Hello friends and family! Life out here is good, as stated above, I’ve lost my original weekly, so here is a few things from my email to President Randall and I’ll add a few other things here and there. 

We had a miracle this week! We were on exchanges with the Newark 1st sisters, Sister Tate was with me and our lesson had just fallen through. There was a potential in the area so we decided to go and find them, well it turned out that they didnt live there. It was at this point I started to panic, Sister Taylor and i had forgotten to set backup plans so i had no idea what we were going to do. As we were walking back to the car there was a woman outside. As we started talking with her she expressed to us that she was raised Christian and her father is a minister but she had fallen away and really wanted to come back to Christ. We explained that our whole purpose as missionaries is to help people find Christ again, or to find out more about Him. She was so excited! She set up a time right there for us to come back and told us she would be at church! Sadly, she couldn’t make it today but she promised to be there next week! 

We also taught Elizabeth this week, she is a former investigator who has popped back up! She is very excited to learn again, but we have a few struggles. She really just wants to talk about her family issues. The best part was being able to testify of the Savior. I know that He truly knows all that we feel!

We also taught Santiago again! He is doing so well! He reads from the Book of Mormon everyday and he really understands it! It is amazing to watch him progress. When we met last we talked about faith and how faith is in everything that we do. We have faith that the sun will rise, that our car will start, etc. and it really clicked for him! He saw that he has a lot more faith than he thought. It was an amazing lesson and faith is really the whole basis for our whole lives!

We had another miracle! There is a girl who lives in our boundaries but has been attending Sewell ward. Today the sisters talked to her and she asked how she could get baptized! The sisters talked with her and explained the boundaries and gave her our number. She is also great friends with the bishop and his family here, so it will be great! 

So that was the end of the email to President Randall, here’s a few other things that happened this week! 

We went to visit the Johnsons and it was so fun! Brother Johnson can’t move, but they tell us the funnest stories! They are both converts and they were some of the first converts in New Jersey! They drove from NJ to UT back in the 60’s and were sealed for time and all eternity in the LOGAN UTAH TEMPLE! We bonded over one of the most beautiful temples ever. 

We went to visit Scott, and finally set up a lesson! He’s been looking for a new church again and we just happened to show up at the right time. Isn’t it interesting how the Spirit works?

Another quick thing that happened on exchanges! We met a less active, and it was hilarious! She came up to the door and goes “well, well, well, the Mormon missionaries” was the surprised she had never met either one of us and then proceeded to tell us that she “won’t be a part of a church that is racist (points at my black companion) and misogynistic.” And that she’s “drinking a glass of wine right now and I smoke” we then asked if we could do anything for her and she said “pray for me, but not that I’ll come back to your church.” While all of this is going on Sister Tate has her hand on her hip just waiting to explode about how the church is not racist and that she’s sick of people telling her that we are. It was a grand time

We had a super fun event in Camden New Jersey! The Camden County Police had their quarterly awards show and we were invited to attend by President Sikahema, who MC’s the event. The chief reserved us one of this tables, there was free food (a Missionaries Dream), and the chief was so caught off guard when he announced us as special guests he called me Elder Jackson, because he’s never met Sisters. It was a pretty interesting event! It was also fun because now I can say that I’ve spent a day in one of the most dangerous cities in the country! One thing that really stuck out to me was the senior officers all saluted the junior officers at the end of the event. The chief said “Respect goes from the inside, out.” It was an interesting concept, but that’s how it works in life. If you respect yourself, you respect others. 

We also had MLC this week. We talked about a lot of things pertaining to our purpose and to the culture we have as a mission. It got me thinking about my purpose and my culture. What makes me, me? I finally came to the conclusion that as long as I am centering my life on Christ, I am doing the right thing. This transfer I have been studying Christ. I have a five subject note book that has five questions pertaining to Jesus Christ. I have learned so much about our Savior. I know He died for us, that He stood in our place. He was wounded for our transgressions, and He did all because He loves us. 

This week I’ve also thought a lot about the priesthood. The priesthood is so important! It is literally the power of God given to man and it. Is. Real. It is a real power. I have felt it in my life and I hope that each of you who hold that power know exactly how important it is that you are always worthy of that. I hope that those of you who do respect that power and authority because it’s not a joke. The priesthood is real and it has the power to make weak things strong. This I know to be true. 

My testimony this week is strong and simple. Jesus is the Christ. He is the Only Begotten of the Father. He is the Messiah. He died for me. He died for you. He suffered for more than just our sins, but our pains and afflictions too. He knows you perfectly. He love you everlastingly. The power of His Atonement is real, He can and He will heal each of us. He is the only one who can save us from all things. He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Best Friend. He lives, and while He lives I’ll sing. He lives, my Prophet, Priest and King. 

