Sixty-nine

The true reason for Christmas

This week many things happened but I would like to focus this email on Jesus The Christ and how and why He is important in my life. Thus "title" of this weekly email, The true reason for Christmas.

To you, in David’s town this day,

Is born of David’s line

The Savior who is Christ the Lord,

And this shall be the sign:

The heav’nly Babe you there shall find

To human view displayed,

All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,

And in a manger laid.”

Thus spake the seraph, and forthwith

Appeared a shining throng

Of angels praising God, who thus

Addressed their joyful song:

All glory be to God on high

And on the earth be peace.

Goodwill henceforth from heav’n to men

Begin and never cease.”

Over 2000 years ago, at the meridian of time, a Savior was born. Our eldest Brother, most developed brother came to show us the way and unchain the effects of spiritual and physical death.

 He not only "bruised the serpents head" but ultimately crushed it. 

His life was one of example. He was a man of meekness, charity, devotion, similitude, and suffering. He was a man who searched for the one. 

He is real, He is living. 

He has a perfected body and flesh and bones and He is the master. This earth and many others were created by Him. He has no limits in power, glory, intelligence, patience, and grave. He beckons to us to live his teachings. Follow his principles because He is the way. Why not come into Him. Why no put his yoke upon us for it is easy and light. Not because there will be no challenges, not because there will never be heart breaks, misunderstandings, and regrets with no apparent solutions, but because He will be with us every step of the way.

I have a story that I would like to share of Him being with me every step of the way.

13 months ago when I was serving in Montpellier France I was going through a challenging time. I was still learning French and honestly I just felt tired of doing missionary work and I wanted to  quit and take off a week. There was one night I was praying for quite a while and tears of frustration and fatigue had come. In my prayer I basically said I can't do it anymore and I don't know if I could carry on. During my prayer I said I need to know that I will be alright and a spiritual confirmation of that. After saying that a thought and image came into my mind. I imagined a hand on my shoulder and a man kneeling next to me and He was praying for me. I didn't see anything with me physical eyes but I felt His presence.This experience is something I hold very dear. He has carried me throughout my mission and I the time has passed to fast! I know This Is His work and His church. He is very personal and He will take away all our grief, sicknesses, worries, diseases, and ever other fallen thing in this world. Because He has already taken them.

Merry Christmas and here is my wish for you.

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is giv’n!

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of his heav’n.

No ear may hear his coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive him, still

The dear Christ enters in.

May His love enter into our hearts and our homes is my prayer.

Sixty-eight

First off here is so much that I want to say but I don't have enough

time because it would take all day, but here are the bullet

points :)

-Geneva is nuts! Literally every nationality is represented! It is

really awesome to go contacting :)

-Going to church felt like a USA ward because the  members here are very punctual. To put it short (for everyone who knows my Dad), that is like how a lot of members are, in a good way :) A lot of members here are very educated, precise, and it is really fun to be here as a missionary because they get work done :) 

-Ward council was legendary this Sunday and extremely professional and

efficient.

-I have never been in a place where there is too much work to handle, and

here in Geneva I have felt that. There is so much going on and new

faces, a medium to big size city, and new everything. The first couple

days were hectic but it's better now :)

-Elder Roemer my new companion is such a bro and he is from Alamo,

Nevada. He is so chill and he literally never has stress, it's nuts! He is a very caring Elder and hard worker.

-There are 5 missionary companionships in Geneva so you see each other a lot more.

-Over 100 members that come each Sunday

-3 wards come to church here. Each Ward is a different language,

English, French, and Spanish

-There are two members of the seventh in our ward so that is fun.

Sunday school class is pretty epic :)

-There was a baptism this week for Romana. She is from Ethiopia and

she really has a sweet spirit. Her baptism was really a great

experience for her and the ward was really supportive.

There is so many more things but know everything is going great and

Geneva is super awesome! So many people are willing to talk with us

and the members are awesome! It's weird though because a lot of them

are from Utah so not going to lie it's really strange but we ate a

thanksgiving dinner at the Flakes home and I literally wanted to cry

in happiness when I saw the food :)

Lastly, Special shoot out to my sister Jenessa and her fiancé Greg.

They are getting married this week :)

Elder Duffy

P.S. I ended up not opening my Christmas presents yet. I thought of the marshmallow kid in the Uchdorf video :)

Sixty-seven

Hello everyone!

