HELLO!

Well, this has been quite a week. Very busy and very good. We had our two baptisms of Caroline and Dominique (see the attached photos)! What a great thing to have during the last transfer of a mission. Now we just need to find the next one(s)!! I hope that all of you are doing well and have had a great week!

Tuesday we did some contacting in the morning and then in the afternoon we tried to see Clenilson but wasn't there so we stopped by and visited a member. We then hurried to see the Family Ousdale and had a good lesson with them. We then saw Caroline to continue to prepare her for her baptism. She is just so ready that she understands and agrees with absolutely every principle. She already knows it is true! We then had Family Home Evening at the church and we had a little group of about 6 or 7 who came and we watched The Other Side of Heaven and it was really good, everyone loved it. It is better in English but it was good to see it in French too.

Wednesday we saw Soeur Koné and Alban in the morning and then in the afternoon saw Caroline again for the last lesson and had to finish off a whole bunch of things but it went so smoothly and so perfectly. I had no doubt in my mind that she was completely ready! We then had a couple lessons not work out but then went and saw Maria and Ramond and had a lesson with them and then we went and saw Dominique. We had a nice lesson with her and she has just made so much progress since the end of March when I first got here, it is incredible. In leaving Dominique's we felt inspired to head up to a certain way in town and while walking up we ran into Ingrid, who we contacted weeks again but kept having a hard time seeing her because she works like crazy. She invited us up to her apartment and then invited her neighbor to come in too. At first the neighbor was apprehensive, thinking that we were the Jehovah's Witnesses but then she opened up and we had a great lesson with them. It was so incredible! They have so much potential and they really want to come to church. I hope that even with their busy schedules we will be able to see them soon.

Thursday we had District Meeting in the morning, which was awesome, we have two brand new missionaries in the District. Then Caroline came for the baptismal interview with Elder Johnston and he told us afterwards that she was someone so completely prepared for the gospel. She was totally converted through the Book of Mormon and the Spirit that she felt, it definitely was not us. We then headed back into Bayonne and saw Clenilson and his friend and we had a great lesson with them. We then hurried quickly to the church for the baptismal interview for Dominique also with the Elder Johnston, they are so good to us! The interview went well and we went through some logistics of the baptism.

Friday we had weekly planning and then we had our missionary meeting. After that we stayed around a cleaned a bit to get ready for the baptism the next day. Especially cleaning out the baptismal font, so it wasn't all dirty. We then went and saw Dominique and then did a little porting in the evening.

Saturday was the big day!! We had some errands to run in the morning and then Frère Seube picked us up to take us to Pau for the baptism of Caroline. It was a bit disorganized for various reasons but it worked out ok and the spirit was there. We then hurried back to Bayonne to start filling the font for Dominiqe and getting ready. Everyone starting showing up about 15 minutes before but Dominiqe still wasn't there. We were starting to get worried and then at the time of her baptism her and the Millers, who picked her up, showed up.... They thought it started half an hour later.... Oh la!! Ha So she hurried and changed, as did I (she had asked me to baptize her) and then we got some pictures and got started. It was really a great baptismal service and the spirit was very strong. We even had our investigator Patrice there. We were a bit drained after all of that but it was a great day!!

Sunday was a great day at church and we had three investigators there. The confirmation went well and then we headed home and since during lunch we were fasting, we took a nap instead. Ha! It felt so good. We then headed out and did some contacting, passing until we headed out to see Frère Vierat. We had a good lesson with him and ate some very good crepes and then headed in.

It really was a great week. Rather tiring but great! I love you all and can't wait to see you soon. Have a great week and know that I love you!

Elder Kirkpatrick