December 10th, 2012

December 10

Hello Family!

I am so glad to hear from you. Oh man, no fun being sick. I hope that I don't get sick either. There has been a cold with a really yucky cough that has been going around here and I don't want to catch it. There is no time to be sick here in the mission field.

I cannot believe that Christmas is just around the corner. It is so weird and doesn't feel like Christmas to me. I miss the snow. :) Winter here is really warm. All I really need to wear is a sweater during the day and then at night a little bit heavier one which I have. It does really get that cold here. When it rains it does get cold, but it isn't that bad. 

For Christmas we will be with lots of families in the ward. We are loved by so many and they all want us to come over. I cannot wait to be able to talk with you all. Guess what? We will be able to Skype or I can face-time on the I Pad's or dad's Iphone. How cool is that? I am very excited to hear your voices and hopefully see you all. I love and miss you all so much. 

Some other news that we got as a mission this past week is that everyone leaving to go home after Feb (me) with be returning a week earlier than what we are already scheduled to go home. Due to more missionaries coming in the area we will be doing transfers every 3-5 weeks instead of 6 week transfers. Crazy! That was so shocking to us all and I could not believe it.

Alright so this week us good. We are finding new people each week which is good. We have a lot of families and individuals that are in our teaching pool. This week we were able to visit with Lindy. We gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and talked a lot about where her son is and that she will be able to see him again. She really showed a lot of interest. We also asked her how she liked church and she said that she loved it and the feeling that she felt was great. She felt so peaceful and calm at church and thought that everyone was so nice and warm welcoming. She even said that she is going to come again next week. We are so excited and plan on teaching her more about the Plan of Salvation this week.

We were able to catch Robin at home this week. We were able to help her out with service and to talk with her a little bit about how Sister Davidson and I found that this gospel and the Book of Mormon was true. It was so neat. I  bore testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I feel every time I read it and how Heavenly Father hears and answers all of our prayers and is always there for us and is watching over us. It was really neat. The spirit was so strong there. Oh, and guess what? She had a miracle happen to her after we left too. So she lives in the guest house of one of the members and before seeing Robin we stopped by to say a quick hello and they told us that her cat was missing and she was very sad and was worried that something would happen with the cat. Now, we knew how special this cat meant to Robin she when we saw her, she didn't say anything to us and we didn't say anything to her about the cat either. Well when we were done at her house she insisted that we say a closing prayer. Sister Davidson said the prayer and just prayed for whatever Robin is going through that she may be able to be comforted. Well after walking us out to our car, Robin said that her cat was sitting at the door. She called us right after and told us that she had a miracle happen to her and that this was a blessing from having us over. We were so excited to hear this. ROBIN HAD A MIRACLE!! This was big news for us because she doesn't believe in God, but after this I can sense that this could change some things. We were even excited that she recognized it has a blessing. I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and for the testimony that I was able to share with her before we left. I know that all of what was said was preparing her for this great miracle and I hope that she will have gained some faith or if she does already that it was strengthen. We plan on teaching her again this Tuesday and Thursday. 

Our family the Erkenbrack's are doing well. We went over last night to say hi and let them know that we missed them at church. We were able to talk with Sister Erkenbrack about the blessings in our lives and how blessed we are to have this gospel in our lives and that God has a plan for each of us. She is so amazing and I am so proud of her for wanting to come back to church and make this great change so that her family can to be happy. They also invited us to have dinner with them next Sunday! :) We will also be teaching her husband about the Plan of Salvation too. Her husband is the one who is investigating in the church and is very excited to meet with us as well. They are coming a long way. Their kids are super excited about church and love coming to primary. They do have a hard time coming on some Sunday's because one of their kids plays basketball. When the new year changes they will be able to come more often. We are so excited to see them progress and to help them draw closer to the Lord.

We met one of our Less Actives in the ward. It is a part member family. Brother Wyrzykowski is a member and he is a convert to the church himself. He loves the gospel and wants to come to church more often, but he is so dedicated to his family and says that family comes first and goes and supports his wife with her religion. He wanted us to share a message with him before we left and we talked about faith and the trials of our faith. He has a strong testimony of faith and says that he wants to us to come by and teach a family night with him and his family. We are excited to do this and hope that the spirit will touch his family.

Our district went Caroling to some of our investigators and they really enjoyed it. It was a really cool experience for me as well and the spirit was there with us when we sang. I know that the spirit testifies through music and is able to touch people. It was a lot of fun and we will be doing it again this week.

Well these were some of the highlights of the week. I hope that you enjoyed hearing about my experiences. I just want to end with my testimony that I really do know that Heavenly Father loves me and knows exactly what I need and knows how to help me when I am feeling down and discouraged. I know that He answers our prayers and gives us strength to move fast the hard times. I know that Jesus Christ is the son of God and still lives today. I am so grateful for his atoning sacrifice. It means so much to me to know that he suffered for me and for all of my sins. I know that it is because of him that we can be forgiven of our sins and that we can be made clean again. I know that families are on of the greatest blessings and that we can live with our families forever. I know that this is the only and true gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God!

I love you all so much. I hope you all feel better and have a wonderful week! Lots of Hugs and Kisses

Love Sister Ackley