A baptism

G'day!!! It has been a monumental week in Hackham West this week!

Wednesday Oct 7, 2015- We had zone training today. This has been one of the many meetings we have had this transfer and because of that everyone just seemed dead today haha. We're all getting pretty tired of so many meetings, we just want to go out and work! After the Zone Training we got some pizza with the other Elders. We want to go visit Brad afterwards and just ran through the baptism interview questions with him. He's so solid and humble! We then met with one of our investigators Bob at the chapel, we took him on a chapel tour which turned out really well! We ended up locking ourselves out of the chapel with all of our stuff inside so we had to call the other elders to come open the chapel for us, as we we're waiting we got a call from our investigator Phillip. We have been trying to get a hold of him for the past couple days but he hasn't answered. But when he called us at this time he expressed to us that he needs to "take a step back for a few months." Elder Corotan and I we're both pretty heart broken. We tried to figure out why he has made this decision right before his baptism but he just kept saying I need to think more. We respected his choices but we're sad to have lost him today as an investigator.... We we're blessed to be able to go to a members home for dinner this evening which helped us to get our minds off of the recent situation, plus there was like a billion kids there too so playing with them made me think f back home with my cousins, we both really enjoyed tonight :) As Elder Corotan and I talked about what happened with Phil, we both felt sad, we realized how strong Satan actually is. I was telling my companion that I have dealt with disappointments like this heaps of times on my mission. Even though they suck, the discouragement doesn't last long because in the end we know the church is true and these disappointments will allow us to prepare for disappointments we will face for he rest of our lives. Our mission are literally a training for the rest of our lives. So grateful.

Thursday Oct 8, 2015- This morning we went to go see Anthony, our investigator. We played a game of pool with him then taught him about obedience. We then went to go see our inv Mahalla. She had heaps of visitors so it wasn't the best time to teach her but we we're able to have a good chat with her. We then did some door knocking, sadly didn't find anyone. We then went to the Anderson's for dinner. It was a Filipino feast!! So good, I love Filipino food. We then went to the Fechners to try some of their lemon cake. Not really helping me lose weight haha

Saturday Oct 10, 2015- What a wonderful day! The day was filled with spiritual experiences. We were able to watch General Conference today and we were able to witness the baptism of our investigator Brad! What a great day! We we're so glad to be able to experience that today. I'm so grateful to be a prat of this church, not many people have the opportunity to experience the things we do as members of the church!

Sunday Oct 11, 2015- Today we watched the remaining sessions of General Conference! After conference we went the other elders flat to have lunch. Elder Keller cooked Nuna (Noodles and Tuna), so good, definitely a missionary budget meal. Did weekly planning for a few hours then went to go see the Davies but on the way we met a man in the park named Rick. He was eating fish and chips and as soon as we said hello he offered us food, such a nice man, we had a good discussion with him and plan to continue our discussions this coming week! Listening to the inspiring words of Prophets and Apostles this weekend has left me feeling inspired. I recognize, and I'm sure all of us do, that I have a lot of things to work on. Its pretty daunting but I know that as we have righteous desires to change a be stronger disciples of Jesus Christ, God will lead us in exactly what we need to do.

I hope everyone has chose a verse this week to ponderize! Mine is 1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you" 

Love you all!

Elder Acker

With the good, comes the bad!! He keeps pressing on!!

Hey Everyone! Another fantastic week in Hackham West!

Monday Sep 28, 2015- 

P Day today! Spent most of the day purusing the biggest shopping centre in Southern Australia. Humungous place. We then got to go have a BBQ at the beach in Hallet Cove. This beach is the beach in my first area so it was good to go back :) Later that night we had the wonderful opportunity to have FHE at the Stake Presidents families home. President Ellis is the man, and what made it so great is that we we're able to bring our investigator Brad too with his two little girls. The night was great, we got to watch the Joseph Smith movie and had a great time being together, the Spirit was definitely felt and we we're so glad Brad was able to feel that.

