Happy New Year

well to be honest, i told you everything i have to say yesterday. but
merry christmas and a happy new year. i love you. Adios
Elder Jacobson

aloha from the islands

ha the first email was a joke. now that i think of it you will probly open
this one first, so it wont be that funny now. but at least i tried.
well the truth is that i dont really know what to say. Talking with you
guys yesterday was awesome. i cant tell you how happy it made me to see
everyone. i still cant get over johnnies voice, lonicas teeth, jordans beard,
and jalens ... lack of going on dates. ha just kiddin DOG, i didnt date alot
either, and i turned out ok. Mom you look great, looks like P90XTREME was worth
the effort, congratulations. i have to admit that for mothers day if they give
us the option to skype i think i wont do it. for one main reason. when i
called on the phone, i have never felt really homesick afterwards. but
yesterday was pretty tough for me. seeing the house and the yard and all of you
made me realize how much i love it there, and how blessed i have been. It
doesnt make me want to come home or anything, but i miss you all. but at the
same time i know that it was a huge blessing being able to talk like that.
(especially so you could all learn my new dance move) how crazy is it that the
sound and picture traveled hundreds of miles through outerspace making it
possible for us to be together on christmas day. it was a christmas miracle
that i will never forget.
but now that christmas has passed its time to get back to work. like
i said we have kind of wound up without investigators, so we need to find them
and start preparing them for baptism. when i think about it, its a pretty big
challenge, but im excited to see how Heavenly Father will bless us if we try and
do the best we can. ive seen many times how sometimes it feels like we have
nothing, but then God puts right into our hands someone who is ready. so pray
for a miracle to come, and i am going to do the same.
well i dont know what else to say. i imagine that the package should be
getting here any day, right about the time that elder skousens candy is running
out. so life is good. im ready to work, and start a new year good. i think my
new years resolution will be to study the bible more, because i havent really
even read it before (dont tell anyone) but we will see what other goals i come
up with.
But i love you all. Have a good week. enjoy all of the blessings you
have and your ipod touches too. remember that we are counting down the months,
and i know that they will fly by. thanks for everything.
Adios
Elder jacobson

I'm dreaming of a blistering hot Christmas

I dont know what the deal is, but nature is really confused in this part of
the world. these 3 weeks of december have probly been the hottest that i have
experienced on my mission. im craving snow more and more every day. for like 2
weeks in a row i have found myself super tired like every day, and i think it
has something to do with the heat. i drink like 5 gallons of water a day. But
in the end im loving life, and you dont really notice the heat that much when
you are working ( i wish)
its getting closer to Christmas. im super excited to talk to you all
and hear your voices. its going to be a good day. Today was our mission
christmas conference. It was alot of fun. each of the zones had to put
together some musical numbers. there were piano solos Polynesian dances, guitar
numbers, a native american hoop dance and more. our zone did a number featuring
a harmonica solo, and you will never guess by who. yep you guessed it, my comp
elder platero. ha he used my harmonica and it sounded really good. i tried out
for the part but didnt get it. ha ha maybe next year.
well what else can i say, things are moving a little bit slower as far
as the work goes. for the time that we had baptisms we kind of stopped finding
new investigators, and now it is kind of hurting us. we have a few from
before, but almost no one that is coming to church. we will have to work really
hard for these next two weeks to find some more investigators, but we are both
ready and willing, its not like we have anything else to do. Macedonio, jorge,
ligia, marvin and ana maria are all doing well here. i feel realy good about
our converts here because they all have alot of support from the members, so i
dont really worry about them inactivating. I imagine that they will all be
sealed in the temple someday. yesterday we had a cool experience. we went to
bring investigators to church, but no one really could, so we went to look for a
less active member. we found hna dominga in her house, and invited her to go to
church. dominga is a lady that got baptized only a few months ago, and hasnt
come to church since i have been here. she thanked us for coming and said that
she wanted to go to church, but that she didnt have time because she had alot of
work to do. so we started helping her. we washed clothes ( by hand) and swept
her patio and washed dishes. when everything was done she changed and came to
church with us. we showed up right on time to take the sacrament. I guess it
doesnt sound like that much of a story, but i think we really helped her alot
and it felt good to help.
if your worried about the package not getting here on time you should
stop worrying about it and ill tell you why. From now until new years every
person in this entire city is going to be giving us food, and they will be
offended if we dont eat it all and ask for seconds. so needless to say i will
be passing the next 2 weeks stuffed to my brains with food. if the package gets
here before christmas it will be a problem, because i dont have enough will
power to not eat the candy and other goodies in there. but we all know that
when we eat food when we are not hungry we dont enjoy it as much. therefor if
the package comes now i will eat it all and wont enjoy it. i would prefer it to
come a little later when i dont have mountains of food being shoved down my
throat. you may not believe me, but trust me, its better that way.
well, i dont have a whole lot to say. nor alot of time to write. but
i love you all. i imagine that i will be thinking of you all this christmas,
but not too much. have a good week and enjoy the beautiful christmas season.
keep working hard, but relax a little too. take care. Adios
Elder Jacobson

