Miracles

Bonjour!

I had an awesome first week here in the beautiful city of Limoges! We spent a lot of time this week here working with people in the ward here (we have an awesome ward here by the way). On Saturday the ward did an "international night" where everybody brought foods from where they are from. Needless to say I struggled with that being the picky eater that I am. Some people also did really cool presentations on the countries that they are from. A lady did a presentation on the Philippiens, and taught us how to sing a song in Tagolog. Our Relief Society president here is Tahitian, and had a group of Musicians come which was really cool. It was an awesome night, and what was even better, is that one of the less active members and one of our amis came!

Their names are M__ and J__ and they are both from the Congo. Apparently they had both kinda fallen off of the face of the planet for a while, and it was the first time in like over a month we had seen them. But they came, and even brought an African Dish called Saka Saka (It was sooo nice of them, but it straight up made me gag). The ward here was so good too, and immediately greeted them and made them feel welcome. They had a great time, and I got talking with M__ the Less active, and he kinda told me his story. It was so cool. He has been through some serious stuff in his life, especially with the wars that are going on in Africa. His story is awesome, and I dont have enough time to do it justice, but long story short he had a Joseph Smith-like story where he tried all of the christian churches, but none of them "convinced him :)". Then he knew of someone who was "Mormon", and was a colonel in the Army there. He was in a position of power that is normally very corrupted in his country, but this man did not abuse his power and take advantage of the people. Then he moved here to France, kinda stalked down our church, and was baptized in 2002! After I talked to him for a bit, HE invited US to his house this Wednesday (miracle) and his friend wanted to talk Sunday.

Fast forward to Sunday. It was a great Sunday. M__ came, participated and was immediately welcomed back by the members as if he had never left. J__ had to work, so he didnt come, but we worked something out kinda sorta where we would come pray at his house after church some time. After church, we tried passing some people, and it didn't really work out, and then we missed our bus, which are like every half hour here on Sundays. So we had to wait, and then finally we were able to make it over towards J__ house. As we were approaching the address, I look out the window and see J__, M__, and another friend walking down the street. I got really excited, and all I could get out was "....STOP". So we hurried and got off of the bus and went and talked to them. Its hard to explain, but I cant stress enough that if we were either a minute earlier or later we would have missed them (another miracle). They were kinda off guard but invited us into J__'s house. We talked for a bit, and met their other friend, a woman named N__. She was very curious about who the heck we were, and how they were friends with us. She was very impressed, and got really sparked when we told her that we are going to start an English class here soon. Then we had M__ share his story about how he met the church which was even better a second time around :). Then we did a quick presentation of the Book of Mormon/Restoration to their friend N__. She was kindof unsure about it, but then J__ (who we weren't sure if he had read) Pulls out his, and basically tells this woman that she needs to read it! (miracle miracle miracle). It was an awesome experience, and it showed me how much God is in control. Everything works out for a reason :)


This week, I've studied a lot about Jesus Christ. I have learned a lot, and I just want you guys to know that He loves you :). He did so much for us, and all he wants from us is to follow him. It has been amazing as I have really started to learn about him, and how much really went into the Atonement. I testify that he died for us, and through him, we are going to be able to live again! This good news makes me happy, and I get to share it with everybody! This Gospel is a Gospel of happiness, and I challenge you to find somebody this week, and make them happy :)


Love you all, have a great week


Elder Duckworth