Week 21: I want to be Elder Bednar’s Best Friend

June 19, 2017

Hello!

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to inform all of you that today it is 118 degrees in Gilbert Arizona. And tomorrow it will be 120. Let me tell ya, it's brutal. I really don't know how we are surviving. The only explanation I can think of is that we're just super blessed for serving the Lord. And unless we are directed otherwise from President Wheeler, tomorrow we will go out on bikes and work all day long, just like any other day. This week especially something has been on my mind and I'd like to share it now. The only group of people in the entire world I can think of that would be willing, excited even, to go out in 120 degree heat--with a heat advisory in effect--are the Mormon missionaries. Why? Because our message is true. The message that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and is back on the Earth today is so IMPORTANT and so VITAL that thousands upon thousands of young men and young women worldwide pay their way and volunteer their time to provide an opportunity for everyone to experience the BLESSINGS and the JOY that this gospel can bring. So my simple request to everyone not of our faith is this: give the missionaries a chance. Trust me, we KNOW it's super awkward when we come up to you on the street and start talking to you about Jesus Christ. We KNOW you don't want to talk to us and that you're not interested...but we also KNOW that this gospel is true and can bless your lives beyond your wildest dreams. Give the missionaries--heck, the gospel--a shot. You just might be surprised.

AZ or HI? You tell me!

P-day lunch at Cafe Rio

Anyways, this week we had a couple of AWESOME moments and a couple moments of just utter despair haha.

This week we went and met with our 10 year old investigator, E. While there we found out that her mom, V, had reached out to a member of the ward and asked for scripture passages from the BOM that E would enjoy--and the member came THROUGH and sent loads of amazing scripture stories! Shout out to amazing members--your missionary efforts make ALL the difference. We stopped by the member later in the week to say thank you, and this member mentioned to us a conversation that she'd had with V a few days prior. She said that in this conversation, V had started talking about the Mormon missionaries (us!) and how she never EVER thought she would be in a position where she was letting them in her home, let alone letting them read from the Book of Mormon with her. But she continued on and said that the scripture we had shared last month with E had brought her so much hope and so much peace, and a knowledge that things would be okay--even if they weren't right now...that she was willing to let us come in and read more hopeful scriptures. The member told us that the thought that came to her during this conversation was that even if we don't baptize E or V, we're still making an impact in their lives and that is doing a whole lot of good. So that was a super cool moment for us!

Play first, then teach - fruit of our labor

We had an evening where it seemed like all of our plans fell through. We had a lesson at 8 o'clock so we were trying to work around the area that the appointment was at but just nothing was happening. We were street contacting, tracting, stopping by members--we were trying everything and just no one was home. We finally stopped and said a prayer and asked for direction in where to go. After the prayer we waited, and listened for what the Holy Ghost was telling us. Neither one of us felt anything. We pulled out our ward lists and started flipping through them for some people to stop by and try and visit--and nothing was coming to our minds. We had to go through each of our ward lists probably 3 or 4 times before I finally started feeling directed to one ward. I started reflecting on our recent meetings with the Bishop and the Ward Council and finally I was like "Let's try stopping by the J family." Sister Ogawa thought that sounded good so we went there--and the family was outside doing yard work! They were like "I'm so glad you showed up!! We could use a lesson right now." They invited us in and we sat down and in the course of our conversation I gathered that two of the kids that were there don't normally live there, and are less-active. One of them, C, was like "rumor has it that missionaries always have super good lessons planned. Let's see it." And it was like a challenge haha so Sister Ogawa and I pulled out all stops and taught a super bomb lesson on the Doctrine of Christ, and how it can bless our family relationships. At the end of the lesson Sister Ogawa asked them what they could do this week to be more unified as a family and C was like "Actually...do you think you could come back next week and teach us another lesson? I think we need it." Naturally, we accepted haha and then committed them to pray as a family every day before then. It was awesome. And it was a really cool lesson for us on how the Holy Ghost directs us--we didn't receive the answer to go to the J’s right away...we had to be patient and wait and sift through the ward lists on our own before we received even a little bit of direction. Sometimes that's how it works, and it's times like that where we're blessed to be able to exercise our agency! The Plan is perfect.

