WEEK #3 IN MONT DE MARSAN, FRANCE

Bonjour Cher Famille et Amis,

It was a great week here in Mont de Marsan, France! We had a good amount of lessons, and did some good work! We are now officially half way through this transfer. My companion Elder Fritz has half a transfer left of his mission, and I am half way through my 4th Transfer! :) 

Elder Acheson "HOT" in Mont de Marsan

It was very hot this week, and it's only going to get hotter I hear. This Wednesday it will be 104F degrees, or 41C. So very hot... 

To go backwards a little, we had a cool experience and miracle yesterday at church. We had a Ukrainian family arrive at church. The family doesn’t speak French. None of the members could speak English, so they all were freaking out trying to get us out of our class with our investigators so we could talk with the family! 

The members of the family were already members, and were escaping the conflict in Ukraine. The father was the branch president back in Ukraine! They have 3 girls, and 1 boy. Ages 8-2:) it should be great for Mont de Marsan for them to be here! They also live in the same building as our other investigator family who also speak English. 

Alright! Now for the week. 

Tuesday: we did some porting, but nothing came from it. We had an hour of free time because of the service we did yesterday and we went to a sculpture museum in centreville. Then we did some more pass backs. Then we walked to the park to massage our feet. They were very sore from all the walking. While we were sitting down, there were these people playing lawn bowling where you have a small ball and aim other balls at it, but the people playing were very good! The best I've seen! 

On an exchange with Elder Huntsman

We got up and continued to walk. We ported a small road, and talked to two people, but they weren't that interested about our questionnaire. :/  We had to leave and wait at the Gare for our Zone Leaders to come in. Elder Kirkpatrick and Elder Huntsman came off the train, and we separated to do an hour of work. I was with Elder Huntsman, and we ported a small neighborhood. I don’t know Elder Huntsman super well. So it was a great opportunity to get to know him! His father is the new President of the Washington D.C. South Mission, so it was cool to get more information about Mission Presidents. 

We came home and planned and then we all crashed for the night.

Wednesday: Elder Huntsman and I went porting before lunch. No one was home, but it was a great chance to talk about things to improve as a missionary. 

Doing Service!

We returned and ate lunch, then went out to port a small road. No one answered. We then had to return home and change into service clothes. We walked a good distance to a member’s home. We waited in the hot sun for Frere Moulis to drive up. We then entered the member’s home and lifted a really heavy washing machine downstairs into Frere Moulis's car. We then went to the dump to drop it off. Then drove to another person’s home to pick up a new washer. Then drove back to the members home to lift it up the stairs and install it! Super heavy stuff.... 

We finished that, and got dropped off at home, and we changed out of our work clothes, and met the other missionaries at the Gare. We all said goodbye. Frere Moulis, Elder Fritz and I went to go teach Marie Claude. We mostly answered her random questions that she had. She seems like she's ready for her Baptism! We plan to have it on the 4th of July! 

"Hungry Like a Wolf"--our amis' cat

Thursday: we woke up and changed into our service clothes and got picked up by a member. Frere Rivère. We went to his house and shoveled gravel from his garden, and moved it in a wheelbarrow to his neighbor’s driveway. The neighbor was very nice. She also had the nicest Rottweiler dog I have ever met. Frere Rivère is so cool, he is the member that brought his friend and wife to church. He also talked to this lady, and got us a day to do service for her! So next this week we will cut wood for her. 

The castle-like church

After we finished his service, we all drove to Jean-Louis's house for lunch. Jean-Louis and Dominique (his wife) gave us a tour of their little house. It was the old Poste in the super small village. They live right across the street from a castle-like church. 

After the tour of the house, we all sat down and ate some very French food. We then taught them the Plan of Salvation. They seemed to really understand it! 

This couple is very special. They lost their faith from another church, and the husband said that he pretty much decided to be atheist, until he came to church my first week here.

We had to leave, but we scheduled later that week to do service for them. 

We came home and went to the church to do language study. 

Friday: we walked to a park with a lot of animals in it to teach a lesson to our ami Florence. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is Buddhist, but she is accepting the ideas. We gave her the assignment to read 2 Nephi 2. Not only did she read the chapter, she read the chapters around it as well! So that's good news! She's too busy to go to church though, and that's what is the most important. We will keep working with her!

We walked back into town after the lesson, and taught Marie Claude in the park. We went over the things for her Baptism next this week. So we went over those details. 

After our talk, Elder Fritz and I got kebabs and then went home to do weekly planning. 

Saturday: Jean Louis picked us up in his car. We went to his house again, and cut his grass, and did some yard work for him. It was misting rain a little and felt very nice. After we finished working, he had us sit down and talk with him while he cut potatoes for lunch. 

Fois Gras

His wife Dominique cooked steak while we talked, and then we all sat down and ate. Jean Louis makes homemade foie gras. For those that don't know what it is, you make it by feeding a duck too much food. It eats so much that the liver explodes. You then take that, put it in a jar, cool it down, and spread it on bread. It didn't turn out too bad! 

We ate that, and then steak and fries. We then answered their questions on the Book of Mormon, and basic doctrine. Jean Louis is really loving the Book of Mormon. He gets so into the book that he has to tell his wife to stop asking him questions while he reads! 

We showed them the restoration video, and let them keep the DVD. 

After that, we got dropped off by Jean Louis. We then showered, and went to the church to make the Baptismal Program for Marie Claude. 

Sunday: we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ in investigators class. Then like I said at the start of this letter, we had the Ukrainian family show up. 

After church, we ate and studied for a bit. Then we stopped by the Ukrainian family to say hello, and get to know them better. We showed a video in Ukrainian, and then scheduled a time we can help teach French. 

After that we went upstairs to our other investigators. 

We answered many questions during that lesson. The wife is very interested, and wants to try and find the truth. So we discussed prophets, Joseph Smith, why we are serving missions, telling them that we only have 1 wife, telling them that we are not forced to be married, telling them that we still love people who decide that they don't want to be members. It was a great lesson and we sorted out a lot of things they had! They are so kind and it humbles me to see their condition. 

We finished with a prayer, and we went home. 

Elder Fritz and I started to not feel super well. We decided it was something we both ate... So pray that we feel better! 

That's what this week was like! Hope you all enjoy the weather! It will be a desert this week! 

I love you all, and know that Heavenly Father loves you all! 

Love Elder Acheson!

A sneak Peak at this coming week!

Monday: since it was preparation day today we cleaned the apartment. We then went shopping. There is a shopping event two times a year called Soldes. There are lots of discounts on things. So Elder Fritz wanted to get a suit before he left home. So we got him a suit, and then we walked and looked at the other stores. We went into a big mall, and I bought four packs of Mentos candy. They were less than a euro per pack. So of course I had to buy them!? Then we went to the church to write our families.