Week 22: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

June 26, 2017

Hello friends and family!!

Is this real life?

Happy Monday! We've just finished the HOTTEST week of the season here in Gilbert. On Tuesday it cleared 121°F and the Phoenix airport closed down...but don't worry...us Mormon missionaries were still going strong on our bikes! Last night it was like 108°F and there was a hot breeze blowing around and we were like "Wow, it actually doesn't feel that bad!!" What am I becoming?!?

Sis. Rudd, my daughter!

My new companion is Sister Rudd, she's from Springville, Utah...and she is FRESH out of the Provo MTC. So I'm training a brand new missionary this transfer! Man, just when I was getting really good at being JuCo! ;) Haha I'm just kidding, honestly it's been fun leading out the area and kinda calling the shots--it makes me realize how much I've grown these past five months! Sister Rudd is already an awesome missionary, she has so much missionary fire and I'm excited for all the wonderful things she will do in the Arizona Gilbert Mission.

However, as fun as this week has been...it's also been pretty stressful. One of our ward mission leaders said "Man, you take someone out of the area that’s been here for eight months and leave someone who's been here for eight weeks...may as well whitewash the area!" Haha but as many times as I've felt lost or confused this week, I'm grateful this isn't a whitewash--that's too next level for me haha. Another member told me that she could see it in my face that I was stressed...I'm an open book apparently haha!

Sis. Ogawa's last night in the Gilbert Zone

Sis. Ogawa saying goodbye

We saw tons of miracles this week. Tuesday was my last day with Sister Ogawa, so we had a few member appointments in the evening so she could say goodbye...but in the afternoon we worked super hard to try and find some new people to teach. We stopped by a member family named the S’s. A few weeks ago they had brought an eleven year old girl to church, and we wanted to stop by to try and set up an FHE with this girl, M, so we could teach her the Restoration...but when we stopped by the S’s, M was totally there! They invited us in and we sat down and started talking with them and eventually we turned the conversation towards the gospel. She's an awesome girl--super smart and SO prepared. M told us that she'd been to seven or eight different churches, and that she felt something different when she came to ours. We asked her if she knew why it felt different, and she said that she didn't...so we taught her the Restoration right then and there! Afterwards we invited her to read the BOM every day, and she told us that she already was!! And then before we could invite to baptism she was like "And...I want to convert to your religion." Man...that threw me and Sister Ogawa for a loop! Haha but that was really exciting for us. The struggle now is that since she's eleven, we need to get permission from her parents before we move forward. We stopped by her house last week just to meet them, but they weren't home...but M told us that they're always home on Mondays, so we'll stop by them tonight! Pray that their hearts will be soft and that the Holy Ghost will testify of the truthfulness of our message!!

On Wednesday we got a text from a lady in one of our wards, and she asked us to go and check on her neighbor, whose air conditioner had stopped working the night before. She was really concerned about her neighbor so we went and stopped by, and made sure they were doing okay...and then we asked them if we could leave a Book of Mormon with them. They said yes! It was hot outside and they didn't want to let all of their cool air out of the house, so we taught super briefly about the Book of Mormon and then invited them to read it, and they said they would...so we'll stop by this upcoming week and follow up! Super excited!

We had a really, really cool miracle on Thursday night. We stopped by E and V to see how reading the Book of Mormon was going, and we had an awesome conversation with them! So V has two kids- E, who's ten, and then R, who's sixteen. Every time we've ever been over to her house, R has hardly ever acknowledged us. We always say "Hi R! How are you today?" And sometimes, very rarely, he says "Good." and then goes into his room, but most of the time he doesn't say anything and just goes into his room. We'd kind of accepted that he was never going to join in our conversations, but the LAST time we were at their house, V mentioned that R had just gotten home from a VOLLEYBALL game and I was like "R!! You play?? How long? What team?" all that good stuff, and we talked for a bit and then I told him that I played in high school and we established that weird volleyball bond that all volleyball players seem to have haha. So anyways, back to this week...we stopped by and we're talking to V and E about the Book of Mormon and how their week was and what their plans were for this upcoming week...and out of nowhere R just comes and sits down in the living room with a plate of rice and chicken. We keep talking...and none of us really say anything to him...and then after like five minutes he jumps in and starts talking to us!! When he came into the room I was getting ready to get to a spiritual thought and leave a commitment and then leave...but when he came and sat down I knew that it wasn't time to share a thought yet...what he needed was to feel like he could talk to us as friends without having religious pressure. So we kept talking, and eventually he mentioned that in two weeks he's going to go build houses up on the Indian Reservation in Northern AZ...and I was like "R, did you know that last summer I spent two and a half weeks in Africa building houses??" and he thought that was the coolest thing ever. He was like "You did?? What!! That's amazing!" and had all these questions about what we did and all this stuff, and I told him a few stories and about how much PERSPECTIVE that trip gave me and how life changing it was, and I told him I'd bring my photo album the next time we came by, and then I was like "...actually a super cool scripture came into my mind as we've been talking, and I know it'll apply to you as you get ready for this trip in two weeks!" and I shared Mosiah 2:17 (“And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”) and he LOVED it and was like "what book is that in?!" and I was like "The Book of Mormon!!" and he was like "wow, that's super cool. I really like that. It's totally true. Serving others really is serving God." And then he was like "actually I have a question for you guys...what's with all this calling each other brother and sister?!" which opened the door for us to testify about how God is our Heavenly Father and how we're all Spirit brothers and sisters and then he asked us a few more questions! It was awesome. When we left, V followed us out and was like "I cannot believe he came out! He's struggling even knowing if there's a God right now...if you can give him that knowledge then I will be eternally grateful." Man...it's moments like that that I live for!

You had me at Gilbert!

Another fun thing this week...I learned that one of the wives of one of the members of our mission presidency was like a total beast at volleyball back in the day. She was on the USA National Team (back when they still had that) and then was invited to try out for one of the 80s Olympics team!! She was telling us this story and I was like ...amazing. And then she told me that she has a bunch of buddies that get together on Mondays and play volleyball together...so now we're going to get together and play one of these Mondays. I'm so stoked!!

Anyways, it's been another fantastic week. I love being a missionary and being a representative of Jesus Christ. This is the Lord's work and His hand is in everything!

I love you all, have a good week!

Sister Jacobson

New cover for my PMG

Transfer 4 planner

Puppies

Week 21: I want to be Elder Bednar’s Best Friend

June 19, 2017

Hello!

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to inform all of you that today it is 118 degrees in Gilbert Arizona. And tomorrow it will be 120. Let me tell ya, it's brutal. I really don't know how we are surviving. The only explanation I can think of is that we're just super blessed for serving the Lord. And unless we are directed otherwise from President Wheeler, tomorrow we will go out on bikes and work all day long, just like any other day. This week especially something has been on my mind and I'd like to share it now. The only group of people in the entire world I can think of that would be willing, excited even, to go out in 120 degree heat--with a heat advisory in effect--are the Mormon missionaries. Why? Because our message is true. The message that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and is back on the Earth today is so IMPORTANT and so VITAL that thousands upon thousands of young men and young women worldwide pay their way and volunteer their time to provide an opportunity for everyone to experience the BLESSINGS and the JOY that this gospel can bring. So my simple request to everyone not of our faith is this: give the missionaries a chance. Trust me, we KNOW it's super awkward when we come up to you on the street and start talking to you about Jesus Christ. We KNOW you don't want to talk to us and that you're not interested...but we also KNOW that this gospel is true and can bless your lives beyond your wildest dreams. Give the missionaries--heck, the gospel--a shot. You just might be surprised.

AZ or HI? You tell me!

P-day lunch at Cafe Rio

Anyways, this week we had a couple of AWESOME moments and a couple moments of just utter despair haha.

This week we went and met with our 10 year old investigator, E. While there we found out that her mom, V, had reached out to a member of the ward and asked for scripture passages from the BOM that E would enjoy--and the member came THROUGH and sent loads of amazing scripture stories! Shout out to amazing members--your missionary efforts make ALL the difference. We stopped by the member later in the week to say thank you, and this member mentioned to us a conversation that she'd had with V a few days prior. She said that in this conversation, V had started talking about the Mormon missionaries (us!) and how she never EVER thought she would be in a position where she was letting them in her home, let alone letting them read from the Book of Mormon with her. But she continued on and said that the scripture we had shared last month with E had brought her so much hope and so much peace, and a knowledge that things would be okay--even if they weren't right now...that she was willing to let us come in and read more hopeful scriptures. The member told us that the thought that came to her during this conversation was that even if we don't baptize E or V, we're still making an impact in their lives and that is doing a whole lot of good. So that was a super cool moment for us!