High Five

Haha Saturday was our depths of despair day. This weekend the Gilbert Stake was blessed to have the opportunity to have Elder Bednar from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles preside at Stake Conference. He was accompanied by Joni L Koch of the Quorum of the Seventy, so we had two General Authorities present. On Saturday Elder Bednar had a meeting with the youth from 10:30-12:30, and then he was meeting with the stake president at 1:00. Some Elders in our zone had a baptism at 2:00 and the stake president told them that he was going to try and bring Elder Bednar to the baptism. So all of us missionaries were going WILD inviting anyone and everyone we could to the baptism--trying to set them up so they could meet an Apostle. Sister Ogawa and I had four investigators commit to come to the baptism, and all four were excited! But then Saturday morning all four texted us and cancelled. We were so bummed. But we turned our attitudes around and we were like "There's another plan for the day!!" and we went out and worked. So we're biking and we're probably a good 30 minute bike ride away from home and Sister Ogawa goes "do you hear that??" and I just hear this sssss sound. I look down and her tire is just COMPLETELY flat. She had a MASSIVE hole...like it looked like someone slashed her tire it was so big. We were like...is this a joke? And you gotta understand, this whole transfer we've had bike problems. A few weeks ago I had six flat tires in one week...just flat after flat after flat, and finally I took it into the office for the Vehicle Coordinator to look at and the inside of my tire was completely shredded and had destroyed the rubber tube, and earlier this week we'd patched one of Sister Ogawa's tires. At this point I think I can change a bike tire in my sleep. But anyways, we were so far away from home, and we were a good 15 minute walk away from the nearest member so we started walking and we were both just silent haha we were so mad. But—a tender mercy--the first member's door we knocked had a repair kit and we were able to patch the tire! So we were on our way again, and then the rest of the day was fine...but for a few hours there we were like man this sucks haha.

Alright now the moment we've all been waiting for....stake conference. I really don't know how to describe my experience with Elder Bednar other than saying I now want to become his best friend. He came, he threw down, and it was beautiful. Literally everything out of that man's mouth is pure gold.  Our recent convert spoke Saturday night and did a wonderful job. She was able to meet Elder Bednar and talk with him briefly and she was just on cloud 9. Because the church is so mature and so thriving in Gilbert, Elder Bednar was able to talk about a lot of the basic doctrinal principles on a much deeper level. It reminded me a little bit of the training we receive in the MTC--he talked much about how EVERYTHING in the gospel is connected and ties into the Doctrine of Christ. He is so bold and not afraid to say it how it is. In the adult session he kept saying "buckle up…" or "if you're buckled up I can say this…" and then he'd say something super bold and accurate and it would make everyone squirm but in a good way. I couldn't write fast enough notes--I received so much revelation!! Next time you get a chance...sing all 7 verses of “How Firm a Foundation” and consider how the Atonement of Jesus Christ enables us to do so much more than we could on your own. I promise you'll never sing that hymn the same again.

There was a special 8 AM meeting for recent converts, recently reactivated members, and investigators...and the bishops, ward mission leaders, and full-time missionaries were able to attend. Sister Ogawa and I have been working our tails off these past few weeks trying to invite as many people as we could to this meeting and we had ELEVEN people there! (Out of the 50 or so we invited....but that's still pretty good) I went Blaine (Dad) x 1000 at this meeting haha. At the adult session the night before I was watching Elder Bednar closely and I figured out where he came in/out of and where he stopped and shook people's hands and then I carefully plotted and calculated where we would sit the next morning. So I staked out a spot for us and one of our recent converts and our investigator to sit on the aisle of one of the rows he walked past and shook hands, and then we placed our investigator on the end, the RC next to him, and then Sister Ogawa and me. We were on the fifth row, and where I was sitting was dead center in the chapel. It was one of the best meetings I've ever attended in my entire life. The day before Elder Bednar introduced himself to the recent convert and then centered his whole talk in this meeting around our recent convert. This recent convert is going to realize in like two months how incredible that is haha.

For the general session we stayed in our super good spot and as we were singing the opening hymn I made eye contact with Elder Bednar (because I legit couldn't stop staring at him and I'm pretty sure he has all the hymns memorized--true story) and he smiled at me and I had a moment where I was like what is my life. We didn't get the opportunity to shake his hand, but that's okay with me...I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have even heard him speak and to have been so close!! Also, I am 100% positive that if I had shaken his hand I would have done something super embarrassing--because that's what's happened every other time I've met someone I respect/look up to/admire. So it's a good thing because I probably would have tarnished the good name of the Arizona Gilbert mission in his mind. Haha, just kidding.

