Week 55 Rain, Rain, and More Rain

Monday, September 17, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been a good week and there have been some ups and downs between finding awesome people to teach and having people yell at us and other people not wanting us to teach them anymore.
So last week I wasn't able to finish writing about the whole week so I'll include Sunday in this week:)

Sunday, we had an investigator come to church and he love it and was able to feel the spirit strongly. there was also a lot of Hispanic members who came which was awesome to have them all there. The members helped Wesley, our investigator, feel great and very welcome and the Seumanu family invited him to watch the youth devotional/face-to-face with them at the church that evening. We had Branch Council after church and then went to 3-4 appointments but they all fell through, so we did some tracting and then came back home and ate some dinner. We then drove to Amelia and we had multiple appointments there that fell through as well so we ended up tracting for the rest of the night. WE met two new people to teach and they are an awesome couple. They also offered to feed us dinner Thursday, which was super awesome! We met another cool guy to teach and then later we talked to some people at an authentic Mexican food truck and they gave us each a free Mexican Soda call Jarritos. They were really good.
Monday was an alright P-day. In the morning I cleaned for a while, had breakfast, and then cleaned for a couple more hours. We then went to Subway for lunch which was really good plus, I had a Subway Gift Card so I technically wasn't even having to spend my money. Then we went to the library and emailed for a little. We left the Library after just a little bit and went to the laundromat or "Washateria" as they call it down here and we put in our loads of laundry. We left it there as we went to Walmart to get our groceries and then we came back and switched it over to the dryers. I tried to finish my emailing on my phone while there but wasn't able to. Then that evening we tracted for a while. We walked with a nice lady that was out for an evening walk/exercise and we ended up on the other side of Berwick and then had to walk back to our car. We knocked doors on our way back and found a new guy to teach.
Tuesday we tracted in Morgan City and it poured rain on us. Luckily most houses had porch roofs so we didn't have to stand in the rain while at the door and there was a guy that we were able to talk to for a bit near the end of the storm til it stopped. We did get soaked from walking from one door to the next though. Later we met a super cool guy who was very happy to see us. We almost didn't knock his door because the front door was blocked by a metal gate at the entry way of it. Luckily, we noticed his garage door was available. The spirit was very strong during our conversation and lesson with him and he pointed it out many times. We later returned to Berwick and went to some appointments at the trailer park across the main road from near where we live. Not many of them actually worked out so we did some tracting in between. We were able to have a good lesson and get to know a guy we had met before and his wife. They are an awesome couple; he is a Cajun guy if you ever did see one and she is Mexican so they told us about when they cook and how they often get a mix between good Cajun food and good Mexican food. They are awesome. We then sat down with another older couple and had a type of lesson with them, he constantly made rude side comments which wasn't very cool, but we had quite the question and answer type of lesson. Then right before we came home we saw the dog of a member and we helped her know where to find it as it had got out and run off.
Wednesday, we had District Meeting in Houma as usual, and then we went to Sam's Club for lunch. We then came back to Berwick and had a great lesson with Lewis and Miriam, our Cajun and Mexican friends :) We later went to the church and had a lesson with Alejandra and we ended up moving the baptism to the next Saturday so that it will work better. WE were going to have a dinner with Wesley and the Seumanus at the church afterward but Wesley wasn't able to do it that day so it got moved to Friday. The Seumanus still had us over for dinner though which was nice of them. After dinner we went to tract where we had decided to go earlier but felt we should go to some trailers instead so we went there. We had a fair amount of rejections and then in the last 15 minutes we met a real cool dude that we are able to teach.
