WEEK #4 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

Hello everyone! 

I hope that you have had a great week! It seemed like this week was pretty quick like the last one. We had some great things during the week. Before I get ahead of myself with the things that went on, I'll tell you what we did last Monday:) 

We went hiking in the beautiful canyon just next to our apartment. Then we started looking at stores for shoes and suits. My parents gave me a birthday present (in April) to buy a new suit and suits before I leave Europe. I couldn't find any suits that I liked. But! I did happen to find some shoes. 

On Tuesday we met up with some people from Elder Trapani's  home ward in Italy. The ward was in town to go to the temple. There was an older senior couple that is working with Elder Trapani's mom who is investigating our church.

 We saw some of the young adults that also came with them. We then showed them the lake that our town surrounds. We later tried to pass a less active in an outer ville. We tried to knock and leave him a card. Then we went and ate with the Family Nasufi. I shared the spiritual thought about a talk during LDS General Conference that spoke about the child that wouldn't listen and read the scriptures. I told them that I was just like that when I was younger. Mirsad the son, is going on vacation for a few weeks, so we wont see him for a while. 

We had to catch a train that evening to go to Geneva for zone conference the next day in Lyon. Before that we did some contacting in centre ville to try and find some people to teach. I talked to one guy that knew about the Mormons thanks to South Park the tv show. Unfortunately, it is not the best source of information on our faith. I was able to share with him true principles of our church and give him some brochures.He was just visiting Switzerland, so we couldn't really teach him another time. It was a good conversation though.

The next day we woke up at 4:30 a.m. to catch the train to Lyon. It is going to be my second to last zone conference. President Brown talked to us about things that were going on in the mission. He had us ask questions about things and he told us what the reasons were for things happening. It was a really great zone conference. 

On Friday we did our weekly planning, and we had our meeting with the mission leader for the branch. We talked about people we wanted to work with, and he helped us select a few people to put on priority. Later we went contacting and we were walking down a road with no one on it, and there was one man at the end. We contacted him, and ended up teaching him about the restoration and plan of salvation. He was from Albania, and I told him my brother served his mission there. I also told him that there was an Albanian family in the branch that would love to help teach him. He gave us his number, and he said that he was hesitant to really get into the lessons without learning more in Albanian. 

On Saturday Elder Trapani woke up not feeling super well and so I called the nurse and she said that we should stay inside. So that's what we did. I read some Book of Mormon and some old Ensign magazines on my iPad.

On Sunday we went to church, and we had a friend of one of our members come. We can't go to his house to teach him because he lives out of our sector. We did schedule a lesson with him and a member though! After church we went home and ate lunch. We then did some studies and Elder trapani had to lay down because he didn't feel super well. So that was the end of the day.

Right now (Monday morning), we are on a train going to Dijon for an exchange. Should be fun! 

I'll finish my email with what I said for my testimony yesterday at church. I mentioned that I was just like the kid during the conference talk that said "Mom, I'm not listening!" I explained to the branch that I was a very hard kid to raise, and that even though I was not self reliant with the gospel, I have now become someone that actively studies it and tries to apply it. I challenged all the members to do the same.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Elder Race Acheson

P.S. Thanks Mom for the fun gift.  I love the Seattle SeaHawks!

WEEK #3 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

 Hello friends and family! 

This week was a great week! It went by really fast i I was surprised. We did a bunch of different things. Today for Pday we went hiking and it was really pretty! The start of the hike is right behind our apartment. There's a big river that cuts through the mountain.

So just to start off the week i guess, On monday evening we went and visited the Chèvre Family again. We played Uno and shared a message about charity with them. 

The next day we worked on my Absentee Ballot for voting in November. We mailed that in, and then we tried to do some area book work because we were going to Dijon later that day. We took a train and traveled for a few hours to get to Dijon in France. It was weird being back in France. I forgot how different it is. When we got to Dijon we went and got a Kebab with Elder Strong and Teuchser. The Kebab costed $5.50. In Swiss it would be $10.

For our exchange I was with Elder Strong. We went contacting in Centre ville and we were asked to do a questionnaire with some Austrian Kids doing a class assignment. They asked us about religion and asked if we believed in the bible, if there was a life before this life, and what would happen after... Golden Questions! We gave them our card and told them to look up the church to learn more. 

