Bonjour à Tous!
I hope that everyone is doing very well. Well transfers came around and I am still in Toulon. About 7 months now being in France and I still haven't left the same district that I have been in since I got here. That is definitely not typical. Oh well, I can count my blessings that I am still in Toulon with much work still to do. We have had another busy week full of rendez-vous and good things happening. I can honestly say it has been another tiring week but good week.
On Monday, since I emailed early in the morning last week, we went and took a cable car type of thing on top of Mount Faron and then went to the zoo up there and then in the evening we decided that we needed to start out the week with contacts, so we spent the evening contacting and it was fairly profitable. We actually got some normal people! Ha!
Tuesday was another District Meeting in Marseille, so we went out there and had our meeting and then I went on an exchange with Elder Barber and he came back with me to Toulon. Our first two rendez-vous, unfortunately, were cancelled but I called a less active who we hadn't been able to get ahold of for about two weeks and so we went and saw Horacio. Of course he went on about his long stories about who knows for awhile but I tried really hard in cutting him off as best as possible, in a kind way of course, and it worked but he would just kept going back to his subject. Oh well, I guess at some point you just have to let an old portugese man just talk. In the evening we had a good rendez-vous with Jean-François and Jerome, a member from the ward. It was really a really good lesson and I know that Jerome and Elder Barber were happy because it was the last time they would be able to see each other and Elder Barber actually baptized him about a year ago here in Toulon, so it was a bit sentimental.
Wednesday morning we had another sentimental lesson for Elder Barber because it was with Lydie, who is unfortunately less active now, but she was also the other person he helped get baptized in Toulon. It was a pretty good lesson but she definitely has some difficulties right now that she is trying to work through. We then met Elder Milman and Elder Wahlquist at the train station and re-exchanged. We then had a lesson with Thomas in the afternoon. It was one of those tough "you need to start actually doing something or we will drop you" lessons. It went pretty well but left it in his hands that if he feels like he wants to continue and putting in effort, then he will call us but we aren't going to keep having lessons with him when he just won't progress. We then went and met Kate, the girl from Nigeria that we met last week. We taught her about the plan of salvation and then engaged her for baptism. We then hurried to the church and had our meeting with the ward missionaries and then went to see Sara and Eric. Sara then informed us that because of the dispute that she and Clara got into on Sunday, that Clara was no longer living there and she was very troubled by everything that happened. We had a good lesson and helped ease her concerns about what happened. They then told us that they were going to Nancy earlier than expected and were actually leaving that night and so we fixed a rendez-vous for the next week and wished them a safe trip.
Thursday morning we went over to Michel and Annie's house. We had a little lesson but it was difficult because their grandson was there so we weren't really able to teach Annie. They also told us that they wouldn't be able to come to church this Sunday because they had family commitments for Easter. But we had a nice little lunch and then headed out to meet Frère Sassi to go see Jean-François. We started the Plan of Salvation with him and then got on to discussing some of his difficulties. He really has a lot of struggles that he is dealing with but the difference is that he is actually willing to put in the effort, where as there are so many other people who have no desire to even put in the effort. We then passed some people, bought a really good chocolate easter pastry.... MMMMM..... and then headed to the church for English Class. Of course Christian was there as well as Sebastien. We then headed out, with Frère Laurey to see Jacira and Jovena. We had a good lesson focused on the spirit and Frère Laurey had a great testimony. We then had some cake, that she bought, and we headed home.
Friday, as any Friday before exchanges was a day of anticipation and of course weekly planning. It was all broken up though because of a lesson we had. We planned a bit in the morning and then went to the church to see Martine, who is a less active, with Frère Tanguy. We had a pretty good lesson but she is a lady that has a lot of difficulties, partially because she looks at everything in a very pessimistic way. So even the scriptures from the Book of Mormon she had arguments about but we got her to understand and to commit to coming to church not this Sunday but the Sunday after and talk with the bishop. We then headed back home, and on the way we got our call from President saying that we would be staying together in Toulon for another transfer together. We were both ok with that and excited to have another great transfer, but even better! We got home, ate a bit, planned a bit, and then headed back out to the church to teach Sebastien. We actually had a really good lesson with him. It was the best one that we have ever had with him and he had some really good questions, not just bizarre ones this time. He left and then we finished our planning at the church and headed out to what ended up being an evening of contacting with some pretty good fruits out of it.
Saturday morning started out a bit slow and then we had basketball in the afternoon. It was kind of rainy and stormy for the morning and the afternoon but we still had a good time. We then went and met Kate, the Nigerian girl, to go to the baptism of a little girl in the ward. Thankfully the baptism didn't start when it was supposed to so that we didn't miss anything. The baptism was really good and then there was a nice little buffet afterwards and so we ate a bit and then Kate left and Jean-François came to the church so we taught him again with Jerome. It was another really good lesson and we made some more progress on the Plan of Salvation. We helped answer a lot of his questions. He has a lot of really good questions. We then headed home for the nght.
Sunday, we were figuring that it would be a little bit slim at church because a lot of people had already told us they wouldn't be there because of Easter commitments. So we ended up only have Jean-François and surprisingly Rudi was there! We lost contact with him for about two weeks and then thankfully he showed up at church, all black and blue and injured from the Rugby game on Saturday evening. Also equally surprising, was that Martine came! It was a very good lesson in Sunday school and of course Sacrament meeting was good since it was Easter. After church we headed home and ate a bit and then headed out and had a lesson with Jean-François. He has a hard time focusing on the good things in life so we helped him try to focus on that so that he can overcome the temptations he has when the sadness comes. After him, we ended up having another evening of some contacting but not too much success since no one was out on the streets. Pretty much everyone was together as families inside.
