So Many Blessings!! (Hermana Gillett)

November 25, 2013

Hello Hello!!!

I want you all to know that I wore a jacket for the first time this morning. I was really hoping it was cold enough for that, but not quite. 74 just isn't cold enough yet. I tried... haha

   First of all THANK YOU so much for that Thanksgiving package! My companion and I came home SO tired that night and it really brightened up our day. We had a lot of fun blowing up and popping the balloons. Ma-key, thank you So much for the Christmas present! I have loved spoiling other sister missionaries with surprise ice cream trips and such while we have been on exchanges, to remind them that they are loved too and should relax and enjoy the work :) 

    So on Wednesday I was able to meet C for lunch. How neat is that!?! We had a great time talking, and don't worry Mom, I was able to explain to her all of those things that you were talking about in your letter. She didn't understand it all, but she has a great curiosity about the church and knows how great it is. I attribute her good attitude to the church to Dad. Thanks for being such a great example Dad. Isn't it amazing to be able to see just how far your example really does go in touching the lives of others? We are going to be meeting with her again soon, and helping her with a big service project that she is doing the first week of December. We are really excited to teach her more about what we believe. I also friended her on facebook so I have been sending her little mormon messages and such to help her understand along the way when we don't have time for face-to-face contact. That has been such a blessing! 

    So R, found out early last week that he is going to be moving in with some family so that he doesn't have to worry about being lonely anymore. However, he would not go until he had been baptized, yet he was planning to leave before teh 30th which was his original date. We were able to switch some things around and we had the wonderful opportunity to attend  R's baptism yesterday. It is such a blessing to see someone change so much, and have such a desire to continue faithful so that he can attend the temple and eventually be sealed to his wife for time and all eternity. The gospel has brought him so much peace and there's not a day that goes by that he's not reading from The Book of Mormon to find that rejuvenation and comfort that he so needs through this difficult time in his life.I hope that we can all learn from his example and remember just how important it is to have daily scripture study so that we too can feast upon the words of Christ and be filled. The spirit was so strong at his baptism! Although they had to try to baptize him 3 times, it finally worked after one of the Elders, Elder C. was so great to run and change into white in order to help Bro. P baptize him. With his age, bad back, and knees, it was a little more difficult, but they finally got it. There were SO many ward members there to support him and he was so grateful for all of that love. We had everyone at the baptism write on these Stars and we are putting together a photo book with all of the notes for him to take with him. He is SO excited to go there and find the church. It's such a blessing that the church is the same everywhere you go! We are communicating with the bishop and missionaries there to start with him where we left off. It will be such a great experience for him!

    This morning I was studying from Luke 17. In it it talks of "losing ourselves so we can find ourselves". I learned so many great lessons from studying this chapter, especially about gratitude and wish I had more time to relate them, especially this holiday week. However, I encourage you to read it and learn for yourselves. My invitation to you, that I also took upon myself to do this week, especially this week of thanksgiving: During your prayers throughout the week, focus only on giving thanks instead of asking for what we need. I have done this just a few times now and I have already been blessed with more faith and gratitude and have recognized so many more blessings already today. I love you all and I hope you have a great week! I am so grateful for all of you and for your love and support. I love you and pray for you always. 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hermana Gillett

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! (Sister Gillett)

November 25, 2013

Hey Family!

It was so good to hear from y'all today :) I love email time so much!! Pdays are always awesome!!! It has been another great week. I have seen the Lord's hand time and time again in this work. I started keeping a miracle journal this week and already I love looking back on it and seeing all the miracles and tender mercies!! I think it would be awesome if you guys could start a miracle journal so that you can see all the miracles you are receiving while Jae and i are serving :)

Thank you so much for that AWESOME Thanksgiving package!! It was so awesome. Thanks MaKey for the suprise in the balloons!! I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family who loves and supports me. You guys are THE BEST!!! Thanks so much for feeding the missionaries because we have seen the blessings here in ABUNDANCE!!!! We had a dinner appointment everyday last week and we have them everyday this week too!! Wow... we even had two dinner appointments last night... We were so stuffed!!! I guess that is just preping us for Thanksgiving this week. I hope that you all enjoy your time with the family. Sounds like it is going to be lots of fun!!

