Hello my dear friends and family! I hope that all is going well for

each of you in each of your lives! It's been a great week out here in

PA, as it always is! We had a great time going out and finding people

to teach!

To start off our round of really great lessons we had a lesson with

Angel! We had a great talk on faith, each of us there were able to

share stories of times when our faith has been pushed to the edge.

When we have been as faithful as we have ever been but we were still

pushed in away that we never thought was possible, yet we made it out

on top and our faith has never been stronger. I just love the idea of

faith, we all have faith, we have faith the sun will rise, we have

faith mom will make dinner (or buy it), we have faith in our alarm

clocks too off at the right time. If we think about it that way we

know that faith is more than just believing in God. In Ether 12:27 it

talks about the weakness that men are given and that it is given to us

to build faith, that as we show faith in Him that weakness will become

our strength. I love that, as a missionary you are shown your weakness

left and right, but over these last few months I've seen that weakness

become a strength to me.

We also had a lesson with the Hillmans! The family I mentioned last

week that we "accidentally" found at the service activity. They are

super awesome! When they first met missionaries they weren't sure

about baptism, but eventually they were all baptized, moved around and

landed back here in Kutztown! We talked with them about Ether 12:27 as

well and talked about how with faith we can overcome all things.

Especially temporal things, that as we act on our faith the power of

the Atonement of Jesus Christ is allowed to follow freely into our

lives.

We met with Stephanie and Dick and they are so amazing! Super funny

people, we talked about why scripture study is so important. We also

talked about tithing and why it's so important. They were so open and

had so much to say! It was incredible! After every lesson Dick throws

his arms out and waves with one hand and goes "Peace Guys!" It's so

great, they are just so cute!

We had the best lesson this week with some members. The Opperosano's

are from New York and are converts to the church. We met with them and

started to teach the lessons, we taught the Restoration and it was so

awesome! We had a great conversation about why the gospel is true, why

it's important and why we still live it each and everyday. Sometimes

we look at the things we do as members and we are faced everyday to

make decisions to either choose the gospel or to not. Everyday we show

our commitment to Heavenly Father based on our actions because

sometimes it can be pretty tempting to sleep in on that Sunday that

church is at 9am, but we make that decision to get up and go when the

world says to stay in.

We met with Dave again! He's doing amazing. We talked to him about

tithing and how it's so different from the way most churches and how

we use it. We also talked about the Law of Chastity. It was pretty

great! We had a great conversation about how the world has changed so

much since he was growing up and how it's pretty much unheard of for

people to be chaste until marriage. It was pretty great, when we

committed him to live the law of chastity he just smiled and was like

"Well, I'm already living it." It was so awesome!

Right after this lesson we got caught in a giant rainstorm running

from our car to the apartment (it was right next to curfew) and as we

were running our phone decided to come to life. It jumped right out of

Sister Bush's bag and right into a puddle. We went 3 days with out a

phone and couldn't get a hold of anyone because our miles were low so

we couldn't drive to them. Who knew that a phone would be so key in

missionary work! We now have a legitimate flip phone, it's so awesome!

This week Sister Bush and I had a meeting down in Broomall, and it was

awesome! For those who don't know the Missionary Department released a

new version of chapter 8 in Preach my Gospel called "How do I fulfill

my purpose?" And it is AMAZING!!! President Randall spent most of the

day training us on how to use it so that we could help the other

missionaries know how to use it. We also talked a lot about why

setting goals is so important and why we need to make plans to

actually get there. Goals need plans, otherwise it's just an

unachievable dream.

On Saturday we had so much fun! We parked at the church and then

walked over to Kutztown University. Where we spent the majority of our

time just contacting people on the street. We handed out 20 pass along

cards, but talked to way more than that. Out of those 20 people we had

one who gave us his number and told us to come back. We were so

excited! It was awesome.

Earlier this week we also met a lady named Lessie. We were just out

doing what we tend to do, knocking on doors, and when she first opened

she wasn't all that interested. Then Sister Bush brought up that we

help build faith and we'd love to come back to build faith with her.

