WEEK #4 IN CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hey everyone! 

We had a really great and busy week. This morning we went on another long run. We got another really pretty view of the city and country side! I attached a picture.

As for the rest of the week: 

We played ping pong one morning with the non-member's husband. We taught him a lesson the Plan of Salvation and asked him if he could start coming to church and start having family home evenings with his family. We also asked him if he could come to church with his family.

We went knocking on doors later that same day. It was pretty fun. We had a nice pretty walk for 40 minutes until we got to the neighborhood we wanted to go to. We talked to one 20 year old girl that was willing to talk more, but she lived in Toulouse. So we got her number so we could pass it. 

We had district meeting in Bezier on Thursday. We had a good meeting about thinking about all the tools that we have been given  throughout our missions. So we all told the things that we have learned. 

We went to Limoux again! We passed Catherine, the referral that we are now in contact with. We gave her a Bible and she was very thankful. We talked outside her apartment and she said that when she was more available, she would love to talk to us. So we are now going to try and start teaching her. She is in contact with the missionaries in America, so we want to get in contact with them as well so we can be up to date with all the things that the sisters are teaching her. 

We went to visit Jean-Pierre and Francoise's in their little village Alet-les-bains. they are doing great. We talked about the Law of Chastity and the 10 commandments. They are already keeping the Law of Chasity and they are now just waiting to be married. They don't know when they can get married because they need to get their papers from other cities. They are progressing fast though and that's great! Jean-Pierre has a really cool motorcycle, and he let me sit on the seat. 

On Saturday we went to Castre with Fr. Hlimi. We met with a member family that lives in our boundaries but they go to Toulouse. We ate with them and talked about the work that we are trying to do. We are trying to find all the less active members there and reactivate them. Then find the old investigators so we can build up a branch there. 

It was a very pretty drive over there to Castre. Its about an hour drive away, and we were going through the mountains. There were clouds and rain and it reminded me of Washington State. 

On Sunday we had that member family that we saw in Castre come to church. We taught Jean- Pierre and Francoise about the different scriptures that we use in the church. 

We were taken out of the class by the Bishop and he told us that there was a lady that wanted to see us. Her name was Miriam and she wanted to see us and learn more. So we fixed a meeting with her.

After church and studies we then contacted.  We did lots of walking around between all those events throughout the week.

 

So those are the things going on here in Carcassonne! I love you all, and will write you next week! 

Love, Elder Acheson 

WEEK #3 IN CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hello friends and family! 

This week has gone by pretty fast. Just before I start the week off, we went on a long run this morning and ran to a viewpoint of the Castle. It is a 15 minute run and it helps us feel physically prepared to face the day.

Elder Acheson on his way to zone training

So we had lots of things that happened this week.  We spent a good P-Day at the cool castle that everyone talks about. On Tuesday we had an old missionary that served here come visit with his wife. Fr. Vital. a really cool member. cooked a bunch of food for all of us.

One day we had all of our rendezvous fall through. So contacted all day and
tried to continue to find people, but we had a few people who were mean to
us, but we are used to it now. We were asked to fast in preparation for our
Zone Training for the next day.

We had a really good zone training about having confidence in our leaders.
We talked about trying to be more obedient as well. It was a good training
and I got to see all my old friends who moved into the zone.

On Friday we did a split with our Ward Mission Leader, and our bishop. I went with the bishop and we went to the beautiful small ville of Limoux to teach some lessons. We saw the two people that we taught last week, and it was a crazy lesson. After 50 Mins of talking, we had to leave to our next appointment.

 We went and passed a referral and she was super interested in learning more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about Joseph Smith for a few minutes and answered some of her questions. She is
in contact with the missionaries in SLC, and so we are going to find a time soon when we can teach her again.

Then we went and taught Jean-Pierre and Francoise Lentz. They are a couple who are getting married in Sept. Then they are getting baptized. We talked about the word of wisdom, then tithing and fasting. They pick things up really quickly. They go a little too fast sometimes. We had to tell them that we need to take things slower and make sure that they understand everything. They are doing great though!

We did weekly planning on Saturday and then contacted.

Sunday we had a great lesson with our amis. We talked about prophets. We had a great discussion.

Then after Church we had a meal with the ward mission leader and his wife,
and with some other members who have to travel a long time to get to church.

 After that we had RCM with our ward mission leader. Then we went and taught Miranda. She’s a lady we taught 2 weeks ago, and we talked about the Plan of Salvation. Then we turned to the book of Mormon. She didn't really understand that it was a book of scripture from Jerusalem. Once she found out that it was a real book of scripture, she said that she will restart with fresh eyes.

