Meagan's a missionary!

Tears of Gratitude

2010-12-06T15:33:00.001-08:00

I never knew what to expect. I have cried many tears this week as I've reflected over the last 18 months serving the Lord. The best thing is, is that these tears haven't been tears of regret nor tears of what might have been, but rather they are tears of joy, love, and true gratitude to my Heavenly Father for having given me this privilege to represent His Son.

This last 3 weeks I have felt an overwhelming feeling of peace from the Holy Ghost that my missionary service has been acceptable to my Heavenly Father. Those tears are tears I am not ashamed to shed. The people I have met here have their names engraved on my heart forever. They each have a very unique story and I love each one of them more than I can explain. As Miguel said at the fireside last week, if I never see him again in this life, we will meet in the spirit world and we will rejoice to see each other.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of Christ upon the earth today, with all the authority necessary to perform the saving ordinances to make it back to live with our Heavenly Father. We have a living prophet of God on the earth who receives revelation to guide us in this crazy world. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It has been the key to conversion for everybody I've taught. I have seen huge changes in the lives of the people here as they have "come unto Christ and be[en] perfected in him" (Moroni 10:32). Something that is not true cannot change lives like I have seen happen. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I know that true joy comes through following His Son Jesus Christ. The world can fall down around us but we can have joy through Him. I am His representative; I have come to know Him and feel what He feels for my brothers and sisters in New Jersey. I love them and I love Him.

Thank you once again for your faithful prayers on my behalf. I hope these emails have strengthened you in whatever situations you have been going through. I love you and will see you soon.

Love,

Hermana Jackson

We're gonna drop them like a FLOJO!

2010-10-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

Haha, don't ask about the title...it was just something Hna Cornish and I came up with this week and it made me laugh.

So we have TRANSFERS tomorrow...last one! Hna Cornish is packing up and heading out and I will be getting a new companion to finish off my mission. I LOVE change because it keeps me energized so don't even fret, no worries of trunkiness here. :) My new companion is bound to be another repeated companion because I've already been with all the Spanish sisters except 1, who isn't transferring, and the one new sister coming in, who is being trained by my hija (Sister Evens)! So yes, I am officially a "grandma" now.

I can't believe I'm on my last transfer. It's...I don't really know how to explain it...but whatever, I'll write my thoughts in my journal and figure it out. This transfer is going to be a transfer of MILAGROS! I'll just ignore that the other day when we were knocking doors someone essentially told us we were going to Hell! He was trying to "save" us and preach to us all his doctrine and we just stood quiet and stared at him until he was done...then we said, "Cool. Do you know of anybody that speaks Spanish around here?" Haha, it was so funny! I love being a missionary.

Claudia and Larry came to church yesterday! Claudia is a 16-yr-old girl from Oaxaca, Mexico we've been teaching who has a baptismal date for Nov 14. Her uncle is a member in New Brunswick and gave us her name as a referral. She is so amazing and has come through some huge trials in her life to get her to where she is today. But all the YW at church loved her and invited her to mutual and everything. Yay! As for Larry, we didn't end up getting to meet with him all week because he couldn't get the webcam hooked up but I talked to him a couple times over the phone about his reading assignments and everything. The people in the ward LOVE Larry! Yesterday at ward correlation meeting, they were telling us about how wonderful his comments were in gospel essentials class and how much he seems to just get everything. I know he will get baptized so soon, it's just a matter of when. He reminds me of Miguel in Morristown and Maria DV in Paterson...haha, I get really stubborn investigators!...probably because I'm just as stubborn back to them. Haha, love it.

My testimony of the Plan of Salvation was strengthened a lot this week and the importance of the temple in our lives. Last Tuesday, Borther Weller, a man in the ward who had been battling with cancer, passed away. I never got to meet him because he had been up in the hospital in Morristown for the last couple fo months, but I frequently heard updates on him from members of the ward and there were a lot of prayers offerred in his behalf. On Friday, we went over to talk with Sister Weller and help her pack up her things to move into a retirement home this week and then on Saturday morning attended the funeral. I got to thinking a lot about God's plan for each one of us as His children. It is a plan of love, of mercy, of justice. It is a perfect plan that allows each one of us to use our agency to choose whether to follow Him or no. But then once we choose, it's not done. We must keep choosing day after day, to follow Him -- that includes the big decisions and the little ones. We choose to keep the commandments each day, even the little things, which reaps the blessing of being able to choose to enter the temple and make covenants with our Heavenly Father, which we must choose to keep. If it weren't for the temples, the plan would be pointless. So He hasn't just created this plan for us, but He has put in our paths all the necessary steps we need to take to be able to follow it. But we must choose, every day!

That's all I have to say for today. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to write less this transfer to save some stories for when I get home but I'm kind of using my emails as a journal so...we'll see. "THANKS. GIVING. is coming." yep, be ready. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Ready, Set, GET ACTIVE!

2010-10-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, how are you? This week, I actually have somewhat an idea to the answer to that question because I got a letter from Malcolm, Chris, Dad, Mom, and Nana in the last week or so. I loved every one of them, so THANK YOU so much for writing. It strengthens me to hear each one of you and how the Lord is blessing your lives. I can't tell if I got lots of letters because of my accident or because everyone figures that if they don't write me now, they will just wait till I get home or what :) but either way they are appreciated. :)

Wasn't General Conference so good? The 2 main scriptures that kept sticking out to me like crazy were Alma 41:10 and 2 Nefi 2:27. And the 3 main themes for me (which are all inter-related): agency, the Holy Ghost, and following the prophet. So so good. We watched the first session on the internet at a recent convert's house, Melissa, with her 3 daughters. So it was in Spanish and there were lots of distractions so while I understood it all, I wasn't able to focus a ton...I'll have to read that one. But let me just tell you that the Saturday afternoon session was just for me! I loved the talk by Elder Richard G. Scott all about developing true character. It comes down to our agency as well. He reminded us that Satan's destiny is fixed; we already know that in the end, he will LOSE. So now we have to exercise our agency to choose to follow Jesus Christ, who will WIN, develop faith in Him, and thus our character will form. He said that character is an evidence of how well we are using our time on earth. The better we use our time, the more our character is fortified, and then we can exercise faith -> repentance -> obedience -> self-less service.

Everything we do is a choice. Jesus Christ was not forced to do anything in his life, rather he chose to submit his will to the will of the Father because he knew of the eternal consequences it would have for all mankind (Elder Robert D. Hales). I know that as we choose to submit our will to the will of the Father, and remember the eternal perspective, we will be blessed with the happiness that was intended for us. His plan is a plan of happiness, freedom, agency, and salvation. As we choose to follow him, that is what we get. Satan's plan is a plan of misery, bondage, destruction, and "endless wo," which we will receive if we choose to follow it. "Wickedness never was happiness."

Basically everybody here watches conference at their house but we decided that we wanted them to be able to watch it with our investigators at the church at least for the Sunday morning session. So we invited all the little Hispanic members to come and to bring some food so we could have a potluck between sessions. It was a great success. One of the recent converts, Christian, was telling us how he was just going to watch it at his house but he was so glad we invited them all to the church because he was able to listen to the power President Monson's talk without any distractions. It was his first time watching conference, along with many other members, and they all truly felt the power of the words of a prophet of God.

We have a baptism coming up this Sunday, Jorge. He is from Peru and he is so awesome! He's been pretty easy to teach...already follows basically all the commandments...he's just been really prepared by the Lord. I'll send pictures next week.

Thank you again for all the prayers offerred in my behalf. My recovery is still going really well. I'm not using the crutch anymore and actually today I put on a normal shoe! We're being blessed lots. The work is still going forward. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

"No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing..."

2010-09-27T12:13:00.001-07:00

Hey everybody! How's it going? I am doing so well out here in my new area. North Branch is treating me well and the members here are amazing.

Heavenly Father is blessing me to heal a lot faster than I think any normal person should heal. I took the sling off Saturday night and determined to leave it off, no matter how much it hurts, because I was losing muscle use in my arm. It's amazing how quickly the muscle has deteriorated in my arm. Simply reaching up to change the CD in the car is painful I haven't exercised certain muscles there in just one short week. It would be so easy to just put it back in the sling and leave it there but that will only hurt me more. I thought a lot about how it's like the gospel. Sometimes, it's so easy to want to just realx in our little sling and coast on the weight of others. But if we want to really help ourselves and receive the help we need from the Lord, we have to go out of our comfort zone, leave our sling, and stretch ourselves. (see Alma 36:20-21) Sometimes it is really painful, and we may want to just give up, but our weaknesses can be made strengths in the Lord (Ether 12:27). Personal revelation in particular sticks out to me. It is hard to really learn how to receive and follow personal revelation and before my mission, I mostly just relied on the revelation others would receive for me and call it good. But that only gets us so far and we are not becoming as strong as we could that way. As we exercise faith in the Lord, and a patient, consistent effort, He blesses us with strength and revelation.

We had a mission activity last Monday out by the coast somewhere. It was a nice hike through the woods or something. I obviously couldn't participate much in the hike so Sister Child sat with me for a could hours in the shade and we just talked while we waited for everyone to get back. I was grateful to her for doing that. She is the best. (see the pictures) So yeah, all the missionaries got to see me hobbling around and the sisters were asking questions like crazy. And then when we did our shopping at Walmart, I got to drive the little electric cart all around the store! How cool is that?! Too bad I didn't get a picture. :)

So this week, we were really wondering how we were going to get new investigators because we can't go out knocking too much. But our prayers were answered greatly. We got more new investigators this week than I have almost ever gotten before in my mission! Crazy blessings. The English sisters ended up finding lots of Spanish people as they were out knocking and would come home every night with several names for us to go by for the next day. So good. So we were kept busy for the most part, which I'm sure also helped me to feel better. People keep telling me that I should put my foot up and rest for 6 weeks...Are you kidding me?!? I don't have 6 weeks to just relax! :) But don't worry, I'm good.

And we had a fireside last night up in Morristown for recent converts/less actives/investigators, which was so good. I got to see the members from Morristown branch! And the RS broadcast on Saturday night was amazing, as well. I hope that you (the girls) got a chance to watch it. There was definitely a common theme of love and how important it is to love everybody and not judge them. Love it.

Well, that's all for this week. I hope you enjoy the pictures. The one of me on the stretcher was when I got wheeled into the ER with all the EMT's. They thought I was crazy for wanting a picture but I insisted that this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. :) Know that I'm doing well and continuing to do the Lord's work, despite what tries to stop me. This work is too important for anything to stop it and I love that I'm a part of it. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

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They say you should go home on a stretcher...

2010-09-20T09:52:00.001-07:00

Craziest week of my mission, hands down! This might be long but you MUST read on...I promise it will be worth it (at least up to Thursday :) I will go in chronological order:

Tuesday: TRANSFERS! I was SO SAD to leave Paterson, especially saying goodbye to Maria DV was the worst but I know we are going to keep in touch forever so it's all good. Then we got to transfer conference and realized only one other Spanish companionship was changing...which puts me with Hna Cornish again! Crazy, huh? This is our 3rd time being comps...MTC, then the trio in Paterson, and now here in NORTH BRANCH. It is at the old southern border of the mission, before we got Cherry Hill added in. Talk about culture chock from Paterson! People have lawns here! :) We are in an English ward down here with a couple of rows of Spanish members we work with that wear headsets during sacrament meeting. But the Spanish program is growing a lot so we're excited to see what we can do. Very Spanglish environment though. I translated 2 talks during sacrament meeting, which was exciting. We live with 2 other sisters, Sis Neves and Tolman. And Sis Neves is from Sao Paolo and cooks for us every day. :)

Wednesday: Ellis Island...and then there was an accident on the way back so it took us close to 4 hours to get home (usually it's only 1) and got 1 lesson in.

Thursday: Walking day! The weather was gorgeous...even a little drizzly, which was nice so I had 0 fear of passing out...until at about 7:45 pm when we got hit by a car! Can you believe it? Here's what went down...We were walking across the street (in a crosswalk) when a car was making an unprotected left turn onto our street and I guess he didn't see us. Hna Cornish yelled, "Sister, look out!" and next thing I know, I'm flipping in the air or something from the impact and landed on my ankle/side of my foot. Basically head on the car hit me but Hna Cornish only got hit by the front corner of the car. So anyway, I couldn't get up, the guy stopped and called 911 and soon enough the street was closed off and there were police and ambulance and lights and everything. I could move my right foot or my left shoulder (don't ask why...I'm confused as to how I fell). They got me on a stretcher, put me in the back of the ambulance and drove me to the hospital. Talk about pain shooting through my body! Hna Cornish called President Bahr but he wasn't answering so she left him a message saying, "Hey, can you call us? Thanks." Haha. Don't worry, we took pictures of me with the EMT's (but I forgot my camera cord today...sorry) and I was smiling and joking around with them, trying to ignore the pain. We got ahold of President and Sister Bahr and they came down to our area right away and stayed with us in the ER until 1:00am. I got x-rays and everything and discovered that I have a fractured foot and possibly a fractured shoulder (the x-rays weren't too good for the shoulder). And a huge bruise on my hip from where the car hit me. Yeah, so that's the story. So now I have a sling on my left arm, a huge bandage on my right foot, and a crutch under my right arm...I feel like Tiny Tim. :) They tried getting me to use 2 crutches in the ER but my shoulder was killing me and I was in so much pain that I started shaking really bad and almost threw up/passed out so President Bahr put a stop to that. :)

Friday: We were in pain most of the day. Hna Cornish got a bruised tailbone and I was trying to figure out how to deal with life. :) Luckily Sister Tolman is a hair stylist so she did my hair for me since I can't reach up my arm. We got a couple lessons in with me hobbling around...I'm stubborn, I know.

Saturday: Went to the Manhattan Temple! We had this trip planned for a while because Matilde (a convert from Paterson last year) was getting her endowments and I was not about to let the fact that I got hit by a car get in my way! We actually got all the way there without getting lost at all and we were early for once! Changing trains/subways 3 times was exciting. So my right heel has touched the ground of all the NY subway system...and NYC is so fast-paced! But the temple was wonderful. I saw my old trainer there, Hna Bushman, and she freaked out when she saw me come hobbling into the temple like I was. Haha. I also saw my friend Aubrey from BYU because there was this huge YSA conference going on this weekend! So good. And I came home so TIRED!

Sunday: What a way to meet everybody! I stood up at the pulpit translating for some talks, and then Bishop Stone got up to introduce me while I was still up there (he hadn't met me yet) and we got to tell the whole ward what happened. Yep, good stuff. I played the piano in the Spanish sunday school...using my left foot on the pedal and not really moving my left hand at all. It was fun. And hey, mom and dad, I was talking to this woman before church who had lived in Bakersfield a long time ago. She asked who my parents were and turns out she lived in the apartments back in the early 80's when Anthony was a baby and had dinner with you guys all the time...and her uncle baptized you, Dad! Do you remember Linda Low? I showed her pictures of you all now and it was fun updating her on our family.

Ok, there you go. Sorry it was so long and not that spiritual but it is what it is. I know that my Heavenly Father protected me this week because my injuries weren't nearly as bad as they could have been. Thank you for your prayers for me. I'm trying to keep going out and doing the work the best I can...though door knocking isn't quite an option right now. :) Hna Socorro told me at the temple on Saturday that Satan knew I was planning on going out of my mission on a high and he tried throwing this in my way to stop me...but it won't! She said, "What Satan didn't know is that you are stronger than him." So the work continues. I love it everyday.

I miss you mucho but I love you mas,

Hermana Jackson

QUE BONITO BAUTISMO!

2010-09-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

HoLa!!! How's everything going back in the real world? So, surprise, we had a baptism yesterday! I didn't tell you about it last week because things were a little up in the air until last minute. But Minerva Lugo got baptized and her son baptized her! It was so beautiful. We saw her on Friday night and she looked so different than before. She had such a light that was just radiating from her! And then she had her interview and now she's a baptized member of the church! How cool is that? At her baptism, she was crying and when she came up out of the water, she was really crying and she and her son embraced in the font forever. Everyone had tears in their eyes. I loved it.

In other news, I guess my time in Paterson has come to an end...again...but for real this time. :) We got the transfer call this morning and I am heading out tomorrow afternoon to...who knows where? I guess Heavenly Father answered my prayers kind of because I told him that either I get transferred now or I stay in Paterson until the end of my mission because I didn't really want to go somewhere new for just 1 transfer. So I'm going. But can I just tell you how much I LOVE Paterson?!?! This place has become so much a part of me. The members here treat me like one of their own. Last night we had dinner over at the familia Soto's and they were talking to me about the difference they saw in me from my first 2 transfers here to coming back this summer. We used to study Spanish with them once a week at the beginning of my mission and I was just pretty quiet and didn't say much (mostly because I didn't understand them) and then they said I came back and I had completely blossomed. I was the "chispa" this area needed. Haha. I'm going to miss the people here so much. It was hard enough saying goodbye to them the first time! But at the same time, I am REALLY excited to meet new people and see what else Heavenly Father has in store for me on my mission. It is going to be one crazy last couple of months!

This weekend was the Dominican equivalent of their independence day so there were Dominican flags all over the place! On the hoods of cars, draped over people, hanging from telephone wires. Haha, it was the same a couple of weeks ago for Puerto Rico's festival...and a couple weeks before that for Peru. Mexico's festival is coming up and hna Schleske wanted to get a mexican flag and put it on the hood of our car. Too bad I won't still be here!

Ok, so we have a ton to do today so I'm going to jet. We've got to do some ghettobump shopping, take some pictures, go to a zone lunch, and visit lots of members. I hope everyone is doing well and is happy. True joy in life comes from living in righteousness, not from our circumstances. 2 Nephi 9:18. i miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

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What did we NOT do this week?

2010-09-07T13:31:00.003-07:00

Labor Day totally threw me off yesterday...I don't even remember what happened last week! hmm...ok, here we go...

Found a dead mouse in our apartment one night, contacted a the city fair, painted Hna Socorro's living room, passed out, good lessons, good finding, Ellis Island...

On Sunday, we had 6 investigators at church!! It was crazy good and testimony meeting was one of the best ever. Loved it. Martin came and he is still so excited a preparing for baptism. I love that man. When we went over to see him last week, he told us that he had had some trouble understanding what was going on in the Book of Mormon so, rather than give up like most other people would do, he decided to draw out what was going on! He showed us these huge, pro-style drawings of Lehi and his family with all their names and then the boat and them leaving Jerusalem with the corresponding scriptures written out beneath. He had about 3 or 4 drawings he had done. How cool is that? The Book of Mormon is so important and I am so glad he found a way to make it speak to him.

Rafael and Francisca came to church too. I don't know if I've told you about them but they are this older Dominican couple (not married, obviously) who are taking lessons from the JW's at the same time as us. He spoke a lot with missionaries in the DR and really liked it so they are progressing pretty well. They are getting closer and closer to realizing that while other people may teach good things to help them be better people, this is the doctrine of eternity! Every time someone bore their testimony about the Book of Mormon in church, Francisca just clutched her book closer and closer to her. I have wanted to see one of my investigators get married for basically my whole mission so maybe this will be the one!

We had a walking day on Thursday and it was REALLY hot (I think it was our last big heat wave for the year...due to that hurricane) so we went walking down to Lucina's, about 45 minutes walk away and by the time we got there I was passed out. That was exciting. Haha, but I'm good, don't worry. What else is new, right?

Yesterday was a great p-day. We hiked Garret Mountain with Hna Socorro...it was the same hike we did together last year on Labor Day...my first p-day in the field! But now when I looked out over Paterson, I recognized all the buildings as if I were looking out over Provo. It was really neat, and great weather. And last night for finding time we drove past downtown and saw a huge circus tent set up and a fair going on. It was packed with people so we decided to go and make some contacts and get some potential new investigators. It worked! We found some pretty cool people...and that's not even to mention our Mexico bracelets we got...and free ice cream...and saw several members/inactives. Very productive. I'll put some pictures.

So, it was a really great week. We had some very powerful, spirit-led lessons and spirit-led finding. I love that. I think that often as missionaries we take for granted just how much we have the spirit with us every day. I know it is a great blessing and it can truly guide our lives if we let it. Thank you so much for the packages I've gotten recently! Mom, the candy bar was exactly what I needed. And Chris, Megan, Michael, and Cari, I LOVED the pictures of everybody. I have them in my scriptures to show off to people. They are adorable. And my comp loves the little glowworm thing. :)

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love it every day. Thanks for all your love and support to me. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

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Wedding ring

2010-09-07T13:31:00.001-07:00

Labor Day totally threw me off yesterday...I don't even remember what happened last week! hmm...ok, here we go...

Found a dead mouse in our apartment one night, contacted a the city fair, painted Hna Socorro's living room, passed out, good lessons, good finding, Ellis Island...

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love it every day. Thanks for all your love and support to me. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

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Teaching the ice cream man sure has its perks!

2010-08-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

How is life back on the west coast? It has been dumping rain for 2 days straight! Crazy stuff. It rained on Monday too...and when it rains here, it is always accompanied by high-speed winds, thunderclaps louder than you've ever heard in your life, and lots of falling trees (as was the case when we came out of a lesson on Monday night...refer to picture #132...that is our car and that is the tree that landed right next to our car!). So yeah, it has been fun.

