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