Une parole de sagesse

Un bon homme du neige!

Mon, Jan 21, 2013 at 12:10 PM

Hello, family and friends!

Happy MLK, Jr. Day!

They don't celebrate that in France.

In the last seven days, Elder Petek and I have seen some cool things here in Toulouse, France.  Despite the cold, the wet, the snow and the gloomy skies, people are still decided to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to come unto him.  Do you remember our good friend Alexis, who we met on New Years Eve?  He's turning his life around for the Savior and will be baptized in just a few short weeks.  Yesterday, we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, which I think sounds even cooler in French "La Parole de Sagesse".  This is something that seems to be a stumbling block here in France where the culture is very centered on their wines, cigarettes, coffee and tea.  We were a little worried that he would have difficulties having the faith to be able to overcome these dependencies.  When we taught him about this revelation given to Joseph Smith 200 years ago, we were suprised to learn that the only issue he would have is with coffee.  He has had a great dependency on this beverage for several years and drinks at least two cups daily.  We testified of the strengthening power of the Atonement in helping us to overcome our weaknesses and temptations.  Elder Petek shared the difficulties that his mother had in overcoming tea dependency.  I told about Manita's power to overcome her dependence on Coffee, as well.  We talked about all the incredible blessings that come in living this spiritual law.  By the end of the lesson, he was filled with the Spirit, determined and motivated to live the word of wisdom.  He is so humble and obedient.  He reminds me of Ling Liu sometimes.  He explained to us that ever since he been meeting with us he has thought a lot about his past and his future.  He has done a lot of introspection and he expressed to us yesterday that he is really ready to change his life and to follow the Savior.  It is so amazing to me that the Lord can work so quickly in someone's life!

It was kind of a word of wisdom themed weekend.  Right after this lesson with Alexis, we saw Anthony.  He is someone who had seen the missionaries about a year ago, had a baptism date set, but stopped seeing them because he couldn't overcome his dependancy on cigarettes.  Of late, he has been coming to activities with the young adults and even to church.  We asked him if he be interested in meeting with us again, and he agreed. We were able to see him yesterday.  We focused our lesson on the principles of the gospel, mainly faith and repentance.  He expressed to us that he knows that the church his true, he has no doubts, the only doubts that he has are in himself.  He does not have confidence in himself to be able to live the commandments.  We taught him about the Atonement and the incredible power of grace.  He admitted that when he met the missionaries and strived to life the commandments, good things started happening to him, and he felt much happier than he ever had.  We told him why and then we talked some more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.  He told us that he would be willing to meet with us on a regular basis to build faith, repent and prepare to be baptized!  The church is true and the spirit testifies of it.  ;)

I don't have time to tell you about Tracey, someone who we found on Tuesday who is really looking for the truth, but expect to here about her next week!

I love you, family!  Have an excellent week and stay warm.

L'amour, 

Elder Kunzler

PS.  Funny fact:  church was cancelled yesterday because it snowed a little in the morning.  even though it was all melted by the time the meetings start at 2.  reminded me of oregon.

PS2.  The pics were taken yesterday... un bon homme du neige!

Elder Petek and friend :)