Happy Memorial Day!

Hey, family & friends!

Just another fantastic week around good ol' ISU!  We're starting to see some amazing things pick up here!  We're also starting to see the temperature pick up here--can you say 80's every day?  I've got the makings of a bangin' watch tan this week.  Stoked!

We actually have some investigators, now!!

Mirian: she's fantastic.  The Sisters were teaching her before, but maybe weren't really bold with extending any commitments with her.  We were finally able to sit down and teach her a lesson this past week about the Plan of Salvation.  Very powerful lesson!  It seemed like it clicked how the Restored Gospel is the way to fully access our Savior's Atonement, which we emphasized a lot.  She's willing to work towards baptism on a specific date, even though she may experience family opposition.  She's fighting that fear with faith!  What a trooper!

Caleb: he is such a cool person!  Very intelligent, and very earnest and humble in his desire to learn more.  We had a great lesson about the Restoration of the Gospel!  He even came prepared with questions he had gathered beforehand with his research on the Church's doctrines on LDS.org.  He didn't accept a specific date for baptism, but he recognizes that the only way to know for himself that these things are all true is to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  One concern he had was that some churches more or less discredit science, but we assured him that we believe that all truth--religious or scientific--is from God for our benefit.  He seems willing to work for his answer, and we're excited to see where it leads!

We got in contact with two others the Sisters were teaching before, but haven't taught them yet.  We're so excited!
 

More miracles: a girl named Morgan approached us and said she was "going to be a member in a few months."  Whaaa--??  She's been busy the past few days, but we're hoping to begin teaching her soon!  Also, two guys came up to us while we were talking with one of their friends outside and said we could come back after a great Gospel discussion with them!  Sooo many things are happening!

 

Put your shoulder to the wheel--it works!  We're seeing so many blessings!  And even if you don't physically see the blessings, put your shoulder to the wheel anyways!  Blessings, seen and unseen, will eventually come.

Love you all!

-Sister Jacobson 

Get Those Feet Wet!

Hey, family & friends!

This week has been a blast!  Now that we finally have at least a foundational grasp on our area, we've been able to hit the ground running this week!  We've done a ton of contacting this week, but we've still been able to teach a ton of lessons!  Most of them were on the doorstep--we teach people without them knowing that we're teaching them until we've taught pretty much the whole message of the Restoration.  And it works!  So many people have felt the Spirit and said that we could come back!

We have some solid new and potential investigators!  One is named Caleb.  He's a man of science, and he's a roommate with a solid member of the Church.  He's asked a bunch of questions, and we were able to get him to a missionary/investigator fireside last night where he agreed to learn more!  There's also Duel, a young man we met across the street from us as we were getting home one night.  We ran over to him, and it turns out he doesn't even live there, but he has a best friend that just got home from a mission.  He said we could come by and teach him!  We went by yesterday, and though he wasn't there, his roommate Travis was, and he also said we could teach him!  We're dropping by today to teach them, and we feel a ton of potential there!  People have been popping out of nowhere to be taught!  It also helps that one of our ward mission leaders has been setting up a bunch of lessons for us, too!  With our combined efforts, this campus will be translated in no time.

I want to tell you about my awesome personal study this morning!  I'm reading where the Brother of Jared and his people are beginning to travel to the promised land, and I started to compare their journey to the people of Lehi's.  The Jaredites have God in a cloud leading them the whole way to the sea; the Lehites have a compass.  The Jaredites build "vessels;" the Lehites a sailboat.  Though both journeys are divinely guided and lead to the same place, the way they got there was completely different.  So it is with all our personal conversions to the Gospel.  Some may need a compass, while others may need God standing in a cloud to guide them.  Some build ships, some build vessels, some part the sea, and some (well, One) walk over it.  But the destination is the same.  We are all trying to make it to our Promised Land--the Kingdom of God.  Though God may lead us in different ways, we eventually will need to come to our own testimonies of Christ's Gospel, and then we'll need to act.

He leads us to the sea.  We can't see the other side.  It might seem scary, inconvenient, hard, whatever.  We might feel like He's led us to a good enough place on the seashore, where we can relax on the beach.  But "the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people," (Ether 2:7).  

