Elder and Sister Ross' Post

Thursday, September 17, 2009 from the Ross' Blog

Surprise Transfer


The transfer calls are made on Friday night or Saturday. Our elders didn’t receive a call, so we all assumed we were good with the status quo for another transfer, since all the calls had been made. Not so, a second transfer sheet came out on Monday and Elder Jarvis received a call Monday night that he would be going to Chaguanas in Trinidad. We received and printed out the transfer sheet to see who would be coming our way. We discovered Elder Larson would be arriving on Friday. Elder Jarvis’ plane ticket had him leaving at noon on Wednesday. Wow, we would have Elder Ackerman from noon Wednesday until Elder Larson arrived on Friday. About the time we had formulated a plan, we received a plane ticket via email for Elder Larson arriving on Wednesday at 3:45 from Granada! Wow, new plans.
We let Elder Jarvis and Elder Ackerman have the car for a good part of Tuesday so Elder Jarvis could say goodbye to some of the members and teach a couple of lessons. On Wednesday we experienced a huge downpour that lasted most of the day. We took Elder Jarvis to the plane at 11:30 am with the streets full of water. We were wondering if his plane would take off on time. As we arrived at the airport, the rain let up.
Goodbyes are hard It continued to pour off and on until time for Elder Larson’s plane to arrive at 3:45 pm. We were concerned that the Liat plane might have difficulty landing. However, the plane circled and waited for the clouds to clear, and Elder Larson arrived safe and sound only a half hour late.

New companionship, Elder Larson and Elder Ackerman

September 22 email

Hey, mom Yeah, we got a call last monday night. They told Elder Jarvis he was going to Trinidad. Elder Larson is from Logan. He went to the same High School as Elder Jarvis did. He has been out 16 months.

Both Joel and Alphonzo didn't come to church on Sunday, but they are still wanting to get baptized. Pray for Joel to get the understanding that this is really the only true church, and pray for Alphonzo to want to attend church. Alphonzo knows it's true, and he also knows that it's the only truth, I just don't think he understands that he has to come to church.

Hey, so you're in Kentucky. I hope you are having fun.

That sucks that chase can't work in the potatoes. I wonder why he chose Disney land?(Chase chose to go to Disneyland over a Steelers vs Broncos Monday night football game with John and Dustin-PA) Is it cause Andrew is going to Disneyland? That would make sense, I guess. That is awesome that you are going to conference. We have to watch it online, and most people don't have internet here. Alphonso does, so we're hopin that we can get him to watch at least a little bit of it. But we are probably watchin it at the Ross's. (The Ross's actually are going home next week. The new senior couple is the Lieshmans. I hear they are sweet.)

Mother, I am aware of the egg situation. We know what to do. Elder Larson has been out a while. You don't have to worry about us. We're not going to do anything stupid. (Notice the tone of voice he says that with. He asked for the cookie dough recipe, and I admonished him that it really isn't safe to eat raw eggs in cookie dough, even in America, although that is how we do it at our house, but in a third world country, he needed to take extra precautions with the food-PA)

You know how I said that I probably wouldn't need a much more money for a while? Well, there have been some things that I had to get. I'm sure you saw I withdrew another 50. That's cause I had to buy a cd player so that we could get some good hymns goin in the apartment. And Pretty soon, I'm gonna have too many pictures to put into my little photo album I have, so I need about another 20ish for that. And I'm gonna start sendin home picture on a dvd-r, cause it's gonna take way too long to just fill up the memory card and just send it. I'll probably send you some after every transfer. And actually postage isn't super expensive from here. I think I am probably gonna send you some Christmas presents when the time comes. (If not us, he probably will send Alyssa something) Well, I love you, mom. I hope everything is going great. Can't wait to hear from you again. Love, Elder Ackerman

September 14 email

Hey, mom. My week was pretty good. We have been teachin Joel that came to church last week, but he was in Trinidad over the weekend, so he didn't make it to church this week. But we're hoping that he is still wanting to meet with us. It seems like we find these sweet people that are really interested, and then they just drop off for some reason. Most of them just stop answering their phone. So pray for Joel if you would.

Also we taught this man named Alphonso. He is Roman Cotholic, but was actually really open to the message, and even said that if people knew about the Apostacy, then not as many people would think Catholosism is right (I'm paraphrasing). But after our lesson, he said he was going to research the church online. I hope he didn't find any anti-mormon stuff that would make him want to stop meeting with us. At least I hope he comes to us about what he finds.

Yeah, shipping is expensive. That's why I said I was fine without you sendin me any christmas presents. You could just maybe put a little extra money on my card, and I could buy myself a nice steel pan drum or someting like that. Of course, If I bought a steel pan drum, I would probably send it home, and that would be pretty expensive, too. But it's all up to you. And I'm not sure if they charge us when they get here. I wouldn't think so, but there are a lot of different rules here with that then in the US.

That is sweet that Chase and Andrew went to a soccer game. And I bet the movie was awesome. (John and I went to Harry Potter in 3D IMAX) All I can say is I don't regret going to the midnight showing before I left. It was so much fun. I think Hailey is probably enjoying volleyball, cause she probably wouldn't be doing if she didn't somewhat enjoy it, you know. She is just that kind of person. How is work going? Are you still enjoying it a ton? And when do you start school again? Or did you already start? Let me know how that is going.

Hey, I was wondering what the recipe for peach syrup is for german pancakes. We make them everytime we hae a baptism, and so i was wondering if I could get that recipe. That would be great.

Dealing with the money card, I figured there would be a fee, but I didn't know it would be 5 bucks. That's 30 dollars here. I just figured it would have told be that there was a fee charge. So you know, I'm going to be sneding my cameras memory card home as soon as it fills up. That might be a while, but I'mtrying to take a lot of good pictures.

Well, this week is transfers, and Elder Jarvis and I are stayin here on Tobago for at least 6 more weeks. ( see the next week's post for change of plans-PA) This last 6 weeks has gone by so fast. Has it gone fast for you guys, too?Well, that is about it. Remeber, I love you all, and keep reading the scriptures and praying everyday. Life gets easier as we live the gospel. In fact, someone the other day said the harder you try to live the gospel, the easier it becomes, but if you don't try very hard, it gets really difficult. Keep trying hard, mom. I love you. Love, Elder Ackerman

September 8 email

My week was great. We had zone conference yesterday, which is why I am emailing on tuesday this week, and last week, monday was independence day, so none of the places to get onine were open. So we took prep day on tuesday instead. And yeah, we got some investigators to church. One is named Miguel, and this was his second time coming. We're not sure how long it's gonna be until he's ready for baptism, though. He has a few things he needs to work out before he's ready. And there is also a Joel. We actually met him on my first or second day in Tobago, and ran into him tracting last week. We taught him about the restoration, and he came to church. We're gonna try to get over there to teach him tonight. And one of the members daughters that isn't baptized yet came. Her name is Chanelle, and she doesn't think that she is ready for baptism yet. Her younger sister and brother are Janelle and Angelo that got baptized last week. If you could pray for all of them, it would be great.

So, I'm not actually supposed to say exactly what is going on in Guyana. It's gonna hurt, cause the people there are really reseptive. It was the hightest baptizing country in the mission. Almost 1/4 of the people we teach are from Guyana, just because they are so receptive to the message. It's gonna hurt the mission, but that's just gonna leave room for Tobago to become the hightest baptizing country in the Mission (considering it's only Elder Jarvis and I here). Our zone leaders never actually came down, but we went to Trinidad over the weekend for zone conference. It was awesome, and all of the Elders that were in the MTC with me were there, so that was fun.

Janelle and Angelo

Elder Jarvis and I did help teach Janelle and Angelo, but not too much. We only met with them twice. but they had already had all the lessons and thing in Trinidad before they came here.

I did shave my head, and it has gotten sunburnt since, but it is so much easier. I still preffer my hair a little longer, but I just don't want to worry about it out here.