When Your Face is Shinier Than Your Lip Gloss

Summer is here in the Pines! I bought a fan – one of those collapsible hand held ones. I think it’s the best 10 pesos I’ve ever spent! I look like such a weirdo walking down the street constantly fanning myself, but hey, I kinda already look like a weirdo so oh well!

 Sweaty face! We left the house about 20 mins. before this picture was taken. Holy cow it's hot! 

Parkers! Thank you so much for the package and letters Tita [aunt] Heidi – I was literally just wishing for brownies two days before it arrived. I am SUPER excited to eat MAC N CHEESE and SPAGHETTI! Also, the Crystal Light is so masarap [delicious]! Love the Valentines! I think we will have to have a tattoo party bilang kabahay [as housemates] on “Transfers Adam”!  

Even though it was super hot this week, Sister Dizon and I got a LOT of work done! We crashed every night – so tired! I know it’s not about the numbers, but there are people behind the numbers… We taught 31 lessons this week! 31! Our average in this area is usually about 20! We taught lessons to people who haven’t been coming to church and to people who are not members of our church that wanted to learn about our religion. The sad part is no one came to church.

Sunday morning as a missionary is seriously like Christmas morning. We wait at the door of the chapel, shaking hands with members as they enter, wishing and hoping that the people we love, the people we teach and pray for and work for every day will be there. Once church starts we are still wishing and hoping, every time the door opens we turn around and look – just to have our hopes dashed. (Santa didn’t come.)

This week makes me think of 3 Nephi 28:9. Christ told the 3 Nephites who wanted to stay on earth that the only sorrow they would have would be from the sins of the world – not physical pain. All the sweat this week, all the blisters and sunburns and sore feet do not compare to the sorrow and pain on Sunday morning at church when the people we’ve taught aren’t there. It’s the worst feeling! Those poor 3 Nephites! The world has so much sin, and the sorrow of that is felt by them!

3 Nephi 28:9 And again, ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh, neither sorrow save it be for the sins of the world; and all this will I do because of the thing which ye have desired of me, for ye have desired that ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand.

Anyways, I think I will just share a couple of stories about this week – despite another sad ending (and they didn’t come to church).

When Sheila’s husband Oscar met us last week, he told us coffee and alcohol are bawal [forbidden] in our church. I said, “Yes! Don’t you want to know why?” Well, he did! So, we taught Sheila about the Word of Wisdom this week! During the lesson, Oscar was cooking, but he was totally listening and participating. We explained that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Word of Wisdom is a commandment. We taught the “dos and don’ts” of the Word of Wisdom and then asked them to live it. Sheila said yes – no hesitation. Oscar thought about it for a bit. Then he said he would try to live it for a week and see how it goes. Oh my gosh! This was our first real lesson with him because before he would always sneak out or have something to do. He told us since he first met us he has been drinking and smoking less and less. He committed to cut out the 5 bawal substances completely for a week! We went back to Sheila’s house later this week and she told us that Oscar hasn’t been drinking or smoking at all! Coffee too! So great! I’m excited to go back and see how it is going!

We taught three different families this week with whom our lessons in the past were always kind of mediocre. We hadn’t really been able to teach to their needs. But, Sister Dizon is so great! I love how she really gets to know people and love them before we teach. Those three families this week – sobre maganda ang lessons nila! [envelope beautiful lessons they] 

[Hmm - not sure if google translate got this one right???]

Sunday morning on the jeepney, I was super tired and out of it and took a long time grabbing all of my stuff. The jeepney started driving away with me still inside! You should have seen the horror on Sister Dizon’s face! She started waving her arms and yelling, “WAIT!” (in English!) Then once I stopped the jeepney and got off she asked, “What are you doing?!” Ah ha ha I love her! I wish tone of voice could come through email!

