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

Dear friends and family,

Goodness this as been a week! Sister Bush is such an amazing

missionary and we have seen some good times and some not so good times

this week! Its a part of missionary life though, and I love it! There

are things that happen on a mission that could only happen to you on a

mission!

It was a super good week, we had some referrals from some members far

far away, spent a lot of time tracting in the rain, a great meeting,

and lessons filled with the spirit and the love of Christ!

We started off our round of lessons with Stephanie and Richard! They

are doing so awesome! We talked about the sabbath and why it is so

important. As we were preparing for the lesson I started to realize,

once again, just how important the Sabbath day is. Sundays these days

are regarded as just another day off from work, its a time for our

heaviest shopping, biggest sporting events, and not enough time for

the Lord. In reality a time to spend showing the love of Christ to

others. In the institute manual they quote President Kimball, he says

"The Sabbath is a day on which to take inventory--to analyze our

weaknesses, to confess our sins to our associates and our Lord. It is

a day on which to fast in ‘sackcloth and ashes.’ It is a day on which

to read good books, a day to contemplate and ponder, a day to study

lessons for priesthood and auxiliary organizations, a day to study the

scriptures and to prepare sermons, a day to nap and rest and relax, a

day to visit the sick, a day to preach the gospel, a day to proselyte,

a day to visit quietly with the family and get acquainted with our

children, a day for proper courting, a day to do good, a day to drink

at the fountain of knowledge and of instruction, a day to seek

forgiveness of our sins, a day for the enrichment of our spirit and

our soul, a day to restore us to our spiritual stature, a day to

partake of the emblems of his sacrifice and atonement, a day to

contemplate the glories of the gospel and of the eternal realms, a day

to climb high on the upward path toward our Heavenly Father.”

The Sabbath day is so important and I hope we can all remember what

that day is all about, and why it is set aside to be sacred.

That night we had a lesson with Dave, but unfortunately he had to

cancel. The members we were with took us out to Rita's (cranberry

water ice ❤️) and then had us teach them the Restoration. The thing

is, we think that they taught us more than we taught them. The

Vassilaros family is amazing and are very into deep doctrine. Brother

V taught us about Moroni's promise (Moroni 10:3-5) especially the part

where it says "ask if these things are not true." Why does it say not?

Well its just like when you ask someone where they are from "You are

from Utah aren't you?" You already believe that this person is from

Utah, but they are the only one who can confirm it. So when you ask

"is it not true?" You already believe it is true, you just are asking

for the confirmation that it is, indeed, true.

The next day we had Zone Conference, which was as good as ever! We got

to use the new planning guidelines that they released for PMG and it

was amazing! The guidelines are truly inspired. We also heard a lot

from President Randall and he is a truly inspired man. I love hearing

him speak, he always has such good things to say!

We also met with the O's this week again! We taught them the Plan of

Salvation and it was so funny! Sister O talked a lot about how the

Plan of Salvation was the thing that she loved the most when she was

investigating the church! It was so fun to hear their testimonies of

the plan and what it means to them! I loving teaching the members

because they always have so much to add to the lesson.

We got to meet with Sister Silfies this week! We talked about the

Gospel of Jesus Christ and used the nails diagram. Her son, Elijah,

was so cute! He keep pointing at the nails as we taught and whispering

"they building something" he is just so sweet! He has a lot of energy

but he really does listen to the spirit when its talking to him!

Our last lesson this week was with the Skidmores. They are so awesome!

We talked about agency, and what it really means to have agency.

Really agency is our freedom to choose. In a BYU play titled "My Turn

on Earth" there is a song that talks about this it says "The only

thing greater than life itself is the power to direct that life."

Could you imagine if we lived in a world without our agency? When we

had to do everything one way and we could never choose for ourselves

what we wanted to do? That would be a sad world.

We got referral this week from a member in HI! It was super exciting!

Michael wanted a Book of Mormon so that is what we gave to him! He

didn't want to set anything up with us because he is super busy, but

he told us to text him on Saturday. We did and since we had seen him

he decided to google some of his questions, and because of such, was

subject to some anti material. He was still very friendly but told us

he would reach out to us when he was ready to learn. It was sad, but

Heavenly Father has a plan for each of his children and one day

Michael will find the gospel.

The gospel is so good! Lately I have been thinking a lot about

singleness of heart and mind to the gospel. As i have gone through

trials and had those moments where I slip up I have found my strength

in sticking to what I know, and that is the Book of Mormon. I recently

started to reread it, and it has been so good! I was reading in the

institute manual. Today I was reading when Nephi asks for strength to

break the bonds which bound him, and I started thinking about the

power of prayer. When we pray in faith we can do anything, as long as

we are willing to act on the information that is given to us. Elder

Gene R. Cook said “Note that they [Nephi, Alma, and Amulek] did not

have faith in their own strength; they trusted in the Lord and relied

on his strength. It is faith in Christ that will deliver us from our

own bonds; it is increasing our faith in Christ that will give us

added power in prayer."

I hope we are all taking the time to pray with faith, to read the Book

of Mormon and to stick to what we know to be true.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

JOSIE'S ONE YEAR

The District

Elder Olsen and Josie

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