Week 26: AGM…Plugged In?!?!

July 24, 2017

Hey hey!

Ohhhhh boy what a WILD, WILD week it's been!! Things are happening...not just in our area, but in our MISSION as well!

On Friday before weekly planning, our ZLs sent out a mass text to the zone telling us all to be on time for weekly planning because they had a huge announcement to make. Usually these "big announcements" end up being pretty lame...but this time it actually was a HUGE announcement. Alright everyone, buckle up...by the second or third week of August...every single missionary in the Arizona Gilbert Mission will have a SMART PHONE!!! That's right, we're getting technology!! Not only that, but church headquarters has chosen our mission to be the first mission to pilot the use of smart phones mission-wide. We get to choose what phone we want, purchase it, and at the end of our mission, we take the phone with us. This means that all of our area books, planning, EVERYTHING is going to be on our phones. There's still a lot we don't know, but what we do know is that both companions will have a phone, each companionship will have one phone number and one SIM card. When you're transferred, the phone goes with you and the SIM stays in the area.

In addition, starting next transfer (so next week!!) our mission is a social media mission. We'll be on Facebook! Legit last week I told Sister Rudd that I would be a much more effective missionary if I could keep tabs on our investigators via social media....I think the Lord heard me. ;) We're waiting for more information on that as well!

IN ADDITION! Since we're piloting the smartphones...the church is sending a team of filmmakers to film our mission implementing this technology....and the films they make will be used to train missionaries worldwide. So those videos called "The District" that you're supposed to watch before your mission? Yeah...my mission is being used for The District 4.

Trainer vs. Trainee

Next transfer we're obviously going to have a massive training on how to use this technology effectively, and the exciting part is....we're going to be trained by a big General Authority. We're not sure if it's going to be a broadcast or if he'll actually come here...but as of right now it sounds like he's going to come here!

So yes....we are very, VERY excited. Just this week I had a crisis-moment where I realized that I'm learning all of these amazing skills on my mission, and I realized that when I go home I'll have all of these skills but I'll also have all of the distractions that I don't have now...and it really worried me, but at almost the same time I felt the worry, I felt this overwhelming sense of peace. When the ZLs told us about the technology I realized that the Lord has prepared a way for me to learn how to use technology on my mission so it won't be as big of a distraction when I go home! I am so thankful.

But anyways, after that exciting news...let me talk about the work this week! It was one of those weeks where we worked really hard, saw lots of people, had lots of really great discussions, but I can't think of any amazing earth-shattering stories to share.

This week we had a lesson with our cute 11-year-old investigator M. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and it was probably one of the sweetest lessons on my mission. We had the lesson at her member friend's house, and her friend's family was being really loud and distracting. For a minute there I was really worried that we wouldn't be able to teach her a lesson...but M kept telling us that she wanted a lesson, so we asked the family if we could say a prayer. As soon as we said "Amen" the atmosphere in the whole room was different; the Spirit was present and we were able to teach her! M was listening intently the whole time. As we were talking about our life here on Earth, we were talking about the experiences we gain here, and how many of the things we experience prepare us to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt impressed to ask her if she'd ever felt the Holy Ghost, so I explained briefly how I feel the Holy Ghost and then asked her if she'd ever felt His presence. She nodded and then I asked her if she could share a time. She got a little choked up and said, "I think I feel it right now." And then she described what she was feeling. She also told us that she feels the same way at church and every time she reads the Book of Mormon. It was a very sweet moment. At the end of the lesson, we asked her what she understood of the Plan of Salvation and I was shocked at how much she retained! She really did pay attention! And then, we invited her to say a prayer with us and she did!! She was so excited to have the opportunity to pray, and I think she thanked the Lord for "the missionaries coming to teach her a lesson" like three times....it was one of the most genuine prayers I've ever heard. We are praying that her parent’s hearts will soften soon! We talked with her parents briefly this week and slowly but surely I think they're coming around. :)

Also this week...a boy from one of the wards I'm serving in got his mission call to the IDAHO BOISE mission!! Yeeeaaaaahhhhh!!!! He leaves in October. Look for an Elder Wagner rolling into Boise in November!