Anyways, the moral of the story is that Elder Bednar had amazing things to say, and I learned so much...but I think what stood out to me the most is the PASSION that he has for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He speaks about it with such wonder and amazement, and I wish more of us were that way. The Spirit just floods the room when he walks in and it's impossible to deny that the mantle that he carries is real, that he truly is an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ. In every session he spoke for one hour and could have easily gone on and on and on, and I would have gladly listened longer. He had to constrain himself to speak for only one hour--can you imagine?? The average member struggles with a 15 minute sacrament meeting talk, let alone an hour long discourse with no written notes. It really made me aware of how IMPORTANT those 15-20 minute general conference talks are. They're inspired, and they're for us. They could go on a lot longer but they choose the 20 minutes that they think we need MOST at that point in time. What a blessing!!

Selfie with ivy

Tiki torches

Well...last night transfer calls came. Unfortunately Sister Ogawa will be leaving me!!! We don't know where she's going yet, or who my new companion will be...but on Wednesday we'll find out. I've loved my time with Sister Ogawa and I'm sad to see her go, but she's such an amazing missionary so I know she'll do amazing things wherever she serves. :)

Anyways I love you all! Have a phenomenal week!

Sister Jacobson

Absurd amount of eggs!

P-day lunch at Cafe Rio

How to Gangster

Sister Ogawa's a natural!

No swimming allowed!

Week 20: Miracle on Pinto Street

June 12, 2017

Hey hey!!

Selfie

Five days later and I'm back! It's been another really great week here in Gilbert...but what else is new?!

This week we had an AMAZING miracle. Remember a few weeks ago when I emailed home that story about the guy, F, who we gave water to and invited to church? Sister Ogawa and I had both felt really prompted to talk to him and invite him to church, and he had said no...so we kinda accepted that it wasn't his time for the gospel and that we were just placed in his path to get him water. Well, in the course of the conversation he mentioned that he lived on Pinto Street, but didn't give us an exact address. For a few days after our encounter with him Sister Ogawa and I were both like "Okay. We're gonna go and tract out all of Pinto street one day and find him." but then we started looking at the map and we realized that Pinto street isn't just one street...but it's multiple streets extending all the way across our area and beyond into other stakes even! So we decided that it wouldn't be the most effective use of our time to go and tract out Pinto looking for this one guy. WELLLLL....this week we had a lesson with a less-active member on Pinto Street, and that went super well...and when we left there was this guy on his driveway a few streets down so I peddled up to him and was like "Hello!!" and he turned around...AND IT WAS F!!!!!! I was SHOCKED. I literally went "No way." and then I composed myself and was like "F!! How are you??!" and we talked for a little bit and then he was like "I don't feel much like talking right now. I'll see y'all later, but this is my house." and he walked away...but Sister Ogawa and I got his address! We were so pumped. And we couldn't believe that we found him again. I mean seriously, what are the odds that we would find him again?! That's divine right there. But then later, we were biking in a totally different part of our area and we saw F riding his bike!! So we talked to him briefly there again...that's two times in one day. I know the Lord is placing him in our path to prepare him to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We're going to stop by this week and see if we can get in and teach him. :)

Northern Zone Conference w/Elder Pearson

This week we also had a lesson with our Recent Convert, P. She is doing AWESOME. She asked us if we could read a talk by Elder Bednar together because she didn't know who he was but wanted to be prepared for his visit this upcoming weekend. Sister Ogawa and I prayerfully considered what talk to read with her, because Elder Bednar drops straight fire talks every single time, and we finally decided that we should read "The Character of Christ" with her. I was a little apprehensive about choosing this talk because it's pretty intense and not typically something I would choose to read with a RC of less than six months...but P is special and it was definitely inspired. That day she had found out some upsetting family news, and it turns out that “The Character of Christ” was an answer to her prayers and she LOVED it.

