Sister Jacobson's Glimpses of Gilbert

Week 58: McKennah Got Baptized

March 5, 2018

Hello everyone!

Sis. Rowley, my boot, and me

I cannot believe it is already Monday! This week has been super fast out here in the blessed AGM. So here's the transfer news: I am in an area located in Southern Gilbert! We are part of the San Tan Zone, which is the smallest zone in our mission--only 10 missionaries! This is the furthest South I've been since I was three months out on my mission, so it's like a whole new world down here. My new companion is Sister Rowley from Greenville, South Carolina. We were in the MTC together, her last companion was Sister Donaldson (my MTC companion), her MTC companion was Sister Small (my last companion), and Sister Donaldson and Sister Small are now companions! The MTC lives on! Work-wise this week has been BOMB...spirits wise this week has been questionable haha.

Cadaver foot

I will start with the questionable parts of my week! Unfortunately, my ankle is still causing me quite a bit of pain. I've been taking really good care of it, icing it whenever I can, taking loads of ibuprofen, and keeping it elevated and in a brace. Around Friday the bruising started to get really bad and my foot straight up looked like a cadaver, so we called the mission nurse, and she told me to up my ibuprofen intake, put a walking boot on for a day or so, and if it didn't significantly improve by today then I needed to call her. So I wore a boot on Saturday and then yesterday my ankle was probably the worst it's been and it still hurts pretty bad today so we called the nurse and now I have an appointment with a foot/ankle specialist tomorrow morning. I'll probably get an X-Ray and they will probably put me in a walking boot for the next little bit. So that's definitely a bummer...probably no biking for me this transfer!

Lunch with L

Leaving Desert Ridge about killed me. I knew that I loved it there, and I knew that I loved the people I was serving and teaching...but I didn't realize how much I truly, truly LOVED that area until I had to leave. Monday and Tuesday were filled with so many goodbyes and my heart hurt by the time Wednesday rolled around. On Tuesday we had lunch with L, and then a goodbye lesson with K (who is doing MUCH better at her scripture study and daily prayer!), and then we said goodbye to the H’s, the P’s, and T. My last dinner in Desert Ridge was the K’s. CK made us Hawaiian Haystacks because she knew how much I love them, and we were able to have a brief lesson about patiently waiting for the blessings the Lord has promised us. We had a great discussion about why God sometimes makes us wait for things, and eventually we concluded that sometimes waiting for things makes us appreciate the blessings when they actually come. We took pictures together, and we were all laughing so I don't think we got a single picture where all of us are looking at the camera. As we were taking the pictures CK hugged me and got emotional and said "Thank you for everything; you will never know how much you have blessed and helped our family." That seriously ripped my heart out...I am constantly amazed by how inspired my mission, my areas, and my companions all are. I know that I was supposed to serve in Desert Ridge for each of the people I taught, and I know that I needed them just as much as they needed me.

The finale of Tuesday night was the B family. We had correlation at their house, and took some pictures together, and then Sister B gave me a croissant because I would be missing dinner at their house so she didn't want me to feel left out. I LOVE that family. Every time I went into their home I learned something new about life and multiple times I've thought about how much I want to be like the B’s when I grow up haha. Leaving their house is when it got real that I was leaving Desert Ridge...and I was a mess. I started crying, and when we got home I tried to console myself by eating the croissant but that just made me cry harder haha it was probably the most pitiful thing of my life.

Adios Michael, my 2017 Corolla

So yeah, between leaving Desert Ridge and my ankle being mysteriously painful I've been feeling pretty down this week. I am just a little sad, but everything will be okay! There is tons of work to do in San Tan, and Sister Rowley and I have already had a great start to this transfer. I am hopeful that after my Dr.'s appointment tomorrow we will be able to get my ankle healing properly, and that should help boost my spirits!

So now I'm here in San Tan! It's a lot different from Desert Ridge, and it's weird because I've spent the last...ten or so months of my mission serving in the North of the North of our mission and now I'm more in the middle. We have quite a few investigators in this area, and I can feel that this area is where I'm supposed to be at this point in my mission.

I look so cute wearing my sneaks

On Wednesday we had a lesson with one of our YSA investigators, A. She is dating a guy preparing for his mission and she comes to church with him every Sunday. She reads the Book of Mormon every day and told us that she has been praying every day to know if it's true. When we taught her on Wednesday we taught about the prophet/Priesthood/dispensations. The lesson went well, and it definitely showed her the need for a Restoration. The Spirit was there, but she was pretty quiet. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! And then she brought up her concern. She told us that her mom would be unsupportive (new YSA ward, same concerns am I right??) and she wants to be able to look her mom in the eyes and tell her with full confidence "I know this is true." She started crying and the Spirit FLOODED the room. We testified to her that God would help her know this was true, and she prayed with us right there to know when in the next month she should be baptized. After the prayer we asked her what she felt and she said, "I feel like I need to be baptized March 31st. I can feel the Spirit telling me that I need to work towards that date, if not one sooner." It was awesome! She told us that if she receives an answer that this is true before that day then she'll be baptized sooner. It was a miracle!

We had MLC on Thursday! It was a really great MLC. It was really similar to my first MLC back in August. President gave an awesome training on the difference between Administering and Ministering, and he gave us specific suggestions on how to be better at both. During MLC it really hit me how blessed I am to have President Wheeler as my mission President. He has so much gospel knowledge, as well as life knowledge, and both he and Sister Wheeler have had a lot of unique opportunities in their lives. Moral of the story is...they know what they're talking about haha!

McKennah's baptism!

Last night we had a baptism! Okay I am apparently the pro at getting transferred and walking into baptisms haha. When I came into the mission we had a baptism that weekend and then when I went to Desert Ridge we had a baptism like three weeks later. It was a really special baptism. It was for a little girl named McKennah. Her family was inactive when they moved into this area but now they come to church! McKennah wanted to be baptized so bad and she was so excited and so happy to have the opportunity to make covenants with our Heavenly Father. We had the opportunity to teach her ALL of the commandments Saturday morning, and then she had her baptism interview right after. She passed with flying colors and was able to be baptized last night! She was baptized twice because her dad said the words in the prayer wrong the first time, and the witnesses didn't catch it until they were out of the font, but she was so excited to get back in the font and do it again! I told her that she was so special that she just had to be baptized twice haha, she liked that. It was a really special night, and she had great support from the ward and from her family! It was a great end to the week.

Other than that...we saw lots of other people...and I'm still trying to keep everyone's names straight haha but those are the highlights. We have a bunch of lessons lined up for this upcoming week and it should be a great week! We are excited.

I love you all!

Sister Jacobson

I stand out in the Desert Ridge Zone!

DESERT RIDGE FOR LIFE

Jumping off my good foot

The P family

The K family

More of the K family

I love the K family!

My injured ankle

Icing at a member's house

Week 57: Breakin Hearts and Breakin Ankles

February 26, 2018

Helllllllooooo!

Transfer 9 in the books

It's been a quick few days since I last emailed, but we have truly been blessed these past couple of days! Sister Small and I are ending this transfer on a high note.