Thursday we had our studies and then tracted for a few hours. We went over to Delmara and Cody's and they were doing a deep clean of their apartment with their neighbors (cousins) help and his mom's help and we joined in with them and helped them take out trash and put clothes and stuff in the cars and move furniture and then we had a small lesson with Cody and then a lesson with his cousin Adrian. We then came home, grabbed a quick bite to eat and left to Amelia. Again many of our appointments fell through, these people are very busy and their schedules are crazy so it is hard to have solid appointments with them. We did some more tracting and it poured on us again. We met an interesting girl who we had a lesson with and she talked about some very strange views on what is going to happen in these last days and stuff. She talked to us about how she can read minds and stuff, nice girl but she had some interesting thoughts. Later we were able to have a good lesson with a guy we had met last week and then we came home.
Friday morning we went to the Seumanu's and got a ride with Brother Seumanu to a single sister in the branch whom we help mow her yard. We got there and someone had already done it, some guy she had paid to do a different job around the house and he had mowed the lawn too. We talked with her for quite a while and she showed us some other things that needed to be done. We then went back to the Seumanu's and they fed us breakfast, and they were some really good waffles. We then came home and did some studying and our weekly planning before we left to Morgan City to an appointment we had. The guy was super busy and didn't have time, he seemed like a completely different guy than the one he was when we first met him. We then talked to some Hispanic ladies at a a yard sale and their husbands when they showed up later. Then we talked to a cool guy as he was cleaning his crawfish boil catering supplies and stuff. We then came back to the trailers near our apartment and we tracted some  more there. We had a brief lesson with one of our investigators, found a new guy to teach who is a super awesome dude and then we went to our dinner appointment with the Seumanus and Wesley. Sadly we tried to cal Wesley and he forward our calls and also the Seumanus. We went to his house to see if was still wanting to come and to see what was up but he wasn't there. On the way we did see a guy we had taught and given a Book of Mormon, walking on the road and we noticed he was holding the Book of Mormon in his hand. We later drove the path we thought he would have walked and found him still walking. We stopped and we were able to talk to him for a bit and provide more counsel and comfort as he shared some of his struggles with us. He has read half the Book of Mormon though so that was cool. We then went back to the Seumanu's and had dinner with them. We then went to a lesson that we had scheduled with an investigator and a member met us there, but sadly they didn't answer and we ended up tracting for the rest of the night.
Saturday, I had a good exercise and I'll be honest, I haven't done a decent leg workout in a while so after I did a good one on Saturday, I was super sore and I still am, lol. I did some cleaning for a bit that needed to get done and then we did our studies, had lunch, and then did some more weekly planning. We then had a good lesson with one of our investigators and then all our appointments that day moved later to about 5:00pm and others moved up to about 5:00pm, but the earlier ones were here in Berwick and Patterson and the later ones were in Amelia. It was a struggle to be able to work those all out to where we could get to all of them. we somehow did and some of them were short but they were all really good lessons. In Amelia, we had dinner and a good lesson with some investigators. They made some really good Mole (Mo-Lay), a Mexican dish-chicken with a type of spicy chocolate sauce and rice. We then tried to visit a bunch of other people there and we were able to have a  good lesson with another family. They invited us to come over for dinner next Thursday and they are going to make a Honduran dish called Baleadas. I've never tried it before but apparently it's really good! It is funny, at this trailer park in Amelia, halfway down it at 8:45 at night as we were walking through, on one side there was a Hispanic fiesta going on with loud music and stuff and then on the other side there was a Vietnamese get together thing going on with their loud music and lights. It was awesome, so many different kind of things going on.
Sunday, I gave a talk on small and simple things, I got asked Saturday night. Then we were in youth class helping them practice for their missions. After church we came home and had lunch and did some studying and then we went to an appointment but he wasn't home yet so we tracted and then we went to a part-member family and had a lesson with them. We watched the Restoration video, which always brings in the spirit so well. We then did more tracting and there was a huge thunder storm with super loud thunder and lightening every few seconds. But luckily, it didn't rain. We then went and had dinner with the Grahams and then tracted for the rest of the night. One lady yelled at us and actually tried to come push us away. . .it was an interesting night. Well it's been a good week, until next week!

