Week 21

January 22, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been a  pretty good one. Monday was MLK day and so we didn't have P-day, as you know. We had a pretty normal day and then had our P-day on Tuesday. Tuesday we emailed and straightened up the apartment and stuff but that night the Schmidts, who we met a while ago, fed us pizza. Wednesday we didn't have district meeting due to Zone Conference this week. We made the decision to Tract for an hour each day starting Wednesday to make sure that we are finding people every day. It was 21 degrees that morning and had snowed/hailed the night before. There was just enough to make the roofs and the grass a little white. Also our cars were frozen over. Anyway we tracted at 5:00pm and it was really windy which made it extra cold. My hands, nose, and ears were pretty cold, but otherwise it wasn't terrible. My companion wanted to stop early and go to the car but I insisted on tracting the rest of the street to fill up our hour. It hurt to knock on doors cuz our hands were frozen and we had to knock hard, haha, but we got lots of return appointments from it which was cool. A lot of people just wanted us to come back when it wasn't cold anymore. Thursday we did weekly planning again because we had Zone Conference on Friday when we normally do weekly planning. We also went to multiple return appointments from our tracting the day before and we also had an appointment with a former investigator that we found in the same area. We taught them the Restoration and talked with them and got to know them. It was enjoyable to be with them, they are very nice people and seem promising.  We have another appointment with them this next Thursday. Friday was good; we cleaned the car and then went to Zone Conference at 9:00am. Zone Conference was in Gulfport so we had to drive over there to the Stake Center. It was a good Conference and we had lessons from the Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, President Olson, President Perkes(the Stake President), and President Morgan(2nd Counselor to the Stake President). We also were informed about the technology we are receiving soon. We will be able to have phones in the mission in March. We watched some videos about it and heard from Elder Bednar which was cool. We also always have lunch; the Relief Society sisters always make it for us. After Zone Conference ended, around 4:00 or 5:00, we went to some appointments we had scheduled and read the Book of Mormon with them. Saturday we had interviews with President Olson and those went well. We tracted some more and did some more reading with some of our investigators. We are trying to ease our way into teaching them the lessons as well. Sunday was Ward Conference and was pretty cool. We started out with ward correlation with our ward mission leader at 9:00 and then had ward council, which was very large due to all the Stake Leaders in there(about 40 people). Then we had church at 11:00 and we were able to sustain our new Prophet and church leaders which was really cool cuz we were probably among the first wards to be able to do so. We met with a recent convert that evening and her husband just go back from prison. He had started taking the lessons before going to prison, so now we will be teaching him the lessons. He has read the whole Book of Mormon while he was in prison and they are excited fro him to be baptized and for them to be able to go to the Temple to be sealed. We then ate dinner with the Waterhouses and they were a lot of fun to get to know better. Overall this week has been a  good week and I am excited for another one.

I love you tons Mom!! I hope you have a great week!!

