Miracles

Monday-Went and played another game of golf, i did a lot better this time, still suck pretty bad but did better. We then headed to an investigators house for dinner and for a lesson, it went pretty good, food was awesome as usual! then we headed to a lesson with Latisia. We have been having trouble finding people so we were happy to have a lesson with her. Kelsey sent me a card today and it was awesome! She is the busiest and writes me so much! Loved the Halloween pic she drew for me, made my day! :)

   Tuesday-District meeting in Hemphill again, we got to do everything in Spanish so the English elders had no idea what we were talking about, at all! it was great. Then of course after we went to the famous HEMPHILL BBQ!!! So amazing! We decided to Blitz the area and i had some crazy old black girl yelling at me, gotta love the mission! We went and had a lesson with Rob and Ashley, she is such an awesome person and he treats her like crap! it makes me so mad! He is the reason he isnt baptized either! As we came back we started our exchanges and Elder Tolman came over to spend the night.

   Wednesday-We went in the morning, after studies, to Jose, Ana, and Mayra's house! i love these kids, they always make my day, we read from 3 Nephi and they all told me they would add me on facebook, so that will be awesome! we went to dinner with the other elders to Juan and Rosa Ramoses house, SO good, Elder Tolman shared the first vision in Spanish

with a little help from me. After we headed to our only other Appointment of the night, pure Hispanic which meant i was teaching EVERYTHING! and i did so, and i set a Baptismal date with him as well. He asked us to give his wife a blessing cause she has cancer so we did so. Afterwards we headed to the church and played a little bit of ball, i tore it up as usual.

   Thursday-Planning day. Same old same old, just planning, in the Apartment till about 4 in the afternoon. We finally got out and it was raining, it was so perfect. We usually try and check up on people on Thursdays so we did so and we talked to Adalfo and he said that the girls cancer that we gave a blessing to? Is gone, completely. Hows that for a miracle?? we couldn't believe it! The church is true, I'm so grateful to be out here doing the Lords work, I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world right now. I feel so so so bad for those who reject the gospel, or simply just don't have it in there life, they are so blinded, or lost. We then headed to Joses and Marielas and they already have their Christmas tree up!!!! CRAZY! they also had, this is for you Austin, a remote control supra about the size of a skateboard, man i miss my family so much.

    Friday-I GOT MY PACKAGE! :) Thank you mom and dad, and family! Ron and Chris just want you to know that I'm doing super well out here, never have been so happy in my life. I miss ya'll though! tons! I love the iPod, so grateful for it and I love all the awesome colorings and letters, April I hope you know that I have your drawings in my binders so I see them every day and I miss you all tons! Love what you all do for me and Adam I love the key chain, Austin I'm glad to hear from you and you as well Amber, love you all so much. My family is the best ever! Today everyone we talked to we invited to trunk or treat! We went to the party and it wasn't all that big, nothing like a Utah party that's for sure, but the people here in this ward are just so great!! So much love, and I admire it so much.

    Saturday-Ultimate frisbee in the morning and we lost by one point! We were pretty mad, everyone was mad in Texas today because of the rangers losing in the world series, again. We went to Buffalo wing stop and I didn't feel like a missionary at all, tv, radio everywhere... and it made a difference in my day, went out tracting and I could not even speak Spanish, I made so many mistakes, not a good day. I also forgot to bring the gum for Ana that I promised! Because she was so good, we then had another party we were asked to come and help set up for, it was a great party, when the kids were hitting the pinata we got in the bounce castle and were going crazy, everyone was laughing, I almost died in there! they had some amazing cupcakes though! probably the second best I have ever had! so good! Cant beat a Randi cupcake that's for sure! Its kinda getting cold here, just a little bit, days are beautiful! 70's or so, so nice.

