Bonjour,

I hope that everyone is doing well and that you have had a great week, wherever you may be. It has been another fairly busy week here for Elder Fitch and me in Montauban. We had a lot of really good things happen and we met some pretty cool people a well.

On Tuesday, in the morning we did some contacting and passing a few people until we went and had lunch. After lunch we went and met a couple members and went to meet Frère Gaign to help him move some big pieces of dry walling into the house that he was building. There were over 160 sheets of dry wall that we hauled in, thankfully it didn't take too long. Afterward, we came back into the apartment, changed clothes and headed out to pass some people before the lesson that we had with Soeur Korpal and her kids. We head a nice lesson with them in the evening and then headed back home.

Wednesday was a fairly busy day because we had actually had exchanges with the Zone Leaders and they wanted to do part of the morning with all four of us here in Montauban so we had to plan and arrange some things. In the morning even before the Zone Leaders got there, we got a few good contacts and numbers and such. They came just before lunch, so we ate together and then split up. Elder Brown and I went to go and do some Street Meeting and once again, we were stopped by the police that we need a permit to have a standing fixed object in the common areas of town. So we went back to the town hall to see if we have a response and even after a month of waiting, we still have no answer for the moment. So I guess we will be waiting a little bit longer. After all that, Elder Brown and I went to Toulouse because they had quite a few rendez-vous. We had some good lessons with their investigators and there happened to be a ton of traffic in Toulouse so we parked their car by the old mission office, which is now the young adult center, and then took the metro to their apartment. Just before we got to the apartment, Elder Brown realized that he left the apartment key in the car and so we had to go all the way back. It worked out because then we ended up taking the car to the apartment so we could also have it for the morning. We didn't even end up getting back to the apartment until 10.

Thursday, we had a District Meeting and President and Soeur Murdock ended up coming, because they were passing by all of the apartments in this side of the mission. We had a great District Meeting. I actually taught and was taught by President Murdock in doing teaching practices and it was really really good. After the meeting, Elder Fitch and I headed back into Montauban, did the last meeting cleaning just to make sure that the surface stuff was all cleaned up (we had spent a few hours over a few days really deep cleaning the apartment). President and Soeur Murdock came to the apartment around 5 in the evening and, as we were hoping, they condemned our apartment!! It isn't horrible but there are some major problems, there are cockroaches, the floor reverberates everything and our neighbor underneath gets super upset when we even walk softly and she bangs on the floor, it is super super tiny, and the list goes on, so anyway, he told us to start looking for an apartment and they made a list of things to buy to put in a new apartment. So we have officially started the search! After they left, we went to go for a rendez-vous but the lady was not there. So we headed back in and then met Frère Dieutre to go and eat at there house for the evening.

Friday was quite a busily planned day with a lot of lessons. The morning, we had two but they didn't work out, one got rescheduled for the next day but the other one, he just didn't show up. Since we wouldn't have had time to do our weekly planning normally, it worked out because we were able to go and do our weekly planning in the morning. We then ate and went and passed a guy that we had a rendez-vous with but he wasn't home so we went directly to our next rendez-vous and unfortunately, he wasn't there either and we rescheduled the rendez-vous with him. We had a bit of time so we stopped by and talked to a real estate place and she actually showed us an apartment but it was old and not in great shape. The size was really nice and a nice location but not exactly what we were looking for. We then headed to go and see Stephanie and we actually had a really great lesson with her. It was probably one of the best that we have had with her. At the end of the lesson, she prayed for the first time. It was really great! She makes progress little by little. Afterwards we did some contacting and passing people until we had to be back at the church for a meeting with the Branch Presidency and some other leaders from the Branch. After that, we went to go see Simon, who had been gone in Canada for about a month. We had a nice lesson with him and then headed back home because it was quite late.

Saturday seemed to be a very promising day with a lot of lessons fixed. We were quite hopeful with 7 lessons fixed. Unfortunately only two of these lessons actually worked but it was ok. In the morning we had a lesson with Isaac, a Rugby player from Fiji who plays in a city about thirty minutes from Montauban and he came and met us at the church and we had a great lesson with him. He was very sincere and genuine. He is a really nice guy. The other lesson was with Sr; LaRivière who doesn't come to church too often but she wants us to teach her son, so we went over and had a pretty good lesson with them. The rest of the day was either waiting for people to come that didn't come, walking to people's houses and they weren't there and contacting. It wasn't too bad of a day but a little tiring.

