Sister Carlee Jacklin: Love From Minnesota!!

Hi Family!!! :)

So, for the Skype thing. We set it up with Brother D and they were the same members that we Skyped with at Christmas so it will be the same as last time. We will probably get there around 3:00 our time so that will be 2:00 your time so we will probably Skype around 2:15 your time at the earliest. We are doing that so that Sister D can Skype her own family. They have children that are living across the world so they will Skype her before we Skype. So 2:15 at the earliest. Hopefully that will give you time to get home and still get all of church in.

Um... I am blown away! I was waiting for you to say something about Rachel and Blake! I am so excited for them! I NEED to see pictures! I bet she'll be beautiful! And I'll keep both you and Sister Magleby in my prayers so that hopefully you won't lose your heads! :) hahaha!

This week has been crazy and tons of fun! :) We of course, went to the Basilica and the sculpture gardens and it was sooooo fun! the weather was beautiful! And I have a super funny story for you guys about the Basilica :) We went in and were in awe of how big and beautiful it was! So we went up to the front by the big altar and as we were looking at it, a janitor came up to us, walked in front of us, paused, looked to the altar, and took a slight bow. As he walked away, both of us looked nervously at one another and both took a bow. I wish someone caught it on camera! It was so funny! :) Then we had to use the bathroom but there was a mass going on in the basement and we didn't want to mistakenly walk in on it. So we had to do a lot of searching before we were able to find it! It was good though!
We went to the sculpture gardens next and then took a nice walk through the city to Nicollet Mall. We went window shopping at a 2 story Target and saw some of the cutest baby clothes ever! They were so cute! :)

We had a lot of fun and really nice weather here! We were able to bike a bit since it was warmer which was really nice! We had a good visit with P on Tuesday and got Sister M, our Relief Society president to come with us and we had an amazing visit! :) We also went and saw E. E is so sweet. We worry for her because she seems so lonely. We have been getting on our Ward Mission Leader about getting those visiting teachers in there. We might have to have them come with us to help them get in. Her husband is a member of a Lutheran church and is not a fan of Mormons. E herself is a Mormon so it's hard for her to be active. But we're doing our best to soften his heart.

Wednesday, we did service at ACBC and met Elder Anderton, the new elder that came into our ward. He is really intense.... when we asked him how long he'd been out, he said almost a year. Then Sister Mower heard that he came out in July and I thought about it and it hit me, he came out with me in a different district! I laughed so hard because I had completely forgotten! :) haha

We then went and did a service project with the Young Women. Sister A, our YW President, had invited a non member and we did our best to make her comfortable but still be able to chat with her. I ended up getting twisted up in my words and asked a really weird question. It was so embarrassing! :) We had a good time though and Sister A's friend kept talking about it and asking when the next activity would be. So Sister A said, "Well, you could just come every Sunday." And her friend said that she would try it! :) It was so cool!

Thursday we went to the Temple with Sister T and then she treated us to Subway afterwards. It was nice :) We then went and tried contacting in down town Anoka again and we were seen by two people in our ward! :) They honked their horns and waved like crazy! :) It was funny because our tactic to get people to stop was to "window shop" and point our something cute and then proceed to ask them questions. So to the members, we probably looked like we were shopping :) haha. But we ended up speaking to 5 people that way! It was so cool! :) Sister Mower and I both agree that contacting is way more fun than tracting. ESPECIALLY in warm weather because everyone is out! :)

Then we had Chinese food with Sister B. By the way, you should ask Sister Miller if she knows a H B from Arizona. Sister B is Navajo and grew up in Arizona. She's such an awesome lady and has a super awesome daughter that is getting sealed in June! :)

We then topped the night off with a successful bible study with the N's, Sister B, and P! :) It was so fun and will be a huge success in the future :)

Friday, we had a lesson with L and Sister D and found out that L had been taught previously by elders and had attended the church before. She said her husband wasn't fond of it because he would have to give up smoking and drinking and he didn't want to do that. But L said that she didn't agree with people that say you "pick and choose" what you do and don't do in your religion so we think that with some diligent effort on our part, she'll see that we don't do that in our church. :) Then hopefully her husband will soften up and want to give up those things.

We then had a Sister's date at Acapulco and it was really good! I reminded me a lot of Mi Ranchito's. We had a good time and were super gassy afterward. So, we tried to find a less active and when we weren't successful, we decided to find a bathroom quick. We needed some air because we'd been cooped up inside all day weekly planning so we walked... and we kept farting! So Sister Mower turned to me and said, "Luke, I am your farter!" I laughed so hard I almost fell on my face! :)

Saturday was my favorite day! We went and saw B R and we took her outside. She was smiling ear to ear and talking to everyone we saw! When we went to read Joseph Smith History with her, we asked if she wanted to go inside, she said, "Oh, if it's alright, I would love to stay out here as long as possible!" It was so cute! :) She is probably our favorite person in the whole ward! We love her so much! We then walked her around the building outside and then she showed us around the building like the dining room and other rooms. It was nice. :) We both hate leaving her. Every time we leave I feel the same way that I feel when we leave Great Grandpa Jolley's and Great Grandpa Lyon's. I never want to go.

We then had dinner at the D's which was so much fun! She had us help her prepare for a seminary lesson too which was great! :)

Sunday was an adventure. The Mission President's recently had a conference in Colorado that was all about the Sabbath Day and they realized that Missionaries need to observe the Sabbath as well so they are working on putting some limits on what we can and can't do to help keep the Sabbath day set apart from the other 6 out of 7 days. So we decided that if the weather was nice, we would walk everywhere to help us to re-coop and feel the spirit. We both love being outside and we feel a lot more at peace and feel the spirit more when we take the time to slow down and walk to appointments. Well, this time, the forecast said that there was a chance of thunderstorms. It was completely sunny outside when we left so we thought that it meant later in the evening.... well, we got caught in it on our way to dinner and thank goodness we brought our umbrellas so we we didn't get as soaked! :) We had a dinner appointment with the S's so we called Sister S and asked if she would be willing to rescue us (we were about 2 minutes by car from her house) she laughed and said she'd be over soon. We had a great dinner and for dessert, the kids got mint chip ice cream sandwiches and we got Magnum bars. They were not excited about not getting the "adult dessert". It was funny! :) Then went and tried some referrals. No one was interested, yet! But we'll keep trying! :)

We also decided that for Mother's day, we have 3 people who don't have family close by that we bought some cute cards and candies at the Dollar store for Mother's day. We are excited to give them to each of them. :)

This week has been an adventure as I'm sure you can tell! I am so excited to see you on Sunday! We are now on our way to have Zone Pday!!! :) Hooray! :)

Love you tons!!!

Sister Carlee Jacklin