Twenty-four

Hey everyone!

So this week has just flown by, like it is crazy. If the myth is true
that the mission just keeps going faster I don't know what I am going
to do :)
So this week and really this whole transfer Elder Richmond and I have
just been trying our best to go as hard as we can, and we have been
seeing miracles.  Something that our mission President has really been
focusing on for this year is for us to work with families. He has this
focus because the Paris temple will be done this fall and it is just
super cool and we are trying to prepare as many families as we can. We
have been blessed with a couple families here in Besancon to work with
and with the Lord's help they can make the next step of baptism and
prepare for the temple.
Also this week I was in Dijon for an exchange and Lausanne for a Zone
training, so a lot of traveling around but it was super beautiful,
especially Lausanne in Swiss because it is on a really big lac with
the Alps just towering above the city. Really I am so blessed to be
serving in this mission! So my zone has 20 missionaires and only 4 are
American. It is that way because Americans can't serve in Suisse, so
there are a lot of nationalities, African, Islander, European. It is
just much fun to be with them and be apart of all there different
cultures.
This next week we will actually be right back in Dijon and Lausanne,
so we will be out of Besancon for 3 days this week, so it is kind of
hard but ca va, tis le mission :)
Something that I have really learned this week is to be humble, if you
are humble, work hard, be obedient, and have charity on your mission
and give everything to Heavenly Father, your mission will be an
absolute success, even if you don't baptism anyone. Really the mission
changes you the must when you don't even think about and think
outward.

I hope everyone has an amazing week and please help the down trodden
and be patient with human flaw, because we are all in this journey
together, so if something is hard in your life, take it on with a
smile and a skip in your step and you will look back and be so
grateful for what you endured and what you have become.

With love,

Elder Duffy

Twenty-three

This Monday I left the Montpellier apartment at like 7:30 in the morning. I took a train to Lyon with Elder Withers who was returning home. We had a really good chat. I then waited at the Lyon train station for 7 hrs for my train for Besancon! It was fun seeing all the missionaries go though.but tiring waiting that long.… I meet Elder

Richmond and he is a stud! He is from Indiana and he is a really good missionary. We got three contacts on the train.

We arrived in Besancon Elder and Souer Spackman picked us up and we went straight to their house to eat. Let me just say Souer Spackman is a really good cook and loves feeding the missionaires so in my photos you might notice me getting wider.  (This region is really known for its Comte, which is a type of super good cheese). After the meal they drove us home and we passed out. 

This week was the most lessons I have had in my mission so far. Besancon has a lot of potential but things have been a little dormant but they are starting to pick right back up.

Probably one of the coolest things on my mission happened this Friday. A less active couple wanted a blessing so we came over. We talked for a little bit.  Elder Richmond gave her a blessing and the Spirit was really strong like the room was silent and there was just a warm heavier feeling in the room. The husband bore his testimony to his wife and it was a really cool experience.

Saturday we had a baptism so we went to Dijon for it. The baptism was for Kyle who is 8 years old but the missionaries helped him a lot so we got to participate.  There was a small problem…the water heater

wasn't working so the water in the font was super cold! But he was a trooper and it went well.

On Sunday I gave my first talk in French. My talk was about 12 minutes long so pas mal and I feel like it went  well. It was kind of a shock when we came to church because there was about 15-20 people and in Montpellier there were about 80-100, but it went well!

I love you all and especially my family. Thank you so much for all the love and support. To end I find it only fitting to finish with a list of weird things I have eaten on mission so far:

-Boar

-Duck

-Rabbit

-Blood Sausage (sausages filled with blood cooked and mixed with a filler until they are thick enough to congeal when cooled)

-Foie Gras (stuffed duck liver)

-Shrimp (still all the way intact)

Make it an amazing week and remember how beautiful life is and for all the precious moments because it passes so fast!

With love,

Elder Duffy

Twenty-two

Sorry for the really short email, but I have been on the train all day. I have been transferred to Besancon which is right by Suisse. It it really cool and I am with Elder Richmond. I am really excited for these next transfers. 
Love you so much and I will write you a lot details next week!
With love,
Elder Duffy 

Twenty-one

Dear family and friends,

This week was CRAZY!!!!!!
Not going to lie it was really fun but crazy at the same time.

Monday,
We did the normal studies and cleaning, after that we did some
contacting and than emails. We did contacting on P-day because we were
going to have a lot of missionaires at our place in the afternoon and
it would be harder then so we worked earlier. After that we did emails
and than some shopping. We went into IKEA...
it is like a maze in there, but is was really fun. I bought some
slippers for Elder Shaw because his old ones smell pretty bad.

