Hello Everyone!

I hope that you are all doing very well and are having a great week. We had a great week this week, we did have a bit of a disappointment this week but it was still good even still.

So Tuesday started out by having a lesson with a guy that actually followed us for about 45 minutes the Monday before all the way from the center of town all the way out to the very outskirts. Each time we would stop or trick him to make him pass us he would stop dead in his tracks or when he passed by he would grab his cell phone and act like he was talking to someone, he would walk a bit around a corner and then when we would start walking he again he would follow us again. So we decided we would go up to him, we started talking and he acted slightly shocked that we were talking to him.... even though he had been following us for 45 minutes. Anyway, we set up a rendez-vous and he met us at the church on Tuesday morning. We taught about the restoration and it was a good lesson but we didn't feel like he really understood very well. Anytime we would ask him a question he didn't have any kind of an answer, even when we had just said the answer. We then went and saw Tatiana and taught briefly about the Plan of Salvation, of course there is still a language barrier to her comprehension is a bit low but it was still a pretty good lesson. We came in, had lunch and then headed out to go see Patrick, a less active. He has been sick and busy with work so it was the first time we had seen him in a few weeks. We had a good lesson and his friend Alex happened to be there as well. We then hurried back into town to meet Sœur Korpal and then head out to see Frederick. We had a good lesson with him and talked about tithing and then we headed out and met the Van Tonders to go to the Haas' house to eat dinner. We had a nice time and then headed back home.

Wednesday morning we did some contacting for a bit and then went and saw Hassen at the church. We had a decent lesson with him and did some more contacting. We went and had lunch and then went and saw Mirabelle and really focused on the Apostasy and Restoration and it seemed like she understood pretty well and we engaged her to pray about whether the church was restored to the earth. We then went around passing different old investigators and contacting and such until another rendez-vous with Dmitri, the guy that followed us. We taught the plan of salvation but we are still not sure how much he retains, but it was a fairly good lesson even still. I ended up calling Frederick to confirm for a rendez-vous on Thursday and his sister answered and she told me that Frederick is a protected major and that she has all control over his decisions and that she does not want us seeing him anymore or for him to be in the church. She even went as far as saying that if we try to contact him, she will call the police. It was a huge disappointment. I was not very happy afterwards. It honestly took me a couple days to get over it because it was such a shock out of nowhere. I hope that one day he will be able to continue in the church and one day get baptized. In the evening, we went and met Auguste and he took us to his house and we ate pizza and he even invited one of his friends over. It was really cool. I was still a bit bummed but made the best of the situation.

Thursday we had a district meeting in Toulouse in the morning. It was really good and we got new cell phones. Yay, no more giant bricks! Haha! We ended up barely missing our train so we had to wait our in Toulouse at the gare for about 2 hours before the next train. When we got back, we went and saw Soeur Korpal and her three kids and had a good lesson with them, because her kids are not yet baptized. We then went around and did some contacting and such.

On Friday, we had weekly planning in the morning that takes the entire morning and then we went and helped a family moving to Montauban from Toulouse unload a packing trailer and that took most of the afternoon. By the time we got back into town we had to get ready and then went to a meeting with our ward mission leader and then we went and saw Auguste and talked about the Priesthood. He said he had an experience that week that fortified his testimony of prayer and increasing his faith. He had great questions and insights about the priesthood. It was a great lesson and he is such a great guy!

Saturday we had a lesson with a guy named Eric that we contacted the week before and we had a really good first lesson with him about the restoration, he had pretty good comments and ideas. It was a pretty good lesson. We then went home and ate and then went with Soeur Korpal and her daughter to teach Mirabelle. We talked about having a living prophet today and Mirabelle gave us some melons and we had just a quick lesson so that she could get back home to take care of her grand kids. We went back to the church and had a lesson with Soeur Korpal and her daughter about putting on the armour of God. We then went and got a celebratory patisserie for my one year mark (which was on Thursday but we hadn't had time to do it then, I am now officially over-the-hill!). We headed back to the church to meet a new investigator but he didn't show up so we did some contacting and went and saw Soeur Galtier and taught a little lesson with her.

Sunday we had tons of visitors at church but none were our visitors.... Unfortunately. None of our investigators were able to come but there were a lot of people visiting family members and such. Of course Auguste was there and he met with the Branch President after church to talk about the Priesthood and he should normally be getting it next week. We then had to wait to have a meeting with the Branch Council and of course those take forever. So we finally got home and ate and then went out and did some contacting and then Auguste came and picked us up and we headed to his house and started watching the Testaments. We stopped about halfway through so that we could go and meet these two BYU film students that are touring around France filming people. They had asked Auguste if they could film and interview him. It was so cool to watch and to listen to him. He talked about his baptism and his conversion and it was incredible! He is such a such person. I am honestly so grateful to have just been the missionary that the Lord blessed to be here when he was taught and baptized! We then hurried back to his house to grab our stuff and then he drove us back home.

Well, it has definitely been another busy, crazy week in Montauban. I am so very grateful for the many blessings that we have hear and for the help of the Lord continually. I love you all and hope that you are doing well. Have a great week and I hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Kirkpatrick