So this week we worked in the area of GOLD that I told you about! We found a lady named Jessica. It started raining super hard when we were down there one night, so we went over to her house so we wouldn’t get soaked, and she let us in and gave us a bunch of weird fruits from the jungle to try! One was called pijuayo. It’s super good! But anyways after sitting with her for a while we began to teach her. We set up another visit and when we came back she started to tell us that she thought we got stuck in the rain at her house for a reason, and that God wanted her to change. She listens intently in every lesson and is praying to know if it’s true! And she came to church this week with her niece! She said she really liked it but she was a little confused why we break off into relief society.. So she wasn’t into relief society yet but she said she just has to get used it haha

We are visiting another lady who is older. she’s evangelical and so everything that we say she’s like "HALLELUJUA". (: But her beliefs are pretty similar to ours, so she understands really easily and she has a brother who is a member in Pucallpa so she’s interested! She told us a story about one of her pastors who had come from another part of the country to teach their congregation, and how he had taught them was by using a dumb blonde joke... and that he tied it in to Jesus being the buen pastor... ugh. those churches just struggle.

So on Saturday we went to a baptism that the hermanas had! This little kid was getting baptized by his grandpa. but his grandpa messed up on the words like 5 times, and then the little kid kept throwing his hands up in the air when the grandpa actually dunked him. I happened like 3 other times hahaha so the last time the grandpa actually said everything good but then the kid straightened his back cause he didnt wanna be dunked again, and so the grandpa was just super frustrated and he tried to force the kid in the water and everyone was like....... what is going on... hahahaha it was so awkward.

A cool experience this week was that we were gonna go and try to find someone to do service for on Saturday morning. But in the night after we planned and also the morning when we woke up I just had the biggest impression that we should go work. So I told my comp and we decided to go to another part of our area where we had never been before. Well we get there and the first house we knock on a lady comes out bringing a chair and says COME IN without even saying a word to her! Her name is Estela. We taught her about families and that through the gospel we can overcome whatever trial that presents itself in family relations and in life situations. At the end of the lesson we thanked her for being so willing to listen to us and she just started to tear up and cry. She said that she had been feeling so awful because she was having problems with her older children. She hadn’t been attending church for a long time and she felt distant from God, she looked up to us and said through her tears that she knew that God had sent us and in that moment I felt complete peace because I knew that we had done the Lords will and had found someone who was searching for God’s love, just as we had prayed for to find the morning before we left the house. The Lord is so ready to give us all kinds of opportunities and experiences that will help us grow and learn and become better if we can but listen to that STILL SMALL VOICE.

Well just a side note here, yesterday a cop car came zooming past us while we were stopped in our motokar, and I just gotta tell you that I’m pretty sure it was the same model crap TRUCK that Jayden had before he left on his mish hahahaha but as a cop car. oh the jungle (:

We also taught a less active who told us that she has a special gift.... people from all over Iquitos come to her telling her about their illnesses. She writes their names and info in a book and then in the night prays for them and then has DREAMS about them that tells her what kind of illness they really have and what they need to do to get better. Super crazy. She told us some pretty crazy stories about that!

This week has been super good! Thanks for all the love and support! And thank the ward lots for me because I got their Christmas package this week and it was super sweet(:

love you!

Hermana Jackson

The weeks keep going by faster and faster! Things are going pretty good. My area is really cool and REALLY BIG.  The bishop and his counselors are so awesome. We are just super focused in FINDING. Lisenia is still progressing and we visited her with a member the other day, and taught the plan of salvation. We extended a baptism date for February and she accepted! But she has to get married and her “husband” doesn’t seem as pumped about listening to us.... ugh. They were supposed to come to church Sunday, and we even called them that morning and they said they were coming but then as church was about to start they weren’t there yet so we called them again and they had turned off their phone!! We called them like 7 times and they wouldn’t pick up haha sooooo yeah we are gonna see what happened when we visit them tomorrow

The other day we were walking around and contacting in this area literally contact people all day. But since our area is HUGE, we took a couple new turns and ended up getting lost haha but the area where we ended up is pretty poor.

