WEEK #8 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

March 31, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Elders in the Bordeaux Zone

This was a crazy week. I was in Bordeaux for the beginning of the week. Monday night when I was sleeping apparently bed bugs bit me all over my body. So my face looked like it had zits all over. My arm was then covered in red spots, and my feet were super itchy and it was annoying. 

Elder Acheson DID let the bed bugs bite

I got a package from my older brother in Albania! He sent me a cool watch, some ties, and a name badge he used! There was even some Albanian teaching material! Thanks Chase!

Gift from older brother, Elder Acheson I from Albania

We had a busy week with our investigators. We have a group of 5 right now. Our Nigerian family with a Mom and 3 kids. We taught them about the Book of Mormon. The mom loves the Bible, and is surprised that there might be another book of scripture. She said she will read, and we hope she can come to conference this weekend! We have a few amis we want to come as well.  

With Elder Bollard during an exchange in Perigueux

On Thursday, we had a Blitz with the Zone Leaders here in Périgueux. I went with Elder Bollard and we contacted and ported most the day. I learned things I could do to improve as a Missionary. 

Homemade Pizza!

Friday was District Meeting, and I made fresh pizza dough, and it turned out pretty good! Later that night, Elder Thompson and I went over to the Branch Mission Leader's house to work out the Mission Plan for the Branch here.

On Saturday, we cut more wood and stacked it. Then we had lunch with the Family Donadier. We had some Rendez-Vous set up, but they fell through. So we contacted, and tried to do other things. 

On Sunday, we had our other ami Gilbert come to church  for the end of Sacrament. All the Branch was excited to see an Ami come.

Warming up the baptismal font

After church, the Branch of Bergerac had a baptism at our chapel because they don't have a Font at their building. The water was really cold, so the missionaries got hot water from the faucet and dumped it into the Font to try and warm it. 

Tartiflette

After the Baptism, the Elders of Bergerac came to our house and spent the night. We had Tartiflette which is like cheesy potatoes. It's really good!

On Monday we had Zone Conference. We went to Bordeaux and met in the Chapel. President Roney spoke to us above how we need to face God as a member and missionary. He brings the spirit, and you know he is super caring about the mission. 

He gave all the Missionaries a really nice book called "The Life of the Savior". It is the 4 gospels in the Bible. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The book has different colors for each Gospel, and the book is the chronological order of it all. Each page has all the scriptures intertwined perfectly. There even is the Joseph Smith Translation put into it. That way, when you read it. It is a perfect version of the life of Christ. I am excited to read it! 

The beautiful Bordeaux Cathedral

Bordeaux

Sister Roney spoke after, and showed us a funny slide show of the 42 reasons why "not" to visit France. It was pictures of the places in France that make it dull, like the beaches, castles, flower patches, beautiful citys, and such. I am proud to say that all but a few were in our mission here in the south! 

We had interviews with President Roney as well. It was amazing and very spiritual to talk with him one on one. He gives me so much hope in the furure of my mission, and my life. It will be amazing to receive council on business endeavors and educational guidance from him. I love the Roneys so much, and it will be sad to see them go in a few months. 

Elder Thompson

We missed our train to go back home, so we stayed in the Gare to wait. I played some piano, and had  a very drunk man come up to me, and he started to play. He slammed the notes, played loud, and looked me in the eyes and pretended to be a serious player, who had emotion in the notes he played. Strange.... Bordeaux can be weird sometimes.

Today we have already visited the stores around our apartment, and went into the Cathedral to take a look around! 

 

This transfer is already half way over, and I love it here, but am looking forward to other cities in France! 

I love you all, and hope you know that Christ is our Savior, and we can improve every day! Have a great week!

-Love Elder Acheson  II

WEEK #7 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

Family and Friends,

Elder Steadman and Elder Acheson (MTC Friends)

This week was short and exciting! Elder Thompson and I had a busy week with contacting and porting. We met a Nigerian lady and introduced her to the Book of Mormon, prayed with her on the street, and even set up another Rendez-Vous! We went porting after that, and met a nice Catholic lady who spoke with us for a few minuets, and then another lady called all the neighbors to lock the doors and not answer our knocks...

We eventually made it to a nice old man named Gilbert. He talked to us and recognized us as Mormons. We had to make it back to the bus, so we couldn't talk long. He invited us inside, and said he would drive us home if we missed the bus. 