Temple Dedication

Ha something funny came to my mind when i wrote dedication. in the states
when we want to pretend that we are speaking spanish we just put an O at the end
of every word. ha well here when they want to pretend they are speaking english
they put the suffix "ation" at the end of every word. ha one time we all talked
like that and it comes out funny.
well another week has gone by. i dont know where the time goes, but i
also completed 15 months a few days ago. when people ask me how long i have i
always say just a little more than a year, I think im going to keep that going
till my last week in the field. its like a funny trick. It was a good week.
we enjoyed alot of blessings from Heavenly Father. I tell you about some
things.
One of the highlights was the baptism of jorge. My comp was super
happy because he has been teaching jorge for like 5 months. It was kind of a
stressful baptism. The first problem was that this whole week he has been up by
the border of mexico, about 2 hours away from here. so we couldnt visit him the
whole week. we basically just had to hope and pray that he would show up for his
baptism. but we talked to Hna Valeria, his friend that first invited him to
church and she said that he told her he would be there at like 8. so at about 7
30 we had everything ready to go. we waited and waited and he didnt com
forever. But finally he came like at 8 45. then we had to do the interview
because he couldnt do it all through the week. The interview was the most
stressful part i think because usually they last like 30 or 45 minutes. and his
lasted about 2 hours. I knew that he still had some doubts about if the church
was true and i wondered if he wasnt sure about his baptism. but finally they
came out and said that everything was good to go. We took pictures and started
the baptism like at 10 30. which is funny because we are supposed to be in the
house by 9 30. but the baptism went through smoothly. before he was baptized
he asked to say a few words and expressed that he still wasnt positive if the
church was true, but that he had liked everything he had seen. the part i liked
the most is that he said he was being baptized as a step to know if it is true,
and that he planned on doing everything necessary to gain his own testimony if
it is true. I know that one day he will be a powerful member with a strong
testimony, because he has the desire to know.
Another highlight was the temple dedication. you could feel the
excitement in the air among all the faithful members that will be blessed by
the temple. there were three sessions and we had permission to go to all three.
it was kind of sad because there was some problems with the transmission, so we
didnt see some parts of it. but we felt the spirit and were all uplifted.
In the second session a man came up to me and said "Elders theres 2
gringos over there, but we dont know where they come from, can you go talk to
them" so we went to talk to a man and his wife that were from the states. He
told me that he was a missionary about 32 years ago. after it was over he told
me that he had started a branch in san sebastian (my area) and asked if it was
still going. i told him that there was 2 wards with over 100 people in each one
and he almost died. he wanted to see the chapel so he took us in his car and we
showed him where it was. he couldnt believe it. he said that when he was there
the had the meetings in the tiny room where they lived. then he asked if we
knew a place called los brillantes because he had also started a branch there.
my comp had been there so we took him there as well. he said that out of
everyone he baptized the two that he wanted to see most were his first two
baptisms that lived in Los Brillantes. he said their names were Faustino and
Edela. then we arrived at the church and once again he was astonished at what
the church had become in that area. he then asked the bishop there who were the
oldest members there, and the bishop said "his parents" pointing to a man in
the corner. we asked what his parents names were and the man said Faustino and
Edela. ha so he met the son of his first converts. the man said that his
parents were about to get to church so we waited. then they got there and they
all knew each other even after 30 years. they shed some tears and took pictures,
it was a sweet moment. then they took us back to the church for the third
session. I guess that story doesnt have anything to do with me, but it was
pretty cool.
Well shoot, im low on time. but once again just know that life is
good here. we got all the christmas decorations up and are all ready for
christmas. Its the hap happiest season of all. I hope all is well there and
that everyone is happy this week. Enjoy your time with the family. remember to
read the scriptures and say your prayers. I love you all so much.
Elder Jacobson

And by the way. thanks to dad for his preaching to me, and to all the
people who wrote me at thanksgiving time. I got you letters and they meant alot
to me. Gotta go Love you all Adios

WATTAWEEK

the word wattaweek isnt a spanish word so dont look it up in the translator.

Like it says there this was quite a week for the humble elders in san sebastian. you said you liked when i wrote about some of the miracles that happen here. well this week ive got a few.

one of our investigators name is Hna Ligia. She has been going to church for about a year, but has never accepted baptism. its always been crazy for all the members and missionaries, because no one can ever figure out why she wont accept. and whats more is that her husband is a member, him and all his family is always encouraging her to do it but she just wont. My comp and i decided to leave her for a little while with the hopes that when we came back she would be more accepting. but lately the members started saying more and more that we needed to go visit her. so we went to her house but she was busy so we talked to her husband and asked if he knew why she didnt want to be baptized. he started talking to us weird, like a kid when he has a secret, and saying all these indirect statements, like he was hinting that she was ready to be baptized. so we made an appointment to go back later that night. we went back and taught her and at the end of the lesson her husband said. "i want you to give me your answer in front of the elders." then he explained to us that he had asked her if she would be baptized with macedonio (they are related by the way) and he said she didnt answer, just hugged him tightly. then we looked at her for a response. her eyes filled with tears as she explained that her parents had forbiden her from being baptized. but then she said that she had her own family and that her husband and kids were the most important to her. She said she didnt want to get baptized with macedonio because it was his special day but that she had made the decision to do it. we planned the baptism for saturday.

So Macedonio was baptized on tuesday and Ligia on saturday. how awesome. they are both completed families with the goal of being sealed in the temple next year. I would like to say that it was me the great missionary that did it, but the truth is that all the work was done by the spirit and by the families of the people. It was a blessing to just be part of it.

but the good news continues. Jorge was in church on sunday and we talked to him about baptism, but he kind of dodged the question and said maybe next week. but then in the night we ate dinner with the family that brings him to church. with him and us sitting there the oldest daughter valeria asked if we had scheduled a day and we all said that he wouldnt accept a day. so she started asking when he would do it. he ended accepting a baptismal date thursday night. how awesome. we have worked alot here, and now all of the work is paying off. things look good.

Im continuing to enjoy life. im learning about how powerful prayer really can be. if we pray with faith Heavenly Father has to answer our prayers and give unto us according to our righteous desires. Ive seen time and time again how i receive specific things that i ask for. im also learning how powerful the scriptures are. im doing something where i memorize a scripture that has to do with all kinds of things, like patients, or humility or love or diligence. and every time i feel like im lacking that thing i just say the scripture in my mind. the scriptures are becoming part of me and changing me character. how awesome.

Well its late and im out of time. but once again know that i love you all. i hope you all enjoy the cold and snow. i hope you enjoy no school and 1000 mile an hour wind. have a good week. work hard. im about to finish another month in the mish. Adios

Elder Jacobson

Week 1

DO YOU COME FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER

well there goes the first week of the change. It also happened to be the last week of the month. the last week is always crazy because everyone is trying to reach their goals, so we all work like crazies to get as many baptisms as we can. I think it would make more sense to work really hard at the beginning and then be able to relax at the end, but we as humans have a tendency to procrastinate. But it was a good week for us. We will see if i can give you the highlights

Tuesday we went to the temple again. once again it was absolutely amazing. this time we as a Zone of missionaries paid for a bus to take investigators. it was pretty awesome, we managed to cram about 60 people in there. we brought the wife and kids of a recent convert, and the mother and aunt of our 2 converts. Everyone loved it. before it was sometimes hard to get them to find time to let us teach them, but before we left the temple grounds they both asked when we were going to come to visit them. we left the temple at about 3 and realized that everyone was starving. i think most didnt eat breakfast or lunch. so we stopped and ran into the store and bought 5 loafs of break, 3 bags of sandwich ham and maya-nase. then we started the trip again and started making ham sandwiches. i was in charge of the mayonnaise, 1 missionary would take out two pieces of bread, then i would spray it down with mayo, then another would throw the ham on and pass it down the line. they were super cheap and probly not well made, but everyone was fed in under 30 minutes. the trip was a success.

Wednesday was the change meeting. i didnt have changes but we went anyway because my comps trainer was leaving for the house and president gave us permission to go. it was cool to see alot of people i knew, and it was weird to see alot of people i knew going home. it made me think of when i finish the mission. i know its not any time soon, but it seems so weird to me that within a year i will be done being a missionary, how crazy. but it motivated me to work as hard as i can for the remainder.

On sunday Macedonio came to church. it was cool to see him exercise his faith and take off work for a day. They presented him in sacrament meeting and announced his baptism for this tuesday at 7 00. the faces of almost the whole ward lit up. i think alot of people had waited for his baptism for a long time. its going to be a great day. With jorge we still havent put a specific baptismal date, but it will be this week im almost sure.

Well its as hot as ever. i sometimes get used to the heat, but i feel like im thirsty all of the time. sometimes i drink water until i think i will explode, and after i still can only think about drinking more. We havent been to the gym in like 2 weeks because of all the work we have had with the temple open house, but we will go tomorrow. TIME TO GET RIPPED.

it sounds like everyone is getting into the christmas spirit. Christmas here is similar and yet different. they hang up alot of the same decorations. the difference is that everyone makes tamales and gives them away. my poor comp greatly dislikes the tamales, ha but what can you do. the other big difference is that everyone burns fireworks. the first time i saw fireworks next to a christmas tree i thought Jack the pumpkin king must have fallen into the 4th of july door. but its fun. there is always an atmosphere of love and joy. I guess thats what happens when everyone takes time to think about Jesus.

Well, i love you all. i hope you are enjoying life as much as i am. keep working hard and remember that you are almost half way done with the school year. Have a good week

Elder Justin D. Jacobson

P.S. if im aloud to make requests in my christmas package, i would ask for a bag a jalepeño beef jerky.

that is all.

You better run you better take cover

Cambios

well i can hardly believe it, but 6 weeks have passed since i first landed here in San Sebastian. I have to say that it has been a tough 6 weeks, but i have learned and grown alot, i have seen miracles, and come to love this area alot. In the end im happy, what more could i ask.

so this week started the open house for the temple. on tuesday we were able to go as a zone. its incredible the spirit that you can feel there. i thought alot about the times that i went before the mission, and i really missed it. I think before i took it for granted how special of a place it really is. Alot of peoples lives were changed just by going to visit and hear about all of the things that we do there. i was super excited when we got there because it just so happened that La Grandeza, my first ward in the mission was there. i saw a lot of people i knew and felt a little bit home sick to go back and visit. the best was that i talked to the mother in law of Armando and she says that he is second councilor of the priest quorum, and that he is preparing to be sealed in february. I was so happy. It was a great experience

after that started the busiest week of my mission. All of the members here have really worked hard to bring people to the temple. now our part is to go contact all of these people and start teaching them. my comp and i both agree that we have worked harder this week than in any other time in our lives. Last night we got in the house at about 8 45 and i told myself i was just going to sit on my bed for a minute. ha next thing i knew i woke up and it was 9 30, i was beat. but we are seeing some results the majority of people come back from the temple with the curiosity of what they felt and why our church is so much different, and alot of people have accepted the invitation to hear our message. one cool experience was on friday. our zone did like a call center to call all of the references we got. so we all brought our phones and were making calls. i called a few and most said they would accept a visit. then i called a lady named natali. i told her i was a missionary and she said that her family is all members and that she had heard the missionary lessons a bunch of times. i asked her about the temple and it was crazy how she answered. she said that she always was looking for something to convince her that the church was true. and she said that when she went to the temple she felt something incredible like she wanted to cry or something, and she said that she was sure now that it was true. She isnt in my area so i got her adress and sent it to the area where she lives. but it was awesome for me to see the power of the temple and more than anything the power of the spirit.

in other news the man who wants to be baptized in december is named Macedonio, and everything is still looking good for his baptism. he might even do it sooner. he says he just wants to go to the temple and then we can plan his baptism for any day we want. his whole family is excited and we are super excited. Also yesterday an old investigator named jorge told my comp that he had gone to the temple and had told a member family that he wanted to be in the dedication. they explained to him that he had to get baptized first, so he accepted the invitation (from the member family) to be baptized. on thursday we will work everything out and plan a date.

its crazy, they always talk about how building a temple in an area blesses the church so much, but i guess i never really understood the extent of the blessings. alot of people are accepting baptism, less actives are reactivating and the members are all being strengthened. How amazing.

