Darwin and the Northern Territory

Hi everyone! I'm emailing a day earlier today because we are currently in Darwin! Man I love it here, I do miss Katherine a little bit though! And to add to the fun, we're staying at Elder Briscoe and Elder Moonies flat! You guys probably don't remember but I served with Elder Briscoe in Onkaparinga District so its really good to see him again! We're both happy to be  in the Northern Territory.   Elder Briscoe doesn't want to go back to Adelaide, there definitely is something special about the Northern Territory.  I hope to stay here for quite awhile but whatever happens happens! The reason we're here in Darwin is because we had Northern Territory District Conference, and it was very good, extremely revelatory!  On my mission I've just really come to LOVE meetings, no matter how small it may be! I feel like every time I attend meetings I get the chance to reflect upon my life ad receive revelation for what I can do better, and this conference was awesome!  Lots of inspiring words!  I really do miss being in a full branch/ward. We had no one come to church last week, it was just me and Elder Aguilar, so yep its different. But ya we will be heading back to Katherine Wednesday.  I'm excited to change things and do better in Katherine, it really is time to step up and work harder. I love you all! Have a good week! 

Elder Acker

Never a dull moment

Hi Everyone! Its been a fantastic week in Katherine, lot of stuff happening!

Friday Jan 29, 2015- We had lunch today at a place I've never been before. Its called Katherine Kebabs! And boy is it good! I've always heard about kebabs before but never have tried them before. Strangely, it reminded me of Taco Bell so I was a happy Elder. We then went to go see our aboriginal Brother Friday, he is the best! We see him basically every day and read the BOM with him and we were reading a part about Laman and Lemuel and how they spoke hard words unto Nephi and he is like, "Ya, they do speak hard words, I can't read some of the words" haha we got a good laugh out of that. He's getting better at reading everyday! We then went to go see a guy named Pat, he's been friends with the missionaries for a long time and he always lets us into his home. At the moment he is not very interested in the gospel so we go over there and have a good yarn with him. Yarn means talk here, don't ask me why cuz I don't know, I just feel cool saying it haha. We then went tracting and we came across an aboriginal lady that almost called the cops on us! SHe told us that she is a preacher at her local church and she doesn't want anyone on her property, crazy crazy. We then went to the Wilsons which is like the best family ever and the mom and dad gave us permission to teach their kids! Hopefully we can get the kids interested! We ended the night pretty bad because Elder Aguilar had a gnarly crash on his bike. His front wheel popped out off of a jump, results are included in the picture below haha. He's all good now though.

Saturday Jan 30, 2015- Because Elder Aguilars bike broke we had to get a new bike today. There's only one place to buy bikes here so we were limited on what to buy, we had to call the office multiple times to try to figure it all out it was pretty cool though because there is a new office couple in our mission, Elder and Sister Smith. They called me and asked me if I was a Bronco fan and I said I most definitely am. They said they thought so and told me they are from Aspen, Colorado! Awesome! I love having that here in Australia. Its pretty cool actually, I've seen quite a few of aboriginals wearing denver nuggets and broncos apparel. We then had the Northern Territory District Presidents family come up and we had dinner at their hotel room, it was really nice. They come every once in awhile to Katherine. 

Sunday Jan 31, 2015- We had a great fast and testimony meeting today, we had a lot of people at church and everyone beared their testimonies! It was great! 

Monday Feb 1, 2015- Pretty boring P day but I slept like for 3 hours haha we then went to the Lucchese's and had shepherds pie and played minute to win it games! So Fun!

Well that was my week up here in Katherine, might be my last week here but who knows, new transfer starts next week.

Transfer 7, week 4

HELLO EVERYONE!  

Its been a pretty dull week this week, I've been sick for most of it so that's a bummer. I'm all good now though, and we're ready to smash the work this week! 

But from the time that we we're actually doing stuff when I was not sick its been good. We got Brother Friday to church this week, he hasn't been in quite awhile because he had no way to get to church but he decided to take a taxi to church. Church this Sunday was only me, Elder Aguilar, and Brother Friday. Pretty interesting Sabbath Day haha great experience though, we're going to make sure to get more people this week for sure! That has basically been the highlight of the week, its so dang hot up here I might die and our bikes have been braking heaps lately but we're still pushin! 

I love to hear from you all every week, thank you so much for your support! 

