Hello everyone!
This has been yet again, another busy week with ups and downs, as usual. But, the ups have definitely outweighed the downs. I think, if we never had any downs, how could we ever find the appreciation for the "ups"? It would be practically impossible!
Last monday evening, after our preparation day, we went and taught Lucette, who we taught for the first time the week before. She had read in the Book of Mormon and she had really liked it too! She doesn't really have any teeth so, sometimes we have a hard time understanding exactly what it is that she is saying. Afterwards, we then went and saw Jean-François to had a bit of a lesson with him.
Tuesday, we had District Meeting, so we were in Marseille in the morning and then in the afternoon, we had a rendez-vous with a lady that lived in a little city half way between Toulon and Marseille, so we went to St-Cyr-Sur-Mer to teach her. Her name is Queen and she is actually Nigerian but spent a lot of her life in the United States. She was even living and working in Salt Lake for awhile. She later married a French man and moved here and has two children. Unfortunately, her marriage is going down hill and it is not a very good situation and she is trying to figure out what to do. She has been asking the Lord for help and then we contacted her on the street in Toulon, where she happened to be for the day. We had a really good rendez-vous and she was so excited to start reading in the Book of Mormon. We then fixed another lesson for the next week. By the time we got back into Toulon, it was already a bit late and we decided to stop by Jean-François and he happened to be just walking to his apartment. He had had a lot of problems that day and was about to go and do something that would have hindered his baptism. We talked for a really long time with him about taking courage and trusting in the Lord. We left for the evening and he had a bit more hope.
The next day, we went with some ward members to help a sister in the ward clear up a plot of land that she bought and it was out a ways from Toulon out in the country. It was absolutely beautiful. It was out on a big hill and there were green hills all around and you could see the sea over some of the hills. It was very sincere. I never thought to see so much open land in France before I came here. We did that for a while and then had cancelled and missed rendez-vous for the rest of the day, which was a bit frustrating but sometimes that happens.
Thursday, our first rendez-vous was in the afternoon and we went out to La Seyne, which is a little city net to Toulon, to meet a lady that we had contacted. We had a nice rendez-vous. She doesn't understand French too well but we think she at least understands enough. Afterwards we then went to Jean-François and found out that he had made a mistake and had some alcohol because he encountered a problem that he felt like he couldn't control. It was not a good situation and a bit sad. We then hurried to English class and then afterward headed back home.
On Friday morning, we went and saw Lydie, who was doing well and really feels like she needs to put her life back into order a bit. We had a really good lesson with her. We came home and then finished our weekly planning and then went to the church to teach Sebastien. We gave him the "This is our last lessons" lesson because he didn't really make any progress or show much desire to. It was mainly because he likes speaking in English. He was a bit sad but of course we told him that he could still keep coming to English class every week. We then went to see Jean-François, who was a little upset that his baptismal date had to be pushed. We explained to him that he has to be completely clean of those addictions at least one week before his baptism. He was still a bit depressed. We invited him to fast with us the next day and to come to the General Stake Priesthood Meeting the next day, that was held in Toulon. He accepted and then we went to see Laura and Manon and Soeur Wutrich. We played Jeopardy using all of the information from all the missionary lessons, since they have had all of them. It was pretty fun for everyone.
Saturday, we decided that we really needed to get a lot of contacts so we spent the morning talking to absolutely EVERYONE! We came out fairly successful, we had 4 contacts so not too bad. We then ate and headed to the Priesthood Meeting. It was really good and Jean-François said that he was feeling a bit better. Since we were pretty open the rest of the evening, we decided to go and pass someone that we had contacted that lives in Hyères, which is a couple little cities away. We got there and unfortunately there was some confusion and they wouldn't let us in. But we contacted a little bit and then called Hector to see if he would be available, because he happens to live in that city. He is the professor at the university that has known the missionaries for a very long time. He said yes so he met us in centre-ville and we talked a bit and he said he would take us to Cassis this Monday to see the cliffs and stuff. We then took the bus and headed back home.
Sunday was pretty good but the Bishop and Fr. Sanderre were not there so we had to impromptu give the lesson in the class for the investigators. It was a good lesson. We had 4 investigators come to church which was good but a lot of members weren't there for some reason. Jean-François was there of course but was a bit discouraged. He got a lot of a support from members, which I think helped him out a bit. After church, Rudi came to donate a bunch of baby stuff to the church because he surprised us and told us that he was actually leaving the next day to go back to New Zealand. It was a bit of a bummer and he just didn't seem very happy to be honest. But, everything is in his hands now. He really knows what will make him happy but he just isn't ready to do everything I guess. We can't force people to make the right decisions. We then headed home and broke our fast and then headed out to contact a bit before our first lesson. We went to the first lesson and his wife had just had a baby so we talked really quickly and then fixed a lesson for later in the week. We then went to see Franck and Clara with Fr. Mongas. We decided to teach the Law of Chastity because there was no sense in hiding it. It is a commandment. So, obviously, it was slightly awkward but they said they were ready to follow it. Clara a little bit more fervently than Franck, so we will see. We then had a nice dinner together and then we headed home.
