Feelin' grateful here in the 407

Hello hello my family! How's it goin?! This week will be quick so i apologize in advance.. First of all, how are the Runia's? I pray for them all the time and hope they're doing well. Well, I find myself in Orlando this Thanksgiving and what a treat it is!! I'm so grateful for this unreal opportunity to be a part of the Lord's work and to share it with everyone I see! I'm realizing lots lately how cool it is that I get to meet such a variety of people. I'm grateful for the leaders here in the mission! We have the best district leader and feel so lucky to learn from him- sadly, he leaves in a week. Also, I'm grateful for my companion and for all that she does for me! I've learned tons being with Hermana Allred and really really hope I can stay with her for the next transfer. I'm grateful for the Berrys!! They work so hard and make us feel so special- I love them. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful support and love from home!! It's truly a blessing to hear from you every week and to know how many prayers are being said for me. I feel them and I need them haha. I'm so glad you're all safe and happy. And finally, I'm grateful for my savior, Jesus Christ. How amazing is it that I get to indulge in the scriptures and preach my gospel every day learning more about my savior and older brother?! Also, how cool is it that I'm set apart as a representative of Him?! I also get to bring his truth to all those i come in contact with. i get to just bear my testimony all the time and give people the most precious gift they could ever receive. Ok now I'll tell you about our week since it was a fantastic one :) we put into practice the things we learned in district meeting about weekly planning and daily planning and I truly believe that's what made our week the best. Planning is such a huge part of the work! Our numbers just about doubled from the week before- which isn't the focus, but definitely matters. We're teaching a part-member family this week that the dad is addicted to smoking and wants so badly to quit so he can get baptized and married in the temple. Our lesson with them was really directed by the spirit and we were all almost crying (exception:his wife) by the end. We all fasted yesterday and he and his son came to church for the first time in a long time!! By the way, he works on NBA player's cars and currently is tight with LeBron James. Saturday night we attended an english baptism for some other missionaries and Elaudio (has a batismal date for next week) and his wife came and LOVED it. He was trying to invite all the other missionaries to come to his haha. Lately he has the biggest smile all the time. Yesterday they came to church and when they announced his baptism, he proudly stood up without being asked. It's the grreatest thing! K I'm so sorry, but I really don't have time. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for you! Have the best week ever!

Con Amor, Hermana Stinky Jackson

Milagros esta semana ...