Elder Thompson

When we came inside he brought out all the religious things he had, and even had a Book of Mormon! We talked with him a little, prayed, and left for the bus. We found out that we missed it, and Gilbert gave us a ride back to Centre Ville! We hope we can get another meeting with him! 

Over the week we were able to get 50 conversations, and are super pumped on the work we have coming next week. 

All the Bleus (new missionaries) went back to Lyon for a meeting. We all got to see each other again, and see how we were all doing! We even did some contacting and had some good conversations! 

Reunited with my MTC group

A six week missionary check up with the MTC missionaries and companions

After all our work, we went to an amazing place called Master Taco. They have 5 different Tacos, that are pretty much Burritos. They increase in size, and the #5 is over 2 pounds, and is like 2 feet long.. Elder Thompson got one, and felt the pain for the next two days!

Elder Acheson's Master Taco

We then came home on a long train ride, planned, and went to church the next day. After church we then organized. 

We have a ticket to ride

Today for Monday,I am in Bordeaux for a few days as all the District Leaders go back to Lyon for a meeting about the iPads. I'm with Elder Pien who is from Canada and is super funny! Because it's P-Day here in Bordeaux, we walked down one of the longest roads for shopping in France! I have decided to travel back here when I finish my Mission, and do some shopping!

Elder Acheson and Elder Pein from Canada

These next days are going to be great! We will do some work here in Bordeaux and have a blast! 

The work here in France is very hard. I see many people everyday who need the Gospel of Christ. I am trying hard to talk and share it. My testimony grows everyday on the importance of the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and every other commandment of God. I am thankful for the chance to reinforce my testimony. I love Christ, I am glad to be his Missionary. I want everyone to know that we need Christ everyday in our lives. Through him, we truly receive that joy that everyone wants. 

Loving it in Bordeaux

I love you all, and wish you a great week!

-Love Elder Acheson!

Week #6 in Perigueux, France

Dear Family and Friends, 

Saying Au revoir to Elder Johnson

This last week of the transfer was fast! 

We fasted for a member of the ward who was getting an operation, and we managed to get a few good conversations in! We were hungry the entire day, but it was a day of blessings! 

On Wednesday I had an exchange with the other Elder Johnson of Bergerac. We walked around and contacted a little, and we even taught a lesson on the doorstep of a house we knocked at. We even got a Kebab for lunch. We spent the day trying to find some member homes and old amis. We made some good cookies as well! 

Yin managed to come to town, so we spent some time with him and walked inside the ally ways of Centre Ville.

At the end of the day, we went to a part member family and played Uno, gave a spiritual thought, and ate some spicy french food. (I didn't know they had spicy food here). 

The next day was District Meeting. We talked about Project Elijah, and then went to a really good doughnut shop. I got a really good american burger, and they even had Root beer! They never have Root beer in France!

After the members of the District left town, Elder Johnson (My real one now) and I went on a train and went to St. Astier to visit a member. We did a booklet lesson with her, and she sent us home with homemade Kebabs. They were really good. 

The next morning President Roney called for the Transfer Calls. I would stay in Périgueux and received my next father Elder Thompson who was the Zone Leader of Montpellier. So now I can say I have two really cool fathers! 

Elder Johnson was called to be the Second Counselor of the Branch of Albi. That day he packed and then got ready to leave. We had an appointment that night with a old ami, and when we got there, the man had a huge dog! It barked the whole lesson and was right in your face. The dog was nice, but really loud. He even jumped on me and got my clothes wet and gross. It wasn't the best appointment... 

The next day we carried Elder Johnson's heavy bags down the six flights of stairs, lugged them to the Gare and got on the train to Bordeaux. We then made it to Toulouse on a TGV. We met the Elders of Albi, and got in the car and drove for an hour. 

We got to Albi and went to the church. One Elder and I cleaned the church, while the senior comp of Albi and Elder Johnson went into a room to talk about the branch. 

When I was mopping, I split the whole bucket in the Chapel. The whole floor was covered in mop water... We cleaned it up as best we could and let it dry the next day.

I went to church in Albi, and was asked to bare my testimony in French. It wasn't so bad, but it wasn't as good as I would have liked it to be. 

After church we visited a member and gave her the Sacrament, then went back to the apartment. 

We then drove back to Toulouse and slept at the apartment there with the other Elders. We then all went to the Gare in the morning for Transfer Day. 

