October 9, 2017
Hello everyone!!
Oh my heck how is it already Monday
again?! This week was probably the fastest week of my whole mission. Sister
Utsch and I went on THREE exchanges and it was wild. Two of the exchanges were
back to back and I left our area both times so yesterday I experienced a
similar feeling to that of jet-lag...kinda like "what time zone am I in
and what day is it??" except missionary style so like "what ZONE am I
in and who is my ~REAL~ companion??" Haha exchanges take it out of ya! But
I think that's why this week was so crazy fast--all those exchanges!
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| Exchanges with Sis. Baker |
The first exchange was with Sister
Baker, a sister who is from Pocatello, ID and has been on her mission for about
seven months. We were in my area and we saw a pretty cool miracle. Last Sunday
between sessions of conference we went to one of our bishop's homes for lunch.
His daughter had brought a nonmember friend, T, to the morning session of
conference and he was at lunch too! Sister Utsch and I were able to answer some
of his questions about conference, as well as share the message of the
Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and give him a Book of Mormon.
We also found out that he had been at YSA FHE the Monday before! He came to the
afternoon session as well. We thought it was pretty cool, but he told us that
he was going to be moving soon...and the place he's moving is out of our
mission, so we were kinda like aw that's a bummer! And we didn't really think
anything of it. BUT! This week on exchanges with Sister Baker we were biking
down the street that we live on and there was a house with an open garage. I
heard people inside the garage so I rode up onto the driveway and started
talking to them. It was really sunny outside, and the garage was dark so I
couldn't see who it was...but from the depths of the garage I hear this voice
say "I ate lunch with you on Sunday!!" and bam! out walks T! I was
kinda embarrassed haha I was like "man, you're seeing me in action right
now!!" and we had a good laugh, but then he told me that that was where he
lived! And he said that he might not be moving after all...we had a solid
conversation and he told me that we should stop by the bishop’s house again and
teach him some more! It was awesome. Seriously, what are the odds that this
random kid we taught this one time would live on the same street that we do?!
Pretty cool miracle.
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| Exchanges with Sis. Cordon! |
The second exchange was with Sister
Cordon, one of the sisters we live with! We were in her area, which is just
across the street from ours but the difference between our two areas is night
and day. We went tracting for a good amount of time and actually found like
three or four solid potentials. It was so refreshing! I've never had success
from tracting so to actually be able to find some potential investigators was
really exciting for me. I love all of the things that I learn and see from
exchanges!
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| Sis. Scarlet & me in Gilbert 💓 |
The third exchange was with Sister
Scarlet, a sister who has been out for a year...and is currently serving in my
last area.😗💓💓When
Sister Utsch and I saw that my last area was in our stewardship I was like
"dibs on going to that area!!" But we still prayed about who should
go where, and I was beyond excited when we received the answer that I was
supposed to go back to that area. PERKS OF A SMALL MISSION!!! It was amazing.
It was like a blast from the past haha! We were able to visit a couple of the
people I taught and see some of the families I got close to. It was hilarious
to watch people's reactions all day long...I haven't been gone from that area
for too long so some people didn't even realize I had been transferred and some
people thought I was back to stay haha. It was seriously so fun.
Sister Utsch and I saw a MASSIVE
miracle together this week. We've been working with the K family for a long
time and their progress since I got into the area to now is night and day, and
it's even more dramatic from the time Sister Utsch arrived here. Ever since
I've been here their biggest concern has been living prophets. We've talked
about prophets here and there, but we've never outright had a lesson on the
importance of living prophets. We felt inspired to invite them to watch general
conference, and we were pretty nervous about how they would react, and we
honestly thought that nothing would come from it...but then this week we found
out that they had actually watched all the sessions! We stopped by for water
this week and M.K. came outside and talked to us for a long time. We asked him
for his thoughts on conference and he said "I think...they're actually
real prophets and apostles..." Sister Utsch and I about died. He told us
that he was studying the lives of all the latter-day prophets and was currently
studying the life of Spencer W. Kimball. Y'all...that is CRAZY; I never thought
they'd progress to this point! He begged us to come over for a lesson the next
night and we taught about the importance of holding tight to the word of God,
which includes the words of the living prophets. And then yesterday at church
we saw C. K. in the library, checking out a book about the prophets! She told
us, "Yeah...after conference I just know that these men are truly inspired
and so in-tune with the Spirit." Tears. Actual tears. :') The Spirit is
amazing--it's working on that family!!
