A Morning Person Once Again!

Elder Jackson and Elder Fischer

Mom! It was so great to talk to you as well! I am so happy that we get to do that every couple of months. It is a great boost. The family's house we were at ended up feeding us and they gave Elder Fischer probably one of the best going-home talks they could have given him. It was a very spiritual experience and it was a lot of fun. I really liked how Brother O'Reilly stressed that this is my mission. I own it. I will have purchased every second of it by the time I go home, and it was exactly what I will have put into it. It is not a thing to "get through", it's a time to thrive and grow--and it only happens once in your life. We have to make our missions and our lives ours! We have to get the most out of them and just like any investment, we need to take care of them. He also talked about D&C 130:20-21 and how all blessings come from our obedience, and though it may sound sacrilegious, when we do what He asks, we can demand blessings. Expect them. God is not a liar and will bless us for our obedience.

Elder AJ Jackson, Allan Raymundo, and Elder Fischer

 

I am so glad to hear you are enjoying your trip to springtime Kentucky! I wish it were under better circumstances for you though. I know you are not enjoying this, but it is for the best for your mom. "Thanks for loving me enough to hurt me" is a quote I love from a general conference talk. I think that is exactly how the Lord works with us, He trims us even when we don't want it. You are doing just that with your mom and it will be the best for her--what she needs. You can do it!

I really like that quote that no one ever fell away without stopping their daily scripture study and prayer. That is so true! Love that!

I think I have gotten back into the habit of being a morning person. I definitely like waking up at 6:30 everyday, especially if I get to sleep right at 10:30 so I can get a full night's rest. I feel so much more productive. I hope I can keep up going to bed early when I get home!

Wow, the mission really does just get better and better. It was another amazing week here in El Cerrito. I am so grateful for the Atonement and how we can continually learn and grow. I am always amazed at how the Lord puts things into our path when we ask for them: I had prayed to know what I could do to improve myself and my efforts as a missionary and nothing really came to me other than "study". So I followed the prompting and really started to study and I asked Elder Fischer how he studied and was able to prepare such excellent trainings and he gave me a few tips for what has worked for him. As I studied for myself and for my investigators, I felt so much more of an understanding on a personal level with what I was reading and how I could apply it to myself and those I am teaching. I really felt like they were Christ's words and they were for me. As I studied, it seemed that everything I was learning about was about or related to the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what His sacrifice means to us. It was a theme that really lasted the entirety of the week.

How often do we feel like the Lord pushes us too hard, only to find out it is an answer to our prayer and that it is what we need to thrive and become stronger, even when it is tough. How many of us want to be taller but groan when we get growing pains? Christ changes us. He will make us the best we can be and He makes it possible to receive eternal life, the greatest gift of all. He went through everything for us and all He asks is that we keep His commandments; He asks for people to love Him. When we do what the Lord asks, He is bound to bless us. We must trust in the Lord. We must trust that He will bless us if we keep His commandments. I know that that is true. I know that God wants us to return to Him, and that through our obedience and being changed and cleansed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can do just that. I want to make my Father in Heaven happy, and I want His blessings, and so I will do all in my power to live worthy of those blessings and be obedient to all that He asks of me. I love Him and I know He loves all of His children. 

We met an amazing lady this week. She was raised baptist and actually referred to us by a former investigator's wife. She was so kind and said that she has always wanted to learn more about Mormons because she has heard a lot from others and read stuff on the internet and just could not believe it is true. Hallelujah! "By their fruits ye shall know them" and our fruits are the best, so obviously what people read on the internet isn't true--but this church is! Anyways, we are meeting with her this week and she is excited to learn more about Christ. What a miracle! Elder Fischer and I had been working so hard and no one was progressing but just then the Lord blessed us with someone so amazing and so elect. I can't wait for the future. As Elder Westinskow says, "the future is bright--so bright!" and it is!

I love this gospel and my Heavenly Father. I love the new life I can find through God's Son, Jesus Christ. I would be so lost without them. I know this Church is Christ's and that it is the only one with His authority and power in it.

I am excited for this week! I love you so so very much! I hope Dad got my message on the home phone! If not, tell him I called and love him too! 

Love,

Your Elder Alexander Jackson

PS Thanks again so much for the wonderful birthday package!