Sister Jacobson's Glimpses of Gilbert: Week 28: D-Ridge Life

August 7, 2017

Hello!!

Sis. Utsch and me

Whitewashing be like

Man it's been a FANTASTIC week! Transfers were wild, as always. So here's the transfer report: I'm now serving in an area of the mission called Desert Ridge. It's actually East Mesa! So far I LOVE it here. Our area borders an Indian Reservation in the Mesa mission so when we bike next to it, it kind of feels like I'm back in San Tan...so this area is a really good mix of the best of both the North and the South of the Gilbert mission. We have a really good area; we have NINE investigators on date to be baptized in the next two months! My new companion is Sister Utsch, (pronounced like 'butch' without the 'b') she's from Oklahoma and she's amazing! We've been working so hard this week and we've already seen tons of miracles. She and I cover four wards: three family and one YSA...and we are whitewashing one of the family wards! I remember whitewashing my first transfer and feeling like I was going to die...but this time around it's been a fun challenge!

Cute gift Sis. R made for me

I've also been called to serve as a Sister Training Leader (STL), which means I'll go on exchanges with other sisters in the mission and hopefully help them become better missionaries! I'm pretty nervous, I feel pretty under-qualified to accept this calling, but President Wheeler was adamant about reminding me that this call is from the Lord, and He will qualify me. There are lots of changes in this transfer, but also lots of opportunities for growth and development. I'm so excited to see how the rest of the transfer goes.

Before I talk about the new area, let me back up to the beginning of the week, and my last two days in my last area! Monday and Tuesday last week were rough...Monday and Tuesday nights were just filled with appointments to say goodbye to people. I've always hated goodbyes...and I could talk for hours about how hard it was to say goodbye to the people I served in the Gilbert stake, but instead I'll focus on the love I felt.

On Monday we stopped by the M’s so I could say goodbye to them. Sister Ogawa and I were the ones who found the M’s, so I wanted to make sure I said goodbye. V was DEVASTATED when she found out I was leaving...she started crying, and E was really upset as well. R was kind of neutral haha but he did express to me that he was disappointed we didn't ever get to play volleyball together! We taught a small lesson about prayer, and E was talking to us about how it's so difficult to pray when it feels like God has left us alone. One of my favorite quotes says "pray hardest when it is hardest to pray," and I shared that with E. She loved it and had to run to her room to write it down before she forgot it. As we left, V gave me a huge hug and said "You have brought so much good into our home, and have changed our lives for the better." I about lost it. The progress that I have seen the M’s make over the past three months has been amazing...one of the coolest things about being a missionary is that you have a front row seat to watch people change through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It's indescribable and amazing.

Saying goodbye to M

On Tuesday we stopped by M, our cute little eleven year old investigator. She was also really sad to see me go, and she gave me a hug and wouldn't stop hugging me. It was hard to leave, but I'm not worried about her at all...she's in good hands. She had another lesson with the missionaries this week and I know that she'll be baptized soon.

Saying goodbye to the H family (WML)

Tuesday night we had two dinners. That was an experience. The first one was with a member family and I literally saw the hand of the Lord in my life at this dinner haha. Earlier in the week, a sister in one of our wards had promised to make us chicken and broccoli casserole for dinner. I WAS PUMPED. I LOVE chicken and broccoli casserole!! But then we found out I was being transferred, which meant I wasn't going to get to eat with this family and I was so sad! BUT THEN...we roll up to our dinner Tuesday, AKA my last member dinner in the area...and what do they feed us?? CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE. I've literally never been fed that my whole mission...tell me that that's not divine. I straight up almost started crying...I felt like the Lord was saying "It's okay...you can leave." Haha.

Goodbye to S, R, and Dory

Me and Dory

But the second one was with our investigator, S. When he found out I was leaving he wanted to feed us dinner more than anything in the world. We were able to sit down with him and his wife and enjoy a nice meal. At the end of the meal we taught about prayer, in my whole time working with S I had never heard him pray vocally...and that was one thing that I really wanted for him. I wanted him to pray and have that personal connection with God. So I shared a scripture in Enos, and talked about how Enos' soul "hungered" for that connection with God, and Enos knew that the only way he would get his connection with God was if he prayed and asked for guidance. The Spirit was so strong in the room, and I KNOW S could feel it because he changed the subject...but I was dead set on having him pray so I quickly changed the subject back to prayer and eventually S said he would pray. Y'all...that was easily the most REAL and genuine prayer I have ever heard. Halfway through I was just crying, and so was Sister Rudd...we were both just wrecked. It was by far the best going-away present I could have received from him, and a perfect way to end my time in that area. :')

Looking at the AZ Mesa Mission like

Anyway....moving on to the Desert Ridge area!! This area is POPPIN. NINE on date!! That's awesome!! I was so scared to transfer because the last time I transferred I left an area doing really well and went to an area where we needed to find...so I was scared that was going to happen again, but legit the opposite is happening.