Visited a family who live in a hill

We also had a super cool miracle this week. We were out working on Friday night and we had an appointment at 8, and it was like 7:50 so we had an awkward amount of time. We were nearby this one family who NEVER answers their door, but I thought "eh, let's try them." And honestly in my mind I was like yeah by the time we knock this door, and they don't answer, and we get back to our car, it'll be right about the time we need to go to this appointment. But to my utter surprise...they OPENED their door AND invited us in!! It was so surreal; I've knocked that door so many times and never ever gotten in. But then we were in a pickle because it was like 7:55 and we had an appointment in like 5 minutes...but the appointment was with a recent convert so we chose to stay a little longer and be late to our appointment. We ended up getting to know this family, building a really good relationship, AND getting a dinner appointment. The Lord's hand is in everything!!

Member dinners always an adventure!

Haha this week we got stranded on the border of our mission and the Tempe mission. A member took us to this really good Chinese restaurant for dinner, and honestly every time we've had dinner with this member something crazy has happened. Her oldest son went into the MTC this past week--he's going to Sweden--and she told us that she needed some comfort, so she took us to dinner. Well, this family has just been plagued with trial after trial these past few months (anyone who has ever had a member of their family go on a mission understands haha) and one of their trials has been random car problems. She picks us up for dinner, and on the way to the restaurant she goes, "Look what I pulled out from my car today!!" and it's literally a belt from the engine. We were like...that's not good. So we make it there just fine, but then we come out and the car won't start haha the key was just clicking back and forth. She wanted us to go across the street to wait at the Circle K, but we were like...that's outside of our mission (small mission problems) haha so that's the story of how we ended up sitting at a KFC a couple blocks away from the Chinese restaurant waiting for a ride.

Anyways, it's been a good week! Life is so good; mission life is the best!

Have a good week; I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do!

Sister Jacobson

Stumbled onto some birdhouses

Birdhouse maker's garage

Someone gave us flowers

I know where they got this!

Mini haboob

Mini haboob

Mini haboob

Week 25: An Instrument in the Hands of the Lord

July 17, 2017

Happy Monday!

Falling off my chair during planning

I can't believe it's already been a week! This one FLEW by. It's been yet another good week here in good ol' Gilbert! The miracles are just falling from the sky--literally. We've had rain almost every single night so this week has been pretty cool temperature wise...we're very grateful.

As with every other week on my mission, my faith was tested. We had a massive heartbreak this week. Tuesday morning we woke up to a text from M's roommate saying that M has a lot going on right now and is too stressed to quit smoking, and would not be ready for baptism July 22. She also told us that M couldn't have a lesson this week. I was gutted. Our past few lessons with him he's made so much progress...and we were so excited that he had decided to take the next step towards baptism. So being told that he wasn't even going to try to quit was like being slugged in the stomach. I was pretty down all of Tuesday morning, and I was upset because the last lesson we'd had with M I had felt the Spirit so prominently and I had such a strong conviction that M would be able to quit smoking this week...so it was really discouraging. I kept hearing my own voice in my head promising M that he would be able to quit, and I felt like maybe I hadn't followed the Spirit in making that promise...because he wasn't able to quit this week. However, it's cool to see how the Lord truly knows what we need. After district meeting on Tuesday I was flipping through the scriptures and I came across D&C 82:10, which reads, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." And the Spirit overcame me...I realized that I HAD followed the Spirit when making that promise to M, the caveat though was that he needed to follow the program with EXACTNESS. The promise was valid IF M had followed the program we had given him, but since he hadn't followed it...he had no promise. The same applies to obedience to the commandments that the Lord has given us. The graph between obedience/blessings is not linear--you don't get 10% blessings for being 10% obedient...the graph is exponential. You must be 100% obedient for the blessings to come, and once they come they will keep on coming the longer you keep being 100% obedient.

