WEEK #9 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

Hey everyone! 

I hope that you all had a great week! For us its starting to get colder here! We have seen snow all over people's cars as they come from the villages in the mountains. We have been hit a few times with some snow, and a good amount of rain. Anyway, for the week, we had our P-day that was tranquil, and calm. We were with the other elders for a little at the church. 

We went on Tuesday to go to Besancon for an exchange. While we were going on the train, it was snowing, and we got off at a stop to change trains, and there was a good amount of snow. We got to Besancon and I went on exchange with Elder Liddle, hes a really cool british lad, we had a good exchange passing people and talking to people on the street. It was refreshing to have everyone speak French. 

After our exchange we came back to Bienne and didn't have that much time before we had to go to the Nasufis to have dinner. We taught about the importance of Christ. It was a nice evening with the family. I feel really connected to this familiy.

We went to Lausanne on Thursday for a zone training. We all gathered together and was taught by the zone leaders. We talked about always leading the charge in the battle of missionary work. We then all ate together and made some skits that we are going to perform for zone conference. 

We have an activity with the branch the 19th of Nov, where we are going to show Meet the Mormons. So we made some flyers and printed them out and started to pass them out to the less activies in the branch. That takes some time. We then spent the evening with a less active sister and setting up some shelves. We then ate an almost vegan meal! Turns out, that vegan/vegetarian is really not all that... good!  Yeah, its ok. Not my favorite. 

On Saturday we took some trains and passed some members to see how they were doing. We then went home and spent some time putting people into the area book. 

We had a really good experience at church on Sunday. I always feel the spirit and a closenes with the members. I like having small branches because all the members are right there. No one can hide, all 20 of them are in your sights. I really love this branch.

So there are some of the things we have done this week. I love you all, and hope you have a great week! This coming week is interviews and zone conference with President Brown.

Ill let you all know how that goes!

I love you all, Love Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #8 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

Hey Y'all!

 Hope you all had a good week! It's starting to get cold here... well, ca va. I'll let you how the week is. On Monday we traveled a good amount for our P-day. We did our groceries and then we went hiking in the canyon behind our house. We then caught the train and took it to an outer ville calls Courtalary. There is a big chocolate factory there and we wanted to go visit it and get a tour. When we got there, it was under construction, so we weren't able to get a tour. We did buy some chocolate. We then went and did emails. 

On Tuesday we tried to contact a little, and then we worked on our area book. We got the new application for the area book for the iPad, and we need to put all the people in our paper area book into the iPad. So that means we have to spend a long time putting all the info in. So we are starting to invest some time into that. After doing some digitizing, we went to Moutier to pass a potential we contacted a few weeks ago. We knocked on her door and there was no answer. So we knocked on some of the other doors that were around the neighborhood. We got a few people to answer.  When we got home, it was a little later, so we got a kebab and brought it to the house. 

Wednesday We planned to go knock on some doors that evening, so we went to the church and worked on the area book. We spend some time in the bomb shelter to put the info in. When we got out, we had lots of missed calls on our phone and turns out the mission secretary had called to say my parents were going to call.  There was a problem with my password in order to register me for BYU. I got to talk to my dad for about 50 seconds and that was pretty cool! It felt weird because it was a normal call and felt like talking to another missionary because it was super random and quick. 

After leaving the church we went to Tavannes to port. We went to a nice neighborhood where there were lots of big houses. We got lots of responses, but no one was interested to learn more. We gave some of our cards out though. When we got back to town, we went over to the German elders apartment and we ate dinner together. 

We had district meeting Thursday, and we got to see the whole zone. We all do our district meetings together. While in district meeting we watched a video of President Brown, and he told us that we need to go speak with the branch presidency and leaders to see if there are part-member families we could teach as soon as possible. 

After district meeting we got to Bienne and we went and helped Sr. Ferron with her shelves again. She made us a cake and we talked about things going on. She loves to talk and so we listened because we are her only contact with the church in bienne.

On Friday we did our weekly planning, and passed the Branch President to see about the part member families we could teach. He gave us a good amount of people that we could go pass. After seeing the branch president we went to the church and started working on an announcement for an activity the 19th of Nov. We are going to watch meet the Mormons. So we started to make the flyer. After working on that, we took a train and ate dinner with the Nasufis. We had Raclette and it was really good. I ate a lot of melted cheese. 

