I am trying to send a message to an actor using the actor selection . but it keeps getting to dead letters .
This how the actor is created (using the activator template)

```
class PongActor extends Actor with ActorLogging {
  import PongActor._

  def receive = {
    case PingActor.PingMessage(text) => 
      log.info("In PongActor - received message: {}", text)
      sender() ! PongMessage("pong")
  } 
}

object PongActor {
  val props = Props[PongActor]
  case class PongMessage(text: String)
}

```

**This is the sending actor :**

```
class PingActor extends Actor with ActorLogging {
  import PingActor._

  var counter = 0
  val pongActor = context.actorOf(PongActor.props, "pongActor")
val tester = context.actorSelection("../pongActor") //getting the actor by name using the actorSelection 
  def receive = {
    case Initialize => 
        log.info("In PingActor - starting ping-pong")
      tester.tell(PingMessage("ping"),self)//going to dead letters
      tester ! PingMessage("ping")//also going to dead letters 
    case PongActor.PongMessage(text) =>
      log.info("In PingActor - received message: {}", text)
      counter += 1
      if (counter == 3) context.system.shutdown()
      else sender() ! PingMessage("ping")
  } 
}

object PingActor {
  val props = Props[PingActor]
  case object Initialize
  case class PingMessage(text: String)
}

```

1. why the messages are getting to the dead letters
2. how can I verify that the actor really exists ?