Well hey fam!!! How's everyone doin? Wait, first... I SKIMMED emails today (my new execution plan is to print off emails and write about them the following week.... sorry) and that's SO sad about Ryan Runia! what a shock. I'm sorry to hear about that. I love being able to tell people of the plan of salvation and telling them what I know to be true. No greater joy comes than from the work of the Lord!!! This week has been a fabulous one! No crazy stories of me dancing or being in newspapers haha just good ol miracles happening every day :) Last week I wanted to tell you about la famila Acosta de Puerto Rico! The father and mother have both been married before and now they are happily married and members of the church. She was baptized back in May. Her daughters, Yari and Amalia are 14 and 11. We went to teach them last week and it had been one of the craziest of days so we hadn't prepared a lesson plan! We prayed and felt that the restoration was what we needed to talk about. We started teaching it and the spirit was just so strong in the room! I told of the first vision in my own words (Oh, the girls don't know much about the church btw) and was just overwhelmed by the spirit as I saw tears come to the eyes of Yari. We explained the Holy Ghost and also about Joseph Smith and that his family was split in beliefs and what churches they attended (like her father who hates mormons and mother who is now a member). We told her she could, like Joseph Smith, pray about what church is true. We watched the restoration video and after talked to them about their feelings. Both committed to praying about our message and said they would be baptized if they came to find it was true! It was such a powerful lesson. That sunday they came running up to us with the biggest smiles and told us they had prayed and had a great experience. They both are thinking about baptism. Their mother called us this week and told us the backgroud of their step dad a lil more. Also that her husband's (member) kids had wanted to be baptized, got verbal concent from their mom, and then a week before she called and said they couldn't be baptized. So basically Hermana Acosta is worried about her girls getting hurt and everything. so we need to be careful and pray for their fathers heart to be changed. We teach them tonight! Also, this Thursday we had an appointment with la familia Aponte de Venezuela. We've been teaching them the whole time I've been here and they just didn't seem to be progressing like we would like them to be. So we decided if they hadn't prayed about a baptismal date when we went to see them, then we would have to "drop" them. We brought with us the Mendez couple (members). Elaudio (the dad) seemed to be pleased and happy the whole lesson but was pretty quiet until finally we asked if he'd prayed about a date. He answered, "yes. December 8th sounds great!" He comes to church almost every week and has a really strong testimony. He's been taught for months so we're excited he's finally taking the step! Friday we had exchanges!!! Sister Heiner (ma P-town sista!) came and got me and I went to the Olympia area. It was the best day ever! I realized how much easier it is to speak english all the time, but how the english people aren't as accepting.. I actually really missed my spanish haha. We went knocking for a part of the day and ran into a fellow who just seemed like the saddest person. He was trying to argue with us and told us we were brain washed and that we couldn't tell him we "know" anything. I cried after, not because I was offended- I know this message is the truth and nothing can change that- but because I was sad at the things he believed and the way he rejected the message. One of our appointments later was canceled so we decided to go see an investigator by the name of Vanessa from Colombia. She spoke english so don't get too excited haha but she was the cutest lady with the 3 most beautiful, fun daughters! basically she was so accepting of our message of prayer and the book of mormon! She was golden. She could turn out to be mine and Hermana Allred's investigator cause they want to go tp the spanish ward. Yesterday we taught a referral from the portuguese elders, named Herson. We had to teach him in the hall of his apartment complex cause no one else was home and our members bailed. But he was soaking in our whole message about the restoration and when we told the first vision, he said, "what did Jesus say?!" so we told him that none of the churches on the earth were true and that through Josephj the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored. Then he said, "what more?!" so we taught about the book of mormon and the promise in Moroni. He committed to reading the whole thing THAT DAY!!! haha we told him it was 500 pages and he said he'd read it before next Sunday!! K what? We were blown away! Anyway, gotta run. But it was a wonderful week and we're expecting a spledid one this week as well :) I love you all and hope all is well!!! Praying for you and grateful for all your prayers- I truly feel their power. Have a good'n.

Love, Hermana Jackson

My debuts this week … As well as the return of Ronny the Roach!

