WEEK #15 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Dear Family and Friends,

So the week really started on Tuesday. We have lots of less actives, so we are trying to get into contact with them. We took a bus to an outer ville to go see a couple. The city was called St. Gilles and there was no one there. We contacted only 1 person the whole day there due to the lack of people. We walked across the whole town trying to find some of the other less actives. We had to walk on the highway to cross over to the other side of town. 

We probably won't go back to that town for a while... We did have the chance to teach Agnes at the church after we got back and that was great. We reviewed of all the lessons. So we went over again law of chastity, tithing, word of wisdom, and some of her questions. She took word of wisdom well, and she seems to be progressing! 

So on Tuesday we stayed in Nimes and walked around to try and find people to teach. We walked into a neighborhood to change things up. No one was there. It's hard to find people when it's the middle of the day and it's burning hot. 

While walking down a main avenue we passed some Jehovah Witnesses. We waved hello and one of them said "hello!" In English. So we went over and talked with them for a bit. There was a couple and they spent about 6 years in America for their church. So we had a good time talking about our experiences. The man I was talking was really nice and it was an uplifting conversation. We talked about tolerance between different faiths and being united by God. It was probably the best JW conversation I have had. 

We went to dinner later that night with the British Jones couple in the ward. They like to take us out dinner every other week, and I'm not opposed to that. We went to Buffalo Grill and it was really good! Got a nice big burger. It wasn't anything close to American, but it was really good. 

It was funny when we got there because one of the waitresses remembered me because I had contacted her a few weeks ago in my last companionship.

On Wednesday it was the 14th of July, so it was the celebration day for the nation, Bastille Day. We decided that we would go out of ville and see if we could pass some more less actives. We went to Ales. It's a pretty ville but maybe because it was a holiday, there was no one outside. So we walked across town to go find a less active. He wasn't home, and so we followed the main road back into town. We had to take a pause because we were getting headaches from the sun. So we paused at a bench and sat and talked. Elder Little and I are working on improving our French and we had an all French speaking day, and we took a break from the heat and I must admit we spoke a little English.

We walked all the way across town to the other and passed another less active. She wasn't there, so we left our card. 

We went back to the Gare and took a train back home. Fr. Chapu picked us up when we got back into Nimes and we went to the hospital to bless a less active member that has cancer. It was hard for him to talk.

On Thursday we got a text from President Brown telling us the situation on Nice after the terrorist attack. We were so sad to hear about the deadly attacks.  Happily, all the missionaries were safe and so we were happy. Elder Steadman my old companion and bro was over there for exchange. (Shout out to him!) 

We did some weekly planning because it was Friday, and then we did some service by helping Sr. Bell move some things like tables and chairs to Sr. Aggrazzarian. She's the wife of the man that we saw the day before in the hospital. We had to take a table apart and put it back together up in her apartment. It reminded me of the moving equipe days. This time I wasn't in Swiss.. 

We finished weekly planning when we got home, then contacted for a few mins before going to the church for Self- Reliance class. There were two other members who showed up, but we told them that we had to leave early to go help Sr. Bell bring a Fridge and washer to a member. 

We went to the Bell’s again from the church and put the fridge and washer into the car. Also because the Bells are moving, they gave us all their food they had. So we had a big back stuffed with things that we could eat and use in the kitchen. We are very happy!

Then we dropped the things off at the member’s house. 

On Saturday we saw Jeremie Darguance at his apartment. He hasn't come to church for a few weeks because he works until 2AM Saturday nights. We spent some time and talked with him about how he was doing. Then we asked a little about the Interregional plan. It's was a good Rendezvous with him. He said that he will fix some goals on things he could do. 

After our meeting with him we went to the church to be picked up by Fr. Prunin to go teach Martine. We picked up Gopali at her house and we drove to the Mediterranean again. We found Martine at a bench in the park near her house and we sat and talked about repentance. We answered some of her questions and then while Fr. Prunin and Elder Little were talking, I showed the Church Art Book to Martine and explained some of the Book of Mormon pictures. We talked about prayer a little and then about what she can do to study. It was a good lesson with her. 

After the lesson Fr. Pruin, Goplai and us went to go see the port with all the boats. It was nice to be near the water. There were some cool boats!

When we got back to Nimes we went with the Bells again to help move some things to another member, Sr. Ranzi. We sat and talked with her for a few mins. She's a fireball of energy. She may be 80 but she has a young personality. 

She even made homemade pizza for us!

