Hello my peeps! I hope you have all had a fantastic week and that

you're ready for the next week! I can't believe it's already been a

week since I left Broomall and was shot up north! In case you missed

last week I now reside in a place called Kutztown, which is pretty

much the boonies and after being in a suburban area for the last eight

months it's weird to see so much space and farms and stuff. I forgot

what the countryside looks like. All it's missing is the mountains! My

new companions are pretty much the best! I have Sister Abbott who is

from Hawaii has lots of siblings, a nephew, and is almost done with

her mission! Then I also have Sister Kuta who is from Oregon, is the

middle of three kids, loves pugs and has been out five months!

On my very first night in this area we had dinner with a lady named

Kate. Kate is married to a less active member of the ward and she has

a desire to be baptized! She's studied with missionaries before and

knows a lot so she's ready to be baptized but she wants to make sure

she is really ready. She is incredible! She's so funny and just loves

her family and the Lord! Plus she loves Star Wars.

Also this week we met with a YSA named Chris (also if you missed last

week I'm now over two congregations a YSA and a ward. Yes 6 hours of

church). Chris really loves Christ, and has a great desire to grow

closer to Him. Chris also came to church on Sunday and he liked it and

the YSA was super happy to have him here!

We also also met a YSA name Eluid and he was really excited to see

missionaries again! He set up a time for us to come and see him next

week so we are super excited!

I love being in the YSA branch out here. It's literally so small.

There were only seven people in relief society including the three of

us, but it gives us a great opportunity to get to know each YSA and to

truly be able to help them! They are all just incredible missionaries

and they love sharing their testimonies so much!

The ward is also just oh so good! We have had some great times at

dinner and helping people out! Sister Rodriguez is a lady from

California (whose grandparents lived in Logan! She's crashed her bike

on temple hill before and we bonded) but she owns a candy shop and so

we went and did service for her and it was pretty much the sweetest

service ever (pun intended). We bagged chocolate pretzels and

restocked candies and tested sea salt Carmel chocolates. It was

amazing.

I also met a family from Logan! The Baliey family stopped me at church

and said "we heard you're from Logan! Are you a Mustang?" PEEPS I

DIED. After a shocked answer of yes, sister Bailey told me she's from

Providence and is a mustang too! Brother Bailey is from North Logan

and we just had this bonding moment at church with the fact we all

know each other's hometowns.

We also had dinner with a lot of amazing people here's some quotes/ highlights:

-Lunch with Sister Silfies who talks like a valley girl and it's

amazing. She also wants to get a family we are working with baptized

so bad and it's so cute. She's also had some great quotes, while

talking about men she said "all these YSA's these days saying 'he's

got a good job' um excuse me, what about his job with the Christ?!" "I

don't know where the man is but all I know is he's gotta be tall dark

and loves the Lord!"

-dinner with the walls (bro walls is from Tennessee) then at church

bro walls walked up and gave us knuckles after saying "what's up sis?"

-the Jameson's. The literal dream family. Bro Jameson heard once that

feeding missionaries is like feeding Jesus. So all night he went

"Babe, this is Jesus."

I love the people out here so much, it's nothing but good clean fun!

We had this really great lesson in relief society about President

Uchtdorf's talk from the October 2016 conference called "Learn from

Alma and Amuleck" (read Alma chapters 8-16 if you have questions). In

it he poses the questions, "what can I learn from Alma?" And "How am I

like Amuleck?" We had this awesome discussion about how we are all a

little like both. It really reminded me that repentance is a real

thing and that we can do anything when we are on the Lords side,

because he won't let us fail.

I love you all! I love being a missionary and I love sharing His

gospel with all that I can!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Sister Abbott, Sister Jackson, Sister Kutz

Hello you bunch of gorgeous people! It is humid and hot out here in

the most beautiful and green state of Pennsylvania! This week is

transfers and if you can't tell by the title this week I am leaving

Broomall! I don't know where I'm going yet, I'm waiting to hear from

President about transfer plans, all I know is it's going to be crazy!

The area is actually going to be doubled into (or white washed?)

because Sister Shin is also leaving! So we have been packing almost

all the day long! I can tell you what I do know. After spending 5

transfers (or 8 months) in the Valley Forge Stake, I am leaving to

take residence in one of the 3 other stakes in Pennsylvania (yes I'm

staying in this state). I will be apart of a trio, but I don't know

who my companions are yet.

Update: Transfer plans just came in! I'm going up to Kutztown, PA and

I will be companions with Sister Abbott & Sister Kuta!

