All things considered . . . I'm doing just fine!

Mon. Nov. 25, 2013

Hello my wonderful family and friends! :)

 

This week has been all sorts of ups and downs, just like a mission always is :)

 

On Wednesday and Thursday the cold got the best of me and I was down and out. Sister Marshall made me drink lots of water and take some medicine to get me better. Which was good. because we all know how I feel about water. And medicine, haha. On Wednesday morning we asked the zone leaders to come and give me a blessing. When they showed up, I answered the door and one of them goes, "ooh. Um... wow. Are you doin alright?" I didn't feel that bad. but apparently I looked it, haha :)

 

Halfway through the week we heard rumor that one of the sets of sisters in Paper Mill was going to become 50/50 YSA and Paper Mill sisters. And we heard that the zone is splitting. And we heard that there are going to be the first set of Spanish speaking sisters. And we heard that transfers were going to happen early because of Thanksgiving. So much was in the air and I think it's fair to say we were going crazy. Sooooooooo. Here's the low down. The only thing that's changing is my companion. Anticlimactic, right? Haha. All I can say is there must be a reason why I'm here. Heavenly Father called me here, English. And even after another opportunity, I'm English again. Which I'm beginning to appreciate, I think. But on the upside... I get to be here for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years!! Which I'm stoked for. The members here rock. Seriously :)

 

Speaking of which... Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday!! Something that Sis Marshall and I have been doing and challenging others to do is... be grateful!! Try to only be grateful in your prayers. It gets easier as it goes... and it helps in praying with faith :)

 

We kind of a cool experience yesterday. We were tracting in an apartment complex (love that!) and it was cold. And it was almost time to go to dinner. I mentioned the cold and Sis Marshall goes, "it just means that there's someone super important for us to find!" The next door? A lady opened the door. She has 2 cute boys. She has been trying to make it to church the past few weeks, but something always comes up. We knocked on her door and she was so excited because she knew we were sent from God. We talked to her quite a bit and then we asked if we could share a scripture with her because she missed church. I looked at her and asked, "Do you have faith that if I open this book to a random scripture that it will be a message that God wants you to hear?" She said yes. So I did. And I don't remember what the scripture was, but I do remember that she teared up and she needed exactly that. We left that very Book of Mormon with her and she was excited for it :) We'll be going back very soon :)

 

Most importantly are our two very progressing investigators! One is going in for a surgery on Wednesday so we haven't been able to actually meet with her, but we've kept in contact. Her phone is working again, thank goodness :)

 

Then we taught our other investigator again yesterday. The Portuguese elders weren't able to be there, so we taught him with his girlfriend, the member. He is *so* ready for the Gospel! We taught him some of the commandments and he asked if he could start paying tithing before he gets baptized! Wow. The Spirit was so strong :) Later we got a phone call from the Portuguese Elders and they said that they had dinner with the two of them and asked them about goals they had for the upcoming year. She said that hers was a secret. He said that he wanted to get to the temple and he also had a secret. So... wedding bells anyone?!?! Haha. I hope so. They're adorable. :)

 

Christmas info!! Because all of the letters, cards and packages that will be going through the mission office for the holidays, they have asked that all letters, cards and packages be sent directly to our apartments. This will be through the end of December, then it'll go back to the mission office. That address is:

Sister Ashley Jacobs

1818 Greyfield Ln

Sandy Springs, GA 30350

 

I love you all dearly and I'm excited to "see" the fam in a month!!! :) :) (We get to skype or do Google Hang out on Christmas Day.)

Oh! Speaking of which. Please make a list of questions you'd like me to answer! This is only one of 2 phone calls that we'll have and I wanna make it awesome!! Also, if there are things I write about that you wanna hear in more detail, I can definitely do that. I'll be coming up with some questions of my own :)

 

Love you all!!

~Sister Jacobs.

Sorry we're late to dinner... I guess we lost tract of time! :)

Oct. 14, 2013

Family!!

Guess who loves you? ME!

This week as we've done lots of tracting, we have been playing games and coming up with different ways to have fun! And it's been a blast. Really, tracting has become one of my favorite things.

This last week we tracted into Lynn! She told us that she was happy with where she was. So we offered her service! And she asked us to come back, gave us like 3 phone numbers and told us she was looking forward to hearing from us! THEN the next day we found another Lynn! She told us the same thing, "I'm happy with my own religion." We offered her service and then got talking about the basics of the gospel, clarified some questions and then we introduced her to the Book of Mormon. She told us that she would definitely read 3 Nephi 11, and she was looking forward to our follow up phone call! Those were definite miracles.

