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