After contacting, Elder Strong and I went to an outer ville and did some porting. We talked a lot about Mont-de-Marsan. We both served there with Elder Douglas, so it was great to talk about lots of things in common. He told me some stories about the man I baptized, Jean Louis. I miss Jean Louis and his wife Dominique.   We knocked on doors for a 2 hours. We did a small neighborhood and you could easily see the whole area we worked in when were on the road going back home. 

The next morning we all drove to Yerverdon in Swiss for district meeting. It was a beautiful ride, but really windy and I was uncomfortable in my seat. 

For District meeting we talked about getting more power from the Holy Ghost when we work and teach. We went over a talk that we were given by President Brown. After the meeting the whole zone was there and we all ate food together and played games. 

When we got back into Bienne we taught a lady named Esperanza. She speaks Italian so Elder Trapani taught her. We went to Burger King so we could teach her. After teaching her we went to the church so we could go to Branch Council. We arrived late because we were teaching. 

On Friday we did weekly planning, then we grabbed a train to go to a small city called Tavannes. We had a few pass backs there. So we went to see if they were interested. We gave one of them a Book of Mormon. She said she wasn't interested in seeing us again. She said that she would read when she had some time! The other lesson was this older lady that we helped get to her house while she was carrying groceries. She said that we could come back in a few weeks when she came from vacation. 

We took the train to Pery, and ate dinner with the Nasufi family. The son Mirsad is going on a trip for a few weeks, so we came to eat with them before he leaves. We talked about how trips can help refresh us and give us a new perspective on life. Hopefully he will come out of the trip a new person! After eating and talking we played games.

The next day we went contacting for a few hours. We went to the beautiful lake, and we tried to pass some people. It started to rain a good amount. We got home and changed and went to Neuchâtel for General Conference. We met up with the sisters and got a Kebab and then went to the church to watch, in English, LDS General Conference. 

Sunday was very similar. We woke up and did studies then went to Neuchâtel again to spend the whole day there at the church. We ate at a members home between one of the sessions. The members come to our branch every Sunday to help strengthen it. 

It was my last General Conference on the mission. That's a weird thought. It feels like conference was just last month. Its also strange to think that it has been 1 year since i was super sick with Pneumonia. 

Well, that's the week for us. This upcoming week we have zone conference in Lyon, and that's exciting! Its already week 4 of the transfer.. Time is going by fast. I love you all, and hope that you have a great week! Its starting to get colder here and I'm actually enjoying it! I have spent too much time in the heat. Time to get use to Utah again;)

Love you!

-Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #2 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND

Hello everyone!:)

So we had a pretty good week this week! We haven't really found any new progressing amis. We have done some outerville work this week. We take a train for an hour and 15 minutes and we went twice to this small ville called Moutier. It is deep in the mountains of the Swiss. The ride up is really pretty and you pass through lots of typical Swiss villages. While in Moutier we decided that we wanted to go knock on some doors. While walking to where we wanted to go, we talked to a few people. One guy told us that we reminded him of the Mormons, and I held up the Book of Mormon and told him that was what we were trying to say. We didn't have too much time to knock on doors, so we were walking back to the gare, and we stopped to see a  lady and we talked about the Book of Mormon and the difference between us and the Catholics. She was Catholic but not practicing, and wanted to know the difference. We gave her the Book of Mormon and our cell number. She didn't have a phone. So we couldn't get in contact with her. She said that she might come to church though. We ended up praying with her, and we could feel the spirit!

We also contacted 2 African ladies, and we talked to them about the restoration. We managed to get their numbers and scheduled a lesson for the next day. 

The day after, which was a Saturday, we did some service with a less active family. We helped clean one of their old apartments. We then ate some pizza with them and talked about all our childhood memories. We then asked if we could come over another time and they said that we could come for a family home evening another day. We then took the train to go back up to Moutier to teach the African ladies. When we got to Moutier, we called and they said that they were still at work. So we took the next train and went and passed a less active member that lived more near Bienne. We knocked on his door and he wasn't there. 

Earlier in the week we had zone training. We all got together in the zone and we talked about things to improve the work. We talked about how to teach lessons and things that we can all improve on. We went over some of the rules that we could do better with. 