She seemed to light up and she gave us her number and as she was

closing the door she said "Please call me, and we'll sit down

sometime." It was so awesome! I remember when I was brand new new to

the mission, I hated knocking on doors, and don't get me wrong it's

still not my favorite pastime. Yet, when we knock on 20 doors and only

one of them is opened all the way it makes the other 19 so so so worth

it. Worth the people trying to Bible bash, worth the people who think

we are something that we're not, worth every single rejection.

This week I've had an interesting experience this week with prayers.

My whole mission I've heard the idea of being accountable to the Lord,

but I never knew what that really meant. So I asked President Randall

at our meeting and he gave me some ideas. I've since started to apply

them and let me talk you something. Heavenly Father recognizes when we

are trying to change, and He wants to help us change. It is quite the

feeling, I've felt it before, but it's always nice to feel it again. I

always knew that He was listening but now it's like I can feel him

right next to me, it's like I'm having a real conversation with a real

person, because I am.

Oh my dears, life is so good, God is so good, I love being a

missionary. It's been a great year, and I can't wait to see what

happens next.

I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Caught in a rainstorm

Josie, Hermana Gomez, Sister Bush

Luchador Mask

Hello lovelies! This week has been quite the week! We've had a great

time and when we had transfer calls we found out that we will both be

staying another six weeks! We are so excited! Great things are

happening out here and I'm excited to keep watching all of this

unfold!

Life is so good as a missionary, I wish I could put into words. I have

learned so much out here in Kutztown, but number one, the Lord has a

plan that He unfolds on His timeline. Being fully reliant on the Lord

is the only way to live in this life.

This week weve had quite a few lessons! We taught Dave again, I was

here with Sister Crane when we taught him and it was awesome! We had a

whole lesson planned out but when we got there we learned that the

Spirit had a different idea. Dave had a question about the Book of

Mormon and why the Nephites or the Lamanites aren't in history books.

So we used the introduction to the Book of Mormon and a scripture in

Mormon 8 about how the Nephites were destroyed. It was such a good

lesson! At the end of the lesson Dave told us that he would be setting

up a chart so that he could read the Book of Mormon. It was so

awesome!

We also met with Stephanie and her husband, Dick, this week. It was

great! We met with them at the church and talked about a lot of

things! Stephanie loved the missionaries and the church in Montana and

she's so excited to keep learning! Dick had a few questions about

coffee and tithing and all sorts of stuff! It was just a really really

good lesson with two people who are excited and willing to learn about

the gospel!

We also met with Angel again and talked about why Faith in Jesus

Christ is so important. I'm not sure why but faith has been on my

mind. I read Ether 12 this morning and thought about how weaknesses

can become strengths for us when we turn to Christ. It's an

interesting way to look at weaknesses, because really they are so easy

to be rid of when we just turn to Christ and put our weaknesses on

Him.

We met with Kerrie this week and it was amazing! We talked about the

first three points of the restoration and it was such a good

conversation! At the end we asked Kerrie to pray and it was literally

the sweetest thing ever. She thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to

her when she needed that doorbell to ring, she prayed that we will

find those who want to know about Christ, and she prayed that we will

be protected as we go looking for those who want to meet us. It

brought tears to my eyes as I thought about the simple door knocks, or

scriptures read to random people and how it was what they needed. How

it was a possible answer to their prayers. How even if they weren't

interested now, it can open that door for another missionary later. I

think as members we forget how big our impact can be when we are

living worthy of our covenants.

We got to go see Brenda this week and it was so awesome! While we were

there a huge rainstorm came and seriously started to flood her

basement and created two rivers down the side of her house. It was

crazy! However, when we left we said a prayer that her plumber would

get back to her because her pump wasn't working to clean out her

basement, and she texted us about an hour later that he had gotten

back to her. Prayers are real friends, when it doubt, pray it out!

This week we also got to go and help this super sweet older couple

move! They had a lot of stuff, but there was a miracle tucked into

this move. A few weeks ago some people moved back into our ward and

we've been asked to get a hold of them, but we never could. So we get

to this service activity and there is a man there and he goes "What?!

