My Man Percy

Happy happy Memorial Day!! I hope it is treatin you all too good:) Everyone here is havin quite the party today on the bay, were going to go contact them all tonight so its almost like we were invited:)

Haha ohhhh this week. It twas a goodie. The majority of this week was just straight exhausting with little luck. We had appointments all day last P-Day.. needless to say i now understand the importance of one!! We were draggin and just burnt out. OH my lanz there were so many times we just had to just stop and just breathe! HOWEVER!! The COOLEST thing happened this weekend!!

So we were going through the potentials/past contacts and calling them, and came across a guy named Percy Jackson and we thought for sure the missionaries who met him got played. Haha we called him and HE WAS SO COOL. We drove over to his tailor and he is just your lil, black, jesus, lovin man. He has a life size cross in his yard that says "JESUS IS D WAY."  

We got talking to him and he was telling us all about his misty, warm and wet revelations.. I lost him a few times.. but sounded sweet. Hahah anywho, he just loves God and Jesus SO much. An hour into trying to teach him the Restoration we hadn't even made it to the part about Joseph Smith. Sister Redfearn had had it because you totally run into people down here who just want to preach to you! So she gave him the pamphlet and Book of Mormon and we bounced. 

Later that day he called us! I answered it and said "Whats going on Percy!?" And he replied "I read the pamplet and the Introduction of the Book and Morioni, and I KNOW THAT THERE IS  TRUTH IN THIS." He went on to tell me the spirit he felt and that he knew it wasn't fate we came to see him that day! He was just so excited. All i could say was YES! YES! You are right! 

It was the light of hope in a down right trying week! I hope you all are reading, i know i can feel a difference in my days when i read and when i don't! I love you all with everything i am!! I pray for you all daily. 

Sending sooooo much love coming your way from Fairhope,

Sister Jackson

The new crew

These lil guys are everywhere! I chased this one all over some mans lawn the other night.

 Alsoooo cheers to the beginning of summer over here and getting hot, humid and sweaty pictures from Sister Jackson for the next 6 months:) 

New Day New Area

Hello Once again my Lovely Peeps!! So much has happened sense we talked last! 

First off Sister Lehman said her goodbyes and is now in a trio is Bristle and I Welcomed Sister Redfearn to goood ol' Fairhope Alabama:) Sister Redfearn is super cool! She's is from Virginia but went to Utah State before the mish! She loves academics and is very very on top of everything!! I am already learning  a lot:) We get along just great though because we are both really easy going which is the absolute BEST. Holy heck, we are honestly like we are white washing this area. Because i have only been here 6 weeks! There is so much that needs to be done so we are starting from square one and just pulling apart the area and working hard to get it to where it needs to be! I feel like who i am as a missionary has already changed in this past week from leading our companionship with the knowledge that i do know! Needless to say we come home exhausted every night(surprising huh;)). 

We got a call from Sis Red's dad yesterday and have had some hard things happen but are getting on our feet again. You learn from so so many parts of the mission out side of the actual missionary work. It is cool to see the hand of the Lord is so many lives and the strength that he TRULY offers. It is unique in everyone's life but it is THERE. 

Keep praying and reading, i love you all so much!! I am one lucky Sister Missionary because of you:) 

xoxo Sister Jackson

Took this in honor of comp unity with sis Leh (we stopped everywhere that she ever had wanted to take pics by, on her way out of here)

Evan’s family 

Hahah so when we were tracting an area we stopped to take a picture in the beauts of this field.. I wasn't long before i noticed i had stopped in a gosh darn  RED ANT VILLAGE.

Moments before my feet completely swelled with red and purple bites. My shoes are still uncomfortable, anything for the pic right?

Reaching the Gators!

Hey my dear fam! I always always love hearing from y'all! Monday are thee greatest:) 

Honestly this week was just another week in the life! We had another zone training all about turning to god for answers and not the internet and other sources, it was really great and needed! 

We did lots of service this week!! We went and helped with the food bank and I was able to talk to a 15 year old girl who seemed a little uneasy and unsure i guess you could say. I got talking to her and about her family situations and just her life, and i was like i know this is so cliche because i am a missionary but.. and just gave her a little snippet of the gospel and how it could totally help her too! She is out of my area so i gave her info to the elders over there! But she followed me around the rest of the night and we became good friends:) It was one of those nights where when i left i just felt blessed to be here. I am able to do more good and help and bring love into more life's than i ever could have at home! 