On Sunday we had Martine and even Nicole show up for church. She's the lady that has come in randomly a few weeks ago. We showed the Restoration video for our Sunday school lesson. Nicole is hesitant to have us officially teach her, but she listens to us when we teach on Sundays. A member, Sr. Rouzaud has taken charge of integrating her with the ward. She sat next to her during sacrament and explained the things that the members were saying in their talks. Even though Nicole isn't taking the lessons we have called her progressing due to her self-motivation to learn and come to church. With time and patience, hopefully she'll start the lessons. 

After church we talked with the bishop’s wife and other of the members. We spent some good time together and planned with some of the young adults to go play sports in the park Monday night for FHE. 

After church we came home and ate then did some studies, and then went over to the Bell’s to have dinner with them. Gautier and Stephanie were there as well and we played Uno and talked together. We then gave a spiritual thought on Abinadi. We talked about how much of a difference he made even though he never knew the effects of his preaching. We challenged the members to search for the chances to change people's life's even if it seems like it won't do anything. 

We had to go home after due to the lateness of the night. 

So we were pretty happy about this week. We spent little time contacting, but we were able to do lots of other things. We found out that Agnes is moving next month up to Dijon in the north of the mission. So we will have to figure out what we are going to do with that. 

Anyway, that's the week we had! It seems like next week will be pretty busy as well! We have zone conference finally! It's been over 2 months since we had zone conference due to strikes with the trains. 

Well, I love you all and will talk to you next week!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #14 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Dear Family and Friends,

So the week really started on Tuesday. We have lots of less actives, so we are trying to get into contact with them. We took a bus to an outer ville to go see a couple. The city was called St. Gilles and there was no one there. We contacted only 1 person the whole day there due to the lack of people. We walked across the whole town trying to find some of the other less actives. We had to walk on the highway to cross over to the other side of town. 

We probably won't go back to that town for a while... We did have the chance to teach Agnes at the church after we got back and that was great. We reviewed of all the lessons. So we went over again law of chastity, tithing, word of wisdom, and some of her questions. She took word of wisdom well, and she seems to be progressing! 

So on Tuesday we stayed in Nimes and walked around to try and find people to teach. We walked into a neighborhood to change things up. No one was there. It's hard to find people when it's the middle of the day and it's burning hot. 

While walking down a main avenue we passed some Jehovah Witnesses. We waved hello and one of them said "hello!" In English. So we went over and talked with them for a bit. There was a couple and they spent about 6 years in America for their church. So we had a good time talking about our experiences. The man I was talking was really nice and it was an uplifting conversation. We talked about tolerance between different faiths and being united by God. It was probably the best JW conversation I have had. 

We went to dinner later that night with the British Jones couple in the ward. They like to take us out dinner every other week, and I'm not opposed to that. We went to Buffalo Grill and it was really good! Got a nice big burger. It wasn't anything close to American, but it was really good. 

It was funny when we got there because one of the waitresses remembered me because I had contacted her a few weeks ago in my last companionship.

On Wednesday it was the 14th of July, so it was the celebration day for the nation, Bastille Day. We decided that we would go out of ville and see if we could pass some more less actives. We went to Ales. It's a pretty ville but maybe because it was a holiday, there was no one outside. So we walked across town to go find a less active. He wasn't home, and so we followed the main road back into town. We had to take a pause because we were getting headaches from the sun. So we paused at a bench and sat and talked. Elder Little and I are working on improving our French and we had an all French speaking day, and we took a break from the heat and I must admit we spoke a little English.

We walked all the way across town to the other and passed another less active. She wasn't there, so we left our card. 

We went back to the Gare and took a train back home. Fr. Chapu picked us up when we got back into Nimes and we went to the hospital to bless a less active member that has cancer. It was hard for him to talk.

On Thursday we got a text from President Brown telling us the situation on Nice after the terrorist attack. We were so sad to hear about the deadly attacks.  Happily, all the missionaries were safe and so we were happy. Elder Steadman my old companion and bro was over there for exchange. (Shout out to him!) 

We did some weekly planning because it was Friday, and then we did some service by helping Sr. Bell move some things like tables and chairs to Sr. Aggrazzarian. She's the wife of the man that we saw the day before in the hospital. We had to take a table apart and put it back together up in her apartment. It reminded me of the moving equipe days. This time I wasn't in Swiss.. 

We finished weekly planning when we got home, then contacted for a few mins before going to the church for Self- Reliance class. There were two other members who showed up, but we told them that we had to leave early to go help Sr. Bell bring a Fridge and washer to a member. 

