October 9
Hey Family,
I am sad that you didn't get my email last week. I will try to see if I can forward it back to you all. I am glad that everyone is having a great time still. I love you all and I want you to know that I am thinking of each and one of you. I thought a lot about you especially this weekend with conference. We did get to watch it and this year was so amazing. Mom, I did love the "observe and than serve" talk. It was so good. I learned so many great things from this conference. I learned to have faith in my Heavenly Father to never fall short. We need to be doing the very best that we can and to make sure we are not wasting time. One of the talks that I really like and can't remember who it was, but he talked a lot about families and how our life here on earth is short and that we need to be making memories with our families and becoming best friends (as I took it) this made me think all of you and that I am so grateful for the many memories that we all have together and that I am excited to have a life time to make many more. I love you all so much and miss you all a lot.
I cannot believe the changes made in conference. That was so shocking. I am so excited for those future missionaries. I think this will help more sister missionaries that want to go out. I think that this is part of the reason why. We need more sister missionaries. Sisters are just so special and we carry such a sweet spirit that the elders don't carry. I love being a Sister missionary and I recommend all those who want to serve a mission to go on one if they are worthy and able too.
Today has been a very special day. I was able to attend the LA temple this morning. It was so amazing and so pretty. I loved being there and I wish that I could be there all the time. I love the peace and love that I feel as I am there. It is in the temple where I feel the closest to my Father in Heaven. I can feel His love for me and know that He is proud of my decision to be here on a mission. This experience today has brought me so much joy and happiness and I can't wait for the opportunity when I will be able to attend another session. We as missionaries are able to go to the temple every six months which is so great. I love the temple!
This past week has been amazing. My faith is growing each day and each day we are finding more and more people to teach. We weren't able to meet with our family that we have been working with because they have been sick, but we have made an appointment to see them this week. We are planning on committing them to baptism this week. We really feel like the are ready and we are going to do everything we can to help the wife Erin to become interested in the gospel as well. They are such a sweet family and I have a great vision for them in the church.
Kristian Bonk is a golden investigator. We had a really good lesson with him last Wednesday. We talked about the importance of our bodies and the law of Chasity. We felt really impressed that he needed this lesson. He is a D.J and we wanted to make sure he knew the importance of keeping our bodies safe. He really understood this commandment and said that he would keep it and wanted to be able to help his friends realize the things that they are doing aren't smart. He really wants to make a difference to those that are around him. He told us that he doesn't think that he would be able to go out on a mission like us, but that his mission would be to stay here and be a good influence of those that he goes and D.J's for. He will be such a great example to all his friends and family. He is gaining a testimony of his own and has prayed about the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true and really wants to make this change in his life. We are hoping that he will be baptized by the end of the month. We feel like he his ready, but he really wants to make sure that he is ready. He is a bright kid and is going to change a lot of peoples lives.
Having faith brings great miracles. I had a miracle happen to me the only day. We were walking around and saw this lady at the bus stop and felt like we should go and visit with her. We said hi and started talking with her and she didn't really understand english that much and didn't understand what we were really talking about. I then felt prompted to pull out a pass along card and the one I grabbed happened to be in spanish. I had to take a second glance at the card because before we left the house I knew that I only grabbed english cards. WOW! God works in mysterious ways and if we have faith and loose ourselves in the work, He will always help us and bless us. I still don't know how that happened and I looked through the rest of the cards and there was no other spanish ones in the pile that I had. I know that we were suppose to be talking to her and that she was suppose to get that pass a long card that was in spanish. I am so grateful for the spirit and for the prompting that I was able to have and that I acted on it.
I love this gospel so much and everyday that I talk to people, I know that I am in the right place and the right time. We have made some great contact and are finding lots of people to teach. Oh another miracle that happened to us is that Matt and Sarah one of our other families that we just picked up called us last week and wanted us to come have dinner with them. We were so excited and so shocked that they called. We gladly accepted the invite and had a wonderful meal with them and were able to teach them about faith. We are hoping to have a family night with them and to teach them about the plan of salvation.
I am so grateful for all the many blessings that I have received while being out here. I am growing so much here and love every min of my mission so far. There is no other place that I can imagine myself being at this time in my life. I know that this is the only true church and that Joesph Smith was chosen to restore this gospel and to translate the Book of Mormon. I know that the scriptures are true and I love reading them and getting the answers to my prayers. I feel so much peace when I read them. I love prayer and the comfort that I know that my Heavenly Father loves me. I am grateful for the trials that I am faced with so that I can grow and learn from them. This gospel has been such a blessing in my life and I am so glad to be a member of it.
I love you all again and hope you have a wonderful week. I hope this email reaches you all. I have added some pictures of me and sister davidson at the temple. I hope you enjoy them. Actully the pictures aren't working. I will try again next week.
Love Sister Ackley
P.S. I was wondering if you all could maybe start looking for some warmer clothes for me. It is starting to cool down and I would like some long sleeve cardigans. Any outs fits that are colorful too would be wonderful. Thanks so much.
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