Sunday was a really good day at church, there were great talks, lessons, it was a really good Sunday. Afterwards, we headed to go see Lyse at her pizza shop because she is redoing it and since Sunday at lunch time is the only time she isn't open, we had to go then to be able to help her. We did some painting and cleaning and moving things. We had to run back to the apartment to change so we could be ready for our lesson with Stephanie. I went to the lesson with paint all over my hands and arms and everything. We had a pretty good lesson with her, she would get off topic a bit but it was still pretty good. We then went and tried to see Miriam but she was't home so, since Frère Bonnet was with us, we went and visited Soeur Korpal because she was sick. We had a nice lesson and then he dropped us off at our apartment.

So, as you can see, it was a pretty good week. We were pretty busy and it went by quite quickly. I hope you are all doing well and that the week has been a good one. Always remember to see that there are different ways to view the same problem and different solutions that can always come up. Never feel overwhelmed, because there are always solutions. I love you all and hope to hear from you soon. Bonne semaine!

Elder Kirkpatrick

Hello,

I hope that everyone is doing well and has had a great week last week. Our week here was pretty good. We were fairly busy and had quite a bit to do, which defnitely helped the week to pass by fairly quickly. We definitely saw some good things happen this week.

Tuesday, we went out in the morning to do contacting as usual, it is the best time to do that because there are more people out in the morning. We did get a good lesson on the street and got his number and fixed a rendez-vous for another day. After lunch, we went to pass by some people and unfortunately, they weren't home. That continued until we met Stephanie and had a good lesson with her. We continued to stress prayer and how much that will help her in her life if all she would do is try it. She said that she would and that she really did like church on Sunday. She is very nice, things just move very slowly with her. We then met two of the Elders from Toulouse, Elder Wahlquist and Elder Pilling to do an exchange. Elder Pilling and Elder Fitch went back to Toulouse and Elder Wahlquist and I stayed in Montauban. After we dropped off his stuff at the apartment, we went back down and met Frère Caplan who picked us up to take us to the Haas' house for dinner. We had a great time and they were happy to see Elder Wahlquist because he served here for six months at the beginning of his mission. We then went back home for the evening.

Since Montuaban was Elder Wahlquist's first city, there were plenty of people that he wanted to visit and chat with so in the morning we did some contacting, and we met this super cool guy from Fiji that plays Rugby for a team in a town a little bit away but we fixed a rendez-vous with him for this next week. We ended up stopping by Soeur Galtier and we chatted with her a bit and then did a bit more contacting and passing until we went and had lunch and then went back out and passed Miriam, who wasn't there and then pass Bella, a lady that has been taught in the past, she had some time and we had a nice little lesson with her. We then went to go see Soeur Korpal and then we met Patrick Mulalu at the church and had a nice lesson with him and then we went and passed a couple other people that Elder Wahlquist wanted to visit but they weren't there. We then went and grabbed his things and went to meet Elder Pilling and Elder Fitch to finish our exchanges and then Elder Fitch and I went home for the evening.

Thursday morning, we did contacting as we do in the mornings, we then ate lunch and then we went and helped out at the Red Cross. We then went to the church and Kiri came to pick us up and we ate with him and his wife and kids and had a nice time. He is from Samoa, so they eat a lot there and so they made so much food. It is absolutely impossible to eat it all and they kept encouraging us to eat more and to eat more until we just absolutely couldn't. I don't even remember the last time that I was that full. We had a nice time with thm and had some pretty good discussion.

On Friday we had our planning in the morning and then we ate lunch and then headed out and did some contacting until we went with Soeur Korpal and taught Mirabelle. We decided that we were really going to focus on her finding out for herself. So we really stressed the importance of coming to church and all of that and why it was important that the church was restored. I was kind of sick of sugar coating it for her so I flat out told her that our church was the only one that had authority and she asked me if the Pope had authority and I told her no. Of course I wasn't rude just wanting to help her understand why our church is important and why it is true. She understood well. We then headed back into town and stayed a couple minutes talking to Soeur Korpal about some gospel related questions. We then went and did some contacting and passing people.

