Slicin' and Dicin" Dream Fulfilled!

This week I got to live out my dreams of being a lumberjack as well. We had service for a family in our ward named the Solsebees who have a nonmember daughter whom we are teaching. They had a huge tree from their neighbor's yard break and fall into their yard but part of it was hanging still from the main branch. We showed up and they handed us all sorts of stuff to start slicin' and dicin' the tree up! There was these cool electric chain saws, one was powered by a drill battery pack and the other was attached to a 12' pole and corded. But the real show was when I got to climb a ladder and use the real chain saw. I felt like a real lumberjack (especially since I hadn't shaved yet that morning so I had a micro-beard) and all I was missing was some flannel. I had wood chips in my chest hair and everything!

"If it's not a blessing, it's a lesson".......

Favorite quote from one of our investigators named Karen (who we picked up my first week and is so awesome and will probably be baptized) was, "If it's not a blessing, it's a lesson". If we have stumbling blocks in our lives, it's not a punishment from God, it's an opportunity to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, turn to the Savior and learn from what we just went through. Then take that stumbling block and make it a stepping stone in our pursuit of Christ.

Thanks for the nice pic-me-up. I hope I am making a positive difference, because it often feels like I am not. I am definitely enjoying being here but it is hard to feel successful when you see so few fruits. I am loving this ward and being a missionary is great. I have seen a lot of personal growth in the past 6 months though. It definitely doesn't happen all at once, but slowly and over a period of time. I am thankful for the love Heavenly Father shows me though and the growth I have experienced in my testimony. I know that this is the best thing I could have chosen to do at this point in my life.

Crossfit P-day with Elders Thompson, Cornia, and Chapman.

This week was really great. I have been getting to know the ward a little better. We made a goal to see every one on our whiteboard both last week and this week so that we can really judge to see who is ready to progress and who is not. We have a few people whom Elder Thompson and Corillo were working with who stopped progressing but are ready to do so now. Our main focus this week its to get people on date and progressing. It is disheartening to see such low numbers on our end but we are not letting that get to us and are going to try and work more effectively on the transition plan so that we can have more success and have the Spirit with us more. 

Meeting

Another Meeting (fun meeting)

This meeting has gone to the dogs!

"We don't clean the temple because it is dirty, 

we clean it so that it never gets dirty."

I really enjoyed learning about how temple cleaning works this week in church. Someone told a story about how a lady, who had previously been asked to clean the temple and felt as if her time had been wasted when she saw that by the end of her two hours of labor, her rag was essentially as clean as when she started, was asked to clean it again. A fellow cleaner at the temple said, "We don't clean the temple because it is dirty, we clean it so that it never gets dirty". I thought that was profound. It goes right in line with repenting and taking the Sacrament every week. We don't necessarily do it so often because we are disgustingly filthy, we do it so that we never become filthy since we are continually turning to Him and remembering Him so that we don't have time to become filthy from the world in which we live. As we remember Him who made eternal life possible, we will inevitably take steps toward Him so that we are more like the Gentle Master whom we serve.

Your Elder Jackson