There aren't really words ... BUCKLE UP!

Oh. My. Heavens ta betsy has it been a week here!? Imma go straight into it cause there's about a mile long list to tell yall about. 1. I learned from Dear sister Allred this week that CARLOS is getting baptized!!!! They moved to Idaho and they got married and I suppose he just got baptized on Saturday! Wow, prayers are answered. I'm the happiest person ever to hear that cause I fell in love with that lil family. Also, We have been meeting with John and on Wednesday he accepted a date for the 17 of May!!! He's so ready and really making the effort to follow through with it. He had a bit of hesitation with the law of tithing, so we fasted for him and are praying for him, but he does have a desire to do it. He's so solid and we're getting so excited for him! Hermano Mejia has been the biggest help in his progress as well. It's the truth that member referrals are from the Heavens. John came to church yesterday and attended the baptism after of these two SWEET people the elders have been teaching. They've had such a rough time lately and believe that the reason they moved here was to find this church. They are currently having a difficulty with staying here on their visa and might be moving to Venezuela where the rest of her kids are... Oh, ok so we had a lesson last Monday with Miguel and just straight up told him he has to come to church! We then had another lesson with him later that week and we had called just about every female in the branch to come with us, right up to the last hour.. Finally we got desperate and called the english sisters. Luckily they didn't have anything going on. BUT he was so great and accepted the word of wisdom! He also changed his work schedule on sunday so that he worked at 2 in the morn and could come for all three hours!!! He was exhausted, but loved it. He will be moving to Boston this Friday where I hope with all my heart that Hermana Lauryn Hansen will be in that area and can take over!! How cool would that be? too cool. K this week, although it was like pullin teeth, we got lots of member presents! man, it's so nice to have them there! Especially so we can teach inside apartments. We had exchanges on Tuesday and I went to Olympia with Sister Welch from Texas! I LOVE exchanges! I learned so much and just had a blast! Sister Welch is an incredible teacher, so I'm trying to apply some of her ways. Also, it was so hard to teach and especially to pray in english! haha I'mma count that as a blessing. I met one of their investigators with a date that is the most prepared person I've ever met! Good heavens, she was the sweetest lil southern lady I ever did meet. I kept thinkin, man, she's gotta have some kind of difficulty somewhere in here, but no. She said, "I've been lied to for 76 years. It's about time someone told me the truth!" She was so faithful. I love love love getting to just talk to everyone here and that Heavenly Father allows me to feel so much love for them! K how many times have I said love now..? haha bless ma heart. sorry. It was the most exhausting week, but also the most filled with growth and miracles! This work couldn't be any more satisfying. To see where this area has come since I got here makes me so incredibly happy. It also makes me wanna stay cause there's so much more to be done.. knock on wood. The Lord is truly moving this work along!! One last thing: Sister Marsh's grandma totally sent me cadbury eggs! :) what more could I ask for right now? haha Life is good. Also, a HUGE shout out to my cool nephew JACKSY!!! Feliz cumpleanos mi sobrinito :) loves you tons and please stop growing! Alrighty, I'mma sign off with a big les quiero y les extraño!

LOVE, Hermana stink Jackson (is that allowed?)

Miguel Angel yall. The sweetest lil thing from Guatemala. 

What a timeline eh?

Still just hungry for more

What. A. Week. I don't even have words to describe the week haha but I LOVED it to say the least. Which is funny cause we had member present lessons (almost all) fall through, and it was just super hard.. But somehow I'm so so happy and still just hungry for more! haha. First off, I would love to know if yall used the video I sent!!! It's such a beautiful video filled with the spirit. I've easily watched it 20 times this week and still get chills. What a beautiful message we carry as members of this church and disciples of Christ that HE LIVES! I loved focusing on the resurrection of Jesus Christ this week and the huge amount of blessings that I enjoy #BecauseOfHIm (eh? :)). So Sister Marsh and I planned to expand our "inviting" to a different part of our area this week. We looked at the map during weekly planning and prayerfully picked some streets (kinda far away and on bike). We get there and it's SO nice haha we looked at each other and said, "we're not in Kansas anymore" haha. Just the most beautiful homes off cobble stone streets. But hey, it's our area and that's where The Lord wanted us. So we knocked down the street and not one person was answering. Sister Marsh was starting to question if it was worth our time when we reached a house and they answered just as we knocked! He said, "you must be the Mormons!" We nodded and started asking how he knew when he asked us to come in. His fiance greeted us with a hug. After sitting down she asked, "wait, you're not here specifically to see me?" She had seen missionaries from her ward down here (she's less active). We told them how we ended up there and they began to question about our missions. They were so intrigued to see "the girl missionaries" and that we're so young haha. After bearing testimony and sharing the video with them, the spirit was so strong and I truly know God sent us there for them! Sister Marsh and I just keep saying, "they may not be ready for it yet, but let's give em a good experience with the Mormons" (I know we ain't supposed to go by that, but that's what everyone down here knows us as). Next miracle: John (our investigator) is no longer MIA! We had a nice lesson with him and brother Mejia on Saturday about the plan of salvation. It was so powerful when brother Mejia shared his testimony and John expressed his desire to know if it's true because it would make sense. He also changed his plans for Easter to come to church and he LOVED it yesterday because he understood and lots of the brothers fellowshipped him!!! Unfortunately we had invited EVERYONE to come to church yesterday and had some solid yes's to come, but he was the only one.. Next miracle: we have been praying SO hard for new investigators! Friday during weekly planning we got a call from a potential we met once (Antonio) and he asked for us to come Sunday (yesterday). We went and two other roommates (Jose and Denis) came out to listen too. They all seemed so interested and intently listening. We will be seeing them later this week. Antonio told us he knew we found him for a reason that day and that he's open to hear more! K woah, gotta run. I love you all, I hope your Easter was swell and that you realized HOW AWESOME our family is!!!! I'm so grateful for you all and hope you're well :)