Love,
Elder Acton

MORE RAIN!!

District Lunch

Week 54 Transfers

Monday, September 10, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been a good week full of different experiences and I probably won't be able to explain them all, which will be hard. I will try to share most though!
Tuesday, we emailed with the other Elders at their library and then we went to Sams Club and we got some pizza for lunch. Then Elder Brown and I drove to the church and met the Sisters and other Elders there. Later Elder Brown and I drove back home so that he could say goodbye to some people. We said bye to the part-member family that lives next to us and then we had dinner with the Grahams that evening.
Wednesday, we woke up and got headed out around 8:30 to be in Denham Springs for transfers. We drove up there and it was great to see a bunch of other buddies from my past areas and to reunite with them. We were there for about a half hour or so. We got Elder Brown's stuff transferred out of our car and into another and then Elder Cannon's stuff into our car. We got Elder Cannon settled in a little bit and then we planned our day. We basically had dinner at 5:00 and tracting for the rest of the time before and after. We set a goal for 5 new contacts for the day and then hit the pavement. We found some awesome people in the first area we were at and then after dinner we found another in the next area we were at. The sun went down at like 8:00 and we started biking home at 9:00 and on the way we ran into a bunch more spiders on the Berwick bike trail again. (Elder Brown and I had had this issue before). It is always crazy how many spiders there are and how big they are!!! They are as big as my palm and the web is as big as my body! And there are many many many of them on the trail. We had to walk our bikes and shine our phone lights so that we wouldn't run into them. So we decided that in order to get home on time we would pop up to the road. For the day, we found 6 new people to teach and it was a good day of tracting. I'll be honest, it was a long last hour but it was a great day.
Thursday we went for a run 10 minutes out from the pad and then 10 minutes back, which was a good run but honestly a bit difficult. Then that morning we had some real good studies and for breakfast we had hashbrowns and eggs with japenos. We had our lunch which was a bowl of noodles type shrimp ramen for me and then we did our weekly planning. We then went to an appointment but they weren't there so we went to our other appointment early and had a good Spanish lesson with him. He left to get his daughter from school for a bit so we waited and talked to a few people in between and then resumed when he returned. We then went to Delmara and Cody's (the part-member family we are teaching) and we had a good little lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation. It is a little difficult to keep the two boys reigned in during the lesson but it was good. We then came home and had some dinner and we made some mashed potatoes and also and egg scramble with sausage. Then we headed out to Amelia to do some tracting there. There are a lot of Hispanics who live there and it was our goal to find 3 new Spanish people to teach. We found a trailer park that looked like a good place to tract and we started there. We met a lot of awesome people and had some great lessons. We probably talked to like 2-3 people in English that night, the rest were Hispanic and/or Vietnamese. It got dark at like 7:50 and we both felt like the next hour was going to be long and it was going to be a hard night. We did our best to work hard and have fun though. Right near the end of the night, we had made it all the way down one side of the trailer park and to the back close to the forest and swampy areas. When we got to the second to last trailer or so we saw a spooky building with a Swastika on it and we both got insane chills and we were for sure a bit freaked out, Lol. We checked it out a bit and it just got more freaky. It had Vietnamese writing on the front and inside there were Buddha type dolls in the back of a room that were lit up with creepy looking lights and stuff. We moved on, it was really dark outside which did  not help the matter one bit. The whole place was a bit spooky at night, real quiet, super dark, in an area surrounded by trees and tall grass/swampy areas. We then passed an abandoned trailer overgrown with brush and stuff, at least we assumed it was abandoned and didn't dare make our way back there to knock on it in the dark. We knocked the last trailer and had a great lesson with two guys there. It was a crazy night with some chills and stuff but we came away with nine new Spanish people to teach which was awesome!! We then drove home and made it home by 9:30.
Friday was pretty crazy too but an all around good day. We biked the Berwick trail for 30 minutes in the morning for exercise. We had a good personal study and then left to go to District Meeting. We had a great District Meeting and I was in charge of the role play and we did door approach practices. We then at the end had cake and sang Happy Birthday to Sister Pfeiffer. then we all drove to a place called  Bake your Pie, or something like that, it was basically like a subway for pizzas which was really good! Then Elder Cannon and I picked up some stuff at Wal-Mart that had been ordered and was ready for pick-up (thanks mom & dad) and then we came home and did a language study in the car on the way back home. On the way the clouds looked super ominous and really dark in the direction we were going. It later started to pour  down on us and I had to slow from 76 mph to 60 mph so that we could at least somewhat see the road. We hydroplaned a lot and it was very difficult to see the road but at 60 it wasn't quite as bad. I am glad to have lots of experience with driving in snow and hydroplaning at home and also many times on my mission so that I know how to drive in it-otherwise it would be pretty freaky, lol. We then got back to Morgan City and went to some appointments, but they fell through. It wasn't raining quite as hard anymore so it wasn't awful for tracting so we stared knocking doors. We got to know some awesome people and they knew some members of the church and held them in very high respects which was cool. With one guy, we are going to hopefully attend his church at 7 with him and then ours at 9 with him. We later got to know some other really cool people and it was interesting to learn a bit about them and their life. We had a great lesson with him and his husband. We then tracted some more and then came home and had some dinner. We then went to the church and had a great lesson with Alejandra and scheduled stuff for her baptism on Saturday the 15th. We then went and tracted a street and on this particular street we met many very interesting people. We also met someone who seems to be dealing with some inner  conflicts and we taught him a bit and then continued knocking. We both felt we did some real good with him. Then as we were leaving in our car, he was in the street and we stopped next to him and he started asking us to come back. We both had a weird feeling like he was maybe trying to get us inside and we felt a little spooked. He then shared some things with us and I made eye contact with him and the spirit hit me hard and I felt as if he was truly asking for help. The rest of the night we felt weird and it was interesting. Later we went to tract another street and met a man walking by as we were knocking doors. We talked to him and had a great lesson with him and he said this is what he has been missing. We knocked some more and then came home.
Saturday we had some good studies in the morning and then went to tract a bit in a trailer park nearby. We met some more great people and had some good lessons. Then we went back to the guy we met the night before who gave us some weird spooky feelings and we gave him a blessing which helped him. I hope he acts in faith and reads the scriptures and prays so that he can overcome his struggles. We then came home and had some lunch. After that we went to the part-member family who lives near us and had a little scripture read with them. We then tracted some more and this time even though we tracted for a while, had dinner, tracted more until 9:00, we only found one person who we could teach.
Well, I don't have any more time today for emailing so I will have to include Sunday with next week. Until then!!