We went to the Bell’s again from the church and put the fridge and washer into the car. Also because the Bells are moving, they gave us all their food they had. So we had a big back stuffed with things that we could eat and use in the kitchen. We are very happy!

Then we dropped the things off at the member’s house. 

On Saturday we saw Jeremie Darguance at his apartment. He hasn't come to church for a few weeks because he works until 2AM Saturday nights. We spent some time and talked with him about how he was doing. Then we asked a little about the Interregional plan. It's was a good Rendezvous with him. He said that he will fix some goals on things he could do. 

After our meeting with him we went to the church to be picked up by Fr. Prunin to go teach Martine. We picked up Gopali at her house and we drove to the Mediterranean again. We found Martine at a bench in the park near her house and we sat and talked about repentance. We answered some of her questions and then while Fr. Prunin and Elder Little were talking, I showed the Church Art Book to Martine and explained some of the Book of Mormon pictures. We talked about prayer a little and then about what she can do to study. It was a good lesson with her. 

After the lesson Fr. Pruin, Goplai and us went to go see the port with all the boats. It was nice to be near the water. There were some cool boats!

When we got back to Nimes we went with the Bells again to help move some things to another member, Sr. Ranzi. We sat and talked with her for a few mins. She's a fireball of energy. She may be 80 but she has a young personality. 

She even made homemade pizza for us!

On Sunday we had Martine and even Nicole show up for church. She's the lady that has come in randomly a few weeks ago. We showed the Restoration video for our Sunday school lesson. Nicole is hesitant to have us officially teach her, but she listens to us when we teach on Sundays. A member, Sr. Rouzaud has taken charge of integrating her with the ward. She sat next to her during sacrament and explained the things that the members were saying in their talks. Even though Nicole isn't taking the lessons we have called her progressing due to her self-motivation to learn and come to church. With time and patience, hopefully she'll start the lessons. 

After church we talked with the bishop’s wife and other of the members. We spent some good time together and planned with some of the young adults to go play sports in the park Monday night for FHE. 

After church we came home and ate then did some studies, and then went over to the Bell’s to have dinner with them. Gautier and Stephanie were there as well and we played Uno and talked together. We then gave a spiritual thought on Abinadi. We talked about how much of a difference he made even though he never knew the effects of his preaching. We challenged the members to search for the chances to change people's life's even if it seems like it won't do anything. 

We had to go home after due to the lateness of the night. 

So we were pretty happy about this week. We spent little time contacting, but we were able to do lots of other things. We found out that Agnes is moving next month up to Dijon in the north of the mission. So we will have to figure out what we are going to do with that. 

Anyway, that's the week we had! It seems like next week will be pretty busy as well! We have zone conference finally! It's been over 2 months since we had zone conference due to strikes with the trains. 

Well, I love you all and will talk to you next week!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #13 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello family and friends! 

We hit over 100 degrees this week! 

So this was a pretty decent week. We had things to do everyday. We taught lessons and went to some cool places. We even went to the coast of the ocean.

So on P-day we went and saw some of the Roman sites and walked around in the sun. We visited a cool Roman temple that I have never been to. It was July 4th, but we really couldn't do anything, and plus my companion is from England . . . so I was the only American around! We went to the church and relaxed from the heat because it was just so hot.

On Tuesday we got picked up by Fr. Chapu and we went to go give the sacrament to two members who couldn't come to church. One of them was the 98 year old man that lives a bit out of town. We went and wrote down things that we were saying because he was so old he couldn't hear. It was a sweet experience to give him the sacrament. It's the second time that we have done it for him since I've been here and I really like it. He's such an adorable guy!

We then went over to Sr. Chevaliers house to give her the sacrament. She can't make it to church if no one drives her, so sometimes she misses out. We went and gave it to her. She and Fr. Chapu talked about the current political issues that are involved with England. 

After we finished giving the sacrament, we went to the Gare to go get a bus to an outer ville. A member that goes to Montpellier but lives in our sector invited us over to come eat at his house. We ate with Fr. Neavue and his wife. He picked us up and we gave a message about genealogy and family history. At the end of the thought they asked us why we decided to give a message specifically about family history. Turns out the wife has had a few other promptings to do family history. She said that our message was the final proof that she needs to restart . So we are glad that we could be there to help them get that push. 

After the meal they drove us on a really pretty route back home.

On Wednesday we went over to Montpelier to have an exchange with our district leader. I was with Elder Masters, who's new to the mission. I was his first official exchange:) So it was fun to kind of train him for the day. 

Throughout the day we did some contacting and I taught him about the process that is behind talking to people, and helped him develop his approach to talk to people.

After contacting we went and did some service at an American/French center and talked with a guy in English. He knew the missionaries from talking with them before at the center, and even played soccer with the them. We talked mostly about random things but we did get on the subject of the Word of Wisdom. We taught it to him again since he had been taught it before. 

After talking at the center, we went to McDonald's to use wifi. Since Elder Masters is new, we had to do a training program called 12 Weeks. So we watched videos and talked about how to do mission work in the upper floor of McDonald's!

On Thursday we had district meeting. It was centered on making goals and improving our work. We talked about our investigators and we all gave suggestions on what to do with investigators.

It was pretty hot in Montpellier, but when we got back to Nimes it was even hotter... We went to the church  and we taught Agnes the Word of wisdom. It was good to spend the last part of the day in the shade of the church with Agnes. She's doing well and seems like she's learning.

On Friday we did our weekly planning and that went a little late because we had to wait for a guy to come to the apartment to replace the shower drain. When we finished weekly planning we went out to contact but no one was willing to listen. We came across our friends who sit at the bench in the evenings, and we talked to them for a while. It was not the best day for me. Sometimes it becomes discouraging to walk and talk to the same people and do the same actions with little to no results. It ended up a good day because we talked to our friends on the bench, and then we went to the church for self reliance class. There were a few things that made the end of the day better. 

On Saturday we had a Rendezvous with Martine to go teach her with Emmanuel and Gopali. Emmanuel told us he would pick us up near a shopping mall. So we went and got lunch at Burger King and then waited for our ride. We drove all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. We went to Martine's house and went to a park next to it and we all sat and talked. We went over a few details of the restoration and then we talked about baptism. Martine had some good questions and even brought some that she had written down. It was a really good lesson. She even mentioned that she might have a friend who would be interested to hear the message as well! So we will follow up on that. 

After our lesson Emmanuel dropped us off at the Gare. Our train wasn't leaving for an hour, so we had some time to look around. We got close enough to to see the ocean, and walked around the tourist traps. It was a really pretty resort town. 

We got the train and headed back to Nimes. When we got home we had only enough time to do some calls. It was a really good day though! We had a really good lesson with Martine and she is going solid. 

On Sunday we had all 3 progressing investigators come toi church! Agnes, Ricard, and Martine. There even was another lady who came last week to see what the church was that came on Sunday. So we had a Gospel Principles class. We talked about Christ's church in the past. We talked about the characteristics that Christ established, and then started to go a little into the Restoration because Nicole (the lady who just started coming) didn't know anything about the church. 

Nicole said that she wasn't ready yet to start taking the missionary lessons, but she said that she was interested to come to church next week. So we will see how that goes. 

After church we went to a Sunday meal with the Daurgances. There were some other members there, and we ate underneath some trees in the yard. One family was visiting from Montpellier and there was a 3 year old boy that was running around and was so energetic. I was almost falling asleep, so I have no idea how the kid could run around so much. There was a less active daughter there, and we got talking a little about religion.

It was a long meal, but that's France. The country where meals last 3 hours... I think it's crazy how some missionaries in the world can only eat for an hour with members. Since long meals are such a huge part of the culture we have permission to adapt. 

After eating we went to the church to do some family history. I went deeper into the roots on my mom's side of the family. I'm super happy that here are some old pictures of them! It was fun to see a little what they looked like.

At the end of the day it was a good Sunday. We got a lot of good things done. 

Well everyone, that's the end of week 3 of this transfer. We finished hump week. We have already a good amount of things planned this week so we will be busy! 

I love you all, and wish you a happy 14th of July this week! (French national holiday)

Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #12 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hey everyone! 

As always it's starting to get really hot... I'm getting more tan, if that's even possible? It's the 4th of July here and no one cares.. you all will have to celebrate for me! Anyways, I'll get to the good stuff!

On Monday for P-day we went to a music store, and I played some on some of the nice pianos. We then went the church to do our emails and we just relaxed. After that we went to the Bell family to have dinner with them. It was a pretty tranquil P-day.  

We had a cool experience while contacting the next day. Elder Little was contacting on the other side of the street and he talked to a guy for a while, so I came over and the man, named Victor, invited us to come over to his apartment to teach him. He's a really cool guy from New Caledonia. We taught him about the Restoration and he was happy to hear more about the gospel. He said that we could come another time and that he would read the Book of Mormon. I hope we can teach him regularly.

