Live in Faith

What another beautiful week here in Oklahoma! This weekend it finally cooled down and brought in some rain, hopefully the cool weather stays for awhile!

We met again with Trey this week! We watched the Restoration with him and his Aunt, who is a member. He told us that on Sundayat church he was thinking about getting baptized! He expressed wanting to but he wants to make sure he is really ready and fully committed. He has been baptized before in another church when he was young but he never really changed from it. He said this time he wants to be a different person. He is so prepared! He can see how everything in his life is pointing him down this path. He even said the closing prayer! And he hasn't prayed out loud since he was 12.

Elvis got baptized on Sunday!!! We were laughing in this picture cause Sister Parson, the one taking the picture, kept trying to make Elvis smile! It was a special day! Elvis has wanted to be baptized since he first met the missionaries back in June and yesterday he finally was! Elvis met missionaries one day when he was outside. The Elders just started talking with him and the group of people he was with. Elvis was the only one there who wanted to meet! Since then we have been meeting with him. Elvis has come along way in the last couple months! What a blessing it has been to teach him and see his journey.

Later Sunday evening before we headed to dinner we met this sweet lady named Linda. We were walking past her house and her dogs started barking and we could see her sitting inside. She comes outside to hush them and then we started talking with her. (Thanks Dogs!) Linda is so sweet. She has a ton of faith! She lost her mom at a young age and a grandchild just recently as well. And she just keeps going along. She talked with us about how she hasn't really gone to church since she was a teen. She has church everyday in her heart! (that's a really common thing here in Oklahoma) We started talking to her about General Conference coming up and she said her and her friend would come check it out! 

My mom sent me this in her email! The Womens Session of Conference was great! I especially liked President Uchtdorf's talk! Our investigator JoAnn came as well! She loved it! She told us that her and her son Avery, who we have been teaching as well, will come next weekend for the rest of General Conference! I noticed that a lot of the speakers had a focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a good reminder to me to always be seeking to build my faith! Faith comes to those who are humble, diligent, enduring, and faithful. He rewards those who honestly seek him, who go all the way to the fourth floor and the last door! We all can choose to LIVE IN FAITH. I love all yall! Have a blessed week!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

"If your happy, notify your face" -Elder Pearson

Hey Yall!

If only I had all the time to write everything that happened this past week! To start off we had Zone Conference this past week in Norman and on Saturday we had another meeting and Elder Pearson joined us! 2 meetings made for long days but it was all totally worth it!

Things in good ole Seminole are still moving right along!! Roy is doing so well! We also found out that he goes by Trey haha. He came to church and loved it! He was so nervous. He said he hadn't been to church in years. He also sent us a message saying he wanted to get baptized! We are meeting with him again tomorrow! Please keep him in your prayers! 

Zone Conference this past week was great! I love the Mansells! They are exactly what we all need right now. The ward that provided lunch for us was the Noble ward! What a tender mercy! I got to see some familiar faces :) Sister Holley was there too! President Mansell talked a lot about change. 

• By changing nothing, nothing changes
• If we do what we have always done, then we will get what we have always gotten
• We need to re-pot ourselves so we can keep growing. He compared change and growing to a tree. A tree starts in a little pot but in order for it to keep growing it has to be re-potted into a bigger pot and into a different pot and a different one. It has to keep being re-potted and its the same for us in our lives
• Anytime we are faced with something different or new, think to re-pot ourselves
• Nothing is so unchanging then change itself
• The Lord wants us to change!  John 21:6 "Cast the net on the right side of the ship" 
  
  The meeting with Elder Pearson! What an amazing experience! At the beginning he talked about President and Sister Mansell and how they were called to be here in Oklahoma. Once again we were told that we were called to them not necessarily Oklahoma. And challenged us all to learn as much as we can from them while we are here serving. I learned so much from him! Here is a few things:

  • Success is learning to serve with all our heart, might, mind, and strength (D&C 4:2)
  • Ultimately we are disciples of Christ (3 Nephi 5:13)
  • The harder we work the more our capacity to work increases
  • Exact obedience brings power and ability to change my alignment to Christ
  • We need to have a passion for improvement
  • Build our life on experiences knowing that we can do anything with God's help
  • Constantly be striving for alignment with God and having the Holy Ghost with us always
  • He left us with a promise that our faith will never fail us if we do what we teach: pray and read everyday

  Every day is a great day! Elder Pearson said every day is a choice. We choose whether we want to have a great day or not. Don't let ourselves get down. I read this today during studies: Alma 8: 15 "Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God..." We have such great reason to rejoice! We are part of Christ's Church! And what a blessing it is to all of us :) Hope yall have a blessed week! 

  
  

  All my love,

  Sister Jackson

"Grandma, We are going to be Mormons!"

This past week has started to feel like FALL! The mornings and evenings have started to cool down. More people are outside in the evenings again which means more people for us to talk to! President Mansell has really encouraged us all to talk with as many people as we can. At times it can be a bit awkward and sometimes people don't say more than just "hi, how are you?" back to you. But we have still been trying!  And we have seen so many miracles as a result! Every time we open our mouths we are exercising faith and I know that Heavenly Father definitely is helping us out! He fills our mouths with what the people we meet need to hear. We have met so many wonderful people from just talking with people!

• Avery: We met him a couple weeks ago. We were outside walking and saw someone in their car so we started talking with him and he asked if we were selling the Mormon Bible (the Book of Mormon) and we said you can have it for free! So we explained the Book of Mormon to him and he told us he loves reading religious books from all different religions and was excited to read it! Yesterday we went back and had a lesson with him. We taught him and his grandma the Plan of Salvation. Avery already LOVES the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation. He said it made so much sense to him. At the end he thanked us multiple times for coming and teaching him and his mom! His grandma was in the room but asleep and at the end said, "grandma, we are going to be Mormons!" haha! Avery is preparing to be baptized in November!