But anyway, continuing on...we went out and worked Tuesday afternoon and it was amazing to see the blessings the Lord poured out upon us because of our diligence despite our disappointment. We had a member split that afternoon. One thing I've realized in the past few weeks that we've been trying to take more and more members out with us is how acclimated us missionaries truly are. I mean, I can be outside during the hottest part of the day with one bottle of water and not be let in anywhere and hardly bat an eye...but when we have a member with us they start dying after 20 minutes because they're not used to being outside haha! So we're with this member and she didn't have any water and we hadn't gotten in anywhere and she started dying...so Sister Rudd and I were debating just having her take us home to get our car and then just going out the two of us...but we just felt really strongly that we needed to keep this member with us. It was after this decision that we saw probably one of the coolest miracles I've ever seen. Do you remember F, the guy that Sister Ogawa and I gave water to on the street like two months ago? We decided to stop by his house and see how he's doing. This woman answered. She looked pretty ragged and distressed. She saw us and immediately said "Oh girls. I know you have this book or something...but it's not a good time. I can't talk right now." and went to close the door. In that moment, I knew that for one reason or another, we needed to talk to her. So I asked her name. Keep in mind; she's like closing the door, actively trying to get us to go away. She tells us that her name is S. Our member spoke up and said "That's my name! It's a good name!" S stopped trying to close the door. That wouldn't have happened if that member hadn't been with us. We asked her a few more questions, about her life, what she was doing...and S started crying. She opened up to us and told us that her son is addicted to drugs and she doesn't know how to help him. I said, "S, is your son F?" and her eyes got huge. She started crying even harder and nodded. I then asked her if I could tell her something, and she said yes. I told her the story about Sister Ogawa and me finding F on the street, and how he didn't want to talk to us but we kept talking to him; we wouldn't give up and finally we got him some water and he left. I told her that Sister Ogawa and I had prayed for him for weeks, prayed that we would get another opportunity to talk to him and help him in any way that we could. At this point, S is sobbing, and she says "You must be sent from God himself. Just like the Elders were." And after she said that I'm like...what?? What Elders?? AND THEN...S goes "A few years ago, some Elders used to come by and meet with us...and there was one day they came and knocked on the door after F had a really bad drug spell, I wouldn't let them in the house but they insisted they come in. And they gave all of us blessings." Y'all...I about fell over. F...that same F that Sister Ogawa and I felt so inspired to keep talking to...F and his entire FAMILY are FORMER INVESTIGATORS. We don't have a teaching record in our area book...we didn't even know they existed....but Heavenly Father does, and that's why He guided us to them. He knows each of us so individually and so perfectly and knows what each of us needs, better than we even know it. S invited us in and we met the whole family--they're wonderful. We were able to talk to F and provide him with some hope, and we're going to go back this week and start meeting with them again.

This week we had interviews! I love President and Sister Wheeler, their love and encouragement means the world to me!

Exchanges and Basketball

When you match the pot

This week we had exchanges! I left the area and went with Sister Norgrant, while Sister Rudd stayed here and led out our area. I had a blast with Sister Norgrant, and I learned so much from her. We are actually very similar people...it was crazy haha we went tracting and before we went we prayed what street to tract and what section to tract...and once we had decided we went knocking. Not too many people were home, or interested, but we met this one girl named R. We were supposed to meet her. She let us in to get some water and as we were talking with her she told us that just the day before she had been on an airplane coming home from a business trip and she was sitting next to a guy who was LDS who started talking to her about our beliefs. She was like "It's so crazy that you two showed up here just the day after I met that guy!" And we were like....weird how that works lol not like God directed us or anything haha. But as we were talking to her, she made some comment about her job that led me to realize that her job is in marketing. So I asked her about it, and she started telling me all this stuff and then she asked what I was studying. I told her I was studying advertising and then out of nowhere Sister Norgrant was like "what?? Me too?" Haha we had no idea! Turns out that Sister Norgrant decided like last week to study advertising...and when she goes home she'll be at BYU and she'll do her pre-reqs and probably start into the program like Winter 2019...same as me! I'm so excited! But anyways, it was just cool that the three of us (Sis Norgrant, R, and me) all had the same interests and all ended up being in the same place at the same time because the Lord had provided a way for us to be there. :)

This week the thing that I noticed the most was how much I am an instrument in the hands of the Lord. When I think about missionary work, I realize that it is truly amazing that the Lord is sending 18/19 year old men and women to do His work. Think about it, He could be sending angels in His place--He's done it before--but instead He's sending teenagers fresh out of high school to do the work of salvation. He truly qualifies those who He calls.

