is 16 that we want to start teaching! Awesome stuff.
I had another cool experience this Friday. I went to a little town called Beynac et Cazenac (I think, look it up, it's amazing) to do a baptismal interview for one of Elder Dorton and Noyce's investigators in Brive. His name is Franc O'Mullan and he is Irish. His wife is a member and is less active. He has 9 kids that are all under 25 or so! The interview was sweet and he was baptized this Saturday in this beautiful river that runs through the town. You can see like 5 castles from the spot where he was baptized! His house is hundreds of years old and on the cliff above it is this massive castle/fotress where Richard the Lionheart once lived. He found a letter in his house that was written by the son of the first socialist in France that was written forever ago and he had to hand it over to the government haha. This town is old and full of history! I have to go back one day. It's beautiful! 5 of his kids are committed to baptism for July 16 too. I'm stoked!
Bergerac is so small. To give a picture, Perigeux (which is in my district) has about 3 times as many inhabitants as Bergerac, and in their newspaper one day under the column "top 10 things to do in Pergeux", being contacted by the Mormons was listed. Yep. Haha it's awesome though. It will be tough, but I'm stoked! We've got a few other sweet investigators that we've found and we're still searching. The Bouchets are gonna invite one of their friends over for a lesson tonight which is awesome! They're already doin missionary work!
I did an exchange in Bordeaux with Elder Wimmer yesterday (one of the zone leaders). He went to Orem high and will finish his mission in the next few months. He also went to Orchard a couple years, so we talked about people we both know. His cousin is Andie Young! Haha how funny is that. It was a fun exchange and we both learned a lot. We'll all be going to Bordeaux the 24th to see President and Soeur Carter for the last time. Super sad. I'll miss them! Well, my time's about up. Thanks for all your emails, letters, and support! It helps more than you think! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor

June 7, 2011

2011-06-07T21:06:00.001-07:00

Allo!
I excuse myself in advance if there are any errors in this letter because I cant change the keyboard from French to English. Sorry! Also, it wont be long because it's hard to type on this and I have less time than usual.
Friday I got a call from President Carter, and he said I was being transfered to the Bergerac! Yeah, thats not one you hear everyday! Haha. Bergerac is, Im pretty sure, the smallest and least populated area of the mission. Its so tiny!! Especially after being in Nice and Cannes. Also, I'll be serving as District Leader here. I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm super stoked too. The other cities in my district are Perigeux and Brives (with one componanionship in each of those cities). And guess what?? My boy Elder Dorton is in Brives! And hes serving with Elder Noyce, my comp from the mtc, which is sweet too. My comp is named Elder Coenen and he is from Belgium, so he's a native French speaker. It's his 2nd transfer so he's still blue and I'll be his polisher. He hasn't especially loved his experience so far on the mission, but I'll keep him happy :).
It was sad leaving Cannes, but my last day I was able to see Sebastian! Little miracle there. I'd go into details, but this keyboard is really bugging me haha. Yves will be baptized zithin the next couple weeks. Here in Bergerac there's not much going on right now as far as missionary zork goes, so I think I'm gonna have to pull a Cannes again. My last week in Cannes we blew away the record for lessons in a week that I've ever had so far on my mission, and I hope it continues like that! I remember when I arrived and the area was dead, and now its up and rolling! Never give up! We hope to get Bergerac up and going soon. Its a lot different here because its so small and Im not used to working in small villes so Im gonna learn a lot these next few weeks. Well, times up, so I'll talk to you next week! I hope you all have a great week. I love you!

Love,
Elder Tudor

May 30, 2011

2011-05-31T13:16:00.001-07:00

I've got like five minutes, so I'll try to jam as much in as I can. Yves wasn't baptized this week... but we did finally get hold of him!! He had to go to the mountains and work, and he had no cell phone service. But he had been reading in the Book of Mormon every day and still wants to be baptized. He might be baptized this Saturday, it depends when he comes back, and he's not sure when he is coming back yet. We'll keep praying for him! The work was a little slower this week, but we're pushin through and we've got a ton of hope for the future here. We've set the goal to find two people this week who will be baptized next transfer. Speaking of transfers, next week I could be in another city. We get calls this Friday. I'd love to stay another transfer with Elder Garland, but we'll see what happens! Today for p day we're going out to the island where the man in the iron mask was. Should be interesting. Well, sorry the email was tiny, but the computer is gonna cut off in a few seconds so I've gotta send. I love all you guys. Thanks for your support! Et bonne fete des mères! (It was the french mother's day yesterday). Ciao! Til next week.

Love,
Elder Tudor

May 25, 2011

2011-05-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

Bonjour!
I apologize for the delay! Sunday morning I woke up, and we'll just say I wasn't feeling too well. I called Sister Carter and described what I had, and she told me I had "gastro" or something. I'm not sure what the translation is in English, or if it's the same thing in English, all I know is it's terrible! She told me I couldn't go out and that I couldn't eat until I felt better. The only thing she said I could drink was that nasty bubbly water everyone seems to like here, or soda (but I had to de-carbonate it). And then she added, "and no dairy" ....and no more happiness! (for all you Brian Regan fans out there). So that's my story basically from Sunday to Tuesday. I'll leave out the pleasant details.
It was a good week! Unfortunately only one investigator made it to church, and we had planned on 5 or 6, but we'll get them this week. Yves is doing great of course, but he disappeared into "the mountains" for a few days because he had to work so he wasn't able to come to church, but normally he will be baptized this Saturday! (I think I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every time an investigator told us he had to go to "the mountains" for a little while and then we never heard from him again. But don't worry, he didn't disappear forever, he called us back after he came back :) ) We're super excited for him! We're getting all the plans in order for the baptism.
We had a cool experience this week. We went to an investigator's house for an appointment, but he wasn't there, so we called him up and he said he'd be an hour and a half late. We started porting (door to door) for a little while but it wasn't very effective. Then I remembered this little old lady named Rosaria that Elder Park and I had contacted forever ago and she gave us her address. We had passed by her house numerous times before and she was never there, but we were in the neighborhood and I decided we should to try her again. We knocked, she was there, and so happy to see us! She let us in and we talked for awhile (don't worry, we left the door open and stayed right by the door, so we were following the rules :) ). It was an interesting lesson. Neither of us had the impression to start teaching the Restoration or really start teaching anything at all. We just sat down and chatted for a minute and then she started talking. She talked for awhile, and we listened. Eventually she started talking about how she has always believed in God, but that there were times in her life, especially now, when believing was really hard, even though she wanted to believe. We opened up the Book of Mormon to Ether 12 and read verses 4-6. The Spirit filled the room and she said it was a beautiful verse of scripture. Then she started crying and told us she wants to know if she will see her daughter again who had died, as well as other family members. We testified of the Plan of Salvation, and all of us could just feel the love of our Heavenly Father so strongly. We left her with a scripture to read and set a time to come back to teach the whole plan of salvation (we had to go see our other investigator), then I said a prayer. I felt overwhelmed during the prayer and I started crying too. It was a super powerful lesson, and we didn't teach anything, but the Spirit definitely did!
As we were walking away, I pondered about how lucky we are to have the knowledge of the plan of salvation and the Priesthood on the earth to seal us as families forever. We can't even comprehend how much Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have done for us. They have made our salvation and eternal happiness with our families possible, and all we have to do is be obedient to their commandments in order to bring about this blessing for us and our families in the eternities, and it is and will ALWAYS be our choice to have it! Let's not forget all that Heavenly Father has set in place for us to succeed, and let's find what we can do better to make sure that all that he has prepared for us will not go to waste, but that we will be able to receive all the blessings He has in store for us. Be thankful! I know I need to do it a lot more. Je vous aime tous et je vous souhaite une bonne semaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

May 16, 2011

2011-05-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Bonjour a tous,
Well, it's that time of year. The Cannes film festival just started and this place is packed with tourists and movie stars! The other day we had to meet an investigator downtown, and while we were waiting for her, we saw Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, and Edward from twilight haha. From super far away of course, but we could tell it was them, and everyone crowding around them was screaming their names. Crazy! Maybe we'll do a little missionary work at the festival today for Pday and convert some famous people.
This week went alright. We're still teaching quite a bit, but we know there is a lot more potential here than we're getting out right now. This week we've really gotta dig in. I've got some bad news too. Last week right after I sent you my email, Sebastian called... and he said he's done with seeing us. He told me that he heard that Joseph Smith killed two people in the mob just before he got murdered and that he couldn't believe in the Book of Mormon anymore. I started reasoning with him, telling him that Moses killed a man, and that the Catholic church, which he is in the process of joining, has killed all kinds of people. He agreed... then just said that he found something in the Book of Mormon that didn't agree with the Bible, and he wouldn't tell me what it was either. Then I decided to just remind him of the testimony he had received from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true, but he just told me that he couldn't believe it anymore and that we couldn't see each other any more. I was trying so hard to keep him on the phone but he wouldn't listen to anything I was saying and he just said goodbye. I'm almost certain his friends convinced him to not see us anymore. It took me awhile to get over that one. We were really close and he really became a good friend of mine. He was so close! Why? I've been kind of down about it and still kidn of getting over it. I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but after seeing someone who is so ready be so close, it breaks your heart to see them reject the truth. Also, I think last week I talked about our new investigator named Alexandra who accepted a baptismal date. She called us Sunday morning and said her husband won't let her see us anymore.
Yves is still super legit. He stopped smoking, drinking alcohol and coffee, all at the same time. He threw it all away and he doesn't have enough money to buy anymore, or he can't eat, so he can't start again. Problem solved! His testimony amazes me every time we see him. Everytime we ask him to follow a commandment, his response is always "il le faut!" (it is necessary). He's seriously the man. After church we gave him a blessing to help with the pain of stopping smoking. He understands the Gospel better than any investigator I've ever seen. We gave him the pamphlets for all the lessons and he's read and marked all of them, so when we do the lessons we sit down and ask him questions, and he explains everything to us perfectly, and then we bear testimony of it. I love it! Mario is doing well, but is still really busy. His baptismal date isn't really fixed right now. He will be baptized, but we're not sure when because we don't know if he's going to continue being so busy. He still has to come to church a couple more times before he can be baptized. We're praying for him.
One thing I've learned this week is that we can do everything we can to help people get to baptism, but ultimately it's their choice and they have their free agency. But, that's all part of God's plan. Without our free agency, we wouldn't learn anything! Seeing people let go of the Gospel is the saddest thing I've ever seen. I pray for them that one day they will use their agency well and decide to accept it, whether that be now, or in the world to come. Well, sorry it's kinda short this week, but I gotta go! I love you all and I'm so happy to be here serving God's children. Thanks for all your support. These really are the best two years!

Love,
Elder Tudor

May 9, 2011

2011-05-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dear everyone,

I realized that when we did Skype, I was so caught up that I forgot to say Happy Mother's day, so... Happy Mother's day mom! And Courtney and Debbie as well. Haha sorry about that guys. It was awesome to see all of you on Skype, but it kind of freaked me out. It was super weird to see my house and everything. I loved it though and I'm so glad I got to see all of you! Especially little Mia. Thanks for setting that up, it was super awesome, and I'm glad it worked!

Our area just exploded this week! We had so many new investigators and we taught more lessons than I've ever taught on my mission except for one really good week in Nice. It was great! Yves and Mario are still doing well. Yves came to church again this week, and of course he loved everything about it again. He takes notes in Sunday school and participates and everything. He's legit. He's already read up to the end of 2nd Nephi in the Book of Mormon too. We have two other investigators who just committed to baptism too! The first is Alexandra who we found this week. She was born Muslim, but when she was 14 she became a Christian. She's 50 now and has so much Faith and wants to follow Christ! Unfortunately she's already met a lot of opposition from her friend. We're praying for her. And the other person who committed is... (drum roll please)... Sebastian!!! Yes, that's right, Sebastian! I can hardly believe it haha. He finishes his Catholic thing this week. We finally found out the reason why he wants to be confirmed Catholic. It's kind of personal to him so I won't go into details, but I guess he was really hurt by the Protestant church years ago and now he kind of wants to spite them and put them in their place by being confirmed Catholic. We explained to him that it won't doing anything for his salvation, but he still wants to do it. I don't remember how it came up, but then we started talking about baptism like we have so many times. He finally admitted that when he had been baptized before, it wasn't done by the authority of God. Then we simply said, "Sebastian, we love you, and we want you to have all the blessings that God has in store for you. You've been blessed for your efforts to follow Christ in the past, but you won't be able to receive all the blessings of heaven in any other church, or from any other baptism, except this one." The Spirit was so strong and we were all pretty emotional. I felt pushed to invite him to accept a baptismal date. I invited him to be baptized the 4th of June, and he accepted! It was an absolute miracle. Every time we had invited him in the past, he said he had to read the entire Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants first and do all this other stuff and then he would think about it - but this time, he left that all aside and he did what the Spirit whispered to him. It was one of the most powerful moments I've had as a missionary. I'm so happy for him!

As you know, there's another companionship in our apartment too. One of them is Elder Temanaha-Moo (I think) and he's from Tahiti and he's bleu. He's so sweet! It's the first time there hasn't been only English speakers in the apartment. He's a real islander. He keeps wanting to kill dogs for dinner, and we keep telling him it's probably against the law haha. It's awesome having him in the apartment. It definitely changes things up. We jam on the Ukulele together (there's 2 in the apartment) when we have some free time. We're currently writing some sweet versions of Primary songs.

The work is going great here and I'm so excited for the rest of the transfer! Elder Garland and I work well together and he's a great companion. We're working hard, having fun, and seeing miracles! I'm loving it and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Coming on a mission has totally opened my eyes, especially to the love of God for His children. The message of the Restoration is the proof that God loves all His children in every generation. Seeing people accept it and feel the same thing is the most beautiful thing in the world! I know God loves us and he hears and answers every sincere prayer. I'm so thankful for the work He does among us today, and the chance I have to be an instrument in His hands and participate in His work! This is truly His work, and not ours. That is evident with each day that passes here on the mission, and it's amazing to witness. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tudor

April, 25, 2011

2011-04-26T07:59:00.000-07:00

Allo!
Well, it's a new transfer... and I'm still in Cannes! But this time with a new companion - Elder Garland! He's been in the same apartment as us the last two transfers so we already know eachother pretty well. He's the red hair British one. We're super excited to work together in Cannes! He's a super good missionary and we're going to see some miracles this trasnfer! It was really sad dropping Elder Park off at the train station this morning. He's being trasnfered to Tarbes (the other side of the mission haha). I'm going to miss him! He has become one of my best friends over these last few months. I love you Elder!
It was a good week. We kept up the momentum from last week and we're seeing progress too. We're teaching a lot and we're getting some good investigators. Mario is still doing super well! He hasn't had any big problems so far and he accepts all the commandments like they're just the normal thing to do (and they are). He's sweet! We have a new investigator with a baptismal date for the 28th of May now. His name is Yves (which means drunk in French, haha). Our first meeting with him is a funny story too. Elder Garland and I were on exchange this friday (in Elder Garland's area) and we taught him in a park in Antibes. We sat down on the bench and president called for transfer calls. Elder Garland took off for a sec and answered while I talked to Yves. I found out that Yves actually lives in my area, so he would become our investigator after the lesson. Elder Garland came back and we started the lesson. It was an awesome first lesson and at the end he committed to be baptized the 28th of May. We were all pretty stoked about it! We set up the next appointment, which would be in my area, and that was when Elder Garland found out that Yves lives in mine and Elder Park's area and would be passed to us. As we were walking away after hte lesson, Elder Garland put his arm around me and said, "well, looks like we've got a baptism for our companionship next transfer!" Haha. So that's how I found out we would be companions. What a sweet way to start!
Elder Garland and I have set some great goals for this next trasnfer. They're going to push us, but we're going to do all we can to achieve them. We know we can with the Lord's help! "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye will have power to do whatsoever is expedient in me." I know that the Lord holds his promises, and that we've got to show and exercise our faith in him by setting goals and doing all we can to reach them, and then we will be instruments in His hands in bringing forth miracles among His children. I have a lot of hopes for this next transfer! Elder Park and I did a lot of planting these last two transfers, now I hope to start doing some of the reaping. Elder Garland and I are ready to do all we can to really get the work going here. Now we've just gotta do it. Thanks everyone for all your support. I hope you have a great week! And happy birthday Courtney!!! I love you!
Love,
Elder Tudor

April 18, 2011

2011-04-24T10:26:00.000-07:00

Salut! At the end of last week I was talking with one of the assistants, and we decided to fast for our area. So, we did, and I can't believe how much it helped! This week we had the most lessons we've ever had and our investigators are progressing super well! To start, Mario is still as awesome as I said he was. We went back to give him a baptismal calendar and we discussed his baptismal date (the 14th of May). He said he felt a little hesitant, but then he just flat out said, "When I commit to do something, I do it. I'm going to do it!" Yeah! He's super awesome. He came to all three hours of church this week too and he loved it. He understands French pretty well, but has a hard time speaking sometimes. We teach him with a member who speaks portugese so that helps a ton. I'm excited for this week to see the progress that he makes. We also got a few new investigators this week. Two of them are from Cape Verde and another from China. Hooray foreigners haha. This afternoon we got a new French investigator too though :).