To start off, on Friday we had a lesson with L! We planned to teach a lesson on faith in Jesus Christ and focus on how exercising our faith helps us increase our faith. As we were planning for the lesson, Sister Small and I were trying to determine what commitment we needed to extend to L. We prayed and asked Heavenly Father what commitment He wanted us to extend to her, and to our surprise the answer we received was, "Invite her to be baptized on a specific day." Sister Small and I were shocked. We were SO nervous heading into the lesson, but the Spirit was with us! We read President Uchtdorf's talk "Fourth Floor Last Door" (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/fourth-floor-last-door?lang=eng) and had a great discussion about faith in Jesus Christ and why it's important/how it can help us in every aspect of our lives. We talked about how developing hope leads to faith, and we brought a recent convert with us who has had a similar conversion experience as L. The Spirit was really strong. When it came time for us to extend the invite to baptism we were so scared; we were worried that L would feel like we were pressuring her or that we didn't care about her concerns--all of which are far from the truth. But we felt so prompted to invite her to baptism that we trusted in the Lord and invited her to be baptized on March 24th. I think it definitely surprised her; I don't think she was expecting that commitment from us...she got pretty emotional and Sister Small and I could tell that she was so nervous, especially to talk with her parents...but she committed to prepare for baptism on the 24th! I know that this commitment was inspired from the Lord; I know that He wanted us to invite her to baptism, and I know that even just accepting a date for baptism is a huge leap of faith. We told her that her desire to be baptized, and her working towards this date is her exercising her faith and that Heavenly Father is proud of her. The Spirit was so strong. Please, please pray for her...we love her so much and she could use all the prayers she could get!

Friday night we had dinner with a family in our area who is a big-time volleyball family. The first time I ate dinner at their house they asked Sister Utsch maybe two questions (1. Where are you from? 2. How long have you been out?) and the rest of the time was spent grilling me about volleyball. There was some serious bonding that took place and now they love me. So anyways, we're about halfway through dinner with this family, the Hursts, on Friday and I made a comment in passing about how my dad served his mission in Japan. Brother Hurst stops me and goes, "How old is your dad?" So I tell him and he says, "Well hold on, my dad is the same age...I'm going to call him right now and ask him if he knew an Elder Jacobson!" and I was a little bit like...okay but Japan is a big place...there's multiple missions...the odds are pretty low. But Brother Hurst calls his dad and sure enough his dad is like "Elder Jacobson? Yeah I knew him! He was an Assistant to the President..." and starts rattling off these other specific details about my dad's mission! It was crazy! And then like five minutes later, Brother Hurst goes "yeah and my birthday is March 30th..." and I was like....wait wait wait...YOUR birthday is March 30th?? MY birthday is March 30th! Haha we were laughing so hard! Crazy!

Saturday morning we had a lesson with the K family. Right now our biggest struggle with them is we want to teach their kids, but MK and CK have some pretty big concerns that we can't just...ignore haha. Planning for lessons is difficult because we're trying to plan things that will help both of them. However, we decided to focus our lesson Saturday mainly on the kids. We taught the Plan of Salvation again. Sister Utsch and I had taught it once a long time ago, but we thought it would be a good refresher for the kids. We used Sister Small's Plan of Salvation cutouts and had LK and DK put the pieces together as we taught a super short-like 10 minute Plan of Salvation lesson. It was so cool to see how much the kids have remembered, even though we haven't taught the POS in a while! They are doing great, and we love them so much.

Picture wall at Persimmon palace

Last night we were striking out with everyone we planned in and we felt like we weren't doing what the Lord wanted us to do with our evening, so we stopped and said a prayer. In the middle of the prayer, a name came into my head clear as day. The name was the name of our ward mission leader's family. I was a little bit puzzled, we see them all the time! And when the prayer ended I turned to Sister Small and I was like "Call me crazy...but I think we need to go to the Buchholzers right now." and she was like "Really? Because me too." So we hopped on our bikes and headed over there. On our way we saw a man walking his dog and we stopped and talked to him. His name was J. It was a pretty chilly evening last night (It's been dipping into the 30s at night here) but he stopped and talked to us for a good ten minutes! We had a great conversation about his beliefs and about his faith and we were able to invite him to the Easter pageant! He wasn't interested in learning more about our message at this time, but we know that we were sent to the Buchholzers to find J along the way. When we made it to the Buchholzers they weren't even home, but because we were inspired to go there we were able to meet J and help him feel of Christ's love!

