20 Aug 2012

Dear Family,                                 20 Aug 2012

This week we’ve been working really hard with the members to get the attendance up in sacrament meeting.  We were told that if we had more than 70 people they would start looking for land to build a chapel.  President Fortuna spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and we had 87 people in attendance.  We doubled last week’s attendance!  So now the branch president is looking for a plot to purchase for construction!

We are teaching a family of 4 and they came to Chruch yesterday.  Natividad is a member of the church but has been less active for years and Factoria isn’t a member.  I admire Factoria a lot.  We’ve been teaching her a lot lately and she wants to be baptized but they need to get married first.  It’s a Little complicated because she doesn’t have an identification, nor does she exist in the system in Honduras.  Her story is a sad one but she’s told us a bit about her background in order for us start the process of applying for her identity.  Her parents abandoned her when she was a baby and an older woman took her in and put her to work.  She treated her badly so Factoria ran away when she was 9 years old and started working in a house with another family that also treated poorly.  So, left again and that became the pattern of her life.  She went from Catacamas to Comayagua, to Siguatepece until a friend from work told her she could work in Marcala with her so they came here together but unfortunately her friend didn’t have work for her after all and she was left alone in a park looking for a place to sleep. That’s when she met Natividad who took her in and they’ve been together ever since.  That was for years ago.  Now they have two small boys and they’ve started coming to church.  Factoria has been reading the Book of Mormon every day.  Even though she doesn’t capture everything, she is faithful in reading every day.    We asked her where she learned to read because she never was allowed into school and she said she just picked up books and learned on her own.  This woman continues to amaze me!  And the thing I admire most about her is her humility.  When she told us about all what she went through, she didn’t complain or exaggerate.  She just told how it was with a cheerful innocence in her voice.    When we taught a lesson this week she closed with a prayer saying, “Please bless so that I can get baptized”.  She is so pure, as I’ve been getting to know her I see her as a diamond in the rough.  She is such a precious daughter of God that has been tested and tried and that deserves the best blessings that the Lord has prepared.  Right now we are trying to get a few papers in order to obtain an identity card but it’s been really tricky.  Please keep her in her prayers.

Love you all,

Hermana Jackson

p.s. attached is a picture of Factoria and Natividad.  She looks really young but shes actually 21

13 Aug 2012

Dear Family,                                         13 Aug 2012
That’s so exciting that Eleanor was born!  I contributed that name by the way and I’m definitely a fan of the choice. haha
I’ve been getting to know my companion a little better this week.  She is crazy!  In a good way...really spunky and upbeat.  She’s been telling me a lot about the island where she was born and the culture is really interesting. I attached a picture of her greatgrandma with her normal everyday outfit.  She told me that her grandma doesn’t even know what a car looks like.  Just to give me an idea of what it’s like there.  The culture sounds really beautiful and very much preserved.  And the clothing they use is really cool.  Hermana Hartman speaks Cuna and Spanish.  She was telling me about the religious beliefs of her people on the island and how it’s really similar to the doctrine of the Church.  They believe that Christ came to the Americas and they also teach something really similar to the plan of salvation.
So I've also been getting to know branch a little better too.  I found out that I'm Young Womens President and Sunday School teacher for the youth.  It’s going to be quite the balancing act but I’m glad to be here.  The Branch President and his wife are wonderful.  I’ll write more about them next week.  

All my love,
Hermana Jackson

30 July 2012

Dear Family,                           30 July 2012

     We got to teach Josue a lot more this week.   He came to church yesterday and had his new baby girl in his arms the whole time.  He’s so proud to be a dad and so protective of her.  It’s really sweet.  Although he’s been coming to church he still isn’t sure if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  We knelt down in prayer with him in one of our lessons this week and he gave the most beautiful sincere prayer to know it’s true but he’s still not sure.  But I know the Spirit is guiding him even if he’s not aware of it because he has the desire to go to church.  Thanks for all of your prayers.  I love this family so much and I keep imagining them kneeling down in the Temple getting sealed someday.  I can just see it.  It’s not just our dream but Melisa’s dream too.  Josue just doesn’t know it will be his soon.

     The Temple in Tegucigalpa is finished and now we’re just waiting for the church leaders to let us know when the open house will be.  Yesterday a one of the leaders from the district visited our branch to notify us of some goals that the area authorities have made to bring 500 people from our area to the Temple open house.  The sacrament attendance is really low right now.  In the 70s and 80s and there are about 700 members. We have so much work to do in activating but we had another meeting with the leaders yesterday and they are really enthusiastic and about getting to work.  Not only do they have so much work but they are also will need to contribute funds for the bus ride and they are encouraged to invited other families and contribute to their bus ticket.  I look at the sacrifices that this branch is making to go to the temple and it reminds me of the pioneers and they gave to build the temples.  We really are so spoiled in Utah.  The people here really are pioneers building up the branch and going to the temple.  It really inspires me to be a better member when I get home.  