Helping P hang wire-can you see him?

I noticed this the most on Saturday. We planned to stop by a ton of potentials, many of whom we had never met before. We knocked on this one door and this ancient man (at least 80 years old) named P came outside. He goes "You're a God send!! I need your help, follow me!" haha so we followed him to his backyard. Turns out he needed our help hanging a short-range radio antenna in his tree. He handed me this antenna, and then started climbing into this tree haha...I was so scared he was going to fall! Haha so that's the story of how I ended up beneath a fruit tree with a wire attached to the end of a fruit-picker, being directed by a potential investigator in the tree as to where to hang the wire...definitely one of the weirder things I've done on my mission. But the point is, the Lord placed us in Ps path in the very hour he needed help. And hey, we got a return appointment out of it! Score!

After P we felt prompted to stop by M's roommate. We had felt like she was pretty down after telling us he hadn't quit smoking (relatable tbh) so we decided to go visit her. She was so excited to see us. We talked with her about trials and read with her portions of Mosiah 24, where the Lord promises to bear our burdens. We asked her when she had felt this and she opened up to us and told us her conversion story. She told us that she had never felt more love than when the missionaries were meeting with her and she told us that the difference she noticed in herself before her baptism vs after her baptism was night and day, and then she said that M noticed it too...and one day he'll experience it firsthand for himself. I think she really needed it, and honestly I think we needed it as well. The Lord knew that!

Then, we received a text from a woman in one of our wards. Her son went into the MTC the same day I did, and her daughter is feeling like she should go on a mission but is struggling to decide....haha so mix her two kids and you get me! So she's really grown attached to me haha. Every time I see her she says "Oh giving you a hug is just like giving my C a hug!!" I love her so much! But anyway, she texted us probably the sweetest text message I've ever received, detailing how much she appreciates us and how she's been thinking about us...and she also told us that her son had a really hard week this week so she was just wondering if we needed anything. We decided to stop by and pay her a visit, and we ended up having an amazing spiritual discussion with her family. By the end of it, she was crying and she expressed to us her gratitude for us taking the time to pay her a visit, she told us that she needed it. A common theme? The Lord knew!

How I feel about AZ sunsets

Anyway...now that this email is ridiculously long...I guess I better sign off. But before I do, there's one more thing I need to say. Tomorrow I will have been on my mission for six months, 1/3 of my eighteen months are gone. I cannot believe it. These past six months have been some of the most difficult and trying months of my life. There's been a lot of heartache and stress, and many struggles. However, these past six months have been some of the, if not THE, most special, spiritual, and sacred months of my life. I've never been happier, and I've never seen the hand of the Lord in so much abundance. God hears and answers our prayers, and His hand is in each of our lives. There are miracles everywhere--if we just take the time to look for them. This work is the Lord's work, and this is THE Church of Jesus Christ, restored to the Earth today through the prophet Joseph Smith. Jesus Christ is at the head of it and leads and guides the church through the prophet today, Thomas S. Monson. The Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God and changes lives. The Doctrine of Christ APPLIED changes lives. It is not enough to merely know about the stories in the Book of Mormon, or to know what the Doctrine of Christ is...we must study and apply these things. Above all, I've seen these two things change my life firsthand as I've studied them every day on my mission. Most of all, these past six months I've come to know my Savior, Jesus Christ, more than ever before. I know that He lives and that He loves us. He bore our burdens so we wouldn't have to bear them alone. He suffered so that we wouldn't have to. Because of His Atoning sacrifice, we can be made clean and we can be made whole. I love my mission. I love being a missionary. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me over the next year!

I love you all!

Sister Jacobson

Me & my Grandma Skirts

Most Awkward Picture

Awkward!

Ice Cream Social

Ice Cream Social

Picture in a tree

Weekly AZ sunset

Helping P

Still helping

Where is that P?

I won the Ottoman war

 

Week 24: Cabin Fever

July 10, 2017

Hello hello!!

What's good?! What a week!! So many wonderful, amazing, miraculous things have happened!