Love, Hermana Meg
A note to her Mom {responding to email}

Thanks for the pitchas and everything mama! I sure love getting your dearelder's as well! I don't always have remember to get back to questions and such, but I highlight parts and try to do my best. Unfortunately today is nuts and we basically don't have a pday, so I forgot to bring the letters i got this week from you and paps. Tell paps it's funny he asked about my bike haha this week has been rainy and windy (SO ROUGH on bikes in the wind) and my speeds havent been working so it's been an extra workout. BUT today we made a lil trip to get my bike fixed and all is well. He's a champ and I named him Helaman. K I'll get to the fam email and sending lots of pictures this week!! I sure hope yall shared the easter vid I sent you and also I hope you found it in spanish!!! It's the fav right now and I think i watched it 30 times this week haha. I love you tons and I'll try and get mother's day chattin figured out so I can let you know. Maybe talk to scoz and ask him how i'll be doin it..

LOVE, Hermanita Jackson

Ill live there one day! it's got a lake out back and a gazebo and all! we named it the Jackson Manor 

Miss Linda down a couple doors from our apartment! She's the sweetest southern lady ever and takes such good care of us! She calls us and brings us food, bed covers, etc haha.  

sisters conference 

Sister Sullivan and me with our cool shopping finds (toothpaste, kleenex and more..) totally loved it! 

Sister Hart (Nate Jackson's cousin! We met at BYU) 

LOOK WHO IT IS!!!!! {Hermana Allred - her trainer and "twin"} 

#BecauseOfHim

Hey hey fam bam! N friends. So this week is limiting in time cause I'm typing on the iPad.. Getting pretty techy around these parts (insert finger to bridge of nose). Ima prolly be better at the iPadsie stuff than both mama AND Scoz, eh? Heh heh. Ok so this week was oddly awesome!! We had dinner at a member's house and sister marsh had to finish my food when they left the room cause I was literally gonna bust (wow, I felt so much love for her! I owe her big time), a lady called us brainwashed, and I was asked out by a homeless man. I'd say I'm the luckiest ever haha I LOVE IT. As for a report on our investigator Juan and his less active wife Aurora- she came to church yesterday, but he didn't want to. We saw them almost every day this last week and we were getting a lil frustrated by the end by the lack of progression. He has had lots of hang ups by the BOM and Joseph Smith. However, we finally got a member to join us last night and made some headway!! He had lots of questions answered as we just read through some of the BOM and kept it simple and according to his needs. It was super cool. He agreed to be baptized when he comes to know its true, but as hard as we tried, no date. That's the push this week. We will also be asking EVERYONE to come to church!! Man, it's hard to get people to church, especially since it's super far (as in 20 minutes. First world problems). But no one has cars here. Aurora on the other hand is making some progress and we are getting her records back into the branch so she can receive a calling! As for other investigators, no news really to report.
So we had a way cool "Sisters Gathering" on Friday with Sister Berry and all the sisters in the mish! We had classes about health, exercise, laundry, sewing, hair, makeup, etc. and THEN they had a
"missionary mall" of things people had donated- shoes, clothes, and hygiene supplies. By the time I got to it, the goods were mulled over, but I was perfectly happy getting a stock of toothpaste and other goods 👍 haha. It was way cool, I'll send pictures next week. And mama, I'll tell you in more detail in a letta.
Exciting news: Elder CHRISTOFFERSON is coming May 18 (right before transfers 🙏) Commitment: PLEASE, EVERYONE WHO READS THIS, go check out the Because of Him video on Mormon.org and share it! On Facebook, insta, whatever other things that have come out, with a friend in person.. Anything! Get creative 👌 and use the hashtag #BecauseOfHim. We are using it all week and super excited about it👏 here's the link: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng
So no excuses! ¡LES AMO MUCHO Y TENGAN BUENA SEMANA!