I love you all

Much love,

Sister Jackson

event in Camden

Pumpkin carving

Josie and Sister Tate

Sisters Tate, Jackson, Taylor, Garlick

Hello all you great people! This week has been awesome and I am lazy

so you will get a quick update on the week this week!

--Betsy is doing great! We haven't met with her since last week, but

have been in contact with her! She's a great lady.

--Sister Taylor and Sister Anderson taught Jan while I was in Cape

May. Jan is doing great and has a sincere desire to learn about the

gospel! She wants to know all she can and asked some great questions

from what I've been told!

--I taught Santiago with Sister Scott this week! Sister Taylor was in

Cherry Hill. It was a great lesson! We talked about prayer and why

it's so important. Santiago brought up that since he's been praying

everyday he has felt calmer. He's also had a few questions regard

evolution and the Nephi/Laban story! So it is going to be lots of fun

to keep meeting with him!

--Nanci came to the trunk or treat! She really enjoyed herself, even

though she doesn't celebrate Halloween because of what it means. It

was really cute to watch her with the kids and all of that stuff! She

loved the chili and was always commenting on the costumes of the kids!

--Desiree is doing well, she's been reading a little from the Book of

Mormon. We taught her the Plan of Salvation last time we saw her and

she really liked it. She had a hard time with the Fall being a part of

the Plan, but most people do! It was a great lesson. Her son was very

calm through the whole thing, it was great!

--We saw Sister Leuallen and she's amazing! We talked about the Word

of Wisdom with her and she loved it! We broke it down based on verse

three in section 89 how it says it's a principle with a promise. It

was a really good lesson!

--I spent time in Cape May this week with Sister Trommlitz! It was

amazing, she's a dedicated missionary! We had so much fun together and

went out for ice cream at the fanciest McDonalds I've ever seen! The

relief society president and her husband took us after we helped clean

the church!

--Sister Scott is currently serving in Cherry Hill and came here with

me! We had a great time finding and teaching those in the area! We had

a crazy experience. There was a former who texted us wanting to come

to church, we asked for his address to give to his ride and then he

said "my grandmom has a church. Why don't you come to it sister?" I

said we had meetings all day Sunday so we probably couldn't. He then

said "I want to see you." followed by "Do you habe a picture I can

show my grandmom?" Things just kept going from there. It ended with me

telling him that we can't send pictures, we don't have Facebook and

that he should check out Mormon.org, he responded by telling me that

he just wants a wife and kids and to be happy. We then looked at his

teaching record and found out he had been told to "marry a woman of

our culture." Only as missionaries....

--We met a lady named Barbara Jackson, who was very happy to meet

Sister Jackson, but she didn't remember being baptized a member, so it

was very fun to chat with her!

--I have never been so tired in my life. #sleepdeprived

--We attended the ward trunk or treat this week. Can you guess what

our costume is? Most people couldn't. We got Harry Potter twice,

Inspector Gadget once, and business women once. Also, shout out to

Brother Naval for the awesome 80's ties!

It has been a great week everyone! The gospel is so true! It's so

amazing and so wonderful! I just want it to fill the world! The Book

of Mormon is the most correct book of any on earth! I know it is true,

I have felt it time and time again as I strive to live it. Never

forget that you are a child of Heavenly Parents! You are of infinite

worth and have more potential than you even know!

Life is good, God is great. I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Sister Randall's Birthday - District

Sisters, I mean Elders - Halloween

after 9:00

Always a Jackson 

Hello family and friends! What an amazing week it has been! We've had

some crazy good times! It has been a week of miracles out here. Let me

take you through it!

I don't even know where to start really. It was just so great. We had

a potential come to church with his family and it was awesome! He just

showed up and it was amazing! His name is Jimmy and we met him last

week. He was in the areabook so we went to stop by and he was out on

his porch! He said he'd have to come to our church before meeting with

us and that he would be there on Sunday! Well, we totally forgot and

on Sunday he walked into church with his wife and granddaughter!

Sister Taylor and I had absolutely no idea who it was! We figured it

out after a minute or two though, so that was really cool!

We also got to spend sometime in an area of our ward called Salem, it

is a humbler part of town and so many people just talk to us! We met a

lot of great people, some of them were formers that just recognized

the tag! One of them, named Anthony, we ran into twice! He was very

kind and seemed to have a real desire to meet with us. He told us that

he had been looking for God in his life and really wants to come

closer to Him. We also met a lady named Robin who's husband just

passed away a few months and he was a member! She told us that we are

welcome to come back anytime!

We met a few new members this week! One of them had just moved from

Utah and is a part member family. We just noticed them in our area

book and decided to stop by when we were in the area! They were so

sweet and so happy to see us! They let us right in and we talked with

them for a little. It was so awesome! They had the cutest kids who

were talking to us about their favorite primary songs from when they

attended in Utah with their grandmother!

The other one was a member referral, the member was able to find

Monique who has been less active since she was a teenager and bring

her back to the church! She was very excited to come back and came to

mutual last week with her kids! It was so great, and her kids had a

lot of fun being with the youth! The ward also lached on to them and

were so happy that they were there! It was so awesome!

A few weeks ago we met a lady named Jan. We kind of lost contact with

her for a little bit, but this week we just stopped by and she was so

happy to see us! She let us right in and we got to teach her! It was

so awesome. She met with missionaries a while ago and said that she

really enjoyed meeting with them! We taught her parts of the

Restoration and talked a lot about faith in Christ. She has a lot of

faith in Christ and has had some pretty amazing experiences. We

testified to her that God loves her and that Christ loves her, as the

spirit filled the room her eyes began to water. She just expressed how

much she loved God, and how she wants to make Him happy. I think the

best part of our whole meeting was when we gave her a Book of Mormon,

she just took it and held it close to her like it was the most

precious gift she had ever been given. It just testified to me again

that the Book of Mormon is one of the most precious gifts we have been

given.

We found a few new investigators this week! Santiago was a former that

we got into contact with this week. It was kind of crazy how we got

into contact with him. We knocked on his door and he wasn't home, so

with the help of his mom (who only speaks Spanish, neither one of us

speak Spanish.....) we were able to find him! He was very open and

even set up an appointment right then! We taught him yesterday and it

was crazy. He had so many questions ranging from "Is there a God?" to

"Why doesn't the Bible say anything about DNA?" We tried to follow the

Spirit as best we could to answer those questions, we taught from

modern apostles and from the Book of Mormon. We invited him to pray at

the very end and it was a beautiful, sincere prayer. He just simply,

and humbly, said "God, if your there please let us know so that we can

live how you would want us too." The spirit filled the room, and we

talked with him about the fruits of the spirit. He was very excited

for us to come back next week to talk more.

We got an old referral this week from some other missionaries and went

to do what we do best, follow up with them! We were totally awestruck

as we drove down the driveway to this house that looked like Pemberly

(sadly, Mr. Darcy was not there) and yes Sister Taylor and I started

to get really nerdy. Anyway, no one answered and as we were driving

away a lady walked out on the porch and looked super confused, we

explained why we were there and as it turns out the referral we got

has never lived there. We also found out that is was a no trespassing

area (side note: there were no signs anywhere saying it was, everyone

on the east coast just wants there own stuff, it's kind of weird), the

lady was polite but annoyed. So sadly we won't be going back to

Pemberly again.

We got to go on exchanges twice this week! I got to spend some time

here with sweet Sister Berhan from Santa Cruz, CA! We spent most of

our time in another area of the ward and had great fun down there! We

met a man who was Buddhist and wanted literally nothing to do with us,

but it was really fun to talk with him! We also may or may not have

been around a part of town where a drug deal was happening, we were

walking around and talking with everyone when very suspicious things

started to happen, people just started showing up and talking in

hushed tones and then disappearing behind houses, only to emerge a few

seconds later and hurry to their car. I don't know what a drug deal

looks like, but it was rather suspicious!

I also got to spend some time with Sister Durrant in Medford this

week! Sister Durrant is from Queen Creek, AZ and has been out just a

few transfers less than me! She's so very sweet and we had a great

time talking to everyone! We got to meet with their investigator named

Ramona for just a second. She's from Jamaica and so sweet! She and her

husband were hilarious, I wish I could take everyone there because you

can just tell they are best friends! It was sooo cute! We also got to

meet with their other investigator Amanda, who is progressing to

baptism! It was so much fun!

While on exchanges Sister Taylor taught one of our investigators named

Jon. Jon is super awesome! I've never met him but Sister Taylor gave

me the report and they didn't commit him to do anything! When they

would bring up the commitment he would just say "yeah, I'll leave my

self a commitment to do that!" We are very excited about him!

Today we got to meet with a lady named Betsy! Betsy is a friend of an

older man in the ward and met the sisters before I got transferred in.

We had lunch with her and she is very sweet! She was excited to see us

and had lots of great questions involving the priesthood and temples!

It was super great to see how open she was to the things we were

talking about! She understood most of it and we just encouraged her to

pray to find out for her self if what we were saying was true or not!

This week in my study of the Savior I fell in love with two words that

describe His Atonement. "Ransom" and "Vicarious". The Savior stood in

our place so that we might become clean through Him. In Jesus the

Christ, Elder Talmage says this concerning being ransomed. "The

Atonement to be wrought by Jesus the Christ was ordained to overcome

death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of Satan." Also

adding to that is the line from "I Believe in Christ." "I Believe in

Christ, He ransoms me. From Satans grasp He sets me free." To ransom

is to do the act of freeing someone from captivity or punishment. So

Christ freed us from the captivity or punishment comes when we are

under the power of Satan. We only have to turn towards Him.

