Sister Carlee Jacklin: Love from Minnesota!

Hi Family!

I loved hearing from the boys! And don't worry Zac! I am sure that you will be a killer missionary too! It's just in our jeans man! Oops! I mean it's in our genes man! :) Did you get my joke? :) haha! jeans.... still got it! And I believe you Connor! At the rate you've both been growing at... I am going to feel like an ant around you! :) And I liked your joke too! VERY original! :) When I got your thing about Erica, I kind of almost fell out of my chair. I totally forgot! I am excited for the announcement though! :) I bet she looked BEAUTIFUL!

This week has been pretty good! To answer your first question, yes I am getting along pretty well with my companion. I have had my moments where my patience has been tested but that's okay! It's totally normal. I am trying my best to find a balance so that I can be her companion but also her trainer. You know, correct with long suffering and kindness? I am working hard on doing that. I am not going to lie. I am not excited about the whole leading out thing. I find it funny that God won't have us do something until we don't want to. I was happy with not training but God wants me to grow so here I am! But I couldn't have been luckier when it comes to getting a trainee. She is much better than I thought she would be! :) It's been good working with her so far! We had to walk home from church on Sunday with a giant bag of food and popcorn and we had a ton of fun! We then ate almost ALL of the food and watched Mr. Kreuger's Christmas as we ate. Sister Laca hadn't seen it before so it was fun. :)

To answer your second question, the training is going pretty well. We have had quite a bit of things get at us such as the car being busted but we have been learning to roll with the punches. :) I am still learning like I said above how to balance it out so that we still have a good relationship as companions but that I am able to correct her when needed. So far I haven't had to but I want to make sure that I am calm and level headed when correction is needed. She has been a bit homesick lately which has been hard. I haven't really missed being home like this in a while now but I got through it before so I'll get through it again! :) I am not going to lie, it is hard being a trainer! You have to really watch what you are doing and saying because they are still so fresh out! But I am sure the Lord will help me out! :)

To answer question three, we have been working hard to find people and haven't had a ton of success but we are teaching a great lady named N and she is super sweet! She has been hard to have set visits with but the interest is definitely there! She has a super sweet little Pomeranian named Tanner and two really FAT cats! :) We are also teaching a woman named S. She is super cool too. She is asking a lot of really good questions too so we are excited to teach her. She really knows her bible too so I am really going to study up! :) Our biggest problem with her is that her husband has not been too keen on us coming and seeing her. She is seeing us when he isn't home but we REALLY don't want this to cause a rift in their relationship! So we keep encouraging her to not hide it from her husband. Hopefully his heart will soften. :)

Recently we received an invitation from our bishop to "root ourselves" in the Anoka area. He said that we needed to have an attitude in such a way that it hurts to leave. He told us flat out, "I want it to hurt like crazy to leave this area". It was good for me though because I tend to not like putting my whole self into the people I'm around, at least on a mission because I remembered how bad it felt to leave home. And when I left Burnsville, I left so quickly that there wasn't any time for it to hurt. But I am definitely going to do my best to root myself here in Anoka. :)

But, yeah! I think the most exciting thing that happened to us this week was our car! We woke up Sunday morning and the morning was going really smooth! We were studying a bit before church when all of a sudden, we heard a banging on our door connecting us with our members that we live with. Brother F opened the door after banging and said, "Girls! Your car got broken into last night!" I was panicked at first because I had left my really good coat in the car in case it got really cold (it had been pretty mild the day before) and that the GPS we were borrowing from the elders was stolen. But when we went out there, the window was shattered but nothing was stolen. It turns out the GPS was in my coat pocket (thank goodness) so it was in the apartment all night and nothing else in the car had been touched. So, we called President Forbes and let him know the situation, and then we got a ride to church from the F's. After church, no one had signed up for dinner for us and the elders so Sister Petersen gave us a giant bag of food to take home. We had to walk too because we had an appointment right after church in Anoka so we told the F's not to worry about us. Our appointment ended up cancelling so we had a giant bag of food and started the walk home. It was super fun though and we felt like we earned the super good food that Sister Petersen gave us! :) We got a text from our bishop that night asking us if the pie we got from her that he had been dreaming about all through church was good. We felt so bad! We said we did and that we ate a piece for him. :) Bishop Petersen is super funny! :) So all last night after sweeping as much glass out as possible, we drove around without a window and brrr was is cold! :) It was fun though! :) We got the window fixed today so we are nice and toasty warm! :)

When we saw B. R. this week, she told us about how she loved ice cream drumsticks and how they served it at the home. However, because she is the last to get food, they never have drumsticks when they get to her. It was so sad seeing her face! She wanted one sooooo bad! So Sister Laca and I are going to bring her one the next time we visit! I can't wait to see the look on her face when we bring her that ice cream! :) I am so excited! I love doing things like that! :) She is such a sweet lady! We love her soooo much!

We also introduced Sister Lacanienta to the N's. They are still doing great Brother N has still not been able to attend church yet but you can tell he wants to so badly! They are coming up on their date for the temple fast and I am seriously worried. I just remember my first time through and I was so overwhelmed! I hope that they don't go and think, "Never mind! I don't want this!" I haven't heard of anyone doing that but I am so nervous! I am praying that it will go well and that they'll be prepped! I am pretty hopeful though too! They are such an awesome family and I am sure if they have questions, they will go to the right sources! :)

Anyways, I am glad to hear that you are all doing well! I hope it is getting warm out there for you! It is for me! Balmy 30 degrees and sunshine! :) trust me, 30 degrees is amazing out here! :) I love you all so much! Keep up the good work! Love you!

Love,

Sister Carlee Jacklin