Saludos de ABQ

May 31, 2021

Hola otra vez!! 

As you can see from the subject, I'm writing from the beautiful city of Albuquerque! Thats right, it really happened, I left my home of El Paso and made the journey up north. It was a week full of adjustments and goodbyes but still great nonetheless! 

Tuesday night was probably one of the hardest nights of my mission, having to say bye to so many people I love. We made the rounds and visited some of my favorite families and friends. It was a tender mercy we were able to see or at least talk to just about everyone which was super special! We ended off my last night with a dinner with one of my favorite families, then a family home evening with los Gutierrez, los Alva, Paty and Diana, and all the missionaries from our ward. And then Luis and Carmen were in Jaurez but I was able to talk with them for a while too. It was such a kind sendoff I really am so humbled by the generosity and love. I will forever have a special place in my heart for El Paso and the people here. I'm beyond grateful for the relationships I've been able to make that I'll have for all my life. 

And I was so excited to find out today that three more of the people we had been teaching for a long time now, Daniel, Alicia, and Tommy, all accepted baptismal dates this week!!! As well Luis and Carmen are doing well too!! They are in great hands with Elder Neilson and Elder Saballos and can't wait to see them continue to progress!! 

As far as my new area here in the Los Lunas zone, there are already some huge blessings and things I'm really excited about! We had zone council on Friday and the spirit was super strong the whole meeting! I already know we have an awesome zone here with some excellent missionaries. Also, even though it's stil the desert, there are actually way more trees here and some parts are actually quite pretty! I don't think I saw a single tree or open field in El Paso and I wasn't expecting anything more here, so that has been a little pleasant suprise! As well I'm a little bit outside the city so I can see all those sunsets even better. Plenty of sunset pictures coming in my pics, watch out!! And another blessing is there are quite a bit Spanish speakers out here! Of course it's not quite like being 2 minutes from the border but it has been another tender mercy to preach the gospel in español, el idioma de Dios! However, as far as the work and teaching we aren't quite as busy here, but I'm really excited to get to work and get it going!! 

For my spiritual thought I just want to talk about God's perfect love. I've had several experiences when I have been able to feel God's divine and perfect love for His children here on my mission. After feeling this love, it was so hard to say goodbye, but more than anything I have a huge sense of gratitude. I've seen miracles and made so many relationships that I will cherish for the rest of my life. My time in El Paso really has changed my life. But I know the Lord has more people and experiences prepared here in the ABQ! I know the Lord's plan and timing is perfect. I glory in Him and just want to leave you all with some of my favorite words of my scriptural hero, Ammon, to close out. 

Alma 26:12 

Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

P.S. my email is being really weird since we had to update our phones and I haven't been able to recieve emails all week so I'm sorry if I haven't replied you today. Hopefully ai can figure it out soon haha. Love you all so much! 

Con amor,

Elder Jackson