Happy Birthday Aaron! Sunday you will be 20!

MONDAY - We went shopping in the morning and I spent a lot of money, I had to get a new light for my bike so ended up dropping like 50 bucks, we then came back and did studies and worked on working in unity and how we were going to teach Nadeshia who ended up canceling anyways, so we headed to the church for emailing and were again chased by the dog on the way and we did of course scream like little girls and pedaled faster until we got away in one piece. We played a little bit of basketball, me and elder rodriguez had a contest who could make 5 full court shots first and I ended up winning... twice... 5-0 haha, love the kid. We headed home and wrote some letters and also I read a talk I printed off, the King Follet talk by Joseph Smith... Man its a crazy talk!!!! We then started our exchange and I was with Elder Scott for the remainder of the night and we couldn't get any doors.

TUESDAY - Exchanges continue and we headed to district meeting, I did better on my training this time, my Spanish was a lot more smooth. We then proceeded with role plays and no one took it seriously, Elder Witbeck was an investigator and would not stop talking about the Virgin Mary... Cause out here people worship her more than anything else I swear. So it was not a good one, everyone was goofing off, but we ended on a better note after everyone settled down. We then went out to lunch, to Taco Bell and ate there with the other elders, but elder Rodriguez and Viruetta did not have their bikes so they were stuck at the church waiting for a ride. We were there for too long though. We ended and started going to our appointments and had no luck, we had like 9 appointments scheduled and none of them were there except one, we headed back and ran into the mailman with my package so that was good, Elder Scott was so hungry and we were talking about foods we liked and didn't like and one he hates is seafood, so we get picked up for dinner and what are we having? catfish. HAHAHA I was giving him a hard time because he had to push it down and then say it was good to the members even though I knew he was hating life, then we headed home and got picked up by Bro Mata and he told us the funniest cowboy joke haha I'll have to save it for the Davis family when I get back ;) We visited David and Maria and had a really good lesson and ended our night, switched back and were off to bed.

 

WEDNESDAY - We got up did studies and then Tim picked us up at 11:30 to go to the bookstore where I got some awesome stuff, some new CDs, another study journal, scripture stuff and pictures, we then went to the temple, inside we sat in the lobby just being spiritually punched by the spirit, then we had a lesson and had a kneeling prayer, asking him to ask if he should be baptized, we weren't sure how we felt after... Probably wont be getting baptized on the 17th but he will soon. We then took some awesome pictures which I bet he put on Facebook cause he is cool like that. We then headed to the mission office and got some things and then headed back, by the time we got back it was late! 1 hour to tract, so we did so, and didn't find much just some rebellious and crazy people as usual. Jorge? I guess he might go somewhere, but that's it. We then went and ate with Brother Moss and Sister Lloyd, man I love it over there, he was talking about how he loves to airsoft but like the real deal, the heavy guns, with bug tournaments in Oklahoma with helicopters and tanks and 700 people, so it was really cool. We came back and had correlation meeting with the Prices to end our night.

 

THURSDAY - Tim came over in the morning to drop off some eggs and so we had a lesson and talked to him a little so that was good, he is doing good, almost there. Love him cause he helps us so much! We planned for the week and then went tracking, I just want to say this, Catholics I never understand... what do they teach in those churches!!!! Some girl we talked to said its okay to worship saints (Virgin Mary) and said its in the 6 commandments.... we were like, well Elder Rodriguez asked her what bible she read, I was biting my tongue. So that girl was interesting but we found some cool people, one who had a date to be baptized in the past. We came back and found Elder Rods tire, also another package for me :) thanks so much grandma and grandpa! love you guys! We went to the Luthers and had pizza on the patio, it was really good and we had some good conversations, I just realized that Elder Falk might know Aubreys friends Ashley, so I asked him and he says he knows her so Aubrey when you read this cause I know you do every week ;) Ask Ashley if she knows a Jeremy Falk, if so tell her he is in my ward and I see him almost every day. We went out with Hno Cano after and had our appointments cancel and so we just went to get some Mexican bread and then went to his neighbor to teach and they are such nice people! Also Elder Rodriguez commented on my Spanish saying its the best he has heard so far so I was really happy about that, love my companion. We came back to the house of Hno Cano and gave his wife a blessing, then he took us to the Mesquite elders to have an exchange, so I went with Elder Latham and we came back and went to bed.

 

FRIDAY - We had three appointments in the morning and all of them canceled, then we went tracking, Elder Latham didn't talk much, he has only been out 4 transfers so probably still getting used to things but it was still great, awesome Elder, we found some really Hispanic places to tract, we went to the other elders apartment to have Fajitas for dinner, so so good, Elder Falk is an amazing cook haha, we then went to visit Roberto and it was crazy, he said he had a dream where Peter... one of the original apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, visited him in a dream commanding him to listen to us, the missionaries. The only thing I had to say to that. The church is so so so true. We changed back after and elder Rodriguez got to go with elder Witbeck to the bishops house for dinner, who is a multi millionaire, he has the original Jesus Christ in the Americas painting, and the one that is on the cover of the ensign about the book of Mormon a few months ago? He has the original of that as well, all these originals. 

 

SATURDAY - I practiced translating today in the morning, cause I'm going to translate tomorrow, its so hard haha, gotta keep up and know all the words, but great practice. Carmela was not there so we went next door and had a short lesson. We tracked a little and didn't have much luck, We taught Rosie on the porch with her two kids though which was really good, Then we went back to the apartment and found that I got a card from the Durrants for my Bday, it was so nice of them to send me one :) The Prices picked us up and we went to Ammon Conyers house with his soon to be wife, to eat dinner, had some really good tacos and 3 leches cake. We ended our night by going to Gaby and Fernandos to watch a video and they look great, they are doing so well!

 

SUNDAY - Fast Sunday, I was supposed to translate but elder rod ended up just going up there and I sat back with Alex, he finally talked to his mom about getting baptized so we are hoping that he will have a date soon, we taught the gospel principles class on prophets and watched a video, it was good. We came back and broke our fasts and headed to the Conyers to eat steak, ended up getting a LTMP out of it too! Good week! thanks for following!