Can you believe that a year ago from tomorrow I was diagnosed with diabetes...It feels like it has been so much longer than a year, but I am so grateful that I am able to manage my diabetes and have the supplies to do so! What a blessing that is in my life!

One of the miracles we saw this week was as we were going through the ward list and visiting less actives. We only had a few minutes so we hurried and picked a name in our area. We met a really nice couple who has been married for 5 years. She is from P and she wasnt able to get a visa until just recently so they have spent the last 4 years of their marriage separated. In September she was able to join him here. We shared a Book of Mormon story with them and asked them what goals they have for their lives. One of their goals is to be sealed in the temple. We promised them that if they came to church they would be able to progress towards going to the temple together... Guess what? They came to church this week and it was SO AWESOME!!!!!! Next step, temple prep!! :)

This week the Korean branch put on an AWESOME musical fireside. The talent that the Korean elders have is so AMAZING!!! One of the Elders played in the Utah Symphony and the other one is going to play in Carnagy Hall someday. When we meet together for district meeting every week the elder sits down at the piano and we all shout out hymns we want to hear him play. You can even choose two and he will mash them together on the spot. It is SO AMAZING and so beautiful. We had invited a few investigators to the fireside, but none of them came. We wanted to stay so bad because we knew it was going to be an awesome program but we werent' allowed stay unless we were able to get investigators there. ( If we dont have investigators or a responsibility at activities/firesides our mission president would rather have us out working/tracting instead) We were just about to leave when the Elders asked us to sing in the program. It was the EFY Medley of As Sisters in Zion and We'll Bring the World His Truth. We agreed and we ran through it one time with everyone and then sang it at the end of the program. It was so beautiful and I loved all of the music. I wish you guys could have heard it!!

The work here is going great! I love it so much!! I know that this the place that I am meant to be right now. I hope that you all have a great week and a great Thanksgiving... Have fun with family football :) Love you!!!

Love, Sister Gillett :)

95 degrees!!! (Jaelyn Gillett)

November 18, 2013
Hello from the state where it's 95 degrees at 10 in the morning in November! haha Crazy, right? It's been humid the past few days too. I was getting excited that it was cooling down, but I guess that time will come soon enough.

Miracles of the Week: 

 Remember when I went to Washington D.C. with Jaylen for National TARs? Well, one of the girls we met there was from Florida. We were able to talk to her about the church when we were there, and she seemed to have some interest. When she saw on fb that I was going on my mission, she sent me her address and her grandma's across the street and invited us over anytime. Well, on exchanges this past week I figured out that their area covers where she lives. I got out my address book and found her address, and sure enough, it was in their area. That night we went to her house and we found her dad home. It was actually a cold night, so we didn't talk too long outside, but I told him I was friends with his daughter Nicole and explained where we met. She is off at college-as I expected, but he then he said. Tell you what, You come over for Thanksgiving." She will be home then! So I was able to get permission from my mission President to go there for part of Thanksgiving Day! I am so excited and we will get her in contact with missionaries near her at her college, as well as to her parent and grandma! YAHOO! :) Updates to come... 

Also, the next day we came home for dinner and found a note in the door. It read "Jaelyn.  I was friends with your dad in high school. Your mom contacted me and told me you were in the area. I would love to get together if your schedule permits." She left a phone number. I called her and had a great chat with her. We are meeting for lunch this week and will see if we can spark some interest in her learning more. She left the note for me on the back of a flyer for a service project that she is doing for her church as it had her contact info on it. We will see what we can do. Pray that all will go well and she will have a desire to learn more! 

Oh, I finally got a flat stanley picture, with a cute mexican family here. Is there any particular pictures that you want with him? Do I need to send it back by a certain time? I'm trying to find a good place to take a pic... We are going to try to see the Manatee's, but they don't come out until December... 