I had exchanges on Saturday with my STL, Sister Utsch! It's been weird only going on one exchange this transfer, since the whole time I was being trained I had at least one exchange every week. I stayed in my area and led out. I was pretty nervous because I hadn't led out this area before and honestly Sister Ogawa just kinda takes control of the planning and I just help execute...but it ended up being a really great day and we only got kinda lost once! Sister Utsch is awesome--she's a great missionary and I learned so much. We had tons of appointments on Saturday--a lesson with our investigator, M, a service activity in the afternoon in a house filled with creepy porcelain dolls, a lesson with our investigators, B and A (which they forgot about...even though I confirmed THREE HOURS before...), and a brief stop-by which actually ended up turning into a lesson with our investigator, S. So a story about S: he has a dog named Dory. S is one of those people who you text to set up an appointment...and he responds like four days later. He's really busy with work so it's hard to catch him at home unless we have an appointment...do you see our problem?? However, a few weeks ago we discovered that EVERY night at 7:30 he takes his dog for a walk along Sagebrush Street. We discovered this because we had appointments in that area consistently for like a week...and every single night we saw him and we would stop and talk to him. So now...whenever we need to set an appointment with S we go looking for him at 7:30 on Sagebrush. We call this activity Finding Dory [and S] ;) So I was with Sister Utsch and we started heading towards S's house and we found him (and Dory) on the street and asked him how he was doing, and he said not well. I asked him why and he said that his father-in-law had just died and they were really close and he's having trouble accepting it. He also mentioned that his wife is distraught and his children are really upset. We asked him if we could come by his house and tell him more about where his father-in-law is and he was like "yeah! I'll meet you there in five minutes." Sister Utsch and I went there and were able to talk briefly about the Plan of Salvation and share a few scriptures about the purpose of this life/what heaven is like with him and his family. When we left S walked us out to our bikes and he said "Have either of you ever had someone close to you die?? How do you find peace?" And we both testified of the peace the gospel brings to us and how because of the Atonement we're able to live with our family forever. Before we left we said a prayer with him and he thanked us and mentioned that for the first time in a few days he felt hope. We also left a Plan of Salvation pamphlet with him and asked him to read it before our next appointment and he said he would. Sister Ogawa and I are looking forward to meeting him this week and really delving into the Plan of Salvation.

Yesterday in church we were sitting in gospel principles and this member leaned over to us and was like "I heard that one of your investigators was at church last week!! That's awesome!!" and we were like...who?? We didn't have any investigators in that ward last week haha. And this member was like "A ten year old girl named M, she's friends with my daughter! She said she's been taking the missionary lessons with her family!" And Sister Ogawa and I were like…What?? We don't have an investigator named M...what missionaries are poaching from us haha. But we did some digging and found out that this girl hasn't actually been taking the lessons, she just would LIKE to take the lessons! We're not sure if her family is open or if it's just her...but Sister Ogawa and I were SO excited! We're looking to set up a Family Home Evening with M's family and the family that brought her to church and hopefully open the door to start teaching them. A super promising potential. :)

Honestly that's about it...It's been crazy busy and we've been working SO hard but those are the highlights from the past five days! :) I love being a missionary and I love this work!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week! :)

Sister Jacobson

Week 19: "Sister Taylor" and Her Testimony

June 7, 2017

Hello friends and family!!

Happy Wednesday!!? Man it sure feels strange to have a p-day on a Wednesday. In my interviews with President Wheeler a couple of weeks ago we talked about how missionaries are on a cycle; we're trained to expect p-day on Monday, District Meeting on Tuesday, full work days on Wednesday and Thursday, Weekly Planning on Friday, Progress Record distribution on Saturday, Church on Sunday and then the whole thing starts over again! And we're trained to do this for six weeks and then to expect some sort of a change--whether it be a transfer in your companionship or the companionships around you. We talked about how anything other than this feels wrong and it drives everyone CRAZY...that's why seven week transfers are so difficult! And then this week we didn't have p-day on Monday and we've definitely felt ourselves unwind a bit haha...but no worries! All is well now :)

Plethora of Protein Bars from Home

Last Monday was an awesome day! The member whose house we emailed at was having a BBQ with a bunch of their friends and INSISTED that we stay and celebrate Memorial Day with them, so we were able to have an awesome lunch and a great Memorial Day thanks to their generosity! Then that night we stopped by E’s, the 10 year old girl who has the foster-kid RC living with her...and she told us that she's been reading the BOM every day and LOVES it!! Huge miracle!

Tuesday evening we had FHE with our investigators, B and A, and their fellowship. A is B's mom and he's having a tough time right now.  He's 16 and he is just kinda lost...but that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ is for! And that's why we're missionaries, because we KNOW how much the gospel can change his life and how much happiness it can bring to him. B didn't end up coming to FHE, but A and her other son, E, came...and we had an AWESOME evening with them. We had a delicious dinner, and had a wonderful conversation...it was PERFECT because it was a member dinner and the members were asking tons of questions about missionary work/what it's like being a missionary/why we came on missions, etc. and A and E were just conveniently there. Most of our answers she was like, "Wow, I didn't know that missionaries did THAT!!" She was amazed at the sacrifice it takes to come on a mission. It led perfectly into our spiritual thought. We read portions from the tree of life (1 Nephi 8) with her and testified further that the reason why we're missionaries is because we're like Lehi, we've tasted of God's love and we know how sweet and rich it is, and we want to share that with as many people as possible. Halfway through the lesson she started crying and the member started crying and they started sharing spiritual experiences with one another about times where they've felt God's love. A admitted that recently she's had trouble feeling like He's there, and we committed her to pray and ask God if He loves her. It was an awesome lesson, and when we stopped by her house later this week she expressed her gratitude to us for sharing such a perfect message for her.

