Well, another sweet week has gone by...

Hey All!

Wow, the time can really fly by around here. Me and Elder Leyva have been having an awesome time.

Monday: A normal P-Day around here. We spent a lot of the time cleaning the house and throwing old stuff away. That was fun. Then we went out to do our normal proselyting. Pretty much we did not find anyone interested in learning more. Oh, well. There are days that are like that.

Tuesday: Went out to work in the morning and perhaps it was the most unsuccessful day of my mission. Only found one person the whole day who was maybe interested in learning more. Then we had our usual English class. It was fun. We only have like 10 students, but it is okay. Then we had to get on a bus to go to our neighbouring city, Surin, for our weekly District meeting.

Wednesday: Yeah, District Meeting. We had the Zone Leaders attend and they gave the lesson. It was really good. Then we had one of our zone leaders come with me and Elder Leyva and we returned to Buriram. We taught 2 lessons off of talking to some people right on the street and got a new investigator from it. It was a way sweet day and some good training from a zone leader.

Thursday: Another awesome day. Elder Fowles, one of our zone leaders, was still with us. We taught 3 lessons. And all of them turned into new investigators. Our best lesson of the day was our last one. We had taught a lesson to him the other day, and he came to meet us at our church for a lesson. He is already Christian and has a way strong testimony of Jesus Christ. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and found out later that he read the Book of Mormon in one night!! Pretty crazy. He really liked the movie and we had a good rest of the lesson. The other zone leader and the Elders in Surin joined us that night in our house.

Friday: A little bit of a slower day. We were still able to teach 2 lessons. But did not find anyone new to start teaching later. We did teach our investigators that have a baptismal date. It was an excellent lesson. It is amazing how the Lord can work through 2 inexperienced missionaries. It is amazing.

Saturday: Another good day for us here. We got 2 more lessons during the day and taught a recent convert. We did not find anyone new, but teaching lessons feels pretty awesome. We taught that guy that read the Book of Mormon in one day. We taught him about Joseph Smith and the restoration. That was a pretty crazy lesson. We invited him to church on Sunday, but he said he was going to go to his normal church. Which happens to be 50km from the city. Oh well.

Sunday: A normal Sunday. We had 2 investigators at church! That was way cool! The members were way excited. Then I got called to bless the Sacrament. Well, it went good I suppose...they didn't ask me to do it again haha. Then we had to teach the Gospel Principles class on temple work and family history. That was hard...but we got through it all okay. Then we went out to work. Taught a couple lessons and found 5 new potentials. It was a good day.

That is all for this week!

Elder Ackerman
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Funny thing happened. . .

Hey Everyone!

So yeah, funny thing happened this last transfer. I moved!! Yes, only 6 weeks in one area of the mission. Not a very common thing. But it is okay. I have a pretty sweet new companion. I will tell more about him in a little bit.

So Monday: A very normal Prep day in สกลนคร (Sakon Nakhon). Did the usual washing the clothes and shopping and such. We had time for some inviting because our lessons fell through. Got a new potential.

Tuesday: A relatively good day. Then we got the call as we left the house that I would be moving. That was weird. I did not see it coming at all...We taught a lesson with a sweet new family for Elder Peacock and his new companion. Then we had the usual English class. Then I had some real fun. I got to eat heaven meat or dog meat :) It was actually quite good. I would eat it again for sure. Now that you are all grossed out...

Wednesday: Good morning. Had time to pack for moving. Got to the bus station at around 4pm to go down to Udon, then to get on another bus to go down to Bangkok. It was way fun. I got to see Elder Martin from my group and Elder Anderson and got to talk with them on the bus to Bangkok. It was a long ride and I got a good nap in. Then at about 7 in the morning, outside the church that we meet at, the bus sprung a leak and the engine died. Go figure it was a gas leak. Funny thing is, we had a huge tour bus, and the street the church is on is a one way, and the bus dies right in front of someones house. And they had to go to work. Needless to say they were frustrated. We got all the stuff off of the bus and the drivers were able to fix the problem. A fun experience.

Thursday: Well I talked a little about Thursday morning already. Moves was way cool. 16 missionaries going home and 18 coming in. 60% of the mission is now under 5 transfers. My group is now one of the older people. Way weird. So I got a way cool companion and I went Senior Companion, on moves number 5!!!! Way early. Everyone in our group went senior and Elder Larson is the senior in a threesome. Way cool. So I am now in Buriram ( บุรีรัมย์ ). It is a cool area. The house is pretty nice. So a little about Elder Leyva, my new comp. He is on moves number 3. He is from Sparks, Nevada. Right next to Reno. The second one in his family to go on a mission. I swear, he is my spirit world twin. We have almost everything in common. Our favorite movies are the 3 Bourne movies. We both like working out in the morning. It is going to be an awesome 6 weeks for sure!! We are both way excited.

