Last week revisited

This is the letter from last week in full this time:


Bonjour,

Wow another week has gone by and another beginning of a transfer. I cannit believe that this is already my fourth transfer and that I have been out for six months already! Woah! Time has honestly flown by. It seems like yesterday that I was still in Arizona but also like it has been years at the same time. It is a very odd feeling. This week has been another great one. Depsite kind of a big disappointment that we had but it's really ok and it is all in the Lord's hands.

Last Monday we had a lesson with Walter and we really talked about how important it was to have a personal relationship with God and that pray, scripture study and coming to church were extremely important in creating that. We engaged him to come to church and he said that he would if we could find someone to pick him up before and than drop him off because he doesn't really have any means of transportation and no money for the bus. So we told him that we would find someone.

On Tuesday, we had a very full day with lessons! We started out the morning by passing some people and we contacted this incredible lady who is actually American. She said that she has really been searching lately for a church and really feels like this was God's way of saying, "Ok, it is time to make a decision." And she has a little baby and really wants to raise him with good values in a church. Just after lunch we went to Maria's house and talked about how to really feel peace and calm in this life. With her problems, she is always very up and down emotionally and so we talked about how the gospel can help create a bit of equilibrium. After Maria, we hurried to the church to teach Daniel and we decided that we would go through some of the baptismal questions to see where he had some "holes" in what we have taught and what he remembers from the other missionaries. Well, we ended up talking about the modern prophet but he wasn't really aware of that. Right after Daniel, we taught Brigitte (our two investigators engaged for baptism for the 12th back-to-back) and we watched Finding Faith in Christ with her and talked about the love and power of Christ for each of us. It was really good and it is amazing how truly ready she is for baptism. I have had people engaged for baptism before but I have never felt like that were so completely ready and prepared like she is. It's awesome. That evening we had a lesson with Jorge and his family (the Brazillians). It was pretty big but he struggles with the exactness of laying on of hands and the spirit world. At the end of the lesson he was believing that people can be taught about the gospel after this life, which was a huge step, but there was still so much more work to do.

On Wednesday, We had a lot of rendez-vous fall through all the way until the evening when we had Maria again. We really emphasized with her how when we base our lives on Christ using pray, scripture study, and coming to church that we can withstand the influences of the world. She really liked the lesson and was very pumped to come to church. We used this demonstration using three cups and three knives and you have to be a foundation using all three in a way to hold up something and the cups are placed a certain distance away. Anyway, it's a little tricky to do but it makes a lot of sense with the explanation. So it was a good lesson and it really focused on helping her from the influences around her, which she struggles with.

On Thursday, we did some pass backs in the morning and ended up contacting this incredible Tahitian lady whose best friend is Mormon in Tahiti and she has had a lot of interaction with the Mormon church. It was incredible. She is actually here because her son is here for his studies but he got in an accident and so he is partially paralyzed and now she is here to help him out while he finishes his studies. It was such a miracle that we ran into on the street and she told us to come by their apartment to talk her some more. We didn't have too much else the rest of the day and then we ended up teaching a Jehovah's Witness Lady for a while but it honestly didn't go anywhere. After that, we had another rendez-vous with Jorge and his family and they called us and asked if we could do it another night right as we were in front of there apartment complex but we had Frère Fidalgo with us and this would have been the 3rd time they we tried to have Frère Fidalgo come and they cancelled so we explained and they said it would be ok. We go up to their apartment and there was a random guy there with the family. Come to find out, he is actually a preacher from the Assembly of God evangilist church in Brazil and that he surprised Jorge just the day before and that he would be staying in Marseille to open up a branch there and that he needed Jorge's help! Seriously, our heart's dropped. He told us that we could keep coming by and discussing with him but that he couldn't come to church anymore and that he was going to focus on helping his friend start up this church. So that was definitely a bit of a bummer... especially after he told us that he would have stayed with our church if his friend hadn't showed up.... But either way, it's ok and the Lord has a plan for this family and apparently, right at this second is not the right time.