They are the kind of houses that are made of old wood and have bridges leading into them, so these people are a lot more humble and they just welcome us into their houses!! So we are gonna focus a ton on working in this area this week and hopefully we will find some new people that the Lord is preparing (:

I don’t have a ton of time today but thanks for all the emails!!  I’ll try to remember more stuff to write you a better email next week(:

Love you,

Hermana Jackson

So last week I ran out of timeeee but I have a ton to catch you up on!

So the day after Christmas we watched the grinch as a zone. We all thought it was great after the highlight of skyping our families on Christmas day.  I was super happy. The next day the offices called me at 7 a.m. in the morning to tell me that I had changes and needed to be at the airport by 11 a.m. So I was packing all morning!!! that was super fun!!!haha, but I got done at like 9 though and went out and said goodbye to all the people that I love in Pucallpa. It was super sad actually, they are some really good humble people whom I've really come to love and learn from.

But like I said last week  I'm now here in Iquitos again in the zone 9 de Octubre and my area is called Las Colinas. in english it means the hills... haha and its true. My area is just a bunch of hills and jungle and houses! Its super big but I like it a lot. Right now we are really just focusing on FINDING. When I got here they had like 5 registros in their binder of old contacts that they had been teaching and NOTHING ELSE!  So we were basically starting from 0 with this area. I also told you about my cute little companion from Columbia. Shes 23 and her name is Hermana Ruiz. Shes pretty cute and we get along super good. I wouldnt be too mad if she stayed and killed me for my last change(;
Living with the 2 gringas has been great. I've missed american culture and english(; but one of them is Hermana dickman who is dying this change, and Hermana Robinson from Canada who ends her mish the change after me!

We had 2 people in church this week!!! But our attendance was 193..... a whhhhole lot different from the 50 I was used to in Pucallpa haha. The lady we are teaching is named Wilma. Shes the cutest older lady ever. For año nuevo (new years) she told us that every year at 12 midnight she puts on a bright yellow wig and dresses up in all white and goes out with sunglasses and a suitcase and parades around the block... idk some kind of tradition they have here in Peru but I was laughing so hard when she showed me the wig... literally BRIGHT YELLOW long haired wig with bangs hahahaha, ah shes cute. But we are teaching her and her daughter Karina who just lost her husband a year ago to a heart attack.

Anyways things are good here and its been a good change. Also my bishop is the coolest and he goes out and works with us and has helped us find a ton of new people!

Love you guys!!
Hermana Jackson

Back in Iquitos!

So I totally got changed!!!! Aw I’m sad because I miss my daughter. But I’m back in Iquitos and I’m finishing training another Latina Hermana. Her name is Hermana Ruiz and she is from Columbia! She’s 23, super cute and little. She looks and sounds like she’s just 16 (: haha so sweet!

But it was the hardest thing just saying bye to all the people in Pucallpa and I only had like an hour to do it.... I really miss all those guys): but being here is cool too because we live with 2 other gringas!  Hna Robinson who’s from Canada and Hna Dickman who’s from the states! It’s pretty fun living with 4 hermana’s together!

 I’m in a different area, zone and everything than I was before. It’s called Las Colinas. We share the ward with the zone leaders. It’s a pretty big area!

I think I’m gonna go get my camera fixed today because the screen got worse. It takes pics and everything but the screen is like totally black. My camera is plugged in right now but the computer isn’t registering it and its really slow internet here!!!

I don’t have any time left but I’ll try and write a big email next week with pics(:  So many people are asking how soon my release date is and then they tell me that it’s no time at all, so I’m trying to stay focused and work harder(: haha Just know I love the jungle and my mission.

Love you lots mom !

Hermana Jackson