On to Springfield!

Hey, Everyone!

This week has been crazy! I had to say goodbye to all of the people in Centerton :( I cried a lot. It was especially hard to say goodbye to Hannah two days before she was baptized :( But I heard it went great! I am so happy for her!

We met a lot of amazing people here in Springfield! I am companions with Sister Ritter, and Elder Dye and Elder Belnap are also serving in this ward. We live right next to Missouri State University, so we do a lot of things on campus. It's weird to go from a family ward to a college campus! Everyone in this ward is so nice! Our Bishop is so great, too! He cares so much about missionary work and will do anything for us. He's the best :)

MSU Campus

The Donut Delivery Ambulance :)

The theme for this ward this year is, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13). I love this scripture! It reminds me of Moroni 7:33 "And Christ hath said; If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." I've been thinking about this scripture a lot lately with this past transfer. This is actually the scripture that gave me the comfort and courage to be able to decide to go on a mission! I know that Christ has been by my side throughout my mission so far and will continue to do so. I have seen His hand working in the lives of other people and in my own. There is no way that any missionary could do this on their own--especially not me! I am so grateful to have the knowledge that He is my Savior and Redeemer and will give me the strength and courage I need to do His work. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity to serve and dedicate my life to Him.

I love all of you so much! I am so grateful for all or your prayers and support!

Love, Sister Jacobsen

Transfer Calls!

Hi everyone!

This week has been CRAZY! My sister had her baby, and I'm an aunt now! Her name is Hazel :) She is the cutest thing on this planet! 

Also, we got transfer calls on Saturday night. They told us they would call us on Sunday, but I got a call from the assistants and they told me I was going to Springfield YSA and asked if I would be okay with being a sister training leader. I had a short panic attack because I was not prepared for that! Neither of us have ever served there or know anything about it. Ahh! Sister Gee and I thought that we would both stay in Centerton for sure, but we are both being transferred out! She is going to Huntsville, so we will be really far away from each other.

Hannah is really excited for her baptism, but she is pretty bummed that neither Sister Gee nor I can't be there :( I am so sad because I was there since her first lesson with missionaries. I can probably go to the temple with her if she goes sometime soon! I will for sure be going to the temple with Julie when she goes in a year, so that makes me feel better.

Nathan (someone we taught in our other ward last transfer) was baptized! We were able to go and support him in his decision to be baptized. It was great!

I am so grateful to have been able to serve in Centerton, and to meet the people here. I trust that Heavenly Father knows why I need to go to Springfield and that He is preparing the hearts of the people there to hear the message we have to share. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn and to help more people.

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love, Sister Jacobsen

Happy New Year!

Hello All,

I had a great Christmas! We got to spend a lot of time with members on Christmas Eve and we spent most of the day with Julie and her family! At the end of the day, we all bore out testimonies of the Savior and what He has done for all of us. It was such a spiritual experience! New years wasn't exciting. It was just another normal day!

Hannah (Julie's daughter) has decided to be baptized! We are so excited that she has made the decision to follow our Savior and enter into the waters of baptism. She has such great faith and such a strong testimony of her Savior. We have also started teaching the son of one of our recent converts! His name is Spencer and he is in primary. He is so sweet! 

When I skyped with my parents on Christmas, they asked me how my testimony has grown since I've been on a mission. I've been thinking about that a lot lately and I think my testimony of prayer has grown the most. Whenever I was having a rough day or if I didn't know how to handle a situation before my mission, prayer wouldn't normally be my first thing to do. I've learned that Heavenly Father really wants to help us--all we have to do is pray and ask for His help! I have received so many answers to my prayers and have received so much strength from relying on the Lord. I know that He really does hear and answer our prayers. He may not answer our prayers in the way we want, but He will answer them in His timing because He knows what's best for us!

I love you all so much!

Sister Jacobsen

Merry Christmas!

Hi everyone!

This is going to be another short email :( We had an all mission conference yesterday, so I wasn't able to email, and I don't have much time today! Dave is doing a lot better and has started reading and praying almost every day. He said that he has seen a difference that that has made in his life after only a week of trying to read and pray. He also came to church because Julie sang in the Christmas program! She was amazing :) I love to see how much she is growing in her faith and confidence. 

I am so grateful for this Christmas season to remind us of Christ's birth and life and all He has done for us. I testify that he lived and died for you. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to us to be a perfect example and to die for us. I am so grateful for His sacrifice. I am grateful that He lived His life to show us how we should live ours--loving and serving others. Spending the last four months in the service of others has made me happier than ever before. I still have my struggles and trials, but there is no better way to get through them than serving others. 

I am so grateful for all of you that have sent cards or packages! I was not expecting so many of you to show your love and support! Thank you so much!

Love, Sister Jacobsen

Here are some pictures from the all mission conference!

Elder Foster's Visit

Hi Everyone!

This week has been great! We can finally focus on one ward and really get things going. We have talked with the bishop and the other leaders of the ward about ways to get the missionary work really going. They are all so supportive of us--it's great! Elder Foster came to visit is last Thursday and talked to us about how to work with the members to help hasten the work. He also talked for a while about the love that our Heavenly Father has for us. I know that our Heavenly Father hears our prayers and knows each one of us personally. He wants to hear from us, and He wants to bless us--We just need to come to Him and receive His love! I have never felt so strongly about His love for us than right now. He is aware of each of us--even the ones who reject Him. 

This week has been pretty boring. We are trying to find ways to fill up our time with meaningful service now that we only have one ward. It's been hard! We are going to focus on finding more people to teach and serve. 

I am so excited for this Christmas season to remind us the importance of Christ and to find ways to serve Him. The church came out with a video about the Saviors birth entitled "A Savior is Born." It is so good! Here is the Link: Christmas.mormon.org. 

Thank you for all of your love and support! I receive strength knowing that there are people back at home that support me in the Lord's work.

Love, Sister Jacobsen

A short email this week!

Hi, everyone!

There are about 12 elders is this room, and I can't focus at all! This is going to be the shortest email. 

The Instant Choir at Walmart :)

Sister Kitchen went home :( But Sister Gee stayed with me! We've had SO much fun serving together. This is going to be such an amazing transfer! We are only serving in one ward, but we got permission to visit Naoma once a week! We were also able to go to a baptism of a ten year old last Saturday from our other ward! He was so excited :) It was really hard to say goodbye to Steve :( We all cried. Hopefully I can still see him at stake events.

We also taught the first lesson to Nathan, a golden investigator for the ward we had to leave :( He is amazing! We think he is going to be an apostle one day, so we had to get a picture.

I am so sorry for such a short email!

Love, Sister Jacobsen

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