Play first, then teach - fruit of our labor

We had an evening where it seemed like all of our plans fell through. We had a lesson at 8 o'clock so we were trying to work around the area that the appointment was at but just nothing was happening. We were street contacting, tracting, stopping by members--we were trying everything and just no one was home. We finally stopped and said a prayer and asked for direction in where to go. After the prayer we waited, and listened for what the Holy Ghost was telling us. Neither one of us felt anything. We pulled out our ward lists and started flipping through them for some people to stop by and try and visit--and nothing was coming to our minds. We had to go through each of our ward lists probably 3 or 4 times before I finally started feeling directed to one ward. I started reflecting on our recent meetings with the Bishop and the Ward Council and finally I was like "Let's try stopping by the J family." Sister Ogawa thought that sounded good so we went there--and the family was outside doing yard work! They were like "I'm so glad you showed up!! We could use a lesson right now." They invited us in and we sat down and in the course of our conversation I gathered that two of the kids that were there don't normally live there, and are less-active. One of them, C, was like "rumor has it that missionaries always have super good lessons planned. Let's see it." And it was like a challenge haha so Sister Ogawa and I pulled out all stops and taught a super bomb lesson on the Doctrine of Christ, and how it can bless our family relationships. At the end of the lesson Sister Ogawa asked them what they could do this week to be more unified as a family and C was like "Actually...do you think you could come back next week and teach us another lesson? I think we need it." Naturally, we accepted haha and then committed them to pray as a family every day before then. It was awesome. And it was a really cool lesson for us on how the Holy Ghost directs us--we didn't receive the answer to go to the J’s right away...we had to be patient and wait and sift through the ward lists on our own before we received even a little bit of direction. Sometimes that's how it works, and it's times like that where we're blessed to be able to exercise our agency! The Plan is perfect.

High Five

Haha Saturday was our depths of despair day. This weekend the Gilbert Stake was blessed to have the opportunity to have Elder Bednar from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles preside at Stake Conference. He was accompanied by Joni L Koch of the Quorum of the Seventy, so we had two General Authorities present. On Saturday Elder Bednar had a meeting with the youth from 10:30-12:30, and then he was meeting with the stake president at 1:00. Some Elders in our zone had a baptism at 2:00 and the stake president told them that he was going to try and bring Elder Bednar to the baptism. So all of us missionaries were going WILD inviting anyone and everyone we could to the baptism--trying to set them up so they could meet an Apostle. Sister Ogawa and I had four investigators commit to come to the baptism, and all four were excited! But then Saturday morning all four texted us and cancelled. We were so bummed. But we turned our attitudes around and we were like "There's another plan for the day!!" and we went out and worked. So we're biking and we're probably a good 30 minute bike ride away from home and Sister Ogawa goes "do you hear that??" and I just hear this sssss sound. I look down and her tire is just COMPLETELY flat. She had a MASSIVE hole...like it looked like someone slashed her tire it was so big. We were like...is this a joke? And you gotta understand, this whole transfer we've had bike problems. A few weeks ago I had six flat tires in one week...just flat after flat after flat, and finally I took it into the office for the Vehicle Coordinator to look at and the inside of my tire was completely shredded and had destroyed the rubber tube, and earlier this week we'd patched one of Sister Ogawa's tires. At this point I think I can change a bike tire in my sleep. But anyways, we were so far away from home, and we were a good 15 minute walk away from the nearest member so we started walking and we were both just silent haha we were so mad. But—a tender mercy--the first member's door we knocked had a repair kit and we were able to patch the tire! So we were on our way again, and then the rest of the day was fine...but for a few hours there we were like man this sucks haha.

Alright now the moment we've all been waiting for....stake conference. I really don't know how to describe my experience with Elder Bednar other than saying I now want to become his best friend. He came, he threw down, and it was beautiful. Literally everything out of that man's mouth is pure gold.  Our recent convert spoke Saturday night and did a wonderful job. She was able to meet Elder Bednar and talk with him briefly and she was just on cloud 9. Because the church is so mature and so thriving in Gilbert, Elder Bednar was able to talk about a lot of the basic doctrinal principles on a much deeper level. It reminded me a little bit of the training we receive in the MTC--he talked much about how EVERYTHING in the gospel is connected and ties into the Doctrine of Christ. He is so bold and not afraid to say it how it is. In the adult session he kept saying "buckle up…" or "if you're buckled up I can say this…" and then he'd say something super bold and accurate and it would make everyone squirm but in a good way. I couldn't write fast enough notes--I received so much revelation!! Next time you get a chance...sing all 7 verses of “How Firm a Foundation” and consider how the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to do so much more than we could on your own. I promise you'll never sing that hymn the same again.

