No Blog This Week, But Enjoy The Pics!

The Lord Always Has Something For You

MONDAY - We got shopping out of the way bright and early in the morning and then started emailing at the office. They are not very nice people so we had to head to the library to finish. After we went to Garland to give Elder Lee something haha, because Elder Virrueta and Henze were trained by him and gave him a picture of them and another elder that was trained by him too. I cant believe he is leaving! My back up trainer is gone (well now he is but then he wasn't) Leaving on the 4th of Jan to go get ready to train for Boise State. I love that elder. We got caught up in playing some hoops at the church, Elder Falk was throwing oops to Elder Henze and I in our pros clothes. Still got the hops, no doubt. We then went and ate at Wingstop and stopped at the store before hand to get some pics printed off for planners. The lines were bad! We then went to the Barrazas to use their MacBook to finish the Stake President Report. I felt terrible physically and emotionally. We got done and headed home. I got done with my prayer pretty late, I laid in bed at 11:30 and it was silent. Then out of nowhere I hear screaming and fireworks and I jump out of bed freaking out. After a few minutes I realized... "oh... its the new year" and hit the sack.

TUESDAY - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! 2013! Wow! We made it this far, so crazy. I was super tired, didn't sleep well last night. We headed to Grand Prairie to go to their district meeting because we had an exchange with them. After all of us (except the sisters) went to their apartment to eat tamales. Elder Drake, Browning, and I were talking about all the good times in Lufkin. Then we started the exchange. Our appointment canceled with Aaron and Juana so we went and visited Guadalupe (guy who doesn't believe in God) it got crazy, he believes that the Urim and Thumim was brought to us by aliens... how is that more plausible than having a loving God? Anyway we then had an appointment with Santiago in the park in the freezing cold  and shared Matthew 10:35-39. Way good lesson and perfect scripture. There is no way that this church is NOT true. We went tracting after and found nothing but English speakers and then headed to pick up the north elders for dinner. We had dinner at the Carrillos but before had a family home evening with one of the east's investigators that was all over the place and an hour and a half. We ate more tamales. After we taught Milagros and retaught the Restoration and she understood, we watched the Restoration video and like always I felt the Spirit testify to my heart that Joseph Smith really saw God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. I would never doubt that, I would die before I denied the truthfulness of this Gospel.

 

WEDNESDAY - We went and dropped off some scriptures that Elder Adams ordered for a recent convert family and then went to Taco bell before heading to exchange back with the other elders. Then we get a call that Elder Adams has the north's phone so we go there get the phone and take it to the north elders apartment. I think I'm going to ask to step down as a zone leader. I know President Durrant wants me here and probably plans to keep me here the rest of my mission but I'd rather just be thrown into some area with a brand new missionary and just go work till my legs fall off and my feet are bleeding. We will see though, its very time consuming. Not a lot of time to just go out and work. But I love it in other ways as well. We knocked one street that we had no luck, just a bunch of old ladies slamming their doors in our faces haha, this is the best work ever! I learned something very important though. When you go somewhere you are being guided to that place by revelation, the Lord has something for you. If you have an appointment and it cancels there is something more there for you, because the Lord knows they aren't there, so why wouldn't he prepare something else for you? So I told my companion "from now on every time we get out of the car we need to talk to one person before getting back into the car" So we did it. We went to visit a referral and they didn't answer so my companion suggested that we knock the neighbors door. We knock, get in, (randomly the Spirit tells us to teach the Plan of Salvation even though it was a single man) and we set a date with Martin Garcia. BOOM! Miracle. We had dinner at the house before heading to Raul Pachecos and teaching about Christ and being clean through him and doing what we can here to follow him. It is by his grace we are saved. But Faith without works is dead as stated in James 2:17, so if you have nothing but Faith in him and no works? If your not striving to show you love him by keeping his commandments? Your Faith is dead and it might just be better for you not to have Faith. Faith without works is a mokery to his Atonement. It was a good lesson though, he is trying to get an answer and he will get one because he is acting upon the feelings he has and what teaches the scriptures. Not acting is like buying a movie ticket and not going to the movie, how stupid does that sound? Its the same thing. We talked about Alma 5 and the fruits of repentance. Then we taught him how to tie a tie and headed out. We went to the church to see if anyone came for English classes and we waited. I watched some punks playing basketball and it made me miss showing punks like them how to play the right way. We visited a few other people before going home. Emergency transfer happened in Oak Cliff. Elder Rodriguez is getting a new companion. We have to drive there tomorrow bright and early.