Also, I ate balut*** this week! Yep. It was ok. Not as bad as I thought! But, as we were leaving the Rimpillios house (that’s where we ate it) Sister Dizon said, “It’s been a while since I ate balut.” When I asked why she said cause last time she got sick. DANG MAN! Both of us felt a bit queasy.

We had a five-zone conference this week! I curled my hair! It was monumental. Really. It’s been 3 months since I’ve done my hair. :) Elder Arder of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us; so did Sister Arder. It was really great! I love how they talked about how missions are great because you create such a strong dependency on God. There are SO many things that we could not do on our own. I also loved: “Don’t be anxious about yesterday, be thankful for today and look forward to tomorrow.” Great advice! I gotta just do what I can, and then be done. :)

This week really was great! Thank you for all your prayers and support! You’re the best!

Mahal Kita

*** A balut is a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines. Definition courteously of Wikipedia  [added by Jorden’s mom]

Sister Patricia's 99th birthday!!

Seriously - isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen??

Sister Violetta and Sister Patricia both had birthdays this week. Thanks for the sticky notes, Heidi!

Jun Jun!

Chopping wood at Jun Jun's

Sister Dizon. And me and my curled hair!!

Housemates! Sister Dizon, Sister Price, and Sister Flores

Batch mates! We entered the mission field at the same time! Sister Flores, Sister Golightly, and Sister Lacdoo

Preparation-day excursion to the Chinese Temple last week

(Look closely behind us)

Dang Man!

“Dang man!” is Sister Dizon’s catch phrase. I feel like it describes my week pretty well! Don’t get me wrong, there were super great things about this week – I scared the heck out of Sister Dizon, we laughed until we cried multiple times, and we just about died of laughter during one of our lessons. 

A drunk guy joined us and tried to sing “Keep the Commandments” with us. I lost it when Sister Dizon interrupted him (after about the 15^th time he asked, “How do I join the Mormons?”) and said, “Brother, JUST LISTEN!” I burst out laughing and then Sister Dizon turned to me and said, “Why are you laughing?! I am serious!” but then she lost it too and we were both crying from laughing so hard!

Emily, thanks for the EFY music! We made a super great music video one night at the house. But guess what is even funnier? Sister Dizon watches it ALL THE TIME and laughs like it’s the funniest thing ever. Every time. Her laugh is so contagious that it makes me laugh from across the house! She is hilarious! Thanks again for the music Em!

Love the Rimpilios family! This week Sister Dizon and I helped Sister Dianne make 4 kilos of pancit for her kids’ entire school! DANG MAN! Also, I learned how to make pancit Sister Diane’s way – hers is so stinkin’ masarap! [delicious] Brother Frank headed out to sea this week – he will be gone for 9 months. Before he left he told us he hoped to see a picture of Michael and Jordan at their baptism on Facebook. Tender! And so sad! And so happy!

Miracle this week! Rebecca’s husband has always been really hard hearted towards us. But GUESS WHAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK?! HE LISTENED TO THE LESSON! He didn't stay (still a little too prideful for that :) ) but he told us, “I will listen on the other side of the door." MIRACLE! Then, guess who came to church? Sister Rebecca!! She has wanted to for forever, but her husband wouldn't let her. She made it this week! 

So awesome!

One of our investigators, Sheila, has made great progress. One day when we stopped by she had just gotten home from work and was way tired. I asked, “Can we teach your husband?” She said, “OK!” without hesitation. Turns out he left when he heard us coming. DANG MAN! BUT, Sister Sheila told us she knows this is the right path for her because when she started reading the Book of Mormon, she was able to get clients (she is a masseuse). She was practically out of work before, and now she is recognizing the blessings of keeping the Lord’s commandments – of being on His path. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and told us that she knows it’s true! She believes that Joseph Smith was a true prophet! Sheila is so great! She reads everything we ask her to read; she has such a strong testimony. She can’t ever make it to church though. Something has come up the last 2 Sundays she tried. DANG MAN!

