WEEK #8 IN LYON, FRANCE

Elder Acheson with Jean Louis and Dominique

Hello everyone! This was a super busy week, and to be honest, we pretty much went on a tour of the mission.

It will just be easier to just list out the days and what we did like usual.

Monday: We got some snow tires for our car, and then we went straight up to Fribourg in Swiss. That's about 3 hours away. We went to Ikea and bought lots of boxes of furniture for the elders there. We, of course, ate the meatballs there like usual.

We then went and dropped off all the things we bought. After that we drove a few hours down to Valence in France. We slept the night there.

Tuesday: We drove from Valence up to Lyon to drop two chairs we got from there in our garage. Then we went to St. Etienne to go grab a wardrobe. We then took that wardrobe to Valence. That was about an hour and half drive. Then we went back to St. Etienne and grabbed another wardrobe, and then drove it back to Valence again! So about 7 hours of driving that day. We stayed the night again in Valence, and had ribs and root beer with a member at the church!

Wednesday: We drove up to Lyon to get something, and then we drove 4 hours to get down to Avignon. We went to Ikea to grab a bunk bed. We then went to the Elders there and took down on of their bunk beds,and built the other one we bought. After that, we drove down to Vitrolles! That was my 2nd Ville. It was weird to be back there!

We stayed the night there.

Thursday: Elder Keller had Legality, so we went to Aix-en-Provence. We went to the city hall and got a number to wait in line. Then we went and explored the centreville. We went into a big church, and then just walked around the streets.

After we did Legality, we drove to the our church there, and sat in on Zone Training. After Zone Training, we went to a Mexican Burrito place. It was decent. Not as good as MasterTacos.

Once we ate lunch, we drove a few hours to Carcassonne. We stayed there with Elder Stuz and Kimble. We all had a great time that evening!

Friday: We woke up and left right at 7 am, so we could get to Mont-de-Marsan at 10 am. We had to go there to get a mattress. The elders were doing service for my recent convert Jean Louis. So we went and helped out.

I cut the grass. Its funny, because I was the last person to cut his grass. Jean Louis hasn't had anyone else cut it. The joke is that its my job. I  cut that grass for 5 months straight! There cant be anyone to replace me.

After service we ate a great lunch as usual. It was great to be there again. Dominique, Jean Louis's wife was baptized last transfer by Elder Douglas. So this couple that I found is now baptized, and they told me that they have already planned to get sealed when the Paris Temple is finished! They said I'm invited to come if I'm off my mission!

After eating, we drove the other Elders back to their apartment.

We stayed the night there.

Saturday: We went straight to Brive and picked up a huge wardrobe. We had a hard time fitting it in our car with the mattress. We managed to do it though!

After that, we drove about 4 hours home. In all, we drove 7 hours that day.

When we got to Lyon we went to the Institute to play Uno with the Chinese speaking elders. We then drove them home!

Sunday: We had church, and then we went over to the other elders apartment in our distirct, and we had dinner together. We had Tarteflet. Its really chessy potatoes, and peanut butter brownies.

It was a great end to the week.

In total we drove more than 3,000 Kilometers. that's 1864 Miles...


This week we are going back up to Swiss!

Well, that's the week. This week I hit my year home mark... Bleh... It feels really weird.

Regardless of that, I know that this is the right thing to be doing in my life. I am happy to be a missionary for my Savior Jesus Christ. This is the special month where we all focus on him! I hope everyone takes advantage of this opportunity!

I love you all, and Merry first week of December!

-Love Elder Race Acheson!

Pictures:

1. Our trunk with bed and wardrobe

WEEK #7 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello friends and Family! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving Week! Speaking of thanksgiving, I am super greatful to be here in France. We had our Ami Gabiel get Baptized on Saturday. I had the opportunity to do the ordinance. I am thankful for his progression, and his dedication to the gospel. 

I hope you all are thankful for the gospel as well!

