Hello all you lovely people! I hope you've all had a great week and

that you will have an even better week this week! I can't believe that

it's been a week already, I feel like I just wrote to you all

yesterday! Time goes way too fast!

This week was incredible. Like one of the best weeks ever! This week I

had my "aha" moment with missionary work. Just a few nights ago I woke

up and I had this immense joy in my heart and I knew it came from

being a missionary. Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts you

have sent my way these past 6 months, there is truly nothing sweeter

than this work.

This week we found the most amazing woman. Like amazing. Her name is

Agnes and she is from Sierra Leone. She lived next to an LDS church in

Africa but never attended, so when she moved to the US she started

PRAYING to find the Mormon missionaries. One day she was checking her

mailbox and saw two sisters walking past so she stopped them and they

were able to refer her over to Broomall, where the sisters who were

here got into contact with her. Not long after that contact was

established Agnes had a stroke and fell down the stairs so she was

hospitalized, and her phone was canceled, she had no way to get into

contact with the sisters. Well about 3 weeks ago she got out of the

hospital and was looking through the Bible the last sisters gave her

and found the pass along card with the number on it. Well that number

lead her to the missionaries in Bayview Maryland who were able to get

into contact with us! We set up a time with her and our first visit

with her ended with a baptismal date for March 19th! She is the most

prepared lady I have met, she would be baptized today if she could, at

the end of each lesson she asks when we are coming over again. When

she prays it is SO CUTE she always thanks Heavenly Father for "my

sisters" and its also really cute when we teach because Sister Shin

cant understand her accent and Agnes cant understand Sister Shin's so

I do a lot of repeating things in the lessons. Her favorite word is

"Amen" she literally says it all the time in the lessons, we ask a

question and she starts with "Amen, yes.." and answers it. She's

awesome!

James is doing really well! He is excited to get baptized on the 12th

of March. He has been staying focused in lessons better each and

everyday! He loves this gospel and hes really gaining his own

testimony of it! He reads his scriptures everyday and prays at the end

of our lessons and he always says the sweetest prayers. I simply adore

him and his parents in so many ways! They are so awesome.

We also got into contact with a few former investigators lately. One

in particular is he Enoch family. We met BIll and he was so nice! He

was so happy to see us that he invited us over for dinner on Saturday

night and to share a message about Jesus Christ. We are pretty excited

to go have dinner with them and see if that opens a time or

opportunity to teach them!

We also met with Jeff Diamond. Brother Diamond has met with

missionaries before but this was the first time I met him. He is

really cool! His wife is a member and she is just so awesome. He

doesnt have any religious background so hes a little hard to teach. He

believes in Christ but thats about it. He has had some interesting

life experiences and is the sweetest man ever. He loves to talk and

just had a light about him, hes so awesome to work with too. He has a

desire to learn and to grow, he just doesnt quite know it yet.

We also met with a lady named Catherine who met with missionaries a

few years ago. It was quite the interesting lesson. We started and

ended the lesson with origami. She also has some interesting religious

beliefs and some of them fall right in line with the teachings of our

church, others not so much, but she has declared that she is on the

search for truth. Little does she know she's about to find it!

We met with Brother Waters again this week and we had the most amazing

lesson with him. In fact he liked what we had to say so much that HE

CAME TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY!! He expressed to us that he doesnt like to

dress up so we told him he could come in jeans if he wants and he did!

It was kind of funny actually, we called him on Saturday to see if he

was going to come and he told us that it was a 70% chance and then we

told him it was the ward potluck after and he said "Ill try my best"

and he came!! Oh my heart soared with joy!

This week was interviews with President Randell and they are always so

awesome. President just knows what to say to make you feel like you

are the single greatest missionary in the whole world and that you are

way smarter than you actually are. He is just the best, I am so

grateful to have him as my mission president!

We also had an AWESOME zone conference where I just learned so much.

Sister Randell brought up this question, she said "Do you identify as

a disciple of Jesus Christ?" Our scripture of the year that we say

every morning is 3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus

Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word

among his people, that they might have everlasting life." It made me

really stop and ponder, do I identify myself as a disciple of Jesus

Christ? When I think of ways to identify myself I think of my family

or what i did before the mission or that I am a daughter of God, but

what about a disciple of Christ? Yes. We, as long as we are living

worthily, are all disciples of Jesus Christ and we have been called of

him to preach his word unto all who will listen.

It has been so warm here! Yesterday it hit 77 degrees and today its in

the 50's. This had easily been the best winter of my whole life. I

love PA! We also saw a baby Fox the other day and I about died it was

so stinkin cute!