You know what one of the worst feeling ever is? When someone knows what you are telling them is true, you know they know it’s true, they know they know it’s true and when you ask, “Do you believe the Book of Mormon is true?” “Do you believe Joseph Smith was a true prophet?” “Do you believe the church is Christ’s true church on the earth today?” and they answer YES to everything, and then kick you out and tell you not to come back. DANG MAN! Half way into Sister Saltiban’s lesson, she interrupted us to tell us she doesn't want us back. We both shared our testimonies and cried. She apologized and told us still don’t come back. Then she shared her experience at baptism. SHE KNOWS IT’S TRUE! Before we left, Sister Dizon chose my favorite hymn to sing (by coincidence). I totally cried! And then I had to say the closing prayer too. It was a struggle. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WAS SO STRONG!!

People have booted us before, all the time! But not people who have a testimony. It is so hard to see someone who KNOWS it is true not accept the gospel in their life. It’s so hard to see someone you love turn away from Christ and the blessings that Christ wants to give them if they do the things He asks of them. So stinking sad! When we got on the jeepney after, we were both a lil teary still. We sat of opposite ends of the jeepney. Sister Dizon pulled her Book of Mormon out of her bag and passed it to me opened to Alma 26:27, then Alma 17:10. As we were passing the Book of Mormon back and forth, teary a bit, I thought to myself, “I am a missionary!” It kinda hit me in a weird, different way in this situation. DANG MAN! :)

Alma 26:27

Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.

Alma 17:10

And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted.

I love that Sister Dizon and I get to share all these up and down moments. We laugh, we cry, we laugh till we cry. It’s beautiful. Last night, walking after a discouraging day, I said, “I just want to yell! Is that allowed?” She said, “Let’s do it!” So we yelled a bit. It felt so good! We are so weird!

We ran into Oliver the other day while we were out tracting. He proceeded to send us a few texts throughout the week…

• Thanks Sister that I was able to see you walking again.  I am thankful to God, as the one angel of the 2^nd Jerusalem, no other in the Philippines
• Thank you again Sister Jackson. I love you I love you
• Sister Jackson, your name is written on my heart
• I will prove to you Sister Jackson that I am the one angel the time will come on judgment day but I promise I will save your life, one real angel.
• Sweet Jackson, on May 13, 2011 I saw the Holy Spirit, just like a pigeon, just like happen in Portugal Spain (this one was all in English and I still don’t understand it!)
• Hey sweetheart Jackson! Again, I’m one angel, sending my greetings to you!

That’s pretty much it…a couple other “I love you” “Goodnight sweetheart” texts, but nothing too different. DANG MAN!

Well, life is good! Next week will be even better! I’m gonna go buy some chicken nuggets at Macdo’s cause they are SUPER MASARAP here!

Thanks for the letters Erika, Hermana Taylor, and Andersons! Y’all are the best! Emily, love the music. LOVE the music! Mom, you make the best packages!

Thanks again for all of the support! I love y’all!

Rimpilio Family! Love them!

Fisher Family (minus Brother Fisher) after church! 

Sad Sisters after Sister Saltiban dropped us

Popsicles after a hot day of work = love

Sneak peek at our EFY music video. Get excited!

Thank you Thurmans! Those Hot Tamalies were so masarap!! And, I love the socks!

Thank you Erika!!

I love my desk decorations! Thanks Jennie and mom!

3 Months in the Pines

 

Sister Salvetara's (Grandma Jackson - Filipino version) grandson. He has a crush on me. He is so cute!

Pedicures for less than $5! What a treat! #lastpdaysplurge #fivedollarsisexpensivehere

 The day after the pedicure!!

This picture happens when you ask a 5 year old boy to take a picture for you. "We look drunk!"-Sister Gerhards

The picture we were trying to get that kid to take - I found a bucket to put the camera on.

I had all the ward missionaries meet at Macdo our last night because Sister Gerhard's birthday is tomorrow and she told me she has always wanted a birthday party at Macdo.

