Hello,

Well this last week it has basically been raining cats and dogs everyday. Or as they say in French, it has been raining ropes. So we have been a bit wet but thankfully it should be clearing up this week and already today has been a lot clearer than it has in the past few days. Even with the rain, we had a pretty good week. I hope that you have all had a great week as well.

Unfortunately, last Monday started out a little sad because Gerard cancelled his baptismal date because his wife did not approve. Of course we are not going to encourage him to do anything contrary to what his wife wants him to do but we told him that when he gets back to Madagascar, next week, to talk with his wife and testify to her why he wants to get baptized. He agreed and said that he would. It was still a bit of a bummer, but it is ok. After that we did some contacting until meeting the other two missionaries in Aix to go with them and a member and her non-member husband to a haunted castle since it was Halloween, don't worry, we had permission. It was the first time I went to a haunted house in a REAL castle, it was incredible. It wasn't really scary, it was more geared towards families with kids and such but just the environment alone was very cool.

Tuesday we started the day by doing some Street Meeting, and we met some great people! It was awesome. We then headed in, and then went back out to pass some old investigators and some less active members. We basically did that and contacting until the evening when we met the other missionaries again and headed to eat dinner and with the Roll family in the ward. We had a nice time and then headed back home.

Wednesday we started the day by doing some more Street Meeting and we met some more people interested. We headed in to eat and then went back out to meet a member and then meet a new investigator that I had contacted the day before. Unfortunately, the member was late and so we were about ten minutes late from when we were supposed to meet the investigator, so either she didn't show up at all or she did but left because we were late. It was a bit of a bummer, but it worked out. We then went and passed several other people and then had a lesson with Gerard. We had a good lesson and then went to institute to get ready for English Class. We had a good English class and then headed in for the evening.

Thursday we had District Meeting in the morning and then we ate and we were going to do some more street meeting but it was raining so we went and passed a few people and we ended up passing an older man that I had contacted the day before. We had a good lesson with him. The poor guy has lost everything in his life and needs the gospel so much, it could help him so much in life. In the evening we went to a meeting with our ward mission leader and then went and saw Franck and talked about the ten commandments and how important it is to come to church.

Friday,we had the normal weekly planning in the morning and in the afternoon we passed a few people and then we saw a less active member who has been making a lot of efforts to come back and then we went and saw Gerard again and had a quick little lesson with him. We were supposed to have a lesson with Wan Quin but she cancelled and so we did some contacting until institute.

On Saturday we were super excited because we had a full day planned with lots of lessons and everything. We did service in the morning and then in the afternoon we went to try and see our new investigator with a member but unfortunately, he was not there. We then went and taught Kim, a recent convert, and then we met a member, Thierry, to go see Franck. We taught the law of Chastity which was a bit of a problem for him. We talked about it and he said, after plenty of explanation, that he understood and that it made sense why it was important. He said that he would keep it, at least for now. We then headed to the other side of town to meet a new investigator that we were really excited about. It ended up being very peculiar. The guy that we met on the street gave us a name, address, and telephone number, when we arrived, all of these things corresponded, except the person. In the end, he said that it was probably one of his friends that did that as a joke. The guy knows the church very well, has family and friends that are members but he himself is not interested, a bit of a bummer. We were going to head out to see Irma when we got a call to meet the other missionaries to go to a members house for dinner. So we went with them out to a members house, where there were some other members, and we had a nice lesson and a meal.

On Sunday, it was raining some more and unfortunately it kept some investigators from coming to church. Church was very good even still and then we stayed for the baptism of the other missionaries. It was an 85 year old lady, it was really great. She actually had to be baptized three times because the first two she didn't get completely submerged, the poor lady. In the end it worked out and was really good. After that, we went with one of the Chinese members to pass two chinese girls that Elder Coenen had met last transfer, they ended up not being interested. We then went and visited our eternal investigator, at the hospital, and then went and visited Irma. At the end of the day we headed back home around nine pretty tired from the week and the rain.

We had a week that was a bit difficult, but it still was good. We still had some good success even if we didn't see the results right away. I hope that you are all doing well and know that I love you all and appreciate all of your support. Have a great week this week and count your many blessings!

Elder Kirkpatrick