Salem Alaikum/Joyeux Noel! - 12/1/14

Bonjour les gars!

I hope all has gone well the past couple weeks, because things here in France are the bee's knees!

So get this, two weeks ago, we were graced with the presence of none other than Elder Cook from the quorum of the twelve apostles at our Christmas devotional! This devotional had the entire mission in attendance and was held at the chapel of Versailles. Upon arriving at the devotional, I was surprised upon opening the programme to learn that I would be conducting the music for the devotional, and would hence be standing inches away from an apostle of the Lord! Oh how pleased I was to know that the back of my head would be regarded by Elder Cook!

What happened while Elder Cook spoke was marvelous. As he exhorted us to love our companions and live by multiple points of missionary work, the spirit filled the room. I was touched, and you could hear the tearful sniffles of agreement all throughout the room. President Babin later informed us that Elder Cook changed his entire talk in the middle because he felt that we were spiritually prepared for a different message. I'm so glad he heeded that prompting.

Hey look. We found some monks last P-day on our way to play tennis with our ward
mission leader. They were awesome! They asked us to tag them on Facebook... who knew they had FB? Haha

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Now, let me explain the whole "salem alaikum" bit. A week ago, Elder Nelson and I were contacting in a quartier called Cachon (means pig, you'll soon see why that's ironic). As we did so, we contacted a guy named Husseim, a straight-up Muslim. Now you should know, there are about 5 million muslims in France, many of which reside in Paris, so we get to talk to these guys on the daily. Surprisingly, Husseim was very interested in our message, and invited us to his house later on in the week.

The day of the rendez-vous came, and we met up with Husseim around 7pm. He showed up with his homie Mohammad, and we all pieced-out for chez lui (his house). I gotta tell you, I was pretty sketched-out, as was Elder Nelson. It's not too often that you find yourself following two muslim dudes into the dark abyss at night. Eventually we made it there to be greeted by a third muslim guy named Marouen. Each of these guys were probably about 25 years old.

This was my first solid appointment with muslims, and the same went for Elder Nelson, so we just decided to wing-it. As soon as we were all down on the couch, these guys started hitting us with "you believe that Jesus is the son of God -- that's absurd"s and "Mohammad was the last prophet" and stuff like that. Things kind of stayed this way until the Lord delivered a sweet blessing and brought 2 Nephi 29:11-13 to my memory:

 "11 For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.

 12 For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth and they shall write it.

 13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews."

I read/explained this scripture and a sweet spirit entered the room. I talked about how God speaks to all his children, and hence many of the same fundamental principles are at the base of each religion. They each calmed down. We then grabbed the oportunity to begin teaching the message of the restoration, and the Spirit touched and edified each person in that room. Apparently it did something to them, because Husseim opened his hands and started mumbling something in Arabic, then Mohammad and Marouen joined in and they were all chanting the same verse from the Koran! Elder Nelson and I just looked at each other, not too sure what to do. Eventually they stopped and Husseim explained, "I see that you are men of God, and that was the oath of fraternity." We are all brothers now. I think that means that they liked the lesson.

After they whipped-out some dish that they prepared called Ijja, a common Tunisian meal, and we ate together. While leaving, they called-out after us if we could come back the next day. We scheduled another rdv for this week.

As odd as that appointment was, it got me thinking. Brothers and sisters, I testify that each and every person on this earth is a child of God and that God talks to him/her. You will not find a soul on this earth that won't affirm that warm feelings come about from serving and doing good, and that there is some kind of energy that motivates and drives to do what's right. Everyone is a sacred child of the Father, no matter the skin color, accent, language, religion, or social status, and each is searching for the restored church of Christ, even if they don't recognize it.

I know that Christ lives. I know that his church is upon the earth and that it bares the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I know that His gospel brings an eternal joy to all who seek and live it. It is our responsability to share His message, and not to be held back by petty, worldly judgement. Let us all, in this Christmas season, discover this message, embrace it, and share it.

Please check out this link:

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Love you all!

And here's a little Christmas selfie for ya, mom! Unfortunately it doesn't snow here too much, if ever.

Ijja Recipe

P.S. Hey everyone! Looking to make some Christmas goodies? How about taking a little stop down south in Tunisia to our master chef Mohammad.

Me: Salem Alaikum, Mohammad! :D What are we making today?

Mohammad: Alaikum Salem *touches heart*, today we make tunisie special we call Ijja.

Me: Ijja? Mmm! Sounds tasty! What's in it?

Mohammad: All the good thing, american. First we have... uh... how you say... hui... huile?

Me: Oh Mohammad, you crack me up, you! xD Oil?

Mohammad: Yes. Yes. Yes. Oil. And then onion, and garlic, and pepper, and egg. If you have big house and many chicken then you have many egg. If you have little house and little chicken, then you have little egg.

Me: Makes sense...

Mohammad: Yes. And then, you cook. Bon appetite.

Me: Well thanks, Mohammad! That's all for today, my friends! Salem Alaikum!

(By the way, this is almost exactly the way he explained Ijja to me in broken English xD) 

Merry Christmas!