As for the week! 

Monday: I got my new companion Elder Keller. He is related to me through my Bob and Beth Keller Thompson side of the family. Small world! So, I said goodbye to Elder Steadman at the Gare and then I went with another Elder to the mall and we walked around and went shopping. After some time, I met up with Elder Keller at the Gare.  He is a really cool missionary from Salt Lake City, Utah. That pretty much was the day.

Tuesday: We did shopping for the week. We bought food, and then we went to the office and saw all the Bleus! They looked so cute and tired! I remember when I was new into France. I’ve been out almost a year on my mission by the way! It blows my mind to see how much time I have been out here. 

After the office, we went to the garage and looked at all the things we had. We then took a surprise trip to St. Etienne. We had to go shop for a few things the sisters there needed. 

Wednesday: We went in the morning to get a dryer from some sisters here in Lyon. We took that to the garage, and then threw away a lot of the wood we had at the dump. We then went to the Ecully Chapel to meet President Brown with Gabriel. President interviewed Gabriel for his baptism. He passed! So we planned his baptism for Saturday. 

Thursday: Our power went out in the morning, so that was great... We then drove around to different tire stores to get snow tires on our car. One store was available on Monday, so we booked it. 

After all of that, we went to president’s house and had Thanksgiving dinner with all the Lyon missionaries! We had american style thanksgiving. It was great to eat american food again! I had a blast.  Sister Brown and the other senior missionaries knocked themselves out preparing this feast for us.

Right after the dinner, Elder Keller and I drove up to Geneva. 

Friday: We went to the old mission home and took all the things that needed to be thrown away, and we took it to the dump. We then took the fridge, and took that with us back to Lyon. Before we left, we got a Kebab, and then went and got gas in the car. 

We got back to Lyon, placed the Fridge in the Garage, and then went to the Sweeney’s Home to have dinner with Gabriel. We then talked about Baptism and feeling the Holy Ghost. It was great because we talked about how we feel the spirit. After the lesson, Gabriel said he felt the spirit! So that was a success. 

Saturday: We went to office elders to sleep because we had no power. We ate there and did some laundry. After that, we went to the Chapel and got ready for the Baptism. 

There was a little girl getting baptized too, so there were a lot of people to see Gabriel baptized! 

It was smooth. I did the prayer in English, and then everything after was easy. 

After the baptism, we left and went back to the office elders apartment. 

Sunday: We went to church, and Gabriel was confirmed a member of the church. We had Elder Sweeney do the confirmation in English. 

After church we went to our apartment, and cleaned up the water that leaked out of our fridge. Since we have no power, the freezer melted and water got all over the floor. 

Once we cleaned it up, we went to the other Elders in our district for a bit. They are the Elders that live in the apartment with the garage. They share the apartment with another companionship. Elder Tomlinson, who was my comp. in the MTC is in that apartment! So we talked for a bit.

Then went back to the office apartment.

So, for this next week, we will be on the road until Saturday driving a full mission loop. We will start in Swiss and head to Mont de Marsan! And everywhere in between! 

I love you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful start to the Christmas season! 

-Love Elder Acheson

WEEK #6 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello everyone! This transfer has come to an end. Elder Steadman's going to Valance, and I'm staying and receiving Elder Keller. He's a few transfers older than me, but we both will be senior companions.

So, to update the week!

On Monday we had presidents P-day! That's where the two Lyon zones go to presidents house and just chill. There's a volleyball net on the grass, a basketball court, and ping pong down stairs.

We had lunch and played until the evening. President then talked to all of us on being safe in Lyon. It's become a target city, so we just need to be careful.

Tuesday:  we did a little inventory of the garage. And then we drove down to Grenoble to stay the night.

Wednesday: we drove to Gap to go drop off some things to the new senior couple, the walkers. We saw our friend Elder Engle, who came into the mission with us. We stayed for lunch, and we had an early thanksgiving meal!

