1 YEAR

MAN. I live a good life. This week was nothing less than hectic but, the absolute best. I hit my year mark last week and it is a little surreal. So many laughs, tears, heartaches, faith-trying and faith-promoting experiences. So many days full of exhaustion and devotion. So many countless days on my knees. So many lessons learned about myself and inner battles and victories through the Savior.  So, so many tender mercies and people I adore with my whole heart.  

Sylvia was baptized on Saturday. It was tender to watch her son, who was once taken and raised in the branch due to the drug environment, become a member, serve a mission and come back to baptize his momma. The Gospel of Jesus Christ elevates us to our divine potential with courage. That I know.

Every heart wrenching, exhausting, lonely day out here is completely worth it. They do not compare in the slightest for the joy that is felt for people like Syliva. I have hope and gratitude in my heart for this Gospel. I love my Savior. It is hard not to love someone who loved you first. How much more fully I have come to know him personally over this past year. I would not give that up for the world.

I know God answer prayers. It amazes me in the way He does, but he does. Never have I felt such fulfillment and purpose in my life than on my mission. And the cool thing is we should always create our lives to feel that. How lucky we are to know what creates that. It is the Savior and His Gospel. What a beautiful life WE LIVE!

Sending you so much love!

Sister Jackson:)

A Wet Week

Hello everyone! I don't have much time today but I just wanted you all to know I love you!

Sylvia is schedule to get baptized on Saturday. We sat in her little dark trailer with the smell of boiling pigs feet this week and I felt such gratitude to of been apart of/witnessed the growth and victories she's overcome.

To accept your weaknesses and deficiencies is to reject the enabling power of Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation. We are all changing constantly. No one is cast in stone. What a beautiful message and chance we have to become better than who we were yesterday. 

I am grateful to be serving. I love my Savior. Keep "drinking deeply" from the Gods words! Thank you for the being the best family I could dream off. I love you:)

Sister Jackson:)

Ja'shanti, one of our investigators!

Crazy week

Hey fam! I didn't feel like typing a group email so I figured id just send ya what I sent my mish pres!

Tarus came to stake conference this weekend met a member of the 70 the mission pres had his baptism interview and the DL said it was the most powerful interview he's ever had. He was on fire. Then yesterday it was the strangest thing. We began the lesson and he couldn't even keep his eyes open and was real scrimy and fear sunk in. I though he better not be high. And sure enough he did a summer salt thing off the couch and my heart dropped. He got up asked all these questions and about Joseph Smith and the black getting the priesthood. His mom had filled him and all of a sudden his whole motivation to stay off weed and to do good went out the window. The lesson went down hill and he eventually got up and walked out. Our other baptismal candidate for this week also got offended by something and is now going down hill. I honestly feel like I'm morning hahah its crazy how deeply you love everyone out here.

trans calls were last night and we are getting another sister in Madison so we will be a trio. I know sis smith has been really worried about me with all the many challenge with training my comp and the senior couple here is best friends with the Smiths so they talk all the time about how tough she can be so in essence I guess they feel like giving me another sis to help me out is what the senior couple told me. I'm not sure if it will help or make things a bit tougher so we will see:)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

President Smith,

IN THIS MISSION we press forward diligently with faith and hope no matter the out come. In this mission we are courageous. We are fearless. I have seen these mission cultures many many times this past transfer in Madison, the district and in the missionaries across the mission. 

My heart has been all over the spectrum this week. I'm grateful you had the chance to meet Tarus this weekend at Conference. Elder Wilson was kind to him. He took his shoulder and asked him if he was working or in school, what he wanted to study. What he was doing in life. Then he proceeded to talk about how him getting baptized will influence his life forever. That he personally understand what remarkable effects of this Gospel has had on him. Tarus loved every minute of it and said that someday He might be up there doing what he's doing. On the way home from the Conference we talked about how he felt it was all for him. That they mentioned scriptures and stories that we had just studied on the way up there and in his recent readings. He had his baptism interview with Elder Millard right before and just kept saying "That guy was so spiritual." He had a powerful interview. Tarus was on cloud 9!

However, the adversary works hard as ever right before and after the break of life changing experiences that bring us joy and salvation. With our lesson last night as we began the lesson it began to be apparent that he was high and brought up questions about Joseph Smith and blacks and the priesthood and eventually stood up and walked out of the lesson. We guess that his mom evidently filled him with all these anti ideas. And the rest went down hill. Gosh its tough to invest you entire heart into something and someone to have it get beat up senselessly it feels sometimes. He was so close to SO much joy with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. It just made me really ponder how much our Father in Heaven hurts and yearns with his way ward children. When we struggle and fall. What hope and expectations He has for all of us. How he can see the divine potential in us when often we can't.

BUT in this mission we press forward diligently with faith and hope no matter the outcome. Courageously and fearlessly we serve Him. 

I was reading/pondering in the Book of Mormon this week and I came to the realization of just how much they all were constantly in the wilderness. Through out the whole book. Somewhere someone is "traveling in the wilderness."' Ha its no wonder why we often feel in a spiritual wilderness.What do you think God was trying to teach us today through them and their history?! We feel as though we may be fighting for faith and truth. At times we may feel starved of hope or certainty. But we press forward. 

Just as Ammon and 15 other of Mosiah's strongest men journey to the land Lehi-Nephi "they knew not the course they should traveled" yet they traveled. They knew where they wanted to go and where they wanted to be yet they weren't sure of the exact course to take. But THEY TRAVELED. How similar are we? We know who we want to live with in joy and peace someday. We know what kind of family we want to have. What kind of people we want to be at the end of our missions and through out our lives. So we take our tools of the gospel and travel up and down till we reach the day. What a journey it is!

Sister Jarvis has been doing well this week. She beats her self up so we really have been focusing on the role of herself vs. the role of the spirit and how proud God is off her. Nothing else matters because she here, worthy, and trying. 

I have never been in a trio before but I'm sure Sister Hulstien will be a great addition to Madison!

I'm grateful to be here serving my mission. Thank you for the love and council that you and Sister Smith share widely and deeply!

Much love, 

Sister Jackson:)

A Changed Man

Happy Monday:)

        God is good. Life is good. Yesterday was one of the happiest days on my mission. Syliva came to church for the second time and is progressing like iv never seen with her. Xiaver( jimmy fallon Jr) Got ordained a Priest. And Taurz who we tracted into had a few ups and downs but is doing SO good now. He is on tract to get baptized next week.

        The branch had gone out and gotten him a white shirt and tie and yesterday when he walked in I couldn't believe it. These past three weeks he has become some one entirely new. Yesterday in the hall way he came to me and said in complete humility and excitement that he too wants to serve a mission. He has given up weed, the friends and everything in between. Nothing in his life has given him an ounce of support or reason to have the courage to do what he is doing to change his life how he is today. It amazes me. I wish you all could just sit in our lessons because he sure is loved by God and is one of His finest.

       Only God could be giving him the divine help to overcome his past and break the abusive, violent, absent chain within his family. 3 weeks ago Taurz told us that he knew his life was going to be a failure if he didn't get out of the streets. He was brought to tears from the stories in the Book of Mormon as he related to Nephi and knew he needed to be the strong one for his siblings. Nothing I could express in email would be able to explain to you the depth that he has  in the Gospel.

        These past three weeks my testimony of the Book of Mormon has grown. It truly is a book of change. Given to us to help change our lives. With every investigators the stories seem to fit them perfectly. I love the book and feel its truth. It is a good life we live!

Sister Jackson 

Taurz  Allen

Yay for mommas who send love and Stance socks.

A vid of the missionary life in action haha Elder Sherwood recorded this one day and sent it to my mission pres.

I LOVE YOU ALL.

An Apostle of the Lord

Hello dear ones,

This week we had an entire mission conference and Elder Gary E. Stevenson from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles came to our mission!  So neat. A few other missionaries and I had the chance to sing Come Thou Fount to him and our mission. For the past month we have been coordinating together for the number. I love that song and it was a tender experience! It was something eles to be able to shake an apostle of the Lords hand and to receive training from him one on one. My entire mission it has been a learning experience to understand how the Spirit touches me personally. And MAN it is a cool journey.

We are still at it trying to find people to teach as always! Ha last Saturday we met two 19 year olds at a gas station and invited them to church and they came! Every one says they will come but no one does of course ha so we were pumped. It got a little less exciting however, when we all sat down and it became apparent that they both showed up totally high. We sat there in sacrament with them and the longer we sat the more apparent it was. Geez. Ha one of them was clapping after talks and quoting the bible scriptures with the person speaking. At times i was nervous for what they were about to do. Sister Jarvis had no clue what was going the whole time. 

I Love you all. This week have more faith than fear. Jesus Christ Lives!

Sister Jackson:)

I also chopped 5 inches off my hair last week. It was actually very liberating hah. 

Fun to see old friends/ comps again!

God's Love is the best Love.

Miracles. This week was full. The past while consisted of tracting and street contacting and we were stoked for the ones with a return appointment and then we get stood up time and time again! Ha it is the norm out here unfortunately. This week particularly was a really really long week. It has been a goal to tract around the areas of the no show appointments.If God brought you to that area theres a reason....So what it looks like is we will find someone go to their house, they stand us up, we contact around them, find someone else set an apt with them at their place, they stand us up, we contact around them find someone else and set an apt at their place, etc, etc. .... Well fast forward to Saturday when we met Taurz. We were brought to Taurz's trailor park from tracting 7 different no show appointments consecutively over the past weeks! 

We knocked his trailor after a no show appointment with on of his neighbors. And Taurz came out half awake but grateful "to be woken up with Jesus." Ha he is 18 and one of the coolest kids i'v even met. Already one of my best friends. Taurz is straight from the streets as he puts, covered in tattoos and quite honestly has almost no one in his life. He was a little wild that morning and was all over the place swearing and acting out the Passion of the Christ and everything in between. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and left him with our number. 

Sunday morning we woke up with a voicemail from Taurz saying he is going to be ready to come to church. God told him that he needed to come. I can only think of one other time on my entire mission where someone called us! We sent a Member to pick him up and sure enough Taurz walked into church yesterday. 

If i have ever felt that talks and lessons are inspired I felt it yesterday stronger than ever.  In sacrament, the talks were about family and how we are each others family and he commented to me the whole time how he needs these people.  In Gospel Principles it was on the Word of Wisdom and he sat there intently on every word and even met with the Branch President after Church to see how he can help him change. He was a different person entirely. Never have I seen such a change over 3 hours.  

We went and taught him the Restoration this morning with a member and committed him to get baptized on March 10. By the end he was smiling as we taught. MAN nothing is more real out here than meeting and teaching someone who is truly, deeply, SEEKING. Keep Taurz in your prayers this week:)

I know this Gospel is raw, genuine, work full of lots of heart. Jesus Christ gave us the beautiful Gift of second chances. And I love him for it.

Sister Jackson:)  

Sister Brinson, my Relief Society President.

We are born to meet the King

HEY:) I hope yall had a good Super Bowl weekend. Ha it hit me how out of the world I am when I found out it was happening this weekend from 90 yr old residents in the rest home that we sing to. No one could remember quite who was playing though hahah. This morning we found out when we were walking around tracking all the hung over fans:)

Ms. Kathryn had a beautiful funeral service. It was my first "Baptist" funeral and boy they don't mess. As two "white gurls" in dresses, we usually stick out like sore thumbs and the funeral was no different. They had a live choir singing praises as the family walked in to see the casket for the last time. People were fainting and wailing and fanning. It broke my heart. She was loved widely and deeply. As I spoke everyone was clapping and shouting "amens" and "yes Jesus."  And it ended in a raging applause! It was hard for me not to throw a few hallelujahs in there:)  It was a really cool missionary tool through it all. At the end as I bore testimony and read something from the Book of Mormon and the pastor sat behind me nodding and amening. I kept wishing yall could have been there! After wards they had big fish frys and BBQs. We spent a few hours gutting fish with the family in the yard. Everyone was drinking Gin havin a good ol time hah.

Its funny. Out here you feel like there are some days where every decision you make is led by God and other days where you feel completely left in the dark making wrong turn after wrong turn. Both are for either their (gods children) or your good. A few days ago we had one of those awesome days. We were lost trying to find an appt. and pulled over on the side of a neighborhood to look at our GPS and 2 girls walked past us and waved. I watched them walk away and like usual the feelings come in ya and we chased em down. As we asked them their names it turned out to be the girl we were LOOKING for!! Not even close to where we were suppose to be. We taught her and her cousin Puddin the Restoration in the street right there. It was a beautiful moment filled with the spirit. God answers prayers. Feeling the spirit of that lesson was something He knew I needed that day.

I have found comfort in a scripture lately in Hebrews 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.."

That applies to every ounce of our lives. I know because he loves us he is going to stretch and mold us in difficult and painful times. BECAUSE he loves us. Love is what fuels this life and quite frankly what fuels every piece of doctrine found in this gospel.

Thank you for making me the luckiest gal alive! Sending so much love your way:)

Sister Jackson