Love, 

Elder Acker

Transfer 7, Week 3 with the crocodiles

Hi everyone! Its been a very eventful week this week and I actually brought my journal this time! Sorry that my latest posts have been pretty bland haha

Monday Jan 12, 2015- We were in Darwin and we went to Jumping Crocs on Adelaide River! I'll attach a pic in this email which will explain well what it is but it was so cool! There was one croc that was humongous and when it chopped it made my chest vibrate! So crazy, they are really amazing creatures. Great experience! 

Friday Jan 17, 2015- We have an investigator named Delilah who has been taught for awhile now. She's in her 20's and she is taking care of her little baby sister at the moment. Her mom past away about 3 months ago and her uncle recently past this past weekend. She 'hadn't been to church for about 6 weeks but she decided to show up this past Sunday. She says that she feels like she needs the gospel back again, and she committed to be baptized next Saturday! When she told us that she was ready and committed my heart just dropped. I am so excited for this step she is going to take :) 

Sunday Jan 19, 2014- This Sabbath Day was very unusual....no one came to church, absolutely no one. Elder Aguilar came prepared with epic talks and no one showed! Everyone was either out of town, sick, or just didn't come. Delilah was on the scene at a car accident because she is a nurse. Anyways, ya no one showed but it will be better next week! We went over to Delilah's that night to talk to her and she expressed to us that she is scared for her baptism, a little shock went through my body, I didn't want her to flake so we just talked to her and she said she is scared she'll hit her head in the baptism. I told her that I have never baptized anyone before and she was kind of scared about that but then we demonstrated it and now she has no worries! She's ready to go!

Monday, Jan 20,2014- P Day is always a blast in Katherine, we got Target, a dollar store, and a toy store, so we did some pretty good shopping haha, nah we spent a lot of the time at the flat playing table football that my parents sent me for Christmas and it would get pretty intense! We then went to the Lucchese's that night for dinner and it was great! I love being with them, their so fun to be around, they feel like family. I'm so grateful for Katherine, I've grown to love these people. I don't want to leave! 

That was my week this week! Hope everyone is doing well! Catch ya next week!

Love,

Elder Acker

Katherine is picking up!

G'day everyone! How blessed I am to be able to email you all every week. I think about and pray about all of you each and every day. Everyone who is reading these emails has a special place in my heart and I want you all to know that. Being on this mission makes me appreciate the family and friends I have at home. 

I unfortunately forgot my journal this week, so I'm just going to be going off my memory haha

We had a great week in Katherine and we had 14 people at church including an investigator and a less active who hasn't been to church in about 2 years! We had two other missionaries with us from Darwin in Katherine this week. Elder Godffrey from Utah and Elder Miller from England. It was alot of fun! We're in Darwin at the moment and we plan to go back to Katherine tomorrow! 

There's not much more to tell from this week cuz I forgot my journal but I just wanted you all to know that I love you and I love this Gospel, I think alot of the times we feel like we don't necessarily need it in or lives but I can assure you that we do. We may become comfortable with the gospel in our lives and soon come to realize that we don't feel any power from it anymore, and the best thing to do is to rekindle that fire when your in that situation. I've come to realize in my own life that as soon as I became a little be casual or selective in living the gospel, I soon come to realize that there is security in living the gospel. Yes, we are different from anyone else in the world but I sure do know that this is the safest place we can be. It may be hard sometimes to hold onto that iron rod because of the temptations around us but as soon as we let go we become vulnerable. I need this gospel in my life to go on. Without it I would be lost.

I love you all

Elder Acker

Very short and sweet! Transfer 7, week 1

Boy oh boy whatta week. I got my new companion, his name is Elder Aguilar and he is from the Phillipines. We were in Darwin for the first half of the week so not much has happened in Katherine. 

Everyone is getting ready for the New Year here and we're all excited for the year ahead. We expect a lot of great things within this next year. Not much to tell this week, but I hope everyone is doing well!

Love you all! 

Elder Acker

Photos from Christmas Eve

When we first connected with Joe, he could hear us but we could not hear him!   It went on for about 15 minutes like that! 

Finally he and Elder Tanner figured it out and were fully connected!!

Brad "carried"  Elder Acker downstairs where he said hello to everyone.  First, he wanted to sing "Silent Night", so we all sang together.   

  Then he was passed along to all his family for some holiday wishes

 
   

 He even got to watch a little of Santa Claus (with Tylie!)

 After he said his "hellos" we took him back upstairs and had a lovely time talking and sharing.  He and Elder Tanner sang us a song and Joe shared his testimony and gave us council.  We spoke for a total of an hour and 20 minutes!   What a wonderful gift it was.