Love,
Elder Acton

Stormy Skies

The trailer park where we were tracting

I'm definitely in the South-lol!

My new comp, Elder Cannon and

the "spooky" building

Week 53 Year Mark

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Dear Mom,

This last week was a pretty good one and as you know, I hit my year mark!! So crazy!

Monday we had P-day in Morgan City. The Thibodaux Elders came down and spent it with us. In the morning we went to email and then later the other Elders showed up and we played some games and Elder brown cut Elder Davis' hair. Then we started exchanges and Elder Brown left with Elder McRae back to Thibodaux for an appointment and Elder Davis and I went to the church for an appointment. We met a young girl we are teaching and her parents there and had a good lesson. We then came home and had dinner.
Tuesday we went on our morning bike ride for a warm up exercise and then we both did a hard workout at our apartment and then had breakfast and got ready for our day. We got out into the neighborhoods a bit throughout the day, talked to some of our investigators and then that evening some members from Thibodaux came down and took us out to dinner which was awesome. It was kind of an expensive place but it had really good food. I had a shrimp po-boy with fries and there were complimentary dinner roles which were really good, and you already know I took advantage of those :)
Wednesday we drove up to Houma for District Meeting which was really good. Wednesday was also my year mark so that was awesome! I had the lesson for the meeting and we were able to get a really good discussion going on and it was awesome. Then after District Council we went to lunch at Raising Canes for my year mark celebration. I love the food there so much! Then we went back to Thibodaux and I did my laundry. I wasn't able to do it P-day because the members that usually allow us to do it at their house weren't home and we didn't have money to pay for it. After that, Elder Brown and I came back home did some work and then had dinner at the pad that evening.
Thursday we did our morning exercise and workout and then later did our studies. Our appointment feel through and no one else let us in or wanted to talk to us that day. We then came back and had dinner at the pad again.
Friday was alright. We did our exercise and I was really sore that day but it was a good workout. Elder Brown made us a really good breakfast scramble and that was awesome. We did our studies and weekly planning and then frustrating enough our appointment fell through again for that day too. It was almost a duplicate of Thursday. We did get some pizza dropped off to us from a part member family so that was cool.
Saturday was a bit interesting. We exercised and got ready and stuff and then drove into Morgan City to a park for a birthday party, but they weren't there. We found out they decided to move it til later that evening. So we came back and walked to an investigators house cuz he said we could come over and have a lesson. It started to sprinkle as we were walking and we could see in the distance that it was raining harder. Then we noticed it started to pour super hard in the distance. And we watched it come our way, we were right outside the apartments on the street and it started to rain a bit harder on us and it was slowly increasing as we got to the apartments and went up the stairs, enough to put a little hustle into our steps. We knocked on the door and the kids came to the door and then said that he said come back in an hour cuz he still had to go pick someone up first. So we ended up just waiting outside his door for the rain to stop and it continued to downpour for 45 minutes. He still hadn't left to go pick the person up so we walked back to our apartment and then we went to the birthday party. It was a Hispanic party and they were having a great time. They had a really good Taquero, where someone is cooking meat and there are really good taco fixins and it was really good.

Sunday morning it was raining pretty hard again, it had rained all night too. We got to church and there was only the Branch Presidency there and for a while it looked like there was only going to be 6 of us but then a couple families showed up late and we were full again. It was a great Fast and Testimony meeting. Later that day we went to a part member family's house and taught them a lesson and it was really good. They asked a lot of questions and were really engaged. We then came home and had dinner.
Monday morning Cody, one of our investigators in the part member family, came and dropped off more pizza for us which was super awesome. That afternoon we went over to their house and Elder Brown gave the two boys, who we are also teaching, haircuts. Then we drove up to Thibodaux that evening and had dinner with them and some members and then spent the night for P-day today.
It has been a good week and this one I hope will be great. I will be staying in Morgan City and I will be getting and Elder Cannon. Elder Brown will be leaving me which is really sad cause we got along really well and we only had one transfer together and it was really short one.
Until next week!!

