Trio Fun

Hi, Everyone!

This week has been so much fun with Sister Gee here! I think this is the best trio anyone has ever created. I feel like we have a sleepover almost every night! It's great :) 

We were able to spend Monday night with a very sweet family. We had a lesson with their daughter and then decorated their tree! It was SO much fun! I just love that family :) 

Naoma came to church!!! I don't think I've ever experienced so much joy! I took notes on what the speakers said, and she really enjoyed it! I just love her so much :)

We got transfer calls on Saturday! I'm staying here with Sister Gee! We are both really excited! But we lost one of our wards, so we won't be able to see Naoma or Steve anymore :( I'm going to cry when I have to say goodbye to them. We also had a golden investigator that came to us saying he wanted to be baptized. We think he's going to be an apostle one day. But we won't be able to teach him anymore :( That's okay, though!

Sorry this email was so short! This next week should be a lot busier and more exciting things will happen :) I love you all!!

Sister Jacobsen

Kansas City Temple

Hi everyone!

I got to go to the temple on Saturday! We don't have any temples in our mission boundary, but we were able to go to the Kansas City temple for John and Julie's first time going to the temple! It was an absolutely beautiful temple! It was such an amazing experience to be in the temple with Julie. It was an all day trip because the temple was almost 4 hours away from where we are. It was so worth it! The temple is always worth the trip! 

We also got a new companion, Sister Gee, so we're a trio for the next few weeks! A sister went home in another area, and they had to shuffle things around. Our apartment isn't meant to hold more than two people, but we made it work :) 

Dave just doesn't think he's good enough or feels like he's been left behind because Julie has already been baptized. We had a really good lesson last week and answered a lot of his concerns. We try so hard to strengthen his faith and find strength in the Lord to be able to do this, but he resists and won't do anything on his own. All we can do is testify that he has a loving Heavenly Father that wants to bless him and help him, and all he needs to do is reach out and grab His hand and seek for that strength. 

Naoma agreed to come to church! But she got lost on the way and wasn't able to make it :( We also have a new investigator, Nathan! One of the senior sister missionaries found him and will teach him with us. We are so excited! 

One of the speakers in Sacrament meeting yesterday was talking about Christmas. He said that we should change the question, "What did you get for Christmas?" to "What did you GIVE for Christmas?" I challenge you to think about ways to serve or give to your neighbors, friends, family, and the Savior this Christmas season! That's what Christmas is really for! 

I hope you all have a fantastic week!

Love, Sister Jacobsen

Here is a picture of the weekly countdown to Christmas :)

A Super Busy Week!

Hey Everyone!

I know I always start off my letter talking about how great the past week has been, but every week just gets better and better! This week has been one of the busiest/craziest weeks yet. 

Julie was baptized on Wednesday! I am so grateful to have met her and helped her along this new journey. We visited her a few days later and she said that she was so happy that she felt like she was floating. Her blessing when she received the Holy Ghost was really special. It had a lot of amazing promises about her future. We are so excited for her! Dave, her husband, has been having this inner struggle between good and evil. He knows that this church is true and that this is the path that God wants him on, but Satan is working really hard to keep him from making this big decision. He received a priesthood blessing last Monday to help him not give into those temptations of going back to who he was and things have been going a lot better for him. 

We also met with Steve (recent convert) a few times this week. His faith and testimony is so strong! Whenever we have a lesson, the spirit is so strong and I learn so much. He is one of my heroes :) We also saw Naoma a few times and she was SO close to coming to church! We made a transfer bucket list and one of the things on there is to get her to church. It's going to happen!

Kayla and Alisha have been doing great! Kayla isn't coming to church or taking things as seriously as we would like, but Alisha was able to go to Julie's baptism and come to church again this Sunday. 

On Thursdays, we joined the elders in this area in volunteering at the local thrift store. It was so much fun! I was leaning into a huge cardboard box to get something out of the bottom of it and fell into it in front of all of the volunteers. It was great :) We were able to load food onto shelves, pack grocery bags, and unload a truck full of food. I love service and being able to help other people in need!

On Friday, we had a sports night with all of the youth from both of our wards! There was a great turnout and three nonmember friends there! We hope to get even more of the youth to come and have fun with us. We had the idea to make it more of an activity night than a sports night. We were thinking of doing a human hungry hippo or mario kart. If you have any fun ideas for a big youth night, let me know! 

On Saturday we had zone training for four hours and I was able to have a real interview with President Loveland! He is so amazing! I'm so glad that he will be able to be my mission president for my whole 18 months. 

