Week #86

Dear Everyone,

So this was a pretty good week. I did not spend a lot of time in my area though. Thus is the life of a Zone leader.

Monday: Spent the day in Bang Khen. There is a mall there that had bowling. So we went and played a few games with the other Elders in Bang Bua Tong. It was way fun. I lost all of the games, but that is okay. We had Sizzlers which is always way good. It is a little expensive so we do not go very often at all. We had done service in the morning as our proselyting hours, so we just relaxed the rest of the day. I also had to go to Pakkret to do an exchange with the Assistants. I went there with Elder Larson, so happens to be in my group, and Elder Warner stayed here with Elder Komkrit.

Tuesday: I spent the day with Elder Larson. It was a lot of fun. We got to talk a lot about the mission and our experiences. Way cool. I spent most of the day training how to be a Zone leader with him and we had a little time to go out and teach a lesson. We got a new investigator from it. We went and set up for the English class and that was when Elder Warner came to pick me back up and go to Bang Bua Tong.

Wednesday: We spent the morning in Pakkret again doing service at the church. We were putting stickers on mosquito nets. That was fun I guess. There are a lot of mosquito nets. Oh well. We had lunch at a good Mexican restaurant that all the missionaries go to. It was delicious. We spent the rest of the evening going over investigators and preparing for a training meeting.

Thursday: Elder Warner and I presented a training meeting on the Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. It was a 2 hour meeting and it went really smoothly. After the meeting, we sang Christmas songs as a zone and President and Sister Smith both gave thoughts. It was way good. We had that Mexican restaurant cater for us and it was really good. It was technically our Christmas dinner with Pres Smith. We taught a couple lessons in the evening that went well. Okay, so only one of them did and I will explain why. The second lesson was to a Cambodian family who can't really speak Thai. The brother who usually helps us translate was gone, so we tried to go on our own. That was a failure. It was the hardest lesson I have ever had to teach.

Friday: This was a long day. We spent the time cleaning on of our investigators houses. We got the walls and the floor clean. That was the hardest part, but thankfully we had a power washer. For about 3 hours of it, it was just me and Elder Warner and the investigators neighbors. It was a lot of hard, but good work. We went and got Pizza Company for dinner and she paid for it. That was way nice.

Saturday: So, I was again out of my area and into another area in Pakkret. I was on an exchange with the District leader there. You might remember Elder Ahlstrom from when I was in Buriram and he was in Surin. That was a lot of fun to go on an exchange again. We invited in this apartment complex and got 4 lessons and 5 new investigators. All in around 2 hours. That was sweet.

Sunday: I was in Pakkret for church and we had a good turn out. One of the people we taught yesterday came to church and that was way awesome. After 3 hours of church, he was wondering what he needed to do to prepare for baptism. Elder Ahlstrom now has a pretty good investigator in his hands. Went back to Bang Bua Tong for about an hour before we had to go back to Pakkret and practice singing for the District Christmas party. That will be great to go to.

That is all for this week!

Love,
Elder Ackerman

Week #85

Dear All,

So this was a fun week I have to say. I did write the last email on Tuesday, so I will start from Wednesday and share my week.

Umm, Elder Chamberlain and I finally went to the Rangsit house. It actually took a little to get in. The front door was wood and had expanded from the water and was stuck in place. We had to break into the house form the second story to get in and kick the stuck door open. That was a lot of fun. The house had two cabinets that were on the first floor that got destroyed. It looked like they melted. They were made out of the cheap plywood, and they do not do very well in water. Everything the cabinets was destroyed. A lot of books are gone and such. We spent the time cleaning, well more like scooping up junk and putting it in a pile in the courtyard. We couldn't clean or scrub because the water to the house was not flowing. That was going to have to wait until Saturday.

So then Thursday morning came. We all went down the Pakkret for the transfers meeting. I was announced as the new Zone Leader and later I was announced that I would be going to Bang Bua Tong with Elder Warner. Elder Warner is only one transfer behind me. We spent the day long planning and getting to know investigators.