Love,
Elder Acton

Week 52 Feelin' Good

Monday, August 27, 2018

Dear Mom,

This last week has been a pretty darn good one and it has been fun.

Monday we did our emailing and then went up to Houma with the Thibodaux Elders. We played basketball for a while and then some youth and a young couple came and we all played games and it was a lot of fun. We then went to their house nad played Clue with them and did some of our laundry. Then we went to the Thibodaux Elder's pad and finished our laundry there.
Tuesday we weren't able to do much which stunk. We tried to visit some people but didn't have much luck.
Wednesday we biked around a big loop trail near our house which was fun and it was nice to ride the bike again. We then went back to Houma for District Meeting and the Zone leaders came which was fun. We also had the Sisters back, one had gone home so the other went into a trio in New Orleans and now she is back with another sister so that made for a good and also fun District Meeting. We then all went and got lunch together at Sam's Club and one of the other Elders bought my comp and I a pizza to share with him, which was nice of him. Then we came back to MO City and that evening we tried to visit some people but none answered. We then before we went back, we biked the rest of the trailer park to check it out and then we came home.
Thursday for our morning exercise we biked again. We decided to check out a trail by a ditch/canal in the trees/woods. It was just like a grass road next to the canal and it was a bit muddy and wet so we decided to go back to the loop trail. But while we were on the trail in the trees, we saw some HUGE spiders!!!  They are called Banana Spiders as a nickname or a Golden Orb Weaver. The first one was the size of our palms and it was low and close to the trail and Elder Brown almost ran into it and freaked out and it was hilarious!!! Then later we saw one higher up and it was about the size of our whole hand!!! They are so stinking big!! It was kinda cool though. We then did a ride around the loop and came home and then did a workout with the weights at our pad. We had breakfast and got ready then we did our studies and it was really nice to be able to have a more organized day and really dig into some studying. I love the Book of Mormon so much! So much to learn from it and it has been blessed with a  special power that can give us the strength we need to overcome so many things. That evening we went out on bikes again and tried to visit some other people.
Friday we biked for exercise again and then came back and worked out at the pad. We had our studies again and we did our weekly planning and planned out how we were going to best utilize our miles and who we could go visit and so on. We then rode our bikes to the other side of Berwick and visited some people over there. We had one guy drive up next to us and ask us to meet him off the side of the road a bit ahead at his friend's house so we could talk. He had alot of questions and they were all in a tone of dislike towards us but we answered them and had quite a good convo with him and we left it on a good note. Then on our way back after visiting some others, we were stopped in the middle of the road again by another person who asked us for a Book of Mormon and a Bible which was cool. Then we came back and ate some dinner and then went to an appointment and we taught a fun little lesson to a 9 year old girl we are working with. We used the 5 steps to Heaven activity, which worked really well.
Saturday we biked and then I did a hard workout at the pad which I have really missed doing in a long time. We had some really good studies and lunch and we then rode our bikes over the bridge to Morgan City to do some work over there. We had to first ride to the bridge and then hike our bikes up the 3 flights of stairs or so and then ride them across the super skinny side of the bridge for walking and then back down the stairs. While we were doing work in Morgan City, it started to rain so we decided to take that time to go pressure wash our bikes at the car wash, like we had planned, to get the mud off them. While we were there it picked up and started pouring really hard. We put all our stuff, everything we had except our tags, into my bag cause it is waterproof and once it slowed a little for a moment we booked it to a member's house. We didn't know exactly how to get there from where we were so we guessed a direction and miraculously ended up being exactly where we needed to be with the exception of a few short turns on streets that could have been a bit faster. While on our way it picked up again and drenched us, it was cool rain and felt really good though so we looked at that as the bright side, cuz we weren't really hot anymore, LOL. We waited the storm out at the Grahams house and then we rode back home for dinner that night, but we stopped by a few people to visit on our way. We did get a return appointment which was nice.
Sunday we had a member pick us up for church so we didn't have to use miles. We had a good sacrament meeting and good talks from some Stake Leaders. Then we hit 2 birds with one stone and while the  young girl and her family were there for church, we taught her a lesson. then after church we had Branch council and then we went to a part member family's house and had a lesson with them and answered a lot of their questions. Then the husband gave us a ride to Morgan City where we attended a Hispanic family birthday party. We had some really good food. Then a guy there that Elder Brown knew from his last area, gave us a ride to a member's house for dinner and games. Then Brother Graham gave us a ride home.
It has been a good week and I am excited for this one as well. Until next week!

