WEEK #5 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello friends and family! 

So most of this past week has been in Montpellier. There is a big party going on in Nimes, so we were taken out. We did spend a few days in Nimes and they were good! We of course had P-Day and I already said a little last email about that. We dropped off Elder Quinn at the Gare.

It was so cool that my mom and sister were able to go to Elder Quinn's homecoming back in Utah. They gave him a dating book.

Besides that we walked around and saw some stuff. It was a really slow day. We did pass a less active family who comes from Russia. We shared with them a scripture about faith. The husband had a bad leg, and the wife asked us to give him a blessing. We blessed him and we talked about the chances of them coming back to church. It's hard for them to come due to the husband's leg. 

After seeing the less active family we tried to contact on our way back home. It ended up raining, so there was no one. 

The next day we tried to go hard in the work. Over the day we got 20 conversations! We pretty much contacted all day. We did stop by a store to pick up some fans though! It's starting to get hot, so we need fans to sleep at night. 

After contacting we went by a member named Gautier. He use to be our DMP, but was recently released. We showed him the temple video that we have. He hasn't seen it, and the song was in French so he could understand it. We were just there for a few minutes to try and invite the spirit. 

The next day was contacting as well. We contacted until we took a bus to an outer ville to try and pass a potential ami. They weren't home, and we tried to contact people in the street. Unfortunately the village as so small, that there was no one to see. 

We took the bus home. A member called and asked us to open the church for him so he could use the computer. While waiting for him to use the computer we did some calls. We found out that we needed to leave town for the week end because of the big party coming up in Nimes.  We needed to go to Montpelier to work there.

On Thursday we took the train to Montpelier and met up with Elder Lindsey and Stahl. I knew Lindsey from before, but I don't know Elder Stahl that much. I went with Elder Stahl and we went contacting for most the day. Montpelier is a super pretty city with lots of young people. We went and contacted all around. Eventually Elder Williams joined us and we went around and eventually took a break next to a lake in the city. We  went home and met up with the other guys and had dinner. There are 4 elders and 2 sisters here in this city. So now there are 6 elders!

On Friday I exchanged with Elder Thorne one of the Zone Leaders. We went contacting as well, but we passed a recent convert named Aurelin. He is a really cool guy who does spray paint art. He showed us some of his work, and it is really good! After talking for a but, we then taught him the plan of salvation. Since he already had the lessons recently we just reviewed it. 

After we saw Aurelin we went to the church to have a family home evening with some Amis and all the missionaries. One elder showed a video about a father and his relationship with God. We connected it to how we are all God's children. After the spiritual thought we played games. 

On Saturday there was a baptism of a members wife. It seemed like the whole Ward came. We went early to fill up the baptismal font, and while turning on the water, the water shot out from the drain and hit the ceiling! It was actually pretty funny, but we had to clean up a bit.

The baptism was great. There was a lot of Amis there. Elder Stalh's family was visiting from Swiss because they actually lived there when he was younger! So we got to meet  the family. There was a ward meal after the baptism, and we were invited to dinner with with Elder Stalh's family. 

Later that night we went to an American restaurant at a mall and had some really good soul food. The Stahl's were super kind and payed for the whole meal.   We can say that we ate well that night.

On Sunday we had church like normal, and the women that was baptized received the Holy Ghost. She cried a little at the end of the prayer. It was really sweet because now that she's a member she can be sealed to her husband in a year. 

After church we talked with the Stalh family one last time before they left. It was really weird to see elder Stalh with his family. His little brother looked just like him.

So when we got home from church we did some studies and finished weekly planning. We then went over to a members house for a little snack. When we came over we were blasted in the eyes with oil vapors! It felt nice though. 

When we came upstairs we sang hymns for a good while. We all did different parts of the hymns and it didn't sound too bad! We then had some hot chocolate and cakes while we talked about life. We had two elders that are going home at the end of the transfer. 

We left and went home at the end because it was near time to go in.

Well, that's the summary of the week in detail. Other things about this week is how I am trying now to be more diligent in my work. We did pretty good getting 32 conversations in two days! We really need to keep finding people to teach!

I love you all and how you have a great week!

-Love, Elder Race Acheson 

WEEK #4 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello everyone!

