Ninety-three

My last email! The mission has been the most strenuous, lovely, tiring, exalting, soul searching, and humbling experience I have gone through by far! It has been such a blessing to have been able to serve in this literal vineyard and not so hidden gem, the south of France and French speaking Switzerland. From Besancon to Bayonne and everywhere in between, I feel like this is my country, culture, and the people of my Personality and spirit. French people might not be so devoted to faith guided religions, but they have an outpouring of love, brotherly kindness, high standard of living, compassion, acceptance, and are ever searching for intelligence. Aka they have an abundance of the light of Christ and I know many will and are finding and accepting the message that we are bringing them as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ. The French people have many honorable qualities that I admire and love and I will be forever appreciative to have been a witness of them.

I am also thankful to have rubbed shoulders with some of the truest, most devoted disciples of Christ I have met anywhere. The Saints in France have been through a lot, and they are on the front lines of the battle against Satan. It would be and is honestly extremely difficult to be a Saint in France, but they are rendered that much more stronger and blessed because of it.

Next shoutout I have to make is to my mission companions! I love all you guys so much. Elders McKee, Lythgoe, Hansen, Richmond, Brill, Curtis, Sorensen, Roemer, Caramelli, McDaniel, and Amison, the more I reflected and my time spent with each one of you I realized how Christlike each of you were/are, and how much I learned from each one of you. I am sorry if I was a control freak and if I sometimes created unnecessary stress in your lives. All I can say is, it was real, and I loved and am thankful for every instant that I spent with you. 

As well I would like to thank Elders Perry, Shaw, Barben, Humphrey, Sauro. You guys made an impact on my mission as much as my companions and I feel as if you were one.

As well an enormous thank you to the Spackmans!!!!! You two made missionary life in Besancon outstanding! I will always remember the chats we had and feeling the power of your testimonies and conversion. As well I have a fond memory of Soeur Spackmans French oignon soup 😋 My mouth is starting drooling just thinking about that soup and those quiches you made. Those meals fueled my body but more importantly give an extra positive boost to my moral. Thank you.

Next shoutout I must make is to my Parents who literally made this mission possible financially and who patiently, over the course of my life taught me by words and actions your faith and your absolute unwavering faith in the faith of your fathers. You have continued the chain of legacy and I will always know your link is unlinkable. Thank you for the secured confidence and love which has been there ever since you knew I was coming into your lives and family. I will try my best to live to secure my own link on our family chain.

As well, thank you to Jenessa and Greg, and Caden and Melissa. Thank you for writing me every week! I know I didn't send the best replies each week, but I highly appreciate your continued presence and attention in my mission and life and I loved to here about yours. When I started my mission neither of you were married, look how much came to pass. I have been a small witness of God's love for you two, and his steady guiding life in our lives.

While I have been reflecting on experiences had and gone, a common string has been woven throughout my mission and my life. That is of my Brother and Savior Jesus Christ. He is and always has been there present. It has been amazing to see how His light has changed those of the people I have met and how His Gospel works. I feel from the deepest, most profond caverns of my soul that He is living and that this is His Church. I have had too many evidences and spiritual experiences before and during my mission. To disembark on this quest of discipleship would be a crime to my honesty and conscience. But I do not live in fear. I try to live in a spirit of understanding and freedom, Jesus makes that all possible for me. 

I would like to bear my testimony by the lyrics of a song I listened to a lot in my mission. In Christ Alone by Owl City.

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light my strength my soul

This cornerstone, this solid ground,  firm through the fiercest Drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when striving cease

My comforter my all in all

Here in the love of Christ I stand

There in the ground his body lay

Light of the world by darkness slay

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as he stands in victory, sins curse has lost its grip on me

For I am his and he is mine 

bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of heaven no scheme of man can ever pluck from his hand

Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand

Love ya guys so much! I am so excited to see you next week! A little nervous and sad, but honestly excited to start the next course of my life!

Love you all!

Sincerely,

Elder Duffy

Ninety-two

Since I will be returning home soon enough, and as well my last weekly

was abnormally long for my standard :) I must shorten this one to not

get expectations to high ;) And to bring my blog to homeostasis.

Thus this week here were some of our missionary efforts in le Pays

Basque, in no particular order.

Hometeaching with Frere Darrort:

We went with Frere Darrort to do our monthly visits of the families

Alcibar and Olazo. Each visit was superb and the power of caring and

kindness were the sentiments that I felt. It's try that no one cares

how much you know, until they know just how much you care.