Tuesday Sep 29, 2015- 

Today we taught our investigator Phillip with Brother Morrow, taught about obeying the law of the land, went well! We then we're making our way to a less active when I ate the gravel yet again, I think that's the fourth time on my mission that I have crashed on my bike, wasn't that bad of one but I did get scraped up a bit, as I was getting up and started walking it off I looked over at my companion and he looked like he was about to cry, I asked him what's wrong and he just said "I just feel a little emotional right now." We walked over to a bench so we could talk about it and he just said that he hated seeing me fall. Honestly, I love my companion. We really are so close and because of that we get in arguments sometimes but we always work through it and come out with a stronger relationship every time. We then went door knocking later that night and we knocked on this one particular door, when the man opened the door, Elder Corotan and I instantly felt that something was wrong. Nevertheless, we introduced ourselves as the missionaries, in his response he says, "well I'm a satanist". He was dressed up in a black cloke and had a weird symbolled necklace on, we knew this man was not joking, he was full on. As soon as he said those words we bid him farewell. Elder Corotan and I couldn't get rid of the dark feeling we had from probably the darkest man I've ever met. Luckily we had the opportunity to go on splits with Pres Ellis, we explained to him what happened and he said a prayer for us, as soon as he finished the prayer, the dark feeling left both of us. What a powerful experience that was to see the light of the Gospel chase out the darkness, Satan will NEVER be stronger than the POWER OF GOD.

Wednesday Sep 30, 2015-

Started the morning doing some weeding for our investigator Anthony. Always a good time weeding. We then got to go teach David and Nicole, our investigators. We discussed baptism with them and they committed to pray about it. We then went to the chapel to teach Brad with Bro Harris, we discussed the Priesthood with him, we also prepared him for his baptism this Saturday by practicing and letting him check out the baptism font, he was a little nervous before but when he stepped in the font he said he felt better about it. So excited for him and Philip to make this step this weekend Oct 10!

Thursday Oct 1, 2015- Finished off the weeding for Anthony this morning. Today we biked heaps, honestly I'm so tired, we we're biking back and forth throughout our area just to get to out appointments. We taught Philip tithing today, and he seemed so amazed at the organization of the church through the tithing efforts, he accepted to live it. We then went to go see David and Nicole, talked to them about receiving answers to prayers and sincerely seeking truth. We then had dinner at the Fechner's. Such a busy day.

Friday Oct 2, 2015- Saw an investigator we have named David, he has been investigating the church for about 15 years, he goes to church every week and pays his tithing too! Yet he still doesn't want to be baptized, I don't really understand but I guess he know why. We talked about temples with him. We then saw Brad and reviewed the Baptism Interview Questions with him, he's good to go! We then went to go get fish and chips and as we we're about to go inside to order a man out of nowhere started cussing us out calling us devil workers and calling Joseph Smith probably the worst name in the English dictionary. I really don't get these people, honestly what is their problem. We try to ignore these people as best we can, I'll tell you right now this is the roughest area I have served in. There's a big morality problem here and a big drug problem. Its the ghetto of South Australia. I know the Lord is going to protect us though. We went to go teach Philip tonight with Brother Kirsch, read Mosiah 18 together and discussed baptism in preparation for his. 

Saturday Oct 3, 2015- Today we went to a less actives house for a birthday. They we're drinking and the brother started bad talking the church telling us that the Mormon Church is falling. Elder Corotan and I couldn't hear it any longer so we walked out. The adversary is strong in this area, I'll tell you that much.

Sunday Oct 4, 2015- What a wonderful Sabbath Day it was today. We had fast and testimony meeting today. I bore my testimony and the 3 other missionaries in the ward followed. A powerful Spirit was felt. Elder Corotan bore an amazing testimony about his father who passed recently. After the first hour we were going to class when one of the young men stopped to talk to us, he said that from the time he has been born he has the gift of discerning spirits. He told Elder Corotan that when he bore his testimony today, his father was standing next to him the whole time and followed him back to his seat. We both teared up and we truly felt the Spirit witness to us that the words that he said we're true. There is life after death! 

Monday Oct 5, 2015- Great P Day today! We went to a wildlife park in Victor Harbor and got to play with kangaroos! I love our district, its like a family, a great day spent :)

Busy Elder!!

Hello everyone! Its been a great week here in Hackham West! A lot to tell this week, hold tight.

Monday, Sep 21, 2015- Woke up this morning still feeling yuck so I asked Elder Corotan for a blessing, felt a lot better after that and was able to go out and do normal P Day stuff. Today we played sport at the chapel and wrote letters and stuff which was fun. We then went to go see David and Nicole our investigators, started to teach them the Plan of Salvation. We then went to the Davies family and watched a Mormon Message.

