WEEK #8 IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Hello family and friends! 

This week seemed to fly by like the others. It was a decent week in terms of mission work

So we spent the whole day walking around. We got 14 conversations throughout the day. We met some really interesting people. We gave out some cards, and tried to present our message to people. 

Throughout the week we were seeing Sr. Korpal frequently. We gave her the task to study the plan of salvation and told her we wanted her to help us teach Frederic. She came and did a great job! It was a great lesson.

At the beginning of the week, for companionship study we read a letter I received about mission work. II have been focusing on measuring up to the potential I have to be an even more dedicated missionary. So we decided to try and work harder. 

It's being going better this week. I still am far from the missionary I want to be; at times I get discouraged because all I see are the flaws I have.  I understand this is how many missionaries feel.  We just want to do our best and share this important message about Christ and His church with the people in France.

We went to 2 different villes this week. We went to Cahors on Wednesday and Caussade on Thursday. Cahors is a pretty old city with a very cool bridge fortress. We were able to climb stairs and walk over it. 

There were some old churches and had lots of old buildings.  Something cool is that Cahors is the birthplace of a famous person statesman named Leon Gambetta. There is street called Gambetta in every city in France. So that's pretty cool! 

While we were in an open plaza this Latino lady stopped us in English. Her name is Evelin and she is from El Salvador. She knows about the church but doesn't know anything specific. She said she would like to know more, and is pretty available each week! So we will try to teach her next week. (she is in Barcelona this week). 

We have been taking a different approach with Sr. Korpal lately. She told us she wants her kids to be engaged in the church, and so we are beginning to teach more profoundly. Instead of reading a chapter each time, we are discussing more topics and being more in depth.  

Yesterday we talked about going to the temple. We asked if they were preparing to go. Sr. Korpal said no because there are things stopping her, and she said she was willing to talk about them. 

This week we also started to clean her apartment. It is a very dirty apartment. I did some deep cleaning my mom would be proud of. I stayed mostly in the kitchen. We started the clean the floors and I cleaned the oven top. We cleaned for about 3 hours. There's more to do. 

We also had zone training in Toulouse. We are preparing as a mission to have Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Twelve Apostles come to our mission March 15th.  So we talked a bit about what we are doing to prepare. 

Well, there are some of the things that happened in the week! I'm starting to try harder to do good work, because my time is starting to wax small. I still got some time, but a lot less than I think. 

I love you all, I know the church is true, and I love you! 

Elder Race Acheson

P.S. We are going to Toulouse today to go shopping at a commercial center with more than 120 stores. Love you! Have fun! 

WEEK # 7IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Hello everyone! Well week one of the new transfer is done! 

Elder Pesnell is gone:/ he's been exiled from the mission (ha ha). He's now in Bastia on Corsica. It's the island that's close to Italy and Sardinia. I wish him the best! 

I am serving now with Elder Wall. He's from Bountiful Utah and he is in his 5th transfer and is doing fine! He is also a chef! So we eat like kings. 

We had a good week. While waiting in Toulouse for Elder Wall, we went touring and saw some cool places. We went inside this old palace called the Capitol and went into some shops. 

When Elder Wall came into town, we all went to a Chinese buffet. It was good, but not American...:/ after lunch we left on our train.

We got back into Montaubaun Monday night and we did our emails. I got to show Elder Wall around a little and showed him some of the old French brick buildings. 

On Tuesday we went shopping and we went around and took some p-day time to look around. We then went and talked with our less active Sr. Korpal. We introduced Elder Wall to her and we got a relationship going. 

On Wednesday we did some finding. We walked down the long walking trail and got 14 conversations in about an hour and half! Elder Wall can do a magic trick, so we contacted a few people that way. 

We then read again with Sr. Korpal. We are trying hard to get her to church. So we want to see her as much as possible.  After reading we took a bus and met up with the branch president of Albi. He was in town to do some work. He took us bowling! So we had some fun there! I forgot how much I love bowling. 

Thursday was a fun day! We had our mission work meeting with our branch mission leader. We talked over the things we are doing. Fr. Caplin our branch mission leader actually served with Elder Wall's dad during his mission! So it's a cool reunion! 

After our meeting, we took a train to Toulouse. I had to go to Grenoble to get my Legality Card. So Elder Wall went to Albi, a different sector in the zone. Elder Loosle who's in Albi now, took a train with me to Grenoble.  

Elder Loosle and I had a good conversation with a lady on a train. She thought we were Amish, but we corrected her very easily. We showed her our iPads. 

We made it to Valance and joined up with Elder Steadman and his Blu (new missionary). We all took the train and then went to Grenoble together. We crashed at the apartment after. 

On Friday we went to the prefecture to get our cards. We had to wait in line outside and it was really cold. We managed to get our cards quickly enough to catch a bus back to valence. 