Love,
Elder Acton

Fun with the district

One of the HUGE spiders we saw on

our bike ride along the Berwick Trail

New Haircut

It's pouring!!

Week 51 Zone Conference and Exchanges

Monday, August 20, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been pretty good. We had Zone Conference which was really good and I got to briefly see New Orleans.
Monday we emailed and then went up to Houma with the other Elders and Sisters for a District P-day. We played some basketball and stuff. That night we came back and went to a member's house and did our laundry.
Tuesday we had Zone Conference, we got up and left early to be up in Metairie, near New Orleans, by 9:00am. We did our car inspections and stuff and then we started Zone Conference and it was really good. We were able to meet a lot of other Missionaries in the mission that haven't met yet since the merge happened. After lunch Elder brown and I did a musical number. We were asked to do one just 3 days before so we didn't have much time to practice but we came up with a song. We sang "Se Tu Mi Vision", "Be Thou My Vision" in Spanish. We sang the Evan Craft version of it and we dropped it to a B key and changed it slightly. It turned out ok, it wasn't as good as we wanted it to be but we only had like 2 days to prepare so it was alright. The rest of Zone Conference was good too, we received some good info about how we are to become one as our missions merge. After Zone Conference we went to a part member family's house that Elder brown knew from when he served up here. Then we came back to the church for his bike and then we went to New Orleans and went to Costco. There were no Costco stores in Mississippi and there are only a select few in Louisiana. There are Walmart Sam's Clubs down here instead but Costco is so much better. It is like Gold to be able to go there. We got some nice Costco pants and got some provolone sandwiches and that was amazing! I haven't had one of those in forever. Then we went to Thibodaux and we started exchanges, so I then drove Elder McRae and I back to Morgan City.
Wednesday we did our workout and studies and then we spent a couple hours knocking on church doors and offering service to them. There were a few that were there in the office and one of them let us in out of the rain and talked to us for a good 40 minutes or so. We were able to share with her what we do and everything. She was a really nice lady. We then grabbed some dinner at Wendy's, their 4 for 4 menu is amazing for missionaries! Then we went tracting and we knocked out about 3 or 4 streets and we were able to give out a few cards but didn't have much more luck than that. We then dropped off a bag of kids clothes from a member to a part member family that we are working with, She was very appreciative of that.
Thursday we did our studies and then drove up to Houma and we met the Thibodaux Elders and Houma Sisters at a place called Peppers Pizzaria for a last hoorah lunch for Sister Pike because she was having to go home because of anxiety. We were proud of her though because most don't last as long as she did. We ended our exchanges then too.
Friday we did our weekly planning and made plans for how we would stay within our mile allotment and still best visit those who we need to go see. We also had another really good lesson with Alejandra and we taught her the Plan of Salvation and used a white board to make a big diagram of it. She is so awesome. She is 9 years old and she understands what we teach really well and she was able to teach it back to us.
Saturday morning we rode our bikes to a member's house and he drove us to an older lady's house and we did a service project for her. It was us and Brother Albert (an older guy) and Brother Graham and we tore out an old rotten deck and then an old shed as well. There were lots of bugs and stuff in all of that; termites, cockroaches, lots of different weird spiders, and many many others and it had oh so conveniently poured down rain right before so that was awesome. . .It was good though and we got it done pretty quick.
Sunday was great! We had a couple investigators at church and the meetings were good. I also gave a talk and I was right before the High Councilman. I chose to talk about sharing the Gospel and Christ's Labor of Love and then after me, the High Councilman spoke and his talk was preaching the gospel and our talks were like perfectly hand in hand which was really cool. Afterward he came up to me and talked about that and how his topic is chosen and planned out at the beginning of the year so the fact that I had spoken on the exact same thing and referenced many of the same things as he did was really cool and it put a big emphasis on it. After church we had lunch with the Viators, the Branch President's family. And kind of a branch correlation with him afterward which was much needed and very helpful. Then we later had dinner with the Graham and played some games with their family.

It has been a pretty good week with a great Zone Conference. I look forward to this next week as we have some good plans for this week to be able to better do missionary work in this area. Until next week!

Love,
Elder Acton

Week 50 Exchanges

Monday, August 13, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week was good, not much success but we are still looking forward.