At the Gare I talked with a lot of Missionaries, ate a really good Kebab, then went to Bordeaux to meet my new father. Once we met up, we got on a train back home, and we unpacked and I cooked my famous Alfredo Sauce for him and I! 

Elder Thompson s

Saying Bonjour to Elder Thompson

Elder Thompson is really cool, he is almost dead ...meaning he will end his mission this summer, and speaks great French! He is practically a Professional Baseball player. We have great plans for the ville this Transfer! I can't wait to do great work with him!

I wish you all a great week, and hope to write you soon! 

-Love Elder Acheson  II

WEEK #5 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

March 9, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been super fast! 

For the rest of P-Day, we visited an old Roman Temple. It's amazing how it is still standing! We then saw an old Château that a lord lived in. Lots of history in Périgueux! We finished the day at FHE with the single adults.

On Tuesday, we had things planned, but Elder Johnson felt sick, so he rested while I studied language. That is the main activity for Tuesday.

Wednesday was an intense day. I went on a Blu Exchange with one of the elders that I entered the mission with. We both  speak very little French and were forced to try. It was a good experience for us. 

We had a lesson that day and it was the Plan of Salvation. We planned to teach a woman named Sandra. When we arrived we found out that her daughter fell that morning, and hurt her mouth. We decided to give a blessing to her. Unfortunately she didn't know about the Priesthood yet... We explained a little, and continued with the blessing. 

After the that, we began the lesson. My companion had a hard time understanding, so I translated all the French I could understand into English for him to understand. Then I translated some stuff that he wanted to say back!

Somehow, in the lesson, Sandra started to talk about a magician doing tricks like walking down a building without falling, and flying. She thought that it was the power of God. I responded and said that for the next lesson the elder that knows French will explain more and explain how that's not the power of God. 

After that unusual lesson we walked back home to change for service. We sanded plaster off the walls at a members house for a few hours. We ate dinner there and headed home for bed. 

The next day we got on the train and went to the Périgueux church for District Meeting. We practiced the questionnaire. We ate together as a District and then went our separate ways.

The Begerac elders stayed in town. They helped us clean the apartment that's been sold. After that, we all got on a bus to Bergerac to give a lesson to one of their amis, Marie Antoinette.

We taught Marie Antoinette about temples and had a good lesson. We then went home and got ready for bed. 

The next morning Elder Johnson and I woke up at 5am to head home. We studied and went out to work a bit. That night we had dinner with Frere de Oliveira. He is the Ward Mission Leader. We had some really good chicken. We returned home, and got ready for bed. 

On Saturday we cut more wood with Frere Donadier. I pulled the logs and stacked them. Good practice for being a lumberjack! Thankfully I have had lots of practice cutting and stacking logs back home.  My dad is from Washington State and it is mandatory that all his children become expert lumberjacks and fire starters. 

We ate lunch with the Donadiers again and had some pasta! After lunch we came home and showered. We went to the church to set up for a Talent Show.  

When we got to the church and the power was off so we had Jean-Luc, who knows about that type of stuff, check it out.

Jean-Luc and Elder Acheson

We got the power back on and then we had the Talent Show. Dominique, the Elders Quorum President, taught everyone how to play chess for about 20 mins... Then we heard some singing. I played my harmonica and squealed my lips for the ending. Elder Johnson and I then made weird duck noises with our hands. We did the Star Spangled Banner. Everyone laughed and loved it. 

After food and talking we made it home. We were stressed about the show for weeks and no power really didn't help the stress. It turned out great and we were happy with it. We made it to bed ready to fall asleep.

While sleeping I woke up to a charlie horse in my calf. It hurt so bad. I thought it was a dream, then when I woke, my calf was sore.

I had what you could say was a nightmare. I dreamed that for the transfer I was being transferred out of the mission. I got reassigned to Washington State. I was sad to leave France, but happy to be speaking English... I woke up and was weird-ed out with it all. I'm just happy to be here in France even though it's hard.

On Sunday we had our church and then we dropped off a booklet to a member, studied, and did other things. Elder Johnson did calls at night and I fell asleep to a church movie. 

That's how our week was here in Périgueux! We are trying to find more people to teach and have a few meetings this week. I hope you all have a great week!

-Love Elder Acheson II

http://preparetoserve.com/france-lyon-mission/

WEEK #4 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

March 2, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week went by really fast! The rest of P-Day, we played some Ping Pong, then cut my hair, and relaxed until FHE. The morning after P-Day, we woke up at 5am to go to the church to get a bag, and then headed to the gare to do our exchange.