 

Justine...she reminds me of GWYNETH! Love her. Miss the Dunaways <3

 My new kasama, Sister Dizon!

 Sister Dizon and I did not plan these busy pattered skirts and striped tops on purpose...We are just crazy like that! :)

The first day with Sister Dizon going out to work in the morning....
I got fried! I'm gonna go buy some sunscreen! It's super hot now!
  

I just took this picture about a half an hour ago! We went out to eat with our house mates and two other Sisters :) So fun! The Elders happened to be there and photo-bombed.

My new companion, Sister Dizon, is great! AND! Sister Gerhards is a Sister Training Leader in Lingsat now (which is the place we used to live with the STLs while they were looking for an apartment for us). So I still see her all the time! So lucky! And we will go on exchanges probably!

Sister Dizon and I get along really well. She is awesome. We look like quite an odd couple though! We both ended up in stripes and patterns one day; we weren’t matching like that in the beginning of the day, but Sister Dizon changed because it was so hot out. I love her! She kinda reminds me of Alyssa Delos Reyes. :)

This week had some great stories: powerful lessons, new investigators, such a strong spirit and strong commitments. But, they all ended the same way: ”And they didn’t come to church.” Too bad preparation day isn’t on Saturday because then my letter would have been full of excitement and hope! So instead of telling those stories, I hope y’all enjoy these!

EPIC FAIL! Sister Gerhards and I had a great idea to invite Sister Jen to Family Home Evening with 2 ward member families. Remember she has 1½ year old twins and a four year old. Before I go too far with this story, you should know that missionaries aren’t allowed to hold babies or kids, let kids sit on our lap, tickle kids, etc. I understand why, but it’s so hard to live sometimes though! So Jen was trying to participate and listen at FHE, but her twins were all over the place! Crying, wanting to be held, wanting to walk free, wanting food, etc. Things got super crazy when one girl pantsed the other one then BIT her smack on her naked bum! They both started crying hysterically! I wanted to get up and help so badly, but all I could do was stare! So did the other family members! Finally one of the 11 year old boys picked up one of the babies, carried her inside and set her on the floor. But then he just left and shut the door behind him! Oh my goodness! Poor Jen! She has her hands full!  

Sister Salvetara (ward member that reminds me of Grandma Jackson) is so nice! On Tuesday Sister Gerhards and I went over to her house and filmed a video about how we do door approaches. Every companionship in the mission had to make one and turn it in. She was such a great actress! Then afterward she cooked for us. I helped cut veggies. She took one look at my cutting and said “Ugly! You’ll never get a husband if you cut onions like that!” The cool part is she said it in Tagalog, and I understood what she was saying! She’s totally right. My onion cutting was pangit. :) But, thanks to Sister Salvetara now I know how to cut onions so I can get a husband. Sweet. 

I’ve been here 3 months now, but sometimes I’m still way confused. In a different lesson with Jen (not the FHE, but yes, one of the girls still peed on the floor) I asked her what she felt when she prayed. She gave me a 3 sentence-ish answer. I didn’t understand a word of it. She was smiling, so I figured that it must be good! Nope. She said she didn’t feel anything and didn’t get an answer. I proceeded to testify that she felt the Holy Ghost and I know that God answered her prayer. AWKWARD!

These are some of my favorite quotes from Preach My Gospel this week:

“Remember that people have agency to choose whether or not to accept your message.”

“When you have done your best, you still may experience disappointments, but you will not be disappointed in yourself.”

So, even though I don’t have the “Happily Ever After” ending to my stories this week of “And then they all came to church!” it’s ok! We worked hard this week. We did our best. This week kind of made me think of how hard it must be for our Heavenly Father to give us our agency and let us make mistakes. I just want to tell some of my investigators, “You’ve got to do this! You don’t understand what you are missing!” because I love them so much. Heavenly Father loves each of us more than we can comprehend. He must be so sad when we choose the wrong path and so happy when we come back!

