Hey Everyone!
So life is going pretty good around here in Buriram. I can't believe how quick the time is going by. It was Christmas a month ago! Wow. I am doing well. I still have my health surpisingly. The Thai food and weather have not hurt me too bad. Although it is starting to warm up a little bit this last week. I can make a few Thai dishes already. I have had some time to practice.
Monday: Pretty normal Monday. Nothing to special going on. We went out after P-Day was over and couldn't get in on any lessons.
Tuesday: The rest of the week has turned out pretty amazing. Getting some cool new investigators and teaching lessons. Elder Chapman and I are working a lot better together teaching and finding wise. I am so glad I got another transfers with him. He is way fun. Taught the usual English class again.
Wednesday: We went to Surin for our weekly Distrcit Meeting. This week it was given by the Zone leaders. It was about accountability with our investigators and over our areas. The zone leaders are great. Came home and went out to teach a couple more lessons.
Thursday: Another day with a couple of lessons. Had the usual weekly planning session. Taught one of our former investigators. He is still doing great, just no time to meet with us. Nothing else really exciting.
Friday: Another good day. The work here in Thailand I feel is just starting to take off. President Smith's vision for the mission is the anouncement of a temple in Bangkok before he is done. I believe he is done a few transfers after I am. I firmly believe that his vision will be accomplished. It is just going great here and a temple is what Tahiland really needs.
Saturday: A little less of a good day. We managed to get ourselves lost for a little while. That was fun haha. Only taught one lesson, but we did get a return appointment from it.
Sunday: A great day. Found a sweet new investigator. We were just walking by this guys house as he was watering some sand for his kids to play in. Elder Chapman stopped in mid-sentence with me and proceeded to talk with this guy. Turns out that he loves to read and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he told us he wants to be baptised and that the next time we go back he will make sure his wife is there to listen to us as well. I would call that a miracle. It was very cool :) He is going to be great.
Well that is all for this week. Love you all!
Elder Ackerman
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
A little chilly this week!
Dear Everyone,
Well life has been pretty good to me here in Thailand. In the morning I about freeze myself to death getting out of bed and showering. After being here for 9 months now, the cold gets to you. I much prefer the heat now. Oh well. It has been cooler than usual and I get quite cold when we ride our bikes and there is a nice breeze. Ahh, life is good.
Monday: Pretty good Preparation Day. Got some good stuff done. Didn't teach anyone and we had to travel to Surin again for District Meeting on Tuesday. Oh and since Deang owns a food stand, she taught us how to make some dishes. I can now make a good fried rice and something called pad kra paw. It is meat, chili peppers, onion, and basil over rice. It is really good. I can also make a cool curry dish as well that is really good.
Tuesday: Good day in Surin. Had a really good District meeting by Elder Campbell once again. He is a really cool guy, but unfortunately he is a Utah fan (sorry grandpa, it is hard to pick who you associate with out here :) ). He was pretty happy about the last Utah BYU game. Oh well. We also caught a foot long lizard (me and Elder Chapman) from the Surin church. That was fun took like 25 minutes or so to get it out in the open and catch it. We caught it while Elder Campbell was doing interviews. It is called a dugkea (something like that). It can jump five feet and if it bites your finger, it will lock jaw and rip it off in a few seconds. Yeah...that was a fun experience trying to catch it. Plus we took it on an hour long bus ride to Buriram to give it a member in our branch who looks after animals. Found out the animal was worth about $200. Oh well :) It was fun! Then we had a good English class scaring everyone with the animal (Thai people are dead scared of these).
Wednesday: Had a good day teaching investigators. We have really shrunk in the amount of people we are teaching. We have Deang, Bee, Tuktaa, and Chai. Yeah...but they all have baptismal goals! It is way cool. Bee and her family own a restaurant that is really famous here in Buriram. They really like the Elders. It was a good day.
Thursday: Had the usual long planning for the next week. Takes about 2 hours usually to plan everything. Lots of fun. Found a new family to start teaching. Taught only 3 of them at first, but there are 9 people total. We will see how it goes. Another good day for us.
Friday: A not so good day. Taught only one lesson, right away in the morning to Tuktaa and Chai. They are doing good. We are trying to help Chai to stop smoking. He has a desire to stop smoking and drinking coffee, plus Tuktaa (his girlfriend), really wants him to stop too. It is great.
