TUESDAY - Today as walking dead zombies we headed down to Kilgore
to do some work and wanted to contact at Brookshires down there but
they said no... so that kind of threw our plans for a loop because we
were allowed at the one up in Longview so we thought for sure they would
say the same. Its amazing the persecution we get out here. Everyone is
voting for Romney but they hate us. Even though we have more truth than
any of them. :) So we visited an old investigator and then went tracting
and got in and taught these 3 girls and they loved it. We invited them
all to be baptized and they accepted. They (of course) asked about the
end of the world. I tell you that question along with why we dont have
the cross on our church A: We focus more on the fact that he LIVES! as
heroic and incredible and important as was his death on the cross, we
believe in a living Christ that doesn't cease to be Christ. Who calls
prophets as was done in the Bible and who gives us more scripture. As it
says 1021696 times in the Scriptures. God doesnt change. So why does
everyone else believe he does? I dont get it. Also the question of, how
many wives do you have? hahaha, crazy people. A: Many prophets (at
different times) were commanded to have more than one wife. Abraham,
David... again all in the Bible. ANYWAY ENOUGH ON MY RANT! So we taught
them and kept tracting and found 3 more girls that just didnt understand
the message. Its hard sometimes to get people to understand the pattern
of apostacy and of dispensations. We gave them a card after inviting
them to be baptized and went on our way. We then went to the Garcia
families house and taught English classes. They are such a fun family to
be around! Love them! Sometimes its hard to love the people you serve
and other times its hard NOT to love the people you serve! This family
is one of those. We headed back to Longview to have a lesson with
Charles which was really good. We read out of Alma 32 and about how
Faith is compared to a seed and he really liked it. He also got the LDS
app on his Iphone which I am totally getting when I get back. Cant wait
to dive into all the awesome Gospel books. We then dropped by a part
member family that is part of the Alba family and we got in and taught
them. She is not a member but they are super nice! He is super inactive
but we are excited to see if we were the ones chosen and called to come
and rescue them. :)
WEDNESDAY - We started out our day (after studies) going down the
ward list and giving any other ward mission plans we had left to give
out so we can start our follow up process. We did that for some time and
then went to Kilgore to tract some more. Its working so we are going to
keep doing it. We taught la familia Martinez and had a way good lesson.
Invited them to be baptized and he was kind of sketchy about it but she
said if she knew it was true (which it is) she would do it for sure.
After we received a call from someone who wasnt interested in English
classes but more in Spanish classes. So we will be starting that up
soon. We needed to go to the store now because we had a lot of driving
ahead of us and my GPS car charger wire broke so we went to best buy
before heading into Tyler to get a new one. We drove into Tyler and
stayed the night awaiting the long drive into Dallas in the morning.
Spent the night (for all you Utah fans) Elder Kruger, yes the little
brother of the Kruger that played for the Utes. He is a way nice guy!
Unusual for a utes player... :) sorry had to throw that in there. No he
is an awesome guy. Im happy he is on a mission.
THURSDAY - We got up and headed to Dallas, bright an early or in
other words at 5:30! We left by 6:30 and arrived in Dallas at 9. We had
our meeting with just the Zone Leaders from 9 to 12 and we got some
great compliments. We had to promise President a number of baptisms last
month and we promised 7 and got 15 and our zone was the highest
baptizing in the mission. He talked about a MLB player, Miguel Cabrera
and how he is close to winning the Tripple crown this year and he said
that he loves to see amazing things like that, that dont happen often.
He compared us to them because the immediate assumption for east Texas
is "You'll never baptize out there! People are too mean, you dont do it!"
But we changed that and so it was nice to get praised a bit for that by
our President (even though its not us, its the amazing elders we have
out east) We then broke for lunch and we played some ball, Elder Lee,
Beatty, and Wheatherford vs Elder Chappell, Sted and I haha it was
intense. So great to see these elders again. We then had the wonderful
opportunity to hear a special devotional from President Durrants dad and
also Susan Black, a professor at BYU and sombody who knows the Book of
Mormon so well. Presidents dad was SO SO funny and very powerful and
then Susan Black talked about how there is NO WAY in the entire world
that the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith like so many
ill-advised people believe (the world) meaning that Joseph Smith was a
prophet, and that this is the ONLY true church in the world. I wish
everyone would have the opportunity to have heard her speak. I wish
everyone would start going to the Dentist when you have a cavity as
apose to an Auto mechanic.... GO TO THE SOURCE!!! DONT JUDGE THE BOOK OF
MORMON TILL YOU HAVE READ IT!!! PLEASE!!! It is true and the Lord
himself will profess that when he comes again. Ready of not. If you dont
believe its possible that the Lord can give us more scripture then you
dont understand the Gospel, as the Book of Mormon prophet Mormon taught.