I take comfort in knowing that God knows best! Everything will work out in the end.

 

A few of my favorite things

This herd of kids followed us down the road giggling...it was the cutest thing  ever! Every time I said, "Hello!" to them, they would all die laughing!

Sweet Violetta's baptism day. I am so happy for her!

Some ward members 

Assistant Ward Mission Leader - he runs the show!

The night of both of our first baptisms!! So fun!!

I learned how to make comote-Q! It is basically sweet potatoes deep fried in sugar. Oh man. This is trouble. They are SO good!

My lovely companion - I couldn't survive without her! 

Sister Gerhards and I had a wonderful last full week together! I can’t believe transfers are in 3 days! I’m so excited to write about a few of my favorite things from this week.

• I have a new nick name! “Sister” in Tagalog is “ate” (pronounced “at-ay”). Some kids in our area started calling me “Ate Jackie.” Oh my goodness it’s so adorable! I love it!

• In a lesson with the Rempilios kids, Sister Gerhards asked Michael and Jordan, “Who is in heaven?” Michael replied, “Jesus…and Joseph Smith!”

• We met Jun Jun’s mom! Jun Jun is still reading the Book of Mormon! We taught them a beautiful lesson about the Book of Mormon. And, Jun Jun is such a smart kid! He figured out how to read from the hymn book. You know how the lines are kind of confusing? Well most adults can’t figure it out even after we explain how. But he did! And he was helping his mom follow along! We are going to try to pick them up for church next week, so hopefully we can help them progress!

• We are teaching a new family! We met the mom last week when she sat in on a lesson we were teaching at her neighbor’s house. Jen, the mom, has 3 little girls. The youngest 2 are twins. They are probably just under 2 years old. The older one is probably only 4. There were so many distractions: babies crying, babies peeing on the floor, babies escaping out the door multiple times, babies getting into stuff they shouldn’t, babies needing snacks. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so chaotic! But Jen was super focused! When we got to the part in the lesson about Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry I talked about His baptism. Sister Gerhards later told me that she had thought that we should talk about Christ’s baptism too. I asked Jen if she would say the closing prayer and she did! We were able to quiet the babies for the prayer, but then one cried. :) I hope she prays tonight. We are going back Sunday to hopefully meet her asawa din [husband].

• Violetta’s baptism day was BEAUTIUL! We went to Violetta’s house at 5 to pick her up and share a short message. Our message was about the happiness that comes with baptism, the baptismal covenant and enduring to the end. We read the account from the Book of Mormon of the people getting baptized in Mosiah 18 and I basically shared my mom’s insight. Then Sister Gerhards asked her why she was getting baptized. She responded, “To be cleansed from sin and return to God.” Then Sister Gerhards said, “But this is not the end.” And Sister Violetta said, “I will endure to the end of my life.” When she said the closing prayer, I felt the spirit so strong - probably one of the strongest times in my life. I felt the love God has for Sister Violetta and His joy at her decision to be baptized. Words cannot describe my joy and how honored I felt to be an instrument and a witness to one of the most miraculous things on earth. It’s such an honor to be able to help in little ways, but mostly just witness this beautiful change in her through the Lord, and all of the wonderful blessings that will come of it. 

This picture isn't really one of my favorite things... it's supposed to show how beat up my legs are, but the shadow kind of ruined it. I'm covered in mosquito bites, scrapes, bruises... and my knee is giving me trouble. 

  

Through Small and Simple Things

My companion and I totally planned on buying paper and other cute stuff to make Valentines for the family members that haven’t been coming to church on our preparation day…But we forgot! So, I made these ghetto looking Valentines out of what I had. Post-it notes (2 per Valentine, sticky sides together), lined paper, scripture marking pencil, and THANK GOODNESS I had ribbons from your Valentines package mom! Thank you for that! 

