Week 43: TransGresham!!

First of all- I'm getting transferred! I'll leave on Wednesday to the
Columbia ward, in the Gresham OR stake. Yay no sales tax! And my
companion will be Sister Frisch.  And, in an unexpected twist of
events, Sister Dearden will be staying! It will be a lot of fun- and
I'm pretty sure it's a driving area (pretty sure).

As for this week, it's been an adventure! Some of the highlights:

- we got to help Sister Lytle frame some of her paintings! We dropped
by and she was pretty busy and needed the extra hands. And Sister
Dearden and I both got matching left thumb injuries! Just scratches
though.

-On Wednesday, we had wapis, which was fun! And during lunch we met the famous Ron. (There's these two brothers in the Vancouver area that like to track
down missionaries and anti them....and then blog about it. Not my preferred way of spending my retirement, but idk). So he came into the
restaurant behind us, and tried to prove us wrong using the Book of Mormon, which was a new one. Anyway, it was pretty crazy. Luckily the
elders were there- they were able to handle it a lot easier. Then we opened fortune cookies, and Sister Dearden's said that "the best revenge is massive success." So there you have it!

- we met with Stephanie! Her two cats leave their dander everywhere. I can't hardly breathe by the time we leave her apartment! But we had a
really good discussion! I'll get to see her one more time before transfers.





- we had a really good weekly planning session and finished up theward mission plan. It looks pretty good!

- we got cheesecake from some members- that was awesome!

- we opened transfer letters at our correlation meeting, which was fun. It helped us correlate better!

So that about sums up this week! Today has been crazy, what with getting ready for transfers, making pie, working on exchanging music, and all that. And we're headed to kickball with the zone soon!

Spiritual thought: it's not speed that matters as much as direction.  The Lord doesn't care how fast we're going as long as we're doing our best in the right direction!

Love you all! Have a good week!
Sister Jacobs

Week #42: Impossible People

Hopefully this week has been great for all of you- it's been pretty
fun here. We received two referrals for people we didn't know this
week, and neither of them had valid addresses...that was fun. One of
them was right over a creek and the other one just didn't exist on the
street it was supposed to be on. It was pretty crazy! So that's what
we did Monday night- we searched for someone named Jake.

Worn out in service!

Tuesday was pretty normal- district meeting and such. Wednesday was
wapis- always fun! We got t shirts too! We also got to see Stephanie-
she's doing pretty great. She's trying to get back in touch with God
and everything! She promised she'd come to church on Sunday but we
didn't see her there. But on our way home, we called a ride, and went
and sat at some outside tables, and we were talking about scripture
stories, and this guy at another table asks if we're talking about the
bible! So we had a really good conversation with him. He's really
trying to put his life back in order.

He asked if we had a copy of the Bible and we said we could get him one, but we had a Book of Mormon with us. He seemed excited to read it, and really interested! We're working on finding a time to deliver the Bible to him.

Amazing sunset

On Thursday, we actually got to see Sister Carter! She didn't cancel (for the first time in about a month). We had a really good
conversation with her. The weird thing was she was telling us how much she loves church and the sacrament and how much peace it brings her, and then when we asked her if she'd come, she said no. So we're thinking there's something we don't know- maybe she was offended by someone or something similar. We also had our interviews with President Taylor on Thursday morning! It was awesome, but sad, because it's our last interviews with him- they only have six weeks left! So it's sad, but also exciting- it's a new age for the Washington Vancouver Mission.

Yummy!

On Friday, we saw the Morrises and Megan and they are both doing great! Neither made it to church though...that's the hardest thing for people to do, as far as I've seen on my mission, probably for a variety of reasons- not knowing anyone, knowing too many people, out of the habit, being offended, whatever it may be. I'm always trying to figure out how to express to them the importance of coming to church, and how much it can help them.