Because I testify that God does not cease to be God! He is the same! He
does not change! I love this church and this devotional was yet another
testimony to me of the divinity of this message and the importance of
it. Because without it, we can not obtain Eternal life. We will NOT live
with God after this life. I know that with all my heart. After we stuck
around, talked to Susan and George and then I talked with Elder Drake
and Scott and Falk and all the old buddies. Dominguez, and Willman. I
was told Gabby and Fernando are active which im super happy to hear. We
then went to the mission office to grab some stuff and then stopped at
the bookstore before heading home, we stopped for some food, then
dropped off the Tyler elders and then got home at 8:45. President called
asking for a dozen donuts for tomorrows meeting. haha, what a wonderful
day though.
FRIDAY - Another meeting! YES! That means another day with
President Durrant. It was good, we got there early and were there for
another 6 hours just being filled with councel and wisdom of this
amazing President we have. It was funny because he told us to be excited
when we contact and so he said "okay im going to give you 10 minutes
and you have to go run outside the church and contact 8 people. GO!" So
we ran Elder Chappell and I, we contacted one and then as we were
RUNNING from one door to the next a lady across the street saw us and
said "why are yall running" So it was an amazing opportunity to tell her
why. So we did and she gave us water and cookies and we had a prayer
with her and ran back. People kind of laughed as we walked in late with
cookies and water bottles in hand. We then got done with the meeting and
President pulled me into a room to talk to me and asked what I was
doing to create so much success and just expressed how proud he was of
me. Then he did the same with Elder Chappell. I love the mission. I will
never have experiences like this again. We did some work before dinner
and then had our Chilli cookoff/pinewood derby. It was a lot of fun! We
then started our English classes and had the Flores family and a lady
from El Salvador there with us. It was a fun class! Good chillie, cool
cars (by the way I predicted the car that would win right!) and an
amazing meeting. Thanks for the letter Cailey and Grandma and Grandpa!
I'll write yall back asap! Amazing day!
SATURDAY - Back to teaching, today was great! Super cool weather
and tracting in the rain! Nothing better than wet socks ALLLLLL day!
Gotta love the mission! People think your crazy, running around with
ties and shirts in the POURING rain. I love that they think we are
crazy, because it gives us a perfect opportunity to explain that we are
NOT crazy but how important our message is. Also that we are the Lords
representatives in this area and we have been called of him to declare
his word to his people that they may have Eternal Life! (3Nephi5:13)
Cause its true. We were called before this life even. Chosen for these
latter days. We tracted and taught one lesson and then we headed to
Genghis Grill for dinner before heading to do some contacting and to
head to the most powerful lesson on my mission yet. After all that we
went to meet Hno Flores at the church at 6:45 and then headed to
Marlenes. Here we go again. How many times have we had powerful lessons
and then lessons that she just wont committ and powerful then wont
committ. Back and forth, flip and flop. No. This time is the last time.
She WILL be baptized. We went in planning to read Alma 7. The Spirit
guided every bit of the lesson. She talked about how she hadent read and I began testifying boldly that she NEEDS to read. I read in 2 Nephi 31
verse... 20 I believe? About feasting upon the words of Christ! Then we
started reading about Alma and his powerful testimony of Christ and how
he was filled with the Holy Ghost. We then asked "Hermana, ha recibido
el Don del Espiritu Santo?" Have you received the gift of the Holy
Ghost? Which then led us to be led by the Holy Ghost... haha. We talked
about how it MUST be done by the laying on of hands and I read in Acts
8:14-20 and we asked if that happened to her and she said no. Then Elder
Chappell seconded that by reading in Acts 19 which talks about how
baptism is incomplete without this divine gift. We did not think of the
words to say, it was nuts! It was all by the Spirit. She realized
instantly she needed that. Did we stop? No. We testified and testified
again and again that she needs that. Then we expressed the love that we
have for her and thats when we really felt the Spirit. She commited to
be baptized and we set the date, the interview and she is good to go. So
powerful. There isnt anything out there in this world, that can create
the happiness and joy that that did. A good way to end the night. Again, I love my mission. Its real, and its changed me so much. I have grown
and I love it. Funny thing is I had that impression come to my mind
during studies that morning, to teach about the Holy Ghost. Always
follow the Spirit.
SUNDAY - Church was good, we had an extra long testimony meeting
in Spanish today and after we left to Marlenes to see what she needed
help with in moving. We had to go to English ward so we sent a text to
the Priesthood to go help her and they announced it and eveyone walked
out.... We were not happy. We are trying to get a lady to church and
help her receive blessings and friends are so vital and a body of men
who have the Power and Authority of God walk out after getting an
opportunity to serve someone in need... UGH! English was good, Riley was
there, we had some great classes and after we visited the Alexanders
and then went to dinner with the Rossows. Steak. Great way to end a
fast. We then went and taught Riley with Jordan and taught the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and used the egg lesson. She loved it! We went and
contacted for an hour and a half and got numbers done by 9:30! Found out
that Ben and Hno Flores went and helped Marlene. What a week. Love you
all so much!
Elder Aaron Jackson
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