Dec. 1, 2014 . . . "Work hard. Be smart. Keep and follow all those rules and we'll see you at the top. Be there."

Hello to all of you in Sister Jacobs' email group. It's hard to believe, but Ashley is winding up her mission and will return home Dec. 14th. Her homecoming talk is scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 28th at 11am at the Lindon Stake Center, 1050 E. 100 N., Lindon, UT. You are invited to come and share in that day with us.

Thank you for your love and support!
Lisa (Ashley's mom)

What a week!!

Last Monday was Sister Adorable's Birthday!!! She's legal! Haha. We had a lot of fun with that :)

This week was really fun helping people get ready for the holidays. We had a lot of opportunities to serve by decorating or helping cook or bake. It was a great way to get to know less active or non member family of the ward. I loved decorating the Christmas tree and talking about Christmas traditions and meaningful ways to #ShareTheGift.

Speaking of which... I'm sure y'alls facebooks have been plastered with 'He is the Gift' video clip. If not... start it!! christmas.mormon.org :) We have been sharing this with everyone and it has been awesome!! Sis Adorable and I want to really run with this! We're gonna share the gift by laminating a "I will share the gift by..." and take it tracting with us! As we talk to people about the true meaning of Christmas, we'll invite them to use a expo marker to fill in the blank and then take a pic of them sharing the Gift, and allow them the chance to post it on facebook or instagram or whatever other social media they have! We are so excited!!! :)

We shared the video with our former investigator, J., and he loved it!! He has a Christmas project every year and didn't know what to do this year... until now!! He wants to take 'He is the Gift' video and run with it, too!! His plan is to download it, burn it onto a bunch of DVDs and give them out to his pastor and minister friends so that they can show it in their churches!! There are perks to serving in the South and teaching retired pastors :) Haha.

But really though. I'm super pumped about He is the Gift. And I'm so grateful that I'll get to be on both sides of the "veil" for the duration of the initiative. So exciting. I love Christmas :)

I haven't told y'all about I., I don't think. But she's really awesome! When I first got here, we got a media referral for a woman named I. The elders had taught her husband once or twice and he wanted her to learn, too. So he went on mormon.org and referred her. We went over and life got real hard. Every time we tried to set up an appointment or we went over, either her father was really sick, she was taking care of someone's kids or... lots of things. She was always super sincere, but super busy. About a month ago she called us out of the blue and apologized for not speaking with us for a while, but her father got really, really sick and passed away. She was expected to cover all of the funeral costs alone. They almost had to move, but the landlord allowed them to stay but raised their rent to a ridiculous amount so they could stay. Then her son got in a real bad football accident and he'll have to have 4 surgeries to repair it. The first surgery was supposed to be an hour, but took 6 hours instead. His knee was a lot worse than they anticipated. It was really sad and life has just been super hard. The ward jumped in and helped to provide a Thanksgiving dinner for her family. It was so humbling to be able to take that to her with the elders who then gave her and her son a blessing. I am so grateful for opportunities that I have to serve others and to appreciate all that I am blessed with. It was a little bit sad to "hand her over" to the elders so they can teach her family, but it's what they need at this time. Once life slows down for them, she'll be so ready for the Gospel. She's ready for it now.

Thanksgiving!!!! I'm grateful for my Dacula family. I'm grateful for my immediate family as well, but it was so special to spend Thanksgiving with a few families in the ward and to be filled with love. So much love. I remember sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday, trying to focus during the sacrament. But thinking about Christ's suffering doesn't really appeal to me. I understand that the Atonement was the most essential part of all of existence, but I feel morbid just thinking about Christ suffering. I'm still trying to figure out this whole sacrament thing. So I looked around at the ward and felt so much love for them. I remember thinkin, "I wish I could just be cleansed by love." And then it came to me, "But you are. It is always by love that you are made clean." I love love :) And that's all there is to it! :)

We saw M. & A twice this week. He found a job. And they're still not sure about getting baptized. I love them. It's not about me. I get that. But this week, especially last night, I really, really, really get that. They'll get baptized when they're ready. Whether we are here or not. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've been given to teach them. They're close. So close. I'm glad this is His work, and not mine. Because if it were mine, I'd be a lot more frustrated, haha :)

I have so many stories, and so little time. I'll share more next week!

Love y'all!

Happy December!! :)

~Sister Jacobs.

Me, Sis Adorable, Sis Alvey, Sis Rowe on Thanksgiving :)

Fun fact. Sis Rowe got a job at Aggie Ice Cream a few months

after I left! We know the same people! Yay! :)