July 29, 2013

Bonjour à tous

So yesterday we were out contacting. When i very first left the appartment I had this distinct impression that there was someone specific that we were supposed to find. Our goal for the day was to get 100 people contacted. Towards the evening we still needed about 40 more to reach that goal. "We got this no problem" is what we were thinking when all of the sudden out of nowhere it starts pouring rain. With no umberellas and very few people left on the street we continued on. People looked at us like we were crazy as we approached them dripping wet and asked them if they wanted to learn more about the Saviour. We had been rejected by literally everyone and en plus I had a contact where the people couldn't understand my french, one of the most frustrating things of my mission. We still had 20 people left to reach our goal and about 40 minutes left in the day. But i knew that there was still someone out there waiting for us so we decided to continue. I knew that the adversary was sending all of this opposition for a reason so i was determined to keep going until time was up. Then finnaly after about 89 rejections we found him. The guy who Christ had been directing us to that day. We talked with him for a good 30 minutes, testified of the Saviour, shared the first vision, and talked about finding strength in trials. At the end we gave him a dedicated book of mormon that a member had given us earlier at church. As we parted ways smiling and filled with the love of Christ I offered a prayer of thanks in my heart. 

I know that if we continue to work even when we are bombarded by opposition that we will see miracles. We easily could have given up and headed towards home but we stuck it out and were rewarded with a blessing after the trial of our faith. All of the bad weather and tired bodies and insults and mockings and abuse we see as servants of the Lord are worth it when we find that lost sheep :) I love this work!

In life we face all kinds of crazy opposition. Though it might seem difficult at times we can perservere. As children of the most powerful being in the universe we all have a divine potential within. We can always choose to do what we know is right, we can always continue to work when everything else is working against us. If we continue moving forward with faith in Christ and an eye single to the work we will see miracles. God has promised us angels round about us to strengthen us. And we should always take confidence in the fact that our saviour Jesus Christ had enough faith in us that he was willing to take upon himself all manner suffering that we might be able to overcome the world as He did.

I love you. Your Father in Heaven loves you. We have confidence in you. Continue to perservere through those difficult moments and you will be blessed. Never give up. Never forget why you are here and never forget the amazing potential that you have as a child of God to do good.

Elder Swenson

July 22, 2013

This week was a good one. On monday when we were out and about, I had just got done praying that i could just help someone feel better even if i couldn't set up a rdv with them. The first contact I had I ended up speaking with this man who had actually seen the missionaries in the past and had read the book of mormon but had felt frustrated with life and God. I ended up talking with him and testifying for the next 15 minutes. At the end of the contact he told me about how angry he had been lately especially when it comes to religion. He said that the last time he talked with us "preachers" he got really angry, yelled, and felt really upset the rest of the night. But this time it was the opposite. He told me that he felt really peaceful talking with me and that it was the first time in a really long time that he had felt good while talking about religion. At the end he thanked me for talking with him and told me that I had really helped him feel better that evening. As I was walking away I remembered my prayer literally seconds before talking with this man. While I hadn't managed to fix any thing with him, I knew for a fact that I had helped him.

The rest of the week was filled a lot of really good conversations on the street or at a door step. Some of which lead to numbers or fixed rdvs, many didn't, but I feel that with all of them I had left the person feeling better than I found them. I have really been putting focus on improving my ability to contact. I can testify that through dilligence and prayer we can see improvment in ourselves. In D&C there is a good scripture that tells us "All vitctory is brought to pass through our diligence, faithfulness, and prayer of faith."

I feel alot like Jeremiah. In chapter 1 the Lord calls him to the work. At first he feels scared and overwhelmed when it comes to talking with others. But God tells him not to be scared because He will be with him and will tell him what he needs to say. At the beginning of the mission i felt like saying as did Jeremiah "I am but a child and cannot speak," but I know that the Lord has strengthened and comforted me. At the beginning of my mission I stuggled with contacts in my native language and it was all the more difficult in a foreign one. I am still far from perfect but i have seen how far i have come thanks to the help of the Lord.

This gospel is a gospel of hope. It is a gospel of peace. It is a gospel of joy. How lucky are we to have a Father in Heaven who loves us enough to help us in aspects of our life? A Father who is willing to strengthen us, help us, and bear us up. Always remeber the divine potential that you have and be able to say with confidence "I can do all things through Him which strengtheneth me." 

I love you.