 

THURSDAY - We drove to Oak Cliff at 6:30 and picked up and dropped off elder Talbot. We got back and had little time to study and so we got ready and headed out. We decided to try something different. Here its common for the elders to go straight to apartment complexes and knock them because there are a lot of hispanics there. We decided to try and weed a little bit and go to richer areas because A)chances are they have never talked to us because missionaries never go to those areas and B)since they are living in rich areas they have good jobs with adjustable schedules, maybe. So we gave it a shot and talked to a few Hispanics. Got a return appointment with one lady, super sweet lady from Mexico. Then we ran into a guy who was Islamic. He gave us some stuff and we gave him a Book of Mormon. Then we took off to the Coronas who werent there :( they invited us for hot chocolate too! So we headed to dinner with the Escotos, and had my favorite meal ever! Lasagna! Favorite food in the world! Oh it was so good! We then had an appointment with Milagros and she was leaving to get food as we got there so we said we would wait and we decided to knock on the neighbors door. We got in right away. Crazy guy, but way nice! He was talking about how he sees things, that he has seen Hell and Christ and the Devil and how he always has 3 black spirits following him (haha it was kind of funny cause me and my companion were wearing all black haha) First thing that came to mind was the Priesthood we hold. The same Priesthood Jesus himself and his Apostles used to cast out deamons. Sure enough my companion was thinking the same thing and offered to give a blessing. So we did, really cool expierence. Love this work.

 

FRIDAY-Elder Lee is gone :( crazy! What a day today. I was smacked in the face with some great learning experiences. First we had the SPR, we got the church at 12 and enjoyed some Dominos pizza from the Stake President. YUMMM! Then we had the meeting which was great, talked about how we almost reached the stake goal for that year. We had a goal of 120 and we had 112. President came a bit late and had is older sister with him... who was taller than me haha. Good meeting though. okay some of the things I learned today. Like I said before you are directed to every spot for a reason, find someone in that area the Lord has prepared for you. The second thing was referrals, I dont know why it hit me so hard but we have to start asking for more referrals. We were at dinner with a member that said he had some referrals in the past for us and so we asked for them and after some girl walked in and was really good friends with them and we just simply asked if we could come by some time. She said yes! All members have non member friends. Ask untill they say they have no one. If they give you one ask again, untill they get annoyed. Number 3. Wow I love the mission. So its 8:15 and we have nothing to do. The idea of knocking comes strongly to my thoughts and right after all the bad expiernces that I have had in the past come along with it. But my favorite words come tumbling in my head after as well "If they are elect, they WILL accept" Satan is saying, "hey its dark, people are going to bed, their kids too, just dont bother people its not effective." But those words keep coming, "If they are elect, they will accept" It doesnt matter if its raining, snowing, hailing, sunny, dark, if they have 8 kids sleeping and 85 dogs trying to bite your legs off, if they are the elect they will know we are sent by Jesus Christ and no one else. That we are his called and set apart servants. They WILL let us in. So we put it to the test. I had picked 5 streets by inspiration the previous day and we had knocked 4 of them. The last one on the list was, Sandy ln. So put it in and drove there. It looked really american, like there was no Hispanics. Again the doubt crept into my mind, "lets try another street" NO NO NO! Every place has something prepared by the Lord. So my companion points to a big beautiful house with lights and says "maybe thats Hispanic?" So we go with it, as I walk up to the door about to knock I see that the tv is on, and they are watching the Texas A&M vs Oklahoma BCS game. Doubt comes again "What hispanic watches college football?" I knock it, putting it out of my mind. A sweet lady from Mexico comes to the door and her and her husband gladly let us in to have a lesson. Family is very important to them, they have 5 kids and would like us to come back the following week. As the living President of the church today once said "Faith fulfills, Doubt destroys" I testify that is true.

 

SATURDAY - We had a full day today, we had lunch with the north elders and then headed to Raul Pacheco. Awesome lesson with him, we read from Moroni's promise and then out of nowhere I promised him that he would have an answer before this Friday and that he will be baptized on the 19th of January. He accepted and we walked out happy as could be. Garcias canceled so we offered to help their neighbors move, they said they were ok. Then we went and interviewed Elvia and Felipe (investigators of the East elders) and they both passed easy. We contacted a bit before eating some argentian food at the Erazos house. Then we visited Martin to remind him about church and he wasnt there. So we went to visit Marta at 7 and her husband said NO haha, So we taught a less active who had no understanding of any of the Doctrine of Christ and so it was just nuts. As we left there was a bunch of teens partying outside and calling us sinners and sarcastically saying "sorry we are sinning" felt like I was walking either through hell or through a play pin. Still acting like children. Actually... children are smart. I shouldnt compare them to children. Just idiots. I'm so happy with the decisions I've made in my life. I'm glad we can all make those decisions too. 

