December 30, 2013

Whats up!

So this past week was awesome!  It was very nice to see my fam and see their faces!  They got to see how fat I am... FYI I gained more weight in 4 months then my 4 years in high school trying to gain.. I'm just going to try to embrace it for now because I cannot stop eating this food.  For Christmas we had 3 asados. But anyway Christmas was good... it didn't feel like a Christmas at home but I really did enjoy the people I was with and to have the opportunity to serve the Lord on his birthday is a blessing. 

I don't really have much to report on this week because I was able to talk to you guys. Elder moro got transferred (not my comp) so we get a new elder moving in today. Should be exciting but I'm sad because moro and I got along really good. I'm still in Romero with E Amestica and I really think we are going to have some good success this transfer. Just got to pray hard, smile a lot, love, and work like mad men.  Easy.

Love you guys. Have a happy new year (Cade - don't kiss too many girls at midnight) 

Elder Jackson 2

Someone please tell me whats going on in the football world. :)

December 23, 2013

Hello, 

So Christmas is rolling around and I'm excited for my first one here. I am going to a members house (Juan Pablo). He's awesome and we are going to be with him and his family the 24 and 25.  Today we are going to be traveling for 6 hours for a bbq at the mission home for 1 hour... haha. 

This week was good.  My Spanish has actually started to improve and it's starting to get easier to talk to people. The nights here just turn into craziness so the new rule is we have to be home at 8.  Everything is super good and things are rolling for us. 

This week for Christmas focus on the pearl.  This is the time of the year we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesucristo. I'm eternally grateful for all He has done for all of us.  I know my Savior lives. 

Remember him this season. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Elder Jackson 2

December 16, 2013

Hello,

It's almost Christmas and its so hot I can't barely handle it.  It doesn't feel right and I would do anything for some ginger bread or some pumpkin cookies. I guess summer here its alright just to not wear clothes at all.  I've seen naked babies running around and a whole bunch of skin.  I'm starting to get those missionary tan lines and its depressing.  I think all the fat and weight I put on is going to be sweated out of me the next few months. I just have to stop eating those factueras and dulce de leche.

We are teaching an old guy named Nestor and he used to smoke a lot but we are helping him and doing everything we can to help him stop.  If he becomes a diabetic in the next month its my fault... everyday I buy him a bag of candy. He loves it.  He wants to be baptized so bad but just cant get over this.  I have faith in this guy he's awesome! 

My Spanish I don't think has improved at all in 10 weeks... 2 days ago I had 4 different people tell me they didn't understand 1 thing I said.. talk about a buzz kill.  But the people think its funny so whatever.  They can laugh all they want! 

Hope everyone has a super duper Christmas!  I'll be eating meat and watching little kids throw firecrackers all week.  Should be super duper fun!!! 

Love you all and Merry Christmas!

Elder Jackson 2

December 9, 2013

Hello, 

So this week started with a crazy storm that felt like a hurricane. We were walking an the road and just got into a house when its got really bad.  The house next to us got torn apart and it was just crazy outside. But we were safe. The power and water were out for 2 days and there were protests and it was just pretty crazy at night. I thought is was a very exciting experience!  Its getting super hot and humid here and its not even summer yet. I'm starting to sweat all the time. 

The Spanish is coming along slowly and is taking a lot of work.  But its coming! 

We had a baptism this week and it was pretty awesome. The father was able to do it and it was really special for him.  There's also Christian that we are hoping to baptize in the next week or so. His mother was baptized like 2 months ago but he backed out. But he's awesome, 16 and we are trying to work thinks out with him. This week we found 3 families that are super awesome and we are very blessed and happy to find them. 

It has been an awesome week and this week should be even better.  My comp and I are getting along good.. it's hard with the language sometimes but we just roll with it... and it helps when you have other elders with you that are super cool too. 

I'm loving it here!  Have a good week!! 

Love you guys. 

Elder Jackson 2

Holar

Hows it going?  So it turns out I got my weeks messed up and last week someone told me it was Thanksgiving. 

So, for Thanksgiving me and the 3 other elders with me made a little Thanksgiving dinner.  I made some melinesa, elder moro made some guac and noodles elder harker had some stuffing his family sent him and we had a cute little meal.  We all said what we were thankful for and it felt like home. 

