August 26, 2014

Mon. Aug. 25, 2014

Quote of the week:  "I will take care of you, just use your talents and leave the rest to Me"


What a week. A week of reflection and pondering.

Our investigators J and M came to church yesterday!! :) They fit in so well. Like... sooo well. The ward is so supportive of people visiting and it has been amazing to see! :) The topics were perfect! That can be a scary thing sometimes, wondering what the talks are going to be on. But this week was awesome. I think he really enjoyed seeing members of all ages talk in sacrament meeting.

Our other investigator G. is a rockstar, too. We had another lesson with him and he's so great :) The members are doing a great job of helping him feel welcome. We still haven't met his wife yet, she thinks we're weird, haha. Or so he says. So we're in the process of scheduling something with members so she can meet them and realize that we're all normal people who believe in the same Jesus Christ :)

Zone Conference week!! I love zone conf. Love it!! We learned about the movie coming out in October, 'Meet the Mormons' Aaaand... we can go!! Haha. We're telling all the people we can about it :) It'll be great!

President also mentioned iPads. He said that according to Salt Lake, our mission is dead.last. on the list to have them. Why? Because we don't need them! Lots of missions have had to practically give up on tracting (knocking door to door) or do it simply to fill time. But our investigators still come from tracting! Which I think is flattering :) I love tracting and I'm so grateful that we still get to do it! :) So as far as technology is concerned, it ain't happnin in my time as a Sister. And I'm grateful :) The Lord knows my heart :)

I learned a lot about being bold this week. And it's something I know I need to do. So that's my focus! Being bold used to scare me. But then I realized that I can be bold with love. And this last week I had another epiphany! It's not even about being bold with love.... it's about being bold beCAUSE of love! And if you know me, you know that I'm all about love :) Haha. Christlike love, that is :) One of my favorite quotes from this week was, "We don't have time to be weak in our contacting" and it's true. We don't have time to be anything but our best. That doesn't mean we need to run around like chickens with our heads cut off... but it does mean that consistent, steady work is what the Lord expects of us. No matter what our calling is. 

I'm grateful for member missionaries. I'm grateful for full time missionaries. And I love the Work. It is a great work! It is His work, and miracles are brought through His power, but wrought by the faith of the individual (Ether 12:13-16 and Hebrews 11).

Love y'all! Have a happy week :)
~Sister Jacobs



August 19, 2014

Aug. 18, 2014 - Temple Day!

Quote of the week: "Name that movie!" "... The Living Scriptures!"

What a miracle week.

The biggest miracle actually started on transfer day a few weeks back. Sister Adorable got all her stuff in the car and we were just catching up on the mission. Reminiscing the good ole MTC days etc. I could draw this out really long. But basically she told me that one of her converts from her first area would be going through the temple and she was just waiting for Pres to confirm that she could be there for it. Which would mean that I could go, too. I cried. But I didn't get my hopes up. About a week later, she got the 'go' from Pres. I cried again. I hadn't been to the temple since the MTC... that was a long time ago. We went to the Temple on Friday. I can't even describe how it felt to be there again! As we walked in, I saw members from my first area. And more. And more!!! It just happened to also be the Webb Bridge temple night. (The very first area Ashley served in) Which was another tender mercy. As I sat in the endowment session, I took a deep breath and I remember feeling so... at home. Like that's where I belong. I will never ever take the temple for granted. It's such a wonderful place to be. I love the Spirit there. I love the people there. I love the peace it brings.

Funny story. So sometimes Sister Adorable has a hard time being an English missionary again after 9 months of Spanish. I don't blame her. It'd be super tough. So our first legit lesson together was with our investigators J. & M. I told her about them and she got really nervous. It had been kind of a stressful day and we hadn't had time to actually plan out our lesson for them. So... we pulled over on our way to their appt and just talked for a minute. She really opened up about her concerns. She said, "I'm just nervous for this lesson because he's a pastor and I don't even know where things are in my English scriptures and... well.. I don't know how to teach white people anymore!" I waited for a second and then looked over at her and said, "...would it help if I told you that they're black?" She looked at me for a sec and then erupted in a fit of giggles and I couldn't help but join in :) J & M are the best. Still doing great :)

I love it here. I'm never leaving. Ever :) Have a great week and remember that miracles are real. Proof that Father in Heaven is, too :)
Love y'all!
~Sis Jacobs.

The Lilburn Zone Sisters' Pday. :) Sister Adorable arrange us in rainbow order.
Lexy should appreciate that! ;)


Photo: The Lilburn Zone Sisters Pday :) Sister Adorable arranged us in rainbow order. Lexy, you should appreciate that ;)

August 11, 2014

Aug. 11, 2014 - Buford, Georgia

Quote of the week: "Grass. It's the wet wipe of nature"

What a miracle week!

My new companion is Sis Adorable and I love her!!!! She is just the best! She just spend the last 9 months of her mission in the same Spanish area, and now she's back to English again! We've both grown a lot from when we met the MTC. I'm glad that we're companions

Our investigators J and M are doing well! Still reading and praying and desiring to learn truth! It's been good. The member we brought with us this time knows one of their sons because he went to high school with her son. Go connections! The Spirit is so awesome. She was waaaay stressed before coming out with us and we almost told her not to worry about it, but after the lesson she told us that it must've been Satan trying to keep her from going because they needed her and she needed them.

