Week 15

Dear Mom,

Thank you so much for your testimony! I loved that :) I love knowing that my parents are strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ! It bring me such great joy! and oh how thankful I am for you for raising me to be strong in it as well :) I am right there with you feeling like I am repetitive with my repenting and being so thankful that our Father in Heaven is graciously patient with us.
Thank you so much for the letter! I loved the quotes and positivity :) It always makes me so happy when I get mail from home :) I love hearing from you!
My week has been a good one.  Monday was okay. The last two times I have not had much time and the computers have not worked well for me. I haven't been able to email very many people, it has been frustrating. Tuesday, we had appointments with some investigators and with a  recent convert and then had dinner with the Dycus family (the family that we went to the Temple with for their sealing and endowments.) Wednesday, we had district meeting and for part of our lesson, we cut Elder Hyde's hair, as if he truly was at the barber (in the model teaching moment)-LOL. Elder Hubert just buzzed a size 2 on the back of his head and only me, Elder Hyde, and Elder Hubert knew so everyone else was shocked and it was so funny!!! :) Afterwards, we went home and actually cut his hair and it turned out pretty good!!! We did a 6 on top and blended it down to a 2. And I even used scissors to trim around the ear and shaped the back of his head with just the buzzer.  Elder Hubert and I were very proud, haha :) We also visited some of the people that said we could come back from when we tracted earlier in the week. I recited the first vision in Spanish and it was pretty cool :) the spirit was strong. Thursday, we had some more appointments and I led one of the lessons and it went actually fairly well. Then later that day we taught a husband and wife (a black couple) and I recited the first vision in English this time and the spirit was stronger and it felt good to be able to do that. They accepted baptismal dates at the end of the lesson which was awesome. Then that night we went on splits with a brother from the ward, Brother Damon, he is in his 20's. I went with him and Elder Hyde and Elder Hubert went together. So, it was basically all me for the night but it went well. We tried to visit 2 people but they didn't answer so then we went and visited a sister in the ward named Sister Cannon (she is the one that we helped clean her carpets) and I improvised for an hour a conversation and then a spiritual thought at the end. It was nerve racking but went well. Friday, we did studies and then had to take our car in for an oil change and tire rotation and then we did our weekly planning. Wednesday to Friday in the night it was really cold and rainy. Friday, almost everywhere in Mississippi got snow but us. We got a little flurry Friday night but many other places got up to 7 inches!!! Anyways, I have enjoyed the cold for a few days, it got down to 32 Saturday morning and that was the lowest. The other days were high 30's, low 40's. We also rode our bikes in the cold rain which wasn't that bad, it was kinda cold to me but I liked it at the same time :) Friday night we ate at a members house and he made us monkey bread later that night and brought it to our apartment :) Saturday, we went to more appointments but not all worked out, then that night a less active brother took us to Mugshots (an awesome burger place) for dinner. Sunday, I gave a talk in Spanish and I was really nervous but it went well. We ate at a member of the Spanish Branch's house and then went to a Stake Christmas Devotional. It was a good week.
I appreciate all the emails and wish that I had more time to respond to everyone, tell them all I love them!  I love you to pieces Mom!!!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

Christmas Tie

A puzzle we put together. It adds some Christmas

cheer to the apartment :)

Week 14

Dear Mom,

I am really enjoying being on a mission, though it can be stressful. I am getting along with my companions well. I feel like we are becoming much better friends and it's fun. Spanish is slowly becoming easier to understand but it is still difficult to speak the things that I want to say. I am working hard to learn it though. Our lessons are good, we haven't had as many of them lately because it has been hard to catch people when they're home, they haven't been there when we get to our appointments, and we have had other things we've had to do. Our biggest problem is trying to get them to come to church. I enjoy mission life but still miss home and how things were-but that probably won't ever change, haha. My bed isn't the best so it makes my back hurt, it isn't really flat, it is like indented quite a bit where I lay so I feel like I sleep with my back bowed.  But it's not gonna kill me, just not wonderful. Mentally I am doing good, I don't know how to describe my thoughts exactly, I have so many of them. I think about all kinds of things; the things that we are doing, home, church, lessons, food, exercise.
I feel my relationship with the Savior has grown stronger while being out here but I am hungry for an even stronger relationship! I am reading in the beginning of 2nd Nephi and I love to read about how faithful Nephi was and even though he was so righteous he still felt beat up by the temptations around him. He asked God to make him tremble at the sight of it and to truly be afraid of it. That is some true desire right there.
This week has gone well, on Tuesday we did a thing with our ward called a "Blitz" and the Elders of the ward, the missionaries and the High Priests all met at the church and then split up in 2's to go see people in our ward who had not yet been visited in the end of the year effort. It was really fun and I really enjoyed it and it was also very effective. On Wednesday after district meeting, we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders and Elder Hyde and I went with our new Zone leader, Elder Simbi. It was so much fun to be with him. He is from Kenya and we seemed to connect well and it made the missionary work easier and more enjoyable. We gave 2 blessings while with him because of a member that came out with us and asked us to give them. I also did a lot more of the teaching than I normally do. We were more of a team and it was cool. Thursday we visited some more people and then went and did service at the Salvation Army while with the Zone Leaders. Friday we helped a lady move and spent about 3-4 hours on that. Then Saturday we spent another 3 hours helping her finish moving. She gave Elder Hubert a suit and all of us a fishing rod. After we helped her on Saturday, we went and cleaned a sister's house and cleaned her carpets(which were almost black when supposed to be white. . .). Both sisters really appreciated our help and I felt the spirit strongly while doing so. Sunday was a good fast Sunday, we had a pot luck "Break the Fast" after church at 3:00 on the Air Force Base and then watched the Christmas Devotional at 7 and I really enjoyed the Devotional.
This week has been a good one :) I love you so very much mom!!! I hope you have a great week!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

My Companions

Sunset

Service Project

Week 13

Dear Mom,

Thank you for all your emails :) I love them so much!! They make me so happy and I love hearing about what's going on back at home. That's so crazy that Ethan, Hayden, Matthew, and Tye are all leaving soon. That's awesome! I am so excited to have them all out in the field with me!
I am happy to hear you guys are having the missionaries over for Christmas again this year. Being a missionary has really helped me develop appreciation for all that the members do :) It really does mean a lot to have members invite you to dinners.
This week has been a good week and has gone well. It has been fun to be in a trio and I feel that I am becoming better friends with my companions. Tuesday we picked up Elder Hyde and then went and tried to visit some people and we ate dinner at our apartment. Wednesday we had district meeting, tried to visit more people and had a few appointments and then had dinner at our apartment and then did training. Thursday we went to the Air Force Base and did Turkey bowl (football) form 7:00-8:45. It was the Elders and kids against the Elders Quorum and both teams were even with numbers. We creamed them but it was still a good and intense game :) It was like low 40's which was fairly cold but then it was perfect weather during the game as it warmed up. After this game we went and played with the other ward in their Turkey bowl, which was more of just young men. This was also fun but it wasn't as intense and it was longer. We did more of a tournament cuz we had so many people. (We have been walking around like old men the rest of the week from playing in two turkey bowls plus I had just done a leg day with my exercising so I was super sore and am just now feeling like its almost gone, haha.) Then we went home and got ready and changed into our proselyting clothes and went to a members house and ate Thanksgiving dinner at 1:00 with 2 families. The food was good, but not great. After spending about 2 hours with them, we went to another members house for a second Thanksgiving dinner.  The Morris's were there and the other Elders in our ward and a couple other families and it was a lot of fun. All the guys had a nerf war with the boys after that dinner and that was a lot of fun :) Then we went home later that evening. Friday we basically stayed home for most of the day for our studies and then we had weekly planning to do which takes a long time. Then that night after eating dinner, we went to a members home and played a game with them and a nonmember. The game was called "betrayal at house on the hill" it was a lot of fun and I would suggest it to you guys if you want another fun game :) Then Saturday was a pretty normal day. Sunday we had our meetings and then after church I did personal study while my comps napped and then we went and saw some of our investigators. Today, Monday, I have done a lot of cleaning and now our apartment is clean again.
A little while ago we went to this place called the Craw Fish House and I had gator bites and a mahi mahi sandwich. It was really good!! Gator is similar to chicken but a bit more chewy and a slight different taste. I thought it was really good. Also, thank you so much for the trail mix!! I am almost done with the bag already, haha. It's very delicious :)
In the past few weeks I have finished 2 books as well. The first one I finished within probably 4 different days of reading and the second I read half one night and the other half the next night. They were both really good books!!!
I have noticed the difference when the spirit is with me and when it is not in how well I understand Spanish.
It has been a good week and we will see what this next one has to offer. I love you so much mom!! have a fantastic week!!!!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

My comps:

Elder Hubert

 Elder Hyde

Critters

A little bit of  "Cashmere"