Friday: We had our long planning for the week and I got to get more familiar with the investigators here. And then we got rained on. That was fun. Had a lot of time for inviting but did not get any potentials. We had our coordination meeting with the branch mission leader. He is pretty cool.

Saturday: A day full of zeros once again. We had a sweet day. Got trapped by the rain for like 3 plus hours though. Not a lot of success. We met a sweet white guy from Tennesse. That was cool. He is a Veitnam vet and after talking with him, he is so ready for the Restored Gospel, but he straight up told us he wasn't going to convert. He was still way cool. His nickname was Tank, that he has had since High School. Then we literally ran from the rain...We could here it coming and it was hitting house tops in the distance and moving closer. We ran to our bikes and the rain was right behind us. It really was a wall of rain. We barely made it under cover before it just poured. Literally milliseconds. We had a good laugh. Then we went to BigC to eat some dinner and got stuck there until like 830pm and then it stopped raining so we could go home.

Sunday: Church was really good. The members here are really fun and easy to get along with. We had some lunch at the church and went home to get changed and eat some more. Then it rained for an hour and we couldn't leave. Then we had inviting time and we got a lesson done! It was good. Now I know better how to help this couple.

That is all I got for this week. I am having a way fun time here. I love you all!!

Elder Ackerman
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Hey all

Hello!

So it was a pretty normal week around here. As normal as it gets being a missionary I guess.

Monday: Well, a pretty normal P-Day around here. An excellent time to take a nap. By the end of the day, I am way tired. Sleep comes so quickly every night. We were able to teach a couple of lessons. But that is all.

Tuesday: A good day. Really long. We didn't find any new potentials and we only taught one lesson. English was great again. As usual. My students are so much fun. A lot of little kids, but they are all pretty good at English.

Wednesday: It was a pretty good day around here. Actually everyday is. We had our usual Wednesday District meeting. It was really cool. We took a look in the New Testament about how Jesus taught and how we can improve on teaching. We taught 3 lessons and got 2 new investigators out of it. And found a few more potentials. Wow, I am really not writing a lot for these days.

Thursday: We had our usual long planning for the nest week in the morning. We did a lot of street contacting and we taught 2 lessons in the evening. Got some new investigators too. One guy we taught, his son like a week ago drowned and left behind a daughter and a wife. It was pretty sad. We had a good opportunity to talk about the Plan of Salvation. Then on our way home. Elder Peacock got bit by a dog. Go figure. Didn't draw any blood, but had to get shots any ways. It was a weird experience. 3 dogs jumped out of the back of a truck and started chasing him. It was him in front, then the dogs, and then me. I saw the whole thing and Elder Peacock didn't realize that they were after him until he had gotten bit. Oh well.

Friday: We went to Udon all day. We had a 3 hour training with the Zone leaders and with President Smith. It was way cool and we learned better ways for teaching a first lesson and we got to practice as well. Then another 3 hour bus ride home. We got back in time to teach 2 planned appointments. They both went well. All in all a good day. When we were in Udon I got to get some McDonald's. We don't have any up were I am.

Saturday: An okay day, we had a few lessons planned and all of them got dropped except for one. And that lesson was not even that good. We really needed a member present to help us teach them. Next time for sure.

Sunday: A relatively better day. It was a usual fast Sunday. It was a pretty good 3 hour block. We taught our best investigator and her daughter after church and then later in the day had another lesson with a new family. They were both good lessons. Other than those, nothing else really.

Well, All in all, I am having a great time out here in Thailand!

Until next week!

Elder Ackerman
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Hey (written Sept 26, 2010)

Hello Everyone,

So this was a pretty sweet week I have to say (as are all my weeks here). I will jump right into it.

Monday: Well the rest of the Preparation-Day was pretty uneventful. We didn't have any lessons to teach, so we spent the rest of the night inviting before we had to go home.

Tuesday: The usual Tuesday. We went to the hospital so I could get another shot of the rabies vaccination. Nothing too special. We were able to teach one lesson with a family that has been learning with the Elders for a while. I feel with them when need to help them understand our purpose more and why we are here to teach them about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We had our usual English class. It is always fun and a good break. Not really a break, but it is fun.

