My Brother, Elder Claflin.

As most of you know my brother, Chris, is serving an LDS Mission in France. He is so great. He works so hard & does well spreading the word of God.

We get emails from him every Monday & today's was exceptional. It made me laugh - which is so rare for "Missionary Chris". He's usually very somber & spiritual, but today he had great story to tell that brought tears of laughter to my eyes. I want to share that story with everyone.

"I am loving Aix more and more everyday.  We are continually discovering little nuances about the city everyday and as we do so, my desire to share the gospel deepens.  I have a funny story to share about a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez.  Last Wednesday my companion and I were out and about talking to people when we met and old man named Mr. Fernandez.  He was incredibly nice and eager to talk to us.  We introduced ourselves but before we could say anything about our message he whipped out his planner and said, "So, when do you wanna come over? ... I hope you can you come this evening because my wife will be there and she'll be eager to meet you."  Amazed and grateful I grabbed my pen and jotted down his address and phone number.  We had high hopes when we arrived at his house about 5 hours later.  He let us right in and introduced us to his wife.  Before inviting us to sit down they insisted on showing us the photos of their 4 children and 6 grandchildren.  They took us on a tour of their walls showing us each photo and, each time, telling a little story about that child.  As we looked at the pictures they had on the walls we noticed that they had a framed picture of the Swiss temple.  We were shocked.  We asked them where the got it and they answered casually that it was a gift from a missionary they had met before.  We thought to ourselves, "wow these people have really been prepared for the gospel!"  Moments later we sat down and said a prayer together.  Just before beginning the lesson we asked them if they, by chance, had a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Mrs. Fernandez said, "yeah, of course, lemme go grab it."  A few seconds later she came back with a book.  But it wasn't just a Book of Mormon, it was a leather triple combo in beautiful leather case.  Again, she told us that it was a gift from a missionary.  She went on to bear her testimony of the Book of Mormon.  She said she had read it several times and knew without question that it was true.  I thought to myself, "WOW!!! This is amazing!!! All that these people need are a set of white clothes and a river."  My companion and I thought it would be better to not beat around the bush and we invited them right then and there to be baptized.  They both chuckled and then looked at each other and smiled, but neither of them answered.  There was a moment of silence and then Mrs. Fernandez said, "Oh, you were serious?  Elder, I'm Sister Fernandez from the ward here in Aix. I was baptized many many years ago."  Haha.  Oh, the joys of being a missionary.  It turns out that Brother Fernandez has been a bit sick lately so they haven't come to church and that's why we hadn't met them.  They figured we were there to give them a blessing.  :)  You're probably saying to yourself, "wow, Elder Claflin must feel really dumb right now."  haha, well you're not too far off.  But luckily God gave me the kind of personality that likes to laugh about things, cause if not I don't know what I'd do.  :)  Missions are so fun."

I love my brother & I am so glad he has kept his sense of humor & can laugh at himself! I hope you are all having a fabulous Monday.