We found some pretty cool new investigators this week...one is the ice cream man! We talked to him outside his house and had a good lesson with him (we didn't know yet that he was the ice cream man), and then after the prayer he said, "Hey, I'm just getting ready to leave for work." "Oh that's cool. Where do you work?" "I sell ice cream. Do you want some?" He then opened his garage door to reveal a huge ice cream truck and he gave us each a free popsicle. Woohoo! Then another new investigator we found as we were looking for a referral we had gotten from a member. We knocked on a door (apparently the wrong one) and a guy answered. We asked for Matilde and he said that she rented the other half of the house but that she wasn't home right then. We got to talking with him and as he opened the door a little wider, I saw that he was standing in a recording studio! He plays and records music for different churches. Hermana Schleske told him I was really into music so he handed me his guitar and I played and sang "I Stand All Amazed." He stopped me in the middle, turned on all his recording gear, and told me to start over. He burned me a copy of the cd right then and there. Pretty rough recording, obviously, but sweet, huh? I'll try to send it to you. He said that anytime we wanted to come back, he would record me for free. :) So then we got to talking with him and all the different music he does and he asked, "You know, I go to all these different churches every Sunday doing music for them, but I don't get why there are so many churches!" Perfect lead-in to a lesson about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it!

Oh, update on Danny...I don't know if you remember him or not but we have been teaching him for a LONG time...basically since I first got back to Paterson. He has been making lots of drastic changes in his life to come unto Jesus...hair cut, leaving the women, and now he has finally stopped smoking and drinking completely!!! It is amazing to see the progress he's made. It's been a slow, steady process with him...our members involved in the lessons have wanted us to give up on him numerous times but we haven't felt like we should. And now he has a baptismal date! Awesome. The last big hurdle is getting him Sundays off work consistently...it's kind of hit and miss. But he will be able to if he has the faith, I know it. And Minerva...she's still a work in progress as well but we feel like we're getting a little closer every time we meet with her. Expect good news about her very soon... :)

My companion and I are getting along really well and getting a lot of good work done here. We have been blessed over and over again this week as we have just given all we can give to the Lord and letting Him do the rest. I'm grateful for the comfort and guidance of the Holy Ghost that we can receive when we do what's right. Something that I've learned a lot about lately is PATIENCE! Patience with yourself, Patience with others, and Patience with the Lord. All 3 aspects are crucial in being able to fully follow the Lord's path for your life and fulfill what He knows you, and only you, can fulfill. I am so grateful for all of you that have experienced patience with me over the years and the way the Lord has taught me that he knows best. He always knows what we need and when we need it. Follow His plan for you, be flexible to it, and things will turn out better than you could have expected (see the last 2 verses of Alma 34).

I hope everything continues to go well. Mom, I hope you're feeling better. Grandma is leaving soon, yeah? I hope she had a wonderful visit. Tell her I love her. And Nana's birthday is coming up, right? Happy Birthday, Nana! :) Take care. I miss you mucho but I love you mas!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

P.S. The other picture is my comp and I at Lucina's baby shower. The decorations were done by Emma, the member who owns the house we live in...she is SO flying out to Utah in several years to decorate for my wedding. Haha. :)

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Back-up plan: cry!

2010-08-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

What a great week to finish out an amazing transfer and power us into the next! We had 2 baptisms yesterday!!!!! Eric got baptized right after church and Maria a couple hours later. It was just wonderful. Eric's grandma, Matilde (got baptized almost a year ago) was just crying so much to see her grandson get baptized. She bore her testimony and the spirit was so strong. And this coming Sunday, Eric's mom Lucina is going to get baptized! How cool is that? Matilde, Lucina, Eric, and his little brother are who are in the picture #0074. The primary kids sang at his baptism and he was just so excited all week. I love teaching that kid. A couple of days ago when we were getting him ready for his baptismal interview, we asked him about Jose Smith and he went on to tell us the entire story from the childrens Book of Mormon...starting with all of the questions JS had to the vision and on to using the Urim and Thummim to translate the plates! Haha, smart kid. He was so ready!

Maria's preparation on the other hand was not quite as smooth. Never have I seen the powers of Satan working so hard against somebody to get her to back out on her decision. We went to visit her one day and as I was doing her dishes she just started coming out with doubt after doubt about the church and prophets and coffee and who even knows what else. We had a lesson with her that day and did not let her go a day all week without seeing us. I have never prayed harder for somebody in my life! I kept telling Heavenly Father, "It has taken her 6 years to even say yes to get baptized. I know she will get her answer in the next 2 days to be able to know these things are true." It took a lot of faith and fasting but we could not back down and she came through so confident and happy in the end. After her baptism, she was just glowing and was saying how happy she was that she finally did it. I attached 2 pictures of her...one with her family before her baptism and one with her after. She is so strong and is going to be the key in reactivating her husband's entire family. The way they all rallied around her at her baptism yesterday was amazing.

We found some pretty cool new investigators this week, which was needed because as much as we've been trying, things have been rough in that aspect. But the Lord always blesses us when the time is right...and for me it seems to always be in the last week of the transfer cycle. Oh, speaking of transfers...I am staying in Paterson again and Hna Binning is getting transferred! Crazy, huh? So you can keep sending your letters directly to me (for the address, email my mom). I'm going on my 5th transfer (total) here in Paterson...that's longer than I was in Morristown but I have so much more energy here. That means I get to be here for Lucina's baptism and hopefully for some others we hope to see this transfer. It will be great! Hna Binning is really sad to be going. We have worked really well together...we are SO different from each other but it made a good balance in the work. This transfer will take us halfway into September...meaning I will be repeating days in the same area (considering I arrived in Paterson last year on Sep 2). I am excited though to see what it holds.

Well family, I hope things are going better for you all. To my wonderful brothers, don't be afraid to write me every once-in-a-while...at least maybe one more time in my mission. :) I know that this gospel is what brings true happiness in our lives and that Heavenly Father will guide and direct us as we seek Him. My theme for this week/transfer has been 1 Nephi 10:17-19. I absolutely love what that says about being led by the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers. Take care and I'll write again next week with the details of my new comp. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

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Hermana Jackson

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"Ok, I'll Do It!"

2010-07-29T08:06:00.001-07:00

Those 4 words (in the subject line) are the best words I have heard so far on my mission. Let me tell you about our AMAZING experience we had this week...

Tuesday night, we went over to see Maria DV and her husband, Danny. A couple of days previous, Hna Binning and I both felt very strongly that we needed to have a set appointment with both of them there in order to really help Maria progress and help their family. Maria had been praying about getting baptized on July 25 and told us that she didn't think it was right. We were devastated, clueless on what to do next with her, until finally we received the promptings to meet with them both. So we went over, she gave us dinner, and we got to talking. Our lesson was on faith and repentance. Danny had tons of questions about different things and then Maria turned to him and started explaining to him the same principles we have been teaching her for weeks about really just relying on the Lord for your support. As she explained it to him, I could see it all just clicking in her mind and she was really gaining a testimony of it. We went on in the lesson and talked about the blessings of the temple. We shared a story from the Feb 2010 Ensign (she LOVES the Ensigns) about a family who wanted the blessings of the temple but it says they weren't ready to keep all the commandments. It was so applicable to Maria and Danny's situation. As we read the story, I looked at Maria and said, "Maria, we have felt the promptings of the Holy Ghost to tell you that now is the time to get baptized and get your family to the temple. We fear that if you don't do it now, you never will. Now is the time to receive these blessings." After a little more discussion with them, I was looking down at my scriptures, wondering where to turn to next, when suddenly Maria said, "Ok, I'll do it." I thought I was dreaming it. I looked up and started laughing in disbelief and asked about 3 times, "Really? Are you serious? When?" "On August 1. I just checked the calendar and Danny has it off work. It hit me as you were reading that story. I just need to do this." So basically, to summarize that entire huge paragraph, Maria DV is getting baptized on August 1 and she has just been glowing!!!!!!!!!!

With the excitement of all of this, I have been thinking a lot about the tender mercies of the Lord that he gives us every day as His missionaries. We were clueless a couple of days before that lesson on what to teach her, but through diligent study and prayer, the Lord led us in our studies and planning to plan exactly what she needed to hear and blessed us with the spirit to touch her heart. Also, ever since I came back to Paterson, the members and other missionaries have been asking me, "Sister Jackson, when is Maria getting baptized? You know that you're back for her, right?" Yes, I knew, and I felt the pressure big time, especially when things weren't going as well as we had hoped. But the Lord blessed us. This is not a chance every missionary gets...to be able to serve in the same area twice. I know that it is another tender mercy of the Lord that he has given me to remind me of His love.

In other news, Eric (the 9-yr old) is also getting baptized on Sunday and we are way excited for him as well. Minerva, on the other hand, is having some doubts and will probably take several more weeks to be ready for baptism. I would rather have that though so that she is really doing it for her and not her son.

Oh, and just so you know, Mom and Cari, I think I like reading now...yeah, I know, it's hard for me to admit :) but I do enjoy reading and have this thirst to read lots of books after the mission...of course, that could just be because I can't right now, so I want to (maybe that's the rebel in me). Anyway, there's the update on me. :)

I think that's about it for this week. Prayers are being answered every day out here. I am so grateful for this time in my life the Lord has given me to serve Him. I'm humbled by the trust He has in me to teach and testify to my brothers and sisters about the doctrine of salvation. Our theme this transfer in our companionship is, "Love it. Every day." And I do. Thanks for all your love and support. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven

2010-07-19T09:52:00.001-07:00

First things first, Happy 1st Birthday, Claire! Wish I could be there for it...haven't even met her yet but hey, she looks cute in the pictures. :) Be sure to send me some pictures of the occasion.

My address until at least August 2 is: 99 N 12th St #1, Prospect Park, NJ, 07508. The office address is still ok, I will just only get mail from there once a month...so that's only about 4 more times for the rest of my mission, so I would prefer at the house now. Thanks!

Our emotions depend so much on these people we teach...it's quite entertaining. We have 2 baptismal dates coming up! Eric (the 9-yr-old) is so excited to get baptized on Aug 1!! We gave him a children's Book of Mormon and he read all the was to Alma 48 in 2 days. He says it's his new favorite book. He just gets it so much! His mom, Lucina, is still a little unsure of when she wants to/can get baptized. We are trying to encourage her to get baptized with her son but we'll see what happens. She is doing really well though. They both came to church again yesterday and loved it. And for our other baptismal date...Minerva has decided to get baptized! Her son, Cristian, just moved here in May from the DR and he is a really active, strong member of the church. We've been teaching Minerva but things have been going kind of slow with her but the more we see her, the more things just click with her. We did a fast with her last Monday (her idea) to help her receive an answer about if she should get baptized. Cristian called us on Thursday and said, "I think my mom is going to get baptized!" We tried going to see her but she wasn't there so when we saw her last night, we talked to her about it. We challenged her for Aug 1 and at first she hesitated a lot and then Cristian said, "Come on, mom, just put a date on it and if the date comes and you're not comfortable, we can put it off." She said yes! And then Cristian added, "Hey, you should get baptized on my birthday (typical Hispanic thing to do...they always want things to happen on their birthdays or holidays) and I can baptize you!" We asked when his birthday is and he told us July 31, and she agreed! It will be an awesome birthday present for him.

So yep, it has been a good week....really hot, as always. Up to Saturday morning, we had 0 new investigators, which was pretty depressing, but we ended up pulling it through on Saturday and Sunday hardcore.

Oh, yeah, and Eric's abuela, Matilde, taught us how to make Mexican flan the other day! It was so good! Sorry Mom, but flan from a box is just not going to cut it anymore :) This stuff tastes like the stuff you get in the restaurants. Haha. I am trying to learn how to cook some Hispanic things before I get home but it is really hard to find the time to learn anything other than desert stuff, because that's the quickest. But so far I can make flan, bonuelos, tostones/platanos, rice, and this way good Dominican drink called "morir sonando" (to die dreaming).

I think that's about it for this week. Just keep praying, do your best, and things will work out, no matter what's going on. I love this work and I know that the Lord is answering your prayers for me. Thanks for all your support. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Hna Binning, what happened this week?

2010-07-05T13:34:00.001-07:00

Hey family!

Oh my gosh, we worked our little tails off this week! We are bound and determined to see some results in this area and are not resting till we get it. But unfortunately, with all that, I have no idea what to tell you about this week. The investigators we have are just taking their time progressing so we are really focusing on finding LOTS of new investigators. I know Heavenly Father has people here who are really prepared, we just need to find them!

So, on Sunday nights after planning, my comp and I usually go through our week and talk about the good/funny/random experiences to tell about in our emails. Last night, our conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "Hermana Binning, what happened this week?"

Her: "Ummm...we reached our goals...but they don't really care about that..."

Me: "We found some crazy Dominican men working on cars...but that's really all there is to tell about them."

Her: "Yeah. I don't know. But it was a really good week! Why can't we think of anything to write about?"

Me: "Oh, I cut my bangs."

Her: "Yeah, you could write about that!"

Me: "Ok, good idea. Good night."

I don't know if I've just gotten more serious on my mission or if the funny things have just gotten so normal that I don't feel like they're worth telling or what, but just trust me when I say that we did have an amazing week. We didn't get to do anything fun for the 4th of July because it was on a Sunday. Hermana Binning and I were remembering last July 4th in the MTC watching the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire and we looked through our camera at pictures of us then. But hey, we did get to go over to a member's apartment for an appearance at his little gathering for the branch and share a spiritual thought about the promised land. This member lives on the top floor (13th floor) of a retirement home with a perfect view of the NY skyline and the fireworks. Anyway, I think I gained a new appreciation for the 4th of July yesterday. Most people that know me know that I'm not very patriotic at all. But last night all the members of the branch were so excited to sing "America the Beautiful" in gratitude for the life and opportunities that have opened up to them since coming here. We had people that have been here for everything from 2 to 33 years and they were all just grateful for being here. They still love their countries, surely, but they recognize the blessings they now have and that their children have been given. I realized how grateful I am to have been born and raised here. I think I finally came to grips that being grateful for my country and the blessings I have is not a sin and it doesn't mean I think I'm better than anyone else who lives in another country, it just means I love who I am, and I'm ok with that.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I think I will write a hand-written letter if time allows today, and include a picture if I can. Our p-days have officially been cut mission-wide by an hour permanently to utilize prime finding time. I hope things are going well. If you have any specific questions ask me and then it will give me something cooler to say. :) I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Teaching>Baptism>the TEMPLE!

2010-06-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

Life is SO GOOD!! Can I just tell you how many amazing experiences we have had this last week? Some funny, some stressful yet rewarding, and lots of the spirit.

First off, we got to go to the Manhattan Temple on Wednesday night! I was probably there at the same time that mom was at the temple in Provo, which is kind of neat. We went as a group of sister missionaries...about 14 of us starting out. I say starting out because by the end there were only 9 of us by the time we got to the temple (5 got on the wrong train and the doors closed before we could tell them to get off...oops!). And then we got off at the wrong subway exit...about 10 blocks too early, so we were running through NYC in pouring rain trying to catch the session in time. We were soaked! But once we got in the temple, the peace of it all just completely flooded over me. I love the temple. I spent a long time in there thinking about various things going on in my life and in the lives of my investigators and I know that everything is in the Lord's hands. He knows what He's doing, we just need to trust Him enough to let Him do it.

I was excited to hear my family had a party for the Copa Mundial. We could definitely tell when it started because people are wearing jerseys of their country all over the place and every house we walk into has a game going on. It is quite the temptation but don't worry, I don't watch them, but hey, it provides for a good way to relate to people as we go tracting!

Some of the best news I have gotten recently was yesterday, Hna Erickson called me from Morristown and told me that Miguel is getting baptized this Sunday! She said they haven't been visiting him really at all since I left but he has still just been coming to church and going to the activities and such. I guess he just told them yesterday at church that he finally felt ready. He asked them if I could come but I can't. But the important thing is that he is making the decision he is. I am so excited for him. When we first met him, I never would have guessed that he would become so converted. And it is all through the power of the Book of Mormon! He is one of those people that I look back on and think to myself, "How in the world did it happen? How did he accept it?" He was so strong in his other church but the Book of Mormon changed him and I am so grateful for it.

Yesterday was just a great day altogether. Everyone says that Sacrament meeting is supposed to be the culminating part of a missionary's week, and yesterday it definitely was. We had 3 investigators come to church, all for the first time! Maria couldn't come at the last minute but Lucina, Ana, and Minerva were all just loving it! Lucina and Minerva have family members in our branch and so it is great to be able to teach them and help to make their families complete. Ana came with her daughters without knowing anybody and she loved it! When all the Peruvian women found out she was from Peru, they just took her right under their wing and helped her around. It is so neat the way being from the same country immediately bonds people. When we meet a new investigator, we rack our brains of all the members from that country and who would fit best for them, and it works every time!

Last thing, I promise...most of the areas in the mission have a car, and we use it a lot because our area is pretty big and dangerous at night. But last month, they started something in the mission called "car fast days" where one day a week we have to leave the car parked (we can get rides with members or take the bus or something, we just can't use our cars because the mission is over its limit on mileage limitations). So anway, last Friday was one of those days. We were walking all around in areas that we've never really walked before just heading to our next appointment and before we knew it, 2 different people had stopped us and told us they had been baptized in their home countries and just moved here and were looking for the church! How cool is that? And another guy who used to be taught and wants to be taught again. I love it! Sure I'm usually at the brink of passing out during our car fasts, but we're finding like crazy! Give and take, right? :)

Ok, that's all for today. I want you to know that I know this church is true. I've never known more in my life! "The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be full of light, thy whole body shall be full of light also." (3 Nefi 13:22) Focus our eyes toward the Savior and His teachings and we will radiate the light of Christ and draw others unto it. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

P.S. Mom, thanks for the package! I love the CD's!

P.P.S. Some pictures: the sisters at the temple and a typical street in Paterson.

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There is absolutely zero theme to this email! :)

2010-06-07T08:53:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I hope you (my family, at least) were able to read my legit letter I wrote last week. Memorial Day made it kind of difficult to use a public library since they were all closed and then we were doing exchanges the next day so I got to sit down and write a letter snail mail style. I kind of liked it though. I think I might do it more often in the rest of my mission. Sorry I didn't have pictures to send with it, but I'll include some in this email.

So, Maria DV is still continuing to progress beautifully. She has come to church 2 Sundays in a row now and loved it both times! On Saturday night, we had a noche de hogar with her whole extended family (her husband's side). Basically the only active one in the family is her husband's mother, Mercedes, and she is awesome! It was kind of crazy but it was good. The theme was about the Family Proclamation to the World were it says, "Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." We had all of the kids go around with one concept each (on a puzzle piece) and explain what it was then put it in the puzzle. When we flipped it over, it was a family! :) How creative, huh? Haha, it was fun though. The kids loved it and the parents learned a lot too. I love teaching people about the family proclamation and helping them see just how inspired it is.

Last week we got to do exchanges with the other Spanish sisters and it was my first time ever getting to be the one to go to someone else's area, so that was fun. I got to go down to North Branch and work with Hermana Evens, "my baby!" I might have made her make me pancakes for breakfast since she forgot to call me on Mother's Day...haha, just kidding, she wanted to. :) It was fun working with her again though. While we were together, we discovered that NJ has this really fun thing it likes to do with the weather where it will be really muggy/humid/overcast all day and then at about 5pm the heavens open and just dump down all the rain it's got for about 10 minutes, then it drizzles for another 5 then stops and clears up. Weird, I know. So if we ever happen to get caught outside when it decides to dump, we get soaked. That happened to me and Hna Evens as we went darting a couple of blocks from our appointment to where the car was parked. I felt like I had just gotten off the rapids ride at hurricane harbor or something. Good times.

We get to go to the temple again this Saturday! Our branch is going too and I am so excited!!! I miss going to the temple so much. There is a special spirit that the temple has that you cannot find anywhere else. That is where I want every one of these people I am working with to be able to go because it truly is the house of the Lord. I will need to soak it in all I can again because the next time won't be until November or so. Manhattan will probably be a little more crazy at this time of year than it was when we went in December but it will be neat to see.

Sorry this email is so random and in short-scatterred chunks but I guess that is the way my mind is working today. The work is really picking up here, which is a huge blessing. I know the potential this area has, we are just working to get it at that again so we can see even more miracles. Little miracles of the Lord are coming each and every day. If you ever think that Heavenly Father doesn't answer prayers, just get up off your knees and try to be the answer to someone else's prayers. As you do that, you will know then that He does and is ever so aware of you. I love this work. I never thought I could love people so much as I do right now. I know it sounds cliche as a missionary, but it is so true. My heart aches for them to come unto Christ! Keep them in your prayers.

Hopefully I'll hear from you all soon. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Pics: 573 - Noche de hogar with the whole family! Maria is down in the front with the kids in the yellow shirt (her son)

559 - me and Hna Cornish in front of our new favorite tag in Paterson. Oh Dominicans. :)

549 - A typical teaching appointment. Meet Wilson. He's Puerto Rican, covered in tattoos, has a really raspy voice and a difficult accent to understand, and I'm pretty sure he's killed someone. But hey, he needs the gospel too, right?

