Sunday, March 21, 2010
March 15
I realized the other day that time is of little essence to me with everything but missionary work. It will be there eventually, so don't feel too hastled.
But the work has been good this last week. We had another really big sunday. Saturday night, it wasn't lookin too good for most of our goals, but we hit it hard yesterday and got the standard again. We have found a lot of sweet people, and are working through the members a lot more. Please continue to pray for Sister Diamond. She wasn't able to come to church because she was feeling terrible. She has gave up a lot to follow Christ, and pray that she will have the strength to overcome her trials.
Hey, I just had a thought. Could you make sure Chase is taking care of the guitar that is left in his care at the moment? How is he coming a long with that? What about Dustin? And that's great to hear that Hailey is playing percussion.
Well, mom. Sorry it's a little shorter this week. But that's about all that happened. I love you, and I'll talk to you later.
But the work has been good this last week. We had another really big sunday. Saturday night, it wasn't lookin too good for most of our goals, but we hit it hard yesterday and got the standard again. We have found a lot of sweet people, and are working through the members a lot more. Please continue to pray for Sister Diamond. She wasn't able to come to church because she was feeling terrible. She has gave up a lot to follow Christ, and pray that she will have the strength to overcome her trials.
Hey, I just had a thought. Could you make sure Chase is taking care of the guitar that is left in his care at the moment? How is he coming a long with that? What about Dustin? And that's great to hear that Hailey is playing percussion.
Well, mom. Sorry it's a little shorter this week. But that's about all that happened. I love you, and I'll talk to you later.
March 8
D'abadie is sweet. I'm not too far from Grande, so it wasn't a huge transfer. But D'abadie is supposed to be tough. It has been a long time since anything has happened here, but we are working to turn it around. We have been doing a lot of finding, and are getting quite a few people to teach. And we have one family that is fairly close to baptism. There names are the Diamonds. They didn't come to church this last sunday, but they are sweet, and we are working with them to be baptized next weekend. They have basically been investigating the church since forever ago, and I'm not sure exactly what they need yet. But if you could pray for them, that would be sweet.
So, I'm not sure if I told you about the standard of excellence that we set two weeks ago. But as a zone, we set a standard that each companionship has to get at least 10 member lessons a week, 11 new investigators, 70 new peoples phone numbers, 10 referrals recieved and contacted, and 5 people with baptismal dates. And since this last week was a transfer week, we weren't sure how we were going to get it. The wednesday I got here, all we had was two member lessons on the week, and nothing else. And thursday we had a downright terrible day. We worked hard, but nothing worked out. So by friday, we had a huge task ahead of us. But we were praying for a way to accomplish the standard. It was a battle, and especially since D'abadie is notorious for being tough, we weren't sure. But it happened. Around 5:00 yesterday, we only had 2 more member lessons to get, but we had we had like 7 more referrals we needed to contact. So we went by the member that gave us some of the referrals, but the one who was supposed to come with us to contact them decided that they had more important things to do. But, somehow an hour and a half later, we only had one more referral contacted. It was truly amazing. We reached the standard, but it really wasn't just us. Yeah, we worked hard, but there is no way that that happened because of us.
Just thought I'd share that story with you. I hope school is going good for you. i've been praying for you guys. Keep close to the Lord, and he'll provide. Even if you have to work harder than you thought you could. What needs to happen will happen.
So, I'm not sure if I told you about the standard of excellence that we set two weeks ago. But as a zone, we set a standard that each companionship has to get at least 10 member lessons a week, 11 new investigators, 70 new peoples phone numbers, 10 referrals recieved and contacted, and 5 people with baptismal dates. And since this last week was a transfer week, we weren't sure how we were going to get it. The wednesday I got here, all we had was two member lessons on the week, and nothing else. And thursday we had a downright terrible day. We worked hard, but nothing worked out. So by friday, we had a huge task ahead of us. But we were praying for a way to accomplish the standard. It was a battle, and especially since D'abadie is notorious for being tough, we weren't sure. But it happened. Around 5:00 yesterday, we only had 2 more member lessons to get, but we had we had like 7 more referrals we needed to contact. So we went by the member that gave us some of the referrals, but the one who was supposed to come with us to contact them decided that they had more important things to do. But, somehow an hour and a half later, we only had one more referral contacted. It was truly amazing. We reached the standard, but it really wasn't just us. Yeah, we worked hard, but there is no way that that happened because of us.
Just thought I'd share that story with you. I hope school is going good for you. i've been praying for you guys. Keep close to the Lord, and he'll provide. Even if you have to work harder than you thought you could. What needs to happen will happen.
March 1
Well, another transfer has come and gone and I am once again leaving my area. I am not moving too far, though. I'm going to an area called D'abadie. It hasn't baptized or anything in a while, but we are going to work and pull out some sweet people. I'm excited. I'm going to be serving with Elder Wiederhold. i have served around him since St. Vincent. We have been in the same district for 2 transfers now, and I'm excited to serve with him.
But this last week was good. Throughout this transfer, the whole zones numbers have been low. There hasn't been too much success or anything. But at zone conference, we set a new standard for goals and achieving them, and this last week, every area pretty much exploded. I'm kind of sad to leave Grande cause we found a ton of sweet people, and Reon (the boy that got baptized this transfer) is excited to do missionary work with us. And there are quite a few sweet members here that I am going to miss. But I am way excited for next transfer.
I heard about the earthquake. I figured he would have been alright, cause only a little over 200 people died, I hear. The earthquake in Haiti wasn't as big (a 7. something) and there were a ton more deaths. Just think. What is there one more of in Chile than in Haiti. Let me know when you figure it out.
So, how is school going for you? Are you still working full time, too?
Well, mom. I love you. Talk to you later.
But this last week was good. Throughout this transfer, the whole zones numbers have been low. There hasn't been too much success or anything. But at zone conference, we set a new standard for goals and achieving them, and this last week, every area pretty much exploded. I'm kind of sad to leave Grande cause we found a ton of sweet people, and Reon (the boy that got baptized this transfer) is excited to do missionary work with us. And there are quite a few sweet members here that I am going to miss. But I am way excited for next transfer.
I heard about the earthquake. I figured he would have been alright, cause only a little over 200 people died, I hear. The earthquake in Haiti wasn't as big (a 7. something) and there were a ton more deaths. Just think. What is there one more of in Chile than in Haiti. Let me know when you figure it out.
So, how is school going for you? Are you still working full time, too?
Well, mom. I love you. Talk to you later.
February 22
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
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
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!!!
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