We sang in sacrament meeting on Sunday. A choir of 6 missionaries! It was so fun. I can't even tell you how much it means to me to be able to share my testimony musically. Find your passion. And figure out how you can share your testimony that way. Because it is the most amazing feeling in the world

I see miracles every day. Nothing is a coincidence. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me. I know that He loves you. And I know this church is true.

Sorry for the short email, but I'm out of time.

I love you all

~Sis Jacobs.

Oct. 7, 2013 Blue skiiiiies smilin at me. Nothing but blue skiiiies do I seee...

Mon. Oct. 7, 2013
Sorry. I guess I forgot to send this last week. I worked all day and took Lexy to get her Driver's Learning Permit and totally forgot to send this on.
Enjoy!
Lisa

-------------------------------------------

Hey ya'll!

Fun fact. I forgot my journal today. So Imma try and tell you about this week from memory. Which is harder than it sounds. Haha.

Okay. This week was full of meetings! Which I love. Meetings make me so excited for the upcoming events! :) I love it. Really, really.

Something that I learned this week about investigators is that I need a better attitude! Because I'm opening an area, I have this idea that we're just here to set things up and we're not really gonna find anyone to teach. And then I realized that Heavenly Father is blessing me with what I have faith in-- a dead area! So I started to have faith in an area full of the elect!

The day after that decision, we had a "one last door" experience! We were getting ready to come home. It was super late, aaaand dark. So I look at Sister Marshall and say, "One last door." So we did. Aaaaand nothin. So then Sister Marshall looks at me and says, "one last door!" So we did! And we found a girl who talked to us forever about Christ and how important he is to her! She was dog-sitting so we got her real address, her # and she asked us to come back. We were soooo excited! We got home and looked at our map. And she's out of the zone! Soooo we got to refer her to another ward. And then we got a referral from the YSA elders. Poor guys. They give out referrals like it's going out of style. So we went to Ruby the next day aaaand we have a return appointment!!! It's like the first one on my mission, haha :)

Fun story! We didn't have church on Sunday, right? (It was General Conference) And conference didn't start for us til Noon sooo we went to a Baptist church! I was nervous that they were going to kick us out, haha. BUT the people were suuuper friendly! And quiet. What?! I was expecting a lot more "amen"s and "hallelujah"s. It was a good experience though. :) Toward the end we talked to some people and they just went on about how much they loved Temple Square when they went a while back. My favorite thing that the minister said was "how many of you are on facebook? Raise of hands, come on." Everyone except for a row of 6 missionaries raised their hands. He went on to say, "pretty much everyone. And if you didn't raise your hand, what on earth are you doing with your time?!" Oh, you know. Just preaching the Gospel. Haha. He was relating it to how if we spent as much time praying as we do on facebook, we'd be super connected with God.

Speaking of conference... How did ya'll like it!?! Good stuff, right? There were like 15 missionaries at the stake center and a couple of investigators. It was so fun to be with a bunch of missionaries knowing that everyone was listening for answers to their investigators' questions. My favorite was probably the "Exclamation point!" talk. I feel that excited too :) 

I think it's so interesting how everyone finds different themes in conference. Think for a second about the theme that really stuck out to you. Why did it stick out to you? And how can you apply it? I know that Heavenly Father has specific things stick out for a very specific reason. I felt a theme of faith and service. I've been thinking a lot about how I can better serve and have more faith :)

I love you all!

Have a lovely week!

~Sister Jacobs.

PS. This week we got a hug from a Jehovah's Witness. She thought we were JW sisters. Awkward moment when she realized we were Mormon, haha :)

Sister Marshall and Sister Jacobs in the Paper Mill area.

These shoes were made for tracting and that's just what they'll do...

Sept. 30, 2013

... one of these days these shoes are gonna tract right into you!!

Familia!!

Como estan?!

This week rocked. Every week rocks as a missionary, though. :) 

Tuesday was Sis Stott's (one of the other sisters in Paper Mill) birthday! We drove over to their apartment early to make breakfast. So fun. I am really loving my new district!! It was hard at first, but I just keep telling myself that I need to put Webb Bridge in a box, and give it to the Lord, just like I did with home. And when I do that, all is well. :) 

Remember how President has asked us to tract 2 hours a day? Well... as soon as he extended that invitation, it became impossible to tract for 2 hours! We have to plan where we're going to tract before we plan anything else for the day. Crazy, right? We've started to find what works for us, though. 