We had to head home after that. The drive to Grenoble was through winding mountain roads. It was beautiful!

When we got back to Grenoble, the elders weren't home. So we went to the top of the mountain to check out a fort. There were even caves and we got some awesome pictures. 

Thursday: we came back to Lyon, and then to St. Etienne to help move some things into the sister's new apartment. Their old one got all smokey due to a fire. We had to fit in a huge dresser into the car. We barley got it in!

After St. Etienne we came home. We stole some bunk beds from their apartment, so we set them up at our home!

Friday: we got our transfer calls, and went to Geneva to get some things at IKEA for the English speaking elders.

We had to shop for some things they needed for their apartment.

We dropped off their things at their apartment, and then we drove home. It rained super hard the entire way back. Looks like it's finally winter now...

Saturday: we did a small exchange with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Walker and we went to play Soccer. Elder Steadman went with Elder Hansen to a baptism.

At soccer it started to rain and blow wind. It was freezing, so soccer was canceled. Elder Walker and I decided to go to McDonalds for an early lunch.

After lunch we met up wth the other elders.

Elder Steadman and I then went to St. Etienne again. We went to Ikea again, and got some sheets and new blankets for the sisters there.

We dropped that off, and went to Buffalo Grill for a early dinner.

We got some good steak and Mac and Cheese. I started to crack some salt on my food, but I broke the salt shaker, and salt went all over my plate. We then drove home in the rain again!


On Sunday elder steadman packed and then we went to church. We came back and picked up Elder Sorenson and Hansen at the Gare, and we brought them back to our apartment.

And this Monday morning we went to the Gare to meet up with all the people leaving.
Now we are at the mall shopping!

Well that's the end of this transfer! I love you all! We hopefully have Gabriel's baptism this Saturday! He's doing great! Keep praying for him! Pray for us!

-Love Elder Race Acheson




















Photos:

1. Presidents P-Day
2. On the way to Gap
3. The city of Grenoble
4. Me falling off a cliff
5. Elder Steadmans turn 
6. Cool caves photo
7. New beds
8. Salt all over my food

WEEK #5 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello friends and family! Just to let everyone know, we are safe and ok. The attacks in Paris were horrible, and we feel and see the shock here in Lyon. Keep praying for the families affected. They need all the prayers possible.

Now to update everyone on the week.

On Monday, we had Zone Pday. We went as a zone and did some Bowling.


It was pretty darn fun! It's been over a year since I went bowling.
Elder Steadman and I also play a lot of Ping Pong. We decided to buy matching companionship Paddles.

They add crazy spin to the ball! I think I found my new favorite sport.
We then went to Master Taco with the Office Elders. We then spent the night over at their apartment. It was a great time to get to know them more.

On Tuesday, we drove to Grenoble to go get some things from one of the apartments. We spent the night there, and got some kebabs with our good friend Elder Sorenson and his trainee Elder Hansen.
We played some games until it was time to go to bed

On Wednesday, we came back to Lyon, and then we did some inventory of our garage. We have so much stuff jam packed in there. So that took some time.

After the inventory, we went with Gabriel and his friend Okasha to the Sweeney’s apartment. They are one of the office couples. They fed us Navajo Tacos! It was great to have a taste of Amercia.

We then taught the Plan of Salvation to Okasha. He's 17 and practicing Muslim, so we can't really teach him too much. It was great to be with him though!

On Thursday, we had district meeting, and did some fun activities to practice the idea of planning. We did things from walking blindfolded in a maze, to dropping candy from a chair into our mouths.

After the meeting, we drove up to Suisse. We got there at night. So we slept at the Zone Leaders apartment.

On Friday, we drove up to Martingy which is deep in the Swiss Mountains. We had to drop off a money card to a new missionary. 

When we got into Martingy, it was in a huge fog cloud, due to the fact it's in a valley in some steep mountains. 

