Hello all you lovely people! I hope you've all had a great week and

that you will have an even better week this week! I can't believe that

it's been a week already, I feel like I just wrote to you all

yesterday! Time goes way too fast!

This week was incredible. Like one of the best weeks ever! This week I

had my "aha" moment with missionary work. Just a few nights ago I woke

up and I had this immense joy in my heart and I knew it came from

being a missionary. Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts you

have sent my way these past 6 months, there is truly nothing sweeter

than this work.

This week we found the most amazing woman. Like amazing. Her name is

Agnes and she is from Sierra Leone. She lived next to an LDS church in

Africa but never attended, so when she moved to the US she started

PRAYING to find the Mormon missionaries. One day she was checking her

mailbox and saw two sisters walking past so she stopped them and they

were able to refer her over to Broomall, where the sisters who were

here got into contact with her. Not long after that contact was

established Agnes had a stroke and fell down the stairs so she was

hospitalized, and her phone was canceled, she had no way to get into

contact with the sisters. Well about 3 weeks ago she got out of the

hospital and was looking through the Bible the last sisters gave her

and found the pass along card with the number on it. Well that number

lead her to the missionaries in Bayview Maryland who were able to get

into contact with us! We set up a time with her and our first visit

with her ended with a baptismal date for March 19th! She is the most

prepared lady I have met, she would be baptized today if she could, at

the end of each lesson she asks when we are coming over again. When

she prays it is SO CUTE she always thanks Heavenly Father for "my

sisters" and its also really cute when we teach because Sister Shin

cant understand her accent and Agnes cant understand Sister Shin's so

I do a lot of repeating things in the lessons. Her favorite word is

"Amen" she literally says it all the time in the lessons, we ask a

question and she starts with "Amen, yes.." and answers it. She's

awesome!

James is doing really well! He is excited to get baptized on the 12th

of March. He has been staying focused in lessons better each and

everyday! He loves this gospel and hes really gaining his own

testimony of it! He reads his scriptures everyday and prays at the end

of our lessons and he always says the sweetest prayers. I simply adore

him and his parents in so many ways! They are so awesome.

We also got into contact with a few former investigators lately. One

in particular is he Enoch family. We met BIll and he was so nice! He

was so happy to see us that he invited us over for dinner on Saturday

night and to share a message about Jesus Christ. We are pretty excited

to go have dinner with them and see if that opens a time or

opportunity to teach them!

We also met with Jeff Diamond. Brother Diamond has met with

missionaries before but this was the first time I met him. He is

really cool! His wife is a member and she is just so awesome. He

doesnt have any religious background so hes a little hard to teach. He

believes in Christ but thats about it. He has had some interesting

life experiences and is the sweetest man ever. He loves to talk and

just had a light about him, hes so awesome to work with too. He has a

desire to learn and to grow, he just doesnt quite know it yet.

We also met with a lady named Catherine who met with missionaries a

few years ago. It was quite the interesting lesson. We started and

ended the lesson with origami. She also has some interesting religious

beliefs and some of them fall right in line with the teachings of our

church, others not so much, but she has declared that she is on the

search for truth. Little does she know she's about to find it!

We met with Brother Waters again this week and we had the most amazing

lesson with him. In fact he liked what we had to say so much that HE

CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!! He expressed to us that he doesnt like to

dress up so we told him he could come in jeans if he wants and he did!

It was kind of funny actually, we called him on Saturday to see if he

was going to come and he told us that it was a 70% chance and then we

told him it was the ward potluck after and he said "Ill try my best"

and he came!! Oh my heart soared with joy!

This week was interviews with President Randell and they are always so

awesome. President just knows what to say to make you feel like you

are the single greatest missionary in the whole world and that you are

way smarter than you actually are. He is just the best, I am so

grateful to have him as my mission president!

We also had an AWESOME zone conference where I just learned so much.

Sister Randell brought up this question, she said "Do you identify as

a disciple of Jesus Christ?" Our scripture of the year that we say

every morning is 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word

among his people, that they might have everlasting life." It made me

really stop and ponder, do I identify myself as a disciple of Jesus

Christ? When I think of ways to identify myself I think of my family

or what i did before the mission or that I am a daughter of God, but

what about a disciple of Christ? Yes. We, as long as we are living

worthily, are all disciples of Jesus Christ and we have been called of

him to preach his word unto all who will listen.