He's not going to stop until you're across that ocean, in a way better place than we can imagine or see for ourselves.  It might be a rugged voyage, but where's the fun in staying still? And the Celestial Kingdom is sooo much better than the beach!  We just need to take that step of faith into the water.

I love you all, and I want you to take that step into the sea.  He can't guide you unless you're willing to move.  Get those feet wet!

Love,

Sister Jacobson

 

                             They had a mission wide temple trip to the Idaho Falls Temple for all the sisters serving. Katie is in the back row, on the left about 1/4 of the way in! The group shot includes her current companion Sister Frederick on the left and Sister McKnight, a former companion on far right! I think I read there are 95 sisters serving there!

 

It's great to know we're in a position to help!

Hey family & friends!

Seems like we JUST talked!  Oh, wait.... (ha.)

So you got most of the lowdown, but for those that didn't get the opportunity to Skype yesterday

 

This area is so awesome!  We don't have any investigators right now because of the transition to summer classes at ISU, but there is sooooo much potential with our area!  We have a ward mission leader in one of our wards that actually sets up lessons for us!  Seriously, such a tender mercy.  Sister Fredrick is amazing, too!  She's been out 6 months, (and trained just after she was done training), is from Alabama, and her hardworking, fun personality is as bright as her pretty blue eyes.  We're going to WORK these next few months!

We tracted an apartment complex the other night, and an old man answered the door (student housing?  Guess not...), and proceeded to tell us about how he had been hit in the head with a meteor years prior in an astronomy room and could then read thoughts, so he infiltrated the FBI, took down the Berlin Wall, and pulled the troops out of Iraq all in 45 minutes.  Man... I totally had my facts all wrong.

 Being a sister training leader again is pretty fun!  We have a sister who was struggling a bit with the transition, but we were able to help her out--she's doing great now!  It's really a tender mercy this position was created, not just for the sisters we serve, but for us, too!  I don't feel like I'm more or less important in this position, just doing some different work than before!  It's great to get to know more sisters, and it's great to know that we're in a position to help, but we're all working for the same God doing the same work--inviting souls to come unto Christ.

I love all of you!  Sorry for the short email--I'll most likely have more things to say next week!

-Sister Jacobson

Pics:

1. The sisters before us had a baptism already set up!  This is Harley, one of the most solid converts you'll ever meet.

 

 

 

 

 

2. No, President, we weren't climbing on anyone's roof...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Hint taken.  We just left a

http://www.mormon.org card there instead :) 

Katie Skyping with her brother Cameron!

 

Another picture while Skyping with Mom and Dad. We didn't remind her other brothers to get a screen shot until it was too late!

Li Hing Mui Party!

Hey family & friends!

This has been one of the strangest weeks of my mission!  Unfortunately, Sister Mork's health has called her home after a valiant effort.  Since then, I've been with Sister Faagai (pronounced "fa-ah-NGA-ee"), whose companion got her visa to Brazil (Sister Riding, my mission sister) a few days before.  So we're serving both in my area and in Highland!  It's been so fun! 

She had a baptism of this Samoan family this weekend, and afterwards they had this huge poly-style luncheon, complete with a bunch of small Samoan boys doing the haka.  I've never wanted to be Polynesian more than these past few days in my whole LIFE.

So transfer info: I'm leaving and whitewashing (usually only one missionary of a companionship is transferred at a time for continuity of the area. Occasionally both missionaries are transferred at the same time. This is often referred to as whitewashing an area.) into a young single adult area around Idaho State University, so I'll still be in Pocatello!  I'll be with Sister Frederick, who I met at a leadership meeting this weekend (and she's fantastic!  I'm so excited!), and they'll
 be converting that area into a Sister Training Leader area.  I am SO excited for these next few months!

Overall, this week has been full of heartaches, miracles, goodbyes, hellos, and li hing mui parties at quarter after 10:00.(We had this in Hawaii. It's a powder you put on fresh fruit and it makes the flavor pop!)  It's been exhausting, and it's been a blast.  I've really seen God's hand in sustaining not only me, but those I love as well.  He truly knows us--better than we know ourselves--and He loves us.  Never doubt that!  He loves you!  Way more than you or I deserve, most of the time, but nevertheless, He does.

And I love you all, too!

-Sister Jacobson                                 

     Sister party on the way to mission leadership council!

 
Sisters in Pocatello Central District