We gave Sebastian the "real intention" talk this week. By the end of the appointment, he said he would stop smoking again without even being asked. We had hardly even talked about cigarettes during the appointment! It's amazing to see the Spirit work on our investigators as we teach. The Spirit knows exactly what they need, and as our investigators feel it and listen to its promptings, it will show them all that they should do. It's kind of interesting how that works. It seems like a lot of times as missionaries, we worry about saying exactly what the Spirit wants us to say so we will say what the investigator needs to hear, but really, nothing we can say will get them to do anything if the Spirit doesn't testify to them personally as well. As we follow the Spirit the best we can and try to create an environment so that the Spirit is there by teaching and testifying of the truth, the Spirit itself tells the investigator what they need to do! We can teach and invite all we want, but the Spirit is the ultimate teacher. I see that clearer and clearer every day. Zone conference was this week and we received tons of inspired lesson. We were presented with an awesome family missionary plan that we're going to start presenting to all the members in the ward. They used this same plan (except we modified it a bit) in the Portugal mission and the next year their baptisms doubled. It's really simple and powerful and I'm excited to get it going in Cannes! The Stake is really starting to crack down on the ward here. A high council member came last week and gave a talk about how it is the members who need to find investigators, not the missionaries. With that, and this new program, we hope to get the ward excited about missionary work! We've already started and I can tell there will be some fruits from it.

Calls are next week. Elder Park and I have been together two transfers, so it's likely that we won't be companions anymore. It's too bad! I love him! We've had some good times together and we're super good friends now. Who knows, maybe we'll stay together! I will most likely stay in Cannes, but we'll see what happens. Cannes has been quite a place for me. I've learned a lot since I've been here. I've been humbled - that's for sure - and I've definitely started to see missionary work from a different perspective. I'm so thankful to serve the Lord in this part of His vineyard. Something I've heard a lot, but that I've actually been learning lately, is that the Lord doesn't do things without a reason. It can be hard to accept that some of the things that happen to us can truly come from a loving Heavenly Father. But I know that whatever happens in life is for a specific reason, and there are specific blessings in store for those who recognize the opportunities that God gives us to grow, endure them well, and then thank God for those opportunities. I love the Gospel and I love being a missionary! We could never find anything else that brings us the same peace and joy that the Gospel does - nothing! We have it, so let's live it, let's enjoy it, and let's share it with all those who are without it! I love you all and hope you have a great week. Ciao!

Much love, Elder Tudor

April 11, 2011

2011-04-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This week was a little like last week, but I can tell some good things are about to happen! Sebastien is still about the same, except he started smoking again... Gah! He said, "God wants me to be happy, and smoking makes me happy." He had stopped for 8 days and then started again. I don't think he knows the difference between happiness and pleasure. He told us he knows it is a sin, but that no one is perfect. c'etait un peu de n'importe quoi. We reminded him that "wickedness never was happiness" but he's still set on smoking. So I asked him to ask Heavenly Father specifically in his prayers if he should smoke or not. The next time we saw him, he told us that he got the answer that he can do what he wants, but he said he's not sure if that's coming from himself or from God. Next time we're going to give him the real intention talk. I was thinking about him this morning and what he can do, and I really think he's missing the real intention of the whole thing. Moroni instructs us to ask with a sincere heart, faith in Christ, and real intent - meaning you REALLY INTEND to do whatever the Lord tells you to when He answers you. If you don't have it, you're not going to get an answer - not an answer from God anyways. "And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such." (Moroni 7:9) I think often when we pray and ask Heavenly Father what we must do, we already have in mind the answer we want to hear. In order to have the real intent, you've got to pray with no biases beforehand, being willing to do whatever the Lord commands, even if it's not what you would have wanted. It's hard to do, but I know that if we do it, we will be able to better walk in the Lord's paths! I'm excited to talk about that with Sebastien. We had an interesting experience Thursday night. The other elders have an investigator who goes to this "Cornerstone Christian Church" and she invited all of us to come to this servce Thursday night. None of us had appointments then, so we went to see what it was all about. Their chapel is the upstairs of a mattress store. We walked in little late and everyone was seaed at round tables eating dinner. As soon as we walked in everyone turned and stared at us, like "who invited the Mormons??" haha. It was super funny. So our friend seated us at an English speaking table (because this is a bilingual church) with about 8 other people. They were finishing dinner and then the were going to start to service. We were all kind of spread out along the table and started talking to different people. Within about 5 minutes all of us were talking about the Book of Mormon and the restoration haha, it was awesome! I was sitting next to a British guy. He asked me what Bible I read, and I told him the King James version, but that I read the Book of Mormon too! He didn't know what it was, so I explained. People have a really hard time understanding that there could be something more than the Bible. To these people, I give 2 Nephi 29. He was pretty interested, but then we had to go into the service so I gave him a card and told him to call. We went into this little auditorium where a band was set up. Before I knew it, they were playing EFY sounding songs and everyone was clapping their hands and singing along. This guy behind me started speaking in tongues, which was interesting. They were all pretty into it! Unfortunately we had to leave before it was over so we wouldn't be late getting home. It was an interesting experience haha. It was cool though, because a bunch of people came up to us and said they see us every day from where they work or whatever, but haven't talked to us yet. Who knows, maybethe next time they'll want to talk to us! This week ended great! Yesterday we had a bunch of appointments with people we met on the road, but they all fell through except two. The last one was wih a man from cape verde named Mario. Let's just say that he's the MAN! He was taught by the missionaries 10 years ago in cape verde and hasn't met any since. I contacted him Saturday night before we went home. We missed the bus because I felt like I needed to talk to him, but it was definitely worth it! When I contacted him he told me that he used to have lots of friends named Elder haha. He doesn't speak French super well, but we got by. It was an awesome first lesson, and he's super sincere. We talked about baptism, and he said he actually went to a baptismal service in cape verde. We invited him to be baptized on the 14th of May, and he accepted! I'm super stoked! The guy is a stud, and he has a beautiful family that we will definitely be teaching too. I hope this is what we've been working for all these weeks where nothing has really happened. I'm so grateful that we met him and I know that he has been prepared by the Lord! I've been trying my hardest to keep positive and push through these last few weeks, and I hope that finally we have something here. But the work isn't really about what we get as missionaries - it's about what these people are getting. We have the Gospel, and they don't, so we're taking it to them! A lot of times it's easy to get caught up in the numbers that show your hard work, but the whole reason why we're here is to invite people - Children of God - to accept the restored Gospel and eventually have Eternal Life. Of course, we'd love to have people flocking to the baptismal font, but even if only one person accepts the Gospel after all our work here, I know that that person's soul is "great in the sight of God." I love this work and I wouldn't trade anything for it. It's a little slow right now, but I'm not going to complain. When Elder Holland came to the MTC, he said, "We're in the business of saving souls." What else would I want to be doing right now? What better and more worthwhile thing is there to do on this earth? I'm trying to do my hardest what the Lord has asked me to do, and that's all I can do. The rest is in His hands. I know that the Gospel is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ and that all that He has promised is real. By following His example and His Gospel, we will have Eternal Life. It's beautiful how simple the Gospel is! I love you all and I thank you for all your prayers. I pray for you too! I hope you have a great week, Ciao! Much love, Elder Tudor

April 4, 2011

2011-04-06T23:46:00.000-07:00

Bonjour a tous! It was kind of a slow week, but an amazing general conference capped it off! We had some interesting first lessons this week. One of them was with a lady named Josianna that we met a couple weeks ago and she came to church last week. Apparently she has met the missionaries in Paris before, but orginally she comes from somewhere in Africa. We saw her at the chapel with one of the members of the ward. The lesson was a little all over the place because she talks about a lot of random stuff, but before we were really able to bring it back around, our member said he had to go and just got up and left haha. We couldn't stay because we can't be alone with her in the chapel, so we ended the lesson real quick and she started leaving. But before leaving, she gave Elder Park an enveloppe. Luckily, before she left, Elder Park looked inside and saw 100 euros! We stopped her and told her we couldn't take it, but then she said she would never see us again if we didn't accept it, and that she would be offended if we didn't. Then she left, and we were just there with the money. So we called president because we had no idea what to do with it haha, and he told us to keep it and just said, "Elders, consider it the fruits of your labors." We were stunned! So we have 100 euros now that we don't know what to do with. We think we might use it to go to Marine Land next p day haha. Or maybe the ZZ top concert :) Just Jokin! The other strange lesson was with a guy named Yonel. He knew a ton about Joseph Smith already and after the lesson he took us into the basement of the chapel and to the baptismal font and told us one time he went swimming in it. What? Apparently he's baptized? We asked the bishop who he is and he has no idea. Strange!

Sebastian is still kind of the same. He told us he still won't be baptized until after he has finished the Book of Mormon. He's so ready besides that! He's been keeping the word of wisdom for over a week now too. We're doing our best to resolve his problem with baptism. We're going to try and dig deep this week, relying on the Spirit, to see if there is another deeper problem that is stopping him.

Elder Park and I have decided that we really need to start working close with the members. It's getting harder and harder to find new investigators, and so far we haven't had any referrals from the ward here. The other companionship in our apartment that works in St. Raphael has a lot of people to teach, and over half come from the members. That is truly the way to do missionary work! Well I can't say we haven't had any referalls yet because we got our first onethis week, but after seeing how much more efficient that was, I really want to get this ward going here and doing missionary work! When an investigator comes from a member, that investigator automatically has a member who is a friend. That is one of the hardest parts of missionary work - getting the investigators attached to the ward and not the missionaries. We're excited to start doing more of that!

We had to go to Nice for General Conference because for some reason it wasn't working in Cannes. That was nice, because it is in French and English in Nice. I also got to see Marcelline! She's doing so well! Livio is now baptized too and he was wearing this little tuxedo haha he's awesome. Baby Nova is so big now! (She had the blanket that you made, mom) Marcelline is doing great, and after I talked with her for awhile, I thought about when we first met her. My heart was filled with the love of God as I noticed the light and joy in her countenance now compared with when we first taught her. It's truly a miracle. It is the effect that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can bring about in all of our lives. As we fill our lives with righteousness through the Gospel, light replaces darkness, happiness replaces misery, and hope replaces despair! I'm so happy that I have the opportunity to help people find this light that they are all looking for. Unfortunately, not everyone accepts it, but even one soul is worth all the work! We're going to keep working hard here in Cannes. Even if there is only one person here that we will help accept the Gospel, it will all be worth it. And if not, it will all be worth it anyways, because we have been sent by the Lord and if we are obedient and diligent, we will do the work that we were sent here to do. I love you all! Sorry if the email was scattered. I was listening to the conference sessions I missed while typing haha. Ciao! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Tudor

March 28, 2011

2011-04-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

It was a fun week! We taught a little bit more than we have been, and we had some sweet experiences! We've continued teaching Sebastian. We saw him Wednesday and we taught the Word of Wisdom because he has a pretty big smoking problem. We read the commandment from Dotrine and Covenants (which he accepted easily,but we thank that he might think that Doctrine and Covenants is called the Word of Wisdom haha, he wants to read all of DC now) and talked about it. He told us that he feels like cigarettes and coffee are good for him and that they don't really affect him, but after we testified of why God gives us commandments and reminded him of his testimony of teh BOM and Joseph Smith, he said, "Well, I feel like these things are good for me. But those are the thoughts of the world and not the thoughts of God." And he committed to stop smoking and drinking coffee! The next day we brought him a 7 day stop smoking plan and we came with the Bishop. The Bishop invited him to church at the end of the lesson,and Sebastian told us that he has to finish the BoM before he comes to church. Pourquoi?? Then the lesson started to move from the subject a little, but I wasn't going to take that for an answer haha. I spoke to him pretty boldy, and honestly I don't remember what I said, but right after I said it he turned to the Bishop and said, "Can you draw me a map to the church?" It was pretty awesome, adn I'm glad I was prompted to be direct with him and be more persistent, and I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost and its power to the convincing of the hearts of men. We saw him again Saturday and just talked about reading the Scriptures and praying every day. He told us Saturday that he smoked his last cigarette that morning. He is super awesome! Every time we come, he shares us spiritual thoughts from the Book of Mormon. Usually it's the other way around! I love this guy. And guess what? He came to church Sunday! And what's better is that President and Sister Carter came to our ward this week. Both of them quit smoking to join the church and they were able to talk to him a lot which is super awesome. Sebastian is still set on getting confirmed Catholic, but president showed me some things in the Bible that I'm going to show Sebastian this week about how confirmation should be done and how they do it in the Catholic church. It should be interesting haha. I lvoe president, he's got a scripture for everything. But I really think Sebastian could have a baptismal date at the end of this week. He really trusts us and listens intently to everything that we say, and I know that we can be bold with him and that he will harken to the promptings of the Spirit. And by the way, he still hasn't smoked since Saturday morning! Besides Sebastian, not a whole lot happened this week, except we had a rendez-vous with a TJ (Jehovah's Witness) that we met the other day. We contacted him and he told me that Jehovah is God the Father, and I told him Jehovah is Jesus Christ, and he told me he wanted to talk another day. It was a pretty simple contact haha. So we went to his house saturday morning and he was waiting for us with his TJ bible (their "original translation" of the Bible, which is basically the Bible with the name Jehovah thrown in it 4,000 times and a few verses are missing from it). He's a super nice guy though. We came in and asked if we could start with a prayer, and he told us no because he prays to Jehovah, and then he asked me why I think Jesus Christ is Jehovah. We opened up to Isaiah 43:11 in their own Bible "I, even I, am Jehovah; and beside me there is no saviour." (In our Bible it says "Lord" not Jehovah) and then to Luke 2:11 "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Or in other words, Jehovah = Jesus Christ. He thought for a second, then rambled off something about what Christ means in ancient greek or something, trying to prove his point haha. It was interesting. Then of course we talked about how we know what we know to be true thanks to a living prophet and we told the Joseph Smith story, the first vision, and the Book of Mormon. At the end, we invited him to read and pray about our message. He said that he wouldn't, and that he had already read the Book of Mormon and didn't think it was the word of God. We asked him if he had prayed about it and he said no, so we explained that that's why he didn't think it was the word of God. Then he just gave us his TJ speel, and told us there is nothing other than the Bible. Instead of giong to the scriptures to try to disprove him, we simply asked him, "How do you know the Bible is the word of God?" And he jsut said, "Because it's the Bible, it has to be the word of God." "But how do you know?" "Because it was written by prophets." "How do you know they were prophets?" "Because they say they were." "How do you know they were telling the truth?" we took him in this circle for a little while, and then we jsut said, "We asked God if these things are true, and He told us by the power of the Holy Ghost that they are. That's how we know this is true, and we know that you can know for yourself if you ask God." He still refused our invitation, but I feel like we got the point across to him that he doesn't have a testimony of what he believes in. Hopefully he'll think about it! I know I talked abotu it last week too, but that experience showed me again just how important a personal testimony is! And I also learned how important it us to use that testimony and testify! We could have sat there all day and had a Bible bash, but it all comes down to the personal witness that we all need from the Holy Ghost to know if something is true. I'm so thankful to be a memeber of Christ's church and also to be a missionary in His service. I'm so thankful for the testimony I have gained through scripture study AND prayer of the things I teach every day. I'm so grateful for and I know that we have a prophet on the earth today. This weekend we get to hear his counsels and teachings, as well as the apostles, which are the counsels, teachigns, and commandments of God. Let's listen to them so we can be more happy and more in line with our Heavenly Father's will! I love you all and hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Tudor