All in all it has been a good week. There were some disappointments, obviously the fact that Jean-François didn't get baptized, but there was still progress and a lot of good things that happened. We are very optimistic for this next week and excited to see how the Lord will help our investigators follow the commandments. I hope everyone is doing well and having a good week. I love you all. Au revoir!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, May 23, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Wow, has this been quite a week. Honestly, there has been so much that has gone on, it is crazy!
Last Monday, after we went on a nice hike along the coast, our rendez-vous that we had planned didn't work so we decided that we would go and drop by Clara and see if we could fix a rendez-vous with her for the next week. To our surprise, Sara and Eric were still there, they were leaving for Nancy that night, and even more to our surprise Frank was there. He is the old boyfriend of Clara and Father of her son. We ended up eating with them and since it was kind of a surprise lesson we didn't really have anything planned, so Clara pulled out the Gospel Principles Book and flipped it open to Eternal Marriage! Woah.... we were a bit worried about that since both of these girls are not married and have live in boyfriends and children with them, but much to our surprise, it was a great lesson. We then fixed a rendez-vous for the next Saturday evening and then went home.
On Tuesday, I went to Marseille to do an exchange and it was with Marseille North, which was my companionship when I was there. We first went to try and see Jeorge, and his family (The Brazilian Ones) and one of his daughters was there. She told us to come back in about an hour and he would be there. We came back in an hour and I saw one of his other daughters and sons and Jeorge was still not there. We didn't really have anytime later in the day so I left my email address and we went out and did some contacting, I was able to see Frère Portail and he bought us pastries and then I got to go and see Brigitte!!! Unfortunately she is still in the hospital recovery from her knee surgery. She is dying to get out of there but they won't let her yet. We had a good lesson and she told me that she is almost completely done with the Book of Mormon. She only had 70 pages left. I have never seen anyone mark a Book of Mormon so much, she has truly made it her own. She has the original card we gave her, her baptismal program, photos, tons of stuff! It was so incredible to see her again and see the progression she has made! We then hurried back into town and went to visit the Grattaponche family, to teach them the noah lesson to help get the wards doing missionary work. It was good and then we headed back home. Walking home, very randomly, Jeorge happened to be out there on the street! He said he talked to his kids earlier and was sad that he hadn't been able to see me but was so glad that we passed each other on the street. We talked a bit, he gave me a hug and then said he would send me an email.
Wednesday, I went back to Toulon. We had a morning rendez-vous fixed that didn't work out so we went to the train station to search for Elder Snicker's bag that got stolen the day before on his was to Toulon for the exchange. While we were there, Franck called us asking us if he could see us that day. We had no time so I scheduled it for a few days later but he seemed very urgent in seeing us. As we were at the train station, we saw Kate, who was our rendez-vous that we had at the exact time of when Franck wanted to see us. We found out that she had to last minute go into Paris so our rendez-vous wouldn't work. We hurried and called back Frank and fixed the rendez-vous for that afternoon. The other rendez-vous for the afternoon didn't end up working and so we did some contacting around until Franck. We found out that the whole reason behind why Clara left and it wasn't a good situation but he was truly hurt. He told us that he wanted to come back to church and to change his life. How their lives were so much better before when they were going to church back in Nancy. He then said how he wanted to also quit smoking. As of a couple nights before, he started reading again in the Book of Mormon. He told us that his goal was to be baptized. So of course we fixed a baptismal date with him!! We then hurried to get to the church on time for our meeting with the ward missionaries. They were ok that we were late when we explained the circumstances and that Franck had a baptismal date. Afterwards, we went and saw Jean-François. He was quite discouraged and a bit down. We offered to give him a priesthood blessing and he asked if I would give it. The spirit was very strong and Jean-François could feel it. It totally changed the atmosphere and how he was feeling. He then dropped us off at home for the evening.
Thursday, we did our weekly planning, and had a rendez-vous with a nice homeless man. In the afternoon we went and saw Michel and Annie Calderini and had a bit of a lesson with mainly Michel. Afterwards, we had a first rendez-vous with a lady named Lucette, who Elder Milman had met during his exchange. We had a nice lesson, she is another person that has a lot of difficulties in her life as well. We then went to English class and taught Sebastien afterwards.
Friday, we went to Aix-en-Provence for a Zone training and interviews with President. They went well and then we were back in Toulon in the afternoon. We met with Jean-François that evening at the church with Frére Sassi and we told him that he need to completely stop smoking by Sunday or else he could not be baptized the 21st. We were worried how he would take it but he was totally fine. He said that he had no other choice, he had to quit smoking because he knew that he had to be baptized. He then took us home.
Saturday, we met with the homeless man again and had a quick little lesson with him. Saturday was kind of weird because we ran into about 3 different American couples that were completely lost. Ha! So we helped some of them get around and find what they were looking for. We played Basketball a bit in the afternoon and then in the evening, we went to see Franck and Clara and to celebrate the birthday of their little boy. We first talked about the importance of coming to church, gave them a reading calendar in the Book of Mormon, and then taught the Word of Wisdom. They are both very ready to completely stop smoking! We then ate dinner with them and had some cake for David's birthday.