We drove up the mountain to get out, and we suddenly left the cloud bank! 

We rose up above all the clouds, and we had to take pictures.

When we got to the other side of the mountain, it was even more beautiful with the sun! There were villages on the top of the mountain as well!

We started our descent to the other side, and it still was beautiful! 

We then drove home to get to a meeting with Gabriel. We got to Lyon at 3:30, and went to the institute to meet up with Gabriel. Something was up with his phone so we couldn't get in touch. 

We waited for a bit, and then it was time for dinner. We decided to get Chinese food because we were a little sad. The meeting was suppose to be his Baptismal Interview with President Brown. 

We ate and returned home.

On Saturday, we got a text in 4:30 in the morning that woke us up. It was President Brown telling us that there were attacks in Paris. We were told that we were on lockdown until further notice. The borders of France were closed, and everyone was to stay where they were. 

We got the OK to start work at 9:00AM. Elder Steadman and I went over to president’s house to drop off some boxes, and when we got there, we talked with president about what happened. Sister Brown sent us off with cookies.

We went to the garage to do some more inventory, and to throw away some broken wood. 

We had a rendezvous at the Institute, so we ate lunch and went to the institute. We took the metro, and when we got to the institute, we found out that all the missionaries were not to take public transport in case of an attack. 

Our ami didn't show up, so we walked home. It was a long walk, so we ate dinner when we got home, and it was also dark outside. We were told to be inside our apartments before dark for safety. 

On Sunday, we drove to church, and we sat in the front with Gabriel. We had class with him, and everything was smooth. He is happy, and we had to push his baptism date to the 28th. We went home after church and ate. We have church at 1:30 so by the time we leave and eat, it's dark outside. 

So these next days will be interesting. Pray for us all that no more attacks will happen. 

It's funny. This is the FIRST time we were in France for the weekend. There was a big possibility that we could have been trapped in Suisse because of the attacks.

I love you all! Pray for Paris, and pray for us and Gabriel! 

-Love Elder Race Acheson 

Pictures: 

  1. my name tag in Swiss on our drive.

1. The houses on top of the mountains.
2. Me over looking the clouds above Martingy.
3. Our matching ping pong paddles
4. Pano of the village.
5. Steadman popping a balloon in my mouth in the garage. 
6. Our zone at bowling. 

WEEK #4 IN LYON, FRANCE

Hello family and friends! Welcome to another week here in The Lyon Mission! 

On Wednesday we had a great zone conference with President Brown. We talked about the first vision of Joseph smith. Then about companionship unity. To demonstrate how two things that are different can create something strong, president brought out his Longbow. We all then went outside and watched president shoot a bottle in midair with the bow.

After the conference, we all had Master Tacos for lunch. There was about 100 2 liter bottles of soda, so... no one was thirsty after that.

Later that night we had a dinner appointment with Elder Sweeney. He's a senior missionary in the office.  We were supposed to eat also with Gabriel, but somehow we couldn't get a hold of him. So it ended up just being us 3!  We had a great time with Elder Sweeney.

Thursday we went up to Switzerland at around 9 in the morning. While driving up there, we stopped at this small ville with a beautiful lake. We ended up took some nice pictures there. I almost got attacked by some swans as well. 

We then arrived at the former mission home in Switzerland and we cleaned out one of the fridges in the garage. It stunk really bad, so I threw some bleach water on it. 

Friday we drove up to Neuchâtel to go drop off some things for the elders there. Then we drove back to Geneva and started clearing out more things in the apartments we have been working on. We pretty much are finished. We just had to break down some wood furniture and throw it away:) 

Saturday we finished up our little tasks of cleaning, and went to store called Migros.. Then we got about 100€ of Swiss chocolate. A senior couple in the office gave us some money to buy chocolate for their kids as a Christmas present. So we got LOTS! 

We then drove back to Lyon. We then went to a baptism at the Ecully Chapel. That's the other church in Lyon. The Chinese companionship in our Ward had a baptism! So we saw that go down. 