Super cool Story with our investigator R. He is the one who lost his wife about a month ago. This past week we have had so much success and he has been taking leaps and strides in his progression in the gospel. It is so neat! We were a little nervous before our lesson on the Word of Wisdom because we knew he drank coffee and that is usually a super hard things for hispanics to overcome. We were talking about the blessing that can come when we are obedient to God's commandments and the health and strength we can gain through obeying the word of wisdom. When we talked about coffee, he didn't even blink. We were expecting some type of reaction from him. Instead he said "I only drink coffee in the mornings, and I never really liked it anyway. I can stop now, no problem. I'll just fix myself some hot chocolate tonight." haha We were both so in shock, we just looked at each other stunned, and then laughed. We LOVE R!   The member that was-with us- Hermana H.  also testified of the blessings she received from obeying the word of wisdom. she is a convert as well. She brought him over a special kind of hot chocolate the next day and he can't stop raving about it! haha He is so funny! In church yesterday the lesson was on what we just went over-the plan of salvation and how we can be blessed through temple ordinances. At our lesson later that night, he was so excited about being able to go to the temple. He couldn't stop talking about how the movie we watched on temples made him so excited to go and also to be baptized. After church, there was a baptism of a little boy in the ward. R. Stayed to watch the baptism with us. He was so excited to "see what's going to happen to me in a few weeks" and told us that he teared up and got goosebumps when he saw the little boy going under the water. He is inviting EVERYONE he knows to come to his baptism. So many people have tried to talk him out of it, but he is so strong and knows, but more importantly FEELS that it is true and it's what he is supposed to be doing. He says "I've made up my mind and No one is going to stop me!" And he means it! He has been disappointed in some people but says "It doesn't matter what anyone else says or thinks. What matters is what I think and what God thinks. This is between he and I." Now remember, until we came along, R. really hasn't had anything at all to do with religions since he was young. It is so neat to see his spirit change. He tells us each time we see him how when he feels down or starts thinking about his wife too much that he reads the Book of Mormon and he feels better and can sleep at night. It's got to the point where he will tell us something he was struggling with, and then he say "but I'm reading the book and it always helps". That has been such a testimony builder to me of the power of the Book of Mormon. It IS real, and this IS HIS work. R. has been a great example of someone who was prepared to hear the gospel and is just taking it all in! I am so excited to be able to come back in a year (hint, hint) and go through the temple with him to do the  ordinances so his wife can be baptized and sealed to him. We go to the genealogy class with him every week and that has been such a blessing. He remembers so much and he knows it's the Lord helping him because he is too old to remember much. In our lesson yesterday, the spirit was so strong. I can't help but think that Poppa is on the other side with his R's wife C, teaching her right along with us teaching him so they can be prepared to be together for the eternities. God's plan for us is so beautiful, and brings so much peace! I am so grateful to be able to witness miracles at his hands each and every day. 

I also received info from Hermana B, that one of my investigators-M is going to be baptized!!! I have NEVER felt the spirit so strong in a first lesson as I did with him. I am so excited and hope to hear more about that soon! 

Follow-up: How did the service go this week? Any good reports? 

This week I really focused on loving and serving my  companion. She had a hard day one day and I made her hot chocolate :) haha Oh, I also made a roast this week-my first time ever making one- and it turned out SUPER good! I'm becoming quite the Betty Crocker out here with all these great companions that I have that teach me (Hna Duong) or let me experiment and they eat it (Hermana Rood) haha We have been having a great time! Oh, I also had my first lobster here last week too. It was DELICIOUS!!!! Missing my hispanic food LOTs, but I'll start making that again soon cause we don't get it from people... I miss the spanish branch a ton too! i am still in culture shock with the 2 english wards I'm in, but well... let's just say that I pray A LOT! They are great wards and the work is going to take off here, but I just miss Spanish world... It's good motivation to really push myself in my spanish though. 

Well, I think that's all for the week. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week. You are in my prayers!

XOXO,

La Hermana Gillett

A Great Week! (JacieGillett)

November 18, 2013

Hey Family!!

It sounds like you are having a great week. Sorry to hear that you lost the championship game, but i am sure it was an awesome game!! The snow sounds like no fun at all!! When we are visiting people at nights when it is like 62 degrees people always tell us to put on a jacket or something because it is freezing outside. haha Not when you are from utah!! Thanks so much for feeding the missionaries... Become the missionaries best friends and be there to offer support at anytime. Every investigator needs a fellowshipper and I have noticed that when we have a member present at the lesson it goes really well and the members are able to relate really well to the investigator. Be sure to tell them that you would love to go to a lesson with them sometime!!