Sunday, we went to church and Jean-François came, and Laura, and Anthony. Franck and Clara didn't come but we already knew they wouldn't be their because they had something they had to go to in the morning. After church, we headed home, ate lunch, and then went out contacting and passed an older man named Marcel that they contacted during their exchange. He was Catholic but very nice and open. He was very interested to read the Book of Mormon so that was good. We then headed out to go and see Jean-François. We watched the Testaments and then answered some really good questions that he had about the Book of Mormon. He can't wait for his baptism, which we also planned out with him.
It was a super busy week with a ton of great things happening. We are truly blessed here in Toulon and we see so many miracles. I hope that you all are continuing to do well and I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Last Monday, after we went on a nice hike along the coast, our rendez-vous that we had planned didn't work so we decided that we would go and drop by Clara and see if we could fix a rendez-vous with her for the next week. To our surprise, Sara and Eric were still there, they were leaving for Nancy that night, and even more to our surprise Frank was there. He is the old boyfriend of Clara and Father of her son. We ended up eating with them and since it was kind of a surprise lesson we didn't really have anything planned, so Clara pulled out the Gospel Principles Book and flipped it open to Eternal Marriage! Woah.... we were a bit worried about that since both of these girls are not married and have live in boyfriends and children with them, but much to our surprise, it was a great lesson. We then fixed a rendez-vous for the next Saturday evening and then went home.
On Tuesday, I went to Marseille to do an exchange and it was with Marseille North, which was my companionship when I was there. We first went to try and see Jeorge, and his family (The Brazilian Ones) and one of his daughters was there. She told us to come back in about an hour and he would be there. We came back in an hour and I saw one of his other daughters and sons and Jeorge was still not there. We didn't really have anytime later in the day so I left my email address and we went out and did some contacting, I was able to see Frère Portail and he bought us pastries and then I got to go and see Brigitte!!! Unfortunately she is still in the hospital recovery from her knee surgery. She is dying to get out of there but they won't let her yet. We had a good lesson and she told me that she is almost completely done with the Book of Mormon. She only had 70 pages left. I have never seen anyone mark a Book of Mormon so much, she has truly made it her own. She has the original card we gave her, her baptismal program, photos, tons of stuff! It was so incredible to see her again and see the progression she has made! We then hurried back into town and went to visit the Grattaponche family, to teach them the noah lesson to help get the wards doing missionary work. It was good and then we headed back home. Walking home, very randomly, Jeorge happened to be out there on the street! He said he talked to his kids earlier and was sad that he hadn't been able to see me but was so glad that we passed each other on the street. We talked a bit, he gave me a hug and then said he would send me an email.
Wednesday, I went back to Toulon. We had a morning rendez-vous fixed that didn't work out so we went to the train station to search for Elder Snicker's bag that got stolen the day before on his was to Toulon for the exchange. While we were there, Franck called us asking us if he could see us that day. We had no time so I scheduled it for a few days later but he seemed very urgent in seeing us. As we were at the train station, we saw Kate, who was our rendez-vous that we had at the exact time of when Franck wanted to see us. We found out that she had to last minute go into Paris so our rendez-vous wouldn't work. We hurried and called back Frank and fixed the rendez-vous for that afternoon. The other rendez-vous for the afternoon didn't end up working and so we did some contacting around until Franck. We found out that the whole reason behind why Clara left and it wasn't a good situation but he was truly hurt. He told us that he wanted to come back to church and to change his life. How their lives were so much better before when they were going to church back in Nancy. He then said how he wanted to also quit smoking. As of a couple nights before, he started reading again in the Book of Mormon. He told us that his goal was to be baptized. So of course we fixed a baptismal date with him!! We then hurried to get to the church on time for our meeting with the ward missionaries. They were ok that we were late when we explained the circumstances and that Franck had a baptismal date. Afterwards, we went and saw Jean-François. He was quite discouraged and a bit down. We offered to give him a priesthood blessing and he asked if I would give it. The spirit was very strong and Jean-François could feel it. It totally changed the atmosphere and how he was feeling. He then dropped us off at home for the evening.
Thursday, we did our weekly planning, and had a rendez-vous with a nice homeless man. In the afternoon we went and saw Michel and Annie Calderini and had a bit of a lesson with mainly Michel. Afterwards, we had a first rendez-vous with a lady named Lucette, who Elder Milman had met during his exchange. We had a nice lesson, she is another person that has a lot of difficulties in her life as well. We then went to English class and taught Sebastien afterwards.
Friday, we went to Aix-en-Provence for a Zone training and interviews with President. They went well and then we were back in Toulon in the afternoon. We met with Jean-François that evening at the church with Frére Sassi and we told him that he need to completely stop smoking by Sunday or else he could not be baptized the 21st. We were worried how he would take it but he was totally fine. He said that he had no other choice, he had to quit smoking because he knew that he had to be baptized. He then took us home.