Saturday: It was a good day to say. Taught a couple lessons. Taught a Sergeant in the police force here in Buriram. Taught a 10 minute lesson and he wasn't really interested in learning more. Well, we did our best. He was still a good guy. Taught Deang finally again. She is doing well. Said she would go to church.
Sunday: We had only Deang go to church. Next week will be better. It was weird, the branch president sent us with the young men and didn't say why. So we had preisthood with the young men. There are the branch presidents son, 2 other sons of the second counselor, and another kid. It was fun. The branch presidents son is the first counselor of the young men and he is 18 and the president is 19 years old. It is way sweet. Still not sure why we were in the class...oh well. We got denied out teaching many times. Such is the life of a missionary.
That is all for this week folks!
Love,
Elder Ackerman
Well life has been pretty good to me here in Thailand. In the morning I about freeze myself to death getting out of bed and showering. After being here for 9 months now, the cold gets to you. I much prefer the heat now. Oh well. It has been cooler than usual and I get quite cold when we ride our bikes and there is a nice breeze. Ahh, life is good.
Monday: Pretty good Preparation Day. Got some good stuff done. Didn't teach anyone and we had to travel to Surin again for District Meeting on Tuesday. Oh and since Deang owns a food stand, she taught us how to make some dishes. I can now make a good fried rice and something called pad kra paw. It is meat, chili peppers, onion, and basil over rice. It is really good. I can also make a cool curry dish as well that is really good.
Tuesday: Good day in Surin. Had a really good District meeting by Elder Campbell once again. He is a really cool guy, but unfortunately he is a Utah fan (sorry grandpa, it is hard to pick who you associate with out here :) ). He was pretty happy about the last Utah BYU game. Oh well. We also caught a foot long lizard (me and Elder Chapman) from the Surin church. That was fun took like 25 minutes or so to get it out in the open and catch it. We caught it while Elder Campbell was doing interviews. It is called a dugkea (something like that). It can jump five feet and if it bites your finger, it will lock jaw and rip it off in a few seconds. Yeah...that was a fun experience trying to catch it. Plus we took it on an hour long bus ride to Buriram to give it a member in our branch who looks after animals. Found out the animal was worth about $200. Oh well :) It was fun! Then we had a good English class scaring everyone with the animal (Thai people are dead scared of these).
Wednesday: Had a good day teaching investigators. We have really shrunk in the amount of people we are teaching. We have Deang, Bee, Tuktaa, and Chai. Yeah...but they all have baptismal goals! It is way cool. Bee and her family own a restaurant that is really famous here in Buriram. They really like the Elders. It was a good day.
Thursday: Had the usual long planning for the next week. Takes about 2 hours usually to plan everything. Lots of fun. Found a new family to start teaching. Taught only 3 of them at first, but there are 9 people total. We will see how it goes. Another good day for us.
Friday: A not so good day. Taught only one lesson, right away in the morning to Tuktaa and Chai. They are doing good. We are trying to help Chai to stop smoking. He has a desire to stop smoking and drinking coffee, plus Tuktaa (his girlfriend), really wants him to stop too. It is great.
Saturday: It was a good day to say. Taught a couple lessons. Taught a Sergeant in the police force here in Buriram. Taught a 10 minute lesson and he wasn't really interested in learning more. Well, we did our best. He was still a good guy. Taught Deang finally again. She is doing well. Said she would go to church.
Sunday: We had only Deang go to church. Next week will be better. It was weird, the branch president sent us with the young men and didn't say why. So we had preisthood with the young men. There are the branch presidents son, 2 other sons of the second counselor, and another kid. It was fun. The branch presidents son is the first counselor of the young men and he is 18 and the president is 19 years old. It is way sweet. Still not sure why we were in the class...oh well. We got denied out teaching many times. Such is the life of a missionary.
That is all for this week folks!
Love,
Elder Ackerman
Friday, January 14, 2011
Oh, boy, week #37 in Thailand
Hey,
Wow, does the time really go by. Just 2 weeks ago I was on the phone with the family for Christmas. Crazy I tell you. And now I am a solid 20 years old.