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Paterson never ceases to amaze me! :)

2010-05-25T14:58:00.001-07:00

I hugged a drunk woman yesterday. Yep. It was pretty funny...and eye-opening actually. Yesterday was one of the craziest Sundays of my mission. We started out the morning trying to get one of our new investigators, Ventura, to church. I say "trying" because the ride we had arranged for him left without taking him...which we didn't find out until right before church started (we were waiting with him to be picked up). So then we had to call around for a taxi and got to church with him right in the middle of the Sacrament. It was crazy but I hope he still could feel the spirit there. Luckily there was an empty seat next to Rafael so they became best friends...oh little Dominican men. :) Then me and my comps had to rush up to sit on the stand because we were all speaking (which we found out about late Saturday night). I gave my talk and everybody was commenting afterward about how they remembered the last time I spoke in the branch...my third week on the mission. Haha, I hope it was a little better this time. :)

So, I sat down after my talk, which was all about how Christ invites everyone to come unto Him (2 Nephi 26:33), and Hna Binning gets up to give hers. All of a sudden, in the back door of the chapel comes wandering this big drunk black woman crying. One of the members gets up immediately to take her into the foyer and then motions for me to come out too. I go out there and find the elders reading her some scriptures. I sat down next to her on the couch, she turned to me and just threw herself on me as she started bawling her eyes out saying how she's been bad and she wants to come to Jesus. She lives across the street from the church and just came wandering over. I just put my arm around her and told her she had come to the right place to change and be better. After about 20 minutes of this, the elders offered to give her a blessing, but they told her it depended on her faith. She yelled out, "Oh, I have faith BIGGER than a mustard seed, yes it is!" Haha, something in that just made my heart go out to her. She didn't want to leave the church building until she could attend the English branch, which was still over 2 hours away from starting, so we put in Finding Faith in Christ for her to watch and she exclaimed that she wanted to get baptized! :) When the English elders showed up, we happily greeted them and told them, "Hey, we've got a baptism all lined up for you!" Good times. Like I said though, the whole experience was actually pretty eye-opening. It's so easy to love people when they're doing what's right but I had never really had such a feeling for someone who wasn't. I guess I just saw that no matter how drunk she was, something in her told her that she could go to the church and find help. I thought back to how much my talk had just applied to what I was facing. Christ invites everyone, and therefore, we should invite everyone as well. Maybe today when the elders go over to see her, she won't remember a thing that happened yesterday, but in time, Heavenly Father will touch her heart and she may wander into a church again (hopefully more sober) and feel something familiar, something good.

Exciting, huh? :) Let's see...oh, also this week, we contacted and taught an Italian man (who speaks some Spanish) and a Brazilian woman (who just speaks Portuguese but we do the best we can). Michael and Cari, the Italian man, Victor, wants you to call him and talk to him. He is from Napoli and brought out a lot of pictures of Calabria (are they anywhere near each other?) I don't know. Anyway, I'll send you his number. And Chris, if you want to call Anisia and speak Portuguese to her, go for it. Since coming back to Paterson and going to Ellis Island every other week, I have grown this huge desire to learn both Portuguese and Italian to just be able to communicate with more of these people! I've learned how to teach how to pray in Portuguese and how to offer help in Italian. Any extra help from you on more phrases or whatever would be greatly appreciated. :)

I heard good news from Hna Erickson in Morristown about Miguel! I wrote him a letter before I left and was pretty bold with him about the church and left 2 Nephi 33:10-11 for him to read. Apparently when they went over to give it to him, they spoke really boldly as well and when he read the letter, it matched up perfectly with what they had been telling him and he knew it was the spirit. He is seriously praying about moving his baptismal date up now. I absolutely love that man! When I look back on my time in Morristown, he is definitely one of the reasons I was there.

So how are you all doing? How is your latest tour going, Malcolm? Summer has basically started now, right? I love the summer time on the mission. People are just naturally happier and more willing to talk about God and make changes in their lives as we point out the blessings of God's creations all around us.

I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us more than we can know. The very first principle we teach is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. That is a principle I think I took for granted so much before my mission. No matter what our circumstance, our heartache, our joy, or our suffering may be, He is always there. I love teaching people how to pray and hearing them talk with Him for maybe the first time in their life. My mind goes so much to Mormon 9, which I have become addicted to lately! It testifies to me that miracles do happen, our prayers will be answered, and we will be blessed through our faith.

I pray for you all continually that the Lord continues to bless you. Take care and I will write again next week. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Humidity!

2010-05-03T09:09:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! How are you all? First of all, thank you SO MUCH to everybody who wrote me for my birthday!!!!!! It made me feel like the most special missionary in the world. I was kind of sick this week with this, that, and the other (headache, cough, and passing out :) but the Lord blessed us greatly in the work and things are progressing well. Needless to say, I really appreciated all the extra love and support I got from you all. So thank you.

Also, Happy Birthday Megan! (yeah, I know this is the week late...sorry). I hope your day was fabulous and that you felt loved, because you are the best. Love you!

Entonces, this week was kind of crazy. It's really starting to get humid and hot here, and until last night, our ac in the apartment didn't work, which was exciting. We picked up this amazing new investigator on Monday night, Alexis. About a week and a half ago, we were wandering around this huge apartment complex listening for Spanish as we walked down the hall, to help us decide which doors to knock. We heard a ton of people speaking Spanish inside one room, so we knocked. The door opened and inside we saw piles of beer bottles and cigarette smoke filling the air. One guy came out to talk to us (Alexis), we introduced ourselves and were about to just give him a pass-along card and leave but in the course of the contact, both Hna Erickson and I felt the spirit really strongly telling us that he needed the gospel. We set up an appointment and went over on Monday night. The spirit at that first lesson was so strong! I can't even explain it. We went back on Friday and again had the same experience. He opened up to us that he has a lot of things in his life that he wants to change, that he wants to do better. He didn't really have purpose in his life or feel like he had any hope to be better. We talked to him about the faith and repentance and compared his story to Alma the Younger in the Book of Mormon. It was just really powerful. Anyway, we ran into him last night on the street and he had been having problems with some people he lives with and he is taking off this week to go back to Puerto Rico. His whole family is there and he doesn't have a job here or anything, it's just better down there. But it broke our hearts that he is going because he was so cool but I know that we found him when we did for a reason and hopefully we will be able to get him in touch with the missionaries down there as well.

Well, I don't really know what else to tell you for now...I don't really want to blow everything before I call home this Sunday. My companion and a member of the branch, Angela, really went through a lot of effort on Friday to make my birthday a special day. I'll tell you all about Angela when I call. She's basically my mom on the mission.

I hope everything is going well for you all. Take care and know that I love you. Thank you for your love and support in helping me focus on the work of the Lord. I know this is the most important thing I can be doing with my life right now. This next several months is going to fly by...I better hang on to it tight! :) The church is true. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

These seeds have taken a LONG time to grow...

2010-04-19T08:34:00.001-07:00

Hey my wonderful family, how are you? Things are going well here. Actually, they are going more than well because we have a baptism this Sunday!!! His name is Reymon, and he is turning 8 today. He is the son of an eternigator that can't get baptized because she's not married but he is so excited to get baptized this week. It's kind of interesting teaching a little kid...and we haven't even really taught him a ton because he has pretty much grown up in the church but hey, he's cool. His 12 yr-old sister, Paola, is a member and we're still working with his parents to get his dad moving his feet to get married to his mom. Hopefully there will be good news on that to come. But we are way excited. :)

We also got a baptismal date set with Paco for May 9! Things are finally starting to come through around here. Miguel has told us he will get baptized, he just doesn't want to set a date because, as he explained it, he has already been baptized in 2 wrong churches in his life and he doesn't want to make that same mistake again...but he'll get baptized, don't fret. :)

This week was eye-opening in some respects...I don't really know how to explain it. Basically, one of the members here, Angela, analyzed our companionship for us (and the last 2 companionships I've been in here in Morristown) and said that I always get put with someone who is really "carinosa" because I'm not, basically (I don't know how to define that word...it's like kind, caring, sweet...I don't know). Haha, I have heard that lots on my mission and I never quite know how to take it because they always follow it up by saying that it's not a bad thing, because people can still tell I love them just in a different way...anyway, I thought a lot about it and came to the conclusion that the reason I have been left here in Morristown for so long while we're teaching all these little men is because men don't care if you're carinosa or not! They just listen to the message and take it for what it's worth so...yep, that was my conclusion and my mid-mission crisis ended just as quickly as it began.

I got to be the concluding speaker at our fireside last night for the 2 Spanish branches in our stake. I shared about how to tackle the seemingly insurmountable task of reading the Book of Mormon. It was a really good experience and I think the spirit was really strong. Everyone left with a ton of energy to start reading the Book of Mormon and see the miracles from it. Hopefully with everybody having stronger testimonies of the Book of Mormon, we will receive even more support from the members in the work and energy to share the gospel from them.

Anyway, I don't really know what else to say. It was a good week but hopefully this coming one will be even better. I hope everyone is doing well. Take care and know that I'm praying for you. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Sorry, my creativity has run dry for the week...:)

2010-04-12T14:11:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

How are you all doing? How is the wonderful springtime for you all? Hna Erickson and I are just loving it here in Morristown. Our favorite thing is just parking the car every once-in-a-while and WALKING! It is so much nicer to be able to contact outside and such.

This week was kind of a crazy one as we lost almost 2 entire days to proselyting because we had to go to Ellis Island for orientation one day and then start work the next (we only go there April-October to help). It was fun this time being the one to get to show my companion around because she had never been before (considering the last time we went, I was still in my first transfer of my mission). I found Papa Chuck's dad on the Ellis Island page and am hoping that when I get home I can do more searching on that. It said he declared his destination as Little Falls, NJ! That was in my first area! Crazy, I had no idea.

The month of April has been deemed "Change of Heart" month, as we are anxiously preparing for the Cherry Hill mission to join with us in July. It's consisting of several fasts, shorter preparation days, daily reading of the white handbook, and other things to help us become more unified and get more baptisms. We have already been seeing several blessings from it as we have 2 investigators praying about a baptismal date right now (Miguel and Luis) and hopefully another we will set tonight (Paco). Paco and Miguel came to church yesterday and they loved it! Paco is the coolest kid ever. He's 18-yrs old, from Mexico, and is just so humble. We've taught him twice now and he is reading the Book of Mormon and everything. Hopefully more good news on him will follow.

This week we are holding a fireside for our branch and the Dover branch about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and it will include a challenge to all of them to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover before the end of the year. I just finished the Book of Mormon for the second time all the way through in Spanish (well, almost 2 times, but the first time I made it to Helaman 13 when President Bahr challenged us all to read it from the beginning...so I started over). It was an amazing experience. I absolutely love the Book of Mormon. No matter how many times I read it, I learn new and important doctrines about the Savior Jesus Christ to apply in my life. I counted how many references there are to Christ in the Spanish one and, while I don't have the exact number with me, it was something over 5,000 times in 600 pages that it talks about Him. It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ.

Well, I think that is about it for this week. I hope everyone continues to be doing well and that you are all doing things each day to grow closer to our savior Jesus Christ. That's where we find real happiness. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Energy Revived!

2010-04-06T15:53:00.001-07:00

Life here in Morristown is going SO well! I will admit, it is hard for me to be here another transfer but luckily I love the people here and my new companion, Hna Erickson (from Boise, ID), is AMAZING! We have such a great energy for the work here and are going to see some amazing miracles this transfer, I can feel it. We've got branch activities and firesides in the making and all sorts of neat things planned to see this place grow. I'm so excited! So yeah, Hna Erickson was in trained in Paterson by Hna Bushman (she replaced me when I left for here) and now we're companions! I just love her, don't even fret. :)

Wasn't General Conference just amazing? We watched it here in the chapel in Morristown and went to check on our members/investigators in the Relief Society room during the hymns (we watched it in English). Lots of amazing talks and all focused on family and strengthening the family and the home. We see just how important that is so much every day. I also had fresh in my mind the special day that Saturday was in our family and kept thinking over and over again how grateful I am that our family was sealed in the temple and that mom and dad had Jesus Christ as the center of our home. Memories were coming back of waking up to read the Book of Mormon before seminary, interviews with Dad, consistent Family Home Evening, and the example of always turning to the Lord in times of trial. I am so grateful that I have been blessed with a family like that and hope that I can help be the means of bringing that joy and comfort to the people here in New Jersey. These people here have become like my family and I want them to have what we have! And it's gotten to the point where I walk down the street and know almost everybody...haha, oh Morristown. So conference...Darwin came to the Saturday morning session and Miguel went to the Priesthood session and they both loved it too. Afterwards on Saturday afternoon, Darwin told us he wanted to get baptized!!!! We went over to visit him yesterday and talk with him a little more about it and Miguel told us he had been kicked out of the house Saturday night because he hadn't been paying rent or working for a year. Miguel called him and he was in Ohio, moving to Michigan. I wanted to cry so bad but my tears had already been expelled during conference. I got to talk to him for a sec and he said that when he figures out where he's moving, he wants the missionaries to come by. He said thanks for everything and that was it. It was a hard night, to say the least, but I know that the Lord will take care of him. I'm not even giving justice to explaining what all happened but I think you get the jist of it.

Anyway, I wish I had my notes with me right now from conference, but I don't so I will have to go off the top of my head. I loved President Monson's talk I think the most. When he mentioned about the missionaries serving on both sides of the veil, my thoughts of course went straight to Anthony and the work he is doing there and what I am trying to do here. This is the most important work that exists! It is the work that spans the timeline of existence and brings families together for eternity. Now if we can just get some of our investigators married! We're shooting for 3 weddings this transfer. Haha, definitely next on our to-do list. :)

Well, Hna Erickson and I are still working hard and trying to do our best. I don't think she believed me at first when I kept telling her that all of our investigators are "little men"...and then she started meeting them and found out it's true. One of these days, I will get to sit down in a house again for a lesson! It's pretty funny. Please keep praying for them to recognize this is true, because I know it is! I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Ok, and now I suppose I'll attach some pictures.

341 - Hna Binning, Hna Cornish, and I going out to lunch at Panera Bread to celebrate our halfway mark.

320 - Hna Evens and I with Miguel (doing the bunny ears) and Darwin. I love those guys!

281 - my zone last transfer (transfer 5)

328 - eating frog legs. Yeah, we went out to lunch with the branch mission leader between sessions on Saturday and he took us to a Chinese buffet...and I might have loved it.

338 - my new comp, Hna Erickson, and I :)

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One of the cool kids! :)

2010-03-29T14:39:00.001-07:00

Buenos dias! Como estan? Last night at about 11:50pm we got the transfer call and...Hna Evens is getting transferred out and I'm staying. Lots of mixed feelings right now...going on 4 transfers here...I never thought back at Thanksgiving when I joked with Hna Andrews that I would be in Morristown for my birthday that it would actually come true! Haha. But yeah, Hna Evens is really sad. We went to IHOP this morning as an apartment to celebrate our time together. Sister Child isn't getting transferred either so we have still lived together my entire mission so far! I have a guess as to who my next companion will be, considering there are only 2 other Spanish sisters getting transferred (there are only 7 Spanish sisters in the whole mission), but I won't say. We'll just wait and see it out. I'm really excited I get to stay though because we have so many investigators right on the brink of baptism! Let's see if Heavenly Father will bless us to pull these through. It's been a pretty tough area up to now but it's one of the more expensive Spanish areas so the people are complete work-aholics but we are knocking those barriers one by one. :) Miguel and Darwin are still progressing beautifully. Miguel won't let us set him with a baptismal date yet but I think he'll be the type of guy where when he decides to get baptized, it will be basically a "next day" type of deal, so we're not too worried about that. He knows where we're headed. :)

This week had weather that was just bouncing around lots. We were walking down the street one day and saw one of our investigator's kids so we started talking to him and all his friends came up and showed us their bike tricks and everything...and then we got in the cool club, apparently, because they started letting us pick out which of their SillyBands we wanted. Whoa. :) SillyBands are these things that are way big out here that are colorful rubberbands that hold the shape of any number of things like cars, dolphins, flowers, and anteaters. Are they big out west? I swear, these are like the Pokemon cards of the new generation. Anyway, that was kind of fun. Then we offerred that the next time we were in the area and the ice cream man drove by, we would get them some ice cream (considering Ice Cream Man Sam is our friend and always hooks us up if he sees us wandering around :)

We had some major break-throughs this week with eternigators/inactive members. This branch here in Morristown is filled with eternigators who have been coming to church steadily for years but can't get baptized, usually because of marriage/legality issues to their home country. So we usually just visit them as if they're members and ask them every once-in-a-while how their papers are coming along. Last week, we visited one such family. The parents are Carmen y Isdeyber, with a 9-yr-old daughter Michelle. I've probably only visited with them twice since I've been in Morristown because they live kind of far away but we went to see them on Saturday because an appointment feel through. We sat down and were talking, then Hna Evens started saying the opening prayer. I had my head bowed and this voice basically told me, "Michelle needs to get baptized. Set her with a date." I ignored it at first because I remembered that the sisters here in the past were really close to having her baptism but then something happened. But then it came again, "Set her with a date. She's ready." So Hna Evens finished the prayer and I looked at Carmen and Isdeyber and just opened my mouth and said, "So, we wanted to talk to you about Michelle getting baptized..." and the discussion went from there and before we were out of that door, Michelle had set herself a baptismal date for May 1. I love the spirit! We had NO IDEA before we walked into that lesson what we were going to teach them but we were led in what to do.

So I wonder what another transfer in Morristown will hold? I am really excited to see. I love this place. We have been teaching so many little men for so long now, I was almost positive the area was preparing to get elders in here, but I guess not. Like it says in Helaman 3:7 "And there being but little timber upon the face of the land, nevertheless the people who went forth became exceedingly expert in the working of cement; therefore they did build houses of cement, in the which they did dwell." This has been the theme for my time here in Morristown. There are few women to teach (as of right now, at least... :) but we are going forth and becoming experts in working with and teaching men. Haha, work with what you have, I guess. But the miracles we've been seeing from it are amazing and will only get better the more we put our trust in the Lord.

I hope everyone is doing well. I pray for you every day and know the Lord is blessing you in more ways than you can see. Have a wonderful weekend watching/attending General Conference. We'll be having a potluck between sessions with our branch out here! :) I am so excited for this chance we get to hear the prophet of the Lord speak to us and for the chance to bring my investigators to hear as well. Pray that they can come and feel of the Spirit to know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God. Take care this week. I will obviously be thinking of all of you and of Anthony as we approach his birthday. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Samoan Sway = Guatemalan grab-n-go

2010-03-22T14:31:00.001-07:00

Hey family! How are you all doing? I haven't heard from many of you in a while so I'm just hoping things are going well. I've heard from Mom and Dad that Michael and Cari are heading to Oregon? That's way fun. I loved being in the northwest when I was there and I could see you two just loving it as well. Have fun and take lots of pictures!

So this week was gorgeous weather! (except today, of course, which is raining). But I got back out the short sleeve shirts and we used the air conditioning for the first time in months in the car. What a blessing! :) People are out wandering the streets and everyone is a little more upbeat. But of course, the downside of the nice weather is that all our little men we've been teaching that have been out of jobs all winter have just started up again with their gardening companies so they're a little harder to catch home. Oh well, we'll just track them down somehow.

Yesterday at church was AMAZING! Miguel and Darwin came and loved it! Miguel just knows so much about the Book of Mormon now. He got up in Gospel Principles class and started answering someone's question about it...he drew a map of the world and showed how the Bible came from Jerusalem and the Book of Mormon from the American continent and was just going on and on. It was awesome! And then he told about how God is so aware of all his children and about when he was taking out the garbage and we were walking by and stopped to talk with him the first time. The branch mission leader just came up to us afterward and asked if he was an inactive member or an investigator or what. Haha, I am so glad they had such a good experience. He won't let us set him with a baptismal date yet but we'll keep working for that.

I feel like along with the start of spring this week I've gained about 500 pounds because everyone is just happier and wanting to give us more food...or something. I ate a PB&J sandwhich on Wednesday before heading out and felt sick afterward for some reason. So then we went to an appointment with a new investigator, Claudia, from El Salvador, and found she was preparing lunch for us (people always do that without telling us...and then they stare at us as we eat and get offended if we don't eat their food). So I told her, "Oh Hermana, I don't know what's wrong but I'm just not feeling good today." Mistake #1, don't tell a Hispanic you're sick. She comforted me by saying, "Oh that's ok, I've got something you can take. It's from my country." Uh-oh. Then she pulls out a thing of alka-selzer (which luckily is NOT from her country but still...GROSS!) and gives it to me. As soon as I'm done downing that, she asked if I felt better. I, of course, said yes, in the hopes that she wouldn't make me drink another glass of alka-selzer. That was mistake #2 because then, she brought over to the table a full plate of food for each of us...fried chicken, rice, beans, tortillas, and a tall glass of some nasty Salvadorian drink that tasted like grits and coffee. Mmmm. Love the mission. :)

Then the rest of the week people just kept giving us all sorts of randoms sweets and foods and such, enough to keep making us sick. So we came up with some little sayings for how to fit it all in. If you've ever heard of the Samoan sway or the Tongan twist, we now have our own. Columbian crunch (a couple crunches between meals never felt better). Mexican mash (to them, it just looks like you're dancing, and they love to dance), the Honduranian hide (the real reason we carry such big bags...), and the Guatemalan grab-n-go (oh no, we're late to our next appointment! Can we wrap this in foil and take it home?). But really, we eat it all and are just so grateful to them. These people give their best for us every time. I always remember that when we had the missionaries over to our house for dinner growing up, Mom would always say that she hoped that one day in the future, people would take care of her kids the same way on their missions. That, for sure, is happening.

