Week 31

Bonjour à Tous!!!

I hope that everyone is doing well and staying busy. I hope the weather has been nice because the last little while the weather here in the South of France has been BEAUTIFUL! This week has been another busy one and there has been a very interesting and rather bizzare, unexpected change. But, I will get to that later because, naturally, that happened at the very end of my week.

Alright, so last week I spent so long explaining everything that led up to the baptism that I didn't have time to include Sunday in my weekly update. Sunday of course was the confirmation and it was incredible. After Brigitte was confirmed a member and received the Holy Ghost she got up and said "ça fait chaud!" Which means that it was hot. I thought that maybe it was because she was completely surrounded by four big guys and that she felt a little claustrophobic. After Daniel received the Holy Ghost, I went and sat back by Brigitte and she said the same exact thing to me again. So I asked if it was a sensation that she has inside. She told me that the heat started at her head and went completely down her entire body and that they heat was still with her. It was so incredible and such a strong testimony builder for her and for me. It is incredible to be able to help these people find truth and comfort in their lives and how much it opens their eyes. The rest of the day was good and we taught some lessons but that was truly the biggest and most incredible experience of the day!

Monday was a good day and a fairly typical preparation day. We did our normal things and then at the end of the day we had a rendez-vous with Jeorge and his family. They are doing well but he is very much so consumed by the Evangilical Beliefs and it is very difficult for him to see outside of that, unfortunately. But it was still pretty good. It has been weird for Elder Boehme and I now that Brigitte and Daniel are gone it's like starting again at zero and moving our focus. We have seriously been a little unsure what to do because we have been so consumed preparing Daniel and Brigitte for baptism the last few weeks that we are a little lost now. Ha! But I guess that's how it goes.

On Tuesday, we had a first rendez-vous with an American lady that we met a few weeks ago and we had a really good rendez-vous with her. Unfortunately, at the end she told us well I need to take my time so I will read in the Book of Mormon and then call you when I am ready to discuss it. I didn't get the impression that it was because she wasn't interested but because she didn't want to be pressed into anything and that she was going to go about it in a somewhat non-committal way. The funny thing was that her baby woke up from his nap while we were there and of course he was very attached to his mother but he right after he looked at Elder Boehme he freaked out! She told us, "he has never done this with anyone before. I don't know what is wrong with him today." Elder Boehme and I had some good laughs about that afterwards. In the afternoon, we met Daniel and started talking about Priesthood and helping him to prepare to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. After that, we went and met Brigitte at this big park and there is a big horse place right next to it. Brigitte used to work taking care of horses for a big Horse Spectacular show thing and they would tour around Europe and even into Morocco and the spectacular is out of Marseille so that is where they train and prepare and everything. So she took us over there to show us what she used to do. It is sad because she can't do it anymore because she was injured so she is training to do something else for work. But it was really cool to kind of become apart of Brigitte's world and to see all of that. There were some crazy exotic horses and even this very funny looking donkey. All of that is so much apart of Brigitte and it was nice to finally see it all.

Wednesday, we ended up seeing Brigitte in the morning and talking about the Priesthood. She got the Principles of the Gospel Sunday School book on Sunday and it was incredible to see how much she had already read! She had already started marking and highlighting stuff inside of it, it was so cool. It is incredible how much she just has this hunger and thirst for the things of the gospel. She even told us, before she met us, she never used to read and now she reads all the time. It is so cool to see the changes that have gone on her life since we first met her. The rest of the day was a little rough for rendez-vous, so we did some contacting some calls and that evening we ate dinner over at a member's house.

Thursday we did our weekly planning in the morning because we had zone conference Friday morning so we couldn't do our planning on friday like normal. After planning, we went and passed a Romanian family and taught them a bit. It was pretty hard because they don't really speak French very well but we were able to teach a bit. Afterwards, we taught Brigitte again and taught her about the importance of missionary work in her life and how much she appreciates that she has found the gospel and how she can share that with others around her. After, we did some contacting and then went and taught Jeorge and his family again, without too much major success.