Its been fun living in a house of 4. its really a good chance to learn to understand people and try to compromise so that everyone is happy. we all get along really well. yesterday we had a wrestling tournament after breakfast ( its not someting that we usually do) but i think you can all guess who won... ha i put my companion in the double jack knife and they all said. when he was in the army he must have had training by the special forces. ha i love all three of them. and good news. no one has changes. it will be another 6 weeks with these locos. here we go again

well hate to say but its time to go. but i love you all so much. right now the radio is playing the song that says "It´ll take alot to take me away from you... theres nothing that 100 men or more could ever do, Ill chase the rain down in africa" ha i dont know if those are the words, but its makes me think of home and the family. weird how little things take us back. but i hope you all know how grateful i am for you and the life you have given me. Im happy.

Love Elder Jacobson

SÏ PUES

If you come to Guatemala the first words you will learn are sí pues. the funny thing is that si pues doesnt really mean anything, its just an insignificant phrase that they use alot.
So another week has gone by. only one more week until its time for changes again. how crazy. im not really nervous for changes because when they put someone as district leader they stay for 2 changes like 99.9 percent of the time, so im fairly sure that i wont be leaving. but i guess its possible, they say that the chances of a 29 headed turtle being born are even smaller than that, but we see those all of the time.
another week has gone by really fast. i feel like im starting to lose myself more and more in the work. im trying to work hard on focusing my thoughts and prayers on our investigators being baptized. its like using the power of the secret (or faith). but its crazy how when i only think about the work the days come and go in the blink of an eye. this week we saw alot of success in the district. my old companion elder Lira and his companion elder cieza baptized a family of 4 on saturday, and we baptized and confirmed ana maria yesterday. on top of that we went to teach one of our old investigators that is the husband of a member. we taught about the book of mormon, and read the doctrine of Christ. (by the way, dad im impressed, i guess i owe you 5 pesos, ill see if i can go to mexico and get some). then we invited him to baptism. he finally came out with his doubt, which was that he thought that after his baptism that there would be no change in his life and how he wanted something more in his life. so we explained about the priesthood and temple ordinances that he can receive. we taught about callings in the church, and how baptism was only the beginning of the process that leads to eternal life. then we asked him again what would keep him from being baptized. he said nothing, then stood up and walked over to his calender. he looked at it for a second then said. on the 6th of december i will be baptized. ha it was a pretty incredible moment for me to see how the spirit worked in us to know what to say and how the spirit touched his heart. we are going to try to move his baptism to a closer day because sometimes its bad to wait a long time. so like i said we saw alot of success here this week. Heavenly Father is blessing us alot.
another pretty cool experience was on thursday when we had interviews. mine lasted about 3 minutes because president was super busy, but he basically just asked me if i had any sins, and i said no. then he asked me about my comp and how he was doing. we talked a little bit about him then he told me that was all and i could go. but as i was walking out he told me that I had really helped my comp in some hard times in his mission. I dont really know what i did. mainly i was just good friends with him. but it was good to hear that i had made a difference in someones life.
well we still have alot to do to be ready for the temple. i sometimes worry that the members are going to go without us knowing and that alot of people who go and feel that spirit wont be contacted. but im sure that no one has gone yet. we just need to make another round with all of the members to find out if they have put a specific date, so we can be there when the bus leaves. other good news they gave us permission to go to the temple open house. we will go to xela tomorrow. its going to be an awesome event, like a field trip from school. im super excited
well its time to go again. time on the computer goes really fast. but have a good week. get the pistol ready to go kill an innocent turkey because its almost time for thanksgiving. good work on all of your grades in school. dont slack, because the scriptures say cursed is the slacker for he shall get PWNED in the great and terrible day of testing. (i wrote that). I love you all. keep working hard. Adios
Elder jacob.
(Every one just calls me jacob because my name is too hard)
(and because they say i look like the werewolf on twilight. WHISPER)

14

well, im here again. ha it was a good week. tomorrow i complete 14 months in the mission. its weird to me. its not really weird to think about how long i have been out, the weird thing is thinking about how fast this last month has gone by, actually the last two months, it seems like it wasnt that long ago since i said that i was finishing the first year.
but like i said it was a good week. i think ive written it before, but the work is always moving ahead. sometimes it doesnt move in the pace, or even the direction i want it to go. but i can tell that as long as i work hard good things happen, peoples lives are changed, the kingdom of God grows, and on top of all that, i can tell that i am progressing and changing alot. another crazy thing that i am seeing as time goes on is that every time i learn more about a certain topic i just come to realize that i really know nothing about the topic. For example, ive been studying alot about faith. I remember in a general conference talk one of the Apostle said that Christ used faith to create the vast expanses of the universe and also to make the building blocks of matter. in the scriptures it always says that if we have faith in christ we can do all things. so then i have to ask myself, if i have Faith in Christ how come i cant do all of the incredible miracles it talks about in the scriptures. ha its pretty cool, ive come to like studying alot. the scriptures are full of knowledge that is the key to happiness and salvation. the trick is learning how to unlock the mysteries found in them.
well in other news, our area didnt have a baptism this week, but one of the areas in our district did. her name is leticia. i was super happy when she was baptized because i had gone to help teach her a bunch of times, and with the combined work of our two companionships she finally took the step. after her baptism she bore her testimony of how grateful she was to have made the decision. she was the mom of some other members, and now the whole family is members. how cool.
another cool thing is that we started teaching the mom and cousin of marvin. his mom mainly was only listening because she wants her neice to listen to our message, but now she seems more interested every time we come. it was actually pretty cool with his cousin (her name is ana mariah) as well. we talked to marvins mom (Alejandra) and she said we could come talk to ana mariah, but she said she didnt think it would help because she had been really rebellious her whole life, and would never go to church with the family. so we put an appt to come talk to them both the next day. then we showed up and found them in the house and taught them about the Doctrine of Jesus Christ (5 dollars to the person who can explain to me correctly what is the Doctrine of Jesus Christ) and challenged her to be baptized. well long story short she accepted. but the cooler part was yesterday. we went at nine to go remind her about church (which doesnt start until ten) and she was already and started walking out the door. we explained that we were there just to remind her and that we would come back a little later to bring her. then we went to invite other people. but when we got back like a half hour later they told us that her and marvin had already left. ha it was a cool testimony to me to see how after being rebellious and not going to church all those years she went without any one even telling her. Its the power of the Gospel.
well we are super busy getting ready for the temple open house. the mission rule is that we have to be present when the buses leave for the temple, and when they get back so we can get to know the people and make appts to go talk to them. each member family is going to pay for a bus and invite as many people they can, and we need to get to know them all. it really is a big sacrifice for every family, but its amazing to see how they are so willing to sacrifice just because of their faith, and their love for God. some are going to have to sell refrigerators or tv´s to be able to go, but they are all willing. its awesome.
well i hate to say, but im low on time. we have an appt at 5 today so that means we have to get stuff done early. but i love you all. i hope that everyone is really grateful this thanksgiving season. enjoy the cold weather for me and i will soak up some rays for you. have a good week. Hasta la vista
Elder Jacobson