Sister Boyer visit:

We visited Soeur Boyer in a medical facility.

We mostly were there to provide to her an assuring presence, attentive

ears, and our nonjudgmental viewpoint of her life's events. The most

memorable part is when we testified to her of a Savior who loves her

infinitely, with an everlasting love that could never be dismantled

because of our actions or of others. While we comforted her, I to was

comforted.

District meeting:

No more district meetings!!!! It's sad but no really because meetings

are and ever will be in our lives. The sadness comes from dear

acquaintances that I have gotten to know through these meetings, not

of the words said.

Last big contacting day:

These last Saturday I told Elder Amison that we got to do a day just

of contacting, so that is what we did :) This was the last possible

day we could do a full day of contacting because most/if not all the

days of this transfer have plans. We had some good contacts and meet

some very nice open people. We contacted next to the beach from La

Barre to La chambre d'amour. One way it is a walk of about 5

kilometers and we did it twice, trying to contact everyone, it was

really fun and let me tell you Elder Amison turned as red as a tomato

from over sun exposure. It was really fun though :)

Meal and service:

We did some more wood moving for Frere and Sister Duriot's

neighbor/cousin. It was nice to change things up and we had a really

nice meal afterwards of chicken curry :) It was good 😊

There it was and I would just like to share my firmest belief and

testimony that the Book of Mormon has been precisely composed for our

time in history. There are many similarities between our lives and

theirs.I have learned much from their experiences. It is a testimony

assurer and builder for me. Even though there are not people named

Nephites or Lamanites anymore, our human nature and the recorded

events are quite similar.

Make it a great week!

Elder Duffy

Envoyé de mon iPad

Ninety-one

This week zipped by faster than a zip-line! I literally felt like I was a character in Star Trek and I said "beam me up Scotty" from last Monday to this current moment.

Thus I will try my best to put in writing the most memorable moments of last week. Enjoy.

Monday

We moved our p-day to Tuesday last week because this day we were booked. The day blasted off into the troposphere by a slightly competitive football match between Elder Amison and I and two French men adults and two French teenagers. Let's just say things got a little heated, but it was all under control of course ;) The football match was organized by the Elder's Quorum, alas we assisted for the moral support, plus the fun. Here is the scene of the game. It started 3 on 3, but sadly the 2 teenagers lost concentration and motivation after 25 minutes, and gave in to their addictive pocket screen (aka their cellphones). We tried to reinstate their enthusiasm but it was a hopeless cause. One point for Angry Birds and teenage romance.

But as my English collegue says, "It is not over until the fat lady sings"...and the combat continued. It was Elder Amison and I vs. Freres Watbled and Santgerma. I think they wanted this match up all along, to show their foot coordination superiority. My inherited competitive nature kicked in and it was game time. Let's just say it was a good fight, but a winning fight alas for team missionaries. We might not eat at either of their houses either time soon ;)

After this 2 hour long contest, Frere Santgerma deposed us at our residence, and we commenced preparing for the day physically and we were off to our RDV's for the day. 

This RDV was with Sister Aguirre and her husband Paul. They were a referral received from an American LDS trekker. We had passed by the Aguirre family a couple days before and had fixed this appointment. Sister Aguirre is a 63 year old Bible expert Colombian lady. Her husband, Paul, is a 90 year old Basque man diseased by Alzheimers. She resides over a Bed and Breakfast for willing pilgrims of the trek St. Jacques Something or other. We ate a nice cordial lunch of four different types of fish plate, accompanied by vegetables. The meal was quite light yet satisfying. As well, she offered us "white or red" inferring to wine multiple times. We kept on politely denying and followed by explaining why, but she was having none of that :) One thing one must know about Madame Aguirre is she has a really loving stern "momma knows best" personality. So a simple no and explanation would not suffice. From this we transitioned into the Restoration, but she wasn't having any of that :) The 90 minute meal and RDV we planned to have, turned into record breaking 6 hour lesson. Let's just say we got quite a biblical lecture. We tried our best to shorten that but Sister Aguirre is quite a talker. During the time she was talking I just had to look at Paul and that would give me a smile because he is always smiling! He is a great guy :)

Luckily, the following day of this legendary one sided lecture was a P-Day. We visited the Basque museum located in downtown Bayonne. It was quite interesting and it tested by French vocabulary to the max. So it was basically a 4 hour language study plus we saw some renaissance art and learned more about the development of Pays-Basque. And the best part of it was it was all FREE. 

