Hello all!!!

Downingtown, Pennsylvania is the coolest place you're ever gonna find.

Just saying. Want a place that looks like Logan Utah but is not Logan

Utah? Downingtown is the place for you! The people here are well,

nice, when they don't think you're solicitors. "One way ticket to

heaven! Get 'em while they're hot!" Just kidding, we only had one lady

think that. Tracting is hard because most doors go unanswered and when

they do answer they aren't interested but I LOVE the work. Knocking

doors all day just to get them shut is the greatest thing I could ever

be doing. I am so blessed, for real.

My trainer is Sister Nutting from California, she is awesome! Super

into the work, not trunky and always keeps us laughing! The first

night we were here in glorious Downingtown, she realized shed left her

bedding in West Philly (her last area) and slept on a bed of clothes

until we could meet the west philly sisters and get her bedding. We

just opened the apartment here and so we had to make an emergency

grocery run, because we literally had zero food. We went to this store

called Aldi, and it's awesome. It's the cheapest place you'll ever go,

promise. We also are doubling in (white washing) and so neither of us

have any idea what we are doing. It's fine, we are rocking it! We also

had to go to Walmart & spent ten minutes on the floor looking for a

good candle because our apartment smells like smoke. Lol.

One thing I love about the PPM, is that we are not called greenies, we

are goldens. Because we have a golden fire for the work. I just love

it! President Randell is super cool and loving. Sister Randell is an

amazing cook and will just tell you how it is. I love my mission, I'm

never leaving. We also had this way cool experience our first night

here, president circled us all up & said "bear your testimony in one

sentence." We all did & it was so spiritual, I can't even explain, the

tears were real. I love it.

So we have two really progressing investigators right now, Oscar and

Darren. Oscar has a date for December to get dunked! He set it up with

the sisters in our area before we got here so it was not our doing p,

but we love him! He's an older gentleman and has a love for our

Savior. All the older people here have a hard time calling me sister,

it's just me too. They call sister Nutting, Sister Nutting. They all

call me Miss Jackson. I blame Janet for this. Oscar has started

calling me sister Jackson now though! He's so awesome. Darren is

amazing, he's super buff, and has the cutest granddaughter (also

called me Miss Jackson). He is so ready for the gospel & I was crushed

when he didn't make it to church on Sunday. I got to invite him to

baptism and he accepted!! We just gotta get him to Church! I've got

the faith we can do it!! I believe!

We had this awesome service project this week! We cleaned out the

garage of a less active couple, it was like being on an episode of

hoarders. I'll send pics. We found 3 mice, 2 alive, 1 dead. We also

found a dead bird & tons of spiders. It smelled like death. But hey I

got a cool original painting out of it. Valley View 3 by Perez. (Idk

who that is but its cool) we also got homemade cheese steaks out of

it! It was super fun believe it or not!

One of the elders in our district is literally elder Lange. Every time

he talks I'm like "umm Alec you're supposed to be in AZ" it's so funny

to see people who remind you of people from home out here. There's a

lady in our ward that's literally going to be my mother when she's

older. She's super nice & can talk your ear off and I feel right at

home with her! She fed us last night and man was it good. There is

also a young woman in our ward, Josi, who is going to be my best

friend cuz we have the same name. We talked about it, she's down. I

love it here guys, so much. The things that have happened since we

landed in Philly are amazing. In fact, our pilot from Detroit to PA

was a member and was so excited to talk to us that he found us before

we left to go find president. I will never forget what it was like to

walk through the doors and see the AP's with a giant banner for us,

welcoming us there, and then the Randell's so happy to see us and just

laughing and talking with us. Unforgettable. One of the best moments

in my life so far.

I love you all, I love the work, I love our Savior.

Look up "Lord I Believe" by Elder Holland you will not regret it.

April of 2013 general conference. ALSO WATCH GENERAL CONFERENCE!! It

will be amazing. I pinky promise. I don't know how many of you ladies

got to watch the general woman's session, if you didn't go watch it.

