Sister Jacobson's Glimpses of Gilbert: Week 73: Living the Gospel

June 18, 2018

Hola Hola!

Gilbert, AZ

It's been a good few days! When Sister Jensen and I were reflecting on the past week we realized that all of our time was spent either in appointments or in meetings...we've been super busy!

We met with T three days in a row this week! It's cool to see his knowledge and understanding increasing each time we meet with him. He's beginning to connect the dots between gospel principles and his testimony is growing every day!

Last week when we taught the Word of Wisdom he asked us what our beliefs were on life after death. We left him with an assignment to read Alma 40 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/40?lang=eng) and promised him that the next time we met with him we would teach him about God's plan for us! He was SO excited when he showed up to our next lesson. We drew the Plan of Salvation out on the chalkboard and he was so fascinated by it. He had tons of questions and told us that he felt really strongly that this plan was made just for him!

Unfortunately, T's family is pretty unsupportive of his desire to be baptized and his investigation of the Church. They have been asking him lots of difficult questions and he hasn't been sure how to answer them, and he's been pretty down about that this week. He's been having some doubts, so for our next lesson we read 1 Nephi 17 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/17?lang=eng) with him, and we brought A, one of our recent converts who's family wasn't supportive. In 1 Nephi 17, Nephi is commanded to build a boat, and his family doubts that God has actually commanded him to do this thing. Nephi responds with his testimony and shows them God's power. We applied it very directly to T's life, and A had some great insight to share. T is stressing about his family accepting him and he's stressed about how this decision will affect his family, and in that moment it just hit me so hard that this decision isn't going to just bless him in a positive way...it’s going to bless his entire family in a positive way. They'll see the change in him and see the blessings baptism brings into his life, and once they see that they'll be happy for him. I haven't ever been in T's situation, with unsupportive family members, but I think every YSA (Young Single Adult) I've ever taught on my mission has faced family opposition...and for the most part I've observed two different ways of dealing with it. The first way is to wait it out, and wait for the family members to come around, and postpone receiving all the blessings that the gospel has to offer ...and chances are, they'll be waiting for a while. The second way is to move forward in faith, trusting that the Lord will provide a way, begin reaping the blessings the Lord has in store, and in time the family will see the positive effects of living the gospel. I don't know, I guess a shorter way of saying this is there's a difference between living the gospel and talking about the gospel. I know that living the gospel is more powerful and converting than talking about the gospel. But anyways, it was a good lesson.

Our third lesson we read President Nelsons talk "Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/revelation-for-the-church-revelation-for-our-lives?lang=eng) and talked about living prophets. T loved it! He was very touched by President Nelson’s words and is pumped that there's a prophet on the earth today. T didn't come to church yesterday, so we will have to push his baptism back...please, please keep him in your prayers! He is so prepared and so ready, but is a little bit lacking faith in God and in himself.

Exchanges with Sis. Tingey

We had exchanges this week! I was with Sister Tingey in my area, and we had a ton of fun together. She's been on her mission for about eight months and is awesome. On our day together it was RAINING. Arizona is experiencing a really bad drought right now, so this past fast Sunday, the area seventy invited all the members to fast and pray for rain. Literally every member in the state of Arizona fasted and prayed for rain and boy was our prayer answered! It rained all day long on Saturday, and the temperature plummeted from 110+ all the way down to 75. It was amazing. The power of fasting and prayer is real!

Yesterday we had a lesson with N. It's been a while since we've seen her, we thought that she'd had surgery two weeks ago and was down...but we texted her this week and she immediately responded wanting to meet up! We taught her the Restoration. It was a very short, but very powerful lesson. I felt the Spirit witness to my heart again the truthfulness of our message; Christ's church is truly back on the earth! I know N felt the spirit as well. She is so sweet and receptive to the gospel.

Also last night A shared her conversion story at our mission’s new member fireside! She also broke the news to us this week that she wants to serve a mission!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited. She's a stud and I love her so much.

We met with C again this week as well and taught the Word of Wisdom. She already follows the Word of Wisdom haha so it was easy-peasy. She is doing great with her anxiety; she is leaving the house more and more and is gaining more confidence each time! SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY!!! MIRACLE. She sat in the chapel for about half of the service and then we moved to the foyer so she could escape the crowds a little bit. She was so nervous but we were just so proud of her for being there. We are excited to meet with her this week, and we're even more excited for next weekend. :)

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

Sister Jacobson