WEEK #12 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE AND A TRANSFER TO VITROLLES, FRANCE

Dear Family and Friends,

HAPPY 19TH BIRTHDAY,

 ELDER RACE ACHESON!!!!

We got transfer calls, and I am now heading to Vitrolles! It is in the very south and right next to Marseille! 

I have Elder Arts from The Netherlands as my companion. He dies in two transfers, so I might kill him! (That's mission lingo for being his last companion.)

Elder Acheson with Elder Arts from Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Ok! To start out the week, I packed, said goodbye to some families, and got ready to leave Perigueux, which has been my first city in the mission field.

We woke up and took a train to Bordeaux, and then took a bus there all the way to Lyon with all the missionaries in the two zones near us. We all sang hymns and studied and talked. 

We arrived in Lyon and took out all our suitcases. We then had 1000 boxs of pizza waiting for us! So we all chowed down. Soon the entire mission was there. I saw all my old friends!

We then had to leave to go to the apartment in Lyon to sleep. We took metros and buses. We got there pretty late, and got ready to go to bed.

The next day was the conference. We came back to the chapel in Lyon and we all studied while we waited for the General Authorities to arrive. We had Elder Kearon and Elder Nielson of the Seventy come. Elder Kearon is this super funny British man! Elder Neilson gave a talk in this last conference about his sister Susan who fell away from the church. It was so amazing to shake their hands and meet people who spoke in front of the world in conference!

It was a great conference! We were taught about the iPads that we will get in a bit. We saw some cheesy videos that they showed us! We learned a lot about what the Lord has in store for his missionaries! 

We say hymns, and then prayed, and then the conference was over. We all then got our bags, and our mail, (I got a birthday package from my mother!), and then we got back on the buses and left to our new sectors. 

Little gifts from home for Elder Acheson's birthday

We made it to Aix-en-Provence and stayed the night in the other missionaries' apartment. I opened my package, and got some Seattle Seahawk socks and shirt, some great seasonings for cooking, candy, and some toys! (Thanks Mom I love you!)

The beautiful LDS chapel in Aix-en-Provence

On Sunday, we stayed in Aix and went to church in their beautiful chapel! Just so you all know, if the Church uses a picture of a chapel in France, they usually use the Chapel in Aix! It is really big, has an elevator, and a parking garage under it! 

We saw the baptism of an old ami of Elder Arts my new companion. We then went to their home after church and had some lunch. They drove us to our new sector from there. We took this small winding road through the mountains. The Formula One race cars go through the same road! We then got these great views of the area around us! 

We got to our new apartment, and settled in. It's a nice apartment, and I am happy to be in it! 

Today so far, it has been raining non-stop... We went shopping at the store right next to our house, and we have some people we are teaching at a members home for FHE! 

I am excited to serve with Elder Arts here in the south, and am happy to serve the Lord!

I love you all! Thanks for the Birthday wishes! Have a great week!

-Love Elder Acheson!

WEEK #11 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

Dear Family and Friends, 

To start off the week, a British member took us to an all you can eat French Buffet. It was only 10 Euro, and was really good! 

at the All-You-Can-Eat French Buffet

Then we went on a bus to go to Bergerac and do an exchange. I was with Elder Lindsey, and we taught English and went in for the night. We contacted the next day, and did studies until the bus came. On the bus I talked to a Muslim man in French for about an hour! He was really nice, and was easy to talk to. We didn't talk about Church because he was Muslim, but I did explain what missionaries do!

With Elder Lindsay

Elder Lindsay and I then got off the bus, and we tried to go into a market, but it was closed. A man with a mesh top stopped us, and then told us that there was a Carrefour (grocery store) near the corner. He was speaking English to us. It turns out that he learned English from his Master. He was a butler for Prince Phillip of England... It seems weird, but after speaking to him, I believe him! He is super posh, but dresses weird. He gave us all the gossip of the royal family. 

We finished the conversation, and then another man stopped us and asked us in English if he could talk to us.. 

Turns out he saw us talking to the butler, and waited for us to finish. This mans name was Matthieu. He seems interested in the church, and we gave him a Book of Mormon. He is an entrepreneur, and has lots of free time! I feel like I found MY baptism! 

We finished the exchange in Périgueux, and the Bergerac elders stayed in our apartment. We had district meeting the next day, so we all went to Brive together.

The famous Brive eclairs

We made it to Brive, and got some of their famous Éclairs. They are huge and only 2 Euro! 

We went to the church, and ate the Éclairs, and started to have our meeting. We role played some verses from the Book of Mormon on how to teach. 

After the meeting, we had some Tartiflette, and then we split up. Later that day, I went on an exchange with Elder Rodriguez from Brive. We did a blitz, so we all stayed in Brive. Elder Rodriguez and I visited a less active family, and invited them to come to church! They said they will! So hopefully that happened! 

The next day Elder Thompson and I returned back home, and went to a lesson with our Ami Madame Queyman. We gave her a Date of Baptism! She accepted and with be Baptized at the end of May! Super excited for her! She even came to church this last Sunday!

Getting ready to cut wood

On Saturday, we cut wood for a while with the Donadiers Boys. It was super foggy that morning! Then we ate a good lunch! 

We were super tired after that. We studied, and then did Area Book work. We get iPads this Saturday. So we were organizing the papers for that. 

On Sunday, like I said, our Ami came to church and we taught her the Restoration! We then after church went out to find some old members. We went into a resting home to find a member. We couldn't find her. so we left and went to go contact. 

It started to rain, and we contacted a young guy who talked to us on the bridge for half and hour! We tried to get another lesson with him, but he kept changing the subject. Turns out he was a Jehovah Witness... So we soon ended the conversation and headed home. 