Monday I cleaned in the morning and then we had a District P-day and the Thibodaux Elders and the Houma Sisters came down to Morgan City and Elder Brown made enchiladas for all of us for lunch. Then we all played softball with the Seumanu Family and it was a lot of fun. We then played some table games with the other Elders and Sisters. We didn't make it to the Library so that is why I didn't get much emailing out last week. I then left with Elder Davis back to Thibodaux for exchanges and the sister and us had dinner with a family and we stayed for Family Home Evening.

Tuesday Elder Davis and I went to a community Garden of sorts and it was actually really big and really nice. We helped them and a number of others (college students and the Stake President's wife) plant a bunch of plants and then we covered the whole entire garden with hay. We had to carry many hay bales out into the garden and then break them apart and spread it out and cover the ground. It was very humid and hot and the sun was beating down pretty hard, but it felt great to do some hard physical work and do some service. Then we came home and got ready for the day and a member brought us lunch. We then went out to visit some people. We had a really good lesson with one of their investigators and then we were able to visit some older ladies whom he calls his Mission Grandmas and they were really nice people. We then, that night, went to a community get together thing to honor the Police Department, put on by a local church. There was food and games and people dancing and it was fun to be there and talk with people in the community.

Wednesday we had district meeting and we made a district breakfast of french toast and eggs. District meeting was good and we had a good instruction/discussion. Then after district meeting Elder Brown and I met with a guy the sisters were trying to teach who is Spanish speaking. He is a cool guy and we had a little lesson and got to know him.

Thursday we did some more tracting but we didn't have much success with that. There was one lady who said we could come back another time and one who said she would be ok with us inviting her to church activities.

Friday morning we went over to the Seumanu's and left with them to go help an older lady in the branch with her yard. It started raining really hard on our way over and didn't stop when we got there so we came back to their house and had breakfast with them. We then went back to cut the yard. I used the weed wacker and we spent about an hour with the four of us and finished it in the nick of time as it started raining again when we left. We deep cleaned our car later and made it look really nice. (the Elders before us didn't take care of things very well). We scrubbed the seats with cleaner to get out the stains and cleaned the whole interior. We then had a lesson with a young Hispanic girl that we are teaching and it went really well.

Saturday evening we were driving in Morgan City and plugged an address into the GPS and it took us on this old overgrown cement road and we got to an old intersection and there was only one other road that continued but it turned into gravel and dirt (it had just rained really hard the day before and in the morning). It looked like the road led back to the main streets right around the turn but it didn't and it went from gravel to mud. At that point we couldn't have turned around or backed up or we would be stuck, so we had to continue but the road turned left and continued for a football field length or so. (This whole time we were driving very slow). Right before the end of the road was a small hill we had to go up. As we were driving we slowed down from about 5-10mph to 1-2mph and Elder Brown had the pedal to the floor. We weren't spinning, but traction control kept it at a slow steady pace. We had a large water filled ditch on either side of us. I got out to help push for a bit but I slid around and didn't do much. We weren't moving much and we thought we were going to be stuck. It was extremely stressful and we were praying so hard. We miraculously got over to the hill and then we started slowing down again so I got out to push and somehow even though I didn't have hardly any traction, as I started pushing the car, we increased speed and chugged up the hill and my feet didn't slip anymore-though they should have. Nonetheless, we made it up the small hill and onto dry ground underneath the freeway. We were definitely being helped by Heavenly Father. There was no logical way we should have even made it 20 feet, let alone the whole way and even up the hill. Turns out it was not mud. It was clay and it was very slippery, when we got to the pavement we continued to slip and drift for a while because of all the clay packed on the tires. All kinds of mud/clay was flinging everywhere and we left a trail for more than a mile. When we got to a higher speed the car started shaking really hard and then when we got on the freeway it got way worse and it was vibrating and shaking us like a crazy massage chair or something. And it was very loud! It sounded like a broken washer pounding extra hard and shaking the house. We then went to a member's house and used their high pressure hose and fire hose sprayer to get the mud off but it would barley chip it away, so we went to a self car wash to pressure wash it. We ended up having to jack up one tire at a time and take it off and spend a while pulling clay out from the A-arms and shocks and everything and then pressure wash it to clean it. We spent 3 exhausting hours cleaning the clay off the car. The violent shaking stopped after we got all the clay off. We then got home really late.

Sunday we had one investigator come to church which was AWESOME! Second hour I had to teach the Gospel Principles class in Spanish, last minute on the spot. That was a new experience for sure but it went alright. We then had celebration lunch with some members for a young man who just received the Priesthood. Then that night we had dinner with some other members and played some games with them. 

It has been an alright week with a few interesting experiences. Until next week!