Monday: Good Preparation day. I spent the day in Surin. We had 3 lessons planned and they all fell through. It was bad. Yaw passed his interview to be baptised on the 8th of January. He passed with flying colors according to Elder Campbell. He was like quoting the Bible and scripture masteries during the interview. Way cool :)
Tuesday: Traveled back to Buriram in the morning to have the district meeting. Taught the usual English and we were able to get a couple good lessons in.
Wednesday: Well, another swell day. Got a couple lessons taught with members. Don't think much else happened that is notable. Oh wait! Got on a bus to go to Bangkok at 11pm. That was sweet. 6 hour bus ride!
Thursday: Got to the chapel at 430 am or so. Oh man. No one was there. We waited another 20 minutes or so and another companionship showed up. That was nice. Oh forgot to say. On Tuesday we also found out who would be moving. No one. It will be the same 4 people in our district which is way sweet! All Elder Chapman and I had to do was renew our visas. At least we don't have to leave the country. Traveled to Surin to stay the night. It was an earlier bus than the one to Buriram and besides, Elder Campbell and Elder Mondragon had packages.
Friday: Quick travel in the morning over to Buriram. We also did our weekly planning and got ready for the baptism on Saturday. Had to run around and do stuff and teach a couple lessons. Had a good coordination meeting with the branch as well.
Saturday: My birthday. Good day. Went and got ice cream. It was also Kids Day in Thailand so Swensons was way busy. Oh well. It was still way good. Got stuck at the church filling up the font. Mainly the main faucet didn't work for the font. We had to get a hose for another spigot and then make sure the hose didn't slide off (it happened twice). Oh well. Only 2 hours of work lost. We did get one lesson in for the day. The baptism went great. Very good service. Deang, Owns mom came as well.
Sunday: Good day. Yaw and Own were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. No other investigators at church. Didn't teach any lessons during the day either. Those days just happen sometimes. Pretty good week I would say.
That is all folks!
Elder Ackerman
Wow, does the time really go by. Just 2 weeks ago I was on the phone with the family for Christmas. Crazy I tell you. And now I am a solid 20 years old.
Monday: Good Preparation day. I spent the day in Surin. We had 3 lessons planned and they all fell through. It was bad. Yaw passed his interview to be baptised on the 8th of January. He passed with flying colors according to Elder Campbell. He was like quoting the Bible and scripture masteries during the interview. Way cool :)
Tuesday: Traveled back to Buriram in the morning to have the district meeting. Taught the usual English and we were able to get a couple good lessons in.
Wednesday: Well, another swell day. Got a couple lessons taught with members. Don't think much else happened that is notable. Oh wait! Got on a bus to go to Bangkok at 11pm. That was sweet. 6 hour bus ride!
Thursday: Got to the chapel at 430 am or so. Oh man. No one was there. We waited another 20 minutes or so and another companionship showed up. That was nice. Oh forgot to say. On Tuesday we also found out who would be moving. No one. It will be the same 4 people in our district which is way sweet! All Elder Chapman and I had to do was renew our visas. At least we don't have to leave the country. Traveled to Surin to stay the night. It was an earlier bus than the one to Buriram and besides, Elder Campbell and Elder Mondragon had packages.
Friday: Quick travel in the morning over to Buriram. We also did our weekly planning and got ready for the baptism on Saturday. Had to run around and do stuff and teach a couple lessons. Had a good coordination meeting with the branch as well.
Saturday: My birthday. Good day. Went and got ice cream. It was also Kids Day in Thailand so Swensons was way busy. Oh well. It was still way good. Got stuck at the church filling up the font. Mainly the main faucet didn't work for the font. We had to get a hose for another spigot and then make sure the hose didn't slide off (it happened twice). Oh well. Only 2 hours of work lost. We did get one lesson in for the day. The baptism went great. Very good service. Deang, Owns mom came as well.
Sunday: Good day. Yaw and Own were confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. No other investigators at church. Didn't teach any lessons during the day either. Those days just happen sometimes. Pretty good week I would say.
That is all folks!
Elder Ackerman
Sunday, January 9, 2011
(Sorry, I'm late in posting) Happy New Year!
Hey all,
Wow, does the time go by really quickly. It is the new year. 2011. Crazy I have to say. And my birthday is this next Saturday. Wow...