Voilà, that was my week. I hope that you all have had a great Easter and have spent some good time with your families. I love you all very much and am grateful for everything that you do for me. Have a great week and I will update you on everything that has happened next monday. Ciao!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, April 25, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Jocelyn's Baptism (From left to right Ethan, Frere Michel, Jocelyn, Elder Milman)
Hello!
I hope that everyone is doing well and has been staying busy and occupied. This has been another crazy week, that is for sure! We had a lot of things going on and a lot of things to work towards. We did a lot of work, which helped this last week absolutely fly by, and I honestly can't believe we are already at the end of another transfer! This one flew by!!
I will start with Monday of last week because in the evening, we were so busy, we ended up cutting into our preparation day to be able to have enough time for our rendez-vous. We had a lesson at five with a guy named Hamed, he is from a Muslim family but has no ties to the religion at all and doesn't really believe in anything but wants to find God in his life. We had a good lesson with him that wasn't too long because he had to go and we had another rendez-vous. We then headed to go see Anthony, of course he wasn't home and we called him and he was able to come home. We fixed the rendez-vous the day before and in a 24 hour period, he forgot.... Anyway, so he showed up and we ended up having a bit of a lesson with him but as usual, it was a bit odd, as usual, I don't think normal lessons are going to happen with him. Afterwards, we went to see Sara and her boyfriend, who we had fixed an appointment with for Sunday, but it didn't end up working out, but this time, they were there! Well, we met her and her husband, Eric, and their two little girls, and she had the two sons of Clara, her sister. We found out the Clara and Franck are no longer together and that she is living with Sara now. Oh the drama. Anyway, we had a nice little lesson with them that was slightly awkward just because it was the first meeting in general, and it's normally awkward. But, it must not have been too bad because she invited us to come back another time to eat with them, so we fixed a rendez-vous for Friday night to eat with them.
Tuesday, or first rendez-vous ended up being with Pascal after lunch and we had a decent rendez-vous with him. At first, it was a bit interesting, because he had spent the last 45 minutes before that reading a bunch of junk on the internet, so of course he got a lot of very weird and biased views. Regardless, we answered some questions and ultimately told him that only God could tell him if Joseph Smith was a prophet. He still wouldn't commit to anything but he continues to read every day in the Book of Mormon. We then went to Jean-François' house and had a good lesson about faith and repentance and baptism. He didn't really understand what was so important about baptism even after going to Jocelyne's baptism but we ran out of time so we told him that we would address all of that the next time. But, we left him with a calender to read a chapter everyday in the Book of Mormon. Afterwards, was another rendez-vous with Frère Sanderre, our ward mission leader and the ward missionaries to plan a meal that we were doing on Sunday after church for all of the recent converts and all of the investigators and President and Soeur Carter, who were coming to church on Sunday. So we helped plan that out and then headed back out to contact until we went home a little after.
Wednesday started out with a rendez-vous with Hasina, and so we watched The Legacy, because he has already been retaught all of the lessons and we have no idea what else to teach him. Ha! In the afternoon, we ended up having our rendez-vous not work out until we went to our coordination meeting with the ward missionaries. It was a good meeting and then Rudi came and picked us up at the church. We had a good rendez-vous with him and we talked about baptism but again he told us that he is not ready. He actually talked to the Rugby team and they are going to let him out of his contract so that he can go back to New Zealand now to be with Nancy and their son. Which will be good but on the other hand it allowed him to say that he will just continue with the missionaries in New Zealand when he goes back in June. So, I don't know what will happen in the next few weeks with him. One never knows but we will continue to see him and if nothing else, help him to undertsand the gospel better.
On Thursday, it was a little rough. Elder Milman didn't feel very good at all and I still wasn't really over my cold either. In the morning we went and had a rendez-vous with Michel and his wife, Annie. It was pretty good. We talked about baptism and he talked about his doubts but we told him that ultimately, it is between him and the Lord and he seemed to like that. We had a nice lunch with them and then made sure that they were coming for the lunch after church with President and Soeur Carter. In the afternoon, our two rendez-vous ended up getting cancelled so we went back home for a bit so that Elder Milman could get a little rest. Afterwards, we headed to the church for English Class and of course Christian was there and Sebastian. Christian left after about a half an hour and so we had Sebastian to ourselves for the last thirty minutes. He definitely has some very interesting beliefs and we were able to get some gospel discussions in. As long as it is in English, he is very willing to talk about the gospel. Ha! We then stopped by to see Jean-François. We ended up going through the word of wisdom and that is definitely his biggest struggle. But he knows that it is all bad. We got him to commit to start to stop drinking coffee. And he agreed that he would stop until he sees us next, to see how it goes.
Friday were went to Aix-en-Provence for our Zone Conference. It was a really good conference and we were given a few different things to help us get members more involved in the work. It was really good and very edifying. We then hurried to catch our bus so that we could be back in Toulon for our rendez-vous with Sara and her family. We thankfully were able to make it. We had a good rendez-vous and were able to get to know everyone a bit better. They are a very nice family. It is so nice to be able to spend time with a family because most of the people we teach aren't families We talked about the Plan of Salvation and part way through, Clara came back from work and so she joined in. At the end of the evening, they said they would definitely be at church on Sunday.