• Georgia: We met Georgia while we were trying a member in the ward that we hadn't met yet. She was outside on her porch sorting through some things. She was so sweet and we talked with her for a good while! she is a mom to 5 kids and has been looking for a church to go to! She asked if we knew some people, the Choates and Goulds, and we did! They come to our church! And she said, "Well they are great people so it must be a great church!" She then asked what time church was and said she was going to be there! Sister Gould is even going to give her a ride this Sunday!

• Harvey: He is a cute old man who takes care of a ton of stray cats! He says he doesn't have the heart to not take care of them. He feeds 11 cats and none are his.

• Amanda: She was outside at an apartment complex we were at and we just started talking with her. Her Dad had just recently passed away 2 months ago and while we were talking with her she started crying. We started teaching her about the Plan of Salvation and testifying to her. She told us that we could come back again.

• Roy: Meeting Roy was AMAZING! Again we were trying a member's house but the members actually moved and thats how we met Roy! Roy was a friend of the person that is now living there. When we first got there no one answered so we started walking back to the car and as we were about to get in the neighbor (who we had previously talked with) said that's them as a truck pulled up. So we walk back over and start talking with them. The person who lives there wasn't interested but Roy was and stayed outside and talked with us for a good while. His Dad has recently passed away too and he feels like his Dad keeps guiding him to church. His Dad was really religious and had a friend who is a member. Roy calls his Dad's friend his Uncle and the Uncle is actually in our ward! He was so genuine and sincere with us. He has had a rough couple years but knows that us being here isn't a coincidence! Heavenly Fathers timing is perfect. He asked us how we get through hard times and stay happy. He told us he could see how happy we were. We knew the response was a bit cheesy but we said, "the Gospel of Jesus Christ!" We shared and testified with him more about our gospel! and he wants us to come back again and share more!

This past week has been wonderful!! I LOVE being a missionary! I LOVE this Gospel! and I LOVE the scriptures. I am so grateful for such a loving Heavenly Father who knows us all and what we need. He is aware of us all. Take some time to get to know the people around you! There are some wonderful folks out there who could always use a smile or a hello! and the gospel too ;) but it starts with just talking with people! I hope yall have a blessed week :)

All my love,

Sister Jackson

We helped at the Grisso again! Here is a picture of the house! Plus a HUGE spider

Oklahoma skies!

"Hey! Yall forgot your car!"

Well this past week has been a busy one! From doing service at a 'haunted' mansion to spending p-day in Pauls Valley at a park with all the missionaries in my zone. Each week we do service at the Grisso which is a mansion here in Seminole that people say is haunted. They do weddings, receptions, and meetings there and we help set up for it! The other missionaries gave me a tour of the mansion. They are getting ready for Halloween and have ghost tours there. The house is beautiful! One of the members in our ward works there and she says it is the missionaries' jobs to set up for Christmas! I can't wait! We also do service at Ladles of Love! It is like a soup kitchen and we help pass out food and wash dishes. I love it!

I also experienced my first earthquake! I was in Ada for the day and we were at the church there playing sports in the morning and the chairs that were in the chair holder started shaking. None of us really felt the ground moving though! Sister Long was in Seminole and she said our whole apartment was shaking! And she ran outside cause it was so scary!! We were all okay though!

While I was in Ada, Sister Smith and I had such a funny moment! We were trying one of their investigators and she wasn't home but her Aunt was. Sister Smith thought she had met her before and said, "remind me of your name?" and the lady said, "I never told you my name." So we started asking her some questions, you know, just trying to get to know her. Then she says, "why are yall asking so many questions?" haha and then we get talking about the Restoration and once we get to Joseph Smith she gets kind of weird and says, "while I'll let Stephanie (their investigator) know you stopped by" and then goes inside. We had parked in front of her house and decided to knock some doors before we left. We were walking down the street and she yells, "Hey! Yall forgot your car!" Sister Smith then says, "Is it okay if we leave it there for 10 minutes while we try some other people?" She didn't answer so then we went and moved our car haha. Some people are just so funny!

We have so many cute investigators we are working with here in Seminole!! Most of them are older and adorable!! We are teaching an older couple: Ed and Linda! They have been taking the lessons for a long time and are good friends with all the Choates! Sister Long said that most of the time Ed doesn't join the lessons but he did this time! And he even ended up saying the closing prayer and got a little emotional too. He even said he wanted us to come back again! He is making progress :) We also are teaching this older man named Gene! He writes poems and songs and likes to share them with us. He has all these stray cats that he takes care of and even let Sister Long name one of the kittens! He is so sweet! We also started teaching Ray. Ray is an okie talker and the couple times we have seen him he talked our ears off! He has had an eventful life! His life could be a movie! All of them are so great!!

On Sunday night we met JoAnna! She is our miracle from this week! She is the daughter of one of our investigators, Becky. We went to try Becky but she wasn't home and met JoAnna. Sister Long said all the previous times they have seen her, she didn't really talk with them but today she did! We taught her the restoration and answered all the questions she had about church services and missionary work! We invited her to say the closing prayer and in her prayer she said, "help me to understand more about the mormons. I think that would be really cool." I have LOVED hearing people pray! It has been such a neat experience. People are so sincere when they talk with God. And a lot of the times it is there first time saying a prayer out loud. It helps me get a glimpse into their lives and the things they are going through. I also feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them!

I am so so grateful for the time I have to be a missionary each and every day! Heavenly Father truly is so good to us! I love this gospel and I love sharing it with all the Okies here in Oklahoma! :) Thanks for all the love and prayers! Have a blessed week!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

I'll have some pictures to send next week! We forgot our cameras.