HEY FAM!! Glad to hear yall are doin well! I'm sorry to hear about lil Easty being so sick! Matt- I can't believe you're going to Brazil for THE WORLD CUP!!! geeze, that's unreal. Take lotsa pitchas for me ;) and be safe (in a few months...) Soph looks like a nice lil chunk!! And happy as can "Bee" as usual. Sounds like the rest of you are chuggin along just fine and enjoying life. I don't have time to read mama and papa's emails, so imma print them off in a sec and read them for next week. I've had the most outrageous week hahaha and be outrageous I mean totally normal. If you were to ask if I MC-ed a show for a huge group of people with Prader Willie's Syndrome, danced on stage in front of hundreds, was in charge of a booth at Chick-Fil-A, and listened to Lady Gaga and other worldly musicians.... It would be affirmative. Is anyone surprised about the dancing though? Ill get back to that... First I'd like to tell you my favorite name from the past week: Shneiyanka (sh-nee-yonk-uh). Guess the race if you can.. Wednesday night hermana Allred and I were asked to go to Chick-Fil-A and have a lil table full of crafts about the family that lil kids could do. Apparently it's the week or month of the family? It was a grand ol time, but killed us cause we couldn't share the gospel with people unless they asked us first! But it ended up being great and we met the mayor of Ocoe and he's putting a thing in the paper for us? haha wooo. We also got a free meal and lemonade so I guess I can't complain. Tuesday we set apart a time to contact in a park before dinner with the Dominguez family. We rode our bikes to the park and EVERY person we talked to was prepared for us! One lady mentioned a time she visited BYU with a friend and loved the spirit there and how genuine the people were. We told her that its a church owned school and also got to talk to her lots about how our message blesses families and such. Long discussion. She asked if she could come to church! She was amazing and so ready to receive the gospel! It was a cool experience. Ok so we (60 missionaries) volunteered at a Prader Willie's convention at a Hotel near disney for 2 days. Friday we were there from 7:30 am to 5 pm and of course Hermana Allred and I were the first to step up for the dance class. So for the whole day we memorized every person's name with gestures and then taught them a lil dance to Philip Philip's "Home".. It was a grand ol time but secretly we took one for the team cause we felt so worldly! We were EXHAUSTED by the end of the day cause it took so much energy. That night we had dinner with the Sandoval family (less actives in the ward) and she took us to her favorite mexican restaurant. We put this saucy guac on all 3 of our tacos thinking it would be wonderful and it turns out that it was probably one of the spiciest things I've ever had!!! Hermana Allred was crying and I was frantically eating cucumbers hahaha. Then Sister Sandoval tried a nice dollup (?) of it on her taco and laughed.. She told us sorry cause it was even spicy for her! The next day we had some more dancing all day and went over a flashlight song with them to Jason Mraz's "I won't give up". At the end of a day was a big banquet with all the parents (literally hundreds of people) and all the missionaries came in with the kids and did our dance.... Hermana Allred and I were asked to do the dance up on stage so they could watch us hahaha. Oh bless our hearts, it was too good. Oh and the day before, the missionaries were asked to entertain for an hour. Somehow, once again, Hermana Allred and I were handed the microphone and took charge of the show. It was an awesome experience and we really loved all the people there! One kid gave Hermana Allred and me a card that said think you and had pictures he had drawn haha. We were all stars. Youll have to check the blog for some pictures. And finally... Wednesday night after a really spiritual and amazing lesson with the Acosta family (Ill have to tell you next week!) we encountered our friend Ronny Roach in the bathroom. This time we toughened up and took the matter to the next leve. I grabbed the hairspray, Hermana Allred grabbed the bulky shoes some elder left in the apartment and we executed. Pretty impressive, eh? K I gotta run... Time is short. Love you all so much and so happy to hear you're doing well!!! Have an impecable(?) week :)

LOVE, Hermana Jackson

Letter from Hermana Child

This is a note received on Facebook from Hermana Child, who was Megan's teacher in the MTC in Mexico. Megan absolutely loved Hermana Child. This is a letter any parent is thrilled to receive!

Hola Sister Jackson!

I saw a picture of Megan Jackson & Sydnee Wilson together on my Facebook page linked to you, and I sure hope you are Hermana Jackson's mother. I had the privilege of being her MTC teacher! And what an incredible missionary she is!

During the six weeks that we were together in Mexico, I was able to witness one of the most beautiful transformations I have ever seen in a district. Your daughter in particular showed a great desire to seek out and follow the impressions of the Spirit. And, over time, fine-tuned her ability to discern what the Spirit would have her understand, say, do and be. Her fun, lively spirit that emits so much love only became brighter as she began to understand more of her Savior and how to be a worthy representative of Him. As she would put it, she's learning how to not only dedicate her might and strength, but also her heart and mind!

Her lessons and role-plays in class showed a deep understanding of what conversion is, and I know that reflects a life-time of living and becoming like our Savior. So, thank you for raising your daughter in the light of the gospel and instilling in her a character worthy of representing Christ. I know that she is and will continue to be a great strength in building Zion! I will forever love your daughter and treasure the experiences we had together. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday for the opportunity I have to teach these incredible missionaries! 

I hope the work in Spain is progressing and that you continually receive strength and happiness from above! Missionary blessings are the best.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Kelli Child

.....CUCARACHA.....