Yesterday at church we had a killer miracle. Sister Small and I have been working our butts off this transfer and we haven't seen any huge miracles or anything like that, but yesterday was awesome. In the beginning of January Sister Small and I were trying to contact a potential investigator in the area book and met these two ladies who had recently moved in named S and M. They invited us in, and we were able to visit with them for a little bit. In the course of our conversation it became really obvious that they were well-acquainted with the church so I asked them how they knew so much. They said, "We used to be members, but had our names removed from the records because it brought so much discord in the family." We had a nice visit, and we invited them to church, but we gathered that they were not too interested in coming back at that time. These ladies could not live in a more perfect location. They live directly across the street from the stake president, right next door to a member of our bishopric, down the street from our recent converts and another family in the ward, and their babysitter is another one of our investigators! So after our initial visit with them we walked across the street and invited our stake president to take his family over and introduce themselves. We didn't think much about it, but a few weeks later a family in the ward told us that their kids are in the same class as M's kids and M told them how much she loved our visit! These past few weeks Sister Small and I have been thinking a lot about S and M and their family, so we decided to stop by and invite them to church again. We've knocked their door probably three or four times these past two weeks and hadn't ever gotten back in...so we were kinda like ooh maybe we're NOT feeling inspired? Maybe we're just being annoying? But on Saturday we felt really prompted to drop by so we went, and M answered the door!! She invited us in and her kids did a talent show for us! While we were there, M told us that her brother passed away suddenly two weeks ago and it had been a really tough time for them. She said her mom, S, wasn't taking it too well. She also told us that the Wold's (stake president's family) had been awesome about watching the kids and the house and helping them through this difficult time. We shared the classic 2 Nephi 26:24 (“He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation.”) and asked them how they feel Christ's love for them. S got emotional and left the room, and it was really pretty awkward....so we left them with our testimonies and left without an invite to church or anything. We were both really worried that we'd done more damage than good, but we trusted that the Spirit was there.

So Sunday morning rolls around and Sister Wold comes running up to us as we're greeting at the door. She goes "Sisters! M texted me this morning and asked what time church was, said they were getting ready, and said they would be here." We were floored! We were totally not expecting that! Sure enough, they came, and stayed for all three hours! What's better, it was ward conference yesterday so Bishop spoke about the importance of yoking ourselves to Jesus Christ so He can help us carry our burdens. Also President Wold spoke on the importance of being a good neighbor. It was an awesome talk, especially since he was speaking in his home ward...so the people were literally his neighbors, and especially since S and M...as close as neighbors can get were there! Literally we watched the stars align perfectly and there is not a doubt in my mind that the Lord's hand was in all of this. Seriously, Heavenly Father knew that Sister Small and Sister Jacobson would be looking through the Mountain Ranch Ward Area Book in January 2018 and would decide to contact a potential who had moved, but He knew that S and M would have moved in. He knew that they had been going through a tough time, so He prompted us to pay them a visit, and He knew that we would feel uncomfortable inviting them to church so He let the Spirit work on them so they could find a way to come on their own! It was awesome to see everything work out, and it was awesome to see the ward reach out and welcome them with open arms! I had so much Mountain Ranch Ward pride yesterday! The Lord truly placed prepared people in the paths of prepared servants.

Z sports with Marvets, Diebold, Small & me

Well...to end...yesterday Sister Small and I got the worst news in the whole world. After 7.5 incredible months I am being transferred from Desert Ridge! I knew it was coming, and honestly, it's probably time, but it still doesn't make it any easier to leave. I feel like I was made to serve in Desert Ridge, and the people here feel like family! I cannot imagine my mission without these months in Desert Ridge, and I am so thankful for all of the people who I have been able to meet in this area. It truly is the forgotten promise land. Also as if being in emotional pain from leaving D-Ridge wasn't enough, this morning at zone sports I got trucked by an Elder and hurt my ankle so now my ankle is swollen and hurts. I've never been hurt physically on my mission before so this should be fun! Anyways, I am brokenhearted to leave Desert Ridge, and apparently broken ankled as well, but am excited for the future! I love you all!