So we met a man this week who is not a member, but he LOVES to do his family history and he know so much. It is AWESOME!!! So we decided to ask him to help us with our family history and hopefully we would be able to soften his heart enough through this to introduce him to the church more. I hope it works out. Is there anyone in particular who you would like us to do some research on? Let me know ASAP please cuz we will hopefully be starting it this week with him.

My mission has been a time of "firsts." This week we experienced our first earthquake!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was just a baby earthquake but it was so solid ;) We were laying down watching training videos when all the sudden it felt like a truck hit the building and then a big ripple went through out apartment. I was laying down on my stomach so it literally felt like i was doing the worm. haha it was so cool!!!! Definitely an experience to remember!!

Sister J and I have finally come up with our companionship motto. it comes from a song called Be Still by the Killers. The lead singer is actually a mormon and he has a mormon message that we love to watch during mormon.org time. Anyway, our motto is "Rise up like the sun and labor 'til the work is done." I love it so much and we literally do that every day. The sun is normally rising around exercise time and we labor everyday until the work is done and then we do it again the next day.Missionary work is the BEST!!! Sometimes I feel like I am on vacation in beautiful california because I enjoy the weather, the area, and I love to teach others about their purpose on earth and how we can make them more happy!!

It is crazy to think that I have already finished my first transfer... where has the time gone. I am so glad that I get to stay in this area for another transfer and be with Sister J longer. She is THE BEST!!!!!

One of the miracles that I saw this week was when we went to visit our investigator A. She is awesome. Her family just moved into the area. She is just a few years older than me and she is so prepared to hear this message. When we visited her we got to know her more and she was talking to us about her family. After we met her for the first time her family asked her about us. She said "Oh, those girls. They are my mormon homies. They said they will come back again." Her family didn't believe that we would come back...but we did!!! haha I think they were all in shock. She invited us over this week to meet her friends and roast mallows. We agreed as long as we could share a gospel message with everyone. It is going to be an awesome experience to teach the restoration them. I can't wait!!!

Another miracle we have seen was when we were going through our ward list a few weeks ago and trying to visit a few members each day. We visited a middle aged man who hadn't been active in years...all he really needed to know what where and when church was... By small and simple things are great things brough to pass. He has been to church the last two weeks and it has been SO AWESOME to see him there.

Going along with what Jae was talking about this week about keeping the commandments and the word of wisdom. Some people look at our church and decide not to join because there are too many things that we cannot do. But really by keeping the commandments we have more agency than those who dont keep the commandments. Things that are addictive take away your agency and your right to choose. I thought that was a pretty cool view on it!

Well, I love y'all and I hope that you have an awesome week. I love getting all of your letters/emails!! Keep up the good missioanry work!!! Alway remember that "it is our most important duty to preach the gospel." Did you make a family mission plan yet? If not, be sure to do so soon!! Love and miss you lots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Gillett :)

Speaking Samoan this week!

November 12, 2013 - from Sister Gillett

Hey family!!!

This week we were tracting a street in the middle of the day and no one was home/no one was answering their door. We knocked the whole culdesac and when we came back to our car I noticed a guy come out of his house and then go back in. We had previously knocked on the door but no one answered.  I suggested to Sister Jensen that we should go and try that house again. She was a little resistant but we decided to do it anyways. A young man named M answered the door and he was pretty interested in learning more. He told us that he normally isn't home at that time but to day his class was canceled. Definitely not a coincidence!!!! We were able to read the Book of Mormon with him and he accepted a copy and said he would read it. We will be going back later this week to see how things are going! :)

We had a little meeting with Sister B all about the mission president conferences she and president had been attending. In this training she said that Elder Ballard told them that "1/3 of the world is ready to hear the gospel. When you find with faith you will find that 1/3. When you find with out faith you find the other 2/3." :) So this week Sister J and I have been trying really hard to increase our faith to find. Elder Ballard has also said that you can find 10 new people a day!! So if an Apostle of the Lord says we can do it, we can do it!! Our goal every day is to find 10 new investigators. It is hard, and we haven't achieved it yet, but with God all things are possible. Setting this goal has really been an act of faith for me. But there is no better way to strengthen my faith than to act!!