That leaves us to today! Today Elder Thompson and I cleaned the whole apartment really well. We then went shopping, and I got a new Suitcase to use!

One of my favorite book series in French by LDS author Brandon Mull

This week is super short! We have Transfer Calls on Wednesday, and then we leave to Lyon on Friday on a bus, and Mission Conference with Two General Authorities who will give us iPads! 

I love you all, and hope you all have a great week! 

- Love Elder Acheson II

WEEK #10 IN PERIGUEUX, FRANCE

April 13, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Elder Thompson and Elder Acheson

This week was fast! We had some lessons with our Amis. We had one of our Congolese

 Members come and teach Chika with us. We taught her more about the Book of Mormon. 

We taught the other female amis outside in the sun! It was very sunny the past week! It's great! 

Zone Leader--Elder Miner and Elder Acheson

I had a exchange with Elder Miner, my Zone Leader. We were walking to the bus stop, and we met a inactive member. We managed to get a Rendez-Vous for the next day. So we walked over to her house, but she wasn't there. Her 21 year old son was though! He was working on a motorcycle. Watching him work on it makes me want to learn how to repair things like that!

After he got the bike running, we went into his room, and showed him the Easter Christ movie. He liked it, and we showed him the Youtube Mormon Chanel. Hope he looks at more movies!

We were going to have an exchange with another companionship in our district. But one of the Elders was sick, so we did work in our town instead. We had no appointments. So we did a nice day of Porting! We were also fasting. So we walked around and knocked on doors for a great 6 hours! We met some cool people, and hopefully can come back to one or two of those houses.

After we had church, and then we had a good Branch Council. We then went home, broke our fasts, and then ate. The Brive Ward had two baptisms later that day, so we went back to the church to turn on the water. 

There were two families that had their daughters getting baptized. I met an American guy who was teaching at a school near Brive. I told him I was from Provo, and he said he had a family member who taught at BYU! I asked him who it was. He said anyone with the last name Thompson. He then said, One was a legend there. Her name was Janie Thompson. She was in the music programs. 

My 2nd cousin Jacob Thompson and me, Elder Acheson

I smiled and then asked if he knew Bob Thompson, and Carolyn Thompson Lee (my grandma) as well! His eyes grew big, and he was amazed!  Turns out he and I are related! We have the same Great Aunt!  It was pretty funny! I was able to share some of the stories about Janie, because I practically lived at her house. Sadly, neither of us as related to my companion Elder Thompson.

After the baptism, we walked to the apartment of a member. We met a man on a scooter who asked us who we were. We said Mormons, and he didn't know who they were. So we asked if there was another time we could come over and explain more about the church! He said yes! 

We then went to our members home, and he made us some good chicken with vegetables. He also loves the electric guitar. So he played some Black Dog from Led Zeppelin to show off. It was not bad! 

He then dropped us off at home when the evening was over.

For P-day today we went to a great place near the coast called Arcachon! It is a city on the coast, and has a HUGE sand dune next to the beach. We climbed up the huge dune and met up with the other missionaries that came there. We had 12 missionaries total. 

We sat in the sand, played some soccer and football. I took some cool pictures of my name badge in the sand next to the water. 

Just looking at the water made me want to visit back when I am off my mission. I would love to take a boat and just spend a week in the French coast. 

Arcachon was super fun. It was super exhausting because of all the sand we had to walk in. We ran down the super steep part to go back to the bus. One Elder filmed me and I ran and almost hit him! The video turned out pretty good! I would love to visit this place again! 

We came home super tired, and went to FHE, We have a lunch meeting with one of the members in our ward. We are going to a all you can eat French Food Buffet! Can't wait! 

I love you all, and wish you the best! Hope you have a great week! 

-Love Elder Acheson II

Week #9 in Perigueux, France

Dear Family and Friends,

Elders Thompson and Acheson watching LDS General Conference

This week has been fast and slow at the same time! On Wednesday Elder Thompson and I walked ALL OVER town. We went by some old invesitagators, and we saw a less active memeber of the brance. We walking into this real tranquile neighborhood, and we deicided to take a companion picture! We had a Rendez-Vous till 9:30 so we had to run home.

On Thursday we taught our Nigerian Investigator, we did the Restoration and she has a hard time believing that God inspired another set of scriptures. We will keep working on her! 

Elder Thompson and I then went on the bus to go to Bergerac and made a exchange with those Elders. I have found out that I get really car sick in France. There is no AC and its hot, with winding roads... Not a good mix for me. 

Elder Sneddon, who was now my companion for the day, went with me and we got a Kebab for dinner. We then contacted and met a nice lady who gave us her address to go over ways to strengthen the family!

On Friday, we visited our Investigators and invited them to Conference at the Church. None of them could come because they were busy.. After that we had to go to the bus to go back to Bergerac. I got car sick again... 

On Saturday, it was General Conference! It feels like Christmas here in the Mission Field!

We came to the church and made some cookies that got burnt. Then we went into the library upstairs and watched Conference in English. 

My Aunt Bonnie Lee in the middle

My Aunt Betsy Lee Bailey in the lower middle

I saw both my Aunts who sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! It's weird to be across the world and see them!

Sunday was the same plan. We spent all day at the church watching Conference. It was a great Conference! There were many things about the Family. It matches what we are focusing on here in the mission! I loved watching Conference. I hope everyone was able to see it! 

Today on P-Day, EVERYTHING is closed for Easter Monday... So we went into some churches and toured the city. So we have a lot of time to relax and write, and watch some more conference! 

That is what our week was like here in France! It's sunny here in Périgueux right now! We have an amazing view of the Cathedral and the blue sky! 

My Dad sent me a amazing picture that one of our old ward members drew of me! It was drawn out of pencil! )

I love you all, and miss you! I hope you all have a great week!  

-Love Elder Acheson!