It has been so warm here! Yesterday it hit 77 degrees and today its in

the 50's. This had easily been the best winter of my whole life. I

love PA! We also saw a baby Fox the other day and I about died it was

so stinkin cute!

This week I read a really great talk by President Faust. Its called "A

Priceless Heritage" and in it he talks about both the Willie and

Martin hand cart companies. He says something that I just love with my

whole heart "I believe their lives were consecrated to a higher

purpose through their suffering. Their love for the Savior was burned

deep in their souls, and into the souls of their children, and their

children’s children. The motivation for their lives came from a true

conversion in the center of their souls. As President Gordon B.

Hinckley has said, “When there throbs in the heart of an individual

Latter-day Saint a great and vital testimony of the truth of this

work, he will be found doing his duty in the Church.” I was thinking

about this in regards to missionary work and obviously I dont suffer

anywhere near were these saints did but there are times when I suffer.

There are times when all of us suffer. It can be a suffering from what

ever. Heartache, disobedience, loneliness, illness, etc. Yet, somehow

in the midst of all this we grow closer to our Savior, somehow our

faith grows, somehow we understand Him more. Maybe if we didnt suffer

we wouldn't learn this. So, yes we suffer, and we suffer because we

know its going to bring us closer to the One we need to be closest to.

I know this work is good. I know this church is true. I know He lives.

I love and miss you all so much! I love my mission, I love PA, I love my life.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Bowling with Sister Shin

Agnes, Josie, and Sister Shin

6 months!

Bonjour à tous! I hope each one of you have had the most amazing week

of your life! I know you're all probably like "Oh man it's Monday

already?" Because I totally am. Weeks feel like days man.

First order of business to address to everyone who emailed me this

week informing me that yes, it is February, and yes that does mean I

have been out for about six months.

This week was great! We had Zone Training and it was just a great

spiritual meeting, because I stayed in the same Zone I did the musical

number after the five minute break. It was good! I sang "Be Still My

Soul" and Sister Shin accompanied me on the piano. We were supposed to

have a few lessons after the meeting but they all ended up canceling

on us. We also had dinner with the McElroys this week, and i adore

them. Sister McElory forgot we were coming over (we tried calling but

no answer) so she had made five alarm chili, which was actually so

good, even though it burned off my lips.

We met a lady named Soone this week. Soone was a referral from a

member who is her doctor. She expressed some interest in meeting with

us because we have a Korean missionary and Soone is from Korea! We

knocked on her door and she let us right in! She is really hard of

hearing so she sat right next to Sister Shin and had just finished

smoking a cigarette, poor sister Shin couldn't focus because her

breath smelled so bad!

We also received some other referrals this week! Last week I mentioned

that the West Chester sisters had a referral for us and this week we

made contact! His name is Tony and he attended the church in Africa

and has been looking for the one in Broomall since he moved to the

United States! He was so excited to hear from us and asked us when we

were going to come over! We also received a text from the missionaries

serving in Bayview, Maryland who heard from a former investigator in

Broomall! She was trying to find us, so they sent us a text with her

number in it and some information on her! We called her and she set up

the appointment right away! So many miracles this week!

We had the chance this week to meet with our Korean investigator. His

name is Young-Soo Ha and he speaks no English. So I just sat back and

let Sister Shin and Brother Kim teach away. It was kind of hard

because I couldn't focus on anything happening because I had no idea

what they were even saying! Every once in a while Brother Kim would

translate because he would want me to teach the answer to one of his

questions but soon after it would fall back into just Korean. We met

with him twice which means we got delicious Korean food twice. It was

so good. I have discovered that Koreans are just a loving people, they

were so worried about me because it was Korean food and they were only

speaking Korean, they wanted me to feel comfortable. I love them so

much.

