Do you want to go eat Kebabs with us?

Originally sent on July 28, 2014

Bonjour!


Greetings from the beautiful city of Toulouse!


So this week was pretty awesome as far as numbers go, we taught 11 lessons, 6 of which were in the presence of a member (by far the most I've ever done) with 7 new investigators. There is a couple I might have mentioned that the lady was taught by missionaries like 14 years ago, but her husband at the time said no. She is childhood friends with the Stake President's wife. She is from somewhere in the Paris mission, and just barely moved here. I think the missionaries kinda just lost track of her, but she has kept a strong testimony all these years. She said at one point she knew everything was true, and just wants to double check. They were supposed to leave on vacation but the daughter had a pretty bad accident and is now in the hospital, so they ended up not going on vacation. We were able to see them a couple times. The lesson we had this week was pretty spiritual. M, (the lady) basically taught us the lesson. And O (the guy) started out a bit unsure. The main reason he came was to support M. But by the end he really opened up. He talked about how he has made some mistakes in his life, and how he didn't really feel "worthy" to come to church. We were able to teach him a bit about the Atonement, and how it covers everything. The words just seemed to naturally come out because I know the spirit was helping us. These two are awesome, and I know they will be baptized one day.


Other than that, we were also able to start teaching our downstairs neighbor. A couple weeks ago he borrowed our vacum. When he returned it my companion was like "do you want to go eat Kebabs with us?" haha and he said yes. So a couple weeks ago we went out to eat with him and got to know him. His name is R, and he really has gone through some rough stuff in our life. He kept mentioning how he feels something "sainte" when he's around us. Saturday we went with a member to his apartment to eat. We were ready to teach, but our member just connected with him so well because they had gone through a lot of similar trials, and they just couldn't stop talking :) but thats ok we're going to give him a tour of the chapel tonight.


Things are really going great here, The sun is shining (a lot) and we are finding some really awesome people. The Lord has really blessed us by trusting us with some of his choice children.


I love you all, hope that you have a great week!


Elder Duckworth

"Bang"

Originally sent on July 21, 2014

Bonjour à tous!


Sorry, this is going to be a short one, But I just wanted to let everyone know that things are still going well here in Toulouse.


We started out this week with a "bang" by going to see fireworks (sorry, really bad joke). It was weird staying out so late. We didnt get home until midnight. It was really cool though, even though we chose a spot right behind a tree, next to a bunch of drunk students. This spot choosing ability seems to run in the family, right Dad?


Anyways, other then that, it has been super hot here. But we tried to not let that stop us. We worked hard, and were able to see a lot of results. We taught a lot last week, and are planning on teaching even more next week. Things are looking up.


We have a member here who invited a friend to come to church. She just moved here, and used to live in the North of France. When she was a lot younger she had taken all of the missionary lessons, but for certain reasons, never got baptized. Well, fast forward a few years and here we are. She has kept her testimony of the restored gospel, and we are going to go and teach her this week! Only problem is that shes leaving on vacation soon.....but we wont talk about that :D We are still very excited for that


Love you all, have a great week.


Elder Duckworth

He will heal all that come unto him

Originally sent on July 14, 2014

Bonjour!


This has been a great week! We didnt have a whole lot of excitement, but we worked hard, and hopefully will start to see our labors come to frution this next week!


I have been studying a lot lately about Healing, and just wanted to share some of my thoughts about that with you this week.

This last week, I had the honor to participate in a priesthood blessing. I thought about how when the priesthood is used, it is as if Christ himself is giving the blessing. It struck me that almost everything that Christ did in his life was centered around healing. In the New Testimant, it is full of stories of Christ healling the sick and afflicted. He even brought the dead back to life. I have reflected a lot on why our healing is so Important to Christ. Then I realized that that is why he came here to the earth. He came to heal us. Not only from physical things, but from spiritual things. In the Garden of Gesthemene, and later again on the cross, Christ suffered all. He went through unimaginable pain so that he can understand what we are going through. Through the Atonement, Christ healed us through our sins, pains, sorrows, and suffering.