During prosteltying time we did some passes.

Wednesday was A LOT of passbacks. But fortunately we caught some people home and we had some lessons.

Thursday, 

The highlight of this day was we did service for the Bordeaux Patriarch and Frere Duriot as well for Sister Duriot. We transported wood by wheelbarrow to a drying storage area. We did this service for them and as well their neighbor, who is Sister Duriots cousin. She had never had mission contact before and we explained a little bit about what we do and who we are. It was great and we are returning this Wednesday.

Friday,

We had an exchange with the Pau Elders at Pau. Upon arriving at Pau, we took another 9 minute train ride to Coarraze. When we arrived a member picked us up and drove us to his house, where his wife had prepared a fantastic chicken pineapple curry meal. We had a little testimony meeting, which was very edifying. It was interesting to talk to this family because they are the principal French translators for the Ensign and General Conference talks. They were currently translating on the October Ensign.

After we drove again to a non member family house where we gardened for them, followed by a Barbeque. Let's just say it was legit! The guy was a moto enthusiast and had raced uphill moto contests. I had never heard of it before but he showed us some photos and videos and the contests are legit! His wife is an artist and sculptor respectively and I enjoyed that a lot as well :) The family wasn't at teaching interest yet but it was a positive first contact.

Saturday

Finished exchange, returned to Bayonne, and Weekly Planning. Plus we received a call from Sister Guth. In her call she stated she had talked with a young man for two hours about the church and she wanted us to come at that very moment and give him a Book of Mormon. We couldn't say no :) So we went over and discussed. 

Sunday

At church we had 4 investigators come and it was awesome! Sister Sanchez came with her daughter and a part member family came. Sister Sanchez finally meet the Boza family and they kicked it right off. The two parties are from Peru, so they had some commonalities and the first meeting passed as if they had none each other their whole lives. Simply money. 

Voilà the outline of my week. Thank you for your time and thank you for sending me an email of your week. Isn't life so interesting, lovely, difficult, stressant, joyful all at the same time :) I know it is because of Jesus the Christ that he provided the possibility to have perfect faith in a better self, a better world, and to peace through Him. 

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:1-2

Love,

Elder Duffy

Ninety

First thing I have to say is I highly endorse EasyJet :) It truly was

quite simple. But putting that aside, you have probably noticed by one

of the three photos that I sent this week that yes, I did indeed take a

plane. It was quite foreign at the get go but after a realization of

what I was doing, it felt quite homely and nice. Let's just say a 40

minute flight from Toulouse to Lyon is quite a difference to 7 hours

by train. It makes me greatly appreciate aviation and the hundreds of

men and women that failed and struggled over many years so that now we

have this tremendous blessing as transport. As you see this last weeks

flying experience had quite an impression on me :) But now I would

like to transition into the reason why I flew in the first place.

Last Tuesday the Missionary Leadership council was held in Lyon. At

this reunion the mission leaders discuss, search and yearn to

formulate the mission goal for the following counsel. Because of the

temple consecration and the focus on genealogy in which we had, our

amount of people with a baptismal date naturally dropped in amount.

With that being said, you can probably guess the mission goal for this

transfer: To engage 170 people to baptism. This number comes from the

59 engaged people we have already, plus 111 people who we will try our

best to engage by the end of this transfer. The number 111 comes from

the number of my transfer group, the missionaries returning with honor

in a little less then a month. Hence the reason I went to Lyon for the

missionary leadership council. President Brown invited everyone in my

transfer and there are 28 of us, the largest mutation group in the

mission. So the leadership council was basically a small commeration

for our group and it was really nice.

As well this week we went to Agen for district meeting. At district

meeting Elder Liddle communicated the information we discussed at MLC

and it was a really nice District Meeting held at the Agen church,

which is a house converted to be a church. The church had a cozy

feeling to it and it was quite nice.

I am running out of time but make it a great week and I will write next week.

Sincerely,

Elder Duffy

Envoyé de mon iPad

Eighty-nine

Salut!

Right now I am currently in Toulouse waiting to take a plane to Lyon
for the Missionary leadership council (MLC). Elder Amison, (my
collegue) will be staying in Tarbes with Elder Higham.

