Tuesday, June 24, 2014
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
Sunday, June 8, 2014
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
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
Monday, June 2, 2014
Ni Hao!
Ni Hao!
This has been an awesome, busy week, and we are finding lots of people to share the gospel with.
I don't have much time, but I just wanted to share a cool miracle that happened a few days ago
I was on exchange with Elder Moeler, and we went to go do service at a families house. This family has been through a lot, and we went to just try to help them in any way we knew how. As we approached their house, a heavy rain started. We got to their house, and were trying to decide what to do. We were deciding whether or not we should stay, and a member suggested we pray for the rain to stop. I looked around and saw clouds in every direction. But we decided to give it a shot. After a heartfetlt, short prayer, we went inside the families house. Within 10 minuets the rain had completely stopped, and we were able to work in their yard and finish their garden.
I know that our Heavenly Father Loves us, and he hears our prayers. He is our Father, and wants to hear from us.
This has been an awesome, busy week, and we are finding lots of people to share the gospel with.
I don't have much time, but I just wanted to share a cool miracle that happened a few days ago
I was on exchange with Elder Moeler, and we went to go do service at a families house. This family has been through a lot, and we went to just try to help them in any way we knew how. As we approached their house, a heavy rain started. We got to their house, and were trying to decide what to do. We were deciding whether or not we should stay, and a member suggested we pray for the rain to stop. I looked around and saw clouds in every direction. But we decided to give it a shot. After a heartfetlt, short prayer, we went inside the families house. Within 10 minuets the rain had completely stopped, and we were able to work in their yard and finish their garden.
I know that our Heavenly Father Loves us, and he hears our prayers. He is our Father, and wants to hear from us.
Samedi Sportif
Originally sent May 26, 2014
Bonjour!
This has been a crazy week because it was the end of the transfer, but we finished with a bang.
Every saturday we do a samedi sportif as an opportunity for members, non members, and missionaries to have a good time and create friendships. This last saturday, we had a less active friend that we had talked to invite 5 of her friends!! It was super cool. We played some ball with them for a while, and got to know them really good. At the end, they invited us over for dinner, so after some appointments in the afternoon we went over for dinner. I ate so much I thought I was going to explode. It was awesome.
What was even cooler is that two of them came to church the next day!!!! I promise that only good things can happen if we simply invite people!
So transfer calls were this last week, and I am staying. I received a new companion named Elder Yeung from Hong Kong! He is super cool, and speaks really good Chinese :) so we are going to work really hard to find chinese people that we can teach. Maybe I can Learn a little Chinese on the way.
I love you all hope you have a great week!
Elder Duckworth
Bonjour!
This has been a crazy week because it was the end of the transfer, but we finished with a bang.
Every saturday we do a samedi sportif as an opportunity for members, non members, and missionaries to have a good time and create friendships. This last saturday, we had a less active friend that we had talked to invite 5 of her friends!! It was super cool. We played some ball with them for a while, and got to know them really good. At the end, they invited us over for dinner, so after some appointments in the afternoon we went over for dinner. I ate so much I thought I was going to explode. It was awesome.
What was even cooler is that two of them came to church the next day!!!! I promise that only good things can happen if we simply invite people!
So transfer calls were this last week, and I am staying. I received a new companion named Elder Yeung from Hong Kong! He is super cool, and speaks really good Chinese :) so we are going to work really hard to find chinese people that we can teach. Maybe I can Learn a little Chinese on the way.
I love you all hope you have a great week!
Elder Duckworth
Because of Him
Origianally sent May 19, 2014
bonjour!
I just spent the last little bit fighting with the computer, so Im out of time. I wanted to share this video, its awesome, and really reflects my thoughts as of late. It really is because of Christ that all is possible. I testify that He loves you, and has died for you.
I love you all, Have a good week!
Elder Duckworth
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng
bonjour!
I just spent the last little bit fighting with the computer, so Im out of time. I wanted to share this video, its awesome, and really reflects my thoughts as of late. It really is because of Christ that all is possible. I testify that He loves you, and has died for you.
I love you all, Have a good week!
Elder Duckworth
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng
Merry Mother's Day
Originally sent May 12, 2014
Hello!
This week has been a fantastic week! Mother's day was great, and it was really good to hear from the family. I have such an appreciation for my Mother, and I have nothing for respect for Mothers, I definately couldn't do it.
This week was a lot of fun for me and Elder Dalton. We did a lot of hard work, and were able to see a lot of miracles. One that was really cool was that at the beginning of the week, we hadn't had much luck with fixing Rendez Vous. We felt a little discouraged, and we decided to try something new. We got out an old Chinese area book from when we had Chinese speaking Missionaries in Toulouse, as well as some of their language material, and decided to see if we could fix a Rendez vous in Chinese. We had some funny conversations for sure in all sorts of languages, but the miracle is that we acutally fixed a Rendez Vous out of it! It took 3 different languages, and a lot of help from the Lord, but we did it. His name is Caiyong, and we actually taught him twice, and have stayed in contact with him. It was a really cool little miracle.
In my studies this week, I read a lot about pride. Pride is one of the sins a lot of us are the most guilty of. I will be the first to admit that I let my pride get the best of me every now and again. It's hard. But in looking at the life of the Savior, he showed us a better way of living. He demonstrated that through meekness, humility, and service, we all can live on a higher level. Something I am doing, and I invite you to do as well, is to find ways to get rid of pride in our lives. I can promise that we will all be happier if we do this.