This week I read a really great talk by President Faust. Its called "A

Priceless Heritage" and in it he talks about both the Willie and

Martin hand cart companies. He says something that I just love with my

whole heart "I believe their lives were consecrated to a higher

purpose through their suffering. Their love for the Savior was burned

deep in their souls, and into the souls of their children, and their

children’s children. The motivation for their lives came from a true

conversion in the center of their souls. As President Gordon B.

Hinckley has said, “When there throbs in the heart of an individual

Latter-day Saint a great and vital testimony of the truth of this

work, he will be found doing his duty in the Church.” I was thinking

about this in regards to missionary work and obviously I dont suffer

anywhere near were these saints did but there are times when I suffer.

There are times when all of us suffer. It can be a suffering from what

ever. Heartache, disobedience, loneliness, illness, etc. Yet, somehow

in the midst of all this we grow closer to our Savior, somehow our

faith grows, somehow we understand Him more. Maybe if we didnt suffer

we wouldn't learn this. So, yes we suffer, and we suffer because we

know its going to bring us closer to the One we need to be closest to.

I know this work is good. I know this church is true. I know He lives.

I love and miss you all so much! I love my mission, I love PA, I love my life.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Bowling with Sister Shin

Agnes, Josie, and Sister Shin

6 months!

Bonjour à tous! I hope each one of you have had the most amazing week

of your life! I know you're all probably like "Oh man it's Monday

already?" Because I totally am. Weeks feel like days man.

First order of business to address to everyone who emailed me this

week informing me that yes, it is February, and yes that does mean I

have been out for about six months.

This week was great! We had Zone Training and it was just a great

spiritual meeting, because I stayed in the same Zone I did the musical

number after the five minute break. It was good! I sang "Be Still My

Soul" and Sister Shin accompanied me on the piano. We were supposed to

have a few lessons after the meeting but they all ended up canceling

on us. We also had dinner with the McElroys this week, and i adore

them. Sister McElory forgot we were coming over (we tried calling but

no answer) so she had made five alarm chili, which was actually so

good, even though it burned off my lips.

We met a lady named Soone this week. Soone was a referral from a

member who is her doctor. She expressed some interest in meeting with

us because we have a Korean missionary and Soone is from Korea! We

knocked on her door and she let us right in! She is really hard of

hearing so she sat right next to Sister Shin and had just finished

smoking a cigarette, poor sister Shin couldn't focus because her

breath smelled so bad!

We also received some other referrals this week! Last week I mentioned

that the West Chester sisters had a referral for us and this week we

made contact! His name is Tony and he attended the church in Africa

and has been looking for the one in Broomall since he moved to the

United States! He was so excited to hear from us and asked us when we

were going to come over! We also received a text from the missionaries

serving in Bayview, Maryland who heard from a former investigator in

Broomall! She was trying to find us, so they sent us a text with her

number in it and some information on her! We called her and she set up

the appointment right away! So many miracles this week!

We had the chance this week to meet with our Korean investigator. His

name is Young-Soo Ha and he speaks no English. So I just sat back and

let Sister Shin and Brother Kim teach away. It was kind of hard

because I couldn't focus on anything happening because I had no idea

what they were even saying! Every once in a while Brother Kim would

translate because he would want me to teach the answer to one of his

questions but soon after it would fall back into just Korean. We met

with him twice which means we got delicious Korean food twice. It was

so good. I have discovered that Koreans are just a loving people, they

were so worried about me because it was Korean food and they were only

speaking Korean, they wanted me to feel comfortable. I love them so

much.

Also Brother Kim's English cracks me up sometimes. He asked me "Where

is your daddy's ancestors from?" I told him England area. So then he

asked "Where is your mommys ancestors from?" I said Italy and

Netherlands. He got so excited "DUTCH! I knew it! You can see it in

your face that your Dutch." Then he proceeded to tell me that Dutch

women are so pretty you can tell they are Dutch because they look like

a princess. Koreans are great!

There is also nothing better than hearing 잭슨 자매 (Sister Jackson) in

the middle of a conversation that you literally know nothing about.

Its like hearing my dad speak Portuguese and say my name randomly in a

sentence. It was interesting because I know the Korean word for sister

so when I heard it I was like "okay what is he saying" because it was

Brother Kim talking, not Sister Shin.

We met with Kevin again this week and hes still doing so great! He had

a really cool missionary experience this week with his sister. He had

just finished his BOM reading for the night and she Skyped him. They

were talking and she dropped this question "Kevin, will you pray and

ask God to tell me when I should start having children?" He responded

and told her it doesnt work like that and used Jacob 1:3 to back him

up. He is just a great kid, and just isn't afraid of the new religion

he is and the commitment he made to share the gospel.

Sister Ann Maloney is doing great! We were able to teach her the plan

of salvation using the "LOVE" analogy (Pinterest it if you have

questions:)) and she loved it! She talked about how excited she is to

know that she can see her family again and how death is going to be a

great adventure. She is just the sweetest most kindest old lady and I

love her so much.