Love you all,

Hermana Jackson

Monday 23 July 2012

         23 July 2012

Mom, you're right… I never told you where my companion is from.  She's from Highland, Utah and she's a lot of fun.  She was a park ranger in Nevada and gave cave tours and she loves adventures.  It’s really fun being her companion because she's all up for looking for people to teach up in the mountain part of Talanga.  Sometimes we feel like hikers because we now have a couple of investigators that live WAY up at the top of a hill and you can see all of Talanga and a bunch of other cities for that view.  It’s a really beautiful hike up to their house.  So yeah, we are enjoying ourselves.  I have learned so much from Hermana Duncan about missionary work and the gospel and things about myself that I didn't even realize.  This is our last week in this transfer and I really don't want to get transferred but I think it might happen. I especially don't want to get transferred because I’m really attached to the Palacios family.  (Josue and Melisa)  They are a young family about our age but we've really gotten close to them and gained a lot of trust too.  This week was a little tough because Josue went to Guatemala and we haven't had the chance to teach him since he went to Church last Sunday and he didn't go to church yesterday but Melisa told us that he really wanted to.  So I guess the good thing is that he still wants to go to Church and learn about the Gospel but we just need the chance to actually teach him to help get to baptism.  We have an appointment tonight.  Keep praying for them.  One of the big obstacles is paying for their wedding.  It’s really expensive because the paper work is a little more complicated because he’s from Guatemala.  But I know it will all work out.

Thanks for your prayers!

Hermana Jackson

July 16, 2012

Dear Family,                                                                      July 16 2012

Thanks for the birthday wishes!  It was a really great day.  Something that made it good was that the night before we taught Seidi a lesson, she said the closing prayer and went off about "Bless Hermana Jackson that she will have a happy birthday tomorrow and bless her family, her mom, her dad her brothers and sisters."  She continued to bless all of you in detail.  It touched my heart because I think about how all of you have prayed for her and here she was praying so sincerely for all of you too. 

We are teaching someone named Josue.  His wife is a member of the church who was less active but has been coming back to church lately.  I remember the first time we taught him he said he didn't believe the Book of Mormon is true and he was really hard.  He stopped listening to us for a while but then started to read the testimony of Joseph Smith and opened up to have us over to teach him again.  We've been teaching him for the past few weeks and he is doing so well.  He still has a lot of doubts but the Spirit is really working within him.  On Saturday we challenged him to be baptized and he didn't accept.  It’s been really hard for him to accept all of this.  Towards the end of the lesson I felt prompted to ask him what his motives were for listening to us.  He began to really open up and told us about how he used to have a really good relationship with God but fell away for a while.  Then he said we "Woke up something inside of him that he hadn't felt for a long time"  It touched my heart and the spirit was so strong.  Yesterday he came to Church for the first time ever.  That was a huge leap of faith for him.

Please pray for him and his family.

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

9 July 2012

Dear Family,                                                                               9 July 2012

     I hope you all had a great 4th of July.  Hermana Duncan and I cooked hot dogs and corn on the cob.  That was the closest we could get to home.  We also sang the national anthem in or district meeting.  It was fun.  Anyways, this week we met our new mission president.  He and his wife look really young.  He game toTalanga and talked to our Zone for about an hour.  He and his wife are really great.  I think they're a little bit nervous but so far they have been do a great job and we all respect him a lot.  This month he wants us to focus on baptizing 1 family.  We have been focused on three families in particular but we've had lots of challenges in teaching them this week.  The Cerrato family, Palacios family, and Brenda and Josue (we still haven't asked them their last names,  oops)  But they all were doing really well and were progressing but Satan is working really hard on them.  If you could remember them in your prayers that would be great.  But we've also found a lot of new families to teach that seem to have lots of potential.

This week we did service at Seydi's house.  Our whole district helped her cut grass and weeds. You can see in the photo that the elders were having a lot of fun with the machetes.  

Love you all,

Hermana Jackson

Monday 1 July 2012

Dear Family,                                                                      1 July 2012

So, I wanted to tell you a Little bit more about Seydi and her baptism.  A few weeks ago, right before she decided she wanted to be baptized, I asked her how her life has changed since she started learning about the gospel.  This is what she told us (according to my journal entry), “I am such a happier person now.  I feel like living and have the energy to move forward.  I’m more self-disciplined and I feel more responsible.   I have greater self-esteem.   I feel the presence of God stronger in my life.  There is a better spirit in my home.  I’m a more patient person and I don’t get angry as I used to.  Before I could hardly sleep because of the fear of robbers coming into my house (she’s had a few bad experiences in the past) but now I sleep just fine because I feel the protection of the Lord in my life.  Now I feel peace and fear doesn’t occupy my thoughts. I can feel my faith building every day.”  

These are the blessings that come directly from living the gospel.  I’m so gratefully that the Lord gave me the privilege of knowing Seydi and teaching her this message of peace and joy.  I really didn’t realize she had felt these changes in her life until she told us and now my faith has grown.  My desire to find more people to teach has grown so that I they can feel these changes in their life.  I hope we can all feel what Seydi has felt.  There is a great difference between going to church and learning about the gospel and actually applying it into our lives until it changes who we are.  She’s been a great example to me of living what she learns  and appreciating the joys of life.

Hope you all have a great week and can stop and notice the joy and blessings that the gospel has brought into your lives.

Love,

Hermana Jackson