WEEK #1 PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

Hello from France!

Hello from France!

Now to catch everyone up. We all left the MTC in Provo, Utah at 6 am on Monday February 2, 2015 and took Front Runner up to the airport. I was the Travel Leader, so I had to check in at the desk. Our plan was to fly through Chicago and then to London. Because of the big snow storms, the Chicago flight was canceled. I had to call Church Travel to try and get it fixed. The next available flight was going to be the 5th of Feb. After waiting, the Church Travel office was able to get us a flight on the next direct Paris flight!

What was amazing was that we got to fly with all the other Paris Missionaries! That was the first miracle of the day. The second miracle was when we were in line to buy food; an older man stopped us and told us here was paying for all our food. So he took out his wallet and gave us all 20 dollar bills!

We ate and returned to the gate where we waited for the plane. We were able to call our families and nap. Finally we got on the plane, and began the long flight to Paris. When we landed in Paris, we Lyon Missionaries then had to leave and catch our next flight. We did get to see the mission president for Paris when we were walking! 

We made it to the gate for our flight, and we relaxed because we were all exhausted. In Utah time, it was around 3 AM. It was only 11 AM in Paris!  

We landed in Lyon and we all freshened up and got our bags. We then walked out of the airport and were greeted by President and Sister Roney! They had their Office Missionaries, the Assistants, and a few Missionaries that were leaving. We took pictures, and then we headed out to the office! A few people, including myself, took the train to the office. We sat by a French man and we all began to talk to him. That’s where I found out how bad my French is! 

Elder Acheson with President and Soeur Roney

We made it to the office and took pictures, and then we walked around the city. We met some other missionaries, and one of them was T.J. Haws, who was on the National High School Basketball team. He plans to play for BYU. 

We then made our way to the Mission Home. We rode Metro, a bus, and walked a few miles, but we got there! We ate dinner and talked with President and Sister Roney. We all took turns getting interviewed by President. He is such an amazing person! One thing he likes to do is shine your shoes before you talk. He wanted to know me more and told me about the mission.

Once I finished with the interview all the Elders drove to the apartment. The apartment has about 20 bunk beds and everything’s from Ikea! We all then crashed.

The next day we took the metro to the church building in Lyon. We had breakfast, and then had Mission Conference. President Roney spoke to us, and then we met our new companions! We opened our letters just like our Mission Calls. We read outloud where we were serving and who our trainer would be. I got the area of Périgueux, with Elder Johnson from Arkansas! 

We all then went on the Metro back to the office. I talked to 3 people on the way. We spoke mostly about music and skiing. I still need to work on conversation. At the office we got our debit cards and headed to the Bellecour Square to play Contact Bingo! We had to go ask different kinds of people the church questionnaire we were given. I just thought it was awesome to get a selfie with some people (if you got a selfie you got to fill a square).

We then went over the McDonalds and had some burgers. 

We made it back to the apartment and then we all went to sleep. 

When we woke up, all 14 missionaries did studies, and while everyone talked about what they studied Elder Johnson and I cooked French Eggs. 

After we all ate we went back to the office and got a new questionnaire. We went around Lyon and asked the new questions. We came back to discuss them, and went back out to try different versions of the questions. A sweet lady shed some tears when we asked a question about her family sacrifices.

Because of the lack of time to write, and a French Keyboard, I have to really summarize. 

We did more contacting, ate at Subway twice in one day, and took chest x-rays. 

I met new convert of Elder Johnson in Lyon, rode lots of trains to get to our ville.

 I’m serving in a small ville called Périgueux. There is a big Cathedral in the city that is very close to where our apartment is located and it is pretty quiet here!  I'm excited to serve with Elder Johnson.  He is awesome.

Our apartment is small, and we don’t have a working fridge. I went to church and didn't understand most of it.

We have 2 progressing investigators, Jean Luc who has a date of baptism, and Yin who is still deciding.

French is really hard to understand but with the Lord’s strength I know I will be able to learn it! I love you all, and wish you a good week from  Périgueux!

Love Elder Acheson