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
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