Regarding "Vicarious" Jesus the Christ says this "The Atonement was

plainly to be a vicarious sacrifice, voluntary and love-inspired on

the Savior's part, universal in its application to mankind so far as

men shall accept the means of deliverance thus placed within their

reach." Vicarious means suffered or done by one person as a substitute

for another. Christ literally stood in our place when He ransomed us.

He made it so that we could become clean and spotless from the world,

He made it so we could return back home. He is the way home.

He lives! All glory to His name! He lives my Savior still the same!

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives! I know that my Redeemer lives!

I love you all!!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Exchanges with sister Behran and Crane

Soul Saving Center

Medford exchanges

always teaching

Hello everyone! It's been a crazy week this week, and the craziness is

just getting started. Out here in Woodstown we have 2 more sets of

sisters that we work with than we worked with in Kutztown, so

basically we say hello to each other and then say goodbye to each

other as we go on exchange after exchange. It's a little crazy! We are

loving it though! Missionary life is the life I want to live!

We had a pretty busy week this week. We started off with doing some

service for a member whose daughter got married on Saturday. They did

the reception at their house and made most of their decorations. I

have learned a lot of random things on my mission, but learning how to

macrame was one of the most random things I've learned. That night we

attended mutual to meet a few families whose kids are attending

mutual, we were able to meet a few of them and hopefully we can see

them again and continue to build relationships with them!

Wednesday was quite the crazy day. We spent a lot of time in a town

called Salem. We talked to everyone! We got into contact with a few

former investigators which is always very nice! They were super kind

and very willing to let us come back and visit with them again

sometime soon! We also go to meet with Desiree! She's so awesome! Her

little boy was causing a little bit of a ruckus, but that did not stop

the Spirit! We talked with her about the Restoration and why it's so

important. When we were talking about the Great Apostasy (the time the

church left the Earth), Sister Taylor asked the question, "What would

it mean to you to know that the true church of God is once again on

the Earth?" Desiree really thought about it before responding, she

said "I would have to go back to church." We were then able to testify

that it is on the Earth once more, that Joseph Smith restored it and

all the evidence you need is contained inside an amazing book of

scripture, The Book of Mormon. She happily accepted the Book of Mormon

and invited us to come back another day!

We ended our Wednesday with teaching a family who was in the area

book, they were interesting. From what the area book said it sounded

like they wanted to join, but that was not the case. They were a lot

more religious than we thought they were, so we just testified of why

faith in Jesus Christ is so important, the spirit totally saved us in

that lesson. It started to get really awkward when we asked if we

could share a message, and even more awkward when we offered the Book

of Mormon, but that's what missionary life is all about right?!

Surviving the awkward moments and pressing forward!

We had Zone Conference this week! Zone Conference is always so good.

President and Sister Randall are so inspired. We talked a lot about

faith in the Savior and why it's so important to have that faith. We

also talked about virtue and how virtue is a life long pursuit, but

something we should always pursue. Through our lives, we are supposed

to try to be virtuous, I really love the idea of virtue. It's so

important to strive to be virtuous at all times.

We also had exchanges this week with the Newark 3rd sisters! They are

so sweet! I was with cute Sister Hansen. She attended USU before

coming on the mission so we bonded over dear sweet Logan. It was so

much fun! She's so sweet.

Going back to faith in the Savior I have started an in depth study of

our Savior. He is so important to us and in our lives. As I've made

Him the focus of my studies I have found more comfort, more love and

more peace in my life. What does the Savior mean to you? Who is Jesus

Christ? I'd love to hear each of your answers. I know He is so

important, and He should be the center of our lives.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

1/2 of the original MTC District

Jackson, Hansen, Cragun, Taylor

Hello friends and family! I hope all is well! It has been a miraculous

week out here! The east coast has been fun with the weather as usual.

It was super humid one day and then the next it was dumping rain. I

will never understand the weather out here. Its crazy.

As most of you know last week I said farewell to Kutztown, my home of

six months. We made the long trek to Broomall Tuesday morning. MI got

to see some pretty great people there! Sister Morwood and SIster

Taylor (from my MTC group!), Sister Kuta and Sister Burrell (my old

STL)! It was so much fun! Its always great to see some of your old

friends and just catch up with them!

Eventually I got to find out who my companion was and you will never,

ever guess who it is! SISTER TAYLOR! Yes, the one from MTC! We freaked

out! I have joined her in Woodstown, New Jersey now, which is so

different from PA. Its so weird. We have had so much fun though! Right

off the bat we started to work and we have been seeing fruits ever

since!

We spent the majority of my first day in a little town called Salem.

Salem is super cool! Just this cute little town with tons of humble

people. We talked with everyone! It was so awesome! As we were walking

around we met a lady who was just sitting on her porch with her little

boy. We introduced ourselves and what we are doing, she was super

sweet! We testified of a loving Heavenly Father and how He knows us.

We set up a return appointment with her for later this week! It will

be fun to see what happens!