Elder Aaron Jackson

Another Baptism Date!

MONDAY - Early shopping as usual, studies and laundry, we had a lesson at 11 with Nadeshia, taught the Plan of Salvation, really good lesson, hope to extend a Baptismal commitment next time :) We headed to the church and played ball and emailed, I love playing basketball and so when you get to only play once a week you make the best of it, 3 on 3 and i was just going crazy haha, I love this district and so thankful to be the district leader. Then me and Elder Scott were talking and we asked Tim if we could go to Academy and to Ross to look around, i love Elder Scott, such an awesome guy, if these guys weren't all over the US i would hang out with them all after the mission, he is from Seattle, such a great guy! Wrote a few letters and all of our appointments (4) were there, so we were off to a good start this week :) Nadeshia, Cecilia, Roberto, and Jose!

TUESDAY - BUSY day, we had 8 set appointments, my planner just bursting with ink of all the planned lessons for each and every one of these people. Sandra was first and she canceled, then Salvador, canceled BUT, we found someone there and talked to him, Simon, and had a lesson with him so that was good. Ladia, Canceled, Antonia was there but she was half dressed and alone so we did not teach her! haha, we set up another time to come back. Stephanie and her mom, had a lesson with them and it was a really good one, taught the Restoration and then headed back to be picked up by the Chapmans for dinner, i love Brother Chapman, he was the one who picked me up when i got transferred here and everyone was telling him as soon as they found out it was me going there "OH he can dunk!!" so now EVERY time he sees me he tells everyone around "HE CAN DUNK" HAHA, he said it a lot during our wonderful dinner, hamburgers and chips, YUMMMMM. We got done and headed to Maria Chavezes and she was not there... so we headed to Mayela Ivanez and she was not there... Biked clear down to the Maldanados, busy... We had an hour and no where to go, no one to see, so Elder Rodriguez asked me "what are we going to do elder?" i just filtered through my mind all the people we have talked to and the first one that came to my mind i just went with it, so clear on the other side of the map we rode, and rode, and rode, and we did not stop. We arrived at Angels house and he was there and invited us in, we taught him and Estella, pretty good lesson, at least we didn't waist the Lords time :) i was happy till I came home and found another roach in our apartment, they are EVERYWHERE, like the 11th one I have seen since I have been here, stupid things. But a great day! 

  

WEDNESDAY - Lucino Martinez was our first appointment today and he was not there and so we called and he told us to come back at 4 so we tracked, so frustrating sometimes but we have to have patients, the first door we knock black guy, at first refuses to talk to us, then comes out and he knows the bible really well, quoting scriptures and saying all this crazy stuff, when he first came out he boldly looked at me and said "what do you believe!?" I looked at him and said "we know that the church of Jesus Christ has been established once again on the earth through a living prophet" then he went off into all this stuff about how we can smoke and drink and as long as we believe we can be saved, then we introduced the Book of Mormon and he freaked, refused to listen, "there is only ONE book" he kept saying over and over again. I showed him the scripture in the book of Ezekiel and he still just turned his back and walked inside, 45 minutes burned with this guy, next door is better right? not.. some girl saying Jesus gave us all the authority while on the cross and that he visited her while she was drunk and high? interesting.... anyways :) We testified and after she said "wait can i finish my vision, i think im opening up his heart [pointing to me]" As soon as she finished i said "Beca, i know that the church has been restored and that it is the ONLY way to return to our Heavenly Father, that everyone will know one day whether it be by our mouth as missionaries or by the mouth of Jesus Christ" something like that and we left after that, i love the work, but its not easy. We tracked a good chunk of time, spending a total of 1:15 on those two people alone! and we had no luck, went back to Lucino Martenez's and again, nothing. We headed back to be picked up by Bro Lymn to head to a Mexican restaurant and it was really good, Sterla canceled after and along with Lori Holland, we went to the church to get copies for Commissary and ended up going back to the apartment to plan. Tomorrow Elder Duncan of the 70!

 

THURSDAY - I had to get up at 6 and I tell you that 30 minutes makes a big difference as a missionary... I got picked up by the Zone Leaders and headed to leadership meeting with Elder Duncan, it was so good to see Elder Chantry and Evans and Beatty and everyone! It was an hour long for the leaders and so we all got out and headed to the chapel where we had it with all the missionaries and we were all given the opportunity to shake his hand and talk with him a little, found out he was the mission president for my MTC teacher Hno Gillon! So i talked with him about that. Really good meeting, it would take me hours to type all that i learned, got a lot to work on still to improve, ill leave it at that :) We got back at about 5 and waited at the other elders apartment with Bro Drummond and just talked, then they came and we headed to Bro Drummonds for RIBS!!! they were amazing, i shared the scripture, D&C59:23, i love it, when we realize why we have trials, when we understand the purpose of Gods plan, life is much easier, that's a promise! We also gave a blessing to his wife who wasn't feeling good, Bro Drummond asked me to anoint, so i was very thankful for that, its always a privilege to exercise the Priesthood, the power of God in our hands. Hno Castro came and got us in his Nissan Cube, what a joke.. haha and then we went to a couple appointments that all canceled, went home beat, as always :) tired with a smile on your face.

