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
Monday, October 23, 2017
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
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
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
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
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
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 :)
Sunday, October 1, 2017
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
Keeping Memories Alive in the District
(a couple Elders from Marc's District)
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)
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