Sunday: we had some Americans come to church. They were the family of the wife of the stake president. It was cool to introduce Gabriel, our ami, to them. It was also the Primary program! It was cute to watch kids speak French in their cute little voices. 

Now an update for Gabriel. We had little contact with him this week. He did come to church, and he's still good for baptism! So pray that we can teach him this week! 

I love you all! 

-Love Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #3 IN LYON, FRANCE

WEEK #2 IN LYON, FRANCE

Wow! What a super fast week! I don't even know where to start! This week has included getting a new ami, and setting a baptism date with him, driving over to Switzerland to meet the General Relief Society President and a member of the Seventy. 

Also Imagine Dragons is also playing in the concert hall just down the street from our apartment tonight! So hopefully they’ll  play music loud.

Alright now get to the details. We called a guy who contacted the missionaries in the mall a  few days ago.  He was referred to us.  So we met him on Tuesday. His name is Gabriel and he moved here from Toulouse. He was born in Nigeria and speaks mostly English. He's 20 and is so cool!:) 

We met him near his apartment and we went inside and talked with him. He knew the missionaries in Toulouse, and had a Book of Mormon. He knew a lot of basics of the gospel.  So we were able to jump into his needs. 

Basically he wants to have good influences, and has a desire to be baptized. So we have decided to be his best friends! 

So that's Gabriel! Super awesome guy.

For this week: 

Tuesday: we dropped a dryer to some sisters in Lyon. That took up the whole morning. One sister knows my cousin John Passey from Utah really well, and the other sister is from Scotland. So I had her pronounce my name correctly. 

Turns out the dryer didn’t work, so we didn’t really know what to do... We have no others to give...:/

Later that day we had the first meeting with Gabriel. (See beginning of the letter)

Wednesday: we went and picked up around 12 tires from one of the office couples. We then drove to Geneva to drop them off at the Mission Mansion.  (Swiss mission home) 

Then we went to Ikea to eat lunch. We were to meet a senior couple there to help them get a bed.

We then followed them home and set up the bed for them. 

Elder and Sister Austin then gave us cans of root beer! It's been 10 months since I had real root beer! 

We then went to a Kebab truck they recommended. It is my favorite one so far! The owner is 24 years old  and speaks great English! 

I call it the “Ghost” Kebab because no one knows of it. 

We then drove home because it was late.

Thursday: we had zone training. So we drove to the church. We got a cool trifold pamphlet for our Amis to teach the path towards being worthy to go to the temple. It's only in English right now, so it's kinda hard to use. We then talked about how to teach simply! Always a good thing to practice...We had breakfast for lunch, and then we had to leave to go meet up with Gabriel at the Institute building. 

We met up and taught him the plan of salvation. We were talking, and he stopped and said he had an off topic question. He asked what would happen if his dad dies without being baptized.

So we stopped plan of salvation and cut straight to the temple. We pulled out the trifold temple pamphlet, and we taught him about baptisms for the dead. He said he wants to do that, so we put his name on the pamphlet, and set his baptism date for the 21st of November!:) 

We ended there, and then we played some ping pong. He never lost a game. He's too good! 

But that was a great day! I think we were the first companionship in the mission to use the trifold pamphlet to get a baptism date and goal towards the temple! We only got the thing a few hours earlier! 

Friday: we went up to Lausanne which is an hour north of Geneva. We had to set up beds for the zone leaders and move a fridge. I drove there from Lyon. Driving through the canyons with all the changing trees in the fall is so beautiful! 

The two Swiss Zones had a special conference with a member of the Elder David P. Homer of the Quorum of the Seventy, and Relief Society General President Linda K. Burton

We drove to the Lausanne chapel to get some keys from a few companionships so we could set up the requested items. All the general authorities and missionaries there were at tables eating. When elder Steadman and I walked in wearing our hoodies, shorts, and colorful socks, everyone stopped and stared. Then we saw our friends and went up and talked to them. 

