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!