WEEK #6 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello everyone! This transfer has come to an end. Elder Steadman's going to Valance, and I'm staying and receiving Elder Keller. He's a few transfers older than me, but we both will be senior companions.

So, to update the week!

On Monday we had presidents P-day! That's where the two Lyon zones go to presidents house and just chill. There's a volleyball net on the grass, a basketball court, and ping pong down stairs.

We had lunch and played until the evening. President then talked to all of us on being safe in Lyon. It's become a target city, so we just need to be careful.

Tuesday:  we did a little inventory of the garage. And then we drove down to Grenoble to stay the night.

Wednesday: we drove to Gap to go drop off some things to the new senior couple, the walkers. We saw our friend Elder Engle, who came into the mission with us. We stayed for lunch, and we had an early thanksgiving meal!

We had to head home after that. The drive to Grenoble was through winding mountain roads. It was beautiful!

When we got back to Grenoble, the elders weren't home. So we went to the top of the mountain to check out a fort. There were even caves and we got some awesome pictures. 

Thursday: we came back to Lyon, and then to St. Etienne to help move some things into the sister's new apartment. Their old one got all smokey due to a fire. We had to fit in a huge dresser into the car. We barley got it in!

After St. Etienne we came home. We stole some bunk beds from their apartment, so we set them up at our home!

Friday: we got our transfer calls, and went to Geneva to get some things at IKEA for the English speaking elders.

We had to shop for some things they needed for their apartment.

We dropped off their things at their apartment, and then we drove home. It rained super hard the entire way back. Looks like it's finally winter now...

Saturday: we did a small exchange with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Walker and we went to play Soccer. Elder Steadman went with Elder Hansen to a baptism.

At soccer it started to rain and blow wind. It was freezing, so soccer was canceled. Elder Walker and I decided to go to McDonalds for an early lunch.

After lunch we met up wth the other elders.

Elder Steadman and I then went to St. Etienne again. We went to Ikea again, and got some sheets and new blankets for the sisters there.

We dropped that off, and went to Buffalo Grill for a early dinner.

We got some good steak and Mac and Cheese. I started to crack some salt on my food, but I broke the salt shaker, and salt went all over my plate. We then drove home in the rain again!


On Sunday elder steadman packed and then we went to church. We came back and picked up Elder Sorenson and Hansen at the Gare, and we brought them back to our apartment.

And this Monday morning we went to the Gare to meet up with all the people leaving.
Now we are at the mall shopping!

Well that's the end of this transfer! I love you all! We hopefully have Gabriel's baptism this Saturday! He's doing great! Keep praying for him! Pray for us!

-Love Elder Race Acheson




















Photos:

1. Presidents P-Day
2. On the way to Gap
3. The city of Grenoble
4. Me falling off a cliff
5. Elder Steadmans turn 
6. Cool caves photo
7. New beds
8. Salt all over my food

WEEK #5 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello friends and family! Just to let everyone know, we are safe and ok. The attacks in Paris were horrible, and we feel and see the shock here in Lyon. Keep praying for the families affected. They need all the prayers possible.

Now to update everyone on the week.

On Monday, we had Zone Pday. We went as a zone and did some Bowling.


It was pretty darn fun! It's been over a year since I went bowling.
Elder Steadman and I also play a lot of Ping Pong. We decided to buy matching companionship Paddles.

They add crazy spin to the ball! I think I found my new favorite sport.
We then went to Master Taco with the Office Elders. We then spent the night over at their apartment. It was a great time to get to know them more.

On Tuesday, we drove to Grenoble to go get some things from one of the apartments. We spent the night there, and got some kebabs with our good friend Elder Sorenson and his trainee Elder Hansen.
We played some games until it was time to go to bed

On Wednesday, we came back to Lyon, and then we did some inventory of our garage. We have so much stuff jam packed in there. So that took some time.

After the inventory, we went with Gabriel and his friend Okasha to the Sweeney’s apartment. They are one of the office couples. They fed us Navajo Tacos! It was great to have a taste of Amercia.

We then taught the Plan of Salvation to Okasha. He's 17 and practicing Muslim, so we can't really teach him too much. It was great to be with him though!

On Thursday, we had district meeting, and did some fun activities to practice the idea of planning. We did things from walking blindfolded in a maze, to dropping candy from a chair into our mouths.

After the meeting, we drove up to Suisse. We got there at night. So we slept at the Zone Leaders apartment.

On Friday, we drove up to Martingy which is deep in the Swiss Mountains. We had to drop off a money card to a new missionary. 

