Current Address

Sister Jorden Elizabeth Jackson
Philippines Baguio Mission
PO Box 115
National Highway
Brgy. Lingsat
San Fernando, La Union
2500,
PHILIPPINES

Monday, June 23, 2014

The Good News…and the Bad News…then Some Good Again :)



We’ll start with the good news first. I have the best companion. Oh my goodness. Sister Campos is taking such good care of me. Also, she is a pharmacist, so she is really good at giving me the right medicine.

I am so happy – at least I got sick this transfer. :)

I got amoebiasis on Tuesday afternoon. One of our sweet, super kind investigators fed us energen (hot chocolate/oatmeal stuff). I saw the water she used – it came from these black pipes that are “free water” that tons of people in our area use. I have no idea where it comes from. Well…the energen was super good, but then I was sick from Tuesday night until Sunday. I’ll spare you the gory details. Sister Campos and I went to the hospital though and I got some tests and now I have some pills to take, so hopefully I’ll be back in action soon.

I was still trying to go out and work before I got really, really sick. Sister Campos is super magaling and it was great to see her basically just teach all the lessons. :) Kinda crazy – on Thursday, even though we got out at 3:30pm and came home early, around 7:30pm, we still taught seven AMAZING lessons. Concerns were addressed. Testimonies were built. Hopefully this week we will see some lives change.

There is a lesson to be learned in all of this: free water is like sin. It’s mixed with “energen.” It’s nice and warm. It’s cold out. You’re all wet from the rain. You think, “It was boiled for 2 minutes…eh, I’ll be fine!” Or “One time won’t hurt.” Or probably the most probable (at least for me) is “Oh shoot! I really shouldn’t drink this, but if I don’t this sweet kind investigator’s heart will be broken. She bought the energen just for me because she knows I like it. I don’t want to offend her.”

Whatever the reason, whatever the excuse, sin is always sin. Just like dirty water is always dirty water. Even mixed with energen. And the consequences of drinking just one cup lasted all week. I had that realization when I was lying on my mattress next to the bathroom – it really wasn’t worth it. “Wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10)

But, that lesson with this investigator actually was really good (probably worth not offending her!). She is starting to progress now! We started teaching her back in April. No progress really, and we couldn’t really get return appointments. Well, we went on Sunday – they were home! We had a couple of young single adults with us from the ward which was great. Then we got a return appointment for Tuesday. Tuesday we taught about Prophets and Dispensations – we had taught her this before in April, but this time was entirely different. Last time, after we shared that there is a living prophet on the earth today, she said, “Oh…like my church. We’re all the same. One Lord.” But this time she said, “Oh! That makes sense! Because God loved us before and He loves us now! So of course we would have a living prophet today!” Wow! It’s totally her time now! Also, on Tues. she told us she was impressed with the “kids” we brought and wants her kids to be friends with them. Awesome!

Funny – we told her I would be speaking in church (which actually didn’t happen after all…next week na lang…) so she started excitedly telling her kids, “Sister Jackson has a speech! We all gotta go so she has a big fan club!” Ah ha what a hoot!

I started feeling better so quickly Sunday evening here. It was so crazy! Sis. Campos said, “I bet someone is praying for you.” Thank you, whoever that was. :)

I am indebted to you. Thanks for all the love and support – I will try to have a healthier week so I have more stuff to report on next week. :)  
Last week's preparation day adventure: we visited this beautiful place here in Baguio. Mine's View.
 

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