Week 12

Dear Mom,

Our lessons are going well, I teach part of them mostly when teaching English but I have taught pieces in Spanish as well. There have been a few times where I have shared how I have applied the thing we just taught in my own life. Our investigators are doing well.  Sadly our investigator, Trace, that we tracted into and was super promising, left Sunday morning back to Michigan. Also we haven't been able to get a hold of one of our other investigators.  But we gained a new investigator on Sunday and we have already taught him a lesson and given him a tour of the church and he has also already come to church twice so I am excited to see where he goes. He just walked into church at the end of Sacrament and then after he just showed up in gospel principles and we talked to him and he was gonna leave after gospel principles but then showed up in priesthood and said, "yeah, God told me to come back." He seems pretty willing to follow the promptings of the Spirit. We also set another Spanish speaking guy on date while teaching some of our Spanish investigators.
This week has been pretty crazy and really stressful, again I was having to make all the decisions for the area and it was difficult and really frustrating, but it has helped me grow.  Elder Hubert was doing all this the 5th and 6th week instead of the 11th week, like normal, because he was most likely getting transferred. On Friday we found out that our area was gonna be in a trio and the most likely thing that was gonna happen would be me, Elder Hyde (an Elder that just got done training but his training was really poor), and another greenie that came out with me named Elder Loveless. So we were getting ready to have a Greenie trio, but this morning we found out that the trio is going to be me, Elder Hubert, and Elder Hyde. We are all Spanish speaking so I hope this helps my Spanish a lot. It's gonna be cool to be in a trio and I am excited to have this experience! I am relieved cuz I now have another transfer before I have to lead the area but because of the crunch time preparation, I feel much more prepared and I feel this transfer will be a good one!
On Saturday, we did another Exchange but this time it was our trainers together and us greenies together. It was really fun and relieving for us to be together. We felt like we could make our own choices and do things ourselves and not have to worry about what our trainers thought of it or that we weren't doing things the way that they would and it was really nice. We started Saturday off by meeting at the sports fields and threw the football around for a while and played a bit of soccer and then started our exchanges from there. Elder Jex and I drove back to his apartment and then we were on our own from then until Sunday morning at church where we ended Exchanges.
Anyways, this week was really stressful and hard and I got really frustrated at times but in the end it turned out to be a good week. I am really excited to see how this next week goes. We have Thanksgiving "dinner" at 1:00 with 2 families and then we will probably go to some others for actual dinner as well, haha. I will be thinking of all of you and I hope you guys have an awesome Thanksgiving!! It will be kinda weird not being there for our traditions, but I'm sure it will still be a great Thanksgiving :)
I am so thankful for this opportunity to grow and learn. It has been so beneficial to me and I have only been out for almost 3 months.  I have had an overall impressionable experience that as we are put in uncomfortable positions and push through, that we will be blessed. It has been difficult but I have seen that as I rely upon the Lord more than myself, that He is there to help me.
I love you tons mom! I hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,
Elder Acton

Our District at our last district meeting

before transfers.

This massive truck drove right by us on

the highway, we could almost fit under it

 A cool sunset that Elder Jex and I saw

Week 11

Dear Mom,

This week has been a good week but also a very stressful week. It started off good with last Monday and mountain biking. On Tuesday, we went to Pascagoula for splits and spent the night there. Then we left in the morning on Wednesday and came back to our apartment and got ready for the day, did some studies, and then we went to district meeting. That night we took some of the young men, 2 priests and a teacher, with us. We tried to visit a number of people but had no luck, so they basically just were with us for driving around our area. But it was still good to have them out with us.  Then Thursday I was really stressed and nervous.When we started Daily Planning in the morning, Elder
Hubert told me  that I was in charge of planning for that day. And then also he told me that I was going to be the one driving for the rest of the transfer so that I know the area well, because he might be getting transferred and I will have to lead the area. I spent all my study time in the morning trying to memorize addresses and record directions and memorize the map. Then we spent a fair portion of time trying to get to people's houses cuz I was driving and had to find their houses. So basically Elder Hubert put me as the Senior companion and now I am put in the Senior Companion position about half of the time. Friday we did weekly planning which takes a few hours and we did training and didn't get out of our apartment until late. We went to an appointment and then went to a second one but he wasn't there and then came to find out that I made the mistake of planning it in daily planning as 6:30 when it was at 6:00. I felt really bad and my mind was just so frazzled, also I forgot to put my name tag on. . .So that was something made fun of for quite a while. . .We then went to the Air Force Base and helped someone move. Saturday we went to the Temple!!! It was an Awesome experience. The Baton Rouge Temple is tiny and is only one floor. We were able to go with a recent convert family where the parents were both receiving their endowments and being sealed. And also Sister Cotten, who is a black lady, that is a recent convert and she was also receiving her endowment. Elder Hubert and I rode down there with Bishop Lyman and Sister Lyman. We got there about 2 hours early and Sister Lyman gave us initiatories to do so Elder Hubert and I spent about an hour doing 5 initiatories each. That was cool cuz I've never done that many initiatories before. The other Elders from the D'lberville area in our ward showed up with the Morris's to be there for the same family. Then we went into the 11:00 endowment session and I got to spend a large portion of time in the Celestial room reading scriptures and praying and the spirit was wonderful.  Then we went into the sealing room, which I had never been in before, and watched Brother and Sister Dycus get sealed together. This was really cool and Bishop Lyman told me that that is the same ceremony that will be done on my wedding day and it was just really cool to think of and it just felt so great. Then their kids came into the sealing room and got sealed to their parents which was cool cuz seldom do kids get to be in that part of the Temple. Afterwards, we changed and went outside and got some pictures, and then the Morris's had got us all pizza for lunch, so that was awesome. Then we came home. Sunday went well, we woke up early for ward correlation at 7:00 at the church and then had ward council and then we went to sacrament meeting at 9:00. The entire Biloxi basketball team came and their coaches because Spencer Lyman, the Bishop's son, invited them. We had a little reception in the gym right after sacrament meeting for them where there were doughnuts and milk and the Bishop talked to them for a bit and we gave them all a Book of Mormon. It was awesome!! The team is only black guys except for Spencer and they are really good, like crazy good, and will probably win state. Anyways, that was really cool. This week has been a wild week but I have enjoyed it. Driving is a bit stressful at first because it is a lot of responsibility with making it to appointments on time, knowing where to go and how to get there, making sure we don't use too many miles and more, but I enjoy it. Well that was my week, I hope you are doing well and everyone else is too!
I am finally getting my hair cut today!! My hair is pretty long.
Also, something cool that our ward is doing, they make sure they visit everybody in the ward at the end of the year by Christmas. They do this through home teaching and visiting teaching. I thought it was really cool and thought I might suggest it to the Wenatchee River Ward.
I love you tons!! Have a great day!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