So this transfer has come to an end. Elder Quinn was sent off to the office at 6 this morning.  He returns home tomorrow.  Now it's just Elder Williams and me here in Nimes. So this was an interesting transfer due to the fact that half of it was in two different villes. I have come  to love Nimes and I am excited to stay here. I found that my MTC Companion Elder Tomlinson will be replacing me in Montauban. I love Montauban and the people there.

As for the week we had a nice easy P-day. We went around and looked at stores and did what Elder Quinn wanted to do. Since all the stores are closed for a few hours at noon, we had a lot of walking around time. We went to a music store, and I played some really nice guitars. Too expensive, so didn't even think about buying one. I just wanted to see how nice a $1,530 guitar sounds. We went to the church and we did our emails. After that we did some contacting, and we contacted a lady from Canada. We talked about her dog for a few minutes and then we started talking about what we did as missionaries. She said that she had some problems in her past, and she believes that there is a greater force outside this world, and we tried to tell her that it was God. We gave her a card and invited her to learn more. 

The day after, we had some rendezvous’ set up, but they all fell through. We ended up just contacting all day... It was hot, and we were really tired at 3:00... It was going to be a long day. We went to the bishop’s house that evening and that was great. We talked about the wife's mission and she gave Elder Quinn some advice on how to enter the real world again. 

We shared the message about Peter healing the man at the temple, and then we invited the family to search for friends to share the gospel with. 

The next day we had another day full of contacting! :) We did have the chance to do some service. We helped a man who we contacted a while ago move into a new apartment. We helped put stuff into the van that he brought, and then we walked across town to meet him at his new apartment, and we carried up everything. The stairs were steep and we almost slipped a few times... I guess the time in the moving team didn't really help me.

We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said that we would read it! So hopefully we can connect sometime. He was really grateful that we would help him for free with moving! We were glad to help. 

The next day we went to Montpellier for district meeting. We talked about how we need to finish with the end in mind. Also we discussed how we can have our conversations be more meaningful in the sense that when we talk to people, we try to get them to want to see us again. 

Elder Spence, the DL, made some really good duck with sauce. It was a pretty classy lunch after! 

We took the train back to Nimes, and we went contacting. While contacting we heard some say "Hey Elders!" And we looked over and we saw the Perez family from Montauban! We all met up and we talked for a while. It was great to see the family because I never got to say goodbye to them.  We took a picture together and it was great to have the chance to say goodbye. 

The next day was transfer calls! Elder Quinn was going home, and Williams and I are staying. As for the work, we went to the edge of town and tried to pass a less active. We walked to the other side of town, and they weren't home. After that we went to another less actives house. She let us in and we talked about why she hasn't been able to come to church. She hasn't been able due to work. We shared a scripture in Alma and we talked about faith. She was really happy to have us over. She told us to come over the next day. 

The next day we went to a member’s apartment to help him carry groceries up to his room. He was kind enough to take us back home. We ate our lunch and then went to the church to teach a guy we called this week. We taught this man, his name is Ricard, and he has Spanish heritage. We taught him the Restoration and he took it well. He has Catholic background and was very kind.

After teaching Ricard, we went back home and did weekly planning while Elder Quinn packed. After Planning we went to the less active that told us to come back. When we went there we shared a video about the temple. It was a video that showed all the temples with a girl singing in the back ground in French. 

The less active has been to the temple and we were able to re-spark her desire to go. So we will try to work with her to make her able to go the next time the ward goes. We left her, and then we went and got some tacos. It would be Elder Quinn's last taco.... :/ 

We then went home and he packed some more.

On Sunday, Ricard came and it was great! Elder Quinn gave his testimony in front of the ward. After sacrament meeting, we taught Ricard with one of the members. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was all new for Ricard, but he took it in. He said that we could teach him again on Friday, so I guess he likes it? I hope so! 

After church we went back home to eat, then to the church again to put pictures onto Elder Quinn's USB. We went to the really nice park in Nimes and we got some final pictures for Elder Quinn. We went to a pond and did some funny poses. 

We then went over to a member’s home to Skype our families! It was great to see my family, but weird at the same time knowing that this is my last skype... So yea, I feel weird about that. I love my mission and it is going by quickly. 

After skype we went and tried to get one last conversation for Elder Quinn. It was raining, and no one was in the streets, so we didn't manage to get a conversation for Elder Quinn. 

