A Trip Down Memory Lane

May 30, 2022

Bonjour à tous!

This was another crazy week, but at this point I think I’m getting used to it at this point haha. Here are some of the highlights!

Monday we had a pleasant surprise when a really sweet older couple in the ward called us out of the blue and asked us if we had a dinner appointment that night. We didn’t, so we went over and we had a great time talking about their conversion/life stories and family history. At the end we gave the Sister a blessing in French which is always a really special experience.

Monday night we drove up for an exchange in a city called Drummondville that is about an hour away, and it was actually somewhat of a dream come true since I got to be with my companion from the online MTC Elder Fairchild! It only took 19 months, but getting to finally hug him in person was more than worth the wait. We had a great time together, and it was powerful to reflect on how much we’ve both learned so far on our missions. He shared some real wisdom and brought back some great memories. Our mission experiences have certainly been unique, but I know that they have been exactly what we’ve needed. The Lord knows how to make us the best version of ourselves possible!

Tuesday night we drove another 45 minutes or so to have another exchange with the Victoriaville Elders. Victoriaville is a fairly quiet town, but it is honestly beautiful. It is full of bike paths and walking trails, and we spent quite a bit of time out on the streets trying to talk with everyone.

Our third and final exchange for the week was on Thursday, and it was with the Spanish Elders in our zone. Being with a Spanish Elder for an exchange brought back lots of fun memories from my time in Fresno. I was with Elder Treviño who is only a few weeks away from finishing his mission and I definitely learned a lot from him. We had a good time street contacting in the rain and even with the less than ideal weather we were guided to a number of people who expressed interest. The highlight of the day was getting to participate in a lesson with one of their friends in a members home where we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and their friend accepted a date for baptism! Funnily enough, that is the second time on my mission I’ve seen someone be put on date while I was in a Spanish area. Coincidence? I think not.

I'll wrap up with a little update on some of our friends, Sylvain and the Pindi family. We were able to have lessons with both of them with members present, and both of the lessons were great experiences. The Pindi family are from Angola, and they have four young boys which are a ton of fun. They are pretty much completely ready to go for baptism, they are just waiting for some paperwork so the parents can be civilly married. Sylvain has been devouring the Book of Mormon the past few weeks and during our lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ he expressed his desire to be baptized! 

Love you all,

Elder Jackson