Well, I hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy the spring time. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

The Power of the Book of Mormon

2010-03-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! How is everything going? After a couple of days of gorgeous weather here, we had 2 days of just absolute torrential downpour this weekend. Trees were falling and power was going out and we just kept praying that people would let us into their houses. So yeah, it was exciting. And amidst all the craziness, we still had tons of amazing lessons and experiences. This might have included, but is not limited to: a possom running in front of our car (but I did not hit it), watching part of "Our Heavenly Father's Plan" in lots of different languages while waiting on a member, eating dinner at a British family's house (they are in the English ward here and we bonded when I told her my dad is from England), watching St Patty's Day fanatics darting around decked out in green gear in the torrential downpour as their annual parade got cancelled, hearing bagpipes warming up for the parade, and watching my companion sew in hair extensions for one of our investigators. Yep, good week. And now for the spiritual part, because it was amazing!...

Last Monday, we got a phone call from one of our investigators, Miguel. We have been teaching him and his roommate, Darwin, a lot but they have been kind of making slow progress. Miguel takes the logical/intellectual perspective on everything. He loves to ask questions and has to really know for himself all this stuff, which is great, but he won't accept reading assignments from the Book of Mormon, he just wanted to read it from the beginning. And in the last month we've been meeting with him, he hadn't made it past 1 Nephi 3. Lately we had felt like he was getting anti-ed and that we would have to drop him soon. Anyway, he called on Monday and said, "Hey, can you come over for a visit tonight? I need to talk to you." We were kind of worried, thinking it might be a trap with his pastor there from his church or something. We just prayed and prayed and went over for the appointment. He was outside waiting for us and then we went inside to have a lesson on the steps (because we didn't have a member with us). Darwin came and joined us (he doesn't say much but loves the lessons) and we got to talking. We prayed and I asked him, "So, what can we do for you?" He held up his Book of Mormon and said, "Well, I've been reading..." He opened up to where he was and he was in Helaman 13!!!!! That's about 400 pgs in Spanish! He continued, "When you guys come in here and talk to me about the Bible, I know that, I understand what you're saying. But when you come in here and talk to me about Nephi and Alma and these names, I don't know who they are. I decided I wanted to know. I haven't understood everything I've read, but it feels good. It's like the Bible. I go to my church but there's something about this book...I just can't explain it." The spirit we felt at that moment was amazing! I don't think any of us in that little stariwell wanted to be anywhere else in the world. We explained to him about the Holy Ghost and how that was what he was feeling, the confirming power of that witness that it is true. We then explained about baptism and how after baptism, he can feel the Holy Ghost all the time. He was loving it. We said, "Miguel, it will be hard for you to leave behind your church and what you have been doing, but when you feel that it is right, like you do now, you will want to. Do you believe that Jesus Christ can help you to make those changes and come unto him and be baptized?" To which he replied, "I know He can. Life wasn't easy for Jesus. Why should it be for me? He sufferred for me. The least I can do is follow Him."

Follow-up lesson with Miguel and Darwin on Friday night. We had a member with us who kind of talks a lot and controls the lesson but it was still really good. This member was just talking and talking and during it, Miguel kept looking at me to see if I was confirming what the member was saying. Finally, when I was able to speak, I just bore a short testimony to him about...I don't even remember what. He was staring me right in the eyes and then he said, "Wow, you speak really strongly. I felt something." And I said, "That wasn't me, it was the spirit. I don't even know what I just said." It was just an amazing testimony to me of the Holy Ghost working through us to say what needs to be heard.

I love this mission. It's interesting because at the end of last transfer, I was so ready to leave this area, move on to something else, I felt burned out here. But being left here another transfer, we've really gotten things going here and I have truly grown to feel for these people what I felt in Paterson. We may not be having lots of baptisms, but we have been doing tons of foundational stuff in the branch to help future misisonaries. We finally got our branch mission plan done last week, we had our first Gospel Principles class at church for our investigators, and we are getting all the member to read the Book of Mormon. I just love everybody here and would not mind at all to stay another transfer.

Anyway, that's it for today. I hope these emails don't bore you at all. I guess I'm kind of using them as a journal for me as well since my journal isn't too detailed. :) I love you all and hope things are going well. Happy anniversary to Chris and Megan. Next year, I'll babysit the girls for you so you can go out but for now, Mom can enjoy that job. :) I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Would you give your LIFE for it?

2010-03-08T09:28:00.001-08:00

Hey, how is everybody doing? Is it warming up in Utah yet? It sure is here. I love it! This is a long one, but it's worth it, I promise. :)

Miracles happen, everyday. Sometimes you wonder as a missionary if the work you are doing is pleasing unto the Lord. Sometimes I wonder why the heck he is trusting me to teach His children the gospel. None of us are perfect, but Heavenly Father knows that and He works with that and He leads us in our imperfections to become better, to be led by His Holy Spirit and be sanctified. And when you can look back at a week like this and see the way the Spirit guided without you even realizing it, you are just humbled again and again at the power of the Lord. I'm just going to hit day-by-day the little miracles:

Tuesday: Miracles of Finding. Exchanges among the sisters in my zone; I was with Hna Minetto! She served here in Morristown for 3 transfers last summer so as we were walking around the town, we ran into tons of people that she had taught previously that had just fallen through the cracks because they moved or something and got their information de nuevo.

Wednesday: Miracles of Challenging. Set 2 baptismal dates! One with Ranferi and one with Martin! They are awesome. Martin still has some doubts but at least he knows now that this is where we're headed. But Ranferi's lesson was so powerful! The spirit was so strong and he didn't even let us finish the baptismal challenge before he said that he wanted to get baptized!

Thursday: Miracles of Testimony. Absolute exhaustion but lots of new investigators. We ended up with 4 lessons back-to-back with guys who LOVE to talk...fast...and a lot. Hna Evens was just staring at me and I was getting a headache just staring at them. Wow. But one of them, Sergio, invited us to give a lesson to his youth group at the Catholic church. Haha, he liked what we were saying. We were trying to get across to him about how this is the only true church and then he looked at me straight in the eyes and he said, "Would you give your life for it?" That was the first time I had ever been asked that and I was so grateful I was able to look straight back at him and say, "Yes. Yes I would." He had nothing to say after that. I was grateful for the chance Heavenly Father gave me to strengthen my testimony so much by bearing it.

Friday: Miracles of Diligence. I was not feeling too great all day and was still exhausted of Spanish from the day before but we just kept going and working hard. Some good appointments throughout the day but the clincher came in the last appointment of the night, a power visit with a member of the branch, Angela. She is one of my favorite women ever and she has been struggling a lot lately. Life is so hard for these people we teach. Their families are in their home country, they think they have come here to chase after the "American Dream" and then they realize it's all false. Angela goes to work, comes home and spends the evening with her 10-yr-old son, and goes to sleep...day after day. And then church on Sundays. There are no nice things to go to in the community, no other good families to hang out with or go to the movies with. So we started sharing a message with her, having no idea what we could say to help, and my scriptures fell open to a part in Alma 43 that I had marked after Dad cited it in a letter to me. It was random, about some wars of the Nephites and Lamanites, but it spoke right to her. She started crying and so did I as we felt the spirit of the Lord fulfill the promise to "open your mouth and it will be filled."

Saturday: Miracles of being in the right place at the right time. Popped in to visit a recently reactivated member of the branch, Walter, who had been praying that someone would show up that could give him the spiritual boost he was seeking. He wanted to call us but didn't want to pull us from our lessons so he went for a 15-minute walk instead. We felt like we shoudl go visit him and happened to go over right after he left, and left a note on the door. He called us 10-minutes later and we had a great lesson on faith.

Sunday: Miracles of Prayer. Ranferi came to church! Need I say more? Ok, well, maybe one kind of un-miracle...we found out he's not married to his esposa...roadblock major. And also Hector came to church and talked with the branch president and they are getting his records transferred up from Honduras after 13 years!

Well, I think this email is long enough. :) Thank you for your continued prayers and support to me and most especially for your prayers for our investigators. Prayers really are answered, and the more we recognize the answers, the more we get them. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Snow plows are like missionaries...

2010-03-01T08:55:00.001-08:00

More snow this week! I don't even know where they are going to put it all! We still were able to go out and work though, but once again the muscles are sore from shoveling. Don't judge the picture of us shoveling snow...it doesn't look like we did a lot but we just really wanted to get a picture of us shoveling in front of that house because that is one of our houses of many men that we are teaching. We just write in our schedules "19 Henry St" as back-up a lot of time and catch whoever is there (Ranferi, Luis, Jose, Ezequiel). Maybe one day, they will all come to church together! We're working on that. :) Right now, getting people to church is seriously the only thing stopping so many of these people from getting baptized. Pray our investigators can come to church! Everybody here just works their tails off and that includes on Sundays, so they can never come! And it seems like the harder we work at it every week, the fewer that come...hmmm...

So we had some really neat experiences this week where the Spirit was leading us when we didn't even know it. There were a couple of nights when all of our appointments fell through and we had about half an hour before going inside. Since it was the end of the month, we didn't have too many miles left we could go on our car so we had to be really creative with where we went. One night, we decided to go by for this guy we had contacted about a month ago but never gotten ahold of. We go to this house, knocked on one door, and asked for Jorge. They didn't know who he was and told us to try the back door (remember, every door is a different household). So we go to the back, knock on the door (it's snowing, by the way) and some guy answers the door and lets us in. We asked for Jorge and they had no idea who he was but then we just asked if we could share a message with them. They let us sit down and introduced themselves as Leonel, Benjamin, and Hector, all from Honduras. We got to talking and before long, Hector says, "I had some friends back in Honduras named Elders. We became really good friends and they baptized me. Actually, they baptized my whole family, but the rest of my family is still in Honduras. When I moved here to make more money, I had to work on Sundays so I have never been to church here, but now I only work on Sundays sometimes." What the heck?!?! And not even to mention that that was the 2nd person we found this week who had been baptized in Honduras and moved here and gotten lost along the way. It is crazy how that happens. Records get lost a lot along the way but it is just a testimony to me that the Lord knows His sheep. Like it says in Doctrine and Covenants 50:41-42, "Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me; And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost."

In other news, we met with Wilson again (our fast little Ecuadorian man) and he starts out by asking, "Do you believe people can change and be better? Because I think...." And off he went with all his ideas and stuff and it was awesome. So we taught him about faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end and he was just loving it. We invited him to be baptized and he said that in a year he will, once he has read the whole Book of Mormon, unless he feels like God tells him to get baptized sooner. Haha, we can definitely work with that. We also invited him to church but he said he wants to look nice when he comes so he needs to save up and go shopping for some new clothes. Haha, this guys just cracks me up and he just loves the lessons. Everything just makes so much sense to him. More updates to come... :)

To explain the title of this week's email, that is a bit of wisdom I came up with while driving around the other day with Hna Evens. The streets are covered in snow and you see snowplows just driving right over them without the plow down (I saw it a lot in Utah too). I felt like saying, "Hey, there is snow all over this road that needs to be moved and you have the ability to do so...so do it!" And then I thought, that's like missionaries...so many times, missionaries just walk right on by people who need help and we can help them! If we just put the plow down and go to work, it's amazing the difference we can see in what happens. I love the tools we have as members of the church to help and lift people in need. Use them! :)

I guess that's about it for today. I hope things are going well back home. Take care on tour, Malcolm. And Megan, don't worry about sending the last part of the package, we're fine. :) I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

President Bahr, my hand might have punched a bush...

2010-02-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry, this is a long one... :)

What a funny week. Neither of us got transferred but transfer day completely threw off our schedule...and it might have all started when I punched a bush... :) So it was snowing, and we were walking back to our car after an appointment in the morning before transfer conference. Sister Greenwood was with us and I thought it would be fun to throw some snow at her. (For any of you who had a snowball fight with me last winter, I think I came to the conclusion that I should never start a snowball fight because I always end up losing...I'm still the same apparently.) So I see this bush with a bunch of snow on it and go swinging my hand through it to throw some on Sister Greenwood. Something stabbed into my hand, I had a minor freakout, and then we looked and a thorn from the bush had stabbed into my thumb, gotten in pretty deep, and broken off. Sister Greenwood and Hna Evens just laughed at me as they tried to do surgery to get it out but it wouldn't come so they told me to call President Bahr (since he's a doctor). He came to transfer conference all prepared with his tools...and it still didn't come out...so now I have a thorn in my thumb. :) When I read my mom's email about Devon burning his hands, I thought of this story...and mine doesn't even compare to his but Devon, I hope you're doing well. :)

In other news, maybe on a more spiritual note, we have these 2 investigators that we have really started seeing progress this week. I mainly want to tell you about Ranferi. He is this Guatemalan man who we found one day when just everything fell through. He had been taught my missionaries before (we actually found his name in the area book) but stopped taking the lessons because he was just too busy with work and stuff. So we taught him about 3 times this week and the spirit was so strong every time! We were talking about Jospeh Smith and saying the only way he can know for himself is to pray about it and read the Book of Mormon. He said, "I want to read this book. I want to know." That's where it all starts: the desire to believe. He has been reading and will be coming to church next Sunday!

Then we also had our second lesson with this guy named Wilson, an Ecuadorian who speaks incredibly fast and never breathes. He just started rattling off question after question about his reading (which was about life after this, because he had that question last time). His questions were never in a bashing sort of way, thank goodness, he just really sincerely wants to know...EVERYTHING! :) He was raised Catholic but he was like, "Yeah, I don't really believe in that. I think we'll get our bodies again and I think we had to have lived with God before and I think that the bad spirits don't have bodies..." and on and on he went. Haha, he is awesome. Hna Evens just stares at him, having no idea the half of what he's saying, so then I just have to jump in whenever I can and if I breathe, I better be done explaining what I wanted to explain. Haha, I love it. And as I've always said about passing out, breathing is SO overrated. :)

And for exciting food of the week...ceviche (Honduranian style)! DON'T try this at home! So it is basically a raw seafood pico de gallo. It's got raw shrimp, squid, crab, muscles, clams, and other things all soaked in lime juice; then dump that into a bowl with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, more lime juice, and about a pound of salt (no joke, when he put the salt in the bowl, he kept pouring until we basically couldn't see the food under it). But apparently the salt/lime combo kind of cooks the seafood. I picked up a piece of shrimp and was amazed when I could actually see it cooking...yep, lots of salt. And then he served each of us (the elders were there too) an entire plate of it! I just had to swallow a lot of things whole because they were not chewing in my mouth! But hey, I ate all the seafood, I just couldn't finish off the swimming pool of raw onions I had on my plate afterward. Mmmm. That is not something I will be cooking for you after the mission, don't fret.

So, one funny/pitiful, a couple spiritual, and one gross experience. Sounds like a mission, right? Things are going great and I love to be out here doing what I'm doing. I hope everyone is doing well back home. Good luck on you tour, Malcolm! You'll be so close to me! I'll be praying for you lots to be safe and have fun. Remember our deal. Chris, Megan, Victoria, and Claire, thank you so much for the Valentine's package! We will be picking up some ice cream today to go with that amazing hot fudge you sent. You are amazing and Tori is quite the little artist ;)

Take care this week. Remember to live what you believe! It is amazing the number of people we find out here who get turned away from one religion or another because they see hypocrites preaching one thing on Sunday and then living something else during the week. (1 Timothy 4:12) "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." Thank you for the wonderful examples you all are to me. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Carnal Security...I HATE that!

2010-02-16T16:09:00.001-08:00

Hey everybody! How are you doing? How's the weather back there in Utah/wherever you may be? Let me just start out by telling you we got a MASSIVE storm on Wednesday! It started early in the morning while Sister Child and I were running and just kept dumping all day. Probably the closest thing to a white-out I've ever seen. We received a text in the middle of study from the assistants that we were not to leave our apartment all day on Wednesday unless it was absolutely necessary. So that was interesting. We did our weekly planning, detox cleaning of the apartment for the end of the transfer, and lots of extra studying in the scriptures. It is definitely not something we are used to as missionaries to just be sitting inside all day but we made the best use of our time as we could and Sister Child made an amazing lunch for all of us. :) When we went out on Thursday, there was so much snow! We spent half an hour just digging our car out and helping some other people in the parking lot. Then we borrowed some snow shovels from the church and went around to our investigators and members and shoveled for hours upon hours...literally. My back and arms were pretty sore the next day.

So yeah, transfers are again tomorrow and both Hermana Evens and I are staying in Morristown. It will be interesting to see how we go about tackling the issue of teaching houses full of single men but I know that we can work so many miracles here in this next transfer. I'm excited to see what it brings. And we'll be getting a newbie in the apartment again because Sister Child is training! Haha, this will be exciting. I have lived with Sister Child my whole mission so far...I wonder how long that will last? :)

Morristown continues to be an amazing area to work in with miracles every day. I am loving working with Hermana Evens and we are really energized to get things going here this next transfer. We got a baptismal date set with Saqueo, this 19-yr old kid I think I already told you about. He just needs to come to church now. About a week and a half ago, we heard from a member who always takes one of our investigators to church (Isabel) that Isabel didn't want to come to church anymore. Isabel has been investigating the church since July but she has had this doubt about already being baptized in when she was a baby. We have had 3 baptismal dates set for her this transfer and had to keep changing them. We have gone through every lesson/demonstration in the book to try to help her to really gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel so that she will know that she needs to do this. Anyway, when I heard she didn't want to come to church anymore, I basically wanted to cry. But then, another sister missionary was with me, Sister Dennis, and she told me that a similar thing had happened to her. She said, "Just keep praying. You have done everything you can and the Lord knows what He's doing and she has her agency. This work is too important for the Lord...nothing you do can ruin it." So Hermana Evens and I did that. We finally got the chance to see Isabel and talk to her on Thursday night and turns out she does still want to come to church, she just didn't explain herself fully to Hna Cariello. Apparently, life with her family back in Ecuador has been crazy and this whole long story but it all comes down to the fact that she told her sister that she feels closer to God when she goes to church with us than she ever felt growing up, and she wants to keep coming. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He is watching over and guiding this work. I was so grateful for the ways in which he leads us each and every day here.

That about sums up my week, I suppose...zone meeting, snow, snow shoveling, zone conference, Valentine's treats, and blessings from the Lord through it all. Thank you for your continued love and support. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day. Thank you for the package, Mom! I miss all of you tons, but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Who knew meatloaf had hard-boiled eggs, peas, spam, and green olives in it?

2010-02-01T13:02:00.001-08:00

Hola familia!

Thanks for the updates on everything. I am definitely keeping the Anderson family in my prayers and hope that little Bryson is ok. If there is anything I have been learning in my transfer-long study on faith, it is that God does hear and answer prayers every time if we have the faith that He will. I don't know why faith has been so fascinating to me lately, but it has. I think it was just always one of those principles beforehand that I took for granted but it is the base for everything else! I've been working on reading the Book of Mormon all the way through in Spanish and am just finishing up Alma right now. I was ecstatic when I got to my favorite Book of Mormon story about the 2000 stripling warriors, but this time, the story was SO different to me. It is all about faith! Think about it...one of the most famous scriptures from that story is Alma 56:47 "Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them." Doubt and faith are like a see-saw; the more you have of one, the less you have of the other. The 2000 stripling warriors did not have an ounce doubt so they must have had a perfect faith (Alma 57:26-27). And then something else that stood out to me in Alma 57:25, notwithstanding their faith, many of the soldiers fainted with loss of blood and every one of them was wounded, but none of them were killed. This is the miraculous thing of it all. We can have all the faith in the world but it doesn't mean that we won't get beat-up sometimes, it just means that we know that Heavenly Father will always win.

Well, that was a long tangent but I just thought I'd share that with you all as something I learned this week. :)

So this week was so cool. I want to tell you about this new investigator we got, Saqueo. Saqueo is a 19-yr old kid from Honduras that we contacted into. He used to go to church when he was little but said he doesn't really believe in anything anymore. In our first lesson, we taught him all about prophets and he was just loving it, finding out that God still does love us and talk to us today. Then we saw him 3 times last week! He is so cool. When we taught him about Joseph Smith, we asked him how he felt and he said, "I feel really calm. I've never really felt this before, but it's all so new to me." So then we asked him if he has even just a desire to know it's true. He said yes and we talked a little about faith and told him to pray and look for those same feelings. He wasn't able to come to church yesterday but he is so coming this Sunday! I love it! I lovve seeing people change because of this gospel!

We had mission-wide sisters exchanges again on Tuesday-Wednesday. I still haven't ever left my area for an exchange but that's ok. I got to be with Hna Binning, my first MTC comp! It was fun as we tackled Morristown together and I learned so much from her! Hmmm...Don't think I took any pictures...oh well. Oh, and last p-day, our zone got together and tie-dyed t-shirts. Random, huh? But it was fun. I think we will all have them at next zone meeting and I will take a picture to send home.

Another miracle: Lady's husband actually might be getting out in February instead of October...so yeah, in a couple of weeks. So we reset her for a baptismal date so that she has one when he gets out. The reason I say "might be" is because I really have no idea what she is saying to me when she talks to me of all the legal terms of what is happening, I just smile and get excited when she does :)

Ok, I think that's about all for now. I hope you all actually like reading these and if you don't, well just don't tell me. :) Haha, that is what one of the members tells us every time she feeds us, but she's a good cook. And advice of the week: If it doesn't look like meat or taste like meat or smell like meat, it's probably NOT meat, even if the Spanish people say it is. :)

I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

A Child Bit My Shoe

2010-01-25T08:23:00.001-08:00

Hola familia!

It is way stormy outside but hey, it's warm enogh to rain! I am definitely starting to feel the humidity coming back... :)

Wow, what a week. The Lord has really just been blessing us this week as we have been learning to rely even more on Him and His guidance through the Spirit. We found several of inactives that we didn't even have on any lists, so that was neat. And all of them gave us referrals for more people to go by for. One day, we had every one of our appointments fall through, but everyone of our back-ups was there so that was definitely a blessing. It's just had to describe all the blessings that we receive every day, big and small. I haven't quite figured out if the Lord always blesses people and they just don't recognize it or if the more we recognize it, the more he blesses us. I think it's a little bit of both.

