Hello Everyone,

I hope that you all have had a great week this week and continue to feel the wonderful spirit of Christmas. I love you all and want you to know how much I appreciate all of you, honestly. During this Christmas period, I realize how important and how grateful I am for the friends and family that I have and for the love and the support that I receive from all of you.

It has been another good week here in Aix and wow is the temperature really starting to cool down. Things are going well and the work is moving along little by little.
This week we were invited quite a bit to eat with the members and it started Monday evening. It was good and I ate my very first escargot (snail) since I have been in France! It was actually not that bad at all. Yes, it was quite ugly to look at and kind of gross in that aspect, but the taste was actually not that bad. I would probably eat it again if the opportunity presents itself.

On Tuesday we did lots of contacting and talking to people. We met a lot of really nice people and were able to set up some rendez-vous for later. In the evening we had a quick lesson with Erica and Jennifer, and then hurried to go to the other side of the city to have dinner with a family from the ward. The Dad isn't a member but the rest of the family are members. We had a nice lesson and had a nice evening with them.

Wednesday, we had another lesson with Jinane and talked about how she could receive an answer for herself that all of these things are true. It was a great lesson. She still has some questions and confusions but she is progressing. After her, in the afternoon, we went and saw Madame Casale because her husband died last week and she has a lot of physical problems as well, she needed some help around her house so we helped do some things and she had quite a list, so it ended up taking a long time. After, we met the other missionaries to go out to another family's house for dinner. We had a nice time with them and it is always great to see the spirit of Christmas amongst families.

In the morning on Thursday, we had a District Meeting and then we all ate together. We headed to see Frère Philibeaux after and had a nice lesson with him. We then did some contacting and such until our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader and then hurried to see Irma and her daughters because Irma got back from Honduras! She had an awesome time and was so excited to show us pictures of her family and all of the things that she did. It was really great.

Friday started out with a lesson with Jinane. She had a lot of questions about pretty much everything and so we focused on what was more important to know. All of the tiny little details or that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true, and we found out that a big difficulty that she was having was seeing Jesus Christ as Savior and not just as a prophet. So we spent a lot of time talking about that and how she can know for herself. We went home and ate and then went and passed a few people, and passed an old investigator and she happened to be there. We gave her a spiritual thought and she was very nice but had some very interesting ideas.... like her ability to heal people, the fact that she thinks spirits enter into her body and she doesn't know if what she desires is always her spirit that is desiring it or someone else.... anyway, the things a little weird. After her, we went across the city to go to the church building for a meeting with the young adult counsel and then we stayed for the ward activity. They actually had us, the missionaries, participate in playing a little game show type of thing. Everyone seemed to have a really great time.

Saturday, we played Soccer in the morning with members and investigators and then went in to do our studies. We ended up doing a lot of contacting that day. In the evening, we went and saw Irma again and had a nice lesson with her and her daughters.

Sunday, we went to church and all of the lessons were really good. After church, we had a lesson with a new investigator named Nelson that has met the missionaries a few different times in different countries. He is very nice and open and has lot of questions. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and of course engaged him to read and pray about it. He said that he would but he is leaving for Paris for two weeks so we won't be able to see him for awhile. After that, we ended up going to the church to make some cookies really fast for some members that we were going to eat with, but it didn't end up working out so we went home and did our weekly planning.

Voilà, that was our week. Things are going well even when it is just the little things. I hope you all have a wonderful week and of course that you have a Merry Christmas. Don't forget the importance of the Savior in each one of your lives, in whichever place he may hold for you, don't forget his importance and let this season be about a lot more than just the presents and the food, but a spirit of love and giving towards all. I love you all and Joyeux Noël!

Elder Ethan Kirkpatrick