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