   Sunday-Good sabbath day, I said the closing prayer and one of the members came up to me asking if I was from Italy because my accent was really good, so I took that as a compliment! We went to dinner and had moley! (don't know how to spell it) so good!! and headed to the priesthood session we had and I finally, FINALLY set up an appointment for my Patriarchal blessing! November 6th! so excited for that! Got home and went to bed, it gets so crazy out here, never know what to expect, we witnessed a real miracle this week and I tell you, this has been the best I have ever been. I love my mission, I love this church and every day I want to work harder and harder because someone with out this gospel in their life? Only has this life to look forward too, this small small itty bitty sliver of time, compared to eternal life, with families. Thats why I know the day I get sealed in the temple for time and all eternity will be the best day of my life, instead of "till death do you part" The church is true, that's why I gave up everything to be out here, I gave up basketball, my friends, and my amazing, one of a kind family. Love you all, thanks for following and writing!!! I have gotten so many letters and I cant thank you enough! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

LOVE

Elder Aaron Jackson

Loving it in East Texas!

Monday-We had an awesome Preparation day, we went golfing in the morning! it was awesome, i am so bad but we golf for free so what the heck might as well do it eh? I love it out here in east Texas, we have to pay for laundry which im not to happy about but oh well, its life. We went to a knife

shop after and i was a little disappointed to hear that the elders out here buy knifes with there JP money... that is money from the church given to us, in my case by peoples tithe money, to help us to do the work... and there are elders buying knifes with it!? Sad. I refuse, I will use it for food and soap and stuff I need. Emailing was weird because I was back to the time limmit but it was good, we had some lessons afterwards, pretty normal day.

   Tuesday-Specialized training, I love getting to see the President, the training was really good, grateful for the letters that I got as well, 2 from Kelsey THANK YOU! :) Maisha, Jackie, and Jace. Thanks guys! Training was really good, learned a ton, afterwards we had interviews and i was the very first, so I had to sit around and wait for everyone else to finish right? wrong! there happened to be a basketball there :) The AP has been wanting to see me throw it down since my first day here, so he finally got to see it, in my Pros clothes too! I felt young again when I did it again! did it twice, the second time I threw it down as hard as I could and it hit me in the face afterwards! It felt good, then I played with a few other kids that love the game and we played speed tornado... thunder. WHATEVER ITS CALLED! and it was me and one other elder left and he is good, we kept hitting the shot and running back, hitting the shot and running back, President Durrant walked in and we hit about 9 or 10 in a row, neither of us budging, then finally he missed and it was over, splash! I felt so good

Elder Porter asked me to come play with him at Dixie after the mission, in the middle of playing president came out and grabbed a ball and Elder Porter said to him "Dunk it President! if you do, Elder Jackson will" so he grabbed it and started dribbling and then stopped at the hoop and said "I gotta go" We all sighed, we wanted to see this former BYU star throw it down! after the long meeting which went from 9 am to 9 pm, including driving, we went to dinner at DQ on the way back and I heard some more music form Kesha, I heard Airplanes and "like a g6" it is so weird to hear music!

   Wednesday-We had a full schedule today, 9 appointments, almost every one of them fell through... but that's missionary work for ya, we have to stress the patience, its in Preach my Gospel. We went to Juans and Rosas Ramos, for dinner with the English speaking elders which was nice, then we had one more appointment clear out in the middle of nowhere and I had to get out and I cut a HUGE cut in my leg from walking in the bushes, its like a forest out here, I tell you.

   Thursday-Played BBall in the morning, it was good, but today was planning day so you know how it is, we are in the Apartment all day, we had an alright session this week. Afterwards we went to the hospital to give a blessing to one of Adolfos friends, Adolfo is crazy! wish you all could meet him NUTS. His friend has bone cancer and we blessed her and her husband, then after (suggestion from adolfo) we held hands in a circle and everyone said a prayer in Spanish, probably the best prayer I have said but still it was weird!

    Friday-We went on exchanges, I was with Elder Chauntry, it was a good exchange, I did English work though. I don't like it, I love being a Spanish speaker. So much more fun. We went and checked up on Don, a member who had Eye surgery and we played dominoes with him. Awesome guy! We had dinner with the Presidente and had stuffed crust pizza, presidente and hermana where trying to teach the English elders basic Spanish stuff, it was quite entertaining. We had volleyball and I did much better this week! I also got letters from Maisha and Jay, thanks for the letters guys, i appreciate those who write me, you will probably always be thanked for doing so.