Five of the people on date are from a family named the H’s. My whole mission I've wanted to teach a family and help them progress towards baptism...and now I'm having that opportunity! The H’s are on date to be baptized August 19th and they're AMAZING. We taught them the Ten Commandments this past week and they were so awesome...every single one of them participated and they are just latching onto the gospel and bringing about so many changes in their lives. They've already welcomed me in with open arms and I already feel so much love for them. It's going to be so great watching them enter the waters of baptism in a couple of weeks.

Four of the people on date are from a family named the P’s. They are amazing. Brother and Sister P are both converts. Brother P has been going through a really rocky divorce for seven years and as a result his children haven't been able to be baptized. Sister P's ex-husband wouldn't give permission for her children to be baptized...but recently he has experienced a change of heart and is now sitting in on the lessons! So we're teaching the four kids and this ex-husband...it's a complicated and interesting situation but their love for the gospel is so apparent and so real. I'm so excited to help them continue to progress. The kids are on date for September 23^rd, but there's a chance that date will be moved up...so excited!

We had a cool miracle this week....we had a little bit of time before one of our correlations...legit time to knock maybe one door, so we prayed and biked until we felt good about this one door. We knocked and this lady named J answered. She told us that she had gone to a Mormon church for 7 YEARS when she was younger and then her mom made her stop...then she was like "Now that I'm older...what do I have to do to get back into that??" Sister Utsch and I were literally so frazzled haha we didn't know how to handle the situation...I mean saying that that never happens is an understatement haha. So we set up a return appointment for the following night and left and we were like...oh my heck, what just happened to us! Unfortunately, we had a MASSIVE monsoon the following evening at the exact moment we were supposed to be back at J's. We were inside our dinner appointment and it was too dangerous to leave, so by the time we got to J's it was too late and she was putting her kids to bed....we kept going back every night and could never contact her, until last night. And this is where the story gets kind of sad. So we finally contact her last night and she said that she and her husband have decided to stay in their current religion, but she thanked us for coming by and giving them the opportunity to talk about their religion and if they're happy in it. Before we left, we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she'd read it...and I honestly think she will. When we left we were both so upset...we were like, man..what if that monsoon hadn't come, what if we'd been able to show up at that appointment as planned?? And then we realized that we were playing the 'what if' game too much. For one reason or another, it's not in the Lord's plan at this time for J to accept the restored gospel. We did all that we could, and we provided her with a BOM so that the next time missionaries knock on her door maybe she'll be ready for them.

Comp goals

The Desert Ridge zone is legit the Idaho zone. There's me and Sister Utsch, and then eleven wild and crazy elders...and like seven of us are from Idaho! There's actually an Elder in my zone from Meridian...graduated from Rocky the same year I graduated! It’s a small, small world. It's fun serving with people you know you'll see after the mission...yay for lifelong friends!

This week we had MLC (Mission Leadership Council) which was a surreal experience for me...it was really weird walking into a room with all of the leaders of the mission...it really felt like I was somewhere that I didn't belong, but I am grateful for the training and the guidance I was able to receive as a result of MLC! President Wheeler gave us twenty amazing tips for being a leader and I know that I'll use those tips for the rest of my life. In addition, we were told that in the next month TWO Apostles will be coming to our mission. Haha I wish that y'all could have seen MLC light up as President was telling us who they were/when they would be here...it was better than a kid in a candy store. The first is Elder Bednar (I'M SO EXCITED ROUND TWO LETS GO!!!) but there's a chance that this one will fall through though--we don't know many of the details yet. We were told that he'll be here between the 14^th and 18^th of August, but we're not sure if it will be the whole time or if it will be just an hour or what, and he'll train us how to be effective missionaries with Smartphone’s. We're also not sure if he'll speak to the whole mission or not, but we're just super excited he's coming!! The second will be Elder Anderson, on the 29^th of August, and we're pretty sure that this one will happen. But we are so excited. Two of the three apostles that are on the missionary committee!! Coming to the Arizona Gilbert Mission!! It's all very exciting. :)

Anyway, thank you for all you do!! I love and miss you all :)

Sister Jacobson