Feliz Navidad!

MONDAY - good pday, we went to the North elders apartment bright and early and did the abs work out of insanity and I just about died! We got back and took the other elders with us so they could do laundry and all that good stuff. We studied a bit and had some waffles when we got back from shopping. We then headed to the library to email. We came back and dropped off the north elders at our apartment and picked up the east elders because it was elder Rodriquezes bday so we all went to Dennys, the other elders just walked and we met them there. We ate and then came back and started our secret santa. I drew Elder Jorgensens name in the hat an I knew I would!!!!! Im stoked, I'm sure he got my name too. We left early to go do this wonderful work. We got to our lesson with Carlos and taught the Restoration and then went into the plan of salvation a bit and it was a really good lesson. One of those lessons where you feel like your Spanish is perfect. We ended our night visiting a few others and picking up the Christmas programs to hand out for the program this Sunday.

TUESDAY - We picked up the North elders from where they were doing service and then headed down to Grand Prairie to drop off a bike for the new elder there. We came back and were late for district meeting. It was good, we practiced the Christmas invitation role play that came from Salt Lake City. Then elder Virrueta and I left to go teach Obidio with Hermano Rangel. It was a wild lesson but we were super bold with him. He was like "So your telling me I cant trust in the bible 100 percent" I said "That's right, its been changed by man, and its translated and interpretated differently in every church!" But he is a bit blind like most people. We went back to the church and Elder Jorgensen and I rode bikes back to our apartment while Elder Virrueta and Elder Henze went with Hermano Rangel to Oak Cliff to drop off invitations. We waited for them to get back, we were stoked for our exchange. We finally got back and biked over to Bishops house to get some discs for an investigator. We knocked some doors for a bit and then we headed to Blockbuster to meet hno Badillo for dinner. It was so good and of course like always Elder Jorgensen and I teased each other the whole time we were there. We left and biked to the two lessons we had, one with the Marez family and another with Luis. We taught the Word of Wisdom to both of them. Then we headed home. We were up pretty late just talking, telling stories. This elder is definitely one of the elders I WILL see after the mission. 

 

    WEDNESDAY - We woke up and for our lunch hour we headed to Best Buy, to Wal-Mart so I could get something for my companion and for elder Jorgensen. Yes me and him are both the worst at secret santa. We both told each other that we have each other. So we both bought the gifts we wanted too haha. We are keeping it from everyone else though. I got my companion the Dark Knight trilogy on blue ray. He is going to freak hahaha. We exchanged back at 2 o clock and went to work. We visited a few people and then went to dinner with the Barrazas and it was really good food and then they wanted us to sing for them haha, I was all for it! I also showed them the chipmunk thing and they freaked out about it. We sang for them and left. All of our appointments canceled and we had a ton. So we didn't teach the rest of the night. 

 

    THURSDAY - We didn't do anything today, my companion woke up pale as a white horse so we were inside all day. The north elders came over to exchange so I could go get him some soup because he was super sick, I also got two packages. One from the fam and also from the Kerrs! THANKS!!!! LOVED THEM! Elder Jorgensen and I went to the office because he wanted all the music on my flash drive and we watched some of the videos as well. They left after and went to dinner and we stayed in the rest of the night. My companion slept all day. 

 

    FRIDAY - Elder Henze hit a year in the mission!! We went and did some service for a member, raked up her leaves. Service always makes my day better. I cant be around Elder Jorgensen for too long before things get out of control. We finished all the leaves and then headed back, it was raining pretty bad. We came back finished studies and then went out inviting all to the activity tonight at the church. We visited some members as well and followed up on there mission plans. We ate some food at the Abarcas house while following up. We then headed to the activity and it was really good. they had menudo there... YUCK! Good nativity play and stuff though. We got out of there at 9:30 and listened to Joshs songs on the way back, the other elders loved them!! Trying to get them out there for you Josh ;) We dropped them off and hit the sack.

 

    SATURDAY - 5 months from today I leave for my home... yuck. SCARY! us and the North elders went to breakfast with hna Arrazola. It was really good! We left quick though and dropped the other elders off and finished studies and went to a lesson with Guadalupe and read out of Mormon 9 and talked about miracles and I shared a few with him. Its just so weird to teach him. Because I don't know how its possible to... not believe in God. Doesn't make sense to me that you can think this is it. We just POOF appeared here and POOF after we will just be gone. We had a lesson with Raul Pacheco after and he is almost there! little more time and he will get baptized. We then went and visited a Part member family and talked with them for a little. We then went and ate with the Erazos. SO GOOD! All our appointments canceled again. SO we went to an interview with the Aguillon family and both of them passed. Ready for baptism. 

 

    SUNDAY - Good Sabbath day. We had this lady we helped yesterday carry her chairs she bought at a yard sale to her house and so she said she would love to come to our church. So we went and picked her up, it was a miracle... in fact her name was miracle hahaha well in Spanish Milagro. She came and really enjoyed it. We went with the north elders to the Ortizes home after for dinner and had some really good food and were watching this really cheesy film about Daniel being tossed in the lions den and we were laughing when we got news that two bikers were hit by our church and so we freaked out and ran over there to find out that it was not any missionaries thank goodness. We helped with the Christmas program and getting it ready and enjoyed the program after. We went and did numbers after and came back and I gave my companion a blessing, he wasn't feeling well. We are going downtown tomorrow to get some good Christmas pics :) I'm so excited.

love you all so much, wont have a blog next week because its Christmas eve!!!! So MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!! FELIZ NAVIDAD!!! Ill have two blogs the following week. 

 

Elder Aaron Jackson

Modern Day Miracles

MONDAY - Another transfer down, 3 to go :( Today was a wild Pday, we were trying to get everything done. We got up really early and went to do insanity with the other elders and then again went to Dennys after to get breakfast. We ate and then went shopping and came back showered and then went to email a bit. I emailed a bit in the office and then we went to the library and emailed. I got done and elder Jorgensen and I decided to look at some books and some lady was helping us and elder jorgensen pulled a book out and another one came flying out and hit her in the face. I tried so hard not to laugh! At Elder Jorgensen not at her haha, he always seems to do stuff like that haha. Elder Dominguez, Jorgensen and I all went to wal mart to print pics and to get some food at the gas station. Love those two elders! Well I love them all... well for the most part all of them. I wrote two letters when we got back before cutting our day off short to be able to go out and work early. We had a lesson with Obidio and taught about the Book of Mormon and he had a hard time (as most folks do in the bible belt) grasping the truth and the concept of a God of Miracles! We then took the East elders home really quick and ended up tracting into the mom of a girl that ran off with an elder in this ward a while back... History that makes the ward the way it is today. Very skeptical about missionaries. I got a call from Elder Chantry when I got back and I wanted to cry knowing he was going home, love that guy! Had so many good times out east, in Lufkin a year ago. He seems excited to go home and see the family though. Good day today.

TUESDAY - We are cutting our studies this month as well so we can get out and work earlier as well. So we got out at 11 and went and had another lesson with Obidio. Again he was just super closed off to the truth. We testified and taught clearly by the Spirit as well. But everyone has their agency. We then went and helped out the North elders by taking them to the bike shop to get a new part for elder jorgensens bike. They are lucky that its Elder Henze and Jorgensen or else I wouldnt want to help them but they are just so awesome. We dropped by Walmart to get some notepads for everyone in the zone because we are going to start a challenge. This months focus is on teaching using visual aids and keeping commitments. So we are going to try and use 560 sheets of notepad paper while teaching and if we do so, president has told me he will sign a certificate for each of us and we can keep it in our binder forever! Saying we reached that goal. We had a lesson with Guadalupe and he doesnt believe in God so... it was a little different than most lessons here in Texas. Very interesting questions that you have to answer using logic instead of scriptures. We then headed to dinner witht he Cruzes and Elder Jorgensen was sitting next to me and of course... he broke the chair so I told him to switch with me haha, I ended up almost falling and breaking it more. We ate and left laughing at the comments made and just each others company. We met the first councelor in the bishopric for the lesson with the Villatoros and it was way saddening. They had a preacher from a baptist church or something come over and anti them. I came to the conclusion that all other churches know the Book of Mormon is true. Why would they not want you to read something if they 'knew" it was false. If they (again I put in quotation marks) "knew" it was false then why are they so afraid to let them read it? They dont want their paycheck to go down thats why. If I knew something was false I would say "go for it! its false so what does it matter" So thats what happened so we had to recover and help them from the swirling pit of confusion and destruction this pastor caused. It ended up being good. They havent read still. Can't say something is false or true until you try it (even though all of texas say the bible is true and most of them havent even read it or only parts of it)haha. 2 nephi 29 "a bible a bible..." Those who dont believe in more scripture believe that God only loves some of his children which makes him imperfect. 