Tuesday Sep 22, 2015- We had the wonderful opportunity today as a mission to have the Pacific Area President Elder Pearson of the Seventy to visit us. Wow what an inspiring man, he sent a boom through this mission. He had pretty much like 3 hours just to stand up there and talk about our mission. He was so bold and loving and we all feel the need to step up. He motivated us all to be the best missionaries we can and we have definitely felt his love for us as a Special Witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I then had the opportunity to go on trade off with Elder Briscoe, and Elder I have known for awhile from Idaho. He's a great man. Just before that we left the Conference for Elder Pearson, we were getting ready to go, and at some point I was bending down to grab something and I heard a rip. Just my luck, I ripped my suit, looks like I need to lay off the KFC. With Elder Briscoe we went to go visit Brad our inv who is being baptized in 2 weeks. We taught him about temples and he also fixed our bikes too which is a plus! We then took a long bike to go visit a less active who surprisingly I found last year on trade off in my area now! Sadly, he wasn't home. 

Wednesday Sep 23, 2015- This morning Elder Briscoe and I were ready to go out and work, we walked into get our bikes but sadly both of our tires were flat, we ended up just walking to our appointment but it was really good also because we got to talk to a lot more people along the way, had some good conversations. We also found a Filipino potential named Lily who seems pretty interested! As we went to our appointment the man wasn't home, we were ready to take the long trek back when a member just pulled up in his car next to us and offered us a lift. Tender mercy of the Lord haha. We then had to go mow David and Nicole's lawn so we had to walk our lawn mower for awhile and we got it done, they had like a full on jungle in their backyard! Elder Briscoe was going hard on the whipper snipper, he loves doing this kinda stuff. We then got to teach David and Nicole again, we continued with the POS and Nicole shared an amazing near death experience that she has had which is totally in line with what we were teaching, just worked perfectly! We then had another appointment with our investigator Phillip who is being baptized the same day as Brad. We brought Bro Morrow, a member with us and we taught about fasting. We then had dinner at the Grangers, there a young married couple with one baby boy. We were laughing because both of them are younger than Elder Corotan. I got to hold their snake which was a good experience and then Bro Granger took us out to go kangaroo spotting, got to see a lot of them!

Thursday Sep 24, 2015- We went to go see Brad this morning with Bro Pollard whose a member. We taught missionary work with him today. We then did a bit of finding, didn't find to many people interested right now but we definitely felt we raised some points! We then went to an investigator named Mahalla, she has like 7 kids, got to share the Book of Mormon with her. We then had dinner at the Fechners, we had shepherds pie which is delicious. The Fechners had their daughters friend and her baby staying with them for awhile and just the day before the lady left the baby with the Fechners, she couldn't handle being a mother, it just broke my heart. That baby has been abandoned, but he's in good care with the Fechners. 

Friday Sep 26, 2015- Today we had another conference which lasted 6 hours pretty much just going over Elder Pearsons training. After that we had a lesson with Phillip at the chapel and we talked about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. We then had sports night and Mahalla came with all her kids! It was a great time and we were actually able to take Mahaalla on a tour of the chapel, and when we walked into the literal chapel, she felt the Spirit and said, "wow, this is really nice" There is such a tangible feeling in the Chapel. 

Saturday Sep 27, 2015- Started off the morning cleaning some gutters of a members home. We then came home, changed, and went to go see David and Nicole with Bishop. Before we started the lesson Nicole told us that when we called her earlier before she just broke down in tears. She said she was having a really bad day but when we called and expressed our love to them she felt better. We had a  Powerful lesson, we talked about faith and Bishop personally invited them to church and baptism. We then met a new investigator named Bob, sat at a park and just talked about lfie and God, he's pretty knowledgeable about the Gospel, we hope for some good things from him. We then went to go see Brad, we talked about Eternal Families. We then saw the Williams, had a good discussion with them about our eternal destinies. 

Sunday Sep 28, 2015- One of the best Sundays I've had in my mission, we had 5 investigators at church! ( David+Nicole, Philip, Brad, and Anthony) We were so happy to have the all there. Really enjoyed the Sabbath today.

Thanks for all the prayers everyone! 

Baptisms dates set!!

Good morning everyone! Yet another week in the Australia Adelaide Mission! I'm still trying to kick this bug out of me guys so please pray for me, this area is really busy so I need the prayers to be at my 100%, I've been sick for a couple weeks now and my body is just having a hard time, I need prayers! 