This weekend there has been a lot of focus on Veteran's day. The ward I serve in put on a Veteran's Day program on Saturday and it was really neat to hear some of their stories and have people of different faiths come to our church for the program. It was an awesome finding activity!! I am so grateful for all the men and women who are brave enough to leave their families for a time and go to war to protect our country. It takes a lot of courage to put your life on the line to protect something that you love. I am so grateful for the freedoms that we enjoy because of the men and women who have fought to let us have these rights. I am also grateful for our ultimate hero, Jesus Christ who died for us. because he died for us we can enjoy freedoms from guilt, pain, mistakes, sins, regrets, and so many other things. I know that the atonement is real and it can bless us so much as we are willing and humble to come unto Christ and change to become more like him. As we feel of this redemptive power we will have experiences like Nephi when he says "awake my soul, no longer droop in sin... Rejoice o my heart... O Lord, I will praise thy name forever;yea my soul will rejoice in thee, my God and the rock of my salvation."

We have been spending some time working on our family history and making our pedigree charts that we can show to others to encourage them to do their family history work. A lot of people here ask me where my last name comes from...Where does it come from?? England? I was able to trace it back to England when it use to be spelt Gilot. Interesting!! There are also a few stories of our ancestors on familysearch.org. I looked at stories from Emer Harris and the biographys he has are pretty cool! You have probably told me this before but I didnt realize his name is in D&C 75 when he received his mission call. I thought that was pretty cool!!

Today I am on exchanges with Sister T. She is from Hawaii and she is in the Samoan program here. She taught me a little bit of Samoan this morning during language study and it was so much fun!! Ou te iloa e moni lenei talalelei. Ou te iloa e moni le Tusi a Mamona. Ou te iloa o losefa samita o se perofeta moni a le atua. I le suafa o Iesu Keriso, Amene. :) That means that I know that the gospel is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Hopefully she wont make me bear my testimony in Samoan today during a lesson, but it would be way funny if she did!! She also taught me how to pray in Samoan :) Lo matou Tama o i le lagi, Matou te faafetai mo lenei aso. Matou te faafetai mo le avanoa e feiloa'i ma lenei. Matou te ole atu mo lou alofa. Matou te ole atu mo saogalemu. Matou te ole atu mo faamanuia lenei aiga. Matou te alolofa ia te oe. i le suafa o Iesu Keriso Amene. It has been a fun morning and i am so excited to see what is in store for us today as we go out to teach lessons in Samoan :)

Funny story for you. We received a headquater referral and the name said A B. So we went to the address and we asked if A was home. The guy looked really confused and said this is the A residence... I guess on headquarter referrals they put the last name first so we really should have been asking if B was home! haha we had a good laugh about it!!

sorry this is so scattered. I love you guys so much and I hope that you have a wonderful week!!

Love, Sister Gillett

"Be Anxiously Engaged"

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Sorry, I don't have too much time to write this week as I have a lot of other things to report to President and such, but I will try to get in what I can... There are so many new changes happening. It is so exciting! I wish I had time to get it all in!

Miracles:There is an older man here that we are teaching. I remember hearing in the MTC that "if you take care of others loved ones, Others will take care of yours". This sweet old man just lost his wife about 3 weeks ago. It is still really hard on him , and amidst all of that he had to move apartments. We have been doing service for him and he really enjoys our visits. He reads from the Book of Mormon every night and tells everyone about church and invites them to come, and is attending family history classes. We set a baptismal date with him yesterday as well for the end of this month. But as neat as that is, that's not the best part for me. As we were doing service for him, I couldn't help but think of Ma-key and the emotions she went through, as we all did with Poppa. I saw R going through that same mourning process here and it gave me a greater desire to serve him, knowing that "if I take care of him, others will take care of mine". This morning I received a letter from my mom telling me how happy my Ma-Key is because she finally found a friend close to her age that moved in next door.This was such a testimony to me that my Heavenly Father is aware of me and will take care of me and those I love. 