At the temple

There are trees, like this, along the highways here in Biloxi

This view is from one of the bridges we crossed, there

is a marsh and then it's really flat for a long ways.

Before my haircut

 After my haircut

Week 10

Dear Mom,

I love Mondays!!! It's my favorite day of the week when I get to email you guys!!! I love hearing about what is happening at home and how you guys are all doing! We went biking at Bethel Mountain MTB Trails.(It's more like Bethel Hill, but it was still really fun) There was a lot of sand, it was really wet because of fog and it was early in the morning. We got up at 6:00 and left shortly after. We had to drive quite a ways but it was still in our district boundaries. It was so fun to bike in the foggy woods! My most memorable parts of the week. . .there was a lot that went on this week. Tuesday we had Zone conference and it lasted from 9:00am to about 6:00pm and it went really well.  It was a bit of a drive to the stake center in Gulfport where it was held.  We had a number of lessons/power points taught to us by President and also the zone leaders and also the sister training leaders.  We got our Flu vaccinations, they fed us lunch, and then we had more of our meeting. At one point we all said our name, where we were from, and our favorite cereal.  The Morris's (the senior missionary couple) left to an appointment and on their way back they got everyone their favorite cereal! Then after we left, we drove to the bishop's house on the air-force base for Halloween and dinner.  We were suppose to be either at a member's home or at our home for the evening on Halloween. There was another family there from the ward, the Davis's.  The kids went out and got candy and then we chilled with the 14 and 16 year old boys of the families and also one of the kids gave us a bag with some candy in it. Wednesday we did an exchange with the zone leaders in their area and we stayed the night and left around 1:00 the next day.  While there, Elder Hubert went with the senior missionary of the two, Elder Wilson, and I went with Elder Houston. Elder Houston can't drive for some reason so I was the driver.  It was so nice to drive again and have that sense of freedom. It was really fun even though it was the Toyota Corolla that Elder Hubert and I have-lol. That night we had a dinner appointment on the Navy base and we had tacos and burritos and it was good :) Then Thursday all 4 of us went to the Salvation Army dinner service project. Then we went to Subway for lunch and it was free because a member owns it and lets all missionaries eat for free! It was really good. Then we left and did our studies back at our apartment and we had a dinner appointment that night and ate taco soup. Friday we did more service in the morning for the Peter Andersen Festival. We spent a few hours setting up things for it. That night we had some appointments and then went to a place called Mugshots for dinner, it is a hamburger place and they were delicious! Saturday morning we did our studies and then that afternoon we went and helped with the Peter Andersen Festival and Elder Jex and I sat at an art tent and basically told people that they could vote on their favorite by writing down its number and putting it in the box. It was kind of a hot day but we were next to the live band so that was nice :) Then we picked up Elder Hyde when we left the festival. Elder Hyde is the one Spanish speaking Elder in the Pascagoula area, they are a trio. They were also helping at the festival. Anyways, we took him with us for splits. He is still with us because we are doing an extended exchange so that he could come to the Spanish church meetings with us and go to some Spanish appointments. That night we went to some appointments and then went to Mugshots again :) ha ha Sunday was good, we had a break-the-fast pot luck at 3:00 with our ward and the Kesler Air Force Base Branch on the air force base. It has been a good week but I hope this next week is a little bit more of a schedule that permits our regular studies.
Our temple is outside of our mission, so when I came here I was told that I wouldn't get to go to the temple in all of my mission. But President Olson has been trying really hard to get us to the temple somehow. He told us at zone conference that we can go to the temple if a member drives us and if it is with a new convert. The Baton Rouge Temple is closing for 2 years in February but lucky for us we can go up until then. This Saturday, there is a new convert going to receive his endowment and be sealed to his wife and kids. We are able to go with him! the Morris's are taking us!!! It is gonna be awesome :) There are 3 other temples on the other 3 sides of our mission that we can go to but you have to be in an area close to them, so some areas can't go and also some temples are closed for certain amounts of time. So, I don't know if I'll be able to go again in my mission, but it's possible.
Love you guys!!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

My side of the bedroom in our apartment

 My bike :)

 Selfie

 Elder Hubert

 A gift store we went to called Shark Heads

Cool Mississippi Stuff

Week 9

Hi Mom!

