Hello Everyone,
Well there is a huge giant mega surprise this week.... are you ready?.... I am not sure if you really are but I am going to give it to you anyway... it's..... Raining..... again..... Yup, that was all. It has been raining on and off this week again but the last three days have just been pretty much non stop rain. When I first got to Bayonne I was very impressed with how green it was, now I understand why it is so green. This week has been another pretty busy week even though we had quite a few things fall through, including quite a few lessons. Which was a bummer but things still worked out.

So on Tuesday we had a lesson set up with a lady that lives in Dax which is a city about 30 minutes away from Bayonne so we planned to go out there in the afternoon for the lesson and then work a bit there for awhile, passing old investigators and less actives. We got out there and right off the bat, the investigator had forgotten and wasn't there so she said that she would call us in a little bit when she got back. So we went out looking for people and doing some contacting. We passed by at least 10 to 12 people and only one of them actually still lived there (it has been about 6 years since there were missionaries in Dax.) She never ended up calling us back so we needed to go back to Bayonne so we took the train to headback and at the last minute Frère Seube told us that he wouldn't be able to do the lesson for Family Home Evening so we had to take a bit of time to plan for that. We were supposed to have a nice turn out for family night but in the end, we weren't as numerous but we still had two investigators there so that was good.

Wenesday we went and saw Soeur Koné in the morning so that we could teach her son Alban. Then we ate and headed out to see a less active who wasn't there, so we went and visited Maria and Ramond. We had a decent lesson with them and then tried to repass the less active but they still weren't there. So we went and did some porting before heading in for the evening.

Thursday we had District Meeting and unfortunately the Sisters couldn't come because one of them was sick. So it was just us, the Elders from Tarbes and the Senior couple. After the District Meeting we went with the Senior Couple back to their city, Mont-de-Marsan, which is quite a long drive and then spent the rest of the day with them because I had to do a baptismal interview for a little girl that they were teaching. The interview was at 5 and then after that we headed back with them and ate dinner and spent the night at their apartment because it would be a bit too much for them to take us all the way back to Bayonne and then go all the way back up to Mont-de-Marsan, so we had a nice slumber party with the senior missionaries! It was really nice.

Friday the Johnstons, the senior couple, drove us back home and then we did our weekly planning. In the afternoon we made some phone calls and passed some people before our lesson with Jean-Pascal. We had a decent lesson with him but he hadn't read in the brochures or the Book of Mormon so it was a bit frustrating. After that, we went with Dominique to the Family Miller's house and had a good lesson with her. She even committed to going to church on Sunday and was really excited about it. She is making some small progress. By the time we got done there, Frère Miller really likes to talk, we headed home for the evening.

Saturday we had English class in the morning and only ended up having one member that was there and no investigators, so that was a bummer but it turned out ok. Afterwards, in the afternoon, we did some calls and passed a whole bunch of less actives and old investigators and then did some door to door in the evening and met a great family but they wouldn't set up a lesson with us so we gave them a card and pray that they will contact us! We then passed a couple more people before heading in for the night.

Sunday we had church in the morning and Dominique came!! It was great. Unfortunately I think the rain scared eveyone else away, investigators and members, there weren't too many people there. After church we went with The family Miller and Dominique to the Family Hegoas' house to have a meal. The meal was great but the situation was a little weird without really going into details. By the time that we finally got out of there and started heading back, because they live a ways away, it was almost 6!! Way too late! We then went to see Frère Vierat and had a lesson with him and then we ate crepes with him, as usual and we felt like we were absolutely going to explode!! We then headed home for the evening and then I had a bunch of calls to make for the District and then I was out cold! Ha, it was a long and rather tiring week.

I hope that all of you are doing well and that your week was a success. No matter what happened, it is always a success if you truly look at it correctly. I love you all and I am always happy each time I get to hear from you. I hope you all have a great week this week and put your faith in the Lord!

Elder Kirkpatrick