Hello!

Well, it has been another wonderful week here in Aix-en-Provence. We have been able to see some good things happen and it is really starting to feel like the Christmas season, which I love! I hope that all of you are doing well and have had a great week as well.

Last Monday, I didn't really include it in the email from last week but we saw Jinane and we taught the plan of salvation and it went really well. She continues to have amazing questions and it really is going well.

Well I am not really sure that I want to talk about every single day because honestly, not too much happened every single day and so I am just going to talk a little bit about the week in general. We are having a hard time getting new investigators. We can meet people and fix rendez-vous but the people don't always show up or this that and the other but we continue to push along and work towards those miracles. One of these miracles, actually, is Jinane. We saw her several times last week and everytime she comes full of questions and ready to learn and understand. She has such a hunger for what we teach, it is incredible. She came to church this Sunday and it was great. At first, she was a bit nervous because she doesn't like a lot of attention and her being an investigator, of course people are going to give her attention. Then in the Gospel Principles class, our ward mission leader would not stop teaching directly towards her and asking her questions and it really bothered her. After she said she just wanted to go home. I encouraged her to stay and that it would be ok during Sacrament Meeting. She stayed and the testimonies were really good and she even cried during one of the testimonies. I know that she could feel the spirit. Afterwards she was able to talk with members, we gave her a tour of the chapel, and then had a little lesson with her. She expressed some concerns of what her Mom would think if she joined the church and asked about opposition.

Kim, a recent convert was with us, and she bore such a strong testimony about that. In the end I asked her how she has felt since we have been seeing her and she said that it all makes her feel really good. Like a new start, like a brand new year is just ahead of her. That really made me grateful to have been able to help her feel like that. The first lesson we had with her she cried in expressing how she had a lot of doubts because she knew a young girl that died from cancer and that caused her to really question everything. She had really come a long way since then. After church, we walked with her to the bus station, because she lives a ways from Aix, she explained that she had dumped her boyfriend because he wasn't ok that she was seeing us and that if he wasn't ok with that then he wasn't who she thought he was. That really surprised me and showed me how important it must be to her to continue to meet with us. We actually had another lesson with her today and she asked for two Book of Mormons to give to her Grandma and her Aunt when she goes back to Liban for Christmas in a couple weeks, and she is going to be coming to institute tomorrow afternoon. It is so incredible. She has truly been prepared by the Lord and I am simply grateful that I have been able to help him accomplish his work.

Of course there were other good things that happened in the week but that was definitely the most impacting. I love you all, sincerely and I am so grateful for each one of you. This is such a wonderful time of year to reach out to others, to express our love, express our gratitude and simply enjoy the company of our family and our friends. I hope you all have a great week and enjoy your week. We can have good weeks, but we don't always enjoy them and I encourage all of you to enjoy your week. No matter how it goes, there is always something to enjoy. Au revoir!

Elder Kirkpatrick