My week went well and it was a fast week too. I got the snacks and the Halloween decorations :) Thank you! I put up the decorations and I have already eaten all of the snacks, ha ha.
Thursday or Friday night, I can't remember which one it was but anyways, that evening we rode our bikes with the other Elders in our ward to the Air Force Base and met the Morris's(the Senior Missionary couple) at the base.  Since the other three Elders didn't have their helmets, we weren't allowed to ride on base so the Morris's picked us up in their truck and brought us to the park on base. At the park we set up some games for kids and had candy for them if they played.  It was a Halloween Party type of deal called Ghouls in the Park.  Afterwards the Morris's took us to dinner at Sicily's, a buffet, and it was really good! Then they took us home. It was really nice of them! Also, our ward had a Fall Festival and we helped with the doughnuts on a string :) We had dinner at the Davis's this week. They have a daughter who just got out on a mission, a daughter who is a Laurel, a son who is a teacher, and another daughter who I think is a beehive.  They are fun, Brother Davis is in the Air Force and speaks Spanish and they own and live at the top of a hotel. We also ate with the Deatons and had breakfast for dinner!
Teaching has gone well but we had quite a few appointments fall through this week so that was kinda lame. We did teach some good lessons though and one was kinda difficult cuz we taught a guy named Artie (65) who has a wife that is a member. We taught him about The Law of Tithing/The Law of the Fast/How to Donate Tithes and Offerings. This was hard cuz he is having to be very wise with his money because of medical care now that he is older and because of his heart transplant a while ago and his wife's neck. Also all the costs and stuff to make sure his wife is covered if he dies in a few years like the doctors say is likely. And he owns a shrimp business which they give to people all the time in donations and such things, which is equal to 50% of their income or so.  So he has a hard time with having to pay tithing, cuz he says he pays it, just in other ways. Also we talked to him about smoking weed. This was even more difficult cuz he only does it a little bit when he gets really bad migraines cuz it's the only thing that makes it go away. Marijuana is not legal in Mississippi so he can't take it medicinally. He says he doesn't see what he is doing wrong cuz it's only for the pain and if he doesn't do it he just suffers and can't do things. Anyways, it was a tough lesson.  We ended with getting him to pray to know what he should do and said we would pray for him as well.
This Sunday we had 4 investigators come to church so that was awesome!
My personal study has gone well this week. I had time on Sunday while Elder Hubert was taking a nap, cuz he didn't feel good, to read much of "The Day of Defense" and also some of the Pamphlets we teach from. I felt the spirit and really enjoyed learning more about the scriptures and the gospel.  I haven't had any specific scriptures stand out to me but that might be partly because I am reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish(and then right after I read a chapter, I read it in English so that I can understand what is being said)but it goes pretty slow.
This transfer we are competing with the only other district in our zone(the Gulfport District) and each week there is a different challenge and winner. This week was a challenge to see who could use the least amount of miles on their car.  Elder Hubert and I won out of our District and our District won by 200 miles! Elder Hubert and I only biked for almost the whole week! We biked everywhere and carried(running two steps at a time) our bikes up stairs over and over and over and my legs got pretty tired but it was really good at the same time. We did up to about 30 miles one day on our bikes.  Then the last Saturday night we decided to use our car cuz we were obviously going to win and then Sunday we used our car cuz it was Sunday, haha. Those 2 days we used about 35 miles and we only used 46 miles over the whole week. Most others used in the 100's while trying to conserve, the lowest was 87 and the highest was 166 in our District, and the other District was extremely high compared to us.
I've been pretty tired at times but it's a good tired and it hasn't been near as tired as I thought I would be.
In Mississippi it has actually been cold this week, perfect for biking. Most of the week it was around 55-70 where it felt a little cold but you still sweat when riding bikes cuz you're exercising. Then the last few days it has been in the low forties and I love it!
My Spanish is slowly improving, it is hard to learn in an English environment, but I'm trying to speak Spanish more here and there to my comp. And I am trying to be as involved in the Spanish lessons as possible.
We had the chance to drive over to a town new to the mission and meet my comp's step-sister on his Dad's side and her son.  He had never met her before and she is not a member so special permission was given. It was pretty cool.
Our investigators are doing good, we have 5 on date right now but one is probably going to have to be moved back cuz we haven't been able to talk to her in a while. Another one may have to be moved back but we are working hard so that he can be baptized on the date that is set, this is Artie. Then two other of our investigators, the ones who came to church for the first time Sunday and are Spanish speaking who we are working with to stop smoking, drinking, and the said they would stop drinking coffee already so there is headway. The last one is Trace, the one we knocked into, he had to cancel the last appointment we had with him and then we haven't got a response from him this weekend for Sunday or a next appointment but he has the potential of being baptized in a few weeks.
Next P-day we are going to drive somewhere to go biking, it's a surprise for Elder Jex and I (the greenies) so I don't know where it is but it sounds fun!
Oh, and I might get my first "mission haircut" today, so we will see how that goes! :)

I love you so much! Thank you for all that you do!!