We also saw a miracle with a lady named Jan. We were walking to go see

a former investigator and she was outside walking her dog! She is

loosing her sight but she heard us approach and started to talk with

us! We told her who we were and what we are doing and she told us she

had met with missionaries ten years ago! We asked her if we could come

back and she said "I was just about to ask you if you'd like to come

back" it was so awesome! The Lord has a hand in His work! It is so

amazing to see the little things like that happen!

Another fun thing that happened this week, we met with Ms. Nanci. Ms.

Nanci is so fun! We met with her twice this week! She is just the

cutest. She has one big question, "which church has the key?" We have

been trying to help her find the answer. So we have watched part of

the Joseph Smith movie and talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. She

is slowly starting to put the pieces together!

Something crazy awesome that happened in one of Nanci's lessons was

her friend named Stephanie! As we taught the Restoration Stephanie was

just eating it up! It all made total sense to her and she asked for a

Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson. Sadly, she doesnt live in our

area but we are excited for the missionaries in her area to work with

her!

Something super fun about this area is that the Bishop's Storehouse is

in our area. So once a week we get to go and do service there so that

is super fun! I loved it! I love serving people because nothing is

truer than what King Benjamin says in Mosiah "When ye are in the

service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your

God." When we look outside of ourselves and put all of our effort into

serving others we will see amazing things happen to our lives!

The last bit of exciting news came from President Randall at MLC on

Friday. It was actually terrifying, but the Lord is furthering is work

through......SMARTPHONES. That is right, this missionary who hasn't

touched a smartphone in 13 months is now carrying one around in her

bag. Isn't that SCARY?!?!?! I think it is.

Well my dears. I love you all so much. This week as we taught a few

people about the Restoration of the gospel, I had a few thoughts come

to my mind. The Restoration is one of the greatest events in human

history. Without it, where would we be? I know for one thing I would

not be this happy. What would we do without this truth? It would be a

dark and cold world, I can tell you that much. President Randall

challenged us this transfer to read the BOM as a mission so I started

to reread it the other day and it really struck me that the BOM was

designed and destined to be translated. From the title page to the

introduction it says the word translated 8 times. There is no way

Joseph Smith could have written it. There is too much in it that he

could not make up on his own. This was all by divine design. Its that

simple. If you have questions or doubts about it the best thing to do

"is do to as James (1:5) directs, that is, ask of God." So ask Him,

because He has all the answers.

Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Last day with Sister Bush

Sister Jackson and Sister Taylor

New Jersey District

Sister Taylor, Sister Jackson, Pres. Vai Sikahema

Hello darling people! It has been a good week! It's finally cooling off out here, no more summer weather! To give a quick recap before we dive in, I've been sick. Transfers are tomorrow! General Conference, 10/10. Investigators, finding, members, and so much more! Are you ready? 

I am leaving Kutztown. A part of my heart I will be leaving here, but I'm ready for my next adventure. I don't know where I'm going yet, so if you're going to write me a letter or anything you'll have to send it to 721 Paxon Hollow Rd. Sutie B Broomall, PA 19008 and they will get it to me! 

So, a few weeks ago my darling companion decided to catch a nasty cold. I of course was perfectly fine, until Tuesday. Because I spend 24/7/365 with my companion I caught her nasty cold, but not only that, I also caught the flu from somewhere. We spent Wednesday inside, where I spent most of the day sleeping. It was a good time. We still got work done! While I was resting Sister Bush was able to call a whole bunch of people! The work never stops. 

We also had the most amazing finding event this week! So out here in Kutztown there is a University. KU is the most diverse school ever, we talked to people not only from all over PA, but we met a man from Zimbabwe, a woman from Japan and a man from Brazil! It was crazy! This tiny town with a University I've never heard of, attracts people from all over the world. Anyway, we did a booth there with the help of our Branch mission leader. We had candy (college kids are suckers for candy) and a survey about Jesus Christ. We got 66 people to fill out the survey. Every single survey we had was filled out. 14 of those 66 we got the information for. The most stunning part to me was that 46 of the 66 people who filled it out answered "Yes" to the question "Have you ever wondered where you came from, why you're here or where you're going?" It broke my heart! Knowing that I have the answers to these questions made my heart burn to share it with everyone I see. The Plan of Salvation is such a gift, and I am so thankful to be one of the few who knows about it and who can say with confidence that I know where I came from, I know why I'm here and I know where I am going. The gospel can answer all questions, and the Plan of Salvation is a big answer, to some  if questions. 

We met with Stephanie this week! Dick was in Boston so it was just her and us! It was awesome! We talked about prayer, and why it's so important to pray correctly. At the end of the lesson Stephanie prayed, and her prayer to Heavenly Father was so sincere. She told Him her struggles, her desires and her thoughts. She was so honest and prayed to Him like He was standing right in front of her. It warmed my heart to know that He heard that prayer and He is going to answer her prayer all in His time. 

