(JONNA)- Mini Olympics Pday- unforgettable confrontation

Hello Everyone!

Boy, I have a lot to write today!

First, transfers are this week...Sister K and I are staying together in Woodville! Yay! We have resolved to work harder than we did in the last 6 weeks (not that we were lazy, but we can always do better :).

Second, Zone P-day last week was AMAZING! We reached our halfway goals for the 1st ward and had a combined zone pday in Vidor. We had our own mini-Olympics. We started by chasing greased piglets around a field (Sis. Karr caught one), we played softball, waterballoon dodge ball, soccer, waterballon volleyball, a few different relays, and a slip-n-slide watermelon chase. (The slipnslide was oiled down with canola oil and I was wearing our 2009 Beecroft reunion shirt, so now, I have grease spots on it :( :( BUT it was so fun! There were probably 40 missionaries and only 4 sisters...so awesome. My whole MTC district was there too! We were supposed to wrap up by 4:30 so we could all get to our appointments on time by 6. But, just as we were finishing, a HUGE storm came in. We got drenched. We quick changed into our church clothes so we could leave, but when Sister K and I came out of the church, everyone was still in Pday clothes and under the pavilion in the middle of the field. It was down puring! They all called to us to join them, and we ran (and got soaking wet) to them. President Crawford told us all that we couldn't leave until the storm calmed down. It was so stormy that we couldn't see across the street. Wahoo! I love the rain! (I took a small video of it) We just hung out under the pavilion for about 45 more minutes...thunder, lightening, rain, and missionaries all wet and happy. Sister Crawford had us start singing songs. So, eventually, there we were, 40-50 missionaries in a huge circle under a small pavilion with a storm all around and we were singing "Called to Serve," "Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel," "The Spirit of God" and other missionary-like songs. It was the coolest experience. I don't have a video of the singing, but Sister K does. I'll try to get a copy somehow. Well, the rain eventually let up and we were an hour and a half late to our dinner appointment. (Which the members were ok with since their schedules had been crazy that day). It was AWESOME!

Well, my third story...yikes. Still recovering. Sister K and I had an interesting experience on Thursday. We were doing the Hour of Power. We knocked on the first door "Sorry, not interested, but you can come over anytime you need a bottle of water or a granola bar." Ok..second door...pretty much was "what you teach is not in my Bible, so why are you bothering me?" Third door...friendly conversation and then she said, "Well, do yall have something to teach? You can come on in!" We had an appointment in 15 minutes so we thought we would be fast...not the story. We introduced the basic beliefs of the Church and she started asking questions "What do you mean by authority? What do you mean by ordinance? What do you mean the truth was lost? What is the Book of Mormon? etc, etc" LOTS of questions one right after another. We keep saying, "We'd love to answer all your questions, but we have an appointment in a few minutes. Will you read this pamphlet write down your questions? We will come back at (date and time) and explain our message more thoroughly." She was inquisitive, but it was odd. Well, we were almost out of there when...her husband walked down the hallway. The moment I saw him I thought, "oh no, this isn't going to be good..." And, surely, it wasn't. Before we knew it we were getting torn apart left and right about the Doctrine of the Gospel. The questions were worded in such a way that no matter what we said, he had us. You know? We kept saying over and over again, "we have to go, we have to go..." We don't have to answer these questions because they don't pertain to anything we teach-they are just words that Satan has put into the hearts of men to stop the work. We were both trying to stay calm and not get caught up in the dramatics of Bible Bashing. Ugh. We were bearing our testimony on Jesus Christ, how He is our Savior and how the Church is founded on His Gospel. I finally bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and how I came to know of its truthfulness. I told him about my witness from God that it is indeed true. He was quiet for a minute and then said, "Well, the devil can take many forms." That was it. For real, it was time to go. I cannot tell you how many times we tried to get out of there. He asked us, "Do you need the Book of Mormon to get into heaven?" What?? What kind of question is that?? We were dumbfounded at such a ridiculous question. I said, "Sir, we have to leave now." We had taken this for over 30 minutes. I was spiritually exhausted and ready to leave. I almost stood up and walked out the door. We bore testimony as powerfully as we could muster with the Spirit we felt and he was still hardened to it. Then, he did something that just cut me so deep. He took the Book of Mormon in his hand and shaking it lightly looked in my eyes and said, "You know, that's sad. I would hate to stand before my Savior, Jesus Christ and tell Him 'I knew you, but Lord, I had this thing, this book, and I put this before you. I should have come to you, but I used this book instead.' You know that will be sad." I could not believe what I was hearing. After our testimonies that we believe and follow Christ, that the Book of Mormon testifies of Him, and that we have felt a witness from God that it is true, he was still hardened. At that point, Sis. K said, "Can we have a prayer?" We did, they told us to come back for a "real Bible Study" and we left. ...As I reflected on the experience, I was comforted to know that I did all I could do. Sister K and I tried our best to stay calm, to be like Who we represent, and bear testimony. We were surprised that people could be so mean and how people can reject the things we are teaching. However, over and over in the scriptures are people, prophets, even the Savior, who was rejected. I am so grateful to have been raised in the truth. Although I was criticized by this man for following what I was raised in ("You haven't searched it out. See what else is in the world."), I would not trade it for anything. Raised in the church or not, each of us must still gain a testimony that this is true. I know it is. I cannot deny what I know is true.  How grateful I am to be on a mission :)

I love yall so much! Have fun at school! I was definitely missing my kindergartners and Kathy on Wednesday morning. Say hi to them for me! (And wholly cow! 30 kids?? Kathy...I'm praying for ya!)

Love yall,

Sister Jackson