Week 34: Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter!!!

Why is it that Easter Sunday is such an amazing day?! Well the answer is because we know that we will all be resurrected and live with our Heavenly Father and Family again! What a great knowledge that we have! Being able to share that knowledge is such a blessing and I love it so much! 

This last week was so awesome! One of our investigators, Sherri, has been able to make a new friend in the ward with Sister Holthem. I am so thankful for members, it helps when investigators can make friends so they feel welcome in the ward. Because we missionaries are terrible friends...we don't go to the Movies, or Bowling and we can't stay over very long. Oh and we are moving in and out more then you can believe. But that is okay because members make the best friends! Anyways, Sister Holthem invited her to the General Women's Broadcast and Sherri was super excited but she missed her ride and didn't make it. General Conference is this week so she will have another chance! 

We had a FHE with Patty and her family, Sister Woolley and her daughter came to, but leading to the actual FHE was crazy. I, Sister Jackson am not too creative when it comes to FHE's and so I did what any desperate person would do...we drove to our WML's house and knocked on the door. He answered, we asked for his wife. She was not home sadly and so we asked him if he could get on Pinterest and look up some FHE ideas! He was a good sport and did a wonderful job helping us to find a good FHE, we did the Popcorn Olympics! It ended up being a lot of fun and everyone was happy to eat popcorn after! We talked about how everyone is different and has different talents and that we should use and share them, just like every piece of popcorn is different and it would be boring if they were the same let alone perfect pieces. She might be getting baptized on June 4th! Fingers crossed! 

The General Women's Broadcast was amazing!! I do wish that it was two hours long though. I loved how focused the meeting was on service and serving the refugees! I am so thankful for the the chance that we have to listen to the General Authorities and how we are able to have a Prophet and Apostles today!! Honestly such a blessing! I can't wait for Conference this next weekend!

Yesterday I also spoke in Church on the Grace of Christ. I studied the talk given my Brad Wilcox,  'His Grace is Sufficient', it's an amazing talk. (Video Address of Brad Wilcox Talk, Click Here.) (Written Address of Brad Wilcox Talk, Click Here.)

I hope that you all had an awesome Easter! I am so happy for you Nick! You now have the Priesthood!! How cool is that! I love you and am so proud of you for being worthy and making the decision to get it! 

I love you all and hope that you have a week! I hope that Conference weekend is better then you can imagine! Don't forget go with a question or two! 

I love you all!  

Week 33: The Sun is Real!!!

Elle and Sister Barletta at the lake. Not sure which lake.

So first off I am loving Lynnwood! It was a big change going from suburbs and "almost Country" to apartments and more apartments. But I love it! I have met so many amazing people and love them so much! It is a lot easier when you make your own Sunshine as well!

Hosmman and Gabby are my favorite people in the entire world. They are and will forever been some really good friends. I don't know if I have ever told you about them but we met Hosmman while reading the Book of Mormon with James, a Recent Convert outside on the stair case. Hosmman asked what we were doing which started an amazing conversation about the church! He said we could stop by and well the rest is history. Every time that we go over there they have the best questions in the entire world! They also believe a lot of the same things we believe. We are working on helping them read the Book of Mormon because by reading it, this is how a person can know if the church is true or not. They love learning which makes it a lot of fun to be able to go and to teach.

Sister Barletta and Elle.

Sherri is doing good, She loves having us over. It is just because she "feels good" whenever we come over, which is the Spirit, not us!! The fact she can recognize and feel it is awesome! 

Patty is doing really good! I can only imagine how hard it is to be a mom working full time, getting a new job, and going to school and still making time for the missionaries can be super stressful. The blessings that come from it are amazing! 

It is going to be such an awesome week and I am excited to see the miracles and blessings Heavenly Father has in store for us and Lynnwood! 

In case you forgot the General Women Broadcast is this weekend!! Which means General Conference is almost here!! We are so lucky to be able to listen to the words of Prophet and Apostles. Having the fullness of the Gospel is just the biggest blessing in the entire world. That is one of the AMAZING things about a mission is I get to share this forgotten or unknown truth with all those I see and who will listen. 

I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! 

Looks as though someone is getting ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Spring is such an amazing time.

Creepy Ice Cream Van.

Week 32: What Day is it?

Sister Barletta and Elle soaking wet, helping at the food bank.

So I continue to mix up my days. Saturday I thought it was Wednesday and I guess hadn't realized that a couple days have passed. Time in the mission is so much different from anything I think I have ever experienced! Which is a good and bad thing but when I figure out how to tell "time in the mission" I will let everyone know. This week has been a really nice week. We only had one really bad rain and wind storm that knocked out the power. Luckily our apartment was safe, so therefore everyone is going to be safe and have power. Actually this was not the case. We were leaving to an appointment and most of the street lights on 164th decided they were going to stop working. So traffic was backed up so bad but that’s okay, well not really but there is no point in getting frustrated over something so simple. 

We had an awesome week this week! Transfers were on Tuesday and so all of the new Missionaries got to come in and everyone who was switching companions. Sister Barletta and I are still together so we didn't have to worry about transfers. At Zone Meeting the next day our Zone almost doubled! It was super crazy! Some areas were split in two and they also decided to mix the Spanish Missionaries with the English ones. I don't know how it is going to work but I am willing to try anything. So it is nice we only lost two missionaries. Hermana Clark is in my district. I am way excited, she is a very good missionary and so I am excited to get to learn from her. 

Typical rainy day in Washington.

Wednesday we had a normal rain storm which had me soaked from head to toe. The work doesn't stop just because of rain so we were able to go and actually find Sherri! We are super excited to start teaching her. She was in a coma for a couple of months because of a heart attack. She returned back home for Christmas. We talked to her husband, he isn't interested. However Sherri said if she comes to know that it is all true she is going to be baptized! If we do our job right and invite the spirit and she uses her agency right everything is going to be just fine! 

Saturday was the last day of the Play. I think I was ready for it to be over. We spent all day Saturday there and well we knew all of the things that were going to happen. Sister Jackson was not meant to be a part of drama. It was cool because we got to talk to a lot of different people and share some little bits of the Gospel with them. It will be nice to get back to normal missionary work!

Some of the missionaries who participated in the play.

Sunday, Sundays are not relaxing days, but this is okay because I love being super busy. We got invited to go and have dinner with President and Sister Bonham. One of the Sisters we are STL's (Sister Training Leaders) over is having a really hard time, she got here on Tuesday. So they had invited them over and didn't want it to be awkward so we were invited. I'll take that as they like us the most... HAHA

I am super excited to see what this week has in-store for us! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week! I hope the Cultural Celebration goes well! Oh, and Happy 12th Birthday to Nick! I am super excited you are going to be getting the priesthood! Keep doing what Heavenly Father needs you to do and you will be the happiest person I know! 

This is Pastor Gary...He is super cool!

 We get to spend a couple hours with him on 

Wednesdays at the food bank. 

At the play.

Week 31: Puppy-Monkey-Baby!!!

Elle and Sister Barletta in their new mission car.

So this last week, Wednesday night, we were at a members having dinner and the Dad stared to say, "Puppy-Monkey-Baby, Puppy- Monkey-Baby." We were so confused and then told we wouldn't understand unless we saw the Super Bowl.  Well we didn't see the Super Bowl. Which is just fine but I think this was the weirdest thing in the entire world! I mean what the heck is a Puppy-Monkey-Baby? I don't have to worry about it! HA HA- It’s not missionary work. 

We had a good week this last week! It was super crazy with the play and having to be there every night that it was playing. But that is okay, it is so good!! I had no idea how much work was put into putting on a play! The stress and the drama are so funny!  Although watching all the stress and drama after a while starts to stress me out. So I sit in the back and sing along to the songs and dance. Let’s just say they probably wish I was their lead performer, NOT! But it was amazing! So much hard work has been put into it and I don't think it could get any better. What is cool is that a lot of members have brought there non-member friends. So at intermission, before the show, and after the show we are able to go and talk with EVERYONE! Which is one of the best parts about being a missionary.

We were able to find a couple more investigators this last week and they are both so funny!  One of them grew up a Jehovah Wittiness and is really interested in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  One concern he has it why would his parents teach him something that wasn't right? I think this is a great concern, because no parent knowing what is right and what is wrong would purposely teach their child something incorrect. That's the thing though, they didn't teach him false information, they taught him what they knew. They were able to teach him part of the truth, everyone has truth but the only difference is no one has the full truth like we do. It is through the Prophet Joseph Smith with the Restoration of the Gospel we are able to have the fullness of the Gospel. All of it! We have the exact same church that Jesus Christ established! 

Then our other investigator Casey loves to learn about all different religions. We actually went to go see a potential given to us from the assistants, when we knocked on the door her husband answered and said the person didn't live there and that they weren't interested. Well a week or two later we went and knocked on the door. We couldn't remember if we knocked it and after we knock we remembered and his wife Casey answered and we started talking. After a couple of weeks of being friends she let us in and we have been able to talk to her about the church!  She loves it and agrees with all of it. She thought that we worshiped Joseph Smith and so that was the only hang up. Once we were able to resolve that concern she has been hunky dory with everything else! She loves the fact that we told her we were not the teachers but the spirit was, and that we wanted her to go and ask Heavenly Father if what we were saying was true. Just as directed in Moroni 10:3-5 (she loved those scriptures).

It has been an awesome week! I have felt so much better, so thank you so much for the prayers and everything! There must be opposition in all things! How else would you appreciate the good? It would be as though we were in the Garden of Eden still. But I love you all and hope you have a good week! Happy Birthday to Jeff, and Zack and then Riley and Becky this next week!