Blow Something Up For Me!

Hey, family& friends!

This is probably going to be short.  Due to our full day P-day on the 4th of July, today is just 2 hours, so we've been running around like crazy to get things done.  Sorry also to anyone I would normally email today as well who's reading this.  I'll repent next week.  

Austin's baptism was so great!  Tons of people came, and it was so sweet to see his brother, Harley, (the one who got baptized our first week in this area), do the baptizing!  Their mom was there, too, and she was so happy, she was in tears!  One of the sweetest baptisms I think I've ever been to.

As far as other things go, not a whole lot happened this week.  We looked at each other last night, wondering where the miracles and new investigators and things had gone, but then we realized that we were letting ourselves get a little lax on the missionary schedule.  We weren't being grossly disobedient--just a few minutes late here and there to things-- but every single minute counts, especially in missionary work, and ESPECIALLY in these hastening times!  I'm grateful for a gentle chastening from our Father in Heaven to remind me of exact obedience before we go too far astray.  There's just NO time to waste!

Hope you all have a great 4th of July week!  Blow something up for me!  Go America!

Love,

Sister Jacobson

*She didn't send the 4th picture she described but her description is so Katie we left it in! Hopefully we'll get that picture next week! Stay tuned!

Pics:

1. He-Man Croquet: sledge hammers, bowling balls, metal bar tunnel things.  SO fun.

2. Sister Fredrick and President Brinkerhoff.  It was close, but he won!  That's what we get for challenging God's anointed...

3. Austin's on the left, Harley's on the right!

 

4. This guy was the voice of Nephi for the Hill Cumorah Pageant!!  I had him say, "In the name of Almighty God, I command you TOUCH ME NOT!"  It sounded 25 years older and deeper, but I was still tickleder than a 5 year-old's Elmo doll.  Made my day!

Floodgate of Miracles

Hey, family & friends!

You know those moments where you feel like a floodgate of miracles is opening?

Karen and Elizabeth are roommates of a member here.  We taught them a lesson and they want to continue learning!

Cody is on the ISU football team.  Taught him a lesson.  He wants to continue.

We were doing laps around the Institute again and found a guy named Marcelo.  Challenged him to fuesball, and he accepted.  And he lost :)  We took him on an impromptu tour of the building, and he told us in the chapel that when he was walking home, he was stressed out thinking about a ton of things, but he felt way calmer after talking to us--aka he was feeling the Spirit mad hard.  He wants to continue meeting with us!

This girl named Lexi is friends with a member here.  When she asked her pastor a question and he told her to Google it, she turned to said friend, Delaney.  She had the answer right off the bat, and they kept talking about the Gospel.  Delaney invited her to church and to meet with us, and she did both.  She already knows it's true, and she wants to get baptized!

THEN there's Kevin, who I might have told you about, but his church closed for the summer, so his roommate invited him to church with him.  He came to all 3 hours, and asked us afterwards if we could have a lesson.  We did, and he also wants to get baptized!  

Balvina's doing great, Austin's doing great, and Caleb decided he doesn't want to take lessons anymore, but is going to read the Book of Mormon on his own and still come to church things every once in a while.  

God loves us so much.  I can't even tell you how blessed I feel!  Alma 26:16!  He gives us so much in return for so little!  He asks us to do things that make us happy, and He blesses us in return with more happiness!  The work is truly hastening--so many hearts are prepared for this message, and the only need an invitation to find it!  

I don't have much time, but my gosh.  I hope your weeks are going as well as ours!  We're off to go watch Sister Fredrick play our mission president in ping-pong, no big deal.

Love,

Sister Jacobson

Pics:

1. Making tortillas like a Mexican mom.

 

2. Baseball activity!  Those few years of playing way back when are NOT coming back to me...

We're being richly blessed here!

Hey, family & friends!

This might be short--sorry!

Also, as of July 1, our mission address will be changing to:

135 S. 7th Ave.

Pocatello, ID 83201

For all those MILLIONS of letters coming in.  (But I'm not bitter.)

(You've only got 5 more weeks to write her, She'll be home in 6 weeks! Her current address is on the right. It's the address you will want to use til the end of June!)