This week went by really fast.  It consisted of a lot of walking and a lot of sweating and teaching.  One day we walked what felt like for 3 miles to teach an investigator and he wasn't there so we talked with his neighbors and turns out they were baptized like 20 years ago and had pictures and everything.  It made the long walk worth it. The one thing here that is super frustrating is that no one gets married or wants to so its my goal to teach them why they should get married so they can get baptized.

My Spanish is getting better.  The thing I realized is that I'm my worst enemy with the language.  When I'm frustrated, I can't speak but when I'm stress free about it I can talk.  I just need a chill pill every once in a while I guess. Whenever I get frustrated I speak in English.  My comp decided that he wants to learn English last week probably because I spoke a ton of English.  I know Spanish, I understand what people say and I can read and understand but the thing that kills me is talking.  My tongue doesn't move like the Latins.  It is very challenging.  Anyways, this week was a good week.  My comp and I work really hard and sometimes its hard to keep up with him but I'm trying. 

The missionaries here are famous.  I feel like a rockstar half the time. 

Hope everyone had a super duper thanksgiving.  Love you lots  

Elder Jackson #2

November 24th

This week was quite different. We switched things up a little bit.  My comp totally changed the way we do everything and I don't know if what I've been doing was wrong.  It's terribly frustrating having a latino comp when you don't really know the language.  Besides the lang the whole culture is different.  It definitely takes some time getting used to.  My spanish has been getting worse and worse..... it makes me so mad.  My confidence is shot, completely gone.  If I didn't have other guys in my pension with me that could speak english so I could talk things out I would freak out.  Spanish has definitely taken its toll on me before and during my mission.

I forgot about Thanksgiving until friday. I hope everyone had a good one!  I made it past my first big holiday!!! But there was a holiday here yesterday and we played soccer.  I felt like a white guy playing basketball with a bunch of black dudes.  Even the 55 year old men were juking me out... I don't know if I lost all my athletic abilities or if they are just that good. 

I don't think I ever want to leave this ward.  The people are too good to me here.  It's nice to be able to connect with people without being able to speak their language half the time. 

Since it was Thanksgiving I'll say what I'm Thankful for.....I'm very very thankful for where I'm from and how I grew up.  The experiences I had and things I've been able to do.  By seeing different parts of the world and talking with other missionaries, it makes me realize how good I had it and how awesome my parents are.

Have a wonderful week everyone.  Focus on the pearl!

Elder Jackson#2

ps.  I caught my first fire fly this week.

November 11th & 18th

Ya, I'm in Argentina...

Hola, 

The weeks are starting to just fly by and the sad part is that my spanish is still "poor to fair". But its all good the people bare with my when i talk and im pretty used to feeling like an idiot. What I deal with in my apartment is unbelievable. The other elders are by far the weirdest dudes here. The love to play lion king music and jump around as gorillas. when we find bugs they light them on fire and they never stop singing its unbelievable. 

This week was sweet! we did 2 service projects one we built a bridge. the bridge collapsed 2 times when they were pouring the concrete in it but they fixed in and its now done. I probably wouldn't walk over it. Let alone drive a car over it.  But that's how things are in Argentina.  My and I also made a fence for this old lady in our ward and the fence was pretty decent. 

My comp and I are on a roll. the work is going great and things are rolling for us. We are expecting some baptisms in the next couple weeks. its such a good feeling to walk out of a lesson that went super good. 

Love you all 

-Elder Jackson#2

Sink or Float?

Honestly I cant remember anything before Thursday, but Thursday was terrible to say the least. We had intercambios and I got paired up with the Latin zone leader... it gave me a great idea on where I was with my Spanish . basically no where.  Haha its awesome! But honestly,  it was a good time and I got a lot better with my spanish and it was nice to see some different teaching styles there were. 

This week I had my first rain storm and i didn't have a coat or anything. It was sunny and clear skies and after our meeting it was absolutely pouring.  I felt like a missionary. soaking wet and having a smile on my face. 

This week we had another baptism and we have one this upcoming week. We are super excited. Saturday Elder Holland is coming so that is going to be awesome!   We are all super stoked to see what he has to say to us. Well, sounds like everything's good at home.  Thanks LCC for redeeming us against Torrey.

Love you all, 

- Elder Jackson#2