☀️Hermana Jackson

Sent from my iPad

Conferencia General

In a rush today! eeek, I'm sorry! haha but lots happened this week and I really wanna share it so I'mma get straight to it! (P.S I worry these emails are all over the place and that I don't even end up knowing what I shared or how I shared it, so I apologize and hope they even sound like me! haha the struggle..). So CONFERENCE was incredible! I found myself kinda praying it wouldn't end haha. BUT, like Elder Hales I think said last conference.. We gather to hear the word and then return home to live it. So I'm ready to implement some wonderful things I learned and felt this weekend!! I loved how much they talked about the atonement! Man, they were all on fire. Oh, before I forget, I would LOVE receiving some stories from ancestors and such! I've been meaning to ask but Elder Cook reminded me and now I really do have to act on it haha. That would be way nice. So we originally had great plans for conference and slowly they destructed a bit. We planned to go to Hno. Mejias for the Sunday morning session to watch it with John, but learned on Friday night that we are supposed to watch all sessions at the church buildings.. give it up for the rookies haha. That was a bummer and we're hoping John even saw it cause we haven't heard anything!!! We saw him earlier in the week and taught the first part of the plan of salvation and it was great! Hno. Gutierrez shared his testimony of the atonement and it was really simple and powerful. Simplicity- I'm understanding more and more the need for it. Also, with Hermanita Gruber LEAVING US this week for transfers, I suppose we're back to the search of finding women in the ward to accompany us to lessons.. All is well though. We're totally sad she's leaving us! I'm amazed still at how well our trio worked out these past 6 weeks! I really have only heard bad things and was pretty nervous for it, but I love these sistas and have learned un montón of things from them! It was also pretty awesome to have three working together to tackle tasks and such. She's excited a lil though cause she's been in Smoran since we got here! Ok so we had the beeeessssttt ZTM on Thursday! My mind was blown. We had a training on asking people to be baptized and how important it is to extend that invitation ALWAYS on the first visit. Even if on the doorstep. We also learned a ton about the pamphlets. Did yall know they were written by non-members?! Yeah I had no idea, but we've implemented them more in our teaching and contacting. The pictures were also prayerfully picked and such which was a real surprise for me cause they kinda seem ancient looking. That night we saw Aurora and Juan and he accepted baptism (but not a date) and then invited us to come teach every night this week! haha so every night we have a lesson planned for them!! wooo. They also came to the morning session of conference and we watched it in spanish with them. What do yuh know, I actually could follow along pretty well! Downer: Juan missed all of Elder Bednar's about the atonement which he's been having questions on.. Anyway, later that night we saw Karla and Jimmy (she's also less active and he's not a member) and he accepted baptism as well (not a date). Ok I've gotta be closing even though I have so much more to talk about! I'll save it for next week. I love yall and pray you're doing well!! I'mma leave a commitment to yuh to go over your notes or read some talks again from general conference and pick something to apply! Buena suerte :)

LOVE, Hermana Jackson

Letter to her mamacita -

wait, I did NOT hear Scott Runia called! hahaha but thats hilarious cause I literally thought of him during the sautrday session that I could see him being called! woooah. That's nuts though! I do get the Dearelder letters and LOVE them! I actually wanna answer some questions and such real quick..

1. That's SO cool that you go out with the sisters and elders!! I'm not sure if the Berry's do, but that would be the best! I bet they're loving/stressing a bit haha having yall there!

2. Welcome to the life of understanding the dominicans haha it's pretty difficult, but I'm getting used to it. Puertorriquenos son dificiles tambien para mi. The spanish is really comin along though! obviously there is always room for improvement, but I've been way blessed to be able to pick it up pretty quickly I suppose. It's beginning to be comfortable.. I actually had a really hard time saying an english prayer the other day.. Sister Marsh and I are going to start speaking spanish ALL THE TIME now and although it's difficult, it'll help us master the language. OH, that's the other thing! Hermanita Gruber is leaving us!  :( Not too surprised cause she's been in this area her whole mission, but she's excited to switch things up. It'll be odd going back to 2 of us.

