New in NICEVILE:)

Hey hey my loved ones:) 

I hope everything in Utah is going too good. WELL, I am here in Niceville with Sister Fox!! She is super sweet and very soft spoken. She just graduated and is from Colorado I love her a lot. Our personalities are different but we have the same goal and are going to put in some good work!! She is already way on top of everything and is teaching me a lot!

Where to begin! We are SO new! Hahah that thought has run through my head a thousand times this week. Our second night in our apartment I woke up in panic to a siren going off. I thought someone was breaking in ha but little did we know we have a broken Carbon Monoxide detector. So here Sis Fox and I are at 4 in the morning searching our apartment for where the siren was coming from and it took us a solid 30 min to tape it shut haha. Thats happened more than once this week! 

 I felt like i was leaving home all over again because of how much love for the people I have in Fairhope but slowly and surely we are meeting people here. We are in a car share witht the elders here which means we will be rollin on bikes everyother day! We also have a YSA branch here so we pack lunches and stay at church from 7:30 to 6 at night!  Almost our whole ward is Military which is cool! A lot of them aren't from the South and I almost feel out of place now:)

  I will be honest, this week was one of the hardest out here in the mission. I didn't realize how many moments i would have here where I felt utterly alone. It is difficult moving to a new area with a brand new missionary when we both don't know a soul or thing about it. Where nothing and no one is familiar and no one knows you. It is difficult to lead an area of God's children that I don't know yet! Ha I just wish i knew more for Sis Fox! But things are going to get better! It has really pushed and stretched me which i'm so grateful for. I know that I needed this. I had a sacred experience this week that i want to share...

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 One morning I felt broken, exhausted, alone, and overwhelmed by my own expectations. During one of my studies I went into the bathroom and knelt down before my maker. And for a long time I knelt there pouring my entire soul to him, pleading  him with every ounce of energy i had in me. I prayed to God for the strength and for purpose in what I was doing here. For the faith. For the help that i needed from him to help and love my new companion. And then i just knelt there with my head in my fists and listened. I didn't have a heavens come down experience but when i stood up I looked in the mirror at my worn and tear filled face, and i knew God was proud of me.  The rest of my week my heart has felt lighter and although its tough I feel God closer to me. I realized that when no one else knows who i truly am He does. I was reminded of 3 Nephi 17:10 " And they did all, both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow down at his feet, and did worship him; and as many as could come for the multitude did kiss his feet, insomuch that they did bathe his feet with their tears."

 Whether the tears were on the saviors feet or upon a bathroom floor in an apartment in Florida, the tears ARE THE SAME. He hears me the same. He hears us all the same. 

I am grateful to be out here serving Him and loving Him. Keep reading and praying. I know he hears your prayers and he wants nothing more than for you to hear Him. Thank you for being the best family a girl could ask for:) 

SO much love,

Sis Jackson!

My new good pal Sister Fox!!!:)

Williams had me sign there their shed! How i love them!!!!

Farewell Fairhope!

Heyyyy Fam bam! This week was nuts seriously thank you for all the support you have given me with losing my pump! I love you all dearly!!! Transfers came and im off to NICEVILLE FLORIDA wahoo. I am white washing( which means that both me and my comp will be new to the area), and training. So I will go pick my new pal up from the mission home and take her on over there! Wish us luck from there:) I am really excited to make Niceville into the area God has in store! I know He will help me build and guide my new companion in this area. 

Fairhope will always have such a big part of my heart. It is SO SO hard to part from some of my best friends here! I LOVE THE SOUTH. I know i did my part here and i learned more than I could ever imagine. God sure loves his people here. I love you all with every thing that I am. Gods Speed:)xoxo Sister J

We woke up at 5 today to go tour Fort Morgan! So cool.

Believing Him

Happy Monday once again!! I am sure BYU lost because they are still missin me there. I hope you all cheered loud enough for us all:) This week was a solid solid week. 

A girl named Alleyha requested a free Bible on Mormon.org and when we showed up at her apartment it turns out she was 13 years old. She was the purest more darling little girl. Her grandma was laying on the couch in the dark behind her and they let us in. We ended up teaching them a beautiful lesson on the Restoration of the gospel. They both had such genuine hearts. 

This week I am full of gratitude for Jesus Christ. I teach people with full confidence feeling the love god has for them and the yearning our Savior has for them. Yet it is harder for me sometimes to feel it in my own self. I am learning and growing my love for the peace that Christs suffering offers and what it means to me. I am learning not only to believe IN Christ but to simply BELIEVE HIM. To trust him. To trust that when he says "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you"(John 14:18), he means it. I know he means it. I felt the edifying affects that the Savior offers to lift us as I partook of the sacrament this week.  More than ever I feel like He hears me and understands me. I know he loves ALL his children so infinitely. I love him with everything that I am. Thank you for being the best family ever to support me out here!! I am SO blessed:)

Sister J

This is Missy. She is theee coolest with some wicked nails. She lives out side the Library, we teach her and give her fruit snacks when we run into her. Wee are real good friends!

The Good Life!

I am alive and well!! Hurricane Hermine came and went!! My side of the Mission just had lots of rain. Only the East Missionaries got evacuated! What a WEEK. There are moments on the mission where you wish to be no where eles. Where you take a step back and just soak in your life, in God and how good he is to you. I wish I had more time but here were a few!

Monday a member took us and two of our investigators down to Gulf Shores! MY MISSION IS BEAUTIFUL.Sister Fletcher and I had lil one on one lessons at the beach. Seriously some of my favorite lessons. It is simply the best when multiple things and people you love coincide. 

Fairhope is the artiest lil town you've ever seen. Every month they do an art walk and Linda took Sis Fletch and I and we street contacted while she looked at the art. Locals play live music on the corners which is something that I could never get enough off. I am not sure if its just because i miss music in general but there is something so raw and inspiring about live music. Any ways!! We walked back into this little court yard and there were 3 ladies sitting on a bench. They were Jehovah Witness's and were a RIOT. We started with talking and then it turned into dancing which turned into pictures which turned into getting the numbers;) Then two other J.W witnesses noticed our name tags and came up to us and there we all were dancin in unity! Ha some were nicer than others. One said to me" you need to come to our kingdom hall." So i invited her to come to our church and she about had it. I made some real good friends that night:)

Yesterday we had a wonderful zone conference and all the Sisters stayed at our apartment last night.In a mission you meet so many new people all the time which i love!! 

 After the conference we went and just tracked Mobile the rest of the day. Sisters don't serve there because of safety concerns but man I wish I could. The whole population there is African American and so receptive. It was right before we had to go and we stopped at one last door. We ended up teaching a cute family the Restoration of the Gospel. Gosh I wish more than anything I could go back to that lesson. As I told of Josephs experience of the first vision the spirit consumed the room. I could hear words coming from my mouth but it wasn't me. The mother was so intrigued and recognized the spirit and peace we brought to her home. As we left she said "I can tell by the spirit you bring in your eyes and words that this is good, it is peace."

Everyday that I stand here I feel and understand more and more of the power and sacredness of this calling. I bore testimony last night to my zone of power of a changed heart. How the Lord heals them into who his Sons and Daughters are destined to be. My mission is real. I miss you all more than words can describe but i know that even the worsts of days are so worth it. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints holds unimaginable truth. I am grateful to be here as the Lords servant and I thank him for it every day. I love you all to the moon and back!!!!

Sister Jackson:)

Our Jehovah Witness pals!

The wall of wishes at Gulf Shores!