After some more contacting we went over to the Bishop's house for dinner. It's been a while since I have been there. We talked about the work that we are doing, and we gave them a spiritual thought on how to search for the better things of the world. The Bishop has two kids on a mission right now and they both come home in August. So that's exciting to have two RM's back in the ward.

On Wednesday we were contacting and we came across our friends who play Petanque. While Elder Little played, I talked to Jackie about religion. He's pretty closed on the idea, but we talked. He is believing, but he doesn't see how there was an apostasy. That's something interesting I found is that when people talk about Religion, it's more of a historic and culture importance. There is no thought of a relationship with God and Jesus Christ. Because of that its sometimes hard to talk about differences, because then it turns in to talking about historic and cultural differences. 

At the end of the day we went to Stephanie's apartment and we played some games and at some cake with some of the members. We tried to invite our Amis to the activity but no one was available. 

We had Zone Training in Montpelier but there were lots of Delays with the trains. I think a train hit a truck on the track between here and Montpelier. So the Rodez elders came and picked us up in their car.

For zone training we talked about how we wanted to spread the missionary spirit to the members. So we made some goals and talked about what we want to do to help the wards do the Inter-regional plan that the church has made. That is to have every member find an ancestor, have everyone become self-reliant, and then to bring a friend to an activity. 

President Brown showed up randomly during lunch. He was stopping by for a minute because he was on his way to go farther south. It was great to see him! 

We made it back to Nimes after the training and we went contacting. We came across lots of Atheists that night. While we were walking by a Cathedral, there were lots of drunk guys who called us over. We ended up talking about the restoration and then we gave them 2 book of Mormons. They said that they would look at it, but since they were so drunk I don't think they will remember our conversation. We will see in a few days if they remember us;)

So for Friday we started doing our weekly planning and then we went to the church to meet up with some members. The Jones family. They are a British couple that are in Nimes for a few months on vacation. So they took us to a Chinese buffet and it was really good. The husband served in Marseilles when he was a missionary back in the day and we was able to give us really good advice on things that we could do to improve the ward. He said that we should focus on less actives. So after we ate, we went back home and finished our weekly planning, and then we took a look at some less actives that we could maybe start working with. The problem is that there are so many less actives that live far away, may have died because of age, or they are just not interested. I really wish we had a car to drive around and visit people. 

Later that night we went to the church to have self-reliance class. After we went with Gautier to go get a taco. I really like Gautier. He's a really good friend to missionaries and he's fun to be around. 

On Saturday we had to go get fans. We have had a really hard time sleeping at night because it's boiling at nighttime. So we exchanged a fan we had and got 2 new super power fans. They are super nice! Since we got them I have slept well:) It stinks that there is no air conditioning in France...

We contacted after getting fans and we had some good conversations. I talked to a guy about the Plan of Salvation for 10 mins on the street. I gave him the pamphlet and he said that he would call if he had questions. So I hope he calls soon. 

We went over to Melissa's apartment. She invited us to come on eat with the Bells. She was having the Bells over for one last time before Fr. Bell left to Utah. We brought some cake that we made. It's always fun to be with members and eat together.

On Sunday Martine came again to church. So we taught her more in depth the Plan of Salvation. We went over all the points and she seems to be progressing! She's really timid, so we have to ask her a lot if she has any questions. We usually can get her talking if we ask a lot of questions. She said that we can come over Saturday to teach her more, so we are excited for that. It seems like we have a decently busy week this week. We have some Rendezvous planned with some members and then we have a lesson or two. 

After church we had a small ward council where we talked about the work we want to do with less actives. Then after that, Elder Little and I spent some time doing some family history. I looked at the pictures of my Grandparents and started reading some of the things about them. I decided to do a batch of indexing. Our Mission president wants us to start doing some family history every Sunday, so I'm pretty excited about that. 

We then went with Fr. Bell to deliver a desk to a member. We then went over to the Bells to spend some time with them, because this was the last night that Fr. Bell would be in France. Melissa, her mom, Gautier, and Stephanie all came over and we had some Mexican tacos all together. I really am going to miss Fr. Bell. I am excited to see him back in Utah, and hope that I can spend some time with the Bell family. 

That's the week in a nutshell. Our ami Agnes was not able to see us this week, so we are going to talk to her this week to figure out what we can do to see her more. The work here is still hard, but I am trying to stay positive and work hard. I love you all, and hope that you have a great week! And a shout out to everyone that love

Chacos!

-Love Elder Race Acheson!