Bonjour,
Well, I am now officially into the last week of my second transfer in France! I can honestly not believe how quickly it has gone by. Almost three months in France now and I have been out on my mission for almost five. Can you believe that? I sure cannot! The last week has been good. The normal ups and downs of missionary work but it definitely helps to maintain a positive attitude, particularly on the days when everything seems to fall through and no one wants to be friendly.
On Monday, after I sent out my email we had a lesson with our investigator Wilson who I had mentioned a bit last week and it went really well. Mostly we took the time to answer his questions and untangle some of his confusion. It was a great lesson and I was so excited when he said that he had been able to read in the Book of Mormon. We actually have another rendez-vous with him this evening. I am very excited for it. We teach him at the Train Station (I know it sounds kind of ghetto but train stations in France are pretty nice, the one in Marseille is quite large) so it is a bit noisy and there are a lot of people but it is still a very cool experience.
Tuesday we had a rendez-vous fall through in the afternoon and then we had one in the evening. It was with Francisca who I have talked about a couple other times. She is the little lady who we thought was drunk the first time we met her. Well she is from Cap Vert which is a group of islands off the western coast of Africa and so she speaks Portugese and French so we wanted to find someone who spoke Portugese. We asked around and it was perfect because our Ward Mission Leader happens to be from Cap Vert and speaks Portugese and he works right down by where she lives! So he said he could come with us. We went down there on time and waited for a bit and then called him to see if he would still be able to come. He said yes but that he would be late. So, we decided to start with Francisca and then when our member came then he would join us. Of course Francisca wasn't even home! So Elder Keadle and I did some contacting for about an hour until the Ward Mission Leader came and then we hoped that by that time Francisca would be there and thank goodness, she was there! It was such an incredible lesson. Frère Fidalgo shared his conversion story and testified about how important the gospel has been for him and his family and it was such a great lesson. Francisca and Frère Fidalgo even knew several people in common who were from Cap Vert. It was a great lesson and she even committed to coming to church on Sunday.
On Wednesday, we ended up eating lunch with a member and then our rendez-vous fell through until 7. Our rendez-vous was with a very interesting person named André. The first time that I met him was last transfer and he was completely drunk. At first he told us he was the police, and then he told us he was God, and then continued by reading our palms. It was a bit interesting. He was taught once last transfer but I was on an exchange so I wasn't there. This transfer he was in and out of the hospital for an injury so we had a difficult time scheduling anything. We finally were able to meet with him on Wednesday evening and it was a pretty good lesson. He has major smoking problems and my companion and I left his house definitely smelling like smoke but it was a good lesson about Christ and his sacrifice for us. I am not sure how far it will go with André but you never know when the Lord will soften someone's heart.
Thursday and Friday both started out as being packed days. Between the two days we had 8 rendez-vous scheduled with people. We were so stoked! Well.... in the end we were not able to meet with any of them. We were a bit bummed and even contacting on those two days was not the greatest. They were a couple of rough days. We had been walking for a couple hours just contacting without any success on Friday and then my companion said, "Ok, we are going to do this. You take this side of the road and I will take that side. We are going to walk all the way to the end and we are going to get a contact!" I was like, heck yes, let's do this! Haha Unfortunately my companion wasn't able to get anyone's contact information but I was. I was pretty stoked and then I chatted with another lady for a few minutes who was in town visiting her daughter and so I gave her a card with our number to give to her daughter. That was pretty cool and then right after we met back up Elder Keadler and I ran across someone who was a less active member. He was a member in Northern France but stopped going before moving here and so the church had no idea where he was. He was a very nice guy but I felt bad for him because he was a member and now he is completely Atheist. Thankfully we were able to get his number so hopefully we can keep in contact with him.
Saturday was pretty good. We had a meeting at the church and then two rendez-vous there. One with a member and then one with a less active member. They went well. We were supposed to have an investigator meet us there but we weren't able to get ahold of him, which was a bummer.
Sunday we were so excited because we had three investigators promise us that they would be at church. We had talked to them all on Saturday night and everything was confirmed. We were stoked! One of them was Francisca, who we met at her house and so we went to the church together. Another was Monsieur Ecoffard who was supposed to take the metro and meet us at the metro stop closest to the church but we called him in the morning and he did not receive permission from the nursing home he lives in to leave so he didn't come and then the other investigator was Alexandre who miraculously came to church two weeks ago but he told us on the way to church that he wouldn't be able to come either. We were a bit disappointed but very grateful that Francisca was there. Unfortunately, she had to leave after the first meeting because she had things she needed to take care of. We were a little bummed but grateful she still came and we have another rendez-vous with her this week. After that, it was a normal Sunday (definitely no excitement like last week) and then we went to Ward Council meeting (which took up a good portion of the afternoon). After that we just contacted until the evening when we had a dinner appointment with a member.
It has been a good week and I am sure this week will go by super fast. There is a lot planned and then with the possibility of getting transferred. Who knows. Well I hope that you all are doing well and that everyone is remembering what the true Christmas season is about. I love this time of year just because of the mood that seems to be in the air. I love you all and am very grateful for each and everyone of you. Have a wonderful week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Week 20
Hello,
I hope that everyone is doing well and that life is moving along as usual. The last week here has been very interesting for many reasons. There were definitely some disappointments, some tough days, but some very good little miracles. The week is a little bit shorter since our preparation day last week was on Tuesday rather than Monday so it cut into things a little bit but it definitely made the week go quickly.
On Wednesday we had an exchange with the Elders of Toulon so I stayed in Marseille with Elder Cunningham and my companion, Elder Keadle, went to Toulon with Elder Meservy. Not only that, but the Blue's Conference for the new missionaries was on Wednesday, so Elder Bowen's companion went to that so we were on an exchange and in a tri companionship that day. It was a bit crazy. Our schedule was full of rendez-vous and we were hurrying to get everywhere. Unfortunately.... As has been the norm the last little while, all of the rendez-vous fell through except the last one which, thankfully, happened to be one of the investigators of Elder Keadle and me. He is a very nice guy. I can't say that this is his time to be ready for the gospel but I guess you never really know and we have another appointment with him tonight so hopefully everything will go well. So that was, in essence, the day on Wednesday.
On Thursday, we had our District Meeting, which was great. It really pumped us all up to work harder and do our best to get contacts and rendez-vous. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was a bit rough. Our appointments fell through and I am not sure if it was the weather (which was very windy and cold last week) or what but people were just frigid in personality. No one wanted to stop, no one wanted to talk with us another time. We tried a technique that Elder Teixera, who was at the Zone meeting the time before last, taught us about contacting with the Book of Mormon and keeping it short and simple and quick and even splitting up a little bit so that me and my companion can both talk to people so it doubles the amount of people we talk to. Well, we tried doing just that. Lets say that it wasn't the most successful thing. I went on one side of the road and my companion was on the other and we just walked to the next intersection and talked with every person we came across and..... absolutely nothing. No one would stop, no one would listen, one guy started yelling at me about how we are a "sect" and all this stuff and then just ran away. I don't know what it was but the people were just not in a good mood. The thing that is interesting is that the missionaries in Nice have had tons of success with the technique and the our district it hasn't worked out too well. The other Elders in the apartment have been trying it too and they said that it has been terrible. People will take one look at the Book of Mormon and seriously bolt away. It's kind of interesting. So hopefully this week will be better. I am definitely hopeful because as far as contacting goes, this week was definitely not the best.
On Friday, we had some rendez-vous fixed that didn't work out but we did end up having one in the afternoon with the guy who came to church the Sunday before. His name is Alexandre and he is super awesome. He is totally in accordance with everything and really believes in a lot. He is a funny guy and has definitely gone through a lot since he got a divorce from his wife. That was really difficult for him and now he drinks a lot and smokes more but he really wants to quit. Which were are definitely glad that he has a desire. It was an awesome lesson and he was very excited to come to church again this Sunday. After that, our next Rendez-vous was with this little woman who is from Cape Vert and Portugese speaking who we had a couple lessons with last week and she is so awesome! We kind of thought she was drunk the first time we met her but nope... that is just her personality! She is hilarious! She wasn't able to come to church this week but she is really wants to come this next week. She is very believing in everything and very interested. Our next rendez-vous with her (tomorrow), our ward mission leader is coming because he is actually from the same country as her and speaks Portugese, so I am super excited for that.
Saturday was a bit of a flop as far as appointments go and everything because they fell through except we did have a great rendez-vous with Serge who is a recent convert as of July. He is such a nice guy and has such a strong testimony of the gospel. He has a lot of struggles with his health and finances and a lot of different things but he is so humble and so grateful for everything. He told us about how much he wants to go to Salt Lake and see everything there, he called it the Vatican of Mormonism (haha he was Catholic before) and how he would love to one day serve a mission. I always love when we go and teach him.
