Email #64….May 23, 2011

what a fast... great week!

i had such a bitter and sweet experience this week.. on Wednesday we
had an activity with the young men in our branch. after waiting for the
always late "arrive-rs", we went out to work. the reason for the activity
was to help the young men get a taste of what the mission is like. so
what do you think of when you think of the mission?... teaching
investigators ...right? nope. they had particular families they wanted us
to visit. i was kind of disappointed with that. i wanted the boys to get a
real taste of the mission and not just invite inactive families back (not
that that is bad!). so, each one of us split up with a young man and a
return missionary. my threesome went to an inactive family that let us in.
we started talking and they shared with us their experiences of living in
Argetina and how the members were so great. they then moved to
Chile and two months later one of their daughters died! well... apparently
none of the members came by to visit or help them out at all. the
people that showed concern were from the Evangelical Church. they weren't
even recognized by the branch. honestly...it was kind of embarrassing to
listen to their experience. the church is definitely weaker here and i'm sure
there could be a legit excuse, but still.... needless to say, they don't really have
any desire to come back to church. we had a good talk with them and
hopefully they will change their mind. then we went to Dagobertos. he was
really down that day... he's usually so full of life and happy, but not
that day. his mom had been really sick and wasn't looking very good. he felt
way bad and was in need of help. he said the opening prayer and
just started crying in the middle of it. his humility invited the spirit
and in the silent moments you could just feel the love. the lesson turned out
great. we just shared a scripture about the atonement with him. it was
a great experience. all in all it was great. afterwards, we went to
the church to have a little devotional. all the boys got up and bore
their testimonies of what had happened that day. it was so great to hear...
and the things they noticed, sometimes we as missionaries overlook.
all in all it was a great learning experience, not only for them, but
also for me.

we went by Jaime and his family this week too. he has a good family
and really liked church the previous week! he has a lot of respect for us
because we are patient with everything, and more importantly, patient
with his kids. he has two kids that are really great! they talk
every once in a while and butt in, so he gets a little mad, but we love
getting feedback from the kids! anyways they are doing great...

oh, on the way back to the church for the devotional, we were running
late so we took a taxi. we were coming down a hill and a dog runs right
in front of the car and gets hit....... ugh. my heart stopped. the guys
breaks were pretty bad so (it gets gruesome) the dog gets stuck in the
bumper and gets dragged for thirty feet. then we back up to get it out
and it gets drug again... finally it gets out and starts yelping and
hobbles off. i literally wanted to cry... as those of you reading this are
about to do too. it was horrible... but one of those experiences that
i won't ever forget! there are sooooo many stray dogs out here it's
ridiculous.....

okay... sorry about that and sorry i won't be able to answer your question
this week mom, but i like the questions! leave it for me for next week
please! i also got the package, thank you very much! don't worry, i will
be using it as a hard drive so i can save pictures.

i don't know when i'm leaving here. i hope not soon, but cambios
are in 2 weeks.... we'll see. oh and it's freaking cold here! thermals
every day. but not too much rain yet....anyways i love you all! have a
great week!

elder jackson