Sister Jacobson

Devouring a gyro last p-day

Happy Adobe in Florence,AZ

I'm happy at Happy Adobe

More Happy Adobe

Can you tell Happy Adobe made my day?

Fixing the broken sink

Biking lyfe

Week 56: The Rains Came Down, the Floods Came Up

February 21, 2018

Hola!

Heading to the temple!

Happy Wednesday!! It feels like it's been a solid week and a half since I last emailed...probably because it HAS been a week and a half haha. This morning we had the opportunity to go to the temple and let's just say it was much needed! I love going to the temple so much; it's so worth the 5 AM wake-up call and the delayed p-day.

It's been a pretty good week here in the forgotten, Promised Land. We had so many opportunities to testify to people during lessons, on doorsteps, and on the street this week! One of my favorite principles I've learned from Preach My Gospel is that a testifying missionary is a teaching missionary. It's amazing how much a simple testimony can change the countenance of someone! I know it's because the Spirit touches their heart and they can feel it!

Let me tell you about the MESS that was last Wednesday.

Wednesday before the chaos

Sister Small and I were super excited because it was a full proselyting day, and we were both together in our area! It had been a long time that we'd been together in our area for a full day due to exchanges and whatnot. So we go out and work, and all morning long...no one answered the door. Honestly, pretty classic morning for us so it was no biggie. We decided to stop by a member and ask for some referrals on our way home from lunch and that is when the chaos ensued. By this point it started raining a little bit. Sister Small goes "Sister Jacobson I just cut my foot on my bike pedal." I was biking in front of her and I couldn't see it, so I was legit like "Sister Small calm down. You're fine. It's just a SCRATCH." But we get to this member's house and Sister Small's ankle is seriously GUSHING blood. And the rain is getting harder, and the member isn't home. We found some Kleenex in Sister Small's bag but her blood was soaking through the Kleenex so fast. We had seen a different member outside a little bit down the street so we were like "it's fine...they have six kids....I'm SURE they have bandaids!" THEY DIDNT HAVE BANDAIDS!!! At this point Sister Small's ankle is STILL bleeding profusely and we are on our last Kleenex. Luckily, the next door we knocked on they were home and had a plethora of bandaids. We were able to get her cleaned up and we were on our way!

We ate lunch and had companionship study and then we went and had a lesson with L!! We had a really great lesson with her. We talked about how the gospel blesses families, and how the decisions we make now will ultimately play into the lives of our future families. Then we talked about how God sees our true potential since He is our Father, and we watched the Mormon Message "Your Potential, Your Privilege." I love that video! I think that sometimes we cut ourselves short, and we convince ourselves that we are not good enough to receive all of the blessings that the Lord has in store for us...when in reality we are MORE than enough! Because Heavenly Father is literally our Father, we are able to receive all of the blessings that He has. L told us that the Bible study class every week is going well and that this last week her mom told her that she was impressed with her knowledge of the scriptures. L told us that she told her mom that it was because she studies the scriptures every day, and her mom was so surprised! And then L says, "I study all three...the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Book of Mormon!" and her mom was like "Well...the Book of Mormon isn't really scripture...” and L was like "Yes it is! It's just like the Bible, only it teaches us about the people in the Americas and Christ's personal ministry there." And then she references John 10:16 (And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.) and said, "I believe that the other sheep that Christ was talking about in that verse are the people in the Americas." and her mom was like "Oh, I didn't know that...interesting!" Her heart is softening!!! L goes, "Sister Jacobson...you told me this would happen!!" and I was like...I did haha, but I honestly didn't expect it to be so soon! It was really exciting; and it was a good reminder to both me and Sister Small that this is all on the Lord's timing. As we were preparing for her lesson, Sister Small and I were kinda like, "Man...she is so ready for baptism...it's not fair for her to have to wait to be baptized." But then in the lesson it was kinda a slap in the face from the Lord like, "Calm the heck down. I got this. Trust me." I don't know why her timing is this way, and I don't know the plans that the Lord has in store for her...but I do know that He has a perfect plan for L, and I know that part of that plan will one day be baptism and that that day will come when it is her time!