 

WEDNESDAY - We planned our Zone training today and ended up being late haha, the zone leaders late to their own meeting hahaha. It was a really good meeting and we just really stressed our goal and getting 670 this year and pushing for it! Talked about miracles and how God hasn't ceased to preform miracles. We ate lunch there, met the new elders and headed out to work. We headed to Guadalupes again (no idea why) it was a waist of time, he doesnt believe in God and wont act to find out for himself. Very closed off. Good guy but not ready to change yet. We went to pick up dinner and raked some leaves which made my day better! I love service!!! We raked and then ate burritos at home. I got a christmas card from Tim and I didnt even give him my address.. weird. We went back out and went to a lesson with Raul and it was awesome. He read Alma 32 and received an answer it was true. He felt this warm peaceful feeling that told him he needs to be baptized. This church is so true! I wish I had more time to just see these amazing MIRACLES come to pass. We talked about the baptismal questions and he wants to learn more about the Prophet today. After we met up with Hno Magana and headed to contact a family and ended up finding an old investigator super ready to receive us. But... in the other elders area... I hate when that happens. As long as they are being taught the same gospel! :) 

 

THURSDAY - We studied and headed to another lesson with Obidio. Not moving. We taught the Plan of Salvation and like always because he had a doubt we told him the truth, how it is and like every other person I have talked to we had in contradicting everything he said. UGH! The Spirit is so important. People just dont have an open heart, they are just so used to what they have been taught so they just stay that way. In other words. Lazy. But its fun teaching! love trying to help them. We came back to plan and I checked the mail and got a letter from Teauna! THANKS! :) First one. We planned and went to dinner, steak at the Mancias and then went to Grand Prairie. The new elder is way cool! From cali and plays basketball, joined the church a year ago and got kicked out of his house for choosing the right path. We talked a ton and then we headed back and had a lesson with the Dominguez family and I love it because he was telling us all these problems and here we are, 20 year olds sitting there. The Lord puts so much confidence into us, and the message we bring covers all problems. Way good day!

 

FRIDAY - Today was the Stake president report, I love when I get to hang out with president Durrant for a little bit. We got pizza from President Porter and then we had the meeting and President talked about how proud he was of us. We left and went right to work after, we started contacting people and it went by way to fast! We soon were picking up the other elders for the interview with Raul and we went in first while they waited in the car and he wasnt ready yet... said he might get a divorce with his wife. So we didn't get the interview done... we went to eat a quick dinner with the other elders at subway and then dropped them off. We then went and picked up Hermano Escoto and went to a lesson with a girl we found named perla and she was not paying attention but it was a good lesson. We headed home after that. Also got the package from my Grandparents today! FAMOUS COOKIES! they were gone in a few days! Thanks so so so so much Grandma and Grandpa I love you so much for that! 

 

SATURDAY-Lots of appointments set up for today, busy busy busy. We started out by contacting some people down in Grand Prairie and our lesson at 3 canceled. We had a lesson at 1 with Santiago and that was really good. Still he needs to make some steps, we have done all we can to help. Ball is in his court now. We had a lesson with Miguel at 4 and he wasnt there... We then went to dinner with the Maganas and ate and took Brother Mackay out with us as we taught a new familiy we found of 7. Super solid! Way humble and willing to listen to our message. We taught them and then went to Raul's house and watched a bit of the movie about President Monson. We headed back home and as I kneeled to pray in the dark and prayed out loud and I asked the Lord for a miracle at church tomorrow. Just one miracle. 

 

SUNDAY-This is it. Sunday is crunch time, who is coming to church. The Lord answered my prayer with 3 miracles! We had a less active girl who has been really trying to get to church and we have visted her over and over and over and she has never come. She came. MIRACLE! Obidio, we didnt even invite him because we doubted he would come. He shows up and last of all we are sitting in class and one of the Hermanas walks in and says "this lady just came in looking for a church" As soon as she said that I knew it was an answer to my prayer. The Lord still works the same way he did before. MIRACLE. She lives in our area and has a big family. We had dinner at the church and had a few lessons before going to do numbers and we had a lesson with Hno Villatoro and all he did was talk about faith hahaha, thats all he says. We got to the Ortizes house to do numbers and we were watching this cheesy old church movie with Thurl Bailey as Goliath hahaha. Then we headed home. Amazing week. I love this work!

 

Elder Aaron Jackson 

Transfer Day, I'm Staying in Irving.

MONDAY - Great Preparation day today, we went and did all the usual stuff, emailed and I was so happy to sit down and write letters, I was able to send out 5. Shawn, Todd, Teauna, Tasha, and... Jackie. Sorry if I took so long :/. So that's what we did, we wrote and talked and had a good time with all of us over. It was a really good Preparation day, we did the usual and ordered pizza. 10 dollar box from domino's. Yum! We had a lesson with Santiago that night and it was interesting. He was very defensive about the catholic church for some odd reason. We talked about divine authority and also about praying to receive an answer and that he is the only reliable source even though the bible contains the gospel it has been put together, corrupted, changed and breathed upon by apostasy so a lot of the precious truths have been taken out or lost. So God is where you get an answer. We ended our night.