3. Mike, the coka cola shirt man.. He was taught by the sisters and accepted a baptismal date. He also told them he tried to commit suicide and something "out of this world" stopped him. He was standing on a highway overpass in a suit. We were all way excited for him. Then the next day when they went to see him at the park, he had just gotten off the phone with his wife that he's in the middle of a divorce with. He seemed a lil over the edge and just wouldn't believe the sisters and the spirit wasn't there. The sisters handled it all very well. When they tried to leave, he would tell them, "oh so you're going to abandon me too? just like everyone else?". They ended out getting out just fine, but sister Sillivan called us crying and had us come pick them up. She received a blessing and Mike actually called them a few days later leaving a message that he was sorry. The sisters handed him off to the elders and that's the last we've heard. I learned that night at the Bevan's (sr couple) about how important it is to constantly be worthy of the spirit and to LISTEN and ACT. We're just glad they're alright. Don't let this freak you out mama. I was wondering if I should tell you, but you know I'm doing my best to be obedient and follow the promptings of the spirit. We're all safe and well :)

4. Ok so since Sister Gruber is leaving, we don't ave a gps... Would it be best for me to find one here or for scoz to send one? What do you think about that as well? Is that ok?

5. In the Women's meeting President Eyring told us to shoot a smile to our Mommies.....

This is my BIG, grateful smile to you mama! I love you!!!!!!!

XOXO, Meggie

relief society stuff 

last pday we had district pday and biked to Twistee treat and then played raquetball (?) 

Temple service. 

dinner at los Lopez. Their daughter made us roses :)

Dey call me da smasher ...

HOOO-LLAAAAA! Kinda like what they do in hawaii but with Hola instead :) Como le van? I can hardly even remember my last week cause somehow everything is meshing together and time literally flies, but I'mma do my best to inform you of the happenings here in Semoran. So John is the coolest person! We met with him on Wednesday with Hno. Gutierrez y Hno. Mejia (let me inform yall that we weren't breaking rules because we are in a trio and got permission that we don't have to bring a woman). We had plans to teach the plan of salvation, but quickly changed the course as we realized he had lots of questions about "Mr. Smith" and prophets in general. We taught the restoration again and it was such an incredible experience! Hno. Gutierrez shared his lil 2 cents that fit in perfectly and strengthened John's knowledge on the basics. Hno. Mejia shared his testimony at the end of the lesson of the Book of Mormon and how he came to know it was true. The spirit was powerful! John told us he felt comfortable being open with all of us when he usually isn't. He also mentioned that he "knows we're working with God and could feel it in his heart". He is reading and praying every day and told us he would be baptized when he comes to know it's true. He was gonna come on Sunday and then bailed last second for something else, but we have a lesson for Tuesday and Friday and Hno. Mejia will be inviting him to watch the morning session of conference on Sunday! We have high hopes for him. Miguel was taught once more this last week with Hno. Gutierrez there and I think things are beginning to click with him. He too planned on coming to church but couldn't get anyone to switch shifts with him at work. Gabby was planning on coming to church and we set lots of things up for her and made sure she was still planning to come, when she texted us Saturday night to tell us she couldn't come to church and we couldn't go see her because her home is being remodeled. We asked if we could be of help with the home and she said no.. I'm slightly worried, but keeping hopes up. I really think General Conference will be THE BEST if we can just get people to watch even a lil bit!! Ok, how good was the women's conference!? woo. President Eyring sure did hit home with the Mama thing, but I sure loved his talk! I'll be reading that one when it's out. Oh, we saw a family there from Ogden and she took a picture to send home. I couldn't remember numbers but I think I gave her Lizzie's..? Fingers crossed! They were the cutest little chikas, I loved em. They were headed on a cruise for spring break. We had a Relief Society party Saturday morn for the anniversary and helped set up and take down. Not a huge group showed up despite our efforts to invite them and get rides, but that's ok. OH! While we were cleaning up a tornado warning went off!!! haha it was so cool! But obviously nothing out of the ordinary cause the women didn't make notice of it.. Yesterday while knocking in a complex we were on our way out when a man came marching over.. we were all a lil nervous that he'd chew us out. He starts out by telling us how much he respects what we're doing, that it's a part of us, etc. And then says, "If you got any trouble, you come see me ova der in ma partment! Right der in da top o dat bildin! We's got all deez people in a pact fur dis complex n if you got anyone givin you problems, you tell me! I fight for peace! Dey call me da smasher" haha so don't you worry bout me being safe I suppose! I've got the number of the smasher. Woah, gotta run! Love you all and enjoy conference!!!

Love, Hermana Jackson

Feliz Cumpleaños Parker (el Miercoles)!!!

Family going on Cruise - texted to Elizabeth by the cute family.

"Rain soaked, but loving life" - transfers