May 7, 2018
Hello hello hello!
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| I love Arizona! |
Yet another busy but a great week. We just seem to be
getting busier and busier, and I really do think the Lord is blessing us more
and more. We are being richly blessed out here in San Tan!
This week we had interviews with President and Sister
Wheeler. They schedule each of us in for fifteen minutes, but my whole mission
my interview has always lasted longer. This time around between me and Sister
Rowley, we were in interviews for an hour! Haha we love talking to them so
much! President and Sister Wheeler both gave me some very inspired guidance and
council about some personal matters, and overall it was a very humbling
experience. I am amazed by the love that I constantly feel from both of the
Wheelers. We left interviews refreshed and ready to go work!
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| Exchanges with Sis. Olsen |
We went on two exchanges this week! I stayed in my area both
times, but the two exchanges were very different experiences. The first
exchange was with Sister Olsen, a sister who came out the transfer before me
and goes home in just two weeks! She is just the sweetest! I admire Sister
Olsen's ability to love everyone relentlessly, and every time I go on exchanges
with her I learn something new. On our exchange, we street contacted a former
Catholic nun. She told us that she had been a nun for 28 years, and although
she was no longer an "official" nun, she still lives the same
lifestyle. We had an awesome gospel conversation with her; honestly one of the
kindest people I've ever met. We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon
with her, which she loved! She told us that she wanted to die a Catholic, but
that she was in full support of the work that we're doing. Right after we
finished talking with her we bumped into A! She invited us to come back later
in the day, and when we showed up we found out that she is in JACOB in her Book
of Mormon reading. She is learning so much about Jesus Christ from her
studying of the BOM, and she opened up to us about why she attends church. It
was a spiritually charged lesson, and A came to church yesterday! She caught a
ride with our recent convert, Ar, and it was just the most beautiful thing I've
ever seen!
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| A, Sis. Meglen and me at the temple |
The second exchange was with Sister Meglen, a sister who has
been on her mission for just four weeks now! The exchanges were so different
because I was with two different missionaries on opposite ends of the spectrum:
one with one foot in the grave and one with the umbilical cord still attached
haha. Sister Meglen is awesome--so much greenie fire. She's actually from
Meridian...she went to Rocky! Small world haha, but anyways we had a great day!
We taught two lessons to two recent converts--the first to As at the temple,
and we were 100% photobombing ALL the wedding pictures. As is doing great! She
has been to the temple the past three weeks in a row, and told us that she has
set aside Thursday as her temple day. She also just got her first calling to be
a ward missionary, so we are excited to get to work with her! The second was to
Ax, and that was awesome. We talked about places we feel the Spirit, and
committed Ax to come to church and she actually did! That was exciting.
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| Sis. Rowley and me |
On Thursday we had the second ever Arizona Gilbert Mission
Specialized Training Meeting, AKA a sister's meeting. Haha all the sisters
gathered together for a few hours of training and discussion and it was
awesome! Sister Rowley and I did a training on developing Christ-like
Attributes and how that helps us in the work. I definitely received revelation
on a few things that I need to be working on! Between the two awesome exchanges
and the spiritually uplifting sisters' meeting this week I've been feeling very
blessed (again) to be able to serve alongside such awesome sister missionaries.
I've made some of my greatest friends on my mission! Since we are in the
Greatest Mission in the World, I guess it is only fitting that we have the
Greatest Missionaries in the World as well!
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| Sis. Donaldson and me |
This week was also filled with proselyting miracles as well.
We had another lesson with J this week. Last week we invited him to baptism,
and he got kind of nervous and told us that he is "still the new guy
around here" and that he's "still trying to figure out how everything
works" but both Sister Rowley and I have felt very strongly that he is
PREPARED for the gospel, so we prayed and felt like we needed to invite him to
baptism again. So the lesson started, and we were teaching the Plan of
Salvation. We made it through the first little bit, and then we started talking
about life on Earth and how we are sent here to gain experience, and to learn
how to follow Jesus Christ. There was a brief pause, and I wasn't sure what to
say next, or where to take the lesson from there, when I just received a very
direct prompting to invite him to baptism right then. So I did. Haha it was
probably the worst-phrased invite to baptism I've ever extended, but there is
not a doubt in my mind that that was the right time to extend it. J thought for
a little bit and then said "Yeah I'm so down. If you guys take care of the
logistics, then I am totally willing and ready to make this commitment."
And then he agreed to prepare for baptism on the 20th of May! It was so cool.
It's interesting and incredible to see the Spirit work on the hearts of
people--a week ago J was so hesitant about baptism, and then after an
additional Sunday at church, and a week of reading the Book of Mormon,
and part of another lesson with us he was able to recognize the good that will
come from this decision. It was also cool because right after we decided on the
20th, the Elders that found him walked into the church building. Sister Rowley
looked at J and said, "Do you want us to tell them or do you want to tell
them?" and J goes "I'm getting baptized May 20th!!" He was so
excited, and so were the Elders! It's going to be a great day!
The past several weeks a former investigator named V has
been coming to church. We've talked with her multiple times, but each time
she's told us that she's not ready to meet with us again. We just gave her
space, and let her do her thing, and on Saturday we had a video chat lesson
with her. She started off the call by saying "SISTERS. I AM GETTING
BAPTIZED." !!!!!! So awesome! She went on to describe the past several
months of her life, starting from when she first met the missionaries, to now.
She told us that she had been praying, wanting to know if the church was true,
for months and months, and was just getting frustrated. So she had decided that
April 22nd was going to be her last day at church unless she got her answer.
Sister Rowley and I spoke in church on April 22nd about the Holy Ghost, and in
my talk I talked about how sometimes we need to change the question we're
asking to be able to receive an answer. I talked about my experience deciding
to serve a mission, how for months I was praying and asking "Should I
serve a mission?" until someone told me that God doesn't make decisions
for us, He allows us to decide and then confirms our decision. When V heard
that, she realized that she had been asking the wrong question, so right there
in sacrament meeting she started praying and asking a more direct question, and
then Lynn G. Robbins' talk from conference (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/until-seventy-times-seven?lang=eng) was frozen on her screen and something she read in that
talk helped her realize that God has been pointing her to the church for a
long, long time. She just burst into tears, out of excitement, because she knew
that her prayer had been answered! I love hearing stories like this! It's so
personal to her, and it's a testament to me that God truly ministers to the
one. We met with her yesterday and she is officially on date to be baptized
June 2nd. Miracles on miracles on miracles! Seriously, too blessed to be
stressed is an understatement! I love this work and I love the opportunity I
have to be a part of it!
I love you all!
Sister Jacobson
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