General Conference was the best! I thoroughly enjoyed Elder Hollands talk. He's so good! I adore him. I loved when he said "Christ sets us free because he loves us and is moved with compassion towards us." How true is that?! I was on exchanges the other day and Sister Stubben and I were talking about the Atonement. My goodness, this event is so important. I think sometimes as members we forget how important it is until we have to use it. Anyway, we talked about how Christ saves us from others, from pain and from sin, but He saves us from ourselves. In Alma 7:11-13 it talks about the Atonement of Christ so powerfully, its become one of my favorite scriptures. It talks about how "He will go forth, suffering pains, temptations and afflictions....that He may know how to succor His people according to the flesh." Christ is literally moved with compassion towards us because He has been there! He's felt that moment when you fall to the ground in tears either literally or figuratively, He knows what depression feels like, He knows what it feels like to beat yourself up, and He will help us out of every situation. He will set us free if we let Him set us free. It's like the forgotten Carol, "The Innkeeper". "He lets us choose each hour of each day if we'll let Him in to stay. Let Him in, let Him in, let the joy and the hope begin." Choose Christ because He loves us, and is moved with compassion towards us.

I also loved Elder Hales final words, as spoken by Elder Andersen. "Our faith prepares us to be in the presence of God." Faith is an action word, and can cause things to happen that need to happen. When we have faith, we can do anything. Faith is what challenges us and creates us. Faith will make us into who we need to be so that we can be with Heavenly Father again and bask in His glory. Faith is what will make us ready to be God's and Goddesses in the eternities to
come. Faith is our power to become.

President Uchtdorf also happens to be the man! I loved his talk, LOVED IT! When he said "As you serve God you will see great progress in your own life, in ways you could never imagine." I thought back on my mission. Serving God truly has changed me life. I have progressed into something and someone I never could have become if I didn't dedicate every single day to Him. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, my life and my time is His. I have never felt so happy, so whole, so complete, and so loved in my whole life. Serving God is the best decision I have ever made, and I will never ever regret giving Him my whole self. John C. Pingree Jr. said "God has an important work for each of us." He does! He just needs us to trust and follow Him. In Mosiah 2 King Benjamin exhorts his people to render all that they are unto Christ. As we render our whole selves to the cause of Christ we are blessed beyond belief and beyond our imagination. As Elder Christofferson said we can "find real hope in Jesus Christ." 

Let's talk about President Nelson, Elder Callister and President Eyring for a second here.  The Book of Mormon is true! President Monson, our beloved prophet, testified of it last April and now we have these three powerful witnesses of the Book of Mormon. President Nelson said "The Book of Mormon is a priceless gift that we are given. It teaches us everything we need to make it through this life." Elder Callister said "Gods fingerprints are all over the Book of Mormon."  President Eyring testified "The Book of Mormon is the guide home." To me the Book of Mormon is everything. Without the Book of Mormon I would have nothing. There would be a hole in my life that couldn't be filled by anything else. Without the Book of Mormon I would have no idea about the life after this, or that I will be with my family forever. I join in pleading with the prophets and apostles that you read from it each day. If you haven't read it. Read it. It will change your life. I promise you that. 

My friends, my family. I love each of you. God loves each of you. He knows you. Trust Him. Believe Him. Talk to Him. He's waiting for you. Come unto His son. Moroni urges us to "Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him and deny yourselves of all ungodliness." It is my prayer that all of us may be able to come unto Christ and be perfected in Him. I love you all, until next week. 

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Josie and Sister Bush

That's right brothers and sisters! It's time for the 187th semi-annual

General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

I seriously wish this came around more than every 6 months! Hearing a

prophet of God speak to us is an opportunity we can't pass up! It's

too good, too uplifting and too true! I hope you all tune in for at

least one of the sessions on either Saturday or Sunday. You can find

it on the radio, tv or on lds.org I promise you will not regret

watching it! It's two hours of straight spiritual upliftment, and you

can't go wrong with that!

Anyway, I'm very excited for Conference if you can't tell! It's been a

good week out here, it's also be fairly hot. Thankfully not as humid,

but still hot. I am ready for fall weather! PA just isn't ready to let

it be fall. In other news, transfers are this week, so that's crazy!

It feels like I just got here and I've been here almost 6 months.

Funny how time flies when you're having fun!

Haha, anyway. This week I got to spend some time in Easton with Sister

Watkins and Sister Petersen. They are both amazing missionaries! Also,

fun fact, Sister Petersen is from Bear Lake, UT and we know a few of

the same people! It was fun to talk with her about raspberry shakes

and all those things that make Bear Lake, Bear Lake! Anyway, we had a

great time! We got caught in some crazy traffic and ended up getting

to Easton a lot later than we thought! We did get to go finding a

little and the area is so cute up there! We also taught a lesson to a

lady named Cynthia, who is just the cutest lady ever! She's got a cute

little girl and she bought us chick-fil-a! We ended our night at a

relief society meeting which are always fun!

