"Get off my back, it ain't no sidewalk!"

April 28, 2014

Alooooha!

And I think to myself.... what a wonderful weeeeek! :)

Our first item of business today is... D.!! She is a rockstar. We met with
her 3 times this week, and we would've seen her more if she didn't have all of her family come by this weekend. But hey, I'm not complaining!! :) Her son who is a member, T., calls her after every appointment and talks to her about the things we've taught. He also calls her every night to see how her reading is going... and then double checks to make sure she understands what she read that day, *and* quizzes her on what she read the day before! Talk about a rockin fellowshipper!

It's like, every missionary's dream to have a T. to help their D. But really though. Sister W. (the member we brought with us Wed) lives right down the street from D's parents. D has invited her mom and dad to every lesson... they haven't come. BUT! T. has called them and wants them to be at the temple, too! D. told us that they're "the next ones to get" and Sister W. is totally on the band wagon! Sister W.'s daughter) gets along with the mom really well... soooooooooooooo they're gonna start talking with them. D is praying for a date to get baptized. We feel like May 31st would be good. But she needs to receive that revelation for herself. I'm praying that I can stay here til June. I'd totally be down for staying here for 6 months *crosses fingers* Heck. I could stay here til December! :)

Last week I neglected to tell y'all about Dr. R. and his wife. Mmkay. Dr. R. is our landlord. Back when I was with Sis Tanner, I thought about going over and asking if they ever wonder what we do as missionaries and the things that we teach day in and day out. They see our car come and go. When Dr. R needs to fix or replace something, he comes and sees the posters and pictures we have in our apartment... and I just thought it would make sense to explain the things we teach! When Sister Reese got to the area, our mission president, Pres. Wolfert, told her to learn the history of Hartwell. She told me about it and was like, "President is crazy. I'm a missionary! I don't have time to learn the history of Hartwell!" We got to talkin' and thought that it might be a way to soften the R.’s hearts, because they live in a restored home that has been in her family since the 1800s.

Soooo, we set up an evening to go over and talk about Hartwell. Fun fact: Coca-cola actually started in Hartwell, then moved to Atlanta. No big. ANYWAY. Toward the end of our visit, we asked if we could share a scripture from the Book of Mormon, because that's what we do. So that led to explaining what the Book of Mormon is. The wife was amazed that we have a record of prophets on the ancient American continent! We offered her a copy. She said she'd start reading it, but only for a bit, she would then give it back. Yeah... we'll see if she wants to give it back... ;) She plays the organ for another church in town. She asked if I would be willing to sing at their Saturday night service! So... I'll be singing at a Lutheran church this Saturday evening!

Elder & Sister Elder and Harold wanna come... so it'll be an interesting experience! I'm thinking about singing ‘Praise to the Man’, or ‘If You Could Hie to Kolob. Or “Joseph Smith's First Prayer”! It's basically the Restoration in song! What'dya think? Just kidding. That would be a disaster, haha.

I'm gonna stick with ‘I Feel my Savior's Love’ :)Aaaanyway. We went back last night to show her the arrangement that I had picked out for Saturday. We got to talking a bit and she's not

actually a member of that church; nor is her husband. She just goes there because they need an organist, so they just go. . . Hello! Also, she had been reading the Book of Mormon and said that she has found the parallels between Lehi and Moses (in leading people) absolutely astounding! Um... yeah. Obviously seeing them was inspired. We're going back to practice music and discuss more about the Book of Mormon on Wednesday. Woot! :)

Guess what? The harder we work, the harder it gets, because Satan works harder on us. Rude. Sometimes that scares us out of being our best which is his victory. Lame. BUT! I've been learning that it is *worth it!!* We've been working harder and so has Satan, but by deciding to follow Christ and come to Earth, we gained our body which made us infinitely more powerful than Satan.

Sometimes we can't see it because we're mortal, but guess who can? Christ and our Father in Heaven. Sometimes our parents, friends, leaders, mission president, and companions (for us missionary folk) can see it better than we can. So what do we have to lose by trusting in Him and working hard?! Nothing! So, whatever walk of life you might be in, be a little better, do a

little more. It's get a little harder... but you'll be a little more blessed. And we can all use more blessings :)

Life is good. The Gospel is true. Love life. And it'll love you back. And as Sister Reese and I say, Be the change to see the change.

:)~Sister Jacobs

Alma 50:16 - And thus ended the twentieth year. April 21, 2014

Hey y'all!! What a wonderful week!!!

Y'all remember H? Probably not. I only briefly mentioned him back in March. He's one of the Branch President's very best friends. They've known each other for like 40 years and call each other brother. Pres. has been working with him since he joined the church like 6 years ago. And Elder &Sister Elder have been working with him since they got here in October. Last Monday they told us that he wanted to get baptized, but he didn't pick a date. On Tuesday he said that he wanted to get baptized the weekend of Mother's Day. On Wednesday he told us that he'd prefer to be baptized on Good Friday. ...two days later!! (Also, Ashley's birthday!) If there's a will, there's a way! And the branch made it happen!! :) He asked Sister Reese to accompany a special musical number and I offered to sing along. We sang 'I Love To See The Temple.' He's so excited to go to the temple and do the work for his parents. So tender :)

This week we met a lady named D. Oh my heck. She's great! We started talking to her with an average door approach and she acted like she knew what we were talking about.... Apparently she attended Young Women's for 2 years in Elberton!... that was a long time ago. But still!! Her son is a very active member of about 4 years, and he and his wife are going to be sealed in the temple in the near future. Her son has told her that he would love to have her there in the sealing room instead of the waiting room. That has been on her mind for a couple of months. And then who knocks on her door? Well... how about the Hartwell Sisters! :) By the end of that contact, she asked for our number, told us she'd call us and asked us if we could study with her. Would we ever?! Haha. 2 days later she actually called us! We had our appointment this morning, which is why I'm late emailing :) Elder and Sister Elder came with us and it was the most awesome lesson!! I love the Spirit. And the Gospel. And the sunshine. And the Son-shine! Haha. The South is rubbing off on me! ;)