Something to read and apply for the week. I was listening to this when I got ready this morning and it really hit me strong, so I want to send it on. It's a conference talk by Elder Ballard "Be Anxiously Engaged" from  Oct 2012. I encourage you to do his challenge, so simple, yet with such far-reaching effects. Hopefully we will be able to share experiences we've had with it in the next week with one another.  http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/be-anxiously-engaged

I love you! Thank you so much for your love before, now, and forever. It really means so much to me. I truly have been born of goodly parents and I realize more and more each day how grateful I am for how you raised me. All the companions I've had and a lot of people I meet aren't so fortunate. Thank you for your love and support. It means so much to me!

XOXO

La Hermana Jaelyn Gillett

I finally got transferred!

November 4, 2013 - By Hermana Jaelyn Gillett

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I finally got transfered, and it was SO SO SO hard to leave. It's my home here in Florida...I only cried a little, cause I know I am leaving it in good hands with Hermana D. I miss her SO much! She was such a wonderful companion and we got things DONE, having SO much FUN along the way. Just like it's supposed to be :) I am now just below Tampa (we have a part of Tampa in our area) and it's been pretty good. We cover 2 english wards and that is SO weird! I REALLY miss my Spanish Branch... I just really miss Spanish and my people! It is good motivation for me though, cause it really helps me focus on speaking it more so that I can keep it up. One of the first nights that I was here we went to a RS Activity and one of the hispanic members told me that I wasn't going to improve my spanish here be cause it's all english... So sad! I will continue to talk to her in Spanish and EVERYONE else I possibly can so that I can improve my spanish. Especially my accent. It could be worse, but it's not very good. Any advice from you Spanish Speakers??? 

   Cool Story from Transfer meetings! So we couldn't find anyone to help us bring luggage back for the 2 new sisters that we knew were coming. The night  before I remembered that J our Recent Convert (who btw was confirmed yesterday, so he is officially a member of the church, yeah!!! :D ) can choose where he works on what days. We called him up and he said he would go work and whenever we needed his  help, he would bring his truck over to help us. He is the best! Then, it gets even better. J has an awesome story of how he found the missionaries. J was working-he puts in vinyl and such in apartments. He was going to knock on the door of the apt he was going to work on next, but accidentally knocked on the wrong door. The missionaries there ended up answering the door and there gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to church. These were English elders and J doesn't really speak English, but by a great miracle they understood each other :) They invited him to church and he said he would love to come (he had been searching for a while now), but he couldn't because he lived in. They got excited and told him we have missionaries there too! They got his information and in the next few minutes sent it to the Spanish sisters in their area who sent it to us. We called him that day and set up an appointment for the next day. 3 months later he was baptized! How neat! BUT, it gets even better! So J came to help us at that transfer meeting and those 2 Elders that initially contacted him were there. We took J to them and introduced them. They were so excited to see him again. You should have seen their faces and excitement when he told them he had been baptized 2 days before. That was such a sweet moment and really reminded me of the importance of sharing the gospel with EVERYONE and not being afraid to open our mouths. They so easily could have said "wrong door, sorry" or, "we don't speak Spanish", but they remembered they were on the Lord's errand and doing His work and that made all the difference. 

My goal for this transfer is to love Hermana R, more that anyone has ever loved her before. I really want to help her see the miracles that come from working hard and being obedient. I want her to have the best last transfer so she can go home with no regrets. Hermana R mentioned she wants to work on her exercises, so I am coming  up with an exercise program for us to do each morning, as well as good hearty meals, so I am really excited to get started. Believe it or not, I'm actually getting quite good at those things. ;) Those little things like exercise and eating right really help get me where I need to be to accomplish all that I need to each day.  It has been a little bit of a struggle coming from an area where I knew everything and everyone and just had the best, most successful weeks of my mission to an area where the work is struggling and I don' t know the people or the area. However, it's nothing I can't handle and it's been good motivation for me to really dive in and get involved in the work and loving the people. This transfer I am really focusing on demonstrating charity. I have a great vision of what this area can become, and I am so excited to get there!, I am also being very careful not to over-step my bounds as the new missionary in this area, as that never goes over well. Hermana D really taught me a lot about being organized and effective in order to see progress and that we did. I really want to implement a lot of those things here, and am working on it, checking my intentions along the way to ensure they are pure and that it's not my pride coming in. Only in that way will it work out clearly and effectively. I don't know if you saw the CES devotional given last night by Elder Osguthorpe, but it was SO amazing! It was exactly what I needed, and I know it applies to all of us. If you haven't already, I encourage you to watch/read it. It was so great!

