It's All A Blur

Hello all!


This week has just flown by. I can't believe transfers are a week and
a half away already- it's gone by so fast. Time just keeps speeding
up!

This week we did a lot of finding- trying to talk to people and
knocking on doors. We met one guy at the end of last night who said we could come back at some point! And we finally got to meet with Steve and Leah again- we haven't seen them in three weeks or so. We had a great lesson with them! Leah's son was excited to participate too- he wanted his own copy of the Book of Mormon and before we left he asked me where does God live? And does he take care of the humans that died?
It was so cute!

And of course Happy Thanksgiving!! We had an awesome time here. We figured knocking doors probably wasn't the best idea so we visited a few less active members. Then we visited some active members because we needed a bathroom, and their daughter in law, who is not a member was there! And she is one of the coolest people I've met. We had a
great discussion with her. Then we went to the Muraskis for lunch- and there was this less active member we've been trying to meet with! He doesn't want to meet with us, but it seems like he can't get away from us. We're not pushing it though. Then we went to the Sinsays for dinner, and the Nicholsons for dessert (their son just got back from a
mission in Colorado Springs!). So we rolled home, basically. It was a pretty exciting day.





We had an interesting experience on Saturday night- we had a missed call from a mystery number, so we called back and left a voicemail. A few minutes later, we got a call back, and we answered. The guy introduced himself as Ivan and said his family had given him a quad, and he had a few questions for us. After that, it got interesting. He had some deep deep doctrine questions. Need I remind you, we are 19
year old girls, not scriptorians. So we didn't have all the answers.  But we tried to set up an appointment for a later time, but he wouldn't give us his address because "we couldn't answer a few simple questions over the phone." And he wouldn't really let us try to answer them- he kept interrupting, with more questions, just picking at
phrasing. Well, I could try to logically prove that the Church was true all day and get nowhere. The Spirit was definitely not present there. So we just invited him to pray and ask God and we ended the call. It was a really interesting experience- I've never really been in that kind of a situation before. It was interesting to see how the Spirit left. With someone who is genuine, it's easy to feel the Spirit and to teach and testify. With someone who's all brain and no heart, it's impossible. In D&C 42:14 it says "if ye receive not the Spirit, ye shall not teach." The Spirit is essential to all we do.

A lot of good has happened this week, and yet it still feels like
we've both been through the wringer. There's been a lot of opposition
coming our way- it must mean something amazing is about to happen!
Hopefully that something isn't one of us getting transferred (knock on
wood) but whatever it is, the Lord knows what He is doing!

Stay safe and stay warm! Love you all!
Sister Jacobs

Four Months!!

Yesterday was four months since I entered the MTC! It's hard to
believe I've been out for that long, even though there's still a long
way to go.

It's been an interesting week! We had our mission tour on Thursday-
Elder Johnson of the Seventy came and spoke. He talked a lot about
cleaning out our area books of people who are not progressing- someone
will be led to them when they are ready, and then we can use that time
to reach out to people who are ready. Thinking of that, I've been
looking at our list of investigators with new eyes and seeing that
some of them are not moving forward like they need to be.

We have had a lot of time to find people- we knocked on a lot of doors
this week! And we got two sunny days, which made a huge difference-
people were actually outside! It was cold, but cold and dry is much
better than cold and wet.

We found one new investigator- we were knocking doors right before
dinner and she answered and we talked for a bit and then she asked if
we had a message, and so we shared the Restoration with her, and then
she asked if we had any pamphlets, and we said we did, and gave her a
Book of Mormon and set up a time to go back! She seemed pretty excited
about what we shared, and it will be interesting to see what she says
when we go back!

Other exciting things this week- I went on splits for the first time!
Sister Slattery had a bad cold, so she stayed in Friday and I went
with Sister Winks to visit some people and to our one appointment. We
had an amazing lesson!


The funny part was, I met with two different people this week named
Mary (one with Sister Slattery and one with Sister Winks) and I had a
fascinating experience. Both women began our meetings by bringing up
the handbook changes (which I'm sure you've all heard so much about by
now). Now, keep in mind, one Mary is reading her scriptures and coming
to church, and the other is not. The first Mary we met with- the one
not reading or attending church- she was aghast at the changes, and
even as we tried to explain them, we could tell her ears were not open
to hearing it. She called it discrimination, and talked about how
people can't help who they love, etc. The second Mary- the one reading
and studying- she asked about it, but only so she could better explain
it to her nonmember husband. She had accepted it- she said, and
rightly so, that it wasn't really anything new, it was just a
clarification since in our day and age, certain situations are more
likely to arise. It was interesting to see the contrast. I know I've
gained w testimony that the Church is right through faithful study and
prayer, and through the influence of the Spirit. We did still have a
good discussion with the first Mary, and we read the beginning of
Ether 12. We talked about Paris as well. As we read, when we got to
Ether 12:4 (which, incidentally, is my ponderizing scripture this
week) all I could think of was the phrase from the verse in Ephesians
"tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine." So
I shared that with her. And I'd like to share it with all of you too
because it is such a valuable principle, and I know the Spirit was
teaching me as I shared.