So miracle: remember Harley?  The awesome new convert my first weekend here?  Well, his brother, Austin, and his mom just moved up from Arizona.  And now we're teaching Austin!  And he's getting baptized this month!  And his mom is interested and we're going to send the family elders to her!  For one thing, we didn't have a baptism lined up for this month, but God saw fit to bless us with this miracle!  But more importantly, this is a FAMILY!  And we're only in Young Single Adult work!  This is the first family I've seen baptized (a few reactivated as a result of a child getting baptized, yes, but all getting baptized?  No.) on my mission, and we're not even working with families!  What a miracle to see the promise come to pass that the Gospel blesses families.  We haven't met the mom, yet, but the brothers seem close, and the Gospel's going to bring them all even closer!

Also, a ward member's sister just moved in with him for the summer!  He converted a few years back and is the only member in his family.... for now :)  We taught her a lesson with him and a few good friends from the ward, and she just ate it up!  She's so receptive and so sweet, and we can tell this is going to be a wonderful process for their family too, even if it's just the two of them here.  They'll be a light to the rest of the family, too!

Caleb is fantastic!  His faith is growing SO much and so quickly!  He's already finished   1 Nephi, and he's a lot more receptive to seeing God's hand in his life!  We can tell he's right on that cusp of recognizing and accepting the truth into his life!

I wish I could tell you in detail the miracles we've been seeing daily.  There's no time, and there's no way.  Suffice it to say we're being richly blessed here.  I know that diligence and obedience are divine principles.  "Stick to your task till it sticks to you!"  Though things may be hard, the fun is IN the hard work, not just in addition to or after or instead of.  I love work, and this is the best work there is!

Love you all!

-Sister Jacobson                                Painting, Companion Unity Style!

 

Ping Pong Tracting!

Fusball Champion!

And Again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                        

 
 
 
 
 
 

Miracles Everywhere!

Hey, family & friends!


I'd invite you to just skip right
to the first picture.

You know who that is?  That's Ariel.  Remember the Ariel we found on my first day in my last area who was super golden but then decided not to get baptized and even left us a note saying that she would never do so?  Yeah, that's her.  AND her mom, who wasn't going to come the first time Ariel was getting baptized, came to support her.  The Lord honors missionaries' promises.

Cool story time: It was about a month after she dropped us when I left, and a few weeks after the new sisters got there before they contacted her.  She said that ever since she wrote that note to us saying she didn't want to meet, she kept thinking and thinking about her baptism.  She felt guilty, she felt empty, she felt something missing.  Then the new sisters showed up.  On their second lesson together, she told them she wanted to go through with it, even though she still had some fears.  I was asked to play the flute at her service, so I got to go back and witness it, and what an amazingly spiritual service!  One of the highest highlights of my mission.  

But that's not all!  Things are EXPLODING here!

We've found:

David- the roommate of a less active member here.  We contacted the member, set up a lesson, David came upstairs, we invited him to join us for next time, and he gladly agreed!  We even saw him out jogging yesterday and re-set up an appointment because the last one went through, and he was just as excited about it as he was the first time!  

John- well, we didn't really find him.  He was a media referral to the elders here who cover the family stake surrounding our YSA wards and taught him a few lessons before realizing he was in our stewardship and passed him on to us.  He's super solid and even is working towards a date for baptism!  There are a few hitches to work out, but he really wants to do it!  

Scott- we decided to get a little creative this week.  In our Institute building, there's a rec room with ping-pong, fuesball, and pool tables.  We walked around the building and asked people we saw if they liked any of those games.  One guy named Scott said yes, and we challenged him to a game--if he won, he could just leave after the game, if we won, he had to listen to a message.  Sister Fredrick schooled him in ping-pong, so we had a really good lesson afterwards, and he said we could meet up with him again!

But the miracles don't stop there!  Caleb came to Ariel's baptism and the talks were tailor-made to his needs!  We took him on a church tour earlier that same day, and he came to church yesterday!  Again, the talks were perfect for him.  We could tell he just felt happier.  That's what the Spirit does!

