Week 15: The Light of the Gospel

May 8, 2017

What is good my beloved friends and family!!

Candid of Sister Ogawa and Me

This week has been awesome. Also super hot...but it's May in AZ, what can ya do? This week Sister Ogawa and I have taken turns saying "I think I'm gonna die" or "I don't know if I can do a summer as a missionary in AZ" and then the other one would say "We got this!!" or "It's not that bad." But then Friday it hit 108 here and both of us were dying. You honestly don't realize how hot you are until you get inside someone's home and become self-aware of how much sweat is on your body....it's a good time.

Last Monday we had Family Home Evening with a part-member family. The wife is a member and the husband is a Methodist. They're awesome. He has a knowledge of the Bible like no one I've ever met. During dinner they asked us why we decided to come on missions, and Sister Ogawa gave her whole story, and I was prepared to tell my short-condensed version that I've grown accustomed to telling on my mission but then the Spirit was like "they need the full thing." So I told them the whole thing. When it came time for the dinner message, we shared a scripture of Christ and bore testimony of why he's important to us and why he's important in each one of our lives. It was one of the times I've felt the spirit the strongest on my mission. As we were leaving, the husband came up to me and said "Sister Jacobson, I just wanted to tell you that you are one of the most articulate young ladies I have ever met, and I think you're an amazing missionary. You're going to do great things and change a lot of lives." and I really almost started crying. That's the first time a non-member has told me that I'm doing well! It is one thing for your mission president, or your fellow-missionaries to tell you that you're doing well and all that...but it's another thing for a non-member to tell you. It was really cool and really humbling, especially knowing that he was able to feel the Spirit as I was talking and that he was able to recognize it!

This week we got a sweet referral from lds.org! His name is W, and his friend referred him to us. We called his friend to find out more information about him and legit the only thing he could tell us is "he has a beard." Cool? What does that tell us about his religious beliefs haha. So we were a little nervous contacting him but we stopped by and he was super open, wanted a Book of Mormon, gave us his phone number and practically begged us to set up a return appointment. We're really excited to meet with him this week and hopefully start teaching him and his wife!

Hahahaha a funny moment this week: So last Sunday out of nowhere this random guy showed up at church. We were standing in the cultural hall and when he walked in we were like...he's definitely not a member. When the meeting started, we went and sat in the row in front of him. After the meeting ended we introduced ourselves and invited him to stay for the last two hours but he told us he had to leave. Then he started talking about some wacky conspiracy theories and he showed us this post he made on Facebook entitled "Proof That Donald Trump Committed Treason Against America" and some other just weird things about this "secret American war" but we were like whatever haha. So we gave him a Book of Mormon with a pass-along card in it with our number on it and didn't really think anything of it. Honestly we give BOMs and our number to so many people and how many of those people do we ever hear from again? Maybe -10. So anyways, we just kinda move on with our week and don't think anything about it. But on Saturday we get a text from a number we don't know going "hey, met you last Sunday. Wanna help me end the war? :)" and we were like...oh no. So we don't reply. He texts us again and starts anti-ing us via text. At this point we're like "OH NO!!!!!!!" and all the panic signals in our brains are going off. But we don't reply again. THEN he texts us a third time and goes "but if you're busy that's cool too." Hahahaha so we didn't reply. It was really funny. It was a thrilling trilogy. He hasn't texted us since. Stay tuned though.

Sister Garner's Birthday Party

Transfer calls were yesterday! I'm staying in Gilbert with Sister Ogawa!! Wooooohoooooooo! We were really worried because of some things President had said earlier in the week...but we were SO happy to hear that we get to stay together. :) We're ready for a transfer filled with lots and lots of miracles!

Transfer 3 Planner (Personal Favorite)

Final story for the week--the theme of yesterday seemed to be light. EVERY message we shared had to do with the light of the gospel. We talked a lot about the relationship between light and dark--how light can penetrate darkness but the darkness can't do the same to the light. We talked about how a campfire is this source of light, and when you're sitting in the light you can't see into the darkness, but when you're sitting in the darkness you can see everything in the light. The closer you get to the source of the light, the more details you can see. We talked about the darkness of the Great Apostasy and how the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a light that is in such strong contrast to that of the Great Apostasy. We talked about how there is no coincidence that the first indication of the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel begins with "I saw a pillar of light." Finally, we talked about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the light that can cast any darkness out of our lives. Jesus Christ is the light, and the closer we come to him, the more clearly we'll be able to see the paths that we are meant to take in our individual lives. Jesus Christ and His gospel are the light; how grateful am I to have my life illuminated by it?! I know that any darkness that is in our individual lives can be cast out forever by the light of the gospel. Relying fully and completely on the Savior and following in His footsteps is the ONLY sure way to return to our Father in Heaven safely--I know it, and I'm beyond thankful that I have the opportunity to testify of this every single day of my life.

I love you! Have a good week! See ya on Skype ;)

Sister Jacobson

Old Zone (Bella Vista) Pool Waterfall

Old Zone (Bella Vista) 9 Square