He is on his way!

We just talked to Elder Ackerman. He was in Salt Lake. He sounds great and is thrilled to be on his way. He was able to talk to us in Thai and it sounded so cool! He read from the Thai Book of Mormon. For those of you that have seen it, you know how crazy it looks. He has been reading it for about 2 weeks he said. I am going to try to post a recording of him reading 1 Nephi 3:7 if I can figure out how. He will arrive in Bangkok about 11:00 pm on the 27th (Central Time). In Thailand, it will be 11:00 am on the 28th. Might take a little adjusting. I'll post his first email from Thailand as soon as we hear from him.

Elder Ackerman's mom

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is crazy!! We are actually going to be leaving the MTC! We all thought that our mission call was to stay at the MTC and learn Thai. But it isn't so. We officially leave on the 26th of April at 4:30 in the afternoon! This will be my last email home from the United States.

Well this week has been awesome! We taught the message for the restoration for the third time in Thai and it went really well I thought. This Saturday, we teach the Plan of Salvation again. It should go really well. This next Sunday, in sacrament meeting, we will do a musical number as a district in Thai. It's going to be way fun. We are singing, "I Need Thee Every Hour". We are excited. I have been able to read Thai so much faster. The Lord truly blesses us here!

Last Tuesday, we had a really awesome devotional given by Elder Pace of the Seventy. It was on how our Heveanly Father loves us and on the Spirit World. It was so amazing. He shared a lot of very personal experinces and the spirit was very strong. It lasted only an hour, but I would not have minded if he had kept going on for a couple more hours. Every one in the meeting was spiritually filled. Well, today is the last time to go to the temple for a very long time. I'm really quite disappointed. The feelings I experience there are so amazing!

Thanks for all the support from everyone!! My stay here has truly been amazing!! I love and miss you all!!!

Elder Ackerman

Wow

Okay, so we are really tripping out here! Only 2 more weeks until we leave for Thailand!! It is so crazy!! This last Saturday we taught a lesson in Thai for the fourth time. I thought it went really well. This next Saturday, we teach about the Restoration, and the next week, about the Plan of Salvation. So in Thai, I am probably the fastest reader of the script. It is so much fun to read the Thai Book of Mormon and get a small idea about what I am reading. The language is a ton of fun.

It has been quite an amazing experience here! The Elders and Sisters here are so fun and cool! I am still a Zone Leader, but this week, the Branch Presidency will be picking some new Elders to replace us. Oh! We are most likely getting our travel plans this week!! The Cambodian Elders, who come in a week ahead of us, got theirs last week. We are way excited to find out when we are leaving. We also get to Host tomorrow for new Elders coming in. That will be fun I think.

So I was going through some of the stuff that I need to probably send home this week, and I don't have a big enough box for my coat. It snowed today!!! It is so weird! I was not expected to have to wear my coat any more, but I am having to! Well, I don't have much else to report on this week. It's pretty much been normal and fun. I love and miss you all!!!
Elder Ackerman