Sunday we were so excited because we had 4 people who all said that they were going to be at church.... but none of them came. They all flaked out on us and, needless to say, we were a bit disappointed. It was a rough week for Marseille, none of the companionships here had anyone come to church. Everyone was a little bummed. But that is not to say that there wasn't any excitement at church. Everything was going along as usual until Sacrament Meeting (that is the last of the three meetings here in France). There was some guy who walked in off from the street not too long after sacrament meeting had started and he was obviously homeless but he was also drunk. He did not speak any French and he was from England and he definitely made quite a clamour. He started out by just being loud and saying random things but then in the middle of someone's testimony he raised his hand to ask a question and of course the lady just kept giving her testimony and then he just yelled out "My mother's a Mormon and my Sister's a Mormon and my Mother has a heart condition will you pray for her and will someone let me call her." Everyone just kind of continued and ignored him and one of the member's in the ward came over and was talking to him and said I have a phone you can use, lets go in the hallway and call your mom and everything will be ok. Well the guy didn't have her number and more than anything he just was drunk and didn't know what he was doing. He was sitting behind me and all of a sudden all of these leaders from the ward just surrounded him and I had no idea what happened and the lady he was sitting next to had moved. He was kind of freaked out and was like what is this the church secret service... yes, I left out the vulgarities but he refused to leave the chapel. He calmed down a bit and one of the members, who is actually Irish, came over and was talking to him just calming him down and such and he was better the rest of the meeting. He would have random little occasional outbursts but a lot better. Meanwhile, people are still bearing testimonies and the last testimony comes up and it was the women who had been sitting next to him. She bore a beautiful testimony about how we should not judge others and how we should not be so quick to react and to jump to conclusions. Apparently, the big hub ub when all the leaders ran over was because the drunk guy actually saw that the Sister sitting next to him had a scar on her wrist and he said I will pray for you that it will get better and he put his hand on the scar as if her were "healing" it. When some of the people had seen that happen, that's when they rushed over to "save" her. Anyway, I think that the whole thing was a good lesson for a lot of people about charity, patience, prejudgements, and really seeing people as God sees them. It was a very very interesting Sacrament Meeting to say the least. Easily the most exciting and bizarre I have ever had. The rest of the day was not quite as thrilling as the morning but it was still good.
It has been a very interesting week with a lot of ups and downs but in the end I look at all of the little miracles and see how truly blessed we have been throughout the week regardless of the attitudes of others. And then, with the experience on Sunday, it really set the tone of how we should look at others and how each of us truly is un enfant de Dieu (a child of God). I hope that everyone is doing well and can take each day and see the small miracles and look at others as God looks at us: with love, respect, and appreciation for each person. I love you all very much and hope to hear from you soon. Ciao!
Elder Kirkpatrick
I hope that everyone is doing well and that life is moving along as usual. The last week here has been very interesting for many reasons. There were definitely some disappointments, some tough days, but some very good little miracles. The week is a little bit shorter since our preparation day last week was on Tuesday rather than Monday so it cut into things a little bit but it definitely made the week go quickly.
On Wednesday we had an exchange with the Elders of Toulon so I stayed in Marseille with Elder Cunningham and my companion, Elder Keadle, went to Toulon with Elder Meservy. Not only that, but the Blue's Conference for the new missionaries was on Wednesday, so Elder Bowen's companion went to that so we were on an exchange and in a tri companionship that day. It was a bit crazy. Our schedule was full of rendez-vous and we were hurrying to get everywhere. Unfortunately.... As has been the norm the last little while, all of the rendez-vous fell through except the last one which, thankfully, happened to be one of the investigators of Elder Keadle and me. He is a very nice guy. I can't say that this is his time to be ready for the gospel but I guess you never really know and we have another appointment with him tonight so hopefully everything will go well. So that was, in essence, the day on Wednesday.
On Thursday, we had our District Meeting, which was great. It really pumped us all up to work harder and do our best to get contacts and rendez-vous. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was a bit rough. Our appointments fell through and I am not sure if it was the weather (which was very windy and cold last week) or what but people were just frigid in personality. No one wanted to stop, no one wanted to talk with us another time. We tried a technique that Elder Teixera, who was at the Zone meeting the time before last, taught us about contacting with the Book of Mormon and keeping it short and simple and quick and even splitting up a little bit so that me and my companion can both talk to people so it doubles the amount of people we talk to. Well, we tried doing just that. Lets say that it wasn't the most successful thing. I went on one side of the road and my companion was on the other and we just walked to the next intersection and talked with every person we came across and..... absolutely nothing. No one would stop, no one would listen, one guy started yelling at me about how we are a "sect" and all this stuff and then just ran away. I don't know what it was but the people were just not in a good mood. The thing that is interesting is that the missionaries in Nice have had tons of success with the technique and the our district it hasn't worked out too well. The other Elders in the apartment have been trying it too and they said that it has been terrible. People will take one look at the Book of Mormon and seriously bolt away. It's kind of interesting. So hopefully this week will be better. I am definitely hopeful because as far as contacting goes, this week was definitely not the best.
On Friday, we had some rendez-vous fixed that didn't work out but we did end up having one in the afternoon with the guy who came to church the Sunday before. His name is Alexandre and he is super awesome. He is totally in accordance with everything and really believes in a lot. He is a funny guy and has definitely gone through a lot since he got a divorce from his wife. That was really difficult for him and now he drinks a lot and smokes more but he really wants to quit. Which were are definitely glad that he has a desire. It was an awesome lesson and he was very excited to come to church again this Sunday. After that, our next Rendez-vous was with this little woman who is from Cape Vert and Portugese speaking who we had a couple lessons with last week and she is so awesome! We kind of thought she was drunk the first time we met her but nope... that is just her personality! She is hilarious! She wasn't able to come to church this week but she is really wants to come this next week. She is very believing in everything and very interested. Our next rendez-vous with her (tomorrow), our ward mission leader is coming because he is actually from the same country as her and speaks Portugese, so I am super excited for that.
Saturday was a bit of a flop as far as appointments go and everything because they fell through except we did have a great rendez-vous with Serge who is a recent convert as of July. He is such a nice guy and has such a strong testimony of the gospel. He has a lot of struggles with his health and finances and a lot of different things but he is so humble and so grateful for everything. He told us about how much he wants to go to Salt Lake and see everything there, he called it the Vatican of Mormonism (haha he was Catholic before) and how he would love to one day serve a mission. I always love when we go and teach him.
Sunday we were so excited because we had 4 people who all said that they were going to be at church.... but none of them came. They all flaked out on us and, needless to say, we were a bit disappointed. It was a rough week for Marseille, none of the companionships here had anyone come to church. Everyone was a little bummed. But that is not to say that there wasn't any excitement at church. Everything was going along as usual until Sacrament Meeting (that is the last of the three meetings here in France). There was some guy who walked in off from the street not too long after sacrament meeting had started and he was obviously homeless but he was also drunk. He did not speak any French and he was from England and he definitely made quite a clamour. He started out by just being loud and saying random things but then in the middle of someone's testimony he raised his hand to ask a question and of course the lady just kept giving her testimony and then he just yelled out "My mother's a Mormon and my Sister's a Mormon and my Mother has a heart condition will you pray for her and will someone let me call her." Everyone just kind of continued and ignored him and one of the member's in the ward came over and was talking to him and said I have a phone you can use, lets go in the hallway and call your mom and everything will be ok. Well the guy didn't have her number and more than anything he just was drunk and didn't know what he was doing. He was sitting behind me and all of a sudden all of these leaders from the ward just surrounded him and I had no idea what happened and the lady he was sitting next to had moved. He was kind of freaked out and was like what is this the church secret service... yes, I left out the vulgarities but he refused to leave the chapel. He calmed down a bit and one of the members, who is actually Irish, came over and was talking to him just calming him down and such and he was better the rest of the meeting. He would have random little occasional outbursts but a lot better. Meanwhile, people are still bearing testimonies and the last testimony comes up and it was the women who had been sitting next to him. She bore a beautiful testimony about how we should not judge others and how we should not be so quick to react and to jump to conclusions. Apparently, the big hub ub when all the leaders ran over was because the drunk guy actually saw that the Sister sitting next to him had a scar on her wrist and he said I will pray for you that it will get better and he put his hand on the scar as if her were "healing" it. When some of the people had seen that happen, that's when they rushed over to "save" her. Anyway, I think that the whole thing was a good lesson for a lot of people about charity, patience, prejudgements, and really seeing people as God sees them. It was a very very interesting Sacrament Meeting to say the least. Easily the most exciting and bizarre I have ever had. The rest of the day was not quite as thrilling as the morning but it was still good.
It has been a very interesting week with a lot of ups and downs but in the end I look at all of the little miracles and see how truly blessed we have been throughout the week regardless of the attitudes of others. And then, with the experience on Sunday, it really set the tone of how we should look at others and how each of us truly is un enfant de Dieu (a child of God). I hope that everyone is doing well and can take each day and see the small miracles and look at others as God looks at us: with love, respect, and appreciation for each person. I love you all very much and hope to hear from you soon. Ciao!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Week 19
Bonjour!
I truly hope that everyone is doing well and that everything is going well. Everything is still going very well here and the work continues. This has been a good week, a bit interesting with some things but it has still been quite good. The weather really dropped off the last little bit so I have definitely been wearing my jacket and sweaters and gloves and scarves. Haha, I am definitely from Arizona. It wouldn't be so bad with the cold but there is a very specific wind here that is very well known in Marseille called the Minstrel and it just goes through everything. I can be all bundled up but the second that the wind blows through, I might as well be wearing shorts and a t-shirt! It's not terrible, I just pray that we don't have a hard rain with it anytime soon. Yikes! But everything is still going well and I am loving the South of France.
As far as our week goes with lessons and such, it has been another difficult week with fixing appointments with people who will actually keep those appointments. On Tuesday we taught someone that we have had a few rendez-vous with. He is very nice, he says that he is not believing but he is from Algeria and so there is definitely a lot of Muslim background. So that is definitely challenging but he is a good guy and is willing to listen and read so we will see where it goes.