So we went to teach Lady the other night. Still haven't received permission from her husband to get baptized but she is going strong in the church. She'll probably have to wait until October when he is out of prison. Anyway, her children are crazy. Valeria is 2 and Stephen is 3 and they just think it is hilarious to smack people and scream at the top of their lungs during our lesson and steal our stuff...so it's always a bit of an adventure. Anyway, we were over there on Friday night and Lady started saying the closing prayer. She has just learned to completely tune out her kids, especially when she's praying, but we always have to keep an eye on the scene. So Valeria comes up to me and discovered that if the pulled my jacket open, all the snaps would come apart. She started doing that and so I clasped my hands over my jacket. She then starts hitting my hands and then took a lunge and bit them! (Hna Evens was just laughing through all this and Lady was praying her heart out). I kind of shoved her away as best a missionary can and then she bit my knee! Haha, so I extended my legs out so she couldn't get to my knee and then she started kicking my legs and took another lunge and bit my shoe! Oh man, it was funny...and odd. A couple phrases later, Lady finished the prayer and gave us our besitos goodbye, and so did Valeria, and we walked out the door and Lady never knew the difference. Oh the life. :)

One night we were up in Parsippany and we had a little bit of extra time so we decided to go visit Maria (the lady who is completely obsessed with the virgen Maria and sings us her songs about it). I figured it would be a good experience for Hna Evens. She re-told us all her stories about commanding the tornadoes like Moses and seeing the virgen Guadalupe save her family in Mexico and sure enough, got up to get her guitar and sing us her songs again. Her son, Jerry (about 49 yrs old, being taught by the English sisters, and has a baptismal date) comes in the room and was like, "Mom, they don't believe in the virgen maria!" We have told her this before but she forgets things a lot. She just paused in her tracks and looked at us and said, "What do you mean you don't believe in the virgen maria? She was the mother of Jesus. You have a mother, I have a mother, we all have mothers. She was a saint! I'll sing you my song." And she went to fetch her guitar. I was trying so hard not to laugh at the look of utter confusion on Hna Evens face. It reminded me of in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when he tells the family he's vegetarian and she says, "What do you mean you don't eat meat?...That's ok, I'll make lamb." So maybe kind of worldly but now you can imagine Maria a little better. :)

That's about it for my random experiences for this week. Life is going well and we are teaching a ton, so I'm really grateful for that. Before my mission, teaching was probably the thing I was the most scared about because I had never taught a lesson before but now, teaching is my favorite thing! If I could just spend all day in teaching appointments with people, I would. :)

Anyway, thanks so much for all the love and support from back home. I hope everyone is doing well and recognizing the blessings of the Lord, big and small, in your lives every day. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Livin' on a Prayer!

2010-01-16T17:02:00.001-08:00

Hey Family,

Well, this week has been...interesting to say the least. I met my new companion on Tuesday morning, Hna Evens from Washington state. All the sisters at transfer conference were so excited for me when they found out I was training and I was just scared out of my mind! So anyway, yeah, I'm training...I don't really knwo what else to say. I have already asked myself countless times how Hna Bushman even handled it and I have an amazing new respect for her.

Speaking of Hna Bushman, she is now on her last transfer and is opening a new area to sisters out in North Branch with...Hna Andrews! Crazy huh? The only two other comps I've had and now they're together. AND, they are in our zone still, along with 2 English sisters opening in North Branch. So now we have 8 sisters in our zone and 6 elders. And it was really funny at zone meeting last week when they asked us to share experiences we've had with something or other and I couldn't without referring to one of them. Haha. They have both been really helpful this week in helping me to know that I am ready and can do this. The first thing they said to me when they hadn't seen me for 24 hours between transfer conference and zone meeting was, "Sister Jackson, you look like you have aged overnight." And I have.

I had heard people say it before but I think I just learned it this week...training teaches you how to pray faster than any other experience on the mission. My favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon, Alma 37:36-37, is finally going into practice as I have found myself truly having to "Cry unto thy god for all thy support." Day after day has just been a huge learning experience. But I know that God really does hear and answer our prayers. Sometimes it's not in the way we want or as quickly as we think we need it, but He does. Prayer is the key to everything in life and the more we pray with faith, the more guided our life becomes.

So that's it for today. Sorry it wasn't one of the most exciting of emails. Hope things are going well for you all in this new year with new adventures ahead of you. I miss you tons but I love you more.

Love,
Hermana Jackson

I'M TRAINING?!?!?!

2010-01-04T11:35:00.001-08:00

So, my third transfer has quickly come to a close. Last week in her letter to the president, Hna Andrews told President Bahr, "Hna Jackson is an amazing missionary and is ready to be thrown into the furnace of affliction." Thanks Hermana. So last night came...and President Bahr threw a curveball at us. The phone rang and it was the assistants and they said, "So Hna Jackson, how is Morristown treating you?" "Oh you know, it is amazing and it rocks my world." "Good! Are you ready to have your world rocked even more? We would like you to train this transfer..." I basically fell onto my bed in my stance that has been labeled as Alma the Younger as my heart started racing. Haha, the other sisters thought I was going to pass out and let's just say, I thought so too. :) There are SO many Spanish sisters ahead of me in the mission...I don't know what is going on! It was just weird because all last week, we had a feeling Hna Andrews was going to get transferred but then Sunday it felt different for some reason and we thought, "Well hey, maybe we're staying together for another 6 weeks!" But it was just too good to be true. This has been the transfer of my life, really, I have loved every second of it and I learned so much. I am not ready to let Hna Andrews go so quick! And in one transfer, I am having to lead the area, take over as senior companion, and train. No, I didn't get any sleep last night. But I'm really humbled at the trust that the Lord has in me to do this, I just pray that He will help me live up to the task. With how much I like helping people that are new at things, I'm pretty excited for this, but I recognize what a big responsibility it is. So right now, some sister missionary is flying out straight from the Mtc to spend her first night at the mission home...and tomorrow, she will meet me. :O

Anyway, so since training is the biggest news for right now, I guess it can go unmentioned that the baptisms we thought we were going to have yesterday didn't happen. Lady had her baptismal interview and now we are just waiting on a letter still from her husband in prison giving her permission. She is still so ready and I just love her! It's really hard for Hna Andrews to have to leave with her and Judith so close. Oh yeah, and Judith called us about half an hour before her baptismal interview and told us that she wasn't going to get baptized. We went over to her house and she told us that she'd been reading and praying and just felt like she shouldn't get baptized right now. We tried to explain to her about opposition and distinguishing between fruits of the spirit and whisperings of Satan but none of it worked. She still came to church yesterday but she said she wants to wait more until she feels more ready. Oh agency!...it always seems to get in the way.

I would have to say that is one of the hardest things about missionary work. We were praying and fasting and studying so much this week to help them progress to baptism and to see them get so close just tears you up. But we will keep doing all that stuff and pray that it will come all in the Lord's timing.

So while all that was really hard, the Lord blessed us in so many little ways. We have continued to teach entire houses of people as we just find them one at a time. On Thursday, we went by for a whole bunch of people, all of which juked on us, yet we were able to teach whoever was there instead and picked up a ton of new investigators. It is amazing.

New Years was fun. We went to bed at the same time as always. Haha, woohoo! It's never been one of my favorite holidays. That night, a Chinese lady in the English ward invited us over for hot pot (a Chinese dish) and I was in heaven. We got to speak a little Chinese to each other too! But then on New Years Day, we had weekly planning for several hours, made chocolate chip pancakes, scrubbed down the apartment for end of transfer cleaning while belting it out to Josh Groban Christmas album (thanks Mom :) and had a bottle of Martinelli's and the rest of our Christmas crackers we didn't open on Christmas. Good day, that's for sure. :)

Dang it was a good transfer! I'm sad to see it go but excited to see what the next one brings. I told myself a couple of transfers ago that every transfer, every area, every companion is going to be my favorite one while I'm there because if it's not, then I could be letting some oppotune moments pass me by. So next week's email will bring the full details! :)

I miss you tons but love you more. Take care this week and remember who you are! :P

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Feliz Navidad!

2009-12-22T14:51:00.000-08:00

So, we got back late from NY on Saturday and are only just now finding a quick bit of time to send an email home, but it probably won't be that long because hey, I get to call home in 3 days!

New York City is amazing! I will never live there but it was way fun to visit. We woke up on Saturday morning at 3:30am in order to catch the 4:30am train to Penn Station. Then we (Hna Andrews, Minetto, and Binning) got lost for about half an hour trying to find the right subway to take us to the temple in Manhattan, got on it, and come running up the steps to the sight of the angel Moroni in the middle of the city at 6:25am (and the session started at 6:30am). Luckily they waited for us. It was ALL in Spanish! I loved it! I just love the temple, basically. We got out of the temple at about 9:00 and had a little over an hour to kill in NYC before one of Hna Andrews' converts from Jersey City, Enrique, met us there to do baptisms. So guess where we went? We wandered around Central Park! It was so neat! Call me a sinner, but everything I saw made me think of the scenes from "Enchanted" but whatever. :) Then we went back to the temple to meet Enrique and afterwards, met us with the elders in our district, Davis and Lebaron, to take taxis to Times Square and find a pizza place. It was way fun. We decided to walk back to Penn Station and on the way, Hna Andrews and Elder Lebaron had a little competition on how many people they could get to say hi or Merry Christmas to them as they passed. In the 20-30 blocks we walked, I think they got 30 people total to even acknowledge them! Dang, people here are intense. Oh the east coast. :)

As our train pulled up into Morristown, we were greeted by a light dusting of snow...which over the next couple of hours turned into a little over a foot. Yeah. I definitely slipped as we were walking to an appointment when I had trouble distinguishing where the curb was on the sidewalk. Hna Andrews just laughed. Haha, oh well. The snow storm caused them to delay church for 2 hours on Sunday so then we just held Sacrament meeting. Plus they had cancelled the branch Christmas party the night before so they pulled out all the food after church and we had our Christmas party then. I don't know how kosher that was but hey, they had roasted a pig and they were not going to let that go to waste. :) (See the picture... :)

We had a lesson with our new convert, Jose, and his family on Sunday night where we taught them how to hold a Noche de Hogar (FHE). It was so cute! He invited his parents over (both members) and they brought the dessert, arroz con leche...my favorite :) He and his wife prepared a lesson all about faith, and Hna Andrews and I were in charge of the activity. It was so amazing! They wanted to take a picture to remember their first of many noches de hogares. He was talking to his little son about serving a mission and everything. It was just really neat.

Ok, I have told way too many details and now I won't have anything to say on Friday. I guess mostly this was for those who aren't in my family...hm, oh well. :) On the phone, don't let me forget to tell you how yesterday, receiving no inspiration was inspiration in and of itself.

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me a letter/card recently to make my holiday season! I really appreciate the love and support. It means a lot to have that from home.

I hope everyone in doing well and that they have a wonderful Christmas. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Feliz Navidad!

Hermana Jackson

Crazy Lessons!

2009-12-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad!

How are you all doing? First off, next Monday I will not be writing an email because we are doing our p-day for next week this Saturday instead because we get to go to the Manhattan temple! I'm so excited. We are taking off way early in the morning to hit the 6:30am session in Spanish! I have missed going to the temple so much. We only get to go here once in December and once in June so I have got to live this up. The strength that I get from the temple is amazing and going there as a missionary, I feel like I just learn so many things each and every time.

This week, we had some CRAZY lessons. It was pretty funny, actually. We taught this old Mexican lady named Maria who, apparently, majored in music and performed back in the day for some big name Spanish performers. She writes her own songs on the guitar and sang some for us (don't even fret, she gave us a tape recording). One of them was quite catchy all about the Virgen Maria being our defensora and conquistadora. And then she told us the story behind these songs...you know, like having visions of Jesus and the 12 apostles and the virgen Maria sitting at her kitchen table having dinner with them and her being like Moses commanding the hurricane to flee, and it did. :) Another crazy lesson, I am pretty sure we taught some pastor of some church and he just loved what we were saying about the Plan of Salvation. I have never had someone ask so many questions about agency but he was just loving it! We have a return appointment this week. :) Oh, and also, we went to go do a follow-up appointment with this one guy, Julio, but he wasn't there. So we taught the guy who answered the door who livevs in the basement. By the time we finished with him, Julio got home and brought a friend for us to teach as well, so then we taught them. And then when we finished with that lesson, the guy who lives in the front of the house came and stopped us on our way out to our car and wants us to teach him. Yeah, wild, but amazing. The way the houses work here is each door you knock on leads you to basically a different family so when we go contacting, we knock the front, the side, the basement/back door, and usually yell up at the top floor windows too. Love it. :)

Last Wednesday, we had the annual mission-wide zone conference here in Morristown. It was so good and rejuvenating! President Bahr spoke to us about the talk given in General Conference several years ago called "Come What May and Love It." That is our new mission motto to just help us get through things when they get tough. Hna Andrews and I have loved applying what he taught us. There are 4 things we can and should do to conquer discouragement: Learn to laugh, Keep an eternal perspective, Remember the law of compensation, and Trust in the Lord. Sometimes, people just stress too easily but really, as long as we are being obedient and doing what we can, we have no need to be getting discouraged. But don't get any wrong ideas from this tangent, we're not getting discouraged right now. The Lord actually blessed us with an amazing week, for which we are so grateful. So many little miracles each and every day.

On Saturday, all the sister missionaries were invited to the mission home to have a Christmas brunch with the Bahrs. It was so nice. Each companionship had to make an ornament for the Bahr's Christmas tree that represented them/their area. So Hna Andrews and I got quite creative. We discovered that together, our name is Andrew Jackson. So we had a lady in the ward print us off a picture of Andrew Jackson and we made this scene of him getting baptized. Ok, so I didn't explain it very well but it was awesome, trust me. :)

Oh, and to anybody reading this who is thinking of going on a mission, learn how to paint houses! I'm not even kidding. I am so glad Dad taught me a little about that because that is probably the most common thing members ask us to do for them. Two weeks ago, we painted a bathroom and last week we painted a living room. Haha, creates for some pretty good times, that's for sure!

Anyway, I guess that is about all. I can't wait to talk to you at Christmas time. I can't believe it is coming up so fast. This transfer is going by really fast and it's sad because I am loving things! Maybe there's a correlation...haha, I don't know. :) I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

The gospel blesses families in all situations

2009-12-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

So this is a little bit more of a somber start than my other emails. Hna Bushman called me Saturday morning from Paterson to tell me that Lupita (the mother of the girls who got baptized) had been rushed to the hospital and was dying rapidly. She passed away yesterday morning. I just collapsed to the ground crying Saturday morning. I thought about those girls and what they must be going through right now and I thought about Raymundo and the stress he now has on him. They have zero money for a funeral or anything and they will probably be going back to Mexico sometime this week or next, who knows if its for good or not. I remember the last time I saw Lupita and she basically told me she was ready to get baptized but her health and circumstances just couldn't permit. She knew it was true. She saw the way it changed her family and the lives of her girls. I am so grateful to our Heavenly Father for the plan that He has for us. If everyone could please pray for the DeLazaro family right now to be able to push through with their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. They need all the prayers they can get. Thanks.

On a bit of a brighter note, we had a baptism yesterday here in Morristown. Jose Morales, a 26 yr old guy, got baptized and it was beautiful. He basically grew up around the church because his mom joined when he was little but he never joined. His wife is an inactive member and everyone else in his family has joined the church and he was just the last one. This is the end result of about 15+ years of missionaries trying to teach him and he just fell into our hands. Definitely our "freebie" baptism. We didn't even challenge him to get baptized; one of the members called Hna Andrews one day last transfer and said "Hey, I've set Jose with a baptismal date for the 6th of December." Amazing. His whole family was there and everyone was crying. We asked him what finally made the difference for him and he just looked at his 2 yr old son and said he wanted the gospel to be able to bless his family and he wanted them to be able to be together forever. I love it! This gospel really does bless families. I have seen it change so many people's lives. I forgot my camera cord today so I'll have to email a picture next week.

As I sat and watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional last night, I thought a lot about how the gospel has blessed my family. When those missionaries baptized Mom and Dad, two teenage kids at the time, they had no idea the difference they were making in the lives of so many people. As President Monson said at the beginning of his talk, the Christmas season always brings back fond memories of times with family and friends. I know that even though I may not be physically with you as my family this Christmas, I can use the things you have given me over the years to help other families feel the love of the Lord in their homes and in their hearts. For me and all the other sisters in my apartment, this is our first and only Christmas on the mission. I pray that the Lord will help me to make the most of it by helping others to make it the most special yet.

I hope everyone is continuing to do well. Know that I am praying for you and can feel the strength of your prayers working through me. I am still loving life here in Morristown and my companion is absolutely amazing. My emails the next couple of weeks might be shorter so I have something to say to you on the phone at Christmas. Have fun Christmas caroling and making the breads. Send me one if you can :) I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

So one time, I thought I had transfers figured out...and then I didn't.

2009-11-30T08:44:00.001-08:00

How was everyone's Thanksgiving? Mine was amazing but not anything like I thought it was going to be. So here's the deal...last Monday night, we were at a teaching appointment with Silvia, who is getting baptized this week. Our phone started ringing and usually we don't answer it but it was the AP's so we did this time. They asked for Hna Bushman and asked her if she would be a trainer again for this transfer. She said yes and then said, "Wait, in Paterson?" To which the AP's replied yes...and she just stared at me wide-eyed and we both started crying. Haha, yep, that's how it all went down that I found out I was getting TRANSFERRED! So I packed my things in what little time we had on Tuesday amidst going to all our investigators and converts and members and seeing them one last time. I started crying as I sat in Raymundo and Lupita's little basement bedroom, their girls all sitting on the bed. Dang, it was hard saying bye to them. The little one, Danniela, gave me a card and her teddy bear before I left. I love that family and miss them a lot. One of the YW in the branch gave me her teddy bear as well and Hna Socorro let me keep her guitar to remember her. We couldn't stop by and see Rafael but we called him and he was basically crying over the phone. I think it was just that none of us were mentally prepared for the change that happened, and it threw us all off. But hey, that's the mission.

So now, I am serving in Morristown, the Spanish branch, with Hermana Andrews. She is from Auburn, CA (my 3 comp from CA :) and she is AWESOME! We seriously hit it off right off the bat and have just been going strong ever since. She is only 2 transfers older than me on the mission, so we're basically in the same boat as far as a lot of things go, and I like that because we are really a team. She served here last transfer with an English sister (Spanglish companionship) so she had to do all the Spanish lessons and everything and they had to try to juggle both the Spanish branch and the English ward but now we are able to just focus on the Spanish branch. My Spanish has been skyrocketing as we have just been taking on a "fake-it-till-you-make-it" attitude. No more playing the "I'm brand new" card. Haha. We have also been making it a goal to speak Spanish any time we're outside of the apartment. It has been really good. We didn't do that in Paterson at all.

I absolutely LOVE my life here in Morristown. After seeing a sister last transfer hate her whole transfer because she kept wanting to be in her old area, I decided that every area I serve in would be my favorite while I am there. So life is good. The members here are great. The branch is about a third of the size of the one in Paterson, so it's interesting. We have three baptismal dates for this month, which is way exciting! :) One of them, Judith, has been being taught for years and years by missionaries and we are the end of a long line trying to get her baptized. We did a Word of Wisdom lesson with her on Saturday and she had a question about which teas she could and couldn't drink. Hna Andrews offered to look at her tea for her and tell her which ones were herbal. So we looked at them and none of them were. She gathered all her tea back up and we thought she was going to put it back in the cupboard when she headed straight for the trashcan and dumped all her tea right out!!!! It was amazing!

Another cool investigator we have is named Lady. She is this young Columbian mother with 2 really rowdy kids and a husband in jail for drugs or something. She has made a lot of mistakes in her life but it is amazing to see the changes she is making. She started reading the Book of Mormon and is already in Mosiah (reminds me of Rafael, a lot)! She told us about how she prayed about Joseph Smith and she was like "Oh, I know it's true. Everything you guys are saying is true. I want to get baptized and show God that I am changing my life." Yeah, amazing. And then all we had to do was get her to church and the branch fellowshipped the heck out of her! Haha, it was so cool.

We had a really neat mission-wide fireside last night where all the missionaries sang a bunch of Christmas songs and there were talks. It was held here in Morristown and another one will be held in 2 weeks in Union City. I accompanied for "This is the Christ." I just love playing the piano. And also, all of the YW from Paterson got together and drove down to Morristown for it so I got to see them all last night, which was nice.

It's weird to think I am already in my second area and have possibly already said bye to people I may never see again in my life. But when I started crying as I left Paterson, I took that as a good sign because it meant the Lord had answered my prayers and blessed me with the ability to really love those people.

I love this work and I love seeing how this gospel and the Savior's atonement can cover every possible thing. The people we teach are so varied in background and needs but the amazing thing is that every one of them can be whole through the Atonement of Christ. I'm so grateful for that.

I hope everyone has a great week. I miss you tons but I love you more.

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Pictures: 883 - me and Hna Andrews
849 - me and Hna Bushman in front of a really famous tag out here in NJ...and we drove past it every time we went to the chapel in Paterson
851 - my old Paterson zone in front of the Silk City tag

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Yee Kee's in the parking lot!