Monday Sep 14, 2015- had a great P-day today, we all gathered together at the chapel and we played sport and practiced our performance for a ward activity this Saturday, its gonna be good! We went to go see our investigators David and Nicole tonight, we talked about the Book of Mormon and then we shared a Mormon message with them, it went really well and they are very interested. We then went to go see the Davies family and we showed them a video about the BOM then had a good discussion about it.

Tuesday Sep 15, 2015- Saw an inv named Peter today, boy oh boy is he funny, I caught a good video of him dancing which I will be able to show you all sometime. We then went to go see another inv Anthony. He's real cool, we played some pool with him for a bit then shared a good message with him, he is going to pray about baptism. We saw Brad, our inv later today and we were able to read 3 Nephi 11 with him which is like the most epic chapter in the BOM. After we read we invited him to baptism and he accepted for Oct 10! So excited for him! Please pray for him specifically that he may be able to make that date! We then had dinner at the Williams home, lovely family. We then went to go visit a less active Oscar. After that we had coordination meeting and I pretty much got to see every member of the Happy Valley Ward Council tonight, what a great reuniting, I love them all so much.

Wednesday Sep 16, 2015- Today was quite an interesting day. So I'll tell you a little bit about Hackham West, its a good area but there is a lot of drug activity and such her so there's some pretty interesting people. Came across a man today on our bikes, Elder Corotan was in front of me and he said hello to this guy, I didn't here what he said but Elder Corotan kept biking along, and as I biked past him I said hello and he just yells back at me, "F YOU!" I stopped right where I was on my bike and I looked at him and said "what was that?" and he just went off, this isn't the first time this has happened to me but today I just wasn't gonna have it, he started walking towards me and I just stood there waiting for him, Elder Corotan started walking towards us, but soon enough the guy just walked off. I'm just tired of people like that, like why do you have to act like that, I was expressing to Elder Corotan how much I just wanted to shut that guy up but I know that's not consistent with our calling. Really hard sometimes to keep my cool. 

Thursday Sep 17, 2015- Did some service for a lady in our ward today named Sandy. Always love doing service. We then went to dinner with The Fechner's which was good. 

Friday Sep 18, 2015- Tonight we had a lesson with our investigator Phillip. We taught about baptism and he also accepted a baptism date for Oct 10! So excited! We then had Sports Night and there was tons of crazy kids there haha 

Saturday Sep 19, 2015- Today we had a ward activity and us missionaries performed a song and dance. We danced to the intro song of Lilo and Stitch and then sang Hosanna, it was a lot of time and that was my first time ever singing a solo in front of a crowd haha I have it on video but I can't attach it but it went well! Great activity! We had  many investigators there too.

That's about all this week guys, hope everything is going well with all of you. Have a great week

Another transfer-former district!

Hello! Another new transfer and I am now serving in the Hackham West area with my new companion Elder Corotan from the Philippines. My prayer was answered! I really wanted to go back to the same district at the beginning of my mission and I'm here now! I'm quite familiar with the Hackham West area because it is right next to my first and favorite area Trott Park! I actually was quite emotional when I arrived because this is the area I started my mission and I was able to see some familiar faces from my first ward. Felt like I was coming home :) I'm not in the same ward but I am in the same chapel. I'm so grateful and privileged to be serving with my companion. For some reason as soon as I met him I have loved him. Its really quite interesting how it works sometimes with my companions. Some of them I just love instantly and some of them take longer to love, Elder Corotan and I clicked instantly, he loves basketball too so that's a plus. Elder Corotan is the man, he's been out on his mission for about 6 months now. Its great because he's really such a great missionary and very mature, probably because he is 26 years old! Yep, he was born in 1989 ha ha I feel so privileged to serve with him at this specific time. I ask that you all keep him and his family in your prayers. Elder Corotan's father passed away just 5 weeks ago. He is such an example to me, he has such a strong testimony, and because of that testimony he decided to stay on his mission. What a man. So grateful to serve with him. He is so humble too! Sorry I could brag about how great my companion is all day. Sadly, I was sick most of the week this week, I had to miss church! That's the second time in my mission that I have missed church because of illness. I got a flu shot earlier this year so I don't know why I'm getting sick but it sucks. But so far I have loved serving in Hackham West. Most of the people we visit I already know because I have done so many trade offs here when I served in Trott Park. I don't have many miracles to report today because its just been week 1 also with sickness but I know the miracles are coming, we have some solid investigators! I love you all so much, I was thinking about the way I felt returning to my first district and it made me realize how I'm going to feel when I see you all again, WOW! Adelaide is sacred ground especially here in the Onkaparinga District. I may not know what God has planned for me next, but I know its gonna be good. Time to go to work... :)

Exhausted mate...

