Week 24

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a good and a safe New Year and New Years Eve. Mine were fairly typical missionary days but they were definitely good. It has been quite a busy week this week and we taught a lot of lessons and got a lot of street contacts. It was really good.

On Tuesday, we had a very full day planned after our district meeting but it ended up being a little bit of a flop as far as our rendez-vous went. It started out by our investigator who lives really far away called us two hours before his rendez-vous telling us that he could not meet us. That threw us off a little bit because when he cancels then it opens up about 3 hours of our day that we had planned for him with travel time and everything. So we followed our replacement plan and did some hard core contacting. By the end of the day, we had taught a big whopping zero lessons but had 14 contacts and information from people on the street. It was truly a blessing how many people we were able to encounter on the street who were interested and very willing to give us their contact information and set up rendez-vous. I guess the Lord blessed us on Tuesday after the stomach flu that my companion and I had the two days before.

Wednesday was another busy day that started out by going and doing some service over at the house of a recent convert. He lives in a tiny little apartment and he is very sick and his apartment is just absolutely trashed so we offered to help him clean it up. We spent some time over there cleaning and it looked much better after we left. Now let's just hope that it actually stays that way.... Afterwards we stopped by the church because we were supposed to have a rendez-vous with an investigator but they never showed up so we headed towards our next rendez-vous which actually didn't end up working out either. After that one we stopped by a store of someone that we contacted out on the street the week before who told us to pass by later and she would be there and we could talk about the message. The lady was Natalie and she was very nice and listened to her message but really didn't understand why it was important. She was very nice but had a very confused outlook on religion. She would go one minute from believing in God and Christ and the second to being basically atheist. She had zero desire to pray or to read the Book of Mormon and in fact would not even take a copy. She was very nice but definitely it was not yet her time to be ready for the gospel. After Natalie, we had a rendez-vous with someone else that didn't end up working out so we went and stopped by Paul's house, he is the guy from Ghana who we taught with his friends last week. He really really struggles with the ten commandements, which is interesting because it's something everyone typically easily accepts. It was a very good lesson and by the end he promised us that he would be at church and that we had nothing to worry about because he would be there and he would bring some friends.

Thursday was an absolutely jam packed day. We started out the morning by teaching a man named Jacque who had met the missionaries a few years ago but never had a rendez-vous with them. He has a Protestant background and he was very accepting and interested in the message. His Uncle actually happened to be there too for the Holidays so we taught him too and gave them both copies of the Book of Mormon. They were very interested in reading it and we fixed another rendez-vous with Jacque for this coming week. In the afternoon we had a couple rende-vous fixed that didn't end up working, but as we were on our way to pass an investigator we contacted a lady who was very interested in our message. Her name is Stephanie and we started teaching her on a bench and then we asked if she had time for a tour of our church and she said of course. So we gave her a tour and she loved it. She was very open. She has been currently practicing Islam but she was baptized Catholic and she has tried a bunch of different churches too but she has never felt like they were right. She has such a love for Christ and really wants to come closer to him. It was a great lesson and I am super excited for our next lesson with her this evening. Our next rendez-vous was with Francisca who is our investigator from Cap Vert who we have been teaching for awhile. It was a good lesson but she told us that she didn't have time to continue really searching for a response about our message and that maybe later when she has more time. We were a bit bummed but we are going to continually stop by and at least teach something every once in awhile. We have a couple tricks up our sleeve that we are going to try. After her, we hurried over to a Metro stop where we met someone who we had contacted on the street before. She would not give us her number but promised us she would be there. Well we, not being born yesterday, figured that she would not be there but miraculously Brigitte was there! She actually got there an hour early so she wouldn't be late. We went to a park and taught her and it went really well. She was really interested and was very willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We asked her when we could see her again and she told us that she actually already had a rendez-vous with the Sister Missionaries on Saturday. We had no idea that we stole an investigator from the Soeurs! Haha So we told her that we would see her on Saturday with the Soeur missionaries. After that we went home and we were just so tired. It had been a jam packed day.

Friday was a good day. Not quite as busy but still successful. Our rendez-vous with our investigators didn't end up working out but we passed someone who we have taught a few times and we ended up having a good lesson on the importance of the Sabbath. Afterwards we met a less active member at the church and taught him and then spent a little bit of time with the members before there New Years Eve Party.

On Saturday, we went out and taught Monsieur Ecoffard, our investigator who we have been teaching forever who never wants to progress and then we came back into Marseille to have our Rendez-vous with Brigitte and the Soeurs. With the new year the bus schedule changed and the Soeurs ended up getting stuck in Aubagne so that was their sign that Brigitte was supposed to be our investigator. We got to the church and waited for Brigitte (she was 45 minutes late). There ended up being a member cleaning the building who helped us teach. We went back through the first vision and watched the restoration. Right before the first vision, she started having a coughing attack and had to go outside for some fresh air. Kind of a bummer but once we got back in we finished the video, chatted and then engaged her for baptism. The first thing she did was shut it down by saying she was already baptized. The member who was with us totally invalided that reasoning and then Brigitte said, I have a handicap so it would be hard. Once again, our member backed us up and told about how she knew two people who got baptized who had severe handicaps. After that, Brigitte had nothing to say for excuses but never really fully agreed. It was still a good lesson regardless. We will just see how it goes with the coming rendez-vous. After Brigitte, we went to go teach a less active member who didn't end up being home so we contacted and headed back home.

On Sunday We were expecting multiple people at church, including Paul and his mutliple friends, well no one actually came. We were kind of bummed and particularly with Paul because he had absolutely promised us that he would be there. After church we passed some people and went to some of our rendez-vous with very little success. We came home to recharge, eat a little bit and then get back out to work with added zeal. And goodness were we blessed. First, we tried to go to a rendez-vous we had fixed the day before but the girl was sick so couldn't make it so we decided to go and pass by Paul's house and have a bit of a discussion. On the way, we met three Ghanese people who we had talked to before but never got their contact information and we ended up fixing a rendez-vous and getting a number. We got to Paul's house and we decided that we were going to lay it down straight with him. We got in there and he made lame excuses that he was tired and then kind of joked it off. We talked about the importance of showing respect and love for God and how crucial it is that we do that. Every excuse he made, every diffculty he expressed we answered with explanations and scriptures until you could tell that we had talked every escape route. He had nothing else to say. He knew what it is that he needed to do and he knew that he needed to change the way that he was living to become closer with God. We put him in his place but we most definitely did it with love. It was an incredible rendez-vous. At the end he said, So, when are you guys coming back. We smiled, said Tuesday evening and said alright, cool, I will see you Tuesday. It was absolutely amazing. After Paul we stopped by Francisca's and had a little rendez-vous with her, she still was not ready to jump fully in, but we are going to keep working with her. After her we went to a less active member's house to see if she would be there and while we were chatting with her husband she actually showed up. We had a great discussion with her and she really opened up to us about everything that had happened and her struggles and really her fears. We addressed a lot of things and had a great lesson. She was very humble and with some time, she will come back to church, I know it. She really has a sweet testimony. After her we ran home because we had spent so much time at her house that we were going to be late. We looked through our week, counted everything up and realized that we really had a very full and good week. It was such a good and rewarding feeling.

Well, sorry it's a bit long this week but a lot really happened and a lot of really cool things too. I can't wait to see what will come from the week but I am looking forward to it after the awesome last one. I hope that everyone is doing well and has enjoyed the Holidays. I love you all very much and thank you for your love and support. Have a good. Au revoir!!

Elder Kirkpatrick