This week we went on exchanges with Sisters J and F. I was with Sister F in her area and we had a wonderful experience.  Yep, first day, and we went on exchanges! haha We were able to teach some great lessons. She is a wonderful missionary and is very prepared. I learned a lot of fun object lessons from her that I was able to implement and they were really powerful. While on bike, we talked to EVERYONE! I even found 3 new potential investigators for my area! It was so great! A referral they had given to us was not home when we tried to stop by since we were on our way in to the trailer park to visit some other investigators. However, just as we stopped on our way out to fix something, they pulled in and were so accepting and loving and invited us to come back. The whole day was so uplifting and I learned so much about the results of a positive, hard-working attitude. We also stopped by a little tienda on the way home where some hispanic women were working. We hadn't had dinner yet, so decided to stop there and have dinner. It was so delicious! We had a great talk with the 2 ladies working there and are excited to go back and teach them!

My time is almost up, but one more miracle:

So there is this girl that I met when I went to DC with J. When she found out I was coming here on my mission she sent me her address. S he lives in Ruskin Fl. Now that I am an SLT here, I actually cover that area on exchanges. We have plans to go and contact her and her family and grandma t his transfer and I am so excited!!!! :) MIRACLES!!!! I know I have been sent to this specific area for a specific purposes, and I am so grateful for the wonderful opportunity I have to be an instrument in the Lord's hands each and every second of every day. I love you and hope you have a great week! sorry this is jumbled, in a hurry as always. That's the definition of "hastening" the work, right? haha 

OH! another highlight: We are going to have fb in the next few weeks as leaders, and for us leaders for the trial runs, we are getting IPads (called tablets so we don't "support apple" only) in the next few weeks too. So exciting. The work is progressing and it's so great! So many blessings! 

I love you all!

Hermana Gillett

What a wonderful week it has been!!

November 4, 2013 - from Sister Jacie Gillett

Hola Familia,

Buenos tardes! Como esta? Somos representantes de Jesus Christo. Cree en Jesus Christo?

Well, how is my spanish coming? That's about all I know how to do at doors. Sister J has been helping me practice the basics so that when we do run into Spanish speaking homes we can talk about Jesus Christ instead of just walking away and sending the Spanish missionaries. It counts every time we plant a seed!!

WOW!!! What a wonderful week it has been!! I feel like I say that every week but this one have been AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! We see so many miracles daily and I love it!! Here is a story especially for Jenson...Flat Stanly helped us to be in the right place at the right time!! So a few weeks ago on Sunday we were tracting and we ran into a man named J. He was just leaving so we gave him a mormon.org card and he said we could come back anytime to visit with him more about the gospel. We stopped by a couple of times and we were never able to catch him because he worked a lot but we were able to cross paths with him again. coincidence... I think not!! We began teaching him some basic doctrine and about the Book of Mormon. He started asking us what our purpose was as missionaries and what we expected from him as we taught him. Normally we tell our investigators our purpose and then see what they expect from us. He must have been really in tune with the spirit. The spirit in our discussion was so powerful. At the end, he accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and without us even asking him to read it  he committed himself to read it!!!! WOAH!!! WHERE DID THIS GUY COME FROM???  The Lord has really prepared his heart and he is so ready to become more perfected in Jesus Christ. So, here is where Flat Stanly comes in. After we had met him for the first time on Sunday, the next day we had plans to go take pictures with Flat Stanly. It took two attempts because the first time I had accidentally forgot Flat Stanly at the apartment so we had to go back and get him and then go back. Well it just so happened that as we were walking back for the second time, J drove past us and thought "those are the girls that talked with me about Jesus last night." Which again sparked thought about learning more from us. The Lord works in mysterious ways but I know that I accidentally left Flat Stanley home the first time for a reason and now, we know why. Wow!! How cool is that!!