Tuesday,
We woke up at 5:45  and got ready to go in Lyon by bus. So we prepared
to leave, but something really weird happened. A guy about 22 years old
followed us to the bus.  Before any of the missionaries got on the bus he got on.
The bus driver had to kick him off. I am pretty sure he was drunk :) The bus
ride was really good! It was about four hours long and it was fun talking
with the other missionaires. We got to Lyon and we all met by a
museum by the confluence. It is where two big rivers meet, the
Rhine and another. It was crazy, after talking with all the
missionaires for about an hour we took pictures and headed to a park,
We played football, football American, frisbee and ate dominos
pizza. It was awesome! After that we went to the aquarium and had
talks from President and Souer Brown and their counselors.  Then we
played some games to all in this conference room.
We had masters tacos and all lot of chocolate. It was pretty awesome!
Then we watched Lion King and it was really weird watching a movie but
not going to lie. Then we left and us, the Montpellier
Zone leaders and another companion slept in the Lyon Zone leader's
apartment. It was a awesome day and it was all in preparation day
clothes!

Wednesday,
Woke up, got ready, then headed to the Ecully chapel, this time we
wore suits. We arrived and there was a lot of patteserie and other
breakfast food. Then we had more talks from President Brown and Souer
Brown and their counselors and a special musical number.
The Spirit was really strong and we were all together.  It was just
a really cool experience. After that we ate a lot more food
(meatballs) and than got our Christmas packages and a sack lunch for
the road. We said our goodbyes and got on the buses again. It really
was just super fun and a experience I won't forget.

Thursday,
Christmas Eve, we had some rendezvous and that was nice! At 6 we went
to the Esmieus house and had a Christmas party! There was a lot of
food and it was really good food. Enjoy the pictures;)

Friday,
Christmas! It was awesome. Christmas was the only day that we can
sleep in so I took it. But I still woke up at like 6:35. But I fell
back into sleep until 7:45. Then we opened presents and had muffins
with grape juice. It was really chill and I really enjoyed all the
letters and the packages. Thank you so much Mom and everyone else! It
really means a lot.

Then we headed to the church and did Skype and not going to lie, it
was super weird, it's just like bang, there is everyone, but it was
really good even if I was all little frazzled ;) After that we ate
with Frere and Souer Clark and some Amis at the church and I ate blood
sausage for the first time! It was actually pretty good!  Then we
watched Frozen the movie! Another awesome day!

Saturday and Sunday,
We had some lessons and passed some less actives,
I was trying to still absorb what had happened to me this
last week and it was good to get back to work!

So that was my week! Not going to lie I love the Christmas Spirit.
You can still feel it in the air.  It is because there is more love and
this is the time when we celebrate Christ's birth.
Jesus was a really person and really is the
Son of God and did do all those miracles.  He and Heavenly
Father really live and want us to grow and be happy. Simple said, this
is the true church, learn the Gospel, live It and see how it changes
your life for the better.

Love ya all and have fun in Mexico ;),

Love,

Elder Duffy

PS. Can you send my blue sweater and grey sweater? :)
Thank you and love you all!

Twenty

It's almost Christmas! The Chrismas spirit is out and about here in
France. It's pretty fun! I am excited to talk you guys this Friday.

So Last Monday was chill. Since we still have the rule you need to be in by 6
p.m, We did 3 hours of calls! Party! Not going to lie I didn't want to
touch the phone for a longtime after that :)
Mardi, was solid! We had 3 lessons which is great here. We saw Jermie,
Sylvie, and we had a street lesson. We taught Sylvie at the Jardin des
plantes. It was really a nice park. I thought of you a lot Mom when we went in.
I think it has a website, you should look at it.

Quick interruption, quick fun fact. Montpellier has the medical school
I know in Europe et peut etre the world. I don't know I just know when
I come back we will have to go to the museum!

Wednesday,
We had district meeting in Nime. Our district is really interesting
because it's us, Nime and the Zone leaders and that is it so it's a
super small district. It was really good and we did a fun finding
activity after. Really I think I prefer contacting to teaching. It's
kind of weird. But today was full of miracles. Remind me to tell you
about it during the Christmas call. But we had 5 lessons, which is like
the most I have had in a day! It was awesome!

Thursday,
We started the day out doing service for a referral. Andre is super
cool. He is like 70 and he is pretty well off. We helped him pull out
staples from the walls in his apartment. It was actually really fun. I
have noticed I like working with my hands and brain at the same time.
Maybe I will be a surgeon ;) after service we got home, showered,
changed and then we had some lessons after that.  It was a really good
day!

Vendredi,
Today was probably the hardest day this week. We studied for 3 hours
then lunch and than weekly planned which takes like 2 hours.
I was getting a little anxious to stop and get out of the
apartment and I think I got a little cranky ;) it was all good!

Samedi,
We played soccer as usual with amis at a terrain by the church. After
that we got home changed and ate a Kebab with the guy that I sent you
a photo with. I don't know if I said this before but Kebabs are all
the thing that missionaires eat in this mission. You shouldn't buy one
for less than 5 euros though because that would be tres sketchy.
Honestly I don't what meat is in Kebabs but they say it is a mixture
of meats so it's kind of questionable. I have actually heard that they are
illegal in the U.S. I think it is because they are on a raw spindle of
meat. Mais ca va.