Happy Halloween

first of all i would like to say Happy Halloween. Second of all i want to say that you cant laugh at me for spelling things rong, all of the computers here only speak el espanish, and they mark with a red squiggily underline every word i right. on top of that the spelling rules are way different in spanish. i never realy realized how weird the english language is, until yesterday when i told my comp how to say cough, and he asked me to spell it. can any one explain to me how the letters in cough are pronounced with an f sound. ha, so next time you decide to laugh at me, try taking a nice gander around the park in my shoes.
well it was a good week. an area in my district had an investigator that was close to baptism, and we wanted her to be baptized this saturday, so we spent alot of time in the other area working with her. and finally after all of the work she agreed to be baptized next saturday, but we are super happy. its not the day thats important, as long as it gets done.
on top of that we spent time preparing Hno Marvin for his baptism on saturday. ha Marvin is the young man that we met last week in the church that agreed to be baptized. the word joven in spanish means young man, or young women. but the baptism went beautifully. all of his family came and gave alot of support. the service went through without problems. (even though we started about a half hour late as usual). after the ordinance we gave marvin a chance to share his testimony. he could barely find words. his eyes filled up with tears and he talked about how he was going to be a different person from now on. it was super powerful for the whole family.
after the baptism we started running around like crazies trying to get ready for the ward activity we had planned. we had to kick everyone out of the church real quick. the activity was that we gave everyone a bunch of paper money, and they could buy treats or play games. but they also had the opportunity to pay their tithing. in the end we let everyone who had paid tithing enter into the sacrament meeting room to rest while everyone else was left outside. i was in charge of the game you play with water balloons and towels. everyone really liked it and would usually pay like ten times in a row. the activity was a success. alot of people came and really enjoyed themselves.
well today we are going to be changing houses. its my third time changing houses. its usually kind of a hassle, but fun at the same time. we are going to move right after this.
in other news the rainy season ended. now we just have the blistering hot season. ha the sun comes down so powerfully. but im loving every minute of it. im really working on trying to devote my whole self to the mission and not hold any thing back. ive found alot of happiness when i spend more time thinking about others than myself.
so in the end it has been a fun week. we are now looking forward to the temple dedication and alot of success that will follow. i love you all. save me some candy. read the scriptures. have a good week. prepare for thanksgiving and for the great and dreadful day of judgement . good bye for now.
Elder Jacobson

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times

in case any one is wondering, the title is actually a line from a book written by moby dickens. he writes really good, and well too. but i guess that line describes a little about how my week has been. monday through friday were pretty challenging. not for any reason specific. i think the main problem was is that the elder that was here before me was about to leave for his house, so they werent really working to find investigators that much. so now that im here we have (had) no investigators. every day we would go out and talk to as many people as we could, and mostly we visited members to see if they knew any one we could teach, but we couldnt find any one. almost the whole week we went without teaching one lesson to an investigator. on top of that i left the area of few times to go to the areas of other missionaries in my district (there is 3 companionship's in my district). its kind of tough because i have to keep track of all the investigators in my area (which are none) and in the other areas as well. so it was a little difficult to get my bearings. and we are coming up to the end of the month. but i learned a great lesson about faith and patients. i was looking in the book of mormon when i came upon mosia 24. it talked about the people of alma when they get put into bondage by the lamanites, when they were doing nothing wrong. but i really liked a verse towards the end of the chapter that says that they supported all their afflictions until they got to a point when their faith and patients was so great that the voice of the lord came to them saying that they would be freed from bondage the next day. after i read that i decided that i wasnt going to stress alot about not having investigators or any of the challenges. i decided to trust heavenly Father and have patients, knowing that if i did my part, He would do his.
so we kept working hard, and things definitely worked out. 2 cool things happened. the first was when we went to our ward mission leaders house. we told him that we wanted to do a mission correlation meeting. he seemed excited, and he told us about how before the ward used to always do all of the meetings, such as ward council and executive committee. but he told us that lately all of the leaders of the ward have been kind of lazy, and havent been doing really anything. and as a result, the wards success has been dropping lately. we talked about the problem and decided that if we wanted to get any work done here we would have to get the members to get to work. i think i always took for granted how much work really goes in to keeping a ward running. so any way, between the three of us we made a plan to get the members, especially the leadership working in our ward. I think we are really going to make a big difference here.
the other cool thing was on sunday. the bishop pulled us out of sunday school and said he needed to talk to us. he took us into a room and sat us down with a young man that had about 15 years. he then explained that the joven has been coming to church for about a month and he isnt a member, then left us alone. so we taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized and he accepted. ive realized that one of my specialties here in the mission is that when im not having any success whatsoever Heavenly Father sends us someone that is prepared for the gospel. today we are going to talk to his family and make all of the arrangements for the baptism. how awesome.
well im getting along great with my new old companion. ha hes super funny and we pass most of the day laughing. i like being with him because he has developed the ability of listening to ideas of others, while still putting in his input. so basically i never feel like he is trying to control me, but at the same time i dont feel like i have to do everything.
so like i said, im happy. things are good here. the future looks bright and we are working with alot of animo. but i gotta go. have a great week. work with all the strength you have. here is a quote i wrote to get you through the week. ¨If the whole world doubts, criticizes, mocks and hates you, trust yourself and work with confidence. Then you will almost be on the same level as Leonel Messi¨ ha i love you all.
Elder Jacobson