When we got into Martingy, it was in a huge fog cloud, due to the fact it's in a valley in some steep mountains. 

We drove up the mountain to get out, and we suddenly left the cloud bank! 

We rose up above all the clouds, and we had to take pictures.

When we got to the other side of the mountain, it was even more beautiful with the sun! There were villages on the top of the mountain as well!

We started our descent to the other side, and it still was beautiful! 

We then drove home to get to a meeting with Gabriel. We got to Lyon at 3:30, and went to the institute to meet up with Gabriel. Something was up with his phone so we couldn't get in touch. 

We waited for a bit, and then it was time for dinner. We decided to get Chinese food because we were a little sad. The meeting was suppose to be his Baptismal Interview with President Brown. 

We ate and returned home.

On Saturday, we got a text in 4:30 in the morning that woke us up. It was President Brown telling us that there were attacks in Paris. We were told that we were on lockdown until further notice. The borders of France were closed, and everyone was to stay where they were. 

We got the OK to start work at 9:00AM. Elder Steadman and I went over to president’s house to drop off some boxes, and when we got there, we talked with president about what happened. Sister Brown sent us off with cookies.

We went to the garage to do some more inventory, and to throw away some broken wood. 

We had a rendezvous at the Institute, so we ate lunch and went to the institute. We took the metro, and when we got to the institute, we found out that all the missionaries were not to take public transport in case of an attack. 

Our ami didn't show up, so we walked home. It was a long walk, so we ate dinner when we got home, and it was also dark outside. We were told to be inside our apartments before dark for safety. 

On Sunday, we drove to church, and we sat in the front with Gabriel. We had class with him, and everything was smooth. He is happy, and we had to push his baptism date to the 28th. We went home after church and ate. We have church at 1:30 so by the time we leave and eat, it's dark outside. 

So these next days will be interesting. Pray for us all that no more attacks will happen. 

It's funny. This is the FIRST time we were in France for the weekend. There was a big possibility that we could have been trapped in Suisse because of the attacks.

I love you all! Pray for Paris, and pray for us and Gabriel! 

-Love Elder Race Acheson 

Pictures: 

  1. my name tag in Swiss on our drive.

1. The houses on top of the mountains.
2. Me over looking the clouds above Martingy.
3. Our matching ping pong paddles
4. Pano of the village.
5. Steadman popping a balloon in my mouth in the garage. 
6. Our zone at bowling. 

WEEK #4 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello family and friends! Welcome to another week here in The Lyon Mission! 

On Wednesday we had a great zone conference with President Brown. We talked about the first vision of Joseph smith. Then about companionship unity. To demonstrate how two things that are different can create something strong, president brought out his Longbow. We all then went outside and watched president shoot a bottle in midair with the bow.

After the conference, we all had Master Tacos for lunch. There was about 100 2 liter bottles of soda, so... no one was thirsty after that.

Later that night we had a dinner appointment with Elder Sweeney. He's a senior missionary in the office.  We were supposed to eat also with Gabriel, but somehow we couldn't get a hold of him. So it ended up just being us 3!  We had a great time with Elder Sweeney.

Thursday we went up to Switzerland at around 9 in the morning. While driving up there, we stopped at this small ville with a beautiful lake. We ended up took some nice pictures there. I almost got attacked by some swans as well. 

We then arrived at the former mission home in Switzerland and we cleaned out one of the fridges in the garage. It stunk really bad, so I threw some bleach water on it. 

Friday we drove up to Neuchâtel to go drop off some things for the elders there. Then we drove back to Geneva and started clearing out more things in the apartments we have been working on. We pretty much are finished. We just had to break down some wood furniture and throw it away:) 

Saturday we finished up our little tasks of cleaning, and went to store called Migros.. Then we got about 100€ of Swiss chocolate. A senior couple in the office gave us some money to buy chocolate for their kids as a Christmas present. So we got LOTS! 

We then drove back to Lyon. We then went to a baptism at the Ecully Chapel. That's the other church in Lyon. The Chinese companionship in our Ward had a baptism! So we saw that go down. 

Sunday: we had some Americans come to church. They were the family of the wife of the stake president. It was cool to introduce Gabriel, our ami, to them. It was also the Primary program! It was cute to watch kids speak French in their cute little voices. 

Now an update for Gabriel. We had little contact with him this week. He did come to church, and he's still good for baptism! So pray that we can teach him this week! 

I love you all! 

-Love Elder Race Acheson