Speaking of tracting.... we found this lady who told us that she's been going to several churches with her friends and is trying to find one church to settle on. We're still trying to get in with her. Cross your fingers and say some prayers, mmkay? :) 

We had a really cool experience with a team up this week. The relief society president needed to find people who she didn't know and we went out with her to find them. When we went with her, she seemed to know exactly what she was doing! She was super bold and even started conversation with some strangers on our way to the member's home. When we got in the car to leave, I complimented her on her missionary attitude and she said, "It's only because you are here! I was scared to do it alone, but once I had you sisters with me, I felt like I could do anything!" Wow! What an example! :)

Aaaaand then we went on exchanges! I love that. Love, love, love that! I love seeing another area and how they do things. We bumped into like 3 Spanish families on the exchange. It rocked! We talked to one guy about General Conference and hearing the Prophet (so excited!) and we talked to another lady about the Restored Gospel. I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had to learn Spanish gospel words! But, I know that it's not on my own. Heavenly father blesses me to remember things. He's the best. really though. :)

As fun as exchanges are... I was so thrilled to see Sister Marshall again! Man, I love her :)

My testimony of Thomas S. Monson being a prophet of God has been strengthened. For all of you who saw the General Relief Society broadcast, I hope you felt the same way. And the sister missionary choir! Wasn't that amazing?!?! I cried. For all of you current/returned/future missionaries out there:

Think about it. We have been blessed to live in a time and in a place where the Gospel is available to us! Out of all the history of the world, we have the true fullness of the Gospel! And out of all of those, you are/were worthy, willing and able to serve a mission! You know who else was called to serve a mission? Um... Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah. (Prophets from the Book of Mormon) Dude. How cool is that?!? How blessed are we?

I just get the chills thinking about it! :)

Cool story. The broadcast was held at the Stake Center, so I got to see a bunch of ladies from my last area! When I saw Sis L. (best ward missionary ever), I ran up to her and gave her a hug. She told me that Sister B. (a recent convert, remember her?! Love her) was doing great! but most of all, Sister B. physically made it to Sacrament meeting on Sunday! Church has been broadcast to her for two whole years and she finally made it! I cried. What a miracle! Happy, happy tears :)

In church, the bishop talked to us about how phones can be a huge problem. So I had a thought and I want to challenge you all to put your phones on airplane mode when you're at church! You can still use the scriptures and whatever else you need to, but you won't be tempted to email or text or whatever else.

I love this Gospel! I know it's true! I know that Christ is my Savior!

I looove you all! Every. single. one. :)

~Sister Jacobs

PS. Thank you, thank you for your letters! I love them! But not as much as I love you :)

Sun, sun, Mr. Golden sun, please shine down on me....

Mon. Sept. 23, 2013

Familia!!!

Fun fact: I take my journal to email because I can't remember what we did this week.

Not so fun fact: I missed a couple of days writing in my journal this week so this email might be lacking.

This week was rather monumental! We biked for the first time! I have become exponentially more grateful for the limited miles we do have, and I respect all of those elders and sisters without a car. I'm blessed :) Biking was fun though! There are lots of tips and tricks that never would've crossed my mind. Like tucking my skirt into my biking capris. And then remembering to un-tuck the skirt before we talk to people. Haha.

We had a lesson to teach this week! It just kind of went, haha. I was pretty bummed as we left, but then we ran into our friend, M. on our way out! Remember how I sang for him and his friend last week? We stopped to talk to him and that rocked. He asked us to pray for his friend. But he couldn't because he doesn't believe in God. After a short conversation we challenged him to kneel and ask the 'universe' if God exists. He told us that he definitely would and he'd call us when he did. So we're praying for him.