Love your missionary
Elder Acton

The first snow/hail

My new District

Week 20

January 16, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been a pretty good one, it's hard to remember everything that happened though cuz everything meshes together. Monday went well and I did a lot of cleaning. Tuesday, we did better at waking up on time and going to work out. We did our personal, language, and companion study and had lunch and then Elder and Sister Page (another Senior Missionary Couple) came and took the third bed we had from being in a  trio.  They took my bed instead cuz it was so bowed and needed to be trashed. They then noticed our box springs were broken on one side and replaced those too. So that was really nice. Then we had dinner with a Spanish family (Espinals) and that was really good. Wednesday we had our first District Meeting with Elder Jex as our District Leader. It went well and we had a second lesson with the Spanish family we are teaching later that night. We taught the Restoration and watched the Restoration video with it and it went really well. Thursday we tried to visit a lady that we haven't seen in awhile but we had no such luck. We have also been trying to get a hold of a lady that was referred to us who works at the Salvation Army so that we can do service. We have not been able to get in contact with her yet, though we have tried many times. #StoryOfMyLife. Oh, I forgot, on Wednesday we biked all day and totaled about 20 miles. We had many appointments fall through and it was frustrating but we got some good exercise, haha. Friday Elder Hyde and I totally spaced a couple things. We were going to watch the Funeral for President Monson but totally forgot. . .We also forgot to do weekly planning. We had a pretty normal day though and visited a member who was in need of someone to talk to. We also visited the Schmidts (the older couple that we met who love the missionaries) and they gave us some snacks and stuff. Saturday was an interesting day cuz we did our personal study but then left for an appointment at 10:30. We had planned to stay out for the whole day so that we wouldn't waste miles coming back to the apartment. I was just gonna bike to this appointment but it was cold and in the 30's and Elder Hyde didn't want to. The appointments we had for the rest of the day fell through and after we exhausted all our back ups, we didn't have much else to do. We brought the D'lberville Elders over to the Schmidts to meet them and they gave us turkey soup and cookies to take home and a 12 pack of DP. Then we went and all 4 of us ate at a Seoul Korean Restaurant and I got sweet and sour chicken which was pretty good but not as good as the place near the Temple in Seattle. It was a little spendy but that is just how that kinda food is. Sunday we had a Regional Stake Conference broadcast from Salt Lake and Elder Bednar spoke and a few others. It was really good and I enjoyed it. We went to the Bishop's house for lunch and ate with them and a member and her nonmember friend. Then on our way back the Schmidts called and told us to stop by and when we stopped by, they had bought us and the D'lberville Elders a bunch of groceries. They got us our favorite chips and got us cookies and lunch meat and mayo and mustard and all kinds of stuff!! Then later that night we drove to Ocean Springs and had another lesson with the Gorge family that we are teaching. It went alright, it is hard to understand and the father learns at a  different speed and knows more so it is hard to teach the family as a whole. Monday we played chair soccer with that family (the dad had to work) and the Zeibers at the church. It was so much fun, haha. Then we had lunch together and we gave them a children's Book of Mormon to help them learn better. We came home and did our studies and then did the weekly planning that we had forgot to do on Friday. Later that night, we had dinner and ward correlation with our ward mission leader and the D'lberville Elders; it was fun to be with his family. It was a good week and I am excited to tackle another one!
I hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Love
Elder Acton

The Restaurant we went to(thought of you, Dad)

We tied some balloons to our ceiling fan-LOL

All the food that the Schmidts gave us

(they gave the same thing to the D'lberville Elders too)

I made French Toast for Elder Hyde and I this morning :-)

Week 19

January 8, 2018

Dear Mom,

How are you? This week has been a good one, but also it was quite different. Monday was interesting because it is normally our P-day but because of Transfer week, it was just a normal day.  We spent the day visiting a lot of people so Elder Hubert could say bye to them. We had dinner with the Damons and they made us a really good roast. Then Tuesday we had District Meeting instead of Wednesday because on transfer week Wednesday is P-day, Transfers are Thursday, and District Meeting is Tuesday. So the schedule was all messed up and it was just kind of a weird week. Anyways, on Tuesday we had District Meeting and then visited more families for Elder Hubert to say goodbye.  On Wednesday we did some cleaning and Elder Hubert did more packing, we got lunch at a place that has really good burritos called
Burrito Zone. We did our emailing and got the things we needed from the store. Then later we had dinner with a Spanish member family in Gulfport. After dinner we went to the Bishop's house and taught two kids from Spencer's basketball team, Jaylen and AJ, they are showing a lot of interest and have a baptismal date for February 10th. We are excited to continue teaching them! Early Thursday morning we headed out to Gulfport for transfers and dropped off Elder Hubert. He left and all those who were being transferred left. Then the rest of us went to Cracker Barrel and had breakfast. After breakfast we all went back to our areas and Elder Hyde and I tried to visit some people but only had luck with one. The one we visited was an investigator that the sisters were teaching and since their area was being shut down, we are taking over. She is a good investigator and we hope to see some good progression with her. Friday was a normal day with the exception of weekly planning. We had dinner with a member and then helped a recent convert, Martha Roach, get some names to take to the Temple. Saturday we woke up early and the Bishop picked us up at 6 and we went to the Temple! We went to an endowment session at 9 with Cynthia Cotton, a member that was going through for her mom, and then Elder Hyde and I were the witnesses for the baptism session at 11 with Martha Roach and Lynn Hayden who hadn't been to the temple before. It was a great day and I just really love the Temple!!! Sunday was a good day, we had a nice fast and testimony meeting and I bore my testimony in the Spanish group. It was pretty simple and I think my grammar was terrible but I did it nonetheless and I was super nervous haha. That night we taught a Spanish family at the Zeiber's house in a FHE. It was so difficult for me to understand what they were saying and we were given more time than they said they would give us, so I didn't know what else to do. But while talking, in an effort to fill up time, I somehow went into the First Vision-which I didn't even know I was doing until I found myself reciting it. The spirit was very strong, it went really well and ended up being a good FHE. The family is great and looks very promising, they seem like they could be members already! It was a good end of our week :) I am going to be doing a lot of Spanish practice because I am soon realizing how little I know.
I love you tons mom!!! I hope you have a wonderful week!!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

