I LIVE!!!!!!!

Much has happened over the past two years... as can be imagined. I served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Virginia Richmond Mission. My life has forever been changed!

I wanted to share some thoughts I sent home concerning our individual life journeys.


“Over the past couple of months I've had a lot of time to reflect upon how each of our paths through life is different. I'm going to compare it to a mission.


“Life prior to the mission is comparable to pre-earth life. We learn the plan, are taught learn and grow. We accept the call to go to earth/serve a mission. Then we are born. Born into families/to trainers and companions who love us. We continue in our learning and progression throughout our entire time on earth or in the mission field. For some the life is merely to accept the call, young children born who stay only a short period of time, for some it is receiving a mission call and then finding the Lord may have had a different course for you to follow (which has happened to many of my friends, the call of being a wife and mother is first and for most). Then there are those who make it into the field for a while, they live good lives and give their all, just as those mentioned in the category before. Some of our loved ones are called back to our heavenly home in "the prime" of their lives, but the Lord's plan is perfect. He sees the whole picture, I am merely trying to understand and gain a His prospective. I have also had many close friends from the mission field "called" home for various reasons (health, family, ect). At first I struggled immensely to come to understand. I found myself conversing with the Lord in such ways as, "My mission means EVERYTHING to me. How can this be?" I mourned the loss of them. How naive I was! For they are not lost at all-merely in a different stage of the Lord's plan for them. My Lord and Master is just that, The Master Planner. He has designed a perfect plan for each and every one of us. We each are given different trials and tribulations to overcome, but I testify every detail has been considered and divinely designed for each of us individually. There is not one thing in our lives that happens by mere coincidence. It is well thought out, every thread of the tapestry has been carefully planned and charted. Finally there is the third group, those who live out their lives, completing a longer journey that others perhaps were called to serve. For some the call is, to come to earth or the Virginia Richmond Mission, for others it is to serve for 3-4 months, or maybe it is 18/24 months, regardless of the length of the call what truly matters is the way we fulfill the call. At the end of my life I imagine asking myself, what I ask myself at the end of every day, "Sister Jacob, did you give everything you had to give? Did you consecrate your life to the work and service of the Lord?" I picture the widow giving her mite and determine where I can improve, and determine to do better the next day. I know it is the placement of our heart, our willingness to give our whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the building of the Lord's kingdom and preparing for the second coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ that matters most. I know it is through focusing on the basics, the fundamental principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that will bring us the peace, joy, and happiness we all seek. I am beginning to understand what it means to consecrate my life through service and love. My understanding of "enduring to the end" has forever changed. The length of our lives matters not, no, only that we hold out faithful until the end, just as the Savior did. He set the perfect example and was relieved of burdens of the world when The Father said, "It is finished." It is my prayer we each will reflect upon the example of our Savior and follow His perfect example of enduring to the end. I testify there will come a day when our Heavenly Father will say to each of us, "It is finished." What peace and joy will be ours if we hold out faithful until the end. I love each of you. May we each travel faithfully upon the road and journey we have been called to fulfill. We need each other to be buoyed up through life's challenges. May we be the Lord's hands in helping one another and always remember the infinite power of prayer which we can call upon the powers of heaven to help us even in our darkest hours.”

Sister Sara Jacob

Moses 1:39/Mosiah 2:17


Being home I now find myself in what can be compared to the spirit world. There is MUCH more to experience and learn. It seems difficult to move forward, as I continually reflect upon all I've become through many treasured experiences; but on I must go. Clouds of uncertainty fall all around me. Many experiences await just around the corner. The light will come. Continually consecrating all I have to the Lord will bring each piece of the divinely beautiful puzzle of life's journey into place at the appropriate time.