They turned our Post-it notes into Valentines. :)

So these little ghetto cards got us in the door of 3 family’s houses who have been hiding from us! Two of them have been hiding from us since week 1! Funny, I guess it’s harder to shut the door on someone after they give you a card that says “Mahal Namin Kayo!” [We Love You] and tell you “God loves you so much. We want to share a message with you about God’s love! Can we come in?” Irresistible! It’s really true though, God does love you! No matter what. And even though I challenged the people we taught this week to spread the love of God this “Valentine’s Season” kind of as a joke – it’s true! We should always try to spread God’s love! His arms are open to everyone, and some people don’t even know! As Clayton Christensen says in the book The Power of Everyday Missionaries “Every time you take someone figuratively by the hand and introduce him or her to Jesus Christ, you will feel how deeply our Savior loves you and loves the person whose hand is in yours.” So even though Valentine’s Day is over, I hope you will find simple ways to show people that God loves them. Spread the love! It’s the little things that count.

ALSO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER! I can’t believe you are 13! That’s so old! You’re a teenager. Wow! Growing up so fast! I can’t even handle it! I didn’t have a cake to celebrate your birthday, so instead I bought some BBQ dugo! You’ll have to google translate that one. It’s just as masarap as it sounds! :) 

[dugo = blood  masarap = delicious]

I learned this week you can get road rash from dirt roads. Well, dirt and rocks. I was walking along, and BAM! My right leg slipped and knocked over my left leg. I got pretty cut up actually! Good thing it happened by the cemetery in our area. I sat on a tomb to wash my leg off while my companion said, “Brother Alfonso, please don’t come haunt us later tonight. Thank you for letting Sister Jackson sit on your coffin!” Haha! She took this lovely picture of me, although my cut-up legs are not pictured. :) Why am I so clumsy?!

This week we figured out that the house we’ve been stopping by to see Jun Jun isn’t actually Jun Jun’s house. So, Sister Gerhards and I walked around the neighborhood asking, “Do you know a kid named Jun Jun? No, we don’t know his last name. Do you know where he lives? He’s about this tall and he is 11 years old.” Super sketchy! That would NEVER fly in the U.S.! We’d get the cops called on us! Turns out two random old dudes knew who we were talking about. They said, “The kid you gave your book to? He lives over there!” Huh. People definitely notice what we do and how we act all of the time; even when they just see us give a Book of Mormon to the neighbor boy.

We found Jun Jun’s house! Every time we go there his parents are not home. We are going to try to go back tomorrow night to visit them. Cross your fingers for me!

Violetta had her baptismal interview! She is getting baptized on Saturday! I am so excited for her. She is adorable! She has come so far! After her interview she asked Sister Gerhards if she should share her testimony after her baptism. Sister Gerhards said “Pwede!” Violetta asked, “Can I say it in Ilacano?” Oh my goodness! She is so cute! I am so happy for her, for the decisions she is making in her life and the person she is becoming.

Thank you for all your prayers and emails! Sorry I don’t have enough time to reply to all of them, but I do read all of them! They make my day! I have the best family & friends! Thanks for everything! 

Till next preparation day,

Ingat!

Another week in Pagdalagan

This week we had a great service project! I noticed a big field behind one of our less active ward member’s house had a ton of litter and trash in it. This family lives in a compound owned by another church’s charity foundation. The landlord said to my companion and me, “We welcome all religions, but you aren’t allowed back here.” Hmmm…contradict yourself much? :)  Also, about the field, the owner of the field and all of his buddies call out, “Hey Barbie! Hey Sexy! Hey Baby!” when we walk by. So, by cleaning up the field we had two goals in mind. 1. Get back into the compound so that we could visit this family again. 2. Get those guys to stop calling us sexy and other names! Mission accomplished! The mom in the family saw us and came over and talked to us twice, and when we walk by the field now, the guys call, “Hey Sister! Hey Ma’am!” Much better. :) All of the Sevilla missionaries (Full time and ward missionaries) came and helped clean up so fast that we started a second field. Honestly, the best part of the whole thing was that we got to wear basketball shorts! Ha ha, just kidding. Bonding with ward members, talking to less active members and serving our fellow men…then basketball shorts. A very close 4^th.  :)