These pictures were sent to us from the Hutton

Family.  Elder Acton and his companions had 

dinner at their house on Tuesday evening.  Sister Hutton 

said she wanted to let us know what a great young man

Elder Acton is and thanked us for sharing him with 

her family.

A breakfast burger that I made

Elder Hyde put the suction cups of a table football

game we had on his forehead and gave himself

hickeys for the rest of the week, HaHa!

Week 18

January 3, 2018

Hey Mom!

This past week has been good but there just hasn't been as much actual missionary work as we usually do. We have had a few exchanges and those consisted of basically doing nothing. It has been different lately for sure.  I will be getting into a bit more of a normal schedule this transfer though, I hope.
I will be the one leading the area and it will just be Elder Hyde and I, I will have more of a say of what we do and how things go.  It is going to be a difficult transfer because both of us are still struggling with learning Spanish and we have a few investigators that only speak Spanish. Even though it is going to be difficult, it will be a good opportunity for learning and I hope that I will be able to see a lot of growth from it.
Last Wednesday was the end of exchanges with the Pascagoula Elders and then we had District Meeting. We tried to see a few people and ate dinner at a member's house. Thursday, Elder Hubert had me lead the area again so I was slightly more stressed again but not as bad as before. We didn't have many appointments that went through. It was an okay day. We did try one of our investigators that we hadn't seen in a while though. He said he was gonna come to church and keep his commitments but nothing changed and he didn't come. . .Friday we did our studies as usual and then weekly planning and Elder Hyde and I did it by ourselves while Elder Hubert was with Elder Jex and Curtis playing basketball with Spencer and some of his teammates. He went with the other Elders because we suck at basketball and it wouldn't be fun for everyone else, haha. Then later that day, Elder Hubert wasn't feeling well so we stayed at the apartment and he slept while Elder Hyde and I tried to make appointments over the phone. We then went to dinner at the Dunn's house and that was fun cuz Brother Dunn is really funny. Saturday was alright, none of our appointments went through so that stunk but we did find an elderly couple who used to know the missionaries really well and were really tight with them. They would buy Dr. Pepper in stock for them haha and would have pizza nights all the time.  They haven't known the missionaries for the past 2 years or so because they tried to pay one missionary's speeding ticket and the church made him pay them back cuz it was similar to a bribe and that hurt their feelings.  But it was a real jackpot finding them.  They gave us all $25 gift cards to Subway and they are really nice. So they are another 2 people we can visit if we are struggling with something to do. Sunday was a good day, we had our normal meetings and it was fifth Sunday, so for third hour we learned about the new church curriculum. Then we had a family from the Ocean Springs Ward, the Zeibers, invite a Spanish speaking family to church and they came to the Spanish group and then they attended the pot luck afterward. This next Sunday, we will be doing a family home evening with the Zeibers and this family. They only speak Spanish so it is going to be a challenge but I hope it goes really well. Monday was weird cuz it wasn't P-day but it was still a good day. we saw a lot of people for Elder Hubert to say goodbye.
It has been a good holiday season and I have enjoyed it but I am also ready for a change. I hope this next transfer goes well. Love you!!!
Love,
Your Missionary, Elder Acton

Our little Christmas tree in our apartment

My Christmas gifts-Thank You!

