Lyon, France

Monday, February 3, 2014

Je Te Rendrai Fort

Dearest family and friends,

I am healed!  I am no longer on crutches, limping from place to place like a dog on three legs!  I am free!  It feels good.  There is still a tiny little scab on the top of the foot, which should disappear this week.  I think that it is finally over... unless there still rests a tiny piece of wood in the foot, only time can tell.

This week was excellent.  It was rainy in Nice, but being an Oregon boy who is used to that kind of weather 9 months out of the year, I did my best not to complain.  One of the biggest miracles of this last week was that Kisky finally came to church!  We have been teaching him twice a week for about a month consecutively, and this I think will be a turning point for him.  He was starting to plateau in his progression and I think that it was just the right time that he come.  He even brought a friend, another brother from the Congo, who seemed to really enjoy himself, we'll be seeing if we can't start to teach him as well.  :)

The thing about Kisky is that he needs a testimony from the Holy Ghost of the divinity of the Book of Mormon.  Once he recieves this conviction, everything else will fall into place.  He is very intelligent, very critical and very open.  But what he needs is to really tell himself that at this point, he "lacks wisdom" and that he must "ask of God".  This humility will lead to an answer.  The heavens closed and stopped revealing truths to mankind at the start of the Great Apostasy because men thought they had all they answers, everything that God would ever give them, and thus they stopped asking for more.  Joseph Smith was visited by God and Jesus Christ once he turned to them asking a simple, but very important question.  It is the same principle with Kisky, he needs to come before God, humbly, without a preconceived answer already in mind and ask God with sincerity, real intention and faith.  Then wait and see what happens.  We hope he will do so, and we are continuing to encourage him.

Remember Mina?  She is great and not forgetten.  She just finalized her divorce last week and is currently going through some emotional and physical trials that have hindered her from being able to meet with us in the recent past.  But she has stayed diligent in her reading of the Book of Mormon and we hope to meet with her soon.

Remember Stella?  The mysterious German woman?  We finally got back in contact with us.  She did not forget us, she moved and now lives just a little distance outside of Nice.  She hopes to meet with us again, before she returns to Germany and the end of the month.  She also has continued faithful in her prayers and reading of the Book of Mormon.

Remember Richard?  I think it was only last week that I told you about him.  He was the catalyst for a now strong latter-day saint in meeting the church and missionaries.  We will be meeting with him this evening and I will keep you updated on how he progresses.  Speaking of which, Edwyn, the man who Richard introduced to the missionaries a few years ago, is currently hospitalized.  This last week, I had the opportunity to give him a priesthood blessing, and his room companion, who observed this whole process silently, began asking us questions afterwards.  Edwyn had told him a bit about the church and eventually the man told us that once he got out of the hospital, he would be interested in coming to church with him and seeing how that goes.  It was a testimony to me that we can do missionary work in any circumstance that life puts us in.  A witness of God in all times and in all places. ;)

All in all, the church is true!  Jesus Christ leads this church through divine revelation, the rock which Christ promised to Peter he would found it upon.  There are still many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God that are yet to be revealed!  Isn't that exciting!  A church in which asking questions is encouraged!  Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.  Let us all ask for missionary opportunities this week and then walk into the door that will be opened up to us!

Avec amour,

ELDER KUNZLER

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