On Wednesday, I was on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders in Aix-en-Provence and that was a lot of fun. We found a lot of contacts and taught a girl from Japan in English and it was incredible! She has depression problems and a lot of struggles but she was so open and at the end she said, "I don't know what it is but I really like talking to you two." It was great and we fixed another rendez-vous with her for later in the week. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't going to be able to teach her too but it's ok. Afterwards, we had a rendez-vous in English with a girl from Vietnam who has a baptismal date fixed. She was so nice and has such a sweet spirit and love of Christ. It was a great rendez-vous. After that, we had taught English Class and that was a lot of fun. We talked about Thanksgiving and different cultural things and it was really cool. (If you didn't already guess it, there are a lot of Asians in Aix. It's a college town and there are a lot of foreigners, particularly Asian ones. In fact, there are three Chinese speaking Elders in Aix.) After English Class, we went to a little town outside of the main city of Aix (about thirty minutes by car) and we taught a member couple in the ward. They are recent converts and still having struggles to stop smoking. The husband asked for a blessing to help and he asked me to give it! I don't know why people always ask me to do it when they know that I don't speak French that well. Oh well, I guess it gives me practice. It was a really neat experience though and I am grateful I was able to do it. After that lesson, we went and taught a mom who is active and her son who is less active because he is with his dad on Sundays so he can't come to church. All in all, it was a really great day. There were so many small miracles and little differences that we were able make in other people's lives. It was amazing.
Thursday, we re-exchanged and I went back to Marseille in the morning. Since Thursday was Thanksgiving, Elder Keadler and I, the other companionship and the Soeur missionaries in Marseille all got together and bought pizza and had a little mini Thanksgiving feast in honor of the day. Elder Bowen's French companion didn't fully understand but he appreciated the pizza. Haha It is funny with a Frenchman in our apartment. Especially since, when we do speak English, he doesn't understand very much at all. He is a great guy and it definitely helps my French. The rest of the day was fairly good. It was quite a cold day and unfortunately all of our appointments fell through.
Friday was very chilly again and we only ended up having one rendez-vous that actually worked out. We taught a recent convert who we have taught multiple times. He is a great guy and has such a sweet spirit and love of the gospel. He still has some struggles that he is working through but he has been coming to church almost every Sunday and he loves it. I know that he can overcome his trials that he is having right now and he will come out even stronger.
Saturday we had out soccer game with the members which was fun but I was freezing my butt off! Haha but we had a good time. Afterwards we taught a less active member who is very very interesting. I had taught him one time when I was with Elder Mayer and he got some odd kind of attachment to me. That next Sunday he actually came to church and then he wanted my email so that he could email me and then gave me his so I could email him too. I didn't think too much about it until I realized he didn't ask Elder Mayer or any of the other missionaries and then I kind of forgot because we didn't teach him again that transfer. Well a couple weeks ago, he called because he wanted to meet with us and so we had a nice rendez-vous and then again this last Saturday he called again wanting a rendez-vous the same day and he was very adamant about asking if "The Irish Elder" would be there... yes yes, he thinks I am Irish. I never even said that to him and I definitely don't have an Irish accent but he still thinks that I am. I haven't managed to correct him because I think that it is kind of funny. Anyway, so the rendez-vous went well and it went way too long because he just talks and talks and there is no way of stopping him. So we got done with the appointment and then he specifically wanted to talk to me because there was something he needed to tell me. I was a bit weired out but thought, ok that's fine. So he begins to tell me about how after my mission I need to make sure that I follow the good path and that he has these feelings that I might fall away and then he continued to tell me about a wife that I will have and three kids and just a lot of bizarre stuff. To be completely honest, I really wish that I could have understood everything because he talked to me for 20 minutes! It was a little interesting to say the least. When he finished he told me how he gets these feelings and how he needs to tell the people that they are about so that they can know how take his advice. He said that he is psychic but that this just happens sometimes. The whole situation was just very peculiar. He is a nice guy and I use to think that he was completely normal but now... I am not so positive. After him, we had another rendez-vous a little bit later with a little lady from Portugal who, when we taught her was very drunk. She was very very nice and receptive and willing to let us come back and talk some more but she was definitely a bit tipsy. She would randomly giggle about things. Haha it was pretty funny. But she was very nice and we actually have another rendez-vous with her tonight so I hope that it goes well.
Sunday we had someone come to church. We were so excited! He was someone who we contacted on the street a while ago and we had been trying to fix appointments with him but they never worked out, but he showed up at church and he loved it! Every week our Ward Mission Leader teachs a class during Sunday School for our investigators and the whole time our investigator was taking notes because he loved it so much! We set up a rendez-vous with him for Thursday this week and he said he will definitely be a church next week. We are so excited! After that we had some appointments not work out and in the evening we went with the Soeurs to give a blessing to one of thier investigators who had an epileptic attack during one of their appointments a week ago so she wanted a blessing. I did the annointing this time and my companion gave the blessing and it was really really good.
So, yesterday (monday) is normally my preparation day but we had a Zone meeting in Aix and interviews with President Carter so we got today as our Preparation Day. The meeting was really good and then afterwards there is a member in the ward who is American and is actually playing Basketball professionally for a team here so he invited us to have pizza with him. It was so nice. It was Dominos! I can't tell you how much I missed American Pizza! It was delicious.
So that has been my week. As usual, there were busy days and then slow days but it was still a very good week. I can't believe that I am already half way through my second transfer in France! How weird is that?? It has been four months since I left AZ. Weird! It has gone by very fast. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you know how grateful I am for you and how much I love you. Thank you all so much for everything that you do! Au revoir!
Elder Kirkpatrick
I truly hope that everyone is doing well and that everything is going well. Everything is still going very well here and the work continues. This has been a good week, a bit interesting with some things but it has still been quite good. The weather really dropped off the last little bit so I have definitely been wearing my jacket and sweaters and gloves and scarves. Haha, I am definitely from Arizona. It wouldn't be so bad with the cold but there is a very specific wind here that is very well known in Marseille called the Minstrel and it just goes through everything. I can be all bundled up but the second that the wind blows through, I might as well be wearing shorts and a t-shirt! It's not terrible, I just pray that we don't have a hard rain with it anytime soon. Yikes! But everything is still going well and I am loving the South of France.
As far as our week goes with lessons and such, it has been another difficult week with fixing appointments with people who will actually keep those appointments. On Tuesday we taught someone that we have had a few rendez-vous with. He is very nice, he says that he is not believing but he is from Algeria and so there is definitely a lot of Muslim background. So that is definitely challenging but he is a good guy and is willing to listen and read so we will see where it goes.
On Wednesday, I was on an exchange with one of the Zone Leaders in Aix-en-Provence and that was a lot of fun. We found a lot of contacts and taught a girl from Japan in English and it was incredible! She has depression problems and a lot of struggles but she was so open and at the end she said, "I don't know what it is but I really like talking to you two." It was great and we fixed another rendez-vous with her for later in the week. I was a bit bummed that I wasn't going to be able to teach her too but it's ok. Afterwards, we had a rendez-vous in English with a girl from Vietnam who has a baptismal date fixed. She was so nice and has such a sweet spirit and love of Christ. It was a great rendez-vous. After that, we had taught English Class and that was a lot of fun. We talked about Thanksgiving and different cultural things and it was really cool. (If you didn't already guess it, there are a lot of Asians in Aix. It's a college town and there are a lot of foreigners, particularly Asian ones. In fact, there are three Chinese speaking Elders in Aix.) After English Class, we went to a little town outside of the main city of Aix (about thirty minutes by car) and we taught a member couple in the ward. They are recent converts and still having struggles to stop smoking. The husband asked for a blessing to help and he asked me to give it! I don't know why people always ask me to do it when they know that I don't speak French that well. Oh well, I guess it gives me practice. It was a really neat experience though and I am grateful I was able to do it. After that lesson, we went and taught a mom who is active and her son who is less active because he is with his dad on Sundays so he can't come to church. All in all, it was a really great day. There were so many small miracles and little differences that we were able make in other people's lives. It was amazing.
Thursday, we re-exchanged and I went back to Marseille in the morning. Since Thursday was Thanksgiving, Elder Keadler and I, the other companionship and the Soeur missionaries in Marseille all got together and bought pizza and had a little mini Thanksgiving feast in honor of the day. Elder Bowen's French companion didn't fully understand but he appreciated the pizza. Haha It is funny with a Frenchman in our apartment. Especially since, when we do speak English, he doesn't understand very much at all. He is a great guy and it definitely helps my French. The rest of the day was fairly good. It was quite a cold day and unfortunately all of our appointments fell through.
Friday was very chilly again and we only ended up having one rendez-vous that actually worked out. We taught a recent convert who we have taught multiple times. He is a great guy and has such a sweet spirit and love of the gospel. He still has some struggles that he is working through but he has been coming to church almost every Sunday and he loves it. I know that he can overcome his trials that he is having right now and he will come out even stronger.
Saturday we had out soccer game with the members which was fun but I was freezing my butt off! Haha but we had a good time. Afterwards we taught a less active member who is very very interesting. I had taught him one time when I was with Elder Mayer and he got some odd kind of attachment to me. That next Sunday he actually came to church and then he wanted my email so that he could email me and then gave me his so I could email him too. I didn't think too much about it until I realized he didn't ask Elder Mayer or any of the other missionaries and then I kind of forgot because we didn't teach him again that transfer. Well a couple weeks ago, he called because he wanted to meet with us and so we had a nice rendez-vous and then again this last Saturday he called again wanting a rendez-vous the same day and he was very adamant about asking if "The Irish Elder" would be there... yes yes, he thinks I am Irish. I never even said that to him and I definitely don't have an Irish accent but he still thinks that I am. I haven't managed to correct him because I think that it is kind of funny. Anyway, so the rendez-vous went well and it went way too long because he just talks and talks and there is no way of stopping him. So we got done with the appointment and then he specifically wanted to talk to me because there was something he needed to tell me. I was a bit weired out but thought, ok that's fine. So he begins to tell me about how after my mission I need to make sure that I follow the good path and that he has these feelings that I might fall away and then he continued to tell me about a wife that I will have and three kids and just a lot of bizarre stuff. To be completely honest, I really wish that I could have understood everything because he talked to me for 20 minutes! It was a little interesting to say the least. When he finished he told me how he gets these feelings and how he needs to tell the people that they are about so that they can know how take his advice. He said that he is psychic but that this just happens sometimes. The whole situation was just very peculiar. He is a nice guy and I use to think that he was completely normal but now... I am not so positive. After him, we had another rendez-vous a little bit later with a little lady from Portugal who, when we taught her was very drunk. She was very very nice and receptive and willing to let us come back and talk some more but she was definitely a bit tipsy. She would randomly giggle about things. Haha it was pretty funny. But she was very nice and we actually have another rendez-vous with her tonight so I hope that it goes well.