If you did, watch it again. President Utchdorf gave this amazing talk

about not giving up. He spoke of the missionaries that converted his

wife, Harriet, and oh my, oh man. It was the best story for me to

here. Like I said we tract ALOT and we rarely get the door answered &

when we do we get told no. He talked about how these missionaries in

Germany walked past an apartment building and felt impressed to go

inside and knock doors, so they did. First floor? Nothing. Second

floor? Nothing. Third floor? Nothing. Fourth floor? Nothing, until the

last door. Where young Harriet opened the door and invited them in. We

all have to keep going until we find our fourth floor, last door. It's

out here in Downingtown for me at this moment. I just gotta keep going

and I'll find it. I know I will. Fourth floor, last door.

I know & feel my Saviors love for me & you is real.

Love,

Sister Josie Jackson

Ps my address for letters & such is 1 Blackhawk circle apartment b-15

Downingtown PA 19335

 

Josie on Jackson Drive

Service Project - Garage Cleaning

Downingtown Greenway 

Downingtown Greenway Hike

Downingtown Greenway 

Yes this week. Prime. It's been the fastest week of my life. 

First order of business, we got a new gold tag investigator named Lawanna, she is awesome! She is originally from Arkansas and she moved to Utah for the Huntsman Cancer Research Center. We don't know what kind of cancer she has, but we do think she is a real investigator. I made the mistake of bringing up living prophets and she did not like that at all. She didn't understand if he is a living prophet how come shes never heard of them. We just talked about how he is the leader of our church and you have the ability to learn about him through the wonderful tool that is lds.org

Second order of business, within the last week and a half I have had the opportunity to hear two of the twelve apostles speak!!!!!!!!!!!! Elder Christofferson came on Tuesday and spoke a lot about the missionary theme "teach repentance and baptism converts" and how repentance is such a profound part of our lives. Repentance is more than just confessing your sins, repentance is making a daily choice to choose God. Then on Sunday Elder Ballard came and spoke just about missionary work in general, that was really good and cool. One of the things that stood out to me was he said we can tell anyone anything, as long as we do it with a smile on our faces! 

Now the moment I know you've all been waiting for....................FLIGHT PLANS!!! We finally got our flight plans Friday night and man, ya'll should've seen my face. You would've thought it was Christmas morning in Disneyland. We leave the MTC Tuesday morning at 3:30 (woof, I know) and then our flight leaves SLC at 7:20, we then have a lay over in Detroit at 12:55 (yes, I did sing the song from Happiest Millionaire & thought of you Amy) and then we finally arrive in the city of brotherly love at 3:40. MAN I can not wait!!! 

So I did something I never thought I would do this week. Something a lot of you probably thought would ever happen. I auditioned to sing opening numbers for the meetings here. WHAT I know, I have gone crazy. Plus I guess it wasnt just me. It was Sister Stubben, Roberts, Taylor and I. Sister Taylor played the piano and the other three of us sang. We sang a mixture of Savior Redeemer and Called to Serve that was super beautiful. We took a video of it so when I get it from Sister Taylor I will be sure to send it!! 

Monday night was cater night and well, Taco Bell is not good. My tummy was not a happy camper after that. Safe to say, I will not be eating there again anytime soon. Man speaking of food, I can't wait to get out and eat real food. I am super worried that I won't even know what real food tastes like anymore. It's just like Mountain Crest. 

One of the best decisions I made this past week was to buy a new Book of Mormon! I have been color coding it and there are so many answers to prayers, this last week was hard to be away from all of you guys but I had the most amazing thing happen while I was reading this week. I was reading in 1 Nephi, when Lehi tells them to go back to Laban to get the records and Nephi says "I will go and do the things the Lord commands" so they leave on their mission to get these plates. We have no idea how long they are gone, while they are gone their mother is back at camp worrying about them. A chapter or two later there is a verse when they arrive home that says something like "We returned unto the tent of our father and behold our joy was full and our mother was comforted." WOW what a blessing to me!! I fully know that that was God saying "Jos, you got this. Your joy will be full." This book is a blessing. I challenge you guys to start reading it again or if you are currently reading to continue reading, because it will bless your life so much!! 