Saturday we had a lesson in the morning with Ismael. We had a lesson with him a few weeks ago but had a hard time contacting him again but miraculously we had run into him the day before and we fixed a lesson for the next day. It was really good and he said that everything we said was just so true and seemed to be like he had known it already. Unfortunately with his work situation and everything right now, things are very unsure and he isn't in a stable situation so we will seem him when we can. We then went to the Fayol's house to eat lunch and we had a nice time. We headed back into town and did some contacting a bit, and then went with Auguste to go visit his friend Benoit, who is in the hospital and then went with Auguste back to his apartment. He had some questions that we answered and then we watched a movie from the church.

Sunday started out interestingly but it turned out alright. Stephanie came and brought a friend, and then to our surprise, Mirabelle came in a little bit late but came for Sacrament Meeting! It was a huge step for her!! We were super happy. Unfortunately, Mirabelle and Stephanie's friend didn't stay for the rest of church but Stephanie stayed for all the rest and she continues to still really like it. After church, we went home, ate, then did some contacting and passing and passed an old lady that Elder Fitch had contacted a while back. We had a nice lesson with her and then we went and stopped by Soeur Galtier, who gave us some food and then we headed home for the evening.

Well, as you can see, it was a fairly busy week but really quite productive. We really were happy with some of the things that happened. I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying the adventure that is life. Have a great week, I love you all!

Elder Kirkpatrick

Hello Everyone,

I hope that you are all doing very well and have all had a good week. This last week in Montauban has been pretty good. There was a huge carnival in town Friday, Saturday and Sunday and since our apartment is right in the center of town, we definitely heard it. That includes the fireworks that they did from the Bridge just in front of our window, it was loud but a very cool close up view, that is for sure. All in all it was a pretty good week.

On Tuesday, in the morning, we did some contacting and passed by some people. After lunch, we went and helped a family that lived in Cahors (which was still in the boundaries of the Montauban Branch but was a bit far so they moved in to be close to the chapel) but they are an interesting family and apparently had some problem with someone in the Branch so they are going to the Evangelical Church for the moment. We showed up to help her move and she said that she was surprised to see us because they weren't coming to church for the moment. So we told her that no matter if she was actively coming to church or not she was still a member that needed help so of course we would be there for her. We talked about some of her difficulties and all and she definitely has an interesting perspective on things but hopefully, if nothing else, we showed her that we were still willing to help and that the Branch cares about them. We then headed back home, changed our clothes and met Stephanie. We had wanted to talk a bit about the Plan of Salvation but she ended up having some questions and so we weren't able to talk about that. We gave her a brochure about the Plan of Salvation and she said she would read so that we could talk about it our next rendez-vous. After our lesson with her, we headed to the church to meet JeanPierre and went with him to the Haas' house for dinner. We had a nice time with them and then he brought us back home for the night.

Wednesday we went in the morning to go help Lise paint the inside of her Pizzeria but she wasn't able to come. so we waited a bit and then finally got a hold of her and she told us that she wasn't able to come because of her kids with school and all of that so we went back home and finished up our studies and then we went out to do some contacting and such before lunch. The route that we took put us right in front of Auguste's driving school and he happened to be out there and he asked us if we had five minutes. Of course we said yes so we went in and started talking. Elder Fitch had a scripture that he was going to share but he wasn't able to find it. So I opened up my Bible to try and find it and stumbled across a verse that really hit me at that moment. So I shared it and it was exactly what Auguste needed to hear. The last few days he had been going through a lot of struggles in his work life and a bit in his personal life and so he just needed to get some things out, he needed someone to talk to and that verse ended up being perfect. It definitely allowed me to see that Heavenly Father is concerned with all of his children and that at that moment he used us to help Auguste. It wasn't just by accident that Elder Fitch couldn't find the scripture he wanted and that I happened to notice the scripture to share. It was definitely through inspiration that we were able to help him at that moment. Just a little miracle but definitely a miracle nonetheless. We ended up staying with him for his lunch break so we were still together when his next student came in, so he actually had his student drive us back next to our apartment. So we had lunch and then headed back out to go and see Soeur Galtier. We had a pretty good lesson with her but we can't find anyway to motivate her to get her to actually act and actually do anything, which is sad and a little frustrating and we aren't really sure what to do. But at least going to see her keeps her in contact with the church. Between us and her visiting teachers and home teachers, we hope something can come of it. She ended up giving us a bunch of food... basically she was cleaning out her freezer and gave us everything she didn't want... So we took that back to our apartment, put some stuff in the freezer, some on our shelves and some in the trash, because it was expired. Ha. It was still nice of her. We then went to drop off a big bowl that Soeur Korpal had given us some food in the week before and we ended up spending some time talking to her and giving her a spiritual thought. The rest of the evening we went and did a bit of contacting and pass backs as well.

