Thirty-four

Hello everyone!

This week has gone by so fast!

Last Monday was a normal P-Day just really tranquille.

Tuesday was a day of a lot of contacting:)

Wednesday Elder Brill and I went to Lausanne but before we did that we

did 3-4 hours of pass backs with like 30 potentials and 26 had moved

and 4 were still there, but they didn't answer. It was a fun day. 

If I had to give anyone advice on the mission I would just say to learn

to have self discipline.  Don’t spend as much time on the computer

or TV.  Learn, read, do music, arts, sculpting, learning, physics,

physiology. Find your passions and do it. 

While you work hard, also study the scriptures.  

If you do those things (and not just read but study with prayer and

mediation) is where your understanding and capacity will grow.

In Lausanne we had Zone conference and it was a really powerful,

spiritual experience. 

We talked about the goal of having 91 baptisms this transfer, and we have only had 2. So it is a seemingly impossible challenge, but I know God and Jesus Christ will provide when we do our best.

Friday: Weekly planning and a couple of lessons.

Saturday: We went hard porting and we got some new potentials so it is super cool!

Sunday: We got two super, super, cool new potentials and they are both

families. One is a young military family.  The other is one of the

coolest couples I have met. The husband is a super smart art

professeur who showed us some of his projects.  I was really

inspired! The wife is an english professeur and super

smart too. They live in a really nice house and it was cool how we meet

them. They were swimming in their pool and we rang there doorbell but

the funny thing is it didn't work and the lady just happened to walk

by at that moment and see us. So it was super cool experience!

Well, love you all.  Have a great week!

Here is a scripture I have been studying:

Romans 8 in the New Testament

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ

Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free

from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the

flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and

for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk

not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

      5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the

flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is

life and peace.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject

to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the

Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of

Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the

Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell

in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your

mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live

after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the

Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but

ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the

children of God:

17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with

Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also

glorified together.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not

worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the

manifestation of the sons of God.

20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by

reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the

bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of

God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain

together until now.

23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits

of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for

the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for

what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not

what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh

intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the

Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the

will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that

love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed

to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many

brethren.

30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he

called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also

glorified.

31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can

be against us?

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,

how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God

that justifieth.

34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that

is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh

intercession for us.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation,

or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or

sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we

are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him

that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor

principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to

separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Love,

Elder Duffy

Thirty-three

Hello to one and all!

First off I hope everyone had a fantastic conference weekend (if

you don't know what general conference look on lds.org or Mormon.org

if you want to watch it or just a brief explanation of what it is).

My favorite talk was giving by the Young Woman’s President. It was a really powerful talk.  She put it all on the table.

Our week was filled with service, porting, and contacting.

I would like to share some things that I learned more than the

things that I experienced.

My thoughts were actually very centered on opposition. Elder Oaks’

discourse rang a bell with me. Before we can fully understand or be at

peace with opposition we must first understand the context of why we

are on earth, and where we will depart after his life. 

All these questions can be answered by The Plan of Salvation.

Why do we call this a plan of salvation. What does salvation mean? 

According to the Oxford dictionary, Salvation means preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss. We call this the plan of Salvation because we believe

that there was a literal Adam and Eve who lived in the Garden of Eden. 

There they were immortal and would have lived forever and been in God’s presence. But because Satan tempted them and they partook of the fruit, man became fallen. But what does fallen mean? Fallen.......... I am actually running out of time to write this week but I will remember to finish next week. Simply I

would invite you to look up The Plan of Salvation on Mormon.org.

If this so called Plan of Salvation is true, and I have learned through

praying, studying, and mediating that it is, we will understand why

bad things happen to good people and we can find peace in and through

Jesus Christ. May we all be deep partakers of his grace and love is my

wish.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Duffy

Thirty-two

So this week has been a great one! We found out that Elder Brill

and I will be staying together in Besancon, so that is

super cool! (It is kind of weird though because the last nine

elders have only been here for two transfers, so I broke the streak :)

I am so happy to stay here because Besancon is super cool, we have a

car, people preparing to get baptized this transfer and Elder Brill

can cook very well ;) So it will be a good time.