Well, so that’s about it. Everything else filled with lots of contacting! Lots of it...

So that’s what we are doing here in Carcassone! I love you all, and hope that you all have a great week!

 I love you all!

 Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #2 IN CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hello friends and family!

So it's pretty awesome here in Carcassonne, France.   Elder Eberhard is an awesome person and is a rock star with the piano. He is also really good at contacting. We got 100 conversations with people this week! We have been super busy.

We spent the entire day porting (knocking on doors) one day and a couple let us in. They weren't interested but they gave us water to drink, and we talked with the husband for a minute. He was nice. 

We taught one of our engages at her house. Her name is Bernice and has 2 kids. She's a single mom so we brought a member. We talked about the Law of Chastity and it went well. Bernice has a son with Downs Syndrome and is about 4 years old, so I distracted him while Elder Eberhard and the member that was with us could teach Bernice.

We have also begun teaching another guy named Michel Chateau. He isn't too interested in reading the Book of Mormon. So we are going to try and see if we can help him start with that, and if not, we will have to think of something else.

We taught another lady named Miranda. She is from Africa, and her husband just passed away a month ago. She's about 30 and has a small daughter. So we taught her the Plan of Salvation and we are trying to help her see that there is hope out there! She wasn't able to come to church this last Sunday. 

We went to an outer ville to do some work called Limoux. It's pretty small but beautiful. We started out the day there by seeing a less active. She hasn't come to church for a long time, and her name is Caroline. She has a cute little 8-year-old daughter that is with her some of the time. We taught the Restoration again to help her remember. The daughter listened too. The daughter isn't baptized so we can help that happen! 

Another thing that happened was that we taught a potential ami. Her son was there and we found out that he was already baptized a member in Lyon. He said that he has changed his beliefs. We left them a Book of Mormon and told them to read it and then we can answer their questions the next time.

On Sunday we had a couple that we are teaching named Jean-Pierre and Francoise come to church. They are getting married in September and want to get baptized. They are about 60 and they are pretty cool! We teach them once a week, so that's great!

There even was a lady that is staying here for a month who came. It was her first time here at church and after church she told us that she wants to be baptized. She's moving to Montpelier in a month so we won't be able to baptize her here, but we will start teaching her so she can when's ready!

We taught the lesson at church on prayer, and Caroline said the prayer for the class, and it was really good! She told us after that the night when we taught her the Restoration her daughter asked if they could say a prayer that night. So we are really happy to know that the daughter is starting to get influenced. 

So those are the things that are happening work wise. Some details I haven't mentioned are the long hours contacting. We talked to 100 people this week and that's the most that I have ever done! I'm feeling pretty good about Carcassonne! We have a member that we spend a lot of time with named Fr. Vital. He cooks for us every week and we will eat with him twice next week! He drives us around a lot and even took us to do our groceries today! 

We have a lunch after church every week for the members that travel a long way, as well for our investigators. There seems to be a big focus of missionary work! 

We wake up every morning at 6:00 to go on runs, or go to the church to play piano. Twice this week we ran to the big castle.  It is about a 15-minute run. The castle is really pretty! We have seen the sunrise there and it's super beautiful. 

Well, there are some details of Carcassonne and the work that's going on! It's pretty good! I'm excited to be here for a while! 

I love you all, and hope that you have a great week! 

Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #17 IN NIMES, FRANCE AND TRANSFER TO CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hey everyone!

Elder Race Acheson with new companion Elder Eberhard

So, I got the call, and I’m now in Carcassonne with my new companion, Elder

Eberhard from Kaysville, Utah.  It’s a cool small city more towards Toulouse and closer to Spain and the Cote d’Azur. It is famous for the big castle that is on the edge of the town. Its super cool and I’ll try to get some pictures next week.

So as for my final week in Nimes, we had a great busy week. On Tuesdaywe did some contacting, and then we had a fun evening with somemembers. We went bowling and ate McDonald’s together. We were withGopali and Jeremie Daurgance. Jeremie gave the spiritual thought inMcDonald’s and we talked about the Book of Mormon.

On Wednesday we went and contacted some more, and then Sr. Bell called us and wanted us to help her bring her bags with all her stuff to the Gare. We took her bags, and we were with her sons. We took them up to the platform for the train. I’m proud to say that Elder Little and I werethe last missionaries to see the Bell Family before they went to Utah.