I Approve of this Message

A few nights later we stopped by S's house to follow-up on their BOM reading. He wasn't home, and his family couldn't meet...but they gave us water and on our way out the door we asked his daughter if she's been reading the BOM and she smiled and said "Every day!!" and we were STOKED. We were super bummed we couldn't sit down right there and talk with her about it but we told her we'd set up a time and come back and she was really excited! So that's exciting.

Sister Ogawa, the Van, and Me

We had a MASSIVE miracle that just popped up out of nowhere...we were knocking doors one night and no one was home and we were just like man...where does Heavenly Father want us right now?! We decided to go stop by this one less-active/part-member family we've never met...and when we got there we saw that there was a woman outside at the top of the driveway holding a potted plant. We called out to her, "Hello!!" and she SCREAMED and dropped this plant and it went everywhere...we totally scared her haha. Definitely the worst first impression! But she was super nice and invited us in. We walk into the house and the first thing we see is blood and gore on the television, just this super violent movie haha. She had us go into the backyard and there were beer cans everywhere and cigarette butts and all this stuff and Sister Ogawa looked at me with a look of panic and in my mind I'm like oh no we're in the belly of the beast they don't want us here and there's no way out haha...and she introduced us to her husband and he was super nice and he introduced us to his kids and we had a nice conversation, and then he told us we needed to leave haha so we left. BUT on our way out, his wife was out planting flowers again and she stopped us and was like, "Are you going to take the kids to church?!" and I was like, "...Do you...want us to?" and she was like, "YES!!!! PLEASE!!!" Haha let me tell ya...that threw me for a loop...that literally NEVER happens haha. I was like, “...Yeah we can definitely do that.” And she went on to explain that she is a devout Catholic, and her husband was LDS growing up but decided that he didn't want to live the LDS lifestyle when he got older...and as a result he doesn't teach his kids any values of any kind. She was almost in tears and she explained to us that she's concerned for the well-being of the kids, and asked us if we could help. We told her that we'd definitely come back haha.

A few funny stories this week:

"Americanized" Sushi from Temari

On Friday night a member, bless her heart, wanted to give Sister Ogawa a "taste of home" for our dinner appointment. She was super excited because she told us that she found a "super authentic" sushi restaurant within our mission boundaries! So we were really excited to go eat some nice sushi for dinner. Haha we roll up to this restaurant, we walk in and the first thing I notice is that it's playing some nice 80’s music. Hmmm...THEN we open the menu and the first thing I see is a sushi roll titled "The American Roll." Hmmm....I keep looking through the menu and there are all these rolls like "The Awesome Roll," "The Las Vegas Roll," "The Phoenix Roll," "Hot and Saucy," etc. etc. Literally I don't know how much more Americanized this place could have gotten. I think the most Asian thing was the chop sticks we were using. They bring us the sushi, and it was good food...but definitely not authentic Japanese, and this member was like "There!! We're practically in Japan!!" Sister Ogawa was just dying. When we left she was like, "I can eat Japanese food. I can eat American food...but Americanized Japanese food.....that's just insulting" Hahaha we had a pretty good laugh.

On Sunday there was a lull in the testimonies in one of our wards. My first fast-Sunday in the mission field there was a lull and Sister Sorenson and I didn't do anything about it and afterwards we got chewed out by the high-councilor because, as he put it, "it's the job of the missionaries to give the rest of the congregation inspiration to bear their testimony." So after that I promised myself that as long as I was a missionary I wouldn't let a lull happen in a fast and testimony meeting ever again. I got up and bore a brief but sure testimony and went and sat back down--didn't think too much of it--did my job, y'know? But this lady gets up after me and in tears is like, "I just want to thank the sister missionary for her testimony...I'm forgetting her name right now, but I'm pretty sure it's Sister Taylor. Thank you Sister Taylor, for giving me the courage to stand before you all today." And I was sitting in the back with Sister Ogawa and our WML's family and all of us were like...that's not my name haha. But then every other person that got up was like "Sister Taylor's testimony really touched my heart today." or "I'm so grateful to have missionaries like Sister Taylor." I was sitting in the back like ohhhhh noooo. Afterwards someone came up to me and was like, "I thought your name was Sister Jacobson??" I was like that's probably because it is...so now half of the ward is calling me Sister Taylor and the other half is calling me Sister Jacobson haha.