Saturday was quite a busy day and it started out with a lesson with Jean-François and Frère Sanderre. He told us that they night before he had a bit of a break down and a doctor came and told him to see a psychiatrist and just a bunch of stuff. We had a very good lesson with him about how he can overcome these obstacles and not be so tied down by these burdens that he carries right now. We ran home really fast to eat and then to the church to help get everything ready for the lunch on Sunday and just after we got there, the bell rang at the door and it was Jean-François. It definitely took me by surprise. He said that after we left, he had another attack type of thing, went to the hospital but the waiting room was too full so we thought that by chance, we might be at the church. Luckily we were, we let him in and then he helped us get things ready. He just needs something to keep him occupied, since he doesn't work. Well apparently while cutting vegetables, he was talking to Soeur Didelle and she offerred her services as a Kinesiologist to help him overcome some of his difficulties and some of his medical problems as well. It was good for him to start getting this member support because it can't just be us to help him. He then stayed as we taught Thomas and the church and then we headed back home quickly to grab a Book of Mormon in English and then we went and met an African girl that we gave her the first lesson and then a Book of Mormon. It was a good lesson and then we fixed another lesson the next week. Afterwards we had a bit of time so we went and stopped by Lydie (a lady who is less active that was just baptized almost a year ago) and had a quick little lesson with her.
Sunday, was the big day. We were supposed to have about 10 or 11 investigators there. For the first hour of church, we had Jean-François, and Philip and Sylvie Langel and then Sara and Clara and two of their kids came (Sara's husband stayed at home) and then no one else showed up until Sacrament Meeting, and Michel and Annie came and Anthony came. Unfortunately, Rudi didn't come and neither did Laura! Which was too bad because President and Soeur Carter gave awesome talks. After Sacrament, we hurried to get everything ready for the meal and it was a big scramble but it turned out perfectly! Everyone had a great time and got along great and it was incredible for everyone! At the end President and Soeur Carter left, they were going to take us with them to our apartment so they could check it for being clean but we lucked out because we had so many investigators there, they thought it was better we stay with them.... YES! (Not that it wasn't clean, we were actually assuming they would check so we spent almost all of the last preparation day cleaning.) So everyone got to know each other and then Sara and Clara invited us over that evening to eat with them also. So after the meal, we headed home to drop off a couple things, tried to go to a rendez-vous but he wasn't home and then contacted around until the evening when we went and met Jacira. We had a nice rendez-vous with her and actually two of her Brazilian friends. We then went to Sara's house and found out the Sara and Clara got in a fight and then Clara just left and Sara had no idea where she went or if she would come back. More drama. The crazy thing is that they were totally fine at church. Anyway, we had a great lesson with them and then got Eric to agree to come to church. Not this week, because they are visiting family, but the next after that. We fixed a rendez-vous with them and then told us also that if we are ever in the area and don't have anything to do, just to stop by. So that was pretty cool. We are getting some good relationships with them, which is good.
Well, that was our busy week and I must say that with all of the preparing for the big thing with President and Soeur Carter and trying to get everyone there, we were a bit stressed but it worked out very well. It felt good to have that all finished and out of the way. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you all have had good and busy weeks and that this new week looks just as promising as the last. Thank you for your letters, thoughts, and prayers. Everything is very much appreciated. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Ciao!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, April 11, 2011
Bonjour!
Quelle semaine merveilleuse! It has been a great week here in Toulon and it ended off in such a great way... but I can't just tell you how it ended now because that would ruin the surprise and it wouldn't go in chronological order!
So Tuesday started out with another District Meeting in Marseille in the morning and then we had an exchange. I went back to Toulon with Elder Wahlquist and Elder Milman stayed in Marseille with Elder Barber. It was kind of funny being back with Elder Wahlquist, who was my MTC companion. We ended up missing our original train to get to Toulon because we got stuck in the Metro in Marseille so by the time we got to the station the train had left but thankfully there was another not too long after we got there. We ended up being too late for one of our rendez-vous and the one right after got cancelled that morning (unfortunately it was Franck and Clara). So we walked around getting some contacts until our first rendez-vous with Laura and Manon and Soeur Wutrich. The week before we gave Laura the commitment of preparing a lesson for us and so we got to listen to her lesson. It was nice because we have kind of hit a brick wall where she has been taught everything and we aren't sure what else to teach. Afterwards, we went to the church to meet with Hector. First we gave a lesson and then we helped him write a letter of recommendation for someone because it had to be in English. He then gave us a ride home.
On Wednesday, we had a rendez-vous fixed for the morning before we re-exchanged but the lady didn't show up so we did some more contacting and then Elder Barber and Elder Milman came into town but Elder Barber and Wahlquist couldn't go back to Marseille right away because there was work on the train tracks so they stayed and had some lunch with us. After they headed out, Elder Milman and I went to go meet a guy named Jean-François. We had received his number and address in the mail the day before from church headquarters because apparently he put his information on the church website so that he could have a Book of Mormon, we called him up and he was very happy to have a rendez-vous. Jean-François is a very nice guy but he has definitely had a lot of struggles in his life and he had started to overcome his difficulties but last December he fell back into his old habits and he said that it has only been getting worse. He used to have a Book of Mormon from a long time ago and he really enjoyed it but ended up losing it but it still had an impact on him and he always remembered it so he felt like, out of desperation, this was one of his last things to try to basically save himself from a completely self-destructive life. We had a very good rendez-vous with him and he could honestly see a ton of good changes in his life if he follows exactly what we will teach him. We then headed to the church to have our meeting with the ward missionaries who honestly continue to surprise me and impress me with everything that they do! Rudi then met us at the church and we went with him to eat and have a lesson. He told us how he was talking to Nancy, his ex, on the phone a few days before and how she was getting upset and blaming him for things and he said normally he would have gotten mad, started yelling, but after the call he knelt down and prayed, and he felt better, and the next day, she sent him a very nice email apologizing for what had happened. It was just another testimony of how he truly is changing his life with the little things progressively.
Thursday, we started out our day by going to see Michel Calderini and his wife Annie, he ended up cutting my hair (he was a hair cutter his entire life up until retirement) and then we had lunch with them. We had a bunch of other rendez-vous scheduled for the day but unfortunately, they all fell through until our English class in the evening. We had Laura, Manon, Christian (the lady who is always there) and Sebastian. After the class, we taught a little lesson to Manon, Laura and Sebastian.
Friday, of course, was weekly planning in the morning and then afterwards we went to see Benedine, the less active member. We gave him "the talk" and told him that we can't keep seeing him because it wastes our time if he is not at all willing to put in the efforts to come to church. We then went to see Jean-François and he was very emotional about a lot of things. We talked and at the end of the rendez-vous he seemed a lot better. We even talked about baptism and he already knew that he couldn't smoke and drink if he was to be baptized. We then invited him to church on Sunday and to Jocelyne's baptism on Saturday and he said he would be there for both. We then headed to the church to meet Elder Barber and Elder Wahlquist and Jocelyne for her baptismal interview. I had no worries about how it would go and of course she was completely ready. After the interview, Frére Sanderre, our ward mission leader, invited us over to have dinner with him and his family and so he came and picked us up. We had a good meal and a good little lesson afterwards.
Saturday was the day of the baptism. Everything had been planned and we had nothing to do except get to the church early enough to fill the font. That is the easy part! Unfortunately I was feeling a little under the weather but the baptism was absolutely beautiful! There was so much member support there and after the baptism Jocelyne came back in with tears in her eyes and the biggest smile on her face! It was so great and Jean-François came too and the members were really good about talking to him. It was great. After the baptism, Jean-François drove us a bit back into town and then we had lunch and went and played a little basketball. Afterwards, our rendez-vous and our back up both fell through but we ended up being able to teach Thomas and we had a fairly quick lesson about the law of chastity and he said he would be at church on Sunday. We then went to the Wutrich's house and had a lesson. I was not feeling very well and was very much out of it but we ended up learning a lot more about Soeur Wutrich and why she won't go to church anymore. It is quite a long drama to be honest. We will see how it goes in the next little bit.
Sunday was great! We had 8 investigators come to church!! Jean-François, Laura, Philip and Sylvie Langell, Rudi, Anthony, and Michel and miraculously Annie Calderini. Annie had never been to church with Michel before but she actually came, and what is even more is that afterwards she came up to me and told me how much she loved it!! She then fixed a rendez-vous with us to eat at their house later this week, which it's not normally her that fixes the rendez-vous. It was such a big miracle in that aspect!!! It was great! On top of all of that, Jocelyne was given the Holy Ghost and officially became a member! She was so happy and once again, had such a big smile on her face and tears of joy. It was so great to see. After church we headed home, ate lunch and then had two rendez-vous fall through, but one we did refix for tonight thankfully!, and then we had a rendez-vous with Jacira and Julien and Jovina. Jacira is Brazilian and a member but no one else is. We had a pretty good lesson and gave them some verses to read. Then we headed home. It wasn't a huge busy Sunday but the fact that church was so incredible, made up for all of it.
I hope that you are all doing well and that life is bringing you the pleasures that you all deserve. Find the happiness, the joy, the successes, and the moments to learn and grow. Don't give up and always continue improving. Life is good, so smile a little more each day. Have a great week everyone and I love you!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Quelle semaine merveilleuse! It has been a great week here in Toulon and it ended off in such a great way... but I can't just tell you how it ended now because that would ruin the surprise and it wouldn't go in chronological order!
So Tuesday started out with another District Meeting in Marseille in the morning and then we had an exchange. I went back to Toulon with Elder Wahlquist and Elder Milman stayed in Marseille with Elder Barber. It was kind of funny being back with Elder Wahlquist, who was my MTC companion. We ended up missing our original train to get to Toulon because we got stuck in the Metro in Marseille so by the time we got to the station the train had left but thankfully there was another not too long after we got there. We ended up being too late for one of our rendez-vous and the one right after got cancelled that morning (unfortunately it was Franck and Clara). So we walked around getting some contacts until our first rendez-vous with Laura and Manon and Soeur Wutrich. The week before we gave Laura the commitment of preparing a lesson for us and so we got to listen to her lesson. It was nice because we have kind of hit a brick wall where she has been taught everything and we aren't sure what else to teach. Afterwards, we went to the church to meet with Hector. First we gave a lesson and then we helped him write a letter of recommendation for someone because it had to be in English. He then gave us a ride home.