I really am going to miss them, but I will see them soon!
had surgery, so we went to his apartment and bought some food for
him. We were happy to help him because he was in a lot of pain.
After Fr. Zogo we took a bus and went to the bishop’s house for dinner.
We ate with Martine and Gopali. We had a lesson while we ate, and we
talked about prayer, reading the scriptures, obedience, and then
Gopali brought up a question about Patriarchal Blessing. We had a
good discussion about that.

Martine seems to be progressing more!


On Thursday we taught Agnes. She is moving more up in the north but
still in the mission. So we took some time to make sure that we got
her contact info so we could give it to the next elders up in Dijon.
Agnes is going to play soccer up there and seems like she will make it
to the big leagues. So hopefully I will see her on TV in a few years!

After seeing Agnes, we then went to spend the night with Gautier and
Stephanie. They had one of their friends over, so we ate and played a
board game together. We didn’t have the chance to teach their friend
because it was the first time he has seen missionaries, so it was more
of an introduction. He seems to like us, because he offered to drop us
off at home! So Elder Little will see what will come from that.


On Friday we got our transfer calls and did lots of service... We
helped a less active member move tons of stuff up to his apartment 4
stories. So we got really sweaty and did lots of lifting. After a few
hours of service we got changed really quickly so we could help a
member do some home teaching.

After home teaching we went to self-reliance class with the members.
We let the members know that I was going to leave. They were sad to
hear that I was leaving. I’m glad I had the chance to spend one last
evening with them.

During the class Fr. Chapu and he asked if we could help out again
later that evening for more service. So we went in our mission clothes
and lifted some more heavy stuff. I got super sweaty again...


On Saturday I packed a good amount and then we went back and did even
more service for the same man. he was moving his family into a new
apartment. We went to a storage unit that we cleared out and we took
everything over to his new apartment and lifted it all up to his new
apartment.

After all the service we went back and I continued to pack.
Later that evening we went and spent one last night with Stephanie and
Gautier. We ate a small meal and played a card game together.

On Sunday I bore my testimony to the ward. We taught Martine and
Nicole, and we said goodbye to the members and took pictures.


So after church we went back to the apartment so I could finalize the packing.
So that’s pretty much the final week in Nimes.


I’m excited to be in Carcasonne and it could be my last city. So let’s
hope that things go great here!


Well I love you all and will tell you all about the work next week!
Love! 

And Tootles!


Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #16 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello family and friends!

 

Elder Acheson with wonderful Soeur Brown, President Brown's wife. She is loved by all the missionaries.

 I can't believe that it's already week 6 of the transfer and that blows my mind. As for this week it has been good! We had an exchange, zone conference, and lots of cleaning and service. 

All of Monday we did service for the Bell Family. We helped pack things and throw away things away at the dump. We moved things in the car and we and dropped them off with Emmanuel Prunin to some other members. We ate lunch and then went to do emails. 

At the end of Monday, we had Family Home Evening where we went to the big park in Nimes with some of the members and we played around. We hiked up a hill to eat near the big tower. It was great to spend time together as friends. Fr. Prunin, Martine, Goplai, Jeremie Daurgance, Emmanuel, Kim, and us were all there. We gave the spiritual thought on Abinidi and what he did, and we all talked about how Abinidi never saw the influence he had on others.  Abinidi was burned to death, yet his righteous message rang true to Alma and through Alma many others joined the true church.  Martine gave some great input and asked great questions.

We went up the tower and got some nice pictures. Muse the band was in town and doing a concert so we could see that going down across town. Afterwards we came down from the tower, we messed around on the grass next to the tower. Emmanuel Prunin and I started messing around and doing workouts. 

Martine started talking to a random family that was from Swiss, and we as a group started talking to them as well! We walked down the hill together and Martine gave them one of our cards for the church. While walking down, I talked to her and asked how she felt when she talked about the gospel with them? She said that she felt good and happy. I explained to her that, "that was the spirit touching you and you felt the spirit and joy that comes with missionary work!". 

When we said goodbye to our friends, and Emmanuel, Jeremie, and I took some funny pictures together. 

On Tuesday we had to shop for food because we were busy all Monday morning. But in the afternoon, Kim came with us and we did some contacting with her. She really helped! It was great to have someone that was fluent in the language come because we got a few complex conversations, and she was there to have our back. 

After contacting we went to the church to have Ward Council. We talked about our investigators and explained their progress to the council. It was pretty productive! 

The Elders from Rodez came to the church. Elders Steinbock and Kahn. They were going to stay the night with us so we could all go to Aix-en-Provence together the next day for Zone Conference. We went and got some food and took it to the big park and ate together. 