Ether 12:4- Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope
for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which
hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which
would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works,
being led to glorify God.

Ephesians 4:11-15- And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for
the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ:

The world would have us be in turmoil and confusion, jumping from one
extreme to the next. There's all sorts of examples of this, most
recently with the attacks in Paris, but also with the reaction to the
handbook changes, things we see in the media, and as election time
grows closer, we will see much more. But these verses remind me that
we don't have to be in turmoil. We don't have to be confused or lost.
We can have peace and temperance and tolerance and faith. If we follow
the gospel and trust in our Father in Heaven, in our Savior, and in
the prophet, we will always go right. We will be sure and steadfast.
Faith truly does make an anchor "unto the souls of men." If we follow
the gospel, we will have that anchor and not be "tossed to and fro" by
the wild whimsy and confusion of the world. "This is the way; and
there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be
saved in the kingdom of God." (2 Nephi 31:21). I'd just like to share
my own testimony and witness that I know that the handbook changes
were inspired, that they are for the protection and benefit of all
people and a guide to our leaders. I know that each of us can gain a
witness by prayerfully studying the words of the prophet, and not
relying on the opinions of others, but relying only on the Spirit of
God that bears witness of all truth. In the end, all will be made
right. I don't know exactly what that means yet, but I will trust in
my God because He knows what is right even when I do not.

Anyway, that's my thought for the week. It has been an amazing week
for me, as far as study and spiritual experiences are concerned. I
have felt my testimony grow in so many ways and I am so grateful for
this gospel and for the chance I have to be here and serve my Lord in
His work.

That reminds me, we also got to visit the temple visitors center this
week! We had a trip for recent converts and returning members, as sort
of a prep thing for the baptism trip in December. Only Sister Thompson
came but it was still amazing and she definitely felt the Spirit!
Hopefully she and her family will get to go back. It was great to just
be on temple grounds for a bit- I miss getting to go to the temple! It
truly is the house of the Lord!

I think the most amazing experience of the week happened on Saturday
night. Again, right before dinner, we'd been talking to people, and we
were headed to the Baldwin's house. We passed this guy on the side of
the road and we almost didn't talk to him- but we did, and it was
incredible! We found out he's a member from our neighboring stake, and
he told us he's been going through some hard times and he hadn't been
to church in a while. Well, just before this, we'd visited a member
for water and of course shared a message. That same message- my
ponderizing scripture- popped into my head again and we shared it with
him. He told us his conversion story and we all just bore our
testimonies and it was easy to see that the Spirit touched this
brother. He almost was getting emotional. He said it was exactly what
he needed to hear. Hopefully he acts on it and gets everything worked
out. It was incredible- the Lord put us right there at that time to
help that specific man get back on track and remind him what is
important.

That's all for this week. Trust in God and in good things to come!
With love from Washington,
Sister Jacobs

The Bird Whisperer and Youth Whisperer

Wonderful E-mail received today!

Hello. Your daughter is serving in our ward. We fed them last night. My daughter pulled out one of our birds and we had fun holding her. I snapped this picture for you guys! We are glad to have sister Jacobs in our ward. My 12yo daughter even quoted her in her first talk she ever gave a few weeks ago! I hope you are all having a nice sunday! Take care, Tessa

Keep Walking

Hello all!

So...I typed this once and it wouldn't send and then it erased. So
this is try number 2! Story of our week....we've had a lot of
appointments fall through, where people just weren't available and
whatnot. And we've had trouble getting in touch with some of our other
people as well. It's been a bit rough! Tracting in the rain for hours
every day is not easy. It's also been fun though- Sister Slattery and
I have had a lot of bonding time, and I got some really good pictures!

The highlight of the week was, of course, Bailey's baptism!! It was
wonderful- the Spirit was really strong. She was so ready to be
baptized! Her mom came, and hopefully she was able to feel the Spirit
at least a little bit. I'm excited to see her and Jordan prepare for
the temple!

Since this week wasn't super eventful, the focus is on the thought for
the week- from 2 Nephi 4. These verses actually go really well with
some of my other favorite scriptures, 2 Nephi 22:2 and Alma 26:27.