Traumatic/slightly funny moment this
week...we had a lesson with L and she rolled up with one of her usual friends
and then someone different. She goes "this is my hermana," like it's
no big deal so Sister Utsch and I LITERALLY THOUGHT that it was just another
friend. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how we should study it
daily and gain a firm testimony of it for ourselves. We promised L that if she
held on tight to her testimony of the Book of Mormon that she would be
able to withstand any opposition from her family. It was then that we learned
that this "hermana" was ACTUALLY her hermana!! Like it was her real,
from-the-same-womb, living, breathing sister. Sister Utsch and I were so
embarrassed. We were like...wow...good thing we just talked about how you can
withstand the opposition from your family with one of your family members
present. Awesome. Haha but it was okay. She was chill. We all had a pretty good
laugh about that one and I think it was a good first introduction to the
missionaries for L's sister. Hopefully she saw that we're not robots because
heaven knows that was not planned haha. On the upside, L brought us frozen
custard so that was exciting.
We also had the opportunity to
attend MLC this week! We were able to receive such good training from President
Wheeler...that man is seriously so inspired! We talked about the Atonement of
Jesus Christ, or should I say, the AtONEment of Jesus Christ. President taught
us that the Atonement is the most infinitely individual thing we will ever
experience. The Atonement is for everyone, but on an individual basis. No two
people have the same problems, concerns, or sins, so we all bring different
challenges when we seek to access the Atonement, yet it's the perfect fit for
each of us in our own individual uniqueness! It was awesome. I know that the
Atonement of Jesus Christ is a manifestation of God's love for each of us
individually.
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| Desert Ridge at FHA💯 |
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| Cafe Rio & Living Scriptures party |
Finally, this week our zone decided
to combine for District Meeting. It wasn't a zone meeting because we're not
allowed to have those anymore...it was a combined district meeting ;) Haha in
all seriousness, President gave us permission. Both of the DLs and Sister Utsch
and I gave thirty minute trainings on various topics the ZLs felt inspired to
train the zone on, and mine and Sister Utsch's training was highly memorable
and a little silly/funny. Our mission received a training a couple months ago
on this thing called "the razor's edge", which basically means going
the extra mile to do the little things that matter the most. Imagine two lumberjacks
hacking away on two different trees. One of them is hacking as hard as he
possibly can, and the other one takes periodic breaks--or so it seems. At the
end, the one that took the "breaks" ends up chopping down the tree
first. The other lumberjack is confused and says "but you took so many
breaks!!" and the lumberjack who chopped the tree down first says "I
wasn't taking a break, I was sharpening my axe." Basically, the small
effort to sharpen the axe is what ultimately set the two lumberjacks apart. So
it is with missionary work! The little things make the big difference. A little
while ago Sister Utsch and I went to Costa Vida and ordered the same
thing--sweet pork salad. A few days later we went to Cafe Rio and ordered the
same thing--sweet pork salad. However, we noticed a fundamental difference
between the Costa Vida salads and the Cafe Rio salads. They both have the same
base ingredients--tortilla, rice, beans, meat, lettuce, tortilla chips, pico,
and tomatillo dressings. They're both good salads! But the Cafe Rio salads take
it to the next level. They toast cheese on the tortilla, put cilantro in the
lettuce, add some parmesean cheese on top, and they even include a lime and
guacamole! Honestly it's those little things that make the Cafe Rio Salads better.
Cafe Rio has the razor's edge!!! Our whole training revolved around this
extended metaphor and at the end we promised the missionaries in our zone that
if they did the little things then they would all be Cafe Rio salads. A little goofy
and a little silly...but it's true. I think it could apply to life as well!
Take the extra time to be a little bit better and do the little things that no
one else wants to do...it makes all the difference!
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| Excessive sign found while tracting |
Haha on that note...have a great
week! I love you all!
Sister Jacobson
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