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes!! It was truly a perfect day :) We were able to attend H's baptism, we reached all of our goals and everyone kept their appointments! It may sound silly to y'all, but seriously, it was the best birthday a missionary could ask for :) Sister Reese made some cute cupcakes and we had a little celebration with Elder &Sister Elder :) It was really special to focus on H. and *his* special day :)

Church. I love church! There were two confirmations (H. and the Elder's investigator, R.) and 3 children were blessed. :) Super tender. Perhaps some tears shed. I sure love the Gospel :)

Preach My Gospel Epiphany- "Have faith that you will receive personal revelation to guide you from day to day" (pg 90) in correlation with 1 Nephi 15:8-9 Laman and Lemuel are bugged because Nephi knows all about the tree of life and they don't. So Nephi asks, "Have ye inquired of the Lord?" And their response is, "We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us." Sometimes I catch myself thinking the same. Sometimes I think that it would be better for my companion to say the prayer before we go tracting or before a lesson or something because I tell myself that she has more faith, or that I wouldn't recognize the answer when it came. That's just like Laman and Lemuel! We must have the faith to receive the revelation! Heavenly Father loves us enough to send it, it's just a matter of us being aligned to recognize it! He answers our prayers!!

Love y'all!

"Have a Jesus filled week!"

~Sister "I'm never going home" Jacobs :)

Sister Reese, Me And Sister Elder.
We're all sister missionaries. . .and Daughters of a King! :)

Best Birthday ever :)

H. decided to get baptized!!!

Guess how H. decided when to get baptized? How? He shot a calendar!
What a great day to be baptized! :)

"Lemme tell y'all about *real* gator huntin'..." - April 14, 2014

Quote of the week: "Lemme tell y'all about *real* gator huntin'..."

Family and friends!

I just want to start by saying I love y'all!! Love. love. love. love!!! Something that I've learned about myself is that I am motivated by love. Love for the Gospel. For the People. For this branch. For this area. For my companion. For the beautiful flowers. For the cute baby animals. For Southern accents. For faithful members. For faithful investigators! For y'all!! :)

Lots of love comin' from over yonder :)

I love this area with all my heart!! It's so wonderful! I love the R. family! They are our greatest progressors (investigators) for sure! Sis R is trying to find a testimony of the Book of Mormon and coming to church is really helping with that :) After church yesterday she talked to us about how much she wants this in her life. She has tried to turn anywhere for help and the only place left is up. I love her so much :)

Once again, the work is slow! But we are not!! Haha :) This has been an awesome week full of service and really hard work. Delightful exhaustion. *clap* That's what it's all about!

PMG Epiphany! (Preach My Gospel Study Guide that the missionaries use)

This week's epiphany is about LOVE! Surprise! Haha. The bullet points on pg 7 are all centered on love! And on pg 13- "True Christianity is love in action"! I just love loving people :) It's my favorite thing.
Another thing: "Your calling gives you authority; keeping your covenants gives you power." This is applicable to all walks of life! No matter where you are or what you're doing, the calling you have (including visiting and home teaching) gives you authority! And keeping the covenants you have made gives you power. I'm a firm believer that the Sacrament renews so much more than just our baptismal covenants. It renews our temple covenants, too! What a blessing.

Oh my gosh. My heart is just bursting with love. I love it here. I really do. I love Georgia. So much more than I ever thought was possible :)

Til next week,

~Sister Jacobs.

Missionaries serving in the Elberton Branch. Elders DeGraff, Farnsworth and Galvez.
Sister and President Rownd. Sister and Elder Elder.
Sister Reese, Me, and Sister Moore jumped in, haha :)

Cutest Companion EVER!! :)

"So y'all are like flight attendants. God's flight attendants"

April 7, 2014
Hey y'all!!

Happy day-after-an-awesome-weekend-of-conference!! :)

This week, we had transfers and I picked up Sis Reese on Wednesday! Sis Reese served in Paper Mill at the same time as me and we spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's together. I got to catch up on how everyone is doing in that area and was the greatest tender mercy :) Sis Reese then told me a funny story. She said that when President called her that morning to release her from being a Sister Training Leader (basically a Sister Zone Leader. They go on exchanges with us and stuff) and told her that she'd be coming out here and I'd be her companion she responded with, "You mean... Sis Jacobs that trained Sis Marshall here in Paper Mill?" "Yes, that's the Sister Jacobs I'm talking about." She chucked the phone on the ground and exclaimed as only a missionary can, "Fetch, yeah!!" And then she heard President's voice from the phone... still lying on the ground, "Sister Reese?...what was that?" Haha. I died when she told me that :) Sis Reese is pretty great. She's like my tender mercy for this whole upcoming transfer :)

Of course conference is awesome. "May we ever be found doing the work of the Lord."

Elder Ballard has inspired me to share a weekly Preach my Gospel epiphany :) This weeks comes from a quote from Harold B. Lee on pg3 "The most important of the Lord's work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes." in connection with this quote from Joseph Smith on pg 12, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." So... what if we put these two together and taught the gospel in our homes?! I know that this will help the work progress more than ever before. I don't know how the Lord wants you individually to accomplish this, but He does! Ask Him, and He will tell you. He's cool like that :)

These last couple of weeks have had kind of a lull as far as the work is concerned, but we are praying and working and it's gonna pick up!

Love y'all!! Have a happy week! :)

~Sister Jacobs.