28 May 2012

Dear Family,                28 May 2012

I’ve got more stories about Doris for you all.  The other day we taught her a lesson about missionary work and how she can help out even though she’s not a missionary.  She gave us 2 references and was really excited.   Then she said something profound “I talk to my neighbors all the time about the church and about the missionaries. I tell them, “There’s are not just 2 of them that go around, there’s 3.  Christ walks with them where ever they go.  He is always with those sisters in everything they do.”  It really impacted me because that week our Mission President visited our zone meeting and  I can’t remember if it was him or one of the assistants that said something similar.  He told us that as we go door to door we have to remember that we’re not the only ones at that doorstep trying to find people but that Christ is with us in this work.   So we shouldn’t be discouraged because we are doing His work and He is in it with us every step of the way.”  So when Doris mentioned that it reassured me the truthfulness of that statement and I felt peace knowing that people can really recognize that we are representatives of Jesus Christ.

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

Monday 21 May 2012

Dear Family,                                                      21 May 2012

I've now passed my one year mark. Wahoo!  It goes by really fast!  Jose Santos was baptized on Saturday.  It was crazy because we had do haul water from outside again.  But everything turned out great and he's really happy.  The picture 1st picture I attached is of Jose, his mom, and his sister Maria and brother Carlos.  Carlos is absolutely adorable and I want to take him home with me.  But I’m pretty sure that’s against the mission rules.  But his mom went to church for the first time in 8 years!  We're hoping she keeps coming back and that she can help her kids grow up learning the gospel.  I'm pretty sure Carlos is going to help her because he turns 8 in July and really wants to be baptized.  I'm pretty sure Seidi is going to be baptized this Saturday, if not this Saturday, sometime really soon because she is progressing sooo much.  She even told us that she fasted this week for the first time in her life.  Her daughter was sick and she wanted to offer a special prayer and fast.  I don't think I’ve ever taught an investigator that’s actually fasted before their baptism.  Anyways, she shared with us some experiences that she had with the spirit while she was working that day and that when she ended her fast, her daughter was cured from the sickness she had.  Her testimony has grown so much!

Love you all

Hermana Jackson

14 May 2012

 Dear Family,          14 May 2012

It was really great talking to you all yesterday…Glenn, Lisa, sorry that the time ran out.  I'll try to send you emails next week.

So transfers were last week and Hermana Perdido arrived on Wednesday.  Here is a picture of her attached.  We just realized that she doesn't have her name tag on in the photo.  Oops.  haha.  Anyways, she's from El Salvador in an area where Shirley served and she's about to finish her mission.  She is sooo nice and we work really well together.  So her name means Lost in Spanish and its funny to see the reactions of all the people that meet her for the first time.  They really get a kick out of it.  Sometimes it comes in handy to break the ice when we're contacting. 

This week the branch had an activity for mother’s day.  Mother’s day is a really big deal here in Central America.  Anyways, Papa Cruz invited his neighbor named Brenda and she really enjoyed the activity.  Afterwards she told him "I feel really good here.  I think this is the church that my husband and I need to be in."  We were like wow!!  Let’s baptize them.  They're married too so the process shouldn't be too long.  We'll see how it goes.  We have to start teaching them first. I'll give you updates. 

And one little bit of news.  Mama Cruz announced that she's pregnant!  She is 38 and hasn't been able to have children for years and was starting to lose hope.  She burst in to tears of gratitude when she shared the good news.  I'm so happy for them! and I’m so happy for Rex and Emily too!  What blessings!

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson

Transfers

Dear Family,                                                                                                  7 May 2012

Transfers are on Wednesday and Hermana Claveria has to leave.  But guess what, she only has to pack her bags and cross the road to the other side of Talanga!  There are two branches here in Talanga and each branch has 2 sets of missionaries, one pair of elders and one pair of sisters in each branch.  So she's going to be with sister Guyant on the other side of the road and her Companion Hermana Perdido is going to cross the street with her luggage to be my companion.  It’s crazy, we basically just swapped companions.  We were are all really excited because the 4 of us all get along really well and neither of us wanted to leave. 

I want to share an experience I had that I think Mom will especially appreciate.  Last week we visited Doris, our recent convert.  We taught her about Temples and Family history work.  It was the first time she had ever heard about temples and after explaining what we do in the temples she stopped us in mid-sentence and was like "Wait, let me get this straight.  You guys submit names of people that have passed away and the work that you do in the temple gives them the chance to be saved?"  We were like "Yeah, that’s exactly right."  And as soon as we said that she put her hands on her heart and gasped with joy.  "There's hope!" she said.  Before she knew about the Church, her preachers told her that all the people who died without knowing Christ had no chance of being saved and go straight to hell.  She said "This makes sense!  What a beautiful concept!  I'm going to submit my mother’s name and grandmother’s name and my grandfather."  She went on and on.  Then she pointed at the picture of the Salt Lake Temple that I had in my hands and said, "Temples show that there is hope."  Her words stuck with me and really impacted me.  It changed my perspective of temples.  It is so true.  The ordinances of the restored gospel that we do in the Temple are the greatest source of hope for all people that have ever lived.  I'm so grateful to be sealed to my family and that we can do this work for all of our ancestors. 