Love, 

Elder Acton

Sugar Cane Field

 My comp, Elder Brown

 The community garden where we did service.

We spread out all of the hay you see.

Lunch with my district

The infamous clay road that GPS

took us on

 Cleaning our car after miraculously making

it up the hill and off the clay road.

Week 49

Monday, August 6, 2018

Dear Mom,

This week has been good but not a ton has happened.
Monday was good, we cleaned, got groceries and then emailed. Then we went to a member's house and had dinner with them and Family Home Evening.
Tuesday we had District Meeting which was really good and then we had district lunch at Wendy's. Then we went back and tried to see a bunch of people but didn't have much luck.
Wednesday we tried to see a bunch of people in Franklin but we didn't have much luck there, though we did see some bible referrals. Then we went to Morgan City for dinner with the Branch President and his family.
Thursday we did some tracting in a large trailer park and it was good but we still got rejected by everybody.
Friday we visited a few people and had a good lesson with a member's daughter who they want baptized.
Saturday we had a big Branch Family get together as a family fun day and we had investigators come and a part member family and it was really, really good. Then that night we had a member baptism that went really well.
Sunday was a good day, we had some really good lessons in church and then tried to see some people afterwards. It was a good week. Sorry I don't have much time to send this so it is short. Until next week!

Love,
Elder Acton

Week 48 11 Months!

Monday, July 30th, 2018

This week was transfers and I am now in Morgan City a bit southwest of New Orleans. It is a smaller town than my last two areas and I am not longer near other Elders. Also, we are in a small branch so there are not as many members as I am used to either. My new companion is Elder Brown and he is tons of fun and we get along really well. I am excited for this transfer with him in this area. My new address is :
207 Trevino St.
Berwick, LA  70342

Tuesday was my birthday and my last P-day in the Purvis Spanish area and it was a great day. We went mountain biking in the morning and then we went to the church and played some basketball. Then we all went to Mugshots for my birthday lunch. We then emailed and then that evening we went and I said bye to our investigator, Earline and her her fam. It was sad to say goodbye. She was going to be baptized that day but she felt she needed more time so it will be ab it longer until she is baptized, but I may be able to come back up for it or something. Her grand-daughter, London, was really sad that I had to leave and was crying which made it hard to say goodbye to them. We then went to the Abels' to say bye and the sisters were there too and we all had a little family home evening with them and then they gave me a little birthday cupcake and some ice cream.
Wednesday was transfer day and it was a great day.  Elder Nally and Elder Starks came over in the morning and we took some pics as we said bye and then I drove Elder Nally and I down to Hammond Louisiana to transfer point. It was about a 2 hour or so drive but it was fun. Then we moved our luggage to the cars we were to go in next. I ended up being with Elder McCrae and I then drove us from Hammond to Thibudeaux, Louisiana which was another hour and a half or so. Luckily, I love driving so again, it was fun for me. We arrived at the Thibudeaux Elder's pad and we met our companions there. Then Elder Brown drove us two another half hour or so to our area. And then I unpacked and cleaned a bit and then we went to a member's house for dinner. It was a pretty fun day with lots of driving.
Thursday we did some more cleaning. I cleaned the bathroom and it was pretty bad. It took me a good 4 hours to clean. Elder Brown's last companion went home and left a bunch of stuff so we had a lot of cleaning and tidying up. We tried to visit some people but had no luck. That evening Elder Brown made us some really good chicken and veggies with rice and beans.
Friday we went to Paterson and we tried to visit some people there and then we came back and did some tracting near our apartments and while doing so we found a part member family who has been living here for a couple years but they didn't know there was a branch out here. We invited them to church and set a return appointment with them.
Saturday we were able to have a little lesson with the family we had found on Friday. Later that day we went over to Morgan City which is just across the bridge. We tried to visit a number of people over there and we were able to talk to some and meet some others. We also checked out a few Hispanic stores and met some people there.
Sunday we went to the branch at 9:00 and we actually had a really good number of people there compared to normal. I got to meet the members and the family we had found came and so did another part member family who were Hispanic and we taught a Spanish Gospel Principles class for them which went really well. Then that night we had dinner with some members and I got to know them and it was a lot of fun. We played some Bohnanza with them.
Today we made some breakfast burritos for breakfast (obviously), and now we are emailing. We don't have our washer and dryer so we will have to go somewhere else for that. Anyway, it has been a good week and I look forward to this one!

Love,
Elder Acton

Fellow Missionaries

Saying goodbye to Hattiesburg and

all the wonderful people.