July 15, 2013

July 15

Dear Family and Friends, 

It is good to hear from you all. It sounds like you all have been having a great week. Mom, I loved the pictures. Your classroom is going to be the cutest of them all. I am really excited for you. When does school start for you again? Are you getting excited to start frist grade? You will be an awesome teach as always and those kids are going to love you. How are all you boys doing at home? Are you staying out of trouble? I'm sure you are. :)

This week has been a wonderful and crazy week. Being a Sister Trainer is keeping me busy. I was able to go on two exchanges this week. Exchanges are fun because I get to leave my area for a day and be with another sister. Being a Sister Trainer has helped me to know the sisters a lot more in the mission and I love being there for them when they need help with something. I have had great experiences with both sisters in their areas. A cool experience that I had while on exchanges. We got to go visit a recent convert that I was able to contact a year ago. My companion and I were the first missionaries to ever talk to her and it was at a time where she needed the gospel the most. She had just lost her husband and missed him a lot so she called and requested a family forever dve and we were able to drop it off to her. She still remembers me from a year ago and I guess from what the sisters say is that she doesn't stop talking to me. I have been wondering about her and it makes me feel good to know that I did make a differenece when I was in Glendora. She is now preparing to entering the temple. I am so excited for her!! I hope that I can get permission to go see her when she goes through. When I was there we went through the book let and she started crying. It is going to mean so much to her when she can be sealed to her husband forever. She really wants this and cannot wait til the day that it is done. Seeing her made me so happy. I love what this gospel does to people. Brings families together and makes people so happy. She had a smile on her face the whole time. I love her so much. She is a great lady!!

We had a lesson with Alex this week and it was HORRIBLE!! We met with him for about an hour and a half and the whole time we maybe taught about 20 mins of the lesson we planned. The member that we brought talked the whole time. It was really frustrating because we are suppose to me the ones teaching. The reason why the members are there is to add testimony to what we are saying so that the investigators can see other peoples experiences. We had a really important lesson to teach Alex and we felt that we ended up in a marriage council with him and the member. We know that Alex is trying to fix his relationship, but that is something that gets brought up every time and President doesn't want us to be there to fix his marriage. That isn't why we are here. We are here to help people come closer to Christ and build that relationship with him. We have told Alex that if he puts God first then all will work out in the way that it is suppose to. He needs to have that faith and trust in God. Alex is a special person and God has great things instore for him. He just needs to realize that and stop pushing back himself from getting baptized. He knows its right and we are trying to find out what is stopping him. We are going to have FHE with him and President tonight. We are hoping that President can help us because we don't know what to do anymore. 

We had a mission conference this past week. It was our summer party. It was a lot of fun and I learned so many great things. Somethings that stuck out to me was what one of the assistants talked about. He talked about faith and how we need to know and regocnize the faith that we don't know we have. Sometimes we think that we don't have the faith, but we do have the faith. We need to not worry about the future and just have faith and focus on one day at a time. Nothing is going to come at once. You can conquer ONLY today. Be patient and everything will work out. Have faith that you know that you are doing all that you can. I really loved this and this is what i needed to hear. Sometimes I feel that I lack in faith and that I worry too much about the future. I need to focus on one day at a time and know that God will lead to me where I need to go. I know that He has a plan for me. I know that I am a daughter of God and that He loves me and is proud of me. I am grateful for the scriptures and for prayer. I know that God hears and answers our prayers. I am grateful for the temple and for families. I am grateful for my parents and for their temple sealing so that we can be a family forever!

I love you all and I hope that you all have a wonderful week. Have fun and stay safe! Until next time. Here are some pictures. Hope you enjoy

Love Sister Ackley