 

FRIDAY - We woke up and I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, I went with Elder Feild and we had to go get the oil changed in the car, so we were talking to a black lady in Pep Boys and she had a lot of respect for us and couldn't imagine how our mothers do it, 2 years of their son in a different place! So shout out to all the moms that have such strength to go through this, I know I'm proud of my mom, shes a trooper. We had lunch at their house... or i mean the members house, they live with Sister Styles, awesome member! so sweet! We then taught a girl with her 2 kids on her porch, it was interesting but a good lesson, felt that my Spanish is really a lot smoother, more confidence too. We tracked a little after and ran into a guy named Bob, who "knew" what the Mormons were, that Joseph Smith was getting sick of everyone telling him he couldn't have 20 wives so he went and wrote a book of Mormon... Man the people that cant just take a step back and see that they can believe someone who not only is from another church and hasn't ever been to our church but also hates our church, but not someone from the church... i don't get people like that!!?? It was interesting, but it was good. Then we went back for dinner, chili and then went to pick up a 15 year old, Gonzalez, for a lesson with us. He mentioned his birthday and its the same as Adams haha kind of funny, made me think of Adam going out with the Missionaries, cant wait for him to get to this point. We had 20 minutes before I go and do my first Baptismal interviews and we just pull into a trailer park and talk to a family of 8 for like 15 minutes, powerful testifying! It was really good, then we did the Interviews, I interviewed Sol first, 12 year old boy, passed. Then 13 year old Cielo, She passed as well and they were just both awesome. Then we went to a Recent converts house and read 2 Nephi 33 and just had a nice conversation about la ley de Diezmo. (tithing) really good, We dropped off Gonzales and his dad would not let us leave without eating a taco or two, when I ate one and he said "otro Hermano!!!" I said "Ya comi 3" and i was just kidding cause I had only eaten 1 haha he called me a liar and he was just hilarious, then we left and got back and just slept, we worked hard. 

 

SATURDAY - We finished exchanges and then just talked about the exchanges and stuff, I texted Tim cause he got them pie shakes and not me! so what does he do? goes and gets me one... I didn't want him to! I was just kidding. Then when Tim came Elder Rodriguez just walked up to the calender cause Tim was looking at it, and then put "Tims baptism" on the 17th of March, and said to him "Tim we came to the conclusion you will be baptized this date" and he just said "only 3 weeks to prepare" (jokingly) then just left, then texted us "sounds good, I will pray about that day for sure" so me and elder Rodriguez of course were jumping up and down like a bunch of girls cause we set another date! Then we headed out to visit a few people and then to the church for the baptism of the Zone Leaders and we got food there, Tortas with Avacado and Orchata! Best! We had to teach after the ordinance while they all got dressed, we visited one person after and then headed home because of Elder Rodriguezes tire and so I went through every record and found the ones for the D10 south elders. That was our day.

 

SUNDAY - Studies and role plays to start off the day, then i practiced translating because i have to do it next week, crazy stuff! Church was great, Alex was not there but Helaman (less active) was there, so we went to Spanish with him, Spanish was just flowing for me, I could understand EVERYTHING! but maybe 3 or 4 words the whole hour, feels great! Great class too, 3rd hour was good, Fernandos daughter, Linda gave me a nice bloody nose... she is so violent! After church dinner canceled but Heleman offered to feed us, then he pulls into IHOP and gets us something to go... uh hahaha it was really good and we went to his house and ate, so good. Taught a little and then he took us to a few appointments that of course canceled and so we headed back to the apartment to be picked up by Brother and Sister Price in their new Jaguar! SO NICE! i love the price family, we went to Gaby and Fernandos and just waited in the car and talked and they told us we should go into the talent show for the ward next week, then we had a lesson with them when they arrived and went over the restoration. Went home and I got numbers, really bad week for the district, but our zone is KILLING IT! so excited for that, another fantastic week :) thanks for following! love you all

Elder Aaron Jackson

So many appointments, CANCELED!

MONDAY - We had early shopping as usual, came to the church and emailed and then we went to Academy with Elder Scott and Viruetta, but we went on splits and me and Elder Scott went to JCPenny at the mall and then we went to Footlocker.... TORTURE!! I want some new shoes now, but then we went to the Lake Highlands building with EVERYONE and played basketball and volleyball, mostly everyone wanted to play volleyball :/ Me and Elder Scott just shot free throws and tried to break our records, I kept getting up to 25 in a row and then missing! but it was really good, I played hard, just getting up game shots! We headed home after group pictures and I got a few letters too! We had a lesson with Lori Holland tonight and then came home, just beat, as usual.

TUESDAY - Studies and then nothing but a bunch of appointments that busted, Daniel and Maria, Allan, Antonia Gomez! So we just started tracking and found some cool people, a black girl who is really interested, Nadeisha. We then headed to the apartment of Elder Falk and Larson to help them get settled in, they live in the ghetto of our area, driving down there we had some people spit on us, almost throw rocks at us, and as we passed the middle school the kids all laughed and yelled at us, its great being a missionary :) We got them and headed back to our apartment and were picked up for dinner by Brother Price and had a great dinner at their house, Tim then came and took them to wal mart and we went out for like 30 minutes then Bro Mata called and said he had a new bike for Elder Rod. so he was way happy about that, its a really nice bike.

 

WEDNESDAY - District meeting, my first one, all in Spanish, it was a good one, but still have a lot to learn on how to train others, I got some mail, thanks for the letters from Shawn and the valentines card from Kelsey! Antonia canceled again, as we tracked this dog got like all the way up on the fence (i have pictures) haha it was crazy. We headed to Gaby and Fernandos and they gave us some weird juice and we drank and I felt so weird the whole time, we found out at the end it was like... pineapple juice that had been left out and was kind of like alcohol or something haha I felt so weird! We visited Blanca and she wasn't there but her husband was there and so we talked to him and had a lesson, finally some success. We had dinner at our apartment again and we went back and locked elder Larsons bike outside with a for sale sign on it hahaha cause he left it over, as a joke, it was awesome! He was so confused. We went to the church after so that the other elders could meet everyone and it was the night of the valentines dance so of course I got my share of the music I haven't heard forever! like the place was about to blow ow ow ow, with fireworks and dynamite! It was good though, everyone is excited to have them here in the ward.

 

THURSDAY - Sylvia canceled and so we came back and planned/ were throwing crackers up in the air and doing different things to try and catch them in our mouths haha, the other elders came over later to go to dinner with us, it was a long bike ride, we got there and bro Rodriguez took us to a pizza buffet with ESPN and so I saw some highlights, its so weird to see the NBA season. We got done and he dropped us off at our appointment... which busted! and then on top of that I had to go to the bathroom so bad! so we knocked on Antonias door to see if I could use their bathroom haha Elder Rodriguez got a kick out of my complaining about how I could not ride over bumps on the bike. We then visited the less active family, (Valeros) and just talked with them.