I have to keep this letter short because I am traveling all day today. I am going Geneva and I will be assigned to the English Ward. My équipe is the only one in the mission that is English speaking so it will be interesting. I will be District leader and training again! It's so exciting but very sad to go and to leave. Saying goodbye to everyone in Angouleme was very difficult especially Christ Kevine and Nathalie but I am really excited to go back to Suisse, especially Geneva. It was amazing to see how the Gospel changed their lives and I am very thankful for them for changing mine. I will be eternally grateful. As well it is interesting because the longest Americans can stay in Suisee is 3 months, so I know I will only be here for that time. As well there will 4 baptisms this week so please pray they will go well :)

Love y'all and I will give more details next week.

Love,

Elder Duffy

Sixty-six

So here is the low down of this weeks events ;)

-Thanksgiving themed Zone Conference

-2 Exchanges with the Elders of Brive and Perigeux

-1 day of raking leaves

-And a mission wide turned focus on focusing on part-member families

The zone conference was quite delightful. President Brown introduced

the Éclairer Le monde theme for this Christmas. He also gave us the

directive to basically stop contacting and porting and to work with

part member families. It was quite a conference. We are focusing on

this until the end of the year for the 250 baptism goal this

year. We are at 142 so these next 4 weeks are going to be

legendary! As well we had our personal interviews with President

Brown. Every interview I have had with President Brown have been

enriching, and this interview was not an exception. I do have a

feeling I am leaving Angouleme in one week donc on verra.

The exchanges we had were great and truly all the missionaries in this

District are all total friends. They know how to have a good time but

more importantly they know how to work hard.

We raked leaves for the Benes all of Wednesday. Who would know that

raking leaves is such a workout? A nice meal and refreshments were

quite a recompense though. I have no idea why anyone rakes

leaves when you can use a high powered air blower. When we found that

bad boy, life was great.

This week I have been studying a good amount of Elder Neal

Maxwell's general conference talks. Personally I think his talks are

some of the most life changing talks I have read from any

Apostle. They are quite well thought out and layered.

I have been studying the emotion of being happy lately. I have

come to find that happiness is an conscious emotion one must

constantly strive mentally to be filled. It is not always a

consequence but is rather a state of being. One can simply choose to

be ticked or "stoked". I don't know about you but life is difficult

and complicated enough by itself.  Why should we use sarcasm and

negative remarks that blunt one's self confidence, worth, and moral.

Let us be lifters. Let us be someone that enlightens others around us

and not depress. Let us give hope, not despair. Let us so other’s guilt

can be relieved instantly by the Atonement of Christ  and we can walk

anew. I love this Gospel. It broadens my scope of vision and enhances

comprehension. That is the "fruit" spoken of in Alma 32.

Love ya all and choose to be happy!

Elder Duffy

Sixty-five

Many miracles happen while during missionary work. This statement was proved many times this last week.

 I would love to recount all them to you, but that will not happen until I grown another pair of thumbs or voice recognition software becomes more accurate :)

So here are the highlights:

-Limoge exchange. I was with Elder Walton who is basically a mathématiques genius/hasn't gotten below a B since 4th grade/2300 on the SAT, which is like a 35 on the ACT. I had a good time talking with him and picking his files of information

-Day long service at the Banks #gardeningisthebest

-District Meeting, I will explain what happened further along

-Poiter's baptism (It happened here in Angouleme so we went :)

-Branch council and meal #Heaven

-Gave à talk on living our beliefs

District meeting which such an uplifting experience and it really reinforced everyone's testimonies. I would challenge everyone to read those scriptures on foreordination. They are quite insightful.

I know we are all suppose to be here with the people we are surrounded with. May we choose to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can live the pattern of joy and peace we were created to fill constantly, because of Him.

Love ya,

Elder Duffy

Sixty-four

So here was a couple highlights of the week:

-Zone Training
-Playing soccer with a bunch of semi pro football players
-Arm wrestling one of the best rugby players in the world, who plays
for the Tonga national rugby team and he is absolutely HUGE!
-Giving three baptismal interviews for his kids
-Exchanges with the Elders of Brive and Perigeux

So I will provide more details of each listed event

Zone training was held in the Talence chapel in Bordeaux. It was a
good time and it was basically a twin presentation to last weeks
district meeting. It was a good time and it got everyone hyped to work
more with the members.

This last Saturday we had a Samedi Sportif so we played football with
Christ Kevin, Frere !enardain, Anothony (the son of Nathalie), Johanna
( an awesome less active from Tahiti), and like 8 of Christ Kevin's
semi pro friend players. IT WAS NUTS. I felt like I was in Fifi the
video game but it was reality!