On Wednesday we drove over to Aix-en-Provence for zone conference. It was great to see Presidentand Soeur  Brown again. We talked about ways that we could help members use the plan that the region leaders have given us. We then went over ways that all of us could use the plan in our own ways. We have an hour each Sunday to work on the plan, and they said that for the self-reliance part, you can look at things you're going to do for college because future education falls into the category of Self Reliance.

On Thursday we had an exchange in Montpeillier. I was with Elder Stalh, and we went contacting in Centreville.  We contacted some English speaking tourists and we talked with them for a minute about what they knew about Mormons. One of the girls has seen the play "the Book of Mormon", so we were able to correct some of the thing that she has heard of. We continued contacting after, and we took a bus to go teach an investigator. His name is Avrahm. He's from Romania and he loves to talk. He really loves his family so we were able to talk about that. He's really a believer of God and wants to find a church that he can bring his family to. He said that he likes to talk with us and that it makes him feel good. He reads and progresses, the only thing now is his wife. She's not too interested, so when she's ready the whole family will progress fast. 

After teaching Avrahm, we took a tram to go visit a member’s house. It was right on the edge of a red zone. (An area where it's really dangerous for us to go into), so the member came in his car and picked us up. We ate with them and have a spiritual message on blessings given to us. The family loved to talk, and so we left pretty late, and made it home half an hour late... I really like the members in Montpeillier. Who knows, maybe I'll get transferred there! 

The next day we spent the morning cleaning the apartment. The whole mission was told to spend a few hours and clean their apartment. We then helped Fr. Chapu move some things into his apartment. We went right after that and helped another member move things to another apartment. We placed everything on his little trailer and it seemed a little sketchy... We got to the other apartment and had to unload everything and place it in the basement of the building. So it was a day full of service.

On Saturday we cleaned the church in the morning with the Bishop and his wife. Fr. Prunin showed up later, so it was just us few cleaning the church. Elder Little and I focused more on the sacrament room. We vacuumed and mopped the floor, then rearranged the chairs. 

When we got back home we ate and tried to clean just a little more of the apartment. Then we had to go help out another member, Sr. Aggrazzarian, whose husbands in the hospital. We had to take some of the stuff in her apartment down to the basement to throw it away. It reminded me of being in the moving equipe. I got super sweaty and was cramped into the elevator a few times. 

After that service we went over to see Fr. Prunin and I got some of the photos he took on Monday at the Tower. Then we did a 15 min Rendezvous with him. We talked about the Plan and asked him what he is doing to achieve the plan. 

Since we had to rush we invited him to make some goals. Then we had to go catch the bus. We ended up missing the bus and waited for the next one. While waiting, there were some nice people there to talk to at the bus stop. They were French natives with Arabic descent, and they were interested in talking with us. We had a good conversation with them and we told them what we did as missionaries and they were glad that they got some info straightened out. 

After that we took the bus home.

On Sunday there was another American family that was visiting from Utah. I also gave a talk that day. I talked more about the Inter-region plan. I shared some personal experiences with it, and I think it went well. It was the first time I gave a talk for a while. I was happy that I could talk pretty naturally and it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to b

e. It was nice that I had written down lots of the stuff I wanted to say. 

After sacrament we taught Martine and Gopali the word of wisdom with the Chapus. We had a really good lesson and the members were able to testify of the importance of the word of wisdom. Martine has already been following the word of wisdom for a while, so it was really easy for her to accept it. 

We told her that one of us might move next week because of transfers. She said that she doesn't want us to leave. She's so sweet and caring! 

After church we spent some time on the computers figuring out college stuff. That was fun. I was looking at the business programs at BYU and my mind was going crazy at all the possibilities. 

After we came back home and did some weekly planning. We then went over to Stephanie's apartment to have an evening with Gautier, Kim, and an old missionary who was visiting from Italy. He served here 5 years ago, and it's probably dating Kim. We had some French salad, and really good cheese melts on toast. 

We then talked about the Inter-region plan again, and we had each member talk about a specific thing they are doing to help the plan function. 

We had a great time with them all and we all took pictures, because Kim was leaving and going somewhere else. 

We had to leave after that as well.

So, it was a busy week here in Nimes. We were out of town for 2 whole days pretty much and then we did lots of cleaning and service. Next week is going to be somewhat busy as well! We have already planned some things to do with the members. 

I don't know what's going to happened transfers wise. I have been here for a while now, and a change would be nice, and would re-energize me, but at the same time, Martine is probably going to be baptized next transfer, and I have some good friends here. So it's bittersweet both ways. Well, I'm glad I'm not the one that makes the choice. 

Well, that's the week! I love you all, and hope that you have a great week, and enjoy the heat for me!

Love, Elder Race Acheson

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