March 21, 2011

2011-03-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! The beginning of this week was interesting! It poured rain Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday. Tuesday my umbrella busted in the wind! (Don't worry mom, I bought a new one). I've never seen so much rain in my life! When it rains here, it rains for 3 days straight and it comes down in sheets. It's probably nothing compared to my buds in South America though haha.
Because of the rain, the work started out a little slow this week, but we saw a huge miracle Wednesday! We went to buy a new umbrella in the morning (it was still pouring rain), and we ran into one of our old investagitors, Sebastian, who disappeared a few weeks ago. I can't remember if I wrote about him already, but he told us he heard the voice of God when he prayed about the Book of Mormon, and then he disappeared and we couldn't get hold of him. I made eye contact with him at the bus stop and he tried to act like he didn't notice we were there, but then I went up to him and asked him where he's been haha. He just said sorry, and "I have to finish the Book of Mormon until we talk again." (It's so frustrating when investigators think they have to read teh whole book of Mormon before they can believe it!) He was being really stubborn, so we said we'd call him in the future and went on our way. Then a couple minutes later, he ran up from behind us and said, "Ok, I'm sorry, my friends told me not to see you again, but it's my life and I don't care! If you want, we can go to my house and talk right now." Of course we said yes, and so we went! The first thing we did was ask him about his experience while praying about the Book of Mormon. He told us he read a few chapters, prayed, and he heard the audible voice of a man say, "You can believe these things, they are true." Wow! Then before we could really even respond he told us he wanted to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon that touched him. He opened up to 1 Nephi 8 (his book of mormon was all marked up and highlighted up to 2nd Nephi) about Lehi's dream, and he read the verses about how some of the people who made it to the tree and partook of the fruit and then fell because the people in the great and spacious building were mocking them. He told us that he feels like he's one of those people because after he met us his friends told him that the Book of Mormon is jsut a book of men and that he shouldn't listen to us anymore, and that's why he cut contact with us. He told us that he knew those influences were from the devil and that he doesn't need to listen to them. Wow. This guy didn't only read the Book of Mormon. He read it, studied it, and APPLIED it! So awesome! I love the Book of Mormon. He told us he jsut felt so happy and so relaxed from all his worries while he read it. He told us that there's no way this book is just a book of men. "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful tool in conversion." - Preach My Gospel. How true that is!
We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and about his situation, and we came back Saturday. On Saturday, we basically just explained to him what that means if the Book of Mormon is true, because he has a testimony, but we weren't sure if he was seeing the significance because on Wednesday during the lesson he kept saying that he is in the middle of doing his confirmation in the Catholic church and he wants to finish that before he does anything else. We were just really straightforward and clear with him on Saturday about how the Book of Mormon is the proof of the prophet today, the Priesthood, and the truthfulness of the church, but during the lesson he kept saying, "Yeah, I'll come over to your church after I'm finished joining the Catholic church." Gah! Obviously somehting wasn't clicking, so at the end I asked him, "Do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?" "Yes" "Do you believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that his successor is the prophet today?" "Yes" "Do you beileve that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of Christ and kingdom of God on the earth?" "Yes." "So what's keeping you from joining it?" And he went on to explain that he felt good at teh Catholic church and that he needs to finish waht he started there. He told us that after he finishes what he's doing there, he'll come to our church. I was pretty frustrated, but I didn't want to push him. We were so clear and direct, and he knows these thigns are true, I just don't understand what's stopping him. I learned a good lesson from that. No matter how great of a witness someone has of the truth, that person can still use their free agency and choose to refuse it. It's up to us as missionaries to give people the best opportunity possible to use their agency in the best way possible. Then it is up to them to act for themselves. We pray every day for investigators to receive a witness like he did, and he isn't acting on it! He accepted to keep seeing us though, so we're going to keep teaching him, praying for him, and hope that he makes the right choice!
We found a new investigator this week from the Ivory Coast. When I first started talking to him, I didnt think he was speaking French. His accent is insane! African French is very different. He's an interesting guy and would randomly get up and do stuff during the lesson haha. He didn't have much of an attention span, but we're going to keep working with him. It should be interesting, because I don't understand everything he says,and Elder Park said he hardly understands anything haha, so we'll see! Hopefully the gift of the interepretation of tongues will help us out there.
I'm doing good! Elder Park is awesome, and we're becoming super good friends. We're starting to becoming pretty good cooks too. We're inventing our ownlittle creations. We decided if we're both not married before the age of 30, we're going to move to Cannes together, open up a restaurant, buy dogs, and take them on walks every night at the Croisette like all the old French people do here. That's a pretty good back up plan if you ask me!
The work is still moving a little slow. Things were really picking up last week, but it seems like every time that happens we hit some kind of wall! We saw Diyana and Manoj on Tuesday,but then on wednesday they sent us a text saying they're leaving to Paris and they don'tknow when they're coming back. Andre, our old frenchman, has had the flu all week and told us he couldn't receive us all week. Hopefully we'llbe able to see them soon!
Last night we got a call from a member we've never seen before. She needed help moving stuff out of her apartment because she's moving to Australia today (And you think I'm a procrastinator). She had a LOT of stuff! She gave us a little barbecue and one of those vibrating,bubbling, water foot massagers. We're pretty stoked about that since we walk so much all day. I think Cannes is turning us into old men.

Well I love you all and hope you're doing well! Cheer for BYU for me. Is it still cold there? Today it's perfect weather. Blue skies and about 70 degrees. Hopefully it keeps up and doesn't rain again this week. Rain kills missionary work here! Je vous souhaite une bonne semaine! A la prochaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

March 14, 2011

2011-03-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Bonjour à tous! Calls were this friday! And...(drum roll)... I'm staying in Cannes with Elder Park! We're super excited to stay together another transfer and continue what we've started here. Actually, our whole apartment stayed the same, so Elder Brown and Elder Garland are still with us, but Elder Brown just became District Leader. We're pretty excited about it, and last night to celebrate we brought a tv to our apartment from the Chapel (with the permission of the Bishop, of course) and wathched the Joseph Smith movie while we made Raclettes. There's a bunch of missionaries in France for ya.

It was a good week! It's still slow, but we're starting to "weed" out the city haha. I think we've almost talked with the whole city. Not really, but a good 30 percent of the people we see every day we have already talked to. On Tuesday we contacted an older man who was interested in knowing the difference between the Catholics and the Mormons, so we took a rendez-vous for the next day. His name is André and he's 100% french and 70 years old. He was born to a Catholic mom and a communist father. He has never really practiced religion. He did the catechism or whatever when he was young but I don't think he paid attention because he doesn't really know anything about God or religion haha. But anways, the lesson started by him telling us his life story. He talks a lot and it was hard to teach anything really, but we listened with love, and eventually he gave us some hints about what he needs to hear. He told us that after his mom died that he heard her voice while he was lying in bed one night and that he could feel her presence, and that he questioned whether there is anything after this life. That was when we testified that there is a prophet on earth today and that because of that, we know what happens after this life and that we can be with our families forever. His attitude totally changed after that and he became more interested in what we had to say. His interest changed from just wanting to know what the difference is between us and the catholics to finding answers to questions that deep down he had been asking himself his whole life. We left him with the restoration pamphlet and came back two days later with a member and taught him the restoration. The lesson was a little all over because he loves to talk and so does the member that we brought with us haha. It wasn't the best lesson just because it was so scattered (partly because he still wanted to konw what the difference was between us and the Catholics and Muslims), but at the end we invited him to pray. I don't think I've ever heard a prayer more sincere or powerful in my life. When he spoke, the Spirit instantly filled the room. He started by thanking Heavenly Father that He had sent him the missionaries, and from that point on he was crying throughout the whole prayer. He literally poured out his soul to the Lord and we could all feel it. What a miracle to see a hardened old french man, softened by the Spirit and love of the Lord. Even though the lesson didn't go that great, he felt the spirit, and that is all that is necessary.

We also saw our two GOLDEN investigators that we found last week who are from Sri Lanka. Their names are Diyana and Manoj. I don't know if I mentioned them last week. They're super sweet though and they want 10 copies of the book of mormon in their native language to give to their friends, family, and preacher at the church that they go to haha. Yes! They're already very believing and have tons of faith in Christ. In our first rendez-vous, Diyana told us that every time we talked she could fee the Holy Ghost. She said she even prayed before the rendez-vous and asked if it was the right thing to do to see us. She said that her answer was that what we would say is true. Everything we taught in that lesson, even if they had a couple concerns momentarily about doctrine, they accepted. It was such a powerful lesson. The next lesson we followed up with the Book of Mormon reading. Diyana had read basically all of 3rd Nephi and that's when she asked us for 10 copies that she could give out haha. We're so excited to continue to teach them! The best day of this transfer was the last. Yesterday, Andre, Diyana, and Manoj all came to church! We've been working so hard to get our investigators at church, and finally they came! It was the perfect sunday too becaues it was ward conference and the bishop taught the class for the investigators (he's a former missionary and stud) and the stake president sat in. They all loved it. Andre especially. He said that almost all the questions that he had been asking himself his whole life were answered in those 3 hours. That's a pretty powerful testimony to me of the importance of getting investigators to church. When they come, they find their own answers to their questions and receive personal revelation. And when they receive personal revelation, they can know that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Church of Christ has been restored on the earth. As missionaries, we desire the salvation of every person we teach (Mosiah 28:3), and as Joseph Smith said, "Salvation cannot come without Revelation." I'm so excited for these investigators. They all have received personal revelation which is essential to their testimony, and eventually, their salvation! I'm so thankful that the Lord has blessed them with that revelation. Really, as missionaries, we hardly do anything. All we have to do is create an environment for our investigators to feel the Spirit and receive personal revelation, and the Spirit does the rest. Without the Spirit, we would be nothing! It's been a long transfer, but I'm as happy as ever. Happiness doesn't lie in our numbers, but our dedication to the work. I'm so happy that we're starting to see some more fruits of our labors. I'm glad we kept working hard and being patient through those hard weeks. I'm glad we kept our confidence in the promises of the Lord. We doubted at times, but we kept working, and that's how we show our faith. "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." (Romans 4:20-21) I know that this is the Lord's work and that we are only instruments in his hands. I am so thankful to play some small role in His work! I love you all and thank you for all your support. Talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Tudor

March 7, 2011

2011-03-12T06:25:00.001-08:00

Bonjour! We started this week with so much hope in our new found investigators, but unfortunately, at the end of the week we don't have a lot of good news about them. Sorry if you all got your hopes up last week haha, so did I. Our two golden investigators, Nicolas and Sebastian, kind of disappeared. Nicolas left us a message a few days ago saying he had to go to the hospital and he hasn't answered his phone since then or called us back. So we'll see what happens there. We hope he's doing alright! And then there's Sebastian. We called Sebastian Tuesday night to see how his reading in the Book of Mormon and his prayers were going. He said he had read quite a bit and loved it. So we asked him if he prayed. He had. And then he said, "I heard the voice of God tell me directly, 'these things are true'." - That's definitely the best response to a follow up that I've ever had! We were pretty blown away by that. And then he told us he was excited for our next rdv and had a lot of questions. I had a lot of faith in the promise found in Moroni 10 before, but that is just incredible! We were super stoked for our next rdv with him obviously. So finally the rdv came and we were there (the bishop was with us too - he's a stud!), but Sebastian was a no-show, even though he confirmed the rdv with us the day before. We called him but he never answered. After about half an hour of waiting for him we finally left. We've tried calling back since then but he never answers. We're still hoping that we'll be able to contact him in the future, but usually when investigators do that it's not too hopeful.

We also found some other good new investigators this week, Diyana and Menige who are from Srilanka. They're sweet! But the work still isn't moving along too quick. Just when we were on the verge of seeing some things happen, everything just vanished! And these were some of the most, if not the most, promising investigators I've seen so far on my mission! I don't have a whole lot of time left, but I do want to say that I'm not being pesimistic about what's happening. It might sound like it from my emails haha, sorry. But I know that Elder Park and I are doing good work here and that whatever is happening is happening for a reason. I'm starting to be a lot more thaknful for this trial that hte Lord has given us. We want to see success and see people come unto Christ, and I'm sure the Lord would love for us to have a bunch of success and would want hte work to just explode here too, but those are my thoughts. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." (Isaiah 55:8) I know that Heavenly Father loves us and that everything that we encounter in life is for our benefit. I know that He knows us perfectly and that he knows our full potential and wants us to reach it. He would never give us anything in life that wouldn't help us get there! I love you all, til next week!

Love,
Elder Tudor

February 28, 2011

2011-03-04T23:58:00.000-08:00

Allo, well, this week was almost the same as last week - up until yesterday. We're still toughing it out and searching God's elect, and finally, we have found some! Yesterday, we had two awesome rendez-vous and found two new awesome investigators. The first one is named Sebastian, and he has totally been prepared. He met with the missionaries in Switzerland many years ago (he's about 40 now), but his friend told him to stop and even made him throw away his Book of Mormon. The other day he saw us in the road while we were contacting and he came up and contacted us. As a missionary here in France, you've gotta love that! He said he wanted a Book of Mormon. So yesterday we saw him and had a sweet lesson out on the big walkway right by the ocean. He accepted it all and told us that it was perfectly logical that there would be a prophet today and other books of scripture, despite the fact that he is very Catholic (and Protestant - long story), and he told us he believes that it was Satan who moved him away from the missionaries when he first met them in Switzerland. He's super sincere and understands everything so well. We won't be able to see him again until friday, but I'm stoked!

