April 15, 2013

Hey everyone,

So this week I finally got to meet all the members of the ward here because we had church this week. They are all super nice and I'm glad to be serving here. The weather here is about as consistent as I remember it being back home. We went from wearing sweaters and coats to wearing short sleaved shirts without our suitcoats in just a day. I feel like we stand out a bit more to people here than we did in marseille. We'll be walking down the street and hear a group of kids say hey it's those guys, and then as we're walking we'll here Hello in a super french accent. Everybody knows that we're american and tries to speak english to us. Actually, if you ask most french people what we speak they would say american. But I like it here and at least they notice the churches presence here if nothing else. The other day in front of the train station there was this big group of people and we thought it was just a strike/protest thing (the french love their strikes) but it turned out to be some street play thing put on by some church. As we walked past the bus stop in front of it a guy sitting on the bench saw us and said, Looks like you got some competition. I thought it was funny.

This past week in my morning prayers before studies I have been praying specifically that i will be able to be taught something by the spirit that i can in turn share with someone else. Any way so we have this missionary night thing with some of the younger recent converts where we read through preach my gospel and talk about it. We were still waiting for some people to arrive and I was talking with one of the members there because he was asking me about trials and also about prayer. Just that morning I had been reading about those same subjects. They were fresh on my mind and so i could easily talk about them and share scriptures with him. I read D&C 122 that morning and it went perfect with what he needed to hear about how we can have strength and comfort during our trials. Then later into the rdv the same thing happened two different times with some of the others there. I was easily able to answer their questions and bear testimony and help them feel better. Later that night as I reflected on the experience and realized that the questions that were asked by the 3 members and the answers that I gave lined up exactly with the topics i had studied the past 3 mornings. I then remembered my prayers and how I had specifically asked to be able to learn something that i could share with others. It was too perfect to be a coincidence. I know that the Lord always listens to our prayers. If we are specific and sincere in our prayers the Lord will grant our righteous desires. Never forget the power that single heartfelt prayer can have. I love you all and pray for you every day.

Elder Swenson