Week 32

Bonjour à tous!!

A new week, a new city, new investigators, new challenges, that's the life. I hope that everyone else has been thrown some curve balls this last week, just to spice up life a bit. If we didn't get any curve balls, we would just be confortable in our little bubbles. Surprises teach us and help us learn. This week has been a good week, definitely busy and a little tiring.

So last week started out pretty good. I don't think I told you last week but last Monday, we ended fixing a baptismal date with one of the investigators in Toulon. His name is Rudi and he is actually one of the players on the Rugby team here in Toulon, which is apparently pretty famous. It is kind of a complicated situation but the short version is that the girl he loves is a member of the church and she decided that she truly needed to turn her life around and so she started to change her life and decided to leave Toulon to go live with her family in Australia to have that good support system and she is taking their little baby son. She was leaving Tuesday so we went and ate dinner with them on Monday night, it was some really good sushi. She bore such a strong testimony about how she has received such a strong witness of the truth of all these things that there is no way that she could possibly deny it and that she wants Rudi to have that same feeling and knowledge for himself. It was really strong and he really wanted to change his habits and literally become a new man.

On Tuesday, we started out the morning by helping out this guy who has taken lessons from the missionaries on and off but he is a professor and has to teach a class in English and he doesn't speak english so we helped him with his pronunciation of things to read from the powerpoints he has. We taught him and then we hurried to go to a members house to eat on the other side of the city. Actually not in Toulon but in a town just next to it right by the sea. So we hurried and tried to catch a bus that took quite a long time to get out there. We got there and taught a little lesson about missionary work. They are a really cool family. It's a couple in their 50s who have been members for about 25 years and have such strong testimonies but also have baptized several of their neighbors throughout the years and their friends, it's really cool. It would be cool to get that same passion in all the members in France. There would be a big population of LDs members here! We had a very normal French meal, including the baguettes and a course that was just cheese, as is normal. I have definitely grown a fondness for cheese. Ha. Afterwards Frere Michelle drove us back into Toulon and went to a Rendez-vous with us to a man named Pascal. It was a pretty good rendez-vous. Afterwards, we went and played basketball with the guy that the Elder had baptized just the week before and then we caught up with Rudi and had a quick lesson with him. Then, in the evening, we went to a less active member and taught her and her husband and daughter who aren't baptized. It was a pretty good lesson but a little crazy since two of her Brazillian friends randomly showed up.

Wednesday morning, we had a rendez-vous with this crazy young guy that has a baptismal date but he is a little bit just everywhere. So we had a little bit of a knuckle down with him to see if he is actually serious about continuing and surprisingly he did say that he was going to come to Nice on Sunday for Stake Conference. Afterwards we had a rendez-vous with Rudi that was really good. The best thing with him is that he had such an incredible example of the gospel and it's power through Nancy, who was his girlfriend. He saw how much it changed her life and he wants that same thing, he is just definitely going through his struggles right now. After, we had a rendez-vous with the recent convert and talked about the priesthood, then we had a meeting with the ward mission leader and then hurried to get to another rendez-vous. We got lost on the way because Elder Meservy couldn't find it... sometimes I wonder if he has actually been in Toulon for the last five months or not.... haha. We had a rendez-vous with a Brazillian lady who is a bit less active, her teenage daughter, who is very active and then her really good friend who is not a member but comes every single Sunday. The mom is a little crazy and honestly she was hilarious. She is basically never serious, she is just crazy. It's hard to explain. So it was a little difficult to try to direct the lesson, it was definitely interesting.

Thursday, we had a couple rendez-vous not work out but we did have one at the church in the afternoon with a guy named Thomas, it was pretty good. Here in Toulon, they have a lot of investigators but not necessarily a lot of investigators who do anything.... Ha. After, we did some contacting and then went back to the church for English class that we do every week here. There was this weird guy who comes, he loves speaking English and we taught him a lesson before class started because he was super early and he is just a little bizarre... and a little creepy. At English class, we had nine people come, which apparently is the biggest group they have had in a long time. There is this older lady who has been coming to English class with the missionaries for twenty years, non-stop!!! They can't ever stop English class here because she will ALWAYS be coming. Haha. Afterwards, Rudi ended up picking us up and we went to a Chinese Buffet. Haha, a rugby player has to eat ya know? Haha We had a good lesson with him but he can't seem to beat the temptations that he has and then brought up a problem he has with the fact that we don't pray to Mary and he is Catholic so that is pretty important for him. So we kind of tackled that. And then called it a night..... after they rolled us out of the chinese restaurant. Haha the really funny thing is that another player from the team and his family ended up coming in a little after we got there. Haha apparently it's popular among the teammates.