Elder Swenson

July 15, 2013

Bonjour à tous

How is summer treating you? It has been super hot here. I don't think i've ever sweat so much in my life. We sleep out on the balcony at night so we dont die in the hot appartment. This past week we did alot of work out in the smaller villes outside of toulouse. Last saturday we were up in this little ville visiting some less actives and contacting. While we were walking down the street this car going the opposite direction flips a u turn and nearly runs us over as it stops in front of us to cut us off. Expecting to be yelled at by some crazy person as us missionaries have become accustomed to, we looked up and this guy asks us  "Hey are you the missisonaries?" We found out that apparantly he had seen the missionaries once in the past and we asked him if he was interested in seeing us again. He said yes but that he didn't have time at the moment but asked for our number. It's always cool when people find us instead of the otherway around.

This past week we also did alot of finding. We had to pass our ami Kanel to the sisters because the zone leaders thought that it would be good for her to be taught by sisters. We were kinda bummed about that but she still has her baptisimal date set up and should be getting baptised soon so thats good. Any way we talked to alot of cool people this week. I like being able to have conversations with all sorts of different people and finding out about them as well as sharing our message. Even if we they aren't interested in our message or we cant set anything up with them we can always just be kind and show intrest in their lives. I always want to leave them feeling better then they did when we started talking and try to leave them a good impression of the church so that the next time they see the missionaries or have some sort of contact with the church they will be more receptive.

As members of this church and representitves of Christ we should always strive to do our best so that we set good examples for others. I remember hearing this peom before my mission that goes some thing along the lines of,

Others are watching and this is a fact.

Someone will notice the way that I act.

So make this your motto and put it to use,

Be someones example, not their excuse.

We always need to do our best and strive to be more and more like our Savior each day. We all know that actions speak louder than words and sometimes the best way that we can help others have the desire to learn more about the church is through our actions. I challenge you all to reflect on who you are and pick an area in your life where you can improve. As we develop Christlike attributes we grow happier. That is what the gospel does for us and that is the purpose of life, to improve ourselves and to find happiness. I love you all,

Elder Swenson

July 8, 2013

Hey everyone,

So this past week went well. I did an exchange with elder Tulley and that was cool. It felt like i was a bleu again (but this time i could understand everything that people were saying). It is cool to reflect back and see all of the progress that we've made. It was good getting to work with him again.

Me and elder Wilson did a lot of porting this week in a fairly nice neighborhood and because it is rediculously hot right now i saw way too many old guys in speedos. I'm looking forward to colder weather when people start putting their clothes back on.

Zone conference this week was on the fourth of July so we sang the star spangled banner, said the pledge, and ate some american cookies. Lucky for us we had the flag that elder Ashton bought from the africans at a street market. I hope you all set off some cool fire works.

Last saturday we had a cool activity for the ward and their friends about the restoration. There was a slideshow with a bucnh of cool pictures as we talked about different aspects of the gosple broken up by musical numbers. It was actually really cool and even though there wasnt a ton of people the ones there all enjoyed it. There is this one really nice recent convert who is the only member in her family who decided to invite her aunt to come with her to the activity. At the end we invited her to share her testimony and it was really powerful and touching for her aunt. It is really awesome when you get to see members share the gospel with there family and friends.

The work continues to progress. Even if a lot of the fruit that we see ends up getting passed to the missonaries in the other ward. I really like it here in Toulouse and I hope i get to stay here for a couple of transfers. I love being able to share this gospel with everyone even though they don't always accept it.

I love you and hope you are all enjoying your summer.

Elder Swenson

July 1, 2013

Hey there everybody,

So another good week here in france. I'm getting used to being in a bigger ville with a bunch of missionaries again. Toulouse isn't as big as marseille but there are more missionaries and members here. There are 2 wards here and 7 equipes of missionaries here plus a senior couple. Because there are 2 wards and so many missionaries the sector is divided by the river that cuts toulouse in half. I'm not used to being kept out of half of the ville. Actually on second thought Marseille had so many "red zones" that i kind of am used to it ;)

So i got to meet a few new missionaries this past week. Elder Tulleys bleu is Elder Hunt. Hes going to be a good missionary and it is cool sharing an appartment with their equipe. Also there is now a sister swenson in our mission. Elder wilson was excited about that when he saw her name tag for the first time. On sunday all of the new missionaries in the ward bore their testimonies. 6 of the 8 of us in our ward are new to the are so there were plenty of missionariy testimonies. We have 2 blues in the ward (elder Hunt and soeur Bailey) seeing them trying to understand and speak french reminds me of how hard that was at first and helps me see how far ive come in that regard. I'm glad that i can understand people now.

We have a cool ami here who we engaged to baptism for the end of the july last week. She is from tahiti and she grew up in a part member family but was never baptised but we are working on that now :) Any way she is super cool and super upbeat and were lucky to be working with her.

Well i hope all is going well back in the states. I love you all,

Elder Swenson