Thursday we went into Toulouse in the morning for our District Meeting. They ended up splitting the District because it was so large so the one district we had before is now two so it is a fairly little district. After the meeting, we headed back into Montauban and got there in the middle of the afternoon. The rendez-vous that we had that afternoon ended up getting cancelled and moved for the next day. So we ended up going and passing some different people and contacting and we had a lesson with Françoise that was pretty good. She is very nice and open but very busy so we can stop by and catch her and share a message and chat a bit but we can never schedule anything else because she is rarely certain of her schedule. She is a scientist and works on a lot of various projects, mainly in the development of new medication. We then headed back towards town, contacting and such, and met Frère Dieutre at the church so that he could pick us up and take us to their house for dinner, our normal Thursday evening ritual. We had a very nice time and then he drove us back home.

Friday we had our weekly planning in the morning and then we had a day fairly full but we had our rendez-vous get cancelled on us. Coming back from one of the rendez-vous where the person wasn't there, we stopped by to see Myriam, who we hadn't seen in a few weeks, and she headed up being home and we had a bit of a lesson with her. We talked about baptism and she acted like she wanted to do her efforts to know if it is all true to work towards baptism. She also said that she would be coming to church on Sunday. We then headed to the church and we watched Joseph Smith, Prophet of the Restoration with Soeur Korpal and had a good lesson. We then ended up going around and doing some contacting to finish up the evening.

Saturday we did a bit of contacting in the morning and then we had a meeting with Frère Van Tonder at the church about missionary work and then we went up for a little lunch and then came back down to the church to meet Kiri, he was taught by the missionaries in the past but we lost contact about when I got here. He is a Rugby Player from Samoa and he grew up in the church, his Dad was a Stake President in the largest stake there but Kiri fell away from the church once he started playing professionally. He really wishes that he had made different choices. It really is sad to see how much he regrets some of the decisions he has made in life. He is married and has two kids but his wife isn't a member and I know he loves her and his kids but you can just tell that he wishes he had stayed in the church before things got more complicated. We had a nice time with him and his wife and kids and we are going to go and see them the next week for dinner as well. He took us back into town, because they live a bit out of town, and we saw Stephanie again and she had read a bit in the brochure and she had some questions about after this life so we talked about that and responded to her questions and she said she was going to come to church on Sunday. We then were supposed to have a lesson at the church but he didn't show up unfortunately. So we stopped by Soeur Korpal's because she had made us a specialty from the Reunion Island that was super good so we stopped by there and then gave her a little lesson and headed back home for the evening.

Sunday was a good day at church. It was quite calm and nice and Stephanie was there for all three hours and she really enjoyed it. She said that there was a nice spirit and it was very peaceful. So we were happy about that. After church we had a meeting with some of the leaders in the Branch and well it was super calm but thankfully it didn't get too heated. There were a couple fireworks, lets say but it ended up working out ok. We then hurried home, dropped off some stuff and headed all the way out to Patrick's house. Without the buses, it takes us at least thirty minutes to walk all the way out there. We had a nice lesson with him and he told us that he is going to be able to start training someone soon to take over his shifts on Sunday so that he can come to church. We then came back to the apartment so that we could eat because we didn't have time to eat between our meetings and our rendez-vous. We then went and did a little bit of contacting and pass backs and then headed back home for the night.

Voilà, that was our week. It was a pretty good week. I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying life. Remember the small blessings everyday and that la vie est belle! (Life is beautiful) Have a great week and I hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Kirkpatrick

Hello Everybody,

I hope you all have had a great week this week. It has been a fairly busy week here in Montauban with lots of moving for people.

