Sister Carlee Jacklin: Love From Minnesota!!!

Hey Family!!!

So I am going to answer your questions!

1. No..... I actually lost the email... I have no idea where I put it! I wanted to write back but I kept forgetting each Monday that I had time and the Mondays that I remembered.... I didn't have time... and then I lost the email!!! I am so sorry!!! I've been looking through my emails and I couldn't find it!!! :( :( :( I wish I had just emailed when I had the chance... sorry.....

2. So my area is great! We live with the Jackson's. Which here's where our worlds collide! The Jackson's are the grandparents of Liam Jackson in the ward back home! They texted Sister Jackson and told us that Liam loved having Dad as a teacher! :) It was so cool! Sister Jackson talked about getting lost around the Bigelow's house and I told her that my backyard was right by there! So that is really cool! But I also really like the area too! We live right by Medicine Lake! It is beautiful! We teach a lot of Africans here! It is cool but difficult too because of my bad ears and those heavy accents. But I am getting better. They are really cool faith filled people! There is a ton of diversity in Minnesota! Here in Medicine Lake, the biggest population is probably African. In Anoka, there were a lot of Russians and Africans, Burnville has a lot of Somalians and Lakeville has a whole lot of white people! Sorry, there's a summary of all of my areas for you! I have been working with a lot of kids, families, and teenagers. It's fun too because we come to apartment buildings and there will be swarms of kids running to our car because they want to sing primary songs and get stickers from us. :) They are so cute! The ward is amazing and the people are so nice! It is probably the most diverse ward I have been in yet and I love it! :) I still need to take a picture of our apartment but I keep forgetting! :/ Sorry! I have been forgetting a lot of important things lately! haha!

3. Ummmmmmmmm...... I honestly have no idea! The only thing I can think of is maybe a sweater that you pull over your head? Not with a hood but just a sweater that you pull over your head. I have seen some really cute ones at Target. Or at least I think it was Target. Or Rue 21... I can't remember! But yeah! That's all I can think of at the moment... I don't need a ton of stuff because I will be on my last stretch. (Not trunky! Just thinking about the fact that I will have a weight limit on the plane and will be getting rid of a lot of stuff!) But yeah! Maybe a sweater or two like that :) Oh! And i would like to have one of Elizabeth's wedding invites AND pictures from her wedding... since she is getting hitched before I get back! :( That's okay though as long as I get pictures!!! :) She's going to look so cute!!! :)

4. I have not...it has worked everytime so far but I didn't realize that it would run out again... I am needing to pick them up today so I will check.

Well, this week has been good! Pday was crazy with the bus!!! Our walk ended up crippling me the rest of the night which made Sister Jenkins laugh a lot! I looked pretty funny! My feet hurt so bad though! But I am doing fine now! :) But when we got to the library, we realized that the bus system is very different in Minnesota than in Utah. In Utah, the buses run every few 15 to 30 minutes. Here, they only run from 6:30 to 11 and then they don't come until 3 in the afternoon! So we hung out there for a bit and went and looked at a consignment store to relax, we didn't go far because we were both hobbling. Then around 2:30 we got our groceries and then went to get on the bus.... but we couldn't find the stop... and it came at 3:00.... it was 2:59.... So we ran down the hill in front of the library and found a bus stop. Well, the gps we had on our Ipads said that it was up the hill so we ran back up the hill and looked around and there was no sign... So we ran back down the hill because at least there was a sign there! But then we weren't sure if it was the RIGHT bus stop! So we ran back up the hill and then I thought about it and I realized that even if it wasn't the first stop, the bus would have to come by that stop because buses are on a regular route. So we ran back down the hill to the bus stop.... well, the library has a giant window that views that sidewalk... so everyone in the library watched us run up and down and up and down the hill like crazy people with bulging bags and grocery sacks of food.... it was so funny! Then we saw the bus coming down the street and IT WASN'T SLOWING DOWN!!!! So it almost felt like those moments in the movies where the person is screaming, "NOOOOOO" and everything is in slow motion. But she finally saw us after passing us and stopped and let us in. Man! It was quite the ride! :)

Tuesday was fun too! We had to do a lot of planning because we had an assignment from Elder Martino to create a plan that would help us to get our progressing investigators to baptism. So we did a lot of planning and then we went and had a great lesson with E where we talked about getting adversity from friends and family. Well, she had been receiving some push back but she told us how she testified of the fact that we did teach her of Christ and that they needed to open the door to us more often instead of making assumptions. We had an amazing discussion and then challenged her to baptism! She was a little more hesitant when she heard that but she said she would pray about it. We are hoping that all will work out with her! She has been sick the last few days so we haven't been able to see her.

Wednesday, we saw Sister N and had a good visit with her. She is so cool! She is part native and she is super duper awesome!!! She is super hard core! She broke her ankle and was walking on it and felt no pain!!! (She's going to have surgery on it soon) She always tells the best stories! We visited her again Sunday night and read the story of Great Aunt Rose from President Uchtdorf's talk in the Woman's Meeting and she loved it! She laughed really hard because she thought that we were comparing aunt rose to her! But she really liked the story and then she walked us out and as we were leaving, we asked her to say the prayer... well, she looked at me and said, "You go ahead and pray!" with a big smile on her face. Well, my stubbornness paid off! I stood there just looking at her with a smile on my face and she was like, "Please! I haven't heard you pray yet!" and Sister Jenkins was like, "NO Sister Jacklin! Don't give in to her!" and then Sister N got really close and said, "You better be on my side!" We were laughing so hard! She kept closing her eyes to pray and then she would look at us with squinty eyes waiting for one of us to say it! :) And then she said it! We were laughing so hard! :) She is by far one of my favorite people! :)

Saturday and Sunday were fantastic! We had an amazing lesson with a family that we had shared the restoration with my first week in. They are so cute! When we went to see them, they told us that when we left the first time, we made them cry because they felt so happy and they had felt a feeling that they had never felt before! We of course explained that it was the spirit and talked about the plan of Salvation with them! They took it so well and the spirit was definitely there! :) They are such a fun family! Conference was wonderful! I really liked a lot of the talks! I received revelation for not only here on the mission but for back home too! I was wondering about school because Sister Jenkins is trying to go back to school when she gets home, (she is a transfer older than me in the mission) and I got my concerns answered when I heard Elder Hale's talk! So I am going to take his word when I get back! I also received revelation about something that has been a challenge since probably Jr High. And all that I kept hearing was that I needed to do my best and that is all that the Lord cares about and that He expects progression, NOT perfection. Also, I can't remember who said it but one of the general authorities said that God calls the weak and simple to bring about his vast purposes. It has been helpful for me as I have been the queen of beating myself up! So I will be working on it! I also decided on the scripture that I want to "ponderize" and that is Alma 37:6-7. I think it is a good one for the things that I have been struggling with.

But yeah! This week has been awesome! We went to the REI in Richfield today and it was sooooo cool! I've never been in an REI before but it was really cool! WAY too expensive for me but a really fun store! :) They had a rock wall in there! :) We will then go to Hyvee, a really cool grocery store that just opened up in New Hope that has everything you can think of! We are going to go shop there for food! :) Hooray! Well, I love you and I hope that you have a good week! Love you!

Love,

Sister Jacklin