Monday: Well, a pretty normal Monday I guess you could say. We got a lot of stuff done actually for only working 3 hours out of the day. We taught 4 lessons. Turned out to be the best day of the week.
Tuesday: Went to Surin in the morning for the weekly District Meeting with Elder Campbell. It was really good as usual. Elder Campbell is a great missionary leader. Unfortunately we only got one lesson in for the day, but that was because we had travel time included and we had to teach English as well.
Wednesday: A much better day. We got 2 lessons done. One was with a 19yr old girl who making great friends with the members. She's from Surin and doesn't know Buriram. I have a feeling she is very happy to have friends in Buriram that will be a very good influence in her life. She is reading and continuing to pray about the Book of Mormon.
Thursday: Turned out to be a good day. Taught a new family that are turning out to be pretty good. Slowly reading and willing to meet with us again. Taught the family that is supposed to be baptised on the 8th of January. They are going to interview on Saturday and on Monday.
Friday: Only one lesson for the day. Actually turned out that we had to be home at around 630 pm so we weren't out after dark. We just did our morning study at that time. It was a very loud night. Everyone and their dog had fireworks. The really good kind. Lots of mortars and fireworks going off. And lots of loud music. Thankfully at midnight it got quiet and I could sleep.
Saturday: A good day for us. Elder Mondragon and Elder Campbell went out teaching while Elder Chapman and I went out to visit investigators and teach some planned appointments. Turned out okay for the day. Deang interviewed with Elder Campbell and didn't pass. She will need to wait a couple of weeks and retest. Yaw (her cousin) will interview on Monday. We are hoping he passes. If anything, we will have a baptism on the 8th for Deang's son Own.
Sunday: Well I am in Surin. Pretty weird to be in a different area for a Sunday. Oh well. The members didn't know what to do with me. Taught a couple unplanned lesons while out inviting. A relatively good day.
Well, that is all I have for this week!
Happy New Year!
Elder Ackerman
Wow, does the time go by really quickly. It is the new year. 2011. Crazy I have to say. And my birthday is this next Saturday. Wow...
Monday: Well, a pretty normal Monday I guess you could say. We got a lot of stuff done actually for only working 3 hours out of the day. We taught 4 lessons. Turned out to be the best day of the week.
Tuesday: Went to Surin in the morning for the weekly District Meeting with Elder Campbell. It was really good as usual. Elder Campbell is a great missionary leader. Unfortunately we only got one lesson in for the day, but that was because we had travel time included and we had to teach English as well.
Wednesday: A much better day. We got 2 lessons done. One was with a 19yr old girl who making great friends with the members. She's from Surin and doesn't know Buriram. I have a feeling she is very happy to have friends in Buriram that will be a very good influence in her life. She is reading and continuing to pray about the Book of Mormon.
Thursday: Turned out to be a good day. Taught a new family that are turning out to be pretty good. Slowly reading and willing to meet with us again. Taught the family that is supposed to be baptised on the 8th of January. They are going to interview on Saturday and on Monday.
Friday: Only one lesson for the day. Actually turned out that we had to be home at around 630 pm so we weren't out after dark. We just did our morning study at that time. It was a very loud night. Everyone and their dog had fireworks. The really good kind. Lots of mortars and fireworks going off. And lots of loud music. Thankfully at midnight it got quiet and I could sleep.
Saturday: A good day for us. Elder Mondragon and Elder Campbell went out teaching while Elder Chapman and I went out to visit investigators and teach some planned appointments. Turned out okay for the day. Deang interviewed with Elder Campbell and didn't pass. She will need to wait a couple of weeks and retest. Yaw (her cousin) will interview on Monday. We are hoping he passes. If anything, we will have a baptism on the 8th for Deang's son Own.
Sunday: Well I am in Surin. Pretty weird to be in a different area for a Sunday. Oh well. The members didn't know what to do with me. Taught a couple unplanned lesons while out inviting. A relatively good day.
Well, that is all I have for this week!
Happy New Year!
Elder Ackerman
Well, that was fast...week #35
Hey all!
So, that was a fast week. Christmas was great. I guess I will jump right into the week!
Monday: Well, turned out to be a great day. Elder Campbell and I did an exchange for the few proselyting hours of the day. Then we went and did an interview for one of our baptismal candidates. He passed the interview! But we will be changing around dates for the whole family to the 8th of January (my birthday, by the way). We are pretty excited for them.
