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