Jappy New Year

Well, Christmas has come and gone. its hard for me to believe that i left in the summer, and already we are looking at a new year. the time is really flying. it was great to talk to you on saturday, it was really the icing on the cake of a great day. it was sad hanging up because it went so fast, but now we have mothers day to look forward to.

so this week was a really good week for us. i think we beat our record in lessons taught and in the amount of new investigators we found. we found 15 new investigators that let us teach and invited us to come back. out of that number we probably wont baptize them all, only 13 or so, but we truly are being blessed by the Lord, and led to the people who are willing to listen. I cant think of alot of specific events this week, we've been working hard so the days kind of run together but all in all it was a very good week.

my companion told me that one of the traditions here for christmas is to make tons of tomales, and give them to everyone who comes to your house. ha so we have about 12 in our refrigerator right now. last night we contacted a house and the lady there obviously didnt want to talk to us, so we said good night, and were about to leave, but she told us to wait and gave us some tomales. its like trick or treating for food.

yesterday was really good. two different people from the ward leadership told us they really want to work to improve the ward here. so we are going to meet with the bishopric wednesday to talk about how we can improve the missionary effort here. i really think that we are going to make some big changes for the better in these next few weeks. im really excited. also we taught 3 great lessons. the second one was to a lawyer, we left him a book of mormon about 3 weeks ago and hadnt seen him since. but when we found him yesterday he told us he had been reading and made it through 2nd nephi. we explained some of his questions about it, and he promised to keep reading. after that we taught the godinez family. we had a lesson planned, but right at the beginning he asked us two questions that could be explained with the plan of salvation. so we taught him about that, and i could tell his questions were answered. at the end we told him he could pray to know it was true, then we challenged him to be baptized, and he said if he knew it was true he would. so that was a way good lesson. and to finish off the day the mom fed us a way good tomale, and served us this juice drink with chunks of apple pineapple, grapes, and peanuts in it.

So im loving life here. its not always easy but i always know im doing the right thing. i love you all, thanks for a great christmas and for the great blessings you have always been in my life. have a happy new year. ill talk to you next week.

Elder Jacobson.

1 Week Til Christmas

buenes dias otra vez familia. como estan todos. Otra semana se fue como un sueño. la vida aqui is bien hermosa. esta semana tuvimos la actividad de la navidad. la parte mejor de todo fue cundo nos dijeron los regalos de ustedes, pero creo que ustedes podian haber encontradas un foto mejor de yo como niño. (that was a hard sentance, so i dont know if it makes sense) espero que todos estén teniendo un buena navidad.

well thats my spanish, its probly hard to tell if im improving at all, but i really feel like its getting better.

so any way this week went by so fast. its hard to believe, im already done with my first change, and im only about 3 weeks away from having 2 months in the feild, its nuts how fast things are going. this week was pretty awesome. on tuesday we had our christmas activity. it was a good time to be with some old friends, and relax a little. all the zones did little skits, and they passed out the presents you sent. it was a proud moment for me. and everyone was so happy to get them. one of the latin elders come and found me and showed me lonicas letter. ha he couldnt understand it, but i know he was happy to get it. I know everyone was so grateful.

on wednesday we had another conference in malacatan, about 2 hours in bus away. between the christmas activity and that it was alot of travel, but definitely worth it. in the conference they talked about the importance of obedience and agency, and how we gain agency when we obey, and lose it when we take the easy way. also one of the assistants talked about a way to have more success is to always focus on our goals. it made me think about the power of the secret. so my companion and i are going to focus our thoughts on the goals that we have. which is to baptize a family every month, and to have our attendance at the church be over 100 people. It might be tough to do, but i have no doubt that its possible.

thursday was good, i cant remember every thing we did, but at the end of the day we found two families that seem pretty positive to me. One of the families we contacted at the door and introduced ourselves as elders. then he said oh my name is elder. we all laughed till he pulled out his drivers license and showed us his first name was elder. haha. but we taught him a short lesson and made another appt. so that was exciting.

