Semana Santa

So first of all
we weren’t able to go to the zoo last week because it was out of our zone boundaries
and our district leader didn’t get permission to leave, ugh. So we just ended
up going to a place called Rustica and ordered pizza. And then we didn’t make lasagna
with our convert because I ended up doing an intercambio with Hermana Willis
that day! 






OH MY GOSH!!!!!
MASON WELLS. That is insane!!! He is such an awesome guy!! I can’t believe
that, that’s so scary. AHHH I really hope he recovers soon! I had heard about
the terrorist attacks here in the mish but I heard that there had been three
missionaries that had passed away, so I’m glad that you told me what actually
happened.  Just like the bombings in
Paris last fall, we were told that you guys were at war so I’m glad you
remembered that we don’t get to accurate of info about the world.  






Awwww I was
totally thinking of Aunt Janet’s on Easter and that I wanted to go to the Easter
hunt hahaha that’s always been my fav. I bet Dad was happy to have a day off
to, even if you didn’t make it up there. 









So last Monday after
we went and got pizza, we went and shopped in Belen!! That place that you
always hear/read about in Iquitos. It’s like an outdoor market and its
huuuuuuge and its actually pretty sketchy, like black market ! But there’s some
other cool stuff there to so I’ll probably go back today to get you some of the
cool stuff(;. Later that night we had a family home evening that was super
awesome! We watched the video about The Gardener.. I think it’s by Elder Christianson
but it’s pretty and has an amazing meaning, so you should watch it!






Tuesday we
taught our investigator Maria. She’s a middle aged woman whose husband passed
away years ago and she has been both mom and dad to her kids as well as to her
grandkids now, because their Dad just passed away and the mom is always working.
She is really accepting the gospel though!! We taught her dia de reposo (resting
day) and she said she had no idea that it was a commandment to keep the Sabbath
holy and not work. So she said that from now on she wouldn’t work on Sundays!! But
guess what, this Sunday she didn’t even come to church.... she said later that
it was because her son is in motocross and they went to watch his race hahaha
but next week for sure!






On Friday
morning we taught one of the converts named Leonzio. He is an old guy with one
leg and he’s a little crazy hahahaha.  He
told us that he wants to marry a 28 year old because all the women his age are
boring hahaha , what?  But he’s been
married like 3 times already. Anyways, we taught him and left and when we got
home I realized I had taken his remote for his tv!!! hahahaha because when we
got there he was watching bible videos because it’s the Semana Santa here and I
had turned the volume down so we could talk and I forgot I had put it in my
bag... he said he had a war with his sister about where she put the remote.
opps(; also that day we went and ate with another one of our converts Cintia. She
put on this fund raiser thing and it was in another member’s house and the
member there just talked to us allll about his mission,  because he served in Bolivia where my comp was
from!! He’s a super awesome guy! Then later that day I had changes with Willis we
went to her area. It is like what you see in the Iquitos pics!! It’s all the
houses on stilts and plywood above water! It’s just as sketchy as it sounds.
haha and when the water gets super high they just throw another layer of
plywood over their floor. Its super crazy. 






Me and my comp
gave Willis a reference and I was able to contact them with Willis! It was a
family who lives in the swamps and the Dad is blind, but they loooove God. They
told us that one time he had fasted for 7 days... nuts. But I feel like they
are really going to progress because they are very accepting!






My comp has
been sick with a bad cold this whole week so that’s been kind of hard because
we haven’t been working very much or having the desire. But I did get to see women’s
conference!! All the Americans were able to watch it in English and I was so
happy. I absolutely loved it, it went by way too quick!! The whole message was
about service and how we have a divine opportunity to help others(:  






Anyways love
you much!! Hermana Jackson









Sorry no pictures again.  This time I didn't have my cord to connect my camera to the computer. 

