Happy Valentine's Day ♥️🕷️🕸️♥️

February 18, 2021

Another week down! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day! I'm happy for all you who had a partner to celebrate with, and, to all of those who did not, don't worry! Something that I have a strong testimony of is that we are never truly alone. Even when we may be seemingly far from family or friends, I can promise you that Jesus Christ is with you every step of the way. Jesus Christ is always mindful of us. I love the way Isaiah puts it in 2 Nephi 21: "Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." Jesus Christ physically cannot forget us because he still carries the scars he suffered for us as a part of his perfect, glorified body - and they are there as a reminder of his love for us. Never forget that you are more loved than you can possibly imagine! 

Sticking with this week's theme of love, we did lots of service! We were able to help move some old junk out of Ida's garage and to help a Sister in our ward whose husband is going through some serious health challenges. I think it's a universal truth that everyone enjoys doing service, and I'm convinced that service becomes exponentially more enjoyable as a missionary. There's something really meaningful about getting to wear the Savior's name on your chest as you fulfill his commandment to "love one another as I have loved you." Both service projects were extra exciting because we ran into one of my favorite things in the universe: spiders!! (Yay!) It turns out that there are a lot of black widows in California. I'm pretty sure we killed somewhere between 3-5 of them this week. I can tell I've already grown a lot on mission because I honestly wasn't too phased by the sudden appearances of swarms of arachnids. That's definitely not one of the ways I thought I would change on my mission, but, hey, I'm grateful nonetheless! 

Pro tip: always, always, always bring work gloves to service, and never ever leave rolled up carpet outside. Don't ask me why. 

As I've been getting to know Elder Jones, I think the biggest thing that has helped us grow our relationship is doing little random acts of kindness for each other. I'm amazed by how much our friendship has already grown, and I'm excited to continue working with him!I'd invite you all to look for little ways you can serve your friends and family this week - I can promise you that you're love for each other will increase!

In other news, our ward was finally able to have church in-person! It turns out the building our ward meets in is about a 30 minute bike ride away, but being able to meet in person with the members of our ward was well worth it! There's a really incredible recent convert in our ward named Joe who we meet with regularly to read the Book of Mormon and see how he's doing, and this week was his first time going to church in person! It was such a cool feeling to be there with him; he's a living testament that the Gospel really does change lives. I'm so grateful that I get to build relationships with people like him. Man, being a missionary awesome! 

Love you all, 

Elder Jackson

Ida's Cats (You're welcome) 

Black Widows (I'm sorry)