Wednesday: So we changed our weekly District meeting to Wednesdays now. At least it is for me and Elder Peacock. Tuesday's are already pretty full and we don't have a lot of time. It will help us manage our time more effectively. He had prepared a lesson to look at how Christ invited others to learn. So we learned some cool things that we can do to help our street contacting go better. Taught 2 lessons and found 4 more potentials for the week. One of our investigators we taught is doing really well and has a baptismal date for the 24th of October.

Thursday: A pretty slow day. We long planned as usual for the next week. Then we went out and went walking/biking/talking to people. It went well I guess you could say. We taught only one lesson, but got some new investigators out of it. It was pretty cool. It is a grandmother and her two granddaughters. They are fun and have some very good questions that we are always excited to answer.

Friday: A way good day. We had a member from Udon help us teach all day. His name is Brother Geng and he goes all around Thailand and always helps the missionaries wherever he goes. It is way cool. So he helped us teach 4 lessons. Before we went around with him, we went out inviting. Out of one of the lessons we got a new investigator. A fun day overall.

Saturday: Another effective day. We taught 3 lessons right in a row, but unfortunately did not have a member with us for any of them. And out of that we got 5 new investigators. 2 new families to teach. It should go well with them. We have faith that it will. It was a pretty normal day.

Sunday: Well we were able to teach all of our lessons with a member. Having a member at the lesson is excellent. It really helps us as missionaries to have a normal person present (not that we aren't normal), but I think you get what I mean. We taught some new people and got some new investigators. It has been going really well for us here. Unfortunately we had to drop a family. Riding a bike all day is not hard. Being stuck in the rain is not hard. Being chased by big angry dogs is not a problem. Being on a mission is not too terribly physically hard. The hardest part is when the people you grow to love do not accept the Gospel of Christ. And having to drop them and stop seeing them is the hardest thing we do as missionaries.

Well that is all I have for this week. Thanks so much for your prayers and all.
Love,

Elder Ackerman
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Bit by a dog!

Hey everyone!

So this week I had a ton of pretty cool experiences. I will get to them all as I report the days! This was probably the coolest week of my mission.

Monday: Okay. So I didn't say anything about Monday last email for a reason. Monday at around 530pm, we got on a bus to go 3+ hours to Khon Kean to stay the night in a hotel. The next morning we were going to be having a meeting with Khon Kean zone as well as ours. Slept pretty comfortably. It was weird being in a hotel.

Tuesday: Okay. A very cool day! We get up at the normal missionary time to go to the chapel in Khon Kean. Our meeting was part of the mission tour of Elder Perkins of the Seventy. He is the area president for all of Asia. It was the most fantastic meeting. And before the meeting I got to interview with him for about 10 minutes. Just mainly wanted to talk to some Elders to find out what he wanted to talk about to the 2 zones. It was so cool! He is a great man. I felt very blessed to sit down with him for a few minutes. It was a little intimidating at first. I got told Monday night and my zone leader, Elder Dee told me not to lose too much sleep over it. I don't have my notes on me to share what I learned from the meeting. We were here from about 9 am to 3 pm. I just can't explain how cool it was. Then I got on a bus to go to Udon to do switch off's with the Zone leaders and Elder Peacock went back to Sakon Nakon with Elder Brown. I was in Udon until Friday morning.

Wednesday: Well I was in Udon. I don't remember much unfortunately. We had a district meeting with the Sisters and other Elders in Udon. What is way cool is that Elder Anderson in my group (in the MTC) is in Udon. That was way cool to see him for several days. The day was a fun day. We were able to teach a few lessons and find some potentials.

Thursday: Still in Udon. Taught some lessons and went out finding. We had a lot of time to work around. I also saw an elephant walking down a street!! I didn't have my camera to get a picture. It was way cool!

Friday: Got up at about 5am so we could get on a bus at 620 to get back to Sakon Nakhon. Took about 3 hours to get back. The Zone Leaders then gave a District meeting for me and Elder Peacock. It was good and then they headed back to the bus station to go back to Udon. We were able to teach 2 lessons the rest of the day.

Saturday: Well this was a fun day. I guess it depends on your definition of fun. It was a pretty rough day. All of our appointments got dropped and the only lesson we taught was about an hour before we had to go home and it was off the invite next to his house. It was a good lesson and we will go back and see them again. So on the way to go get food and go home, I was bit by a dog while riding my bike. I was pretty surprised as well! So we headed to the hospital and got home around 1130pm. It was a lot of waiting at the hospital to get the rabies vaccination. Don't worry, I am alright! I am not sick or anything. It really isn't that big of a deal. Just frustrating, a little frustrating.

Sunday: We went to church and it was pretty good. Were able to teach a lesson after church. We then went about from appointment to appointment for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, we taught only one more lesson. It went well. He was interested about the Plan of Salvation because his son had died 5 years ago at the age of 19. He wants an opportunity to see his son again. The rest of the day was normal.

