Sister Jacobson's Glimpses of Gilbert: Week 41: A Very Sacred Halloween

November 6, 2017

Hello everyone!

I love to see the temple

It's been such a good week! This morning as Sister Utsch and I were reviewing our week we were so humbled by the tender mercies of the Lord that we saw this week. Something amazing happened every single day! We were so grateful to have been able to witness so many miracles firsthand and to be able to help the work of the Lord progress in this corner of His vineyard!

Last Monday we had a dinner appointment with a part-member family in our area, the E’s. Sister E is a LA member and her husband, R, has been really close to baptism multiple times. He doesn't like to be pressured so every time he gets close he backs away. We had dinner with them probably about two months ago and the ward was amazed that we were able to get in...but then they backed away again! :( We've stopped by and texted them a few times since but hadn't ever been able to get back in...but last week Sister E texted us and was like "Girls, I promised you Chinese food...can you come to dinner on Monday??" and we were so excited! We had an awesome dinner and a great conversation, and we shared the video of Jesus Christ and Peter walking on the water. We talked about how we are often like Peter, afraid to trust the Lord and full of doubts. We also talked about how Christ is ALWAYS there, through all of our doubts, ready to reach out and help us back into the ship. As we were talking, R started telling us about a recent experience he had at work, and he said, "Talking with you tonight has helped me realize that even though I felt utterly alone, the Lord was there helping me through this hard time." The Spirit was definitely present and the E’s thanked us multiple times for coming! When we were evaluating the lesson afterwards, both Sister Utsch and I felt strongly that we had made a breakthrough with the family, and we also realized that the key with them is going to be to bring the Spirit every time we go there--the Spirit will do all the work once R is ready.

D-ridge sisters at the temple

Tuesday was Halloween so we got to go to the temple!!! I think I've said this before but I know that a massive reason why I was sent to this mission is because the Lord knew that I could not handle serving a mission without the temple. Halloween was the first time I'd been to the temple in over three months and I was legit crying the whole session I was so happy to be there. And it was extra special because our whole mission got to go to the temple, so the entire session was just packed full of missionaries. It was really special being in the temple with the people that are serving the Lord alongside me at this time, including President and Sister Wheeler and the senior missionaries. I went to the temple seeking peace and I found it in Romans 8:35-39...check those verses out, they're absolutely beautiful! Some of my favorite in the Bible! I love the temple so much! Definitely the most sacred Halloween I've experienced, and definitely the best Halloween ever!

Exchanges with Sis. Chvala

This week we also had two exchanges! The first was with Sister Chvala, a sister who has been out for just about three months, and we were in my area! We had a really great day. We saw loads of miracles and success, but I'll just share one brief story. We were trying to contact a potential investigator I'd never met before, who lived on this street called Q. The roads in Arizona do this really annoying thing where all of the roads that run East/West have the same name, just different numbers...so it's really easy to get lost and end up on the wrong street...which is exactly what happened. We ended up on the wrong Q, but it ended up being inspired because a different potential investigator named R was outside! We gave R a BOM a few weeks ago and when we followed up we found out that he had been reading, and he asked if there was a way to read the BOM online, so we gave him a pass-along card! When we saw him outside I was like oh perfect now we can set up a return appointment! But the problem was that he was in his garage, watching a Spanish soap opera SUPER loud. I was like...man we are going to roll up to the bottom of his driveway and he's not going to hear us trying to talk to him...it's going to be so awkward. So I literally almost didn't talk to him. But the Holy Ghost was literally like "Sister Jacobson. Stop being ridiculous, get over yourself and go talk to him." So we pedaled over on our bikes and no joke as soon as we got to the bottom of his driveway he turned off the soap opera, just in time for us to be like "Hey R!! How are you doing?" He was SO excited to see us! He was like "Oh!! I lost that card you gave me...can I have another one? I really want to listen on my way to work!" We were like of course we have another card!! We were able to give him another pass-along card, and testify again of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I was so grateful that I got over myself and decided to talk to him! Now he can download the Book of Mormon and listen to it on his way to work! :)

Exchanges with Sis. Sabey

Our second exchange was with Sister Sabey, who was my trainer's MTC companion! She goes home in the beginning of December so she is kind of on her last leg and we had a good day of working as hard as we possibly could. We were able to contact quite a few potentials in their area and we gave out a Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment with someone we tracted into! Missionary work is the best!