This morning we woke up at 5 am to drop him off at the Gare! It's sad, but it's happy to see him go. He has done his time, and its time for him to go home. 

Well, that's our week, and the end of the transfer! I love you all, and I hope that you all have a great week! 

Love, Elder Race Acheson! 

WEEK #3 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Happy 20th Birthday Elder Acheson!!!!

Hey everyone!

I hope that you had a good week! It turned out to be a pretty good week here in Nimes. I turned 20, and now am not a teenager anymore... That's kind of a weird feeling. 

Some of the highlights of the week is that we had Zone Conference in Aix-en-Provence, we had 25 conversations in a day, saw some less actives in an outer ville, and then we also had some really good homemade pizza for my birthday dinner. 

As for the specifics for the week I guess I can start on Monday. 

So since Elder Quinn is going home soon, we spent most of the day trying to get things on his USB like his photos and videos. That took a while. So that was pretty much P-day. After doing all of that we went and did some contacting. While walking we saw this guy so we contacted him. He was originally from Ghana, but lives in the UK. We talked a lot about the Bible and the Book of Mormon. It was an interesting conversation. The main focus of the conversation was mostly about the principle that the Bible isn't the only source of scripture. Our guy had to leave to go catch a plane to go back to the UK, but he gave us hugs at the end of the conversation. We were glad to end on good terms. 

The next day we had an exchange with the District Leader. So we had his comp with us in Nimes. Elder Quinn, Wiburg and I. We mostly did a lot of contacting. Elder Wiburg is a machine. So we got around 25 conversations. It was a good exchange because I got a better idea on how to talk to everyone. So my contacting has been improving this week. 

We went and taught a less active member the Plan of Salvation. This is the same one that we saw the week ago. It was a good lesson, but the son was asking some weird questions about things that weren't really important. Oh well... 

After the less active, we pretty much did some more contacting. We contacted this lady that was kind of angry that we stopped her. Then we started talking about God and then she got easier to talk to. She had a 12-year-old boy, and he was pretty cool. He found out that we were American and he was super shocked and said that we were super lucky. His dream is to go visit New York. I told him that I have been there and he was super excited. I gave him one of our pass along cards and he said that he would keep it forever. 

We gave the mom a card as well and she said that she would look up the website as well, so we felt that was a great contact!

The next day we had a less active day! We had a member pick us up and take us to an outer ville named Ales. We visited an American lady who doesn't have a car, so she can't come to church. She had every wall covered with some type of Michael Jackson memorabilia. We spoke in English with her  for most of the lesson.  We talked about how she was doing, and how she was going with her prayers and scripture reading. She seems like she is doing the best she can in her situation. We shared Alma 32 with her and talked about how faith is like a seed. It seemed to help her:) 

After seeing her, we went over to another less actives house. She was sick so she can't really come to church. We spent some time talking about things that were going on. During the time that the member was talking I was busy playing with the super cute little dog. The member had this dog and it was trying so hard to jump on my lap.

We ended the visit with her by giving her a blessing. She was very happy after the prayer, and thanked us for giving it to her. 

When we left we went back home. We did some contacting and then we went home. 

The next day was April 28th, which was my birthday! So I opened my package my family sent me. I got some BYU shorts and shirts, candy, some cool socks, an iPad Usb converter (perfect for missionaries! Thanks mom and dad!) 

After studies we went and did some contacting. After that we went to the store and I bought some stuff to make pizzas. We were going to have pizza for my birthday dinner.  I LOVE PIZZA!

So for the day of work we went to an outer ville and we visited an ancient ami. The ami was busy so she couldn't see us. So we went and tried to go talk to people. There was so one in the streets and so we couldn't contact anyone. So we walked around. We Took the bus back to Nimes. Then we went to visit a member. We talked to her about her family and then about her friends. We are trying to find investigators through the members in the ward. This member has already tried to talk to her neighbors. We were glad to come visit the member because she said that it was the very first time she has had the missionaries over to her house. It was because we are a trio that we could come over, so she was thankful for that. 

We then passed our ami that we taught once before. We shared the spiritual thought on Peter healing the crippled man in front of the temple. The lady we visited is named Madame Exprayate? At least that's how we pronounce it. 

