January 2, 2012

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