The other new investigator is named Nicolas. He's 39 years old, French, very believing, and has a Catholic background. We met him Saturday night in the road. It was a strange contact haha. When I went up and introduced myself to him he was in the middle of singing a Bob Marley song, and he didn't respond to me until he had finished the song about 5 seconds later. It was super funny and random. But we started talking and he said he had some time so we found a bench and sat down for a minute. He then explained to us that his apartment in Cagnes Sur Mer (close to Nice) just burned down along with all his belongings, and right now he's living with a friend in Cannes until he works everything out. Pretty crazy! He also told us that earlier that day he had been asking God to give him the wisdom to know what to do right now in this point of his life. So, we left him with a pamphelet about the restoration and we saw him Sunday. We had an awesome first lesson with him. He had read the pamphlete two times already understood everything we talked about. He just kept getting cooler as the rendez-vous went on. He went on to tell us how the other night, he was on his way back home (his friend's house) when he met us. Ususally he takes a totally different route to go back home, but this one time he decided to take the road where we met him, and he has no idea why. He told us that there is without a doubt a reason why we met. He was so sincere with us and basically told us his life story. When he was about 20, two missionaries came to his door. His parents were gone and he was home alone, so he decided to let them in and listen to their message. He had almost totally forgot about it because he moved away after that and it's been years now. It's pretty amazing how the Lord prepares people, and I know that that experience helped him open up so much to us. The Spirit was so strong during all of what he was saying. We shared a few verses in the Book of Mormon that really applied to what he was explaining to us. It was one of the best first lessons I've ever had. It was just like a conversation, but the Spirit was there and eternal truths were being taught. At the end, he committed to read, pray, and be baptized the 26th of March! We're going to see him Tuesday and I'm so stoked to see what happens with him this week. I really hope these two guys continue to be as amazing as they were for the first visit! Elder Park and I are praying and hoping that they will be, and most of all, that they will continue to come closer to Christ and receive His restored Gospel.

So there you go, things are picking up here! This week (or yesterday, at least) was a big breath of fresh air. We've been pushing a long, having the faith that the Lord is preparing people around us, and now we're starting to meet some! We've gotta keep working hard and don't let up one bit so that the Lord will continue to place His elect in our path. Yesterday was stake conference in Nice. It was great to see the ward there again, and I got to talk with Marcelline! She knew I would be there, so she brought me a present haha. She got me a sweet t-shirt from Madagascar that has "Madagascar" and this crazy looking face thing on the front. It was super sweet! Her son, Livio, will be baptized this Saturday if all goes according to plan. I saw Jean Marie too (the one I taught who got baptized last week), and I think he's going to be a stake president someday. Edvin wasn't there, but I'm going to write him soon and see what's up.

I'm loving Cannes. The work is harder than at Nice, but we're in the process of finding new ways to do it. We really want to involve the ward in the missionary work here, because right now it's a little lacking. So we're gonna do some work there and we hope to see some fruits from it. Elder Park is awesome and we're a lot alike. We're becoming best buds. It's great! I hope we can stay together another transfer.

Well, gotta go, but have a great week! And remember that the Lord always keeps His promises. Sometimes we have the tendency to give up hope and become impatient - but where is the Faith in that? I'm so thankful for the blessings that the Lord has given us this last week and I know we owe it all to Him. The longer I'm here, the more I realize how much "I am nothing... but in (the Lord's) strength I can do all things." (Alma 26:12) I know that the Lord's hand is what is moving this work along, and that we can see His hand in our lives everywhere we look. I know that God is our Father in Heaven, and that He loves us. And not only that, but He loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins so that we might have joy. We should be so thankful to know this, and we should thank our Heavenly Father every day for all that he does for us! I love you all, bonne semaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

February 21, 2011

2011-02-24T15:49:00.000-08:00

Hello! It was a pretty long week! It poured rain for four days straight and when most of our rendez-vous cancelled on us, we were stuck out in it with no one to contact because no one wanted to be out in the rain, and all the people that were outside didn't want to stop to talk to us. It was quite a challenge! Elder Park and I are working super hard, but not seeing a whole lot. This Friday we had zone conference and the President interviewed all the missionaries. I was so thankful for that interview. We basically just talked about our work here in Cannes and he really helped me out. He's an amazing man! He knows we're working hard, especially in finding new investigators, and is happy with our work. He told me that starting a new area like we did is kind of like starting a car - you've always gotta start in first gear! It's the slowest, but it takes the most power. He promised us lots of blessings during my interview that would come if we continued working as hard as we can. So of course, we're going to! (He also told Elder Park and I that we're the best looking companioship in the mission haha - so random. So I guess if all else fails, we've got that! Haha just kidding) Yesterday and this morning we stopped and looked back at the last few weeks and looked at what we had done well and what we can improve on. We know we're working our butts off and doing our best, but it's true that our best can always improve! So we've set some new goals and actions to achieve them that we hope will help the work start moving along a little faster.

In other news, a sweet guy that I taught my last week in Nice named Jean Marie got baptized this week! I was there when he committed to be baptized. And guess what? Marcelline's son Livio wil be baptized before the end of the transfer if all goes according to plan. This week is Stake Conference in Nice so I'll be able to see the ward there again which is pretty awesome. I love the ward here in Cannes though. The bishop is the man and I love the members. This week there was an older couple from Holland who attended at our ward. They spoke no French, but they spoke pretty good English, and they asked me to translate for them during Sacrament meeting. That was my first time translating for someone, it was pretty intense!

We're working with a less active member right now and trying to get him to church. We saw him this week but we didn't go in his house because he preferred to go to the park and talk. Later, we found out that in his (not very big) apartment lives at least 8 people (adults), 6 dogs, 9 cats, 8 hamsters, and pigeons that come and go. Ah! I think we'll stick with the park. We're also working with another less active named Ricardo (he's about 28) who is super sweet. He's from Cape Verde and hasn't been to church for over a year and a half now. He used to be the young men's teacher and was really active. He was baptized about 5 years ago. When I was on exchange here in Cannes a couple months ago I contacted him, but the missionaries here never got a hold of him after I had taken his number. But last week I found him again in the road! I think I'm a Ricardo magnet. Apparently he got a new phone and he gave us his new number. We have seen him a couple times, and he came to church this Sunday!! He's a super sweet guy and I'm so glad we found him again because all the members love him and he got so much support when he came to church this Sunday. I'm excited for him to keep progressing and become fully active again! Inactivity is a pretty big problem here, and all around the world for that matter. between 80 and 100 people come to the ward in Cannes every Sunday and there are at least 300 members here. Attendance was about the same in Nice, but there are close to 500 members there. It's really sad! There's obviously a lot of work to do with less actives.

Well I'll leave you for this week and I hope to have more good news next week! I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Redeemer of the whole world. My testimony of that grows every day that I am here. And I know that this is His church on the earth! I also know that God still speaks to us today through his prophets, and being out here on a mission, I realize just how important prophets are! I can't express how thankful I am that I have the opportunity to testify of the Christ, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, - all the things that I know to be true - every day! I pray that people are touched by the Spirit of the Lord while I testify of these things to them so that they may come unto Christ and receive the Restored Gospel. I love you all, and thank you for all of your support! Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Tudor

February 14, 2011

2011-02-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

Some pics of the members of Nice

As you can see, they love me enough to kiss me!

Me and Elder Park

Allo! Wow, it was quite a week. Probably the longest and hardest week of my mission so far. We had so many lessons set up and ready to go for every day of the week, but out of the whole week we were only able to see a few of them. Either they didn't show up or canceled on us a few minutes before. So, we ended up doing a lot of walking like last week. There's really only one big good street to do contacting in Cannes - Boulevard Carnot. We basically destroyed that street this week, and it destroyed us too haha. But we were able to contact some good people.

We're still teaching Kenneth and Rowenna, and their friends Jenny and Armand (the Philippinos). They're sweet! We're going to see them tomorrow with a member who is from the Philippines. They're really our only steady investigators that we have right now. They said they would be baptized when they received an answer about the Book of Mormon. We're giong to try and set a date this week.

It's been pretty tough doing everything we can to have rendez-vous and then having almost all of them fall through. We set up appointments, call and confirm the appointments, then they're not there! It's been a trial of our faith and patience, but we're doing everything we can to get the work started up here. I know that eventually we will see people and we will have more good investigators, it all just depends on the Lord's will and timing! I don't have a lot of time this week cuz I'm gonna send some pics. Bonne semaine à tous! Je vous aime!

Love,
Elder Tudor

February 7, 2011

2011-02-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

Bonjour à tous! It was quite a week! Probably the hardest week I've had so far in my mission, but I feel like we worked super hard and I'm happy with what we were able to do. When I got here, they had to split Cannes into two areas (it was one before), and most of the investigators were in the other Elders' area, and we were left with 3, 2 of which are on vacation right now, and the other one is leaving this week. So, needless to say, we spent a lot of time finding new investigators. There are a LOT of old people here, but luckily there are plenty of people from every age as well (the old people are either atheist, strong Catholics, or both - yes, apparently it's possible). We walked probably a good 10 kilometers a day because Cannes is small enough that there's not much of a public transportation system, but it's just big enough to kill you on foot if you're walking all day. After a week of doing that, we're exhausted! But we're happy with the work we've done. We were able to set up tons of rendez-vous and find 6 new investigators. We found a beautiful little Philippono family too! We found a lot of Philippinos, for that matter. They're all in Cannes! It's crazy. I'm really excited for this week and to continue to find new investigators and teach.

One of our investigators that we already had when I had arrived is a Chinese girl named Ling. Right now she is on vacation and in 10 days she is going to return for 10 days, and then she is giong back to China. We talked with her on the phone yesterday, and she told us she wants to be baptized! The thing is, she has only been taught a few times and we'll only have 10 days to teach her everything that's left and do the baptism. That would be insane! We're praying for her and that we'll be able to do it before she leaves. We weren't sure if we wanted to at first because the Church isn't really in China (or so we thought), but we talked with our zone leader who is from Taiwan and teaches chinese students all the time in Aix, and he said she'd have no problem continuing in the church in china. So we're going to try for it! We might have to teach her through Skype while she is on vacation. We'll see what happens.

I love Cannes so far! It's been a rough week, just trying to build a base to work with, but we worked super hard and I'm excited to keep going. Elder Park is awesome and we get along great. We played basketball this Saturday with the youth, and I'd just pass it down low to him every time and he'd clean up (he's about 6'5"). The French couldn't stop it haha. Basketball isn't their strongest sport! We're playing soccer next week, so I guess I'll know what they felt like :). But anyways, I think the theme for this week was patience. Elder Park and I learned a lot of it this week! Contacting can be fun and it's important, but after awhile it can drive you crazy. As missionaries we want to teach! But we had to find investigators, so we contacted for hours each day. Sometimes we went for hours when no one was interested, and I felt like just giving it up. But, since there wasn't really anything else we had to do, we kept going and believing that someone in our path would have been prepared by the Lord. One day we went the whole morning, and the few hours after lunch with NO ONE being interested, and none of the passbacks (to give us a place to go, we would pass by teh houses of former investigators) were home. We were starting to get frustrated, but fortunately, we had read together parts of the talk by President Uchtdorf entitled "Continue in Patience" that morning. One of the points that he makes is that patience isn't merely waiting, but it is actively waiting, despite your circumstances. It would've been easy to take a little break after those dreadful few hours, but instead we decided to keep moving forward with faith and patience, hoping for the blessings to come. We still didn't have success for almost an hour, but then there was a good half hour where we found 5 or so people who were genuinely interested (including the Philippino family)! I love these words of President Uchtdorf, "My dear brethren, the work of patience boils down to this: keep the commandments; trust in God, our Heavenly Father; serve Him with meekness and Christlike love; exercise faith and hope in the Savior; and never give up." Many of us are doing all those things, but still don't see the blessings. Elder Park and I were being obedient, having faith and hope, serving the Lord, never giving up, and trusting in His promised blessings, but we still weren't seeing the blessings right when we wanted them. We eventually were blessed, but it took time! We never know when we're going to be blessed by the Lord or delivered from our trials, but we can know that we WILL be as long as were are doing all those thing that President Uchtdorf has instructed us. I know that the Lord keeps his promises, and that even when we don't see His blessings immediately in our lives, we can know that the Lord is aware of our situation and that He "...will not always reward you immediately according to your desires. Rather, God will respond with what in His eternal plan is best for you, when it will yield the greatest advantage." - Elder Richard G. Scott. I know that this is true, and that as we are patient (and not just bitterly waiting), the Lord will eventually bless us! Je vous aime tous et je vous souhaite une bonne semaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 31, 2011

2011-02-03T20:07:00.000-08:00

Allo! Wow, lots of news this week! First of all, at this moment I am in... CANNES! I got here about half an hour ago. We got transfer calls on Friday and the President informed me that I would become senior companion and serve with Elder Park at Cannes. Wooh! It only took a 20 minute train ride to get here this morning haha. I didn't move very far! But I'm so excited. Before, there was one companionship in Cannes, but now there are two. Elder Park and I are going to work in Cannes and the smaller surrounding areas, and the other companionship will have a car and work in St. Raphael, Antibes, Grasse, etc. Before it was one giant area. I was pretty nervous when the president called, because that usually means you have a new responsibility if he calls you himself. I was a little nervous at first, and still am, but I'm excited for the opportunity to be senior companion! It should be an interesting transfer, because we're basically opening a new area. Before, they had a car, but now the other companionship has it, and there aren't really any buses here. So it looks like we'll be walking a lot! So, about Elder Park. He's a transfer younger than me and is from Tremonton, Utah, and is super tall! He's such an awesome guy though and a great missionary. I'm so excited to serve with him! I've done exchanges with him in the past (because Cannes is in the Nice district) so we already know eachother. The other Elders in our apartment will be Elder Brown (one transfer older than me, Elder Park's former companion) and Elder Garland (From England, in his second transfer). It's going to be a young apartment! I'm really excited for this next transfer and I'm ready to work hard.

It was weird leaving Nice, since it was my first ville. This morning, Elder Dorton and I woke up at 5 and ran all the way from our apartment to the ocean and jsut walked around on the Promenade des Anglais. It's so beautiful! I guess it was our goodbye to nice. And oh yeah, Elder Dorton is going to Nimes! And Elder Call and Elder Graham are staying at Nice and receiving new companions. This will be the first time in my mission that I'm not with Elder Dorton. Weird! And sad. He's super tight and I'll miss him! It was sad saying goodbye to teh ward yesterday at church. I love them! Marcelline was super sad that I was leaving too. But I guess that's the life of a missionary. Elder Dorton and I spent a half hour after church taking pictures with all the members and our investigators. I'll miss them! But I'm so stoked for this next part of my mission.

So here's some other BIG news. Starting July 1, 2011, I will no longer be a missionary in the France Toulouse Mission, but I will be in the France Lyon Mission! What?? So what's happening is that they're combining the Geneva, Switzerland mission and the Toulouse mission into one massive mission. So the mission home will be moved to Lyon, and instead of getting a "new" mission president, our mission president will be President Murdock who is currently the mission president in Geneva. He'll have a year left as president when the Lyon mission starts, so he'll die a few weeks before I do. That's sweet because I'll have had two mission presidents who already had two years of experience. I'll give you more information as I find out more about the Lyon mission. Pretty crazy!

This week we found a SWEET new investigator named Jean-Marie. He's a Christian guy from Cameroon. We taught him one time this week and it was in a big shopping center (he's moving so we couldn't go to his house). This guy is one of God's elect. During the lesson, I started talking about how Jesus showed us the example by being baptized, and then he asked me, "So, what do I need to do to get baptized?" He reminded me of Edvin. He explained to us how he has been searching a long time to find truth, and that he hopes and belives that he has now found it. After we told the first vision, he committed to be baptized the 19th of Februrary! Too bad I won't be able to continue teaching him, but I'm so excited to hear about him, because I've never had a first lesson as powerful as that one, even though we were in the middle of a mall! That experience increased my faith so much that there are people prepared by the Lord, and that the Lord will place them in our path as long as we are being obedient and working hard.

Cannes is pretty different from Nice. In Nice, you can go anywhere and contact a million people, but Cannes isn't super big and there's not a whole lot of people just walking around. It will be interesting to work here and figure out how to work in a smaller ville. I'm sure it will be challenging, but I feel like I'm going to grow a lot here. Especially since it's my first time as senior companion. But I know that this is the Lord's work and that this is where I'm supposed to be, and that the Lord qualifies those that he chooses. I know that as I rely on him, and not my own strength, that I can do all things! I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to be with Elder Park in Cannes and to serve the Lord. I love you all! Bonne semaine a tous!

Love,

Elder Tudor

January 24, 2011

2011-01-25T06:15:00.000-08:00

Bapteme!

Wow, I can't believe I'm already at the end of another transfer. Next time I write, I could be in another ville! We'll see what happens. But what an awesome week! Marcelline was baptized, and although the baptism was a near disaster, it ended up being a beautiful event! Elder Graham and I had a rendez-vous before the baptism, so we arrived about 20 minutes before it was about to start, and there were only a few members there, and Marcelline wasn't there yet. That made me pretty nervous, but I figured she would show up soon and I went and changed into my baptismal clothes. Then while I was changing, I was informed that they were about to do construction on teh baptismal font, and they had cut all the hot water lines, so all the water in the building was as cold as ice. Then I went to the font to see how cold it was, and there was NO water in it!! The person in charge of filling it up hadn't even started yet, and at this point, the baptismal service was supposed to start in 10 minutes (it takes a good 45 minutes to fill up). So we started filling it up with the ice cold water, praying that it would be full enough before the baptism. Then we were afraid that it would be too cold for Marcelline, so we put two giant multigallon pots full of water on the stove in the kitchen and started boiling them (that comes into play later). So the font was filling up and Marcelline had arrived finally (about 10 minutes after we were suppsoed to start haha, but that's ok because all the members were late too). So at this point we were late, and the font wasn't full, but at least the baptism looked like it was going to happen after all. The baptismal font in this chapel can be accessed from the changing rooms behind the font (for the person baptizing and the person being baptized) but there is a cover that hides it from the actual room where everyone stands to watch the baptism. So, I went to press the button that electronically lifts up this cover - and it didn't work. We tried lifting it up by hand, but that didn't work either. So now we had a font with freezing cold water that could be seen by no one because the cover was broken. You could say I was a little stressed out at this point! But Elder Dorton, Sister Enyegue, and I said a prayer just pleading that everythign would work out somehow. The baptismal service was about to start at this point, so I went in and sat with Marcelline so the service could start while the other missionaries and a few ward members tried to figure out how to open that cover. I was praying so hard during the beginning of that service that they would be able to do it haha. I was just imagining us all walking in there for the baptism and no one would even be able to see the font! So the service started, and we heard two great talks about baptism and the Holy Ghost, then it was time. At this point I realized that I hadn't even asked Marcelline for her full name yet (because I have to say it during the baptismal prayer), but I asked her and luckily she only has one middle name. I was worried she would have 5 crazy Madagascian (?) middle names that I would never be able to pronounce or memorize haha. We walked into the baptismal room, and our prayers had been answered! Somehow they had opened the font cover! My next worry was the water temperature. The other Elders took those two giant pots of boiling water and poured them in the font right before we got in to make it a little warmer. But that water was still as cold as a mountain lake!!! I got in and tried not to show on my face how cold it was. Marcelline got knee deep, stopped, and started saying "Oooh la! c'est froid!" I wouldn't have blamed her for running out of that font at that piont, because it was seriously cold! But then she stepped forward again and got in with me. We were both shaking haha. I started the ordinance as fast as I could so she could get out of the freezing water. It was so cold I couldn't even think! But as soon as I started saying the prayer, everything went calm, and the cold didn't bother me anymore. Maybe my voice was still trembling from the cold haha, but I didn't notice. The baptism was well done the first time, so we didn't have to re-do it, thankfully! We then changed and finished the service. Marcelline gave a short, and super sweet testimony right before the closing prayer. It was a beautiful baptsim! And I know Heavenly Father was looking out for us there, because so many things were going wrong! But Elder Call told me after that "it's not a baptism if nothing goes wrong" haha. It was amazing to see the joy in Marcelline's face after her baptism. She never complained once about the cold water either. She's a soldier! I'm so excited for her. She has made so many friends at the church and has really been able to restart. What an honor and joy it is to see the Gospel change peoples' lives. Elder Call gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day and she was confirmed a member of the church. The last part for her now is what we are all trying to do, which is to Endure to the End! I know she has taken her covenant seriously and that she can do it. I can't wait to see her progress in the Gospel and help those around her endure to the end as well. Baptism is the gate by which we enter and only the beginning! Let's all remember that and strive to keep our covenants that we have made with the Lord by taking upon us His name and keeping his commandments so that we can attain eternal life. Well I'm out of time, but have a great week everyone! I love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 11, 2011

2011-01-19T22:31:00.001-08:00

Well it was another eventful week in Nice. I had a pretty cool moment this week. While we were working, I realized, "Hey, I can understand all these people!" I can't believe it! I remember my first few days in France, and I was just lost, but now I can understand basically everything and say everything that I want to say in French. It's pretty incredible to look back at the difference between now and when I arrived, and a testimony to me that the gift of tongues for missionaries is VERY real! I'm stoked to keep learning and improving the language! This week we worked a lot with Edvin, our recent convert. He had a lot of opposition right after his baptism from his uncle from Germany who is a strict Catholic, and he basically convinced Edvin we were a cult. But with help from members, and assuredly his own testimony of the Book of Mormon, he has been able to overcome this opposition and is doing great now. When he first told us about what his uncle said, he was totally freaked out and didn't even want to come to church anymore. I was completely distraught, since I had been with him through his whole conversion and I know how strong he really is. While he was saying all these things that his uncle said, I looked him right in the eyes and told him "you know that the Book of Mormon is true, and you can't deny that." I don't think I've ever been so bold in my life, and it was definitely a prompting of the Spirit to say that. Since then he has overcome the opposition from his family. Edvin has such a strong testimony, and I think he just needed a little reminding. The lord gives us trials or doubts so that we become stronger. Every time he bears his testimony I feel the Spirit so strong, and it's truly amazing to see a recent convert with such a testimony. He's doing great now and will be coming to church this week! He wants to meet with the Bishop about going on a mission too! Marcelline will be baptized this Saturday! (the 22nd) She chose me to baptize her. That will be the first time for me! I'm soo happy for her, and it's been amazing to see the changes in her since we met with her the first time. I can tell that the Spirit is more abundant in her life and she simply just seems happier! She has such a hard life being a single mom with two little kids, but has found so many friends and support at church, and most importantly the support of the Savior as she has made decisions to come closer to Him. I'm so lucky to get to see so many miracles and to help people come closer to Christ every day. I love the Lord, his work, and I know that what I am doing right now is the most important work in the world! Sorry it was short this week. Have a great week everyone! Love you!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 10, 2011

2011-01-13T01:35:00.000-08:00

Bonjour ma famille!
Ca-va? It was quite a week here in Nice. It's been raining for about three weeks straight now, but at least it's not that cold. We did see a little sunshine today and yesterday though! We had a super awesome week. The week before we didn't have a whole lot of lessons, so we had to do a lot of contacting, which isn't bad, but I'd rather be teaching people! But this week we were running all over the place to lessons and it was great. We found a lot of new investigators who are super sweet and I'm really excited for these last few weeks of the transfer.
One of these new investigators is a pretty cool story. When we don't have rendez-vous, a lot of time we'll pass by old investigators just so we'll have a sense of direction while we contact people on the way. Pass backs almost never work (at least as far as I've seen so far), but a couple weeks ago we just randomly picked a guy named James who was in our area book. He hadn't seen the missionaries for over 6 months. We passed by his apartment, and he was there and he let us in. We just talked for a few minutes and set a rendez-vous for the next week. He dind't seem super interested, but took the rendez-vous anyways. We invited him to the new years activity but he didn't show up. So the next week (this week) we met with him. We sat down, said a prayer, then right when we finished praying he started explaining to us that since New Year's, he's been thinking about resolutions and things, and he decided he wants to quit drinking, smoking, and be baptized, becaues that would be the best thing for him right now. The expression on my face was probably just like "yep, it sure is!!!" Haha we were totally caught off guard with that one. The Spirit was so strong, and I felt to testify of Christ and that through His Atonement, and ONLY through his Atonement, he would be able to reach his goal and be fully healed in the process. This next week we're going to work out a plan for him to quit smoking and drinking and fix a baptismal date!
Needless to say, that boosted our spirits, and the rest of the week was a lot like that! We see so many miracles every day here. The story about James testifies to me that the Lord is at the head of this work and htat he leads His servants to those He has prepared. It is obvious that the Spirit of the Lord had been influencing James to make those kinds of commitments to draw closer to our Heavenly Father, and I'm so thankful that the Lord trusted us enough to lead us to him to help him find the peace that comes from the Gospel.
I wouldn't trade anything for my mission. I love taking a moment just to reflect every once in awhile on what we are doing here, and every time I do, my testimony is strengthened that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and it's spreading throughout the world is the most important work in the world. I love it here and I'm so happy! True, it is hard, but I love the picture of Christ with the quote underneath that says "I never said it would be easy, I just said it would be worth it." And I can testify to you that it is! Anything we do to bring ourselves and others closer to Christ IS worth it! Even if at times it may seem like we sacrifice too much to bring ourselves closer to Christ and align our lives more with His will, it is NEVER too much. Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice so that in turn he could give us the ultimate gift if we only accept His will and sacrifice those things that keep us from following His commandments. "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?... And Jesus said unto them... And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matt. 19:27-29) I know that this is true, and that when we make sacrifices for the Lord to follow His commandments, we receive blessings that only He is capable of giving us, and I know that these blessings are more precious than anything else in this world! Bonne semaine a tous, et que Dieu soit avec vous! Je vous aime!

Love,
Elder Tudor

January 3, 2011

2011-01-06T00:22:00.000-08:00

Bonne Année! (Happy New Year)

Happy New Year everyone! New Year's was great here in Nice. I guess in France, New Year's Eve is the holiday of Saint Sylvestre, and we live right on the corner of Place Saint Sylvestre in Nice, so there were thousands of people outside our window partying. It was crazy! I woke up at midnight thinking I was in a warzone with all the fireworks going off right next to our apartment, but no, it was the opposite of a warzone, it was thousands of drunk french people lighting off fireworks on new years eve and yelling "Bonne Année!" I couldn't help but join in on some of the fun and jump on Elder Call while he was still asleep yelling happy new year (even though he told me before we went to bed that if I did he would kill me).
The work was kind of slow during the holiday because there are so many tourists here and our investigators are on holiday. I wish I could speak Italian! We weren't able to have a lot of lessons this week, so we did a lot of contacting. But our investigators are doing well. Marcelline is still preparing for the 15th. She came with us to the "Raclette" activity at the church New Year's Eve. Raclettes are a European tradition. You take Raclette cheese (which you can only get around here) and melt it in this little machine, then you poor it over a boiled potatoe with meat on it, and it's amazing! We also ate at a member's house on Sunday. Her name is Dawna and she's from England, and she lives in Francheville (probably one of teh most beautiful places I've ever been, it reminded me of Positano). She made us "death by chocolate" which included chocolate crepes, chocolate fondants, chocolate mousse, and chocolate ice cream. And yes, I did die. But I can tell you that here chocolate fondant is the best desert I've ever tasted! And after I died from that, we had another eating appointment with a member. Death!
We taught a lesson after that, and I was trying not to throw up the whole time. I'm starting to realize how important the members are in missionary work. Ideally, it should be the members who find all of the investigators, and the missionaries who teach them with the members. When a member invites a friend to be taught by the missionaries, that investigator already has a friend in the church, and that is probably the hardest part for a new convert - having a friend after the missionaries leave! There have been a lot of baptisms in Nice this year, but there are hardly any converts who are still active. What's the point of baptizing people if they don't rest active and endure to the end? As members, we all have a responsibility to befriend members, less actives, and nonmembers and to be concerned for the welfare of their souls. Elder Graham and I want to really start focusing on involving the members as much as we can, and I know we're going to see miracles because of it! I encourage all of you to invite people to hear about the church, or if you know someone who is less active, to invite them to come back to church. It is YOU, the members, who have the biggest impact when you invite people. I wish I had a bigger testimony of that before I came on a mission, and now that I'm here I realize that I had a responsibility for the people around me even before I was a missionary. So wherever you are, and yes, even in Utah, you can always find opportunities to invite people to come unto Christ, and I know that as you do, you'll see so many blessings in your life! The First Presidency says in "Preach My Gospel" that missionary work is the most important work in the world, and the work that brings the most satisfaction! As a missionary, I testify that that is true! Have a good week everyone! I love you!

-Elder Tudor

What cute little missionaries!

Dawna's house

View from Dawna's House

Notre Dame de la Gare

Elder Tudor with Elder Kirkpatrick

Views of Marseille

Chateau D'if

shhhshhing baby

Best kabob in Marseille

Elder Tudor and Elder Dorton with lettuce?

December 27, 2010

2010-12-29T20:45:00.000-08:00

Bonne Fette!

Joyeux Noel, tout le monde! I hope you all had a great Christmas this year and were able to feel the love of the Savior even more abundantly during this season. So.. my first Christmas in France!

It was strange not being home or around my family for Christmas, but everything that wasn't there for Christmas this year was filled by enormous amounts of FOOD! We ate at members houses multiple times, and they cook to feed armies when they have the missionaries over. It's ridiculous! I probably gained a few pounds this weekend, but it's ok because I think I've lost a good twelve pounds since I've been out here (yes, despite all the French pastries). In France, they eat seafood mostly for Christmas. I thought it was kind of strange, but I wasn't complaining! On Christmas Eve we ate with the Pleitain family with our investigator Marcelline. It was really sweet, especially since Marcelline probably would have done nothing for Christmas Eve if we hadn't invited her. Christmas day, we ate at the Aslan's with a whole bunch of members and also stayed to play games. We played white elephant (but in French they call it a Chinese Auction) and I ended up with a showerhead that has built-in LED lights that light up the water as it comes out, and it changes colors with the temperature of the water. I was pretty stoked, and we've already installed it in our shower haha.

We ate at with the Giacomin family Sunday and the dad is a chef for the Bishop's restaurant, so needless to say, it was amazing! This year it was a lot easier for me to not get caught up in the worldly part of Christmas. Christmas is to celebrate and remember the greatest gift that was ever given to the world, which is our Savior Jesus Christ. And as we remember Jesus Christ, we think of his infinite love and charity for every single person he came in contact with. I had the opportunity to go around with Elder Call and give cookies that we made to homeless people on the street. I remarked something that was interesting, in that there were many who acted very grateful for our gift, and others that didn't want anything from us and even got mad at us for offering. We often talk about how giving is the best part of Christmas, and not receiving, but how can others give to us if we don't accept their gift? Receiving is just as important! I think that often times we are too prideful to accept the service or gifts that others offer us. Being a missionary, I see that a lot! We share the message of Christ and Eternal Life, which is the greatest gift of all, and we get rejected day after day. I guess the little message I'm trying to get across is that not only do we need to be charitable, but we need to be grateful and accepting of the charity people offer us! Christ has paid the ultimate price for our sins and has offered us the greatest gift in the world, but there are always two parts of a gift exchange: giving and receiving. Let's show our gratitude for Christ by accepting Him, and living the principles He has taught us every day of our lives, so that we can RECEIVE the gift that he gives us, and let's also be more grateful for others and their charity towards us by letting down our pride and letting others give their service and charity to us, especially during this Christmas season. I promise that as we do this, we'll feel the Spirit more abundantly in our lives adn we'll have a greater desire to exercise our own charity. I love you! Bonne semaine! Que Dieu soit avec vous!