This week was a good week! Here's a quick recap and a few highlights:

-We ate Easter dinner with Bishop & Sister Ebeling. Lamb is top notch

-We had a lesson with Brother Waters, he's doing great!

-We met a man named Jim, and he loves Christ & loves Mormons! (I know

#getdunked!)

-We had an awesome zone Training on how to use the Book of Mormon better

-We had this stuff called Mochi, if you've never had it plz go to your

nearest Trader Joe's freezer isle and buy some. You won't regret it.

SISTER AGNES GOT BAPTIZED SATURDAY! Yes! It was so good everyone! So

stinkin good! It was a really small baptism, like ten people tops,

but it didn't matter. The Spirit was there and it was so powerful, and

yes, the tears were real! It was so heart warming to watch her be

baptized by President Randall and to come up out of that water a new

person. It took so long to get here and we made it! She's amazing and

her faith blows you away. Yesterday she received the gift of the Holy

Ghost and it was so good! She just said she felt so light and clean.

It was a miracle of a baptism and a spiritual day for all! I love

being a missionary. It was so hard to tell her goodbye, tears were

shed my friends. She gave us tight hugs and told us how much she loves

us and how thankful she is for us teaching her the gospel. I am so

thankful for her and I love her more than I can explain.

We also went to the temple this week! Since Sister Shin is the only

sister going home this transfer & I am her companion I get to tag

along on all the departing trips! So on Friday I went to the departing

temple trip with my fellow missionaries and it was SO good! It was so

peaceful and quiet. It's been a while since I've been in to do a

session and it was so good to get back there and to feel the peace

that you can only find within the walls of the temple. I truly know

that it is Gods house & that every step towards the temple is a step

into the right direction!

We also met with the Enoch family (if you remember a few weeks back we

had dinner with them. They are a non member family but just the

sweetest people!) and shared the Prince of Peace video. I was yet

again astounded and shocked at their answers to how Jesus Christ

brings peace into their lives. They talked about how they can't find

peace anywhere in the world because it is just too crazy. It was

interesting to hear people who are devout Christians say that they

can't find peace anywhere, not even in Jesus Christ. It also reminded

me the importance of being in the world but not of the world. How

often are we distracted by the things of the world that pull us away

from what we really need to focus on? How often are we distracted by

being more popular, skinnier, happier, or Kardashian like? How often

do we actually sit down and realize that we are popular in Gods eyes,

that we can be happier when we let Him into our lives, that we don't

need to be a Kardashian to be happy, that in all reality the only

opinion of us that matters is the opinion of our Father in Heaven?

I hope this week we all take a step back and see what we are focusing

on, that maybe is distracting us from where we need to be.

I know the church is true. I know that Christ lived again on the third

day, and that He lives today. I know He loves each one of us.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Sister Agnes' baptism

Angela, Sis Shin, Sis Plaice, Becca, Josie

Easter Dinner

Hello all you wonderful people! It has been a great week out here in

the glorious state of Pennsylvania! It has rained like crazy, I am

thinking the saying "April showers bring May flowers." Is nothing but

truth! I now understand why Pennsylvania is so stinkin green and

vibrant. I also love it when it rains because the rainbows are so

beautiful, and always remind me of the primary song. "I like to look

for rainbows whenever there is rain, and ponder on the beauty of an

Earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as Earth right

after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again."

Aren't primary songs just the best? The simple yet profound truths

they hold are so soul touching and testimony building!

EVERYONE SISTER AGNES GETS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! Oh my gosh, the tears

are going to be so real when she gets baptized (just as they are every

time, the tears never go away). I am so excited for her. It has been a

long road, but a faith building road. This woman has changed my life,

and continues to change my life with her example of faith, of love and

of being steadfast. She truly is built upon "a sure foundation, a

foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." That foundation is

one we should all be built on, that foundation is Jesus Christ.

James is also doing so well! We talked about the great apostasy and

the restoration last night and it was so cool! We invited him to pray

about the Joseph Smith experience and he looked at us like we were

ridiculous and said "I don't need to pray about it, I have faith!" The

faith and testimonies of children are so sweet, even if they've only

been members for a month. I think we could all use a little more of

the faith that James has, and have that faith that we don't have to

ask, but we still always should.