2009-11-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!! El dia de accion de gracias is swiftly approaching and so is the end of my 2nd transfer. Our branch had a massive thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night, which consisted of turkey, potato salad, platanos, and all different kinds of rice! Haha, gotta love the Hispanic style thanksgiving. :) Oh, and of course the Spanish music playing throughout the night. By the way, did you know that there is a song called "Spanish Hotel California"? You have got to look that one up on i-tunes. It just might be my favorite new thing. :)

So probably my coolest news of the week is that from Friday-Saturday, we did mission-wide exchanges for the sisters! It was tons of fun. I hung around Paterson and Hna Minetto came out from Jersey City to be my comp. I learned a ton from her and we had a lot of fun together. We had one of the YW (Andrea) out with us all afternoon and evening and by the end of the night we were just starving so Andrea kept telling us to go to this place called Yee Kee's. It's one of many Hispanic-Chinese food restaurants...there are like 5 on every street corner. So we picked up all this Chinese food to-go and drove to our next appointment, which was at a library, got out of our car, sat down in the parking lot, and had a feast. It was pretty dang awesome. Oh Paterson.

Oh, I inherited a guitar temporarily last night from one of the branch members. She wants me to play and accompany them to go Christmas caroling over the next couple of weeks. I got so excited when we got home last night and we just started jamming out to some stuff. It made me think of this time last year when I wrote that Mistletoe song...haha, good times.

So what are everybody's plans for Thanksgiving? Is everyone going over to Mom and Dad's or to the in-laws or what? Malcolm, tell me about your tour! I heard you're sick? Get better soon! So, I'm not really sure what our plans are as of yet. I'm pretty sure we have several dinner appointments...mmm...details surely to come :) Transfers are on Wednesday, the day right before, and this time we are pretty sure Hna Bushman is leaving but...who knows? The whole branch is assuming it too.

So we taught a LOT of lessons this week, but none that particularly stick out to me. Oh wait, there is! Haha. So, on Tuesday, it was just a rough day. We weren't teaching very much and we just weren't feeling like we were in the right place all day. After about the 5th appointment that bailed on us, we were nearing the end of the night and Hna Bushman was like, "We are just going to knock this one more house. Every time we drive past it, I feel like we should knock." So we did...we knocked about 3 times and nobody answered. I was just praying, staring up to the top floors of this building thinking somebody please answer! Right as we were about to turn around, we heard the door handle turning and this guy named John answered. He invited us right in and we taught him all about the Book of Mormon. He was asking so many questions and was so interested. We have been back to see him twice already since then and things are going really well so...we'll keep praying for him! :)

Well, that is about it for this week. I think I got your package mom, so thank you! What happens is the ZL's pick it up Monday and they give it to us Tuesday (unless we see them on Monday) and they told me that I have a package so I will probably open it tomorrow. Thank you thank you! I love this work I am doing. It is amazing being able to be out here and serve the Lord. I love seeing the changes in people's lives as they come to accept and know this gospel. Thank you for all of your love and support. Take care and have a great Thanksgiving. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Suzy...ven!

2009-11-16T11:38:00.001-08:00

Hola, que tal? What's new in everyone's life? How's the tour going for Malcolm? Dad, did you get your book all reviewed and stuff? Mom, tell Nana I said hi and I love her!

Life here in Paterson is AMAZING, as always. Probably one of the things that makes it most amazing is that Jesenia (14), Vanessa (13), AND Danniela (8) got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! They are the coolest girls ever. After Jesenia got confirmed, she cam up to us and she's like, "I am coming on a mission with you guys tonight because I'm a member now!" Haha, so she came out on visits with us and she loved it. We have been teaching their whole family, which was a referral from a member of our branch and they are just a wonderful family. Raymundo and Lupita are still investigating but mainly because they need to get married and Raymundo needs to find a new job so he can come to church on Sundays. But they really want to get baptized. I think what is coolest about them and about Rafael is that they were converted entirely on the Bok of Mormon. I think I told you a couple of weeks ago that we decided to do a Bible fast for a week...well, we kept that up that whole transfer. We have just been using the Book of Mormon in all of our lessons and that is what is converting them, I know it. There is such a power in that book. I just finished reading it on Thursday and prayed like Moroni instructs. The feeling I received was so subtle but I know it was there. It was peace, comfort, and knowledge that Heavenly Father knows me and is aware of me and my needs.

Rafael had us over for dinner this week and it was so nice! He has this pet turtle named Suzy that just wanders around the floor of his house and he would call to it like a dog and it would come! It was wild. Oh turtles. :)

This morning we drove to Morristown to practice for a mission music fireside and on the way there, we came up with our own words to the NJ state song (we don't know how it goes or anything, but the title is "I'm from NJ"...so we got something good). We found out that we get to do exchanges this week amongst all the sisters so Hermana Minetto in Jersey City has been assigned to come out here to Paterson and be my comp for a day while Hna Bushman heads out to JC with Hermana Cornish. That will be kind of fun.

Ok, so I'm going to attach some pictures from the baptism and of Rafael with his turtle.

I love you all so much. Thank you for your letters and emails to me. I really appreciate them a lot. I will try to write back as soon as I can. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

It all started when Hermana Bushman kicked a rock...

2009-11-09T11:32:00.001-08:00

STORYTIME! So, this one beautiful day during the summer, Hermana Jackson was in the MTC praying for her future companion in New Jersey. Meanwhile, Hermana Bushman was wandering around with her companion in the streets of West New York kicking rocks and talking to people. One rock was really big and busted her shoe. She was sad about this but decided that since her shoes were just so comfy anyway, she would wear them out till the end of her mission and then just junk them. Fast forward to a still beautiful day in November in Paterson where Hermana Bushman and Jackson are companions, visiting some members of the branch. But instead of the missionaries doing the teaching, it was the members. You see, you can ask people if they need anything from you or any help and they will always say no. But the familia Campos observed a specific need and got to work. "What size shoe do you wear?" Yes, they were pointing to the ridiculous nature of Hna Bushman's shoes and offered to buy her new ones...more like, insisted. We tried to resist with everything we could (yes, I just switched from 3rd person to 1st person) but they would not let us leave their house until we told them. So they found out her shoe size and mine and saw us on Saturday with a brand new pair of shoes each...Clarks...yeah. We felt horrible about it but they would not let us decline the offer. So we got new shoes. Then on Sunday, another member of the branch was supposed to be giving Hna Bushman back her bashed shoes because she was going to get them fixed but she comes walking in with...a brand new pair of shoes each. So we got another new pair of shoes. So from the shoes to the Ecuadorian stretchy pants to crocheted scarfs and beanies for us, we are getting taken care of. Wow, yeah, the members here are the most giving people I have ever met. And Hna Bushman has vowed to never kick rocks again...though she did this morning. :)

So, how is everyone doing? Megan, how's the new job? And you and Chris, how is everything with the girls and such? Michael and Cari, how was your trip to California? Did the boys just love Nana? And Malcolm, you're on tour?!? Crazy! I heard about the craziness beforehand but I'm glad you got to go. I hope everything goes well with that! I'm praying for you and am excited to hear all about it when you get back! And mom and dad, thank you so much for the constant emails and letters and everything. They really help to keep me going. I now know why missionaries love getting letters so much. Wow, yep.

I'm glad to hear the Guy Fawkes party was fun. I was definitely thinking of you all and wishing I could have been there. I've only been at one out the last 4...weird.

As far as the missionary work goes, Rafael got confirmed yesterday and it was wonderful, Maria had her cute little baby, 2 of the daughters of Raymundo and Lupita (Jesenia and Vanessa) are getting baptized this coming weekend, and we have 1 (hopefully 2) more baptisms the next weekend! I love it. Heavenly Father is blessing us so much here.

I am so grateful to have it reaffirmed to me over and over again that this is where I'm supposed to be right now. The youth in our branch have really been struggling a lot and we as missionaries have kind of taken them in under our wing. Well, for anyone who know me, they know how much I love working with the youth so it has been a great blessing to be here right now. We are beginning to see some great changes in them, really strengthening themselves and each other a lot.

I have officially figured out that Mexican cheese makes me sick. You know the white crumbly cheese that usually garnishes their food dishes? Yeah, I can't eat it. Every time afterward I am just sick the rest of the day. Hmm...what to do? I don't know. :) Oh yeah, and I remember whenever we had the missionaries over to dinner growing up, Mom would always say, "I just trust that one day you all will be fed and looked out for the same way on your missions." Yep mom, don't fret, definitely happening. :)

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Thank you all for your love and support to me. It really means a lot to know that people are praying for me. Know that I'm praying for you too. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Ecuadorean stretchy pants

2009-10-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Hey! So, first things first, I am still in Paterson and Hna Bushman is still my companion! Woohoo! That's exciting. Maria Del Valle was really happy too. She told us she prayed every day that we wouldn't get transferred out. (Oh and sorry I keep referring to her by her full name but when you're teaching 6 Maria's, that's kind of what it comes down to.) :) She came to church yesterday on her own because her husband is pretty sick right now so that means she didn't have a translator so guess what? I ended up translating Sacrament meeting for her. I had no idea what I was doing! Haha, but it was good and everything turned out ok. Selena was sitting behind me and she said she was listening to what I was saying and I didn't do too bad so hey life is good. Ok, and Maria's mother-in-law is this way awesome lady in the branch from Ecuador who comes out on visits with us all the time. Anyway, she came with us on Thursday for a couple hours and it was freezing cold, rainy, and even a little snowy at times, and she gave us these stretchy pants/capri things to wear under our skirts that her husband brought back for us from Ecuador! Oh man, they were a lifesaver! And quite fashionable, I must say! They especially helped us out when we drove to Newark that afternoon to do the "Fearbuster" with all the new missionaries just arriving from the MTC! Yep, I was just in their place 6 weeks ago and it was way fun but we were completely drenched afterward...and cold. We were each paired up with a newbie straight from the airport to take them around downtown Newark contacting anybody and everybody for an hour. It was fun, to say the least. :)

Probably our coolest news this week was with one of our investigators, Rafael. He is a media referral we started teaching a couple weeks ago but we can only meet with him once a week because he is crazy busy. But he had requested a Libro de Mormon so we went over to deliver it to him and started teaching him. That was 3 weeks ago. Then he came to a session of General Conference and came to church the last 2 Sundays and when we met with him just this last Friday we asked him how his LdM reading is going and he had read from the beginning all the way to Mosiah 8! So then we asked if we could set him with a date for baptism and he told us, "Whenever you think I'll be ready, I will prepare myself for that day." So we're shooting for November 1. Woohoo! He is awesome! :)

We are also teaching a whole family, Raymondo and Lupita and their 3 daughters. They have accepted the invitation to be baptized but are kind of hesitant about setting a date. Everything for this family depends on Raymondo, I think. Lupita is really sick and can't get out of the house much and they all just look to him so basically, if we can get him to commit, I think they all will because they all feel it. Pray for them! :)

Hmm, what else? OH! Be careful when you eat soup...you may find chicken toes...

Hermana Bushman has been really sick this week. I feel so bad for her. All the ladies in the branch are trying to insist that she go to the doctor or take their home remedy or something but she is getting better just fine. The weather here has been horrible though...pretty drizzly and cold all day every day. I think I have put off buying my winter clothes long enough. :)

Well, I think that's about it for today. Thank you for all your love and support. I love the pictures I've gotten from Michael and Cari and Chris and Megan. Thank you for those! And Mom, I think I will probably get your package tomorrow. Remember, I always write my letters on Monday and then get my letters and packages on Tuesday so...yeah. This is the best thing I can be doing right now. I miss you tons but I love you more.

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Buenos Dias!

2009-10-12T12:07:00.001-07:00

Buenos dias! Oh man, my first transfers are already this week! But they haven't sent out the transfer fax yet so...yeah, I don't know. I think it's pretty safe to assume that I'll still be in Paterson, it's Hermana Bushman we aren't quite sure about. Oh well, I guess you will find out next week. But anyway, we were talking in zone meeting last week about avoiding the "6th week slump" of transfers and just pushing through as if you're both staying for the next one so we did/are. And we had an awesome week! Lots of new investigators and the highest number of member presents Hermana Bushman said she's ever had in her mission! Woohoo! Oh, and we started a spotlight thing in Relief Society, which I am in charge of, and let me just say it is wild. The ladies just crack up when I'm up there because I have no idea what I'm doing and I'm just trying to get a whole bunch of little old Latin ladies excited about winning a candy bar. Haha, yeah, I'll let you picture that as you wish. :)

Maria Del Valle completely rocks my world. She has succeeded in reactivating her husband (who hasn't gone to church since he was probably 9 or 10 and hasn't ever sat in on a missionary lesson for the last 6 years with Maria). We did an FHE with them this last Monday night and it was the first time he joined us and it was amazing. Then they had us back over a couple days later and he has just completely opened up! I love it! Our goal here is to complete these part-member families and Maria's example to Danny made all the difference with that. They are so cool! You can just see the light of the gospel shining through their faces now and I love it. It is amazing what this gospel can do for people.

Saturday night was the long-anticipated "Noche de las Razas," where all the members in the 3 branches here got together and had this massive activity celebrating the different countries everybody is from. They were so hardcore in preparing for it. We could not get a single woman to come out with us on visits Saturday because they were all like, "Oh sorry hermanitas, we are cooking for the activity tonight!" And when we went by their houses, sure enough they had basically started the party early with all the Columbians and Ecuadorians and Dominicans cooking and practicing dances and songs to share. It was amazing. The activity had more food than you have ever seen in your life! Then of course every time I walked past the Columbian table, Selena's mom was like, "Hermanita, Hermanita, you need to eat more food! Try some of my rice!" and I would have another heaping plate of food thrown in front of me. But it was good so whatever. :) I think the Mexican table was my favorite though, with the tacos, taquitos, and tamales and horchata. Oh, and the American table had little pb&j sandwiches. Haha, it was just so fun. They were all so proud of their culture and so accepting of the others as well. I wish I had had time to make some roast beef and yorkshire pudding or something.

So this week I have been reading more in the Book of Mormon to complete it by Christmas and I am in the beginning of Alma reading about Alma and Amulek and all that they did to support each other as companions. It is an amazing story. I also love the story of Ammon, which I read this morning. One of my MTC comps compared me to being a type of missionary like Ammon...a little more laidback and just serving people by example until they start asking questions. But as I read this morning, I realized just how much I am not like Ammon but how much I really want to be like him. He was so selfless and giving in his service and had such faith that the Lord would deliver him if he just showed his love to the people. I love that.

Oh, and I also noticed a verse in Alma 1 (towards the end of the chapter) where it talks about Nehor dying the "ignominious death." If anyone would like to give me their insight on that, it would be greatly appreciated. Haha :)

Anyway, that's about it for today. Prep-days are wild. We went and played dodgeball with the elders this morning for exercise and might be playing water balloon volleyball with them this afternoon but it's a little cold so...we'll see about that one. Ok, just know that I am safe and doing well. The Lord is looking out for me and I can see that every day. He knows me and is aware of what I need. Thanks for your love and prayers. I can definitely feel the strength from them. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

And here are some pics: 740 - Columbians (basically half our branch), 741 - Dominicans, and 752- some Peruvian kids doing a traditional dance

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Hola Familia!

2009-10-05T10:35:00.001-07:00

Hola familia!

What a wild week! So I don't know if I ever told you this but we had 2 new sisters move into our apartment in the 3rd week of this transfer because one was coming here from the MTC on a visa holdover for Belgium, Sister Powers. Anyway, she was one of my really good friends in the MTC so it was crazy that of all the places she got sent to wait, it was NJ Morristown, my apartment. So we had a blast and she just left this morning for Belgium so now her comp, Sister Child, is in a trio with us until she gets a new comp coming out here from Temple Square on Wednesday. Crazy huh? So on Friday, the 4 of us did an exchange and Sister Powers and I were in charge of teh Spanish area while Hna Bushman went to help out Sister Child in the English area (they had been struggling a lot because they were whitewashed in). So you know what that means? First, I got to drive for a day! :) And second, we had all Spanish appointments...and I was with a sister who had learned French in the MTC! Haha, yeah, for an entire day I had to hold down the fort with the Spanish world. We got a baptismal commitment made! Haha, I was so nervous going into it. I really wasn't sure if I could do it. But I just prayed so hard and I have never felt the power of the Lord working through me so strong as Friday. I understood more than I ever have and really had the chance to get to know the members who came out with us more because I didn't have Hna Bushman to fall back on to talk to them. :) It was a great experience, and way fun to get to spend the day with Sister Powers, both of us in the field for less than a month!

But now I've been out here for over a month! Crazy, huh? I was thinking about it and I am already 3 months down on the mission...that's like, 1/6. But I don't like to think of it that way so...I won't :)

Wasn't General Conference amazing? We got to listen in English in the Relief Society room with the English branch while the Spanish was bradcast in the chapel for our members and investigators. I especially loved Elder Andersen's talk on Saturday afternoon all about the arms of the Savior reaching out to us. I love that imagery and in the last month out here as I've been studying the Book of Mormon, I have realized just how many times it says something like "the arms of the Lord are extended continually before you," or his "brazos de misericordia" I don't know in English...arms of mercy directly, I guess. Anyway, it was great. And our investigators that came loved it. I can't wait until the talks come out in the Ensign to read again and study. And I hope everyone got the plug for member missionary work from Elder Perry :) Haha. Oh, and talk about a POWERFUL testimony from Elder Holland! That is definitely one that can't just be read again, it has to be watched. He just threw it all out on the line about the Book of Mormon! Wow. I am coming to feel that way more and more every day the more I read it. It is so important, even for just 5 minutes a day! I wish I had known that before my mission!

So I have officially made my first Spanish mistakes...that I know of... :) We were having dinner at the branch president's house on Thursday and she was asking about foods we like and then I said something like, "Me gusta comer jueves" (I like to eat Thursdays) instead of huevos (eggs). Yeah, that was a good laugh. And one of our investigators was talking about how she hurt her shoulder (hombro) really bad and I was trying to clarify the story when I said, "Que paso a su hombre?" (What happened to your man?) Yeah, another good laugh. We'll just leave it at that. :)

I miss you tons, but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

"My mom only cooks weird stuff sometimes...and by weird I mean random body parts. "

2009-09-28T09:04:00.000-07:00

To explain my subject line...Selena, the 16-yr old girl in the branch I told you about last week, told us this the other day when here mom invited us over for dinner. Yeah, the appointment is this week so I'll let you know how that goes. Oh, and on Saturday night, I definitely ate cow tailbone. Yep...Dominicans have some great ideas for cooking. :)

This week was definitely a wild one. Our key investigators, Maria and Alberto, dropped on us suddenly and didn't want to get baptized anymore or even talk to us. It was really hard. But we finally got in to see them yesterday. Alberto was way cold to us at first but then after we prayed and got to talking, he just let out all his doubts! It basically all led back to that he wasn't there when we taught Maria the first lesson so he had questions about prophets and Joseph Smith and everything, which we can definitely help him with. So we have an appointment with them this week. I am so grateful for this second chance he is giving us to try to help clear up his doubts.

Maria Del Valle (the one who is learning Spanish) committed to baptism! We don't have a date set yet but she came to church yesterday and was like, "Thank you so much for those 'Questions of the Soul' (out of Preach My Gospel)! I looked up the reference it said for how to make my family more united and have more peace and it was the first time in 6 years of investigating the church that I have really felt like the Book of Mormon was the word of God speaking to me! I want to get baptized!" Love it. But she's having a baby soon so we aren't quite sure what her baptismal date will be yet...she's praying about that. Anyway, that was a huge miracle.

The RS broadcast was good...I think. I didn't really understand a ton because they dubbed the Spanish over but I know that President Eyring was talking a lot about charity. Hey, like I said, comoprehension isn't my best thing yet. :)

On Saturday, the entire mission gathered in a city called Dover to do what is called a Blitz. We all were assigned 2 streets to basically conquer and contact every door looking for possible members who had converted in their home countries and not transferred their records properly when they moved or something. So they put us all in Spanglish companionships (one English and one Spanish) so I was with Sis Strommer, who is a sister serving in Jersey City. It was pretty sweet and pretty hardcore when we found a Spanish house because it was all me while she just looked on. But it was fun. Lots of slammed doors but then this Unitarian lady invited us in for cookies so you know, life is good. :)

And probably the coolest thing of this week was yesterday. I gave a talk in church! Haha, the theme for sacrament meeting was all about missionary work and so they asked me to speak. The Familia Soto (the people who we do language study with) came up to me afterward and they were like, "Wonderful! We understood everything you said! And you only made 2 mistakes!" Haha, they were counting? Uh-oh! :) But it was good. And then we had a fireside last night with all the ex-missionaries of the branch speaking abd sharing things from their missions, which was fun. So now I have some pictures to attach of the members of the branch at the fireside!

Ok, I think that's about it for this week. I know I said we might be moving but we're not after all. The story behind that was that we are living in the basement of an inactive lady's house...but she was living with her boyfriend (whom she had been married to before) and the branch president didn't like the idea of us living there so he called her (Emma is her name) and basically told her that if she didn't get married, we would have to move out. So guess what? She got married on Saturday night and we were the only other ones there so we got to be witnesses! Haha, the mission is great. And now they're not living in sin anymore so we can try to teach her husband. :)

I love you all. Thank you so much for you love and support and prayers. I can really feel the strength from them as I go throughout my time here in NJ. There are times when it's rough but other times when it is just all made up for 100x better. I'm excited to hear from you all again. I miss you tons but I love you more.