Love,

Elder Tudor

December 21, 2010

2010-12-22T08:51:00.000-08:00

Zone Christmas Party

Joyeux Noel!
Bonjour tout le monde! Transfer calls were Friday..... and I'm staying in Nice! I'm glad because I already know the ward here and I can have a good Christmas with the members. I'm excited! Also, I received a new companion: Elder Graham from Spanish Fork. He was serving in Pau before he came here. He's pretty old in the mission and only has a few transfers left. I'm super happy to be companions with him! I've only been with him one day now, but I can tell he's going to be an awesome companion,and he's just a super nice guy. And the rest of the apartment is still the same, with Elders Dorton and Call staying here. This weekend we've got all kinds of invitations to eat with the members and celebrate Christmas. I'm excited to eat plenty of Buche de Noel. This past week was a good week. We didn't really have a lot of success as far as numbers ago, but we felt like we worked hard and at the end of the week. Saturday night we went (us and the other companionship) Christmas caroling for our investigators and less actives. We sang, gave them sugar cookies that we made,and gave them a Joy to the World DVD. It was super fun! We visited one of our old investigators, Nelito, who was going to be baptized last month, but then he said he didn'thave time. He was super happy to see us, and he even came to church the next day and we're going to see him this week! A little singing and gift giving goes a long way in missionary work apparently haha. But that was a huge blessing, and I'm so excited for him to continue and progress. I spent all of Monday in Marseilles waiting for Elder Graham to arrive on the train. I was with three other Elders, and we went and saw Notre Dame de la Gare, and ate "the best" kebab in Marseilles. Then I met up with Elder Graham at the train station and we got to Nice around 7 p.m. We had a rendez-vous right then. I felt bad for Elder Graham because we went right to a rdv and he was probably exhausted from starving all day, but he's a soldier. I love working with him! Right now I have some more responsibility because I know the area andour investigators,and he doesn't. I'm pretty excited to be able to do more of the work than I was doing and have more responsibility. Well I gotta go, but I love you all! Merry Christmas! During Christmas, remember the greatest gift that was ever given, which was the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ for us all. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died for us all, and most importantly, that He lives! Let us think often of him this week and strive to have the pure love of Christ with us always and look to help and support others as He did. Remember, "Every good gift cometh of Christ" Moroni 10:18. Bonne fetes!

Love,
Elder Tudor

Pictures...

2010-12-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Planting trees in Aix-en-Provence

Dressed up as a mannequin at a Halloween party

Visiting Marcelline and baby Nova

Edvin's Baptism

Monaco

Monaco bling diamond flash drive

Some sort of deliciousness

Missionaries of Nice

December 13, 2010

2010-12-13T20:47:00.001-08:00

Edvin's Baptism
Bonjour à tous!
This Saturday, I had the sacred opportunity to attend Edvin's baptism. It was incredible! It was my first time seeing a baptism on my mission. The service was amazing and the Spirit was so strong. So many members showed up to support him, and his mom, brother, and one of his friends came too! We started by singing Joy to The World (he loves Christmas Hymns haha), then we heard a couple talks from members about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Then Elder Blosil performed the baptism, and another member and I were the witnesses. After that, Edvin told us he wanted to take the opportunity to share his testimony. I was truly touched by his testimony. He is a spiritual giant, and he has been prepared from the foundation of the world! He invited the rest of his family to be baptized during his testimony. He wants them to experience what he has so badly. We've actually already started teaching his family. During the baptism I was reflecting on the progress that he has made in the past month. I thought of the crucial moments in his conversion, and it was always when he said he felt the Holy Ghost confirm his prayer or comfort him when he needed it. I better realized my role as a missionary. All we did was teach, bear testimony, and invite. As he made the efforts on his part by keeping his committments, it was the Spirit that converted him and confirmed to him that the Book of Mormon was true, or that Joseph Smith was a prophet, or that he needed to be baptized. All we did was invite, and the Spirit, along with his efforts, did the rest. I also reflected on what will become of him after his baptism. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, reception of the Holy Ghost, and ENDURE TO THE END. The baptism was amazing, but I'm even more excited for him to endure to the end - to become an awesome member, go to the temple, serve a mission, etc. Baptism isn't the end, it's just the beginning, and the Gospel is all about improving yourself every day. I'm so excited for him! And I pray that he will continue to endure and progress in the Gospel. Sunday, I had the opportunity to participate in the conferring of the Gift of the Holy Ghost (which was done by one of the members who Edvin has become friends with). Edvin told us he instantly felt the difference and he felt the companionship of the Holy Ghost. So cool! That night we ate at a member's house and we invited him to come with us. On the bus ride over, I mentioned to him that he could serve a mission if he wanted to (he's 20). As soon as I said that he got super excited, and he wou ldn't stop talking about it! Then at the member's house, the member asked him what he's doing right now in life. He told her that he's gonna finish some school, then serve a mission. What??? He's the man! We explained to him a little more how it works on the way home and he's going to talk to the bishop about it and all. He can't at least for a year I think, but he's ok with that. What a stud. He talks to all his friends about the Gospel already. He's an amazing example to me of humbleness and willingness to follow and serve the Lord. Elder Blosil and I can't stop talking about it. It's interesting how when people are truly converted, they just want to share it with everyone else! He reminds me of Alma and the Sons of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. I can't wait to find more like him! I'm out of time, so til next week! I love you all! Happy Holidays!

Love,
Elder Tudor

December 6, 2010

2010-12-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

It's a Girl!

Cher tout le monde,
Interesting/fantastic week! I'm loving my mission more and more each day, I'm loving our investigators more every day, I'm loving the ward more every day, and I'm loving the people more every day (even when they yell at me that we're a sect :)). It's amazing how mad some people can get just when you say hi to them on the street! Haha but anyways, this week went really well. Edvin is still on track to be baptized this Saturday!!! (the 11th) He's going to be such a strong member. He's already doing missionary work haha. He talks to all his friends and neighbors about the Church and invites them to church, his baptism, and to meet with us. So all is going well with Edvin still, but I think the highlight of this week goes to our investigator named Marcelline. She is about 35 years old and is from Madagascar. She lives with her little boy named Livio and isn't married. She's super sweet, super humble, and super pregnant. We knew she was going to have a baby sometime soon, but she said it would be near the end of December. Then on Friday night we get a call from her saying that she's in the hospital and that she's having the baby that night! I think she was even having contractions when she called! We had no idea what to say to her haha. We were just shocked (and a little terrified haha) that she called us. Here we are, two 19 year old boys, with no experience at all as far as childbirth goes, and we're the first people she calls. She wanted us to come in that night to visit her before she had the baby, but we had some rendez-vous. Haha I have no idea what we would have done! But anyways, she calls us again the next day to tell us that she had the baby at 11 o'clock Friday night and that it's a girl! Woo hoo! Haha after we talked to her on the phone, we started wondering what we should have said. Elder Blosil kept saying, "I didn't even ask how much it weighed!" Haha, we don't know what to say. But she told us she'd like for us to come visit, so Sunday night we stop by the hospital to visit her. On the way to her room we saw a lady sitting in a chair having contractions. ça m'a fait peur! Haha I never thought I'd be in the maternity section of the hospital on my mission. But we got to her room finally and she was so happy to see us. It was really cool. I felt bad that she had no one else, but I was glad that we were there and I could tell how happy it made her. We took pictures, chatted, shared a spiritual thought, and then we offered to give her a blessing. She said she'd love one, and then when we asked who she would like to give it, she asked me if I would. I was really touched, and probably just as much nervous. I'd only ever given one blessing before this, and it was in English. I prayed so hard that I could express what Heavenly Father wanted me to say in French, and that my lack of ability to speak the language wouldn't impede the blessing. But as soon as I laid my hands on her head and started speaking, my fear left. I felt so natural and at ease. It was really bizarre because I was so anxious before. There wasn't one moment during the blessing when I wanted to express something but I couldn't. To me, it was a miracle. The Spirit was strong, and even if Marcelline hadn't understood anything I said, I know she would have felt the love of her Heavenly Father and heard the things she needed to hear through the Spirit. It's in moments like that one when I realize just how much Heavenly Father loves us. I'm so thankful for the Priesthood that He has given us so he can bless His children through those that hold it. I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father answered my prayers and sent His Spirit to comfort me and make up for my weaknesses in that moment. I have a strong testimony of the Power of the Priesthood and of the hand of the Lord in His work. I see it every day, and it's such a blessing. The hand of the Lord is in all of our lives, and if we look for it, we will see it, and we will see just how blessed we are. I love you all and I'm so thankful for your support. You're amazing!

Bonne semaine!
Elder Tudor

December 1, 2010

2010-12-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Bonjour à tous!
J'espere que vous avez passé une bonne semaine! I had an interesting week! First of all, I had my first Thanksgiving outside of the United States. It was weird waking up on Thanksgiving and being one of the few who even knew it was Thanksgiving haha. But a few of the members decided to acknowledge Thanksgiving with us and we had a Thanksgiving dinner at the church. Each companionship invited an investigator (Edvin came) and it was super cool. It wasn't exactly an American Thanksgiving turkey dinner, mais ce n'est pas grave. Well actually it was pretty close. We started with a salad, then we had some turkey and some other meat (not quite sure) and mashed potatoes. Then we had some sweet potatoe casserole (not with sweet potatoes, but regular potatoes baked in sugar and marshmallows) made by the sister missionaries. I loved it! But the French people were appauled at the thought of it. I watched Edvin as he tasted it, and he instantly gagged! It was hilarious. Most of them didn't even try it. Then they started to go on about how crazy Americans are and that they don't know how to cook haha. Then we ate some of Elder Call's grandma's, apparently famous, apple pie and some pumpkin pie. So there you go, I celebrated Thanksgiving in France! Being the companion of the District Leader, I'm kind of all over the place because he has to do an exchange with each Elder in teh district each transfer. It kind of sucks because I love workign with Elder Blosil, but it's alright! I learn so much from exchanges and I get to know more missionaries and how they work and learn from them. So I was in Cannes two times this week (because there is a threesome there and Elder Blosil went on exchange with two of them). Cannes is beautiful! There are a lot of old people there. I think everyone goes there to retire. The work is going well here! Elder Blosil and I have four people currently committed to baptism. Edvin the 11th, Nelito (sweet portuguese guy) the 18th, and Marcelline and Semere the 15th of January. We're working our hardest to keep them committed and on the path! I realize more and more every day just how much this really is the Lord's work. I'm reminded of the scripture I chose for my missionary plaque Alma 26:12 - "Yea, I know that I am anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will bnot boast of myself, but I will cboast of my God, for in his dstrength I can do all ethings;" I've started realizing just how little I can do without the Lord, but also, how much I CAN do with His help if I let him. It's easy to want to do everythign yourself as a missionary. But there's only so much you can do, and you have to let the Lord do the rest. It's like the story of the Brother of Jared. He asked the Lord to show him how to make light in the boats, and the Lord said "What would you have me do?" rather than handing him the answer or doing it for him. Most of the time, the Lord leaves us to do all that we can to accomplish our goals, get through our difficulties, or overcome problems. And after we have done all we can, he makes up for what we cannot do. In the case of the Brother of Jared, teh Bro of Jared went and found a way to fix the problem by making the stones, but it was the Lord that finished the job for him and touched them to make them light up. I know that if we work our hardest to follow the Lord and overcome our difficulties, the Lord will help us through. But if we just sit around and do nothing, we have no promise. We can pray all we want for something, but if we do nothing to obtain it, we will never reach it. For "Faith wihtout works is dead." We show our Faith in the Lord and his ability to help us by first taking the initiative, in faith, knowing and trusting that he will compensate for our weaknesses after we have tried our hardest. I know that Ammon didn't convert thousand of Lamanites just because he trusted in the Lord, but he worked for it and the Lord gave him success!

Je vous aime tous! Passez une bonne semaine!
Elder Tudor

November 22, 2010

2010-11-30T08:48:00.001-08:00

Cher tout le monde,
Allo! This week just flew by. Wow. I've only got a few minutes to write, sorry! We went to Monaco last monday. It was so sweet! We ate at the Bishop's pizza place that he owns there. Super good! And we all ate for free. I had a pizza covered in ham and eggs. Haha you don't see that in America. Monaco is pretty ridiculous. Within the first five minutes, we saw probably 6 ferraris, a few aston martin's, and a Mercedes Mclaren. It's a beautiful city, and everyone there is way too rich haha. I'll send some pictures next week, but we looked in some store windows at some of the crazy stuff for sale. For example, there was a diamonded crusted flashdrive and iPod shuffle. "Look honey! Now all your files can be encased in diamonds!" Haha, I don't get it. But anyways, Monaco was cool, and we got to walk around the casino (not the gambling floor though, haha). We talked to the guy at the door to the gambling room, and he told us all the famous people he had seen in his 20 years there. Including President Reagen, Bush, a few of the James Bonds, famous athletes, he just kept going on and on. This week, one of the members is putting on a Thanksgiving dinner for us Americans and we're all inviting an investigator. I'm stoked! It will be interesting to see how the French interpret a Thanksgiving dinner. But anyways, the work went pretty well this week. We weren't able to find as many new investigators as we wanted, but we've got a lot of 1st lessons set up for this week so we're pretty excited about that. And our investigator Edvin is progressing like crazy! He comes to all the church activities and meetings and just loves it. He's been to institute the last two weeks, and he read the institute manual on eternal marriage and told us he read about the law of chastity and that he was willing to follow it if it's necessary for baptism. I love that guy! Everything is going well for him to be baptized the 11th. We're so blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with one of his elect. I'm so excited to continue to see him progress and learn and receive all the blessings that are in store for him! We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Teixeira, a 70, this week in Aix. It was pretty awesome to be taught by a General Authority. I swear he was just making up his lesson as he went, but it was some of the best instruction I've ever received! He had time to interview a few Elders at the end, but unfortunately I didn't get an interview with him. That would have been sweet! Well I gotta go. Sorry about the short email. I'll save more time next week. Love you all!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

November 15, 2010

2010-11-16T21:33:00.000-08:00

Salut,
Well, after another week filled with crazy people, wonderful people, running to appointments, speaking French, trying to understand French, Chinese food, the occasional French meal, appointments falling through, amazing appointments, disappointments, and countless miracles -- I think I'm ready for another! I'm loving it here. It continues to be the hardest thing I've ever done but also the most satisfying and worthile! i had an awesome exchange with Elder Dorton this week in my sector. I was pretty nervous at first because we had a lot of first lessons planned and both of us our new - and I was the senior companion because we were in my sector. You learn to take responsibility real fast as a missionary! One of our appointments was with a 20 year old Muslim guy named Mohamed and his friend (girl) Sira who was about his age. Muslims like to argue about prophets and Jesus Christ a lot so I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't fully understand them when they had concerns and that the lesson wouldn't really go anywhere, but we went in with Faith and optimism. We started teaching them and they were both quite interested, but Mohamed was very opinionated about his own beliefs and kind of disrupted the lesson at times, but Sira was super open and loved what she was hearing. So we continued on, and right before we got to Joseph Smith and the Restoration, Mohamed left and said he'd be back in a few minutes. I wasn't sure if I should wait for him to come back or continue with Sira. I was prompted to continue, so off we went. Sira totally related to the Joseph Smith story, it was so awesome! She explained to us how she knows the truth is on the earth, or that there is more truth, and she wants to know where it is. The Spirit was super strong when I recited the first vision. After, she explained to us that she knows the Lord's representatives are on the earth, she just doesn't know where! She believes we are, and that we speak the truth, but she has to find out for herself first, which is awesome! And of course, that is why the Lord gave us the Book of Mormon, to testify of Christ and the fulness of His Gospel, and to testify that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Church of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness! We invited her to read a chapter and pray to know if all this is true. I'm excited to follow up with her. We had another awesome first lesson Saturday morning with a 20 year old guy named Edvin, who was born in Albania, but has lived in France basically all his life (we think). It was at the church, and Elder Dorton and I missed the bus, so we ran basically all the way up the hill to the church in our suits and it was super hot haha. Not fun! But definitely worth it. So we finally got there and thankfully he was there. The Spirit was super strong right from the beginning. He explained to us how he's had a lot of bad experiences in his past, especially with his family, and he wants to be healed from those. Wow, what a time to testify of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I testified to him of the reality of Christ's sacrifice for us and his power to heal. I've never felt the Spirit so strong while speaking. I don't even remember really what I said, I just remember what I felt. That basically set the tone for the rest of the lesson. We ended up discussing baptism most of the time, and at one point I was prompted to just straight up ask him if he would be baptised into our Church and he said yes, then accepted a date for the 11 December. This guy has been searching for the Gospel, that is for sure. He told us he feels like he's not sure what he's doing right now and needs a new start, and that he can't wait for his baptism. He's already invited family! Haha what a stud. I'm praying that he'll continue to progress and prepare for his baptism. I can tell that he is sincere when he says he wants to be baptised. Yesterday he came to church in a suit, white shirt, and tie! He's legit! During the lesson in the investigators sunday school class, he asked if he needed to give up doing magic tricks to join the church, and if he had to, he would. Haha super random, but he's so humble and just so willing to follow the Lord and do whatever it takes to do it. I can't wait to keep teaching him and see him progress! He played volleyball at the church with all the guys in the ward saturday afternoon too which was sweet. He's already making friends with the members! Well I'm about to catch a train to Monaco. Sorry of this email was scattered and random. A lot happened this week! I love you all! Bonne semaine!

