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
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