 

FRIDAY - Another day of canceled appointments! 2 right in the morning, to start our day, we biked over 23 miles today with very little success, bust, bust, bust, BUST!  We tracked for a few hours and got like 3 lessons but not any solid families like Gaby and Fernando... We contacted a referral and were chased by a pit-bull in all this hahaha, Dinner with Sister Rodriguez, papusas :) SO good. So everything canceled on us today, and we biked everywhere, we came home and died.

 

SATURDAY - Elder Rodriguez's back was killing him so he rested during studies and I cleaned a little and Read out of el Libro de Mormon, it was raining pretty hard but we still went out, and we tracked and met some interesting people, one black lady who liked us so much she wanted a hug when we left :0 I was so wet and cold because I just have my sweater haha but it was alright, we went to Ladias house and taught the plan of salvation, we had dinner and then had a lesson with Gaby and Fernando with the prices before correlation meeting, which went really late. REALLY WET DAY!

 

SUNDAY - Good church meeting, we did the egg lesson with Alex today but didn't have any eggs so he thought we were weird when we texted him asking him to bring a boiled egg to church hahaha, good sacrament, talks on charity and friendship and prophets. Lesson with Alex was really good! Still no date but with time, he will be there. We then got food left over from the dance and also a 25 dollar gift card for Chili's, we got picked up after and went to the aprtment just burned out!!! ate and napped a little and then headed out, we had one un-solid appointment that canceled then we headed to the Valero family and talked about the atonement and patriarchal blessings and they are getting closer to coming to church but we were there for way to long! We got home late and I was scrambling to get numbers from all the elders for my report to the zone leaders, luckily I got it all done. :) Crazy week, with a lot of patience to be learned seeing how we worked hard but not a whole lot of success, but it will come :)

Elder Aaron Jackson

Elder Aaron Lee Jackson: District Leader!

MONDAY - We went shopping really early, like at 7 am, then we came back did laundry and headed to the church for emailing, I love hearing from the fam, Hope K10 got my card, although you probably will have to translate it ;) haha. It was only us at the church today, that's it. We emailed, played basketball and wrote letters. Really just nice and relaxing day. We got back and Tim asked if there was anything he could do for us, so we went and got pie shakes again! SO GOOD! We got them and then headed to the Prices, as we waited for Tim in Bro Prices car, he took pictures with the app he has on his iPhone where it makes you all fat. AWESOME! We got to the Price's and explained the new member lessons with Gaby and Fernando, then we just talked and had ice cream, it was really nice. Bro Price was trying to get his HUGE dogs to play with my laser pointer I brought but they were just sitting there, made me miss Zoey. I loved it though, the Price's are awesome!

TUESDAY - We had a wonderful District meeting and they finally had it at our church, so it was nice not to have to bug members for a ride, we had an appointment right after so we went straight to it, with Daniel and Maria Delgado, had a pretty good lesson but again they went off into their tangents and didn't let us teach, we came back and had lunch I was so hungry and as we were about to leave again, we heard gun shots and called and asked if we should stay in or wait haha, it was right by the elementary school too! We went the other direction and went tracking and found an awesome 19 year old guy named Allan and then Hno Castro called us telling us he was at our aprtmnt waiting to pick us up for dinner and he was like 30 minutes early!!! ugghhh some times the members don't get it, we went had dinner and as we shared the scripture I was pretty offended by his mom, she was talking about how Mexicans have so much more faith then Americans... when we got back we went and visited the Maldanados and had a lesson with him, she is still hurt from the accident. When we got back to the aprtmnt we made up another game, bounce the basketball into the garbage can by my desk without knocking it over, it was pretty entertaining, Elder Rodriguez and I know how to have fun! But still work hard!

 

WEDNESDAY - Today we had an appointment at 9 that canceled but once again as we were leaving we heard not gun shots but the tornado alarm!!!!! hahaha found out later it was just a test, but it was really cloudy so you never know. We came back to the aprtmnt after a few visits to pick up pizza for dinner and it was about 4 and we decided to just take our dinner then, we were so tired so we ended up falling asleep, woke up and went out. We went out to Loris to do the new member lessons with the Prices, really good lesson and then had Coordination meeting right after, was a really short one, came back and finished our day.

 

THURSDAY - We had studies and had inspection on our aprtmnt today, we passed! he also told us we will be getting 2 more elders in this area, in our ward, next transfer! CRAZY! we had a few appointments, Allan canceled and so did Luis so we went in that area anyway and then came back to start planning, no knowing if we were leaving or not. We went to dinner at sister Blockers, we had an Indian plate, called spinach glop, REALLY good. I ate a ton. We hurried back to be picked up by Hermano Mata, we went and visited Sister Taylor and read out of 1 Nephi 8, about Lehi's Dream. Then we got done and went outside to find.. Hermano Matas truck got towed! So we had to wait there on the corner and call our next appointment and ask him to come get us, he did and we ended the night due to shortness of time. 

 

FRIDAY - We got up and gave each other a hair cut finally! looking sharp :) had studies and had an appointment at 9 again and was a bust.. again. Came back finished studies and at 1 met Sister Price at Normas. She was there but didn't answer!!! We were mad cause we had a really good lesson with her. We went straight to tracking for about 3 or 4 hours and didn't have any luck... But going to have days like that, so we had dinner at 5 by ourselves and then went and visited with Deidra Grant and her boyfriend and talked a little bit about the Restoration and she is so interested, a little strange but interested. It was really cold when we got back out so we headed back home, not a whole lot today.

 

SATURDAY - Pizza again for lunch today... I'm so sick of it haha, but we got our own large Pizza Hut pizza. We went and had a lesson with Tim because we thought for sure one of us would be transfered, but nothing during the whole lesson, we read a lot about the Atonement today, really good lesson. We got back and were about to leave and I got a flat.... Back to the problems! As soon as I got it fixed dinner was being dropped off so we ate and headed to the only lesson we had planned for the night with Deidra again, we taught the entire Restoration and they loved it, she has a problem with smoking and so we gave her a blessing to help her stop, it was really powerful, still no calls for transfers. We didnt expect that, after what president said to us! But we got back and called around and found out nothing changed in the district except 2 elders added to Casa Linda west and 2 more in D10, our area, and I was called as District Leader!