Once I got back to the promised land (that's Kutztown, just in case

you forgot) I found out that Sister Bush and Sister Cripe had set Dave

with a date!! That's right! For the first time in almost a year the

Kutztown Ward has someone on date to enter the waters of baptism! It

was so awesome to hear that! From what I heard the lesson went great

and that he just wants to gain understanding now! It was just so

great!

We also met with Stephanie this week. It turned out to be a rather

interesting lesson, she is doing good though! She came to church on

Sunday! She was only able to stay for sacrament meeting, which was

sad, but hopefully we can continue to work with her and help her see

the truth of the gospel!

We also got to meet the LaMartins this week! Brother LaMartin and his

wife, Cindy, are so cute! We just wanted to stop by and they happened

to be outside! We talked with them for a good long while about lots of

stuff! Brother LaMartin kept calling Cindy a "closet Mormon." She told

us he calls her that because she watches Mormon Channel all the time.

Her favorite show is the District! She said "Its so fun to watch what

missionaries do. I get super in to it!" It was pretty funny.

We also got to see Daniela! She's a member of the branch and is so

sweet! We talked to her about school and work and all that! She told

us she wants to become a Mortician and that they make over 400,000

dollars a year! How crazy is that?!? Sister Bush has this theory that

they make so much money to pay for counseling for their trauma, PTSD,

and nightmares about dead people. Who knows though, it takes some very

brave people to spend all their days with dead people. That's not up

my alley, I can tell you that much.

To end our week we got to watch the women's conference! If you haven't

watched it, GO WATCH IT! It's so good! The whole thing was about

making sure we remember who we are as children of God. Because we have

a divine destiny, in fact we have divine spiritual DNA because we are

literally God's children. Don't ever forget that. You are literally a

child of God, who has more power and more love than we as humans can

even imagine.

One talk in particular stood out to me. One of the auxiliary leaders

spoke (I believe it was Sister Jones) and she said "When we sin it

makes us less worthy, but not worth less." What a great reminder! When

we do the wrong things Satan gets to us by telling us that we are

worth less now in Gods eyes, that we have lost part of our divine

potential. That is not the case! We are never worth less! To our

Heavenly Father we are children of infinite worth, and that can never

be changed.

This gospel is so real, and so good! I know that Thomas S. Monson is a

prophet of God. That Jesus Christ leads and directs this church. That

Joseph Smith was called of God and ordained to restore the truths that

were once lost. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church of

God once again on the earth.

I love being a missionary. I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

YSA branch

Sister Jackson

Sister splits
Watkins, Bush, Petersen, Cripe, Jackson

Hello from a cold/sticky/hot Eastern State! PA likes to keep us guessing when it comes to the weather. It was fall, but now it's summer again. It's like being at home with the awful Utah weather. However, I did find out that PA is the most amazing state, they have apple cider slushes! Seriously, how cool is that?! My two favorite things combined into one. Delicious. 

It has been a good few days since I last emailed, the temple was wonderful. There is just something so special about the PA temple, maybe because I feel like it's my temple, or because it's in the middle of a busy city and it's so peaceful. Who knows, but I love it! It's a magical place.

After our P-Day was over, we went to go visit the Hillmans! It was great! We had a good talk about bacon. In fact Brother Hillman said "bacon is like fairy dust. Bipity-bopity-bacon" anyway, after that we talked about Spiritual Crocodiles. They are sneaky things, they hide in plain sight, and we never really know what they are until we are at the watering hole, and by that time it's far too late. The good news is that when we fall into those sneaky traps we have a thing called repentance, which can change everything around for you. 

We also met with Stephanie and Dick this week! Dick also came to church! It was so awesome! A lot of the brothers in the ward were coming up and introducing themselves to him! Which was so nice! We talked with them about the baptismal interview questions and invited them to be baptized on December 9th! They said that they'd have to come to church first, but Stephanie is willing to have faith to believe that Jospeh is a prophet of God. We think that they are very close! 

We met with a man named Yasir this week. He is Islamic but is super interested in learning about other faiths, we talked with him about the Plan of Salvation and it was interesting! As we talked about the Fall and the eternal perspective he mentioned that they have the same belief. We just had a great time talking with him about the gospel and answering his questions! 

Lately, I've had prayer on my mind. I've been thinking about how to make it more meaningful in my life. On Thursday I'll hit one year of being out here in PA, and I am so thankful for it. So I've been studying how to have more meaningful but also more thankful prayers. I've found a few scriptures that really stuck out to me.

1 Nephi 3:1 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, returned from speaking with the Lord, to the tent of my father.

Alma 39:10 And I command you to take it upon you to counsel with your elder brothers in your undertakings; for behold, thou art in thy youth, and ye stand in need to be nourished by your brothers. And give heed to their counsel.