I thought a lot about how we can be healed then. If Christ already has healed us, why do we still suffer. In reading my scriptures (sorry i forgot to bring them, so I cant give a citation) I learned that He will heal all that come unto him. His part is already done, all we have to do is come unto him. In the scriptures, when the sick woman touched the robe of Christ and was healed, Christ said that it was her faith that made her whole. And faith is a principle of aciton. If any of you are suffering, I invite you to have faith, and act by turning to the Savior. I know that he can heal us from what ever we are going through.


I love you all, have a great week!


Elder Duckworth

I know He will answer

Originally sent on July 7, 2014

Bonjour!


I am super short on time...sorry, but I'll give you all a quick rundown on how things are going...

First off, we have been teaching a super nice Chinese lady named Y for the past few weeks, and she accepted a baptismal date for July 19th! We will have to move the date because she missed church, but she is progressing, and the Gospel has made such a huge difference in her life! She only speaks Chinese, so my contributions to the lessons are a bit small, but they are a lot of fun, and the spirit isz there.


We got transfer calls and me and Elder Yeung are both staying. We are very excited for all of the fun adventures that await us in these next 6 weeks.


This last week was My birthday, as well as the 4th of July. They were both celebrated by eating obscene amonts of food...so I felt right at home. We were able to do a lot of good work with members this week which was really good.


Really quick story for the week. There is a family of Recent converts in the ward that we get to see a lot, and they are awesome. This last week, J (hes 15) was at a construction site, and somehow slipped and fell and was hurt really badly by some rebar sticking out of the ground. He was with his friends family (also in the ward). His friends mom heard the commotion and came over and saw the scene. She was trying to get everything in order, and she remarked that both of them were surprisingly calm. She suggested that they pray together, and they both responded that they already had. When I heard this, I was very impressed by the fact that two young men, one of them who has only been in the church for about 6 months, thought to pray in the midst of a really serious accident. Even though they had to wait an hour and a half before the ambulance could get him to the hospital, J said he felt comforted, and that it Only felt like 20 minutes. The Lord was with him, and responded to his prayer. May we all follow their example, and turn to the Lord Even in our most hard of times. I know he will answer.


Things are going well here, and I'm loving what I am doing. Thank you all for your love and support. I love you all!


Elder Duckworth

Simple, Yet Powerful

Originally sent June 30, 2014

Bonjour à tous!


This has been a fun, crazy busy week for us here in Toulouse. The sun has been out, and so were we. We had a lot of lessons with new faces this last week. We are making a lot of progress with building our teaching pool, and we are starting to find new people who are ready to progress.


Our equip here has been cursed with vacations. Everytime we find somebody really cool, and they are genuinely interested in our message, they leave. It has been hard to stay patient, but we are doing our best.


We have been able to find some really cool Chinese people as of late, and it has been a pleasure for me to get to know them and help them learn the gospel. My Chinese is still next to nothing, but the cool thing about the gift of toungues is that when we testify of the Savior, the spirit will help is out. I was able to say a very short testimony at the end of a lesson in Chinese, and even though I felt it wasn't much, our ami really appreciated the fact that I spoke her language, and she said she was really touched by what I said.


Over the past few weeks, a lot of my studies have been in the Book of Mormon, especially in scriptures that testify of Christ. I have grown in my knowledge, but more importantly spiritually as well. The things in the scriptures aren't just stories to me. Thanks to a lot of study and prayer, these things become more and more reality to me.


The Gospel is Simple, yet powerful and I have seen first hand how it can change peoples lives. Here in Toulouse we have a recent convert named R. I have been over to his house at least once a week since I got here. He has gone through some awful things in his life with drugs divorce, and illness. when the missionaries found him he was in a dark place, absouloute rock bottom. But he testifies that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what saved him. He is now a stong member of the church, and does missionary work every day. He has invited everyone he knows to come and learn about the Church. The progress I have seen in him, and the potential that I see in him is a living testimony of the Gospel in action.



I love you all lots, hope you have a great week full of Miracles!
Elder Duckworth

Nice was nice

Bonjour!!!


Sorry that its been a while! I will give you all a quick rundown of whats been going on.


This last week as a mission we had the incredible opportunity to go to Nice to hear Elder Anderson speak. It was an amazing experience, and the spirit was there so strong. I really have a newfound appreciation for the restored gospel that we have as members of the church, and all of the blessings that come from that. As an Apostle, Elder Anderson is a special witness of Jesus Christ, and I really believe that to be true. I had the spirit confirm the truthfulness of what he said, especially about Christ. It was a day I'll never be able to forget.