Monsoon Season Sunsets

This week started off on a really bad note. My patience was tested in ways it has never been tested before. Man, I was literally about to unravel last Monday/Tuesday. (If you couldn't tell from my email last week ;)) But this week really illustrated to me how much I've grown since coming on my mission, a few months ago I would have been way worse than I was this past week...and during companionship inventory this week Sister Rudd even told me that one of my strengths she’s noticed was patience! Haha I think she was just being nice though....in any case, I appreciated it! :)

Fresh Whip ft. Crutches

Last Monday I started harassing the AP's for a car. Up until that point we'd been finding members to drive us places, but it had reached a point where we were certain that we wouldn't be able to bike for at least a few more weeks, so I called in the big guns. Monday night we were unable to find a member to drive us around, so when P-day ended we had to stay in the house. We live outside of our area so it's not like we can even go tracting in our neighborhood. However, we used the three hours of proselytizing time Monday evening to prepare for some lessons this week...it was a good use of time! Tuesday was the fourth of July, and we had a very patriotic District Meeting in the morning and then we were supposed to go and proselyte in the afternoon, and then remain inside or at a zone activity in the evening. I spent all morning on Tuesday texting and calling all the members I could think of, and no one was available...so Tuesday afternoon we stayed inside as well. That was when I thought I was going to go crazy. Monday night and Tuesday afternoon are the only times on my whole mission that I haven't gone out and worked...and I was so antsy. So when Wednesday morning rolled around I was about to lose my mind...the thought of staying inside another day was too much for me. The cabin fever was too real. But, miracles happen and the AP’s brought us a car Wednesday morning! That was wild, I hadn't driven a car in almost six months...so I was super stressed hopping into that driver's seat on Wednesday haha. The rest of the week we were able to go and work, and we saw so many miracles!

The first miracle we saw was in our lesson with M this week. He told us that the only reason why he still smokes is so he can have a break at work. One thing to know about M: I've never met someone more passionate about his job at a gas station. He loves his job...and he puts himself through so much so he can be the best employee that F's gas station in Gilbert Arizona has ever seen! So we were really worried about trying to help him quit smoking this week, because he is literally surrounded by cigarettes ALL THE TIME. I mean, c'mon...a gas station is not the most ideal place for someone who is trying to quit smoking to work. But we have faith that with the Lord's help he can quit! Our lesson with him went about as well as I think it could have gone. This week both Sister Rudd and I have been really worried because we want him to quit smoking so bad...but at this point the desire has to come from inside M. He was stubborn about quitting, and the best commitment he could give us was "I'll try." But when we were evaluating the lesson afterwards we felt like the Spirit was present and we testified with power; there's no doubt in our minds that M knows that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and servants of the Lord. During our lesson M started lamenting to us about how he's going to be forever a slave to cigarettes and he's condemned to a life of addiction, and I felt the Spirit so strongly and I cut him off and started quoting to him a Jeffrey R Holland quote in PMG that basically says that while we (as missionaries) are on the Lord's errand we have the authority to call down miracles if needs be, because this is the work of bringing souls to Christ. And then I promised him--I called down a miracle-- in Jesus Christ's name, that if he was diligent this week and followed the program we gave him with exactness, then he would be a non-smoker by the next time we saw him. Haha as the words were coming out of my mouth I was like...wait...this is a really hefty promise, and I did it in Christ's name haha that's not something you do lightly, but that's how I know it was inspired and it was from the Spirit. I would have never thought to say something like that, but the Holy Ghost knew that it was exactly what M needed. We've been following up with him every day this week and so far he hasn't bought any more cigarettes and he's doing well! His roommate told us he isn't really following the program, but honestly I don't care how he quits...as long as he quits!! Keep him in your prayers! We have another lesson with him on Wednesday this week.