Saturday, we met with the homeless man again and had a quick little lesson with him. Saturday was kind of weird because we ran into about 3 different American couples that were completely lost. Ha! So we helped some of them get around and find what they were looking for. We played Basketball a bit in the afternoon and then in the evening, we went to see Franck and Clara and to celebrate the birthday of their little boy. We first talked about the importance of coming to church, gave them a reading calendar in the Book of Mormon, and then taught the Word of Wisdom. They are both very ready to completely stop smoking! We then ate dinner with them and had some cake for David's birthday.
Sunday, we went to church and Jean-François came, and Laura, and Anthony. Franck and Clara didn't come but we already knew they wouldn't be their because they had something they had to go to in the morning. After church, we headed home, ate lunch, and then went out contacting and passed an older man named Marcel that they contacted during their exchange. He was Catholic but very nice and open. He was very interested to read the Book of Mormon so that was good. We then headed out to go and see Jean-François. We watched the Testaments and then answered some really good questions that he had about the Book of Mormon. He can't wait for his baptism, which we also planned out with him.
It was a super busy week with a ton of great things happening. We are truly blessed here in Toulon and we see so many miracles. I hope that you all are continuing to do well and I love you all. Thank you for your love and support. Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, May 9, 2011
Hello Everyone,
Well, as yesterday was Mother's Day, it was nice to talk to the family and of course I have to give another Happy Mother's Day shout out to my mother. It was good to be able to see everyone with Skype and to see how all the little kids have grown up so much in the last year. It is pretty crazy! They will all just continue to keep getting big. Well, this week was another busy busy week with a lot of things going on.
On Monday evening, we ended up having a lesson with Rudi. It was a bit disappointing because he has lost a lot of his hope for the future in many aspects. He doesn't feel like he can overcome his trials and he doesn't feel like he will ever be with his son and his ex girlfriend in the same way that they were a family before. He doesn't even feel like it is possible. We had a nice little lesson about overcoming trials and all of that he doesn't seem like he even wants to put in the effort anymore. It was very sad to see honestly, but at this point, it is all in his hands.
Tuesday we didn't have tons that was very fixed. We had a hard time getting definite rendez-vous so we did a bunch of contacting and passing people until about five when we saw Jean-François. We had a really good lesson with him and we talked about having a modern day prophet and watched the movie about the life of President Monson. Jean-François was super tired because he had been basically cutting out all of his vices that give him fake energy and he hadn't slept verywell so he was quite out of it. Afterwards we headed to see Laura with Manon and Sœur Wutrich and had a nice lesson, answering some questions about the plan of salvation.
Wednesday started out with District Meeting in Marseille and then I had an exchange with Elder Wahlquist's new companion who just came into the mission field a week before so he was very green or as we say in France, he is very blue. After district meeting, we headed back to Toulon and did a bit of contacting and then had our meeting with the ward missionaries, which was very good. I felt bad for Elder Hanset, the new missionary, because it isn't his city so he didn't have anything to say and he really didn't understand anything. It reminded me of my first transfer.... fidgetting in your chair, trying to pass time, being oblivious and naive.... Oh, those were the days. Haha Afterwards, we had a lesson with the Mongas Family in the ward to present a Family Mission Plan. It went pretty well and Elder Hanset ended up getting an address of a guy in Marseille, so that worked out. We then ate dinner with them and then headed home.
Thursday, we re-exchanged and then we went and had a lesson with Lydie, who is the less active member that was baptized about a year ago. She actually came to church on Sunday and then she told us during the lesson how good it felt to come back and how everyone was so accepting and how even her young son was happy to go back. It was a really good experience for her. We had a lesson planned but she started talking about all the difficulties that she has been encountering so we talked about how she can receive guidance and strength from the Lord and it really was an incredible lesson. After her, we had two other lessons that fell through and then we went and met with a Theology Student who was also Muslim and of course, he went and found a bunch of Anti stuff before our lesson. So the whole thing was combatting his questions. Everyone we backed him into a wall he would just write it off as if the point he made didn't make any difference to him anyway. By the end of the lesson it actually got a little bit better but not enough that we wanted to have another lesson. Ha. So we then headed to the church and had our English class and then Jean-François met us there and so did Frère Leray and we taught about tithing. It was a good lesson and he didn't have any problems with it.
Friday was, yet again, another exchange, but this time with the zone leaders. I stayed in Toulon with Elder Baret and Elder Milman went to Aix with Elder Mayer. We did our weekly planning in the morning and then we met a guy named Christian Black for a quick rendez-vous and then ended up taking the bus with him to where he was going to his work so we could talk longer and so we ended up kind of in the middle of nowhere. I had an address of someone who lived not too far away so we passed that and then did some knocking on doors, the first door was this old couple that wasn't interested in the church but they invited us in and gave us something to drink. We then headed to the church to teach Sebastien. It was an alright lesson but still kind of bizarre, he is just a very different person. We hurried to get back into town to have a rendez-vous, it didn't work out, the next one, said he would be an hour late, so we went contacting, and then an hour later, he showed up but said he couldn't stay. After all of that, we decided to stop by Sara and Eric's house and thankfully they were home! They told us that they are moving back to Nancy but that Clara and her kids are going to stay in their apartment. So unfortunately we are losing one sister but the other one is still staying here, thankfully.
