Aloha from the rainy state of New Jersey! It’s been freezing out this way.
I am 95% sure that it was not this cold out here last year. I’ve been
freezing for a week. It’s okay though! With the help of Our faithful car,
Mahonri, and of my clothes from last year we’ve been able to stay somewhat
warm!

I figured I’d add a few fun facts about Jersey today:
- everyone here says “wooder” instead of water
- they are obsessed with “No Trespassing” signs
- you have to pay to leave. Not to get in. Just to leave.
- they have the ugliest bugs I’ve ever seen
- the sassiest people who have ever lived live here
- I STINKING LOVE THIS STATE

Last week I mentioned a few people who were very promising. Ashley being
one of them. We met Ashley on exchanges with Newark and she had a great
desire to learn more about the Savior. This week Sister Taylor and I were
able to meet with her! We taught the Plan of Salvation and talked a lot
about how the gospel blesses our lives and how she has seen Christ in her
life. She had some great testiomies of the Savior and who He is to her. She
also shared with us how knowing Him has blessed her life. It was a really
great lesson!

We also got to hear from Maggie! She is the one who attended Sewell ward
for a few weeks and then expressed a desire to be baptized! She reached out
to us today and we set up a time to meet with her on Tuesday so that will
be so great! She is so amazing! She already has great member fellowship and
has been attended church and has been reading the scriptures. All she
really needs is the lessons! We talked with Sister Whitcomb (the bishops
wife and Maggie’s friends mom) and she told us that Maggie wants to be
baptized as soon as possible! It was so awesome! The Lord truly provides
for us when we put ourselves to work!

We met with Santiago this week with our ward mission leader and his wife.
Santiagos family doesnt want us meeting at his house anymore so we met at
the church and gave a great chapel tour! It has been so long since I have
done a chapel tour and it was so awesome to just walk though and talk about
why church is so important to us! Santiago also seemed to really get what
we were saying about church and about Christ and why He is the center of
everthing we do. We talked a lot about how the gospel is happiness. I
caused me to think about how the gospel is really my light. If I didn’t
have the gospel, where would I be? It’s kind of a scary thought....

We taught our investigator Scott this week. He is so awesome! He’s got a
great love for Christ and a desire to find a new church. However; he’s been
praying about our church and doesn’t feel like it is right for him. He
assured us we are still friends but that he is no longer going to be
looking into the church.

Going back to the cold side of my week we had two exchanges this week! I
got to spend some time with Sister Horan in Medford! We spent a lot of the
day walking around talking with people! It was kind of funny because I
forgot to grab my coat before I left for the day and so as we walked I
froze! The next day we went to stop by a few people and met a former
investigator and he told me multiple times I was going to catch a cold if I
wasn’t careful! He told me next time he seems me he expects to see me in a
coat. His exact words were “You’d better be in a coat next time girl!”

Our other exchange was with Cherry Hill and Sister Janjua came to join me
in Woodstown! We spent most of our day in Penns Grove out walking. I
remembered my coat, and scarf, and gloves, and hat this time and I was
still pretty chilly! We then had dinner with the Relief Society President
and I tried oyster mushrooms. They were interesting.....we also found a
little pizza joint that sells their pizza half price after 8pm
#missionaryheaven

Speaking of missionary heaven. I had THE almost legendary pizza this week.
The Fifes are a family in the ward who love the missionaries! They had us
over for dinner this week and Brother Fife made his homemade pizza. It was
so delicious. I could have eaten the whole pizza by myself. It was so good.
We then had Fifes delight for desert which was basically heaven in pie
form. It was a good evening!

Friends and family, the gospel is so true. How could it not be? This week
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Book of Mormon. We’ve been working hard
to get our investigators to read from it and to understand the importance
of it in our lives. In Preach My Gospel is says “*Reading, pondering* and
*praying* about the Book of Mormon are critical for an *enduring conversion*.”
President Monson in the October general Conference exhorted is to read from
the Book of Mormon Every. Single. Day.

Now why is this so important? Why is the Book of Mormon the keystone of our
religion? Well, it’s a Book of scripture that has only been translated
once. There is only one version of the Book of Mormon. The Savior is
testified of on every page. As you loose yourself in its pages, I promise
you that you will find yourself. I know that that version of yourself that
you find will be happier, lighter and be content with the life you are
living. The Book of Mormon is not just “another book” it is *Another
Testament of Jesus Christ. *Tad R Callister said “These are *messages* with
a *heartbeat*.” I know that this is true. The Book of Mormon is true, I
know it with all of me. It has upheld me, strengthened me, and turned my
day around. No book can do that. It’s true, it has to be. However, don’t
take my word for it, read it for yourself, and then do as Moroni directs in
Moroni 10:4-5
“4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would *exhort you that ye
would ask God*, the Eternal Father, *in the name of Christ*, if these *things
are not true*; and if ye shall ask with a *sincere heart*, with *real
intent*, *having faith in Christ*, he will manifest the truth of it unto
you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the *truth* of all things.”

Ask the only One who can tell you the truth of all things. Ask God, our
Heavenly Father, and He will guide you. I know He will, because He has done
so for me.

“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.” -Jospeh Smith, Jr.

Much love,
Sister Jackson

Sent from Woodstown, NJ 🚜