After our lesson with L we went and visited some YSAs. We were on our way back from these YSA visits and headed to dinner when we realized we were just about out of gas. So we stopped and got gas, which made us late for our dinner appointment. We had splits set up with a young woman preparing to serve a mission for after dinner, and we had planned to bike with her so we had to get our bikes before dinner. It ended up being okay that we were late because dinner wasn't ready...but then we got out of dinner late...which made us late to splits. Also, in the middle of dinner the skies OPENED up and it started POURING rain. We were like "awesome, good thing we are on bikes." But anyways, we got to splits, and Sister Small and I are drenched, fully expecting this girl to cancel. But this young woman was awesome! She's like "Yeah let's still go on splits...I can handle it!" So we hop on our bikes and take off to our furthest ward. About halfway through the ride, Sister Small and I realize that this YW is NOWHERE to be found. We slow down and look behind us and wayyyy in the distance there she is. We attributed our vast distance from her to be because we bike everyday and have strong legs, so we slowed down a bit, and then eventually stopped. When she caught up to us she goes "I have a flat tire." We look down and sure enough, her front tire is completely deflated. So there we are....a few miles away from home...standing in the pouring rain...with a random teenager and a bike with a bum tire. We quickly abandoned our plans for the night, and instead went to a member's home who we were POSITIVE would have a bike pump. They did not have a bike pump...but they felt so bad for us that they insisted that we come inside and share a message with them. We shared a super simple message about Jesus Christ and the Spirit was so strong! It never ceases to amaze me how the Spirit can bear witness of truth even in the most unlikely circumstances. We left their home, and their neighbor had just gotten home and had a bike pump! We quickly pumped up the tire so we could make it back to this YW's house. We also decided that since missionaries have far more experience on bikes it would be better for one of us to ride her bike back, and for her to ride one of ours. So I hopped on her bike and let her take mine and let me tell you....that bike ride was one of the most physically exerting things I have ever done on my mission. It was worse than riding through sand haha. But long story short...we made it back in one piece to her house, and she actually didn't hate it too bad, we have splits with her again tonight.

Still smiling in the rain

Rainy night splits

But wait...there's more. Sister Small and I had correlation for our YSA ward so we biked home, hopped in the car, and made it to correlation only about fifteen minutes late. We walked in, SOAKING wet, freezing cold, and all that our ward mission leader, ward missionaries, and the Elders who we share the ward with could do was stare. We were in rough shape. What made me feel better is the Elders only looked a little bit better than us; their hair was frizzier than normal haha. We sat down on the couch, reported on the work, and made it through the rest of the meeting. About halfway through the meeting I leaned down and wrung my skirt out haha we were so wet!! All in all, a messy day but definitely made for some good memories.

This week we had a couple of really positive interactions with people all because we were in the right place at the right time. One of the times, a part member family saw us on the side of the road and rolled down their window and said, "Sisters! Come to the house and get some water!" and we ended up having a great visit for thirty minutes or so. Another time we were biking down a street and I saw that the garage of a less-active, recent convert, somewhat hostile family was open. As we biked past we pulled over and started talking to the guy and he was so friendly. I had met him once before really briefly back in August and he totally remembered me, and even noticed that Sister Utsch wasn't here anymore. We had a great conversation with him, and it ended with him telling us how grateful he was for the support and help of the members of our church in the area!

We had a great Sunday! We had four investigators at church! We were only expecting two so it was a nice surprise and made for a very busy Sunday for us. One of the ward missionaries in the YSA ward is leaving on her mission next week so she gave her farewell in both the family ward and the YSA ward, and it was the perfect opportunity for K to come to YSA for the first time. This ward missionary was a stud and invited K and she came! From what we can tell she had a great time! We are excited to meet with her and the K family this upcoming week. It's the last week of the transfer and we are excited to see some miracles!

I love you all! Thanks for all that you do

Sister Jacobson