Sandy and a Spider

October 25, 2021

Hola a todos!! 

Another great week here and as the title suggests, this week was all about Sandy!! She was able to get baptized and it was an awesome experience, and we had some other great things as well! 

First things first, Sandy! Her baptism was the highlight of the week without a doubt. She's such a sweet person, it was another special day for sure. A quick overview on Sandy, she's the aunt of Crystal, our friend who got baptized about a month ago. Crystal started bringing Sandy to church a week or so before her own baptism and Sandy loved it just as much as Crystal from day one. With Sandy though, she had an accident when she was little that makes it harder for her to learn and remember things, so it was a little bit more challenging getting her ready for the baptismal interview. But after some more time, lessons every single day this last week, and big time divine help, she was totally ready! And it was her birthday yesterday which was a cherry on top. 

A quick update on our other friends! 

-Adela. She is a rockstar and continues to be plowing through the Book of Mormon. She told us this week that she comes home from her job at Little Caesars and reads until her eyes hurt and has to stop haha. We are praying she can accept a baptismal date here soon but she is so solid. 

-Fam Medrano. For real the best family ever!! Not too much change with them, as they are working through the challenges of opening their store but are reading and progressing. And they're feeding us dinner tonight so you already know it's going to be a great night!! 

- Fam Saucedo. This family is seriously so solid too. I mentioned last week that Juan paid his tithing, and sure enough this week he came to church and told us he found a steady construction job that gives him the weekends off. Talk about a massive miracle. The Lord's words are true with "Try me herewith" !! 

- Liz. Our recent convert friend Liz went to the Mesa Temple open house with another member this last week and had an incredible experience!! Her husband was able to go too and she told us they had the coolest experience in the sealing room. So we are really excited for them and are hoping he will be open to being taught more here soon. 

I know this is getting a little long but we had a funny story. The other night we left Crystal's house pretty late and had just one last lesson over the phone so we got in the dark car and called up our friend as we started driving back home. We were just about to start teaching when I felt like I had a hair on my arm so I tried to loosely pull it off. I still felt it so I turned on the light to find a black widow the size of a quarter on my chest, just above my name tag!! I freaked out and lovingly brushed it onto Elder Woodhouse's lap as he then pulled over and swiped it down by his feet at the same time. We luckily had a member on the phone call with us so we excused ourselves for a sec,  muted the call  and began to search under the seat for our new amiguita. After about 10 minutes without success we gave up and got back to the lesson. We were on edge the whole time, but it still turned out well! After we finished up, we searched again with flashlights but eventually had to call it becauseit was getting late. No bites yet so really it has been miraculous! But definitely made for a good scare and an exciting lesson. 

My spritual thought to wrap up was again inspired by the goat himself, President Weathersby. We had Zone Conference this past week and I loved his closing remarks. He shared powerful testimony of missionary work, the temple, faith, and of course obedience. But what he said at the end was what has been on my mind the most. Similarly to President Nelson at the end of this last Conference, he posed the question of how are you going to change after this experience? It really made me ponder and come up with specific changes to be better and it has brought a lot of joy to try to implement them. Those small changes are what Elder Utchdorf talked about as well in Conference, the small adjustments and daily repentance to keep us on course and focused on the Lord and His eternal blessings. I'll leave you with a couple powerful verses about repentance and invite you all to give them a read, as well as ponder on some ways to make simple adjustments to focus on Jesus Christ. 

Alma 13:27-29

Love you all!! Have a great week!! 

Amor,

Elder Jackson 

1 Sandy's baptism!

2 Signs of Fall 

3 Another sunset 

4-5 couple pups we met this week 

6 Sandy's bday fiesta at Crystal's house