On Friday we had service set up and that all went well. More cleaning of houses. Oh and Bang Bua Tong is in the same district as Rangsit. I just moved a little bit over. That was nice. I did also finally get all of my stuff to my area. In Ayutaya I was living off of about 4 pairs of clothing and my toiletries for 4 weeks. Elder Warner and I have gotten back into teaching a little. We have some great families that we are teaching and they are doing well. They are both Cambodian families who moved to Thailand and can only speak a little Thai and no English. They are really good and really taken to reading in the Book of Mormon and going to church. It is pretty awesome. We have another investigator who has suffered from polio and undergoing surgeries and is confined to a wheelchair. She doing well and loves coming to church.

So I can tell you a little more about Bang Bua Tong. Some parts of it are still flooded and returning to normal. The Branch Presidents house is still underwater and he is currently living at the church. We live in an apartment that is really small, but comfortable. An A&W is right across the apartment. It is a really big area. The branch has 50 so attending, but 15 of that was investigators. There are 4 active priesthood holders and 4 missionaries. A pretty small branch I would say. Umm, that is all I have to report on this week. I love you all!

Elder Ackerman

Week #84

Dear All,

So this was another unproductive week. Well, I mean as when it comes to teaching lessons. It has been pretttty quiet around here. We have been still doing a ton of serving. I still don't even know where to start. I am pretty sure we cleaned 2 more houses as well as 2 schools. That was actually a lot of fun. I have been super tired, but it seems everyday I still have the strength to go out and serve. We had a health meeting at the Ceangwatana building. The Area doctor and his wife came to our mission and we had a 2 hour meeting. It was cool and everyone in Bangkok was present, so that was way fun to see a lot of people, even though I did not know who half of them were. Oh well.

We went into Rangsit for 2 days. One to do a members house and the other to help clean our Branch mission leaders house. There were also some members from the International branch that came and helped. Oh and the BML can speak English way well and works for a Canadian company as a tax analyst. He is way busy. Umm, other than that, not much to report on this week. Oh, so transfers is on Thursday. I also got the call last night from Pres. Smith. The call was for the assignment to be a Zone leader. I did accept, but it is going to be a huge jump in responsibility. Oh boy. So yes I am moving from Rangsit and after only 4 weeks with Elder Chamberlain. Pretty sad. I was looking forward to serving longer with him.

I love you all and thank you for all of your support!

Love,

Elder Ackerman

Week #83

Dear Everyone,

Well, yet another week of service and surprise, a lesson as well. I am still in Ayuttaya. The word on getting back to Rangsit is still being debated. Actually it is not due to the flooding. There was still around a foot of water in front of the house when we past by on the motorway.

So this week was fun. I will start with Tuesday because I emailed Monday night last week. We served a lot through out the day. We found a couple new people to try and start teaching as well. Set up appointments for the next day. We also went out and passed out English flyer's. That was less than successful. Oh well.

On Wednesday in the afternoon we found a school to serve at. We spent a good several hours scrubbing walls cleaning of all the gunk and water lines. The other Elders went out and taught a lesson and got 6 new investigators as well. It was at a house we served at earlier in the day.

On Thursday we returned back to the school and did a lot more cleaning. We also went and served at a Sisters house that was nearby as well.

Friday we had to head down to Bangkok to interview with Pres Smith. I got my temple recommend extended. It was cool because he did the interview all in Thai and the recommend card is in Thai as well. Pretty cool. The end of the day was the best. We had a most excellent Thanksgiving dinner. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I forgot how good that kind of food is.

Saturday we served at the same sister from Thursday again and this time we had a lot more to do.

On Sunday we actually did not watch General Conference again. We just had Sacrament meeting and then went out and cleaned a relative of the same sister's house. That was fun and took up all our time. Oh and Saturday night, E Hanni and E Chamberlain went to Lopburi. I have been here with E Raven. It has been fun. So Sunday night we taught a lesson. It was weird. I have not taught a lesson for 3 weeks now. Crazy. It was nice to get back into it. That was this week. Thanks for all of your support and prayers. I love you all!

Elder Ackerman