My sincere apologies to those die hard Elder Kirkpatrick blog readers. I have missed the last two letters because I packed up my little family of 5 and moved to Dallas, TX which is a BIG move for us. We are a bit settled now and I'm back into a groove and realized I forgot about ETHAN!! So sorry little brother I hope you will forgive me. So to all the readers make sure you read both letters, the first is the newest one from the 11th and below that is the July 4th letter. Thank you for understanding (I'm going to assume you all forgive me too).

JULY11TH LETTER

Bonjour à tous!

Quelle semaine! It has been quite a crazy week for many reasons and we have really seen a lot of blessings and miracles here in Montauban.

Starting with last Monday, we taught Auguste on Monday night and we decided to just knock out some of the difficult commandments like the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. We taught it and he had no problems with it. He does smoke a bit and drinks coffee but he wants to smoke and he is ready to do everything he can to stop. He also really liked church on Sunday, which was great! Every time we teach something new, he just tells us, "that's completely logical." Everything just makes perfect sense to him.

On Tuesday, we had a bit of a surprise. We were supposed to do an exchange with the Elders in Albi but Elder Enkey was having problems with his back so he didn't think he could take a train to Montauban, so Elder Nicholes and I went to Albi and Elder Nicholes went with Elder Cunningham and I went with Elder Enkey. Since, Elder Enkey wasn't feeling super great we just did some Street Boarding out in the center of town. Basically, we have a big board with pictures and stuff on it and then contact the people that walk by. After a few hours of that he needed a break and so we went back to the apartment for about thirty minutes, and while we did that, President called and told Elder Enkey that he would be sent home because of his back problems. So of course, that was a bit of a shock but not really unexpected. We went back out and passed some old investigators and did some more contacting. At the end of the day we had quite a decent amount of snaps. And when the other two came back to the apartment they actually had just as many contacts as us, and both of them were able bodied! Ha!

On Wednesday, the zone leaders drove to Albi to go and pick up Elder Enkey and then Elder Nicholes and Elder Cunningham and I went back to Montauban. By the time we got there, we had lunch and then went and contacted and then went and passed a contact that we had. She was home so we taught her and her friend. They were both Muslim and the friend wasn't very open at all but the other lady was so we set up anything rendez-vous and then headed out to see Frederick. We taught him the rest of the Plan of Salvation, and it went very well, and then we fixed another rendez-vous for Saturday and then headed out to meet Frère Caplan in front of the church so that we could go to the Haas' house for dinner. We had a nice time and then headed back to the apartment.

Thursday morning, we took Elder Cunningham to Toulouse so that he could pick up a different companion, since his was going home. Our next train wasn't for about two hours so we went to the Mission Office and helped the office couple clean up the office, it is going to become a youth center in Toulouse, which will be awesome. By the time we got back into Toulouse, we went to the Family Van Tonder to do service for them, they are South African but have lived in Montauban for a very long time. We had lunch with them afterwards and then headed back home to change back into our normal clothes and such. For the afternoon, we did some contacting and passing different investigators, until the evening when we went to eat with the family Dieutre and Auguste also. We had a great time and Frère and Soeur Dieutre talked about their conversions and asked Auguste about how he met us and what made him decide to be baptized and it was really really great!

On friday, we had our morning planning and then we had a bit of time so I attempted to make Indian Fry Bread because my mom had sent me the recipe and to my great joy and astonishment, it turned out perfect and they were delicious... unfortunately there are no refried beans here in France, but it's ok, we made it work. In the afternoon we went and saw Frère Truscello and had a little lesson with him and went and passed a bunch of people. Unfortunately, a bunch of our lessons fell through but we did teach Frederick and we had a great lesson about the gospel of Jesus Christ and we were able to engage him for baptism! He really understands all of the principles very well and everything just makes perfect sense. He basically taught the lesson all by himself because he understood so well from the scriptures that he read.