On Sunday we visited a less active member that goes to a different ward. We talked with her about random things. We have the goal to help her come back to our branch because we need all the members we can get.

This week we have also seen a few of the families in the branch. We always go over to the Family Nasufi's house to teach their son. We brought my guitar this time and we played some guitar and Uno. We talked about using our talents to bless God's children. Sister Nasufi works at Rolex, and she gave me a book that has pictures of watches and explains the cool things that Rolex does with their products.

So naturally I took a picture of the book and made it fancy. I also took a picture of what one of my Album Covers would look like...

So, those are some of the things we did this week! We went exploring the mountain ranges of the Swiss

alps this week on trains, and visited some members. This next week we will have an exchange and that will take us out of our sector for a few days because we will be going to district meeting as well. So when we get back into town we will be busy with meeting with members!

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

Love, Elder Race Acheson

TRANSFER TO BIENNE, SWITZERLAND!

Hello everyone!

So we got our transfer calls and we were pretty surprised. President brown told me I was going to Swiss! Elder Eberhard was going to Grenoble, and we were being replaced by sisters. This transfer brings double the amount of sister missionaries in our mission and we need to make room for them in all areas of the mission.   So this past weekend we were cleaning the apartment and trying to get it ready for the sisters. We also wrote a big note for the sisters so they could start working right away. Happily for them they will have two baptisms right away.

As for our week, we taught some lessons. We saw Berenice and talked to her about keeping the Sabbath day holy. She said that she would come to church. 

We also went over another day to celebrate her sons birthday. He's 4 and has some disabilities. We were able to have a really good night with them.

We taught a member's neighbor. She is middle age and has had a rough life, and she said that she was interested to see us again. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she said that she will read it. 

When we got out call, some members took us to a Chinese buffet. It's a tradition that they always do. While sitting down, there were these guys that were talking about how many wives we could have. I turned around and told them that we had one wife. They were surprised and then we started talking about other random things. We all became  friends. When they left they waved goodbye to me. I'm happy I could clear up some misconceptions of our church.

So, I'm excited to go to Swiss! I am going to Bienne, which is on the border of the German speaking part of the country. So I will probably learn some German. 

I love you all! I will let you all know what happens! 

-Love Elder Race Acheson!

WEEK #1 IN BIENNE, SWITZERLAND!

Hey Friends and family! 

I hope that you all are doing great! So, to start off this email, let me say that it seems like i am now serving in Germany. Bienne is on the border of the Swiss-German part of the country. So Bienne has two names. Biel/Bienne. Biel is the German name. All the bus stops are in German and french, and there are signs all over that are in German. I feel like I only hear German speakers on the road. I have a new companion.  His name is Elder Tapani from Italy.

What's also cool is that there is another companionship of missionaries that live in the city. They are from the Alpine German Mission. So since they are in our city, and we share the sector, we see them quite often. We have already had dinner together, and we share potential investigator with each other. Because they speak German and we speak French. Its really fun actually.

As for events:

We have already taken the train to go to a few outer villes to pass by people. The sector stretches far and we have to take trains through the mountains to go to them. Its super pretty here and reminds me of Utah. 

We visited a family that comes from Albanian in the branch. They loved the fact that my brother served his mission in Albanian. They have a 22 year old son who's not a member and is not too interested in the church, but we came over and ate dinner with them. We then shared a spiritual thought on trails and faith. The son, Misard, said that he liked the video, and wants to have faith.  So we will work on him.

After dinner we played his guitar and had a good time with the family. The mom works at Rolex, and we started talking about what she does for work. She puts  watches together. Oh, I forgot to tell you all that Bienne is the Swiss Watch capitol of the world. There is a Rolex Headquarters here. They make $60,000+ watches and they are really nice. 

We got a referral from the German elders and it was an Italian guy who's like 80. So we started teaching him in Italian. I don't speak Italian but Elder Trapani does! So he is the one that speaks most of the time. His name is Lorenzo. 

There is a branch here. There is a German speaking ward, but only a few French speaking members, so its divided into a small group. 

We are about 30 mins away from the Bern Swiss Temple. So we have lots of members that go there often and work there. Its weird to be so close to the temple now, and still can't go...

Yesterday we went with our DMB to go help a family in the branch bless their house. There was a death in the family and so they wanted us to come help bless the new house. It was an African family, so after we ate really well! 