Saturday, we had our morning rendez-vous not work out but we got tons of street contacts so that was good. In the afternoon, we played basketball and then headed to a rendez-vous with an older couple. They had met with the missionaries a lot back in the 70s and absolutely love them and the church but didn't ever want to be baptized. We had a nice little get to know you more than anything but it was nice and they said they would come to church sometime and they invited us to come back. We then went to see Jean-François. He had a lot of questions about tithing and was even a little bit worried. We answered everything and he expressed that he really does want to get baptized but is so worried that he won't be perfect enough to be baptized. We explained a bit more in depth how that doesn't mean an obligation to always be perfect but to try and be better everyday thanks to the atonement of Christ. It was a good lesson and we left and he had more hope, which was good.
Sunday, we had church and Jean-François was there, and the Langells and Laura, and Anthony. It was a good sacrament meeting and good lessons. The Priesthood Meeting actually happened to be about Tithing so it was perfect! Afterwards we went home, ate, and then did some contacting until we went to the Wutrich's house to call our families for mothers day! It was great talking to everyone! We then hurried to meet Jerevox to have a rendez-vous with him. It was better then the lesson last week but he still went and talked about so many unimportant tangents.
Voilà, that was my week. I hope that everyone is doing well and continues to see the good things out of everyday. I love you all very much. Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Well, as yesterday was Mother's Day, it was nice to talk to the family and of course I have to give another Happy Mother's Day shout out to my mother. It was good to be able to see everyone with Skype and to see how all the little kids have grown up so much in the last year. It is pretty crazy! They will all just continue to keep getting big. Well, this week was another busy busy week with a lot of things going on.
On Monday evening, we ended up having a lesson with Rudi. It was a bit disappointing because he has lost a lot of his hope for the future in many aspects. He doesn't feel like he can overcome his trials and he doesn't feel like he will ever be with his son and his ex girlfriend in the same way that they were a family before. He doesn't even feel like it is possible. We had a nice little lesson about overcoming trials and all of that he doesn't seem like he even wants to put in the effort anymore. It was very sad to see honestly, but at this point, it is all in his hands.
Tuesday we didn't have tons that was very fixed. We had a hard time getting definite rendez-vous so we did a bunch of contacting and passing people until about five when we saw Jean-François. We had a really good lesson with him and we talked about having a modern day prophet and watched the movie about the life of President Monson. Jean-François was super tired because he had been basically cutting out all of his vices that give him fake energy and he hadn't slept verywell so he was quite out of it. Afterwards we headed to see Laura with Manon and Sœur Wutrich and had a nice lesson, answering some questions about the plan of salvation.
Wednesday started out with District Meeting in Marseille and then I had an exchange with Elder Wahlquist's new companion who just came into the mission field a week before so he was very green or as we say in France, he is very blue. After district meeting, we headed back to Toulon and did a bit of contacting and then had our meeting with the ward missionaries, which was very good. I felt bad for Elder Hanset, the new missionary, because it isn't his city so he didn't have anything to say and he really didn't understand anything. It reminded me of my first transfer.... fidgetting in your chair, trying to pass time, being oblivious and naive.... Oh, those were the days. Haha Afterwards, we had a lesson with the Mongas Family in the ward to present a Family Mission Plan. It went pretty well and Elder Hanset ended up getting an address of a guy in Marseille, so that worked out. We then ate dinner with them and then headed home.
Thursday, we re-exchanged and then we went and had a lesson with Lydie, who is the less active member that was baptized about a year ago. She actually came to church on Sunday and then she told us during the lesson how good it felt to come back and how everyone was so accepting and how even her young son was happy to go back. It was a really good experience for her. We had a lesson planned but she started talking about all the difficulties that she has been encountering so we talked about how she can receive guidance and strength from the Lord and it really was an incredible lesson. After her, we had two other lessons that fell through and then we went and met with a Theology Student who was also Muslim and of course, he went and found a bunch of Anti stuff before our lesson. So the whole thing was combatting his questions. Everyone we backed him into a wall he would just write it off as if the point he made didn't make any difference to him anyway. By the end of the lesson it actually got a little bit better but not enough that we wanted to have another lesson. Ha. So we then headed to the church and had our English class and then Jean-François met us there and so did Frère Leray and we taught about tithing. It was a good lesson and he didn't have any problems with it.
Friday was, yet again, another exchange, but this time with the zone leaders. I stayed in Toulon with Elder Baret and Elder Milman went to Aix with Elder Mayer. We did our weekly planning in the morning and then we met a guy named Christian Black for a quick rendez-vous and then ended up taking the bus with him to where he was going to his work so we could talk longer and so we ended up kind of in the middle of nowhere. I had an address of someone who lived not too far away so we passed that and then did some knocking on doors, the first door was this old couple that wasn't interested in the church but they invited us in and gave us something to drink. We then headed to the church to teach Sebastien. It was an alright lesson but still kind of bizarre, he is just a very different person. We hurried to get back into town to have a rendez-vous, it didn't work out, the next one, said he would be an hour late, so we went contacting, and then an hour later, he showed up but said he couldn't stay. After all of that, we decided to stop by Sara and Eric's house and thankfully they were home! They told us that they are moving back to Nancy but that Clara and her kids are going to stay in their apartment. So unfortunately we are losing one sister but the other one is still staying here, thankfully.