Saturday was another fairly slow day. We had pretty much all of our lessons cancelled and so we ended up doing a lot of walking and contacting but with little success. It was alright, those days happen fairly often. In the evening I focused on preparing for my talk for the next Sunday. They told me to speak for 15 minutes so I was a little bit worried that I would be able to fill 15 minutes. I had quite a few materials thankfully so I went to bed just praying that I would be able to fill up 15 minutes during Sacrament Meeting.

Sunday, we got to church and Frederick was already there! After Priesthood, it was like everybody needed us to do something. The teacher for Sunday school was asking Elder Nicholes to help set up and babysit a movie clip she was showing and then a primary teacher came and asked if we could go into her class to talk about being a missionary, so I said yes. After about 5 minutes in Sunday School, Auguste showed up and then the first counselor asked me if we were going to do a class for our investigators, I just about laughed in his face, after preparing a talk, needing to be in Sunday School, and in the Primary at the same time, there was no way. Auguste came into Sunday school and about 10 minutes later, I slipped out to go talk to the primary class for about ten minutes while Elder Nicholes babysat the TV and got the movie all ready. I came back and sat next to our investigators and heard the rest of Sunday School. Sacrament meeting started and the first speaker got up and talked for about five minutes and then the next one got up and spoke for about ten minutes and of course I was the last speaker so I looked at the clock and had 35 minutes! I was about sweating bullets. I was worried enough for 15 minutes. 35 was going to be impossible! I followed what I planned, my notes and experiences and everything and then when I looked at the clock just before I was going to close, and I had taken all the time except for maybe the last 5 minutes to pray and sing. I have no idea how I took up the much time in a language that I have only been speaking for a year but I would definitely say it was a miracle. I don't even think I could tell you everything I said. But it turned out quite well and I had people tell me that they really enjoyed it, so it worked out. After church, we went back home and ate and then headed out to some lessons and contacting. We had a lesson with this black lady named Mirabelle who is very Catholic. She is nice but we don't think she fully understands everything completely. Oh well, we had a good lesson and the rest of the day we went contacting and passing old investigators.

Voilà that was my week here in Montauban. There were a lot of really great things that happened. There are definitely people ready for the gospel here in Montauban and it is incredible to see that we don't even have to do much because they are already so prepared. I hope that all of you are doing well and have had a great week. I love you all and thank you for all of your support. Au revoir!

Elder Kirkpatrick

JULY 4TH LETTER

Bonjour à tous!

This week has been pretty crazy and definitely good as well! We were able to accomplish quite a bit and definitely see some miracles in the work here in Montauban.

Last Monday, after our official preparation time, we went and saw Auguste because he didn't come to church on Sunday, so we weren't sure what happened and why he didn't come. We went and saw him and thankfully he didn't come to church just because he accidentally slept through his alarm. Nothing too extreme. We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation and he had some great questions. He was very surprised to see that everything we discussed was in the Bible as well. We has been reading in the Book of Mormon and told us that he knows that it's true. We fixed another lesson for Friday and then we left.

Tuesday, we went into Toulouse for a Zone Conference and of course to meet our new Mission President and his wife. He is a very very nice man and you can tell that both he and his wife truly love the missionaries and care for us. Of course, they aren't President and Soeur Carter but they will bring something different to the mission and it will be interesting to see how the mission will change and transfer under different leadership. It will be exciting to see what happens in a couple weeks with transfers. Apparently there are going to be a lot of changes happening according to President Murdock. So we shall see what happens. After the Zone Meeting, I went with Elder Cunningham to Albi for an exchange. By the time we got there, it was fairly late but we went and helped a guy that owns an antique shop deliver a table to someone.