The bus was really full, so we all had to spread apart. I sat next to a guy and we talked the whole hour. We talked a little about what I did as a missionary. Then about business in France, and how it was good to know two languages. He man wasn't really interested to talk about religion, so I took the chance to practice speaking about more basic topics. 

Elder Loosle and I took a train to Montpelier, and waited for an hour in the warm sun. We talked for a bit over the train tracks and reflected on our progress in the mission. We are at about 9 months left. So we were talking about how much we have left to improve. 

We took a train to Toulouse and went back with our companions. Elder Wall and I then came back to Montaubaun and read with Sr. Korpal. 

On Saturday morning we played basketball and soccer. We had more members come this time! I'm starting to improve in both sports! We had a few random kids join us for soccer, and one was 8, and he could kick the ball so hard!

After some sports, we went back and studied. We had a baptism in the branch of a little girl, so we went to that. We had snacks after, and we all mingled together. 

After the baptism, we went home and did some weekly planning. We then  taught Frederic. We started teaching about the plan of salvation a little more in depth. 

Frederic is going great! He remembers everything we teach and what he reads. So it's pretty easy to teach him. 

On Sunday we had church like usual and we went and ate with Sr. Korpal and played Uno. We read some scriptures, and asked if we could help clean her apartment. So we will probably go over on Friday. 

After we left we walked and tried to contact. Since it was Sunday there was no one. So after some time we went home and did some studies. 

Then I got a hair cut from Elder Wall. 

So somethings I didn't add...

Everyday we have had really good food! Elder Wall loves to cook, so I let him take the helm. 

Happy Birthday to my brother Chase! The Big 22!

Well, I love you everyone! I hope you have a good week! 

-Love, Elder Race Acheson 

WEEK #6 IN MONTAUBAUN, FRANCE

Hello everyone!

Well it looks like, the transfer has come to an end. Elder Pesnell is getting exiled to Corsica. Who knows how long he will be there?!  It is really cool for him to be assigned to Corsica.  Only 6 missionaries serve on this island.

I will be receiving Elder Wall. He is coming from Rodez, France which is a small ville just next to our sector. So not a big change for him.

So for the last week of the transfer we had nothing too exciting happen. We are still trying to find new amis to teach.  Please pray for us.  There was big excitement when a dryer was delivered! That means no more air drying out clothes! We spent some time looking at new apartments with our branch mission leader. We think we may have found one. It's in a really cool place in center ville. 

We had district meeting where we had an open discussion about lots of different topics. We talked about how to help our less actives, how to have a better connection with our Father in Heaven, how to communicate better with your companion, and other things. 

After district meeting we went out contacting. I went with Elder Brady Haug. He is half Mexican and German. So he speaks like 4 languages. We had a good talk while we walked in the rain in Toulouse. 

We got our calls and Elder Pesnell started packing. Then we taught Frederic about the restoration. Since he is now baptized we are re-teaching him the lessons but going more in depth. On Saturday we cooked crepes. We didn't have a pan, so we used a pie tin. We had to use paper towels to get a grip of it. It didn't turn out took bad. After eating with Frederic at the church we watched Legacy in French. 

We visited our less active Sr. Korpal. We played Uno with he her a few times. She's sad to say goodbye to Elder Pesnell. He's been here in Montaubaun for 6 months!

On Saturday morning we helped move a piano of a member. We then bought cheese at the cheese cart. 

On Sunday we took photos with all the members. We the played more uno with St. Korpal. Then we got picked up by Fr. Dieute and had dinner with his family. 

It's been kind of a bittersweet week. It's sad to say goodbye to Elder Pesnell. But it's happy for him to finally experiences in our places in the most beautiful mission in the world! 

Well everyone, sorry it's a short email. I love you all, and should have more info next week! Loves!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #5 IN MONTAUBAUN, FRANCE

Hello friends and family!

This week Frederic was baptized!!!  More about that event later!




This Morning we woke up to no power. So we used flashlights to shower and get ready! I'm use this type of stuff now.

As for the other stuff, we are happy to announce that Frederic was baptized! It's been a long time since he has been seeing the missionaries! So this is great news.

Am trying a different style of writing my emails, so I will talk about the things that happened in the week without putting bullet points for the days. So forgive me for the new layout...

To start the week out, we had an exchange with our zone leaders. I went to Toulouse with Elder Thompson. While we were on the train it broke down for 20 minuets. Don't know exactly why. But once we got into town we did some studies and ate. We went a did a little contacting. We went and taught one of their Amis Cederic. He's a cool guy. He has a kids swimming pool in his small one room apartment for a pet fish. He also had a great view of Toulouse. I'll make sure to attach the photo I took.

The main purpose of the lesson was to try and get him to stop smoking. So we went over the program that the church has. He wasn't too ready to stop. So we talked a little more about his desires.

After Cederic we had a meeting with the ward mission leader. We were with the other missionaries in the ward. Elder Pien and Hoopes. They talked about all the things that they were doing with the people they are teaching.

After our meeting Elder Thompson and I went porting. We had a few cool conversations with people. No one wanted do to learn more, so we just kept on porting. It was good though because we practiced different styles of talking to people.

After our porting we went back to the apartment.

The next day i didn't leave Toulouse. We met up with Elder Pesnell and Ottesen, and then with Elder Walters and Lantierares. Elder Walters is our District leader, and he was going to Montauban to interview Frederic. So I stayed with Elder Lantierares. We all went and got the Toulouse Kebab and then split up.

Elder L and I returned to their apartment to get his iPad. We then started to contact and pass by some people. We did that until we went and taught an Ami. He was this nice guy who seemed a little special. We taught him the plan of salvation. He seemed to enjoy it. He said that he would even come to church.

After that lesson we took a bus to a small ville called Muret. We were going to visit a member. While walking we met this lady and she asked us if we were American. Elder L is Tahitian, but I was! She spoke to us in English. She was from Algeria and knew English, Spanish, Japanese, French and German. Mostly from watching films in those languages. She was Buddhist, but knew a little about our church. We walked with her and we told her a little about e genealogy program. She said she was pretty interested in that. So we got her number.

We then went to the members home. We talked about the mission plan, and then ate. It was fun to become friends with this member and his wife. They seemed really told me that they would look forward to the day when I'm called to their Ward!

They were kind enough to drop us off at the Gare.

The next day I came back to Montauban. Elder Pesnell and I had a French lesson with Frederic where he taught us some stuff about the language.

Then we went home and ate and did studies. After we went out and contacted. We only walked about a 100 yards, but it took an hour to get that far. We talked with two people for a long time. We talked to a Jew who met the elders a long time ago. We talked to him about a lot of stuff in his past, his family, and what he did everyday. He was really nice but not interested.

We contacted a little more after that, and then went and read the Book of Mormon with Sr. Korpel.

When we finished with Korpel, we went to the church to wait for people to come play ping pong. No one came. So we went and ate Pizza and came back to join the Skpe branch council.

The next day we did our week planning. We went through the next week and planned some of the stuff we wanted to do. I then cooked some master tacos for lunch. They were pretty good! I'm getting closer to making it taste like the one in Lyon!

We had our meeting with our branch mission leader. We talked about he baptism for Frederic. After that we went and contacted for a bit. We met this really nice 93 year old lady walking on the walking trail. We talked with her for a bit. This was the second time we met her. She is so sweet and cute! We had to catch a bus so we said good bye to her.

We went and read with Sr. Korpel. We are just reading a lot with her so so has the desire to come to church. No progress yet... But we will get there!

We then left and taught Frederic. We went over the details of his baptism. It was a simple lesson. We then went to the Gare after to catch a train to the Le Sauxs house. There was a train from Toulouse that had Toxic material on it, and something happened to it on the track. So all the trains where canceled.

We took the bus back home and Sr. le Saux came and picked us up. We had crepes at their house. They were authentic French crepes. The ones with ham and egg cooks on top.

While waiting for he crepes, we played with her little son Damian. He is the cutest kid ever! He loves to dance to music and he's just 1. He started putting this crown on our heads. It was so cute!

We talked about sports with Frere Le Saux, and he told us about how the Utah Jazz is doing. They have a French basketball player on the team, so it's pretty popular here in France. Since we got there late, fr. Le Saux had to drop us off after eating. It was a great evening anyway.

It finally was the day of the baptism of Frederic. We had Samdie sportif where we played basketball. After playing we went to the cheese cart and got a lot of French cheese. We ate some for lunch, and then we showered. We then staying in our p-day clothes and helped move a member from the top floor in a house to the basement. We were with the other members of the branch.

We moved things downstairs, and I took down a IKEA bed! I was a master at that from my previous 3 months...

After moving the member we got dropped off at the church to set up for the baptism for Frederic. We changed at the church into our suits. And made sure the font was full. They have a big portable font with tarp to hold the water. They rent he building, so they can't have a real font.

Frederic showed up and got changed and we sang and did the program for his baptism. The baptism was successful and we all ate food after.

Then we came home and were happy little missionaries:)

On Sunday Frederic got the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was set apart as a member of our church. It's great to have a new person in the Branch. We are very excited for Frederic.

After church I was playing the piano and Damian Le Saux waddled up and wanted to play. So I sat him next to me and we pounded out some songs. He is just the most adorable child.

We went home after church and studied.mtgen we went and played uno and read scriptures with Sr. Korpel. We got a soft commitment from her that she will come to church next Sunday!!! So hopefully she keeps her word.

