Week #31 Food Poisoning

As most of you probably know, I was sick with food poisoning last week.  None of us could leave the house Tuesday-Sunday with the exception of going to General Conference at our local meetinghouse.

Really more than anything, this week I learned things about myself.  I learned that when I get lost in the work, I don`t even realize what is happening to me.  I get so caught up in just doing the work that I don`t see the changes occurring in me...it seems normal.  

During my week in the house, I felt TERRIBLE.  Not just because of the sicknesses, but more because I was preoccupied with the people that we have been teaching.  "How are they?  Are they reading?  Are they becoming closer to the Savior and learning?"  I can`t even tell you all of the questions that were in my head.  

I feel like I have felt the preoccupation that all of the prophets from the scriptures felt for the people they were teaching.  It is a preoccupation  but more than that, a love.  A pure love...the love of Christ.  I feel that without me even realizing it, I have at least started to develop a Christlike Brotherly Love for the people here.  It really is one of a kind.  It truly HAS to be from my Heavenly Father.  I felt soooo good when I finally was able to see the people that I had been missing.  I felt like a hole in my heart had been filled.  

It`s funny how as missionaries, many times we think or say to ourselves.."Man I`m so tired...it sure would be nice to take a nap or something", but it`s not really this way.  It made me sad.  Now, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are with me here.  Though I may not be as "successful" as some other missionaries on their mission, I am serving my purpose.  The change is occurring in me that my Heavenly Father has promised each and every one of us if we will "lose our life for his sake", to find life eternal.

I`m so grateful for this gospel.  I am so grateful that I have been chosen to receive the gospel in this life and that I have the opportunity to take advantage of this for the rest of eternity.  I want to promise each and every one of you that we all have this opportunity.  If you are reading this, you are chosen too, but you have to do your part.  You have to learn what you must do to receive these blessings as well.  I pray that each of you can see this opportunity in your lives and that really from this, you can feel the Savior`s love for you.  He loves you.  His arms are eternally extended out to us...we just have to reach out and take his hand. 

Con amor,

Elder Jackson    

Week #30 Elder Jackson

Greetings From Santiago!!!

I don`t really have a lot of time to report this week.  I want to say that I am learning to better myself.  To be more self-motivating, to put my trust in the Lord in everything that I do, to practice my faith more effectively, and to put others needs above my own.  I am learning not to worry about the little things.  I am learning that there is a reason that I am here...I know that not many people could serve here and that Heavenly Father put me here, to grow my testimony of him and his son.  

I want to testify that I know that our Father in Heaven knows us personally.  He loves us.  He wants the best for us.  He knows our true potential, not us.  Even though we don`t realize it, even when we feel successful  we are living below our potential.  I know that there is a reason for EVERYTHING that happens in our lives.  If you are a member of the church, there is a reason GOD CHOSE YOU!  If you aren`t a member of the church and you are reading this, there is a reason that GOD HAS DIRECTED YOU HERE!  THERE IS A REASON THAT GOD HAS PRESENTED THIS GOSPEL IN YOUR LIFE!.  That purpose if for you to become a member.  

Please, please, don`t waste this opportunity.  Take this message from one of Heavenly Fathers’ servants at this very moment.  He is telling you that HE WANTS YOU IN HIS CHURCH NOW!!  Not only does he want you, but HE NEEDS YOU!!  I have such a testimony of the church and this gospel.  I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that this is the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It has been restored to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith and that we can receive all of the promised blessings to each of us only if we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and follow the Savior.

I love each of you,  really.  I don`t care if I know you or not.  I love you because you are seeking God.  I know you are seeking him and he is seeking you.  I bear testimony with all of my soul that this is the way to eternal happiness and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ WILL CHANGE YOU now, and for all of eternity.  I pray that each of you would see this, and not waste a moment.  Seek the Savior.  Seek our Father in Heaven.  He is waiting.  

I pray that this will touch your heart in a way that it will prompt you to not only know that the words that you read are true, but that you will be moved upon to act.  I love you all, and pray for the Lord’s blessings on your behalf!!

Love,

Elder Jackson 

Week #29 Strict Obedience Yeilds Immediate Blessings From the Lord

Hey everyone.  

This week has been pretty sweet.  I`m going to save something from this week for next week to share...you`ll see why.  This week was a lot of computer stuff.  A lot of making documents ,calling people…the administrative side of the mission.  We have been working with the president of a neighborhood group here on organizing the building of a house in the West Mission.  It feels pretty good to be able to talk about that kind of stuff a little better now.  