At the Mission Office

Saturday was exchanges! So Sister Morton and I walked all over the place. It rained really hard too! We ended up taking a hot chocolate break at McDonald's just as the rain really started pouring. I've actually come to love being out in the rain! It's definitely preferable to the heat. Someone told us that Washington is one of the highest places for melanoma....Anyway, the rain was really a lot of
fun. And Sister Morton is awesome! She ended up coming to correlation with me too.

Hot Chocolate Run with Sister Morton

Sunday was a good day- slower paced, kinda sleepy. We had church of
course, and it was really good. And ward choir was awesome as well. We
made some phone calls to some potential investigators, got dropped,
but only once! We talked to a lot of great people. So it was a good
day.

Snails Pace

After the rain...

It's been a good week! One of the things that keeps coming up in my
studies is stories about Peter. He is talked about as one of the
greatest apostles, this powerful teacher, but in reality, he was just
a man led by God. He struggled in his faith a lot, especially in the
early days, but held on tight. He walked on water- something no mortal
had done before. He went to the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus.
He bore testimony. And he struggled too- he doubted his ability to
walk on the water. He denied Christ three times. After Christ left, he
went back to his old life, fishing. But still he was a great leader of
the early Christian church. I think we can all take a lesson from
that! It's okay to be imperfect.

I love you all- have a great week! We should have transfer news by next Monday!
Sister Jacobs

Week #41: Falling from the Sky

This week was an interesting one- rather slow, but a lot of good
things just sort of fell from the sky- including some rain! Which, as
it turns out, is much preferable to the heat.

On Monday, we did the usual- played games and all that. We dropped by
a lot of people. Then on Tuesday, we mixed it up and we went to wapis,
since zone meeting was at our usual Wednesday time. I got a tip that
there might be more wood burning to do next week! Which would be
really awesome. We also had our first appointment with John, Kaitlin,
and Karina. They are awesome! John seems to want to participate in
more of a teaching role- he wants his girls to be informed about the
world. We taught the Restoration, and it was awesome. Then, we set up
a return appointment for Friday! Twice in one week- I didn't know that
actually happened! Tuesday night, was the Relief Society activity. It
was a cute get to know you activity. We'd invited a lot of less active
members, and at least one of them came! And there was chocolate cake
too.

Gorgeous sunset

Wednesday was zone meeting- awesome as usual. We had a lot of good trainings on finding, baptism, and conquering discouragement, and an
awesome musical number. We saw the Pears that evening- same as usual!

Brother Pears is warming up to us (stubborn old Englishman :)) and they came to church, and Brother Pears even went to priesthood! Sister
Pears was so excited since she doesn't always get to go to Relief Society.



On Thursday we were at the off ice in the morning, and the Bundersons
offered to take us out for lunch, so we went to Panda Express! And
Sister Dearden and I got the exact same fortune. We just have so much
comp unity. So then we ended up wandering around for most of the rest
of the day, talking to people. We had our scripture study in the
evening, and Leslie brought peach cream pie! It was so good- she said
I could have the recipe too.

Exact same fortunes!

On Friday we met with Kaitlin and Karina again, and they'd read the
introduction! They asked us about the pictures in the front and then
we read over the intro and the testimonies of the witnesses with them.
It was pretty awesome. Then we got to see the Morrises- they're doing
great. We got them a temple picture to put up on their wall so they
can see their goal. And we saw Megan too! She's doing great. Still
having a hard time making it to church though. We got out late, but it
was meant to be, because then we ran into a guy who'd met with
missionaries before but lost contact with them! So we set up a return
appointment.

Kitty friend

Saturday was all finding, no appointments. Luckily, it was cooler and raining. We went and saw Christine, a handicapped member of the ward.
She is the sweetest! We go and visit her pretty often- she doesn't get a lot of company. And Saturday night, the Young Women had a fundraiser
dinner for girls camp and Megan and Cody both came! It was pretty great- there was so much pasta. And they had a service auction too.

