Hello,

Wow, it has really started to cool down! My fingernails were blue this morning! Ha! But at least the sun has been shining, so that has been a very nice change from the week before. We had a fairly busy but good week this last week, and I hope that you all have had a good week as well.

On Tuesday, we started out the day doing some street meeting, which I am actually beginning to like a bit more now. We have been able to meet a lot of really nice and interesting people using the street board. After lunch, we went and did some pass backs until we saw Becca and we had a lesson with her. She shared her experiences of being able to share the gospel with some of her friends since she has been here and she has been able to have some great discussions. Afterwards, we did some contacting until we went and saw Irma and had a great lesson with her and her daughters, especially Ericka, who asks great questions and is really searching to understand.

Wednesday was a day full of eating with members because it was the birthday of Elder Claflin in the other companionship and so for lunch we went with a couple members, two being members I knew from when I was in Marseille, and we went and ate at a restaurant called Flunch. We had a nice time and it was great catching up with them. After lunch, we had a rendez-vous but he didn't show up and so we did some contacting and we did some pass backs and such until about six when the other missionaries picked us up to go to the home of the Kool family to have dinner. It was very nice and we had some great spiritual thoughts, because the husband of one of their daughters is not a member and so the other missionaries have been teaching him so we got to have a cool lesson with them.

Thursday was going to be quite a busy day with a lot of rendez-vous but not long into the day, we had a bunch who cancelled. In the morning, we did some contacting, and then after lunch, we did some more street meeting. We then saw Ma Fang and had a pretty good lesson with her. We then tried to see Gerard but he wasn't available so we fixed a rendez-vous for Saturday and so we did some contacting before we went to the church for interviews with President Murdock. They went well and afterwards, we all had an opportunity to give President a blessing for his health, which was a very neat experience. Definitely something unforgettable.

Friday morning we had a Zone Meeting and everybody else had their interviews with President. Afterwards, we went and taught Wan Qing and had an interesting lesson with her. She isn't really too open to her own efforts to know if the Book of Mormon is true and she kind of puts up a wall when we talk about that. We will see how it goes but it wasn't the best lesson. We then went out and did some street meeting again and again met some really great people. Afterwards, we saw Irma and finished talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her and her daughter, it was really a great lesson.

Saturday, there was a baptism for an investigator of the other companionship and so we went, we were supposed to have possibly three investigators there, one was for sure. Unfortunately, none showed up. We then headed home, ate lunch and went to see Franck. Franck had completely forgotten about the lesson and was not home. We went back, doing some contacting and then did some more street meeting, once again being able to talk to some really great people. Hopefully with all of this, we will be able to get some new investigators this next week! We then went and saw Gerard and had a nice goodbye visit, since he is going back to Madagascar until March tomorrow. We again encouraged him to testify to his wife about why he wants to join the church and he agreed. We will see how it goes. We then went out and passed a couple people and did some contacting.

Sunday, we went to church, which was the Primary Program, so it was of course, enjoyable. We then headed in to eat and then went to a rendez-vous with a new investigator named Rodrigo. He is from Mexico and is here for his studies. We had a pretty good lesson with him and he had a ton of questions. Afterwards, we did our weekly planning and then had to go run an errand to the institute building before heading back to finish our planning.

Voilà, that was our week. It was pretty good. This next week we are really trying to focus on finding new people to teach and getting new investigators. We already have some lined up so it should be pretty good. I am looking forward to it. I hope that you are all doing well and know that I love you and am grateful for your support and prayers. Remember always to stay positive even when everything seems to be falling to pieces. Heavenly Father is always there for you and cares for you. I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Kirkpatrick