 

SUNDAY - Fast and testimony meeting. I love it! We were fasting with Raul so he can get his answer before Friday and he will. Also Santiago came and asked when we usually baptized... then after said he had received an answer and will be baptized on the 16 of Feb. He went home and told his family that and his sister and mom freaked and said he was like Judas and was rejecting Christ, he said she doesnt even go to church. As Christ would always say "O ye Hypocrits..." The pharesis and scribes of these times thats for sure. We met in the park and just talked about how he will grow so much from this, he said nothing will stop him from being batptized this day. Now that is a true follower of Christ. I love that kid and I admire his example so much! We broke our fast with the other elders at 5 and then tried a few people before going to do numbers to end the week. Exhausted from doing good and showing our love for our Lord Jesus Christ. No other better feeling then to drag yourself home after trying to do nothing but invite others to come to Christ. This work is true, again we can either hear that here in this life or at the last day from the mouth of the Great Jehovah. I pray we all act and follow Christ now while we have this life, that we humble ourselves and open our eyes to the truths of this wonderful Gospel. I love you all, thanks for your prayers and support.

 

Elder Aaron Jackson

Another Christmas in Texas

MONDAY - MERRY CHRISTMAS...eve. What a day to remember... we went and did service at hermano cruz's house and painted his whole front room... 6 elders (especially elder Jorgensen and I) together with paint? not a good thing. We ended up throwing paint and ruining his carpet (he was going to replace it anyways) Before leaving we got hats and stockings. As we got done shopping we went back to the house cause... we had a flat tire. So we had to take the car back and all the elders were at our apartment, on christmas eve. So we went to check mail, I got a package from Tdizzy and my check! THANKS SO MUCH! We headed to wal mart to get the stuff for the big breakfast tomorrow! We got back and had no idea what to do. oh wait we had our gift exchange thats right, elder virrueta gave elder rodriguez a nerf gun haha, elder rodriguez gave elder henze boxing gloves, elder adams game elder virrueta a clip board, elder henze gave elder adams a cd, I gave elder jorgensen my second favorite tie and two final fantasy games, elder jorgensen gave me the halo movie on blu ray, I gave my companion the dark knight trilogy on blu ray and he gave me a new shirt and a batman poster. It was a mess by the end but I loved it. Stupid elder Jorgensen taped the snot out of cardboard over the movie, then put that box in a box and that box in another box and filled the rest of the space with rocks... what a punk. I love the kid though. We went and got all the stuff for breakfast and then hno Corona came and got us and we had a big dinner at his house and ate posole... it was amazing with tostadas and avocado and chicken... so good. We checked emails quick and messed with siri on the ipad, asking her questions about the Gospel haha, it was quite entertaining. We headed home and the North elders stayed the night, we get along to well.

TUESDAY - MERRY CHRISTMAS!! We woke up super early and walked to the church with all the frying pans. So if you can only imagine. 4 missionaries... at 5:30 in the morning walking in the streets of Irving... with frying pans. HA. We got to the church right as it started pouring! We had an amazing district meeting where we read Luke 2 and then set up the projector to watch Ice Age! We ate the amazing breakfast and then enjoyed the movie. After Hno Ortiz came and picked us up and took us to his house where we Skyped. I enjoyed talking to all of you and I appreciate all you do for me. After I talked to Elder Jorgensens family which was a lot of fun! Love elder Jorgensen, my best friend on the mission. We ate and then went to visit one person. On foot in the snow and cold wind. Not even a popped tire can stop us. We came back and got picked up by a member and went Christmas caroling. SO MUCH FUN! I love singing hahaha, if only others loved it too... :/ in other words I wish I was good. Love Christmas songs too! Way good Christmas! A little lop sided but good. 

 

WEDNESDAY - Today we spent the whole first half of the day waiting for our stinking car to get fixed. We then headed and did some tracting near our dinner and found a new family. The Garcias, as we were about to leave he talked for 10 minutes about how I'm so blessed and such a good person cause I learned Spanish hahaha, crazy peeps. We had dinner and left to the Villatoros to have whats called the "drop talk" We are done with them, they are not progressing so we have to leave them :( although I love them. I dont think Hno Villatoro got it for he asked after "cuando van a venir otra vez?" when are you going to come again? hahahaha Love that family, just not ready yet. 

