greetings

well there goes another week. I cant say that it was the best week, or even a
very good week, but at least its over. bwahahaha, just kidding it was a very
good. week for the two humble elders in pueblo nuevo.
Well what can i say. i feel like we made alot of progress this week.
Part of the work right now is just getting to know people. usually the
missionaries get to know a ton of people in an area, so every time we have free
time we just go find someone we can visit and teach. Unfortunately we still
dont know very many. its kind of something that just takes time i think. ha so
sometimes if we go to look for someone and they arent there we dont know what to
do. but generally we just go start knocking doors. i think its not the most
effective way to work, but its good practice of talking to people, and i think
if we show God that we are really anxious to find more investigators he will
bless us with people to teach. And thats how its been. we have found a couple
people that seem very positive, including a complete family of 3 and a future
Melchizedek priesthood holder. so things are looking good, and we get to know
more and more people every day.
Elder Jack is a stud. it took us a few days to get used to each other,
but we both have come a little out of our shell. he is super excited to work.
sometimes i feel like i want to just take a rest or go relax for a sec, but he
always wants to keep working. i like it alot because it really pushes me to
give it everything ive got. we dont get food often from the members, so we
cook alot in the house. but its becoming a joke among us because our stove
doesnt really get hot, so only cook noodles and spaghetti sauce, or cup of
noodles. haha oh the funny memories of being a missionary.
yesterday they announced that the first meeting in the new chapel will
be next week. everyone is super excited. i really feel that we are going to be
able to reactivate alot of people and find alot of new investigators through the
new church.
so thats about it. sorry i didnt put alot of details, or stories, or
even a creative title, ha but i promise ill write more next week, im just low on
time. I love you all. thanks for your prayers and advice. and the package,
that came by the way (i think i will have an overdose on peanut butter), have a
good week, and do work. hasta la otra.
Elder Jacobson

Everything Nuevo

Well like the title says this was a week of new. Changes were on
wednesday. Tuesday night and wednesday morning were a little hard for me. on
top of having to pack my whole life into two suit cases, and clean the house
(which i didnt do) we had to go say good bye to everyone. it wasnt that sad,
but its weird to think that i might never see some of the people again. the
andrade family made us dinner on our last day. ha they kept making jokes about
how they were going to get us wet, ( i dont know why but its like a tradition
here to soak people that are celebrating something) but i thought it was a
joke. ha then one time i looked up and saw Macedonio behind elder platero with
a big bucket of water he smiled and then dumped it all. ha he was soaked. i
decided i better watch my back, but i let my guard down when they offered me
some soda. i looked around just in time to see caesar dump another huge
bucket on my face. ha it was funny.
Wednesday was a mix of emotion. I have to be honest, it was hard saying
good bye to alot of people. mainly two, elder flores, and obviously elder
platero. (also elder skousen, but i still have hopes of seeing him at some
future time). when the meeting was over we took a picture together, and despues
just kind of sat there looking at each other. ha we didnt cry. we just said
good bye and both went our way.
Well that was the sad part, but the happy part happened a little bit
earlier . in the change meeting they announced that my new companion would be
Elder Jack. They also announced that i would be district leader in my new
area. I went to the front and the whole mission gave me a standing ovation, not
realy. ha i just went and gave him a hug, and we sat down together. there was
a lot of noise so we didnt really talk until after.
Since that moment things have been going at a hundred miles an hour.
my area is called Pueblo Nuevo (hence the title. bwahahaha, thats three weeks in
a row of creative titles, how do i do it) its up in the mountains again. but
its pretty close to Reu. i love it there. i dont know excactly what it is but
i feel really good. almost like deja vu in the area. the weather is cool and
we have hot water. there is two funny things about our house. 1 we have a pet
dog named tobi. ha thats super against the rules, but we wont tell any
one. (just kidding they already talked to president about it) its like a boxer
i think. ha i like having him there alot. the other funny thing is that we
have our church meetings in our house. ha its only temporary because the new
chapel they are building will be finished in about a week. so ya i like it here
alot.
the people are also awesome. its a small town so everyone knows
everyone. and Everyone knows the elders. ha everywhere we go people shout
Adios elderes. ha we have gotten to know most of the members. they are all
great. one in particular is called roni. he is a recent convert of about a
year, but he is our ward mission leader, and way excited to work. he has been
teaching us the area, and has a bunch of ideas of things we can do. its awesome
here.
Elder Jack is awesome. he has a great spirit about him. he came ready
to work and do good things. i like him alot because he is willing to learn, and
to try new things. his spanish is coming fast, i think he can understand the
majority of what is said. he is from utah. Hes the man.
well thats about it. i feel like mormon when i say that i couldnt
write the hundreth part of what has happened, but those are the hightlights. I
love you all. have a great week. Enjoy me some smoothies, and ill pretend im
drinking them. Adios
Elder Jacobson