We also met with Abby again and she is just amazing! We talked about

tithing and how big of a blessing it is in our lives to pay tithing!

She told us about how when she wasn't active she still felt like she

needed to be paying her tithing because she knows that its important

to pay and to have the blessings that come from paying it. She also

talked about how much she loves Fast and Testimony meeting because

everything that is said comes right from the heart, it isn't written

down and it isn't scripted, its real. I thought that was interesting

to think about, how it is real. I love testimonies, they are always so

sweet. I often think of a boy back in my home ward named Ryan Dickey

when I think of sweet testimonies, Ryan has Down syndrome and he has

the sweetest testimony, when he bears it the spirit fills the room and

it is undeniable. Testimonies are so pure and so real, I hope we all

take the chance to share ours with someone this week.

James has been sick so we haven't been able to meet with him, but hes

still on track for his date! He is just such a good kid.

We had dinner with the Meaders again this week and had a lengthy talk

about food storage. She asked how my food storage was and when I told

her she told me. Well you better pray your a missionary when the

apocalypse happens because then people will take care of you, other

wise youre gonna die. I love them so much. I almost died of laughter

again. They are huge food storage people, they have not one but two

freeze dryers, they can literally everything and have ten thousand

rounds of bullets. They take this seriously, its actually pretty cool.

It finally snowed this week, but has since melted. I love PA. Only

three days of snow, I was one happy camper.

This week we had the craziest thing happen. Our area book quit

working. I know half of you are going "Your point?" But to understand

the gravity of this situation is that we do not have paper area books,

it is all online. So we had nothing, no schedule no names to visit,

nothing. Luckily our maps were still working so we were able to find

some people to talk to that way but we had nothing. It was crazy and

it was happening in missions across the world so missionaries were

leaving reviews on the app, I took some screen shots of them for your

enjoyment, they were pretty clever.

This week was so good. I was reading in Alma 26 this week and i cant

help but love this chapter. Its like a "good job guys, glory in God

and don't give up" chapter. I love that Ammon is so pumped up about

the miracles God had shown them. I especially love verse 36 (I mean

its my mission scripture, so yeah). The line that always gets me is

this one "If this is boasting even so I will boast. For this is my

life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from

everlasting woe" This gospel is so many things to me, love, joy, hope,

happiness, but more than anything its "my life and my light, my joy

and my salvation, and my redemption" This scripture always brings back

the reason why I am out here, it brings back the pre-mission jitters,

it reminds me what this gospel means to me, so if this is boasting,

even so I will boast.

I love you all so much, I miss you all! I love PA. I love my mission.

I love our Savior.

Until next week!

많은 사랑,

잭슨 자매

Sent from Broomall, PA 🦊

Zone P-day

zone training

District

안녕 친구와 가족 I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I figured I would

start my email off with a Korean greeting in honor of my companion.

Who is doing awesome! We are working well and just loving each other.

We have a good time working hard and spreading the gospel to all the

people in Broomall who are willing and ready to listen to the awesome

message we carry!

This has been a great week for learning and growing. We were able to

make a few new contacts, speak with some less actives and invite all

to come unto Christ! We also had some great meals at members houses.

At one house we were talking about how we are all children of God and

what it means to us to know that we are a child of God. Sister Meaders

then said the glorious subject line for today's email. It was awesome,

I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe. Missionary work is

seriously the best, I feel like I have never laughed harder in my life

than I have on the mission. The Meaders also have a Scout named Bobbie

and I love that dog.

We met a former investigator named Cathrine Dawson on Saturday because

we ended up having a lesson cancel on us. Anyway, we had stopped by

her house before and no one had been home but that day she was! She

was so excited to see us because the last missionaries just stopped

coming by, so she let us right in and introduced herself and we just

got to talking! She is a GREAT first grade teacher, she love origami

and she used to be Catholic. She hasn't been an active Catholic for

about ten years, she left and her the Catholic Church because she felt

as if it wasn't right, and has been on the search for truth ever

since. She is excited to learn more about the church and to start

meeting with missionaries again, we set up a return appointment for

Friday night and its going to be awesome!

We also saw the blessings that come from fasting! On Sunday I decided

I would fast for someone to teach that we could get baptized this

transfer. So at church we had two members come up to us with referrals

who are willing to hear more about the restored gospel and then today

we saw the West Chester sisters who have a referral for us, who went

to church for SIX months when he was living in Africa. Needless to say

I am pretty pumped up right now.

We were able to meet with a few less actives this week. The first of

which being Brother Waters, who was interesting. He was super nice but

had this knack for taking the lesson off topic every time he feels the

spirit, so it was a little hard to keep going because he just kept

getting so off topic about everything. Every time the spirit came in

he would go off topic, but Sister Ebeling (bishops wife) saved the day

every time. She would literally know just what to say to get back on

topic and bring the spirit rushing back in.