Love Your Son and Missionary, Elder Acton

view from our apartment window

Elder Hubert working our our 1000 piece puzzle

Elder Hubert being silly

Week 8

Hola Madre!

Estoy muy bien y muy emocianado sobre el correo hoy!
Translation: "I am very well and very excited about the mail today!"

This week has been better, I have not had any migraines but I still need to do better at being hydrated. I have been able to go out teaching more this week, most of our week is full of appointments so we don't do much tracting.  We did do a bit early in the week and we found a new investigator and taught him the restoration and set him with a baptismal date all in the first lesson when we "knocked" into him that day. His name is Trace and he is 18 and he is more on the agnostic side of things, a little skeptical but open to what we teach him and he does all the things we ask him to. I am hoping it works out! We have taught him 3 lessons.
This week we also did some exchanges because Elder Hubert is the District Leader. We went on exchanges with the D'lberville Elders (The English Elders in our Ward, Elder Curtis who is 2 transfers into his mission and he is training Elder Jex). We switched after district meeting Wednesday afternoon and I stayed the night with Elder Curtis at his apartment and then was with him for half the day. During the time I was with Elder Curtis we rode our bikes looking for people to talk to. We had an interesting experience with a black guy that wanted to bible bash. We handed him a restoration pamphlet and he looked at the front(which was a picture of Jesus holding a lamb) and he said "Who's this?" We were like "That's Jesus" Him, "This ain't Jesus, his hair is too straight. Jesus has curly hair, it says it in the bible that Jesus' hair is like that of a lamb's." It was quite the experience.
We haven't had the opportunity to do any real service yet.
Church was good! We went to ward council and then to sacrament meeting and then to what I think was gospel principles class which was all in Spanish and then we went to priesthood and Elder's Quorum.  Then we had a second sacrament meeting which was the Spanish group.  The Biloxi ward is a pretty good size, its about the size of our ward but I think its just a bit smaller, the Spanish group is only like 30 people though. It was a good day. There was a big thunder and lightning storm all day and it was on and off many times but it dumped rain. Elder Hubert and I went to meet a guy the Sisters wanted us to meet because he speaks Spanish and we got soaked, mostly me because I don't have a rain jacket, haha. Everything was flooding and we had to go through areas that were huge puddles and everything else was covered in water as well, just it wasn't that deep. We didn't even get to have an appointment with him and so we went home and changed and my seat in the car was soaked for the rest of the day. Anyway, it was a fun experience even though I got soaked, haha.
Our ward has less youth than the Wenatchee River Ward, and we participate in the gospel principles class but I don't understand much so I'm pretty quiet more so than I normally am, lol.
That's awesome that Grandpa is the new ward mission leader! Our Stake and mission just had a bunch of boundary changes and our ward mission leader, Brother Perks, just got called to be the Stake President so let's just say that our ward mission leader right now is like Unicorns. . .Non-Existent. . .
I've met a fair amount of Spanish people, we have 2 guy investigators with baptismal dates that are Spanish and we teach them kinda together (as much as we can) and we have a part member family that we are working with who is Spanish and we are teaching in their home a girl investigator. And we also have a few others, it's about half Spanish and half English right now. There are actually a lot of Spanish speaking people down here.
We have had a few dinners with members and I'm getting an okay amount of stuff to eat but we have like no food at our apartment, so making food at home or getting food from home is interesting, haha. I've had many PB&j's and cereal. When we have time in the mornings, I can make Eggs Fried Sandwich with ham on the griddle, Grits, and toast, but that's about the extent of my meals.
Thanks for the pics, I love them! It always makes my day to see how its going back home and to see the things you guys are up to! I love you guys so much! I wish I could have been there for Apple Juice! I miss doing that with you guys and I miss the apple juice too, haha. So, it sounds like I'm not the only one who got wet this weekend huh? Though I probably got more soaked, it  was probably a lot colder for you guys!
This Sunday I was asked to give a talk and I was really nervous and prepared it Saturday night because we were on exchanges Friday and Saturday with the Pascagoula Elders. It went really well though and many said I did a good job;) It was on the topic, Sharing the Gospel: The Savior's Labor of Love. I want to take a picture of the talks I have given and send them to you so you can read them but I'll have to wait til I get a camera for that.
I love you tons mom and I hope you have a wonderful day!!! You're the best!!:)

Your Missionary, Elder Acton

Week 7

Hey Mom!

