So the real news of the week is.... I am no longer waiting for my visa! Now my visa is waiting for me!
That's right, this past week I received my visa to Brazil after like 13 months, but I've decided that South America is really not all its cracked up to be and I would rather stay and speak Portuguese in Mass. So that's what I'm going to do.
Hahahahaha not really though. I was tapering off my meds and was off them at the beginning of March, and lo and behold the lyme symptoms started to return. They've grown progressively towards where they were last summer, and now I'm sorta in full blown lyme disease mode again. So wouldn't you know it, the day I talk to the mission doctor and email home to Mama Jackson, I see an email from her with a screenshot of my visa application... ALL BUBBLES FILLED IN. Oh irony.
So this past week has been a scramble of talking to the mission doctor, President Packard, and mom and dad, driving to New Haven to apply as a patient with some Lyme guru at Yale, and trying to figure out if I really should be hopping on a flight (scheduled for yesterday) to Brazil.
Needless to say I am not emailing from another continent, so you know what the decision was. I will stay here in the MBM until my lyme is figured out and resolved. And whenever that is, I have the visa to start my second mission in Brazil!
The secondary news is... I'M GETTING TRANSFERRED! To Brockton, MA, to serve in the Portuguese ward (or branch, not sure). So I will be falando portugues for the next few months which is incredibly exciting. The ward is super productive and on fire. They have like 20 baptismal dates or something. It's gonna be real. I'm nervous as all get out that I'll hurt the work there because 1) I gotta go to the doctor and get blood work and etc., and 2) I don't speak portuguese. But I guess we'll just have to figure it out :)
So I say goodbye to the magnificent members of the Bloomfield ward and to our three investigators. Ella? She's still old and "in a dither" about religion, but I love her like a grandma. Tom? He's still stubborn but opening up about what he really believes. Someday he'll be ready to change. Jerry? Recommitting to study and progress towards baptism. I learned from a Jamaican member that Jamaican take a crazy long time to commit to anything, but when they do, they're in it forever. Aka Jerry will someday be the most stalwart member of this church. But he's gotta get there on his own time, with the Lord's help.
Thank you so much to all who have sent up some extra prayers for me-- they're sustaining me right now, I promise.
Next weeks letter: all in Portuguese. MUAHAHA.
Com amor,
Elder Jackson
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