The view from the member's home where we Skyped

on Christmas day.  They live at the top of a hotel,

it was pretty amazing.

The view out of our apartment window overlooks

the mall, these parking lots are usually packed

full of cars.  This is what it looked like Christmas

morning.  It felt like a ghost town.

Week 17

December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas!!!

No email for the blog this week, we got to Skype with Elder Acton at 5:30pm Washington time.

It was wonderful to see his smile and listen to all he had to say (we didn't say much, he was the one talking and filling us in for the whole hour-we LOVED it!).  He has even picked up a bit of a southern accent, which he hadn't even realized.
He has had some trying times dealing with a companion who wants to bend the rules, but mentioned that since his experience at the trampoline park the previous week, he has learned the importance of sticking to what he feels is right.  We loved when he told us that he remembered being told that his first commitment priority is to the Lord, then his Mission President, then his companion.  He chose to be loyal to the Lord and called another set of Elders to have an "unofficial" exchange so that he wouldn't have to be with the companion who was making plans that went against mission rules.  In the end, the "spirit" worked on his companion and he didn't go through with the plans.
Elder Acton shared with us that other than Skyping with us, the highlight of his Christmas was having breakfast at IHOP.  If you truly know Marc, you know just how important breakfast is to him.  We laughed and asked him how many plates of food he ordered; Three big plates!!
We had a great time visiting (listening-Lol) with Marc and laughing all together as a family, but the part I loved most was witnessing the "glow" that was around him. He is truly radiating with the Light of Christ and that brings us the most Joy.

  

