Last email on the misión

Dearest Family,               3 Dec 2012

Wow, how weird is this…writing you my last email on the misión.  I have been so blessed to have been able to finish my misión here in Roble Oeste.  Jose Alvaro received the priesthood yesterday and he´s going to bless the sacrament next week.  He is really excited and happy to be a member of the church.  The members have been so good about reaching out to him and he´s made a big effort to get to know all of them. He gave the most beautiful and sincere testimony in his baptism.  He truly has been converted in so many ways.  Yesterday we visited him and taught about temples and family history.  We really didn´t have to teach him because he had already started his genealogy tree with 5 generations and he´s now in the process of finding their birthdates and all of that so that he can do baptisms for them when they open the temple.  The open house should be in February and they´re planning on dedicating it in March but it’s still not set in Stone.  The Jerezano family is progressing really well.  Angel has recognized the spirit a lot in the lessons.  He and his wife told us they want to be baptized as a family in December when their daughter gets back from the states.  They want us to teach her so that they can all be baptized together.  They went to a Ward activity this Saturday and we did a tour of the church for the investigators so that they could see what we do in all of the organizations of the church.  The Jerezano family had a really good time and I think they feel more comfortable with the church and the members.  They are such a special family.  I´m kind of bummed I won´t be here for their baptism but I’m just so grateful I was able to know them and help guide them in their path.

 I´ve been reflecting a lot lately about the experiences I’ve had in my misión and the people I’ve come to know and I think about how Heavenly father puts certain people in our lives and puts us in the lives of others for a specific purpòse and for our spiritual growth.  The Lord has prepared a way for all of his children to return to His presence.  He loves every single one of us.  Every soul has such great worth.  The góspel allows us to reach our potential and find true happiness and Heavenly Father is constantly preparing his children to receive it.  I know that Jesus Christ is our redeemer and that this is his true
Church.  I´m so grateful for having had the opportunity to serve in this great work for a Little time.

Love you all,

Can’t wait to see you soon.

Hermana Jackson

Monday, Nov. 26

Jose Alvaro was baptized and confirmed this weekend!!!!!  He is going to be an incredible member of the church . I have no words to describe the joy i´ve felt being apart of his conversion.  I don´t have time to write this week sorry.  but heres a foto.  i´ll write about the details next week

19 Nov 2012

Dear Family,                                                         19 Nov 2012

It’s been a great week.  Alvaro is doing well and progressing so quickly.  We're even thinking about moving his baptismal date to this Saturday.  He went to stake conference yesterday and loved it.  He said that the Jehovah’s Witnesses stopped by his house and told him that our church was deceiving but instead of getting confused and worried he bore his testimony and defended the church.  He is really great. 

Yesterday we had a really wonderful experience teaching Edelmira´s husband for the first time.  We taught the restoration and he was very attentive to every word we said.  When we repeated the 1st vision and explained how God had called a prophet again and restored his church we asked him how he felt about that.  He said, "It gives me hope knowing that there is a mediator between us and God, someone to tell us Gods will."  After inviting him to be baptized he said he wanted to read the Book of Mormon first and pray about it. Then he said, "I will tell you this.  I've been to a lot of churches my whole life.  But one time I heard some missionaries like you and when they shared their message I felt something different. It was like a burning sensation on my skin.  i never felt that anywhere else" 

The gospel is true. 

Hermana Jackson

Dear Family,                                   5 Nov 2012

It’s been good week.  But it has been really hard on my companion because she came down with a virus…poor thing.  She was in bed for a day but she is amazing because she worked really hard even when she wasn´t feeling well and I think the Lord has blessed her a lot for it.  We found a lot of new investigators and a couple of families that are really receptive to the Gospel. 

We haven´t been able to teach Edgar this week because he is in finals week and he has had a really demanding group project that conflicted with our schedule but he is still reading and very attentive and ready to keep learning.  He just finished school so now we´re are going to be able to teach him for real. 

We´re teaching another guy named Jose Alvaro who is 19 years on and is showing a lot of interest in the Gospel and he´s been praying and told us he felt like this is that path that God wants him to take.  We are excited to teach him more and guide him to baptism.  It’s just so hard getting the chance to teach these two because we can´t be alone with them and we´re constantly trying to find women in the ward that can come with us to teach him so it gets really complicated sometimes.  But it’s all worth it.  I just keep picturing these 2 as future missionaries.

And Edelmira and her children came to Church for the first time yesterday and they are a really special family.  I’ll tell you more about them next week.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love you all

Hermana Jackson

Monday 29 Oct 2012

Dear Family,                  29 Oct 2012

Ok, so this is a picture of Merlin that got baptized.  She has basically taught herself the gospel by reading the book of Mormon on her own and we would leave pamphlets with her in the bread store and answer her questions.  One day she had an appointment with the elders to teach her the Plan of Salvation but a problem came up and she wasn´t able to get there on time.  But she was really anxious to know about it and she also wanted to know more about baptisms for the dead.  We explained a little bit about the Spirit World and Heavenly Father´s plan for his children.  While we were explaining she stopped us and said "So, that means I’m going to see my grandmother again?"  We answered with confidence that she would.  Her eyes watered a little and then she asked "And my aunt?"  We assured her that she would be able to see her too.  She smiled the biggest smile with tears of joy in her eyes.  I felt so privileged to be able to share that with her and see the hope and joy that the Gospel is bringing into her live.

Let us not take for granted the precious blessings that are promised to us through Gods plan of salvation.

Have a good week.

Love you all,

Hermana Jackson 

22 Monday 2012

22 Monday 2012 

Ok, I'm sorry this is going to be such a short letter but I only have like 4 minutes.  Edgar went to Church again and wants to be baptized but he’s still not sure about a date.  There is a family in our Ward that owns a bakery and one of their workers started showing a lot of interest in the gospel. Her name is Merlin.  She started reading the Book of Mormon and going to Church on her own and the family gave her name as a referral to the Elder in her area but they never got around to visiting her.  But we started teaching her little by little every time we stopped by the store.  She was baptized on Saturday.  I have a really sweet story about her that I want to tell you but I’ll have to leave that for next week.  Sorry!

Love you all!   Rachel

15 Oct 2012

Dear Family,
Hope you´re all doing well.  Especially Dad.  Ya´ll take care of him ya hear?! 
Yesterday, Edgar came to church again.  Edgar is 18 years old and he lives with his Aunt who is catholic and his parents are catholic too. We've only taught him a couple of times but he has showed a lot of interest in the church.  Unfortunately his family doesn´t support him very much and its really hard for him to get permision to leave.  Yesterday he traveled 40 minutes in bus by himself to get to church.  He still doesn´t feel completely comfortable with everything that goes on at church because he´s not used to it but I really admire the sacrifices he´s made to be there and to learn more despite all of the challenges he faces.  

Love you all!

Hermana Jackson