Mirian is having some fears, but we were finally able to hook back up with her last night and read from the Book of Mormon and apply it to her situation.  Though Nephi didn't know exactly how to accomplish what God commanded him to, he still went forth and everything worked out as he relied on the Spirit. (1 Nephi 4:6-7).

Our blender also broke at the beginning the beginning of this week.  Coincidence?  ....Yeah, probably.

It's just amazing to me to see the miracles FLOODING into our area!  It shows that when you're doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way as diligently as you can, He will not let you fail... at least too badly.  Sometimes he allows us to stumble, but when we keep fighting our way through roadblocks, we will eventually see miracles.  He's so aware of us and the work we're all doing--not just for us missionaries.  We've learned and talked about diligence a lot this week, and we're definitely seeing results.  Though none of the success comes directly from us, the Lord is able to bless you as you get out and diligently do what you know you need to do.  The Spirit's not going to slap us upside the head to prompt us to do what we already know what we need to do.  And what we need to do is work--be a creator of our circumstances, not a creature of them.  We are agents to act and not objects to be acted upon.

I hope your week is as incredible as ours have been!  Love you all!

-Sister Jacobson 

Called to Share

Full time missionaries are Called to Serve. We are all Called to Share.

Check out this video by Katie's friend, Elder Joshua Cordon, currently serving in the Florida Jacksonville Mission.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202815259555697&set=o.774654132574908&type=2&theater

Elder Cordon is on the bottom row, center picture!

Drunken Proposal

Hey, family and friends!

Just another beautiful [week] in the neighborhood! ("Mr. Rodgers'
Neighborhood, ep.1-3000).  Seriously, I've turned 3 different shades of
pink, I think, and it's now mellowing into a nice semi tan!  And my hands
are still purple.  I'm part chameleon, for those who don't know me.

Also, I got proposed to this week!  We were blitzing another sisters' area,
and we came upon this guy sitting outside with three empty beer cans next
to him, a cat on his lap, and a nice slur to his words.  After talking to
him and finding him pretty receptive, we said, "When you know these things
are true, will you be baptized by priesthood authority?" and he said, "I
dunno, will you marry me?"  ...We said no.  But told him his girlfriend
might!  We gave him a Book of Mormon to show him no hard feelings.  Poor
guy.

Aside from drunk proposals and gnarly vitamin D absorbing, we were also
able to have some great lessons this week!  We were able to solidify
Mirian's desire to be baptized and committed her to tell her family about
it.  That should have been this past weekend, and we're excited to hear how
it went!  She believes this is true from the Spirit she feels when we teach
her, and we're emphasizing how reading the Book of Mormon regularly and
praying about it will only strengthen that belief and make her happier.

Caleb is doing so well!  He is one of the most humble people we've ever
met, let alone humble intellectual.  He read 10 chapters from the Book of
Mormon in like 4 days and said he's praying about it!  He hasn't received
or recognized his answer yet, but with his sincere desire to know, he'll
get it.  We have confidence in the power of the Spirit that comes from
reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it.  We also have confidence
in his open, earnest attitude in studying.  He has some of the coolest
questions--we love meeting with him!

A Saudi Arabian fed us Arabian food the other day!  He said he's not
interested, but he took a Book of Mormon and calls us "dear."  Cool.  We
also met a reactivating member's roommate outside the other day!  Her name
is Elizabeth and has had several experiences in her spiritual life that
have prepared her for the Restored Gospel!  We're really excited to start
teaching her!

I'm not going to lie and say a mission is easy--it's grueling,
heart-breaking, back-breaking, not-for-the-faint-of-heart, blood, sweat and
tears WORK--but it's such a party, too!  I LOVE being here!  I won't be
reverse trunky (my own phrase meaning "focused on how much you don't want
to go home" rather than the normal "focus on how much you want to go home"
trunky), but I'm going to dig deep and enjoy every single second I have
left!  It's missionary work!  Get excited!

Love you all,
Sister Jacobson

Sorry for no pics last week:

1. This is me on our new pet's head.
2. This is our new pet.
3. This is our new pet eating one of our zone leaders.
4. Gorgeous companion with gorgeous Idaho