 

THURSDAY - What an eventful planning day. We went to get my stupid papers noterized and I guess in order to get a "lost license application" Notarized you need to have you license with you... its the only way... which is the dumbest thing ever!!!! I tried so many places and they wouldnt do it. So finally we found a friend of a member that did it for us. Finally done! Also I got a wonderful package from Jdiggity dawg from Cailey today! Thanks so much!!!! Loved it!!! We headed to north to drop off their egg nog and pick up my Game fuel :D last time I'm drinking soda, just for the holidays. Came back and planned. for week 5..... its going by to fast! We had dinner with the Barrazas and had a lesson with Pacheco. He is so close to baptism!! He is coming to the North elders baptism on Saturday. We taught the Restoration to the Garcias after and it was sweet! I love teaching people that understand what we are saying. Mainly it was their 20 year old daughter and her friend. It was sweet though, I love teaching the Gospel! It is the best! We took Elder Henze to get some meds after. 

 

FRIDAY - We had Zone Leader Council today and it was sweet!! For some odd reason they had Elder Scott sit by me, prob my next companion. We headed there with the english Zone leaders and Elder Rodriguez (who bought me breakfast cause we got there early :) Love that elder so much, we were just laughing at all the good times we had together. We got to the meeting and it was good to see Elder Chappell and all the district, and everyone else. We talked about our goal and we had a goal to baptize 95 and when we added it all up... it was at exactly 95 at first it was at 94 but someone mis counted so it went up to 95. Incredible. Second highest baptizing month in the missions history. We all went out to Spring Creek BBQ. I was standing in line with President and he asked how the famliy was and my brothers and I told him about this little stinker Adam who wants to take me on when I get back. He asked how I could fly at only 6 foot 1. I shrugged my shoulders. I asked if was going to stay in Shady Grove and he said most likely. We ate and it was really good! Then we headed back and set a new goal for 2013 and talked about the wave coming in!!! by the time I leave we will have about 50+ new missionaries. We are about 170 now so it will jump up to 220 or 230. We headed to the office to get mail and change cars (well the english elders needed to) I got mail from Nate, Brendon and Bishop. Thanks so much! We left and got back and headed to get the other elders for dinner. We ate real quick and taught Santiago.

 

SATURDAY - I started the Doctrine and Covenants today... means I have only 138 days... :( Its something you do I guess? Read the whole thing. One section a day. We were in a rush today, we had to do calls for the SPR and then we had to take the other elders to the library to make a baptismal program. They needed 40 cents to print it off and Elder Jorgensen and I went out to the car to see what I had. 39 cents... So we said a quick prayer that we would be able to find a penny on the ground, we started looking and we found 2 :) God answers prayers! We thanked him and went inside and printed it off. We then went to the Barrazas to practice the musical number and went to braums after to eat and then to the church to get a suit for Luis. Then we left them there and went out and tracted. We contated 15 or so. Not bad. We taught Raul Pacheco, well just reminded him about the baptism. Then we headed to the baptism early so we could practice. Then 2 minutes before it starts the hno that was supposed to talk canceled and so they asked me to give a talk. It was ok. Baptism was awesome. We then took Hno Badillo out with us and taught a new family. We finally got ahold of the referral from the Carrillos. We tried her neighbor first and I just knocked on the door of the referral right after thinking what the hay. We got in, they loved it, family of 6. Im excited!! 

 

SUNDAY - No PEC meeting just coorelation. Felt good to have a progress record with some names on it. Church was good, random guy showed up that we are going to teach, we keep getting these people but no baptisms. After church we headed to the Maganas and ate some good soup. Then we took Ricardo out with us to teach the Garcias. I invited them to be baptized very boldly and with power. But they didnt accept. Not quite ready yet, but they said they are going to read. We visited Milagros too and then headed to do numbers finding out there was another mis count and we were 2 short of our yearly goal :( oh well I love this work and we just need to keep going. Thanks for following. Love yall

 

Elder Jackson

Christmas Lights In Downtown Dallas.

MONDAY - Today was awesome, we planned to go to downtown Dallas and take some pics. FINALLY! Ive wanted to go so many times but it never happened in the past. We went to the trax and Elder Jorgensen had the brilliant idea that we should get energy drinks. So he bought us all Rock Stars so we would have "energy" None of us had drank one in years. It was like putting acid in our system! I felt sick that night and the following day. Elder Virrueta was the only smart one. Downtown was sweet! We walked around and took a lot of pictures with all the Christmas stuff, saw the first 7-11, saw the lights and the crazy tall buildings. It was a lot of fun. We got back later than we wanted so we just dropped in on the Villatoro family. We both went to bed sick. I forgot to say happy bday to Austin... so... late happy bday!!! Love ya bro.