Iquitos Week #3

 First of all I hope that you and Jay had amazingggg birthdays!!! Even though I’m in the mish I still think about my fam everyday so don’t even think that I forgot the birthdays (;

So this week I’m still just trying to get to know my area. That’s the bad thing about changes, when you move into an area with someone who already knows everything and all the people, it doesn’t feel like your area. It just feels like your visiting! So that’s where I’m at right now. Just still trying to convince myself that Tarapoto isn’t my area anymore and that Iquitos is my new guy(;

My favorite person to teach is an old guy Felix. I told you about him last week but he seriously is the sweetest. Me and my comp made a card for you and Jaylie's bday’s and took a picture with Felix (: he told me that when he was like thirty he was in the marines and he got bit by a mosquito and it affected his cerebrum and so ever since then he has tremors and his hand shakes so he hasn’t been able to work): but he’s so cute and humble and whenever we visit him he always buys us Inka cola and a little package of crackers.

One day I wasn’t feeling really good and one of our menos activas that we are teaching could tell, so she proceeded to give me a whole back and head massage. ahhh it felt so good and I was so so thankful because afterwards I felt a million times better. But she didn’t have any menthol and so she poured her cologne all over my head. hahaha but it did the trick so I’m not upset(;

Our investigator Marcela is progressing! At first she was doing anything, reading her scriptures or praying. So one lesson we decided to end the lesson with everyone praying together and to have her ask her heavenly father right then and there if the church was true and she started crying mid prayer, it was a way spiritual experience! And the next visit with her she told us that she prayed to see if she should be baptized and she said that she had had a dream that night that she was on the right path! The people here receive revelation through dreams... dreams area HUGE here to them in South America/Peru.

For a service project on Wednesday we helped another one of our investigators. Her name is Jacqueline and she is really cool! We cleaned her house and made her lunch while she was at work! Her story is that she is a single mother and her only son just passed away in the beginning of January. It was during carnival here which is like a bunch of water games and stuff in Peru and he fell out of a second story window...really sad. But we are working with her and we will see if she progresses (: 

So this pday we are going to the zoo!!! Last pday we just played volleyball! I don’t know if I told you about our house yet. It is above a little bread store that is run by Advantistas and they are really nice! Our house has two rooms and we have a bunk bed to sleep in... idk if I already told you about my bed either but it’s  pretty scary, like it’s going to collapse if you even move your foot haha . but I’m in the top bunk sooooo(: The bathroom is pretty nice, but there’s just a curtain for the door and there is only cold water but it feels good so it’s not a problem.

Anyways I love you guys lots!!

Hermana Jackson

Also, the computers here are soooo slow that idk about sending photos, it’s having a hard time downloading any!!

Cambios! Now serving right in Iquitos!

Hahaha I knew Luzmilla would send you something!! (Face book post)

So that week I had been staying with the girls from Morales but the last night me and Snyder wanted to have a ¨sleepover¨ haha so she came and picked me up and took me back to their house. One minute after I walked in the door of Luzmilla’s house my phone rang and it was a number that I didn’t have saved, so I knew that I had changes. I picked up the phone and it was the new assistant, Elder Johnny, and he said "Hermana Jackson, You have cambios!"

So now I am in Iquitos and yes it is hotter here, not really Hotter hotter but it’s a lot more humid.(: But it’s not too huge of a difference though, so that’s good. I am in the zone Punchana. My area is called Calvero and it is sooooo tiny especially compared to my last area in Tarapoto. And this area is all in the city and there’s not any dirt roads so that’s another plus. What stinks though is there isn’t any fruit, everything they do have is shipped into Iquitos so it’s super expensive and in Tarapoto I ate fruit everyday! Also there isn’t any cheese here haha, the food is kind of terrible but oh well. I’m just really missing Chinese food and your homemade bread but its all fine (;

My new comp is Hermana Laura. She is from La Paz Bolivia. But she’s really cool and I’m excited for this change. We have one progressing investigator and her name is Marcela. She is really cute and a single mother with 2 kids. This area has a tonnn of converses (converts). In my other areas we had like zero so its super different working with them and I like teaching them. There is the cutest older guy who is a convert and his name is Felix and oooooh my goodness I just love him. He’s just the sweetest little guy ever! I’ll have to take a picture of him and send it to you next week! But these computers here are terrible so we will see how sending pics goes!

One thing that is cool here is that they have a family history center in the mission home. We took a convert there last night and she found three names to take to the temple.