Also Brother Kim's English cracks me up sometimes. He asked me "Where

is your daddy's ancestors from?" I told him England area. So then he

asked "Where is your mommys ancestors from?" I said Italy and

Netherlands. He got so excited "DUTCH! I knew it! You can see it in

your face that your Dutch." Then he proceeded to tell me that Dutch

women are so pretty you can tell they are Dutch because they look like

a princess. Koreans are great!

There is also nothing better than hearing 잭슨 자매 (Sister Jackson) in

the middle of a conversation that you literally know nothing about.

Its like hearing my dad speak Portuguese and say my name randomly in a

sentence. It was interesting because I know the Korean word for sister

so when I heard it I was like "okay what is he saying" because it was

Brother Kim talking, not Sister Shin.

We met with Kevin again this week and hes still doing so great! He had

a really cool missionary experience this week with his sister. He had

just finished his BOM reading for the night and she Skyped him. They

were talking and she dropped this question "Kevin, will you pray and

ask God to tell me when I should start having children?" He responded

and told her it doesnt work like that and used Jacob 1:3 to back him

up. He is just a great kid, and just isn't afraid of the new religion

he is and the commitment he made to share the gospel.

Sister Ann Maloney is doing great! We were able to teach her the plan

of salvation using the "LOVE" analogy (Pinterest it if you have

questions:)) and she loved it! She talked about how excited she is to

know that she can see her family again and how death is going to be a

great adventure. She is just the sweetest most kindest old lady and I

love her so much.

We also met with Abby again and she is just amazing! We talked about

tithing and how big of a blessing it is in our lives to pay tithing!

She told us about how when she wasn't active she still felt like she

needed to be paying her tithing because she knows that its important

to pay and to have the blessings that come from paying it. She also

talked about how much she loves Fast and Testimony meeting because

everything that is said comes right from the heart, it isn't written

down and it isn't scripted, its real. I thought that was interesting

to think about, how it is real. I love testimonies, they are always so

sweet. I often think of a boy back in my home ward named Ryan Dickey

when I think of sweet testimonies, Ryan has Down syndrome and he has

the sweetest testimony, when he bears it the spirit fills the room and

it is undeniable. Testimonies are so pure and so real, I hope we all

take the chance to share ours with someone this week.

James has been sick so we haven't been able to meet with him, but hes

still on track for his date! He is just such a good kid.

We had dinner with the Meaders again this week and had a lengthy talk

about food storage. She asked how my food storage was and when I told

her she told me. Well you better pray your a missionary when the

apocalypse happens because then people will take care of you, other

wise youre gonna die. I love them so much. I almost died of laughter

again. They are huge food storage people, they have not one but two

freeze dryers, they can literally everything and have ten thousand

rounds of bullets. They take this seriously, its actually pretty cool.

It finally snowed this week, but has since melted. I love PA. Only

three days of snow, I was one happy camper.

This week we had the craziest thing happen. Our area book quit

working. I know half of you are going "Your point?" But to understand

the gravity of this situation is that we do not have paper area books,

it is all online. So we had nothing, no schedule no names to visit,

nothing. Luckily our maps were still working so we were able to find

some people to talk to that way but we had nothing. It was crazy and

it was happening in missions across the world so missionaries were

leaving reviews on the app, I took some screen shots of them for your

enjoyment, they were pretty clever.

This week was so good. I was reading in Alma 26 this week and i cant

help but love this chapter. Its like a "good job guys, glory in God

and don't give up" chapter. I love that Ammon is so pumped up about

the miracles God had shown them. I especially love verse 36 (I mean

its my mission scripture, so yeah). The line that always gets me is

this one "If this is boasting even so I will boast. For this is my

life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from

everlasting woe" This gospel is so many things to me, love, joy, hope,

happiness, but more than anything its "my life and my light, my joy

and my salvation, and my redemption" This scripture always brings back

the reason why I am out here, it brings back the pre-mission jitters,

it reminds me what this gospel means to me, so if this is boasting,

even so I will boast.

I love you all so much, I miss you all! I love PA. I love my mission.

I love our Savior.

Until next week!

많은 사랑,

잭슨 자매

Sent from Broomall, PA 🦊

Zone P-day

zone training

District

안녕 친구와 가족 I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I figured I would

start my email off with a Korean greeting in honor of my companion.

Who is doing awesome! We are working well and just loving each other.

