ZAAM!!

HELLO EVERYONE. Hope everything is going well back home! It was a pretty busy week as the start of the transfer so I'll give you the run through.

Tuesday Aug 26 was transfer meeting. Me and Elder Tau obviously aren't getting transferred but we attended because Elder Tau is District Leader. Man, was it inspiring. During transfer meeting every missionary that is going home bears their testimonies and then President and Sister Carter speak. The spirit was so strong during that meeting and I just left it feeling so inspired. All of the missionaries spoke about 3 things that have helped them on their missions so I plan to definitely implement those. When President Carter speaks, I truly know he is an inspired man. I have so much respect for him and it makes me feel proud to know that President and Sister Balli have the same authority as them, and it is comforting to know that I have them as family right next door to me doing the Lord's work. President Carter told us that 2 Elders were beat up by 3 guys this past week... Satan truly has his guns out but we're NOT STOPPING. We are stronger on this side because we have that foundation of Christ that can withstand his attacks. ZAAM (Zion Australia Adelaide Mission) is ready to battle.

Thursday Aug 28- We did service for a members friend that morning. Mowed her lawn then cleaned her gutters.Then we came home and Elder Tau made crepes for lunch cuz he's french. Delicious :) At the moment we have 3 investigators. Andrew, David, and George. That day we taught Andrew and David both about baptism and we invited David to be baptized on Oct 4. He said yes and no at the same time. Frustrating. He actually needs mental help. He confides himself in his home all day, in the darkness, just sleeps and watches TV. We need to get him out of his home if he has any chance to progress. We taught ANdrew baptism but we didn't feel impressed yet to invite him. But we will continue to work with him.

Friday Aug 29- We mowed Davids lawn while he just sat their watching us, while somking about a thousand cigarettes. We always teach him inside and while we teach him he's always smoking so the house stinks horribly. But we just try to focus. My bike broke that day too. The chain changer thing just snapped so I had to take it to the bike shop. Now I treat my bike like a baby! I invite everyone to  recommend in their wards to sing "Beautiful Zion" on pg 44. That is the ZAAM anthem and we sing it all the time. I've never heard it before I got on my mission and now its one of my favorite hymns. We met George that night who is a new investigator this week and its tough for me sometimes to be patient and listen to people. Like with him I asked if we could come inside his home, and then he just rambled off about how he has prostate problems for about 30 minutes. I was suffering haha. People like to talk about themselves.

Saturday Aug 30- Was blazing hot! and it was only 23 Celsius. In Summer it gets about 40-45. Can't wait... We had another lesson with David that day about church and he commited to come to church. We were really glad to hear that.

Sunday Aug 31 we get a call from David before church and he says "I'm not coming to church. I feel offended. Elder Tau is always covering his nose in my home whenever I smoke." What a lame excuse. Theres really not much we can do with him but he'll probably end up calling us again in a few days.

Wanted to share a scripture before I go. Mosiah 6:3 "And again, it came to pass that when King Benjamin had made an end of all these things, and had consecrated his son Mosiah to be a king and ruler over his people, and gave him all the charges concerning his kingdom, and also had appointed priests to teach the people, that thereby they may know the commandments of God, and to stir them up in the rememberance of the oath which they had made, and they returned, everyone according to his family, to their own homes."

In this scripture we need to relate ourselves to the priests. We are chosen to teach Gods children the gospel and also to "stir up in them the remembrance of the oath which they have made." This is the part I want to point out. This is all about reactivation. Everytime someone is baptized and receives the ordinace they make a covenant with God, or an oath. Our job as active members of the church is to remind less active memeber the covenant they have made to our Heavenly Father. Brothers and Sisters, It makes me sick and very very very saddened to see people leave the church. Not only is it sad to see someone leave such a beautiful thing, but more importantly they have broken a covenant with God. That is not something to take lightly. We need to bring them back into the fold. Work on the less active in your wards. They need this gospel.

Love you all! GOD BLESS

Elder Acker