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Pictures: 692 - me and Hna Bushman standing on Ellis Island with the NYC skyline behind us
703 - me and Selena. Love that girl.
705 - Carmen, Hna Socorro, and me (Carmen was the one who fed us the cow tailbone :)

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I'm a native!

2009-09-21T08:11:00.001-07:00

Mi familia! Como estan? Um...I don't know why my mind is blanking on Spanish right now but it is...all I can think is Chinese, which is weird. Anyway, so guess what? I got my first comment that someone thought I was a native!!! Yeah, that's right. :) We were making contacts in the street the other day and I walk up to this group of gangster looking people and started talking to them (they were from the DR, and they often look gangster, haha) and telling them about the gospel and one guy was like, "Hey, where are you from? Argentina?" Woohoo!! That was definitely cool. I was like, no sorry, I'm actually from California. To which he replied, "Really? Because you have an Argentine accent!" Haha, I love it! And we've been doing language study with different members in the ward this week and they've all told me that I speak really well and have good grammar and pronunciation and stuff, just the main thing I need to work on is understanding people, which will come with time. That made me happy. Anyway, yep, it's good.

So this week was AMAZING! Talk about blessings from the Lord for pushing through last week. We got 9 new investigators and had 19 lessons with a member present (and the mission standard is 5). Yeah, we have just been praying so hard for the Lord to help us because when we started this week, we had about 4 people in our teaching pool, which is so rough. But now we already have most of this week scheduled out. I am so grateful for that. I needed this week big time to help me see that I am supposed to be here doing this work. I just can't even begin to explain the miracles we've seen this week, but I'll try. :)

First of all, one of our investigators, Maria Del Valle (different from the other one...we're teaching about 4 Maria's... :) is awesome. She only speaks English but is taking the lessons from us because her husband's whole family is in the Spanish branch (her husband is inactive). So we were trying to get her to go to the English branch and handed over to the English elders so she can actually learn and progress but she called us the other day and she's like, "You know what, I want to go to the Spanish branch with my family so...I think I'll just learn Spanish." Haha, I was like what the heck?!? She is awesome. She has been taught by the missionaries for years but never made any progress until now! So we were talking to the branch president about her and he says, "Ok, perfect. We can have her work with the Young Women because their class is held in English and then she can learn as she teaches." Life is good.

This other lady we started teaching, Maled, is pretty golden too. Her daughter is a member and so was her mom, who just died about a month ago, but she isn't. But her daughter told her that in order to see her mom again, she needs to get baptized. So Maled called us up to take the lessons! We brought her a Book of Mormon and she wanted to start reading it right there with us. She opened to the very first title page and started reading, "'The Book of Mormon'...Who is Mormon?" Then we explained and she continued, "'Written by the hand of Nephi'...Who is Nephi?" Anyway, it continued like this until we read the whole title page, and introduction, and then she wanted to read the testimonies of the 3 and 8 witnesses...Haha, I loved it. And everything she was just like, "Ok, yeah, that makes sense. But I don't really know yet so I'm going to have to pray about this and keep reading." Haha, who says that? It was cool. I am really praying for good things to come out of this one.

I did my first split yesterday away from my comp, which was kind of cool (I mean, I love my comp, but it was nest to know that I could teach a lesson and handle it in Spanish without her as a crutch). I went with a 16-yr old girl in the ward, Selena, who is awesome! We taught the little lady, Victoria, who has cancer, all about the 10 commandments and the sabbath day, which was fun. I loved it. :)

Anyway, I think that's enough rambling from me. I want to hear from you! I love the name you chose for Claire! I bet Mom was crying, huh? :) I can't wait to see pictures of it and Kiley's wedding. Tell Kiley congrats and I love her tons. I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to be serving a mission. I'm excited to hear how you're all doing and how school is going! I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Did you know that Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty belong to the State of New Jersey?

2009-09-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

How is everyone doing? What's new? Any cool stories? I definitely have some...well, maybe :)

Ok, so this week was crazy! We had SO MANY meetings that took up basically all of our time during the day and we didn't think we would ever get in all the teaching we needed to. When we looked at our numbers Saturday morning, they were grim, to say the least, and it was drizzling rain outside...all day. So I was feeling pretty discouraged, thinking maybe it was my fault our numbers weren't so great. But then I read some scriptures on faith and I prayed. I said, "Heavenly Father, we have been doing all we can this week to try to get our lessons in. Please help us to reach our goals now." And then I got up and went to work. Every one of our appointments Saturday morning and afternoon cancelled on us! Yeah, flaky, I know. But we just kept going and ended up getting to teach some lessons and when we got back to the apartment that night, the numbers were somehow there. I don't understand how it happened but we had met our goals. I know that was the Lord, for sure. I had been sick all day because the members kept feeding us random food but we kept going and it turned out. Yeah, it was a major testimony builder to me about the power of faith and diligence in the work.

In other news, we got to do something really cool all day on Thursday. Apparently Ellis Island belongs to the state of NJ and is a part of my mission. Well, the church has a huge investment in Ellis Island because of all the family history stuff, right? So we, as the sister missionaries, get to take turns and go every other week from April to October and volunteer in the family history center at Ellis Island! Yeah, it was pretty sweet. So if you have any names of our relatives, mom, who came through Ellis Island, send them to me and I could look them up. I'm pretty sure I found Papa Chuck's dad last week in the system. And since school has started again, it's not as busy anymore so they let us take a tour around all the parts that are corded off to regular visitors, like the parts that are being renovated in the old hospital wings and stuff. Yeah, and we get to take another tour when we go back again. Oh, and so yeah, I've seen the NY skyline and the statue of liberty and all that and actually been to NY (because part of Ellis Island is NY too). Haha, it was cool. And this one little man I was helping to do his family history with just started crying when we found his grandfather. He was like, "This has been my lifelong dream! Thank you!" It was definitely a neat experience.

I'm serving in the Paterson 1 Spanish branch. Yesterday after the closing hymn in Sacrament, I heard the branch president say over the pulpit something to which I picked out the words "mujeres jovenes" and "las misioneras"...yes, we found out we needed to teach YW right then! Haha, and it was all on the law of chastity, which was exciting, to say the least. :) But it was in English because all the younger generation prefers to speak English, though they can do both.

Maria and Alberto are doing well. Still progressing and looking forward to their baptism. I gave my testimony at a baptism for the elders yesterday, which was cool. Oh, and Maria and Alberto have introduced us to their son, Eddy, to take the lessons as well. He is Malcom's age and reminds me exactly of Malcolm! Wow, yeah. It's like he was sent into my path specifically because I know how to talk to him and stuff because he is so similar to Malcolm. So Malcolm, pray for him! And maybe I'll get you in touch with him because he is a way cool guy.

I guess that's about it. OH! I made a contact with a Chinese guy in the street and gave him a pass-a-long card. Woohoo! I am loving the work out here. Thank you so much for your love and support to me. Remember to put your faith in the Lord and you can do anything. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

"What's Paterson like?" "Do You Like Ghetto?" "Yes." "Perfect."

2009-09-08T14:31:00.000-07:00

(This is a long one...brace up :)
Hola familia Jackson (or as I'm called here, Hack-son)!

Woohoo, I am in the field! After a long day of flying, fearbusters hitting the streets right after the airport, and a night at the mission president's house, I am finally in my area and loving it! I am in Paterson (not really sure where that is on a map but...yeah.) It is ghetto as heck here and I love it. That subject line was basically the first words my trainer and I said to each other. We are in the weakest part of the mission as far as numbers of members is concerned. But the members that we do have are AMAZING! We don't ever actually have dinner appointments set up with them but they always end up feeding us something whether it's just a sandwich or a bowl of jello. Seriously, some of these people have nothing and yet they are so willing to give. We just have a Spanish branch full of Dominicans, Columbians, Peruvians, Puerto Ricans, and everything else imagineable. LOTS of inactives! And yes, I got asked right away if I play the piano so that is now just one of the many roles we are taking on as missionaries here.

So, about my trainer...Her name is Hermana Bushman, from San Jose, and I absolutely LOVE her. Seriously, we get along great, and that is a good thing because we are the only sisters in our zone and the 2 zones next to ours so we never get contact with the other sisters. She graduated from BYU a couple years ago and was working in Washington DC when she felt like she should go on a mission, so here she is. She has been out 1 year this week. Oh, and guess what? Her trainer was Hermana Newton, Sister Power's neice whom I talked to before my mission. Yep, it's just a nice little chain going down. :)

We have been facing all sorts of things here from major success to not so good. The very first night we were out (last Wednesday), we had just left a member's house and were on our way to my first teaching appointment when she hit a massive pothole and we got a flat tire. Yeah, awesome. So there were some major gangster guys sitting on their porch who came over and helped us fix it up. Haha, love it. And we ended up making our appointment...though we were about half an hour late.

Probably the coolest thing I've witnessed so far is with a couple of key investigators we're working with right now. First is Maria and Alberto. The first time I met Maria (Hna Bushman and her previous comp had already taught them both the week before), we taught only her. Her husband wasn't in the best of sorts, smokes a lot, didn't come home one night because he was so drunk. Anyway, she committed to baptism for the 26th of September! But we didn't want to give up on Alberto just yet. So he was at the next appointment with Maria on Saturday and he totally felt it. He committed to baptism to and the faith that he has to quit smoking and drinking and everything is incredible. He wants to do it so bad. He told us on Sunday night that he fasted all day for the strength to quit smoking. He and Maria came to church on Sunday, invited all their extended family, and loved it. Anyway, so yeah we've got 2 people getting baptized the 26 of September! Another lady we're working with is Victoria. She is fairly old and pretty sick with cancer. She has to go in for chemotherapy twice a week and it's just really hard on her. But she is so close to committing to baptism! She keeps just saying she doesn't want to get pushed...but don't worry, we're making progress with her.

Oh, now for the news about my Spanish!...haha...well...it's actually not as bad as I thought it would be. I have to make all the phone calls in the car while Hna Bushman is driving so...let's just say that is exciting. :) The members here are so patient with me, it's hilarious. They've started to realize when it's me calling versus when it's Sister Bushman because now with me on the phone they just give me the basic information I'm calling to ask to know and we leave it at that. Because I don't know if you know this or not, but Latins love getting off on tangents and quite honestly, that's not my strongest point of understanding. :) Haha but it is so funny. We had a dinner for the Sociedad de Soccoro (Relief Society) and Hna Bushman and I decided we should sit at different tables to be able to talk to more people and oh man, I wish you could have seen the looks on the ladies faces as I was talking to them! They were cracking up...but I think AT me. :) Haha, we had a whole conversation about superheroes (which is not in my vocabulary) because one lady's son had just had a spiderman theme birthday party and then I told them about Tino and we just got going. But anyway, I couldn't explain anything so I'm trying to act things out for them and they were probably thinking "Who the heck is this new hermana?" But it was great and I got a couple of the ladies to come out to appointments with us this week because of it. So you know, life is good.

Anyway, I should probably wrap this up...I think I've gone on long enough. Just know that I love you all and think about you often. You are constantly in my prayers and I can't wait to hear from you next to see how you're all doing. In summary, I'm doing great. I love my companion, I love my area, I love the members, and I love this work. Thanks for all of your support. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

P.S. I can only email family but I can receive emails from whoever and I can reply through my mom (so mom, I may send you emails with the subject line like "Forward to _________" and then if you could just do that, that would be great!) I have an hour and a half for email, so that's nice. And for letters, I think you should just keep sending them to the mission home. I don't know that I trust the area I live in so...yeah. But it's weird because I get to write home on Mondays but I receive all my mail on Tuesdays, so it might be a little longer to get actual responses. :) But yeah, that should work out well.

P.P.S. The Pictures: 595 is of me and my district at the MTC coming out of our building...yes, air resistance. 611 is my MTC district. 654 is me and Hna Bushman (we took a hike yesterday morning for p-day to a point that looks out over Paterson with one of the members of the branch, Hna Soccoro). 657 is me eating my first pizza pie in Jersey! :) and 625 is me in my camisa fea (ugly shirt...yes, it took me 7 weeks in the MTC to build up the confidence to order that thing but I love it!)

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Last P-day in the MTC!

2009-08-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Wow, I cannot believe the time has already come for me to hit the field! I am excited beyond words. I don't remember what I told you last week in my email but yeah, I feel like the only way I'm going to learn more at this point is to just be absolutely thrown into it...I'm a hands-on learner anyway. :)

So, I received my flight plans at the end of last week. I leave the MTC at 6am on Sept 1 up to the SL airport. My flight leaves directly for Newark at 9:45am and we land there at about 4:20'ish. There are 13 missionaries heading out there (7 Spanish).

So last week and this, I got to be a host for the new missionaries coming in! Remember when I first got dropped off and I thought that day would never come? :) Well, now I get to help the new sisters around and show them where to go and give them a little tour and stuff. It's pretty neat. I love it!

We haad quite an interesting lesson in Relief Society on Sunday...President Smith (the MTC pres) spoke to us and basically "clarified" a bunch of the rules (It kind of felt like the guys say they feel after Priesthood session...haha). He told us to follow the "exact letter of the law"...which is risky saying because some missionaries could find lots of ways to get away with things like that. Anyway, he told us that at meals, we're not supposed to sit by the same elders all the time and to glare at the elders if they keep trying to sit by us. Well, that's kind of hard in our district, considering we only have 2 elders and 4 hermanas. :) So we devised this way awesome "seating chart" for our meals so don't even worry, we're obeying (I hope you catch the humor in this...it's kind of hard to write). Our plan is called Operation Transmorphers. I will send you a photocopy of the plan when I get the chance...it's like a really intricate football play that Elder Lamoreaux and I had fun divising. It rocks my world!

This Friday, our teachers have planned what's called a "Dia en el campo" (day in the field), where they have appointements set up for us with other teachers all over the MTC, back to back, just like in the field. We're teaching 12 lessons that day, and we have teaching records for all of them. Some are progressing investigators, some are new, some are recent converts. It will be a highlight, I'm sure. I'm looking forward to it a lot.

Last night I had another cool experience at the RC. Sorry that's what I bring up a lot, but it is what makes this work real right now! I called this guy, Juan, who sounded really depressed (it was in English). I asked him if he had received his Bible yet and he said no but he really wanted it. I asked him what was up and he told me that his wife just left him and he has no kids or other family. He then thanked me profusely for calling him because he had been contemplating ending his own life for the last several weeks. He talked to his pastor on Sunday who told him he basically has no hope and is evil for thinking about taking his life, but the pastor told him he would pray for him anyway. Juan told me over and over again that my call to him was an answer to his prayers. He has been searching for God in his life and wants hope. I bore testimony to him of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and told him I would pray for him. He wants the missionaries over as soon as possible. I don't even know all that I said to him but I know the Holy Ghost was working through me to bear the truthfulness of what I was saying. He was putting words into my mouth I didn't know were there. I am so grateful for that opportunity I had to share the love of Jesus Christ with him.

To close with a quote by a talk from Elder Bednar from a devotional here a couple of months ago. He answered the question, How do I know if it's the spirit or just me? He said, "Quit worrying about it. Quit fussing, quit stewing, quit analyzing, quit worrying about it. Press forward with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Be a good boy; be a good girl. Honor your covenants, keep the commandments, and I promise you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that your steps will be guided. As you open your mouth, it will be filled. You will be in the right place at the right time, and in most instances, you'll have no idea how or why you got there. So quit worrying about it."

Thank you for your support and love. I guess I will email you all next from NJ! If you send me anything here at the MTC, make sure you send it by Friday so I'm sure to get it. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

My first baptism!

2009-08-18T15:12:00.001-07:00

Hey family! How's everybody doing? I'm glad to hear that mom found the camera so I can get some pictures of the new little one soon! I hope Michael and Cari are having fun with the boys in California! That sounds way nice. What is going on in everyone else's life? Oh, so my MTC teacher was apparently at the same RSL match that mom and dad went to a couple weeks ago. Too bad I didn't know beforehand! Haha.

So, I got my first baptism. Well, it was a team effort from my whole district. Remember how I told you that our teachers have been acting as progressive investigators? Well, "Angie" was "baptized" on Monday night. It was quite exciting, I must say. We invited some other districts to act as members of the ward to fellowship her in, then me and Elder Lamoreaux did a harmonica/piano duet of "We'll Bring the World His Truth" for the musical number. Haha, yeah, that was definitely a first. :)

My first week with my new comp was good. She was in a wheelchair for the first several days but then we went to the doctor on Friday and he fit her with a new boot thing that doesn't put pressure on that part of her foot so now she is just walking around! It's great news. And while we were at the doctor, she was in the room and I sat in the waiting room and striked up a conversation with a lady who didn't speak a word of English. It was awesome. She told me all about how she slipped in the bathroom and messed up her ankle and about her daughters who are getting ready to go back to school next week and everything like that. It was fun.

Also, we went to the RC again last night and learned how to do calls in Spanish...and I freaked out but life is good. One guy called in and he was the nicest guy I have ever talked to in the RC. His name is Manuel and he's from LA. He said he had seen the DVD "Finding Happiness" and thought that everyone should be able to have that kind of happiness in their life. After we talked for a bit, I asked him if he would like the missionaries over. He said he was never home but wanted their address so he could visit them. Of course I couldn't do that so I got his address and looked up the nearest meetinghouse to him on mormon.org and invited him to go to church this Sunday and meet with the missionaries there. He said he would! He then asked me how I ended up answering the phone and I told him I am a missionary for the church as well. Then he asked me to send him a letter with my testimony of Jesus Christ in it! I wrote it this morning and he said he will write back when he gets it. I just love this work.

Other than that, this week has been basically the same as the others. I had a bit of a rough time on Friday thinking of Anthony and everything but that happens to me every year. It was a big comfort to me to recognize that I am doing the same work here on earth that Anthony is doing in the Spirit World. I know this work is true and we're in it together.

Thanks for all your support to me. I can't believe I leave in 2 weeks from today! I get my travel plans on Thursday so I'll let you know next week the approximate time I'll be calling you from the airport. What number do you want me to call so that you answer? One more p-day in the MTC! I am SO excited to get out there! So yeah, next week's email will contain all the logistics and such.

Ok, question time: Is Bobby home yet? If yes, tell him he better write me soon! If no, then give that message to him when he gets home. :)
Also, could you call Sister Power and ask her to ask her neice (Ali Newton) what classroom she teaches in? Just send the response in a dearelder so I can get it ASAP. I want to meet her because she went to the same mission as me. Thanks!

I think that's about it. I love you so much. I hope to hear from more of you soon. ;) Haha. The church is true and this is the Lord's work. I know it. It says so in Jacob 5:61 that it is His work and He is doing it right alongside of me, and for that I am so grateful. I miss you tons but I love you more.

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Hey Everyone!

2009-08-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

This week has been interesting but good. I got a new companion today. I think I mentioned last week about Hna Barfoot having to get surgery. Well, her district left for the field this morning so I have been assigned as her new companion. My fourth one already! Haha, it's cool. She is in a wheelchair right now so it makes for quite a bit of extra pull on my end of the companionship but things are working out just fine. I'm greatful for the opportunity I have to serve her. And also, I had the same opportunity with my last comp, Hna Andersen, because on Friday at gym, someone landed on her during the volleyball game or something and she dislocated her kneecap. So she and our other comp spent all Friday morning at the hospital and I spent all Friday afternoon with her in the room while she was drugged up and napping. She is so grateful that nothing tore in her knee, which is a miracle to say the least, so she still gets to get out of here in time.

So yeah, it's been fun. :) I am doing well...no passing out or close calls even so we're good. And I even went running some laps with another hermana last week and did fine! This makes me happy. We had a devotional on Sunday that was so good! He talked about the importance of charity in missionary work, but he put a new twist on things. He first led us to 2 Nephi 32:2-3, where it says that angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. Then we went to D&C 42:6, where it says we are supposed to declare the word like angels. The last place we went was to 1 Cor 13, where it says that though I speak as an angel and have not charity, I am nothing. I've thought about that a lot this week and how I can apply that in my mission. It is not enough as a missionary to say what Jesus Christ would say, but I need to feel as He would feel for these people. It reminds me of a quote I kept up on my wall in China that I have written in my journal here by Pres. Eyring that says, "The Lord will let you feel the love He feels for those you serve; the call is an invitation to become like Him." I love that. I love that I have that opportunity to become like my Savior Jesus Christ here on my mission and throughout my life. It will take a lot of praying and help from the Lord, but I know that I can come closer to Him everyday.

Spanish is good...I feel like I'm getting more fluent in what I know and getting more comfortable with the lessons and stuff. It's kind of neat to think of how far I've come so far and I know I didn't do it alone. We are now the oldest hermanas in our zone (my district is second oldest) so we're the vets now that the new missionaries in our zone look to for help and critique in teaching the lessons, in speaking Spanish, in getting around the MTC...It's fun. The new hermanas are way cool and I like getting to know them all.

So, we are holding a baptismal service this Saturday! Ha ha, I think I might have told you that our teachers have been acting as investigators that they had on their missions that we've had the chance to teach progressively. So now we have taught them all the lessons and prepared them for baptism so we're having a little service this Saturday for us to practice planning one. Don't worry, we aren't doing the actual baptizing part. But it's pretty fun. Last week, I taught "Eddy" how to fill out a tithing slip (all in Spanish, by the way, because English died) and we taught "Angie" the process for the actual baptismal service. The elders get to practice doing the interview this week. Haha, it makes it all seem so real...even though they're not... :) It's just been neat to have a chance to have to figure out what to teach in each lesson and help them overcome certain things to get to this point. I've loved it.

That's about all for today. I love you all and am so grateful for your love and support to me. Give all the little ones a big hug and kiss for me, especially the two birthday boys. And tell Tino that I am proud to be the aunt of Spiderman. :) I've sent a letter to Nana today. Could I have Grandma in England's address too? Thanks.

I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Ingles died and Life is Good!

2009-08-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Muchas gracias for the pictures of Claire! She is gorgeous! I can't wait to get some hard copies so I can show them off to everyone! I'm glad to hear you all are doing well. Thanks for your letters this week. Malcolm, congrats on the tour in California! That is way exciting that it was sold out!

So right now, I am sitting in the laundry room...a basement type place, for anyone who hasn't been here, with about 100 or so machines all going at once...so it is nice and hot. :) Oh, and I just finished putting some pictures in an envelope to send to Mom and Dad...you know me, I love pictures :)

This week has been great. Full of spiritual experiences and fun times as well. Probably the most exciting thing from this last week was our "Ingles funeral". Yes, we can no longer speak English in the classroom...ever...so we held a funeral to pay our final respects. My comp gave the eulogy, the elders gave talks, we sang "each life that touches ours for good" and "God be with you till we meet again" as the hymns, and I did the special musical number...an English tribute I wrote on the piano in about 5 minutes containing all of our favorite spanglish phrases. Then we took a walk out to the edge of the mtc campus where we buried English (a piece of paper with our favorite phrases on it :) It was pretty dang awesome, and I will record the song and send it home...though you have to understand spanglish so maybe Jessica can translate it for you :)

I think I have finally figured out how to infuse my personality into missionary work. It has been tough trying to know how to bring my outgoing-ness into the whole thing but this week has been good. We had a devotional on Sunday night where the international MTC director and his wife spoke. His wife was one of those ladies that tells stories basically exactly like I do...and it made me happy. I could tell that President Smith and his wife were just freaking out in their seats that she was a little wild (because they're really strict) but she had the spirit in her talk and I realized that the Lord needs all types of personalities in this work. He doesn't want people who are just serious or just wild but people who can take the spirit with them no matter what so that everyone can be reached in their own unique way. I loved it.

I learned something really cool during personal study this week. I bought a cheap copy of the BoM in Spanish this week to start reading and mark up all the words I don't know. The branch president promised us that if we would do that for 15 minutes a day, we would be fluent in the language by the time we finish the book. So I am doing it! But yeah, I started reading from the beginning and got through the first 3 chapters. I made an interesting realization about Laman and Lemuel. They had tons of spiritual witnesses of Christ, but every time they went back to their old ways afterward. Nephi, however, let the spiritual witnesses take place in his heart and change him. I thought about how often we are like Laman and Lemuel. How often have I been upset or discouraged, and the Lord demonstrates his hand in my life. I usually feel better for a bit but I eventually go back to my old ways and forget the witness. But I have had signs enough. I know that Heavenly Father loves me and that Jesus Christ knows everything I am going through. I want to be like Nephi and allow that witness to work in me so I never forget again.

Ok, that was my spiritual tangent. Now for some other stuff. Did you know that 2 ladies in Provo have a calling to come to the MTC once a week and teach sisters how to do make-up? Well, they do! And they give us each $200 of NuSkin make-up in the process! Haha, it was awesome. And Naomi Andersen (from HOBY) was at the same make-up class as me so it was wild and fun. I felt like back in Jr. High when we always had the Mary Kay parties and I was the guinea pig for the make-up. Haha, good times.

Well, that's about it for this week. Thank you for you continued support and love. Can I have Matt Hunt's address in SLC? I'd like to write him. Thanks! I know this is what the Lord wants me to be doing right now. As I've learned each week to rely more and more on the Lord, I have been feeling better and better about things. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

I have a new niece!

2009-07-29T08:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, I just got kicked off after I had half my email written for some weird reason...so here is in summary what I had already written because now I don't have very much time left.

CONGRATULATIONS to Chris and Megan on the newest little addition to the family, Claire! I am so excited to see a picture of her! When I found out last night, I ran around telling any sister willing to listen, which when it comes to girls, any one is excited about babies. :)

Both my comps are sick today so I am on a temporary comp exchange with a solo sister in my zone, Hna Aquino. She is way cute and it has been a fun p-day with her.

This week has been way good. I remember before my mission people always told me that the MTC is what you make of it. Well, I had been struggling and I thought about how I need to make more of this experience. I prayed for help from the Lord to be enthusiastic about things and he for sure blessed me with it. I studied hope this week and learned so much about how I can apply it to this sort of lull right now in the MTC. But hey, this Saturday hits my halfway mark! I can't believe it. I am so anxious to get out to NJ but I know I still have so much to learn!

Tomorrow morning, we are holding an English funeral...que triste. I'm excited though to stretch myself and learn more. I have now taught parts of all the lessons in Spanish so I know it will just get better from here if I keep working on it.

We went in to the RC again during some free time on Saturday and I dialed for 45 minutes with 0 success. So while I was sitting there dialing away, I wrote a song (more like a rap...) about being at the RC with nobody answering. Don't even stress, I sang it for the hermanas at dinner. :) oh, and remember John, from the RC? Well, I called him again last night and talked with him again for a while. I realized that last time I talked to him, I let him do way too much talking and I didn't really get a chance to teach him anything so this time, I testified, hardcore. And I know he felt the spirit...he couldn't have ignored it, it was so strong. I kept telling him how he just needs to sincerely pray about it and then I shared some experiences of how the Book of Mormon has helped me personally in my life and when I finished, I didn't even have to challenge him. He said, "You know what Meagan? I can tell the Book of Mormon means a lot to you and that you care that it means something to me too. I am going to pray, sincerely about it this week and we'll talk again next Monday." It was awesome! It makes missionary work seem so much more real because quite honestly, it gets old teaching your companion. :) I'll keep you posted.

Some funny stories: There's this new Tongan sister on our floor and she has stopped me several times to ask me questions. The first time, she was by the microwave trying to make popcorn and she was like, "Hey sister, could you help me with this? How do you know when it's done?" Haha, I love it. And then another time she was sitting on the couch reading the Ensign when she says again, "Hey sister, what does it mean to 'gird up your loins'?" I explained as she furiously scribbled in the margins everything I was saying. It just made my day. Now she says hi to me everytime she sees me. I like it :)

Another cool story: Last week for service, my comps and I were cleaning out a vacated room when I heard shrieks coming from the bathroom. I, of course, ran in only to find some other hermanas from my zone completely soaked with water and a pipe shooting water all over the place! Yeah, a pipe or something had burst and it was completely flooding the bathroom for about 15 minutes before a maintenance guy came up. Good times. :)

Yes, I went to the doctor. He thought it was lame that the MTC doctor took away my driving priviledges but there's nothing he can do about it so oh well, now I just get to use the cell phone while my comp drives. :) I was thinking of getting a tape recorder at the MTC bookstore and recording on mini-cassettes to send home and then you can just record and send the whole thing back...I don't know, we'll see.

Thank you for the letters this week! Especially mom, dad, Michael, Jackie, Amber, Carla, and Meagan! Completely made my week. And yes, I like to reply to them because then it gives more incentive to keep writing me. :) Oh byt the way, Dad, my mailbox numbered changed to #320 back on July 6 so...yeah.. :)

Thank you for the flip-flops and the socks, they were sorely needed! And don't worry about sending me nylons, I can get those at the MTC bookstore on the missionary budget.

What is Malcolm's email?

Ok, that's all the time I have. I know that this work I am doing is the best thing I can be doing right now. I know the gospel is true. Thanks for your continued support to me. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

A Little Bit of Everything!

2009-07-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Wow, it was a hard week. Spanish is getting crazy (not like it wasn't already). We had 2 days last week that we called our "English Fast" or as the optimistic people like to call it, our "Spanish Feast." I'll let you decide what I called it. :) Haha, but it was a really good experience. Unfortunately, I found that when we have our "fast/feast" days, I just kind of clam up and don't say much of anything, but don't worry, I'm getting over that. My teachers are really good at being patient with me as I try to formulate sentences and with encouraging me to speak.

So the night before our first fast/feast, I think I must have been stressing really bad because me and my comps had to teach a lesson the next day on the Plan of Salvation, which we barely started studying, and in Spanish. Yes, my first lesson in Spanish. So anyway, I had the craziest dream! I dreamed that I wrote an entire song about the Plan of Salvation to cover all the points of my lesson, in Spanish, of course. I woke up the next morning and could only remember one of the lines (I would sing it to you but you can't hear me so...yeah, sorry :) but don't even fret, I will have a song written about it by the time I get home. Maybe I'll sing it at my homecoming talk! Haha. :)

Speaking of my song stuff, I played the love medley of hymns I played at my farewell in RS on Sunday. It went well, at least that's what I was told. Multiple sisters came up to me and asked me where I got the music from. Haha, love it. :)

Anyway, I have had some way cool experiences at the Referral Center this week. If you don't know, that's the place at the MTC where we can make phone calls following up with people who have requested Books of Mormon and DVD's and stuff like that. One night while making phone calls, I called 2 people who spoke only Spanish! It was awesome. I didn't hand the headset over to my teacher, like I've done in the past, but I talked to them and testified to them and they both want the missionaries to come to their house! I could feel the spirit working so strong in me. I was telling one of them to please excuse my Spanish because I don't know it very well and he was like, "Oh, no lo creo, no lo creo! Muy bien! (I don't believe it, I don't believe it, it's really good)" Haha, it made me happy.

Another cool experience at the RC - we went in to do some calls on Saturday during our free time and I went about 45 minutes without a single person picking up the phone. I prayed for someone to answer and finally this guy in NC did named John. He had met with the missionaries several weeks ago but they hadn't followed up with him on anything and he had a bunch of questions about things he had read in the Book of Mormon, so he decided to ask me. We talked for 45 minutes! And then I left him to read 2 Nephi 31-32 (because he had questions about baptism) and he asked if I would call him back on Monday night to answer any more questions he might have. So I did last night and we talked for another 45 minutes! This time I left him with parts of 3 Nephi to read and asked if he would pray about the things we talked about and he said he would! It was awesome. He wants me to call him back again next Monday night and I told him I can but that then I would get him in touch with the missionaries again in his area so he can have person-to-person contact, because that is so much better. But still, it was way cool. He's one of those types of people that knows the Bible front and back but he said that I was making sense to him so we'll see. :)

DID YOU KNOW? Fun fact of the week: An elder in my district, Elder Lamoreaux, came up with this hypothesis we decided to try out. He wondered if you mailed a letter with a fake address and no postage, but with the address you wanted it to go to as the return address if it would get there. So we tried it out. We wrote a letter to our teacher, put her address in the return address, and put his address as the address to go to but in Provo (he's from Phoenix). Sure enough, a couple days later, Hermana Cochrane, our teacher, came in and said she got it! Haha, we won't do it again, because it's kind of cheating the system, but it was a fun thing to try out and know that it works. ;)

After about a week of receiving nothing, I felt so loved because I got about 11 letters in just a couple days, so thank you! I got 4 postcards from Dad in England, and a letter from him, a letter from Celecta Moss, Amy Dyer, Alison Moreno, Amber Hendrickson, and Amanda Frey. THANK YOU THANK YOU! I replied to all of you to day! :)

Well that's about it for this week. I hope these letters are actually exciting to you because I look forward to writing these all week! :) Take care and know that you are in my prayers every day. Please keep me in yours to master this language and be an amazing missionary! I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Meagan's new motto

2009-07-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

How are things going? I have gotten several dearelder.com letters from mom and a postcard from dad in England. Sounds like everyone's having a good summer. If anyone else would like to let me know how they're doing, all would be welcome... ;) and you can use dearelder.com and I get it the same day so I don't have to wait until p-day to read your letters. Haha, hint hint :)

So on Sunday, Sister Nadauld came and spoke to us for RS...they do RS here with all the sisters combined because we are usually so outnumbered...there are probably about 150 sisters here. So she spoke about comparing our bodies to temples and how none of the temples look frumpy so sister missionaries shouldn't either. It was really funny because I think the line everyone came away with remembering was "Plucking your eyebrows is like trimming the hedges of the temple." Wonderful. It is our new favorite motto. :)

My new district is working out great. We have all started to bond really well and my Spanish is progressing. The other day, we played a game called El Nativo, meaning Hermana Cochrane (one of our teachers) selected one of us to be the native and we couldn't speak English all day...guess who was selected to be the first native...yep, that's right, me! I was confined to only Spanish for about 8 hours. I actually learned a lot and it really helped....I'm going to try it more often from now on. Hermana Cochrane is so led by the spirit in her lessons and she knows so much about Spanish and the gospel. Class goes by so quickly when she's teaching. We were telling her one day that it is hard to keep practicing giving the lessons to each other because it doesn't feel real so she decided to take on the role of one of the investigators she taught on her mission and we get to teach her progressive lessons like an actual investigator. It is helping so much! Me and my comps had the chance to teach her on Saturday and after the lesson, we could tell we had really taught by the spirit. We had so much planned that we didn't end up even saying because she didn't need that. Wow, it was cool. I can't wait to be able to do that more and with more practice, we will just get better!

So guess who is in my zone? Kyle Nichols! His classroom is just a couple doors down from mine so I see him all the time. Plus we're in the same branch and have the same schedule and everything. It was really cool this morning because we all went to the temple together and it was really good to see him there. However, while I get to see Kyle all the time, I rarely ever see Matt! But I did get to see him when Ashley came by, and I saw Ashley. Hopefully I'll see him a couple more times before he takes off.

Thank you so much for the packages! I do not need any more junk food! Haha...I swear I don't eat that much at meals but I am so sick of eating. But this morning at 6am, me and my comps went to the gym to exercise. They are trying this thing out where they open the gym from 6-6:30 for just sisters to exercise and other stuff. So we went and I played volleyball with some girls while H. Andersen and Cornish ran laps around the track. It was nice...they played "worldly music" during that half hour...and by worldly I mean Disney music from Aladdin and Hercules. :) That is about the most exciting it gets!

JENNY SPENCER! Thank you so so much for your letter and the twix bar! :) I am replying this afternoon. Best of luck to you later this week on going through the temple. I wish I could have gotten a letter to you before you go but p-day wasn't until today.

JACKIE! You rock. Thanks for the tips on pranks for the elders. I told the elders in my district that I am loaded with new ideas...none of which are against the white handbook...haha, just kidding. :) Love you!

Thanks for everything you do for me. I love you all so much. I sent a letter with pictures last week and I've got another one coming this week that maybe you could scan and put on my blog (I can't load them onto the computers at the MTC). Remember, you don't need to email out all my letters, just put them on there (and my subject title could be the title for each new post :) haha

I know that the preparation I am doing is going to bless so many people and I know that the Lord is aware of each of us and blesses us according to our needs. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that because of it's truthfulness, we can know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that he restored Christ's church on the earth. I hope everyone is doing well and I hope to hear from several of you soon. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

First Transfer

2009-07-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hey!

So, I did end up switching districts. Yesterday after lunch, Hna Cornish came in and told me that the change was official and we had to be at class in half an hour, so just like that my p-day was over. But then I found out that my new district has p-day today, so I got 2 in a row.

Intermediate Spanish is SO HARD!!! I went in there yesterday afternoon and sat there for the first hour just wanting to cry. But it got better. I figure that since I can understand enough of what they're saying to get by in class, then I am in the right place because I'm challenging myself just enough. So now I have 2 new companions (yep, I'm in a trio). There's Hna Cornish and Hna Andersen. Hna Andersen is from San Diego and she's going to Kentucky for her mission. Her Spanish is WAY good but she's really nice about helping me out. I have a feeling I know the least Spanish in my district. So along with the change of districts, I also had to move rooms so I got to pack up all my things and carry them upstairs. It's good though. I'm feeling more comfortable with the language now.

I saw Marsha and Julia today in the MTC cafeteria. Crazy! It was so good to see them and give them a little update. Tell Matt Hunt and Kyle Nichols that I am looking forward to finding them tomorrow! Their first couple of days will be rough but if they need anything, tell them they can find me in 7M-203. :)

I got to go to the temple this morning with my new district and it was wonderful! I absolutely love the feeling there. And knowing that missionaries are prayed for throughout the world gives me so much strength and comfort.

So, I already told you most everything yesterday but here's for my shout-out:
JACKIE! Thank you, thank you, thank you for your letters!!! I have now received both of them and feel so loved and blessed. I am replying in person as soon as I put my laundry in this afternoon.

MOM!!! I love you. Thanks for your email and letter. I can't believe you told me I have a package coming and didn't tell me what's in it. The anticipation is killing me! Thanks :)

Well, I think that's about it for now. I wish I had some crazy funny story to tell you but I don't really. I am full-on praying in Spanish now and trying to joke around with people but...haha, yeah, let's just say that Oh Baby and Don't Fret don't translate into Spanish very well. :) Things are getting better here...but it's definitely the hardest thing I've ever done.

Thanks for all your love. Tell everyone I said hi. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

P.S. I have a new address with the district change and everything (but if you sent one to my old mailbox #, it will still get to me)

Hermana Meagan EM Jackson
MTC Mailbox #320
NJ-MOR 0901
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

What a week!

2009-07-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hola mi familia!

Oh wow, I don't even know where to start. It has been a wild first weeks here at the MTC. I never thought I could feel so overwhelmed! But life is getting better. The first couple of days were rough but now that I'm kind of getting into the swing of things it is nice. I'm actually probably going to have a switch-up here pretty soon. I took the Spanish language assessment on Saturday and they want to put me in the intermediate class starting this afternoon/evening, so that will mean having a new companion and district and zone and everything, which is really sad because I LOVE my district. There are 12 of us, 4 hermanas and 8 elders. 7 of us are going to NJ Morristown, 3 to Las Vegas, and 2 to the Dominican Republic. My companion so far has been Hna. Binning, from Tucson, AZ. She actually is the girl I met at the end of the semester so that is cool. We get along really well but when I move into intermediate, I will probably get switched to be with one of the other hermanas who is also moving up, Hna Cornish, from Orem. It is a tough decision for me because I don't want to leave my district but I was reading in my Patriarchal Blessing and it told me to take every opportunity I have to progress and improve myself so I can be a blessing to those around me and that is what being a missionary is all about, being a blessing to those around me, not hanging out with my friends. Plus, I will still get to see 6 of them in NJ. So yeah, I may end up with 2 p-days this week because my new district has p-day on Thursday, I think. :)

What else is new? Oh, they let all the elders and sisters stay up on Saturday night and stand in the MTC parking lot to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks, which was way exciting. I saw a sister from China and started speaking to her in Chinese while we were all just standing around. :) My district got to go into the Referral Center on Friday and make phone calls following up with people that had called in and asked for things like church DVD's or Books of Mormon or something. I was way nervous at first but then the first 10 numbers I dialed weren't home so I calmed down...until someone answered when I wasn't expecting it, and they wanted to know more...and I freaked out but then I bore testimony to her and told her we would send the missionaries over to her house in the next week. Life is good. :) I also called this one lady and asked for her husband (because he was who was listed on the referral) and she's like, "He's dead." I was so shocked, I had no idea what to say...unfortunately, I passed up the golden opportunity to share the gospel with her because I was still in shock but I put them on the call-back list and made a note that he had died. Hopefully someone will call them soon. :)

I'm sorry to say but I passed out on Saturday while doing gym time out on the field. I went to see the MTC doctor this morning (because they made me) and he was all strict and told me I'm not allowed to drive in NJ and wants me to go see my cardiologist again in AF before I leave the MTC, so we're setting that up for sometime next week. Grrr....oh well. Pray for me.

So I mentioned how my Spanish has just been growing so much here (so much so that I'm going to intermediate). I try to say all my prayers in Spanish and I bore my testimony in Spanish yesterday. I'm currently working on trying to learn the first lesson, though my class just barely started conjugations. It is going to be so hard moving into intermediate...I don't know if I'm ready for it. But I was talking to some hermanas yesterday who did the same thing and they said that even though they always feel a little behind in their new class, they were bored in the old one and it is just so much better now because they can be completely thrown into it. More details on how it actually goes later. :)

I've run into TONS of people I know here. Several girls I didn't even know were on missions. It's good to see them and nice to have a familiar face like the other night when I was overwhelmed. My friend told me to just pray and do all I can because the Lord will take care of the rest, and he definitely has. This week I will have an extra stress of Spanish study hardcore but I know I can do it with the Lord's help.

Well, I think that's about all I have to say for now. Thank you for your wonderful examples and support. I miss you tons but I love you more!

Love,
Hermana Jackson

Meagan's on her way!

2009-07-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Meagan is now in the MTC! There were lost of tears but we are excited for her and you know that she will be an awesome missionary!
Her address for the next two months will be:
Hermana Meagan Jackson
MTC Mailbox 257-0901
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Setting apart

2009-07-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

The evening Meagan was set apart as a missionary!

Meagan modeling all the skirts she made.

Welcome!

2009-06-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my mission blog! On here, little snippets of my weekly email home will be posted for everyone to keep up with how I'm doing. For those of you that said you prefer to write emails rather than letters because you prefer typing, I don't really want to be reading lots of emails every week so I'm probably not going to give out my email address to anyone but family. But you can use dearelder.com! It's free while I'm at the MTC and then just the cost of postage after that. If you have anything important you need to get to me, email it to my mom (calciomom@gmail.com) and she will forward it on to me.

Enjoy the letters and I hope to hear from you every so often. See you in a year and a half!