Sunday we had someone come to church. We were so excited! He was someone who we contacted on the street a while ago and we had been trying to fix appointments with him but they never worked out, but he showed up at church and he loved it! Every week our Ward Mission Leader teachs a class during Sunday School for our investigators and the whole time our investigator was taking notes because he loved it so much! We set up a rendez-vous with him for Thursday this week and he said he will definitely be a church next week. We are so excited! After that we had some appointments not work out and in the evening we went with the Soeurs to give a blessing to one of thier investigators who had an epileptic attack during one of their appointments a week ago so she wanted a blessing. I did the annointing this time and my companion gave the blessing and it was really really good.
So, yesterday (monday) is normally my preparation day but we had a Zone meeting in Aix and interviews with President Carter so we got today as our Preparation Day. The meeting was really good and then afterwards there is a member in the ward who is American and is actually playing Basketball professionally for a team here so he invited us to have pizza with him. It was so nice. It was Dominos! I can't tell you how much I missed American Pizza! It was delicious.
So that has been my week. As usual, there were busy days and then slow days but it was still a very good week. I can't believe that I am already half way through my second transfer in France! How weird is that?? It has been four months since I left AZ. Weird! It has gone by very fast. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you know how grateful I am for you and how much I love you. Thank you all so much for everything that you do! Au revoir!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, November 22, 2010
Week 18
Bonjour!
Well, what happened this week. That is always a good question that I like to ask myself when I write these emails. What did exactly happen? In the moment of the week, it is difficult to remember all the things but it is nice to take time once a week and go through each day and actually think about what happened and the real impact and significance of that day.
On Tuesday, the morning started out awesome. We had some time to just go out and do some contacting and we met a woman named Fanny. We talked to her a bit on the street in front of her apartment building and then she asked if we wanted to go into the cafe and continue our discussion in there. She had a coffee and my companion and I had some hot chocolate and we had a great discussion with her. She is not religious and can't find the reasoning of the existence of God (she compared it to the existence of Santa Clause) but we had an incredible discussion with her. She was very intelligent and had a lot of really good questions. In the end she gave us her contact information so that we could set up another appointment with her. It was rather unexpected but so cool. After that, later in the day, we taught a first lesson with someone that I received his contact information last transfer with Elder Mayer but we never had time to contact him and try to set something up. He is Muslim but very very open about religion and he is really just a very nice guy. The lesson went really well and he is super humble. If he truly reads the Book of Mormon and prays about it I know that he will receive a response. We unfortunately didn't have the time to set up a rendezvous with him last week because we were so busy with rendezvous everyday so we actually have an appointment with him tonight, I am super stoked. After we taught him, we ate at a member's house and I gave the spiritual thought all by myself. I asked questions, I responded, I shared testimony. I was fairly proud. It is those little baby steps like that that make me feel like I am progressing. I can't wait to look back in six months and see the change. That will definitely be cool.
Wednesday we had a rendezvous with a man who just moved to France from Algeria, he is a Doctor and he doesn't know anyone here or anything. He actually left the country for some interesting political situations. The lesson went well and he seemed to be very much in accordance with things and very willing to read the Book of Mormon. So that was cool. Afterwards, the rest of the day was a bit disappointing with quite a number of appointments falling through, as missionary work goes but we were able to find a less active woman not too far from where we live. I thought it was a bit of a miracle because it was very unexpected and the fact that she was actually at home, was very surprising. Other than that, the day was fairly normal and we were able to find some good contacts out on the street.
Thursday was a bit interesting. We had some appointments fall through... Nothing too new there but we ended up having an appointment way outside of Marseille and we had to take a bus for awhile to actually get out there. This guy was another one of the contacts that I had from last transfer. When we were calling my contacts back to set up appointments my companion called this guy and I didn't warn him first but he is a bit interesting. He has very very different outlooks on things and some very bizarre views. Namely that monogamy is not a good thing and other such things such as that. We had a very good conversation with him but ultimately it didn't change anything. He was unwilling to pray to find answers in his life. He felt prayer was a waste of time and that he wouldn't do it. Needless to say, we didn't schedule anything else with him and he definitely wasn't interested in learning anymore about our message. Regardless, it was still good and it helped me see how much I could actually follow in French and surprisingly, I understood quite a bit, so I was definitely happy about that.
Friday was a very good day. We had a meeting in Aix-en-Provence with the rest of the zone and a member of a quorum of the 70 Elder Teixeira and his wife came and spoke to us. It was a really good conference and he basically said that now is the time that we need to push. There are so many people that are out here ready for the church but that it is up to us to work even harder to bring it to these people. They are expecting a lot out of us and I know that all of us were thinking... gosh, we really really need to step it up! It was great. We got back to Marseille, had some appointments that fell through and so we pushed ourselves and got a good number of really solid contacts. It was a great day.
Saturday was good but full of appointments that didn't work out. We had 5 appointments scheduled and only one actually worked out. It was with a less active member so that's good but we were a little disappointed that we weren't able to teach all of the investigators that we had planned.
Sunday was good, although it was cold and rainy. It even was hailing for a little while! The only appointment that ended up working out was with another less active member. He is a great guy but hasn't been to church for quite awhile. He actually served a mission and everything. He speaks French but not too great so I can understand why he doesn't like going to church. He is actually moving to Ireland for work this week so we are thinking that will probably be a good thing for him in the long run to be there where church is actually in English. We were excited because he actually looked and found the Branch there and where they met, so I was excited to hear that he already looked for that.
Today has been good, just done some cleaning, grocery shopping and we went to a giant Catholic church that is up on this hill that gives a full panoramic view of all of Marseille and even over to the ocean, it is beautiful. The church is very ornate and pretty intense, including a very gigantic statue of a Golden Mary and baby Jesus on top of the church. I took some pictures so I will have to send them along soon for you all to see them.
As usual, thank you all so much for your continual love and support and your prays. The work is plugging along and everyday is a new adventure in one way or another. The French is coming and progressing, although it can feel slow at times. I have moments where I am surprised at what I understood and that I was actually able to explain myself. It's those little blessings that keep me going. I love you all and thank you for everything! Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Well, what happened this week. That is always a good question that I like to ask myself when I write these emails. What did exactly happen? In the moment of the week, it is difficult to remember all the things but it is nice to take time once a week and go through each day and actually think about what happened and the real impact and significance of that day.
On Tuesday, the morning started out awesome. We had some time to just go out and do some contacting and we met a woman named Fanny. We talked to her a bit on the street in front of her apartment building and then she asked if we wanted to go into the cafe and continue our discussion in there. She had a coffee and my companion and I had some hot chocolate and we had a great discussion with her. She is not religious and can't find the reasoning of the existence of God (she compared it to the existence of Santa Clause) but we had an incredible discussion with her. She was very intelligent and had a lot of really good questions. In the end she gave us her contact information so that we could set up another appointment with her. It was rather unexpected but so cool. After that, later in the day, we taught a first lesson with someone that I received his contact information last transfer with Elder Mayer but we never had time to contact him and try to set something up. He is Muslim but very very open about religion and he is really just a very nice guy. The lesson went really well and he is super humble. If he truly reads the Book of Mormon and prays about it I know that he will receive a response. We unfortunately didn't have the time to set up a rendezvous with him last week because we were so busy with rendezvous everyday so we actually have an appointment with him tonight, I am super stoked. After we taught him, we ate at a member's house and I gave the spiritual thought all by myself. I asked questions, I responded, I shared testimony. I was fairly proud. It is those little baby steps like that that make me feel like I am progressing. I can't wait to look back in six months and see the change. That will definitely be cool.
Wednesday we had a rendezvous with a man who just moved to France from Algeria, he is a Doctor and he doesn't know anyone here or anything. He actually left the country for some interesting political situations. The lesson went well and he seemed to be very much in accordance with things and very willing to read the Book of Mormon. So that was cool. Afterwards, the rest of the day was a bit disappointing with quite a number of appointments falling through, as missionary work goes but we were able to find a less active woman not too far from where we live. I thought it was a bit of a miracle because it was very unexpected and the fact that she was actually at home, was very surprising. Other than that, the day was fairly normal and we were able to find some good contacts out on the street.
Thursday was a bit interesting. We had some appointments fall through... Nothing too new there but we ended up having an appointment way outside of Marseille and we had to take a bus for awhile to actually get out there. This guy was another one of the contacts that I had from last transfer. When we were calling my contacts back to set up appointments my companion called this guy and I didn't warn him first but he is a bit interesting. He has very very different outlooks on things and some very bizarre views. Namely that monogamy is not a good thing and other such things such as that. We had a very good conversation with him but ultimately it didn't change anything. He was unwilling to pray to find answers in his life. He felt prayer was a waste of time and that he wouldn't do it. Needless to say, we didn't schedule anything else with him and he definitely wasn't interested in learning anymore about our message. Regardless, it was still good and it helped me see how much I could actually follow in French and surprisingly, I understood quite a bit, so I was definitely happy about that.
