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

Baptisms!

Dear Family, 30 Jan 2012

Good news. The Godoy family was baptized and confirmed this weekend. Yay! It was really beautiful. It’s great because now everyone in their family is a member of the church. Hermano Godoy shared his testimony after the baptism and said “Now my family is all together and we are more united spiritually.” Another great thing that happened was that Keren (Sandra’s daughter that we had been teaching before) finally decided to be baptized and she was baptized in the same service. I’ll try to send fotos but my memory card is doing weird things again. If not this week, I’ll get them out next week. Oh, and we had an interesting incident this week. I got locked inside our bathroom on Thursday. Something in the door handle broke and I was trapped inside for about a half hour! Haha. We were really worried because we had an appointment but eventually my companion found help and I got free. That night we taught an investigator named Flor and it was a really spiritual lesson and she accepted a baptismal date! Waahooo! Maybe Satan was trying to keep us from going to that lesson so he tried locking me in the bathroom. Haha, nice try but it didn’t work!

Well, hope you all are doing well. Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

Monday 23 Jan 2012

Dear Family, 23 Jan 2012

Good news, I’m allowed to write you for 30 minutes now instead of 20.

Yay! I know it’s just 10 minutes more but it makes all the difference!

Thanks for all of your prayers for our investigators. I’m pretty

sure the Godoy family is going to baptized this Saturday. We have

seen so many miracles while teaching them. When I first met them,

Hermana Nava and I couldn’t teach Ingris (one of the daughters who is

14) because she is really shy and doesn’t like listening to the

missionaries. So the whole family is baptized except her, her younger

sister Lixi and their Dad, Mario. The past few months Mario and Lixi

have been really receptive but have had a really hard time letting go

of coffee. And Ingris hasn’t been with us at all in the lessons. A

couple of weeks ago Mario expressed his desire to see Ingris be

baptized too so we made an extra effort to get her to join us in one

of our lessons. It was kind of tricky and we had to be really careful

to not scare her away or make her feel uncomfortable but with a

balance of persistence and sensitivity we were able to gain her trust

and she’s been joining in the lessons this past week. Not only that,

but we invited her to be baptized a few days ago and she accepted!

The biggest challenge we saw was the coffee because we knew she was

the last one in the house still drinking it but we found out that

Saturday, her and Lixi said goodbye to their last cup and got rid of

all the coffee in the house. Now it’s not a temptation for anyone in

the house and they are all really excited for their baptisms! Keep

praying for them!

Denia unfortunately said she is going to move to the Laguna which is

like 30 or 40 minutes away and I’m not sure what we are going to do.

Maybe it’s not her time right now but there’s always hope that things

can change. Keep her in your prayers too.

We have been teaching a young couple named Carlos and Merlin. They

have a one year old baby. (We celebrated his birthday yesterday)

Anyways, they are a really wonderful family and we’ve only taught them

a few times and Carlos has been really receptive but Merlin, not so

much. This week we taught the plan of salvation and Carlos was just

eating it up. When we taught about the spirit world and the 3 degrees

of glory he said, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense! Before I thought I

was for sure destined to go to hell but hearing this gives me a lot of

hope!” He wasn’t joking. Later we returned to visit them but only

Merlin was home. We talked to her to find out her doubts and help

resolve her questions and she was really open and honest with us. She

said, “Look, I’m going to be sincere with you, I don’t believe in what

you’re teaching but Carlos does and what you don’t know is that before

he met you two, he didn’t believe in God at all. I’m not sure what

the difference is now but as he’s been listening to your teachings

he’s changed and the main reason I’ve welcomed you into our home is

because its helping him to believe in God” I was super surprised to

hear that because it was something I never would have guessed. He

seemed to be really receptive from the beginning. He even came to

Church with us yesterday and really liked it. (For those of you

returned missionaries reading this understand that it’s a big deal if

an investigator makes it to church. It’s really hard to get people to

come) Anyways it’s amazing to see to power of the effect this message

has on people. People can feel that something is different about our

Church and Carlos can definitely see it. I just hope that Merlin can

soften her heart and realize it too!

Love you and pray for you all!

Hermana Jackson

Monday 16 Jan 2012

Dear Family,

Happy Birthday Mom and Tyler! Hope you both have a great week!

I’ve been really enjoying training Hermana Per. She is the BEST! We’ve had a great time together and so many uplifting experiences. So, a little update on the investigators. Denia should be baptized this Saturday. She was hesitant for a while and we asked to pray to ask Heavenly Father if she should be baptized this week and the next morning we asked how her prayer went and she told us about a dream she had that instructed her that this was what she needed to do. Denia is so sensitive to the spirit and we have had so many beautiful experiences with her. Please pray for her this week that she will be able to make it to church. She’s facing a few obstacles in the family where she has to watch the kids and she is the only person in her family that has accepted the gospel so it makes it a little tough. But I know she is strong enough to make it! Also, the Godoy family is planning on being baptized the 28th! Pray for them too! Oh, I just have too many things I want to say and experiences I’ve had where I’ve been learning to follow the spirit but I just don’t have time to share them all. Uurrrg… maybe next week.

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

Ps here’s a photo of Hermana Per and I in her typical clothing from Guatemala. The skirt she is wearing is the type of thing she wears every day in her home. Isn’t it beautiful?!