Anyways it’s cool to be in a new place but I really do miss Tarapoto. I don’t think there’s ever gonna be a zone quite like the one I had there. I was super super blessed with all those people and with the Nelsons and to be in Tarapoto for as long as I was, seriously everyone here in Iquitos wants to leave and go to Tarapoto haha. And the sad thing is that there is no time to say goodbye to anyone when you get changes!! They call you the night before and then you have the morning to pack and then you hop on the plane for Iquitos at 2 p.m.  

Rosio, my old pensionista and her hubby, Luzmilla and a lady from my ward who I forgot her name, and my pensionista Erika from the Aeropuerto area along with her daughter Deniy came and said goodbye to me at the airport.. ):

 I miss them. But I have a new adventure here so its fine!!! And this area is actually a ward so that’s really cool too!

Well thanks for everything, love you!

Hermana Jackson

Last Week Of Third Transfer

Hellllooo.

So the photo that you probably saw on FB was in the Tarapoto branch!! I love that place so much. We had a blitz there on Saturday so I was able to see all of my old people!! And he, Brother Calderon is one of the leaders in the branch Tarapoto! I still haven’t gotten my comp, we won’t know until tonight!!! They just call us at night at like 9 if we have changes and if we don’t have changes then nothing happens. But they only tell us where we are going, they don’t tell us who our comps are until we leave… ugh I don’t like it, I wish they told us both.

I feel like I’m leaving Tarapoto though... sad): I really do love it here; I could spend my whole mission in this place and not be upset. :)

Last Monday we went to the water fall and it was seriously soooo pretty!! I’ll send you photos! Everything is vibrant green and jungley!

On Tuesday we had the baptism for Hermana Miriam!! She has been waiting so long for this day!! There were actually a lot of members that came, and we baptized her at 8 at night. yay my first baptism!(: but if I’m still here this change I’ll have two more in this month!!

So my comp was supposed to leave on Wednesday, so the whole morning we spent getting her things ready, and then we go with all of our luggage to our pensionistas house and the zone leaders call us and say that they changed her flight and she’s not leaving until TOMORROW! So then we had to pack up our stuff OTRA VEZ (again)to our casa. haha but it was good to have her for one more day. We ended on a really good note. This change definitely had its super hard moments but I’m really actually grateful for the opportunity that I had to be with Tinta. She was a little nutty, (; but I learned a lot of things from her that I needed to apply for the rest of my mission.

Everything in life has a purpose, you just have to search for those reasons and how it’s supposed to shape you to the person you need to be or point you in the direction you need to go.

So anyways I’m alone again. As always (; LISTEN I’ve literally been without a comp for 21 days of my mission hahaha THATS ALMOST A WHOLE MONTH. This week I called a bunch of different members to help me go out and teach. On Saturday literally no one could help me though; I called like 10000 people and NOBODY.  So I worked with the girls in Morales, Hermana Callaconda and Hermana Valesque all day. And that kinda stunk cause I wanted to be with my people, but at the same time it’s cool to see how other people work. 

Yesterday in church I had like no one come. And the night before I called all of them and they said they would); but Alan and Diana were really sick!! I passed by their house yesterday and they had the throwups. Also Fernando didn’t feel good either so he wasn’t there. ALSO Maria del Carmen wasn’t there and I have no idea why she wasn’t because I talked to her on Friday and she said that she was so excited to come and she is going to bring her sobrinas (nieces) with her who aren’t members! Ugh. But its fine, hopefully next week.

Anyways on Friday I worked with Ibone, she is a member of like 20 years and she is the lady who washes our clothes. She’s a little older but her personality is literally crazy hahaha she’s so funny. But all of our clothes always smell like a little old lady. Haha ;) anyways she was with me allll day and our last lesson of the day was BAMBA. we were teaching the husband of a less active who isn’t a member and he was totally talking to us all normal about the gospel and it didn’t seem like anything was wrong only that he was talking a looooot more than usual and so we ended the lesson and I went to shake his hand and then just smelled the alcohol coming from him ahhhh I taught a drunk guy ugh. I was so annoyed haha but yeah. I’m actually really nervous to see where I’m going this change!!! I’m sure you’ll find out before I can talk to you next week with all the members posting stuff (:

LOVE YOU!

LOVE HERMANA KAITLYN JACKSON