We had interviews with the mission president and I loved it! I always love talking to President. At our district meeting, President told a story that he always does. He talked about when he was a young missionary and his mission president asked them to tract for 2 hours a day. He talked about how it's important, not because tracting is fruitful, but because the mission president has the keys for the mission and it's the obedience that matters. Then he challenged us to do it! Two hours of tracting a day! I don't think it's that bad, to be completely honest :) I get to share my testimony with strangers! Sister Marshall and I play little question games and have nice talks while we walk from door to door :)

One of the doors that we knocked on was  a man named J. He was a preacher for his church. He talked to us for a good 45 minutes. I thought that at the end of it, I'd be exhausted and frustrated, but instead, I was pumped!!! He tried to put down the Book of Mormon by saying that God preserves his word. All that did was remind me of the persecution that the early saints went through and strengthen my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, because it's still here!! Guess what. The Book of Mormon is true :) 

Sister Marshall and I have been trying to find what works for us, and our favorite thing is singing at members' homes. When we share a thought, we share a scripture, relate it to a hymn, sing it for them and then ask for referrals. The Spirit is super strong and it works like a charm! I love singing my testimony. Just in case you didn't know :)

Well, time is short!

Love you all and talk to you next week!

Make this week letter worthy! I promise that I will! :)

~Sistah Jacobs

Sometimes I close the car door on my leg. Hah! Don't ask.

And then 3 days later, the bruise looks worse. But I'm fine. Promise. :)

Our nature walk this morning. Georgia is beautiful. :) I'm stoked for fall!!!

Sept. 16, 2013 New friends and new faces to seeee. . . .

...new friends and new faces to seeeee. With blue skies ahead, yes I'm on my way, there's no where else that I'd rather beeee. 

Speaking of bees. They're huge here.

Family!! :)

Lots of stories this week. 

First of all, Wednesday, I was asked by 2 members if I had hispanic blood. And then on Saturday someone asked me if I had Armenian blood. 2 things. I don't look hispanic at all! Second of all, how the heck can you pin point being Armenian?! It's so specific. Aaaand like 3 generations back. I still think it's crazy. (Ashley's great grandfather is Armenian from Syria.)

Sister Marshall and I have been trying really hard to pray about where we're supposed to go and what doors to knock and what parks to contact at. After dinner on Thursday we pulled into a park parking lot and said a quick prayer before we got out of the car. But we both felt weird. So we prayed again and I got the distinct impression, "go home." I was bugged, but I couldn't deny the impression. I told Sis Marshall and she said that we should probably follow the prompting. So I thought to myself, "okay. Well, we're just supposed to start going home. Then Heavenly Father will direct us where to go after that and it'll be great." So as we drove home, I turned off to some neighborhoods and we pulled over again. We prayed again. And again, "go home." And I'm thinking to myself, "we have goals to reach, people to meet, I want to share my testimony!" but I couldn't deny the prompting, so we went home. There's a potential investigator in our complex so I thought that maybe we were supposed to visit him! After we parked the car, we walked over to his apartment and knocked on the door. Nothin. We walked back to our apartment and I asked Sister Marshall what she was thinking. She told me that when she pushed away all of her own thoughts and desires, being home felt right. So we studied for the last hour of the day before we got ready for bed. I still don't know why we came home. I don't know if Heavenly Father was protecting us, if He was testing us to see if we'd be obedient, or what. It's the first thing I'm gonna ask Him when I get to the other side, though. :)

Saturday was our miracle day. Seriously. Miracle after miracle. Something that we do as missionaries in the GANM (Georgia Atlanta North Mission) is offer to leave the Savior's peace and blessing in people's homes. We introduce ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ and basically ask them if they'd like a blessing on their home. Elders use their priesthood, and as sisters we say a prayer by virtue of our calling as missionaries. So we were offering this prayer at an apartment complex (apartments are the best. for real) and we were meeting loads of people. One man, M., opened the door and told us he didn't even believe in God, but if we wanted to come in and pray, he was fine with that. We walked in and he had another friend who was also in the apartment. So we started to talk to them about what they believed. After just a few minutes, it was clear that the prayer wasn't gonna happen. The things they asked about were completely off topic and even though it was about "Mormons," the spirit wasn't there. So I felt prompted to sing. Sister Marshall and I sang 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives.' And the Spirit filled the room. And you could tell from the look on their faces that they felt it. We let the Spirit linger for a moment and then I testified that I know that God lives and loves us. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I know that He knows what we've been through. And I know that this church is true. M. didn't look like he wanted to believe what he was feeling, but what his friend said next amazed me. He said, "You know that they (the missionaries) believe in God. They go to people's homes and they came into this apartment with 2 men. They know that God's going to protect them. And I don't know what this is" (referring to the Spirit) "if it's the power of God, or Jesus Christ or a good energy from them, but they're lifting people up and they need to continue doing what they're doing." We don't have a return appointment. I don't even remember the friend's name. But you can bet that we planted a seed.

