Sister Jacobson's Glimpses of Gilbert: Week 66: It’s All True

April 30, 2018

Heeeeeeeellllloooooo!!

It's been a great week! The Lord is too good to us down here in the AGM. Truly the greatest mission in the world!

Exchanges with Sis. Olsen

This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Sister Olsen, a missionary in the thick of her second transfer in the mission. It was a great exchange! We had an awesome day filled with lots of unplanned contacts! At one point we knocked on a door, and we knew 100% that there were people home, but no one answered the door. As we were walking down the driveway, a shirtless man with a towel wrapped around his head like a lady leaned out the upstairs window and yelled "WHO'S HERE?!" I yelled back, "It's the missionaries! We're looking for Jacob! Are you him?" and he goes "No?" and I go "Oh, well, does Jacob live here?" and he goes "No?" and then I tried to start talking about the gospel, but he was already back inside. It was pretty funny. We also had the opportunity to teach the restoration to some of their investigators. The Spirit I felt in that lesson was probably one of the more powerful times I've felt the Spirit in a lesson on my mission. I felt a powerful confirming witness of the truthfulness of the message of the restoration specifically as I recounted Joseph Smith's experience in the sacred grove--I know that he truly saw God and Jesus Christ!

Sister Rowley and I saw A again this week! She attempted to drop us last week, but we wouldn't let her! We dropped by this week and read 1 Nephi 8 with her, the “Tree of Life”, and explained a lot of the symbolism in that chapter. (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/8?lang=eng) A is a very literal person haha, so a lot of her questions surrounding that chapter were things like "what kind of building are they talking about??" or "what kind of fruit is white??" but we were able to help her see the bigger picture, and we were able to show her how the symbolism helps teach us about basic gospel principles like God's love for us. By the end she understood what we were talking about! She's excited to keep learning.

The bread of life? lol

We had MLC this week as well!! Ahhh seriously so much revelation gained every time. About fifty missionaries go home from my mission this summer, and probably somewhere between 25-30 of them are members of MLC...so President Wheeler focused a big portion of this MLC on being a Christ-like leader not only now, but for the rest of our lives. We studied portions of Christ's life and pulled out specific principles of leadership from the perfect leader Himself. President Wheeler also challenged us to be spiritual leaders for everyone in our lives and gave us specific examples of how we can do that. It was a great training!

We had another lesson with J this week. He was only able to meet for about twenty minutes, so Sister Rowley and I just focused on making it a super spiritual experience and we think that he really felt the Spirit! We were a little worried because we had to leave our YSA ward a little early last week, but we left him in the hands of our Elders Quorum President, B...so we figured he'd be fine, but then like an hour after we left we got a text from B that said "I lost J...and now I have his BOM" and then we weren't able to get in contact with J at all during the week...so we were real stressed. But during our lesson he expressed to us how much he loved church and how he really felt welcomed! He told us that the entire time at church he had goose bumps and couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. We were able to testify of the Spirit and teach a little bit of the Holy Ghost. He came to church again yesterday and loved it! He is making fast friends with the ward.

J is a funny dude--he really wants to fit in, so during our lesson he told us that last Sunday he felt weird because he didn't have a notebook or a suit, and then he turned to B and said "Dude that reminds me, where'd you get your suit?" and B thought for a second and then said, "Macy's." and then J said that he'd ordered a notebook on Amazon so he could take notes haha. On Sunday J rolled into sacrament meeting in a nice suit so I was like "J! You look good! Did you get a new suit??" and he goes "Yes I did." So I was like "Did you go to Macy's?" and he goes "Yes I did." Haha too funny.

We were finally able to get back in contact with T this week! He's been getting roasted by the last few weeks of the semester, and hasn't been able to meet, but this week we took him some "finals week survival food" and were able to talk with him a little bit. He was really appreciative, and we are hopeful that we will be able to start teaching him again soon!

A's wedding

On Saturday we had a recent convert get married...so we attended a wedding! That was a wild experience. She was baptized in December, so her and her boyfriend decided to get married civilly, and then get sealed this upcoming December. They held the wedding on a plot of land facing the temple, and it was a beautiful night! They were both glowing and looked SO happy. We're sad to be losing her out of the YSA ward, but we are definitely excited for what is to come for her!

C's Baptism

This weekend was also C's baptism! I love that girl!!! I think that C is one of the sweetest, most genuine people I've ever had the opportunity to teach. She was so prepared for the gospel. Going over the interview questions with her was a breeze. Her baptism was one of the smoothest baptisms I've been to--it even almost started on time haha! C really connects with the family aspect of the church, and the opening hymn was "Families Can Be Together Forever," which was absolutely perfect. It made the baptism that much more special for C. I cannot wait to see what is in store for her or for her future family--I just know that she is going to raise a strong gospel-centered family.

At her baptism, one of the members of the bishopric gave a talk and spoke about how everything in the gospel is true. He just kept saying, "It's all true." He talked a lot about how the gospel is so real, so true, and sometimes it seems like it's too good to be true, but the best news ever is that it IS true! I really connected to his talk because several times these past few weeks I've had moments where I'm sitting in sacrament meeting, or biking through a neighborhood, or saying my evening prayers where I am just overcome by the reality that everything in this gospel is true. I am so grateful for a Father in Heaven who created such a beautifully interconnected plan--I know that truly, everything in this gospel is divinely inspired and is TRUE!

Anyways, I love you all! Have a stellar week!

Sister Jacobson