They put sisters back in Kutztown!" We were so lost, and then he

introduced himself as Brother Hillman, the family we had been looking

for! It was so awesome, if we had never gone to this activity we would

have maybe never met Brother Hillman and gotten their right address.

Heavenly Fathers hand was in this the whole time, it all started a few

months ago when Sister Molano met the older woman and told her we'd be

happy to help! Heavenly Father knows what Hes doing, don't ever doubt

that!

The church is so true everyone! How could it not be? With the church

life makes sense, it's not easy but it makes sense. Without the church

life doesn't make sense and isn't easy. I've worked with so many

people whose lives are harder than they need to be because they don't

have the church, or choose not to have the church. I am so thankful to

grow up in the covenant and to have faithful parents. The gospel is

always easier than the world. Always.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Splits with Sister Crane and Sister Cripe

9 months for Sister Bush

Josie and her Froggie Friend

Hello! I hope it's been a good week for you all wherever you might be

through the world! It's been an interesting week. I don't quite have

all the words to describe what has happened, but it's been a good week

and that's all that matters!

We spent part of Wednesday morning at the temple! It was awesome as

always! The temple is such a great place to be. Full of the spirit and

you just know that you're doing something right because you get to be

there! After we got to go have Panda Express for lunch 😋 it was so

good! I hope that you all have the temple in your sights, because it's

the best place to be!

Monday we taught an amazing Family Home Evening with our wonderful

YSA! We taught the donut analogy for the Atonement. It was so powerful

and the Spirit was so thick. At the end we had everyone do a one

sentence testimony of the Savior, which is something President Randall

has us do, and it was so powerful! Nothing brings the Spirit faster

and more powerfully than simple one sentence testimonies of the

Savior.

The next day we had a lesson with a lady named Myesha. We taught the

Restoration and it was so good! She had a lot of questions and the

spirit was there the whole time! Sadly we had to pass her off to the

elders, she's amazing though. She's really looking for the truth,

she's thirsting for it. She's ready. We had dinner with the Molano's

that night and I love them! It was so awesome!

We had another lesson with Rhonda this week! It was good! She is an

amazing woman. She has a desire to learn, she just needs to understand

a few more things about what we really believe and she will be there!

That night we had exchanges with Reading so Sister Phelon came up here

to spend the day with me!

The next day was great! Sister Phelon and I got to go teach Sister

Silfies about the Restoration. It was super awesome! She's so amazing!

Sister Silfies has great faith in the Lord and has such a desire to

share that with her family! It's so awesome! Following that we had a

lesson with the Robertsons, a super cute family from Nibley! It was so

much fun! After we exchanged back and then got to go on exchanges

again with the Lehighton sisters, I got to go to Lehighton with Sister

Carter!

Lehighton was so much fun! It is the cutest little town! We met the

sweetest people there! Sister Carter loves to do missionary work, she

and her companion just left the Priesthood Site to come to proselyte

in Lehighton! We had dinner with some members up there and they were

the cutest! Sister Carter was just out talking to everyone during the

day, we met lots of amazing people! It was so awesome! I love these

sisters so much!

Sunday was so crazy. We had meetings on meetings on meetings. Starting

at 7:30 until about 5:15. It was crazy! Following that we had a lesson

with the Skidmores and it was amazing! We read 1 Nephi 17 and we

really just dove into it. We talked about how the scriptures in that

chapter can apply to us in the day to day life! It was so awesome!

On Sunday we had the most amazing miracle! A few weeks ago Sister Bush

and I received a referral for a lady named Stephanie, we stopped by a

few times but she was never home. Then we decided to ask her neighbor

and her neighbor told us that she'd been out of state for months. So

on Sunday we got a phone call from some sisters in Montana, they told

us that they had a few referrals for us and one of their names was

Stephanie, and she lived at the address of our mysterious referral.

Turns out Stephanie was in Montana the last few months and was able to

find missionaries there and be taught! It was such a blessing.

This week has been hard, but good. Monday evening we got a phone call

from a lady in our ward to tell us that one of our really good friends

had passed away in a tragic car accident. It was so sad for us to hear

that she had passed. Sister Bush and I attended her viewing on

Thursday and it was so sad to see someone we loved so dearly, she

didn't even look like the Cindy Amorino that we knew and that we love.