Our other miracle was  a lady named S. We asked if we could leave the blessing in her apartment and she was so excited about it. So we went in and asked a bit about her and what she wanted us to add in the prayer. We said the prayer and asked how she was feeling. She told us that she felt so grateful. She told us that she and her friend had been talking about knowing truth, and we had prayed for her to recognize truth when she heard and felt it. We weren't able to set up a return appointment, but she wants us to come back for sure. 

Our Heavenly Father is a God of miracles :)

Til next week, 

~Sistah Jacobs.

Remember, even though I've been transferred, my mailing address is the same!

Sister Ashley Jacobs

Georgia Atlanta North Mission

1150 Cole Dr SW

Lilburn, GA 30047

Pun for the week:

*As we pased Willeo Rd*

Sis J- "Willeo follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?"

Roads in Georgia are funny.

Sept. 9, 2013 And at last I see the light . . .

Alooooooooooha! This week rocked! :)

Monday was full of packing (It was transfer week). And we had fun with the Milton Sisters. They rock.

Tuesday was our last district meeting together. Which was sad. And then Tuesday night we had dinner with the B Family. I might've cried on our way out. But Sis B. told me to call her whenever I needed anything. Sister Loader was there to comfort me :) I sure like her. After too many goodbyes and the final packing of things, I hit the sack. I went from Trainee to trainer overnight! Literally! :) 

Wednesday morning was sooo different. I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, so so excited for my new Sister (companion) !! I thought back to my first day in the field and I got greenie-excited all over again! I gave a hug to Sister Loader and then my ride came and took me to the mission office. It was sad to leave her, but I'm gonna see her tomorrow at Zone Training. So that's cool. :) When we got to the mission office, we sat in the Chapel and all heard the names of our trainees for the first time... after about 30 mins, they walked in! And I met Sister Marshall!! She's 19, from Riverton, UT. And she's super cool. Her dad shipped her bike to GA and she put it together at the mission office. Without help from the elders. I wish I was that cool. Hopefully some of that will rub off on me by the time we're done together :)

We got a packet with some info about our new apartment, keys to the car (yay for a car!), a phone number of someone who was supposed to give us our keys and then we were on our way! Thanks to my trusty-handy-dandy GPS, we found our apartment! The other sisters had 'heart attacked' our door. :) Oh yeah. We're the 3rd set of missionaries in that ward. Does the Lindon Stake even have one set of missionaries?!

We met with Bishop Foye for dinner and he gave us some names of people to talk to. We talked to the sisters and they gave us some referrals. Basically this ward rocks. 

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were full of visiting people, contacting, and sweating. Gotta love missionary work, am I right? :)

Sunday was awesome! It was ward conference so there were some people from the Webb Bridge ward (her previous ward) with stake callings. That was my tender mercy for the day :) By the way, Paper Mill is the best ward in the mission. Just sayin :)

Also. My apartment is in Sandy Springs. Guess where the temple is? Sandy Springs. The other sisters told us that if it wasn't for all the trees, we could see if from our apartment. Ah! Let me just tell you this. I am never going to take the temple for granted again. :) We didn't get to go last month. So... the next time I go will be the last day of my mission.

Crazy story! So this morning we went walking with a member because it's her favorite thing and there's a super pretty nature walk along the Chattahoochee. We were walking to the nature walk and Sis Allen said that there was a fire in a complex a couple of streets over. So we passed that street and there were still trucks and stuff. And news people. So... we passed them. So... I might've been on TV this morning. Haha. :)

I love training. I love the mission. Life is great! :)

~Sis Jacobs

Quote for the week:

I wish we could listen to Tangled music. It's the best. -Sis Marshall.

Yeah. Tangled is pretty cool -Sis J

"I see the light" is my favorite -Sis M

Well. That's a good one, but it has romantic overtones... -Sis J

Psh, we're thinking about the light of Christ! -Sis M.

We had a good laugh :) 

Missionaries that are all from Pleasant Grove, UT

Webb Bridge district. Elders McConnehey (Sp?), Eames, Loveland, Anderson and Buhler. Sisters Allen, Porter, me and Sis Loader. I just noticed that E. Buhler isn't standing on the curb with the rest of us. And that's hilarious.

We think we're cute pirates. It's fine

Webb Bridge missionaries. I love them. I miss them. I'll see them tomorrow :)

Sister Arbon came into the field! She's cousins with Felicia (a neighborhood friend). Cool, right? :)