Friday was a very good day. We had a meeting in Aix-en-Provence with the rest of the zone and a member of a quorum of the 70 Elder Teixeira and his wife came and spoke to us. It was a really good conference and he basically said that now is the time that we need to push. There are so many people that are out here ready for the church but that it is up to us to work even harder to bring it to these people. They are expecting a lot out of us and I know that all of us were thinking... gosh, we really really need to step it up! It was great. We got back to Marseille, had some appointments that fell through and so we pushed ourselves and got a good number of really solid contacts. It was a great day.
Saturday was good but full of appointments that didn't work out. We had 5 appointments scheduled and only one actually worked out. It was with a less active member so that's good but we were a little disappointed that we weren't able to teach all of the investigators that we had planned.
Sunday was good, although it was cold and rainy. It even was hailing for a little while! The only appointment that ended up working out was with another less active member. He is a great guy but hasn't been to church for quite awhile. He actually served a mission and everything. He speaks French but not too great so I can understand why he doesn't like going to church. He is actually moving to Ireland for work this week so we are thinking that will probably be a good thing for him in the long run to be there where church is actually in English. We were excited because he actually looked and found the Branch there and where they met, so I was excited to hear that he already looked for that.
Today has been good, just done some cleaning, grocery shopping and we went to a giant Catholic church that is up on this hill that gives a full panoramic view of all of Marseille and even over to the ocean, it is beautiful. The church is very ornate and pretty intense, including a very gigantic statue of a Golden Mary and baby Jesus on top of the church. I took some pictures so I will have to send them along soon for you all to see them.
As usual, thank you all so much for your continual love and support and your prays. The work is plugging along and everyday is a new adventure in one way or another. The French is coming and progressing, although it can feel slow at times. I have moments where I am surprised at what I understood and that I was actually able to explain myself. It's those little blessings that keep me going. I love you all and thank you for everything! Have a great week!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, November 15, 2010
Week 17
Bonjour,
Well, this has been a very interesting week with a lot of transitions and changing around. As I mentioned last week, I was waiting around for my new companion to arrive to Marseille. He didn't arrive until almost seven at night so I basically was waiting around all day. It wasn't too bad because Soeur Strunk (also from Marseille) and Elder Bus (in Aix) were waiting for their companions also so we spent some time going around the city and doing some site seeing and such which was cool because we never had anytime before that to do any stuff like that on our preparation day. It was a good day.... especially because I ate some ice cream that was so delicious. Haha I always have to add in the little tid bits about what I ate. :)
This week has surely been a week for appointments that have fallen through and to be honest, not too much exciting has really happened this week so I think I am just going to hit the highlights rather than talking about each and every day. The first day that is really significant in my mind is actually not until Friday. So on Friday, we ended up having to go to Toulon so that my companion, Elder Keadle, could do a baptismal interview for someone that the Elders had been teacher. Well, unfortunately she didn't show up and they haven't been able to get ahold of her for a few days. So we ended up spending part of the morning and beginning of the afternoon in Toulon. We missed a rendezvous that we were suppposed to have and they didn't answer their phone when we called to tell them that we couldn't make it. We got back to Marseille, and they called us and asked if we could come by that evening because they still wanted to hear our message. This contact was a guy, older twenties and his girlfriend, who Elder Mayer and I contacted on the street the week prior. We showed up and they also had a friend there. It was very interesting, because the guy had a very interesting "mystic" belief in what he thought God was, his girlfriend was raised Jewish and their friend, she was raised Catholic. Quite a combination of differing beliefs, but it was very cool. They were so interested in hearing our message and what our beliefs were all about. They asked tons of questions and when they would make comments it ended up leading straight into the next point of doctrine, it was incredible. After finishing the lesson, we kind of talked about some of their prejudgements of what they knew Mormons to be and so we cleared some stuff up for them and gave them a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and they were super excited. Towards the end, three more of their friends showed up and so we had a big discussion with all of them, it was awesome. We set up another rendezvous with them for this week and we are super stoked. I hope that all three of them will be able to be there.
The next big thing was a baptism! Marlon, an investigator of the Soeurs, was baptized on Saturday. We were a bit worried early in the morning because apparently Marlon's wife called the Soeurs and was not happy that he was being baptized and she just yelled at them and told them how terrible everything was. After that, we weren't sure what would happen, but Marlon would not let anything stop him from being baptized. He called the Soeurs about 2 hours before his baptism and he just said, "Can't we just do it right now? Do we really need to wait?" It was so cool. It was such a nice baptismal service and he was just absolutely thrilled and delighted for his baptism. It was so amazing to see how happy he truly was. It was incredible. Oh, so a couple funny things: In the middle of a talk before the actual baptism, a less active member was there and her cell phone went off and she proceeds to answer it in the middle of the talk. Thankfully she ended the call quickly, but just has she hung up, the Bishop's cell phone went off! Haha he was so red in the face and one of the members of the Bishopric could not stop laughing. It was pretty funny.
Sunday, was a fairly normal day, but I will be honest, I was looking at the week that had just passed and thought, "hmmm this wasn't such a stellar week, we need to make some changes." I had a ton of contacts from last transfer that I never got around to contacting because we were so busy all the time so we took some time and made calls and fixed 14 rendezvous for next week already. Our week is pretty much full every single day. I guarantee that we will have many that won't work out but the fact that we have so many at least for the get go, is a good sign. Also, I was quite proud but I fixed a ton of them all by myself on the phone! It is like every week I can see small little improvements and it gives me hope that I can learn this language. I was pretty excited. But, probably the biggest thing that happened was I gave my very first blessing in French. We went over to a member's house whose roommate (who isn't a member) was having some health problems and she wanted a blessing. The other companionship of Elders were there also and they had met her before so I figured she would ask them to do it... Well, when we asked who she wanted, she asked Elder Bowen's new companion, who is bleu but he is from Paris so he already speaks the language, to annoint the oil and then if I would do the sealing and then give the blessing. Oh my goodness was I absolutely out of my mind nervous. I was like, I can't speak this language, how am I supposed to give a blessing to someone! My companion could tell that I was mortified and he kept saying, "Are you ok? Are you sure?" He also reassured me that I could do it and that I would be fine. Well that was nice and all but I was still frightened. I went to do the blessing and I can't say that I was calm but I wasn't shaking and I was at peace. I just knew that the words that I said did not matter at all but that it was the spirit and the will of the Lord. I know that it wasn't a grand, marvelous, beautifully worded blessing, but I do know that it was simple and it was direct. I have no idea what caused her to specifically choose me to give that blessing but I am grateful I had the opportunity. So, that was my Sunday. I can definitely say that it was a good day and a good way to finish the week.
This week wasn't overly exciting but there were many small little things that were good. Each day, I try searching for the small little miracles and the small things that just made me smile. There are long days and there are tough days but there are so many things to be grateful for each day and so many amazing things that I get to witness and take part in.
Thank you so much for your love and your support and definitely for your prayers. I know that they help me each and everyday. I hope that you all are doing very well and that you are able to see the small miracles in each of your days as well. I promise you that if you search for them, you will always be able to find them. Have a great week and I love you all!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Well, this has been a very interesting week with a lot of transitions and changing around. As I mentioned last week, I was waiting around for my new companion to arrive to Marseille. He didn't arrive until almost seven at night so I basically was waiting around all day. It wasn't too bad because Soeur Strunk (also from Marseille) and Elder Bus (in Aix) were waiting for their companions also so we spent some time going around the city and doing some site seeing and such which was cool because we never had anytime before that to do any stuff like that on our preparation day. It was a good day.... especially because I ate some ice cream that was so delicious. Haha I always have to add in the little tid bits about what I ate. :)
This week has surely been a week for appointments that have fallen through and to be honest, not too much exciting has really happened this week so I think I am just going to hit the highlights rather than talking about each and every day. The first day that is really significant in my mind is actually not until Friday. So on Friday, we ended up having to go to Toulon so that my companion, Elder Keadle, could do a baptismal interview for someone that the Elders had been teacher. Well, unfortunately she didn't show up and they haven't been able to get ahold of her for a few days. So we ended up spending part of the morning and beginning of the afternoon in Toulon. We missed a rendezvous that we were suppposed to have and they didn't answer their phone when we called to tell them that we couldn't make it. We got back to Marseille, and they called us and asked if we could come by that evening because they still wanted to hear our message. This contact was a guy, older twenties and his girlfriend, who Elder Mayer and I contacted on the street the week prior. We showed up and they also had a friend there. It was very interesting, because the guy had a very interesting "mystic" belief in what he thought God was, his girlfriend was raised Jewish and their friend, she was raised Catholic. Quite a combination of differing beliefs, but it was very cool. They were so interested in hearing our message and what our beliefs were all about. They asked tons of questions and when they would make comments it ended up leading straight into the next point of doctrine, it was incredible. After finishing the lesson, we kind of talked about some of their prejudgements of what they knew Mormons to be and so we cleared some stuff up for them and gave them a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and they were super excited. Towards the end, three more of their friends showed up and so we had a big discussion with all of them, it was awesome. We set up another rendezvous with them for this week and we are super stoked. I hope that all three of them will be able to be there.
