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.

Brandon's Call Center Experience

OK, I am a huge slacker, but I am finally getting around to putting this experience from Brandon's first letter on the blog. My apologies---JKB

Today we spent about an hour and a half in the referral center. That's where we call people who have ordered free stuff from the church. Usually when we make calls, people don't answer, and when they do we usually just follow up on what they ordered, and then they hang up or something. But on my first call this morning a lady answered named Virginia Mott. She was from somewhere in New York. She had ordered some DVD about Christ, and so I asked her the normal, "What do you know about Christ?" and we just started talking after that. She told me how she believes in Christ, but that she doesn't claim any single religion. We talked for about 15 minutes when I asked her if she would accept and read a copy of the Book of Mormon. She told me she would, but she was really busy, so she wasn't sure if she would have time to read it. I bore my testimony to her that I know if she made time in her day to read it, the Lord would help her manage her time so that she would have time to read it. She accepted, and a couple of missionaries are going to deliver it to her and hopefully share a message.

Well, that's my story. Probably not as big of a deal as it feels like to me.

(JK says--It feels like a big deal to me. The week before I got this letter, I was on a plane and barely spoke to the people next to me. They asked where I was going, and I said that I was going to be with my brother when he was baptized into our church, but didn't follow up. Way to go, Elder Ackerman!)

Hey, Mom. My week was great. Elder Jarvis and I have been teaching a lot more people because of some changes that President Gamiette made in the mission. Our days are so busy now. I'm not sure if I have told you, but President said that each day, we have to get 20 peoples name and number. Because of that, we have had so many more people to teach. It's getting tough to talk to all 20 people because we have so many appointments. When you ask if we are having success, I would have to say yes. We found 15 new investigators this week, and currently are teaching a couple named Akeil and Shaniqua. They are both awesome, and they prayed about the Book of Mormon. It rained like crazy yesterday. For some reason here, when it rains, church attendance drops dramatically. It rained more during church than it did all year in Grace. I've got soaked a few times. I always seem to forget my umbrella when I actually need it. And it broke the other day, so not like it helps anymore anyway. I'm getting used to the heat now. I'm sweating almost all the time, but it' s not so uncomfortable anymore. There's nothing that I can think of that I need that I can't get on the Island. I don't live in a shack or anything. It isn't as commercial as Trinidad, but it still has a lot of stuff. There is a KFC in town. I haven't ate there yet, cause we cook most of our food. But just to give you an idea of what it's like. There's only one branch here. There are about 45 members, but only about 25 or so are active. The church has only been on the Island for two years. We are currently holding sacrament services above a grocery store but we are currently waiting for a building to get done that will be our new building. It's actually a house that we are converting into a church building. I'm writing in my journal every day. Even if I don't have a lot to write. I want to remember certain things that i wouldn't otherwise remember if I didn't write them down. Just in case you didn't know, the adress to the Mission Office where you should send all of the mail is West Indies Mission OfficePOBag 543 1 Moraquito Avenue Valsayn, Trinidad Trinidad and Tobago You can post that on the blog so that anyone can mail me letters. No packages, though. Well, that is pretty much it. Let me know how everything is going back home. Love you. Love, Elder Ackerman