Week 16

Monday, December 18, 2017

Dear Mom-

I am doing pretty good.  My back is hurting lately and I'll tell you why later but besides that I am feeling good. I have had a pretty good week and there have been uplifting things but it has also been "meh" at times as well.  There has been a lot that has happened this week including our annual mission conference. For Christmas I believe I can Skype for 45 minutes, maybe an hour.  Yes, I will be using Skype and we will probably do it at 7:30 our time. I'm so excited!! It will be so fun! We haven't done any service this week but we did some caroling in a park out in front of one of the casinos :) I probably felt the spirit most when in Hattiesburg for our Mission Conference.  And for Christmas, we will probably visit some ward families and Idk what else.
My Spanish is doing ok, I am slowly being able to read it better and understand it better but it is still harder to speak it, haha. It's still all hard but speaking is what is most difficult right now. There are moments when a little bit of Spanish is spoken but besides memorizing or practicing in Spanish, we don't really speak Spanish to each other. Elder Hubert really doesn't want to do that, it would take a ton of patience from him cuz Elder Hyde and I still aren't good.
This week started out pretty good. Sunday night we slept at the D'Iberville Elders' pad cuz the Pascagoula Elders were staying over to spend P-day with us and then carpool to the mission conference. The neighbors at their apartment are kinda stingy and we were up late that night just talking and I would have gone to sleep but with that many people in the apartment, I wasn't able to. We weren't loud but I guess the neighbors didn't like the walking around and they banged on the wall to tell us to be quiet. Then later there was a knock on the door and then the doorbell and it was a cop.  He wasn't the nicest guy but basically just said to be quiet so everyone went to sleep after that. On Monday after getting groceries and emailing and such things, we went to a trampoline park. I was hesitant about this but everyone was on board and I couldn't be without my companions and it wasn't really anything I had control of. It doesn't specifically say not to jump on trampolines in the missionary handbook, but if you read between the lines it's probably not something we should do cuz it's an activity that can cause injury. Anyway, since I was there, I kinda gave in and just had fun. It was a ton of fun and we played dodge ball and dunked on the basketball hoop and fought on the tight rope over the foam pit and jumped into the foam pit. And did flips and all kinds of stuff. Then I was jumping across the room and went to land on my back but kinda not thinking about it, went into a back flip and landed really badly. I did what they call a lawn chair, but a bit worse. I landed vertically from really high, on the back of my head and my body folded over me and it wrecked my back. I hurt really bad and writhed in pain and Elder Pedersen was near but didn't see it. I laid there and he told me not to move and I wasn't about to. I stayed there on my back for quite a while and they went on jumping. I then was able to get up but knew I was done jumping and knew it was my consequence for going there. Then we went bowling after, which is okay to do, but I couldn't do that either. I was in a lot of pain because of that for the rest of the day and next few days but I have just been dealing with it. I am okay though. My muscles took the brute of it, I think my back itself is okay. On Tuesday, we went to Hattiesburg (Oak Grove Church Building) and we had our Mission Conference, which Elder Claudio R.M. Costa came. President Olsen and his wife spoke and then Elder Costa spoke and then we had lunch.  Then Sister Costa spoke and then Elder Costa spoke again. It was a spiritual conference and Elder Costa was funny and enjoyable to listen to. He talked about some of the aspects of missionary work and working with members.  I really enjoyed it. My back hurt but it was manageable, it was much better when I woke up that morning than it was the day it happened.  We went to a member's house that Elder Hubert knew up there and they fed us dinner. Then we thought we were going home but in summary Elder Hubert took us to the pad of the Zone Leaders in Hattiesburg.  It was them and two others already there and we chilled there and talked for a while and then Elder Hubert wanted to stay the night cuz he didn't want to drive back 1 hour and 30 minutes that night. Elder Beahner didn't want him to stay because that was a lot of people to have there and the AP's were already asking him questions about "sleep over type things" and then it turned into a battle of stubbornness and Elder Hubert, despite his friend Elder Beahner telling him it was time to leave, multiple times, waited until it was too late to go back and wouldn't even go to a different pad nearby and then went to sleep in their study room. We didn't have blankets, pillows, beds, or anything. My back was really hurting and Elder Hyde wanted to sleep in his own bed so we weren't very happy with the situation. Elder Beahner and Elder Wilson drove us to the Oak Grove Elders' pad and we slept there for the night. We stayed up until 11 talking with Elder Farren(he came out to Mississippi with Elder Hyde) and his greenie and that was relaxing. Then Elder Hyde slept on the couch and I slept in the room on the floor to try and help my back. We ate some breakfast with them in the morning and then Elder Hubert showed up and we drove home. On Thursday we rode our bikes all day, at this point I still couldn't go up stairs more than one at a time and couldn't run but I could carry my bike up the stairs and ride it. I just have to keep my back straight. Friday we did studies and weekly planning and went to some appointments. Saturday we went on exchanges and Elder Hyde and I went with Elder Jex to his pad and Elder Hubert  and Elder Curtis were together. We planned our day, ate lunch at Wendy's, and then went and visited an older guy in our ward and then planned our sharing time for Primary on Sunday. Then we went down to the casinos and waited at the park for the Sisters and Elder Curtis and Hubert. We then caroled to those who passed through the park and gave them "Light the World" cards, little candles, and candy canes. It was actually lots of fun and we did it for about an hour or two and then a member bought us hot chocolate and we stayed there talking with them for another hour or so and then went home for the night. Sunday was good, we didn't have any extra meetings before church and then it was the ward Christmas program which was really good. Then Elder Jex, Hyde, and I did sharing time for the older kids in primary and then also the younger kids. We talked about Christmas and the Nativity Scene and then helped them make candy cane ornaments. Anyway the week was pretty crazy but it has still been a good one. The pain in my back has mostly left the middle of it but last night wasn't the best night of sleep and so now the lower part of my back is hurting more. I still can't run and I can't run up stairs but can go up 2 stairs at a time even though it still hurts.  I'm trying not to use Ibuprofen except if it really hurts or if I want it to help while I sleep.
Even though I may be feeling some pain, it's not like I'm not used to back pain and I am still doing well. Have a wonderful week!!

Love your missionary,
Elder Acton

Me and Elder Hubert

My Twelve Days of Christmas

Thank you MOM!

Christmas lights in the park

We caroled in the park near the Hard Rock Casino

Thanks Fam for the Lights, made it feel a

bit more like Christmas.

A Buddhist Temple we saw

Elder Hyde, Elder Hubert, and Me