Corner 7

I remember when I was in shape and ran track that the 800m race was my least favorite and the one I invariably always ran. In the 800m race there are 8 corners. The first is easy, but corner 3 it starts to burn, corner 6 is really spent dreading corner 7, which is followed by corner 8 and a 100m sprint to the finish. 

Right now I'm in Corner 7, and really trying to run hard. It seems like the workload has increased dramatically and every day is filling up from now until translation-day. Our area is very busy, we're preparing for two more baptisms either on thursday or saturday, the zone has lots of people to take care of and everyones just running around. Then we've got the mission's musical fireside which I was basically put in charge of this week, which is proving to be difficult to put together when all the musicians live scattered across New England 2 or 3 hours away from each other. The Lord will provide. But its gonna take every last ounce of brainpower and time I have to do my part... 

Now that may sound like almost complaining, but don't worry. I'm trying not to do that anymore. I'm actually relishing the chance to see the lord deliver some beautiful music out of the chaos that it currently is. And lets face it... for my last weeks, I love being busy. Keeps me from descending into deep nostalgia and trunkyness!

By next monday I'll be on corner 8 and sprinting to the finish. The last 100m were always easy; you bite your fatigue and just kick in the last leg of adrenaline and grit you have to make it there. So I'm putting on my almost-destroyed dress shoes and sprinting a different kind of spiritual 100 meters.

Lots of great things happened this week, but the highlight was the chance to spend a day with Elder Packer, from the First quorum of the 70. He taught us many things but the focus came back to learning not just the language but the culture of the Spirit. He explained that recognizing the voice of the Spirit comes with practice, but we also need to learn the culture of the Spirit, or the environments, practices, choices, words, and habits that offend or invite his presence. He told us all to begin to make our own "handbook" of sorts, to record our observations by trial and error of what things we've seen and done resulted in the Spirit being with us. Then we learn to listen to his language and follow his lead. 

I love the Lord, I love Christmas, I love being a missionary, I love bearing witness of the things I now know. At the end of the mission, the greatest emotion I have is gratitude. I think its my favorite way to feel.

Love,
Elder Jackson