Tuesday

well like i said its tuesday. sorry i couldnt write yesterday, the recovery isnt going as planned and they wouldnt let me out of the hospital yesterday, so they had to find a laptop to bring to me here. haha just kidding. no the truth is that yesterday the power went out in the whole town where i am (in my new area) so we had to wait until today. but dont worry all is well and i am happy. well last week were changes. the day of changes was quite an experience, not really for me, but for the mission as a whole. i guess a huge storm hit and all of the roads were flooded. luckily we left early to come into reu, so we avoided alot of problems, but alot of other zones werent so lucky. alot got stuck or separated and couldnt get to the meeting. we were blessed and protected. no one was hurt, and now everyone is safe and happy. the change meeting had two big surprises for me. the first was my new companion, who actually is my old companion. haha you may remember hearing me talk about elder platero. well sure enough the dynamic duo is back together. I think its the first time that that has happened in the history of the church, or maybe just the history of the world. i couldnt believe it, and no body else can either. but im happy. the last time we were together it was only for three weeks, but we got along very well. he has been a few months without baptisms, so we are both ready and willing to work hard. it should be a good change or two together. the other surprise was that they called me to serve as district leader. Its not a huge deal, mainly im just supposed to help other missionaries, and make sure they are working effectively. it should be a good opportunity to learn and grow, and get to know alot more people so im excited. when i left san pablo my main regret was that i didnt do alot to help strengthen our branch there. my last 2 weeks there we started doing more to help the members, but i felt like i could have started earlier. so i was kind of hoping that i would get sent to an area where i could do alot to strengthen the ward or branch there. and sure enough Heavenly Father gave me according to my desires. my new area is san sebastian, here in reu. my comp told me that lately the ward has been kind of going down. he said the attendance has dropped by like 20 people and that none of the members have any "animo" (remember that word) so im excited for a challenge, we have made some plans to get people excited about the temple open house and see who we can find of investigators. but i love my area. the members love the missionaries and take care of us. the weather is normal, hot and rainy and i love it. the food is good. the church is true, what more can i ask for. well im low on time today, but i just wanted to share an experience to finish. there is a man here named hno Job, like from la biblia. we always eat breakfast at his house. he is an older man, and is crazy, in an awesome way. ha when we get to his house usually he greets us by saying, in english "hey boy whatsamatta you", i love him. but today as we were leaving from breakfast i shook his hand and he looked me in the eye and said, "le aprecio mucho" ha you will have to look up what that means because i dont remember the translation of aprecio, but it basicly expresses gratitude and love. but it caught me off guard a little how sincere he was. i realized that something we dont do enough is give sincere complements. so i challenge all of you to go and look for chances to complement someone. your life will be better if you do. well have a good week. enjoy your new truck. enjoy the snow when it comes. have fun in school and work and in everything you do. share the gospel with everyone you can. keep the commandments. I love you all Elder Jacobson

Changes

Well this week there is good news and bad news. the good news is that im alive and recovering. the bad news is that the mission isnt going to cover the cost for the operation, or for the medicine that they say i need to take. but i think i should still have enough in my personal account. if not the mission doctor will probly be sending you an email. ill let you know what happens.
any way, this wednesday is changes. ha usually at this time i am pretty nervous wondering if i am going to leave or stay. but today i got lucky and already found out. what happened is that yesterday the zone leaders called my comp to tell him that he had to go to the mission office today because he is going to be training this change. they also said that everyone that trains new elders is going to do it in their own area, which by default means that i am going to have to leave. the truth is that i am pretty sad to leave. i have grown to love the people here alot. especially the members. i dont know what we did to deserve it, but they really love us and do all they can to take care of us. ive enjoyed my time here alot and im nervous because today and tomorrow im going to have to go say good bye to everyone. but i guess thats how the mission is. i know ill get to know and love more people in the new area where i go.
in other news the electric company cut the light to our whole city of San Pablo again. ha its hard for me to understand how the problem go so out of control here, but thats how it is. i dont know if i explained it well last time, but what happens here is that the people decided that the electricity is too expensive, so they stopped paying their light bill. now the light company cuts the light every 3 or 4 months until people pay, then they put the electricity back, then the people stop paying again. ha i talked to one family that said they owned the light company more than 15000 quetzales. ha and they say about 75 percent arent paying. its crazy. now when we ask when the electricity will come back the people say the light company said that they arent going to put the electricity back on... ever. ha after wednesday it wont effect me, but my comp elder matute is going to be without electricity untill christmas. ha oh man, i cant understand it. the worst part is that we, by rule, have to be in the house by 7 when there is no light because its dangerous, so we lose alot of time to work. bad news, but we´ll keep going.
in other news yesterday we had a miracle baptism. ha i think i am seeing more and more how little i really do in this work. every single baptism i have i feel like i didnt do anything. in our branch we have a family of 8 that all got baptized about 7 months ago. one of the sons is named lismark and he is 20 years old and planning on going on a mission when he has a year of being a member. last sunday we called him to see if he wanted to play soccer with us for p day. when we called he told us that his brother had come home from being in mexico , and that he wanted to get baptized this weekend. so on tuesday went to their house and talked to him. sure enough he had gotten a terrible fungal infection in his feet and had to come home. when we showed up, he was excited to hear about the message of the restoration and accepted a baptismal date. we planned the baptism for the end of this weekend, but the branch president wanted to do it earlier, so we did it yesterday before church. then we was confirmed in sacrament meeting and ordained a priest in the priesthood session. so once again Heavenly Father is blessing us with opportunities to bless people and see some fruits of our labors.
well, i think thats it for now. i gotta go pack and cut my hair still. but i love you all. just think. at the end of this month it will be halloween, then thanksgiving, then christmas, then new years, then my birthday, then valentines day, then lonicas birthday. i dont really know what comes next, but the fact is that time, as always is going by fast. so live up every day. we only get one chance to live this life, so live it well. look for every chance you can to love someone and think about them more than yourselves. have a good week. talk to you next week from my new area. and by the way just ignore the first paragraph, it was a joke. Good bye
Elder Jacobson