After visiting our ami we went home and I started making pizzas. They turned out pretty good! It turned out like Deep Dish. 

The next day we woke up early to catch a train to Aix for zone Conference. 

We got there a little late. We had the conference on Baptizing converts. So we went over the important steps for getting someone ready for baptism, such as the protocols for interviews and requirements. 

We had lunch and I met another Elder named Elder Aitchison. He seems super cool! So hopefully president puts us together sometime! 

Since Elder Quinn is going home, he gave his Testimony in front of the zones. He did a great job! After that we had to run to the Gare to catch our train. It was pretty warm while we ran, but it was a scenic run you could say. Aix is one of the most beautiful cities in France.

We took the train back to Marseille and while we were there we met a return missionary visiting France. He served here a few years ago. We both had our birthday the day before so it was cool to meet someone that shared the same day. 

We took the same train as he did, and Elder Quinn asked him lots of questions on how to go back home and not have too much of a shock. The return missionary said that it was impossible to avoid the shock.... Good luck Elder Quinn. 

 Next day we did an hour of contacting before lunch. Then we ate and did Weekly planning. We had to then go right way to Frere Bells house. He is the American guy who had us help move stuff. We cleaned out the garage and helped put things into his small car. We then helped clean out his pool. Elder Quinn skimmed out all the gross stuff inside, and then I came in and lifted up the plastic bottom to move all the water.

We then moved a rowing machine. While Frere bell was coming back with the car, elder Quinn and I tried it out. 

After the service we came home to have dinner. 

On Sunday we passed our Amis apartment to bring her to church, but she said that she wasn't feeling good, so we couldn't bring her.

 We went to church anyway and we had a good meeting. We studied the talk of King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. 

After church we went and did our studies. We contacted after and I got a number of a 17 year old from the Ivory Coast. He said that he was free on Sunday's! Hopefully we can see him sometimes! 

After contacting we went over to the Bell family's house. We talked for a bit and we had Fajitas with them. At the end of the night, since Elder Quinn's favorite drink is Dr. Pepper, Fr. Bell gave him a 6 pack. 

We walked home and we settled in for the night. 

Well I guess that’s the week for us! I love you all, and hope that you have great week, and I will talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #2 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello friends and family!

So just so you guys now, Nimes is great! Like I said last week, Nimes is a pretty big city! There happened to be a gladiator match yesterday. We didn't go... but the city was crowded with tourists who were coming to watch at the big Colosseum. There were a bunch of people running around with gladiator costumes as well!

So, as for the week…Monday we went to a really cool castle called Aigues-Morts. It is where the Crusades was started. There is a small city that is inside the castle walls. We took a tour around the whole castle, and walked all over the walls! It was a really cool place. We took a bus to get there, and after we got back to Nimes, we went to McDonald’s to do our emails.

The next day we went and visited a less active. She came to church and told us that she would like us to come over and see her. So we did and we gave the Restoration lesson to her again, and told her that her life would improve if she prayed, read the scriptures, follow the commandments, and come to church. She said that she would! We told her we would come over the next week.  

We then went to visit another member. She wasn't able to come to church last time, so we went over to her house to see her. She is an active member, and is a convert of about 7 years. We talked about her story, and then we shared a quick scripture about faith. 

The next day we took a bus and went to an outer ville to visit a potential ami and a less active member. The ami wasn't home, and the member told us that she wanted to stay less active and to not have us over. While we were walking an Algerian man came up to us and asked us what we believed. We talked about our religions and ended up giving the guy a Book of Mormon. He said that he studied a lot, and so we gave him our book so he could study more. 

The day after we helped Fr. Bell paint his house. He is moving out of the house that he has right now and is moving into another one for a few months. The man before painted the walls really weird colors. So he had us come help him paint the walls white. So we painted for a few hours. Then we ate Subway sandwiches. 

After paining, we got ready for the day, and we then saw a potential Ami. We came into her apartment and she had her mother and brother there. They were all Protestant, but they listened to our message and we gave them a Book of Mormon. They were asking the right questions, and we explained why there were lots of other churches. We plan to go over again this week. 

We had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader, and we went over the things that we did during the week. 