Mississippi has been pretty great so far! I enjoy serving in the field and Elder Hubert is a great companion. He is a football player and is going to play for the Utah Utes when he gets back off his mission.  We have taught a number of lessons and I have helped as much as I can.  We are English and Spanish Elders, so we teach both.  The Zone Leaders made the point that because we are Spanish and teaching English, we have a harder job than everyone else and have to do more work but that we will also receive the blessings. I am excited to obtain the knowledge and experience to be a great missionary! As for Elder Hubert and I, we both have similar interests and I think this can be a good companionship. We didn't get to teach as much as we wanted this week or go tracting because I had 2 migraines.
Oh, at the airport Elder Isaacson and I didn't ever get charged a thing for baggage. . .so that was nice but weird, haha. I also have some bad news mom, my camera got stolen as well as two other elders in our room at the CCM. We believe a construction worker may have got in our house and taken them. They were out during that short amount of time because of packing. They took only the camera and left the case and flash drives and SD card USB converter drive. I'm sad because it had all my pictures from the CCM on it.
I am sorry to hear about Brother Merrill, that makes me sad but I'm sure he is in a much better place now.
We had Stake Conference this Sunday and Elder D. Todd Christofferson came :) it was cool. I enjoyed seeing and hearing from him.  It was due to Stake boundary changes and mission boundary changes.  Overall this week has been good.
Elder Hubert and I live in an apartment on the third floor of a complex which there is many of in our neighborhood.  The neighborhood has a gate that we have to put a code into to get our cars in.  It also has a gym that we can go to and we do go to every morning:) We are able to have meals with the members but we have only had one appointment so far and we had pizza. . .
Well, that's all I got for now so I'll talk to your later! I love you mom!!! :)

Thanks for all the prayers!

Your missionary, Elder Acton

Week 6 "On to Mississippi"

Text from early Tuesday Morning:

Hey Mom and Dad, this is Elder Acton :) I have made it to Mississippi safely and it is going well! I love the President and I am excited to work in the field! I love you guys :)

Dear Mom~

I made it to Mississippi safely! It's humid here but I expected it to feel hotter, that will probably be fulfilled in the summer. My mission President is wonderful and I am so excited to get going on my mission. I sent you a text from one of the missionary's phones this morning and I hope you got it! Yesterday was a good day, the Pres. and his wife and the APs and the STLs met us at the airport and took us to the church. We had a devotional type meeting with the APs and STLs while the Pres. was doing interviews. My interview went well it was a brief type of interview but he said that I was highly recommended by my bishop and stake pres. and that I've had many leadership positions in the church and that I've done a lot of things in my life (according to the info he had about me) and we just talked for a little bit. Oh and also Pres. Lyons told me to tell you that he is proud of me and is impressed at my hard work and is grateful for me. It was very nice of him to say that. After we had the devotional we then ate dinner and it was really good. We had BBQ chicken and cheesy mashed potatoes and veggies and salad. Then we went back into the chapel and had a Book of Mormon reading and then a testimony meeting. I bore my testimony on the power of the Holy Ghost and teaching by it and its importance in our lives. When we had got to the church, we were given a binder each specific to us with info about our mission and much more. Then we had prayer and went to the mission home where we ate some more food. We went upstairs and played ping pong and the APs and STLs went back downstairs and had a meeting or something with the Pres. and his wife. We were upstairs just playing ping pong and fiddling on the piano and chilling and talking for an hour our more. Then we went to drop off three elders to stay the night with some ZLs and the rest of us drove to the APs apartment to spend the night. We woke up at 4:30-5:00 and then went to the mission home to eat breakfast and we found out where we are going and took pictures by ourselves, with the Pres. and his wife and also all of us together with the Pres. and his wife.  Those pics should be being sent to your email this morning :) I am going to be trained by Elder Hubert, a Spanish Elder, who is apparently really good at Spanish and loves to work out and will be playing football in college when he gets back and I am really excited to meet him. I will be serving in Biloxi down in Gulfport (don't know if I spelled that correctly) which is right on the Gulf and is supposedly an awesome area all around and everyone tells me it was their favorite and they are jealous. Also I may be doing service cuz it did get hit by the hurricane in some places. I am so excited! but I am sad to leave Elder Isaacson and it will be really weird to not be around him, he has become a great friend to me and I feel like I'm leaving family again. I love you dearly mom! Tell everyone "Hi" for me!! I will be driving for 3 hours or so sometime soon down to my area!  Your are the best!!!!!! I am so grateful for you :)

Love your missionary, Elder Acton

Arrival Day! October 10th, 2017

President & Sister Olson with Elder Acton

Jackson Mississippi Missionaries 

arriving on October 10, 2017

with President & Sister Olson

On  the way to Biloxi, Mississippi

with Elder & Sister Morris and

the other missionaries assigned to that area.

