This past week was great. It involved many hours of trains and sleeping on the floor. After church on sunday we headed to bordeaux where i stayed for 2 nights and helped out all of the transferring missionaries. Then I headed to Lyon and slept there for a night and we met our new comps on wednesday. After a few meetings we hopped back on a train and stayed in my old apt in montpellier for another night before finally making it back to brive thursday afternoon. Being back in montpellier for a night brought back alot of memories especially since i was there with a bleu. It seems like so long ago that I served there and yet while i was there it felt like I had never left. I was glad to be able to see it again.
So my new comp is Elder Ottesen. He is from Washington. He is a stud and so far it has been great working with him. His french is great and he's got plenty of confidence for a bleu. Also in our apt is Elder Manwaring and his bleu Elder Nadauld. It has been fun having 4 of us in the ward again after loosing the other equipe last transfer. They are both great as well and we had a great end to the week filled with lots of service. We ended up helping with 3 moves this weekend. One moving into the ward, one moving out, and one moving to a different house within the ward boundaries. We have been kept pretty busy here and have even more service lined up for this week. I enjoy it though and even with all of the service and trainrides this past week we have been able to talk with some awesome people and share the gospel.
While on the train back to brive we ended up sitting by a nice girl who spoke english because she has moved around and lived all over the place due to her dad being a swiss diplomat or something like that. We talked for a good hour or more and were able to share our testimonies and help her understand more about the gospel. While doing service at one of the moves the member started talking to one of his new neighbors about the move and how he was glad that he had the missionaries to help him. He was able to introduce us to the man and we were able to discuss a bit about our beliefs and the members all came and talked and shared their testimonies as well. It turns out that he had actually met with the missionaries in the past as well. Even though neither of these two ended up wanting to change their ways for the moment, both of them left feeling uplifted and having a much better image of the church.
I love being able to share the gospel with others and especially in these situations. It is so much more natural to share the gospel with someone when you aren't walking around in the streets or knocking on doors. When you can just have a conversation with someone sitting next to you on a train or while doing service they see you as more of a normal person instead of some weirdo walking around trying to convert everyone. As we are simply being kind to others and taking interest in their lives they are alot more open. Instead of having to start up conversations about the gospel the people will just naturally see that something is different about us and ask us about it.
Sharing the gospel is easy and doesn't have to be awkward. We just have to be ready to share it at all times and then look for opportunities to arise in our daily lives. I invite each of you to look for these opportunities this comming week to share the gospel with those around you and then don't let them pass by when you see them. Nothing makes you feel happier than being able to help Heavenly Father out in His work. I am glad that I have the opportunity to be a full time missionary but i know that i will continue to share the gospel when i return back home. We all have the privlege and responsibility to share the gospel at all times no matter who or where we are and I know that God will help us as we strive to do our best. I love you all!
Elder Swenson
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