Feeling Blessed

That is exactly how I feel right now. I feeling nothing but blessed! 

This past week we got some very exciting news at Christmas Conference!!! Our mission boundaries are EXPANDING to include 3 stakes in the Tulsa area!?!? and Sister Burley is heading to TULSA! I am so pumped for her!!! So all the wards that have previously had 4 missionaries are now only having 1 so we can cover the new areas! So all us missionaries have been pretty stressed this past week with moving out of apartments and getting ready for the new areas! Since so many missionaries are getting transferred, I'll be able to see ALL my old companions, plus Elder Udy (my cousin) before I go :)  

I have loved every second of the past 18 months and I just wanted to share 18 things I have learned from my mission! (shout out to Sister Caudill, one of my old companions, who gave me the idea)

• The gospel is about new beginnings
• We are all children of God
• Christ is the source of ALL peace in our life John 16:33
• Life is not about me
• If you are unhappy study the life of the Savior
• Heavenly Father expects our all
• Remember the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God
• Its the little things, that day by day transform us and chart our course
• Heavenly Father loves us all and is in the details of our lives
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple
• Put God first and everything will work out 3 Nephi 13:32-33
• "For when we want to speak to God, we pray. And when we want him to speak to us, we search the scriptures" -Robert D. Hales
• "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1
• This is the Lord's work and we are just instruments in His hands
• We just need to go about doing good! Love and serve EVERYONE!
• You can still be cute as a Sister Missionary!
• Change  is good! and we need to remember to repot ourselves to allow us to continue to grow!
• Philippians 4:11 "For I have learned in whatsoever state I am,therewith, to be content

Before we found out about all the new changes happening, Sister Burley changed what was written on our calendar for the 29th. She changed it to, "New Adventure Begins." How fitting that is for the both of us! I have absolutely loved my mission! and I am so grateful for this opportunity I have had. It has changed me in so many ways but I know there are still great things that await me (D&C 45:62). I am still going to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and share this wonderful gospel with others! For I know our Savior lives! It is his birth and life that we celebrate this weekend. "And now continue your journey" (D&C 62:3-4).

All my love,

Sister Jackson

P.S. Have a Merry Merry Christmas!!!! I love all of you!!!

Us with our cute gingerbread houses!

The Gospel is About New Beginnings

Hey Yall! This past week I went on exchanges with Sister Smith in Ada. She seriously is the best! and so wise! She always shares these little spiritual nuggets with me and this past week was: The Gospel is about new beginnings. This is SO true! Even though my life is going to be changing soon the gospel is all about new beginnings! 

This past week was amazing! I wanted to share 2 experiences:

• Peggy! Remember her? We met with her twice this past week. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and in the lesson she said, "that's scary, I should of been raised a Mormon." Everything her mom taught her growing up is what we believe! She told us that her mom just didn't know about the church! We even read part from the Book of Mormon and she said that it explained the truths so well! She even asked for a copy. We invited her to read and when we came back a couple days later she read 18 pages! And LOVED it! She said she started reading and couldn't stop. She loved Lehi's dream and wanted to know what everything meant. The chapter she stopped at was the chapter that explains it all! We told her to keep reading and she would find out!!! We love Peggy!!!
• The next experience happened yesterday at church. The little man in the picture with the glasses is Sam. Sam and his sister Hannah, the one being held, have down syndrome. They remind me so much of Alex! Well anyways Sam turned 12 last week and yesterday he passed the Sacrament for the first time. His Dad was right there to help him and it was one of the most tender experiences ever. The Elders described the experience by saying, that is what the priesthood is all about.

I love all yall! And I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas! What an amazing time of year it is. I'm truly so grateful for everything that we have been blessed with, especially our Savior Jesus Christ. Let us remember him in this wonderful time of the year. 

All my love,

Sister Jackson

Sister Burley graduated! And we were matching, so we had to take a picture!

It SNOWED! This is how we dress when we go out biking in the cold!

   

Sister Armour and I! Nevada buddies!

Us and Maranda!

Christmas party a couple weeks ago with Peggy and Momma P.

Dinner with the Binghams last night!

He is Jesus Christ

ts been a musical week! Our friends at the First Baptist Church from the Bridge invited us to a musical they did for Christmas this past week! It was great! We love Kay! We see her every morning at the bridge where we work out.

Then on Saturday we went to 'He is Jesus Christ." It was AMAZING! It was my first time seeing it! Its similar to 'Lamb of God' except it covers all of Christ's life from birth to death and resurrection. The music was inspiring! Listen to the songs from this if you haven't heard them before!

And because it was in the city I saw a lot of people from the Village and Noble Ward

We also had our ward Christmas party! Our new investigator Peggy came to the party! She is the miracle for the week that I want to share!

We met Peggy in a round about way through meeting other people! I'll keep it short though. So we met Peggy probably about 2 weeks ago. We went to go see Opal in the hospital and Peggy was there. They are neighbors and Peggy helps take care of Opal. Sister Burley and I both felt impressed to see if she would like the Elders to come give her a blessing. Opal said yes and the Elders came. It was a miracle! That day she wasn't eating or even sitting up. The very next day she was standing and a couple days after that released from the hospital! Shortly after Opal went home we were driving past her house and Peggy was outside! She was so happy to see us and invited us over on Friday. Once we got there she told us it was her birthday(52)! She has been going through a lot and just didn't know her purpose. Her 2 children moved out and she is going through a divorce. She wanted a  blessing as well and it was beautiful! She knows this is the right step. She can see God's hand pushing her in this direction. She calls us angels! :) She came that night to the Christmas party and on Sunday to church! It has been such an amazing experience meeting with her and teaching her! We love Peggy! I love being a missionary! Especially at this time of year! I love all yall! Have a blessed week!

All my love,

Sister Jackson

This is how we are everyday when the mailman comes! We love mail!

It also has been freezing! We bundle up now!

It's December

Hey Yall! We went to some of the far out towns in our area and Oklahoma is just so pretty! Had to share some!

   

Also spent the day in Ada with Sister Herrin! We had so much fun! And the sky was beautiful!

Remember Shani and David? We hadn't seen them in so long and we finally saw them! :) except they are moving :( we are way sad about that! But happy for them! We had to take a picture with them before they left.

I wanted to share 2 miracles from this past week! 

• We got a bible referral for a man named Joe in our area. The first time Sister Burley met him on exchanges and they weren't sure how interested he was. The second time Sister Burley and I went back and he asked if our church was the one across from Wrangler. We said yes! He then said, "I know someone who goes to church there." He knows Brother Sherwood! And after that we went to tell Brother Sherwood but Joe beat us to it. He had already texted him and said he met us and asked him, "Is your church any good?" So we are going to get together with Joe and Brother Sherwood for a lesson this coming week!
• On Saturday it rained and rained and rained all day! Sister Burley and I were out walking around and we started talking with this lady named Hayley. Her Sister is really sick and has been in the hospital for months. She has had all these things going on in her life. She let us talk with her and yesterday we went back and taught her the restoration! At the end she was crying. She wants to start being more religious and getting into church. Everything just made sense to her! It was amazing!

Sister Burley and I had such a great week! Full of miracles and light! Keep lighting the world this Christmas Season! Have a blessed week :) 

All my love,

Sister Jackson

All the trees here finally changed colors! They are so pretty!!

We volunteered at the Chocolate Festival and Ladels of Love on December 1st to kick off Light the World!