   Saturday-ULTIMATE FRISBEE we had it in the morning and the elders are undefeated so this was my first game and we had to keep the streak going, we pulled it off to stay unbeaten! had some crazy catches, I suck at throwing though! so used to the Arobe! After getting back we went out to tract and I felt like crap, biggest head ache ever! we stopped to see maybe because we skipped lunch? and yes it was because that. I felt much better after eating something, we had no luck today, so many Catholics who wont even listen to a little of our message, but again, patience comes into play. We had dinner with the English Elders again but at one of there members houses, way good to NOT have beans and rice for once, I thought I could eat beans and rice every day of my life until I got out on the mission. They were awesome people, asking about girlfriends back at home, of course Elder Drake tells them my nickname. "Dr Mailbags" because I get like 7 cards a week, which I'm so so so grateful for! They were awesome though, good food too. After I was so tired and we had no luck at all.

   Sunday-I love Sundays, but I had no energy today, at all, these last 3 days I have had such a hard time not just falling over dead. I go to bed on time every night but I never wake up with the energy I need, help? We had dinner at the Acevados, walk in and they got the Cowboys Rams game on the plasma, OF COURSE! but eh dinner was great, the daughter is about to turn 16 and she reminds me so much of my baby sis, LOVE YOU BERBER! she is an athlete, and she is way cool. She asked about me and sports I played and my family. Afterwards we headed to a lesson with Jose, Ana and Mayra, just a check up, I love these kids, they want to add me on facebook haha, such awesome kids too! Did some less active work, which I am so tired of doing! want to find! want to baptize! that's my week in a nutshell, keep following, keep writing, I love you all so much, I have changed a lot but my love for my family, and EVERY one of my friends out there has not changed one bit! Hasta luego!

Elder Jackson

First transfer: Getting started in Lufkin.

Monday-After emailing i went and spent the night with Elder Hansen, Elder Jorgensen and Elder Goodrich. I got a call from elder lee about his new companion, he got a native speaker from Peru.

   Tuesday-Sad day at first, i had to say good bye to Hno Munoz, he gave me a hug and thanked me so much for teaching him, it was hard not to cry. Then i got on the van to go out east, i sat next to an Elder Tolman, found out he is the English elder in my area and is from Sandy as well. As we finally reached Lindale, i got my car, and it was weird driving again, it was about another 2 hours to Lufkin, going 70 the whole way, i have been banished. Met Elder Drake, seemed good so far and we headed back to unpack, found out some very rare news... HES A RAMS FAN!!!!!! :) Not very often does that happen. I thought they were all gone. We do a lot of awesome activities out here, im excited, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, volleyball, free golf, lots of stuff, i couldn't believe where i was, its like a jungle out here, like im camping in the woods.

   Wednesday-Had Bball in the morning for exercise, felt good to get back into the shoes and fire up some pretty sinkers, afterwards we went and helped a member, Juan, move tires and unload them, it was great, after that we headed to hemphill... even further!! There we had District meeting and it was in this little building, that was a church! but it was the size of a house! Crazy, Afterwards we went to the all famous Hemphill BBQ and ate free, amazing food! had a huge potato! HUGE! apparently its tradition, it was good. Afterwards we went and took pictures by the "welcome to Texas" sign... yeah i could see Louisiana from where i was, that's how far out i am, closer to Houston then i am to Dallas! It was good and the ride back seemed twice as long. Adolfo was then waiting for us and all he wanted to do was bash, he is a recent convert and i have no idea how. Then we taught 3 recent converts, Jose, Ana, and Mayra. All huge pokemon freaks! I also tried for the first time, the famous Texas Blue Bell Ice cream... AMAZING!

   Thursday-Went back and helped unload and load MORE tires today, early in the morning, came back and had our planning session and after went and knocked... trailers? that's right, I'm knocking in trailer parks now! There was about 65 stray dogs running around during all this, Elder Drake is a really good companion and has a great testimony, this is going to be a good transfer. We then went and taught Adolfo, all he wanted to do was bash again. It was bad. We then got a Call from Juan telling us to come to the Medical center for some reason and we went there and passed out cards and did missionary work with the younger boys to the people that were in the hospital, good day of work. Having fun out here in east Texas!