Saturday, we had our morning rendez-vous not work out but we got tons of street contacts so that was good. In the afternoon, we played basketball and then headed to a rendez-vous with an older couple. They had met with the missionaries a lot back in the 70s and absolutely love them and the church but didn't ever want to be baptized. We had a nice little get to know you more than anything but it was nice and they said they would come to church sometime and they invited us to come back. We then went to see Jean-François. He had a lot of questions about tithing and was even a little bit worried. We answered everything and he expressed that he really does want to get baptized but is so worried that he won't be perfect enough to be baptized. We explained a bit more in depth how that doesn't mean an obligation to always be perfect but to try and be better everyday thanks to the atonement of Christ. It was a good lesson and we left and he had more hope, which was good.
Sunday, we had church and Jean-François was there, and the Langells and Laura, and Anthony. It was a good sacrament meeting and good lessons. The Priesthood Meeting actually happened to be about Tithing so it was perfect! Afterwards we went home, ate, and then did some contacting until we went to the Wutrich's house to call our families for mothers day! It was great talking to everyone! We then hurried to meet Jerevox to have a rendez-vous with him. It was better then the lesson last week but he still went and talked about so many unimportant tangents.
Voilà, that was my week. I hope that everyone is doing well and continues to see the good things out of everyday. I love you all very much. Thank you for your love and support! Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, May 2, 2011
Hello Everyone
I hope, as always, that everyone is doing well. It should feel like Spring pretty much no matter where you are right now, flowers in bloom, plenty of sun, maybe some rainshowers... In any case it should be a fairly nice time of year. It has been beautiful lately. A bit warm, a few mosquitos, but very beautiful and of course plenty of people are taking advantage of it with all of the beaches. This has been another busy week for us here in Toulon, with a lot of good things happening.
Monday, of course, was our preparation day and once we started working we had a lesson with Anthony, and it was an ok lesson. Afterwards, we just headed home and got a couple street contacts.
Tuesday, our morning started out with a lesson with Horacio, the less active member and oh my was that interesting. He was on one and was not happy. He started talking about how he was offended at a bunch of members. We tried to share scriptures, even sing a hymn and he would not let us. Of course we didn't stay very long. Most of these problems he has is because he just invents them or it is a communication error because even the members can't understand him and he doesn't always listen, so it is a bit tricky. In the afternoon we had a first rendez-vous with a fairly young black girl who was evangilical and unfortunately at the end she said that she would not take the Book of Mormon because she needed God to specifically tell her that she needed to read it. We tried to get her to take it anyway but she wouldn't accept it. In the end, she told us that she would call us if she received the impression that she needed to read it. A little after, we taught Jean-François with Frère Sanderre and before, while planning for the lesson, we really felt like we needed to engage him for baptism. He had started mentioning it as a long term goal type of thing but we felt like he was ready. Well Frère Sanderre, really likes to talk so we didn't get much talking in but he received a call from his wife, who was sick, asking if he could come home. So he left and we stayed. We started talking and then went in for the baptismal engagement. We gave him the date of May 21. First, he thought May 21 of net year, which he was completely ok with and then when we clarified this year, in 4 weeks. He about had a heart attack. At first I was thinking, "Oh no, what have I done?" because I was the one that gave the engagement. We started talking through it all and what he needed to do to prepare and gave him the plan to stop smoking and he started to calm down a bit. Thankfully. By the end, he seemed a bit overwhelmed but a lot more at ease and feeling like it was possible. We left him with the plan to stop smoking to read that night and then told him we would come back the next day to go over it. Elder Milman and I both left the rendez-vous feeling like that was the right thing to do and that the Lord would take care of Jean-François.
Wednesday was another busy day. We first met another Evangelical man in the morning, and we had a good rendez-vous. He at least took a Book of Mormon but he wouldn't fix another rendez-vous unfortunately. We then went home and ate and then headed to see Jean-François. He was so full of hope, it was incredible. The idea of baptism in 4 weeks was now completely plausible. He wanted to make that covenant and he wanted the promise of having the Holy Ghost. In fact he came up with how he wanted to do the quit smoking before we even got there. He had even started to dramatically decrease his intake. I have never seen anybody with as much will power as him. Right after we engaged him to quit drinking coffee, he stopped. Right after we started meeting with him, he quit drinking alcohol. Now he was fully ready to give up basically the last vice, and in many respects the hardest. We gave him lots of encouragement and talked about how we receive blessings thanks to our obedience. We fixed another lesson for later on in the week and then left to go meet Kate. We had a nice rendez-vous with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is the girl from Nigeria and it is very hard to see what her comprehension level is. She doesn't talk too much and when we ask questions she doesn't say too much in response so we are trying to go fairly slow to see where she actually is.
Afterwards, we then headed to our meeting with the ward missionaries. It was good as usual and then Frère Sanderre went with us to a rendez-vous with Sara and Eric. Sara is the less active with the two kids and Eric is her not husband but basically husband. Sara's mother also happened to be there, who is also a less active in the North of France. It was a good lesson, basically by Frère Sanderre but it was still good. The only bad thing is that they told us they want to move back to Nancy, in the North of France. Of course we were a bit bummed but she said that they still had more figuring out to see if that was the best thing for them. On one hand, we want them to stay, and on the other we went them to do what is best for them. So we will see in the coming week what happens.
Thursday was a very interesting day and a little bit boring. In the morning we took a bus way out to try and find a less active. After a very long time of searching, we finally found her and weren't able to go in because her husband wasn't there but we did fix a lesson with her for Saturday thankfully. We headed back to Toulon and our afternoon all got cancelled. We started in on contacting and got nothing after nothing and just towards the end we got one guy, and then another, and then randomly it started pouring raining so we jumped into a little over hang of a building and got two more contacts from people getting shelter from the rain. That was a blessing from the Lord! We then headed to the church and did our English Class and then a member picked us up to go to Jacira's house but unfortunately, she was not there. So we headed home because it was already late.
Friday we had planning in the morning, taught Jean-François right after, seeing even more progress with the cigarettes and then headed to the church to see Sebastien. We had a fairly good lesson with him, ignoring when he has bizarre comments, and then headed to see Kate before she left for Paris. We talked about the word of wisdom, which she already keeps, and then figured that we will call each other in about a week when she comes back from taking her tests in Paris. Afterwards, we had a lesson with Laura at Manon's house and two other young women from the ward, who were having a sleep over there that evening. We tried to come up with something creative since Laura has been taught everything so we created a Jeopardy game! Elder Milman created the questions and then I created the game part. It was a big hit and worked out really well. I think they had a lot of fun. It took a lot of work for us to put it together but we hope that we will be able to use it again in the future. As you can imagine, we then headed home and crashed because we were wiped out!
Saturday was another day with a lot of cancellations. We had three rendez-vous that all got cancelled last minute so we were stuck with some open time. We did some contacting and we played Basketball and then in the evening headed back out to the less active's house. They are a young couple, she is a member and he is not. But he is open and kind. We had a nice little rendez-vous and then headed back into town, did a tiny bit of contacting on the way home and ended for the evening.
On Sunday we had 5 people come to church, no one new, but 5 of the normal ones who come, including Jean-François. It was a really good Sunday and then we got a ride home because the buses were not running at all. After lunch we had a rendez-vous with a guy we met on the road a few days before and we accidently got him started talking about his movie and DVD collection, because he has TONS, and that was a bad idea! He never stopped until the moment we had to leave for our next rendez-vous. Our two other rendez-vous got cancelled and so we ended up stopping by Jean-François' house. Which was good. He was quite discouraged because he fell a little bit in his progress but we gave him encouragement and some ideas to stay positive and helped him see all of the great strides he has already made. Much quicker than a lot of other people. He was a bit better after the rendez-vous and they we headed home for the night.
It has been another busy week and thank you for your love, your prays, your concern. I am very lucky to have so many people who care about me and how I am doing. I love you all and wish you a great week.
Elder Kirkpatrick
I hope, as always, that everyone is doing well. It should feel like Spring pretty much no matter where you are right now, flowers in bloom, plenty of sun, maybe some rainshowers... In any case it should be a fairly nice time of year. It has been beautiful lately. A bit warm, a few mosquitos, but very beautiful and of course plenty of people are taking advantage of it with all of the beaches. This has been another busy week for us here in Toulon, with a lot of good things happening.
Monday, of course, was our preparation day and once we started working we had a lesson with Anthony, and it was an ok lesson. Afterwards, we just headed home and got a couple street contacts.
Tuesday, our morning started out with a lesson with Horacio, the less active member and oh my was that interesting. He was on one and was not happy. He started talking about how he was offended at a bunch of members. We tried to share scriptures, even sing a hymn and he would not let us. Of course we didn't stay very long. Most of these problems he has is because he just invents them or it is a communication error because even the members can't understand him and he doesn't always listen, so it is a bit tricky. In the afternoon we had a first rendez-vous with a fairly young black girl who was evangilical and unfortunately at the end she said that she would not take the Book of Mormon because she needed God to specifically tell her that she needed to read it. We tried to get her to take it anyway but she wouldn't accept it. In the end, she told us that she would call us if she received the impression that she needed to read it. A little after, we taught Jean-François with Frère Sanderre and before, while planning for the lesson, we really felt like we needed to engage him for baptism. He had started mentioning it as a long term goal type of thing but we felt like he was ready. Well Frère Sanderre, really likes to talk so we didn't get much talking in but he received a call from his wife, who was sick, asking if he could come home. So he left and we stayed. We started talking and then went in for the baptismal engagement. We gave him the date of May 21. First, he thought May 21 of net year, which he was completely ok with and then when we clarified this year, in 4 weeks. He about had a heart attack. At first I was thinking, "Oh no, what have I done?" because I was the one that gave the engagement. We started talking through it all and what he needed to do to prepare and gave him the plan to stop smoking and he started to calm down a bit. Thankfully. By the end, he seemed a bit overwhelmed but a lot more at ease and feeling like it was possible. We left him with the plan to stop smoking to read that night and then told him we would come back the next day to go over it. Elder Milman and I both left the rendez-vous feeling like that was the right thing to do and that the Lord would take care of Jean-François.