"Sorry to disappoint you Martha baby, but the G-Train has left the station!" Those who don't know this reference, please repent haha but Yes, I have indeed found out this morning that I am being transferred! Don't know where yet but I will let you know that next week. There's always an excitement with transfers, wonder where I'm going! 

 

Monday Aug 31, 2015- 

Most interesting P Day today! Our zone leaders told us all to meet in the city today, we we're expecting to have an activity in the city or something but oh boy were we wrong. We arrived in the city and we're told we were doing a city blitz! Everyone was kind of bummed at first cuz we expect to relax on P Day but honestly this was like one of the best days ever. We had about 15 companionships in the city just talking with everyone! We did this the whole day and it was just great. I love talking to people, one of the best parts of being a missionary. We all gathered together at the end of the  to report our miracles and man was the Spirit strong, I love this work and I love to find people to teach! 

 

Tuesday Sep 1, 2015- We carried that excitement of finding into our area today and we found 3 potentials to teach! We were just relentless, and it felt so good, if I could give any advice to any missionary, that is to talk to everyone you see! You will be a much happier and much more successful messenger of the truth. Later that night we got a text from Bro Linton, a member in our ward, he's the funniest, he told us to come over so he can have an excuse to order pizza so his wife wouldn't be mad haha love that family, sad that I have to leave right when we gain them in our ward. 

 

Wednesday Sep 2, 2015- Had District meeting this morning and my companion and I gave the training. We trained on diligence and it went really well. Elder Callahan, our zone leader came with us today to work and it was a really good day! He is from Canada and he is a total farmer boy haha he's the best. We went to go follow up with a man named Don we met on the street. He said he lived at one of the nursing homes but we didn't know which one so we went to like 3 different nursing homes and met heaps of different Don's. We we're laughing the whole time because every Don we met wasn't him and most of the time these Don's were like incredibly old, like really really old. We finally found Don though and we got to have afternoon snack with him, he's a good man. We started teaching him this week. We then went to go see a less active named Simon. He really opened up to us today about the pain he is going through. I love when people open up like that so we know exactly how to help them with the arsenal of the Gospel. We then went to Dave and Hala's and had a quick meal there. We then got to go teach Park the Korean too. 

 

Thursday Sep 3, 2015- Exhausted mate, worked really hard the beginning of this week and woke up just beat. But we went out and worked like we're supposed too, on the bikes all day. We saw our Fijian investigator Kini, he finally committed to sincerely read the Book of Mormon. He tends to complicate things so we try to keep it simple, read the BOM and pray about it, that's it! 

 

That's basically it for this week, love you all, see you next week in anew area!

 

Love,

Elder Acker 

Quick letter

Hey Everyone! I apologize ahead of time for this letter, I forgot my journal at home and that's where I give all the juicy details so I'm really just going to be going off of memory today. 

I'll share some highlights that I have had this week. First off I was able to have a trade off with Elder Tanner this week, we get along too well haha it was just like we were companions again. I love him, but whenever we are together we get a little crazy! haha We had ward boundary changes this past week so we got some new awesome families in our ward. One specific family that we just LOVE is the Linton's. They have been married for about 3 years and have two little boys. Brother Linton is from Michigan and Sister Linton is from here. They both served missions and they are just the best! We we're so happy to have them because all the missionaries that have served in their area just love them. Shows how much good member families make a difference to missionaries. Honestly, having good members makes all the difference and that is why I love my first ward, Happy Valley Ward the most because everyone was just the best and it truly felt like a family. So my invitation to all is to be the best members you can be for the missionaries, it makes all the difference! We're especially glad because we know this family will be great fellowship to Dave and Hala and we plan to all have dinner together on Wednesday. We we're so happy this Sunday to see a lot of people at church including our investigators Park and Hala, also including a family we have been working with, the Balodis's. 

Sorry that this letter is so short, try to do better next week :)

Love, Elder Acker