SUNDAY - Had church today and a meeting before but were a bit late to it, had 2 investigators in church today, Alex and Tim, Alex asked if we could meet during the 2nd hour, he had questions. We taught the Plan of Salvation and I just love how perfect the plan is, everything he asked was answered with both the bible and the Book of Mormon and through the plan. He loved it, he will be baptized soon, we had dinner with the Bishop and waited 2 hours at the church for him to get done and ate at 6, really good food and we were telling stories of sports and our missions and I love their family. Before leaving his wife asked of the blessings we have seen so far on our mission. We both talked about our amazing families and the blessings they have received as well as us, she was baling after and they are just awesome, we headed back and as we looked closely out the window we saw flakes of snow, my first snow I have seen out here! not even enough to hit the ground! We stayed in and prepared stuff for the new D10 elders that will be on the other side, then Elder Drake called me from out east and wanted to know what was going on, so I talked to them for a while, good day, good week, like always when in the service of others :) love you all.

Elder Aaron Jackson

First Baptism!

MONDAY - We went to the store for shopping and I didn't buy anything because our JP money had not filled yet so I didnt buy anything! We came to the church to do emailing and everyone was here, our zone leaders and all. I loved the email I got about Shawns Farewell and I can only say im so proud of him, I did everything I could to hold back the tears in the room full of missionaries. Its hard when your Parents talk about how proud of you they are and you hear about one of your best friends in the world making the best choice he can. After emailing we headed to the park and had an awesome picnic BBQ and played some soccer and threw the Rugby ball around, it was really windy but really fun, I found out I still had money on my home card so i got some food on the way back. We came back cleaned the apartment and then headed to the Lake Highlands building to do Gabrielas Interview for her baptism, it was a fantastic day.

TUESDAY - Today we had a Zone meeting with the whole zone, I also got the best letter in the world from Kelsey! THANK YOU A TON!!! :) made my day, Brother Kidder has been awesome, took us to the meeting and gave us a ride home and we were trying to find the house where we were picking up dinner, finally found it and they gave us money, now you would think it would be like 20 or 15 like a number like that right? 29 dollars, haha. It was really random, we thanked them and headed back to the aptmnt and ordered Pizza Hut and headed out to work for a few hours until the pizza came at 6, ran into Deidra Grant, an old lady we talked to a few weeks ago, had a lesson with her and invited her to church, way cool girl!! When we were back home we were eating and Sister Lloyd came to the door and dropped off our meal calender, we started a new game called da da da da da da da JESUS TRIVIAAAA!!!!!!, we were asking all sorts of questions and she told us to call when ever we had another question haha, so we plan to. Lujan was going to take us out but cancelled so we were stuck inside the rest of the night...

 

WEDNESDAY - Really good studies, in fact JESUS TRIVIA DA DA DA DA! Early in the morning we called Sister Lloyd and left a message on her phone. We had an apointment at 11 with Norma but she cancelled on us as well, so we visited Cecilia, a former investigator that lives on the same street and set up a return apointment with her, we tracted for about an hour and ran into a guy named Miguel Hernandez, shirtless out on his porch and just hilarious, had a lesson and then went back to plan, planning was long as usual, Sister Shattuck brought us Subway again, so good!!! We had coordination meeting at the church and were going to have a lesson with Lori before but she was sick so we drove all the way to the bottom of our area to contact a referral and couldnt find the house, didn't exist, I brought my laser, so cool how you can see it all the way up in the sky! It was pretty entertaining. Coordination meeting was good, just getting ready for the Baptism! :)

 

THURSDAY - Ladia canceled on us so we went and visited Norma, she wasn't there as well. So we tracked for 3 hours or so and only found a few people, NO ONE was home or something, the weather was perfect though. We then went to Gabrielas and Fernandos to explain the baptism and how it will go, he asked me to confirm him as well, what a honor, a privilege. Dinner couldn't work out tonight so she just said she would bring it tomorrow for lunch, so we just ate whatever was at the place. I got a letter from Shawn, thanks my main man, so crazy to believe your out on your mission now! Then as we got to the end of our night, Elder Witbeck called us HAHA, I talked to him for an hour and a half, just all that's been going on in our missions and the good times had in the MTC, about our families and how they are doing, how we need to be companions again! It was great to talk to him, I love that kid so much! Such a good guy. Good day overall, wish we could of talked to more people though.

 

FRIDAY - Sister Kubosumi brought us pizza, we ate it so fast, headed to our appointment with Norma, she was wearing ridiculously short shorts but we were protected by the hand of the Lord :) had a very powerful Plan of Salvation lesson with her and she was balling during the prayer. The power of The Spirit. We then had a little bit of time and didn't know who to visit so we went to Tim's, and tried to figure out what his real problem was. Grace. We had a 2 hour discussion about Grace, it was a crazy lesson, we love him but the thought came to my mind of the importance of the Book of Mormon, because we were all throwing out scriptures from the Bible and expressing what WE thought the scripture meant, and everyone of us was different. "by the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, EVERYTHING shall be established" The Bible cant stand alone. It was a powerful testimony growing experience for me, about the Book of Mormon and the Love of God. One of the most powerful lessons on my mission so far. Brother Kidder brought dinner for us, so good, potatoes and roast! I got another 2 letters from my man Elder Kerr, last two addressed from his house! We then couldn't find someone to take us to our 7 o clock appointment... So we rode, it was a long ride and at night, but we got there and... they weren't there! So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally he pulled up and we talked a little and his wife, Sister Maldanado, got in an accident and we explained that we had the Priesthood of God and we could bless her. He wasn't very open to it, really nice but he is trying to get rid of us, she loves us though! Got back and about the same time as last night another random number calling us... ELDER CHANTRY!!! Talked to him for about 20 minutes, love that kid as well. Tomorrow is the big day.