Friday Sister Phelon and I attended the funeral. It was beautiful

ceremony, friends and family the Plan of Salvation is so real. Today

Sister Bush and I were able to go to her grave site. It's still not

real to me that a dear sweet friend is waiting of the other side of

the veil.

Missionary work is amazing my friends. I had a dear, sweet YSA ask me

what my mission meant to me and it just brought me to tears to even

think about how much my mission has changed my life. Serving others,

serving Christ is a life changing experience. If any of you are

thinking about a mission, just say yes. You will not regret serving, I

promise you that. Serving others is the only way to find yourself, and

to find true happiness. Sometimes your blessings come in unexpected

ways, and sometimes it might even be in the form of raindrops.

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

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Lehighton Sisters

Reading Sisters

Josie and Sister Phelan

Hello my lovelies! I hope your week has been good! It's been quite a

rainy week out here. Rain has been pouring all over. It's been quite

the adventure, but it explains why it's so green out here!

On Monday we got to go see Brenda and it was so awesome! We had our

plans for the evening fall through and we just decided to go tracting,

well we were talking and we both had thought about Brenda. So off we

went! She is the best!

This week we also got to see Sister Price! She's doing great! We got

to help her with some more painting around her house and it has been a

while since we had seen her, so we caught up with her on all of her

travels. She wants to come back to church so we are working with her

on that.

One of the many miracles we saw this week was a lady named Kerrie. A

few weeks ago we were planning and I thought we should go down and

tract but I ended choosing a different street closer to the area we'd

be in. Turns out this week we ended up on that street and we found

Kerrie. The first door we knocked on she answered! We testified of the

Book of Mormon and she let us right in! It was awesome! We talked with

her for a while about Christ and how important He is, she told us we

were welcome back any time!

We also got to see Angel this week, he's doing well! We taught the

Restoration and it was super awesome! Teaching the restoration is my

favorite lesson because it's the foundation for everything we build

upon. It's so awesome.

We had a crazy adventure this week. We drove down to the P1 area to

spend the night before our meeting in Broomall. What should have taken

us only 1 hour and 45 minutes took us 2 hours and 10 minutes. Due to

traffic and a few wrong turns taken by yours truly it was crazy, we

ended up almost driving into the city and it was just a crazy

adventure!

Our meeting was super good though! We talked a lot about how to set

goals and why they are so  important. Sister Condon, a fellow

missionary, brought up something called A-Z goals. It's where you set

a big goal for goal Z and then make goals A-Y in order to reach goal

Z.

Another miracle we saw this week is last night Sister Bush and I were

just put contacting people. There was a man just sitting on his porch

and Sister Bush thought we should go talk to him so we did. He was so

cool! We testified of the Book of Mormon again and were able to give

him one. He told us to come back. As we drove away we saw him reading

from the Book of Mormon!

All in all this week has been tiring, but so worth it. Everything

happens for a reason, and God will never let us fail. Yeah, being a

missionary is hard but serving the Lord is easy. The Lord only

requires you to follow Him, and to be worthy of His Spirit. The things

that make it hard are simply worldly things. Agency, Satan, peer

pressure. When you really stop and think about it serving the Lord is

easy, mortality makes it hard.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

The District

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

Hellora! (Sister Bush was texting a member a few days ago and managed

to say hellora instead of hello) I hope your week has been good! It's

been an adventure out in these parts as it usually is. It's been rainy

and sticky and tons of good wholesome fun!

So this week we've seen quite a few miracles, the first one being

Sister Silfies. I hadn't seen her for a long time and one day out of

the blue she called us! She had come to church that Sunday and then

called to tell us that she wanted to take the lessons so that she

could re establish her faith! It was so awesome, we went over and

taught the Plan of Salvation and it was so awesome! She is amazing and

she loves the gospel so much, you can see how it lights up in her eyes

when you talk to her!

We also taught Angel again this week and he's doing great! We have a

thing for teaching the Plan of Salvation so that's what we taught him!

We had him put it together by himself and teach it to us, about

halfway through the lesson his mom came and joined us. Which was

great, except his mom understands English, for the most part, but

doesn't quite speak it. Neither I nor Sister Bush speak Spanish.