The other one is a lady named Sister Cofield, who is just awesome! I

am not sure why she doesnt come to church because she just jumped

right in to talking about how she knows she needs to go to church

because she needs to take the sacrament. We were really hoping that

she would come to church but she didnt. There is always next week

though!

In regards to church we did have two less actives come who we didnt

get the chance to meet with this week! Sister McNeill and Jackie! We

walked into the chapel after our meeting and Jackie was sitting right

there! We were so excited because I have never met Jackie and we had

been trying to get in contact with her! Then right after the sacrament

was passed Sister McNeill came in and joined us for the rest of

testimony meeting! It was so awesome guys! SO AWESOME

Speaking of fasting and awesomeness. James, my sweet little James. I

adore this child and his family so much, like I am so humbled and

grateful to work with James on his path to eternity. He is just such a

good kid. Anyway, James fasted on Sunday! We haven't even taught him

about fasting but he heard about it in primary and the Holy Ghost told

him he should fast, so he did! We went over for dinner on Sunday night

and he was so excited to see us because it meant that he could eat! He

is just doing so awesome. I am so grateful for them and their

examples.

Also Kevin, and Brother and Sister Sayles went and did baptisms on

Friday! It was so awesome! I was able to be baptized and confirmed for

Kevin's ancestors! Sister Shin wasn't feeling well so she decided to

just do confirmations, but it was awesome! The spirit in the temple is

just so strong. The Sayles expressed to us that they cant wait to be

sealed as a family next fall and to James! Watching these people that

I have come to love so much progress in the gospel always brings me

just such great joy. Joy beyond belief. Kevin had a lot of awesome

questions about the rest of the temple and just talked about how

excited he is to access the rest of it again next fall!

I love the Broomall ward and how close we can work with President and

Sister Randall. We have tried to get them out teaching with us but so

far all the appointments we set up to teach with them cancel on us.

Its crazy.

Oh my heck funny story. So one day we were going through our area book

to find some potential investigators to call and we called this one

lady who was a member referral who met with missionaries once before.

Anyway we called her to see if she would like us to come by and she

answered our question with "what do you think of our new president?"

Which was surprising, so we just explained that we don't want tv or

keep up with the news so we don't have an opinion. She then proceeded

to just talk about how terrible he is and how she's called D.C. to

have him impeached but they aren't listening, for like a solid 20

minutes before she finally just said "I'm too stressed out to have

religion in my life right now, but thank you for calling!" It was

interesting.

Today has been so fun! We had a Zone P-Day and played pinball soccer

with President and Sister Randall. Nothing but good clean fun was had

by all. It was nice to exercise and have some friendly competition in

the zone! Plus nothing like a nice bearing of testimonies of the Book

of Mormon to wrap it all up with a pretty blue bow! I pinky promise to

have pictures next week of the pday and of our district. I went from a

district of two sets of sisters and one set of elders to one set of

sisters and two sets of elders. So it's an adventure for sure!

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I had a goal to finish it with in the

first six months of my mission. I am three chapters away from

finishing, so since I will most likely finish either tonight or

tomorrow morning I just want to let you all know that I know that the

Book of Mormon is true. I know it with every fiber of my being. There

is not a book truer than this. I know that with the Book of Mormon we

can return to Christ one day. I know that it was written for our day

and to help us along our paths to salvation. I know that because the

Book of Mormon is true that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God

and that this church is true. I know that I have never found more

comfort, joy or solace than I have inside the Book of Mormon. It is

the truest book you will ever find, and each verse you read is an

answer to a prayer. I have seen it answer my prayers, and I know it

can answer yours. Life throws us curve balls sometimes, but if you

hold the Book of Mormon as a bat, you will hit a home run every time.

If you'd like a free copy please talk to your local missionaries or

visit Mormon.org.

I would not want to be anywhere else right now, not even Disneyland. I

know that this work is Gods work and that everyday I have the chance

to help someone grow closer to God. Even if its just helping myself.

I love this work. I love our Savior. I love you all and miss you all!!

Much love,

Sister Jackson

 

Hot Chocolate Girls

Ay yous! I hope that each of you had a fantastic week this last week

and that you all are ready to hear about my adventures in Broomall!

Its been quite the week of adjustment I can tell you that much!

Broomall is honestly not that different from Downingtown, its

different in someways but the same in a lot of other ways. I have yet

to find the Coatesville of Broomall so I am keeping my eyes peeled for

the humblest of areas out here! Its pretty cool to be in President

Randall's ward though, it was weird to walk into sacrament meeting and

see him and the whole family just chillin on the pews, but cool at the

same time.

We have done a lot of knocking on doors and talking with people

because the peeps we work with aren't overly fond of holding their

appointments a lot of the time. Even the people we talked to who

seemed interested dont want us to come back most of the time, but the

work must go on!

We do have a few gators that we meet with and some recent converts

that we work closely with. One recent convert is named Kevin. Kevin is

so cool. He is 17 years old and just decided to go to church with his

Mormon friend one day, so he went and just kept going. Then he started

taking the lessons and was baptized in November! He is way cool, when

we meet with him we aren't really teaching him, we are just discussing

items with him. Its kind of like a giant comp study.

Another recent convert is a lady named Ann Maloney. Ann was baptized

in December and found out about the church because of the temple. She

wanted to do a tour of the temple so one Saturday she showed up at the

church to see the whole idea. She went down into Philly and toured the

temple and just kept going from there. She is hilarious and talks so

much, half of the lesson is just her talking about worldly stuff and

the other half if focused on the point at hand. She loves President

Trump, she kept talking about how he is like King David in the Bible.

It was actually pretty funny.

We have one investigator that we are working with who has a date. His

name is James Hansen and hes is ten years old. His mom is a member

(just reactivated actually), his step dad is a recent convert named

John Sayles (we also work with him, he's way cool) and then his dad

was a member of the church. Anyway, James is the sweetest little boy

with a few mental disabilities, so of course I fell in love with him

right way. I just have that soft spot for special needs kids. He is a

little hard to keep focused at times but he has a love for Christ that

is incredible, he loves his family so much and loves the church.

Especially cub scouts. He is getting baptized on March 12th and is

super excited!

This week we had the missionary broadcast which was awesome, it was

very inspired and was focused on teaching repentance and baptizing

converts. It was just a great training on how to better teach and work

with people. They also released a new schedule for missionaries that

is pretty cool! It has been created to give missionaries more agency

and freedom to work. We now have an hour and a half to get ready in

the mornings, we do our planning sessions in the morning and personal

study. Then we have from 10-9 to do comp study, language study and

proselyte. Lunch is 30 minutes and dinner is an hour. We also can go

to bed between 9-10:30 which gives a chance for a little more sleep so

that we can be more prepared for the next day. Pday has also been

lengthened, instead of starting at 10 and going until 6, it goes from

8 until 6. So its going to be awesome to work and have a little more

agency in things.

We also met with a former investigator and his sister. Charlie and Ann

Doyle are in their nineties and are incredibly interesting people who

we probably wont meet with again. We met with them twice and Charlie

doesn't believe in a lot of things. He spent most of our last lesson

trying to convince us that Christ is not divine and that there isn't

life after this one, we just blink out of existence. Ann doesnt talk

much because Charlie does all of the talking, but she was a little

more open and interested in the BOM but after the second meeting with

her she told us that she is a devout Catholic and isn't interested in

converting. The worst part though is that Charlie always asked us if

we had made a sale that day because he is convinced that we are

salesmen. Which we are not, we are invitesmen. we aren't selling

anything, we are just inviting others to grow closer to Christ.

My first Sunday in Broomall was awesomely hectic. It was ward counsel,

and so there were a lot of people there who I met who are from the

stake so I didnt know anyone and was a little nervous to meet

everyone. We walked into the chapel and guess who walks up to us

because he is in the stake young men's presidency? That is right

Brother Seaman. I was so happy to see him! Nothing like a familiar

face in a new situation.

Sister Shin and I are getting a long really well! There is a little

bit of a language barrier because we dont think in the same language

but we are adjusting to each other and moving right along with the

work.  I had an experience this week that I think I needed in order to

understand her a little bit more. If you didnt know already this week

we had the Korean New Year (Happy New Year Y'all) and so we went to

dinner at a Korean members house (there are so many Koreans here) and

since I was the only American the language was mostly Korean. On

occasion if they had a question for me it would be in English but I

was pretty much in a situation were I did not speak the language and I

didn't know what kind of food I was putting into my mouth. I felt

pretty much alone and awkward. It was even hard to eat because I had

to quickly master the chopstick! I think i needed to have that

experience to see where she comes from, to be in her shoes for a

little bit. Her English is really good, sometimes I cant understand

her when she says something like repentance because her r's turn into

l's so she says lepentance, or President Landall. I'm getting there

though, it's actually kind of cute how she pronounces some words. She

also sings primary songs in Korean all the time, its pretty cute.

There is a really good scripture I found in my studies this week. Its

Mosiah 2:34, in short there is a phrase that is says that I love. It

says "Render to Him all that you are" I was pondering this phrase

because as humans we let the natural man take over sometimes. We

convince ourselves that we can do this life alone, that we dont need

Christ. Sometimes we decide to hold on to the little things that are

keeping us from progressing because we dont want to loose them.

Sometimes we expect to be fully converted and have rendered everything

over, but then become frustrated when we find out that we aren't where

we would like to be in terms of conversion. President Monson once said

"Life by the yard is hard, but by the inch its a cinch." I believe

that is also the formula to render ourselves fully to Christ. By the

yard its hard, but by the inch its a cinch. If we make the conscious

choice each day to be a little better than we were yesterday we will

make it to where we want to be, and to where Heavenly Father knows we

can become.

Life isn't easy, it isn't supposed to be. We are to be tested and

tried. We are to stumble and fall. But that doesnt mean we quit

trying. We keep standing back up, we pass every test, and we do not

give up. President Hinkley once said "We are a people with a present

and future. Don't muff your opportunities. Be excellent." With Christ

we can be excellent. Christ isn't going to leave us along just because

we messed up, or we aren't fully rendered to Him. He wants to help us

learn and grow and become.

Its a hard life without Christ, its an easier life with Him.

I love you all. I miss you all. I love our Savior and I know He lives.

Much love from PA,

Sister Jackson

 

Josie and Sister Shin

Hello, its me. Ive been wondering if after all these days you'd like

to hear, about all my life out here in PA!

Well first order of business, I am leaving Dowingtown to head to a

place called Broomall which is about 45 minutes east of D-Town. So I

am staying in the stake and i am moving into President Randall's ward!

Its going to be so awesome! My new companion is Sister Shin from Korea

and its seriously going to be so fun with her! I am so incredibly

excited to keep learning and keep growing!

This week has been crazy good! I have had a great last week in

Downingtown. I am going to miss my friends and family that I have made

here.

Darren hasn't really talked to us this week. We have tried to reach

out through text and phone calls but so far nothing. He responds after

the time we were thinking of for a lesson or just never responds. He

still shows interested when he responds so we haven't dropped him yet.

Who knows, maybe he is just taking some time to really make sure this

is what he wants. I know he will be baptized one day. Its going to

take some time, but one day he will.

Speaking of baptisms! Maurice is getting ready to go to the temple on

January 31st to do baptisms for the dead!! I am so excited for him! He

really caught the spirit of Elijah when we talked about family history

the first time and has been looking for things ever since! He is so on

top of things, he asked us yesterday who he turns his PA background

check into so that he could receive any calling he needed to. He was

truly being prepared for the gospel. He passed the sacrament on Sunday

for the first time and it was so awesome!

Oscar is doing well! He spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and as

part of his talk he started singing! It was so cute. He is so funny. I

cant even really describe Oscar. Hes just awesome!

In regards to new investigators we found a family to teach! Last week

we knocked on Adriana Kristmans door. She was busy at the moment but

asked us to come back this week on Wednesday, so we did! We went back

on Wednesday evening, and taught not only her but her husband Richard

and their three kids, Emma, Ricky and Issac. Adriana is from Mexico

and is one of those die hard Catholics but doesn't actually attend a

church. Richard is from Lousiana and only joined the Catholic Church

because Adriana's parents wouldn't let them get married if he wasn't a

Catholic. He told us that he has a hard time with the way the church

they go to is run because they have changed things that are spoken to

plainly in the Bible. He talked mostly about how they used wafers

instead of bread and some of the prayers that they say. We talked to

him about how the same church that Christ organized is once again on

the Earth, but the best part was when we gave him a Book of Mormon. He

was blown away by it and was just so excited to read it. He talked

about how he had never thought about the people in the Americas but

that it makes sense! He told us not long after that that his best

friends sister is a Mormon and attends the Pottstown ward with her

husband. Richard told us that he would like to come to church on a

Sunday with his friends so that they can help answer his questions. It

was so awesome.

We also got a Book of Mormon referral named Mildred. Mildred is from

Liberia and ordered a Book of Mormon because she wants to keep moving

forward spiritually. One thing was really interesting, after the

prayer she started just asking question after question. Starting with

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" We obviously answered yes. Her next

question was "Kay and that hes the Son of God?" We answered yes again!

Her next question was "So what's the difference?" So Sister Briggs and

I looked at each other and we couldn't figure out where to start

because there are so many differences and we aren't trained to talk

about the differences in religion but the similarities. So we went

through the list of differences Book of Mormon, eternal families, and

so on. It was an awesome lesson!

Are you ready for the craziest story now? I cant remember if I told

y'all about Victoria but we found out that she ODed on Heroine and is

currently in the hospital to start feeling better. They dont know how

or where she got the drugs so no one is allowed to go visit her but we

are religious clergy so what's up! Anyway we went to visit her and she

is cray cray. Like way cray cray. She was a little off her rocker

before just due to her drug use years ago but now its really bad. We

walked in and I didnt even recognize her. The first words she said to

us were in reference to a bowel movement she needed to make and every

two seconds when we were visiting with her she would tell us to get

her out of there or to bring her "husband" to get her out. They had

her strapped down because she kept trying to escape and all sorts of

stuff. When she gets out she is going to have to be under 24 hour care

and will still be under protective service due to the fact that

someone was helping her get the drugs, they just don't know who. It

was a crazy adventure I can tell you that much.