President Brown was there and pulled us to the side. He said he wanted us to stay, and said we were in our uniform because we were fulfilling our calling :) Mission work in shorts, I like it! 

We told president about Gabriel and how he wants to go to the temple and be baptized. President was super happy! It was great to show him we do other stuff besides driving and moving things ;) 

We were then introduced to Sister Burton and her husband. It was weird to meet them formally in informal clothes wearing only my two hoodies and shorts. It was really funny and cool! 

We had some food, talked with old friends, and even saw my MTC companion Elder Tomlinson! It's been 7 months since I last saw him! 

We all then went into the chapel to have the conference. Elder Steadman and I sat in the very back of the chapel, we didn't want to bring any more attention to ourselves. Everyone was in suits, and we were in the back sitting comfortable in our gym clothes. 

President got up and made his opening remarks. He then asked Elder Steadman and I to come up and tell our experience with Gabriel with the General Authorities and the missionaries. Kinda scary and embarrassing to speak in casual clothes, especially in front of the relief society president! 

After the conference we had to head back to Geneva Zone leaders to set up the bunk beds. After that, we got another ghost kebab!

We then drove back to Lausanne to sleep at the other Zone Leaders apartment. 

Saturday: we replaced he fridge the ZLs, and then we had to drive to Geneva and set up drawers for the Austin Couple. That took all afternoon. We had more root beer and brownies! It's my first time being around senior couples! I love it! We are the grandkids during their mission. 

We had to drive home quickly after to go meet up with Gabriel and show him the church. We picked up Elders Hansen and Sorenson who were in Lyon for Stake conference the next day. So we all went and met Gabriel at the church. It was locked and we didn't know the code. So we stood outside and did a small lesson on prayer. 

We all testified on how prayer is something we can always do. How we can get help from it. Gabriel took it great! He is such a cool guy! He says he loves to be with us because he feels good about it! I know he is feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost. We all left, and the Grenoble elders came home with us. 

Sunday: us four missionaries went and met up with Gabriel and we went to a convention center in Lyon to have stake conference. We found spots up front, and listened. It was all in French. Sister brown spoke and that was in English. It was translated by President. Then Elder Homer the Seventy member back in Lausanne was there and spoke in english. He talked about Christ, and Gabriel was listening to every word. 

After the conference we brought Gabriel to meet President Brown, and he talked to Gabriel about how he knows we are teaching the truth. Gabriel agreed and said he felt it was true. 

We then introduced him to Elder Homer, and the stake president who is in our ward actually! Also to other missionaries, and anyone else who was cool. Gabriel plays basketball, so we introduced him to Elder Haws who will play for BYU when he comes home. 

So for Gabriel's first time at a church meeting in Lyon, he met the mission president, stake president, and even a member of the seventy. That is almost sounds like Utah!  Sister brown wants him over to play ping pong, so hopefully we can do that soon! 

We went home, and said goodbye to Gabriel. Elder Hansen and Sorenson were with us again, so we made a nice Sunday meal. Homemade pizza, with homemade pizza dough! With cheesy potato soup :) It turned out great! 

After dinner, we said goodbye to the other elders, and elder Steadman and I took the metro to the church. We met Gabriel there and we showed him around. We then sat down and went over the restoration. 

We summarized it, because he knows it pretty well. But we focused on the Book of Mormon. He said he read after the stake conference, and we just encouraged him to keep reading and praying! 

We finished, and went home. All in all, it was a great week! Lots of traveling, and teaching!

Well, as you can see from our new engagé Gabriel, the spirit works fast, and can touch the heart of anyone! 

Seek the spirit out! Because you will find it! 

I love you all, and I know Christ is real, and he helps even the missionaries who drive over the country in hoodies, gym shorts and colorful socks.

Love Elder Acheson!