April 16, 2013

April 16

Hello family!! 

Thank you for all of the Birthday wishes. My birthday week as had a great start by being able to go to the temple. The temple was so amazing! I love it there so much. Going to the temple is so special to me and every time I go I feel my Heavenly Father's love for me. I felt the spirit so strongly today and I knew that everything is going to be okay and everything is going to work out. I love the peaceful feeling that I feel everything that I am there. It was so cute. We went with my Bishop and his wife (Arnold's) and they were the cutest thing every. They have been married for 37 years and are so in LOVE still. They were so cute in the Celestial room and Sister George (one of my favorite sister missionaries who we are sharing a ward with) and I said how cute they were and how we want to be so in LOVE with our spouses just as they are. It made me think of you, mom and dad. I love you two very much and miss you both. You two are the greatest examples to me about what I marriage should be like. Thanks for all that you do. 

We are doing a lot of finding in this area. As I mentioned before, we don't have that many investigators right now. We were able to find four new investigators this passed week with our diligence and faith knowing that the Lord will show us who are prepared.  Two of our investigators are Korean and we have found them because they want to learn English. Kimmie is one. I mentioned her last week. She said that she would like to learn more about our religion. Last week we talked about two points of the Restoration. God is our loving Heavenly Father and God blesses families. She really enjoyed that and felt the spirit. It was really neat to see her smile when we talked about how much Heavenly Father loves each of His children and wants to help us all so that we can live with Him again. I really like her and we will be seeing her again this week. Brother Lee(don't remember his first name) has met with the missionaries before and then stopped learning from them. We were able to meet with him to teach him English and after we asked him if he would be interested in learning from us again and he said that he would like that. We taught him a little about the plan of Salvation and that really touched him. Family means a lot to him and he wants to know more of how his family can be eternal. We plan on seeing him tonight and will be talking more about families and the restoration. These two are great people and I know that they are searching for something more in their life.

Out of the blue. We got a phone call from a former investigator named Choe. He had met with the missionaries years ago and then just felt to call us. He wants to know more of what we believe and wants to come to church. He had some questions for us and we were able to answer them for him. He is a seventh day Adventist and their beliefs are pretty similar to ours. It was a great experience for all of us. He didn't have that much time, but wanted to talk with us and set up a time to meet with him again. We are going to call him later this week and meet with him and we plan on giving him a church tour. That is another thing that he said that he would be interested in. Exciting things are starting to happen here in this area. 

We were also able to meet with a girl named Adrianna. She is 13 years old and lives with her grandma. She has been taken the missionary lessons for a little while now is getting close to being baptized. We taught her the 10 commandments, prophets, and obeying the laws of the land. She really enjoyed the 10 commandments. We taught her how to remember them with her fingers. Her younger brother was there and really enjoyed it too. They both are super excited to be baptized. Adrianna's baptism is set for the 27th of April, but we will have to push it back because her dad isn't on board with this whole thing yet. I guess he wants her to look at other churches before just chooses one. I think she is a little sad about this and knows that our church is the true church. She is a great girl and I know that the Lord will help Adrianna and will soften her father's heart. I pray everyday that he will let her get baptized.

A miracle that we saw this week was when we were contacting a referral that came from one of the ward members. This 19 year girl named Samantha was going to seminary last year with one of our members. She loved going to seminary and really loved learning form the bible and what we believed about the bible. She then graduated from High School and nothing really happened after that. Well we stopped by to see her the other day and she was so nice and welcomed us right in. She said that she was wanting to meet with us again. We were able to teach her and her friend Victoria that was there a little about the Restoration and was able to make a return appointment. She seems really interested and wants to learn more of our beliefs. I was really surprised at how happy she was to see us and how eager she seems to want to know more. I have hope and faith that the spirit will testify to her that this is the true gospel and the only way to have everlasting happiness.

We were able to meet with Brother Runner again this week. We had a super great lesson with him and the spirit was really strong. He even mentioned that he could feel something different there. We were reading with him in 3 Nephi 11  and talking about when Christ comes again. We really got into his heart and we bore testimony that Jesus Christ will come again and that because of his atonement we are able to overcome any challenges that come in our way and that we are here on this earth for a reason and things will happen to us and we don't understand why, but we just need to trust the Lord that they are for our benefit and will help us to become that great person Heavenly Father wants us to become. Brother Runner still hasn't had coffee for a week now and looks great. I know that because he is doing this and trying to be a better person, the Lord is strengthening him each day. He has progressed so much already and even came to church on Sunday.

I love this gospel with all my heart. I have felt so much love and strength from the Lord this past week. I know that I can conquer anything that comes into my path. I know that this is the only true gospel and that this is the only way that we can live with our Heavenly Father again. I love the scriptures so much and find comforting words every time that I read them. Here are two scriptures that have touched me this week. Mosiah 23:10, 21-22. The Lord truly knows each one of us and knows what we need better what we think we need. This life is full of patience and faith building. I am grateful for the challenges that I am facing and that I will face because I know that the Lord will be there with me every step of the way and that what I am going through is going to help build me to be that wonderful daughter that he needs to me to be. 

I love you all so much and I hope you all have a wonderful week. Big hugs from me to YOU!!!

Love Sister Ackley

Pictures: The four Sisters at the temple, Sister Yoon, Me, Sister George, and Sister Chambers. 2. Sister George and Me, Sister Yoon and me.