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

Week #82

(The picture is of what used to be a rice field)


Dear Everyone,

So this was another week full of service. I do not know where to start really. All the days lately I have not been able to keep apart at all. We seem to wake up, do service, come home and eat and sleep. It is actually a lot of fun, so don't worry. Umm. Since I emailed on Tuesday night, I will start with Wednesday. Actually I really don't remember at that we did this week. I mean, I don't remember what was done on each day of the week. We cleaned a couple of more houses, helped people move stuff back to the original places, did some scraping of walls to prep for painting, did some actual painting, etc. It has been pretty tiring and napping during the day has been becoming a lot more attractive (no I have not napped at all). Sunday turned out to be okay. We watched the Asia Area Stake Conference, again. This will actually be Elder Hanni's 4th time watching it. Here in Ayutaya, they have not seen General Conference yet even. That will be happeing this Saturday and Sunday. That will be fun to watch again in Thai. Umm, I really do not have a lot to report I am sorry. The flood waters are going down, but as far as I know, Rangsit is still flooded, but getting better. We also got invited to go to a Thanksgiving dinner in Bangkok on this Friday. I hope that it still all goes through.

I guess I can also introduce my new companion. He is Elder Chamberlain from Boise, Idaho. I am his follow-up trainer. He is starting transfers 3 and even though we have not done any teaching together, he is a very driven missionary and a good example to me. The other 2 Elders here are Elder Hanni and Elder Raven. They are both pretty awesome and having 4 Elders in a house again is way fun.

I am sorry, but that is all I have for this week. I love you all so much!!

Elder Ackerman

Week #81

Dear Everyone,

So this was a pretty crazy week. I do not even know where to start. All of the days rushed into to one, so I am not going to separate the days apart.

So from last Monday, we traveled to Ayuttaya. We did a lot of shopping for stuff since the Elders have not been at the house for about a month. We bought a lot of clean drinking water as well since the city water in unreliable. So we went put from Tuesday to Saturday doing service everyday. We have cleaned around 5 houses. They were really dirty. The whole city was practically underwater. It was like a modern day Atlantis, but not quite. On Sunday morning we traveled to Bangkok to attend church. On Monday we had a Zone Conference with Elder Gong of the Area Presidency in attendance. That was really cool. It was an excellent meeting. We had our P-day on Tuesday. I am writing this email at 8 pm and I am very tired. Lots of traveling and very little sleep. I am doing well. Thank you for all of your prayers and thoughts.

Love,
Elder Ackerman

Week #80

Dear Everyone,

So this was a pretty fun week. A lot of exciting things happening.

Monday: So we had a pretty good P-Day. We relaxed did the usual napping and such. We went out to Nong Jig for the evening and taught a few lessons. Our investigators out there are doing alright, but still need some work for sure. It was an overall good evening.

Tuesday: We had a good proselyting day, well I guess we did. We had a lot planned to do through out the day and it all fell through. We had a couple investigators that we wanted to go visit and none of them were at home. That was alright. We taught a lesson before English started. That turned out well. The English class was fun and we had a good turn out. Our lesson that we wanted to teach in the evening fell through, so we just went and had dinner.

Wednesday: We had another pretty okay day. District Meeting was a lot of fun. It went well and I got a couple complements from the missionaries that I am over. Lots of finding time during the day, but not a lot of finding people to teach. We talked to several people, but it is sometimes hard to get into there house and teach a lesson. We went out to Nong Jig again and taught a couple of lessons.

Thursday: We had a good couple hours of weekly planning to get on the same page. We taught a couple of lessons. We went and visited a recent-convert family. Actually it was the family that I baptised. They are struggling a little bit with going to church, but we are working on it with them. I love that family so much and want to see them really preparing to go to the temple. We had a really effective Coordination meeting with the branch as well.

Friday: Friday evening was the only teaching that we did for the day. Visited another 3 recent converts out at Nong Jig as well. They are doing well. I also got a call from the Assistants that I would be moving from RoiEt Sunday night. Elder Todd had to go down to renew his visa and I was moving. It was a little shock because it was so soon and not very well prepared on my part for it.

Saturday: We spent the afternoon packing and cleaning up the house. Took about 3 hours to take care of. We had also planned for the day to go with Brother Suteb and his wife to go to Suwanapum to teach some referrals and a current investigator family. It was about an hour away by car. We did teach a couple of lessons and got some new investigators as well. It was good and we got dinner as well with our family down there.

Sunday: Had the normal church block. Had 5 investigators come to church. That was a success. We taught a lesson afterwards and then went to the house to eat some lunch. We went and contacted a referral from a member and that turned out okay as well. We spent sometime finding, taught that recent convert family again and told them I was getting on a bus at 930 pm. They were kind of bummed, but they will do just fine. We then went back home and had dinner made by our member neighbours. That was so good! Then went to the bus station with Brother Suteb and his wife and went down to Bangkok.

I am now going to be serving in Rangsit, but at the moment it is flooded, so I do not know where I am going/ what I will be doing. Something maybe about going to Loburi and doing some service. I don't know. Well I love you all!!

Elder Ackerman