Catching up on emails (1/29/09 - 3/16/09)

We Love You; We Miss You (3/16/09)
Our Dear, Dear Family:

Our first week back from Hong Kong has been a bit challenging. After the warm weather, beautiful beaches, good Chinese food, and our own cook at President Andersen's home, the reality of very cold weather, snow, and eating our own cooking, has been quite a change. However, it is good to be back in our own apartment, back with so many dear friends, and back with work we enjoy.

I am still "reeling" from the anesthetic (I think they overdid it a bit with something different than I have had in the past, which rather messed up my mind and my body), the doctor here says it will take "only four months" to get it out of my system. In the meantime I am not really enjoying the misery. I have gone to the office for only half a day for the past week; I will get back to full days soon.

Your mother is really doing a great work here. People in every branch in Mongolia have been blessed by her work; and in Hong Kong she trained the new family history missionaries there. In a meeting with the area presidency they told her they would like to use her model for the rest of Asia. She has conducted a lot of training seminars, trains individuals in her office, helps families with their research, and has made certain that each branch has at least one family history consultant. She has been training the consultants with power point presentations each Saturday. Soyolmaa, one of the two first missionaries called from Mongolia and who now is assistant director of our service center (and will be the director, the only woman service center in the Church) when the current director returns to the U.S. in a couple of months, just returned from train in Hong Kong and told Linda how much everyone there was raving about her family history abilities and what she did for them in Hong Kong. You can be very proud of her.

I continue my missionary search, which is quite an emotional experience. So many returned missionaries who were exceptionally good on their missions are inactive now. Too, so many are in the U.S. and we are yet unable to find exactly where they are. One mother asked us to find her son who ran away from his companion in Phoenix in 2002, and she has not heard from him. Our efforts to find him have yielded nothing thus far.

We are helping previously inactive missionaries come back regularly, and this past week a woman who I helped go to UVSC in the mid-nineties, and whom we lost track of, has come back to full activity. I found her just after we arrive here and we have been loving and encouraging her since then. These experiences are worth all the worry and work.

We celebrated Josh's birthday with him on Thursday night. He had also invited fellow-teachers from his school, and President and Sister Andersen joined us as well. We had the party at a small Mongolian-style hamburger joint. I have him a watch and two large malachite and azurite cabochons as gifts. As you can imagine, he paid little attention to the watch.

The economy here is beginning to slow now, and the forecast is for a twenty percent drop in the next few months. A member of parliament, Amarjargal, was one time prime minister and foreign minister, and whom I trained in Utah, also got a master's degree in economics in England. He is a brilliant man. He wrote a paper for the parliament and cabinet, but no one would pay any attention to it. President Andersen and I went over it with him and his observations and suggested solutions were right on target. The country will have to pay for the politicians not heeding his advice.

On Friday night we had dinner with a member of our district council, Judge Khosbayar. He is a brilliant man and fabulous member of the church. His wife, who is Kazakh, and two younger daughters joined us. His eldest daughter has graduated from BYU-Hawaii and is now studying in Seattle. He took us to what is considered a nice Chinese restaurant here. The food was not really Chinese but was fairly good.

My arm is still somewhat painful, but my hour or two of special exercise each day is loosening it up and strengthening it. Your mother's health is good, but she spends so many hours with family history work that she tires herself out too often.

Please write and let us know what is going on in your families. We love and miss you so much.
Love, Mother and Dad

WE Love You (3/8/09)
Our Dear, Dear Family:

Finally, we are again writing to you from Mongolia. We left the home we were staying in Hong Kong at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Ulaanbaatar at 10:30 p.m. We got to our apartment just after midnight. It was a long, hard day.

We attended the temple once during the week and had lunch with the temple president, Charles Goo, and his wife. President Goo was a missionary in Hong Kong when we were there with Bank of America and we invited him to our home for dinner quite often.

We walked from the Temple down to Wiltshire Road where we lived then and found a tall apartment building filling the whole area. Just going there brought back good memories, but we were sad not to see our old home.

I also walked through Tsim Sha Tsui where I was first assigned as a missionary in 1955. I remembered the address of our apartment: No. 10 Observatory Road, 4th floor. The building was still there and in fairly good condition.

I had three more therapy sessions this week and saw the surgeon once more. My arm is still quite painful but is healing well.

We appreciated the reports we received of mother's funeral and are very grateful for all that you did to make it a special occasion.

Joseph and Stephanie, if Dave Nicolson and our meeting in the Hong Kong airport has not been reported to you by Steph's parents, we should mention it. A man noticed our missionary name badges and asked if we were missionaries. It turned out that he, Dave Nicolson, had been in China on business and we had a long talk. He lives just a few houses down the street from Kent and Judy.

We spent the afternoon today with Josh and Kim. It was very enjoyable. I will rest in the apartment until Tuesday.

We love you and pray for each of you always.
Love, Mom and Dad
Remarks at Mother’s Funeral (3/4/09)
I have asked Andrew to read these words for me at the funeral. Sandra has also told me she has asked Tamar to speak as well:

A well-known Church writer wrote a book about the great ladies of the Church. If she had known Mother, her life would have been included in that book. Mother is truly one of the great ladies to have every lived on this earth. From the time she was a small child she was exceptional in every way. Grandma and Grandpa Taylor told me often how she kept things going in both the house and on the farm. Mother was always a pillar of strength in the Church. Back when it was most uncommon for women to serve missions, Mother served eighteen months in the early 1930's in North Carolina. She served with two other Sisters, and because Mother was the only one of them who could drive a car, she drove the mission car throughout the mission strengthening the Relief Society. She and Dad were married shortly after they returned from their missions, and while Dad serve for thirteen years as Bishop of Fremont Ward, Mother served as Ward Clerk--again something that later changed when the Church began calling only Priesthood-holders as Ward Clerks. Mother also served valiantly as Wayne Stake Relief Society President and Fremont Ward Relief Society President. She also served as a leader and teacher in the primary, Sunday School, and young women's organization. Mother was a model visiting teacher. I doubt that she ever missed a month fulfilling this duty.

In Fremont, Mother was the care-giver, the comforter, the teacher. She visited he sick, took meals to the suffering and needy, prepared the dead for burial, and helped always prepare the green jello, roast beef, baked potatoes, and home-made rolls for the luncheon after funerals. She loved everyone and showed this love with her selfless service and careful care. She especially took good care of my Grandma Jackson and Brother William Jenson.

Mother worked more and harder than anyone I have known. In the summers I slept outside, and I remember waking just at daylight to the sound of Mother hoeing the corn, potatoes, beets, peas, carrots, and other vegetables in her big garden. Each fall she bottled more than 1,000 quarts of fruit and vegetables to see us through the winter. We heated our house with wood hauled from the nearby hills, and Mother helped Dad chop the wood to size until I could lift the axe over my head. We had one Heaterola in the front room which Mother banked high for the night; but we never got up to a cold house. Mother was always up before the rest of us and had a fire roaring in the stove to keep us warm while we got dressed. She made our soap from pig fat and lye in a fifty-gallon barrel over an open-fire; she washed our clothing for many years on a metal washboard; she cut our hair; and sewed our clothes. In addition to keeping an immaculate house, she also took care of the store for fifty years. Dad was gone on outside jobs a lot of the time, so Mother was the storekeeper. Dad rigged a bell on the front door that would ring in the house so mother could leave her house work and run to the store to help the customers.

As a small child I went through the agony, then common, of catching measles, mumps, chicken pox, and rheumatic fever. I remember vividly Mother tenderly holding me in her arms, rocking me in the old rocking chair, and singing softly to me. Her care did more for me during illness than any doctor ever did. I felt her love and strength and recovery was rapid. Very few things made me feel better, though, than coming home from school and smelling the odor of freshly-baked bread. It still lingers in my nostrils now.

Mother not only made certain that I never missed a Church meeting but she also very carefully taught me the Gospel in our home. This has blessed me every day of my life and will bless me throughout eternity. What I am teaching the Mongolians now is based on what she taught me.

Mother was so very strong. Some say they have heard her complain some, but I never did. When Dad died in an accident in 1972, much of Mother went with him. But she did not complain; she only spoke of her extreme loneliness. I loved talking with Mother anytime I could be with her. Visits with her after her sight was almost totally gone were special. She could still see, but not with her physical eyes; and she still remembered and talked about the blessings of the Gospel and her family.

In his sermon at the funeral of Elder King Follett, Joseph Smith said: ""...I know that my testimony is true; hence, when I talk to these mourners, what have they lost? Their relatives and friends are only separated from their bodies for a short season: their spirits which existed with God have left the tabernacle of clay only for a little moment, as it were; and they now exist in a place where they converse together the same as we do on earth." President Joseph F. Smith reported: "Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: 'You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.'"

I know that Mother lives now. She can see, she can walk; and most glorious, she is with Dad, Kent, and our dear little sister, Ann Avon, who she will have the joy of nurturing and teaching until she is a grown woman. The earth is different with Mother no longer here. We miss her so much. But our challenge now is to live our lives well enough that we can again one day live with her.