I got to experience a Filipino hospital this week for the first time! Really, it was nothing major, but the doctor’s offices here are super sketch, so if someone needs medical attention they go straight to the hospital. I had a really sore throat for 9 days, and it got so swollen that I started having trouble breathing. Sister Gerhards is a nurse and she said she knows where to stab me in the throat if I stopped breathing all together. (She told me that she didn’t think she could make herself stab me.) Good thing I got some very potent antibiotics at the hospital. The doctor I saw asked if I was a missionary. He didn’t charge me for the visit – just the medicine. So nice of him!

In addition to the local church pastor telling his congregation not to listen to us anymore, moms are training their kids to tell us they aren’t home. We actually heard Jovey yell to her kid who answered the door, “Tell them I’m not here!” Whoops! Caught ya! We yelled back, “Hi Jovey! We can hear you!” She’s a funny lady. Another mom has trained her 3 year old girl to tell us, “Mom’s not home!” every time we walk by the house. We stopped asking for her mom about a month ago, but she still yells, without fail, “Mom’s not home!” every time. So funny! What an obedient and diligent daughter.

My favorite lesson this week was across one of those sketchy bridges from last week. When I asked him if he would read 1 Nephi Chapter 1 before our next visit he said, “Yes. I won’t try, I will do it.” Wow! What great commitment!

Thank you for all of the letters and support! I really appreciate it. I wish I could describe my nervous anticipation at zone studies as they pass out the mail and then PURE JOY when I have a letter! Thank you for remembering me – and writing! Most of all, thank you for your prayers. I can really feel them every day. I have the best family, ward family and friends. I pray for y’all every day. 

Ingat! Till next Monday!

That’s What It’s All About!

My week was good! We had a couple of WAY awesome lessons, crossed some ghetto bamboo bridges and found out why everyone has been punting us for the last two weeks! (It’s because their local pastor told his congregation to stop listening to us!)

Toby, I hope you had a fantastic birthday! I was thinking about you on your special day! Have a wonderful year as an 11 year old! Tell me all about it!

Not only did I celebrate your birthday with this caribou, I also had a super awesome day on your birthday Toby! Seriously, one story might be “Friend” magazine worthy. Get excited!

We have been teaching an older lady and her 12 year old grandson for a while. We’ve caught them home maybe three times. Last time a couple of neighbor boys were sitting outside listening and when we left they asked us for copies of the Book of Mormon. We only had one left, so we gave it to Jim Jim and promised Jun Jun we would bring him one next time. Since then, we have walked passed the house twice and both times Jun Jun came running after us asking for a Book of Mormon. Both times we had already run out! Jun Jun wanted the Book of Mormon so badly, he bought Jim Jim’s for 2 pesos! This week when we saw him, we asked him how far he had gotten. He ran and grabbed his Book of Mormon to show us! He is on page 15! He said he reads every morning! He took us to his house so that we could teach his family another day (they don't have electricity and it was already dark when we got there).

Seriously though, how cute is that? Jun Jun, a 12 year old boy, has such a strong desire to read The Book of Mormon just from listening to the lesson from outside that he bought the book from his friend! (Also, this explains why whenever we see Jim Jim he doesn’t make eye contact or talk to us anymore! He is ashamed he sold his Book of Mormon for 2 pesos!)

While tracting one day, we heard someone laughing super loud which is rare, because it is a time of day when it is so hot out that everyone takes a nap! So, I said we should try that house, and we taught a lesson there! It was funny, we were actually surprised she let us in! When she said, “Pasok!” (enter) I thought, “Talaga??” (really??) Ha ha. Hopefully since we know why people have been dropping us, we can address their concerns better now. 

