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