On Friday, we went to Marseille for a District Meeting where President and Soeur Carter were going to be there. It was weird to be back in Marseille, it just felt weird. Like it had been forever since I had been there and yet at the same time, not long at all. It felt so much like home. I guess that happens with your first city. The meeting was really good and we learned a lot of really good things. We got back into Toulon that evening and did some contacting and then met up with Rudi.... this time it was pizza.... Haha. He talked about his struggles, we addressed his concerns and honestly it came down to the fact that he truly needed an answer that everything was true. He feels like it but he doesn't feel like he has received an exact answer yet. I promised him that if he showed God that he was ready to receive an answer, meaning that in the next two days before stake conference he wouldn't break any commandements, that he would receive his answer at stake conference. I honestly can't believe that I said it but it just came out!

Saturday was a pretty busy day. In the morning we had a rendez-vous with a lady who had been to church the last 5 Sundays and the Elders hadn't had a rendez-vous with her yet. It was a great rendez-vous and truly another testimony builder of how important it is for members to talk to their friends about the gospel because she started coming because of a member. She said that once she knew these things were true, she would get baptized. After her, we met an older man who had been meeting with the missionaries for a long time, another friend of a member but he had finally come to church the Sunday before for the first time in all the years he had been an investigator. We had a good lesson and basically engaged him to baptism but haven't yet fixed a date. We then ended up eating with him and his wife for a surprise lunch. Afterwards, we hurried home, changed and went and played basketball with the recent convert, Anthony, and Rudi.... playing basketball with a big Rugby player...Ha! It was fun though. We then hurried home, got ready and then took a bus out to another city next to Toulon where the University is and had a lesson with an incredible student out there who is so prepared to be baptized, it is awesome!! Then, we met a couple guys who had been taught before and had a rendez-vous but they weren't really interested much. Unfortunately, we stayed too long and missed the last bus going home... the buses stop super early in Toulon! We started walking home and decided it was WAY too long so Elder Meservy called a member and thankfully he came and got us.

On Sunday it was Stake Conference in Nice and Rudi was going to pick us up and then drive us there. He called us in the morning and told us that he had made some bad decisions the night before and was not in a state to drive us all the way to Nice. He picked us up and drove us to the church to get a ride with a member and on the way he kind of broke down and told us how the reason he has been struggling is because he honestly doesn't feel like he has any reason to be good or be anything for that matter because he basically lost his son. His son was everything for him and now that he is gone, he has kind of lost the meaning of everything. He dropped us off and we were a little bummed. We got a ride from a member as well as Anthony. We got to Nice and before the conference started Rudi called and said that he really felt like he needed to be there so we gave him the address and he said he was on his way. The conference was good and the talks were all incredible, including the talks of President and Soeur Carter who were there and I was able to see Brigitte from Marseille.I was so happy!! Rudi ended up making it and got there for a bit more than the last half. He really enjoyed and thankfully they had translators so that we didn't have to sit there and translate the entire time. Thank goodness! After the conference everyone stuck around and Brigitte basically was attached to me like glue the whole time. When the people from Marseille left, she shook my hand and just squeezed it and held onto it for a long time. I told her that it would be ok and that we would keep in touch by mail. I always feel bad saying bye to her because it's like breaking her heart everytime. We then left and drove home with Rudi. And that was basically the day. Phew!

It has been a pretty crazy week and we did a lot! I hope that you all are doing well and that you are finding happiness in everything that you do. Have a great week and know how much I am grateful for each and every one of you! Thank you. I love you all!!!

Elder Kirkpatrick