We have a good time working hard and spreading the gospel to all the

people in Broomall who are willing and ready to listen to the awesome

message we carry!

This has been a great week for learning and growing. We were able to

make a few new contacts, speak with some less actives and invite all

to come unto Christ! We also had some great meals at members houses.

At one house we were talking about how we are all children of God and

what it means to us to know that we are a child of God. Sister Meaders

then said the glorious subject line for today's email. It was awesome,

I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe. Missionary work is

seriously the best, I feel like I have never laughed harder in my life

than I have on the mission. The Meaders also have a Scout named Bobbie

and I love that dog.

We met a former investigator named Cathrine Dawson on Saturday because

we ended up having a lesson cancel on us. Anyway, we had stopped by

her house before and no one had been home but that day she was! She

was so excited to see us because the last missionaries just stopped

coming by, so she let us right in and introduced herself and we just

got to talking! She is a GREAT first grade teacher, she love origami

and she used to be Catholic. She hasn't been an active Catholic for

about ten years, she left and her the Catholic Church because she felt

as if it wasn't right, and has been on the search for truth ever

since. She is excited to learn more about the church and to start

meeting with missionaries again, we set up a return appointment for

Friday night and its going to be awesome!

We also saw the blessings that come from fasting! On Sunday I decided

I would fast for someone to teach that we could get baptized this

transfer. So at church we had two members come up to us with referrals

who are willing to hear more about the restored gospel and then today

we saw the West Chester sisters who have a referral for us, who went

to church for SIX months when he was living in Africa. Needless to say

I am pretty pumped up right now.

We were able to meet with a few less actives this week. The first of

which being Brother Waters, who was interesting. He was super nice but

had this knack for taking the lesson off topic every time he feels the

spirit, so it was a little hard to keep going because he just kept

getting so off topic about everything. Every time the spirit came in

he would go off topic, but Sister Ebeling (bishops wife) saved the day

every time. She would literally know just what to say to get back on

topic and bring the spirit rushing back in.

The other one is a lady named Sister Cofield, who is just awesome! I

am not sure why she doesnt come to church because she just jumped

right in to talking about how she knows she needs to go to church

because she needs to take the sacrament. We were really hoping that

she would come to church but she didnt. There is always next week

though!

In regards to church we did have two less actives come who we didnt

get the chance to meet with this week! Sister McNeill and Jackie! We

walked into the chapel after our meeting and Jackie was sitting right

there! We were so excited because I have never met Jackie and we had

been trying to get in contact with her! Then right after the sacrament

was passed Sister McNeill came in and joined us for the rest of

testimony meeting! It was so awesome guys! SO AWESOME

Speaking of fasting and awesomeness. James, my sweet little James. I

adore this child and his family so much, like I am so humbled and

grateful to work with James on his path to eternity. He is just such a

good kid. Anyway, James fasted on Sunday! We haven't even taught him

about fasting but he heard about it in primary and the Holy Ghost told

him he should fast, so he did! We went over for dinner on Sunday night

and he was so excited to see us because it meant that he could eat! He

is just doing so awesome. I am so grateful for them and their

examples.

Also Kevin, and Brother and Sister Sayles went and did baptisms on

Friday! It was so awesome! I was able to be baptized and confirmed for

Kevin's ancestors! Sister Shin wasn't feeling well so she decided to

just do confirmations, but it was awesome! The spirit in the temple is

just so strong. The Sayles expressed to us that they cant wait to be

sealed as a family next fall and to James! Watching these people that

I have come to love so much progress in the gospel always brings me

just such great joy. Joy beyond belief. Kevin had a lot of awesome

questions about the rest of the temple and just talked about how

excited he is to access the rest of it again next fall!

I love the Broomall ward and how close we can work with President and

Sister Randall. We have tried to get them out teaching with us but so

far all the appointments we set up to teach with them cancel on us.

Its crazy.

Oh my heck funny story. So one day we were going through our area book

to find some potential investigators to call and we called this one

lady who was a member referral who met with missionaries once before.

Anyway we called her to see if she would like us to come by and she

answered our question with "what do you think of our new president?"

