Congrats to Uncle Ethan, he is an uncle again!! Baby Wyatt was born on St Patricks Day (missing Ethan's b-day by one day) My apologies for getting this up a day late, I thought a newborn was a good enough excuse. Enjoy!


Hello!!

La vie est belle, n'est pas??I hope that everyone is doing well and that every week is another pleasure to discover and find the blessings and the miracles. Well, this has been quite a good week here in Toulon with a new companion and thankfully, we have not met the crazies from the hospital again since Tuesday... there goes a grand sigh of relief!

On Wednesday, we went to teach a less active member, who I am pretty sure I described last week (he is the guy we met on the bus and he said he would come to church on Sunday and then he came). So we went to Horacio's house and Elder Milman and I both honestly felt like we had just gotten into France.... Horacio is Portugese and has a very thick accent and it is very difficult to understand him and so we spent a good amount of time just smiling and nodding because we had no clue what he was saying..... Haha! But in all cases, he told us that he wanted to come to church the next Sunday again, so it ended well. In the afternoon, we taught Thomas, who is doing well but still struggles a lot with the Word of Wisdom. He has a very tentative date for baptism but it will need to be pushed back definitely. Afterwards we had a meeting with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries and it was so awesome. They just called two new missionaries and with them and the ward mission leader, it was perfect. It was exactly how those meetings should go, beautifully! After our meeting we had a rendez-vous with Rudi. He is doing very well but sadly still struggling. He knows exactly what he needs to do but he is just having a hard time holding on to the iron rod. I didn't have time to explain everything to Elder Milman before and in the middle of the rendez-vous, Rudi just said to him, "I am not sure if you have heard about my situation but...." and then he continued to tell him absolutlely everything and perfectly outline every single thing that he needs to do... if he can find the spiritual strength to do. He needs a lot of support and a lot of prayers. After the rendez-vous, Elder Milman and I turned to each other and said, "he knows absolutely everything he needs to do to know, but he just needs to do it." So we continue to give him our love and support and do everything that we can to help him and then leave it in the hands of the Lord.

Thursday was a bit of a rough day as far as rendez-vous go. We ended up doing a lot of contacting because some lessons fell through and did some exploring while contacting so that we could familiarize ourselves with Toulon since we honestly don't know it that well. It was rough for getting contacts too but suprisingly we got a contact by doing some door to door, which rarely happens! So that was definitely a good point. In the evening we had English class and then afterwards taught Sebastion. He is a very interesting guy and has some very odd beliefs and a slightly bizarre "out of body experience".... but it was a fairly good lesson. It is definitely very small steps with him, that we need to take. Right after him, Jean-Baptiste, a member, met us at the church and then Rudi came and we had an incredible lesson. At the end, he told us, "I was honestly expecting this to be our last lesson because I continue to do the wrong things when I know what I should do and I don't want to waste your time, but I know that I can change and make the right decision, it is just not easy." It is honestly difficult to describe the spirit that was so present there and how much it touched all of us. I never thought that I could love these people and care for them so much that it makes me absolutely distraught when they make the wrong choices but how much I desire their success in laking the wrong choices when they stumble. I know that that is definitely a blessing that I have received as a missionary.

On Friday, it was my birthday and thank you so much for everyone that sent a card or sent a birthday wish, that was very nice of you. And for all the others... I am still waiting... no I am totally kidding. Even if you thought, "Oh it's the 18th, I know it's somebody's birthday, I hope they have a good day today." That suffices. Ha. Honestly, it was a good birthday because we were so busy. All of the rendez-vous had kind of finally piled up on that day so we were very busy. The morning was weekly planning and then in the afternoon, we taught Benedine, who is a less active member, who is very nice but very much stuck on not doing anything... Afterwards was a quick lesson with Anthony to try and see if he is really engaged and committed in doing anything. Whether he actually is or not... that is something completely different. We then hurried to the church to teach Hasina. Hasina was baptized just about a month ago but he is so solid, and it is great to see. He is a very genuine guy. Directly after Hasina, we met Jocelyne at the church with Frere and Soeur Michel and had a fantastic lesson with her. She is making so much progress that it is absolutely incredible. She said that at first she was content remaining catholic but coming to church as a Latter Day Saint but that it just became evident that she needed to be baptized. And since that decision, her life has started to be so much better, it is incredible to see her testimony grow. We then hurried to teach Jacira, who is less active, and her kind-of husband Julien. It was a good lesson and Julien said he really wanted to come to church on Sunday. He really has a lot of potential and really a desire. It is awesome.

Saturday, that started out by having another rendez-vous with Jocelyne and the Michels and Soeur Didelle. As they came into the building, they were actually planning the program for her baptism... WOW! Honestly, we have done very very little with Jocelyne. The members have taken care of everything... which is perfect and exactly how it should be. We taught the word of wisdom and at first she was a bit hesitant about not drinking wine but by the end, she said she would definitely follow it. We then left to go to Michel Calderini's house. Haha he is a very quarky old man and slightly crazy but I cannot help but just absolutely love him. He makes progress little by little and shows it definitely in his own ways. Afterwards, we played basketball and then taught Anthony a little bit. In the evening we did some contacting and that was about it.

Sunday, as always, was kind of the monitor of the week to see who actually comes to church. We had a great turn out. Jocelyne, Anthony, Horacio (the less active guy) Julien and Jacira and their daughter Jovena, the Langel Family, and Rudi. It was a great sacrament meeting as far as talks go and were really good for Rudi. As far as translating, I translated Priesthood, Elder Milman translated Sunday School, and then I had the pleasure of translating for Sacrament Meeting.... Elder Milman ever so graciously allowed me to translate that. Ha! But much to my surprise it was much easier than the last time and I did a lot better a job too. I definitely said a quick thank you afterwards for the gift of tongues!!!! After church, we taught Thomas, which was a pretty good lesson but still a bit difficult to see exactly where he is at. After that, we had a nice afternoon of contacting ahead of us that I was a bit worried about because we hadn't been too successful all week.... but we got 9 contacts. That was a nice surprise miracle, definitely. In the evening we met a young guy that we had contacted a few days earlier and had a quick lesson with him that was pretty good. The students are usually pretty good about having a lesson and being open... the hard thing is getting them to actually read and find the time for a second lesson. So we will pray for another one in the coming week. All in all it was a good end to a pretty good week.

Today, we went with one of our investigators, Hector, to the Sainte Baume, which is this cave tucked into the cliff of a mountain where Mary Magdelene spent the last few years of her life before she died and she was actually buried there. To get there we hiked through this very ancient forest, supposedly the oldest in all of Europe, and then saw a bit of the end of the mass that they do in the cave everyday. It was a really cool experience and it helped me remember how blessed I am to be in such a beautiful country. I can't say that the work is always easy here but the landscape is always beautiful and there is always something wonderful to discover. I will have to send some pictures of the area we were in.

I hope that everyone is doing well and continues to have a good week. I love you all very very much and want you to know that you are always in my prays. Have a great week and à la prochain!

Elder Kirkpatrick