The Good Life.

Hello! Loads of tender mercies this week. I went up to Fox Run this week to do an Exchange with Sister Johnson who is awesome. UWF (University of Western Florida) is up there and they do family history booths on campus there. Gosh nothing is better than proselyting on a College Campus with your peers. I could do it all day! 

Sister Shank and I trained at our Zone Conference this week on a tool that helps you set goals for baptisms. The conference was remarkable. It is always refreshing after weeks of work to be around missionaries who are doing the same thing in a spiritually filling environment! I LOVE my mission. For more than just the homeless men you find behind warehouses who show you all their scars:) I want to tell you 2 quick moments this week that make it all worth it. 

FIRST we all went to the bishops store house to help hand out food to people. There was one lady that i was talking to who was visibly shaken a bit and struggling. After she left in the swarm of people I had the small impression to go find her. Sister Shank and I went out to the parking lot and all i said was "I just wanted to come give you a hug." She had no idea who i was but just hugged me and sobbed. Saying she hates having to do this (come here). Amidst a whole slur of trials i felt such gratitude to have the opportunity to commend her for strength she possess and testify of better things to come.

SECOND as we were driving home yesterday and pulled over when we saw a guy working construction on a house. We walked over and at first he said im busy but as we got talking it turned into a 35 min lesson/discussion on where we came from, why we are here,  where we are going, and role Jesus Christ plays. Hahah he had some wild ideas and philosophies but really AWESOME questions. Nothing makes my days as a missionary happier than to be able to testify to anyone about simple truths that bring meaning and understanding. It is thee best.

Jesus Christ did a whole lot more than just die for us. This week i have come to feel of his power in a much more real sense. Something Elder Bednard said i love..."The enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ strengthens us to do and be good and to serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity."

I feel that strength push me past my own natural desires. I love you all always!!!!

LOVE,

Sister Jackson:)

A view while tracting... Right?!

Sister Johnson

Zone Conf.

The Breeze!

​​Hello from Gulf Breeze! Gosh this place is beautiful. I almost feel out of place here because it is so nice. Its a very well off lil beach town. Tracting here is a whole different story! Im figuring it out slowly and surely haha. We are working from the ground up to build a teaching pool which im excited for. 

The highlight of this week was yesterday. We didn't have much success all week but certainly had a tender mercy in a real cool lesson. It was with a 21 year old potential who had read parts of the Book of Mormon in Jail. Her mom and her and the two of us sat around there table all sharing our stories of how we came to find God in our lives. Truly powerful. Her mom was not lovin the Mormons and her daughter went off for a solid 10 minutes about how the bible teaches there is another book to help us today and that's why this all makes sense. We are stoked to teach her. That is one of my favorite things out here is to listen to the journeys people take in their life to find whats missing. Its the coolest.  

Even though this week had some long days. Long days full of exhaustion, frustration, spiritual internal fights and growth, It was the best. Many nights in my prayers I just felt gratitude and real happiness to be living the live I live. It is so neat to me to be able to feel joy amidst the hardships. That's what this Gospel does. HE IS SO GOOD.

I love you all. God's Plan is real! Keep finding the simple truths in your lives! 

So much love,

Sister Jackson

Madison last catch.

Goodbyes.

Robinsons.

Sister Shank. She's awesome.

Transfer Week

Hello my favorite people. I hope you all had a beautiful Easter and week full of the Savior. It has been a bitter sweet weekend saying goodbye to the people I love! I've been called to be a Sister Training Leader in Gulf Breeze. Gosh I sure have a lot of learning and growing a head of me. Like usual:)

This Easter season It felt good to truly focus on the Savior all day. It made me reflect on what his resurrection in reality means to me. 

So many good good times with good good people these past few months. And so many less good times that you love all the same.... HAHA ill tell you about one this week. 

We went to see a Less-Active couple who lives in a trailer in the town over. When we got there Willie was beheading catfish and his wife was eating chili in her bed. She summoned us in there and so sis Jarvis and I sat on the edge of her bed while Sister Hulstine sat on a portable toilet all talking to her and showing her the Easter Prince of Peace Video. It is sad the hurt she carries in her heart. She's a very bitter woman with health problems and a very negative view on life. As I asked her if she has ever felt peace from Jesus Christ she cut me off swearing and yelling about the horrible life she has and at the same time cursing and yelling at her husband about how greasy he made her chili. That statement was yelled at least 21 times while we were there.

It testified to me that the hope of Jesus Christ is a very REAL thing. And so is the absence of it. How deeply we all need it and should yearn for it.  We did the best we could to comfort her and testify to her and right as we finished the closing prayer she yelled "WILLIE GET DA BUCKET.'' The next 10 minutes we sat at the edge of her bed as she hurled up every foul liquid in her body. I have never herd such horrific noises. 

I am typically pretty good when it comes to not getting grossed out by things but I found out real quick that the sound of someone throwing up is not strong suit. The next 8 minutes was my ultimate test of self mastery to not throw up as I rubbed her leg and listen to her continue to hurl and yell at me to look at all the grease that's in her bucket. It finally broke when my body physically started dry heaving and I ran out the room to the door to get some fresh air. God loved me that day because on heaven knows how I left with my lunch still in me. 

I am grateful for all the opportunities that God has given me to share his Son's Gospel. I love him for it. This world is filled with remarkable people with remarkable stories. What a journey we all travel!! Jesus Christ Lives. Thanks for being the best family I could ask for. I LOVE YOU. 

Sister Jackson

Live Within The Blessing

Hello!! So so many adventures this week doing the best thing around.

They began when we got caught up in a tornado warning storm on the otherside of the mission during a doctors appointment. If i had hours to type i would tell you of hilarious, stressful, exhausting hours that followed. I ended up crashing on a couch at a randoms sisters apartment somewhere in between, dress and all. We got up early and kept driving in time to make it to a morning appointment. Ha we were a hot mess. No make up, same clothes, sleep and study deprived.All part of the gig:) 

We helped a less active who i have grown to love so with his farm. We shoveled shucks of corn of out of one of his abandoned houses that was full of it. It was a riot. We shoveled it through a window into a machine that broke them down for cow food. Nasty corn dust literally everywhere. We all now feel as if we have head colds from the pounds of dust we inhaled. Worth it.

SO I'm going to go all missionary on you and give you all a commitment because its a powerful one. On Mormon.org the church came out with a new easter video called #Princeofpeace. And there are 8 videos on the priciples of peace. WATCH them all!! They will change you. We have been showing these videos left and right out here. One of my favorites talks about the concept to "LIVE WITHIN THE BLESSING."

We all have the capacity to live within the blessings of our lives. Our Heavenly Father wants nothing more for us. We are dearly loved. Thanks for being the best family i could ask for! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Sister Jackson:)

Happy happy happy Conference days

HAPPIEST of Conference weekends. I hope everyone was filled with love as much as I was. It broke my heart a little thinking this was my last conference as a missionary. How I'm grateful for it. 

"BLESSED ARE THEY WHO HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. "

Elder Neil A. Anderson taught that this is a private, personal battle. Internal and personal indeed. 

What joy in magnitude i have come to feel as i'v seen small tender victories in the lifes around me and in myself to overcome the world. 

It is a life long quest but a joyful one! It comes by coming to know God and Jesus Christ. By understanding Christs character and experiencing His healing hands daily! 

Elder Joaquin E. Costa taught "Nothing draws you closer to Jesus Christ than the desire to change." Gosh, how true that is. 

I love you all dearly. I know as we all ponder what overcoming the world looks like in our lives and embrace the beautiful opportunity of change we will experience this magnificent JOY. This Gospel is real!

Sister Jackson:)

I Ride With Jesus

Hey hey my sweet family. I have embraced a real love for the South again this week. Hahah so many hilarious wild stories i wish i had hours to tell you all. Some newly learned skills (or attempted to learn) include; hacking trees with a machete, whip cracking, skinning and gutting fresh shot turkeys, finding and ridding ourselves of ticks, and becoming best friends with/sharing the gospel with motorcycle gangs. It's.The. Best.

We had exchanges this week and i want to tell you briefly of a neat experience this week. Sister Pau'uu and i had the chance to go teach a less-active. After dinner we began the lesson and with in minutes the course of the lesson changed and the spirit took it from there. the whole lesson went to the core of a previously unspoken concern of the existence of a God. The way we can feel Him and of truth in this life. She was in tears as she spoke of a time she was sure she felt the spirit. Not only did my understanding of her heart grow that evening but my love as well. I shared a recent personal experience about my own test of faith and prayer and how i came to fell of the reality of a God. I saw the power that sharing a deep, raw, personal experience can have in the teaching process. The cool thing is that that experience had just just happened days prior to her lesson. It brought me again back to the knowledge that our trials aren't for us, but more importantly for the benefit of others. 

It reminds me of the thought by David A. Bednard "the work you preform is a whole lot more about who you are and what you are becoming, than what you will ever say."

That's SO true with everyone of us. Whether its our callings, schooling, work, family relationships... our character trumps all eloquence of things said and taught. 

Be REAL and be true to YOU! This is something I've come across over and over again in the mission field and am passionate about if you can't tell:) I encourage you all to go out  and find whats real and whats true for you! Find what fills your soul and have the courage to obtain it..TODAY! I love you all immensely. 

Jesus Christ Lives!

Sister Jackson 

"Joker" and "Big show" from the Madison Motor Gang. We connected real quick with their patches of "JESUS IS MY BOSS" and "I RIDE WITH JESUS" #attaboys

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:)