On Wednesday, we had a rendez-vous fixed for the morning before we re-exchanged but the lady didn't show up so we did some more contacting and then Elder Barber and Elder Milman came into town but Elder Barber and Wahlquist couldn't go back to Marseille right away because there was work on the train tracks so they stayed and had some lunch with us. After they headed out, Elder Milman and I went to go meet a guy named Jean-François. We had received his number and address in the mail the day before from church headquarters because apparently he put his information on the church website so that he could have a Book of Mormon, we called him up and he was very happy to have a rendez-vous. Jean-François is a very nice guy but he has definitely had a lot of struggles in his life and he had started to overcome his difficulties but last December he fell back into his old habits and he said that it has only been getting worse. He used to have a Book of Mormon from a long time ago and he really enjoyed it but ended up losing it but it still had an impact on him and he always remembered it so he felt like, out of desperation, this was one of his last things to try to basically save himself from a completely self-destructive life. We had a very good rendez-vous with him and he could honestly see a ton of good changes in his life if he follows exactly what we will teach him. We then headed to the church to have our meeting with the ward missionaries who honestly continue to surprise me and impress me with everything that they do! Rudi then met us at the church and we went with him to eat and have a lesson. He told us how he was talking to Nancy, his ex, on the phone a few days before and how she was getting upset and blaming him for things and he said normally he would have gotten mad, started yelling, but after the call he knelt down and prayed, and he felt better, and the next day, she sent him a very nice email apologizing for what had happened. It was just another testimony of how he truly is changing his life with the little things progressively.
Thursday, we started out our day by going to see Michel Calderini and his wife Annie, he ended up cutting my hair (he was a hair cutter his entire life up until retirement) and then we had lunch with them. We had a bunch of other rendez-vous scheduled for the day but unfortunately, they all fell through until our English class in the evening. We had Laura, Manon, Christian (the lady who is always there) and Sebastian. After the class, we taught a little lesson to Manon, Laura and Sebastian.
Friday, of course, was weekly planning in the morning and then afterwards we went to see Benedine, the less active member. We gave him "the talk" and told him that we can't keep seeing him because it wastes our time if he is not at all willing to put in the efforts to come to church. We then went to see Jean-François and he was very emotional about a lot of things. We talked and at the end of the rendez-vous he seemed a lot better. We even talked about baptism and he already knew that he couldn't smoke and drink if he was to be baptized. We then invited him to church on Sunday and to Jocelyne's baptism on Saturday and he said he would be there for both. We then headed to the church to meet Elder Barber and Elder Wahlquist and Jocelyne for her baptismal interview. I had no worries about how it would go and of course she was completely ready. After the interview, Frére Sanderre, our ward mission leader, invited us over to have dinner with him and his family and so he came and picked us up. We had a good meal and a good little lesson afterwards.
Saturday was the day of the baptism. Everything had been planned and we had nothing to do except get to the church early enough to fill the font. That is the easy part! Unfortunately I was feeling a little under the weather but the baptism was absolutely beautiful! There was so much member support there and after the baptism Jocelyne came back in with tears in her eyes and the biggest smile on her face! It was so great and Jean-François came too and the members were really good about talking to him. It was great. After the baptism, Jean-François drove us a bit back into town and then we had lunch and went and played a little basketball. Afterwards, our rendez-vous and our back up both fell through but we ended up being able to teach Thomas and we had a fairly quick lesson about the law of chastity and he said he would be at church on Sunday. We then went to the Wutrich's house and had a lesson. I was not feeling very well and was very much out of it but we ended up learning a lot more about Soeur Wutrich and why she won't go to church anymore. It is quite a long drama to be honest. We will see how it goes in the next little bit.
Sunday was great! We had 8 investigators come to church!! Jean-François, Laura, Philip and Sylvie Langell, Rudi, Anthony, and Michel and miraculously Annie Calderini. Annie had never been to church with Michel before but she actually came, and what is even more is that afterwards she came up to me and told me how much she loved it!! She then fixed a rendez-vous with us to eat at their house later this week, which it's not normally her that fixes the rendez-vous. It was such a big miracle in that aspect!!! It was great! On top of all of that, Jocelyne was given the Holy Ghost and officially became a member! She was so happy and once again, had such a big smile on her face and tears of joy. It was so great to see. After church we headed home, ate lunch and then had two rendez-vous fall through, but one we did refix for tonight thankfully!, and then we had a rendez-vous with Jacira and Julien and Jovina. Jacira is Brazilian and a member but no one else is. We had a pretty good lesson and gave them some verses to read. Then we headed home. It wasn't a huge busy Sunday but the fact that church was so incredible, made up for all of it.
I hope that you are all doing well and that life is bringing you the pleasures that you all deserve. Find the happiness, the joy, the successes, and the moments to learn and grow. Don't give up and always continue improving. Life is good, so smile a little more each day. Have a great week everyone and I love you!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Hello Everyone!
Well I can honestly not believe that we are now halfway through this new transfer! Woah time flies by very quickly. We had a lot of really good things happen this week and it definitely ended on a good note with General Conference, which, as always, was very good.
On Monday evening after our preparation day, we went to go and visit Michel Calderini and we had a good lesson with him about modern day prophets. Of course we took good advantage with this week being general conference, to talk about all of that with our investigators. We had a good lesson and then we ended up eating dinner with Michel and his wife Annie afterwards.
