Sister Carlee Jacklin: Love From Minnesota!!!

Hi FAMILY!!!!

So, really good news! We have discovered this grocery store in Minnesota called Aldi's. It is super cheap and good food! We ended up getting super cheap but healthy food! We now have a ton of fresh fruit, healthy snacks, and good food for dinner! We definitely will not be going out to eat for a long time which means I will be able to budget my money! I feel so bad about last month. I am definitely done with that! I am so happy to hear about everyone and how they are doing! I actually have the cutest picture of Carrie, Tyler, Parker, and Josh that I got from Grandma Jolley around Valentines Day. It's hanging up on my wall in my room! He sure is a cutie! :)

So, for a funny story.... one is really hard for me to tell because I was doing so well at being a refined sister missionary... I was really gassy one night from a member meal and I was doing so good at holding it in... then at P's apartment, (She's a woman in our ward we're working with) one just slipped out! It wasn't super loud and smelly but it was just enough for both Sister Mower and P to die laughing! So embarrassing!!!

So, another funny story which includes P again. We challenged P to read the entire Book of Mormon cover to cover. She would text or call us to let us know that she was on 2 Nephi or Alma. She is now in Ether.... want to know what time she let us know that??? 4:30 in the MORNING!!! I saw that she called and rejected it.... then I thought to myself, "What if it's an emergency and she needs a blessing or something??" So I waited and sure enough, she left a message. So, I checked to see if Sister Mower was awake and she was. She thought it was the alarm. So I check the message and on comes P's voice and she said what sounded to us like, "I will just have you know.... that I will have either one!" We thought she was drunk and was butt calling us! But we listened closer and hear that she said, "I will just have you know... that I am in Ether 1!" The next morning, we got a call from her asking if we got her message. We said yes and she was so excited to let us know that she was now is Ether 4! It was so funny!

We have been able to contact a man named Jake who is super open so we are excited to teach him this Tuesday! We had the elders first teach him because I was dropping Sister Lacanienta off and then taking my scary drive. And the visit went really well! So we are excited to see him progress! I am hopeful for this area! A sister from Maple Grove area is going to be in Burnsville with Sister Sperry! She is going to love it! And Sister Tingey's companion is now my Sister Training Leader! That is exciting!

Speaking of Sister Tingey, I got to go to Lamb of God last night and it was wonderful! The spirit was so strong and we were able to hear some really talented singers. One of them was George Dyer? I think that is his last name. Apparently he's famous for his entertainment shows and he now owns his own theater! It was cool. He was super nice and shook our hands at the end. We got to see a lot of our previous missionaries too! I saw Elder Morgan, Sister Turner, and Sister Tingey! I was so excited to see Sister Turner! She ran when she saw us and gave me a huge hug! I wouldn't be surprised if we looked like a beach scene! :) The funny thing about seeing Sister Tingey is that I was feeling very incompetent as a missionary this week as I have been working to get back on my feet and train Sister Mower. I just asked Heavenly Father to send me some sort of tender mercy my way... and then He sent Sister Turner! And then he sent some people from my first area.... and then, the grand finale was Sister Tingey! I wanted to say hi to her but I didn't see her through the whole program so I thought, "Oh... she probably went to the Friday night show. That's okay!" As I thought that, I looked up and she came out of the bathroom! I was so excited that I jumped up and down and sqeaked out, "I was hoping I'd see you!" It was funny to see her reaction because she had tears in her eyes when I did that. I miss her a lot sometimes. She was really what I needed when I came out here and she is probably one of my best buds! :) I told her about driving by myself and she was blown away! That really helped me out. Somebody was really looking out for me that night! :) It's amazing how I am always surprised at how fast God answers prayers! He sure is good at His job! :)

I have not received the Easter Package you sent yet... but I am sure it's on its way! The mission office is probably packed with packages for missionaries. Plus we have another huge group going home. So they are busy busy busy! But I am sure it will make it safe and sound! :)

I was also able to see the woman's conference! Since it is a regular part of conference now, we are able to go with or without an investigator. The perk to having an investigator isthat it counts for sacrament meeting on our key indicators. Which is not what I look at!!! I LOATHE numbers! The perk to ME of having an investigator or less active is that they feel the spirit and get something out of the experience. But yeah! I loved it! One thing that our mission president challenged us to do is to identify the Prophetic Priorities of the meetings and Family was DEFINITELY the priority here! Which was nice! I loved the musical numbers too! They were cute!

When it comes to General Conference, we are going to go to the Church for it unless we can get an investigator or less active into a home to watch it. We are hoping to get P to watch it at the K's home and maybe N at Sister B's and J at another home. We also want to get A to see at least one session and we want to do a bingo where if we hear anything about hope or faith, that we can eat a candy. We want to make it fun for him since he's a 14 year old boy and we want him to have hope. Right now, he has no hope and he feels like everyone is giving up on him. So, even though he hasn't been keeping many commitments, we are NOT going to give up! That way, he will see that he isn't alone and will never be alone! :) He's a smart kid, he just needs some hope and faith and he'll be ready!

Thanks guys for all the support! I will do my best to work to my fullest and I will do my best to help train Sister Mower! I'm going to have her drive a little bit soon so that she can get to know the area. It gonna be a fun transfer! :)

Love you!

Sister Carlee Jacklin