Hola friends and family! I hope it's been a great week for all of you!

We've had tons of fun this week and a few amazing miracles! I can't

wait to share it all with you in the little amount of time I've got. I

wish I could just bring you all with me on this journey! It's amazing!

Let's start at the beginning, we had dinner with the Monroes Monday

night and it was awesome! They are such an amazing family and I love

them so much. Brother and Sister Monroe love their kids so much. It's

amazing.

On Tuesday I got to spend the day with Sister Watkins! She's super

awesome and had the biggest desires to serve the Lord. In fact we had

a non member give us a referral and Sister Watkins jumped on the car

and was ready to go straight there! While she was here we were able to

teach the Robertsons, a new family who moved into the ward from Nibley

Utah! We talked about the Restoration and why it is so important to us

as members, even in our day to day lives. How different would our

lives be if the church was never Restored? It's almost a scary

thought, could you imagine a world without the light of the gospel?

The next day, after Sister Bush came home, we got to go visit a

referral that we had received from the Elders! Their names are Kevin

and Amanda, they are so awesome! Amanda is a member, Kevin is not.

Kevin has a desire to learn and grow in the gospel, we talked with

them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it was such an amazing

lesson! We felt the spirit so strong and we loved it!

Later that night we had a lesson with Dave! We talked about the word

of wisdom and it was so amazing. We had Brother and Sister Vassilaros

with us. Brother V had lots of great stories of standing up for his

beliefs as he traveled the world for work. We talked a lot about the

word of wisdom is a health code, but it's also a lot more than just a

health code. The word of wisdom is about showing commitment to

Heavenly Father. When we are baptized members we make a commitment to

follow the word of wisdom. It's about showing that we are committed to

Him, and to His gospel when we live His commandments. It's also about

integrity, we can be alone with someone and be tempted to break one of

the commandments. We can say "no one can see me." "No one will know."

In that moment we loose our integrity because Heavenly Father knows.

On Thursday we had interviews all the day long! Sister Bush and I were

able to help out with the training side of interviews by role playing

with the Elders and Sisters! We got to see how hard our zone works and

how much effort they put into teaching the Restoration, each

companionship brought something new to the table! It was awesome!

Later that evening we met up with the sisters serving in Logan for

another exchange! Sister Nielson came home with me and Sister Bush

headed into Philadelphia for the day!

Sister Nielson and I saw some AMAZING miracles here! After we went to

see Amanda and the kids for a minute we spent the day tracting! We

started off in the Kutztown Ward area and were able to bear testimony

to a Hindu lady. We knocked on her door and she opened it and told us

that she was Hindu and she's thankful for us stopping by, but she

wasn't interested. As we walked away she stuck her head out the door

again and asked "Girls, why aren't you out having fun in your lives?"

We were both able to bear testimony that we are here because Christ

has given us so much, and we are here to give back. We are here

because we love Christ and we want others to know Him like we do. She

thanked us and wished us luck. Next we met a lady who taught high

school and knows a kid who is out on his mission is Russia right now!

She talked so us for quite sometime about the church and how she

admired the kid and how she admires him now, she gave us some water,

let us share a scripture and we headed out on our way!

Next we headed into Allentown to find some less active YSA members and

it was so awesome! We made an effort to talk to everyone, YSA or not.

We talked to a lot of interesting people! We were able to share the

Prince of Peace in Spanish with a lady and she teared up as the video

ended and was so excited to have missionaries come back! We also met a

YSA lady who wants us to come back and talk with her more about the

Book of Mormon. Lastly we met a Less Active YSA! We were about to get

into the car (in fact I was in the car) and Sister Nielson stopped a

man and started talking with him, as we talked we found out that he is

actually a member! He moved here from New York and wanted to come to

church one day! We got his number so hopefully we will be able to get

into touch with him again soon!

On Saturday when Sister Bush had returned home we had lesson after

lesson after lesson! We started the day off with service at a local

church that does a thing called Closet of Hope, people donate their

clothes and less fortunate people are able to come and get free

clothes, shoes, and other things! It's pretty amazing! After that we

had a lesson with Sister McCreary! We shared a scripture with her and

talked about how the Atonement blesses us at all times. It was pretty

amazing. Next we had a lesson with Sister Donio! She's super funny and

loves the gospel!

After we had a lesson with the Skidmores. It was amazing. We did

something called the donut analogy. Brother Marriaga was able to help

us out and it was so powerful. After we shared a bunch of scriptures

about the Atonement and how Jesus Christ suffered for each and

everyone of us, even if we use that Atonement or not. We talked about

how He would do it all over again if it was only for just one soul. It

was amazing, and so powerful. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is

something I think we take for granted on the occasion. There are

people out there who will never know that Christ suffered for them,

there are people who know but don't use it. As members we have the

Book Of Mormon which testifies of the Atonement in such powerful ways,

and I think we forget how powerful it can be, when we let it into our

lives.

One song I really love is the Children's song Gethsemane, the lyrics

are so powerful. "Gethsemane, Jesus loves me. So He went willingly to

Gethsemane." I hope that as we do our best to remember the gift that

was given to all of us in the garden of Gethsemane that we will feel

the love of our Savior, because He did it for us.

Friends and family I love this gospel. It is life changing. It is

powerful. It is real. It is true. It's an amazing thing to immerse

yourself into. It's irreplaceable, indescribable, incredible.

Something I've been thinking about lately is a saying called "The

fellowship of the Unashamed." It's by Elder Eyring and I'd like to

share a part of it with you

"I will not flinch at the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence

of the adversary, negotiate at the table at the enemy, ponder at the

pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give

up, shut up or let up until I have stayed up, stored up and paid up

for the cause of Christ. I must go until He comes, give until I drop,

preach until all I know, work until He stops me. And when He returns

for His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be

clear."

This gospel is amazing, I wish I could put into words what it means to

me, but Scripture says it the best.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of

God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and

also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, I have been called of Him to

preach His word among His people that they may have eternal life." (3

Nephi 5:13)

Let us follow Christ. Let us be unashamed. Let us bear testimony by

the way we live. Let us do all we can for the cause of Christ.

The Lord loves you and so do I.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Exchanges with Sister Nielson and Sister Walton

Exchanges with Sister Olson and Sister Watkins

Sister Nielson and Sister Jackson