WEEK 2 IN PERIGUEUX, fRANCE

Hello Family and Friends,

I want to wish my big brother, Elder Chase Acheson, Happy 21st birthday.  He is currently serving an LDS mission in Albania.  Check out his mission blog at barbyacheson.blogspot.com

With the soeurs in our zone.  Soeur Holmes(with the dark hair)  is friends with my cousin John Passey who is a missionary in California

So I have an English keyboard this week. So I can type faster! 

For P-Day, we got our new fridge. We took it from the other apartment here in the town. While we waited for our ride, I played my harmonica. We then had to carry the fridge up all the steps to our top floor apartment. (We called today to see when the city could pick it up; they said the 3rd of March.) Once we relaxed, we went to FHE with the single members in the branch. 

Elder Johnson modeling our broken fridge

Because we got a fridge that works, we then went emergency food shopping. A lady saw my tag, and asked me about it. Elder Johnson talked to her then, because I'm still a bleu(a newby.) After our shopping, we went to the gare (Train station) to go to the Family Canard for dinner. There, we played a word game where you had to think of words with the right endings. I lost....

Playing games with la Famille Canard

After dinner, we then walked back home, and I played my harmonica real loud. Nobody was around, so it was alright. It was cool to play Praise to the Man for the whole square to hear!

Perfecting my new harmonica skills

The next day, we saw a sick member who comes from Texas. He speaks very little French. It's nice to be able to speak ”Anglais” with him!  We then left to go to a different member, Maggie, and I taught the Restoration. It was all French, and it was very stressful for me! 

After that lesson, we went over to the Family Besse to have dinner. We talked, and gave a lesson. We started to walk home, when a car stopped and asked if we needed a ride! The ride was a miracle! It would have taken 30 mins to walk home. The people that drove us were Rugby players! Super nice, from New Zealand! 

We then met up with elders from Bergerac. We planned to do exchanges with them the next day, and their washer and dryer were broken, so we let them stay the night and use ours. 

The day after, we woke up at 5:00 AM to pack and walk to the Gare. I was with Elder Sneddon from Germany. He has lived in Germany for 10 years, but he is really from Provo. 

On a missionary exchange with Elder Sneddon in Bergerac

We got off the train and went to the apartment in Bergerac. We then studied and had to leave to open the church for a member to clean it. While we were walking, we saw a big church that could be thought of as a cathedral! There is a story on how President Roney was born in Bergerac, and he went to Christmas Mass there. One song they played was Angles We Have Heard on High. He loved it so much, that it is now our Mission Song! 

The cathedral in Bergerac

We got to the church and played piano while we waited. Once the member came, we went to a lesson with a lady named Mary Yvonne. We stayed for over an hour, and the member with us, and Mary Yvonne spoke for an hour. I sat there all quiet trying to understand what they were saying... (I am really trying hard!)

We then went to centre ville, and ate a doughnut waiting for our ride to the next lesson. We got a ride to the Famly Ith, and taught the Restoration. I was able to talk more there! I bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon, and even told the story of Lehi and Nephi and why they left. We hope good things will happen for this great family! They then drove us back to the church to have another lesson. 

The musically talented Elder Sneddon

When we got back to the church, we waited for some time., so we played the piano! Elder Sneddon is super talented at the piano, and can play any song. Since I had my harmonica, we played Piano Man by Billy Joel! It sounded pretty good! The ami (investigator) then showed up, and taught the Word of Wisdom to her. She said that she would stop drinking Tea! Woot!!! 

When we finished, we went back to the apartment, and then changed into service clothes. We had to help another ami move into a house across town. When we finished, we got a calendar! 

We got back to the apartment, and then cooked couscous. For those that don't know the pasta, you only put in a little. It multiplies in the pot. Elder Sneddon didn't know that, so we had a lot to eat! 

We went to bed and woke up at 5:00 am again to go to Zone Training and met up with my companion, Elder Johnson.  We went to Bordeaux for the training. The mission is working real hard to get Family History in motion. We have a new tool for contacting and teaching. It's called Project Elijah. We want to invite the Spirit of Elijah when we street contact, so people will want to know more about their families! After the training, we went into Center Ville Bordeaux to practice new questionnaires we received at training. After that, we returned to our home villes. 

In Bordeaux, France

When we got back, we went to teach our ami, Jean Luc,  who is getting baptized this Saturday! He was late to show up, so we walked back, because we had another meeting with a member for dinner. We met Jean Luc, our ami on the way back, and we had him come with us to the manger-vous (dinner appointment).

Saying goodbye to our ami, Yin

Yin and Jean Luc came with us. We had great salad, and then cheesy potatoes. We then got a ride from the member and we all got dropped off in centre ville. 

The next day was church! Due to the trainings, and all the exchanges, I was super exhausted, and almost fell asleep in all the meetings! Thankfully, we had lunch with Soeur Mas. She is a sweet lady who fed us more cheesy potatoes! They really like cheese and potatoes here in France!  Later that day, we helped Yin take his stuff to the Gare. He now lives in Bordeaux. He gave us a cookbook, and a plant! We then walked home, and did our Weekly Planning, and then relaxed for the night! 

The LDS Periqueux Branch 

Today for P-Day, we plan to see the Cathedral in our Ville.  It is called St. Fort and it is my neighborhood. Then we will do some shopping, and relax! 

The Cathedral in Perigueux

That’s life here in Périgueux! I love you all and miss you! I know the gospel is true, and hope the people here will want to hear it! Have a great week! If you're in Utah, enjoy the early summer! 

-Love Elder Acheson II