May 27, 2014

Bonjour à tout,

As you might have assumed based on this late email i got transfered out of Vitrolles. I am now serving in Brive with Elder Martinez. He is a great Elder and it is the first time since the mtc that I have served with a spanish comp. After leaving the appartment at 6:00 I was lucky enough to spend all monday on or waiting for trains before finally getting in at 7:00 that evening. Gotta love transfer day.

Brive is a nice little ville in the compagne. It was actually a branch at the beginning of my mission but was recently made a ward. There are 2 sets of elders here and Elder Kiser is actually in Brive as well as Elder Hunt who was in my apt in Toulouse so it is cool to see them again.

As much as I was happy to leave behind all of the trials that we dealt with in vitrolles it was still hard to leave behind all the people there. It is crazy how fast you become attatched to the ward and amis in an area even if you're only there for 1 transfer. Seeing as how I am now in my 8th ville, I have these connections and memories with people all over the south of France. 

Living the life of a missionary constantly helping the Lord in His work really opens your eyes and helps you realize why it is He does this work. I have met all kinds of people in all sorts of circumstances and even though they are all imperfect and have faults and do stupid things you can't help but love them and have the desire to help and sevre them. Changing villes and having to leave behind friends and loved ones  also helps us to understand how great a blessing it would be to be able to see them again after this life. 

That is what the gospel is all about. It alows us to return and live together as a heavenly family in the presence of God and not only that but to learn and grow so that we can iron out all of those kinks that keep us from being a happy unified family. It allows each member of this family to recieve more blessings and happiness than we can even comprehend at the moment. It's no wonder that this is Gods work and His Glory. Serving this mission has opened my eyes and allowed me to see others for who they really are (my brothers and sisters) and who they can become (perfect as is our Savior). It is important for all of us to understand the whys of the gospel and of this life. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why God does what He does?

Recently in a sunday school lesson we learned that we shouldn't just try to get through our trials but that we should try to learn from them. Obviously if God saw fit to give us these trials there was a reason behind it. The same goes for every aspect of life. We should ask ourselves, Am I just trying to get through each day? Am I going through the motions? Or am I trying to learn from and get something out of each moment in life?

As we stop and think about why we are here and why we are doing what we are doing, we will have more of a purpose and direction in life. Our lives will be more rewarding and we will be happier. Before you just continue going through the day to day, stop and ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing and what you can learn and gain from it.

I love this gospel and all of the answers that it brings to me in my life. I love and am grateful for my Heavenly Father who has allowed me to live this life and has provided me with the way to make the most of it. I love that I will be able to return to live with our big loving family after this life. I love you all!

Elder Swenson