Fifty-three

We had Zone Conference this week in Bordeaux and it went well! We talked about wearing the whole armor of God. Since President Brown is an archer he brought his bow, and he let 2 missionaries shoot it, symbolizing the fiery darts of Satan. Sadly I was one of the two, but it was legendary quand même. The Spirit was strongly present at the conference and it was a very spiritually uplifting experience.

We found a new apartment! It was awesome! It is in a really nice part of the city and is probably 2 to 3 times bigger then our current apartment.

The dawn has broken! We were blessed to start teaching five new people this week. 

The last three weeks has been what we call in this mission "the grind". But now, the future is looking bright! I think this next week there could possibly be 3-5 new people with baptismal dates.

There are two things I have been thinking about this week. 

First: What is truth?

President Uchdorf addressed this topic in 2013 as a devotional talk.  

Here is a part of the talk I really enjoyed.

The Blind Men and the Elephant 

Over one hundred years ago, an American poet put to rhyme an ancient parable. The first verse of the poem speaks about:

Six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

 Might satisfy his mind.

In the poem each of the six travelers takes hold of a different part of the elephant and then describes to the others what he has discovered. One of the men finds the elephant’s leg and describes it as being round and rough like a tree. Another feels the tusk and describes the elephant as a spear. A third grabs the tail and insists that an elephant is like a rope. A fourth discovers the trunk and insists that the elephant is like a large snake.

Each is describing truth.

Because his truth comes from personal experience, each insists that he knows what he knows.

The poem concludes:

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

We look at this story from a distance and smile. After all, we know what an elephant looks like. We have read about them and watched them on film, and many of us have even seen one with our own eyes. We believe we know the truth of what an elephant is. That someone could make a judgment based on one aspect of truth and apply it to the whole seems absurd or even unbelievable. On the other hand, can’t we recognize ourselves in these six blind men? Have we ever been guilty of the same pattern of thought?

I know for myself I am like these men of Indostan, I look at most situations/problems with a very limited, biased view and I believe most of us do. If we can master our mind, everything follows. That is what the Book of Mormon says in Alma 60:23.

23 Do ye suppose that God will look upon you as guiltless while ye sit still and behold these things? Behold I say unto you, Nay. Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that the inward vessel shall be cleansed first, and then shall the outer vessel be cleansed also.

The second thing that I have been thinking of this week is we need to understand history of other religions to better understand our own and where others are coming from. This has been on my mind because of an experience Elder Curtis and I had yesterday. We were going to pass by a less active’s house and I saw this guy on the side of a street with a nice beard, so I said to him I really like your beard, not trying to start a conversation because we had something to do but just compliment him. He said thank you and invited us over. This man is Muslim and he told us he had talked to other Mormon missionaries.  He knew quite a lot about our religion and what I know of his is very biased and influenced from many factors that I have heard. He told us that we should not change our religions views but that we should know about others as well and I totally agree with him. I feel sometime I was scared to learn about other religions because it would weaken my faith. But actually, I have learn it reinforces my testimony about things I hold dear.

I am so glad that I can see the whole “elephant”.

I love you all, but I am especially appreciative to my earthly parents who had the faith, hope, and charity to have taught me this principles in my youth.

Sincerely,

Elder Duffy