Gosh, I love the Book of Mormon! This week we met some very

interesting people, but the one I want to talk about is a man named

Ryan. Sister Shin and I were headed to go contact some former

investigators and there were two men out on the porch, they said hello

so obviously we said hello too. They asked what we were doing and we

introduced ourselves and Ryan goes "I love Jesus! Come show me your

video!" So we went up to show him Prince of Peace, afterwards we got

to know him a little bit better and he explained to us how he came to

know Christ in his own life. He talked about how he loves to read

books from other faiths and immediately the Book of Mormon jumped into

my mind. Thank goodness for my sweet companion always carrying an

extra copy with her! We were able to testify of the truth of the Book

and how it has blessed our lives in so many ways! He graciously

accepted the Book and invited us to come back in a few weeks to check

up on his reading!

We also had another great experience with testifying of the Book of

Mormon! A few weeks ago we met a lady named Cynthia and we kept making

appointments but they kept falling through. Finally this week we got

to teach her! We focused our whole lesson on the Book of Mormon and it

was so powerful! At the end we pulled out her very own copy and she

was so excited! She took it right out of our hands and said "instead

of watching my shows tonight I'm gonna read this book." The smile on

our faces could not be wiped off! Reading the Book of Mormon is the

best way to gain a testimony and the fact that she was so excited to

read it just was so amazing! Even those who have never seen or read

the book can be influenced by the spirit it brings to simply hold it

in their hand.

I can honestly say the Book of Mormon brings miracles. Each time I

testify of the truth of it and that it is another testimony of the

Savior, I get goosebumps. I am reminded of my purpose to invite others

to come unto Christ, and really there is no better way to come unto

Christ than by reading the Book of Mormon. On the introduction of the

Book of Mormon there is a quote by the prophet Joseph Smith, “I told

the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book

on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer

to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” That

really is the truest statement, of you want to have a better

relationship with Christ and don't know how to do it, here is your

answer. Read the Book of Mormon. It does nothing but testify of our

Savior, Redeemer, Advocate and Friend. It is about Jesus Christ, and

His gospel. It is full of His love and of His peace. Please don't

hesitate to read it, even if it's just a verse everyday. It will

chance your life, I know this because it has changed mine.

I hope you all have an amazing week! Have a happy Easter! 🐰🥚

I love my Savior with all my heart and I know that He loves me and you.

Much love,

Wawa Rd.

Sister Jackson

spring in Broomall

Hello fans! This week was so good, can we all just take a moment and

reflect on Conference? If you missed out on any session I highly

recommend taking sometime on LDS.org this week to watch it, and even

if you got all the sessions I recommend that you watch, read or listen

to some of the talks again! You can never get enough divine

inspiration from the words of Gods called Apostles and Prophets!

I hope that you all enjoyed Conference and that you received answers

to questions and received revelation on whatever has been troubling

you. I sure know that I did! I felt the eyes of the apostles stare

into mine and marveled as they answered my exact question. Truly there

is nothing greater than receiving the witness that, yes God loves you,

He hears your prayers and He will answer them. "Wether by my voice or

that of my servants it is the same."

We had yet another great week out here in the beautiful state of

Pennsylvania! I really love it out here, its interesting to think of

PA as home, but that is what it has become over these last few months!

Time is going by way too fast for me, and i cant believe it has been

seven whole months since I entered the MTC as a brand new missionary!

Even more it has been one whole year since I put in my mission papers.

I remember submitting my papers on the Friday before General

Conference. I was so nervous, excited and anxious to find out where I

was going to go. I was ready to be uplifted at conference, and it

came. I remember on Saturday afternoon I drove my brother and his

friend out to go fishing, I was mad that I couldn't sit at home and

listen to conference so we listened to it on the radio. I was nervous

to get my call, and was rethinking my decision. After I dropped the

kids off the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang, "Ill go where you want me

to go" and the tears were real. I am so happy that I responded to my

call, that i came where he wanted me to be and that I am doing the

Lords work, today and every day. When we go where the Lord wants us to

go, we know we are on the pathway home to Him.

I love these people and I love my investigators. This week we taught

Agnes and we set her with another baptism date! She is going to be

baptized on April 15 and I am so excited to watch her step into those

waters and come out a new person! She is so full of faith and of hope.

Her joy in the gospel is so incredible and she loves the Book of

Mormon. She has the strongest testimony of Christ and that He lives

and she shares that with anyone and everyone, wether they want to

listen or not.

We also met with a man named Keith this week! We had been trying to

get into contact with him my first few weeks here and we just could

not find him! Well we were in his area last week and we just decided

to knock on his door and he was home! We set up a time to come back

and to have a sit down lesson with him and this week we did! Keith is

so awesome, and the Light of Christ shines in him! He has had a hard

time lately but he talked about how it has opened his heart to Christ

and how he is ready and willing to accept him more into his life.