Luckily we took Karina with us! Karina speaks great Spanish since she

grew up in a Spanish home and was able to teach her! It was so

awesome!

We also taught a lady named Rhonda. She is a born again Christian, and

she loves the Bible. She had met with missionaries before and has a

few misunderstandings about the Restoration. We spent most of the time

talking about scriptures and why they are so important. It was really

awesome to talk with her!

We also met with the Skidmores twice this week. They are doing

awesome! We taught them about how service is so important and that it

is so key for us to have in our lives. We also talked about a Hope

Works video about asking ourselves questions when we start to have

hard times.

We met with Dave this week and he came to church on Sunday! He seemed

like her enjoyed it and he told us that he wants to get baptized! We

still have to teach him a few things, before we can get him baptized

but he seems like he really wants to know about the gospel and he

really has a desire to learn more about what we believe. He's so

awesome!

Last but not least we met with a girl named Emily this week. She is a

friend of a member of the YSA and she's not happy with her current

church. So we went on a hike with her and Josh and we got to answer a

lot of her questions! She had a lot of really great questions for us

and she really wants to find a church that fits right with her. A lot

of the things she's looking for apps. Be found here but everyone has

to make their own decision.

We also had some exchanges this week! I was able to be down in

Philadelphia 1st ward with my MTC companion Sister Stubben! It was so

great! We taught a few lessons and the spirit was so powerful in each

one of them! We also ate dinner with a less active from Mexico and she

made us the most delicious tacos that I've had on the east coast. It

was so good.

So this week Sister Bush and I were getting to our apartment after a

long day of work and as we are walking to the door we see the scariest

sight. In front of our door there are two bushes and between the two

bushes in front of our door there was a spider, just chilling, making

a web. We couldn't walk to our door because we'd have to walk through

the web. So we ended up cutting the web with a piece of junk mail and

running inside the house. Later on we went back out with our handy

dandy broom and tape to catch it and kill it. #itneverfails

This week while tracting we decided to ask people if they had seen a

miracle in their lives. Well we knocked on this one door and a man

answered and we asked him if he'd seen a miracle and he said "Well I'm

looking at two of them aren't I?" Sister Bush and I were so happy

because up to this point no one had answered our question and so we

jumped right in to telling him who we are and what we do, and that is

when he told us that he's a Catholic Minister. It was so awesome! He

politely turned down our invitation but wished us good luck on our

quest.

I feel like the longer I'm on my mission the more I gain a deeper

understanding and thankfulness for things of the gospel. I am just so

thankful to be apart of the restored church. I am thankful to be

spreading the word to all within the sound of my voice. I am thankful

for a Savior who loves me enough to die for me. I am thankful for

temples where I can be sealed to my family for all time and eternity

so I will never loose them. I am thankful for the blessing of taking

the sacrament each week and how it renews our spirits. I am thankful

for a Father who love me and answers my prayers. I am thankful for the

people I've met who have changed my life. I am thankful for so many

things that I don't have the time or energy to write them all down,

but most of all I am thankful for these things because of my Father in

Heaven who gave them to me.

I love you all. Happy Pioneer Day!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Splits

MTC companions on splits

Hello wonderful people! This week has been, well a party but not in

the way that we though it was going to be a party! We had a few

lessons this week, a lot of miracles, and a whole bunch of fun!

We started off this week by teaching little Oralee! She's our Ward

Mission Leaders daughter. We've started teaching members out here in

hopes to build trust and to get more referrals, so we taught Oralee

about the Ten Commandments and she was so cute to teach! We taught her

about the first five commandments and the hand signs that go with them

she was so cute! She was so excited to learn and tried so hard to get

her little figures to make the signs.

We also had a short lesson with Sister Milner this week! She had some

questions about what it means to keep the Sabbath Day Holy and how we

do that. So we FaceTimed her and talked with her about what she thinks

is okay to do on the Sabbath and what she thinks isn't okay to do on

the Sabbath. It was a really good talk and it reminded me that there

are no lists of do's and dont's on what to do on the Sabbath. The

guidelines we are given are not to shop, go to church, be with family.