Miracle #2 this week. Around 2 weeks ago we had just enough time to knock on one more door before we called it a day. Our plans were to tract B street so we tried to find it. We couldn't find it on the map and I was honestly just thinking of stopping where we were and knocking on a door. Eventually we found the street and when we came around the corner Sister J and I both had the impression to go to the second house. We did and we met a girl named K. she has previously dated a mormon boy, she knew the bishop's family, and she had been to church a few times and she really enjoyed it. We were able to get her contact information and she told us the best time for her was on weekends. So  we went to do a sneak attack because she wasn't answering our texts. Turns out, she moved. However, we met a really cute and enthusiastic girl. She is about our age and she had just moved in with her family. We started talking with her about Jesus Christ and asked her how He has influenced her life. She told us that Jesus has really helped her through the passing away of her dad when she was younger... What a better thing to testify of than eternal families!! As we told her that she could be with her family and especially her dad forever you could see her countenance change. She wanted to learn more of the knowledge we could share wth her. We are so excited to go back and teach this truth to her family.

Miracle #3. After we had visited, we were planning on going to visit a member and give them a Book of Mormon invitation. The members weren't home, so we were headed to our back up plan. As we drove past the church their was a beautiful reception going on. I had the feeling to go in and see if we could give service in any way. I brushed off the feeling, but Sister J said, turn around. I thought I was just going the wrong way so I did and then she had me pull into the church parking lot. We had no idea who the reception was for, but we were both receiving the prompting to go in so we "had to go to the bathroom" As we made our way to the bathroom we passed the kitchen and a lady flagged us down. We went in to see if we could give service and help them clean up. She told us they didn't need anything and then handed us big bags of food. What a tender mercy that was for us because first, we didn't have dinner plans for Sunday night and two, we didn't really have much to eat because it was the end of the month and pday wasn't until the Monday. We were able to help clear off some tables before we had to leave. We were also able to run into the Ward Missionary Leader and his wife and tell him about the experience we had just had. I love strengthening the members by sharing with them the miracles we are seeing each day.

Miracle #4. Last night we went to go and visit a young man named G. He is 15, he really likes sports, and his grandparents  are really pressuring him to learn more about God. He had missed his appointment with us on Saturday morning so we just stopped by to visit a little bit. We were able to really focus on helping him to know that there is a God and that God love him and that he is God's son. It was a really powerful lesson. We asked him if learning more about the gospel was something that he desired. He said there is a part of me that really wants to learn more, but the other part says that I really don't have time to learn more because of school and sports. he then asked us What do you think I should do? We avoided his question and helped him to understand that we can't make that decision for him. He needed to know for himself. We told him that the only way he could know what to do was through praying to God. We then invited him to pray with us right then to know what he should to, to know that there is a God, that he is a son of God, and that God loves him. I guess we didn't explain that we wanted it to be a vocal prayer, but we knelt and we each said personal prayers. As I looked at his face as he prayed to know, I knew that he was talking with God with real intent. It was such a beautiful and a sacred moment for him and for us to witness. You could tell that he took talking with God very seriously. After our prayers, Sister J and I had decided to let him break the silence, so that he had some time to just think and ponder and feel the power of the Holy Ghost working in him. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Finally he said "ya, you guys should come back." WOW!!! He received his answer right there of what he should do. We can't wait to help him learn more about his Heavenly Father's love for him!!

I have been officially cleared to drive a car here... Bittersweet feelings about it. I hate traffic, I hate stop lights, I hate drivers.... I just hate everything about driving the the city. I am only driving because I love my companion and she has been driving everyday for 9 months so she really needs a break. It is also really helping me to learn the area better which is a huge blessing! Please keep me in your prayers that we will continue to drive safely!!

I love you all so much and I am so grateful that our family is together forever. I thank the Lord each day for all my tender mercies!! I know that Poppa is here being my guiding star and helping me to see the silver lining in the clouds. He is the angel that goes before me to prepare the way. I am so grateful for my opportunity to serve here. I love our investigators, and the ward members. I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father. I know He loves each one of us!! Have a great week!! I love you all!!!

Love, Sister Gillett