Wednesday was another busy day. We first met another Evangelical man in the morning, and we had a good rendez-vous. He at least took a Book of Mormon but he wouldn't fix another rendez-vous unfortunately. We then went home and ate and then headed to see Jean-François. He was so full of hope, it was incredible. The idea of baptism in 4 weeks was now completely plausible. He wanted to make that covenant and he wanted the promise of having the Holy Ghost. In fact he came up with how he wanted to do the quit smoking before we even got there. He had even started to dramatically decrease his intake. I have never seen anybody with as much will power as him. Right after we engaged him to quit drinking coffee, he stopped. Right after we started meeting with him, he quit drinking alcohol. Now he was fully ready to give up basically the last vice, and in many respects the hardest. We gave him lots of encouragement and talked about how we receive blessings thanks to our obedience. We fixed another lesson for later on in the week and then left to go meet Kate. We had a nice rendez-vous with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She is the girl from Nigeria and it is very hard to see what her comprehension level is. She doesn't talk too much and when we ask questions she doesn't say too much in response so we are trying to go fairly slow to see where she actually is.
Afterwards, we then headed to our meeting with the ward missionaries. It was good as usual and then Frère Sanderre went with us to a rendez-vous with Sara and Eric. Sara is the less active with the two kids and Eric is her not husband but basically husband. Sara's mother also happened to be there, who is also a less active in the North of France. It was a good lesson, basically by Frère Sanderre but it was still good. The only bad thing is that they told us they want to move back to Nancy, in the North of France. Of course we were a bit bummed but she said that they still had more figuring out to see if that was the best thing for them. On one hand, we want them to stay, and on the other we went them to do what is best for them. So we will see in the coming week what happens.
Thursday was a very interesting day and a little bit boring. In the morning we took a bus way out to try and find a less active. After a very long time of searching, we finally found her and weren't able to go in because her husband wasn't there but we did fix a lesson with her for Saturday thankfully. We headed back to Toulon and our afternoon all got cancelled. We started in on contacting and got nothing after nothing and just towards the end we got one guy, and then another, and then randomly it started pouring raining so we jumped into a little over hang of a building and got two more contacts from people getting shelter from the rain. That was a blessing from the Lord! We then headed to the church and did our English Class and then a member picked us up to go to Jacira's house but unfortunately, she was not there. So we headed home because it was already late.
Friday we had planning in the morning, taught Jean-François right after, seeing even more progress with the cigarettes and then headed to the church to see Sebastien. We had a fairly good lesson with him, ignoring when he has bizarre comments, and then headed to see Kate before she left for Paris. We talked about the word of wisdom, which she already keeps, and then figured that we will call each other in about a week when she comes back from taking her tests in Paris. Afterwards, we had a lesson with Laura at Manon's house and two other young women from the ward, who were having a sleep over there that evening. We tried to come up with something creative since Laura has been taught everything so we created a Jeopardy game! Elder Milman created the questions and then I created the game part. It was a big hit and worked out really well. I think they had a lot of fun. It took a lot of work for us to put it together but we hope that we will be able to use it again in the future. As you can imagine, we then headed home and crashed because we were wiped out!
Saturday was another day with a lot of cancellations. We had three rendez-vous that all got cancelled last minute so we were stuck with some open time. We did some contacting and we played Basketball and then in the evening headed back out to the less active's house. They are a young couple, she is a member and he is not. But he is open and kind. We had a nice little rendez-vous and then headed back into town, did a tiny bit of contacting on the way home and ended for the evening.
On Sunday we had 5 people come to church, no one new, but 5 of the normal ones who come, including Jean-François. It was a really good Sunday and then we got a ride home because the buses were not running at all. After lunch we had a rendez-vous with a guy we met on the road a few days before and we accidently got him started talking about his movie and DVD collection, because he has TONS, and that was a bad idea! He never stopped until the moment we had to leave for our next rendez-vous. Our two other rendez-vous got cancelled and so we ended up stopping by Jean-François' house. Which was good. He was quite discouraged because he fell a little bit in his progress but we gave him encouragement and some ideas to stay positive and helped him see all of the great strides he has already made. Much quicker than a lot of other people. He was a bit better after the rendez-vous and they we headed home for the night.
It has been another busy week and thank you for your love, your prays, your concern. I am very lucky to have so many people who care about me and how I am doing. I love you all and wish you a great week.
Elder Kirkpatrick
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