Here in the Philippines, there were a lot of names of members of the church without any contact information that just got sent to Manila. As missionaries, we are trying to find these lost members, or AUNs (Address Unknown). We have a list of seven names that might be in our area that we go around asking people, “Do you know this person?” It’s a real life scavenger hunt! I love that we then explain, "We are looking for this person because we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” It’s such a great get-passed-the-gate opportunity!

When we ask where some AUNs lived, most replies were “There!” and we would reply, “Where there?” They would answer, “Straight, there!” Ugh. The best directions we got were “Right at the bridge,” so we walked across two super sketchy bamboo bridges looking for our AUNs. When I was crossing, a chunk of bamboo fell off! So sketchy!

We did not find any AUNs but we did find one really promising potential investigator and one new investigator! It was totally worth crossing the sketchy bridges. Sister Rose lives in a little Garden of Eden! She has little rock pathways and tons of beautiful potted plants. It was gorgeous! When we were walking up to the house, through the garden pathways, I said to Sister Gerhards, “We gotta teach her a really good lesson so we can come back here!” I’m terrible; I should be thinking that about every house! All throughout the lesson I kept thinking, “How do I know her?” At the end of the lesson, Sister Gerhards asked, “Do you know Violetta?” YUP! THEY ARE SISTERS! Before we found this out and closed the lesson, Sister Gerhards and I both kept pushing for her to come to church. We really, really wanted Rose to commit to attending church, but she wouldn’t. Later she told us Violetta has been inviting her every week! Oh my goodness!

Violetta is such a good fellowshipper – and she isn’t even a member of the church yet! (Violetta is getting baptized on Feb. 22!) She agreed to come with us to pick up her sister Rose for church. They live on opposite sides of our area, so we met on the highway and started walking to Rose’s house. Along the way TONS of people knew Violetta! TONS! Sister Gerhards told me later they were making fun of her for being with us. 

After Sister Gerhards told me they were making fun of Violetta, I was so mad! Well, not really mad. I am guessing it’s what you call the “momma bear” feeling. How dare they!? But Sister Gerhards told me that Violetta wasn’t bothered by it. She said, “It’s fine!”

Seriously, this is like Lehi’s dream, The Iron Rod, in real life! We are on our way to pick up someone for church, people are mocking on either side, but Violetta has tasted the fruit. She is holding on to the rod. She is such a great example to me!

Thank you for all the prayers, love and letters! Keep ‘em coming! I used to have the wrong address posted so my mail was being sent to the wrong mission and took a really long time to get to the right mission. Here is the correct address for mailing letters:

Sister Jorden Elizabeth Jackson

Philippines Baguio Mission

PO Box 115 National Highway

Brgy. Lingsat

San Fernando, La Union

2500, PHILIPPINES

Seriously, y’all are the best family, friends, ward family! 

Mahal ko kayo!

God bless

Sister Violetta! I love this great lady! She is amazing!

Trike ride! The mirror distorts the image and makes it look big. 

It's not!

 Sketchy bamboo bridge!

 Super sketchy bamboo bridge - "No Hands!" because the side railing was falling off/gone!

Our ward Relief Society President

Preparation-day walk on the beach! Today was the first day we had an activity that allowed us to wear non-proselyting clothes!!

Sister Latimer and I made this for our zone activity contest this morning. We were given a bunch of random ingredients and we had to make a main course and dessert using all of the ingredients. We used the watermelon as the bowl for our fruit salad (that qualifies as a dessert here!). Elder Alihandro took all the leftover food, put it in a blender he found, and made a nasty watermelon-banana-cream-sweetened and condensed milk-smoothie. So gross!

Sister Gerhard's mission is half way over! We celebrated with this lovely cake. I look a bit crazy... it was the end of the day! 

Happens to the best of us :)