Monday, July 28, 2014

New Chapters and New Experiences Await!

Hey, family & friends!

This week was INCREDIBLE.  We have found so much solid potential in this
area in just this past week alone!  There's Gian, Jason, Nato, Selena, and
Westley, not to mention our amazing lesson with Luka and we picked Caleb
back up!  It's been such a tender mercy to see this area explode one last
time before I'm gone.

And now, to address the question that's probably been on a lot of your minds: how do I feel about coming home?  Well, I'll tell you.

As much as I've joked about extending for 3 more years (adding on the fact
that I've asked President Brinkerhoff for an extension twice) and how much
I've talked about never wanting to leave, etc., if an extension was offered
to me, I don't know if I would take it.  My mission has taught me so much
about life, the Gospel, my Father in Heaven and my Savior, who I am, and
who I want to be, and to not take those things out into the real world
would be a disservice to the past 18 and a half months I've spent devoting
my life to helping others, and myself, constantly and consistently
progress.  It's my time.  I've learned what I've needed to, I've helped the
people I was meant to, and to keep furthering my progression, I know I need
to move on.  Yes, it does break my heart to leave the people and places
that have become such an integral part of me, but it also gives my heart
cause to rejoice for the opportunities I have in front of me!  And, of
course, to see the other people and places that are an integral part of me
who I haven't seen for 18 months!  One of my friends from this mission said
it's like leaving one family to go to another, and I'd say that's true.

Our stake president yesterday asked me what I had left behind in this
mission.  Lots of blood, sweat, and tears.  What I'm taking with me?  A lot
more than I can explain (at least effectively all at once).  Overall, I've
learned more about my Savior, His Atonement, and how I can access that,
which is through the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Please, if you have
any questions about the things I've been talking about for a year and a
half, ask me or your local missionaries!  I bear my witness, for possibly
the last time as an authorized representative of Jesus Christ Himself, that
these things are true.  They will bless you.  There is nothing better and
nothing more direly important for you to accept in your life than this
Gospel, and there's nothing I've learned to love more than sharing that joy
with those that I love.  And I love you all.

Until I see you all again, I bear my sure witness to you that Jesus is the
Christ, that our Father in Heaven loves us, and that His Gospel and one way
to live with Him in His Kingdom forever is back on the earth!  How exciting
is that??  I will stand on every rooftop I can physically climb on top of
and shout it to everyone within earshot, where legal (locations may vary).
And I will because, though I'll be taking my tag off my shirt shortly, I
will always wear one on my heart.  This is just another transfer :)  New
chapters and new experiences await, but I will always have the Gospel and
sharing it as my constants.

I love you all so much.  I'll see you soon.

For the last time as a full-time servant for God in Idaho, and with all my
love,
Sister Jacobson.

Pics:
1. With President and Sister Brinkerhoff at the departing temple trip.
2. The district.
3. Sister Fredrick in front of the Institute :)  (at top of page)

1 comment:

  1. Such a beautiful message!! We love Katie and Sister Mork, what a dynamic pair of missionaries. They are greatly missed here. A high bar was set by these two great missionaries.
    Love,
    Sister Kohntopp

    ReplyDelete