The next big thing was a baptism! Marlon, an investigator of the Soeurs, was baptized on Saturday. We were a bit worried early in the morning because apparently Marlon's wife called the Soeurs and was not happy that he was being baptized and she just yelled at them and told them how terrible everything was. After that, we weren't sure what would happen, but Marlon would not let anything stop him from being baptized. He called the Soeurs about 2 hours before his baptism and he just said, "Can't we just do it right now? Do we really need to wait?" It was so cool. It was such a nice baptismal service and he was just absolutely thrilled and delighted for his baptism. It was so amazing to see how happy he truly was. It was incredible. Oh, so a couple funny things: In the middle of a talk before the actual baptism, a less active member was there and her cell phone went off and she proceeds to answer it in the middle of the talk. Thankfully she ended the call quickly, but just has she hung up, the Bishop's cell phone went off! Haha he was so red in the face and one of the members of the Bishopric could not stop laughing. It was pretty funny.
Sunday, was a fairly normal day, but I will be honest, I was looking at the week that had just passed and thought, "hmmm this wasn't such a stellar week, we need to make some changes." I had a ton of contacts from last transfer that I never got around to contacting because we were so busy all the time so we took some time and made calls and fixed 14 rendezvous for next week already. Our week is pretty much full every single day. I guarantee that we will have many that won't work out but the fact that we have so many at least for the get go, is a good sign. Also, I was quite proud but I fixed a ton of them all by myself on the phone! It is like every week I can see small little improvements and it gives me hope that I can learn this language. I was pretty excited. But, probably the biggest thing that happened was I gave my very first blessing in French. We went over to a member's house whose roommate (who isn't a member) was having some health problems and she wanted a blessing. The other companionship of Elders were there also and they had met her before so I figured she would ask them to do it... Well, when we asked who she wanted, she asked Elder Bowen's new companion, who is bleu but he is from Paris so he already speaks the language, to annoint the oil and then if I would do the sealing and then give the blessing. Oh my goodness was I absolutely out of my mind nervous. I was like, I can't speak this language, how am I supposed to give a blessing to someone! My companion could tell that I was mortified and he kept saying, "Are you ok? Are you sure?" He also reassured me that I could do it and that I would be fine. Well that was nice and all but I was still frightened. I went to do the blessing and I can't say that I was calm but I wasn't shaking and I was at peace. I just knew that the words that I said did not matter at all but that it was the spirit and the will of the Lord. I know that it wasn't a grand, marvelous, beautifully worded blessing, but I do know that it was simple and it was direct. I have no idea what caused her to specifically choose me to give that blessing but I am grateful I had the opportunity. So, that was my Sunday. I can definitely say that it was a good day and a good way to finish the week.
This week wasn't overly exciting but there were many small little things that were good. Each day, I try searching for the small little miracles and the small things that just made me smile. There are long days and there are tough days but there are so many things to be grateful for each day and so many amazing things that I get to witness and take part in.
Thank you so much for your love and your support and definitely for your prayers. I know that they help me each and everyday. I hope that you all are doing very well and that you are able to see the small miracles in each of your days as well. I promise you that if you search for them, you will always be able to find them. Have a great week and I love you all!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, November 8, 2010
Week 16
Bonjour,
How is everyone doing? I am sure that you are all just sitting on edge to see if I am staying in Marseille or not..... well..... I am! I am staying in Marseille and my companion, Elder Mayer is moving to Bordeaux as a Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Kiddo. I am actually waiting for him at the Train Station since he is coming in from Bordeaux on the otherside of the mission. So he won't be in until this evening. Elder Baret in our apartment is also leaving, he is going to Albi and Elder Bowen is staying but getting a bleu missionary. He is pretty excited. So I won't be the new guy anymore! Yay! This has been a really good week for the last week of this transfer.
Monday after emails and all that, we went and did family Home evening with a member in the ward. It was really good and I think they enjoyed it because they invited us over to eat with them the very next night. Dinner invitations are always very exciting. They don't happen quite as often as in the states and definitely not like in Arizona where the missionaries get dinner EVERY night with members.
Tuesday was a crazy day. Since I had my new missionary Bring Back Meeting on Wednesday, the Elders from Toulon came into Marseille on Tuesday for District Meeting and then we did splits with them since we know the city and they don't, not that I really know it very well, ha. So I went with Elder Cunningham and we had a few appointments and Elder Merservy went with Elder Mayer. Elder Cunningham and I taught a lesson and then got tons and tons of "snaps" on the street. Snaps are coordinates of people. Name, number, address, etc. Anyway, we got tons of them! More than I have every gotten before. It was awesome. In the evening, we re-exchanged so that Elder Mayer and I could go eat with the family that invited us over for dinner. The food was good and the family is very nice. He is in the Bishopric and she is in Young Womens and they have two little boys. Afterwards, we got back to the apartment and the Elders from Toulon were staying the night so that we could all go to Toulouse early in the morning. It was PACKED with 6 of us in our tiny apartment. That was very crazy, that's for sure.
Wednesday was so awesome. I got to see all of the other bleus! We took a 3 and a half hour train trip to Toulouse and got in and had to get a physical and a couple other things done at a France Government agency so that we could get our right to live in France for the year. So, yay, I am legal in France! In a year, I will have to go and fill out some more paperwork to extend my stay. Afterwards we went to the chapel in Toulouse and had lunch with the other half of the new missionaries. It was so awesome to see everyone again and see how they were liking it and hear their stories. We had a little meeting, and then that half left to go back and we had another meeting that the other group had already had earlier in the morning. They all live closer to Toulouse. Then we hurried up to get to the train. Thankfully, our train was late or else we would have completely missed it. I ended up having to run to the train station with my backpack and a nice big box full of Books of Mormon because the traffic was so bad. I was very tired after that. We got into Marseille fairly late so just went back to the apartment.
On Thursday, we did some service for a member, taught an ami, had someone not show up for their appointment and then met with a part member family. The husband is a member but his wife isn't. She is very nice but doesn't see the need of the church and getting baptized into our church. She even comes to church with her husband pretty much every single week. It was a pretty good lesson but we haven't quite figured out how to give her the desire to find out for herself if the gospel is true. It's a bit tricky but we are working on it.
Friday...hmmm... definitely was the day for people not following through with appointments. Every single one of our appointments fell through. We actually started an appointment with an old Jewish man who believed in Jesus until someone came up to him, grabbed him by the arm and said that he can't talk with us, and took him away. It was very bizarre... So much for free agency.... But we found the Synagogue in the neighborhood and left a Book of Mormon for him there, hopefully he will receive it. After that, We had an appointment in the early evening with a Muslim family who was very nice. They are kind of a little bit odd but nice. They definitely liked to talk a lot. We didn't get a ton of teaching in but we did set up another appointment. After that, we had an appointment with an ami who did have a date for baptism but it didn't work out, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, the appointment didn't work out either, because he had to work. So we went and did a pass back to the lady who I told you about a couple weeks ago when I was with Elder Merservy. She is very Catholic and LOVES to talk. Well she wasn't home when we had an appointment with her the week before and we lost contact. Well it was a bit of a miracle and she was actually home when we stopped by! So we kind of gave a mini lesson, got her phone number and set up another appointment. Yay! I was glad for that.
Saturday, this was definitely the day for appointments that didn't work out. We didn't end up having any appointments work out. We did some contacting and even some port a port. (Door to door contacting, which doesn't work too well in France) Nothing too exciting happened until the evening we got in a big religious debate with a Muslim guy. That was exciting. I even threw down some awesome questions for him that he couldn't answer. I was happy. I also was able to understand a lot too. It was a big moment for me. Ha
Sunday was church and I think I chatted with members all by myself more than I ever have before. It was great. I can definitely see progress from 6 weeks ago. Thank goodness! We also had 4 investigators at church! How awesome! One of them was an ami who we haven't been able to see for weeks because of his work schedule. I was so ecstatic to see him. He is so incredible and so prepared. Afterwards, we had an appointment with a Portuguese Catholic guy that went pretty well and then we went and saw one of the members who we see pretty much every week at least one appointment with. He is a great guy, just has his ups and downs with things. He was definitely sad that Elder Mayer was leaving. After that, we met Timothy, our investigator that we haven't seen in weeks that came to church, and went to eat with a family in the ward. It was so awesome! They had set this nice table setting with China and sooo much food. It was definitely a great day for the end of the transfer!
So today, has basically consisted of hanging out in the train station until my companion gets in. Nothing too exciting but I ate Subway which was very exciting. Haha it felt like home. :)
Well, that has been my week. Pretty packed as I look back on it. It was a good week and a good first 6 weeks. There were ups and down and highs and lows but I can definitely say it has been a good experience and it flew by. I am ready to continue to learn, grow, and help others feel the joy of the gospel. I have vowed to myself that I am going to work harder and be a better missionary this transfer. Thanks again for all of your love and support. I love you all very very much! Merci beaucoup pour toutes choses!
Elder Kirkpatrick
How is everyone doing? I am sure that you are all just sitting on edge to see if I am staying in Marseille or not..... well..... I am! I am staying in Marseille and my companion, Elder Mayer is moving to Bordeaux as a Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Kiddo. I am actually waiting for him at the Train Station since he is coming in from Bordeaux on the otherside of the mission. So he won't be in until this evening. Elder Baret in our apartment is also leaving, he is going to Albi and Elder Bowen is staying but getting a bleu missionary. He is pretty excited. So I won't be the new guy anymore! Yay! This has been a really good week for the last week of this transfer.
Monday after emails and all that, we went and did family Home evening with a member in the ward. It was really good and I think they enjoyed it because they invited us over to eat with them the very next night. Dinner invitations are always very exciting. They don't happen quite as often as in the states and definitely not like in Arizona where the missionaries get dinner EVERY night with members.