Another day we did some contacting, and Elder Williams and I talked to an Atheist lady. We talked about eternal families and then invited her to read the Book of Mormon. She didn't accept the book, but we did give her a proclamation of the family. (Hehe)

We had a lesson at the church! We taught a lady that Elder Quinn contacted. We taught her the restoration and she said that she would read the Book of Mormon. We then invited her to come to church. 

We then went to the Gare and went to Montpellier to do an exchange. Elder Quinn stayed there, and Elder Whiting our Zone Leader came to Nimes with us. 

The day after, we went over to Fr. Bells to help move things into a truck. We moved a really heavy piano, and then put lots of other stuff in the truck. Then we drove over to the new home, and unloaded it all. Sr. Bell brought pizza and we ate pizza. It was really good:)

We then ran home and grabbed Elder Whiting’s stuff. We then went to the Gare and took a train to Montpellier. We switched out our companions and we then waited for our train. 

We came home and then went straight to a member’s apartment. He needed help bringing down some mattresses from his apartment to throw away. His elevator will be broken for 8 weeks, so he needed us to do that really soon. So we stuffed mattresses into the elevator and rode it down the 9 flights. It reminded me of the moving equipe. 

We then went home and got ready to go to Stake Conference. We went to the church to watch the broadcast. The conference was in Toulouse, President Brown was there and spoke. He of course spoke of Missionary work. 

After the broadcast we went and ate some kebabs. 

On Sunday we went again to the church to listen to Stake Conference. After that we came home and ate lunch, then studied for a bit. We went and passed a member to give her some scripture books she wanted. We shared with her a small scripture about how faith is like a seed. 

After seeing the member we came home and did our weekly planning. I made some really good cookies, and we then got ready for the night.

Well, there is good idea of the interesting things we did I this week! Between all these things is lots of contacting, and trying to find people to teach. We go out each morning at 11:00 to contact for an hour. I don't mind it, because the city is super beautiful. I'll try to attach some pictures! I love you all! Have a great week! 

It's also really strange to think that I'm turning 20 this week.... Bleh.

I love you all! 

Love, Elder Acheson

WEEK #1 IN NIMES, FRANCE

Hello my family and friends,

 

Elder Williams, Elder Quinn and Elder Acheson

 So just to update all of you, I am now serving in Nimes, France.  Nimes is pronounced “neem”.

Anyway, I am now in a 3-some. I am serving with Elder Quinn and Williams. They are both from Utah! Nimes is a super cool city. It was built by the Romans, and there are temples, gardens, and statues all over the place. It's pretty big, and I feel pretty happy to be here! 

 

With Elder Beck

With The Toulouse Zone

So as for the week before I was transferred. We went to Toulouse on Monday to hang out with the zone. We went to a cathedral and played Frisbee in the garden to the side. We then walked around the city and looked at shops. I spent some time with Elder Beck. He is a really cool guy. We eventually went to the church, and Elder Beck and I played the piano. He has showed me some really cool tricks.

Saying goodbye to Elder Wall

President called us, and he said that he needed us to come up to Lyon because of an emergency transfer on Tuesday morning. So we had to go back to Montauban and pack. We went and said goodbye to St. Korpal. She was really sad to see us go. I will really miss her. 

Serving in the rain in Lyon

We then took the train up to Lyon the next day. We hung with the office elders. We did receipts and some random tasks. The new day we had district meeting with the Ecully District. We then went on exchange with the Ecully Zone leaders. We visited a member, and talked about some of their friends who they wanted to invite to church. We then took the bus back to their apartment. It started to rain a lot, and we had to walk to the apartment. A lady was at the stop and asked us to help her. She needed to get to another stop, so we carried her stuff in the rain, and turns out there were no more buses. So we brought her to the apartment lobby to get out of the rain. We were able to call a taxi. We taught her the restoration and gave her a card. She was super thankful and said that she would look at the card. 

The next day we went and worked in the office. President called me and told me I would go down to Nimes the next day. So I did. I was sent alone on the train. It felt weird but pretty nice to be alone.

 

Transfer to Nimes

The elders picked me up, and we came back and ate. Then we went and contacted! 

The next day we did weekly planning, and then we walked around some more to try and talk to people. We don't have any investigators at the moment.

We have a ward, but it's the same size as a branch. We do have a nice building, and it's under construction. 