Monday: It was P-day! It was a pretty chill. We ate with the Spackmans. At night we port a ported and it was a good time :)

Tuesday: The Dijon Elders came up because we had to drive them down to Lausanne on Wednesday.  We had a little exchange and just went hard on the

paint and contacted with them. Something that I will tell you about

Besancon is that the people here are super polite so contacting is the

best. Even if the person is not interested if you say merci, bonne

journee they almost always say the same thing back so that is super

nice.

Wednesday: Today was a day full of driving :) So Elder Arne and I contacted for

about an hour and a half and then we went to a elderly lady to give her

the sacrament because the branch president asked us to. (That was an

hour there and an hour back.) Then we picked up Elder Barben and

Elder Brill and drove to Lausanne. It was a good time. It took about 2

hours to drive so when we got to Lausanne I was pretty tired but it

was a really good day.

Thursday: We had district meeting and the main subject a was how we can use the Book of Mormon better.  (That was the subject of Elder Christofferson’s conference. ) After that we drove right back to Besancon but we hit

some traffic on the way. When we got back we cleaned our apartment and worked on the area book.

Friday: We got our calls. So calls was really interesting, normally here in

Besancon we receive our calls of where we are going around 10:30. So

it was 7:25 and I was in the shower when I hear Elder Brill say,

“President is calling,” and I was like “WHAT”? So basically Elder Brill

handed me the phone when I was in the shower so it was really

interesting :)

Saturday: We had some rendezvous and ported some more so always a really good time :)

Sunday: Awesome Sunday and I gave my second talk ever in France! It went well, I think :)

So that was my week.  Something that I have seen change in me is I am

starting to love the people more and more. As I serve it is cool to see how the Lord changes you on your mission.  A mission isn't at all about me, me, me but really about we, we, we. As we look outwards instead of inwards our very nature can be changed into something better than before. During this time may we show our love to everyone.  (Especially the ones that we are closest to or

spend the most time with). May we look for occasions to share the

Gospel and show love and interest towards others not of our faith, not

because we want to convert them but because we love them. 

Everyone have a fantastic week and make sure to watch General Conference this weekend. I have found most joy studying conference talks on my mission

and my testimony and respect has really grown for the inspired people that follow Christ’s directions how to guide this church.

Everyone have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Duffy

Thirty-one

Hey everyone! This week a lot happened so let's get started shall we? ;)

So last Monday was super awesome! It all started off waking up at 5 a.m….so we could start cleaning. We did this because we had so much to do but just so little time. After cleaning we did some mangoes (exercise) then we got ready and did studies.  After we did studies we packed, short emails ( sorry for that) :), and then we left to Beaune. It took about an hour in a half to drive to Beaune but it was absolutely amazing! We meet with the Dijon Elders and went to the biggest attraction there, a very old super cool looking hospital. After the hospital we peeked into the Cathedrale, it was pretty cool but not the coolest Cathedrale I have been to. After looking around in Beaune we went into a wood carving place with a super super nice man there. We took a photo and left a pass along card (of course:) After that, we drove to Chalon and ate with the Snows. The Snows are a super couple and they made us hamburgers! It was really good! then we went to a branch family home evening in Chalon. The subject was about receiving revelation and somehow the members got off subject and starting giving us advice on marriage! It was interesting but really the members here love the missionaires and love to give us food! After that we went to the Chalon Elders apartment and spent the night.

Tuesday

We woke up at 5 again because we had to catch a train to go to Lyon for the Christofferson conference. It was super cool. All the missionaires got to shake his hand and really, he is the man. After that Sister Christofferson and Elder Christofferson talked to us but before them we had high European church leaders talk to us and it was really good. Below I will show you the notes I took during the conference. Besides that talking with all the other missionaires is always super fun!

Christofferson conference:

Strength and struggle are traveling companions

Best time to memorize scriptures

We see the big picture as it is

It is not just to do things but to become

Become master teachers

Repent daily

You should often write down things that are new to you when you say it by the Spirit

One of the reasons you are called to your mission is Mission President and couples.