Tuesday was a crazy day. Since I had my new missionary Bring Back Meeting on Wednesday, the Elders from Toulon came into Marseille on Tuesday for District Meeting and then we did splits with them since we know the city and they don't, not that I really know it very well, ha. So I went with Elder Cunningham and we had a few appointments and Elder Merservy went with Elder Mayer. Elder Cunningham and I taught a lesson and then got tons and tons of "snaps" on the street. Snaps are coordinates of people. Name, number, address, etc. Anyway, we got tons of them! More than I have every gotten before. It was awesome. In the evening, we re-exchanged so that Elder Mayer and I could go eat with the family that invited us over for dinner. The food was good and the family is very nice. He is in the Bishopric and she is in Young Womens and they have two little boys. Afterwards, we got back to the apartment and the Elders from Toulon were staying the night so that we could all go to Toulouse early in the morning. It was PACKED with 6 of us in our tiny apartment. That was very crazy, that's for sure.
Wednesday was so awesome. I got to see all of the other bleus! We took a 3 and a half hour train trip to Toulouse and got in and had to get a physical and a couple other things done at a France Government agency so that we could get our right to live in France for the year. So, yay, I am legal in France! In a year, I will have to go and fill out some more paperwork to extend my stay. Afterwards we went to the chapel in Toulouse and had lunch with the other half of the new missionaries. It was so awesome to see everyone again and see how they were liking it and hear their stories. We had a little meeting, and then that half left to go back and we had another meeting that the other group had already had earlier in the morning. They all live closer to Toulouse. Then we hurried up to get to the train. Thankfully, our train was late or else we would have completely missed it. I ended up having to run to the train station with my backpack and a nice big box full of Books of Mormon because the traffic was so bad. I was very tired after that. We got into Marseille fairly late so just went back to the apartment.
On Thursday, we did some service for a member, taught an ami, had someone not show up for their appointment and then met with a part member family. The husband is a member but his wife isn't. She is very nice but doesn't see the need of the church and getting baptized into our church. She even comes to church with her husband pretty much every single week. It was a pretty good lesson but we haven't quite figured out how to give her the desire to find out for herself if the gospel is true. It's a bit tricky but we are working on it.
Friday...hmmm... definitely was the day for people not following through with appointments. Every single one of our appointments fell through. We actually started an appointment with an old Jewish man who believed in Jesus until someone came up to him, grabbed him by the arm and said that he can't talk with us, and took him away. It was very bizarre... So much for free agency.... But we found the Synagogue in the neighborhood and left a Book of Mormon for him there, hopefully he will receive it. After that, We had an appointment in the early evening with a Muslim family who was very nice. They are kind of a little bit odd but nice. They definitely liked to talk a lot. We didn't get a ton of teaching in but we did set up another appointment. After that, we had an appointment with an ami who did have a date for baptism but it didn't work out, unfortunately. Also unfortunately, the appointment didn't work out either, because he had to work. So we went and did a pass back to the lady who I told you about a couple weeks ago when I was with Elder Merservy. She is very Catholic and LOVES to talk. Well she wasn't home when we had an appointment with her the week before and we lost contact. Well it was a bit of a miracle and she was actually home when we stopped by! So we kind of gave a mini lesson, got her phone number and set up another appointment. Yay! I was glad for that.
Saturday, this was definitely the day for appointments that didn't work out. We didn't end up having any appointments work out. We did some contacting and even some port a port. (Door to door contacting, which doesn't work too well in France) Nothing too exciting happened until the evening we got in a big religious debate with a Muslim guy. That was exciting. I even threw down some awesome questions for him that he couldn't answer. I was happy. I also was able to understand a lot too. It was a big moment for me. Ha
Sunday was church and I think I chatted with members all by myself more than I ever have before. It was great. I can definitely see progress from 6 weeks ago. Thank goodness! We also had 4 investigators at church! How awesome! One of them was an ami who we haven't been able to see for weeks because of his work schedule. I was so ecstatic to see him. He is so incredible and so prepared. Afterwards, we had an appointment with a Portuguese Catholic guy that went pretty well and then we went and saw one of the members who we see pretty much every week at least one appointment with. He is a great guy, just has his ups and downs with things. He was definitely sad that Elder Mayer was leaving. After that, we met Timothy, our investigator that we haven't seen in weeks that came to church, and went to eat with a family in the ward. It was so awesome! They had set this nice table setting with China and sooo much food. It was definitely a great day for the end of the transfer!
So today, has basically consisted of hanging out in the train station until my companion gets in. Nothing too exciting but I ate Subway which was very exciting. Haha it felt like home. :)
Well, that has been my week. Pretty packed as I look back on it. It was a good week and a good first 6 weeks. There were ups and down and highs and lows but I can definitely say it has been a good experience and it flew by. I am ready to continue to learn, grow, and help others feel the joy of the gospel. I have vowed to myself that I am going to work harder and be a better missionary this transfer. Thanks again for all of your love and support. I love you all very very much! Merci beaucoup pour toutes choses!
Elder Kirkpatrick
Monday, November 1, 2010
Week 15
Hello everyone,
I hope that everything is going well back in your perspective places of residence. Most likely Arizona, but there may be the off chance that my blog has now made it to world wide acclaim. Unlikely I know, I can imagine right? Well, hmmm, every week is a bit of a struggle trying to figure out what it is that I want to actually tell that will be interesting. Interesting things happen here but not also interesting for you. Oh, one very good thing is that the trash strike is now officially over!! Yay! They have started taking care of the very large and very stinky piles of trash, thank heavens! One of the members said that a garbage worker was being interviewed right before the strike ended and he said, "Well, I have to get back to work soon, because I have no money to feed my family." Hmmm, I think that is a good reason to end a strike if you ask me. Anyway, I am just glad it is finally over. It was smelly. Not only that but the last few days has been very rainy..... non stop in fact, so the trash is just being dragged down the side walks by the rain and getting nasty and mushy. Lovely, I know. Sounds like "Romantic France" right? Haha! Alright, let me ponder and think of the highlights of the week....
Well, unfortunately, it has been another week of a lot of no show appointments and rendez-vous that haven't been working out. Our ami's (investigators) with baptismal dates kind of fell off the tracks a bit. One didn't show up for the last 5 rendez-vous and the other one works all the time and rarely has time or is super tired, so we haven't really seen him either. And the third one, was progressing along really really well, but something happened, I have no idea what, and he cancelled a rendez-vous and doesn't have time until later this week. Kind of a bummer, that's for sure. But, you never know what could happen this next week. We might see three grand miracles.... you never know.
On Wednesday, I had another exchange with the other companionship in Marseille. So Elder Baret and I had the appointments of Elder Mayer and I and Elder Mayer went with Elder Bowen. It was a good day. I had a Kabob for lunch.. mmmm and a Foret Noir (this incredible pastry that was basically little layers of chocolate cake with tons of cream in between each layer.... delicious! Ha! I love how the hightlights of my week include the food that I was able to try. I asked Elder Baret if he knew all the names of the pasteries and he said, "Duh, I'm French!" Haha! He is hilarious and from Grenoble, which is only about two hours from Marseille. We only ended up having one Rendez-vous that day because everyone cancelled on us or didn't show up but we had a good lesson. It was a bit long but it went well. It was with one of our continuous investigators. He has been an investigators for like 8 years or something crazy like that. We are working towards baptism but we still have a ways to go. He is a great guy though. His wife is very very Catholic and is the major reason that he won't get baptized, she doesn't approve at all.
On Thursday, we had some more appointments not work out. And we went and taught a Témoigne Jéhovah (Jehovah's Witness) for awhile. The TJ's (as we call them) are everywhere here! Not only that but everyone mistakes us for the TJs also. I couldn't really keep up with my companions lesson/debate with him so I talked to his TJ companion who was this old lady who actually translated the Bible from Ancient Greek into French for the TJs. I thought that was pretty interesting. So her and I just kind of chit chatted. Ha! She knows like 6 different languages. It's crazy! I just kept thinking, "She knows six languages and I am struggling learning a second, how is that fair??" Eh, c'est la vie! After that we went wih a member, who we recently reactivated.... (heck yes!!), to go and teach with us but the investigator wasn't home. So we went and stopped by an older less active lady in the ward. She is less active because she can't really get around very well so she can't physically make it to church. But she is the sweetest little old lady! She has all these pictures around in her apartment with different missionaries who would come and visit. It was so cool. She told us that she was still praying and reading the scriptures and she pulled this necklace that was tucked into her blouse and it was a rosery with a cross on it. Our member who was with us (who also used to be catholic) was like, you aren't Catholic anymore, why do you have that. And she said, "oh I know, but it helps me remember to pray." Haha it was funny. She was so sweet. When we went to leave, I went over to shake her hand to go and she was like, "no, no we are all Frères and Soeurs, we bisous." I hesitated because technically we aren't supposed to do that with Soeurs but she is like 84 years old, I couldn't tell her that we aren't supposed to do that. So I got some bisous from an old lady this week. Haha Oh bisous are those little French side cheek kisses (I'm not sure if I explained that already..... it is funny how stereotypically French that is but how everyone does it! I have seen teenage boys do it to each other... It's just cultural. So watch out everyone, in two years I will come home and want to bisous everyone.... yeah, probably not. Ha!)
On Friday we had a special meeting for the Zone in Aix-en-Provence for everyone in our zone and President and Soeur Carter. It was very good, as those meetings always are. I enjoy them partially because it is a day out of the oridnary and because we get to hear some awesome advice. It was ALL in French and I actually understood the whole thing. Yay! It's getting better, I know that it is. It's still very difficult but I can see little tiny specs of progress. After we got back to Marseille and had a Rendez-vous with a less active member but we got lost and ended up wandering around forever trying to find him. By the time he found us in his car, he had to drive us home and we gave a short lesson in the car ride.