 

SATURDAY - Such an exciting day that I'm going to try and squeeze every little Detail in it that I can. Starting from hmm lets say 5 IN THE MORNING!!! my loving companion, bless his soul, has been a little butt lately, a few times during the last few weeks for some reason I have thought it was 6:30 and so I get up and start praying, one time it was midnight and the other it was 3 AM, hahahaha Hilarious because Elder Rodriguez was awake the first time and was confused as to why I was kneeling down to pray at midnight. So he has been making fun of me for that, so he thought it would be funny to really get me this time, so he set my alarm for 5 AM and I got up turned the alarm off and started to pray and fell in and out of asleep until about 5:45 and then looked at the clock confused as to why it was set for 5... "ELDER DID YOU DO THIS!!!!!!" silence... Elder Rodriguez "I love you" (in a giggling voice) His chest was hurting and then he told me that and I said "I hope you die because of your chest pains!!" and then he said "I was going to ask you for a blessing..." Silence... "I would love to Elder" I replied, so we went to bed and woke up ON TIME INSTEAD OF AN HOUR AND A HALF EARLIER and I gave him a blessing. I love this Elder so much, I don't think he knows, I have had a lot of fun with him this transfer. We had amazing studies, I was reading in D&C and its starting to get crazy, talking about the sons of perdition and the kingdoms of glory in depth, love it! wish I could just read all day. We had a few appointments but nothing really big, ran into a less active which was really good, going to go visit him Sunday. We came back and started to prepare to leave to the church, we had to go to family dollar to get some stuff, I had to get white socks and then we got Linda (Fernandos and Gabrielas daughter) a birthday gift. We headed to the church and began to fill the font, we then, at 4, headed to the Conyers for a quick dinner, their son was just getting ready for his proposal that night!!!! So it was a great environment for us missionaries... NOT. We headed back to the church to finish preparing and it was almost time, about 30 minutes away we get a text from Sister Durrant asking when our baptism was... We both look at each other thinking what the heck!! She calls and asks where the baptism is, so we got started, everyone was there, everything was set and sure enough. President Durrant and his wife walk in!!! THEY CAME TO OUR BAPTISM!! We proceeded to the font and I went first, what an experience it was, I was so nervous, I had to do it again because I said "nombre de hijo" instead of "nombre del hijo" haha one letter off, but it was amazing, Fernando is so solid, Gabrielas was great too. THIS is what we work for, THIS is why we follow ALL these rules, THIS is why we get up early, study, work hard all day every day. All I can say is I would rather do this then dunk a game winner, hit a buzzer beater, drop 50 points ANY DAY. It was amazing. After the Zone Leaders had a Baptism and we had to stay cause Elder Rodriguez was playing the Piano, there were a lot of people there so I was standing outside the door, so was President Durrant, just me and him, I talked to him a little and I'll never forget what he said to me. "Now Elder, that's much better than hitting a game winner isn't it?" I just wanted to cry how happy I was, we finished and President talked to us and our Zone Leaders and gave us some advice then we headed home, got dressed and headed to our appointment, with Cecilia. SHE TALKS SO MUCH!!!!! We tried to get out quick cause we wanted to go over to Fernandos and Gabrielas for Lindas Birthday party, but she talked so much and it was powerful, we were both just testifying with all our heart. We finally got out at 9:25 and still headed over there, they had cake and dinner and it was just so much fun, we stayed for about 25 minutes, I can also say I have been kissed by a girl on my mission, Linda kissed me! and stole my pen and wrote all over my shirt, she is crazy, but I love this family. My heart is full of joy for them. We went home so worn out, the Spirit does that to you. What a day, one I will never forget.

Bringing a family into the gospel, nothing better. NOTHING.

 

SUNDAY - Brother Luther came and got us for church, it was really cold today, just cold wind. We had a wonderful Sacrament meeting. I confirmed Fernando and Elder Rodriguez Confirmed Gabriela. I was shaking so much, I was so nervous I don't know why, it was also fast and testimony meeting so I got up and told them about my high school experiences and my decision to come out and how I would rather have done what I did yesterday any day then try and play somewhere, or do anything else, I think they enjoyed that. We taught the class in the second hour about the creation. Really good class, when church ended we stuck around to finish up the records before we send them in to Salt Lake, then Brother Luther took us to his house for dinner, we had stew and corn bread. It was really good, Blue Bell Ice cream after as well. I shared the scripture, 2 Nephi 33:10-11 I love these scriptures, then we took off and when we got back we headed out, didn't have a lot of time but went and visited Helaman, the less active we ran into a few days before, had a good lesson and he really wants to come back, he then offered to go get us food, so he did. Jack n the box at 10 on a Sunday, we didn't go with him but he brought it to us and it was just a good week, REALLY GOOD! One more week till transfer calls can you believe my birthday is next transfer! :O Next blog I will have a new assignment, a new calling and probably... a new companion. Love you all so much, thanks for the letters, love and for following. Till next week. DA DA DA DA DA DA DA DA.

Elder Aaron Jackson

Noah's Rain and An Upcomming Baptism.

MONDAY - We went to the store in the morning with Tim Morris and bought what we needed, the weirdest thing happened. Fernando called us to tell us things were going much better with Gaby and as he called I looked behind us at the milk section and there was Gaby!! It was crazy, we talked to her for a little bit and told her we hoped to see her again soon. We came and emailed and played basketball, I didn't get to email till much later so I was playing ball and ended up breaking a light in the ceiling when I tried to dunk it. We got done with everything and then Hermano Castro picked us up and we went and taught Fernando, he is so solid, progressing so well in the gospel! We taught him the Law of Chastity and then we went and visited the Ortega family and just asked if there was anything we could do for them, then we headed home.