After her were walked to the church and was picked up by Fr. Dieute. We had burritos at his house with his family. We talked with their two daughters and we all started making fun of the youngest girls accent. She has a Toulouse accent and says "yang" at the end of lots of her words. It sounds mean,  but it was all nice playful joking. The father was leading the jokes;)

We shared a video of members doing service and being missionaries. We talked about the small things they are doing to be missionaries. This family is a really good family for mission work. I hope to see them after the mission.

We were then taken home:)


Whew! There's the week! That puts an end to week 5! Now it's the last week of the transfer. Elder Pesnell and I hope we stay together! So let's see what happens!


I love you all!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #4 IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Dearest family and Friends! 

We had a wacky week! It's been full of trains...

On Monday we had our normal p-day. At the end of the day we went to the Gare and took a train to Tarbes. It's a small ville farther south. We were going to have Zone Conference in Bayonne in Tuesday. So in order to have time to get there, we came down the day before.

Elder Pesnell and I had a great talk on the way down. And once we got to Tarbes, we got a kebab with all the elders there. We were with the Rodez Elders and Tarbes Elders. We went to their "loft". The have a second level in their apartment! We since there were lots of people, some of us slept on the floor. 

On Tuesday, I didn't get much sleep, and we had to wake up at 5:00 AM to get ready and catch our train. We got to the Gare, and found out that there was a train strike. So all the trains to Bayonne were canceled... So we took a train back to Montauban. We got into town at 4:00PM 

We went and read the Book of Mormon with our less active member, Sr. Korpel. 

Then we went home. 

On Wednesday, we our only real day of work. We went contacting on the nice long trail. There was no one:/ so we went and printed off our tickets for the next day. Since we didn't have the chance to go to zone conference, we were going up on Thursday to have conference on Friday in Lyon. 

After we printed out the tickets, we went and scheduled an appointment with a real estate place to find a new apartment. Our current apartment is being sold.

Then we went and taught Frederic. We taught him about the importance of the sacrament. Frederic has improved a great deal since I came to Montauban! He has started to follow the word of wisdom, and seems like he's reading more in the Book of Mormon! So before his baptism, we wanted to make sure he understood the importance of the sacrament. 

So we went over the scriptures that talked about the sacrament, and even showed the bible video of Christ and the last supper. Frederic seemed to really like it.

On Thursday, we had our weekly meeting with Frere Caplin. We talked about the mission work, and we updated him on everything we were working on. 

Once we finished that, we had to hurry to the Gare to catch our train to Toulouse.
We got into Toulouse and then joined the other missionaries going up to Lyon.

We made it into Lyon and we went straight to Master Tacos, my favorite place. This week we are buying a lot of ingredients to make master tacos at our apartment.

After dinner, all of us went back to the office elder's apartment. We then talked together for a good long while. We all slept on the train, so we had a lot of energy.

On Friday, we all took the metro to the Ecully chapel, and we started zone conference.

The subject of the conference was to talk about the Apostasy and the Restoration.
It was a really great learning experience on how to teach. We need to focus on showing the need of a restoration by describing the effects of the apostasy.

So hopefully that will easier to teach people here!

After conference, we all ate pizza. There probably was a pizza for each person. The. After lunch we all took the metro and bus to the ancient ruins of Lyon. We went to the amphitheater, and we had the missionaries returning home give their testimonies.

President Brown then talked about how the place we were sitting in was older than Christ. 

After that we all came down and stood In a circle and sang our mission song "Les Angels". 

After that elder Pesnell and I booked it to the church to grab our stuff and make it to the Gare to catch our train back to Montauban. 

Saturday: we did our samedi sportif. We played basketball and soccer with some members and random people who were playing. I am starting to get better at soccer! I might even want to play it after my mission...

After we showered and got ready, we went and taught Frederic. We read a talk by President Monson, and talked about how the temple was an important part of the gospel. Frederic seemed excited to go! 

After Frederic, we did some studies, and then went to the church to play ping pong with Sr. Korpel  and her kids.

We had church on Sunday, and we had a good lesson of self reliance. So we all talked about ways we can become self reliant, and help others become self reliant.

After church, we then went to Sr. Korpel's house and ate lunch with her and her kids. We then played Uno. After some time of playing, we went out of the apartment and sat on the staircase to read the Book of Mormon. We read with Sr. Korpel's daughter Rachel. We talked about the importance of applying the teachings. Rachel is only home on the weekends, so we can't see her too often. 

After reading and talking, We went home and finished studies, and weekly planning.


In all reality, we had two full days of work in Montauban. We managed to do some good work on those same days! The rest was trains, and conferences.

This is now the 5th week of the transfer! Time has flown by fast! Elder Pesnell is super cool! And we get a long great.