   Friday-Went knocking and the first guy let us in and we taught the first lesson, and right after set a baptismal date, it was incredible, but unfortunately he is English... so we had to give him to the English Elder's. After getting done there we headed to our top investigators for a lesson and taught the plan of salvation, good lesson, way good. My Spanish gets better every day. We then had Dinner with the President of the stake and with Juan and Meme and his husband and well lets just say there are about 20 people in the ward im in, or branch and they are all pretty much family, so we eat with pretty much all of them every night. After we went to a quick lesson with 2 kids, Jose and Mariela, in the middle of the lesson a huge mirror just fell and shattered, scared us all. We quickly drove over to the ward to play some volleyball, i did alright, it was a lot of fun though!

   Saturday-We were SUPPOSED to have ultimate Frisbee this morning but it canceled, i was so ready to go crazy, we went back and started studies and during companionship we did the Dan Jones role play, were we both stand on our chairs and have to teach a principal in one minute and we switch off, it was awesome!! As we parked on Paul Ave. the first girl we saw was some black 19 year old who today was her birthday, and she gave me her number and asked me to call her later.... it was weird. But i dont blame here ;) cant resist. We talked to a ton of hispanics and got some good lessons, we have now set 9 appointments for Wednesday, we are really excited for that. Juans little baby turned one today so we went up to the zoo, thats right, there is a zoo in our area and we had the party up there, so many people came and we helped out a ton with the food and stuff. It was a lot of fun, it was by a big pond/lake thing with a ton of gator signs, didnt see any but still crazy and im still trying to figure out just where i am.

   Sunday-First Sunday here, it was a good one, i was really really tired but i made it through. Dinner was great and then we went knocking in even more of a sketchy neighborhood, "keep out" "danger" "private property" signs on every fence, we knocked them all! one even said "you will be shot!" unfortunately they were not home :( It was a great day of knocking and we did some check ups before heading home, its been a crazy first week, im teaching more than 70 percent of a lot of the lessons, im a senior companion, its nuts. but im loving it, my new address is  3205 Old Union Rd. apt#1023

                                                    Lufkin, TX, 75904

Please Write, you can still write to the Montfort address just dont send any more to the Pandora drive one please, thank you all for following and have a wonderful week, im safe, im having fun, and learning more than you would ever expect.

Love,

Elder Aaron Jackson

Transfer! I'm off to Lufkin, Texas!

Monday-We actually got to relax today, i got 8 letters out only to receive 5 more that day, thank you so much everyone for writing me! we headed to our lesson and it cancelled on us but we noticed some black people moving in near by and ran over and moved EVERYTHING for them, favorite part about the mission is the service, they were so surprised, asking if they could pay us and we just told them we love doing it and take no money, i love it, makes me so happy. I got a letter from Kelsey today with my next transfers cover and i have to say I LOVE IT! love ya kels, thanks a ton. Sandwich night was good as usual.

   Tuesday-Here is where things start to get crazy! We have interviews with the president and we get there and i get into my interview with him and he has been stressing about the Spanish speakers a lot lately and he tells me to tell me about my week in all Spanish. So i just go, and he stops me and says "wow Elder Jackson, your Spanish is amazing, i cant tell you how stressed i have been with our Spanish speakers, but you have just blown my mind, and you didn't study before mission right?" Me-"no" President Durrant-"You have the best Spanish for your age in this mission" "Put yourself in a position to teach, I'm going to be leaning on you in the future" Then his phone rang and he picked it up and said "can i call you back, I'm in a interview with elder Jackson, I wish you could meet him he is awesome, he is my future star" I got out of the meeting and went back with the rest of the zone and we were about to finish the meeting when President Durrant stopped the meeting and said "can I say a few words" He then proceeded to tell exactly what he said to me to the whole zone!! He told everyone about how good my Spanish is, with a few weeks ago getting up in front of the WHOLE mission and reciting the whole back page of preach my gospel in Spanish, talked about when they asked who wanted to recite them and my hand was the only one that shot up, the young Elder Jackson. Thanks for the letters from Greg, Randi, and from Brendon, I appreciate it so much! Me and Elder Lee got back and had penguin day, solid black ties, it was awesome! We tracted and got really nothing then we found this family with all these kids and had an awesome lesson, we promised to know their names by the next visit, got more studying to do I guess :)

