Hahaha! Sorry Bryce! I'll make sure I
get you a lot of drinks when I get home. You know... it's kind of nice
to have a break! hahaha! I miss you guys too and I'm glad that you are
doing well. The weather has been pretty up and down lately but it's been
an adventure! I have had some ups and downs but I'm learning more and
more each day! By the way! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR!!!!! 15 YEARS OLD!
WHOA! I hope he got my card! I thought it was really funny! I thought he
would like it! Tell the two of them to keep working hard and I'm
cheering for both of them here in Minnesota!
So... investigators... hahahaha... Well, one of them
dropped us because she doesn't want to give up smoking. We had a
feeling that she wasn't ready to change but she has a member in our ward
as a neighbor, her name is sister Matson, who has been helping us get
her to church. She is a lot like Adele was. VERY STUBBORN! So I don't
think Jen has a chance of escaping the church for good. haha! We love
sister Matson! Her husband has cancer and is having a hard time so we've
been trying to get with sister Matson to help her. We also had a
Cambodian woman named S. Tong. She was the one we found tracting
on our first day that her therapist said needed God in her life. She
hasn't been returning our calls though so we've been praying hard about
that one. We are also working with a girl who's father is a recent
convert to the church! We started by helping them clean their house.
Since we are new missionaries, she was a little wary around us, but then
a song from the Fault in Our Stars, the movie Taylor took me to before I
came here, came on her radio and she was really excited. I asked her if
she liked that movie and she opened up! She is now taking discussions
and came to church yesterday with her dad! Cool huh? Thanks again Tay!
But yeah, that's pretty much it!
We've actually been working really hard on helping
less actives in the ward. Our ward mission leader has really been
stressing the importance of it. We have had AMAZING opportunities to do
service! We have an amazing less active woman who has been trying hard
to come to church. She was evicted from her home after getting foot
surgery and she has needed tremendous amounts of help. So we've been
helping her move and clean her home. By the way, THANK YOU mom for
stressing the importance of getting rid of stuff I don't need. Her house
had papers that were months old that she never got around to and just
tucked away so it was really hard for her to move! But we were happy to
help and are trying to help her stay strong as she goes through this
trial. And we also met with a less active family that can't come to
church as often because her husband has agoraphobia. But she said that
their goal is to be sealed on their 10th anniversary! Which is a year
and a half from now so we're going to work with them and get them ready
for the temple!!! So exciting! We also met with a girl named Amelia. She
is a less active who has no desire to go back to church. She told us
straight up that she would not be going back anytime soon. She said she
knows that the church is true, but has some personal issues that she has
to get over before she comes back. But she said when she's ready for
religion, she'll definitely be going to the Mormon church! Which made us
happy! We practiced teaching with her and she said she felt the spirit
really strongly. She actually came out of character and told us what she
was really feeling! Cool right? It's amazing how the spirit works! We
saw her parents at church yesterday too because we had to speak along
with her dad who is a stake high councilman in the apple valley
ward.They came up to us and thanked us for stopping by and teaching with
her. They said to keep trying with her and she would open up again.
So my companion suggests that you send my coat as
soon as possible. Minnesota is famous for having early winters so she
suggests I get it sooner than later. So I feel that September at the
latest is when you should send it to me. But it's been pretty good
weather so far! It's colder today but that's okay. It's been hot all the
other days this last week so we needed the cool off!
We haven't been anywhere yet. We decided that we
should walk around downtown Burnsville. It's really pretty! We've driven
through there a couple of times looking for the homes of less actives.
But we also have this awesome family named the Baldwins! They are a lot
like people in our ward! Like, sister Hall and sister Magleby come to
mind when I see them! We got orders from our mission president that we
should go with the ward members and do stuff! We are allowed now to go
30 to 40 min outside our area to see stuff! So we are planning on doing
something with the Baldwins soon! We have District P-day today and will
be having Zone P-day next Monday! So that should be fun! We also had
Zone Conference last week and the funniest thing happened. We came in to
do an interview with president Forbes and he thought that I was the
trainer! It was so funny! He kept asking sister Tingey how she was
adjusting to the mission! It made us both laugh! We didn't tell him
though so we wouldn't embarrass him.
I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with sister
Toone, one of the Sister Training Leaders. It was really cool! We
worked with some awesome people and had a lot of fun together! She
helped me to work on things that would get rid of homesickness and make
the mission feel more manageable. She talked about how the mission was
like wanting to eat an elephant. If we want to eat this whole elephant,
we need to take small bite sized pieces in order to be able to
accomplish it! We actually stayed in the basement of a member's house
and it was HUGE! They had a massage chair and matching beds with what
I'm pretty sure were temper-pedic mattresses! It was amazing! And their
house smelled like the Miller's house so I almost felt like I was back
at Aspen's having a sleep over! It was fun though and I enjoyed the
experience!
Yes!!! I had dinner with sister Miller's mom and two
sisters! We have a picture of me and sister Tingey with her sisters!
They are a really cool family and they know grandma and grandpa! Sister
Miller wrote her mom about them so she was excited to have a connection
to us through her daughter. Sister Miller has about 9 months left in her
mission so she's about halfway. I think she started her mission the
same time sister Springer did!
Sister Tingey has been on her mission for 5 months. She went in a month before Grandma and Grandpa Jolley. So she's been enjoying the mission and is also having a hard time adjusting too. Since we've been white washing. But I have come to see the importance of patience and have learned what boldly testifying really is. When people say boldly testify, they usually think of someone screaming on a soap box or forcefully shoving doctrine down people's throats. But that is not what it is. Boldly testifying can go from being a trumpet to a violin. Some people need straight forward people while others just need that calm assurance that God loves them. And I feel like I am going to have to be the violin in this companionship. And I am happy about that. Sometimes it's good to be the quiet one in a situation. I love this gospel and I know that what I am doing is bringing others to the gospel and the love of Jesus Christ! I love you all so much and I miss you still but I know this is where I am meant to be! The homesickness has subsided but I don't think I will ever stop missing you! I love you soooooo much!
I will pray for you everyday and I love you sooooo
much! I am so happy that you are doing well and I will continue to pray
for your safety and for God to help you further missionary work out
there!
I love you!
Love,
Sister Carlee Jacklin
P.S. I don't have any more pictures this week but will send some soon! I love you!
P.S.S. There is a video that I think you should check out on lds.org. It's called The Hope of God's Light! It's AWESOME!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment