Week Eight

Hello everyone,

Missionary work is awesome. This week we have been doing a lot. Sorry about last week and just sending one email. I was still a bit frazzled.

France is so FANTASTIC!!!!! It is tres different then America but it is super cool. I feel like I take the beauty for granted a lot but when I think about it and look around it is so beautiful. 

Montpelier is a student town. Students are open to talk to. Last Sunday I fasted that I would be able to talk with people and it worked!!!!!! It is still a challenge but I am getting better talking to people on trams and stuff like that. I am definitely not perfect but step by step I am becoming more fluent.

So this week I had a transfer in Nimes.  There was a colosseum in the middle of the town. There was a lot of roman influence. The mission is really weird and awesome. Like everyday is like the same thing but everyday is so different.

The scripture that has touched me the most on my mission is in Enos. When I think of life in general it is such a privilege. I have come to realize more and more that I am nothing but with Jesus and Heavenly Father I can become everything.

So funny story for the week. I was on a train going to a member’s house to have a lesson with a Amis de l'eglise  and dinner. I saw a lady and her dog. I really wanted to pet the dog, so I went over and said puis je petter votre chien. I thought that was right for, “can I pet your dog” but it is not. You will have to look it up. I didn't even know it was wrong but then some people started laughing pretty hard so I knew something was wrong. :)

Well love everyone and have an amazing week!

Elder Duffy

Week Seven

Hello family!

Sorry to everyone but I can only write one letter this week because I am using a french typing board and it is really different:) Well I am France.  Specifically, I am in Montpelier. It is super awesome here. President and Sœur Brown are very kind. My companion’s name is Elder Lythgoe. I live in an apartment with the zone leaders and my companion and moi. I am super blessed to be surrounded with such great missionaries.  

We take the public transit, and it is crazy. So we are teaching a lot ici. Probably  2 or 3 lessons a day so that is super cool. We also have a baptism on the 20th. His name is Eriva. He is a student right now and he is from Albania. The members here are also super fantastic and really outgoing and support us really well.  The sisters had a baptism last Saturday…his name is Frands. I helped with it because Frands uses a Wheel chair and there was three of us that had to help with it;:) Super cool. 

Sorry about how the email sounds, its just really weird taking this long to type.

I had my first baguette today and it was delicious. Highly recommend them.

Something that I have been struggling with is talking with everyone. Its super dur pour moi but I am working on it. I'm not going to lie I understand like un peu of what people are talking about. But it is coming slowly but surely. I will have stories to tell when we Skype:) Well know I am doing well and and taken care of and I love all of you and sorry for not writing to each one of you.

Avec d’amour,

Elder Duffy

Week Six

Dear Parents,

We are happy to let you know your son arrived safely in Lyon.  He was met at the airport by President and Sister Brown.  After arriving at the Mission he had lunch, had his picture taken, took care of paperwork, and had an individual interview with President Brown.  Tonight he will have dinner with President and Sister Brown as well as the other missionaries that arrived today.  He will stay at the Missionary Hotel in Lyon tonight.  Tomorrow some will go to legality and then he will meet his new companion who will be his Trainer. Then he will have training with President Brown and the Assistants to the President.  After the short training he will leave with his companion to go to his first area.  We will send you his address and companion's name tomorrow.

Please see today's photo in the attachments.

Thank you for sending us such a fine young man.

Sister Sweeney 

Week Five

Bonjour ma famille et toute le monde!!

I have a lot to say this about this week so lets get started. I leave the MTC and 3:30 a.m next Monday. Basically my flight is SLC to NYC (JFK airport) apres que NYC to Paris and Paris to Lyon. All and all it is like over 30 hours of traveling with the layovers. I'm looking forward to it. 

So funny story for the week. So last week on like Wednesday it was quiet time at the MTC. Which is 10:15 and 10:30 pm right before bed. During this time you write in the journal and comp prayer, etc. It was almost lights out which is 10:30 and all of a sudden I hear my companion, Elder Mckee, loudly say "gross". So everyone got out of bed to see what it was. Elder Mckee had seen something and it happened to be bed bugs:) For the 1st month at the MTC we never even noticed. (Gladly I didn't have any that I am aware of.) Some people in our dorm had random blood stains on their mattress that they didn't know what they were coming from. So I guess that the bugs bite and and then you rolled over and they popped. So that night we called someone on the red phone which is in the residence which goes straight to the front desk and told them what was up. They said they couldn't really help us tonight because everyone had left so they sent a police guy down to check it out. When he came he basically told us he would get us other blankets and stuff but that we had to stay in this room and not let anything leave. So my companion and Elder Loveland slept on the floor. Because they were the primary people that had them. After that night we went to the health clinic the next morning and they basically told us we have a P-Day today and that we need to clean everything out of our room and disinfect it with this spray after that we had to shower and just clean everything off and then we would get a new room. So it was kind of crazy. But on the bright side I got to talk with the MTC President for like 5 minutes at the front desk so that was fun. So now that bed bug problem is gone and we are in a new room. I think it is actually a blessing in disguise because we got a bigger room and we packed up everything so it will be really easy when we leave Monday morning.

Well that is the story for the week! My next email will be from FRANCE. I am so excited to go and get immersed in the culture and spread the gospel.

Teaching is coming. It is hard to become a master at teaching but I feel I am learning a lot of good techniques.

Wearing church clothes is the best! They are super comfy and all you have to worry about in the morning is what tie you are going to wear:)

Love you all and next pictures and email will be moi dans France!!!!!

Avec l’amour, Elder Duffy

Week Four

Bonjour ma famille et toute le monde.

Comment allez vous?

Ce semaine etait super. Je suis alle a le Provo Temple et il est tres beau. J'aime le tableu que etre dans le temple. 

Well I think that is enough french for this week just donne vous un petit francais:) J'espere mon francais est vrai.

This week not much happened just the same thing…but it’s awesome. For the Sunday devotional we had the Nashville Tribute Band and they were crazy but it was fabulous at the same time. It is the first time the MTC did something like this before. 

Thank you Mom so much for the packages they are great!

It is kind of weird, like I feel like a missionary in the MTC but I don't. Like I am doing everything but I feel like I won't be a missionary till I get in the field, I’m trying hard, it is just interesting.

The paintings in the Provo are so awesome, that is something I really want to get into when I get back is oil painting! 

Shout out to Mom, You and Sadie are looking more super fit then ever. Thank you encore for walking her and everything you do, You are truly Wonder Woman:)

For my spiritual though for the week I would like everyone if they can to read King Benjamin’s address, I just read a little of it and it is so awesome. Also if you can read “Our search for happiness” by Elder Ballard and watch “Safety for the Soul”, by Jeffrey R. Holland. I think that is enough:)

Well I think that is it for this week. Just know I love each one of you and pray for you every night. The more I think about the more blessed I fill. 

Je sais que il y a un Dieu qui aimes vous avec toute ses couer. Je sais que Le Livre de Mormon et Le Bible sont le parole de Dieu et chaque choses en leur est vrai.

Love you everyone especially My Family and of course Sadie. You are such an inspiration to me.

Avec l'amour,

Elder Duffy

Week Three

Bonjour toute le monde,

This week was another blast. We had two really good speakers President Nelson and Sheri Dew. The speeches were both superb and really relevant. 

This week we did the same thing as last week. The way the MTC is set up if your staying for 6 weeks the 1st week is a little different and the 6th week is a little different but 2-5 is the same exact thing. I feel like I am getting into a groove which is good though:) I saw Caden today in front of the MTC today and we were like 3 feet away. It was so weird but it was awesome at the same time. He was hauling when he was running:) 

In the MTC days feel like eternity and weeks feel like days, It is really weird. I really can't believe I've been here for almost a month. I don't really have that much to say. Just I love everyone and I'm kind of short on time this week so I will make sure to write a really big email next week:) Just again thank you to everyone for the support and write to you next week.

Avec l'amour,

Elder Duffy

Week Two

This week has gone by very quickly. Everyday we are just studying and that is basically it. But it is good. I have gone to the Provo temple twice and every single time I go to the temple I feel better about it and I think I am actually enjoying it:) I have been studying a lot of french and now I can pray, bare testimony, and recite the missionary purpose in french. French is hard but I know I can get it down if I speak and work hard at it. I bore my testimony this week in French during sacrament and it was really a cool experience. That is one of my goals as a missionary is to bare my testimony every fast and testimony so you guys will have to make sure I do:)

Studying is a challenge at the MTC. It is hard because teenagers and being quiet is a rare combo but as a district we are working on it and trying to make the best out of the situation we have. This week I have been listening to probably 2 to 3 general conference talks every day and my testimony of the Prophet Thomas Monson and of the apostles have really grown. You know what they are saying is true. These last 3 days I have been slightly sick with a cold, so like stuffy nose and sore throat but it is all good. I have learned a lot about my self and other people and it truly amazes me. The gospel is so true. It makes total sense and I feel a thrill and a peace every time I dig in and study. 

Thanks Mom for walking Sadie and isn’t she is so cute? Love you Mom for everything you do and you are truly one of the most Christ-like people I know and I am so lucky to have you as my Mom. 

Hope your having a fun time in Ghana Dad!? Actually my companion lived in Ghana for 3 years so that is cool. I'm not going to lie the MTC is a hard, weird, awesome experience and one that truly is what you put in to it. Another testimony for me to know that the Gospel is true are the missionaries. If you think about it we are just 18 to 25 year old young men and women trying to serve our Heavenly Father. We do not have perfect testimony or knowledge of the Gospel but we do have a hope and I believe everyone here has a testimony even if they don't think they do. 

Time is flying by and I can't believe that two weeks have already passed. I am so blessed. 

Thank you Mom and Dad and everyone for everything you do for me and I will write next week.

Have a fantastic week,

Elder Duffy