I express my love to my dear family and to our many friends who have come to honor my dear Mother today.

I bear my testimony that Jesus lives and that he loves us, and that through him my Mother lives and shall have a perfect body and be blessed eternally.

We Will Miss Her So Much (3/2/09)
Our Dear, Dear Family:

We mourn with you at the loss of my mother, your grandmother and great-grandmother. She was a great lady in every way. From the time she could get on a horse on grandpa's Taylor's farm in Fremont until she lost her eyesight, she was busy every minute and always doing things for other people. She served a mission in North Carolina before it was common for women to serve missions; she was clerk of the Fremont Ward for thirteen years while also being Relief Society President and accepting other callings. It was mother who took care of the sick in Fremont, took meals to homes that needed help, prepared those who had passed away for their burial, comforted the bereaved, forgot herself in the care of her family, ran the store, took care of a large garden, made our clothes, cut our hair, made our own soap, washed all our clothes for many years on a washboard, gave us all we needed even when there was no money to do it, and never complained about anything but being lonely for Dad. Thank you for being with her during her last days in the hospital. And, especially, thank you, Tamar, for spending nights with her at the hospital and being by her side when she passed away. This world will not be the same without her; but it is good she is now with dad, Kent, Ann Avon, her parents and many of her sisters. How glorious it must be for her to be able to see again. We feel badly we cannot be with you at this time.

We are still in Hong Kong but hope to leave on Saturday. My arm is doing quite well: I have three more therapy sessions this week.

On Saturday I took a bus to Causeway Bay and then the subway to Tsim Sha Tsui. I have been thinking of past memories here and felt a need to go to some special places. I spent some time in the grand lobby of the Peninsula Hotel and then wandered around the old streets in that area. It has changed greatly, but I was able to find two places I was looking for: my first apartment as a missionary in 1955 (No. 10 Observatory Road) and the Caritas Bianchi Lodge where we stayed when we had short breaks from our work in Xiamen.

A Chinese friend of the woman who is renting this house from President Andersen came down from Beijing yesterday and has been with us since. She works for the UN and will leave today for a conference in Sri Lanka. She is a member of the Church and attends one of the two Chinese branches in Beijing. She was baptized during an assignment in Singapore and was the first missionary from China. She served on Temple Square in 1999-2000. She has told us that there are 35 Chinese branches in China with over 2,000 members. There are three districts. They are supported by Chinese leaders in Hong Kong with no foreign support or participation.

I must leave now for therapy. Linda has been helping our host with her family history so I am not sure she can go with me. I plan to go to Stanley again. I have my therapy in Repulse Bay, so it is only ten minutes or so on to Stanley by bus. So many memories there.

We love you.
Mother and Dad
PS – Grandma’s Obituary http://obituary.abc4.com/search/show_listing/5795/?printable=Y
We Love You (2/22/09)
Our Dear, Dear Family:

I am typing, though clumsily, with both hands today. I am still very sore but am getting more strength in my arm each day.

I have continued to rest at home most days, but we did have some good experiences this week: We met with Elder Russell Nelson on Tuesday. This was a very special experience. Yesterday, Linda and I took the bus out to Stanley. We recognized a few things, but it has changed almost completely. Our beach is still there, but I could not find Andrew's pet jelly fish. Stanley Market is huge now; but the vendors said that the world economic conditions are even affecting them a lot.

I bought beautiful embroidered red silk robe for Linda and some decent chopsticks for me.

We hope to call some if not all of you during the course of this week. We miss you so very much.
Love, Dad

We Love You (2/15/09)
Our Dear Family:

I was released from the hospital Friday night and we attended church meetings this morning. In a couple of hours the couple who is living in President Andersen's home will move us from this apartment to that home.

My arm is still very painful, but it is good to kn ow it is repaired properly. We will be here another two or three weeks for therapy.

We love you.

Dad

Malan’s Surgery (2/10/09)
Still no Skype access, but here is latest on Malan's progress. Love to you all! This is a copy of the email I sent to our Mission President in Mongolia:

Dear President Andersen,

Thank you for your email and thank you for your concern. It is 3:00 a.m. here and I just called the hospital to get a report on Elder Jackson. He was sleeping, of course, but I talked to his nurse.

She reported that the surgery went well and that he is in much less pain now. Malan had me wait at home; so that he knew I was safely home because he actually didn't get out of surgery until 1:00 a.m.

