Surprise Surprise!!!

So I had a huge surprise yesterday at church! We had received a call asking what time church was and where we met at. When we got there I was "greatly astonished" to see my good ol' pal Blake Miller! He just got back from his mission two months ago and was in my YSA ward in Tempe. I also had another buddy named Ben Aguilar who left in fall of 2-13 for his mission here in Riverside and we all three were super good friends. They roadtripped down here and Blake came to church! It was awesome! He also was with some other people from my YSA, one of which is from here in Corona and was baptized here and then went to ASU! It was such a great surprise! Alyssa also Facetimed him so I was able to see/talk to her for a few minutes! It was so crazy! I am still kind of in shock but it was fantastic to be reunited with my two best friends! Love them. Luckily, it really hasn't distracted me really at all! It was right back to work after that! 

The Atonement

I've been learning a lot about the Atonement recently and what it does for us. I am so grateful that we can repent every day--multiple times a day---for mistakes we make. It is such a freeing feeling to turn our hearts over to Christ and become more like Him. When we admit to ourselves and God that we have fallen, He does not turn His head and leave us. Instead He wraps His loving arms around us and lifts us up to be better, whether our mistakes are minuscule or massive. It is a gift I am incredibly grateful for. I am so glad that everyday I can file off the imperfections and become more of the man God would want me to be.

We really saw the hand of the Lord this week! It was amazing to see how He blesses us, even when we don't deserve it. Elder Thompson and I have been struggling from day one to get in with our investigators to teach them any lessons. As a missionary obviously I want to be teaching lessons, but just as obvious is the fact that we can't teach if there is no one to teach to. We need to talk to more people and work with members more and we will then have more people to teach, but this week was pretty incredible in the fact that we were able to get in and see a lot more people than we usually are able to! We put one of our investigators (Karen) on date for baptism, and another said that he would love to be baptized, as well as were able to teach the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to two potentials and get in to visit some less-active members that we had not been able to see for a while. Our investigator Maria also came to church and will very likely be making steps toward baptism very soon, if we can meet with her. The Lord really did bless us, in spite of our shortcomings, with a lot of great success and it feels great!

Your Winnemucca Pics are awesome! I really like the black and white one. We had dinner with a family "out in the boonies" the other night and it made me think of Winnemucca and how well you can see the stars. I am glad that you sent all the other pictures in the small photo album too. I also really appreciate the care package. I am sending my voter paper in today. I don't really know who is the best candidate so I'll probably just go off what you and dad and Bryce suggest. I want someone smart, honest, conservative and religious. We'll see! And the music is awesome! It is so great to have some good stuff to listen to. Thank you so much! I really like the 1st Presidency message this month as well. 

Love you!

Your Elder Jackson

The homie Blake Miller

Sad to see Elder and Sister Puskas heading back to Canada.