Monday, 27 Feb 2012

Dear Family, Monday, 27 Feb 2012

This week was a lot more successful as far as finding people to teach. Marizol was in the hospital this week. She started having contractions prematurely. Her baby is due in April. We went to visit her in the hospital. The guardsman almost didn’t let us in because we arrived before visiting hours, but luckily he let us slip through. Everything seems to be ok with her and the baby but she’s just really bored being in the hospital all day but it was a good opportunity for us to teach her more about the gospel. After that we went looking for an old investigator that was written down in the area book. We found him the day before and he was really receptive but he said he needed to check with his wife before accepting us to teach. We were a little nervous that she might be a tough one but after going to the hospital we stopped by their house to see if they were home and both of them were there and to our surprise, she was more receptive than he was! I think it helped that she found out that we had just come from the hospital because she works there and she was really glad that we were visiting someone there. She says that not enough people vist the sick people and that she liked that our church did that. So we taught them the first lesson and it went so well! Jose remembered a lot from what the other sister missionaries taught but we did a bit of a review so that Dina could learn and when we recited the word of Joseph Smith of the first vision he said “I felt a good feeling when you talked about that vision.” He said, “ I felt a peace and a joy all at the same time.” We helped him recognize that that was the spirit testifying that this was true. He told that he told us that he doesn’t have a doubt that this is the church of Jesus Christ. It was really powerful. Dina his wife was on the same page too. The only thing is that he is a little hesitant about being baptized for the 3rd time but the good thing is that she flat out to told us that she needs to be baptized again because she was just a baby. I can’t wait to teach them again. They are a great family.

Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Jackson

Monday 20, 2012

Dear Family, Monday 20, 2012

So transfers were this week and Hermana Per and I get to stay together for this cambio. Yay! We both figured we would stay together because she has to finish her training. This week, was a bit tough…lots of rejection, false addresses, and all that good stuff that missionaries get to experience. It’s a little different here because there aren't really addresses with numbers and street names or anything. Here it’s just like "next to the field where there is a white house with a dog in front." It makes it really hard to find people sometimes. We found some really positive people this week but the biggest challenge is actually finding their houses! Last night Hermana Per and I were tracting and we knocked on a door and a few kids opened the door. One of the little boys was about 5 years old and asked who were looking for. "You’re mom." we told him. He said ok, then ran in the house and ran back and asked what are names were. We told him and then he ran back in the house then back to the door and asked "What do you need to talk to her about?" "Your Salvation", I responded. He just stood there with a confused look on his face. Hermana Per couldn't contain her laughter. Eventually the mom came out to talk to us and we talked about the Gospel but she eventually turned us down. I didn't really intend on being so bold but it just kind of popped out. I guess it was worth a try. But I’ve been thinking more about my purpose as a missionary and this isn’t just any type of work. This is salvation. What a privilege to have this calling. Even though it can be tough at times, I know it is worth it.

Love you all,

Hermana Jackson

13 Feb 2012

Dear Family, 13 Feb 2012

So, sorry I had to cut off that story from my last letter. Anyways, I was telling you about Marizol and Walter. Before I wrote Wilmer which we later found out wasn't his name. How embarrassing! So last week we had a lesson with Marizol and she told us that before we came to her house for the first time, she said she praying for God to send her someone to bring something good into her life and uplift her from the problems she was facing. A few days later we arrived and she remembers the date and everything! Since then she’s been reading the Book of Mormon and the pamphlets we’ve been giving her and told us “Its like I’ve been asleep for a long time and learning all that you’ve been teaching me is like waking up from a deep sleep and my eyes are opened and discovering so many things.” It made me think of the prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 29 verses 10 and 24 that talks about the apostasy and restoration. She is really incredible. The only thing that’s keeping her from going to church is her husband. He is really friendly and receptive to what we teach but actually going to our church is a really hard change for him. Keep them in your prayers.

We also started teaching a cute old couple. Their names are Donatila and Julio. The Donatila is a member but Julio isn’t. He has never been receptive to the missionaries and always said, “I was born catholic and I’ll die catholic!” But lately his wife has been really sick. We went to their house to visit her and while we were there, we thought we’d give him a try and see if he would listen to us. He was surprisingly receptive and we set a baptismal date for him. One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced is getting him to church. He hasn’t wanted to go the past few Sundays and we’re quite sure how to help him yet but we’re determined to figure it out. The good thing is that his granddaughter, who has been inactive for 6 years, has been really supportive of as we’ve been teaching him and she has participated a lot in the lessons. And yesterday she came back to church for the first time in years! Maybe it isn’t Julio’s time to be baptized yet but I think Heavenly Father wanted us there in their home especially to help Hedy (his granddaughter).

Hope you all have a great week and a Happy Valentines Day!

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

6 Feb 2012

Dear Family, 6 Feb 2012

Flor has been progressing lots this week. She hasn’t been drinking coffee and she has had a lot of spiritual dreams since she started coming to church that have really strengthened her testimony.

We are also teaching a young family that is doing really well. They're names are Marizol and Wilmer. They don't have children yet but one is on the way. We've been teaching them for about a month and this week we went to visit them but only Marizol was there. The last time we taught the two of them and followed up by asking Marizol how she feels about everything we taught. The visit before we just taught her and she told us she received an answer that joseph smith was a prophet and that the book of Mormon was true and everything! So we followed up by asking if she still felt the same way but she said that now she was having some doubts because she's heard a lot of different things from other people and now she is confused. So this week when we went to visit them, her husband wasn't there and she told us that she doesn't have any doubts that its true but that she was hesitant to share say it in front of her husband because he’s not sure yet and he is still really attached to his church. But she told us she remembered the exact date of the first time we came in to her house and said that her and her husband were talking about what a blessing it was that we came at the beginning of the year and started to teach them. She said that ever since we first came in to her home, she said she has felt a joy, peace and happiness that she hadn't felt before and that when we have to end our visits she doesn't want us to leave. uho, I’m out of time. This story is to be continued but please pray for Wilmer that his heart will be softened.

Love you!

Hermana Jackson