I also swept off a less actives roof this morning and did some good quality yard work:)

SO last night we got the call and Sister Lehman is getting transferred on Wednesday! We have been through a lot together and I can honestly say I completely love her! She will be great in her new area. I am kinda stressed because now i have a trainer coming into an area she's never been and I feel like i barely know these people hahah. There are SO SO many people and back grounds with potentials and less actives and investigators that it just straight overwhelms me. Ha sister Lehman told me last night" I just have so much info in my head that you don't have" hahahah so this will be good!!!

A member took us to ALLIGATOR ALLEY today! I have never seen so many gators in my life. You just walk around on lil gated platforms and feed them all. It was a good time:) 

I love you all so so much!!! Keep reading, Keep praying, God is so good. Thanks for being the best team:) 

A little pick-me-up

Hey Hey Fam!! It was SO good to see all your happy faces yesterday!! Haha sorry I balled my eyes out at the end... I promise by Christmas I'll have my act together:) How I LOVE YOU ALL. After i hung up i slowly remembered all these things i wanted to tell you but spaced completely. 

Last week we got a referral for a super cool girl who is like 30 and is in rehab because she just got her leg amputated. We went and met her and talked to her for a bit and she is Type 1 and so I was able to reach her perfectly! And was able to tie the Gospel into everything like I never have before! It was the first time out here that I truly felt called to this area!! 

I am grateful to be here. My soul is growing. Truly. God is becoming more real to me. My belief in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is shifting slowly but surely! Last week after teaching family history, something neat happened. I could feel the spirit seeping into me and by the time i was walking out of the library i was almost in tears because i felt a glimpse of the reality of God, Christ and HIS gospel. My heart was SO FULL with hope and faith it was absolutely profound. I have never felt the spirit so beautifully in my entire life, than i did in that short moment. 

In our day to day life we all have our experiences and heartaches and trials that we fight through. But more importantly we all have experiences heartaches and trails that we fight to overcome within ourselves. Being on a mission every emotion is so raw and meaningful. The good, the misery, the love, the frustration, the loneliness, the joy, all of them. Because you are able to learn from them. You are able to teach yourself on the daily!

I love and appreciate you all so dang much! Keep reading, keep praying, keep loving! You guys are the best team! I am seriously the luckiest lil sister mish alive:) 

xoxo Sister Jackson

I have knocked on this door at least 37 times haha.We teach their dad! 

There are 8 lil girls all from different moms.

Nado Watch

Hey hey my favorite people!! I can't tell you HOW good it is to hear about all the fun and cool things going on over there! It raises my spirits:) 

This week was literally all over the place! I'll just share a few moments!

Sister Williams took us to the beach/pier again and brought her wine bottles to throw into the ocean. We shoved Resto pamphlets and mormon.org cards in them cus #missionary and set them free! Haha we are expecting some phone calls and baptisms shortly;) 

Also the storms and clouds here are INSANE. One day a lady canceled on us because she didn't want to go outside and told us not to leave. But clearly we still had too! The clouds here move sooooo fast its unreal. Or spin in circles, which freaked us out a lil bit but here i am writing home so:)

We also had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders in Milton, Florida this week! Which was dopeee! It was cool to teach and do the whole mish thing with Sister Carter who is the happiest person you will meet! She reminds me of a Samoan Sara Jackson:) Every house you go into down here is somethin eles! Ha i taught the most distracted resto lesson thus far out here all ( lessons in the mtc are nothin like the field) We sat on a little screened in porch with three dogs and two of her daughters (dad i thought of you because one of them looks identical to the lil trailor girl off of Christmas Vacation) running in and out all while she (who was on pain meds at the time) sat and smoked 2 cigarettes. The whole thing was just comical, she stood up and got Sister Carter a fan because she was choking over all the smoke. And as i was recalling Joseph Smiths prayer she just answers the phone and talked for a few mintues. ALSO THE FAMILY PICS HERE KILL ME. Everyone has these just awesome family photos hanging up that look like the ones that you would see as memes or in a Walmart Calendar hahah. One house i just sat there thinking what socially acceptable thing could i say to take a pic of there family... i obviously never did.

Saturday we did service almost the entire day. We cleaned up a non-members yard and i now have all these weird bites all over me, i was just praying that they aren't anything crazy! And then we tracted a lil got dropped by one of my fav investigators:( and ended up cleaning out a lady in the wards house till 10 o'clock! Ha we are suppose to be in by 930 at the latest but she wanted to take us to get mexican food after to say thank you for helping her the afternoon and evening, but her son called on a rage cus of his girl friend so she left to talk to him! So here was sister Lehman and I just chillan at some mexican restaurant by ourselves past curfew haha. I honestly am growing to LOVE service! I sat there 5 hours into this ladies house thinking that if this was even just a few months ago at home i would be bored and exhausted and wanting to push it off till another day haha. But this wasn't the case and that rocks!

Other than that my week has just been up and down! We weren't able to get out all week because of some issues, and of course there are always low times but i got the chance to get up and introduce myself/bear testimony this Sunday and the spirit of this ward is awesome. Most of them are converts which makes it a totally different experience!

I sure do love and miss you all WITH MY WHOLE HEART! I truly do feel and appreciate the prayers! I feel blessed beyond belief. 

xoxo Sister Jackson

Sis Carter on Exchanges!

Sis Carter on Exchanges!

Fairhope Lovin

My dearest fam! How in the heck are all of you!? I loved the Pics of Finn haha HE IS ALREADY SO GROWN UP! GOSH. Dad sent me some hard copies as well so he can be looked at daily;) This week was all just up and down.. literally as well! We have been biking A LOT this week! And Fairhope is all hills so needless to say I have one sore bum. It is all just extreme! It is either hotter than Hades or just raining buckets! A mish is spiritually, and emotionally hard and its now become physically hard as well! To be honest though i feel like i am more invested in every lesson because it was a testing trek to even get to them!! Literally I think every single appointment fell through this week besides one. So we have just been finding, finding, finding! 

One of my favorite things about the south is the overwhelming love for Jesus. Our ward is so interesting because the majority of the members are converts. There is an older couple ( the Williams) who are just your typical southern, red neck, HALLELUJAH praisin people who got baptized about a month ago! They are stellar and literally their entire lives now only consist of the gospel and helpin the missionaries! We brought them to a girls house who we read the bible to who has disabilities last Wednesday! She was having nightmares and wanted a blessing from the elders. During the blessing Doug or Bro Williams was sitting next to the girl getting the blessing. I was sitting there with my eyes closed listening to the blessing and slowing Doug started rattling his fists on the table and started breathing EXTREMELY DEEPLY. He then started mumbling louder and louder until what was his own personal prayer was just as loud as the blessing! Hahah i guess that is how the spirit takes over in Him! However, it is so NEAT to see peoples complete and unshakable faith in god and Jesus Christ.

 

It is incredible! God is ALL i have often in my days here! I want to strengthen that relationship because I NEED HIM. I often find myself exhausted walking or biking in the heat, and my comp won't be talking to me, and the doors are slamming, and people are fighting the gospel with anything you could possibly imagine, with anti-all over the freakin place, and i just am PLEADING with God to help me! With strength to understand why i am here and why this gospel is for everyone! I am having to learn how He speaks to me and how to truly rely on him as if he were right here with me, because honestly my testimony has not had to be this real until now! 

We talked to a man on the pier last night who didn't believe in god and was very apprehensive and cold towards us. In just those 15 minutes i could see how his heart had softened! He just wanted to be HEARD! He felt the spirit that night and it is people like him that keep me moving forward!

This gospel will bless you and fill you, if you let it! Fighting doubts and fears Christ will reach you when your heart is in complete humility. I love my Savior and I love you all!

I couldn't do this with out you and your prayers! They sure do reach me! I feel blessed beyond belief solely 

because of you! SENDING SO MUCH LOVE FROM THE BAMA COAST!!

XOXO Sis Jackson:)

This is after we biked home in the pouring rain. I almost went down a few times with all the water on the roads hahah ah the joys.