TUESDAY - We did a little bit of studying before heading to pick up the North Elders and going to district meeting. We had a good meeting and then we went to Braums after to get some egg nog and just enjoy what could be and will probably will be our last district meeting together before something changes. We took the North elders home after and headed to a lesson we had with Obidio and taught about the Book of Mormon, again there are so many people out here that are so stuck in tradition that they completely close there mind. I've met so many in my mission, people say they are investigating but really they just continue in their beliefs which is just a big circle of confusion and contradiction. Its tough in the bible belt that's for sure. No one believes that God still preforms miracles today, and that he LIVES! So, he had a hard time grasping the fact that God never changes. But we invited him to come to church and to also read the book and ask God. Before we knew it we were already heading to dinner. We sat in a park and began to plan our training for tomorrows meeting and then went to Hermana Abarca's house for dinner. We had some good food, but I can't eat with Elder Jorgensen without laughing till food comes out my mouth. The kid is so funny, the things he does and we just tease each other all the time. One of those missionaries that reminds me of the Foo's. We visited Hno Campos and then taught the Villatoros, still haven't read at all :( I cooked some spaghetti for tomorrows meeting before bed.

 

WEDNESDAY - Today was the day of the meeting, so poorly planned was our ride situation... we were at the meeting at 6 am! So we were just waiting there forever... finally we get in the super awesome meeting and we talk about our goal of 670 baptisms for the year and how we are a bit behind. So, we talked about God and how he never ceases to be God. He is the same. Called prophets yesterday, established his truth and gospel yesterday, put his power and authority on the earth yesterday and he does it today as well. Again, God is not dead. He lives. We pulled together and talked about how we can get this goal. It was awesome. Spirit was definitely there. We had a good meeting, our training went well. It was way good to see all the old faces. For the first time since the end of my first transfer my whole MTC district was there. We made some commitments to sacrifice more this month to reach the goal. The work is awesome, I love it! We came back and had one lesson with Raul and it was really good, for some reason its family support that is the problem with the most of our investigators.

 

THURSDAY - Today was the day, the day we planned in pencil instead of pen. Due to the fact that we didn't know if were gone or not. We ended up planning till about 5 and then we had an appointment at 5 with this guy Carlos, he was pretty cool. We talked about baptism and a little about our purpose. Then we headed to pick up dinner and head to the North Elder's apartment to eat. we ate and headed out to visit some people. So we visit some less active and then realize we had contacted someone across the street and so we went over there to see if we could get in contact with them. So, we knock on the door and some old lady... super creepy comes up to the glass and looks at us... just stares at us. We wave and she just slowly starts shaking her head. Then we start shouting "Jesus? el vive aqui?" Does Jesus live here? and she just keeps staring. We finally leave and I'm just so creeped out that I run back to the car. Then she opens the door and just keeps staring.... so we take off freaked out. We head home and we get a voice mail out of no where and its just some creepy noise... no number. Freaky! We had a lesson with the Villatoros again and we just answered questions. Lot of doubts we didn't know about. 

 

FRIDAY - Last day of November! Holy cow! We woke up at 5:30 to head to the North Elder's apartment to do some insanity. it was awesome! We were so pooped at the end, great work out. We then headed to Denny's. First time since I was heading to the MTC with my parents... flash back! We ate some heavenly food and then were on our way. We worked on the stake presidents report all day long. We got done in time to go to dinner. We went to get dinner from the Maganas and guess what it is.... Denny's!!!! But we go to the East elder's apartment and elder Adams just eats mine... didn't ask... just does it. Made me so mad. I ended up taking the bike with him and going out to teach some people because elder Dominguez was sick. 

 

SATURDAY - We woke up and headed to the Ayalas for breakfast and for our meeting. It was alright. We dropped off the north elders and went to an appointment with Santiago in the park and did some tracting as well. We got done and headed to visit a few more people before picking up the North elders for dinner at 4:30. We were all eating together and just talking about transfer calls. We had enchiladas, the goooood stuff. It was so good. We finished and took the North elders back and visited a few others before going home. We didn't have much luck this week it feels like. In fact this whole transfer. Then the calls came. Elder Dominguez gone, we are both staying, North Elders are staying which I'm pumped about because we are going to be together for Christmas! Not a lot of changes in the zone. Elder Belnap, the one I was on exchanges with a while ago is reopening Lufkin, where I was a year ago. It was crazy. 

 

SUNDAY - Good sabbath day, no villatoros at church.... Santiago came and also Raul who stayed for all 3 hours! We went to dinner after church. All of us and had tostadas. SO good! We headed to the Villatoros and it was a crazy lesson... they got antied by friends and another church. So they were all saying they didn't want it anymore but we saved them. We testified with much power and conviction. They are willing to read more. Again... so closed minded and not willing to accept a living God. Crazy stuff. We headed to do numbers and then hit the sack. I had a twitch in my arm all day and it was driving me nuts!! But I was able to sleep well. Thanks for following. Sorry for the shortness of the blog.

 

Love you all

Elder Jackson