But by the grace of God I am what I am

Originally sent on September 15, 2014

Bojour à tous!!


Sorry it has been a while! But things are all going really well here In Grenoble. We have been working hard, and finding people to teach. These last few weeks have been a real struggle but we have been able to find some awesome people to teach. We found this cool guy named J. from paraguay. He is a student here and really interested in our message. He is going through some hard times, and the Gospel of Christ will be a huge source of peace and comfort in his life. These past weeks we have been really trying to focus on working through our members. We were able to teach the neighbors of one of our members, and we also have plans to teach two other people that are friends with the members here too. We are really excited for this week, and for the opportunity that we have to teach these awesome people.


Lately I have been thinking about how stinkin lucky I am to be a missionary. Especially here in France. Every day that I have as a missionary is a gift. I couldn't be any happier. Sometimes I feel underqualified, and that I didn't do anything to merit these blessings. But sometimes I fell as if I am not good enough. But I was reading in the New Testament and found this cool scripture. This comes from Paul, who for a lot of his life wasn't exactly the best guy. He spent a lot of his time and efforts persecuting the early Christian church. But he had a rather big divine intervention, and he changed his ways and became one of the greatest missionaries in all time. This is a scripture found in Corinthians. He says:


9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be calledan apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

I really like this scripture, and I feel like it really well sums up the way I feel. I know that it is by nothing short of the grace of God that I am where I am today. But like Paul said, I don't want this gift to be in vain, so I'm going to do all that I can to live up to my calling.

Anyways, I love you all, and hope life is treating you well. I know that God lives, and that he loves each one of you!


Elder Duckworth


Here are some pictures of Grenoble and some awesome Italian food! Have a great week :D