Love,
Elder Tudor

November 8, 2010

2010-11-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

"Je reste à Nice (I remain in Nice)!"

Bonjour tout le monde, Transfer calls were this last Friday, and I'll be staying at least another 6 weeks here in Nice and Elder Blosil is still my companion. I'm stoked! I finally know the city and the ward well, so I'm super excited to stay here another transfer. This week was a little bit crazy. I spent Tuesday night in Aix, took the train to Toulouse Wednesday morning where we had "La Conference des Bleus" (conference for the noobs). I got to see my district from the MTC (except the Cote d'Ivoire ones) again which was sweet. We all sang together like old times. When we first got there we had a medical exam which allows us to live in France for a year. Je ne sais pas. But after that we were instructed by the assistants Elder Miller and Elder Birk. Elder Miller dies this week which is pretty sad (which means he goes home this week, not really dying). But I found out that Elder Geoff Ritter (Rytter?), whom I went to high school with, is the new assistant. Then we were also instructed by "President Carter" (french accent) and his wife. That night we took the train to Marseille and stayed in Aix for the night again, then returned to Nice the next morning. Lots of traveling! Then on Friday and Saturday I was on exchange with Elder Call in Nice - he demonstrated how to cassé a Jehovah's Witness with their own Bible which was pretty awesome. Haha he's insane. So I was basically only with my real companion a few days during the week because he stayed in Nice while I went with the other Bleus to Toulouse, so the week felt kind of weird. Well a new transfer is here. I can't believe I've been in the field six weeks... has it really been that long? Has it only been that long? Time is weird on a mission. But I'm loving it! I'm stoked for this transfer. We're determined to have a baptism this transfer. We've been working like crazy, but I guess we're going to have to work harder. I know we can see miracles if we put our Faith in God, then go to work! We have an investigator named Semere who is the coolest guy. He doesn't speak French or English very well at all. So when he speaks to us it's a mix of mostly French and English phrases, with probably at least three other languages thrown in there every once in awhile. Understanding that guy is a workout. He's the man though. He's come to church every week since we met him. Our first rendez-vous with him we taught him the word of wisdom because he told us he wants to stop smoking. He took out all his cigarettes and just broke them in half and threw them on the ground (we were outside on a bench) and he hasn't smoked since then! (It's been two weeks). Today we asked him if he had smoked since that day, and he pulled out two big packs of gum and said "these are my cigarettes now." He's a stud. He doesn't have a permanent home nor very much money, but he's happy. And since we've been meeting with him and he's been coming to church, I can see him getting happier and happier. He can't really understand much at all of what is said at church or what we say to him, but for some reason he keeps coming and still wants to meet with us. It's truly a miracle and a manifestation that the SPIRIT teaches people, not us. We've just got to do all we can do invite the Spirit, and it will testify the truthfulness of our message to the hearts of the people and bring them feelings of peace, comfort, and joy. We can hardly communicate with Semere in speaking, but I know that the Spirit can communicate to him all that he needs to know. We are finally getting a Book of Mormon in his language (Amharic?) this week. I'm stoked! Je souhaite une bonne semaine à vous tous (I wish you all a good week). à la prochaine ('til next time)! Je vous aime (I love you).

beaucoup d'amour,
Elder Tudor

November 1, 2010

2010-11-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Bonjour à tout! It was kind of a crazy week! I went on two exchanges. The first was on Wednesday with Elder Zobiri and we stayed in Nice. E Zobiri is from Paris and speaks only French, so that was an awesome experience to work with a native and speak only French all day long! Then after zone training on Friday in Aix-en-Provence, I went on exchange with Elder Yang (one of the Zone Leaders in Aix) for Friday night and Saturday. Holy cow, Aix-en-Provence is beautiful! Saturday morning we did a service project for a family in the ward there. They have a plot of land in the countryside where they're going to build a house, and we went there with the other Elders in Aix and planted 100 of these little trees called "charms" for them. They are obsessed with these trees! haha. We also cut down a bunch of huge cherry trees that were overgrown. It was pretty fun and we got to see the beautiful countryside. The wine vineyards in the fall are all orange and red and they're all nestled between rolling hills with green trees. What a beautiful place! After that we had a couple rendez-vous and one of them was in Chinese (Elder Yang is a Chinese speaking missionary too). I didn't understand anything, but it was cool to be there and still feel the spirit that came even though I had no idea what was going on! Saturday night I returned to Nice and we went to "La Soiree d'Halloween" at the Chapel. I was surprised how many members came! Halloween is hardly celebrated in France. We as missionaries participated in most of the activities, and for one of them, everyone got to dress up me and E Blosil however they wanted from a pile of clothes. I looked pretty crazy! The best part was the leopard skin jacket they put on me. It's weird how well they knew my taste. Then E Blosil and I got to lead the kids through a little haunted house thing where they could touch the insides of a Mummy which were hot dogs and stuff. It was a fun night!
The work was a little crazy and scattered this week with all the exchanges and the zone training. We have an investigator named Hakim who is just awesome. He has a baptismal date for the 20th of November and I'm so stoked for him! He came to church yesterday and I sat with him during Sunday School. Afterwards he told me how much he felt the Spirit during the lesson and how good he felt. It was awesome to be able to testify to him that what he felt was the spirit and after baptism he will be able to have that feeling with him always! He seriously has such a great spirit. He's so humble and so willing to follow his heart and to follow Jesus Christ. This week my Faith increased greatly. I've been opening my mouth and it has been filled. I've felt the influence of the Spirit so much more since I've started showing my Faith more. I have a much stronger testimony of my calling and the power that it brings. We had a "mangez-vous" in Aix (eat at a member's house) with this super sweet Sister of about 40 and her 6 year old son. She explained to us during dinner how one of the Sister missionaires came back and visited her after her mission, and how something was very different when she saw this Sister missionary after her mission was over. She said there was a power missing when she talked with her and it just wasn't the same as it was when she was a missionary. It was pretty powerful to hear that testimony from a member. As a missionary, it's sometimes hard to feel the power and authority of your call because you're just used to being around it all day. But that strengthened my testimony so much about my calling. I know that I have been called by a prophet of God, and therefore by God, to be a representative of Jesus Christ and teach His word to His people. My calling is truly divine, and that knowledge helps me to open my mouth when I have fear and to keep going even when I feel like I could sleep for a day and a half straight. I know that this is the most important work that needs to be done in the world, and I'm honored to be called to the work!
Today we have a sweet p day planned. A member named Benjamin is going to the Church with us where he will teach us to make pain au chocolat, croissaints, and all kinds of French baking goodness. Then toinght we're going to Monaco to eat with a family who is friends with Elder Blosil's dad. It should be great! I'm so thankful for all of you. I think of you when I work and you motivate me to do my best work! I love you! à la semaine prochaine!

Love,
Elder "Tu dors"

Pictures

2010-10-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Me on the train to Nice my first day

This sweet Castle city we saw from the train

Me and Elder Blosil

The view from our apartment during the pouring rain

Me and E Blosil again

Me at my desk

Elder Call accidentally bought me black man shampoo,

I have greasy hair now!

église Russe! Shrimp chips, our favorite snack!
This is before they pop open.

The Russian Church in Nice

Marseille awesomeness- Beautiful!

Marseille at night from the train station-beautiful!

A little dinner we brought with us to Marseille and ate while waiting for the train

October 25, 2010 ~ What a Week!

2010-10-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

Cher tout le monde,
I have so much I want to say... but I have a dang French keyboard! It takes me forever to type on this thing haha so this email will probably be short. This week was insane. We got 7 new investigators 4 of them are committed to be baptized on the 20th of November. The names of the ones with baptismal dates are Ying-Ying, a college student from China, Samir and Sanayt, a couple from Eritrea who are in their early 30's and have a baby girl (yeah, I don't think I had ever heard of that country before either haha), and Hakim who is a young student from Algeria. It's pretty amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared these people to receive the Gospel! We were teaching Samir and Sanayt about the plan of salvation the other day and we were talking about the three degrees of glory. We asked him to turn to 2 Corinthians 12 where Paul talks about the third heaven, and he had that verse marked in his Bible because he had questions about it. I''m pretty sure everyone else usually ignores that verse. So when we talked about the three degrees of glory it made perfect sense to him. Pretty awesome, especially since that is one of the hardest doctrines for people to accept about the plan of salvation because most people believe there's just heaven and hell. It's seriously amazing to find people who are elect and ready for the Gospel - it just needs to be brought to them! The French is coming along pretty well! It's hard for me to get up the courage to go contact people sometimes because I worry about being able to communicate. But I seriously need to stop being a baby about that. What do I have to lose? Nothing. What do they have to gain? Everything!!! I know my Faith and my French will improve as I throw myself out there. "The Spirit of the Lord is not the spirit of fear; but of peace, and love, and of a sound mind." I can't remember the reference on that, but I just remembered it. Well I have to go. Sorry this email wasn't very good! This keyboard is driving me insane haha. Have a great week! Je prie pour vous! Je vous aime.

bisous bisous,
Elder Tudor

October 18, 2010 ~ Je ne sais pas (I don't know)

2010-10-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

Bonjour à tous!
This week flew by! This e-mail will be short because the cafe closes for the night soon. We had a lot of success contacting this week, now we just need to get more lessons taught! We set up so many rendez-vous, but they often fall through. But we're not worried about it. There are definitely many elect people here, and we're teaching some of them. One of them is a couple from Portugal named Jacinto and Dina. They're some of the nicest people I've ever met! Two sundays ago, we went to pick up Jacinto for church, but he told us his family told him not to talk to us anymore and that he didn't want to see us anymore. We knew that Dina was out of a job and looking, so we searched around and asked the members for some help finding a job for her. We found a lot of sources and we just stopped by one night during the week and showed them what we found. Before we left, we asked Jacinto if he would be interested in receiving more lessons, and he responded with an enthusiastic yes! So we taught them again this week and Jacinto attended church with us! I learned a great lesson from this: ALWAYS be looking for ways to SERVE others!!! I know that Jacinto's heart was softened because of our efforts to help Dina find a job. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I should always be "going about doing good" just as He did. I know that simple service is one of the most powerful ways to show someone that we love them. I love the quote by President Hinckley, I'm not quite sure of the exact quote, but something along the lines of, "Do you want to be happy? Lose yourself in this work and in the service of others!" I know that the best way to find happiness is to stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking of others! When we serve others we see that everyone needs help with their problems, not just ourselves, and soon we forget ourselves and our own problems and find happiness in helping others! And of course, when we're serving others, we're serving God and doing His work!I've met all kinds of people this week. It's insane how many people I talk to just in one day. I've met a lot of interesting people too. We met a man and his son on the street today who were delighted to chat with us. Both of them were sporting Van Halen shirts. They told us they were Catholic and weren't really interested in our Church, but the Dad told us he plays in a band called "Les Electriques Mormons" (The Electric Mormons) hahaha. There's a band name for ya! I wonder how they came up with that one. He didn't tell us that anyone in his band is Mormon. It's got a good ring to it though! Also, we were on the bus the other day contacting people, when this lady signaled me to come towards her. I came over as she fiddled around in her purse. Finally she pulled out this big badge, flashed it at me, and told me it was illegal to talk to people about God on the bus haha. We told her it was a public place and that we have every right to! Anyways, that was interesting. This week is going to be crazy. I think I'm going on exchange twice. Once will be with one of the Zone leaders, Elder Wilson. That will be awesome! Well the cafe is closing now. I love you all! Thanks for everything that you do and for all your support. Dieu vous benisse! Ciao!

Love,
Elder Tudor

October 12,2010 ~ Où niche l'hibou? (Where does the owl nest?)

2010-10-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

Bonjour! What a week! My companion is district leader, which makes me "district monkey" according to Elder Call (an Elder in our apartment). So that means I get to go on lots of exchanges! On Tuesday, my comp went to Cannes and I stayed here in Nice with Elder Snickers (haha). He's as new as I am, but he already speaks French because he's from Quebec. It was interesting trying to find my way around Nice without Elder Blosil! I felt so lost but we did make it to all of our rendez-vous somehow. I enjoyed being with Elder Snickers. He's quite the guy! He almost got us stuck in an elevator more than one time, but it all worked out thankfully haha. Then on Friday I went on exchange in Marseilles with Elder Kirkpatrick, who was in the same district as me in the MTC. Two bleus walking around Marseilles, I'm not sure who planned that one! It was an awesome experience though. Both of us are new, so we just had to have faith and go for it. We actually were able to talk to people well and be effective despite our lack of experience with the language. I'm thankful for that experience because it pushed me way out of my comfort zone! When you're with your trainer, he's always there if you can't understand what people are saying, but we were just on our own! It was really cool and helped me to grow and also showed me that faith in the Lord truly brings power. Marseilles is quite an interesting city too. I think I'll just leave it at that haha.One thing I've learned this week, or I guess I should say relearned, is that this is God's work and he is truly at the head of it! My role is to do all I can to help it move forward, and he will make the rest fall into place. This week we had a new investigator to teach that we had contacted in the street. We set up a rendez-vous with him for Wednesday, but when we called to confirm his appointment he told us we had the wrong number and that he'd never met any missionaries before (people we contact say this from time to time), so we decided not to stop by his apartment and do something else with our time. Then on Sunday we were on a bus on our way to an appointment that we had confirmed, but we were running a little late so we called the investigator to let him know we would be late. To our disappointment, he told us he was at work and that we couldn't come by to teach him. So we contacted people on the bus for a little while then just got off at a random stop to figure out what we wanted to do. And guess who was sitting at that bus stop? The same guy we had the appointment with on Wednesday, the one we called to confirm and he said we had the wrong number. He told us he had waited for us on Wednesday and we never came by. It ended up that we had taken down his number wrong, so we really did call the wrong number! He was still interested in hearing our message though and gave us his right number and we're going to see him sometime this next week. That's pretty awesome. The Lord's work always moves forward despite our weaknesses as missionaries. In this case, we wrote down that guy's number wrong, but the Lord placed him in our path again! There's no way that is just a coincidence in such a big city! That experience was a great comfort to me and strengthened my testimony of just how much the hand of the Lord is present in our lives, especially as a missionary. I know that the Lord is always there to pick us back up and give us opportunities to get back on His path when we fall short or make mistakes. I also know that the Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect, but he does wants us to always be learning, progressing, and striving to do our best! And I know that after all we can do, He is there to make up for the rest. I testify that this is true.Sorry this e-mail was kind of short, but this cafe is closing for lunch soon. This e-mail is a day late because we had zone conference in aix en provence yesterday so today is my p-day this week. Je vous aime! Thank you for all that you do for me! Til next week!