Sunday was just a normal Sunday, lots of walking and talking to a lot of different people. We cleaned out a lot of our lists and got stuff organized! A lot of less active members actually came, which was
exciting. There were a lot of good talks in sacrament meeting too. And then this morning we got a great referral too!

Beautiful Roses Everywhere

Anyway, it was a great week! My thought for the week is from Jeffrey R Holland, in the Oct 1980 New Era magazine:

"In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike--and they will--you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our
protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed."

I love this quote so much- we are never left alone! There is always help for us. If you can, I'd encourage you to read the whole article!



I love you all- have a great week!
Sister Jacobs

Mother's Day Moments

Sister Jacobs Connects

Looking for everyone!!

I love you too!

That smile!!

Week 40: Adventures, Golf, and Cats

Happy belated Mother's Day! It was kind of an awesome day- getting to
Skype home and all! It was good to talk to my family :)

This week has been full of adventures! Most of our set appointments
cancelled, but we had a lot of good opportunities because of that.

Polka Dot Sisters

On Monday we dropped by a less active member and she invited us to have a quick lesson with the kids so we did a Ten Commandments matching game. She's really cool- we're not entirely sure why shedoesn't come to church or anything.

On Tuesday we had dinner with another less active member, Amy Nielson. She's pretty determined not to come back to church but she's really nice and joked about us teaching the lady that's staying with her. She made stuffed chicken breast and asparagus and orzo with zucchini and tomatoes. It was so good. We also met John on Tuesday night! He was
really nice and had a lot of awesome questions- we talked on his porch for a good forty minutes. A lot of what he believes already lines up with the church, and he seemed interested in maybe coming to church sometime! We are going to see their family this week, and we're pretty excited. They seem like an awesome, strong family.

Wood burning Project

Wednesday was wapis- only I ended up making maybe three wapis, because I got recruited to do something else! One of the women who is there a lot came up and asked if any of us had any experience wood burning, so I said yes, I did (even though it's been two years) so she set me up and I helped her with a project she's making for someone! And it came
out super awesome too (pictures below). So that made my day for sure- I love getting to do that kind of stuff!

On Thursday, we had a great doorstep lesson with a potential
investigator- she's really cool and pretty sensitive to the spirit,
but she's also busy so she's hard to meet with. And we got to see Sister Kahm- she gave us frozen strawberries! She wanted a refresher on the three degrees of glory since she's still fairly new to the church. She's been talking to a lot of her friends, and it's pretty awesome. One of them (her name is Erin- oddly enough) wants to meet with us sometime!

On Friday night, we had a fireside with Johnny Miller (the Tiger Woods
of the 1970s) who is good friends with President Taylor. That was
pretty awesome! And it turned into a giant missionary meeting, since
missionaries were allowed to come, but if they were far away they had
to bring someone. So I got to see a lot of old friends! And, here's a
really funny part- Johnny Miller lived at University Villa when he was
at BYU (it's where he met his wife)- and that is the same apartment
complex I lived at when I was at BYU! I knew the complex was old but I
didn't realize it was that old!

Reunion with old friends at Fireside

Saturday was a walking day- no appointments! And it was also really
hot. We walked a long ways- apparently too long, because I didn't feel
so good after dinner- we think it was mild heat exhaustion. So we
stayed in for a bit and then visited some members to help get them
excited about missionary work. It was a good day! Though I think I do
prefer the rain to the heat, especially since it's humid.

Sunday, of course, was Mother's Day! So we got to Skype home. We
walked around quite a bit too, and met a lot of great people. We had a
family a few weeks back- we met the husband and he had assumed we were
there for his wife so we set up a tentative time to come back because
she was at BYU women's conference. Well, they weren't in our ward
directory or area book....so we were confused. So we finally met them
on Sunday night! They're still in Hazel Dell as boundary exceptions,
since it's their daughter's first year at girls' camp and all her
friends are there. But then they think they might come to 3rd Ward.
Anyway, she is super cool and they want to have us over for dinner
sometime! We also rescued a cat yesterday- we were walking around and
this cat was following us. We've seen him before (by his home) and he
was a long way away from there. So we picked him up and carried him
home! He seemed pretty happy about it.