Later we showed a video of the drummer of Neon Trees. Mirsad the son we are teaching loves music, so we were able to show that and get him interested. We then talked about how we could improve our relationship with God. We read Alma 7 11-13 with him and we are trying to push him to be more motivated with learning the gospel.

On Saturday we went out to try and talk to some people. We tried to do some business contacting. There is a car booth in centre ville where there are Tesla Cars for display and people could go up and sit in them. While we were checking out the cars, a worker came up and said hello. He said that he had a friend that was a return missionary and told him about how missions work. We were able to talk about what he knew and that there was a temple close by in Bern. He then showed us all the cool things about the cars. 

We also had to get a new hat because it was raining a lot, and so we went into a snowboard shop. While looking for a hat, a 17 year old guy who worked there came up and talked to us. He asked why we were here and spoke to us in really good English. We talked about what we believed and why we were here. I talked to him about snowboarding, and then even showed him an "I'm a Mormon" video of a snowboarder. Since i couldn't find it on my iPad, i had him download the Gospel Library app for the church. Then watched it. We also pointed out that he already download the Book of Mormon so he should read that. He said that he wasn't super spiritual and not looking for anything, but he has the app downloaded;) he he. He was super cool.

We then tried to pass by some people and no answer from our pass backs. So we went to the church to have a meeting with our branch mission leader. He didn't show up because he was sick. So we went home and made some calls. 

On Sunday we had a good day at church. Lots of members gave good testimonies and Fr Nasufi got the Melchizedek Priesthood. We are happy that there is now a priesthood holder in the family! After church we had a meeting with our mission leader and talked about the people we want to work with. Then we came home and ate lunch, and then studied and spent the evening putting people into the iPad. Super fun... But necessary. 

Well, that's the idea of things that went on! We are entering the 3rd week of the last transfer! 

I love you all! 

Love, Elder Race Acheson 

WEEK #7 BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

Hello friends and family!

So it is the end of the first week of the transfer. Elder Shirley and I are already getting along great and doing well. Elder Shirley and I are both goofy and do weird things and we have fun. I'm really glad to have someone like him as my last companion. This transfer should be really good, 

As for the week:)

We mostly have been doing some pass backs. We have visited the far corners of the city to try and see if people are home who have talked with the missionaries in the past. On Wednesday evening we went to the Nasufis and had dinner with them. It was the first time that Elder Shirley met the Nasufi family. I told him that they are my favorite family. We always have a great time and they laugh at everything I say. We shared a message on knowing Christ and following his example. 

On Thursday we dropped off a book of Mormon to the Nasufis with our testimonies inside so Sister Nasufi could give it to a co-worker. We then went into centre ville to contact for a bit. We talked to a man about the restoration and gave him a brochure. We continued contacting throughout the day, and then went to Sister Ferron's apartment. She had us put together some more shelves. She made us some banana bread and sent us off home. 

For Friday we had our weekly planning and then went to the church to set up a projector to help out with a Relief Society activity that evening. We later went to Tavannes, an outer ville, and tried to contact for a bit. We talked to a few people and testified, but no one was willing to meet with us again. We had to take the train back to Bienne so we could meet with Fr. Luzubu for our missionary correlation meeting. Once we finished the meeting, we stayed and attended the relief society activity. We played a video for the sisters and then stayed and enjoyed some Italian food that a sister made for everyone. 

On Saturday we contacted before lunch.  We ate and then went to Lausanne for Stake Conference. Fr. Nasufi gave a talk and he did really well! He has been a member for 9 months and has progressed well! Fr and Sr. Nasufi were kind enough to give us a ride home. While talking in the car, we talked about Rolex watch company where Sr. Nasufi works. She told me that I should try and do an internship there next summer. I might think about that. It would be cool to return to my mission and be a member and not a missionary. 

Sunday we went to Yeverdon-les-Bains for the second part of stake conference. We sat by some members. After that was finished we took the train to Bienne and did some studies and ate. We then tried to contact in the streets and then caught a train to the Nasufis. We spend the rest of the evening with them and talked with their non-member son Mirsad. 

We caught the train home and got ready for the evening. I even gave Elder Shirley a haircut. 

Well, we are in a finding moment right now. We don't have anyone really to teach but we have 6 referrals from the German elders, so we will see what we can do with those! 

I love you all, and pray that we can have success in my last transfer. I love you all!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson