Alan,
Thursday we had to do a deep clean of the house...we got it looking GOOOOOD! I even cleaned up the grill and boughtt some carbon, so we can grill now! ;) I was able to weigh myself this week...I´ve lost 22 pounds since leaving the United States! I weight less than 200 again. lol. I was able to get access to my debit card after a few tries...finally! lol
So Sunday was our fast Sunday because we had General Conference the first week, Stake Conference the next, and now this one. We all fasted for a specific purpose. So during those first few tough days, we got yelled at a lot. A couple guys told us "Grengos go home!!" lol That´s my favorite, but it does kinda suck. Another guy asked/yelled at me in the street "What´s wrong with you!?. I simply replied, "Nothing. lol" It was humorous. It is sad for me though that these people are so in their own little worlds, that they´re too blind to see that we are only here to serve the people. We also saw a drug deal in this plaza in front of this school...shame.
Hxxxx, the guy that had a baptism date before, we have to give him more time because we have been praying about him, and felt that he needs to figure things out for himself...and we told him that when he feels ready, to let us know. This was really hard for us, but especially for Elder Peck because Hxxxx is one of his good friends and one of the first investigators that he had...he cried during our lesson with him, but Elder Peck has a firm testimony of the power of answered prayers, and this is what we felt we needed to do.
Later in the week, things started to pick up exponentially. We had a lesson with this lady Mxxxx. She is a super awesome less active! We went there, and were talking to her next door neighbor before the lesson, but Monica came up to us and asked us to hurry. We noticed two ladies standing in front of Monica´s house with her. We went over to them, and it turned out that one of the ladies from the neighborhood knew that Monica is a Mormon, and so her and her sister went to her house to ask Monica if she could get the Elders to give her a blessing because she is really depressed about the death of her husband almost a year ago....AND THERE WE WERE!! It is so amazing to me the timing of the Lord. What are the chances that those ladies and us just happened to be at the same place at the same time?? We definitely felt the hand of God in that moment. So we talked to her a little about what a blessing is, gave her the blessing, AND SHE SAID SHE WANTED TO START MEETING WITH US WITH MONICA!! UGH, such an amazing experience. We don´t have a whole lot of statistical "success" here in this mission, but an experience like that makes EVERYTHING worth it! People are prepared to receive the gospel, and that is so apparent to me now.
The next night, we went to another lesson. Our friend Jxxx is going to Miami for work for a month and wanted a blessing of safety before she left. We showed up and gave her the blessing. RIGHT after we said "amen" someone was at her door...it was our other friend Mxxxx. ( who is like best friends with Jxxxxx) Turns out, she was leaving for Brazil in like two days, AND SHE WANTED A BLESSING TOO!! So we had two blesings in one lesson...it was so amazing to be able to comfort the hearts of those we are serving.
The Axxxx family, a less active family that we´ve been working with since I got here, received their callings in the church on Sunday! They got called as the leaders of the YSA activities in the ward. They are such amazing people...so the mom and dad got reactivated. They were even at church EARLY!! (Big deal for Chileans...and Mormons...especially a Chilean Mormon) They are super pumped for their callings...they have several super great ideas that we are going to be helping them with. Now the even better part...they have three kids ( They are 30,25, and 29...which is normal here) They all promised their parents on Monday that they´d start going to church again! Elder Peck and I are super pumped for that. Gxxxx, the 30, was at church Sunday with his girlfriend. The hand of the Lord is so apparent in this family. I love them so much and can´t wait to see what the Lord has in store for their lives.
Elder Peck´s birthday was yesterday. We stayed up until midnight so that we could take a birthday selfie. ( only 30 minutes twako) We all got him a couple presents. The house present was a super sweet piñata! I bought the piñata of his favorite soccer team here in Chile, Elder Johnson bought some candy for it, and Elder Ochard bought some carrots to put in it. ( Because Elder Peck is on his diet. lol) We went to the family Corro´s house for their present to him... their son Diego(25), Elder Peck, and I took a picture. It made it onto the fridge!! :D Last night, the family Acosta threw him a birthday party...we had a ton of food and topped it off with cake. lol. Elder Peck said that he got more spoiled here than he would have in the states. lol. Super great day and a ton of fun.
As you can see, we had a ton of success this week. I felt the hands of the Lord more this week than I have my entire life probably. My prayers were answered. It doesn´t mean that is was easy, but the opportunities for these experiences were there...and we took them!
Here are my scriptures for the week.
Alma 37:6-7,16 "For ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls. But if ye keep the commandments of God, and do with these things which are sacred according to that which the Lord doth command you, (for you must appeal unto the Lord for all things whatsoever ye must do with them) behold, no power of earth or hell can take them from you, for God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words."
Also,
Alma 31, 30-35 "O Lord God, how long wilt though suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul. O Lord, my heart is exceeding sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people. O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me- yea, Elder Orchard, Elder Peck, Elder Johnson, Elder Lawson, Elder Kamilos-yea, even all these wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. Wilt though grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may bear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of these people. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ. Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."
I changed it a little, as I´m sure you noticed. I love these scriptues because it talks about working through small and simple things. I believe that the way the gospel works isn´t usually by some great thing happeneing, but a whold bunch of little consecutive miracles. These miracles add up to something greater...something extraordinary. These little miracles include praying, reading scriptures, being humbled, love, service, passion, and desire.
The second set of scriptures, is my prayer. I pray that the Lord would grant me the strength to bear all of the afflictions that I have experienced and am going to experience here with patience and with the love of Christ. That through my example and the spirit that I have, that someone...maybe one person....would bring them unto Christ.
I love the gospel so much. My faith grows daily. Every time I put my faith in Christ and the gospel, I am proved time and time again that the Lord hears my prayers and that his love for me is unfailing.
I love all of you so much. These two years are already flying by for me and I know they will for yall as well.
Con Amor,
Elder Jackson
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