TUESDAY - 19 Months in the mission! Crazy, feels like the months are days now. We barely made it through the day today, I had stomach pains and my companion... still was very ill. But we worked! We had dinner with the Salomon family with the North elders and had some good food. Elder Jorgensen ruined my salad! Anyway, we went and taught Milagros after, taught the Restoration and she didn't grasp any of it, I don't think. Very beautifully taught, just... she didn't get it.

 

WEDNESDAY - Today was our awesome meeting, Christmas specialized training! We were in the chapel for the first half and just heard from everyone, different favorite past times and Christmas traditions. We heard a few talents in there as well, elder Rodriguez sang and played the piano. He is a bag full of talents that's for sure. We listened to some more and then we broke for lunch. After lunch we stayed in the gym for other talents. President asked elder drake "do you have a talent?" he said "no, but I have a companion that challenged you to a dunk contest last year and you didn't do it" Everyone was yelling and stomping their feet as I tied my shoes in my pros clothes. He said "I cant dunk with this guy, maybe we can see Elder Jackson dunk and later I'll show you on video one of my dunks?" So I, without stretching or warming up, two handed easy. (hope your reading Adam ;)) then I was trying to get an oop but elder Drake coudn't time it right. After I went up and did the chipmunk voice, president got that on video and many others haha, it was a lot of fun. We then went back into the chapel and a senior couple (Goldings) well, sister Golding had left her purse there and asked if we would, like in the conference talk by President Monson about all the youth praying that the tv would work? if we would do the same. So we did and went and looked, Elder Dominguez found it in a room in the church. After he got up to share his tradition or testimony and talked about how his parents just got a divorce and he was praying lately to just know if God really does answer prayers and that the purse was an answer to his prayer. Then as he finished with tears in his eyes... I hid because I knew he would pick me. Sure enough, he picks me. I shared how I got my wisdom teeth ripped right before Christmas and how I was bummed because the breakfast is my favorite part, when really its being with the family. I love yall more than anything. What a great meeting it was. We got back and had KFC at hna Escotos house and visited Raul Pacheco and Jesus after. No luck.

 

THURSDAY - planning...yay! We had a lesson with Milagros with Hno Cruz and taught he Restoration again and still she didn't get it! That was all that happened today. My companion is STILL sick! 

 

FRIDAY - Happy end of the world!!! We were supposed to help hno Cruz paint but he wasn't there, and he failed to let us know before we all showed up in service clothes ready to paint... so we rode down to the coronas and just went to their back and started cleaning. I love service! It gives you such a good feeling. We went to grab dinner from the Maganas and headed to the park to eat, we figured we would make our last dinner together romantic hahahaha, and we ended up talking about marriage the whole time!! Scary! :O We finished dinner and went and taught Milagros again and talked about the correct way to pray, it was really good but she still is praying all crazy and incorrect, but better. Poco a poco as we say in the hispanic world. Ok night. 

 

SATURDAY - Well... we didn't plan anything today because we thought the world would end... no jk haha. We had an awesome day today. We woke up super early to go to a 5k run with the most of the mission. It was a lot of fun, elder Henze and I finished at the same time and we did way good, at least I feel we did. 3 miles just out of the blue, I'm just naturally born that way I guess, cause I felt great after, and I sprinted the last lap full speed, all the way around the track. We then all went to Presidents house for "cereal fest" We ate breakfast and President read his favorite Christmas story to us. It was awesome, he told me before I left to say hi to the family. He is so tall! He was using my shoulder as a rest after the run haha, I love President and Sister Durrant. We got back, showered and went right to work. Everyone was sore but I felt great! No idea why?! We visited a referral that wasn't there but knocked on the neighbors door and found a new lady, set up an return appointment. We ate dinner with the Ayalas at 4 and headed to do an interview in Oak Cliff. Elder Rodriguez was talking about marriage with me too.... aj;ksdjfkajskd;jfklajskjf why does everyone bomb the old missionaries with questions like that! Anyway we got done and came back and had a quick lesson with Raul Pacheco. 

 

SUNDAY - Finally an opportunity to serve as leaders. The East elders were on the verge of getting standards of excellence but needed 30 more contacts. So before church we went in their area and started contacting. We got in with this one guy who was looking at bad stuff on the computer, blasting Eminiem and playing God of War and talked for a bit, then we left and I turn to the wall and they have a picture of one of our temples and one of our pics of Jesus Christ... it was really weird. We got 21 before church so we needed 9 after. After church we all ate there and ate ribs... they were so good! We then went to finish the contacts. We dropped them off (north) and visited the Villatoros, but they weren't there, so we went and talked to hno Ortiz (LA) huge colts fan, and RM. It was a good talk. We finished by doing numbers.

 

Love,

Elder Jackson

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