Which was surprising, so we just explained that we don't want tv or

keep up with the news so we don't have an opinion. She then proceeded

to just talk about how terrible he is and how she's called D.C. to

have him impeached but they aren't listening, for like a solid 20

minutes before she finally just said "I'm too stressed out to have

religion in my life right now, but thank you for calling!" It was

interesting.

Today has been so fun! We had a Zone P-Day and played pinball soccer

with President and Sister Randall. Nothing but good clean fun was had

by all. It was nice to exercise and have some friendly competition in

the zone! Plus nothing like a nice bearing of testimonies of the Book

of Mormon to wrap it all up with a pretty blue bow! I pinky promise to

have pictures next week of the pday and of our district. I went from a

district of two sets of sisters and one set of elders to one set of

sisters and two sets of elders. So it's an adventure for sure!

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I had a goal to finish it with in the

first six months of my mission. I am three chapters away from

finishing, so since I will most likely finish either tonight or

tomorrow morning I just want to let you all know that I know that the

Book of Mormon is true. I know it with every fiber of my being. There

is not a book truer than this. I know that with the Book of Mormon we

can return to Christ one day. I know that it was written for our day

and to help us along our paths to salvation. I know that because the

Book of Mormon is true that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God

and that this church is true. I know that I have never found more

comfort, joy or solace than I have inside the Book of Mormon. It is

the truest book you will ever find, and each verse you read is an

answer to a prayer. I have seen it answer my prayers, and I know it

can answer yours. Life throws us curve balls sometimes, but if you

hold the Book of Mormon as a bat, you will hit a home run every time.

If you'd like a free copy please talk to your local missionaries or

visit Mormon.org.

I would not want to be anywhere else right now, not even Disneyland. I

know that this work is Gods work and that everyday I have the chance

to help someone grow closer to God. Even if its just helping myself.

I love this work. I love our Savior. I love you all and miss you all!!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Hot Chocolate Girls

Ay yous! I hope that each of you had a fantastic week this last week

and that you all are ready to hear about my adventures in Broomall!

Its been quite the week of adjustment I can tell you that much!

Broomall is honestly not that different from Downingtown, its

different in someways but the same in a lot of other ways. I have yet

to find the Coatesville of Broomall so I am keeping my eyes peeled for

the humblest of areas out here! Its pretty cool to be in President

Randall's ward though, it was weird to walk into sacrament meeting and

see him and the whole family just chillin on the pews, but cool at the

same time.

We have done a lot of knocking on doors and talking with people

because the peeps we work with aren't overly fond of holding their

appointments a lot of the time. Even the people we talked to who

seemed interested dont want us to come back most of the time, but the

work must go on!

We do have a few gators that we meet with and some recent converts

that we work closely with. One recent convert is named Kevin. Kevin is

so cool. He is 17 years old and just decided to go to church with his

Mormon friend one day, so he went and just kept going. Then he started

taking the lessons and was baptized in November! He is way cool, when

we meet with him we aren't really teaching him, we are just discussing

items with him. Its kind of like a giant comp study.

Another recent convert is a lady named Ann Maloney. Ann was baptized

in December and found out about the church because of the temple. She

wanted to do a tour of the temple so one Saturday she showed up at the

church to see the whole idea. She went down into Philly and toured the

temple and just kept going from there. She is hilarious and talks so

much, half of the lesson is just her talking about worldly stuff and

the other half if focused on the point at hand. She loves President

Trump, she kept talking about how he is like King David in the Bible.

It was actually pretty funny.

We have one investigator that we are working with who has a date. His

name is James Hansen and hes is ten years old. His mom is a member

(just reactivated actually), his step dad is a recent convert named

John Sayles (we also work with him, he's way cool) and then his dad

was a member of the church. Anyway, James is the sweetest little boy

with a few mental disabilities, so of course I fell in love with him

right way. I just have that soft spot for special needs kids. He is a

little hard to keep focused at times but he has a love for Christ that

is incredible, he loves his family so much and loves the church.

Especially cub scouts. He is getting baptized on March 12th and is

super excited!

This week we had the missionary broadcast which was awesome, it was

very inspired and was focused on teaching repentance and baptizing

converts. It was just a great training on how to better teach and work

with people. They also released a new schedule for missionaries that

is pretty cool! It has been created to give missionaries more agency

and freedom to work. We now have an hour and a half to get ready in

the mornings, we do our planning sessions in the morning and personal

study. Then we have from 10-9 to do comp study, language study and

proselyte. Lunch is 30 minutes and dinner is an hour. We also can go

to bed between 9-10:30 which gives a chance for a little more sleep so

that we can be more prepared for the next day. Pday has also been

lengthened, instead of starting at 10 and going until 6, it goes from

8 until 6. So its going to be awesome to work and have a little more

agency in things.

We also met with a former investigator and his sister. Charlie and Ann

Doyle are in their nineties and are incredibly interesting people who

we probably wont meet with again. We met with them twice and Charlie

doesn't believe in a lot of things. He spent most of our last lesson

trying to convince us that Christ is not divine and that there isn't

life after this one, we just blink out of existence. Ann doesnt talk

much because Charlie does all of the talking, but she was a little

more open and interested in the BOM but after the second meeting with

her she told us that she is a devout Catholic and isn't interested in

converting. The worst part though is that Charlie always asked us if

we had made a sale that day because he is convinced that we are

salesmen. Which we are not, we are invitesmen. we aren't selling

anything, we are just inviting others to grow closer to Christ.

My first Sunday in Broomall was awesomely hectic. It was ward counsel,

and so there were a lot of people there who I met who are from the

stake so I didnt know anyone and was a little nervous to meet

everyone. We walked into the chapel and guess who walks up to us

because he is in the stake young men's presidency? That is right

Brother Seaman. I was so happy to see him! Nothing like a familiar

face in a new situation.

Sister Shin and I are getting a long really well! There is a little

bit of a language barrier because we dont think in the same language

but we are adjusting to each other and moving right along with the

work.  I had an experience this week that I think I needed in order to

understand her a little bit more. If you didnt know already this week

we had the Korean New Year (Happy New Year Y'all) and so we went to

dinner at a Korean members house (there are so many Koreans here) and

since I was the only American the language was mostly Korean. On

occasion if they had a question for me it would be in English but I

was pretty much in a situation were I did not speak the language and I

didn't know what kind of food I was putting into my mouth. I felt

pretty much alone and awkward. It was even hard to eat because I had

to quickly master the chopstick! I think i needed to have that

experience to see where she comes from, to be in her shoes for a

little bit. Her English is really good, sometimes I cant understand

her when she says something like repentance because her r's turn into

l's so she says lepentance, or President Landall. I'm getting there

though, it's actually kind of cute how she pronounces some words. She

also sings primary songs in Korean all the time, its pretty cute.

There is a really good scripture I found in my studies this week. Its

Mosiah 2:34, in short there is a phrase that is says that I love. It

says "Render to Him all that you are" I was pondering this phrase

because as humans we let the natural man take over sometimes. We

convince ourselves that we can do this life alone, that we dont need

Christ. Sometimes we decide to hold on to the little things that are

keeping us from progressing because we dont want to loose them.

Sometimes we expect to be fully converted and have rendered everything

over, but then become frustrated when we find out that we aren't where

we would like to be in terms of conversion. President Monson once said

"Life by the yard is hard, but by the inch its a cinch." I believe

that is also the formula to render ourselves fully to Christ. By the

yard its hard, but by the inch its a cinch. If we make the conscious

choice each day to be a little better than we were yesterday we will

make it to where we want to be, and to where Heavenly Father knows we

can become.

Life isn't easy, it isn't supposed to be. We are to be tested and

tried. We are to stumble and fall. But that doesnt mean we quit

trying. We keep standing back up, we pass every test, and we do not

give up. President Hinkley once said "We are a people with a present

and future. Don't muff your opportunities. Be excellent." With Christ

we can be excellent. Christ isn't going to leave us along just because

we messed up, or we aren't fully rendered to Him. He wants to help us

learn and grow and become.

Its a hard life without Christ, its an easier life with Him.

I love you all. I miss you all. I love our Savior and I know He lives.

Much love from PA,

Sister Jackson

 

Josie and Sister Shin