We saw Brother Waters again this week and I seriously wish you all

could see him. He looks completely different than he did 10 weeks ago.

When I first met him you could tell he was missing something in his

life, he just didnt know what it was. Now he has found the thing he

was looking for, he's started reading the Book of Mormon again, he is

coming to church regularly. His life is really changing and I am so

glad I get to see him change his life.

We also met with a less active YSA and she is so cute! Her parents are

converts to the church but she has been a lifelong member. She talked

about how coming to college is what made her less active, she didn't

have people to tell her to go to church, she doesnt have a car and she

was in college. She wants to come back though, she had questions for

us and decided that we reached out to her because it was time for her

to find her way back home.

Kevin is doing great! He has been busy with school but hes still

killing it! James is doing so good! He watched part of General

Conference and he loved it! He has really taken to the gospel and has

a lot of questions about Christ and about how he can have Christ more

in his life!

Life is so good out here and I am thankful for every day I have! I am

thankful for the Book of Mormon and the guidance it is in my life. I

am thankful for living apostles and prophets of God. I am thankful for

the peace that the Gospel brings. If you wanna watch a really cool

video about peace go check out Mormon.org, Jesus Christ really is the

Prince of Peace.

I love you all. I love our Savior. I love His work, word and gospel.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Conference and Chinese food

Rainy Day in PA

 Hello my lovely friends and family! I hope you all had the most

enjoyable week of your lives. I am coming at you live from a rainy day

in Broomall Pennsylvania and a great week behind me! It was just such

a good week to be a servant of the Lord. I seriously love my mission

so much, it is one of the hardest things I have done, and yes there

are hard times but the love I feel is worth all the hard days, hours,

and minutes here.

I love Pennsylvania and it's craziness. Not only does it have speed

bumps, but also speed humps which are a larger speed bump and much

better than a speed bump if you ask me. Not only speed humps, but also

speed tables. I thought it was an exaggeration but no, it was like an

actual table. Only in PA.

This week we had exchanges and I got to spend the day in the

Philadelphia 1st ward with Sister Phelps! We had a great time

together! We taught one of their less actives named Sydney and she was

so cute! She had such a great spirit and a willingness to serve the

Lord. We read the talk "God shall wipe away all tears" from last

Octobers conference and it was so powerful! The talk is so good and I

highly recommend that you go and read it!

We also played bingo with some old folks at a rest home out there and

it was so fun! It made me think of all the old folks back in

Downingtown that we used to do exercise with! I just love old people,

they are the best kind of people.

Lastly we taught English class to some of the African members in the

ward and it was so much fun! I love Africans so much, they are just

the sweetest people and they have such a love for the gospel that it

is incredible to see their faith.

On Wednesday the one and only Sister Seaman came out and took us to

lunch. I sure love that family and I miss the people in Downingtown.

Last week I forgot to write about Stake Conference but it was so

awesome! I got to see Sister Gregory, the Seamans, the Williams, the

Clarkes, Oscar and Maurice! My heart swelled with pure joy when I saw

Maurice there. He has just embraced the gospel with open heart and

arms! I just love seeing how much he has changed and the great love he

has for this gospel.

This week we helped Agnes pack up her apartment, that is right, she's

moving out to the P1 area. Which is so sad but the good news is is

that President Randall has given Sister Shin and I permission to still

go and teach her! She will be moving back to the Broomall area in a

few months so she is going to still be taught by us and hopefully

attend our ward! She is so incredible and I am so happy to see how she

is accepting the restored gospel into her life!

Remember a few emails ago I mentioned a lady named Patricia? Well this

week we met with her! It was so awesome! She is going to have surgery

soon so she isn't planning on meeting with us for a few weeks but she

is willing to be baptized! When we brought up baptism she said "Yeah I

was thinking about being baptized." We tried to set her with a date

but she isn't sure when she will be fully recovered from her surgery,

so stay tuned!

We met with Brother Waters this week and he is doing so awesome! Last

week he told us that he was not ready to give up his word of wisdom

addictions, well this week he told us that he has decided it is time

to give them up and to start getting better and able to live without

them! Sister Shin and I were so proud to see him know that this is the

next step that he needs to take in order to progress!

