Blogging from Baguio: Still Alive Through Week Five

Thank you so much for all the dear elders and letters and packages family and friends! I love to hear from you and feel your support! Mom- How are you so cute?? Your packages are adorable! Seriously, I am the luckiest missionary to have a mom as awesome as you :) Dunaways- Thank you for the envelope of goodies! It seriously made my day. Your school pictures, Halloween costumes and drawings are wonderful! I am sending you letters back soon!

This morning at the Temple I ran into Alecia Judd! I haven't seen her since Belize 2012! It was so cool to see her! The temple closes this Monday, but I'm glad we still get our Sunday afternoon temple walks :)

Sunday afternoon at Relief Society we met our mission president’s daughter! She is delightful. She will be serving her mission at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Her brother is also at the MTC right now. What a cool family! Also, I heard one of the most AMAZING talks ever in Relief Society by a woman on The General Relief Society Board named Sister Rodgers. The MTC talks are never available for the public, but maybe she has spoken at BYU devotionals or other places. Google her!

Sunday night after devotionals, we get to watch old MTC devotionals or movies. The first week that we were at the MTC, Sister Golightly saw that they play Legacy sometimes, and she was so excited! So, this Sunday when we saw it was playing, our whole district decided to go. It was hilarious! Oh my goodness! So many great one liners. When a couple went in for a kiss, Elder Alonzo yelled, "Elder Harris! Close your eyes!" (#missionprobs) It was great to laugh at all the cheesy one-liners. Also, the actor that played Joseph Smith had CRAZY hair and he had CRAZY EYES!

I didn't realize they showed comedies at the MTC.

On Wednesday, I checked another item off of my MTC bucket list. I was a host! It was tremendous. It was so great to be a part of missionaries arriving and help them during their first experience at the MTC. We helped them get their tags and find their rooms, pick up their books, find their classrooms and meet their teachers and companions. I loved all the sisters that I was blessed to be able to show around! It was great to feed off of their positive energy and excitement. I was a little bit worried that I would get choked-up seeing people say goodbye to their families (we are supposed to be super happy and bubbly), but I only got emotional once, watching an elder say goodbye to all his little siblings. But, I quickly walked back to my station and helped another sister out of her car. :) I was a super positive host! I recommend hosting, at least once, to every missionary. You don't have to be invited to host, I'm pretty sure you can host after your second week.

I have learned so much about the gospel and coming closer to Jesus Christ. Right now I am trying to find the right balance between planning a lesson and teaching by the Spirit. It's a struggle! If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share.

I need all the help I can get.

We have had some awesome lessons! Last night one of our investigators agreed to be baptized! Earlier in the afternoon, we were doing TALL (technology assisted language learning) and when we both came to the sentences in our flashcards, "The Holy Ghost testifies of Christ" and "Through the power of the Holy Ghost you can feel Gods love for you" we felt the Holy Ghost so strongly. After TALL we both started to tell each other that we needed to talk about the Holy Ghost. We started off the lesson by singing “I am a Child of God” in Tagalog (thanks for the idea Grandma J!), and Sister Golightly shared a scripture about feeling the Holy Ghost and bore a super amazing testimony. Then I was next. I was so stressed about teaching by the spirit; I couldn't decide what scripture to share so I just ended up bearing a short testimony. Then I invited him to be baptized. He said yes! I am still learning how to teach the way Christ wants me to, but I know that testifying of the simple truths of the Gospel is the best way to bring the spirit into a lesson.

This Thursday, Sister Golightly and I, and a lot of other people in our zone, got a stomach bug :( The MTC is just crawling with germs. But, we asked for blessings from our district leader and his kasama and it was a super spiritual experience. I know that the priesthood is real. I felt God’s love for me and His desire for my well-being. One part of the blessing promised that I would be healed according to my faith. That night I was kind of hungry, but said to my kasama, "I'm too afraid to eat because I don't want to be sick again!" A few minutes later I realized how dumb that was of me! I decided to have faith in the Lord and his promise and I ate some pretzels (thanks mom!). Of course, the Lord was true to his promise and I have been feeling great ever since.

I can't describe in words how cool it is to be a missionary. I walk around all the time just so happy, for no reason besides it’s a great day and I am a missionary. I am just joyful all the time.

On Friday night, we got our flight plans. (OH MY GOSH! ALREADY??) Earlier this week a sister that was leaving gave Sister Golightly and me some streamers. So, we ate dinner fast and ran up to the residence decorate the room! We were surprising our roommates (and all the sisters in our zone, as it turns out :)) with a p-day eve/flight plan day/part-ay part-ay. *Insert Filipino accent* We have so much fun together! Everyone brought over some goodies and we spread a sheet on the floor and wore party hats (courtesy of the sisters leaving) and talked and laughed till lights out. I think my roommates and I are the craziest out of the bunch though :)

I am so blessed to be with such a happy group of people.

Language Mistakes: (I'm glad I am having less of these, even though they are entertaining)

-While practicing the baptism invitation, instead of saying "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized..." I said, "Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and atone for sins.... HINDI! HINDI!" (“No! No!”) Practice is very important.

Door Segments:

This section is dedicated to my awkward door exchanges. I don't know why I have so many issues with doors. Enjoy! :)

-Because my arms were full, I pushed the door to a building opened with my butt to hold it open for Sister Golightly. She looked at me super confused and walked through the door. Then I turned to walk out and ran into an elder who was holding my door opened. I guess he opened it at the same time as me and was standing right beside me but I didn't see him till I ran into him. Physical contact!

Poor elder, he was so uncomfortable!

-Same door as the day before, I was super happy because an elder just swiped his card so all the doors to get into that building were unlocked. I said, "Oh yes! They're still unlocked!" I completely overlooked the elder who was holding opened the door for us and ran to the other door next to it, opened it and held it opened for my kasama. She was in a really awkward situation choosing which door to go through. kasama loyalty triumphed. But, that’s when I realized that the elder was holding the door for us and his companion was standing outside so we could go through looking bewildered.

We apologized and had a good laugh :)

-Finally, at the end of a super long day, I stood at the key card swiper and swiped my card over and over again. The green light would not turn on! My kasama said, "Uhhh... Sister Jackson??" I looked up. The door was opened already. Oh man! Good times!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers!