So the adventures continue here in the Philippines! This week was somewhat eventful. I guess it's always eventful for me, maybe not so much for all of you... :)

So on Tuesday we had a companion exchange. It was a good experience. The other senior in our house, Sis. Ziebarth, came into my area with me and my companion went to the other. It was good for a lot of reasons. I realized that I am a lot more capable of leading than I thought I was. Since it was my area, I had to get us around, begin teachings, etc. I didn't know if that was something I could do, but after that I realized that I can! And I felt SO much more confident with the language afterward as well. I never feel confident with that, but lately I've had some good experiences that have taught me that I need to have more confidence in that. It was also a good experience because it helped me to realize how much I appreciate Sis. Tambolero. We've had some rough times in our companionship, but we've also had some great times. Sometimes I think we would focus too much on the difficult experiences and forget about the good. But when she came back, I realized how much I appreciate her as a missionary and as a companion, so that was great!

We also had some fun adventures this week going out to some new areas. One of them we had NO idea where we were or where we were going. Eventually we go to our ward members house to teach a lesson and it was in this awesome, beautiful, totally Filipino place. It was awesome. Oh I forgot, I had this totally weird experience while I was on my exchange. So we were trying to find this less-active member. We tried to ask his family, they just kept saying they were all catholic and always had been. Well, that's nice, but he's on our membership record list. Finally we found him tambaying (that's like loitering) and so we started talking to him. He was once a way strong member, he served in the Elders Quorum Presidency, but now he has changed back to the Iglesia ni Cristo church. That is not the Catholic church. In fact, it's probably the worst church in the world. I refer to it as the great and abominable. It really is. Well we were talking to him, he was nice but you could tell he was a little uncomfortable and was trying to end the conversation. I persisted. Finally I felt a surge of inspiration and confidence and I pulled out a new copy of the Book of Mormon (he had an old copy that wasn't complete) and asked him if before he really changed religions if he would read the Book of Mormon again and really pray about it. I don't know if he has, or if he will, but I felt the spirit really strongly telling me to do it. So I did. I've been having lots of experiences like that lately and i have been really grateful. Sometimes I feel like I don't have those, but I do, and they're awesome. It was a cool experience.

So then we had this way cool experience yesterday too. Because it was Sunday, we didn't have as many proselyting hours and so we didn't really plan to find any new investigators. So we only goaled 1. Well we were walking to an appointment we thought was a sure thing, but we passed the mom of the lady we are teaching and she said that she wasn't there. We weren't sure what we were going to do. But then this other lady who was talking to our investigators mom started talking about how she wanted to hear our message. We had set up a time for Friday, but when our appt. fell through we asked if we could teach her right then. She said yes, and then one new person turned into 4 as her other family members came out to listen. Her daughter had actually been taught before. It was a great experience and I felt like my teaching was pretty strong, which I don't usually feel especially in a first lesson. But we both did a great job. It was awesome. It's amazing to me the blessings that come. They may seem so simple and small, but they are huge miracles to me and they make this work worth it and it's what keeps me going. I'm so grateful for this opportunity, for being able to serve a mission. It's the best experience in the world!

Well I love you all, I hope you are all healthy, safe, and well. There are crazy things going on in the world right now. People are really starting to wake up to what's important. I hope that you all can remember how important the gospel is, how it's the only way to happiness. I don't just know that because I've experienced it myself, but because I've seen it change lives! It's so true! Well, stay happy and faithful!

Sister Jackson