A Savior is Born

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Happy December! I had such a great week this past week! It all started with a p-day at the Great Plains Musuem! We even got to sit through a tornado experience from Terrible Tuesday. We had a lot of fun!

Outside the Tornado theater

THANKSGIVING! We spent the morning at home and then for lunch we went to the Elders investigator's house. Then for dinner we went to the Senior Missionary Couple, the Luthers. It was wonderful. I felt like I was at home! We listened to christmas music while we ate dinner and then watched Ephraim's rescue afterwards. We also helped them finish a puzzle. It was a great day!!

FRIDAY was filled with miracles and spiritual experiences!!! It rained pretty much from Wednesday evening to sunday. All day! It started with a special training we had on "A SAVIOR IS BORN!" The Christmas initiative that the church is doing. The video and website https://www.mormon.org/christmas was launched yesterday but us missionaries got a sneak peak of the video on Friday. The video is wonderful! Go watch it today! and share it with others! (through social media) Invite others to discover why we need a Savior! He is the reason for the season. "For unto you and unto me and unto all of us a Savior is Born." The Christmas season is a great time to celebrate the Savior!

After the training we had we had a member come with us to a lesson and she was just perfect for our investigator Tashiyla! Sister Strong shared her conversion story and bore her testimony of the gospel. Tashiyla is one of our new investigators and she is just so open to hearing about the gospel! That evening we had a last lesson with the Beckettes before their baptism tomorrow! Sister Sorensen and I got to meet their family and we talked about how the scriptures are like a big journal. And how there are spiritual experiences written on them. We read when Christ was baptized together and invited them to record their thoughts tomorrowafter they are baptized! Then that evening we went to our part member family the Sanifords. This family is AMAZING! The husband is so prepared for the gospel. He has been reading the Book of Mormon for awhile now and has been coming to church and pretty much bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He knows it is the missing part of the Bible. Him and his wife have even been talking about him being baptized! and he committed to baptism! He said he just wants to know for sure and read the whole Book of Mormon before he gets baptized.

SATURDAY: Baptism day for Nephi and Liam Beckette! :) It was such a happy day! All my past companions were able to come back for the baptism as well! I love these boys!

SUNDAY: Baptism day for Brother Harris! He is the one standing next to me! He was a soldier I started teaching back in the end of October. He has been going to church ever since and asked his friend, Brother Beisinger, last week to baptize him! It was a great Sabbath Day! 

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I am so excited for this Christmas Season and the time I have to be a missionary and share the gospel with others! What a blessing it has been to watch others access the atonement in their life and make covenants with God. I know we can be happy in this life and it comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. This Christmas season share this goodness with others! Invite others to discover why we need a Savior. Luke 2:10-11 "And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Have a blessed week! I love all yall!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

From the ice storm. Its beautiful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

II can't believe Thanksgiving is here! We all have so much to be grateful for! What a great time of the year to express our gratitude! D&C 46:32 "And ye must give thanks unto God in the spirit for whatsoever blessing ye are blessed with." I have seen so many tender mercies lately and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father and the love He has shown to me and others around me! I also want to express my love and appreciation to all my family and friends and for the love and support they give me! I am so grateful for all yall and the blessing each one of you have been to my life. I have so many people in my life that are "examples of the believers (1 Timothy 4:12)." As the Holidays are approaching let your lights shine! And continue to be good examples to those around you.

So this past week has been absolutely wonderful! I don't even know where to start :) I think I can finally say that Lawton's winter has arrived, at least in the evening time. It is getting so cold! A tender mercy happened on monday evening! It is getting cold in the evening time and we were able to get a member to come out with us! and the spirit led us to a less active's home. We went to the home and also met the less active's sister and daughter who are also members! They all talked about how they haven't been to church for awhile but how they wanted to start coming back :) they just needed a ride... But we were able to find them a ride and they came to church yesterday! Miracles! The member told us yesterday after Sacrament Meeting that she had missed church and was so grateful to be back :)

Tuesday was full of miracles! We have been working with this teenage girl for a couple weeks now and we had a lesson with her and in the middle of teaching her the Doctrine of Christ she asks, "Wasn't there another Sister Jackson?" Uhh, haha, no... The lesson before that, she told her dad that she was meeting with the Sister Jacksons. haha! On a different note, this girl is already being a missionary! She takes her Book of Mormon to school and shares it with others! and during lunch she reads it, crazy! She told us that a lot of kids at school don't believe in God but she stands up to them and says there is a God. 