After church we had dinner with an American guy and his wife from Spain. We ate some tacos. It was great to be with an American. We learned how to memorize the Ten Commandments and the gospel of Jesus Christ with our fingers. 

We then got dropped off by the American husband back home. 

I don't really know what to say about Nimes! It's pretty and I think I'll like it! I guess you will have to read the letters that follow! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love Elder Acheson! 

WEEK #14 IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Hello family and friends!

I hope that you are having a great springtime! It's a little rainy here, but there have been some good days of sunlight! 

So we have had a pretty busy week here! We taught 6 lessons this week! Pretty good! :) So instead of going day by day, I'll just list different subjects, and you can enjoy them while you read! 

So we have our investigator Jean-Phillip. He is progressing fine, and we taught him more about the Book of Mormon. We read a chapter and we discuss it to him. We also answer his questions that he has from his studies.

We have our other Investigator Brianna. We only saw her once this week. We went to a park and we read the intro to the Book of Mormon. It's a little harder to get her started on it. We still don't know why.  That was the majority of the lesson. We try to just talk and have her be comfortable with us. She leaves France at the end of this month, so we are trying to get her hyped up to meet the missionaries in America. 

Our less active Sr. Korpal came to church on Sunday! She came for the Sacrament, then she left to go back and be with her kids. The members were super happy to see her! I don't know how long it was ago that she came to church, but we got her there! 

We have been reading with her, and we did her dishes one day. She is super funny! She likes to give us exercises to do. 

The mission moving team came to give us a new sofa and some chairs! It was fun to be with Elder Carlson again. I used to be part of the moving team.  We made them homemade Master Tacos. I still don't know how to make it exactly like the one in Lyon... I'm super upset.

We had Zone Training in Toulouse! That was a great training. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. We then ate Chicago style pizza. Elder Walters the District Leader made it. 

Then we all gathered around our zone leader Elder Beck. He is a musician from New York, and he showed us some tricks on the piano. He played one of my favorite songs "I Will Possess Your Heart" By Death Cab for Cutie. He is really good!

We went to the market on Saturday, and we met Sylvia again! She's the lady that we gave a Book of Mormon to on the walking line. She really seems to like us! She said that she started to read the Book of Mormon! She said she read the first chapter, so we told her to continue and to come to church. She would be great there!

So on Sunday we walked the line. We got some good conversations and we gave out a Book of Mormon! We then went to Sr. Korpal’s to read some scriptures with her. While walking back, a lady stopped us and asked if we help people stop drinking. We said sure, and then her boyfriend came up and started talking to us pretty harsh. He probably was drunk too. But we got the lady's number, and we gave her the plan of salvation pamphlet. It was perfect.  She asked why we are here, and where we will go after! So hopefully she reads, stops drinking, and helps her boyfriend stop as well, and then they get baptized! \

We then went to the Dieute’s house to have some good sandwiches! They are a super great family. We are happy to always go over. We made some Peanut Butter cookies, and they seemed to really like them.

Well, I don't know what else to add! Frederic is going strong. We read the Book of Mormon with him a few times a week, and he gives us French classes. We try to talk to people, and try to teach when we can. 

I guess that's all for now! I love you all! Hope you have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #13 IN MONTAUBAN, FRANCE

Hello friends and family,

 I hope you all had a great conference weekend. I know that I did. We had our investigator Jean-Phillip come. He come to most of the sessions and it seems that he really liked it. We had another man named Jean-Claude who came. He has only met with the missionaries a couple times, but he does know a little about the church. He only watched a part of a session because he had to go somewhere else. He said it was interesting. So we will try and see him this week and talk to him more about conference. I love LDS General Conference for so many reasons.

 We gather together twice a year to listen to direction from a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson and the Twelve Apostles.  

My testimony of Jesus Christ grows each time I take the time to listen the conference talks.  Another special reason why I love General Conference is because I have two beautiful aunts in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  

My aunts, Bonnie Lee and Betsy Lee Bailey.  Both sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

So as for the week, here it goes.

On Monday it was Easter Monday. So no stores were open, buses didn't run, and we spent the day at a member’s house. We ate for a while and even played some football. I don't know what happened but I ended up ripping my pants. So Jeremy, the 27-year-old member that we play sports with, gave me his jeans for the day. We were with the Perez Family. 