Saturday, we helped an investigator with a bunch of service for like 6 hours..they were really grateful.  There really is no better feeling than providing service to others with no expectation of a return favor.  I have come to realize that Service is the first step in detaching oneself from the things of the world.  This single act towards others will always yield an immediate blessing to you, and will always draw you closer to Christ.  

It was another week of the Lord`s work.  At this point in time, I feel like I am hitting my stride.  This is my normal life now.  I will say though,  I have gotten really close with the other Elders in the house...especially Elder Smith and Anderson.  They are great guys.  All of them are really cool and really good guys.  I enjoy our talks...they make me feel like we really are a family.  Though all of us are far from home, we find love in pushing each other in the work and helping one another to better ourselves.  

I just want to share a little thought this week.  Today, we went to the central of Santiago to buy some stuff. (I bought some weights to workout!)  We met a guy, while waiting in line at Burger King, who could speak perfect English.  We talked for a few minutes and come to find out he is a member of the church.  At a young age, his parents moved him from Santiago to Utah.  He studied at the University of Utah and got his MBA.  I told him about how after the mission, I am planning on going to BYU to study business.  We got our food, and invited him to eat with us...he accepted.  We talked a lot about his family and his life.  Basically, in the end, he shared his testimony of the gospel, which was really powerful.  He told us that although he is a successful businessman, that the biggest regret of his entire life...is that he didn`t serve a mission.  At that moment, I thought to myself , "This man has literally EVERYTHING.  Several houses, travels the world for work, a nice vehicle, a loving family, a son on the mission in Lubbock,TX, and he says that he has all of that and that the biggest regret of his life is that he didn`t serve a mission."  Then he said something interesting...."Though I never served a mission, I continue to serve my Lord each and every day, wherever I am."  THAT`S SO TRUE!  It`s so cool to me to think that there really are people in the world that get it!  We all have to be set apart to be full time missionaries, but we don’t have to be set apart to be missionaries every day in the way that we conduct ourselves.  When we are baptized, we covenant with Heavenly Father to take the name of the Lord upon ourselves for eternity...that means we have an eternity of opportunities to share the gospel...both through example and through our words.  He thanked us for our service and our act of love to the children of God here.  

I just want to share my testimony that there is a reason that our paths in life cross with others.  Really, we have a purpose in this life.  We need to realize when this happens and take advantage of it.  There are always opportunities to better ourselves.  Great blessings really are the best, and they always come from something small...like opening your mouth.  :)

Love,

Elder Jackson

Week #28 New Companionship, New Goals, Unchanging Gospel

Hello Everyone,

This week has been a roller coaster emotionally.   Elders Bickle and Burhoe, with whom I have been living, both went home on Monday.   I hope that all is well with them and that they can truly say that they gave it their all.   I don`t think I can really describe my feelings when one of my good friends from the mission goes home and I am still here.   It`s kind of bittersweet...knowing that they are moving on to the next step of progression in their lives, but at the same time you want them here to help guide you and to help you get through the hard times.  I know that this is just a part of the experience, but it is foreign to me.  I know that this is Heavenly Father’s plan  to expose me to heartache so that I can be made stronger.

Photograph taken July 31, 2011

On another note, we had changes.  Elder Soulier left to be a zone leader and I am still here in Ducaud.  It is pretty neat being the comp with more time just because I know where I`m going in the area. haha  My new comp`s name is Elder Cabrera.  He is from the Southern Coast of Peru.  He is really cool.  He has 20 months on the mission.  I know that there is a ton that I am supposed to learn from him, so I`m going to take full advantage of that.  I am also teaching him English.  We figure our purpose when we get home at night is to help each other progress, so here we are.  haha

Also, we have two new Elders in the house...Elder Smith and Elder Dowdy.  Elder Smith is from Billings, Montana.  He lived with Elder Peck and was like his best friend.  Elder Dowdy is BRAND NEW!  Elder Smith is training him.  It is weird to see people with less time than me...I still feel new.  

