Dear Mom,
This past week has been a crazy one! We had New Years and exchanges and a Mission Conference and it was quite the week!
Monday was New Year's Eve so we were to be inside by 6 so our P-day was all day. We played some good B-ball and had some fun and then we were starting exchanges so the other Elders were spending the night at our apartment. We spend part of our evening working out. It was nice to get in a good workout. When New Years hit it was just a rumble of fireworks and it was really loud. It didn't stop for like a half hour or more. It almost sounded like a continuous rolling thunder.
Tuesday we would normally have our District Council but because we were going to have a mission conference on Saturday, we didn't have district council for the week. We did our studies, ate lunch and started our exchanges. Elder Bagley went with Elder Hawks and Elder Aliche came with me. We biked to the hood where we have been working and we had lessons fall through and we tried to make contact with everyone there but we ended up talking to maybe like 3 or 4 people total. It was quite dead. Everyone was probably toast after their New Years celebrations. We then knocked doors for a bit and then biked to a different part of our area and tried to visit people over there but it ended up being a very unlucky day.
Wednesday after studies and lunch we did a lot more contacting of the people we are teaching and again many didn't answer and it was another day without much success. Sadly we will probably have to drop many of the people we are teaching in that area because even though they say they are interested and act like it when we are there, they don't keep commitments, return appointments or make it a priority in their lives. We may have to start fresh with new people. We rode our bikes to the strip mall and picked up Elder Hawk's glasses and it was rainy and wet. We then went to the church and called some people we are teaching over the phone because they are far away and we had a good lesson with them. We then had ward correlation that evening and they bought us pizza which was awesome. they just talked a lot about random stuff though and it was hard to actually get anything done. Sadly our ward mission leader didn't really have a positive attitude about them having to take care of the meal calendar now and they were kinda grumpy about it. That was a bit frustrating as we were trying to get things accomplished. We drove home with the other Elders and then got on our bikes and went to another appointment but it fell through.
Thursday we worked out in the morning, ate breakfast and got ready, did our studying, ate our lunch and then made some calls before we went to service at the Blake (the nursing home) and played Bingo with the old folks. We then went to contact people and make visits and finally we had a great day of contacting people. We were able to get in contact with almost every single person we had planned to contact. We had planned a contact for someone we are teaching for every five minutes for over an hour. We just talked briefly with most of them and set a time to come over for a lesson and then later we were able to have a great lesson with some people we are teaching and we found three new people to teach.
Friday we had apartment inspections and they went well. I cleaned a bit before hand but didn't have to clean hard because it has been kept clean pretty well. We did some studies and then biked over to an appointment and had a great lesson with a family we have been trying to have a lesson with in a long time. On the way over, Elder Hawk's back tire blew on his bike and it bent the wheel too so he had to walk halfway to our appointment. We then made some contacts while over there because we then had no way of getting back unless we wanted to use miles on the car. We did a bit of tracting and found two new really awesome people to teach and then we came back and we had a few really good over the phone lessons with people who are too far for us to bike or drive to. We then drove to our dinner appointment at a Chinese Buffet with some members. We then came back and went to another appointment but he wasn't home.
Saturday was a really good day. We had to be at the church at 11:00 to get on the van that Elder Ferrel, a Senior Missionary, was driving to Baton Rouge for the Mission Conference. There were 10 of us Elders on there and it was fun ride over. We got there a bit early and we were supposed to be ready for pictures by 1:30 but it ended up being later so it was fun to talk to and see other mission buddies as everyone in the mission was there. We got all set up for the picture and then had to remember our spot. We then all went down on the gym floor and gathered in groups by district. Elder Gong wanted to meet us as districts. Our district leader would introduce us as we shook his hand. Then Elder Bowen, Elder Johnson, and Bishop Davies followed after and we got to meet them too. We then resumed our positions for the picture and we got a picture with the WHOLE Mission and the General Authorities and Elder Gong. We then moved to the chapel and we heard from Bishop Davies and his wife and then Elder Bowen and his wife. We then had a special musical number which was really good! Then Elder Bowen and Bishop Davies and their wives were excused by Elder Gong to go to some other assignments. Elder Johnson and his wife then spoke to us for a bit which was great and then Elder Gong spoke to us and he got a wireless microphone and came down by us. He made some funny jokes and it was great to listen to him and laugh and to learn so much. We then, after they exited, started to leave and while we were in the foyer, Elder Gong made his way through the midst of all of us telling us he had forgot about the Book of Mormon he said he would leave for us to look at and we could go check it out. It was fun to talk to him again and shake his hand again, haha. We went back in and looked at the Book of Mormon and touched its pages. It was super cool because he had said he didn't have THE original copy but he had one of the copies that looked just like the original and inside were some pages from one of the original copies of the Book of Mormon. We got to take a picture of it and touch it and it was really cool. We then said bye to all our buddies and mission friends and loaded back up on the van and came back to Lafayette. We then went to Red Robin for dinner as a district. They gave us $7 extra dollars for dinner and told us to make it a finding activity. We passed out many cards and talked to multiple people about sharing our message with them and if they knew anyone else who we could share it with. We also drew the Plan of Salvation on their chalk board at Red Robin and wrote mormon.org and lds.org on there. It was fun.
Sunday we had Stake Conference back up in Baton Rouge and we got a ride with a member. They picked us up at 6:30am and we were the first people there, haha. We got great seats and greeted people as they came in. We saved seats for Jeanne and her daughters and it was fun to sit with them. I was also able to see a bunch of people from my last area which was cool. A bit before it started, Elder Bowen and Sister Bowen came in the back side door to the chapel where we were greeting people and it was fun to be able to talk with them for a bit and then introduce Jeanne to them. Stake Conference was great! The Stake President spoke, a little maybe eight or nine year old spoke and he did so very well and then a young woman spoke. There were some musical numbers and then Sister Bowen spoke followed by Elder Bowen. He gave a great talk! It was so good! He talked about temples and families and the way we are to love ourselves, others, and most of all God. He also talked about missionary work quite a bit and it was cool cause every time he mentioned the missionaries directly, he pointed to Elder Hawks and I and he was looking at us most of his talk and it was really cool to have that connection with him. He is a super awesome guy! We then said bye to some people and then rode back with the members that gave us a ride there. We studied for a bit and then had appointments lined up every 30 minutes for the whole night. We had many fall through and free up time but we also had a few good lessons and contacted some people. We got a call from our Mission President that evening telling us that he got a call from our Bishop and how he told him how happy he was with us and the work we are doing and stuff like that and it was such an awesome call to get from the Mission President. It was really cool to have him talk about the good work we are doing. It was a boost I needed. It's nice to get recognized in your hard work and know that it isn't going unnoticed.
Monday we did our last exchange needed for the transfer. We found out that Elder Hawks and I are staying together for another transfer. Elder Bowser and I went on an exchange together and Elder Pedersen and Elder Hawks went together. It was a good day and we had some good lessons. We also found out that Elder Pedersen will be the District Leader this transfer instead of Elder Hawks so that will be a change.
It was a great week and I am excited for another great transfer!
Love,
Elder Acton
Ugly Christmas Sweater
Zone Conference with Santa
Enjoying God's Creations in Louisiana
Super Foggy Morning
The wind was blowing so hard it blew
all the patio furniture into the pool
The rain is coming down hard!
Me and my Comp, Elder Hawks
My delicious surprise package from home
Home made bread is the BEST!!
Mission Conference
Shaking hands with Elder Gong
Elder Gong's special
Book of Mormon
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