Love,
Elder Tudor

October 4, 2010 ~ Quelle Semaine! (What a week!)

2010-10-04T12:26:00.001-07:00

Salut!
Wow, what a week! I've probably never been more tired, lost, and confused in my life than during this week haha, but it was awesome! I honestly don't know where to start, so I'm sorry if I start rambling about random things. I'm starting to get used to the city and know where I am, and I'm understanding the language better every day. They talk really fast, but I can hear all the words now. My comprehension doesn't really depend on how fast they're speaking, but more on their accents. Some people have some crazy accents! I had a good 5 minute conversation at the bus stop with a nice lady a couple days ago. It was cool! I can't wait until I can get to the point where I can talk to anyone and not have to worry about understanding what they'll say when I talk to them. But I can tell that will come soon! I love the people here! They like to keep to themselves, but when you initiate a conversation with them they're very polite and most of them will open up about anything. Actually, once you get them started it's hard to stop them sometimes haha. Some of people we walk up to and ask how they're doing just look at us like, > I guess people here don't really talk to someone they don't know unless they have to haha. But they're great! There are definitely people who have been prepared to receive the Gospel more than others. We've just got to find those that are prepared! It's our responsibility to do all we can to give people an opportunity to hear and accept our message, but it's always up to the people to listen to us. I love the ward too! Everyone is super nice to me and compliment me on my French (haha). But they do say I'm super far along for someone who hasn't even been here a week! I hope the Lord will continue to bless me in the language so I can be competent as soon as possible. All of the members love my name. 90% of the conversations I've had with them have been about my name. We either talk about how there are a lot of Tudors in France, or the Tudor kings in England, or my favorite, > which means > in French. So I get > a lot haha. All the members are really happy and chill. They like to bring their dogs and play outside the church between conference sessions. I now know how to command a dog in French and Russian haha (there's a man in our ward right now from Russia who is interested in learning the history of the Church in France, I'm not sure why. French with a Russian accent sounds interesting!). The work is going well here. Right now we don't have an investigator with a baptismal date, but we're planning on committing a few this week. I'm excited! There are 100 members in the ward in Nice, and they're very willing to help with missionary work which is great! They're all very strong and great people.It's awesome how many people we talk to in just one day. I love talking to the people and getting to know them and their history and their questions about life. It's amazing because the Gospel really does answer any question of the soul! We're teaching some really great people too. One in particular is named Rommel and he's from the Philippines. He really wants to follow the Lord! It's crazy how much the adversary tries to stop the work. The other night we had a rendez-vous with Rommel and we had him pray at the end to know if our message and the Book of Mormon were true. While he was praying, the baby woke up, a bunch of people outside his apartment started shouting, and a bunch of police cars and an ambulance drove by outside with their sirens blasting. Insanity! Fortunately, it didn't really distract from the Spirit. It was an amazing prayer and he told us after that he definitely felt the peace and comfort of the Spirit! This just goes to show that Satan can do everything in his power to distract us and drive away the Spirit of the Lord, but we always have the choice to ignore his temptations or distractions and choose to serve the Lord. Like the Prophet said in this last conference, God has given us the RIGHT to choose, the RESPONSIBILITY to choose, and there are always RESULTS for our choices. I know that when we take responsibility and choose the Lord in every thought and action, the results will always be for our benefit! I love the Lord. I love the Gospel and I know that it's true. I know that we can and should always have confidence in our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ because they love us and always know what is best for us! I love you all!

à lundi,
Elder Tudor

September 29, 2010 ~ Je suis arrive!

2010-09-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Cher tout le monde,
Yesterday was the longest day of my life! Well it was actually longer than a day haha. I was awake for a solid 30 hours! I only slept a couple hours at the most on the plane but I thought I would be ok because I heard that new missionaries usually stay at the mission home the first night and they're allowed to go to bed early. That's what I was planning on, but that didn't happen haha. President Carter and the APs met us as soon as we got off the plane. President Carter is awesome! He's super nice and is so excited about the work here. I got to drive with him to the chapel where we had dinner with all of us bleus (in French, the term for a new missionary is "blue" not "green", so I'm a "bleu" not a "vert") and all the trainers. They usually do this at the mission home but they've never had so many bleus so they had to do it at the stake center! During the drive to the stake center, President Carter told us that we would all be leaving that night (we arrived at noon) and a few would be leaving at 1:30 - not what I expected! So after the meal and interviews, President Carter announced who our trainers would be and what area we would be serving in. So here it is! My trainer is Elder Blosil (he went to Orem High) and we are serving in Nice!!! We left right after he made all the announcements and hopped on a train for Nice around 2 p.m. We stopped at Marseilles to grab some food and change trains. We ate at the Mcdonald's in the train station and talked to a few people. We talked with an older man who spoke English, but he's from France. The first thing he said was that we have four wives haha. It's amazing that even on the other side of the world this seems to be common knowledge. Then we talked to a man who we think was from Paris - he couldn't decide if he was from Paris or Germany haha. But we talked to them about the church, gave them a pass along card, and then caught our next train. We finally got to Nice close to 11 p.m. We took a little train thing similar to trax to get to close to our apartment, then we had to walk another mile or so to get there. There are some interesting people out and about at night in Nice, that's for sure. We got to our apartment around midnight and finally got to sleep around 1 in the morning! So here I am in an internet cafe in Nice. I'm super tired but I'm SO excited to be here! I love Elder Blosil! I can already tell that I'm really lucky to have him as my trainer. He speaks French 24/7, as does everyone else in France, so it looks like I'm going to be learning quickly. Everyone has told me that the work in Nice has been very successful recently. There are 8 Elders in this area which is almost unheard of in our mission. The mission as a whole has improved a ton over the last year. The President told me that in the last year, the number of missionaries serving in this mission has been cut almost in half, but baptisms have about doubled. That's so awesome! Elder Blosil told me there were about 150 missionaries when he was born (when he came to the field, which was 18 months ago) and right now there are 60 something. So that means about 25% of us are bleu right now because our shipment was so big. Elder Blosil and I are in the same apartment as Elders Dorton and Call. I'm way excited about that because four Elders in an apartment is rare and because Elder Dorton was in my district in the MTC so we're already great friends. This morning I unpacked a bit and we had our studies. I haven't been this tired in a long time haha, but I know the Lord will bless me with strength as I strive to serve Him - especially when I'm dead tired! Today is sort of a half P day, but after we get some shopping done we're going to visit some investigators and less active members. This is the real deal!!! This isn't the MTC, these are real people now - real people who need someone to help them come unto Christ and receive the Restored Gospel. That's my purpose as a missionary. Pretty amazing, isn't it? I can't believe I'm on a mission and I have this opportunity to help people find true happiness! This is definitely going to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I have confidence in the promise made in Moroni 7:33. After being in the field for about a day, I've realized the importatnce of faith in Missionary work. Missionary work is quite intimidating, especially when you can barely understand what people are saying! But fear is the opposite of faith. Faith is a principle of action and power. It's the hope and belief that your actions will bring about the desired results. I'm going to need a lot of faith these next few months! I know I'll be afraid at times to talk to people in French, but if I don't try, do I really have faith? Do I really trust that I can do all things with the Lord? I hope I will never lose this vision or get discouraged during my training, but that I will do all I can to learn and rely on the Lord to make up for my weaknesses. And I know that He can do that. I know that it is through the Lord that we are made strong in whatever we do! I'm so stoked to jump right into the work! Like I said, we have some appointments tonight, and we're also going to Monaco to teach the Bishop's son on Friday. I'm going to Monaco! Crazy. The Bishop lives there and owns a restaurant there. Elder Blosil said we're going to eat there and that the missionaries get to eat in the VIP room haha. How awesome is that? But anyways, the Bishop's son's name is Eduardo. He's 18 and he's a member, but he's less active. He has some word of wisdom problems and doesn't go to church because he likes to party all night and then doesn't want to wake up for church. He goes to an international school and speaks English as well as French. I'm super excited to meet him and help him. Well we've got to go do some shopping now. Oh by the way, P day is Monday, so that's when you'll get e-mails. Elder Blosil said people usually send him letters through the mission office, but that takes about a week longer for us to receive. So if you want to send directly to me, here's my address:
Les Missionaires/Elders
143 boulevard de Cessole
5ème étage
Nice
06100

Je vous aime! Ciao!
-Elder Tudor

September 24, 2010

2010-09-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

Salut! I just got my "leaving the MTC haircut" and that was quite the experience. I've never had anyone cut my hair without using scissors, neither has anyone ever used a vaccum to clean my head. It's not too bad though! I was a little worried because there was no mirror for me to see what was going on up there haha. This week has been pretty exciting because we're so close to leaving! We got to be hosts this week. It was strange hosting new missionaries because it feels like that was me only a few days ago. Both of the missionaries I hosted were from Orem, but one went to Mt. View and one went to Orem so I didn't know them. It's funny to see people get dropped off because some families don't even get out of their car to say goodbye to their son while some stand there for 15 minutes bawling. It was interesting! We also had a health meeting that to help us stay healthy in the field (and yes mom, I am healthy). That was a bizarre experience, I think we talked about diarrhea for 45 minutes of that hour. I guess that's a big concern! I can't believe the MTC is almost over. I feel like I just got here! I love this place. I love my district - I feel like they're my brothers! It's going to be hard to leave all of them. I travel with all of them except for the two that are going to Cote D'Ivoire, they leave Monday afternoon and fly straight from SLC to Paris, then to Cote D'Ivoire. It's hard to sum up my MTC experience in this limited time, but I think the main thing I've learned here is that a mission is about love. As I learn more and more about the Gospel and the Atonement and realize how it has blessed my life, I just want everyone to have it! When I think about what life would be like without this knowledge, I just feel horrible. I don't want anyone to feel that! I want them to know that Heavenly Father knows them and loves them, and that he's given us the way to find true happiness! And that way is His Son, Jesus Christ, and his Atonement and his Gospel. Now that I'm leaving to France, I pray that I will always have this desire to bring people the truth, that I will always have Faith and Confidence in the Lord, and that I will always commit my whole self to the work. Most of all, I pray that the Spirit will be with me so it can touch the hearts of the people I meet. I love all of you so much and I'm so thankful for all of your support! It means so much to me. Dieu soit avec vous!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

September 17, 2010

2010-09-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bonjour tout le monde!
We got our travel plans yesterday! It's pretty close to what I guessed last week, but here's the real deal: on the 27th we leave SLC at 9:45 a.m. arrive in ATL at 3:40 p.m., leave ATL at 5:50 p.m. and arrive in Paris at 8:10 a.m. (on the 28th), leave Paris at 10:25 a.m. and arrive at Toulouse at 11:45 a.m.! Only ten days now! It's hard to imagine leaving the MTC, it hasn't real hit me yet that I'll be in France soon! So there are my travel plans.This week we taught the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom in the TRC, en Francais. My first week here I would have never thought I could teach the Plan of Salvation in French - it's hard enough in English! The gift of tongues is real. I'm starting to be able to express myself a lot better and I can find a way to say whatever I want to say almost every time. It's pretty awesome! My teacher, Frere Drean, said I'll most likely have the language basically down after 3 months in the field and definitely by 4 months. It's weird to think about that now, and I'm sure it will be even harder to believe my first couple weeks in France, but I have Faith that if I put forth the effort the Lord will help me get there. This week an Elder in our district went home. We were all in shock for a day or so, but we're glad he made the right decision. That really opened my eyes and made me realize just how lucky I am to be on a mission! My time at the MTC has taught me that the Gospel is truly for everyone. God's plan for us is perfect. I know that I won't be converting anyone in France, but the Spirit will! When people learn the Gospel, it just makes sense to them! And I know that when people learn its principles and apply them in their lives, they will feel the Spirit and the peace that it brings, and they will be able to know for themselves that it's true through their own experience. Sorry this e-mail is kind of short, I spent most of my time reading e-mails. They'll be better when I'm in the field! I love you all! The Church is true. I testify with all my heart that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that without Him we would be hopeless and lost, but with Him, we can have nothing but hope and peace in our lives!

Much love,
Elder Tudor

Finally a Picture!

2010-09-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

Bryson's MTC District

September 10 ~ Salut!

2010-09-16T15:55:00.001-07:00

Dear Everyone: Many of you have asked about my travel plans, so here you go! I actually don't have them yet, but when I got my visa in San Francisco, my visa information included my flight plans so I got to glance at them. It went something like this: On September 27th, at 9:45 a.m., I fly from SLC to Atlanta, then I fly from Atlanta to Paris, and then Paris to Toulouse. I arrive in Toulouse on the 28th at around 11 or noon, I think. I'm not sure about the layovers. I didn't look at all the times. If I'm doing my math right, they shouldn't be that long though. My district is singing the day before we leave, the 26th, at Mission Conference, so we have plenty of time to better prepare! I've been doing MTC choir, too (which sings at the Tuesday night devotionals) and that is fun. I found out that the MTC choir is singing at General Conference. I'm going to barely miss it!!! I was a little sad about that, but I'd much rather be in France doing the work!I still love learning French. It's such a cool language! It's hilarious to speak it sometimes too, my district and I love speaking in heavy accents. Something as simple as a "Bon!" just makes everyone crack up. I told you everything is funny at the MTC. I'm learning that there are a lot of similar words and phrases that if you say the wrong one, mean something totally different. For example, "la foi" means faith, and "le foi" means liver - yes, one time I said I have liver in God. There are also a lot of things we say in English that mean a totally different thing in French. You can't say "I'm finished" (that would be je suis fini, which means "I'm dead"), in French, you say "I have finished" (j'ai fini). It makes me wonder how many of these exist! They also never say "I'm hot," but they say "I have heat" instead, and I won't explain why here, but you can probably guess. I'm sure I'll make a fool out of myself in the field by saying one of these!I've been pondering a lot lately, especially about Jesus Christ and the Atonement. People often talk of the miracles Christ performed on earth, such as healing the sick and walking on water, but the greatest miracle that He performed, and the greatest miracle that will ever be performed, is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I usually don't think about the Atonement as a miracle, but it truly is the greatest miracle! To think that one man would take upon him all of our sins, sicknesses, afflictions, pains, guilt - EVERYTHING - is truly a miracle and I know I can't even begin to comprehend what He really did for us. But I do know one thing, and that is that He DID do it, and He did it for each one of us! I feel like all of us who have this knowledge have an obligation to use it in our own lives. How could we let this truly amazing act of love go to waste when it is right there before us? I can't wait to help people find the power of the Atonement for themselves and the joy it can bring to their souls!

Love you all,
Elder Tudor