This week has been awesome. Next week I will be coming to you from PA!! I cant wait! 

Love you ALL!!

The pictures attached are of me and the girls in my district, us and our flight plans, and then me and sister stubben at the temple. Yes in the picture of us just holding flight plans I couldn't even hold it out because I was waiting to wake up from my dreamlike state and have them disappear! 

Love,

Sister Josie D. Jackson

Philadelphia Pennsylvania Mission

Josie, Sister Stubben, Sister Roberts, Sister Taylor, Sister Morwood, Sister Tew

Josie & Sister Stubben

What is the MTC compared to Mountain Crest? Well they are a lot alike in food, but they have a little more flavor up in this joint. It is a lot like school, and don't get me wrong I know I can learn a lot here and I have been, but man, this is not my favorite place in the world. I love my district and my comp and the people I meet are nice and all but man I just wanna be in Philly. I can hear the city calling to me, I can hear the hour to get ready calling to me, I can smell the better tasting food. Honestly my spirit is just longing to be there. 

This whole in bed by 10:30 up by 6:30 thing is killing me. My dear friends who have been here, where was the warning??? I blame you for this ;) I have had to adjust to the eating schedule because as most of you know breakfast is a foregin concept to me and eating dinner before 8 or 9 is also something new too. Also getting shots all alone are the same situation. also these computers dont have spell check so I may misspell somethings because I am tired and dont have spell check. 

So first order of business, I will always be emailing my parents and they have set up a blogspot for my weekly emails, I honestly don't know how much time I will have when in the field so I may just have to send monthly emails to this large group of friends and family. If that does start happening please find your way to www.sisterjosiejackson.blogspot.com

I am positive that my mom will keep that as updated as she can and you will find most, if not all, my weeklys home! 

So who have I run into thus far into my stay? Elder Bodily, Elder Larsen, Elder Gillingham and Sister Bernhardt. They are doing well and loving life as we missionaries do!

My comp is from New Mexico, she is really cute and her name is Sister Stubben, we were also called as the STL's (sister training leaders) for our district. So that is way cool! Also things that are cool are getting letters and things, we can get these everyday and write back when we have time! you can also use Dear Elder to send same day letters and just type in my address! Emoji's don't show up on the printed paper just FYI

Oh! Fun fact, three days into our stay here we had to move because our old building had bats in it. I never saw a bat but apparently they were there. 

We had the crazy opportuinity to hear Brother Norby bear his testimony on Sunday, yes he is the elder that was in the Brussles airport attack. It was so crazy cool and spiritual. We get to leave the MTC on September 20th and wow the light at the end of the tunnel is coming fast! 

One thing we learned in our Sunday devotional is that Jesus Christ is always running to your aide, I can testify that he is! He is waiting for you with open arms to run back to him and accept him in your life! He love you guys and I love you guys!!

I miss ya'll 

Challenge of the week:

If Endowed: GO DO INITIORIES BECAUSE THEY ARE AMAZING

if not endowed: Read Alma 26 because it is all about missionary work and it had been getting me through this week!

Love,

Sister Josie D. Jackson

Philadelphia Pennsylvania Mission

So let us dive deeply into my week!! First of all Dominic, Dominic is something known here as a gold tag investigator. It means we don't know if they are real investigators, RM's acting as one of their converts, or someone reliving their conversion story. We taught Dominic as a group of new missionaries, and he was our last one for the night. The teacher brought up the golden tag at the very end and asked us something amazing, he said, "why does it matter if they are real or not? It doesn't. The real question you should be asking is are you real?" Wow, are you real? Are you truly converted unto Christ? Are you being honest in your dealings with your fellow man? Are you real?

As I send before we had to move apartments, I guess here in Provo they have a problem with bats flying in through the vents and never leaving the "warm" building (this is also proof that Provo is not God's promised land, Logan is ;). Anyway, we had sightings on the third and fourth floor of our building, which shouldn't have bugged us because we were on the second floor, but apparently a sister who can't deal with bats complained to the front desk and required all floors to be moved out of the building, so now we live in a new building and no I am not unpacking. Our new dorm smells like a rest home and I don't want my clothes to smell like that. 