How are we going to help them, focus on repentance

Baptize unto repentance, to repent we must covenant that we will change and obey

How do you know when to stop working with an investigator for a time:

If they are not progressing put them in the area book and move on

If they are not interested, have them read the Book of Mormon and promise blessings

Repenting doesn't just get rid of sin but makes one Holy

The key is to quickly repent

This life is the test, learn the scriptures, memorize Preach my Gospel

We must have the Spirt Answer D.C. 63 We promise people, we must repent of our sins. You receive the Spirit by prayer. We must be by the Spirit, How we live and by prayer.

Hear It, follow It if we do that everything will work out perfectly

After the conference we took at train but to Chalon and then drove to Dijon to do a blitz with the Dijon Elders.

Wednesday:

Today was one of the hardest days on my mission. Really opposition comes before, during, and after big experiences.  It is all good and the key is just to keep on going. Truly time just passes and it is really fun when you can look back with a smile and see how it was all for your good.

Thursday

Wednesday afternoon we drove back to Besancon so when we woke up on Thursday we were on home turf :) Now it was game time! We contacted really hard in downtown for 3 hours and then did some weekly planning then working in the area book.

Friday

Today we just went hard to 3 more hours of contacting in downtown and then we did  port a porting a small ville  just out of Besancon. So we meet with a member and when we arrived, he said, “let me introduce you to my neighbors!”  We were like, OH YA! It was super cool family that he had talked with about religion before.  They weren't super interested but we did give them a Book of Mormon and taught the Restoration so we will see what happens. 

After that we ported this small ville and we lost 2 dogs! We were porting this house and we forgot to close the fence door which is something you should always do is close the gate door. So we knocked and this older gentlemen open the door but 2 puppy dogs ran super quick and past us out of the fence and just kept on running. We asked the guy if he thought he dogs would come back and he said no. So we looked for his dogs for 20 minutes and we realized we would never find them so we wrote this guy a note and Elder Brill gave him his watch. We did it through the mailbox. So that was interesting and by this time we were both pretty mad so we just drove home and did the area book! When I think of these moments you just got to laugh! 

Saturday 

Another day of solid contacting in downtown because today is the best day to do that! So that was super fun! We had 27 conversions so it was super cool!

Sunday

We had church and a meal after and more contacting!

So that was my week. We will be getting transfer calls this week and I am a little nervous because I have been here in Besancon for 2 transfers and the last 9 missionaires have all been here for just 2. So we will see what happens. This is the scripture that I thought a lot of this week.

D:C 122 7-9

7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Well I love you all and thank you for everything everyone has everyone for me.

Continue on, journey on, and may God be with you till we meet again.

Love,

Elder Duffy

Thirty

This week has been really good in Besancon! It has been snowing/raining for the whole week but it has been really fun! 

We also started using the car. Driving is so much fun in France! Not going to lie French drivers are a little crazy. Elder Brills is a really good co-pilot. 

So this week has been a week of Port a Port. At the start of my

mission I just contacted people in the streets, trams, or bus.  For the first five months I did maybe two doors, but now I am a big fan. It is really fun. We have

a member here named Frere Broch and he is super intelligent.  After

church this Sunday he showed us the art of port a port. So normally

before this we did a family questionnaire just to get people talking.  With his method, you do a quick introduction of yourselves but

not too long. After introducing yourself you ask, “do you have a moment please?” (please in French is si vous plaît)  I guess if you say that it is a lot harder for people to say no. 

If they say no you bear your testimony and then invite

them. If they say yes, the first question you ask is,  “Do

you believe in God?”  It is really bold, but we have

already seen a lot of miracles.

The mission is fun, but don't think that it is fluffy fun all the time. 

I have been in the darkest abysses in my mind than ever before.

It is hard stuff but every time if you just continue and keep on going you come out so that much stronger. I know that is made possible through Jesus Christ that He descended below everything just so that he can help you and me. This

is a couple verses from the Book of Mormon that I really

love about Christ.

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and

temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled

which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his

people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of

death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their

infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to

the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his

people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God

suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins

of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according

to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony

which is in me.

14 Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the

Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of

heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be

washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who

taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to

cleanse from all unrighteousness.

15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin,

which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction,

yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to

repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his

commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the

waters of baptism.

16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from

thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will

remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life,

according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.

I know that is true.

Keep the faith, journey on, love on, and do all of it with a smile.

Make it a great week!

Elder Duffy

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