josie.jackson@myldsmail.net

josie.jackson@myldsmail.net

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Hello all you lovely people! It has been yet again another great week
out here in PA! It's been a little drier out here and it's been
amazing. Not a whole lot happened this week, but we did have some
amazing experiences none the less! We have seen so my fireflies and
it's beautiful to see the way they light up the darkness, it's like
learning the gospel. A light inside the darkness of the world.

So, let's start with our first lesson with Jean and Rich this week! It
was awesome! We talked a lot about forgiveness and what it feels like
to forgive and how we can forgive. We answered a lot of questions
again about what we believe and what it's like to be Mormon. It was
really cool! They also talked a lot about baptism and what our baptism
ceremonies are like and how they would be baptized and all sorts of
stuff!

One awesome thing that happened before that lesson was that we had
about 30-45 minutes of tracting before our lesson. So we just knocked
around their neighborhood and it was so awesome! We met a guy named
Dan and he was really interested in us coming back! He was so cool, he
loved the Prince of Peace video, and we had a great talk about who
Jesus Christ is to each of us. But the coolest was when we were
knocking on this door we heard a little boy and his father behind us,
the little boy said "daddy what they doing?" The dad responded with "I
think they are waiting for them to answer the door." Well, the people
never did. As we walked away from the door the dad said to us "my son
wants to know what you're doing." So we explained who we are and what
we are doing and had this amazing conversation with him about Jesus
Christ and religion in general. We didn't get his name, number or
address, but we were able to share a video with him and his son, and
if nothing else, we strengthened his faith in Christ.

We met a less active this week named Nina, she's super awesome! She's
been through a few hard things lately but she still has her faith.
She's really so awesome! She told us she doesn't really know why she
went less active, it just happened one day. She is super welcoming to
missionaries and visits though! She always said that she loves having
missionaries over and loves the talk with us so we will for sure be
going back soon!

Before we met Nina we had the chance to go tracting, we met two super
cool people! They both seemed interested in learning more and learning
about Jesus Christ. Hopefully we will be seeing them soon!

We had a lesson with a YSA that was being taught by the Pottsville
Elders. His name is John and he was super cool! He also got baptized
on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! He will be attending the
Pottsville branch most of the time, due to the fact that Kutztown is
so far from Pottsville but he will be coming to the activities! It was
super cool to teach him because about half of the branch showed up for
it! Then on Saturday we were able to ride down with Sophie Walmer and
attend his baptism! It was so super cool!

We did a whole lot of service this week! A less active by the name of
Brenda got some furniture this week and we were able to help her set
it all up! She hurt her back a few years ago so she can't bend down,
which proves to be hard when you are putting furniture together. She
is so awesome! We were also able to help Sister Marriaga make cookies
for youth conference this week and then help clean Sister Milners
house as a random act of service this week. They were out in NJ and
Sister Marriaga called us to see if we wanted to help her clean up
around the house so that Sister Milner could come home to a clean
house, so that's what we did!

We were supposed to have a lesson with Shawntiana but she ended up
having to cancel since her brother fell down the stars, so hopefully
we can see her this week! We also finally got into contact with Dave
again and we are meeting with him this week! Hopefully we can see
Sister Monroe, she's had a little bit of a crazy schedule lately!

we had an amazing lesson with Jean and Rich on Saturday. They were
able to join us at the Kutztown building for a church tour! It was so
awesome! They had a lot of questions and were so excited to learn
about all the stuff! When we got to the baptismal font we were so
excited because we were ready to invite to baptism! But instead, they
had a lot of questions about what would happen WHEN they are baptized
and how it would all go! It was so awesome!

Sunday was great as always! We had a lesson with the Skidmores and it
was one of the best lessons I've had with them! We talked about the
conference talk "Whatsoever He smith until you, do it." And about how
obedience to the small and simple things bring the great things to
pass (Alma 37:6). It was so awesome! We talked about how we can choose
to be obedient everyday and how when we are doing the little things we
are able to follow the big things better than we otherwise could. It
was just such a good lesson.

This week I studied one of the best conference talks I've ever read.
It's "Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" by Keith W. Pearson in April of
2009. It was so good! In it he talks about the six D's of destruction,
or the six ways that Satan tears us down. He also talks about why it's
so important to have faith in Christ and in who He is. One of my
favorite parts is:
"There is a quality of faith which develops as we focus all of our
heart, might, mind, and strength. It is seen and felt in the eyes of a
great missionary, a valiant and virtuous young woman, and righteous
mothers, fathers, and grandparents. It can be seen in the lives of
individuals young and old, in every land and culture, speaking every
language, in every circumstance and station in life. It is the “eye of
faith” spoken of by the prophet Alma (see Alma 5:15–26)--the ability
to focus and be steadfast, continually holding fast to true
principles, nothing wavering, even when the mist of darkness
confronting us is exceedingly great. This quality of faith is
exceedingly powerful."
I love this quote. It is just such a good way to think of the eye of
faith, and it gives a good thought provoking way of thinking. As I
read this talk I really thought about if I have an "eye of faith" and
what I'm doing each day to build my faith in Christ. Because faith is
a muscle. If we don't use our muscles they grow weak, if we don't use
our faith it grows weak. So, why is it important to even have faith?
Because that is the only thing that will keep you grounded in a world
that is so intent on pleasures of the carnal mind, a world that seeks
to destroy the righteous, a world that tries to convince you that it
matters which phone you have, what car you drive and what brand of
jeans you put on in the morning, a world that is growing increasingly
wicked and self absorbed, a world where if you don't have a certain
amount of likes of friends on social media you are nothing, a world
like the one described in Helaman 7:5 "Condemning the righteous
because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go
unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office
at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills,
that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that
they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and
do according to their own wills." A world that is being overrun by
Satan because he knows this is his last shot to ruin our shot at
eternal happiness, the little punk. It's our job as believers to stand
for what's right, to use our faith daily and to stand by the sacred
covenants we have made with Christ. Our faith is only built if we work
to build it.

I love you all! Until next week!


Much love,

Sister Jackson
Rain storm attire

Appointment missed

Slurpees for days

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