3 days ago President Brown sent a text to everyone in my
group/transfer that we would all be going to Lyon for MLC!!!! I am
super excited because I will see some missionaires I haven't seen for
over a year! So I am pretty excited :)

Besides that this last week was pretty calm. We did a lot of passbacks
and we passed a lot of members so Elder Amison could start off
running. The members in Bayonne are simply the best!

I got a go, but love y'a,

Elder Duffy

Envoyé de mon iPad

Eighty-eight

It's crazy that the temple dedication is in the rear view mirror. It went super well it was definitely one of the most impactful days of the church in France. 

As well the youth spectacle was very memorable. They had each of the 13 stakes in the mission boundary do a "skit" of their region in France and it was interesting to see the differences in between each region. It was fun for me to see some old faces of members I hadn't seen in a while. Here are some notes a missionary in our district Elder Johnson took that I stole :)

Consecration du temple de Paris

Première session

Wife of the new temple president (in French)

-we have the privilege to be in the celestial room. It will be the most sacred place in France after this dedication.

-stay pure! Don't let anything get in the way of going to the temple!

New temple president (french)

-this temple was promised to us 40 years ago by president kimball. And here it is!

-everyone who helped in the construction of this temple were touched by its holiness. 

-this isn't the end! Just the start!

-the stained glass was done and redone until it was perfect. This is the house of God. 

Gerald Caussée (french)

-Think of the generations here watching. Some of you were the pioneers in your family! 

-there are many missionaries here watching. Returned missionaries too. This wouldn't be possible without you. 

-continue to see the temple with the wide eyes of a child. Don't let it become ordinary. 

-there is not a better way to testify of our beliefs than by speaking of the temple

-the temple is literally the house of God. Literally! He resides there! 

-in the temple, the veil between us and Christ is thin. We can learn of him so much better. 

President Eyring (English translated to french)

-When we come to the temple, we feel three things strongly. The feeling of thankfulness, the gift of added light from the spirit, and we feel an increase of the love of God and Christ. 

-part of the beautiful light comes from the beautiful construction of this temple, but most of it is because it is the house of God. It comes from the work that is being done. From the people who are working within. 

-in the temple, we receive answers. Even answers to questions that we weren't wise enough to ask. 

-the sacrament prayers have the instructions we need to be worthy to enter the temple. 

Prayer

-we pray that when we perform ordinances in this house, it will be as if it was thee who performed them. 

Deuxième session

Sœur lazaras (wife of the 1st councilor in new temple presidency) (french) 

-can we imagine our God without love?! He gave us this earth. Our families. And this plan of hapiness! He has given us this temple. 

-President Monson has said that it is in the temple that we receive heaven’s greatest blessings. 

Pierre lazaras (1st councilor in temple presidency) (french)

-the chateau of Versailles has a "temple" that Marie Antoinette had built. The "temple of love." Now just a few hundreds of meters away is a real temple of love. 

Paul V Johnson (translated)

-every temple built lessens the power of Satan on the earth and increases the power of godliness. 

-have you ever wanted to be a superhero? Super-héros aren't real. But we can have real powers. We can have power given to us by God. The power to know. The power to resist temptation. The power to love. The power to forgive. The power to overcome hardships. The power to endure. These powers are available to us when we are worthy to enter the temple. 

-the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple has many promises of power to people who strive to remain worthy to enter the temple. 

-we have temples all over the earth now where we can be endowed from in high!! 

-He told a story when he felt the power of the temple just after being endowed. He was a young missionary serving in Norway. His companion was also very young and neither had much experience or knew very much of the Language. They were visiting a family that was talking about the fall and the purpose of life. The families main focus however was to prove the missionaries wrong. He was able to call upon the knowledge he had from his endowment and teach and testify with power. 

-the adversary doesn't want us to have this power from god though. When we follow Satan, we give him power. But when we follow God, he gives us power! 

-how do we access this power of God? By making and keeping covenants. 

-we have the power to remain worthy. And when we remain worthy, he gives us power! 

Elder Larry Wilson (translated)

-Paris is the "city of lights." It is called that because it was one of the European cities to use gas street lamps. Today it is the city of logs because this temple is full of the light of Christ. 

-the savior himself placed such importance on the temple during his life. 

-on this day when we consecrate the Paris temple, may we all consecrate ourselves to becoming more holy. 

Elder Andersen (french) 

-president eyring said that he has seen lots of cultural celebrations. But there haven't been any better than that one! 