Since the conference, we have had a couple of hiccups in our work. Our amis B and Y, who were both progressing extremely well, decided to go on vacation for a while, which has been really rough on us. We are going to have to refix dates, and hope that they continue to read the scriptures and pray while they're gone. But we are really optimistic about the future.


The weather here is starting to get a bit on the warm side. I am starting to lose a good amount of weight. My clothes are starting to get abit on the baggy side.


Recently we have been working with a young adult named P. He was baptized pretty recently, and has made incredible progress in the gospel. He now holds a stake calling, and we have been going over to his apartment to help him study the gospel from time to time. The last time we were over there, he asked me if I could help him with something. He reaches into his bag and pulls out mission papers!!!!! I knew he wanted to go on a mission, but I had no Idea he was that close to going. It was really exciting, and allowed me to reflect on my descision to serve a mission. I really feel like I lucked out big time. It has been the most rewarding experience


I love you all! Have a great week


Elder Duckworth

With great spiritual experiences comes great opposition

Bonjour à tous!

This week has been absolutely awesome. Me and Elder Yeung worked really hard, and we were able to see some awesome stuff happen. (Im emailing early because we have a conference in Nice with Elder Anderson on Tuesday!).

We started out the week by teaching our friend Yu. He is from China, and he has come to church 3 times. We were able to have a lesson at a member's home with him this week (always the best) We taught the restoration, and he received it really well. It was a lot of information all at once, but he said that he can really feel something when he prays, attends church, reads The Book of Mormon, ETC. He says that he believes that the gospel is true. At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said yes!... but the only problem is that he left on vacation for a whole month so we are going to have to wait... :) (good thing I studied patience haha)

On Wednesday we had a lesson with our ami Benjamin. We found Benjamin street contacting. He was in a hurry, and so we had to talk fast. We asked him some questions, and he said a lot of yes's (no idea how to spell that). We invited him to come to institute and he said yes then walked away. Normally, this means thanks for your time but I'm not interested. We did get his phone number and invited him to come and he said yes again. The night of Institute comes around and he shows up...with a friend! They had an awesome time, and really participated in the lesson. The teacher gave them copies of the Book of Mormon it was sooo cool. We fixed a RDV for this last Wednesday with Benjamin. Fast forward to this week, and we have our lesson with Benjamin. We asked how he liked The Book of Mormon, and he said that he had read the whole book of Moroni, as well as Mormon! He said that he felt it was true. We then taught the restoration, and everything was super well received. He shared some pretty cool personal spiritual experiences with us, and he expressed how he felt that he had found the right path. At the end of the Lesson, we invited him to be baptized and he said yet!!! He has a date for the 5th of July!!! He was so excited to learn that we fixed a RDV for the next day :). We went over the Restoration again, and had an awesome member there testifying. He said that he had prayed about The Book of Mormon, and feels that it is true. He is going to come to church this Sunday and meet the ward. We are so excited :D. There still is a long way to go, but I feel that Benjamin was really prepared to meet us.

Just an overall really awesome week. It really feels good to be teaching, and seeing the gospel change peoples lives. It has been said that with great spiritual experiences comes great opposition, and I have also seen a bit of that too. Me and my Companion met a man who really just didn't like us, and really just attacked us and our beliefs. He said some hurtful things, and said that we don't really follow Christ, and that we don't know him. This kindof put me in a funk for a bit, not going to lie.

However, in my personal studies the last few days, I have been able to find comfort in the scriptures. I have felt spiritual confirmation that Jesus is the Christ. He lived a perfect life, serving others all along the way. He suffered for our sins. In The Garden of Gesthenme, as well as on the Cross. He died for us. For me and for you. I know that on the third day, He rose again. He conquered death so that all of us can live again.
I also know that His church has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that with that all of the authority and orginization that existed in the time of Christ once again is found on earth. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God.

This knowledge has brought so much Joy to me and my family, and that is why I want to share it with others. I am so greatful for the opportunity to wear Christ's name on my chest every day, and to help others come unto him. I would not trade this for anything.

I love you all so much, you are great.

Have a great week!


Elder Duckworth