also i forgot to mention that on monday, we met with the family fuentes godinez. (the family that asked about resurrection and atonement) only the three daughters out of the family were there, but we taught them about baptism, and challenged them to baptism on january 8th and they said yes. so that was way exciting. now were going to meet with the whole family tuesday, so im way excited. and hermano armando ( who is trying to stop drinking) is doing good, he came to the stake activity saturday, and we are going to try to meet every day with him to keep teaching and supporting him.

so Im a little low on time, so im not going to tell you the rest of the days, but just know that it went great, and alot of good things are starting to happen. we have alot of good ideas of how to find people and get some of the inactive people more excited about church. i think we will start playing soccer with the youth, and other things like that. we both really think that we can strengthen this area alot, and the members are really willing and looking for ways to help us. so im really excited about the future here in La Grandeza.

its awesome to here that you guys are doing so good on reading the book of mormon, well dad at least, but i imagine the others are doing it too. ive been reading in doctrine and covenants, and Jesus the Christ. i like studying and learning more.

well shoot im out of time again. but know that i love you all and hope everyone is happy and healthy there. just think we´ll be talking in about a week. im going to call you and give you my number then you can call me back. so we will figure a time then i guess. have a good week. Love Elder Jacobson

Translation:

Good day again family. How are you all. Another week went like a dream. The life here is well beautiful. This week we had the activity of Christmas. The part better than all was I propagate the gifts of you told us, but I believe that you could have found a photo better of me as a boy. (That was to hard sentence, I dont know if or makes sense) I expect that all they are having a good one Christmas.

esta empezando a aparecer mucho como la navidad

buenas dias familia jacobson. como está todos. aqui todo esta bien bien. esta semana tuvé dos reuniones afuera de mi area entonses no hizé bastante, pero trabajabamos duro y creo que vamos a tener mucho exito temprano. mi español esta mejorando bastante, ja, no sé como es cuando hablo, pero puedo entender casi todo lo que escuchar. no creo qu tenemos solo dos más semanas hasta la navidad, el tiempo se fue tan rapido. y estoy muy emoccionado a hablar con ustedes. les amo mucho.

well thats it for now. i dont know if my subject line was translated correctly, but see if you can figure out what im trying to say there. this week was really awesome. things are really getting a lot easier as we are starting to find people that are ready to hear, and i am understanding better, and know the area alot better. this week wednesday and thursday i had to go to more meetings for the new missionaries. they were way good, i learned a ton about how i can be a better missionary, and at the end we all promised to be the best missionaries this mission has ever seen. with the two meetings in the middle of the week it was hard to get alot done in the field, so im not gonna give you a day by day this week, but it was a great week here.

Exciting news for this week was that one day we talked to a man that has been struggling to quit drinking. but he expressed sincere desire to change. i could tell he really wanted to change so he could be sealed in the temple with his family. so we helped him make a plan to stop, we also took a picture of his family that he could put in his wallet to help him. on sunday we fasted for him, and we are planning on challenging him to be baptized this month. also the family that asked us about resurrection and atonement we met with two more times. we taught them about faith, repentance, and the book of mormon, which they promised to read and pray about. i can really see that they are understanding what we are teaching. today we are going to finish teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and challenge them to baptism next month. i really feel good about it because i think that they really want to know the truth. it really is so awesome being here and helping change peoples lives with the gospel.

Just as a side note its gotten almost unbelievably cold here. nothing like a utah winter, but definitely up there. to make things more interesting our water heater broke so we have been showering in ice water for about a week. its not too bad, just another experience for the journal, but were supposed to get a new one today. also just so you know i am eating very well here. like ive said before we get all 3 meals cooked for us, which is awesome. on top of that we get fed at almost every house we go into, even the complete strangers. everyone gives us some kind of hot drink (not coffee), and bread its pretty great. the people here are so nice, its really incredible

well it sounds like you guys there have about as much exciting news as i do. jalen got a car of his own, and jordan will be driving soon. ha i cant imagine what the gas bill is going to be there. but i have to say that im not happy at all that you told me about the rancheritos. not once have i considered coming home, untill now. but ill be strong and wait, but you guys there better make sure it stays open. on top of all the other good news, christmas is just around the corner, are the kids already out of school. here the kids get off school from october to february, almost half the year. ha but i hope everyone is enjoying the weather and the season. just think we will be talking in like two weeks, how crazy. tomorrow we head out to rayoo for the christmas activity. im way excited to see everyone and enjoy some relaxing time, and more importantly they promised us enough food to kill an elephant ha.

well im just about out of time, but as always i love you all and hope that all is well there. everything is good here, and i cant believe how fast the time is going, im almost done with my first change. enjoy your week, talk to you soon.

