WEEK #3 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Happy 20th Birthday Elder Acheson!!!!

Hey everyone!

I hope that you had a good week! It turned out to be a pretty good week here in Nimes. I turned 20, and now am not a teenager anymore... That's kind of a weird feeling. 

Some of the highlights of the week is that we had Zone Conference in Aix-en-Provence, we had 25 conversations in a day, saw some less actives in an outer ville, and then we also had some really good homemade pizza for my birthday dinner. 

As for the specifics for the week I guess I can start on Monday. 

So since Elder Quinn is going home soon, we spent most of the day trying to get things on his USB like his photos and videos. That took a while. So that was pretty much P-day. After doing all of that we went and did some contacting. While walking we saw this guy so we contacted him. He was originally from Ghana, but lives in the UK. We talked a lot about the Bible and the Book of Mormon. It was an interesting conversation. The main focus of the conversation was mostly about the principle that the Bible isn't the only source of scripture. Our guy had to leave to go catch a plane to go back to the UK, but he gave us hugs at the end of the conversation. We were glad to end on good terms. 

The next day we had an exchange with the District Leader. So we had his comp with us in Nimes. Elder Quinn, Wiburg and I. We mostly did a lot of contacting. Elder Wiburg is a machine. So we got around 25 conversations. It was a good exchange because I got a better idea on how to talk to everyone. So my contacting has been improving this week. 

We went and taught a less active member the Plan of Salvation. This is the same one that we saw the week ago. It was a good lesson, but the son was asking some weird questions about things that weren't really important. Oh well... 

After the less active, we pretty much did some more contacting. We contacted this lady that was kind of angry that we stopped her. Then we started talking about God and then she got easier to talk to. She had a 12-year-old boy, and he was pretty cool. He found out that we were American and he was super shocked and said that we were super lucky. His dream is to go visit New York. I told him that I have been there and he was super excited. I gave him one of our pass along cards and he said that he would keep it forever. 

We gave the mom a card as well and she said that she would look up the website as well, so we felt that was a great contact!

The next day we had a less active day! We had a member pick us up and take us to an outer ville named Ales. We visited an American lady who doesn't have a car, so she can't come to church. She had every wall covered with some type of Michael Jackson memorabilia. We spoke in English with her  for most of the lesson.  We talked about how she was doing, and how she was going with her prayers and scripture reading. She seems like she is doing the best she can in her situation. We shared Alma 32 with her and talked about how faith is like a seed. It seemed to help her:) 

After seeing her, we went over to another less actives house. She was sick so she can't really come to church. We spent some time talking about things that were going on. During the time that the member was talking I was busy playing with the super cute little dog. The member had this dog and it was trying so hard to jump on my lap.

We ended the visit with her by giving her a blessing. She was very happy after the prayer, and thanked us for giving it to her. 

When we left we went back home. We did some contacting and then we went home. 

The next day was April 28th, which was my birthday! So I opened my package my family sent me. I got some BYU shorts and shirts, candy, some cool socks, an iPad Usb converter (perfect for missionaries! Thanks mom and dad!) 

After studies we went and did some contacting. After that we went to the store and I bought some stuff to make pizzas. We were going to have pizza for my birthday dinner.  I LOVE PIZZA!

So for the day of work we went to an outer ville and we visited an ancient ami. The ami was busy so she couldn't see us. So we went and tried to go talk to people. There was so one in the streets and so we couldn't contact anyone. So we walked around. We Took the bus back to Nimes. Then we went to visit a member. We talked to her about her family and then about her friends. We are trying to find investigators through the members in the ward. This member has already tried to talk to her neighbors. We were glad to come visit the member because she said that it was the very first time she has had the missionaries over to her house. It was because we are a trio that we could come over, so she was thankful for that. 

We then passed our ami that we taught once before. We shared the spiritual thought on Peter healing the crippled man in front of the temple. The lady we visited is named Madame Exprayate? At least that's how we pronounce it. 

After visiting our ami we went home and I started making pizzas. They turned out pretty good! It turned out like Deep Dish. 

The next day we woke up early to catch a train to Aix for zone Conference. 

We got there a little late. We had the conference on Baptizing converts. So we went over the important steps for getting someone ready for baptism, such as the protocols for interviews and requirements. 

We had lunch and I met another Elder named Elder Aitchison. He seems super cool! So hopefully president puts us together sometime! 

Since Elder Quinn is going home, he gave his Testimony in front of the zones. He did a great job! After that we had to run to the Gare to catch our train. It was pretty warm while we ran, but it was a scenic run you could say. Aix is one of the most beautiful cities in France.

We took the train back to Marseille and while we were there we met a return missionary visiting France. He served here a few years ago. We both had our birthday the day before so it was cool to meet someone that shared the same day. 

We took the same train as he did, and Elder Quinn asked him lots of questions on how to go back home and not have too much of a shock. The return missionary said that it was impossible to avoid the shock.... Good luck Elder Quinn. 

 Next day we did an hour of contacting before lunch. Then we ate and did Weekly planning. We had to then go right way to Frere Bells house. He is the American guy who had us help move stuff. We cleaned out the garage and helped put things into his small car. We then helped clean out his pool. Elder Quinn skimmed out all the gross stuff inside, and then I came in and lifted up the plastic bottom to move all the water.

We then moved a rowing machine. While Frere bell was coming back with the car, elder Quinn and I tried it out. 

After the service we came home to have dinner. 

On Sunday we passed our Amis apartment to bring her to church, but she said that she wasn't feeling good, so we couldn't bring her.

 We went to church anyway and we had a good meeting. We studied the talk of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. 

After church we went and did our studies. We contacted after and I got a number of a 17 year old from the Ivory Coast. He said that he was free on Sunday's! Hopefully we can see him sometimes! 

After contacting we went over to the Bell family's house. We talked for a bit and we had Fajitas with them. At the end of the night, since Elder Quinn's favorite drink is Dr. Pepper, Fr. Bell gave him a 6 pack. 

We walked home and we settled in for the night. 

Well I guess that’s the week for us! I love you all, and hope that you have great week, and I will talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Race Acheson