Week 5

Hey Mom :)

It's pretty crazy that this is my last P-Day in the CCM! I wonder if on Monday I'll get to e-mail you again or if I'll have to wait until the Monday after. .it seems like my time here has gone by really fast, some times it feels slow but overall it has flown by! Everyone in my district is leaving Monday except for Elder Reyes who is leaving Wednesday to the Kennewick Washington Mission :) I have to be at reception at 4:30 in the morning on Monday. . .Elder Isaacson and I are the only ones going to Mississippi. I'm not sure what I will miss most about the CCM, but I will definitely miss our 12 person district of only elders :) and playing hardcore Ultimate Frisbee at gym time! Side note, during gym time I did a back-flip on the grass :) I didn't land it though, its pretty difficult, I'm gonna try again today, haha. Also I'm really gonna miss the general spirit that you can feel here. The spirit is felt everywhere but in the field there will be just about everything trying to pull it away. . I'm looking forward to some change cuz it's so routine here, but also I'm excited to get out and see what the actual mission is like:) I loved listening to conference! It was awesome to watch it with all the missionaries from the CCM.  We listened to it in English.  I loved it and I took almost 10 pages of notes, front to back. It was so good! I loved both of President Uchtdorf's talks and Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, but they were all so good! I also ate 9 packs of mentos in those 5 sessions of conference, haha! We have service every Monday instead of Gym time and its pretty good. There is so much that goes on and so much to email and so little time, also it's hard to remember what I should share and I'm not the best at sharing what goes on but I'm working on it :) I have learned so much about giving your all to Heavenly Father and how He helps you in return. It is crazy how important the scriptures are! I love them! I'm in Helaman chapter 12 and I'm almost finished! I gotta finish before the end of the CCM so I am doing a lot of reading!! Today we are going to be playing Ultimate Frisbee, district against district with the other guys in our house, it's gonna be awesome! I'm also going to do some studying and then set up a meeting with President Lyons, our branch President, about personal conversion. We already had one out of three and they are really awesome! I am always praying for you guys!! I love you!
Your missionary, Elder Acton

Some more pics of us goobers!

Not everyone is in all of them, but we were just being weird

after our session at the temple :)

Week 4

Hey Mom!

My week has been good:) but just about the same as others without anything new, haha. I am getting some good scripture study in and it's really nice :) I love reading the scriptures! I've never read this much before and there are so many things that stick out to me that are intriguing. My comp and I talk about cool things in the verses we are reading and it's fun.
Tell Faith, Michael, and Joseph good job in Cross Country and Football for me!! and that I am praying for them all!
We get to watch General Conference here at the CCM, it's going to be wonderful! We had to buy snacks and stuff at the store though so that we can stay awake because it is so extremely hard to stay awake!!!
I received Michael's letter!! It was so awesome and I loved it though it took almost a month to get here, lol.  Tell him I loved his letter :)
I am doing very well and I am starting to understand Spanish a little better but it's still pretty rough when I speak with Latinos who aren't teachers. . .haha
We had hamburgers for lunch the other day!!! Oh my gosh it was wonderful even though it was like the school's food.
We have had a total of 4 earthquakes here now but the last one was really small. . .and we only felt the one big one that was in Puebla, 2 hours away.
We are going to the temple again today!! I'm so excited! It is gonna be great:)
I'll be praying for you, have a wonderful week!!!! You guys are such a blessing to me:) I love you so much!!!!

Love your Missionary, Elder Acton

Night View of the CCM

Keeping Memories Alive in the District
(a couple Elders from Marc's District)

Week 3

Hey MOM!

The earthquake was pretty devastating to other areas but we are all good here. Crazy thing though, they never feel earthquakes at the CCM but we definitely felt that one! It felt like someone had just jumped on the trampoline and then you had to walk across it but you couldn't control how it moved, it controlled you. The trees were shaking and the lights were flickering and it was so crazy!!
Both mine and my companion's talks went really well, we spoke after another companionship in our branch did. I was able to speak Spanish fairly well while giving my talk. I spent about three hours the night before translating it all. I was up until 1:20. After sacrament meeting, President Lyons said that we had very good Spanish :)
We have taught lessons with Latino companions and have taught many lessons as a companionship to our investigators. They are going well and we are learning so much!!!
Today we are going to the temple and there is a store where you can buy really cool ties. . . .I got one tie in the little bit of time we had before we went into the temple. I was gonna go back to it for possible souvenirs from Mexico, but it was closed.  Most people go to the temple two times while at the CCM so I hope we go once more!
I am doing well and loving it here :) The CCM down here is literally like heaven on earth. There is chaos in the city but in the CCM its peaceful and beautiful and calm. I love you!!

Traveling through Mexico City to the Temple

Mexico City Temple

 Temple Day together as a District

Missionary Transportation