Trainges

in case any one is wondering, the title is a combination of 2 words, that both
express separate ideas, but both apply to the general theme of this email,
combined in a short but witty contraction. ladies and gentleman, creativity at
its finest, ive done it again.
So yes, this week are changes once again. hard to believe how fast this
last one went by. i think it might have gone fast because every morning my comp
would yell out how many days are left in the change. today i woke up to the
shouting of ¨dos dos dos hombre dos.¨ haha i love that guy hes a clown.
Last night i called and gave the weekly report of the district. we all
did pretty good this week, but we are struggling alot because our investigators
wont go to church. its a challenge, but we just gotta find the way to overcome
it. I hung up from talking to Elder ¨Pictum, my zone leader, and like 5 minutes
later he called back. my comp answered the phone and talked a few minutes.
when he came out he started clapping and came up and shook my hand. i wasnt
affected much because abnormal behavior is normal in our house, but i was a
little curious to know what he was doing. He then said Elder Jacob, your
going to be a dad. ha which is another way of saying that i am going to be
training next change. So that was pretty exciting for me, everyone i talk to
says that training is sometimes super hard because at first the trainer has to
do the work of two. but they always say that its a great experience to learn
and progress.
he also said to pack my bags because i would be leaving san sebastian.
(hence the title ... how do i do it) that is a little bit sad for me because i
have really loved my area here. i have alot of great friends that i wont want
to leave. Ha yesterday we went to a bunch of members to take pictures so my
comp could print them and give them to the families before he left. everyone
was asking me if i would stay or go and i told everyone i would stay because it
wasnt likely that they wold change us both. ha i guess i shouldnt of spoken
without knowing, but ill gave to go today to say good bye to everyone.
well the rest of the week was good. we had some good lessons. On
sunday i was sad because we had 2 investigators that promised they would go to
church, but when we went to bring them they said they couldnt go. its tough,
but i learned that getting discouraged never makes anything better. im hoping to
go to my new area with FIRE and get some good work done.
I guess other than that there isnt much to say. life is good, but
always very hot. the weeks and months are going by too fast, but at the same
time not fast enough. I love you all. Have a great week. Tell Jalen that its
a requirement to go on a date for Valentines day. GETTIN THE LADIES. good
luck to johhny and londica in their gymnastics and dancing. I love you
all
Until next weak.
Elder JAcoBSOn

a week for the strong

BWAHAHA, when i said i was out of creative titles it was a bold faced lie. i have a list of about 39 more titles (thats how many p days i have left) in my bag.
well like the title says it wasnt a week for the faint of heart, it was kind of a challenge, but in the end it all turned out well, and im better for having lived it.
on wednesday we had a leaders meeting with President maravilla. it was an awesome meeting, but alot is changing in the mission. after Elder Amado came he sent a report to president telling him the things we need to do. among the list were 2 big ones, 1 was that a person had to come to church at least 3 times before he could be baptized. i think alot of times that is the rule of other missions, but we have been used to just once or twice. it is kind of a challenge because if we have an investigator and they dont come to church the first week of the month it is unlikely that they will be able to get baptized that month. but i think it will help the retention alot, and allow us to prepare the people better. the other thing that Elder Amado said is that we have to double the number of families that we baptize each month. if we have a good month the mission will usually baptize 15 or 20 families, but now the goal has to be 30 or 40. it will be harder, but the cool thing is that to succeed we will have to be the best missionaries we can possibly be, and trust even more in Heavenly Father. I´ve thought about the story in the book of mormon alot when nephi goes and gets the plates. once lehi gave the commandment all the brothers went to bring the plates, but i think that obedience is not only in trying to complete the commandments, but in actually succeeding. so that can apply to everyone, once we have a commandment its not just about trying to do it, it is going and doing. ha i dont know if that makes any sense. im low on time and i have alot to write so im trying to summarize. ha i think you get the idea.
Its true elder platero is in his last week. i feel bad for him because he was really hoping to have a baptism his last week, but now because of the new rule we wont be able to. He is trying to stay motivated and keep working, but i can tell its hard for him to focus on the work and not think about his house. i think its pretty normal, because the days that i have called home, its usually hard for me to think about investigators and all that afterwards. so i understand, but sometimes it is hard on me, because sometimes i feel like i have to drag him from place to place. But i wont complain, we still get along very well, and he is doing his best. it will never be as bad as having lamen and lemuel for companions, and nephi never complained, why should i.
well now its time for the good news. across the street from our house lives a family of members named the andrade family. family has 6 kids, and 3 of them were married to non members, but the family has always dreamed that their children in laws would accept baptism. well last month 2 of the 3 were baptized (macedonio y ligia). my comp and i have joked sometimes saying that if we could baptize the 3rd ( her name is mildred) the family would build a statue of us in our front yard. this week has been a little tough because we have been having a hard time finding new investigators, and it feels like we arent getting anything done. but last night we went to teach Hna mildred. we read 2 nephi 31 and challenged her to baptism for the end of this month and ... SHE SAID YES.. (ha i think thats what most people say when their girlfriend accepts marriage, but i think i was just as happy) but yea, it was crazy. i could tell the spirit was working with her alot. she agreed to read the book of mormon and go to church and always pray. so after all the trials come the testimony i guess. the bad thing is that changes are next week and i have a feeling they will be changing me (not my diapers) but if we can get her to start reading and go to church this sunday i can leave san sebastian happy.
well thats all the time ive got for now. but thanks to everyone for the prayers and love you are sending my way. i love you all so much. have a good week, and dont worry about me, if i die it will be for the better (Alma 56.11) keep doin work all talk to you next week. Adios
Elder Jacobson