Troisième session

Sœur Bertrand (wife of 2nd councilor of temple presidency) (french)

-We saw the living by sharing the gospel. We save the dead by going to the temple. 

Frère Bertrand (2nd councilor) (french)

There is only one path to heaven! The temple! 

Paul V Johnson (translated)

-as we accompanied people through the temple. Many nonmembers, they felt that this was a truly holy place. 

-he told the background of both Adolph and Amalia (my great grandparents). How they met the church in Switzerland and both immigrated to Utah. The temple blessing were not available in Europe at the time.

-amalia said that she wanted to marry someone who had the same beliefs as her. Who placed the same importance on the gospel and someone who was worthy of the temple. She didn't care if he was dirt poor. 

-they found each other in Utah and were married 102 years ago in the Logan temple. 

-they were extremely poor, but they had each other, and they had the gospel. 

-they had two sons, the first of which died when he was young. And then they had two girls. When speaking of the birth of their last girl (Winnie, my grandmother), amalia described it as a "terrible blow" that Winnie should be a girl. She then explained that out of gratitude to the savior for having been introduced to the gospel, they wanted to have at least six sons to be missionaries and spread the gospel to the nations. 

-at that time they could not see all the blessings that they had been promised in the temple. 

-now they have 381 direct descendants. 5 great great great grandchildren right now! 

-80 missionaries! And 41 of those missionaries have come from Winnie's line. From that "disappointing" birth. 

-in fact 2 of their great grandchildren are serving right now in France! (Scott and I)

-when we keep our covenants, we help others keep theirs! The decisions we make now will affect all our posterity. 

-think of how many people their covenants that they made 102 years ago have affected! The blessings of the temple aren't just seen in 102 years. But in an eternity. 

-everyone watching this is worthy! Now stay worthy!! 

-no one can take the blessings of the temple from you. No one. 

Andersen (french)

-It is not god who is silent. It is us who are def. 

Eyring (translated)

-the temple can become your favorite place! Like a home

-we are all far from our home. Far from our father in heaven. 

-but god promised there would be prophets and apostles to guide us, and that he would give us ordinances. 

-we can return to our father. It is through the temple. 

We had an exchange this week in Pau and it was awesome as well, we ate a lot of nems at à members house and went to another members birthday party 🎉It was a good time.

As well Elder McDaniel is getting transferred to Corsica! He was super excited when he got the call and I'm super happy for him. He is a great man. I will be staying in Bayonne and receiving Elder Amison. He is from England so I will be trying to get his accent :)

Passez une bonne semaine et à la prochaine 

Elder Duffy

Notes from the mission nurse:

1. Focus on your breath

The breath is the simplest and most powerful way to stay present in every moment because the breath is always present! We can't breathe into the future or the past. There is always only one breath and it's happening right now.

By focusing your attention on your breath every day, you help your mind slow down and catch up with the present (2). Then you start to notice your surroundings and time seems to slow down. At that moment, the world is your oyster and you have full capacity to take action and create the life you want.

2. Let go of the past

So much of our time and energy is wasted on analyzing, re-living, or reminiscing the past. But it's over and done with, and we give our power away every time we step out of the present moment and attempt to resolve the past.

You might be in the middle of a meeting or important activity, but half of you is still on last week and the argument you had. This robs you of enjoying your life in the only moment that matters: this one.

Even if you wish you could change things from the past, you can't. And the only thing you can change is how you're living

right now. So let the past go and step fully into your power in this very moment. Live the life you want to live TODAY. 

3. Set your goal and let it go

If we aren't avoiding the present moment by ruminating about the past, then we're surely obsessing over the future, thinking that this will help it come faster.

While we can't predict the future, it is beneficial to set an intention or a goal. But the key here is to set the goal, then let it go. Don't hold on too tightly to the way everything plays out. Keep your energy in the present moment and trust that the process is unfolding according to plan.

When you try to control and plan out every step along the way, you often get in the way of your own progress. You gotta go with the flow.

So set your goal, but keep all your energy here in the present moment so that you can effectively live out every single step along the way.

4. Remember to enjoy the journey

We often get so caught up with achieving something or becoming someone that we forget to enjoy the journey. And truthfully, the journey is the entire point!

There are just endless present moments to enjoy, unfolding infinitely.

So take the time to pause throughout your day, take a deep breath, let go of the past, set your sights on a possible goal, and then take your time walking every single step of the journey that lies ahead of you.

Love you! Sister Kemp