There was a special 8 AM meeting for recent converts, recently reactivated members, and investigators...and the bishops, ward mission leaders, and full-time missionaries were able to attend. Sister Ogawa and I have been working our tails off these past few weeks trying to invite as many people as we could to this meeting and we had ELEVEN people there! (Out of the 50 or so we invited....but that's still pretty good) I went Blaine (Dad) x 1000 at this meeting haha. At the adult session the night before I was watching Elder Bednar closely and I figured out where he came in/out of and where he stopped and shook people's hands and then I carefully plotted and calculated where we would sit the next morning. So I staked out a spot for us and one of our recent converts and our investigator to sit on the aisle of one of the rows he walked past and shook hands, and then we placed our investigator on the end, the RC next to him, and then Sister Ogawa and me. We were on the fifth row, and where I was sitting was dead center in the chapel. It was one of the best meetings I've ever attended in my entire life. The day before Elder Bednar introduced himself to the recent convert and then centered his whole talk in this meeting around our recent convert. This recent convert is going to realize in like two months how incredible that is haha.

For the general session we stayed in our super good spot and as we were singing the opening hymn I made eye contact with Elder Bednar (because I legit couldn't stop staring at him and I'm pretty sure he has all the hymns memorized--true story) and he smiled at me and I had a moment where I was like what is my life. We didn't get the opportunity to shake his hand, but that's okay with me...I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have even heard him speak and to have been so close!! Also, I am 100% positive that if I had shaken his hand I would have done something super embarrassing--because that's what's happened every other time I've met someone I respect/look up to/admire. So it's a good thing because I probably would have tarnished the good name of the Arizona Gilbert mission in his mind. Haha, just kidding.

Anyways, the moral of the story is that Elder Bednar had amazing things to say, and I learned so much...but I think what stood out to me the most is the PASSION that he has for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He speaks about it with such wonder and amazement, and I wish more of us were that way. The Spirit just floods the room when he walks in and it's impossible to deny that the mantle that he carries is real, that he truly is an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. In every session he spoke for one hour and could have easily gone on and on and on, and I would have gladly listened longer. He had to constrain himself to speak for only one hour--can you imagine?? The average member struggles with a 15 minute sacrament meeting talk, let alone an hour long discourse with no written notes. It really made me aware of how IMPORTANT those 15-20 minute general conference talks are. They're inspired, and they're for us. They could go on a lot longer but they choose the 20 minutes that they think we need MOST at that point in time. What a blessing!!

Selfie with ivy

Tiki torches

Well...last night transfer calls came. Unfortunately Sister Ogawa will be leaving me!!! We don't know where she's going yet, or who my new companion will be...but on Wednesday we'll find out. I've loved my time with Sister Ogawa and I'm sad to see her go, but she's such an amazing missionary so I know she'll do amazing things wherever she serves. :)

Anyways I love you all! Have a phenomenal week!

Sister Jacobson

Absurd amount of eggs!

P-day lunch at Cafe Rio

How to Gangster

Sister Ogawa's a natural!

No swimming allowed!

Week 20: Miracle on Pinto Street

June 12, 2017

Hey hey!!

Selfie

Five days later and I'm back! It's been another really great week here in Gilbert...but what else is new?!

This week we had an AMAZING miracle. Remember a few weeks ago when I emailed home that story about the guy, F, who we gave water to and invited to church? Sister Ogawa and I had both felt really prompted to talk to him and invite him to church, and he had said no...so we kinda accepted that it wasn't his time for the gospel and that we were just placed in his path to get him water. Well, in the course of the conversation he mentioned that he lived on Pinto Street, but didn't give us an exact address. For a few days after our encounter with him Sister Ogawa and I were both like "Okay. We're gonna go and tract out all of Pinto street one day and find him." but then we started looking at the map and we realized that Pinto street isn't just one street...but it's multiple streets extending all the way across our area and beyond into other stakes even! So we decided that it wouldn't be the most effective use of our time to go and tract out Pinto looking for this one guy. WELLLLL....this week we had a lesson with a less-active member on Pinto Street, and that went super well...and when we left there was this guy on his driveway a few streets down so I peddled up to him and was like "Hello!!" and he turned around...AND IT WAS F!!!!!! I was SHOCKED. I literally went "No way." and then I composed myself and was like "F!! How are you??!" and we talked for a little bit and then he was like "I don't feel much like talking right now. I'll see y'all later, but this is my house." and he walked away...but Sister Ogawa and I got his address! We were so pumped. And we couldn't believe that we found him again. I mean seriously, what are the odds that we would find him again?! That's divine right there. But then later, we were biking in a totally different part of our area and we saw F riding his bike!! So we talked to him briefly there again...that's two times in one day. I know the Lord is placing him in our path to prepare him to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to stop by this week and see if we can get in and teach him. :)