Friday was our day for our interviews with President. Because it takes quite a while to interview everyone, he asked the four Elders in Marseille and the Soeurs to be there at 8 in the morning in Aix-en-Provence for our interviews. Ugh! We had to wake up so early to get there on time. ça me fatigue à penser de cela! Haha! I had my interview with President (this is when the weird things of the week start) and he told me how Elder Boehme and I have been working really well together and that we just seem to click. And then he proposed something that I had never thought was an option. Since Elder Boehme finishes his mission next transfer, I knew I wouldn't stay with him because that would mean that I would have to stay another transfer in Marseille after her finishes and that would make six transfers in the same city. Which is unheard of. Well, President said he had been thinking and he asked me if I would want to stay with Elder Boehme for his last transfer and then I would stay a sixth transfer in Marseille. I was quite shocked that he suggested that to me. I told him that honestly I could not decide and that I would give him the choice and allow him to reflect and think about it somemore. He told me that was fine. The rest of the interview was good and the rest of the Conference was good but I was in a little bit of shock just trying to take in what President proposed. If I were to stay in Marseille for six transfers that meant that I was there for 10 months of my mission.... which is a very long time in the same city on a mission. Throughout all the day we had three lessons and it was constantly in the back of my mind. The interview with President really motivated me and made me realize that I could work harder than I had been so that day, I tried to push myself as much as I could and it was great! For a half of a day, less than that actually, we had 3 lessons and a few snaps, it was good!*

Saturday we played soccer and then had our normal weekly meeting with our ward mission leader. The day was a little rough as far as rendez-vous go and all that but it was good. We stopped by the ward activity in the meeting to say hi and to make sure everything was going well with Brigitte, who was there. That was basically saturday.

On Sunday something very peculiar happened. I was showering before getting ready to go to church and when I got out of the bathroom the other Elders told me that President had called and that he wanted me to call him back. I thought that was really weird. Why was President calling me at 8 in the morning on a Sunday. I thought maybe he wanted to see how I felt about what he had proposed to me on Friday but I thought that it was weird. I called him and he told me that the companionship in Toulon was not doing very well together and then he asked me if I would be transferred to Toulon for the rest of the three weeks of this transfer and that we would make the change the next day!! I was completely shocked and absolutely blown again. Of course I wasn't going to tell President no but I did at least want to stay in Marseille for the rest of the transfer. So apparently he had kind of made the decision already and that's what I needed to do. The next thing was now I had to go to church and tell everybody that I was leaving in the middle of the transfer after being there for 5 months and the biggest concern was telling Brigitte. I told a few people and put off telling Brigitte until after church. I told her and she was definitely sad. Elder Barber said he could just tell on her face that she wasn't very happy that I was leaving. I felt bad but I couldn't really do much about it. She made sure to give me her address and so I will make sure to write her and keep in contact. We had some rendez-vous throughout the day and the rest of time I would hurry home and do some packing because I didn't have too much notice. In the evening we had dinner with a member and then I came home and finished packing everything. It was weird packing everything up from my very first city on my mission. It was literally Chez-moi!

This morning I got up and showered and went to the train station and met my new companion, who is Elder Meservy, who was in the MTC with me. It will be good. Toulon is a cool city and there is a lot of work going on here right now. Which is great. I am excited to see what the last three weeks of the transfer will be like. The weird thing is that I thought finally with Elder Boehme he would be my first companion that I would be with for two transfers. But not even, I only made it a transfer and a half with him! Haha! Fourth transfer.... fourth companion. What a reputation. Haha

I hope that everyone is doing well. I want you to know how much I love you and thank you for everything that you do for me, including the prayers! About my address, don't send things to the Marseille apartment anymore because... well, I am not there. I don't have the Toulon address with me so if you just send it to the mission home, they can forward it to me. Thanks! Have a great week. Ciao!

Elder Kirkpatrick