Seeking and Expecting Miracles

May 2, 2022

Salut!

As hard as it is to believe, this was the last full week left in the transfer. I feel like just yesterday I was asking myself how on earth it was already April and now I’m even more bewildered to realize that it’s already May, but a lot of great things happened this week and I am really excited for the future!

As I listened to President Nelson’s most recent conference talk and have continued to study it on my own and discuss it with members, the invitation he gives to seek to and expect miracles has really stood out to me, and this week I feel like his promise was fulfilled several times over! I’ll give three specific examples from this week that I think show how the Lord answered our prayers and put us in the right place at the right time.

I’ll start off on Tuesday morning. A few weeks ago our mission started a new initiative where every morning from 10 am to 12 pm our whole mission goes outside to talk to people in the streets. It’s been a great learning experience for me since I honestly haven’t done a lot of street contacting throughout my mission, but every morning I feel a big responsibility as we pray to know where to go that specific day. On Tuesday morning it was raining, but I felt we should go to a specific park in our area. When we got to the park it was unfortunately empty, but after saying a prayer we felt like we should still keep walking around it. That decision led to some good conversations about 15 minutes later once we exited the park, but the real miracle is that it led us down a path that brought back a memory from a few months ago from back when Elder Felix and I had been taking the bus. One day we had said hi to a man named Louis who was standing outside his apartment and we had a fun conversation about baseball and America. We gave him our number, but he didn’t call so that was that. I’d pretty much forgotten about that experience until I suddenly realized on Tuesday that we were in front of Louis’s apartment again, and after a moment of hesitation I went to knock on the door and before I could even knock Louis opened the door and welcomed us in! He has a pretty thick quebecois accent, but thankfully my comprehension has improved dramatically in the last few months, and he expressed interest in learning about the restored Gospel and we got to meet with him again this Saturday!

The second miracle happened on Wednesday as we were out visiting some less active members and people who had met with missionaries in the past. I had felt that morning like we should visit two specific people who live a little bit farther away in our area, but to my disappointment neither of them ended up answering when we knocked. As we prepared to head back home, we decided to check our map and see who else we could visit on our drive back home. The name of a less-active sister who I had never reached out to before stood out to me, and while I wouldn’t usually go there since it would make more sense for the Sisters to visit her we decided to go anyway. The Sister welcomed us in when we knocked, and she told us about her story and how she had met her husband who was from Morocco. As we got to know her we asked her about her experience joining the church and she just burst into tears as she shared her testimony and how much the Gospel had blessed her. It was one of the most spiritual meeting I’ve had on my mission, and she said that she had been praying a lot recently and I know that our visit was an answer to all of our prayers.

The third miracle came as we were once again going to visit someone who had been taught in the past by missionaries. We had just finished talking to a man on the street when a young man down the street yelled “Latter-day Saints?!” and walked up to us. It turns out that he is a member and that he grew up active in our church. He was super happy to see us, and we all knew it wasn’t a coincidence.

I also want to mention another tender mercy that came during this week’s district council which was the last of the transfer. As I had been planning what assignment to give for the council and prayerfully deciding what the subject for our discussion should be and who should lead it, I ended up changing from what I had assumed would be the most logical choice. The subject I chose was recognizing and helping others recognize the Spirit and when the time came for the Sister to start the discussion she said that she loved the subject that she had been given and she ended up doing a really amazing job. It was just another one of those experiences that testify that revelation is real! I have seriously loved being a part of this district, and I will always be grateful for the transfer that we got to spend working around and learning from each other!

As a side note our friend George is still doing great! He has continued to show interest in the Gospel as we have helped him with his homework, and I am happy to report that I have improved noticeably in my ability to understand and communicate with three year old boys that speak French. 

Sunday was also a really great and unique experience since we got to spend most of the morning helping a lady move a washer and a dryer. It was a little bit tricky at some points but thankfully it all worked out well in the end. This week was also fast and testimony meeting which is always a highlight. Church was overall just a great experience, and a powerful reminder of how many wonderfully faithful members we have here and throughout the world and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I have to live among the Saints in Quebec. I love them so much!

Also last night we got transfer news! I will be heading south to the city of Longueuil (good luck pronouncing that one haha) which is just across the river from Montreal. My new companion will be Elder Lund,  I honestly could not be more excited! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Jackson