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