After church, yesterday, Elder Sorrensen and I went up to Poiter to
give 3 baptismal interviews. Ofa, John, and Janny. The interviews were
great and all three of them are so ready! There father Sioni, (I don't
know if that's how you spell his name) is one of the best rugby
players in the world and plays for the Tonga national team and plays
for the rugby team I. Poiter and he is absolutely jacked. Literally
the size of his forearm is bigger then my thigh! Super fit. Elder
Sorrensen and I arm wrestled him and his arm effort was like a manual
car. He probably has 6 gears of force and to arm wrestle Elder
Sorrensen and I he was probably on gear 2. Him and his children are
all super cool and his 12 year old daughter plays rugby with the boy
teams in Poiter and I guess none of the guys can take her done. She
was one really strong 12 year old. What remarked me during their
interviews was not what they said during the interview but how they
prayed.

With the exchanges I was with Elder Trapani who is Sicilien and when
of the happiest people every a life. He got baptized 2 years ago and
his conversion story is so cool. As well being with him made me really
want to go to Italy :)

Second exchange I was with Elder Abney who is at Brive. He is an
amazing singer and will be going to New York University after his
mission and he is going to try to make it on Broadway. Basically our
whole exchange was me singing to hi and asking him for sing pointers
:) I need to breath deeply, rib cage support and something else :)
They are bother super nice Elders!

Last thing that I would like to add to this email was during Amis
class we taught Nathalie who is another one of the recent converts
here. She is so strong it's crazy! She raconted to us more details of
her baptism that we didn't know about. So she had a dream 3 days
before her baptism of her baptism and she was feeling super good but
she said the next 3 days after we're some of her hardest days she has
ever had in her life. She testified to us of opposition and that all
negative things come from Satan and all positive things come from God
and she is so right. She is such a great example to everyone in the
branch here.

Well thank you everyone and this week look past peoples (or your own)
imperfections and look for their (or your) divine nature that you
have.

Have a great week!

Elder Duffy

Sixty-three

This week was filled with a lot of fun! We had a exchange with the

zone leaders in Bordeaux and I had the chance to be with Elder Hall,

who is in my group, as well we had district meeting in Perigeux. The

main focus of district meeting was, in order for us to reach this 250

baptism goal this year, we need to work with part member families.

Contacting and Porting is great but from what I have seen, working

with members is by far the best.

The most striking observation that I made this week was the importance

of relationships. Throughout my mission I have made eternal friends

and amazing relationships. But it was until this week that I found

that the  interpersonal ties that we create to be actually the most

important part of this earthly experience. I find it quite interesting

that the realization/endeavor for a happy family is the goal of

everything in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my

family, who has always shown me what it means to put family first. I

am so proud of my brother and sister who are both almost married and

making their relationships with their spouses the center of their

loves. I am so grateful for great mission leaders who put their

mission family in the center of their lives and in doing so have

changed mine. (By the way, the 3 missionaries that I started my

mission with Elders Shaw, Perry, and Lythgoe all got engaged within 2

months of getting back ;) A true disciple of Christ thinks of others

first and when we forget he "I" is when we find true happiness.

As well I would like to share to finding miracles that happened this

last week. The first miracle was we had pass to potential's and one

less active and this one neighborhood and we were heading back to the

bus stop heading back home. We saw this house on our left with

cartoons on the exterior metal things. Elder Sorenson and I looked at

each other and we said we need to knock on this door. We we knocked at

the door and a university girl student looked at us and said she'll be

out real quick. 10 seconds later she came out with a jacket and her

mother came out as well. We picked up a lively conversation and they

explained to us that they were both atheist but they accepted a

comeback rendezvous. It was nothing we said that made them make this

rdv but I believe it was they saw something in us. Second miracle of

the week was we stopped a man and told him we were doing a

questionnaire about the family and he accepted to

help. We asked the first question. "What do you do to fortify the

relationships you have with your family" He looked at us puzzlingly

and asked us to repeat the question so we did. After he said it was

interesting we had asked him this question because he had just

finished spending time with his family and he hadn't talked with them

for months. He said he had just finished praying to God for this

moment he had passed with his family and then after this was just

another testament to him of God's love for him. We told him us meeting

him wasn't an coincidence and he knows it wasn't. He has already

talked with Mormon missionaries but he really wants to talk more now.

We got his number and will be scheduling a visit for this night.

I know God is guiding us to the people that he wants us to

specifically talk with. I know God loves each one of us and that we

need to radiate and let others know by our actions and word for our

love for them.

Love ya,

Elder Duffy

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