On Tuesday, in the morning we went and passed some people and did some contacting until lunch. After lunch we went to have a lesson with Soeur Galtier but she was not home so we headed out to go see Patrick, who lives on the other side of town, when we got there he wasn't home so we called him, of course it was our luck that he loaned his car to someone, had no way of getting back to his house and didn't think to call us before hand. So, we walked all the way back into town to meet Jean-Pierre, who picked us up and we went to the Haas' house for dinner. We had a nice evening and then headed back home for the night. Pretty tired after a lot of walking.

Wednesday, we had a couple lessons scheduled with people that we had contacted earlier in the week, so we were pretty excited. After our studies we were supposed to have a lesson with a new investigator but unfortunately he didn't show up and he didn't ever answer his phone. So we went out and did some more contacting. After lunch we went and caught a bunch to go and see Patrick, because we had rescheduled the rendez-vous from the day before to Wednesday. Thankfully, he was home this time. We finished up watching Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration with him, which he really liked and then we headed back into town. When we got back into town, we met up with a lady that we had contacted on Monday, named Stephanie, and talked about the Restoration with her. She is too believing but she is very open, and she has a desire to know. It was a pretty good lesson with her. The rest of the evening we went and did some contacting and pass backs until we went home for dinner.

Thursday was definitely a day full of service. We started the morning by helping a new family move into their apartment. Of course they live up on the 5th floor of the apartment complex and there are rarely elevators. So that took up the morning. We then came home, showered, ate, and then went in the afternoon to do service for the Red Cross. It was fairly slow at the Red Cross so we had a good amount of time to talk with other volunteers and they were asking us questions about what we do and about our church. We then went back home, changed into our missionary clothes and then met Frere Dieutre who came to pick us up to go to their house and eat and they had actually invited over Frere Dieutre's boss and his family, who aren't members. We had a great evening together. We were able to talk a bit about the church but more than anything, it was a good beginning for them.

On Friday, we went to finish helping the family move in because they had another trailer full of stuff. We then got home, showered, ate and did our weekly planning. We then went out contacting and passing people until we met Soeur Korpal to go and teach one of our investigators. Unfortunately, our investigator was not there so we chatted with Soeur Korpal a little bit and then went and met Auguste to have a lesson with him. We went with him to his house so that we could try and watch Joseph Prophet of the Restoration but his DVD Player wasn't working and then his computer wasn't working either, so that didn't really work out. So we ended up spending a bit of time with him and just talking about various subjects about the church.

Saturday in the morning we went and did some contacting and passing people. In the afternoon we met with Stephanie again and talked about church and what it would be like on Sunday and a bit about the word of wisdom because she asked us if we wanted coffee, so we brought explained about that. Right after there was a big thing going on at the big open square in the middle of town for all the sports groups in Montauban and Soeur Korpal's daughter was doing a Karate demonstration so she asked us to go and watch. So that was nice and they appreciated us being there. In the evening, we went and did, yet again, some more contacting and then went to go see Frère Truscello and we watched the Joseph movie with him. He seemed to enjoy it. We then headed back in for the evening.

Sunday was a bit different because they changed the hours for church so that church starts at 9:30 now and we start with Sacrament Meeting first rather than last. Church was good, and the chapel was super full, we had 66 members at church. They actually had to bring in additional chairs because there weren't enough for everyone. Unfortunately Stephanie didn't come, she was actually in front of the church on time but thought that it was locked and she tried to call us but I had the phone on silent during Sacrament Meeting. She was basically there but at least now she knows that we are there even if the door is closed. In the afternoon, we were supposed to have a lesson with Mirabelle but there was some miss communication so it didn't work out. But we did see Stephanie again we watched the Restoration Movie. She enjoyed it and it cleared up some questions she had. She understands pretty well but she does doubt whether God exists and so we talked about how she needs to put in her efforts to know if he is there and that she can have an answer. So it was a pretty good lesson in all. For the end of the evening we passed some people and finally caught Marie Noel at home and we were able to fix a rendez-vous for later in the week. We then went home and after about twenty minutes we get a call from a member asking if we can hurry and help the new family that just moved in, move stuff off from the balcony (because it was going to rain). So we hurried and changed, got picked up and then hauled a bunch of stuff back down five floors to their garage and then hurried and got home before it was too late.

Well, it was a rather busy week with lots and lots of service, but it was good. It was nice to have some things a little different to do. I hope that you are all doing well and that you are finding the small pleasures in every day. Know that I love about you and care about. Have a great week!

Elder Kirkpatrick