Tuesday, we had a very full and busy day. In the morning, our rendez-vous didn't work out but we ended up getting some pretty good contacts anyway. Right after lunch we went to meet Hector at the church. We had a little lesson to see exactly what Hector wants in continuing to meet with us. He told us that truly his intention is more that just getting help on his English but that at this moment because of his commitments with work and the fact that at University religion cannot be any part of it he doesn't want to get baptized while he is still in the environment. After we chatted a bit, of course we then helped him with his class he is going to teach in English. After, we hurried to get to our next rendez-vous which was with the guy we contacted named Franck, the one who kind of stood us up the week before. We got to his apartment and he wasn't there but we called him and they said they were on their way. Much to our surprise we met one of the nicest families! Clara (Franck's girlfriend) was baptized at eight and grew up in the church until her parents divorced and then they started to go a lot less. Franck has never been baptized but he has had the lessons with the missionaries before and loves the church also. They have two children, an 11 year old boy and a 2 year old boy. This family is incredible and Clara even gave us the name of her sister's cell phone because her sister, who is also less active, wanted to meet with us and invite us all over to eat sometime. All of this just from a guy on the street! After Franck, we hurried and met Rudi and then went with him to help him figure things out at the phone store because his home phone hadn't been working and he can't speak French and the people at the store don't really speak English. So we were the intermediators between the two and we got everything all fixed and worked out. Rudi said he tried to go in the day before and do it himself and it was just a mess and it was much easier with us to translate. Ha! We gave him a quick lesson about general conference and then headed back into town to meet Jacira. Well Jacira said that we had scheduled it for the day after and that even still tonight wouldn't be a good night. So we headed back home contacting. On the way we ran into a young guy named Thomas, who is very practicing Catholic (which was very surprising especially for a 24 year old). We talked quite a bit and then he invited us to come to a thing at his church that evening where they were going to be talking about how the Catholic church was true. We thought it would be interesting so we decided to go. We couldn't stay the whole time but it was interesting because everything that the Priest said we were completely in agreeance with except for the fact that the authority had been passed to the Catholic Church. We left, because it was late and fixed a rendez-vous with him for the next day to talk some more.
Wednesday we started out the day by going to visit Horacio, the less active member. He hadn't come to church the last Sunday because it was raining, apparently, but we had a little lesson with him and as usual tried to understand exactly what he was trying to say.... and once again, we didn't succeed. Ha! After lunch, we went and saw Benedine, another less active, and had an interesting lesson with him. He started throwing in some weird doctrine about angels and how if he becomes spiritually close enough to God he can live forever on this Earth without dying because he said it on Highlander (a science fiction show). We tried to help him understand that A). Gospel Doctrine that he comes up with from television shows and music that he hears on the radio isn't really valid and that B). He needs to get his information directly from out of the scriptures. There were a few moments that I had a hard time not laughing just because of how ridiculous it was. It was definitely entertaining. The next rendez-vous was with Thomas again, the same guy from the night before, and we taught about the restoration and a TON of other things. He had a lot of questions. Not really seeking to know because of interest but rather to see if he could find the holes. After lots of questions it seemed like he burned out and didn't really have any major objections left, other than the one that we are the true church on the earth. We set up another rendez-vous for a few days later and then headed to the church for our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries. Afterwards, we tried to go back to Jacira's but she forgot and she wasn't home and we waited and by the time she got back she was tired and decided to move it to Thursday. So we just headed home because it was getting late anyway.
Thursday definitely started out with a kick. We had a rendez-vous fixed but he didn't show up, so we were contacting on the way home and happened to be taking money out of the ATM when this old man stops right in front of me and starts asking me questions in English. It is very difficult to explain the entire story and express how absolutely bizarre it was but this was an 86 year old man who has more money than he knows what to do with and he speaks pretty much every major language that you could think of, French, Spanish, Italian, English, Polish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, even Arab and I am sure that I am missing some too. I am not sure why but he first bought us something to drink and then proceeded to take us out to lunch. He ordered for us and then was disgusted that we were drinking the tap water so he ordered us something to drink. The entire time he is drinking some alcoholic drink and then quite a bit of wine. By the end, he was a bit drunk and saying some bad phrases in many different languages. Right to the point that he said something not very good in Arab and a guy next to us turned around and asked if that was directed towards him. Well anyway, after a rather long meal, we had to walk him home and he told us that if we ever needed anything, he gave us his phone number and he showed us how to find him in his building and that we could always see him if we needed anything. It was quite an experience. Afterwards, we hurried to stop by a Vietnamese lady and give her a book of mormon. We had actually set the rendez-vous up the night before from a random number and name and address that a member found on a piece of paper on the church. Anyway, so we showed up at her house and her husband told us that she had just left that morning for America for three months.... As much as I wanted to believe that, I just couldn't. Regardless, we headed over to meet Saida at a big open area in the center of the city. We met her and had her friend with her who was also Muslim. It was a very interesting rendez-vous and she is very very much based on her beliefs and has a very difficult time thinking outside of that. So we really stressed the importance of praying and asking God for direction and help because she seems very confused right now. We then went to the church building for our English class and the same lady came but also this new lady named Jocelyne who wants to learn English because she will be moving to the States but she has absolutely no background in the language. So that was a bit tough but we taught some basics. We then went for a third time to try and see Jacira and once again, we couldn't get in. Ugh! So we left and went to see Laura with Manon and her mom. We had a pretty good impromptu lesson and then headed home afterwards.
Friday we had morning planning and then went to this restaurant run by some Catholic missionaries from Brazil. We found it funny that the Catholic church sends over Brazilians into France to convert them. Anyway, we had met one of them a few days before so we decided to stop by and eat there. We chatted a little bit and then headed out to meet Thomas again. He had read in the Book of Mormon but it was much more for searching for the faults in it rather than the truths. He had a lot of questions but was not at all open to the answers and to even consider them to be truth. After a lengthy rendez-vous, we ended with a thanks for the time we have shared together but you aren't even willing to do anything to see if it is true so I hope that one day you will be more open. We then hurried to the church to meet the other Thomas, who we have been teaching for a long time, we were very happy in the progress that he made because he cut down the number of cigarettes each day in half! We were proud and he found an apartment that is a lot closer to town so it will be so much easier to have rendez-vous and such now. We then stayed at the church to talk with a member (we are trying to get the ward involved in giving us people to teach) and he said that he will pray over this big list of names that he has of who would be ready right now. So that was prety cool. After that, we basically made our way home for the evening.
Saturday morning was pretty hectic because we had a rendez-vous with Jocelyne and we had to teach her EVERYTHING. This was our last opportunity to teach everything else before her interview and her baptism. It was a great lesson and she didn't have a problem with anything. She talked about how much her life has changed in the short amount of time since she has met the church and especially since she chose a baptismal date. It was great and she is so ready for baptism. We are very excited for next week. We then headed home, ate lunch, and then did some contacting, played some basketball and then met with Hector again. We had a good lesson and then did some more helping with his English. Afterwards was supposed to be the first session of General Conference but they couldn't get it to work at the church building which wasn't looking very promising for the next day and all of the sessions. At the end of the evening, we got a confirmation that a member would give us a ride to Marseille for the Priesthood session and then stay for the next session (the saturday afternoon session).
Sunday morning we got up and got ready and then headed to Marseille with two members for the Priesthood session. We watched that session and then the next session and then headed back to Toulon. One of the members in Toulon hooked up his laptop to the internet and the project so we had it streaming from the wii. We encountered a couple technical difficulties but other than that, it ran smoothly. It was a very good conference and I can't wait to read the talks that I missed from the Saturday Morning Session and the Sunday Afternoon Session. I hope that everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
Today has been pretty busy and we did some cool sight seeing over on this phenomenon called a double tumbolo and a presqu'ile. It was absolutely beautifully. One can't help but find beauty in the environment of the French Riviera!
I hope that you all have had very good weeks as well and that you will continue to enjoy work and school and motherhood and everything that you all do everyday. Every day is a blessing and a miracle. Make the best of it! I love you all very much, have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Well I can honestly not believe that we are now halfway through this new transfer! Woah time flies by very quickly. We had a lot of really good things happen this week and it definitely ended on a good note with General Conference, which, as always, was very good.
On Monday evening after our preparation day, we went to go and visit Michel Calderini and we had a good lesson with him about modern day prophets. Of course we took good advantage with this week being general conference, to talk about all of that with our investigators. We had a good lesson and then we ended up eating dinner with Michel and his wife Annie afterwards.
Tuesday, we had a very full and busy day. In the morning, our rendez-vous didn't work out but we ended up getting some pretty good contacts anyway. Right after lunch we went to meet Hector at the church. We had a little lesson to see exactly what Hector wants in continuing to meet with us. He told us that truly his intention is more that just getting help on his English but that at this moment because of his commitments with work and the fact that at University religion cannot be any part of it he doesn't want to get baptized while he is still in the environment. After we chatted a bit, of course we then helped him with his class he is going to teach in English. After, we hurried to get to our next rendez-vous which was with the guy we contacted named Franck, the one who kind of stood us up the week before. We got to his apartment and he wasn't there but we called him and they said they were on their way. Much to our surprise we met one of the nicest families! Clara (Franck's girlfriend) was baptized at eight and grew up in the church until her parents divorced and then they started to go a lot less. Franck has never been baptized but he has had the lessons with the missionaries before and loves the church also. They have two children, an 11 year old boy and a 2 year old boy. This family is incredible and Clara even gave us the name of her sister's cell phone because her sister, who is also less active, wanted to meet with us and invite us all over to eat sometime. All of this just from a guy on the street! After Franck, we hurried and met Rudi and then went with him to help him figure things out at the phone store because his home phone hadn't been working and he can't speak French and the people at the store don't really speak English. So we were the intermediators between the two and we got everything all fixed and worked out. Rudi said he tried to go in the day before and do it himself and it was just a mess and it was much easier with us to translate. Ha! We gave him a quick lesson about general conference and then headed back into town to meet Jacira. Well Jacira said that we had scheduled it for the day after and that even still tonight wouldn't be a good night. So we headed back home contacting. On the way we ran into a young guy named Thomas, who is very practicing Catholic (which was very surprising especially for a 24 year old). We talked quite a bit and then he invited us to come to a thing at his church that evening where they were going to be talking about how the Catholic church was true. We thought it would be interesting so we decided to go. We couldn't stay the whole time but it was interesting because everything that the Priest said we were completely in agreeance with except for the fact that the authority had been passed to the Catholic Church. We left, because it was late and fixed a rendez-vous with him for the next day to talk some more.
