Snow in El Paso and Other Craziness

 February 15, 2021

Hola hola!! What a crazy week!!

We had some big changes here!! Zone Conference, taking in another area, a fecha bautismal, and snow in El Paso to list a bit of the craziness this week!! 

First off, the implosion of the Tercer Barrio. So Tuesday night the other elders in our ward got a call that the elder going back to Argentina would be going up to Albuquerque the very next morning so he can fly out next week. They also said on the call that the Hermanas that we shared the ward with too were getting Emergency Transferred to different areas, so we would just have the two sets of elders in the ward. Basically we have a new elder in the apartment and Elder Woods and I have two areas now. Which means our already solid teaching pool got a lot bigger and we get two SIM cards now which is best case. It's been super busy but a ton of fun!!

One of the people we get to start teaching now is a 17 year kid named Alex. His mom is an inactive member but coming back to church so we knew him a little but now we get to teach him and we actually put him on date for February 27th!! Really soon but he's for sure ready!! He's such a stud.

On Tuesday we also had Zone Conference and it was the first time in my almost 6 months here we had it in person and it was awesome!! President Weathersby is a spirtual giant. He had some really good insights from a couple of my favorite chapters in Alma 26 and Eter 12, and as well gave us a pretty steep goals for baptisms as a mission but I'm excited about it!! I know it's really the Lord's goal for us as President is absolutely called of God. That is always so evident to me when I get the chance to hear from him. And with working towards our goal we've already seen some major miracles! 

One of those miracle's this last week! We randomly got a call last Sunday from a misionera in Mexico City and she said she got a referral of an inactive member in our area who wants to come back to church! We called her and planned to go visit her the next day. We go over there and not only is she so nice and sweet, but turns out she lives with her friend who isn't a member but talked to missionaries in Mexico a while back and is super interested! It's pretty much a perfect situation! We were able to read 3 Nefi 11 with them and it was really poweful. Then in another lesson on Thursday she had some questions about baptism and at the end she said it's definitely something she wants in the future! 

As well this week we were able to have some super solid lessons with a guy we've been teaching for a little now named Daniel, and our other friend Irma. Daniel is recovering from an eye surgery but we actually called him a couple months back and it just happened to be the night before his surgery. He said it was a huge answer to pray and he's really been progressing well lately! We invited him to be baptized and he said he wants to, he just wants to read some more of the Book of Mormon first! And then with Irma, our ward mission leader's sister in law, we had a really good lesson about baptism as well and we invited her too and she said pretty much the exact same thing! So we are praying they both can feel the Spirit testify to them of the Book of Mormon and get them some fechas here soon!! 

Sunday was another crazy day as it went from 70s the day before to waking up to a couple inches of snow!! It was fun surprise and definitely makes it feel a little like Utah!! Everyone else here was freaking out about it though so we had about 30 people at Stake Conference. The lack of snow plows actually made the roads pretty bad but it's been a fun change! 

For my spiritual thought I want to share a scripture I read this last week. Mormon 9:11 says "But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are." I love this verse and know without a doubt God is a God of miracles!! He always has been and always will be. It is incredible to be a part of His work and so many miracles every day. He is absolutely bringing forth the Gathering of Israel, and honestly at a faster pace and with more miracles than ever before. I'm so grateful to be a missionary and see these miracles daily!! I know He will stretch for His hand in our lives as we trust in Him completely and Let God Prevail!!

Love you all so much!! Hasta que la obra esté terminado!!

Mucho amor,

Elder Jackson 

1 Said bye to Elder Pratt but you already know we're going to link back up in Córdoba 

2 Beatiful football field 

3 Closed on Sunday 

4 Nieve en El Paso 

5 Packed house at Stake Conference 

6 Didn't even plan it, just had to rep the LP