Some other funny moments: Wednesday nightthe Elders needed us to go get a package on their door and we accidentally locked ourselves out! We got locked out a couple weeks ago and the Elders opened up our back window and went through but they weren't home so Sister Sorensen and I lifted each other up to open up the window and for one of us to crawl through haha! My pajama pants got stuck on the corner and ripped a little haha! It was a fun experience :) On Saturday we were riding home from a members home and I was riding in front of Sister Sorensen. As I was riding through a light it turns yellow and I was hoping Sister Sorensen was behind me and made it too. Well turns out she wasn't and we got separated by the light! haha and the Elders pull up next to her and ask her where her companion is... haha I guess there is a first time for everything!

Lastly we saw the Beckettes on Friday and their baptism is this Saturday! I am so excited for Nephi and Liam! It is going to be a great week! Another miracle happened yesterday at church on Fort Sill! Twice a month they bring treats and the last 30 minutes of church all the soldiers eat treats and social! They call it fellowship time. Well on treat weeks we get soo many people at church! All the soldiers bring their friends and plus they don't get goodies during basic so everyone wants to come and get some cookies and milk! It was my turn to teach the first lesson and I have never seen so many people at church before! There was 19 investigators in my lesson! Thank goodness Sister Chandler agreed to teach with me, I was so scared to teach the soldiers by myself! But we had such a spiritual lesson. Along with the 19 investigators we had about 7 members join also. And the nice thing about Fort Sill is the members share their testimonies and experiences! It helps bring the spirit so much! I just love going to Fort Sill! After we taught the Restoration, one of the soldiers (Johnson) comes up to Sister Chandler and I and says, "Sister Jackson, I was wondering if I could be baptized next week?" Ahh, how cool! He went on and talked about how he could feel the Holy Ghost and how he new this was right! It was such a neat experience. Along with that, Harris (who I taught a couple weeks ago) is getting baptized on Sunday! He sat in on the Restoration lesson again, this time he brought a friend and afterwards I was talking with him and he said he had been thinking about baptism a lot and wanted to get baptized! He ended up asking his friend to baptize him next week and was crying! The gospel is beautiful! and brings so many blessings! I love being a missionary! and I am so grateful for the time I have to share the gospel. Have a blessed Thanksgiving! Love all yall!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

It is starting to get sooo cold! Especially at night when we bike! We get all bundled up now!

This is from yesterday at Fort Sill! President Brox decided to dress up for Thanksgiving haha! A lot of these soldiers were in my class yesterday! We had so many visitors there!

Sister Jackson and Sister Jackson!
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Our Christmas tree is finished! The bottom part is broken so it is standing up from a crock pot and some soup to keep it straight haha!

We decided to take a sonic run! We had a long day and needed some ice cream :) This is how we make it home with our bikes and shakes!

Blessed week!

Well, another great week has come and gone! We saw so many miracles this past week! It all started with finding Dillon last monday! He saw us at the library and said he wanted to come back to church! And we also had zone p-day! We had a missionary meeting that evening and learned more about working with members! It was such a spiritual evening!

A couple days later we had another great lesson with the Beckettes and Malcoms! Nephi and Liam are getting baptized Thanksgiving weekend :D This past week we also started working with another part member family! The husband isn't a member but is so prepared for the gospel! He has been reading the Book of Mormon and says its the missing part of the Bible! Miracles! It has been such a great week!

I wish I had more time today but I have to go. Just know that I love all yall! Thanks for all the support and prayers!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

Sister Sorensen and I decided to put up our tree! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!

Beautiful sunset

5 months!

5 months!

Another week full of miracles! Heavenly Father has placed so many wonderful people in our pathway this week for Sister Sorensen and I to meet! We had some hard times this week but it seems like it was replaced by miracles! We haven't had a lot of people to teach this past week but we have been blessed by meeting so many new people!

We met so many new people this past week: Doug, Sherri, J. Roque, Kelsie, Larry, Natasha! All of God's children that are in need of the gospel. Another miracle happened when we were trying a referral and the lady we are trying to meet has moved but her friend, Ashlyn answers the door instead and right before we go to leave she asks what church we are from. We tell her and she says "I am a member! I didn't know they had a building here." She mentioned that she has been wanting to raise her child in the gospel! It was such a cool miracle! That same day right before we met Ashlyn we had an appointment with J. Roque. He wasn't home so we went and tried the referral and then met Ashlyn. This whole time we were with a member and on the way back after meeting Ashlyn she says "lets go try J.Roque again." We go try him and he is home this time and we end up having a lesson with him! Miracles. Miracles! 

