Love From Minnesota!!!

Hi Family!!!

Wooohoooo! I am so happy that I have TWO state champs in my family!!! I knew you could do it Connor!!! I am excited that I will be able to watch you your Senior year! And I am also happy that I will have the chance to see Zachry as we works to be an instrument in the Lord's hands as a full time missionary!!! I am so thankful that I have such an amazing family and I am always praying for you! Keep it up!

Oh my goodness YES! I could totally hear Brook saying that! She is so funny! And wow! I didn't realize that Sierra was a Laurel! Tell the girls I say hi and I always think about them when I see the young women here! Tell them I send my love too! They are such amazing girls. :) 

And yes, time goes extremely fast! I can't believe that it is already November!!! I've been out here for 3 1/2 months!!! Crazy right? :) It has been quite the adventure!!! :) And it has FLOWN!!!

Well, this week has been a ROLLERCOASTER! I had my first real holiday on the mission! We decided to have our p-day that Friday too so we had a lot of fun with our district! We had originally planned to go to a corn-maze but it was closed on Halloween so we just played games. We played a really funny game called the Bag game where you  have to pick up a bag with your mouth without touching the ground with your knees or hands. It was really funny to watch one of our elders, Elder Davis, almost beat the sisters! He was super flexible! He is really funny and actually reminds me a lot of Cade. So it's like having Cade with me there! The funny thing too is that Elder Davis came out the same time that I did so it really is like having Cade here! We are also not allowed to go tracting on Halloween so we have to either get appointments or do stop bys. So Sister Tingey and I did reverse Trick or Treating! We sent candy to members!!! :) It was really fun and we ended up getting a ton of candy back from them. Apparently it was too cold for a lot of the trick or treaters so we ended up with a lot of candy! :) 

Sister Tingey and I are very similar! We have had a hard time getting along at times, but we are pretty much best friends. We have gotten to the point where all I have to do is wiggle my fingers or wave my arms a certain way if I can't find a word I want to say and she knows what I am trying to say. It's pretty funny. But yes. We have a lot of things that we have to let go because if we didn't, we would hate each other by now. 

Well, I had an awesome experience when teaching the Mk family! (A and R) The way you say their name is. The "M" is silent. :) R is from Malawi and A is from Alabama. I can't remember if I mentioned that before. But they actually talked to us about Malawi and it turns out that Malawi is very peaceful and A swears that she saw a baboon when they visited but R doesn't believe her. :) They are the cutest couple! They are expecting a baby boy in February. It has been amazing teaching them! We were actually planning on teaching them the Word of Wisdom and keeping the Sabbath day holy. When we teach the Word of Wisdom, we have to be immediately prepared to address concern, mainly with coffee and tea. Well, they had a harder time committing to Sabbath Day than to the Word of Wisdom!!! :) They were very serious when we committed them to keeping the Sabbath Day holy and said that they would pray for strength to remember God always as they went to church and spent their Sunday together. Then when we talked about the Word of Wisdom, they started teaching themselves!!!! :) They talked about how not being able to get up without a cup of coffee in the morning just meant that they needed more sleep and that we shouldn't be relying on substances to get through the day. Then Antoinette mentioned that we were allowed to drink herbal teas, not green or black..... let's just say I about fell out of my seat!!! :) We only mentioned the things that we should avoid and they just started to testify of the truth behind the commandment! The Lord has truly prepared them for this gospel and for us!!! :)

So.... about the people with my boots... I KEEP FORGETTING!!! I AM SO SORRY!!! I have their names though, her name is K.C. and his name is W.C. I will get their address and send it to you in a letter AND the email next week. That way, there are two ways for you to get it. :)

And yes I can wait until Christmas for a camera. Thanks. I am so sorry that I didn't see it before. So thank you for being willing to send another. And I am doing this super cool thing for a mission scrapbook! You will love it!!! I am going to take a picture for my 3 month, 6 month, and 12 month marks and then when I get home, we will do an 18 month one at the airport!!! :) It'll be super cute! The other sisters in my district told me to do it! :) They said it will be good for when I want to look back on my mission. So I'll be sending those too. 

Okay, for your questions:

1. It is important to be an instrument for Jesus Christ because it is our whole purpose in life. Our purpose in life is to come closer to Christ and in turn, bring others to him. When we allow Christ to be a part of our lives, we are given opportunities to be that instrument. When we are given those opportunities, we are able to see the influence that the atonement has in us and in others. We see that the atonement is an all encompassing part of our lives and is always something that we are utilizing! 

2. I am being an instrument of Christ by not only being a missionary but seeing the importance of always sharing the gospel. We are examples of Christ. When we stand and say the Young Woman Theme we are promising God that we will stand as a witness at ALL times, in ALL things, and in ALL places. I am an instrument of Christ as I live the values that the Lord has asked me to live. Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue. These values, that theme, is how we can be instruments in the Lord's hands. As we strive to live the Young Woman values, we will be prepared to be those instruments as the Lord moves His work forward. When we live according to what the Lord wants for us, we are being those instruments in His hands and He can use you to help bring those of His children that have gone astray back to Him. I truly believe that being an instrument in the Lord's hands starts by living the commandments and doing what He asks us to do. 

Anyways, Sorry for that huge long spiel!!! I have come to see the importance that we are missionaries NOW. Like Ephraim in Ephraim's rescue, we need to be ready to serve the Lord now. You don't need to be a full time missionary to spread the gospel! :) And I have seen that not only out here but also in the examples that you, Dad, Jen, and the boys have been! Keep up the good work and you will be able to be those instruments! I love you and pray for you every day!!! :)

Love,

Sister Carlee Jacklin

 I forgot to mention!!! I can't believe I did this! We had mission Conference this week and got to hear from Elder Carlson of the Seventy!! He had some amazing insights on the mission like how we are out here to come closer to Christ and how we need to let him shape us! It was amazing!!!! I loved it! and we all got to shake his hand too! It was AWESOME!

Our district P-day!! Sorry! The lighting was really bad so we are all orange! :)

This one might be better than the other one I sent... not sure though :)

Sister Missionary Pyramid!!! These are all the sisters in our district. We were at district p-day.

This is a picture of me with Sister Parke, a sister that was in the MTC with me and Sister Teuscher, one of my MTC companions! (Sister Parke is on the left and Sister Tuescher is in the middle) :)