Our investigator M. is a rockstar! She's been taking lessons off and on for like 5 years. Her main fellowshipper in the ward moved to Utah so she just told us about M and asked us to check on her every once in a while. The last few lessons, we've gone waaaay back to basics and talked about recognizing the Spirit and acting on those promptings. The lessons have been pretty powerful. It's simply up to her to act.

Another investigator G!! He's great!! We haven't been able to actually sit down with him since last week, but we've been texting him scriptures of the day from the Book of Mormon. And wait. So has he!!! He picked a scripture that he felt brought him a lot of peace and texted it to us so we could have a spiritual boost, too! It was fantastic! He's excited to learn more about how church services are organized and stuff. Cool guy. Way cool.

On Friday and Sat we had some meetings and a couple of other sisters from another zone spent the night with us. We all just happened to love singing. Sooo we decided to go tract singing! We grabbed our mini hymn books, opened up to Hymn #26 and went on our way! The first door we knocked on, a guy in his early 30's answered. "Hi. We're missionaries and we're actually going around tonight singing. Do you mind if we sing y'all a song?"

"Yeah! Actually. My Dad sang barbershop! He'd love to hear y'all. Just a sec"

After a few seconds, his dad and his mom came to the door. We sang the first and last verses of Joseph Smith's first prayer and the Spirit was so strong on that doorstep. We kept talking to them and got to share quite a bit. It was a powerful experience. They asked us to sing one more song before we left and we chose 'Nearer my God to Thee'. One of my favs. One of them sang with us! It was so great. They are so excited to learn more. And we are so excited to sing the next few lessons! Haha.

You know. I actually had a really cool experience last week. I don't think about post mission life a lot, but last Sunday a sister in the ward mentioned how her son was coming home from his mission and I thought, "Oh my gosh. That really happens. What am I gonna do about paying for school? Will I keep studying the same thing? How am I going to..." I stopped the thoughts, took a deep breath and felt the impression, "Use your voice. I will take care of you." That taught me a lot. I can't do much. But the talents and abilities we each have are given to us specifically to help build the Lord's kingdom on the Earth. For me, it's my built-in music box. Others are so good at listening. Or serving. Or being selfless. Or what ever else. He expects us to use those talents. And if we use them, how can we fail? I presume we cannot

Speaking of singing. Sister Bennion (the mission president's wife) is starting up the mission choir! We had our first practice Saturday morning and I just died of happiness. A year is far too long to go without singing in a choir. Every time I think about the timing of my life, and of being here, I am amazed. Father in Heaven is in the details of our lives. He really is

Love y'all lots!
~Sister Jacobs

PS. The Post office isn't gonna let the mission office forward mail to us any more. So for at least the next 6 weeks my address is:
Sister Ashley Jacobs
4078 Tiffany Rae Cove
Buford, GA 30519
Sister Adorable & Sister Jacobs in Buford, GA

August 4, 2014

Aug. 4, 2014

"Sorry. I'm doing a puzzle online and I'm being timed..."
^^ Funny how those things get in the way of eternal salvation...

Family and friends!
What. a. week!

Well. Believe it or not, it's transfer time again!!! Sister Winegar is leaving me BUT! My new companion will be Sister Adorable!! We were in the MTC together!! She's been a Spanish missionary for the last like... 9 months and now she's coming here to be English again! I'm so excited to pick her up on Wednesday

We had a great week! Our investigators, J and M are progressing! Woo hoo!!! They both had some cool experiences this week. J noticed that he hadn't been studying the bible like he used to. He recognized the lack of Spirituality in his life and then prayed to be more enveloped in the word. The next day we knocked on his door!! His wife, M was reading the Book of Mormon and has been looking for a "sign" to know if it's true. Reading. Praying. All of the above. After she finished reading, she turned on the TV and there was a commercial from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! She said she just got chill bumps all over! As we taught her, she mentioned something I never noticed before.

She said, "When you talk about God, you don't call him 'The' Heavenly Father, just Heavenly Father. You make it more personal. Like He is personally involved in our lives as a loving father, not an almighty stand-offish God." While He is almighty, He's our Father. I hope this makes sense. But I loved that. It made me think of Richard G. Scott. He always refers to Him as "Father in Heaven" without the "our" in front of it. Like it's His name instead of a title. I loved that. A lot

A few weeks back we tracted into another gentleman named G. He's a teacher. He wanted us to set something up so he could learn in a members home. GOLDEN! So we did just that. We were supposed to meet with him on Tuesday at 1, but his wife had stuff going on and he cancelled. So we set something up for Wednesday at 2. On our way to the appt, we noticed we had a missed call from him. We called him back to make sure he was coming. He thought we were meeting at 1 again and was on his way to do some errands. We apologized for the mix up and he said, "I told you I would listen and that's what I'm going to do!" So he turned around and came back for our lesson! it was so good. After the lesson, he took a "selfie" with all 5 of us (sisters, members and him) and sent it to his wife. He wants to bring her to the next lesson It was pretty rockin awesome.

I'm learning lots about hope. And implementing it. I discovered this this morning. Faith is to hope as charity is to love. Faith is the action. Hope is the feeling that inspires the action. Charity is the action. Love is the feeling that inspires the action. Faith and hope are very different. But you can't have one without the other

Life is good. Miracles are real. And we. are. so. blessed!!
Love y'all!
~Sister Jacobs.