Saturday... and thus commenced the rain.... We didn't really have much until we went to a rendez-vous with a Catholic Priest.... haha I know.... That was funny. He actually has a very interesting story. He was Muslim for most of his life until he converted to Catholicism and became a Priest. He works with a lot of different religions, so he wanted to know more about ours. So we taught him and he was interested and said he would read and we have another rendez-vous with him next week. Hopefully he actually read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, if he is already that religious, it will be interesting to see how the Book of Mormon effects him. Oh, on top of all that, we actually taught him in a building that the Catholic church owns and uses for various things. Ha, I thought that was somewhat ironic. After that, we basically wandered around in the rain without an umbrella for three hours... It was a bit needless, but that's another story entirely. Anyway, I was absolutely soaked from head to toe and freezing. I can't say that was super fun.
On Sunday it was Daylight Savings time so we got to sleep in an extra hour in the morning.. that was nice. Now, I think I am 10 hours different from Arizona... That's weird! Church was usual except that there were tons of investigators that came! Which was incredible! One of ours and then the Sister Missionaries had 6 come. Wow! They showed us up! But that's still amazing. They have a bunch that are very close to baptism. We are very thrilled... and slightly envious. Haha :) After church, we hurried and gave a guy a Polish Book of Mormon who we met last week before he left to move to Lille. That was really cool. He gave us hugs because he was so happy. He doesn't really speak French but he kind of speaks German so my companion was speaking to him in German so I am not entirely sure what happened. And when he would respond it would be in broken French-English... Although he says he doesn't know English. After that our appointments didn't work out but on the way back to the apartment, we met a semi-homeless older man on a bench and taught him the first lesson and it was amazing. He was super nice and humble. I am not sure how far it will go but we have another appointment on the same bench this week. Hopefully he will be there.
Today, has been good. Still rainy as it was yesterday too and as it is supposed to be until Wednesday. Yikes! We didn't really do anything too exciting today. Just went grocery shopping and such. This week should be pretty good because I get to go to Toulouse on Wednesday to have a meeting with all the new missionaries all day. I am so excited! It will be awesome to see everyone again and find out how they like their cities. I am stoked. And this is our last week of this transfer (I can't believe it is already over!!) and so on Friday we find out about Transfers and then transfers will happen next Monday. How crazy! So I will let you all know about the changes next P-day.
As always, thank you so much for your love and support continually. I love you all and am so grateful for you. I hope that my stories are at least somewhat interesting. Until next week! Bisous-bisous!! (Hahaha just kidding!) Au revoir!
Elder Kirkpatrick
I hope that everything is going well back in your perspective places of residence. Most likely Arizona, but there may be the off chance that my blog has now made it to world wide acclaim. Unlikely I know, I can imagine right? Well, hmmm, every week is a bit of a struggle trying to figure out what it is that I want to actually tell that will be interesting. Interesting things happen here but not also interesting for you. Oh, one very good thing is that the trash strike is now officially over!! Yay! They have started taking care of the very large and very stinky piles of trash, thank heavens! One of the members said that a garbage worker was being interviewed right before the strike ended and he said, "Well, I have to get back to work soon, because I have no money to feed my family." Hmmm, I think that is a good reason to end a strike if you ask me. Anyway, I am just glad it is finally over. It was smelly. Not only that but the last few days has been very rainy..... non stop in fact, so the trash is just being dragged down the side walks by the rain and getting nasty and mushy. Lovely, I know. Sounds like "Romantic France" right? Haha! Alright, let me ponder and think of the highlights of the week....
Well, unfortunately, it has been another week of a lot of no show appointments and rendez-vous that haven't been working out. Our ami's (investigators) with baptismal dates kind of fell off the tracks a bit. One didn't show up for the last 5 rendez-vous and the other one works all the time and rarely has time or is super tired, so we haven't really seen him either. And the third one, was progressing along really really well, but something happened, I have no idea what, and he cancelled a rendez-vous and doesn't have time until later this week. Kind of a bummer, that's for sure. But, you never know what could happen this next week. We might see three grand miracles.... you never know.
On Wednesday, I had another exchange with the other companionship in Marseille. So Elder Baret and I had the appointments of Elder Mayer and I and Elder Mayer went with Elder Bowen. It was a good day. I had a Kabob for lunch.. mmmm and a Foret Noir (this incredible pastry that was basically little layers of chocolate cake with tons of cream in between each layer.... delicious! Ha! I love how the hightlights of my week include the food that I was able to try. I asked Elder Baret if he knew all the names of the pasteries and he said, "Duh, I'm French!" Haha! He is hilarious and from Grenoble, which is only about two hours from Marseille. We only ended up having one Rendez-vous that day because everyone cancelled on us or didn't show up but we had a good lesson. It was a bit long but it went well. It was with one of our continuous investigators. He has been an investigators for like 8 years or something crazy like that. We are working towards baptism but we still have a ways to go. He is a great guy though. His wife is very very Catholic and is the major reason that he won't get baptized, she doesn't approve at all.
On Thursday, we had some more appointments not work out. And we went and taught a Témoigne Jéhovah (Jehovah's Witness) for awhile. The TJ's (as we call them) are everywhere here! Not only that but everyone mistakes us for the TJs also. I couldn't really keep up with my companions lesson/debate with him so I talked to his TJ companion who was this old lady who actually translated the Bible from Ancient Greek into French for the TJs. I thought that was pretty interesting. So her and I just kind of chit chatted. Ha! She knows like 6 different languages. It's crazy! I just kept thinking, "She knows six languages and I am struggling learning a second, how is that fair??" Eh, c'est la vie! After that we went wih a member, who we recently reactivated.... (heck yes!!), to go and teach with us but the investigator wasn't home. So we went and stopped by an older less active lady in the ward. She is less active because she can't really get around very well so she can't physically make it to church. But she is the sweetest little old lady! She has all these pictures around in her apartment with different missionaries who would come and visit. It was so cool. She told us that she was still praying and reading the scriptures and she pulled this necklace that was tucked into her blouse and it was a rosery with a cross on it. Our member who was with us (who also used to be catholic) was like, you aren't Catholic anymore, why do you have that. And she said, "oh I know, but it helps me remember to pray." Haha it was funny. She was so sweet. When we went to leave, I went over to shake her hand to go and she was like, "no, no we are all Frères and Soeurs, we bisous." I hesitated because technically we aren't supposed to do that with Soeurs but she is like 84 years old, I couldn't tell her that we aren't supposed to do that. So I got some bisous from an old lady this week. Haha Oh bisous are those little French side cheek kisses (I'm not sure if I explained that already..... it is funny how stereotypically French that is but how everyone does it! I have seen teenage boys do it to each other... It's just cultural. So watch out everyone, in two years I will come home and want to bisous everyone.... yeah, probably not. Ha!)
On Friday we had a special meeting for the Zone in Aix-en-Provence for everyone in our zone and President and Soeur Carter. It was very good, as those meetings always are. I enjoy them partially because it is a day out of the oridnary and because we get to hear some awesome advice. It was ALL in French and I actually understood the whole thing. Yay! It's getting better, I know that it is. It's still very difficult but I can see little tiny specs of progress. After we got back to Marseille and had a Rendez-vous with a less active member but we got lost and ended up wandering around forever trying to find him. By the time he found us in his car, he had to drive us home and we gave a short lesson in the car ride.
Saturday... and thus commenced the rain.... We didn't really have much until we went to a rendez-vous with a Catholic Priest.... haha I know.... That was funny. He actually has a very interesting story. He was Muslim for most of his life until he converted to Catholicism and became a Priest. He works with a lot of different religions, so he wanted to know more about ours. So we taught him and he was interested and said he would read and we have another rendez-vous with him next week. Hopefully he actually read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, if he is already that religious, it will be interesting to see how the Book of Mormon effects him. Oh, on top of all that, we actually taught him in a building that the Catholic church owns and uses for various things. Ha, I thought that was somewhat ironic. After that, we basically wandered around in the rain without an umbrella for three hours... It was a bit needless, but that's another story entirely. Anyway, I was absolutely soaked from head to toe and freezing. I can't say that was super fun.
On Sunday it was Daylight Savings time so we got to sleep in an extra hour in the morning.. that was nice. Now, I think I am 10 hours different from Arizona... That's weird! Church was usual except that there were tons of investigators that came! Which was incredible! One of ours and then the Sister Missionaries had 6 come. Wow! They showed us up! But that's still amazing. They have a bunch that are very close to baptism. We are very thrilled... and slightly envious. Haha :) After church, we hurried and gave a guy a Polish Book of Mormon who we met last week before he left to move to Lille. That was really cool. He gave us hugs because he was so happy. He doesn't really speak French but he kind of speaks German so my companion was speaking to him in German so I am not entirely sure what happened. And when he would respond it would be in broken French-English... Although he says he doesn't know English. After that our appointments didn't work out but on the way back to the apartment, we met a semi-homeless older man on a bench and taught him the first lesson and it was amazing. He was super nice and humble. I am not sure how far it will go but we have another appointment on the same bench this week. Hopefully he will be there.
Today, has been good. Still rainy as it was yesterday too and as it is supposed to be until Wednesday. Yikes! We didn't really do anything too exciting today. Just went grocery shopping and such. This week should be pretty good because I get to go to Toulouse on Wednesday to have a meeting with all the new missionaries all day. I am so excited! It will be awesome to see everyone again and find out how they like their cities. I am stoked. And this is our last week of this transfer (I can't believe it is already over!!) and so on Friday we find out about Transfers and then transfers will happen next Monday. How crazy! So I will let you all know about the changes next P-day.
As always, thank you so much for your love and support continually. I love you all and am so grateful for you. I hope that my stories are at least somewhat interesting. Until next week! Bisous-bisous!! (Hahaha just kidding!) Au revoir!
Elder Kirkpatrick
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