Monday, February 8, 2016

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



































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