On Tuesday we did groceries with Sr. Korpal at the same time. We then did some contacting. We then met Brianna at the church and we had a good lesson with her. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and we answered some of her questions.

Wednesday, we went took an emergency trip to the mall to H&M to get some p-day pants for me. We then taught Jean-Phillip at the church and that went well! Jean-Phillip is now in 2 Nephi of the Book of Mormon and he seems to really like. We went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We then called up Brianna (the American girl) and then we took a bus and went to the super market and we got some Root beer. American’s love root beer. We talked a lot during the walk, and just spent some time with her. We sat down at a bench and we answered some of her questions. We are working with her to start reading the Book of Mormon. She is really believing, and she has had lots of events to help her have faith. So now we are just working to have her study the word of the prophets. 

Thursday We went shopping again with Sr. Korpal. We love to spend time with her. We know that it helps her to have contact with active members (I hope we can be known as active members). We know that it means a lot to her.

We taught Jean-Phillip and we went over tithing and the other commandments like the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. He said that he will try to keep all the commandments, so we are pretty happy with him.

After that we went over to Frederic's house and we taught him the last lesson of integration. We taught him a little about general conference. Showed him what the Conference center looks like, and how the people give talks. 

Since we are now finished with the lessons, we will start studying with him a few times each week. We plan to read a chapter with him, and help him understand it, and then give him a new assignment. That way we can help him push through the Book of Mormon. We then went over to Sr. Korpal's. We started the Book of Mormon again. We know that will help her have the spirit with her more often. We have made lots of good progress with her! She said that she will come to church next week. So hopefully that will all go according to plan.  We then made it home and started to eat. We then got a text from the Branch President to tell us to get on Skype for the branch Council. We ran all the way to the church in the rain to get there. 

On Friday we did our weekly planning. So that took most of the morning and part of the afternoon. We then went to the Church to teach Jean-Phillip. We went over what to expect for General Conference. We went over what to expect and told him to come with a question in his head. It turned out to be a good lesson. 

We came back to the apartment because we needed to make some dessert for a dinner that evening. It also happened to be April Fools. So Sr. Korpal called us and told us that she saw us on the T.V. We were walking in the background of a news cast. We thought she was serious because we were walking in Centre Ville at the time that she said that she saw us. She then said "Poisson d'avril" (April Fools) I have to say, she got us pretty good. 

We made some calls that night, and we tried to invite people to come to Conference at the church on Saturday and Sunday. That’s how we got Jean-Claude to come. So I guess calls sometimes work! 

We then got picked up to go to the Family Dieute’s house. We had some pizza with their family and another family in the branch. The family Yonnet. It’s always fun to be at their house. We had some Cheddar pizza and it didn’t turn out too bad. They really liked the bread we brought as well for dessert. 

On Saturday we went to the church to make sure that the T.V. was going to work. Jeremy was there to show us how it worked. He then took us to a really good bakery and we got some sandwiches. It’s cool to hang with Jeremy. He is 27 but he is pretty much our age. We coached him on his dating situation and encouraged him about “eternal families.” 

We went out and contacted. I went up to a lady and very confidently said "excuse me Monsieur" (excuse me mister) on accident... I kept a straight face and then kept walking realizing what I said... The funny thing is that she stopped and said yes? But I dropped the ball on that conversation. I was too embarrassed.

While we were walking further down the street we stopped this couple and we had a really great conversation with them! We ended up giving them a Book of Mormon. We hope that they will call us!  

We then went to the church at 6 in the night to watch conference. Because of the time difference we have to watch it in the evening. 

On Sunday, we did studies in the morning. There was a marathon right outside our window. The finish line was just down the road.  Also for personal study, I read a really good talk to missionaries called the 4th Missionary. I am trying harder now to become a more engaged missionary. I only have so long left on my mission, and I know I need to improve a great deal.

 

It is finally warm enough to wear short sleeves!

We spent all day at the church watching the sessions. We had Frederic and Sr. Korpal came to for the 6:00 session. Like I said at the top of this letter, we had a potential ami come named Jean-Claude. So we will see where that goes!

Anyways, that's the week. It was pretty good! So we will see how next week turns out! I love you all, and will talk to you all soon! 

Love, Elder Race Acheson