Today we were asked to work in the mission office because all of the senior missionaries had a meeting today. It has been such a long and rewarding week! Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

Sister Jacobsen

Spiritual thought: One of the speakers on Sunday talked about why he loved Christmas so much. He said that when he looks back of past Christmas' he can't remember a single present he received. He remembers most the times when they served other people, the traditions they had, and being with his family. I loved that--it is so true! The things I remember most are the times I decorated cookies or the Christmas tree with my mom, the big family get-togethers, giving homemade treats to others, and just being able to spend time with everyone! 

Another Amazing Week!

Hi Everyone!

This has been yet another amazing week! I was looking at the mission map today, and I told President Loveland that the thought of being sent to any of those areas was scary. He told me not to worry and that I would be here a long time. Hopefully I will be able to stay in this area for at least another transfer! 

Julie is SO excited for her baptism! She is just beaming whenever we see her. Her husband, Dave, came to church in a white shirt and tie this last Sunday! He knows that this church is true, but he is having a hard time acting on that knowledge and coming to church. He asked for a priesthood blessing to help him with his internal struggle. He told the bishop on Sunday that he was going to be baptized soon like it was no big deal. We are so excited! It's been amazing to see the change in their relationship with each other and children as they have felt the spirit more in their life.

On Tuesday, Sister Kitchen had MLC (missionary leadership counsel) and I had to babysit three other sisters whose companions were in MLC also. It was great! We were able to visit with Steve, Julie, Jessice, and Naoma. It was really interesting to see how other sister missionaries acted and taught.

On Wednesday, I went on an exchange to Berryville with Sister Buttars! I was able to meet some incredible people and be able to help them strengthen their faith in the Savior.  Sister Kitchen has been having me take the lead more in our lessons, and I'm not completely ruining them! Yay! For a while I kept on skipping around to different parts of the lesson and Sister Kitchen would always have to bring it back and explain things better. Steve told me I'm doing a better job, so I believe him! 

Mellissa and Russell have started coming to more church and lessons with us. They always get so destracted and off topic that it's hard to teach them. We started meeting in the church building for our lessons and that seems to be working a lot better!

There are now 46 days until Christmas :) 

We had Regional Conference on Sunday and were able to hear from Elder Dallin H Oaks. His talk was amazing! He asked us if we were active in the gospel of Jesus Christ or the church? Do we really partake of the sacrament each week promising to be better and change? Someone converted to the gospel continually repents, serves others, and partakes the sacrament weekly with a broken heart and contrite spirit and promise the Lord that we will be better. We need to constantly find ways to change and to be better. That's our purpose here on earth! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Jacobsen

Halloween Fun :)

Hello Friends!

This week actually wasn't very exciting for our investigators. Personally, I had a great week, but the people we are teaching are all still the same.

We were able to use the dresses and hats that Naoma let us borrow for our halloween party on Friday. We were planning of dressing up as senior sisters, but we couldn't find wigs and I didn't want to use the temporary hair color because we all know how that worked out before I left for my mission... Yikes. Anyway, we dressed up as missionaries from another era. It's pretty much the same thing but without gray hair and a cane. The ward party was a blast! We had the privilege to judge the chili contest with our investigators! They absolutely loved it! All of the chilis were so good and we were even able to take some home with us. It was supposed to be a trunk or treat, but it was pouring rain (yay!) so we gave out candy in the hallway. 

Halloween was a great day! We were able to see a lot of people and have a lot of great lessons. We had to be home by 6:00 because of all of the trick-or-treaters so we bought a pizza on the way home and watched Meet the Mormons! It was such a fun night! I was also able to go to bed early and got almost ten hours of sleep (thanks to daylight savings, too)! It was nice :) 

Julie is still set for being baptized on November 11th! It was so amazing to see that transition of, "I'll just set a goal for December 31, but it probably won't happen" to "I'm going to be baptized on November 11 and can't wait!" She has so much faith and is such a great example to her family. Hannah (her daughter) probably won't be baptized on the 11th, but she will be ready pretty soon! The husband is a little different story.  All I can do is pray really hard that he will act on that faith he has and come to church! 

Alisha is still doing well, but we weren't able to see her in person this week. She didn't come to church this Sunday, so she will have to come every single week until her baptism on the 28th! Kayla still hasn't received her answer yet and hasn't come to church. I'm praying really hard for them too!

There are 53 days until Christmas in case you haven't started counting down yet!

To the women of the church: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/a-plea-to-my-sisters?lang=eng This is one of my favorite talks! It's Elder Nelson's talk to the sisters in the church. It gives me so much strength.
This is also one of my favorite Mormon Messages! I love how it applies Joseph Smith's story to our own. I know that our Heavenly Father will listen and answer our prayers. https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-002-origin?lang=eng

Thank you so much for all of your love and support! I love you all!

Sister Jacobsen