 16 Behold, my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord; and my heart
pondereth continually upon the things which I have seen and heard.
17 Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in
showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O
wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh;
my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.
18 I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins
which do so easily beset me.
19 And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins;
nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.
20 My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine
afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the
waters of the great deep.
21 He hath filled me with his love, even unto the consuming of my flesh.
22 He hath confounded mine enemies, unto the causing of them to quake before me.
23 Behold, he hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge
by visions in the night-time.
24 And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my
voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto
me.
25 And upon the wings of his Spirit hath my body been carried away
upon exceedingly high mountains. And mine eyes have beheld great
things, yea, even too great for man; therefore I was bidden that I
should not write them.
26 O then, if I have seen so great things, if the Lord in his
condescension unto the children of men hath visited men in so much
mercy, why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of
sorrow, and my flesh waste away, and my strength slacken, because of
mine afflictions?
27 And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should
I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to
destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine
enemy?
28 Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and
give place no more for the enemy of my soul.
29 Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my
strength because of mine afflictions.
30 Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will
praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and
the rock of my salvation.

I love these verses! When we think of Nephi, we usually think of this
great spiritual giant, this totally righteous dude, this happy guy
with no problems. But Nephi had struggles! He struggled with his
brothers, he struggled through the wilderness, and here, he is kind of
breaking down a little. He is sad and a bit depressed because of his
sins and imperfections. Nephi was a good guy though! And he remembers
the Lord in his struggle and he awakes his soul to remember the
goodness of God and have joy. So this is what I try to remember when
missionary work has me down, or when I feel like there's more I could
be doing. Even Nephi struggled! So it's okay for me to struggle as
well. And for everyone- that's the point of the Atonement! So that we
all can repent and be clean again.

I love you all! Have an amazing week!
Sister Jacobs

Wise Old Leaf Says...

Wise old leaf says….

......when you go to Washington in the winter, buy really good boots!

Leafy proverbs aside, I hope that everyone is doing well! It is
definitely fall/winter here. The cold isn't so bad, except we're
always wet! Even my rain coat has started soaking through at the
shoulders! And I'm likely going to invest in rubber rain boots since
just waterproofing my brown boots isn't quite cutting it. Sister
Slattery (since she's awesome) helped me blow dry my toes last night
after we got home! (I'll attach the video too :)) It's definitely a
new experience but it's been a lot of fun.

We went on exchanges on Tuesday! We found out maybe two or three days
before, so it was a little crazy. Sister De Leon and I had fun walking
around talking to people, especially since the weather was pretty
nice! We had dinner and a lesson with Bailey right after we exchanged
back- since Sister De Leon was one of the sisters who first started
teaching Bailey, they gave us a ride over and they had to drop in and
say hello! Little baby Julian is getting bigger! And Bailey is doing
so awesome. She is getting baptized on Saturday! So we're just
finishing up the lessons and getting everything set up. It's so
exciting!!! I can't believe how fast time goes- seems like just
yesterday, we were asking her to pick a date even though it was a
month ago. She's ready though, and I don't think anything can stop
her!

We actually had quite a few people cancel on us this week- mostly for
sickness. With the sudden change in seasons, everyone's catching
something!

Cool story time- so we were walking to an appointment and we'd just
knocked a few doors nearby. So as we're walking away, someone comes
out of one of the houses and yells after us. It went something like
this:
"Heeyyyy!!! Hey!!"
"Yes?" (That's us)
"Are you missionaries??"
"Yeah....!"
"Do you want some decaf tea??"

It was so funny. We were worried (or Sister Slattery was) because she
thought someone was just going to yell at us or something. We had our
lesson to go to, but afterwards we went back and we had a great
conversation with her! And we're going back to see her next week! We
did give her a Book of Mormon and so we'll follow up. We're not sure
how interested she is, but sometimes it's just nice to know someone
wants you around! We've had a lot of that this week- lots of members
honking, stopping to say hi and thanks for all we do. It's been nice.

Oh! Another cool story! So we're walking to Cortina's because she's
giving us a ride home, it's like 8:45 at night, and this lady stops
and asks if we're missionaries and if we need a ride home. And then
she says "I was a missionary once!" So it turns out she's this less
active member who served her mission in Australia (how cool is that?)
and just had a really hard time when she came back from her mission.
She pulled over and we talked for a good fifteen minutes! We gave her
our number and she said normally she wouldn't call is, but she had a
good feeling about the two of us! We're still waiting on her to call,
but it was an awesome experience!