Wednesday in the morning, we had a couple rendez-vous that didn't work out but we went and bought train tickets for a bit later to go and see a girl with a baptismal date in a city next to Albi. We went and ate lunch and then took the train for about an hour and a half to get to the other city and teach all of the commandments before her baptism that saturday. It was very interesting. They are actually an Iranian family that the two other siblings are members of the church and they were baptized in Paris and then when they moved to this city about 10 months ago and didn't even know where the church was. The missionaries didn't know anything about them until the Missionaries in Paris finally sent their information about a month ago. The other sister has been ready to be baptized since they were in Paris but was never able to. They are a super awesome family and have such strong testimonies. They all have their scriptures in Persian and read them together and they love the missionaries. After teaching them, we went to the train station to take our train back to Albi, which was another hour and a half. We then for the evening had a few lessons that didn't work out again but we went and did some contacting and ran into a whole bunch of German tourists interestingly enough. We then headed back home and had dinner.

Thursday we went into Toulouse to re-exchange and then Elder Nicholes and I went back into Montauban. By the time we got back, we had lunch and then headed to the red cross to do our service. After service, we did contacting and passed some different old investigators and such. In the evening, we went and saw Simon, one of our less actives, and had a good lesson. Unfortunately he told us that he couldn't come to church because he would have to be working on Sunday.

Friday morning was our normal planning in the morning and then afterward, we went and met a lady named Laurence who we contacted a few weeks ago and she was very interesting about our church. We talked about the restoration and answered her questions. She was interested and said she would read the Book of Mormon but to give her a few weeks because she is very busy so we will call her in a couple weeks to see what she thought. We then went to go and see Patrick, a less active, and his friend Alex ended up being there too. We had a pretty good lesson with them and read out of The Book of Mormon. Patrick has been making a lot of progress and it's really good to see the differences he has made. After him, we headed to go see a new investigator named Frederick. He is a nice guy about 45 and he has met the missionaries in Lille about 10 years ago. We taught the first half of The Plan of Salvation and he said he really wanted to come to church but couldn't because he was going to be with his sister in another city but that he will come the week after. We fixed another lesson with him after he comes back and then we headed to our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader. After that, the ward mission leader came with us to teach Auguste. Getting there, I asked if he had any questions and he said yeah, I wanted to know about how baptism works for you. We said, perfect because we will be talking about that. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which obviously includes baptism, and we engaged him for baptism. He said yes and was super excited. He asked what all he needed to do to prepare, so we explained that and then he asked about the Word of Wisdom and so we talked a little bit of that, and he was totally in agreement with it. He said the coffee thing would be hard but that he would do it. It was so incredible and such a miracle. He has definitely been prepared for the gospel! He said that he would definitely be at church on Sunday.

Saturday, we went to help Frère Caplan move into his new apartment and I had the privilege of hauling up a washing machines up to the fourth floor with another member from the Branch.... yeah, that was fun. Ha! After moving in the morning, we went with Frère Caplan to the Family Haas' house to eat lunch. We then came home in the afternoon and went and contacted and tried to pass some people. There wasn't a ton that worked out super well but it worked out.

Sunday, we of course were very anxious that Auguste would come. He came just before Sunday School and it was a good lesson about the atonement and then we had a good fast and testimony meeting. In the middle of the meeting he turned to me and asked if he could go up to the pulpit and say a few things. I told him that of course he could. So he got up and told them about how his life has started changing in the last 15 days since he has been meeting with us and how he is preparing for baptism and it was incredible! After Sacrament Meeting, the members were very welcoming and the Dieutre Family and Haas Family invited him over with us to have a barbecue with them. All of the members truly went out of their way to include him and talk to him, it was so great. We were so happy with how church turned out with him and how much he liked it and how welcoming the members were. After church, we went and broke our fast and then went to a couple rendez-vous that we fixed but unfortunately, either the person wasn't there or we couldn't find their address. It was a bit of a bummer but after what happened at church, I didn't care that the afternoon was a bit slow. Ha!

Voilà! That was our week. It was incredible and I am so grateful for all of the blessings we have been receiving here in Montauban the last couple of weeks! I hope that all of you are doing well and that your week went well. I love you all and am so grateful for you support and your prays. Bonne semaine!

Elder Kirkpatrick