Love Elder Jacobson

Translations:

Good days family jacobson, as is all. here everything is well, and this week I has two meetings outside my area entonses not hizé fairly, but worked hard and i think we will have much success early, and my spanish is improving quite, ja, i don't know as is when i speak, but I can understand almost everything you hear, i do not think what we have only two more weeks until Christmas, the time it was so quick, and I am very emoccionado to talk to you, and i love very much.

1 Month

Justin with his companion Elder Heywood

The Christmas packages have arrived.
(I am pretty amazed that they haven't opened the presents Ü)

Es bien loco que he sido en el campo por casi un mes. puedo recordar perfectamente mi tiempo en el mtc y ya casi he cumplido un cambio. todas las cosas aqui son muy buenas. todavia no hemos tenido algunos bautismos, pero estamos trabajando con 3 familias, y 3 otras personas, y creo qu con trabajo vamos a fijar fechas por ellos, talvez por la proxima mes. estoy aprendiendo mucho, y disfrutando cada dia aqui.

Well im going to write in english now because i have a lot to say and not enough time. but this last week was pretty awesome. wednesday i went to a meeting back in retalhelea (i still dont know how to spell that). it was about a 4 hour ride. it was awesome to talk to all my ccm friends. and we got a lot of really good counsel from the president, and other missionaries. it really helped me rededicate myself to work hard. on thursday my companion left for a meeting, so i worked with an elder that came in with me. i liked it because, even though he was a native spanish speaker, i kind of had to step up and teach a little more. spending that whole day with the latin elder really helped my spanish i think. friday i went on splits with one of the assistants. they came to help us invite people to the conference we had this sunday. an area 70 and our mission president spoke so they wanted to have alot of people there. we invited every person we talked to and a lot agreed to come. i don't know how many of the people we invited came, but they said over 600 from our stake came. so that was pretty awesome.

saturday might have been the highlight. in the afternoon we talked with both the families we had been teaching. it was mostly to invite them to the conference, but we taught a little too, and i can see that they are starting to love and trust us more each time. its tough because they arent really making time for themselves to read the book of mormon or go to church. but i think with time their hearts are going to change, and they will see the importance. saturday night we went to an appointment we had made tracting. the family invited us in and we all sat down. we got to know them a little then started teaching. it was amazing how ready they were to learn. usually its like we have to fight to keep the investigators attention, and help them learn, but they were interested and were understanding every thing we taught. at one point one of the sisters said i was reading the pamphlet you gave me and i didnt understand the difference between atonement and resurrection. i know it doesnt sound like much, but i almost fell off my chair. ha it was great to see a family so ready for the gospel. sunday was really good we got to listen to the conference, and then attend the christmas devotional. it was tough to understand all the talks, but the music was incredible, and really lifted my spirits. the only bad part was seeing the lights at temple square. it made me a little homesick. ha but another elder from utah said he started crying.

well crap i only have about 5 more minutes. but i have an assignment from my mission president. after the meeting wednesday, he brought me and 2 other elders into his office and told each of us to tell our mothers thank you. his eyes filled with tears as he told us about the gifts they had received and expressed his gratitude for what you had done. he said we can learn a lot from the love that our mothers have. so thanks mom, and everyone who worked so hard to make that possible, you are all so awesome. i also have learned, and have a lot to learn from you.

well thats it for this week. but were only 7 days away from the next e mail. i love you all thanks for everything. enjoy your christmas break and christmas season. keep praying for me. ill talk to you next week.

Translation

It's pretty crazy I've been in the field for nearly a month. I can remember well my time in the MTC and already I have almost completed a change. All things here are very good. we have not even had a few baptisms, but we are working with 3 families and 3 other people, and I qu to work we will set dates for them, perhaps by next month. I'm learning a lot, and enjoying every day here