After that we had 2 lessons at the church and than the weekly
missionary meeting and than the ward Christmas party. It was really
fun. I ate foi gras for the first time. It actually wasn't to bad. If
you don't know what foi gras is it is like exploded duck liver. I
heard it is pretty brutal on the duck. I also ate regular duck. It was
actually really good. The meat was really oily but I was super good.

At the Christmas party there was a member that just kept on handing me
food. It was super awesome!

Sunday,
Had church. We rode the bus with one of the Amis.
His name is Patrick. He loves talking about food so he is my type of
guy. So we meet him Sunday at the bus stop and he had brought this
almond,croissant/chocolate patteserie and it was heaven. He brought
chocolate milk too.

Sorry about talking about food so much, tis the season. Also thank you
for the Lego advent calendar. It is super cool!

So tonight like our whole Zone is spending the night at our apartment.
Tomorrow morning a bus is coming to pick us up and take us all to
Lyon. I am super excited! The whole mission is going to Lyon so it
will be fun to see everyone. Time passes to fast.

Without the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the knowledge that I have I don't know
where I would be in my life. Also without my parents I would be
nothing. Truly thank you for everything you do. Everyday I try my best
to make you two proud and to make show my love to God and for Him
creating this plan of experience and learning. I am also really
thankful to Jesus Christ who's sacrifice pour nous makes this all
possible.

Love ya and see you all on Christmas!

Elder Duffy

Nineteen

Joy in a cup! Mcdo Mcflurry!


Hey!,

These are some of the things I have learned on my mission.
Working hard and obedience is not everything on a mission. Really.
From the start of my mission I have just been working hard, trying to be
exactly obedient, always busy. That is important...but I wasn't
as happy as I wanted to be so I wanted to know what was missing.
Really it's charity. Having love towards everyone and not just doing
what I am doing just because I know the Church is true. That really
hit me. That knowledge should lead you to act another way, on a higher
plane. I felt like I had been running around and trying my best but
having no anchor. So from now I will try to do all those things as before
but not just because I should...but because I love the people I am serving and
want them to be happy. So that is what I learned today. Also slowing
down And smelling the roses is important too.

The scripture that stays in my head is the charity scripture about if you do things without
charity it availeth you nothing. So I need to repent and change ;)

So we have 3-4 Amis that are so close to baptism it is super
cool. Something that I have tried doing this week is making daily
contact with all our Amis and really it has been helping a lot.
Xia who is our closest to baptism felt the Spirit during
Sacrament.  He said it was just like a warm
feeling in his heart.  Super cool.

Something I learned this week is one of my Zone leaders, Elder Perry,
is engaged. He has only been home for like 2 months so that is super
crazy! It basically blew mind.

I love you all and have a merry Christmas season!

Elder Duffy

Eighteen

This week was awesome. To start off my passport was found. I called
the office right after it happened and a couple days ago they told me
they found it and it was like in a pile paper thing so that was
the first miracle!

The mission is all about talking to everyone
and following spiritual promptings. For me, these are the two biggest
things to know that I am a successful missionary.

So this week the mission is really focusing on the Christmas message
so this next week we will be trying to share that with everyone and
testifying. I am not going to lie having all the church videos are
such a blessing. Having a visual like that in this day and age can
really enhance the quality of contacts.

So we still have the rule that we need to be in by 18H (6:00 pm), so that means
we really need to be with members. It is really good thing because now we
have to work with members or we will
be doing area book for 3 hours ( I know how that feels :)

So my companion, myself, and the zone leaders have made a goal for this
mutation. (I am staying in Montpellier for another one) super cool! We
are going to eat oatmeal in the morning with honey and chicken bean
salad things for lunch and dinner. Also we are just going to talk in
French for this mutation! It should be fun!

For Skype I don't know the details yet. I just know Christmas Day
sometime! I will send the details when I get them.

We have a Christmas conference as a mission this Christmas.
They have 4 buses and they are going to corner to corner
and picking up all the missionaries.

So for the spiritual message for this week... I challenge everyone to
think of someone they can share the gospel with.
Before my mission I thought if you share the Gospel with someone you
know you will hurt your friendship but really from what I have seen it
enhances your relationship even if the person is not interested.
(Maybe a good way to start is sharing the new Christmas video)

If you don't know about the Gospel please visit Mormon.org and watch
"He is the Gift"...And take the challenge at the end of the video.
You will find peace and joy.

Well I love you everyone but especially my family, they are a part of
my rock spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I know this Gospel is true and if you are ever doubting just "remember".

Have a fantastic week and always remember to smile!

Love,

Elder Duffy