This Monday we had Zone Conference with Elder Pearson from the Quorum of the Seventy. It was AMAZING. Holy moly. If I could write 1/1000 of what he talked about and what revelation I received then I would be writing for a lot longer than a few hours on p-day. Elder Pearson's nickname at church headquarters is "the finder." He is a master in finding people to teach the gospel, something our mission definitely needs. He is also really big on the image of a missionary, and he's super bold and straight to the point. He got up and started speaking to us and was really complimentary of our skills as missionaries and our effectiveness in teaching and baptizing but then absolutely demolished our mission's ability to find people to teach. He was literally like, "You're not good enough!!! Be better!!" and then gave us a bunch of training on improving our attitude and outlook on talking to people. I loved it because he didn't just come in and say, "Stop tracting, stop street contacting--do this instead." he was literally like, "You're doing all the right things, and you're good missionaries who know what you're doing...but the problem is YOU." He basically told us that we're not good enough and that we need to increase our own faith before we can increase the faith of the people we talk to. He kept saying "God doesn't ask about your ability or inability--He asks about your AVAILABILITY. And when you increase your dependability He will increase your CAPABILITY." Elder Pearson also told us several stories from his mission in Finland, and every single one of them had us in tears. Before Elder Pearson spoke, President Wheeler got up and told us a story from a really famous speech called "Acres of Diamonds." Basically this man drives himself insane looking for diamonds all over the world, and the guy who bought his house from him finds millions of diamonds in his backyard. President posed the question: Why do we go looking for diamonds in places other than our own backyard?? And all of Elder Pearson's training kept circling back to this idea. He told us that it's our job to find diamonds in our areas and that it's possible no matter where we serve--because more often than not WE'RE the diamond and the Lord wants at least one convert to come from our missions, even if it's just ourselves. It was one of the best meetings I've ever been to in my life. We were all required to prepare a five minute talk and then at the meeting he picked four missionaries at random to speak...and Sister Ogawa was chosen! She did awesome!! She was super nervous but her English was literally flawless and her talk was AMAZING. That's my comp :') Then I was called on to give the closing prayer! I was so nervous haha I was like I can't pray in front of a General Authority!! But then I did and afterwards Elder Pearson came to me with tears in his eyes and thanked me for giving him a "perfect end to a perfect day." So that was super cool.

One thing I've been thinking a lot about recently is the price we pay for our conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In preparation for Zone Conference we had to read a couple of talks by Elder Bednar. Both talks explored the idea of being converted vs. having a testimony. One of the talks asked us to consider the story of the ten virgins. Each of them had lamps, but only five of them had extra oil. Elder Bednar relays the story and at the end talks about how when the bridegroom came, the five foolish virgins only had their lamps [of testimony] but the five wise virgins had their [oil of conversion]. When the five foolish virgins ask for more oil, the five wise virgins refuse, because they know that conversion cannot be borrowed. It is something we must work for ourselves. So a question I've been asking myself a lot this week is what is the price we are willing to pay for a priceless knowledge? And what are we willing to sacrifice to gain this knowledge? Is it a few meager hours of our time on Sunday? Is it a trip to the temple once every few months? Is it a couple minutes spent half-heartedly studying the scriptures? Is that really all we're willing to sacrifice for a personal relationship with the Savior of the world? Because He was willing to sacrifice a whole lot more for each of us. We can fake a lot of things, but we cannot fake being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

But anyways, as you can see it was an AWESOME week! And we're getting really excited because in TWO WEEKS Elder Bednar is coming to the Gilbert Stake Conference!!!!! I feel like this is the Lord throwing me a bone because I missed the Boise East stake conference with Elder Anderson haha. I feel like He's saying, "Oh, you missed an Apostle coming to your home stake because you're serving me?? Well, I'll just send your favorite Apostle to the stake you're serving in!" Haha in all seriousness, that's going to be an amazing meeting and I feel very blessed to be able to attend!

I love you! Have an amazing week!

Sister Jacobson