General Conference

Wow, how crazy is it that another general conference has already passed, thats my third one in the mission. It was an awesome week that finished off with a bang. things are looking good here in san pablito.
This on tuesday we had a great conference con presidente maravilla. he has a good way of making us feel bad for the things we are failing to do, but then encouraging us and motivating us to be better. he gave us alot of things that we can, and need to, do. with the promise that if we do them we will see the fruits and success we are looking for. I committed to do the things he told us without delay or procrastination, and i am faithful that we will indeed see the fruit. at the end of the conference he played a video of a familia that was baptized and then went to the temple to be sealed. the spirit was so strong. I felt like something was squeezing on my chest, and had a hard time breathing. it really motivated me to go find a family that is ready to accept the gospel and be sealed as an eternal family. speaking of which, remember hno armando from La Grandeza. he and his family will be eligible in february to go the the queztaltenango temple and be sealed. wont that be a great day.
friday was an interesting day, because we finally got our acts together and changed houses. i was worried that we were going to end up staying there another month and paying way to much for a house that isnt that great. so we spent the whole afternoon moving. the problem was that it was raining buckets, and all we had to move with was a pickup. so we ended up just wrapping everything we had up in garbage bags. it was a pretty quick move, but because of the conference we havent unpacked anything. today in the afternoon we are going to have to go clean the old house and organize the new one. it will be tiring, but ill be happy to have it done.
sunday morning we were able to bring a whole family, of six, to the conference. they got there on time to watch music and a spoken word so i sat with them before going into the room where they had it in english. it was cool to see how the whole family just sat there staring at the beautiful images and listening to the choir. i think we take for granted how blessed we are to be members of the true church, because i think that the families idea of church is having their pastor yell at them for 3 hours. i think they really liked it alot. we are going today or tomorrow to invite them to baptism again. Pray for us. the other cool thing sunday night was when we went to teach another investigator. when we started the lesson we asked her if she had prayed about the things we had taught her. she told us she prayed about the book of mormon and felt a joy in her heart. we explained and testified that that feeling was from God and means that she needs to continue in what she is doing. it was a good lesson. hopefully she keeps coming to church.
well what else to tell you. General conference was amazing. i really took for granted before how much the talks can help us. i noticed that they talked alot to the youth, and especially future missionaries. i hope everyone went to the priesthood session and heard elder Hollands talk, because while i was listening to it i thought ¨ this talk is specifically for my brothers at home¨ they also talked alot about the scriptures and especially the Book of Mormon. what a great weekend.
Well changes are coming up again. we will see how it goes. alot of people think i will stay around another changed to complete the 6 months, but who knows. Ill go where He wants me to go.
its good to hear that things are going good there. looks like jalen finally started listening to my advice on how to play soccer. thats why he is goalin it up. have a good week. work hard. go online and watch the talks again. (especially Elder Holland in the priesthood session) I love you all so much. talk to you next week
Elder Jacobson

For Jordan

Dude Jordan,
ha hows it going fool. i looked at the date today and realized that your birthday is coming up. your not turning 23 are you. how crazy is that, ive gotta say that despite challenges the years have treated us, as brothers well. the following are some of the memories that encompass the highlights of our lives:

catching polliwogs in the lake by our house in roy.
playing the header game on the tramp.
playing tether ball
playing Halo
building a fort in the sandbox and taking the gamecube into it and getting it all full of sand.
Selling donuts for tasties
when we had to spray that mold house with bleach and i almost passed out from the fumes.
when i worked with you and we listened to the airplanes song and ate at betos every day.
the time arpidet was talking about the guy that talks in the commercials and he said "One man, running through the forest"
the time we stayed up all night making the rug for grammy, and playing Diablo 2
the time you always got Ladies in high school and i never had ladies. (that one is still happening)
playing soccer for Clearfield
River rafting.
the time we played soccer in roller blades and almost killed each other.
the time we fell off the bed and landed on our necks, then we did it again to show dad.

Well i could keep going forever, but im low on time. but i want to wish you an exceptionally happy birthday, and remind you that the years still hold a lot of good memories for us. one day we will be old men with grandchildren and look back with a smile on the lives that we have lived.
i just want to finish up by encouraging you to read the book of mormon. I can promise you that if you read a few chapters every night your life will go alot smoother. DO IT.
I love you brother.
Elder Jacobson