Hey fam, what up?! wow, so what a WEEEEEEK! Im not even sure I can handle how amazing this all is. I really wish I could tell you every little detail, but ill do my best in the short time I have.. To answer questions about my welfare: I am safe, Im healthy as an ox (taking multivitamin pills and drinking tons of water and gatorade), my apartment complex thing is great- we will expand on that later.., we dont do much cooking- we have dinner almost every night and sometimes lunches as well, with member. DAD.. we dont have maids here like you did in Colombia hahaha I kinda wish, but its great to feel so independant. My companion continues to amaze me with her spirit and zest for life. She has the mosxt beautiful testimony and desire to obey. She could easily be my twin.. no joke. I know I already said that, but I sincerely think so. The weather is pretty nice. Its gotten a lil colder in the last lil bit. At night when we're out we get a lil chilly. It rained for the first time the other day (while on bike) and I loved it! I got a bike helmet at zone conference this week (so Im borrowing it). Oh and can I tell you real quick how in love with the clouds I am?! Theyre so puffy and huge and we have the most stunning sunrises and sunsets. K.. Zone conference was tuesday and was the best!!! Elder Walker from the 70 came and was way down to earth, funny and gave us a good time- while uplifting and teaching tons,, of course. Im in love with sister Berry, shes adorable. And kinda reminds me of my cute Mommy :) maybe cause she has lots of energy, such a capacity to love and just is in your same position Mama. Its a huge compliment, I promise. Youd love her as well. President Berry shows so much love for us and a desire for us to be successful. He's always asking how we are doing and about our investigators and such. Wednesday we had temple service and got to plant flowers all over!!! I felt like I was home again on a good ol' gardening day. The flowers were stunning as well. Also, it was miss Bee's birthday!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUMBLEBEE! Ive been wearing my bee necklace all week. Give her lots of lovins from auntie Megs!! She looks so big. I cant believe she's taking steps! what the. Halloween was a pretty normal day, but hermana Allred and I bought punkins on Monday and carved them. We only had about 15 minutes, but it brought the "noche de brujas" spirit. We started riding bikes this week!!!! Its a love/hate relationship... Its nice to get places quickly but be able to contact everyone you see. Its a struggle in a skirt, as you can imagine... thanks to chels for getting me biking spandex things! Also, its like riding a horse every day.. If you know what Im sayin (im sure Mama gets it). Thursday Hermana Allred was throwing up and not feeling well so we were buckled down in the pinch, but it was actually a good time for me to study all day! That night I felt so good about my spanish and was just fired up and ready to go! Thursday night we had to run home (pretty far) to make it on time for curfew, but we made it in time and it was the funniest experience. We believe we've already received blessings from it. Friday night on our bikes, we stopped to visit a less active family- the Sandovals (we visited them last week as well) and Im seriously in love with them!! They're the sweetest lil family. Lil Hannah is 2 and loves to try and play with me and hug me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Shes my lil pal. But we were there a few minutes late so we had to bike our guts out to get back home on time (keep in mind we have to carry our bikes up 2 flights of stairs hahaha). Oh, Wednesday night we were asked to come and give a lesson about missionary work to the young women. It was so much fun and I believe it helped me gain a greater testimony of my call and why I'm out here. The girls were really excited and we invited them to share their testimonies with friends and invite them to church. Two of them got their friends to church this week and 2 others will have them there next week. Sunday we had an investigator at church!!! Her name is Jessica. Shes had tons of lessons from elders before us but has a hard time with commitments. She and her aunt got a ride from our members (the Millans) to come to all three hours of church! They loved it and we saw them today. They both want to be baptized and are praying about a date for next time we see them! We're really excited about them. Both seem ready and excited. Also, I now know why the boys always say sundays are the longest days hahaha. I was SO drained yesterday after a meeting before church with the ward mission leader and all auxilliarys, then 3 hours of church and worrying about the testimonies of members with our investigators there (also trying to understand as much spanish as i can), and then having lots of lessons later. Its great though. I love this struggle with all my heart!!! Oh, real quick... We had a lil friend join us last night.. A HUGE COCKROACH! aksjfhlksadfhsealfh. yuck. He was about 2 in. long and the longest, yuckiest antennas ever. We named him ronny the roach. And we successfully duct taped the vent from whence it came. Good thing we're so tough. I had the most frightening dreams last night so I may need a teeny nap today. K gotta run.l I love you all and pray for you to be safe and happy!! Thanks for all your emails and your prayers! have the best week :)

LOVE< Hermanita Jackson