WEEK #9 IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Hello family and friends!

It's great to write to you again. This has been a great week. To start out the week we went to Toulouse to have our P-day. We went and looked around at lots of shops. We went with some of the other missionaries in Toulouse and we went to a huge mall. There was a water fall inside, and it kind of of felt like Las Vegas. I didn't really buy anything. 

After that we started our exchange with our zone leaders. I went with Elder Jenkins back to Montauban, and we finished the night by teaching Frederic about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It went smooth. Like always, Frederic knew the answers and was able to easily discuss everything with us. 

On Tuesday we had our meeting with our branch mission leader. We saw our less active Sr. Korpal, and then did some contacting. It felt like a great exchange. It was the first time that I felt like I was at the helm. Last transfer I was always in Toulouse, and all the other exchanges in the past have been over 3 transfers ago because I didn't do any in the moving equipe. We did some good contacting, and got a few numbers that we will try and contact. 

Wednesday I reconnected with Elder Wall and we had to buy our groceries. While we were shopping, a Muslim man came up to elder wall, and started saying how much he liked him for being American. I came up to be present, and the guy looked at me and asked me if we knew each other.

He kept calling Elder Wall a good man. He looked at me and called me a bad man as well. 

He eventually had to get kicked out of the store by security, so we knew that he was a little drunk.. 

Later that day, Elder Wall and I went up to Cahors. It was raining a good amount... We Still got some numbers, and even knocked on the door of a random house. The lady was busy so we got her number. 

We ported into this guy who talked to us for half an hour. He was telling us we should reconsider our choice of believing in God because of things from the past. He was VERY nice though. The nicest atheist I have met to this date.

We walked along a path to go back to town, and we came across this bathing spot? We didn't know what it was, so we took some pics with it. Ill attach the pic of me almost falling in. 

So yeah, it was raining a lot... I got soaked and it wasn't the best. I am proud to say that I have served in the rain. 

On Thursday we street boarded for an hour in center ville. It was weird, because we have seen other religious people street boarding, so it was weird to join them. We talked to a few people and it was an interesting experience! We had some really nice roll up posters. 

We also went contacting, met some cool people. We met this guy who plays music and speaks a good amount in English, and seems pretty open to talk to us more! So we will see how that goes. 

We had some French practice with Frederic. We went over to his apartment and we went through some phrases and we discussed some principles. It was a nice break from walking around all day. 

We then saw Sr. Korpal. We have been trying to see her every day, because we are working on having her stop smoking. (More details about that on Sunday) 

On Friday we had a simple day. We did our weekly planning, and then we helped clean Sr. Korpal’s apartment. I really went at it on the floor in the kitchen. I took a screwdriver. And scraped off all the gum and wax that was on the floor. Again, my mom would be so proud of all the dirty work. I also had a good attitude of service! (I love you mommy!)

We went to the market on Saturday and I got some new socks and a beanie. We got some really good cheese at the cheese cart as well. 

We cooked a Shepard's Pie for a Single Adults activity. It turned out very good. I was impressed. Elder Wall loves to cook and we always eat well. 

The work here is hard, and you don't see too many numbers, but you do eat well. Frederic was also at the activity and we found some people he could bring to the temple and do baptisms for. We have an initiative in the mission to help members find people to bring to the temple. We call it "Prepared for Paris". We take a selfi and send the photo to the office.

We then went to Sr. Korpal’s again and read with her. She finished the Book of Mormon, so now we are reading Doctrine and Convents. 

We plan to spend a lot of time with her his week so she can stop smoking. 

On Sunday we had the normal church experience. I blessed the sacrament, and then we did our studies. We went over to Sr. Korpal’s, and she gave us all her cigarettes and lighter. The pack wasn't open, and she was willing to depart from all of it! We are super proud and excited.

We then came home and made some cookie dough so we could bring it to the Family Dieute. We went over to their house to eat dinner. We gave them cookie dough because they have never had cookie dough before... Oh la la. 

It was an overall productive week. We are happy with the things going on and are excited to see what the next week will bring. 

We are also preparing as a mission to have Elder Christofferson from the 12 Apostles come to our mission on the 15th! Super excited! 

Pray for us! I love you, and will talk to you all soon!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson