So, the last few days were pretty good. At zone conference, we set new standards for what each of our areas should be doing. They require us to achieve goals that are higher than we've got all transfer. But I fell like we can do it. We are going to work hard to accomplish them.
We met a sweet family this last week. Their names are the Sooklals. There are the parents, and then three children. We've only got to meet with the dad and 2 of the kids so far, but we have high hopes for them. And, we found a lady named Lesley Ann. She doesn't really have a way to catch travel to get to church on Sunday's, so we are working on getting her there. But she is really sweet, and we took our ward mission leader with us the last time we taught her, and he thinks that she is going to get baptized if she can make it to church. She can't read very well, but she is working hard at it.
So, apparently Elder Christensen's little brother knows Stephanie Brady. (They are from St. George) His little brother wrote to Stephanie, and told him that his brother's companion in the West Indies is from Grace, so she wrote back to him and told him about me or something like that, and I found out through an email to Elder Christensen from his little brother that basically apologized to me because stamps are too expensive to send me mail. It was funny, Elder Christensen just turned around and said "Sister Brady says she's sorry she hasn't written you yet, cause mail is too expensive to send". I didn't know what to think for a second.
Well, that is about all that has happened in the past few days. Transfers are coming up soon, and we'll know by next time I email you what is happening. So, love yah mom.
Love, Elder Ackerman
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Brandon is out of Carnival Jail
We are finally out. We went in Sunday evening, and came out Wednesday. Thursday was zone conference, so today is the first chance I've had to email you guys. I will be doing so again in about 3 days. Haven't spent any time in my area yet this week, though. That hasn't been too fun, and we had to fight off boredom while we were stuck inside. We played a lot of Risk, quite a bit of ping pong, and didn't do a whole lot more. We finally got Monopoly the last day we were in, but didn't get to play it, cause we were already in a heated game of Risk. Not that this interests you at all, just thought I would expound upon my week. But zone conference was awesome. Other than Elder Christensen and I had to give a 10 minute lesson. Teaching investigators is one thing, but teaching a room full of missionaries is a completely different atmosphere. I think we did alright, though. I don't know why, but I think I'd like to share something with you from what I have been studying lately. In 2 Nephi 28, it is talking about the apostasy, but there is a verse that I think is talking about the Church today. It says that Satan works at the Church by making them think that all is well in Zion. Basically, they think that life is good, and stop working towards perfection. Satan slowly lures them away by getting them to stop doing good, not tempting them to start doing bad. Things like tithing, fulfilling a calling, or home/visiting teaching. If we do those things, then Satan looses power, and we won't be led away. But if we don't do those things, then we won't have the help of the Lord to keep us away from temptation.That's just something that I was studying the past couple of days. Just thought I would tell somebody about it.Tell Chase to keep playing strong, and if he wants to play college ball, work on his vertical jump. I think he could, if he could play no problem if he could jump. Just a thought I just had.Well, mom. I love you. I will talk to you later. Love, Elder Ackerman
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Look on TheWestIndiesBlogspot for more pictures
Monday, February 1, 2010
Trinidad North Zone
On 25 Jan 2010 Pres. Gould the Stake President of the Port of Spain Stake asked for volunteers to help sort clothing and food to be sent to Haiti. President Gamiette gave permission for the North Zone and 4 Elders from the Central Zone to help with that project. Below are some pictures from that project. Some are a bit blurry, they were moving so fast when we took the pictures-they got so many bags of clothes and boxes of food sorted the United Way people were pretty amazed!!!
Monday, February 1, 2010
February 1
Hey, mom
Trinidad is great. I'm havin a lot of fun. The work is going great, and I love it here.We should be having a baptism this weekend. A 16 year old boy named Reon. He is best friends with the Bishops son and has come to church like 5 times. We are going to see him tonight for a FHE with Bishop. It should be sweet. Everyone else we were working with is basically dropped. None of them came to church, even though Saturday night they promised they would be there. So we are going to be doing a lot of finding this week. But some good news. 8 less actives came back to church yesterday. Well, 8 that we were working with. Some haven't been for more than 6 months. The Narines are one of said families. They are pretty sweet. There is 3 of them, the mom, and 2 kids. It was pretty sweet to see them there.
Funny story for yah. My first Friday here we had a zone meeting. At the end, each district in the zone had to come up with a name. The other district are called the Chupicabras, and our district is called the Thunder Cats. It's pretty sweet. I guess it's probably not that funny, but maybe you'll enjoy it. Maybe not. It's there anyway.So, I haven't got to check exactly how much the hard drive is going to cost. I will let you know as soon as I do that.Well, mom. Love yah.
Love, Elder Ackerman
Trinidad is great. I'm havin a lot of fun. The work is going great, and I love it here.We should be having a baptism this weekend. A 16 year old boy named Reon. He is best friends with the Bishops son and has come to church like 5 times. We are going to see him tonight for a FHE with Bishop. It should be sweet. Everyone else we were working with is basically dropped. None of them came to church, even though Saturday night they promised they would be there. So we are going to be doing a lot of finding this week. But some good news. 8 less actives came back to church yesterday. Well, 8 that we were working with. Some haven't been for more than 6 months. The Narines are one of said families. They are pretty sweet. There is 3 of them, the mom, and 2 kids. It was pretty sweet to see them there.
Funny story for yah. My first Friday here we had a zone meeting. At the end, each district in the zone had to come up with a name. The other district are called the Chupicabras, and our district is called the Thunder Cats. It's pretty sweet. I guess it's probably not that funny, but maybe you'll enjoy it. Maybe not. It's there anyway.So, I haven't got to check exactly how much the hard drive is going to cost. I will let you know as soon as I do that.Well, mom. Love yah.
Love, Elder Ackerman
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Transfered to Trinidad
I got into Trinidad just fine. I had to pay the fine, because my missionary permit is in the mission office, and not with me. So I had no proof of permit, but they just made me pay the fine (which is covered by the mission, by the way).I am in Sangre Grande ward here. It's smaller than the branch in St. Vincent I was in, but there is a Stake here, so it's a ward. We are working on getting attendance up. Cause there are a lot of members that just kind of got offended or don't like somebody in the ward, or just don't come. So we are working really hard, and we have a few good investigators as well. It was tough leaving St. Vincent and all the sweet people there, but so far, it's cool here too. We are working with a 16 year old named Reon who is best friends with the Bishops son, and has come to church for the past 4 Sundays. He is pretty cool. I'm not sure everyone else, but I'll let you know as soon as I can.Interesting fact about the Bishop here. His name is Bishop Soupal, and he has been to Idaho. He was in Utah for something, I think, and he has a friend who's mother or something like that lives in Malad. So he has been to Malad.That's great to hear about the play. Let Chase know that I didn't really get the lead in the play until I was a senior. So he's got another year. Who's the housekeeper? I haven't seen that play in a long time, so it would probably be futile to try to explain it to me.How is basketball going for him? Has his shot picked up yet? How is the team doing? The season is pretty close to being over, isn't it?Thanks for all the motherly advise, mom. Love yah. Love, Elder Ackerman
Monday, January 11, 2010
December Letters
December 14, 2009
Hey mom,I didn't get transfered, but I got a new companion. His name is Elder Powers, and he has been out about 9 months. Well, last week was crazy. It was p-day, so we were going to play basketball at the church, but we were shooting, and the crossbars that support the backboard broke. They were really rusty. And then we went to play football, and our ball went into a yard, and a dog got it and popped it. So, we were going to a next basketball court, and a guy stopped short, and we rear ended him. One of the Zone Leaders was driving. So that was a pretty terrible day. Didn't get much else done. And something else interesting. The same zone leader was being transfered to Trinidad, but they wouldn't let him in the country, so they flew him to New York, and then the church flew him back to St. Vincent. So he has been going around with us for the past few days. But, everything else is good. We are basically only teaching Michelle still. She is reading, but she still isn't sure about her answer to her prayer, so if you could pray for her, that would be sweet. Everything else is going great. Just trying to find some people to baptize. I love you mom. Talk to you later. Love, Elder Ackerman
December 21, 2009
Well, the skype idea was shot down. They have allowed it in the past, but this time, it's just going to be a call. I'll call later in the afternoon, like around 3 or 4. It'll just be normal telephone, so I will get to use the calling card.Thanks for everything. It was way expensive to send my package, but I'm not sure how much customs costs to get it into the country. The package I sent probably wont be there for a couple more weeks, though. Sorry, I put it off for too long.The work here is going good, though. We are working with a few less active families, and Michelle had to go to Trinidad over the weekend, so we'll see how that turns out. She is reading from the Book of Mormon everyday, though, and is looking like she will get baptized. But it probably won't be until like the 18th of January. But it's all going to be good.Tell everyone thanks, and I will talk to you soon. Love, Elder Ackerman
December 28, 2009
Sounds like a fun vacation. You guys have tickets to the game? That's pretty cool.Well, even though I talked to you a few days ago, there are still some things to be said. Like this weekend we are working towards Michelle getting baptized. She came to church yesterday, and President Gamiette has set a goal to have like 30 baptisms in the mission this weekend. If you could pray for that, that would be wonderful.We have been working with a lot of less actives lately. It's tough getting them to church, even though they have testimonies, and they all know that they need to be to church, when Sunday rolls around, they find something better to do. Like sleep, or cook, or wash there cloths. It's tough, but President Gamiette wants us to reactivate as much as we baptize. So we have been working on that a lot lately.Well, that's about it from this week. I love you, mom. Talk to you later.
January 4, 2010
Hey, mom.I don't think it was searched, cause after I told you about the money, I went back to my appartment and found it on my desk. So, that will be coming, and they make you send everything from here in brown paper, and the lady at the post office wrote the adress. So, don't worry too much. I'm surprised it made it there by now. I would have expected another week. But the shell is not a coconut, but I'm not quite sure what it is. I found it in our old apartment when we moved. So I figured I'd just let you guys have it. So, I'll figure out what it is, and then let you know.Testimony meeting in Tobago was shorter than normal sacrament, but in St. Vincent, more people wanted to get up than we had time. So, it's not bad. The mission didn't reach the goal, but we had more than we have had in a while. We had 11. Compared to what it used to be, it's not very much, but President Gamiette feels confident that we will be able to catch up to reach our monthly and yearly goals. And Michelle didn't get baptized, cause she is still having doubts. We watched the Restoration with her, and she said the thing that stuck out to her the most was when it talks about praying with faith. She said that she doesn't think she had the faith to get a sure answer. But she is reading every day, and is almost done with 2 Nephi. So, we are still going to work hard so that she can get her answer. Somebody else you can pray for is Brother Browne. He is a less active member, who got offended when he was released from his calling about a year ago. We ahve been working with him, and it really showed to me that when you don't excercise your faith, you may lose the knowledge that you have already gained. Apparently, he used to teach really good lessons, and when we asked him questions about Joseph Smith, he couldn't remember. So, it shows to me that knowledge isn't something that stays, and neither is a testimony, if you aren't constantly using it.Well, mom. I love you, and I hope to hear from you soon. Love, Elder Ackerman
January 11, 2010
Hey, mom.Though it may be warm here, I miss the cold so much. I am starting to get chilly sometimes here, and that kind of scares me. It's always like 80 degrees. Michelle is doing alright. She still isn't 100% sure, but she seems to be coming along. She is still reading every day, but she showed up late to church again because of transportation issues.But there was a lady who came to church yesterday who has been once before. Her name is Elizabeth, and at first she was having trouble accepting the Book of Mormon, but we watched the restoration DVD with her, and she felt the spirit way strong. And when she came to church, she was way excited to be there. So now, we are going to be working a lot with her, and preparing her for baptism in a few weeks. That is, if I don't get transfered nest week. We should know by next monday. I'll let you know.I did get both packages. Thanks so much. The camera got here safe. Surprisingly it didn't cost me anything to get them into the country. So, this morning, we took a trip out to Wallilabu Bay. That's where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean. It was pretty cool. I got a lot of pictures and my bran new camera.Well, that is about it from this week. I love you mom. Love, Elder Ackerman
Hey mom,I didn't get transfered, but I got a new companion. His name is Elder Powers, and he has been out about 9 months. Well, last week was crazy. It was p-day, so we were going to play basketball at the church, but we were shooting, and the crossbars that support the backboard broke. They were really rusty. And then we went to play football, and our ball went into a yard, and a dog got it and popped it. So, we were going to a next basketball court, and a guy stopped short, and we rear ended him. One of the Zone Leaders was driving. So that was a pretty terrible day. Didn't get much else done. And something else interesting. The same zone leader was being transfered to Trinidad, but they wouldn't let him in the country, so they flew him to New York, and then the church flew him back to St. Vincent. So he has been going around with us for the past few days. But, everything else is good. We are basically only teaching Michelle still. She is reading, but she still isn't sure about her answer to her prayer, so if you could pray for her, that would be sweet. Everything else is going great. Just trying to find some people to baptize. I love you mom. Talk to you later. Love, Elder Ackerman
December 21, 2009
Well, the skype idea was shot down. They have allowed it in the past, but this time, it's just going to be a call. I'll call later in the afternoon, like around 3 or 4. It'll just be normal telephone, so I will get to use the calling card.Thanks for everything. It was way expensive to send my package, but I'm not sure how much customs costs to get it into the country. The package I sent probably wont be there for a couple more weeks, though. Sorry, I put it off for too long.The work here is going good, though. We are working with a few less active families, and Michelle had to go to Trinidad over the weekend, so we'll see how that turns out. She is reading from the Book of Mormon everyday, though, and is looking like she will get baptized. But it probably won't be until like the 18th of January. But it's all going to be good.Tell everyone thanks, and I will talk to you soon. Love, Elder Ackerman
December 28, 2009
Sounds like a fun vacation. You guys have tickets to the game? That's pretty cool.Well, even though I talked to you a few days ago, there are still some things to be said. Like this weekend we are working towards Michelle getting baptized. She came to church yesterday, and President Gamiette has set a goal to have like 30 baptisms in the mission this weekend. If you could pray for that, that would be wonderful.We have been working with a lot of less actives lately. It's tough getting them to church, even though they have testimonies, and they all know that they need to be to church, when Sunday rolls around, they find something better to do. Like sleep, or cook, or wash there cloths. It's tough, but President Gamiette wants us to reactivate as much as we baptize. So we have been working on that a lot lately.Well, that's about it from this week. I love you, mom. Talk to you later.
January 4, 2010
Hey, mom.I don't think it was searched, cause after I told you about the money, I went back to my appartment and found it on my desk. So, that will be coming, and they make you send everything from here in brown paper, and the lady at the post office wrote the adress. So, don't worry too much. I'm surprised it made it there by now. I would have expected another week. But the shell is not a coconut, but I'm not quite sure what it is. I found it in our old apartment when we moved. So I figured I'd just let you guys have it. So, I'll figure out what it is, and then let you know.Testimony meeting in Tobago was shorter than normal sacrament, but in St. Vincent, more people wanted to get up than we had time. So, it's not bad. The mission didn't reach the goal, but we had more than we have had in a while. We had 11. Compared to what it used to be, it's not very much, but President Gamiette feels confident that we will be able to catch up to reach our monthly and yearly goals. And Michelle didn't get baptized, cause she is still having doubts. We watched the Restoration with her, and she said the thing that stuck out to her the most was when it talks about praying with faith. She said that she doesn't think she had the faith to get a sure answer. But she is reading every day, and is almost done with 2 Nephi. So, we are still going to work hard so that she can get her answer. Somebody else you can pray for is Brother Browne. He is a less active member, who got offended when he was released from his calling about a year ago. We ahve been working with him, and it really showed to me that when you don't excercise your faith, you may lose the knowledge that you have already gained. Apparently, he used to teach really good lessons, and when we asked him questions about Joseph Smith, he couldn't remember. So, it shows to me that knowledge isn't something that stays, and neither is a testimony, if you aren't constantly using it.Well, mom. I love you, and I hope to hear from you soon. Love, Elder Ackerman
January 11, 2010
Hey, mom.Though it may be warm here, I miss the cold so much. I am starting to get chilly sometimes here, and that kind of scares me. It's always like 80 degrees. Michelle is doing alright. She still isn't 100% sure, but she seems to be coming along. She is still reading every day, but she showed up late to church again because of transportation issues.But there was a lady who came to church yesterday who has been once before. Her name is Elizabeth, and at first she was having trouble accepting the Book of Mormon, but we watched the restoration DVD with her, and she felt the spirit way strong. And when she came to church, she was way excited to be there. So now, we are going to be working a lot with her, and preparing her for baptism in a few weeks. That is, if I don't get transfered nest week. We should know by next monday. I'll let you know.I did get both packages. Thanks so much. The camera got here safe. Surprisingly it didn't cost me anything to get them into the country. So, this morning, we took a trip out to Wallilabu Bay. That's where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean. It was pretty cool. I got a lot of pictures and my bran new camera.Well, that is about it from this week. I love you mom. Love, Elder Ackerman
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
NOTE FROM PATTY: Brandon did not write this week, it's about transfer time, so I am wondering where he is for sure. I am working a night shift and finally had time to catch up his blog.
Nov. 16, 2009
Well, like I said, we are having two baptisms this weekend. One is the wife of a guy who has been a member for 10 years (no idea why she's not baptized yet) and the other is a guy named Boxer that was being taught a long time ago but didn't get baptized becasue he had to work some stuff out. But everything is good for saturday, and he should be going down. Well, that is about it. I can't really think of anything else to tell you.
Nov. 23, 2009
One of the baptisms went as planned, but the other guy didn't show up. It was the important one that happened, though. It was the wife of a member who has been baptized for 10 years. They are preparing to go to the temple. Thanks for getting all that stuff sent. Make sure the camera isn't super nice, just in case.
So this past week was zone conference. We spent 2 days in St. Lucia. Just hopped on a plane and headed to a different country. It was pretty sweet. We set a lot of goals to get more less active people back to curch, and get more people to the temple. I think that West Indian retention may be the lowest in the world. Out of 10000 members, the are only about 2800 that are active. And only about 500 that have went to the temple. And alot of them aren't even active. But, the work is great.
Nov. 30, 2009
Well, that's great to hear about Andrew and Tristan. Is there anyone else from around Grace that has got there call lately? I heard Colby got his a while back.Work here is pretty good. Boxer, the man I told you about that skipped his baptism, didn't come to church, so we are going to go over and tell him he can't get baptized if he doesn't come to church. Even though he said he still wants to get baptized. But there are a few other people you could pray for. A girl named Michelle is loving the Gospel, she has came to church twice, and if she is going to be in church on this sunday, then she may get baptized this weekend. But she may not be there cause she's going to Trinidad, and we aren't sure when she'll be back. So pray for her, and also Sister Grant. She is the daughter of a member and her son is also a member, but she has reservations about being baptized, because she has already been baptized in another church.Well, love you. Kepp me updated on everything, and I'll talk to you next week.
Nov. 16, 2009
Well, like I said, we are having two baptisms this weekend. One is the wife of a guy who has been a member for 10 years (no idea why she's not baptized yet) and the other is a guy named Boxer that was being taught a long time ago but didn't get baptized becasue he had to work some stuff out. But everything is good for saturday, and he should be going down. Well, that is about it. I can't really think of anything else to tell you.
Nov. 23, 2009
One of the baptisms went as planned, but the other guy didn't show up. It was the important one that happened, though. It was the wife of a member who has been baptized for 10 years. They are preparing to go to the temple. Thanks for getting all that stuff sent. Make sure the camera isn't super nice, just in case.
So this past week was zone conference. We spent 2 days in St. Lucia. Just hopped on a plane and headed to a different country. It was pretty sweet. We set a lot of goals to get more less active people back to curch, and get more people to the temple. I think that West Indian retention may be the lowest in the world. Out of 10000 members, the are only about 2800 that are active. And only about 500 that have went to the temple. And alot of them aren't even active. But, the work is great.
Nov. 30, 2009
Well, that's great to hear about Andrew and Tristan. Is there anyone else from around Grace that has got there call lately? I heard Colby got his a while back.Work here is pretty good. Boxer, the man I told you about that skipped his baptism, didn't come to church, so we are going to go over and tell him he can't get baptized if he doesn't come to church. Even though he said he still wants to get baptized. But there are a few other people you could pray for. A girl named Michelle is loving the Gospel, she has came to church twice, and if she is going to be in church on this sunday, then she may get baptized this weekend. But she may not be there cause she's going to Trinidad, and we aren't sure when she'll be back. So pray for her, and also Sister Grant. She is the daughter of a member and her son is also a member, but she has reservations about being baptized, because she has already been baptized in another church.Well, love you. Kepp me updated on everything, and I'll talk to you next week.
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