Tuesday: An even crazier day. This week has just been going pretty well I would say. We are getting lots of lessons. Getting lots of new people to teach. We are starting to get busier than I have ever been on my mission. It is all well and good though. Then the usual once a week English class. Fun as usual. Taught a couple lessons afterwards as well.
Wednesday: Quick travel over to Surin for our weekly District meeting. This time it was given by the Zone leaders. It was really good on how to give better commitments and how to better teach. Then got home for some more crazy lesson teaching. I was with Elder Fowles, one of the Zone leaders for the rest of the day, while Elder Chapman worked with Elder Campbell. It was a good night.
Thursday: Even better day. Lots more of lessons and new investigators. I am getting a lot more experience going out and teaching. Now the key is to get the members to help these new people progress towards baptism. Overall a way good day.
Friday: Did our weekly planning for a couple hours. Went and bought some pizza to eat while we planned. It was pretty good :) Went out and taught a couple more lessons. Met a guy who has a dog farm of German Shepards and Siberian huskies. It was way cool. He goes to Germany every once and a while to get more dogs and sells them in Thailand. A full grown German Shepard is about 180000 baht and there was a puppy Siberian husky for 8000 baht. Too bad I am a missionary and can't have pets. That puppy husky would have been mine in minutes :)
Saturday: It was Christmas Day here in Thailand. Sure didn't feel like it. Talked with the family. That was great :) A pretty empty day. Most people were too busy to meet with us for parties and the what not. Taught a couple lessons. We also went to the branch Christmas party. That was fun. Had quite a few investigators go as well. Lets just saw Thai members know how to throw a fun party.
Sunday: A good day. Only one investigator at church. It was good though. Had a chance to sit down after church and teach him a lesson. Found out he has a drinking problem. Better sooner than later for sure on that one (his date is for the 8th of January). Found a new family to start teaching.
Well that was all for this week. I am doing pretty fantastic. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Ackerman
So, that was a fast week. Christmas was great. I guess I will jump right into the week!
Monday: Well, turned out to be a great day. Elder Campbell and I did an exchange for the few proselyting hours of the day. Then we went and did an interview for one of our baptismal candidates. He passed the interview! But we will be changing around dates for the whole family to the 8th of January (my birthday, by the way). We are pretty excited for them.
Tuesday: An even crazier day. This week has just been going pretty well I would say. We are getting lots of lessons. Getting lots of new people to teach. We are starting to get busier than I have ever been on my mission. It is all well and good though. Then the usual once a week English class. Fun as usual. Taught a couple lessons afterwards as well.
Wednesday: Quick travel over to Surin for our weekly District meeting. This time it was given by the Zone leaders. It was really good on how to give better commitments and how to better teach. Then got home for some more crazy lesson teaching. I was with Elder Fowles, one of the Zone leaders for the rest of the day, while Elder Chapman worked with Elder Campbell. It was a good night.
Thursday: Even better day. Lots more of lessons and new investigators. I am getting a lot more experience going out and teaching. Now the key is to get the members to help these new people progress towards baptism. Overall a way good day.
Friday: Did our weekly planning for a couple hours. Went and bought some pizza to eat while we planned. It was pretty good :) Went out and taught a couple more lessons. Met a guy who has a dog farm of German Shepards and Siberian huskies. It was way cool. He goes to Germany every once and a while to get more dogs and sells them in Thailand. A full grown German Shepard is about 180000 baht and there was a puppy Siberian husky for 8000 baht. Too bad I am a missionary and can't have pets. That puppy husky would have been mine in minutes :)
Saturday: It was Christmas Day here in Thailand. Sure didn't feel like it. Talked with the family. That was great :) A pretty empty day. Most people were too busy to meet with us for parties and the what not. Taught a couple lessons. We also went to the branch Christmas party. That was fun. Had quite a few investigators go as well. Lets just saw Thai members know how to throw a fun party.
Sunday: A good day. Only one investigator at church. It was good though. Had a chance to sit down after church and teach him a lesson. Found out he has a drinking problem. Better sooner than later for sure on that one (his date is for the 8th of January). Found a new family to start teaching.
Well that was all for this week. I am doing pretty fantastic. Love you all!
Love,
Elder Ackerman
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