All in all it was a great week! Sister Briggs is training so I am

excited for that golden to have as much fun as I did in Downingtown!

I love this Gospel so much and I love and miss you all so much!

I am working on getting my new address for y'all but I might not be

able to get it until next week. Worse comes to worst just send it to

the mission office because it is in my area now so no worries there. I

will get it soon! The address is 721 Paxon hollow rd Broomall Pa 19008

I love y'all so much!

Love,

Sister Jackson

Williams Family

The Mele Family

The Seaman Family

Gangsta missionaries

Momma Jo

Sister Mitchell

The Iglehart Family

Vino & Anu

Hola Amigas y Amigos y familia! I hope your week was awesome! My week

was! First order of business. Transfer calls are this Saturday so I

might be leaving D-Town on Tuesday the 24th, but I will let you know

next Monday what the verdict of Heavenly Father is! So if you're

sending anything (letters etc) I'd hold off unless you know it'll make

it by Saturday!

We have had a interesting week this week. Full of good times and weird

people, but welcome to the life of a missionary right?

Well to start off let me tell you all about Oscar. Oscar was so fun to

take to the temple! Afterwards we went out to dinner and he informed

us that he enjoyed getting in the pool. It was so funny to watch him

to the proxies because he would literally just sit down in the water

and poor Elder Kunz (who was doing the baptisms) had to strain to get

him back up and out of the water. He also got to pass the sacrament on

Sunday and on every row he asked the people "how ya doin?" He is so

funny.

Maurice is doing so good! He got the priesthood on Sunday and its just

an amazing feeling to see the people youve worked so close with and

love so much to continue to progress in the Gospel with the ordinances

needed to help them learn and grow even more.

We met a lady named Jen this week. Jen is a former investigator that

met with missionaries about 8ish years ago. We stopped by because the

elders told us we should before they left and we were around her area.

So anyway we set up a time to come back and meet with her so we met

with her on Friday and man was it interesting. She was like 100% sure

that Joseph Smith is a false prophet. She used Deuteronomy 13:1-4 to

back up her claim. She also told us that since Jospeh Smith is a false

prophet the Book of Mormon is false and she isn't going to read a

false book of scripture. So yeah, we can kind of see why missionaries

stopped going by because she is very firm in her belief system which

is far from what we believe. We are meeting with her one more time to

just try to explain to her everything but who knows. Keep her in your

prayers and maybe the spirit will soften her heart.

Speaking of prayers. Darren. Darren is being ridiculous. His grandson

is supposed to be born on January 25th and his daughter or daughter in

law or whatever keeps having false labor so he keeps canceling. He

just texted us not too long ago informing us that until the baby is

born we should just stop meeting. So yeah.

We were able to contact a man named Peter again this week and set up a

time next week to go visit with him! He's super cool. I think I may

have told you all about him before but just in case. Peter was someone

whose door we knocked on before Christmas and so he asked us to come

back after the holidays. He also is familiar with our religion because

his dad attended BYU for his masters degree but did not convert to the

church. Peter is open to learning more but not looking to convert.

Which is exactly what Maurice said and look at where he is now!

We found this really sweet lady from Mexico the other day when we were

knocking on doors. She was incredibly nice and set up a return

appointment! Her name is Adriana and we are so excited to meet with

her and share this good news that we have!

We also met with Vino and Anu again this week. Anu is moving back to

India in February so it has even hard to get in touch with them

because they are preparing everything to get ready for her to go. It

was a great lesson on repentance! Anu said the closing prayer and she

was so cute she said "God we know we are sinners please for give us

because we are human." They also told us that they are wanting to come

to church to experience it before she leaves.

This week on January 14th was national take a missionary to lunch day,

so the Clarke family took us out to Panera bread because they are

doing a thing where every day is a holiday, so that was so fun! I love

this ward!

 I also spoke in sacrament meeting this week and it was really good! I

talked about the Book of Mormon and where y testimony came from and

how I know it is true.

I have felt like Ive always known the Book of Mormon is true. Growing

up my dad only read books of the non fiction variety and so as a

little girl seeing my dad read those books along with the Book of

Mormon I just assumed that the book was true. "If daddy only reads

true books then the Book of Mormon must be true!" As I grew up I began

to read and understand the book for myself. I remember finishing the

book so that I could pass off my personal progress in young woman's

and praying to know if it was true. It took a while for me to get my

answer. I didn't receive an answer until a friend started

investigating the church. The missionaries testified of the first

vision and the spirit confirmed to me what I had known all a long,

that the book is true, Joseph Smith is a prophet and the church of

Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church once again

restored to the earth. I know it and if i didnt know it I wouldn't be

on a mission.

Well everyone I love you all and I love my life. I love my mission and

I love our Savior. I know He lives and I know He loves you all.

Because he loves me.

Much love,

Sister Jackson

Sent from Downingtown ❤️

Zone Training

Philly

Hello my most precious friends and family! I know you all got on your

emails yesterday so excited to hear about my adventures as a servant

of the Lord (or a gangster for God as one of Sister Payne's

investigators put it) out here is Downingtown! Its been a good week,

one that went by so fast! In fact if you can believe it transfers are

about a week away. Its been six weeks already. Super weird.

Well first of all we had some snow finally hit! Not like y'all are

getting back home, just a fluff. I have some videos and pictures that

I will attach because I know you're just dying to see them! It has

been a little chilly but not so bad, in fact within the next week or

so it is supposed to hit the fifties again! It's just the best!

This week we had the really cool experience of teaching two people

over Facebook! We taught Maurice and a girl named Arianna over

Facebook because we couldn't find a member and the times we were free

just didn't work with them so Facebook it was and it was really cool!

We have been blessed with a great tool to use as missionaries so that

we can teach and meet with people who otherwise could not meet with

us!

Maurice is doing so well speaking of him! He's just flourishing with

the ward and in the gospel and his questions are spot on! He's so

amazing. I'm so excited for him to be able to do proxy baptisms soon

so that he can feel the sweet sweet spirit that surrounds the temple

and from going inside! He's just someone I know who was looking for

the gospel and was being prepared by the spirit for the opportunity to

hear it!

Oscar is so good! We are waiting at the arrivals center right now, for

Oscar to enter the temple and do baptisms for the dead! He's so

awesome, I just love him!

Darren is also doing good. Although he needs some prayers for sure! He

missed his date again and won't sent a new one because he can't put a

date on when he will "know enough" be baptized. He knows it's true and

he knows he needs to be baptized, he's just doing this little dance

because he's afraid.

We had a lot of finding time this week and we had most doors shut in

our faces. It's been a little rough just because we don't know who to

teach or talk to because no one wants to talk to us.

I was in Havertown yesterday and it was so fun! Sister Payne and I

were walking around visiting some of the gators and such in her area.

We tried to meet with her investigator Patty. Patty is super cool,

she's got lots of rats (I held one), and lots of questions! Her

boyfriend also decided that missionaries are just gangsters for God

because Sister Payne said "fo' real" so yes. I'm a gangster for God.

I'm just loving it here. I'm learning so much and growing so much.

Since Christmas we've been challenged to read the Book of Mormon

before Easter, and also I started reading it again at the New Year.

It's been such an eye opener. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of

God. There is too much evidence inside of it to not be the word. I

have had prayer upon prayer upon prayer answered in that Book. I have

had the Lord rebuke me. I've had tears come to my eyes from the pure

joy that came from a scripture. I know that this book is true, it's

the word of god and it was translated by a prophet. As Elder Holland

once said "No evil man could write this, and no good man would, unless

it was ordained by God." That is the truest statement.

This week I had an amazing experience. Saturday was really hard for

me. It was snowing so all of our appointments canceled on us. No one

was answering the door. Nothing. I was tired, frustrated and read to

quit. I wanted to go home and warm up. As we were driving to the next

door to knock on I just wanted to cry and as soon as the first tear

fell I was reminded of an email that my dad sent me a few weeks ago.

He talked about how on his mission he hated knocking on doors too, but

he remembered a time when his companion prayed right before they

knocked a street and they found two amazing families who are still

strong in the gospel today. I was immediately humbled, because we pray

before we get out of the car but I hadn't been prayed for the strength

to knock on the next door for myself. I said a quick prayer in my

heart to be able to have the strength to keep going and finish the day

strong. That's when my eyes cleared, the tears were gone, and I had a

new energy inside, I wanted to talk to everyone, I wanted to just

shout it from the roof top the message I have to share. I know it's

true and everyone deserves this knowledge, that's why I'm here.

Everyone deserves this chance to hear about the restored Gospel of

Jesus Christ.

I know that my Redeemer lives. I know this because I have felt His

arms around me in the hardest moments where I've felt like I just

can't go on. I've felt Him pick me up and push me forward. I've felt

Him brush the tears off my face. I've felt His presence every single

day. He lives. He cares. He's there. I know it.

I love you all so much. I hope you remember how much I love you, cuz

it's a whole lot.

I miss yous guys too.

Love,

Sister Josie Jackson

Sent from Downingtown ❤️

Oscar's first temple trip

Philadelphia Temple

Josie, Darren, Sister Nutting