the wheels in the sky keep on turning

Just sendin a shout out to my dad and all the other journey fans out there.
well, it was another good week. The work is moving along. sometimes not as fast as i would like it to, but i guess thats why they say that Gods thoughts are higher then the ours. we have a few investigators that can progress towards baptism. as usual they all have challenges and doubts, but we finally have some people that are willing to read the book of mormon and pray about it, which is an upgrade, because generally its all but impossible to get someone to really read the book of mormon. yesterday we had 4 investigators come to church. two of them are the daughter and the son in law of our ward mission leader. we have never even really taught them because they havnt wanted to hear from us in the past, but we talked to them yesterday, and they seem more open to us. so hopefully we will see some progress there. one of the other investigators is a 10 year old girl named engma. her dad came to church once, but didnt really like it, and her mom doesnt really want to hear anything for us, but she is always in church. yesterday we talked to her mom and she told us that her daughter had said that she loves the church, and that she will never go to any other church. the cool thing is that because of her example her mom decided to come to church last night to see a church video. it was pretty cool to see how Heavenly Father is working through the testimony of that little girl to help open the whole family up to the Gospel.
well what else can i say. i continue to enjoy my life. the members are really coming to like us here. i think mostly because they had some lazy elders here before, but now almost every time we talk to any of the members they ask when we will have changes. and when we tell them they say oh, well hopefully neither of you get changed. so at least that part of it makes life easier. its cool because now, any time we want to go out to visit an investigator, we can just call almost any member, sometimes even whole families, and they go out with us. my comp and i are also getting along well. i think we have to make alot of compromises because we disagree in alot of things. but we are learning to swallow our pride and listen to one another so that we do the right thing. but its been alot of fun with him.
this morning we went to the quetzal refuge. the quetzal is the national bird here in guatemala, and there is like a national park of them in our zone. unfortunately we didnt see any quetzales, but it was a really beautiful place, with waterfalls and rivers and streams and the indigenous people that still sacrifice animals (we tried to teach that the law of moses has been fulfilled, but they didnt really get it). it was fun to be with the whole zone and just relax for a few hours. the downside was that we didnt go play soccer, ha i think this is the first p day ever that we didnt play, which is bad news, because i am just going to keep getting fat. but i guess that thats the way things go.
well, it sounds like everyone is doing good there. how crazy that the ward is sending out another 2 missionaries. i think that the syracuse 10th has like 15 out by now. that sucks about jordans car. looks like the rodeo has had its last bull ride. hahaha, that was probly a badly timed joke, but the delete button is broken on my keyboard, so i cant take it back. but just remember to have alot of faith. if you feel like you cant figure out what to do go read in Ether 12, and pay attention to vs 6 and 18. and remember that sometimes we cant see the solutions to our problems, but Heavenly Father already has a solution worked out, go ask Him for help, and ye shall receive.
well i hate to say, but its time to go. mainly because we didnt eat breakfast this morning and we are going to eat right now. But just know that i am happy here. Heavenly Father is blessing me alot, and i am learning a ton. i think i never realized how much we can really learn about the gospel, or how much the scriptures can really teach us, but now i have like 1000 questions and i am finding new answeres and new knowledge every day ( but the real question is how do you spell answeres) I love you all, i pray that you are always happy and living the Gospel. have a good week, and get ready for winter, its just around the corner after all. Adios
Elder Jacobson

its p-day once again

Yes indeed, we´ve made it trough another week. september is winding down, and we are finally moving out of the rainy season. I actually have a hard time believing that the rainy season is over, because it was raining when i started my mission, and that was about a year ago. i dont imagine that the rain will stop any time soon. but who knows, life is like a box of iguana heads, you never know if your gonna get a tape worm. so it was another good week. as usual, there were some hard things and some great things, but in the end im always content. Im learning that its important to see the Lords hand more in our lives, especially in ways that we dont expect. i think alot of times we pray with all our hearts that Heavenly Father will bless us with something, but then we dont get exactly what we want and we think that He let us down. my comp showed me something he learned, and explained that if we ask for something righteous, with real faith that we will receive it, Heavenly Father will always answer in 1 of 3 ways. He will either say yes, or He may say wait for a while, or He might say "I have something better for you", but he will never tell us no. So lately i have been trying to pray with more faith and then look for the answers that Heavenly Father gives, even if they are not the answeres i wanted or expected. For example i have been praying alot that the members would help us by inviting their friends to find out more about the church. the truth is that its almost impossible that someone will get baptized if we just contact them off the street, but its alot more likely if they have a friend that invites them. there is a few members that said they would bring their friends to church, and i was really praying that they would come through and bring them. but then when i got to church i saw that none of the members we had talked to had brought their friend. for a moment i thought "how could that happen, i prayed with faith?" but then a less active member came in to sacrament a little late, and brought one of his neighbors that he had invited to church. i realized that i was expecting an answer in a specific way, but Heavenly Father decided to bless us in a different, probably better, way. Just one of the many things that i have learned lately. on saturday we had our ward activity. it was alot of fun. i forgot my camera so i cant send pics, but there was music, dancing, games and food. alot of people showed up and it was a good time for the branch to grow closer together. something interesting is that I had to make a real effort to keep myself involved in everything. generally i prefer to keep to myself, and not talk alot, but as a missionary i had to change things. i thought about when mom told me about the book she read about introverts, and extroverts. I think i lost alot of energy from being in a social environment and having to talk to a ton of people. it was a real challenge for me, and afterwords i felt exhausted. ha in the end i loved it and had a good time, and im happy that im learning to come out of my shell and be a more social person. Just one of the many things i have learned lately. Well the bad news is (i hate that there is always bad news) that both Rafael and Elmer have decided they dont want to get baptized. its sad to me because i think that they know what is right, but because of fear, or pride they wont accept the Gospel. my comp and i made the decision not to visit them any more to go look for other people. it was sad, but afterwords i felt peaceful, knowing that that is what we are supposed to do right now. So now its off to the races again to see who else is being prepared for the Gospel ( Alma 16:16). last night i had the dream again. ive had it probably 7 or 8 times since ive been on the mission. its the dream that i am at home, and that everyone is congratulating me for finishing my mission. every time i try to tell everyone that i havent finished yet and that i still have more to do, but everyone at home just keeps saying welcome home and stuff. how weird huh. i think i mainly have that dream when i start to think that there is no one in my area that wants to get baptized. every time i have that dream i wake up with the realization that my time here is really short, and that i dont want to go home thinking that i needed to do more. well thats all for now. I love you all. by the way thanks for the package. i dont know how you do it, but you always put in there everything that i was thinking to ask for. so thanks for that and for all of the letters. i have now received one from Lonica johnny and jalen. just waiting for King jordans to show up and then i will have the whole set. Have a good week. good luck on the eagle project. good luck on the gymnastics season and dance and on everything thats going on. Talk to you next week . Love Elder Jacobson