    TUESDAY - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! Best mom in the world, I hope she loved my card, I love you so much mom! We had District meeting and then exchanges, so I went with Elder Jorgensen in his area for the day and it was not cool, first of all we go out to our bikes and Elder Reardons (the one I have to use) has a completely popped tire! So we had to call for a ride, then go over to Wal Mart to get a new tube, waste of time, we went and visited a few people then came back to pick up dinner, then it started to sprinkle, here is the thing though, Elder Reardon has been in a car for so long that he has no helmet and no lights, so I was putting my life at risk this night, then it started pouring and I was freezing but was good enough to continue with the work, we got to our appointment and they are solid! Solid family!!!! When we walked outside, the rain had doubled in amount and speed! I was seriously looking for Noah and the arc so I wouldn't be killed in the flood! I was freezing with no lights or a helmet basically swimming in the rivers, with 8 gallons of water in each shoe... then to find out we had gone half a mile in the wrong direction was even more of a test of patience, we finally got done and everything was ruined! luckily my scriptures survived, everything else: soaked! We found a ride and it was Hermano Lama!!! I missed him, he asked about my Spanish and said he missed me, it was good to see him, I got back and was so cold and slept well!

    WEDNESDAY - We went to a recent converts house, Sister Mckanin? and talked with her in the morning and she was talking about why she didn't want to come back or something, We then went to visit a referral that was in the area, Norma Aguirre, she was very interested and we gave her a blessing, and as we left Elder Rodriguez started off fast and said HURRY ELDER JACKSON and I was like what? 3 HUGE dogs, unchained come out from around the house and I just freeze and slowly walk haha it was scary, We then went knocking on doors for a little bit and had dinner with Sister Rodriguez and then went to the temple with the Flores family, well first to the LDS book store and I just want to get all the books in there!!! SO AWESOME and also guess what was there! Davey and Golimere? dont know how to spell it, but My Dad's movie was there haha, I was pretty proud of it, then we went to the temple and were in the back having the most important lesson, that they have to get married in order to get baptized and be able to enter the temple some day, it was so intense, Fernando wants to get baptized no matter what but she isn't sure yet, it was really good, we got pictures and then headed back.

    THURSDAY - We were messing around in studies and I told Elder Rodriguez we have the Book of Mormon so we don't need the Bible so I was kidding and was about to throw it away and my chair broke, we were laughing so hard but it was good, then we got in a argument? not really a bad one but we aren't allowed to teach ladies if they are alone, its a rule and I wanted to follow that and he didn't, so we talked about it and ended up going, I wasn't happy about it cause I'm the senor companion and its a rule, and like it says in D&C, every blessing we receive is through obedience, but we went, Yolanda was her name, kind of interested. We came back and planned, then had a lesson with Fernando that night.

    FRIDAY - We had studies and we were picked up at 10 to go back and get our bikes and had a short lesson with Fernando, Norma canceled on us, We did a lot of tracting though today, We found a family the second door we knocked, Way awesome, family Ramirez. Found some crazy people, one girl saying she would rather follow her feelings than Gods ??? She assumed she knew her 10 commandments too but was like way off when reciting them haha it was so funny, While tracting we met a girl named Josafina really sweet girl but didn't quite get the message, and the meaning of what we were teaching, we found a family and they had an awesome door, way cool We then went out to eat with the Ramussens, took us to a small place owned by members called, Scrumbcious bugers, AMAZING they have pie shakes, like they actually put a pie in it and they are so good, and they had fry sauce there too!!!! The price family took us to two appointments, first one with Sister Maldanado, so amazing she went to her church and talked about us to everyone haha she talked about how sweet and humble we are and they all told her we are of the devil! It was a good night, we were laughing with the prices about Napoleon Dynamite, Elder Rod has not seen it!!!

    SATURDAY - We went to visit Hermano Ochoa, found her wife there and she was crying when we testified! We only knocked a little because at 3:30 we went to TEXAS ROADHOUSE!! :) and the guy who took us was companions with the guy who almost bought the rams!!!! so crazy, but he is very wealthy so when we get in there I'm thinking about getting the 6 or 8 oz steak just because of the prices, but no he says "these guys both want the 32 oz steaks" and the waiter just looked like what!!! she never had served them before 35 dollar steak HUGE, so good too, loaded potatoes :) YUMMMM I was happy. We got home and looked at some old records and tried to visit some, ended up going to Fernandos to visit Gaby.

    SUNDAY - Alex called us in the morning saying he would not be able to make it to church, so he came over in the morning and we taught him the rest of the first lecture and a little about temples, he loves it, he dropped us off at our apt and they canceled so we walked home and had lunch, I ate some more of that steak!!! At church Fernando was interviewed and passed, Gaby came as well. So good, we then went to a couple aptmnts after church and headed home I made french toast, then Hno Castro picked us up and we went and set a date with Gaby, Elder Rod is going to baptize Gaby and I will baptize Fernando. GREAT WEEK! thanks followers, Love

Elder Aaron Jackson

The Border Patrol, Grim Reaper, Multiple Maria's and a Ton of Lessons!

MONDAY - I forgot to add this in last weeks blog so I'm going to type it now so I don't forget. Last week we were knocking on doors and some big black guy smoking... something, came up to the door behind us and we asked his name and he said "Shawn Kerr" HAHA I met someone with Shawn's exact name, anyway we did laundry and went to Walmart to get food and everything and we did not get much of a pday today, we had a ton of lessons! We had a lesson with the Flores family and they are awesome, their daughter is so cute and would not stop trying to hold my hand, as we left she blew a kiss to me out, such an awesome family! GOLDEN, hopefully a year from now I can go through the temple with them. We had about an hour to relax and then we took Brother and Sister Price to a lesson we had with someone we found tracting, the Ortega family and found out they are already members with a dead testimony, we testified and then left.

 

TUESDAY - We had district meeting today, really good! I enjoyed it a ton but again we were stuck after trying to find a ride back and ate lunch and then finally got Brother Blocker to come get us, saved! Got back and started to work hard, met some good people, then we had another AWESOME lesson with the Mendez family and the kids all loved it! We had dinner with the 2nd counselor in the bishopric, really good food and had an awesome time with them, really cool family! It was dark and cold so we headed back to the aptmnt for the night but had an overall good day!