   Wednesday-Normal busy day, biked all the way down to the bottom of our area, long bike ride, only to have our referral not there, esta bien I found 11 cents on the ground, cha ching! We biked a ton today, the majority of our gigantic area. But it didn't phase me, I am now a machine on the bike, legs are built and I am crazy. We had a lesson with Fabricio and with Brigida and talked about the transfer calls on Saturday, I was sure I was getting transferred because of what President Durrant said about my patriarchal blessing, so I'm a bit scared. I was beat after today, dropped like dead pigeon.

   Thursday-Felt terrible today, both of us, we had weekly planning and we both felt so out of it that it was so difficult to do. Then we went and taught Hno Munoz about the law of the tithe.

   Friday-Wow me and elder lee, if only you could see what we do with some of our free time! haha, we decided to figure out Gods time to us, cause we know from the scriptures that a thousand years to us is one day to god, so 41 years in this life is only an hour to God, I have only been alive for less than half an hour! 1 minute is .6877 years 8 and some odd months, and a second is about 4 and a half days!! NUTS then we found this game in Elder Lees desk called 20 questions, where you think of something and it trys to guess it and it kept guessing our thing and we were getting so mad haha, then I finally was like "A MUMMY!! Lets see it guess that!!!" and it failed and we were cheering and freakin out, haha wow I love being a missionary. I then had to go on exchanges with Elder Jorgenson for the night because Hno Munoz had his interview and so we knocked some doors and the last one we got into was a girl from the baptist church but she wanted to change, awesome! So she starts talking about her crazy friend she has who hates Mormons, then all the sudden the door bell rings and its her friend sure enough, and she is from Russia and she is just yelling at us, saying that her friend is stupid for letting us in, so we just bore a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and got out of there because my questions were making her really mad! But we were able to get a return appointment with Jana, the baptist girl.

   Saturday-Change back, today is the day of craziness, transfer calls. We changed back and went out to lunch with the Zone Leaders, I don't appreciate Elder Solis, he is not so nice, everyone has issues with him, he is crazy and thinks he can do whatever he wants, he is trying to take OUR baptism just because he feels he needs to be a part of it. He is nuts, anyways we went back and we go out to our appointment and we are just waiting hoping that the call doesn't come, but it did, yes that's right I'm getting transferred, but where you might ask? well I'm kissing the city lights good bye and heading out east about 3 hours drive from here in Luphcan? (Lufkin) not sure how its spelled, but its so so far out there, in the jungle, adventure time! But wait that's not all, in my third transfer, i am now a senior companion, i will be with someone my own age and will be the senior companion, out in the middle of no where, with no president or APs, and I went from a bike to a car, I will be in a car on Tuesday!!!!! Im so excited, Elder Lee got called as District leader and is training someone new. So please everyone, don't send letters till I find out what my address is, because I will never see them until I get back to the city which could be, who knows when. If you have already sent them, I will have Elder Lee forward them, but if not WAIT till I get it up on Facebook. Also very sad news, president Durrants mom passed away, keep him in your prayers, thank you.

   Sunday-Church was great, I bore my testimony and said good bye to everyone in the ward, going to miss them all so much now. We went and had tongue at Brigidas and she found out I'm leaving and was not happy at all. Im going to miss her a ton. Mesquite elders then came and spent the night, not a good idea, we were up so late and they were freaking out, Elder Perry is one of the biggest Star Wars fans i have ever met, Thought you might like that dad, its all he does, he said if he had a time machine he would go back and see it opening night, episode 4. NERRRRDDDD!!! Of course I am as well with my favorites, thats the week for you in a nutshell, thanks everyone, I appreciate, wish me luck as I go out and be a senior companion for the first time. Love you all

Elder Aaron Jackson