Our investigator Nephi is doing awesome! I can't believe all the progress him and his family have made! I LOVE this family! We had a lesson with them this past week and Nephi said the opening prayer all by himself! He didn't need any help! We reviewed the Restoration and him and Liam pretty much remembered everything! :D There is something special about this family!

Saturday was a packed day! The Relief Society for both wards combined to do a super saturday craft day! and that evening was the adult session of Stake Conference and the next day was Stake Conference and the Regional Broadcast. The new Stake President is the Bishop in the ward I am serving in so the ward is going to be getting a new Bishop too! I missed pretty much all the sunday morning of Stake Conference because I was at Fort Sill but the Saturday Session was very good. Elder Keech and Elder Southward came and spoke all on the Sabbath Day! He quoted President Hinckley also "Just do the best you can." What a good reminder for all of us! Just do the best we can. A thought from my mission President, "Have joy in the journey and in knowing that Christ will lead us along if we simply continue to take the next step." I am so grateful that the journey I am on now is being a missionary! I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel! These past 5 months have been such a blessing! Thanks for all the prayers and support! Have a blessed week!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

This is Sister Nelson and I at Fort Sill! This was her last sunday before she graduates and moves on to AIT! She is absolutely wonderful :) So glad I met her

The Sisters have a huge spider outside their house! We tossed a bug in its web and watched it spin the bug with its web! It was crazy! Really cool to see

Is it November already?!

Well this past week was absolutely wonderful! There was so much that happened, I don't know where to begin...

First off, we had dinner with the Malcoms on Monday, and I just LOVE the Malcoms! We also found out that night from Sister Watts that for Christmas the ward is doing a Night In Bethlehem! Which sounds AMAZING! I am so excited for all the holidays that are just around the corner.

Wednesday was transfers and I met my new companion Sister Sorensen! She is a sweetheart! She is from Spring City (which is by Manti). She is absolutely amazing and is just ready to hit the ground running! I am so excited for this transfer!

Friday we had an awesome lesson with our investigator Adrainna! She is only 13 but has been taking the Book of Mormon to school with her so she can read and told her friends and teacher all about it! Isn't that so cool! In one of the pamphlets we gave her, it has the words to the chorus of "I am a Child of God." She thought it was a poem and had it memorized! She LOVED it! MIRACLES!

On Halloween, we had dinner with the Hancocks! They were so excited to have us over and shortly after we got there we found out why! They had prepared a pigs head for dinner haha! It was definitely a different experience! They even convinced me to try some of the tongue! After dinner we went in for the night. Sister Sorensen and I took some fun pictures for Halloween and then watched Meet the Mormons! It was a great Halloween!

Here is a little thought from my studies. I just recently started Mosiah again and today I was reading in chapter 2. There was a word that King Benjamin used multiple times in his talk to the people: "suffered." In verse 12 it says: "as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service." I thought that was interesting that he used the word suffered. When I think of the word suffered, I think of pain. So I thought, why would him serving the people all his days cause him to be in pain? It wasn't making much sense to me so then I looked in the Bible Dictionary under suffered which reads: to permit, allow. After reading that, it made so much more sense! Here is another verse: "Suffered by the hand of the Lord." So God has been allowing King Benjamin to be in the service of others all his life! So after having that enlightenment it made me reflect on the things that I have suffered with. And how the things the Lord has allowed me to do have all been for my benefit! I am sure at times King Benjamin probably did feel like he was suffering a little bit, but really Christ was allowing him to serve others for his benefit! It is all about the growth. So I began to ponder this question: What has the Lord suffered (allowed) me to do during my life? Just a little thought from my studies! Hopefully it makes sense!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary! And to be sharing the gospel and inviting others to come unto Christ! I am so grateful for the scriptures and the chance we have to "feast" on them. The words in the scriptures are powerful! And can bless our lives if we let them! I love all yall! Have a blessed week!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

Last p-day we went on Fort Sill to the outside museum and took some pictures! It was a lot of fun!

Sister Sorensen and I on transfers! She is my wonderful new companion! She is amazing! She is from Spring City

Happy Halloween 

The Hancocks fed us a pig's head for dinner on Halloween! We all tried a piece of the tongue and one of the Elders ate the eye ball, gross!