We had MLC this week, which was much needed. I always look forward to MLC because it's simultaneously the most uplifting and the most humbling meeting ever. President gave us some really great leadership training this time around. We had an assignment to read Spencer W. Kimball's talk "Jesus: The Perfect Leader" and study a scriptural leader before MLC, and then at MLC we discussed what we had learned. If you've never read that Spencer W. Kimball talk, I invite you to do so--I promise you won't regret it. I learned so much about Christ-like leadership and becoming the leader that the Lord intends me to be. We were all invited to step up to the plate a little bit more and take more accountability for our stewardship. Sister Wheeler shared the scripture D&C 72:3, which reads, "it is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity," and she said, "If that doesn't put the heat on, I don't know what will." Basically her point was that we, as leaders in the church, are responsible for not only ourselves and our actions, but for the actions of our stewardship, and we will be judged according to our effort in helping our stewardship. Haha pretty intense, but a great training nonetheless--I know I learned a lot!

Rough day requires Coldstone

During MLC we received a text from L asking us if we could change our lesson time to 4. MLC usually ends at 4 and it was...at its fastest...probably about a 20 minute drive back to Desert Ridge, but we said we could meet at 4. The last two hours of MLC, not gonna lie, were pretty stressful because we knew we had to book it back to Desert Ridge as soon as it was over. We finalized our lesson plan in the car on the way to the lesson (not the ideal companionship study...learn from my bad example haha) and we were stoked when we beat L to the lesson! When she walked in, she had one of her usual friends, and another friend, K, who both Sister Utsch and I immediately recognized as a former investigator who used to take the lessons about a year ago. Oh boy. You better believe we chucked our lesson plan right out the window. We sat down for the lesson and started trying to get to know K a little bit better. Turns out that her dog had died suddenly that day and she was really upset about it. We asked lots of questions, and followed the Spirit, and ended up teaching about the Holy Ghost and how He can be there for us during difficult times and help comfort us. It was probably the most spirit-driven lesson I've taught my whole mission. Sister Utsch asked the questions I was thinking, and I shared the scriptures she was thinking of, etc. It was really cool to be able to teach exactly to K's needs, and it was super cool that L brought her to the lesson! The gospel is the best!

Carnival service project

I'm so excited!

We had another service activity this week! Our zone was asked to help out at a carnival at a local school. There were different games and bouncy houses set up and it was our job to run the games! Sister Utsch and I ended up at one of the bouncy houses...and ours was the most popular station. It was one of those inflatables with a velcro wall, and we had to help the kids get into these velcro suits so they could run and jump and stick to the wall. For the entire four hour service we were putting suits on little kids and helping them have a fun time! It was an awesome way to meet so many people and to be able to interact with the community. The four hours flew by because we were so busy! At one point our ZLs came over and were so concerned because we were just flocked with kids. They were like, "Sisters...you good? Do you need to switch with someone?" as these kids were pulling our hair and trying to climb on us and we were like no this is awesome!! Haha it was a fun time!

Also Sister Utsch and I are really excited because we found out this week that we are one of the companionships that get to help out at the Mesa temple lights this year! :)

And I'll end my email with the miracle of all miracles this week! Right before the service we got a phone call from the Mesa mission. The sisters told us that they had a referral for us, and she is GOLDEN. Her name is T, she's been going to church in their area with her boyfriend, and the sisters have been teaching her for a little bit now and she wants to be baptized, but she isn't planning on marrying her boyfriend anytime soon so she needs to be baptized in the Gilbert Mission, since she lives in the Gilbert Mission. Truthfully, she should have been passed off a long time ago (small mission probs) but whatever because she's getting passed off now! We have a pass-off lesson this week and we will start teaching her after that. We are so excited! Miracles are real!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Jacobson