The worlds fastest answered prayer that I have ever seen happened this week. On our second or third day here (they all blur together now) Sister Taylor who is a sister in my district, also going to PA, had just finished working out and she felt super sick so myself and the others who were in the room said a quick prayer that she would feel better, not 2 seconds after saying Amen did the water in her body, leave her body. It was crazy, prayers are answered people. 

all right, baptism invites. Yes we are asked to invite to baptism on the first lesson, unless we feel strongly to not to ask. So I have yet to invite to baptism because our current investigators are super closed off and don't quite understand the church. We also had our first TRC this week, TRC is another gold tag investigator who only you and your comp teach, her name is Taylor. Stubben and I agree that it went better than we could have imagined, the Spirit fully taught our lesson to her and we could tell she was opening up to the idea of the church being the right path for her, it was amazing. We also have two Progressing Investigators or PI's. Her name is Mily and we have only taught her once, but she seemed open to the idea of the hope of our church. Our other one is named Tim and he was extactic about what we taught him, he agreed to read the BOM and pray night and day! We were so excited that if we had had more time we would have invited him to baptism. It was that awesome. 

We leave the MTC on the 20th of this month and it can't come fast enough for me. I want to leave today!!! Also our preaching certificates expire on the 6th of Feburary so we are thinking that that is when we come home from PA but we aren't sure yet. We wont know for sure until about three months into the mission, but man I am not ready to come home, I am just ready to leave the MTC.

Sunday night devotinal was amazing, Chad Lewis who played for BYU and later the PHILLY EAGLES spoke to us about how important our work is. He talked a lot about his mission and the opportunity we have to teach the gospel. Man oh man am I PUMPED UP to the work. There is no place I would rather be right now, not even Disneyland. He talked about how we are ordained of God and called to be His representative and we should always hold ourselves as such. He is also the one who said "Jesus Christ is running to your aide" Isn't that just the most comforting and amazing sentence? He is running to your aide. He who is perfect is running to my aide. MY aide, me the most imperfect person, worthy of Him running to my aide? Man that is crazy. So comforting to know that He is always there. 

Oh, Chad also talked about Jon Denver, and I have been singing freaking "Country road take me home" or whatever since Sunday. Thanks Carter. ;)

WE HAD CHICK FIL A FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT, best meal I have had here. It was freaking awesome, like seriously God loves me so much that he gave me chick-fil-a, and if that doesn't prove He loves me I don't know what will. 

It's hard to call the people I know by Elder and Sister. When I saw Kaleb Bodily I had to physically restrain myself from giving him the biggest hug ever, and I was surprised that I called him Elder Bodily, because I just wanted to yell KALEB and ugh it was hard. He says hi btw. I also ran into Mitchell Gillingham a lot, turns out he was in my district!! Ally he is all grown up, you did such a good job ;) Caden Larsen was also in my district so I ran into him a few times and he said he's doing great!! Ashley Bernhardt always practices her mandarin on me so I never know what she is even saying to me, it's fine. 

If you want to send me letters or anything here is my address!! Sister Josie Jackson SEP20 PA-PHIL 2005 N 900 E Unit 107 Provo UT 84602 

Gosh I miss ya'll and how do I deal with homesickness? I rap eminem of course! What else would I do? Haha I love you guys and don't worry I am still the same sarcastic and midily inappropriate Josie you all know, love and miss.

All my best! Remember Christ is on your team, but right now he is wearing a jersey with the name Jackson on it! 

Love,

Sister Josie D. Jackson

Philadelphia Pennsylvania Mission

MTC - The Adventure Begins

Goodbyes are hard to say, but Josie made it pretty easy! It is hard to be sad, when she is so exited to be on her way, so ready to serve others, and to serve the Lord. We love her so much and are so thankful that she chose to serve a mission! Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is not going to know what hit it! This girl is going to change lives, and this is only the beginning...