WEEK #4 IN MONT DE MARSAN, FRANCE

Hello everyone! 

This week was very very hot. Everyday I was soaking in sweat. The hottest it got was 41 degrees Celsius. That's about 105 F. The humidity is very heavy here. My big brother Chase is also home from his mission! It feels weird to be the only Acheson member now on a mission. 

This week I will start off on Tuesday. We had an exchange with the missionaries from the city of Bayonne. I was with Elder Cueva from Spain, and we walked a lot in the hot sun to try and find some new people to teach. It was burning hot, so it was hard to work.

We spent most of the day in the 105F heat. While we were walking, we talked to an atheist on the street. We talked about the family. I testified how I know the family is eternal. It was easy to talk because this guy could speak great English. He was very kind, but wasn't interested to know more.

 

Notice how sweaty we all are!

We eventually met up with Elder Fritz and the other Bayonne elder to teach Marie Claude. We talked about prayer, and that went great. It was fun for Marie Claude to meet more missionaries. 

After that lesson, Elder Cueva and I walked to the Ukrainian family. We did a small lesson to teach French. We want to help them learn French so they can function here. Elder Cueva speaks like 5 different languages, and knows a little Ukrainian, so it was easy to teach them some French.

We did that for an hour, and then we had to leave for home. 

Wednesday: we said goodbye to the Bayonne elders, and said hello to the Zone Leaders. They were here to interview Marie Claude for the baptism. Before we went to the interview, I went porting with Elder Kirkpatrick. He is a really cool guy! I learned a lot of great things in just an hour of porting with him. 

We then walked to the church and had the interview. She passed! We then walked the Zone Leaders to the Gare. Elder Kirkpatrick and I wanted a drink, so we ran in the hot sun to get enough time to buy a drink. The store we went into didn't have drinks, so we ran for nothing. 

We dropped them off, and then Elder Fritz and I went back to the church to finalize some information. That was about all that day!

Thursday: we had service with Jean Louis, so we woke up and got picked up. We then stacked wood for an hour or two. We helped out some neighbor friends of Jean Louis. We then started to cut some wood. On my 3rd swing of the axe, I broke the handle. So no more cutting wood for the day...

We went inside and had lunch. We ate this weird salty jelly with a hard boiled egg inside. Then we had some cooked deer. It was an interesting meal. 

We didn't get a chance to teach after because we had to hurry home and change to get picked up by the branch president to teach an ami. 

We taught our ami, Gladness, with Frere Moulis. We talked about prayer, reading, and church attendance. All three of those things are important to have the spirit with you. With those three things, you can get so much inspiration from God! 

After we finished, we then walked to Marie Claude's house to get information for her baptism.  

Friday: we had to end studies early so we could walk an hour to a park to teach Florence.  We talked about prayer, church, and scriptures like the day before. She is reading, but doesn't have the desire to come to church yet. She is also busy on Sundays. 

We then had to get some food for the baptism the next day, so we walked to Carrefour. After that we got lunch at McDonald's. We got a Speculoos Mcflurry. It was super good! It is made of the great Speculoos cookies here in France.

After lunch, we came home, and went to a meeting with our DMB, Hoppy (that's his name), and Frere Moulis at the church. We talked about the things for the baptism, and then mission work.

Then we went and taught some French to the Ukrainian family. We taught them some easy stuff they could use to get better at French. They are picking things up quickly! 

Then we went upstairs and taught our friends the Longies. We talked with the dad. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and just answered some questions. It wasn't a long lesson.

Saturday: we went to Pau with Frere Moulis and Marie Claude to her baptism.

The baptism was great! Marie Claude burned some incense in the bathroom so the church smelled funky. But it went great. 

It was great to see her make a convent with God, and see her change! 

We ate food after, and then everybody left.

We slept during the drive back to Mont de Marsan and then get dropped off at home. 

 

Happy 20th birthday Elder Fritz

Then we studied, and ate some pasta sent from America! It was also Elder Fritz's birthday! July 4th! 

Sunday: church was almost normal! I translated for the Ukrainian kids during primary. That was fun! Then I helped teach how to say church words in French! 

Marie Claude was confirmed a member during church, and then elder Fritz and I bore our testimonies for Fast Sunday. 

We got a ride home, and we studied, and then we went and taught the Longie family again. We talked to the mom who speaks better English, and answered their questions on the Book of Mormon. 

It was a pretty decent Sunday! 

That's about it for the week! We have interviews with our new president, President Brown, this Saturday! We have a busy busy week! Service 3 times, and then a hike with a less active! Should be great! 

I love you all! 

Love Elder Race Acheson