Northern Zone Conference w/Elder Pearson

This week we also had a lesson with our Recent Convert, P. She is doing AWESOME. She asked us if we could read a talk by Elder Bednar together because she didn't know who he was but wanted to be prepared for his visit this upcoming weekend. Sister Ogawa and I prayerfully considered what talk to read with her, because Elder Bednar drops straight fire talks every single time, and we finally decided that we should read "The Character of Christ" with her. I was a little apprehensive about choosing this talk because it's pretty intense and not typically something I would choose to read with a RC of less than six months...but P is special and it was definitely inspired. That day she had found out some upsetting family news, and it turns out that “The Character of Christ” was an answer to her prayers and she LOVED it.

I had exchanges on Saturday with my STL, Sister Utsch! It's been weird only going on one exchange this transfer, since the whole time I was being trained I had at least one exchange every week. I stayed in my area and led out. I was pretty nervous because I hadn't led out this area before and honestly Sister Ogawa just kinda takes control of the planning and I just help execute...but it ended up being a really great day and we only got kinda lost once! Sister Utsch is awesome--she's a great missionary and I learned so much. We had tons of appointments on Saturday--a lesson with our investigator, M, a service activity in the afternoon in a house filled with creepy porcelain dolls, a lesson with our investigators, B and A (which they forgot about...even though I confirmed THREE HOURS before...), and a brief stop-by which actually ended up turning into a lesson with our investigator, S. So a story about S: he has a dog named Dory. S is one of those people who you text to set up an appointment...and he responds like four days later. He's really busy with work so it's hard to catch him at home unless we have an appointment...do you see our problem?? However, a few weeks ago we discovered that EVERY night at 7:30 he takes his dog for a walk along Sagebrush Street. We discovered this because we had appointments in that area consistently for like a week...and every single night we saw him and we would stop and talk to him. So now...whenever we need to set an appointment with S we go looking for him at 7:30 on Sagebrush. We call this activity Finding Dory [and S] ;) So I was with Sister Utsch and we started heading towards S's house and we found him (and Dory) on the street and asked him how he was doing, and he said not well. I asked him why and he said that his father-in-law had just died and they were really close and he's having trouble accepting it. He also mentioned that his wife is distraught and his children are really upset. We asked him if we could come by his house and tell him more about where his father-in-law is and he was like "yeah! I'll meet you there in five minutes." Sister Utsch and I went there and were able to talk briefly about the Plan of Salvation and share a few scriptures about the purpose of this life/what heaven is like with him and his family. When we left S walked us out to our bikes and he said "Have either of you ever had someone close to you die?? How do you find peace?" And we both testified of the peace the gospel brings to us and how because of the Atonement we're able to live with our family forever. Before we left we said a prayer with him and he thanked us and mentioned that for the first time in a few days he felt hope. We also left a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with him and asked him to read it before our next appointment and he said he would. Sister Ogawa and I are looking forward to meeting him this week and really delving into the Plan of Salvation.

Yesterday in church we were sitting in gospel principles and this member leaned over to us and was like "I heard that one of your investigators was at church last week!! That's awesome!!" and we were like...who?? We didn't have any investigators in that ward last week haha. And this member was like "A ten year old girl named M, she's friends with my daughter! She said she's been taking the missionary lessons with her family!" And Sister Ogawa and I were like…What?? We don't have an investigator named M...what missionaries are poaching from us haha. But we did some digging and found out that this girl hasn't actually been taking the lessons, she just would LIKE to take the lessons! We're not sure if her family is open or if it's just her...but Sister Ogawa and I were SO excited! We're looking to set up a Family Home Evening with M's family and the family that brought her to church and hopefully open the door to start teaching them. A super promising potential. :)

Honestly that's about it...It's been crazy busy and we've been working SO hard but those are the highlights from the past five days! :) I love being a missionary and I love this work!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week! :)

Sister Jacobson