Love,

Hermana Jackson

30 April 2012

Dear Family,                                                         30 April 2012

I think we're going to wait another week for Jose's baptism.  We want to make sure his mom is fully active in the church to support him and we still have some work to do.  But its really fulfilling to see how much it means to her that we're teaching him.  She said that his behavior has been really difficult lately and how she is filled with joy and hope every time we come to teach him because it has been a big trial for her lately.  She hopes that after his baptism he will change for the better.  We explained to her that it is time for her to come back to church and that as she reads the scriptures and prays every night it will invited the spirit into her home bless her family in all aspects.

We are also teaching two women named Besy and Seidy.  They are sisters and they've been coming to church regularly this month.  Since the beginning they talked openly with us and expressed their desire to be baptized but they are a little hesitant to commit to a date.  Besy had a few interesting ideas about baptism and insisted to be baptized in a river because she was afraid that in a baptismal font, the sins of others stayed in the font and could get her dirty but a river would be different because it washes the sins away down the river.  Haha, we explained to her that its symbolic and everything but she still had some hidden doubts.  We realized that they both needed to develop tesitmonies of a modern day prophet.  We invited them to pray about it.  Hermana Besy said she hasnt got an answer but her sister Seidi told us that she prayed about it and doesnt have a doubt that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet.  She is so cute because she can't remember how to say his last name but she says "I know that Thomas whats his name is a prophet, i would just like to get to know him a little better. Is there a movie i could see or something I could read about him?"  We were like,  yeahh! of course!"  We watched a conference talk with her yesterday and she loved it.

Well thats all i have to write for now.

Love you all

Hermana Jackson

Monday, 23 April 2012

Dear Family, Monday, 23 April 2012

Luis received the priesthood yesterday. We’re going to arrange plans for him to baptize Jose Santos next week.

So as you can see in the one photos I sent, we chopped down a tree as a service project for one of the members. Her name is Rosa and you can see her in 3rd picture but the big leaf is covering her face. And yes, that is a machete in my hand. I’m smiling in the picture because I couldn’t contain my laughter because obviously I don’t know how to use a machete. But my companion sure does. She was chopping away like crazy! The first photo is of Mama and Papa Cruz, the members that live above. Mama Cruz is named Dulce which means sweet in Spanish. And that describes her perfectly. Papa Cruz or Fredi is crazy. He’s always teasing us and tries to steal our food when we’re eating. He often sings

to us “Mis queridas hijas…” translation- My dear daughters. That sounds kind of weird in English. I guess it kind of sounds weird in Spanish but that’s just the way he is. He’s a lot of fun. The lights go out a lot here in Talanga there’s a rule that we have to go home if it’s after 6 in the evening. We have a little tradition that we always go upstairs when the lights go out and Papa Cruz tells us stories from his mission. It’s great. It also helps remember how great this calling is and what a privilege it is to serve. I love this work.

Hermana Jackson

Monday 16 Apr 2012

Dear Family, 16 Apr 2012

This week Doris was baptized. She’s an older woman but she really understands the gospel and she has such a beautiful testimony. She almost wasn’t baptized because the water stopped running in the chapel and we couldn’t fill the font. We had to resort to hauling heavy buckets of water from a water tank outside. The water was kind of green and nasty but she didn’t complain. It was really great because the man who baptized her is a recent convert of Hermana Claveria. His name is German. He and his wife Lilian were baptized in February and they are absolutely amazing!!! They have really strong testimonies of the restored gospel and since their baptism they have been really active in the church. On Sundays, if German isn’t in a church meeting, he calls the missionaries to go on visits with them and Liliana is always looking for opportunities to serve in the church. I really admire the two of them. So Doris was Germans first baptism and he was super excited. He’s the one on the left in the last photo. Also we should be having a baptism next month on 5 de Mayo. His name is Jose Santos. He is 11 years old and his mom is less active but we’re hoping that the whole process of taking the lessons will help her come back to church. Both he and his mom are really excited. This week we taught him how to pray and ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet. His prayer was really cute “Dear Dios, was Joseph Smith a prophet? Yes or No? in the name of jesus Christ amen” He is a hoot.

Love you all

Hermana Jackson