It has been raining the past few days, and i love it! It reminds me of Washington state. We are high in the mountains and there's trees all over with rain. I'm happy because when I go back to Utah, I will be use to all of the nature there. 

So, as for more interesting details, its hard to contact in the road in Bienne because everyone speaks German. We are still going to try this week. We plan to go to outer cities to see if we can find some people. 

We don't have that many people that we are teaching. Its just mostly Lorenzo, our Italian grandpa.  

There are about 30 people who come to church every week. There are lots of nice cars. I have already seen 6 Electric Teslas, and a Lamborghini. Everyone has Audis and Mercedes. Its pretty nice here!

Well, that's

how it's going in Bienne. Ill attach some good photos for all of you!

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

Love, Elder Race Acheson!

WEEK #6 CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hello friends and family!

I hope that you had a wonderful week! I know that I did. So to start off this week we had a great district meeting in Perpeignan. It is almost on the border of Spain, so I was almost in another country. Again. Elder Pinncock who is our district leader is going home this transfer, so it was his last district meeting. I went on an exchange with him in Beziers after, and we did some contacting and porting! It was great to be with him! I have been around him my whole mission! It's weird to see him go. I'm just two transfers after him.

So in Carcassone we did a lot of contacting in the streets this week, and we got a few phone numbers from people who are interested! So we will try and see if we can turn them into investigators.

We taught a couple who we contacted on the street. We taught them at the church and talked about the restoration. They seemed like they didn't fully understand, so next time we see them we will go over again.

It was Elder Eberhard's year mark on his mission, and so we went and got him a little birthday ice cream cake.

We also taught a Muslim lady that we met on the street with our Bishop at the church. She was very interested and she said that we could see her again.

Our Ward Mission Leader took us to Castre again, and we did a split with a member up there. We all went contacting in the streets. We found a few people who said we could see them the next time we were up there.

Our investigator couple Jean Pierre and Francoise are out of town for a few days, so we will try to see them this upcoming week.

Oh and today in the plaza there was this band playing some music. So I bought a CD.

So we are still searching for people to teach, and we are trying to hit the last week of the transfer out of the park!

I love you all! Have a great week!

-Love Elder Race Acheson

WEEK #5 IN CARCASONNE, FRANCE

Hey everyone!

 Hope you all had a great week! We had a really busy one. We had a few lessons this week, and had Zone Conference and interviews with President Brown. I'll give you all the highlights!

First of all, this morning we ran around the castle. It was really cool because no one was there and we were just running and climbing on a really historic monument. I love France!

Some of the highlights include an exchange with the district leader Elder Pincock and his companion. I was with his comp who is from the north of France. He is a little quiet so I had some fun trying to get him to talk. We eventually got on the subject of French food. He studied how to become a chef! During the exchange we went and looked at the area book and found lots of old investigators that they could pass another time. We spent a few hours on that and then the other elders came. We slept that night in Beziers, where Elder Pincock and his comp live, and the next day we went to Montpelier for Zone Conference. I had a really good interview with President Brown. I asked him what I could do to prepare for after my mission and he told me to go out fighting and that will be the best preparation I can do. So I will try to follow his counsel. 

Zone Conference with President and Sister Brown 

We had zone conference about staying loyal and strong. We had a really good pep talk about security and things we can do to be safe. 

We went contacting a lot this week, and got a few numbers. We got the number of one lady that saw the missionaries in Tahiti, and now shes interested! So we will follow up with her! We even knocked on doors for a few hours. We had about a 70 Percent of people answer their door! That is super high! Only one family answered and said that we could come again! So we plan to follow that up! 

We also taught Jean Pierre and Francoise about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. They took it really well, and they are on track to be baptized. They are just waiting for their papers to get through for their marriage. 

Last detail that I will mention is that a member helped us give a blessing to Jean Pierre and Francoise. Fr. Martin was the one that gave the prayer and it was to help Jean Pierre and Francoise have strength to stay righteous. They both cried after their blessings and Francoise was telling everyone how they have found the true church at last. It was really touching. I really love this couple. They are super special, and I am excited to help them come closer to Christ.

Well, I love you all guys! I hope that you continue to have a great week! Its the start of week 5 now, and time is starting to fly by.

I love you again!

Love,Elder Race Acheson