Old hymns from old hymn book

Old hymn

Incredible Nature

My spiritual thought for the week is a quote from Jeffrey R Holland - "In the gospel of Jesus Christ you have help from both sides of the veil and you must never forget that. When disappointment and discouragement strike- and they will- you remember and never forget that if our eyes could be opened we would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye can see riding at reckless speed to come to our
protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham’s seed." (For Times Of Trouble, Oct 1980 New Era)

I love this quote because it's evidence of not only God's love but the love of our spiritual brothers and sisters, and our ancestors, who I'm sure are driving those fiery chariots. Our God is always willing to help us! I have felt His hand a lot this past week, just making things happen, and leading us. He's definitely helping me to better understand both the gospel and myself. I feel like a completely different person than the one that left on a mission nine months ago.
The Lord is always ready to help us become better!

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

Week 39: This Is Not The Ammonihah You Are Looking For

This week has been a long one- I had a few moments where I was
convinced that it had actually been two weeks! It was a good week
though.

Hump Day Shirts

 It started out with an adventure- we had FHE at a ward member's house
and we're just going right along when we hear an odd noise! Well, we
determine it must be the fridge making ice. About ten minutes later, I
look over, and....drip.....drip....through the ceiling onto their
kitchen counter. Well this throws the evening into disarray!
Everything is on hold,and we're distracting the kids with scripture
games while dad gets out a shop vac. Turns out the faucet head of
their bathtub had popped off and water was pouring out- they had a
solid inch, and obviously it had soaked through the floor/ceiling. It
was a wild ride!

Funny signs 

Tuesday was much tamer. We went over to a new subdivision- big, fancy houses. Now, for those of you who have read the Book of Mormon, you can skip the next few sentences. Ammonihah is a Book of Mormon city
where the prophet Alma went to preach. At first he was preaching to the rich, but when he found that they wouldn't listen, he turned to the poor and they were humble enough to hear his message of Christ.

Now the reason for my subject title is this- in our area (on opposite sides, in fact) we have the previously mentioned subdivision, and on the other side, government subsidized housing. The funny thing is, the people who are poor are the source of our biggest frustration, and in this rich subdivision, we were able to find someone who invited us back. So we laughed about that this week. So the point is- economic
status does not define where someone's heart is! Sometimes a change in economic status is how the Lord softens a heart. Other times, it's a different way. The Lord works with each                                                                     person in the way that will best help them.

We got to see Stephanie this week- they got cats! And she is just
about over the pneumonia. The cats actually arrived while we were
there, and they're just bigger than kitten size. The kids were super
excited. Sister Dearden wanted to name them Miss-tachio (she had a
mustache) and Miracle. Her names might stick too.

More Hump Day Shirt!

We also saw the Morrises! They are on track for the temple- they are working on more closely following the Word of Wisdom and on paying
their tithing. They are determined! Dean designed us a cool Van 3rd missionaries sign too.

We got in touch with Nicole again! Well, we got in touch with her husband Casey, who is also pretty interested. We gave him his own copy
of the Book of Mormon and set an appointment for next Sunday night. They're super busy but definitely willing and interested!

Watching you!

This weekend was also stake conference. The subject definitely revolved around the family and raising children- now Sister Dearden and I are totally pumped to start raising families of our own!.....in a few years. It was really good though. They broadcast it to our building so we didn't have to go to the stake center (the parking lot there is really small).

Anyway, it's a lot of walking and a lot of fun. I got a pedometer at the beginning of last transfer, and so our grand mileage total for the month of April is......drumroll......154 miles! (Approximately).  That's twenty miles less than last month, since we had a car for a little bit. So we're super fit.

I love you all- have an amazing week! And Happy Mother's Day!

Sister Jacobs