We had a stake breakfast on Saturday with the missionaries in our
zone, which was pretty fun! We had French toast! And Sister Slattery
decided that she and Elder Robbins are best friends. Actually, it
might have been last Monday- Sister Slattery, Elder Robbins, Elder
Smith, Elder Partis, and I spent a good chunk of time playing card
games- Scum and Karma! We were just having so much fun. So our zone is
still awesome! Last P-day, we went shopping with Sister Willits (she
gave us a ride) and then she drove us to the stake center and we were
having so much fun just talking and laughing that we got lost! And
then the GPS was taking us in circles...we were dying. Sister Willits
is awesome. She and her husband are a younger couple in our ward. They
moved here from BYU-I, and they have the cutest four year old girl,
and a little one on the way! Brother Willits just got called as the
Gospel Principles teacher. It's a lot of fun, especially since one
member of our ward is married to a man who is Muslim, and he comes to
church as if he were an active member. And sometimes he makes comments
in Sunday School that just aren't quite what we believe...he is
expressing his belief, but not in quite the right setting. Brother
Willits did a good job though- it's an art, letting him have his turn
to express himself but also keeping the class on topic and in
accordance with what is church doctrine.

Anyway, after the breakfast, the other sisters asked us to sub in for
them- they volunteered to help their ward clean the church but then
had an appointment come up. So we covered for them!


Oh, and on Friday, Sister Baldwin was nice enough to invite us to
"Time Out for Lunch" with the ward! She was hosting it. So that's what
we did with our lunchtime. It was so fun! The theme was comfort food,
so everyone brought their comfort foods and we ate and talked. It was
so fun, and also it's helping us build a good relationship with our
ward! That's actually where we found out that the Internet was blowing
up over the handbook changes. Our news is interesting- all we get is
word of mouth and whatever is on LDS.org. (And that didn't pop up til
Sunday- I was watching!) So it's a good thing no one tried to talk to
us about it before then! We live in a missionary bubble, which is
kinda nice, actually.

Sorry it's so scattered! Those are all the major things that happened
this week. Sister Slattery and I have had a lot of fun getting to know
each other and walking and figuring out the best way to get rides,
etc, especially in the rain! It's a blast! And missionary life is
finally starting to feel normal- it's not something strange or new
anymore. That's been really nice!

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Sister Jacobs

Singing in the Rain

Hello, hello!

I hope everyone is doing well! This week has been a real adventure
over here! Lots of new things. Transfers were Wednesday!! I got my new
companion, Sister Slattery, and she is awesome! She's from Las Vegas
and she's a lot of fun to be around. It's been a little crazy to not
have a car- my legs are constantly stiff and sore! But it's been
getting better gradually! The weirdest (and probably most stressful)
part for me is that I'm the one that knows the area right now, so I
have to kind of take charge! It's odd not to be a greenie anymore! And
we've been getting used to walking, and taking time to do that. We try
to get rides as much as we can, and luckily our ward is awesome. They
sent around a sign up and we had some names before transfers even
happened! That was a tender mercy for me- I've been really nervous
about this whole adventure. It's nice to get some fresh air though.
Most of the time.

The seasons are definitely changing! It is almost constantly raining.
On Friday we got stuck outside in this huge downpour! We had to run to
a members' house and luckily they were home and they let us in to dry
off. We called someone to get a ride and ended up making an emergency
trip to Wal-Mart. Sister Slattery has these really cute ankle-high
rain boots, but as you'll see in the pictures, they just didn't quite
cut it! Anyway, it rains all the time. I've been so grateful for the
rain jacket that Sister Forsyth made me buy last Monday! It's kept me
warm and sort of damp, which is better than soaked! The biggest
surprise is I'm actually enjoying it still. It's so beautiful up here,
even in the rain.

Halloween was fun! Most of the day was basically normal and then after
dinner, we were told to go in for weekly planning. Well, we had dinner
with the Thompsons, and we made a really funny video that I'll try to
send! They're really funny!

Yesterday we were at the church for forever! We walked to the church
in the morning and stayed through all the meetings (we got to teach
the Young Women about being missionaries!) and then we had our
correlation meeting with all the ward missionaries for an hour. Then
we stayed and finished our weekly planning for two hours, until our
meeting with Bishop and Brother Winks (the ward mission leader)! So we
were there for about seven hours total. We walked home and just tried
to talk to people. We knocked some doors around our dinner appointment
with the Hardys. We had dinner at 5:30, on Fast Sunday! So we were
starving. It was so good. Sister Hardy came with us to a lesson with
someone who is less active that we are trying to start teaching! She
has the most charitable spirit I have ever seen! She was so sweet.
Anyway, then we went to visit people nearby that we'd been asked to
find. On our way, we met this cat who just followed us around for ten
or fifteen minutes! We named her Kitty. She might have followed us
home but we started talking with someone and she might have gotten
bored and left, or gotten too far from home. It was pretty funny!

Anyway, that's the meat of what happened this week! It has been
exhausting and I feel like I'm learning at an increased pace just
because now I really have to take charge and remember things! I'm
excited to work with Sister Slattery! I love you all, and I hope you
have a good week!

Sister Jacobs