As my spiritual thought for the week, more than anything, I want to say this.  OPEN YOUR EYES!   On my mission, I have seen many people who say that they don`t want to move forward with the gospel because they haven`t had their prayers confirmed or that they haven`t had any signs that this is what God wants for them in their lives.  My point in this is to tell you this,  God is showing us all signs, we are just too blind to see them.  If we would open our eyes, our hearts, and our lives to the gospel, we will see the Love of Christ write it`s story in our souls.   By that I mean, if we allow it, the gospel of Christ will guide us to where we are supposed to be.  Without this, we are forever lost.  I encourage each of you to think more about the way that God answers prayers.  If someone prays to God that their family would be closer, do you think he will send magic rays of happiness? or give them opportunities to be closer?

I testify that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live.  They are very much aware of us and our individual circumstances.  The hastening of the work is continuing.  Not only the work of the world, but the work in each and every one of us.  Let the gospel work in you.  That is my prayer.

Con Amor,

Elder Jackson

Week #27 Dedicating the Area

¡Hola de CHILE!

I hope that everyone is doing well and staying warm/safe in the snow.  I hope that everyone can still talk well in English, because my English is fading quickly.  HAHA  I find myself having to search for the english words to describe things that I understand only in Spanish.   

This was another week of truly doing the Lord's work.  We have been having a problem with bad spirits here lately, so we hiked up Cerro Negro one day this week, did a scripture study together, and dedicated the area to the Lord.  It was a pretty great experience.  Other than that, we have had success this week contacting people.  School started back up today, so that´ll be nice....it was getting really old seeing people walk around half naked all the time.  lol.  

Oh yea, my birthday was pretty sweet.  I got a couple of things of chocolate from some people we are teaching and Elder Soulier got me a sweet matte cup with my favorite Chilean team´s logo on it.  (Colo Colo)  It´s sick!

My spiritual thought of the week, again is a saying I thought of.  "The difficulties of today, are the testimonies that you can lean on tomorrow."  With that in mind, just know that there is a reason for EVERYTHING that happens in life.  EVERY bad experience you have, is just another opportunity to lean on the Savior and to strengthen our own relationship with Heavenly Father.  Although we may not see the positive results immediately, soon-after, or even in this life....we have the promise that the results will come.  

I feel declare to everyone to OPEN YOUR EYES TO THE WORLD AROUND YOU.  GOD IS SHOWING US WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO, WHERE HE NEEDS US TO IMPROVE, AND WHAT OUR ROLE IS IN EXPANDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD HERE ON THE EARTH.  The problem isn´t that God is dead....it´s that we aren´t seeking him.  Our hearts aren´t open to receive the spiritual revelation that is clearly in front of our eyes.  

With that, I want to challenge each of you, whatever challenges you are going through, to seek the good.  To look on the positive side, and to ask yourself "Why did this happen?  What can I learn?  Who can I help with this?."  If you do this, I promise you will find that this newfound knowledge isn´t just yours to be had, but of that of many many others.  

Thank you all for everything that you are doing on my behalf.  Thank all of you for all of your prayers on my behalf.  I continue to pray for everyone back home.  

This work isn´t easy, but it is worth it.  It is what we were sent here to do...and I´ll be dang if I don´t serve my purpose here.  Seek the good, give your all to the Lord, and love hard.

Love,

Elder Jackson

Week #26 Another Amazing Week!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

So this week was awesome!  We have seen a ton of miracles.  Most of which are the family members of people that we have already been teaching starting to open up their hearts to the message of the restored gospel. People who have been "die hard Catholics" or something to that sense for their entire lives, starting to listen to us and converse with us with interest.  

In specific, we have been teaching our friend Ivan and his family.  We are also meeting individually with his daughter Sabina.  She was a little mad at us because we told her that we couldn´t go into her house because her Dad and Brother weren´t there...she wouldn´t even do the lesson outside.  Well, Sunday morning while we were calling people to wake them up for church, I had the prompting to call her to invite her to church.  (She´d never been before)  I called and woke her up.  :/  I invited her to church, she said she´d try to wake herself up and go.  SHE WENT TO CHURCH FOR SACRAMENT!  It was literally one of the best feelings in the world to see her walking down the hall towards the Sacrament Room.  She enjoyed it.  Later that night, we had a family home evening with a family and a less active, but the less active cancelled, so it was just going to be the family and us.  Again,  i felt that i should call her and invite her to that even though she would be working right up until time for it.  We called and invited her, SHE SAID SHE´D GO!  She came and it was a perfect night and that after seeing the church from another prospective, that she is really learning why it is called The Church of Jesus Christ.  SO COOL!!