Wednesday we started out the day by going to visit Horacio, the less active member. He hadn't come to church the last Sunday because it was raining, apparently, but we had a little lesson with him and as usual tried to understand exactly what he was trying to say.... and once again, we didn't succeed. Ha! After lunch, we went and saw Benedine, another less active, and had an interesting lesson with him. He started throwing in some weird doctrine about angels and how if he becomes spiritually close enough to God he can live forever on this Earth without dying because he said it on Highlander (a science fiction show). We tried to help him understand that A). Gospel Doctrine that he comes up with from television shows and music that he hears on the radio isn't really valid and that B). He needs to get his information directly from out of the scriptures. There were a few moments that I had a hard time not laughing just because of how ridiculous it was. It was definitely entertaining. The next rendez-vous was with Thomas again, the same guy from the night before, and we taught about the restoration and a TON of other things. He had a lot of questions. Not really seeking to know because of interest but rather to see if he could find the holes. After lots of questions it seemed like he burned out and didn't really have any major objections left, other than the one that we are the true church on the earth. We set up another rendez-vous for a few days later and then headed to the church for our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and Ward Missionaries. Afterwards, we tried to go back to Jacira's but she forgot and she wasn't home and we waited and by the time she got back she was tired and decided to move it to Thursday. So we just headed home because it was getting late anyway.
Thursday definitely started out with a kick. We had a rendez-vous fixed but he didn't show up, so we were contacting on the way home and happened to be taking money out of the ATM when this old man stops right in front of me and starts asking me questions in English. It is very difficult to explain the entire story and express how absolutely bizarre it was but this was an 86 year old man who has more money than he knows what to do with and he speaks pretty much every major language that you could think of, French, Spanish, Italian, English, Polish, Russian, Korean, Chinese, even Arab and I am sure that I am missing some too. I am not sure why but he first bought us something to drink and then proceeded to take us out to lunch. He ordered for us and then was disgusted that we were drinking the tap water so he ordered us something to drink. The entire time he is drinking some alcoholic drink and then quite a bit of wine. By the end, he was a bit drunk and saying some bad phrases in many different languages. Right to the point that he said something not very good in Arab and a guy next to us turned around and asked if that was directed towards him. Well anyway, after a rather long meal, we had to walk him home and he told us that if we ever needed anything, he gave us his phone number and he showed us how to find him in his building and that we could always see him if we needed anything. It was quite an experience. Afterwards, we hurried to stop by a Vietnamese lady and give her a book of mormon. We had actually set the rendez-vous up the night before from a random number and name and address that a member found on a piece of paper on the church. Anyway, so we showed up at her house and her husband told us that she had just left that morning for America for three months.... As much as I wanted to believe that, I just couldn't. Regardless, we headed over to meet Saida at a big open area in the center of the city. We met her and had her friend with her who was also Muslim. It was a very interesting rendez-vous and she is very very much based on her beliefs and has a very difficult time thinking outside of that. So we really stressed the importance of praying and asking God for direction and help because she seems very confused right now. We then went to the church building for our English class and the same lady came but also this new lady named Jocelyne who wants to learn English because she will be moving to the States but she has absolutely no background in the language. So that was a bit tough but we taught some basics. We then went for a third time to try and see Jacira and once again, we couldn't get in. Ugh! So we left and went to see Laura with Manon and her mom. We had a pretty good impromptu lesson and then headed home afterwards.
Friday we had morning planning and then went to this restaurant run by some Catholic missionaries from Brazil. We found it funny that the Catholic church sends over Brazilians into France to convert them. Anyway, we had met one of them a few days before so we decided to stop by and eat there. We chatted a little bit and then headed out to meet Thomas again. He had read in the Book of Mormon but it was much more for searching for the faults in it rather than the truths. He had a lot of questions but was not at all open to the answers and to even consider them to be truth. After a lengthy rendez-vous, we ended with a thanks for the time we have shared together but you aren't even willing to do anything to see if it is true so I hope that one day you will be more open. We then hurried to the church to meet the other Thomas, who we have been teaching for a long time, we were very happy in the progress that he made because he cut down the number of cigarettes each day in half! We were proud and he found an apartment that is a lot closer to town so it will be so much easier to have rendez-vous and such now. We then stayed at the church to talk with a member (we are trying to get the ward involved in giving us people to teach) and he said that he will pray over this big list of names that he has of who would be ready right now. So that was prety cool. After that, we basically made our way home for the evening.
Saturday morning was pretty hectic because we had a rendez-vous with Jocelyne and we had to teach her EVERYTHING. This was our last opportunity to teach everything else before her interview and her baptism. It was a great lesson and she didn't have a problem with anything. She talked about how much her life has changed in the short amount of time since she has met the church and especially since she chose a baptismal date. It was great and she is so ready for baptism. We are very excited for next week. We then headed home, ate lunch, and then did some contacting, played some basketball and then met with Hector again. We had a good lesson and then did some more helping with his English. Afterwards was supposed to be the first session of General Conference but they couldn't get it to work at the church building which wasn't looking very promising for the next day and all of the sessions. At the end of the evening, we got a confirmation that a member would give us a ride to Marseille for the Priesthood session and then stay for the next session (the saturday afternoon session).
Sunday morning we got up and got ready and then headed to Marseille with two members for the Priesthood session. We watched that session and then the next session and then headed back to Toulon. One of the members in Toulon hooked up his laptop to the internet and the project so we had it streaming from the wii. We encountered a couple technical difficulties but other than that, it ran smoothly. It was a very good conference and I can't wait to read the talks that I missed from the Saturday Morning Session and the Sunday Afternoon Session. I hope that everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.
Today has been pretty busy and we did some cool sight seeing over on this phenomenon called a double tumbolo and a presqu'ile. It was absolutely beautifully. One can't help but find beauty in the environment of the French Riviera!
I hope that you all have had very good weeks as well and that you will continue to enjoy work and school and motherhood and everything that you all do everyday. Every day is a blessing and a miracle. Make the best of it! I love you all very much, have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
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