On Friday, we had our weekly planning and the night before, Maria had said that she wanted to invite us to eat with her for lunch and so we asked if we could invite the other missionaries. After our planning, we went together to Maria's and she opened the door and it was evident that she had completely forgotten about feeding us. It was kind of awkard as we all sat there silently waitng for her to say something about lunch or anything but she said nothing so we just taught her a lesson about faith and then tried to engage her for baptism but she said she wasn't ready yet. We really stressed how that is truly the first step but she still wouldn't quite engage herself. We are going to give her a little bit of time and then get her engaged for baptism. After her, we hurried and taught Alexandre and it was a pretty good lesson and he said that he would come to church the next Sunday. After him, we went and taught Brigitte and did the same thing with the cups and knives and pray, reading scriptures, and coming to church. After the lesson we finalized plans for baptism and everything and she is so ready. Afterwards we all, including the member who was with us, went and had a kebab because we were starving because we didn't really get lunch. Haha! We then went and passed Paul and he had some friends there with him. We really focused on the atonement to try and see if it would push Paul to actually work and engage himself. He said that he would come to church on Sunday and bring his friend with him.

Saturday was another hectic day. We had Soccer in the morning and Paul and his friends showed up... playing soccer with Africans is intense! Afterwards we went to the church for our normal missionary meeting and Frère Fidalgo had prepared lunch to eat with all of us and Brigitte also so that we could all start our fast together just after. Right afterwards Daniel came and we taught Daniel, and a less active member was with us and Brigitte ended up staying too. She was basically the member in helping us teach. It was so cool. The lesson ended and then the member and Daniel left and we waited there to have a rendez-vous with someone who I had taught months ago when I was with Elder Mayer and he had a baptismal date but right after, who acted weird and said he didn't want to continue. One of the members told me that he had showed up at an activity the saturday before so I thought maybe he wanted to continue again so I called him us and scheduled a rendez-vous. Well come to find out he is a Nomad and has some very very bizarre views and opinions about everything. He pulls from every type and belief and pushes them together to make a point and contradict himself and then doesn't really listen when one responds. He definitely didn't want to actually continue and Brigitte happened to be with us and we were worried that maybe he would influence her but not at all. They did not agree on anything, so it worked out. We decided after that to go try and find the Tahitian lady and her son. We found the complex but couldn't find their name in the registry of people in the building. Someone was nice and let us in with them and did find their name and their mailbox inside. They were home and we so we just kind of got to know each other and then taught them a little lesson. Her son, Jordan, is such a nice kid and is so positive despite everything that has happened but he seems to have lost the faith in God. For her, the accident seemed to increase her faith in God. We were with them for quite awhile and then she said that we could come back and she would feed us like the members do in Tahiti. So we fixed a rednez-vous with them and she also sent us home with a bunch of soup. Haha!

Sunday, unfortunately Walter fell through and Maria flaked out on us and neither Paul or Alexandre showed up. Even after making reminder calls with them all! But, Daniel and Brigitte were both there. The baptism was announced to the members and they tried on the baptismal clothes to make sure they had something that fit. It was perfect. After church it was a little tough, our rendez-vous didn't work out but we met an incredible lady out on the street with her daughter and taught her for quite awhile and then fixed another rendez-vous with her. We were on our way to eat at a member's house but we had a few minutes so we decided to stop by Maria's house to see how she was. We ended up getting there the same time has her boyfriend and so he let us in and we kind of surprised her. She really looked like she had a very difficult day. We came and shared a message and it really cheered her up. Even her boyfriend said that she is more happy when she consistently has the influence of the gospel in her life. So we refocused on getting her to church and it ended up being a good lesson. We hurried over to the member's house and ate some pancakes... a good end to a good week.

I hope that all of you are doing well and staying busy. As always, thank you for your love and support and I just want to tell you that I love you all too. Have a great week and see the small blessings in everything in your life, the big and small. Have a great week. Ciao!

Elder Kirkpatrick