Another awesome miracle this week! We stopped by a Less-Active/Part-Member/Former Investigator family this week! The husband is less-active and the wife is a former investigator. Our teaching record for her says that she is "golden" but ever since I've been in this area I've found that she is FAR from golden. The reason why they don't come to church is because of pressure from their parents...which is a tough spot to be in. I've stopped by their house multiple times and every time I've been met with a lukewarm response, at best, from this family. Finally the ward told us to back off so we haven't really been focusing on them anymore. But! This week we stopped by because they came to the Elder Bednar stake conference a couple of weeks ago and we wanted to follow up and see if they liked it. I think I've said this before, but I seriously want to write Elder Bednar a thank-you note for the lasting effect this conference has had on this area. Anyway, when we got to this house, the wife, E, was home and she was SO HAPPY to see us. She invited us in and we sat down and got to know her a little bit better. She mentioned that she and her husband are going to start coming to church again...and I was like wait, what?? She went on to explain that after the Elder Bednar stake conference they really felt like they have made the decision to not come to church/join the church based off of the opinions of other people, and they feel like they've wasted so much time being concerned about what other people are going to say instead of worrying about what their Father in Heaven says. I seriously almost fell over haha, I don't know what I was expecting to happen but it definitely was not that! Miracle! We're excited to go back and keep meeting with them and continue to help them come closer to Jesus Christ!

Sis. Fuimaono & Me & Indoor Vball

Getting Stuck Vball w/Butterfly Net

For our zone activity on the fourth we got together with the other missionaries and played a bunch of sports! Sister Fuimaono and I spent the whole time peppering and playing volleyball. It was SO FUN. I am so rusty!! It was such a good workout though, honestly the best workout I've gotten on my mission, aside from biking all day every day lol. We brought the volleyball home with us and every night when we get home we play in our house haha. It's intense because we have a ceiling fan in the middle of our living room so we have to be really careful to not hit it. And then a couple mornings this week we've gotten up early and gone to the church to pepper! I'm dusting those cobwebs off, slowly but surely!

Fresh Whip ft. Companion

Another miracle we've seen this week is a massive increase in member trust. We only get 500 miles on our car for the entire month of July. Our area is fairly small, but those miles go so fast...especially when you have to be in the car 100% of the time. So this week we passed around a list in each of our wards for members who have time to come on visits with us or drive us around. We try and spend at least a couple hours every day with a member out with us. The first day we did this, we got in nowhere. We spent the full three hours knocking doors and no one was home. By the end of it, the member was like "Oh you've worked so hard, you can go home now!!" and we were like...nope this isn't how it works! And we kept going and afterwards she told us how impressed she was that we were still out working, even with Sister Rudd's bum foot. The second day we did this, our member was driving us from our house to our area and she was like "you usually bike this?!?" and we were like yeah! and she just goes "OH FOR HEAVENS SAKE!!!" hahaha it was really funny, but then she told us when she dropped us off that her respect for us had increased so much after seeing how much we bike every single day. The Lord knows exactly what we need!

And for those that are eagerly awaiting the update on Sister Rudd's foot...on Friday we were finally sent in to Urgent Care to get an X-ray. When the doctor came in to look at the foot he pushed around and when he pushed Sister Rudd's second metatarsal I thought she was going to die. What I've learned about her these past few weeks is that she is one tough cookie. Not much fazes her, and she has a super high tolerance for pain. Seriously, her foot was ridiculously swollen and she was all "it's fine, let's go work." I think I was more worried than she was. So when I saw her in pain with that second metatarsal I knew that it really hurt. When she came back from the X-Ray she was like "man that really hurt when he pushed on that." The mission nurse at this point was like "Ooh. That's not good." So we were all SHOCKED when the doctor came back and told us that the X-Ray showed no fractures or soft tissue damage or anything. He put her in a boot though and told her to use crutches for the next few weeks...and we're supposed to call the mission nurse today to give her an update. Depending on what Sister Rudd says we might be referred to a foot specialist...there's still a chance that there's torn ligaments and tendons, but we're just hoping that it's a bad sprain.

Anyway, things are great! In Sister Rudd's Priesthood blessing she got after she hurt her foot our companionship was promised that as we continued to work to the best of our ability through this trial we would be blessed with miracles and fast-paced growth. We've definitely seen that this week. Despite not being able to work on Monday or Tuesday we were still blessed with massive amounts of success and many miracles, I'm so excited to see what this next week has in store. Thank you for all you do! I love you!

Sister Jacobson

Foot Tan Lines

Watch Tan Lines

Sis. Fuimaono & Me After Indoor Vball