Tagged!

8 February 2016  Transfer #1....Goodbye Foothill Friends!

My random California encounter for this week is: We got tagged!! Our car got its rear passenger door spray painted in yellow by some gang kids! They got some other property in the area as well. Nothing was stolen or anything, but it did provide us an awesome opportunity to get some awesome pictures to make us look like ganstas (or at least as thuggin' as two white Mormon Missionaries can look! haha). It came off pretty well, but it took up all of our day mostly and will be one of those mission stories you never forget!

Holy cow! It feels weird to be leaving my first area that I have now been in for 6 months. That being said, I am really excited to be going to a new area with a new companion to learn a lot of new things. I know that this is where I am supposed to be and am so excited for this new chapter in my mission. I have heard nothing but good things about Elder Thompson and am very excited to be working with him. I am also very sad to be leaving Elder Cornia because he and I became very good friends and worked very well together. I have been very blessed to be able to serve around some amazing Elders so far. So I will be in the Corona Stake. The work is very slow from what I have heard. It is only about a 10 minute drive from where I currently am so that will be really cool. I am kind of bummed to leave all of the great people I have come to love here, and I hope to see them again!

This week, one thing that really stuck out to me was how even the simplest of doctrines can be looked over and when they are discovered after "hiding in plain sight", their power really comes to light. We read in Preach My Gospel and many other places how faith is a principle of action; you show your faith by doing something and that that action is motivated by your faith. I guess the mind of Elder Jackson had just sort of skimmed over that for a long time, because it wasn't until this week that it really hit me. As I read in 1 Nephi, I was amazed at the big difference between Nephi and Laman and Lemuel was that Nephi, instead of sitting down and complaining as his brothers did, was instead grateful for his blessings and got up and did something. The Apostle Paul did the same thing. He was always pushing forward and doing something even when he didn't know exactly what or why he needed to do it. That is what I want to be more like. I want to be someone who heeds the promptings of the Lord as soon as they are given to me. I think it is amazing to see the blessings that come from doing as the Lord asks, and from simply getting up and taking a simple step forward.

I haven't done anything with the missionary email things yet. Would you mind looking into them? Thanks for the sketchbooks! That will be really cool to use those. I've just been doodling on notebook paper. I so miss drawing. There are a lot of things I really miss, but I guess that is why a mission is hard. You give up a lot, but I think you gain so much. And really, I have so many blessings that I am the last person on earth that should ever complain about anything.

Love,

Your Elder Jackson