Other stuff happened too, but I don´t have the time to write about all of it.  The jest of it is this.  The young men here are on fire.  I love this ward, area, my house, my companion, this mission, Chile, and I am beginning to feel more and more at home and that I am just preaching the love of God and Christ to the world.  

I don´t have a scripture to share this week, but I do have a thought.  This week, I heard this.  "The world is in your head.  Get your head right, and your heart will follow."  I just want to testify to all of you that this is so true for all of us.  All of our worries, problems, stresses, and struggles are in our heads.  If we get our heads right, our hearts will follow what we put into our head.  Actually, I just thought of a scripture.  

Mathew 6:33  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you."  

If we put the kingdom of God in our heads and seek after HIS righteousness, our hearts will follow that and we will be transformed into the people that we were destined and created to be.  With this thought,  I want to challenge each of you to do something to alter your life to seek more diligently the kingdom of God.  Help someone new, show increased love,  be a friend...something. You will find that these blessings will not only be yours to be had in this life, but your families and all of the people you impact for all of eternity.  This is my humble prayer for every one of you, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ.

Con Amor,

Elder Jackson

Week #25

First, I want to apologize for last week.  We were in the middle of writing and something happened and we had to leave immediately.

SO, the last two weeks in the mission have been absolutely AMAZING!  We are seeing people progress that having been.  We are seeing people coming to church that haven´t been in years.  We are denying what the old teaching records said...in the description part of the record one says "THIS PERSON WILL NEVER COME TO CHURCH. DON´T WASTE TIME." We decided to work with those people anyways...and they are some of our fastest progressing people.  It really is amazing to see that just because something didn´t work for someone else, doesn´t mean this isn´t the time.  Lesson learned, DON´T LISTEN TO OTHER MISSIONARIES, HAVE FAITH IN THE WORK OF THE LORD. 

I couldn´t even begin to tell all of the stories, but here is one.  Basically, there is  a family we´ve been teaching since I´ve been here.  We could only meet with them once a week so it´s been a little slow, but the lessons are always great.  It´s a family of five.  Basically, the daughter goes to mutual and has been trying to get the parents to talk to missionaries forever, but they just started when i got here.  The problem has been that the dad doesn´t feel completely prepared to be baptized because he doesn´t know everything.  We explained to him that none of us know everything and that we are all striving to learn more and to better ourselves.  We liken the church to a hospital...a place of refuge where people can recover from bad experiences and learn how to better take care of themselves mentally, spiritually, and physically.  I shared my testimony about how I never read the Book of Mormon before my mission....I  don´t have hardly any time in the church...i´m a misionary and kids in the church know more than me...but that I have an everincreasing desire to change, progress, and better serve my Heavenly Father.  We shared the scripture that says that if you have a desire, you are called to the work.  Then we explained that he clearly has a desire or he wouldn´t be meeting with us.  Then we explained about how the Holy Ghost will make "all things known unto you."  He responded with...."Tell me what I have to do to have that."  Then we set a date with him and his family for the 14th of March.  :)

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12

As a spiritual message for this week, I just want everyone to read this. I want everyone to think about these words with an eternal prospective. I want all of you to pay specific attention to verse 10. Why, because it says "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This whole part, but especially that verse speaks to me. We all feel at times like we give our all to the church, but that bad things still happen to us. We think that that is bad, but in reality, that is what is supposed to happen. We are supposed to be persecuted and attacked. That´s a part of the plan. Why you might ask? I don´t know the doctrinal reason, but in my opinion, it is because at some point, all of us are backed up against a wall of our faith. At this point, God wants us to make a stand for the gospel! He wants us to fight for righteousness...not for righteousness in others, but in ourselves. He wants us to find the strength in ourselves to take Satan on "headfirst". When we do this, we are making an ultimate example of our love for our Heavenly Father. We are showing humility that we don´t know everything, but that we have faith in what he has revealed to us.

I just want everyone to think about that and decide for youselves, How am I showing my love for God? I feel like that is one of the "million dollar questions" that Heavenly Father will ask us at our judgement...did you show the world that you love me?

I hope all of you are taking great care of yourselves and are living life to the fullest. Enjoying every day,seeking the good, showing love always, and testifying through your words, thoughts, and actions, that our God is a living God...and that he lives in EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.

Love,

Elder Jackson