The doctor had to put a steel plate with screws the whole length of his upper arm. He cut from the front of the shoulder down to the elbow to insert the plate. The upper arm was completely broken in two with a small piece broken off to the side. He was in horrible pain.

He will most likely be in the hospital until Friday or Saturday. After the incision has healed somewhat, he will need about 2 weeks of physical therapy so that he will be able to use his arm the rest of his life properly.

The doctor said to anticipate a month here. For this week we are staying in Josh's missionary companion’s apartment until next Monday. He just sold it and only has it until Monday. The woman who bought it has someone using it starting Monday. I'm not sure about the future timing. The corporate rate Mike can get for us is $200 per day in the same building he has his office in; It would be so much more convenient - right across the bay, but $200 per day is a little much! Meanwhile we have been told we can use Temple Housing for a few weeks if we need to. This is one of those "Trust in the Lord" experiences. We will be fine.

I am so relieved to know he won't be in so much pain and that he will heal properly. He is so brave and fearless, but this was a little "much".

I am doing better now that I know he has received the care he needs.

I'll keep in touch.
Love, Sister Linda Lou Jackson

Surgery in Hong Kong (2/9/09)

Our Dear Family;

We used Josh's former Taiwan missionary companion' s phone for the quick call to Debbie last night; then later he, with Josh on the phone, got our laptop up us. Josh’s friend is president of a toy company here and we stayed at his home in the New Territories when we arrived Sunday night from Seoul. We are now staying in his company's visiting executive suite side overlooking the Harbor on Kowloon

Last night we showed the X-rays from Mongolia to Dr. Tong, a highly respected orthopedic surgeon here and he said the only way to repair the arm is with surgery and steel pins and/or plates. He had a CT scan done last night for better detail of the fracture. We go back to his office this afternoon for final instructions. He told us yesterday we will probably need to stay here for about two weeks of therapy.

We love you. We will keep you informed as we can of things here.
Love, Dad

How to type with a fractured arm? And so little to write (2/1/09)
Our Dear Family:

For the first time since I smashed up my right arm, I am trying to type on my laptop with both hands. It would work a lot better if I did not have this heavy plaster cast from shoulder to wrist. But there is very little to write this week anyhow. Since Wednesday I have suffered being restricted to our apartment. The pain I can handle; not being able to take of a lot of important work on my work hurts; but being locked up is the worst part of it all. But some of you remember the poem I memorized while I was on my mission in Hong Kong, quoted often and still remembered: "Even This Shall Pass Away." A key line is: "But with patience day by day, even this shall pass away." And being here I have had to learn patience.

We have so many dear friends here and many of them have called to let us know they are praying tha and I will be well soon--and I will be.

Our work is going well and we love it.

We love you. Thank you for your prayers.
Love, Mother and Dad

Malan’s Fall (1/29/09)
Dear Family,

Dad, Malan, had a serious fall yesterday on the ice. He broke his arm between the elbow and his shoulder. It's a very terrible break, in half. He is in a cast from his shoulder to his hand and in considerable pain. I saw the x-ray and it looks terrible, like someone tried to take a fork and break out a piece of the bone. Our mission doctor met him at the hospital and it was x-rayed and then set by a doctor the mission doctor knows. He said it will heal OK.

One of the reasons I'm writing, is not only to let you know, but also to ask you to write Malan, Dad, and keep his spirits up, which are OK now, but he just doesn't have the patience for this now and the pain is bad. He has to stay home until at least Monday and then if they let him go to work we'll need to figure out some way to dress him. He has one-piece garments with a zipper in the front, so that is easy. I am trying to figure out how I can cut an old white shirt so he can wear it. I know he will have to work half days when he does go back as he is weak from the pain. One of the sisters in the Center broke her arm, not as seriously, and she stayed home for 6 weeks until the cast came off, she was enjoying the time at home, her husband said. But Dad, Malan is ready to go back NOW.

If you could just write him an email and mention you'll not expect an answer, then that will be wonderful. He spent hours typing reply's today to emails with one finger on his right hand. No wonder he is in so much pain tonight.

Please put his name on the prayer roll and pray that he will have the patience for this and heal well. We do need your prayers.

He walked more than a mile with his arm broken, went to the bank and did something else, then called the doctor and said something to the effect that his arm was not working right and that he may have broken it. He's quite a tough guy and I love him so much, as I know the Lord does, because it could have been so much more serious.

Otherwise, we are doing well. I am staying home for a few days to help him. We'll just see how things go.

We love your all very much and feel it a great privilege to call all of you family!
Love Eternally,
Linda