Elder Johnson cutting my hair

We arrived in a ville called Brive and I stayed there with Elder Berry while Elder Whitmer went with Elder Johnson.

With Elder Berry

Elder Berry and I went to a member home to do a lesson with Project Elijah. We then left and did some porting (knocking on doors). We then walked to centre ville to contact people. We had a rendezvous with a Swiss Family at 6:00, so we walked to the church to get their address, then went to their apartment building. It is a part member family, so there is great potential to get the whole family baptized

The day was pretty much finished, so we went back and crashed from all the walking that day. We woke up a little earlier the next day to meet my companion at the gare. We met up and went back to Périgueux. Once we ate, we went back to the gare to meet up with the zone leaders.  

Once they came we went over to the other apartment in the city to meet up with an inspector to check the apartment. That took about an hour.

With Elder Miner

We then returned and ate. Elder Miner, one of the zone leaders, and I then went across the river and started to look for some people we wanted to talk to. One person was Angelique. We went to her door and knocked. She wasn't home. So we began to walk to the next house we wanted to visit.

Elder Miner and I were practicing the questionnaire when a lady turned the corner and was walking toward us. He suddenly stopped talking, and said, "Let's contact her!". We talked to her, and it turned out she was Angelique! She was happy to see us and said that she would meet with us next week. I believe that was a miracle. It happened so randomly that it seems impossible that it could happen. We ended the conversation with Angelique and walked home to get ready for the night. 

We had a busy day the next day. We woke up early again because we had to go to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence to get the Legality of Elder Johnson. We rode a train to Agen, and passed some cool looking countryside. There was even a castle on the hillside! For those that don't really know me, I love castles...

Random castle on the hill

We made it to Agen and our train to Marseille was delayed for 2 hours. All the trains were delayed because of an accident somewhere on the tracks.

While we waited I started to play a little on the piano they had in the waitingroom of the gare. It was a small gare with no one waiting so I didn’t bother anyone with my playing. It was fun to try and sound out songs.

Waiting for my turn to play the piano

We then made it onto our train and I slept for a good deal of the ride. We made it to Marseille and met up with the Elders that were going to Nice for Zone Conference. We went to the Metro and met up with the other Elders that live in Marseille. We had to hurry because you have to be in the appartement by 6Pm. It gets too dangerous in the city after dark. 

We talked for a few hours and ate. Then we went to bed. Then again we woke up early so the Elders could leave to Nice and so we could catch a bus to Aix. We arrived in Aix and started to make our way to centre ville. For those who are unfamiliar with Aix-en-Provence it is ranked as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I testify of this. It has very beautiful buildings. There were even machines going on the sidewalks cleaning the dirt off of the ground! Trés Class! 

The Mediterranean Sea

We made it to the Government building to get the Legality. We got it and went back to the bus to get to the Gare in Marseille. We got an earlier ticket to Périgueux, and got some McDonalds for the trip. Then began the long trip back home. I slept again on the train and we arrived back home tired and ready to plan for the next day. We woke up at the regular time, and studied for an hour. We then had a member, Frére Donadier, pick us up to help him cut wood. We made it to the countryside and walked past a pig farm that smelled horrible and sounded super scary with all of the pigs screaming. After walking for a minute we came to the hill that had logs stacked up. 

Cutting and stacking wood--an Acheson thing to do

Elder Johnson’s and my job was to stack the logs that were being cut and clear all the small branches to the side. It was tough work! We did that for a few hours and then went over to the family’s home to have lunch. We had really good chicken, cheese, bread and curry rice. We then got dropped off at home and went to Soeur Mas's house to help her cut trees too! We did that for about an hour. We clipped tree branches down and cleaned her garden a little. 

We had to leave to meet up with Jean-Luc to teach him. We taught him about the Family booklet. 

We then walked home in the rain and planned  and went to bed super tired. 

Sunday went fast for church. We then went back to Soeur Mas’s to have lunch. Louis was there and cooked some Texan French rice and chicken. We talked for a bit and went back home to do language studies and watch ‘The District’ video. We spent the rest of the evening eating and reading the Book of Mormon in French. Planned and went to bed. 

This week was busy, with lots of early mornings and work! We like working here and want to teach as many people as possible! Pray to help that happen! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

-Love Elder Acheson

http://preparetoserve.com/france-lyon-mission/