Other than that we really have reign over what we do and do not do on

the Sabbath.

We saw Myesha this week! I don't know if you all remember Myesha but

she is a YSA aged lady living in the glorious city of Allentown. One

day we were walking around trying to find some less actives that live

there (YSA of course) and we walked passed Myesha and her friends!

Myesha stopped us and we started talking. We hadn't seen here for

about four weeks and then we got to see her this week! She's so

awesome! We just sat outside with her and talked to her and her

friends Jay and Erica. They all seem really interested in learning

more, before we left we shared Ether 12:27 with them and talked about

how when we pray we are able to overcome all things and to move

forward with power. We committed them to kneel and pray every time

they were having a hard time, we had a great conversation on kneeling

vs. laying prayers. It was a great talk! We were able to set up a time

to meet with them this week so hopefully it will work out!

We also were able to meet with a less active who hasn't been to church

in 22 years! He was baptized when he was 9 but never really understood

the gospel and so he's looking to know what we actually believe and

what the Book of Mormon is. He had some interesting questions about

the Plan of Salvation and the three degrees of glory, as well as where

the Book of Mormon came from. It was a great talk! We were able to use

the spirit to do a lot of the teaching, and to help us build our

testimonies of why it's so important to live righteously.

We also got to teach the Earnshaw family, Bishop Earnshaw is awesome!

We had a great talk about the Atonement of Christ and how we can use

it in our lives. What it means to keep it with us. How it works in its

different ways. It was a really powerful lesson to have! It was

amazing! The Spirit was so powerful! It was amazing!

We got to go see Brenda this week and she is doing great! She is so

funny and definitely has a good sense of humor that one! She's a

treasure!

We also had a member bring a friend to church! She was awesome! Her

name is Emily and she had a lot to offer in the classes! She wants to

meet with us because her friend told her that we know more about the

gospel than he does so she wants to see if we can answer her

questions. So we will be going on a hike with her sometime this week

so that we can answer her questions! She doesn't want to sit down and

talk because she feels like it's confrontational. However, she had a

great time with the YSA! They always have these little surprise linger

longers and that was yesterday! Sister Bush and I were talking about

how they always have something going on, and that's what inspired

today's headline.

We had an interesting experience tracting (I'll attract the

video/pictures) we went to this street in Kutztown because we were

like "this looks like a good place!" On our maps with no wifi. Well we

get there, and all the houses are row homeish and all the windows are

cracked just a bit through the curtains. There is no sign of human

life anywhere, at all. It was terrifying. So we left.

Well folks, it's been quite the week. Sister Bush and I had a meeting

on Friday and it was quite the drive so on the way down we listened to

a talk by John Bytheway. In it he talks about the war chapters in Alma

47 it talks about Amalickiah and his plans to become king of the

Lamanites. Brother Bytheway talks about how Lehonti doesn't want to go

to war with the Nephites so he and some of the men separate themselves

from Amalickiah's group. Lehonti's men go up a mountain and Amalickiah

tries to get Lehonti to come see him but Lehonti refuses. Eventually

Amalickiah does something very sneaky. He asks Lehonti to meet him

halfway, and Lehonti agrees. Well, the armies end up joining each

other, but Amalickiah still wants to be in charge, so eventually as we

read in verse 18, he kills Lehonti. But not in a normal way, a sneaky

way. He has a servant poison Lehonti by degrees, so over a period of

time Lehonti is poisoned, and by the time Lehonti realizes that he's

being poisoned it's far too late.

This is just like what Satan does, he convinces us to meet him halfway

down the mountain. Tells us he isn't going to hurt us and eventually

we agree with him and slowly our soul begins to be poisoned and by the

time we realize that we are being poisoned we've gone far down a path

we never wanted to be on. He's a sneaky guy, but the good news is is

that good is always stronger than evil, so when times come when we can

feel Satan telling us to just meet him halfway down the mountain we

can remember the covenants we have with God, and we can stand firm

with Him at the top of our mountain.

Being a missionary isn't easy. Serving the Lord is. I love you all!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Looking for Ichabod Crane!