I love you all, have a great week!
Hello!
This week has been a fantastic week! Mother's day was great, and it was really good to hear from the family. I have such an appreciation for my Mother, and I have nothing for respect for Mothers, I definately couldn't do it.
This week was a lot of fun for me and Elder Dalton. We did a lot of hard work, and were able to see a lot of miracles. One that was really cool was that at the beginning of the week, we hadn't had much luck with fixing Rendez Vous. We felt a little discouraged, and we decided to try something new. We got out an old Chinese area book from when we had Chinese speaking Missionaries in Toulouse, as well as some of their language material, and decided to see if we could fix a Rendez vous in Chinese. We had some funny conversations for sure in all sorts of languages, but the miracle is that we acutally fixed a Rendez Vous out of it! It took 3 different languages, and a lot of help from the Lord, but we did it. His name is Caiyong, and we actually taught him twice, and have stayed in contact with him. It was a really cool little miracle.
In my studies this week, I read a lot about pride. Pride is one of the sins a lot of us are the most guilty of. I will be the first to admit that I let my pride get the best of me every now and again. It's hard. But in looking at the life of the Savior, he showed us a better way of living. He demonstrated that through meekness, humility, and service, we all can live on a higher level. Something I am doing, and I invite you to do as well, is to find ways to get rid of pride in our lives. I can promise that we will all be happier if we do this.
I love you all, have a great week!
Some Pics
Ok, so the first one is me and ELder Frandson from american Fork,The second one is me and My companion riding bikes for the first time! and the third one is kind of a funny story, I had left my camera on a park bench one night, so the next morning we woke up early to go running to see if we could find it. This is the picture of two tired missionaries who are celebrating the found camera
A Story for the Ages
As a gift, I have also included the pictures of the infamous bird poop day. Enjoy! :D
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Miracles happen all the time
Originally sent May 5, 2014
Bonjour à tous!
This has been a pretty solid week. We had zone conference, which was absolutely amazing. We have some very inspired leaders in this mission, and the direction that we received will definately be able to help us be better missionaries so that we can better serve the people of France!
This week we had a lot of people sleeping over in the Hotel Toulouse (our apartment) because of the zone conference, so it was a lot of fun to meet a lot of people, as well as see some old friends also. I got to go on an exchange with an old friend from High School which was pretty cool.
This week my companion and have seen some pretty awesome miracles. Elder Neil Anderson visited the mission about 2 years ago, and as part of his message he told us that as we strive to do our best, prepared people will come and find us. We were able to see two fulfillments of this promise this last week. Both times we were just walking, and were stopped. The first time was this lady from Iran. We hadnt left the apartment for but 2 minuets when she stopped us and asked us if we were people who could "teach her about religeon" because she has been searching. We were pleased to tell this sweet lady that that is exactly what we do :D The other time me and my companion were "lost" (I have found that normally when we get lost that means something cool is about to happen). We were looking at a map on a bench when we hear, "Hey Elders!" Two young tahitian students aproached us. The girl told us that she is a member, and is studying here. Her frend was this big Tahitian guy, and she said "I've been trying to get this guy to meet with the missionaries for a while now" and he laughed at that. We got to know them a bit, and also found out that this girl has a bunch of Tahitian student friends that she wants to introduce us to!(score!) So basically we are in the process of organizing this big basketball game, and we will be able to meet all of her friends through that! This kind of stuff happens all the time here as a missionary, I promise you all that miracles do happen!
I love you all, I hope you have a fantastic week!
Bonjour à tous!
This has been a pretty solid week. We had zone conference, which was absolutely amazing. We have some very inspired leaders in this mission, and the direction that we received will definately be able to help us be better missionaries so that we can better serve the people of France!
This week we had a lot of people sleeping over in the Hotel Toulouse (our apartment) because of the zone conference, so it was a lot of fun to meet a lot of people, as well as see some old friends also. I got to go on an exchange with an old friend from High School which was pretty cool.
This week my companion and have seen some pretty awesome miracles. Elder Neil Anderson visited the mission about 2 years ago, and as part of his message he told us that as we strive to do our best, prepared people will come and find us. We were able to see two fulfillments of this promise this last week. Both times we were just walking, and were stopped. The first time was this lady from Iran. We hadnt left the apartment for but 2 minuets when she stopped us and asked us if we were people who could "teach her about religeon" because she has been searching. We were pleased to tell this sweet lady that that is exactly what we do :D The other time me and my companion were "lost" (I have found that normally when we get lost that means something cool is about to happen). We were looking at a map on a bench when we hear, "Hey Elders!" Two young tahitian students aproached us. The girl told us that she is a member, and is studying here. Her frend was this big Tahitian guy, and she said "I've been trying to get this guy to meet with the missionaries for a while now" and he laughed at that. We got to know them a bit, and also found out that this girl has a bunch of Tahitian student friends that she wants to introduce us to!(score!) So basically we are in the process of organizing this big basketball game, and we will be able to meet all of her friends through that! This kind of stuff happens all the time here as a missionary, I promise you all that miracles do happen!
I love you all, I hope you have a fantastic week!
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