We had a chance to do some service for Sister McNeill this week! Her

mom is moving in with her for a few weeks so we helped her move some

furniture around and set everything up! We also had a chance to talk

about how we can gain faith in reading the scriptures and how we can

know God by reading His word! I know this to be true, and I know that

as we read from the Book of Mormon everyday we can grow closer to him

and feel the spirit more in our lives. I know that my faith is built

each time I open the book, and i feel so great by the time I close it.

James is doing so good! We met with him last night and had a great

lesson on faith! We talked about how we have faith in God and how we

trust Him because He gives us the Holy Ghost so that we can know where

to go next. We did a super fun activity where we had him blindfolded

and hid a Book of Mormon somewhere in his house. Sister Sayles acted

as the Holy Ghost and lead James to the book while Brother Sayles,

Sister Shin and I acted as worldly voices trying to get him to not

find it. James was steadfast and wouldn't listen to anyone other than

Sister Sayles though, so I was quite impressed by his determination to

not stray from the voice.

We had an amazing Zone Conference this week! So full of the spirit and

so many things were learned. We have been focusing on faith as a

mission for this transfer so the conference had a lot to do with how

we have been building our faith over the last few weeks!

THE WOMANS BROADCAST, I dont care if you are male or female, 83 or 3

you need to go listen to President Eyrings talk on peace right now. I

promise you will not regret listening to it. He talked a lot about how

the Holy Ghost is the one who brings peace into our hearts and minds,

He is the one who leads up to choose the right and who gives us the

means to return to our loving Father in Heaven.

I love this gospel and the fact that we have living prophets and

apostles on the Earth today. I love that we get to listen to these men

and women who are called of God every six months. I love the peace and

comfort that only the Gospel can bring through the gift of the Holy

Ghost. I hope you all take the marvelous opportunity to listen to the

spirit and to these called servants of God this Saturday and Sunday.

You can watch it on BYU TV, LDS.org, or a local meetinghouse. The

times are 10-12 and 2-4 MST. I promise you that you will not regret

listening to at least one of the four sessions and that as you go with

a question for God, He will answer you.

Enjoy conference and the spirit that it brings this weekend! Love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Zone Conference

In the snow

Pennsylvania snow!

Heyo, friends and family! This week has been good! A little crazy, we

had a snow storm this Tuesday and our cars were grounded. So Sister

Shin and I tried to do some service for people but with no snow

shovels and living right next to the freeway it kind of keeps you

trapped inside. We did a lot of emailing potentials and got some good

studying in!

We had a good time this week, on Wednesday we had a meeting in the

city so we got to get some awesome pictures of the temple! The

building in center city is amazing, you can see the temple from almost

any room in the building! It was so cool! We also had interviews with

President and it was awesome, he's such an inspired man and he just

always knows what to say to help you feel like you're succeeding in

life. Its awesome!

We had a lesson with Brother Waters again this week and he's doing

well, sadly he got sick Saturday night and was unable to make it to

stake conference. We will hopefully go see him sometime this week!

We had an awesome Facebook lesson with Sister Cofield this week! We

read from the Book of Mormon with her and it was so powerful! We just

kept it simple and talked about why it's so important to read the Book

of Mormon every day! The Book of Mormon has all the answers in it for

all of life's questions!

We did meet with a man named Jeff and talked about the Book of Mormon

again! We read the introduction and talked about where the Book came

from so that he could truly understand why it is so important! He was

very interesting and had a lot to say about a lot of things! He was

very impressed with the church and its standards though!

Unfortunately because of the snow we were unable to see Cynthia this

week, we will be meeting with her tomorrow and it should go well!

James is doing so great! We saw him last night and he's just loved

having the Holy Ghost with him at all times! He talked about how he

knows the Holy Ghost helped him be at peace and not get angry about

little things, and it has lead him to continue to be a good kid.

Agnes is doing so well! Unfortunately we had to postpone her baptism

for a few weeks but she will get back on track in a few weeks! She's

seriously so awesome, her faith is absolutely incredible, like so

incredible that you could almost touch it. I love her so much!

This week I have learned a lot about our Savior and his life, I

learned a lot about faith.

In 1 Peter 1:7-9 it says

"7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold

that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto

praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not,

yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

I love how powerful Peter is in writing. I especially love verse 8. I

love the phrasing of how we haven't seen Christ, but we love him, and

we still don't see him but we believe and because we believe we have

more joy than we could say and are full of His light and glory.

I love my mission. I love our Savior and I love that I get to testify

of Him each and every day. Life is good, and Christ is great.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Josie's district

Sister Jackson and Sister Shin

Philadelphia Temple