Monday, March 23, 2015

Jackson's update 3/23/2015, aka, can't think of a solid subject line

Boa tarde meus amados, I hope you all are warm and cozy wherever you may be! We're thinking of you here in Boston. And coveting your forecast...

Life is great here in Dorchester. This week we saw a bunch of people take steps forward in their progression. I got fed 3 plates of food by a Guatemalan couple, 1 plate from a Dominican woman, and 1 plate from a Colombian woman, all within 7 hours! #spanishprogram

We had stake conference here on Saturday and Sunday, which is boston is a BIG deal. The adult session on Saturday night was great and truly inspiration for everyone their. The first announcement was "look for answers to your prayers tonight", so you know its going to be good. And then they talked about councils! Ward, family, couple, companionship councils. It was unexpectedly revelatory for me. It fits hand in hand with our focus on creating zion, which requires the work and dedication and consecration of all to achieve a level of spirituality and closeness to God that can't be reached individually. And councils are truly a way for us to create that unity and try to seek the Lord's will. Family councils rock. 

Sunday was touching for me. Santiago and I each drove a van full of missionaries to conference, and then they worked on the portuguese translation while I shuttled our members back to the high council room which was the designated "Portuguese Room". At first the room was empty, but by golly, by 20 minutes into the meeting every seat was full and we went to get more. There were a few brazilians, but the vast majority of them were from our group. Most had never seen a large church meeting before, so we took them one by one to see the chapel and gym overflow--1200 members of the church seated there together. The Spirit was strong and they were all pretty blown away. I also learned that Elder Santiago is dope at translation. 

Other exciting news?
Raymond, who I taught in Brockton and who was baptized in December, baptized his 10 year old son Dimitri this past weekend.

Tonight we have a training for all the cape verdean young men on how to prepare, bless and pass the sacrament. Mostly its just amazing that we have enough to warrant having a training!

Prepping for General Conference, and the missions portable visitors center is coming with their new portuguese displays for the break between sessions on April 5th. SO PUMPED.

As for a quick spiritual thought? check this out. President sat with Elder Christofferson on a panel at Harvard law school. He was asked about coming to know God through prayer. Some wisdom:

"He also noted that we need to have real intent when we pray. He said that if you don’t have real intent, then you will not receive an answer because God does not want to condemn us. When God gives us an answer, we are accountable to follow it, so God, in His mercy, withholds answers until we have a real intent to follow His counsel and advice. I thought this was a particularly beautiful insight." 
Love you all so much.
-Elder Jackson

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