Moroni 8:3 I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.

I love these verses. First, you counsel with the Lord and then with your fellow beings. Take everything you do to the Lord, and he will direct your path. Second, counsel with him often, and listen to what he has to say, he's been here, he's done it, he knows. So follow him. Give heed to his words. Third, pray continually, and be mindful of others around you in your prayers. Along with all of this studying I've also started to write down my prayers and it's been fun to see how they change and grow! When we talk with the Lord we are given what we need, maybe not what we want but what we need. Life isn't the easiest thing to do, but when we counsel with him, and focus on saying what we really need to say to him, we are able to braved the storms of life. It's a good life with the Lord on our side. 

Jesus is the Christ. Father in Heavens knows each of us individually and he knows our struggles. Being a missionary is my favorite calling, and I love wearing the Saviors name each day. I love you all! Have an amazing week and don't forget to counsel with your Father in Heaven! ❤️

Much love,

Sister Jackson

car selfies

exchanges with Reading sisters

Hello everyone! It has been a great week here in PA!!! We had to

switch P-Day today because we are on our way to the temple right now!

I'm so excited to go and spend time in the temple. It is such a

wonderful, beautiful place. I hope all of you take time this week to

at least go spend time on the temple grounds, because even there the

spirit is so strong.

This week I got to spend sometime in Reading and in Pottstown! In

Reading I got to be with Sister Morrison, a brand new missionary! She

was just the sweetest, and we had so much fun in Reading! We visited a

lady named Kirsten, who the sisters had just found a few days before,

and she was so sweet! We started to teach her the Restoration and the

spirit was so strong, when we invited her to be baptized she said yes!

We also got to visit Sister Morales, a recent convert who is working

on Personal Progress, and it was so fun to help her with that! Overall

we had a really good time out in Reading.

Pottstown was also just so fun! I spent the day with Sister Stubben,

my MTC companion! We had so much fun! We met a lot of really funny

people and had a great lesson! We met with a member of their

congregation, Sister Hathaway. Sister Hathaway was so sweet! She

converted to the church because the Book of Mormon shows that native

Americans were just lost christians. Anyway, we talked with her about

family history! It was way fun! We also meet a very entertaining lady!

We knocked on her door and was was so excited to see people out

talking about Jesus, so we talked with her for a while and we showed

her "Because of Him" and all of the sudden she just goes, "Is that the

new bible videos with the fine Jesus? Yes that is! That Jesus is

fine." I almost dropped my iPad I started to laugh so hard. We just

had so much fun together! It was so fun to just do work with her!

Back here in the promised land, Sister Bush kept up at the work! She

met with Dave, and almost got him set up with a date! She also met

with Stephanie and Richard and was able to talk with them about their

concerns and get them resolved! She's the best!

I also got to spend some time with Sister Carter here in Kutztown! We

were able to go and see Rhonda, she is doing very well! She had a few

questions about the Book of Mormon and we had a good discussion about

real intent and how we know it's true. We talked about how the Book of

Mormon doesn't replace the Bible but adds to it. We also met a lady

named Donna who met with missionaries a few months ago, and seemed

really happy to see us again! Then we met with the Ackerman family for

dinner and just talked about the Plan of Salvation and it was such a

good conversation with them!

It was really a good week! We also met with Kevin and talked about the

importance of the Sabbath day, which was just really good! We talked

about the sacrament and why we partake of the sacrament, I love the

sacrament. I love that we can be clean each week. There is nothing

greater than the fact that we can be forgiven each and every week, as

long as we repent and humbly partake of the bread and water we can

overcome all the mistakes we made through the week.

We also met with a member of the congregation, Sister Hain! Sister

Hain grew up in Utah and grew up a member of the church. She's been

having a hard time coming to church for a little and so we had dinner

with her and just talked about missionary work, especially her nephew

out on his mission in New York. It was just a really good time! She

was so funny, and so sweet! We just loved being around her!

We also had interviews this week, and I love being around President

Randall. It's also so fun to be with him and just be so inspired by

him and his words. I am so thankful for the Randall's, and for all

that they do for us as missionaries. I know I was called here, in

part, because of the Randall's.

Oh my friends and family I am so thankful for the gospel. This week I

have just really been focusing on the Atonement. Sister Bush and I

have been doing the addiction recovery program together when we have

the time. Last stake conference, Sister Pedersen, the ARP missionary,

talked about how it's less of an addiction recovery and more of an

Atonement 1010 and it has been amazing! I have learned so much about

the Atonement and how important it really is in this last week.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is so amazing, it is so real. He

suffered there for me, and for my mistakes, sins, pains, and

afflictions. He's been there before me, and He's always as close as a

prayer. I'm beyond thankful for Him.

I love you all! Until Monday ❤️

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Sister Jackson & Sister Bush

Sister Bush, Josie, and the Kirklands