Some Fun Service

September 13, 2021

Hola a todos!! 

We had another great week that was highlighted yet again with a fantastic Sunday!! 

Before we get to the greatness of Sunday though we did start a little rocky on Tuesday. We had exchanges and the first thing we did was some service for a lady who really for whatever reason just did not like me haha. She didn't appreciate the fact we didn't have all the tools needed. Eventually it ended up with her yelling at us to get out and then texted us that we were servants of the devil and not of God. No good deed goes unpunished!! After that exciting start it was a little bit of a slower day but luckily the Elder I was with is the funniest man on the planet. We made the most of the day working hard and he kept us laughing but it left me super grateful to be in my beloved Spanish speaking area with our friends, members, and many other blessings. 

Speaking of those incredible friends, Crystal continues to be straight golden!! She is seriously so prepared and has been accepting everything so well we were thinking it was almost too good to be true. And it kind of was because she told us on Saturday night let us know she didn't think she could give up some Word of Wisdom things. We were pretty bummed but she shocked us again when the next day she comes to church and declares she's never touching her old habits and going to be baptized on her original date of the 25th!! And another cool part of it is that her slightly less active brother came to church and she told him that she wants him to baptize her! Then she shocked us once more last night when she called and said her 11 year old daughter Milley, who's been at church with her the past few weeks but previously didn't want to give up her Starbucks, actually does want to get baptized the same day as her mom!! Definitely some massive miracles with them and we are praying they continue and everything goes smooth for the 25th! 

Another beloved amiga of ours who is on the upward trend is Patricia!! She is still working through her Word of Wisdom challenges as well but is getting better every day, and made the huge step of making it to church this week!! We have been working with her to get there literally ever since my first week here in the area. It has been almost silly to see the amount of things that have come up into her life that have prevented her from making it there, so seeing her walk into the capilla was such a sweet experience!!!! She has overcome so much and has so much faith it is an inspiration to see. And something else that made her coming to church even more neat was she had had some concerns about tithing previously, and somehow the first speaker in sacrament meeting spoke about that very topic. The hermana gave such a powerful talk and Patricia really enjoyed it. Those were some major answers to prayers and we are so excited to see her continue on towards baptism!! 

The last friends I'll give an update on is the family who has been coming to church since an Hermano in our ward invited them about a month ago. And we finally asked them what their last name is, la familia Saucedo!! Wow what a special family. We had an incredible lesson with them this week and it was so cool to again see how much the spirit has been working on them. They've been reading the Book of Mormon and have been loving it!! As well it was super cool to hear them describe the spirit they've felt at church. They said since the very first time they went they felt like they

were at home, like they already knew everyone. Which was so cool because that's exactly how both Liz and Crystal described going to church for the first time. The family hasn't quite accepted a date but they asked a lot of questions about baptism and we are really hoping in the next couple weeks they'll be ready for that first step to put them on the path to being an eternal family. 

We really have been seeing so many blessings from God it is honestly almost silly. I know these people are coming to Christ by the power of the Spirit and not because of anything that I or Elder Woodhouse could possibly be doing. It truly is the Lord's work and it's amazing to see Him bright it forth. 

My spiritual thought to wrap this week's email up comes from something I found from a fire BYU devo that Elder Woodhouse showed me the other day. The Christ-like attribute of Humility has been prevalent in my mind for a while now and I loved this quote about the characteristics of our Savior. Elder Utchdorf said  "Humility does not mean convincing ourselves that we are worthless, meaningless, or of little value. Nor does it mean denying or withholding the talents God has given us. We don’t discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; we discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." Humility is such a powerful attribute and something I'm striving to emulate every day. I hope the updates of our friends and the miracles we are seeing can give glory to my Heavenly Father and show the greatest of His work and nothing of myself. I know there is true happiness in focusing on and thinking about others. I have seen and felt that time and time again throughout my mission. 

Special shout out to my compañero desde nacimiento, Matt, who is flying to his original assignment in Montreal this week!!! So excited for him!!!! 

That'll do it for this week!! Love you all so much!!

Con amor, 

Elder Jackson 

1 Elotes!!!! 

2 Elder Woodhouse and some solid gorditas

3 Zone breakfast this am !! 

4 Patricia's new pup