Well that is all for this week. I am having an awesome time and I love you all!

Elder Ackerman
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Well I moved!

Hey everyone.

So to start out the email I guess I should let you all know that I moved areas! Now this move was not a 1 hour long taxi ride. It was an all day bus ride to the northeast of the country!! That is right. I am in the Isan! It is way cool up here! So needless to say I got a new companion. He is Elder Peacock from Orem, UT. He is pretty cool and I am sure we will get along just fine up here. The area I am in is สกลนคร or Sakon Nakon. You will have to look it up on the map, but it is very close to Loas. The people up here speak a little different dialect of Thai, but I should be able to get a hold of it soon enough. So I guess I can explain about the past week.

Tuesday: Pretty much waiting for the call if I would move from สะพานสูง (Saphaan Sung) or not. We got a lot of work done and Sure enough the call came. We then went and taught English. Well, I love teaching English. It is so much fun!

Wednesday: It was a last day of work and a little bit of packing. Actually a lot of packing. But thankfully it did not take too much time out of our schedule. I really can't remember all that happened. A lot has gone on the past few days.

Thursday: We went to moves meeting in the morning and thats where I found out where I was moving. I got to see Elder Nelson from my group and I got to see Elder Larson as well. That was way cool. Both are doing pretty awesome. Plus there is now a Thai AP! That has not happened for colse to 10 years now. So at about 11pm, we got on a bus and arrived at อุดร (Udon) to stay the night before traveling again the next morning. That's when I got to see Elder Anderson from my group. I was pretty happy. So we stayed the night there before moving on the next morning.

Friday: Left the house at like 540 to catch the 600 bus to สกลนคร. That was another 3 or so hours on a bus. Needless to say, when Elder Peacock and I got home, we were pretty tired. But I am excited to be here and serve. We had a long planning session and went out and worked.

Saturday: Well this was a good day. Taught a couple of lessons and did a lot of inviting. Up here in the Isan is a lot different than being in Bangkok. There are a lot less people. But the results don't really change. It is just here you really do talk with everyone. I also got hit on by a very drunk guy. You need to understand, here when poeple are drunk they start speaking in English, or as much as they know. It was a very awkward experience needless to say.

Sunday: Well, my first Sunday here. There are about 30 people in the branch that are active. A lot smaller than in Saphaan Sung. The members are great, plus we had like 10 investigators at church. That was pretty awesome. The members love it. There was a time for about 18 weeks where there were no investigators coming to church, but that was a while ago. I am very happy I am here.

Well that is all I have for this week!

Love,
Elder Ackerman
เอ็ลเดอร์ แอ็คเคอร์มัน

Short Week!

Hey one and all!

Well this was a very short week between emails! Mainly because time really flies around here and because the last Preparation Day was on Wednesday. So I apologize if this email is short.

Thursday: Okay, so I told you about having to show around a "greenie". I use that term very carefully considering I am still in my greenie area. But needless to say I had a blast and learned a lot. So Thursday I was working in Bangna with Elder Hardy. It was an alright day. We only got one lesson done and we didn't find any potentials. That evening, about 5:30pm, or so, we get in a taxi to go pick up our real companions. They were in a meeting all day for training. I got to see my trainer who is a zone leader up in Chiang Mai. An overall pretty cool day.

Friday: So, since we were busy on Thursday, we had our weekly planning session Friday after our morning studies. Not a lot to plan for except where we will be going inviting everyday. We seem to be low on the amount of investigators we have...that is what inviting is for. To go out and find them! We taught one lesson with a relatively new investigator. It went way well. I would say he is pretty excited about the gospel, which makes it slightly easier on our part.

Saturday: Well, it was a day full of inviting. No lessons or anything. We did find 4 new potentials for the day. We did a lot of walking up and down streets. But it is fun. You get a lot of time to think and to talk with people on the street.

Sunday: It was a pretty fantastic day. Going to church is always a good experience whether or not I understand everything people are saying. But it is all good. That is what the Spirit is for. To help us understand. So we were able to teach 3 lessons, find 8 new potentials and go to a dinner appointment. It was a great day. The lessons turned out well, and dinner was delicious. The members here are so fantastic. I will find out on Tuesday if I am moving or not. I personally hope I am not. I love it here.

Monday: Since it is the last P-Day of the moves, we are doing a good cleaning of the house. So it is going to be a pretty chill day. We have some appointments tonight and we will see if they work out or not.

Well that's all for now.

Elder Ackerman
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