 

WEDNESDAY - We did not have a dinner signed on our calender today but we did have a lunch with the Lujan family and they took us out to "Tops Buffet" Chinese place, really good we stuffed ourselves because we had a WHOLE day of knocking on doors ahead of us, we did have one aptmnt at 1 with Tim Morris, it was our lesson where we said we were no longer going to be teaching him as often as we were, but only every 2 weeks or so, because we need to gather Israel! It was such a powerful experience with the spirit working through us, incredible. After we started knocking, met some pretty strange people, like a guy named Delan who was just so strange... and a guy who I wanna say was high when we taught him, named Abraham. Lot of strange people but a good day, we went back to take our 1 hour dinner and we were so beat that we took a quick nap and then Brother Mata came and got us and took us to visit Sister Taylor, we watched the lamb of God with her and then went and visited a referral, as soon as we got to the house they pulled up, perfect timing! Familia Maldanado, we had a lesson with them for about 20 minutes or so, great family! Then we went home and hit the sack early, its so great to go to bed tired knowing you helped someone today, or more than one person!

 

THURSDAY - We had 2 lessons today that were a combined time of almost 6 hours crazy day!! we did not plan today, because we wanted to work instead, we went to visit the Flores family, and pulled up on our bikes to see only Fernandos car was there, strange.. we knocked and he answered and let us in, no sign of Gabby or the kids! They got in a fight, and it was pretty bad, so she left to live with her sister, we were there for 3 hours and he told us everything and told us about his past problems and how he prays to the Santa Muerte... not a good thing, that thing is evil and spiritually destructive! So we helped him the best we could, he has such great faith, he is willing to give everything up to be a part of the true church, we showed him temples and he said what everyone says "se mira como un castillo" it looks like a castle! He loved it and I love talking about them and about families being sealed for time and all eternity in these amazing structures and we taught more stuff and 3 and a half hours later we finally got out and were on our way, had dinner with the Lynm family and they are just awesome, we had hamburgers and bluebell ice cream.... best ice cream in the world! makes Texas that much better, cause its only here. I would come live here just for it, think of your favorite ice cream and I bet the worst flavor of blue bell is 121518x better :) We then went to our lesson with the Ortega family and it was a 2 hour bash pretty much, Elder Rodriguez came out of it happy, I didn't feel the spirit at all, all I could think of is Laman and Lemuel, all the times they heard the voice of the Lord and Angels and all the evidence of his divinity and they still murmured and still hardened their hearts! That's the Family Ortega, if Jesus Christ came down himself and said "Join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!" They still would doubt! My stomach was hurting from eating to much ice cream or something like that :) Crazy day!

 

FRIDAY - We had studies then tracting where we found a 6 foot 7 black girl, a crazy girl that wanted to hold our hands, a guy who thought we were border patrol and tried to hide just some crazy people, lot of fun! Had dinner with Sister Rodriguez and I took another Tortilla, Elder Rodriguez got a kick out of it :) We came back to plan and checked mail, Thank you Todd for your letter!!! it made my day dude! Love the letters I get, every one of them!  Planning was long as usual but we got it done, made a ton of progress records for all of our investigatores.

 

SATURDAY - As we went to bed last night we got a call at 12 so technically it counts as today, Fernando asked for a blessing so he came over and we talked for a bit, I couldn't understand everything he said cause I was so tired and my brain can only take so much Spanish before I become exhausted haha, but we gave him a blessing and talked a little, it was intense! Got up and went to Thomasa Diaz at 10, cancel :( she was pulling away as we got up, So we went to Sister Rodriguezes house to get Papusas :D so good, came back had lunch and finished our studies then went at 2 to our appointment with Maria Martinez and she canceled! But then we went to the family Vargus and Jose was sleeping so we went to Velindas house and had an awesome lesson with her, she is 20 or so and has a real interest in what we teach, left a book of mormon and went back to the Varguses and taught their family, they had their bibles out ready to go at it and we just proved everything we taught. Only using the bible! Because we can! It was intense and we just testified at the end, they just were silent, not sure if they are going to read or pray but we will see :) Abraham was not home when we went back so then we went tracting a little bit and found another family, Maria Martinez haha another Maria Martinez, then we went to Fernandos, he gave us everything, so I had this big statue of the Santa Muerte in my backpack, (Pretty much the Grim Reaper with a scythe and with the world in his hands) just really crazy stuff, we went to the dumpster and I broke the thing and walked away thankful to have the priesthood of God!!!! Such a Privilege, don't ever take it for granite! Its so special and real. We had dinner with Amanda Lloyd and Matt Morris, such an awesome family, both like really tough, love them, they are so nice but they talk a lot so we didn't get back till almost 10, good night!

 

SUNDAY - Me and Elder Rodriguez do some crazy stuff haha, We have this little play ball like in the play pins they have at Chuckie Cheese and stuff, and we have tennis rackets, but what we do is how many times we can hit it with the handle haha its pretty fun, so we were doing that while waiting for our ride to church, so fun! By the end of the night we were doing it with my basketball hahaha! Anyway we got to church and a sister came up to us who has us for dinner this next Saturday and said she is taking us to Texas Roadhouse!!!!!!!! SO STOKED!!!! and we had a friend of the bishops daughter come, he is 20 and his name is Alex, so we taught him after Sacrament and he loves everything, Fernando came of course, so solid. We went back to his house after and had a short lesson and got our bikes went back to the aptmnt to eat really quick and get out to work, no luck, the world is so different at night, we had some drunk black people yell at us some.. not very nice names... :) and tell us to go home, so we decided not to tract but to see if we could maybe visit some people, no luck there, then we were about 3 miles from home and Elder Rodriguez made me ride his bike home, ITS A PIECE OF JUNK!!! i barely made it home with out wanting to chuck it in the dump! He laughed as he enjoyed my 25 lb smooth bike, wonderful week we had, almost 30 other lessons!! Thanks for following, love you all a ton :)

Elder Aaron Jackson