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